Conway praises Trump for getting all-girl Afghan robotics team to United States. Critics disagree.

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




By Kristine Phillips July 15 at 4:07 PM

President Trump's last-minute intervention allowed an all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan to come to the United States. More important, it enabled the high schoolers to achieve what few female Afghans are able to: represent their country on an international stage.

Trump's involvement drew praise from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who said in a tweet Saturday morning that while others talk, the president acts. But critics pointed out that selectively allowing a small group of people to come to the United States, while denying many others, is not deserving of credit.

Link to tweet

In response to Conway's tweet, Paul Musgrave, an international relations expert who teaches political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said, “Selective enforcement of laws and displays of 'mercy' are monarchical, not democratic, tendencies.”

Link to tweet

He told The Washington Post that while Trump did the right thing, “making an exception here and there for people who are particularly charismatic and particularly visible” is indicative of an administration that takes action because popular opinion, not rational policy, necessitates doing so. “Think about all the other charismatic groups that we haven't had this kind of mobilization about. Conway's tweet is in this vein of the good president saving innocent people from the government. Well, if he cares that much about these young women, what is he doing to make sure that we have a just process in place for all the many thousands of people affected by his other policies?” Musgrave said, referring to the Trump administration's travel ban, which places restrictions on people from six predominantly Muslim countries. Afghanistan is not among those countries.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/15/conway-praises-trump-for-getting-all-girl-afghan-robotics-team-to-u-s-critics-disagree

[turbinetree]

1. Hang on everyone the Vanilla Queen is speaking

her accolades of BS

[riversedge]

2. let them in on parole, ummm. wasn't the Russian lawyer granted a parole also.??

I think so but can not quite remember. Anyway, in her case, it had nothing to do with Loretta Lynch (DOJ) as the RW keeps repeating over and over and.....





.............As their case gained attention, Trump intervened by asking National Security Council officials to find a way for them to travel, officials said. Ultimately the State Department, which adjudicates visa applications, asked the Homeland Security Department to let them in on “parole,” a temporary status used only in exceptional circumstances to let in someone who is otherwise ineligible to enter the country. The U.S. granted parole after determining that it constituted a “significant public benefit.”

Ambassador Alice Wells, the acting U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, downplayed concerns that the girls might use the parole to stay in the U.S. or go to Canada. As she drove to the airport to greet the girls, she said by phone that they were proud to represent Afghanistan and “proud to return to be role models to others around them.”

Competing against entrants from more than 150 countries, the girls will present a robot they devised that can recognize blue and orange and sort balls into correct locations. They’ll also be feted at a hastily arranged reception at the Embassy of Afghanistan attended by supporters who had petitioned the U.S. to let them in.

The Taliban, ousted by the U.S.-led coalition in 2001, denied schooling to girls when they ruled the war-torn country. Wells said that since 2002, the number of Afghan children attending school has increased from about 900,000 — virtually all boys — to 9 million today including 40 percent girls.

[Gothmog]

3. Trump's muslim ban was the reason why these young ladies had issues in the first place

[dflprincess]

4. Afghanistan is not part of the ban

Personally I think this was a scam. First sent the girls entry then Trump steps in and looks like the good guy.

[Rollo]

5. The US Presidency is, by definition, a monarchy...

An elected, constitutional monarchy, but a monarchy nonetheless.

Look it up.

It's a monarchy because it holds the powers of head of state, commander-in-chief, and chief executive all in one individual.

The American president is a more powerful monarch than, say, the Queen of England, who must defer to Parliament on virtually all matters aside from running her royal household. There are formalities, such as accepting someone as Prime Minister, but these are largely ceremonial and the British monarch cannot go against the wishes of Parliament without running the real risk of being deposed.

The saving grace for the American monarch, the President, is that this individual is elected, albeit by a somewhat inequitable and archaic process (Electoral College). However when the integrity of this electoral process is violated, this runs the real risk of turning the American presidency into a dictatorship, and that is precisely why the whole Russia scandal won't and should not go away until it is either shown to be false, or proven to be true and proper remedies (like impeachment and conviction) are effected.

[broadcaster90210]

6. Once. When I represented a serial killer ...

At the sentencing phase I paraded neighbors in front of the jury who testified about all the wonderful things he did for them , ie, the lawn, car repair, painting, errands, etc. None of it made him any less a serial killer.

[erpowers]

7. Praising The Mugger Who Broke Someone's Leg

Kellyanne Conway praising Donald Trump for helping the Afghanistan girls science team to get into the country so they could participate in a robotics competition is like praising a mugger for paying for a victims medical bills after braking that person's leg. Just as the victim would not be in the hospital if not for the mugger, those girls would not have needed help getting into the country if not for Trump's travel ban.

[dogandturtlemom]

8. Afghan Robotics team

Trump only decided to let the team come because many of us signed petitions and wrote letters. He has no compassion, but we the people welcome international friendships and support education, particularly supporting women! Trump took credit for this to look good, not to do good.

[MyOwnPeace]

9. Sorry, D&T,

I really appreciate and encourage your support/activism for the right thing, but there's NO WAY Orange Cheat-o and his family/gang made this move because of your petitions/letters.
If it truly worked, we should be doing the same for him to resign!

PS: REALLY, I'm not saying it to be mean, but you're assuming they have a heart and conscience - they don't!

[apkhgp]

10. Kellyanne

This just might be a name that goes down meaning
blithering idiot or
one who talks and talks or
one who you just can't stand