A journal of my opinions, thoughts, essays, rants, and BS. ............GlennDL
Remember the Berlin Wall? The Iron Curtain?
Remember when we were ideologically opposed to the symbolism of the 'Iron Curtain' because it was so contrary to our concept of a proud and free nation? Remember when Reagan said "...tear down that wall", in regards to the Berlin Wall.
In December,2018 Congress had passed a bi-partisan deal when Trump declared he would shutdown the government and Republican’ts pulled the deal over the border wall. Trump and Republicants have called for a shutdown repeatedly for various reasons over the years. He said he would “own this shutdown” and was proud to do it. The same people who called Obama tyrannical for bypassing Congress are applauding the latest of many Trump tantrums: ie., the threat to bypass Congress.
And so ends the latest lesson in Republican logic (hypocrisy).
We have shutdown the government because of a manufactured emergency. The demand is that we fund a solution that is going to take years to design and about 15 years to build. So even if approved it would accomplish nothing for a decade? Even the so called ‘funding fix’, the ‘new NAFTA’ hasn’t even been ratified by Congress… you know the gimmick to make Mexico pay for the wall, which has no real provision for raising revenue, wasn’t passed by the ‘do nothing Republican’t Congress’!
Bi-partisan agreement on immigration reform has been put forward numerous times only to be held up by Republican’t leadership and the President.
Remember when we were ideologically opposed to the symbolism of the 'Iron Curtain' because it was so contrary to our concept of a proud and free nation? Remember when Reagan said "...tear down that wall", in regards to the Berlin Wall. Remember "...Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Today some prefer walls and closed borders. Why must we always argue over the extreme positions on every issue as opposed to finding the solutions that always reside somewhere in between?
Here’s how just throwing money at the problem without any real plan usually works:
by GlennDL
Last year about this time we were engaged in 
Republican'ts are showing their usual hypocrisy: in 2013 when they shut down the government (after previous, repeated threats) over Obamacare (the law of the land) and its perceived threat to the deficit, after that they now totally ignore the still growing deficit with corporate giveaways and deficit growing spending.
His sense of carrying out ‘the peoples mandate’ is so contrary to his stance against President 
by Glenn D. Littrell indianaglenn@gmail.com
Today I have let myself get caught up in (or carried away by) a Facebook debate surrounding the "Zero tolerance immigration policy" of the current administration. Like many politically charged Facebook issues, the debate while often civil is very often contentious, emotional and nasty. If I have behaved in the latter behavior I apologize for whenever I crossed the line. I will not, however, apologize for my point of view.
I would like to point out that, as often is the case today, most issue debates continually and quickly transform from an issue debate into a political debate… which is unproductive and to a large degree senseless.
Immigration Reform, the issue: The irony of the debate is that regardless of which side everyone falls on the overwhelming majority of us agree that we need immigration reform, and we need it now. For many of us the difference is what reforms we want and what concession do we accept or make, not who wins or loses politically.
I for one say that we enforce our laws with consistency and compassion. I say that we acknowledge the suffering and hard choices these people faced in getting here, even if in the end we have to send them back or relocate them. I say that we recognize that those who have lived their life here after being brought here as minors, younger than the age of consent and responsibility, those that have never known another home, be afforded a path to citizenship. Most importantly that we seek to do as little harm as possible.
In regards to questionable, false, or immoral defense of this policy:
A zero tolerance policy: Zero tolerance policy is the tool of the authoritarian, the dictator, and on a smaller scale the unimaginative, repressive, insecure person. It reeks of injustice and takes us back to a time and practice that could see a starving man go to prison for 20 years for simply stealing a loaf of bread. 
Blame Obama defense: So that's the limit of your indignation and outrage? A sarcastic, pointless and trivial dig at Obama?
Kids in cages better off than they were in Mexico(or wherever): ...if you can acknowledge that having their kids taken is better than their life back in Mexico, then why can't you recognize the desperation that leads them here seeking help. Have some mercy for their situation. 
All these things are being denied these people who come here seeking help and an opportunity. As a former military parent and child in a military family, this comparison is so off base it is offensive! 
In summation, we would be better served by discussing solutions to problems, to debating the issues without seeking justification for immoral or unnecessary acts, and with an eye towards practicality with empathy and compassion.
Seek solutions from your critical mind and an open heart instead of your loyalty to a specific person or ideology.
While I am naturally suspicious of the validity of such a document, let's assume that it is accurate and authentic, because fact checking an unsourced graphic is difficult and time consuming, and in this case not necessary.
So, without fact checking, let's just try reading it to see what it shows and what does the author "MikeM-------" say it shows:
"THIS IS WHAT 1 ILLEGAL REFUGEE GETS WITH THE FEDERAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM $3874 PER MONTH !!!"
Really? Obviously Mike didn't read it or didn't do the math or more likely, he doesn't think you will.
It’s all right there in the document, read it.
The $1399 TEMPORARY aid is not permanent. It is an allowance to help a family arriving in this country to transition from nothing to a self-sustaining status. A family, most likely with nothing after much time in refugee camps, following a vetting process (yes, there is one, always has been) and fleeing violence and/or extreme poverty… is receiving a monthly allowance that in most states is near the poverty level, and in some states falls below the poverty level.
As for the start-up expenses are they really that high? Clothing, furniture, transportation assistance for relocation, and job hunting?
by GlennDL
While we’re on the subject:
by Glenn Littrell
re-posted from 2015
(UPDATE: Fact Check Video added)
About 2000 years ago a young, middle eastern mother to be, along with her husband (who was not the father of her child) sought refuge from the elements in a small town. The only available shelter was a manger, where her baby was born.
Later, the mother, her baby, and her husband, fled oppression and death, seeking compassion, justice and refuge in another country where they lived for many years.
When the family returned to their homeland many years later the baby, now a young man, preached forgiveness, compassion, and said: “…Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
While choosing to ignore actions that would be considered of a Christian nature, we are also ignoring and advocating actions that totally ignore our own constitution and its processes.
Where we once claimed to be a great country because of the opportunity we offered, the morals we aspired to, and the equality we preached, we now demonstrate the darker nature of our past. A past that we deny. A past of greatness that also included atrocities that we seek to hide and to minimalize.
This is not to say they are justified, but it is to say there is a history to their fear and hatred. It is not something that just appeared. We can not right all past wrongs, we cannot dispel all misconceptions, and we are probably beyond sitting down with terrorist for a mutually beneficial discussion until one-side has been beaten the other into submission.
Whatever the military option becomes without the participation of the Gulf States we will just be digging into another quagmire… like was pointed out by the naysayers in 2003.
But even with a successful Military solution we will continue to be the target of scorn from marginalized middle eastern Muslims and their sympathizers. Even if a military solution beats down all jihadist and we pull completely out of the region, avoiding the ‘quagmire’, we will forever be linked to the atrocities of this war and past transgressions. Unless we seek and obtain a political solution, whatever that may be, we will continue to be the target of militant jihadist for generations… just like now and in the past.
Whatever the military solution, and the political solution, the key to any success short or long term, is winning the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims, especially young Muslims. But how are we ever going to do that if we can’t even do it with the Muslims in our country. We seem intent on doing everything we can to enrage, denigrate, alienate and discriminate against Muslims, all Muslims from all nations and ethnicities, here and abroad, immigrant and American born.
This is not our first bout with xenophobia, racism, religious intolerance, ethnic condemnation, and the accompanying oppressive hate and fear. There are many examples, but one particularly relevant to this current controversy is the story of the MS St. Louis. While today we claim a national love and affection for the Jewish state of Israel, in 1939 we were less than hospitable to a mere 908 Jewish refugees. The result was that many ended back in Germany during the Holocaust and the Germans had another example of international hatred for the Jews:
“The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner most notable for a single voyage in 1939, in which her captain, Gustav Schröder (a German), tried to find homes for 908 Jewish refugees from Germany. After they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, they were finally accepted in various European countries, which were later engulfed in World War II. Historians have estimated that, after their return to Europe, approximately a quarter of the ship's passengers died in death camps.” Wikipedia
Just like the Germans tried to use our apathy to justify their genocide, the Jihadist will use the frightened, anti-refugee behavior to influence discouraged moderate Muslims, both here and abroad, as a strong recruitment tool.
It seems that as time passes the phrases such as “…give me your tired…”, “…that all Men are created equal…”, and “…So in everything, do unto others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets…” are less grand and meaningful than in the past. Lady Liberty now gives the ‘stiff-arm’ to the huddled masses of the world and our ‘so-called’ Christian ethics take a back seat to political expedience, fear and hate.
“Paris, 1948: A couple and their toddler arrive in Paris from Budapest. The toddler is me. My parents have survived the horrors of the Holocaust - the camps; the pitiless deaths of their parents, spouses, children, siblings; the loss of their property and livelihoods. The Communist Iron Curtain drops and my mother has again been imprisoned. After she is released, my family takes one suitcase and flees to France. Paris becomes our place for healing. My parents and I wait in France - for years - for the precious papers that allow us to emigrate to the U.S. The passenger manifest on the ship that brings us across the Atlantic lists our nationality as "Stateless." We are refugees.”
“…The Paris tragedy has become politicized [in America] - and I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed that the country that laid out a welcome mat for my family has elected officials who so readily want to slam the door shut on the victims of the worst humanitarian crisis since the Holocaust. Some even want to impose a religious test on resettlement, all in the name of "national security." What they're really doing, whether by intent or ignorance, is fanning the flames of xenophobia and Islamophobia. It reminds me of some of the most shameful episodes of U.S. history: the mass internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; and the refusal to allow the passengers of the St. Louis to disembark in an American port, sending them back to Europe - many to their deaths.”
originally posted 11-20-2015
updated 11-21-2015
In the 60’s :
When I was a kid living in Germany we were within a hundred miles of the Fulda Gap, where a few Russian Armored Divisions were constantly poised to attack.
We played baseball in the backyard.
At one point Russian ships were steaming to Cuba to install Nuclear Warheads aimed at America.
We went to the movies.
Our enemies (Russia and China) had thousands of nuclear missiles aimed at us (still do), and armies as large as ours (still do). We had drills (similar to tornado and fire drills) where we crawled under our desk or tables and assumed a kneeling 'fetal' position with our hands behind or heads.
Throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and today we have had thousands of troops, and their families, within 50 miles of the Korean border where one of the worlds largest army is poised to swarm over the border.
Those families go to church and have picnics.
Today, the Republicants and Donald Trump would have you:
Fear immigrant children at our southern borders,
Fear immigrants seeking the American dream
Fear refugee families at the Statue of Liberty,
Close our borders and cower in the closet.
The fear is manufactured, that's my point, and the anger is pompous.
The Fulda Gap, Cuban Missile Crisis, American families along the Korean DMZ, and Nuclear Arsenals, those were things to worry about, not a bunch of extremest wackos with no air force, missile program, or substantial army. A group that numbers less than 20,000 troops and a minuscule number of sympathizers world wide.
Can they do harm, yes, but so far, in America, homegrown right-wing wackos have killed more than any jihadist, more people have died from dog bites since 9/11. Not to mention gangs, domestic violence, and the flu.
So if we're still the 'home of the brave' where do idiots get off 'ramping up' the hate and fear, just like after 9/11 where we sent troops to Iraq (which had nothing to do with 911) to die over there so they wouldn't die over hear. Remember after 9/11 Bush said we needed to stock-up on sheets of plastic and duck tape to be prepared for that 'mushroom cloud'.
GlennDL
It amazes me that so many of the ‘protect the Constitution crowd’ so often prove themselves to have little understanding of the principles or history of the document and the Declaration of Independence.
"...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are..."
All men, all mankind. It is very clear.
This is not a new problem, its not a problem, it may be an inconvenience, but it has been around since the Pilgrims landed (a people who spoke a foreign tongue).
The language someone speaks is not relevant to their character, integrity, or ‘worthiness’.
The Constitution establishes some of these principles, and among these are the right of free speech.
At a time when our courts and politicians have decided that 'money' is speech, far to many people who have bought into the 'money is speech' abomination wish to further erode constitutional rights by advocating for limited, even restrictive speech for the common man.
The idea that a prerequisite to maintaining or obtaining citizenship, that entry into or deportation from this country, and the worth of someone are all dependent on what language they speak, is just another form of narrow-mindedness that demonstrate an absence of the basic principles that this country was founded on.
It is common sense that the Constitutional right to free speech would include whatever language you wish. The founders did not seek to establish a national language and for good reason.
Our most common language, and the language proposed as a national language, is not even 'American' its 'English'. It is by definition a foreign language, not a native language.
Are we going to outlaw the languages of Native-Americans? The use of Latin in Catholic Mass? The deaf the use of sign language? Are we attempting to silence LEGAL immigrants?
Appeals to false nationalism using the cheapest form of false patriotism is just another in a long line of deceptions meant to distract us from the man behind the curtain.
Chest thumping rabble-rousing calls for meaningless posturing in a continued attempt to create easily imagined non-existent threats to our way of life.
The boogieman has taken many forms: Native-Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, Unionist, hippies, Okies, Mormons, Jews, Catholics, witches, Japanese Americans, Suffragettes, World War I Veterans, Muslims, the Irish, Italians, Socialist, Community Organizers, First Ladies advocating for better nutrition, gays, the poor, the unemployed, single mothers, immigrants, hungry children, and tree hugging conservationist. So far the harm done by all these ‘threats’ combine does to equal the transgressions and oppression inflicted on any one of them.
Too much of our history has been spent attacking these boogie men while our infrastructure has decayed, meaningless and unnecessary wars have been waged, our jobs deported, our schools dismantled by privatization, wages and income decreased by the wealthy and corporate America, globalization.
Wake-up America. Travel to any country in the world and you will probably have little problem finding someone that speaks English, French, Spanish and maybe Chinese. America has one of the lowest rates of bi-lingual speakers. This is not a good thing. If your a parent and your not encouraging your children to speak a second language then you are not preparing them for adulthood. Following 9/11 we had a serious security problem because of a shortage of middle-eastern translators.
But, then again, lets make America Great Again by outlawing free speech. That'll work.
GlennDL
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