Camestros Felapton

FELAPTONL

Hey, Phantom’s back!

Happy news for one and all! He’s got his knickers in a twist about my post on Sarah Hoyt jumping full on to the Trump train and endorsing his attack on four US politicians: https://accordingtohoyt.com/2019/07/17/homicidal-charity/#comment-609077

“For a camel who prides himself on logic, he consistently fails to make logical distinctions between things like legitimate immigrants and ILLEGAL migrants.”

Hmmm. Yeah about that. The confused Canadian appears to have forgotten that Trump was attacking four *US CITIZENS* not ‘illegal immigrants’. Of the four ONLY ONE was not born in the USA (Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia, emigrated legally and is now not just a US citizen but an elected representative of the US people). Of course “it’s just illegals we object to” was always a lie but it’s become automatic so that even when right wing extremists are demanding citizens be deported they still chant it like a mantra.

While I’m on that point, let’s circle back to the post that Hoyt originally put up on her blog (written by Thomas Kendall):

“And Ocasio-Cortez is the daughter of a Puerto Rican [Sure, it’s a “territory” so she was technically born American. Have you ever been there? Looked at how people live there? Look at what she IDENTIFIES with? Yeah.] She is, in fact, a second-generation immigrant [Very Latin. Much minority. What she never identifies as is… one of us]. “

I always fail to estimate how supposed patriotic Americans are about their own country. Puerto Ricans ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS. A person born is Puerto Rico is American by law. It is part of America. Good grief, do some basic reading or you know, just learn something about the country you claim to love so much:

All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899, and prior to January 13, 1941, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, residing on January 13, 1941, in Puerto Rico or other territory over which the United States exercises rights of sovereignty and not citizens of the United States under any other Act, are declared to be citizens of the United States as of January 13, 1941. All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are citizens of the United States at birth. (June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title III, ch. 1, § 302, 66 Stat. 236.)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1402

Puerto Ricans don’t have to give up being “Very Latin” to be American.

camestrosfelapton

33 responses to “Hey, Phantom’s back!”

  1. Racists are racists, the Pope’s got a funny hat and the alt-trolls are trolling themselves. Anyhow, I have bought ice-cream to enjoy the sun better. And my cat has only fallen into the bathtub once today.

    Liked by 6 people

  2. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is more American than Trump, considering that she likely has at least four generations of ancestors born in Puerto Rico since 1899. Trump’s American lineage only goes back to his grandfather who was a German immigrant. Not that it matters to anybody but the usual racists how long someone’s family has been in the US.

    Liked by 5 people

    • That’s on his father’s side. Trump is literally the child of an immigrant–his mother was Scottish.

      Also, regarding his grandfather’s exile, when you read the whole case, it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for Friedrich, who dodged mandated military service that likely would have killed him–he had a lung condition that would indeed go on to cause his premature death. Plus, he and his wife are literally the people who actually worked to make the money that their descendants have been living off of, and patting themselves on the back for being so smart to have.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Well, Friedrich Drumpf was hardly the only one who shirked military service, usually for very good reasons, and emigrated to the US. In fact, most of the Europeans who emigrated to the US were running away from something whether that was abject poverty, lack of prospects, lack of suitable partners, unwanted marriages/children, military service, criminal, political or religious persecution, etc…

        Which makes the complaints of today’s anti-immigration folks that the immigrants of today are “not the best their countries of origin have to offer” even more hypocritical, because their ancestors were definitely not the best Europe had to offer either. I know that there is a myth in the US that their immigrant ancestors were the brave and adventurous ones, while those who remained in Europe were the lazy ones, but that’s not true. The people who stayed in Europe were the ones who had prospects, the ones who inherited the farm or the family business, the ones who did not have problems with creditors, the law or pregnant girlfriends and their shotgun wielding fathers. The people who left were the ones who couldn’t hack it here, so they tried somewhere else. Which is perfectly okay and a lot of them have clearly made good lives for themselves and their descendants. But those descendants shouldn’t pretend that their ancestors were the somehow the best and brightest the countries of origin had to offer, because most of them were not.

        As for the Drumpfs/Trumps, the people in the village from where Friedrich Drumpf emigrated still say that the Drumpfs always were idiots and arrogant jerks, unlike that nice Heinz family (founders of the ketchup empire) from one village over who were always good and hardworking people.

        Liked by 3 people

      • The ones who came to the U.S. were starving. At Ellis Island, at the museum, they have oral testimonies of immigrants that were recorded in the early-mid 20th century to preserve the record and oral readings of written testimonies. There were crop failures and no food, no money, they were being threatened, there was illness, they weren’t allowed to work as the old feudal system simultaneously crushed them and was collapsing and causing chaos. They came to the U.S. because otherwise they were going to die in Europe. They might die on the way over or get turned away because they were ill and die or die in the U.S. in abysmal conditions, but it was a better shot and there were immigrant communities here of their people that often helped them, getting them housing, jobs and letting them build businesses in the immigrant communities. The U.S. was a mass of thousands of different little villages in cities and towns and rural areas with people who mainly did not speak English. They had important skills and they helped build the economy and the infrastructure despite racism and religious discrimination.

        They were no different from the caravans and teens fleeing Central America. But there wasn’t “undocumented” border laws, though they started to enact them, no concept of people being “illegal” as if they weren’t human. White people in America are mainly scared of the POC who have been here forever, but by going after brown skinned foreigners, they can Other all they like and pretend it’s a national resources thing. And then they can call American POC foreigners. And they preen and claim that’s not racist, knowing full well it’s all about racism and shoring up their own rigged dominance. So many millions of white Americans teach their kids cruelty and claim it’s niceness.

        Liked by 5 people

  3. There’s also the nasty used-to-be-subtext and is now right out in the open Otherism:

    Very Latin. Much minority. What she never identifies as is… one of us.

    Well, gee. That sounds suspiciously like…only a white person can be One Of Us. 😡

    Liked by 5 people

  4. I’m sorry, I couldn’t get to the end of Phantom’s screed fast enough, and the echo-chamber replies turned my stomach.

    Apparently you have about 12 readers, and most of them are sock-puppets. Projection much?

    Liked by 4 people

    • I object to this characterization! I am a mitten puppet. I’d ask you to tell them that, but out of consideration for your sorely tried stomach, I’ll just leave it here instead and have faith that although they are Absolutely Not Interested in anything we do here, the word will somehow seep back to them anyway.

      You have more fortitude than I do. I didn’t click over.

      Liked by 5 people

  5. It’s very plain that the FAUXtus and his supporters think that only white people are Americans. When they use their stupid MAGA chant, what they really mean is that they want to go back to the days when LGBTQ+ people were still in the closet, and POC “kept to their place” and “didn’t get uppity” … especially not uppity enough to become President of the United States.

    Ugh.

    Liked by 7 people

  7. Oh no, no, they feel that non-whites can be sub-Americans as long as they:

    A) Acknowledge the bigoted myth that white people are superior, that “white” culture is American culture thereby and that all should aspire to be part of white culture (white domination and exaltation,) and never criticize/point out white dominated culture and white dominated employment and finance opportunities.

    B) Declare that white people are, because superior with the superior and only true American culture, magnanimous, kind and reasonable and rationale about dealing with POC they decide are inferior criminals.

    C) Support every white nationalist thing white pundits and politicians say as proper (white) American culture and either declare it not nationalist or not important.

    D) Erase anything about yourself culturally and in appearance that might cause white people anxiety and unease (code-switching.) Apologize when they feel unease anyway to show proper deference.

    And then you get to be a sub-American who knows your place in a rigid, bigoted culture. Whoopee.

    They don’t want hierarchical culture to change because they think they’ll lose their identities and status if it does. (Plus money and power of those who look like them and are supposedly less likely therefore to turn on them.) So calling for equality and respecting the diversity of cultures that actually makes up American culture threatens who they think of themselves as being. Criticism means to them that they lose the identity of nice and fair, which also justifies their dominance. Change means they lose advantages they enjoy or think they’ll get. And it shows that the bigoted myths were myths — non-white cultures weren’t inferior, non-white intelligence is not mostly inferior, non-whites were actually being blocked from education and advancement, not simply lazy and wanting hand-outs, etc. If they acknowledge the equal validity of non-white ethnic backgrounds as part of America, they figure they’re screwed on cultural reputation and control of the table. So they terrorize with chants of essentially “get out, I rule.”

    Liked by 3 people

  8. Phantom dribbled “…consistently fails to make logical distinctions between things like legitimate immigrants and ILLEGAL migrants”

    I’d so love to put a definition of “Magician’s Force” onto a brick and use it to beat every rabid Alt-Right Nazi over the head with it.

    Trump made it impossible for migrants to enter the US legally JUST SO HE HAD A PRETEXT to arrest them when, in their desperation, they tried the only available alternative.

    Remember always: Malice is the agenda.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Bigots like Phantom deliberately pretend there’s no difference between undocumented immigrants who overstay visas or sneak in for migrant work (that is essential for the U.S. agriculture and construction industries,) and refugees seeking asylum. Refugees are legally required by U.S. law to enter the U.S. without documentation and then request asylum, whereupon they are allowed to stay in the U.S. under supervision while awaiting their asylum hearing to see if they will get official refugee status. Refugees who enter the country without documents are not “illegal” — they are FOLLOWING THE U.S. LAWS. The caravans of refugees were not illegal — they were following U.S. law.

      And instead of following our own laws, Trump’s administration, his ICE and the Border Patrol are illegally detaining the refugees as prisoners in cages run by for profit corporations that are cheating U.S. taxpayers by not providing legally required services and medical treatment they’ve been paid for and torturing the refugees in inhumane conditions. The refugees — and lawyers trying to help them — are following the U.S. laws. ICE, a corrupt government agency, is breaking the law routinely, including with their raids without warrants on undocumented people here who have been following the laws about being undocumented and being possibly granted asylum under a variety of legal statuses.

      Bigots like Phantom always lie about refugees being “illegal” and undocumented instead of what they are — LEGAL refugees petitioning asylum according to American law. Bigots like Phantom also always lie about different groups of undocumented immigrants, including the Dreamers, being “illegal” when they are actually following American law procedures about their status, just like the refugees. And of course they only do this about non-white immigrants, never “white” undocumented immigrants, who they give a pass.

      And legal immigrants are constantly put under trial to create excuses to yank their legal status:
      https://twitter.com/FireinFreetown/status/1149679324670418944?fbclid=IwAR3h-qQJOTe1T2LN2VgbSIr2N4iekOVKVq2nXTzr1fdOhdvLxHwLcJfMJIA Immigration reform would also greatly help legal immigrants, but you’ll never hear a peep out of the lets get the brown refugees people about helping them either.

      Liked by 5 people

      • I have literally pulled up and posted the exact information from the US GOVERNMENT website about how asylum worked (Along with facts about how many asylum seekers show up to court dates, how many are accepted vs. rejected where I could find the data – it’s actually hard to find that versus how many apply – and multiple credible reports of abuse in camps) and been told I am lying and/or making things up AND not giving them facts to judge by.

        There is no convincing people who are parrotting these views.

        Liked by 2 people

  9. There’s some comments in the linked thread about there being no Arabs in the Australian dessert (yeah I know its weird the comments went there but they did). This is not accurate. For anyone interested in Australia history I recommend looking into why we call a regular train service through the middle of the country (that’s where a lot of the desert is) “The Ghan”. There’s actually a signficant contribution from Arabs to recent Aussie history.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Also for those noticing my Australian dessert typo above. Its called the Pavlova – actually it might be the New Zealand dessert. There’s a bit of a bun fight about it (pun intended). Look that one up too. Its kinda sweet (double pun intended).

      Liked by 1 person

      • There’s an ad campaign in the US about a dessert island. (I think it’s for Dunkin. Not a good ad campaign if I don’t remember.) Little did we know that New Zealand was a dessert island. Probably lots of kiwi fruit.

        Liked by 1 person

  10. There are an estimated 92,000 Canadian undocumented immigrants in the U.S. They are not being deported, raided, held in detention camps with cages at the Canadian border, separated from their children, etc. Even though there is massive smuggling and drug trade of legal and illegal drugs and pharmaceuticals going on between Canada and the U.S. as well as stolen cars. Because they’re mainly white.

    It’s only brown Latinos being held in these camps. It’s POC who are predominantly being targeted by ICE in the U.S.. And thousands of Latinx Americans have also been detained, imprisoned by ICE and forced to find legal assistance to get them out in racial profiling cases. Immigration procedures are flat out racist and racial profiling.

    The factual numbers are in direct contradiction to the myths. Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, commit the lowest amount of crime because they don’t want to get in trouble with the law. White people in America commit the most crime, most of the violent crime including murder, are most likely to kill their family members, do the most shoplifting, the most drug use and drug dealing and the most drunk driving accidents. And police disproportionately target black people and other people of color, arrest them more often than white people, are more likely to jail them and give them longer jail terms. They also keep POC in jail for lack of ability to pay bail, while letting white people out with no bail or community service deals.

    But if POC complain about any of this, if they protest the U.S. having actual concentration camps, then they’re “disrespectful,” unAmerican, traitors, should leave the country, etc. It’s blatant racism and nativism. Trump isn’t the first to do it in office. David Duke, a Klansman, was a House Rep. Newt Gingrich perfected all the techniques Trump uses in the 1990’s, etc. He just melded his celebrity as a loud-mouth lower level rich guy with Republican racial political rhetoric. He promised the white people that he would preserve socialism’s Medicare and Social Security for white people (which he’s continually attacked instead,) while promising to go after supposedly threatening POC for them (a promise he’s actually kept.)

    We only ever have an “immigrant crisis” when some white folk want to use it to push for white supremacy and a more authoritarian justice system that runs on prejudice.

    Liked by 5 people

    • Similar situation in Australia — most ‘illegal’ immigrant are people who entered conventionally and overstayed their visa, not the boogyman boat people that the government keeps frightening voters with.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Nitpick about David Duke. He was a state house rep. in Louisiana. Incidentally he switched parties in 1988 from Democratic to Republican. He then ran for the US Senate (again as Republican) and lost to the Democratic incumbent. The Republicans then sabotaged him and even Jack Kemp endorsed the Dem. There was a huge denial that Duke was racist then. He was supported by all kinds of Libertarian states right nutters. I don’t know how familiar you are with Murray Rothbard but he endorsed Duke.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Sorry, yes, I put it down wrong. Thanks for catching. But as we know, Trump’s rhetoric isn’t new in American politics and the Republicans since the 1960s. He simply capitalized on it. And then you had the fascination that a celebrity/actor is running and giving rally performances that the press of course ate up. That’s how Schwarzeneggar ended up governor of California in a run-off too.

        Liked by 1 person

  11. If you really want to tweak Hoyt and Phantom insist that there’s no logical distinction between immigration statuses and that’s really a social construct.

    Liked by 4 people

  12. Can I just say “Viva Boricua!” here? (No soy Borinquen, pero soy de Nueva York — or, en ingles, I’m not Puerto Rican, but I am from New York.)

    Like

  13. Somehow Phantom keeps getting dumber. You think he’s maxed out the stupid factor, but then he finds a way to say something so dumb you have to readjust your expectation scale downward to account for its existence.

    Liked by 2 people

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