This and That # 8

 Sometimes a statement conveys far more information than its length would suggest.

Two examples.

"What’s remarkable is that the Democrats still haven’t caught on to the fact that there’s usually a hook inside Trump’s bait." Stephen Green, contributor, 2/1/2018 on Instapundit .

Margaret Thatcher, "The facts of life are conservative." Indeed.

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A week or two ago our President was engaged in negotiations with Democrats and Lindsey Graham, a rino, over the status of the "Dreamers" and other immigration issues.

It was eagerly reported by Dick Durbin, Democrat senator from Illinois, that when referring to places like Haiti, and some African countries President Trump described them as "shitholes". Mr. Durbin claimed that the President's use of such language severely damaged our standing in the world. He did not mention that if he had not eagerly reported the alleged comment no one would have known about it so our reputation would be intact. Oh well, politics above all, always, for Democrats.

President Trump expressed a preference for immigrants from Norway. The Prime Minister of Norway was not amused.

Durbin reported that Graham's reaction to the President's comment (Mr. Trump denies using the offending term) was to point out, angrily, that the country Mr. Trump's grandfather emigrated from in 1869, Germany, was no paradise. Probably true and momentarily effective. Have we become such snobs and/or racists that we look down our noses at the world's downtrodden, most of whom today are people of color?

No. America's needs and our fiscal environment have changed dramatically since 1869. How much foreign aid did we distribute in 1869 to help poorer countries? None. How much did we contribute to the U.N. for redistribution to poorer countries? Nothing.

We were then a vast and underpopulated country of about  39,000,000. That's right. About 10% of today's population in a country of almost exactly the same size it is today. ( We had just bought Alaska. Hawaii was added later.) We needed bodies. Lots and lots of them. We no longer do.

Just as importantly the enormous welfare regime we have developed did not exist in 1869.
What government benefits and programs were available to Fred Drumpf? None. Was it partly welfare benefits that might have attracted him to America? Obviously not. Immigrants were essentially on their own. Private charities, family, religious and fraternal organizations were the only sources of help or support for immigrants. None could afford to be terribly generous.

We provide billions of dollars every year to help the downtrodden where they live now.

What we need now are immigrants with skills to help our country move forward and compete. What we certainly do not need are more people to compete for low end jobs thus keeping downward pressure on the wages those jobs pay.

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James Clyburn is one of many hacks masquerading as a congressperson. Below he displays the depth of his knowledge of history.

"The third-ranking Democrat in the House said Monday said that if one was comparing America today to Europe before World War II, "this president would be Mussolini and Putin would be Hitler."

"Having studied history and having taught history, I can only equate one period of time with what we experience now, and that was what was going on in Germany around 1934 right after the 1932 elections when Adolph Hitler was elected chancellor," Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told CNN"

Mr. Clyburn, Hitler was never elected  Chancellor.

As to the rest of his assertions, well, what can you say. These people live in a universe reserved to the ill-informed and dishonest.