I'm just not getting all of this attention being paid to Donald
Trump's every utterance. My dad, who never strayed from his roots as
a working class man, began as a laborer digging ditches at the
Bremerton Shipyard during the early years of WW II, and at the last of
his working career, was in high demand as a structural Steel
Estimator. Wearing a title, a white shirt, a tie from among those
carefully picked by mother, and only his wits to enable him to
survive, since he was now in the company of men who sneered at any
suggestion that they should Organize. These were those fellows who
yearned to live life in the manner of the boss. They were a surly,
snarly, humorless bunch of grumblers and gripers. They despised the
"blue collar" workers, the guys who laughed and told really bad but
funny jokes, and earned a decent wage with time and a half for
overtime, and annual leave and sick leave and a good retirement. And
all of that because they had the good sense to organize and to believe
that they could live a good, fulfilling life without having to act
like the boss.
Anyway, dad's work took him back and forth from his office, to the job
site, to the boss's office and to "high level" conferences. These
conferences were along the lines of a DMZ, where all guns were left at
the door, and where every company owner in the steel business gathered
to pretend that they were in the company of great genius. I had
the...good fortune to attend a couple of such high level and secret
gatherings. I swear, and I'm not making this up, but I swear that the
room was filled with Donald Trump clones. Seriously! Glad handing
everyone, including me, squinting up in one face after another, giving
toothy grins. And all the time telling every one just how special
this meeting was, and how important that we all work together.
After the conferences dad would usually have to go to the bosses home
for a "debriefing"...a comparison of information and a chance for the
boss to tell someone just what a bunch of crooks and insincere
bastards all the other bosses were. Dad, with a wife and three kids
to provide for, could always side step a bit by saying things like, "I
wouldn't turn my back". Of course dad was including his own boss, but
never said so out loud. These were hard swinging, no holds barred
businessmen, looking at the world as a Plum to be plucked. Getting
ahead meant, to these aggressive fellows, doing anything that would
give them an advantage over all the others. And that is Donald Trump.
Raised to believe that if you want it, be man enough to take
it...whatever you must do to win.
In other words, voters sent to the White House a carbon copy of the
classic Capitalist Corporate Executive Officer. Finally, out of the
closet for the first time, a composite of all the endearing qualities
that have made America's corporations so beloved by the nations of the
world.
And saddest of all is that there are people who honestly believe that
Donald Trump has a heart and a Soul, and that he is really trying to
make life better for the little folks, if only the big bad government
and those Leftists would give him a chance.
There are those who long to see this president impeached. I am not
among that number. Yes, Donald Trump is a loose cannon, yes he loves
the limelight almost as much as he loves Donald Trump, but I can live
with all of that because, in the dark shadows 'neath the dim lit
seller stairs, there lurks a Bogyman, a creature waiting for his turn
to step into the Oval Office and have his turn at sucking the nation's
treasury dry.
And Mike Pence will do it all in the Lord's name!
Carl Jarvis
On 8/4/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
One fact: Trump brings in foreign guest labor to do all construction on his
properties which certainly doesn't provide jobs for Americans.
Miriam
Truthdig
President Trump Pushes Yet Another Problematic Immigration Bill
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/trump_pushes_raise_act_20170802/
Posted on Aug 2, 2017
President Trump with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., left, and Sen. David
Perdue,
R-Ga., at the White House on Wednesday, unveiling proposed legislation to
place new limits on legal immigration. (Evan Vucci / AP)
President Trump on Wednesday endorsed a new GOP Senate bill that would
slash
legal immigration levels over a decade, apparently aimed at dramatically
reducing legal immigration overall. The bill is a modified version of
legislation (https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=765)
proposed in April, which would have cut immigration in half, and focuses on
cutting back what is known as "chain migration"-ways of immigrating to the
U.S. based on family ties.
The new Republican bill, called the RAISE Act (short for Reforming American
Immigration for Strong Employment Act) is co-authored by Republican Sens.
Tom Cotton and David Perdue. It would alter the immigration screening
process to favor English speakers with the purported ability to support
themselves financially and demonstrate skills that will benefit the
economy.
It would also, according to the president, prohibit recently arrived
green-card holders from receiving welfare. Trump problematically referred
to
this as a "merit-based" system on Wednesday.
Writes The Washington Post: (
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/02/trump-gop-se
nators-to-introduce-bill-to-slash-legal-immigration-levels/?utm_term=.a00fca
832823 )
To achieve the reductions and create what they call a "merit-based system,"
Cotton and Perdue are taking aim at green cards for extended family members
of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, limiting such avenues for
grown children and siblings. Minor children and spouses would still be
eligible to apply for green cards.
The senators also propose to end a visa diversity lottery that has awarded
50,000 green cards a year, mostly to areas in the world that traditionally
do not have as many immigrants to the United States, including Africa. And
the bill caps refugee levels at 50,000 per year.
Trump declares the bill to be the most significant immigration reform in
half a century. He says that one of the main motivations to pass the bill
is
to prevent the displacement of American workers-a claim that's echoed by
Cotton, who has said that while immigrant rights groups might view the
current system as a "symbol of American virtue and generosity," he sees it
"as a symbol we're not committed to working-class Americans and we need to
change that."
To the contrary, studies suggest (
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/us/immigrants-arent-taking-americans-jobs
-new-study-finds.html ) this evaluation is somewhat misleading:
The (National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine) report
assembles research from 14 leading economists, demographers and other
scholars, including some, like Marta Tienda of Princeton, who write
favorably about the impacts of immigration and others who are skeptical of
its benefits, like George J. Borjas, a Harvard economist. Here's what the
report says:
"We found little to no negative effects on overall wages and employment of
native-born workers in the longer term," said Francine D. Blau, an
economics
professor at Cornell University who led the group that produced the
550-page
report.
An article posted on Politico (
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/immigration-trump-senate-cotton-234706
) included similar opinions:
"Economists overwhelmingly think that immigration is good for the economy.
That's not just true at the high-skilled, but low-skilled level," said
Jeremy Robbins, the executive director of the Partnership for a New
American
Economy, the pro-reform group led by former New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg.
Robbins, who regularly meets with GOP lawmakers, added: "There is
overwhelming support in Congress for the idea of immigration as an economic
driver, including in the Republican conference."
Trump's elevation of immigration to the forefront of his agenda probably
represents a bid to pull public attention away from the recent GOP defeat
on
health care. This latest immigration bill's chances are slim in the Senate,
given that it would require 60 GOP votes to thwart a Democratic filibuster.
Trump has hammered Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Twitter,
insisting that McConnell abolish the filibuster to better enable the GOP to
pass its legislative agenda.
-Posted by Emily Wells
Ethics Group Wants Steve Bannon Investigated for Public Relations
Relationship
Robert Rosenthal: Investigative Journalism Must Embrace Tech (Audio)
Scheer: 'Fake News' Label Is Used to 'Whitewash American History' (Video)
Attorney General Sessions Threatens to Punish 'Sanctuary Cities'
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
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