I know, let’s separate immigrant children from their families and put them in military warehouses!

CONTEXT FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: “The Trump administration is making preparations to warehouse migrant children on military bases, according to Defense Department communications, the latest sign the government is moving forward with plans to split up families who cross the border illegally.

SOMETHING ELSE TO KEEP IN MIND FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES: “A top official with the Department of Health and Human Services told members of Congress on Thursday that the agency had lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children it placed with sponsors in the United States, raising concerns they could end up in the hands of human traffickers or be used as laborers by people posing as relatives.

AN APPOLOGY FROM MARK: This subject deserves a better, more thoughtful post than this, and I apologize. I was out late this evening, though, and, by the time that I got home, all I could do before flopping down into bed and drifting off to sleep while watching Joan Crawford in Sudden Fear, was recycle an angry tweet.

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33 Comments

  1. anonymous
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 5:55 am | Permalink

    Give me your huddled masses yearning to be free and I will put them in prison work programs producing MAGA hats.

  2. Jean Henry
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 6:05 am | Permalink

    I feel sick. I cant take this shit anymore and I have a high tolerance for new consumption. Most of America will never know this is happening. I don’t know how we reverse all of this. I’m stunned at the scope of power of the Presidency, once tested. The checks and balances of the other branches seem extremely limited. For generations, the limits on presidential overreach were mostly about maintaining appearance, not any real accountability. Now we have a President who only cares that he appears powerful. We are fucked.

  3. M
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 7:56 am | Permalink

    I think our institutions are resilient enough to handle Trump. It will take years, and it will be difficult, but he will be dealt with. I’m more concerned about what comes next, when we’re facing someone just as dangerous, with the same authoritarian tendencies, but smarter and more disciplined. As a nation, we’ve now demonstrated that we have a thirst for a strong leader who promises security and a return to America’s less multicultural past in exchange for a rollback of rights. I hope we can navigate it with the help of an influx of new, young, engaged voters, but I’m not optimistic.

  4. Jean Henry
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 8:43 am | Permalink

    Whenever I go down this particular fear cycle of thinking, I end up back at believing that non-partisan democratic reform is where the solution lies. We need to bulk up the 4th estate. And we need a more representative Congress. I do not think the answer lies in liberal social benefit reforms as much as I would like them. We simply do not have popular support for them, and we won’t get it until we fix the divisiveness and dysfunction in DC. Until then, any charismatic populist of any stripe can manipulate the frustration and governmental dysfunction to seize control and then curb civil liberties even further. We know from history these monsters can come from the left or the right.

  5. M
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 9:13 am | Permalink

    Kill Citizens United.
    End gerrymandering.
    Get the money out of politics.
    Increase public education funding.
    Encourage more women and people of color to run for office.
    Get more young people to participate, vote, etc.

  6. Iron Lung 2
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 9:43 am | Permalink

    This is gross. You don’t use kids as a weapon against adults.

  7. Iron Lung 2
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 9:45 am | Permalink

    “Most of America will never know this is happening. ”

    Most of America is fine with this because “illegals” are like ants to them.

  8. Eel
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 10:07 am | Permalink

    Meanwhile on CNN: “Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner blessed by rabbi who reportedly compared black people to monkeys”

    It never fucking ends.

  9. Lynne
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 11:30 am | Permalink

    I keep thinking about what my reaction to this should be. It won’t influence my voting because I already don’t vote for people who are this cruel. The only thing I could think of to do has been to donate money to an organization I have huge issues with in other areas but agree with when it comes to immigrants. Yes, I have donated money to the Catholic Church. That is how bad things are. If anyone else wants to, here is the specific organization

    https://cliniclegal.org/

  10. Sad
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 1:03 pm | Permalink

    Oh shit! IL hates Catholics. Why do you keep making yourself a target Lynne?

  11. Jean Henry
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 1:36 pm | Permalink

    IL was raised Catholic, as he has made clear, Sad. Grow up and stop stirring the pot and then acting like you are above it all or worse, expressing sympathy afterwards.

  12. Jean Henry
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 1:40 pm | Permalink

    Today my heart hurts, but I went to the Tom of Finland exhibit at MOCAD, and all that super gay (all meanings) hyped-up, carefully rendered imagery of blissed-out, open sexuality free of shame really helped. I suggest everyone go before it closes this weekend.

  13. Iron lung
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 2:51 pm | Permalink

    Yes, in fact I do despise Catholicism and all the other Abrahamic religions.

    Catholics on the other hand…we all have our personal problems that are beyond our control. Hard to hate anyone for their handicaps.

  14. Lynne
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 3:28 pm | Permalink

    I am just saying that Clinic Legal is a good organization and that donating to them will help immigrants in these dire situations. I am not a huge fan of the Catholic Church either fwiw.

  15. wobblie
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 3:29 pm | Permalink

    Common Dreams, “Here are the 5 Democratic senators (thus far) who have made clear they don’t give a shit about accountability for torture and instead have announced their support of Gina Haspel for CIA director: Mark Warner, Heidi Heitkamp, Bill Nelson, Joe Manchin and Joe Donnelly.”

    Any wonder why Trump can get away with being this inhumane. And we are supposed to get behind the Democratic Party because they are the “resistance”. The lesser evil always succumbs to the greater evil. Demand better.

  16. wobblie
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 3:39 pm | Permalink

    We need to build a new true Moral Majority. NO to torturers. No to racist/Islamophobic immigration laws, No to endless war, Yes to universal health care, Yes to a guaranteed basic income/raise the min. wage to 15 and peg to inflation, Yes to Accountability at ALL levels of government—Overturn Citizens United—Let us start there. Though I’m sure there are lot’s of other good suggestions I could get behind.

    A bit of good news.. 3 Republicans voted with the Democratic Party to reverse the scrapping of Net neutrality. I hope it was not the price of getting the Democratic votes for the torturer. Now Trump will have to put his signature to the bill, or veto it.

  17. wobblie
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 3:41 pm | Permalink

    Was wrong about the Net neutrality bill. The Republicans in the House can still kill it.

  18. Sad
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 7:21 pm | Permalink

    Yeah I got so mad when I saw that Reverend William Barber starting to do that poor people’s campaign. Doesn’t he realize that there are highly educated wonks working on policy that will help the poor? How respectable is it to march on the capitals? I mean really, these Christians.

    And don’t get me started on these teachers striking for more money and better funding of schools. Where’s that money coming from? Oh let me guess – the 1% ? We should all get taxed more, why scapegoat the 1%? Really.

  19. Jean Henry
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 9:36 pm | Permalink

    Sad— I know it’s a prevailing fantasy that the 1% have enough to pay for all social benefitz needed, and shared prosperity would come only at the cost to them, but in fact the models many point to tax everyone above a median income about 50% and have very low corporate taxes. Some wonk must have figured it out.

    No one is saying that the 1% are not hoarding wealth (and in extraordinarily unproductive ways) or that the poor should not advocate for themselves or have a seat at the head of the table, but expertise is not something to laugh at. That’s a populist game and it rarely produces good results.

    I launched and initiative today to help organize a workers economic summit in Ann Arbor. Would you like to help?
    Ps we have an active poor people’s campaign in this county as well. Please jump in.

  20. Iron Lung 2
    Posted May 16, 2018 at 10:11 pm | Permalink

    American leftists don’t really know a whole lot about financing government programs for the programs they want. Bernie Sanders, who is in the US Senate doesn’t seem to have a good grasp on it, even.

  21. wobblie
    Posted May 17, 2018 at 4:37 am | Permalink

    Liberal apologist for the 1% are the enablers of our oppression. Ignore the wars we fight for the 1%. Ignore the subsidies we give their banks, their oil companies, their coal companies et al. Do not aspire to social justice–we just can’t afford it. Any one really wonder why we have Trump?

  22. Sad
    Posted May 17, 2018 at 6:26 am | Permalink

    As my friend said – casting shade doesn’t help move the conversation forward. Especially when it involves denigrating the intellectual abilities of others.

    Are the Tom of Finland and the workers intiative intertwined? If so I’m ready to go, DAY might even want to pitch in.

    So I made a mistake, tax the teachers more to pay the teachers. Great idea!

  23. Iron lung
    Posted May 17, 2018 at 7:10 am | Permalink

    If your goal is redistribution, yes, tax teachers more using a progressive scheme so that overpaid teachers and school administrators at every level pay more more and thus offer a net increase in the incomes for new and recent hires.

    It is possible depending on what your goals are.

  24. Sad
    Posted May 17, 2018 at 7:34 am | Permalink

    Globalization has allowed the capitalist class to accumulate and concentrate wealth like never before with the aid of the US government. Thirty years of reduction in taxes on the rich has bankrupted the social contract in America. Unacceptable!

    I’m glad to see that the leftist democrats are starting to gain steam in the recent primaries. A change is going to come. Hopefully.

  25. Jean Henry
    Posted May 17, 2018 at 7:44 am | Permalink

    Sad– Does this mean you will stop casting shade?

    The change can begin with you.
    Wobblie– I’m no apologist for the 1%. I agree that our current financial system is predatory and dysfunctional. Anyone with half a brain believes that. We simply disagree on the solution. At least in part. I don’t think we can find all the funding we need for all the social benefits we imagine by taxing the 1% alone. There is no model of that working. There is also a decent amount of study that it’s the top 205 hoarding wealth, but even they dont have enough alone. It turns out that revenue is required to fund social progress. And guess who creates revenue best. The wealthy. But not if you strip them with all means to wealth generation or motivation.
    Teachers may be struggling but so are many other workers. Many teachers have pensions and all have health care. So yes, in a world in which everyone gets single payer health insurance, teachers would need to pony up for part of the cost of a single-payer health plan they dont need. I’m sure most would be happy with that.
    In Scandinavia citizens making over 70 grand a year pay 50% income tax. Many teachers in the US make more than that. Many do not. Scandinavia also relies heavily on taxing consumption via a VAT. This impacts the working class the most heavily in terms of percentage of income.

    The point of talking about using the 1% as a bogeyman is not that they are without blame. It’s that it presents people, especially white upper middle class liberals, with someone to blame. And it presents everyone else with the idea that all those social benefits will come at cost to others and not themselves. I would be all for ponying up my share for such social benefits. But any candidate right now who is honest about the cost of such reforms will lose to the dude who blames the 1% and says you can get everything you want at no personal cost.

    And SAD, it seems likely reading my FB posts and commenting on them here. If so, I think that’s confusing to everyone. Stay in your lane, you little Creeper.

  26. Jean Henry
    Posted May 18, 2018 at 7:38 am | Permalink

    Sad— PS globalization has lifted 1/3 of the world’s population out of poverty as well. It’s actually been a massive wealth transfer from the world’s richest nations to its poorest, if you look at it that way. Trumpers sure do. Anti-globalism is Close kin to xenophobia. Globalism is complicated but it’s not making America or most Americans worse off economically and it’s allowong much of the world access to the middle class.
    I’m not saying that corporations have behaved well internationally and that it’s all great; in saying the issue is not globalism but under-regulated capitalism and market demands for Co start quarterly double digit profits. And that we could greatly manage domestically without limiting global trade.

  27. Sad
    Posted May 18, 2018 at 8:05 am | Permalink

    Duh – globalization is beautiful. But let’s spread the wealth. Our government has spent it’s time and money greasing the wheels of international commerce while neglecting it’s domestic responsibilities. I trust Warren Buffet with his statement that he clearly isn’t being taxed enough.

    But people disagree, some people think the Trump tax cuts are good, let Daddy Warbucks keep his loot, others think more taxation might be helpful to correct domestic problems. To each their own.

  28. Jean Henry
    Posted May 18, 2018 at 10:10 am | Permalink

    Sad– you seem short on the concept. One can be for globalization and also want the wealthy to be more taxed and also understand that social benefits, like single payer, free college, and UBI will require a significant contribution from others including the middle class. Indeed, My Buffet is no anti-globalist, Duh.

    You are once again thinking in black and white terms about issues of great complexity and then misrepresenting other people’s perspectives as somehow being for the status quo. “If you aint with me, you’re agin’ me!” At no point has anyone here denied that the 1% are hoarding wealth. I simply said it’s actually the top 20%. And protectionism is not the answer.

    Please slow your roll and actually read what other people write. I’d prefer to disengage but you keep misrepresenting my viewpoint which makes it difficult for me. That’s a well-established pattern of mine. Surely you recognize it…

  29. wobblie
    Posted May 18, 2018 at 3:00 pm | Permalink

    JH you are a delusional person if you believe that “globalization” has helped 3rd. world people. You have bought into every propaganda ploy the 1% utilizes to neuter opposition. The hallmark of “globilization” was the passing of the NAFTA. The people of Chiapas Mexico have been in a constant state of rebellion since its implementation in 1994. They know it is a disaster for them and their children.
    The top 1% are not ” bogeymen” . They are ruthless exploiters of people and the planet. I’ve only know a couple of individuals who were part of the 1%, and they constantly live in a state of fear. Just like your fathers tenant, they are obsessed with losing their wealth. As a result they engage in the most vile strategies and tactics to keep their wealth. As a student of Arendt, you should be able to identify how they manipulate those “below” them and utilize the system to maintain their wealth.

    Globalization is an ideology of oppression and exploitation.
    Internationalism is an ideology of solidarity with people across borders. Long live International solidarity. Damnation to “globalization” and the corporations that promote it.
    Never accept the lesser evil. Strive for the good.

  30. Iron lung
    Posted May 18, 2018 at 3:40 pm | Permalink

    I go to poor countries a lot. In general, countries which close themselves to foreign investment and levy heavy export and import taxes are the poorest and most dysfunctional.

    Of course, there are exceptions within country regarding particular industries. In general though the most connected countries are the best off. Poor countries, however, suffer from bad governments, who often profit politically by keeping their citizens poor and angry. The targets of their manufactured ire are often the West so policy that keeps foreign money out succeeds both by being seen as protective and by keeping the country poor.

    Certainly, the issue is more complex than allowed here but not nearly as simple as “anti globalists” assert.

    My opinion, having travelled all around the world, is that a more open world in every sense is a better world.

  31. Jean Henry
    Posted May 18, 2018 at 3:44 pm | Permalink

    I’m aware from Arendt of how both those on top and below manipulate the suffering and very legitimate complaint of the masses for the sake of furthering their ideology, Wobblie.

    I suggest you look again at the numbers post NAFTA. The rebellion in Chiapas (which I mostly admire) is about a whole lot more than US imperialism. An old friend was living there at the start and stayed a few years. I’m glad he made it out. He was never the same after. Sometimes, most times, the facts are inconvenient to ideology. I’m here to learn, Wobblie, not preach.

  32. Jean Henry
    Posted May 18, 2018 at 3:47 pm | Permalink

    By ‘below’ I do not mean the ‘marginalized’ or oppressed. I mean the political side not currently in power, even political activists on the left. Often so.

  33. Posted August 18, 2018 at 9:17 pm | Permalink

    I’m watching Sudden Fear again.

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