May 31, 2026

Overall Score: 41/60 (steady to slight dip from last week’s 41.5)

Accountability: 8.0

Border enforcement remains strong. Zero releases into the interior continue, encounters stay historically low, and deportations/self-deportations keep pressure high. The administration is holding the line on illegal immigration despite political noise and court challenges. Steady accountability here.

Assimilation: 6.5

Legal immigration tightening (including new requirements for many green card applicants to return home to process) sends a clear message: entry is a privilege, not a right. However, labor shortages in key sectors are becoming noticeable amid negative net migration trends. We must prioritize skilled, assimilable immigrants who embrace American standards — not just fill gaps with anyone. Room for improvement in messaging and selection.

Allegiance: 6.5

Strong on putting America first with continued China scrutiny and sanctions tied to Iran. But concerns persist about leverage not being fully pressed against our greatest strategic rival. Allowing certain flows (students, elites) while tech theft and influence operations continue feels inconsistent with full allegiance. The Iran situation adds complexity, but China remains the long-term threat.

Permanently: 8.0

Policies aimed at making changes lasting — from border infrastructure to legal adjustments — show commitment beyond temporary fixes. Emphasis on self-deportation and enforcement creates a more permanent shift in incentives.

Prudently: 4.0

Caution here. The Iran conflict’s ripple effects (energy prices, supply chains) are hitting American wallets hard amid broader affordability concerns. While security matters, prudence demands weighing long-term economic stability carefully. Negative net migration helps some pressures but risks workforce shrinkage at a tough time.

Pragmatically: 8.0

Dealing with realities on the ground: mass enforcement, legal tweaks, and diplomatic maneuvering with China on Iran. Results-oriented approach overall, even if not perfect.

Total: 41/60

This week’s score holds mostly steady but reflects ongoing tensions. I support the President’s backbone on immigration and America First priorities, but I call it straight: we must balance enforcement with economic realism and long-term strategy against adversaries like China. Negative net migration is historic, yet we cannot ignore labor and growth impacts without smart, high-standards legal pathways.

Gratitude demands stewardship — protecting the house while keeping the light of opportunity shining for those who truly earn it through accountability, assimilation, and allegiance.

Spine, not knees.

LIVE GRATEFUL 🇺🇸

A Grateful Immigrant

This morning I’ve been reflecting honestly about immigration.

Certain immigrant groups genuinely bother me — not because of race, but because of clear, measurable patterns: high long-term welfare dependency, slow assimilation, resistance to learning English, and the creation of parallel societies. The data confirms these patterns.

What bothers me even more is that we’re not really allowed to talk about this openly in the land of the free. Pointing out these differences often gets you labeled racist or xenophobic.

Meanwhile, it’s perfectly acceptable to openly disparage America’s founding stock — especially White, Western, Judeo-Christian citizens who built this country.

And here’s the deeper issue: much of this is deliberate. Powerful interests — big business, politicians, academia, and the media — benefit from this situation. Corporations want cheaper labor. Some political factions want demographic change. Academia and media push the idea that all cultures are equal and that Western culture has no special value.

This is the same nation that was founded by men who rebelled against the most powerful empire and army on Earth at the time. We fought a king because we believed what they were doing was wrong.

And yet today, we’re told we cannot have an honest — even if uncomfortable — conversation about culture, behavior, and immigration?

We should be having this conversation. Because if we can’t speak truth in the land of the free, then we are no longer truly free.

Spine NOT Knees

A Grateful Immigrant

I’ll be honest with you.

Certain immigrant groups genuinely bother me — particularly Somalis and many Hispanic communities from South America. I don’t feel the same way toward Japanese, Koreans, or Europeans.

This isn’t about race or skin color. It’s about patterns and behavior.

With Japanese and Korean immigrants, the ones who fail to assimilate and become a burden on society are the exception. The rule is discipline, hard work, and integration.

With Somalis and certain Hispanic groups, the pattern is the opposite — high long-term welfare use, slow English acquisition, resistance to American culture, and the creation of enclaves that reject our way of life.

Even within my own Filipino community, I see this split. Some fully assimilate, others do not.

The real question is: Assimilate to what?

Newcomers should assimilate to America’s Western, Judeo-Christian heritage — the cultural foundation that gave us individual dignity, personal responsibility, rule of law, and meritocracy. This is what makes American Exceptionalism possible.

I judge groups by three clear pillars: Accountability — take care of yourself and don’t live off taxpayers. Assimilation — learn English and embrace American culture. And Allegiance — put loyalty to America first.

If what bothers you about a group is their skin color, then you are racist. But if what bothers you is how they behave in your house — refusing to follow the rules, rejecting the culture, and demanding you change for them — then that’s not racism.

That’s called having standards.

I refuse to pretend these patterns don’t exist just to appear more tolerant. The data is clear, and honesty demands that we see it.

Spine not Knees

A Grateful Immigrant

“On this Memorial Day, we pause before the white crosses and remember: this nation wasn’t handed to us. It was bought with blood by men and women who believed in something greater than themselves.

Left or right, grateful or still learning — today we stand as one. Not in blind celebration, but in solemn gratitude for the gift they guarded with their lives.

We honor them best by living accountable, assimilated, and allegiant. By choosing spine over knees.

This is our house. Let’s keep it strong.

LIVE GRATEFUL 🇺🇸

(It starts in the spine, NOT on your knees)

These Shirts Show Messages on How We Love America

Made In The USA

Made In The USA

Overall Score: 41/60 (down 0.5 from last week)

Accountability: 8.0

Assimilation: 6.5

Allegiance: 6.5

Permanently: 8.0

Prudently: 4.0

Pragmatically: 8.0

This week’s half-point drop in Prudence reflects my honest take on Iran. I’d rather pay five dollars a gallon and absorb the broader economic pain than allow a nuclear Iran to hold America and our allies hostage. The administration’s pattern of red lines, deadlines, and last-minute delays only emboldens a regime that has American blood on its hands.

Americans will stand behind decisive action. We’re tired of being held hostage by hesitation and misplaced compassion. Strength now prevents far greater suffering later.

I support the President, but I call things as I see them. This score reflects that.

Spine, not knees.

Victor Davis Hanson recently pointed out how often Americans — especially on the left — convince themselves that we can never keep up with our rivals. Whether it was Mussolini, Nazi Germany, Japan, or now China, the narrative is always the same: America is finished.

But the numbers tell a different story.

The U.S. economy produces roughly 31 trillion dollars a year with 340 million people. China produces 20 trillion with 1.4 billion people. That means it takes four Chinese workers to produce just sixty percent of what one American produces.

How is that possible?

The difference isn’t just economics — it’s culture. China is built on conformity, risk-aversion, and inward-looking loyalty. They excel at copying and scaling what others create, but they struggle to produce the truly new and unexpected.

This stands in sharp contrast to the classic American spirit — curious, restless, and willing to take risks. It’s the spirit that turned a man with a modest 125 IQ like Richard Feynman into a scientific legend, and allowed immigrants like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs to build world-changing companies from almost nothing.

This isn’t about intelligence. It’s about mindset. One system fears surprise. The other runs on it.

That’s why the doomsayers keep being proven wrong.

Spine NOT knees.

LIVE GRATEFUL 🇺🇸

A Grateful Immigrant

May 19, 2026

Accountability: 8.0

Assimilation: 6.5

Allegiance: 6.5

Permanently: 8.0

Prudently: 4.5

Pragmatically: 8.0

Total: 41.5 out of 60

This week the score dropped from 43.5 to 41.5. The half-point drops in Allegiance, Permanently, Prudently, and Pragmatically reflect my growing concern with President Trump’s approach to China. While I understand he’s using them for leverage on the Iran situation, I believe China remains our greatest strategic adversary. Their massive debt burden over 300% of GDP gives us real leverage we’re not fully using. Allowing their students and elites to continue coming here while we know the CCP actively steals our technology and embeds operatives feels inconsistent with true allegiance.

I support the President, but I call things as I see them. This score reflects that.

Spine, not knees.

A Grateful Immigrant

Democrats in Virginia just got exactly what they wanted from the Supreme Court.

They knew from the start there was no real federal issue. Their map was struck down for violating Virginia’s own constitution on timing and procedure. The U.S. Supreme Court almost never steps in on a state court interpreting its own state constitution. They knew this appeal was dead on arrival.

Yet they filed it anyway.

Why? Because they wanted a clean loss at the Supreme Court. They wanted to point at the conservative majority and scream, “See? It’s a Republican-led Supreme Court blocking the will of the voters!”

This wasn’t about winning new maps. It was about manufacturing outrage to push their real goal — packing the Supreme Court.

When the system doesn’t give them what they want, they attack the system itself.

No spine. Knees.

A Grateful Immigrant

May 15, 2026