In the past month, I have written several essays about the movie, Casablanca. I have discussed in some length various historical and personal issues connected to that film. However, nothing has changed since my essays with either set of matters. That being said, I wish to return to Casablanca once again. This essay deals with the matter of refugees that were trapped in the city of Casablanca.

What intrigues me is that the movie was set during WWII when millions of refugees were attempting to escape the Nazi onslaught. In Europe alone, there were somewhere between 10-20 million refugees often called displaced persons. While the film begins with scenes of hundreds of refugees fleeing without any place in which to escape, the movie moves from the thousands to one in particular. Victor Laszlo is attempting to avoid being captured by the Nazis. The movie’s lens focuses next upon two other refugees, Rick and Ilsa. They were refugees from Paris before the Nazis arrived. By differing routes, both wound up in Café Americain in Casablanca. Therefore, Casablanca is a story very much like our time.

All people living in America were, at one time, refugees or descendants of refugees from somewhere else. In our time, our fake president, Donald the Dumb, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are holding 12,800 children of asylum seekers or refugees in detention centers.

Tent cities in America

The only violations that these children committed was to have parents who wanted to escape killings, rapes, and civil unrest in Central America. Therefore, they have attempted, like in Casablanca, to journey to a better and safer place in which to live.

They also have another problem facing them not in Central America but in America. Their skin color is a bit darker than our fake president and Attorney General Sessions’, both of whom have issues with those who are not as white as they are. Another way of stating this reality is that they are racists.

Additionally, that is tragically similar to the times during WWII and a parallel with the past. George Santayana warned us decades ago, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Racism during WWII in Casablanca morphs into the present-day in Charlottesville. Today’s variation of racism is a new group…neo-Nazis.

If this isn’t despicable enough, the actions of Donald the Dumb get more deplorable. Prior to the hurricane season, Donald the Dumb had $10 million transferred from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has imprisoned refugees and separated families who fled from countries in Central America.

Enter Hurricane Florence. Everyone with any knowledge of the Trump’s White House, states that it is an administration in chaos. Now, Donald the Dumb is robbing Peter to pay Paul, which merely adds another layer of chaos. Donald the Dumb, you are in the position where you are damned if you do, damned if you don’t, and damned if you can stay where you are. You will be remembered by Americans and the rest of the world as Donald the Dumb, America’s fake president. In the after effects of Florence, Donald the Dumb still claims that global warming is due to the Chinese hoax. What a legacy of ignorance and stupidity.

Finally, this is a personal observation. In 1972, I lived through Hurricane Agnes. Agnes stalled over the Susquehanna Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

I lived a half mile from this Dairy Queen in Kingston, PA

It took years to get back to near-normal. I can only imagine what millions of people are thinking, fearing, and wondering about their futures as the storm hit and stalled along the coastline. Both Florence and Agnes stalled, which resulted in far more destruction and chaos. By the way, what about the people, Americans, who lived through Hurricane Marie in Puerto Rico and also those who died due to the hurricane?

Donald the Dumb

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It's Like Déjà Vu All Over Again.”

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Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."

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Connecting the Dots

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09/28/18