Unspeakable Conditions on our Southern Border

So, honestly, when Julian Castro suggested the repeal of Section 1325, did you know what he was talking about? I certainly didn’t, so I Googled the darned thing and read it. It says nothing of separating children from their parents, yet I’m told that’s the law the Trump administration uses to justify holding children in cages.

I determined to learn everything I could about the history of our southern border, our immigration policies, and the apparent causes of the current atrocity. Here I’ll briefly lay out the key facts in the hope you’ll undertake some research of your own.

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Here is your Mueller Report - Part III

If you have read the five previous articles in this series, you have my deepest respect and admiration – now you will get your reward. You’ve worked your way through an abbreviated version of the Mueller Report; I estimate the review I’ve offered is no more than 15% as long as the actual Report. That said, it’s absolutely not the same thing as reading the original. I still encourage you to do so. (And do feel free then to correct me where you discover I have been wrong.)

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Here is your Mueller Report - Part IID

Welcome to the final section of Mueller’s Volume Two. I sincerely hope you have arrived here after reading Part I (Volume One) and Parts IIA, B and C (Volume Two). If you are jumping in here – no harm done, but you’re going to have a heck of a time getting up to speed. Should you be a newcomer to the series, though, you should know that I am a voting, tax-paying citizen who believes it is her civic duty to get as close as possible to the truth about her democracy. That’s why I read the Mueller Report. And, after reading it (I actually had to read Volume Two twice), I fully understood why most Americans would not be reading it. 

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Here is your Mueller Report - Part IIC

If you have been with me, my friend, through the entire series, just skip this paragraph – you know it by heart. If not, may I say that I am a voting, tax-paying citizen who loves to read and longs to know the truth about her government and its leaders? My goal has been to study the Mueller Report (and Volume Two does, indeed, require studying!) for the purpose of first informing myself and then informing the 97% of Americans who will not read the Report.

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Here is your Mueller Report - Part IIB

This is the effort of one tax-paying, voting citizen to assist the vast majority of other U.S. tax payers/voters who will never read the 448-page Mueller Report. It is my conviction that we, as voters, have an obligation to get as close to the truth as possible. In addition, since I have paid my taxes religiously all my life, I feel a rightto know the truth. I like to read, so I’m happy to share with you that truth, found in the Mueller Report, to the best of my lay-person’s ability.

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Here is your Mueller Report - Part IIA

As I explained in Part I, I read the Mueller report because I am a tax-paying, voting U.S. citizen, and I have a civic duty to know the truth. While I believe all Americans have that duty, I understand the vast majority will not read the 448-page report. For them I offer my own shorter report, as objective as I can possibly make it without sacrificing my personal “style.” I strongly recommend reading Here is your Mueller Report - Part I first, but that is not absolutely necessary. Part I covers Volume One of the Mueller Report. This article covers about one-fourth of Volume Two - and they are vastly different, those two volumes. Part IIB, Part IIC and Part IID will complete the review of Mueller’s Volume II, and Part III will cover the appendices, which include the written answers of President Trump. 

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Here is your Mueller Report - Part I

I read the Mueller report because I want to get as close to the truth as possible; I think it’s my civic duty as a voter to do so. I am writing this report, as a layperson with no legal or government training, because I think it’s also your civic duty to get as close to the truth as possible. When I read an important or particularly enjoyable book, I write a report, hoping to convince others to read it as well. This time around, while I hope someof my readers will face down that 448-page report themselves, I don’t believe most American voters will. For that large segment who will not read firsthand, I will do my best to give you enough of the report to be “somewhat informed.”

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Democracy in Danger - that book again!

About a year ago a journalist I find most trustworthy recommended a book that seemed well suited to my unease about the direction our nation was headed. Fareed Zakaria pitched How Democracies Die by Steven Livitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. I read the book; it did not quell my fears for our country. In fact, it convinced me that our democracy might be in more serious danger than I’d first thought. 

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"How Democracies Die" - A book we all should read

Each week Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s Global Public Square, recommends another book for me to read. I listen to Fareed because I believe he is one of the smartest, most balanced and intellectually curious journalists of our time. Consequently, each week my reading list grows. When Fareed recommended How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, I moved it to the top of my list

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Post-Election Reflections

Read 'em and weep.

Well, just a few post-election observations, tossed out at random. Draw your own conclusions.

Sixty-two percent of Americans now say they get their news from social media. Social media! News! And forty-four percent of Americans say they get their news from Facebook, specifically. Have you ever, in your wildest dreams, considered Facebook a source for news? I must be a real dinosaur!

Twenty percent of Americans still claim to read newspapers.

Last summer Facebook apparently got rid of the humans editing its trending topics list. Now veracity is checked by an algorithm. (And I’m sure “al” is smart and all.)

Last July Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump for President of the United States. I know it’s true because I saw it on Facebook.

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