An American Migration Threatens Our Country's Existence

It's just not the one you think

Business Insider wasted no time in sounding the alarm in light of Donald Trump’s recent clinching of the Republican Primary.  We are once again facing an existential migration crisis.  One that can shake our country to its very core. 

It appears that there are many very important – self-important even – Americans who will leave the country if Donald Trump is re-elected president.  This threat is especially terrifying as poll after poll shows Joseph Biden slipping in the polls and a Trump presidency more likely. 

The Business Insider article, penned by Paul Starobin (well-written and not inflammatory), is certainly the first of a flood of articles with celebrities, luminaries, and plain old left-wing nuts threatening us with their retreat from America.  In Starobin’s article, he posted a question in an expat Facebook group about an apparent increase in Americans leaving their country. 

Although unsolicited in the question, many of the respondents pointed to another Trump presidency as an impetus for leaving.  These aren’t members of the celebrity class, mind you -- these are regular old partisan loons who we may be losing.  How will we go on?

The numbers of people leaving may get out of control.  During Trump’s last presidency, a poll showed that 16% of Americans wanted to permanently leave the country.  That is 40 million people. 

Egad!  If these people follow through with their threat to leave this time, at the rate of celebrities who actually fled Trump, we could lose a dozen of people, perhaps even as high as 20. 

There is no doubt as the election gets closer, we will be hearing from these same celebrities again.  Election season is their time to shine, impart their political wisdom, their knowledge of the nuances of foreign policy, and to threaten us with their permanent departure.  And they are serious. This time.  Probably for sure.  Definitely!

If you remember, celebrities have been threatening to leave in droves forever.  Not limiting their animus to only Donald Trump, our celebrity class makes their threats every four years.  In 2000, we had luminaries such as Eddie Vedder (who I will listen to anyway because Pearl Jam is awesome), Barbara Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Robert Altman, and former Press Secretary Pierre Salinger threaten to leave if Bush was elected. 

War hero and Republican nominee John McCain came close to driving Tina Fey, Seal (the singer, not the species of aquatic mammals whose group opinion is unknown as of this writing), Akon (who?), and the ever-shrill Susan Sarandon out of our nation.  A close call for our national stability. 

Alas – none followed through.

Even that milquetoast Mitt Romney had some detractors who wanted to head for the hills of Europe and Canada if Obama lost a second term. 

However, the Trump hatred has spawned a frenzy of evacuation threats from those who would flee the orange menace.  The celebs who have been threatening to leave since Donald came down the golden escalator in 2015 are too many to enumerate.  But one thing is for sure: We can expect a litany of A, B, and C list celebs announcing their threats to leave us for good in the coming months.  We can’t wait and would remind each and every one of them that “a promise is a promise” and that France is beautiful in January.  In the words of Bugs Bunny, “Bon Voyagee!!”

Are Some Mass Shootings Worse Than Others

This week we saw yet another senseless mass shooting.  This time it was in Philadelphia where a group of youths shot up a city bus that was boarding students on the way home from school.  Eight high school students were shot.  It was the 4^th bus shooting in 4 days in Philly.  Undoubtedly some, if not all, of those shootings are related. 

Presumably one, if not several, of these students were targeted, likely due to some sort of inane juvenile dispute.   However, some were also probably innocent bystanders, getting on the bus next to the wrong person.  No doubt some of them know their attackers and will not cooperate with the police.  We have heard that story more times than we care to mention. 

Which brings us to an important question.  Is this shooting worse than the deranged shooters who enter schools and attempt to kill students and teachers for twisted and illogical reasons?  Are the innocent victims boarding the bus in Philly any less traumatized than the victim of a more “traditional” mass shooting event?  They are just as randomly targeted and in no less pain. 

The media seems to think so.  The Philadelphia shooting received a brief, just-the-facts article in the New York Times.  Many outlets didn’t even cover it.  There was no call for gun reform or decrying our mental health system in the Times article.  There was no opportunity to comment on the article that closed with some cherry-picked statistics about the reduction in homicides in Philadelphia since 2022.  A brief and rare outbreak of violence in the City of Brotherly Love if you ask the “writers” at The Times. 

The shooting at the Kansas City Superbowl parade left one dead and 22 injured.  One of the shooters had prior gun arrests and had just come off probation.  When media outlets learned that the shooting was motivated by a “dispute” amongst perps, the coverage took a dramatic dip. 

On March 3, there was one person killed and 12 wounded in a shooting incident at Club Oasis, a Mississippi nightclub.  The shooting was apparently a planned event that revolved around an ongoing dispute between two groups.  You may not have even heard of this mass shooting.

Are these shootings any less deadly than a mass shooter who randomly shoots at a shopping mall or school?  Are these shooters not also mentally ill?  Perhaps, perhaps not.  One thing I can tell you from investigating “regular” shootings for decades.  The motives are no less senseless.  Perhaps senseless in a different way from a shooter who is angry at society or suffering mental demons – but senseless nonetheless.  

Want just a glimpse into “traditional” shootings motives that have come across my desk in NYPD detective squads? 

• Dirty looks 

• Dissed on Instagram 

• Rival gang members took a photo of themselves in front of my building

• He called me a bitch

• They are from the other side of the development

I even had a “he ate my lunch motive” once.  But I never, not once, investigated a shooting with a legally purchased firearm, unless it was a cop.  I only had one with an “assault rifle.”  And only one perp who targeted people at random. 

Can a rational person imagine opening fire on a busy street over motives like those enumerated above?  Are these any worse than the shooter who is suffering from mental illness or anger at society in general? 

I do know that the sort of shootings described in that list are more common, much more common, than school shootings -- and equally senseless.  Perhaps the media should get find these equally disturbing and newsworthy.  Just occasionally? 

They’ll have plenty of opportunity.