Monthly Archives: January 2017

Some Study Required

Immigration, Media, Politics, , , , , , , , , ,

After this weekend explosion in the media after President Trump’s latest executive order.  One has to ask, how many of you have traveled outside the country as a normal citizen?

As an American citizen, you may have a opportunity to travel to some other part of our big world that is getting much smaller.  Be it for pleasure or work will make a big difference when you apply for a Visa, if needed, for your destination.  So, you jump through all the hoops, paperwork, travel permits, tickets, vaccination shot sand sometimes a ‘Fee’ when filing for your Visa just to get to your destination with your bright red suitcase and you step up to the local customs official and present them with your paperwork, just to find you have just broken one of their laws.

I am using the “Red Suitcase” as a simplistic version for this case.  In all your preparation for your trip you read about the local customs and laws that may pertain to you or it may have been a change while you were on your flight to the country.  I which case, if you do surrender your “Red” suitcase and carry your stuff in a shopping bag, the local customs officer can have you re-board the plane and send you away.  Just because you get a Visa does not guarantee you will have a good trip.

Before everyone get up in arms about my explanation, I do suggest that you take the time and look it up and read it for your self.  The United States immigration policy is rather large and has been updated by your elected leaders in Congress.  If you want it changed, you better make them do it.  It is just going to be enforced now.

Either option you chose on your trip you are now returning to the U.S. with your passport and other travel documents.  You are now in front of a U.S. Customs agent on U.S. soil, you present him with all the documentation and what you are coming back with.  You answer the agents questions and now find yourself moved to a room for a more in-depth interview.  Did you answer the previous questions right or was there something else?  Was there some medical problem that needs checked out.  Like a disease outbreak just after you boarded your plane.  Did you bring something that is not allowed in this country?  This is just some of the things that the Customs agent has to check off before you can re-enter the country.

That was just for an U.S. citizen, now what if you are an immigrant or refugee.  Many of them will get a Visa just to get them the ability to leave the country they are in, some will try to use this permission slip to get to the United States where up on arrival they have to ask and get the permission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or through their agents at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to actually enter the country.

While having a visa does not guarantee entry to the United States, it does indicate a consular officer at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad has determined you are eligible to seek entry for that specific purpose. DHS/CBP inspectors, guardians of the nation’s borders, are responsible for admission of travelers to the United States, for a specified status and period of time. DHS also has responsibility for immigration matters while you are present in the United States.

Much of this information is availibly on line at the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and the Customs and Border Protection website.

Once you are allowed in the country you will have to apply for a Green Card.  A Green Card is needed to continue your application to become a Citizen of the United States of America.  You can think of a Green Card like a probationary period.  There are may rules and ways that you can get a mark against you during this time.  You can find stories on the internet that people with a Green Card’s have done something that if they leave, they may have to do some paperwork to get back in or may not be allowed back in.

Many of these immigrants and refugees need sponsers to step up and be responsible for their requirments while they go through the process of learning to live and grow in the United States.  Wonder how many of the ‘not my problem’ protesting crowd will step up.  Once you start reading about the immigration laws and policies through the years, you won’t believe some of the things that caused immigrants in the past to be turned away for.  Before jumping on the bandwagon, some study required.

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Who are the Ringmasters?

Media, Politics, , , , , , , , , ,

WELCOME to THE GREATEST show on Earth!!!

No! No! No!

I am not talking about the circus that just closed its doors.

The OTHER one!!!

I am talking about the one that our Constitution took some offered land and called it the District of Columbia.

You know, Washington D.C.

That place on the East coast of the United States of America where we elect supposedly honest and honorable people from our own states and send them to run our country and make or change laws to make us better.

Huh, why are you looking at me like that?

Boy, that is one blank look.

Ok, let’s try this again.

You remember that screen in “Star Wars” where an old monk, a snot-nosed kid, and a couple of droids in a floating convertible stopped on a rise just before that desert city and mumbled something about “Never will you find a bigger den of …something, something, something in your life.” And everyone in the United States that hears it will think of that city on the East coast with D.C. at the end of it.

Was that a spark of recognition in your eyes?

I think it is.

To continue, that city is the national capital of our country. Our constitution went on to further set up our government in three branches, The Legislative, The Executive, and The Judicial.  This is to supply some necessary checks and balances to the system of government we use.

The Legislative Branch is voted on by the citizens of the state they are wishing to represent. A national election is carried out for the top two positions of The Executive Branch. We use a two-party system that are currently called Democrats and Republicans.  The two parties have had other names in the past.  Sometimes a Third party candidate jumps in and will get the votes when neither party can find a good candidate the citizens like or support.

Now with all of that, we find another group trying to horn in to make themselves part of the government when from the beginning, the public has asked them to be the messengers or the TRUTH finders for the public. The Media.

Before I go much further, I will say that there are some good reporters out there.  Most of them are independent, freelance, or work for some local independent media.  There are some that do work for the big media corps that have that haven’t quit gone over to the dark side and still try to find the TRUTH before saying or doing anything.

But, everyone still has to eat, so these reporters still turn in their stories to be published or picked up by one of these conglomerates to get a steady wage. Once one of the big media company types pick up their stories it has to massaged to fit the company line or political slant.  Like everything now days, it has to have just the right slant.  Politicians have always tried to be friendly with the Press to get them to run ‘free’ propaganda for them or try to smear the other candidate but now the press has become just one large paparazzi circus.

If they do print or say something that is true and well documented, the public has no way to know it is the actual Truth. The Press has lost most of the public confidence that they used to have.  The Press is just a part of the circus we now read or watch every day.

I have read or heard that there are members of congress that have done or said many stupid and possibly illegal things while being in office and that there are actual official investigator and police reports that are in the files of prosecutors and even though there are some that say they are immune by the constitution for these deeds. These are men and women that stood on the platforms and said many times over that they are very honorable people with great integrity convinced the public with the help of the press to get them elected.  I will go with the opinion, that the press are sometimes unwitting accomplices in this act.  But when the TRUTH finally can come out they are usually the first to try to cover it up rather than admit they may have been wrong.  If the public knows, the public can decide if that person should stay in office or if the infraction does not rate an outcry, may allow the re-election of the individual.  But the Truth is out there for all to see.

The circus we are now watching is reminiscing of days gone by. It really brings back the song by Don Henley called “Dirty Laundry”.  If you haven’t heard it.  Look it up and listen.

Influenced or Rigged, A matter of Semantics?

Politics, , ,

In the last year like every election year since the founding of this county someone has gone around and cried that the elections are rigged. In some cases they are right but the winners and/or the losers always made sure that in the aftermath that there is no evidence that it had ever happened.  For those that dig into history and find some proof, they are labeled as conspiracy theorists or Crack-Pots or something else.

We don’t want the ignorant sheep that is the public to rise up in anger to learn that the Political Elite have been running the show from birth the death.

“Do as I say, Not as I do.”

“We know what is best for you.”

Since the beginning of this country the other countries of the world have tried to influence the elections for the top power spots of this country and we have been doing the same to the rest of the world. Now with internet social forums and the modern electronic age it is more work to keep it low keyed.  You never know when it might turn around and bite you in the ass.  Take a look on how hard the United States did not want President Putin in power in the new Russia.  Maybe he was just returning the favor.  Was his election influenced or rigged for him by outsiders or Russia’s political elite?

If you look at history, you will find that some of the biggest power players in the influence business have been the News Media. It probably started with the story telling bards of old.  They went around telling the next village the triumphs or fall of Kings and Heroes.  This grew into the Newspapers and then into the Television News.  Now we have the Internet Media and the old way of doing business is not putting the money into their pockets like they want.  With the advent of the social platforms of the internet, those losing money to the new way of doing things now scream everything is Rigged.  With every type of media used through the ages, there have been good and bad users.  It is still the same today.

There are some groups of hackers that may be associated or in the hire of a country that has caused trouble in one country or another. This has been an ongoing struggle to keep them in check.  There are many very smart or very lucky people out there that work on both sides of the issue.  Some for nationalist pride and some just for the money.

So, we find that in today’s world, if you no longer can influence a favorable outcome you cry that it was rigged.

OR

You find a better hacker.

Recap of the 2016 Election

Politics, , , , ,

From the conventions to the day after the election vote was a whirlwind of accusations and counter acquisitions.

The candidates weathered the storm with the big and little news people doing all their work for them.

The scorecard was being used every which way you can imagine.

We found polling data that was correct, incorrect or outright wrong.

The regular voting blocs were content that everything was either going their way on one side and the other was fighting with themselves to control their party.

In among all of this was a small ground swell of voters getting ready to step up and make a change.

A change the political elite was not ready to see or hear.

 

Now in a real election, you would not get the results till the county or township election boards certified the results in their bailiwicks to be truthful and not tampered with. Those results would then be sent to the State elections board for review and certified.  Once these results were made public then a new leader would be notified.  This usually takes at least a week.

Now days, the major News Networks take it among themselves to do an ‘Informal’ head count and then start touting the new or re-elected leader of the free world.  For those that watched the coverage on election night they saw the Talking Heads of the news networks where all happy at the start of their coverage and by the end of the night, they were at a loss of words as to what was happening.

Earlier I mentioned a ground swell of voters. They stepped up and made a decision to VOTE.  I would have like to said a tidal wave but that would be every legal United States of America citizen voting.

Late on election night, when the numbers started to signal a change the country held its breath. It was like watching a football game in the final seconds and with forth and ninety-nine, a quarterback sneak running for the touchdown.  Both sides cheered the last chance win but then the losing side realized they had lost.  They sat in stunned silence for a long time then they felt they got cheated.  They took to the streets to express their anger and in some cases caused riots.  While the rest of America turned returning to their lives.  But the elites and the News Networks want that dissent to further their goals.

Before the election you had one side saying the other side was rigging the voting and the major news networks and the White House was saying that it couldn’t happen and would never happen. Now that they lost, they are now coming forward saying it was rigged by someone or by other countries.

For a Presidential election there is one more step. The Electoral College.  This step in the Presidential election is the final step our founding fathers placed before us to ensure that select few states would maintain control of the government for their own benefit.

 

We close out the 2016 Election Year with many things still going on. What will the next year bring is still open to debate.