Most Americans raise their children with certain rules of decency. For example, it is not okay to lie. They are taught to take responsibility if they did something wrong and to accept the consequences. Apologizing and making restitution are signs of strength, not weakness.
We do our best to instill and nourish their character when we tell them that it is NOT okay to cheat on a test or in game/ sports/ competition in order to win. We explain that if they have to cheat to win, they are acting like losers, no matter what the outcome.
We do our best to insure that our children do NOT act like bullies, that they know to treat others with courtesy and to avoid those who don’t act accordingly. Both my children stepped up to the plate to advise me when they knew of a child who was being bullied. Then I as the adult would take over to remedy the situation.
Personally, I would be ashamed if my children emulated the behaviors/ actions of the republican President Donald Trump and the GOP lawmakers in the US Congress as they are acting counter to all the behaviors that I’ve tried to instill in my children. My wish for my progeny has always been the same, that they grow up to be decent honorable adults who are content, at peace with their lives.
Why do “we the people” have to be stuck with losers as our elected officials. The Trumpian republican Party has been catering to the White Supremacists folks in their midst where racism, Xenophobia and Antisemitism have become more normalized. It should be obvious that a racist who belongs to a Neo-Nazis group will also be prone to being anti-Semitic and anti-immigration, and especially against those migrants from President Trump’s list of sh*thole countries.
Thus the president and his GOP buddies who are desperate to mitigate their expected losses to Democratic Party candidates after the November 2018 elections, have decided to cater to the anti-immigration faction of their base before the election day of 11/6/18.
They have been portraying the Honduran refugee caravan as being financed by their favorite bogeyman, the Jewish billionaire George Soros who does donate to democratic causes; that there are criminals and middle eastern terrorists traveling with the caravan; and that the refugees/ INVADERS are carrying diseases like leprosy, small pox and TB.
This conspiracy tale ended up motivating a mass shooter to fatally wound 11 Jewish members of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, on the 27th of October 2018.
There is no ambiguity here. The president and the GOP have been using the anti-immigration issue especially of those Honduran refugees of color who have formed a caravan to walk at a rate of about 20 miles per day towards the US-Mexican border via Guatemala and Mexico, to motivate their followers to get out to vote.
These Honduran refugees are fleeing gang violence which is rampant in Honduras. Many have already lost loved ones who have been murdered, tortured or threatened by these gangs. As per US law and International laws, it is legal for these refugees to seek asylum in the USA.
As per the website UN.org, “The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, for example, provides guidance for human rights safeguards which address the specific situation of migrant workers and their families.”
“The Durban Declaration recognized that xenophobia against non-nationals, including migrants, constitutes one of the main sources of contemporary racism and that there are frequent and widespread human rights violations against members of such groups.”
“Human rights mechanisms, such as the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and the Committee on Migrant Workers, have been clear in stating that although countries have a sovereign right to determine conditions of entry and stay in their territories, they also have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of all individuals under their jurisdiction, regardless of their nationality or origin and regardless of their immigration status.”
“Human rights violations against migrants can include a denial of civil and political rights such as arbitrary detention, torture, or a lack of due process, as well as economic, social and cultural rights such as the rights to health, housing or education. The denial of migrants’ rights is often closely linked to discriminatory laws and to deep-seated attitudes of prejudice or xenophobia. (We can include forced separation of children from their refugee parents/ guardians.)”
“In this context, OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) works to promote, protect and fulfill the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their status, with a particular focus on those women, men and children who are most at risk of human rights violations. ”
Incidentally, most undocumented workers in the USA are peoples who have remained in the USA, even after their visas have expired.
Republicans were the ones who chose not to vote on a comprehensive immigration bill that was passed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis by the US Senate in 2013.
This 2013 senate bill would have provided for better border management of migrants and a myriad of other reforms, but it died in the US Congress because the republican leadership would not allow the bill to come to the floor to be voted on, even though they knew that it would have passed.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13317279/Migrant_caravan_map_oct.22__1_.jpg)
The Honduran refugee caravan that is en-route to the USA is not expected to arrive at the US-Mexican border until the first week in December 2018 which is about a month later than the US midterm elections day scheduled for the 6th of November 2018.
But that fact was not a consideration as the president initially ordered 5,000 active military personnel to be deployed asap to the US Southern border. Heck, this makes for a great photo-op to bolster his anti-immigration bona fides for his base of Xenophobic voters.
How to impress President’s anti-immigration faction of his base…
“As per the 10/31/18 Military Times report, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the number of troops he is sending to the U.S.-Mexico border could grow to as many as 15,000 active duty and National Guard personnel, putting the deployment on par with the military’s wartime operations in Afghanistan.”
“The number of troops would include the initial wave of 5,239 active duty troops, 2,100 National Guard forces already there, and another 2,000 to 3,000 on prepare-to-deploy orders. It would eclipse any previous border deployment in recent memory by administrations that have also sought to quell either violence or immigration influxes at the border.”
Then to make an even better splash with the president’s Xenophobic members of his base, he has decided that he can do away with the 14th amendment which states that anyone born in US territory, is automatically a US citizen. When the US House Speaker of the US Congress Paul Ryan disputed this claim, the president took him to the woodshed and publicly rebuked him for knowing nothing about this subject.
When the White House spokesperson Kelly Ann Conway backed her boss’s assertions, her husband George Conway, a scholar of the US Constitution wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post, disputing her analysis of the 14th amendment.
President Trump approved the following racist video which depicts a criminal who was deported under President Bill Clinton’s administration but he returned to the USA under the republican George W. Bush’s administration. These facts are omitted in the video.
This blog was updated on November 1, 2018.
Gronda Morin 
I loved it during the 2016 election and currently at tRump rallies, the Daily Show asked tRump cult members if they would want their children acting like tRump does, they asked if he was a role model they would want their child to follow. To a one they answered no. They would discipline their child if they lied or did things like tRump does. Yet they support him unquestionably.
As for the troops on the border. tRump now says he will order them to fire on the caravan if they throw something. The whole idea is ridiculous. First the troops have no authority to do more than support activities. By law they can not be used to enforce laws in the US. They have no enforcement or detainment powers in side the US. All they can do is be extra eyes or tech support ( make coffee ) and radio to border patrol if they see something.
Now think on this. tRump says he sent 5200 already and now says he will add another 15,000. Ok where is the caravan headed? To a known legal port of entry like between Mexico and San Diego. They are not headed to the deserts of Texas to cross unknown. The point is they want to file for asylum. Which is legal. So where at the port of entry are you going to stack up 20,200 troops? Add that they are to fire ( illegal as the border patrol people who have done so and killed kids on the Mexican side of the border and are now on trial now know ) into the vehicles and people waiting to be processed at a legal point of entry?
Yes I know this is all to gin up his base, but can even the deplorables be this easily duped? Even Fox News admits it is all a stunt and can not be done. But the saddest thing is we have a President doing all he can to inflame racism and bigotry just before an election. Right after a week of killings based on race and religion, and with mail bombs being sent to a political party that tRump makes out to be the villain. Just what we aspire to have in a president of the country with the largest military in the world. Hugs
LikeLiked by 3 people
Dear Scottie,
The president’s use of military being deployed to US/ MX border is an abuse of power and a waste of tax payer monies and valuable resources. This military deployment is nothing but a political stunt.
If General Mattis who is the US Defense Secretary signs of on the deployment of 15, 000 soldiers, I’ll lose all respect for him. Hopefully, he’ll hold off in signing the order to deploy US active military personnel.
Our active military is not permitted by law to participate in anything along the lines of what President Trump wants which is for these soldiers to fire on the refugees.
The Posse Comitatus Act, which was passed after the Civil War to keep federal troops from policing the South, limits federal troops’ deployment on U.S. soil and forbids using them to enforce domestic laws.
But there is an exception which explains why the president has been referring to the Honduran refugees as an invasion.
Here’s the exception: The President can deploy troops if there’s an insurrection or invasion on U.S. soil.
Here’s the rub. There is no way a caravan of refugees equals an invasion.
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you Gronda. I agree with you. I guess I didn’t quite think this fully out as you say. The caravan is not a Mexicain authority nor part of the Mexican government. If the military on orders from the President claiming that the caravan is an invasion force, fires into the crowd at a official point of entry, we are in effect declaring war with the sovereign country Mexico. Now tRump is that crazy, but congress is not. Nor will a commander of any military unit do so as it is not a lawful order. Remember the military regulations insists a member of the military reject and refuse any order that is unlawful. Not even to gain the favor of the tRump base will a majority of congress give a war declaration to tRump based on mostly children and mothers at an official entry point being an invasion. Such acts on our part will further make us a paria on the international stage and also bring other countries in to the conflict against us. It is a black hole that the world can not crawl out of most of congress knows this. So no despite his being able to send all the troops to the border he wishes, he can not start a war, and the troops will told clearly that they are not allowed to fire nor to act as laws enforcement. No officer is going to jeopardize their retirement or career to satisfy a temporary political goal. At least not any I served with. Hugs
LikeLiked by 3 people
Dear Scottie,
The election day of Nov. 6th is only few days away. This action of ordering 15,000 more military personnel by President Trump is strictly for him to show off with his base of voters.
If Gen. Mattis can delay signing anything until after Nov. 6, 2018, the whole issue may disappear.
There have been embedded reporters who have stated for the record that what they are seeing are families fleeing extreme violence.
What I’m worried about is propaganda coming forward by our government trying to say that those who are participating in this caravan are of a different make-up than previous ones. I’m keeping an eye out if government officials start this fake news.
With the last caravan in April 2018, only 14 arrests were made by border police. Why wasn’t military deployed then? I, as a taxpayer am very upset over this.
Hugs, Gronda
LikeLiked by 2 people
I agree and understand. The fact is the administration has a goal pushed by Steven Miller to end all brown people immigration. The do not mind white european immigration, but no non-white people can come. So they have to make these people as bad, as evil, as horrible as possible so the tRump people will stand behind shutting them all out no matter what.
When they announced they were going to review the paperwork of people already naturalized I noticed the did not go after tRump’s wife or her parents. They are not going after the wealthy russians that buy tRumps apartments and have babies here then go home. Nope they are going after Africans, Hatians, and other majority black / brown nations. It is so clear this is simply a racist attempt to prop up the “white” race for as long as possible as the majority superior race. These people and this racism white nationalize scare me, a lot. Hugs
LikeLiked by 2 people
Gronda, the lies are quite noticeable. The ones where the GOP tries to mask how they have screwed Americans on healthcare take some nerve. Trying to repeal the ACA, gutting 89% of payments to insurers for adverse selection, eliminating funding of subsidies to insurers to help poor people with deductibles, copays and fighting Medicaid expansion have increased ACA premiums even more for Americans. Then there is the pre-existing condition BS. People who pay a little bit of attention know the GOP is lying. Keith
LikeLiked by 3 people
Dear Keith,
I used to give Republican Party members credit for how hard they fought for a goal. This trait is an albatross now, as they are infamous for how hard they fought to sabotage and to repeal ACA, Obamacare.
If President Trump’s followers are foolish enough to believe him, they had better pray that Dems win bigly on Nov. 6, 2018, otherwise they and their families will be left holding an empty bag, if one of them becomes seriously ill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gronda, I agree. A key reason i left the GOP over ten years ago was a tendency to make things up. In the age of Trump, the truth is less relevant to be used only when it favors your argument. I was following your and Scottie’s excellent discussion. Here is a stupid question that needs to be asked – why would terrorists march over 1,000 miles when there are sneakier ways to cross the border? That seems to be a lot of work to get to the border. Keith
LikeLiked by 2 people