My Life On A Diet July 26, 2018July 28, 2018 But first: “Mr. Trump likes to call anyone who disagrees with him ‘fake news.'” writes the White House stenographer who quit after five years because she couldn’t stomach working for a liar. “But if he’s really the victim of so much inaccurate reporting, why is he so averse to having the facts recorded and transcribed?” Read her story here. Also: Have you read Elizabeth Holzman’s resignation letter? . . . As an author of the Refugee Act of 1980 . . . I believe the treatment of refugees by you and President Trump violates that law and our treaty obligations to refugees. . . . The Act was adopted against the background of the Holocaust, in which the US took only a tiny handful of refugees from the Nazis [and] also in response to the massive exodus of boat people from Vietnam. There was a time that the US welcomed refugees.We readily accepted and absorbed more than 600,000 refugees from Cuba, 750,000 refugees from Vietnam, and more than 100,000 Jews from the Soviet Union. Considering that history, the thought that the U.S. government is afraid today of 2,000 children and their parents is both laughable and appalling. Under your administration and that of Donald Trump, OHS has been transformed into an agency that is making war on immigrants and refugees. . . . The final straw has been the separation of children from their parents at the Southwest border. This is child kidnapping, plain and simple. Seizing children from their parents in violation of the constitutional rights of both is bad enough (mentally harmful to the children and infinitely painful to both the parents and children), but doing so without creating proper records to enable family reunification shows utter depravity on the part of the government officials involved. Although it is I who am resigning in protest against these policies, it is you who should be tendering your resignation instead. Penultimately: With regard to yesterday’s post one of you writes: “You think you can convince these folks? They know Trump is flawed, but believe he is sent from God to save America.” Seriously. Trump: God’s gift to mankind. But mainly: My Life On A Diet opened last night for a limited run. If you were a fan of The Nanny, or of Marilyn Monroe, or of Perry Como — if you know who Jack Paar was or have ever struggled with your weight — well, this is a lovely little piece of theater. “A sheer delight.” “Dishes out laughs.“ Let’s hear it for 85-year-olds (specifically, Renée Taylor) and 53-year marriages (hers, to Joe Bologna). Full disclosure: if you buy a ticket, I am one step closer to retirement.