Hello Friends of B&G:

There has been another atrocity committed in the name of "law and order".

A 6 year old Guatemalan girl was separated from her father by ICE at the Southern border.

Her father was sent to a detention camp 1,000 miles away. The innocent girl was placed in the care of KIND (Kids In Need of Defense), Angelina Jolie's non-profit that assists children with legal defense and related services in high-risk areas.

I got a call this morning. The person on the line was asking if B&G could help. My team and I sprang into action, contacting dozens of academics and language professionals in our network desperately trying to track down a Mayan-language interpreter which is incredibly hard to find. 

After being passed around from office to office, we finally landed on a group that was already sourcing the interpreters who had special connections into the world of Mayan language. 

"What can B&G do to help?" I asked. 

They needed a donation. So, we immediately went to their GoFundMe campaign and donated $1,000.00 to the cause of flying in 6 highly specialized interpreters that can bring the girl peace of mind and the comfort of her Dad's voice..

The original funding goal was $2,500. They have raised $15,000 in a few days. This fundraiser is attached to Raices, the organization that raised $20,000,000 to combat the atrocities and the monsters behind them.

This, friends, is how we will win this fight: non-violent, crowd-sourced funds funneled into expert hands who can deploy boots on the ground and ease the suffering of the families and hopefully gain enough political clout to stop the deplorable people running this anti-American horror show. 

If our lawmakers have any shame and common decency left in them, they had better be drafting some kind of cease and desist order at this point or I fear that the USA will NEVER recover our status as a global leader in my lifetime.

I, for one, love our country. I spent 10 years teaching children, defending their interests, and assisting in their social and academic development.

I refuse to go down as a member of the generation who let the USA turn into a grotesque bully who shoves around small, innocent children who share last names similar to those of my Spanish-speaking family members.

The activities of a small minority of crazies is NOT who we are as a people. The opposition, who claims to be "America's Party", has turned into a disgusting caricature of itself. They need to learn that in the REAL America, we DON'T TOLERATE BULLIES. 

I am calling on all patriotic Americans to donate generously to the cause. The time is NOW to send a message to these so-called "American leaders" that they are not the kind of people we are as a nation! Give $1, $5, $500, $10000! Give whatever is in your power to give. Any amount helps.

And, as we soldier on, weary and tired from the constant barrage of our enemies' insanity that is pumped into our lives over TV, the Internet, and our phones, I want you to remember the Three R's!

RESIST. REFUSE. RELENT.

If we RESIST their hate, and REFUSE to participate in this madness, the bullies will RELENT.

RESIST. REFUSE. RELENT. 

Share the Three R's far and wide, allies of B&G and of the cause of child safety everywhere.

I will close with a rather grim statement, but one you all must hear.

Make no mistake. This is a war. The other side will NEVER stop. They will NEVER surrender. They want an America ruled by whites only where they can speak their hate and commit similar atrocities day after day. Other nations have seen this degree of evil before. It is our turn to face our own demons.

Americans of common sense, compassion, and rationality must unite. We must not go quietly into that good night. If we stay sharp, stay strong, and stay in communication, we WILL be victorious. You must believe.

I will conclude with a special message from the President of B&G aimed directly at the men and women responsible for separating the children from their parents - from the President to Congress to the agents running the camps. Hear this now:

Only cowards bully kids. Plain and simple. But you know the thing about low-down, dirty bullies like you? You all scare like babies when good people with honest hearts who believe in something larger than themselves stand up to you.

If I were you, I would prepare for the fight of your life as people donate, pitch in, volunteer, and transform your hate into love, kindness, and a better world - a world where we see one another as humans, not things; where we honor one another's unique heritages; and where we join in singing the songs of pride of all of our respective homelands.

Here are some links. Donate NOW.

Link to story on NPR: 

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/28/624127967/reuniting-families-separated-at-the-border-proves-complicated

Link to fund travel for Guatemalan specialist civilian interpreters:

https://www.gofundme.com/6-guatemalan-mayan-interpreters

Dear Friends, Valued Clients, and Allies of Blaine & González,

As you all have learned, the Trump administration has pushed the boundaries of human atrocities to new depths of repugnance.

The child detention centers in places such as Tornillo, Texas represent the true face of this administration.

Blaine & González stands firmly against the President, his staff, and all administration officials on this issues.

It is not acceptable to separate children from parents, no matter what border rules are being violated.

For what is a border after all? It is an arbitrary line in a map that someone drew hundreds and hundreds of years ago. 

Borders can be redrawn. Laws can be rewritten. We say these are hard things to do that take time, but, I, for one, do not believe that to be so. Changing immigration laws is only as hard as we say it is. 

Compassion for others is always available to us. 

The two major ruling parties in America must find a way to agree that innocent children should be left out of politics,

No Senator, Congressperson, President, or Prince has the right to decide whether or not innocent children are allowed to stay with their mother. There is one authority on that subject and her name is "Mom".

What the President has ordered is wrong. His supporters are wrong. The Federal agents who wear the uniforms and who carry the guns are wrong. It is not acceptable for them to hide behind policies and procedures. Those men do not get to say "We were just doing our jobs" or "We were just following orders."

A certain moments in the history of a nation, there comes a time when orders should be ignored; when the stripes on the sleeve of a uniform that denote rank should mean nothing; and when common sense, rationality, and level heads should prevail.

June 20th, 2018 is that time.

Blaine & González hereby requests of the Office of the President, the US Customs and Border Patrol, and the mayors of McAllen, Tornillo, and other cities in Texas housing child detention centers that they cease and desist all activities immediately and return the children to their mothers and fathers, unharmed, well-fed, and in peace.

If you have not yet heard it, I urge you to listen to the YouTube recording below. It is the voices of the children in a detention center crying out for their mothers. You will also hear the Spanish-speaking, American-national guards who taunt them mercilessly. 

Learning a language, at its core, is an act of love. Any human being who learns a foreign language with the intention of using that skill set to cause injury, whether physical, spiritual or psychological, to another human being, especially an innocent child, is a human being whose values have become sorely skewed. The man who taunts children chained to a wall is a lost human being, outside the tribe of humanity, and outside of God's love and grace.

I urge you, friends of B&G, to pray for the guards, the agents, the President, and his officials. Pray that they see the light of reason. Pray that they may at least leave the innocent children out of their battles. And pray that whatever God reigns in your culture's version of paradise watch over, protects, and provides for those tiny lives.... lives that hold the hope and promise of a new and better world,

Yours in faith, hope, and solidarity,

Justin Pickering
CEO
Blaine & González

Hello Friends and Clients of B&G,

I am proud to announce that our trip to the National Small Business Leadership Association's annual Leadership Summit in Washington DC went better than expected.

Not only did we come away with our largest volume sale to date, we made amazing new connections from which we will forge strong business alliances in service of the interests of small business owners across the country.

There was a feel of camaraderie in the room that is not common in 2018. Small business owners have two mottos. "Get it done" and "The only color that matters in America is green". It was a room full of creative and motivated entrepreneurs, all of whom had a track record of success.

There was a business building highways in hard-to-access areas, a company hanging the new lights on the Golden Gate Bridge, an education non-profit inspiring kids in New Orleans, a company that trains drone pilots for humanitarian purposes like medicine and food drops in disaster areas and even a doggy day care business started by a veteran of the Iraq War whose life was saved by a furry friend.

As you can see, it was fascinating. Enjoy the slide show below! We'd love to hear your comments on the pics and on how you think B&G can help improve small business. Cheers! Justin.

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