Memorial Day 2019

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2019 occurs on Monday, May 27.
Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.

Early Observances of Memorial Day

The Civil War, which ended in the spring of 1865, claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries.
By the late 1860s, Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.

Did you know? Each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. local time.

It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated; numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day.
Waterloo—which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.

Decoration Day

On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed.
The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.
Many Northern states held similar commemorative events and reprised the tradition in subsequent years; by 1890 each one had made Decoration Day an official state holiday. Southern states, on the other hand, continued to honor their dead on separate days until after World War I.

History of Memorial Day

Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars.For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees; the change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.

Memorial Day Traditions

Cities and towns across the United States host Memorial Day parades each year, often incorporating military personnel and members of veterans’ organizations. Some of the largest parades take place in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.
Americans also observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries and memorials. Some people wear a red poppy in remembrance of those fallen in war—a tradition that began with a World War I poem. On a less somber note, many people take weekend trips or throw parties and barbecues on the holiday, perhaps because it unofficially marks the beginning of summer.

As border crisis worsens, immigration bills in Congress continue to stall

The words Illegal Alien has all of a sudden become Illegal Immigrant and is used by Fox News and others.

"Burglars Are Not Uninvited House Guests. Car-jackers Are Not Under-rated Drivers. Bank Robbers Are Not Making Unauthorized Withdrawals. Illegal Aliens Are Not Undocumented Immigrants":

Democrats responded Tuesday to the border crisis by suggesting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stop trying to deter illegal aliens and instead quickly process those seeking asylum.
"It is obvious from your letter to Congress last week that the Trump administration still does not understand the factors driving people to seek refuge in this country and refuses to take responsibility for its failed policies that are making the situation at the border worse," leading House Democrats wrote to Nielsen Tuesday. "Instead of pushing ill-advised, ineffective proposals to detain and deport all families and unaccompanied minors, the administration needs to engage Congress on policies designed to promote safe and orderly migration flows..."
Nielsen has refused to do that. She said statistics show that up to half of illegal alien families never complete their applications or appear in court. By contrast, she wants Congress to toughen asylum laws and allow the Trump administration to more easily detain and remove Central American families and children.
Eliminating birthright citizenship and forcing employers to verify employees are legal U.S. residents is “on the table,” she told Tucker Carlson Tuesday night.
“The only way we fix this crisis is if Congress closes the loopholes, fixes the misguided court decisions, and gives us relief from the extraordinary pull factors that our laws and those court decisions have created,” a senior DHS official told reporters Monday in a conference call.
As the border issue keeps worsening, with the number of people illegally crossing the border climbing significantly, there has been no solution to the problem -- and the border bills in Congress keep stalling.
Lawmakers from each party see the immigration problem differently. Both parties provided Fox News this week a list of bills designed to address the problem. Republican bills focused on building a wall. Democratic bills provided illegal aliens more protections from deportation and legal rights.
A variety of push-and-pull factors influence illegal immigration. In their letter to Nielsen, Democrats said they want the administration, "engaging in real efforts to address the crime, insecurity, and lawlessness that is causing people to leave Central America in the first place. The administration cutting foreign assistance just when these countries need it most only makes the situation worse.”
Republicans counter with evidence showing a falling murder rate in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador the last three years, yet illegal immigration is increasing.
"We're facing an unprecedented unmitigated crisis on the southwest border," said former chief of the Border Patrol and current acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ron Vitiello. "There is nothing dissuading these people from bringing their people their kids to the border."
Even executives actions or legal rulings have helped address the issue.
After President Obama announced DACA, protections from deportation for children of illegal immigrants, child apprehensions soared.

Also when a federal judge in 2015 reinterpreted the Flores decision to protect not just children, but adults traveling with children, from detention longer than 20 days, families apprehended crossing illegally more than doubled.

Administration officials argue those court and executive actions help drive illegal immigration.
"I think the most important thing that has to happen is we need to close these loopholes," Vitiello said. "That'll make all of this work smaller. It'll make this problem smaller. The crisis will abate if we can close the loopholes. That's what needs to happen first.
Other “loopholes” considered critical to shutting down growing numbers of asylum seekers are internal.
A GOP-bill sponsored by House Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., tightens the credible fear standard so there are fewer baseless asylum claims, thereby reducing the number of families getting released. It also allows the U.S. to deport Central American children who are not victims of trafficking, to their home countries.
"These loopholes provide perverse incentives for adults to send children on the hazardous journey across the border, often in the company of dangerous people," said Collins. "At the same time, our asylum system is not serving people fleeing persecution like it should because it is weighed down with frivolous claims."
The Collins bill fixes the Flores settlement by requiring DHS to keep children and parents together while their cases are handled in immigration court. A former immigration judge says 40 to 60 days should be enough.
"Forty days is the standard for custody removal proceedings," said Art Arthur, now an analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies. "So, just more than a month is all the time that an immigration judge needs to adjudicate those cases. The Flores settlement agreement encourages parents to bring their children with them to the United States knowing that they're going to be released within 20 days if they show up with the child, and that's why we see such a large number of family units showing up at the border right now."
U.S. officials expect March apprehensions to exceed 100,000, up to 65 percent could be unaccompanied minors and families. Yet, the U.S. only has detention beds for 3,000 families. The excess will be released with Notice to Appear in court – sometime in the future. But with a backlog of more than 830,000 cases, many will not see a judge for years. Their lives change, they get married, have children, work. As their American roots grow deeper, Arthur said they get more difficult to deport. He blames Congress for seeing the problem but doing nothing.
"Quite frankly Congress is in denial about the situation at the border. They don't even recognize that there's an emergency," he said. "What is now a crisis is going to be a disaster in just a few weeks time. Congress is going to have to act then. But they seem to be too busy doing other things to understand the human element of what's going on along the border."

Schwarzenegger defends 102-year-old who is being evicted: Example of Liberal run City Government.

Arnold Schwarzenegger said he will reach out to a 102-year-old woman being evicted from home. (Twitter)

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former governor of California, on Sunday reportedly reached out to the 102-year-old Los Angeles woman being booted from her apartment where she lived for 30 years so the landlord’s daughter can move in.
Thelma Smith received a 90-day eviction notice for her month-to-month lease in early March and is now relying on friends and relatives who live on the East Coast to help her find a new place to live, The Los Angeles Times reported. Schwarzenegger called the move “heartless” and said he’ll be reaching out to help her. He also issued a warning to landlords, saying: “You’ll hear from me, too.”
“Imagine doing this to a 102-year-old woman who gave back to the community her whole life,” the actor said on Twitter.
The Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance says that landlords in the county can evict tenants to accommodate a relative, but they must start with the most recent resident. Smith, however, lives in unincorporated Ladera Heights where the laws are weaker. “They use this law to target long-term, low-paying tenants,” Larry Gross, the executive director for the Coalition for Economic Survival told The Times.
In response to KCAL asking the landlord why they would evict a 102-year-old woman, they replied: “Would you take care of your child?”
Fox News' Brie Stimson contributed to this report

Chicago shootings: More than 34 shot – 5 fatally – during Memorial Day weekend: police

This is what happens when Liberals run your City with their Liberal Laws.

Chicago experienced at least five gun fatalities over Memorial Day weekend, police say.  (Facebook)

At least 34 people were shot – five fatally – in Chicago by Sunday evening of Memorial Day weekend, police said.
The violence began Friday when a 15-year-old boy and a 27-year-old were shot while walking down the street in South Sawyer. Both victims were transferred to the hospital where their conditions stabilized, The Chicago Tribune reported.

At least nine more were shot late Friday night, the report said. The victims ranged from 17 to 45.
The first fatality occurred around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, when a gunman opened fire on a 29-year-old man standing on a porch. The victim was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. No suspects are in custody.
Around 10 p.m., two men were hit with bullets from a passing vehicle. Both were taken to a hospital but only one survived. A few hours later, police were responding to a disturbance where a man was shot while standing on a sidewalk. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, NBC Chicago reported.
Police said two men and two women between the ages of 25 and 31 were shot around 6 a.m. Sunday morning. The four victims were taken to a hospital where both men died and the women’s condition stabilized. Police have recovered weapons and a suspect is in custody, NBC Chicago reported.
By Sunday evening, the number of victims shot stood at 34, including the five who died, according to police.