Please Forgive Me, I Woke Up Today Inside of Someone Else...

Painting the Spectrum Gold: Advancements in Autism

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Parental SSRI usage and Autism risks...

When it comes to Autism we are always looking for an answer. I wrote a book a few years ago called, Painting the Spectrum Gold, which investigated different areas of Autism research. Here is an excerpt from that book. It is on a study that was done on antidepressant use by mothers and fathers prior to and during pregnancy. Here is a look at that chapter…

Chapter 14

“A Swedish study done from 2001 to 2007 investigated a link between Autism and mothers OR fathers who took antidepressants during their pregnancies or before.

The researchers involved were:

Dr. Dheeraj Rai

Dr. Brian Lee

Dr. Christina Dalman

Dr. Jean Golding

Dr. Glyn Lewis

Dr. Cecilia Magnusson

Said study consisted of 4429 children with Autism (1828 with an intellectual disability and 2601 without) and 43277 age and sex matching control children. To make this work they matched up each Autistic child with 10 control children. They were primarily looking for a correlation between autistic children and their mothers or fathers taking SSRI’s and mothers who listed depression on their pre-birth paperwork.

Other than a solid Autism diagnosis these researchers also used the following to come to their conclusions, based on their association with Autism:

Maternal Age

Paternal Age

Family Income

Highest level of education by either parent

Highest occupation class of either parent

Maternal region of birth

Parental smoking

Maternal diabetes or hypertension

Apgar Score at birth

An interesting point to take in is that during their research they discovered that 70% of mothers were prescribed antidepressants during their pregnancy and this trend has been climbing since 1995. In the end, there were clear (yet somewhat confusing) results.

Of the parents and children looked at, there’s no evidence of a link between paternal SSRI usage raising the risk of Autism. There is, however, a significant correlation between maternal depression and Autism. It seems that a depressed mother raises the risk of her child developing Autism by 60%. The confusing part is that there was no correlation found between maternal SSRI usage and an Autism risk.

Picture Courtesy of Thebmj.com

It is worth mentioning that one California study done years before had opposite findings. It is acknowledged that the difference in findings is linked to the vast difference in the number of individuals used in the study.”

Sources: http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f2059

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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

School Shootings: An excerpt from my newest book, “Sticks and Stones: A Comprehensive Guide to Bullying”

Though school shootings have been an existing problem in our society since the first known instance of a shooting in a public school (not bullying related) was reported on November 2, 1853, it is a relatively new threat to most. Much of the time these shootings are motivated by the intense pain and/or anger that the shooter feels because of bullying.

The fact is, this isn’t a new occurrence [the frequency is new however.] Years ago, news like this was not reported on as often as it is now. It seems that virtually every day you hear about a new shooting in a school somewhere in America. As horrible as it sounds, these shootings are becoming so common it has almost developed a sense of normalcy to it. [President Trump feels that building the wall is more important than school shootings] That in itself is a scary thought.

The history of school shootings is unknown by most. In fact, many believe that the first school shooting was the unspeakable massacre that happened at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999… The important thing to remember is that before Columbine there were school shootings reported in many other states. Many of the lists of shootings you will find online only date back to the 1960s. In fact, we did not start taking regular record of school shootings and/or researching causes for them until somewhat recently with the beginning of the ‘Crime and Safety Reports’ and the ‘National School Safety Center...’

Picture Courtesy of Guard911.com

Per the History of School Shootings in the United States, between 1986 and 1990 there were at least 76 individuals killed at school with a gun. 65 of those being children, 6 being employees.

Per the same report, it is indicated that the ‘National Safety Center’ reported the following figures [pertaining to individuals killed in school shootings per year.]

1992-1993: 55 deaths

1993-1994: 51 deaths

1994-1995: 20 deaths

1995-1996: 35 deaths

1996-1997: 25 deaths

1997-1998: 40 deaths

1998-1999: 25 deaths

1999-2000: 25 deaths

2000-2001: 19 deaths

2001-2002: 4 deaths

2002-2003: 14 deaths

2003-2004: 29 deaths

2004-2005: 20 deaths

2005-2006: 5 deaths

2006-2007: 38 deaths

2007-2008: 3 deaths

2008-2009: 10 deaths

2009-2010: 5 deaths

All together it is reported by the nyupress that between 1979 and 2008, “170 students and 110 school faculty or other adults were killed; at least 397 students and 75 adults were wounded [in school shootings.]” The motives for each school shooting varies, but many are related directly back to some sort of bullying.

The motives most commonly named are:

challenges to masculinity

gay-bashing

girl-bashing

domestic violence

gangs

and racism.

It is suggested by the nyupress that “in three years (2009-2011), 43 shootings took place. This is almost two thirds of the number of shootings that occurred in the preceding decade. In subsequent decades, it seems likely that shootings will continue to increase unless something different is done. In fact, at this rate the next decade 2009-2018) could well see 143 shootings- which is about the same as the preceding decades (1979-2008) combined.”

This isn’t a new problem, just a newly “brought to light” problem. Columbine brought international attention to an issue that has needed it for over 100 years prior. Our focus on this issue is still not what is should be, worldwide. This is one issue that we must address more forcefully, without delay.

For more bullying related information check out my book, "Sticks and Stones: A Comprehensive Guide to Bullying"

Sources:
https://palebluenews.com/sarah-huckabee-school-shootings-wall/
http://www.history.com/topics/columbine-high-school-shootings
http://k12academics.com/school-shootings/history-school-shootings-united-states#.WnJf0vlKuM8
https://nyupress.org/bullysociety/dataonschoolshootings.pdf
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5926

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Saturday, January 27, 2018

DACA- No Human is Illegal

Let’s talk about something absurdly important and astoundingly human. Let’s talk a little about DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Plenty of people have heard the word DACA lately but few people have actually taken the time to learn what DACA is.

Imagine being a child and having a family member bring you into a place that you never knew in order for you to have a better education, or them to have a better job, or to escape violence. Imagine being this child and knowing nothing but "We are moving." Now, imagine growing up in this place thinking that you were just as much a part of the place as the little girl or little boy that sat next to you in class and learned with you... just the same as the children you ate lunch with and played on the playground with. You know equal to the individuals that you worked your first job with and maybe even attended prom with. Then imagine finding out one day that your whole world was a lie. There are people that could come in after you have lived in this place and had children there and deport you back to a place you never knew, without your family... Imagine doing everything right in order to be legally there once you found out you were not and still feeling as though you have to hide to stay safe because people different than you are coming to take you off to a place you don't know. Imagine feeling like you want to scream because your whole life changed with the outcome of one presidential race. That's the life of a Dreamer.

These Dreamers are important individuals to our society. They pay their taxes and work their asses off. They have families here and are our neighbors and friends. While there are more than 43 million immigrants in the U.S., according to the Migration Policy Institute, of those 43 million, about 11 million are undocumented immigrants. Around 22 percent of undocumented immigrants are under age 25, according to the Department of Homeland Security. So, what’s the difference between being undocumented and being a Dreamer? What’s the difference between an illegal immigrant and someone “protected” by DACA? A program that in 2016 had about 1.9 million people that were eligible for it...

Well, let me break down some of the facts for you…

- About 788,000 have had their requests for DACA status accepted, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

- They must have come to the U.S. before turning 16.

- Have continuously resided in the United States without legal status since June 15, 2007.

- Be less than age 31 as of June 15, 2012 and at least age 15 at the time of the application.

- Be currently enrolled in school, have graduated high school or obtained a general development certificate (GED), or be an honorably discharged veteran.

- Have not been convicted of a felony or multiple or serious misdemeanors and not pose a threat to national security or public safety

- About 72 percent of respondents were in higher education.

- After getting DACA, nearly 80 percent of respondents said they got driver's licenses. About half became organ donors.

- DACA recipients average hourly wage was $17.46 an hour, which was up from $10.29 before receiving DACA.

- In a Center for American Progress survey of roughly 3,000 DACA recipients, nine-tenths of respondents said they had jobs.

- Of DACA recipients, around 77% (428,000) are Mexican. El Salvadorian immigrants make up the next highest percent, at 4%, no other country accounted for more than 3% of approvals.

-California has 162,000 deferred action recipients, compared with 88,000 from Texas. Both states border Mexico and have the highest populations of Mexican immigrants.

-Arizona has the highest application rate. Around 66% of 34,000 eligible people have applied.

These humans are important to our Country, despite the Republicans relentlessly combating against them. And NO! Promises are not enough, we need a clean DACA bill that guarantees their ability to stay in this country.

These individuals did the right thing, they gave their most private information to the Federal Government with the assurance that they would be able to stay in the only country that most of them have ever known. We waited for months to find out where President Trump stood on DACA and it still seems that we are not 100% clear on what his stance is (because the man flip-flops left and right on just about every issue depending on whom he is talking to in that moment.) Most of the time though, the way the Trump administration would have you believe, most Americans are against DACA; well, SURPRISE, the administration is lying.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Most American’s want these humans to stay in the only country that they have ever known. Most Americans believe that no human being is illegal. If you need proof, a Morning Consult poll from April 2017 found that ‘56 percent of registered voters said Dreamers, another name for people who came to the U.S. as kids, "should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements."’

If you want to be forthright about it, continuing to deport these individuals would be detrimental to the United States of America. There is proof of that in the form of actual numbers. The Center for American Progress estimated that the U.S. would lose about $460 billion in GDP over the next 10 years without DACA. It is also estimated that around 700,000 people could lose their jobs.

In the past year it is reported that more than “1,800 governors, attorneys general, mayors, state representatives, judges, police chiefs and other leaders signed onto a letter supporting Dreamers and DACA recipients.” A move showing how important these individuals are to us.

With the all so famous wall hanging over our heads (You know the one that most Americans are against. The one that originally the administration said Mexico would pay for, then decided that Americans had to pay for it and still hasn’t gotten approval to build) and the fact that most DACA recipients are Mexican, it is hard to reconcile in any mind how this isn’t a racial issue being ignited by our President more than just a political bargaining chip…

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Sunday, January 21, 2018

Women (and Men) March, again, in Women's Marches across the U.S. in 2018

Yesterday hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to march on the 1st anniversary of the Women's March. A year ago I brought you an article about the 1st annual Women's March and since then have taken a political break in my writing. If you'd like to read my first article, here is the link: Political Labels and Recent Marches. On this monumental anniversary I could no longer stay silent. The pride I feel is indescribable.

I still tend to avoid labeling myself based on political affiliation; however, while sitting back and watching the chaos of the last year I have to say that I find myself using labels more and more everyday. I AM a Nasty Woman, I AM a liberal, and I AM a democrat. That doesn't mean that I always agree with everything the party does, but that does mean that I can no longer sit in silence as the Right tears this country apart. They do, after all, hold the Presidency, Senate and House. In the midst of a Government shut down and a still on going Russian investigation looming over the President's head I have discovered the importance of standing up and using your voice. Over the last year I have discovered that labels are sometimes necessary.

As the anniversary of the first march came and went it proved to this whole country, and myself, that our country still has hope and that this movement isn't going anywhere. It is just growing stronger. We are currently in day 2 of global demonstrations. There are marches scheduled in cities all the way to Munich.

Demonstrators in Las Vegas launched an effort to register as many voters as they can in an effort to take the midterm elections. Per FOX News, "in addition to the Women’s March co-chairs, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and actress Marisa Tomei" are set to speaking the Las Vegas March. Many people held signs which proclaimed, "Grab them by the midterms." There is definitely an increased interest in the midterm elections on both sides. The outcome of the midterms will change everything.

Picture courtesy of Yahoo News

Cities like Austin, TX; Los Angeles, CA; and New York City had massive turnouts. Austin, Tx alone says that their gathering was the biggest demonstration of people in Austin's history. This year the #MeToo movement, along with immigration, that all famous "Wall," women's rights, people who support DACA and CHIP (both of which expired well over 100 days ago with no solid action), LGBT rights, climate change supporters, and many marching against President Trump himself were among the protesters whom took to the streets in an effort to have their stances heard.

picture courtesy of FOXNews

According to CBS News you could hear marchers chanting, "Lock him up" in the streets. In Oklahoma City you heard protesters chanting, "We need a leader, not a creepy tweeter!"

Picture Courtesy of CBS News

CBS News also reported that members of the group "Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women of Seattle" burned sage and chanted in front of Seattle's rainy march. It is reported that crowds burst into cheers when a woman ran down the middle of the street carrying a pink flag with the word "Resist" on it in Richmond, VA. It is also reported by CBS News that in Palm Beach, Florida, which is home to Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, several hundred people gathered carrying anti-Trump signs before marching.

Protests have not been limited to just the Women's March though. We have seen protests across the U.S. all year. From immigration protests to, most recently, the antiabortion bills. On Monday a group of women wearing red cloaks and white hats like the characters in the book and TV show "The Handmaid's Tale" marched in formation, their heads bowed in protest of the antiabortion bill that just passed.

Picture Courtesy of Mic

According to MIC, the women were "protesting multiple anti-abortion rights bills, one of which was Senate Bill 415, legislation that bans what lawmakers are referring to as "dismemberment abortion" — otherwise known as "dilation and evacuation — a common second trimester abortion procedure." Mic reports that the bill passed the Senate. It is now headed to the house. If this bill becomes law, "anyone who performs the procedure would be charged with a state felony and face jail time." The Mic also reported that "the Senate also voted to advance another bill, which gives doctors an incentive to withhold information from their patients, especially in instances where they suspect a pregnant person may choose to have an abortion due to fetal anomalies."
The fact that people still come out and march even with the chaos our government is uplifting to me, and should be to you as well. This administration has driven people out in mass numbers to protest against them, but there has been another side effect of the moves of the Trump Administration and of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Per Newsweek, Since Trump's election, a "record number of women have signed up to run for political office at every level." The thing that may surprise many is that a lot of the female candidates are finding that seats that were thought unwinnable to them are not. According to the same article, in Virginia, "progressive women unseated a total of 11 Republican male incumbents in the House of Delegates. One of these was Danica Roem, the first openly transgender woman to ever be elected to a state legislature."

If you are paying attention to what is going on you should be inspired and encouraged by the courage that people are finding in themselves despite widespread racist, misogynist, homophobic, and overall ignorant behavior of this administration. In his first year Trump's only major accomplishment has been to pass an overwhelmingly unpopular tax bill. If the Mueller investigation doesn't end in an impeachment the chaos will continue for at least another 3 years. I think we all did learn a valuable lesson from this. In order to hold the office of President of the United States of America one should have to have prior experience holding public office. This isn't a reality show where ratings are the most important thing, this is our county and we are demanding it back.

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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

The Day 51 People Destroyed the United States Education System: The Confirmation of Mrs. Betsy DeVos

I sat yesterday and watched as 50 men and women that were elected to carry out our wishes, that work for us, vote to destroy the public education system against the wishes of most of their constituents. How did they do this you may ask? By confirming Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. For a list of how our Senators voted, visit this link.

Mrs. DeVos brought out parents of special education students and “typical” students alike to demand that our Senators not confirm her. Tens of thousands of citizens exercising their right to speak, many of whom had never done so before. Trump supporters and Liberals alike- all standing together begging them not to do this, not to confirm her. Citizens wrote, called, and staged sit ins for weeks, opposing the confirmation of Betsy DeVos. Repeatedly we yelled that Mrs. DeVos has zero experience in the public education system and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to touch our public education. It makes a lot of people nervous that she never attended a public school, nor did her children. In fact, neither her or her children ever had to take out a student loan. In her life, she has never served as an administrator, teacher, or even as a volunteer in the public-school system.

DeVos with President Trump. Picture Courtesy of MatoMetrix.com

To add more, she holds no degrees in education. The teachers she will technically lead will have higher educations in the field than she does. It has also become clear that she isn’t a huge fan of public education and is not a friend to the special needs community. She wasn’t even aware what IDEA was during her Senate confirmation hearing. Her being such a huge proponent for vouchers is a slap in the face of all parents of special needs children. It is a wide belief that vouchers encourage isolation of students with disabilities and that they drain public schools of resources. It is also well known that voucher programs often require students with disabilities to sign away their rights under a federal civil rights law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA guarantees a free appropriate public education for all children. It has been cited several times that Mrs. DeVos believes that Special Education is a drain on our public education. Many Republicans have mentioned the increase in spending on special education since the 1980s by the Federal Government. As of now, our government gives states about $13 billion annually for special education. To add insult to injury, as of right now, Feb. 8th, 2017- the IDEA website is down. The claim is that they have had problems with it since January and are working on it. Kinda fishy seeing as though it went down the day she was confirmed. We shall see though.

Picture Courtesy of nea.org

Every day it becomes more clear that Mrs. DeVos’ success is measured by her enormous wealth, not her qualifications or education. Her family has funded the billion-dollar charter school industry and shielded it from all rational for many years. They have also, single-handedly donated some 200 million dollars to the Republican Party over he last several years. Need examples of how she donates? For example, in 2000, the DeVos family spent near $5.6 million on an unsuccessful crusade to amend Michigan’s constitution to allow school vouchers. Just this summer the DeVos family contributed $1.45 million over two months’ time (for those of you counting, that’s an average of $25,000 a day) to Michigan GOP lawmakers to derail a provision that would’ve provided more charter school oversight in Detroit.

Mrs. DeVos formerly served as the Republican Party chairwoman in Michigan. She has also been very active in the drive to privatize our countries public education system. Her idea to do this is by creating programs and passing laws that require the use of tax-payer money to pay for private school tuition. This would most likely be done in the form of vouchers. Mrs. DeVos was also chair of American Federation for Children, a pro-school-choice advocacy group. Whose objective is, “promoting school choice, with a specific focus on advocating for school vouchers, scholarship tax credit programs and Education Savings Accounts.” Currently, Mrs. DeVos sits on the board of directors for the Alliance for School Choice. This is a special interest organization that organizes donations to legislative action that are in favor of school vouchers. Her family also started the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP), whose political action committee does the most aggressive lobbying for charter schools. Betsy DeVos and other family members of hers have given more than $2 million to this cause since 2001. GLEP has in turn spent that money essentially buying policy outcomes that have helped Michigan’s charter industry grow.

She spent many years pushing for educational changes in the state of Michigan. It is well known that her efforts returned disappointing results. To top it all off, the nail in the coffin- if you will: Mrs. DeVos and her husband own stake in a collection agency which collects on student loan debt. The firm in question is called RDV. DeVos once served as director of said company. The dealings of RDV had many high-level officials very concerned.

Let me break it down for you.

Per The Washington Post, RDV is associated with a company called LMF WF Portfolio. LMF WF is described by many as a limited liability corporation. In all actuality, it seems that RDV and LMF WF are the same, if not close to the same entity. It seems that the investment fund that Mrs. DeVos formed, called Ottawa Avenue Private Capital, is listed as statutory agent for LMF WF. Both companies share the same filing address which is directly tied to the DeVos family. In fact, some of the same people are listed as employees of all the above-named businesses, all tied to DeVos directly.

The big problem for most is that LMF WF is listed in legal filings as being involved in a $147 million loan to Performant Financial Corp. In case you don’t know, Performant is a debt collection agency that is in business with the Education Department. Do you see the problem here? It seems that, near twenty-three percent of Performant’s earnings are directly tied to its dealings with the Education Department. This in turn means that a percentage of what she is earning collecting on loans is coming from student debt.

Mrs. DeVos. Picture Courtesy of abcnews.go.com

Given her ties to these educational debts and her new position, DeVos is now in a stance to influence the award of the debt collection in these and all cases of educational debt. Not only that but she now is in a spot in which she can influence the school servicing and recovery contracts and the oversight and monitoring of said contracts too. DeVos also now has the authority to revise payments and fees to contractors for rehabilitating past-due debt. To sum that up, she has control of the money and how it is spent. She can choose to pay the student debts back, in turn lining her own pockets with tax payer dollars.

For all these reasons and more, Mrs. DeVos is not qualified to take on the job she has just paid for. It is not only this writer’s belief that she was nominated and confirmed based completely on finances and not on merit. It is also my belief that she will devastate our public-school system. Her belief that Charters and vouchers are the only way to go and her potential to bankrupt the education system all while lining her pockets make me nervous, and should make you nervous as well. Yes, Charter schools can be a viable option for some students, thing is, it’s not the only option for all students. In fact, voucher programs and charter schools would be a disaster to many students across the country. Our public education system is important. It needs improved on, not destroyed from the inside.

(Continued after picture)

Picture Courtesy of The Other 98%

As the Washington Post pointed out: "It’s impossible to imagine such improvements will be aided by an education who is so willfully impervious to the relevant data. Instead, Betsy DeVos’ lodestar has been her conviction that any nontraditional public school is better than a traditional one, simply because it’s not operated by government." I couldn't say it any better myself. Our only hope is that her outrageous ideas and plans get held up in the courts and take so long to implement that she'll be out of office by the time her hands actually touch our school systems.We can all hope, can't we.

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Monday, January 30, 2017

President Trump Seems To Be Attempting To Keep His Campaign Promises, No Matter the Cost...

In the beginning of January 2016, during the Presidential primary, Trump’s Presidential campaign released their first T.V. ad in hopes of gaining supporters. This commercial came amid a campaign that some would claim stunk of hate and Alt Right rhetoric. In said ad you hear the narrator saying, “The politicians can pretend it’s something else, but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism” as pictures of Hilary Clinton and President Obama strolled across the screen. It then preaches of Trump’s proposal to “ban Muslims,” much as he is saying now. It goes further to state that he is going to keep Muslims from entering the U.S.A. until “we can figure out what’s going on.” The commercial finishes up by telling the American people that Mr. Trump “will quickly cut the head off of ISIS and take their oil” if elected President.

Fast forward to today, January 30, 2017- it appears President Trump is keeping at least part of that promise. He signed an executive order banning people from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen from entering our country over the weekend in an effort to combat terrorism. There is also a lot of talk going on that there may be a "Muslim registry" implemented. That has not been officially confirmed as of now though. There's a lot of fear talking right now. We'll have to wait to see what actions Trump and his cabinet take in the next few months.

A few important facts about the newly issued orders from President Trump: around 0.01% of terrorist caught have actually came from those countries. The terrorist from 9/11 were 19 men, 15 of those men came from Saudi Arabia (which you will notice is missing from the ban list), 2 came from the United Arab Emirates (which is located in the middle of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Oman on the Gulf Coast), and one came from Egypt.

Picture courtesy of Slate.com

I was exceptionally shocked that Saudi Arabia and Egypt were not on the ban list given the percentage of terrorism that can be directly linked back to those regions, despite their governing bodies claiming to help fight terrorism. It was even reported that after 9/11 Saudi Arabia's aid to America was lacking sincere effort, even refusing to allow America to use it's bases to fight Osama Bin Laden's soldiers in Afghanistan. I guess if you compare the map of banned countries to the list of countries that Trump has business ties you start to wonder if you're seeing the reasons for the lack of mention of the two countries.

Now, what you believe from there depends on which side of the political line you straddle.

President Trump reports that this is NOT a Muslim ban. While being interviewed this weekend about the detainments and deportations he said this, “It’s not a Muslim ban, but we were totally prepared. You see it at the airports, you see it all over. It’s working out very nicely, and we’re going to have a very, very strict ban, and we’re going to have extreme vetting, which we should have had in this country for many years.” Supporters are hailing this move as necessary steps being taken by a “natural leader” who is a “work-a-holic” and is “just getting started.” The White House seems to be happy with the ban and the consequences of said ban on world travel and possibly even on world terrorism. Trump's favorite lady, Kellyanne, even came out to Fox News in response to the ban telling Americans that, "This whole idea that they're being separated and ripped from their family... it's temporary." Families are also reporting that they were told the same thing by border agents. I guess that is supposed to make it better.

As with any political battle, his supporters and non-supporters alike have taken to social media to vent their feelings about the most recent actions of our Government. In response to Trump’s criticism a lot of his supporters are citing actions Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter took during their terms as President in regards to immigrant bans. They are using these examples as direct means to prove Liberals wrong. Why you ask? I seems this has become a Kindergarten shouting match between two sides of extremist that both should be listening to the people that are hanging out in the middle, worried and shaking their heads.

If you don’t know what they are talking about, here’s a quick bit of information to catch you up.

According to Politifact.com in late 1979 an injustice was committed against America. 60 of our American embassy personnel members in Tehran were held captive. The culprits-Iranian militants. The hostage crisis lasted for a reported 444 days. The actions that conservatives of today are speaking of are the actions that President Carter took in response to that situation. You see, in a bid to get the Iranians to end the hostage situation Carter put forth a ban that kept Iranians from entering the United States unless they opposed the Iranian Regime or had a medical emergency. As part of this ban all Iranian students in America had to report to their local immigration offices. This was done to determine if any had violated the terms of their visa, if so they were deported. President Carter also halted the issuing of new visas to Iranians. In 1980, the Times reported that almost 60,000 students had registered with immigration, less than 500 had been deported. By the end, nearly 5,000 Iranians had left voluntarily, as a result of Carter’s actions. Can’t see the difference in what Trump has done and what Carter did? Just ask Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is quoted on Politifact.com as saying, “The difference [between Trump’s actions and Carter’s actions] is that Iranians were citizens of, and owed allegiance to, a country that was acting against the United States. The class of ‘all Muslims’ has no similar connection to ISIS or terrorists. That makes the analogy seriously flawed."

When it comes to the Conservative claims against President Obama, they are referring to an executive order from 2011. In that 2011 order, The Daily Caller reports, Obama specifically called for a ban that covered "anyone under a UN travel ban; anyone who violates any of 29 executive orders regarding transactions with terrorists, those who undermine the democratic process in specific countries, or transnational criminal organizations." Again, this is different than banning a whole religion to improve vetting processes. Obama’s executive order covered Iran, Syria, and Crimea. Of the three, Iran and Syria are predominately Muslim countries. This also making the circumstances different, his actions were NOT against a single religion.

Now, back to the current situation at hand…

If you believe what the people are saying about the aftermath of Trump’s ban, then you have a different viewpoint of what is going on altogether. There are countless videos and reports coming from social media and various outlets stating that in airports all over the United States you see a very altered picture of reality then what President Trump is depicting. Inside the airports were reported as being chaotic. Lawyers started showing up Saturday night to help the refugees that were being refused entry. Some of the people being detained were found to, reportedly, have Green Cards and were still stopped. People from the 7 key Muslim countries were stopped, their phone contacts and social media accounts reportedly searched, and them asked how they felt about President Trump. Children and Grandparents detained. It didn’t just happen in the U.S. either, airports all over the world are having to turn away people flying to the U.S. that are from those countries. Many of whom recently had visas approved and were headed here. They were already vetted, yet they were detained, questioned, and refused entry.

Protests at JFK Airport. Picture Courtesy of NyDailynews.com

When you turn your attention to what is going on outside airport security then you get a real glimpse of what America is supposed to be about. You see Americans standing up for what America is supposed to stand for. You see humans out in masses, protesting what is being called the actions of a "want to be dictator." You see airports full of men, women, and children holding signs welcoming the refugees that are being detained inside, signs opposing Trump’s ban. Over 5,000 showed up at JFK alone. The Taxi services to JFK Airport protested as well, refusing to transport passengers as they arrived.

NY Taxi Workers Alliance's official statement about the ban

Behind closed doors even more was happening though. The American Civil Liberties Union in Brooklyn, NY petitioned Federal Judge Ann Donnelly to grant a request issued by them Saturday evening to stay deportations of valid visa holders after they have landed at a U.S. airport. Judge Ann Donnelly granted the stay, effectively stopping Homeland Security from deporting anymore visa holders as the got off flights. Virginia, Washington, and Massachusetts following suit, ordering stays. A small victory for the masses, a victory none the less. Crowds cheered as they were given the news. Shortly after, however, Homeland Security issued their own statement. It reads, “The President's Executive Orders remain in place—prohibited travel will remain prohibited, and the U.S. government retains its right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety. The president's Executive Order affects a minor portion of international travelers, and is a first step towards reestablishing control over America's borders and national security."

Despite the Federal Judge’s ruling many reports are stating that border control officers are ignoring the court. They are sticking with what Homeland Security and President Trump ordered them to do. This includes, reportedly, coercing non-English speaking passengers into taking volunteer deportations and, in some cases, refusing civil rights lawyers access to immigrants being detained. The actions of the rogue Border Agents sent civil rights workers into overtime. In one case an Iranian Fulbright scholar was forced on to an AirUkraine flight at JFK-hours after agents had received the court order to stop. Reports are saying that in this instance that, “She was on the phone with us [her lawyers] and stood up [to exit] and asked to get off the flight; the crew just ignored her.” As a result of being ignored civil rights attorneys made frantic calls to higher-level officials-the plane was eventually turned around on the tarmac and the woman returned to detention, instead of being deported. Another media site reporting that a Mother refugee and her children were detained for over 20 hours without being offered food or water. Yet another story coming out reporting that a 5 year old boy was detained and kept from his mother, alone, for 5 hours.

Protests at Seatac Airport in Seatac, Washington. Picture Courtesy of q13fox.com

These court rulings were just victories for people that reached the U.S. shores though. Many others are being detained in other countries, awaiting the (supposed) 90 day ban to end so that they can come to America per their visas, or in some circumstances return to America- WHERE THEY LEGALLY LIVE. Many residents were overseas visiting family or attending funerals and were reportedly stopped trying to return home. Olympian Mo Farah was detained trying to return to Portland, where he lives. He wrote, “On 1st January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27th January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien. I am a British citizen who has lived in America for the past six years-working hard, contributing to society, paying my taxes and bringing up our four children in the place they now call home. Now, me and many others like me are being told that we may not be welcome.”

Protesters in Boston. Picture Courtesy of chinanewsasia.com

As of today, January 30, 2017, our government has came out and essentially admitted that it made a mistake. Things weren't clear enough, it seems, and Visa holders should not have been detained. This has done nothing to silence the masses that are protesting at airports all over the United States of America over the ban being enacted to begin with. His response to the situation on twitter has some fuming even more. President Trump tweeted out today that, "Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage..." A claim that many believe to be fabricated.

Regardless of what you believe, as of right now, it seems this is just the beginning. Like him or not, Trump made many promises on the campaign trail that he seems to be determined to keep. Of course, while watching out for his own interests as well. Some of those promises that are yet to be kept are found terrifying by many, to say the least. For a look into 76 campaign promises he made check out this link. I hope that our President and his cabinet members wake up to the voices of the people soon and finds a way to balance our countries highest beliefs and morals with his current plan of action. I hope he is able to accomplish this peacefully and without stripping rights and liberties away from humans. America is a Melting Pot. We are a country made up of immigrants and refugees. Our Statue of Liberty says it all: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free!"

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