My father never had any use for 'bleeding hearts', or 'sob sisters', so I know I risk his wrath from the afterlife, as I express my sympathy here.
But I can't help but wonder what chance the Current Occupant of the White House ever had ...
and just how different things might have turned out, both for him and for the world, if he had ever, for a moment been shown love as a child.
The internet is alive with stories about people being deported due to mistaken identity, or for exercising their rights to free speech, guaranteed by our Constitution. In some cases, they are not just being deported, but are condemned, without due process, admittedly by mistake, to a hell-hole prison, where our government intends to abandon them to their fate.
Seems to me an excellent subject for discussion in the days leading up to Good Friday - the annual remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In that context, it is worthwhile for each of us to consider in our own hearts, which side we are on.
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Well, Jerry, you have wound yourself into a pretty tight logical Gordian knot here. The validity of your point rests on a web of entirely:
((- You are absolutely certain that nobody you know meets the criteria you have set
AND
- All of those we have sent to this hell-hole meet the criteria you have set)
OR
(- You are willing to relax some of your criteria for the people you know... perhaps they may beat their wives, so long as the are not gang-affiliated,
OR
- the gangs with which they are affiliated are not 'illegal'.))
OR
The other possibility is that this has nothing whatsoever to do with logic, fairness, or rule of law. You just don't like having Latinos here--legal or not--and are happy to randomly round them up, and send them to this death camp, irrespective of what they may or may not have done - and will come up with any excuse to justify your behavior.
The Republican Party faces an ongoing demographic barrier to remaining relevant. A key part of their response to this is to disenfranchise as many progressive voters as possible. Once enshrined in law, these changes are almost impossible to reverse, because those most seriously affected no longer have a voice in our democracy - and are thus reduced to a substandard tier of citizenship.
The folks who gloat over the about-face on tariffs this week—who say that maybe he has learned his lesson, and is chastened—have missed the point.
It's a variation on he classic 'pump-and-dump', perfected in the days before securities regulations, to move money from investors to insiders. There is money to be made on stocks, whether they are going up or down. The trick is to know which way they are going, and when.
Though sharing or receiving, and acting on, inside information for a single stock has earned high-profile individuals a few high-profile stretches in jail (Martha Stewart, for example), there isn't much in the way of precedent for going after those with inside information on the timing of tectonic shifts in the entire economy, and the timing of their reversal. Trillions of dollars were made and lost in the recent boomerang announcements of crippling tariffs, followed by their postponement. The opportunities for an insider for sudden wealth would be irresistible - assuming such an insider intended to resist in the first place. The person who can pull these economic strings would be in a position to make or break fortunes, and demand loyalty from the wealthiest people on the planet.
He has indeed learned a lesson - a lesson he intends to repeat over and over again, until he perfects it. He has nothing to lose. He's playing with house money.
Imagine, if you will ...
You wake up in a world in which this youngster, Anthony, is now the nation's leader. He has never been disciplined, and demands that his every whim be manifested in the world.
Where do these lost things go? Better to ask, what kind of Twilight Zone remains behind.
Like many Americans, I had not heard of Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde until she led the service at the National Cathedral on the day of the recent inauguration. And, though I admire her courage in speaking truth to power; and preaching kindness and mercy to one from whom it will be most needed, but is unlikely to be forthcoming.
But she is not New in this post, and this is not the first time she has used that office to show mercy where it is sorely needed. This post showed up in my feed this morning - and I find that I admire her even more.
There may be no time that offers a better window into the character of an individual, a leader, an organization, or a nation, than how they respond to an emergency.
It has been so gratifying to see communities around southern California, northern California, and throughout the west, from Oregon and Washington to Utah, and as far east as Houston Texas, respond to the tragic wildfires in Los Angeles in the spirit of shared humanity, and instinctive sacrifice and heroism. Resources from Canada, Mexico, and other nations have likewise joined the effort to ease the loss, and make these communities whole once again. Even Ukraine has offered to share from their hard-pressed resources to pay back a people they feel have done so much to protect them..
I have nothing but admiration for these men and women.
Then there are those who sit on the sidelines, contributing nothing, yet mercilessly critiquing those who help. They are like middle-aged football fans, who scream insults at their televisions, when an elite athlete can't quite haul in a down-field pass, then grunt like a swine as they haul their lard-asses out of their appropriately-named Lazy-Boys, to trudge off to the fridge for yet another beer.
Teddy Roosevelt spoke of these folks, and their shallow, lazy, meaningless critiques of 'doers' in his short piece, 'The Man in the Arena'
