Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Leviticus 19:33 NRSV (New Revised Standard Version)



~ With thanks to the harmony group Windborne, for posting this text before me. [Angel photo mine.]

23 comments:

  1. Hmmmm......that must not be from Mr. Sessions' Bible. Nor from Mr. Trump's.

    --Alan

    Hmmmmmm again: maybe parts of the following will sound familiar:

    "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
    "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

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    1. My goodness, Alan. I can't imagine where you found that quotation. It's certainly nothing Donald Trump or any member of his administration would ever have read!

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  2. “The Trump administration announced its departure from the United Nations’ main human rights body Tuesday, its latest withdrawal from an international institution,” CNBC reports.

    Said United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley: “For too long, the human rights council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias.”

    The announcement “comes just a day after the U.N. human rights chief denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents.”

    --Alan (who used to think Nikki Haley had some respectability)

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  3. I'm going to try to paste something long here, but it is at least an action we can take. Sorry for the length.

    Vicki wrote: "Friends! I think this is a brilliant idea. Please join me in this peaceful action to protest the inhumane separation of families at our borders! Read the instructions below and - GO! I have postcard supplies to share with anyone who needs them. I’m tagging some folks I think will participate. If I haven’t tagged you, sorry! Just jump right in anyway! :) Keep Families Together Postcard Avalanche— A Simple, Strong Action You Can Take Right Now Our Plan: In addition to donating funds and calling our representatives, we plan to bombard the Border Patrol Offices along the Mexican border with postcards appealing directly to border patrol agents' humanity. We will use the internet to amplify our voices by photo documenting and sharing our postcards in our event HERE, on our Facebook feeds, Twitter and Instagram. Use the Hashtags #FamiliesBelongTogether #TheWholeWorldIsWatching #USBorderPatrol Why: Ripping children from their families is deeply unethical, something associated with slave owners and Nazis. While we wait for our congress to take some action to stop these atrocities, we want to let border patrol agents know we are watching, that they have a choice, and that they can stop this by refusing to participate. Our action will also let Congress know that citizens are horrified by what our government is doing. How: On your own or with friends and family create and send personalized postcards to the Border Patrol Offices along the Mexican border. These messages CANNOT be hateful. We may be angry, but our anger will not be effective; it will alienate us from the agents. Instead they must be appeals to the agents as human beings. Message Ideas: - You can stop this. - You have a choice. - No one can make you take a child from their family. - Will you go home to your family tonight? These families love their children just like you love yours. - You are brave. You are kind. You are compassionate. Please don't take children away from their families. It goes against everything you believe in. - I'm sorry you are facing a moral dilemma - this must go against your values - this must be hard, don't let this harden your heart - please be compassionate, don't become a nazi - treat others as you would wish your family to be treated Postcards with the Families Belong Together logo and pre-addresed labels will be available for free at Everyone's Books and the Putney Co-op by Thursday, 6/21/18. Or you can make your own. Simply cut a piece of cardstock into four pieces. Postcards can be 3.5” x 5.5” or 4” x 6”. Decorate the front, address and stamp on the back. Don't forget to photo document and share your postcard in this event, on your Facebook feed, Twitter and Instagram. Use the Hashtags #FamiliesBelongTogether #TheWholeWorldIsWatching #USBorderPatrol Addresses- U.S. Customs & Border Protection IPL/CBP INFO Center 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., MS: 1345 Washington, DC 20229 U.S. Customs & Border Protection 109 Shiloh Dr., Suite 300 Laredo, TX 78045 U.S. Customs & Border Protection 2323 S. Shepherd #1200 Houston, TX 77019 U.S. Customs & Border Protection 9400 Viscount Suite 104 El Paso, TX 79925 Please share to spread the word. Here is the event link for easy sharing... https://www.facebook.com/events/2576769782548112/?ti=cl"

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  4. Again, too much news today. A few excerpts:

    An Increasingly Isolated And Paranoid Trump: ‘The Bushies Are Out To Get Me’[Click] This reminds me of Nixon wandering the White House at night, talking to the paintings of former presidents. Straightjacket city.

    Racial Fear Is Key to Trump’s Support Among White Evangelicals[Click]

    Charleston City Council Adopts Slavery Apology Resolution[Click]

    Governors Pull National Guard From Border Over Child Separation Policy[Click] Note reports towards the end re mayors and Conference of Mayors.

    ‘Shame!’ Kirstjen Nielsen Heckled Out Of Mexican Restaurant
    [Click]

    Sanford: ‘The Tragedy Of The Trump Presidency’ Is His Selfishness[Click]

    From the “Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Well” files:
    West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Faces 22-Count Federal Indictment[Click]

    Pope Francis Speaks Out Against Trump’s ‘Immoral’ Immigration Policy[Click]

    Dorothea Lange/Vanessa Winship review – unmissable images of the dispossessed[Click] I was/am unfamiliar withe the photos of Vanessa Winship; I think I must remedy that.

    And now to get moving.
    —Alan

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    1. Vanessa Winship: She Dances on Jackson[Click] I wonder if this is available at our public library.

      —Alan

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    2. Rats--evidently not.

      Alan

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    3. Here it is on YouTube.[Click] This will serve my purpose.

      —Alan

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  5. SEPARATION OF FAMILIES IS ENDED!
    "President Trump caved to enormous political pressure on Wednesday and signed an executive order that ends the separation of families by indefinitely detaining parents and children together at the border."
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-children-executive-order.html

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    1. Good news! Thanks for posting.

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    2. Well, Bill, keep reading. It's not the news we hoped it was.

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  6. Replies
    1. And then the SLAP! Sigh.

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    2. Did everybody read this that Catreona posted???

      "The President says he’s signing an executive order to end family separations. The actual aim seems to be to pick a fight with the courts and allow separations to continue while blaming judges. According to The New York Times, the President will sign an executive order allowing children to be detained indefinitely with their parents. The problem is that that violates a 1997 consent decree saying that you can’t detain/imprison children for more than 20 days (technically what’s currently happening isn’t detention). It straight up violates that order. So what will almost inevitably happen is that a court will step in, say you can’t do that and then Trump will announce that the judge is forcing him to keep separating families."

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  7. AND!!

    FDA retreats: Maple syrup [and Honey] may not need an ‘added sugars’ label, after all
    https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/06/19/fda-caves-syrup-agrees-need-not-bear-added-sugars-label/AQLoMS53QEo1orbJtJEZ2M/story.html

    I see today's We the People victories, both huge and small, as the turning point we have needed and worked for!

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  8. We need to keep hounding DT, Congress and watching the Judiciary closely. Keep exposing what's happening.

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  9. A little late, but here is some commentary.
    --Alan
    =====================================
    Trump Surrenders
    June 20, 2018 at 4:23 pm EDTBy Taegan Goddard

    The coverage of President Trump’s sudden reversal on his policy to separate migrant children from their parents at the border is universally brutal.

    The Fix: “It’s at once an admission that the politics of the issue had gotten out of hand and that the administration’s arguments were completely dishonest. Virtually everything it said about the policy is tossed aside with this executive action. It’s the political equivalent of waving the white flag and the legal equivalent of confessing to making false statements. Rather than letting Congress rebuke it, the White House is rebuking itself and trying to save some face.”

    Politico: “It was a remarkable shift from a president who is typically reluctant to bow to outside pressure. He often doubles down on his existing stance when confronted with criticism.”
    ===========================

    Elsewhere:

    …Trump’s new version [of the Madman Theory] is clearly ridiculous. Trump has telegraphed over and over again that he is bluffing on these issues, ensuring his ultimate failure. He bluffed about “fire and fury” on the Korean peninsula, he’s backed off on trade war threats, then reinstated them, then backed off again. And now, domestically, he just backed away from his most brazen, most heartless madman gambit yet… He wanted his wall and changes to immigration law and took a mad approach to getting them. Pass my bill, build my wall or I’ll rip more babies from mothers And if that’s not harsh enough, I’ll order [worse]… That will scare Democrats to give me what I want. Except, of course, it didn’t.

    But now that we’ve seen Trump fully exposed on Mad Man, now that everyone knows it’s what he does on every issue, it will become increasingly less likely that the strategy will ever work with anyone. Trump gets this… He fears looking weak… [or even] folding an obviously weak hand. The more his bluster is exposed, the more he’ll be forced to deal with friends and foes in a more honest capacity. Except he won’t. He can’t. All Trump has and all he believes is Mad Man theory. He’s the poker player who must raise on every flop and who hopes that maybe the cards will break his way and the strategy will start working for him again. And maybe he will succeed once or twice…

    —[W]hat’s happening already is that his opponents will adapt. They’ll [hand] some small victories to him… And then, when the cards fall their way, they will take him for everything he has.

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  10. This might have been the most embarrassing day in the history of the Fox News network[Click]
    Jen Hayden, Daily Kos Staff

    My favorite so far: “with no irony detected whatsoever, Carlson’s guest, acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said the comparison to Nazis is unfair because ‘they are simply following orders.’”

    Another fairly good one: “…how did Sessions bat down these comparisons [to Nazi Germany]? By claiming they are nothing like the Nazis because Hitler wouldn’t let the Jews leave Germany. See? Tooooootally different.

    —Alan

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  11. I think trump went through the whole "Executive Order" farce to keep from admitting that a simple phone call from him would have been sufficient to halt the atrocity. Also, the Exec. order ploy gives him more camera time and a chance to continue to pretend that he was ending a Democratic law, which we know he was not.

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  12. Grrrrrrrr.
    Thousands of Kids Will Remain Apart from Their Families
    (As posted above by Alan)

    "And a Health and Human Services official said that more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy will not be immediately reunited with their families while the adults remain in federal custody during their immigration proceedings.“

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