Illegal immigration, especially from Mexico to the US seems to find it's way into the news on a daily basis.
'Mother deported, her kids remain in US' Here's how this family works:
I have very mixed feelings on this one, supposed illegals in the US.
Mexico has experienced many changes in territorial organization during its history as an independent state. Scroll to the 'Territorial evolution of Mexico' section:
How times have changed - alot of what used to be Mexico is now the US.
Mexicans? Get used to it. I get used to alotta things i don't particularly like, but that's the way the world works.
If families get separated by the border? that's the way the world works.
You know the rules, yet you want exemption from them?
Helloooo?
I think the demands that the US puts on legal immigration are just fine - you have to demonstrate some knowledge of the US, and some reasonable command of the english language - it's as much a public safety issue as anything else - if someone bangs on your apt. door at 3 am yelling 'get out! the building is on fire!" ... it would be a good idea to understand some english.
9/10 PM
I went to my Yahoo mail this evening, and when i was done, i was greeted w/ a page of Verizon advertising ... in spanish! WTF?! Yahoo must know ( thanks to their probing algorithyms) by now that i speak english.
I am in America, goddamit! We speak english here. That's one of things that binds us, as Americans. We may speak it in various accents ( from Maine to the south east, and out west), but it's still english! I am tired to have to press a button on my phone to specify english. I see this pandering to other languages in many places/ways. Enough already!
I know it is possible to assimilate and succeed.
When i was sent home 11 years ago to recover from a burst appendix/peritonitis, with two weeping holes in my gut, i was visited every day by a Kaiser employed nurse, born and raised in Cambodia. She was infinitely kind and gentle. All of the 5 ft tall 110 lbs that she was. She had been thru more hell and high water than anyone from Mexico (or anywhere south of there) has ever experienced. EVER! The Khmer Rouge, the killing fields, then finding her way to the US. Her english was accented, but perfectly understandable.
If she could do it? so could anyone else. No fucking excuses. Learn english or go home!
When i end up in a supermarket express line, and some latina is contesting her bottom line, & can't speak english... and paying w/ food vouchers (US taxpayer paid) I get real grouchy, REAL fast.
She's not legal - hellooo ICE! Where the fuck are you???
No, I am not voting for Donald Trump. No wall will ever work.
The Walls in Our Heads
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Islamic culture continues to shock the world:
A woman’s gruesome hanging shocked Tibet — but police have silenced all questions.
"She was 27, a kind, hard-working woman who supported her family by herding yaks and harvesting caterpillar fungus, a prized health cure, on the high grasslands of Tibet. Last October, Tsering Tso was found hanged from a bridge in a small town near her home".
Simon Denyer 8/26/16
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Saudis and Extremism: ‘Both the Arsonists and the Firefighters’
Critics see Saudi Arabia’s export of a rigid strain of Islam as contributing to terrorism, but the kingdom’s influence depends greatly on local conditions.
By SCOTT SHANEAUG. 25, 2016
The Islamic Republic’s War on Women
Foreign Policy Magazine • August 29, 2016
Talk about a 'war on women'? How about this:
Samia Shahid 'honour killing': Raped before death
A British woman who died in Pakistan in a so-called honour killing was raped before her death, the officer in charge of the investigation has said. Samia Shahid, 28, from Bradford, died in July in northern Punjab. The Pakistani chief investigator also told the BBC Ms Shahid's father and former husband carried out her murder. He added he was seeking to have her mother and sister returned to Pakistan to be questioned about their role in the murder. Two men have already appeared in court in Pakistan in connection with Ms Shahid's death. Her former husband, Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel, is accused of murder and is reported to have confessed to strangling her with her scarf, according to local police."
And where is the 'honor' in rape??
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The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor
Strangled for Being Too Sexy
By MIRA SETHI JULY 19, 2016
sooooo... what do you think - is Islam a religion of peace and love??
This is an entire NYT sunday magazine devoted to this topic:
==============================
RE: race in America
I won't comment on this one - just read it, it's the NY Times, best NP in the world:
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This is sad to have to read:
There Are No Successful Black Nations
http://www.1913intel.com/2016/08/11/there-are-no-successful-black-nations/
“Thus, no one will talk about the painful fact that most African and Caribbean nations have either failed or are about to collapse. Be assured, the indignity will continue. Black elites and activists across the world have adopted a culture of verbal tyranny in which they shut down any effort to reason or criticize us or black-majority nations by labeling such attempts as “racism” or “hate speech.” Thus, one can be certain that any suggestions that our race may indeed need to do something to remedy our situation will not be aired — not by the terrified people of other races. And anyone within our race who makes such a suggestion will be deemed weak and pandering or a sellout, as U.S. President Barack Obama has been repeatedly called."
'Obama has failed victims of racism and police brutality'
'The president and his cheerleaders refused to engage deeply with systemic problems facing our country. That came back to haunt America last week......'
IMHO, Many of the problems with black america today come from within.
I grew up lily-white in NH and Maine in the 50's, the son of church-going god-fearing protestants. Their values became mine, except for a few (I am glad in retrospect that this happened). i don't believe in god, or go to church. No one takes their hat off for women anymore, or pull their chair out at the dinner table. But being polite and respectful of one and all in public, 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you', getting an education, a job, becoming a decent member of society - all these were expected - 'that's the way the world works, kid - get used to it'.
You know what? They were right. I liked having a job, doing decent work, having a decent apt., being able to leave a grocery store without shoplifting.
Black america? the same principle applies - parents values are passed on down to their children. i think there is a different culture here, and they impart rather different values to their children, depending on the household.
I would put it this way:
There are 'black people' - who don't wear backwards baseball caps, or saggy pants - they speak relatively proper english, are polite and respectful in public, get an education, a job, and keep it. The men don't get anyone pregnant they don't want to be responsible for. They 'tow the line' - just like white people do!
**JUST LIKE WHITE PEOPLE DO!**
They express their 'heritage' (black-ness) in many ways, as i express my white-ness, too, but they don't beat anyone over the head with it. And i don't either.
...And then??? there are niggers.
If Richard Pryor could say it?, i can too.
They wear backwards baseball caps, saggy pants ( like 'i want to get fucked in the ass' - oh, do you, ...really??)
...next to no job, no education, no nothing 'cept trash talk/ebonics. They are loud, rude in public. A total embarassment to their race. Or any other race for that matter.
Get your head out of the gutter, & out of your ass!
You wanna get ahead in this world?... get w/ the program... like i wrote before - 'tow the line' - just like white people do! Do you get it??
**JUST LIKE WHITE PEOPLE DO!**
We don't like it anymore than you do, but that's the way the world works. Drop the 'whitey done me wrong' crapola. That's just an excuse, a bunch of BS. Get over it already. You haven't picked cotton, i haven't owned slaves. End of discussion.
And if the cops call you to account? STF up, do what the man asks, no BS.
Too many of the recent killings of blacks by police are the result of stupid behavior by the victim.
Do what the man says, and live to sue him later.
I've been pulled over by cops a number of times, and always let go. I just 'comply' - it's that simple.
Once i was pulled over in Virginia, i was smokin' some bad leafy/'shake' weed, clearly evident(fragrent!), but not visible, I told the cop the smell was just something burning in my car ashtray. All he could do was look inside, he couldn't search without reasonable cause, which there was none of, nothing visible. He smiled at me like he knew what was going on, but he couldn't do shit. I smiled back, and was on my way.
Another not 'cop', but racial/black incident:
In November1976. i moved to Baltimore, took an apt. on St Paul St, east of Hopkins hospital. A BAD neighborhood.
One snow-stormy morning my girlfriend left early, her car was snowed in. As she was trying to get it out, a bunch of black guys came of of the corner bar (there's a bar on every corner, that's the way the town is!)
She told me later, she thought she was a goner, they were gonna rape and kill her.
NOPE.
DIDN'T happen. They asked if she was with the white guy who lived across the street, & pointed to my building. In neighborhoods like these, no one goes unnoticed. She said 'yeah'.
They rocked her car back and forth, got her out of the snow, and that was it. She went on to work, they went back to the bar, for another drink... at 6:15 AM
"do unto others.... ( and you know the rest)"
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No wonder it is so hard for us to understand each other.
How the Internet Is Loosening Our Grip on the Truth
Whether navigating Facebook, Google or The New York Times’s smartphone app, you are given ultimate control — if you see something you don’t like, you can easily tap away to something more pleasing.
I went to a most prestigious northeast prep school, studied Latin, French & Ancient Greek. The Latin and a choice of french, spanish or german was required. I took the ancient greek as an alternate to 'scared studies' (the bible, etc) which i really did not want to study. I found studying languages to be quite interesting - many of the languages based on latin have similar words, but they don't translate directly. The french phrase 'joie de vivre' for instance literally means 'joy of life' - is there any english equivalent? Not that i am aware of. The passage of time changes languages too. Read some Shakespeare - it's in english, but a long way from what the British or Americans speak now.
I recently read some media articles about something called 'the Voynich manuscipt' - 500 year old book with very unique qualities, it seems to be untranslatable, in an unknown language with incomprehensible illustrations. But whoever made it was quite serious, this is a monstrous amount of work - intended for who?
'The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an unknown writing system. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and it may have been composed in Northern Italy during the Italian Renaissance. The manuscript is named after Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish book dealer who purchased it in 1912. Some of the pages are missing, with around 240 still remaining. The text is written from left to right, and most of the pages have illustrations or diagrams'.
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Then I remembered a montage image i had made:
'Stories to be Told' is it's title. This weathered book is probably unreadable ...but at some point there may have been stories ....about the surreal desert distance above and beyond it. I did it long before i read about the voynich manuscript or any of the following.
I remembered something my stepmother sent me after my dad died, he'd saved many old photos/memorabilia, including this old notebook/diary.
The house I grew up in, in Maine, was built quite some time ago, originally a square box, added to several times. I assume this was found in the house somewhere when my dad bought it, i'll bet the diary was written by a former owner/resident, it is dated 1857. Some pages are daily recounts of work done:
"cut trees for firewood"
"chopped wood all day"
"carried wood to house".
Other pages are unfathomable numbers, calculations, lists.
This is less than 200 years old, but it is incomprehensible.
And the english language we speak now?
It is evolving on a daily basis, thanks to digital and the internet. Words exist that didn't just a few years ago.
For example 'google' - as a verb, 'blog' as a noun.
And acronyms - "a word formed from the initials of other words"? All over the media! - SCOTUS, POTUS, DWTS.
So if understanding each other on this planet ain't easy, what about anyone else in the cosmos??
Here's something quite interesting: NASA (there's another acronym for ya) has sent a satellite with a time capsule into deep space, perhaps to found by who knows who, and who knows when.
"The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is in audio, designed to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute. It contains the spoken greetings, beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music, including both Eastern and Western classics and a variety of ethnic music. Once the Voyager spacecraft leaves the solar system (by 1990, both will be beyond the orbit of Pluto), they will find themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they make a close approach to any other planetary system. As Carl Sagan has noted, "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet"
Amongst the online comments on this one:
"This is like the Constitution of the United States, The Magna Carta, The Mona LIsa, The finest Rembrandt. This is History, and will forever be, It is in outer space. The song Johnny B Good is inscribed in a solid gold disc on the Voyager spacecraft, in order for other life to experience our music. This is a fact and is now way past our solar system into stellar space."
Definitely included - Music!
Amongst the music, is this track:
"Johnny B. Goode," written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38
At some point in time, a response might be received from somewhere in interstellar space:
It might simply be: "Please send more Chuck Berry"
Or would it start w/ 5 notes, as in the movie 'close encounters of the third kind'?
It ain't Chuck Berry, but it is musical.
Maybe we should play them the Rolling Stones 'start me up'...?
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Another language entirely? Computers.
Charles Babbage is credited with inventing the first rudimentary computer:
Alan Turing took it the next step during WWII to crack nazi codes.
Before the computer there was something almost as complex - the chinese typewriter
So what language are we talking in now? English? Or computer? Both, i suspect.
But if you want to talk 'Chuck Berry'? I am all ears!
His greatest hits:
I think rock n' roll is pretty much a worldwide language. I have read of trekkers going into the nepalese mountains to monasteries and in the distance they hear Bob Marley music wafting down from the monastery.
Probably this one:
'get up stand up, stand up for your rights!!'
A live version:
How 'bout one last exquisitive track?
Redemption song:
Recorded shortly before he died.
"Get up, stand up!....."
"Please send more Chuck Berry"
Fini - for now.......
