Thursday, June 21, 2018

Summer Solstice (6:07amET) !!!


17 comments:

  1. ~A Poem by Hafiz~

    The small man
    builds cages for everyone
    he
    knows.
    While the sage,
    Who has to duck his head
    When the moon is low,
    Keeps dropping keys all night long
    For the
    Beautiful
    Rowdy
    Prisoners.

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  2. Don’t celebrate yet. Trump just changed a misdemeanor to a felony:

    Statement from Montanans for Immigrant Justice and Missoula Rises re: Trump’s Pending Executive Order to Stop Separating Families

    Trump has indicated that he will be signing an Executive Order today to stop separating families when they initially cross the border. While this is movement in the right direction, DO NOT BE FOOLED by what this Order does. Here are the facts thus far:

    1. Families will not be immediately separated, but they will be held in detention together.
    2. Crossing the border “illegally” will no longer be deemed a civil violation, it will be deemed a criminal violation.
    3. Because it is a criminal violation the parents will be charged criminally. At that point, their children will be forcibly taken.
    4. The Executive Order will provide a provision that families will be expedited through the criminal process. This means that the removal of their children will be expedited.

    There is still a need for the Tent Cities. There will still be Tender Age Facilities. This serves as optics for Trump to claim he is not ripping families apart. He is. The GOP are. They are just hiding it in the fine print."

    Understand this is a result of the pressure we and others have exerted. WE made this change. But this is not the solution. He anticipates this will temper our moral outrage. Do not let it. This is not close to enough. This is not a victory for those families crossing the border.

    No Justice, No Peace.

    ~ via Montanans for Immigrant Justice

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  3. There is a way to REALLY help reunite immigrant families (perpetually!)!!!

    Have you heard about RAICES?
    The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) is the largest immigration legal services non-profit in TX, focusing on under-served immigrant children, families and refugees. From their Facebook page: “RAICES is an organization that serves immigrants and refugees in our community by providing immigration-related legal services, advocacy and opportunities for educational and social support.
    https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTM41zxd2CvcALMv2Gp2w8ny7fmpPg6Y8jqinudEHcNslZj9S_0l7ZlkaD1XI45_x4JAzJsKjc_IaYQ/pub#h.wfi20ok14uam

    Easy link to their donation page on Facebook:
    https://www.facebook.com/donate/490507544717085/495034114264428/

    Support from Slate:
    Why Even Viral-Fundraising Skeptics Can Feel Good About Donating to RAICES
    https://slate.com/business/2018/06/raices-can-be-effective-with-all-that-money-its-raising-on-facebook.html

    Support from the Washington Post:
    These parents hoped to raise $1,500 for separated migrant families. Pledges now total $15 million.
    (Actually, over $16,000,000 now)
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2018/06/19/these-parents-hoped-to-raise-1500-for-separated-families-then-their-facebook-fundraiser-went-viral/?utm_term=.d59719b66fbf

    As Mr. Rogers said, "Look for the helpers."

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    Replies
    1. RAICES is working hard to get every parent and child reunited. Just since last weekend a simple donation page that someone started has raised over $16,000,000 and counting! This is more many times their usual annual budget. Staff report seeing the donations rise and crying with relief and gratitude!

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  4. From the inbox:

    ACLU
    Hi Catreona –

    Yesterday Donald Trump signed an executive order that he claims will end family separation at the border. The reality is that it may not stop separating families, will not reunite the thousands of families already torn apart, and aims to lock up even more children and families. Our movement is so powerful that we've managed to shame Trump into action, but this crisis is far from over.

    Now Trump is calling on Congress to help him put children and their parents into mass prison camps – indefinitely. This is his unspeakably cruel "solution" to family separation.

    In the House, Speaker Paul Ryan is working to pass a bill today that would sanction mass immigrant family detention and give Trump a Congressional greenlight on his brutal anti-immigrant agenda.

    You play a crucial role in our fight, Catreona. And our jobs aren't done – make a call today to stop Congress from passing a law that puts families in prison camps.

    Ryan's bill is designed to imprison families. It uses the end of family separation as a way to justify dismantling protections against the jailing of children and families in mass prison camps. It will turbocharge immigration enforcement and it contains Donald Trump's personal anti-immigrant wish list, border wall and all.

    Here's what you can do right now: Today, the House is voting on Speaker Ryan's immigration bill. Just like Trump's executive order, this bill is holding immigrant children hostage to push forward intolerable family detention – and a slew of other anti-immigrant policies that undermine the Constitution and due process.

    Ryan's bill is NOT a solution, but it could still get the votes it needs to pass. Call your representative right now and demand that they vote against Ryan's bill.

    Catreona, we're in this fight for the long-haul – and we're fighting on all fronts: We're suing the Trump administration to bring a permanent end to family separation. We're giving Congress no choice but to block the Ryan bill and refuse to give one cent to immigrant-abusing agencies like ICE. We will bear witness to the horrors of family separation and detention. We will raise our voices so loud that this issue is kept front and center until every single family is reunited.

    Thanks for staying in the fight,

    Lorella Praeli

    ACLU Director of Immigration Policy and Campaigns

    P.S. You'll be hearing a lot from the ACLU team in the next few weeks as we make sure to send you the most urgent and effective ways to take action. We're on the right side of history – but it's going to take work from all of us to win. So please call your representative now.

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  5. 235 immigrant children brought to NY without telling the Mayor or Governor.
    Some have lice, bed bugs and chicken pox! (Without their parents!!) They sent a 9 year old boy 2000 miles by bus!!
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-bc-ny--immigration-nyc-separated-children-20180620-story.html

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  6. Just heard on NPR: Children will be in the immigration process for 2, 3 or 4 years. Yes, years. I have never wanted to move to Canada more than I do right now. But I'll wait and see what happens in November. Let's make it count, folks!! Let's get out the vote!!

    = 139 days and counting!! =

    Tuesday, 6 November 2018 Mark your calendars! Encourage folks to vote early!!

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  7. Replies
    1. Oh, my. And just a few days ago she issued a statement through her spokeswoman saying she was very upset about the plight of the children. *shrug* Oh well...

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  8. Koko died Tuesday. :'(

    Years ago, my friend, Diane, knew some of Koko's caregivers. They wanted still then to get her pregnant, but that she'd have no idea what to do with a baby, so they asked Diane, who'd just had a baby, if she'd go several times a week and nurse her baby outside Koko's enclosure. When Koko saw her, she was very interested, went and got her doll and signed to Diane that she wished to trade dolls. . . .

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    Replies
    1. My Goodness! Cocoa must have been elderly for her kind. She was remarkable.

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    2. 40 to 25 years. She was 46. Wish I'd been thinking about that--I wouldn't have been so unprepared.

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    3. 40 to *45* years. . . .

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  9. From a thread on Bernie's FB page:

    Sarah Kabealo: From a friend of a friend:

    I just wanted to post this for my friends who are not in the adoption rights and reform community to let you know why this separation of families is additionally alarming to us.

    Although my mother made an adoption plan, many babies of my era were not relinquished voluntarily. That shameful time in American history is known as the Baby Scoop Era, which went from POST-WWII to the passing of Roe v. Wade in 72.

    This is what I commented on a friend's page:

    Those of us in the adoption reform and rights community have been worried about this for awhile.

    There is only 1 birthmother to like 36 want-to-be adopters, many MANY of them evangelicals. They don't want children from the foster system, because they are considered to be damaged goods and many countries won't let Americans adopt because of corruption. Those that do are incredibly expensive.

    Only in America is the adoption industry a billion dollar business. Paying enormous sums (which don't go to the birthparents) is not allowed in other nations. It's considered to be human trafficking. The industry in the US has a huge, well-funded lobbying group.

    We're afraid that the US is going to start terminating some of these parents rights' to feed the industry. It's frightening.

    And that might be why we are not seeing photos of infants, toddlers, and girls.

    Update added 6/20:

    Many children have been sent to Michigan to be under the care of Bethany Christian Services. It is an adoption agency with ties to Betsy DeVos.
    ________________

    This is from Laura Ingraham's show on Monday. She is the single adoptive mother of 3 from Guatemala.

    "And we should make adoption easier for American couples who want to adopt these kids who are true candidates for adoption because our policies don’t allow that. So let’s put our hearts out there for the kids in the right way. Take care of them the right way. Open your hearts and your homes to them.”

    These children HAVE families. They didn't come here all by themselves.

    They aren't orphans. This is kidnapping.

    Carolyn D'Agostino writes: Pro adoption evangelical white savior cultist Craig Juntunen told Huffington Post in 2012 that his mission was to create a “culture of adoption” and bring in 50000 children a year. He is backed by evangelical leaders. Problem was, no sane country wanted to comply and shut down their markets. This is a calculated political move by the Trump administration to throw candy in the form of helpless children to the evangelical base.
    ________________________________________

    Mirren Kara Theiding writes “ I see the adoption industry all over this separation of families at the border, and I suspect (because Bethany is involved) that the babies and girls we are not seeing are already being put up for adoption without parental consent. Pence is a mouthpiece for the adoption industry lobby, and this fits. They are making money from detention, and they will make money from children they shouldn’t be taking. These parents have not consented to ANYTHING.”

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  10. "This is kidnapping."

    Heinous crimes!!! Crimes against humanity and the most defenseless of all!!! 💔💔💔😡😡😡

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