A number of readers commented that Carl feeding pepperoni pizza to Hamid violates halal, and that Carl should have known better. Maybe so, but who cares. This is a four-year-old boy. Do you really think he understands any of that? Speaking as a former four-year-old, all I can remember of church in those days was being told to be quiet, sit still, and stop fidgeting! Unless Muslim children are a vastly different species of humanity, I suspect that’s all Hamid understood as well. In fact, we doubled down in Chapter 182, with bacon and sausage for breakfast! Or do you really think that Roman Catholic Marilyn is going to actually raise Hamid as Muslim?
There was a very accurate note from a reader about the difficulties of adopting a child from overseas, and all the paperwork and time that Carl skipped over. That is very true. I have seen adoptions like that, and it can take a year or more and cost $20k plus. There are huge impediments at both ends of the process, foreign and American. I would simply point out two things. First, the Kurdish end is being streamlined completely by Kurdish President Barzani. Realistically, he could do this and get away with it. Second, on arriving in the United States, it would take a very brave and very stupid customs agent to arrest the former President and First Lady on national television in front of Congress. Better to cause grief afterwards, but once Hamid is on American soil, that begins getting much more difficult. That’s why Hamid won’t be leaving the States until this is sorted out, which might take years.
Meanwhile, it looks like Carl is getting back into politics. Enjoy!