This will be a difficult post to write. The challenge will be in trying not to let this

[Atticus]

devolve into a deluge of mindless profanity. I AM BEYOND PISSED! I AM LIVID, ENRAGED, "DO YOU FEEL LUCKY, PUNK?" PISSED!

We are now apparently in the process of smiling and nodding and tsk-tsking our way through forcing the Trump regime to return the children they have kidnapped from their parents. Trump's people so far have lied and dissembled and deflected and attempted to minimize the seriousness of the situation, but they have yet to comply with the damned FEDERAL COURT ORDER!

And, the thing that has me so het up is the very real prospect that the Trumpies are simply planning on falling back on one of their boss's favorite responses to any outrage: "So? What ya gonna do about it, huh?". And, here is where I must be careful.

I know what I would be capable of if someone had stolen my child and I knew where that person lived. I could not blame any parent for doing whatever they thought might recover their child. But, when we are talking about "blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh", anger may very easily overpower reason and people who have never before lashed out in violent unthinking rage---lash out in violent unthinking rage.

This is the powder keg Trump has created. Neither the children or their asylum-seeking parents should have to suffer this pain or endure this obcene separation. I'll close by simply saying that SOMEONE should have to pay a price for this if we are ever again to aspire to becoming a "just" society. At a minimum, that price should be loss of position and, if statutes were violated, jail time.

But, that's IF---IF---anyone in power gives a damn! I'm just no longer sure.

[drray23]

1. I agree.

At the very least some parents should sue the us government officials for kidnapping. Hopefully, some attorneys can help them do this pro-bono.

[olegramps]

36. This is what happens when you reduce people to the category of beasts.

This strategy has been employed since the beginning of time. Identify a group as a threat, dehumanize it and demonize it. The worst atrocities are justified to save the selected from contamination. The so-called Good Book is resplendent with examples of the justification of the subjection and destruction of "enemies of God" who would infect the chosen. For example Read Numbers 31 in which God Himself instructs his holy people to kill all the males of a tribe, including innocent babies and children, along with every woman except those proved to be virgins. The latter they regarded as spoils along with the plunder. I am surprised that some of these holy preachers haven't justified the same fate for these people they consider vermin.

[shraby]

2. I agree! There has to be huge penalties for kidnapping children. Big time

[Hortensis]

3. I agree. This vicious persecution is ILLEGAL and

we NEED to bring those involved to justice.

Further, all ICE and DHS personnel who are materially involved should be fired or demoted out of positions of authority. No getting away with participating in illegal and unethical atrocities against children and parents by claiming to have been following orders. No delegating power to harm to people who've proven unequal to using it ethically.

I have no opinion on dismantling ICE, but it would provide opportunity to get rid of a lot of proven bad eggs.

The national news has gone fairly quiet on the children right now, but local media in the 6 states I checked where children were taken are covering events there.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Waiting for the Cali Judge to sent in the Marshalls

and arrest these people.

[RandomAccess]

5. Well, have you contacted your MoC about it?

Call 24/7: 202-224-3121
Free Faxes (can incl up to 3 pages attached) to Senators: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php
Free Faxes (ditto) to Congress: https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php
TEXT your faxes: Text RESIST to 50409
Write your MoC - DEMOCRACY.IO https://democracy.io/#/


DEMAND things change. I know in my heart, if we allow this -- if we don't stop this outrage -- it'll be "the beginning" of the end. WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS ROUNDUP OF HUMAN BEINGS, not JUST the separation of families, but that too.

If you have Republicans -- DEMAND that they start forcing Trump to stop his lawlessness, and in particular, to get this immigration thing fixed, NOW. If you have Democrats, DEMAND they get tougher, speak up louder, make more noise and, ala John Lewis, more "necessary trouble."

They (Trumpers) are busy building infrastructure for internment. We all know that internment won't be limited to "those people."

[CozyMystery]

25. Demand things change?

So far, the content of my calls and emails has been ignored. Before I deleted my Twitter and Facebook accounts at the beginning of this year, my tweets and posts there were ignored, too. Not by other users, of course, but by the powers that be.

I think that the republicans are too deep in the lawlessness themselves to do anything about it.

It would be great if we had ethical, honest, and educated people running our governments, state and federal, and if we had the same kind of people running the businesses and other institutions. But we don't.

It would be especially fantastic if the government were actually run "for the people".

What is happening in this country makes me sick at heart. I am afraid the rot has sunk in too deep to be ameliorated in any meaningful way. I am waiting for November, and continuing to speak out to my government representatives. I am trying to educate people I talk to, and get a positive response only from non-MAGAs.

Because of my health, I cannot go to marches, but thankfully my children do, and I fully encourage them to do so.

[RandomAccess]

32. Yes, DEMAND

I seriously doubt your communications are being totally ignored. They'e not responding, but they DO get the message.

KEEP DOING IT.

If you don't, your sure to be ignored, by your own doing!
They take a tally or at least get a sense of when public opinion is with them or against them.

And even if you're really sure they don't, DO IT ANYWAY.

[CozyMystery]

33. Yes, of course I keep doing it. Hope springs eternal.

[BigmanPigman]

6. They won't comply because they lied and they DO NOT KNOW WHERE

THE KIDS ARE! They never planned to keep them together so now they are mixed up, lost missing what ever you want to call it. They spent 12 months finding locations for detention centers, they had business contracts for building and staffing the centers in many states, hired and trained staff for taking the families apart and shipping them throughout the US with no identification. They were very efficient doing this because they never intended to keep families together. These are not people to the eyes of Nazi Stephen Miller and his 3rd Reich monsters.

[smirkymonkey]

21. This is just so cruel and unreal to me. I almost can't get my mind around it.

I get tears in my eyes when I think of all those poor children separated from their parents and vice versa. How traumatized they all must be because of some racist, evil people in our government who decide that they were less than human and proceeded to completely fuck up their lives. I so want justice for this. I want the people responsible to pay dearly for this!

[BigmanPigman]

23. I saw a mother reunited with her small daughter on the news

today and both were in tears. I joined them . The little girl made me smile though. I was a first grade teacher until a few years ago and got too sick to teach but I know children and their behavior fairly well. The little girl was hugging her mom and her eyes were on something else in the room. Her mom noticed that she was distracted and it turned out that there was a dollhouse on the floor in the room during the reunion. The mom told her the toy was for her to keep and she snatched it up right away. The little girl and her mom will be fine. Now it is the other over 2000 children who do not see a happy ending in their futures that I am worried for. There never was a plan to reunite them since they aren't even considered people by Stephen Miller and his fellow Nazis.

[CozyMystery]

26. They are in it for the money.

A side benefit is that the MAGAs are happy that no one in his or her right mind would immigrate here. Truly desperate people who would benefit the country (IMO) and be saved from horrible crimes being perpetrated against them don't matter. Because if they were the type of people we want here, they would have been able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and stayed in their own countries. If the potential immigrants can't do that, then they don't deserve to live. They are like cockroaches.

Our governments (state and federal) spend a whole lot of time hurting people instead of helping them, including but not limited to our own citizens.

Whatever Trump's approval rating is, it is too large. That fact alone makes me want to leave the country and become a citizen somewhere else.

But if enough of us did (or could do) that ... our beloved country would be left in the hands of its tormenters.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. The Trump Child Abductions are 1) for DeVos profit, 2) racist, 3) purposely harming children

Sadists purposely harm children to make parents suffer. That is the stated intention of the Trump Child Abductions, by tRump and Sessions and Miller, to deter immigrants.

[AlexSFCA]

8. who is going to enforce this federal court order?

they are legalizing child trafficking by setting these precedents. Every day a norm is broken. The constitution is only as good as judges who interpret it.

[Kajun Gal]

9. They have no clue where some of these children are. What have they done?

[notdarkyet]

14. They have deliberately obscured where the children are,shredding documents so they can claim

They don’t know who belongs where.

[katmondoo]

34. Someone should break into some of these holding centers and see just what is going on

I can't believe no one of authority is allowed to check on these children. Not even a court ruling. What has happened to us?

[heaven05]

10. I agree

the pain and anguish this fool has caused to thousands....perfect for what has ALWAYS lain right under thew thin veneer of civility and democracy, justice, equality ameriKKKa always faked.

[spanone]

11. K&R...

[byronius]

12. Every last person involved in this hideous act must suffer for it.

[apkhgp]

13. In my humble opinion

You do not have to be so restrained, although I understand why you need to be restrained. Saying more than four or five words correctly is hard when you are pissed all the time. Like 45, and you do not want to be like him.

I nominate that asshole Stephen Miller to be fired, kicked out, let go. From what I understand he is the piece of scum that devised this terrible fiasco.

[Honeycombe8]

15. I am beyond anguished over this situation.

The poor children. Okay, blame the parents, if some want, since they chose to make the trip, for whatever reason. But there is never any reason to be cruel or inhumane to children. Ever.

[Still In Wisconsin]

16. The family separations were carried out with the intent of inflicting maximum pain.

TRUMP himself is an honest-to-God sadist, and we all know which way shit flows...downhill, always. The administration has no intent of re-uniting anybody. They're just hoping the next TRUMP outrage will get everyone's minds off of these kids and their parents.

[McCamy Taylor]

17. You have to ask why they have not been returned.

It can not be simply to make the Stormfront base happy. The Stormfront base wants the kids sent home.

If they have not returned the kids it is because 1) they are afraid that the kids will tell stories of mistreatment 2) the littlest ones have already been sold to adopted parents who will not give them back and 3) Trump donors paid good money to "foster" these kids for $700 a night.

[lsewpershad]

18. Can a possible remedy

be charging Trump and who facilitated him to abduct people's children for abductionm? Any country can hold them when they travel or something

[BarbD]

19. Find the children!

This should be the mantra and the primary objective. The entire situation is deplorable, but why should we be surprised over an administration that is only interested in making money from the vulnerable.

I don't know about anyone else, but I have nightmares about the suffering of these kids.

We must have congressional hearings. Trump and friends must be held accountable.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

20. My heart is breaking over this

My soul is in Hell. We all allowed this to happen by not bringing this nation to a screeching halt when this began. We were all "worried" and "concerned" and watching to see how this would unfold. Who are we kidding here ? Nobody thought this was going to go anywhere except right where it is.

These children have been ripped from their parents' arms, screaming and terrified. We are talking about babies, infants here. Some of them were still breast-feeding. They were then put in cages like animals all over this country. Hidden away in warehouses, closed-up storefronts, abandoned buildings, out of the way, off the grid. Now there is talk of putting these children on military bases, where no one will be able to see them, talk to them or monitor their living conditions.

Some children, as young as three years old, who may not even speak English, have been forced to testify in immigration court hearings, in their own defense, as no counsel has been provided to them, standing before judges, forced to "explain themselves" and justify why they should not be deported.

The children that have been reunited with their parents are shell-shocked and traumatized. They are filthy (as they have not been bathed), covered in lice, malnourished and fouled in their own excrement. Some are now fighting infections and disease, as there was NO medical treatment accorded these children. Some are bruised. No one is talking about the conditions or situations in which some of these children have been exposed. Are you keeping up ?

There was NEVER any plan by this administration to take care of these children or EVER return them to their parents.

If another country had treated American children in this fashion, we'd have nuked them back to the pre-Cambrian era by noon.

Are we so numb, complacent, blinded that we cannot see what is happening to the United States ?

WHAT IN THE BLUE FUCK HAS HAPPENED TO THIS COUNTRY ??? TO US ??

It is NOT enough to "grab 'em by the midterms." We MUST stand up RIGHT FUCKING NOW and stop this barbaric debauchery that is occurring in our names.

I have cried and screamed my way through the last two weeks. It's been longer since I've had a decent night's sleep.

I did NOT wear the uniform of this nation to watch my country turn into a regressive, medieval, brutal dictatorship, where the lives of innocent children mean nothing. What is going on right now is in direct opposition to EVERYTHING this country has ever stood for for over 235 years.

If you're not OUTRAGED, you're not breathing.

THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE. BUT IT IS WHAT WE HAVE ALLOWED OURSELVES TO BECOME.


I wish I had the courage to kill myself right now, because that is how desperate I feel and how little respect I have for myself anymore. Or for this nation.

Over and out.

[UCmeNdc]

22. Agree! Trump dares you to complain about his conduct!

Trump believes he is above the law. He is the great Donald Trump.

[Garrett78]

24. There's a Jiddu Krishnamurti quote that keeps coming to mind lately:

"It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

Thousands of children have been kidnapped, and people are profiting off of those kidnappings (and profiting off of detaining the asylum-seeking parents). A presidential candidate bragged - bragged - openly about sexual assault and was still taken seriously (so much so that he -- with help from Russia, the media and James Comey -- became president*). That same individual is an overt bigot with a history of discriminating in his business practices, has never released his tax returns, and lies every time he opens his mouth. That same individual is violating numerous laws (the Flores settlement, the emoluments clause, the federal records law about contact with world leaders, etc.) and getting away with it. Republicans are cozying up to ruthless dictators and alienating allies. The infotainment industry or mainstream media, from which most people get news, is highly irresponsible (promoting false equivalencies/both-sideism and the notion that every statement is an equally valid opinion--there are no facts, there are no lies, there are only opinions).

And so much more. Meanwhile, that president* I mentioned has an approval rating of 40+ percent. And -- after all he's done and said that would have had predecessors impeached -- his endorsement carries enormous weight within his party, while opposing him is a death knell if you are a Republican seeking office. As crazy as it seems to those of us who are sane, candidates in Republican primaries are more likely to win if they have Trump's endorsement and more likely to lose if they don't.

One can't not be outraged and horrified, unless one is very sick in the head. Clearly, though, many are sick in the head.

Sexism and racism (the driving force behind Trump's immigration policy and the support for it) are like diseases of the mind. *Note: some will want to include xenophobia, but Trumpies are specifically afraid of -- or hateful toward -- a certain type of foreigner (i.e., those with brown skin). So, what I mean to say is that we have a pandemic in this country. If not for that pandemic, support for right wing economic policy, right wing health care policy, right wing environmental policy (and so on) would all but disappear. In other words, the Republican Party would cease to be viable.

November can't come soon enough, and I can't bear the thought that the election won't go our way...the alternative is much, much too frightening. So, I will do what I can this fall to help with GOTV efforts, though I live in a district in which my Democratic Rep. will win by 50 points (as he has every other time he's faced the same opponent). And I fully support the public shaming of evil people, for this is not about mere "political differences," as I wrote about here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210801327.

[vlyons]

27. I know what you are implying, and you don't want to go there

The last thing you need is the Secret Service showing up at your house. So please just calm down. We all of us have been upset over Trump's cruel policy of stealing kids and putting them in cages. Anger is a very powerful emotion. It can make people think, say, and do stupid things, or ...it can be a sharp, clear focused energy on what to do about a bad situation. Anger can help us to see clearly how best to go forward given a bad situation.

Trump is going to foot-drag for many more weeks. We might as well be resigned to that fact. But continue continue to struggle against it in our own way. The main thing is to stay focused on voting a straight Dem ticket in Nov. Only if we take the House, can we begin to stop and turn this monstrosity around. We must all practice patience, encourage each other to stay calm and strong.

[Atticus]

28. I know you mean well, but being "resigned" to the facts as they are is EXACTLY how

these monsters want us to react. In fact, they are depending on it. It is time to "color outside the lines", IMHO.

If we just put ourselves---emotionally---in the skin of one of these poor scared and desperate parents, it is damned hard to be "patient".

[vlyons]

30. Perhaps I didn't express myself clearly enough

Resigned to the fact that we cannot change assholes from being assholes. We cannot change Trump into a decent human being. We can't change other people. I can only change myself. But that does not mean that we must be resigned to allowing the consequences of an asshole's actions to remain unchallenged, unopposed. We are not powerless. Patience is a great noble and powerful virtue. Think about the patience required for the Allied forces to get ready to invade France on D-Day. That took a year. Think about the patience required for Washington's troops to endure the hardships of a winter with no food in Valley Forge. Think about the patient require to teach a child with a learning disability. Patience doesn't mean weakness. One must have great courage to maintain patient and enthusiastic perseverance in the pursuit of righting a wrong.

[Atticus]

31. Fair enough. I claim no superior insight or wisdom. I only know that SOMETIMES "be patient"

is just another way of saying "let's keep our powder dry" and that nag was ridden to death long ago. The folks who shut down the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago yesterday decided they could no longer be patient and they disobeyed the law and pissed off lots of people. I applaud them and am grateful to them.

[secondwind]

29. Betsy DeVos knows more than she's letting on.

Several of these “shelters” are very Evangelical. The babies and toddlers are being shuttled off to “good Christian homes”

[dhill926]

37. I agree....

some very, very dark shit going on here....I hope the truth will come out eventually, but I ain't holding my breath...

[ancianita]

35. Jail time for every agency head that took those kids when HHS gave them to them.

Jail time for every HHS official along the borders who gave the orders to take those kids, on ANY pretext, from their parents.

Jail time until all 6,000 kids are returned to their parents.

Watch how fast things happen.

[lunatica]

38. This has put iron into my backbone too

I will never bend in my fight against Trump and his supporters. No amount of good deeds (as if!) will change my mind. To the day I die I will never concede that Trump OR his base are worthy of praise in a single thing. My response will be to recall these vile child abductions and how they cheered them on.