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Foster father takes in only terminally ill children
- fraserharris 10y agoThe subtext here is that "Bzeek, a quiet, devout Libyan-born Muslim" would not be allowed to immigrate to the United States today given the "Muslim Ban" Executive Order.
- fil_a_del_fee_a 10y agoTrump hates children. Got it.
- staticautomatic 10y agoUhhh, Betsy DeVos.
- woofyman 10y agoThe White House defended handcuffing 5 year olds at airports.
- randyrand 10y agoIsn't it a temporary ban?
- pavlov 10y agoTemporary government orders have a habit of becoming permanent ones. (Cf. every temporary tax ever.)
- zo1 10y agoAnother one that most people overlook in that category are "affirmative action" quotas. They're always sold as "temporary" for the brief time it'll take for their effects to manifest and fix stuff. But alas, in the majority of cases, they are never repealed or "finalized". One way of interpreting that is that it's easy to sell an unpalatable something as a temporary thing because it sounds "corrective" rather than a final decision.
- gdulli 10y agoThe thing about phantom threats to national security is they never seem to go away.
- randyrand 10y agoSo should temporary bans be...banned? It seems there could be use for a temporary ban in the general sense. AFAIK, this was a good scenario for a temporary ban. More strict anti-terror regulations are announced to be coming, and to prevent people from trying to get in before that ban, you have a temporary ban. It made sense to me.
- kdamken 10y agoShhhhhhh. Don't you come around here with your facts and your logic.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- andrepd 10y agoTemporary + infinitely renewable = permanent, in 95% of the cases.
- afarrell 10y agoI'm certainly familiar with the continual extension of US copyright law. What are other examples?
- wavefunction 10y agoThe USAPATRIOT Act and the expanded surveillance powers were "intended to sunset," eventually.
- pdabbadabba 10y agoIt isn't. Syrian refugees are barred indefinitely. All immigration from countries on the famous list of 7 is suspended for 90 days, and then may be resumed if they are able to come up with adequate vetting procedures. The entire refugee program, worldwide, is suspended for 120 days, and may be resumed on a country-by-country basis when the administration is satisfied that it is in the national interest.
- randyrand 10y agoSo should temporary bans be...banned? It seems there could be use for a temporary bans generally speaking. AFAIK, this was a good scenario for a temporary ban. More strict anti-terror regulations are announced to be coming, and to prevent people from trying to get in before that ban, you immediately announce a more strict temporary ban. It made sense to me.
- DrScump 10y agoNot even that. It's been vacated by a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel. Right now, it appears that the administration won't even defend it and instead will issue a more narrowly defined EO.
- frgtpsswrdlame 10y agoPerhaps we can leave the politics out of this one?
- fraserharris 10y agoThe timing of the article implies the subtext.
- DanBC 10y agoSure, but it's fucking obvious and didn't need to be pointed out. Look at the terrible thread it spawned.
- zo1 10y agoI think it's also horrible that the article went into it at all. We're just fighting here as a result of it. If they had left it at the person's name and good deeds, then we'd probably all be here discussing/praising that such a wonderful individual exists. No matter their race, gender, religion or nationality.
- mobiplayer 10y agoThere's no leader without a follower, let's no underestimate the importance of the first reply.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- DrScump 10y agoMaybe, but note that he's been in the U.S. (apparently continuously) for almost 40 years -- he's likely a Permanent Resident, if not a dual citizen (the article doesn't say). Referenced events in the article go back to November at least.
- amake 10y agoHow about you just don't engage with comments about politics if that's what you prefer? Don't ask people to silence themselves on perfectly relevant topics.
- notliketherest 10y agoOf course. News outlet conflates government policy with emotionally charged tear jerking story, in the hopes of swaying public opinion against said policy. Just because there exists such an angel of a man who would fall under this policy doesn't mean this policy is bad or should not be enacted.
- gdulli 10y agoIt's more of a general defense against how immigrants and refugees are dehumanized when they're used in political manipulation.
- bryondowd 10y agoActually, I think you aren't wrong there. Of course, the argument in favor of the policy seems to rely on similar rhetoric. Except, rather than concrete examples of people who prove the benefits of the policy, there's just vague references to the kind of people who might exist in the target demographic, and references to emotionally charged tear jerking stories about people who fit that theoretical description, but wouldn't actually have been stopped by the policy.
- andrepd 10y agoActually it does. This is a example story that illustrates in concrete the argument that you can't blanket ban people by nationality without barring entrance to millions of amazing people who did nothing wrong.
- jerf 10y agoThen you're agreeing that this story can be countered simply by creating another tear-jerk story about how someone died because of a person from that country being let in. Doesn't even have to be a "terrorist". That's the problem with emotional arguments; in a world of seven billion people, anybody's emotional defenses can be trivially overwhelmed in either direction on any topic. Every second you've been alive there has been incomprehensible-to-you amounts of joy and sorrow. It's not a valid argument to selectively scoop some of that out in a particular direction that someone happens to like, and you are being played every time someone does it to you.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- bbcbasic 10y agoI think this kind of subtext is sorely needed.
- cylinder 10y agoJesus. To not only be a child with a terminal disease, but to also lack parent(s)... I can't imagine the pain and sadness these kids feel. Thank you to this man.
- jinfiesto 10y agoIt's horrifying. I can't even imagine what it's like to have to confront your own mortality at such a young age. Especially without the love and support of a caring family.
- jo909 10y ago> lack parent(s) > without the love and support of a caring family. Isn't that exactly what Mr. Bzeek is giving to them? I would not dare to tell him his love and care is any less than of a biological parent, and I believe it does not make any difference to the children either.
- hamstercat 10y agoI think GP meant that there are many children going through that, most not as lucky as the one getting that man as a foster father.
- johnnycarcin 10y agoIt is amazing to me that there are people out there like this (Mohamed Bzeek). The amount of emotional strength and selflessness that I believe it would take to live in this man's shoes is nothing short of extraordinary. Thank you submitter for putting this on HN.
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoAnd on the other side - it's hard enough being a parent and seeing your kids grow up and not need you. Harder still to be a foster parent and constantly become attached only to have them torn away from you, seeing them go on to situations that may be subjectively worse than the home you gave them. You give up a part of yourself to raise a child. I simply can't imagine the sort of emotional strength it would take to bury 10 children and show such love to dozens more.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- cLeEOGPw 10y agoI think it's hard to "leave politics out" when the article is written specifically because he was muslim. If he was christian nobody would care. This is pro-muslim propaganda, and it's hard to "leave politics out" when discussing propaganda.
- andrepd 10y agoIt's amazing how you can read an article about an absurdly selfless person and his awe-inspiring, humbling tale, and can only think about how this is a propaganda piece about muslims, because he happens to adore a different abrahamic deity than you. And yes, the unconstitutional executive order leaving people like him barred from entry is inhumane. I guess it's true what they say. When you can't argue the substance, dismiss it as propaganda.
- slg 10y ago>different abrahamic deity than you A semantic correction for you, there is only one Abrahamic deity. Christians and Muslims of course made some changes to the religion surrounding the deity. However, all three religions are based around the same deity that originally spoke to Abraham. Hence the adjective "Abrahamic". I point out this correction because people often try to draw hard lines between them as entirely different religions when in actuality their teaching share more in common than they don't. And strangely enough, it seems the people who spend the most time engrossed in those teachings are the most in need of that reminder.
- rublev 10y ago>It's amazing how you can read an article about an absurdly selfless person and his awe-inspiring, humbling tale, and can only think about how this is a propaganda piece about muslims I see that more as a testament to their lack of faith in humanity and that it isn't beneath people to do this. The side effect of the story being the actual story, rather than politics.
- cududa 10y agoDid you read the article? He's the only person in the entire state who will take terminally I'll children - Christian or Muslim.
- jacquesm 10y agoI know a lady that works on the cancer ward of a childrens hospital. Strongest person I know, but after reading this I'm not even sure how to feel. Having children comes with the risk of losing them, having children with the full knowledge that you will lose them is on another level entirely. Hats of to this man, I know I could never do this.
- xupybd 10y agoHe lost his wife, his son was born with significant disabilities and all these kids are dying in his care. I just don't know how he does it. I'd just have nothing left after all of that.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- vintageseltzer 10y agoI read this article when it was first published and was very moved. I was able to donate to him here, if you are interested: https://www.gofundme.com/bzeek/ https://www.gofundme.com/bzeek/
- DrScump 10y agoIt's reached 142% of its original goal in five days! (That does not mean we can't add to it.) The GoFundMe has informational updates as recent as today (13 February).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- wehadfun 10y agoAnother side story is that the girls condition was caused by her mother breathing a pesticide . The mother was probably an immigrant her self that we want to throw over a wall. Also if breathing this pesticide caused this how can it be safe to eat?
- dkersten 10y agoif breathing this pesticide caused this how can it be safe to eat? Because something going into your lungs and something going into your digestive system has two very different effects. I'm not saying its good or healthy to eat pesticides, but that's a separate issue than "breathing it in is poisonous, so all forms of administration must be poisonous" isn't necessarily true. For example, your stomach acid often breaks down things. Having said that, I am of the general opinion that we shouldn't be consuming pesticides.
- mobiplayer 10y agoMy sister worked in an ICU ward for babies as a nurse and she would often cry for days after one of the babies died. Shortly after me and my partner had a son my sister decided to quit her job because she felt even more attached to the babies. She couldn't bear it more. Just saying this because it must be horrifying to watch your kids die again and again. I guess this man finds solace in the fact that he is making their short lives much better. My respects.
- jacquesm 10y agoOne of my children spent the better part of two weeks in such a location. Please thank you sister on my behalf, it's the ones that live that hopefully somehow relieve some of that burden and mine did and I'll be forever grateful to the people that do such work. One day when we came there to feed our child the atmosphere was quite changed and I didn't have to ask anybody what was up. And still, nobody so much as dropped a stitch on that shift or said a bad word. Super impressed.
- mobiplayer 10y agoThank you for your kind words and I'm so sorry to read about your experience (can't find right words...)
- jacquesm 10y agoAll is well that ends well. He's fine now but those were the longest days of my life to date.