On Being Civil

[Jon Estes]

Kate Steiner felt comfortable enough to stroll on the boardwalk without fear. Wish the illegal who killed her would have never been here.

I hope such tragedy never becomes real to you or anyone you know. Things such as this, hitting at home or near home, change ones perspective.

Speaking to your last paragraph... I thought you liked BC.

[Dave Roberts]

The words from yesterday and today give us native-born mass killers or attempted mass killers--one mailing pipe bombs which the Director of the FBI said were not hoaxes and the second is a shooter at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburg. Our mass killers seem to be coming from the native born. Yes, there have been failures in the immigration system, but to a far lesser degree than among the native born.

[Haruo]

[Joseph Patrick]

[Haruo]

At least the Pittsburgh one was not a Trump admirer as I first feared.

[Jon Estes]

[KeithE]

Jon is ignoring the positives immigrants bring, especially the economic benefit.

And the fact that immigrants are more law abiding and less violent than native born. The nationistic-right wing violent streak has been growing since Rush L.

Google the facts - I’m on a cell phone in Maui. I have repeatably made these points previously on BL!

And, Jon, you have no idea how KS’s relatives think on this matter unless you can quote them.

[Joseph Patrick]

[Jon Estes]

[Jon Estes]

[Sandy]

So from Jon's logic, the solution is simple. Deport everyone in America whose ancestors emigrated here from somewhere else and there will not be a risk of a real American getting killed by an immigrant.

This country has put its ideals forth to the world, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and as a result of that, has become the world's only genuine refuge from oppression, which is why people risk their lives and everything they have to try to come here and build a life. There are few, if any, other places in the world where people enjoy the protection of their liberty as we do here. But everytime we put obstacles in the way of people being able to enjoy the same liberty we do, we put that freedom in danger. When America ceases to be a refuge and the world's greatest hope for freedom and opportunity, we will not have ours any more either.

[Jon Estes]

[Dave Roberts]

I don't hear anyone saying that America is their eternal hope. I do hear many of our politicians saying that "America is the world's economic hope." We have so painted ourselves to most of Central and South America, so it is no wonder they want to come and share in our bounty. The idea of not going to reach the world is one that currently is making the rounds in much of Christianity which thinks we can save the world by translating and beaming our messages across the globe instead of going to incarnate the gospel in a particular culture or that we can fulfill our mission just by streaming on the internet. Our incarnational mission has never been "build it and they will come" or "beam it and they will hear." Yet we often act as though it is. Immigration reform and missions have little to do with each other, IMHO.

[Sandy]

[JE Pettibone]

[Sandy]

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mexic ... la-border/
The "wall" that conservatives (Americans for Common Sense) claimed existed between Mexico and Guatemala didn't exist. What they were trying to do, obiously, was point out that Mexico was being hypocritical in its criticism of Trump's wall and at the same time try to convince people that they had one on their border with Guatemala. Using the "Rush Limbaugh strategy," which is to tell gigantic whoppers and claim they're true because your followers are dumb enough to believe everything you say, they put out this garbage. And that's the point. If you pushed the idea that Mexico had built a wall between itself and Guatemala to stop illegal crossings so Trump's would also be successful, then the caravan should be no threat, since it wouldn't be able to get past the wall.

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article ... 732110.php
https://www.economist.com/open-future/2 ... -to-itself

From the economist article,
"Traditionally, America has resettled more refugees than any other state and it still contributes a big share of UNHCR’s budget."

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil. ... ted-states
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/how-do ... ystem-work

[Jon Estes]

[Sandy]