As you know, Sal had an idea for a book. Trump gains power and exerts it. The nation’s mood turns ugly. Soon all hell breaks loose. Right wing nut bars are desecrating Jewish cemeteries, Muslims are being attacked and immigrants, refugees, tourists and all manner of travelers are being harassed, jailed, shot and prosecuted. Even Canadians. Crazy.
And it all happens so fast that a couple of retired, white, stodgy-type Canadians on vacation are caught in the cross-hairs of a rabid police state running amok with power. The oldsters then have to make a run for it. The book is basically a cheap B action flick starring 70 year-olds.
As I mentioned before….it’s a fun premise but until last night, still relegated to the extreme fiction genre. Last night Trump made it mild fiction. Maybe, to some extent, a reality.
Trump’s new order, in effect, gives unfettered power of deportation to cops and the border patrol. Ostensibly, they will exercise their newly expanded powers hunting only for those who are criminals or gang members or known bad hombres. But technically, the order reads that a cop or border patrol agent can ‘deem’ a person deportable and that ‘officer’ requires no proof. It is a discretionary power. No courts. No checks, no balances.
And our level of trust in the street-level, uniformed, US law enforcers is how high? And, making matters worse, Trump has also authorized the doubling of such forces. And our level of trust in the training of these new, currently unemployed young men and women is what, exactly?
I wonder how many young women will be coerced by pumped up, bigoted border agents whether the women are documented or not? I wonder how many young men will be beaten and jailed whether documented or not? I wonder if old Canadians will be deemed exempt from that Nazi-like behaviour. I wonder if I will find out first hand?
There is trouble ahead for many.
Now – to be more realistic – We are home in a week. We will be fine. But, here in Arizona, some people are already very much afraid. Those who are undocumented are terrified (not of being deported but of being arrested). Those who have temporary visas and work or student permits are equally as frightened and even those who have the proper documents but who have minor infractions on their record are convinced they will be deported.
Maybe it’s a good thing? Maybe Mexicans and Muslims should go back to where they came from? Maybe the US simply cannot take any more people? Maybe Trump and the racists are right, they have to protect themselves from strangers. Maybe these hate-motivated tactics are necessary for the survival of the Trump-types…..I judge they are wrong, wrong, wrong, of course, but I am NOT POTUS. I am not a Virginia coal miner. I am not a hill-billy meth-head. I do not know the lives and mind set of the poor, white, ill-educated and unemployed (nor do I want to). Maybe I cannot and should not judge the actions of another country. Maybe I just go home and watch the drama unfold and say, “tsk, tsk, tsk”.
And maybe the Conservatives win the next election and promote their legislation to do the same thing in Canada?
Our Off the Grid Home 
I think, if you check, the orders that President Trump is giving, are the laws already in force during the Obama administration. Obama deported over 2.5 milliion during his tenure. But he was a democrat so the media didn’t bother to report it.
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John. Obama is called the deportation president with over 3.5 million deported! Who did not report what?
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I think, if YOU check, John, the orders are different, giving more discretionary powers to the police and the border patrol. And eliminating due process. Further, they are doubling the personnel. AND they are going after those who have been in the US for more than two years (the previous limit time). It may sound as if I disapprove (because I do) but I do not disapprove of the intent – if it is to rid the US of criminals. But, giving so much power to new-hires without the involvement of the courts is bound to cause the same chaos that Trump’s last order did. In fact, it is already doing just that……
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By the way, John, despite our politics, it is nice to see you again.
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Kelly Leech is fanning the flames of ‘Canadian Values’ as she dreams up her alien exclusion zone. The pistol packing Canadian Border Agents currently have discretionary powers up the wazoo. No need to look to Trump’s xenophobia, Canada has its core of about 30% that Kelly can count on to be unwelcoming to newcomers. The idea of a novel about Trump’s dystopian view of what an America ‘made great again’ might become, is brilliant. History has been here before with the strident calls of isolationist nationalists to make our nation pure again.
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Even tho the CanBorPats have had that power and are sometimes belligerent with it, they have also a history of being relatively benign. So some mitigating policies must be in effect. I have never heard of a bad officer coercing sex or beating up an immigrant. In fact, it seems as if CBC is more focused on smuggling tax-free goods than anything else. Moreover, we do not have Canadian citizen vigilante groups ‘assisting’ with border patrol. Admittedly, we can get Leech-ugly and Alberta seems to have more of a history of that but they also have a Muslim mayor in Calgary and a feminist Premier. I read that the bigot crowd in Canada is 14% – one in 7.
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Attempting to connect.
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