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To the editor:
This July 4 will be the 250th anniversary of our nation’s Declaration of Independence from Britain. That raises the question: how do we make America great?
I didn’t say “again” because the answer lies in our collective future, not the past.
While there is much in America that is truly great, for many, America has fallen short in delivering on the promises made in 1776. Black Americans spent their first 90 years in bondage and the next 100 years waiting for the simple right to vote; Black Americans, 1-in-7 among us, still haven’t been made whole economically, socially or under the law.
It took 144 years (and a Constitutional Amendment) to grant half the population, women, the right to vote, and another 54 years (through an Act of Congress) before they could take out a loan without a man’s co-signature. An 18 percent pay gap between men and women persists to this day. Finally, roughly 10 million Native Americans and their ancestors have been mistreated in their homeland since 1492.
What is very clear is that our current path will never make America great, as our government is acting much like the British did in 1776.
Offenses cited in the Declaration of Independence being repeated today include (1) Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us, (2) protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states, (3) cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, (4) imposing taxes on us without our consent, (5) depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury and (6) transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses.
I suggest everyone re-read the Declaration to see the disturbing parallels between George III and Donald Trump.
Joseph Cannisi
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Valete
As usual, you focus on the negative aspects of the American experiment and overlook its positive ones.
I’ve read the Declaration of Independence and don’t see any similarities between George 111 and President Trump, except for being dutiful, intelligent, and cultured.
I suggest you read Mr. Trump’s 2026 State of the Union Address.
I’ll summarize the final paragraph; it is the embodiment of the American spirit.
The spirit of liberty continues to thrive in every American patriot, and the future holds the promise of greater and more glorious achievements.
Thursday, February 26 Report this
Valete
America is truly a great nation—the greatest in the history of mankind.
My argument may not be accepted by Critical Race and Gender Theorists who reject reason and evidence, but most Americans don’t share this perspective.
1. America was the first nation to introduce constitutional government to the world.
2. America was the first nation to protect religious freedom for all.
3. America defeated Nazi Germany and its allies. We had help. But without America, the war would have been lost.
4. America stood down Soviet Communism in the Cold War, and our brave president, Ronald Reagan, inspired the movement that tore down the Berlin Wall.
5. America is the most generous nation on earth. If there is a disaster anywhere in the world, you can count on America to help.
( Our free market system makes it possible for us to share, but it is our hearts and our values that compel us to do so.)
6. America has led the world in technology and innovation.
7. American medical care is the best on the planet.
8. America has made genuine racial progress.
9. America has the greatest opportunity culture in the world.
10. America has been a beacon for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
( Welcome to America! Come here legally.)
The woke culture’s worst argument is that America is evil and must be destroyed. An honest examination of the facts reveals otherwise.
(( America is a great country because we’re willing to admit our need to continue working toward our charter’s values—equality, God-given rights, and self-government—this makes America unique and truly the greatest nation on planet Earth. )
Friday, February 27 Report this
fcannisi
Six similarities between George III and Trump are listed in the above letter.
Word Man/R. Sica NEVER sees Trump's misdeeds. And, he always tries to steer the narrative towards his ideological bent - anti- woke, ctr, gender freedom, etc. - and away from the substance of the letters he criticizes:
1. Armed troops among us - L.A., D.C., Minneapolis
2. Mock trials for murderers - In-house DHS investigations of the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and others.
3. Cutting off trade - illegal tariffs and threats to close a bridge into Canada that Canada built and paid for with U.S. consent. Cutting trade to entire countries.
4. Imposing taxes without consent - a host of taxes and fees without Congressional approval.
5. Depriving trial by jury - too numerous to list.
6. Transporting beyond seas for pretended offenses - Abrego Garcia sent to El Salvador, a country he never set foot in before his illegal detention.
Word Man/R. Sica must be kidding with his #10 - "America a beacon for the tired, the poor, etc." Trump has turned the Statue of Liberty on her head and Word Man follows along blindly. Trump has told immigrants "go back to where you came from". Some beacon.
Friday, February 27 Report this
Valete
The only commonality between George 111 and President Trump is their humanity. Beyond that, there’s no resemblance whatsoever.
Saturday, February 28 Report this
krell1349
Add to Trump's stupidity an attack on Iran. This to distract from the Trump-Epstein files.
Sunday, March 1 Report this
Valete
It’s evident that you support illegal immigration, which makes you an unwitting sponsor of genocide. The immigrants who enter the US illegally endure unimaginable suffering.
( Report From The Center for Immigration Studies )
The Biden administration claims its border policies are creating “a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system.”
In fact, they’ve created a humanitarian disaster.
People will keep making the dangerous trek to the US border so long as there are good odds of being released into the country by the Border Patrol.
( And the odds are really good — since President Biden’s inauguration, his administration has taken into custody and then released some three million illegal aliens)
And that’s not counting the million and a half (or more) who weren’t caught, but who know they’re home free because the White House has stopped most immigration enforcement inside the country, too.
But isn’t stopping all that nasty law enforcement “humane”?
No, because Biden’s catch-and-release policies are enticing millions to undertake risky journeys that frequently result in injury or death.
One of the most perilous stretches of the long road to the US border is the Darien Gap in eastern Panama.
It’s a “gap” because it’s about 60 miles of roadless jungle that illegal immigrants from the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and beyond have to walk through on their way north.
The nonprofit group Doctors Without Borders recently reported that “Sexual violence in the Darien Gap is increasing,” with stories of “**** tents” and victims as young at 11 years old.
The mayor of a town in the area said people routinely die trying to cross the jungle, succumbing to disease or being washed away by rushing rivers.
Many others are robbed, sometimes by bandits from his own tribe, even as the ceaseless flow of migrants (half a million just this year) trashes the tribe’s home territory.
And the inhumanity doesn’t end when the survivors emerge from the jungle. There are 2,000 more miles of kidnappers, robbers, and rapists to pass through.
The same Doctors Without Borders group reported in early 2017 on the consequences of Obama’s lax policies in encouraging illegal immigration.
It reported that two-thirds of foreigners crossing through Mexico reported being victims of violence, including one-third of women who said they’d been sexually abused.
And then when migrants get to Mexico’s northern border towns they have to contend with both the local smuggling gangs and the larger drug cartels that divide the border region into separate zones of control. Reuters has reported that rapes of migrants this year in the Mexican cities across the Rio Grande from South Texas are the highest ever recorded.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration reports that the US-Mexico border is the “world’s deadliest migration land route,” with nearly 700 documented deaths last year.
The Border Patrol tries to prevent such unnecessary deaths, functioning as the dry-land counterpart to the Coast Guard.
Before the Biden administration, the Border Patrol rescued 4,000-5,000 illegal aliens a year on the border, from heat stroke, drowning, and other perils.
That already seems like a lot. But once Biden’s “humane” border policies kicked in, the number leapt to nearly 13,000 in FY 2021, then 22,000 in 2022, and more than 37,000 in FY 2023, which ended in September.
Did the sun get hotter, or the Rio Grande deeper? No. What happened is that as ever-more people abroad have been lured to take their chances at the border, ever-more of them have fallen victim to the perils of the journey.
Even with proper border and immigration enforcement, there will always be people willing to take foolish risks to sneak in. In that case, the responsibility for what befalls the migrants is on them, and on the criminals preying on them.
But people respond to incentives, and the Biden administration’s stubborn refusal to enforce the immigration law has attracted millions to the US-Mexico border who would not otherwise have made the journey.
Those millions have suffered hundreds of thousands of robberies, kidnappings, rapes, and deaths that would not have happened but for Joe Biden’s policies.
DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and the others setting immigration policy share the blame for every little girl raped in the Darien Gap, every young man kidnapped by a cartel in Mexico, every family washed away in the Rio Grande.
“Safe, orderly, and humane”? Hardly.
( All proponents of illegal immigration should read this information. Perhaps then they’ll understand why it’s considered genocide. )
Sunday, March 1 Report this
fcannisi
You have to wonder what sort of egotist (Word Man/R. Sica) believes ANYONE wants to read 1000 word diatribes.
Sunday, March 1 Report this
Valete
Reen’roe (AKA) Joseph Cannisi,
It’s important to read factual information about illegal immigration and the failed immigration policies of the Biden administration, which have led to genocide.
I could summarize the article in less than 50 words, but that would reduce its impact. If you’re genuinely interested in illegal immigration, which is equivalent to genocide, read the entire article. If not, that’s your loss.
Monday, March 2 Report this
fcannisi
I'm interested in ending illegal immigration by passing sensible reforms that permit anyone and everyone who wishes to come here and contribute to our country to be able to, period. No quotas, numeric limits or other bogus obstacles whose only purpose is to guarantee violations. Let's put our resources into processing rather than patrolling.
Tuesday, March 3 Report this