The title of this week’s offering is in the Haitian Creole language.  It translates to “What is a shithole?”  It was inspired, of course, by last week’s immigration negotiation meetings at the White House.  One day, President Trump had all the major players together for a televised meeting, during which he laid out his requirements for a DACA deal, namely, secure the border, end chain migration, and end the visa lottery.   To recap, the reported 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents were protected from deportation by an Obama Executive Order of questionable legality.  Trump gave Congress 6 months to work out a reform; hardly a novel notion, as immigration law is their job.  So Trump brought them all in, told them what he needed, and indicated he’d sign any bill they came up with.  The next day, the Democrats, plus Bob Corker and Lyndsay Graham (almost the same thing) proposed a plan that handed citizenship to the DACA “kids,”provided a pittance for a border wall, expanded chain migration and continued the lottery.  Not surprisingly, Trump rejected this insult, reportedly asking why the U.S. would want to continue taking in more people from shithole countries like Haiti and some African nations.  The Dems and the media predictably went nuts, calling Trump a racist who defamed nations like Haiti.  The problem is that truth is a defense.  In other words, you can only be defamed by false statements.  If Haiti really is a shithole, then Trump was right.  Let’s take a look at Haiti.  In 1788, there were 47,000 free people and 700,000 slaves in Haiti.  In 1792, the French colonial masters abolished slavery.  In 1800, the newly freed Haitians revolted against the French, and set up their own State.  In 1802, Napoleon tried to put down the revolution.  He sent 57,000 troops to Haiti.  But the Haitians won, because within months,  50,000 Frenchmen died of yellow fever.  The French gave up, presumably having concluded that Haiti was a shithole.  The U.S. profited however, as Haitian war losses led France to sell Louisiana to the U.S.  I’m not sure if we should thank the Haitians for that, or yellow fever.  In 1804, Haitian President Jean-Jacques Dessalines launched the First Empire, and declared himself Emperor for Life, which sounds a lot like Idi Amin, who later ran another shithole, Uganda.  Dessalines ordered the massacre of all whites who did not swear allegiance to him, but spared women who agreed to marry non-white men.  Thomas Jefferson and most of the world refused to recognize Haiti.  Things did not improve.  In 1809, nearly 10,000 refugees, knowing a shithole when they saw one, fled Haiti and settled en masse in New Orleans, doubling the city’s population.  Sound familiar?  In 1824, more than 6,000 African Americans migrated to Haiti.  Many quickly returned to the U.S., presumably preferring a slave nation to freedom in a Haitian shithole.  In 1825, the Haitian government promised the French 150 million francs, later reduced to 90 million, for independence.  It took Haiti 122 years to pay the bill.  The U.S. occupied Haiti for some years starting in 1915, after the assassination of Haiti’s president, Vilbrun Guillaume Sam.  Apparently Haitians were upset by Sam’s habit of killing political prisoners.  The Duvaliers, brutal dictators, ran Haiti from 1957 to 1986, during which time they killed more than 60,000 Haitians and stole $500 million.  When a country robs, starves and murders its own people, it’s probably a shithole.  In the 1990’s, Jean-Bertrand Aristede staged a coup and took over the government.  He later fled the country, after a revolt in Northern Haiti.  When your elected leaders flee their own country, it’s probably a shithole.  But how about the weather?  Housing is so deficient in Haiti that lives are at risk whenever there’s a storm.  If thousands die and tens of thousands are left homeless every time it rains hard, it’s probably a shithole.  The 2010 earthquake left 300,000 Haitians dead, and 1.6 million homeless.  How’s the infrastructure doing years later?  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assessed the damage from the quake and found that many of the roads aren’t any worse than they were before, because they never were any good.  If a massive earthquake couldn’t make the roads worse, it’s probably a shithole.  What about the Haitian people?  Well, they are largely uneducated, and unskilled.  More than 40% of them are unemployed.  The International Red Cross reports that seven out of ten Haitians live on less than $2 a day.  It is one of the poorest, and by far, the most corrupt nation on Earth.  If it’s the poorest and the most corrupt, it’s probably a shithole.  The commune of Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince has been called “the most dangerous place on Earth” by the United Nations.  If even the U.N. calls it that, it’s probably a shithole.  Not that the U.N. has been much help.  The massive cholera outbreak, that killed 10,000 Haitians, reportedly was caused when cholera-infected waste from a U.N. peacekeeping station contaminated the country’s main river.  But at least they have their health, right?  Wrong.  The World Health Organization cites diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS, meningitis, and respiratory infections as common causes of death in Haiti.  Ninety percent of Haiti’s children suffer from waterborne diseases and intestinal parasites. The incidence of tuberculosis in Haiti is more than ten times as high as in the rest of Latin America, and malaria is rampant.  Putting aside whether these diseases are the result of living in a shithole, give me one good reason why the U.S. should be importing infected men, women, and children; children who will be added to your kid’s class in school.  You can’t get your U.S. citizen child into school without vaccinations, but infected Haitians, come on up!  But wait, Haiti, at least is supposed to be a democracy.  They do have elections.  The U.S. even gave Haiti $33 million to ensure fair legislative and presidential elections in 2015.  It didn’t help.  A special verification panel declared the results “tainted by significant fraud.”  No, we didn’t get a refund.  I don’t want to influence the readers.  Make up your own minds.  In light of the foregoing, is Haiti a shithole, or not?  It’s really not about whether using the word “shithole” was a good idea.  Take “shithole” out of the equation, and convince me why we should be importing more unskilled, poor people, who don’t speak English, from places like Haiti.  I can’t think of a good reason.  Trump was right again.