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Nora Skinker (Morton)

🤜

Glen Hirose

   50 saves, Sweet!!!

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        Oh yea; back-to-back Shut Outs

Jack Mallory

If the Mona Lisa had been on display for only a few days, would you have missed it? Quick, see this now at the Currier Museum of Art! Probably coming down by Monday! 

And the three Mallory brothers with Kathy Mathis, NH Humanities project director and friend to all of us, at last night's presentation. I own a sports jacket, too, but have no idea where it is.

Nora Skinker (Morton)

VERY nice, Sir Jack! Glad your work is being appreciated on a broader scale. One word comes to mind: MORE !!

Glen, haven’t slept that well for many a moon! What a night. Glowing with the satisfying reality that they’ve finally earned the respect they deserve. Only took 11 years. Hurry Monday! 🤗

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jack, its great to see the photo of your beautiful photo in the Museum even if its for a few days. Congratulations!!!!!  I enjoyed too seeing the picture of the Mallory brothers. Love, Joanie

Jack Mallory

Thanks, Joanie. A brotherhood of increasingly higher foreheads!

It's heartening to know that NFL players are being protected from bad ideas! Or is it the fans who are being protected? Or the profits?

N.F.L. Adds First Amendment to List of Banned Substances https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/nfl-adds-first-amendment-to-list-of-banned-substances

Jack Mallory

A couple of NYT pieces to reflect on as we go into Memorial Day weekend, with sabers rattling on the Korean peninsula.

https://nyti.ms/2x723fm

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/magazine/memorial-day-letters.html

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

I just read that beautiful letter that was written by a young woman about to graduate high school to her father who had died in the war. She longs to be with him again. It is a heartbreaking note and reminded me of the heartbreak I feel when hearing on the news of mothers coming to the US to seek assylum from brutality, having their children taken away from them at the border.. We are supposed to give a hearing to people fearing for their lives. I just can't fathom separating children from their parents. Sometimes months go by until they get any word of them. They are wrenched apart to the screams and tears of the mother and child. Love, Joanie

Jack Mallory

I can't even read the letters, Joanie. And I share your grief over our policy of tearing families apart at the border. To see the US as a refuge when your children's lives are threatened at home, only to have them taken from your arms by ICE . . . 

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I like to leaven the sadness of Memorial Day with the thought that this vet in a Concord cemetery died smiling, thinking of his headstone . . . 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Yes, Jack, Its unbelievably cruel to take children from their parents. I heard someone from the ACLU talking about a court case filed to stop this inhumane action from continuing. Even a 55 week old child was taken away. Many are now lost too from anyone knowing where they are. Love, Joanie

Nora Skinker (Morton)

It is sad & cruel on so many levels: cruel of the parents who decided to risk putting their children through such trauma; cruel to the good folks who have been waiting in line for years to enter legally; cruel to the ICE officials who are bravely enforcing our laws. Perhaps a wall would eliminate some of this cruelty? 

Enjoy this holiday weekend, my friends. May you each be surrounded by love at picnics & on vacations. May the 41M people on our highways be safe & may each & every serviceman, service woman, veteran or active, feel deep appreciation for sacrifices made! God bless them, every one. 

Jack Mallory

Sorry, Nori, I don't follow you. The cruelty of tearing children away from their parents is somehow mitigated by the fact that others are waiting for entry? What is cruel to the ICE officials bravely doing their jobs by breaking up families? Why should we wait for Congress, or the military, or Mexico, to pay for the wall when a quick policy tweet from Trump could instantly put an end to separating children from their parents? Why wait for the wall to be built in order to eliminate the cruelty you refer to?

The cruel parents you refer to: are these people you know? How do you know they are cruel? I'm sure you wouldn't describe parents you've never met and know nothing about as cruel, so I assume these are folks you know personally.

I ask because I did know many parents who brought their children to the US to escape wars, gangs, and poverty. I've met them in my office, visited them in their homes, seen them in their community. They were very different from the parents that you know. I never met one who struck me as cruel.

Or are you saying that parents who are willing to undergo huge risk and hardship to remove their children from dreadful circumstances are somehow cruel? Children whose surroundings had been so violent that some of my students were diagnosed with PTSD when they got to the US? I like to think I would have the courage of those parents in doing whatever was necessary to get my kids away from that kind of life. 

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Without going into all the aspects of the 2008 law, authored by Diane Feinstein, designed to curb child trafficking, this administration (as indicated early in campaign promises) believes in strict immigration law enforcement & this law requires that adults seeking entry must go through necessary procedures which can sometimes mean separating families. Parents & others seeking refuge know this ahead of time. It’s my understanding that Congress can change laws, Presidents can not. 

As for your drilling me with questions about whether I know parents personally , etc., etc.  I can only say that if you cannot see the unhappy circumstances of all parties involved (parents, agents, children) & yes, even the unfairness to those awaiting entry, then I must admit I am surprised at your limited capacity for compassion. I mention the wall to reiterate what I believe is the need for it. If it is ONLY the separation of children that you believe is cruel, you are failing to see the big picture. I, for one, am glad the majority in Congress has set aside scheduled agriculture measures in order to address first this horrible & pressing immigration dilemma. 

Welcome home to Josh Holt after two  punishing years in a Venezuelan prison! 

Jack Mallory

So you DON'T know these parents you accuse of cruelty, Nora?

After two decades of working with immigrant children and parents I do know something about them, and their lives. They are not cruel parents, but decent and desperate parents. They do not deserve to have their children taken away because they took desperate measures to better their lives. 

I appreciate your concern with my capacity for compassion. I'm sure we both want to see a more compassionate world. 

Nora Skinker (Morton)

I guess it’s only fair to ask: would you, Jack, happen to know any of the families awaiting entry here legally & who come from areas in which it is dangerous to raise children? What about them? 

Would you rather children be taken into separate, temporary protective custody upon arrival OR allow them to disappear into the hands of child traffickers? 

Since you know these desperate souls so well, perhaps you can help me understand why they would want to come to the US under these circumstances (which can physically & mentally harm their children) instead of living elsewhere, until they can enter legally. Having only worked with Haitian immigrants in Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, most say they ONLY come to work so they can send money back to their families who are stuck in a thoroughly corrupt & bankrupt  homeland. 

Do enlighten further, kind sir. 

And the big question: why is my post suddenly underscored? 🙄

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Nori, the issue is that our country has always welcomed people fleeing abuse from another country and said they could apply for assylum. We used to have the moral high ground. This is something totally new to take children away from their parents upon their arrival. Its wrong to do that. Its traumatic and 1,500 children are now lost in the system and the authorities don't know where they are. Love, Joanie

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Which is the exact reason for the law, Joanie. So that children will not be lost in the system. Lost in an exploitative, underground system, or worse. The law is being enforced. If you want it changed, work on your Congressional representatives. The goal is that immigration is LEGAL & desireable for all parties involved, as it once was. Many believe we will not reach that goal until the border is secure. 

Jack Mallory

I will address your key question, Nora. “Since you know these desperate souls so well, perhaps you can help me understand why they would want to come to the US under these circumstances (which can physically & mentally harm their children) instead of living elsewhere, until they can enter legally.”

This is about the third time I've said this. They want to come because they believe that they and their children are at risk of death, rape, drug addiction, gang involvement, poverty and other threats if they remain where they are. I know this because of my own work with them, and through the excellent reportage which confirms what they have told me. Skip the diatribe about the MSM, I know it by heart. If you have evidence that my characterization of their lives is untrue, please present it.

I believe this is the choice many of us who love our children would make under similar circumstances. Waiting for the legal process to take its course could mean accepting their death, rape, etc. This simply reflects my personal priorities, which would put the legal niceties behind the safety of my children. Your priorities may differ, of course.

I fail to see how making harsh judgements about parental cruelty, based on your admitted lack of knowledge of their circumstances, represents a humane level of compassion: “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. ..” Since the word sympathy itself connotes a sense of understanding of someone's situation, I can understand why your compassion level might be low.

I'll stick with my own “limited level of compassion” as you put it.

Nora Skinker (Morton)

So there IS no compassion for those who are awaiting entry through legal channels. I get it. 

As for “lost” children, Joanie: they are not lost in the sense they are in danger or “on milk cartons”.  When they come here unaccompanied, they are taken into protective services & then are placed with their illegal relatives. When immigration services then follow-up on their whereabouts, they are not to be located & have slipped into society, not wanting to be found. Like I keep saying, until immigration reform is enacted these folks will always be dodging the authorities & “living in the shadows”. These “lost” kids are nothing new. This issue has been around through the Bush & Obama years. It’s just being exposed more now & used as a political football to make Trump look bad. From your comments, Joanie, I’d say it’s working pretty well for the Left & is yet another sad aspect of today’s immigration narrative. I doubt if any one on forum wants this issue to remain status quo. So, if you were in charge, what would YOU do about it? 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

There are many people fearing for their lives and our country's LEGAL policy has always been that they can seek asslyum here and make their case. There have been about 40,000 accepted assylum seekers per year. Here is some info about that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_in_the_United_States  So, separating children from parents seeking assylum is horrific. Its not whether they are undocumented, its about whether they are allowed as in the past to get a hearing to assess what has happened. During WWII a boat with Jewish refugees tried to enter our country to flee the extermination camps. They were turned away and not accepted into the US, and had to go back only to meet their death. I know you love children as you have spoken so poignantly about the beautiful innocent grandchildren...its more about compassion for the children who are innocent and coming with their parent to give them a safer better life. Its LEGAL to apply for asslyum from brutality. Love, Joanie

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Thanks, Joanie. And please feel free to access online the myriad of reports & articles describing the 2008 law passed to protect immigrant children by holding them, the attempted changes to the law by Obama in 2014 to deport children without their being held & more importantly, where we stand today. I would be interested in your position to either repeal, replace or repair this law without regard to Trump or my personal feelings for children, both of which are irrelevant (or should be) to what you personally think is the best policy. Setting emotions aside is tough but I think laws should not be passed only to be broken or unenforced. Thoughts?

Jack Mallory

Plainly and clearly stated, Joanie. The most decent and humane policy is, quite simply, not to separate parents and children—a policy applicable regardless of other laws, who the President is, or anyone else's feelings about children. We all know that laws are sometimes passed which are unjust, and should not be enforced or, if necessary, should be broken. Our own history makes that sadly clear. 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Yes, I agree that even if there actually was a law to separate children from their parents I would NOT do that. There is a higher moral law  not to cause that type of anquish and trauma to a child and the child's parents. Love, Joanie

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

By the way, the children have who been deported in previous years were teenagers that came across the border on their own, not children with their parents. Love, Joanie
 

Barbara Gutheim (Isham)

Hello Everyone...it’s been ages since I’ve added to this conversation.  I confess that I haven’t read too much of this dialog.  However the current one is particularly interesting.  I find the various comments regarding Mexicans coming across our southern border  particular important.  I taught High School Spanish for 22 years.  I did many student missison trips to Mexico and other wonderful places.  The Mexico trips were particularly significant for a variety of reasons.  My brain was rearranged more than once while standing close to a Mexican-US border with a group of high school students.  What were we witnessing?    Poor Mexican mothers with their young children in the adjacent (to the border wall) town dump.  When I asked our Mexican guide what they were doing, he responded, “They are searching for orange peels in the dump so that their children can have something to eat today.”  I have carried that image with me for many years.  Our politicians should do a field trip to that town dump. Their brains need rearranging also in a concerted effort to find the best solution to this problem.  If we were poor Mexicans  we would come over the border looking for something more than an orange peel to eat in a day.