I am blessed: My son, Reed, is now 42 - although I remember the day he was born as if it were yesterday. His two daughters - about to turn 8 and 6 respectively - are perfect, as everyone's beautiful grandchildren are.
We were told last week, with a bit too much swagger for my taste, that 1,995 children have been taken from their parents at the border and placed into custody by the United States government.
I can't tell from the data, how many are brothers and sisters; nor how many are the result of mothers spiriting them out of a bad home situation in their home country, but let's assume half - about 1,000 - children are in tents and converted box stores just because their parents wanted a better life for themselves and their kids.
I understand the need to protect our borders, but it is hard for me to believe there isn't some accommodation that can be reached that is short of putting babies in tents.
SIDEBAR
I looked this up for you:
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), length of the U.S.-Mexican border is estimated at 1,933 miles.
The length of the International Boundary line of the U.S.-Canadian border, excluding Alaska, is approximately 3,987 miles.
END SIDEBAR
Last week we were told by both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that there is biblical justification for this policy.
You understand that my knowledge of the New Testament is pretty thin. Sanders' dad is an ordained minister and so she grew up with stories of bolts of lightening coming from on high.
My father was an ordained upholsterer, so I grew up with stories of bolts of fabric falling from the cutting table to the floor below.
If there is something that says "Having crossed an invisible line on the surface of the Earth, the biblically-required penalty is the loss of your child," please send it along.
The Trump Administration has been adamant that it is enforcing the law, as it does all laws. It is also adamant, as it always is, that wresting children from their parents is not this Administration's fault.
Nothing is Trump's fault.
Trump pointed out as he was leaving Singapore following his meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-Un last week:
"I may stand before you in six months and say, 'Hey, I was wrong.' I don't know that I'll ever admit that, but I'll find some kind of an excuse."
In the transcript provided by C-SPAN the notation, "(Laughter)," follows but we know Trump really meant it.
In his Elmer-Gantry-screwball defense of the Trump Administration immigration policy, Sessions said:
"I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order," he said. "Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful."
The Sainted Sarah Hukabee Sanders added:
"I can say that it is very Biblical to enforce the law. That is actually repeated a number of times throughout the Bible. It's a moral policy to follow and endorse the law."
Hold onto that thought while I cite a letter that Sessions sent to Speaker Paul Ryan saying that the Department of Justice - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Donald Trump,
"will not defend the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act mandate for individuals to maintain essential health insurance coverage."
Sooooooo … apparently the Apostle Paul's clarity and wisdom didn't include enforcing laws to protect "the weak and lawful" in the area of health insurance.
One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Five children. Some teenagers. Some toddlers. All wondering what they have done wrong.
We still shake our heads in shock and bewilderment about the way children were separated from their parents during the 1930s and 1940s in Europe.
In 2018 we have the capacity to save ourselves from being held in the same contempt and held up to the same scorn as those responsible for their actions 80 years ago.
Keeping all the above in mind, I pray the greatest, wealthiest, most moral nation in the history of this world will see a clearer path to its safety and sovereignty than using children as bait and pawns.
1995 in 2018. Happy Fathers Day.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: NBC's summary of the children-at-the-border issue, a map of the U.S./Mexico border, and coverage of Jeff Sessions' letter about not enforcing laws he doesn't like.
The Mullfoto is a Fathers Day-appropriate image of The Lad and me in Normandy about six years ago.
® 
