Special Report: Migrant Detention Centers

I was in Representative Anna Eshoo’s district for years. Met her at a chili cook-off, she had a formal reserve that didn’t quite fit the situation but I felt a dedication and sincerity that made me feel OK about her as my representative in Congress.

Subsequently she became a member of the US National Security Council. I remembered her sober visage at the chili cook-off and nodded, “yep, that fits.” Unfortunately, the 2nd Bush administration did a total end-around of her committee and the NSA authorized a “splitter” that diverted a copy of all AT&T Internet traffic to the fifth floor of their building in San Francisco, where the NSA scanned all email traffic for key words. [email addresses with sbcglobal.net and yahoo.com we’re all scanned for key words associated with terrorism]

She was rightfully incensed. And her response to constituents expressed her outrage and I realized that her respect for the Constitution, rule of law, and moral and ethical principals was and is strong, intent and intact.

I’m extremely, even desperately saddened by atrocities committed by my nation, in my name, as it were. Unwilling to ascribe unflinching veracity to any modern media source regarding the migrants in crisis at our border, I quickly realized that actual quotations from witnesses, while “hearsay” in the classical sense of the word, nevertheless indicated that a more than tragic, systemic mistreatment of refugees and asylum seekers at our southern border was and is taking place.

Recently (July 18, 2019) I received an email describing California Representative Eshoo’s visit to the border. I regard her as an unimpeachable witness. Here then is an account you can trust.

It begs the question, “what must we, what can we possibly do?” I have a scornful, wary respect for the machinations of our rogue “Republican” government. I fear reprisals for those who become obvious in their opposition to the despotic methodologies presently being explored by the burgeoning corporate oligarchy. But silence and inaction is no longer possible. Thank God for Anna Eshoo, and other elected officials who are not self-serving shills, who prefer to provide honest, truthful leadership and serve their constituents well.

https://iqconnect.lmhostediq.com/iqextranet/view_newsletter.aspx?id=198074&c=CA18AE

If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!

———————————————————

  NBC News, August 9, 2019, “What ICE did and did not do for kids left behind by Mississippi raids:”

...The Mississippi raids swept up almost 700 workers. Because of the lack of preparation for the impact of missing parents, local authorities had to improvise. One school district said it instructed bus drivers to make sure they saw a parent or a guardian at the bus stop before dropping off a child. In that district, children without parents at home were taken back to school to spend the night.

   "What I saw was traumatic, painful," said Elizabeth Iraheta, who witnessed the raid on a food processing plant where she works in Morton. "I'm thinking of the separated families, fathers and mothers deported, children left alone because their parents were arrested."

———————————————————

   But who read this article, who heard this story, who saw a video or TV broadcast? Here we are, in the 21st century, with the greatest communication technology ever conceived! But rather than experience the illumination of knowledge, too many of us choose the titillation of attitude reinforcement, the triviality of games, the ignorance of political agnostics.

   “Big data” brings us information tailored to our prior preference, no chance for challenge, introspection or growth. Information true or false, fact or fiction, filtered through the sieve of our own preference and prejudice. The decanting of these media reflections of our present and prior self takes place in “information silos,” and there is no impetus to inform, clarify or educate, only to count clicks and click-throughs, monetization with no regard for quality of information.

  We are faced with a supreme irony: the technology that once seemed destined to liberate us is instead allowed to divide, anger and inflame - placate,  obfuscate and misinform. The early days of radio, the advent of the public address system enabled the rise of Hitler. Make no mistake, we are now witnessing the power of the “narrowcast” to once again spawn a regime based on hatred and objectification of other humans based on racial and regional differences. So handy to blame “them.” So easy to cast doubt on the reports of our atrocities. And the president himself is a self-avowed student of dictatorial history and techniques.

   The citizens of the US, and the world, are being impoverished by the onslaught of the corporate mentality, and soulless governmental enablers lacking in empathy are their “bottle boys.” Congressional opportunists using their position to gather wealth and notoriety are nothing but pimps and procurers for the 1%. They couldn’t care less that their penchant for self enrichment contains the seeds of destruction for American democracy, and indeed the whole of planet Earth.

   As the vise tightens on the citizenry there is less opposition - we’re too busy trying to make a living and simply enjoy our life. The purpose of a government is to insure and promote the liberty and security of the populace. Instead we see a facade of pseudo-concern and a studied semantic dance hiding a steady dismantling of hard won benefits and protections. The anti-hero who was to rescue us from the political swamps and lift us up from decline is the worst monster yet, ascending from the depths of failed real estate deals, a fornicator making his smarmy way to the top riding the cult of his own ego.

   The evening news is rightfully concerned with the recent cluster of mass shootings - Gilroy, El Paso, Dayton - and evidence attributes these murders to a climate of hate attributable to or at the least not discouraged by presidential rhetoric. A sinful misuse of the bully pulpit. New meaning for an old phrase: It’s the bully’s pulpit now, and he uses it for self-aggrandizing, creating confusion and reinforcing his demographics. Is he helping the farmers? Bringing jobs back? Improving health care? America, we’re being robbed. Nothing delivered but distraction and inaction.

    We are being victimized by the greatest political con job ever, a study 75 years in the making. Redefining words that describe higher ideals: liberal, democrat, socialist - and turning them into scornful epithets. Embracing the politics of division as a convenience to assure reelection. Removing societal safeguards to ease cost requirements for industries, providing tax breaks for corporations and the rich. All the above, bad enough! But If you want to understand the true nature of the self-righteous, just listen to their accusations and realize they are revealing their own mental makeup, the contents of their own mind, their own dark methodologies. And the worst sin of today’s power elite is encouraging and employing a scornful misapplication of law enforcement power.

   Nights of unrest in Ferguson, amused inaction in Charlottesville, family separation and inhumane conditions at the southern border. Acting in our name, our government is perpetrating unnecessary cruelty and defiling America’s reputation in the eyes of the world. And on Wednesday, August 7, 2019 our nation consciously and cruelly chose the first day of school to round up and harass suspected violators of immigration laws in Mississippi, leaving distraught children stranded with no understanding of where their parents had disappeared to.

   The callousness and evil implicit in the planning and timing of this ICE roundup is no less than diabolical. We should be crying out against this heartless and conscious effort to disrupt and sadden innocent lives! And for what? To exemplify the mental anguish and pain of the affected families and children, to discourage immigration and thoughts of asylum? This is power run amok. There is some conjecture and concern that our president is indeed mentally ill, and the evidence is mounting. The August 7 ICE police action leads one to imagine a heartless villain plotting maximum heartache and cackling with satisfaction at the effect of his nefarious deeds. 

   The evil we have just witnessed is not only diabolical, but preventable - and provocative! It is a challenge to those who believe in moral and ethical principles. There was no kindness, no respect for human dignity in this action. It runs against every noble quality America has been known for. People of good conscience everywhere must now stand and decry this administration’s studied application of acts of cruelty. Atrocities are being committed in our name. This is inflicting pain for political expediency. If we let this action slide without recognizing it for what it is - torture! - we will surely see more. It’s a provocation and a probe to see if we have become numb, disconsolate and too tired to respond.

   And it’s a test to see if the modern media’s segmented delivery of information is able to shade ever more unconscionable acts of despotism. It’s time to stand for what we know is right, to prevent heartless acts of violence and cruelty and restore the highest ideals of humanity as our credo.

  "Help ever, hurt never"

“The Mask” in orange...

“Somebody stop me!”

Donald Trump is “The Mask” in orange!

We don’t learn from history! The fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Hitler in Germany - both are applicable today. We have a narcissistic incompetent as our president. With complicity from the gloating power hungry, thinly veiled libertarians who hijacked the Republican Party our nation is heading for a come-uppance.

We had a cautious detente with Iran, tore up the nuclear treaty and proceeded to crush their citizenry with sanctions. Their leaders still remember the CIA deposing Premier Mossadeq and reinstalling Shah Pahlavi in 1953. Under the umbrella of our endless war against “terror” we are insulting our European allies and antagonizing Iranian leadership into a shooting war.

Trump’s love for the despot playbook has him linking arms with Kim Jong Un - as if admiration for the tyrant would halt North Korea’s march to nuclear weaponry and more effective missiles. Even the bellicose security adviser John Bolton seems placated while the threat of attack on the Pacific Coast is growing.

The threat of world-wide economic recession is now being exacerbated by Trump’s tirades and hastily imposed tariffs. The best response to China’s growing tech prowess and our trade deficit would be to increase US efficiency, r&d and education.

The lessons of history teach us that increasing empire and squandering a nation’s wealth on armament and troops are precursors to social and economic collapse. $738 billion for defense in 2020 while supposed fiscal conservatives lay down rather than risk presidential ire and the possibility of bad press in their home districts. We should be eliminating waste and performing intelligent cost reductions and working in concert with the rest of earth’s nations to save the planet rather than thoughtlessly expanding our overly bellicose global military presence.

Domestically we are plagued by deep division due to the approximately 75 year history of far right propaganda and libertarian subterfuge. Gerrymandering, voter role purges, restrictive identification requirements and ballot tampering are accelerating. Blatant racist appeals are inciting violence. Police agencies are increasingly militarized and the dangers of the profession made worse by intransigence on the subject of weapons control. We have allowed our local constabularies a gestapo like stance with close to blanket pardons for murder behind the badge.

The present need for giant campaign funds to guarantee election has led to legislators who are beholden to lobbyists and business interests. Tax cuts for the wealthy, offshore shelters for cash and profits, bank and corporate malfeasance have drained the populace of discretionary income. Medical care as a profit seeking enterprise, price gouging on services and prescriptions - and still the right-wingers seek the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and continue to tie that favorable legislation to the negativity of the president’s scorn for former president Barack Obama.

The US has wasted a great opportunity by pillaging South America with the economic aggression and theft of colonialism. We supported right wing dictators, connived to remove benign heads of state starting with President Arbenz of Guatemala in a 1954 CIA coup. In the 80s our violent policies in San Salvador created the dreaded MS13 gang, and when gang members migrated here we imprisoned them. Gangs convert other prisoners, the problem is replicated and amplified in ghettos created by US racism and denial of educational resources to communities of color, then when the problem grows we deport these US made criminals who then ravage the countries they came from. Now that thousands of innocents are fleeing the countries we ruined through years of neglect and exploitation our president denigrates and imprisons asylum seekers, shaming our country in the eyes of the world.

It’s time to halt the destruction. Even if the morally bankrupt Republicans in the Senate would fail to convict, we must begin impeachment proceedings! It won’t be easy to undo 75 years of right wing subterfuge, the semantic efforts to create negative signal reactions to previously benign concepts like liberalism, social welfare, public assistance, secular education and the entrenched insularity of libertarian institutions dedicated to rewriting the Constitution. But the present administration is dismantling centuries of humanitarian progress while the populace is distracted with the presidential bully’s public outbursts and transparent didactic appeals to the immoralities of hatred and violence. And the largely tacit response to his history of predatory sexual violence by his political party and the American press needs to be checked as well.