Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Who doesn’t get to come? And what’s the cap of people? 10, 20, 30 million? 100 million?

 

Those goal posts were always going to move. They were equipped with wheels and a motor from the very beginning.

 

I said respect them. The nitty gritty of immigration policy doesn’t negate that some empathy is owed.

 

Respect and $5 will get you a Starbucks latte.

Who comes in? Who doesn’t? The people fleeing bad situations want to live in America, period.

(I appreciate your sentiment. Really. But immigration is a truly bottom line issue and we ignore it.)

 

Taking children out of cages and reuniting them with parents and taking asylum claims seriously would be nice starts but that requires a basic level of empathy that is severely lacking and is playing out in how some people are treating covid. But thank you for proving my point about fuck you I got mine.

 

There's nothing the government can do to make this palatable to those people. When literally 27 years of right-wing orthodoxy portrays government as not only incompetent, but malevolently conspiring against the public in some cases on a spiritual level, there's no walking that back.

 

Funny, I thought This "bottom line" might come into play.
Luke 10:30-37:

In reply Jesus said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

 

This is a tough one for Trumpists. But if they can boo their lord and savior as they did in an Alabama cow pasture on Saturday night, I suppose they can boo the guy from the Bible.

 

That parable is about Jesus, incidentally.

Beyond that, this: Again, who can’t come? How many can come? 20, 30, 100 million? If there is no limit, and your citation for that is the parable of the Good Samaritan, fine with me. Is that your answer?

 

So you can have respect for a certain number but will have zero for everyone else because you reached a quota?

I brought it up not as a debate on immigration but to point out that the most vulnerable among us get shit on for the very fact they are vulnerable.

A covid example to the point: Gregg Abbott orders law enforcement to pull over any car that looks to be carrying immigrants because they are the reason for the spread of the Delta Variant. Let’s ignore the obscene lack of proof for a minute and look at what the order is. Abbott claims immigrants are responsible for the spread. So what actions other than pulling the over is he taking? Obviously you can’t pull over every one so he needs to protect Texans from Delta from those police can’t catch. Well he banned mask mandates. He threatens schools that try to implement mandates. He declared Texas open for business and eliminates gathering restrictions. He doesn’t have vaccine mandates. No shelter in place as hospitals get overwhelmed.

So what is the point of pulling over immigrants? To protect people from Covid? Well he doesn’t want to take actions to protect them, so that can’t be it. Or maybe it’s the fact they are immigrants from a country of nonwhites who are desperate to be here and are not likely to fight back. They are getting scapegoated for what? They aren’t responsible for the covid spread.

This is what I’m talking about. Immigration quotas, who can come, who cannot, who gets deported and who doesn’t, that’s immaterial. This is the lack of respect and empathy. When immigrants ask for a little, they get blamed for something that is clearly not their fault.

 

It’s pretty material to the immigrants fleeing bad situations. Respect and empathy is for your good feeling - not their well-being.

 

The US will not get as many as 5% of the refugees fleeing Afghanistan. Hell, we begrudge admitting the ones who risked their lives by working with our soldiers there, even knowing that they are on kill lists if the Taliban catches them.