As I was drafting this, Trump announced that he will be signing an executive order to keep families together. We have no real details how it will work, or if the children who have already been taken away will be reunited with their parents. There is also the issue that the order might end up being illegal as it will butt up against his zero-tolerance policy that calls for all migrants to be arrested if they cross illegally, because children can’t legally be kept in prisons.
I won’t even get into all the lies he told in his statements to the press this morning, like the fact that children had been separated from their parents under the previous administration (they weren’t — those were kids who came over here by themselves, or were taken from human smugglers) but suffice to say, he’s been forced to do this by GOP congress members who recognized they were on the losing side of this issue ahead of the midterms.
My worry is that there will be so much that happens between now and November that by Election Day we are going to forget how we felt this morning when we learned out country had set up baby jails so they could rip babies and toddlers away from their mothers. Never forget this. Never stop being outraged. Vote these fuckers out in November or they will be emboldened to do this again.
Keep watching, it’s a situation that is developing rapidly.
Last night, the AP confirmed with their reporting that toddlers and babies are being taken from their parents and kept in three “tender-age” shelters in South Texas. They are planning on opening a fourth here in my home city of Houston, though our mayor Sylvester Turner has promised to fight it.
During a press briefing Tuesday, reporters repeatedly asked for an age breakdown of the children who have been taken. Officials from both law enforcement and Health and Human Services said they didn’t know how many children were under 5, under 2, or even so little they’re non-verbal.
“The facilities that they have for the most part are not licensed for tender age children,” said Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Women’s Refugee Commission, who met with a 4-year-old girl in diapers in a warehouse in McAllen, Texas, where Border Patrol temporarily holds migrant families. “There is no model for how you house tons of little children in cots institutionally in our country. We don’t do orphanages, our child welfare has recognized that is an inappropriate setting for little children.”
The news broke at the end of Rachel Maddow’s show, and as she read it, she was moved to tears, and couldn’t quite finish:
She later apologized on Twitter, and added what she wanted to read:
Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three “tender age” shelters in South Texas, The Associated Press has learned.
Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday.
Since the White House announced its zero tolerance policy in early May, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, resulting in a new influx of young children requiring government care. The government has faced withering critiques over images of some of the children in cages inside U.S. Border Patrol processing stations.
Decades after the nation’s child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is starting up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents.
“The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. “Toddlers are being detained.”
Meanwhile over on Fox News, Corey Lewandowski (who was Trump’s campaign manager until he shoved a female reporter, and now currently works in Mike Pence’s office) was debating the policy with Zac Petkanas, a former senior DNC adviser. Petkanas brought up a story that was reported in the Wall Street Journal that mentioned a 10-year-old girl with Downs Syndrome had been separated from her mother. Lewandowski’s response: “WOMP WOMP.” Literally. He literally said, “WOMP WOMP.”
He claims he was mocking Petkanas for “politicizing children,” WHICH IS REALLY FUCKING RICH SINCE IT’S THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WHO ARE THE ONES POLITICIZING CHILDREN WITH THIS EVIL POLICY.
Also on Fox News, a surprising critic of the policy: Geraldo Rivera who pushed back on Sean Hannity when Hannity tried to insist that this was the Democrats’ problem (even though Trump could pick up the phone and end the entire policy right this very second if he wasn’t using the kids as hostages to get his wall and other vicious policies).
But Rivera is the exception to the rule at Fox News. Tucker Carlson went on Twitter to try to declare the “Left” was declaring war … by doing their jobs and covering what is happening at the border? Sure. That makes sense, you asshole.
And now Fox is receiving pushback from within Fox. It started with Seth MacFarlane tweeting that he was embarrassed to be a part of the Fox empire after Tucker Carlson told his viewers to not listen to other news outlets. MacFarlane followed that up with a $2.5 million donation to NPR and their Los Angeles affiliate.
The co-creator of Modern Family, Steve Levitan, also criticized Fox News, and followed that up with tweets announcing that he was not renewing his contract with 20th Century Fox Television.
Paul Feig also called out 20th Century Fox with whom he has a deal:
And Stephen Falk, the creator of You’re the Worst, joined the chorus:
Liz Meriwether, creator of New Girl:
Craig Thomas and Carter Bayes, former showrunners of How I Met Your Mother:
Adam Scott, co-star of Ghosted expressed his disgust with the news network:
Marti Noxon, creator of Dietland and UnReal:
James Gunn, of Guardians of the Galaxy (which is owned by Disney, who is currently trying to buy Fox):
And Judd Apatow is actively calling other Fox people out by show:
David Hogg is calling, again, for a boycott of Laura Ingraham, but perhaps a better boycott would be of Fox’s network shows — if you can bear giving up So You Think You Can Dance or Pose:
One Day at a Time writers have teamed up with writers from Vida to raise funds for RAICES, an organization that provides legal services to the migrants:
Ava DuVernay tweeted this photo of herself as a child, imagining what it would have been like had she been separated from her mother:
Meanwhile, the bidding war over Fox continues, and Fox stock prices rise.
The Television Critics Association has released the nominees for the 2018 TCA Awards, and Killing Eve and FX took the most nominations. Winners will be announced at a ceremony on August 4.
Robert Plant was invited to cameo on Game of Thrones but turned it down because he didn’t want to be “typecast.” Dude.
It’s official: Jon Bernthal is returning.
You can now watch Starz’s series on YouTube.
Tim O’Brien, the Vietnam journalist and author, has joined the writing staff of This is Us, suggesting we will be spending a lot more time in Vietnam next season.
People are not yet over Grocery Joe being eliminated on The Bachelorette.
Do not watch the dumpster fire of a show, The Proposal, it is terrible. Like, it is terrible for so many different reasons. Maybe after I watch the next episode with a bachelorette, I’ll write up all the reasons why it is so terrible (but in the meantime, that link does a pretty good job of explaining exactly how terrible it is). But if you couldn’t resist watching the premiere this week, Mike and Monica are still together, apparently. Good luck with that.
Sex Monster News
Pete Docter and Jennifer Lee will be replacing John Lasseter at Pixar.
Kevin Spacey’s movie The Billionaire Boys Club is still being released vida VOD. “We hope these distressing allegations pertaining to one person’s behavior — that were not publicly known when the film was made almost 2.5 years ago — do not tarnish the release,” the distributor said. NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS, Y’ALL.
Chris Hardwick gave TMZ his breakup email and some text messages from Chloe Dykstra she sent some seven months later. He is trying to spin it as “she was trying to get back together,” but the other way to read it is her saying, “COULD YOU PLEASE BE NICE TO ME AND STOP RUINING MY CAREER?” Chris Hardwick is garbage.
Look, I like Jim Gaffigan and Kevin Smith as much as the next person, but I swear to God, if they replace Chris Hardwick with another white guy, I will burn this place down.
Renewals
- Absentia has been renewed in Canada.
In Development
- Castaways, a Lost-meets-Survivor reality series, in which contestants are left alone on islands in Indonesia with documentary-style “flashbacks” of their lives back home, has been ordered by ABC. What?
- Little America, a series from Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, has been ordered by Amazon.
- Invincible, an animated series from Robert Kirkman, has been ordered by Amazon.
- They’re talking about a The Nanny reboot.
- One Goal has been ordered by Netflix.
- Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons has been ordered by Netflix.
- Alex Kurtzman has signed a deal with CBS that may mean more Star Trek projects.
- The creators of Dark have signed a deal with Netflix.
- Raamla Mohamed has signed an overall deal with ABC.
- Eddie Huang is working on a series about immigrant food.
Casting News
- Mindy Kaling to guest star on It’s Always Sunny?
- Giancarlo Esposito is going to co-star in Cinemax’s Jett.
- Jane Leeves is joining The Resident.
- Courtney B. Vance, Aunjanue Ellis, and Elizabeth Debicki are joining the cast of Lovecraft Country on HBO.
- Kristin Wiig won’t be in that Apple TV comedy series after all.
- Bella Higginbotham is joining Troupe Zero.
Mark Your Calendars
NBC has set their fall premiere dates:
- Monday, September 24: The Voice, Manifest
- Tuesday, September 25: This is Us, New Amsterdam
- Wednesday, September 26: Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D.
- Thursday, September 27: The Good Place, Law & Order SVU
- Friday, September 28: Dateline NBC
- Thursday, October 4: Superstore, Will & Grace, I Feel Bad
- Friday, October 12: Blindspot
- Friday, October 26: Midnight, TX
- Bachelor in Paradise will return on ABC on August 7.
- Last Chance U returns on Netflix on July 20.
- Alone, Together returns on Freeform on August 1.
- Detroit, Comeback City will debut on History on July 1.
- Holmes & Holmes will return on DIY on July 10.
- Deadly Rich debuts on CNBC on July 9.
- The Cut returns on Bounce on July 2.
R.I.P.
Dick Delson, Publicist
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of New York City: Spa day. What could go wrong. 8 p.m., Bravo
Yellowstone: Kevin Costner stars in this new modern western. Series premiere. 8 p.m., Paramount
Young & Hungry: The fifth and final season premiere. 7 p.m., Freeform
Late Night: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Robert Pattinson, Pete Davidson, Brockhampton Late Night with Seth Meyers: Mike Myers, Alison Brie, Kacey Musgraves The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Trevor Noah, Liza Koshy, Two Feet The Late Late Show with James Corden: Damian Lewis, Ruth Wilson, Chris Pratt Jimmy Kimmel Live: Nick Kroll, Evangeline Lilly, Ne-Yo The Daily Show: Dan Reynolds The Opposition with Jordan Klepper: Karamo Brown Watch What Happens Live: Tinsley Mortimer, Zoey Deutch
| WEDS. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | The Goldbergs (repeat) |
The Goldbergs (repeat) |
Modern Family (repeat) |
American Housewife (repeat) |
Shark Tank (repeat) |
| CBS | NCIS: Los Angeles (repeat) |
SEAL Team (repeat) |
Code Black (new) |
| CW | Supergirl (repeat) |
The Originals (new) |
Local |
| FOX | MasterChef (new) |
Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | World of Dance (repeat) |
World of Dance (repeat) |
Reverie (new) |
1) I will accept no one but YNB to replace Chris Hardwick. It is the only answer.
2) The Good Place is premiering on my birthday! Fork yeah!