“The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”

Lincoln–December 1, 1862 Message to Congress

In the late 1700’s the Industrial Revolution was born, with mechanized power now replacing the multitudes of hands, marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production.

This mechanization chugged along and spread throughout the British Empire and beyond, and by the late 1800’s a globalized economy had taken root, and all across England a whole swash of society, small handmade industries, weavers, and jobs that had required giant rooms of individuals all became redundant and people destitute. All across the English rolling countryside, from the moors to the cliffs of Dover, and from city streets to hollow ways, families went without, and 4,5,6 or more mouths to feed because there was no birth control, in squalor, no welfare, only the inhuman conditions offered by the poor house, families made that difficult choice to give up one or more of their children, or everyone starved.

They would be sent off to one of the houses that dotted the land to house these destitute children.

One of those organizations that fostered these children began by a man named Dr. Barnardo. It was thought that fresh air and hard work was of more significance for raising children well, love was secondary to valour and vigour and the work you could do, as a cog in the wheel of industrialization.

Some were fostered out until they were old enough to work, and then often they were sent off across the Ocean to Canada, to work as a farm hand, a maid, and yes, though rarely a beloved child and not just a cheap servant.

Some thrived, and many gained at the very least a life that they could never have had back home. In Canada opportunities were everywhere, and the land was plentiful, and all one had to do is work hard and preserver and maybe you could one day own a patch of land to call your own, a dream unheard of where they had come from.

They were referred to as British Home Children.

A few years ago as part of local Heritage group, I was first introduced to these children and spent months researching them – from the ships they took, the dates they arrived, who they went to within our region, and what became of them. I wrote a few years back about all this, and focused on one family of boys, one of whom eventually served in World War 1, went out west to Saskatchewan, got married, and as an old man died and was laid to rest with his loved ones surrounding him.

One location just outside Maidstone, called Babies Castle, was one such place that had been setup by Dr. Barnardo. {this site has photographs of Babies Castle, Kent – then and now} Some of these young ones were a product of dangerous liaison’s with foreign sailors, and it is entirely possible these boys may have spent time at the Babies Castle in Hawkesbury,  Kent – which is on the southeast coast of England.

[from Abandoned, Not Forgotten – published, July 12th, 2013 ]

Many of the conditions at the time, the causes, the job losses, can be seen today as robotics take our jobs and artificial intelligence our thoughts, and instantaneous gratification is the norm for many, streaming media into us, and lies fly faster than truth out into a world still unaccustomed to discerning fact from fiction.

The inequalities that the industrialization created was the background to the rumblings, that became a cry during World War one, and by World War Two, the ‘other’ was named and demonized, and ultimately dehumanized, and thus easily gas’d or shot to death in cold blood, were institutions had been crushed, and newfound little nests of democracy died to the isolation of nationalistic thinking.

Riding the bus yesterday I was reminded of those home children from another era, thinking about that dawg down yonder and his manufactured crisis caused by his ‘zero-tolerance policy’; watching some pieces fit together in my mind.

Of course, now they are all lying as one once again, denying it was all set up to dissuade the migrants from Central America, just a hard line taken by a hard man.

But seriously, it could just have easily been set up to attract them. People do desperate things when they are at the end of their tether.

To cause a crisis, because you have to know that even if it means giving their children away for a better life, it would be worth it in comparison to the nightmare that has become their homeland. To justify the building of his wall, to concentrate the narrative back from the Mueller Russia probe back onto his own agenda, and of course back on to himself, he takes children from the most disparate, he separates them off in cages and then sneaks them away under cover of night throughout the country. Why?

Even if it was only just a short-sighted policy made by an ignorant administration, to think that this sort of policy would be any deterrent to the desperate is elitism, and that alone makes him a disaster. This policy was ONLY going to cause chaos, cost millions and millions of dollars, and demonstrates the administrations dehumanizing of the plight of a desperate people, treating them like one would cattle.

Those people are merely pawns in some manufactured political chaos, pandering to the desires of his base, to be seen as fightin’ the evil at the door, with a firm hand, all the while putting out a fire of his own making, and manipulating the lives of those for whom he has no respect nor interest in.

He does not care.

It all stinks, a means to an end, to throw kindling into the heart of a debate that has been raging down there for decades, ignited with gasoline, racism and ignorance.

Well, I do wonder who else is not so concerned as they are in the profits they’ll make.

I thought this guy was supposed to be the one to put an end to all that? Guess not so much.

There is not a migration crisis – the crisis is a political emergency

William Lacy Swing, the American director-general of the International Organization for Migration, said this week. The IOM’s 8,400 staff monitor the movement of people around the world, and while they’ve identified plenty of challenges, there aren’t any overwhelming or unmanageable movements of people this year. “The overwhelming majority of migration is taking place in a regular, safe and orderly fashion,” he said. [ The Globe and Mail ]

Manafort goes to jail for witness tampering while he awaits trial, and the Mueller Probe is closing in, Michael Cohen’s probably going to flip any day now, and the rumptus’ need to change the channel, and here we are.

Certainly, this whole catastrophe wasn’t orchestrated overnight, as they had discusd the ‘zero-tolerance policy’ back in March of this year, and it had been in debate ever since he took office. Yet, the timing on when the trigger was pulled is significant, I believe.

Why else would someone ignite such a crap storm so close to the primaries coming up in November?

I mean, seriously, they had to know that they would only be playing to their base and that the majority of Americans would be outraged? They had to know, but the base is all he really cares about, and all he believes he needs.

Or, he is just a complete idiot surrounded by minions loyal only to greed, there is always that possibility.

To be honest, that man has barely governed, he seems to only really know how to campaign. For those who thought the office of President itself would be enough to smooth over his, um, rougher edges, were disastrously wrong.

Generally, unlike other Presidents, his goals are completely different. Where there’s were to govern, lead and make meaningful changes that would affect ALL Americans in the longterm, this man cares only about the small group who worship him, and himself, everyone else is toilet paper.

One glaring thing I noticed during this crisis is how he completely undermines everyone in his administration.

Everyone who spoke about the ‘zero-tolerance policy’ over the last several days had a different message, and notice there was no concerted effort to control the narrative that was released to the press. Every President has staff whose job it is to control the spin, and issue the White Houses message.

Instead, they each came out and made complete asses of themselves, with the rumptus tweeting out the OFFICIAL party line, effectively cutting everyone else off at the knees, and HIS message becomes the only message that matters. It’s a ploy, a tactic that despots use, by making their staff ultimately powerless, and thus a non-threat to their leadership, which for them is always teetering on the edge. Loyalty is all, but they are loyal to no one, nor idea, nor value, nor anything that may infringe on their desired outcomes; everyone is replaceable.

For this administration, maybe we are all pawns for politics and profit, as they spread their disorder, hate speech becomes common and every day, dehumanizing the desperate seeking asylum at the borders, for the spectacle, and the show I guess goes on.

And in the grand scheme, and even though we the people can only do so much, we can show, every single day, that we do really care about each other, more than mere cogs in a wheel, or pawns for someone’s political gain.

I think we have fairly entered upon a durable struggle as to whether this nation is to ultimately become all slave or all free, and though I fall early in the contest, it is nothing if I shall have contributed, in the least degree, to the final rightful result.

Lincoln–December 8, 1858 Letter to H.D. Sharpe