The 'willful misinterpretation' of the XIV Amendment has caused this national tragedy. Read Section 5 of the Amendment, Congress has the power to 'set this straight'.

 

Trump announces plan to mitigate border crisis by ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants

Libby Emmons Brooklyn NY May 30, 2023 thepostmillenial.com

"The United States is among the only countries in the world that says that even if neither parent is a citizen nor even lawfully in the country their future children are automatic citizens."

Leading contender in the GOP primary race former President Donald Trump has announced a new policy initiative that would see the children of illegal immigrants born in the US not eligible for citizenship. Citing the "illegal foreign invasion of our country" under Joe Biden, Trump said that under current citizenship rules, all children of those illegal immigrants will be granted birthright citizenship. Trump wants to do away with that.

On the first day of his presidency, Trump promises to sign an Executive Order to prevent birthright citizenship for children of parents who are illegal immigrants.

"This policy is a reward for breaking the laws of the United States and is obviously a magnet helping draw the flood of illegals across our borders," Trump said in the campaign video. "They come by the millions and millions and millions. They come from mental institutions, they come from jails, prisoners, some of the toughest, meanest people you'll ever see." Illegal immigration under the Biden administration has become a problem not just for southern border states but for states across the country as migrants get shipped off on buses and planes.

New York has been buckling under the strain as it gets flooded with illegal immigrants and has its own "right to shelter" laws to contend with. Many illegal immigrants reach the border and apply for asylum, only to be given court dates years and years down the road. They are then permitted to apply for temporary work visas 180 days after the asylum claim. This leaves illegal immigrants legally in the country and legally able to work, which is an incentive to those seeking life in the US by illegal means.

Trump had a similar policy idea in 2019, saying at the time that the US should get rid of the automatic citizenship that comes by virtue of being born on American land in the event that the parents of those children are not legally here themselves.

It is the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution that allows for birthright citizenship, reading "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Birthright citizenship is not a common policy among modern nations, though changing this policy in the US would be highly controversial.

There is an argument to be made centering on the word "jurisdiction," meaning that the person who is granted citizenship does not owe "allegiance to anybody else and being subject to the complete jurisdiction of the United States." This was expounded upon in 2018 by Michael Anton in the Claremont Review of Books. Whether or not the concept of birthright citizenship, as it has been practiced in the US, is a result of a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment or a result of the direction of that amendment would be key in determining if a president has the ability to alter it through an executive order.

The idea here is, as Anton, put it: "There are thus two criteria for citizenship: being 'born in the United States' and 'not subject to any foreign power.' Just the first doesn’t cut it. Language doesn’t get any plainer than that."

"The United States is among the only countries in the world that says that even if neither parent is a citizen nor even lawfully in the country," Trump said, "their future children are automatic citizens, the moment the parents trespass onto our soil, as has been laid out by many scholars." European countries do not have birthright citizenship, and only a handful of countries do around the world. 

"His current policy," Trump said of Biden's open border initiatives, "is based on a historical myth, and a willful misinterpretation of the law by the open borders, advocates. There aren't that many of them around. It's amazing who wants this, who wants to have prisoners coming into our country, who wants to have people who are very sick coming into our country, people from mental institutions coming into our country. And come they will they're coming by the thousands, by the tens of thousands.

"As part of my plan to secure the border on day one of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic US citizenship," Trump said. The idea is that this would deter illegal immigrants from coming here in order to earn citizenship by birth for their children.

"My order will also end their unfair practice known as birth tourism," Trump said in his announcement, "where hundreds of thousands of people from all over the planet squat and hotels for their last few weeks of pregnancy to illegitimately and illegally obtain US citizenship for the child, often to later exploit chain migration to jump the line and get green cards for themselves and their family members."

"It's a practice that's so horrible, and so egregious, but we let it go forward," he continued. "At least one parent will have to be a citizen or a legal resident. In order to qualify, we will secure our borders and we will restore sovereignty. Starting on day one. Our country will be great again, our country will be a country again, we'll have borders. We'll have proper education, and we'll put America first."

 

The current national debt debate is a perfect example of this event. Read, study, get educated, inspired, involved to save our great Republic!

 

The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

By Steve McCann www.americanthinker.com

A cursory examination of history reveals that the United States is mired in the same process that precipitated the collapse of the great empires of the past.  The foibles and failures of human nature and their impact on the rise and fall of empires is amazingly consistent and the end result always inevitable.  Can this nation avoid a similar fate?

Empires are defined as great military and economic powers encompassing large occupied or controlled land areas.  Although they vary greatly, they average around 250 years in duration.  The United States will be celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026.

In 1976, Sir John Glubb, a distinguished British diplomat and general, wrote an essay on the fate of empires throughout history.  He enumerated, based on 3,000 years of historical data, the six various stages in the rise and fall of empires.

These stages and how they apply to the United States are as follows:

·         The Age of Pioneers       (The Revolutionary War and the founding of the Nation)

·         The Age of Conquests    (The Western Expansion to the Pacific Ocean)

·         The Age of Commerce   (Industrialization and evolution of a dominant middle class)

·         The Age of Affluence     (The meteoric rise of the standard of living in the 20th Century)

·         The Age of Intellect        (Global domination in the arts, medicine and technology)

·         The Age of Decadence   (For 30+ years America has been increasingly mired in this age )   

The Age of Decadence is marked by debauchery, defensiveness, pessimism, materialism, a significant weakening of religion, frivolity, a welfare state, and a massive influx of unassimilated foreigners.  These symptoms of national decadence are the end product of long periods of prosperity and power, love of wealth and status, and self-obsession by the ruling elites leading to fateful government corruption and instability.

Sir John Glubb is definitive in stating that in all ancient and modern fallen empires, “there does not appear to be any doubt that money is the agent which causes the decline of strong, brave and self-confident people.”   

An examination of various empires from the Persian Empire to the Roman Empire to the British Empire confirms Glubb’s hypothesis that pursuit and accumulation of money or wealth is the portal through which power over the masses is achieved.  The amassing of wealth and thus power evolves into a quasi-religion that over time triggers the descent into the age of decadence and corruption that inevitably leads to the collapse and conquering of empires by their external enemies.

In the early stage of the age of decadence, materialism becomes a driving force in society, inducing many in the upper classes to indulge in excessive, often conspicuous consumption as an absurdly wealthy elite emerges.  Far too many societal elites and non-elites become convinced that increased consumption and social status is the key to happiness, but in its pursuit they become demonstrably more pessimistic and less happy and fulfilled.

The search for happiness and fulfillment leads to imprudence and voyeurism becoming central to the culture.  Unhappy people searching for diversion became fixated on celebrities and captive to evolving voyeurism.  And voyeurism takes on a more sinister aspect as people in both ancient and modern empires become increasingly desensitized to graphic images and willing spectators or participants in violence and debauchery.

Debauchery is an oft-recurring theme in the demise of empires.  Societies develop an abnormally immature obsession with sex.  An obsession that requires increasing deviancy to satiate coupled with concurrent abuse of children and the marginalization and exploitation of women.  Meanwhile, the use of drugs and alcohol expands exponentially.  Debauchery is a symptom of the absence of meaning in people’s lives leading to the self-destruction of society and concomitantly a loss of a sense of duty and patriotism.

Other symptoms common among many empires in the last stages of decline include:  

• Massive and growing disparities between rich and poor and an undisciplined and over-extended military.
• An intensification of internal political hatreds and a corresponding inability to reconcile in order to save the empire.
• An ever increasing level of self-serving corruption and patronage among the ruling class.
• A massive influx of unassimilated foreigners whose allegiance and cultural ties are  with their native lands and not the host nation and who do not feel obligated to defend the empire.
• Severe financial and economic crises linked to the unending debasement of the currency.
• An ongoing and irreversible decline in monotheistic religions that emphasize self-sacrifice, temperance, a sense of duty as well as honor and integrity.

Additionally, while the decline of empires is precipitated by internal factors, the final collapse is marked by defeat at the hands of powerful external enemies.  The United States is presently facing an implacable and powerful external enemy, Communist China.  A foe this nation’s elites, in their self-indulgent pursuit of wealth, essentially created by willfully intertwining the American economy with a ruthless and dictatorial communist regime. 

Unfortunately, the vast bulk of the American citizenry is not aware of the historically precarious situation this nation finds itself.  Nor are they aware that the policies and actions of the Marxist controlled Democrat party over the past 20 years is a window into what will happen to this nation if they continue in power.  Another four to eight years of Democrat Party rule will permanently embed:

• Unchecked corruption in government and America’s corporations and institutions.
• The ongoing debasement of the currency, uncontrolled spending and economic instability,
• The continued massive influx of unassimilated foreigners,
• The intensification of political animosity and the persecution of any political opposition,
• An undisciplined, ideologically driven and feckless military incapable of confronting China,
• Drug-addled and crime-ridden dystopias in America’s major urban and suburban areas,
• Continued and accelerated mainstreaming of decadence and sexual debauchery

As the last three years have amply proven, decadence and sexual debauchery will continue apace.  All forms of deviancy, including but not limited to pedophilia, will be forcefully mainstreamed.  Religious liberties will be denigrated and curtailed.  Infanticide and state-sponsored euthanasia will be legalized.  Materialism and voyeurism will become the new state religion.  And virtually all drugs will be legalized and easily available.

As the United States descends into insolvency, societal chaos and upheaval, Communist China, with which the Democrat party is intertwined, will actively abet and promote the dissolution of this country as it will be waiting vulture-like to feast on the carcass.

The inevitable can perhaps be mitigated if a significant majority of the populace acknowledges the current plight of the nation and initiates a return to the nation’s founding Judeo-Christian principles.  Additionally, it is imperative that either Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis wins in November of 2024 and for a populist Republican Party to control both the presidency and Congress for a minimum of two presidential terms.  

Republican primary voters must also acknowledge reality and not be captive to cultlike sycophancy for either Trump or DeSantis.  They need to ask themselves: who can win against a corrupt and devious Democrat party reliant on voter fraud and manipulation in the battleground states of Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania?  Who has the coattails to assure the capture of both Houses of Congress?  And can that person can either serve a second term or make certain another Republican will win in 2028? 

It is not hyperbole to say the upcoming election cycle is the most determinative in American history.  If the Republicans fail to win the presidency and Congress in 2024, this nation will have passed the point of no return and a new chapter in the annals of the decline and fall of great nations will be written.      

 

'Memorial day - a rare opportunity to drink from the fountain of character bubbling only because others once held the line.'

 

Building a Monument the Fallen Deserve

By J.B. Shurk www.americanthinker.com

I once heard an academic ask an elite soldier what distinguished the warrior's mindset from that of an ordinary person.  The soldier thought about it for a second and then asked the professor to imagine getting up in the middle of the night, half asleep, to grab a glass of milk.  Now imagine, he said, that you have a cat or dog that comes out of nowhere in the dark and startles you completely.  A normal person, he continued, will most likely toss the milk into the air, drop the glass in his hand, and maybe knock over half of the condiments in the fridge.  A warrior, he said, has so prepared his mind for unexpected things to jump out in the dark that not only will he keep from spilling the milk in his hand, but also a little voice inside his head will say, "Oh good, game on, let's go."

The academic laughed and said something about never wanting to accidentally sneak up behind the soldier while he was distracted, and the elite warrior grinned and said, "Oh, I wasn't talking about myself; my wife would tell you that my dogs regularly get the best of me at two in the morning."

That lighthearted moment has always stuck with me for a number of reasons.  For one, it was a charming and effective analogy from a well respected and admired combat veteran.  In a succinct way, he had described the need to pursue an almost Zen-like state to become a complete warrior.  What goes on around you is out of your control; what matters is that you have prepared yourself to remain calm and respond appropriately.

Second, his humorous story reflected a serious truth: service members engaging in combat are almost always "in the dark."  There are a hundred variables that are constantly changing in real time.  Even familiar terrain can turn dangerous in a flash, and every move a person makes is done behind a veil of uncertainty as to how each action will affect the next.  

Third, he made an important point that is not always easy for people to hear: the best warriors are those who — at some level — enjoy the fight.  They don't have to enjoy violence or death, but they do have to have a certain mentality that enables them to confidently engage against the unexpected.

Lastly, although nobody would have ever described him as anything other than an elite warrior, his self-deprecation implied that the work of being one never ends.  It is a role without a destination that requires a committed individual to constantly confront new challenges along a tortuous path.

When military service is understood in these simple terms, it is clear that fleeting Memorial Day remembrances are insufficient for honoring the sacrifices of those we have laid to rest.  Individuals who have pursued excellence in their lives and then offered those lives in service to others are the kinds of people who should be emulated every day.  In an age suffering from a scarcity of role models, it is easy to see how our culture has gone astray when the best among us lie quietly in cemetery fields.  If every schoolchild were tasked with learning about the lives and deaths of America's fallen heroes, no generation would reach maturity without comprehending the magnificent price paid for their own existence.  The "I-I-I, me-me-me" world of today flourishes only because too many of America's unworthy "leaders" have chosen to bury national character in the same graves as those who possessed personal character in spades.

Character is the lifeblood of a nation.  Exsanguinate a nation of its character, and it will die, never to rise again.  Memorial Day, then, should be celebrated as a time for national rejuvenation, when the living can learn from the dead, honor their character, and find from their sacrifice enduring meaning.  Instead, for too many, the holiday will be used as yet another chance to celebrate the living, while tarnishing the past.  Politicians who snicker at good manners and jeer at principle will find a way to make Americans alive today feel as if they are somehow "victims" and that the heroes who died on their behalf are somehow to blame.  Many Hollywood celebrities will take "selfies" glorifying their indulgent lifestyles, but few, if any, will pause to remember the final minutes of life endured by those who gave all, so that the callous and ignorant could play.

It is maddening.  Because if politicians and personalities truly cared about the nation's health and survival, even a small percentage as much as they do their own, they would encourage Americans to think of Memorial Day as a rare opportunity to drink from the fountain of character bubbling only because others once held the line.  Look at who these heroes were, they should say.  Learn from them.  Be like them.  Follow in their paths.  Step into their shoes, but be careful, for they will feel large for quite some time.  That they do not and that so many Americans will let Memorial Day slip by without falling to their knees in thanks is an agonizing reminder that while many Americans today still supply the nation with its vital supply of character, the country is nonetheless bleeding.

While the warriors whose lives were lost will always be worth remembering, so, too, are the lives of those fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters who have fought to keep on going.  You do not need to walk through a battlefield cemetery to see sacrifice.  Look into the eyes of someone who has lost a loved one, and you will see that the cost of military service is never borne by the warriors alone.  Losing someone in war is like losing a limb that no prosthetic can replace.  People suffer in silence because the scars from their injuries are not visible to others.  Their sacrifice continues unabated for all their days.  Again, if the politicians and personalities truly cared about America's survival, they would tell their voyeuristic "followers" to pay attention to the Americans who actually deserve their concern.  Look at these parents and spouses who suffer, so that you can live carelessly, they should say.  Do not pity yourself.  Never think yourself a victim.  Do not delude yourself into believing that you know pain.  These are the ones you should honor.  That they do not, and that so many Americans will fail to comfort those most in need of comforting, should be a source of great shame.

At the very least, we should honor the fallen by celebrating how they lived.  We should accept that much in this world is beyond our control but appreciate that how we respond to each challenge is what gives our lives meaning.  We should accept that much of the time, we are forced to confront obstacles while unprepared and "in the dark" and choose to keep going anyway.  We should always define life's inevitable struggles in ways that give us strength of purpose, rather than in ways that permit our tormentors to poison us with defeat and despair.  We should remember that however daunting the path before us, it is our time to fight for those who rest.

That is the kind of monument the fallen deserve — to have their memories reflected in our daily actions.  Surely that is not too much to ask.  What is the cost of living lives of honor and principle?  Of working against the current of our times to preserve American character?  Of confronting the many struggles around us without ever giving in?  Whatever the cost, it is far less than that paid by so many who can no longer speak.  Although, if you listen closely, you might still hear: Oh, good, game on, let's go.