From the Washington Post:
… Charlotte and Dave Willner had seen the pictures of migrant children crying at the border. One in particular reminded them of their own 2-year-old daughter.
The San Francisco area couple had heard — as much of the United States had by now — that President Trump’s administration has begun jailing migrant parents caught crossing the border and sending their children to shelters. The president’s chief of staff has called the new “zero-tolerance” policy a deterrent against illegal immigration.
But the Willners had also learned that a lump of cash might thwart the government’s plans.
Just like arrested Americans, detained migrant parents can often post bond and simply walk out of jail.
They can then, presumably, collect their children from government custody and live in the United States until their court hearings, which are often months away.
Or they could, if they had the money. Bonds for detained migrants typically range from hundreds to many thousands of dollars — amounts that might as well be in the billions for families that arrive here with next to nothing, and have whatever they brought with them confiscated by Border Patrol.
So the Willners created a Facebook fundraiser over the weekend to raise $1,500 — enough to free a single migrant parent with a relatively low bond.
“It was the closest thing we could do to hugging that kid,” Dave Willner told the Mercury News.
Five days later, the Willners have raised more than $8 million and climbing — overflowing all previous optimism.
“We can confirm this is one of the largest fundraisers we’ve ever seen on Facebook,” Roya Winner, a spokeswoman for the social media giant, told The Washington Post, back when the amount was less than $4 million…
In more ways than one, the surge has overwhelmed the Texas nonprofit that will receive the money, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).
If donations keep up at pace — $4,000 a minute at one point — the nonprofit is likely to take in more cash than it raised in all of 2016, according to its public financial records.
It plans to use the money not only to bond parents out of immigration jails but also to provide lawyers to the parents and children as they fight in court to stay together and stay in the United States…
Much more — including one additional reason the money is so important now — at the link.
Even “skeptical killjoy” Felix Salmon is on board:
…The RAICES donations are not only going to an excellent and effective cause, they’re going to an excellent and effective cause that scales. Effectiveness of donations is hard to measure at the best of times, but it’s much easier than normal in the case of RAICES, because of the way in which the funds are going to be used. To put it another way: The RAICES money will be well-spent, not because we can be sure that RAICES itself is well-managed, but rather because of what it’s going to be spent on…
Roger Moore
In related news, the family separations have been too much for Steve “Recommended Palin” Schmidt. Here’s hoping it will be a Terry Schaivo moment for a lot more Republicans who are considering whether they can stick with their party.
Mike in DC
3000+ adults detained since May x 5000 per adult = 15 million or so. Very doable. Not viable on an ongoing basis, but maybe long enough to hold off this ransom attempt.
TaMara (HFG)
Thanks Anne – I wasn’t sure I was going to make it past the first cup of coffee today – that lifted me.
lamh36
This thread
Josie
Because I donated to RAICES, I received notice of an event today at 1:30 central time during which they will discuss how the money raised recently will be spent. Here is a link they provided to spread the word.
https://actionnetwork.org/events/families-together-pro-bono-and-post-release-project?source=direct_link&
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: How many adults have died in immigration detention. The number was close to 30 last year.
Steve in the ATL
More money for lawyers? Hell yeah!
j/k. This is great news. Pelosi-loving SanFran hippies showing red state imbeciles what it’s like being human.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Lot of whataboutery on this issue on Twitter, whether they are bots or actual Rs I don’t know.
The Moar You Know
So, let’s call this what it is: we’re paying ICE to free hostages.
I am not at all comfortable with giving fascists cash rewards for kidnapping children.
lamh36
opiejeanne
Thank you for this. I needed some good news this morning. God bless the Willners
I haven’t had the courage to watch Rachel yet, afraid I’ll start bawling.
The Ancient Randonneur
Shouldn’t Jared Kushner have his family ripped apart and imprisoned? He did falsify a disclosure form and that is a felony. Just asking for a friend.
Ohio Mom
What a fabulous idea! As Mr. Rogers taught us, look to the helpers (I’m all about keeping my despair in check so I can keep being productive. Nothing gets better if I stay under the covers).
Just finished my morning routine of calling my Rethuglican congressmen. As usual, most offices did not pick up the phone, and there are a lot of full mailboxes. Portman’s staff particulary shies away from the phone, I know that from last summer’s ACA fight.
I did get one real person, Colin, in the Cincinnati office. He gave me the usual shpiel about Portman being against separating families and conferring with his colleagues to stop it.
I replied he already had a colleague with a plan that is waiting for him to sign up on. I said there aren’t two Senates, just one, The World’s Most Deliberative Body, and everyone needs to deliberate together (I like to pile on the patriotism when talking to those swarmy young interns).
I asked young Colin how he felt, and he admitted he didn’t like babies in jail either. “Come to the demonstration next Saturday, the 30th, at Washington Park at 11,” I said.
I told him we are welcoming and I wanted to see him there, he needs time”vote with his feet.” With any luck, he had a small moment of feeling uncomfortable.
As I’ve said, it’s not much but I feel better doing something, no matter how minuscule.
Nicole
@The Moar You Know: Sure, it sucks, but it’s a f*ckton better than standing by while a parent loses a child forever.
Thanks for the link, Anne Laurie. I’m donating today.
opiejeanne
@Roger Moore: I think that’s the guy we’ve been kidding/not kidding really about coming to the Dark Side. I need to find out where to send his cookies.
Adrift
give. till. it. hurts.
japa21
Interesting comment by a reporter just now on MSNBC. He is outside the tent city near Tornillo. As we all know, the media is not being allowed inside there or other centers without strict supervision and very limited contact with the “inmates”. He pointed out that they have covered refugee camps and the like all over the world and this is the very first time they have not been allowed on the grounds and allowed to speak to the people in the camps.
Also, concerning the bail/bond. I was just mentioning to mrs japa about that this morning and wondering if there was a process for that. This is very good news indeed.
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore: I guess it’s nice that he’s going to be an “independent” who votes with the Democrats. I suppose it’s too much to hope for that he actually *joins* the Democratic Party.
I’m with you, tho’, in hoping that this obscene outrage will wake a few more soi-disant “decent Republicans” the fuck up.
germy
lamh36
The report about Michigan receiving babies as young as 3 months!!!
I have a new nephew who’s barely 2 months old and my sister shared a video of him starting to raise his lil head from the bed on his own!
Otherwise he’s constantly held and cuddled! And my first thought was my gawd please tell me someone is cuddling or comforting these babies!
evodevo
@Ohio Mom: We’re thinking about coming up there for the demo – depends on whether I have to work or not …maybe we’ll see you there.
germy
Ohio Mom
@The Moar You Know: Whoever saves a life, saves a world.
And what a message this is sending, it is in effect a naturally occurring poll. The more ways we can communicate that this is beyond unacceptable, the better.
Bruce K
“Look for the helpers” – isn’t that what Mister Rogers said?
As for Lewandowski, he’s one of those people who deserves to end up swinging from a gallows. I’m open to negotiation on whether he hangs by hemp rope or piano wire.
lamh36
Viva BrisVegas
If the money is for bonds, wouldn’t it eventually come back to RAICES for reuse? Given enough seed money, couldn’t the whole system become a perpetual motion machine?
Why do the bonds vary so much, isn’t the alleged offense the same for all?
Bex
Latest report from the Facbook fundraiser: $9,359,044 raised. Matched up to $260,000 by several private donors. The are looking for more private donors. The money has been raised by 230,038 people in 4 days.
Ohio Mom
@evodevo: I’m hoping the demonstration is so big we miss each other ; )
.Nah, maybe l’ll bring a green balloon. It would be great to see all the local Juicers again.
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: Isn’t Mattis supposed to be one of the good guys? Where is he on this policy?
Yarrow
@Ohio Mom: Thank you for calling. I have been sick all week and not up to spending my limited energy calling my representatives. I think I can today. I called Friday but just couldn’t this week.
OT – Has there been an update about the repackaged Graham Cassidy bill to destroy the ACA? I skimmed David Anderson’s Twitter feed and the #GrahamCassidy hashtag and don’t see anything. In yesterday’s post he said they were supposed to have a presser today on it. I’m sure they’ll try to ram something through while everyone’s focused on the horror of the baby jails.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Well this post by Brian Beutler will make you want to guzzle anti-freeze.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Donated. Thanks for this.
I knew RAICES was a good organization, but the bail angle hadn’t occurred to me. Let’s hope they can save some of these families.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodingers_cat: In the Trump administration there are no good guys.
Yellowdog
Is there a way to donate without going through Facebook?
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: We know it’s much worse than we know or can imagine. This needs to be exposed and the culprits brought to justice. Thank goodness for the media outlets investigating what’s happening with these children. Otherwise, Trump’s sycophants could mistreat children in the dark while making money off detention camps.
Patricia Kayden
@Yellowdog: Check RAICES webpage for alternatives. Apparently, that’s the org the FB account is raising money for.
opiejeanne
@Miss Bianca: Give him time because it’s hard to switch sides. It took us a couple of years of being in Washington before we said we were Democrats officially; when you register to vote here you don’t declare a party so our official declaration came at the first caucus we attended in 2016. We kept our Republican registration many years after we stopped voting for them, mostly to keep an eye on what they were up to locally but partly because we’d always identified as Republican (thanks, parents), kept waiting for them to come to their senses.
Fooling around on Ancestry I started wondering whether my great grandfather was registered to vote, he came from Canada in 1862 (illegal aliens voting! oh noooo). I had no idea that he had ever become naturalized, but I discovered that he was registered as a Democrat in California 1920. I think he probably got his citizenship ca. 1880, which is when I first found him registered to vote. I looked up the rules and the process for naturalization was pretty simple: live here for 5 years, take the oath.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: Wait whut, not even the three honorable generals? Tell me it, ain’t so.
ETA: McMaster is gone, Kelly is the architect of this Nazi policy, Mattis ?
Calouste
@schrodingers_cat: Mattis is probably too busy conferring with his lawyers trying to come up with an excuse for why he didn’t notice the massive fraud that was going on at Theranos while he was on the Board of directors there.
LAO
I’m just going to leave this here:
Starfish
@Yellowdog: Their website is down under all of the traffic, but here it is just in case it comes back. Also, they suggested ways to donate through Action Network.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@LAO: Barf ?
Thanks Putin
eric
@LAO: “For Americans are an honorable people. So are they all, all honourable men.”
Ohio Mom
@Yarrow: Hope you feel better soon. It took me a few days to get up the gumption to start calling. Hearing the words describing what’s happening — “babies in jail” and the rest — coming out of my own mouth somehow makes it more real and more unbearable.
I usually start my phone calls with letting them know I’ve heard about the latest idea via the Heritage Foundation to resurrect Graham Cassidy and the answer is No.
Then I launch into how disgusted and horrified I am about the families being torn apart. I’m hoping I throw them a little off-balance with this sequence.
germy
Yarrow
@LAO: They’re either incredibly oblivious and tone deaf or sociopaths.
opiejeanne
@LAO: Up is down now.
Roger Moore
@Miss Bianca:
I’m perfectly happy with people like him giving us their votes but not thinking it’s their right to tell us how to run our party.
LAO
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: @eric: I thought I couldn’t hate this Administration more than I did when I woke up this morning but, I was wrong. The gall of these mutherfuckers is astounding,
LAO
@Yarrow: my money is currently on sociopaths.
opiejeanne
@Yarrow: Can it be both?
eric
@LAO: 2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
drown motherfuckers drown!
Aleta
We need not just the names of the detention centers but the names of the companies that own them. Geo Group is one, an international company. Look at the wikipedia page on them. We need to call them out by name too.
Platonailedit
@LAO: Brazen gaslighting. Despicable.
JR
@lamh36: There are definitely going to be appalling sexual assault allegations coming forward. This is what basically happened in Australia but on a much larger scale
Frankensteinbeck
@schrodingers_cat:
I am suspicious of anyone working for Trump, but separation is the horror and he has no power over that policy. I could see agreeing to keep some of the kids in his system where they will be rigorously kept track of (the military loves its paperwork) and cared for under strictly established rules as the best he can do in his power to help. Or, he could be happy to provide military jail accommodations to make the brown kids suffer. Or just have gone ‘sure, whatever’ when asked because he doesn’t care. Hard to know.
schrodingers_cat
@Frankensteinbeck: Isn’t the Pentagon that’s going to house these children under his purview?
LAO
@Aleta: It looks like 200 kids have been brought to NY. http://gothamist.com/2018/06/20/harlem_migrant_kids.php (for some reason the link bottom doesn’t work for me).
I really feel sick about this.
eric
one of my favorite lines
Aleta
From Atlantic, 85 Immigrants Sentenced Together Before One Judge: Mass trials are now the norm in McAllen
LAO
@LAO:
Ohio Mom
@opiejeanne: My grandparents came here between the World Wars, and I knew all four of them.
My paternal grandfather came over with several family members, the rest of them were (fake horrified face) unaccompanied minors. Who immediately went to live with other relatives in a typical case of (another fake horrified face) chain migration.
Just heard Ohio Son stirring. Gotta take him for some fasting blood work as soon as he’s dressed (just for his annual physical), so I’m out of here .
zhena gogolia
I’ll give later today after a dr. appointment.
zhena gogolia
@eric:
Me too. And perfectly delivered by von Sydow.
randy khan
@The Moar You Know:
The bonds are refundable if people show up for their hearings. That said, I don’t really care if they show up or not at this point.
Steeplejack
@Yellowdog:
From the RAICES website:
lamh36
Aleta
@Aleta: Same article:
germy
Ian G.
I’ve often thought that if only the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts had accepted Hitler, we might have avoided the Holocaust.
And now I think that if only some woman, somewhere, had been willing to fuck Stephen Miller in college, we might not be putting toddlers in prison camps.
Steeplejack
@LAO:
Jesus Christ. Just fucking unbelievable.
randy khan
I went to share the fundraiser page on Facebook, and discovered that another friend already had shared it and it was at the top of my page. I shared it again for good measure.
This is a reminder that there are a lot of good people in the world. I would donate for that reason alone.
LAO
Ian G.
@Roger Moore:
Yes. Now is not the time for purity ponies when we have toddlers in prison camps. I long for the day where I can consider Schmidt, Jen Rubin, Rick Wilson, et al my political adversaries again, because it will mean, among other things, WE’RE NOT PUTTING TODDLERS IN FUCKING PRISON CAMPS ANYMORE.
randy khan
@Ian G.:
It’s hard to ask someone to make that kind of sacrifice.
Frankensteinbeck
@schrodingers_cat:
But not the ICE or immigration policies that separate them from their parents and mean there are vastly more children to house than the regular system can accept. Maybe the sign that Mattis sucks is that he should be in Trump’s office yelling at him that his policy is disgusting and unacceptable, but the finding places to put them part is only evil if the places you put them are evil. We have no idea what those conditions will be like, so I don’t know what this particular decision says about Mattis. Again, I am always suspicious of anyone who works for Trump and now that Mattis has been mentioned, odds are we will soon find out what kind of man he is.
Yarrow
@Ohio Mom: Thank you. It was a stomach thing that started overnight Sat night/Sun morning. Been hard to get my strength back. The previous two weeks have been absolutely crazy for me and I think part of it was me just being exhausted.
Thank you for calling and mentioning the attempt to destroy the ACA as well. I’ll mention it too when I call today.
Roger Moore
@Ian G.:
Don’t believe it. Sociopaths gonna sociopath. If some poor woman had decided to fuck Miller when he was in college, her face would have wound up on a milk carton.
Yarrow
Apparently Paul Ryan just had a press conference to say there will be a vote on an immigration bill tomorrow. Not sure what bill.
Ian G.
@LAO:
Of course this sick fuck enjoys watching children suffer. I said it a few days ago, but he needs to die of a long, horrible illness like leukemia.
Platonailedit
The world is watching.
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: The immigration bills that Ryan will bring to the floor will be horrible.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: The terrible Goodlatte bill or the slightly less terrible “compromise” bill.
efgoldman
@schrodingers_cat:
He’s supposed to be sane and non-ideological; about the best we can hope for with this herd of Molochs.
Yarrow
@Ian G.:
I know that’s supposed to be a joke but it’s offensive. It’s not the fault of women that Stephen Miller is a sociopath. Women being smart enough to avoid him is not the reason he’s putting babies in prison camps. Women are not to blame for his actions. He alone is to blame.
Kay
“Only liberals object to this Trump policy” Don’t believe it for a minute. Republicans are scared of it- if they weren’t they wouldn’t be running from it. This is raw self interest.
Calouste
@LAO: I think a search of Miller’s computers would turn up a lot of illegal material. Well, maybe one day we will wake up to the headline “Advisor to the President among hundreds arrested in children porn raids”.
RedDirtGirl
It’s my birthday today, and at 53, I still get a check from my mom every year. This year it’s going to right to RAICES!
GregB
We are in the midst of a manufactured crisis.
Trump and his digital fascist militias are stirring the pots of anger and hatred.
Things are getting ready to blow.
schrodingers_cat
@efgoldman: Then why hasn’t he spoken? Silence implies acceptance of these Nazi policies.
Elizabelle
@GregB: That’s what I think too.
ETA: Not that the “tender age” camps and family separation is “manufactured.” That is clearly happening and needs to stop, yesterday.
But the dialing up, I can see it. Stay clear-eyed, kind-heared, and resist.
I don’t see where tearing our hair out gets us. Beginning of a long, long hot summer.
Roger Moore
@Ian G.:
Much as I might want to make snarky comments to Republicans quitting the party now about how it took them long enough, I think it’s important not to for a couple of reasons:
1) It’s not helpful. I want all the help I can get in the fight against Trump more than I want emotional validation that I was right all along. We’re advertising ourselves as the party of emotionally capable grownups; let’s not spoil it by taunting would-be allies with screams of “I told you so”.
2) I’ve said all along that our country needs two functioning political parties to have a stable democracy. Part of that means giving the benefit of the doubt to people who might have been sticking with the Republican party out of a desire to see it remain a functioning party.
D58826
According to the SS members who work for Der Fuhrer they have specialists taking care of tender age children. In the real world there is a term for those specialists – MOM
Mike in DC
@Yarrow:
My biggest concern is that enough Dems in the Senate will vote for whatever shit sandwich the House GOP sends their way, due to media pundit pressure and beltway political advisors, effectively rewarding the hostage takers while demoralizing OUR political base.
D58826
@Kay: They only care because they might be voted out of office
schrodingers_cat
@Mike in DC: They didn’t do it for DACA and they won’t do it now.
lamh36
John Meachum on MJ said some that stuck with me.
The Trump Presidency is the presidency we would have had if George Wallace had won the presidency.
feebog
It is incredible to me that so many of our fellow Americans lack the moral fiber and empathy necessary to understand how wrong this all is. We have a lot of people in this country who don’t understand the meaning of “walk a mile in his shoes”.
Kay
@GregB:
They are getting worse. I think on some level people know this culminates in something- that it’s getting worse and there will be some turning point. I think the public feel it- the tension of a deteriorating situation. The real nutjobs are in charge now- Miller is a fucking psycho and they turned brown children over to him. Not one of them stood up to him.
The photograph of the Congressional Republicans standing and applauding Trump’s cruelty looks iconic, like something we’ll see after this ends under the heading “how we got here”.
lamh36
Elizabelle
@lamh36: Oh yeah.
I said that before the election. On a BJ thread. Trump is George Wallace with his own jet.
rikyrah
.@JeffFlake or @BobCorker or @SenatorCollins or @lisamurkowski or literally any Republican Senator could force a vote on ending child separation at the border in two seconds, so their pearl-clutching and stern words are empty garbage. https://t.co/ddiZhpb0Qs
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) June 20, 2018
WereBear
Felt good to support this direct action with a donation!
First time I’ve felt fairly good in days…
efgoldman
@schrodingers_cat:
He spent his whole life working his way up to be the top US Marine. His whole life has been “salute and say yes sir.” I could see him resigning before he’d open his mouth; but he might view himself as that last sane man, and feel obligated to stay on.
We don’t know what he’s saying/doing in the background.
Although if he argues with Weasel Face he’d see himself plastered all over tweetish and we’d know
Yarrow
@Kay: Agree. You can tell it’s all falling apart now. Mueller has been quiet this week. If something happens there–Cohen definitely flips or some more indictments come down or someone goes to jail it’s going to be out of control.
LAO
@RedDirtGirl: Happy Birthday!
efgoldman
@Elizabelle:
Bald
RedDirtGirl
@germy: Hmmm. Not there anymore…Bad optics, perhaps? Muther Fuquer!
Frankensteinbeck
@Ian G.:
I have a sociopath in the family, and yes, it’s disturbing as Hell to know someone up close who does not value human life or feelings and sees living things as no more than complicated objects. Sociopaths get lots of sex. They’re not even like asshole MRAs who are acting on anger and shoot themselves in the foot. Getting sex is a technical problem for a sociopath, and they feel no guilt and don’t have to act out in weird ways as they study what it takes to get sex, then fake whatever behavior is necessary, short or long term, depending on what they want and if they’re smart enough to think far ahead.
@GregB:
Technically, but not deliberately manufactured as a crisis. Trump, Miller, Neilsen, and the rest just want to hurt brown people. It is the simple answer supported by their record and personalities.
Pfffft. You say this like they’re trying to stir themselves up to some violence or extra step. Forget it. This step was taken for its own sake. They were always, from day one, going to torture and kill brown people in any way they could get away with. There are huge loopholes in the immigration process that let them, that don’t exist in the rest of the system.
Yes, but you sound like you think in the violence sense. The only people who are angry and spoiling for a fight here are liberals. Trump’s side are complete cowards who run like cockroaches when they find out they’re outnumbered. It’s not like it’s physically possible for Trump to stage a coup, either. It’s possible but unlikely that there will be riots by liberals, or isolated terrorist acts. The only explosion I actually see likely is an electoral thrashing in November as infuriated Democrats take to the polls.
GregB
Also the meta inversion of reality as the Republican rightwing descend the elevator to Trump’s basement of depravity.
They lost their minds when Hillary Clinton wrote It Takes a Village.They have been beating the drums of family values. How family is the most important concept in the world and how amoral liberals were destroying the notion of family.
They have beaten the anti-government drum for decades. Government is evil. Government always leads to evil. Fighting the government is patriotic. Dissent against the government is a moral good.
Now they are citing the Bible as the men with guns of the government are literally shredding families to bits and claim that the government has that right and that dissent is un-Christian.
It is like a script about how evil wins is playing out before us.
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
You are absolutely right. It’s as bad as our darkest thoughts take us.
Mike in NC
It’s obvious that Stephen Miller is the surrogate son Trump always dreamed of having, unlike those total losers Donny Jr. and Eric.
lamh36
Welp…theres goes Chump’s Nobel Peace Prize he was NEVER gonna get
efgoldman
@lamh36:
Can’t prove a counterfactual, of course – I still think RFK would have won – but I see Wallace as adhering at least to some norms, even though he was a racist bastard.
Except for “segregation forever” (a BIG exception!) did he run Alabama like Weasel Face is trying to run the country? I don’t remember that he did.
LAO
lamh36
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: I can feel it too.
Called WaPost today to see if they offer daily delivery (not just digital) in RVA, former capitol of the Confederacy. They do. It’s very expensive.
But I think some truly historic newspaper headlines are straight ahead of us.
Also, FWIW: something I regret to this day: my sweet, late mother saved every front section of the Obama presidency as covered by the WaPost for me. She died in 2014. Boxes and bags of them.
I tossed the majority, after sorting, in a frenzy because, eventually, the whole house had to be emptied and sold. And now I am kicking myself for not saving just the front pages.
Because that was the history that brought us this counter-history we are living through now.
What was George Wallace a response to? And how did that end, in the long arc of (recent!) history?
NotMax
@RedDirtGirl
Even amidst the miasma, have a happy birthday.
Jager
@lamh36:
If trump does allow them to stay together, fine. Next step, light a fire under his fat ass to get all the separated kids back to the parents, ASAP and don’t let up, keep the pressure on and don’t give the fat bastard a “win” if he does sign an Executive Order. Doing the Executive order means he “lost”, it’s no “Win” for the fat boy in the White House.
Raoul
@Steve in the ATL: I agree with one part of this: red staters being imbeciles.
On a more positive note, Unitarian Universalists have been working with RAICES for a number of years, so even absent Felix’s strange endorsement, I’d say this is a great move.
The speed and volume of money raised also should scare GOP politicians. Intensity, once again, appears to be on our site.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Then his rotten azz should call up Bill Nelson and they BOTH should go to the internment camp that turned away Nelson yesterday.
Elizabelle
@efgoldman: Yeah. There is that.
George Wallace was more competent. (He’d lived through the Depression and pre-electrification of the rural South. He was born in 1919.) And got stopped before the presidency. George Wallace changed a bit of his tune before he met his maker. And never forget Arthur Bremer (the shooter).
Uncanny: happened in Maryland suburb of DC. At the very moment shots were fired, local favorite rock radio station was playing Neil Young’s “Alabama.” Which was big that summer. (Great song. Very powerful.) Lynyrd Skynyrd eventually felt called to comment back.
Alabama lyrics, some of them:
Peale
@Yarrow: Yep. The details of these bills are important. From what has been explained, the “path to citzenship” for many legal residents is going to be blocked by the bill. There’s not much I think that can be done about overall levels and I’m guessing the 1,300,000 applicants waiting for family reunification approvals are going to be out of luck. But there’s not much that can be done for people who aren’t already here. The problem is that some proposals are going to make it impossible for many permanent residents to qualify for citizenship. My guess is that once the GOP no longer has to worry about legal immigrants becoming eligible voters, they’ll go after their children, too.
Calouste
@lamh36: “No longer” is giving a lot of undeserved credit.
rikyrah
@RedDirtGirl:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Kathleen
@evodevo: Maybe we could figure out way to hook up.
Ohio Mom
@Kathleen: Green balloons
RedDirtGirl
@LAO: Thanks! You going to one of the actions on June 30th? Maybe we can get a contingent of jackals together.
Elizabelle
@RedDirtGirl: Happy birthday, you almost summer-baby, you.
RedDirtGirl
@NotMax: Thanks, NotMax! Cool song!
RedDirtGirl
@rikyrah: Thanks! You guys are the best! Just about to finish up a half day of work and then off to enjoy the rest of the day doing very little.
RedDirtGirl
@Elizabelle: : )
Aleta
Ok gang, this is pretty chill. Lounging and coming and going, with bonus howling.
Live cam for the Gathering Room for “the mature and loving senior dogs of Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary.”
Just as I was typing this, they all began to bark and then the room mostly cleared out. Maybe a meal? If it was, they are lightening fast eaters because now they’re beginning to wander through again.
Ladyraxterinok
@eric: Sessions would claim these children do NOT ‘believe on me’!! Therefore this prohibition/warning does NOT apply to them!!
How do we know they are not believers? They are non-white and their parents are criminals (ie they are/were crossing border). QED
Kathleen
@Ian G.: I feel that’s the problem with the entire Kids In Camps and Cages advocates. Over and above their slimy evil.
Mary G
@Aleta: This Twitler thread has info on a number of the companies already running shelters, with some phone numbers. One has already quit.
joel hanes
@GregB:
a manufactured crisis.
Exactly. Trump has deliberately taken these children hostage so that he can attempt to trade their lives for his beloved wall.
All in all …
joel hanes
@Elizabelle:
Trump is George Wallace with his own jet.
Wallace was despicable and a demagogue, but he wasn’t stupid or petty or childish.
Peale
@Ohio Mom: Yep. They are trying to go back to some kind of immigration system that applied when people traveled on boats and only the 1% could afford a long distance phone call. Immigration policy set by your cranky Italian uncle who waxes about how his mother (who is a saint) came here with nothing, knowing she’d never see her family again because they only had 1 year of schooling and couldn’t write and knew her 12 brothers and sisters would never be able to afford a boat ticket…Did she complain? Did she expect to have Italian spoken to her? blah blah blah. Refugees these days are wearing shoes and saving up so that the children they left behind can visit them! Let’s take those shoes from them. They aren’t as poor as Mama! We’ll change that!
Aleta
@Mary G: Thanks !
Aleta
@RedDirtGirl:
Nice that your birthday is under the “Light A Candle” thread!
Happy Birthday! https://vimeo.com/115243380
Happy Birthday! https://vimeo.com/97542014
J R in WV
It’s hard to comment, I want to urge physical impossibilities upon those in the administration. I have to think that being shamed while at dinner last night pushed Reichsleiter Nielsen over the line on the jails for tots situation. She realized that her life was going to change forever, and NOT in a good way at all.
A good thing for her to realize. I hope she can never eat in public again without being shamed, repeatedly. Non violent, but apparently effective. If it keeps up, perhaps the Reichsleiter will resign to spend more time with her family. Hahaha! As if.
LAO
@RedDirtGirl: I am planning too — great idea.
Kathleen
@RedDirtGirl: Happy Birthday!
RedDirtGirl
@Kathleen: @Aleta:
Thanks!!!!!!!
RedDirtGirl
@LAO: There are several in the NYC area. I’m thinking the Foley Square/Brooklyn Bridge one.
Elizabelle
@joel hanes: And, Wallace was legitimately elected. Re-elected, even. Wallace’s wife was even elected governor, in his stead.
But the comment stands. Using race-baiting to further one’s career.
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
You think her family wants to see her?
TenguPhule
@Viva BrisVegas:
Depends on skin pigmentation.
cintibud
Drive by Truckers have a good explanation of George Wallace:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MIztbe1_e8
Geeno
@LAO: He seems more Allgemeine SS – those were the racial purity enforcers.
Josie
I just watched a video on facebook of three people from RAICES discussing how they would move forward. They are absolutely focused on legal representation and reunification. These people are the real deal.