Politics
Pennsylvania Voters Worry About the Toxicity of Politics
In a tight presidential race, Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, will very likely decide the winner. And the state, which Donald J. Trump won in 2016 and President Biden won in 2020 by narrow margins, is up for grabs.
That’s clear in Berks County, which lies about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia where flourishing Democratic suburbs melt into conservative, rural Pennsylvania.
The mountains and low hills that make up most of the county are sprinkled with small towns and farms, while the county seat, Reading, is Pennsylvania’s fourth-largest city, with a substantial Latino majority. In 2020, Mr. Trump won the county by around 8 percentage points, the narrowest margin of the 54 counties that he won across the state.
Berks is “a big bag of marbles,” said Matthew Orifice, a longtime resident of Boyertown, Pa., “half of which are blue, half of which are red.”
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Mr. Orifice, 56, says that people in the area with very different politics have come together on practical matters, like lobbying for school programs threatened by budget cuts.
He and more than two dozen Berks County residents interviewed this month described the county as a place that was mostly neighborly despite deep political disagreements. But nearly all of them worried that the growing toxicity of national politics had endangered that sense of community.
Frustrations Over Cultural Division
People’s views are much more polarized on issues like abortion, L.G.B.T.Q. rights and immigration. And each side blames the other side’s party leaders for the rise in political tensions.
In a mostly white county that is also home to a large and growing Latino population, opinions on race and immigration can be complex. Trump supporters outside the city often described Reading in grim terms, but some said they liked the city’s current mayor, a Democrat and the first Latino to hold the office. Inside the city, some Latino residents felt strongly that too many people were coming into the United States and relying on government services.
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The people who were really sowing discord, many Trump supporters insisted, were the Democrats with their emphasis on race and gender, particularly in schools.
“The people in power are splitting people into all these special groups,” said Randy Bleyer, 68, a retired machinist at a local polymer plant. “They’re pushing division.”
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Shavona Johnson, 37, who works for the state’s Department of Corrections, said she believed that the Democrats were trying to foster racial conflict to get votes and that the contentious debates about accepting refugees were just another part of that strategy.
She said she fully supported Mr. Trump’s proposal to round up and deport everyone who was in the country illegally. “There’s some countries that won’t even allow Americans to get citizenship,” she said. “Why do we have to be the one that’s open?”
Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris said there were other issues more important to them, including abortion rights and reducing healthcare costs.
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Many said they were also deeply uneasy about the condition of the social fabric in Berks County. Several said that Mr. Trump had stirred up a small but belligerent subset of supporters who seemed to have become more hostile as the election approached.
“It’s a daily bombardment of hatred,” said Liz Groh, 62, who works at a restaurant in a suburb of Reading.
Who Can Bridge the Divide?
When Gary Simmons and Luther Crosby sat and joked at Mr. Simmons’s house in the countryside, it was easy to see the neighborly Berks County that many spoke about.
Mr. Crosby, 73, is a white Vietnam War veteran who helps Mr. Simmons tinker with old cars, and he is a staunch Trump supporter, proudly advertising his sardonic right-wing politics in a mosaic of bumper stickers. Mr. Simmons, 65, a Black man who served as a Marine and worked in a steel mill, is not as outspoken about his support for Ms. Harris, but he gets a kick out of his friend’s brashness.
Both men are worried about the vitriol in the country. But even as they echo one another in lamenting the political division these days, they have fundamental disagreements on which candidate would best bridge those divides. And they’re not alone.
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Mr. Crosby insisted that giving away too much money in foreign aid, while not being strict enough with border enforcement, had left the country a mess. But he thought it had become harder to fix because of unbending partisanship. “When did that ever start?” he asked. “I thought we were one country.”
Gary Simmons and Luther Crosby
Mr. Simmons agreed with some of this, though he was not as nostalgic as his friend. When he moved from Reading to rural Berks County around 50 years ago, he said in an interview before Mr. Crosby’s visit, he had a “hell of a time” as one of the few Black students in his school. He believed things had changed for the better since then.
But then came 2016 and Mr. Trump’s arrival onto the political scene. Mr. Simmons said some of those old, hateful sentiments returned.
“I don’t know how much longer the Lord is going to have me here to see all of this carrying on, but he cannot ever step foot in that office again,” Mr. Simmons said of Mr. Trump. “I think the man is just a ticking bomb.”
Politics
Marjorie Taylor Greene wants death penalty for migrant who allegedly set woman on fire on subway: 'Finish him'
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is calling for the swift trial, conviction, and execution of the man charged in connection with the gruesome murder of a woman burned alive on a New York City subway.
The outspoken Republican took to social media on Tuesday to address the incident, in which Guatemalan national Sebastian Zapeta, 33, is accused of setting a woman on fire while on a train in Brooklyn.
“Death penalty, don’t waste money on a lengthy trial. Convict him and finish him. What he did is so incredibly evil,” Greene declared in a post on X. “I can’t watch the video anymore. And how it seems like no one tried to save her is beyond me. Maybe they did but it doesn’t seem like it.”
Zapeta faces charges of first- and second-degree murder, and first-degree arson, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment with no parole.
SANCTUARY CITY NEW YORK PRESSURED TO MAKE DRASTIC CHANGE AFTER ILLEGAL MIGRANT ALLEGEDLY BURNS WOMAN ALIVE
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., gestures while speaking as United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on July 22, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Greene is not the only member of Congress to weigh in on the case.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., also called for capital punishment.
“Death penalty,” she tweeted.
SUSPECT ACCUSED OF BURNING WOMAN TO DEATH ON NYC SUBWAY IS PREVIOUSLY DEPORTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., declared in a post on X, “A woman was intentionally lit on fire on the subway today. Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies do not work.”
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
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New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch noted during remarks on Sunday that Zapeta allegedly “used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds.” Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg alleged in court on Tuesday that the suspect fanned the fire with a shirt.
Zapeta’s next court appearance is scheduled for December 27, according to online records.
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
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A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson said in a statement that Zapeta had been removed from the U.S. in 2018 and then re-entered the country illegally at some point “on an unknown date and location.”
Fox News’ Bill Melugin and the Associated Press contributed to this report
The United States has always been a nation of immigrants. And nowhere is that more true today than in California, where first-generation immigrants make up more than one-quarter of the population, more than in any other state.
More than half of California, and 62% of L.A. County, is either foreign-born or has at least one immigrant parent, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data.
Immigrant communities are understandably scared and bracing for the worst when Donald Trump takes office next month. Deporting immigrants is at the very top of the president-elect’s 20-point agenda, which promises to “1. Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” and “2. Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”
The incoming administration has pledged to use the military and mass detention camps to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally along with U.S. citizens in their families, to remove the temporary legal status for millions of immigrants, to reinstate Trump’s Muslim ban and to end birthright citizenship. These and other policies, if carried out, would tear apart families and communities and harm the economy.
With these clouds on the horizon, it’s critically important to recognize the role immigrants play in our communities.
Immigrants have always been the lifeblood of the nation and a source of growth, diversity and innovation. There are more than 11 million first-generation immigrants in California from all backgrounds and walks of life, from the working and middle classes to the highest echelons of society. That includes powerful figures like L.A. Archbishop José Gomez, L.A. Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, labor leader Ada Briceño and some of the world’s most influential business executives, such as Google’s Sundar Pichai and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, who are all immigrants.
As the state with the world’s fifth-largest economy, California would be among the hardest hit by the proposed policies. The people who could be swept up by mass deportation plans include teachers and coaches, child-care providers and home health and long-term care workers. California’s farms, which provide more than one-third of the nation’s vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts, are sustained largely by immigrant labor — at least half of the state’s farmworkers are undocumented — as are many other parts of the state’s economy such as construction and service work.
Aside from the economic damage, the suffering inflicted on immigrant families and their children from draconian policies would be immeasurable. Immigrant rights groups are now reactivating many of the assistance programs they put in place to deal with deportations during the first Trump and Obama administrations, including “know your rights” workshops that assist immigrants with legal responses and support. Some are creating programs that help parents make contingency plans for their children in case they are detained. Some are planning marches to rally support.
Local leaders, including the Los Angeles school board and the City Council and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, have taken steps to reaffirm sanctuary policies, which restrict cooperation with federal officials on immigration enforcement. Local governments have boosted funding for legal services and made other commitments to defend immigrants and their families from the Trump administration’s proposed plans. But they may well have to do more to fight back against anti-immigration excesses and use their power to protect children and families.
Everyday people can also make a difference, even in small ways, by supporting immigrants’ rights groups, volunteering to help permanent residents apply for citizenship and calling their members of Congress to demand action to protect immigrants. They can show up at rallies, protests and local government meetings to stand up for immigrants and their families in the face of dehumanizing attacks.
If the incoming administration turns its plans into a reality, it will become clear to all — including to those who were drawn to the campaign promise of a crackdown on immigration — that what hurts immigrant communities will injure everyone. At that point, the responsibility will rest with all of us to speak up and defend the most American ideal of all: That this country was built by immigrants seeking better lives and they have made America stronger in every way.
The White House announced on Christmas Eve President Joe Biden signed a bill officially designating the bald eagle as the national bird.
The bill, signed Monday after being passed unanimously by Congress, amends Title 36 of the United States Code, officially appointing the predator one of the country’s national symbols.
Congress passed the bill unanimously.
President Joe Biden signed a bill Monday designating the bald eagle as the national bird. (Brandon Bell)
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The bald eagle, which has been featured on the Great Seal of the United States since 1782 and has its own holiday and protection act, was never technically assigned the title of “national bird.”
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It was, however, designated as the national emblem by the U.S. Congress in 1782, according to USA.gov. In addition to its appearance on the Great Seal, it is featured on official documents, the presidential flag, military insignia, and currency.
The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. (Adventure_Photo)
A document previously published by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to VA.gov improperly noted the bird as the national bird.
“Thank you to Senators Klobuchar, Lummis, Mullin and Smith, and Representatives Finstad, Craig and Emmer for their leadership,” the White House wrote in a statement Tuesday announcing the signing of the bill.
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