January 29, 2017

The New Colossus--Emma Lazarus

I am the great-grandchild, grandchild, child and wife of immigrants. My cousins are political refugees from Iran, fleeing death squads during the Revolution, because of my uncle's position in the Shah's ministries. My father saw poorly dubbed Frankie and Annette movies somewhere in the Middle East, and decided that the beaches of California were where he aspired to land after drifting all over Europe and Asia studying third world economic development. My brother-in-law's family survived the pogroms of Eastern Europe to immigrate to Canada. My great-grandmother immigrated here from Ireland, going through Ellis Island as a 12 year old newly orphaned girl, to end up marrying another Irish immigrant, and becoming a successful businesswoman in her own right. My grandfather immigrated here from England as a boy, his parents opening their home to board other newly arrived Brits. My mother-in-law, all 5' 0" of her, toted her toddler son and infant twins all by herself from Denmark to rejoin her husband, who decided the opportunities for his architecture degree were far greater here than in his native Odense.

The rich tapestry of all these immigration stories flow through my blood and in the blood of my children. My family, of many colors and faiths, is the story of America. And that is the story that Donald Trump doesn't understand, doesn't value and wants to eliminate from this nation. It is, in a word, un-American.

If last week's Women's March heartened you, I ask you to remember that for as amazing as the turnout was, they had months to plan it. Yesterday, we got a spontaneous and unplanned repeat, all over the country, to protest the Muslim ban. I'd guess from pictures of protesters at JFK, SFO, ATL, BOS, DC Dulles, SeaTac, and more, that there were almost as many people spontaneously supporting Muslims at airports all over this country as showed up for the Bannon Puppet's inauguration. And there will be more protests today (see a list here). It feels great to see so much resistance to Trump (although Kevin Drum is surmising that Bannon-as-puppetmaster also thinks that it will play well with the Trumpsters of the heartland). The question is whether we can make allegiance to Trump more toxic to congress to encourage them to employ their constitutional checks and balances duties.

But don't count on this Republican-heavy line up to do that yet. Part of what I see as our duty is to make this normalization by the media as toxic as possible as well. Let's see a little less Kellyanne Conway and a lot more Keith Ellison.

ABC's "This Week" - Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; White House press secretary Sean Spicer; former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Panel: Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson, Washington Post chief correspondent Dan Balz, NPR “All Things Considered” co-host Audie Cornish, and ABC News contributor LZ Granderson.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Reince Priebus, chief of staff to President Donald Trump; Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. Panel: historian Doris K. Goodwin, former RNC head Michael Steele, WSJ columnist Kimberly Strassel, NY Times columnist Tom Friedman.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Priebus; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. UK’s ambassador to the United States, Kim Darroch. Panel: Slate’s Jamelle Bouie, The Atlantic’s Molly Ball, New York Times White House Correspondent Peter Baker, and conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt.

CNN's "State of the Union" - Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio. Panel: Conservative commentator Ana Navarro, former Rep Bakari Sellers (D-SC), Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ), former Special Rep to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - President & CEO of the International Rescue Committee David Millibrand, WaPo columnist Anne Applebaum, President & CEO of the International Rescue Committee Fawaz Gerges, NYU Professor Jorge Castaneda, Historian Conrad Black.

"Fox News Sunday" - Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway; Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Former Bush Sr. Adviser Karl Rove, AP WH Correspondent Julia Pace, former Bush WH Press Secretary Dana Perino, WaPo Editorial Writer Charles Lane.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

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