Nearly fifty members of the Kennedy family, joined by 90-year-old matriarch Ethel Kennedy, are taking part in a 24-hour hunger strike to protest the Trump administration's border policies.

The Kennedy  strikers are also asked to donate the money from the food they would have otherwise eaten to an organization called Break Bread Not Families.

But wait–didn't President Trump sign an order ending the temporary separation of people entering the United States U.S. illegally from their children, while legal issues are resolved? No matter:

“Generations of Americans did not toil and sacrifice to build a country where children and their parents are placed in cages to advance a cynical political agenda,” the statement said.

Her grandson, Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III, will also participate.

“For children being starved of contact with their parents, the irreparable harm inflicted by our government multiplies every single day kids remain separated from their moms and dads,” he said in a statement.

The hunger strike is organized by RFK Human Rights, which Ethel Kennedy founded, along with La Union Del Pueblo Entero, The Texas Civil Rights Project and Neta.

What is the cynical political agenda of which Rep.Kennedy speaks?

Apparently, it is protecting our borders and controlling the flow of immigration, which is all the Trump administration is seeking to do. The policy of separating children was heartrending and it behooved us to seek better methods, but we do have a right and indeed a pressing need to control illegal flow over our borders.

Meanwhile, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization is also organizing a considerably longer hunger strike–a 24 day hunger strike at the border in McAllen, Texas. But wait! You don't actually have to go 24 days without eating:

The hunger strike will last 24 days to mark the estimated 2,400 children forcibly separated from their parents while crossing the border. Participants will each fast for 24 hours before passing off to someone else. Organizers asked that anyone participating donate money or food to border organizations like La Union del Pueblo Entero. 

Celebrities are signing up!

Here is a partial list:

  • 10 members of Congress and one U.S. senator.
  • Alec Baldwin
  • Martin Sheen
  • Alfre Woodard
  • CCH Pounder
  • Levar Burton
  • Kerry Kennedy, who runs the RFK Human Rights center

Let me set your minds at rest. There are two things to know in advance about the coming celebrity hunger strikes: 1.) Nobody is going to die. You can't die from a 24 hour fast. 2.) Nothing the Trump administration could do, short of abolishing ICE and declaring open borders, would satsify many of these fasters. (Not even sure that would work.)

I can't help believing that this E-Z fasting (24 famished hours! please have a hamper waiting for me!)that is more for show than anything else.

When Irish Republican  Bobby Sands starved himself to death in 1981 after 66 days of not eating inside the notirous Maze prison, he wasn't virtue signaling. I don't approve of fasting as a tactic, but you had to at least give Sands and his non-celebrty fasters credit for being serious.

But pretending to fast is another matter. Please, celebs, can't you make it 48 hours–just to give the impression of moral seriousness? 

Moreover, immigration, our borders and families who enter our country illegally–these are all serious matters. We need to address them in measured debate, respecting both sides.

These faux fasters (and that is what they are) contribute to an atmosphere that makes this kind of serious public debate impossible.

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