Trump's Possible Ancestor, Vetting Refugees, Motivation and If I Were a Republican

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An Ancestor of Donald Trump?

In 1667, Rembrandt van Rinj painted this masterpiece, sometimes called “Isaac and Rebecca,” which hangs today in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  It is also known as “The Jewish Bride” because Rembrandt did many paintings for Jewish families in the Netherlands. 

It occurs to me that this information may be totally erroneous, and that this actually might be a painting of Donald Trump’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great grandfather caught doing something he should not have been doing with the winner of the Fraulein Bavaria Competition of 1667.  Rembrandt may have traveled to nearby Germany, where the Trumps came from before they emigrated to the United States, to paint it.   Who knows what runs in the family?
Jack Lippman

                                            

The Truth About the Refugee "Vetting" Process

Dangerous Donald Trump and his supporters have been screaming about how Hillary Clinton would increase the number of Middle-Eastern refugees coming into this country by 550%.  Gee, that sounds like an enormous number.  Actually, President Obama’s program has been to admit about 10,000 such refugees during the past year.  Secretary of State Kerry and Hillary Clinton would like to increase that number to about 70,000, which sounds much less alarming than the 550% number about which the G.O.P. has been screaming.  This is far less than the number of refugees which European nations, without the resources our country possesses, have been admitting.

In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, many in the GOP say they are concerned that a terrorist could slip into the country by posing as an asylum seeker, an argument that President Obama and other Democrats reject. 

Trump and his supporters seem to think that these refugees are admitted without careful “vetting.”  That is not the case.  It is just another part of the misinformation which the Trump campaign feeds to its gullible supporters. Fortunately, the Trump campaign people haven't been able to convince their know-it-all candidate that to win an national election, more than one's existing base of supporters must be addressed.  

A description of the vetting process can be seen in flow chart format, provided by the White House staff.  Look at it by clicking here!  Wow!  

The vetting process is so extensive that if Dangerous Donald Trump ever proposed it, Democrats would probably be criticizing him!  But this is the program the Obama administration follows!  It is very strict.

In brief, as taken from a Time Magazine article last year, all refugees taken in by the U.S. undergo extensive background checks. The small number from Syria are subject to additional layers of security screening.  “Of all the categories of persons entering the U.S., these refugees are the single most heavily screened and vetted,” explains Jana Mason, a senior adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Here are answers to some questions about how the program works.

How are Syrian refugees referred to the U.S.?

The process begins with a referral from UNHCR. The U.N.’s refugee agency is responsible for registering some 15 million asylum seekers around the world, and providing aid and assistance until they are resettled abroad or (more likely) returned home once conditions ease. The registration process includes in-depth refugee interviews, home country reference checks and biological screening such as iris scans. Military combatants are weeded out.

Among those who pass background checks, a small percentage are referred for overseas resettlement based on criteria designed to determine the most vulnerable cases. This group may include survivors of torture, victims of sexual violence, targets of political persecution, the medically needy, families with multiple children and a female head of household.

What happens once a refugee is referred to the U.S.?

Our government performs its own intensive screening, a process that includes consultation from nine different government agencies. They meet weekly to review a refugee’s case file and, if appropriate, determine where in the U.S. the individual should be placed. When choosing where to place a refugee, officials consider factors such as existing family in the U.S., employment possibilities and special factors like access to needed medical treatment.

How do we know the refugees aren’t terrorists?

Every refugee goes through an intensive vetting process, but the precautions are increased for Syrians. Multiple law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies perform “the most rigorous screening of any traveler to the U.S.,” says a senior administration official. Among the agencies involved are the State Department, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. A DHS officer conducts in-person interviews with every applicant. Biometric information such as fingerprints are collected and matched against criminal databases. Biographical information such as past visa applications are scrutinized to ensure the applicant’s story coheres.

What percentage of applicants “pass” the screening process?

Just over 50%.

How long does the whole process take?

Eighteen to 24 months on average.

How many have been resettled here?

About 1,800 over the past year. (The Time article was written in October of 2015.)  They’ve been placed in dozens of states across the country, but most are in big states with large immigrant populations, such as California, Texas, Illinois and Michigan.

Who are they?

According to a senior administration official, roughly half the refugees admitted have been children. Around 25% are adults over 60. Only 2% of those admitted, the senior administration official said, have been single males of “combat age.”

JL

If I Were a Republican ...  Which I Am Not

If I were a Florida Republican, I would be very disturbed about the candidate my party was putting up in the Presidential race, primarily because his support is coming from only a minority of my fellow Republicans.  Somehow, the G.O.P. has disenfranchised the majority of its members, including myself.   The only possible reason I can see for voting for him is to put someone in the White House who will appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court.  Other than for that reason, I would conclude that he is totally unqualified for the office.

My dilemma is whether his total lack of qualifications for the Presidency outweighs my desire for the appointment of conservatives to the Court.  As of this moment, I am not sure how I will vote for President, if I even bother to.

And as for the Senate race here in Florida, also crucial for the approval of justices to the Supreme Court, I face a similar dilemma about the incumbent running for re-election.  He has flip flopped so often on so many things (immigration, whether he would even run for re-election) that what he says is worthless, and the fact that he has the worst attendance and “showing up to vote” record in the Senate doesn’t help either.  Finally, I cannot understand how this spineless individual can still support the party’s Presidential candidate, a man who personally insulted him during the primary process, repeatedly calling him “Little Marco.”

Were it not that a friend of my brother-in-law’s wife’s cousin is running for a county judgeship, I probably wouldn’t even bother to show up on Election Day.  If the weather is nice, I still may go fishing down in the Keys with some of my Republican friends that day.

JL

Motivation is the Key

A business associate told me years ago that in trying to analyze people’s behavior, motivation is the key.  Let’s apply that to our Presidential candidates.  What is motivating them?

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have enough money to rule that out as the basis of their motivation.  But let’s look at what else might be driving them.

Hillary Clinton has spent her life in government or in quasi-governmental positions working for the things she deems important, most conspicuously the welfare of children and women’s rights.  As first lady for eight years, she carried this role into government, attempting to expand health care for all Americans.  Finally, she served in the Senate and as Secretary of State. Her legal education enabled her to function well in both jobs.  But a career path such as this has a pinnacle looming above it.  In the nation’s early years, the position of Secretary of State often was a stepping stone to the Presidency.  Hillary Clinton is motivated by her desire to rise to what she considers the pinnacle of public service in the nation, the Presidency.

Donald Trump has been an enormous success in his business as a real estate developer.  He has extended this success into the marketing of his own name as a brand and into the production of television programs of which he is the star.  In doing this, he has managed his resources in an amazing (and highly profitable) manner.  He is motivated by the desire to carry his personal charisma and brain power over into the area of governance.  He sees no reason why, if he were to become President, that his undeniable talents would not work just as well for the benefit of the country as they have for him personally in other areas. 

Simply put, Trump’s motivation is all about himself.  Clinton’s motivation is all about the position to which she aspires.  There is something selfish about both of these kinds of motivation.  They could be purer, but they are not.  

Nevertheless, the choice is a clear one.  

JL 

                                                      

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