Editor,
The best thing about being a know-nothing reactionary Republican is, since they don’t actually ‘read’ the news or comprehend current events, they never have to weigh their fallacious beliefs and propaganda against the reality based community!
UNM Student Justin Davis “reached his limit” by having to read the “fluffy” 1/21/16 Daily Lobo story, ‘UNM program pairs volunteers with refugees to aid in their transition.’ The Lobo’s Elizabeth Sanchez reported on a program that, “Partners with refugees from around the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Many have experienced war, displacement, the loss of loved ones and other painful events.” Davis states that “our economy is in the worst state it has been since the great depression, our labor participation rate is the lowest since the 1970’s and our middle class is being crushed by socialistic agendas.”
The U.S. Economy is the envy of the entire planet. We’ve had 70 straight months of private sector job growth, while shrinking the public sector (Big Government) even with the “job killing” ACA, which saw the biggest drop on record in the uninsured rate, and even with higher taxes on the wealthy which caused the deficit to plummet by 2/3. They haven’t changed the way they calculate the unemployment rate, which has been slashed in half, and which is an economic textbook perfect 5 percent, nearly full employment. Corporate profits have tripled since 2009, the markets have doubled, low interest rates, low energy prices, oil imports plummeted over 60 percent over the last eight years, low gas prices, 2015 was the best year ever for the American Auto industry.
Davis then asks, “Why aren’t we asking who started the wars in the Middle East? Who funded, protected, armed and allowed Al-Qaeda?” Anyone with a Google connection knows that the United States overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran in 1953 because he had nationalized the oil industry. And that after the blowback of 1979, the U.S. supported and armed Saddam Hussein with WMDs and money. We also supported Bin Laden. After ignoring scores of warnings before the failure on Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. attacked and occupied the wrong country, twice! Say what you will about President Obama, but he made bringing Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Pakistan to justice his #1 priority.
Davis asks, “Why is Louis Farrakhan saying that Donald Trump is right, and we need to halt Muslim immigration because we have no way to properly vet them?” These lunatics like Louis Farrakhan and Donald Trump don’t know what they’re talking about! This nation has suffered through hundreds and thousands of horrific escalating domestic mass shootings in recent years, and the Republican Party mumbles about mental health, freedom, nothing can be done! Yet after ONE attack by home-grown ISIS inspired domestic/jihadists, 65 percent of Republican Voters support banning ALL Muslims! Do these know-nothings comprehend the difference between Sunni and Shiite Islam? I have a hard time comprehending how banning ALL Muslims, helps us win the hearts and minds of the majority of peaceful Muslims, or develop a strong coalition of Arab nations to defeat ISIS?
Davis states that “we have no way to properly vet” these refugees. Here in the reality-based community, it takes nearly three years for Syrians to be vetted, after passing through the (UNHCR) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and passing initial checks to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and then being referred for an interview by USCIS officers abroad, along with the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Counterterrorism Center and the Defense Department. The most persuasive argument against equating refugees with terrorists is simple: It’s exactly what the evil Islamic State wants you to do. The conflict in Syria has displaced over 12 million human beings, seven million are still within Syria. Of the other five million, there are two million in Turkey, one million in Jordan, while the land of the free and home of the brave, a so-called “Christian Nation,” has taken in 2,000, or .05 percent. The U.S. has a moral obligation to let those refugees in after having started a number of wars in the Middle East, where millions of people have been killed and wounded.
Finally Davis asks, “Why are over 70 percent of ‘refugees’ military-age males.” The percentage of refugees referred to the United States: 67 percent were children under the age of 12 and women (http://bit.ly/1XaJ89W). Davis seems to be basing his question on a different set of UNHCR numbers that were widely cited in the conservative echo chambers — figures for refugees and migrants who have tried to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea (http://bit/1W059nR). #MakeRepublicansSmartAgain
Sincerely,
Brian Fejer
UNM Alumnus
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