Author: Kent

Past Publsher/CEO of the old Kokomo Tribune and Kokomo Dispatch. As one of a newspaper family who owned a 34,000 daily newspaper in the heart of the Midwest for 85 years, I have a deep belief in a strong “Fourth Estate”, the press. Without a diligent, truthful, and assertive free press, the power would be taken from the people. People have the absolute right to know. After earning a degree in Industrial Management from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue, I spent over 20 years in newspaper management with several as publisher. I also hold three graduate science degrees including a Ph.D.. I have a passionate interest in science, the environment, government, and politics. I have very little tolerance for ignorance and stupidity.
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Honduran Mob

A Honduran mob is marching our way waving their fists and the Honduran flag. They intend to swarm through our borders illegally. They blew through Mexican forces attempting to stop them. Their numbers have swollen from 2000 to 7000.

Virtue signaling Progressives and Democrats clamor these are people looking for work and a better life. America is a wealthy country with jobs to spare, they declare. They tell us to open our hearts and borders. They indignantly remind us—America is a land of immigrants.

Who are we to believe? Border patrol agents tell us our capacity to process illegal aliens is beyond capacity and an average of 6000 illegals are caught every day. The courts are swamped and backed up. Our laws demand illegals be put in ankle bracelets and given a court date to adjudicate their claims. Once released, illegals cut off their ankle bracelets and disappear into our country. They don’t show up for court.

Should we believe the Nicaraguan woman who followed the rules to gain entrance to our country? She warns, “This is an invasion of our country. We don’t know who these people are. They aren’t carrying American flags. They are carrying Honduran flags. These people say they want jobs. They only want free benefits. We can’t allow this to happen.”

Do we believe our own eyes? When stopped on the bridge into Mexico, many retreated to the shores of the river. Main Stream Media told us they made the rafts we saw them riding across the river. How often have you seen large inner tubes and well cut boards lying around on riverbanks? Clearly these were paid for and made by those seeking to fund this mob. Videos show person after person being handed cash. Main Stream Media describes this mob as families seeking a better life. Look again. It is a sea of young males with a few women and children interspersed here and there. Corruption and skullduggery are surely afoot—but paid for by whom?

This nonsense HAS to stop. Our country admits more legal immigrants than any country in the world. Illegal aliens don’t contribute to the health and growth of our nation. They burden the benefit system paid for by our tax dollars and intended to help needy Americans. There’s no magic money tree to fund the growing costs of illegals.

It is time to stop listening to those who tell us we can afford all these illegals because we are a wealthy nation. The truth is we are teetering under the weight of a $21.5 trillion dollar debt and an unknown amount of unfunded mandates. Don’t forget it was Obama who doubled that debt.

The fault for our insane immigration policies lies at the feet of Congress. President Trump offered to help the Dreamers in exchange for funds to build the Wall. The “compassionate” Democrats said no. Speaker Ryan shamefully put three billion dollars into this year’s budget and next to build the Wall—far short of the 25 billion needed. Congress has failed to pass legislation ending chain migration, lottery migration, and catch and release. It refuses to fund the Wall. It refuses to mandate immediate turn back of any illegal aliens caught without need for court action.

President Trump inherited an economy so anemic most Americans needed multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet. We now have a surplus of jobs. We also have a long line of people waiting to immigrate legally. We must not surrender those jobs to the uneducated, unskilled, non-English speaking mob threatening our border.

President Trump has declared he will close our southern border and use regular military forces to stop this mob, if necessary. Congress should call an emergency session to fix our broken immigration laws. If we fail to stop this hoard, many more will follow and the sovereignty of the United States will be lost forever.

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Realization

As I approach the end of my 80th year of living, I came to a realization. For most of my biological offspring, I am no more than a sperm donor rather than the father that loved, nourished, protected, and provided for them. This dawned on me when spending time with family history. I have piles of records about my ancestors (and theirs) and personal possessions handed down that I deeply treasure.

In reality, my branch of the “Blacklidge” family tree has ended with me. One offspring earlier returned both a book about family genealogy and the beautiful roll top desk that was his great grandfather’s — the book now is in the public library and the desk is treasured by his uncle. Another was dishonest in a family business partnership with me. All have made the choice of non-acceptance of my choice of divorce from their mother nearly 40 years ago. Yet, two of them in their lives chose divorce; one multiple times. My decision 40 years ago was to live my life with a partner whom I love and for whom I am thankful and feel blessed every day.

All chose to blame me and their step-mother of over 32 years now for “family” disruption. None lived the marital relationship between their mother and me which began when I was only 19 — hardly a mature adult but rather a very confused and depressed young male. All have chosen to side solely with their mother and her stories.

When their mother was living 2,000 miles away in California, things were different. A beginning was made toward a blended, loving family — that is what we wanted. We wanted to include all, including her, if all behaved as respectful, mature, caring, loving adults. But when she returned to Indiana, that was not to be. Chosen sides were set in concrete never to change with walls always up and relationships severed. The stream of insults and affronts never ended.

As a result, the loss and sorrow has been great. It is not only tragic to lose connection with one’s own bio offspring, but even worse to not be a part of sharing the lives of grandchildren. The grandchildren will never know the loss, not of their choosing, they have suffered. Family ties were irreparably severed. It is like a death.

For those who are facing a divorce, particularly for any offspring, I offer some thoughts. Consider carefully before taking one side or another. Consider that you, with certainty, do not know the extent and details of a marital relationship between any two other people. Consider that stories told may well be tainted, untrue, fabricated, self-serving or incomplete. Consider that you have not walked in the shoes of another….. ever. Consider that every truth may yet to be told.

A thought comes to me: “Judge not, lest ye be judged”.

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Women Respected?

Went to Starbucks this afternoon to purchase a couple of fraps. This is a treat we enjoy every once in a while. When walking in the door, I noticed a couple sitting at a table; both on computers. Both appeared to be pretty young, like in their 20’s or 30’s. The male was dressed in typical American style; informal, jeans, etc.. He had a neatly trimmed beard. Nothing unusual.

On the other hand, the female was covered from head to foot with draped cloth. She had only her eyes and hands showing. I admit I was a bit startled to see this in our town. I couldn’t call her dress a burka but it may as well have been. My reaction: not good.

In fact, I wanted to head over to the male and say this was disgusting. Muslim women are very frequently treated as chattel, not equal to their male companions. To me, this is degrading, demeaning, and a form of slavery of women. I notice this, too, when ever seeing on television a picture of prayer time in a mosque. No women present, only “superior to thou” men. Ridiculous. It seems to me that many sects of the Muslim faith are about 2,000 years behind times. They live in the Middle Ages with practices common to that era.

I have another picture burned into my memory. It was of a man, woman, and children walking down a sidewalk in Dearborn, Michigan. The man was about 10 steps ahead of the rest of the family; too good or superior to walk side-by-side with his wife and children. Again, disgusting.

I have to admit I have much concern about any increase in Islam believers in the United States. There are far too many that would impose Sharia law rather than accept the Constitution of the United States as the ultimate law authority in our country. I believe Sharia law is already operating behind closed doors in some communities.

The true feminists of the US need to take a real hard look at what is going on here. Disrespected women. No assimilation to USA values, customs, and norms. Does this make me “Islamophobic”? Are my concerns unwarranted? You decide.

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Letter from a German Nurse

[A Nurse in Germany sends a message to the world. Read this! President Trump is trying to take care of America.]

Nurse says…

Yesterday, at the hospital, we had a meeting about how the situation here and at other Munich hospitals is unsustainable. Clinics cannot handle the number of migrant medical emergencies, so they are starting to send everything to the main hospitals.

Many Muslims are refusing treatment by female staff, and we women are now refusing to go among those migrants! Relations between staff and migrants are going from bad to worse. Since last weekend, migrants going to the hospitals must be accompanied by police with K-9 units.

Many migrants have AIDS, syphilis, open TB and many exotic diseases that we in Europe do not know how to treat.

If they receive a prescription to the pharmacy, they suddenly learn they have to pay with cash. This leads to unbelievable outbursts, especially when it is about drugs for the children. They abandon the children with pharmacy staff with the words: “So, cure them here yourselves!” So the police are not just guarding the clinics and hospitals, but also the large pharmacies.

We ask openly where are all those who welcomed the migrants in front of TV cameras with signs at train stations? Yes, for now, the border has been closed, but a million of them are already here and we will definitely not be able to get rid of them.

Until now, the number of unemployed in Germany was 2.2 million. Not it will be at least 3.5 million. Most of these people are completely unemployable. Only a small minimum of them have any education. What is more, their women usually do not work at all. I estimate that one in ten is pregnant. Hundreds of thousands of them have brought along infants and little kids under six, many emaciated and very needy. If this continues and Germany re-opens its borders, I am going home to the Czech Republic. Nobody can keep me here in this situation, not even for double the salary back home. I came to Germany to work, not to Africa or the Middle East!
Even the professor who heads our department told us how sad it makes him to see the cleaning woman, who has cleaned every day for years for 800 Euro’s and then meets crowds of young men in the hallways who just wait with their hands outstretched, wanting everything for free, and when they don’t get it they throw a fit.

I really don’t need this! But I am afraid that if I return home, at some point it will be the same in the Czech Republic. If the Germans, with their systems, cannot handle this, then guaranteed back home will be total chaos…

You — who have not come in contact with these people have absolutely no idea what kind of badly behaved desperadoes these people are, and how Muslims act superior to our staff, regarding their religious accommodation.
For now, the local hospital staff have not come down with the diseases these people brought here, but with so many hundreds of patients every day of this is just a question of time. In a hospital near the Rhine, migrants attacked the staff with knives after they had handed over an 8-month-old on the brink of death, who they’d dragged across half of Europe for three months. The child died two days later, despite having received top care at one of the best pediatric clinics in Germany. The pediatric physician had to undergo surgery and the two nurses are recovering in the ICU. Nobody was punished.

The local press is forbidden to write about it, so we can only inform you through email. What would have happened to a German if he had stabbed the doctor and nurses with a knife? Or if he had flung his own syphilis-infected urine into a nurses face and so threatened her with infection? At a minimum he would have gone straight to jail and later to court. With these people so far, nothing has happened.

And so I ask: Where are all those greeters and receivers from the train stations? Sitting pretty at home, enjoying their uncomplicated, safe lives. If it were up to me, I would round up all those greeters and bring them here first to our hospitals emergency ward as attendants! Then in to one of the buildings housing the migrants, so they can really look after them themselves, without armed police and police dogs, who sadly today are in every hospital here in Bavaria.

[Coming our way?????]

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WHAT????

“All Americans…. not only the states most heavily affected but in every place in this country… are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants; the public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That’s why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. In the budget I will present to you, we will try to do more to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes, to better identify illegal aliens in the work place as recommended by the Commission headed by former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws.” — President William Clinton

“Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we’re also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws and I believe that they must be held accountable; especially those who may be dangerous. When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken immigration system. And I began by doing what I could to secure our borders. But today, our immigration system is broken. And everybody knows it. There are actions I have the legal authority to take as President. Tonight, I’m announcing those actions. We’ll build on our progress at the border with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so that they can stem the flow of illegal crossings and speed the return of those who do cross over. If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up. We expect people who live in this country to play by the rules. We expect those who cut the line will not be unfairly rewarded. The actions I’m taking are not only lawful; they’re the kinds actions taken by every single Republican President and every single Democratic President for the past half century. And to those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, question my authority, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: PASS A BILL!” — President Barack Obama

The hypocrisy about immigration rampant in the Democrat party and in the news media is disgusting. President Donald Trump’s goal is to make America safe and make us a nation of laws. It is to stop illegal immigration in its tracks. It is to pressure Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to act on the pillars of Trump immigration reform: end chain migration, end the immigration lottery, build the Wall, require E-Verify and base immigration on merit. It is to quickly process those who cross the border illegally and return them to their county of origin. It is to catch and remove illegal alien criminals. Very simple, very safe, and very American.

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Immigration Revisited

The citizens of the United States have a right to be angry. The laws about immigration passed by earlier Congresses are idiotic and self defeating. What were they thinking or could it be they were politically self serving? The worst are those that established chain migration where one immigrant could bring into our country dozens of relatives we know virtually nothing about and the one that established the practice of immigration by lottery. Both are insane. As President Trump has said, countries don’t put their best into the lottery system and in chain migration who knows who, including criminals and terrorists, are allowed in.

Now the big debate is about minors: unaccompanied “children” and those brought in illegally by parents. The solution to the “family” (i.e. father and/or mother with children) is very easy. Turn them around 180 degrees at the border and send them back to the country from which they came, immediately. Those minors that come alone need to be rounded up, cleaned up, fed, clothed, and then taken back to the country from which they came. No exceptions to those who cross the border illegally.

The separation of “children” from illegal alien parents has been a policy for many years. President Obama tried to hide the problem. And think about it, US citizens are separated from their children if arrested for a crime. Crossing the US border without authorization is a crime. Big surprise.

The so-called asylum laws must be revised. Potential immigrants that follow the law and show up at legal ports of entry should not be given asylum just because the country of origin is a mess. Most such countries are over populated, have corrupt governments, and are poor. The United States of America cannot be the Shanghai La for the world. Take a look at what has happened to the European countries that opened wide the door to immigration from countries in the Middle East and Africa. They have been transformed in most negative ways. Cultures are in the process of being lost. Crime rates are up. Enclaves of particularly Muslim immigrants have formed that even law enforcement is afraid to visit. If allowed, our country will experience the same only from hordes of immigrants from Central America and Mexico along with those who sneak in from other parts of the world.

The truth is the USA does not “need” more immigrants. Our population needs to stabilized at present levels to be sustainable for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. This is not 200 years ago when the country offered wide open spaces and opportunities, assuming you have total disregard for what was done to the Native Americans. Those times have long passed.

Time to close the door. Build the wall and be very selective about who comes into the United States by whatever means, particularly to live permanently. Merit based immigration is the only answer and then only as a real need arises.

The political posturing must stop. The wants of those who demand open borders have to be blocked. Those include the multi-national corporations who want a constant supply of cheap labor. Those include sectors of corporate/industrial agriculture and construction as well. And they include the Democrats who want to promote a socialist country.

Congress has a chance to clean up the mess earlier Congresses created. Will they have the stature to do so. We shall see soon.

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To Mitch & Paul

3-23-2018
Senator Mitch McConnell
Representative Paul Ryan

Sen. McConnell and Rep. Paul Ryan:

I hate to say this but you both and the Republican held Senate and House are a damned disgrace. I say this as a very angry life long and old Republican. What you did with the 2300+ page Omnibus bill was to hold the President hostage and screw the taxpayers of this country. The President and all of us in fly-over country absolutely wanted the military to be properly funded. However, we wanted, too, for the Wall to be properly funded and DACA to be dealt with including stopping chain migration and the Visa lottery, and wanted lowering legal immigration numbers. You have let the Democrats  and RINOs run Congress. You, obviously, are among them. Shame, shame on you.

I am placing a bet today that Congress will be controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer after the coming November election. Too many Republicans will simply stay home they are so disgusted with the way you have performed since November 2016 when the President carried the day for most of you.

Get off of your asses! You really do not know how angry people are. All Congressional incumbents need to be defeated except for the Freedom Caucus members and other likeminded Representatives and Senators.
In Indiana, we are going to do everything we can to see that Rep. Todd Rokita is defeated in his run for the US Senate. He represents the Establishment (SWAMP) just like the two of you do. In one of his current ads, among other things he claims he will push for term limits. We know that is simply BULL.

We do not understand the corruption in Washington DC. On top of the screwing up by the Republican Congress, we have an Attorney General that has totally given in to the other side. He has no backbone to do the right thing with Rosenstein, Mueller, and all the rest of the law breakers in or formerly with the Justice Department, State Department, and FBI. He has not pushed for pursuit of justice for any of the Clinton cadre.  More Republican disgrace. Another independent Special Counsel is needed badly. Hopefully it would be one from outside of Washington DC where it appears the majority there are corrupt.

People are angry. They will not forget.
Regards,
Kent H Blacklidge
Past Publisher/ The Kokomo Tribune

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Inward

It is time for the world’s Good Samaritan and benefactor to look after its own. The heartfelt and generous acts of the people of the United States of America to save the world have turned to greed and expectations of forever handouts.

The civilized world was nearly destroyed by World War II. Europe and Japan were devastated. Cities were in ruin. Factories bombed out. Millions of lives lost. The United States escaped physical damage to its homeland, but suffered the loss of tens of thousands of its most valued possession: its people, its warriors. But what happened then? The people of the United States sacrificed even more through the pouring out of time, talent, money, and resources to rebuild Europe, Japan and the world. Civilization was restored.

A few years later came the Korean Conflict. US leaders decided the dominoes of spreading Communism needed to be stopped. Thousands more lives were lost and treasure spent before a 1953 stalemate was reached. You see where we are today. Through the generosity of the American people, South Korea became prosperous. North Korea descended into a despot lead hell that threatens the world.

Viet Nam followed. Another mission to stop Communism in its tracks. More loss of life and treasure. Millions of Vietnamese died and millions still suffer the after effects of that war. Tens of thousands of our own died. Thousands still suffer post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and physical injury. This was lasted from 1955 to 1975. But with our help and resources, Viet Nam, too, is now prosperous.

All the while, the economic base of the United States was being eroded. The greatest damage accelerated in the President Clinton years starting in 1993. Clinton and his cadre decided the United States was to become a “service provider” country. The manufacturing needs of the world would be done elsewhere. Thousands were put out of middle class jobs. Cheap labor, inferior environmental regulation, and worker safety rules drew international companies to build and produce in foreign countries. Trade agreements such as NAFTA (1994) were lopsided against the United States. More inequitable trade agreements followed. Trade imbalances grew and the era of national debt began. Clinton was the last president to see a national surplus. Clinton’s presidency ended in January 2001 when George W. Bush became president.

The events of September 11, 2001, changed the world again. It was not long before President Bush and his band decided to attack Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. Hussein had nothing to do with the bombing of the twin towers in New York, but Bush claimed falsely that Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Result: more loss of American lives and treasure and total destabilization of the Middle East. What followed was the rise of al-Qaeda and radical Islamic terrorism in the form of ISIS, the Taliban, Boko Haram, and more. The consequences of decisions by Bush haunt us today. National debt accelerated.

President Barack Hussein Obama followed Bush. Matters became even worse. Obama was a true globalist. He weakened our military even more, apologized around the world for about everything the United States stands for, and with Secretary Hillary Clinton and John Kerry’ s help, further destabilized the world. The criminal deeds of Obama and Clinton are only now fully coming to light. National debt grew to nearly 20 trillion dollars.
In the meanwhile, it has been estimated that the United States has lost about 70,000 factories since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Who knows how many more have been lost since the end of World War II in 1945. The United States has never stopped the “lift the boat” philosophy around the world. The US sends billions freely to so called “developing nations” [formerly “third world countries”] every year. In addition to free foreign aid, the United States has executed trade agreement after trade agreement that put our own workers on the street.

President Donald Trump, an outsider who was never supposed to win office, followed Obama. That was never supposed to happen. The political establishment and the globalists believed it would be President Hillary Clinton. The people thought otherwise. Trump is taking steps to restore the strength of the United States and put people back to work. Critical industry will return.

Tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the United States are steps in the right direction. It is time to stop the “dumping” into our markets of steel and aluminum by such as China and South Korea. “Dumping” is the pricing of a product at below production cost made possible only because a foreign government has subsidized its production. The result is the undercutting of price from our own domestic factories and the loss of good jobs by our own workers. This is not a level playing field. President Trump has chosen to move to make it more so. It is time. His philosophy is free and, more importantly, fair trade.

To now, trade agreements have had a very negative affect on the trade balance between the US and the world. The value of imports to the United States should roughly equal the value of exports from the United States to other countries. If the so called balance favors other countries — i.e. more import value compared to export value — the United States continues to subsidize the world. That must stop. It is time to rebuild our own manufacturing base and put our own citizens back to work.

In the short term, tariffs will cause the price of some products to increase.Wall Street will not like it. The international corporations will loudly squawk and complain. They do not like any messing with short term profits. But this is the short term price we will have to pay and which people are willing to pay to rebuild a robust manufacturing base and the middle class in the United States of America. America First.

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Genetically Engineered Salmon

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is not known for good decisions, but they got this one right. A couple of weeks ago they denied the FDA’s latest attempt to hide thousands of pages of key government documents related to the agency’s approval of genetically engineered (GE) salmon for human consumption.

That’s right. You read it correctly. Genetically engineered salmon are now destined for a place on your grocers counter and you will never know it. The FDA did not want the public to know details of the approval process gone through by the agency charged with the responsibility of keeping our food supply safe. Trust us, they said. The FDA did not want you to know why they approved an engineered salmon that contains DNA from the Atlantic salmon, the deep water ocean eelpout, and the Pacific Chinook salmon. This would be the first time any genetically engineered animal has been approved for commercial sale and ultimate human consumption.

What is the big deal about this fish? It is different. The GE version is intended to grow faster than conventionally farmed or wild-caught salmon. The reason: new DNA has been engineered in. The new DNA is a growth hormone gene that is turned on all the time. The GE salmon is claimed to get to commercial size in half the time. Further, it is claimed by the FDA to not be significantly different from wild-caught or farm raised salmon. The truth: it may look the same from the outside, but it is different genetically.
One big concern is if the GE fish were to escape into the wild. It could threaten wild salmon populations by out-competing them for scarce resources and habitat, by mating with endangered salmon species, and by introducing new diseases. The FDA has been heavily criticized for failing to fully evaluate these potential impacts. The developers claim these concerns are meaningless because the GE fish are to be sterile females all raised in confinement tanks. Even that raises additional questions. How are the GE fish becoming 100% female?

In short, the FDA wants to hide. The pubic has a right to know in detail how the agency came to its approval decision for genetically engineered salmon, especially because the FDA’s approach will likely serve as a precedent for the assessment of future GE food animals. The FDA is funded by tax dollars which means the records they create can and should be available to the public and to citizens seeking to know all. The only exceptions should be withholding information critical to national security.

Under the court ruling, the FDA is required to fully complete the record with all relevant documents regarding its approval of genetically engineered salmon. In this case, the public right to know is being protected. It is vital all government agencies get the message hiding is not acceptable. Are you listening EPA and USDA?

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Immigration Continued

“Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.” Pardot Kynes / Planetologist

Kynes, a fictional “planetologist” from the Dunes universe, has hit the nail right on the head. Too many people on a planet floating in the vast expanse of space, like Earth, leads to collapse of the supporting ecosystem and a race to the bottom for the quality of life. Ultimately, human life descends to the base needs of food, water, and shelter.

The United States of America is at a decision point. Population expansion and immigration pressures from all over the world are at our doorstep. We will face up to them or go down the road to eventual degradation if we have not already stepped foot on that road. The bold fact is that the United States of America does not need additional numbers of people. We need to be concentrating on elevating the quality of life for those already American citizens, not bringing more and more people in from other parts of the world.

Congress is in the process of playing games with the future of the country and the lives of our citizens. President Trump has already gone well beyond “compromise” with his four pillars of immigration policy reform. He has taken the position he will accept allowing nearly two million illegal immigrants a path not only to residency but to citizenship in exchange for building the southern border wall, ending the incredibly insane visa lottery program, and ending or severely curtailing chain migration. He has gone as far as he should go and maybe beyond; period. There are those of us who believe he has gone too far already in a willingness to appease or “compromise”.

The road block seems to be the U.S. Senate where presently 60 votes or more are required to pass any new immigration legislation. This matter is too critical to allow this. The future health or likely survival of this country is at stake. If there was an army at our door like was the case with World War II, we would not hesitate to take whatever action was required. We are at a similar point whether recognized or not. It is time for the U.S. Senate to face up and change its rules.

The success of passage of meaningful and tough immigration legislation that mirrors what has been proposed by President Donald Trump is in the hands of one person: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell is the road block. He is the one stopping the elimination of the 60 vote rule, part of which was eliminated by the Democrats when they controlled the Senate. The rest needs to now go. If it doesn’t, the future of the United States of America is in jeopardy and should be laid at the feet of McConnell and the Republicans. No excuses. And God help us if Democrats ever again gain control of Congress.