XPost: tx.politics, memphis.general, alt.appalachian   
   XPost: alt.history   
   From: criminally-complicit@sfchronicle.com   
      
   For many people, her murder will underscore the importance of   
   putting Americans first.   
      
   Iowa police announced this week what we long suspected: Mollie   
   Tibbetts, the Iowa college student who was missing for over a   
   month, is dead. The preliminary autopsy report, released   
   Thursday, reveals that she was killed by “multiple sharp force   
   injuries.” Prosecutors have filed first-degree murder charges   
   against Cristhian Rivera, a 24-year-old Mexican who had been   
   working at Yarrabee Farms in Brooklyn, Iowa, since 2014. The   
   police say that Rivera is in the country illegally — though this   
   has been disputed by his lawyer — and that he presented   
   fraudulent identification to his employer when he was hired.   
   Anyone really interested in understanding why Trump was elected   
   president should pay careful attention to this episode.   
      
   We don’t yet know for sure if Rivera is guilty, but the tragedy   
   of the scenario painted by the charges is explosive. The way   
   many people see it, if a foreign national, apparently in the   
   country illegally, kills an American citizen, it underscores the   
   urgency of Trump’s message of putting Americans first. In other   
   words, the murder of Mollie Tibbetts was not only ugly and evil,   
   it was unnecessary and utterly preventable by government action.   
      
   Some supporters of amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the   
   country, as well as increased legal immigration, don’t seem to   
   be able to acknowledge the reality of Tibbetts’ murder. Senator   
   Elizabeth Warren is a case in point. Rather than admit during a   
   CNN interview that our failure to enforce our immigration laws   
   and control the border contributed to Tibbetts’ death, she   
   changed the subject. After saying that she was “so sorry for the   
   family here,” Warren argued that “we need an immigration system   
   that is effective, that focuses on where real problems are,” in   
   effect casting those crossing the border illegally as the “real”   
   victims.   
      
   Make no mistake, it’s not only Democrats who have a problem   
   here. Pro-immigration Republicans like Paul Ryan and Jeff Flake   
   aren’t much better. Callous disregard for families like the   
   Tibbettses is one of the reasons that President Trump’s common-   
   sense talk about immigration reform resonates with many   
   Americans. Trump remains one of the only national leaders of   
   either party to address major social, political and economic   
   issues of the utmost importance. This is why the Tibbetts case   
   matters not only because of the murder, but because of its   
   social and economic context.   
      
   Much of American agriculture relies on foreign laborers, often   
   in the country illegally, because attracting American citizens   
   to those jobs would mean paying them more — and employers don’t   
   want to do that. Trump has spoken about raising the real wages   
   of working-class Americans and establishing the conditions for   
   employment security and higher pay, for which border security is   
   a predicate. Establishment Republicans of the Ryan-Flake genus   
   don’t prioritize protecting our borders or the interests of   
   American workers because they misunderstand and misapply   
   libertarian ideas — and they are cowed by corporate interests   
   dependent upon cheap labor. Unfortunately, this has become the   
   norm. In Charles Kesler’s excellent essay Thursday, he talked   
   about norms that should be broken and how Trump is actually   
   doing this. Here is one of them. I studied under Professor   
   Kesler years ago and continue to learn from him. I think you   
   will, too.   
      
   Elsewhere. James Piereson, a political scientist who is a senior   
   fellow at The Manhattan Institute, describes “Socialism As a   
   Hate Crime” in The New Criterion. Given socialism’s bloody track   
   record, the misery it has imposed upon the citizens of countries   
   like Venezuela in recent years and its curious popularity among   
   know-nothing millennials and aging boomers, Piereson’s piece is   
   both necessary and timely.   
      
   This is my last day substituting for David. I enjoyed writing   
   the newsletter and the interactions I’ve had with many of you.   
   I’ve tried to address some of the challenges you’ve made and the   
   pushback you’ve delivered. Whether or not you agree with what   
   I’ve written, I hope I have at least been clear enough to   
   provide the basis for future dialogue.   
      
   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/opinion/mollie-tibbetts-   
   immigration-trump.html   
                                 
      
      
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