The Summer of ’69

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, the first men to land on the moon, plant the U.S. flag on the lunar surface, July 20, 1969. Photo was made by a 16mm movie camera inside the lunar module, shooting at one frame per second. (Nasa via AP)

50 years ago tomorrow.  I was standing there in the living room in front of the one and only TV in the house, in Warsaw, Virginia, in my parents’ home.  I was a recent college graduate, just filling in the summer with a  Headstart teaching gig, before coming to Prince William County permanently, to teach.

My brothers and I stood there, watching in total amazement as Armstrong and Aldrin “moon-walked,” a term that was yet to become part of our vocabulary.  We had al held our breath as the eagle silently landed on the surface of the moon, with mission control updating us as to what was really going on.  “The man in the moon” had been something said to me since childhood. Now there really were 3 men on the moon–a slight variation of that childhood expression.

Little did I know that I would be sitting here with my own computer, 2 cell phones thousands of times more powerful than those who put those men on the moon, and that I would be going by my blog name, Moon-Howler.

Today, only Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins are still alive.  Yet, that trip was miraculously amazing.  If you missed “Chasing the Moon” on PBS, it was extremely well done.  This American Experience production showed this country’s participation in the space race, geeky stuff and all.  You can watch it on your computer if you missed it.

So the Summer of 1969 was quite a summer.  The moon landing, Woodstock, the Manson murders, the Stonewall riots, Chappaquiddick, and the trans am making its first appearance. Tricky Dick was in the White House.  (Oddly enough, I didn’t hate the man.  Before I found out how corrupt he was, he did some decent, progressive things for the country.)  Of course, I had my cute little blue Camaro.  Oh I absolutely thought I was hot stuff in that sweet little car.

50 years later, I am supremely disappointed in my country.   Students aren’t rioting in the streets but crowds are filling up stadiums chanting “Send her back” at the president they elected, who happens to be the most morally bankrupt, corrupt, unqualified person to hold that office in my lifetime.  Where is all of this going?  Time will tell.  In 50 years, I would have thought this country would do better, be better, think better.  We have children and refugees being held in detention centers at our border.  We are not a shining city on a hill.  We aren’t representing American values.  We are in a war that has gone on nearly 2 decades.  Where is the outcry?

Please enjoy Summer of 69.  Perhaps it will take us back to better days, although I never thought I would say 1969 was a better year.

enjoy, Love, Moon- the howler

The Atrocity at Silver Lake–

 

I refer everyone to The Derecho blog spot for the full story.  The Derecho has provided excellent coverage of this horrible event, to take place next weekend.  He has included pictures and has walked the Silver Lake Park for miles, just documenting this bi-partisan outrage.

Most of us hold each of the supervisors responsible for allowing our parkland to be decimated.  (Mr. Victor was not in office when the contract was signed so he gets a pass)

This same county wants to float a bond this year for an indoor sporting area.  I think I will just vote NO.  The county made promises about Silver Lake that they have never kept.  Now, they not only haven’t provided the stewardship for Silver Lake but they also signed a contract for 4 years to allow it to be man-handled and misused.  The Lake area is already being partially destroyed, never to be returned to its pre-tough mudder state.  Trees have been cut down, trenches dug, pits excavated, and land transformed.

To those who loved Silver Lake, the death knell has rung.  Giving the OK to this event has to be just shit-for-brains stupid on every level.  Where is/was the oversight?  Prince William makes no money off of this misadventure.  Just another stupid political move by people who have no understanding of how to treat land designated for public use.  Poor governance.

Bat.Shit.Stupid.

 

Memorial Day, 2019

Memorial Day, 2019, by George Harris

Today marks my 85th Memorial Day.  But, of course, I really don’t remember much about the first few, although there are people who would swear I am old enough to remember the first one that apparently took place in1868 when it was known as Decoration Day.  This was the day when the graves of those who died in the service of our Nation were decorated.  A hundred years later, Decoration Day and three other holidays were juggled around to provide long weekends for all and the name was changed to Memorial Day.  Now we mostly celebrate the sales and long weekends these holidays bring.

Today our young men and women find themselves in the far corners of the world, in places some folks can’t even find on a map.  They are supposedly there as “advisors” but more often than not they find themselves locked in mortal combat with a relentless enemy bent on destroying them.  And at other times they are attacked by those they considered to be friendly but alas they turn out to be wolves who have found their way in with the sole mission of killing the “enemy”, our young men and women.

Memorial Day continues to be an important day since we continue to be engaged in the war-the longest war in our history with the exception of our War on Drugs, which has been going on for something on the order of a half century.  Most everyone who reads these meager words surely knows someone who was a casualty of one of these wars.  I have been fortunate to have never lost anyone to the drug war but lost friends in some of the other wars beginning with World War II and on through to today.  In my time in Vietnam, I was unfortunate enough to see the light go out of the eyes of young men who were savaged by that war.  It is a sight and memory that are still with me after more than a half-century.  Once during an oral history session, the historian asked me what I would most remember about Vietnam and without blinking an eye I replied, “The smell of blood.”  It stays with you for the rest or your life.

Our president has chosen to invalidate the Iran Nuclear Agreement, an agreement reached in 2015 between the Islamic Republic of Iran and a group of world powers:  the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China, Germany and the European Union.  Now John Bolton, his National Security Advisor is strongly encouraging him to declare war on Iran.  Although the president denies it, it is reported that plans are being made to send 120,000 troops to the area.  As it stands at the moment, Iran has some 800,000+ members in their armed forces (this includes some 200,000 reserves), which gives them a near 7:1 advantage.  Of course, the president says we would send more personnel but I would think it would take perhaps two or three MILLION troops to defeat Iran or risk another decade’s long war.

And there is this ongoing squabble with Venezuela and the rumor mill has it that we might even send troops there to bring about a “ regime change”.   Are we prepared for this as a nation?  Are we prepared for any of this?  Are we prepared to sacrifice more of our young men on the altar of the god of war?   To add more memories to our Memorial Day celebration?  I think not.  We can’t fix our roads and bridges, our Congress can pass a budget, we can’t figure out how to provide reasonable health care to our citizens, we engaged in trade wars and our national debt is growing exponentially.  Our present armed forces personnel and equipment are worn out from more than a decade and a half of fighting.

So perhaps on this Memorial Day, we each can take a moment to reflect on why we celebrate Memorial Day and ask ourselves if we wish to honor the god of war.

God bless our Armed Forces and God bless the United States of America.

The Great War–100 years later

Thank you, George Harris for this piece written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Great War.

 

Armed Forces Day 2018

One hundred years ago today, November 11, 1918 at 11:00 AM, the guns fell silent all across the shell pocked battlefields and, as Erich Maria Remarque wrote some twenty-eight years later, it was “All Quiet on the Western Front”.  The war, then known as The Great War or the War to End All Wars, was one of the deadliest conflicts in human history with the total number of military and civilian casualtiesof about 40 million.  France and Great Britain each lost more than one million men simply because men were thrown up against more modern weapons with greater rates of fire power.  French and British generals fought the war like they had fought all others, relying on masses of troops to overpower their opponents. But perhaps the saddest death of the war occurred at 10:59 AM, November 11,1918.

Private Henry Nicholas Gunther, 313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Division was killed by a burst of German machine gun fire at 10:59 AM as he charged a roadblock of two machine guns.  Private Gunther had been a sergeant but was reduced to private when the postal censors discovered a letter he had written to folks at home complaining about how terrible things were at the front. Everyone knew the war was ending and all were waiting for the eleventh hour to arrive.  But for whatever reason Private Gunther’s war was not over. It was thought that this desperate act was a last ditch effort to show that he was indeed brave. The following day, General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, declared that Private Gunther was the last American killed in the Great War.  Gunther was posthumously promoted to sergeant and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Why have I written this?  I suppose it is to show the futility of war and the terrible cost it extracts from all of us.  Today we find ourselves entangled in the longest war in our history. We are now in the eighteenth year of a war in Afghanistan with no end in sight-no eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Millions of young men and women have served in our Armed Forces over these years and thousands have paid the ultimate price that war can and does demand all too frequently. Still more thousands move among us, many with the scars of battle there to remind us of General Robert E. Lee’s admonition that, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”

Today we are remembering the end Of the Great War.  One hundred years have passed since all was quiet on the Wester Front.  Flags will be lowered, wreaths will be laid, words will be spoken and paper red poppies will be sold by the American Legion to remind us of the poppies growing on the graves of the fallen in Flanders’ field so long ago.

I wonder, will someone write about our war in Afghanistan?  Will the sacrifices of all those young men be remembered on a special day?  Will an ode to the opium poppies grown in Afghanistan become the memorial symbol for all those who have died in this seemingly endless war?  Or will we still be fighting the war?

Music from WWI

Pictures from the WWI Museum in Kansas City

Don’t speak ill of your government?

A big thanks to George Harris for the tip on this story.

Time.com:

The last American to die in World War I didn’t really want to fight in the first place — which makes his decision to run ahead toward enemy lines all the more confusing.

Henry Gunther died at 10:59 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, less than one minute before the end of the Great War. But it was only one year earlier that Gunther had been demoted after military censors intercepted a letter he sent home that criticized the war.

“You weren’t supposed to bad-mouth the American government,” Jonathan Casey, the Director of Archives and the Edward Jones Research Center at the National World War I Memorial, tells TIME. “You’re supposed to support everything and do what you’re told, otherwise you could get in trouble: and [Gunther] did get in trouble.”

Read the full story of Henry Gunther in Time Magazine.

I don’t know if I feel better or worse. The fact that at any time in our history a person could be in trouble for talking smack about his or her country is disconcerting. On the other hand, perhaps it should serve as a serious warning of times to come.

Look at what happened the day before yesterday to CNN reporter Jim Acosta. He was stripped of his White House press credentials for pushing the President a little too far about the president’s terminology. Making it impossible to do your job is pretty much of a demotion in rank.

Are we looking at some sort of dystopia in our future where there is danger in criticizing your government and its elected officials? I would like to say no but I always keep that scenario in the back of my mind. You never know. One should never grow too complacent. As I age…(yes, I said the A word) I have reflected on my good fortune to have been born in this great democracy called the United States of America. Yes, I have been lucky. I have enjoyed white privilege. Not all Americans have. I have never had to think about danger from my neighbors or my government. Not all Americans have had this luxury. I have always had a roof over my head. Not all Americans have. I have enough food for me and my family. Not all Americans have. I certainly don’t think I will be run out of my country or deported. Not all Americans have this assurance. I don’t expect my door to be rammed in by my government. Some Americans can’t make that claim.

All and all, I am one very fortunate vintage chick. How did I get to be so lucky?

Ann Wheeler declares her candidacy for Chairman of the PWC Board of Supervisors

Election season has jumped ahead a year in Prince William County.  This afternoon, Ann Wheeler declared her candidacy to run for Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.  This is excellent news because Ann will be a strong candidate to run on the Democratic ticket.  The following is her press release announcing her plans to run.

Wheeler Announces Campaign for Chair, Prince William County Board of Supervisors

Haymarket – Community leader Ann Wheeler announced her candidacy Monday for the Chair – At Large, of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

Ms. Wheeler has served the public and Prince William County actively since she moved here in 2001. She has spent the last fourteen years as a NOVEC Board Member and the last two years on the Hylton Performing Arts Center Board. She recently completed a two-year term as President of the Prince William Committee of 100, a non-partisan civic organization that provides a forum to raise awareness of County issues.

During her years as Chair of the Prince William County Board of Social Services from 2010-2011, Ms. Wheeler mastered the operations of the County and its budgeting process. Ms. Wheeler attended the PWC Community Leadership Institute in the Fall of 2004. She then served on various community and civic boards over the years, including the Stonewall Middle School Advisory Council (2010-2011), Board of Social Services (2006-2011), the Shelter Lakes Homeowners Association (2004-2007), the Gainesville District Budget Committee (2005-2007) and the Prince William County School Northern Boundary Committee (2005 2006).

All these positions have all provided Ms. Wheeler with a clear perspective on how our County has tremendous opportunity that has not been realized over the last 12 years. Ms. Wheeler outlined several policy areas on which she would focus on as Chair of the Board of Supervisors to realize Prince William County’s potential: “I will be a Chair who can bring vision, leadership, integrity and inclusivity to the position. Prince William County’s reputation has declined and suffered throughout Virginia and the country with the divisive and embarrassing rhetoric under Corey Stewart’s 12 year tenure. Mr. Stewart’s limited vision and shortsightedness has left our County with some of the most overcrowded schools and worst traffic in the region. The election in 2019 must see a change in the direction we have been heading.”

“I will ensure our school system is adequately funded. The number of schools has not kept up with development. We have the largest class sizes in the state and the lowest paid teachers in the region. The Board of County Supervisors controls the funding for our schools, and they have woefully underfunded them. When elected to the Board, I will make it one of my primary missions to make sure we build the schools we need as well as pay our teachers what they deserve.”

“I will make Prince William County attractive and welcoming to large and small prospective businesses. Every four years we hear candidates’ campaign on bringing more commercial business to the county; yet our homeowners are still paying over 80% of the County real-estate taxes. This needs to change. The Board’s goal of adding only 500 jobs a year, in a county of 458,000, is shortchanging our taxpayers.”

“I will bring inclusiveness for all citizens to Prince William County. As Chair of the Board of Social Services, I developed a clear sense of the key challenges facing our large and diverse county and the issues that must be addressed. I am running for Board Chair to make sure our future for all areas of the county are bright and prosperous.”

Before moving to Prince William County with her husband, John, and their two daughters, Ann spent fifteen years working and consulting in the energy industry. She graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, specializing in Finance.

Stay tuned. We will be hearing a lot more from Ann Wheeler in the next 13 months, before she grabs her gavel and puts Prince William squarely on the map.

Orrin Hatch: Will talk to the women when they “grow up”

 

Washingtonpost.com:

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) raised the ire of protesters on Thursday after telling a group of mostly women who confronted him in one of the Senate buildings that he would talk to them when they “grow up.”

Video of the incident ricocheted around social media Thursday night, the latest in a string of confrontations reflecting the heated emotions coursing through the Capitol amid the fight over Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

In the video, a group of protesters confronts Hatch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been front and center in the confirmation process, as he gets into an elevator in the Hart building. The video starts mid-confrontation, with the voice of a woman asking Hatch over a wall of staffers why he isn’t “brave enough” to talk to her and her group. Hatch waves his hand in midair.

“Don’t you wave your hand at me,” the woman says.

Hatch looks at her and says, “When you grow up, I’ll be glad to” talk to you. The comment incenses some of the protesters.

“How dare you talk to women that way?” one says.

Hatch waves at the group from the elevator as they continue yelling at him.

Kathy Beynette, the protester whose voice is the one predominantly heard in the video, said in an interview that she was deeply offended by Hatch’s remarks.

Read More

Donald Trump: profile in cowardice

Washingtonpost.com:

President Trump mocked the account of a woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of assault and told a Mississippi crowd that the #MeToo movement was unfairly hurting men.

Trump, in a riff that has been dreaded by White House and Senate aides, attacked the story of Christine Blasey Ford at length — drawing laughs from the crowd. The remarks were his strongest attacks yet of her testimony.

“ ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’ ‘Upstairs? Downstairs? Where was it?’ ‘I don’t know. But I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember,’ ” Trump said of Ford, as he impersonated her on stage.

“I don’t remember,” he said repeatedly, apparently mocking her testimony.

Read More

Judge K seems to have been quite the party animal

Apparently, Judge Kavanaugh was quite the party animal before he sat in judgement of others.  If various witnesses are to be believed, the good judge held at least one woman down, groped at her clothing, and covered her mouth  as one of his party animal tricks.  As he grew a little older, he apparently had a fondness for sticking his “junk” in women’s faces. complete with lots of witnesses.

Now I am the mother of sons and a daughter.  I understand that “boys will be boys.”  That might fly for the average job.  However, Brett Kavanaugh isn’t applying for just any ordinary job.  He is applying for one of the top government positions in terms of prestige–there are only 9 Supreme Court justices and each is appointed for life.  Perhaps the boys and girls who grow up to apply for this esteemed job should have the wisdom and judical behavior not to act like a horse’s ass, regardless of political affiliation, while they are coming of age.

The bar should be raised high enough that those who sit  on this particular bench don’t have this kind of skeleton rattling around in his or her closet.  It just makes sense that there should be no more people confirmed who have a questionable history of inappropriate behavior.

 

Disclaimer:

****(and  I would have done some serious ass-whupping if I found out any of the Moonhowler boys behaved this disrespectuflly)

Whatever happened to Noel Fritsch?

dailyProgress.com:

RICHMOND — GOP U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart has fired a top campaign aide, Noel Fritsch, who had helped bring a far-right presence to the campaign’s social media and strategy.

Fritsch, who lives in North Carolina, responded by text to a request for an interview, saying: “Are you at liberty to tell me how you learned?” but did not return the phone call seeking comment.

Stewart, facing an uphill fight against Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., confirmed to the newspaper that he let Fritsch go, but declined to say why.

“I can confirm that he’s no longer with the campaign as of Aug. 31,” Stewart said Monday.

Fritsch had previously worked for candidates including Paul Nehlen, an anti-Semitic politician in Wisconsin who has run against GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan; and Roy Moore, the failed GOP Senate candidate in Alabama who faced allegations that he sexually preyed on young women years ago.

Fritsch also worked on Stewart’s GOP primary run for governor in 2017.

Stewart has walked back praise he previously offered to Nehlen, saying he did not know Nehlen was anti-Semitic when Stewart called him his “personal hero.” Stewart traveled to Alabama in December to campaign for Moore, who lost the race to Democrat Doug Jones.

Fritsch made a series of controversial social media posts that drew negative attention to Stewart’s campaign. Another Stewart campaign aide, Rick Shaftan, has a history of social media posts that includes calling the NAACP a “more violent” version of the KKK and saying only a “fool” would start a business in a black neighborhood. John Whitbeck, the immediate past chairman of the Virginia GOP, called Shaftan’s posts “despicable.”

I don’t know about you but I am just plain old curious what Noel Fritsch did to get fired.   Was he racist?  Was he a white supremacist?   Did he praise the dude who killed Heather Heyer in Charlottesville a little over a year ago?  Why would you have someone who supported Roy Moore as your campaign chairman anyway?

This makes no sense to me.  Is there such a thing as being just a little bit Nazi?  Where is the benchmark?  Where are the standards?  Is Corey going to address this issue more directly?  Are we going to not demand answers?

I know, lots and lots of questions but that’s about all we are left to deal with when someone as important as a campaign manager just goes poof!

I checked out this dude’s Facebook page.  I am pretty sure I have the right person because the FB page I checked had lots of friends standing with “Old Dixie.”  I also found this post which I thought spoke volumes:  “College only cares about what between your legs & your skin color.”

If you are still curious, check out this CNN Politics article.    What took Corey so long to fire him or was this all by design?

 

Is that Corey to the right of “Old Dixie?”  It appears that it is.

Is this how the world now sees the United States of America?

New Zealand Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson apparently sees a different America from the one that was drawn together by tragedy on September 11, 2001. Today, America seems divided by a crude incivility that looks at our differences rather than our common ground.

A tiki torch seems to have replaced the beacon of light held by lady liberty as we reflect on the events in Charlottesville, children kidnapped from their parents at our southern border and a president double fist pumping at a somber gathering of mourning in Shanksville, PA on 9-11-18.

America is better than this.

An anonymous source tells all regarding Trump

From the New York Times:

The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.


I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration

President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.

It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I would know. I am one of them.

To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.

But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.

That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.

 

 

Read More

Manassas City meets its new Democratic candidates for City Council

And a good time was had by all yesterday, August 29, at the City Democratic kick off held at City Tavern.

Everyone had a chance to meet and greet the new Dem candidates as well as some other familiar faces. The early evening get-together was held on one of the hottest days of the summer and the candidates were smoking’ hot with enthusiasm for this upcoming election.

In addition to Rex Parr, Michelle Davis-Younger, and incumbent Ken Elston, who are vying for a place on the City Council, Democratic hopeful, Jennifer Wexton, candidate for the 10th Congressional district  was in attendance.  Jennifer has definite plans to unseat Barbara Comstock and to send her packing.

Other dignitaries who attended were State Senator Jeremy McPike, Manassas Park Mayor Jeanette Rishell,  Delegate Danica Roem, and Manassas City Treasurer Patricia Richie-Folks.  Pam Sebesky and Mark Wolfe, current Manassas City Council-members were there supporting those who are running on this years cycle.

Practically everyone in attendance was basking in the hot-off-the press news that Micron, a Boise based company with a plant  in Manassas City, had announced plans that very morning to  expand its memory facility to the tune of $3 Billion dollars and add 1,100 new jobs.  Governor Northam (D) was here in Manassas for the announcement which not only bodes well for Manassas City but also Prince William County, since those employees will probably live in both the City and the County.

Perhaps this is as good a time as any to address the summer-long hiatus that Moonhowlings.net has taken.  You know, there are only so many ways an ink-buyer like me can express their dislike, dismay, and distrust of a person like Donald Trump.  Additionally, Corey Stewart, his mini-me will continue to embarrass Prince William County with his antics and foolish statements, based on wanting a vote, rather than cogent thought processes.

However, yesterday I met some wonderful candidates over in Manassas City.  I saw old friends.  I heard some great, new fresh ideas.  What a great time to be a Democrat!  What a not-so-great time to be a Republican.  Not only will they have to toss around tired old ideas, but they will also have to avoid the stench of Trump and the barrage of political war-weapons he will sling their way if they don’t tow the orange line.

 

Kaine discovers kidnapped children in PWC; where was Corey?

 

Princewilliam times.com:

A local facility for troubled teens is housing between 10 and 20 immigrant children and teenagers recently separated from their families as a result of President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance policy for immigrants entering the country at non-authorized U.S. border crossings.

That’s according to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who visited Youth For Tomorrow in Bristow for about two hours Friday morning, according to his staff.

Kaine (D) went to the facility, located on Linton Hall Road, with a member of his staff. He spoke with some of the children in Spanish and left feeling they were being “appropriately cared for,” according to member of the senator’s staff.

Some of the children he met with were girls, the staff member said. They were between the ages of 10 and 17 and had arrived since April.

Kaine asked Youth For Tomorrow staff how the children were doing, and they confirmed many had been “traumatized” by their experiences, Kaine’s staff said in an email.

Youth for Tomorrow, a residential facility for troubled teens launched by former Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs in 1986, has been caring for immigrant teens under a contract with federal officials for six years.

But prior to April 2018, those teens arrived at the border on their own, without a parent or guardian.

In a statement, Kaine said he is grateful to Youth For Tomorrow staff for the opportunity to visit the facility as well as what he called their “focus” on reuniting the children with their families.

Where was Corey?  Isn’t he the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors?  Why wasn’t he checking into this issue?

It sounds like Youth for Tomorrow wasn’t exactly forthcoming in its response to inquiries from local and state  officials.  What is being hidden here?

Youth for Tomorrow has, in recent years, been a contracted shelter for Unaccomplanied Minors through HHR.  That program is different than these children who have been forcibly separated from their parents as the parents attempted to seek asylum.  The children who, in essence, have been forcibly kidnapped, have become unaccompanied simply because the government removed them from their parents.  We as a nation need to make certain we don’t fall for this obfuscation and deception.

Approximately 40 kids are at Youth for Tomorrow who have been forcibly separated from their parents at the border.  These are not kids who came to this country alone.  We cannot allow these kidnapped kids to be intermingled with those who came alone.  The government needs to wear its shame and wear it publicly.

Thanks to Elena, Jill Palermo (see above article) and Tim Kaine for their attempts to get to the bottom of this horrible situation.  We have a refugee crisis that has been handled awkwardly, and in my mind, criminally, by the current administration.

When this business is all over, we will really be able to separate the chaff from the wheat. This is the one thing that corporations and individuals and groups will not be able to wiggle out of. They will either be on the right side of history or the wrong side. The wrong side will simply not be able to recover in a decent society.