Naguin Sawiris, a Coptic Christian, is Egypt’s third richest man. He is showing the world the right way to spend money. He wants to buy an island and house between one and two hundred thousand refugees there. It’s a complicated deal but if he can get Italy or Greece to sell him this island, he is prepared to do the rest himself. This is a prime example of how the rich should be spending their money. There are only so many planes, yachts or trophy wives that anyone can handle. There is so much money afloat in the world that has been gobbled up by so few people and so much need that it is not much of an affront to demand that a good part of it be spent to help our fellow man.
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This blog has repeatedly attacked the Republicans about their gross habit of building things that have no significance into huge deals just to create a platform on which to attack their democratic rivals. It goes all the way back to Whitewater, has continued on through many insignificant issues and is now, after Benghazi has flat-lined, settled in on e-mails. None of the issues in question have any real significance; no bearing on events that preceded or would follow them and all could be categorized as GOP wet dreams.
I bring this up because right now, the leading GOP candidate is basing his entire program on a slogan and a baseball hat, signifying an issue, that when brought up by the first lady was cause for humongous attacks on her and the president. First let me say that if I was Donald Trump I would certainly wear something to cover that ridiculous orange bar rag he carries around on his head, but it’s the message not the messenger that is really the problem.
A number of years ago Michelle Obama made a statement to a crowd of reporters indicating that for the first time she was completely proud of her country because for the first time it was addressing a racial situation in a non-biased manner. This caused all Republicans to turn purple and the tops of their heads to blow off. You would have thought that the first lady was the one who ran the planes into the World Trade Center.
Now along comes a bigoted blowhard with an ill-fitting baseball cap and the message; Make America great again. So he is saying exactly what Michelle Obama said a number of years ago only doubling down on it. She thought there was a problem with racial bias. Trump thinks there is a problem with everything. The only thing that may be standing in the way of American greatness right now is Donald Trump and ignorant bigots like him, including many of the candidates that flank him in the debates.
America is great now. People don’t flee America for more freedom or greater opportunities in France, Britain, Russia, China or anywhere else in the world. We are the bright shinning star of the planet. Sure we have problems, but not anywhere near the problems of other nations. Anyone who doesn’t realize this and exhibit pride in it, isn’t smart enough to lead us.
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A huge problem that is currently overwhelming Europe is, somehow, conveniently, being ignored by the United States. I’m speaking about refugees fleeing the Middle East and seeking safety in a country where there is no war. It is the biggest refugee movement since the end of WWII and it presents challenges that are far more complicated than at that other time in memory.
In this country the problem of how many and who they may be, is muddled as is everything else by political considerations. That shouldn’t be, but it s. Therefore we must view the problem through at least two different lenses. The first must be the humanitarian factor. These are people fleeing chaos, mostly not of their making, and they need help. The recognition of this situation is what is supposed to make humans different than monsters. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way. We are taking in a pathetic 1,800 refugees with less than 700 actually processed and in the system. That’s just unacceptable by any humanitarian standard.
Why are we so behind on this issue? It’s hard to get a call on who’s to blame. Obama certainly is partially to blame, as he is in the Mexican immigrant situation. It’s difficult to understand how a man who is the child of a foreign parent can be so blind to the situation.
But Obama is not alone. Most of the GOP stands firmly against any addition to the refugee rolls. Even though Obama has said that we will add ten thousand more to our current total. But how does ten thousand, as against over two million refugees help solve the situation?
Even the ten thousand are too much, shout most of the Republican Party. They will come here and kill, us shout the cowards of all kinds across the country. We don’t want anymore dark people, shout the bigots and misogynists all over the nation. We must dismiss the bigots and misogynists because of what they are and because we understand that no reasonable, logical argument will have any effect on anything they think or say. There is no way to deal with them, except ignoring them.
But what about the cowards, and there are plenty of them? They have been given a platform by 911. So, sure, there is a chance that Islamic terrorists will get mixed into the swarms of people just looking for a safe place to raise their kids and sure they may create events that we don’t like. But for just a second let’s ignore the terror that the image of an Arab with a bomb strikes into the heart of a housewife in Iowa and try to look at the reality of the situation and the ways we are and should be dealing with it.
Last year Homeland Security claims that we stopped some 40 attempts by Islamic terrorists to create incidents in this country. Those 40 occurrences are not all bomb attacks by any means. They include situations that dealt with men who were thought to be potential terrorists or those who were trying to leave the country to join outfits in Middle Eastern countries. Only a couple of those forty incidents were actually involved with violent confrontation or the danger of it. That’s good, that’s not bad. Homeland Security is doing a good job. To do that good job we are spending billions of dollars. Billions! BILLIONS!!! If we include the presence of the military we are now spending not billions but trillions.
For that hysterical expense we get 40 arrests. If Homeland Security were any other business in the world its budget would be cut down to about 1% of what it is now and we could still expect at least as good a result; if it were run efficiently. But with all that extra money and the technology now available to us, HS should be able to track every immigrant and every potential refugee, everyone who enters the country other then by walking across an unguarded border to make sure that they do not present a threat. The fact that HS is not doing that now should be a reason for a complete overhaul of the department.
These are a bunch of cowboys who can, even if you have done nothing wrong, walk into your home unannounced and unwarranted and completely mess up your life. Maybe they wouldn’t have to do that if they were doing the rest of their job functionally and efficiently.
Somehow this nation, that generated heroes by the score when it came together to fight the bad guys in WWII has degenerated into a bunch of groveling cowards who tremble at the thought of an invasion by medieval tribesmen who would, with our overwhelming air superiority, have to teach their camels to swim before they could even consider what terrifies many of our more pathetic citizens.
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This is a piece lifted if not verbatim, certainly in the spirit of Fareed Zakaria’s broadcast this Sunday.
Donald Trump claims he will make America greater.
So, let’s look at what a steaming pile of bullshit that slogan really is.
America is more dominant on the global landscape today than at any time since Clinton. America’s growth right now is almost twice that of Europe and four times that of Japan. Unemployment is at 5% the lowest in 7 years.
Ruchi Shama, the head of global Macro Economics at Morgan Stanley says that the US has come out of the 2008 crisis better than all the other nations. This happened under Obama. Americans have reduced their debt burden more than Europeans while China’s debt has skyrocketed to dangerous levels.
Since the 2008 crisis American equity markets have outperformed all others-in fact nine out of ten valuable companies in the world are now American
The dollar is the currency of choice.
In the last five years, the five top American banks have increased their capital value by $354 billion while in the same period the top five European banks have increased heir value by only $9.5 billion
Trump is obviously stuck in a time warp created by the publishing of his book, The Art of the Deal, in 1987, when Japan was red hot. Since then Japan has become the poster child for economic stagnation and political paralysis. In the 80’s Mexico because of their oil production was surging on the world markets, but since then they have fallen apart due to falling oil prices and bad management
China in the last few years has gone on a borrowing spree that has massively driven up its national debt. It has made mistakes in managing both its equity markets and currency that have cost four hundred billion dollars.
It would be fantastic if a new president could make America greater than it already is but we are already the world’s leading economic and military power. Ask anyone who lives anywhere else.
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The language issue keeps beating around the edges of every political discussion. The fact is that everyone comes to this country speaking another language and often no English. This happens in Europe too. My grandparents came to this country speaking no English, but most of the four quickly learned the language so that they would progress in their new land. It didn’t happen over night, but by the time I arrived I spoke no Italian, mainly because no one around me used the old language anymore except when they didn’t want the kids to understand what they were saying. I would have liked to have spoken Italian but it was more important that my parents spoke English. It allowed them to move out of the Italian ghettos and blend into American society. It is this column’s opinion that bi-lingual education is a crutch that keeps people in the ghetto the way they are kept there in Europe.
It is vitally important that we move our immigrants from foreign speaking to English speaking as quickly as possible, both for their good and for the country’s.
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Who do you trust? Well, a big time polling group has come up with these figures. Do you find them surprising?
Biden 84%
Carson 78%’
Bush 72%
Clinton 64%
Sanders 58%
Trump 55%
The reality is that they probably mean nothing, as do most poll figures. Trump who is leading all the polls is in sixth place in trust. Carly Fiorina who has lied every time her mouth has opened isn’t even included and Bernie Sanders, probably the most honest of the bunch is in fifth place. Nobody knows nothin’.