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Tears are streaming down the eyes of Lady Liberty, as she weeps over Donald Trump's executive order - signed on Friday, January 27th, 2017 - which temporarily halts immigration from seven Muslim-dominated countries with possible ties to terrorism. Living up to his campaign promise for "extreme vetting"...Trump has immediately blocked entrance in to the United States - for 90-days - anyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yeman. Trump's order also ends access in to our country...for any Syrian refugee...for an indefinite period of time. Furthermore...Trump's signature demands the suspension of the entire Refugees Admissions Program for 120 days...which means refugees from no countries will be permitted until the federal government can review the application process.
I am the product - note the operative word..."product" - of immigration. My great-grandparents - all four of them - arrived at Ellis Island in New York City in the late 1800s. And unless your ancestors are Native Americans...then you...and every single citizen of the United States...are the result of immigration.
Therefore...let me remind you of the inscription that is engraved on a bronze plaque...which is mounted to the base of the Statue of Liberty. It is part of a poem by Emma Lazarus, which she wrote in 1883 to help raise funds for the construction of the statue's pedestal.
"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."
But my great-grandparents did not read those hallowed words when they came to the United States. Because although America was Lady Liberty's home since 1886...it wasn't until 1903 when the aforementioned plaque became part of the lower level of her base.
For 114 years, however...that very special stanza...of that memorable sonnet... has been absorbed...by the minds of American citizens...by immigrants...and by tourists...who have read it...and deeply embraced its meaning. According to New York Harbor Parks...approximately four-million people visit the Statue of Liberty National Monument on Liberty Island every year.
But that precious verse...from that cherished poem...found on our treasured Statue...does not say - Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses who are not Muslim.
For more than 240 years...the United States has welcomed people of all faiths...of all races...and of all ethnicities...to its shores. For Donald Trump to restrict our nation's soil to individuals...because of their religious beliefs...is un-American. It is not what our country stands for. But then...I question whether Trump - and others who claim to love America, but who agree with him on this entire issue - even know what the United States stands for...or what it truly means...to be an American. And something tells me...they never will.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of
GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B.
Duglin.
It should be known that the opening line of the above column was written before Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer - Democrat from New York - released his statement using some similar wording.
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You need to check your facts; you make the statement “For more than 240 years… the United States has welcomed people of all faiths…of all races…and all ethnicities… to its shores.” The United States has always retained the right to limit immigration from other countries, check out the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, we had the Geary Act in 1892, we had the Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1907 with Japan, the Immigration Act of 1917, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and many more. The list of immigration restrictions go on and on, our first immigration law was passed by Congress in 1790 The Naturalization Act. Many of the laws restricted immigration based on ethnicity; we have had laws that restricted naturalization to "free white persons" of "good moral character". We had the Anarchist Exclusion Act in 1901 which excluded anarchist agitators from coming to the United States. Please stop trying to make it seem like this is the first time we have limited immigration, it is not. It is time to take a pause and re-evaluate our procedures to make sure we are keeping America and Americans safe. We have had restrictions during times of war; we have had restrictions during economic hard times, we have always had restrictions, as I said check your facts. You ask whether President Trump knows what the United States stands for or what it means to be an American, you asking that is laughable. I believe those who won’t recognize President Trump as the legitimate President of the USA and will not call him their President, don’t know what America stands for or what it is to be an American!
ReplyDeleteYou can cherry-pick all day long. The fact of the matter is...that America has always welcomed everyone. I think Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer - the proud patriotic American that he is...and a distinguished Democrat from New York - sums it up quite well, as he responds to Donald Trump's executive order on immigration. "A grand tradition of America...welcoming immigrants...that has existed since America was founded...has been stomped upon."
DeleteIt is obvious that Donald Trump - and apparently most others who support him - do not know what it means to be an American. You can laugh all you want, but your comments are those of a hater. As Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan says..."We should never close our doors to those fleeing brutalities like that of ISIS."
As long as Trump continues to act like a dictator...and a tyrant...more than half of the United States will never acknowledge him...or recognize him...as President - legitimate or otherwise.
GBD
You as is Schumer are President Trump haters; the first job of an American President is to protect America and its people, all the President has said is we need time to setup a way to vet these people so America and Americans can be safe. I am not a hater and I know what it means to be American, you are the name caller and hater. Have you ever put on the uniform and sworn to give your life in needed to protect this Country? I don’t think so; don’t you tell me I don’t know what it means to be an American. President Trump is not acting like a dictator or tyrant; he is being President and Commander in Chief, for those who don’t accept him as that, maybe they are the ones that don’t know what it means to be an American or maybe they aren’t true Americans!
ReplyDeleteYou and other Republicans just don't seem to get it...and it's a shame that you never will. It's not about hate. It's about respect. We don't "hate" Donald Trump. We just don't respect him. He does not represent - in the slightest bit - anything Presidential. Not as a man...and not as a leader.
DeleteYou prove my point about you being a hater when you infer that an American has to "put on the uniform and sworn to give your life to protect this country" in order to know what it means to be an American. Whether I have served in the U.S. armed forces is irrelevant to this conversation...so I'm not going to tell you. However, I am a strong advocate of our military veterans, but again, none of this is germane to the topic of my column. I don't believe Trump is "being President and Commander-In-Chief" with some of his remarks and actions. Time will tell if he starts to "play nice" with those who didn't vote for him. Other Republicans sitting behind The Oval Office desk have been able to do so with Democrats...and Democratic Presidents have been able to do so with Republicans. Unfortunately, the Republican Congress didn't do what they should have with President Obama and now the GOP is getting a taste of how they treated our 44th President, who history will rank as one of our greatest Presidents.
Republicans nationwide - and in Congress - never accepted Barack Obama as President for 8 years. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said publicly that his main goal was to make sure President Obama was only a one-term President. When McConnell failed to do that, his next decision was to not give President Obama anything that would help him to accomplish issues of merit for our country. Now that was un-American by McConnell.
GBD
You proved yourself to be the hater. I never said you needed to serve to know what it means to be an American, I asked you if you ever served and being you hadn’t, for that reason you should not to tell me I don’t know what it means to be an American or question my patriotism. As a Republican let me tell you once again you lied, Republican nationwide and in Congress did accept Obama as President we just didn’t agree with almost all his policies. I don’t recall any GOP leader ever say he wasn’t the President. We didn’t want McConnell or any Republican to give Obama any help accomplishing any of his goals because we believed and still do that what he wanted to accomplish was and is bad for America. Mitch is a true and patriotic American!
DeleteI am NOT a hater. But you'll never understand that.
DeleteYou inferred - the operative word being, inferred - that to know what it means to be an American, one needs to have served in the military...which, you don't know whether I did or did not, so you cannot make a statement like "being you hadn't."
I did not lie about anything. Republicans in Congress - and a whole lot nationwide - did not accept President Obama. They didn't accept him because he's a Democrat...and many...if not most...didn't accept him because he is black. And what I stated about Senator Mitch McConnell...are facts.
Now you and all the other Republicans - some of which are haters, some of which are not - can get a taste of your own medicine. Democrats - including those in Congress - will likely treat Donald Trump as they treated President Obama. That is, of course, unless and until Trump proves he's better than he has been over the last 19-and-a-half months. However...I won't hold my breath.
GBD
P.S. - If you read my column from Sunday, January 29th, titled WITH DONALD TRUMP IN THE OVAL OFFICE...GOD HELP THE U.S.A., you'll understand more. Or not.
The guy who writes this website is a arrogant idiot. Talk about "fake news" - this guy takes talking points from his favorite liberal TV stations and presents them as facts without even doing research. The other person proved the author wrong with hard facts and the author just comes back and says we always have welcomed everyone, after just being proven wrong that we haven't always welcomed everyone. This guy then says the other person cherry picked. LOL. Nothing will ever get through to this guy. I'm not coming back to read this nonsense any more.
ReplyDeleteYou're the "arrogant idiot." I happen to be an award-winning journalist...a professional for more than 40 years. I don't write "fake news."
DeleteThe Controversy is a forum for controversial issues whereby I present my thoughts on issues. My columns are to strike a chord so that people with opposing views will comment. Donald Trump's executive order on immigration is discrimination...plain and simple. I stick to my original comment that the United States has always welcomed others to our country. Republican bigotry is not going to "get through" to me...as I refuse to let it.
If you don't want to read The Controversy...so be it. It's a free country. That is until Trump lets Vladimir Putin and the Russians become his partner.
GBD
#MAGA
ReplyDeleteFor those of my readers who are unfamiliar with Twitter and hashtags, the response to my column from the reader above - #MAGA - means "Make America Great Again." What the reader doesn't understand - which Donald Trump doesn't understand - is that America IS great. America has always been great. And President Barack Obama made it even greater over the last 8 years. Unfortunately, Trump is an embarrassment to the United States of America, to The White House and to The Oval Office. Trump is NOT doing anything to move America forward and, as such, he is destroying what makes America great...and with his approval ratings dropping - (Gallup says he's now down to 36 percent) - we may see it plummet in to the twenties.
DeleteI have written in the past couple of months that Trump will not last a full four-year term. His actions will either result in an impeachment by the House, conviction by the Senate and removal from office...or he will resign either in disgrace or because of health reasons - as I don't think he can survive all the stress he is obviously under. I don't agree with Donald Trump and I don't respect him as a President or as a man, but I do NOT wish him any personal harm. He should live and be well and have the best of health, but I don't think he can handle the job for four years. But as I said...I think his actions - either from the past...or in the future...will be the demise of his political career and his Presidency.
GBD