Family Separation and Detention...
In April 2018, Attorney General Sessions announced a “zero tolerance” policy under which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will refer all migrants who enter the U.S. without authorization to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal prosecution. This policy expands “Operation Streamline,” a program which began in 2005.
As a result of the zero tolerance policy, the government separated more than 2000 children from their parents at the border during the period of mid-April to June. Since children cannot be held in criminal detention, the children are designated as “unaccompanied alien children” and placed in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). ORR places the children in shelters until they are released to a family member, guardian, or foster family.
Family detention is not the answer to family separation. It's a failure and a disgrace. Asylum seekers are fleeing chilling violence and threats. They deserve help, not inhumane, sometimes terrifying treatment at family detention centers.
and on FaceBorg, SG Asked:
WHY IS fox news Allowed To lie, Deceive, and Promote Murder???
and JB Said:
All news outlets are allowed to lie according to the 1996 Telecommunications Act (Media Deregulation Act) Bill Clinton signed into law. That saw the birth of Fox News and all other corporate news channel’s becoming Advertising Arms of Corporate Interests rather than Objective News Providers. CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc all lie to promote their corporate interests of choice.
and I Replied:
It's entertainment... NOT NEWS... Fiction Shows often have Strange Events - Witchcraft - REDRUM - Kidnapping etc etc etc
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and then SC Said:
How in the world can nuclear power reactors be considered clean and safe sources of electricity?
.
For the first time in history, six nuclear reactors and thirty-seven years’ worth of high-level nuclear waste are in the middle of a battlefield in an active war zone—one artillery shell, on site or off, could interrupt the control and cooling of the operational reactor, or the cooling of the waste in storage, leading to a catastrophic release of radiation that could spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. https://progressive.org/magazine/its-all-about-the-bomb-meyer/
And I Replied:
Uranium Fission Reactors are a Great way to make Plutonium used to make the Atom Bomb. Thorium does not do that.
A Vote for Trump is a Vote for Four More Years of Total Failure - Everybody Says that Trump was the Worst President Ever... His Big Accomplishments Were the Tax Cuts for the Rich Law, the Help Crazy People Buy Guns Law. H.J. RES 40 and The Trade War With China... Which Hurt American Farmers and Consumers but Helped China get Great Grain Deals with Russia... All Three Actions Made America Worse... and While it is True That He was a Disaster... Some Say George Bush the Son was Worse! After all, He Allowed 9/11 to Happen and then Started TWO Crazy Wars... Where Millions Died for No Reason... Remember: Neither Iraq or Afghanistan had anything to do with The Events of 9/11... That was a Saudi Arabian Action... Osama bin Laden Was a Saudi and 14 out of 19 Hijackers were Saudis...George Bush the Son: "OOPS, I BLEW UP THE WRONG COUNTRY!"
So, I went to church today...
It was great! I'm still agnostic right now, but it was nice to be able to spend a Sunday in Church hearing the teachings and prayers and songs and not feeling like I didn't belong or was in a hostile environment. I was able to listen and interpret things in my own way. I never, ever thought I could do that.
I mean, this is a BIG church in the city center with the rotunda, steeple, bell, organs, the whole nine yards, and yet they hoisted a pride flag, the pastor spoke up against the fascist forces that attacked Old Nick's Pub in October, they had pronoun pins that people as old as 80, 90 years old gleefully wore, and they even had a MLK Jr painting on the whole backside. That's what more churches should aspire to.
I honestly hope to be able to share more experiences like that in other religious places as well. I'm very interested in religion. I'm not against atheism, but I'm not against religion. Religion has its place (which is always outside of government). It can fill you with hope, joy and determination if you let it. However, religion is inaccessible to a lot of folks because it hasn't progressed everywhere. Hopefully God or whatever divinity or spirituality the people of the world have will lead them to see how we've done things wrong in the past, how to raise their level of consciousness in the present and how to manifest peace and justice in the world into the future.
and DB Replied:
Good for you! Decades ago I joined in a church so that I could sing in the choir. I loved their acceptance of LBTQ people. Our choir conductor was a woman with a female partner, top notch choir too. Our organist was an openly gay man who married his female wife before he understood that his sexual preference was for men and stayed married because he loved his wife and they had some kind of mutual understanding. I felt that church accepted people for who they are and also openly respected other religions. The pastor would preach from the Bible and also bring up what the Buddha had to say about the same thing. The woman’s group incorporated some nice Wicca rituals at times. It was a good group of people. I don’t consider myself a Christian but like it when a church follows the words of Jesus which are about love,acceptance and forgiveness.
and I Said:
We broadcast the service online so those of us who do not live in San Francisco can listen... Often I Find Wisdom in What Vanessa Says... or At Least Something to Think About... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SuxiXNZBBI
and NOW, Psychedelic Art! by gvan42