Making America hate again, one executive order at a time

Many organizations that advocate for refugees slammed President Donald Trump's executive action imposing "extreme vetting" on those fleeing to America, among them Jewish groups that took particular exception to the day on which he signed it: Holocaust Remembrance Day. "It's repulsive," said Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a faith-based nonprofit dedicated to resettling refugees in the United States. "I mean, the timing is incredibly offensive." "It was during the Holocaust that the world shamefully refused to give asylum to Jews and to others who were being murdered or about to be murdered in Nazi Germany," Hetfield added, referring to the US government's decision to turn away European refugees during World War II. The executive order halts all refugee resettlement for four months, reduces the total refugee quota substantially, and imposes travel restrictions on some foreign nationals. The executive action does not explicitly single out members of a single faith, but the countries impacted are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia, according to a White House official. It also gives priority status to refugees "provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual's country of nationality." Some Jewish groups were particularly troubled by the implications for Muslim refugees. "The fact that President Trump's order appears designed to specifically limit the entry of Muslims evokes horrible memories" of Jews turned away during World War II, the progressive Jewish organization J Street said in a statement ahead of the executive action taking affect. "Most ultimately perished in the Holocaust. That episode remains a blot on the conscience of the United States. It is a terrible irony that today, the same day on which this order is to be signed, is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day." And that is why Clinton, if not Johnson or Stein, should have won. Drumpf's latest outrage has shown that he is just not fit to be in the top job. But there are a lot of other countries taking in refugees, so I wouldn't rule out Europe.