#MeSocialMediaBannedToo?

Anyone who pays attention knows of social media shadow banning and related Big Tech interferences with political speech. Major figures like Alex Jones and Milo have suffered its debilitating communication and economic effects.

In congress, some are already contemplating the situation. It's now being reported that Facebook has banned Jones for 30 days. And Twitter's market fortunes are grim.

But down here at the grassroots, where rank-and-file voters live? 

On Thursday, I wrote an American Scene Magazine essay titled "Whose house? Very Fake News CNN's shifting perspectives." 

I set about posting links to it on various pro-Trump Facebook pages to which I subscribe. I often do this with essays, hoping to attract like-minded readers and build audience numbers. 

In the past, no one had issues with this practice. I regularly post essay links to many sympathetic pages, and have succeeded in adding impressively to my daily audience. No complaints of any sort, from anyone.

But this time, after I'd posted the essay link on 10-or-so pages, I received a Facebook notice: "You're temporarily restricted from joining and posting to groups that you do not manage until tomorrow at 7:00 PM. If you think you're seeing this by mistake, please let us know."

I replied that I'd violated no standard, and was perhaps being so penalized in error. I've not received a Facebook reply. And I checked at this Friday, 2:55 PM CST writing. I'm still restricted.

Why?

My post had included the topic tags Trump, Blumenthal, Kaitlin Collins, media, politics, White House, Obama, transgender, immigrant. And it may be that one or more of those had triggered some automatic banning mechanism. 

That would make this political viewpoint discrimination. As I noted earlier, discussion of Facebook and other Big Tech powers (like Twitter and Youtube) manipulating services to clamp down on open discourse has already begun in Congressional hearings. 

There is dangerous potential for Big Tech to arbitrarily set the parameters of popular political dialogue and influence electoral outcomes. Nothing so dramatic as midnight sledgehammers destroying printing presses. Judicious employ of technical skullduggery like "restrictions" and"shadow bannings" can be sufficient to stifle free citizen conversation.

Perhaps my Facebook restriction was an error. Or, I may have joined the ranks of Alex Jones, Milo, Mike Cernovich, and others, albeit in an unpleasant way.


Addendum: I also post American Scene Magazine blog links on Twitter. And, as I include topic tags, I know these messages should reach many more than my own followers. But my blog's traffic record shows nearly no one on that social media venue visits my blog. Hmm.

Whose house?
Very Fake News CNN's shifting perspectives 

Appearing recently on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer to discuss the White House ejection of CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins, Sen. Richard Blumental (D-CT) feigned outrage: "I am shocked and angry, deeply offended," he said. Listless, robotic delivery belied his claimed emotion.

"It is public property," the Stolen Valor limousine grifter continued, softly. "It is not Donald Trump's personal home or place of business."

The somnambulistic Blitzer murmured assent. "I'm obviously pretty angry about it," he faintly monotoned. 

Reporters covering the White House typically shout questions at the conclusion of photo ops. And their questions aren't always relevant to the event. The Trump White House singled Collins out for especial sanction. Better, I say, to simply ignore her as one would a skittish terrier jumping at a screen door. 

Of course, Trump's action may not be based solely on Collins' unladylike pugnacity.

Anyone paying attention these last couple of years knows CNN has a vendetta against the duly elected Commander In Chief. Its addle-pated panelists hiss and shriek vituperations on producers' signals. And Jim Acosta long ago hitched his rickety career wagon to the anti-Trump star.

But not long ago, on 6/25/15, to be precise, CNN sang a different tune on the 'whose house' business.

"Obama shuts down White House heckler: 'You're in my house!,'" by the floundering channel's Kevin Liptak, repeated without criticism the then-president's proprietary claim.

"President Barack Obama is used to hecklers stopping him during speeches -- but he draws the line when the audience interrupts him in his own house," wrote Liptak. 

The CNN writer later noted Obama had the vociferous transgender "undocumented immigrant" hustled from the room. 

I needn't note that the mainstream press would take positions as a motley chorus to cry out and chew much cable news studio scenery had President Trump ordered burly White House security to bum-rush an activist of such description.

Cheap-but-fun shot: CNN is doing so poorly, these days, they make Wolf Blitzer sweep up the place.

Hannity calls it

On Wednesday night's broadcast of his Fox News Channel show, Sean Hannity remarked of the 'destroy Trump media' that if a story doesn't reflect on the president, mainstream reporters seem disinterested.

With Hannity's criticism still echoing in my ears, I checked the MSNBC website. I found these articles -- and only these articles -- listed, in this order, on the page's upper right-hand side:

"House Republicans file for impeachment of Rosenstein."

"Trump National Security Adviser announces Putin summit delayed until 2019."

"Press Sec. Sanders releases statement on dis-inviting CNN reporter."

"Majority believes Russia has compromising info on Trump."

"Former CIA Dir: 'You don't like to hear' Pres. trust Russia over U.S. intel."

"Dilanian: A strong case against Trump if Cohen payments election-related."

"Cohen tape suggests Trump knew about payments to ex-Playmate."

"Michael Avenatti: 'This is one of many tapes.'"

"Sen. Menendez: Access to interpreter in Putin, Trump meeting is crucial."

"The ethics issues surrounding Ivanka Trump."

"Does Cohen tape show Trump knew what was going on?"

"Trump-backed candidate wins GOP runoff in Georgia."

"Rudy Giuliani reacts to Cohen tape and use of 'cash.'"

"Trump criticizes NBC news report and reporter reacts."

Doubtless, MSNBC execs and employees would maintain is not biased. Cue rimshot.

More than 63 million Americans voted for Trump and support him, still. In fact, given dramatic progress on trade, an economic boom, and soaring job numbers, he may have gained even more common citizen backers. 

That's a huge chunk of the population MSNBC is dismissing. Hillary called us 'Deplorables.' Her snooty air surely increased average voters' distaste for her. It is indicative of MSNBC's institutional contempt for us that the channel strives in every minute to smear our ideas and values, and America's duly elected president.

And no, FNC is not the other side of the coin. Numerous of the channel's personalities have, when appropriate, questioned Trump decisions and even voiced particular criticisms of the president. Neil Cavuto, Tucker Carlson, and Hannity himself are among them.

Trump stands tall

President Trump doesn't suffer fools gladly. That goes not only for careerist politicians and press-box ill-doers, but also bombastic heads of state. 

Example: Iran's President Hassan Rouhani. On Sunday, he tweet-threatened America with "the mother of all wars," should President Trump act firmly in America's interests.

That very night, Trump returned Twitter fire:

To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE AND DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!

Once upon a time, like Trump, today, U.S. presidents were strong men, full of resolve. They were feared, internationally. 

And "The Yanks are coming!" meant something. A lot, really. It meant determined and proudly nationalistic swarms of battle-ready warriors pouring off carriers, aching to crush opposing armies under their boots and to bury forever megalomaniacal would-be conquerors who espoused oppressive ideologies.

It's heartening to again have a no-nonsense president standing tall in the White House. No U.S. president whose uppermost dedication is to the welfare of his own people should ever be hesitant to pound foreign aggressors into the Stone Age.

Trump isn't. Don't mess with America.

Goldberg, Darrow, and the hyperbolic appellation 

"Listen, I'm 62 years old. There have been a lot of people in office I haven't agreed with. But I have never, ever, seen anything like this. I've never seen anybody whip up such hate. I've never seen anybody be so dismissive."
- Whoopi Goldberg re Donald Trump, on ABC's The View, July 19.

Goldberg's shouted, spittle-flecked claim that President Trump is the most egregious White House menace she's ever witnessed -- one that imperils the world with mammoth atrocities of a type with those perpetrated by history's cruelest monsters -- immediately reminded me of Clarence Darrow's 1924 Leopold and Loeb summation:

I have never yet tried a case where the state's attorney did not say it was the most cold-blooded, inexcusable, premeditated case that ever occurred.

Darrow was certain of prosecutorial motive:

It adds to the state's attorneys to be connected with a big case. That is one thing. They can say: 'Well, I tried the cold-bloodiest -- is that right? Cold bloodiest? -- murder case that was ever tried, and I convicted them, and they are dead.' Or: 'I tried the worst forgery case that was ever tried, and I won that.'

Just so, Trump's indefatigable attackers, whether mouth-foaming in television studios, tapping with lunatic ferocity on mainstream media keyboards, or slithering about halls of electoral authority, similarly lust after the renown consequential to bringing down this season's Most Wanted.

Darrow:

And then, there is another thing. Of course, I generally try cases before juries, and these adjectives always go well with juries: Bloody, cold-blooded, despicable, cowardly, dastardly -- the whole litany of the state's attorney's office goes well with a jury. The twelve jurors, being good, themselves, think it is a tribute to their virtue if they follow the litany of the state's attorney.

Trump is routinely the target of rhetorical brickbats, not unlike the courtroom ones Darrow cited. But the president's assaulters favor fund-raising letter epithets like "racist," "traitor," "treasonous," "liar," and "worst." 

And what anti-Trump rant would be complete without hyperventilated bellowing about Adolf Hitler, Joe McCarthy, and David Duke -- preferably, all three, if the given Democrat rabble rouser can fit all into a single diatribe.

Not unlike the jurors to whom Darrow alluded, rank-and-file Trump opponents surely feel obliged to take up arms against bigotry, never mind that such charges against the president are without substance and only leveled tactically by reprobate partisans. 

Having joined the imagined crusade against hatred in a high place, the grassroots torch-carriers of meager brains congratulate themselves on their quality of character. But they never realize that by misdirecting their ammunition, they allow genuine bigotry to thrive unmolested.

In recent decades, slurs similar to those recklessly thrown at Trump have been leveraged whenever a conservative Republican has occupied the Oval Office. Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes were also assailed with allusions to and outright evocations of historical evils.

You might think use of those references would eventually be exhausted. But they'll surely spring up anew, when next a conservative challenger to liberalism appears in presidential surroundings.

Clarence Darrow knew outlandish language could be persuasive. Whoopi Goldberg and her ilk count on it being so.

I was wrong about Trump

I've always appreciated President Trump's larger-than-life presence. His swagger, self-assurance, and jaw-jutted refusal to tailor his strapping rhetoric to political correctness's throat-strangling design.

When he appeared with Vladimir Putin at their post-meeting press conference, I yearned to see that Trump -- the overwhelming character who was bolder and louder than anyone, who sucked all the air out of every room he entered. 

Instead, I saw a quieter, even deferential Trump. He seemed subdued. For the first time, he seemed less than his counterpart.

I was disappointed. 

But after I'd given the episode due consideration and listened to his subsequent interviews with Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, I realized I'd been wrong about his press conference performance.

A brash, stentorian manner makes for entertaining rallies. And it can be inspirational. But it is not felicitous in every room.

Strength asserted quietly and cagily governed can, in suitable circumstances, be far more effective than showy exclamations. As a business icon of international capacity, Trump surely has long known that. 

He'd been appropriate to the moment, judicious in his carriage. His awesome mission had been to establish more harmonious relations with Putin and Russia, that world-rending nuclear war might be averted.

He succeeded by keeping his composure and by allowing another to assume spotlight.

Despite Trump's having performed a tremendous service to the cause of world peace, few offered him the thanks he was due. In fact, the airwaves and news-print pages teemed with Deep State bad actors vicious in their roared condemnation of the figure who'd acquitted himself so capably and bettered all of our lots. (A notable exception was Breitbart's Caroline Glick.)

I was reminded of candidate Trump's telling packed arenas of supporters that, when situations called for him to be 'presidential' he would do so, to the point of sedateness.

The meeting with Putin, and the following press conference, had demanded Trump be restrained. 'Presidential.'

He was. He succeeded.

And I was wrong about Trump, of which I'm glad.

He cheers attacks on teens
Meet Jogi Pattisapu, anti-Trump Texas JHS teacher

                                                           Pattisapu Twitter photo

In an earlier American Scene Magazine article, I noted the assault 30 year-old Kino Jimenez made on a MAGA hat-wearing teenager minding his own business in a San Antonio Whataburger.

Jimenez was charged. And he subsequently fled reporters. But while he may be ashamed of his crime, others, bizarrely, broke out in public huzzahs.

Atheist, Liberal, Public School Teacher, son of immigrants; The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me -- I too am not a bit tamed I too am untranslatable #Wakanda

That is how Texas teacher Jogi Pattisapu introduces himself on his now-locked Twitter page. Pattisapu teaches at Anthony Agguire Junior High, in Houston. 

A Gateway Pundit article published today reprinted Twitter posts Pattisapu posted applauding Jimenez's violent, politically motivated assault:

These shitcake kids r the same type to wear MAGA hats to the African American museum. The same douchebag kids who do a Nazi salute in class pictures then claim it was a joke. Fuck Em.

Gateway Pundit reported that another Twitter user asked how Pattisapu could sanction the attack. The hippie educator fired back, adding anti-law enforcement bigotry to his scrofulous presentation:

The same way u support the police when they killed tamir rice. The same way u supported Trump with the racist "Birther" shite for 6 years. The same way u look the other way when your family and friends drop racist stereotypical right wing talking points.

According to the GP coverage, Channelview Independent School District spokeswoman LaKeisha LeBlanc said an investigation of Pattisapu's despicable online activity is underway. The Employee Standards of Conduct notes that disciplinary actions "including termination" are specified for violators.

Mountains and a molehill

"Stephanie Clifford's striptease act at Big Earl's Goldmine last weekend no doubt embarrassed the U.S. president" was how Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu began her July 12 entry. 

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/2018/07/10/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-iowa-big-earls-goldmine-stephanie-clifford-feminism-rekha-basu/770781002/

Basu inflated Cliffords/Stormy Daniels' significance. It's a safe wager our president was neither aware of nor terribly concerned about the tawdry mini-celebrity's small-pond doings that weekend.

While Clifford was prancing for the leering denizens of Sniffers' Row, America's president concerned himself with serious matters. 

Economic policies advocated by the leader of the free world had produced national gains and record employment, including in black and Hispanic communities that can no longer be assumed exclusively Democratic ballot provinces. 

America was again standing tall in the world, both militarily and in its relations with other nations. At home, national sovereignty was again being asserted. 

Also during that weekend, Trump was poised to impact America's judiciary for decades with yet another Supreme Court appointment in only his second year in office. And he was soon to travel to England, where his brash America First mindset would knock stuffy Euro globalists off their pricey pins.

The world was on the edge of its chair. And Clifford was merely dancing in a small, corn-country metropolis.

Puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Familiar smirks and the rot they bespeak

In recent days, both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok have appeared before senate panels. The hearings were convened to explore whether anti-Trump bias had impacted ongoing investigations.

DOJ Rod Rosenstein, during his senate testimony

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok, at Senate hearing

The two were remarkably unsympathetic witnesses, dripping with an arrogance doubtless peculiar to Swamp-system beasts who believe themselves to be without law's reach, and are contemptuous of the common American whose legitimate interests they purportedly safeguard.

Their smirks struck me as familiar. Then I remembered where I'd seen them before. And I recalled two others who'd laughed at justice, confident that they had nothing to fear from an official process.

This photo is of Mississippi Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price and Sheriff Laurence Rainey during a 1964 hearing. Price had delivered civil rights workers James Chaney, Micky Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman to their KKK murderers. The pair enjoyed sympathizers' uncritical support, just as Rosenstein and Strzok received senate Democrats' fierce backing.

Those smirks are the product of confidence that processes are rigged, that loyalists without integrity have corrupted their machinery.

Fakery, fakery, all is fakery

In America, we have three co-equal governmental branches. Peculiar responsibilities for each are specified in the Constitution. Congress makes laws, the Executive enforces them, and the Supreme Court interprets them.

Every schoolchild knows that -- or, at least, did when public schools taught civics. 

But there is no excuse for a sitting US Senator to be ignorant of those branches' set functions.

"Ultimately, the Supreme Court is going to have to make law in areas where we don't have precedent," Sen. Elizabeth Warren told MSNBC's Laurence O'Donnell. He interviewed her following President Trump's nomination to the high court of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Later, Warren addressed the matter of border separation. She said "There's a perfect example, Laurence, the Supreme Court may end up having to make law in this case."

O'Donnell did not correct her misattributing legislative responsibility to the Judicial branch. 

Of course, Warren may have given utterance to her own fancy of what the Supreme Court should do: make laws that advance a partisan agenda at odds with the Constitution. O'Donnell and MSNBC may join her in that.


Addendum: An Iowan, I just called my state's U.S. Sens. Grassley and Ernst, and urged that they support President Trump's nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. To let your senators know of your opinions, call (202) 224-3121

The 'hate speech' never spoken

                                  Kino Jimenez booking photo


Recent reports in Breitbart and Infowars told of 133 attacks on supporters of President Trump. (On Saturday, Breitbart raised the number to 190.) 

Those ranged from restaurant and movie theater harassment of administration officials to sidewalk attacks on regular folks. 

And that number doesn't include daily mainstream media smears of the common man. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, New York Times columnist Charles Blow, and CNN's Don Lemon are but three distasteful representatives.

16 year-old Hunter Richard was sitting with friends in a San Antonio Whataburger. One was wearing an iconic, red-with-white-lettering Make America Great Again cap.

Suddenly, they were set upon by a stranger, 30 year-old Kino Jimenez. He grabbed the cap and threw a drink on the group.

"Fuck the president! You ain't supportin' shit, nigga," Jimenez sneered. "This'll look great in my fuckin' fireplace!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBYdxagqUyQ


The initial online report from local CBS affiliate KENS 5 speculated that Jimenez's attack might have been provoked by racist speech the teens had supposedly uttered. It relied solely on an account offered by an anonymous "witness."

But that KENS 5 page was subsequently edited, and the mysterious, unnamed source's conveniently damning words scissored out.

In an "Editor's note" KENS 5 explained: "An earlier version of this story included quotes from the alleged witness. Those quotes have been removed from this copy due to concerns about the legitimacy of the statements."

(Gateway Pundit on Friday noted the fake charge was repeated uncritically by New York tabloids the Post and Daily News, the online Inquistr, and numerous TV network affiliates. Their handling illustrated mainstream media appetite for 'destroy Trump' narratives.)

Whataburger issued a statement denouncing Jimenez's attack. He was fired by the bar that employed him. The Texas Green Party, of which he was a member, cut ties with him. Donald Trump, Jr sent Hunter Richard a replacement hat autographed by the president.

And Jimenez was charged with felony theft.

ABC affiliate KSAT 12 sought an interview with Jimenez, upon his release on $5000 bond. His features obscured by a tightly pulled hoodie, he attempted to flee the camera. 

He finally agreed to an off-camera interview. But he made no mention of the initially reported 'hate speech.' Instead, he offered a  new excuse -- that to him, the MAGA hat was "like a Ku Klux Klan hood." 

So, from whom did the disappeared 'hate speech' allegation originate? The world may never know.

Hollywood, media, Anita Timeout heft Fake News shovels

On Monday, The Gateway Pundit ran "Nancy Sinatra, Debra Messing, Toure, Soledad O'Brien, David Hogg Among Twitter Lynch Mob Targeting Trump Supporter #RoslynLaLiberte Over Viral Hoax Video With Latino Boy."

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/07/nancy-sinatra-debra-messing-toure-soledad-obrien-david-hogg-among-twitter-lynch-mob-targeting-trump-supporter-roslynlaliberte-over-viral-photo-with-latino-boy/

Surely hungry for any laudatory PR it might accrue them, the celebrities retweeted the false allegation that Trump supporter La Liberte had shouted slurs at 14 year-old Joseph Luevanos during a Simi Valley City Council meeting on Sanctuary Cities.

Others retweeting the counterfeit account included CNN commentator Ana Navarro and online hector Anita Timeout. (More about her, directly.)

The story was soon revealed to be untrue. MSNBC's Joy Reid had also retweeted the falsehood (originally spread on Twitter by a wet-eared activist), but she did later post an admission of error on her social media platforms. And she apologized to La Liberte and Luevanos.

"'It appears I got this wrong. My apologies to Mrs. La Liberte and Joseph," read Reid's Facebook message. 

Now, for me, this is where it gets interesting:

I'd retweeted that Gateway Pundit article just hours after it went up, and prior to Reid's admission of error/apology. I soon got a response from Timeout. (Since three others were included as recipients of her reply, it did not qualify as a private communication.)

Anita Timeout!  🌊‏ @AnitaTimeOut Jul 2

Replying to @DcLarson_ @davidhogg111 and 

Consider the source - according to http://mediabiasfactcheck.com , The Gateway Pundit "is a hard-right website that is not afraid of conspiracy theories and the occasional flirtation with outright white supremacists." The story about the crazy screaming racist is true.

I disregarded the mischaracterization of The Gateway Pundit. But I did look into mediabiasfactcheck.com, upon which Timeout apparently relies and to which she had linked.

No wonder she was so mistaken. 

Mediabiasfactcheck.com describes itself, at least partly, as a satire site. Its "Disclaimer" warns "[W]e make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness or accuracy of opinions/information on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk."

In recognition of Independence Day, I'm presenting this excerpt from my 2017 book That a Man Can Again Stand Up: American spirit vs, sedition during the incipient Trump Revolution (Bromley Street Press).

chapter fourteen

A dream, in focus

"The American Dream is freedom, prosperity, peace -- and liberty and justice for all. That's a big dream. It's not always easy to achieve, but that's the ideal. More than any country in history, we've made gains toward a democracy that is enviable throughout the world. Dreams require perseverance if they are to be realized. Fortunately, we're a hard-working country and people. We're the luckiest people in history, just by the fact that we are Americans."

-- Donald Trump, 3/22/2007 Forbes interview

How to define the America of which Trump spoke so passionately?

Its founding was historic, an inspirational example to people around the world of men daring to stand in defiant renunciation of monarchical tyranny. America has to its credit landmark triumphs: An entrepreneurial economy that cultivated developments benefiting all. Medical technologies that draw global envy. Military might that bows to no one. World defense against the oppressive Nazi and communist ideologies (and, today, that of radical Islamic terrorism). Important strides toward equality for all of its people. And a boldly blazing torch of liberty that stirs men the world over to dream, attempt, and succeed.

Such was the proud legacy left us by our forbears. They crafted a Constitution whose arrangement of governmental authorities and processes, and guarantees of personal liberty not subject to authorities' beneficence, stands yet as a marvel among formal documents.

Like any nation, America has a cultural identity. Unlike many other nations, though, America's is a composite of influences. Some suggest that diversity is our strength. It is not. Our country's true strength is articulated in the motto E Pluribus Unum. From many, one. It is when Americans of all backgrounds unite in recognition of shared national interests that we are truly formidable.

The Donald Trump-Mike Pence campaign gave voice to an all-American sense of citizens bonded together by common cause perhaps unseen since the WWII era. During the incipient Trump Revolution, it was again thought admirable to be unashamedly patriotic. 

And the Trump Revolution rekindled something many may have forgotten: That it's OK to believe in something bigger than yourself. A spirit with roots in yesterday, a reawakened resolve today, and confidence that tomorrow holds the potential for wonders that we can, as a free nation, make real. 

We're a unified people whose courage, wisdom, inventiveness, and indomitable independent nature mark us as exceptional.

It may be that President Donald Trump's resurrection of that truth in American hearts will go down in history as his finest accomplishment. 

But then, only time will tell. 

"Together, we will make America strong, again. We will make America wealthy, again. We will make America proud, again. We will make America safe, again. And yes, together, we will make America great, again!  God bless you."
- President Donald Trump, 1/20/2017 Inaugural address

end 

Open borders through the back door

"Americans cannot allow Trump or his administration to use or abuse children" was a 7/2 Des Moines Register Iowa View essay by Connie Ryan, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/iowa-view/2018/06/21/americans-cannot-allow-trump-administration-use-abuse-children/722302002/

Children's welfare is a weighty matter. It concerns people of all political persuasions. But national sovereignty is also a legitimate interest, and we abandon related laws at our peril.

Through much of her essay, Ryan argued that real Americans, by virtue of our citizenship and electoral reasoning, are complicit in unspeakable monstrousness. That's like blaming homeowners for burglaries. 

"Only those lacking morals and a sense of decency would argue it is OK to harm children or use them as pawns to advance a political agenda," she wrote, early on. 

She then did precisely that, herself.

The illegal immigration activist railed against President Trump's "agenda of detention, deportation, and expedited criminal prosecution..." She also demanded that "the administration's policy be rescinded in full." (That policy includes law enforcement and legitimate judicial involvement.) And that entire families be allowed to "remain together outside the criminal justice system as they await a decision on asylum."

Open borders by any other name...

Ryan did accurately stress that we are in a moment of national character evaluation. But her insistence that immigration laws be so diluted as to be ineffective, making easy the path to globalism, and the southern border be erased is exactly opposite the necessary course.

Instead, statutes should be reinforced, borders underscored, citizenship made definite, migration actively discouraged, and the Trump Wall built. 

We owe those not only to Americans who went before and built this nation to be distinct, strong, safe, and prosperous, but to future generations who will enjoy its benefits and derive comfort from the patriotism we today fight to uphold.