Oh No, The New Awesome Primary Thread

That seems a little confused, so I'll just reiterate my original point while adding a little detail. The way Europe originally opened their doors to refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq speaks to how well they have internalized the lessons of World War II (though far too little was done about traffickers and the dangerous crossing of the Aegean Sea), but once the reality set in of so many immigrants arriving near simultaneously the doors slammed shut again. The parallels of closed immigration doors to Jewish attempts to flee Europe in the years leading up to WWII are unmistakable. (It is ironic that expatriate Jewish scientists working in America were instrumental in development of the atomic bomb, and had the timing of events been different there might have been the further and much stronger irony of Hitler dying by the very bomb developed by the Jews he hated so much.)Working on plans for keeping refugees in Turkey and away from the dangerous Aegean Sea passage is a positive step, but Europe should not write themselves out of a significant role and just let Turkey handle the problem, because there lies the risk of camps that threaten survival.And the immigration doors out of Turkey, Syria and Iraq should not be shut. As countries decide how much to open their doors they should not ignore what are very real concerns for safety and domestic tranquility, but neither can they abandon overarching moral principles when fellow humans are in obvious need.--Percy

These are still pretty spurious objections. The details of prejudice that underlie persecution will always differ from one people to the next, but that they are prejudice cannot be doubted. Little you say rings of human compassion, only of your own self interest in populating the world with more people like yourself.--Percy

That you express little human compassion and seem most interested in remaking the world in the image of fundamentalist Christians? That's just an accurate characterization. What I *did* say was that the particulars of the prejudice vary - I didn't say yours was racial prejudice, though if prodded to be more specific I guess I would say that yours seems more a religious prejudice. I didn't accuse you of racism. I accused you of prejudice.What I'm actually doing is expressing concern and compassion toward my fellow man. It's just the way I feel and has nothing to do with PC or being a leftist (which I'm not). I think that instead of maintaining the long immigration waits and quotas for the war torn Syrian region that their immigration applications should be expedited (that doesn't mean rubber stamped). That's what we should have done for the Jews during WWII, and it's what we should be doing for the Syrians now. And the Iraqis, too, given how we wrecked their country and all.Your concerns about Muslim violence are well founded, as I said back in Message 1398, but truly sincere Christians would be working hard at finding ways to admit victims of the violence instead of concluding none can be trusted and erecting barriers.--Percy

Donald Trump Hints He May Fund Race Himself, headlines an article in today's New York Times.

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And at the hub of his national campaign in Trump Tower in Manhattan, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has cloistered himself with a tiny group of relatives and longtime business associates, relying on a staff of about six dozen people to win over an electorate of more than 120 million.

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Though many are rarely mentioned in the press, we know a number of members of the Trump inner circle and can begin guessing who might become members of the Trump staff and cabinet. Ivanka Trump might become Chief of Staff, Donald Trump Jr. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Eric Trump Secretary of the Interior, Michael Cohen Attorney General, Paul Manafort Secretary of Commerce, and Hope Hicks Press Secretary. Who are the other members of this tiny group? Fun fact that doesn't matter but that I'm surprised I didn't already know: Ivanka converted to Judaism in 2009 and took the name Yael before marrying.

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Having swept through the primaries and caucuses with a skeletal campaign staff and a budget funded largely out of his bank account...

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Money buys elections, but I don't believe Trump's money played much of a role in the Republican primaries. Trump being Trump was more than sufficient given the other candidates.

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The situation has grown so dire for Mr. Trump that on Tuesday, he suggested that he might tap his personal fortune to keep the campaign afloat.
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But he has mused publicly in recent days about funding the race himself, and on Tuesday opened the door wider to that possibility.

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Continue reading the main story
If need be, there could be unlimited ‘cash on hand’ as I would put up my own money, as I have already done through the primaries, spending over $50 million, he said.

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It should not be legal for billionaires to throw their money at election campaigns, not their own or anyone's. Money is not speech, the Supreme Court notwithstanding. We need campaign finance reform.

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Mr. Trump is to be feted at two fund-raisers in Manhattan this week, organized by Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, with one event featuring Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. But the ticket price for that event is only $500, a paltry sum for a presidential campaign,...

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Anyone for whom $500 is a paltry sum should not be permitted to give more than $500.

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Charles Spies, a Republican election lawyer who advised the super PAC that supported Jeb Bush, said Mr. Trump would have to put in an enormous amount of his own money to jump-start his campaign and win over big donors. He suggested an appropriate figure would be $100 million to $200 million.

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This definitely should not be legal.

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For donors to invest in his campaign, he’s got to show that he’s investing in it also, Mr. Spies said. He’s got to have $500 million to run a bare-bones campaign, and that would mean getting outspent by Hillary Clinton and her allies, between two and three to one.

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So a presidential candidate should expect to spend between $1-1.5 billion. Wouldn't it be nice if presidential campaigns had so little money that they could only afford to run a few ads on late-night TV?

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Mr. Trump’s knack for commanding news media attention, however, is no substitute for a campaign organization.

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That's reassuring, but is it true? Trump's money wasn't a factor in the primaries.--Percy