I was with you until the cilantro. I recommend you try some [zesty cilantro, keto, vegan & paleo salad dressing, marinade, and cooking sauce by Saucy Lips][1]
But other than that, this poll has be dumbfounded. I really don’t see immigration as that important an issue for this country. It’s certainly not in the top 5. I think this poll is more reflective of the fact that Republicans have made it an issue specifically as a wedge to separate themselves from the American way, which is founded on immigration as a key source of labor and innovation. Apparently, Republicans don’t like labor and innovation. Steve Jobs’ family should never have come to this country from Syria. Our railroads should never have been built. Our cows should butcher themselves.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but what I was trying to say was that the goopers do indeed have a handle on the immigration situation: they like it the way it is and it serves their corporate overlords to keep the status quo for the sake of cheap “slave” (as you put it) labor. Said status also serves the goopers to keep their base in a fear of foreigners frenzy with the objective of keeping those suckers in perpetual ignorance.
One spec of cilantro in a dish renders the entire preparation tasting of dish soap for me. Wave cilantro under my nose and I may as well be sniffing a Palmolive bar. Some studies indicate as much as 20% of the population suffers the same effect. Many restaurants in California now advertise their fare as prepared with and without cilantro, recognizing the noxious effect it has on some people.
However, some people find cilantro revolting, including, famously, the chef Julia Child. Of course some of this dislike may come down to simple preference, but for those cilantro-haters for whom the plant tastes like soap, the issue is genetic. These people have a variation in a group of olfactory-receptor genes that allows them to strongly perceive the soapy-flavored aldehydes in cilantro leaves. This genetic quirk is usually only found in a small percent of the population, though it varies geographically. Interestingly, places where cilantro is especially popular, such as Central America and India, have fewer people with these genes, which might explain how the herb was able to become such a mainstay in those regions. East Asians have the highest incidence of this variation, with some studies showing that nearly 20% of the population experiences soapy-tasting cilantro.
https://www.britannica.com/story/why-does-cilantro-taste-like-soap-to-some-people
Not disagreeing, just saying that the Democrats have had several chances with control of both Houses and the Presidency to have passed legislation improving the situation and did not… because of their corporate donors (in many cases the very same ones who give to Republicans.)
But, let it go. We both seem to think that there are “political” incentives for not resolving anything in the near future. (Perhaps if 2020 is a blue tsunami?)
Understood. A close friend of mine is quite allergic to every kind of nut there is. There are definitely good reasons to stay away from certain foods, not all related to simple taste preferences. On that end, i guess i sympathize with your predicament. Some aversions are stronger than others. In fact, about California, i had no idea. That is quite an eye opener. I will remember that, and henceforth cancel that order of Saucy Lips that i had sent to you. O the plus side, though, i hear British food is practically cilantro free. Head down to the pub and grab a big, juicy burger. It’s Friday!
This 66 year-old blue-collar Democrat’s top 5 legislative priorities are:
Undo all that Trump has wrought, including if possible his judges.
Respond to Global Warming as we responded to Pearl Harbor.
Single Payer Universal Health Care
Federalize state and local elections to end voter suppression, gerrymandering, voter purges, etc.
Elect Elizabeth Warren President in 2020.
(Walls and Border Security don’t even make the list.)
My Wish List:
Bleed corporations, churches, and the rich to pay off National Debt.
Deport Republicans, and anyone I don’t like.
Figure out how to use my Instant Pot mini.
OT, but I would like to hear ‘Eagle Scout’ Rex Tillerson comment on this. @kate_riga FYI
US halts cooperation with UN on potential human rights violations
Exclusive: State department has ceased to respond to complaints from special rapporteurs in move that sends ‘dangerous message’ to other countries US halts cooperation with UN on potential human rights violations | Human rights | The Guardian Quietly and unnoticed, the state department has ceased to respond to official complaints from UN special rapporteurs, the network of independent experts who act as global watchdogs on fundamental issues such as poverty, migration, freedom of expression and justice. There has been no response to any such formal query since 7 May 2018, with at least 13 requests going unanswered.
The silent treatment being meted out to key players in the UN’s system for advancing human rights marks a stark break with US practice going back decades. Though some areas of American public life have consistently been ruled out of bounds to UN investigators – US prisons and the detention camp on Guantánamo Bay are deemed off-limits – Washington has in general welcomed monitors into the US as part of a wider commitment to upholding international norms.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s human rights program, said the shift gave the impression the US was no longer serious about honoring its own human rights obligations. The ripple effect around the world would be dire.
Maybe if the white deplorables would lay off the opiods, they might be able to pass the drug test and actually get a job, rather than blaming the immigrants.
The headline is misleading and alarmist. I took it to mean the poll found immigration to be the #1 issue. As I read the story, it seems to be that on an open-ended poll question, immigration was one of the top 5 issues. Big difference.
Is that surprising? Not really. The issue has been jammed down people’s throats non-stop in recent weeks and I dare say that for different reasons immigration will be high on the agenda of both right wingers and lefties as 2020 approaches.
For starters perhaps they should hire some media consultants and stop relying on random people on the internet who point out the problem to solve the problem.
Ok, snark aside I didn’t mean to be rude to you. It’s just every single time someone points out that the Dems and the Left have a messaging problem someone has to chime in with a ‘well whatta you gonna do about it’ question that just sounds like more shrugging the problem away as if the left being bad at messaging is some fact of nature and one is stupid for suggesting they fix it.
If you’re really asking though, the Dems need to come up with some sort of strategy at all. The right did this decades ago (just after Nixon) and it paid dividends (screaming “liberal media” wasn’t just a hissy fit it was a tactic for instance). As I said the Dems need to hire some media consultants (or fire the ones they have and get new ones) that can identify what the GOP does and how to counter it. The GOP has a clear strategy that consists of everything from grand political gestures doomed to fail but that give off a message to voters, to giving the days talking point to TV pundits in daily calls, weekly meetings with religious leaders and other influencers, networking and workshops with talk radio and tv personalities. The Right-wing understands how to use ‘the AP handbook’ against journalist and say things in a way that gets them favorable coverage (headlines are all that matter for example). Hell even the way right-wingers debate on TV is a power play of ‘confidence’ and ‘power projection’ more than a ‘debate about he issues’ as the left thinks it is.
There are so many things from stoping the right from further encouraging media conglomeration under wealthy corporations to the takeover of news AM and FM radio, I could go on for days.
The current Dem position of open-borders is a total loser at the voting booth. If Dems move to a position of some kind of enforcement, and set up a barrier of some kind (call it anything you want), that will improve their position. As it stands, they are going to lose a bunch of voters.
Donald Trump is POTUS because a hell of a lot of USA citizens are not blinded by Demostupidity on immigration. The current insanity of open-borders Dem policy is only 10 years old. Before that, many Dems were concerned about immigration. The Latino bosses of the Dem party has controlled the narrative and forced Dems to the current level of open-borders dumbshittedness that is controlling all the narrative.
Note that a majority of Senators and House members, in 2006, voted for a wall, and made many comments about how important walls are. We will get wall funding, but it will be called something else.
Yup. And the polls at that time will reflect whatever new shiny object is in the news. I tend to not be too impressed by these polls because they change so dramatically in such short periods of time. All that you can really tell by such polls is “what I saw on the news recently”
This goes ta show ya that the US glass is half full of people who are not idiots. When you consider the way the media pounds away at whatever shiny object Wingnuts flash at them you’d think more than half the population would support them.
This is nothing more than the Republican base following instructions from their Cult Leader that Immigration needs to be the top issue, so neither they nor their Cult Leader, in his words, “looks foolish” and loses face.
I’m sensing a hostility. Well, here’s a prediction: By July, 2020, if someone says “open-borders”, the immediate response will be “Democrat”.
Dems need to find the courage to face down their Latino masters and responsibly determine how immigration law will be enforced. Or Trump will cram it down their throats.
The US Latino citizens are becoming quite a voting bloc and we are happy to have them with us. That’s the way democracy is supposed to work.
Kowtowing to Putin is the sort of boss who ought to be dumped.
The immigration situation is lowest it has been in decades:
There were 10.7 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2016, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. The total is the lowest since 2004 and is tied to a decline in the number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants during this time. Meanwhile, unauthorized immigrants are increasingly likely to be long-term U.S. residents: Two-thirds of adult immigrants without legal status have lived in the country for more than 10 years.
Exactly! Instead of saying no money for the Trump wall, Schumer and Pelosi need to articulate what they are proposing on the immigration issue-- and keep saying it again and again. The same with fixes to ACA. These people need much better positive message control.
50% see immigration as “top issue” because there’s so much talk of it. The average person is in no way affected by immigrants directly or otherwise. They’re echoing what the hear on TV.
