Let’s Call this What it is – Hostage Taking
In a more quaint time, government shutdowns and playing chicken with the debt limit were common tactics to take something away from people. Now it’s committing international human rights atrocities to get what they want. This new tactic is nothing but hostage taking. In the 1980s, Reagan used several government shutdowns because the budget contained spending he didn’t like. Newt Gingrich used government shutdowns trying to get slashes to Medicare, public health, and education spending. The 2011 budget drama caused S&P to actually downgrade the US’s credit rating for the first time ever due to the irresponsibly of the Congressional Republicans’ continuous brinksmanship. In 2013, they tried it again when brand new Senator Ted Cruz whipped up the House to shutdown the government in an effort to take healthcare away from millions of people. All this screwing around never works, but Republicans continue using showdowns over the debt limit and budget to kill everything from healthcare, social spending, to funding Planned Parenthood.
Which brings us to now. Donald Trump lied in a continuous stream about many, many issues, but one of his biggest lies was that he was going to build a “big beautiful wall” to keep dark-skinned people out of the country. The most outrageous part of that promise was that, through his singular strength and negotiating prowess, he was going to make Mexico pay for it. The notion was and is idiotic, and everyone but his biggest sycophants dismissed the promise as extreme hyperbole. As expected, Mexico shot Trump the finger, and former president Vicente Fox makes sport of regularly poking him in the eye over the issue.
Having failed at destroying healthcare for millions of people and after blowing a gigantic multi-trillion dollar hole in the nation’s budget passing out tax cuts to billionaires, he’s now trying to keep his most outrageous promise by pushing funding in the federal budget and taking money from parks and military budgets to build his wall, but the Democrats have planted their feet saying no. So, to put pressure on the them, Trump’s in-house white supremacist, Stephen Miller, with the help of a few other deplorables, cooked up the scheme to start holding dark skinned people hostage on the border. As is typical for extremists, Miller miscalculated, but Trump and Jeff Sessions stupidly blundered into this political and human disaster.
Sessions defended this new hostage taking plan and continues to do so, even in the face of loud and getting louder opposition. This tactic is also the reason that Trump’s newly assigned talking point blames the “Democrats’ terrible law” that’s forcing him to take hostages. As we all know, there is no law. He’s taking thousands of children hostage, in violation of international human rights laws attempting to force the Dems to fund his stupid wall. It’s familiar territory for him, since he’s connected so closely to the Mob. You know that line, “Cute kid – it would be a shame if something bad happened to her.” That’s PRECISELY what Trump’s doing. To force Dems to fund his wall, he’s doing irreparable damage to thousands of children and even more parents.
How anyone could support a politician who so regularly takes hostages is beyond me. Such a tactic is not only immoral, it costs US taxpayers billions of dollars and destroys our standing on the world stage. A government shutdown that merely costs jobs and damages the economy is one thing. This tactic is literally costing lives. The Dems should stand fast, and we should back them doing that. Like the Mob, extremists don’t compromise; they destroy and threaten until they get their way. It’s time to take that tool away from them.
A famous Costa Nostra philosophy is to hold friends close and enemies closer. Trumplthinskin would have us believe that is his mantra. ‘au contraire, mien herr’ — he’s a simple racist and sexist phule that follows the whim of the last comment he heard. miller & li’i jeffy sessions are snot-nosed kids with no backbone and even less of a mind of their [collective] own.
1Kellyanne was on the electric teevee this AM defending this **** and claiming Trump has never lied – when will somebody please throw a net of this woman and take her away? – and that the Democrats are responsible for this mess with a certain law they wrote. She is total Kool-Aid from her toenails to her bobby pins!!! There is a way this will backfire on the Golden Gibbon. Enough R Senators get fed up with child abuse and join the D’s for impeachment. All digits crossed for this one.
2When somebody tries to tell me we’re locking kids up because of a law the Democrats put in place, I’ve taken to asking them for a citation to the U.S. Code or the Code of Federal Regulations or an executive order they’re talking about. Nobody has given me an answer.
3Rump and congress seem to be emulating the third world thuggish governing and human rights of Eritrea.
4“We don’t negotiate with terrorists.” Every Democrat should say this when asked what they’ll do in response to ANY hostage-taking by Trump and his legion of misfits and misnomer-gomers.
We have given in too damn much already. We need to push our luck until it breaks if need be. No ransom for hostages, not now, and never again.
5The Border Patrol says it is “very uncomfortable” with the term “cages” (although they admit it’s accurate). I suggest a compromise: We’ll say the children are kept in “kennels”. We don’t want the Border Patrol to be “very uncomfortable”.
6How about we call these sites “concentration camps?”
7These Republican monsters know absolutely nothing about child development. Forced separation of young children harms them psychologically and physically for the rest of their lives.
8Dump and his minions are using these innocents to extort money and concessions and could care less about the horrendous harm they are doing. They seem to have eradicated the legality of the asylum process by jailing the parents immediately. This has to stop.
Call or email your seaters and representatives to demand that they put an end to these human rights violations, please.
Michael Avenatti has joined the fracas. I wonder if he can do a class action lawsuit for kidnapping?
9Sorry, that should be “senators”.
10I am more than horrified by what this evil administration is doing to families and their children. If anyone has any doubt please read this article from a reporter who actually saw what is going on in the hell holes where the children are kept.
https://www.thenation.com/article/like-inside-mcallen-border-patrol-facility/
11yes, maryelle….we must all write to our representatives!! fortunately VA is represented by 2 decent humans in the Senate but my district has morgan ‘chickens@#t’ griffith in the house. the man has been back to his district 1X in 7 yrs. he cares…..about whatever GOP and Rump care about…..
laura bush has written an wash post op ed asking for a humane approach @ the border. 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=.a5c4f1d504e7
fingers crossed she gets thru to whatever human hearts still beat in her party. and the Dems can keep from shooting themselves (and the kids) in the foot over this mess.
12These people have no shame or human decency.
Maybe we need to hit them with how expensive it will be to have adequate care for children taken from their parents. Since we already have children previously separated from their parents, the dollar cost should be established.
Hit theses scumbags where it hurts: in their wallets until the voters can change the lawmakers…
13Because Donnie’s parents failed to deal with his tantrums when he was two, we’re stuck with a senile dotard with zero reasoning skills. Further, until the snacilbupeR in Congress and those in the Dotard45 maladministration realize there is no “appeasing” Orange Foolius, children are being held hostage. Legal remedies are the only available option, which is a slow and laborious solution, when the need is immediate. Democrats in Congress? While they are not totally powerless as a minority, before 2018 there’s not much they can do except shine the light on the issue, involve the media, and sway public opinion. Again not an ideal solution or fast.
Sorry to sound both grim and pessimistic, but when fast solutions are needed, we’re running out of options. Will continue to contact elected representatives, Nikki Haley, and donate to the ACLU. But please, if there is more that can be done to meet this as an emergency in real time, let me know.
14Waiting for republi-can’ts to get fed up with another republi-con-man to impeach is futile and rating.
The light at the of the tunnel is that trumplthinskin will not be re-elected and a FORMER [not sitting] precident may be criminally prosecuted for offenses committed before assuming the office of the precident. For those offenses he will get life – and in federal lockup there is no parole.
Be patient, peers; there is retribution available.
15@Cheryl
Thanks for the tip/news about Michael Avenatti. Since Alan Dershowitz seems to be carrying water for for the snacibupeR it is indeed good to know a legit attorney has come out against Spanky’s border shenanigans.
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