S2e8- Shibboleth (I'm dropping off the turkeys.)

This Thanksgiving episode, besides having a lot of turkey-based comedy and a rather incredible range of information about carving knives, centers around a container ship full of refugees who claim to have fled religious persecution in China.  Obviously, refugees entering the U.S. became a larger issue in the 2016 election cycle after the Paris terrorist attacks.  In an attempt to separate fact from fiction, I found an article that claimed that attempting to enter as a refugee would be possibly the worst way for a terrorist to attempt entry into the country.  This episode digs into the drama of this particular situation, but here's an excerpt from the article that shares specifics of the process:

"How does a refugee get into the U.S.?
Refugees must undergo an 18- to 24-month screening process, minimum, that the United Nations' refugee arm oversees. And that's before individual countries even begin to consider a refugee's application and conduct their own additional interviews and background checks.
The screening process generally includes multiple interviews, background checks and an extensive cross-referencing process that tests refugee's stories against others and accounts from sources on the ground in their home country.
Throughout that process, U.N. officials and local government officials in temporary host countries like Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon look to determine the legitimacy of asylum seekers' claims and ensure that they meet the criteria of a refugee, including that they are not and have not been involved in any fighting or terrorist activities.
Refugees also have their retinas scanned and have their fingerprints lifted."

And that's just the UN process.  The US has even more steps once the refugee enters into the countries.

At the end of the episode, after the fictitious refugees are allowed to enter into the country (through a bit of deception, but nothing illegal, apparently), President Bartlet tells Josh:

"We can be the world’s policeman. We can be the world’s bank, the world’s factory, the
world’s farm. What does it mean if we’re not also..."

The sentence is finished with a smile, and then Bartlet continues to say:

"They've made it into the New World, Josh. You know what I get to do now? I get to proclaim
the National Day of Thanksgiving.  This is a great job."

I imagine that first sentence could be finished in several ways:

• A leader in religious freedom and tolerance
• An example of compassionate leadership
• Willing to live up to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty
• A country judged by its care for those in need

For the record, President Bartlet demonstrates these qualities in nearly every episode, but especially with Charlie- the presentation of the knives gets a 4/5 kleenex rating...

CJ demonstrates all of those qualities in her treatment of Eric and Troy, as well...

It's not as though I could get all the way through this blog without mentioning the turkeys again, right?  But in truth, if some of our leadership cared as much for the citizenry as CJ does for the turkey, we'd be in better shape.  Why does she care so much?  It's simple- she took care of them.  It's not as though CJ doesn't understand that turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving- as she reminds us, she has a Masters Degree from University of California at Berkley.  Maybe we should require all candidates spend considerable time caring for, well, I was going to make a list, but everyone who isn't a white upper-class male is probably more appropriate inclusive.  

One last thing, nearly completely unrelated.  There are a lot of fictitious twitter accounts for the West Wing- @donnatella_moss and @joshualyman are two of my favorites, but imagine my delight when I realized that Morton Horn of Jasper Farms, who was in the West Wing to drop off two turkeys and pick up one, has a fictitious twitter account.  So, I'm happy to tell you that I'm the fifth follower of @mortinhorn17, and I hope you will join me.

What's Next?  S2e9- Galileo

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