Unfettered Legal And Illegal Immigration Is Patriotic Or Something

Excitable Aaron Baker gives the patriotism shtick for immigration a whirl in the Michigan Daily, and, this was published on September 11th, but, then, most liberals do not seem to care to remember that Islamists killed almost 3,000 that day

Aaron Baker: The patriotism of immigration

President Donald Trump’s position on immigration is blatantly unpatriotic. Through his comments and actions as a candidate and president, we know he is no fan of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere. Many Trump supporters say it’s only illegal immigration that the president is opposed to, but the fact is that the president’s war against legal immigration is equally, if not more fervent than his efforts against illegal immigration.

President Trump has proposed to cut legal immigration in half by weakening the family ties clause of our immigration system that allows legal residents to sponsor family members. He wants to limit naturalization for legal immigrants if they have ever used government welfare programs. He has also cut the number of green cards we grant and is lessening the number of asylum seekers we accept. And let’s not forget his leaked comments that he doesn’t want people — legal or illegal — from “shithole” countries each of which was poor and brown immigrating here. Why are Trump’s immigration policies unpatriotic?

See? It’s unpatriotic to disallow people from countries that share no values with us, who use up our social support systems (Aaron missed that those applying for citizenship must be self supporting to start with), and might want to bring in tons of people with them who also share nothing in common with us and refuse to assimilate. There’s a reason we were called the melting pot. People bring new things and become part of the whole, rather than simply residing here but being essentially separate.

 In one of former President Ronald Reagan’s last televised addresses as president, he explained why he felt America was an exceptional country: “America represents something universal in the human spirit … Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.” Reagan’s patriotism is rooted in the belief that American values are universal. That is, anyone should be able to become an American because the American identity is rooted in its values.

But, Reagan would not have approved of bringing in people who often hate America, who share no values, and want to be separate. It’s always cute when hardcore lefties try and quote Reagan.

This is called civic nationalism, where the national identity is based on shared values rather than a shared perceptible identity. Late Sen. John McCain echoed Reagan’s sentiment last May, when he said that you don’t even need to know English to be fully American, you only need to have American values. What are these values? I would say they are they are pretty clearly delineated in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. They are a capacious set of values rooted in the basic liberal tradition of free speech, individual rights and due process. These values can incorporate a wide variety of political positions, ideologies, religions and cultures.

These would be the same American documents and traditions and such that Democrats despise and want to change.

But it was only in 1965, after the Civil Rights movement had left its mark, that America liberalized its immigration policy and became the country Reagan and McCain praised. From 1924 to 1965, America closed its doors with the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924. An ethnic and racial hierarchy was codified in a quota system that essentially only let Northern Europeans enter.

Back then, xenophobia was directed toward not only non-European groups, but also European groups perceived as threatening to the Anglo-American character of America. Italians, Jews, Irish, and at one point even Germans, threatened the homogeneity of the dominant culture. Italians, the Irish and the Jews were considered non-white races and faced widespread discrimination. Eventually, all of these groups integrated into the dominant culture, a process which changed the immigrant groups but also changed the country for the better. America, despite the incessant plague of xenophobia, has continually been shaped by immigrants.

And this is a lie as only a Democrat could put it. Mass immigration was shut down so that all those who came in up to 1924 could assimilate. Could become part of America. We could be one nation, rather than little enclaves.

Economic arguments against immigration similarly fall short of the facts and succumb to misperceptions. Immigrants contributeto the economy rather than slow it down. Immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to start a business and contribute a net increase to the living standards of the average American. The impetus against immigration is largely a visceral fear that someone who looks different or practices a different religion can’t have the same values or way of life. But isn’t the true testament to the strength of our values the fact that we believe anyone can live by them?

And there’s the “fear of someone different” argument, a good standby. See, a Democrats view of patriotism is “changing everything because we hate what America is now.” Plus, they love the idea of having cheap, under the table labor to do chores around their homes.

Read: Unfettered Legal And Illegal Immigration Is Patriotic Or Something »

Hurricane Florence Update: Huge Track Change

There are some big, big changes to Hurricane Florence as of the 5am update from the National Hurricane Center

Let’s look at the track map

For the Raleigh area, this actually mean a bit, but, as WRAL points out

On Thursday at 8 a.m., expect 5 to 10 mph winds. Those will increase to 15 mph winds at noon, 15 to 20 mph winds by 5 p.m. and 30 to 35 mph winds overnight. Winds will top out in the 40 to 45 mph range in Raleigh on Friday morning before weakening Saturday and Sunday.

Despite this new path, Raleigh is by no means “in the clear.” Elizabeth Gardner says our impacts remain the same, and North Carolina communities, particularly from Raleigh south, will still see devastating flooding and heavy winds.

The windfield is huge, as is the rain field. The flash flooding chance has gone way, way down, but, overall flooding remains high. In the Raleigh area, there is still a 70%+ chance of tropical storm force winds, that’s 39mph up to 74mph, and, we have to remember that even if 39mph (this means sustained for 1 minute) gusts could be much higher. The potential for TS force winds stretches from Florida to Delaware. We could see that starting Thursday, again.

The rain potential is now in the 6-10 inch range, instead of looking for 15+. That’s still quite a bit.

The big thing here, though, is that the track can, in fact, shift back to the north. Raleigh is on the edge right now, but, any little change could make a big difference. So, people should not let their guard down in those areas that are now on the right side of the storm. Plus, with still having winds and rain, still plan. I’m going to get a little tabletop gas grill (I needed a new grill, anyhow) for $40. If you’re in Raleigh, ask me later where I found it. Not giving up my secret till I’ve purchased.

And wait to see what the 11am and 5am forecasts say. Don’t relax quite yet.

Read: Hurricane Florence Update: Huge Track Change »

Roll Call Drops Really Bad Take On 9/11 And Russian Meddling

There are lots and lots of bad takes from people, ones which your mom and dad would have advised to really think deeply about before going there. There are, of course, tons of Truthers. I would have thought by this time they would have given up. Then there’s psychos like

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/1039466016718368768

Which wasn’t fair to Kamala Harris, who did tweet something nice. Then there’s this insanity

(Daily Caller)  Roll Call, a DC-based news outlet, published a cartoon on Tuesday comparing Russian election meddling to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The cartoon was published early Tuesday morning by Robert Mason with the tagline “Never Forget.”

The image depicts the Twin Towers in New York City reimagined as ballot boxes. A plane marked “Russia” is shown flying into the ballot boxes, suggesting that Russia took away the voting rights of Americans.

These people are seriously deranged. Sadly, many probably do remember what happened that day, and do not care.

Read: Roll Call Drops Really Bad Take On 9/11 And Russian Meddling »

If All You See…

…is a lake that is drying up from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Moonbattery, with a post explaining exactly what net neutrality is.

Read: If All You See… »

Warmist Gov Brown Looks For Negative Emissions

Governor Moonbeam uses vast amounts of fossil fuels himself, not too mention the vast amounts used by the state of Climafornia and its counties and cities. And, the huge number of people who flew and drove to San Fran for the big climate conference

Gov. Brown’s new climate goal: less than zero global warming emissions

Gov. Jerry Brown has repeatedly ratcheted up California’s global warming goals, setting ever-higher targets for the use of renewable power and demanding deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

But on Monday, Brown announced a climate goal so ambitious that many experts don’t know how to reach it.

As diplomats descended on San Francisco for a global climate conference, Brown signed an executive order calling for the state to slash its overall emissions to zero by 2045 and then go negative. Starting in 2046, California would pull more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, year-by-year, than it put in.

 photo laughing_zps3b740454.gif

Good luck with this, Moonbeam, as California’s economy is destroyed, because the means to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere mostly do not exist. Those few methods that do are beyond expensive, barely work, and are for tiny implementation.

Miller said, however, that setting a goal of going carbon negative could spur a serious discussion of how to get there.

So, more unicorn dust.

(I really wish that WordPress would fix the app so that all the weird formatting gets stripped. It’s a pain having go back in later to fix)

Read: Warmist Gov Brown Looks For Negative Emissions »

Your Fault: ‘Climate Change’ Drives Storms Just Like Florence

This is what your tax dollars are paying for, and unhinged, anti-science piece at NPR by Rebecca Hersher, which is, quite frankly, the first major media piece linking Florence with Hotcoldwetdry

Climate Change Drives Bigger, Wetter Storms — Storms Like Florence

Hurricane Florence is moving relentlessly toward the Southeastern U.S. It’s a large, powerful cyclone that will likely bring storm surge and high winds to coastal communities.

But climate scientists say one of the biggest threats posed by Florence is rain.

“Freshwater flooding poses the greatest risk to life,” explains James Kossin, an atmospheric scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. And Florence could cause extensive freshwater flooding for two reasons. (snip)

If Florence stalls over the Southeast, it would be reminiscent of Hurricane Harvey, which spent days dumping rain on the Houston region last year. Some areas ended up with more than 60 inches, a catastrophic amount of water that shut down the entire region and resulted in at least 93 deaths.

Slow-moving storms like Harvey are getting more common. A study published earlier this year by Kossin found that tropical cyclones around the world have slowed down 10 percent in the last 70 years.

“We’re seeing that in every ocean basin except the northern Indian Ocean,” says Kossin, possibly because climate change is causing the wind currents that hurricanes ride to slow down. If Florence slows down and stalls when it hits land, it will the latest example of that trend.

Perhaps they could tell us what hurricanes did during the Little Ice Age, Medieval Warm Period, and other cool and warm Holocene periods for comparison, because that’s the way science works. But, this isn’t about science, it’s about fearmongering to get you to pay taxes/fees and give up your liberty to government

Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., says global warming also affects the size and intensity of storms like Florence.

“We have global warming, and so this actually makes these storm bigger and more intense,” he explains. Humans burn fossil fuels in our cars, our power plants and our airplanes, all of which release greenhouse gases which trap heat. Warmer oceans, especially, provide fuel for hurricanes in the form of evaporating moisture.

Blah blah blah, another prognostication. Again, remember that they were first claiming that the big 2005 season was the new normal. When hurricane activity dried up almost immediately, they claimed there would be fewer but more powerful. When that didn’t happen, they blamed ‘climate change’ for atmospheric conditions that killed off landfalling tropical systems. Then, when you had a few major hurricanes last year after a 12 year dearth, they went back to the above conspiracy theory.

Funny how, if the Warmists believe that fossil fuels are to blame, that they aren’t giving up their own use of them.

Read: Your Fault: ‘Climate Change’ Drives Storms Just Like Florence »

Washington Post: George Bush Is To Blame For Not Uniting Us After 9/11

Most of the media is ignoring the 17th anniversary of September 11th, with, at best, some tiny little stories, or yammering on like Charles Lane, which is one of 3 web front page pieces, the 2nd which features iconic pictures, the third which kinda goes after Trump. There are a few unhinged op ed pieces, like Excitable Joe Scarborough using 9/11 to attack Trump. He needs to leave the GOP, he’s as wacko as Bernie Sanders and Corey Booker

We expected the war on terror to unite us. What went wrong?

Seventeen years ago, Osama bin Laden’s terrorist minions, using hijacked passenger planes as weapons, killed 2,977 people in a single awful raid on the United States. The al-Qaeda attack horrified and angered the nation — but also caused Americans to rally together as they had not done since Pearl Harbor.

Eighty-two percent of Americans spontaneously displayed the flag in the days just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a Gallup poll. Some 150 members of Congress from both parties gathered on the Capitol steps and sang “God Bless America.” Soon thereafter, a huge bipartisan majority voted to give President George W. Bush near carte blanche authority to wage a retaliatory “war on terror.”

In January 2001, 55 percent of the public described themselves as “extremely proud” to be American, according to Gallup; after what were widely understood as murderous attacks on U.S.-style freedom itself, that number surged, reaching 70 percent by June 2003. (snip)

Obviously, it has not worked out that way. Gone, long gone, are the singing, flag-waving and bipartisanship of the 9/11 aftermath. In their place, we have a polarized, hate-filled political climate often, and not inaccurately, described as a “cold civil war.” In July, Gallup found that only 47 percent of the public is still “extremely proud” to be American.

The majority of those are Democrats. Only 32% were extremely proud, versus 74% of Republicans.

Bush deserves blame for the politicized manner in which he and his team pursued the conflict, staking out extreme positions on, say, denying Geneva Convention protections to captive terror suspects, then denouncing critics as insufficiently committed to victory.

Yet divisions over the conduct of prolonged irregular warfare were bound to intensify sooner or later, as they did during the Vietnam War. By its nature, such a conflict breeds difficult policy dilemmas, and democracy, by its nature, processes such controversies through partisan conflict.

Of course, Blame Bush, rather than those, who were mostly Democrats, who quickly turned and started attacking him, who came up with the insane 9/11 Truth conspiracy theories, who claimed that Bush either let 9/11 happen or made it happen. Who decided that any attacks on Islamic radical terrorists was an attack on all Muslims, and started yammering about Islamophobia. Who seemed to care more about protecting those jihadis than Americans. Who cared more about some captured jihadis (who are actually mostly not protected by the Geneva Convention) than Americans having their heads sawed off. How were just unhinged still that Bush won the 2000 election (then the 2004) so had to be against everything he was for.

It’s also not unusual, since these same people hate America, so they take the side of the jihadis.

Read: Washington Post: George Bush Is To Blame For Not Uniting Us After 9/11 »

9/11 Seventeen Years Later (sticky for the day)

As I have done every year since the 5th anniversary of September 11th, I remember two wonderful individuals, who I’ll never have a possible chance to meet and converse with, due to 19 murderous Islamist terrorists and their superiors, who attacked our country on that fateful day.

Read More »

Read: 9/11 Seventeen Years Later (sticky for the day) »

Who’s Ready For ‘Climate Change’ Scallop Wars?

This would be amusing if the intentions of the Cult of Climastrology weren’t so dangerous to our economy, our personal wealth, and our liberty

Climate change conflicts are here – and ‘scallop wars’ are just the beginning

As the planet warms, species are moving further north to climate zones which are closer in temperature to what they originally evolved in. The oceans have absorbed most of this temperature increase, and so many marine species, including commercially fished scallops, are under particular stress to migrate northwards to cooler waters.

In the face of this disruption, legal boundaries for fishing fleets could become increasingly irrelevant. As the fish stocks they once contained move out, conflict is likely to arise between countries exploiting neighbouring fishing grounds.

As a result, the ongoing “scallop war”, which has seen tense physical confrontations between French and British scallop fishers over access to these prized molluscs, may be a taste of worse to come.

These people think the Earth is always supposed to stay exactly the same. Nutters.

Read: Who’s Ready For ‘Climate Change’ Scallop Wars? »

If All You See…

…are trees that will soon die from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Creeping Sharia, with a post on a month in America by Islamists.

Read: If All You See… »

Pirate's Cove