U.S. reckoning

Interesting, Ms. Heath. If the United States is as bad as you imply, why did your grandpa opt to come, and now you, to remain in the United States? Regardless, you are correct that the U.S. is reckoning with the consequences. The consequences of treasonous Biden opening the border. Fortunately, we now have a real president directing ICE to enforce the laws we have on the books.

Ms. Heath has forgotten that this country was founded on the premise that a foreign country was calling their unacceptable shots. That was the UK. What happened, the colonists decided to end that suppression and established a new nation and did away with the foreign dictates. What we hear from Ms. Heath is that the colonists should have moved away and find another country to live in. As a frequent visitor to Central America, I hear the same thing. All that is wrong there is the fault of the gringos. So instead of doing something about it and emulate the colonists' courage and sacrifice, they come here, complain, and even have the nerve to wave the flag of the country that they left. Ms. Heath, I don't think your grandfather went through all of his trouble so that you can freely express your twisted logic.

Thank you Ms. Heath for sharing the story of your brave grandpa, who believed in our country, contributed to it, and was law-abiding and paid taxes. Yes, racism persists and no thanks to some politicians and leaders who have and continue to use it for political gain, blaming “The Other” for our problems. Thank you for bring up the history that we should all know and study. One reason for doing that is so we can make informed decisions in choosing our leaders and their policies. For over a hundred years, terrible things have been done in the name of “anti-communism” including Wall Street’s vital role in the rise of Hitler. There is a straight line from there to the Gehlen Network and to the “China Lobby” and the Latin American branch of the World Anti-Communist League and their role in using the drug trade to finance dirty wars and prop up dictators friendly to themselves and their US handlers and letting their people take a back seat. In 1954, the democratically elected leader of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz, was overthrown by the CIA for the crime of land reform that helped a half million poverty stricken people, which would not stand with United Fruit. President Clinton apologized in 1999 for decades of U.S. military and intelligence-backed violence and widespread oppression (https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/031199clinton-guatemala.html).

The terror squads, modeled after the Nazi Freikorps, operated all over Latin America including Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Chile, Argentina (https://spitfirelist.com/for-the-record/ftr-142-the-genesis-of-latin-american-death-squads/). They were heavily involved in the drug trade in Nicaragua, which was exposed by Iran-Contra. In the intelligence community, operations that result in undesirable outcomes is known as “blowback,” which describes how we got here in Latin America, Afghanistan, West Asia and countless other shameful actions. We don’t agree with all of our past and present leaders and policies here in the U.S., but we can make informed choices, which is increasingly hard when the powers that be distract us with drivel and false narratives.