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Reality has a liberal bias. If we are trying to make decisions based on facts, we need to seek out the truth.
Jesus said "the truth will set you free"
We know there are more than two sexes. People are born with all kinds of combinations. There are people with both sets of equipment. There are people who are XXY and people who are XYY. They are a tiny minority. By saying they don't exist President Donald Trump is saying they should be eliminated and by extension all Transgender people must have the same fate.
Transgender people have always been with us. There are Roman statues of hermaphrodites. Queen Christina of Sweden gave up her throne and moved to Rome in 1654 to live as a man. Mostly Transgender people try to hide. Those who couldn't were severely punished.
With the rise of Gay Pride, Trans people are out of hiding. Not everyone thinks this is a good thing. We have a choice: we can accept them as what they believe to be their truest self or we can condemn them to "reeducation" camps.
Why does this administration want us to believe their lie? If they can get us to believe that Trans people are less than human they can get us to agree to punish them. Cruelty is the goal.
They are seeking permission to do violence to someone.
This administration supports private prisons.
There are 73,000 people currently in ICE concentration camps. Very few of them are criminals. They are mostly Hispanic people who came here to escape violence, to find work, to have a better life. Are we really better off with 73,000 workers in prison awaiting deportation? Who is going to do their jobs? Wages are not going up. Are we better off with ICE on our streets? In the last few weeks they have killed two more innocent people. Is this really what we want?
First they came for the Hispanics. Those of us who value our neighbors and fellow workers are speaking out. We are standing on the corner with our little signs "END ICE" Steven Millers says that everyone who is standing out here is deformed in some way. The people I stand with on the corner look normal to me, ordinary even.
We are standing out there because we feel our government is in the wrong. We want the arrests to stop. We want our hardworking neighbors back. We want an easy way for them to have the right papers.
ICE has a budget of $45 billion for prisons. The reports coming out of the Dilley Center are all about the spoiled food (maggots and mold), the lack of medical care (people are going without blood pressure, diabetes and seizure medications). A person died of a tooth infection. Women have had miscarriages without help. This human suffering is unnecessary. We demand an end to it.
We are still free citizens in a democracy. We can stand on the corner and use our first amendment rights of free speech to object to our neighbors disappearance. Do it before we can't anymore.
Do you think they won't get around to you? That there will be nothing in the future so important that you will oppose them over it?
I like the way we handle things now. I am embarrassed by U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy's letter to Canada. When we were on fire they sent firefighters and airplanes, good wishes and Prayers. Now they are in trouble. Langworthy sends them a letter complaining about the smoke. I can call his office (716)488-8111 and tell his staff how I feel without fear of reprisal.
I write these opinions with complete confidence that the police will not come to my door. This administration is trying to change that. ICE does not act like any other police force. If the local police had killed people on the street the way ICE has they would be facing charges. It's very hard to hold anyone accountable from ICE. They do not cooperate with investigations and actively move people around.
The thing is this agency is giving guns to unstable people. Why are we allowing all these guns on our streets? We must put a stop to it.
This agency wants to normalize violence against protestors. Getting in the way of ICE is legal. They don't have the right to shoot people for defying them.
What if our regular police started acting this way? Hitting people for standing in front of them, knocking people to the ground and dragging them out of their houses. We wouldn't be in a free country anymore.
That is what is at stake. If we let ICE kill people with impunity, if we let them round people up because of their papers, we become a police state. No longer free.
Marie Tomlinson is a Fredonia resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com