Telling the truth about illegal aliens is not racist

The accusations of racism have been taken to a whole new level. Now it’s racist to run an ad featuring a convicted illegal alien cop killer bragging about his crime. This is where we are in America. The networks pulled a Trump ad just before the midterms that featured Luis Bracamontes, convicted of killing two cops, saying in a courtroom, “Only thing that I regret is that I just killed two.” CNN’s Wolf Biltzer called it a “rather racist ad.” NBC said in an e-mail, “After further review, we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it across our properties as soon as possible.” Fox News and Facebook pulled the ad as well.

Illegal alien cop killer Luis Bracamontes

Luis Bracamontes broke into our country. Two police officers would be alive today had we kept him out. The point of the ad is we have another caravan of potentially illegal aliens heading to our border. How many Luis Bracamonteses are among them?

Not fair, you say? Most of these people are fleeing poverty and violence? You would be right, but how many among them are criminals? DHS has already positively identified over 270 convicted criminals among them. Some news outlets have identified MS13 gang members and people who admit to having been deported from our country, some multiple times. Identifying a threat to our country is not racism.

If the people who support the caravan truly believe that most of the people in the caravan are decent people then they should welcome legal entry into the country. The truth is most will not be granted asylum because poverty, in and of itself, is no precondition. In fact, Mexico has already offered the caravaners asylum. They are out of Honduras. They are out of harm’s way. Why not take Mexico up on the offer? Because organizations like People Without Borders, who are coordinating the trek north, are not interested in the safety of these people. Their goal is to push the amnesty issue in America. Their goal is to push the agenda of open borders.

This economy is so red hot right now that we have more job openings than people to fill them. We’re told it’s the first time that’s happened since they started keeping records. Common sense would tell you that we’re going to have to import labor to fill the rest of those jobs. Most people have no problem with that. How do we do it? By allowing hordes of illegal aliens to stream across the border, or do we do this in an orderly fashion by matching laborers to jobs and making sure criminals are not taking those jobs? It’s just common sense.

Two-thirds of the people coming across our border from Mexico come legally. That’s a very important point to remember. If two-thirds can come the legal way, what’s up with the other third?

For anyone who thinks illegal aliens should be allowed to come to this country the wrong way I have a question for you. Do you believe a planeload of passengers from Paris should just get off the plane at JFK and bypass customs? If not, why not? What’s the difference between bypassing the border checkpoint at JFK and bypassing the border checkpoint at Laredo, Texas? Spoiler alert: There isn’t a difference. 

Illegal immigration is a public safety issue, pure and simple. No reasonable person can believe that allowing illegals to stream across the border without going through background checks is a safe thing to do. And no reasonable person can believe an ad that points that out is racist.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Much ado about Facebook

The frenzy around Facebook is a bit perplexing. I firmly believe the vast majority of Americans have no idea what this case is all about. They think Facebook has sold deep, dark secrets about them. What they don’t understand is they are the ones who gave away the secrets.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was called before Congress recently to explain how a third party gained access and then sold information about Facebook users. What Zuckerberg failed to adequately explain is we gave them everything they got.

Photo: WatchingAmerica.com

This is not a case of someone stealing identities. No credit card numbers were stolen. No Social Security numbers were leaked. Plain and simple, what Cambridge Analytica got from Facebook is a profile you painted when you posted to Facebook. Your likes and dislikes, your habits, your personality are all intertwined with your profile and postings.

As this whole so-called scandal was taking flight I was listening to a BBC interview with an American professor who sued Cambridge Analytica last year. British law requires them to hand over any information they may have accumulated on citizens upon request. He got several pages that painted a profile of him. What he found outrageous is they had him pegged as “very liberal.” He’s a college professor, so go figure. The host asked him if they had correctly identified his political persuasion. He said they had and that’s what prompted him to sue. He accused them of spying on him in the polling booth.

You would think a reasonably educated college professor would immediately understand that no one was spying on him in the polling booth. They didn’t have to. All they had to do was read his anti-Trump/pro-Hillary rants on Facebook to figure out he’s “very liberal.”

No surprise that Facebook lists me as very conservative. Do I care? Why should I? I am. Plus it keeps me being bombarded with ads from the global warming kooks. I happen to be a big fan of targeted advertising. So are advertisers. Instead of the old shotgun approach, they can now target ads specifically to people who will be more receptive to them.

For example, my car got totaled recently and I was searching for another one. I was continually shown ads relating to the type of car I was looking for. No trucks. No motorcycles. Just the car I was wanting. I actually clicked on several ads because they were helpful. That’s basically what Facebook does. They’re not following you into the polling booth as people have been led to believe. However, it’s the political angle that has so many people upset.

It’s like these people who constantly post their political rants don’t realize that anybody can read them. When some robot reads them and creates a profile, they get angry.

If you’re curious, you can actually see your advertising profile with a few clicks on Facebook. I won’t detail how here. Just do a search for “get your Facebook data.” They know I live away from the town where I was born. They know I’m a frequent traveler. They know my birthday is in September. They also know I’m very conservative. How do they know all this? Because I told them. In fact, I’ve told the whole world.

What’s troubling about Facebook is not that they’re actually reading my posts, it’s that they’re throttling and outright banning people like Diamond & Silk. At least the House members had the good sense to shift the focus to that.

So, you post what you had for dinner and someone actually cares. Advertisers. Surprise!

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.