Thursday, March 02, 2017

Signs of Democratic life

I didn't watch or listen to Trump's big speech on Tuesday. I don't understand why anyone should: he just makes stuff up and lies. Attend to what he does? Sure. And if it is as evil as it appears to be, get in the way. But I don't rot my brain by listening to him.

But it appears I did miss something. In addition to the Democratic response by the former Kentucky governor, over on Telemundo and Univision, Astrid Silva was giving the Democratic Spanish language response and it's a doozy.

Even if you don't speak Spanish, watch this young Nevada DREAMer for a bit. She's awesome.
I wonder if they'll try to deport her? I'm sure our thuggish border cops and President Bannon would just love to. If she ever is allowed to become a citizen, let's run her for office!

Here's some of what she said, for the linguistically challenged (like me).

... During his first weeks as President, Trump signed executive orders that endanger our entire community. He took actions that focus specifically on hurting immigrants and refugees. He is spending resources on targeting working immigrant families for deportation, he wants to spend billions of dollars to build an unnecessary border wall, and he’s looking for ways to deny entry to our Muslim brothers and sisters.

He made it very clear during his presidential campaign that he wanted his supporters to believe that all immigrants are criminals and refugees are terrorists. And recently, he directed immigration enforcement agents to arrest and deport any undocumented person they find, essentially legalizing racial profiling and setting in motion his mass deportation plan. Among the people that ICE arrested, are mothers, fathers, DREAMers with DACA, a victim of domestic violence, and many more.

... Instead of closing the door on Muslims and insulting countries around the world, President Trump should work with our allies to combat and defeat ISIS and other terrorist, and seek peace. Instead of standing behind oil companies and special interests, undoing the progress we’ve made to combat climate change, President Trump should be a leader and protect the quality of our air and our water. Because we only have one planet, and if we destroy it, what are we going to leave for our children?

Latinos suffer more from asthma than other groups. The state of our environment is key to our wellbeing. Instead of getting rid of the ACA, which gave health insurance to millions of Latinos, Trump and Republicans should make improvements to the program so it can cover more people and cost less.

Republicans want to defund Planned Parenthood, even though community clinics provide preventive and primary medical care for hundreds of thousands of people.

...We are living in uncertain times that are completely abnormal. In which the administration constantly questions the media and tries to actively destroy their credibility.

We can’t let these actions become normalized.

H/t to Dara Lind for flagging this for those of us who don't watch Spanish-language TV.

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