Immigration

General George S. Patton would like a word with Andrew Thomas

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I almost spit out my coffee this morning when I read this headline in the Arizona Capitol Times: A fence through the middle of Arizona: Thomas unveils ‘Patton Line’ border security plan.

In my youth I knew veterans who had served with General George S. Patton in his Third Army that liberated Europe in World War II. I know about Patton from the men who actually served with him. These veterans are all gone now, having passed away.

For the disgraced and disbarred Andrew Thomas to refer to his proposed border fence as the “Patton Line” is an insult to intelligence, and dishonors the memory  of a great American hero. The General would like a word with you . . .

Patton

Quoted in 50 Military Leaders Who Changed the World‎ (2007) by William Weir, p. 173.

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Adam Kwasman’s defining moment

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Local conservative commentator Emil Franzi writes that: Recently, I pointed to the inadequacies of two losers on the GOP primary ticket. Bad news for the GOP — there’s more. Tom Horne and John Huppenthal are trumped in the bozo category by state Rep. and CD1 candidate Adam Kwasman, whose classic appearance picking the wrong bus … Read more

deportation

‘Uncovering the Truth’: Day Laborer Network Leaders Travel to El Salvador

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NDLON poster
NDLON poster

Leaders from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), faith leaders, and academics are in El Salvador to assess the situation and determine why thousands of Central American children are traveling to the US, seeking asylum and relatives.

From NDLON:
Between Over-Complication and the Overly Simple:
Day Laborer Network Leading US “Deported Dreams” Delegation 
in El Salvador
Migrant RIghts Organizers, Faith Leaders, Academics to Convene Forums, Initiate Community Development, Release Study Profiling Deportees
 
On the last day of college, the director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, Pablo Alvarado, left his home country atop a train headed toward the US with his little brother who had become the target of threats by death squads. Decades after their journey North, Alvarado is leading a delegation in the opposite direction to expand the conversation on migration, investigate root causes, and release a study of those Salvadorans who were returned by deportation instead of by choice.
 
Beginning Sunday, July 19th to the 27th, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network will bring organizers from the front-lines of the domestic immigrant rights movement accompanied by faith leaders and academics, hosting public forums on the dynamics of migration and releasing a new study “Deported Dreams” by the University of Central America in San Salvador.
 
“We are going to uncover the truth of what’s happening in Central America without the political spin,” explains Alvarado.  “To advocate effectively, we have to be grounded in reality and that is what we are going to witness in El Salvador.”

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The Know Nothings haven’t returned; they never really left.

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By Craig McDermott

 

More than eight years ago, I started blogging at my personal blog, Random Musings.

At the time, it was mostly about me venting on individual matters of the day, but it soon evolved into something that was less “issue oriented” and more focused “process” (i.e. – the misdeeds of the Arizona legislature).

However, issues, especially ones that don’t fade away, still play a part.

And one issue that hasn’t “faded away” is immigration and the anti–immigant hatred that suffuses politics in Arizona.

In 2010, Jan Brewer rode SB1070 to a full term as governor.

In 2014, Republican candidates are still running against “them”, not against the other Republican candidates or even Fred Duval, the Democratic candidate for governor this year.

Nope, their base is motivated by fear and hatred, of immigrants, of Barack Obama, of the future, of anything that is “different” and so the Republican candidates are campaigning against the “Other”.

A large part of that is unbridled nativism.

It was the subject of the first post in my blog, and unfortunately, as evidenced by events in Oracle earlier this week (and Murrieta, CA before that) and AZBlueMeanie’s post here earlier today, that post is still relevant eight years later.

In 2006, while researching an unrelated subject for a class I was taking at the time, I came across a handwritten letter dating from 1856 detailing the presidential platform of the infamously nativist Know Nothing party –

know_nothing_letter

(source: Duke University)

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Gov. Brewer still hatin’ on the DREAMers

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brewer_hateAfter Governor Brewer recently lost in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals over her executive order to deny driver’s licenses to individuals qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program aka the DREAMers under President Obama’s executive order, the Arizona Republic editorialized Save the headache, governor, and let ‘dreamers’ drive.

Just as this old crone gave President Obama the boney finger on the tarmac, she has now given the editors of The Republic and every DREAMer her boney middle-finger salute. This woman must really hate kids for breathing while brown. Governor seeking reconsideration of license ruling:

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer asked an appeals court Friday to reconsider its earlier ruling that blocked her policy denying driver’s licenses to young immigrants who have avoided deportation under an Obama administration policy.

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