Friday, January 12, 2018

Chicago honors immigrant from nation Trump scorns



    Lying has become so routine to the Trump administration that nobody even bothers to press the issue. When Trump tweeted that he isn't visiting London because "he is no big fan of the Obama administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for 'peanuts,'" the media dutifully pointed out that in the actual factual world the deal was struck under George W. Bush. 
    But there was no need to confront the president, no need to quiz him whether that lie, or delusion, or whatever it was, is even the true reason for avoiding the city, or could it possibly be how deeply unpopular he is in Britain? One lie begets another. When you're Donald Trump, avoiding the truth isn't a hobby, it's a full-time job. Two thousand documented lies in the past year. He's never going to say: "I can't visit England because I might have to confront the odium that Europeans reserve for me."
     He can't come to Chicago for the same reason. The last time he tried, for a campaign rally a year ago March, the rally had to be scrubbed because the protest was so intense. Trump didn't dare show his face. 
     I doubt he'll ever visit here. I almost added, "Not if he's smart." Since smart left the Trump building long ago, let's just say he's too cowardly. And credit him for knowing where he's not wanted. 
     If the president needs a facile excuse for never visiting the largest American city between the coasts, he can at least fall back on something true. Chicago has a bust of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, our first permanent non-native resident, right in the heart of downtown, at Pioneer Court, on Michigan Avenue just north of the DuSable Bridge. Du Sable, you probably know, was an immigrant from Haiti, one of those "shithole countries" that Donald Trump doesn't want sending any more immigrants to this country. Du Sable was living here a century before Donald Trump's grandfather left Germany.  
    Oh, and Trump also denies using the phrase "shithole countries." Even though a bunch of congressmen and senators were there and vouch that he said it. Dick Durbin, looking ashen and horrified, as are we all, confirmed it. These are ashen and horrifying times.







31 comments:

  1. The fact that Trump won't visit Chicago gives Chicago bragging rights. A badge of honor, really. Wear it proudly.

    My wife and I enjoy visiting DC but whenever we talk about going back I jokingly tell her that I won't set foot in that city as long as Trump lives there. Maybe we'll go in the fall. He should be gone by then, right?

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    1. Well, we didn't go in the fall. Why is Trump still there?

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  2. Shithole president or shithead president? Not sure of the proper usage.

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  3. Trump also supposedly asked why we can't get more immigrants from Norway.

    Um...because they don't want to come to a country where one of the two major political parties pauses from bitching over every single dime spent to help people just long enough to elect an utterly unqualified vulgar fool as president?

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  4. I've become so accustomed to the disgusting, horrifying, bigoted bile he spews that it has nearly deadened me to any reaction. But this is a new low, even for him -- or should I say *another* new low. He offends everything decent about what a human being is supposed to represent.

    SandyK

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  5. Coming from someone who no doubt lives in the most segregated area of the country. Hypocrites all of you!

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  6. I knew this column was coming.

    Well this illustrates my problem with profanity and obscenity whether as “radical chic” on this blog or from the mouth of our president. It serves no useful purpose and merely coarsens conversation.

    Trump could have made the exact same point by saying “impoverished and dysfunctional” nations. So let me use “I&D.”

    Most of the world lives in I&Ds. When the Iron Curtain was up all the nations on one side of the curtain were I&Ds – including my ancestral Poland.

    I believe the U.S.A. is a great place regardless of the president – Obama or Trump.

    I simply do NOT feel guilt for not throwing open our boarders to all that want to come.

    In Chicago we also have I&D neighborhoods where most of the people living there are good but unfortunate. Most of these people can trace their ancestral roots to the early years of our nation. Yet government is failing its first obligation, to protect them from violence.

    Thus instead of spending resources on unfortunate people who want to come to the country or who are here illegally, I would spend all the money on our long time citizens now living in I&Ds in the U.S.A. I would certainly provide the following for them:

    • More or less, a cop on every corner
    • Free community colleges
    • Free trade schools
    • Parental choice school vouchers for K thru 12 education.
    • Essential healthcare – probably through publically funded clinics


    The people sneaking into the USA are for the most part great hardworking people. But they drive down wages and take jobs away from our unemployed and low income citizens. Our first duty is to our citizens.

    Finally, remember that van load of illegal folk who boiled to death in Laredo, Texas. They were specifically headed to the sanctuary city of Minneapolis. Chicago’s mayor declared Chicago to be a sanctuary city while at the same time he can’t afford enough police to prevent Chicago from having one of the highest murder rates in the country.

    Thanks for the privilege of being allowed to post here.

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    1. Purposely selecting the right-wing "Federalist" as the source (there are many from which to choose) to make this point:

      "Are immigrants hurting American workers? While immigrants do lower wages of competing American workers in short term, if we take the long term view and evaluate the overall economy, the answer is a resounding 'No.'"

      http://thefederalist.com/2016/07/14/4-things-to-know-about-whether-immigrants-hurt-american-workers/

      "I would spend all the money on our long time citizens now living in I&Ds in the U.S.A."

      And where would that money come from? Might it magically "trickle down" from the massive tax cut that was just passed? If so, then why are the Republican architects of the tax cut now wondering where they can *cut* spending to reign in the deficit that'll be blowing up? They're not interested in spending any money on citizens in "I&Ds", they're concerned about how best to take away what *already* is being spent.

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    2. I know I shouldn't engage, but you seem to think that the immigrants are gobbling up all the jobs from citizens. A lot of those jobs are the ones many people don't want to do, like picking crops. There is a huge wave of migrants that arrive around here every year to pick the stuff that machines can't. Farmers hire them because they will do the job and do it well. If the farmer felt the locals were worth hiring, and if locals wanted the job, less migrants would be needed. I don't see that happening.

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    3. I know it's silly to bother engaging Jerry B's colloquy, but what does he think all those highly educated Norwegians our glorious leader wonts to import do to the job prospects of "real Americans."

      Tom

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  7. "Well this illustrates my problem with profanity and obscenity whether as 'radical chic' on this blog or from the mouth of our president. It serves no useful purpose and merely coarsens conversation."

    Yes, Jerry, but it's one thing for you or I, or any ordinary person, to use the word "shithole" in this context. For the President of the United States, quite another. He's either unable to restrain himself from these types of vile, bigoted comments or else he doesn't care. Perhaps he's pleased with himself.

    Then you go on with your opinions, substituting "impoverished" and "dysfunctional" for "shithole". Which kinda defeats the whole point of this blog post. You are not the President.

    SandyK

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  8. Exactly, Sandy. But he does easily identify with what he imagines Trump's tactics to be. He's projecting his own image onto the president. It does not make Trump look any better.

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  9. Attention everyone else: Please do not engage with the condescending windbag. It just encourages him.

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  10. Can't imagine why you chose to remain anonymous. Without looking, could you spell your nom de plume?

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  11. He's the guy that's been banned for life.

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  12. I read that after Trump made his racist attack against people of color from certain nations he was preening while the sycophants that surround him were praising his strong remarks. I don't know if he's mentally ill, but he is truly sick. Sick. Worse, how many Republicans still refuse to call him out for what he is?

    Like the haters before him the purpose isn't to keep the unwanted out with laws and walls; it's to isolate themselves and reinforce their bigoted beliefs in the stinking hole filled with sh*t they call white supremacy.

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  13. Greetings Jakash:

    I completely agree with the Federalist Article. I read it before on the REALCLEARPOLITICS site. But let’s reread the article closely.

    We middle class folk benefit both short term and long term from immigration – legal and otherwise.But those living generation after generation in the I&D neighborhoods do not. The Federalist article seems to say (or strongly imply) that they get “leap-frogged” by the new immigrants and their progeny. My Polish ancestors certainly leap-frogged.

    If businesses could not obtain a steady stream of immigrant workers – both skilled and unskilled – then they would demand of politicians that the schools teach effectively.

    You asked with regard to tax reform – where is the money to come from for my wish list to help the I&D neighborhoods? Good question! The flippant answer is “hell if I know.” The more hopeful answer is by “skimming from the economic growth caused by tax reform.” I am hopeful but not certain.

    BTW: Our President Trump is more committed to help those left behind than the standard country club Republican. He has the beautiful wife and more money than he can possibly spend in the remainder of his life. Thus I believe his only motivation is to “Make American Great Again.” Probably his image of greatness is middle class Ozzie& Harriet but with a lot more black, brown, gay, and lesbian Ozzie’s and Harriet’s. Come on, he is a cosmopolitan New Yorker, not from the hinterland of Mississippi. He probably does want to eventually be loved by all and to have a super-duper legacy.

    If Trump is indeed doing some things right – don’t spit in his face just to bolster your ego. What’s the point of the Resistance wreaking havoc. It will just draw the cops away from where they are needed and cost us taxpayers more for their overtime pay. Nothing like the Resistance “cutting its nose to spite it’s face.”

    Since WWll the U.S.A. has been the only safe place to park big-time money. Ask the Chinese. Perhaps it will also be the super-best place to establish a business.

    There is one new thing under the sun. Very smart moms and dads meet in school. They both have big-time jobs but little time for anything else. Thus they need to hire all those ancillary workers to keep things moving -- nannies, yard workers, plumbers, the cooks and servers at high end restaurants, etc.. If things were set up right – these ancillary people could make a lot of money off of that high end couple. But now there are many barriers to hiring such ancillary workers.

    Finally, everyone will pick fruit if the price is right. I rather have it be citizens.

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    1. Your "Polish ancestors certainly leap-frogged" largely because of the endemic racism in this country. Catering to xenophobia will do little to ameliorate the still prevalent racism, it seems to me.

      "The more hopeful answer is by 'skimming from the economic growth caused by tax reform.'" Gonna assume that you're "not certain" because that's a different way of saying "trickle down," which has never been proven to actually be beneficial to those hoping to be trickled on. Thinking *this time* will be different would amount to wishful thinking.

      If, indeed, "everyone will pick fruit if the price is right," then we can thank Republican businessmen who'd prefer not to pay the right price, rather than bleeding-heart liberals for much of the immigration problem, then, correct?

      "If things were set up right... people could make a lot of money off of that high end couple." Who's to blame for the fact that such people aren't interested in paying "the right price," either, but would rather "let the market decide" and invest that money? Who's against a higher minimum wage, for instance? "If things were set up right," the racist horse-trading that led to the creation of the electoral college wouldn't have determined that we're stuck with a guy that got 46% of the vote as President.

      If ole Rumpy's interested in "Ozzie& Harriet but with a lot more black, brown, gay, and lesbian Ozzie’s and Harriet’s," he's certainly done nothing to indicate that. Whatever you think of him, many of "the best people" he's put in place are transparently racist, homophobic incompetents. Did you think "shithole countries" was another masterful stroke by the puppet-master, BTW? Or was it just a tad, a skosh on the racist side, perhaps? How about his denying that he said it, when there were plenty of Senators present to say that he's lying about that?

      "he is a cosmopolitan New Yorker" Oh, boy. He sure doesn't act, or speak, like one. He *has* mastered the art of fleecing people, though, so there's that.

      "His only motivation," it's been clear for decades, is to make Donald Trump seem great. If he could accomplish that through making America great, maybe he'd be willing to do it. Unfortunately, he's such an incompetent charlatan that he has no freaking idea what that would take. From all evidence, he knows less about government than you and I did when we finished the 8th grade. He *does* seem to have an idea of how to make lots of money for himself and his cronies while the struggling folks who voted for him go on struggling, though.

      Thanks for the reply, but, man, that's a lot of territory for one comment. And Bitter Scribe is gonna bitter about me replying!

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  14. Israel has taken in thousands of Ethiopian Jews, all of whom are black. They even did it by secretly rescuing them first in Operation Moses in 1984 & then rescuing more in Operation Solomon May 1991.
    The Africans Israel is sending back are economic refugees & thought they could guilt Israel into accepting them, but Israel doesn't have the economy to handle all these people.

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  15. @Clark St. well we don't have the economy to handle all these people either! Listen, I don't fault Israel for wanting to maintain it's demographic balance, I really don't. I'm just so sick of International Liberalism flooding the country with immigrants that at best will be Democrats for 4 generations and at worst DESPISE this country and all it stands for with the exception of the economy. I'm also sick of rich Liberals like our blogger that preach diversity and run to the suburbs at the first sniff of trouble. In the real world there are very serious long term problems integrating immigrants from certain areas of the world (MS-13). They will work for next to nothing driving down wages and we're stuck racing to the bottom. Based on your comments in the past I doubt you have ever dealt with hardship in your life but for some of us it's real. And letting in 60k Ethiopians is no demographic danger to Israel and you know it! Operation Solomon at the end of the day was public image as well as humanitarian and you know it so don't B.S. me. We have been lectured for generations about being more tolerant and open but there are limits to our patience. Trump is a result of uncaring mega capitalists that want cheap labor and a ruling class of political and press elites that want to boss us around and have a set of rules for themselves and their children and a set of rules for us. And finally, NEVER think this American experiment can't go bad. Read the comments in the yahoo threads. This country is a tinder box. Nothing lasts forever, nothing, the United States included. I'm surprised it hasn't erupted yet. Look at the number of heavy rifles that are sold yearly, especially in the South and rural areas. The rifles ain't for duck hunting. Look at these crazy preppers and militias that are popping up everywhere. I'm terrified that one day the beating of a butterfly's wings will unleash a hurricane that G-d himself can not stop.

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  16. Jakash:

    Simply call them like you see them. Don’t be afraid of Bitter Scribe. BTW who was he or she on Zorn’s blog? Meehan?

    Ethnic Poles and Polish Jews and Russian Jews did benefit by endemic racism. Also benefited from strong family values, religious schools, and religious institutions. Also benefited from the trickle down from the titans of industry in the USA compared to the noble landowners of Poland, the Ukraine, and Russia.
    Complicated story.

    At least Trump is not called anti-Semitic. I believe that he has two sets of grandchildren who are Jewish.

    Liberals/progressives use the “racist” and “xenophobic” accusation on anyone who does not buy the party line. That is why they are driving some in the middle into the arms of Trump. I have a cousin steel worker and low level union rep. He voted for Obama twice and now for Trump. Racist, xenophobe, anti-Semite, homophobe, religious bigot etc. should be horrid accusations. If they apply to almost anyone and everyone – then they are diluted. Under the “old” usage Trump is not a racist or a xenophobe.

    Republican businessmen and politicians in cahoots with liberals/progressives are to blame for lax border security and for gerrymandering. You are correctomundo on that one.

    There are a lot of legal barriers (licensure requirements for example) and hurdles set up in Illinois and Chicago against those that want to set up their small businesses. Existing businesses with their connections to politicians are to blame. Just witness the restaurant owners trying to stifle the lunch food truck business.

    And I will briefly respond to your (more or less) straight line of S&P growth. The technical argument against your position is as follows:

    Growth is always faster at a beginning of a recovery (or for an emerging country -- at the beginning of emergence) than when things have moved far along. Thus things should have been tapering off when Trump got elected -- due to the law of diminishing returns. Thus for things to still be growing in a straight line is amazing. I can also make other arguments with respect to economic causation – but this is tricky stuff which you should have no reason to accept.

    Finally, I do not understand Steinberg’s gripes against me. Not saying he should not have gripes. It’s just that I do not know the heck of what he is talking about. I assume you understand him better than me. Thus please always feel free to “be a wife” and kick me from under the table when you think I am risking banishment.

    Best regards,

    Jerry

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    1. Gotta say, I'm not wild about the "wife" suggestion, but I can tell you this. EGD is nothing like Zorn's blog and never was intended to be. Our host here is not particularly interested in fostering "an Athenian debating salon compared to most other blog comment areas" as EZ put it in his last comment on the "orginal" Change of Subject blog. He's posting his columns, posts and ruminations for us to comment on because it's "fun" for him, but, while he doesn't prohibit off-topic ramblings, he's not usually particularly or even tangentially interested in responding to them or engaging in wide-ranging discussions the way Zorn occasionally used to be. Which is fine, of course, and seems to be preferred by most who comment here.

      I'm not exactly sure when he might be inclined to pull the plug on a commenter, but when other folks are complaining about them overwhelming the threads, he may well be concerned about that. Which is what happens when one posts 30 paragraphs on a thread. Personally, I sometimes enjoy sparring with somebody who is dropping in from a different echo chamber, but that puts me in a distinct minority, both here and at C o S, and I've undoubtedly worn out my own welcome these last few days.

      As to your last comment, I'm not the student of economics that you are, but it seems to me that a stock market run that keeps on running until it doesn't is not that unusual and that it was just as interesting that it lasted essentially the entirety of Obama's presidency as it is that it has continued on into this guy's. He did *nothing*, substantively, to affect the stock market until December, regardless. Other than indicate very frequently that he's temperamentally, intellectually and experientially unsuited to be president, which the stock market evidently couldn't care less about.

      "Under the 'old' usage Trump is not a racist or a xenophobe." Saying "When Mexico sends its people, they’re ... sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people." along with yesterday's choice verbiage, is xenophobic enough for me.

      "Trump falsely claimed for years that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and took out advertisements calling for the death penalty for members of the Central Park Five — four black youths and a Hispanic youth who were accused of a brutal rape in New York and later exonerated." -- Washington Post

      1973: "The complaint alleged that the Trumps violated the Fair Housing Act, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, by discriminating against tenants and potential tenants based on their race." http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/sep/27/hillary-clinton/true-hillary-clinton-says-federal-government-sued-/ Uh, all of those represent the "old" usage of racist. When it comes to Trump, such charges are far from "diluted."

      Oh, and for what it's worth, not Meehan. You'd recognize the name, but I'll leave it to him if he cares to tell you, which I very much doubt he would.

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    2. Jakish. As far as the Trump effect on the stock market the administration immediately began rolling back regulation on business. Opened public lands for exploitation.
      And signaled the coming tax break. These things are positive forces on the market I think. Along with opening the coastal drilling opportunities up . These things definitely drive the market and stock prices rise .

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    3. All true, FME, but without a strong economy those factors would be meaningless because nobody would be investing. The Obama year's rising tide lifted the boats. If Trump doesn't fuck it all up, I'll gladly give him credit for not fucking it all up.

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    4. I'll concede those points, FME. Still, even under the "draconian" regulations and environmental restraints imposed by that tyrant, Obama, the market did pretty damn well. Which was much better than it ended up after 8 years of free-market Republican policies under W's stewardship...

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    5. jakash the Obama administration inject 1.7 TRILLION phony dollars into the economy in a program called quantitative easing. they are about to start taking it back out. We'll see how the market reacts to that.

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  17. Hey, Agent Orange will always be welcome in Mount Greenwood.

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  18. I used to read Yahoo comments because, sadly, it became my provider when I signed up for AT& T U-Verse, six years ago. I threw up until there was nothing left to regurgitate, so I don't do that anymore. Yahoo is the bottom of the dumpster. The people who spew on it are the reason so many other sites have closed their comment boards.

    If Agent Orange doesn't push the button down first, the Yahoo yahoos are finally going to bring about Civil War 2.0, and it will be like two, three, a hundred Northern Irelands. On steroids. America has been a gasoline storage facility for the last fifty years. Agent Orange is the drunken moron who tosses the lit cigarette.

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  19. My memory of the early 50s is that DPs, i.e. Poles, Czechs, Russians, Jews, etc., the persons displaced as a result of the 2nd World War, were pretty much in the same boat with Blacks and Mexicans as far as discrimination goes. Of course, the children of the DPs were able to break out of that boat, whereas many Blacks and Mexicans remain in that boat to this day.

    john

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