When Partisan Politics Trumps Public Duty

In big America's cities, run by "woke" Democrat mayors who called for "police defunding," gun-violence reigns — not unexpectedly.


On Nov. 2, Minneapolis voters had a chance via the ballot to get rid of their police department and replace it with a new "Department of Public Safety" (DPS). The Washington Post reports that voters in the Minneapolis, where the "George Floyd Movement" began, soundly rejected a proposal to replace the city's police department."

"City Question Two would have amended the Minneapolis charter to allow the police department to be replaced by a Department of Public Safety."

The new DPS "would have taken a 'comprehensive public health approach' to public safety, including dispatching mental health workers to certain calls and more investment in violence prevention efforts."   The new DPS "could include" police officers "if necessary."


But was "Question Two" really soundly rejected? Fifty-six percent of the voters rejected it; 44% took stupid pills and voted to abolish the police department.


Activist Abou Amara, interviewed by KARE 11 in Minneapolis, explained the election result saying, "young people are clamoring for change. ... we know from earlier polling that those who are younger tended to vote 'yes,'"


So who voted 'no?' According to Abou, "You had communities of color — predominantly the African-American community — voting in high numbers for the 'no' campaign. And in addition to that, you had ... more affluent voters turning out to vote 'no'....."

Abou further explained those "no" votes.

"['Progressive Democrats'] were having an abstract conversation about the role of police, but those folks in north Minneapolis — Black elders, others — know that this is not an abstract conversation; [their] lives are on the line. When someone talks about a carjacking or a shooting, it's not an abstraction; it's the life they live each and every day."

In the wake of the George Floyd movement, with its demands to "abolish the police," crime rates had soared in America's large, Democrat-controlled cities.


According to Reuters, Minneapolis [population, 430,000] recorded its 79th homicide this year on Halloween. Minneapolis homicides were up more than 17% through the end of September, compared with the first nine months in 2020. Robberies and aggravated assaults also have increased. "North Minneapolis, a poorer area where more Black residents live, has seen the brunt of the violence. Nearly half of all murders in the city have taken place in Precinct 4, where residents complain of nights filled with shootings, carjackings and out-of-control petty crime."


Things are even worse in the American war-zone known as Chicago.


The Chicago Sun-Times reports that for the 12 month period ending on Nov. 1, 790 people have been shot to death in Chicago. The Chicago Police Department reports that through Oct. 31, 2021 there have been 3,030 shooting incidents.


Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who called for a $59 million cut from the police budget in October of 2020, now says the violence was driven by people who "have absolutely no regard for the sanctity of human life." Now Lightfoot admits residents of Chicago neighborhoods that are "under siege," and calls for cooperation with the police to "stem the tide on his violence."

The Sun-Times labels West Garfield Park district, in which 95.58% of the residents are Black, as the "city's most dangerous community. ... 62 shootings [have occurred] in a single, eight-by-five block section of West Garfield Park." West Garfield Park, the newspaper reported, has experienced a per capita rate of shootings nearly 20 times higher than downtown.


An open-minded person might reasonably ask, how many of those shootings were done by cops?


Then there's Portland, Oregon [pop. 661,419] — the poster child for "defund the police," and "autonomous zones devoid of police?" As of early October 2021, over 1,000 people have been shot and 73 killed; 948 had been shot through Sept. 30, compared with 607 in 2020. In 2020, Portland, suffered an 83% increase in homicides. According to US News, Portland has had twice as many homicides in 2021 as Seattle, its larger neighbor.

The first duty of government is to protect the law-abiding citizens. Portland's mayor and the other idiots who run the city acted otherwise. Portland's KGW8 describes the resulting chaos:

Jacqueline Valenzuela was home with her family and baby when shots rang out "We were in the living room watching TV, five minutes before everything happened," she said. A bullet went through their home. "Our living room was where it struck." [Police] found the street littered with 57 casings and four live rounds. Two homes, four cars, one mailbox and one fence had been hit by bullets. The Valenzuelas "no longer feel safe in the neighborhood and hope to move out soon."

On Nov. 4, Portland's super-woke mayor finally removed his rose-colored glasses and surveyed the mess he, his comrades in city government and his fellow-traveling antifa-ites have masterminded. The mayor belatedly admitted, "Many Portlanders no longer feel safe in their city. Business owners have closed up shop, for fear of doing business in high risk areas. Commuters fear for their safety, whether taking public transport or going by foot. Parents are scared to let their children play outside."

The first duty of government is to protect the law-abiding citizens. Any voter who was stupid enough to vote for these idiots, deserves to live in the shambles they've created. The enabling woke mayor who made this mess possible should be required to live deep within the ruins of the neighborhoods that he allowed to be destroyed — and be required to send his children to public schools therein.


Did they know better? Certainly. But embarrassing Donald Trump and winning an election was a higher priority than protecting the public.

Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on November 19, 2021

Closing one's eyes to science - to the humanity of the fetus

Texas Senate Bill 8 bans abortions after an ultrasound can detect a fetal "heartbeat."

"A fetal heartbeat" is defined as "a cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac." Such activity can be detected by ultrasound as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

Dr. Nisha Verma, a prominent obstetrician and gynecologist, who provides abortion services, argues that describing what ultrasound detects as a "heartbeat" is misleading. The term is misleading because embryos don’t possess a heart at that developmental stage. She argues that the activity measured on an ultrasound in early gestation is electrical impulses, not a true heartbeat.

"When I use the stethoscope to listen to a patient’s heart, that sound that I hear ... as the heartbeat is created by the opening and closing of the cardiac valves. And at six weeks of gestation, those valves don’t exist."

But is that the real issue here? "Electrical impulse" rather that the sound created by he opening and closing of the cardiac valves?

Or is the real issue whether the embryo/fetus is truly a human person? That is what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott believes: "Our creator endowed us with the right to life and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion."


So who is doing the misleading? Who is obfuscating? The Texas Legislature? Or doctors like Dr. Verma?

For any person of good will, who believes in acting upon the true facts, and who isn't a "science denier," I would highly recommend a five-minute visit to WebMD, at: https://www.webmd.com/baby/ss/slideshow-fetal-development.

That video describes "Fetal Development" as follows:

Development at 4 Weeks. At this point the baby is developing the structures that will eventually form their face and neck. The heart and blood vessels continue to develop. And the lungs, stomach, and liver start to develop. A home pregnancy test would show positive.

Development at 8 Weeks. The baby is now a little over half an inch in size. Eyelids and ears are forming, and you can see the tip of the nose. The arms and legs are well formed. The fingers and toes grow longer and more distinct.

Development at 12 Weeks. The baby measures about 2 inches and starts to make its own movements. You may start to feel the top of your uterus above your pubic bone. Your doctor may hear the baby's heartbeat with special instruments. The sex organs of the baby should start to become clear.

Development at 16 Weeks. The baby now measures about 4.3 to 4.6 inches and weighs about 3.5 ounces. The baby's eyes can blink and the heart and blood vessels are fully formed. The baby's fingers and toes have fingerprints.

Development at 20 Weeks. The baby weighs about 10 ounces and is a little more than 6 inches long. The baby can suck a thumb, yawn, stretch, and make faces. Soon — if you haven't already — you'll feel your baby move, which is called "quickening."

An ultrasound is usually done for all pregnant women at 20 weeks. ... You can see the baby's heartbeat and movement of its body, arms, and legs on the ultrasound. You can usually find out whether it's a boy or a girl at 20 weeks.

Development at 24 Weeks. The baby weighs about 1.4 pounds now and responds to sounds by moving or increasing their pulse. You may notice jerking motions if they hiccup. With the inner ear fully developed, the baby may be able to sense being upside down in the womb.

Development at 28 Weeks. The baby weighs about 2 pounds, 6 ounces, and changes position often at this point in pregnancy. If you had to deliver prematurely now, there is a good chance the baby would survive.

Now, if you still doubt that the fetus is a human being with the same right to life that you enjoy, go to the WebMD site and look at the ultrasound images.

The Democrats — liberals and progressive alike — delight in calling anybody who disagrees with them on climate change, or the efficacy of wearing a Covid mask, "science deniers." And yet, when confronted with the heartbeat or electrical activity of a baby in its mother's womb, they cover their ears, and claim to hear nothing.

When confronted with ultrasound images of the child's undeniable development in the womb, they close their eyes and pretend to see nothing human. "It's merely a 'part of its mother' — just like her appendix or a wart on her finger." It is merely a "part of its mother" even though the embryo/fetus undeniably bears not only its mother's DNA, but its father's as well.

Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on October 26, 2021

A solution for Alleman

On June 30, Barb Ickes' article about Alleman High School appeared on the Dispatch-Argus' front page. The article included criticism of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, and Alleman Principal Sara Stroud. Ickes reached out to Stoud for comment. Stroud did not respond.

Ickes wrote, "Enrollment at Alleman has decreased from 443 students in 2018-2019 to 381 last year. Enrollment for the upcoming years is at 330 students."

A number of my friends, close to Alleman, had told me that (1) the 2021 freshman class would number about 60; (2) 38 students expected back would not return; and (3) 17 Illinois families would be sending their children to Davenport's Assumption High School instead. More recently, I have been told that total enrollment this year is at about 280.


In an effort to verify what I had been told, I emailed Stroud, asking, "Are the following facts substantially true?

1. The 2021 freshman class will number 60; only 10 are boys.
2. 38 students expected back are not returning.
3. 17 families are sending their children across the river to Assumption HS.
4. The former Alleman School Board was dissolved around the time Ms. Gau was terminated."

She replied:

"We have 70 students in our freshman class with 37 boys and 33 girls enrolled. More applications continue to come in; as of today. ... 5 students transferred to Assumption this summer."

I followed-up with a fifth question:

"What will Alleman total enrollment be this year?"

Mrs. Stroud replied:

"Our enrollment is still in flux but we are very pleased with welcoming 14 new students to our school! We are also very excited to partner with Partners in Mission to write our strategic plan this year where enrollment is one of 8 domains of focus, with academics being one of our most common topics of conversation amongst families most recently. The future is bright for Alleman and when we are positive, optimistic and rely on truth while allowing the Holy Spirit to flow, only greater progress will be evident!"

Since that non-answer, I have been told by three sources that attendance this year is "about 280.'


On Oct. 7, I wrote to Stroud telling her that, and asking, "Is that true? If not, please correct me."
I have received no reply.


From 443 students in 2018-19, Alleman's enrollment for the 2021-22 year appears to be somewhere between 330 and 280.

So, why are numbers important? Because fixed costs must now be paid by fewer student families. And because numbers are important for all extracurricular activities from football to theater; good programs draw students.


After the Ickes article, Bishops Jenky and Tylka wrote a July 3, 2021 letter, advising the Catholic community that a "strategic planning process" was being initiated, and "The strategic planning process will allow the school communities to provide the 'valuable feedback' needed to develop goals and objectives for the future sustainability of the schools...."

They further advised that they have hired a Boston-based consulting firm, "Partners in Mission," to provide "'valuable feedback' needed to develop goals and objectives for the future sustainability of the schools."

It is one thing to develop a long term strategic plan for the future sustainability of the schools in the diocese. It is an entirely different thing to deal with complaints that the Alleman leaders appear to have lost — or perhaps never earned — the confidence of a substantial number of donors and parents paying tuition to send their children to Alleman.

If the goal is to deal with the problem, rather than conduct a post mortem, the solution is obvious: Involve the Alleman community.

There are many distinguished Alleman graduates — men and women — who have proved their worth — both in their parishes as well as in the larger community: doctors, veterinarians, CPAs, lawyers, teachers, bankers and business owners, parents, etc.

Let the Alleman community pick its own lay board from among these Alleman grads. Trust the dedicated Catholic men and women chosen to act in the best interests of Alleman and the church. Reject the unsupportable notions that Peoria is infallible and that the Alleman community lacks competence to educate its own children.

Allow that board to run the school, to hire and fire all Alleman personnel, to raise sufficient funds to run the school properly, and to exclusively control all Alleman funds raised. Funds donated for Alleman must be entirely free of diocesan invasion.

I would suggest that a model can be found in my high school, Notre Dame College Prep, Niles, Ill.

In 2006, the Congregation of Holy Cross ended their sponsorship of Notre Dame. Ownership was assumed by a board of lay people on Jan. 1, 2007.

The Archdiocese of Chicago placed the Catholicity of the school under the oversight of the Notre Dame Education Association, an Association of Christian Faithful, composed of the lay board and other members. Under this new leadership, Notre Dame continued to grow and prosper.

If this diocese wants to climb out of its self-dug hole, the quickest and most permanent way of doing so is to treat the loyal Catholic laymen as full-partners in the education of their children. Follow the NDCP/Chicago Archdiocese model.

For me, writing this op-ed is not a journalistic exercise. My daughter was Alleman's 2004 salutatorian. I am a donor, and a great admirer of Father Mirabelli. I cared enough to serve at Alleman from 2002 to 2018 as a volunteer theatrical director. I don't want to see Alleman fail. I believe that fine Catholic high schools are more critical today to the welfare of American society that at any time during my lifetime.

Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on October 15, 2021 

Fearing the reckoning

Many of my friends tell me they now turn off the news. They find it too dishonest, too upsetting. Everything they value is being attacked. Perhaps because of my upbringing, and perhaps because of a project I began some 30 years ago, I have not yet reached that point. I still see a safe path for America's future.


I have written before of how my mother taught me, even before I was in school, not to lie. "If you tell one lie, you will have to tell more lies to cover it up." She also taught the "Golden Rule." Dad taught tolerance. When I used the N-word, when I was just four or five, Dad told me, "I don't ever want to hear you use that word again; it's meant to hurt." When as a child, I began to lecture an adult friend of his on the superiority of Catholicism over Episcopalianism, Dad cut short my discourse with a simple question: "Are you a bigot?"


Then there was the ethical and moral training that I received in the Catholic grade schools and high school, at the University of Notre Dame and at its law school — "the ends don't justify the means."


Then, about 30 years ago, I began collecting the stories of what life was like in America during the Great Depression of the 1930s from people who lived through it. I am not quite sure why I began collecting. Perhaps it was the realization, after my mother's death, that what she and Dad had taught me about the Great Depression was passing with them.


One day, about five years ago, I suddenly realized that all the people who had personal memories of the Depression would soon be gone and would take their memories with them. It was then that I seriously began collecting enough additional stories to write my first book. About a year ago, I signed a contract with Crosslink Publishing, a smaller Christian publishing company, to publish my "Memories of the Great Depression — a Time Forgotten." That process — collecting additional stories — has become a labor of love. At this point, I have enough for a sequel, but I still wish to save more.


In my book, I include the story of a friend and neighbor, the Rev. Charles Willey. The underlying values found in his story, and how they contrast with "modern values," have prompted this op-ed.


"I can clearly recall an incident, when a family had their little eight-year-old girl die from a ruptured appendix and peritonitis. The family had absolutely nothing. They didn’t even have enough money to bury her. The expenses of the funeral were more than they could stand. It was at this point that the whole neighborhood stepped in. When I say the neighborhood, I mean our small rural community—a community where the rural church served as the community center and the cohesive factor that bound people together.


"I can distinctly remember how the church got together and "held ice cream suppers. And how they assembled and held what they called 'pound suppers' or 'jitney suppers.' At a jitney supper, everything was a nickel! A scoop of potatoes was a nickel, and a piece of beef was a nickel. You’d buy a whole meal for twenty-five cents. ... It was a fundraiser; that’s what it was."


"The proceeds of these suppers went to help the family with no strings attached. There was no attempt on anybody’s part to take advantage of the charity. It was rather a symbol of people pulling together to help someone who had a genuine hardship— a hardship that they couldn’t help and couldn’t survive without the cooperation of a community. There was a sense of community which we’ve lost now in the age of the nuclear family. Then, we felt a sense of responsibility for each other and for the people we knew. We weren’t just acquaintances; we were friends. And I guess, maybe human need is the only thing that brings that kinship out."


Perhaps I'm an old fool, but I prefer that America where families, neighbors and communities come together and practiced traditional Christian values to help each.


Certainly major disasters require help from the national government. But where traditional Christian charity or local governments can meet the problems, neighbors and local governments should still be the "first responders."


I am leery of a progressive government which chooses to step in as the first responder in matters traditionally reserved to families, neighbors and units of local government.


Today, our federal government is providing cradle to grave benefits: "Free" food, housing, education and medical care. And for those who don't wish to work, "free" money.

And all this is being done without increasing taxes. Banks, great automobile companies, and state governments awash with pension debt are all bailed out with a few keystrokes of the computer. Hundreds of billions of dollars are magically credited to the account of the Federal Reserve, and made available to support otherwise unfunded government programs.


The progressives believe they can engineer the "Great Hallelujah Day." A few of us old curmudgeons await and fear the reckoning.

Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on September 30, 2021 

The Illinois Reapportionment System. An Absolute Disgrace!

The Illinois General Assembly is the Illinois Legislative body. It consists of a House and a Senate. The House has 118 members elected from 118 "Representative Districts." The Senate has 59 members elected from 59 "Legislative Districts." Each Senate ("legislative") district is divided into two House ("representative") districts


In the year following each Federal decennial census year, the General Assembly is required by law to redistrict both the Legislative and the Representative Districts.


Article IV, Section 3 of The Illinois Constitution of 1970 provides, "Legislative Districts shall be compact, contiguous and substantially equal in population. Representative Districts shall be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population."

No similar Illinois provision governs the drawing of Congressional Districts.


The average citizen's definition of "compact" would be roughly akin to the dictionary definition: "closely and neatly packed together; dense ... neatly fitted into a small space.


But in 1895, Illinois legislators and judges "defined" the requirement of "compactness," which was found in the Illinois Constitution of 1870, out of existence. In approving a gerrymandered map drawn by the legislature, the Illinois Supreme Court did so by defining "compactness" in a way to render the term meaningless.


"[W]e are of the opinion that as used in the constitution ... the provision that districts shall be formed of ... compact territory means that [they] ... must be closely united, territorially."


Under that definition two intersecting road could be deemed "compact." Certainly where they intersect, they are "closely united, territorially." But nobody except a political hack in the legislature or on the bench would say that I-80 and I-74 are "compact" because the are "closely united" at their point of intersection.

The drafters of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 were fully aware of what the 1895 Illinois

Supreme Court had done when they reinserted the "compact" requirement into the Constitution of 1970. But they again failed to define "compact!" So the legislature, and the court following its their earlier precedent, have once again ignored the plain meaning of the word — just as they did in 1895.


Nevertheless, the drafters clearly understood the importance of the "compactness" requirement. The Report of the Legislative Committee which proposed the language adopted by the 1970 Convention. It stated:


"Perhaps no standards for drawing legislative district boundaries possess a longer history than the traditional standards of compactness and contiguity. In our present Constitution, these standards are found in both Sections 6 and 7. These standards directly reflect the objective of improving legislative representation through seeking to insure that districts are not gerrymandered."


Presently the Illinois Senate consisted of 41 Democrats and 18 Republicans. The House consists of 73 Democrats and 45 Republicans. Democrats therefore have absolute control of both houses. The Republicans are utterly irrelevant. In Congress, the Democrats hold 13 of 18 seats.


You can see the results of Democrat gerrymandering — with judicial approval. Just look at the 2011 maps. Or look at the new 2021 maps the Democrats have just trotted out. [Of course, the Republican would do the same thing if they had the power.]


Proposed Illinois Senate Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewerll=40.08707930358038%2C88.48127570835499&z=8&mid=1X9lSD13vTX_-4oIyWqstGk8e1VFGJ_i2

Proposed Illinois House Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1L7I2r4gat9nRWx9wfaizpn7XkA7i1qL4&ll=39.79510521942542%2C-89.50414500000001&z=6



To see what the Illinois Democrats perceive to be "compact," simply look at the present Illinois Congressional map. Can any sane man honestly describe existing Congressional districts 1, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, as "compact?" This map reduces the redistricting process to crass political cynicism.

https://www.ilga.gov/CongressionalDistrictMaps/Statewide%20View.pdf


As a result of the Democrat gerrymandering in Illinois has been ruled by one-party government for the last 10 years. This map is designed to guarantee that elections are non-competitive. It succeded.

So what's my solution?


As I have no confidence the Illinois Supreme Court will construe the word "compact" as the drafters who wrote our constitutions intended, I see only two possible solutions:


(1) Elect holy angels to draw the map; or (2) amend the Illinois Constitution to provide:

All districts shall be compact — squares, rectangles or triangles. No district shall have more than four sides. All sides shall be straight lines, unless one or more sidesor the sides are the state boundry lines. No arcs, no curves, no squiggles. The only factor, beyond shape, that may be considered in drawing the district's lines is population equality.


Or if the politicians would choke on my solution, they might check out Iowa's. Iowa's Congressional Districts are pretty darn "compact." Copy the Iowa system!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa%27s_congressional_districts


In Iowa there are only four Congressional Districts. Indication that the Iowa system works, is that from the 2014 election until the 2018 elections, Republican held 3 of 4 seats. In 2018, Democrats grabbed 3 of 4 seats. In 2020, Republicans 3 of 4 seats back.




Democracy works best when the voters can "throw the bums out"— whether they are Republican bums or Democrat bums.



Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on September 14, 2021 under the caption "Level the Playing Field."

Biden's contradictions undermine his message

Once upon a time, journalist were taught to give the "who, what, when and where" when writing their news stories. But it is increasingly difficult for even the most conscientious journalist to get those questions answered when they seek answers from high government officials and bureaucrats. President Donald Trump said one thing; Dr. Anthony Fauci contradicted him. Then Fauci went on a flip-flopping binge. President Joe Biden says one thing today, and the opposite tomorrow; and even worse, says one thing, and does the exact opposite. After all the "little sidesteps," how can any American have trust in what any government official tells them?


On Aug. 4, the Dispatch-Argus published an article from Capitol News Illinois by Jerry Nowicki. When I finished reading it, I found myself asking the question, "Is this really useful information?"

I have never attended journalism school, but had I written the piece, I would have tried to answer the following questions.

A. New Covid hospitalizations in the last 7 days:

1. How many vaccinated people in Illinois were hospitalized with the original Covid variant?

2. How many vaccinated people in Illinois were hospitalized with the Delta variant?

3. How many unvaccinated people in Illinois were hospitalized with the original Covid variant?

4. How many unvaccinated people in Illinois were hospitalized with the Delta variant?



B. New Covid cases in intensive care in the last 7 days:

1. How many vaccinated people in Illinois were placed in intensive care with the original Covid variant?

2. How many vaccinated people in Illinois were placed in intensive care with the Delta variant?

3. How many unvaccinated people in Illinois placed in intensive care with the original Covid variant?

4. How many unvaccinated people in Illinois were placed in intensive care with the Delta variant?


C. New Deaths from Covid in the last 7 days:

1. How many vaccinated people in Illinois died from the original Covid variant?

2. How many vaccinated people in Illinois died from the Delta variant?

3. How many unvaccinated people in Illinois died from the original Covid variant?

4. How many unvaccinated people in Illinois died from the Delta variant?


I suggest that if the above twelve questions were honestly answered, the readers of the Dispatch-Argus would have the information they need to make rational decisions for themselves. They would not have to rely upon the changing and contradictory statements made from day to day by their elected officials and the bureaucrat "experts."


It seems incredible to me that the government would not keep such statistics.

And if the government doesn't keep such statistics, why not? If not, how can any government make intelligent decisions without the answers to these 12 questions?

If a democracy is going to work, the citizens have to be given full and honest information. Voters can't intelligently vote if they are fed gobbledygook by their elected officials and the bureaucrats.

Do I blame Jerry Nowicki for writing an article that raises more questions than it answers? No. I blame government officials, the CDC and the Illinois Department of Public Health for failing to provide straight answers to really important questions that every American needs answered.

I understand viruses can mutate, and what was good advice yesterday may not be good advice as the virus mutates. But it is the height of irresponsibility for Biden to restrict travel to the U.S. from the U.K., Ireland and 26 countries in Europe, as well as South Africa, to slow transmission of COVID-19, while throwing our Southern border open to Covid-infected migrants, and releasing 1500 Covid-infected migrants into McAllen, Texas, to infect anybody they come in contact with.

In the words of the Wall Street Journal, "If the president wants the public to defer to public-health officials when it comes to masking and social distancing, he can't expect people to ignore these same officials when they tell us that large numbers of recent migrants may be contributing to the crisis."

The president's pathetic double standard undermines every sound part of his message.

Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on August 19, 2021

So Why is the U.S. Closed to Cuban Immigrants? — Another Biden Double Standard

Do you still believe what the Biden administration tells you? If so, wake up!

On March 3, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to increase "refugee admissions" into the U.S.

It reads:

"It is important to take this action today to remove any lingering doubt in the minds of refugees around the world who have suffered so much, and who are anxiously waiting for their new lives to begin.


"The United States Refugee Admissions Program embodies America’s commitment to protect the most vulnerable, and to stand as a beacon of liberty and refuge to the world. It’s a statement about who we are, and who we want to be. So we are going to rebuild what has been broken and push hard to complete the rigorous screening process for those refugees already in the pipeline for admission."

The executive order was consistent with his pre-election promises. Since the day Donald Trump was elected, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the "Squad," and virtually every Democrat have been proclaiming — or perhaps bellowing — that our Southern border must be open to refugees seeking to escape persecution in their native countries, that this country must take all comers, and that they must be released and given a date in the future when their claims of persecution will be adjudicated.


But now when the people of Cuba take to the streets to protest their government's one-party rule, incompetence, brutality, and violation of human rights, suddenly our country's doors are slammed shut by Biden's Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. They will not be allowed entry here, even if they demonstrate genuine fear of being persecuted, imprisoned or tortured on their islands.

"If individuals make, establish a well-founded fear of persecution or torture, they are referred to third countries for resettlement. They will not enter the United States."

"Allow me to be clear: if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States,"

"The time is never right to attempt migration by sea. To those who risk their lives doing so, this risk is not worth taking."

Fleeing from Cuba to the U.S., across 90 miles of unpredictable open sea, via small boat is undeniably a dangerous venture. You have to be absolutely desperate to do it. The gamble that Cubans take risking their lives in small boats should say to any open-minded American that life in millionaire-socialist Bernie Sanders' Cuban socialist paradise is a delusion of a deranged mind. No sane man would put his family in an open boat and cross 90 miles of open sea without calculating that living in Cuba is worse than dying at sea. Taking the trip is presumptive evidence of a good faith and genuine fear of being persecuted, imprisoned or tortured by Cuba's communist government.


Moreover, any country that gives a damn about the welfare of its people wouldn't force people who wanted out to cross a small ocean in a small boat. If Cuba was a free country, like Marxist Bernie and "the Squad" contend, it would allow its dissatisfied citizens to emigrate to the U.S. or elsewhere via safe ocean-going ships, or by airplane.


And if Mayorkas really fears the dangers of the trip across 90 miles of open-water, why doesn't he, assuming that he is a reasonable man, have a similar fear for the safety of families, women and children making the trek from Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Or is a 90-mile voyage across open-water really that much more dangerous than a 1,323 mile trip from Guatemala City to the Texas border? Are women and children really safer traversing deserts in the hands of drug cartels and across Covid-infested lands than they'd be in open boats? At least women and girls traveling in small boats with their families don't get raped.


Now, re-read President Biden's executive order. Is their any exception for "Cubans who show up in small boats?"


Bottom line. You're welcome if you risk your life and pay the drug cartels to bring you 1,500 miles to the U.S. You are not welcome if you risk your life in a small boat to come 90 miles without enriching the drug cartels.


So why are our shores closed to Cubans? I am just cynical enough to believe it is because Cuban refugees have the effrontery to vote Republican. Their experiences in the affairs of life have taught them never again to vote for socialists, Marxists or totalitarians.

Copyright 2021, John Donald O'Shea

First Published in the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus on August 6, 2021