Text The Times.

Text The Times.

To date, Democrats have largely failed to lay out a comprehensive vision of what our immigration policy should be. Some of the announced presidential candidates have, over time, staked out positions on specific issues, such as the status of the Dreamers or the abolition of ICE, but they’ve largely left it to Donald Trump and his allies to set the broader terms of the debate. If the candidates hope to offer a genuine alternative to the administration’s policies, it’s imperative that they shift the debate from sloganeering about the wall and “open borders” to a consideration of an underlying question: what priorities and values will guide our immigration policy in the coming years? Will we continue along the present path of increased militarization and incarceration, or will we forge policies guided by a vision of a more just society?

[ Editor’s Note: While I continue to find very little to my liking coming out of the Trump Adminstration, as someone who leans to the left, I have found virtually nothing that excites me about the Democrats’ chances in the 2020 elections. It seems like every time the Democrats take aim at Trump, they manage to shoot themselves in the foot.

Case in point: You’re points about there being no real alternative to Trump’s wall coming from the Democrats.

Now, I happen to believe the wall is an incredible waste of money and at this point also an incredible waste of time that could have been better spent on real legislation. You know, honestly, if we’re going to play these partisan games, maybe this is just better. Ask for money, get no money, shut down the government, declare an emergency, override the declaration, veto the override…

maybe “ nothing gets done” is better than the so- called leaders ( on both sides) could come up with?]

*** Memphis is May? We can’t even get a Chick-fil-A!

SMH [ Editor’s Note: I think at the end of the day, Mayor McClendon probably never really thought we had a shot at luring Memphis in May over to this side of the river, but what that proposal did is get the West Memphis name out there for other organizers to consider for other events. And don’t you worry, my friend, I know there’s all sorts of rumors floating around, but if there’s any way this city can get a Chick- fil- A, they will]

*** From the Paris Fashion Week comes a piece of money wasting silliness, and it’s not a dress. A fashion water bottle, if there is such a thing, created by Evian and others went on sale for $42 and suddenly there were 4,000 people on a waiting list for it. Even the branding of ‘rainbow inside’ seems odd given that the cleanest water is clear and generally any colour is a sign of pollution. There is no rule that people can’t waste their money on any stupid item and given some of the recent purchases in the art world there seems to be no limit as to how much can be spent.

A question arises as to how could the money be spent more sensibly or even given to charities. The real concern is not just wasting money on a water bottle but how water is undervalued given that it truly is a vital need in life.

There are so many people that have little access to water and especially to clean water. A quick check online gives a list of charities that build water projects in Africa. The first one mentioned, the water project, can supply water to two people for $47, a convenient value for comparison. Surely this is the best way to spend the money rather than for a vanity plastic bottle. Let’s supply water to those that need it rather than those who think they will look better carrying it around. [ Editor’s Note: Let me take you back… back to a time before there was a multibillion- dollar market for bottled water.

It wasn’t that long ago, to be honest. I remember 25 or so years ago when the idea of going to the store to by bottles of water was a novel idea. There was supposed to be an earthquake around here and we were being cautioned to have a week’s worth of water on hand.

Well, the only bottled water anyone had ever heard of back then was Perrier, and that was some froo- froo concept for the high- fallutin’ types. Anyway, in case you didn’t know, “ Evian” spelled backward is “ Naive”]

Here’s what everyone is talking about this week: