Assault on Press, Immigrant Mistreatment, NAFTA Myths and More

Free Press Under Assault
"But as we lurch from scandal to scandal, let us not lose sight of the fact that we are witnessing a dangerous, sustained, and increasingly violent assault on the free press." In the 24 hours following Greg Gianforte's physical assault on a newspaper reporter, his campaign to be Montana's sole U.S. House representative, raised almost $100,000. "For a certain section of the electorate, it would seem, violence against the press isn't a disqualification in a congressman; it' a bonus." [1]

Grover Norquist tweeted: "Congratulations to tax pledge signing Greg Gianforte who just body slammed tax liking Democrat pol." Also, in May, while on a gun range, Texas Governor Greg Abbott hoisted a target sheet riddled with bullet holes, and said: "I'm gonna carry this around in case I see any reporters."

There appears to be no political price to pay for violence.

Immigration Mistreatment
The Immigrant and Nationality Act of 1965 had allowed more people from Asia, Africa, and South America to come to the United States. Then the Immigration Act of 1990 increased the over-all number of visas.

The FBI's investigation into the 9/11 attacks became the largest in the Bureau's history. By the following summer, it had led to the arrest of 762 immigrants across the country; nearly 500 were picked up in New York and 254 were Pakistani. [2]

New York City officials calculate that 73,000 Pakistani's live in the five boroughs, although the true number is likely much higher. The number of Pakistanis detained is significant when referenced to a report on mistreatment of detainees at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York. The report says that "some officers slammed detainees against the wall, twisted their arms and hands in painful ways, stepped on their leg restraint chains, and punished them by keeping them restrained for long periods of time."

Most of the 9/11 detainees were eventually deported for immigration violations.

NAFTA Myths
"If all countries tried to balance their trade with all countries,  global commerce would break down. It would be too difficult to match every nation's export capacities with every nation's import needs." [3]

Economist C. Fred Bergsten notes that "as a share of their economies (gross domestic product, or GDP), Mexico and Canada have larger deficits than the United States." According to Samuelson, in 2016 the U.S. current account deficit was 2.6 percent of GDP, compared with current account deficits of 3.3 percent of GDP for Canada and about 2.7 percent of GDP for Mexico. "Our net deficit equaled 3.5 percent of total trade and about two-tenths of one percent of U.S. GDP. This hardly seems crushing." "The administration appears to perceive Mexico and perhaps Canada as surplus countries," writes Bergsten,"whereas they (more accurately) see themselves as deficit countries, seeking to increase exports or dampen imports. This is Trump's delusion."

Footnotes
[1] Lila Lalanis, "Free Press Under Assault," The Nation, June 19/26, 2017.

[2] Jennifer Gonnerman, "Neighbor Watched," The New Yorker, June 26, 2017.

[3] Robert J. Samuelson, "Trump's designs are built on myths," Albuquerque Journal, June 17, 2017.