{"id":738,"date":"2018-06-17T03:20:34","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T03:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=738"},"modified":"2018-06-17T03:20:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T03:20:34","slug":"saturday-6-pack-june-162018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/?p=738","title":{"rendered":"SATURDAY 6-PACK: June 16,2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A weekly listing of articles, audio clips, and other tidbits I\u2019ve encountered that seemed interesting, insightful, or otherwise useful <\/em><\/p>\n

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There is something of theme this week: divisions<\/p>\n

Anyone else find it amazing that a sense of common ground, shared reality keeps getting harder to find?\u00a0 People who get their news from FOX are skeptical of reports from other sources like NPR or long respected papers like the New York Times<\/em> or the Washington Post<\/em>.\u00a0 NPR listeners question the veracity of what FOX reports.\u00a0 The Republican Party was once considered the \u201ccountry club\u201d party, but now it\u2019s the \u201ccountry\u201d (meaning rural) party \u2026 and the Democratic Party, once viewed as the party of the common people, is now seen as the party of and exclusively for the elites (meaning urbanites, city-folk).\u00a0 How did this come about? And what might be done to bridge the divide?\u00a0 This piece points to what just might the real source of all this polarization (hint: It\u2019s the economy \u2013 or at least the personal one) \u2026 but it also suggests bridging the gap may be even harder than it already seems:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2018\/5\/24\/17368308\/income-inequality-poverty-in-america<\/a><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s been a lot discussion this week about the separation of children from parents by Immigration and Customs Enforcement \u2026 why this is being done \u2026 what the law requires \u2026 what options could be considered.\u00a0 These two pieces sum up the reasoning (or lack thereof \u2013 YMMV) to regard all border crossings (even by those seeking asylum) as criminal, rather than civil, violations and how criminal incarceration of adults means the children cannot stay with them.\u00a0 But it is very damaging.\u00a0 Is this really the best approach?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/06\/15\/620230362\/a-texas-prosecutor-on-immigrant-family-separations<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/06\/15\/620254326\/doctors-warn-about-dangers-of-child-separations<\/a><\/p>\n

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions introduced the Bible into his arguments for his current course of action regarding people from other countries crossing our southern border, apparently as pushback against a number of Christians and faith-based organizations publicly condemning his policies.\u00a0 Sarah Huckabee Sanders was also quizzed on this subject by a number of reporters (including one from Playboy<\/em> magazine).\u00a0 Any marginal Bible scholar can tell you it\u2019s possible to proof-text just about anything if you do it right.\u00a0 The deeper question is what kind of God do we seek \u2026 want \u2026 have?\u00a0 Leonard Pitts, as usual, cuts right to the chase:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/opinion\/opn-columns-blogs\/leonard-pitts-jr\/article213298284.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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The current occupant of the Oval Office is trying to blame the Democrats for the policies (ie: if they would agree to fully fund the construction of his desired border wall, then he might reconsider the current practice), essentially using children as hostages in a power struggle that has nothing to do with them but is doing tremendous (possible irreparable) harm to them in the process.\u00a0 (And whatever happened to the promise that not one cent of US money would be spent on this wall project?)\u00a0 Here\u2019s what is trying to pass for justification of this patently unjust policy:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/trump-cites-as-a-negotiating-tool-his-policy-of-separating-immigrant-children-from-their-parents\/ar-AAyI1lK?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp<\/a><\/p>\n

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They know the risks when then come.\u00a0 They know what\u2019s likely to happen.\u00a0 If the policy doesn\u2019t drive opponents to acquiesce and fund the wall, it should at least scare would-be refugees from coming here.\u00a0 Or so the arguments go.\u00a0 They know; why do they still come?\u00a0 Because they judge the risks they face traveling to the border and in crossing the border to be less than the risks at home.\u00a0 And as for the risks at home, well \u2026 we have a hand in those, too.\u00a0 Our culture of gang violence gave rise to MS-13 \u2026 and then we deported it to Central America.\u00a0 Since we helped create this mess, do we not have a part to play in dealing with the damage?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2018\/2\/26\/16955936\/ms-13-trump-immigrants-crime<\/a><\/p>\n

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And finally on the subject of divisions, much has been made of the meeting between the current occupant of the Oval Office and North Korea\u2019s \u201cdear leader\u201d \u2026 who apparently endeared himself to the occupant.\u00a0 The meeting has been appropriately described as heavy on optics and light on substance \u2026 so much so that the signed agreement is reminiscent of cotton candy \u2013 the paper thing it comes on is the most substantial part.\u00a0 However, the current occupant\u2019s appreciation for dictators is far more disturbing than the agreement is assuring:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/%e2%80%98dictator-envy%e2%80%99-trump%e2%80%99s-praise-of-kim-jong-un-widens-his-embrace-of-totalitarian-leaders\/ar-AAyIko1?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=iehp<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A weekly listing of articles, audio clips, and other tidbits I\u2019ve encountered that seemed interesting, insightful, or otherwise useful   There is something of theme this week: divisions Anyone else find it amazing that a sense of common ground, shared reality keeps getting harder to find?\u00a0 People who get their …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events-topics","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=738"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":740,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions\/740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/maybegoosefeathers.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}