"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Antidote: Vive la Resistance!

Yes, one person can make a difference -- in this case, a flight attendant who will no longer be complicit in Trump's progroms against immigrant children:

For the past 29 years I have been a flight attendant for a major U.S. airline. Several weeks ago, I worked two flights (one to San Antonio and the other to McAllen) which proved to be two of the most disturbing flights I've ever experienced in my career.

On board these particular flights were ICE agents and migrant children (approximately four to eleven years old) who had been separated from their families and were being flown to a "relocation" site.

Since working the two flights, the images of those helpless children have burned into my psyche. The little children whose faces were full of fear, confusion, sadness and exhaustion left me somewhat traumatized as it occurred to me a few weeks later that I might as well have been a collaborator in their transport.

I can't help but think about their journey to their makeshift "homes" which, historically speaking reminds one of another group of people who were forced out of their homes and relocated to ghettos.

He didn't do it quietly.

Hunt Palmquist’s statement may very well have led to today’s historical decision within the airline industry.

On Wednesday, individual public statements, major airline carriers including American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest told the Trump Administration and federal government that they would not take part in the cruel and abhorrent Trump immigration policies that separated migrant children from their families. The airlines let Trump, his administration and his complicit Republican Congress members know that the government would no longer be allowed to use planes by these airlines to commit violations of human rights.

Guess ICE is going to have to go back to box cars.

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