Why is Jeff Sessions Quoting the Bible to Justify Our Immigration Policy?

Who is Jeff Sessions and why is he quoting the Bible to justify the current immigration policy that separates families?  To answer that question you need to know a bit of his background and upbringing.  He was born in Selma, Alabama, known historically as a bulwark of racial equality and tolerance.  He was named Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.  His namesakes are Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, and P.G.T. Beauregard, a Confederate general in the Civil War.  You will never find two more racially tolerant and fair-minded people.  Mr. Sessions has referred to the NAACP and the ACLU as un-American and Communist-inspired.  Testimony at his failed nomination to district court stated that Sessions thought the Ku Klux Klan was OK until he found out that they smoked pot.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions

“There are those who wrap themselves in flags and blow the tinny trumpet of patriotism as a means of fooling the people.”  George Galloway.

Over the years, I have encountered many individuals who use blind patriotic fervor and/or Christian beliefs as they interpret them from the Bible, to justify any number of positions.  It is usually when someone adopts an otherwise indefensible stance that the perpetrator feigns patriotism or justification from the Scripture.  It’s like when your parents justified something with, “Because I said so.”  When someone uses patriotism or the Bible in their rationale, they seem to infer that there can be no other way but the one they prescribe.  All other positions are indefensible in light of their interpretation of what it is to be patriotic or Christian.

Old Testament

In Sessions case, he believes that his Methodist teachings and interpretations of the Bible are above reproach and paramount to the Law of the Land.  By siting Romans 13 and the Apostle Paul and claiming that we are “to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions has set himself and his interpretations to be sacrosanct.  I’m sure Mr. Sessions ignores the fact that our laws of government were in place when his two namesakes elected to violate that law by seceding from the established union in the prelude to our Civil War.

General Beauregard

President Jefferson Davis and First Lady Varina Davis
Confederate States of America

In our nation’s history, the Bible was regularly used to justify slavery.  From the King James Bible slaveholders quoted Genesis IX, 18-27 and a story about Noah who had three sons.  Noah got angry with one son and cursed him to forever be a servant.  In “re-interpreting” this passage, the fact that the servant son would have been of the same race as his brothers was ignored and the new story made him black.  We can also ignore that Noah went on to live another 350 years after the flood.  I won’t even get into the big boat and all the animals.  You can read an expanded version of this in Time.

Our founding fathers were essentially Christian and our constitution was, in fact, based on the morality found in the Christian faith.  The nation at that time was 98% Protestant, 1.9% Catholic, and there were roughly 2,000 Jews.  Read more of the Jewish influence during our formative years here.  While a Christian morality certainly played a role in the establishment of our government, religious tolerance was clearly outlined in the First Amendment.  The separation of church and state has also been regularly upheld in our courts.

Founding Fathers Signing of US Constitution

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."  Thomas Jefferson

Mr. Sessions also has quoted the Bible to establish that God wants the wall on our border with Mexico.  “God told Nehemiah to build a wall when he got back to Jerusalem.”  What more justification do you need than that Jeff has found a reference in the Bible to a wall to keep the bad people out?

Do we need serious revisions to our immigration policies?  Yes, we do.  Should we comb through the Bible to find out what to do?  No.  Our nation was founded on immigration.  If you can find moral guidance in the Bible, be my guest.  Just don’t use the Bible or your patriotism to justify positions that are morally wrong.  We need immigrants to pick our crops and work at jobs that our citizens won’t do.  We need immigrants at the other end of the socio-economic and intellectual spectrum to enrich our society with their presence.  We need a comprehensive system to allow this immigration.  We need to control our borders but need to do so in a humane way.

President Trump knows the ins and outs of immigration and uses the loopholes in the H-2B visa program to hire seasonal workers for his hotels.  Since 2016, he has hired 143 foreign guest workers and only 1 US citizen to fill seasonal jobs at three Trump properties in New York and Florida.  Read more here.  Under this program employers must try to fill positions with American workers first.  Then, and only then, can they ask the Labor Department to hire foreign guest workers.  The law itself is just a way to pay wages so low that no American citizen would want to work so you can fill positions with immigrants ¹.  President Trump talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.

President Trump is married to an immigrant.  His grandparents on his father's side were immigrants from the Kingdom of Bavaria.  His mother was an immigrant from Scotland.

Trump Family 1915

¹ Note:  I worked for two years in the Florida State Employment Service and regularly saw bogus "job ads" where the job descriptions were written in such a manner so as to preclude almost all humans on the planet.  The lack of any response over a set period was then used to justify going to the Dept. of Labor to request a specific individual foreign aid worker on a H-2B program.  That worker would then qualify for the opening even if it meant waiving some of the more onerous specifics in the job requirements.

Just a few points, if I may, on our “Trade Deficit” with Canada

Over three-quarters of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States is represented by the service sector and not tangible products.  The current list of Fortune 500 companies contains more service companies and fewer manufacturers than in previous decades.  The assumption that bilateral trade deficits are inherently bad is overwhelmingly rejected by economists and trade experts.

•  If you consider both goods and services, the US has a slight surplus in our trade with Canada.
• Canada has a substantial net deficit on dairy trade and imposes tariffs on milk.  This however represents only two-tenths of one percent of our trade with Canada.
• We have an overall agricultural surplus with Canada and export 5X more dairy products than we import.
• We run a trade deficit (goods only-not services) with the top 15 of our trading partners.

Percentage Point Trade Gap
Red=deficit     Green=surplus
Click on map image to enlarge

For a better explanation of America’s Misunderstood Trade Deficit, see this 1998 article by Daniel Griswold.  An excerpt from this article is below:

Savings - Investment = Exports – Imports

Thus, a nation that saves more than it invests, such as Japan, will export its excess savings in the form of net foreign investment. In other words, it must run a capital account deficit. The money sent abroad as investment will return to the country as payments for its exports, which will be in excess of what the country imports, creating a corresponding trade surplus. A nation that invests more than it saves - the United States, for example - must import capital from abroad. In other words, it must run a capital account surplus. The imported capital allows the nation’s citizens to consume more goods and services than they produce, importing the difference through a trade deficit.

Our ballooning national debt, exacerbated by a “spend it now and we’ll figure out how to pay for it later” philosophy of our current and previous administrations, has done far more to increase our “trade deficit” than any cheese exports to Canada ever will.

Imports=Red  Exports=Black
Canada shows but a 2% disparity

Renegotiating NAFTA, even with a $1 trillion deficit with Mexico and Canada, won't get us any closer to global trade parity.  The bulk of any current trade problem is with China, not our north-south neighbors or allies in Europe.

President Trump will never read about this (he admittedly doesn't read), and won't hear about it unless we can get Sean Hannity to read it to him aloud on Fox News.

Vacation Photography Backup Solution

Over the years I have found or used various methods for backing up my photos while on the road.  I continually look for new solutions because travel scenarios, weight limitations, image file size increases, technical advances, etc., have made this a dynamic arena.

With my professional camera, I have a dual card capability that provides a quick solution.  I shoot RAW files which record to a large Compact Flash card, and simultaneously record the same image in the significantly smaller JPG format to an SD card.  Since the JPGs are my backup, I usually use the second level of compression so that a single 128Gb card can be left in the camera for an entire vacation.  The JPGs also come in handy when you want to share images before you return home.

With my semi-pro camera and its single SD card, the need to backup is even more critical for precious vacation images.  Backing up images on a daily basis is essential.  In the past this meant using a laptop, card reader and portable hard drive.  When traveling by car or on short domestic flights, this is not a bad solution.

For longer flights and international travel I sought out, and have hopefully found, a simple light weight collection of gear.  This $136 solution eliminates the laptop and substitutes the smartphone that is already in the mix for most travelers.  In addition to your smartphone, you will need a RAV Power File Hub Plus ($40), a powered USB 3 hub ($26), and a portable bus-powered hard drive.

USB 3 Hub with 4 ports and 1 Charge Port

RAV Power Network Hub, SD Card Reader, Backup Power, and WiFi

For this last item I already have my Seagate 2TB portable hard drive ($70) but plan to supplement/replace it with a faster Samsung 1TB SSD ($350).  For most people the Seagate is the better solution as it is a larger capacity mechanical drive and totally competent.  My desire to upgrade to the Samsung SSD (no moving parts) is my need for greater speed for the individual 30 to 70 Mb RAW image files that I shoot.

Seagate 2TB (shown in red) Hard Drive

Samsung 1TB SSD

Note that the RAV Power part of this solution provides, in addition to an SD card reader, a WiFi network of its own making.  There is also an associated app for your phone or tablet that can provide your file management interface.  Once the RAV Power is plugged into the 4 port hub with your portable hard drive in  another port, you can transfer files using the app interface.  The RAV Power also has a 6000mah battery that can re-charge your smartphone if needed.

The RAV Power plugs into the main (bottom USB cable permanently attached) portion of the 4 port hub and your portable hard drive plugs into any available port.  The use of the 4 port hub is the scenario I tested but the RAV Power device is advertised to work directly with hard drives up to 4TB which would eliminate the need for the 4 port hub.

When you need to back up your SD card, just pop it into the RAV Power, link your smartphone to the Rav Network and supply the 11111111 password (that was 8 ones) it needs, open the app, and locate both the hard drive and the SD card in the app program.  It is here you navigate to your files and make a copy to the hard drive folder of your choice.  It should be noted that your portable hard drive solution must be port powered so as to not exceed the limits of the hub.

For most photographers the above solution will suffice.  For those of you, like me, who also must contend with Compact Flash (CF) cards, I have added a USB 3 Card Reader to the scenario.  The card reader handles CF, SD, micro SD cards.  It also provides a USB C converter to plug directly into newer laptops and smartphones with the "C" type connectors.

WEme Aluminum USB 3.0 CF/SD/TF Micro SD Card Reader

====================================================
There is also another single device solution for SD cards only that might be attractive for some people and that is the Western Digital SSD with a built in card reader.  It is a bit pricier ($500 for 1TB size) than the other two scenarios above but it is a single device that should do it all.  I said SD cards only but I should clarify that this device will accept a card reader but the USB port is of the 2.0 variety and not 3.0, so your transfer speeds for external devices will be a bit slower.

Western Digital SSD with Built In WiFi and SD Card Reader

The WD SSD shown above features:

• Built-in SD card reader with one-touch copy button
• Durable, shock-resistant SSD inside
• All-day battery life (up to 10 hours)
• Wirelessly stream 4K videos and view photos with the My cloud mobile app
• Import from USB card readers

Kennedy-Trump; History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

After watching the CNN series, The Kennedy’s, I couldn’t overlook the points of comparison in the lives of Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy.  Prior to watching the re-telling of the story behind the Kennedy dynasty, I wouldn’t have thought such a comparison to have warranted contemplation.  How can one of the most revered presidents in modern history compare with a man responsible for so much of the divisiveness we see today?  How can the oldest president ever elected compare with the youngest?  While these two individuals were polar opposites in many ways, the points of comparison are many. 

DJT                                           JFK

The vision recurs; the eastern sun has a second rise; history repeats her tale unconsciously, and goes off into a mystic rhyme; ages are prototypes of other ages, and the winding course of time brings us round to the same spot again.¹ 

Both men were the second sons of wealthy fathers.  Both fathers were strong willed businessmen with somewhat nefarious backgrounds.  Fred Trump Sr. was arrested on Memorial Day 1927, while marching with the KKK, wearing white Klan attire, protesting that Protestants were being bullied by Catholic police of New York.  Joseph Kennedy was known to be a staunch anti-Semite who had ties to mob boss Sam Giancana during his Prohibition bootlegging days.  Both fathers made portions of their fortunes in real estate.  Both fathers lived long lives and died after long illnesses.  Joe Kennedy Sr. died at the age of 81 after a stroke suffered when he was 73.  Fred Trump Sr. died at age 93 after suffering six years with Alzheimer’s disease.  He died, perhaps ironically (as a Klan member), at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

Trump's Brothers and Sisters

Kennedy Clan

Both Don and Jack came from large families; Trump with 5 and Kennedy with 9 brothers and sisters.  Both families were recent generational immigrants; Trump of German extraction and Kennedy Irish.  

Both Jack and Don were/are serial philanderers with a penchant for beautiful women.  JFK got away with his indiscretions initially but history found him out.  Two of JFK's relationships (Inga Arvad & Ellen Rometsch) were with probable foreign (Russian/East German) spies.  Some of his more famous trysts were with Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Angie Dickinson, Anita Ekberg, Gene Tierney, and Blaze Star.  That last reference was a stripper famous mostly in Miami whose daughter I met briefly in the 60's.

Ellen Rometsch (East German spy?)

Ellen Arvad (Russian spy?)

DJT’s cheating ways were also kept quiet for a while but again, time wounds all heels.  Times have changed, but people haven’t.  I’m sure DJT would have preferred the days of old when sexual dalliances were not only prevalent they were the main course in Washington.  To read more on this, see Bobby Baker’s salacious secret history of Capitol Hill.

Trump's Women (accused him of harassment)

JFK's Women (for more detail, click this link)

Donald and Jack both had older brothers, who were their father’s namesake, but who also died tragically.  Fred Trump Jr., Donald’s older brother, was an alcoholic who died at age 43 of related complications.²  Joe Kennedy Jr., was killed in WWII piloting a “drone” where he and his copilot were to bail out after take-off, after switching to autopilot, and arming explosives aboard.  The then “drone” was scheduled to crash into German U-boat pens.  The plane exploded prior to their planned bailout and Joe Kennedy Jr. was killed.

Kennedy meets with Russians

Trump meets with Russians

Both Donald and Jack set up back channels with the Kremlin.  Both appointed family members to key political positions.  Both men were/are very astute manipulators of public opinion and used the tools of the newly available media; television for JFK and Twitter for DJT.  Both men triumphed over strong political rivals with more experience in public office.  Both of them won their presidencies by narrow margins.  JFK had a family home at 1095 N. Ocean Blvd., in Palm Beach, Florida, and DJT has Mar-a-Lago in that same town, just 6 miles south.

Mar a Lago

Kennedy Palm Beach Estate

"Winter White House" for JFK and DJT

JFK had widespread medical problems, which weren’t divulged until after his death.  He sought treatment from the White House doctor, Max Jacobson who had the nickname, “Dr. Feelgood.”  JFK took painkillers and got injections of amphetamines for his back, and he was given corticosteroids for his colitis and Addison’s disease.  This latter treatment has the side effect of thicker hair, skin with a permanent tan, and an intensified sexual drive.  That might explain a few things.

DJT, on the other hand, is one of the healthiest men on the planet if we are to believe Dr. Ronny Jackson.  Dr. Jackson indicates that President Trump “is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.”  Oh wait, that is a quote from the Manchurian Candidate and not Dr. Jackson.  Dr. Ronny was known around the White House as, “The Candyman,” for his rather liberal (the only use of the word allowed in this White House) dispensing of drugs for staff.  It is perhaps too early to know President Trump’s true health but we know he is an overweight, septuagenarian with a poor diet.  It is therefore hard to fathom that his health is as good as Dr. Jackson would have us to believe when he read from the medical report Trump dictated.

I’m sure there are other parallels between the two men but it will take the passage of time to fully realize the many similarities.  I was just surprised that there were any at all.

¹ 1845 October, The Christian Remembrancer, Volume 10, (Book Review of “A History of the Church in Russia” by A. N. Mouravieff)

²  Donald J. Trump would later cut off medical benefits to his older brother’s grandson who was born with a rare neurological disorder.  This was in retaliation for Fred Trump III’s lawsuit seeking benefits from the estate of Fred Trump Sr.  It seems that the senior Trump had previously provided family medical benefits and the Donald was not so generous.

Note:  The title of this article was paraphrased from a quote attributed to Mark Twain but for which no known verification exists.  I'll take credit for it as soon as my name change is effective where I will be known as Anonymous.

The Demise of the Free Press; Its Threat to Our Democracy

At the very foundation of our representative democracy is a free press.  It was deemed so important; it was protected by way of our constitution’s first amendment.  This amendment was written to ensure that all Americans have unfettered access to trustworthy news.

Congress shall make no law…, abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….

Revolutionary War Newspapers

Sometimes referred to as the Fourth Estate, a free press, while not a direct part of the political system, represents a “fourth power” if you will, to balance our legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.  Since ours is a government “of the people,” a free press is essential to providing critical information to the people.

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

At the very beginnings of our democracy, the publication of newspapers, pamphlets, and books by a free press, were pivotal in galvanizing this nation into the actions that resulted in its creation.  From the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787, the free press has made its pronouncements and informed the people.  In the ensuing 240 plus years, this free press has grown and morphed into the juggernaut that it is.  Technology has expanded the impact of the printing press and has supplemented it with radio, television, and the Internet.  This expansion has not been without its challenges however and we must be ever vigilant in assuring that it remains free.

In my home town of Miami, I grew up at a time when the city supported two major newspapers; the morning edition Miami Herald and the evening edition Miami News.  I actually delivered the latter tabloid by bicycle in the late 50’s.  Eventually the Miami News closed its doors in 1988, after suffering annual financial deficits in the millions of dollars.  The Miami Herald is still published as a daily newspaper but there are indications that it too is now in dire straits.  Yes, the Miami Herald has been in continuous publication since 1903, and has won 22 Pulitzer Prizes, yet it is floundering.  Signs of its suffering are seen in the diminished size of current editions along with a tremendous reduction in the quality of its content.  While they seem to maintain an accuracy in their reporting, spelling errors and poor grammar are now commonplace.  Over half the weight of the paper is advertising.

Miami Herald Building
Now Sold to an Investment Group, Possible Casino Site?

It is sad to see the decline of the printed newspaper but, with all the varying sources of information today, it is no wonder that our “free press” will at some point in the very near future, no longer use presses or paper.  We can only hope that one of the remaining information conduits will pick up the mantle in a manner fitting the integrity once provided by our vaunted newspapers.

Maintaining the balance of power in our three main branches of government is a daunting task.  Without a free press our democracy will almost certainly shift further toward the Oligarchy that many fear is already a fait accompli.  A free press and a free exchange of ideas will be essential if we are to reverse this trend.  It is apparent to some that the current cries of nationalism with its underpinnings in xenophobia are an attempt to further steer this country toward one governed by the “rule of the few.”  The shift of power from “the people” to those individuals with personal wealth, family ties, or corporate wealth is already happening. 

One of the ways this is happening is the three-pronged attack on our free press.  First, the press is vilified by those seeking to negate its influence.  Cries of “Fake News” come easily from our current president and his minions in a continuing attack of our free press.  The second prong of the attack is through ownership and direct control of the press so that it is no longer “free” but merely an extension of the thoughts and ideas of the owner.  The third prong of the attack is through the willful and wanton dissemination of false information so that it becomes extremely difficult to separate fact from fiction.  I’m sure most of us can think of several examples of each of these attack fronts on our free press.

The media watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders has just published its 2018 World Press Freedom Index, and the US came in at number 45.  Yes, the United States, that touts free speech and freedom of the press as part of its very foundation, now ranks behind countries like Estonia, Surinam, Latvia, Namibia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Taiwan, South Korea, Chile, and Romania.  We slipped two slots from last year reportedly because of President Trump's incendiary anti-press rhetoric and his desire to limit media access.  His antagonism against journalists in this country and abroad is referred to as the "Trump effect."  They describe President Trump as a "media-bashing enthusiast."

While the quote above looks like something Jefferson might have said,
please note that he never wrote/said those words.  I include it here because
someone should say it .  It was easy to repudiate the credit using the wonderful
Thomas Jefferson Foundation site. *

I'm sure there is a cave painting somewhere depicting that the artist killed three antelopes that day when he really only brought home one rabbit and a few berries.  Thus began "Fake News."  Braggadocio, pomposity, bluster, chutzpah, call it what you will, it is all a LIE.  We should not tolerate it from our politicians or our news sources.  Lies cut in all directions.

The Beginning of Fake News

While most of the newspapers of our historic past maintained high levels of integrity and vigilantly pursued the truth, many of our more recent information conduits have had a less than stellar record of accomplishment in the area of accurate and truthful reporting of the facts.  Most of us know the bias shown by certain cable news outlets.  We have FOX News on the left and MSNBC on the right.  CNN might be seen as center-left.  Each of these news outlets has individual shows or personalities with varying degrees of inclination left or right of center and some of these have regularly delved into the realm of pure fantasy.

When we look toward the Internet, we find a veritable Wild West mentality where separating fact from fiction requires effort.  The fact that this same Internet provides all of the tools that make it relatively easy to validate most information, does not belie the fact that most individuals aren’t willing or motivated to make that effort.  Validation of information does require motivation to find the real truth and not just another accomodation of a desired opinion.

It is perhaps fitting here to provide a quote from none other than Edgar Allan Poe and an excerpt from his 1845 short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether.”  This passage is spoken by the head of a private hospital for the mentally ill.

 “You are young yet, my friend,” replied my host, “but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others.”  “Believe nothing you hear, and only one-half that you see.”

Edgar Allan Poe

This passage is even more fitting when you know that, in this hospital for the mentally ill, a recent rebellion by the patients has resulted in the incarceration of the staff, and that the inmates are now running the asylum.  Given the current occupant of the White House, I find the analogy quite fitting if not eerily accurate.

While we, with good reason in the past, trusted newspapers and major news sources to provide us with fair and accurate reports, our trust has been squandered in the name of corporate profits and a thirst for power.  The old adage to trust but verify could be updated to verify, verify, and verify again, before you trust anything.  It is a sad state of affairs but, in our modern information society, the manipulation of information has significant political, economic, and societal consequences.

My recommendations would be to:

• ·        Gather your information from multiple sources.
• ·        Watch/read news sources that provide opinions differing from your own
• ·        Use common sense, if it sounds outrageous, it quite possibly is false, so verify
• ·        Don’t forward or repeat something you have not validated as fact
• ·        Re-read the advice above from Edgar Allan Poe

_________________________________

* I'll leave you with an actual Thomas Jefferson quote.  This is taken from a November 4, 1823 letter to Lafayette.

"....but the only security of all is in a free press. the force of public opinion cannot be resisted, when permitted freely to be expressed. the agitation it produces must be submitted to. it is necessary to keep the waters pure."

Privatization is Not the Solution for Bad Government

We have heard too often that our schools would be more effective and our prisons could be run more efficiently if they were each turned over to private for-profit corporations.  Both of these solutions are fiscally and morally corrupt.  Privatization is sought as a solution when either the government has failed in its job or it is perceived that someone else could do a better job.

We are told that privatization is the answer to several problems in government.  Privatize our highway system, privatize our Veterans Administration, privatize Social Security, privatize Medicare, privatize our schools, privatize our prisons, the list goes on.  I have watched or read enough crime solving mysteries to know that the answer can most often be found by following the money.

After over 40 years of working in government at federal, state, and county levels, I have seen that government can be efficient when properly motivated.  I have also seen how inefficient government can be when there is no incentive to do better.  I have seen where, when privatization is set as a goal, the current government operation may be made to fail through insufficient funding, poor management, or just edicts from on high.

In the list above, only schools and prisons stand out where significant effort has already resulted in examples that can be studied.  Of these two, the privatization of prisons would seem to be the epitome of bad decision making.  The moral dilemma would seem to be most obvious, but it is often overlooked due to the nature of the abuse since it is directed mostly at criminals.  We inherently have little sympathy for those we have decided should be punished or kept away from society.

Prison reform is beyond the scope of this analysis.  I have previously put forth my opinions on the matter in my blog entry on Prison Reform.  Suffice it to say here that the US, with less than 5% of the world’s population, has 22% of the world prison population within its borders.  Our prison population has grown at rates exceeding 500% over the last 40 years, even as property crimes and violent crimes have dropped significantly.  The United States has the largest prison population in the world.  Even more than Russia and China.  Our “War on Drugs,” started in 1986, has increased our prison population from around 300,000 then, to over 2 million today.  If you read today’s headlines it is easy to see that this War on Drugs has not been effective and the situation is as bad, if not worse, than it has ever been.

2016 World Incarceration Rate per 100,000

We must however remember the “prime directive,” follow the money.  GEO Group (formerly a Florida based division of Wackenhut) and CoreCivic (formerly the Corrections Corporation of America or CCA), together represent 75% of the private prison operations in the US.  Both made large donations to the Trump campaign.  One conspicuous donation to Trump came a day after the Obama Justice Department decided to eliminate the use of these private prison facilities.  Now with Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his new insistence on mandatory minimum sentences, these two corporations stand to make back the political investments (called contributions after Citizens United) many fold.  In fact, private prison stock prices spiked with Trump’s election.  CCA jumped 34% and GEO Group went up by 18%.

A New Form of Slavery

Society’s purpose in incarceration has traditionally been for public protection, rehabilitation, and punishment for a crime.  With private prisons profiting from higher head counts, any prisoner rehabilitation and reduction in recidivism that might result from that effort, is counter-intuitive.  There was even the 2011 case of Judge Mark Ciavarella being convicted of a “cash for kids” scheme where private juvenile detention operators paid him for harsh sentences to maintain their populations.  He sentenced around 3,000 children; many with no crime committed, and took in $2.2 million in bribes. 

Judge Ciavarella (front left) Confronted by Mother (pointing finger) of One of His Victims
Her Son Committed Suicide, Ciavarella is Serving 28 Years in Prison

There was a second case that involved Judge Michael T. Conahan.  Judge Conahan, after becoming the Luzerne County Pennsylvania president judge, used his power to stop funding the county-run facility and then started sending all juvenile defendants to a new private for-profit facility.  He then set up a phony receivables scheme to defraud taxpayers and generate kickbacks from the owner.  He was later connected with Judge Ciavarella in the "kids for cash" scheme.

Michael Conahan, Former Judge
Serving 17.5 Years 

The GEO Group lost several contracts in Mississippi after bribery and kickback schemes resulted in criminal prosecution of public officials.  The GEO Group had at least $1 billion in contracts in Mississippi.  The federal investigation was titled Operation Mississippi Hustle.  Charges against GEO Group have ranged from wrongful death, slavery, bribery, deplorable facility conditions, and lack of medical attention.  Follow the money.  There is little incentive to operate clean and safe facilities, dedicated to rehabilitation when appropriate, where your sole motivation is profit. 

It is true that government-run facilities have also had their failures, but much of this can be attributed to lack of funding, lack of training, and lack of oversight.  Prisons should be efficiently run by federal, state, and local governments without a profit motive.  Private prisons have but one motive, PROFIT$.  They are driven to keep beds full.  With crime rates down, prison populations should be drastically reduced through reforms in our criminal justice systems.  Prison operations should always be a cost center in a government budget and never a profit center for private individuals and corporations.

Follow the Money

Schools are another matter, but with certain similarities.  As a business major, it is simple to see that the cost of educating a student should be easy to predict.  You have the cost of facilities, materials, and staff, and a common objective in both public and private environments.  The money comes from a single source, tax dollars.  The only obvious difference in the cost of this operation is the added expense of coming up with a profit in the case of private industry.  Since the costs of facilities, materials, and staff should be nearly identical in both scenarios, the profit needed in private operations has to come from a reduction in one of the other areas.

Just Like the Great Wall

Again, we need to follow the money.  Private schools would like to take the “cream” of the student population, educate them, and make a profit.  Public schools, stuck with whatever remains, would be forced to operate with diminished resources and compete on a not-now-even playing field.  It would be costly to have the two entities compete on a level field.  Both would have to serve in poor neighborhoods with limited parental support, language barriers, and all of the disadvantages the public schools face on a daily basis.  While I can see private schools vying for the so-called “nice neighborhoods,” their incentive to invest in those other areas of our communities that might bring difficulties, I find elusive. 

Perhaps supporters of school privatization could prove their mettle by selectively taking on the lower ranked schools and improving on their current outcomes.  In Florida, they pioneered the A-F grading system for schools.  Maybe a private school could come into a D or F rated school and bring its standing up by a grade or two.  They would need to do this of course, without spending more money than that which is available in the current budget for that school.  That could turn a few heads.  I won’t hold my breath on this one because, if history is any indication, the private schools are only interested in fast/easy money.

Family Donated over $200 Million to Republican Election Pacs
Rewarded with Appointment and Narrow Confirmation

Our current president is a product of the best education his wealthy parents could buy, and look how he spells things like honored, unprecedented, and my favorite heal, in the tweets below.  The last tweet even had "decades" in its singular form before he edited it.  He still missed the word heal, twice.  Why doesn't Betsy DeVos teach him how to activate spell check on his device so his tweets don't make him look like a twit.

Our schools need drastic improvements, but privatization is not the answer.  Education should be a priority for our nation and not just for those who can afford better schools.  Teachers need a living wage.  School facilities need maintenance.  Operational budgets need to include all the books and supplies needed to provide a fair education for all.  Federal funds need to supplement local tax dollars especially where poorer communities lack the tax base to provide adequately for their citizens.   A properly educated population is a benefit for everyone in the country.   Our current under-funded education system is a national problem.  Privatization is not the solution to that problem. 

Privatization, The Grand Scheme