Should you want to be the guy Bret Easton Ellis wants to write a novel about?
If you don't know what he's talking about, here's the hilarious/painful interchange between Miller (the Trump adviser) and Acosta (of CNN):
Selected quotes:
Acosta: “What the president is proposing here does not sound like it’s in keeping with American tradition when it comes to immigration. The Statue of Liberty says, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’”
Miller: “I don’t want to get off into a whole thing about history here, but the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty and lighting the world. It’s a symbol of American liberty lighting the world. The poem that you’re referring to, that was added later, is not actually a part of the original Statue of Liberty.”
Aside from his suitability as a character in a novel, Miller is certainly right that Acosta is conflating the Emma Lazarus poem with the Statue and that the original historical meaning of the statue precedes and is not the same as those famous lines in the poem. WaPo points that out:
“New Colossus” was not part of the original statue built by the French and given to the American people as a gift to celebrate the country’s centennial. Poet Emma Lazarus was asked to compose the poem in 1883 as part of a fundraising effort to build the statue’s base.... In 1903, 16 years after Lazarus’ death, the poem was inscribed on the statue’s base, just as millions of immigrants were streaming into New York harbor....From the Rush Limbaugh link:
Earlier this year Rush Limbaugh blamed Lazarus for the false connection. “The Statue of Liberty had absolutely nothing to do with immigration,” Limbaugh said on a January 31 broadcast. “So why do people think that it does? Well, there was a socialist poet.”...
It was originally intended to be delivered to celebrate the centennial of the Declaration, the American Revolution.... The statue was not intended to recognize immigration. It was intended to recognize liberty and freedom. If you think they’re intertwined, don’t be misled.Rush proceeds to mock Madeleine Albright for saying that Trump's immigration policy is making the Statue of Liberty cry:
The statue doesn’t cry. The statue is a statue. It’s made out of bronze. It doesn’t cry. There aren’t any tears coming from the eyes of the Statue of Liberty ’cause there aren’t any eyes, and the Statue of Liberty is not welcoming immigrants. What it represents is the beacon of liberty and freedom!Yeah, well, maybe, but it's not made out of bronze. It's pure copper. We're just all misreading everything. But there's a continuum from misreading to interpretation. I can say for a fact that the statue is made out of copper, but the meaning of the statue is cultural, and it means what it has come to mean in the hearts of Americans. What the French had specifically in mind when they sent it to us is relevant if that's what's in our hearts.
You know, it wasn't even green when it arrived. Being copper, it was copper-colored. Do original meaning fans deny that it's green?
IN THE COMMENTS: Fernandinande wrote:
"American Psycho"/I tried reading that a few months ago, and speaking of run-on sentences and that silly "grade" metric, I stopped reading after a two-page sentence which painfully detailed all the products and actions the guy used in his morning routine.And yet, it you gave me 2 pages right now of Bret Easton Ellis's description of what he imagines Stephen Miller does and uses in his morning routine, I'd eagerly, happily read every word of it. I assume it would be... completely compelling.
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130 comments:
A lot of the copper is from the old roof of the Arnold Auditorium of Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ.
The SOL needed repairs and they needed aged copper, and they were redoing the roof over at Bell Labs.
Does the statue's color have a bearing on what the statue means? If you can make a case that it does then the final question is pertinent. Personally, I think it was just smart-*ssery.
Scott Adams says of the Acosta-Miller exchange over who speaks English that Miller was jokingly adopting the outrage of the left as a rhetorical joke, playing their own trick back at them.
Adams is a little wrong - it's false outrage even on the left. The lie is the seriousness.
I took it rather as a sign that Trump is adopting the progressive ethical touchstones. Lie about everything, with real lies; not just literal vs figurative things.
(repasted from other thread)
The Constitution is a living document. 100 year old poems are immutable law.
Got it.
There's got to be a copper cleaner for that. Let's get that original meaning looking as good as new.
#PlinthPoems
...[T]he meaning of the statue is cultural, and it means what it has come to mean in the hearts of Americans. What the French had specifically in mind when they sent it to us is relevant if that's what's in our hearts.
There are two Americas: the one where in our hearts, the Statue of Liberty is affiliated with freedom and liberty; and the other, where in our hearts it is affiliated with unfettered immigration.
"American Psycho"
I tried reading that a few months ago, and speaking of run-on sentences and that silly "grade" metric, I stopped reading after a two-page sentence which painfully detailed all the products and actions the guy used in his morning routine.
The bias among Americans post WWII is that we are the savior of Europen poor and welcome them in New York City as ghetto workers until the second generation blends in. That is a Pride issue and Acosta used it to hammer Trump for protecting Americans already here.
It was a draw. But Acosta got in blows that America First is nothing to be proud of. Trump's position is that we are tapped out and letting our own die off to welcome outsiders.
It's not easy being green.
If it is all just about messaging, perhaps Stephen Miller is a good idea. A hyper-aggressive actor who plays to the Trump/Bannon/Breitbart/Rush base. (And yeah, Jim Acosta comes across a unusually extra-smarmy in that session.)
But if it is about actually passing a law, it will take 60 Senate votes. Trump/Bannon/Breitbart/Rush will never get 60 votes.
So if this is just signalling, okay. A 2018 strategy. (And it's a GOP '18 strategy that I don't think I'll disagree with.) I wrote in the other post on the Cotton-Perdue bill; I think I'd vote for it if I were in the Senate. But the Trump White House --neither Trump nor Miller -- seem very well-suited to get a bill passed.
An aside: Anybody wonder what Stephen Miller thinks about Trump's trashing Jeff Sessions? Was Miller asked about Trump's attacks on Sessions yesterday?
I happened to tune in during Miller's segment of the press conference and was wowed by his command. I thought, "Who is this guy and where has he been hiding?"
Rocketeer: There are two Americas: the one where in our hearts, the Statue of Liberty is affiliated with freedom and liberty; and the other, where in our hearts it is affiliated with unfettered immigration.
And the former is awfully tired of the latter presuming to tell "us" what's in "our" hearts (and who "we" are).
But the Trump White House --neither Trump nor Miller -- does not seem very well-suited to get a bill passed.
Acosta repeatedly beat Miller over the head with the idea that Trump's system would "require" immigrants to speak English. It does not. Speaking English is one way to increase your point score in the proposed system. As I understand it, a potential immigrant could get the necessary points to be admitted even without being able to speak English.
Too bad that Miller, who thinks very rapidly on his feet, did not make the point that the proposed bill does not require immigrants to speak English
"Do original meaning fans deny that it's green?"
Wonderful. So it's Original Meaning vs. Living Statute. Is that living statute as in Pygmalion, or living statute as in Commendatore?
One point to make is that if the poem ended up on the statue in 1906, it had all of a couple years before the immigration trend turned south. Peaking at around 1.2M in 1907, it reached a nadir of something like 20K in 1933 and started rising again after the war. It slowly made its way back up to half that original peak by the mid eighties.
mockturtle said...
I happened to tune in during Miller's segment of the press conference and was wowed by his command. I thought, "Who is this guy and where has he been hiding?"
He was perhaps the first Washington insider to join the Trump campaign. He was Jeff Sessions' communications director, and Sessions loaned him to the Trump campaign early on.
Miller also worked for Michelle Bachmann at one time, and also worked on campaign to primary Eric Cantor.
Miller reminds me of Roy Cohn. Anybody else think that way? (You all probably know of the relationship between Donald Trump and Roy Cohn.)
The US has an annual "diversity lottery" that admits about 50,000 immigrants from places that are underrepresented in the population. Not all countries eligible participate in the lottery every year. The last time Bangladesh participated it had over 8 million people sign up for the lottery. Only a few thousand were admitted.
Nigeria has had millions of participants in this lottery every year. Ethiopia nearly a million. Other countries with high numbers include Egypt and Iraq. The annual total for all countries in this lottery only is about 20,000,000.
Selectivity is a given in immigration. The crying Liberty is total bullshit. It's been a long time since we were not selective about immigration.
The issue is what the criteria for selection should be. Trump is being bashed for even raising this issue.
Since it's all the rage nowadays to tear down monuments that "we" don't like, let's tear down the fucking Statute of Liberty. It's becoming a huge (yuge) pain in the ass.
The burning question here is actually, "Why doe this President bother with the ignoramuses of the leftmedia?"
Why doesn't he select a few outlets and feed all his releases through them? These mediaswine are his enemy and the people's enemy. Does he think, like McCain, that if you accommodate the lefties they will appreciate you in the long run? Is this an illusion related to egomania?
My far left friends are convinced his use of the word cosmopolitan is a Nazi dog whistle in the same vein as fake news (lying press).
Unknown "But if it is about actually passing a law, it will take 60 Senate votes. Trump/Bannon/Breitbart/Rush will never get 60 votes."
As an election issue, it might. The dems have what 25 senate seats up for grabs in 2018? the GOP has what, 8?
We should judge the Statue of Liberty by content of its character, not by the colour of its skin.
When did reporters get like this? He's not asking questions and trying to elicit answers so much as give a speech and/or debate the White House official. So much interrupting. I find it hard to watch.
BDNYC "When did reporters get like this?"
Seems they were like this:
1981-1992
2001-2008
2017-?
It is like it is cyclical or something. I am trying to find a pattern.
Sam Donelson could not be reached for comment.
,i.My name goes here. said...
Unknown "But if it is about actually passing a law, it will take 60 Senate votes. Trump/Bannon/Breitbart/Rush will never get 60 votes."
As an election issue, it might. The dems have what 25 senate seats up for grabs in 2018? the GOP has what, 8?,,/i.
Getting 60 members in the Senate would send the Republicans into absolute panic. They would then be exposed as frauds both on immigration and Obamacare.
Senator Goober (SC) just gave us his opinion. Like McCain, he has an opinion on EVERYTHING.
Goober doesn't the limit of 500,000 per year, because we need at least 1 million immigrants a year to keep labor costs low, and profit margins up. Otherwise South Carolina's resorts, golf courses, and agri-business will suffer.
And that's the most important thing.
Expect McCain to express the same thought about Arizona.
I've tried to explain to my son that the big torch, held high, can't possibly mean: now that we're enlightened, everyone can come here. It must mean: we've achieved enlightenment, and now we are sharing it with the world. The beams of light can reach (so to speak) everywhere. Not: leave your hell-hole and come here; but here's some enlightenment that you can use to improve your hell-hole.
Speaking of originalism, the formal name of the statue is "Liberty Enlightening the World," not "welcoming the world." It's kind of an interesting historical coincidence that it has become so associated with Ellis Island, first sight of the New World, and all that. Of course, if you are really excited about American enlightenment and exceptionalism, there may be no substitute for seeing for yourself.
Thought I’d seen some ups and downs
’Til I come into New York town
People goin’ down to the ground
Buildings goin’ up to the sky
"making 21st policy in accord with late-19th century poetry makes no sense." -- Rich Lowry,
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/02/immigration-stephen-miller-jim-acosta-trump-215451
"But if it is about actually passing a law, it will take 60 Senate votes. Trump/Bannon/Breitbart/Rush will never get 60 votes."
I suppose I'm naive, but I can't imagine how they couldn't scrounge a few Democrat votes for the principle that we should admit people who will benefit the country's citizenry.
trad-guy: But Acosta got in blows that America First is nothing to be proud of.
It counts as a blow to 1) people who think "America First is nothing to be proud of". It doesn't to two other groups:
2) Those who know nothing about the historical reference "America First", don't find anything shameful about the notion, so Acosta just comes across as a puling git to them, and
3) Those who do get the reference, but reject the hindsight vilification of the movement and its members (and the lazy-minded propaganda flowing therefrom), so Acosta just comes across as a puling git to them.
Don't know for a fact, but I'd guess that (2+3) make a bigger group than (1).
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
What bullshit!
Just as long as we get the wall.
I wonder how many dummies watch CNN and think its "Objective" news?
Can people really be that stupid?
Blogger BDNYC said..."When did reporters get like this? He's not asking questions and trying to elicit answers so much as give a speech and/or debate the White House official. So much interrupting. I find it hard to watch."
This is why, even though I'd miss it, I think they should stop televising the WH press briefing.
Never was a fan of BEE. Absolutely hated, "Less than Zero." It was real popular in the early 80s, and I was living in LA, but I detested it. This girl in the dorms insisted I read it, so I read it quickly to make some time with her. Not a good book.
I refused to read or see American Psycho, too.
But, they guy seems to have come to his senses on politics, so, maybe there is hope!
WisRich: Getting 60 members in the Senate would send the Republicans into absolute panic. They would then be exposed as frauds both on immigration and Obamacare.
"Would then be"?
Hahahahahaha.
Original Mike said...
...
I suppose I'm naive, but I can't imagine how they couldn't scrounge a few Democrat votes for the principle that we should admit people who will benefit the country's citizenry.
I sort of agree with you. But it would take a president with consummate skill in negotiating with those Democrats. And who had the discipline not to do and say stupid things in the process.
Would it be wrong to electrify the seats in the Press Room?
Acosta is just a contrarian. His job is to report accurately on what the White House is doing. You'd think he would interpret the policy correctly.
But instead he just goes off on and emotional tangent until he says something stupid like, "are you trying to narrow immigrants to only those from England and Australia [regarding the speaking English]. At that point he lost the entire argument to Miller.
Best part of the video is watching Miller whack him over the head for saying it.
Chuck: "But the Trump White House --neither Trump nor Miller -- does not seem very well-suited to get a bill passed."
Correction: But the Republican Congress -- neither McConnell nor Ryan -- does not seem very well-suited or inclined to get a bill passed or appointments approved.
There. Fixed.
As has often been remarked, if the immigrants streaming across the southern border were primarily journalists, opinion writers, and college professors willing to work for peanuts, this conversation would have a vey different character.
Allen S suggests: Since it's all the rage nowadays to tear down monuments that "we" don't like, let's tear down the fucking Statute of Liberty. It's becoming a huge (yuge) pain in the ass.
Keep the statue, take down the stupid poem.
MountainJohn remarks: As has often been remarked, if the immigrants streaming across the southern border were primarily journalists, opinion writers, and college professors willing to work for peanuts, this conversation would have a vey different character.
That's actually a good idea. Let's toss all the 'journalists' who now occupy the MSM and replace them with foreigners. It doesn't even matter if they speak English. It might even be an improvement if they don't.
"What the French had specifically in mind when they sent it to us is relevant if that's what's in our hearts. "
But is that/was that what is/was in your hearts?
I suspect there is a powerful element of assuming a consensus here. The people with the megaphone pretend, or perhaps sincerely, mistakenly assume that they speak for the mass.
The contemporaneous Chinese Exclusion Acts indicate that there was, let us say, considerable ambiguity on the matter, even at the time. The first Chinese Exclusion Act from 1882, the year before Lazarus published that poem, the last one from 1902, the year before that plaque was attached to the statue.
It's worth noting that the poem is in English
Pointy Bird
O pointy birds, o pointy pointy,
Anoint my head, anointy-nointy.
--John Lillison, England's greatest one-armed poet and first man killed in an automobile crash (1894).
Contemporary poem to "The New Colossus" and just as relevant to 21 Century American immigration policy.
Lots of LifeLongRepublicans would happily trade failure to pass good laws on topics ranging from immigration to tax reform for the chance to see Donald Trump personally humiliated, yes sir. Lots.
WisRich: "Getting 60 members in the Senate would send the Republicans into absolute panic. They would then be exposed as frauds both on immigration and Obamacare."
And, most importantly, as accomplices of the Dems and leftmedia in undermining our President.
Emma Lazarus' text is rather insulting to us immigrants.
Jules: What country are you from?
Brett: What? What? Wh - ?
Jules: "What" ain't no country I've ever heard of. They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: English, motherfucker, do you speak it?
Brett: Yes! Yes!
Jules: Then you know what I'm sayin'!
Brett: Yes!
Darrell said...
Would it be wrong to electrify the seats in the Press Room?
Would it be wrong to electrify the seats in Congress?
Kipling: The Gods of The Copybook Headings
Unrelated, of course.
Geez I remember John Derbyshire making fun of the use of weeping sentimentality, in the form of Lazarus' poem, by open borders types way back when Derb was still with National Review! It's crazy how little has changed, in terms of the bad arguments of the Left. I think it really should be a strategic disadvantage for them to rarely have to confront good counterarguments (owning, as they do, the entirety of the Media and Academy) to their poorly-understood but passionately-held emotional positions.
btw, I agree with you, Professor Althouse. It appears that all sides are misusing and/or misinterpreting the Statue of Liberty. I guess that I'll blame Jim Acosta first and foremost, since he raised the issue for no good reason. I expect you'd do the same. And yes, I won't be consulting Rush or Stephen Miller for statuary history either. While the Statue of Liberty wasn't a gift from France for "immigration," it is what it came to mean. Ellis Island wasn't founded as a national historical site, but that is what it has become. The Lee family plantation in Arlington, Virginia wasn't founded as sacred American ground, but that is what it came to be.
Best thing in immigration law would be to stick to statutes, and leave statues out of the discussion.
Miller is an improvement over Spicer. But his "Jim, Jim" is just weak.
"When did reporters get like this?" Oh, 1972 or thereabouts?
"I suppose I'm naive, but I can't imagine how they couldn't scrounge a few Democrat votes" Sorry, yes, you're naive. Maybe Manchin will break ranks.
The real outrage in current immigration policy is that family preferences amount to a national origins quota by other means. A point system is better for America and more fair to potential immigrants.
If there weren't such a thing as "the Media" and that nonexistent entity wasn't strongly Leftist, wouldn't we be seeing a lot of journalists criticize Acosta for his behavior? Shouldn't nonpartisan, nonideological journalists have a problem with the kind of blatant side-taking (in, naturally, the most self-aggrandizing way possible) that Acosta engaged in?
I mean, I'm sure Rush and Hannity have or will criticize him, but shouldn't the "mainstream" media critics also object?
LifeLongRepublicans tell me that there's no "the Media" and I'm wrong to think of them all as hard Leftist pro-Democrat hacks. Seems to me the facts, at least so far, seem to support my assertion about the reality of the situation, no?
Haven't checked this out, but of all (West?) European countries, France probably sent the lowest number of immigrants as a proportion of population. My theory: 1. They wouldn't be insulted as poor and huddled masses, and 2. They were already free. The statue was given in solidarity, after all, from one free republic to another.
Anyway, the Lazarus poem, execrable as it is, nicely expresses the lefty disdain for the actual masses, wrapped in sentimental schlock. As Acosta showed, progs haven't changed, except in their attire. Of course, from the conventional anti-American prog standpoint, open borders is the perfect tool to destroy what's left of the US. But at least some lefties might still weigh the interests of domestic poor and huddled masses against those of the Others. If I am not mistaken, I heard whispers of it in Sanders speeches.
Shouldn't nonpartisan, nonideological journalists have a problem with the kind of blatant side-taking (in, naturally, the most self-aggrandizing way possible) that Acosta engaged in?
For one thing, and it's just one thing but it's significant, events and tweets and leaks of today have already overtaken those from yesterday. Everyone's talking about the White House phone transcript leaks and Acosta's woes or battles are not on the front burner anymore.
open borders is the perfect tool to destroy what's left of the US.
Oh, I can think of other ways unfortunately.
I would stay away from any character in a Bret Ellis novel and given how much Ellis likes the twisted and ugly Miller may appear in his next novel about the drug infested NH --the new location instead of his previous LA settings.
themightypuck said...
My far left friends are convinced his use of the word cosmopolitan is a Nazi dog whistle in the same vein as fake news (lying press)."
While I didn't hear the "dog whistle," I was puzzled by Miller's use of the word; the only misstep in what I thought was a great performance. Thinking that only people from the UK and Australia speak English and so the English requirement is "racist" is not cosmopolitan, but provincial. It is what a person who does not know that English is the international language of business would think.
Calling Acosta and his cohorts "cosmopolitan" flatters them, since all of them like to think of themselves as worldly, polished, sophisticated. I imagine they'll start referring to themselves as "cosmopolitan" in a snarky, yet self-congratulatory way. We're cosmopolitan! We're not like those hick Trump voters!
Calling Acosta "provincial" would have stung - and it also would have been true. He cannot think outside the confines and clichés of the media left, nor does he understand American history.
No Más
No Más
--2017 Addendum to the Statue of Liberty
Original Mike said... [hush][hide comment]
"But if it is about actually passing a law, it will take 60 Senate votes. Trump/Bannon/Breitbart/Rush will never get 60 votes."
I suppose I'm naive, but I can't imagine how they couldn't scrounge a few Democrat votes for the principle that we should admit people who will benefit the country's citizenry.
8/3/17, 11:42 AM
Sorry but most politicians don't do anything for the benefit of the country's citizenry. They do it for the benefit of reelection. If that happens to coincide with "benefit of the country's citizenry" alls the better but if no, no biggie.
Sebastian said...
Haven't checked this out, but of all (West?) European countries, France probably sent the lowest number of immigrants as a proportion of population. My theory: 1. They wouldn't be insulted as poor and huddled masses, and 2. They were already free."
My guess is those who immigrated to the New World went to Quebec. The descendants of the Cajuns went to what is now Nova Scotia and lived there for a century until they were expelled by the British. Most made their way to Louisiana before it became American territory. Some went to Quebec, the West Indies or back to France.
I don't watch the press briefings like ever but if this were to become a staple of the briefings (a well earned smack down of a pretentious media personality) I might have to set my DVR!
That was "satisfying" to observe...
Relatively few French emigrated, but those who did seem to have insisted on establishing their own cultural and linguistic enclaves, whether in Quebec or in Louisiana.
Scott Adams pointed out correctly that in a perfect world Miller would engage the substance of what Acosta meant by saying "so you only want immigrants from England and Australia then?" (not even thinking of the many billions of english speakers - India has maybe a billion on its own). Clearly it was hyperbole. Or at least if you give Trump credit for saying things that are absurd hyperbole but emotionally true without being such a moron that he actually believes them, you can give Acosta the same credit.
On the other hand, I approve of WH communication people dealing back to the media the same "how dare you" outrage at the absurd absolute.
Re: some other babble on the pundit panels this week.
When I came in on a permanent visa with stated intention of becoming a citizen, I was also then subject to the draft - in fact preferentially so, since the local draft boards tended to prefer drafting unknown foreigners to calling up their constituents' own beloved dumplings.
Korean War veterans have told me that in Korea this actually was a recognized problem with recruits who had been drafted almost straight off the boat and had difficulty understanding orders or to make themselves understood, and people died because of it.
At that time you could apply for citizenship after having served 90 days in the U.S. military rather than 5 years residence without service.
The best officer I met up with during my own service was my first 8 weeks of basic training commander, Lt. Navarro, who hailed from Nicaragua. A small package, but all Army and a great leader, and we loved him.
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.
Because Sinclair Lewis already wrote Elmer Gantry about Jim Acosta.
"The descendants of the Cajuns went to what is now Nova Scotia "
Excuse me, I meant the ancestors of the Cajuns.
The Lazarus poem in its entirety strikes me as purple doggerel but people are quoting it as though it is serious poetry. I had to look her up and was surprised to read she was highly regarded in her time.I'm wondering if I am reading it wrong and that it is better than a piece of beloved sentiment.
The unburnt Queen of the First Men
Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea
Breaker of Shackles and
Mother of Dragons
I was already planning to watch the film AP this weekend for first time.
Sorry but most politicians don't do anything for the benefit of the country's citizenry. They do it for the benefit of reelection.
Amen to that, Todd!
All I know is that she's a dirty girl - probably becuase, as the poem clearly shows, she's into slummin' around.
r/v, are you suggesting there are lots of "irredeemable" "deplorables", most likely republicans, who are the ones the dems are most "proud of" treating as "enemies", in NH?
Don't hold back now.
Let us know what you like to do with all those "nazi" "fascist" rightwingers, besides depriving them of free speech and conducting systematically spying on them as well as unmasking their names and allowing the information to percolate throughout the left wing establishment government and press, of course.
The best part about all the liberals whining about how awful, terrible, racist, hateful etc etc etc. the proposed Immigration changes are is that these are the same people who have been praising the Canadian medical system.
So, they "lurve" Canada and other countries because they're so superior to us in every way....yet we are proposing to use the SAME system for immigration as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and many many other countries.
Which is it. Canada is great and WE suck? or Canada is great and we will be too once we adopt their policies....or more likely, the media morons Acosta et al have zero ideas other than the US Sucks.
No historical references. No knowledge of previous immigration policy. Can't distinguishe between Green Cards, temporary Visas, seasonal work permits, illegal or legal immigration.
What a bunch of ignorant, uneducated buffoons.
It was funny how the other reporters sat there like bumps on a log, not even interested in what those two were on about.
I wouldn't go in a room like that without a water pistol, and pea shooter.
I mean, just to keep myself amused...
Foreign women writin' rhymin' lines is no basis for government policy.
Holy Grail - Constitutional Peasant
Mr. Acosta, I have a mat on my front porch that says, "WELCOME". Don't read too much into that.
About getting the law passed: I thought the Democrats were the party of the poor, the working class, the downtrodden. Who suffers most from an immigration policy that invites in lots of low-skilled foreigners who will work for cheap wages and tolerate poor conditions? The poor, the working class, the downtrodden folks who are already here, including recent immigrants. If the Democrats kill immigration reform, the Republicans ought to make a big issue about it in 2018 and 2020. I know the Democrats have become the "stupid party", but I can't believe that they're stupid enough to do that.
Isn't this just another Fearless Girl, Charging Bull situation?
If the Emma Lazarus poem changes the meaning of the statue, putting the poem on the statue arguably violates the rights of Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and Gustave Eiffel.
@Darrell - LOL. That's a perfect fit.
...the ancestors of the Cajuns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadians
I am also dead set against this "merit based approach" they are talking about. It appears to be another dodge to import cheap software programmers for the dot.com billionaires.
There will automatically be a bias for "educated" candidates for immigrant visas, since we are talking about legal immigration here, i.e. people who know and follow the rules and fill in application forms. There also is an automatic bias for people with energy and ambition to better themselves, whether that is by picking chile and earning enough money to send their children to school or joining the research faculty at Harvard, and I think that is enough.
I also think that giving preferences to the candidates schooling is wrong, both because these people likely are badly needed by their home countries, and these people definitely take jobs away from our native citzens that they are quite willing to do. Plus, if you ever want American public education to improve, the first step is to choke off the dot.coms' foreign supply, so that they start putting pressure on the powers that be to forget about scial indoctrination and get back to teaching our own children.
Plus, of course, degrees just means credentials, not necessarily competence, and certainly not willingness to work; rather the opposite, since the credentialed tend to feel entitled.
And, as the rules used to be, no social benefits of any kind (other than for actual emergencies not your fault) until you have gained citizenship. None.
The interior of the statue is fascinating. I highly recommend giving it a climb. Since it's always crowded, it's a fairly easy climb: step, rest, step, rest. There's a place about a quarter of the way up where you can bail.
Blogger traditionalguy said...
...It was a draw...
Yeah, so was this ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6frs86Szk_0
Blogger traditionalguy said...
...It was a draw...
Yeah, so was this ...
Let's call it draw!
"the Republicans ought to make a big issue about it in 2018 and 2020." OK, but will anyone believe they will do anything about it?
Etienne: "other reporters sat there like bumps on a log..."
Disagree. I watched with great amusement as Miller administered a well-deserved drubbing to Acosta, and the camera on Acosta showed in the row behind him several of his colleagues smothering their laughter. Reminded me of 7th grade French class.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Next time? Send a professional.
"The real outrage in current immigration policy is that family preferences amount to a national origins quota by other means."
The other outrage is that the queues, waiting lists, from the countries with a greater "interest" in immigrating are immensely long. The Philippines has a 14-year queue for employment and family sponsored preferences altogether. Mexico's queue is 52 years long.
These are absurd. Should some adult applicant get through the queue they are done with their best working years are likely to qualify for Social Security and Medicare.
Best an immediate yes or no, and based on qualifications, not hanging on the queue.
I stopped reading after a two-page sentence which painfully detailed all the products and actions the guy used in his morning routine.
Right? Too many exfoliants.
buwaya: you should be setting policy.
Seriously.
This is a market-clearing exercise, why can't we bring some reason to it?
Jim Acosta was channeling the ghost of Helen Thomas during this exchange. Acosta used a long windup on his pitch, which was filled with half truths and points that were only marginally relevant. Acosta obviously loaded up his question in advance hoping to score a "gotcha". Miller provided a wonderful response under the circumstances.
As for the European country with the relative lowest US immigration -
Currently foreign born Spanish residents/US citizens in the US were only 110,000 as of 2013 - I have 110,000 compatriots here! Somewhere...
Germans, Britons, Irish, French, Greeks, even the Portuguese outnumber us.
We beat the Dutch and Belgians, Norwegians and Swedes. Maybe the Swiss.
Historical national-origin numbers are a bit fuzzy, but its certain that the proper Spanish are one of the least numerous groups, far below the French, and eyeballing the numbers definitely the lowest numbers of any Western European group per capita.
https://www.infoplease.com/us/race-population/immigrants-us-country-origin
Historically it was also very low. Even the French were more willing to go to an English speaking country. For some reason the Spanish (the actual ones from Spain) are scared of English, Spain has few English speakers and their emigrants have long preferred Spanish-speaking countries.
CBS News has the headline: Trump aide dismisses Statue of Liberty "huddled masses" poem
Dismisses: To reject, to refuse to accept.
I didn't get the message that he was dismissing the poem.
I think a better word would be, he thought the poem is immaterial. That is, so insubstantial as to be irrelevant.
I got your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free right here.
It may really be copper, but Limbaugh can point to the NYT for support of his point of view: "no true patriot can countenance any such expenditures for bronze females in the present state of our finances." (Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty#Design.2C_style.2C_and_symbolism)
It is supported by iron trusses; I don't think copper would be strong enough. Bronze might, which may be why people assume it's bronze?
Remember that Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers union, opposed illegal immigrants--and unrestricted immigration--because it impacted farms workers more than any other. The UFW didn't fight for and win a living wage in order to have it undercut by a bunch of non-union illegals.
What Hagar said @1:19 PM.
Hmmm,
I am credentialed, entitled, and actually a form (well, a rather high-toned sort) of gastarbeiter. NP, I will be leaving the labor force shortly.
I watched the exchange and I agree with whoever posted the comment that Millar was doing a parody of left wing outrage rhetoric.
It was beautifully done.
Doing immigration quotas on a merit basis should shrink the queues considerably. A few years ago, the INS admitted the delays in the legal immigration system helped with their budget by collecting the fees to stay in the queue.
I can't say our lot was a poor huddled mass yearning to breathe free. Not poor, we rarely huddled, and the breathing as such was no problem. It must have been the yearning.
Personally, my proximate options in the 1980's were Europe/Spain/Britain(the English thing you see), Australia, and the US.
Lucky you.
It is supported by iron trusses
...which were designed by Gustave Eiffel.
A few decades ago, they had to put stainless steel between the iron and copper. That should be an allegory for something.
Exile, cosmopolitan is correct in the sense of not putting national interest first, with some elitist snobbery thrown in.
"Exile, cosmopolitan is correct in the sense of not putting national interest first, with some elitist snobbery thrown in."
Quite. The now rare term "citizen of the world" was a good description, and most who flew, unofficially, under that flag weren't Jews.
A typical (OK, not quite) fellow of that ilk -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Carton_de_Wiart
Back in the bad old days, "Cosmopolitan" was an anti-Jewish slur because they was seen as having no home country and traveling form place to place with no national loyalty.
That now applies to the "elites" (self described) who say they are "citizens of the world."
Like Obama.
"Back in the bad old days,"
But WHICH bad old days?
Must the implication of a term be the one, or the other?
Or must it be the worst possible one?
Honi soit qui mal y pense
I remember when the Statue of Liberty underwent a major restoration in the mid 1980s. At the time, I read that for minimal added cost, the copper could be electroplated with gold. This would have kept her looking shiny for decades and would have been entirely in keeping with our current president's tastes in decoration.
"But WHICH bad old days?"
At least back to Hitler but I think the term is older than that.
I think it goes farther back in Germany than Hitler.
"The 10,000 Year Explosion" has a whole chapter on the history of Ashkenazi Jews and the evolution of higher IQ and the origin of lethal mutations like Tay Sachs.
" I read that for minimal added cost, the copper could be electroplated with gold. This would have kept her looking shiny for decades and would have been entirely in keeping with our current president's tastes in decoration."
If they could have done that in the 1880's, they would have.
Same as those Greek marble statues, that in their day, when new, were painted like circus figures.
What you are dealing with now, in matters of taste, is an unconscious bias to the familiar.
Mr. Miller: "Do you at CNN really not know the difference between green card policy, and illegal immigration?"
Acosta was schooled at STFU.
the copper could be electroplated with gold
...which is what they did to the flame on the torch.
I think it was Tuchman who referred to a medieval cosmopolitan (Gentile) elite, in the days before nationalism ascended over Europe.
open borders is the perfect tool to destroy what's left of the US.
"Oh, I can think of other ways unfortunately."
We know. You have made that clear. And I too think it is unfortunate.
A common language is a uniter. Polyglot societies tend to divide.
Didn't Bush 2 try to make English the official language and get shouted down for it? I forget the details.
Oye Jaime, ¿cuál es tu problema? ¿Porque Jim y no Jaime? ¿Tienes vergüenza de llamarte Jaime? Además blanquito, que lo que tienes en contra de los blancos?
The Lazarus poem has been set to music. We performed it in high school. We also performed the Declaration of Independence (the 5th Dimension did a particularly fine version of that) and Thomas Paine's The Crisis which is very dramatic.
In fact, we performed a couple of those pieces at the 1964 World's Fair.
I agree with John Hinderaker of PowerLine.
"Lazarus’ words about the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” have since been widely absorbed into American culture and helped make the statue synonymous with welcoming people from abroad."
"Yeah, fine. But we still need an immigration policy, and the one that Congress adopted in 1965 was lousy and needs to be changed."
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/08/associated-press-smears-stephen-miller.php?utm_campaign=Roost&utm_source=Roost&utm_medium=push
Serendipity. I was talking with a friend about Scarramucci and his post-White-House greed to stay visible. I joked that Mooch should get Charlie Sheen as a co-host. Then I googled Charlie Sheen, because I was wondering what was up with him. I'm still not sure, because I started reading Jon Cryer's funny, and horrifying, narrative of Sheen's last season on 2-1/2 Men from a year ago. And Bret Easton Ellis came up:
A curious phenomenon was bubbling up in the media as well. Entertainment culture had become so stultifyingly repetitive and predictable that Charlie's antics felt like a breath of fresh air. To some authors, commentators and bloggers — seemingly intelligent people — he was a rebel, a truth teller willing to poke his masters in the eye. They defended his baleful screeds. (I'm looking at you, Bret Easton Ellis.) Of course, Charlie wasn't those things. He was simply lashing out at the people who told him the party was over.
Jon Cryer Reveals the Inside, Insane Account of Charlie Sheen's Infamous Meltdown
Ralph L said...A few decades ago, they had to put stainless steel between the iron and copper. That should be an allegory for something.
Shouldn't that accelerate any electrochemical decomposition, stainless steel being a great conductor? I'd have thought they would have insulated the two metals from each other.
Imagine if an artist were allowed to put a bracelet or an armband around Lady Liberty's upraised arm. That would remind us of penis-in-vagina sexual love would it not?
stainless steel being a great conductor
Actually, it isn't.
You're correct, mockturtle!
I assumed, and made an ass out of myself!
May I kick Jim Acosta in the teeth? Someone needs to do it.
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