Why would Donald Trump put forth this terrible and unfair policy discriminating to children born to military families?

Where is Senator Ted Cruz?  He was born in Canada in a Canadian hospital and his birth was paid for by the Canadian health care system.  He should lead the opposition to this terrible policy primarily because his esteemed colleague the late Senator John McCain would have been subject to this unfair, cruel and totally unnecessary policy.  Americans must kick Donald Trump out of the Oval Office where he is directing horrific policies that are harming our citizens. Children have no control whatsoever about where they are born!  Moreover, military families have zero influence about where their spouses will receive orders to be stationed.

Opinion- Children of U.S. troops born overseas must now apply to become citizens? That's ridiculous!

Echo by E.J. Montini published in the Arizona Republic

The Trump administration has decided that children born to U.S. service members and government employees stationed overseas will no longer be automatically considered citizens of the United States.

Can you imagine anything more ridiculous? Sure.

But this is right up there among the most ridiculous and cruel.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made the announcement Wednesday, saying that children born to service members and other government employees at military hospitals and other locales outside the country will no longer automatically be considered U.S. citizens. Instead, their parents will have to apply for naturalization.

Senator John McCain, US Navy veteran and presidential candidate (1936-2018)- born in Panama, while his father was serving in the US Military.

Arizona is home to thousands of full-time and part-time military personnel, many of whom eventually serve overseas.
Not only would this new citizenship rule be an unnecessary hassle for individuals serving their country, but it may have the effect of preventing the children of government employees and military personnel from becoming president of the United States, depending upon how the Constitution is interpreted.

Still citizens, but with limits?

The founders, under Article II, Section 1, said that in order to be president a person had to be 35 years old, to have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years, and be a “natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution.”

Since there are no longer any naturalized citizens who were around at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, military kids could be out.

If this rule were to have applied in 1936, a future U.S. senator named John McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone, might not have been eligible to run for president.

At least one member of Arizona's congressional delegation, himself a veteran, noticed this. Tweeting:

FYI under this situation Senator John McCain would not have been eligible to run for President. https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1166815383959085056 …

This, of course, makes no sense.

I know, not shocking.

What would be shocking is if Congress didn’t step in and figure out a solution.  Either that, or limiting the citizenship rights the children of those who serve could become U.S. policy.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

If Ohio were Puerto Rico - Arizona echo opinion

"What would Ohio do?

Echo opinion from Arizona by E.J. Montini in Arizona.com

Hurricane Maria analysis.

If a storm killed 2,975 people in Ohio, would Donald Trump call it an 'unsung success?'.

I’m not 100 percent convinced that Donald Trump understands that the men, women and children living of Puerto Rico are Americans.

They are.

But, I’d guess that even if Trump knows this to be true, he still may not think of Puerto Ricans as real Americans, because if he did I don’t believe he would have said what he said about the government’s response to the disaster that was last year’s Hurricane Maria.

The latest Puerto Rican death toll from that storm, based on a study done by researchers from George Washington University, is 2,975.

Nearly as many who died on 9/11.

The island is still recovering

In addition to the 2,975 dead there were many injured and many others still suffering after effects, and Trump this week called the work done by FEMA and law enforcement in Puerto Rico as "an incredible, unsung success."

Hurricane Maria caused what is said to be the largest power outage in U.S. history, one that took nearly a year to fix.

Recovery efforts will continue for years.

And Trump called it “an incredible, unsung success.”

Without labeling that remark ethnically insensitive – at the very least – is it not safe to say that if a monster storm killed 3,000 men, women and children in Ohio Trump would NOT call it an “unsung success?” No matter how well FEMA and law enforcement responded.

Insensitive? Ignorant?

We all hope and pray that the government is prepared to respond to whatever occurs when Hurricane Florence reaches the East Coast.

(Our family has relatives in the Carolinas.)

Hopefully, as well, that no matter how well the government responds, that Trump would choose not to brag about it, at least in deference to those who suffer losses.

It’s like what San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said in response to Trump’s “unsung success” remark.

She said, “In a humanitarian crisis, you should not be grading yourself. You should not be just having a parade of self-accolades. You should never be content with everything we did. I'm not content with everything I did, I should have done more. We should all have done more.”

Reach Montini is a columnist for the Arizona Republic newspaper.

Trumpzis - Lies and the liars who vouch for them

President Donald Trump lies to everyone; his supporters lie to themselves

Powerful commentary published in the Arizona Republic AZCentral by E.J. Montini 

E.J. Montini wrote a blog post pointing out that among Trump’s most recent lies is one in which he says his father was born in Germany. That isn’t true. (Trump can't even tell the truth about where his father was born?)

I heard from readers about that post pretty quickly. For example, one supporter of the president wrote: “He ‘lied’ about his dad’s birthplace? That’s the best you got, Eddie? That’s not journalism. That’s desperation.”

Actually, it’s journalism.

Why little lies matter

In fact, it’s vital journalism.

It is vitally important to point out that the president of the United States is willing to tell a lie — more than once — that is so easily disproved.

After his meeting with European Union leaders, Trump said in an interview with CBS News, “Maybe the thing that is most difficult — don’t forget both my parents were born in EU sectors, OK? I mean, my mother was Scotland, my father was Germany. And — you know,I love those countries.”

Actually, no.

His father, Fred, was born in New York City. Like Trump.

Why is that important?

No fear of being caught

First, Trump has to know he’s not telling the truth. 

Second, he has to know how easily the lie can be exposed. 

And third, he clearly doesn’t care.

Donald Trump's lies keep coming, and the people in a position to do something about it — Republicans in Congress — do nothing.

And the people who can do something about the Republicans in Congress — voters — do nothing.

The Republican-controlled government under President Donald Trump has gone full-blown “1984.” Or, as George Orwell wrote in the novel: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Recording setting pace of untruths

The Toronto Star and its Washington bureau chief, Daniel Dale, have been unrelenting in cataloging Trump’s lies.

In a recent article, Dale wrote, “The pace of the president’s dishonesty has increased significantly in 2018. After averaging 2.9 false claims per day in 2017, he is averaging 5.1 per day in 2018.”

The New York Times now reports that Trump was provided with “highly classified intelligence indicating that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had personally ordered complex cyberattacks to sway the 2016 American election” two weeks before he was inaugurated.

The article says the evidence included “texts and emails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top-secret source close to Mr. Putin, who had described to the C.I.A. how the Kremlin decided to execute its campaign of hacking and disinformation.”

Even after seeing the evidence...

And yet, a year into his presidency, Trump said of a meeting with Putin, “I don’t know how many times I can ask him if he meddled in the election, but I pressed him again and he denied it, and I believe him.”

He continues to provide cover for Putin. Or is it for himself?

I understand the inclination to turn a blind eye to a bad actor with whom we happen to agree or who’s helping our “team.”

During the worst of the steroid era in baseball, when Barry Bonds was winning games for the San Francisco Giants, the slugging outfielder was booed in every ballpark outside his home field and universally vilified by just about every fan except those in … San Francisco.

There’s the old story as well, explaining American foreign policy, in which President Franklin D. Roosevelt supposedly said (but probably didn’t) about Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza: “He (Somoza) may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”

Imagine if Hillary did this

Maybe you look at Trump that way. But is it worth 5.1 lies per day, some of which may do irreparable harm to national security?
Imagine if Hillary Clinton had won the election.

Imagine if the Russians had hacked into Trump’s campaign to get Clinton elected.

Imagine Clinton then said she didn’t believe the hacking had anything to do with the election and called the reporting of it “fake news.”

Imagine if Clinton had then cozied up to Putin and dissed our oldest and most valued allies in Europe.

Imagine if a special counsel’s investigation into all this netted more than two dozen indictments and numerous guilty pleas, and Clinton called it a “witch hunt.”

Imagine if Clinton went to Helsinki and took the side of the Russian strongman over America’s own intelligence agencies and Department of Justice.

Imagine you then found out that Clinton was provided intelligence-agency proof of the meddling weeks before her inauguration, and proof as well at Putin had ordered it.

Would you still forgive the lies? (Republican overt hypocrisy!)

MaineWriter - The hypocrisy exposed in this Montini opinion is another example of how Republicans who are Trumpzi cultists are intent on destroying American democracy. They are dangerous.

Arizona opinion: Dreamers are US ~ Senator Flake alert

Arizona Opinion 

Viktor and Amalija Knavs are the parents of Melania Trump. 

They now have Green Cards, lawful permanent US residency.
Echo from the Arizona Republic from opinion writer E.J. Montini ~ a writer who speaks truth to conservative Arizonans.  Good job!

Columnist EJ Montini says Donald Trump should not use the DACA, immigrant dreamers as a bargaining chip to get funding for his (stupid!) border wall.

Here's what Arizonans and Republicans need to understand about DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) ~ and a criticism of Senator Jeff Flake's useless call for a "three for three" compromise.

Before Sen. Jeff Flake leaves Congress he wants to make sure the "dreamers" get to stay in America.

Congressional efforts to protect the DACA immigrants has been a long, difficult, disheartening, ugly process. And it’s not anywhere close to being finished.

Flake is a thoughtful man. And perhaps an ambitious one, not closing the door on a run for president in 2020.

And while he has been critical of President Donald Trump, he is uncomfortable being rude.

DACA immigrants are more American than dreamers?

Being polite is a Senator Flake trademark, but he should, nevertheless, ask Donald Trump ~ for example (as Montini would):

Who is more American, the 800,000 or so dreamers who were brought to our country as children and grew up here … or Melania Trump’s two parents?

A rude question or a valid one?

The young people living under the protection of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program instituted under President Obama are standing at the edge of the deportation cliff.

The president promises to push them off if he doesn’t get the $25 billion he wants for his (stupid!) border wall.

Not long ago, the dreamers got a bit of a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court. But their situation remains unresolved.

Meantime, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, the parents of Melania Trump, have retired from their native Slovenia and are living in the U.S. They have green cards and could soon become citizens, most likely based on the family reunification process that President Trump derisively (and incorrectly) calls “chain migration.”
Benefits of 'chain migration'

It’s a program he wants to end -- now that the in-laws~ Viktor Knavs and Amalija Knavs~ are here, safe and sound.

Meantime, to save the dreamers, Sen. Flake is offering another compromise.

In an essay for The Washington Post he wrote:

“I can’t see this Congress agreeing with Donald Trump on a package that includes a path to citizenship for DACA participants coupled with significant changes to our legal immigration structure. That comprehensive immigration reform has proved to be beyond our grasp. That is why,...I will...introduce a bill extending DACA protections for three years and providing $7.6 billion to fully fund the first three years of the administration’s border-security proposal. I’ll be the first to admit this ‘three for three’ approach is far from a perfect solution, but it would provide a temporary fix by beginning the process of improving border security and ensuring DACA recipients will not face potential deportation.”

(Ugh!....Senator Flake, this is a useless and costly compromise.  DACA immigrants need permanent residency!)

Trump demands for a DACA deal

In addition to demanding $25 billion for his wall, Trump is demanding changes in immigration policy, one of which would eliminate the process that likely has the First Lady’s parents living here.

Trump’s plan would only allow spouses and minor children to be sponsored for legal U.S. residency. He has claimed that the current system allows an immigrant to “bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives.” That’s not true. At all. It’s a much more complicated and lengthy process.

Dreamers versus in-laws

Still, Trump has decided to demonize relatives sponsored by immigrants, when those relatives most often are just like Viktor and Amalija Knavs, the First Lady’s parents.

Trump's in-laws get to live here in safety and comfort after having spent their lives up to retirement in Slovenia.

Meantime, the dreamers grew up here, were educated here, work here and know no other country.

So maybe it wouldn’t be rude at all to ask the president who is more American:

Dreamers or Melania’s mom and dad?

(Keep up the good work ~ thank you E.J. Montini.)

Letters to the editor quotes- health care opinions in two "Red States"

Echoes of what I found published during my Internet cruising

Quotes worth blogging from two letters:

Cruising letters to re-blog as "echoes", I found two quotes. 

One written by a Centenarian born in 1915, who published a letter in The Edmond Sun, in Oklahoma. A second letter was published by Robert Robb, in the Arizona Republic.

Basic healthcare should be a basic right for all- submitted by Dorothy Messenger to The Edmond Sun, an Oklahoma newspaper (serving Oklahoma for 128 years!):

Looking back at all these tremendous changes that have taken place in my lifetime (she was born in 1915!), I can see how fortunate most of us are today in having access to so much excellent care, to the kinds of medical services, medicines and equipment that can make life easier and more comfortable. As I reflect upon the past, the present and the future, however, several questions come to mind.

One fundamental question is this: What is the nature of the healthcare industry itself? Originally, of course, the hospital system in the U.S. grew out of Judeo-Christian compassion, and the first hospitals were faith-based. In the years of my life, it seems to me that the entire healthcare system has gradually shifted from being a service-oriented activity to being a profit-driven enterprise. Do we really want to use people’s health and especially their illnesses as a source of profit? Of course, doctors, nurses, technicians, staffers, medical equipment manufacturers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and everyone else associated with providing healthcare must be able to make a living appropriate to their skills and contributions.

But why should healthcare be a for-profit enterprise? I believe that basic healthcare, like other essential services, i.e., the services to which any citizen has a right — including public education, fire protection, police protection, access to good roads, access to clean water —should be provided by our governments for the common good of all.

Most Europeans realize, but Americans have been slow to acknowledge, that we are all in this together...

Quotes from a letter to the editor published in the Arizona Republic 

Stop trying to replace Obamacare - by Robert Robb:

Robert Robb wrote: GOP leaders don't have the votes and their alternatives aren't any better. So, pull the plug!

Republican congressional leaders should pull the plug on passing a comprehensive replacement for Obamacare.

There clearly isn’t a consensus among GOP lawmakers about an Obamacare replacement. More importantly, there isn’t even a majority among GOP lawmakers for an alternative that would offer better products and more stability in the individual health insurance market.

There’s no point in substituting a dysfunctional and imploding Republican individual market for a dysfunctional and imploding Democratic one. And politically, it would be stupid. So, pull the plug.