Truth leaves the room when Donald Trump speaks

ABC News report January 19, 2018 ~ A pastor in Maryland who had Vice President Mike Pence as a captive audience on Sunday took the opportunity to attack the politician's boss, calling President Donald Trump's comments on Haiti and Africa "hurtful," "dehumanizing" and "vulgar." 

Dr. Maurice Watson, pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Largo, Maryland, ripped into Trump's reported negative comments about Haiti and African countries, though he never specifically mentioned Trump's name.

Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, were sitting in the front pew.

Support values when Donald Trump denigrates ~ an echo letter to the editor published in The Meridian Star 

Senator Jeff Flake and Pastor Watson stand for values

Meridian, Mississippi ~ I commend Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., for his speech to the Senate Wednesday morning. Sen. Flake eloquently expressed what so many Americans feel right now regarding the danger posed by Donald Trump’s flagrant disregard for the truth and for the dangers his actions pose to democracy.

Sen. Flake said freedom is “predicated on truth” and “despotism is the enemy of democracy.” He clearly stated “a free press is the guardian of democracy” and “anyone who attacks or manipulates the press should be held accountable.” Sen. Flake addressed the slurs of “fake news” and gave many examples of its destructive effect on democracy. He said we cannot be silent. Flake went on to list present day dictators who have been emboldened by Trump's words regarding “fake news” and used them to maintain control of their people. “Words matter,” he said.

I also commend Pastor Watson of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Maryland, where Vice President Pence was attending the service, for denouncing the characterizations of African nations by Trump stating he should be held to account. Worshipers jumped to their feet and applauded. The report stated Pence was embarrassed, as well he should be. How can he have moral authority when he has clearly failed to defend Christian values?

I urge more politicians to abandon politics and stand up for the true values of the American people. Overlooking what has been said and not calling President Trump to task for his behavior is a dereliction of duty.

Kathleen Coward, Meridian

Congressman Trey Gowdy sends stern message to John Dowd

This is another view of Congressman Trey Gowdy ~

South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy received justifiable criticism from me, when he engaged in relentless questioning of Secretary Hillary Clinton, during the bogus Congressional Benghazi hearings. I can't excuse Congressman Gowdy for his over the top drilling of Mrs Clinton during 8 grueling hours of senseless questioning about the Benghazi tragedy. But he is right to criticize Attorney John Dowd.

A FoxNews report: Trey Gowdy to Trump Lawyer John Dowd ~  "WHEN YOU'RE INNOCENT .. ACT LIKE IT"

Gowdy to Dowd: Act like Trump is innocent

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) urged President Donald Trump and his lawyer on Sunday to stop flailing at special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and to let the probe continue unimpeded.

Also....Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) ~ GOP lawmakers must stand up for Mueller

Asserting that “when you are innocent … act like it,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) urged President Donald Trump and his lawyer to allow special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to continue, Fox News reported.

Gowdy said that the efforts of Trump’s lawyer, John Dowd, to end Mueller’s probe did the president a “disservice” and that the counsel’s team need the “time, independence and resources” to complete the probe.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Gowdy said “I think the president’s attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way. If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”

Gowdy is chairman of the House Oversight committee. He said he hoped the president and Dowd would not try to force an end to the investigation. Trump mentioned Mueller for the first time in a tweet Sunday morning.

“Give Bob Mueller the time, independence and resources to do his job,” Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News. 

“And if you are innocent, act like it. … If you’ve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible.”

Frankly, it's tough for me to give Congressman Trey Gowdy a pass on his horrible grandstanding while he pointlessly questioned Secretary Hillary Clinton about Benhazi. Nevertheless, he is correct to criticize Donald Trump, via the warning to Attorney John Dowd.

Arizona opinion: Dreamers are US ~ Senator Flake alert

Arizona Opinion 

Viktor and Amalija Knavs are the parents of Melania Trump. 

They now have Green Cards, lawful permanent US residency.
Echo from the Arizona Republic from opinion writer E.J. Montini ~ a writer who speaks truth to conservative Arizonans.  Good job!

Columnist EJ Montini says Donald Trump should not use the DACA, immigrant dreamers as a bargaining chip to get funding for his (stupid!) border wall.

Here's what Arizonans and Republicans need to understand about DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) ~ and a criticism of Senator Jeff Flake's useless call for a "three for three" compromise.

Before Sen. Jeff Flake leaves Congress he wants to make sure the "dreamers" get to stay in America.

Congressional efforts to protect the DACA immigrants has been a long, difficult, disheartening, ugly process. And it’s not anywhere close to being finished.

Flake is a thoughtful man. And perhaps an ambitious one, not closing the door on a run for president in 2020.

And while he has been critical of President Donald Trump, he is uncomfortable being rude.

DACA immigrants are more American than dreamers?

Being polite is a Senator Flake trademark, but he should, nevertheless, ask Donald Trump ~ for example (as Montini would):

Who is more American, the 800,000 or so dreamers who were brought to our country as children and grew up here … or Melania Trump’s two parents?

A rude question or a valid one?

The young people living under the protection of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program instituted under President Obama are standing at the edge of the deportation cliff.

The president promises to push them off if he doesn’t get the $25 billion he wants for his (stupid!) border wall.

Not long ago, the dreamers got a bit of a reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court. But their situation remains unresolved.

Meantime, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, the parents of Melania Trump, have retired from their native Slovenia and are living in the U.S. They have green cards and could soon become citizens, most likely based on the family reunification process that President Trump derisively (and incorrectly) calls “chain migration.”
Benefits of 'chain migration'

It’s a program he wants to end -- now that the in-laws~ Viktor Knavs and Amalija Knavs~ are here, safe and sound.

Meantime, to save the dreamers, Sen. Flake is offering another compromise.

In an essay for The Washington Post he wrote:

“I can’t see this Congress agreeing with Donald Trump on a package that includes a path to citizenship for DACA participants coupled with significant changes to our legal immigration structure. That comprehensive immigration reform has proved to be beyond our grasp. That is why,...I will...introduce a bill extending DACA protections for three years and providing $7.6 billion to fully fund the first three years of the administration’s border-security proposal. I’ll be the first to admit this ‘three for three’ approach is far from a perfect solution, but it would provide a temporary fix by beginning the process of improving border security and ensuring DACA recipients will not face potential deportation.”

(Ugh!....Senator Flake, this is a useless and costly compromise.  DACA immigrants need permanent residency!)

Trump demands for a DACA deal

In addition to demanding $25 billion for his wall, Trump is demanding changes in immigration policy, one of which would eliminate the process that likely has the First Lady’s parents living here.

Trump’s plan would only allow spouses and minor children to be sponsored for legal U.S. residency. He has claimed that the current system allows an immigrant to “bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives.” That’s not true. At all. It’s a much more complicated and lengthy process.

Dreamers versus in-laws

Still, Trump has decided to demonize relatives sponsored by immigrants, when those relatives most often are just like Viktor and Amalija Knavs, the First Lady’s parents.

Trump's in-laws get to live here in safety and comfort after having spent their lives up to retirement in Slovenia.

Meantime, the dreamers grew up here, were educated here, work here and know no other country.

So maybe it wouldn’t be rude at all to ask the president who is more American:

Dreamers or Melania’s mom and dad?

(Keep up the good work ~ thank you E.J. Montini.)

Republicans empty vote promises

“The problem is what we’ve seen so far for Congress, it seems, is not in the attempt to reach a deal [but] to make a statement rather than make a law. And these kids (DACA) are going to be timed out here soon. And so we’ve got to actually get serious with it.”~ Senator Jeff Flake (About the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ~ DACA)

As disappointed and, frankly, angry, as I am about how the Republicans rammed through a 500 page "tax cuts for the rich" bill without allowing the Senate to read it, my disdain continues for those who were sold a "pig in a poke" to barter for their support.  Surely, seasoned Senators like Susan Collins and Jeff Flake knew better than to believe that the empty promises thrown at them in exchange for their vote to support the bad economic reform was just whistling in the wind, by Mitch McConnell.

The Daily Beast reports: by Andrew Desiderio

SO MUCH FOR THAT
House Republicans Already Shooting Down Tax Bill’s Promises
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) got assurances for their votes. Someone forgot to clear it with conservatives in the other chamber.

House conservatives are already indicating that they're prepared to block some of the key legislative promises that Senate Republicans demanded in exchange for their votes on tax reform legislation.

Republicans are whistling in the wind- right wing partisans won't hear them- when they believe Senator McConnell's empty promises in exchange for their votes.

Those promises materialized in the frantic final hours of the tax debate last week, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) assurances that some of their personal legislative priorities would be dealt with in exchange for their votes.

Senator Collins said she received a promise that the Senate would consider two bipartisan pieces of legislation that would ostensibly mitigate the negative effects that could come from the tax bill’s repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate. Flake said he received a “firm commitment from Senate Leadership and the administration” to work on a permanent protections for the soon-to-be-ended Obama-era program that shields children of undocumented immigrants.

Both senators ended up voting for the tax bill, giving it the 51 “yes” votes it needed to pass. Within days, however, reality began setting in that those promises might have been flimsy at best.

Moving the Collins and Flake deals through the House was always going to be an uphill climb, with a conservative bloc sharply opposed to both measures, having dubbed DACA a de facto form of amnesty and arguing that the health insurance market stabilization bills that Collins supports are tantamount to a bailout for health insurers and what they view as a broken system. On Monday, those conservatives railed against McConnell for making promises on legislation that they have long opposed.

“We still have the same issues. Nothing has changed in the last two months just because we’re fulfilling our promise on delivering on tax reform,” Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, told The Daily Beast. “I find it problematic to be promising something that the House has shunned from very early on.”

Lawmakers made it clear that they felt no reason to support the proposed deals, and blamed Senate leaders for trying to wheel and deal their way to a successful result on reforming the tax code and slashing rates, an issue they believe all Republicans should have been united around from the start.

“I think this is exactly what the American people are sick of: learning about trading votes to modify the healthcare system and one fifth of the economy in exchange for a tax vote,” Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, told The Daily Beast. “So it seems like it would be wiser for Republicans to actually follow what is in the Republican platform and not what is in the Democratic platform.”

GOP leadership has long had difficulty corralling its conservative members on even its own agenda. And on Monday, aides scoffed at the idea that leadership would be able to sell them on swallowing what the Senate’s more moderate lawmakers produced in their tax bill—let alone really try.

“McConnell is asking for us to vote for these unpalatable things to do tax reform,” a conservative House GOP aide told The Daily Beast. “We have someone who’s taking a hostage, we have to negotiate with them, and, oh, they happen to be from the same party.”

The aide was granted anonymity to candidly discuss House conservatives’ longstanding frustrations with the Senate and with McConnell throughout the Trump presidency, in particular the upper chamber’s failure to repeal and replace Obamacare.

The likelihood that the House declines to follow through on either the Collins or Flake measures may not, in the end, complicate tax reform at all. The Senate has already passed its tax bill and the House could simply pass the Senate’s bill—meaning that even if the senators raise objections, the bill would still be able to pass.

That was the risk each senator took by giving up their votes before firmly securing their legislative promises.

Collins had been extremely skeptical of the Senate bill because it included a repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate—something that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says would result in 13 million more Americans uninsured over the next 10 years. She demanded that Congress pass two bills in exchange: one crafted by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) that aims to lower premiums in 2018; the other co-authored by Collins and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and would provide a federal reinsurance pool worth $4.5 billion.

Flake, meanwhile, is one of a few Republicans who supports a bipartisan version of the DREAM Act that was introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). But while Durbin, the Senate Minority Whip, has said he’s willing to block any spending bill that does not codify DREAMer protections before the end of the year, Republican leaders in both the House and Senate have said they don’t plan to deal with the issue by the end of the year. The White House, meanwhile, has stressed that they only promised Flake a seat at the table, not a final legislative outcome.

On Monday, Flake downplayed the significance of the administration’s commitment to work with DACA, which was given when Trump first announced he was rescinding the program in September with a six-month phase-out. Instead, the Arizona senator described it as an affirmation of Congress’ role in the process.

“Both the vice president and the president have said they want to work with me on it. That wasn’t my condition to vote for the bill. It wasn’t. It was a secondary thing. But I’m glad I got it,” Flake told The Daily Beast in an interview. “The problem is what we’ve seen so far for Congress, it seems, is not in the attempt to reach a deal [but] to make a statement rather than make a law. And these kids are going to be timed out here soon. And so we’ve got to actually get serious with it.”

Flake has been one of Trump’s sharpest critics. When he announced in October that he wasn’t seeking re-election in 2018, he took to the Senate floorto cast Trump as a “reckless” threat to democracy.

On DACA, though, the senator appears to have faith in Trump.

“I’ve said before I think this is one area the president has said some good things about wanting to do it. I think his instincts on DACA, at least, are probably better than some of the advice that he’s gotten on this,” Flake added.

Trump political party push back by Republicans

This is dangerous stuff!  Conservatives have been pushed out of the Republican party. It's now the Trump Party.

The Daily Iowan echo about Donald Trump

From the growing archives of opinions I've collected by randomly cruising the newspapers throughout America.

By Constance Judd

Donald Trump was recently called out by two members of his own party for degrading American values. 

Senator Jeff Flake said there is no place for him in the newly formed Trump party

However, this challenge did little to scare Trump and instead only raised his ego.

Following Sens. Bob Corker’s and Jeff Flake’s denunciation of his character and presidency, Trump responded as if it was nothing more than a simple inconvenience for him. These incidents call into question where the GOP stands if its own members are beginning to turn on one another.

It draws attention to the definite split among members of the Republican Party: You’re either with Trump, or you’re against him.

On CNN’s “New Day,” Corker said, “I’m sorry, I think when the president is wrong, you have to call him out, and sometimes he’s wrong. And that’s what I tried to point out in the speech yesterday.”

Corker was drawing attention to the reality that those who oppose Trump are simply not welcomed in the newly formed Republican Party.

Alongside Flake’s announcement of retirement, he said there is no place for him in the newly formed Trump party; he believes his values of free trade, pro-immigration, limited government, and conservativism did not match that of the administration’s. Flake said we as a country must never accept the “sundering of [the] country, the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedoms, and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth or decency, the reckless provocations, most often for the pettiest and most personal reasons.”

Clearly, the Trump administration is not sitting well with not only the American people but members of the GOP. Is it time for us to finally ask, when is enough going to be enough?

In March, a CNN poll found that 63 percent of Republicans said they were “angry” at both the Democratic and Republican parties. However, when the same poll was given in September, one in four Republicans had added the GOP specifically to their “angry” list. Additionally, a quarter of Republicans have an unfavorable view of the GOP, while a majority disapprove of GOP leaders in Congress. Finally, many believe that Trump is not moving the nation in the right direction.

Obviously, the Trump administration is not presidential.

Taking everything into account, Americans are left to wonder when exactly our democratic system failed to the point where almost a new party is being formed — one that specifically opposes the current president.

In light of the newly formed Republican Party, you’re either with Trump or against him. Therefore, you’re either with the American people or against them.

Simply, when will enough be enough?

MaineWriter- This right wing polarization of the Republican party is a dangerous precedent and a threat to American democratic values.

Echo from Atlanta Constitution- Republicans radicalized

Something dangerous is happening to the GOP~ 

by Jay Bookman (from the Opinion page, an "echo".)

“We were not made great as a country by indulging or even exalting our worst impulses, turning against ourselves, glorying in the things which divide us, and calling fake things true and true things fake.” ~ Senator Jeff Flake

WASHINGTON, DC- In a blistering speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona attacked the leadership, character and decency of the president with whom he shares a political party.

“Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as ‘telling it like it is,’ when it is actually just reckless, outrageous, and undignified,” Flake told his colleagues. “We were not made great as a country by indulging or even exalting our worst impulses, turning against ourselves, glorying in the things which divide us, and calling fake things true and true things fake.”

“The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep America strong are undermined and as the alliances and agreements that ensure the stability of the entire world are routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters — the notion that one should say and do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric and, I believe, profoundly misguided.”

“I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, Mr. President, I will not be complicit,” Flake said. He then announced that he would not be seeking re-election. As he told his hometown newspaper, ‘The path that I would have to travel to get the Republican nomination is a path I’m not willing to take, and that I can’t in good conscience take.”

And of course, Flake is not alone. His fellow Republican senator from Arizona, John McCain, has been equally critical of Trump, as has Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. Last week, former President George W. Bush added his own voice, condemning a politics of “conspiracy theories and outright fabrication” that “provides permission for cruelty and bigotry.”

Think about what we’re witnessing, because it is historic: 

Among them, Bush, Romney and McCain represent every previous Republican presidential nominee dating back to 2000, and you can add to their number former President George H.W. Bush, who has made clear that he voted for Hillary Clinton over Trump. 

As a reward for their candor, these elder statesmen of the Grand Old Party are being attacked by current leaders of their party as sellouts and traitors, as being “Republican In Name Only.”

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has also been highly critical of Trump. Like Flake, he too has chosen not to seek re-election. However, most of those in current Republican leadership either do not share the profound misgivings voiced by their party’s senior statesmen, which indicts their judgment, or they have been cowed into acquiescence and dare not speak up, which speaks to their patriotism and courage at a time when both are needed.

In most cases, I suspect the latter.

Shortly after Bush’s speech last week, former White House advisor Steve Bannon spoke to the California Republican Party, where he pitched his ongoing “revolt against the Republican establishment” and his attempt to remake the party in Trump’s image. He also attacked, by name, both McCain and Bush.

“President Bush, to me, embarrassed himself,” Bannon said dismissively. “Speechwriter wrote a highfalutin speech. It’s clear he didn’t understand anything that he was talking about.”

Those remarks, delivered to an all-Republican crowd, were greeted with standing ovations. It was yet another startling indication of how dramatically the party is radicalizing itself, right before our very eyes.

Echo: Trump failed in Phoenix Arizona

By every analysis, the angry Donald Trump failed, again, to communicate to the American people. Nevertheless, he accomplished what he wanted to do, meaning- divide the nation just because he can.

MaineWriter Note- this editorial from The Arizona Republic is another in my "Echo" series of opinions found while randomly cruising the nation's newspapers.  

Editorial: If Donald Trump was trying to atone for the sins of Charlottesville and prove that he could be president of all Americans, he failed.

MaineWriter opinion- Obviously, Donald Trump wasn't trying to atone for anything.  He deliberately wanted to cause trouble in Phoenix. He's not a leader. Rather, he's a chronic bully.

Donald Trump’s trip to Phoenix displayed the deep political divisions in our country and provided a painful demonstration of why he is not the person to heal that divide. (MaineWriter- no leadership ability!)

Donald Trump's rant in Phoenix represented a missed opportunity to rise above pet peeves with the media and Barack Obama and, instead, to speak to all Americans.

It was just another Trump campaign (akin to "beer hall rallies), a rally in Arizona. In fact, he did seven last year. 

But this is no longer the campaign. This rally offered a chance to show something different from Trump, who has struggled to grow into the job of being president of all the people.

The announcement Tuesday afternoon of Trump’s decision not to pardon Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio during this rally suggested the president learned something from the reaction to his equivocation after the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

It was in line with his more restrained tone Monday when, while delivering a speech on Afghanistan, he said: “We cannot remain a force for peace in the world if we are not at peace with each other.”

That’s the kind of talk a divided America needs from the president.

But, it obviously didn’t last long. He didn't deliver. Trump made it clear that he would eventually deliver an Arpaio pardon, just not on this night.

Donald Trump ran his campaign on anger. He's probably incapable of delivering the grace notes necessary to heal America in times of racial division.

A president truly committed to unity would not spend so much time attacking the media as “damned dishonest” and “fake news,” while trying to rewrite his own response to Charlottesville.

It was Trump himself who blamed “both sides”, after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville turned deadly.

It is truly disturbing to see the Donald Trump try to rewrite history and blame the messengers.

As a matter of fact, Donald Trump stooped to petty insults and once again went on about the size of his crowds while diminishing his opponents. In one faux magnanimous moment, he said he won't criticize by name Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both of whom Trump went on to lambaste nonetheless for not supporting his agenda enough.

Instead, the Phoenix speech was not about unity, despite his insistence that his "movement was built on love."

It was about retrenching. It was about blaming others. It was about feeding the paranoia of his misguided passionate cult followers.

"I can't wait to study and work" said young immigrant refugee from Central America on NBCToday

Instead of President Obama visiting the immigrant processing facilities on the Texas border, packed with children, I submit the American people should be demanding for Speaker John Boehner to visit these immigrant refugee children, instead.

Meanwhile, the kids fleeing Central America and landing in the U.S., need our help.

There’s a wave of unaccompanied children from Central America flooding across the U.S.-Mexico border. 

These children are here because they risked their lives to find a future, free from the violence of heinous  gang violence in their home countries.  On NBCToday, one young man said he was going to Virginia to "study and work".

For mean spirited, and wrong minded people, who call themselves Americans, all of them descendants of immigrants, to consider blocking or turning back these desperate children, is totally wrong.

Americans must respond to this humanitarian crises with compassion.  

First and foremost, these immigrant children want to go to school and to work. They did not risk their lives to be a burden on American society.  Rather, they overcame dangerous terrain during an arduous journey for the purpose of working toward finding a better life than the one they left behind.

Compassion appears to be the motivation of Dallas County Texas humanitarians, who are responding appropriately to the sad childen immigrants.  Rather than wasting time pointing fingers at inept politicians, whose inaction started this wave of refugee immigration, they're working with Catholic Charities and Christian groups to respond to the needs of the children.

In fact, Dallas County plans to soon welcome 2,000 of the 52,000 children who’ve entered the country illegally in recent months

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins was in the border town of McAllen Wednesday and toured immigration centers that are sheltering children. Three of the Dallas County shelters were announced Thursday afternoon.

The Dallas delegation, which included State Sen. Royce West, went to McAllen detention centers where mostly unaccompanied children were living. Reporters weren’t allowed inside. After the visit, West called what he saw deplorable. He saw 15 to 20 children stuffed in rooms designed for just five – and they shared one bathroom. Many of the kids hadn’t bathed in days, West said.

“Based on even the most fundamental standards that we have in the United States, the conditions they’re living in right now would not be acceptable to Texans,” West said.

Jenkins told critics to stand aside!

“Whatever you think about immigration, these are children," Jenkins said. "We have the capability to ensure that this is handled in a safe way. Step back and let us do our jobs. Remember, if the shoe were on the other foot, and it was your child that’s 1,000 miles away from you, you would be praying for someone to do what we’re trying to do now.”

Although 2,000 children saved from deplorable conditions in holding centers are only a fraction of those needing help, Jenkins' boldness in his humanitarian response on behalf of Dallas County is a role model for other communities.

Nevertheless, the waves of immigrants traveling into Texas must be stopped.  

This humanitarian crises is a result of Republicans who failed to pass immigration reform proposed by President Obama.

Republicans should be accountable to the American people for their inability to get anything done- and now there's another crises. 

As a result, Americans will likely spend billions of dollars to try to fix an immigration loophole allowing these children to stay in the US, a problem that should have been managed before it turned into this humanitarian crises. Mean spirited people are blaming the immigrant refugees for their desperate situation, rather than the Republican politicians who decided to do nothing when something could have helped prevent this crises. 

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, R-AZ, told News Hour's Judy Woodruff that he and other Republicans couldn't have foreseen this crises when they didn't pass President Obama's immigration reform and allowed the loophole now keeping the kids in the U.S.  Because of the loophole, the children are given a court date and released. Ninety percent never show up for their court dates.

Maybe, what Senator Flake really meant to say was, "Well, we (Republicans) knew this was coming, but we didn't believe it would be in the faces of thousands of unaccompanied children...."

Republicans should be visiting these refugee immigrant children and explaining to President Obama, and the American people, how it was they were unable to pass meaningful immigration reform, or anything else, for that matter.