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Responding to an NY Times article, I wrote several bits, one of which was flagged as a TimesPick , likely because the moderator thought it was particularly thoughtful: The Times Pick Irving Berlin wrote God Bless America, a song that grew from "his mother, who frequently spoke the words with an emotion he later said “was almost exaltation,” despite their poverty." Although that same song is often the sounding cry of anti-immigrant and nativist sentiments, its roots say so much about America and what it has means for many people, salvation. It's sad that all reason has gone out the window, that we no longer appreciate the belief in America as the great melting pot, that great human generator, a home of the brave and land of the free. Even more so, study after study points to the benefits of immigration for us, the US, and that has been completely lost in the rhetoric of right-wing zealots. Stephen Miller’s Uncle Calls Him a Hypocrite in an Online Essay Response to a...

In response to the NY Times article, What Happened to the Country That Made Us Citizens? I wrote what struck me as a lovely sentiment, and although barely recognized at the time, reposted in pieces in other comment areas, and in those threads, they received many 'Recommended' clicks, the equivalent of likes. Original Quote There still exists a great appreciation of immigrants and immigration, of what it brings to this country, and what it says about America. Just not in Texas. In our 'blue bubble' I would be hard-pressed to many people against immigrants and immigration. It is what makes America. I live in a city where 40% of the population is foreign-born and work in an industry where native Americans are a minority. Because of immigrants crime is lower and economic growth is higher, but even then, the appreciation of what immigrants are to this country historically, and the understanding and humanity it takes to accept others, makes immigration so important. S...