"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 03, 2018

Today's Must-Read: Horror Story

I've written about the Trump regime's practice of separating children from their parents at the border, no matter the circumstances of their arrival. (A follow-up post is here.) From Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo, the full petty nastiness of this regime in depth:

Buzzfeed reported Friday night:
A Salvadoran mother who applied for asylum as part of a caravan of Central Americans that traversed Mexico for the United States this spring has had her two sons removed from her custody and placed in the care of the federal government in New York.

Officials offered no explanation for removing the children, the latest in what's becoming a growing pattern of separating immigrant parents from their children under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy for undocumented migrants caught trying to sneak into the US along the southwest border.
Except the woman had arrived at port of entry, applied for asylum, and passed the first step in the process. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave her 10 minutes to say goodbye to her children.

And they're violating not only American law, but international law as well:

Except under international law, signatories to the Convention and Protocols Relating to the Status of Refugees "shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened." The U.S. is a signatory. Donald Trump might call a bad deal, but it is a binding one.

All the worst aspects of Trump and his base in one nasty package, only exacerbated by the actions and attitudes of the knuckle-draggers who are enforcing this policy. (I could make a few comments here about small people with a little bit of power, but you know the type: ICE agents, TSA agents, petty bureaucrats, "bad" cops.)

It's worth reading, if your stomach's up to it. And then consider how quickly Trump and his minions have destroyed our standing in the world. Putin is just beside himself with glee.


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