• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Deploy the moving finger of emphasisity!

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

I really should read my own blog.

Naturally gregarious and alpha

Four legs? good! two legs? we’re not so sure…

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Saul Alinsky is my co-pilot.

Verified, but limited!

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Too inconsequential to be sued

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

No one could have predicted…

I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

False Scribes! False Scribes!

… makes me wish i had hoarded more linguine

There will be lawyers.

The math demands it!

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

We still have time to mess this up!

Mobile Menu

  • Look Forward & Back
  • Balloon Juice 2021 Pet Calendar
  • Site Feedback
  • All 2020 Fundraising
  • I Voted!
  • Take Action: Things We Can Do
  • Team Claire, and Family
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • BJ PayPal Donations
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Nature & Respite
  • Information As Power
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • On The Road
  • Garden Chats
  • Nature & Respite
  • Look Forward & Back
You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Agonize - Organize / What We Can Do

What We Can Do

by Cheryl Rofer|  June 17, 20188:05 pm| 209 Comments

This post is in: Don't Agonize - Organize, All Too Normal, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

Facebook0Tweet0Email0

Slate has a long list of organizations to which we can send money or volunteer. There are several looking for lawyers. I know one of the Balloon Juice legal staff was looking for something like this the other day, although I [embarrassed emoticon] can’t remember who it was. I sent some money this afternoon, since I couldn’t join Beto O’Rourke’s march to the center outside El Paso.

Sample:

 Pueblo Sin Fronteras is an organization that provides humanitarian aid and shelter to migrants on their way to the U.S.

• RAICES is the largest immigration nonprofit in Texas offering free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children and families. Donate here and sign up as a volunteer here.

• The Texas Civil Rights Project is seeking “volunteers who speak Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche’ and have paralegal or legal assistant experience.”

• Together Rising is another Virginia-based organization that’s helping provide legal assistance for 60 migrant children who were separated from their parents and are currently detained in Arizona.

• The Urban Justice Center’s Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project is working to keep families together.

• Women’s Refugee Commissionadvocates for the rights and protection of women, children, and youth fleeing violence and persecution.

• Finally, ActBlue has aggregated many of these groups under a single button.

For those of you in Philadelphia, a welcoming party is planned for Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday

Mike Pence will be in Philadelphia on Tuesday. There will be a welcoming party. https://t.co/rf7uwfv8Eq

— Dr. Audra J. Wolfe (@ColdWarScience) June 17, 2018

I see some discussion of a demonstration at Susan Collins’s office on the previous thread. Give me a link, and I’ll post it here.

Anything else happening?

 

Update from esteemed commenter Yarrow:

Call your Governor and your state representatives too. These detention facilities are in many states and not everyone even knows they’re there. Here’s an article from 2014 about migrant children being flown to various states. It certainly hasn’t improved since then.

PHOENIX — Before they sloshed and skidded across the Rio Grande, Greysi and Claudia Paula had never been on a plane.

Now the teenage Honduran sisters are frequent fliers, crisscrossing America on government chartered jets and settling into commercial airliner seats at taxpayer expense. In the harried and jumbled scramble to house a wave of unaccompanied minors illegally entering the United States, U.S. officials have ordered the girls flown from Texas to Arizona, from Arizona to Oklahoma and from Oklahoma back to Arizona — all in a matter of weeks.

Also from the article:

One recent evening, he [Tony Banegas, a Honduran honorary consul] flipped through the planner — an extraordinary document that tells in sparse language and shorthand the story of a crisis unfolding. He compared the names he’d written down with the reports he received from federal officials about the transportation of unaccompanied minors to shelters.

“This guy is going to Pennsylvania,” he said, pointing to a name on a long list.

“Ah. Michigan. First time I see Michigan.”

“New York. I see that a lot.”

It’s not just border states.

 

Facebook0Tweet0Email0
Previous Post: « Russiagate Open Thread: Roger Stone, Back in the Spotlight
Next Post: First Lady Laura Bush Makes a Statement Against the President’s Policy of Separating Children From Their Parents at the Border »

Reader Interactions

209Comments

  1. 1.

    Trentrunner

    June 17, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    The latest AP story describes how the “older” children are teaching the younger ones how to change diapers of the infants they share their 20-person cell with.

    Imagine being that parent of the infant and reading that.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    Cheryl, I want the democratic members to walk out tomorrow and march with signs. Once the repubs introduce their PROTECT THE CHILDREN ACT, the msm will play along.

  3. 3.

    Phoenix_Rising

    June 17, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    @Trentrunner: lucky for them, those parents don’t read English, or Spanish. The kicker there was, No one IN the cells or nearby could understand the child, who speaks only K’iche. Her parent(s) may speak Spanish but are unlikely to be literate.

    The degree to which our government is choosing the most oppressed people on the planet it can make contact with to terrorize…it’s a little hard to understand.

  4. 4.

    MomSense

    June 17, 2018 at 8:12 pm

    Protesters against family separation arrested in Maine.

    link

  5. 5.

    Chris

    June 17, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    Unfortunately, I really can’t do the money thing these days. But volunteering is something else again. Thanks for posting.

  6. 6.

    Cheryl Rofer

    June 17, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    @JPL: I’m not sure that’s the most effective thing they can do. Some are demonstrating at ICE facilities today. But if that’s what you want them to do, call them and tell them!

    Find your representative

    Contact info for senators

  7. 7.

    Frankensteinbeck

    June 17, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    For those of you in Philadelphia, a welcoming party is planned for Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday

    That did not occur to me. Yeah, members of the Trump administration may face levels of hostility they have never imagined before.

    @JPL:

    Cheryl, I want the democratic members to walk out tomorrow and march with signs.

    Doesn’t this allow the Republicans to declare a quorum and pass any damn thing they want?

  8. 8.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 8:15 pm

    @Phoenix_Rising:

    it’s a little hard to understand

    No it isn’t.

    @MomSense:

    Protesters against family separation arrested in Maine

    Governor Mucilage no doubt supports everything Weasel Face does.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    It’s the Catch 22 that is happening

    TM: Even if they crossed at a legal entry point?
    AC: Very few people come to the bridge. The border patrol are saying the bridge is closed……..
    TM: So if you cross any other way besides the bridge, we’re prosecuting you. But . . . you can’t cross the bridge.
    AC: That’s right. I’ve talked to tons of people. There are organizations like Al Otro Lado that document border turn-backs. And there’s an effort to accompany asylum seekers so that Customs and Border Patrol can’t say, “We’re closed.” Everybody we’ve talked to who’s been prosecuted or separated has crossed the river without a visa.

    So when Nielsen says this she is lying.

    This misreporting by Members, press & advocacy groups must stop. It is irresponsible and unproductive. As I have said many times before, if you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry.

    https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/whats-really-happening-asylum-seeking-families-separated/

  10. 10.

    Phoenix_Rising

    June 17, 2018 at 8:19 pm

    @efgoldman: Fair enough. As the Mrs likes to say: Oh, you *understand* it fine, you just don’t like it!

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    @JPL:

    You mean you want them to continue doing it, right?

    Don’t let the MSM fool you into thinking that Democrats are sitting around and twiddling their thumbs. That way lies madness.

  12. 12.

    debit

    June 17, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    @Trentrunner: You know who would have been a strong voice on this? Al Franken. Crawl back under your rock and stay there.

  13. 13.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    June 17, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    Thank you so much for this, Cheryl. I have been distraught about this in the last week, feeling there was nothing I could do. Now there is.

  14. 14.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 8:26 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I want pitchforks too. Tomorrow I’ll call Isakson’s office,because Perdue is hopeless. After Sandy Hook, I wrote both Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, I received a form letter from Isakson, and a long letter from Chambliss’s office mentioning that some of my ideas made sense. Then he resigned. A friend who knows Isakson was not happy to hear that. Isakson was elected as a moderate, then he became the Bqhatevwr senator. He did come out and say that Trump said shit hole countries, but that’s about it.

  15. 15.

    debbie

    June 17, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    Hope Pence’s reception in Philly is as good as it was in Columbus. He got a dance party here!

  16. 16.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    Ugh…Disgusting! Of course they do…it’s brown immigrant children in the pictures…maybe they’d care more if it was white immigrant kids…who am I kiddin…they didn’t even care when a bunch of white children were gunned downed at Sandy Hook…smh.

    Poll: Republicans Approve of Trump’s Family Separation Policy via @thedailybeast

    And this is why the GOP congresscritters are ok with this…their “base” are supportive…fuckers

  17. 17.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    @JPL: If I were you, I would still call both. Let the assholes know you are out there – watching and remembering.

  18. 18.

    eclare

    June 17, 2018 at 8:32 pm

    I’ll call my senators tomorrow, but I’m in TN, so I don’t think that will do much good. Although Corker is not running for re-election, so maybe I will get a furrowed brow or two.

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    @eclare: Make them uncomfortable. Ask the staffer how s/he can work for someone who supports such a vicious policy.

  20. 20.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    June 17, 2018 at 8:35 pm

    @JPL:
    GOP moderate? Fuck Isakson. Fuck Collins. Silence is complicity. Oh, and fuck Manchin. He’s the only Democrat who hasn’t signed on to Senator Feinstein’s bill.

    #WhereAreTheGirls

  21. 21.

    West of the Cascades

    June 17, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @eclare: I wake up every morning thanking Deity that Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden are my Senators.

  22. 22.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Perdue was CEO of Dollar General, and one wonders how many undocumented shop there and were employed by them.

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    And you may even be able to get an intern to rethink his life choices, or at least stammer when he tries to defend his boss. ?

  24. 24.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Yep. I get my entertainment where I can. Belated HBD, btw.

  25. 25.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 8:40 pm

    @lamh36:

    The poll of roughly 1,000 adults aged 18 and over, and conducted June 14-15, asked respondents if they agreed with the following statement: “It is appropriate to separate undocumented immigrant parents from their children when they cross the border in order to discourage others from crossing the border illegally.”

    Of those surveyed, 27 percent of the overall respondents agreed with it, while 56% disagreed with the statement. Yet, Republicans leaned slightly more in favor, with 46% agreeing with the statement and 32 percent disagreeing. Meanwhile, 14 percent of Democrats surveyed supported it and only 29% of Independents were in favor.

    It’s interesting that they couldn’t even get a majority in favor amongst themselves. This isn’t going to go well for them.

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 8:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Thank you! I did end up having a French 75 with my steak dinner. It was delish.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    @Mnemosyne: It was a great gun too.

  28. 28.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur:

    Oh, and fuck Manchin

    He is running as a reliable Dem on actually important things, in the reddest state in the country.
    No other Dem can get elected there. I’d rather not give up the seat.
    We have this discussion regularly.

  29. 29.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    June 17, 2018 at 8:46 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Interesting? Fuck what the polls say. Interesting is when when the Mars Curiosity Rover keeps going on well after its life expectancy. Ripping families apart is an abomination.

  30. 30.

    B.B.A.

    June 17, 2018 at 8:47 pm

    Trump fumed with rage with the “catch and release” policy that CBP used to follow. They used to just turn back migrants found at the border rather than arresting and charging them and breaking up families. Now I wonder if he’ll look at his buddies Putin and Kim and Duterte and think that even this isn’t cruel enough to satisfy his bloodlust.

  31. 31.

    rikyrah

    June 17, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    Charles Blow’s latest column

    https://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow/status/1008504090916245504

  32. 32.

    Chet Murthy

    June 17, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    @Phoenix_Rising:

    The degree to which our government is choosing the most oppressed people on the planet it can make contact with to terrorize…it’s a little hard to understand.

    (1) it’s how predators roll: separate the weakest from the herd.

    (2) in Nazi Germany, before they really got rolling with the Final Solution, they were already running something called “Aktion T4”: deliberately starving to death (and also active killing, IIRC, but I can’t say for sure) (physically & mentally) disabled -Germans-. These people were literally unable to fend for themselves. In order to make it as surreptitious as possible, the Nazis would transfer the patients to far-away asylums, and then (amazingly) they would die, be cremated, and the family would be told after-the-fact.

    It was quite a scandal when the Church found out, and there were protests, but …. well, it didn’t really change things.

    It’s how predators roll.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    Because of all the chaos that the orange one creates, I missed this

    The U.S. president jarred some with blunt observations. At one point, Mr. Trump brought up migration as a big problem for Europe and then told Mr. Abe, “Shinzo, you don’t have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you’ll be out of office very soon,” according to the senior EU official who was in the room. A sense of irritation with Mr. Trump could be felt, “but everyone tried to be rational and calm,” the person said.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-scenes-at-g-7-meetings-trump-jabs-left-allies-dismayed-1529064601

    How low can you go.. It appears that we have entered a chasm, and there is not bottom to the asshole.

  34. 34.

    Trentrunner

    June 17, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    @debit: LOL rape apologist

  35. 35.

    B.B.A.

    June 17, 2018 at 8:51 pm

    @efgoldman: Actually important things? They’re holding children in concentration camps, if this isn’t actually important what the fuck is?

  36. 36.

    Yarrow

    June 17, 2018 at 8:51 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Call your Governor and your state representatives too. These detention facilities are in many states and not everyone even knows they’re there. Here’s an article from 2014 about migrant children being flown to various states. It certainly hasn’t improved since then.

    PHOENIX — Before they sloshed and skidded across the Rio Grande, Greysi and Claudia Paula had never been on a plane.

    Now the teenage Honduran sisters are frequent fliers, crisscrossing America on government chartered jets and settling into commercial airliner seats at taxpayer expense. In the harried and jumbled scramble to house a wave of unaccompanied minors illegally entering the United States, U.S. officials have ordered the girls flown from Texas to Arizona, from Arizona to Oklahoma and from Oklahoma back to Arizona — all in a matter of weeks.

    Also from the article:

    One recent evening, he [Tony Banegas, a Honduran honorary consul] flipped through the planner — an extraordinary document that tells in sparse language and shorthand the story of a crisis unfolding. He compared the names he’d written down with the reports he received from federal officials about the transportation of unaccompanied minors to shelters.

    “This guy is going to Pennsylvania,” he said, pointing to a name on a long list.

    “Ah. Michigan. First time I see Michigan.”

    “New York. I see that a lot.”

    It’s not just border states.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 17, 2018 at 8:51 pm

    I know one of the Balloon Juice legal staff was looking for something like this the other day, although I [embarrassed emoticon] can’t remember who it was.

    I seem to recall that Immanentize was specifically asking, although we have such an abundance of trained legal talent here that it could be any of a dozen jackals.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    June 17, 2018 at 8:51 pm

    @lamh36:
    Can we stop now trying to understand these muthaphuckas ? ?

  39. 39.

    burnspbesq

    June 17, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    Even Cardinal Dolan, who is unlikely to ever be mistaken for a paragon of morality and ethics, has seen enough.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/392605-cardinal-dolan-hits-sessions-use-of-the-bible-to-defend-family

  40. 40.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    June 17, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    @efgoldman: I read those discussions and generally I agree but this isn’t just politics. It’s much bigger than that.

    ETA: I’m in Tornillo, Texas and this is awful.

  41. 41.

    Yarrow

    June 17, 2018 at 8:53 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I almost never get a real person on the phone at my Senators’ D.C. offices. If I can a local office I often get a real person. Those are the ones I make very uncomfortable.

  42. 42.

    debit

    June 17, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    @Trentrunner: I wondered if you’d have the grace to admit you were wrong, but no, you escalated. So, fuck off and die, you turgid little shit stain.

  43. 43.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    @Trentrunner:
    Franken never raped anyone, asshole. Ever wonder why when you rarely show up no one replies to you? This is why. Fuck you and your trollish “LOL”.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    June 17, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    @Yarrow:
    Thanks for spreading the word

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    June 17, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    @Yarrow:
    Good. Make them very uncomfortable ?

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    @Yarrow: I keep calling different offices until I get an actual “person.”

  47. 47.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur:
    I didn’t mean to not give this the seriousness it deserves. I just thought it was worth noting that not even among Republicans did this disgusting human rights violation of a policy get majority support (even if it was close). They’re not going to win this.

  48. 48.

    Yarrow

    June 17, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    @burnspbesq: I’d guess he’s seen which way the wind is blowing on this. Also, Latino Catholics.

  49. 49.

    ArchTeryx

    June 17, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    @Chet Murthy: And that’s exactly what the Republicans wanted for the U.S. when they tried to destroy Obamacare and actually repeal Medicaid with it. To more or less assure that every sick poor person in this country died. Their own Aktion T4. It took a dying man and a miracle to stop it, too.

    And I still had liberals arguing that repealing Medicaid wasn’t really murder.

  50. 50.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    June 17, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    @rikyrah:

    This!

  51. 51.

    Schlemazel

    June 17, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    Sent RAICES some money, not enough but more than I can afford. But it is never enough and being so far away from the border limits other opportunities. I will call my 2 Senators (who are both on board anyway) and the quisling Ellison who is also on the right side. I may call Paulson, I am right next to his district and he won’t know I am not in it. But he is a fat zero who does what his party demands so I don’t have high hopes for him either.

  52. 52.

    B.B.A.

    June 17, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    @Trentrunner: Dude – I agree Franken is a serial groper, or at least he can’t prove he isn’t, and he had to go. But he was never accused of raping anyone.

  53. 53.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:03 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Charles Blow’s latest column

    Mother
    Fucker

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:04 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur:
    It may be bigger but politics is how it works.
    You don’t have to like it but it helps to understand that he is elected to represent his state and a lot of the people in WV are not like our host. To get elected and do any good he has to win elections and keep doing that. You don’t have to like it but he’s been with the dems far more than not and that may be as good as he can do in his state. It may also be as good as he wants to do, which seems to be your argument but until it’s proven otherwise, maybe you could cut him some slack.
    Now all that said, I don’t like it either. But realism works better than dreams or demands.

  55. 55.

    germy

    June 17, 2018 at 9:04 pm

    Stephen Miller has been dreaming of this for years.

    Despite the fact that Trump had repeatedly demonized and dehumanized immigrants on his way to the presidency, he rejected the policy plan at first, but the true-believing Miller — who was also instrumental in pushing the administration’s Islamophobic travel ban — never gave up. Finally, sometime this spring, Miller convinced the president to endorse the idea.

    As a result, nearly 2,000 children were taken away from their parents and placed in makeshift government shelters in less than a month and a half under the new policy, and that number has undoubtedly gone up in the weeks since (and separations could soon double in some areas).

    I feel like Miller isn’t getting enough credit for this. He needs more recognition, if you know what I mean.

    Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think and what to feel! Who drill you – diet you – treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
    – Charlie Chaplin, THE GREAT DICTATOR

  56. 56.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    June 17, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    No worries. It’s been a long emotional day and I am very touchy about anything that has a whiff of sentiment (real or perceived) for GOP monsters.

  57. 57.

    Chyron HR

    June 17, 2018 at 9:06 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    It’s interesting that they couldn’t even get a majority in favor amongst themselves.

    Keep in mind that the Republicans who are against the policy think they’re opposing a “Democrat law”.

  58. 58.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 9:07 pm

    @ArchTeryx:

    And I still had liberals arguing that repealing Medicaid wasn’t really murder.

    Then they weren’t really liberals but totebaggers, safely ensconced (for now) in their little privileged bubbles.

  59. 59.

    Yarrow

    June 17, 2018 at 9:07 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve called every single number I can and not reached a real person. I end up having to leave a message.

  60. 60.

    B.B.A.

    June 17, 2018 at 9:08 pm

    @germy: If by recognition you mean he needs to have his skull bashed in with a crowbar, then I agree wholeheartedly.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur: No one here has any sympathy for the GOP.

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @VeeCeeMurphy76
    Question: why hasn’t Bernie and his megaphone been filmed trying to get into any of the kid detention centers?

    4:12 PM – 17 Jun 2018

    I’m sure Bernie will be a special guest on Hayes’ show next week

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    For those in Philadelphia: be careful! Some of the protestors at his Ohio appearance last week have indicated that his supporters in the audience started to assault them – grab, punch, push, etc – when they started protesting and before security came to ask them to leave and escort them out.

  64. 64.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @B.B.A.:

    Actually important things?

    There’s no way a relief bill comes to the floor; it is all theater. He can make all kinds of noise and it accomplishes nothing. He has to walk a very fine tightrope to avoid getting turfed at home. He is a lifelong realistic politician who knows his constituents (and how his constituency has changed and how fast).
    He has to deal with the electorate he has, not the the one we want him to have.
    The alternative is a lost seat.

  65. 65.

    germy

    June 17, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @B.B.A.: I wasn’t thinking of skull crushing, just recognition, shame and banishment.

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @lamh36: Because Nena Turner and her entourage are making the rounds of Nebraska this weekend.

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:11 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    we have such an abundance of trained legal talent here

    And Steve from ATL

  68. 68.

    germy

    June 17, 2018 at 9:11 pm

    @lamh36:

    Question: why hasn’t Bernie and his megaphone been filmed trying to get into any of the kid detention centers?

    “I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote.”
    – Eddie Cochran

  69. 69.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 9:11 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur:

    I totally understand where you’re coming from. “Monsters” really is the operative word for these people.

  70. 70.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 9:12 pm

    @BerniceKing
    In the words of my dad: “to ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it” #MLK #WAKE UP
    https://twitter.com/BerniceKing/status/1008517377804382209

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 9:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    So, wear steel-toed shoes?

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 9:15 pm

    @germy:

    Maybe we could force him to wear a scarlet A (for “asshole”) on his clothes for the rest of his life. Seems fitting, given who his idols are.

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:16 pm

    @lamh36:
    Very true.
    Very.
    True.

  74. 74.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    @The Ancient Randonneur:

    It’s much bigger than that.

    It’s a balancing act. The alternative is losing the seat. Politics is/are always part of the equation.

  75. 75.

    MomSense

    June 17, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    @efgoldman:

    No doubt. He’s the worst.

  76. 76.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    Laura Bush pens Op-Ed about seperating families

    Opinion | Laura Bush: Separating children from their parents at the border ‘breaks my heart’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/f2df517a-7287-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.43d07247370c

  77. 77.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I’m ashamed of my state. I saw the video but didn’t see any violence. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. Dense’s supporters began chanting “USA!” in unison like braindead zombies to drown the protesters out. It was very disturbing.

    Those doughy pasty fucks wouldn’t know what to do in real fight, I’m sure.

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    They make some cowboy boots very pointed for a reason.
    It hasn’t got anything to do with being an actual cowboy.

  79. 79.

    germy

    June 17, 2018 at 9:19 pm

    @Mnemosyne: This Chaplin “Great Dictator” quote reminded me of Miller:

    Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate – the unloved and the unnatural!

  80. 80.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:19 pm

    @lamh36:
    But will it cause her or her family to do anything but admit to a broken heart?
    I think it’s possible for the answer to be, Very possibly, Not.

  81. 81.

    Cheryl Rofer

    June 17, 2018 at 9:19 pm

    Laura Bush has a hard-hitting op-ed in the Washington Post.

  82. 82.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 9:20 pm

    @Chyron HR:
    Cleek’s Law is once again proven

  83. 83.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 9:20 pm

    I’m with her

    Laura Bush: “This zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.”
    Former first lady likens Trump’s enforcement to Japanese internment camps of World War

    She might not know about the be best program that Melania started

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/laura-bush-separating-children-from-their-parents-at-the-border-breaks-my-heart/2018/06/17/f2df517a-7287-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html?utm_term=.b84d166da992

  84. 84.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:22 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    I know this may hit a bit hard but would a big red tattoo on his forehead be more appropriate?
    Or possibly a life term of hard labor if that tattoo thing is a bit much.

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 9:23 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Her politician nephew, George P. Bush, is on the record defending this policy. So, no, there won’t be any actual action taken, even within her own family.

  86. 86.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    @JPL:

    Former first lady likens Trump’s enforcement to Japanese internment camps

    How many votes does she have? How many bills can she file?
    Good sentiment, but fuck her and her draft dodging hubby.

  87. 87.

    O. Felix Culpa

    June 17, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    We’re just back home from the march by the Tornillo children’s internment camp near El Paso. The march was well attended, especially for an event announced just Friday and held in a rural location on Father’s Day. I’m hopeless at estimating crowd size, but would guess 500-750 people. The organizers were not able to get permission to enter the area where the children are being held (no surprise there, it’s not in the government’s interest to have their misdeeds publicly exposed), so we marched to the port of entry and held a rally nearby. I’ll write some more and send pix to Cheryl, but it’s a five-hour drive each way and I’m kinda tired. It was entirely worth the effort though.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Her politician nephew, George P. Bush, is on the record defending this policy.

    Christ, what an asshole.

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thanks for doing that.

  90. 90.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    I know.
    I was being my typical sarcastic self.
    It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Even when you don’t want it to.

  91. 91.

    ljt

    June 17, 2018 at 9:27 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thank you.

  92. 92.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 9:27 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: Please do, and thank you for going.

    @efgoldman: Her audience is larger than the be best lady.. just sayin

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 9:27 pm

    @Ruckus:

    I’m trying to stay away from violent rhetoric, but I have to admit that a particular scene from Inglorious Basterds involving a Nazi, a swastika, and a very large knife was what first came to mind.

    But I’m trying not to be like one of them.

  94. 94.

    germy

    June 17, 2018 at 9:30 pm

    @Ruckus: I’ve never seen a photo of him that didn’t make my skin crawl.

    I know certain websites (RawStory, cough!) deliberately choose unflattering pictures and screenshots, but this is different. I’ve never seen him NOT look creepy and evil.

  95. 95.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Christ, what an asshole.

    Just living up to the family motto.

  96. 96.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    @JPL:
    Here’s the wikipedia article on it:

    The campaign was accompanied by a booklet that was promoted as having been written by Mrs. Trump, but it was nearly identical to a document prepared in 2014 by the Federal Trade Commission. The similarities prompted accusations of plagiarism, to which her office responded by admonishing the press for reporting on the issue. The White House’s website originally described the document as “a booklet by First Lady Melania Trump and the Federal Trade Commission” but was changed to “a Federal Trade Commission booklet, promoted by First Lady Melania Trump”.

    The slogan “Be Best” was also criticized for having an apparent grammatical error, as it is missing a definite article. The Guardian noted Mrs. Trump’s native language, Slovenian, does not use definite articles, nor do most Slavic languages.

    Even Wikipedia’s “neutral point of view” is brutal enough. That’s what happens when you try to bullshit your way through stuff like this. She’s just as bad as Trump, in a way. She obviously doesn’t give enough of a shit to properly research the issues she’s supposed to be advocating for. She doesn’t put in the effort and that alone disgusts me. I get that she’s stuck with Trump, but couldn’t she at least keep her mitts away from stuff like this? If she couldn’t be assed to do it the right way, then she shouldn’t have even tried.

  97. 97.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    @germy:
    Check out my answer to Omnes at #95
    It is all around useful these days.

  98. 98.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    Laura Bush’s opinion piece will upset the asshole in office, and it might be intended. There will be tweets.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I did end up having a French 75…

    I’m almost afraid to ask what that is.

  100. 100.

    Ohio Mom

    June 17, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    When Laura Bush flies to DC, goes into the Senate office building and starts cornering Republicans, twisting their arms IN PERSON, well then you can wake me up. Right now all she has accomished is giving cover to Never Trumpers.

  101. 101.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    @JPL:

    Her audience is larger than the be best lady

    So what? What real action can she take except to wring her hands.
    Now, if she goes and joins Merkley’s group…..

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    @WaterGirl: I am happy to answer.

  103. 103.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:38 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m almost afraid to ask what that is.

    Whatever it is, you have to ask for it from behind the counter.

  104. 104.

    James Powell

    June 17, 2018 at 9:38 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    A gin & Champagne cocktail named after artillery from the Great War.

  105. 105.

    rikyrah

    June 17, 2018 at 9:39 pm

    @Trentrunner:
    ???

  106. 106.

    Phoenix_Rising

    June 17, 2018 at 9:40 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thanks for making it. Your reporting is needed.

  107. 107.

    James Powell

    June 17, 2018 at 9:40 pm

    Curious to know if there’s anything going on in El Cajon or other places in SoCal. I’m free all week.

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:41 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    She’s not chattle, she’s not stuck with drumpf. She can divorce him. Sure she may lose everything and find herself being deported (you know he’d do it) and possibly lose her son as well but she stays because she thinks it’s in her best interest. It looks like she married him because it was in her best interest. It appears to me that she’s not as bad as he is but she seems to be no great shakes herself. She stays because it still suits her. She has protection as long as she’s married to him though, maybe she knows what will happen if she choses to leave.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    James Powell had the briefest answer. It also has lemon juice and simple syrup and is very tasty.

  110. 110.

    Duane

    June 17, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    @JPL: Nielsen is as deplorable as it gets. She deserves the highest possible tumbrel number She doesn’t worship Satan, Satan worships her. (Stole it from a Frasier episode.)

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    @efgoldman: I see you are back in fine form on BJ, even if you are still feeling crappy. (which I was sorry to hear, by the way)

  112. 112.

    Denali

    June 17, 2018 at 9:46 pm

    @O.Felix Culpa,

    Thanks for going. We need to be out there in the streets.

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    @MomSense: I was surprised to hear this week that our governor in IL is the most hated governor in america. I was shocked that we were able to surpass you guys in that category.

  114. 114.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    June 17, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    We have to keep fighting this, but we can take heart that this isn’t going to be how things are forever. These shitbags are in office now, but they’re failing by the day. People hate these scumbags, and after a year of this shit show, people are ready to fight back.

    I know lots of us look at Trump’s polls and ask what the fuck is going on, how he can still be pulling in 40%. But he’s been at 35-40% for so long that we’ve forgotten how bad that really is. We’ve gotten used to it. But there are immutable laws of politics, and one of them is that you can’t get by forever with 40% of the electorate behind you. He won once, but that was a historic fluke. We’ve seen how badly Republicans have done since then. There are more of us than there are of them, and we don’t have to put up with this. We’re going to have to work to overcome this, but we can do it.

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    @WaterGirl: Hey, WI should be in there too.

  116. 116.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    @efgoldman: If her opinion piece only causes the asshole to have heartburn, then it is what it is. I think it will cause angst in a lot of repubs on the hill. I’m always wrong, but I’m glad someone wrote it. It’s the first time I agreed with her.

    If Michelle wrote it, the coverage would be different. It does open the door for a strong rebuke from the Obama’s. imo

  117. 117.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 17, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Charles Blow’s latest column

    Mother
    Fucker

    I sure hope that comment is directed at Trump and not Blow!

  118. 118.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 9:51 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Interesting. I tended bar for awhile and I had never heard of that.

  119. 119.

    GregB

    June 17, 2018 at 9:52 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    It wasn’t a historical fluke. It was the crime of the century.

  120. 120.

    ruemara

    June 17, 2018 at 9:53 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I’m not.

  121. 121.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 9:53 pm

    @efgoldman: Yeah, the name sounded like it could be something that I wouldn’t want to google.

    @James Powell: But it turned out to be completely innocent.

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 9:54 pm

    @WaterGirl: There isn’t a huge call for one in most bars.

  123. 123.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 9:56 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: A dubious honor!

  124. 124.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 9:56 pm

    @JPL: Right…and I think THAT is the strategy. I just can’t believe that the Bush cabal didn’t go over the Op-Ed with a fine tooth comb and approved by GWB and the rest of ’em

    The “harshness” of it, including the direct finger pointing at Chump, is calculated to maybe give the GWB Republicans some “cover”.

  125. 125.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    June 17, 2018 at 9:58 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m afraid it is going to need to come to that. We white people fetishize non-violence, and ignore that waiting in the wings were Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Elijah Muhammad, Bobby Seale, as the example of what could be if nonviolence failed.

    We have none of that now.

  126. 126.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 9:58 pm

    @allanbrauer
    15s16 seconds ago
    More
    Somebody at WaPo knew that Laura Bush was contributing an op-ed but still let @ktumulty go out there and proclaim Melania as a profile in courage for repeating her husband’s shitty lies. Ouch.

    Ah…yup…

  127. 127.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    even if you are still feeling crappy

    Stuck in a fucking wheel chair until the stitches come out of my foot.
    And this house isn’t really set up for it.

  128. 128.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    @WaterGirl: I’m not into cocktails so I thought it was the vintage year. A few weeks back though, relatives were in town and I made cocktails. My DIL, SIL and I all received advice the next day on what not to drink.
    RUBY PALOMA
    2 oz Deep Eddy Ruby Red Vodka
    1 oz silver tequila (100% agave preferred)
    2 oz lemon-lime soda
    2 oz club soda
    Lime garnish, salt rim (optional)

    My son asked how I found the ingredients, and I said I went to a liquor store and showed the clerk the list easy

  129. 129.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    June 17, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    @JPL:

    There will be tweets.

    Yep. I hope Javier Bardem gets the lead when they make the movie

  130. 130.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:00 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I sure hope that comment is directed at Trump and not Blow!

    At the contents

  131. 131.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 10:01 pm

    @Ruckus:
    Don’t disagree with any of that. I just wish she would do better job of at least pretending to give a shit about her so-called “initiatives”.

  132. 132.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 10:02 pm

    @lamh36: His staff contained him on attacks on Michelle, so they might do the same with Laura unless Michelle comes out also. That would drive him over the ledge.

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:03 pm

    @lamh36: That’s a little inside baseball for me to totally get it. Is the idea that someone should have given Karen Tumulty a heads up before he column posted? Do they actually do that? Would that be out of loyalty to Trump or to their colleagues?

  134. 134.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    @efgoldman: Well that sucks. I completely missed what had happened, I just knew that you were away from BJ for a bit because you were in the hospital. Could you use one of those knew scooters like I had with my ankle?

  135. 135.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 10:05 pm

    @WaterGirl: It does sound right, because Laura’s was an opinion piece and they reserve space. Melania’s comment was weak so not sure it matters. It was almost like her be best campaign, and letting her add a statement that was cowardly and weak looks bad.

  136. 136.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:06 pm

    @JPL:

    If her opinion piece only causes the asshole to have heartburn, then it is what it is.

    As noted above, I feel like shit. Whatever milk of human kindness I night have had is on hiatus.

  137. 137.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:06 pm

    @JPL: I like vodka and I like tequila, but putting them together does not seem like a great idea.

  138. 138.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    @JPL: And now the GWB Presidential Center has tweeted out Laura’s article.

    Aside from the nephew who’s running for office and clinging to Cruz…I’d say this statement is the GWB family statement put out via Laura’s voice

    https://twitter.com/TheBushCenter/status/1008516814245191682

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    @JPL: Can you imagine how horrified Barack and Michelle are at what’s happening to all these children?

  140. 140.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    @WaterGirl: Depends on how you want your evening to end…

  141. 141.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    @JPL This too is reminiscent of the NAZIs. Hitler offered to sell Germany’s Jews at one point. The only state that expressed interest in buying them was Imperial Japan. Hitler never went through with it. Which is good as Imperial Japan would have used them as slaves.
    https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300068528/jews-sale

  142. 142.

    efgoldman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Could you use one of those knew scooters

    It shouldn’t be that long, and they’re expensive

  143. 143.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    Type in Laura Bush on google. lol

  144. 144.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:08 pm

    @JPL: Melania doesn’t need any help in looking bad. Finally, something she’s good at. :-)

  145. 145.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:11 pm

    @burnspbesq: Cardinal Dolan will have to begin excommunicating people. The United Methodist Church is going to have to formally censure and expel Jeff Sessions. And a Beit Din (rabbinical court/literally: House of Justice) needs to be convened and the herem (ban/excommunication) declared against Stephen Miller, Jared and Ivanka, Steven Mnuchin, and any other American Jew who is working in a political appointment for this administration, working in a civil servant position where they are involved with immigration and border control issues, and/or support this.

  146. 146.

    JPL

    June 17, 2018 at 10:11 pm

    In order to stop the orange one, someone will have to smash his phone.

  147. 147.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:12 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Not puking? I just don’t think they would taste good together, and for me it’s all about taste and not about consuming a lot of alcohol.

  148. 148.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 10:13 pm

    @WaterGirl: Not puking is always a good goal.

  149. 149.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:14 pm

    @efgoldman: How much longer now?

  150. 150.

    WaterGirl

    June 17, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: They certainly had no trouble shaming Democrats – wouldn’t even let them receive communion because of something, maybe birth control or abortion? Fucking hypocrites everywhere.

  151. 151.

    Mary G

    June 17, 2018 at 10:16 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thank you for going and hope to see pictures when you have recovered. Senator Merkley tweeted out his very good speech; were there any networks there that you saw?

  152. 152.

    hedgehog mobile

    June 17, 2018 at 10:17 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: Thank you.

  153. 153.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    June 17, 2018 at 10:18 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    What II Duce didn’t even take him up? Or was this before they became buddy buddy?

    The link isn’t loading for me. Why didn’t the deal go through?

  154. 154.

    debbie

    June 17, 2018 at 10:20 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Don’t know which cheers me more: that APA quote or Blow’s flat out saying Trump is lying.

  155. 155.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:21 pm

    @Chyron HR: They’re also the white evangelicals (Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Fundamentalists). The most recent polling shows them opposed to immigration.
    https://www.christianpost.com/news/white-evangelical-immigrants-threaten-american-values-prri-160380/

  156. 156.

    SectionH

    June 17, 2018 at 10:22 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Will they step up? I hope so.

    I’n kind of in the middle of a meltdown over this. I don’t mean I need any religious authority personally to condemn. (I’m so not religious) but it would mean a lot to many people. But I am a mother, now a grandmother too, and I want to stop the monsters who take little children away from their mothers and dads. Sorry, that’s the only word. Monsters. (pre-edited for what I srsly want to do with the monsters… )

  157. 157.

    Doug R

    June 17, 2018 at 10:22 pm

    @lamh36: 46% of 26% is less than 12%.

  158. 158.

    sukabi

    June 17, 2018 at 10:24 pm

    @Trentrunner: So they aren’t actually providing care for the children (babies) they are leaving it for the other children.

    Caged kids with no, or very little care given. Criminal neglect.

  159. 159.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Be videotaping as soon as you show up and start demonstrating. Be prepared for violence. Be prepared, if necessary, to protect your own life.

  160. 160.

    Jeffro

    June 17, 2018 at 10:24 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): almost sounds like we need some Hope The High Road goin’ on here! ;)

  161. 161.

    Ohio Mom

    June 17, 2018 at 10:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Is there even such a thing as a Beit Din that isn’t composed of the most reactionary men imaginable? Because the sad truth, as you already know, is that a lot of our “most religious” co-religionists continue to support Trump et al on the claim they are “better for Israel.” It is a nice day dream that those rat finks would be booted out but I can’t see it ever happening.

    Many days I regret that I will not live long enough to see American Judaism split in two. I am tired of having to share my religion with the likes of them.

  162. 162.

    Jeffro

    June 17, 2018 at 10:26 pm

    @JPL:

    His staff contained him on attacks on Michelle, so they might do the same with Laura unless Michelle comes out also. That would drive him over the ledge.

    I’m picturing a PSA campaign where both Michelle and Laura just flat-out flip the bird at the camera, telling Trumpov this shit won’t fly in America…no, I’m not high, why do you ask?

    You have to admit, it’s a comforting image…

  163. 163.

    Ohio Mom

    June 17, 2018 at 10:27 pm

    @O. Felix Culpa: Adding my appreciation, and also noting I am a bit jealous I didn’t have a demonstration to go to. You were representing everyone here.

  164. 164.

    Cheryl Rofer

    June 17, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    Adam – Didn’t you write a post on preparing for possibly violent demonstrations a while back? Could you link it?

  165. 165.

    debbie

    June 17, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    Even Kathleen Parker doesn’t recognize her country anymore.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-dont-recognize-this-country-anymore/2018/06/15/6a9c898a-70cb-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html?utm_term=.dbbd68a1d33e

  166. 166.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    @germy: The real failure of the coastal, liberal, elitist Santa Monica High School was instead of actually disciplining Miller for his unacceptable behavior and acting out they accommodated him in an attempt to avoid a scandal. From the publicly reported accounts of his behavior he should have been expelled from Santa Monica High School and then sent to the school for students with extreme behavioral problems. Similarly his professors at Duke should have just tossed him out of class for disrupting them. Then do a disciplinary forced drop. And then refer him for formal disciplinary action – expulsion – from the university. This could have been nipped in the bud when he was 14.

  167. 167.

    Jeffro

    June 17, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    @Mnemosyne: @Adam L Silverman: Can I just add, have an exit plan (and, related, stay to the sides of the protest group if you can)? And a regrouping point in case you are separated?

  168. 168.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 17, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Snort.

  169. 169.

    lamh36

    June 17, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    This Breitbart…muthaphucka.

    joelpollak
    Follow Follow @joelpollak
    More
    Associated Press Uses ‘Cages’ to Describe Chain-Link Partitions in Border Patrol Center

    “Chain-link Partitions”

    This Breitbart…muthaphucka.

  170. 170.

    Duane

    June 17, 2018 at 10:34 pm

    @germy:I swear trump went to hire the most evil souless bastards that surfaced above ground. Miller, Nielsen, an endless list of people who should be shunned by society. Yet here we are in this fucking mess thanks to the worst our country has to offer.

  171. 171.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 10:34 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    We white people fetishize non-violence …

    Non-violence by whom? The South is dotted with the ruins of Black towns that were burned to the ground by white mobs. Civil Rights protesters were beaten by white mobs.

    White people already have enough violence in our pasts. It’s time for us to attempt non-violence. We’ve already demonstrated for several centuries that we think violence solves everything, so it’s time to take that tool away from white people.

  172. 172.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    @JPL:

    It’s not a Paloma without grapefruit. Unless that’s grapefruit vodka?

    Even then, I would use grapefruit soda (like Jarritos or that Italian one) over lemon-lime.

  173. 173.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    @efgoldman:

    milk of human kindness

    Is that one of those drink things? Cause I don’t think I’ve ever had any of that. It’s possible of course that I once did but I find myself being rather pissed of most every minute of the day and I don’t like it.

  174. 174.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: He wants to be GOP governor of Texas after Abbot and then run for President as a Republican. So he’s been cozying up to the President and Jr since after the 2016 election.

  175. 175.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Doesn’t change my assessment.

  176. 176.

    Jager

    June 17, 2018 at 10:45 pm

    @JPL: Single malt scotch/ice cubes. No muss no fuss. Know what I mean?

  177. 177.

    Yarrow

    June 17, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: In his primary ads, George P. Bush highlighted Trump Jr.’s support of him. I wonder how that’s going to work out for him going forward as Jr. is found guilty of various treasonous activities.

  178. 178.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @ruemara:

    I didn’t pick a movie where Jews take bloody and well-deserved vengeance on their oppressors by mistake. ?

    Feel free to swap in Django Unchained if you need a more direct analogy.

  179. 179.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    @WaterGirl: To Tumulty so she didn’t look like an idiot.

  180. 180.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    June 17, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I was not elegant in my verbiage – what I meant was that nonviolent protests are failing – the authoritarian right simply shrugs and continues acting badly.

  181. 181.

    rikyrah

    June 17, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    @lamh36:
    She wrote that garbage about Melania..?

  182. 182.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:53 pm

    @JPL: Melania’s comment wasn’t written by Melania. It was written by her spokesperson and approved by the President before it was released.

  183. 183.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: It was complicated. Some of it was done for PR so Hitler could say: “see, no one else wants them either”. Some of it was an attempt to get the Jews to ransom themselves out of Germany.

  184. 184.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I won’t be hobbling to any violent protests anytime soon, but GoPro cameras are inexpensive and tough, and you can strap them to your body to record the goings-on without having to hold onto them.

    But steel-toed shoes are also helpful in these situations. Or, if you’re the kind of person who can maneuver in heels in an emergency, a spike heel can do a lot to deter an attacker when stomped down on the top of his foot or toes.

  185. 185.

    Mnemosyne

    June 17, 2018 at 10:58 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    This could have been nipped in the bud when he was 14.

    He’s a rich white boy. His parents would have sued the district into oblivion rather than allow their little snowflake to suffer any consequences for his actions.

  186. 186.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 11:00 pm

    @SectionH: From the reporting it appears that a bunch of the US Catholic espicopate (the cardinals, archbishops, and bishops) actually called for Canonical responses, which would be excommunication and some other things. The United Methodist Church did come out and condemn AG Sessions, but they need to expel him – cut him off from the Church. As for whether you could get a Beit Din convened to pronounce the herem? Who knows. The problem won’t be in getting it pronounced, it would be in different rabbis and different Jewish denominations arguing over whether it is kosher or kosher enough, etc. And in the case of people like Jared and Ivanka or Breitbart’s execrable Joel Pollack, they’re modern Orthodox. So getting their rabbis and congregations to recognize the Beit Din, it’s jurisdiction, that it is doing things in a proper manner, and then the pronouncement is what would be the lift.

  187. 187.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    @Ohio Mom: You could definitely get a Beit Din convened, though I doubt it would be from any of the Orthodox sects, including the Modern Orthodox that Jared, Ivanka, and Beitbart’s execrable Joel Pollack belong to. And that’s the rub. There will be arguing forever over who convened it, whether it was appropriately done according to tradition, etc, etc.

  188. 188.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I can reup it if you like.

  189. 189.

    Ruckus

    June 17, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    An extremely rapid knee to the groin is often helpful if you find yourself in too close quarters. One has to actually hit the groin to be successful though. If someone grabs you and you can reach, grabbing the ear lobes with finger nails and pulling the head down sharply so that the nose contacts your noggin is often effective as well. One can’t hesitate though, these types of maneuvers have to be executed rapidly and forcefully. Don’t do the fingernail thing if yours are too long, it will hurt you almost as much as them.

  190. 190.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 17, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Please do.

  191. 191.

    zhena gogolia

    June 17, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    @Jager:

    Why the ice cubes?

  192. 192.

    Citizen Alan

    June 17, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    @Trentrunner:

    Your mother should have aborted you.

  193. 193.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 11:13 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: It has been reposted.

  194. 194.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Never said or expected it would.

  195. 195.

    sukabi

    June 17, 2018 at 11:18 pm

    @germy: somebody needs to check his basement, fucker’s probably got a couple of the missing kids down there.

  196. 196.

    sukabi

    June 17, 2018 at 11:23 pm

    @efgoldman: now now. Give him his due…he didn’t dodge the draft…he deserted.

  197. 197.

    Citizen Alan

    June 17, 2018 at 11:23 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I believe the point was that whites fetishize non-violence among non-whites. It’s the attitude that expects protests by non-whites to be utterly non-violent no matter what the provocation, lest people say that “Antifa and the Nazis are really the same” and bullshit like that.

  198. 198.

    Adam L Silverman

    June 17, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    @Citizen Alan: On the nosey!

  199. 199.

    SectionH

    June 17, 2018 at 11:37 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Mostly I’m glad to see whatever pushback there is from any religious ppl, esp Judeo-Christian ones.

  200. 200.

    sukabi

    June 17, 2018 at 11:41 pm

    @JPL: lol…now that’s awesome SEO. ???????

  201. 201.

    Steve in the ATL

    June 17, 2018 at 11:54 pm

    @efgoldman: zing!

    I was going to post that about myself but you beat me to it. I’m slower than efgoldman in a wheelchair…jeez.

  202. 202.

    sukabi

    June 17, 2018 at 11:54 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m a bit confused…would the excommunication be for the benefit of the congregation …a shunning to cleanse the church, Or as a shaming of the excommunicated? Both?

    If it’s for shaming, these fuckers wouldn’t feel a thing. Sociopaths are incapable of shame.

  203. 203.

    Mnemosyne

    June 18, 2018 at 12:05 am

    @Citizen Alan:

    Right, but Le Comte missed my point that, as a white person, I feel it’s my responsibility to break that rhetorical cycle and say that it’s wrong for white people to express those violent fantasies.

    I’m not here to worry about what any other group says or does. Just my fellow white people, who are far too fond of acting out violently when thwarted.

  204. 204.

    Mnemosyne

    June 18, 2018 at 12:12 am

    @sukabi:

    I can only answer from the Catholic perspective — being excommunicated means that you can no longer attend Mass or receive any sacraments, specifically Communion (hence the root of the word). Basically, you get booted out and cannot return without a public show of repentance and renouncing whatever actions or beliefs got you kicked out.

    There are lesser punishments, like refusing to allow someone to take Communion until they publicly confess their sins or renounce a certain belief — some Catholic bishops made a public announcement that they would not give John Kerry Communion because he was pro-choice.

    But the Catholic Church is way more hierarchical than a lot of other churches, so it’s easier for them to enforce this stuff across the board.

  205. 205.

    sukabi

    June 18, 2018 at 12:41 am

    @Mnemosyne: I get the “punishment” aspects, but while they claim to be members of their religion, they all appear to use it as a weapon or a shield for their own personal gain, rather than as a guide on how to conduct themselves morally and justly.

  206. 206.

    Mnemosyne

    June 18, 2018 at 12:52 am

    @sukabi:

    I doubt that Ryan is more than a Christmas and Easter Catholic, so I doubt it would matter to him. Kelly is (allegedly) more devout, so it theoretically should mean more to him.

    Mostly, it’s a very public rejection of someone by the RCC, so it’s more about signaling the church’s avowed values than punishing a specific person. Kelly would probably just run off and join Mel Gibson’s racist and anti-Semitic sect anyway, but at least the RCC would very publicly disavow immigrant bashing and make it clear that it would not be tolerated in Catholic politicians.

    ETA: Shorter me — it’s basically a way for the RCC to say, “yeah, no,” when someone tries to claim that something they’re doing or saying is backed by Catholic doctrine. And the Pope is the ultimate authority about Catholic doctrine, unlike 99 percent of the churches out there.

  207. 207.

    J R in WV

    June 18, 2018 at 7:34 am

    @WaterGirl:

    Regarding the French 75 drink:

    But it turned out to be completely innocent.

    No drink with gin in it is completely innocent.

  208. 208.

    WaterGirl

    June 18, 2018 at 8:10 am

    @Steve in the ATL: That was an awesome comeback.

  209. 209.

    WaterGirl

    June 18, 2018 at 8:11 am

    @J R in WV: You may never see this since the thread is dead, but thanks for my first laugh of the day. Out loud, even.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Do Something!

Call Your Senators & Representatives
Directory of US Senators
Directory of US Representatives

Vaccine Venting Here!
I Got the Shot!  (Month 2)
I Got the Shot!

 

🎈Ways to Support Our Site

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal
Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice ⬇  

Recent Comments

  • trollhattan on Open Thread: Obama Museum and Selma Anniversary (Mar 7, 2021 @ 4:21pm)
  • Brachiator on Yesterday Was a Pretty Big Day (Mar 7, 2021 @ 4:16pm)
  • bluefoot on Open Thread: Bad Guys (Mar 7, 2021 @ 4:14pm)
  • Ruckus on Yesterday Was a Pretty Big Day (Mar 7, 2021 @ 4:14pm)
  • J R in WV on Open Thread: Obama Museum and Selma Anniversary (Mar 7, 2021 @ 4:14pm)

Team Claire, and Family

Claire Updates
Claire is Home!

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year

Featuring

John Cole
Silverman on Security
COVID-19 Coronavirus
Medium Cool with BGinCHI
Furry Friends

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Submit Photos to On the Road
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Meetups: Proof of Life
2021 Pets of Balloon Juice Calendar

Culture: Books, Film, TV, Music, Games, Podcasts

Noir: Favorites in Film, Books, TV
Book Recommendations & Indy Recs
Mystery Recommendations
Netflix Favorites
Amazon Prime Favorites
Netflix Suggestions in July
Longmire & Netflix Suggestions

Twitter

John Cole’s Twitter

[custom-twitter-feeds]

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!