45's Border Wall

I am still hysterically disgusted by the current Presidential Administration's pan to "Build a Wall" dividing the United States from Mexico.  In the last treaty boundary negotiation between the United States of America and the Estados Unidos de Mexico in 1970, it was agreed exactly where the border was.  However, two parts of the boundary line are established by the treaty as being "the deepest part of the middle channel of the Rio Grande" and "the deepest part of the middle channel of the Colorado River."  Whenever there is a torrential rain and flooding, or a hurricane, these two boundaries can move.
   Let's look at some numbers and some topographical areas.  In the boundary treaty of 1970, the national borders extend 18 miles into the Pacific Ocean and 12 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.  According to the US Border Patrol, the "border regions" extend 37 miles from the shores in both directions.  The border between Mexico and the US is about 1,989 miles, depending on the the river courses.  The boundaries run from below sea level on both ends, along the deepest part of the middle channel of two rivers, up over the Continental Divide, near Columbus, New Mexico (altitude 3,900 feet), and across the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts.
  Currently, there are 670 miles of many different types of fencing stretched out between the American states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, and the Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.  There have been large reductions of illegal aliens crossing the border for quite a few years.  Since the regime of Twitler began, the numbers have fallen even more.
    Let's face some ugly facts.  Americans do not want to do what they consider menial labor.  Each of us grew up being told we can be whatever we choose to be. Parents today are still telling their children that.  The truth is that there are huge needs for so-called blue collar workers.  People today believe that each and every one of them deserve to work inside and office, behind their own desk, and spending, maybe half their time working, and the other half schmoozing, while receiving a salary of at least $200,000 per year.  I've had high school kids and college students tell me that those were their work expectations.  Americans do not want to do any type of job that will make them break a sweat, get them dirty, or appear to be subservient in any manner.
    Face it, America needs immigrants who will work hard for a minimum wage.  Throughout our farmlands, there is a severe shortage of people who are willing to work in the fields.  Crops are rotting in fields because there is no one who will go out and bring the crops in.  A Georgia farmer offered to pay anyone willing to help him bring in his crops $15 per hour.  He was told that the work was too hard and too hot, and people would not even agree to be hired by him.  That speaks volumes about the current American mindset.  Americans are just "too good" to actually work for a living.  Personally, I find that sad.
    It also seems that the tangerine tyrant is trying to get into a fight with our northern neighbor, Canada.  Is he going to want another wall, blocking the US and Canadian border?  That boundary, including the Great Lakes, is more than 5,525 miles (1,538 is Alaska's border alone).
   The border wall is complete and total nonsense...  America is what it is because of its diversity - we need to continue to open our arms to all people who wish to start their lives anew, in freedom.  The 45th Administration are all plunder-monkeys seeking their own glorification.  They need to be ousted.

Thanksgiving Thoughts - Immigrants and Refugees

With the emigrant crisis in Syria and surrounding countries, and the posturing of American politicians regarding immigrants and refugees, I thought I'd share a few of my own views, and what I know of my family history, regarding the United States of America. Unless you are a Native American, or Indian (as Columbus and other voyagers mistakenly called them), including the so-called "Hispanic mixes" (all of Native American races) in the southwestern United States, you are an immigrant somewhere along your family tree.  If you're African-American, your ancestors were brought to the Americas without a choice; if you're Caucasian, someone, somewhere along in history, decided to leave the country in which they were born, and to live permanently in what is now the United States.  According to the dictionary, an immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in another country.  A refugee is a person forced to leave their country of birth in order to escape war, persecution, or a natural disaster.
   I believe that the majority of my ancestors were immigrants to the New World.  I know that several of them were refugees from war and persecution.  One of my ancestors was a trader in early Virginia, who (supposedly) married a Powhatan woman.  One of my ancestors signed up as a bond-servant in London, and worked on a tobacco plantation for seven years, six days a week, to earn his right to be known as a free man.  One part of the family - a many, many-times Great-uncle - arrived aboard the Mayflower, which was a ship full of religious refugees seeking relief of persecution in England and the Netherlands.  (My direct ancestor, the Mayflower guy's younger brother, came over to the colonies a few years later and became the coffin-maker for Plymouth and the surrounding area.)  I know I have a couple of French Huguenot ancestors, who came to the colonies as religious refugees.  I'm not quite sure of the reason for immigrating for the few Germans in the tree.  My great-great-grandfather left Denmark to avoid fighting in a war against Germany, and arrived here in the USA in time for our Civil War.  My great-grandparents, and my grandfather, held dual citizenships in both the United States and Sweden.
  In  my family tree, I am more than half English, with the Swedish and Danish mixed in.  But, truly, if you look at the history of England - Great Britain, that is - one sees that they, themselves, are a hodge-podge mixture of races and ethnicities, too.  You have the early Picts, followed by the Celts, followed by the Britons, followed by the Romans, (not to mention the mixing in of Scots and Irish) followed by the Vikings, followed by the Normans (who were originally Vikings), followed by waves of settlers from Flanders, the Netherlands, and various other European and African countries.
   Ninety-nine point nine percent of all my ancestors were immigrants and/or refugees that arrived on the shore of North America with hopes, dreams, and no land.  To my knowledge, America has accepted refugees from every country in the world.  Since our wake-up call to terrorism on September 11, 2001, the United States has admitted over 1 million people seeking refugee status.  Four of those million have been arrested for terrorism charges in the 14 years since.  In my mind, that means our system of checking out the backgrounds and histories of people who want to escape tyranny is pretty damn good.  (That is 0.0004 percent, by the way.)
   I think that refusing any refugee, no matter their race, creed or religion, is a slap in the face to our ancestors, and the Founding Fathers of this nation.  I think that Senators, Congressmen, and Governors should face recalls for refusing to support refugees.  Where the heck would they be, if not for an open immigration and refugee on the part of our government?

   Thank you for letting me get on my soap-box and have my say.