CHAOS : WILDFIRES AND DRAMATIC CHANGES IN POLITICS HAVE PEOPLE ON EDGE : IMMIGRATION

CHAOS : WILDFIRES AND DRAMATIC CHANGES IN POLITICS HAVE PEOPLE ON EDGE : IMMIGRATION

As the wildfires have consumed enough property and acreage to equal San Francisco or Miami, we the people of Southern California, are very concerned about the economic future of this part of the United States. Looters, arsonists, and other exploiters and criminals are taking advantage, as are landlords who are upping rents as well as other swindlers. 

But as the physical plant burns down, more concerning is the burning down of America in another way.  Politics.

Lately, some people have been pointing out to me Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, a possible alliance between him and President Donald Trump, and immigration policy. They point out that Orban built "a wall" (actually a fence) and then mention the "wall" partially built between the United States and Mexico. This, and other supposed evidence of alliances are constantly pointed out to me and I sense what is wanted is a reaction.

Well, I have a reaction.

I tell people that Hungary has welcomed thousands of Ukrainian refugees from that war that Russia started and that Orban, in his role with the European Union, has visited both Zelensky and Putin. The Hungarian people have taken in these war refugees, mostly women and children. That Hungary is dependent on Russian oil and that makes things tricky. I tell people that thousands demonstrated in the streets of Budapest for an end to that war and for peace, but Hungary, being a small country, doesn't make world news much, so few heard about it. (I did from a Hungarian relative who lives in Budapest six months of the year.) 

I tell them that two thirds of the Hungarian population were murdered during the Ottoman occupation by Moslem Turks (over 150 years) and that is why Hungary, founded upon Christianity (specifically an alliance with Roman Catholicism) wants only Christian immigrants. I say that between that and the loss of a huge amount of territory known as Hungary after World War I and the 1920 Trianon Treaty, Hungarians are still fighting for national identity.

I also say that there is so much attention on blocking entry into the U.S. from Mexico but none on the much longer Canadian Border. If I were a terrorist I would not bother with the Mexican border. I would have a boat sail me up the coast; maybe in the middle of the night I'd row ashore in Malibu. Or maybe I would go to Canada and walk across the border there. There are lots of places to do so.

I also say that Trump claiming God saved him from a bullet so he could save America was disgusting; is he now claiming the Right of Kings? Himself as Biblical prophecy?

I actually see no link between true Christianity and the Prosperity Gospel or the exclusionary "Protestantism" of people who want to "round up" immigrants, that it sounds just like Germany, in an economic crisis pre the Holocaust and the "round up" of Jews, blamed for the economic problems, that I personally am fearful that is where we are heading.  No I do not want criminals entering the country. Criminality is not the same as people desperate for their lives and the lives of their children and families and we must acknowledge that. I feel the same way when I hear of "round ups" of homeless people. We are edging close to the "othering" that the Nazi's did to the Jews, comparing them to vermin rather than acknowledging their humanity.

Bigotry and discrimination and racism are coming back...

Be it the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis or the Neo Nazis, NONE OF THIS IS OR EVER WAS CHRISTIANITY.  Remember, please, that the Nazi plan was to exterminate the Slavic people once the Jews were extinguished and to keep going.  

RELOCATION anyone?  FORCED RELOCATION?

"REPOPULATING" Pacific Palisades?

Do I expect everyone to be "Christian?"  Actually, I do not.

Do I know of illegals?  Are they joking?! We have a huge "illegal" population in Southern California, and they are not all Mexican. Over the years I've met illegals from South Africa, from Jamaica, and Germany and Ireland, and yes - one lovely young woman from Hungary who chased love - many who came on a tourist visa and never left.

Also, this may shock some of my readers, but as a personal note, I have been approached to marry for the purposes of keeping an illegal immigrant in the country four times in my life.  One Mexican, One Guatamalan, One Orthodox Jew from Israel (really!), One Indian from India.  Approached on the street, in a store, or asked outright by a friend. Usually an effort to make me consider such a thing, which I would never do, includes an excruciatingly old fashioned idea that I should be ashamed to be unpartnered and would be desperate to join the overwhelming majority of married women. Or that my rent would be paid.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OFTEN WORK FOR CASH. Now tell me employers are not depending on "casual" workers who are paid cash?  No benefits, no Social Security, no no no. Sometimes Americans pick up a casual laborer, work them all day, and then tell them to go f themselves, unpaid, under threat of the INS being informed of their presence: nasty evil people do that to them. So tell me, do you think so many would head here if they thought absolutely no one would hire them?  Hotels - Restaurants - the Tourist Industry - Cruises - really big on paying cash or extremely low off shore pay.

I'm not FOR illegal immigration, I hate criminality, especially when it comes to gang violence and drug and sex trafficking, but ONE NATION UNDER GOD, must have some empathy for the promise that so many of our ancestors had.

So I ask this question, who or what is your God?

Is it MONEY? Which is IDOLATRY?

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I ask you to read this: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—Martin Niemöller

The 1,954-mile (3,145-kilometre) border between the U.S. and Mexico traverses a variety of terrain, including urban areas and deserts. The United States (U.S.) - Canada border is the longest in the world, spanning 5,525 miles (8,891 km) across 13 U.S. states and eight Canadian Provinces/Territories (These came up re AI.)

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All Rights Reserved including International and Internet Rights

MY DOG FOR TRUMP IN THE RAIN

Ah well, Joseph Biden, on his third try for the Presidency of the United States, is President Elect. Meanwhile President Donald Trump is furious.  Some say he was in the shock stage of grief, and is now stuck in denial. I admit, I do want him to accept defeat and step down in the graceful way that a World Leader ought to. 

I used to walk my dog in a fairly wealthy neighborhood where there were lots of houses flying the American flag on a daily basis. I grew up in a household where my dad, a veteran, flew the flag on the important holidays.  Such as Memorial and Labor Days, Veteran's Day, and, if I remember correctly Columbus Day. Now I see the daily flying of the American flag as not just patriotic, but a way of signaling to neighbors that one is a Republican.  There were also average income homeowners in the area, from back in the 1970's when a double income could still buy average people a house there.  All these people are hanging in and on, not wanting to give up their houses until their value will finance their retirements, even when they have long ago become unable to afford the necessary repairs on a house.  So when my dog and I were walking along and a stranger would ask me in a demanding way how I was going to vote, I'd say, "Well, I'm a Democrat, but my little dog here, she's a Republican."

That usually brought out a laugh.

I suspected there were a few "mixed marriages" in the neighborhood, and it was Republican husbands with Democratic wives.

This morning I watched President Elect Biden talk to the nation about the Coronavirus and begin to create his task-force of experts prior to his swearing in. As well, he will soon assemble his Cabinet.  He actually has thousands of people to appoint or approve, most we will never hear of.

Yesterday it rained.  It was as if the sky, so filled with fire, took the sigh of relief that many of us felt.  A relief that there is some positive change that will include us.

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Just a note  November 2024 : In case you were wondering, there is no third term for any U.S. President.  The law was changed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times in a row...

FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP IS THE MORE APPROACHABLE ONE

When the Trumps first became President of the United States and First Lady, I believe it was our President who said that the Kennedy White House - JFK and Jackie - would be role models.  I found that interesting and as Jackie prioritized her children and so has Melania I get it.  I feel for Melania at this point for so very many reasons but she has finally made children her focus as a special effort during her First Ladyhood.  And if I had to meet this couple socially or for any reason, I would find Melania the more approachable one because I think she is actually the more genuine one.

But does the JFK Whit eHouse inspiration include a promiscuous cheating President?

I feel for her because she is married to a President whose tenure in office seems questionable mostly because so very many heads have rolled.  I would not want to chance working for such a person or in such a situation and I fear accepting work from him is basically asking for career ruination.  I feel the instability of staff not only makes getting work done difficult but gives other countries the impression we are a weak country.

Yet Trump fans have told me I am wrong.  I am told that China understand a mogul with multiple wives and families, that China gets trump.  I am told that his behavior overall and threats of military might have scared North Korea and so now they'll stop the nuclear testing and get with some world peace.  I am also told that Trump really isn't a womanizer and Melania is sure of his love for him; this one I debate.

Just airing some thoughts amidst my research on the old nobility of the developing country of Hungary....

BANNING CITIZENS OF CERTAIN OTHER COUNTRIES FROM COMING TO THE US? NOTHING NEW

Over the last few days, as President Donald Trump attempts to fulfill his campaign promises, I've engaged in conversations with people from a number of different heritage backgrounds and political viewpoints, including some Moslem- American men who said to me, "Obama did more to get rid of Moslems than Trump ever will!"  I have a very politically correct friend who once was studying to be a Catholic priests who is sending me a lot of anti-Trump and pro-immigration articles. 

THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN TELLING THEM.

Banning people from certain countries from immigrating, or stopping people of certain ethnic backgrounds as suspicious by possible association is NOTHING NEW in the history of the United States.  Consider the story of the Hungarians who came to the United States before World War I.  My Hungarian ancestor was certain that once he left Hungary he was not going back to work there.  Certain also that he and his sons would have to leave agricultural work and prepare for industry or have skills, he is said to have had the foresight to provide them some education prior to immigration.  They sacrificed, sold everything, worked long and hard, and had to give up on any notions they long held on to about coming from nobility or working for nobility. 

My ancestor wasted no time once he got to the United States in declaring his intent to become a citizen. He was already in midlife, had seen the death of his first wife, had remarried, and was the father of many children. After five years of working at any kind of work he could get, while not a citizen, becoming a member of a church and community, making friends and networking as much as he could, and staying in the same town (where he and his sons advertised their desire for work in the gazetteer), he wasted no time in filing for his second papers.  Seven years after arriving in the U.S., give or take a few months, he was declared a citizen.  His wife and minor children also became citizens so they did not have to apply when they became 18.  His older children who immigrated did their own citizenship the same way.  Luckily, all well before World War I broke out in Europe.

Many Hungarians did not really want to give up on Hungary or could not because of family farms and other obligations there, and they went back and forth, earning income here, becoming seasonal workers, often spending summers there working the land.  Those who did not become citizens because they felt unsure, found themselves in "the pickle" when this World War broke out.  THE UNITED STATES SUSPENDED ALL REQUESTS FOR CITIZENSHIP considering Hungarians, and many other ethnic groups from various countries to be, potentially, consorting with the enemy.  If you look at newspapers from that era of immigration, the war, and afterwards, you will find these people referred to as "foreigners."  You will see headlines also and lists, naming the "foreigners" who had completed their citizenship.

Without any of the methods we have today, our government could not so easily look into each and every individual's worthiness or desire to be considered exceptional.  Today the large numbers of people seeing citizenship or entering and remaining in the United States to work makes it difficult even with these methods, which are also thought to be privacy invading.

Although the way the Executive Order has been played out isn't good, and clearly the ways and means needed to be directed in more detail, for instance that those already here with Green Cards and incoming, should be allowed in, though personally I think a brief discussion with each person by immigration as they come in again is hardly discrimination or harassment, and the news services are having a lot of business detailing each case, the fact is my most politically correct friends keep welcoming immigrants and talking against discrimination, but have never been gang raped, had their daughter's sex trafficked, witnessed horrific atrocities, and have no fear of being ROUNDED UP BY ISIS, lined up and shot in the head or beheaded.  I dare say that EUROPE, where wars have been played out and where terrorism has been much worse than events, other than 9/11 here which did have a terrible effect on American Moral, have played out, ARE NOT THAT CONFIDENT.  My politically correct friends are NOT AFRAID. 

WHY NOT?

BECAUSE THEY ARE USED TO AND EXPECT our GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT US, the citizens! 

Some of these people are also ANTI GUN/WEAPONRY.  They do not think they need to protect themselves from a more personal situation they might encounter in their lives. 

THAT IS PRIVILEGE!  

I sometimes wish they had, as I have, gone to hear people who lived through the Nazi concentration camps speak.  It happened fast.  People didn't believe the rumors.  Vast numbers were rounded up and taken to their deaths.

That is why my position is in the middle.  WE DO NEED OUR GOVERNMENT'S PROTECTION.  WE DO NEED TO ACCEPT THAT THIS IS SO.  We are dependent on our spy agencies and our military and our police to keep us safe, especially when we refuse to own or use guns or other weapons ourselves.  And, we do need to honor citizens first, and those who obeyed our immigration laws to enter our country next.  Illegal immigrants are always taking their chances, but want to think it is unfair if they get caught.  How do you get caught?  By being criminal!

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