Here’s a notable statistic. According to Pew Research, 80% of Americans think the government is doing a bad job managing the U.S./Mexico border. While 80% sure seems like a lot, I’m more curious to know who falls within the 20% who think things are going swimmingly.
As I’ve covered before, I believe the national discourse on immigration is wrongheaded and mean spirited. Instead of viewing migration as a net positive to the country, we demonize people for trying to improve their circumstances. Instead of probing the reasons why people would risk everything to cross the border either illegally or to seek asylum, we try to enact punitive measures that criminalize their behavior.
Recently, a bipartisan bill that was purportedly negotiated for more than four months fell apart within a matter of days. The primary reason bandied about by the mainstream media was that Donald Trump urged Republicans to squash the bill in order to keep the border in a state of chaos. A Brookings Report suggests the reasoning might be even more cynical than this, something that we’ll address as we move forward with our limited series on immigration.
Either way, our collective attitude toward the government’s failure to address what most consider a crisis will undoubtedly motivate certain segments of the population to turn out on election day. If one assumes that border policies only affect states that are predominantly Republican, then it doesn’t seem like much of a wedge issue. But losing even a sliver of the 80% who think the administration is poorly managing the border is too much for the fragile Biden campaign to lose. And the fact of the matter is that Republican governors have sent a powerful, if not evil message by busing migrant families all over the country. One that is being reinforced almost 24/7 by the conservative news media.
Now it’s unlikely that states like New York, which have seen a surge in undocumented immigrants, will flip red for any reason. But consider this: Biden won Arizona in 2020. That’s a border state. But what about other swing states that aren’t on the border? Well, the population in Michigan is finally on the upswing again after a backslide due to COVID-19 and the increase is largely due to immigration. Michigan is also a swing state and one with a large Arab and Muslim population already pissed at Biden’s unyielding support of Israel’s massacre of Palestinian civilians.
Delegates will be hard to come by. A nip here, a tuck there and pretty soon you’ve lost re-election.
No one is accusing the Biden administration of having a blind spot when it comes to the border. They’re fully aware of the humanitarian crisis and political backlash. But it’s clear they’re out of answers and that should make us all nervous about last ditch efforts the administration may take to close off the border and exacerbate the human crisis in service of solving the political one.
Other things I’m obsessing over…
Wishing Andy Ogles persistent, painful, incurable herpes.
I absolutely detest the cozy relationship between the boxing world and the Saudi kingdom. I can’t bring myself to pony up for the dough to watch Knockout Chaos between Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou. Unless someone has a bootleg link they want to pass my way…
From the report: The largest demographic in the U.S. is 30- to 39-year-olds, and it’s going to continue to grow for the next several years. That’s when life events start to happen in terms of having kids, for example. Some of those people will be making the decision to buy regardless of how rental affordability compares, but it definitely still factors in. With financing costs that much higher right now, it’s still cheaper to rent than to buy. And we believe mortgage affordability will only slightly improve in the near term under our baseline housing and mortgage forecasts.
Headlines
Free Julian Assange
The story of Julian Assange remains one of the most clear cut litmus tests for whether or not our democracy will survive. If this final extradition appeal fails and Assange is sent to the United States to face charges in a rigged tribunal it opens up a plethora of press freedom questions that could chill speech for generations to come. The prosecution of Julian Assange is an affront to democracy and an ongoing crime against humanity.
From the article:
“I should also mention that yesterday they mentioned in court the Yahoo News article. This is when 34 former U.S. officials went on the record to explain that senior levels of the Trump administration and the CIA had sketched plans to kill or kidnap Julian Assange in London because they didn’t like his reporting. Now, in my opinion, that should have the case thrown out immediately. How can you extradite a journalist and publisher to the country which is on record as plotting to assassinate him?”
I’m late to The Baffler, but sure am glad to be here. The more of their content I consume, the more impressed I am. These are deep cut stories that need to be told. This particular story is a thoughtful look at hurdles the LGBTQ community faces as the population ages and finds itself in need of care.
From the article:
“Intermittent homelessness from an early age is one of a complex cluster of obstacles to reaching old age faced by the queer community that many other demographic categories never have to contend with. Others include elevated exposure to HIV/AIDS and diseases like hepatitis; chronic financial instability; inadequate, inaccessible, or discriminatory health care; and physical and mental abuse from family, friends, and society at large. Yet as the U.S. population ages rapidly, so, too, will LGBTQ community members. Studies project that the current population of three million LGBTQ elders over the age of fifty will more than double over the next seven years, reaching an estimated seven million by 2030. (Tellingly, as with prison and homeless populations, members of the queer community are often tracked as elders starting at fifty because of advanced aging characteristics.)”
(This is a Legally Blonde reference. 99 Had to tell me that)
Top headline this week in “we’re too stupid to have our own country” is the Alabama Supreme Court decision to protect test tube embryos as children. This has created panic among fertility clients who wish to dispose of their frozen embryos for any host of reasons because it could theoretically be considered murder. These are the things that make me root for a giant meteor.
From the article:
“The irony, some women said, is that the ruling, whose consequences fertility clinics are still assessing, has forced many couples to pause their I.V.F. treatments and suspend their ticket to parenthood. The University of Alabama at Birmingham said in a statement on Wednesday that it was halting the procedures to ‘evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for I.V.F. treatments.’”
This week is a flashback. Yes, that means re-run but there’s a good reason for it as we covered in Show Notes. We’re bringing back our episode titled Immigration Nation to refresh crucial misconceptions around migration so we can update certain data points and troubling trends. In the weeks to come we’re digging back into the border crisis as it has become one of the central talking points in the upcoming election. Plus, a great deal has changed south of the U.S. border that needs to be incorporated into our understanding of migration patterns, foreign policy and current legislative agendas in D.C. It’s a hot fucking mess that we’re going to untangle one thread at a time.
Here’s a snippet from the pod:
“Hispanic immigrants used to move more freely across the border with the seasons because they followed the work. The reason they started staying is because we threatened them if they left. In every way imaginable, we created this crisis. Not just Republicans. Democrats as well. Because we’re in a 50 year race between the primary parties to see which one can out-xenophobia the other. It’s really fucking madness. There’s no economic rationale behind our immigration policy. We’re cutting our nose to spite our face. There’s no human rationale behind it either, because we are absolutely responsible for many of the societal ills and instability within so many Central American nations.”
A career defined by fighting corporate greed, Nader remains outspoken as ever about the stranglehold the powers that be have over everyday Americans—and he shows no signs of stopping.
“The Mission of the League of United Latin American Citizens is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of the Hispanic population of the United States.”
From 99: “I love that this is an independently owned podcast network. The hosts of Sawbones manage to provide high quality information in a fun and engaging way. For people like me who think they’re perpetually dying this is the medicine we need.”
“McDermott's writing focuses on the everyday and the mundane then skews it slightly. In some stories there is a vein of dark humour, in others a beautiful poignancy, and in some a surreal quality, all mined from the small things that pass most of us by. His unique observations make each story a journey into a world at once familiar yet also strange, intriguing and arresting. His short stories are fever dreams and visions that will linger in your thoughts. This is a collection to relish.”
“The Hedges quote that prefaced your meditation is horrifying. I don't want to agree with him. I want to believe that we have evolved to a point where empathy is our default disposition and yet, the truth is we remain a people besotted with cruelty as entertainment. I said it before: Homo homini lupus est. Man is a wolf to man.”
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