The Border Issue

Thursday, June 28, 2018, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

After Trump cave on child separation from migrants crossing the Mexican border, the policy reverted to Catch-and-Release in spite of Trump no tolerance rhetoric. Now Trump wants to deport migrants without a hearing, possibly in conflict with the Fifth Amendment, and has made it the primary campaign issue for the November election. Meanwhile, the migrant children issue has morphed into the cultural divide, with much of the attention on numerous side issues.

Here are the videos for the meeting:

• Melania Trump Really Doesn't Care, Do U
• Amid outrage at family separations, Trump supporters dig in
• Trump calls for stripping due process for undocumented immigrants
• Commander of Texas tent city blasts dumb zero tolerance immigration policy
• President Trump Calls For Deporting Migrants ‘Immediately’ and Without Trial

------------------------------------- Updated 6/28/18 -------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

• House votes against GOP immigration bill
• Judge orders halt to migrant family separations
• Top US court backs Trump travel ban on Muslim-majority countries
• Fareed: Trump lost immigration battle, but may win war

Zero Tolerance at the Border

Thursday, June 21, 2018, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

A consequence of Trump's zero tolerance policy toward migrants illegally crossing our southern border has been the forced separation of children from their parents seeking asylum. This has been going on for over a month but the story gained national attention as the number of separations increased. Over the weekend, it has become a political firestorm when Trump falsely blamed the Democrats for the separation policy and tried to use the situation as leverage to pass his immigration bill.

Here are videos about the how the children are being treated and the political backlash. This is a developing story so I expect more in the next two two before our meeting:

• What we know about immigrant children being separated from their parents
• Sen. Graham working with bipartisan lawmakers on immigration

------------------------------------ Updated 6/21/18 -----------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

• An immigration system totally overwhelmed
• Trump makes abrupt about-face on family separation
• Trump's Executive Order to Undo an Executive Failure

Tale of Two Summits

Thursday, June 14, 2018, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For the next meeting, we will cover Trump's doubleheader summits, the G7 and Singapore. Trump seemed to play along while in Canada for the G7, but blew-up the meeting while on route to Singapore to meet with Kim of North Korea. Today Trump declared his meeting with Kim a success even while a trade war with our allies loomed.

I will wait for tomorrow to pick the videos for Singapore. Here are the videos for G7:

• Trump tells G7 leaders to invite Russia back into the group
• Trump withdraws support for G7’s final communique
• The significance of the G-7 acrimony
• Trump's G7 tweet storm prompts support for Trudeau
• Trump targets Trudeau and Canada's auto sector
• Trump cherry-picking tariff fights

------------------------------------ Updated 6/14/18 ------------------------------------

Here are the Singapore videos shown at the meeting:

• Trump Will Use His 'Touch' And 'Feel' With Kim Jong Un
• Why Kim leaves Singapore with real achievements
• What does “denuclearization” mean

Trade War

Thursday, June 7, 2018, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Trump finally did it. He ended steel and aluminum tariff exemptions for Europe, Canada and Mexico. Now we are looking at a trade war with our closest allies. For our next meeting, we will examine the outrage Trump's tariffs has caused.

Here are the videos for the meeting:

• US hits EU, Mexico and Canada with steel, aluminium tariffs
• Canada, EU, Mexico react to Trump tariffs
• Trump slaps tariffs on EU metal imports
• China opens EU charm offensive amid US tariffs
• US tariffs on steel and aluminum could backfire

----------------------------------- Updated 6/8/18 -------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

• Tariffs overshadow G7 summit Can a trade war be averted
• TPP trade agreement signed countering US protectionism
• Canada and U.S. slap each other with tariffs
• AP Explains What is NAFTA
• Did Mexicans benefit from NAFTA