Nov 19, 2015 As you have doubtless noticed, the terrorist attacks in Paris have produced a rhetorical race to the bottom among the Republican candidates for President. Jeb Bush took an early lead in this descent by issuing a proposal that appeared to have been taken from the playbook of his elder brother George. Appearing on television over the weekend, Bush said that the United States should put together a multinational coalition to invade Syria, mash ISISto smithereens, and knock off the Assad regime, and only then figure out how to establish peace and withdraw. On Monday, Chris Christie, another struggling candidate, argued that the first priority was securing the homefront, which meant that the United States couldn’t risk allowing in any more Syrian refugees—not even young children who had lost their parents. “I don’t think orphans under five are being, you know, should be admitted into the United States at this point,” the New Jersey Governor told Hugh Hewitt, the conservative talk-show host. For heartlessness, illiberalism, and irresponsibility, Christie’s statement seemed hard to beat. But Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, isn’t one to concede defeat easily. Speaking to Sean Hannity, of Fox News, on Tuesday, Trump said that, in order to forestall possible attacks on American soil, the federal government might have to close down mosques. “Nobody wants to say this, and nobody wants to shut down religious institutions,” Trump said. But, he continued, “there’s absolutely no choice. Some really bad things are happening, and they are happening fast.” In an interview with Yahoo News, which was also carried out on Tuesday, Trump expanded on his ideas for preventing another terrorist attack on this side of the Atlantic. “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before.” he said. “And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule. And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.” The reporter who carried out the interview, Hunter Walker, then pressed him on how far he would be willing to go. “Yahoo News asked Trump whether this level of tracking might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion,” Walker wrote. Reportedly, Trump wouldn’t rule out the idea. “We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.” Like many people in the media, I sometimes still have difficulty taking what Trump says seriously. Yes, I know that he’s leading the polls, and has been for months. I’m also aware that his poll numbers reflect widespread disaffection and alienation among some parts of the American population, especially the white working class, a feeling thathe is cleverly exploiting. To that extent, the Trump phenomenon is real. an article headlined “Trump Crosses the Nazi Line: Maybe Muslims Should Wear Special ID Badges.” A headline at Jezebel referred to Trump as “A Literal Fascist.” On Twitter, the astronomer and author Phil Plait commented, “There comes a time when decent, thoughtful, responsible people point out that this is, in fact, what Hitler did.” It is important to be careful with language, which Trump often isn’t. Walker’s account at Yahoo makes it clear that he was the one who brought up the possibility of registering American Muslims or making them carry special identification, and that Trump didn’t endorse these proposals. But Trump didn’t dismiss them, either, even after stories appeared attributing the ideas to him. And he did tell Walker that some measures previously considered “unthinkable” were going to be necessary, such as closing down mosques, and that “security is going to rule.” To some extent, Trump may simply be seeking to maintain an edge over his G.O.P. rivals in an atmosphere that is bordering on hysteria. “Everyone is now saying how right I was with illegal immigration & the wall,” he tweeted on Thursday. “After Paris, they’re all on the bandwagon.” But there is a difference between playing politics and deliberately targeting an entire religious group. By proposing, or even countenancing, a preëmptive security crackdown on millions of American Muslims, Trump is moving from rabble-rousing to demagoguery, or maybe something worse. http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/donald-trump-and-americas-muslims?mbid=rss
Nov 19, 2015 i moved to new york in 2000. s--- happened next year. process that takes like 10 years at most (to get the green card and then qualify for citizenship) took 10 years just to get the green card.
Nov 19, 2015 took my family almost exactly a decade to get citizenship as well. like @Narsh, we moved here just before 9/11.
Nov 19, 2015 its been 15 years now for us lol, 18 for my dad itll happen someday! hopefully b4 i decide to move to canada or sum s---
Nov 19, 2015 being white in the us must be fun tbh i cant hate i think about it from time to time oh and on topic donald trump makes me violently ill
Nov 19, 2015 I don't know what the h--- skyrim has to do with this but yeah I guess. You can call it what you want
Nov 19, 2015 Being white is only a big deal if you aren't white. Easy to take it for granted. I grew up in in a small town with more seasonal, Mexican field workers than black people. We s--- on the trailer park people and public housing people more than them. It doesn't stop being a ghetto just because nobody has dark skin.
