Immigrants Built This Country

They came from everywhere. Somalia. China. Italy. Mexico. The Dominican Republic. Liberia. Puerto Rico. Russia. Ireland. Japan. Poland. Guatemala. Iran. Brazil. Kenya. Jamaica. India. Ukraine. Slovenia. Israel. Vietnam. Egypt. Germany. Argentina. Haiti. Greece. Syria. Congo. Sudan. Lithuania. Panama. Et cetera. Immigrants came to America and found a better life and built families and got jobs and voted and contributed and brought a little of their culture to us (and now Neil Diamond is going through your head: “They’re coming to America … TODAY!”).

Forgive my dramatic intro and forgive my appearance on the soapbox. But whenever I hear anything about restricting immigration, I think of my paternal grandparents, who came from Ireland. They became citizens and they got jobs and they started a family and they voted and they contributed to America. They did have some advantage over some other groups. Grandmom and Grandpop weren’t fleeing anything like the Syrians. They were white Christians and English was their first language.

But I can’t forget that at one time in history, the Irish were very unwelcome in America. It seems like every group of immigrants had a turn as persona non grata in the United States. I can’t forget that at one time, people were treating people like my grandparents as the enemy, many of whom were fleeing famine and persecution.

I just think of that today when I read about travelers, including kids, detained at airports because of the Muslim ban. Yes, this is a Muslim ban. President Trump is giving priority to Christians from Muslim-majority countries but I guess if you’re a Syrian kid fleeing from the terrorists who have killed an inordinate number of Muslims, sorry, but you’re out of luck, kid. The travel ban does not affect countries in which Trump does business, despite the fact that these countries have actually produced terrorists in the past (compared to zero attacks in the U.S. by Syrians). So if your nation’s golf courses put money in the president’s pocket, we’ll roll out the red carpet. This is what executive branch corruption looks like.

I want ISIS defeated too but I don’t think this is the way to do it. We already heavily vet refugees from Syria so I really don’t think there was the unending flow of people coming in. People who are much smarter than me have said repeatedly that this will only inflame tensions and radicalize people to become terrorists and people have also made arguments that becoming an isolationist country poses many dangers to us. This is not even to mention the economic damage that this could do to America. If I can grasp these arguments, why can’t the White House?

People much smarter than me can make these arguments so I won’t belabor them. I just can’t help thinking that if somebody restricted my grandparents from immigrating, I wouldn’t be here today on my digital soapbox.

Don't burn that. That's money.

God, I love money. I just really enjoy having it. Money certainly isn’t everything — family, friends, health, blah blah — but money can actually be a means to ensure that you have some security in life. People say you can’t throw money at your problems but you absolutely can do that when the problem is debt. We do have some debt, and may have more debt if the Delmarva electrical line excavation project ends up costing us, so we could use some more cash.

Is it weird that I fantasize about finding an unmarked envelope full of cash and then also fantasize about how I’d launder the money to avoid any IRS inquiries?

Say I’m walking in a remote area in the woods (I do not do this) when I find an envelope full of cash. Let’s say $10,000 — no, $20,000. There’s nobody around, even though I walk around looking for someone. I keep the money. Of course I keep the money. I don’t really care where it came from because it’s just wealth expressed in paper. It’s transactional and not some talisman. Plus, the chances are that if you find an envelope full of cash in the woods, nobody was up to any good with it. I really doubt a Girl Scout dropped it after a big day of cookie sales.

Anyway, I figure, why pay taxes on this or get a lot of questions when I deposit it in the bank? So we start by paying everything we would normally pay for in credit or debit, like groceries or gas or dinners out, with the cash. We keep a tally and then use the money in our accounts, which we did not use for groceries or cash, and use that to pay extra toward our debt. We pay down the small debts and then use the snowball method to pay down the larger ones. That $20,000 can’t pay off our house but it can make life easier. Plus, I’d give some to charity, help out people I know, save some, etc.

I would also love to have some rich person throw money at me in an arrogant display of power. Some people would think this is insulting and refuse the money out of not wanting to feel owned or whatever. Me, I’d get down on my hands and knees and collect every dollar and run to the bank so fast, there’d be a cartoon puff of smoke where I once was. Then it’s bye bye, Mastercard balance. Here’s the equation:

$0 credit card debt > momentary humiliation at the hands of an arrogant rich person

I am reminded here of a scene in Parks and Recreation. Ben is about to drunkenly burn a large sum of money that a rich person has thrown at him. Ron Swanson says, “Don’t burn that. That’s money.” What a sage.

The Flip Side

So, that’s done. Donald Trump is now president of the United States. I strongly disagree with his philosophy and apparent plans but I accept that he is the president of all of us, simply due to the fact that he took the oath.

There’s a flip side to that and it’s that President Trump has to realize that he is president of all of us, even those who didn’t vote for him, and if he has any mandate, it’s to take into consideration those on the other side and not just his voters. Really, any president should do so. Three million more people voted for Hillary Clinton than voted for him. The Constitution grants the presidency to the winner of the Electoral College but the president doesn’t govern the Electoral College; he governs the people, and he cannot ignore those 60-million-plus actual people who didn’t want him in the Oval Office.

Trump needs to govern all the people and address the concerns of people who didn’t vote for him. Since the election, there’s been a disturbing tendency among the Trump people and some of his voters to say “You lost. Get over it.” But it’s not like our team lost the Super Bowl and we’re still bitching about the refs. People have legitimate concerns that the new administration will take a hard line against their very way of life and hard-won rights and despite a few half-hearted attempts at unity, I didn’t see from his transition that President Trump really understands that. Consider these actions so far:

If President Trump cared about the concerns of African Americans regarding racism in the way our laws are enforced, he wouldn’t have tapped Sen. Jeff Sessions, who has a spotty experience with civil and voting rights, to head the Justice Department. He also wouldn’t have taken a shot at Rep. John Lewis, who has done the hard work of civil rights for 50 years, of being “all talk.”

If Trump cared about the LGBT community, he wouldn’t have asked Mike Pence, who signed a spiteful anti-gay law in Indiana and believes in conversion therapy, to be vice president.

If Trump cared about the concerns of those alarmed by white nationalists having influence on policy, he wouldn’t have Steve Bannon in the White House.

If Trump cared about voters concerned about the influence of big banks on policy, he wouldn’t have nominated former Goldman Sachs executive Seth Mnuchin, who had the nickname “foreclosure king” during the financial crisis, as Secretary of the Treasury. He also wouldn’t have appointed numerous advisers who worked for Goldman Sachs.

If Trump cared about his international policies being too bellicose, he would not have hired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who makes Curtis LeMay look stable, as his national security adviser.

If Trump cared about conflicts of influence in his administration, he wouldn’t have let his kids control his company, apparently not understanding what a blind trust is.

If Trump cared about people who think the United States is kowtowing to Russian influence, he wouldn’t have tapped Rex Tillerson, who literally got a friendship award from Vladimir Putin, as our top diplomat.

If Trump cared about the perception that he is hiring unqualified people for his cabinet, he wouldn’t have asked Ben Carson, a dimwitted man who has no experience in housing, to be HUD secretary. He also wouldn’t have asked Rick Perry to head the Department of Energy, a department Perry once wanted to eliminate (when he could remember the name of the department). He also wouldn’t have nominated as Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, a multi-billionaire whose track record shows a disdain for public schools, who couldn’t answer a basic question about using tests to measure students’ proficiency, and who shrugged when asked about conflicts of interest (she did not complete her ethics paperwork).

If Trump cared about the fear that he will ignore advice from professionals if they tell him what he doesn’t want to hear, he wouldn’t have trashed our intelligence agencies publically because they told him what he didn’t want to hear.

If Trump cared about people who are alarmed by his temperament, he wouldn’t have picked Twitter fights with anybody who can get under his thin skin.

You have to give people on the other side something. You have to do or say something, after this bitter election, that soothes their plausible fears. None of Trump’s actions since the election have shown me that he cares at all and I don’t think things are going to change. We’ll see what happens — because what else are we gonna do? — but so far I’m not impressed. Since November, he’s been carrying on and tweeting indignantly and bragging about his victory and punching down to his critics and basically acting like, “I won. Nyah nyah.”

These simply are not the actions of an adult, let alone a president.

I get the sense that Trump thinks accountability ended when he won the election; that he can just do whatever he wants because he got over 270 electoral votes. But accountability is just now beginning for him. People say “respect the office of the president” and I agree but part of respecting that office is keeping the office honest and criticizing it when its inhabitant warrants criticism.

No authority should be above criticism. President Obama wasn’t and Hillary Clinton wouldn’t have been. Holding President Trump to a high standard will safeguard the rights of the people and serve the country.

Betty White has now outlived the following famous people who were born after her

Yes, yes, plenty of celebrities died last year, and Lord knows how devastating it is to mourn people you didn’t know. In 2017, let’s focus on the good news: Betty White is alive and kicking, turning 95 today. Here is a partial list of famous people who lived and died entirely within her lifetime:

Prince

David Bowie

George Michael

Muhammad Ali

Fidel Castro

Leonard Cohen

Carrie Fisher

Debbie Reynolds

Florence Henderson

John Glenn

Phife Dawg

Edward Albee

Sharon Jones

Natalie Cole

Leonard Nimoy

Janet Reno

Antonin Scalia

Vanity

Glenn Frey

Gwen Ifill

Arnold Palmer

Kay Starr

Paul Walker

Jack Chick

Tom Hayden

Alan Thicke

Bobby Vee

Shimon Peres

Elie Wiesel

Miss Cleo

Buddy Ryan

Pat Summitt

Morley Safer

George Martin

Joan Rivers

Rob Ford

Garry Shandling

Robin Williams

Patty Duke

Harper Lee

Lou Reed

Alan Rickman

Scott Weiland

Lemmy Kilmister

Larry Hagman

Jan Hooks

James Gandolfini

Gene Wilder

Lauren Bacall

Merle Haggard

Leon Russell

Margaret Thatcher

Whitney Houston
Etta James
Don Cornelius
Michael Jackson
Amy Winehouse
Heath Ledger
John Ritter
Elizabeth Taylor
Princess Diana
David Foster Wallace
Brittany Murphy
Jim Morrison
Peter Jennings
Corey Haim
John Lennon
Johnny Cash
Dominique Dunne
Elvis Presley
Andy Gibb
Peter Finch
Jack Palance

Frank Zappa
George Harrison
Barbara Bel Geddes
Robert Reed
Bob Guccione
Brian Jones
Eliot Smith

Selena
Heavy D
Keith Moon
John Entwhistle
Kim Jong-Il

Eddie Fisher

Richard Burton

Peter O’Toole
Brandon Tartikoff
Norman Fell
Benazir Bhutto

Aliyah
James Brown
Jimi Hendrix
Marlon Brando
Paul Newman
Billy Mays
Janis Joplin
Nick Colasanto
Nell Carter

John Denver
Tug McGraw
Jayne Mansfield
Buddy Holly
Ritchie Valens
Big Bopper
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Cobain
Peter Lawford
Keith Haring
Hunter S. Thompson
Ed Bradley
Andy Warhol
Sharon Tate
Warren Zevon
Gilda Radner
Clarence Clemons
Florence Ballard
Johnny Carson
Tim Russert
Pelle Lindbergh
Chris Farley
Nate Dogg
Marilyn Monroe
James Dean
Richard Burton
Harry Kalas
Florence Griffith-Joyner
Corey Lidle
Slobodan Milosevic
Audrey Hepburn
Lisa Lopes
Gary Coleman
Peter Boyle
Len Bias
Joe Paterno
Carol O’Connor
Sidney Lumet
John Belushi
Stieg Larsson
Lee Harvey Oswald
Linda McCartney
Princess Margaret
Jean Michel Basquiat
Sammy Davis Jr.
Jim Henson
Jerry Falwell
Redd Foxx
Judy Garland
Natasha Richardson
Susan Sontag
Michael Hutchence
Bud Dwyer
Phil Hartman
Harvey Milk
Martin Luther King Jr.
David Carradine
River Phoenix
Notorious BIG
Jonathan Brandis
Grace Kelly
Prince Rainier
Farrah Fawcett

Boris Yelstin
Karen Carpenter
Sid Vicious
Rock Hudson
Bruce Lee
Ted Kennedy
Maurice Gibb
Tupac Shakur

Normal Fell
Syd Barrett
Che Guevara
Barney Martin
Robin Roberts
John Phillips
Cass Elliot
Jessica Savitch
Ian Curtis
Nancy Spungen
Johnny Stompanato
Natalie Wood
Bettie Page
Don Knotts
Joe Strummer
Andy Griffith
Walter Payton
Aliyah
Glenn Quinn
Timothy McVeigh
Brad Renfro
Joey Ramone
Dee Dee Ramone
Anne Bancroft
Robert Mapplethorpe
Reggie White
Richie Ashburn
Ted Bundy
Geraldine Ferraro
Madeline Kahn
Estelle Getty
Bea Arthur
Rue McClanahan

I had the most celebrity-stalking dream

I dreamed I was interviewing Bill Cosby. We were at some kind of restaurant sitting at picnic tables and drinking beer. I wouldn’t let him pay for my beer because journalistic ethics forbids it. (It occurred to me later that I should have watched what was in that drink.)

Cosby conducted the interview by writing everything down in a notebook and I would copy what he wrote. I realized that wasn’t blind like some reports have said. He could see perfectly.

Then I was walking in the woods where there were patches of snow on the ground and a stream nearby. I had been there before in other dreams. “Horses” by Tori Amos was playing on my iPod and came on a second time since it was on shuffle. The iPod was actually a gold crucifix necklace and the song title was engraved into it.

Then I was in Tori’s apartment in Center City. It was two floors linked by these long spiral staircases. I was carrying old issues of the New Mutants comic, several white T-shirts and a few pairs of shoes in a plastic bag. I walked down the stairs and saw instruments and recording equipment on this landing (which made no sense because it didn’t have any isolation it would need for recording).

I wanted to get a picture of Tori’s piano so I made an excuse to go back upstairs and then walk down the steps so I could see it. I tried to access my camera but since we were in Tori’s apartment, the only things on my phone were Tori apps and I couldn’t escape them to get to the camera.

I got to the lobby downstairs, where there were several sushi restaurants. I got in the elevator and a burly security guard in a Speedo asked me to leave since I was trying to take pictures. I wanted to change into sneakers but someone on the elevator had stolen my sneakers so I had to wear sandals home.

Another Sunday Dinner

What I wouldn’t give for another Sunday dinner with Dad. To walk in the family room and see him sitting in his recliner next to my Mom.

He’s watching the Eagles fight for a first down or watching the Phillies get an extra-base hit. Depending on the season, I smell either Mom’s roast beef warming the house or Dad’s barbecued chicken drifting in through the windows. We catch up on the week: How are you feeling, how’s work, how’s everything with the house.

It’s the natural order of things, I guess, but it’s such a sad, strange feeling, the way somebody can be there and then not be there. We were just having Christmas in the same room, unwrapping presents and fawning over the baby.

Sunday dinners go on, of course, with a greeting from Mom and the smell of her roast beef warming me from the chill. The family goes on, too, expanding as my brother and sister-in-law bring my nephew to hold court in the center of the room. After dinner, we do the dishes while Mom sits in the recliner and holds her grandson and smiles.

He won’t remember Pop-Pop and the way he fawned over his grandson for those precious months when they overlapped. But at Sunday dinners, when he’s old enough to appreciate them, we’ll be talking his ear off with plenty of stories about Dad.