Comments by "Meh Pluribus Unum" (@pluribus_unum) on "Democracy Now!" channel.

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  2.  @NPC-bs3pm  - @BAVidmar17 is right, in fact. "The United States often exacerbated these conflicts, deploying the U.S. Marines in Latin America whenever political uprisings seemed to threaten U.S. business interests or national security." "Conservative political elites often responded to these movements by inviting the military to take power, and the resulting conflict would eventually develop into civil wars in Guatemala (1960-1996), El Salvador (1980-1992) and Nicaragua (1979-1990). The United States played a central role in many of these conflicts, propping up military dictatorships and supporting them with logistical aid, money, training and weapons, even as many of them committed human rights atrocities. These conflicts generated huge surges in emigration from Central America, establishing the migration patterns that persist today." "A final push factor—with a very important transnational history—is gang violence. MS-13 is now one of the largest gangs in the world, and has contributed to violent crime across the region. What many Americans don’t know is that MS-13 was founded in poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles in the 1980s, within communities of Central American refugees who had fled civil wars. Many of these gang members were subsequently imprisoned in the United States, and then deported to Central America through a program that began under President Bill Clinton." "There’s a reason why the U.S. government has failed for so many years to “control” the border: none of these policies have addressed the real reasons for migration itself. In migration studies, these are known as “push” and “pull” factors, the causes that drive migrants from one country to another. Today, the countries sending the most migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border–especially the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador–are experiencing a combination of push factors that include poverty and inequality, political instability, and violence. And while the current situation may be unique, it is also deeply rooted in history." - The Situation at the U.S.-Mexico Border Can't Be 'Solved' Without Acknowledging Its Origins by Julia G. Young - March 31st, 2021 - TIME Magazine (online)
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  5. To wit: 1) "One problem, though: Peer-reviewed, largely overlooked research publi: shed in December [2021] shows that undocumented immigrants in Texas likely aren’t part of a crime wave. In fact, they’re much less likely to be arrested for serious crimes than are people born in the United States." "Between 2012 and 2018, U.S.-born people were twice as likely as the undocumented to be arrested for violent crime in Texas and two-and-a-half times as likely to be arrested for drug crimes." 2) "It's too soon to declare victory over inflation, but from gas to chicken to big-screen TVs, there are, increasingly, signs that inflation's grip on American pocketbooks may be loosening." "Gas prices are back to last year's levels, after spiking to a record high of just over $5 a gallon this summer. For perspective, a gallon of regular has fallen by almost 50 cents in just a month, making it about $10 cheaper to fill up an average SUV today than a month ago." 3) "The research shows that an increase in the absolute number of immigrants in a particular county from 2000–2010 results in corresponding economic gains—increased demand for locally produced goods and services, a corresponding inflow of U.S.-born individuals—that are reflected in the housing market." "Importantly, the research finds that immigrants revitalize less desirable neighborhoods in costly metropolitan areas, opening up new alternatives for middle- and working-class Americans to buy homes, and immigration supports the housing market without exacerbating the nation’s worst affordability problems, because immigrants themselves tend not to settle in the most expensive places. Immigrants are also drawn to Sun Belt cities like Houston where housing has been consistently affordable." 4) "[Closing hospitals] cited high poverty and uninsured rates in rural communities, high rates of Medicare and Medicaid coverage, and declining populations. In each community, poverty rates were higher than state and national averages and median incomes were lower, and the population was shrinking." "In all three case studies, respondents reported that, prior to the hospital closure, community residents with private insurance or other resources typically travelled to bigger, newer hospital systems outside the community, weakening the hospital’s payer mix and also reinforcing local perceptions – often based on anecdotal accounts from friends and family members — that the local hospital was of low or poor quality."
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