Month: April 2019

Quoting Lindsay Graham as one of Donald Trump’s most servile supporters, Eugene Robertson (April 23, 2019) recited the constitutional basis for impeachment,okp and it does not require conviction of a crime. As Robertson points out, it is about “cleansing the office… restoring honor and integrity”. If there were any other human being in that oval office besides who is there now, these reasons might be enough, but in the case of the Donald there is another, more critical element: TIME. We don’t know how much time we have before some part of the world explodes in crisis, requiring a reasoned, measured, response from the United States, exactly the kind of response we cannot count on now. So, we must take advantage of whatever time we have to “cleanse” the office without further delay.
Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

It has been said that Trump needs a “course change” in his immigration policy, and that should be painfully obvious to anyone who has been paying attention.. How about a complete reversal of what Trump has been doing so far? A complete reversal! Start with a switch from “keep out” to “welcome”, from armed troops blocking the border to “welcome centers” where migrants are treated like valued human beings rather than useless animals that clog our economy and eat up social resources. We need to face up to the reality that we need these people. Emigrant families are actually the most desirable kind of people you can find anywhere. They have endured indescribable hardship to get here and (unlike Trump’s assertions) will make good, hard-working, taxpaying citizens when they are allowed to settle in the USA. If we adopt the right attitude toward immigrants, and back it up with officially- stated government policy, most of the problems now facing our border control people will probably fix themselves. It is so much easier to be friendly and kind than mean and cruel.

Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

What would you get if you mixed: food, water, clothing, counseling, and a welcoming attitude? Answer: a true Christian…( if you provide all of this at the Southern border, that is. Add a sophisticated registration system and you can achieve a national registry of immigrants; and a photo ID card the immigrant could use to facilitate free travel throughout the country.) Unregistered immigrants already in the country should be able to go to their local post office and register in the same way. Of course, the right wing blowhards will jump on this idea as another way for the libs to cheat on national elections by padding the voter rolls with aliens.
t Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

[ dear editor: this submission is more in the nature of an essay than an “as you see it” letter. You may want to treat it as such.There is a radical idea here.]
We know pretty well what does not work on the immigration situation that is: everything Trump comes up with returns to dreck. His policies don’t work because they are aimed at the wrong goal, that is: keeping people out. Trump has no love for (nor even a willingness to accept as neighbors) anyone who skin is not white. Unfortunately, this attitude ignores the reality that white folks all over the world are not reproducing fast enough to maintain numerical superiority. We’re going to need immigrant labor in large numbers just to maintain America’s prosperity engine and keep it running. At present, however, only people of color are showing up. So, as a result, Trump keeps throwing obstacles which hurt more than help the United States economy in both the short and long run. As an example, closing the border.This is the absolute most damaging, least effective action conceivable! It simply shuts down too many important economic activities. What to do? How about a 180° turn from KEEP OUT to WELCOME…? If we could pull that off, of course, there would be an even larger flood of immigrants surging Northward, but we already have that, so what? And both political parties must, as an absolute minimum, restore substantial aid to the three Central American nations that produce immigrants in the highest numbers: Columbia, El Salvador, and Honduras. If we could somehow improve living conditions in those three countries, it might be possible that our “keep out” policy would shift into one more aimed at recruiting than rejection. We wouldn’t need a “big beautiful wall” at all. Wherever vehicle or animal control is needed, an ordinary fence would do perfectly well. And our 330 ports of entry could become 330 “welcoming centers” where arriving immigrants could be offered a drink of cool, clear water, a hot meal, shower, undisturbed rest, new clothing, counseling, and a photo ID card showing them to be an official immigrant: student, seasonal worker, or potential citizen. We need these people. We should make them feel welcome, not treat them as animals.

Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>