The past, the past, what do we do with it? Push it down and it bobs back up.
I was cleaning my desk at home—a walnut roll-top, cubbyholes and odd drawers and secret compartments, bought when I was 14 with five years worth of paper route savings. It's big: the entire Oxford English Dictionary fits on top with room to spare. The thing tends to accumulate junk. I was re-arranging piles of files when I came across a creme colored envelope. Inside, an invitation to my high school commencement.
"Wednesday evening, June fourteenth. Nineteen hundred and seventy-eight..."
Where did that come from? It didn't sit there, unnoticed, for 40 years? Did it? I hope not.
I tucked the invite away and pushed onward with my clean-up.
Hanging from the bulletin board, a Congressional candidate's flyer. Nothing is more disposable than campaign literature after the election is over, but this, well, I just couldn't throw away. I took it down to admire anew.
"A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO YOU FROM ARTHUR JONES" it blared. "YOUR CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESSMAN."
The Nazi, if you recall, or alleged Nazi, if you're feeling charitable. The guy who throws birthday parties for Hitler.
A flag, of course and a photo of the U.S. Capital.
"WHERE I STAND:" and a dozen bullet points.
Guess which is first? C'mon, guess!
No, not "Make English the Official Language!" — because nothing imperils the greatness of a country like having more than one language spoken there. That's fifth. Though I would argue that propping up your native tongue and defending its supposed purity is worse than un-American, it's French. They're big on that.
Not "No Amnesty for Illegal Aliens!" That's fourth. What a handy word, "illegal"—the bigot's friend, the open gate through which a truckload of fear and hate is driven. The fig leaf hiding—in the mind of the bigot—his obscene shame.
Enough preface. Drumroll please. Arthur Jones' Numero Uno—whoops, where are my manners? That's Spanish. And Italian. The Number One reason he felt he should be elected:
"Build The Wall!"
Of course it is. Both obvious and demanding explanation.
Why would a Holocaust-denying, immigrant-hating, anti-Semitic wack job like Jones care about building Trump's Wall? Because he's concerned with stemming crime and the flow of drugs? That's what Trump has been tweet-blasting for days.
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Trump only consulted contractors, not engineers. He hasn't settled on a wall or a fence. His steel slats are easily cut with a saw you can get at Home Depot.
ReplyDeleteNo environmental studies have been started. No attempt to purchase land from private landowners. No discussion of who gets the Rio Grande.
It will never be built. Not because we aren't capable of the largest construction project ever seen, but because the people who claim they want to build it aren't serious about it at all.
They're just racists crying out to their fellow frightened racists
This whole mess is super ridiculous. And I don't see a way out of it. Trump has no conscience and the longer this goes on, Democrats will feel the pain and eventually the pressure to succumb.
ReplyDeletejohn
Democrats don't negotiate with terrorists.
DeleteAliens taking our jobs? Easier to stop by punishing the employers. Fines and incarceration excellent disincentives to hiring alien workers. Drug trafficking and its' attendant violence? Remember Prohibition? I recently had to beg my dentist for a relatively mild pain killer because of the " nanny state" drug laws in this country. Legalize everything, spend one tenth of enforcement money on education and treatment. Radical, yes; rational also. One last piece of advice, Neil, Black Forest Cake if you get that invite.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, the law in 1986 was supposed to disincentivize employers from hiring "illegal aliens." However, I've never seen a raid on a factory in which the owner and managers were dragged out in handcuffs.
DeleteThom Hartmann claims that Reagan stopped enforcement aimed at employers, not sure if that is true or not, I've caught him in exaggerations. The 1986 law made employers see an actual Social Security card and fill out a form, I believe, but in this century I haven't experienced that process.
DeleteI was wondering what one takes to a Hitler birthday party. John's idea above is good, but last night, I was slicing a tomato for my salad and found that in cross-section, its interior enclosed a near-perfect Iron Cross. If only that could be bred into tomatoes (call them grosserjunge, maybe?) it would be the perfect dish/gift for that Nazi in your life.
ReplyDeleteI'm not opposed to the notion that we should make it difficult for people to enter the country illegally, and conceive it possible that some additional physical barriers could be justified. But our super salesman President and his party have done a poor job of selling the idea. Why didn't the Republican House hold hearings that would provide the public with expert opinion on the subject?
ReplyDeleteWhy wasn't the $5.7 billion part of the budget submitted to Congress instead of being sprung on everybody in a weird White House press conference?
Tom