BY JOE MONDELLO
Greetings Post 620 members
and friends! In last
week’s column, I spoke about
hosting a movie night at the
Post. We are still looking for
a sponsor to help support
our community movie project.
I thought we would have
dozens of calls by now begging
to sponsor an outdoor
“Movies Under The Stars”
event for our community. A
movie rental cost is around
$250. Funny, when I spoke
about the idea to folks, everyone
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 32 ULY 23-29, 2021 BTR
thought it was a good. I
guess it’s always a good idea
especially to those who don’t
want to get involved. The new
norm, people not wanting to
get involved? Or is it because
they don’t know where to
start?
All of our Post members
are volunteers. In fact, some
even volunteered to join the
military. Volunteering gives
a sense of belonging. Go
volunteer in your schools,
churches, food pantries or
a veterans hospital. Being
a volunteer makes a leader
out of you. And we’re always
looking for leaders. As I look
around our beautiful Bronx,
I am seeing so many slobs.
Tons of litter and household
goods being dumped across
the street every week near
our Post. Our members frequently
go out and sweep the
sidewalks and surrounding
areas cleaning up face masks
and other debris. We need to
keep caring about our community.
You snooze, you lose.
On another subject, we
at the Post are anticipating
a new juke box installation
this week. It will even have
an app that will allow you to
play songs from your phone.
Now, how’s that for technology.
The pool table is getting
an upgrade too. It’s getting
tuned up and recovered. Anyone
ready for a game of darts?
Wednesday nights is Dart
Night at the Post. If you want
to join a dart team, speak to
Jeanette, she got the bullseye
on the lowdown. Thank
you goes out to our neighbor
for the donation of a beautiful
patio table.
Next week July 28-31,
some of us will be traveling
up to Albany for the Department
of New York American
Legion State Convention.
This will be the fi rst time
since the shutdown we will
meeting. Our organization
has been conducting business
via Zoom. It won’t be a
large gathering as we are following
state COVID guidelines.
About 100 of us will
be attending. Normally, the
convention would host more
than 600 members. We will
be welcoming in a new state
commander for 2021-22. Great
job Department Cmdr. Mc-
Dermott for batten down the
hatchet for two years. That’s
a fi rst time in 100 years a department
commander served
two terms.
If I don’t write a column
next week, please read this
one again. In closing, we
know it’s been a tough year
dealing with restrictions and
decisions on whether to take
a COVID shot or not, but remember
back in 1918, the
Spanish Flu, also known as
the 1918 infl uenza pandemic,
was an unusually deadly infl
uenza pandemic caused by
the H1N1 infl uenza A virus.
Lasting from February 1918
to April 1920, it infected 500
million people – about a third
of the world’s population at
the time – in four successive
waves. The death toll is typically
estimated to have been
somewhere between 20 million
and 50 million, although
estimates range from a conservative
17 million to a possible
high of 100 million,
making it one of the deadliest
pandemics in human history.
Imagine if they had a vaccine!
Just saying.
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
Substantive and disturbing
questions continue to be raised
about The Biden administration’s
immigration policies,
and those of its supporters,
which have enriched criminal
cartels and violent gangs, endangered
illegal immigrants,
and harmed the safety and fi -
nances of American citizens.
In all of 2002, 9,000 illegals
entered the United States. As
of March this year, 108,000
known illegals crossed the border.
The president has even
commenced fl ying minorsfrom
Latin America to the U.S. at
American taxpayers expense.
Other measures include plans
toboost refugee admissions,
and not enforcing the “public
charge” rule that prohibits
green cards to immigrants
who use public benefi ts like
Medicaid.
That will signifi cantly increase
the already dramatic
expenses resulting from illegal
immigration. In 2017, TheFederation
for American Immigration
Reformreported that the
cost totaled $134,863,455,364 at
the combined federal, state and
local levels.
The measures have received
signifi cant criticism
from both U.S. and Latin
American offi cials. Guatamala’s
President Alejandro Giammattei
has outlined Biden’s
confusing messaging, and how
his policy has brought extraordinary
danger to young people
seeking to cross the U.S. southern
border.
Unless one assumes that
the Biden administration is
actively seeking to encourage
and expand illegal immigration,
there appears to be little
logic in its actions other than a
partisan impulse to repeal the
generally effective Trump policies.
There is an apparent impulse
to move away from protecting
U.S. citizens while
enhancing assistance to illegals.
One example: The current
administration has ended
the prior president’s offi cecreated
to assist American citizensharmed
by illegal alien
crime, and replaced it with one
designed to assist illegals who
claim maltreatment in detention
centers.
In recent comments, DHS
Seccretary Mayorkas, who
opposes even using the term
“illegal alien,” noted that his
emphasis is on protecting the
“dignity of illegals.”
Perhaps Secretary Mayorkas
and the Biden administration
have forgotten the
connection between illegal
immigration and human traffi
cking. James O. Finckenauer
and Jennifer Schrock, writing
for theInternational Center
National Institute of Justicesaid,
“Human traffi cking
has become a lucrative criminal
market in the United
States. The commodities involved
in this illicit trade are
men, women, and children.
Traffi ckers transport undocumented
migrants into the
U.S. for work in licit, semi-illicit
and illicit industries. The
traffi ckers’ foremost goal is to
maximize profi ts — often resulting
in physical and mental
exploitation of the victims
… many migrants are held
in slave-like conditions until
they are able to pay off their
fees. Female migrants are especially
vulnerable to sexual
exploitation…”
TheCenter for Immigration
Studiesreports that “According
to multiple U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration
Services (USCIS) sources, the
Biden administration is close
to fi nalizing a policy that will
drop FBI name checks as a
form of vetting for naturalization
applicants…”
The Progressive pro-illegal
position has worked to the
detriment of working Americans.
In a report to Congress
by the Civil Rights Commission,
it was noted that “illegal
workers are estimated to
account for as much as onethird
of total immigrants in
the United States, and that illegal
immigration has tended
to increase the supply of lowskilled,
low-wage labor available.
The Commission found
also that … black males … are
… in likely competition with
immigrants.”
The Biden administration
appears oblivious to
the torrent of murder, rape
and drug dealing from illegal
aliens. AJudicial Watchanalysis
of federal statistics
notes that “Seventy percent
of illegal Aliens in federal
jails were convicted of nonimmigration
crimes … The
U.S. government spent at
least $162 million last year
to incarcerate tens of thousands
of criminal illegal
immigrants for committing
crimes that include rape,
murder, kidnapping and terrorism.
The offenders were
imprisoned by the Federal
Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and
the U.S. Marshals Service
(USMS), which confi rm that
94% of aliens jailed in 2019
were unlawfully present in
the U.S. …”
CIVIC CENTER
Community Action
Civic Association
CIVIC CENTER
American Legion
Post 620
BY TONY SALIMBENE
Hey all! Surviving the
heat I hope, maybe enjoying
it?Did I neglect to mention
Miguel (Mike) Ramirez as
our new Bronx County commander
while I was congratulating
our Post 253 members
promoted to ounty vice commanders?
Probably, I’m getting
old! We need to get back
to the business of the four pillars
of The American Legion
post-pandemic and we can do
it but it will take a team effort.
And two demerits and 20
push-ups to me. Again, I forgot
Peter Del-Debbio, out-going
county commander. A whirlwind!
Checking computer
membership, going to functions,
even doubling as commander
of a great traditional
post, L.H.Hawkins 156, City
Island.I usually give the old
Post 19 credit for the county
events they help with, but I
also want to give a shout out to
Peter Schmid, the newest commander
of what we respectfully
call a “WW1 Post,” that’s
some tradition, too.A *hand
salute* to Edgewater Park.
Flags line their entrance roadway
at more homes than not.
And I understand Artie C., an
original SAL 235 member, has
been caring for a fl ag that gets
weatherbeaten. Thanks.Until
Next Time: As we enjoy
the summer, remember those
who can’t. My favorite activity
is POW-MIA Remembrance
in memory of Bill Clancy Jr.
We didn’t solve the problem
Bill, but we make people think
about it. Think about it!
CIVIC CENTER
Korony Post 253