Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, November 10, 2018

OPINION

B3

 Mountain Views News Saturday, November 10, 2018 


HAIL HAMILTON

Left of Left

Mountain Views

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Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton


IT’S YOUR TURN—SEIZE THE 
DAY AMERICA!

 I woke up early Wednesday after only four hours of fitful 
sleep. The results were pretty much the same as when I 
dozed off on my couch. Democrats had won back the House 
from Republicans, by an estimated 27 seats, 225 to 197. 
Senate Republicans successfully fought off the Democratic 
Blue Wave, increasing their majority, 51 to 46, including two 
Independents, whom usually vote with Democrats. I hate to 
say this, but according to MSNBC, at least some of Congressional seats still in play, 
like rumored “Putin’s favorite Congressman,” Dana Rohrabacher [R-Huntington 
Beach], may be the result of possible fraud and vote tampering!

 Checking my cell for messages, I discovered a message from my oldest friend who 
lives in Burbank. It was short and telling. He said, “I didn’t know there were so many 
racists still out there.” “Telling,” because his father was Filipino, serving in the U.S. 
Navy during WW II during some of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific, earning his 
U.S. Citizenship the hard way! 

 I immediately texted him back, replying jokingly, I said: “Where have you 
been since 2016? Trump has been bad mouthing everybody and everything most 
Americans cherish and set their moral compass by. Trump has done everything as 
president to undermine everything we learned as kids from our parents, teachers, 
and from a lifetime of living free in the United States of America.”

 The same day, I watched with utter disgust as President Trump gave his worst press 
conference EVER—a two hour vitriolic, angry assault on the “fake” news media in 
general, and certain CNN reporters specifically, as “enemies of the people—as he 
tried to turn Democratic victories in the House and around the country in state and 
local governments—upside down with his lies, half-truths, and special hocus-pocus 
into a personal victory for Donald Trump.. 

 Thursday morning I woke up to the sickening news of another mass shooting, the 
second in 11 days. This time it was late Wednesday evening at a popular college bar in 
Thousand Oaks, 40 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, leaving 13 dead, including 
the gunman, and 15 others with minor injuries from jumping out of windows. The 
alleged shooter was an ex-Marine, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
known to be suffering from PTSD

 Now, just as I’m trying to finish my OpEd for Saturday’s paper, I’m reading a 
recent text from another good friend commenting on Sarah Sander’s video about 
the White House revoking a CNN reporter’s press credentials: “What that LYING 
Sarah Sanders said to justify their [The White House] actions is disgraceful. Watch 
the video. The President appears to really be going off the rails against the media. Just 
when we thought things might get better. The midterms are over Senate and House 
will be okay but 45 not!” 

 If adding insult to injury wasn’t enough, Trump, continues his meddling and 
attempts to obstruct Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion by ousting Attorney 
General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for doing their 
jobs according to Justice Department guidelines. Then he replaces Rosenstein [very 
likely illegally and unconstitutionally] with Matt Whitaker, an outspoken opponent 
of the Mueller’s investigation and convicted criminal for a $25 million fraud to boot, 
as Mueller’s boss. Nice choice Mr. President!

 If Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also ousted, ending his investigation into 
Russian collusion in the 2016 Presidential Election, Trump will have committed one 
more in his long list of obstructions of justice, further eroding confidence in our 
federal criminal justice system. Protecting Mueller, therefore, and his investigation 
must be top priority in any Democratic House agenda. His investigation is Donald 
Trump’s Achilles Heal and Trump knows it! 

 House Democrats must also do whatever it takes to defend and expand Obama 
Care, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to education, housing, 
environmental protection, and pass election finance reform over stonewalling 
Republicans. They must take the fight over social spending to the streets, better 
informing the public of the real costs of Trump tax cuts on the skyrocketing deficit, 
and how tax cuts are paid for by taking money away from social programs and 
improved infrastructure. It’s your turn—seize the day America!


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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

TOM PURCELL

CHRISTINE FLOWERS


WHY TRUMP SHOULDN’T MESS 
WITH BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP 

Whenever I talk about immigration matters, I try not to let people see 
that tattoo on my forehead, the one with the Statue of Liberty wrapped in 
a copy of the 14th Amendment. It’s a conversation killer.

 But there’s no avoiding the fact that my day job has a strong influence 
on the way I view President Trump’s announced decision to get rid of 
birthright citizenship, something which has been fairly settled law for over a century.

 That is, until the topic of illegal immigration became a useful arrow in the campaign quivers 
of both parties. The GOP, which used to have a healthy appreciation for the contributions of 
immigrants to society, has morphed into the party of “they all killed Kate Steinle.” And the 
Democrats have reacted by doing absolutely nothing, even when they were in the majority, to 
alleviate the problems caused by a broken border and ineffective laws that paralyze families and 
the economy.

 It was inevitable that immigrants would once again become that convenient political football, 
raw meat for the social media masses.

 I’m hip to the games people play, and I usually ignore the comments about criminal aliens, 
gang members, racist Republicans and the like. That’s because I’m an immigration lawyer and 
know a lot more about the inner workings of the laws and the real world impact on people like 
my clients than the Facebook scholars who keep posting links on my page about “birth tourism,” 
which I thought was what happened when Mary and Joseph were scouting out a room at the inn.

 If that makes me sound pretentious, so be it. I tend to hide my law degree under a bushel until 
I hear something that twists my lower intestine into a pretzel.

 And my lower intestine is ready for some mustard this week, because the drumbeat of 
“eliminating birthright citizenship” has gotten louder. The useful imagery of the caravan at our 
southern border was diminished somewhat by the intervening tragedies of the pipe bomber and 
the murderous anti-Semite in Pittsburgh. So the White House did a masterful pivot, and raised 
the specter of scary “anchor babies” and the harm they pose to good, decent Americans.

 The term “anchor baby” was coined about 20 years ago, but it really gained prominence in 
2006 when the country was embroiled in a debate about comprehensive immigration reform. 
When I first heard it, I envisioned Walter Cronkite with a bib and a rattle, until I realized that this 
derogatory term was being used to denote a child born in the United States who would be able to 
confer benefits upon an illegal alien parent.

 By 2006, I had been practicing immigration law for over a decade, and knew that there was 
no such thing as a baby who could immediately legalize mommy and daddy. In most cases, that 
child needed to reach the age of 21 before he or she could sponsor a parent for lawful permanent 
residence or “the green card,” so it appeared to me as if that anchor were about as heavy as a 
feather.

 Then, proponents of the term started talking about all the government benefits that baby 
could get, which are really just the same benefits any U.S. citizen is entitled to receive.

 And, kaboom!, the whole issue of birthright citizenship reared its anachronistic head. Since 
the time of the Civil War, the 14th Amendment has held that any person born in the United States 
and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is a native born citizen. Now, Trump and his friends 
who want to eliminate birthright citizenship or “ius solis” are saying that the children of illegal 
aliens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. and therefore not entitled to citizenship. I’m 
having a hard time trying to figure out how an illegal alien who commits a crime in the U.S. is 
not “subject to the jurisdiction” of our laws, and I’m sure all of those people worried about their 
daughters being raped by MS-13 members are equally interested.

 But even if this were a legitimate argument, there are a lot of problems with the way that 
the White House is approaching it. First, you don’t fix a policy problem by erasing parts of the 
Constitution with that pen you swiped from former President Barack Obama. Second, you 
generally don’t ignore the clear wording of a statute unless there is compelling evidence to the 
contrary. And most important, you don’t dare change the thing that makes us exceptional: the 
fact that prince and pauper, invalid and healthy, black man and white woman, are equally entitled 
to the great gift of citizenship. Lay off my Constitution, Mr. President.

Christine Flowers. is an attorney and a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, and can be 
reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.

SMALLER AMERICAN 
TOWNS CONNECT IN WAYS 
WASHINGTONIANS DON’T

 

After living in Washington, D.C., for nearly 8 years, I love 
being back home in Pittsburgh.

 I met many interesting people in the D.C. region, but one thing was missing there 
that’s common in places such as Pittsburgh: a basic connection among people.

 I remember visiting Pittsburgh one Saturday morning while I lived in D.C. 
As I walked to a downtown coffee shop to meet some friends, a short, elderly 
Pittsburgher shouted at me.

 “Hey, pal, your wallet is about to fall out of your pocket!”

 I explained that my wallet was long and designed for the vest pocket of a sport 
coat. It appeared to be falling out of my pants’ pocket, but wasn’t. I thanked him and 
began walking away.

 “But, pal,” he said, “a dollar bill is showing at the top of your wallet. Flip it around.” 

 I continued walking, smiling at him.

 “I said flip it around,” he shouted.

 In Pittsburgh, you see, people are outgoing and concerned about their fellow 
man. The kindly old Pittsburgher didn’t want someone to swipe my wallet (though 
the odds of that in Pittsburgh are much lower than in D.C.).

 Pittsburghers hold doors open for strangers. They politely wave your car ahead 
in traffic. They don’t hesitate to help in your time of need - as they demonstrated 
when thousands of Pittsburghers came together in response to the horrible Tree of 
Life synagogue shooting a few weeks ago.

 I remember when a hurricane-like burst - a macroburst - hit just blocks from 
my mom and dad’s house one Sunday morning. It toppled large trees in a 10-block 
area, blocking roads. Within minutes, people in their Sunday clothes were getting 
soaked by rain as they directed traffic around downed trees, helped clear roads and 
kept others away from downed power lines.

 I hate to say it, but such a response likely wouldn’t happen in the D.C. region. 
People connect with each other in the Pittsburghs of the world, but there’s a lack 
of connection among people in Washington. Walk down a D.C. street and people 
go out of their way to avoid eye contact. Strangers don’t often hold doors open for 
others. And good luck if you break down on the highway.

 According to the Brookings Institution, the 53 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, 
with populations over 1 million, are experiencing significant growth, while smaller 
metro areas, with fewer than 250,000 people, are shrinking. 

 I wonder how this trend will affect our country’s “friendliness factor.”

 As we get farther away from our roots and hometowns, will we become less 
friendly and less concerned for our neighbors, as I experienced in Washington?

 Will people become more generic and bland and less like the many colorful 
characters who are common in Pittsburgh? As we move to larger areas of sprawl, 
will we lose our sense of place and home? Will we begin to care less?

 There’s a story about a large Pittsburgher visiting D.C. He’s in a bar, watching 
the Steelers play. A Washingtonian shouts, “There are only two types of people in 
Pittsburgh - prostitutes and football players!”

 The large Pittsburgher grabs the Washingtonian by the shoulder. 

 “My mother is from Pittsburgh!” he says.

 “What position did she play?” says the Washingtonian.

 You’ve got to love a town that creates colorful characters who care so much!

 Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir 
available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is 
nationally syndicated. 


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