LIVES IN THE BALANCE

That's stolen from the title of a song by Jackson Browne.  It was released in 1986 so it is a bit more than 30 years old.  Go find the lyrics because it has not lost its bite.  I have been thinking a lot about that title and the lyrics over the last few weeks.  The decision, consciously made to reduce the flow of "immigrants" from the South, put the lives of children and their parents in emotional jeopardy.  Their lives were in the balance.  There now is a documented record of:  disrespecting children; demeaning the motivation of the people hoping to come into this country;  and fracturing the parent/child bond.  Even as the attempt is made to "fix it", there are no apologies.  A skeptic might think the color of their skin was also a problem.  Woody Guthrie nailed it with this line from one of his songs:  "All they will call you will be deportee".  They have become the other.

It only got worse when the SCOTUS voted to allow the ban on Muslims from certain countries.  Grouch voted with the majority in a 5-4 decision as did Kennedy who promptly retired giving POTUS yet another vacancy.  Why Kennedy could not wait until the mid-terms is beyond me.  Why he could not vote the other way is also beyond me.  Why the words of POTUS during his campaign were seen as irrelevant is beyond me.

Beauregard has announced that being the victim of gang violence or the victim of sexual assault is no longer grounds for your seeking asylum in America.  One of my parents escaped the violence of the pogroms in Russia way back in the day.  Lucky for me, she got here back then but might not have been allowed in today.

Odds and Ends:

--Old Mitch McConnell refused to fill a SCOTUS seat when Obama had one year left in his term--he felt with an election coming up, we should wait and see how the vote went.  Well we know how it went and we got Neil.  Think he will agree to wait for the midterms to see how that vote will go?
--I am not into civility and do not want to hear that we should be nice to Sarah Huckabee Saunders.  She has swallowed the kool aid and is a liar. Let her eat some place else.
--And for all the excitement about that woman in NYC upsetting a Democratic Congressman,  the Dems better get their act together pretty soon because they will not have an easy time in November.  I think Nancy has to go away.
--Did I imagine that IHOP is changing its name to IHOB--as in B for burger.  I think it was a dream.
--The soy bean farmers and the pig farmers are not happy campers now that other countries have specifically targeted their products for tariffs.
--But then there is some redemption as Paul Simon said:  "old friends sitting on their park bench like bookends".  I spent time with one of them a while back.  Went to kindergarten with him which means I have known him for about 65 years.  Important stuff,  that.


SPORTS TALK
When you watch the Euro teams in the World Cup, you are reminded of how immigrants have improved all of their soccer teams.  Mainly from Africa, the teams from Germany, Spain, Portugal, and especially France all have key players who are either the children of immigrants or immigrants themselves.

I might have a thought or two about baseball in a few weeks because it is not 7/4 as you know.

Shalom