I think we can all unanimously agree that Tuesday’s gathering in Oracle wasn’t Arizona’s proudest hour. Our bloggers James Hudson and David Safier made the trip and grabbed some photos from the gathering, but I imagine we can totally concur that the Republic’s Brahm Resnik struck gold.
Republican congressional candidate Adam Kwasman was caught describing the concern he witnessed on the faces of the migrant children on the bus that drove by the assembly. He tweeted “Bus Coming. This is not compassion. This is the abrogation of the rule of law. #AZ01” with a picture of the yellow school bus driving away. But he didn’t realize it was a bus full of local YMCA children going to camp.
He deleted his tweet, but Politwoops caught it:
The Republic reporter asked Kwasman “Did you know that was a bus full of YMCA kids?” Kwasman responded, “They were sad, too.”
Sorry to break it to you, Kwasman:
12 News reporter Will Pitts, who is at the protest scene, says he saw the children laughing and taking pictures of the media.
I had to break it to Kwasman that those weren’t migrant children. Kwasman later deleted the tweet. He did back flips trying to take back the story he told me.
And while the “Y” kids showed up, the bus that Kwasman and other protesters were waiting for — packed with migrant children — won’t be going to the shelter today, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
I’m sure this won’t affect his campaign for congress, but his ignorance will only strengthen it.
(via azcentral)
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2014.
I think we are loosing sight of the real issue at hand. The media is jumping on the opportunity to distract us from REAL ISSUES. It was only a fellow reporter who saw the children “laughing and taking photo’s with their iphone.” From the footage shown I can’t make out any of the children on the bus. WE the people need a solution to secure our boarders and WE need a solution for the droves of illegal immigrant children who are crossing into our country each day.
Rose:
That’s “borders” not “boarders”. We are not renting rooms to illegals. At least not yet.
Stop the busses dropping women and children at the Greyhound, not the camp. The ones at Greyhound are being feed on the streets! Adam Kwasman is a disgusting human being.
Rose, the proper usage of the word is not ‘loosing’. The word is: losing. Kwasman will lose his election. Or will he loose? Rose?
It’s awesome how many elementary school level grammar and spelling mistakes these right wing teabaggers make in their comments. I hate to even mention it as it clues them in to how hard the rest of us are laughing at them..better just to make some popcorn and watch them “loose there minds” rage posting at the little children.
I urge Mr. Kwasman to use the evidence-based side of his brain before spouting off rather than “it must be true because I believe it” side of his brain. I cannot believe these people get elected!
Hey, “Former long-time Arizonan,” hope you move back here soon, ’cause we could use your votes for common sense & smart politicians.
In the meantime, hope Kwasman keeps talking. The more he speaks, the more “interesting” he looks, because it’s so hard to speak clearly with one or both feet in his mouth.
Kwasman and his friends are paying good campaign contributions to look like clowns and join the other clowns in Congress.
We don’t need Gwatamallan gangs in Oarakal – get a brian, morans!
/sarcasm
Kwasman is another dolt who fits the facts to conform to his preconceived notions. Lots of them out there – some vote and the others vote for them.
You know, Brahm Resnick may do more to change Arizona than any other person in the state.
“It’s awesome how many elementary school level grammar and spelling mistakes ……
“loose there minds” rage posting at the little children.”
Oh the irony…”THEIR”
Bruce was quoting Rose there, irony boy. Nice try, though.
Wait. What about the fear that Kwasman saw etched on their little faces — those angelic visages frozen in a rictus of terror and dread? What are the Marana School District and the YMCA doing to those little children? What kind of pine-scented gulag were they being dragged off to? Huh? Huh? Shouldn’t that be investigated?
Dave in Cochise, at least you spelled Dave correctly. Another tea nagger who cannot spell. Go back to school, moron.
Never mind, Dave. I get it now. Irony right? The spelling is so Tea Bag-like, that I took you for a Moran. (Sic)
Wow. I find it hard to believe that with all the up-to-date and information that we (the people) are receiving from the federal government, that anyone could mistake one bus for another. Amazing that, with all this honesty and transparency, that someone might misidentify a bus.
Henry Barajas – a true journalist would be incensed by the lack of transparency of this administration and question and report on what is really going on. You are nothing but a paid cheerleader and part of the problem.
Go ahead Danny Gallardo…make your day special and rip me apart. We all need something that makes our life worth living.
Dude, my friend was on that bus…it was YMCA. He got a picture of all the protest dicks being ignorant. Are you people honestly that dense?
Up-to-date information we receive from the Federal Government? WTF, It was Kwasman who told all those fools “bus coming” with no indication of what bus it was. Density maximum, AZ too thick to breath
It looks like instead of opposing comments we have spell & grammar trolls. Obviously computer novitiates because as good as my own grammar is I’m still subject to fat fingers & stuck keys. I catch most of it but often still need to return and edit {like right now}, when the program allows because my comment is otherwise lost on the grammar trolls.
As for this topic there is a better way to handle this problem which is not being addressed by either side which means both groups are seemingly stupider than me.
I agree, we need to secure our boarders. So what exactly is a boarder? According to the dictionary, a boarder is a guest we’re supposed to feed. So lets secure our guests and get them fed!
It was a simple mistake with no consequences, as are the spelling mistakes people are complaining about. If you are going to spend your time criticizing, at least pick a topic worth giving a damn about. Anything less makes it appear, perhaps incorrectly, that your agenda is quite petty. So please try harder to enlighten us about the virtues of the liberal agenda or the actual perceived evils of the right. That is what you want, right? For your countrymen to be as enlightened as you are? Trust me when I say that you stand absolutely no chance of achieving that by wasting your breath on such blatant trivialities. Blind aggression will elicit nothing but the same.
No problem, Danny – that’s what the /sarcasm tag was for. I remembered seeing a photo of a bagger holding a sign that read “get a brian, moran”, so I learned to speak the language.
Then Mr. Kwasman walked away muttering, “Benghazi! Benghazi!”
@Harold R. Simpson
“As for this topic there is a better way to handle this problem which is not being addressed by either side which means both groups are seemingly stupider than me.”
Stupider than I.
Please read about these children’s plight and be more compassionate for their situation. They left their families. What would make a child leave his/her family? For those of you who continue to only see the breaking of a law, consider justice. My opinion is that if these kids are given a chance here in the states they will be more of an asset to our nation than many of the children that belong to the protesting parents of Oracle.
@Grammarmaven
“Stupider than I..”
You too?
@Al
We should have compassion for them while they are here undergoing the deportation process. We can modify a lot of our existing laws to address the problem but letting them remain here for an indeterminate time does not make them a better citizen in their own country. You’re getting close to what I feel might be a better way to handle this.
I read on Politico that Jeff Flake and John McCain have filed a bill that proposes boosting the number of refugee visas available for El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala by 5,000 for each country — an effort meant to encourage migrants to explore legal ways of coming here while back in their home countries.
That’s a start in the right direction, but it’s most likely that the kids of the wealthy would be the first ones in line. Most of these kids crossing the border are dirt poor, fleeing extreme poverty and crime, and wouldn’t even know about these refugee visas or if they did, know how to apply for one. The program would only work with an outreach program to reach the poor.
Gee, if we only had reasonable drug policies, say, like the British (they figured it out long ago that it’s much less expensive to treat their addicts rather than incarcerate them), there would BE no drug cartels and gangs in places like Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and freaked out parents wouldn’t be trying to send their precious kids north to the US in order to try to save them from being enslaved or killed. These children are refugees, not “illegal immigrants”. I don’t see a whole lot of Jesus-like behavior at these stupid protests.
Kwasman and the others who disrupted and photographed kids under the care of school district need to be charged with the applicable crimes. It is against the law. You know these nuts would go crazy if someone did it to their kids. If anything, he needs to make a clear and concise apology to their parents.
I’m curious about what law is violated by photographing children in a public setting? Could you please post the USC or ARS?
You CANNOT photograph minors under the care of a school district without parental notification. And you definitely cannot disrupt schools, teachers and students during the educational process. You and Kwasman know this and he should know the appropriate statutes under the education section. In fact, the sheriff should have warned you guys to get out of the way of a school bus – bus that has “Marana” painted on its side.
There COULD be a new law you know about that I am not aware of since I retired as a school district transportation director back in 2008 but at that time there was no such law which is why I asked you to provide the actual verse & paragraph. Urban myths don’t count and calling me names for asking you to be a myth buster contributes nothing here. My copies of the ARSs pertaining to student trans might be a bit dated but I know where they are and already know the answer to the question you prefer to condemn.
And to think people actually “liked” such an uninformed comment.
You were a transportation director and you have no idea kids cannot be photographed with out parental permission? right
Re: Harold
Hi Harold my name is Bob. I was following the thread and got to wondering about the photographing a student thing. I know that news outlets are kept by the school district from using video or photographs showing kids faces unless the student’s parents have signed a release form. You will notice this on the newscasts. The reason for this is that some children are being protected from people that would harm them. An abusive parent that might kidnap the child is one scenario. I don’t know that there is a law written about it, but it is a standard. I think we are on opposite sides of the political fence but that shouldn’t mean we can’t learn from each other. Virtual handshake
gracias, morales. I didn’t have the ganas to state the same question. ok, o que’, sorry about the Spanish, kwasman et al…not.
To all you ‘secure the boarder (sic)’ idjits: the border IS secure- how do you think they caught all those kids? They aren’t running rampant across the countryside- they were apprehended- quite often they simply turned themselves in to the first American they could find because even as children they understood the futility of trying to run the gauntlet and beat the border security. Sheesh, the only thing worse than your irrational fear and anger, is that you nitwits can’t even grasp the true nature of the problem you are whining about- you’d be the ones who witness a house on fire and clamor that we need to call a locksmith. The problem is housing and processing all those kids before we deport them, not catching them- pay attention!
Yes, it IS legal for the photography of students in the context of a public setting. If a person sent me a photo of a driver’s transgression and a student was seen as part of the photo it is perfectly legal. Notice all the photos of kids being interviewed or even photographed after a school incident? Kids in the bleachers at a game or pep rally? You can only castigate me because you cannot find anything in the USC or the ARSs because there is nothing there. IT IS LEGAL!!!!!
The problem here as we digress away from the topic is that you WANT this to be an illegal act; smoke where there is no fire. The man did an absolutely stupid thing in the hysteria of hate which is only being countered with more hate hysteria. It is okay to be wrong, I was earlier today but on this until someone shows a statute to the contrary there is no other way to prove me wrong. The proof shall set you free.
Children in a protective environment are treated much differently than the rest of the kids; separate transportation, only certain drivers allowed to drive them all for the safety of the ENTIRE family. Of course each district has their won way of handling this but only because of the difference in environments, rural vs urban and such.
We are losing sight that these Tea Party Candidates don’t have any brains. There only mission is to do nothing. Destroy the states and the US Government. Stop all tax increase and bankrupty this nation. Wake up voters about the Tea Party. They continual to tell lies and give out misinformation. Do you want to b controlled by these politicians who are the real Terrorist.
@Harold Simpson:
“Of course each district has their won way of handling this…”
Of course each district has ITS OWN way of handling this…
It seems both sides of this discussion seem to be equally stupid. To believe the border is secure is either sarcasm or folly. The BLM, an agency of our federal gov’t requires an affidavit by me acknowledging I could be killed on BLM land just north of Ajo by intruders hiking north. This applies to BLM land that runs north from the border to within sight of Gila Bend. Anyone found on this parcel of our nation’s public land is subject to a fine for being on what should be open to the public but is behind locked gates.
There is no doubt the GOP is just as stupid as the Democrats regarding good governance {“we have to pass this law……”}. Over the course of our history both groups have not been the best representatives of the American people. Is the GOP headed for ruination because of these TPers? The better question might be how to acknowledge the issues of the TPers as well as liberals and work to embrace the similarities. Labeling someone a terrorist is reckless and does nothing to make ANYTHING better.
As a Republican I am beyond embarrassed by this incident just as an American I am equally ashamed an American would recklessly label another American a terrorist just for doing something stupid…..more than once.
Grammarmaven you are missing the chance to offer your constructive criticism to the poster immediately preceding your last one….or are you focused on only me in a lame effort to the content of MY post? And, in the context of my sentence you are trying to correct either form is appropriate.
Actually Harold, the border is more secure than it has ever been in the history of the country. By every measure we are doing a better job of protecting our southern border than we ever have. Deportations are way up, apprehensions are way up, the number of undocumented immigrants residing in the country is at a low we haven’t seen in decades. Those silly signs aren’t proof of a security failure, they’re the result of the ‘constitution free’ zone we’ve established across our southern borders to placate the chronically fearful who continue to fret about Jan’s headless corpses. The very fact that all these kids are in Border Patrol custody rather than running amok in the streets is evidence of that.
But yes, we get it. Both sides are stupid and you’re the only smart one. Congratulations. Perhaps as a Republican you could talk some sense to those TPers and explain to them the long, ugly history of hatred, intolerance and xenophobia in America for whichever group happens to be ‘the new guy on the block’. It wasn’t that long ago that intolerant bigots just like them were frothing at the mouth about their ancestors- carrying signs about “No Irish” or passing laws banning the Chinese or hating on the Germans, the Italians and the Poles or locking up the Japanese in internment camps, all the way back to the ugly way we treated Native Americans. This is nothing more than the age old parade of the ‘Ugly American’ on display and history will look back on it with the same shame and revulsion that we now look back on all those other sorry episodes. Perhaps instead of tsk tsking both sides from your holier than thou perch of false equivalence you could help enlighten these people and explain to them how many of their own great grandparents faced this very same irrational hostility that they now feel so justified in heaping on the current generation of the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free…
I wonder if you could take me to this secure border to show me how uninformed I am. And while you’re at it maybe you can help me understand how the GOP is responsible for an executive order signed by the president in 1942. And actions taken against the Chinese. I might be as smart as you say but it’s obvious I’m not as smart as you.
Adam Kwasman and I went to the same high school, and he has not changed one bit. He spouted off opinions fed to him by others without any factual knowledge of his own. I truly believe he is the definition of a puppet. Unfortunately, now that he has weaseled his way into politics, he is a mindless puppet with a megaphone. I have direct/in person knowledge of the situation these unaccompanied children are in, and this is a humanitarian issue. Most of the people protesting hide behind religion to validate their bigotry, but if they were truly Christ – like they would value the lives of others above their own. They would also be saviors rather than protestors. I would like to make a suggestion to those who disagree with this humanitarian effort; open the good book today, and take a look at the actions of Jesus. Accepting all, saving those in need, and providing to others before providing for himself. Those are just some of the basics. If you would like to call yourselves true Americans or true Christians; you should be loading your vans up with donations instead of hate.
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!! From the outset of this I have wondered why our gov’t has not tried partnering with the secular groups who could do more about this at lower cost than ANY border fence or legions of law enforcement entrenched along the borders. Let me see if I can set a record for “dislikes” with this:
We need to expand our student visas to these younger ages who are showing up right now.
The governors of the affected states need to band together and FORCE the president, any president to allow the churches to have access to these kids for the sake of their current educational needs. Any church in Tucson, pick one, could contract with TUSD to use one of the closed schools to have classes. This is the decent thing we could do while these kids are awaiting deportation back to their home countries.
One of the influences inspiring these kids to come here is the missionaries. As part of their ministry these men & women could represent their sponsors by working with the local families to help their child qualify for these visas. In Az families within the community could offer to sponsor a child.
The devil is in the details but the gist of this is that since we offer college student visas why not do the same for the younger grades? We bring foreign military to this country to learn why not introduce America to these groups at a younger age so they can learn early how to be a learned citizen in their own country and, over time, improve the quality of life in their own region.
Gee Harold, what a nice non answer reply. You do a wonderful job of avoiding any of my factual assertions in order to stubbornly cling to your talking points. And as a bonus, you put words in my mouth and claim I said something that I didn’t say. While you’re at it, maybe you can help me and show me where I ever said the GOP was responsible for a 1942 executive order or for the Japanese internment camps or for the plight of Chinese immigrants. Could you pretty please point out in any of my posts where I said those things? Please be specific and point to the words or phrase you are referring to. I’ll wait…
See Harold, that is what is commonly known as a straw man argument and they are both tedious and lame, yet you chose to go that route in lieu of any sort of cogent response rebutting anything I said with facts. I also couldn’t help but notice how you intentionally ignored much of what I posted about the sordid history of xenophobia in this country. BTW, I have no intention of chauffeuring you to the border. There’s a much quicker and easier way to ascertain that everything I said is true. Just open a new browser tab and navigate to The Google and start querying away- it’s all there in black and white. Besides, those of us in the reality based world fully understand that data trumps anecdote. If you want to head down to Nogales and stare at 10 ft section of the border fence for 20 minutes before you get back in your car and drive home to breathlessly report your experience, knock yourself out, but don’t think for a second that your anecdotal experience will trump the mountains of statistical data out there. You did get one thing right though, if you think that your heap of dissembling and evasion was going to pass muster you really aren’t that smart.
I can already see you feverishly erecting that next straw man, so I’ll save you the trouble. I said that the border is more secure than ever and that deportations are up and overall undocumented immigrant levels are historically low. This is all true and verifiable. I did not, however, say that the border is 100% secure, so don’t bother claiming I did. In fact it is not, nor will it ever be. It’s quite impossible to completely 100% secure the border- even if we spent our entire national budget trying and lined up National Guard with their arms linked across the entire 3000 mile stretch. Our border is not perfect by any means, but it’s more than secure enough- the very fact that we are talking about 50,000 kids apprehended rather than 50,000 kids running amok makes that fact self evident. Our problem isn’t a porous border, it’s an overload of detainees and lack of facilities and personnel to process them before we send them home. Besides, this whole line of argument ignores the fact that roughly 40% of our undocumented immigrants didn’t actually sneak across the desert; many of them are from other parts of the world and many of them entered legally and simply overstayed their visas. But if it makes you feel better, feel free to walk around muttering “build the dang fence” like a senile old John McCain.
The reason I addressed the Tea Party is not that I think they hold some sort of a monopoly on intolerance and xenophobia, far from it- bigotry comes in all shapes and sizes and there are plenty of Dems or independents who are xenophobic. But the Tea Party represents the only real organized group of like minded people with the political clout to gum up the works and prevent any progress from being made. There’s a bi-partisan Senate bill that has enough votes from a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats to pass the House right now, but John Boehner won’t allow it on the floor because he is scared to death of the TP. These foaming at the mouth extremists refuse to compromise, refuse to negotiate, refuse to even listen. You carp about finding solutions, but it’s pretty hard to have a meaningful conversation when one party stonewalls and won’t engage. These people are so pumped up on a toxic stew of Fox News and AM radio hate and vitriol, that to them, anything short of tar and feathering those kids and launching them back across the border with a catapult is viewed as capitulation and surrender. How are the rest of us supposed to come up with a solution with that irrational obstruction? You can’t compromise with a group that categorically rejects the very concept of compromise. You can’t reach any solutions with a group of people who think it’s perfectly acceptable to scream at and intimidate a busload of children as a legitimate way to fix the problem.
You seem like a moderate Republican- that’s why I suggested that you enlighten them- they long ago quit listening to the rest of us. As a Republican, you are complicit in their ascension- they were useful to your party and you guys milked it for all it was worth in 2010. It was a Faustian bargain and now we’re all paying the price. Sorry Dr Frankenstein, but that monster of yours ain’t all that anymore, now that it’s turned on you too…
I stand by my statement….and acknowledge yours.
For a Jew like kwasman making mistakes off those poor children,.is soooo bad what can we spected from in omly discrimination,.like Israel agains the Palestinans,. donot vote 4 hin
Hey Robin, it would be just as bad if a man/woman with skin color were to do the same thing. Running for office or not.
Kerri, I feel your pain and embarrassment. A classmate of mine thinks that he will win his re election for State Superintendent of PUBLIC Education. Delusions of grandeur for him and Quasi Man.