Saturday, June 16, 2018

"The Art of Con" Again in Clear View: Now Affecting Immigrant Children Mental Health

ICE: Does that mean a cold drink? I'll ask mommy
(Hey, where’s my mommy)
(A picture worth 10,000 words or arrests)

HOT TOPIC: 

My Introduction to this fine analysis from the Washington Post (below) with my emphasis on critical points – the ones Trump and many GOPers always seem to conveniently skip over re: Trump’s routine strong and standard harsh terms and based on many Trump lies and flat out false claims:
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So, hey Mr. and Mrs. America and especially “Trump loyalists” – listen up:

What we are witnessing right now and once again smack in our face is the Trump “Art of the Con” – not deal making or skill from “I’m the smartest man in world at negotiating” or with any finesse whatsoever. Nope, we have a Flim-Flam Con Artist right here in our own “River City” and in our collective face.

The subject is immigration, and I will say right up front something we all know and supposedly cherish – our heritage. We all (except truly native Americans) have our roots in families that immigrated to America – most legally, but some illegally in many cases over the decades past. All of them no matter how, came here for a better life, some to escape poverty or in many cases war, famine, crime, other turmoil inhumane terms.

But with Trump we have a horror show as I said, once again right in our face, now ripping children away from their parents who brought them here – no fault of their own to seek a better life – and, yet Trump wants to sustain his “nasty blame game” when in reality it is his bigoted fault.

Related – click the video link below – it also explains the topic (about 3 minutes):


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From the Washington Post analysis:

Trump has calculated that he will gain political leverage in congressional negotiations by continuing to enforce a policy he claims to hate — separating immigrant parents from their young children at the southern border, according to White House officials.
  
Trump suggested he would not change the policy unless Democrats agreed to his other immigration demands, which include (1) funding a border wall, (2) tightening the rules for border enforcement, and (3) curbing legal entry. He also is intent on pushing members of his party to vote for a compromise measure that would achieve those long-standing priorities.

(I note: Trump shames DEMS to support his crap knowing full and well he does not have GOP votes on the harsh policy to pass any standalone bill. He needs the DEMS and he thinks shame will turn them his way. He is flat out wrong on this approach. Many GOPers also know it. Now we shall see who stands for right or wrong and common sense).

Trump’s public acknowledgment that he was willing continue as he pursued his political goals came as the president once again blamed Democrats for a policy enacted and touted by his own administration.

Trump tweeted this after listing his demands in any immigration bill:  “The Democrats are forcing the breakup of families at the Border with their horrible and cruel legislative agenda,” he tweeted “Go for it! WIN!”

The attempt to gain advantage from a practice the American Academy of Pediatrics describes as causing children “irreparable harm” sets up a high-stakes gambit for Trump, whose political career has long benefited from harsh rhetoric on immigration.

Democrats have latched onto the issue and vowed to fight in the court of public opinion, with leaders planning trips to the border to highlight the stories of separated families, already the focus of news media attention. 

Democratic candidates running for vulnerable Republican seats also have begun to make the harsh treatment of children a centerpiece of their campaigns.

The policy has cracked Trump’s usually united conservative base, with a wide array of religious leaders and groups denouncing it. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention issued statements critical of the practice. 

The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who delivered a prayer at Trump’s inauguration, signed a letter calling the practice “horrible.” 

Pastor Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse, a vocal supporter of the presidents who has brushed aside past Trump controversies, called it “terrible” and “disgraceful.”

Besides increasing the odds of a broader immigration bill, senior Trump strategists believe that the child separation policy will deter the flow of migrant families across the border. Nearly 2,000 immigrant children were separated from parents during six weeks in April and May, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The figure is the only one released by the government.

(My insert: I wonder who the “senior Trump strategists and, and do any of them even have small children themselves: Hint: My first guess to ID the leader of that bunch would be the staunch anti-immigrant ass, Stephen Miller followed by Jeff Sessions a close second – then anyone’s guess).

A White House official said: “The president has told folks that in lieu of the laws being fixed, he wants to use the enforcement mechanisms that we have.

The thinking in the building is to force people to the table.” Trump reinforced that notion at the White House when he suggested Democrats (falsely again) alone had the power to alter the policy.

(I note: the law as such was passed under Obama and the GOP, but they never separated children this way — ever — so the policy as such then was nowhere the present harsh implementation by Trump and Sessions now ... that is a historical fact — look it up and BTW: The GOP runs the whole government shebang so they could in heartbeat change the policy, but Trump wants blame to benefit his so-called skills in deal-making).

Then Trump had the audacity to say: “I hate the children being taken away.”

(I have to say: Bull Mr. Trump, utter BS).

The president used a similar strategy last year as he sought to gain approval for his immigration demands by using the lure of protection for young immigrants brought to the United States as children. That effort, which ran counter to Trump’s earlier promise to sign a bipartisan bill protecting the young immigrants, foundered in Congress.

Democratic and Republican strategists believe the odds of passing a broad new immigration law — this one ending the family separation policy — remain slim.

My 2 cents: All my views are basically highlighted above – so not much more to add that to state the obvious: Trump is a bigot and racist and anti-immigrant hateful man, period. Measure that against all his words and actions and deeds and attempts at harsh policy. The evidence is compelling: Trump is a bigot and hates immigrants - sadly his own family came from Germany and two of his three wives were immigrants — how's that for his sick irony? Pretty hard to square that circle, Mr. Trump. 

All I finally say is stay tuned and for goodness sake if you disagree with Trump on this policy or his other harsh policies (anti-health care and especially harsh toward women and seniors on social security and Medicare cuts, etc.) then get onboard the movement to turn things around this November. Help get get out the vote and take friends, too and do whatever you think is right. 

Our national honor, dignity, core values, compassion, and yes, the future are at stake.

Thanks for stopping by.



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