Just started my first day at a new job yesterday, which on top of the new project, is yet another reason you haven't seen so much of me lately. I've been playing phone tag and attending meetings with the management over the last several weeks as well.

Things Are Dicey In Retail

It's in the retail sector and I'm feeling kind of ambivalent about it as I've dealt in this type of work before and it can be rife with abuse. A little background about me: I've never been arrested or had any trouble with the law, ever.

What I have seen is a lot of theft in this industry in the form of drug-addicted employees stealing to support a habit, or more often, managers stealing from the workers and blaming it on them. I discussed that history with the manager and how the chaos of hiring unvetted employees who had sticky fingers swirled around me while leaving myself unscathed.

With my past retail experience, I know what to look for and am used to keeping a sharp eye out.

Growth, But Not Of The Good Kind...

So you might say, "why take the job at all?" If you've read my blog over the years, you've heard me mention that this was a once safe town (top 25 safest in America 40-years ago), which has been devastated by the building of a federal "kids in cages" immigration/refugee center, and its proximity to several big cities.

This flooded our once quiet little town with thousands of un-vetted refugees (including a number of MS-13 gang members), and big city folk fleeing the crime of their metropolis, but bringing fresh criminals along with them.

Here, immigrants tend to refer and hire other immigrants to the exclusion of American citizens like me, leaving jobs for us very hard to come by. Each ethnic group looks out only for their own and sees us native Yanks as wealthy and not needing to work which is not the reality at all.

So Americans get pushed out of jobs and are replaced by foreigners willing to work for cash "under the table." It has devastated the local economy, causing a financial/drain brain as steady taxpayers are replaced by grifters looting the system and sending the proceeds overseas.

It's the reason why my city went for Bernie Sanders in 2016/2020, but the larger population of the county voted for Donald Trump, TWICE.

Anyone who thinks that he (or someone like him), can't win in 2024, should think again.

Half the people of America live in poverty. Many of the foreigners I met in Europe were surprised to hear that. You can see it all over my state if you look, its all over right in front of you. Many people are a few missed paychecks away from foreclosure. People are losing homes, cars and their entire livelihoods, yet the migrants keep coming. It's not the land of "milk and honey" that many think it is.

But it is my home and I'm proud to be an American.

Many foreigners think of the country as rich, but trust me, in my area, the people here are not. This is the "Rust Belt" and here; there's not a whole lot left to take. It's like a carcass that's been picked clean. You can see it best in the temp agencies where refugees who once stole jobs from Americans, now stab each other in the back for "no questions asked" employment. They're flooded with hundreds of people fighting over 30 jobs.

So there you have it. There are very few places left here where an American can find work without an advanced degree. So when a job comes along, one has to give it serious consideration. Keeping in mind that as "The Responsible One" in the family, I have an ill relative to care for with what little proceeds I have as a student. So now you know why I had to take that job.

The big question is: will I stay? I can tell you this much; my eyes are peeled and I know what to watch for, and won't be tolerating any bullshit, all of which I expressed to the management during the interview. I know "how they do that thang that they do" and will be out of there in a hot minute if it happens.

We do what we can with the cards we're given, and that's what I've dealt with my entire life.

Now there are still parts of the country that aren't near federal refugee centers or near crime-ridden big cities, with Americans in the majority. The cost of living is much higher, but there are more opportunities available for actual English-speaking, patriotic American citizens. I've been exploring such places, and I'd hate to have to join the "brain-drain" and flight of good people leaving this community, but the ever-increasing crime and lack of jobs for Americans may just make that a necessity one day.

It's sad because this used to be such a nice area years ago. But our location on the East Coast and near several big cities is what doomed us. The building of that federal refugee center and regional criminal justice center, was the final nail in the coffin.

Short-Sighted "Dreamers" Killing Their Own Dreams

I can still remember the day at a large factory here where immigrants had run Americans out of jobs announced that they were relocating to Mexico. We'd seen the production line I was working on go from go from 21 Americans down to just me and one other, after hearing the jeers from illegal aliens that they were going to take our jobs as well. I'd met with management many times about it, but nothing was ever done. So me and the last citizen looked out for each other until the day the announcement was made.

The foreigners who'd spit on, stomped, and burned the US flag outside during breaks, now looked on with astonishment as the plant relocated to the country that many of them had fled from. The owners were chasing the low wages that could be found there, and I told them they should be happy to leave this country they despised so much and return to the land of their birth to work. As the plant wound down, the burning of our flag and the disrespect shown to our country subsided, as they faced the new reality. It was a turning point in the lives of those that had reached "The Land Of Hope."

It's odd that the people coming here for a "better life" and to live the "American Dream" have no problem taking that dream away from actual Americans. Working for cash under the table and sending the money back to their home countries, depleting the tax base, and they are killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

This causes the city to repeatedly raise taxes on the ever-shrinking number of actual Americans that are left in order to pay for police/fire/schools and emergency services. The intellectual and capital flight causes a downgrade in the business community as well. It's like watching a snake eat it's own tail. There are a number of towns like this all over the country that have been looted in this way, until the day that the last major employer closes up shop for good.

I know things are hard in their home countries, but the "take, take, take" mentality of shipping money out, leaves the local businesses floundering, and they eventually close as the citizens who once had some money are pushed out by rising taxes and the newcomers who only look out for their own.

I've visited countries in Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa and have seen the poverty up close. Walking the streets of Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti was an eye-opener for me, so I've seen it. But the answer can't be to impoverish the people of the country you're fleeing to with no thought for how it affects the future of everyone.

People with huge families and no money caused us to wonder why you would keep pumping out children that you couldn't feed. Shortsighted. Thinking only of the pleasure of the moment, but not of the future of their children. The goal was to send the excess children to Europe or America when they were older, but how much longer can you keep doing that before the resources of the host country are depleted? and what happens then?

A number of refugee men in Greece have resorted to prostitution with other men in order to survive.

I was astonished to read that an Afghan refugee upon arriving in Greece, demanded to know where his New house, new car, new wife, and 1,000 Euro a week benefit payment was! Turn out the traffickers are lying to these people, telling them of the riches awaiting them if they can only make it to the West. Upon arrival, they are shocked to realize it isn't true at all.

What happens when the "rich countries" of the West can't absorb anymore and become poor countries themselves because of the inflows? I'm already reading about that in Europe, where the newcomers are disappointed at the conditions greeting them. One young man stood on the shores of England bitter at his circumstances and looked out to sea, "America" he opined, "I've got to get to America." You think it's any better here? He'll be sadly disappointed to find out that we're dealing with the same crap due to the endless influx of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the border each and every day.

In my city, many of them are living rough in the streets as the shelters are overflowing and the soup kitchens have run out of food. There are large camps under our bridges and in the woods as every once-abandoned building has been filled up by them. Unable to find work, (due to the competition from other migrants), they resort to crime. You may have heard me reference hearing gunshots at night while writing posts. That's where that's coming from, as we didn't have that prior to the opening of the federal refugee center. Our local people are being cut down, and are fleeing for their lives.

It's one of the reasons I never go out at night anymore...

Border communities have been inundated with refugees and are in crisis unable to handle the masses of people demanding assistance. Yet they keep coming, fighting over the few scraps that are left. Over two and a half MILLION illegal immigrants have flooded into the United States this year alone... Could YOUR country handle that?

Those of you reading this that know me, know I have a good heart full of empathy. But when I realize the sheer number of local citizens stabbed to death, shot and even beheaded, people that I've known right here, can understand that our well of compassion has run dry. Anyone who says that we should open the door further and welcome even more, should be willing to take the unvetted, violent MS-13 gang members into their own households and deal with them up close and personal.

Business owners have been shot dead defending their shops. Elderly women out for a walk robbed and murdered, even AFTER they handed over the money. Crimes unheard of here before are now a common occurrence. When liberals start talking about voting for Trump in 2024 or DeSantis, you know something's wrong. Even the most liberal of us here have finally had enough. The conservatives are right, something has to be done. And that's coming from me, a Bernie Bro. Everyone here is fed up with the violence. Enough.

My Friend: Jose

I think of Jose, a shop owner that ran a little grocery store in my neighborhood. He was a good Christian man who gave free food to people in need. That is until the day he was shot dead in front of his horrified wife by an immigrant when he refused to hand over his cash.

I often had long talks with Jose about him retiring to his native Puerto Rico due to the up-swell of violence, but he wanted to work one more year to help his kids graduate college and then he'd quit. But he never made it.

According to his wife, Jose tried to talk to the young man, as he moved in front of his wife at the front counter. Speaking in their common language, he offered the guy a job in his store instead, if only he'd put the gun down. He was trying to make a human connection with him and an offer of a brighter future than the pathway that he was on. As his wife recounted to me, moments later shots rang out killing Jose. Turns out that the mans "Macho Pride" had been wounded due to the job offer, so offended, he ended the life of a very good man.

This woman wept uncontrollably in my arms, and later on, we helped them move out as she retired to her homeland. I know you're in a better place, Jose. The store, once a vibrant hub of neighborhood activity, is now a gravel lot after being commandeered and squatted on by refugees again looking out only for themselves, and burned to the ground in a fire they set inside. It speaks to the damage that's been visited on this city by people seeking refuge while bringing Hell and destruction along with them.

That's what's going on here. Nobody wants to hear anymore about how hard life is in someone's home country. We've lost too many good people.

I wish there was a solution that would allow us to take in the world's poor and provide them with a better life, without it being at the expense of poor American citizens who can barely make ends meet themselves.

So fingers crossed on this new venture and we'll see how it works out. If this and other opportunities don't pan out, I may have to give even more consideration to making the move to one of those pockets of America where English-speaking US citizens actually have a shot at getting a job once my relative passes. She won't leave the city of her birth so I can't take her with me. She wants to die in her own home in her own bed, and we respect her right to do just that. Either way, I remain hopeful for the future, as change is coming, and it's coming fast.

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