Currently some one thousand people are locked away in a football stadium on the Greek island of Kos. They have no food, and very little water. Maybe there are sanitation facilities. Accounts differ. Some say two toilets. Some say six. Some say none.

If the above human number be true, this is actually an "improved situation," as previously there were 2500 people stuffed in there.

About 1,000 of the refugees were trapped inside a playground within the stadium complex, with no access to water or shade. A further 1,500 were housed in a separate section of the stadium, with some protection from the sun.

Occasionally the people therein are subjected to weapons.

Police used force to control a crowd of around 2,000 people at the stadium on Tuesday, spraying them with fire extinguishers and beating them with batons.

At one point the police used a sonic explosion to maintain order[.]

The police also fired tear gas and fire extinguishers in an apparent effort to maintain order outside the stadium, where another thousand migrants had gathered.

"The situation here is very bad and police here they beat a boy, they beat a man, they beat children, it's too bad," Laith Saleh, a Syrian refugee inside the stadium, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We can't go out."

These people are refugees of war, principally wars in Syria and Afghanistan. Some 7000 are presently beached on Kos. They want to move on, generally to Germany or Scandinavia, but they cannot leave the island without the proper Papers.

Brice de le Vingne, director of operations for Médecins sans Frontières, says, "MSF is very worried about how the situation is evolving in Kos. What was previously a situation of state inaction is now one of state abuse, with police using increasing heavy-handed force against these vulnerable people.

"The great majority of people arriving here are refugees fleeing war in Syria and Afghanistan. The Kos authorities have clearly stated that they have no intention of improving the situation for these people as they believe that this would constitute a 'pull factor.' But the truth is that people fleeing war will keep on coming whether or not the authorities are trying to stop them from doing so."

In legend, Kos is the birthplace of Hippocrates, considered the father of western medicine. Today, his heirs, the people of MSF, are those tending to, and speaking for, the refugees.

"What we see now is a completely disproportionate focus on security management of these people without the humanitarian assistance that they need," said Vangelis Orfanoudakis of MSF. "There are just two toilets. No access to water, [until] they now have put a water hose for all the people.

"They need to have access to health care, food, water, basic sanitation . . . together with protection for their legal rights, something which is not happening at all here in Kos."

Constance Theisen, a team leader for Médecins sans Frontières, which was providing medical care at the stadium, told the Guardian: "We have unconscious people coming out of the playground area, being carried by their friends and family, every 15 minutes. It is absolutely out of control. Nobody understands the sense behind it, or if there is any [sense] at all."

One of the migrants suffered an epileptic seizure, the aid group said.

"No food has been provided by the authorities since April," reports MSF. "MSF has been calling for basic services to be provided to the refugees for eight months, but no improvements have been made.”

MSF's Julia Kourafa said some refugees had fainted from exhaustion or hunger in the stadium. Hundreds were seen climbing the 12-foot perimeter wall to go and buy food, and one man was taken away in an ambulance after he fell and seriously injured his leg.

The island of Kos, population 30,000, is, in the world of people who are not refugees, a "tourist" destination.

That is, people who do not live there, people with too much money, they go there, in an attempt to buy Fun.

These are people, like these people:

Steven [Spielberg] and Kate [Capshaw] were hanging around with John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, and a few others. Travolta is licensed for multi-engine jets. Somebody asked, "So John, you flew your own plane up here? What kind?"

"A Learjet."

Steven broke in, "Oh yeah, a Learjet. Do you have the kind where you can just walk into it, or do you have to duck your head?"

"You have to duck your head," replied Travolta.

Steven turned to Kate and said, "We don't have to duck our heads on ours, do we?"

And so, at the present moment, on the island of Kos, this is what we see:

Boatloads of refugees arrive in the rosy hues of dawn—as the last revelers are straggling out of night clubs and joggers run along the seafront. Mega yachts and cruise ships anchor just off the detention center, refugees sleep on bicycle lanes forcing cycling tourists to swerve, and bikini-clad visitors stroll along next to a man in a traditional Iraqi dress.

The people in the stadium are not allowed to have Fun. The Greek government is going to give them a ship, though. Just not one like the tourists get.

After sending police reinforcements, the government promised to charter a commercial ship to house up to 2,500 immigrants on the island where authorities have been overwhelmed by a spike in arrivals.

Alekos Flambouraris, an aide to the prime minister, said the vessel would be used to provide shelter and check documents. More details of the plan were to be announced Thursday, his office said.

When refugees arrive on Kos, and ask where they are, the answer often provokes laughter. For "Kos" has an obscene meaning in Arabic.

It occurs to me that maybe the people who devote themselves, to bickering, all day and all of the night, on the fantasy, virtual, non-real, island of Daily Kos, might instead devote their time, energy, passion, and money, to the real people, on the real island of Kos, who are really suffering.

Maybe.

Just a thought.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qveEW3P0sfg]

. . . stay, Kos, to me . . . .