"It could be worse."
This was the opening line to my novel American Loser and one main premise of my book was my character's hatred of the phrase because yes, it could be worse. And tonight it was. We have been delivered a gut-punch of horrific proportions. Tonight just as Rachel Maddow was going off air, she got a store from the AP wire about "tender age shelters" where BABIES---- BABIES--- who have been kidnapped from their mothers are being warehoused. Rachel broke down in tears. I sat here sick to my stomach and had to put the TV on pause to fathom what I just heard and try to restrain myself from breaking things in a violent rage. Last night we thought a line was crossed. Today when Trump and his team refused to relent and act like decent human beings and reverse this policy we thought a line was crossed. Yet here.... I am enraged. I am sickened. I am heartbroken. I see how children can get scared even when their parents are right there and have meltdowns. I saw this 3 times on my commute on the subway to and from work today, where these children started screaming and crying and were inconsolable. Usually when this happens in the subway, you can catch a few people rolling their eyes or giving the stink-eye but with all this in the news, not today. Instead, a couple of times I caught the eye of others who had the same sad look on their face because we knew that at least this child had their parent there and not some goddamn Gestapo camp guard. I feel utterly helpless and don't know what to do. We have an Administration who is reveling in delight at the pain and horror they are inflicting because to them, those aren't children, they are subhuman scum, criminals seeking to "INFEST" this country. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1009071403918864385
They are doing this to terrorize others, sending the message "If you try to come here we will take your children." This is not exaggeration, this is what Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. Left with little else, I have written Texas Governor Abbott. I doubt he will do anything but at this point, anything is a worth a try. Every second those children spend locked up away from their parent(s) is more irreversible damage this country is doing to an innocent child. Beyond this, I am flummoxed and need to think about what to do next. Governor Abbott,
The whole world is watching as this immoral human disaster is unfolding in YOUR state and tonight we have learned that BABIES are being locked up in what the Trump Administration is calling "tender age" 'shelters'.This is a horrific abomination on every sort of ethical, moral, and humanistic level. You call yourself a Christian and you have also been EXTREMELY vocal about "states' rights" and I recall during the Operation Jade Helm US military exercises, you actually sent Texas Rangers to "monitor" these exercises because you believed that the US military was going to lock up people in empty Walmarts for no just cause and deprive them of due process.Well, sir, unlike that, ahem, pipe dream conspiracy theory, here we have actual people INCLUDING BABIES locked up in empty Walmarts and in "camps" on military bases IN YOUR STATE.Where the hell are you? Where is YOUR humanity? Where are your CHRISTIAN beliefs?It's time to put up or shut up. Send your Texas Rangers in to shut down these camps and rescue those babies and children or you are going to face a very painful judgment when you die and have to account for your utter lack of humanity and having remained silent in the face of this horrific obscenity.Stephen ZakszewskiBrooklyn, NY
