September 17, 2016

"Perhaps you know the incredible, change-making 9-year-old activist a bit better as 'Little Miss Flint.'"

Link. Which includes pictures of the girl hugging Obama and this which we're told is hilariously viral:



If that child is frightened, it is because adults have made her frightened.

Stop using children in politics.

80 comments:

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Someone should tell that girl to smile!

Drago said...

That little girl is taller than a collapsed Hillary!

traditionalguy said...

Children used as political props again. If only Barry was not term limited, she could smile again.

Sprezzatura said...

"If that child is frightened, it is because adults have made her frightened."

One adult in particular, in this situation.

It sorta looks like he's grabbing her arm and pulling it away from her body. Not sure to what end. Anywho, I'm assuming that video, rather than a still image, would make DJT look less like he's grabbing and yanking this girl's arm against her will.

Ann Althouse said...

"One adult in particular, in this situation."

No. She was taught to be afraid of him. She's not conveying YOUR political beliefs. And if you enjoy thinking that, I put you in the Basket of Child Abusers.

Ann Althouse said...

She is looking at someone off camera, perhaps hearing something. She's not reacting to DT. She's in what might be a confusing situation and I don't like seeing that look of distress on her face. What it elicits from me is only my instinct to protect children. And anyone who thinks this picture is funny or (worse) proves their point about a political candidate has an ethics problem and I want to underscore that and throw it in your face.

Ann Althouse said...

Don't teach children to hate. Don't scare children. I assume there are some kids who think they're going to die if Trump is elected.

Sprezzatura said...

Althouse, you should at least consider that a kid wouldn't like some guy grabbing and yanking her arm away from her body.

Also, unless you have proof that this kid was trained to be afraid of DJT, does it make sense to claim this as a fact?

I tried to find video of this, but gave up after 30 seconds. I did see that the mother gave a nonpolitical POV regarding DJT. Was she a total liar who had actually trained her kid to make DJT look bad when DJT grabbed and yanked her arm. W/o any proof, that's a stretch.

MadisonMan said...

Hillary, of course, isn't there because she's too afraid to be in unscripted environments.

How long has Flint been in the deathgrip of Democrats?

MayBee said...

you should at least consider that a kid wouldn't like some guy grabbing and yanking her arm away from her body.

Where are you getting this grabbing and yanking business?

Drago said...

PB&J at 9:43: "It sorta looks like he's grabbing her arm and pulling it away from her body."

PB&J at 9/51: "Althouse, you should at least consider that a kid wouldn't like some guy grabbing and yanking her arm away from her body."

LOL

By 10:05 PB&J will have Trump sexually assaulting the girl! The key is to boil the narrative-frog slowly to get the story where the left needs it to be today lest anyone notice that Hillary has to be drugged up to walk just to make an appearance.

Drago said...

MayBee: "Where are you getting this grabbing and yanking business?"

From the same place where Romney gave some woman cancer.

Whatever it takes.

Oh, this just in, The Clinton media is reporting Hillary is so very very healthy she shot 14 "holes in one" during 1 round of golf earlier this morning! Just like Kim Jong-un!

MayBee said...

Obama literally pinched this girls cheek. Do people really do that anymore?

Freeman Hunt said...

I think it's good to argue with anything political said to one's children, regardless of what side it's from. And contrary to the current fad, I don't think children should be encouraged to have political opinions.

Drago said...

The girl is just lucky that creepy Uncle Joe Biden wasn't around. Plus the "falling plugs" could put an eye out.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Friend of a friend is a Democrat activist. Limousine liberal all the way. Her daughter (maybe 8 years old?) is "hosting" a fundraiser for $25 a head for Hillary. Saw the invitation proudly posted on Facebook. In her little third grader handwriting she asks other members of "Kids for Hillary" to wear their best clothes and come ready to discuss how Hillary is going to be just the best president ever. Thought of you, Althouse. It's completely revolting.

Sprezzatura said...

"Where are you getting this grabbing and yanking business?"

In this one still image, he's got the girl's wrist, I'm more used to holding on to kids by their hands. I don't know why DJT decided to grab this kid by her wrist, instead of her hand. Anywho, using the girl's wrist DJT has moved the arm closer to himself countering the girl's defensive posture with her limbs bent in close to her body.

William said...

If a little white girl looked at President Obama with such fear and trepidation, I think many, including the astute PBandJ, would wonder what the kid was being taught at home. Some would even speculate that she came from a prejudiced household........I don't know the circumstances. Maybe the kid as looking at a creepy clown just off camera, but the pictures and the uses to which it is being used are off putting.

RMc said...

Stop using children in politics.

Unless you're using them to attack Republicans, then it's all good.

MayBee said...

Here's what her family says:

Amariyanna herself told local news:

"I was scared Secret Service would tackle me for touching him and there was a lot of people around yelling."

And on Facebook, her mother Lulu Brezzell warned people not to take the photo too seriously, suggesting Amariyanna was overwhelmed by the crowds, "people yelling at him," and the Secret Service:

"Ok ya'll, that pic is being BLOWN way out of proportion. Mari was not terrified of that man, she still wants to ask him her question.

We had to get through the crowd twice to get his attention since he walked out the opposite way he came in (which had her a bit overwhelmed), then with people yelling at him, and add the secret service to the mix, well think how you would feel? Their whole interaction was ten seconds tops.

Yes she did ask to be there and meet him and was all smiles before hand but she feeds off the energy of people around her."

Hagar said...

BTW, there is not, and never was, anything wrong with the water leaving Flint's water treatment plant. The lead is in the water services to the lots and/or the house plumbing.
Another thing Trump got wrong from half listening to the TV news reporting.

Sebastian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sebastian said...

"Don't teach children to hate. Don't scare children." It's sweet, all that upstanding midwestern cruelly-neutral, don't-use-children evenhandedness. Except the other side fights dirty, always has, always will. So forget it.

cacimbo said...

Perhaps the child has been raised in a racist environment, taught to hate/fear ALL whites not just Trump.

Bob Ellison said...

Such a beautiful face. The dog-whistle is that Trump is sizing up a possible next wife.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Hagar, you are also mistaken. The water leaving the treatment plant was, if I recall correctly, treated with the wrong additive and therefore was while not in itself harmful, was too acidic, or otherwise not properly buffered or treated, so that it did not leave the protective patina on the lead pipes but instead absorbed lead from the pipes.

Curious George said...

Billy Jeff probably would take a run at her.

Steve said...

It's PTSD from when she met dirty Uncle Biden.

Hagar said...

I am not mistaken. The water passed all test for purity, etc. They did not "buffer" it as you put it, i.e. add chemicals to it to make it alkaline and so maintain the "varnish" lining built up over the lead in the services and plumbing.

This is something you must do or bite the bullet and raise taxes to pay for removing the lead piping, which apparently no one is willing to do.

But it is a local problem in Flint that the city government employed a water utility manager that did not know the basics of maintaining a city water system in Michigan. There also was some other fudging and lying going on, related and not related to the lead problem, but it was all in the local politics.

Hagar said...

Out west, we usually have the opposite problem in that the water is naturally alkaline, or "hard," and the water treatment plants add acid to reduce the alkalinity.
Then they probably need to be careful not to get carried away with that, or the water may turn acidic and remove the brown varnish from our old asbestos-cement piping, they would find asbestos fibers in the drinking water, and the media would go into a war dance about that.

Bad Lieutenant said...

We're not really disagreeing, Hagar. The water was fine to drink, but it was not fine to run through the city pipes. To be safely run through the city pipes it had to have additives which it didn't have.

I had had the impression that it was an honest mistake as to which chemical was used, that is, they used something but they didn't use the right thing. Following that, I suppose the cover-up was worse than the crime, and of course media hype...

Bad Lieutenant said...

And I think the problem was that the additive was correct for the old water supply but not for the transitional water supply.

Fabi said...

PB&J can tell from one still photo -- the one in this post -- that Trump yanked the little girl's arm? That's absolutely impossible. Fuck off, you disgraceful jackass.

cubanbob said...

Politicians should try to avoid kids, it often comes out looking bad even when the reality is that the kid is frazzled by something or someone else.

As for Flint, why am I supposed to care about a town so mismanaged and corrupt to find itself in this situation?

walter said...

Usually the job of photography, especially when it involves children, is to sort through the many awkward photos to find one that represents the moment. But without seeing video, it's entirely possible that the editors or reader that submitted (if that's the case) at "Hello Giggles" had a different selection criteria:
"HelloGiggles is a positive online community for women (although men are always welcome!) covering the latest in culture, female empowerment, style, relationships, friendship, careers, and issues that matter most to young women’s lives."
hellogiggles.com

Hagar said...

No. Flint got - and now again gets - its water from the City of Detroit, which gets its water from Lake Michigan (I think), which is basically dilute sewage, and they filter it and treat it with various chemicals to remove solids and kill harmful organisms before adding the alkali and sending it out into the city transmission and distribution mains.
The City of Flint was advised (by whom? Whoever talked them into building their own treatment plant?) that it would be cheaper to take the water from the Flint River, which is also basically dilute sewage, and treat it in its own water treatment plant, which they did, but the plant manager they hired apparently did not know about the need to maintain alkalinity because of the lead water services, and so missed that.
When the media hullabaloo arose, the politicians ran for cover, and had the supply switched back to Detroit, though I suspect that adding alkaline treatment at their own plant would have been the way to go.

Hagar said...

Actually, this had to go farther than just the plant management; the plant should have had facilities for applying the treatment, the operating costs should have been budgeted, etc., so there are some professional liabilities here that goes beyond the hapless city manager.

Michael K said...

Trump's comment was still classic. "Fords used to be made in Flint and you couldn't drink the water in Mexico...."

Classic one liner. The guy is a genius at the media manipulation, just like Reagan was.

Soon we will learn if he can run the government.

Annie said...

Why are her parents subjecting her to this?

Etienne said...

That girl has probably been in the Beauty Queen racket since she was born. If she doesn't have the act down by now, she'll never make it.

Her mother must be crying for her terrible performance.

Dude1394 said...

Very sad that her parents have taught her to be a bigot. Very sad.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Fabi said...
PB&J can tell from one still photo -- the one in this post -- that Trump yanked the little girl's arm? That's absolutely impossible. Fuck off, you disgraceful jackass.
9/17/16, 12:00 PM

Yeah, analysis of and harping on arm twisting is Chuck's job.

John henry said...

I put the blame squarely on the parents for pimping (and I use that word on purpose) the little girl out in a beauty pageant. Had she not been little miss sex worker in training, neither Trump nor Obama would have paid attention of this kind to her.

I feel sorry for the little girl being put through this. Mainly the BP thing.

As to what kids are being taught: My granddaughter (native born US citizen, living in Puerto Rico, 7th grade) used to hate Trump. The reason, she told me, was that Trump would deport her favorite cousin Lara to Mexico. Lara was born in PR, making her a natural born US citizen and currently lives in FL.

When I asked my granddaughter who told her this, the answer was "some boy" in her school.

This led to a conversation about citizenship and immigration where I hope I set her straight. She is still at that age where she thinks I know everything. I'll miss that in a couple years when she is a teenager and thinks I know nothing.

I also explained to her the need to be careful about paying too much attention to what boys say. Not a problem now but I am worried about what they will be saying to her in 3-4 years. As a former teenage boy I was willing to say anything to a teenage girl if I thought it would help advance my agenda. (Sex) Not that it ever worked all that well.

John Henry

Yancey Ward said...

PB&J in this thread alone demonstrates the problem the media has in regards to Trump- the thinking and the meme making is on the exact same level, and the really funny thing is that it is all, every single bit of it now, counterproductive to their own cause. It is almost impossible to describe the sheer stupidity of people like this.

Curious George said...

"No. Flint got - and now again gets - its water from the City of Detroit, which gets its water from Lake Michigan (I think)"

Look at a map and you'll know that that is not true.

Detroit get's its water from the Detroit River which is fed from Lake St. Clair.

MacMacConnell said...

Maybe the little girl is channeling Mouchel Obama's default facial expression.

Anonymous said...

If you have kids in that setting you give them attention. Build them up. All the adults need to pay attention. The kid is leaning on your every word. Mom and Dad are there for security. You would turn off the politics for a bit and let the kid be a kid with a question or opinion.

Implying violence and sex is more of a projection that the projector needs to learn how to moderate. Or stay home.

Hagar said...

The point is that there is no such thing as naturally clean water; it all needs to be filtered and treated before turned loose in the municipal water mains, and the quality of the water available has to be analyzed beforehand and treated according to the requirements due to the source and local conditions.

tim maguire said...

Is she really a child? She looks like a tiny adult. She aslo looks like she'd rather be somewhere else, and Trump probably had little or nothing to do with her discomfort (which was far more likely general to the situation).

Dust Bunny Queen said...

The point is that there is no such thing as naturally clean water; it all needs to be filtered and treated before turned loose in the municipal water mains, and the quality of the water available has to be analyzed beforehand and treated according to the requirements due to the source and local conditions.

Not necessarily true. The water in our small water district does not have to be treated or filtered in any way. The annual report tells us what minerals etc are naturally occurring in the water. The only issue is that we are a bit high on the calcium and magnesium scale, which basically means hard water. Big deal.

The aquifer from which we draw our water in the district, this general area and in our own personal well, is very old water, by that I mean no atomic era markings. The water has been in the aquifer(s) since before the atomic era and likely longer. Probably hundreds if not thousands of years. Cold, clean, pure, delicious water. Water elsewhere is disgusting to drink with chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals added.

Of course we are very lucky and quite aware that this isn't the norm. But never say never and never say ALL.

:-)

That being said, there are some ground water sources here that I wouldn't put my feet into much less drink!

victoria said...

Ann, Ann, you are over reacting. Because you are so in the tank for Trump, you can't see that people are just making a joke of the picture. Harmless and not political. Your blind allegiance to Trump has affected all aspects of your behavior, including you ability to take a joke. Take a chill pill, Ann.

Oh, and By the way, Trump was using that little girl for political gain as much as if Hillary did it.

Vicki from Pasadena

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Ann Althouse said...
Don't teach children to hate. Don't scare children. I assume there are some kids who think they're going to die if Trump is elected.

9/17/16, 9:49 AM

A liberal neighbor's 6 year old daughter told me that Trump is a Nazi and a racist. I wonder where she heard that? And what exactly does a 6 year suburban kid know about Nazis and racists - only that they are bad, like monsters in a storybook.

If Trump wins, that poor child will be terrified.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW, is it just me, or does DJT's hand that is holding the little girl's wrist look to be about the same size as the little girl's hand?

Just sayin'.

Hagar said...

So for the time being you are OK, DBQ, until the EPA lowers the allowable levels for calcium and magnesium scale.
Here we had that experience with arsenic. Albuquerque gets its well water from 1500-2000 feet below the river, so it is indeed very old water, but it is "hard" and now there is the extra arsenic that has to be removed after the EPA lowered the limits.
Now they are also taking water from the Rio Grande (which has been made possible by diverting some water from the Colorado River over to the Rio Grande watershed), which, of course, meets my description as "dilute sewage" and could also Mark Twains comment on the Mississippi as being to thin to eat and too thick to drink (or somehing like that).

Anyway, what started me on this is Trump's statement this week, which was a clever line, but sloppy and ignorant, and this was about something very real that he should have had advice about.

SweatBee said...

Of course, if the child had hugged Trump and acted stressed around Obama, the same people now promoting these pictures would be calling her a racist.

Hagar said...

Some years ago, they laid a new line to the sewage plant and the contractor dewatered the trench for the construction down to 20-25 ft depth. The local media was all up in arms about him shutting off the drinking water from all the poor people's wells along the trench. The rest of us were going OMG, they are still drinking from shallow wells? How is that allowed?

ALP said...

tim maguire: "Is she really a child? She looks like a tiny adult."

I was thinking the same exact thing. Exceptionally attractive children do seem to have an oddly adult look. I think its the cheekbones and overall refined facial features - the lack of a childlike, soft appearance.

CWJ said...

PBandJ,

Anywho, your fantasy as fact commenting was never funny, never insightful, and very poor trolling to boot. Up your gane, or get a new act. I prefer Ritmo.

Just saying.

Fabi said...

All day without a single Michelle Fields reference.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Trump tried to kiss her like he does Ivanka and she got freaked out.

MacMacConnell said...

More likely, the little girl just saw her credit card statement with the Hillary Clinton campaign's systematic overcharging of its poorest donors.

Darrell said...

The little girl is just worried about what happened to the little girl Hillary hugged last Sunday. She is not old enough to realize that not every candidate is a walking contagion zone.

Darrell said...

PBandJ said he was Chuck. Need I say more?

Darrell said...

Flint's water problems were cause by Millennials. Seasoned water engineers know better than to change the Ph of an old system that still uses lead pipes.

narciso said...

well michael moore was once on the city council there, you can see how they have no standards at all, the municipality was stingy on the replacement of the pipes, and the epa's top men looked the other way, yet they blamed governor snyder,

Balfegor said...

If that child is frightened, it is because adults have made her frightened.

Normally I'd agree, but to small children, all adults are vaguely frightening if your parents aren't right there with you, no? Especially a large strange-looking man like Trump, who probably smells of cologne.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Especially a large strange-looking man like Trump, who probably smells of cologne."
The best cologne, terrifically expensive.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Hillary takes time off from campaigning and there is a spike in reports of children being lured into dark places by an evil clown who promises them sweets.
Probably a coincidence. Probably.

walter said...

.Vicki from Pasadena wrote: Ann, Ann, you are over reacting. Because you are so in the tank for Trump, you can't see that people are just making a joke of the picture. Harmless and not political
--
Anyone found the original hello Giggles post to confirm this? Posts thereafter have appear mixed in the interpretation.

walter said...

Blogger Darrell said...The little girl is just worried about what happened to the little girl Hillary hugged last Sunday
--
A bit rhetorical but..has any msm figure confronted Hil on her "spreading the wealth around"? She's said she thought it was no big deal..but a child's parent might differ on that.

walter said...

Amariyanna herself told local news:

"I was scared Secret Service would tackle me for touching him and there was a lot of people around yelling."

And on Facebook, her mother Lulu Brezzell warned people not to take the photo too seriously, suggesting Amariyanna was overwhelmed by the crowds, "people yelling at him," and the Secret Service:

"Ok ya'll, that pic is being BLOWN way out of proportion. Mari was not terrified of that man, she still wants to ask him her question.

http://www.wnem.com/story/33107547/photo-of-little-miss-flint-meeting-donald-trump-goes-viral

We had to get through the crowd twice to get his attention since he walked out the opposite way he came in (which had her a bit overwhelmed), then with people yelling at him, and add the secret service to the mix, well think how you would feel? Their whole interaction was ten seconds tops.

Yes she did ask to be there and meet him and was all smiles before hand but she feeds off the energy of people around her."

walter said...

Oh..poor, poor PB&J..
Sorry bout that..

walter said...

(You still have the small hands bit to riff on..)

rhhardin said...

You've got to use children in politics because of the women's vote. That's what kissing babies, the traditional move, is about.

They use all sorts of crap in politics because of the women's vote.

This particular child is a failure of course.

rhhardin said...

I'd use dogs, but I'm good at reading dogs. A lot better than movie directors are. So dogs are useful indicators.

Kids go into confusion where dogs do not.

rhhardin said...

Don't use cats. That's the standing advice for psych experiments, too.

rhhardin said...

Cats will screw up your data.

rhhardin said...

Meet my snake. Bill Clinton could use that.

Rusty said...

Blogger coupe said...
That girl has probably been in the Beauty Queen racket since she was born. If she doesn't have the act down by now, she'll never make it.

Her mother must be crying for her terrible performance.

It's a photograph. We don't know the context or the situation. In the next frame she could be bawling her eyes out or laughing maniacally. I'm always amazed at what people read into photographs.

rhhardin said...

Little Miss Sunshine was a nice beauty pageant DVD. I forget how it comes out exactly but the little girl's dirty grandpa taught her the moves.