These past couple weeks have been tough for me.
If you follow my column you know that I am swimming against the tide when I write about and extol the virtues of living full or part time in Mexico.
I’ve certainly received an earful from my readers over the past week.
After watching the news these past few weeks and beyond I’ve watched as our Sgt. Tahmooressi sits in a Tijuana jail for crossing the border into Mexico accidentally, immediately claiming he had crossed by mistake and showing the border guards that he had three firearms in his truck.
I’ve since learned that Mexican officials routinely cross the border into America by mistake and are quickly allowed to make the U-turn back into Mexico.
But Sgt. Tahmooressi was summarily hauled off to jail, chained to his bed and continues to sit in jail after three months.
His initial hearing, about a month ago, was postponed when Tahmooressi’s Mexican public defender wanted to lie to the court about whether the sergeant had ever previously visited Mexico.
The sergeant dismissed his attorney, wanting only the truth to be told that he had actually visited earlier in the day, and hired a new attorney. He is again waiting for his rescheduled arraignment.
Greta Van Susteren of Fox News gained more than 100,000 signatures on a petition to the president of the United States to intervene.
After all, without Congressional notice our president gave up the five worst detainees in Gitmo for a sergeant (Bergdahl) in the Marines who had deserted.
Sgt. Tahmooressi served his country admirably in two tours of Afghanistan and Iraq and is diagnosed with PTSD from two direct IED attacks.
Yesterday our president called President Nieto of Mexico.
The transcripts of the conversation were completely devoid of any reference to Tahmooressi. I don’t believe that was an accident. This president, through words and actions, has had a continual battle against the 2nd Amendment and intervening in the release of Tahmooressi would be implicit acceptance of the right to bear arms.
So if he intervenes, the president would be losing face to his most ardent supporters. Once again politics trumps common sense. We are truly living in a bizarre world.
Mexico is our ally and our friend but they are not assisting us in halting these illegal excursions into our country.
Americans are upset and I do not blame them. Everything is so backward from how this country operated for 235 years when we were just fine.
Now we are living in a twilight zone.
Nevertheless, the people of Mexico are just like you and me. They get up in the morning, get their kids off to school, go to work, picnic on the weekends and go to church.
I met a beautiful woman in Mexico. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had those feelings of enamoration and so I am committed to Mexico so much that I am planning to build a house in Punta Mita.
Many friends and acquaintances here think I’m nuts, but reality trumps perception.
Most times I feel safer there than I do right here in sunny California and don’t even talk to me about going into the hearts of our major cities in the U.S.
I wouldn’t go there even if I was outfitted with the body armor of war.
In a perfect world, people would respect each other’s laws and persons. The perfect world unfortunately is in heaven.
President Reagan gave a profound speech to the United Nations in 1985: “If the world was invaded by an alien race, all the peoples of earth would join as one in harmony against a common foe. Why then does an invasion have to occur to bring people together as one?”
Yes, profound.
Joe Moris may be contacted at (760) 500-6755 or by email at [email protected]
