A number of years ago I discovered that my wife has a memory like an audio visual recording Rolodex. She remembers conversations we had the first week we met. My memory is not nearly that good. In fact relative to my wife’s my memory is horrible.
Here in this community, it is challenging remembering who said what, especially without a feature that allows us to search by name for peoples past comments.
My memory works by geography. That’s my filing system.
If you would be willing, when we are conversing, I would love it if you tell me what state you live in or what city. I’ll remember you better. I know TPJ is in Boston, Marcy Meldahl is in Tennessee, I think Nancy Bailey just told us she lives in Georgia. Marlene in the Bay Area. I should know where Lynell is but I can’t think of it. Bruce Carpenter and Denise Huddle in Texas, I remember that from the ice storm. Anyway it’s just a tool that would help me a lot. From now on I’m going to write them down.
Happy Daylight Savings Time, Roland! I always enjoy reading your perspectives and the banter among the group. I try to bring a positive note to these conversations from Cape Cod...where the tidal flats of Cape Cod Bay stretch out seemingly forever. Tide pools will soon be filled with hermit crabs, snails, and tiny fish as the days begin to warm. It’s just after 6 AM and the sky is beginning to brighten ahead of the sunrise. 🌅 Good Morning!
Fond memories of renting a house in harwich for part of the summer and eating all that the sea can provide while feeding the ducks that would constantly waddle by.
Hi Kari! Everything between Hyannis and Provincetown. Mashpee is in there somewhere. See I dug all that out of the dusty files. Memory isn’t completely useless. Unless I double check on the Internet right now and find out I totally screwed it up.
😂 Our little strip of sand can be very confusing. I’m sending a link to a recent article, “Cape Cod: Where Going North is Really East and the Lower is Above the Upper”.
And to make things worse, our federal government has changed the exit numbers all along Route 6 from a numerical progression (exits 1, 2, 3... to exit numbers based on distance from who knows where! So, old exit 2 is now exit 59 and old exit 8 is now exit 75! Go figure. You think you screwed up...I don’t even know how to find my way home anymore 😉
Oh that was so stupid I can’t believe they did that. I know exactly what they did. They turned your main drag into another federal highway. So that means Mile Zero is at the very beginning of that numbered route where it crosses the state line. Since Route 6 technically starts in Providence, as soon as it crosses the state line into Massachusetts, that’s Mile Marker zero. What a bunch of dummies. The way they used to have it is so much more sensible, they had to monkey with it and try to “standardize” it instead of just leaving it the way it was. This is why citizens have to be involved in government. Government doesn’t always make the best decisions.
Part of that change is the ability to document exact locations on the public highway. In your description, an incident (crash, rescue, medical emergency, etc.) would be "3.2 miles north of southbound exit 8 on the west road shoulder" rather than "mile marker 71.5, southbound"
My personal conspiracy theory is that whoever was behind renumbering the highway exits owns the sign company. The new numbers finally hit rte 128; just where does the mileage counting start from??? Not Boston, not the state line. my new exit number is 44, miles from where?
Normally west to east freeways are numbered starting at the state line low (mile marker 0) to high, and south to north freeways are numbered 0 to high at the next state line. At least California doesn’t get convoluted and bizarre and unfathomable. With a few short exceptions, like 580 in the SF Bay Area, most of it makes sense.
What a mess. I looked it up on Wikipedia, there is a chart under the chapter “Exit List” that gives you the old exit numbers and new exit numbers. Good luck.
All the exit numbers on the Maine Turnpike were changed several years ago, after I moved from Maine to Colorado. Even though I spend every summer in Maine, I can never remember the “new” exit numbers, so I resort to referring to the towns associated with the exits, such as: “Get off at the first South Portland exit you see, which used to be Exit 7.”
Boston has similar problems. None of the "compass" neighborhoods -- West End, East Boston, North End, South End, South Boston -- is west/east/north/south of the center of town. The West End doesn't even exist anymore: it's now Mass General Hospital.
Wendy Raksin here from Granada Hills, California which is a small suburb of Los Angeles, located in "the valley." I am mostly a lurker on this page with only and occasional comment. I learn a lot from all of you. This is a very intelligent group of people. Many moons ago I visited Boston and got terribly lost. It was at night and I finally burst into tears. I used to visit San Diego regularly when I was a kid. (Children of divorced parents get taken on short trips every weekend.) My favorite place in the US is Vermont. I briefly considered living there but I don't think I could take all the snow. When I was a teenager, I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentine. It is true. Living in different areas and countries gives one a different view of the world and as does living and visiting other areas of the country.
I'm in your general neighborhood every week. Thanks for the mention of Buenos Aires, now I will always remember that about you. Living somewhere else in your teens gives you an international view of the world that is indelible. My teenage friends were from every country imaginable. You get to see what makes the rest of the world tick, and you get to see how your home country is just a small part of the vast sea of nations. It's hard to be an arrogant nationalist (or culturally illiterate) when your classmates are from Germany, Israel, Finland, France, Poland, Britain, and yes Canada (Alfred E. was his name) and when your sister's best friend is the daughter of a diplomat from Thailand. I once wrote a greeting card for a secret Santa designee, and I was able to accumulate "I Love You" in over 3 dozen languages. Before the internet, not an easy task, except that I just had to buttonhole students, easy. I still remember some of the more obscure ones: Finnish "ma rakastan sua."
Chuckled at you getting lost in Boston - we lived there for a brief period - I swear they went out at night and turned the one way signs around on purpose to confuse everyone not born there!
Wendy Raksin: I was born in VT (lived in only 2 towns) and lived there till I was 17 years old. I moved to Keene NH to attend nursing school 1n 1969 and have stayed in the area since then.
Thoroughly entertained by this article, Kari. Should I be concerned, because I think I followed the north is east and down is up view of your world. The map, however, well, that just adds to the confusion!
My hometown, Minneapolis, has been in the national news for nearly a year, ever since the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd. We made an early morning pilgrimage to the site several days after the murder. When all the flowers were fresh and hearts were newly bleeding. A few COVID-masked white and black people meandered around the intersection, trying to grasp what the hell had happened there. Because of COVID, we didn't stay long, but for whatever is left of my life, I will never forget the sight and feeling of that place.
There's been an uptick in the Minneapolis news, ever since the government center was gift-wrapped in multiple layers of barbed wire, and surrounded by concrete blockades in anticipation of violence during and after the trial of the murderous perp, Derek Chauvin. Jury selection has begun for his trial. Chauvin was a bully-boy scofflaw long before he became a murderer. Had I been called for this jury duty, I'm reasonably certain I'd have been dismissed.
Footnote: Minneapolis is a beautiful city, with lakes and streams and creeks and the Mississippi River, for starters. Also, its government center that was a handsome building until it became a reluctant fortress.
Despite Eugene Goodman's heroic actions on Jan 6, Derek Chauvin is still the face of American policing. Will he be convicted on any count of murder? Reinstating 3rd-degree murder charges looks like a bad sign, possibly indicating a flawed case from the prosecution. Another concern is the GQP tendency to lie. It's easy to imagine one or more stealth jurors who will produce a hung jury or mistrial. I don't even want to think about an acquittal.
My understanding is that 3rd-degree murder charges in MN are routinely dismissed, as indeed Chauvin's was previously. Hoping for a 2nd-degree conviction with maximum sentence. Not just for the sake of justice, but to forestall dangerous protests in case of lesser conviction or (gasp) acquittal. The 3rd degree charge is BS; it may have applied at the start, but after 8:46 it could only be 2nd-degree murder. Monstrous.
The Nation magazine has a current article titled "The Acquittal of Derek Chauvin has Already Begun." Monstrous.
Not favorably impressed by the article. There is nothing about the defense lawyer, prosecutor or judge to provide a sense of their backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses. Nothing about nature of charges or questions by prosecutors to potential jurors. This type of reporting is too personal, opinionated and info lite.
Hey, Barbara. Good on you for taking those pilgrimages. I have been following the news about the upcoming trial. They would have dismissed me, too, if I were called to be a juror.
Alas, it's been years and years since visiting Minneapolis. About all I remember is how friendly/approachable the people were. Also got a thrill seeing where the Mississippi River was born!
Yes! I love hearing about everybody's environs. I know we are vested in the politics, but it would be fun to do a little bit of "Discovery Channel" on this page. I, for one, enjoy the digression.
Mornin' Roland! Home is St. Augustine, FL. I'm the "recovering racist" born and raised in Alabama. FL is a tough place to live these days politically speaking. While I don't comment often, it is great to be a part of this community. ❤
Morning Lynell!! Another good reason to call it Virginia's BLUE Ridge! (Even though most of the blue voters live elsewhere.) The turnaround became clear in 2006 when Jim Webb defeated George "Macaca" Allen. It's so good to have VA back in the Union, and now Georgia too. You're next, Lone Stars and Tarheels. Resistance Is Futile.
And please don't forget about my plight here in Floriduhhhhh! Been here "preDisney". Lots of pavement on paradise, not to mention good old boy local politics, but, change is in the wind!
From your lips Lynn. Florida here too, St Petersburg in barely blue Pinellas County. Grew up on the barrier islands when our beach towns were still mostly shacks & fishing piers on the Gulfside and mangroves bayside. The smell of orange blossoms in spring waifed in from the mainland. It was full of natural wonders. Also lived in WA, TN & NJ, but, always come back to FL.
Wekiva Springs, used to outside Orlando, now swallowed up. Coldest damn water I ever swam in. Rock Springs, outside Apopka, when Apopka was a sleeply little nowhere, was the same. We had family picnics there after church in the summers, ride inner tubes down the river. Ah, yes. Florida used to be Paradise. If ever they should have closed a border...............harumph.
Diane, my mother was born in Punta Rassa. My Florida Cracker roots, sans the racism, are on her side. The other half, Keys Conchs, via Harbour Island, Bahamas. My favorite family vacation was a week on Sanibel, before the causeway. Up before dawn to go shelling for the 'good stuff', with a local woman who was the only professional sheller I ever knew. Or am likely to. 😉
Florida is especially endangered. If there is a place in North America where Mother Earth needs special care and doesn’t get it, it’s the limestone wonderland and the unique tropical jungle and at the southern end the sawgrass river that is FL. The Earth weeps.
Whoop! Resistance IS futile, TPJ! Time for Texas to stop pretending to be independent and be assimilated (in the best possible way, of course).
Austin is in the midst of the process, BTW; now that Big Tech has discovered the city, they've moved in and flattened the culture here. 'Keep Austin Weird' is no longer the motto, sadly. Now we're flooded with Teslas, BMWs, Range Rovers, Lamborghinis, and other high end vehicles, (including high end, oversized pick ups) along with the snobbish rich looking down upon the rest of us from the ugly skyscrapers that clutter the once beautiful skyline of Austin.
The artists, musicians, and the long celebrated weird folk can no longer afford to live here and are leaving; prices have shot upwards, and the overall vibe has changed.
So, yeah... I'm thinking assimilation is well underway here. I can't speak for the rest of the Lone Star, though.
I was so.lucky to live in Austin during my first husbands law school years. A magical.place then. We moved to Houston when he graduated and my theatre, music and artist friends there are bluing Harris County which had only 1 voter drop box for an area bigger than the state of. Rhode Island
I was infuriated when they removed all the voting boxes, Gailee, as were so many others. It's utterly appalling that they got away with it.
I'm sorry that I didn't know Austin when it was still a haven for musicians and artists; there are still some here, and there's always Antones and Austin City Limits, but that spirit is long gone now. I'm glad you had the opportunity to live here when you did!
Thanks, Fern. That book reinforces why I don't use Amazon unless I can't get what I'm looking for elsewhere, but it also makes me think about 'one-click' shopping in general. I've always preferred to shop in person, but this virus has put paid to that, although I do hope that we can get back to it (next year, maybe?) eventually.
Sadly, many people only see the convenience of online shopping and either overlook or are unaware of the real damage those corporations cause to communities, businesses, and people. It would be a good idea to make books like this one required reading, but I fear that most folk would just shrug it off.
You spelled it out, Laureen. One of my concerns is that so many Main Streets have been decimated by the loss of industry. Many Main Streets have a church or two, a bar and coffee shop, period.
Sure, invoke the Borg, see if anybody notices. Naturally I agree completely with the metaphor. It matches my growing conviction that the blue team is a monolith which will grind the red team in the dust. Over time.
Hi Jennifer, Roland and the rest of y'all. I'm in Chatham County, NC the exact center of the state. My rural county has consistently the highest voter turnout in the state and consistently votes Blue!
All around the village but to see it best come in June as they are cutting earlier and earlier...and when they do the "smell" is amazing between the wagon loads trundling down the lanes and the distillaries working 24/7.
Thank you! It will be a while before I am able to visit, both because of covid and also due to personal reasons. But it is on my “bucket list”! So are many other places, both in France and in the rest of Europe and also the U.K.
We are focusing on Cotes du Rone, Avignon and Arles, trying to avoid cities. We loved the hill towns we visited in Tuscany and Greek villages in the Peloponneses. That's the vibe we're looking for. We are novices but trying to see as much as we can before we age out.
City planning in the US is inextricably linked to de jure racial segregation (vid. Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law) and I have a hard time admiring anything so redolent of wrongs consistently committed across this country to keep white people's lives (particularly middle class and wealthy white people) "safe" from having to live in proximity to those who did so much of the building of this nation and those from whom so much has been and continues to be stolen. City planners such as Olmsted were fully cognizant that they were creating white environments to sustain white power.
I read Rothstein's book. I had no idea only 4% of black veterans were able to access the GI education benefits upon their return to civilian life. I have been reading many books on anti-racism since George Floyd's murder. l am planning an extended visit to Ecudaor later this year and contemplate providing access to my home during that time by a black family. My all-white neighborhood will clutch their proverbial pearls. I have a black SIL and they go bonkers when he visits. Having a black family occupy the premises while I'm away will be an interesting experiment!
Hi Lynell‼️ Very brief resident of Alexandria, six months when my dad was taking a course at the state department before we drove back to California in our VW Square back.
Alexandria is a lovely town, especially Old Town near the Potomac River. A few weeks ago I watched the "Potomac By Air" documentary. The river gets it start in West Virginia and winds it's way down to Washington, DC and beyond to meet the Chesapeake Bay. As I was watching, it struck me that I have lived close to the Potomac all of my life. Here is a link that hopefully you will be able to access: https://vimeo.com/118233315
I spent a wonderful afternoon in Alexandria, protesting against Brute Kavanaugh's nomination. Connecting with VA union sisters and brothers was a delight -- numerous moments of "That is SO true!," "I know JUST what you mean!," and "Those BASTARDS!" I wish I'd gone for a drink with them rather than to another dreary family lunch.
PS, apologies for not blocking Kavanaugh for y'all. We tried, but the fix was in.
My father lived in the DC Metro (mostly in Vienna and Reston, VA) from 1975 until his death just this past March. I got to know the area very well and saw it grow from a "company" town to a behemoth.
Hi Daria! You are one of the few I didn't need help with. You, Stuart, R Dooley, Gailee, everyone outside the country is easy for me to remember once I know where they live. Distinctive and memorable homes.
Vermont. Where would Bernie be without Vermont and where would the country be without Bernie? He came, he volunteered, he gave, and he keeps on giving.
Bernie was a national treasure over 5 years ago, we knew that, and then we were elated when the rest of the country finally discovered him too. It's kind of shocking, really, the dramatic shifts. Bernie being an acknowledged national treasure. The Blue Team in charge of Congress, AND in charge of the WH. Really this is my wildest dreams coming true. I have to rub my eyes every now and then.
Reading all your replies, Roland, sparked a memory. My cousin, Joey, was a truck driver, retired in the early 2000's. He knew every nook and cranny of every town you could name. I don't think there's a cartographer who could hold a candle to the likes of him or you when it comes to U.S. geography!
Like I said, I’m a geography nut. And when we’re talking about the US were talking about my home. I’m a complete bimbo when it comes to Canada, or even Mexico which is closer to me than Canada.
We wince in Canada. I’m positive “complete bimbo” is grossly exaggerated, but it would not be enough for some Americans.
Admittedly from several decades ago but...
A colleague of mine came from a family in Niagara Falls who owned a motel. They regularly fielded inquiries such as, “Can you walk to Toronto from here?”
“How far from here until there’s skiing”? (in July).
My wife and I were once doing a baseball trip down the east side of your country. We were golfing one day in Brookline MA (gorgeous public course) and were paired up with the nicest American couple (American friendliness is legendary in Canada). The initial conversation after introductions went something like this:
Him: so where y’all from?
Me: Toronto (we weren’t, but we were 100% sure nobody would have heard of Peterborough, 60 miles away).
Him (lighting up in a huge smile): Toronto? What a coincidence. I *know* a guy from Toronto.
Me: Imagine. Small world.
Him: You probably know him. Ed McAllister’s his name.
Me (having an idea where this was headed): No, I don’t. Shall we tee off?
Him: You don’t? Seriously.
Me: Nope. Never heard of him.
Him: Can’t be. Big guy, bit of a paunch -
Me (avoiding my wife’s eye): No. You gotta understand. Toronto’s a city. Everybody couldn’t possibly know everybody.
Him: Yeah Yeah, I get it. But you’d have at least seen him. Really loud voice, red-faced, always wearing boots -
Me (in desperation at this point): Look, you could put at least two Bostons in Toronto. We’re two million people.
Him: You can’t be serious. Canada doesn’t have cities like that.
There was a kind of chill for the first few holes. But at the very end, when we were saying our goodbyes, he gave me a big smile and a wink and said, “You say hi to Ed when you go home. Tell him Big John misses him”. It was a most friendly way of apologizing without actually doing so. I remember that moment most clearly. You guys have a way of making friendships that is very endearing. Canadians, alas, are much more reserved in the main. I think we miss out on a lot.
It’s a smaller world today. Mass media is pervasive and (relatively) cheap travel used to be common.
Oy, Eric. But I can tell you that I was on a research trip in the UK, on a train from London to Shrewsbury via Birmingham, and trying to get some work done before hitting the archives in Shrewsbury when two "suits" sat down opposite me. One took one look at the uninteresting girl and ignored me. The other decided to pepper me with questions (this was over 20 years ago so the conversation is not entirely accurate but you'll get the picture):
He: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Some preparation for a research trip."
He: "You're an American!"
Me: "Yes."
He: "What are you doing here?"
Me: "I'm a medieval historian." [by this time his coworker was looking very annoyed]
He: "What? An American who is a medieval historian? Where do you teach?"
Me: "You won't have heard of my university: it's a small school in NY State."
He: "WHICH ONE?!"
Me: Names the school. (It is a very small uni with very little name recognition)
He: "Oh My God! I got my degree from [X] University!"
Turned out he was a ceramic engineer and the uni where I taught was the #2 place in the USA to do a degree in that arcane field.
So sometimes these conversations can get really weird.
Richard (from Norfolk, England). We constantly used to get that situation when we went to the USA (haven't been there for more than a dozen years). It goes like this:
We're from England
Oh how interesting. You must know XYZ. He lives in Manchester
Ok, Eric, give me a break. Obviously that's not what I meant by "complete bimbo." I didn't mean I'm illiterate. What you are describing is the kind of stuff my family had to tolerate during my teens in Germany. We were all bilingual German-English. In public, we would often gab amongst ourselves in American English, and then we would listen to Germans making snide comments about how tacky the Americans are. We were taking the heat for the actual tacky Americans, because we were never part of that demographic. Oh well. BTW I lived in Brookline among other towns while I was in Boston. I have a special fondness for Brookline. The house I lived in was a stop on the underground railroad, we believe, based on things we discovered inside the house in a secret room we found. Anyway, back to Canada, I have heard nothing but rave reviews about Canada. My wife has been a number of times, national parks in the Rockies, Vancouver, and more. It's on my bucket list. Trust me, I'm not your golfer acquaintance.
Hello TPJ, good morning. You contributed to the movie script for my sci-fi better-society story project. I realized today that this Johnny Cash song is perfect for one of the scenes. Thank you for your contribution 🙏
I’ve had it in the back of my mind that the movie should have two soundtracks like Back To The Future does, a soundtrack that includes oldies and pop songs that appear in the movie in suitable spots, and an orchestral soundtrack running throughout. Your Johnny Cash song is the first contribution to the pop song sound track.
Roland, regarding the music: I love that idea of 2 soundscores throughout the movie.
The TV series, The Blacklist, does something similar, and you might enjoy listening to the sound tracks to it. It's well over 250 songs at this point, touching on classical, the 1930s - 1970s, hip-hop, indie, and rock. It's a truly eclectic mix of genres and it may lead you to some bands that might fit exactly where you need them to in your story.
Named after Sarah Winnemucca, Paiute Indian, former army translator, writer, educator and strong advocate for Native American rights. Tragically, she died at age 47 with a brilliant career ahead of her.
You do not cancel Mayan archeological sites. The state, however, due to covid concerns, has cancelled admission into the site (not ruin) to watch the equinox sun line up with the pyramids.
Hello from Washington state! I have the same memory imbalance as you - I can't remember crap from one day to the next, and my husband remembers EVERYTHING. I do manage to remember weird factoids that have no use most of the time. Oh well. I enjoy reading your rational comments here. Thank you!
Hi Roland! I’ve been a bit of a nomad so this might be confusing. Grew up in W.Mass. Then to CA (just outside of LA) for about a year and a half. Back to same place I grew up in MA. Then to RI for a couple of years. Then back to MA for a couple of years. Then to SC for the better part of 20 years - lived on the NC / SC border in the Charlotte area so lived in both at various times but mostly in SC. Then in Wilmington, NC for 2 yrs. Then just outside of Lynchburg, VA for about 2 years. Then back to the same area in MA 10 years ago and still here but planning to relocate at some point - most likely to VT or back to SC. Have considered moving overseas due to the cultural and political climate but can’t quite wrap my head around not living in the U.S. as my adult kids and grandkids live here (SC and OR). I hope all this doesn’t wreak havoc with your mental map!
Not at all. Actually we share the gypsy thing, that has its own category. CA, Germany, CA, Boston, CA is my route. So you're MA CA RI MA SC/NC VA MA. I won't remember the detail, but it's easy to remember MA and CA and then VA because I am familiar with all those places.
Hi Roland, Kathleen in Seattle here ... finally cleaned my machine and got past whatever has been locking me out of tHe chat section since late January ... not much to say anyway - can't even keep up with conversations ... a number of people responded to posts I was able to make, saying they were having the same problem ... I was having other problems as well - finally got shut out, and had to recover to factory settings - so far, running like a dream - so, I hope it worked out for other folks - if not, put files to save on the cloud, or a thumb drive, and reformat to factory settings. Ok, got to go now ... 4:30am - nap time!!
Good morning, Roland and all. I've been in north metro Atlanta since '95, having come first from Brooklyn, NY, where I was born and lived until age 5, then from West Hartford, Connecticut, where I grew up in a corner house and stayed till after my sophomore year in college. Then the family moved back to NYC, this time to Queens, where I lived in Jackson Heights for two and a half years, Kew Gardens for 23 years and Rego Park for about three years before I said farewell to snow and ice and apartment living and came south to find my own corner house on a third of an acre and create my garden, now a small but wildlife sanctuary certified by Georgia Audubon. I must say I still consider myself a New Yorker living in Georgia and am delighted my adopted state turned blue.
I love that you asked this - when we made my retirement trip (a gift from my husband - three weeks of driving!) he got to go to Hanford, and I saw my last 5 states, all in the inland NW. It impressed on my how where you live shapes understanding. You'd think that having seen the rest or the US, including two territories, I would already know. But that did it for me. Originally I'm from east Tennessee, ending in Maryland after CA, CT, and MA. In the wake of the election Roland, I have you filed driving up the Central Valley to Sacramento - it's how I see you in my mind.
"It impressed on me how where you live shapes understanding." Yes, that's the entire point of this exercise. Everyone is having a lot of fun with what started out as merely a request to make my life easier remembering everyone, but you nailed the reason why I do it: we are so much a product of the cultural environment we were born into, and that we live in geographically in the present moment. A person growing up in apartheid South Africa or Syria has a different lens through which they see the world than a U.S. resident. It may seem subtle, but the differences within this country are significant as well, and much more obvious if you have been as many places as I have. A Californian, native or transplant, sees things differently than a Georgian, or a New Englander. The cultural lens has such a strong influence, cannot be overstated. You know what I am saying, just from moving around Washington, Oregon, Idaho, et al.
I don't comment often, but I start every morning since June with LFAA and the comments, so I feel like I know many of you. I'm currently in TN, but relocating later in the year to CO.
Thank you Heather. I live on the Mexico Arizona border and I am amazed at the amount of fear based misinformation given as if it were truth. We must all shine the light of truth upon this and upon the plight of people swept up in the maelstrom.
The source of the violence in Central America are criminal gangs financed to a great degree by the high-profit trade in illegal drugs destined for the US. The people fleeing the violence are yet more victims of the 50+ yr old US War on Drugs.
De-criminalizing drugs won’t make those gangs disappear, but it would take away most of their power, as well as weakening the US police/ criminal justice/prisons industrial complex that undermines communities of color.
It undermines those of a vaguely white or pinkish skin too. They want to keep everybody under control. The cheap heroin epidemic that followed the opiod pain killers throughout the country was colourblind.
Legalize the drug business and the same oligarchs then treat it as an investment opportunity and are mostly very much more attentive to the "efficiency and blamelessness" of their supply chain and the places that they source their inputs.
... so, once that revenue stream graduates into the hands of legalized business interests, where do people on the ground turn for their sustenance? I have the impression that human trafficking and sexual slavery are well established industries as well ... who owns/controls them ...? And what incentives/opportunities are there for people to change ...?
Very attractive and lucrative businesses operating very efficiently if not effectively ripping off those families in the poor "south" who can afford the price. But on the other hand I recall what a colleague's "mistress" told me while trying to arrange a "contract" for her sister during my first project in Nigeria in 1974....white men are rich and stupid...they pay!
The US also "buys" government support for American corporate resource extractors which contributes to corporate land acquisition and the removal of indigenous people. Fear in poor communities is fomented by troops, many of which are trained in the US, in order to silence resistance.
Back to policies refined in the 18thC development of the British Empire....commerce drives politics and divorce what happens in the Colonies from whatever is possible in the home country.....nobody who "counts" will want to know.
China is late to the game after Britain and the US pummeled and polluted worldwide. But it seems to be making up for the slow start. China is also the home of 70% of rare metals. We shall see how this all plays out as resources dwindle further.
The migrant workers are essential to our agriculture. I use to see the workers in the strawberry fields in San Luis Obispo, CA and be amazed at their efficiency and hard work! I don’t remember where I saw a piece on the propaganda to make these workers considered “dirty”. And making them undergo stringent cleaning process coming and going over the border. But wow! We need everyone of these hardworking people. They contribute immensely to our society!
Sounds like the political propaganda just keeps on and on. At least Biden is going after problems with intelligence and empathy.
I have contributed to a local group that provides help to families crossing the border. This group of dedicated women have even provided help on the Mexican side with housing, medical care, legal help, services for children. Trying to help before they hit immigration. It’s amazing work by dedicated people.
I grew up in the Rogue Valley of Oregon (Home of mail order fruit and roses by Harry and David ) and some tremendous pear/apple orchards (now, literally, going to pot). I remember as a young kid, being asked by a crew of Mexican guys in a pick up if they could fill a garbage can with water. My dad saw that, and said "yes, absolutely. These guys are some of the hardest workers you'll ever see, and they're good folks." loudly enough so they could be heard (Medford was and is a horribly racist town.)
In my college years, I worked in a small market in Talent (between Medford and Ashland) that, though small, had a decent meat and produce department. Fridays, the orchards would pay, and the guys would come in with their orchard checks. They would buy 3 or 4 roasted rotisserie chickens, a case of Budweiser, and a carton of Winstons, and cash an orchard check totaling anywhere from $200 to $500. The would then walk outside, 4 or 5 of them would get into one truck after handing their wives most of the cash. The women would then come in and by the weeks groceries, running up $150-$200 grocery bills (bulk pinto beans, pounds of onions and jalapenos, packages of pork steak, tubs of lard, and multiple packs of 5 dozen tortillas).
Sidebar to that: I had an elementary school classmate that was one of those "ostracized" kids who, now that I've spent a life in law enforcement, am sure was physically and sexually abused at home. The family was dirt poor, even for that time (mid to late 1960's). She came into the store one of those times with "orchard money" from her husband, and we had a lovely chat. She had married a migrant field worker who treated her very well, better than her family or any other family in the area had treated her. She had two beautiful kids, and when they moved out of the area, she left a note for me, thanking me for both recognizing her from 10 years and not degrading her for marrying a "Mexican". I so wish I could have talked more to her.
My sister still lives in the area; she is in Phoenix, and that was devastated as well. Amazingly, both her apartment complex and her 100 year old wood church were undamaged while nearly adjacent properties were destroyed. She has become a member of the city's planning commission as they rebuild.
As I wrote elsewhere on here today, the agri-businesses which profit from migrant and immigrant labor should assume some financial responsibiliy for the welfare of those who pick our vegetables and process our meat.
Agribiz prefers cheap, easily exploitable labor. Workers in parts of the Central Valley get as little as $2-$3/hr for crop picking. (See: The American Way of Eating, by Tracie McMillan. As part of her research McMillan--who speaks some Spanish--picked crops with migrant workers.
And it could be accomplished by a tax on such employers used to pass on benefits to their labor force .... and also enable the government to know who is breaking laws by attracting and hiring those who are here illgally in the first place.
Denise, I too have been impressed with the work ethic exhibited by the Latino community in general, to include Mexicans if they're not included in the "Latino" designation.
The term "Hispanic" generally refers to Spanish speaking people while "Latino" or the more gender-neutral term "Latinx" refers to people from Central or South America.
Most people we refer to as Latinx, though, dislike that term. They prefer sticking to Latino, at least that's what I understand. Probably like pronouns, we should be asking those about whom we are using the term what they prefer. Just a side note, not a criticism.
Reid, I have never used the term "Latinx" but to tell the truth, I am just as ignorant about the term "Latino." I call myself white because I'm never sure how to spell caucasian. Seriously.
Well, and Caucasian is a term invented by eugenicists in an attempt to distinguish those of Western European descent from other light-skinned people who were nonetheless "beneath" the Western Europeans in the racial hierarchy. It's an especially amusing term when you consider that the Caucasus region is in a part of the world from which immigrants to the U.S. would no doubt have been considered lower caste and not, in the eugenicists view, Caucasian.
No worries, Lynell. Last spring, when I was optimisticly planning lessons for the school year that sort of "wasn't" I came across an article in Teaching Tolerance (now Learning for Justice) that talked about the differences in the terms. Up until then I didn't know...
It's easy to have a work ethic when you're a third world native in a first world country. If I could go to a country where they quintupled my earnings, I'd probably work a lot harder too. But picture yourself a low/no-skilled American worker. Your wages are sh!t by US standards. You are at the mercy of your employer. You have almost no social capital, and you could lose your crappy rental apartment if you have to pay for a major car repair or a medical bill.
Illegal and legal immigrants have the additional advantage of having something of a community with the people they work with--a small group of countrymen working together to pull themselves up.
But their presence in large numbers in the United States depresses the wages of our own workers still further. It's Econ 101: too much of any resource depresses its value. Too many low/no-skilled workers depresses their value. For the immigrants, it's no big deal because they're making far more than they were, and sending a lot of it home to relatives. But for the US workers, if they are meat packers or construction workers, for ex, their wages have plummeted over the last generation.
Lucid and concise clarification of the border "crisis." Also, I'm disgusted with these Republicans going onto FOX news and just outright lying about facts, POTUS policies and legislative actions. People who only watch FOX are ill-equipped to discern the truth from falsehood; a fact-check - rebuttal strategy is needed.
This letter was so good and informative. I didn’t understand all the nuances and the many years of complications until I read your timeline in the context of all those kids suffering today. Thank you for sharing your depth.
Yet more problems which America notices too slowly and acts on ineffectually. This is what happens with four decades of "government is the problem" BS. Furthermore, US policy in Central America and the Caribbean historically does not favor the peoples of the region. But we've taken our eye off the ball. While focusing mostly on the region itself since Reagan's new New Imperialism, its people are transforming large parts of the US, and that can be very good. Would Georgia have two new senators without its Latinx voters?
It's also bad, especially for rural Mexican communities. In the 1930s the progressive Lazaro Cardenas government enacted land reform; the ejido system, modeled after older communal tenures, stabilized smallholder farming for many decades. NAFTA started the destabilizing process, making small farming non-viable and sending millions northward. Contra (sic) Dr Richardson, these developments are actually new and catastrophic for Mexicans, and for different reasons the disorder has spread to Central America's "northern tier." Along with the illegal drug trade, that has much to do with the types of regime long common in the region, which are better at creating insecurity than addressing it.
Thanks TPJ, my daughter dropped a line in a conversation a few years ago that stuck with me, "We (US) are primarily responsible for the the violence and upheaval in Central America causing mass political asylum seekers." Will add this reference to my to read list!
Although it was written in 1983, Joan Didion's "Salvadore" is a book-length essay on her visit to that country which she has described as "terrifying". It is a good example of the confusion and violence families confront. And your daughter is right. The US has done untold damage to these countries in supporting corporate resource extractors. The weapon sales and US training of "soldiers" who enforce the US supported authoritarian governments is evil.
As the title suggests, Aviva Chomsky brand-new "Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration" is well-timed to shed light on current crises. But it's no instant book, being based on her decades of work on Latin Amer history. And yes, she is Noam Chomsky's daughter.
Mishandling immigration will cost Biden the congress in 2022.... and the election in 2024. Mishandling brown skinned children will feed our mad dog white racists the red meat they crave. Compassion is not in their lexicon. The not golden triangle will not be solved with foreign aid or investment. This area is at war with itself. The criminal element in Guatemala in coffee is brutal. Families will not let their children walk alone. Too many end up dead by the road side, their organs cleaned out - and for sale. Catherine Goulet Ramirez, born in Guatemala February 24, 1991, and her 5 year old son David, are nearby in The North Country... good mother, nice boy... unable to return. Terrified. Their whole family is honest, but they are pressed to serve in the drug trade. There are many. Who buys the drugs? Of course, Americans. Who threatens the coffee we buy? Thugs threaten everything. The honest are scarce down there. Dreaming off about cleansing without invading is an illusion, and we are not going it. We prefer places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, and all those places that brought a strange smile to John Foster Dulles and the DOD, as we ramped to get trashed and changed this nation.
I know Mexico, while we are on the subject. Acapulco was and is no more. The Americans led by the CEO of Braniff, Ford, Sears and a few others set up there on the coast with a 36 hole golf course and a private club with an admission fee of $36,000. Many joined. It has been trashed. There is not a member left... and the most beautiful architecture has been ravaged by the mob. Mexico talks the talk. That's all.
We are kidding ourselves with business as usual. The Monroe Doctrine needs an upgrade. Antony Blinken will have his hands full. Jews fled Hitler and FDR turned them away. No one cared till we opened Auschwitz and learned that 200 camp were scattered all over Europe, Poland and Russia were indifferent, the French were complicit, Waldheim ruled Austria, and our values were the talk, not the action. Jews today are not safe in many parts of France. Hungary is a disaster, Poland is a mess, Germany is the bulwark and may fail without Angela Merkel, and we see what happens to color in Buckingham Palace.
Mankind's number one issue is color... and America must lead - and face the music. $27,000,000 to solve the mess in Minnesota will not solve it. What about thousands of others? The cop with the knee is the white cop, and many not white, that would prefer violence and took the badge and the gun to take aggression for a walk. The term peace officer went the way of the Model T.
Look what The New York Times wants to do with substack. Free speech is threatened by our leader... simply because Letters from an American is siphoning off readership - that simply wants the facts in a manageable format, not $6.50 on Sunday with selective news that spins where it should dig, and digs where is should think first, and then decide if all the litmus issues are what need attention.
Heather Cox Richardson is unique. I am learning about substack. Matt Taibbi and I were introduced at Bard College where we appeared together. I found him a bit raw, but there is no question about his integrity - and today I do not find him raw. I find him right.
Frankly, I'd like to see HRC thrive and Matt thrive... and more of them. We must reach to every kitchen, board room, church, the Grange, high school, college, hardware, bar and restaurant, and get the dialogue up to speed... and we must learn why 70,000,000 find a fascist attractive.
Letters from an American must draw the linkage... of color to fascism. Mussolini and Hitler played Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and freedom loving citizens that would not say yes to Hitler, fist in the air. Well, Josh Hawley has said yes to Trump, fist in the air.
Do any of you need to know more. Call every one you know in Missouri and give good phone. We must find the way to pull this nation back from the edge.
Doudna and CRISPR will not implant character. We must do this with dialogue lest we be forced to do it with Allied Forces a la WW II... when we ignored Hitler for a decade and he took over.
The Crash, Spanish Flue and Woodrow Wilson's Jew hating tribe of patriots were a problem. Pearl Harbor got Senator Vandenberg to say yes... and we hired IKE to do lead D Day.
What can we do about a world gone mad tonight?
I have many thoughts... but it's time for me to hit the hay.
Substack will challenge the best... and we can all contribute our two bits... if that matters.
Sandy, you said:. "I know Mexico, while we are on the subject. Acapulco was and is no more. The Americans led by the CEO of Braniff, Ford, Sears and a few others set up there on the coast with a 36 hole golf course and a private club with an admission fee of $36,000. Many joined. It has been trashed. There is not a member left... and the most beautiful architecture has been ravaged by the mob. Mexico talks the talk. That's all."
If white corporate colonialism and a failed private club catering to white non-Méxicans, (and employing Méxicans at whatever the horrifyingly low minimum wage was, and still is), is your yardstick for knowing México, you don't know México. Period. If you visited or lived as a corporate colonial in Acapulco and thought your a mostly white private club was the real México you were part of the problem. If you are unaware of the relentless bigotry European Méxicans have for the indigenous peoples, your viewpoint is part of the problem. Not just in México but throughout Latin America. Most white Europeans and Americans who come to México love to pay as as little as possible to employ Méxicans, whether it's in a factory, a service industry or in a home.
No. A failed private club in Acapulco, is not a the yardstick by which to measure México. White corporations are not here to help México they are here to help themselves.
And does México have problems? Yes, indeed, it does. But you are never going to have a good idea what those problems are as long as you are plunking your white rear end down in the middle of a white enclave or luxury hotel anywhere in México. Or the world for that matter.
I wrote a rant earlier today and wondered if it referred enuf to the subject in the "Letter." Then when I came here and saw only posts about location (I'm in Miami Beach) I never posted. But, just scrolled yards down and found an actual discussion.
Here is what would have been my post it only deals with what I find to be a major problem with Centro & South America - Drug Trade:
Blatant Dishonesty is our major problem in the U.S. That and the huge masses of absolutely stupid ppl we have who believe any lie and conspiracy of the Repugnant Party. This denigration of “others” is also right out of Hitler’s playbook, which we had to endure with the other guy and his complicit enablers. And even with him out of power, the Repugnant Party continues the same lies.
However, if we were honest with ourselves we could end the Drug Cartels in Latin America in a day. MAKE ALL DRUGS LEGAL. IT HAS ALREADY BEEN PROVEN EFFECTIVE. The proof is in The Great Experiment that failed miserably in the U.S. when we made the drug Alcohol illegal, which gave us organized crime to supply it at inflated profit. Heroin & Cocaine are no more dangerous or addictive drugs than Alcohol. Marijuana should never have been illegal, especially compared to tobacco. But too many ppl in the U.S. buy the lie and the Cartels get so wealthy they can defy the military in some nations.
Oh and while I am ranting on STUPIDITY. You cannot save daylight. All you can do is upset everyone’s biorhythm twice a year by moving the artificial construct of “time” forcing everything off by an hour. That too has been quantified in more accidents, heart attacks and other stresses. But no one can stop the stupidity.
Daria, I have been to Merida two times, once with my partner Jim in 1975, where we were accosted by the police for suspicion of being druggies (we were Hippies) and then had to leave Mexico shorter than our original visa.
I have that account written and in jpg form, but can't attach those here. You got an e-mail address? Send it to roboyte@att.net and I can send that narrative of my first trip to Merida & thru Mexico to Guatemala. My second trip was with my wife Brenda & stepdaughter who seemed to be the only black ppl in Merida in 1981 by the stares we got. Brenda could handle it but the 13-year-old girl was self-conscious & only wanted to stay in the hotel. But, we dragged her around and to the ruins at Chichen & Uxmal.
Rob, I remember you telling a little about your Mérida adventures several months ago. There are still very few Black people in Mérida, I know 2, both expats, one from the US and one from England. There has been a little bit written recently about Afro-Mexicans, I'll have to dig around to find it but will post when I do. I am a much bigger fan of Uxmal. Chichen has turned into a zoo with so called artisans selling junk within the site.
I will e mail you so you can send your account. Thx.
Well said, Daria; country clubs do not a nation make.
Please correct as needed, but I believe Merida has an intense history of racial and ethnic conflict that still persists. The city survived a harrowing siege during the Caste War, Mexico's largest peasant rebellion between the 1810 Hidalgo Revolt and 1910 Revolution.
TPJ, indeed it is still a problem. I've drafted several long responses but have decided, for the time being, to simply let it go. It's frustrating that people continue to parrot half truths to downright lies. Until people step out of their comfort zones and do more than watch/read news that addresses caste, class and race dishonestly, things will not change significantly. Not here in México, not in the US or anywhere else. Thanks for posting the resources.
A point of reference:The DAILY federal minimum wage for México is $141.70 pesos. That is equal to $7.42 USD per day, (using 19 pesos to a dollar). This means that the minimum a worker can be paid for a full day's work is the equivalent of $7.42. You can bet your bottom dollar there are a good many corporations, businesses, and individuals that pay their employees not a peso more.
Visited Tres Vidas in Acapulco December 15-25, 1970, studied the poverty. Agree. In 1960 visited new Brasilia, Rio, Santos, San Paolo, incredible poverty, BA, Vina del Mar, Santiago, Portillo, Chile, Lima, Panama, fascistic oligarchies, typical contradictions. Was 21 and 31. Met the power structure. Plutocracy. Never returned. Liquidated DELTEC and IBEC in SLL’s estate, May 1978. Columbia is dangerous. Julio Mario Santo Domingo a family friend. Same deal.
Could you give us a bit more here? "Look what The New York Times wants to do with substack." I am sure the Republican politicians hate and fear Heather (and all of us).
I am not convinced that Republicans (voters) are big readers.
I replied. Elsewhere. Matt Taibbi is well known. A decent young man. Has all the right concerns. Is without the tools to accomplish his objectives. He tries.
I am saddened by the number of my 2nd generation immigrant friends of Latinx and otherwise
-even my relatives in Hawaii, who buy the right-wing media spin on this issue. How soon we forget these folks were many of us, once upon a time. Why isn't the counter message of Truth being broadcast daily with as much vigor?
All of us, except native Americans, had immigrants somewhere in our family background. Does anyone remember the faux45 saying “we’re full” ? America has been and hopefully always will be, a multicultural melting pot.
We've lived in 10 states from the east coast to west coast, and 2 years in London, UK (paper industry) - raised our kids mostly in MN & ME, and retired a couple years ago in N. VA (Totally relieved to have the Biden’s in the WH down the road).
I'm no scholar but, I think of myself as a life-long learner & educator. I heard a great sermon many years ago that change my perspective on the term "melting pot". I prefer to recognize, celebrate and learn from the amazing diversity in our country. So, I like to think of us as a colorful tossed salad - many unique, colorful ingredients that together create something colorful, nutritious, delicious, and amazing. Are there other, metaphors that are better than a melting pot?
How many people will celebrate their Irish heritage this week?
The immigration issue is a mess and will take time to correct, and I have faith in this new diverse administration!
Utah Phillips used to say that the U.S. was indeed a melting pot, wherein the scum rises to the top and those on the bottom get burned. Sounds about right to me. Roland, if you read this, I live in Seattle (born in Idaho, raised in Cali, but have been in WA for 36 years).
Reid, live across the Sound from you. When to school high school/college in California, travelled for 28 years, retired in WA. Been here for 20 years this summer. Love the place!
It really is lovely here. When we retired (quite recently), we contemplated moving elsewhere and just couldn't. We would love to be nearer the Oregon coast (Newport is particularly dear to us), but we love Seattle too much. We are hoping The Big One (earthquake, for those of you who don't live here) which is long overdue waits a bit longer to hit, though.
We got here after the last quake in 2006 as I recall. Been through several in my life, in California when I was at Fort Ord, and then Hurricanes while in Georgia and South Carolina. I tend to think more about Mount Rainer blowing it's top like St Helens than the earthquake.
I think if our daughters hadn't relocated here when they did, when we retired, we would have moved to be near them. But, all is good now, though my wife hates the winters.
Stew might be a good metaphor. The various elements come together to create delicious flavor, but the ingredients can still be identified like carrots, onions, etc. l love stew!
Every single soul that lives in the Americas North, Central, or South is descendant from immigrants, even the “native “ Americans who’s ancestors got here first. When the Western Europeans got here the continents were populated from north to south. None of us have any more right to be here than anyone else, all of us are among the most fortunate people on the planet 🌎. With the climate changing like it is, and desertification occurring in places that its never happened in human memory, we can expect that with our bountiful water 💦 supply and temperate climate, we will see more and more people that want to come here and raise their families. I have travelled all over this country and I can tell you that we have plenty of room. If you eat, unless you grow it yourself, it has been handled by migrant workers, that is a fact. My experience with migrant labor has been universally positive, they are good people that work hard and want to provide for their families, just like the rest of us, demonizing them is the height of ignorance. If you don’t want migrant workers here than you better learn how to farm, build your own home, and clean 🧼 it.
Bountiful water? Tell that to California, the Plaines States and to the Colorado River that nolonger reaches the Gulf of California. This is a major problem for maintaining the current urban population of LA etc nevermind increasing it. You can't have this and increased intensive farm production too.
My town is slated to "develop" to a population of 50K. There are about 10K now. There is no way this county can sustain that many people. We need to stop making so many new people, take in migrants and refugees, because they are coming.
The article below made a deep dent in my awareness years ago...the water wars
Our roofs should be very busy with cisterns, solar panels, wind turbines...
As a nation, we do have bountiful water, just not everywhere. The southwest was historically dry. I lived in LA for 10 years and I’m well aware of the waste that occurs there with regard to the water supply, better water management could improve that dramatically. As to population density I think that will self level over time, as much as I loved living in Southern California, I no longer live there today.
One of the key strategic worries of the canadians is that THEY have bountiful water but wish to keep it where it is and not be "obliged" to ship it south.
That certainly was the fear being taught in the 60s at the University I attended in western Canada. The suggestion was that there were secret plans afoot to move water from Canada to the SW USA through the "Great Rocky Mountain Trench". Dams, it was suggested, were being strategically placed along this trench to support that plan.
Hear, hear! A continuing problem in California was have the water for irrigation being syphoned off to support the LA area. My father-in-law was a rancher that grew peaches, almonds, and walnuts. He'd complain every year about the diversion and the taxpayers having to pay for it versus the rate payers who ultimately got the water. (In full disclosure, not sure if that part of the complaint was valid, but wouldn't be surprised.)
Some Native Americans too but 15 to 40000 years ago if one accepts the theory of their Siberian origins particularly concerned apparently are the Dene peoples that include amongst others the Navajo.
There were other ancient migrations, not just the commonly known Siberian one. Migrations up from the Columbian region through Central America and into the Southwest. For an excellent review see Graham Hancock "America Before". This back and forth migration has been going on for thousands of years. Mostly driven by climate changes (is that PC?) but now political instability in Central America. Obama had it right. Go to the root cause and the source of what's driving it. Rant off.
For the neophite there is also Charles Mann's 1491. The last thing i read on the subject was on "gene/dna" research in archeological finds of human remains which both predate any finds in Europe and bear no relation to possible Asian origins. This was at a site in the Amazon Basin.
Charles Mann is an outstanding popularizer of history and archeology. As a journalist, he is prone to a journalistic habit: interviewing authors instead of reading their books. But 1491 and 1493 are well-written and quite accurate.
Yep, exactly. It is a fascinating thread to follow. More questions than answers. But the DNA evidence is the strongest. I got going down this trail after having my DNA sequenced. Very mysterious findings I'm still tracking.
Linguistic evidence of the early Americas is another revelation in the last c.40 years. Though he is very controversial among "Americanist" linguists, Joseph Greenberg is generally convincing to my mind. He began his career as an Africanist (that's how I encountered him) with equally controversial theories about language classification there. The experts resented him as an outsider, resisting those ideas which are now orthodoxy; the same may happen with his American studies.
Greenberg posited that there were only three distinct language families in all the Western Hemisphere: Eskimo–Aleut, Na–Dene and Amerind (first and by far the largest). The main implication is that each family grouping was evidence of three successive migrations from Siberia to North America and then present distributions. That's very big history to me.
<> J Greenberg, Language in the Americas
____, The Languages of Africa (These are NOT books for reading)
<> Current Anthropology 1987 (summary w/ critiques)
OK, Time for a break from LFAA for a couple of hours.
Personally, although it's surely not good that conditions at home are so terrible that they would make the trip, I think it's going to be very, very good for this country to have immigrants coming in again. It always has been.
Failed45 promoted the lie that pushing everyone non white either down or out would make life better for all the people distraught by the degradation of their lives of the last 40 years. It's like that cartoon of three caricatured figures - rich white industrialist, working white man, working black man - at a table, each with a plate. The black man's plate is empty. The white man has one cookie. The rich white man, his plate piled with cookies, is saying to the poor one, "He (the black man) wants your cookie."
Gigi, I remember the first time I heard/learned the term "melting pot" with regard to the US of A I felt so proud. And except for our shameful treatment of the indigenous peoples of the land, I still do feel proud.
Melting pot or salad bowl: this is a fun question I sometimes posed to my students. Which is the most apt metaphor? Melting requires assimilation; a salad combines a lot of things that remain distinct but all add to yumminess. It was always a lively discussion.
Many studies of successive generations after immigration suggest that the first generation works hard to survive and integrate and keeps alive memories of ethnic and geographic origins, the second generation is "American to the core" and succeeds "in the American way while the third generation tries to find out more about their origins as the finances are a little less of a worry and something a little more "spiritual" or cultural is needed in their identity.
Thanks for putting the facts together. I’ve been hearing some questionable things from a friend. As I dug deeper into it I found out she got the information from Newsmax & Fox! I’m so disappointed in finding out she believes the misinformation.
The words alternate facts to me means at the least pernicious the spin one can put on a narrative but FG used those words as giving permission for everyday bald face lying. And he got to do it everyday of his term. And the pies especially thru Twitter seeped into so many peoples’
Seems like at a bare minimum, Fox should not be able to use the term, "News", unless they are producing a program that is based on facts. The rest of their programming should have some other title so that those watching understand it is opinion or something that is promotion for partisan sake.
The likes of Cruz and Abbott make me cringe. Neither able to take responsibility for anything. Abbott blaming immigrants on increased Covid numbers, is like tRump blaming China for the virus. Such blatant xenophobia. And Cruz has taken a top place in my list of most deplorable of the crew of deplorables.
It’s worse. The virus actually did start in China. The 1918 pandemic started in Kansas. Immigrants are actually lowering the rate of covid, when not jammed together by ICE, just as immigrants lower the crime rate because they commit fewer crimes. Abbot is desperate to distract attention from his massive power grid failure.
I know the Virus started in China, but tRump blames the rapid spread here rather than acknowledging his own ineptitude in handling the situation. And, Abbott is like tRump, unable to accept any responsibility for his ineptitude. Blame the cold snap on windmills. Blame the rise in all variants of Covid on immigrants. What next.....?
45 was worse than inept, he was malicious. He actively discouraged public health measures. He interfered with hospitals getting PPE. He held super-spreader events.
David here, also in MA: One of the very best ways to slow transmission in a pandemic is to shut the borders. It's not helping us to be letting infected immigrants into our country. Biden, who I otherwise think is terrific, got us into this mess by saying essentially he wasn't going to deport anyone.
And, it's important to realize that the flow of low/no-skilled immigrants has put millions of American workers out of work and caused their wages to stagnate and tank. A generation ago, meat packers, for example, got a good union wage, north of $20/hr. Now they make barely over minimum, laboring under atrocious conditions.
Whenever there's an oversupply of a resource, in this case low/no-skilled workers, the value of that resource drops. This is Econ 101.
I'd be willing to bet that infected immigrants have far less to do with virus transmission in the US than irresponsible US citizens moving inter and/or intra state and internationally.
I'd also posit that meatpacking consolidation and automation had a far greater impact than did immigrant labor. It's convenient and easy to blame the other.
You're probably right about infected immigrants. But COVID-19 is enough of a problem without our importing more of it.
The flood of immigration since legal immigration was doubled to 1 million annually in the early '90s has had the same effect on a lot of job categories, many of which cannot be automated, such as hospitality and construction. I'm not blaming immigrants. I blame Congress for enabling ***too much*** immigration, and the Feds for not enforcing our laws, as well as states with sanctuary laws and drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants and other laws that enable illegal immigration.
You might find this Nicholas Kristof column enlightening. (But bear in mind that he's wrong about any need for tech workers from abroad--with them, its the same phenomenon of companies importing them for cheap labor, and forcing fired American workers to train their replacements, and much unemployment among US tech workers.)
One must always be careful when attributing causal relationships when you see two elements seemimg to move in step so to speak. Have you checked the nationality and origins of the meat packing workers for instance. . Econ 101 would suggest as you say that too much of one input might reduce its price but it can also induce an increase in demand that absorbs the surplus as there was latent demand out there that was not being satisfied. The same was said of Amazon but they tend to pay well and raise the level of local wages by emulation and reaction.
It's well known that the pay of meat packers has tanked over the last generation, and whereas meat packers used to be mostly American, they're mostly immigrant now. Also, this same phenomenon exists in all the low/no-skilled jobs and trades. Construction. Hospitality. etc. Corporations have aided and abetted these changes. Tom Tancredo (R-Co), in the '90s and '00s was the primary exponent of reducing immigration. He told me that a couple of fast food execs spent an hour with him trying to buy him off the issue (keep quiet about immigration and we'll keep your coffers full). Big biz GOPers have been pushing for more immigration for at least 35 years--for the cheap labor. Zuckerberg's Fwd.US' raison d'etre is to bring cheap tech workers from abroad so companies don't have to spend as much money. Unemployment among American tech workers due to influx of foreigners has been well reported on since the '90s. the NYT didn't report on the issue until 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html
As you rightly point out, it depends on the sector you're looking at and often it is a function of the gutting of the unions and the threat of moving production offshore that has held back or cut the wages.
The second round in Singapore started from the overcrowded, insalubrious immigrant workers' hostels......which where totally forgotten when they took hold of the first round by the neck and effectively throttled the virus. The immigrants of course where below consideration as "members of society".
This plague has made it additionally obvious that we really are all connected to each other, that no one is free of disease unless we all are, that public health is exactly that.
And lying, lying, lying, both of them. It's as if the entire Republican party took a drug supplied by Fox News obligating them to only say things that are untrue or twisted to serve their specific purposes.
Supplied by their Kremlin, and local oligarch, paymasters, more likely. Interesting how when parler lost its server home for its role in the attack on Congress and election results, it found hosting in Russia until Rebecka Mercer stepped in.
I'm not so sure it's that devious. Yes, the Russians love to sow chaos, but I think they are mostly delighted that they don't have to do much except sit back and watch the Rs sow it all by themselves. It's fairly certain that Trump and his family were and are in their pocket, but these others are mostly just following the anti-government white supremacist agenda they have followed since Reagan.
It's both. Quite a few of the sedition circle were paid tens of thousands of dollars to go have dinner in Moscow. I think Flynn got 45K. Ron Johnson was there. We may never know what failed45 and his buddy Vladimir talked about in their fiercely private chats, but I don't think it was their golf scores.
It is important to note, as Dr. Richardson has in today’s letter, that most undocumented immigrants do not arrive in the U.S. By crossing the southern border, they arrive legally most often through an airport. Almost twice as many arrive legally with a visa and simply overstay the visa.
This pattern has been true for many years. After 2017 the Department of Homeland Security stopped reporting these statistics as they did not fit the Trump administration narrative.
Six years now in Texas Hill Country after 34 years in NYC area and another 34 in Central Florida. Going for another 34 in Texas. I don't know if I will make it but ready to give it a hell of a shot. Also did extensive international travel during my business career with stamps from 92 countries in my passports over the years, most of those visited many times and also many not on most folk’s bucket list.
Unfortunately, the right wing has successfully pushed the idea that Mexican = bad, and that hordes of immigrants are flooding across our border (left undefended, of course, by the Democrats) to rape our women, rob our houses, and steal our jobs. The idea found a receptive audience among the ignorant and resentful.
Now, with that negative perception deeply entrenched, rooting it out is going to be next to impossible. People will believe what they want to believe, and no amount of evidence countering their beliefs will make the slightest difference.
Correcting the false perception that the right wing has created will be like turning a cruise ship -- it doesn't turn on a dime. And this is a big ship, with powerful engines fueled by ignorance, fear, and -- yes -- stupidity.
We hear you, Steve, But hopefully it isn't necessary as TX might be turning blue, and not just from the cold. Mayhap another president will proclaim "Tear down this wall!"
Let’s go! Becerra & Biden had better work quickly to develop a plan and communicate a solid, simple message that can filter into all media outlets. The message better be quick and it better be catchy, using all of the creative marketing forces Team Biden can buy. The Extreme Right is just moments away from developing their own snappy anti-immigration rallying cry that will drag those 70-80M voters back for revenge in 2022. Nothing rallies racists like a common enemy - especially a brown one. Otherwise, immigration fears will drown out all other accomplishments to the detriment of the Democrats in 2022. Must act now!
A PERSONAL FAVOR
A number of years ago I discovered that my wife has a memory like an audio visual recording Rolodex. She remembers conversations we had the first week we met. My memory is not nearly that good. In fact relative to my wife’s my memory is horrible.
Here in this community, it is challenging remembering who said what, especially without a feature that allows us to search by name for peoples past comments.
My memory works by geography. That’s my filing system.
If you would be willing, when we are conversing, I would love it if you tell me what state you live in or what city. I’ll remember you better. I know TPJ is in Boston, Marcy Meldahl is in Tennessee, I think Nancy Bailey just told us she lives in Georgia. Marlene in the Bay Area. I should know where Lynell is but I can’t think of it. Bruce Carpenter and Denise Huddle in Texas, I remember that from the ice storm. Anyway it’s just a tool that would help me a lot. From now on I’m going to write them down.
Thank you!
Happy Daylight Savings Time, Roland! I always enjoy reading your perspectives and the banter among the group. I try to bring a positive note to these conversations from Cape Cod...where the tidal flats of Cape Cod Bay stretch out seemingly forever. Tide pools will soon be filled with hermit crabs, snails, and tiny fish as the days begin to warm. It’s just after 6 AM and the sky is beginning to brighten ahead of the sunrise. 🌅 Good Morning!
Fond memories of renting a house in harwich for part of the summer and eating all that the sea can provide while feeding the ducks that would constantly waddle by.
Sorry Hyannis not Harwich
Hi Kari! Everything between Hyannis and Provincetown. Mashpee is in there somewhere. See I dug all that out of the dusty files. Memory isn’t completely useless. Unless I double check on the Internet right now and find out I totally screwed it up.
😂 Our little strip of sand can be very confusing. I’m sending a link to a recent article, “Cape Cod: Where Going North is Really East and the Lower is Above the Upper”.
https://www.capecod.com/lifestyle/cape-cod-where-going-north-is-really-east-and-the-lower-is-above-the-upper/
And this map attempts to provide a visual to track a trip down (up) Route 6.
https://capecodstar.com/cape-cod-regions-upper-mid-lower-outer-cape/
And to make things worse, our federal government has changed the exit numbers all along Route 6 from a numerical progression (exits 1, 2, 3... to exit numbers based on distance from who knows where! So, old exit 2 is now exit 59 and old exit 8 is now exit 75! Go figure. You think you screwed up...I don’t even know how to find my way home anymore 😉
Oh that was so stupid I can’t believe they did that. I know exactly what they did. They turned your main drag into another federal highway. So that means Mile Zero is at the very beginning of that numbered route where it crosses the state line. Since Route 6 technically starts in Providence, as soon as it crosses the state line into Massachusetts, that’s Mile Marker zero. What a bunch of dummies. The way they used to have it is so much more sensible, they had to monkey with it and try to “standardize” it instead of just leaving it the way it was. This is why citizens have to be involved in government. Government doesn’t always make the best decisions.
Part of that change is the ability to document exact locations on the public highway. In your description, an incident (crash, rescue, medical emergency, etc.) would be "3.2 miles north of southbound exit 8 on the west road shoulder" rather than "mile marker 71.5, southbound"
The renumbering must have started before GPS.
They’re in the process of doing the same thing where I am in WMass. Now I don’t know where I live anymore! 😂
Ya think?
My personal conspiracy theory is that whoever was behind renumbering the highway exits owns the sign company. The new numbers finally hit rte 128; just where does the mileage counting start from??? Not Boston, not the state line. my new exit number is 44, miles from where?
Normally west to east freeways are numbered starting at the state line low (mile marker 0) to high, and south to north freeways are numbered 0 to high at the next state line. At least California doesn’t get convoluted and bizarre and unfathomable. With a few short exceptions, like 580 in the SF Bay Area, most of it makes sense.
What a mess. I looked it up on Wikipedia, there is a chart under the chapter “Exit List” that gives you the old exit numbers and new exit numbers. Good luck.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Route_128
All the exit numbers on the Maine Turnpike were changed several years ago, after I moved from Maine to Colorado. Even though I spend every summer in Maine, I can never remember the “new” exit numbers, so I resort to referring to the towns associated with the exits, such as: “Get off at the first South Portland exit you see, which used to be Exit 7.”
Boston has similar problems. None of the "compass" neighborhoods -- West End, East Boston, North End, South End, South Boston -- is west/east/north/south of the center of town. The West End doesn't even exist anymore: it's now Mass General Hospital.
Wendy Raksin here from Granada Hills, California which is a small suburb of Los Angeles, located in "the valley." I am mostly a lurker on this page with only and occasional comment. I learn a lot from all of you. This is a very intelligent group of people. Many moons ago I visited Boston and got terribly lost. It was at night and I finally burst into tears. I used to visit San Diego regularly when I was a kid. (Children of divorced parents get taken on short trips every weekend.) My favorite place in the US is Vermont. I briefly considered living there but I don't think I could take all the snow. When I was a teenager, I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentine. It is true. Living in different areas and countries gives one a different view of the world and as does living and visiting other areas of the country.
I'm in your general neighborhood every week. Thanks for the mention of Buenos Aires, now I will always remember that about you. Living somewhere else in your teens gives you an international view of the world that is indelible. My teenage friends were from every country imaginable. You get to see what makes the rest of the world tick, and you get to see how your home country is just a small part of the vast sea of nations. It's hard to be an arrogant nationalist (or culturally illiterate) when your classmates are from Germany, Israel, Finland, France, Poland, Britain, and yes Canada (Alfred E. was his name) and when your sister's best friend is the daughter of a diplomat from Thailand. I once wrote a greeting card for a secret Santa designee, and I was able to accumulate "I Love You" in over 3 dozen languages. Before the internet, not an easy task, except that I just had to buttonhole students, easy. I still remember some of the more obscure ones: Finnish "ma rakastan sua."
Chuckled at you getting lost in Boston - we lived there for a brief period - I swear they went out at night and turned the one way signs around on purpose to confuse everyone not born there!
Nice to be considered part of a "very intelligent" group of people. I am probably the exception that proves the rule, but don't tell anyone!
Wendy Raksin: I was born in VT (lived in only 2 towns) and lived there till I was 17 years old. I moved to Keene NH to attend nursing school 1n 1969 and have stayed in the area since then.
Born and raised I Brooklyn.
Have lived in Lowell,MA for many moons now!😊
Thoroughly entertained by this article, Kari. Should I be concerned, because I think I followed the north is east and down is up view of your world. The map, however, well, that just adds to the confusion!
Canadian ex-pat in Ukraine. I only remember stuff that never happened
😂. I only remember stuff that nobody else knows happened.
I remember dreams and things that happened. And I mix them up in my mind.
NY state. I sometimes mix fictional characters with people I’ve met.
When I lived in California, once I actually voted for Donald Duck for governor. It was a protest led by the Black Panthers against Ronald Reagan.
Sufferin' succotash! (Daffy, not Donald, but I couldn't resist.)
That's very praiseworthy, Joan, but the question here is did you mix up Donald Duck with the recent Donald?
Uh oh. This could be trouble 🤭
😉
Sometimes a little vacation from reality can be a good thing. I think we embellish our memories more than we admit.
The former Soviet Union has a lot of stuff that never happened. It's all not there in the history books.
When I was in China a few years ago, our guide regularly referred to “Tien-an-min Square, where nothing happened in 1989.”
"It was a long time ago, and it never happened anyway". David Satter
"History is bunk." -- Henry Ford
"Henry Ford is bunk" -- TPJ
As with many US history books. Some should be re-labeled into the fiction section by the libraries. We can, and will, do better.
We'd better!
Lurker and occasional commenter here.
Minneapolis, MN suburb.
My hometown, Minneapolis, has been in the national news for nearly a year, ever since the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd. We made an early morning pilgrimage to the site several days after the murder. When all the flowers were fresh and hearts were newly bleeding. A few COVID-masked white and black people meandered around the intersection, trying to grasp what the hell had happened there. Because of COVID, we didn't stay long, but for whatever is left of my life, I will never forget the sight and feeling of that place.
There's been an uptick in the Minneapolis news, ever since the government center was gift-wrapped in multiple layers of barbed wire, and surrounded by concrete blockades in anticipation of violence during and after the trial of the murderous perp, Derek Chauvin. Jury selection has begun for his trial. Chauvin was a bully-boy scofflaw long before he became a murderer. Had I been called for this jury duty, I'm reasonably certain I'd have been dismissed.
Footnote: Minneapolis is a beautiful city, with lakes and streams and creeks and the Mississippi River, for starters. Also, its government center that was a handsome building until it became a reluctant fortress.
And there you have it.
Despite Eugene Goodman's heroic actions on Jan 6, Derek Chauvin is still the face of American policing. Will he be convicted on any count of murder? Reinstating 3rd-degree murder charges looks like a bad sign, possibly indicating a flawed case from the prosecution. Another concern is the GQP tendency to lie. It's easy to imagine one or more stealth jurors who will produce a hung jury or mistrial. I don't even want to think about an acquittal.
Chauvin's murder doesn't qualify for a 1st degree murder charge in Minneapolis. Worthwhile to read the state's charging guidelines.
My understanding is that 3rd-degree murder charges in MN are routinely dismissed, as indeed Chauvin's was previously. Hoping for a 2nd-degree conviction with maximum sentence. Not just for the sake of justice, but to forestall dangerous protests in case of lesser conviction or (gasp) acquittal. The 3rd degree charge is BS; it may have applied at the start, but after 8:46 it could only be 2nd-degree murder. Monstrous.
The Nation magazine has a current article titled "The Acquittal of Derek Chauvin has Already Begun." Monstrous.
https://www.thenation.com/
Thank you for the link, TPJ. I’ll read it later.
Not favorably impressed by the article. There is nothing about the defense lawyer, prosecutor or judge to provide a sense of their backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses. Nothing about nature of charges or questions by prosecutors to potential jurors. This type of reporting is too personal, opinionated and info lite.
Hey, Barbara. Good on you for taking those pilgrimages. I have been following the news about the upcoming trial. They would have dismissed me, too, if I were called to be a juror.
Alas, it's been years and years since visiting Minneapolis. About all I remember is how friendly/approachable the people were. Also got a thrill seeing where the Mississippi River was born!
Itasca State Park! In the beautiful northern part of "my" state. Where the north shore of Lake Superior competes with the oceans, minus salt. : >)
Yes! I love hearing about everybody's environs. I know we are vested in the politics, but it would be fun to do a little bit of "Discovery Channel" on this page. I, for one, enjoy the digression.
Mornin' Roland! Home is St. Augustine, FL. I'm the "recovering racist" born and raised in Alabama. FL is a tough place to live these days politically speaking. While I don't comment often, it is great to be a part of this community. ❤
Quality over quantity.
I have family in St. Augustine and visit frequently. Cracker-town for sure, but I love it anyway.
Good Morning Kelly!
Never been to the Gulf Coast. A few trips to Miami Beach and the Keys when I was living in Boston. Huge Florida Art Deco fan.
I love your posts!
My SIL used to live in Palm Coast and we went to St Augustine whenever we visited. Loved it. She’s now near Jacksonville.
Hail, Roland, from the Formerly Confederate, now Great Blue State of Virginia, Loudoun County! (Call Washington, D.C. my hometown)
Morning Lynell!! Another good reason to call it Virginia's BLUE Ridge! (Even though most of the blue voters live elsewhere.) The turnaround became clear in 2006 when Jim Webb defeated George "Macaca" Allen. It's so good to have VA back in the Union, and now Georgia too. You're next, Lone Stars and Tarheels. Resistance Is Futile.
And please don't forget about my plight here in Floriduhhhhh! Been here "preDisney". Lots of pavement on paradise, not to mention good old boy local politics, but, change is in the wind!
From your lips Lynn. Florida here too, St Petersburg in barely blue Pinellas County. Grew up on the barrier islands when our beach towns were still mostly shacks & fishing piers on the Gulfside and mangroves bayside. The smell of orange blossoms in spring waifed in from the mainland. It was full of natural wonders. Also lived in WA, TN & NJ, but, always come back to FL.
Orange groves, clear water, abundant recreational fishing and wildlife. If we could only turn back the clock on our precious environment...
Wekiva Springs, used to outside Orlando, now swallowed up. Coldest damn water I ever swam in. Rock Springs, outside Apopka, when Apopka was a sleeply little nowhere, was the same. We had family picnics there after church in the summers, ride inner tubes down the river. Ah, yes. Florida used to be Paradise. If ever they should have closed a border...............harumph.
Diane, my mother was born in Punta Rassa. My Florida Cracker roots, sans the racism, are on her side. The other half, Keys Conchs, via Harbour Island, Bahamas. My favorite family vacation was a week on Sanibel, before the causeway. Up before dawn to go shelling for the 'good stuff', with a local woman who was the only professional sheller I ever knew. Or am likely to. 😉
We did that too, in the 60s. So empty, paradise.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope. 🤞
Ooh, I like what you did with your name! Because I'm not going to remember where everyone is from!
Kelly inspired me. I'll probably change it again to just "Roland (CA)."
Florida is especially endangered. If there is a place in North America where Mother Earth needs special care and doesn’t get it, it’s the limestone wonderland and the unique tropical jungle and at the southern end the sawgrass river that is FL. The Earth weeps.
We haven't forgotten, Lynn. Floriblue doesn't look as likely for now but, yes, winds of change are blowing.
We need candidates! With kkk, oath keepers and their cult leader here, it's a little hard to have faith. As developers pave over paradise.
Whoop! Resistance IS futile, TPJ! Time for Texas to stop pretending to be independent and be assimilated (in the best possible way, of course).
Austin is in the midst of the process, BTW; now that Big Tech has discovered the city, they've moved in and flattened the culture here. 'Keep Austin Weird' is no longer the motto, sadly. Now we're flooded with Teslas, BMWs, Range Rovers, Lamborghinis, and other high end vehicles, (including high end, oversized pick ups) along with the snobbish rich looking down upon the rest of us from the ugly skyscrapers that clutter the once beautiful skyline of Austin.
The artists, musicians, and the long celebrated weird folk can no longer afford to live here and are leaving; prices have shot upwards, and the overall vibe has changed.
So, yeah... I'm thinking assimilation is well underway here. I can't speak for the rest of the Lone Star, though.
"Bob Wills is still the king!"
I was so.lucky to live in Austin during my first husbands law school years. A magical.place then. We moved to Houston when he graduated and my theatre, music and artist friends there are bluing Harris County which had only 1 voter drop box for an area bigger than the state of. Rhode Island
I was infuriated when they removed all the voting boxes, Gailee, as were so many others. It's utterly appalling that they got away with it.
I'm sorry that I didn't know Austin when it was still a haven for musicians and artists; there are still some here, and there's always Antones and Austin City Limits, but that spirit is long gone now. I'm glad you had the opportunity to live here when you did!
It was a wonderful time. I wish you could have. Is Gruene still a special place?
Laureen, I'm going to read this book and thought of you after reading your comment:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/books/review-fulfillment-alec-macgillis.html
Thanks, Fern. That book reinforces why I don't use Amazon unless I can't get what I'm looking for elsewhere, but it also makes me think about 'one-click' shopping in general. I've always preferred to shop in person, but this virus has put paid to that, although I do hope that we can get back to it (next year, maybe?) eventually.
Sadly, many people only see the convenience of online shopping and either overlook or are unaware of the real damage those corporations cause to communities, businesses, and people. It would be a good idea to make books like this one required reading, but I fear that most folk would just shrug it off.
You spelled it out, Laureen. One of my concerns is that so many Main Streets have been decimated by the loss of industry. Many Main Streets have a church or two, a bar and coffee shop, period.
Sure, invoke the Borg, see if anybody notices. Naturally I agree completely with the metaphor. It matches my growing conviction that the blue team is a monolith which will grind the red team in the dust. Over time.
Someone noticed ....
Good luck trying to slip that by me without me noticing
Live long and prosper \.\\ //
I suspect the percentage of Trek fans over Wars fans on this forum is hefty. Just a guess. (from WA - the state)
Don't be so sure. And then there are the dual-passport fans, the double agents under deep cover. (blowing my cover)
Formerly of CA currently in SC hating Lindsey the Graham Cracker, loving the Trek Wars.
Ahem, Marvel fans, too! 🙋🏼♀️
Morning, TPJ!! VA, NC and GA counties have many more red than blue. TX, too, obviously. Scary to look at their political maps!
Writing from NC, we are a very rural, VERY gerrymandered state with a backward legislature controlled by Republicans.
Hi Jennifer, Roland and the rest of y'all. I'm in Chatham County, NC the exact center of the state. My rural county has consistently the highest voter turnout in the state and consistently votes Blue!
Well, hey, neighbor! Are you on the poor, Republican side of the county, or the granola-eating, well-informed side of the county? Heh.
Yikes, how'd that happen? But good on you!
Sounds just like Wisconsin. :)
A fair characterization, unfortunately. Hello from Boone.
Don't know where you are, Jennifer, but I feel your pain. I'm in Randolph.
My email: holzmandc@outlook.com
When Washington, D.C. becomes a state, it will be known as “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.”
Didn’t L’Enfant do a rather nice job with DC? Although I admit I am also a big fan of Olmsted.
An excellent job as did Lafayette and several other French military figures helping Washington in another theater of the operation.
I'm currently still down in Provence but don't tell my GPS.
Mais c’est beau la bas
I hope some day to visit Provence when the lavender is blooming.
All around the village but to see it best come in June as they are cutting earlier and earlier...and when they do the "smell" is amazing between the wagon loads trundling down the lanes and the distillaries working 24/7.
Thank you! It will be a while before I am able to visit, both because of covid and also due to personal reasons. But it is on my “bucket list”! So are many other places, both in France and in the rest of Europe and also the U.K.
Provence! My husband and I are headed there as soon as the Pandemic allows us to travel.
Anywhere in particular?
We are focusing on Cotes du Rone, Avignon and Arles, trying to avoid cities. We loved the hill towns we visited in Tuscany and Greek villages in the Peloponneses. That's the vibe we're looking for. We are novices but trying to see as much as we can before we age out.
Given the rise of mutant COVID beware of a third wave coming to a super sreader event on the East coast.
You so lucky!!
City planning in the US is inextricably linked to de jure racial segregation (vid. Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law) and I have a hard time admiring anything so redolent of wrongs consistently committed across this country to keep white people's lives (particularly middle class and wealthy white people) "safe" from having to live in proximity to those who did so much of the building of this nation and those from whom so much has been and continues to be stolen. City planners such as Olmsted were fully cognizant that they were creating white environments to sustain white power.
I read Rothstein's book. I had no idea only 4% of black veterans were able to access the GI education benefits upon their return to civilian life. I have been reading many books on anti-racism since George Floyd's murder. l am planning an extended visit to Ecudaor later this year and contemplate providing access to my home during that time by a black family. My all-white neighborhood will clutch their proverbial pearls. I have a black SIL and they go bonkers when he visits. Having a black family occupy the premises while I'm away will be an interesting experiment!
Hi Lynell‼️ Very brief resident of Alexandria, six months when my dad was taking a course at the state department before we drove back to California in our VW Square back.
Alexandria is a lovely town, especially Old Town near the Potomac River. A few weeks ago I watched the "Potomac By Air" documentary. The river gets it start in West Virginia and winds it's way down to Washington, DC and beyond to meet the Chesapeake Bay. As I was watching, it struck me that I have lived close to the Potomac all of my life. Here is a link that hopefully you will be able to access: https://vimeo.com/118233315
I spent a wonderful afternoon in Alexandria, protesting against Brute Kavanaugh's nomination. Connecting with VA union sisters and brothers was a delight -- numerous moments of "That is SO true!," "I know JUST what you mean!," and "Those BASTARDS!" I wish I'd gone for a drink with them rather than to another dreary family lunch.
PS, apologies for not blocking Kavanaugh for y'all. We tried, but the fix was in.
My wife would call you a hero. I'm not an expert. Greg Olear is.
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/who-owns-kavanaugh-index
You're Deep Throat, aren't you, TPJ...
If you mean baritone, yes.
Me only for a relatively short time living in Potomac itself
Me, too, right before I hopped the river over to VA
My father lived in the DC Metro (mostly in Vienna and Reston, VA) from 1975 until his death just this past March. I got to know the area very well and saw it grow from a "company" town to a behemoth.
Very good morning, Lynell!
Morning, Daria!! Although, here it just turned noon. You are just past 10:00 am, right?
Yes, until our clocks turn in April then we'll be 1 hour behind again. (We're Central Time)
So that explains it! I do think, though, because Dr. R has changed her time to publish her Letters, it's been more of a challenge to "find" you!
Hi Daria! You are one of the few I didn't need help with. You, Stuart, R Dooley, Gailee, everyone outside the country is easy for me to remember once I know where they live. Distinctive and memorable homes.
Vermont. Where would Bernie be without Vermont and where would the country be without Bernie? He came, he volunteered, he gave, and he keeps on giving.
Hi Bruce. I'm in Vermont, too, and I know there are at least a couple of others. I live in Wolcott, a very rural area.
Becky and Bruce- another Vermonter here, in Grand Isle. Bernie is a national treasure.
Bernie was a national treasure over 5 years ago, we knew that, and then we were elated when the rest of the country finally discovered him too. It's kind of shocking, really, the dramatic shifts. Bernie being an acknowledged national treasure. The Blue Team in charge of Congress, AND in charge of the WH. Really this is my wildest dreams coming true. I have to rub my eyes every now and then.
This from the man who lives "somewhere on the road!"
Yes, I am in the Boston area. I remember several other LFAA locations, but permission isn't granted to share them.
PS, here's a song for Roland (not THE Song of Roland) on his travels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov4epAJRPMw
And TPJ has a song for every moment. Wow, never heard this song before...wish I had!
Boston has very good college and public radio stations at the left end of the dial. Then it's off to YouTube to share the recordings.
Well, I’ve been to all the places west of Texas that Johnny Cash is talking about except Catalina. Thanks TPJ that was sweet of you 🙏
Reading all your replies, Roland, sparked a memory. My cousin, Joey, was a truck driver, retired in the early 2000's. He knew every nook and cranny of every town you could name. I don't think there's a cartographer who could hold a candle to the likes of him or you when it comes to U.S. geography!
Like I said, I’m a geography nut. And when we’re talking about the US were talking about my home. I’m a complete bimbo when it comes to Canada, or even Mexico which is closer to me than Canada.
We wince in Canada. I’m positive “complete bimbo” is grossly exaggerated, but it would not be enough for some Americans.
Admittedly from several decades ago but...
A colleague of mine came from a family in Niagara Falls who owned a motel. They regularly fielded inquiries such as, “Can you walk to Toronto from here?”
“How far from here until there’s skiing”? (in July).
My wife and I were once doing a baseball trip down the east side of your country. We were golfing one day in Brookline MA (gorgeous public course) and were paired up with the nicest American couple (American friendliness is legendary in Canada). The initial conversation after introductions went something like this:
Him: so where y’all from?
Me: Toronto (we weren’t, but we were 100% sure nobody would have heard of Peterborough, 60 miles away).
Him (lighting up in a huge smile): Toronto? What a coincidence. I *know* a guy from Toronto.
Me: Imagine. Small world.
Him: You probably know him. Ed McAllister’s his name.
Me (having an idea where this was headed): No, I don’t. Shall we tee off?
Him: You don’t? Seriously.
Me: Nope. Never heard of him.
Him: Can’t be. Big guy, bit of a paunch -
Me (avoiding my wife’s eye): No. You gotta understand. Toronto’s a city. Everybody couldn’t possibly know everybody.
Him: Yeah Yeah, I get it. But you’d have at least seen him. Really loud voice, red-faced, always wearing boots -
Me (in desperation at this point): Look, you could put at least two Bostons in Toronto. We’re two million people.
Him: You can’t be serious. Canada doesn’t have cities like that.
There was a kind of chill for the first few holes. But at the very end, when we were saying our goodbyes, he gave me a big smile and a wink and said, “You say hi to Ed when you go home. Tell him Big John misses him”. It was a most friendly way of apologizing without actually doing so. I remember that moment most clearly. You guys have a way of making friendships that is very endearing. Canadians, alas, are much more reserved in the main. I think we miss out on a lot.
It’s a smaller world today. Mass media is pervasive and (relatively) cheap travel used to be common.
Oy, Eric. But I can tell you that I was on a research trip in the UK, on a train from London to Shrewsbury via Birmingham, and trying to get some work done before hitting the archives in Shrewsbury when two "suits" sat down opposite me. One took one look at the uninteresting girl and ignored me. The other decided to pepper me with questions (this was over 20 years ago so the conversation is not entirely accurate but you'll get the picture):
He: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Some preparation for a research trip."
He: "You're an American!"
Me: "Yes."
He: "What are you doing here?"
Me: "I'm a medieval historian." [by this time his coworker was looking very annoyed]
He: "What? An American who is a medieval historian? Where do you teach?"
Me: "You won't have heard of my university: it's a small school in NY State."
He: "WHICH ONE?!"
Me: Names the school. (It is a very small uni with very little name recognition)
He: "Oh My God! I got my degree from [X] University!"
Turned out he was a ceramic engineer and the uni where I taught was the #2 place in the USA to do a degree in that arcane field.
So sometimes these conversations can get really weird.
So, Eric, how was the rest of your trip? Asking for a friend...
Richard (from Norfolk, England). We constantly used to get that situation when we went to the USA (haven't been there for more than a dozen years). It goes like this:
We're from England
Oh how interesting. You must know XYZ. He lives in Manchester
No we don't actually, we live in Norfolk
Well isn't it a small world..............
Ok, Eric, give me a break. Obviously that's not what I meant by "complete bimbo." I didn't mean I'm illiterate. What you are describing is the kind of stuff my family had to tolerate during my teens in Germany. We were all bilingual German-English. In public, we would often gab amongst ourselves in American English, and then we would listen to Germans making snide comments about how tacky the Americans are. We were taking the heat for the actual tacky Americans, because we were never part of that demographic. Oh well. BTW I lived in Brookline among other towns while I was in Boston. I have a special fondness for Brookline. The house I lived in was a stop on the underground railroad, we believe, based on things we discovered inside the house in a secret room we found. Anyway, back to Canada, I have heard nothing but rave reviews about Canada. My wife has been a number of times, national parks in the Rockies, Vancouver, and more. It's on my bucket list. Trust me, I'm not your golfer acquaintance.
This is a wonderful story about Big John, Eric!
Funny! Made me laugh! I needed a good laugh! Thx
Hello TPJ, good morning. You contributed to the movie script for my sci-fi better-society story project. I realized today that this Johnny Cash song is perfect for one of the scenes. Thank you for your contribution 🙏
I’ve had it in the back of my mind that the movie should have two soundtracks like Back To The Future does, a soundtrack that includes oldies and pop songs that appear in the movie in suitable spots, and an orchestral soundtrack running throughout. Your Johnny Cash song is the first contribution to the pop song sound track.
Roland, regarding the music: I love that idea of 2 soundscores throughout the movie.
The TV series, The Blacklist, does something similar, and you might enjoy listening to the sound tracks to it. It's well over 250 songs at this point, touching on classical, the 1930s - 1970s, hip-hop, indie, and rock. It's a truly eclectic mix of genres and it may lead you to some bands that might fit exactly where you need them to in your story.
Named after Sarah Winnemucca, Paiute Indian, former army translator, writer, educator and strong advocate for Native American rights. Tragically, she died at age 47 with a brilliant career ahead of her.
For a change TPJ drops history on us that I already know. Now how often does that happen??
I'm probably the only member living in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. I'll be surprised if you forget that fact.
I already knew, just didn't mention.
Nice place. I suppose you'll be at Chichen Itza next week?
Nope. As far as I know it's been cancelled.
How do you cancel Mayan ruins?
You do not cancel Mayan archeological sites. The state, however, due to covid concerns, has cancelled admission into the site (not ruin) to watch the equinox sun line up with the pyramids.
Thank you for the explanation and the correction.
It's more than alignment, it's like "snakes on a plane" only with temples, astronomy and architecture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvv9EnBuem4
Too bad it's closed, but understandable.
I realize now that I didn’t mention people in other countries because it’s so easy to remember, once you know.
Hello from Washington state! I have the same memory imbalance as you - I can't remember crap from one day to the next, and my husband remembers EVERYTHING. I do manage to remember weird factoids that have no use most of the time. Oh well. I enjoy reading your rational comments here. Thank you!
Thank you Anne!
Hi Roland! I’ve been a bit of a nomad so this might be confusing. Grew up in W.Mass. Then to CA (just outside of LA) for about a year and a half. Back to same place I grew up in MA. Then to RI for a couple of years. Then back to MA for a couple of years. Then to SC for the better part of 20 years - lived on the NC / SC border in the Charlotte area so lived in both at various times but mostly in SC. Then in Wilmington, NC for 2 yrs. Then just outside of Lynchburg, VA for about 2 years. Then back to the same area in MA 10 years ago and still here but planning to relocate at some point - most likely to VT or back to SC. Have considered moving overseas due to the cultural and political climate but can’t quite wrap my head around not living in the U.S. as my adult kids and grandkids live here (SC and OR). I hope all this doesn’t wreak havoc with your mental map!
Thanks Karen. Will all this be on the final exam?
Not at all. Actually we share the gypsy thing, that has its own category. CA, Germany, CA, Boston, CA is my route. So you're MA CA RI MA SC/NC VA MA. I won't remember the detail, but it's easy to remember MA and CA and then VA because I am familiar with all those places.
Hi Roland, Kathleen in Seattle here ... finally cleaned my machine and got past whatever has been locking me out of tHe chat section since late January ... not much to say anyway - can't even keep up with conversations ... a number of people responded to posts I was able to make, saying they were having the same problem ... I was having other problems as well - finally got shut out, and had to recover to factory settings - so far, running like a dream - so, I hope it worked out for other folks - if not, put files to save on the cloud, or a thumb drive, and reformat to factory settings. Ok, got to go now ... 4:30am - nap time!!
Take Care - Be Well All ....
I'm from Vermont
Good morning Skip, me too. My husband went to AZ to vote and we chose to be apart until we are both vaccinated. We both read HCR.
That is a sacrifice of note! Take care.
Thanks, you too. We've both had our 1st jab, but AZ is delaying his 2nd, grrrrrr!
I'm so sorry!
Both of you have what are probably my favorite senators, other than Elizabeth Warren and ex-Senator Kamala Harris.
David Hausam in the Crater Lake state, Oregon
I remember visiting Crater Lake. One of the most beautiful places on G-d's earth.
Eugene here.
Good morning, Roland and all. I've been in north metro Atlanta since '95, having come first from Brooklyn, NY, where I was born and lived until age 5, then from West Hartford, Connecticut, where I grew up in a corner house and stayed till after my sophomore year in college. Then the family moved back to NYC, this time to Queens, where I lived in Jackson Heights for two and a half years, Kew Gardens for 23 years and Rego Park for about three years before I said farewell to snow and ice and apartment living and came south to find my own corner house on a third of an acre and create my garden, now a small but wildlife sanctuary certified by Georgia Audubon. I must say I still consider myself a New Yorker living in Georgia and am delighted my adopted state turned blue.
Darn Substack! It should be "a small wildlife sanctuary," with the "but."
Highlight, delete, copy/paste, edit, repost, perfecto!
Egads, I'm losing it! it should be WITHOUT the "but."
We're fine. Figured it out before you had to correct. Both times.
I love that you asked this - when we made my retirement trip (a gift from my husband - three weeks of driving!) he got to go to Hanford, and I saw my last 5 states, all in the inland NW. It impressed on my how where you live shapes understanding. You'd think that having seen the rest or the US, including two territories, I would already know. But that did it for me. Originally I'm from east Tennessee, ending in Maryland after CA, CT, and MA. In the wake of the election Roland, I have you filed driving up the Central Valley to Sacramento - it's how I see you in my mind.
"It impressed on me how where you live shapes understanding." Yes, that's the entire point of this exercise. Everyone is having a lot of fun with what started out as merely a request to make my life easier remembering everyone, but you nailed the reason why I do it: we are so much a product of the cultural environment we were born into, and that we live in geographically in the present moment. A person growing up in apartheid South Africa or Syria has a different lens through which they see the world than a U.S. resident. It may seem subtle, but the differences within this country are significant as well, and much more obvious if you have been as many places as I have. A Californian, native or transplant, sees things differently than a Georgian, or a New Englander. The cultural lens has such a strong influence, cannot be overstated. You know what I am saying, just from moving around Washington, Oregon, Idaho, et al.
The trick is to learn how to open your lens wider. It won't ever perfectly see the other point of view, but it helps.
I don't comment often, but I start every morning since June with LFAA and the comments, so I feel like I know many of you. I'm currently in TN, but relocating later in the year to CO.
You will appreciate the low humidity in CO.
Thank you Heather. I live on the Mexico Arizona border and I am amazed at the amount of fear based misinformation given as if it were truth. We must all shine the light of truth upon this and upon the plight of people swept up in the maelstrom.
The source of the violence in Central America are criminal gangs financed to a great degree by the high-profit trade in illegal drugs destined for the US. The people fleeing the violence are yet more victims of the 50+ yr old US War on Drugs.
De-criminalizing drugs won’t make those gangs disappear, but it would take away most of their power, as well as weakening the US police/ criminal justice/prisons industrial complex that undermines communities of color.
But that was the real purpose, right?
It undermines those of a vaguely white or pinkish skin too. They want to keep everybody under control. The cheap heroin epidemic that followed the opiod pain killers throughout the country was colourblind.
Legalize the drug business and the same oligarchs then treat it as an investment opportunity and are mostly very much more attentive to the "efficiency and blamelessness" of their supply chain and the places that they source their inputs.
While addiction is indeed an equal opportunity affliction, incarceration for drug possession has a distinctly racial bias.
And all the court cases concerning this opioid crisis hardly dented this family’s wealth.
And I’ve recently seen something about them trying to claim their legal costs on their taxes. They have no shame, no moral compass.
Greed is their whole compass.
The "kindly" english owners manage to save their last 10s of Billions. the poor dears, from the jaws of "vengeful justice" .
... so, once that revenue stream graduates into the hands of legalized business interests, where do people on the ground turn for their sustenance? I have the impression that human trafficking and sexual slavery are well established industries as well ... who owns/controls them ...? And what incentives/opportunities are there for people to change ...?
Very attractive and lucrative businesses operating very efficiently if not effectively ripping off those families in the poor "south" who can afford the price. But on the other hand I recall what a colleague's "mistress" told me while trying to arrange a "contract" for her sister during my first project in Nigeria in 1974....white men are rich and stupid...they pay!
I heard that our country supplies much of the guns and ammunition to the gangs. We are also their largest market for illegal drugs.
The US also "buys" government support for American corporate resource extractors which contributes to corporate land acquisition and the removal of indigenous people. Fear in poor communities is fomented by troops, many of which are trained in the US, in order to silence resistance.
Back to policies refined in the 18thC development of the British Empire....commerce drives politics and divorce what happens in the Colonies from whatever is possible in the home country.....nobody who "counts" will want to know.
It’s filthy, it’s evil, and it’s true
Yes this happens too— I think China does this kind of thing more extensively at the moment.
China is late to the game after Britain and the US pummeled and polluted worldwide. But it seems to be making up for the slow start. China is also the home of 70% of rare metals. We shall see how this all plays out as resources dwindle further.
🏆🏆 as usual Janjamm beautifully stated
A "win-win" solution for those and such as those who don't care how they make their millions and what it does to everybody else.
This has been my understanding of the immigration problem, well summarized here.
The migrant workers are essential to our agriculture. I use to see the workers in the strawberry fields in San Luis Obispo, CA and be amazed at their efficiency and hard work! I don’t remember where I saw a piece on the propaganda to make these workers considered “dirty”. And making them undergo stringent cleaning process coming and going over the border. But wow! We need everyone of these hardworking people. They contribute immensely to our society!
Sounds like the political propaganda just keeps on and on. At least Biden is going after problems with intelligence and empathy.
I have contributed to a local group that provides help to families crossing the border. This group of dedicated women have even provided help on the Mexican side with housing, medical care, legal help, services for children. Trying to help before they hit immigration. It’s amazing work by dedicated people.
Thanks for the info Heather!
I grew up in the Rogue Valley of Oregon (Home of mail order fruit and roses by Harry and David ) and some tremendous pear/apple orchards (now, literally, going to pot). I remember as a young kid, being asked by a crew of Mexican guys in a pick up if they could fill a garbage can with water. My dad saw that, and said "yes, absolutely. These guys are some of the hardest workers you'll ever see, and they're good folks." loudly enough so they could be heard (Medford was and is a horribly racist town.)
In my college years, I worked in a small market in Talent (between Medford and Ashland) that, though small, had a decent meat and produce department. Fridays, the orchards would pay, and the guys would come in with their orchard checks. They would buy 3 or 4 roasted rotisserie chickens, a case of Budweiser, and a carton of Winstons, and cash an orchard check totaling anywhere from $200 to $500. The would then walk outside, 4 or 5 of them would get into one truck after handing their wives most of the cash. The women would then come in and by the weeks groceries, running up $150-$200 grocery bills (bulk pinto beans, pounds of onions and jalapenos, packages of pork steak, tubs of lard, and multiple packs of 5 dozen tortillas).
Sidebar to that: I had an elementary school classmate that was one of those "ostracized" kids who, now that I've spent a life in law enforcement, am sure was physically and sexually abused at home. The family was dirt poor, even for that time (mid to late 1960's). She came into the store one of those times with "orchard money" from her husband, and we had a lovely chat. She had married a migrant field worker who treated her very well, better than her family or any other family in the area had treated her. She had two beautiful kids, and when they moved out of the area, she left a note for me, thanking me for both recognizing her from 10 years and not degrading her for marrying a "Mexican". I so wish I could have talked more to her.
What a lovely story, Ally.
Very.
Talent, OR was nearly destroyed in last year’s wildfires! I remember seeing the pictures...real disaster. BTW Roland...mike from Davis, CA.
My sister still lives in the area; she is in Phoenix, and that was devastated as well. Amazingly, both her apartment complex and her 100 year old wood church were undamaged while nearly adjacent properties were destroyed. She has become a member of the city's planning commission as they rebuild.
As I wrote elsewhere on here today, the agri-businesses which profit from migrant and immigrant labor should assume some financial responsibiliy for the welfare of those who pick our vegetables and process our meat.
Agribiz prefers cheap, easily exploitable labor. Workers in parts of the Central Valley get as little as $2-$3/hr for crop picking. (See: The American Way of Eating, by Tracie McMillan. As part of her research McMillan--who speaks some Spanish--picked crops with migrant workers.
Even if American Consumers had to pay for it, the cost of raising wages for picking crops by 40% would add only $25/year to consumers' food bills. https://www.epi.org/blog/how-much-would-it-cost-consumers-to-give-farmworkers-a-significant-raise-a-40-increase-in-pay-would-cost-just-25-per-household/
Thanks David, that is a very handy detail to have. Please raise my food bills.
And it could be accomplished by a tax on such employers used to pass on benefits to their labor force .... and also enable the government to know who is breaking laws by attracting and hiring those who are here illgally in the first place.
SLO is a beautiful area. And of course Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta are from Delano in the Central Valley.
And yes, I have blown through Delano on the freeway probably several hundred times. TPJ and Johnny Cash know I’ve been there.
It's easier to list the places Roland has not been.
It's worth noting that Chavez denounced illegal immigrants to INS because he understood that too many of them would undercut wages for his members.
Denise, I too have been impressed with the work ethic exhibited by the Latino community in general, to include Mexicans if they're not included in the "Latino" designation.
The term "Hispanic" generally refers to Spanish speaking people while "Latino" or the more gender-neutral term "Latinx" refers to people from Central or South America.
Most people we refer to as Latinx, though, dislike that term. They prefer sticking to Latino, at least that's what I understand. Probably like pronouns, we should be asking those about whom we are using the term what they prefer. Just a side note, not a criticism.
Reid, I have never used the term "Latinx" but to tell the truth, I am just as ignorant about the term "Latino." I call myself white because I'm never sure how to spell caucasian. Seriously.
Well, and Caucasian is a term invented by eugenicists in an attempt to distinguish those of Western European descent from other light-skinned people who were nonetheless "beneath" the Western Europeans in the racial hierarchy. It's an especially amusing term when you consider that the Caucasus region is in a part of the world from which immigrants to the U.S. would no doubt have been considered lower caste and not, in the eugenicists view, Caucasian.
Racists and eugenicists are very bad at geography.
Thank you, Reid. Another "thing" I didn't know🤔
Thank you for that, Reid, I agree! I think it's always better to ask than to make arbitrary assumptions.
Jennifer 100%. Always better to call people what they want to be called.
Thank you, Jennifer. My old age is showing. I forgot about the term "Hispanic."
No worries, Lynell. Last spring, when I was optimisticly planning lessons for the school year that sort of "wasn't" I came across an article in Teaching Tolerance (now Learning for Justice) that talked about the differences in the terms. Up until then I didn't know...
Thanks, Jennifer. Hope you thrive in the coming months.
May we all thrive in the months and years to come!
It's easy to have a work ethic when you're a third world native in a first world country. If I could go to a country where they quintupled my earnings, I'd probably work a lot harder too. But picture yourself a low/no-skilled American worker. Your wages are sh!t by US standards. You are at the mercy of your employer. You have almost no social capital, and you could lose your crappy rental apartment if you have to pay for a major car repair or a medical bill.
Illegal and legal immigrants have the additional advantage of having something of a community with the people they work with--a small group of countrymen working together to pull themselves up.
But their presence in large numbers in the United States depresses the wages of our own workers still further. It's Econ 101: too much of any resource depresses its value. Too many low/no-skilled workers depresses their value. For the immigrants, it's no big deal because they're making far more than they were, and sending a lot of it home to relatives. But for the US workers, if they are meat packers or construction workers, for ex, their wages have plummeted over the last generation.
https://americancompass.org/the-commons/worker-power-loose-borders-pick-one/
https://americancompass.org/the-commons/worker-power-loose-borders-pick-one/
Lucid and concise clarification of the border "crisis." Also, I'm disgusted with these Republicans going onto FOX news and just outright lying about facts, POTUS policies and legislative actions. People who only watch FOX are ill-equipped to discern the truth from falsehood; a fact-check - rebuttal strategy is needed.
We need a Hound News channel. “We sniff out the Truth”
This letter was so good and informative. I didn’t understand all the nuances and the many years of complications until I read your timeline in the context of all those kids suffering today. Thank you for sharing your depth.
Yet more problems which America notices too slowly and acts on ineffectually. This is what happens with four decades of "government is the problem" BS. Furthermore, US policy in Central America and the Caribbean historically does not favor the peoples of the region. But we've taken our eye off the ball. While focusing mostly on the region itself since Reagan's new New Imperialism, its people are transforming large parts of the US, and that can be very good. Would Georgia have two new senators without its Latinx voters?
It's also bad, especially for rural Mexican communities. In the 1930s the progressive Lazaro Cardenas government enacted land reform; the ejido system, modeled after older communal tenures, stabilized smallholder farming for many decades. NAFTA started the destabilizing process, making small farming non-viable and sending millions northward. Contra (sic) Dr Richardson, these developments are actually new and catastrophic for Mexicans, and for different reasons the disorder has spread to Central America's "northern tier." Along with the illegal drug trade, that has much to do with the types of regime long common in the region, which are better at creating insecurity than addressing it.
W Lafeber, Inevitable Revolutions https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2IK9F0OXLAOCZ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0393309649
For five decades the NACLA Report on the Americas has been an invaluable resource.
https://nacla.org/
Thanks TPJ, my daughter dropped a line in a conversation a few years ago that stuck with me, "We (US) are primarily responsible for the the violence and upheaval in Central America causing mass political asylum seekers." Will add this reference to my to read list!
Although it was written in 1983, Joan Didion's "Salvadore" is a book-length essay on her visit to that country which she has described as "terrifying". It is a good example of the confusion and violence families confront. And your daughter is right. The US has done untold damage to these countries in supporting corporate resource extractors. The weapon sales and US training of "soldiers" who enforce the US supported authoritarian governments is evil.
And as usual Central American women are bearing some of the worst forms of gang brutality— some women being attacked and skinned alive.
Thank you. Any additional resources you can recommend please.
As the title suggests, Aviva Chomsky brand-new "Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration" is well-timed to shed light on current crises. But it's no instant book, being based on her decades of work on Latin Amer history. And yes, she is Noam Chomsky's daughter.
Will read.
Mishandling immigration will cost Biden the congress in 2022.... and the election in 2024. Mishandling brown skinned children will feed our mad dog white racists the red meat they crave. Compassion is not in their lexicon. The not golden triangle will not be solved with foreign aid or investment. This area is at war with itself. The criminal element in Guatemala in coffee is brutal. Families will not let their children walk alone. Too many end up dead by the road side, their organs cleaned out - and for sale. Catherine Goulet Ramirez, born in Guatemala February 24, 1991, and her 5 year old son David, are nearby in The North Country... good mother, nice boy... unable to return. Terrified. Their whole family is honest, but they are pressed to serve in the drug trade. There are many. Who buys the drugs? Of course, Americans. Who threatens the coffee we buy? Thugs threaten everything. The honest are scarce down there. Dreaming off about cleansing without invading is an illusion, and we are not going it. We prefer places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, and all those places that brought a strange smile to John Foster Dulles and the DOD, as we ramped to get trashed and changed this nation.
I know Mexico, while we are on the subject. Acapulco was and is no more. The Americans led by the CEO of Braniff, Ford, Sears and a few others set up there on the coast with a 36 hole golf course and a private club with an admission fee of $36,000. Many joined. It has been trashed. There is not a member left... and the most beautiful architecture has been ravaged by the mob. Mexico talks the talk. That's all.
We are kidding ourselves with business as usual. The Monroe Doctrine needs an upgrade. Antony Blinken will have his hands full. Jews fled Hitler and FDR turned them away. No one cared till we opened Auschwitz and learned that 200 camp were scattered all over Europe, Poland and Russia were indifferent, the French were complicit, Waldheim ruled Austria, and our values were the talk, not the action. Jews today are not safe in many parts of France. Hungary is a disaster, Poland is a mess, Germany is the bulwark and may fail without Angela Merkel, and we see what happens to color in Buckingham Palace.
Mankind's number one issue is color... and America must lead - and face the music. $27,000,000 to solve the mess in Minnesota will not solve it. What about thousands of others? The cop with the knee is the white cop, and many not white, that would prefer violence and took the badge and the gun to take aggression for a walk. The term peace officer went the way of the Model T.
Look what The New York Times wants to do with substack. Free speech is threatened by our leader... simply because Letters from an American is siphoning off readership - that simply wants the facts in a manageable format, not $6.50 on Sunday with selective news that spins where it should dig, and digs where is should think first, and then decide if all the litmus issues are what need attention.
Heather Cox Richardson is unique. I am learning about substack. Matt Taibbi and I were introduced at Bard College where we appeared together. I found him a bit raw, but there is no question about his integrity - and today I do not find him raw. I find him right.
Frankly, I'd like to see HRC thrive and Matt thrive... and more of them. We must reach to every kitchen, board room, church, the Grange, high school, college, hardware, bar and restaurant, and get the dialogue up to speed... and we must learn why 70,000,000 find a fascist attractive.
Letters from an American must draw the linkage... of color to fascism. Mussolini and Hitler played Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and freedom loving citizens that would not say yes to Hitler, fist in the air. Well, Josh Hawley has said yes to Trump, fist in the air.
Do any of you need to know more. Call every one you know in Missouri and give good phone. We must find the way to pull this nation back from the edge.
Doudna and CRISPR will not implant character. We must do this with dialogue lest we be forced to do it with Allied Forces a la WW II... when we ignored Hitler for a decade and he took over.
The Crash, Spanish Flue and Woodrow Wilson's Jew hating tribe of patriots were a problem. Pearl Harbor got Senator Vandenberg to say yes... and we hired IKE to do lead D Day.
What can we do about a world gone mad tonight?
I have many thoughts... but it's time for me to hit the hay.
Substack will challenge the best... and we can all contribute our two bits... if that matters.
What can we do about a world gone mad, which ignores science, reason and tolerance over zealots, bigots and racists? That is the question.
Love is the answer.
Not when the man in charge grabs pussies with impunity. I will never let this rest.
HCR is all about crowd sourcing ideas for the betterment of our democracy. You do have a lot, and no personal insults today, well done.
Sandy, you said:. "I know Mexico, while we are on the subject. Acapulco was and is no more. The Americans led by the CEO of Braniff, Ford, Sears and a few others set up there on the coast with a 36 hole golf course and a private club with an admission fee of $36,000. Many joined. It has been trashed. There is not a member left... and the most beautiful architecture has been ravaged by the mob. Mexico talks the talk. That's all."
If white corporate colonialism and a failed private club catering to white non-Méxicans, (and employing Méxicans at whatever the horrifyingly low minimum wage was, and still is), is your yardstick for knowing México, you don't know México. Period. If you visited or lived as a corporate colonial in Acapulco and thought your a mostly white private club was the real México you were part of the problem. If you are unaware of the relentless bigotry European Méxicans have for the indigenous peoples, your viewpoint is part of the problem. Not just in México but throughout Latin America. Most white Europeans and Americans who come to México love to pay as as little as possible to employ Méxicans, whether it's in a factory, a service industry or in a home.
No. A failed private club in Acapulco, is not a the yardstick by which to measure México. White corporations are not here to help México they are here to help themselves.
And does México have problems? Yes, indeed, it does. But you are never going to have a good idea what those problems are as long as you are plunking your white rear end down in the middle of a white enclave or luxury hotel anywhere in México. Or the world for that matter.
I wrote a rant earlier today and wondered if it referred enuf to the subject in the "Letter." Then when I came here and saw only posts about location (I'm in Miami Beach) I never posted. But, just scrolled yards down and found an actual discussion.
Here is what would have been my post it only deals with what I find to be a major problem with Centro & South America - Drug Trade:
Blatant Dishonesty is our major problem in the U.S. That and the huge masses of absolutely stupid ppl we have who believe any lie and conspiracy of the Repugnant Party. This denigration of “others” is also right out of Hitler’s playbook, which we had to endure with the other guy and his complicit enablers. And even with him out of power, the Repugnant Party continues the same lies.
However, if we were honest with ourselves we could end the Drug Cartels in Latin America in a day. MAKE ALL DRUGS LEGAL. IT HAS ALREADY BEEN PROVEN EFFECTIVE. The proof is in The Great Experiment that failed miserably in the U.S. when we made the drug Alcohol illegal, which gave us organized crime to supply it at inflated profit. Heroin & Cocaine are no more dangerous or addictive drugs than Alcohol. Marijuana should never have been illegal, especially compared to tobacco. But too many ppl in the U.S. buy the lie and the Cartels get so wealthy they can defy the military in some nations.
Oh and while I am ranting on STUPIDITY. You cannot save daylight. All you can do is upset everyone’s biorhythm twice a year by moving the artificial construct of “time” forcing everything off by an hour. That too has been quantified in more accidents, heart attacks and other stresses. But no one can stop the stupidity.
Truth.
Daria, I have been to Merida two times, once with my partner Jim in 1975, where we were accosted by the police for suspicion of being druggies (we were Hippies) and then had to leave Mexico shorter than our original visa.
I have that account written and in jpg form, but can't attach those here. You got an e-mail address? Send it to roboyte@att.net and I can send that narrative of my first trip to Merida & thru Mexico to Guatemala. My second trip was with my wife Brenda & stepdaughter who seemed to be the only black ppl in Merida in 1981 by the stares we got. Brenda could handle it but the 13-year-old girl was self-conscious & only wanted to stay in the hotel. But, we dragged her around and to the ruins at Chichen & Uxmal.
Rob, I remember you telling a little about your Mérida adventures several months ago. There are still very few Black people in Mérida, I know 2, both expats, one from the US and one from England. There has been a little bit written recently about Afro-Mexicans, I'll have to dig around to find it but will post when I do. I am a much bigger fan of Uxmal. Chichen has turned into a zoo with so called artisans selling junk within the site.
I will e mail you so you can send your account. Thx.
Well said, Daria; country clubs do not a nation make.
Please correct as needed, but I believe Merida has an intense history of racial and ethnic conflict that still persists. The city survived a harrowing siege during the Caste War, Mexico's largest peasant rebellion between the 1810 Hidalgo Revolt and 1910 Revolution.
W Gabbert, Violence & the Caste War of Yucatán
E Galeano, Memory of Fire, v2
N Reed, The Caste War of Yucatán
TPJ, indeed it is still a problem. I've drafted several long responses but have decided, for the time being, to simply let it go. It's frustrating that people continue to parrot half truths to downright lies. Until people step out of their comfort zones and do more than watch/read news that addresses caste, class and race dishonestly, things will not change significantly. Not here in México, not in the US or anywhere else. Thanks for posting the resources.
A point of reference:The DAILY federal minimum wage for México is $141.70 pesos. That is equal to $7.42 USD per day, (using 19 pesos to a dollar). This means that the minimum a worker can be paid for a full day's work is the equivalent of $7.42. You can bet your bottom dollar there are a good many corporations, businesses, and individuals that pay their employees not a peso more.
Visited Tres Vidas in Acapulco December 15-25, 1970, studied the poverty. Agree. In 1960 visited new Brasilia, Rio, Santos, San Paolo, incredible poverty, BA, Vina del Mar, Santiago, Portillo, Chile, Lima, Panama, fascistic oligarchies, typical contradictions. Was 21 and 31. Met the power structure. Plutocracy. Never returned. Liquidated DELTEC and IBEC in SLL’s estate, May 1978. Columbia is dangerous. Julio Mario Santo Domingo a family friend. Same deal.
Could you give us a bit more here? "Look what The New York Times wants to do with substack." I am sure the Republican politicians hate and fear Heather (and all of us).
I am not convinced that Republicans (voters) are big readers.
https://www.dollarcollapse.com/substack-new-york-times/ (see my comment above)
Bruce Murray, keep your eye on MSM. Substack and HCR threaten.
So this link explains a little more. Scroll down past the video "entry" to find mention of Heather Cox Richardson. https://www.dollarcollapse.com/substack-new-york-times/
Thanks for the link.
Sandy, could you tell me a little more about Matt Tabia?
https://billmoyers.com/guest/matt-taibbi/
I replied. Elsewhere. Matt Taibbi is well known. A decent young man. Has all the right concerns. Is without the tools to accomplish his objectives. He tries.
Many thanks.
I am saddened by the number of my 2nd generation immigrant friends of Latinx and otherwise
-even my relatives in Hawaii, who buy the right-wing media spin on this issue. How soon we forget these folks were many of us, once upon a time. Why isn't the counter message of Truth being broadcast daily with as much vigor?
All of us, except native Americans, had immigrants somewhere in our family background. Does anyone remember the faux45 saying “we’re full” ? America has been and hopefully always will be, a multicultural melting pot.
We've lived in 10 states from the east coast to west coast, and 2 years in London, UK (paper industry) - raised our kids mostly in MN & ME, and retired a couple years ago in N. VA (Totally relieved to have the Biden’s in the WH down the road).
I'm no scholar but, I think of myself as a life-long learner & educator. I heard a great sermon many years ago that change my perspective on the term "melting pot". I prefer to recognize, celebrate and learn from the amazing diversity in our country. So, I like to think of us as a colorful tossed salad - many unique, colorful ingredients that together create something colorful, nutritious, delicious, and amazing. Are there other, metaphors that are better than a melting pot?
How many people will celebrate their Irish heritage this week?
The immigration issue is a mess and will take time to correct, and I have faith in this new diverse administration!
Utah Phillips used to say that the U.S. was indeed a melting pot, wherein the scum rises to the top and those on the bottom get burned. Sounds about right to me. Roland, if you read this, I live in Seattle (born in Idaho, raised in Cali, but have been in WA for 36 years).
Reid, live across the Sound from you. When to school high school/college in California, travelled for 28 years, retired in WA. Been here for 20 years this summer. Love the place!
It really is lovely here. When we retired (quite recently), we contemplated moving elsewhere and just couldn't. We would love to be nearer the Oregon coast (Newport is particularly dear to us), but we love Seattle too much. We are hoping The Big One (earthquake, for those of you who don't live here) which is long overdue waits a bit longer to hit, though.
We got here after the last quake in 2006 as I recall. Been through several in my life, in California when I was at Fort Ord, and then Hurricanes while in Georgia and South Carolina. I tend to think more about Mount Rainer blowing it's top like St Helens than the earthquake.
I think if our daughters hadn't relocated here when they did, when we retired, we would have moved to be near them. But, all is good now, though my wife hates the winters.
That's sad - not giving up hope
Yikes.
Thank you Reid 🙏
"A colorful tossed salad" does the trick, Laurie.
Stew might be a good metaphor. The various elements come together to create delicious flavor, but the ingredients can still be identified like carrots, onions, etc. l love stew!
Best comment yet, Laurie!
Every single soul that lives in the Americas North, Central, or South is descendant from immigrants, even the “native “ Americans who’s ancestors got here first. When the Western Europeans got here the continents were populated from north to south. None of us have any more right to be here than anyone else, all of us are among the most fortunate people on the planet 🌎. With the climate changing like it is, and desertification occurring in places that its never happened in human memory, we can expect that with our bountiful water 💦 supply and temperate climate, we will see more and more people that want to come here and raise their families. I have travelled all over this country and I can tell you that we have plenty of room. If you eat, unless you grow it yourself, it has been handled by migrant workers, that is a fact. My experience with migrant labor has been universally positive, they are good people that work hard and want to provide for their families, just like the rest of us, demonizing them is the height of ignorance. If you don’t want migrant workers here than you better learn how to farm, build your own home, and clean 🧼 it.
Bountiful water? Tell that to California, the Plaines States and to the Colorado River that nolonger reaches the Gulf of California. This is a major problem for maintaining the current urban population of LA etc nevermind increasing it. You can't have this and increased intensive farm production too.
My town is slated to "develop" to a population of 50K. There are about 10K now. There is no way this county can sustain that many people. We need to stop making so many new people, take in migrants and refugees, because they are coming.
The article below made a deep dent in my awareness years ago...the water wars
Our roofs should be very busy with cisterns, solar panels, wind turbines...
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/the-coming-global-water-crisis/256896/
As a nation, we do have bountiful water, just not everywhere. The southwest was historically dry. I lived in LA for 10 years and I’m well aware of the waste that occurs there with regard to the water supply, better water management could improve that dramatically. As to population density I think that will self level over time, as much as I loved living in Southern California, I no longer live there today.
One of the key strategic worries of the canadians is that THEY have bountiful water but wish to keep it where it is and not be "obliged" to ship it south.
That certainly was the fear being taught in the 60s at the University I attended in western Canada. The suggestion was that there were secret plans afoot to move water from Canada to the SW USA through the "Great Rocky Mountain Trench". Dams, it was suggested, were being strategically placed along this trench to support that plan.
It's been discussed here in Washington State as well.
Hear, hear! A continuing problem in California was have the water for irrigation being syphoned off to support the LA area. My father-in-law was a rancher that grew peaches, almonds, and walnuts. He'd complain every year about the diversion and the taxpayers having to pay for it versus the rate payers who ultimately got the water. (In full disclosure, not sure if that part of the complaint was valid, but wouldn't be surprised.)
Some Native Americans too but 15 to 40000 years ago if one accepts the theory of their Siberian origins particularly concerned apparently are the Dene peoples that include amongst others the Navajo.
There were other ancient migrations, not just the commonly known Siberian one. Migrations up from the Columbian region through Central America and into the Southwest. For an excellent review see Graham Hancock "America Before". This back and forth migration has been going on for thousands of years. Mostly driven by climate changes (is that PC?) but now political instability in Central America. Obama had it right. Go to the root cause and the source of what's driving it. Rant off.
For the neophite there is also Charles Mann's 1491. The last thing i read on the subject was on "gene/dna" research in archeological finds of human remains which both predate any finds in Europe and bear no relation to possible Asian origins. This was at a site in the Amazon Basin.
Charles Mann is an outstanding popularizer of history and archeology. As a journalist, he is prone to a journalistic habit: interviewing authors instead of reading their books. But 1491 and 1493 are well-written and quite accurate.
Excellent resource. Ordered.
Yep, exactly. It is a fascinating thread to follow. More questions than answers. But the DNA evidence is the strongest. I got going down this trail after having my DNA sequenced. Very mysterious findings I'm still tracking.
Linguistic evidence of the early Americas is another revelation in the last c.40 years. Though he is very controversial among "Americanist" linguists, Joseph Greenberg is generally convincing to my mind. He began his career as an Africanist (that's how I encountered him) with equally controversial theories about language classification there. The experts resented him as an outsider, resisting those ideas which are now orthodoxy; the same may happen with his American studies.
Greenberg posited that there were only three distinct language families in all the Western Hemisphere: Eskimo–Aleut, Na–Dene and Amerind (first and by far the largest). The main implication is that each family grouping was evidence of three successive migrations from Siberia to North America and then present distributions. That's very big history to me.
<> J Greenberg, Language in the Americas
____, The Languages of Africa (These are NOT books for reading)
<> Current Anthropology 1987 (summary w/ critiques)
OK, Time for a break from LFAA for a couple of hours.
This group is driving my reading these days - so many good suggestions.
Personally, although it's surely not good that conditions at home are so terrible that they would make the trip, I think it's going to be very, very good for this country to have immigrants coming in again. It always has been.
Failed45 promoted the lie that pushing everyone non white either down or out would make life better for all the people distraught by the degradation of their lives of the last 40 years. It's like that cartoon of three caricatured figures - rich white industrialist, working white man, working black man - at a table, each with a plate. The black man's plate is empty. The white man has one cookie. The rich white man, his plate piled with cookies, is saying to the poor one, "He (the black man) wants your cookie."
Studies of the economic impact of the influx of Asian immigrants into California suggest a 4% improvement in GNP with a lag of 4 years .
Gigi, I remember the first time I heard/learned the term "melting pot" with regard to the US of A I felt so proud. And except for our shameful treatment of the indigenous peoples of the land, I still do feel proud.
Melting pot or salad bowl: this is a fun question I sometimes posed to my students. Which is the most apt metaphor? Melting requires assimilation; a salad combines a lot of things that remain distinct but all add to yumminess. It was always a lively discussion.
Ooh, gimme that thar bowl of colorful tossed salad!
How about alchemy? Turning base Republicans into gold.
Many studies of successive generations after immigration suggest that the first generation works hard to survive and integrate and keeps alive memories of ethnic and geographic origins, the second generation is "American to the core" and succeeds "in the American way while the third generation tries to find out more about their origins as the finances are a little less of a worry and something a little more "spiritual" or cultural is needed in their identity.
Thanks for putting the facts together. I’ve been hearing some questionable things from a friend. As I dug deeper into it I found out she got the information from Newsmax & Fox! I’m so disappointed in finding out she believes the misinformation.
Misinformation filters down to all of us from time to time.
Yes it does. That’s why I like to fact check things I hear and question. Even after I sent her facts, she still went with “alternative facts!”
The words alternate facts to me means at the least pernicious the spin one can put on a narrative but FG used those words as giving permission for everyday bald face lying. And he got to do it everyday of his term. And the pies especially thru Twitter seeped into so many peoples’
Lives.
Seems like at a bare minimum, Fox should not be able to use the term, "News", unless they are producing a program that is based on facts. The rest of their programming should have some other title so that those watching understand it is opinion or something that is promotion for partisan sake.
FOX agrees with you whenever they’re being sued. They don’t claim to be news. They even removed “Fair & Balanced” from their programs.
The likes of Cruz and Abbott make me cringe. Neither able to take responsibility for anything. Abbott blaming immigrants on increased Covid numbers, is like tRump blaming China for the virus. Such blatant xenophobia. And Cruz has taken a top place in my list of most deplorable of the crew of deplorables.
It’s worse. The virus actually did start in China. The 1918 pandemic started in Kansas. Immigrants are actually lowering the rate of covid, when not jammed together by ICE, just as immigrants lower the crime rate because they commit fewer crimes. Abbot is desperate to distract attention from his massive power grid failure.
I know the Virus started in China, but tRump blames the rapid spread here rather than acknowledging his own ineptitude in handling the situation. And, Abbott is like tRump, unable to accept any responsibility for his ineptitude. Blame the cold snap on windmills. Blame the rise in all variants of Covid on immigrants. What next.....?
45 was worse than inept, he was malicious. He actively discouraged public health measures. He interfered with hospitals getting PPE. He held super-spreader events.
Abbott is a 21C Don Quixote tilting at windmills. He'll have no more success than the original Don Q.
David here, also in MA: One of the very best ways to slow transmission in a pandemic is to shut the borders. It's not helping us to be letting infected immigrants into our country. Biden, who I otherwise think is terrific, got us into this mess by saying essentially he wasn't going to deport anyone.
And, it's important to realize that the flow of low/no-skilled immigrants has put millions of American workers out of work and caused their wages to stagnate and tank. A generation ago, meat packers, for example, got a good union wage, north of $20/hr. Now they make barely over minimum, laboring under atrocious conditions.
Whenever there's an oversupply of a resource, in this case low/no-skilled workers, the value of that resource drops. This is Econ 101.
https://americancompass.org/the-commons/worker-power-loose-borders-pick-one/
I'd be willing to bet that infected immigrants have far less to do with virus transmission in the US than irresponsible US citizens moving inter and/or intra state and internationally.
I'd also posit that meatpacking consolidation and automation had a far greater impact than did immigrant labor. It's convenient and easy to blame the other.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41108/18011_aer785_1_.pdf%3Fv%3D0&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjIyJjr-7HvAhVmm-AKHRpoDYMQFjAMegQIChAB&usg=AOvVaw0jWi7bMsCEA8bo69tLw72A
You're probably right about infected immigrants. But COVID-19 is enough of a problem without our importing more of it.
The flood of immigration since legal immigration was doubled to 1 million annually in the early '90s has had the same effect on a lot of job categories, many of which cannot be automated, such as hospitality and construction. I'm not blaming immigrants. I blame Congress for enabling ***too much*** immigration, and the Feds for not enforcing our laws, as well as states with sanctuary laws and drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants and other laws that enable illegal immigration.
You might find this Nicholas Kristof column enlightening. (But bear in mind that he's wrong about any need for tech workers from abroad--with them, its the same phenomenon of companies importing them for cheap labor, and forcing fired American workers to train their replacements, and much unemployment among US tech workers.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/opinion/compassion-that-hurts.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html
One must always be careful when attributing causal relationships when you see two elements seemimg to move in step so to speak. Have you checked the nationality and origins of the meat packing workers for instance. . Econ 101 would suggest as you say that too much of one input might reduce its price but it can also induce an increase in demand that absorbs the surplus as there was latent demand out there that was not being satisfied. The same was said of Amazon but they tend to pay well and raise the level of local wages by emulation and reaction.
It's well known that the pay of meat packers has tanked over the last generation, and whereas meat packers used to be mostly American, they're mostly immigrant now. Also, this same phenomenon exists in all the low/no-skilled jobs and trades. Construction. Hospitality. etc. Corporations have aided and abetted these changes. Tom Tancredo (R-Co), in the '90s and '00s was the primary exponent of reducing immigration. He told me that a couple of fast food execs spent an hour with him trying to buy him off the issue (keep quiet about immigration and we'll keep your coffers full). Big biz GOPers have been pushing for more immigration for at least 35 years--for the cheap labor. Zuckerberg's Fwd.US' raison d'etre is to bring cheap tech workers from abroad so companies don't have to spend as much money. Unemployment among American tech workers due to influx of foreigners has been well reported on since the '90s. the NYT didn't report on the issue until 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html
There's also this (and I've got more) https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/trumps-invasion-was-a-corporate-recruitment-drive/596230/?fbclid=IwAR2JdrMMGUzyX8loirtx6bB_oi8xn6Ct1foUQZlsG6Hc7vgFVBeMeRi6Uas
As you rightly point out, it depends on the sector you're looking at and often it is a function of the gutting of the unions and the threat of moving production offshore that has held back or cut the wages.
The second round in Singapore started from the overcrowded, insalubrious immigrant workers' hostels......which where totally forgotten when they took hold of the first round by the neck and effectively throttled the virus. The immigrants of course where below consideration as "members of society".
This plague has made it additionally obvious that we really are all connected to each other, that no one is free of disease unless we all are, that public health is exactly that.
And lying, lying, lying, both of them. It's as if the entire Republican party took a drug supplied by Fox News obligating them to only say things that are untrue or twisted to serve their specific purposes.
Supplied by their Kremlin, and local oligarch, paymasters, more likely. Interesting how when parler lost its server home for its role in the attack on Congress and election results, it found hosting in Russia until Rebecka Mercer stepped in.
I'm not so sure it's that devious. Yes, the Russians love to sow chaos, but I think they are mostly delighted that they don't have to do much except sit back and watch the Rs sow it all by themselves. It's fairly certain that Trump and his family were and are in their pocket, but these others are mostly just following the anti-government white supremacist agenda they have followed since Reagan.
It's both. Quite a few of the sedition circle were paid tens of thousands of dollars to go have dinner in Moscow. I think Flynn got 45K. Ron Johnson was there. We may never know what failed45 and his buddy Vladimir talked about in their fiercely private chats, but I don't think it was their golf scores.
"Fled Ted fled" has a nice Seussian ring to it.
It is important to note, as Dr. Richardson has in today’s letter, that most undocumented immigrants do not arrive in the U.S. By crossing the southern border, they arrive legally most often through an airport. Almost twice as many arrive legally with a visa and simply overstay the visa.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/10/683662691/where-does-illegal-immigration-mostly-occur-heres-what-the-data-tell-us
This pattern has been true for many years. After 2017 the Department of Homeland Security stopped reporting these statistics as they did not fit the Trump administration narrative.
Six years now in Texas Hill Country after 34 years in NYC area and another 34 in Central Florida. Going for another 34 in Texas. I don't know if I will make it but ready to give it a hell of a shot. Also did extensive international travel during my business career with stamps from 92 countries in my passports over the years, most of those visited many times and also many not on most folk’s bucket list.
The Hill Country!
Any plans yet for your fourth 34? QOL potential increases steadily.
Thank you Bruce🙏
Awesome analysis. The most comprehensive view I've seen of the complexity of the situation at the border. Thanks.
Unfortunately, the right wing has successfully pushed the idea that Mexican = bad, and that hordes of immigrants are flooding across our border (left undefended, of course, by the Democrats) to rape our women, rob our houses, and steal our jobs. The idea found a receptive audience among the ignorant and resentful.
Now, with that negative perception deeply entrenched, rooting it out is going to be next to impossible. People will believe what they want to believe, and no amount of evidence countering their beliefs will make the slightest difference.
Correcting the false perception that the right wing has created will be like turning a cruise ship -- it doesn't turn on a dime. And this is a big ship, with powerful engines fueled by ignorance, fear, and -- yes -- stupidity.
Nothing new to the "Mexican = bad"; I heard that growing up in racist Medford, OR in the 1960's.
Can't we just build a wall on Texas's northern border?
This surely made me laugh this morning.
We hear you, Steve, But hopefully it isn't necessary as TX might be turning blue, and not just from the cold. Mayhap another president will proclaim "Tear down this wall!"
Uh, great idea?
Let’s go! Becerra & Biden had better work quickly to develop a plan and communicate a solid, simple message that can filter into all media outlets. The message better be quick and it better be catchy, using all of the creative marketing forces Team Biden can buy. The Extreme Right is just moments away from developing their own snappy anti-immigration rallying cry that will drag those 70-80M voters back for revenge in 2022. Nothing rallies racists like a common enemy - especially a brown one. Otherwise, immigration fears will drown out all other accomplishments to the detriment of the Democrats in 2022. Must act now!
Another rollercoaster subject running thru American history that keeps coming and going; for and against immigration!