… Read the restPublic schools are closing, on little or no notice, and being replaced by religious schools. Exams are scrapped by presidential whim. Tens of thousands of public teachers have been fired. Outside religious groups are teaching in schools, without parental consent.
The battle over how to shape Turkey’s next generation has become a tumultuous issue for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as he seeks re-election on Sunday in a vote that is shaping up as a referendum on his deepening imprint on the country after 15 years at the helm.
Mr. Erdogan has already chipped away at Turkey’s democratic institutions, purging the courts and civil service of suspected opponents, bringing the media to heel, and leaving
All entries by this author
To raise a pious generation
Jun 18th, 2018 5:15 pm | By Ophelia BensonAdolescence is fraught with uncertainty and identity searching
Jun 18th, 2018 3:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonJesse Singal starts his piece in the Atlantic with Claire, age 14.
… Read the restDuring the course of the evening I spent with Claire and her mother, Heather—these aren’t their real names—theater, guitar, and track tryouts all came up. We also discussed the fact that, until recently, she wasn’t certain she was a girl.
Sixth grade had been difficult for her. She’d struggled to make friends and experienced both anxiety and depression. “I didn’t have any self-confidence at all,” she told me. “I thought there was something wrong with me.” Claire, who was 12 at the time, also felt uncomfortable in her body in a way she couldn’t quite describe. She acknowledged that part of it had to do with puberty, but
Anthony was sent to a shelter for migrant children
Jun 18th, 2018 12:16 pm | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restThey’d had a plan: Elsa Johana Ortiz Enriquez packed up what little she had in Guatemala and traveled across Mexico with her 8-year-old son, Anthony. In a group, they rafted across the Rio Grande into Texas. From there they intended to join her boyfriend, Edgar, who had found a construction job in the United States.
Except it all went wrong. The Border Patrol was waiting as they made their way from the border on May 26, and soon mother and son were in a teeming detention center in southern Texas. The next part unfolded so swiftly that, even now, Ms. Ortiz cannot grasp it: Anthony was sent to a shelter for migrant children. And she was
How our government is treating children at the border
Jun 18th, 2018 11:53 am | By Ophelia BensonThis is how our government is treating children at the border. There’s only one way to describe this: our government is committing a human rights abuse along the southern border. Call your representatives, and tell them to demand this Administration #KeepFamiliesTogether. pic.twitter.com/CzJLXLRcwr
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 18, 2018
Moths to the flame
Jun 18th, 2018 11:12 am | By Ophelia BensonTrump’s lies get crazier by the day.
President Trump remained resistant on Monday in the face of growing public outcry over his administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border, repeating the false assertion that Democrats were the ones to blame for it, and suggesting that criminals — not parents — were toting juveniles to the United States.
“They could be murderers and thieves and so much else,” Mr. Trump said of the people crossing the border, as he delivered somewhat incongruous remarks during a meeting of the National Space Council on Monday. “We want a safe country, and it starts with the borders, and that’s the way it is.”
“Somewhat incongruous”…aka batshit insane arbitrary off … Read the rest
One cage had 20 children inside
Jun 17th, 2018 6:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhat’s it like for children separated from their parents and held by the Border Patrol? Oh it’s very nice.
Inside an old warehouse in South Texas, hundreds of children wait in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets.
One teenager told an advocate who visited that she was helping care for a young child she didn’t know because the child’s aunt was somewhere else in the facility. She said she had to show others in her cell how to change the girl’s diaper.
They get bags of chips. And nice big pieces of foil.… Read the rest
Liar
Jun 17th, 2018 5:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe Attorney General outlined a "zero-tolerance" policy last month and other members of the administration have described family separations as a "deterrent." Period. https://t.co/tbQlbmkquq
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) June 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1008480784670486528
https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1008489436886261761
https://twitter.com/NormEisen/status/1008498588593385474
We are increasing the pressure to stop family separation and the Trump administration is feeling it. That's why they're deflecting and lying about what they are actually doing.
We can't afford to think about not winning this fight, because the lives of children are at stake. pic.twitter.com/282FZRwA1Z
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 18, 2018
As journalists who deal in facts we have an obligation to say that this is a lie. https://t.co/zAeF4txwDD
— Philip Crowther (@PhCrowther) June 17, 2018
… Read the restI just exited a border patrol
The first lady expressed empathy for affected families
Jun 17th, 2018 5:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonNo, don’t go thinking Melania Trump is distancing herself from Don the Punk on the grabbing children from their parents question. Of course she’s not. She’s got a nice comfortable life being Don the Punk’s most recent wife, and those children aren’t her problem.
Melania Trump urged “both sides of the aisle” on Sunday to come together to stop federal authorities from separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border, a rare public intervention in an issue that has generated enormous criticism of her husband.
In other words she echoed Don the Punk’s lie about the Democrats forcing him to grab children away from their parents.
… Read the restIn a statement issued by her office, the first lady expressed
Tooning Trump
Jun 17th, 2018 4:28 pm | By Ophelia Bensonhttps://twitter.com/dabeard/status/1007315106634522624
My faves: pic.twitter.com/i5KqqeHSwu
— Angela Suh Law (@Angelasuhlaw) June 14, 2018
Feminists who don’t buy the “choose your gender” position
Jun 17th, 2018 12:05 pm | By Ophelia BensonDavid Aaronovitch suggests that it’s difficult to figure out what we think about a new and contentious package of truth claims if we’re not allowed to discuss them openly and without fear.
Last year the government promised changes to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) which
would, among other things, give legal status to the gender choice of an individual, rather than to the biological sex that they were born with, without the need for lengthy psychiatric assessment.Needless to say, such a change would be welcome for many trans people, who would no longer have to prove that they suffered from a nebulous condition dubbed “gender dysphoria”.
Then again, if gender dysphoria is nebulous, what exactly are “trans people”? What … Read the rest
Daily News Front Page
Jun 17th, 2018 9:16 am | By Ophelia BensonThe cover of today's @NYDailyNews. pic.twitter.com/sAphChxH5W
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 16, 2018
The tent city near El Paso
Jun 17th, 2018 9:00 am | By Ophelia Bensonhttps://twitter.com/Kokomothegreat/status/1008160509718392832… Read the rest
The powers that be are ordained of God
Jun 17th, 2018 8:54 am | By Ophelia BensonMichael Harriot at The Root explains about Romans 13:
… Read the restAround A.D. 49, the Roman emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from the city of Rome. Historians argue about the exact date and the reasons, but we know that Claudius did not want them holding office or bringing in more immigrants. Instead, he wrote that the Jews (pdf) “should rest content with what belongs to them by right and enjoy an abundance of all good things in a city which is not theirs. They must not bring in or invite Jews who sail in from Syria or Egypt; this is the sort of thing which will compel me to have my suspicions redoubled.” The Jews, according to Claudius, were running in
But it’s fun, and there’s real merit in that
Jun 16th, 2018 3:55 pm | By Ophelia BensonDr Jen Gunter is pissed, and she’s right to be. Why is she? Because now, after all this time, GOOP is going back into the archives and sorting posts into factual and hahaha just for laughs.
… Read the restGOOP is retroactively labelling “wellness” posts so women can figure out what was pure bullshit, what was just the hypothesis of a naturopath, and what might actually be factual. I haven’t come up with one that is labelled as factual yet.
According to Racked, the categories are as follows (GOOP’s words, not mine):
For Your Enjoyment: There probably aren’t going to be peer-reviewed studies about this concept, but it’s fun, and there’s real merit in that.
Ancient Modality: This practice is nearly
Where are the girls? We are panicking
Jun 16th, 2018 3:24 pm | By Ophelia Benson.@waltshaub is absolutely right. The racist caging of children is Trump's unilateral retaliation for Congress not approving his racist wall. This is a martial action by the White House and nothing that remotely has a "legislative fix." https://t.co/rXlrgr9uYZ
— Virginia Heffernan (@page88) June 16, 2018
It’s worth watching the clip with Walter Shaub. Nothing new, but it’s good to hear him.
And then there’s this.
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1008107823681687553… Read the rest
A view from abroad
Jun 16th, 2018 3:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonRoland Nelles at Spiegel Online is not a huge fan of Furious Don.
… Read the restThe debacle at the G-7 clearly shows that the real problem with Donald Trump’s policies is Donald Trump himself. There is no rhyme or reason to his actions aside from the desire — the need — to be the best, the most important, the biggest. The collapse of the West and the destruction of alliances that have held up for decades are merely the side effects of this unprecedented ego trip.
At the G-7 summit, Trump treated America’s oldest friends as though they were enemies. At the same time, he fawns over Russian President Vladimir Putin and calls dictators such as North Korea’s Kim Jong
Why can’t we just do it?
Jun 16th, 2018 11:16 am | By Ophelia BensonTrump got bored as soon as he arrived in Singapore and wanted to rush the whole thing through so that he could kick back and watch tv.
… Read the restAfter arriving in Singapore on Sunday, an antsy and bored Trump urged his aides to demand that the meeting with Kim be pushed up by a day — to Monday — and had to be talked out of altering the long-planned and carefully negotiated summit date on the fly, according to two people familiar with preparations for the event.
“We’re here now,” the president said, according to the people. “Why can’t we just do it?”
Trump’s impatience, coupled with a tense staff-level meeting between the two sides on Sunday, left some aides fearful
He neglected to await repeal
Jun 16th, 2018 10:41 am | By Ophelia Benson
… Read the restMost ominous for Trump is the attorney general’s conclusion that “Mr. Trump’s wrongful use of the Foundation to benefit his Campaign was willful and knowing.” It is ironic, and highly damaging to Trump, that he made an issue in his campaign about the federal prohibition on tax-exempt involvement in campaigns. He committed that he would act, if elected, to repeal it. It appears that he and his campaign neglected to await repeal and simply declined to comply with it. In any event, his stated awareness of the law, together with his repeated execution of tax forms for the Foundation “in which he attested that the Foundation … did not carry out political activity,” puts him at severe
You don’t understand sarcasm
Jun 16th, 2018 9:07 am | By Ophelia BensonPhilip Rucker at the Post on Trump’s galloping case of dictator envy:
… Read the restPresident Trump’s praise Friday for Kim Jong Un’s authoritarian rule in North Korea — and his apparent envy that people there “sit up at attention” when the 35-year-old dictator speaks — marked an escalation of the American president’s open embrace of totalitarian leaders around the world.
Reflecting on his impressions of Kim following their Singapore summit, Trump told Fox News: “He’s the head of a country, and I mean he’s the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks, and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”
It was unclear whether Trump was referring to Americans generally or
But everyone tried to be rational and calm
Jun 15th, 2018 5:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonFurther reporting on how vulgar, racist, crude, disgusting, and obnoxious Trump was at the G7 last week.
… Read the restTrump told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he’d be “out of office” if he had to deal with “25 million Mexicans,” and told French President Emmanuel Macron that “all the terrorists are in Paris,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Claiming that migration is a huge issue in Europe, he reportedly told Abe: “Shinzo, you don’t have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you’ll be out of office very soon,” a senior European Union official in the meeting in Quebec, told the Journal.
But Trump, who has followed up on his campaign promise to restrict
