immigration

America has been a "melting pot" of people from all races and nations practically since it was founded. Indeed, many of our Founding Fathers were not born in the new World. Immigrants have helped build this nation from the beginning (think slavery), and it is disgusting and sad to see today's GOP forcibly and brutally ejecting (and occasionally killing) immigrants from our shores. Under Obama and Biden, millions of immigrants were also removed from this country, but it was done in an orderly fashion, without trashing due process and personal freedom. There is no real need for present-day ICE to dress up as heavily armed thugs, with masks and tear gas at the ready. But this is Trump's style: cruelty. Right out of the tyrant's playbook.

Alabama News Beacon

January 17 at 2:54 PM · 

A serious question for this New Breed of Americans who believe chaos and cruelty are “necessary” for immigration enforcement and who revel and celebrate at the sight of all of the unnecessary violence:

How did President Obama deport millions of people without the country tearing itself apart?

Simple. He followed the law.

There was due process. There were court hearings. Habeas corpus rights were respected. People were not snatched up, beaten down and secretly shipped to foreign detention camps with no regard for their rights or humanity as is happening now.

Law enforcement was not turned into a political theater designed to intimidate and terrorize entire communities.

Immigration enforcement happened—at scale—without nonstop rhetoric, manufactured outrage, or treating human beings as disposable enemies.

This isn’t about defending Obama or attacking Trump. It’s about recognizing a basic truth:

Our nation can enforce immigration law without abandoning the rule of law, human rights, or basic decency. People don't have to be brutally attacked, beaten down, dragged away into concentration camps and thoroughly robbed of their humanity.

If it was done before—more quietly, more effectively, and more lawfully—then the current chaos isn’t “necessary.”

It’s a conscious choice.

It is time

This piece was written by one of my cousins, who works in education but dabbles in politics. He's sharp enough to be a pundit or a politician himself. I think this is the third piece of his that I have published here. I won't name him out of courtesy, but I would sure like to.

Here we are. It's 2026, and America finds itself at a critical moment in our history, a time where there are no more excuses for people remaining under Trump's spell.

I have been trying to avoid posts on politics because I believe they are mostly useless. And I hate using my feed to give the man an ounce of attention, but it is time for every American to make EXTREMELY CLEAR where they stand.

(If you don't like politics on your timeline, I hear you, but you can just keep scrolling. I invite comments and challenges, but any attempt to police MY own page will be deleted.)

The best time to reject Trump was when he came down the escalator, but there have been countless off-ramps since then.

When he bragged about sexually assaulting women, it was time.

When he was held liable for sexual abuse, it was time.

When he mocked a disabled person, it was time.

When he incited a riot after losing a fair election and called the terrorists "patriots," it was time.

When he coarsened political discourse by name calling and childish insults, it was time.

When he dehumanized immigrants, it was time.

When he mocked John McCain and said, "I like people who weren't captured," it was time.

When he called on the Proud Boys, it was time.

When he adopted the language of white nationalists, it was time.

There have been a thousand other points for people to leave the cult.

Epstein, Greenland, Minnesota....It's hard to keep up with all of the opportunities to leave Trumpism, and thankfully, we are starting to see an exodus.

But there are holdouts, the "conservatives" who are willfully blind.

For years, these conservatives who migrated to Trump's cult claimed the moral high ground. They wrapped themselves in "family values," patriotism, Christian faith, and national security.

And, while I OFTEN disagreed with their views, I did think there were certain values to which they were committed.

But the moment those values demanded consistency, courage, or sacrifice, they were discarded. What remains is not conservatism, it is mindless and relentless allegiance to a madman.

Let’s start with family values. The phrase has been weaponized for decades to shame others and project a self-righteous moral superiority.

But those family values were readily abandoned when they fell in love with Trump. After all, Trump is a serial adulterer and a man who appears more interested in protecting sexual predators than their victims. He publicly humiliates women and brags about sexual assault. When millions of “family values” voters looked at that and said, "Hell yeah! This is fine," they forfeited the right to lecture ANYONE about morality. If your values are so easily shed to gain political power, they are not values. They are simply part of a malleable "brand" that morphs itself to continue justifying the worship of a single man.

Then there is patriotism, perhaps the most abused word in modern American life. Patriotism is not blind loyalty to a leader. It is loyalty to democratic principles, the Constitution, and the PEOPLE who ARE America.

When Trump incited the Jan. 6 attack on our U.S. Capitol, attempted to subvert democracy by overturning an election he lost, and openly praised authoritarians who imprison journalists and crush dissent, the Trump flags continued to wave. His followers rationalized. They minimized. They cheered. That is not patriotism. That is submission to a wannabe dictator dressed up in red, white, and blue. My grandfathers didn't fight in two different world wars for that.

And conservatives have traditionally pushed us into meaningless wars because they supposedly valued "American strength and security." Trump loyalists believe he projects American strength. In reality, he is erratic, thin-skinned, and easily manipulated by flattery. He is undermining NATO, flouting international law, alienating allies, and treating intelligence professionals as enemies if they dare contradict him. He claims to have no checks on his own power other than his own morality. That is, perhaps, the most Anti-American statement a POTUS has ever made.

Trump isn't strong. He is petty and weak. True strength requires discipline, intelligence, honesty, courage, consistency, and competence. Trump offers none of that. What Trump offers, and his followers accept, is chaos and incompetence marketed as toughness (see Pete Hegseth).

And then there is Christianity, perhaps the most cynically exploited of all. Trump embodies nearly every trait Christianity warns against: pride, greed, dishonesty, cruelty, and contempt for the vulnerable. Yet evangelical leaders line up to bless him, and millions of self-identified Christians followed suit. Why? Apparently because power matters more than principle. Jesus preached humility, mercy, and love of neighbor. Trump preaches grievance, domination, and revenge. If that contradiction doesn’t trouble you, then Christianity is a just costume you wear, not a set of principles you understand or are committed to.

The pattern has become unmistakable.

Law and order until the law applies to Trump ( a 34x felon).

Free speech until someone criticizes Trump.

Personal responsibility until it's time to release the Epstein files or for Trump to be held accountable.

Trump NEVER admitting fault while being eager to scapegoat and demonize immigrants, teachers, journalists, or anyone who dares to stand up to him.

Wearing Christianity as a badge while you cheer on greed, narcissism, and hate.

Trumpism is hollow. It has revealed the true nature of so many on the American right who have abandoned their fake projected values in favor of loyalty to a conman.

Trump exploits the worst of America. He understand our fears, our hatreds, our ignorance, and our tribalism, and he exploited it all. Rather than heal, he divides. Rather than tell the truth, he deceives without a conscience in pursuit of his own self-interests. Like every charlatan, he knows precisely how to wrap himself up to sell his bullshit.

In the process, he has revealed how shallow these "conservative values" were for so many people. He gave permission for millions to abandon decency, replace ethics with resentment, and mistake cruelty for courage. His followers accepted that permission eagerly.

So this is not about policy disagreements, although there are plenty. It is about character. A movement that excuses lies, glorifies spite, and attacks democracy itself has no moral standing no matter how often it invokes God, family, or the flag.

Real values are demanding. They constrain our behavior. They force us to reject leaders who fail to live up to those values. For them to mean ANYTHING, they can't be so easily set aside.

This should have been obvious long ago. But, in 2026, there simply are no more excuses.

You know.

You see clearly who he is.

And folks who continue co-signing him and his insanity will forever be on the wrong side of history.

I pray for an awakening because a nation that hollows out its own values to prop up a man so devoid of ANY will not stand.

Just a note

I've seen this one circulating around the net several times. It's a good list of the bullshit this mobster has subjected us too. Might come in handy somewhere down the road. They have flooded the zone with so much garbage it will take a long while to catalog it all. Charges could result from many of these items. Others are just petulant and stupid, like our president is in elementary school. Or never graduated. And perhaps MAGA can finally be shamed enough to admit they backed the wrong guy. I know that's unlikely, but stranger things have happened, right? I think I have noticed that this list is primarily events from the mobster's first term. Guess I'll have to look around for the updated version.

I owe my Trump-supporting friends an apology. I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when:

He incited an insurrection against the government

Mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans

Separated children from their families, and lost those children in the bureaucracy

Tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church

Tried to block all Muslims from entering the country

Got impeached, got impeached again

Had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history

Pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden

Fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia

Bragged about firing the FBI director on TV

Took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community

Diverted military funding to build his wall

Caused the longest government shutdown in US history

Called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate"

Lied 30,000+ times

Banned transgender people from serving in the military

Ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions

Vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers

Refused to release his tax returns

Increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion

Had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history

Called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers

Coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist

Refused to concede the 2020 election

Hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House

Walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl

Called neo-Nazis “very fine people”

Suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID

Abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey

Pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans

Incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic

Withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords

Withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal

Withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances

Insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter

Pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op

Failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies

Called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries

Called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation"

Claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere

Forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader

Believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe

Suggested the US should buy Greenland

Colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges

Repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people"

Claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases

Violated the emoluments clause (repeatedly)

Thought that Namibia was a country

Told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public

Called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “pussy” for following the Constitution

Nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet

Nominated a corrupt head of the EPA

Nominated a corrupt head of HHS

Nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department

Nominated a corrupt head of the USDA

Praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies

Refused to allow the presidential transition to begin

Insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death

Spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president

Falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote

Falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year

Considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions

Mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID

Locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones

Used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus"

Hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser

Pardoned several of his shady associates

Gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories

Got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!)

Had a Secretary of State who called him a moron

Forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history

Botched the COVID vaccine rollout

Tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him

Charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties

Constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate

Claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear

Called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas"

Used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise

Opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling

Got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers

Claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US

Ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings

Blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining

Redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle

Got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters"

Threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution

Botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico

Threw paper towels and toilet paper at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them

Pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes

Thought that the Virgin islands had a President

Drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane

Allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing

Rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos

Pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID

Rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers

Held blatant campaign rallies at the White House

Tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man

Refused to attend his successors’ inauguration

Nominated the worst Education Secretary in history

Threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted

Attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci

Promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t)

Allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues

Struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble

Called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ"

Threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders

Went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic

Claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts"

Seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution

Demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director

Praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles

Completely gutted the Voice of America

Placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service

Claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower

Suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country

Suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public

Overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported

Reduced the number of refugees the US accepts

Insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames

Gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address

Named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties

Eliminated the White House office of pandemic response

Used soldiers as campaign props

Fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him

Demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade

Hired a ton of white nationalists

Politicized the civil service

Did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government

Falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts

Claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won

Insulted reporters of color and women reporters and women reporters of color

Suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs

Attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him

Summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election

Spent countless hours every day watching Fox News

Refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas

Hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer

Tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him

Acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney

Attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault

Held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present

Didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media

Stopped holding press briefings for months at a time

"Ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power

Led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform

Claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers

Tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course

Suggested that the government nuke hurricanes

Suggested that wind turbines cause cancer

Said that he had a special aptitude for science

Fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure

Blurted out classified information to Russian officials

Tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida

Fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban

Hired Stephen Miller

Openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them

Interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel

Tried to get Russia back into the G7

Held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden

Seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive

Lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated

Falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t

Shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies

Still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan

Still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks"

Forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID

Told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by"

F***ed up the Census

Withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic

Did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule 

“President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings"

Allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act

Seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican

Stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win

Constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump

Claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened

Said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake

Claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him

Claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President

Created a commission to whitewash American history

Retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain

Claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there

Hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims

Had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons,

 even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others

Bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties

Apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House (and again in his second term)

Stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians

Falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police

Said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about

Gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic

Tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax

Said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states

Deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented

Claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln

Touted a “super-duper” secret “hypersonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all

Retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile

Forced through security clearances for his family

Suggested that police officers should rough up suspects

Suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs

Tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender

Suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher

Nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy

Retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “F**k tha Police” at a campaign event

Hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags

Accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address

Claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia

Mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasely Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault

Was proven to be close friends with the biggest sexual predictor of young girls

Obsessed over low-flow toilets

Ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release

Called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek)

Hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech

Took advice from the MyPillow guy

Claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists

Said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure

Never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign

Falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent

Announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest

Insulted the leaders of Canada, France, Britain, Germany, and Sweden!!

Falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues

Blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually

Continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders

Said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked

Left a NATO summit early in a huff

Stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that

Called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary

Refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

But other than that. . .

Whoever wrote this deserves credit but I don't know who it is..