Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/26/because-maximum-cruelty.html
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So they could be decent and respect basic human decency with what they have on hand. But the choose not to.
So the real reason is that they are evil. And because we tolerate it we are evil.
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Well, no. It says that the government cannot accept services without remuneration, and in this context–namely, talking about receipt of supplies–that seems like a pretty big distinction.
An officer or employee of the United States Government or of the District of Columbia government may not accept voluntary services for either government or employ personal services exceeding that authorized by law except for emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.
31 U.S.C. s. 1342. I don’t see anything in there about “goods,” nor does an (admittedly perfunctory) search reveal any court decisions that have interpreted this provision to extend to “goods.” Moreover, it would not appear to me to be a stretch to call this an “emergenc[y] involving the safety of human life.” I seem to remember a certain Preznit declaring … something about the border. What was it he declared? It’s on the tip of my tongue.
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The donations aren’t made to the government, they’re made to the children.
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Yet another reminder that the cruelty is the point.
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If only POTUS had the power to override this by giving an order. It could be called “order of the executive” or maybe “executive order”. I heard Obama did this all the time when Congress wasn’t doing what he wanted.
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Anyone who voted for trump is okay with this. That’s the point.
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CBP just won’t give any of the stuff to the detained kids.
Check the local craigslist, they’re likely selling this stuff rather than give it to tRump’s undesirables.
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The only thing worse than the problem being caused by an agency’s lack of foresight, planning, or budget is that it is being caused by policy.
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And assholes, don’t forget the asshole quotient, very important to remember.
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Individual citizens attempting to donate to CPB just means CPB could spend more of its fixed budget grabbing more kids and building more chickenwire compounds. What we need to do is continue to demand (and sue in court) to make CPB do its fucking job and take care of the people they detain. Or just stop detaining people needlessly.
(Yeah, the latter sounds a lot better.)
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The one fucking law this administration and this department choose not to haggle over, stretch, bend or break. Of course.
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Thank you for this. Every time Trump says something offensive against immigrants or something racist, many people act shocked. The reason he consistently says these things is because that’s what got him elected. Luckily, the group of people who vote because of that shrinks every year. Soon, the “evangelical white majority” will no longer be a majority, but just another subgroup of Americans.
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There is something that everyone here must understand and I don’t think anyone does.
The government is not poor. The government is not scraping by dollar for dollar. The government is not stupid. The government makes few accidents.
The US Government has the smartest people in any given category working for it to effectively and efficiently achieve any goal required in an efficient, brutal, and lean way. It has nearly unlimited resources to accomplish these goals.
NOT GIVING THESE CHILDREN SOAP AND TOOTHPASTE WAS A CHOICE. IT IS PART OF THE TORTURE.
BY ATTEMPTING TO DONATE THESE SUPPLIES TO THE GOVERNMENT, YOU ARE PROVIDING DONALD TRUMP AND ICE WITH AN EXCUSE FOR THEIR DELIBERATE AND METERED CHOICE TO TORTURE THESE CHILDREN.
Oh, and yeah: the deal with the government not being allowed to accept donations is to combat buying off procurement and other officials. It is designed to prevent companies from currying favor with the government by “donating” supplies or labor in exchange for a lucrative contract later. If I am working with a government employee I’m not even allowed to give them a donut or a drink other than tap water because it might influence a decision. You have to charge the government a fair market price for everything.
The only branch not held to this standard is Congress, and well, we see how well that has worked out. You’re not allowed to give your mailman a tip at Christmas, but you’re allowed to buy a senator or two. Yeah, that’s fair. But imagine a world where you were expected to tip at the DMV to get them to issue you plates or a bigger tip to let you slip your vehicle into a less expensive category…
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“We have plenty of the things they need, but why would we treat these animals as though they were human?” I think that sums up this statement. Another accidental truth. These people suck. They have lost their humanity along the line.
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“There have always been enough toothbrushes in Oceania!”
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As a facilitator for white supremacy, creating global problems that result in fantastic blowback, and refusal to make intelligent judgement calls over the danger of supreme court justices like brett kavanaugh, I wouldn’t necessarily give them smart.
Somewhat cunning, efficiently brutal, and unnecessarily competitive, I’ll give them. But not smart.
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Unfortunately the situation is extreme enough that a neutral, factual description sounds hyperbolic and dismissable. Perhaps a more productive perspective for opposing it would turn modern right-wing sensibilities against them, not to highlight contradiction or to produce cognitive dissonance, but to engage baser instincts.
The GOP doesn’t understand hygeine. The GOP is anti-soap. The GOP is breeding vermin and parasites (tricky, that one, we mean rats and fleas, not the kids). The GOP doesn’t know the first thing about caring for children. The GOP child labor camps are filthy and they smell bad. The Trumpervilles are run by lazy people. They chose to make the concentration camps stink. They had a big pile of soap right there, but they were too lazy to put it where the kids could use it.
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Those mylar survival sheets should be made illegal to use in those detention centers. They’re near useless in that situation: over thin/no clothes, on concrete floor with no sleeping pads. A Saturday edition newspaper would be more effective.
They’re only to provide the illusion of care, “humanity theater”.
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