I spent 36 hours without WiFi at my home, and I was like Blanche DuBois, depending on the kindness of strangers (McDonalds, a local library) to get through Tuesday and Wednesday. I feel turned upside down, which is one of the reasons I haven’t done a lot of political stuff in the past few days. Let’s knock out a few stories, shall we? On Wednesday, Living Corpse ™ Stephen Miller decided he knew exactly what to do to change the narrative around his boss, Donald Trump. Miller is the 31-year-old senior advisor for policy in the Trump White House, and yes, he is 31. For real. Life comes at you fast when you’re a racist and a fascist.
Miller made waves, months ago, when he made the media rounds about something and everyone found him eerie, creepy, and like a waxwork horror show come to life. So, Miller was already “well known,” the same way Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders are well-known: they’re famously bad at their jobs and famously deplorable. So what did Trump and Miller roll out? A new anti-immigration immigration bill that would basically limit immigration to white English-speakers from Australia and the UK. I suppose there would be a special concession for Eastern European golddigging fake models too. So, when CNN’s Jim Acosta – the son of Cuban immigrants – asked Miller about all of this, their exchange was… something.
Jim Acosta: “The statue of liberty says “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It doesn’t say anything about speaking English or being able to be a computer programmer. Aren’t you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant coming into this country if you’re telling them you have to speak English? Can’t people learn how to speak English when they get here?
Stephen Miller: “I don’t want to get off into a whole thing about history here, but the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty enlightening the world, it’s a symbol of American liberty lighting the world. The poem that you’re referring to that was added later and is not part of the original Statue of Liberty.
Do you hear that, peeps? Emma Lazarus’s poem was added to the Statue of Liberty afterwards, therefore it is NULL AND VOID. Case closed! After that, Miller accused Acosta (again, the son of Cuban immigrants) of having a “cosmopolitan bias.” Stephen Miller is from Santa Monica, California and he’s a Duke grad. This whole exchange made me sick.
*shiver* I don’t know, you guys. Miller makes me miss the Mooch.
Incidentally, I watched Nicole Wallace’s MSNBC show after this briefing and Wallace brought up a great point: the Trump administration rolled out this half-assed, half-baked immigration reform issue because Trump was forced to sign the Russian-sanction bill which limits his power to lift those Obama-era sanctions on Russia. Wallace basically said Trump and his cadre of bad hombres felt impotent and baby-fisted, so they decided to bully immigrants.
Emma Lazarus's "The New Colossus," forever a beacon of hope. https://t.co/MHOY9TrBkq pic.twitter.com/4joI8H4wXH
— Poets.org (@POETSorg) August 2, 2017
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Penis head Prick..
I just spit my coffee out at that- but it’s an accurate description
Patron saint of Hitler youth.
Dead-eyed sociopath is what I see. He is so incredibly vile.
Lol that’s a lot more polite than the way I say it
You know how on certain TV shows they have a warning about violence or language? There needs to be a warning about seeing Stephen Miller’s face.
^^This! I also agree with @Jenns. Oh, and the whole sociopath comment..totally agree. Those eyes are dead.
Well that’s what happen when you let white supremacist in the WH
There has always been something wrong with Miller. Really creepy vibe whenever I’ve heard or seen him on tv. He was even intensely disliked in high school… Not just “not one of the popular kids”, but actively disliked. Trump has a knack for choosing creepy people.
Also if I had to choose just one word to describe Trump, his staff, and his supporters – that one word would be “selfish”.
I’m pretty convinced the WH knows how people react to Miller and used it to their advantage. They let him out of his West Wing basement dungeon to spew his hate and an impossible immigration bill to stir up the base and distract from impending news. Banning transgender soldiers in the military had already fallen out of the news cycle and they needed something shiny to wave in front of 45’s supporters so the Kushner company’s subpoenas for selling visas and the Fox/Hannity/WH cooperation on the phony Seth Rich story investigation didn’t land hard.
In my less angry moments, I picture this administration and its sponsors as the seagulls from “Finding Nemo”.
“Mine! Mine! Mine!”
@graymatters, now when I go to Epcot this fall and visit the Sea area, I’ll have this on my mind! 🙂
He used to be roommates with Nick Spenser at college. Bet they got along like a house on fire
The vast majority of Americans (republicans and democrats) support preferencing English speakers in the immigration system, are they all racist for that?
Just unrealistic, probably due to being overwhelmingly monolingual. Fluency in English is much more likely to come after starting to live in an English-speaking environment. Most Americans who just took a required language course in high school can’t really speak the second language years later, they haven’t had enough chance to get truly fluent. Very few people get fluent without immersion in an English-speaking environment.
A big problem with preferring English speakers is that this means preferring people from certain countries with English as an official language. Immigration is helpful because it increases diversity, but such a preference narrows it quite a bit.
I don’t recall fluency in English being a requirement for immigration before. The children do become fluent because kids are little language-learning machines, but it’s much harder for adults to get active fluency (speaking, writing) although they may be able to understand English much better than they can speak it.
Kids raised in bilingual homes actually have an edge in extending knowledge of the original knowledge to an adult level and in learning a new one. That’s a valuable skill in today’s world. Taking bets on Trump being relentlessly monolingual himself, though, even though his youngest son can speak both English and Slovenian.
Depends on whether it refers to native speakers from, say the UK or Australia, or if it refers to people who know English.
He looks … embalmed.
ETA: I revise my statement. It’s both racist/questionable. But the first option is even worse.
As just pointed out, it is unrealistic. And if you read up on the history of immigration and anti-immigration in the US some restrictions may seem rational on the surface. But there is usually a whole lot of racism behind them. We are nation of immigrants that hates the newest immigrants.
@ April: For an immigrant learning the language and culture of his/her new country takes time. Only after years of learning English and getting immerse in their new environment is when immigrants really start to blend in. How many languages do you speak April? Did your ancestors came from England? Did they speak English fluently when they came? Are you a bit prejudiced against immigrants?
Um yes they are april. And xenophobic. English isn’t the official language here so they can f*ck off with that. And I would love to hear the stats on that “fact” you just threw out
i work with about 10-15 American born white people who can barely speak English and certainly cannot read or write proficiently. should they be on the next boat out?
Racist and xenophobic, yes. We could explain history here and talk about how every immigrant group (including the Europeans!!!) who came here often didn’t speak English and how there were and are whole neighborhoods full of German and Italian speakers who owned businesses and homes and didn’t destroy the fabric of our democracy, but who cares about facts? All we care about is how people feel, right? (the ones who agree with us, anyway).
And we can’t make native English speakers uncomfortable by forcing them to be around people who aren’t exactly like them. After all, adults can’t handle that level of discomfort. It’s too icky and weird.
@april
Not racist: xenophobic.
You need to learn more words, maybe.
I mean, they might be racist, but they’re definitely xenophobic. Anyway, you got a citation for the statistic?
The irony is that such a policy would have prevented most of their ancestors from ever becoming Americans. Immigration has always followed a pattern. Adult first generation immigrants always struggle to learn the language because it’s very difficult to do as an adult. I bet you took a foreign language in high school @April. How fluent are you in your second language? Second generation kids are usually bilingual. By the third generation they speak almost entirely english with very little knowledge of their grandparent’s original language.
This is when the anti-immigrant types start with the “But, but, but…MY family came here legally.” Unless you were Asian, all immigration was legal before 1924.
@lobbit- I assume @April is referencing the Breitbart article alleging that “60% of Americans oppose immigration.” It uses 2 surveys that are both over 7 years old and only sampled white people. Plus the methodology was so utterly screwy it’s laughable. It’s making the rounds of the alt-right types.
Preference is different. They means they get preference if they speak English. To require it is unrealistic. What, are the 3rd world immigrants going to take English as a second language in their high school? Lmao. So basically this bill would mean immigrants from wealthy families who have tutors to teach them English will get preference. As well as immigrants from countries where they already speak English. The most disadvantaged immigrants will be shit out of luck.
Where in god’s name did you get that stat from???
Lizzie your comment really made me lol.
My grandparents came to the US from Poland in 1949 and they had a very basic understanding of English. A lot of people in other countries understand and speak a bit of English. Enough to get acclimated and be able to handle day to day life in the US.
From CNN the way to get “points” for “speaking” English. BTW this has nothing to do with speaking English as you can speak English but not necessarily know all the ins and outs of the English language grammar wise. That is what the test will most likely be – grammar:
English ability
Points are also given out for English ability, as determined by standardized English test.
Anyone with less than a 60th percentile proficiency gets no points. Between 60th and 80th percentile is worth six points, someone in the 80th to 90th percentile range earns 10 points, someone with a 90th percentile proficiency or above earns 11 points, and someone in the 100th percentile range earns 12 points.
It’s not even if they can speak it but must take a standardized English test. I want to see those who are administering the test, and all at the WH that support this take the test and see if they can even pass it. Would Melania even pass it?
@April Really? Have you spoken to the vast majority of American’s to come up with that conclusion? Because, I doubt it.
The English speaking bit is a twofer. It sends the base a racist message while letting the tech and medical industries know the new rules won’t cut into their recruitment in South Asia.
Not at all.
Just a bit of info. the US doesn’t have an official language. Seems to me a weird requirement when we don’t even have it as our official language. Instead of arguing with this creepy nitwit, I want to understand this policy. I’m curious why do we only want highly qualified immigrants. Call me crazy, but I think I’d rather spend the money training American Citizens to be the highly qualified worker, and let lower end workers come to do the jobs that don’t pay as much or that American Citizens don’t want. I’m not saying we shouldn’t allow some high qualified workers in, but I don’t see why we would need to change this that much unless you are just trying to bring in people supposedly like you, and in Steven Miller’s case what is that socially awkward.
Well, I would be living in a shtetl in Poland then, since my immigrant great grandparents not only did not speak the beautiful angielski upon their arrival here, they never really learned more than a few words.
It is a xenophobic attitude. Especially since Trump barely speaks English.
Yes. Go figure.
It’s so bizarre seeing a Jewish man spouting David Duke/white nationalist talking points. But this is the world we live in now.
Not really. He HATES himself
It might explain why he looks like he’s 51 and not 31. Seriously, I’m almost ten years older than this guy and I now feel so much better about myself. 😛
I guess being a hate-filled person really wrecked him from the inside out.
Also, Miller’s deal with the Devil did not include good looks!!
Hate really ages and distorts these morons- Bannon, Kelly-anne, Sarah Huckabee,
I’m always amazed to hear their real ages because *shudder*
This particular talking point on Emma Lazarus’s poem comes directly from Stormfront.
Yes! It’s absolutely from the white nationalist playbook. As is calling dissenters “cosmopolitan.” “Rootless cosmopolitan” was a pejorative term for Jewish intellectuals in Russia after WWII. Of course, Miller’s family is Jewish and his non-english speaking great-grandparents immigrated from Belarus in 1903. The self-loathing is strong with Miller.
Says the old man who was raised in Santa Monica. Wow Santa Monica is sure rural!
@bleu_moon, I read about the “cosmopolitan” code-word also. I really shake my head at people like him. My first instinct is also to call them self-loathing, but I guess they just think they are better than their ethnic-peers.
Saw a cute tweet that Miller’s age, 31, is a long time in dog-whistle years.
A millennial who could likely receive a senior discount without question = “The best people! The most unique people!”
He probably convinced himself that he’s not Jewish since his last name is “Miller.” The English clause – does that mean we can boot Orangino and Melania out of the country since they are barely coherent.
My fiancé’ last name is Miller and he most certainly knows he is Jewish. 😒
There are a lot of American Jews with the last name Miller but it is also a gentile name so it is easy to see why it wouldn’t be known.
It’s a common right wing tactic to (try to) turn various minority groups against each other so they don’t band together. One of the oldest plays in the book. Unfortunately, many do fall for it, perhaps thinking they or their group will be protected from the hate mob when it rolls around. It’s particularly gross because it plays on minority fear of persecution.
See also-Ezra Levant.
It is also disgusting because Asians hate that stereotype so it is a dig at them too. I can’t imagine they want to be included in this. Asian are overwhelmingly Democrat and this won’t change it. Gross tactic.
this.
also, never understood the bizarre nature of looking down on multilingual speakers, regardless of their speaking ability, from people who are monolingual. it blows my mind that folks don’t recognize this, or seem to deem it unimportant.
ah well.
divide and conquer, or throw distraction bones to keep the attention in another place while the real shit goes down, or whatever is necessary to ensure people do not UNITE.
works like a charm, century after century.
Kay- the prejudice against multilingualism in the US goes back a long way. When I was a kid in the 1950s, basic groceries were delivered by various individuals and companies (dairy, bread, veggies in season, eggs). The guy who delivered bread to us was German and his wife was Dutch, so they spoke German, Dutch, and English at home. The school told them to only speak English so their kids wouldn’t be “confused”. Turns out the confusion is transitory but the benefits are huge. A friend in college was really annoyed that her parents only spoke English at home when they actually could have taught her several other languages because their immigrant parents spoke those languages. She knew she had missed out on something important for both family reasons and for career reasons.
Fun Fact: So many Americans were German speakers back in the late 1700s that German was a serious contender for the national language. Maybe that’s why the founders didn’t bother locking in English as an official language. I think there were other contenders as well in various places.
When I was in high school, it was still common to require taking a foreign language (nothing in grade school, though). But at some point later, foreign language requirements were dropped. Don’t know if they are back again. But the people polled might very well be those who were never exposed to a foreign language for this reason, not even a year or two in high school.
I don’t think it’s self hate. I don’t think any minority who suddenly starts to spout white supremacist rhetoric is self-hating in any fashion. I think Stephen Miller is just forcing himself to undergo cognitive dissonance when it comes to his beliefs. Self-hate is a different animal entirely. My guess is that he feels removed enough from his Jewish ancestry and background that he thinks it gives him a pass when it comes to spewing such garbage. That’s not the same thing as self-hate. It’s the whole, “Oh I’m Jewish, but I’m not like THOSE Jewish people, I’m not a [insert terrible alt-right stereotype about Jews here], I’m just a [insert appropriate alt-right characteristic here].” I know people want to characterize that as self-hate, but it really isn’t, tbh.
For anyone who watches ” The Dead Files”. Stephen Miller looks like what the sketch artist draws for Amy Allen at the end of each episode. Just cold and soulless. Scary, how these people are in positions of power and influence
This guy gives off a Goebbels vibe. Truly a deplorable. I miss the Mooch too. He was a misogynist NY shyster, but I will always appreciate the visual he gave about Steve Bannon which will stay with him for infinity. And I loathe Bannon most of all. So yeah, thanks Mooch. And Mario Cantone playing him on Comedy Central is epic.
I think Mooch is what you see is what you get. The man does not own a poker face. This one is slick you don’t know what is going on behind those dead eyes.
The whole point of providing a green card route by lottery is to reduce illegal immigration. When people feel they have a shot legally however slim, they are less to just overstay visas or sneak in at borders. Plus its great for American soft diplomacy aka propaganda.
Not that Miller cares. He just wanted to be the one to give Trump a policy “victory” in the face of all the failure. Expect illegal migration to go back on the increase.
Did anyone hear that the seasonal hotel worker are exempt from this? Yep Orangino gets to continue to stock his hotels with non English speaking migrant workers but he’s shutting the door to any sad sack who won’t work for him.
Exactly! If they reduce the number of legal immigrants, what do they think will happen with illegal immigration? This seems counterproductive to their supposed goal of reducing undocumented immigration.
Also, didn’t they say MANY times during the campaign that they loved legal immigrants, it was the “illegals” that they wanted out?
A country can dictate its borders and who gets to stay, that’s the whole point of a sovereign nation.
No one is disputing that the US can make our own immigration policy, that’s obvious. Different approaches have different consequences, though. This administration doesn’t appear to have thought through the consequences of this policy.
This new bill will make it harder for family members to immigrate. Funny when Trump’s in-laws are in the US that way but then none of the rules ever apply to him.
It’s not socially smart to cut off family members, like the grandparents who help with the grand kids so the parents can work, and aunts and uncles who provide not only cousins but important social and economic support. Funny how the “family values” crowd doesn’t understand the importance to society of family cohesion.
Also, skilled workers from China and India (and the Philippines, and more) usually speak English to a level that could pass an immigration test. Surely Miller knows that, making the argument as specious as anything else they say. And Jim Acosta should know that, but seemed caught up in the heat of the moment – and unfortunately opened the door wide for Miller to walk through and be “shocked, shocked I tell you!” at his cosmopolitan “ignorance.”
So the proposed bill doesn’t totally make sense in many ways but Miller’s coming out swinging (a) distracted from the sanctions bill and Russia’s humiliating response about Trump’s “weakness” and (b) gave “the base” something to chew on ahead of another campaign rally.
Immigration law is set by neither a statue nor a poem, but that statue and that poem mean so much to so many Americans that between the reporter and the alien-bigot, they really touched a very raw nerve.
And this is Trump’s Small Business Week – immigrants tend to start small businesses. Let’s make it harder for them to do so!
True story, I’ve traveled around South America a bit (most time in Peru, Ecuador and Argentina), and Almost everyone I met had a fair level of proficiency in English. For godsake children begging in the streets knew some basic English. My Peruvian cousin scored higher on the English portion of the SATs than I did when applying to medical school in the states :/
Meanwhile my Norwegian mother in law is embarrassed that while her English is impeccable she struggles a little with Danish and Swedish. She’s fairly proud of her German and is trying to learn Spanish right now. In my opinion we don’t give nearly enough credit to immigrants who are learning new languages, and there should be far more emphasis on language in schools.
@Lightpurple – This is so true! I work part time (I’m retired) for an accountant. We have 42 corporations as clients and 22 of them are convenience stores owned by first generation immigrants. These clients pay the most in state and federal taxes out of all of our clients. They are without exception amazing, hard working and grateful! About 5 of them are on their 2nd and 3rd stores.
This isn’t meant to be representative but it is our “niche” and my experience.
How hard is it to produce the stats they’re asking for? Prove how many “Americans” missed out on jobs because of lower paid immigration workers? They can’t because they don’t have them, its just fear mongering and pandering to his racist base.
100%
The stats are already there but they prove that cutting immigration will be bad for the US economy. Restricting it to people with special skills will be bad also. Turns out that unspecialized people provide services that make it easier for native-born Americans to get jobs outside the home (women who can hire people to do things they were doing for the family, for example) or to get promotions to better paying jobs. They don’t actually take jobs away but stimulate the economy and open up new jobs. Plus they are more likely to have the entrepreneural spirit since they are risk takers and already made a huge change in their lives. So they are more likely to eventually provide new jobs as well. Check out the story of Chobani yogurt for an example of an immigrant entrepreneur who not only helps refugees get good jobs and needed training but also provides a lot of jobs in general.
Even illegal immigrants are a boon to the US economy. They pay lots of taxes (such as indirect property tax, sales tax, taxes withheld from paychecks if their employer set up a fake social security number) but don’t get refunds. And of course they buy stuff, which stimulates the economy.
Here’s an article with some interesting observations about the likely consequences of Trump’s new rules if they could ever get past Congress (an unlikely event, the votes won’t be there from Democrats and Republicans on this one; this is just distraction from other events this past week):
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/policy-and-politics/2017/8/3/16089260/trump-raise-act-economic-effect-immigration
If the statue isn’t shipped over with the words already on it, folks, you’re out of luck. Move along, huddled masses, nothing to see here!
Australia has a special skills immigration clause as well- some years they need more professions than others. I don’t see a problem w this for America. For example, I live in a feast or famine economy, and in years past, i’ve taken supplementary labor jobs. Today, I literally won’t get hired for a cleaning or restaurant work because they are filled with illegals. Not only will I not get hired, but if I did, I wouldn’t know anyone on my job, they’d leave at the end of the season, PLUS these jobs pay half or less than ten years ago. I loathe this administration, but I’m simply stating an observation of a very real concern.
“Filled with illegals?” Do you know this for a fact or is this an assumption you’ve made based on their appearance? I find it hard to believe undocumented workers are openly sharing their immigration status with you.
Girl if this is true and you live in the States call Homeland and report the employer. I don’t get why folks are mad at the “illegals” who are just trying to work when it’s the businesses that are the issue. I will never fault someone for just trying to work.
Do you chose to live in that “feast or famine” economy and not pursue any job that is available? Or do you go for jobs other than those you mention? Because I had (now deceased) son-in-law that took any job he could get in order to have income. No job was beneath him. He had himself and a family to support. He eventually got a full time job making good money. Sometimes you can’t be picky about the job you go after no matter if it is feast or famine.
The ‘we want immigrants but only the really talented ones’ isn’t new here, nor overseas.
As for not getting jobs cleaning or restaurant work, are the illegals getting ‘your’ job or are they usually getting jobs that would normally be filled by those who don’t have the education and/or skills to do other jobs?
There are persons that got into the US illegally by using and being used by human trafficking networks. They work for very low or no wages while living in inhumane conditions. I would urge anyone to knows of such abuses to contact the authorities.
onTheFence, this policy is about LEGAL immigrants, not illegal. So this policy would not make a bit of difference in your scenario…other than the fact that by limiting legal immigrants, it might increase the number of undocumented immigrants.
I somehow don’t believe that you “loathe this administration” yet you refer to undocumented immigrants as “illegals.”
But the original staue was a gift from non-English speaking France. Should we return her to? I’m pretty sure holding up torch doesnt qualify as skilled labor.
What i don’t get is his base complains immigrants take their jobs, so they’re trying to bring in more skilled labor to literally take skilled jobs. Like how does that calm his base?
And dont many companies rely on legal immigrants who do less technically/ more laborious jobs that many Americans don’t want? So food costs will skyrocket. And Trump hotels staff will be reduced.
Ah, but French … French is seen as one of the superior languages. : (
LOL @ “holding a torch doesn’t qualify as skilled labor”
There’s plenty of Trump hotel jobs to be had yet his base doesn’t apply for those. So he has to resort to the work visas to get non-English speaking migrant workers to staff his hotels. This proposed immigration bill will not stop this practice. Hypocrite.
@ Karen, I needed this! “Holding a torch….” LMAO!
He’s back in front of the camera? Ugh. His interview months ago with George Stephanopoulos was bizarre. There is something wrong with this man.
I bet he doesn’t have fingerprints.
Or nipples.
Or a bellybutton.
Creepy-ass psycho.
Or genitalia . . .
Or blood.
He has all those. What he lacks is a conscience.
@Triple Cardinal.
Totally. He is a dead-eyed sociopath.
Or hair…
Or shame, common sense or heart
I’m really shocked there haven’t been more rallies, marches, protests; that we haven’t occupied the National Mall, camped out on one of his golf courses. I guess it’s time to get to work.
I fear we are becoming numb.
I could not believe that absurd exchange with Jim Acosta. Miller was desperate to derail Jim Acosta’s
point, and insisted on interrupting him, talking over him and making sure they stayed off the point. Miller is truly creepy as hell. That bit about Lady Liberty and the Lazarus poem shows him to be a psycho. Apparently, this administration has no one with any manners or
social skills, just like their Dear Leader.
Yes! They’re all rude, classless, aggressively stupid people. And creepy. So creepy.
So I guess every constitutional amendment after the Bill of Rights does not count because they came later.
it takes a real set of balls on a giant dick of a man to sit and argue about immigration policies with a cuban-american whose father and probably many other family members are immigrants within recent history. when he called him racist i almost threw my phone. DO NOT TALK TO MY NEW BOO THANG IN THAT TONE YOU DEAD EYED WEASEL.
I had to switch off then. The fake outrage towards Acosta was infuriating.
Jim should have forcefully yelled “RECLAIMING MY TIME!”
I agree.
Acosta will have the last laugh. There are plenty of Republicans who won’t vote for such legislation. It won’t be a cliff hanger like the No Health Care for You bills. The purpose is just to convince Trump’s core supporters that he’s trying hard to keep his promises and to distract from all the stuff coming out recently about Trump and his peeps.
Despite Goebbels Miller being a terrible rep for anyone, let alone the “president,” there were a few bright spots lately.
Congress imposed a strict anti-waver sanctions bill against Russia and tRump. It made Emperor Zero so angry that he signed it in private without his usual flair for such things. Also it’s indicative of how much Congress is ignoring Emperor Zero, which has ticked up quite a bit recently.
Ezra Cohen-Watnick is out of the NSC. This is great news since only a true clown would hire a 31-yr-old for this high level position. Win for McMasters, losses for Kushner and Bannon.
Depending on the poll you observe, EZ-D is hovering between 33 and 39%. Congress will act to impeach if they cannot rely on the orange clown during mids in 2018. Got to get that number down to 25% and then he’s gone to save the GOP’s own skin.
I can’t decide if I want impeachment. I am terrified of Pence and fear that without all the insanity of Trump, a Pence administration would calmly and methodically strip away all our rights.
The Trump administration is, under the chaos, calmly and methodically stripping away your rights anyway so …
We do not get to dither on this one, the way we did not get to dither on whether Hillary Clinton was perfect. We need to get Trump out ASAP before he does more damage. Pence will do the same damage either way but he’s deeply unpopular and it won’t last long. What’s more he could go down with the ship.
Who ARE… can’t disagree with what you are saying. In fact, just after I wrote this NPR had on congressman Nadler who basically said the same thing as you. When asked whether he thought Pence was worse he responded that while he disagreed with pretty much everything Pence stood for, he did not think Pence would get us into a war which he believes Trump will.
Also, since Pence is not very popular with Trump’s base he would be easier to beat.
Pence is next in line. Then you have 29 more republicans. As bad as Trump is, I think you would do better than under Pence.
Congress is also fast tracking a bill to virtually guarantee Mueller’s job security and that will only acknowledge Atty Generals who were approved by Congress. So that will stop Orangino from canning Elf (necessary evil at this point) during recess and filling it with a butt sucker who will do his bidding.
I think the fall out happened around the time TrumpCare imploded.
Somebody should take a peek at information about the immigrant ancestors of Trump and his Administration to see how many of them would have qualified under these rules.
But aren’t people with special skills already given an edge in immigration?
I would also like to know how Trump justifies importing maids, waitresses, and construction workers for his properties. We don’t have people with those skills in the US already?
His mother was born in Scotland and grandfather Drumpf was from Germany. He likes to hide that.
He said something in the vein of “As a businessman, I’m obligated to follow the best business models.”
Is that English FLOTUS speaks? Asking for an interpreter…
And his in-laws…
Someone better not remind him that the Statue of Liberty is from France. A non english speaking country.
Someone must’ve told him that the reason why the poem was added later was because the French script carvers had to learn English first. That’s why it took them a while.
Sometimes, the things the people of this Administration say come across very troll-ish. The scary kind, because they’re real.
I’ve always wondered about the history of the poem, I love hidden history stuff!
You and Nicole Wallace are right. (I never would have thought I would be agreeing with Nicole on anything). The whole administration does this as a power play after they lose. He went after Transgender people after the healthcare lose in the Senate. He has been doing this since the beginning. Nancy Pelosi was right that he has a pattern:
first, he tries to charm you,
when that doesn’t work, he tries to bully you
when that doesn’t work, he abandons you
when that doesn’t work, he tries to sue you.
This is the art of the deal ladies and gents.
Secondly, STEPHEN MILLER IS 31 YEARS OLD. THIS MAN WAS BORN IN 1985. He looks at least 45 years old. This is what happens, when you let ignorance, hate, mediocrity, and smugness take over your whole being. Plus, that receding hair line ain’t helping him at all.
Male pattern hair loss typically starts in the twenties, sometimes even in the late teens. The one thing he’s doing right is not trying to hide it.
He’s not trying to hide any of his ugly.
(With apologies to the millions of nice men with early male-pattern hair loss.)
Watched Nicole yesterday, too. She called this another shiny object thrown out by Cheeto et al to distract from the Russian investigation. She’s right. At this point, the Trump administration has been totally bitched-slapped by the Sanctions bill he was forced to sign yesterday.
Cheeto is scared for his orange-tinted life that Mueller is going to reveal the truth before Trump can fire him, but it’s too late. Congress has found their testicles, and has 45’s “Cheeto Puffs” clearly in hand.
His hair is abandoning the ship. Everyone else’s face is melting, with him it’s the hair. The ugly is eating its way to the outside.
Watching this yesterday made my blood boil. He’s another Trump team prick who twists someone’s words. Jim was awesome to keep talking and show how ignorant Stephan is. Stephen is as ugly inside as he is outside. He looks high as a kite, and old. It’s hard to believe Jim Acosta is almost 15 years older than him
Beth, I love the way Jim Acosta stands up to these creeps, he is all class, and I hope he continues to call them out, that Stephen Miller is another Trump creep, he is horrible and the way he tried to belittle Jims point, made me so mad, I just hope Jim keeps up his good work and isnt afraid of them. Love Jim Acosta and CNN.
Vice has a clip on YouTube of this guy as a teenager, going off (approvingly) on torture.
He’s a real peach.
He used to call into right wing talk radio when he was a teenager in Santa Monica. His school had a student diversity parade, and he protested it. In high school! When he went to college, he was buddies with Richard Spencer (current alt-right neo-Nazi). They were at Duke together and organized an immigration debate at the Duke Conservative Union. He has always blamed immigrants and minorities for the issues in his own life.
The question is how far can this legally go? Is it like the transgender tweets where he talks, but nothing’s going to change? A better comparison actually would be the travel ban where it was eventually severely weakened in the courts due to the unconstitutional parts. Methinks the “required to speak English” part might work for that seeing as how the US has no official language, and to be honest it’s an arbitrary (and redundant if they’re only letting highly skilled immigrants in) method to choose. That’s even if the bill reaches the point where it becomes a law provided Dems, and some Republicans with common sense realize that this bill is a problem looking for a solution (and not to mention a severe blow against the US’s USP), and that there’s no point in entertaining this nonsense.
That being said, if the US wants to squander what little goodwill and soft power they have go right ahead. I’m sure Europe wouldn’t mind taking the “leftovers'” money, work ethic, and ideas that they would inevitably had brought had they come here. You’ll also be ceding what a good chunk of America has been powered by. 2 xenophobic and foolish birds killed with one myopic stone.
Still highly disgusted that some of you managed to look at him in November, decided he was the one and/or Hillary was somehow sooooooooo terrible, and voted for him/3rd party. We tried telling you this would happen/peoples’ lives were at stake. Guess, as usual, the rest of America will have to learn the hard way.
It’s not going anywhere. Despite the fact that he got two GOP patsies to stand next to him while he introduced the bill, Congress said they are too busy working on other things so it’s tabled for now. It’s a big nothing burger from this crew (there I threw their word back at them).
But they won’t learn. If they’re aware enough to realize that their vote didn’t have the required effect, they’ll blame Hillary or Obama or some sort of conspiracy of un-American elitist cosmopolitan Democrats for ruining what would have finally transformed the United States of America into that shining city on a hill.
I meant to say “desired effect”.
It’s a trivial point in the face of all the more important issues, but those on the right always forget that “under God” was added to the pledge of allegiance in 1954. Just pointing out the weakness and absurdity of Miller’s “argument” Also, notice how quickly he turned to insults when challenged about statistics.
Yes IIRC the “Under God” thing was added as a response to Communism and the Cold War. Or maybe I’m confusing that with “In God We Trust” being added to our currency?
Regardless, it’s funny how people forget about that. Also, people seem to forget that the Constitution was deliberately written to be secular in nature after our founding fathers witnessed the destructive religious wars waged by our EU allies.
I believe they were both added around the same time, for the same reason. Regardless, neither was original, and a response to the “immorality of communism”
Yep. As a response to McCarthyism.
Shudder. And drump thinks no one can see that this is another way to cut off Mexican immigration and build his dumb wall.
Another ultimately, this immigration plan is meant to showcase HIM and his Mexico bashing.Typically muddled without any understanding, compassion,or a straightforward plan. Only people who speak English, are highly skilled and won’t upset his deplorable base by looking different than them. Drump morons still believe lower skilled immigrants depress wages for low skilled Americans, the very same jobs for which employers can’t find Americans who will do those jobs.
A 33% approval rating!! Trump needs guaranteed “red meat” for his base.
Some polls have his approval even lower at 29%.
Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim…what a douche. Jim Acosta has impressive patience and nerves. I would have started to rage
If I had been in Jims situation, someone would have to stuff a sock in my mouth and hold me down. I don’t know how these reporters stay calm, cool, and collected. I’d snap and go crazy
I can read between the lines. What Donald Trump new policy to reduce legal immigration is based on Ann Coulter’s views. DT and his people do not want any more brown-skinned people to come the US anymore. They want only white Europeans to come here not swarthy men from Mexico and elsewhere. This new policy is so racist. Their claim to only want smart, well-off folks to come here is to mas the fact they want white people to immigrate to the US. They want to whiten America not brown it.
Wait until he finds out how many brown people live in countries where English is a very common language and often an official language among several.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha….
How would any of Trump’s businesses function without immigration from non-English-speaking countries, i.e. Mexico? How would the ancestors of all those people currently working at the White House have made it to the US, if there had been laws like the proposed one in place? Sometimes I think one should backdate the Anti-Immigration Law to 1491…
Oh, and Miller should know that Emma Lazarus’ poem was written in 1883 for the specific intent of being auctioned to raise funds to build the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.
How would his marriages function?
Bwaha!
Souless Nazi already said in the press conference that it doesn’t affect the type of Visas that Orangino applied for his businesses.
It was a stupid exchange on both sides. A poem on a statute is no more formal policy than a tweet is.
No. But it certainly doesn’t negate what the statue stands for and its history and what it meant to thousands coming to our shores. To dismiss the meaning is to carry out what Trump has done to the Presidency. Dismantling America brick by brick. Why does our history escape people? America was built as a melting pot. Who the f*ck decided to put their misguided spin on that and why did we let them?
If you think both sides of this are stupid, you must have misunderstood the point Acosta was trying to make. Maybe you don’t know what the Statue of Liberty and the poem actually stand for and mean
Like Spicer and the White House both said, Trumps tweets are official statements. These official statements given for the world to see, are putting the US in serious danger
It is more than a poem on a statue. The statue was what those tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse, the homeless tempest-tossed saw as the ships sailed into Ellis Island. And it was put there for those sailing into Ellis Island.
It’s a symbol of this country, just like the flag is a symbol. Trump’s base wants to pummel anyone who doesn’t show proper respect to a brightly colored piece of cloth, but apparently they are just fine with his administration co-opting – and completely misrepresenting – another symbol that probably has more to do with the ideals this nation was founded on than the flag does.
Agreed.
How does a Jewish man from a liberal background end up being a disgraceful racist? They need to do research to study this jerk’a brain. Did something happen at summer camp? Hope his family has disowned him. How did his grandparents get here?
I gather from reading some biographical details that Miller was converted to conservatism as a teen. Then after college at Duke, a great school, he had the benefit of what I call “conservative affirmative action” This happens when right wing individuals, think tanks, or magazines see the most obnoxious racist, sexist, or homophobic students on campus and reach out to employ them. This seems to be what happened with Miller. Also, the infamous Richard Spencer claims to have been a mentor for Miller.
I would think there was something wrong with him in the first place to have been susceptible to this kind of brainwashing.
He reportedly read a book by the head of the NRA that changed his perspective, but “something wrong” with him seems right to me.
He was calling into conservative talk radio when he was a teen in Santa Monica, which is a very diverse area. Here’s my theory (that is totally unsupported by facts): He wasn’t successful with the ladies in high school and blamed it on the “others”.
‘Cosmopolitan’ in this context is alt-right dog whistle speak for Jewish or in this case the Jewish run media. I
Then Miller is even more of a fool seeing how he’s Jewish apparently. Smh @ people who cut their nose to spite their face.
Thanks for pointing this out – learned something! Not only is it anti-intellectual and anti-Semitic but its source was … Russia (OK, the former Soviet Union … in other words, Russia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootless_cosmopolitan
Sooo…this fool basically is saying “ok, The US might have been founded by people looking for a fresh start and fleeing political or religious oppression. But now that we’re in power, we want to exclude those very same people now. Or , if they’re already here, we’ll oppress them!” Hypocrite.
The US is very different from when anybody could just come. There is now a welfare system in place and a large government that sustains people (or at least tries b/c it does a piss-poor job at it). There is nothing wrong with deciding who gets to become an American or who gets to get into your country…I never understood people who have a problem with this. I wish they would care more about actual Americans struggling instead of keeping people out.
New immigrants cannot get welfare.
Not my point but thanks for playing. Managing net flow of immigrants is part of a country’s sovereignty. That includes who can immigrate and who can’t.
Who here is saying we should have an open border? As a nation, we have been working to find our way to a fair but compassionate immigration policy for decades, and the argument that immigrants take jobs and resources from those already here is almost as old as the country itself. Chinese immigrants were banned during the Gold Rush because California workers complained they would work for lower wages. In the almost two centuries since then, immigrants from Asia have become one of our largest (and most affluent) immigrant populations. Most immigrants contribute far more to our GDP than they take.
Immigration has no easy answers, and our policies should always evolve as world conditions and our own economics change, but we are a nation of people that have mostly come from other places looking for a better life, we can’t just slam the door and say “no more”.
Monica – the problem is that we are still at the point where immigrants are a major boost to our economy and create jobs rather than taking them away from those already here. So for us, restricting immigration will have negative effects. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the statistics really do back it up. We already have lost businesses to Canada and elsewhere when immigrant owners have found the current draconian approaches to immigrants and visas an impediment to pursuing their businesses. Other countries may be in a different situation, but that’s where we are right now.
Plus foreign students are being lost, which will make it even harder for certain science and engineering departments in universities to survive and also will put a big dent in research and development inside and outside academia. When I was in grad school in a joint program, both the physics and chemistry departments had many foreign students who paid their own way (Americans had the residential discount and more assistance) and helped considerably with research. The physics department there and elsewhere really couldn’t survive without them. US educational systems simply do not feed enough people in those fields into grad schools to provide the degree students we need to keep our educational and research programs and our high tech society in general going, and the situation will get worse with the Trump Administration because of its attitude toward education.
Health care will also suffer since we rely on so many foreign-born doctors and nurses. Foreign-born doctors are also much more likely to go into general family practice than the native-born, and we still have shortages in that area.
So xenophobic policies have some serious consequences that most people wouldn’t realize.
If the business owners and CEOs didn’t hire illegal immigrants they wouldn’t come. They don’t hire themselves or create jobs. They want to underpay vulnerable workers without paying taxes or following labor laws.
I read an article where an indignant farmer had the nerve to say that it is a problem but you know blacks won’t do it. They are too lazy to come out and work. They have to blame a minority it seems. I was shocked that he said that comfortably as if it was an accepted theory. I firmly believe they think they will make up the lost workers by exploiting prison inmates as they used to decades ago. Now that there are private prisons it would be easy to create an exploited workforce that no one cares about and reap record profits.
This is why we don’t need a stupid show like Confederate. Slavery still exists.
They don’t have an interest in fixing anything they just see brown skin and freak out or else they would consider a strong guest worker program and protections for the workers and their families. Now they are at the mercy of the people who hire them.
my hands hurt from clapping at this
Yes, its pretty simple they should go after companies that hire illegal workers but that’s bad for the party of “pro-Business” and vice versa some corporate democrats. too much donor money involved like all American politics
miller was rolled out with this to troll people. this is 100% in response to trump being neutered on having to sign off on sanctions against Russia. this is a stunt to look like a big bad swinging dick and reignite waning support from his base. it is also to bait media into reacting in a partisan way so trump can have more ammo to accuse the entire media of being a left wing conspiracy. sadly b/c this is so personal to jim acosta he fell right into it.
unless Miller is removed from the payroll today – I don’t want to hear one more word about John Kelly coming in to clean up the administration and being a disciplinarian and “being the adult in the room”. Because he signed off on this massive troll job that has no chance whatsoever of being passed into law which was only announced to provoke people who disagree with trump (aka everyone with a brain).
This all day. Send out the Nazi to do improv so everyone stops talking about Putin for a hot minute. Nobody cares. We know what’s you did last summer, Trumpkins!
The mooch was hilarious and incredibly bad at his job. But I can see how this super creepy guy is kind of the right spokeman for an authoritarian fascist regime.
I was half listening this press conference yesterday and my God! This man is annoying, totally punchable, it was pathetic that he was asking a question to the journalist and when the journalist tried to speak, Miller would shut up and let him talk. He was worse than a toddler trying to bargain with his parents about something. His personality the only thing that could match his age because otherwise dude looks like he’s in his late 40s.
He definitely gives off a Buffalo Bill vibe. If he doesn’t have a basement full of human skin lampshades, he at least has a few baskets full of lotion at the ready just in case the urge becomes too strong.
He is so unfortunate looking and has the charisma of pond scum
So, Melania would not be welcome in her husband’s United States.
This needs to be pointed out loudly and her immigration papers deserve a good look too. How about her parents. We need to see their papers and proof of their acceptable English ability.
kick her out, she flubbed her immigration papers. anyone else would be deported already
This administration motto should be “Lie and Distract.”
There are more than a dozen African countries where English is an official language. These include Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana. Namibia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Africa, and Nigeria. English is also the official language of India. In addition many countries teach english as a second language throughout all of school.
You know that. I know that. But this stupid administration doesn’t know that.
This Stephen Miller is a real POS. Trying to twist him Acosta’s words to deflect from his point. I hate these bastards trump has put in office
Wouldn’t this bill effectively cut out ESL programs in school? Thus cutting jobs in the education department?
Didn’t Trump sign an EO dismantling the education department? At any rate, education is a low priority for this administration. It’s elitist, you know.
Well, repealing the ACA will lose huge numbers of jobs but Trumpies don’t seem to care about that either.
My grandparents and mother didn’t speak English when they came here. Anyone who wants to say they didn’t deserve to be here can go to hell.
I’m so f-cking tired of this crap.
Were did they come from Rapunzel? English is a hard language. How long did it take for them to learn it?
Stephen Colbert on fire this new immigration act. LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaomPmTIKuw
🙂
Well I hope this backfires for them. South African Blacks, Kenyans, Nigerians, Namibians, Jamaicans, all of the English speaking Caribbean Basin, Guyanese, Belizeans, Indians, indeed all of the British commonwealth should come flooding in. This hamfisted, blatant, ill- conceived attempt at bringing mostly whites in demonstrates this administrations stupidity.
Yep Nicole Wallace was right on. The news was already saying this law is DOA because Congress doesn’t have time to deal with it. Looks like Congress is no longer at Orangino’s beck and call. They finally grew a pair and are moving onto their own work.
On the other hand, who saw CNN’s report of Russia’s response to the sanctions? They literlly belittled Orangino for being ineffective and not being able to control Congress. Waiting for his Twitter tantrum.
Miller is just another inept Trump enabler shallow in his understanding of how the world works best and with a big chip on his shoulder, very much like Trump’s unwavering “base” in general. He did look silly trying to turn the tables on the reporter, but Trump probably loved it.
I’m preparing for the “fascist, racist” comments, because of course. My father immigrated here in the early 1950s from Italy. Back in the day, you had to be self sufficient and have a background in work that would be beneficial to the country. While it was not a requirement, you pretty much had to speak the English language if you wanted to get on in life here in the US. When my father arrived here, he spoke only limited English. And while I would have loved to have learned a second language when I was born here in the US, it was strictly forbidden in my household. My father LOVED America and wanted to be an American more than anything. He wanted to assimilate. There was no other language allowed in our household besides that. I remember my father seeking out people who spoke English and begging them to teach him more. He bought American newspapers, and listened to American TV to help him. And he learned, rather quickly,
Another big thing of his was American customs. While a stanch Catholic to the end, he enjoyed American customs like Easter and the 4th of July (especially the 4th of July) and Flag Day and Memorial Day. He just loved the entire idea of being an American.
He wanted to move into neighborhoods where black and white Americans lived in. We lived in Florida, and California. And while there were other immigrants from Italy, he didn’t hang with them. He wanted very much to be just a regular American without saying , “Italian American”.
Because of his commitment, he went on to do great things. He was a great person in my life.
I don’t think it’s too much to ask for people who immigrate to assimilate.
It’s not about assimilation though, it’s about nativism and xenophobia, and not really being aware of actual history concerning immigration.
I’ll point out that until recently, Italians weren’t considered ‘white’.
I’m currently reading this book, which is a good start on some of the overall history of immigration and anti-immigration in the US:
In a book of deep and telling ironies, Peter Schrag provides essential background for understanding the fractious debate over immigration. Covering the earliest days of the Republic to current events, Schrag sets the modern immigration controversy within the context of three centuries of debate over the same questions about who exactly is fit for citizenship. He finds that nativism has long colored our national history, and that the fear—and loathing—of newcomers has provided one of the faultlines of American cultural and political life. Schrag describes the eerie similarities between the race-based arguments for restricting Irish, German, Slav, Italian, Jewish, and Chinese immigrants in the past and the arguments for restricting Latinos and others today.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520269910
Sorry, are you telling me that my Father as an immigrant, and I as a first generation American do not know how it works? I’m in my mid 50s and I lived it. I don’t need to read a “book”.
I well remember that Italians weren’t considered “white” and I find it odd that you need to “school” me when I was there and lived it.
What your book didn’t tell you was, that over time, because of people like my father, who loved the country and fully assimilated, Italian immigrants fully absorbed into society. And it became a non issue.
Actually, that is one of the points the book is making, that despite the ‘oh our country is being run over’ they assimilate. Whether it’s like your father did, or the myriad other ways of assimilation.
And I’ve seen plenty of comments from first and second generation Americans who do indeed seem totally clueless about the history of immigration in the States. They think their family history is indicative of the way it’s always been. While the attitude toward immigration is often the same, the laws and the way it’s been handled are different.
Whoa, wait a minute. Can I ask how old you are and if you have any ties to Immigrants and their first born in the U.S.? It just seems so weird to me for someone else of a different time and culture to try to tell me about things I’ve lived through, been through. I knew at least someone was going to throw out the buzzwords of xenophobia and nativism, and I’m sure there is more coming my way.
Did I mean to insult you in the way you’re taking it? No, not really, but you’re really taking this really really personally.
It’s’s not so much your comments about your dad, that brought my response but the last sentence, which indicates you think that new immigrants aren’t assimilating.
Is your father’s attitude toward America as a new immigrant unusual? No. But you act as if it’s the only way to assimilate. It is not.
As for the buzzwords of xenophobia/racist/nativism, perhaps not you particularly, but you can’t be ignorant of the fact that a lot of the anti-immigration isn’t solely based on what could be considered practical reasons, but has that nativism/racism as an aspect of it.
cr, You seem to be a nice and well meaning person. I’ve read here at CB for many years because I find it fun to read stories about Celebrities. When this turned into a political site, I read along. I felt like anyone with a different viewpoint was shunned, so I kept my mouth shut. But when it came to this topic, something I lived, I felt a need to speak up. There is a big division in this country right now, and no one is served by an echo chamber. I’m actually very afraid for my grandchildren. There is so much hate and separation in America. I think we would do well to talk and understand one another . If we don’t this country is doomed.
It’s not, speaking English is essential to getting by here–just like if you were living in Germany you’d speak German.
@Monica, you’d be surprised. I have lived for a while in Germany as well. Most people are happy to communicate in English. Unless you’re in the boonies, or somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Bavaria, you’re very likely to run into someone who can understand you at some level when speaking English.
Your father’s attitudes are not unusual but also not the only pattern for immigrants. Many stayed in communities that had enough other people from the same country, so they were able to pass on the original language (their children being bilingual) and much of their original culture. Some like your father wanted to make a complete break with the past, but others did not. Leaving your home country to have better economic opportunities or because forced out as refugees does not mean you don’t want to keep your culture. My mother’s hometown was basically like a Little Europe with ethnic neighborhoods even back in the 1980s. Churches still had some services in the original languages for their congregations.
Both approaches are fine. We’re still all Americans even if we aren’t a homogenous mass. As someone said, we aren’t really a melting pot but rather a tossed salad. Diversity is good.
As far as assimilation is concerned – the obvious question is “assimilate to what?”. Usually the assumption is that some particular culture is dominant and should be the aim of assimilation. But which one? And do we have to aim toward one culture? Is that even a good thing in general? Your father maintained his original religion rather than converting to Protestant and he probably kept some other aspects of his original culture. So he made non-mainstream choices in some cases.
There are countries which have tremendous variety in cultures, ethnicities in ethnic areas as well as in mixed neighborhoods, and languages. They still manage to form nations without becoming homogeneous. So maybe we need to rethink what we really need.
@TamingRoman, I’m an immigrant. Not a first gen child of an immigrant parent. I moved as a child. Both my parents have graduate degrees, my sister and I will be getting ours in the future. Whenever I tell people that I wasn’t born here, I moved here, they’re blown away by the idea and swear up and down that it couldn’t be possible.
But I can guarantee you that neither them, nor I, have ever “assimilated” in the manner you describe. We still speak our native language at home, and we’re proud of it. We speak a language that’s thousands of years old, that predates English, that’s about as old as Greek. It is an intrinsic part of our identity. My parents knew that we could easily absorb English as it’s spoken here from TV and our school, so they staunchly enforced the opposite policy that your father did–in our house, we were only allowed to speak our language. That’s it. To you, that’s “refusing to assimilate.” But I speak five languages today. Both my parents speak fluent English, and we didn’t have to shut down our identities in order to do it. How many languages can you say that the average American speaks?
Don’t speak for me. Don’t speak for my experiences. In fact, do yourself a favour. Just don’t talk, period.
Stephen Miller is also responsible for helping to write both versions of the Muslim Ban and many of the speeches that the King of Lies and Fake News reads from the teleprompter. So when the press goes crazy calling The King of Lies and Fake News presidential for reading a teleprompter(1st speech before Congress and the one in Poland)just remember that the speech was written by this man. Which is why some reporters will report that they detect a dark vibe from the speech that the King of Lies and Fake News read.
This isn’t the first time that Stephen Miller and The King of Lies and Fake News tried to trot out this immigration plan. According to the press, they tried to get this bill passed earlier in the year, but it was a complete failure and ignored.
Chris Hayes also tweeted that The King of Lies and Fake News was trying to start a culture war as he feels more and more threatened.
I’ve been complaining we need new blood on Capitol Hill. Too many old farts stuck in their ways. Then we get millennials like this jackass into government and I wonder for our future.
Hateful, arrogant, ill-tempered, delusional and wrong. I see why Trump hired him. Very tired of the dregs of humanity on parade in the White House. As always, hurry up Mueller.
so can we get rid of 45, melania, and ivanka since their command of the english language is lacking?
I’ve heard that she speaks Austrian, Italian, English, German and Slovinian.
Austrians speak German.
I’m presuming she’d still have some knowledge of what’s now known as Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, since she was born and raised in what was then Yugoslavia and that was the most common language.
she claims that, just like she claimed to have a university degree.
I’ve known only a few women from Austria. They both spoke German, English, Polish, Slavic and one spoke Chechen as well.
but melania isn’t from austria.
Really, at this point, what does it matter? Do you plan to impeach her? I mean what do you have to gain by slandering the woman. Go women!
i guess miller doesn’t think the bill of rights or all the other amendments count cause they were added after the original constitution was written.
and what does the white house have to say about getting green cards in exchange for investing 500k in kushner’s property deals?
Actually, that is exactly what some strict constitutionalists believe and some of them work as judges
At least we’re not bothering with the pretense that this isn’t white supremacy anymore. But I mean, it’s cool bro. Get rid of that immigration policy that’s balancing out our declining birth rate. Not like it’s a problem in European countries with similar policies or anything.
What birthdate, and who is “us”? I had 11 siblings in my Catholic family, had four children who gave birth to 13 grandchildren.
@Tamingroman, thank you for your contribution, but your family is going to have to really shift into high gear if you want to make up for our record-setting low birth rate. In 2016, the total fertility rate for American women was 1,818 births per 1,000 women. That’s the lowest it has been since 1984. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-us-birth-rate-20170630-htmlstory.html
Additionally, the baby boomers are starting to leave the work force at a shocking rate (10,000 a day has been judged to be a pretty accurate number). 10,000 people a day go from contributing to our economy through paying taxes to pulling resources (Social Security, Medicare) out of it. At this point, the only thing that will keep our labor force at sustainable numbers will be immigration. http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/labor-force-growth-increasingly-depends-immigrants-and-their-children
Here is the actual numbers from the CDD (not urban.org or LA times). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_01.pdf
While what is now considered white Americans, people of Italian and Catholic heritage are still pretty much at the top of baby makers. This includes South Americans and anyone Latino regardless of US Status.
US Labor Statistics (not urban org or LA times), there has been a swift uptake of salaried jobs given, a downturn in unemployment. Also from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
And these are recent numbers. I don’t care if Obama did it or who did it, but the numbers of unemployement are getting much lower and the birth rate, regardless of race or religion is exploding.
Then when you talk about unemployment you also have to remember that the stats also consider under-aged and retired people as well as undocumented who can’t really come out and say they are such.
I enjoy your post and am glad to have this discussion with you.
I was careful to give you only government records, most completed during the Obama administration so that there would be no confusion on the matter.
The birth rate overall is indeed declining, just not in your immediate family. There are increasing numbers of one-child and zero-child families to balance you out…
Also fertility problems affect at least 1/4 of the people here.
Not according to US gov official reports during Obama years.
Jwoolman, did you even bother to look at the national stats? They came under the Obama admin so you might find them “safe”.
Fertility problems affects 1/4??? Where do you guys even come up with this? I’m serious. Give me some Obama numbers on this, like I did for you. I think you guys really believe this. Like seriously believe it. Wow. Jay Walking is really true.
Actually, thinking about the numbers you gave- your family birth rate really is declining! Each generation has had fewer children (11 for your parents, 4 for you, so far 3.25 children on the average for your kids). Your grandchildren might end up just replacing themselves with two kids each on the average…
Which isn’t an unusual pattern. As time goes on, children are not needed to help support the family and expectations for what parents want to do for their children increase. Plus other ways to support people in old age arise so fewer or no children are needed for that also. This provides a natural incentive to have fewer children.
@Tamingroman, the LA Times was reporting on the official government statistics for 2016. The link in their article links to the same organization as yours – your report is from 2013, the LA Times from this year. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/report002.pdf
Looking at the first report you link to, it seems to me like the birth rate is actually falling – the turquoise line on page three. The number of births has gone up, but that’s due to our increased population.
I’d never heard of urban.org, so was dubious about linking to their article, but did so because A) their chart was pretty instructive and B) they were basing their story on a report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/23550/the-economic-and-fiscal-consequences-of-immigration It’s not an official government organization, but a professional journal where the contributors to the work included a great many academics who specialize in the fields of economics, statistics and public policy. I’d call that pretty compelling since their scholarly peers will call them out if they think their methodology or data is faulty.
I too appreciate the double-checking of facts. I gave the topic of birth rates a quick Google at work not knowing whether it was going up or down, so I learned something today that I didn’t know before. That’s always a good thing.
Birth rates naturally decline as countries become more industrialized with increased access to family planning methods and the subsequent cost of first world living. Generally the way to offset that demographics shift is through immigration policies, of which the United States currently has one of the more generous ones. The US is big enough that we haven’t had the demographic crisis seen across Europe, nor the socialist programs that produce the subsequent tax burden, but it’s inevitable that we’ll start to see that creep into the system as time wears on. (Actually, we just hit a historic low back in June, as reported by WaPo and the NYT. There’s concerns as to whether it points to an emerging trend.)
As it is, illegal immigrants are actually helping to offset a decent amount of government debt by nature of the fact that many pay taxes but lack legitimate SS numbers to collect on government programs. Restricting legal immigration along with illegal isn’t just xenophobic, it’s downright short sighted given what we’ve seen occur elsewhere.
I was born into a family of 12. I gave birth to 4 (trying to be all American). My youngest is gay and has no children. My eldest is 30 and has 7. My step daughters have 3 each.
I don’t need my children to support me. I do very well.
You keep talking to me like I’m not a grown woman who has lived though this. Why is that? I thought this was a woman power website.
I’ve given you Obama numbers and I’m sorry you are not happy with them.
I don’t think anyone is questioning your personal experience, we’re just saying that perhaps it is not the norm. My experience is not the norm either. I am a grown woman, but I will never have children of my own, so I am bringing down the national average in a very small way.
Honest to God, Trump is an idiot. I feel like I”m in the movie Dumb and Dumber, starring Donald Trump, and can’t get out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-refugees-australia_us_5983310ce4b06d4888748baf?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
I HATE Stephen Miller! He’s the enema hose who stated “the powers of the President are vast in scope and will not be questioned.” Ohhhhhh reallllllyyyyyy, Stephen & Donald?
Idiots! You two work for US! You will be questioned. You will answer those questions.
Not defending this cockwomble but I’m doing my Canadian application and you get more points for speaking English and French.
Are they going to only take asylum seekers that speak English though? Is that what this means?