Mass Immigration and Racism

In Are We All Racist Now?, "Allison Pearson argues that the political elite's desire to advance multiculturalism with mass immigration has backfired." Her look back at the immigration policies in Great Britain over the past 13 years — and the consequences in terms of overwhelmed social services — offers a cautionary note to U.S. politicians considering comprehensive immigration reform.

I wish I were more surprised to learn that a new British Social Attitudes survey has found that more than a third of Britons admit they are racially prejudiced. Prejudice fell to an all-time low in 2001, but the latest figures show that the problem has returned to the level of 30 years ago. More than 90 per cent of those who say they are racist want to see immigration halted. More interestingly, 72 per cent of those who do not consider themselves racist also want to see immigration cut drastically.

As shell-shocked politicians from the main parties struggle to discern the causes of Ukip’s deafening electoral success, here’s a tip: look in the mirror, chaps!

It is politicians, not the British people, who are to blame for a resurgence in racism; politicians who have ignored public opinion and created the conditions in which resentments fester and grow. Specifically, though not exclusively, it is New Labour who welcomed workers from the new, accession countries of the EU at a time when countries such as France and Germany wisely exercised their right to keep them out for another seven years.

According to Jack Straw, this was a “spectacular” error. And Jack should know, because he was Home Secretary at the time. The plan of Tony Blair’s government, as laid bare by Andrew Neather, then a Blair speechwriter, was to banish that old, hideously white, retrograde England and usher in a new, vibrant, multicultural country which, rather conveniently, would vote Labour. Mr Blair now works in international conflict resolution, having stored up enough conflict in his homeland to keep future generations busy for centuries. [snip]

Constantly decried as racists by a bien-pensant elite, the overwhelming evidence is that, until recently, Britons have absorbed seismic shifts in this country’s ethnic make-up with remarkable patience and good humour ... And now we are going backwards, with more than a third of British people admitting they have racist feelings. If there had been a proper outlet for public disquiet over mass immigration, that would never have happened. Even settled immigrants, who have been here for more than two generations, say they are fed up with the level of immigration. Are they racist as well? [snip].

Well, they’re all talking about immigration now. Ukip has given them no choice. In his recent party political broadcast, Ed Miliband conceded that Labour would now address the issue it had tried to shut down for so long. Overnight, “racism” had stopped being racism or bigotry and become “people’s legitimate concerns about immigration”.

The deeply distressing and rapid rise in racial prejudice among the British people over the past 13 years maps on to a period of uncontrolled mass immigration. Cause and effect could not be clearer. Nor could the solution.

Read the full article at the UK Telegraph.

'Honor Killings" Produce Real Women Victims

If American feminists need a genuine example of women victims, they need look no further than international headlines: Pakistani Woman Stoned to Death by Family in Front of Court After Marrying for Love. The Associated Press story cited a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan report that "some 869 women were murdered in honor killings in 2013."

Punishment for these murders is light, according to a prominent Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist, who told AP "the courts either award light sentences to the attackers, or they are acquitted."

Tapscott: Casualty of VA Scandal Could Be Obamacare

"...it was all but impossible in 2014 to talk about Memorial Day without also talking about the VA scandal," writes Mark Tapscott. "There is simply no reconciling the contrast between the nation's love and respect for its veterans the the bureaucratic incompetence and abuse being inflicted on them by their government-run health care system."

Dr. Ben Carson, the world-famous neurosurgeon and potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate, may have best captured the dilemma posed by the VA scandal for President Obama and congressional Democrats.

During an interview on Fox News over the weekend, Carson laid it out on these terms:

"I think what’s happening with the veterans is a gift from God, to show us what happens when you take layers and layers of bureaucracy and place them between the patients and the health care provider.

"And if we can’t get it right, with the relatively small number of veterans, how in the world are you going to do it with the entire population? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out."

Concludes Tapscott, "...no matter how Congress ultimately fixes VA, one thing seems all but certain — the biggest casualty of the VA scandal will be Obamacare."

Report: ICE Released 36000 Convicted Aliens in 2013

"In 2013, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] freed 36,007 convicted criminal aliens from detention who were awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings, according to a document obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies," reports Jessica M. Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies at the Center.

The vast majority of these releases from ICE custody were discretionary, not required by law (in fact, in some instances, apparently contrary to law), nor the result of local sanctuary policies.

The document reveals that the 36,007 convicted criminal aliens freed from ICE custody in many instances had multiple convictions. Among them, the 36,007 had nearly 88,000 convictions, including:

• 193 homicide convictions (including one willful killing of a public official with gun)
• 426 sexual assault convictions
• 303 kidnapping convictions
• 1,075 aggravated assault convictions
• 1,160 stolen vehicle convictions
• 9,187 dangerous drug convictions
• 16,070 drunk or drugged driving convictions
• 303 flight escape convictions

Public Employees - the New Millionaires

Government workers "are America's fastest-growing group of millionaires," writes Rich Karlgaard @ Forbes.

Doubt it? Then ask yourself: What is the net present value of an $80,000 annual pension payout with additional full health benefits? ...

Based on this small but unfortunately realistic 4% return, an $80,000 annual pension payout implies a rather large pot of money behind it—$2 million, to be precise. That’s a lot. One might guess that a $2 million stash would be in the 95th percentile for the 77 million baby boomers who will soon face retirement.

That $2 million also happens to be the implied booty of your average California policeman who retires at age 55. Typical cities in California have a police officer’s retirement plan that works as follows: 3% at age 50. As the North County Times of Carlsbad, Calif. explains: “Carlsbad offers its police and firefighters a ’3-percent-at-50′ retirement plan, meaning that emergency services workers who retire at age 50 can get 3% of their highest salary times the number of years they have worked for the city. City officials have said that in Carlsbad the average firefighter or police officer typically retires at age 55 and has 28 years of service. Using the 3% salary calculation, that person would receive an annual city pension of $76,440.”

Who are America’s fastest-growing class of millionaires? They are police officers, firefighters, teachers and federal bureaucrats, who, unless things change drastically, will be paid something near their full salaries every year–until death–after retiring in their mid-50s. That is equivalent to a retirement sum worth millions of dollars.

Williamson: The Emerging Junta

Arguing that the IRS's illegal actions—and its efforts at cover-up—undermine the foundations of our government, Kevin Williamson writes:

The characteristic feature of a police state is that those who are entrusted with the power to enforce the law are not themselves bound by it. ...

The most important question that must be answered in this matter does not involve the misbehavior of IRS officials and Democratic officeholders, though those are important. Nor is it the question of free speech, vital and fundamental as that is. The question here is nothing less than the legitimacy of the United States government. When law-enforcement agencies and federal regulators with extraordinary coercive powers are subordinated to political interests rather than their official obligations — to the Party rather than to the law — then the law itself becomes meaningless, and the delicate constitutional order we have enjoyed for more than two centuries is reduced to a brutal might-makes-right proposition.

Elected officials and public servants of both parties take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to faithfully discharge the duties of their office. That oath is now being tested. The IRS investigation is no mere partisan scandal, but a moral challenge for the men and women who compose the government of this country. Whether they are sufficient to meet that challenge is far from obvious, but the evidence so far is not encouraging.

Fiorina: No More Lectures from NYTimes on Treatment of Women Please

"Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina eviscerated New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. over the firing of executive editor Jill Abramson," writes Tim Cavanaugh @ NRO.

“Here is a woman who [has] been told she has an abrasive style — how many times have women heard that?” Fiorina said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “She has been a distinguished reporter for the New York Times, an editor for three years. There is not a single word in her departure announcement about her contributions, about her record, about her time at the New York Times. She is  excised from history. No more lectures, please, from The New York Times about the treatment of women.”

NRO added this update to the post:

New York Times head of communications Eileen Murphy on Twitter objects that the original press release announcing Abramson’s termination did in fact contain standard thanks-for-your-service boilerplate...