SAUNDERS
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cized Trump for constantly playing to his base and not reaching out to the middle.
In his State of the Union address, however, Trump talked about wanting legal immigrants to come into the country “in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.” Crickets in the white wing.
At a meeting with regional reporters Wednesday, Trump confirmed it was a new policy because he said the country needs workers in “factories and plants and companies that are coming back in.”
Don’t hold your breath waiting for the Democratic leadership to push for more legal immigration, however, just as they did not seize on Trump’s offer to extend legal status to some undocumented immigrants in exchange for funding for his border wall.
A cynic would say Democrats prefer to keep “Dreamers” — undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as children — on the hook so they can use the issue at the ballot. President Barack Obama didn’t get it done when Democrats controlled the House and Senate.
Trump also found a clever way to show how extreme Democrats have become.
He brought up his administration’s recognition of Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela — a departure from Trump’s “America First” focus and a coup for human rights. This time, most Democrats’ applause seemed genuine, not perfunctory.
Then Trump condemned “the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair.” Bernie Sanders, the Democratic-caucusing senator from Vermont, sat stone-faced.
When Trump later added, “Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wisely stood up and applauded. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stayed seated, smiled slightly and clapped dutifully — like it was a chore to be on the record opposing socialism.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal. com or 202-662-7391. Follow @Debrajsaunders on Twitter.
Kemper County closing schools because of flu outbreak
DEKALB, Miss. (AP) — A school district in eastern Mississippi is calling off classes because of the flu.
The Meridian Star reports that Kemper County is closing its schools on Monday and Tuesday because of the illness. The county is located on the Mississippi-alabama line.
Superintendent Jackie Pollock says 100 students with flu symptoms have been absent from the elementary and high school over the last week. Pollock says the closings will allow time for students to rest and see doctors.
Other districts in the state have also closed or taken measures to prevent the spread of the flu.
In north Mississippi, the North Tippah School District and the South Tippah School District canceled classes Friday because of the illness.
Health officials are advising schools to taking precautions by disinfecting contaminated areas.
CLEVELAND, Miss. (AP) — Delta State University students are once again eating in their flying saucer.
The university has marked the reopening of the Young-mauldin Cafeteria after a $9.2 million renovation.
The 1964 building is a landmark on the Cleveland campus, with its rounded exterior and silver-domed roof. But university officials say it had gotten outdated.
The university started a renovation in 2017, with students eating in temporary quarters in a student union ballroom.
The renovation includes a foodcourt style serving area, new kitchen equipment and a reworked layout to increase natural light in the building. The project also added a meeting room and a private dining room.
Delta State President Bill Laforge says the university hopes new eating options will attract students.
The work was paid for with money borrowed by lawmakers.
CENTREVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A segment of highway is being named for a civil rights activist who wrote the memoir, “Coming of Age in Mississippi.”
Legislators voted in 2018 to name part of Mississippi 24 as the Anne Moody Memorial Highway . The segment runs from Woodville to Centreville, in the southwestern part of the state.
A dedication ceremony is set for Feb. 20 in Centreville, where Moody grew up. One of the speakers will be her brother, the Rev. Fred Moody Jr.
Anne Moody was born in 1940. As a Tougaloo College student, she participated in a sit-in that challenged segregation at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson in 1963.
Moody also participated in the 1963 March on Washington and the 1964 Voter Registration Project.
Moody was 74 when she died in 2015.