The Travelers

I have a possible solution to the Central American child refugee problem that combines with a Para-Darwinian experiment. To make room for said children, we will trade the countries an equal number of immigration protesters. We will be ridding ourselves of half-witted intellectually deficient dead weight and upgrading the nations mean IQ. The H0 hypothesis is there would be no difference in the survival rate between the two populations after the first six months. I consider this doubtful as a group of children, already having been born and surviving the dangers of childhood disease, dealing with CIA created criminals, a train ride on top of freight cars and managing to make it to our border obviously has superior capabilities than a group of people who, despite the benefits of vaccination, education and fluoride, still can't compose a cogent sentence, take care of their teeth, read the documents they misquote and routinely believe conspiracy theories linking the UN, the Masons and lizard people. I am fairly sure we would find nothing but a trail of bones as a half hour into the exchange, they would insult locals, demand bottled water and, complaining of why no one speaks English in this country, be shot out of p!ain irritation.

Apekind

While others may fear other "apes" taking over, I don't. There is no possible way any of the other ape species (yes,we are one, albeit upright and sometimes hairless) could be as selfish, venal, stupid, deceiving or as easily distracted and entertained by stupidity as Homo sapiens americanus moronicus. Gorillas being impressed by shiny new truck rims or riding around dressed similarly, all on the same brand of motorcycle at the same time declaring individuality and freedom? Only a human being could deceive themselves so fundamentally. The chimpanzee, any more violent than the rapacious, blood lusting lunacy ( watch any boxing or mma audience) of the human being who makes killing an art form and justifies it by declaring it as "defensive"...a society that drops fire on stone age people then rewards the doers with medals for "courage"? No,even the flesh eating, sometimes violent chimpanzee is much more peaceful. The Orangutan? Intelligent and deliberately avoiding conflict while brachiating and eating fruit? . The Bonobo, capable of complex, symbolic language use and social negotiation? Look at the first ten rows of any monster truck or wrestling audience and make a comparison about social cohesion or intelligence along with the need for dental work. There is no contest. Hell...just looking across the street or watching a right wing news show tells me I would be better off with another species running the show. Perhaps not even another ape species...maybe another primate..dolphins...oh hell a predatory starfish. At least I wouldn't have to watch an ice dancing competition or a nascar race.

Refugees, blowback and the Sorrows of Empire

Chalmers Johnson in his book 'Blowback" wrote of the possible future disasters brought on by U.S. Foreign policy, both military and covert. Central America, the focus of U.S. covert action ( though it was well known), was and still is a collection of oppressive failed states; El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were also the largest receivers of U.S. aid and assistance. Oddly enough, Nicaragua, though still poverty stricken, survived the years of U.S assisted attacks and disruption much more stable than its neighbors. The record, whether the Marine occupation of Nicaragua, the support of the El Salvadoran oligarchs, Rios Montt and the Contras, is bloodshed and social destruction. The refugees are running from the violence of gang run failed states, a direct consequence of U.S. intervention. They are the consequence, the blowback, of U.S. "intervention",in reality  the backflow of empire. The Barbarians are at the gate, in the form of child refugees. They are Ronald Reagan's orphans.

Reagan's Orphans

The irony of the latest "Immigration Crisis". e.g. the children now appearing in huge numbers from Central America is that both protesters and the children are refugees from the Reagan years. Incomes for most  in the U.S. since the 1980's have fallen; the children, and most Central American Immigrants, are refugees from the United States policies of the 1980's. This should be viewed as "blowback", or the consequences of the United States empire. We are, in many ways, all Reagan's orphans.

Tattoo Ennui

The new meme should actually be: Non-tattooed people are sick of people who are obsessed with their tattoos. It is nothing more than navel gazing. So are piercings.

The Irony of Save our Steel

Save our Steel, a United Steelworkers project against the dumping of tubular steel by foreign countries, especially South Korea, shows the failure or lack of any rational Industrial or climate policy by the United States. The steelworkers are not at fault as they merely try to withstand the brutal world economic system with little help from our government, or more often, as they fight our government from not selling off half the country from under our feet. The irony is this; Fracking, with both known and unknown environmental consequences, is akin to scraping the corn stalks off a field and boiling them for food. It is a hydrocarbon refrigerator of  month old leftovers for supper, and many of the direct consequences may not not be known from some time. It is also a perfect example of capitalism's irrationality,  maximizing the extraction of carbon while climate change works constantly in the background. Thus the irony; citizens and workers forced to fight for the right to save their jobs while destroying the very planet they live on, piece by piece. This shows how much humanity has overextended itself; one part of the population destroying a  part of the world so another population somewhere else can use what they take from it in exchange for their own destructive extraction.