I agree with the comments here. But take note that the opposite of what Trump is doing ie, deporting, ICE agent street kidnapping with gestapo like tactics, the opposite is what Biden did for the first few years in office with respect to the border. He didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor. So what happens is we get uncontrolled migration by a leader followed by a second rate mafia idiot who swings to the other extreme. My point is we need moderation on issues like immigration not one extreme or the other. If we ignore the admittedly complex issues of immigration, we will be playing defensive role and not making progress. And on another aspect admittedly a losing argument, the world is over populated by the human species. Imagine in my lifetime, the population has more than doubled. When does this expansion end? Never? An economist will tell you that population growth equals economic growth. All the while the natural world suffers defeats due to their shrinking world. So the next time you think that we must continue our path ot greatness through massive influx of human population, think again. This world wasn’t made for humans alone contrary to what you may read in religious literature. The roaming herds, the birds of the skies, the reptiles should have as much right to live here as those disgusting humans who think they alone own the universe.
Do you remember the border bill Bill? The one the Republicans trashed because Trump told them to? The bipartisan bill designed to deal with the border problem that both sides worked on and then Republicans decided they could no longer support because Trump wanted to run on immigration? I do. Democrats tried long and hard to deal with immigration - without trashing the economy too. The current problems can be placed at the feet of Republicans.
I endorse Sheila's reminder about the bipartisan border bill that Trump and Republicans did not allow coming to a vote.
And Bill: Biden was faced with such a mess, it is admirable that he made headway, for example, in re-connecting children Trump took away from their parents. I don't know to what extent Biden was involved either in framing or encouraging that bipartisan bill, but it isn't honest to say he did nothing about the border. (Over-population is a real problem, and we have to face it. But immigrants are already in the world seeking to survive. They're going to be somewhere.)
The voices that denigrate immigrants for coming to this country, that venerate what Trump did and is doing, and that see no action on the immigration issue under the Biden administration are not helpful.
Moreover, I doubt Bill is aware of the bipartisan immigration reform bill that the gop House also defeated under Boehner's leadership during Obama's presidency.
It speaks volumes when one consistently and wrongly blames various Democrats for gop obstruction.
Yep, I remember Trump telling them not to ratify that bill, that he, Trump wanted to run on that hate producing frothy poisonous misinformation. It is also untrue that the US had open borders during the Biden administration. And there were illegals that were deported during the Biden administration.
Bill remembers the border bill after more than two years of doing absolutely nothing. Do you remember the first two years of sleepy Joe doing absolutely nothing? And let us not forget Mr Biden went back on his word of being a transitional president and didn’t leave anything on the table for a properly nominated candidate to run for office. I don’t suffer losers lightly and the democrats have more than their share of them. To wit; Bill Clinton getting his rocks off and leaving nothing for Al Gore as our trusty progressive consumer candidate Ralph Nadar took 90,000 votes in Florida. Then The Great War Hawk Hillary and Jill Stein. Need I continue? You started it.
Yes, but were talking about the human trafficking and Gestopo tactics. Over population is a separate issue, and if you go there, Trumps stand on that is women should be barefoot and pregnant to build the white population, just like Hitler. And Biden is not the issue NOW, Trump is......
Well Bill Katz, it is a well known phenomena that fertility is higher among those in poverty. They lack education, work, meaningful lives, and medical resources. That is what the USAID program was designed to counter. Also there is the issue of women's rights in this population. When we, the world's former leader in democracy and opportunity sent emissaries, clinics, and healthcare workers into these regions, we were attacking the sources of the population blooms. There are also segments of our and the world's population that oppose any effort to reduce fertility by any means beyond abstinence. Consider the opposition that Planned Parenthood faces even here. Abortion was not the real reason for the opposition as that affects only a small percentage of the population, it was the opposition to any artificial means of birth control.
And yet, the Trump regime and his Nazi followers want to incentivize women to have more babies due to declining population growth in the USA…of course this would have to be the “right” kind of population growth.
See how the Muskrat is working so hard to create the 'right' kind of humans....spreading enough of his seed to populate a small country. Surely the world will thank him for this too...
Bill has touched a nerve here through all these comments, to the point of I'm done with this discussion. No matter how you slice this issue the trouble Trump is in isn't anyone's fault but his own now. He instructed congress to not address the issue because he wanted to run on the issue, and they did. It makes no difference who did what before because all of that was yesterday. The constitution says that if your born here you are a citizen, right or wrong in your thinking makes no difference at the moment, it is the law. He wouldn't let his toddies address the issue and solve it so he could break the law with impunity, or so he thought. That is where we are. No matter what he does he is really pissing people off and it is coming to a crescendo soon.
I had to come back and edit my comment.
I should have ended with can we all imagine where we would be had the immigration issue been solved by both parties in 2022. Things would have been a lot different now, but the republicans never wanted to solve the issue, none of them and still don't. They don't want to solve anything because they like cruelty and destroying hopes and dreams across the board. They are evil.
Had the bipartisan immigration bill passed, we may be in a better situation now if Kamala won the election, but the right-wing goal would still be the racist, misogynistic, and white Christian nationalist agenda they are implementing today. The guy posting about the population explosion may be correct as far as the world population is concerned, but the birth rate in the US is down, and the employment rate is close to full employment. At least it was before trump was inaugurated. The right-wing is now beginning to force their idiotic, irrational white Christian nationalist religious superstitions on this country, and they would still pursue that agenda along with all of the other disgusting goals of Project 2025, no matter the outcome of the election. Now that they are decimating the Constitution, the rational majority of Americans must make sure that the Constitution survives the fascist GOP. When the fascists have been defeated, we must amend the Constitution to make it much more robust to safeguard our democracy.
Cut the BS. Biden deported more than Trump did. He did not draw attention to it, because it was controversial, among Democrets in particular. He did pay attention to immigration laws, however.
He came up with a bill that would have helped the situation greatly, but the short-fingered vulgarian ORDERED the Republicans to vote against it.
The monthly average of removals, for the last year of the Biden administration was 57,000. The numbers of those turned back from the border was also very large.
The Republicans want more (white) babies, not fewer, because they need cannon fodder and white votes.
Bill, you know this is not true, yet you keep beating the same drum. This has always been a problem that Congress needs to solve and Bidens Administration tried, but the Retrumplicans wouldn't pass it. Enough Already.
You are absolutely wrong. Trump has through negative reenforcement, put fear into the minds of migrants. I’m not endorsing what is taking place but don’t say a president can’t do anything.not true.
Uncontrolled till he took control…Biden did a much better job of processing and regulating the border than he gets credit for…there were no floodgates.
I watched The New Hour, CBS, NBC and the visuals of hundreds running over the border with 10s of thousands. I didn’t see it on Fox. I don’t even have cable. I formed my opinions based on several sources of news feeds. Yes Biden had quite a job post pandemic. If you wish to disbelieve it, fine. I instead, ruminated why and when the hell he was going to act. And when his homeland security chief was asked about an executive order, his curt response was, “Because it wouldn’t hold up in court.” I saw that interview and I thought Myorca was a real thickheaded A-hold. How stupid a remark. Sorry that was Biden’s boy.
Jen, true, we select what ever we want to remember in order to augment our beliefs. As you have.
Sorry, your assumptions are not accurate. And by deporting good people who are here legally along with their citizen families. "illegal" is a catch 22 if one is automatically considered illegal by seeking asylum. Let's be honest. (note ecologically responsible so called "religious" lit affirms that all of creation is included and of God not only humans on a stage set backdrop. Caring for Creation is THE Human Vocation." Who do you think will do the hard labor and make amazing contributions to our society? It's the hard working immigrant families. Many doing work others will never be willing to do. It looks as if you are conflating way to many issues into one comment.
If President Biden had a fault here, it was allowing his compassion to reign supreme. What I would like to know is what the flow of fentanyl was under President Biden after COVID versus that under Trump before COVID (for an apples-to-apples comparison).
The only problem I had with the up-tick in immigration was that it could erode the middle class standard of living even more. An interesting essay by a California attorney; it reminds us that many of our ancestors did not need documents to enter.
The responses to your mischaracterization of Biden are warranted. Take the problem of over population up with the Vatican. There are other reasons too that we overpopulate... poverty, lack of access to medical care and contraception, lacking access to education.
Plenty of room for useful discussion here. It is clear, however, that open borders is not a good policy and that effective border policies should flow from rational discussion. How they are “policed” also demands attention. The willy-nilly madness, including politicizing this issue, serves nobody well … except possibly some politicians.
You are missing some important actions by Congress that made the situation worse!
Gov Abbott in Texas certainly didn't mind tearing up natural sanctuaries to build walls.
If the present wars, unrest, starvation, Trump's trashing of environmental and climate change laws continues you might get you wished for human population decline. Or then again, his goal for increased birthrate in America would counter that.
They go in with covered faces, no insignia on their clothes and no name tag on their clothes. They ignore the law by their actions. They are reprehensible.
Today in Dan Rodricks' SubStack, he writes about the late Leonard Seskind, who studied and wrote about the violence of skinheads, who were "street warriors for Klan groups". Seskind's book, Blood and Politics, was recently removed from The U.S. Naval Academy as one of 300 books deemed unacceptable by the Fascist Trump Administration, who has fueled his entire presidency with hate and racism as he understands the pathetic and disturbing motivations of way too many Americans. Encouraging the worst in human tribal behavior has enabled Trump and the Wealthiest Americans to now literally steal wealth and resources from American taxpayers while the cruel deportations continue to distract.
I'm a retired cop. I spent about 20 years on SWAT as a negotiator, training with and active missions from search warrants to armed subjects to protests. In every case, while we were "geared up" (as it were), we ALWAYS had a badge displayed, our agency(s) displayed, and made continuing announcements of who we were, where we were, and what we were doing.
I notice that in the "photo op" ICE "sweeps" where our cabinet officials got to cosplay being agents, there was visible body armor (like the military, because tactical, ya know), and lots of shouting and marked vehicles. What they are being videoed doing now (plain clothes, masks, no visible ID) would get locals and all the "fruits of their actions" disallowed. Sounds illegal to me.
Aside: If I had been where Rumeysa Ozturk had been when she was taken by ICE, I'd have intervened; everything I have seen on the event looks like a kidnapping. I have also spent 7 years as courthouse security (part time after retirement) and would not have let unbadged, unidentified people into the judges chambers.
On your aside, Ally, you would have intervened because you know and think quickly. I am not so sure that people near Ms Ozturk were capitulating. They may have been stunned by what was occurring and broke out of the daze too late to intervene. If the Democrats get back into power, Trump et al. should be referred to International Court of Justice. The Supreme Court may have over-extended presidential immunity. The International Court has not.
Mike, not just reprehensible, it should be some kind of recognition and responsibility on their part for following illegal orders. After all ,ICE it's not a private army.
Well, they aren't supposed to be a private army; however, I would be interested in reading the criteria to become an ICE agent and do they swear alligance to the United States placing their hand on a Bible or Book of their faith or like Trump, just sorta/kinda forget and just mutter an oath that they don't intend to keep? Just wondering.
From AI: "To become an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, you generally need to be a US citizen, possess a bachelor's degree, and be under 37 (unless a veteran), and pass a series of screenings including background checks, physical fitness tests, and drug tests. You'll also need to successfully complete 27 weeks of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)."
And how can they sleep at night? To deport a child with cancer, without medication… to deport a breastfeeding mother and leave her baby behind… reprehensible!!!
Maybe the family, friends and acquaintances of ICE agents should start speaking up to them? "Hey! Great job you have there! What's next - throwing babies out of windows?"
Trump could do NOTHING without the people that carry him.
Anthony, when I read Reagan's words, as Heather has included, I just cried, because Trump and his MAGAnites will never understand that sentiment. They are cruel, greedy, selfish, hate-filled, and seem to rejoice in others' sorrows and difficulties. I 'm naive too. I thought we'd have our democracy forever.
I cried, too. Those words by Reagan are profound. The depths to which the Republican Party has fallen is staggering. Let’s never forget- the party could neuter this president if they chose to grow spines.
Pam, as Heather notes, the speech was on the last day of Reagan's presidency. We now know that on that day, he had already ventured into the fog of Alzheimer's disease; we just don't know how far.
Credit for those noble words – mouthed by actor Ronald Reagan – should go to Ken Khachigian.
In many ways, and in all the most important ways, Ronald Reagan was no better than Donald Trump. He just had better speech writers, and didn't go off script.
Dale, thanks for the comment and kudos to Ken Khachigian.
When Reagan was president I was in my late twenties and I knew nothing about po,itics. I mistakenly thought that any president had the American peoples' best interests. I thought presidents were dignified and compassionate.(at least in public) Then I started reading and listening and realized that Reagan caved to the Christian Nationaists and millionaires who encouraged trickle- down economics. I admired Reagan for his presidential demeanor, and I truly miss "presidential demeaner."
Whether Reagan was just speaking someone else's words, they're still words that Trump and his cronies-in-crime will never utter.
Those are wonderful quotes from Ronald Reagan, the idol of many Republicans. I am glad to hear it came from him. Now we need the Supreme Court to reconfirm birthright citizenship. This alternative is not only cruel. It is contrary to what has always distinguished America a special and admired nation.
Reagan's words may be wonderful from a very narrow American exceptionalism point of view, but they reflect a peculiarly American ignorance of the facts. Immigrants to France or Germany can become citizens of those countries, and that is the case for many other countries, including my own country of Canada.
I have said since 2015/6 that Trump’s single talent is bringing out the worst in everybody and thereby setting them into disdain and hatred of one another. It’s his only talent, but it is vast and devastating.
No, Sabine, it seems entirely more likely that his orangeness will be superceded by others with similar levels of greed, the oligarchs, the others who insist on an ever larger amount of money and the power it confers.
I read one account (have not independently verified it) that one ICE agent was told by another "he's not our guy" - and the first agent's reply was "take him anyway". Sounds like they are trying to make quotas - whether lawfully or not.
You can bet that's what's going on. Illegal, legal, permanent residence, gang, no gang, it clearly makes no difference and no sense. Somebody higher up has given them a number and they are fulfilling that number.
This tracks. Donald is obsessed with what "makes good television," accuracy and legality be damned. The obsession with what "looks cool on TV" is infecting the entire government from top to bottom.
It's the same obsession that causes notorious legislators like Nancy Mace, Ted Cruz, MTG and other trumpers to make embarrassing spectacles of themselves.
and had those same employees of ICE been born in Germany at the right time, they would have been very happy to become a member Hitler's brownshirts and SS.
Ned, I agree 100%. If they are so cowardly that they need to ware a mask and unmarked uniforms you know they are up to no good. They are much like the KKK that we thought was in our past, The US is becoming a " third world country" with these tactics! WAKE UP AMERICA!!
Not "almost." They are modelling themselves on all three German organizations plus Stalin's, and the people who hire them, train them, and let them loose are absolutely responsible and whould be prosecuted accordingly.
The German (and French) SS were easier to identify because most had their blood type tattoo that gave them away. They and the Stasi (I believe), did at least keep some of the most detailed records, which (records) helped in prosecuting them after the war.
Trump's "terrorists" seem to keep less records than any legitimate organization. I don't believe it is due as much to incompetence, as not wanting to leave any records behind that can be used against them in the future.
I was thinking about that. On the one hand, they probably need their jobs. On the other hand, regardless of that, how could they do what they do, and live with themselves??
Right there with you, Herb. Isn’t it heartwarming to see tRump rounding up "hardened criminals" in those three American born children, one a cancer patient? If only the Indigenous peoples of the Americas had their own ICE agents back in the 1600s — the British would’ve been packed up and punted back across the Atlantic faster than you can say "smallpox outbreak." Even the early British colonists could've turned the tables and deported the next wave of desperate immigrants with the same boot-in-the-face tactics. But no — instead, America turned into a messy, beautiful melting pot of people from every corner of the planet. If they're really going to play the ethnic cleansing game, then maybe they should be kicking out anyone without a pure British bloodline, which would mean tRump himself being shaved, shackled, and shipped off. Think about that Pal.
Hello Kazz... The Indigenous still face that type of Repression to differing Degrees.... I grew-up with that... Indigenous Women are the most Abused in the USA... Taylor Sheridan hints at that in the 'Yellowstone' Series...
There is a series "Alaska Daily" that addresses the Native American abuse and murder of indigenous women. Politicians of both parties are guilty of failing to protect and support Native Americans.
HCR has written extensively about Native Americans (Wounded Knee) and how they have been mistreated since Europeans first arrived in the new world.
There was a Canadian journalist who was detained when crossing the southern border a few weeks ago, who was illegally detained and put in a cell the incarcerated women call "the Icebox" because they keep the cells at "hypothermic temperatures." She was lucky that she was able to get out after 12 days compared to some of the women who have been there uncharged for over a year. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment just for crossing the border and oftentimes totally legally.
Maybe CA, where this private detention center is located, should be raided by the CA state police and interview each of the prisoners to make sure they have a "speedy trial" as ordered by the US Constitution.
Hey Apache, please forgive me if I've come across as insensitive in any way towards Indigenous communities with my comment. I intended to show that the ONLY people who have the right to boot people out of America are First Nations people. I really do wish they had the ICE equivalent back when those tall ships first appeared on the horizon. Sherman Alexie lays the truth bare in his writing. I recently read his YA novel, 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' which opened my eyes to the ongoing struggles and resilience of First Nations people. I follow him on Substack, a beautiful poet too.
Hello Kazz... No Offense Taken.... One Of These Days I'll Post Some Of My Poetry... It is Zen/Taoist Poetry seen thru Indigenous Eyes... We Indigenous have never Thought that we have 'Owned' the Land... Within Reason, there is plenty of Land for All to Share In Peace...
Apache, you mentioned one of the admirable features of Indigenous culture and spirituality that is diametrically opposed to that of the white European invaders of North America.
As conservative Protestants, Puritans, Quakers, et al, they were dominionists. That is, they took literally the Genesis 1:28 pronouncement that Man has dominion over all creation, that Earth and all life on it belong to Man. As "owner," he is free to do with it whatever he pleases.
There are many, but this is certainly one of the roots of the poisoned American tree, the poisoned fruit of which we are now consuming.
Hello Dale... Many of the Great Eastern Religions/Philosophies don't have a Rigid Hierarchy, or Dogma.... There is No Supreme Leader... There is No Supreme Buddhist, Taoist, Shintoist, or Shaman... For the American Indigenous, Taoist, Shintoist, and Buddhist, at least, We seek to Expand our Awareness... We Marvel At The Creator's Creation...
Not only in the US, in Canada and Australia the Indigenous people were the unlucky recipients of European "benefits" as well - ethnic cleansing just seems to be the M.O. for us up to this day - see M.E.
Apache, I appreciate your presence and insight here. Your statement regarding Indigenous Women is chilling and reflects so much of what I saw as a cop (in lily white Oregon).
I maintian that unless and until America (and specifically white Americans) acknowledge that our settling of this continent and establishment of this country was based on the theft of land and genocide of the Indigenous Peoples and on the backs of Black slaves, we are forever tainted.
I reside on Kalapuya land in the former sundown state of Oregon.
I am curious about the high rate of abuse of Indigenous women. My son (Ojibwe) has a violent reaction to alcohol and to any sugared drink or candy, which resembles a serotonin syndrome attack. When he was young, before diagnosis (he has NO sugar or alcohol now except natural fruit), he was very abusive of all of us. Could this intolerance of sugar contribute to abuse?
MaryPat... Us Indigenous, as well as many East Asians. have a very low Alcohol Tolerance.... "Modern Processed" Diets can be very Bad for Us... Indigenous Males have the lowest Life-Expediencies on this Continent...
My cursory search for racial identity of perpetrators of violence against Indigenous women didn't have any specific breakdown. The stat that stood out for me is that 54% of Indigenous women are the victims of sexual assault, assault, and/or homicide.
We have the irony of trying to increase our population by encouraging more births while deporting babies and toddlers. If we need to increase our population, we should not be deporting good people who are potential contributors to society. It is a myth that people come here to receive welfare. Agriculture, construction, and food processing with undocumented employees are unquestionable sectors that support all of us among other occupations. Our international students keep college finances in the black. We can’t let these bigots destroy what makes our country great.
It seems Reagan was quoting a letter he’d received. It is a very pretty speech, and a true one. The energy and enterprise of our immigrant population is a highly undervalued asset and quite frankly, perhaps because they do not take the opportunities for granted, they are willing to move mountains to realize a dream.
It’s too bad that for all his rhetoric, Reagan’s policies created the system of oligarchy/wealth disparity that is bringing this nation to ruin— and the collapse of ‘morality’ the Right seems to think it has some corner on.
That system has always existed, Reagan at most gave it a boost after 50 years of quiescence following the New Deal. Trump too is more a tool than an initiator although he's altogether more despicable than the worst of his predecessors. If we're going to see fundamental change we need to start with expanding the House, electing people who understand and support the rule of and equality under the law, and insist on seeing changes made.
Expanding the House to reflect our growing population would be an excellent start to repairing the gerrymandering that has made the house members unresponsive to their constituents, special interests now dominate most of our elections. The House was envisioned to be a reflection of the pulse of the electorate, sadly that is no longer the case. In it’s expansion, a larger House would eliminate the power of special interests who would still have a voice, but not nearly as loud, and the House would then be better able to reflect our national will.
Agreed. Among other benefits, as you note, having more Congresspeople would make it harder and more expensive to buy enough to get your way. Along those lines, I'm also inclined to add another Senator for each state.
I was just as surprised as you when HRC quoted Reagan. I saw what Reagan did during his presidency. I was aware the middle class was being run over, so to speak.
Reagan's speech about immigration always struck me as ironic because of his use of the Southern strategy to gain the Presidency.
He kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, to appeal to the white racists who were abandoning the Democratic party after the Dems passed the civil rights legislation and LBJ signed it into law.
I wonder how the right-wing plans to fill all employment in the country after they deport all immigrants and first-generation citizens.
Some red States are now legalizing child labor, so we have that going for us. Now that trump and the fascist GOP have ruined our international relationships with our friends, allies, and any other country we export to seem determined to blow up our economy, the job market will shrink as much as the respect the world once had for the US.
I believe that by drawing from skills and perspectives arriving here from around the world that the creativity and resilience of this country got a big boost from immigration. It's actually evident in the process of evolution. Beyond fun and bonding, sexual reproduction shuffles the genetic deck. Some of the congenital weirdnesses that appeared in royal families speaks to the hazards of drawing from too small a gene pool. Ideas can get ingrown too. Species that can't adapt are consigned to appear only as fossils.
This call for more babies is to increase the white population and to return women to the home as 'tradwives', who are submissive to their husbands (see Paula White - yech). Given their disdain for children once out of the womb - by denial of healthcare, preschool education and other services, that's pretty damn rich. They want white women to be breeders. I agree with you -- shuffling the genetic deck is great and should be encouraged. While my heritage is European (Scottish, Irish, French & German) -- I'm delighted to have so many countries represented in my family tree and would welcome more from other parts of the world.
Perhaps in part because Europeans came to this continent as conquerors and our nation was born in armed revolution, our society embraces an unhealthy affection of violence, as we see in the news each day. Violence is no stranger to any society, but it seems to be prized by a large portion of our society in ways that stand out from many other wealthy societies, our love affair with guns just one such indication.
It seems to me that a historically older model of social control by some extension of a autocratic, violent father figure is embraced by much of the world's population, and yet, we have come to invent more creative and just alternatives; a democratic republic, in contrast to despotism. Too many refuse to let go of the more primitive approach, which becomes more dangerous to our species and rights as a whole, as our numbers, technical powers, and environmental impact, grows.
War is mass murder however you look at it. It may be a needed choice of last resort against mass aggression, as was the US role in WWII, but like chemotherapy, the cost is extremely high and to be avoided when practical. Violence is our society, be it subtle or blatant, is also a poison, and should be recognized as such.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
The amount is laughable. The people or families that are having large families are the trad Roman Catholics, and other trad religious folk. One hears from the men not much from the wives.
In the boomer generation with Catholics lots of large families and natural family planning. Many narratives of it not workable so a lot of caboose babies.
My older friends were the oldest daughters many did not marry or didn’t have children because they had been mothers to their younger siblings. Many current Roman Catholic families with large families are converts so don’t have this past experience.
Many also are very well off and Nannie’s and camps galore.
Always in every elite thread the children were cared for by others. Some changes in the fifties but Nannie’s came back in style.
The essence as with the start of todays letters fir many Children don’t count and the those that are some sort of other count way way less.
This is an outrage. And actually as it did in the last t administration fits under child Abuse and Neglect laws along with medical treatment issues.
Anna Freud in her last years wrote a book titled the Best Interest of the Child about children and parental rights. This shows that to a male contingent now in power children are chattel , rights are imaginary, and I don’t see much opposition or if there is covered over and blanketed.
I already wrote my senator. I would prooe doing a more creative type of action besides going out in the streets. Posting pictures or letters or books on children en masse to every local, state,, and federal legislature and official. Post it daily until they abd the private and Postal Servicescare all so overwhelmed work is stopped. That is the only tool we still might have.
We stand on the shoulders of many humans whined to fight this very crushing if females and others and children in the past. Apache is do correct with the ingenious Histiry and more much more in human history and finally we have the history , we have the words, we can act to change it all. Despite these horror times perhaps the door opening to a new eon on earth.
The administration is floating it because our population is not growing sufficiently enough to sustain Social Security as an example. And stop this other BS crap about white women or white anything legacy media puts out this BS and you swallow it like gullible lemmings that you are
There are a lot of refugees in the world already alive who have the potential of becoming contributing citizens if allowed. We are “shooting ourselves in the foot” by making it more difficult than necessary to receive immigrants. Somehow it is OK for the president to marry an immigrant and have her family join them but make it too challenging for anyone else. Listen to Steven Miller. He is a great example of a xenophobe.
Without immigrant trades people, in many parts of the US, it would take several extra months to build a new home or do a renovation. After Hurricane Matthew in 2016, we had some moderate damage to our home in Jacksonville, FL. During the few weeks I was there, several of the homes in our neighborhood had new roofs installed. Without the Hispanic laborers it would have been months before these homes would have been reroofed.
And now, Trump wants to end FEMA and let each state fend for themselves during natural disasters. This is going to end badly for millions of people, especially those unable to get homeowner's insurance because the insurance companies are no longer willing to insure homes in these high risk areas.
It turns out that two genes (of the same sort) are better than one, at least with respect to managing genetic errors. I recall that airplane engines have two separate ignition systems, as a breakdown in the air is a bigger deal than one on pavement, and for that matter, automobiles now have two hydraulic brake systems. Though it fails to address the possibility of press access being consolidated, Jefferson wrote:
" the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there be still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion."
There would seem to be truth in this claim, which is part and parcel of a democratic process, but the devil lies in the "full hearing of all parties", which has always been aspirational, and is clearly eroded by oligarchical ownership of the "press".
We, in our courtroom process, attempt a "full hearing" in the protocols for examining those charged with breaking the laws, but not for those charged with making, carrying out, and judging the laws. We rely on a curious, dogged press for that; to sniff out every discrepancy; yet as the capture of the LA times, the NYT and WaPo demonstrate, "news" can be controlled when ownership is monopolized, and anti-trust turns out to be another precondition for a free society. We learned that after the "Gilded Age", but telegenic Reagan, and media manipulation managed to legitimatize monopolization again. Like a "free society, I think of a "free market" as an environment that maximizes opportunities for the greatest number; yet in modern (Owellian) use, it means no barriers to monopolization.
Monopolization of power, be it financial or political power (which in a corrupted society, become interchangeable) is the problem, not the solution.
I live in Brooklyn - though born and raised in Michigan and then a 10 year stint in the UK. I love walking through the city and hearing all the different languages spoken, seeing all the different shops, from Middle Eastern to Japanese to Indian. We raised our son in lower Manhattan - and to him, a "normal" population was as diverse as could be -- a great start in life.
So true. I grew up in Nebraska and rarely had the opportunity to interact with anyone other than white people of European descent. Fortunately, my work has allowed me to work and socialize with people from all over the world. I am blessed to have known so many great people.
When I was working in Indianapolis in the early 1980's, I was talking with a couple of co-workers who had never traveled outside of the Indianapolis metro area. At that time, across the US about 1/3 of the population had never traveled outside of their state.
Completely agree -- all high schoolers should spent a semester abroad in another country -- completely eye-opening and a great way to get over the "America is the best and only" myth.
Exactly - I wrote about this a few days ago when Trump started his nonsence about women in America having more babies. They are here - welcome them, register them, give them a chance to prove themselves through jobs and education. Some of the best minds - for every kind of work incuding art, music, finance, teaching, science, on and on - here in America weren't born here. Only when they break our basic laws and are found guilty of horrendous crimes (not a broken tail light), should we deport them. We must stop treating God's children like they are inhuman. For, there is no law against 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generousity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control"
Yeah, well Kristina read my little ditty above. Go read up on the article bit of blacks did not abort at the rate that they did they be 38% of the population today not 12 or 13%. Hmmmmm
I am struck by Reagan's remarks. Why was it so crystal clear back then, the strength that immigrants bring to a country of immigrants, and it is so misunderstood now? I never thought of Reagan as that articulate. While he is the father of much that is wrong with the US, Trump is clearly going to beat him out. While I don't long for the past, or the days of Reagan, I do long for a future where Trump is gone. It starts with children born in illegal immigrant women, and ends up with being any citizen that Trump does not like. Be wary.
Know if you are in a vulnerable group and consider what your plan B is. I wrote this in November, but it still applies.
Regarding Reagan - just remember every President on down in political office usually has a speech writer - having been one - you listen to what they want to get across and go to work. The one President who liked to write himself was Lincoln and even he had those he trusted review with him. When you hear Trump not following his cue cards is when you know the "word salad" has started and what he says could be the exact opposite of what he said the day before - It's called speaking with no filter.
Yes of course Effie. And Reagan the actor would be good at delivering. That is another parallel with this president is that they got their public personas from playing roles.
Hey Linda, we have immigration laws in this country. If we want to change those laws, we certainly can but right now they allow a certain number of legal immigrants every year and specifically dictate from where those immigrants come. Your congress decided that. Illegal is a different segment of the population. They didn’t come through legal ports they came illicitly hiding from the law. If you wanna have 10 or 20 million coming in every year fine, let’s converse approve it until then if they come in illegally, they broke the law and go home.
Herb, what I am finding fascinating is that the current targets are people who are following the law regarding their status as refugees, applications for citizenship, and so on. In other words, these are people who have legal status in the USA, are attending their required appointments, and thereby getting rounded up and deported--some of them just before they take their citizenship tests. So the strategy is even more heinous than just rounding up the poor yutzes who wait on street corners for day work on building sites (which they are no longer doing, by the way, which means building in Kansas City has ground to a halt). It is targeting people who are here under OUR protection and who were told by the authorities who have imprisoned and deported them that they should trust in the system. It makes me want to vomit.
Exactly so, Linda. They are "shooting fish in a barrel" with these "appointment arrests". These are not the criminals that ffpotus flaps his gums about (considering the low rate of criminality in the undocumented immigrant population), they are mothers with babies, students on visas, and green card holders.
And Trump is at 90 days and you’re blaming the 90 days on that nonsense it has been going on for years … or the two years that he was a president and everything was going great in this country until Covid hit. People just kill me so close minded. It’s just sad.
Well, we know of at least four that were killed by criminal illegal immigrants. Anything else you want to know? And hundreds, more are now being trafficked.
John, you’re about as despicable and hateful as they come in with no reason whatsoever, which is what’s really amazing about your people and you wonder why your approval rate is less than 20% now and dropping please keep it up
Donnie has totally misunderstood President Teddy Roosevelt’s use of the phrase “bully pulpit.” Does ICE get extra points for grabbing nursing mothers and kids with cancer? How many of his 1500 jailed-after-a-trial and pardoned rioters have joined ICE? 🥹🤮🤯☺️
Here you guys go again, backing the wrong pony. 12 million illegals came in and your sighting four out of 12 million and picking those out is your hero posters?
Let’s see if you remember the days that Obama, that’s right, Obama, put the children in cages along the border and if you don’t believe me, Google it yourselves!! He Put kids in cages where the hell were you there? Who did you blame then the wrong person go look it up. Go look it up go look it up go look it up. Do some research. Be honest with yourself.
During the Obama years (especially around 2014), there was a huge surge of unaccompanied minors (kids arriving alone) and families crossing the southern border, mainly from Central America.
Border Patrol stations were not designed to handle large numbers of children and families. As an emergency measure, they set up chain-link partitions inside warehouses to separate children, teens, and adults for safety — mainly so children weren't held in cells with unrelated adults.
The goal was to hold children temporarily (for a few days) before transferring them to Health and Human Services facilities, which were more appropriate for longer-term care and finding sponsors or family members in the U.S.
Well, finally, you got one accurately except for one problem. Please tell me how these kids acted alone. What do they have a credit card to get here who helped them? And why did they get across the border? They should’ve never even made it across the border. In fact, if you want to tell the whole truth, you should go look at what the immigration laws are in Mexico if you enter a Mexico illegally, you are a felon and you have to pay a daily fine. I believe it’s 1000 pesos a day or more could be 10 times that I don’t remember the number, but they should’ve never been allowed across the border in the first place and don’t be a naïve idiot, saying they got here on their own.
The MAGA need to be informed that their so-called family values are being undermined. While they wring their hands over the unborn, they are ignoring, eviscerating, the health and the life of the born!! By any standard comprehensible this is an unimaginable travesty. These acts by ICE, supported by Trump and his merry band of henchmen and henchwomen, are degrading and despicable. Who will put a stop to this???
My God, I go from one nauseating, lying, deceptive, deceitful slanted post to another here. It’s really sickening. Your people need to change the channel, watch other networks, read other news and see the other side of the story. Otherwise, you’re nothing but the gullible lemmings that people think you are
Hey Herb, try this for a second. Turn off your TV turn off your radio don’t read the newspaper stop blogging and posting here and here’s what you’ll find
Nothing in your daily life has changed since Trump has taken office except the border is closed and prices on everything have come down including eggs, gas , groceries mortgage rates and inflation in just 90 days. Oooops Obama deported 3, million only 1/4 of those got a hearing Clinton did the same…less than that . got a hearing from him
I, like thousands of others around the world, attended several Holy Week services last week. We heard and read the Passion of Jesus. As a young girl I was always saddened when we came to the part where Jesus tells Simon Peter that he will deny him, and Simon Peter says he will never deny him. Then comes the scene in the courtyard with the three denials. And the cock crowed three times.
If there were a cock on Capital Hill outside of Congress, the cock would be hoarse and barely able to crow - for things done and left undone!
Senators Graham and Scott, and Representative Timmons, the Carolina Gamecock is barely able to crow.
Use this spreadsheet to call/email/write any of our representatives as often as possible. Not just your own state reps, reach out to those in other states. Be as loud as you can and share this. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
Awesome resource. I will be using and sharing. Especially important that senators and representatives hear from not just their own constituents. They need a sense of what is happening nationwide. Don't forget that these elected officials have staff members who can be influenced and can then potentially alter course on policy, and even small deflections can matter.
Thank you for your response yesterday. For some reason, I couldn’t respond back without logging in? I need to check with the site to find out why (and need to find my log in” code.
Yes! All of that! I feel like it’s not a “I need to listen only to my constituents” issue anymore, it’s a nationwide crisis where their job will be meaningless if we continue down the road we’re on and they need to hear from as many of us as possible.
It is obvious that the easier those of us who are more motivated can make it, for those who are somewhat less motivated, the more actions we can bring about, which is a part of what makes policies change. Great job.
Also, if you send me an email message I can send you an issue of my newsletter, Random Guy Noticing Stuff, and if you find it useful you are welcome to share it as widely as you want. If you want to be on the email list, you can let me know. One or another little part of HCR's messaging is sometimes included, always giving credit, although I am looking far and wide for what I end up posting. It's about twice a week and runs ~25 pages, with a list of titles to allow for selected reading. My email is bertrandbartok@gmail.com. It is NO SUBSTITUTE for HCR - she is one awesome source. A friend asked my what I relied upon for news, and Letters From an American is definitely on my short list.
Do you think it’d be helpful then if I went through my House reps tab and put what their title (what committee they’re representing?). It’s a good thought I hadn’t thought of
Yes it’s great, but only for phone calls. That’s what I was using initially but then wanted to be able to email after my kids went to bed and not reach full voicemails. I love the scripts on 5 calls though. You’ll see 5calls listed at the top of my spreadsheet, I put it there when I made it and put a note about using it to help with what to say if needed - it’s definitely an amazing resource!
My great-grandfather (b. 1856) was orphaned at age 5; his parents had fled the Irish Potato Famine, yet he became Attorney General of Texas, stood for the working man, and prosecuted Sun Oil (now Exxon) under the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. My grandchildren are Chinese/Jewish WASPs. Their earliest American ancestor was a Jamestown settler and slave holder. ALL of their ancestors, including poor Swedish coalminers and Chiang Kai-shek partisans, were immigrants. Every family has such a tangled story.
The depth of Trump’s ignorance can only be remarked on with sorrow, at this point. He has created such a mess of misery and pain.
Except for indigenous people, we are all descendants of immigrants, whether our ancestors came to the US in 2025, 1925, 1825, 1725, or on the Mayflower or on slave ships. Republicans were once the party promoting equal rights. Now they are dividing the US between those who “belong” and those who don’t belong. “A house divided cannot stand.”
Trump does not care about our Constitution, our history, our laws or treating people with respect in any way. This is how authoritarians take over a democracy. Hitler was also elected into office.
"Those who do not remember the lessons of History are doomed to repeat them." It permeates every hour of every day now. This is history all over again. We, as Americans of every stripe, need to refuse to accept this degradation of our democracy. We must recognize, and stand against this repeat of Fascism's rise in Europe and Japan in the 1930's.
Heather, those words from Reagan, were not to be believed. He mouthed them but he didn’t mean them, not one iota. If everyone wants to educate themselves as to how we reached a very conservative “religious” jurists on the Supreme Court, one has to look at Leonard Leo. He is a religious fanatic, a Catholic, who put together the Federalist Society and was past president of The Heritage Foundation. It was he and his extremely wealthy friends, like the Koch brothers and the Mercer family, who put Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch, Coney-Barrett, Thomas, and Kavanaugh on the bench. They have destroyed Roe v Wade, Voting Rights, and it was Roberts who held the floodgates opened for Citizens United. Both parties are holding PACS and SUPER PACS now. It’s abhorrent!
Trump was not a Leo pick, by the way, however, Leo guided Trump. So we have a fat little religious fanatic who is swimming in money that comes from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, and elsewhere through Leo’s 42 shell companies that he has declared are under 504(c)3. No taxes are paid and that SOB has made over $90 million in less than 6 years! HE is running the White House. HE is running SCOTUS!
Watch HBO MAX or MAX which features the journalist, Jane Mayer, THE DARK MONEY GAME. Your jaw will drop!
I suppose we do have to admit that Reagan was known as the great communicator. He had a knack for speaking and good speech writers too, Peggy Noonan being the one that I remember.
The words "were not to be believed" because Reagan's actions did say otherwise. Delaying the release of the hostages in Iran until the day he was inaugurated. Lack of concern and response to AIDS and the Crack cocaine epidemic. Iran-Contra affair. Supporting apartheid South Africa. A lot more could be added, it's an extensive list.
Though I will never forgive Reagan and his handlers for unleashing so-called trickle down economics on America yet again, it should be noted that he did accomplish a blanket amnesty for immigrants who were in this country without documentation. That was the last time any intelligent action was taken on immigration in the US. Credit where credit is due, folks.
I just read the ProPublica piece on Leonard Leo-eye-opening about how our judiciary has transformed. Highly recommend- I just became a monthly ProPublica donor!
ProPublica has done some terrific reporting on Leo, Alito, Thomas, etc. The documentary I mentioned above is truly an eye-opener of just how evil Leo really is. If you get a chance, watch it.
Vlad: "Ah lak it when Donolt says zeez sings to me - eet mek me laff a LOT! Hey, Dimitri - get me zat photo album of ze pictures fram ze hotel. Tam ah waved zem under his noz again. . . "
No I like Biden better when he said if you’re thinking of invading don’t, but he was really scary wasn’t he? Yikes. And you liberals brought into every lie that the Legacy media was telling you about his mental capacity.
Oh Ricky…. You are so adorable! You’ve been posting so much this morning but no one but me is paying attention to how hard you’re working. I know how hard it can be when you have a bottomless need for someone to acknowledge you. Your mommy and daddy may have not been there for you, but I am buddy. Hang in there!❤️
Bar you have no idea this is not work. This is pure pleasure for me. Are you kidding? To call out a bunch of idiots here who look at only one side of the ledger, or who don’t have a clue as to how life is really happening here because they only listen to one side of an argument. I would love to have any of the people here have to put up with jurors selected from the people that post here because what would happen would be this. The prosecutor would get up, give his story, and the judge would send it right to the jury. There’s no reason to go to the other side of the story. Omg. PS when you only hear one side of the story you were immediately identified as gullible why don’t you stand in front of a mirror and understand that.
PS I could care if anyone acknowledges my post doesn’t matter to me one iota. But all you have here are liberal lemmings patting the massage on the back commiserating with each other, without ever hearing the truth from the other side as well. Enjoy the next four years it’s gonna be blissful
I subscribe to the WSJ, whose editors are conservative as are many of their readers. There’s a few areas where I believe they’re right and the left is wrong (men in women’s sports, for example).
But lately even Republicans are unhappy. They don’t like the tariffs, which are having a bad affect on the economy. Many find Trump unacceptable.
Well, as we say in English frau, you have jumped the gun on the effect of the tariffs and as usual because you hate the president so much you have no patience to see what the final effect will be. SO FAR THIS YEAR AMERICA HAS SOLD KORE CARS THAN IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS!!
Oh, and by the way, Tesla is still leading the world
People are worried that prices will go up so they’re buying cars now so the unintended consequences of the tariffs of so far have been good.
As an example, Ford is now discounting their cars to employee pricing so they sell more Not only in this venue/arena, but in the number of companies that are now committed to build their factory here versus elsewhere.
The actual final outcome of the tariffs will only be resolved when the tariff negotiations Are completed. Then we can fully assess their affect
In the meantime, egg prices are down two dollars, gas is down a dollar and a quarter, . Mortgage rates are down 3/4 of a percent inflation is down and New job hiring double the amount of estimate.
Oh, and the border is closed. Which was the top priority from all the surveys done by every major network.
By the way, many on both sides of the aisle found Biden unacceptable and with due reason as we don’t even know now who wssreally running the country.. And even left-wing prudence are now disclosing how bad Biden’s mental decline was and how long it was covered up
I’m not on any meds like most of the liberals. But may be a trip to the psychiatrist or maybe you should look at the survey results from ABC NBC, and CBS when they said that 50% of the Democrats have TDS but don’t admit they have it and refused to accept the fact that they have it and don’t recognize that they have it. Not my words. They also said this 65% of Democrats said that they would vote against a proposal or a law that Trump proposed even if it helped all Americans. Not my words. So who needs the meds? So sad you guys still don’t understand why you lost the election and why you can’t find any footing whatsoever because you’re always on the wrong side of issues. You wanna protect illegal immigrants do you want men playing women’s sports? Every member of the Democratic Congress voted to allow men in women’s sports, except for two. Good call
Mr. McMillan. I doubt very seriously if you even know what a fascist look like, so stop using words, you don’t even understand. This administration has done nothing different than any other administration. Only the reaction has been different. Obama deported 3 million people and only 2.25 million of them had a hearing. There was no whining or complaining about that. Obama, let go almost half 1000,000 federal employees over his term. Did you hear any complaints about that?
Trump, let’s go 30,000 and the world turns upside down. Lololol
Clinton let’s go 375,000 employees did you hear anything about that?
Putting deported over 2 million people. Didn’t hear anybody worrying about hearings back then.
Go get a life and look up fascism in the dictionary. If you just wanna use Bernie Sanders term oligarch another word that nobody understands and throws around like it’s meaningful or applicable to anything here
Sorry, I read that statistic wrong. Only 25% had a hearing the 2.25 million that got deported didn’t even have a due process hearing. But one illegal immigrant and your world turns upside down for you guys because he didn’t get due process. By the way, the national Paul suggested 90% of the people don’t want these people here in the country they want them somewhere else and of course so the liberals and people like you you support the 10% keep that up and your approval rating which was at 80% of Democrats approve of the congressional leader ship a year ago April now it’s 20% and that my friend came from CNN itself.
I'm reading a very interesting book, "West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire," by Kevin Waite. Not mamny of us are likely aware that Oregon and California did not vote for the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, because they were so busy persecuting the Chinese and keeping down the Mexicans whose country those states had previously been before the land grab of the Mexican War - and because they had significant populations of southerners who identified as such and acted as an organized group, thus taking power in California and Oregon after they became states despite being a minority. Neither state voted for the Civil War amendments until 1960. In the New Mexican Territory (which included what is now Arizona and southern Utah, and the Utah Territory, slavery was legalized in the 1850s (which is why northerners were so upset with the South's political moves in the 1850s). In those areas, debyu peonage was used to control the Mestizo and Mexican population, and there was quite an active trade in captured Indians forced into slavery. All the Official Mythology masquerading as "history" about how the "southern plantation system" didn't work in the West is just more of the Official Bullshit we were fed in American "History" classes. They may not have used plantations, but they did use slaves. This now makes the fact most of the western territories were subject to military law during the Civil War make sense - the Enemy was already out there. There were in fact pro-Confederacy rallies held throughout California and a Regiment of Confederate sympathizers was raised in Los Angeles and went to Texas to fight. Unionists were a minority in both California and Oregon during the war. The book is well written and makes a solid case. More Actual History that isn't what the mythology says. As an historian, I recommend it highly. (He cites HCR's "How The South Won the Civil War" in how the West allied with the South to fight Reconstruction.)
I'm going to get that book! Oregon finally (in 2022) voted to amend the state constitution to remove "involuntary servitude" from its verbiage (55%-45%). We were a sundown state into the 1960's, and are still VERY racist.
I strongly believe that Reagan's slander of our form of government and his faith in the alleged natural leadership of the very wealthy set the ball rolling towards Trump, yet while he was authentically right wing, he was not devoid of a sense of responsibility. He differed with Trump on the role of tariffs as well. That said, he set the tone for the "GOPs" subsequent hostility to protecting the the environment.
Since I was born in 1968, every Republican presidency has pushed such right wing ideology and forced their greedy rigid fascist agendas upon the U.S.(& the world) that their administrations were stepping stones to this disastrous Trumpian regime.
Even when Reagan was just running for governor of California he was hostile towards the environment, saying something along the lines of: "if you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all". Such a heartless, soulless, stupid thing to say.
And when Reagan became president in the 1980s, that's when the axe really fell on the mighty old-growth forests of redwoods and douglas fir. Lumber companies accelerated logging to such an unsustainable level because the Reagan administration was approving of it. They didn't care and only saw the forests that were being clearcut and destroyed as Wall Street commodities that their wealthy savings & loan and junk bond friends could get rich off of.
An indelible image from Trump 1.0 was a little girl, maybe 3 years old, sitting alone at a defendant's table in front of an immigration judge. The judge acted as if it was just fine to proceed with the child, who didn't understand English, much less what was happening, without a caretaker, much less an attorney. Now it's worse, much worse. I remember that child when hear tight-wing "Christians" invoke Jesus. They make me sick.
Maybe the orange felon & crew are self-immolating? Let’s not delight too soon.
If we read Timothy Snyder’s “The Road to Unfreedom,” we can see how Putin, his fellow fascists, and their full panoply of oligarchs all carefully plotted their role for chaos.
Chaos must rule above all – or apparently above all – because for these Eurasian-empire-obsessed Russians the world of adherence to facts and evidence gets only their scorn. For their desired empire they rely on fantasy, on repetitive scripts of themselves all being victims to how they see Western culture marauding, besieging them, emphasizing for them their white Slav innocence.
So they are constantly reveling in sensationalism which just keeps spurting on and on. (Timothy Snyder calls this, for them, their “eternity.) The fat convicted criminal in the White House barely compares to them in how relentlessly they keep shrieking at what gays might be doing, what women with some personal freedom might be doing, with what hordes of encroaching immigrants might portend.
Timothy Snyder gets it on target in this history of his originally from 2018. It’s a bit unbelievable what extents of madness accompany the fantasyland – but for those who value facts and evidence, “The Road to Unfreedom” delivers.
You guys sound like the hope of the hopeless and you are. As I’ve sent to many of you nothing in your daily lives has changed not a damn thing except for the reckless fools that go light up Tesla dealerships. The difference between boycott by conservatives is when they don’t buy a product and liberals when they go burn/destroy the products they don’t like. Or entire cities.
People's lives haven't changed isn't a very good argument. Grocery prices were supposed to be down by now, Russia's invasion of Ukraine was supposed to have ended by now and all sorts of other things were supposed to be happening by now, reverting the US to the greatness of the late 19th Century Robber Baron days.
I suppose the Measles epidemic is the fulfilment of a MAHA promise and the oligarchical 21st Century Robber Barons will be delighted by the plans to reintroduce child labour to pick the crops. But really, that's a pretty poor show considering what was promised to transform people's lives.
The truth is that we have suffered a massive governmental downgrade with the damage done so far by trump/musk DOGE and the acquiescence of the fascist GOP Congress.
The pain is not so apparent now, but it won't take long before the average American's quality of life nosedives, and only the right-wing leadership and the ultra-rich Oligarchs can prosper while the vast majority lose ground.
I thought you went out and bought a new crystal ball but I guess not…..lmao.
In the meantime, what happened to all the people that were complaining about the stock market drop? I kept saying patience, but nobody cares all I want to know is, let’s see how quickly America can fail under Trump. And applaud while it’s happening. In the meantime, do you want us going to 12% of the shares of Tesla and 75% of the shares are owned by 401(k) pension plans by the states of the United States of America. Oooops. And while Walsh was applauding the drop of Tesla stock, his state lost $250 million in value. You people are just haters
And I’m one more note Sondra, based on every survey that was taken in America. The most important thing to Americans were the border and the economy. Joe Biden, AOC Mayorkas, and every other Democrat lied about the border being secure after allowing 11,000 people per day to come across without stopping.. they all said it would take legislation to change that to change the immigration policies of this country.
And in less than 60 days Trump stopped it from 11,000 a day to 70 a day
And as he said, at the State of the Union message to congress, we didn’t need legislation we just needed a new president.
Regarding the economy, egg prices are down almost 2 dollars. Gas is down to $1.25 inflation is down significantly versus Biden and mortgage rates are down ¾Regarding the economy, egg prices are down almost 2 dollars. Gas is down $1.25 inflation is down significantly versus Biden and mortgage rates are down 3/4 of one percent. No president in history has been able to do that as quickly as he did. Change the freaking channel
Sandra, for four years grocery prices were up and you think Trump just snaps his fingers and just lowers them immediately? You were complaining for four years about the price of groceries on the price of gas and the increase in inflation and the price of mortgages and you think Trump just walked into the office besides the fact that all the judges and try to stop him from doing anything to fix the problem and you think you could just snap his fingers and bingo??? . You people are just such a double standard hypocrites it’s crazy.
Now let’s talk about Russia how about that? Obama was in office when Russia came in and actually took Crimea and Obama did nothing. Biden was in office when Russia came in and start of the war in Ukraine and Biden did nothing. What the hell are you thinking? Do you think these two presidents just allow a war to start and Trump just comes in and you dump it in his lap
He’s working on it. We have no jurisdiction over Ukraine or or Russia do we?
But instead of sending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars there, he’s trying to stop the war. Europe should’ve been there to stop at the first place and wasn’t we I no longer afford to be the worlds police force or 36 trillion in the hole and we can’t even take care of the people in this country well enough. WTFU
Well, and now, Trump is in charge of the measles epidemic as well?
Yeah he’s the he’s in charge of all diseases now. lol
You know maybe you haven’t been around very long but we’ve always had people picking our crops, white black, yellow, etc. and we always will have people picking our crops until we automate that as well someday.
Do you know only the liberals are whining? And that’s all they do every time republican gets into office, even though it was the Democratic way.
Don’t worry, you only have 45 beautiful months to go
Why don’t you try reading them instead of critiquing them before you even understand them. Every Single word has meaning you just don’t want to accept them. I gave you back the truth right down your throat to everything that you asserted that was incorrect. It’s like people that don’t recognize that they have TDS you don’t recognize facts when you see them because you don’t like them.
I think it is humorous that Teslas and Tesla dealers are being attached but don't approve of violent and destructive acts. However, it did catch the Tesla Board of Directors attention as Elon is going to go back with his tail between his legs for being a SUCH A NAUGHTY BOY and ruining the Tesla reputation (if it hasn't been damaged enough by bad engineering defects). There is a fellow selling bumper stickers that say, "I bought my Tesla before DOGE" and is he ever making money.
A “Special Government Employee” (SGE) is an American government worker who is employed to work in a temporary role. This employee must not work for a government agency for longer than 130 days during a 365 day period.
I believe this is behind the reason for Elon Musk “leaving” & going back to Tesla. If he stays longer he would be subject to government regulation as any employee would. In theory, anyway. He has his buddies installed in the government, so he will will still have influence.
Do you know Diana you are so demented it’s actually pathetic.
Elon Musk had nothing to do with Tesla‘s reputation being diminished . The morons on the left had everything to do with his reputation, which was ridiculously misguided. I’ll give you one good example has anything changed with Tesla‘s cars since Elon went to work for DOGE? Nope not a damn thing they were still saving the planet by replacing combustion engines with you climate change, hoaxers believe.
Donald Trump could’ve picked anybody to run Doge and hired big balls or whoever he wanted to hire to do the job. Tesla‘s been saving the planet for 10 years and most of the teslas are owned by liberals themselves. Ooooops
Elon musk is the Alexander, Graham Bell, Enrico Fermi, Henry Ford and Thomas Alva Edison, all in one generations human being.
I have time to try to stop the idiocy here. TDS is now an actual medical disease and it’s spreading like wildfire and apparently incurable. A major pole by the major networks just determined at 50% of Democrats now have TDS but are unaware that they have it and are unwilling to recognize the fact that they do. Not my words
And you’ve just to find yourself as a hypocrite. Good job. Free-speech, huh? You left these have been trying to cut off free-speech for a long time or blaming the right for trying to do that when it’s actually the opposite. Free-speech is just that you don’t like the opinion fine but blocking it is being gullible because then you only hear one side of the story but that’s all you can hear anyway just out of your left ear and your left eye
I had to pause reading after the first two paragraphs of HCR’s letter this morning. Besides the anger, I’m left wondering about the requirements for candidates applying to be ICE agents.
“Cold-blooded SOB’s only need apply. Willingness to rip families apart a plus.”
Closing with the Reagan quote was masterful. I didn’t think there was anything he and I could agree on. I see now there is.
the federalist society + the heritage foundation + tech bros + hydrocarbon oligarchs = the same old toxic brew of fascism just posing behind social media as something new
When the government criminalizes compassion, democracy itself is in danger.
In reading Heather Cox Richardson’s moving post today about the illegal deportations of U.S. citizen children and their mothers by ICE — including a 7-year-old child with Stage 4 cancer flown without medical consultation to Honduras — we see the very real, devastating impact of Trump's unconstitutional executive orders attempting to erase birthright citizenship and subvert due process.
But it’s not just happening at airports or immigration detention centers. We also saw it this week in the case of former Las Cruces, New Mexico Judge Joel Cano.
After nearly 25 years as a police officer and 15 years as a judge, Cano and his wife opened their property to three young Venezuelan men awaiting the outcomes of their immigration cases — men who had survived the brutal Darién Gap journey to seek refuge in the U.S., undergone airport screenings, Border Patrol checkpoints, and multiple interviews without any prior accusations of gang membership. They became, in Cano’s words, part of his extended family.
Without warning, dozens of masked, unidentified federal agents raided Cano’s home and his daughter's home, arrested the young men, and charged them with gang membership — citing tattoos, social media emojis, and Chicago Cubs sportswear as "evidence." Cano himself was then accused of "harboring" and pressured into resigning, based solely on guilt by association and sensationalized claims.
This pattern — ICE bypassing lawyers, due process, and constitutional protections; DHS labeling migrants as criminals without evidence; the administration using loaded, dehumanizing language like "harboring" to criminalize compassion — mirrors exactly the lawless authoritarianism Heather describes.
It’s a systematic dismantling of the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" are citizens — and more broadly, a war on the fundamental principle that America is a nation of laws, not executive whim.
The attacks on migrants, naturalized citizens, and anyone who offers them shelter — even a retired judge with a long record of public service — are not isolated incidents. They are part of the Trump regime’s ongoing, unlawful effort to overturn centuries of American constitutional rights in favor of fear, exclusion, and racialized second-class status.
If America abandons its constitutional guarantees for some, it abandons them for all.
The fight to defend due process, birthright citizenship, and equal protection under the law is the fight to preserve democracy itself.
I was born in Canada of American citizens and registered at the American consulate immediately after my birth. My husband has been awarded a Gauss Award from the university in Göttingen Germany and we are to spend two months there. Should I be worried now about being able to return to this country? Trump is an abomination!
Trump is evil incarnate, I'm surprised he didn't incinerate at some point during Pope Francis' funeral.
Reentering the U.S. during this Trumpian era doesn't seem like something I would want to do right now. But if do go think about what electronic devices you take because they are taking phones, laptops, whatever they want it seems. Maybe bring a cheap burner phone that you wouldn't care about so much if they want to seize it.
Every morning, I awaken to yet another level of Trump’s Inferno. How despicable can one be!
G-D, these I.C.E. have icey hearts. They almost operate like the S.S., N.K.V.D., or the Stasi.
Gestapo.
Yes, and that makes Trump HITLER...
I agree with the comments here. But take note that the opposite of what Trump is doing ie, deporting, ICE agent street kidnapping with gestapo like tactics, the opposite is what Biden did for the first few years in office with respect to the border. He didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor. So what happens is we get uncontrolled migration by a leader followed by a second rate mafia idiot who swings to the other extreme. My point is we need moderation on issues like immigration not one extreme or the other. If we ignore the admittedly complex issues of immigration, we will be playing defensive role and not making progress. And on another aspect admittedly a losing argument, the world is over populated by the human species. Imagine in my lifetime, the population has more than doubled. When does this expansion end? Never? An economist will tell you that population growth equals economic growth. All the while the natural world suffers defeats due to their shrinking world. So the next time you think that we must continue our path ot greatness through massive influx of human population, think again. This world wasn’t made for humans alone contrary to what you may read in religious literature. The roaming herds, the birds of the skies, the reptiles should have as much right to live here as those disgusting humans who think they alone own the universe.
Do you remember the border bill Bill? The one the Republicans trashed because Trump told them to? The bipartisan bill designed to deal with the border problem that both sides worked on and then Republicans decided they could no longer support because Trump wanted to run on immigration? I do. Democrats tried long and hard to deal with immigration - without trashing the economy too. The current problems can be placed at the feet of Republicans.
I endorse Sheila's reminder about the bipartisan border bill that Trump and Republicans did not allow coming to a vote.
And Bill: Biden was faced with such a mess, it is admirable that he made headway, for example, in re-connecting children Trump took away from their parents. I don't know to what extent Biden was involved either in framing or encouraging that bipartisan bill, but it isn't honest to say he did nothing about the border. (Over-population is a real problem, and we have to face it. But immigrants are already in the world seeking to survive. They're going to be somewhere.)
The voices that denigrate immigrants for coming to this country, that venerate what Trump did and is doing, and that see no action on the immigration issue under the Biden administration are not helpful.
Most of our problems you can place at the feet of the Republicans. Does that sound partisan? Is racism at the bottom of most Republican policies?
Moreover, I doubt Bill is aware of the bipartisan immigration reform bill that the gop House also defeated under Boehner's leadership during Obama's presidency.
It speaks volumes when one consistently and wrongly blames various Democrats for gop obstruction.
Sheila, thank you for your cogent post.
Yep, I remember Trump telling them not to ratify that bill, that he, Trump wanted to run on that hate producing frothy poisonous misinformation. It is also untrue that the US had open borders during the Biden administration. And there were illegals that were deported during the Biden administration.
Bill remembers the border bill after more than two years of doing absolutely nothing. Do you remember the first two years of sleepy Joe doing absolutely nothing? And let us not forget Mr Biden went back on his word of being a transitional president and didn’t leave anything on the table for a properly nominated candidate to run for office. I don’t suffer losers lightly and the democrats have more than their share of them. To wit; Bill Clinton getting his rocks off and leaving nothing for Al Gore as our trusty progressive consumer candidate Ralph Nadar took 90,000 votes in Florida. Then The Great War Hawk Hillary and Jill Stein. Need I continue? You started it.
Thank you Sheila! Some plans were working!
Yes, but were talking about the human trafficking and Gestopo tactics. Over population is a separate issue, and if you go there, Trumps stand on that is women should be barefoot and pregnant to build the white population, just like Hitler. And Biden is not the issue NOW, Trump is......
Precisely.
Amen👏
Yes, Ma'am. What is worse, Vance is worse. At least Trump has the dubious virtues of being churlish in his behavior and stupid in his speaking.
Well Bill Katz, it is a well known phenomena that fertility is higher among those in poverty. They lack education, work, meaningful lives, and medical resources. That is what the USAID program was designed to counter. Also there is the issue of women's rights in this population. When we, the world's former leader in democracy and opportunity sent emissaries, clinics, and healthcare workers into these regions, we were attacking the sources of the population blooms. There are also segments of our and the world's population that oppose any effort to reduce fertility by any means beyond abstinence. Consider the opposition that Planned Parenthood faces even here. Abortion was not the real reason for the opposition as that affects only a small percentage of the population, it was the opposition to any artificial means of birth control.
And yet, the Trump regime and his Nazi followers want to incentivize women to have more babies due to declining population growth in the USA…of course this would have to be the “right” kind of population growth.
'right' or 'white'. We all know the answer to that.
See how the Muskrat is working so hard to create the 'right' kind of humans....spreading enough of his seed to populate a small country. Surely the world will thank him for this too...
Bill has touched a nerve here through all these comments, to the point of I'm done with this discussion. No matter how you slice this issue the trouble Trump is in isn't anyone's fault but his own now. He instructed congress to not address the issue because he wanted to run on the issue, and they did. It makes no difference who did what before because all of that was yesterday. The constitution says that if your born here you are a citizen, right or wrong in your thinking makes no difference at the moment, it is the law. He wouldn't let his toddies address the issue and solve it so he could break the law with impunity, or so he thought. That is where we are. No matter what he does he is really pissing people off and it is coming to a crescendo soon.
I had to come back and edit my comment.
I should have ended with can we all imagine where we would be had the immigration issue been solved by both parties in 2022. Things would have been a lot different now, but the republicans never wanted to solve the issue, none of them and still don't. They don't want to solve anything because they like cruelty and destroying hopes and dreams across the board. They are evil.
I'm with you, Bill. Immigration is Congress's job, just as passing legislation and declaring war are among congress's duties.
They've abdicated the latter since WWII, so is too much to ask that they do their freaking jobs?
Bill Corbett
Had the bipartisan immigration bill passed, we may be in a better situation now if Kamala won the election, but the right-wing goal would still be the racist, misogynistic, and white Christian nationalist agenda they are implementing today. The guy posting about the population explosion may be correct as far as the world population is concerned, but the birth rate in the US is down, and the employment rate is close to full employment. At least it was before trump was inaugurated. The right-wing is now beginning to force their idiotic, irrational white Christian nationalist religious superstitions on this country, and they would still pursue that agenda along with all of the other disgusting goals of Project 2025, no matter the outcome of the election. Now that they are decimating the Constitution, the rational majority of Americans must make sure that the Constitution survives the fascist GOP. When the fascists have been defeated, we must amend the Constitution to make it much more robust to safeguard our democracy.
Yo también; on a topic like immigration, minds are not apt to change.
👍👍👍 Absolutamente!
Cut the BS. Biden deported more than Trump did. He did not draw attention to it, because it was controversial, among Democrets in particular. He did pay attention to immigration laws, however.
He came up with a bill that would have helped the situation greatly, but the short-fingered vulgarian ORDERED the Republicans to vote against it.
The monthly average of removals, for the last year of the Biden administration was 57,000. The numbers of those turned back from the border was also very large.
The Republicans want more (white) babies, not fewer, because they need cannon fodder and white votes.
Bill, you know this is not true, yet you keep beating the same drum. This has always been a problem that Congress needs to solve and Bidens Administration tried, but the Retrumplicans wouldn't pass it. Enough Already.
You are absolutely wrong. Trump has through negative reenforcement, put fear into the minds of migrants. I’m not endorsing what is taking place but don’t say a president can’t do anything.not true.
Uncontrolled till he took control…Biden did a much better job of processing and regulating the border than he gets credit for…there were no floodgates.
For gods sake Bill, no need to echo the nonsense of an "uncontrolled border". Please.
I watched The New Hour, CBS, NBC and the visuals of hundreds running over the border with 10s of thousands. I didn’t see it on Fox. I don’t even have cable. I formed my opinions based on several sources of news feeds. Yes Biden had quite a job post pandemic. If you wish to disbelieve it, fine. I instead, ruminated why and when the hell he was going to act. And when his homeland security chief was asked about an executive order, his curt response was, “Because it wouldn’t hold up in court.” I saw that interview and I thought Myorca was a real thickheaded A-hold. How stupid a remark. Sorry that was Biden’s boy.
Jen, true, we select what ever we want to remember in order to augment our beliefs. As you have.
Sorry, your assumptions are not accurate. And by deporting good people who are here legally along with their citizen families. "illegal" is a catch 22 if one is automatically considered illegal by seeking asylum. Let's be honest. (note ecologically responsible so called "religious" lit affirms that all of creation is included and of God not only humans on a stage set backdrop. Caring for Creation is THE Human Vocation." Who do you think will do the hard labor and make amazing contributions to our society? It's the hard working immigrant families. Many doing work others will never be willing to do. It looks as if you are conflating way to many issues into one comment.
And yet, the far right is now promoting increasing birthrates in this country among the "chosen" white population.
If President Biden had a fault here, it was allowing his compassion to reign supreme. What I would like to know is what the flow of fentanyl was under President Biden after COVID versus that under Trump before COVID (for an apples-to-apples comparison).
https://mitchthelawyer.substack.com/p/immigrants-are-not-the-problemtheyre
The only problem I had with the up-tick in immigration was that it could erode the middle class standard of living even more. An interesting essay by a California attorney; it reminds us that many of our ancestors did not need documents to enter.
The responses to your mischaracterization of Biden are warranted. Take the problem of over population up with the Vatican. There are other reasons too that we overpopulate... poverty, lack of access to medical care and contraception, lacking access to education.
Plenty of room for useful discussion here. It is clear, however, that open borders is not a good policy and that effective border policies should flow from rational discussion. How they are “policed” also demands attention. The willy-nilly madness, including politicizing this issue, serves nobody well … except possibly some politicians.
You are missing some important actions by Congress that made the situation worse!
Gov Abbott in Texas certainly didn't mind tearing up natural sanctuaries to build walls.
If the present wars, unrest, starvation, Trump's trashing of environmental and climate change laws continues you might get you wished for human population decline. Or then again, his goal for increased birthrate in America would counter that.
This whole thing is tragic.
All of the above, the absolute worst people humankind has to offer.
Alec and Ned, totally jackboot. And oh yeah, they are just following orders.
At the very least lawless masked mobsters!
They go in with covered faces, no insignia on their clothes and no name tag on their clothes. They ignore the law by their actions. They are reprehensible.
Today in Dan Rodricks' SubStack, he writes about the late Leonard Seskind, who studied and wrote about the violence of skinheads, who were "street warriors for Klan groups". Seskind's book, Blood and Politics, was recently removed from The U.S. Naval Academy as one of 300 books deemed unacceptable by the Fascist Trump Administration, who has fueled his entire presidency with hate and racism as he understands the pathetic and disturbing motivations of way too many Americans. Encouraging the worst in human tribal behavior has enabled Trump and the Wealthiest Americans to now literally steal wealth and resources from American taxpayers while the cruel deportations continue to distract.
This criminal TRUMP CO must be stopped, NOW.
Reprehensible indeed. Even worse than that.
I'm a retired cop. I spent about 20 years on SWAT as a negotiator, training with and active missions from search warrants to armed subjects to protests. In every case, while we were "geared up" (as it were), we ALWAYS had a badge displayed, our agency(s) displayed, and made continuing announcements of who we were, where we were, and what we were doing.
I notice that in the "photo op" ICE "sweeps" where our cabinet officials got to cosplay being agents, there was visible body armor (like the military, because tactical, ya know), and lots of shouting and marked vehicles. What they are being videoed doing now (plain clothes, masks, no visible ID) would get locals and all the "fruits of their actions" disallowed. Sounds illegal to me.
Aside: If I had been where Rumeysa Ozturk had been when she was taken by ICE, I'd have intervened; everything I have seen on the event looks like a kidnapping. I have also spent 7 years as courthouse security (part time after retirement) and would not have let unbadged, unidentified people into the judges chambers.
You said exactly what I have stated. I want court security to prevent this abnormal and illegal behavior.
On your aside, Ally, you would have intervened because you know and think quickly. I am not so sure that people near Ms Ozturk were capitulating. They may have been stunned by what was occurring and broke out of the daze too late to intervene. If the Democrats get back into power, Trump et al. should be referred to International Court of Justice. The Supreme Court may have over-extended presidential immunity. The International Court has not.
Good points, Ned.
Mike, not just reprehensible, it should be some kind of recognition and responsibility on their part for following illegal orders. After all ,ICE it's not a private army.
Well, they aren't supposed to be a private army; however, I would be interested in reading the criteria to become an ICE agent and do they swear alligance to the United States placing their hand on a Bible or Book of their faith or like Trump, just sorta/kinda forget and just mutter an oath that they don't intend to keep? Just wondering.
From AI: "To become an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, you generally need to be a US citizen, possess a bachelor's degree, and be under 37 (unless a veteran), and pass a series of screenings including background checks, physical fitness tests, and drug tests. You'll also need to successfully complete 27 weeks of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)."
To apply to be an ICE agent:
https://www.ice.gov/careers/how-apply
Thanks - this is to apply - now at the end of training, do they, as those joining the military have to pledge alligence to uphold the Constitution?
With their behavior and lack of any identification on their clothing, they are acting like one.
And how can they sleep at night? To deport a child with cancer, without medication… to deport a breastfeeding mother and leave her baby behind… reprehensible!!!
The cruelty is the point. Their assertion, not mine.
And they really want more babies to be born????
Probably with drugs and alcohol!
Can the courts at least force them to present authorized ids and wear a uniform? The ones who don’t wear uniforms make me wonder why, Mike.
Definitely ICE agents are the equivalent of The Gestapo.
Maybe the family, friends and acquaintances of ICE agents should start speaking up to them? "Hey! Great job you have there! What's next - throwing babies out of windows?"
Trump could do NOTHING without the people that carry him.
That's why they wear masks. They are afraid to be identified.
The most constructive idea I have come across, Lady E.!
It's telling that they seem to wear masks.
It was the 'black patches' (special forces without a patch denoting their regiments or formations) of often masked that alienated many Iraqis.
Yes, and they are Americans. They could be our neighbors, have children. Why would you take such a job? I guess I am just naive.
Anthony, when I read Reagan's words, as Heather has included, I just cried, because Trump and his MAGAnites will never understand that sentiment. They are cruel, greedy, selfish, hate-filled, and seem to rejoice in others' sorrows and difficulties. I 'm naive too. I thought we'd have our democracy forever.
I cried, too. Those words by Reagan are profound. The depths to which the Republican Party has fallen is staggering. Let’s never forget- the party could neuter this president if they chose to grow spines.
To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards out of men.
Abraham Lincoln
I send that to my Red rep every day.
Pam, as Heather notes, the speech was on the last day of Reagan's presidency. We now know that on that day, he had already ventured into the fog of Alzheimer's disease; we just don't know how far.
Credit for those noble words – mouthed by actor Ronald Reagan – should go to Ken Khachigian.
In many ways, and in all the most important ways, Ronald Reagan was no better than Donald Trump. He just had better speech writers, and didn't go off script.
Dale, thanks for the comment and kudos to Ken Khachigian.
When Reagan was president I was in my late twenties and I knew nothing about po,itics. I mistakenly thought that any president had the American peoples' best interests. I thought presidents were dignified and compassionate.(at least in public) Then I started reading and listening and realized that Reagan caved to the Christian Nationaists and millionaires who encouraged trickle- down economics. I admired Reagan for his presidential demeanor, and I truly miss "presidential demeaner."
Whether Reagan was just speaking someone else's words, they're still words that Trump and his cronies-in-crime will never utter.
Those are wonderful quotes from Ronald Reagan, the idol of many Republicans. I am glad to hear it came from him. Now we need the Supreme Court to reconfirm birthright citizenship. This alternative is not only cruel. It is contrary to what has always distinguished America a special and admired nation.
Reagan's words may be wonderful from a very narrow American exceptionalism point of view, but they reflect a peculiarly American ignorance of the facts. Immigrants to France or Germany can become citizens of those countries, and that is the case for many other countries, including my own country of Canada.
Trump: being a genius excuses every excess!!!!
It's very rare when I agree with Reagan, but in his statement Heather quoted, I agree.
I have said since 2015/6 that Trump’s single talent is bringing out the worst in everybody and thereby setting them into disdain and hatred of one another. It’s his only talent, but it is vast and devastating.
I do believe that the men that are taking the gestapo jobs are organizations like the Proud Boys, White Nationalists.....
"It was a pleasure to burn" - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Hopefully other minds, courts, politicians, whoever, will not descend into impotence in this struggle against evil.
I suspect eventually it will come down to whom the Armed Forces and the National Guard will back. That's going to be a tricky one.
No, Sabine, it seems entirely more likely that his orangeness will be superceded by others with similar levels of greed, the oligarchs, the others who insist on an ever larger amount of money and the power it confers.
I was hoping the people of the land of the free, home of the brave would start rising up.
I read one account (have not independently verified it) that one ICE agent was told by another "he's not our guy" - and the first agent's reply was "take him anyway". Sounds like they are trying to make quotas - whether lawfully or not.
You can bet that's what's going on. Illegal, legal, permanent residence, gang, no gang, it clearly makes no difference and no sense. Somebody higher up has given them a number and they are fulfilling that number.
This tracks. Donald is obsessed with what "makes good television," accuracy and legality be damned. The obsession with what "looks cool on TV" is infecting the entire government from top to bottom.
It's the same obsession that causes notorious legislators like Nancy Mace, Ted Cruz, MTG and other trumpers to make embarrassing spectacles of themselves.
and had those same employees of ICE been born in Germany at the right time, they would have been very happy to become a member Hitler's brownshirts and SS.
Stephan Miller! This is his glee, his fear and loathing, his self-own as the horror behind much of this hate and fear…he’s feeding on it. Wormtongue!
Sickly, awful, spitting in anger at anyone who ‘questions’ him and his zeal!
Do they give these agents drugs to remove any shred of conscience that may remain? It's the Milgram Obedience Experiment on steroids.
Ned, I agree 100%. If they are so cowardly that they need to ware a mask and unmarked uniforms you know they are up to no good. They are much like the KKK that we thought was in our past, The US is becoming a " third world country" with these tactics! WAKE UP AMERICA!!
I don't understand how they sleep at night. Absolutely horrible people for these actions.
Not "almost." They are modelling themselves on all three German organizations plus Stalin's, and the people who hire them, train them, and let them loose are absolutely responsible and whould be prosecuted accordingly.
Almost????
The German (and French) SS were easier to identify because most had their blood type tattoo that gave them away. They and the Stasi (I believe), did at least keep some of the most detailed records, which (records) helped in prosecuting them after the war.
Trump's "terrorists" seem to keep less records than any legitimate organization. I don't believe it is due as much to incompetence, as not wanting to leave any records behind that can be used against them in the future.
Hence, the preference for the Signal app.
Exactly, no paper trail. 🤬
I was thinking about that. On the one hand, they probably need their jobs. On the other hand, regardless of that, how could they do what they do, and live with themselves??
They believe they are doing their god's work. Pure and simple.
....an orgy or indiscretion and revenge.
They are the result of taking the Gestapo and the Stasi, and throwing them into a blender.
You are right, Ned. It is alarming and hard to accept. However, there apparently a healthy cadre of yanks prepared to serve as the tools of evil.
"almost operate like" ??? They're in training. 😤
Right there with you, Herb. Isn’t it heartwarming to see tRump rounding up "hardened criminals" in those three American born children, one a cancer patient? If only the Indigenous peoples of the Americas had their own ICE agents back in the 1600s — the British would’ve been packed up and punted back across the Atlantic faster than you can say "smallpox outbreak." Even the early British colonists could've turned the tables and deported the next wave of desperate immigrants with the same boot-in-the-face tactics. But no — instead, America turned into a messy, beautiful melting pot of people from every corner of the planet. If they're really going to play the ethnic cleansing game, then maybe they should be kicking out anyone without a pure British bloodline, which would mean tRump himself being shaved, shackled, and shipped off. Think about that Pal.
Hello Kazz... The Indigenous still face that type of Repression to differing Degrees.... I grew-up with that... Indigenous Women are the most Abused in the USA... Taylor Sheridan hints at that in the 'Yellowstone' Series...
There is a series "Alaska Daily" that addresses the Native American abuse and murder of indigenous women. Politicians of both parties are guilty of failing to protect and support Native Americans.
HCR has written extensively about Native Americans (Wounded Knee) and how they have been mistreated since Europeans first arrived in the new world.
There was a Canadian journalist who was detained when crossing the southern border a few weeks ago, who was illegally detained and put in a cell the incarcerated women call "the Icebox" because they keep the cells at "hypothermic temperatures." She was lucky that she was able to get out after 12 days compared to some of the women who have been there uncharged for over a year. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment just for crossing the border and oftentimes totally legally.
Maybe CA, where this private detention center is located, should be raided by the CA state police and interview each of the prisoners to make sure they have a "speedy trial" as ordered by the US Constitution.
Hey Apache, please forgive me if I've come across as insensitive in any way towards Indigenous communities with my comment. I intended to show that the ONLY people who have the right to boot people out of America are First Nations people. I really do wish they had the ICE equivalent back when those tall ships first appeared on the horizon. Sherman Alexie lays the truth bare in his writing. I recently read his YA novel, 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' which opened my eyes to the ongoing struggles and resilience of First Nations people. I follow him on Substack, a beautiful poet too.
Hello Kazz... No Offense Taken.... One Of These Days I'll Post Some Of My Poetry... It is Zen/Taoist Poetry seen thru Indigenous Eyes... We Indigenous have never Thought that we have 'Owned' the Land... Within Reason, there is plenty of Land for All to Share In Peace...
Hello Apache...Please do Post Some of Your Zen/Taoist Poetry seen thru Indigenous Eyes. If you post on Substack, I'll Follow. Thank You.
Hello Joan, Richard.... Thanks... In Time...
Do post some of your poetry please
Too bad everyone doesn’t feel that way.
Apache, you mentioned one of the admirable features of Indigenous culture and spirituality that is diametrically opposed to that of the white European invaders of North America.
As conservative Protestants, Puritans, Quakers, et al, they were dominionists. That is, they took literally the Genesis 1:28 pronouncement that Man has dominion over all creation, that Earth and all life on it belong to Man. As "owner," he is free to do with it whatever he pleases.
There are many, but this is certainly one of the roots of the poisoned American tree, the poisoned fruit of which we are now consuming.
Hello Dale... Many of the Great Eastern Religions/Philosophies don't have a Rigid Hierarchy, or Dogma.... There is No Supreme Leader... There is No Supreme Buddhist, Taoist, Shintoist, or Shaman... For the American Indigenous, Taoist, Shintoist, and Buddhist, at least, We seek to Expand our Awareness... We Marvel At The Creator's Creation...
Not only in the US, in Canada and Australia the Indigenous people were the unlucky recipients of European "benefits" as well - ethnic cleansing just seems to be the M.O. for us up to this day - see M.E.
Great book, made the banned list of floriduh.
I honestly think we should give the governing back to the Native Americans. The USA experiment seems to have failed.
Apache, I appreciate your presence and insight here. Your statement regarding Indigenous Women is chilling and reflects so much of what I saw as a cop (in lily white Oregon).
I maintian that unless and until America (and specifically white Americans) acknowledge that our settling of this continent and establishment of this country was based on the theft of land and genocide of the Indigenous Peoples and on the backs of Black slaves, we are forever tainted.
I reside on Kalapuya land in the former sundown state of Oregon.
I am curious about the high rate of abuse of Indigenous women. My son (Ojibwe) has a violent reaction to alcohol and to any sugared drink or candy, which resembles a serotonin syndrome attack. When he was young, before diagnosis (he has NO sugar or alcohol now except natural fruit), he was very abusive of all of us. Could this intolerance of sugar contribute to abuse?
MaryPat... Us Indigenous, as well as many East Asians. have a very low Alcohol Tolerance.... "Modern Processed" Diets can be very Bad for Us... Indigenous Males have the lowest Life-Expediencies on this Continent...
My cursory search for racial identity of perpetrators of violence against Indigenous women didn't have any specific breakdown. The stat that stood out for me is that 54% of Indigenous women are the victims of sexual assault, assault, and/or homicide.
And first among the noncitizens would be his undercover russian assett wife.
Shrewd words Kazz…… putting things into perspective!
A beautiful fantasy.....
But,but his ancestors came from a lovely town in Sweden, isn’t that close enough? 😂💩🎃🤡
Reagan said that? Wonderful!
We have the irony of trying to increase our population by encouraging more births while deporting babies and toddlers. If we need to increase our population, we should not be deporting good people who are potential contributors to society. It is a myth that people come here to receive welfare. Agriculture, construction, and food processing with undocumented employees are unquestionable sectors that support all of us among other occupations. Our international students keep college finances in the black. We can’t let these bigots destroy what makes our country great.
It seems Reagan was quoting a letter he’d received. It is a very pretty speech, and a true one. The energy and enterprise of our immigrant population is a highly undervalued asset and quite frankly, perhaps because they do not take the opportunities for granted, they are willing to move mountains to realize a dream.
It’s too bad that for all his rhetoric, Reagan’s policies created the system of oligarchy/wealth disparity that is bringing this nation to ruin— and the collapse of ‘morality’ the Right seems to think it has some corner on.
That system has always existed, Reagan at most gave it a boost after 50 years of quiescence following the New Deal. Trump too is more a tool than an initiator although he's altogether more despicable than the worst of his predecessors. If we're going to see fundamental change we need to start with expanding the House, electing people who understand and support the rule of and equality under the law, and insist on seeing changes made.
Expanding the House to reflect our growing population would be an excellent start to repairing the gerrymandering that has made the house members unresponsive to their constituents, special interests now dominate most of our elections. The House was envisioned to be a reflection of the pulse of the electorate, sadly that is no longer the case. In it’s expansion, a larger House would eliminate the power of special interests who would still have a voice, but not nearly as loud, and the House would then be better able to reflect our national will.
Agreed. Among other benefits, as you note, having more Congresspeople would make it harder and more expensive to buy enough to get your way. Along those lines, I'm also inclined to add another Senator for each state.
I was just as surprised as you when HRC quoted Reagan. I saw what Reagan did during his presidency. I was aware the middle class was being run over, so to speak.
Reagan's speech about immigration always struck me as ironic because of his use of the Southern strategy to gain the Presidency.
He kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, to appeal to the white racists who were abandoning the Democratic party after the Dems passed the civil rights legislation and LBJ signed it into law.
I wonder how the right-wing plans to fill all employment in the country after they deport all immigrants and first-generation citizens.
Some red States are now legalizing child labor, so we have that going for us. Now that trump and the fascist GOP have ruined our international relationships with our friends, allies, and any other country we export to seem determined to blow up our economy, the job market will shrink as much as the respect the world once had for the US.
I believe that by drawing from skills and perspectives arriving here from around the world that the creativity and resilience of this country got a big boost from immigration. It's actually evident in the process of evolution. Beyond fun and bonding, sexual reproduction shuffles the genetic deck. Some of the congenital weirdnesses that appeared in royal families speaks to the hazards of drawing from too small a gene pool. Ideas can get ingrown too. Species that can't adapt are consigned to appear only as fossils.
This call for more babies is to increase the white population and to return women to the home as 'tradwives', who are submissive to their husbands (see Paula White - yech). Given their disdain for children once out of the womb - by denial of healthcare, preschool education and other services, that's pretty damn rich. They want white women to be breeders. I agree with you -- shuffling the genetic deck is great and should be encouraged. While my heritage is European (Scottish, Irish, French & German) -- I'm delighted to have so many countries represented in my family tree and would welcome more from other parts of the world.
Lauriemcf,
"distain for children once out of the womb - by denial of healthcare, preschool education....and other services....."
This is NOT leadership!
Well, but none of that is changed. Oops.
"Fuck the patriarchy." Emma Watson
The patriarchy only cares about white males that have reached adulthood. And white Christian Nationalists are the worst.
Perhaps in part because Europeans came to this continent as conquerors and our nation was born in armed revolution, our society embraces an unhealthy affection of violence, as we see in the news each day. Violence is no stranger to any society, but it seems to be prized by a large portion of our society in ways that stand out from many other wealthy societies, our love affair with guns just one such indication.
It seems to me that a historically older model of social control by some extension of a autocratic, violent father figure is embraced by much of the world's population, and yet, we have come to invent more creative and just alternatives; a democratic republic, in contrast to despotism. Too many refuse to let go of the more primitive approach, which becomes more dangerous to our species and rights as a whole, as our numbers, technical powers, and environmental impact, grows.
War is mass murder however you look at it. It may be a needed choice of last resort against mass aggression, as was the US role in WWII, but like chemotherapy, the cost is extremely high and to be avoided when practical. Violence is our society, be it subtle or blatant, is also a poison, and should be recognized as such.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." -- Lincoln
But how do they intend to encourage only white women? Aren't they proposing paying $5000 per child? How would that work, practically speaking?
The amount is laughable. The people or families that are having large families are the trad Roman Catholics, and other trad religious folk. One hears from the men not much from the wives.
In the boomer generation with Catholics lots of large families and natural family planning. Many narratives of it not workable so a lot of caboose babies.
My older friends were the oldest daughters many did not marry or didn’t have children because they had been mothers to their younger siblings. Many current Roman Catholic families with large families are converts so don’t have this past experience.
Many also are very well off and Nannie’s and camps galore.
Always in every elite thread the children were cared for by others. Some changes in the fifties but Nannie’s came back in style.
The essence as with the start of todays letters fir many Children don’t count and the those that are some sort of other count way way less.
This is an outrage. And actually as it did in the last t administration fits under child Abuse and Neglect laws along with medical treatment issues.
Anna Freud in her last years wrote a book titled the Best Interest of the Child about children and parental rights. This shows that to a male contingent now in power children are chattel , rights are imaginary, and I don’t see much opposition or if there is covered over and blanketed.
I already wrote my senator. I would prooe doing a more creative type of action besides going out in the streets. Posting pictures or letters or books on children en masse to every local, state,, and federal legislature and official. Post it daily until they abd the private and Postal Servicescare all so overwhelmed work is stopped. That is the only tool we still might have.
We stand on the shoulders of many humans whined to fight this very crushing if females and others and children in the past. Apache is do correct with the ingenious Histiry and more much more in human history and finally we have the history , we have the words, we can act to change it all. Despite these horror times perhaps the door opening to a new eon on earth.
Ha! Add a couple of zeros
https://www.parents.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-raise-a-child-11681839
The administration is floating it because our population is not growing sufficiently enough to sustain Social Security as an example. And stop this other BS crap about white women or white anything legacy media puts out this BS and you swallow it like gullible lemmings that you are
There are a lot of refugees in the world already alive who have the potential of becoming contributing citizens if allowed. We are “shooting ourselves in the foot” by making it more difficult than necessary to receive immigrants. Somehow it is OK for the president to marry an immigrant and have her family join them but make it too challenging for anyone else. Listen to Steven Miller. He is a great example of a xenophobe.
Without immigrant trades people, in many parts of the US, it would take several extra months to build a new home or do a renovation. After Hurricane Matthew in 2016, we had some moderate damage to our home in Jacksonville, FL. During the few weeks I was there, several of the homes in our neighborhood had new roofs installed. Without the Hispanic laborers it would have been months before these homes would have been reroofed.
And now, Trump wants to end FEMA and let each state fend for themselves during natural disasters. This is going to end badly for millions of people, especially those unable to get homeowner's insurance because the insurance companies are no longer willing to insure homes in these high risk areas.
Speaking of genetic diversity, in the Trump family we find what statisticians call regression to the mean.
Good example of the results of too much inbreeding: hemophilia in the Royal Blood lines of the Royalty of Europe
It turns out that two genes (of the same sort) are better than one, at least with respect to managing genetic errors. I recall that airplane engines have two separate ignition systems, as a breakdown in the air is a bigger deal than one on pavement, and for that matter, automobiles now have two hydraulic brake systems. Though it fails to address the possibility of press access being consolidated, Jefferson wrote:
" the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there be still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion."
There would seem to be truth in this claim, which is part and parcel of a democratic process, but the devil lies in the "full hearing of all parties", which has always been aspirational, and is clearly eroded by oligarchical ownership of the "press".
We, in our courtroom process, attempt a "full hearing" in the protocols for examining those charged with breaking the laws, but not for those charged with making, carrying out, and judging the laws. We rely on a curious, dogged press for that; to sniff out every discrepancy; yet as the capture of the LA times, the NYT and WaPo demonstrate, "news" can be controlled when ownership is monopolized, and anti-trust turns out to be another precondition for a free society. We learned that after the "Gilded Age", but telegenic Reagan, and media manipulation managed to legitimatize monopolization again. Like a "free society, I think of a "free market" as an environment that maximizes opportunities for the greatest number; yet in modern (Owellian) use, it means no barriers to monopolization.
Monopolization of power, be it financial or political power (which in a corrupted society, become interchangeable) is the problem, not the solution.
Excellent points JL laying principle with its merits as cornerstones. TY
Encouraging the birth of -white- babies to -white- parents only.
Just think about how full it would be to only see one race of people in the USA. Boring, boring!
I live in Brooklyn - though born and raised in Michigan and then a 10 year stint in the UK. I love walking through the city and hearing all the different languages spoken, seeing all the different shops, from Middle Eastern to Japanese to Indian. We raised our son in lower Manhattan - and to him, a "normal" population was as diverse as could be -- a great start in life.
Nobody is complaining about diversity. Except when it’s forced.
So true. I grew up in Nebraska and rarely had the opportunity to interact with anyone other than white people of European descent. Fortunately, my work has allowed me to work and socialize with people from all over the world. I am blessed to have known so many great people.
When I was working in Indianapolis in the early 1980's, I was talking with a couple of co-workers who had never traveled outside of the Indianapolis metro area. At that time, across the US about 1/3 of the population had never traveled outside of their state.
No wonder there are so many racists in the US.
Completely agree -- all high schoolers should spent a semester abroad in another country -- completely eye-opening and a great way to get over the "America is the best and only" myth.
Exactly - I wrote about this a few days ago when Trump started his nonsence about women in America having more babies. They are here - welcome them, register them, give them a chance to prove themselves through jobs and education. Some of the best minds - for every kind of work incuding art, music, finance, teaching, science, on and on - here in America weren't born here. Only when they break our basic laws and are found guilty of horrendous crimes (not a broken tail light), should we deport them. We must stop treating God's children like they are inhuman. For, there is no law against 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generousity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control"
Or there's the alternative way of describing your country's origins from the legendary Phil Murray -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXjqTyQuq4w
or even better, Chris Cash on how America is possibly the worst country in the world to be a white supremacist -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7suAVzMRUX4
Well said.
Remember, Hispanic and Asian birthrates are fine. They want more white babies.
Yeah, well Kristina read my little ditty above. Go read up on the article bit of blacks did not abort at the rate that they did they be 38% of the population today not 12 or 13%. Hmmmmm
That’s probably the worst analogy I’ve ever seen and you actually put it in print.
I don’t know what happened to liberals, but they’ve lost somehow the definition of the word illegal.
I am struck by Reagan's remarks. Why was it so crystal clear back then, the strength that immigrants bring to a country of immigrants, and it is so misunderstood now? I never thought of Reagan as that articulate. While he is the father of much that is wrong with the US, Trump is clearly going to beat him out. While I don't long for the past, or the days of Reagan, I do long for a future where Trump is gone. It starts with children born in illegal immigrant women, and ends up with being any citizen that Trump does not like. Be wary.
Know if you are in a vulnerable group and consider what your plan B is. I wrote this in November, but it still applies.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/a-plan-b-for-catastrophe?r=f0qfn
Regarding Reagan - just remember every President on down in political office usually has a speech writer - having been one - you listen to what they want to get across and go to work. The one President who liked to write himself was Lincoln and even he had those he trusted review with him. When you hear Trump not following his cue cards is when you know the "word salad" has started and what he says could be the exact opposite of what he said the day before - It's called speaking with no filter.
Yes of course Effie. And Reagan the actor would be good at delivering. That is another parallel with this president is that they got their public personas from playing roles.
No filter and no brain attached 🤬
Only recent word salad was by the loser that they threw in after they ran Biden over with a bus
Hey Linda, we have immigration laws in this country. If we want to change those laws, we certainly can but right now they allow a certain number of legal immigrants every year and specifically dictate from where those immigrants come. Your congress decided that. Illegal is a different segment of the population. They didn’t come through legal ports they came illicitly hiding from the law. If you wanna have 10 or 20 million coming in every year fine, let’s converse approve it until then if they come in illegally, they broke the law and go home.
Herb, what I am finding fascinating is that the current targets are people who are following the law regarding their status as refugees, applications for citizenship, and so on. In other words, these are people who have legal status in the USA, are attending their required appointments, and thereby getting rounded up and deported--some of them just before they take their citizenship tests. So the strategy is even more heinous than just rounding up the poor yutzes who wait on street corners for day work on building sites (which they are no longer doing, by the way, which means building in Kansas City has ground to a halt). It is targeting people who are here under OUR protection and who were told by the authorities who have imprisoned and deported them that they should trust in the system. It makes me want to vomit.
Exactly so, Linda. They are "shooting fish in a barrel" with these "appointment arrests". These are not the criminals that ffpotus flaps his gums about (considering the low rate of criminality in the undocumented immigrant population), they are mothers with babies, students on visas, and green card holders.
Yep--absolutely appalling and likely illegal, although the goons in masks and black shirts don't care.
**The "No Longer" America**
Despicable?
He is the symbol of all those who made it possible for him to rise — and who now stand by as he reshapes America in his own image.
Once the world’s leading democracy — no longer.
Once the leader in technology — no longer.
Once the champion of social justice — no longer.
Once a pioneer in environmental causes — no longer.
Once respected by our allies — no longer.
Once seen as a nation of opportunity — no longer.
Once our presidents were role models of virtue — no longer.
Once we had a vast, thriving middle class — no longer.
Once we had the best public education system in the world — no longer.
Once we built the finest highway system in the world — no longer.
Once our children went to school without fear of gun violence — no longer.
Once, there were no billionaires hoarding obscene wealth — no longer.
He did not do it alone.
He is simply the reflection of what we allowed ourselves to become.
And Trump is at 90 days and you’re blaming the 90 days on that nonsense it has been going on for years … or the two years that he was a president and everything was going great in this country until Covid hit. People just kill me so close minded. It’s just sad.
For those who recall the ‘60s, a new chant:
Hey, hey, Donald J
How many kids have you killed today?
Well, we know of at least four that were killed by criminal illegal immigrants. Anything else you want to know? And hundreds, more are now being trafficked.
John, you’re about as despicable and hateful as they come in with no reason whatsoever, which is what’s really amazing about your people and you wonder why your approval rate is less than 20% now and dropping please keep it up
Donnie has totally misunderstood President Teddy Roosevelt’s use of the phrase “bully pulpit.” Does ICE get extra points for grabbing nursing mothers and kids with cancer? How many of his 1500 jailed-after-a-trial and pardoned rioters have joined ICE? 🥹🤮🤯☺️
Here you guys go again, backing the wrong pony. 12 million illegals came in and your sighting four out of 12 million and picking those out is your hero posters?
Let’s see if you remember the days that Obama, that’s right, Obama, put the children in cages along the border and if you don’t believe me, Google it yourselves!! He Put kids in cages where the hell were you there? Who did you blame then the wrong person go look it up. Go look it up go look it up go look it up. Do some research. Be honest with yourself.
I don't know I bother with your RW nonsense:
During the Obama years (especially around 2014), there was a huge surge of unaccompanied minors (kids arriving alone) and families crossing the southern border, mainly from Central America.
Border Patrol stations were not designed to handle large numbers of children and families. As an emergency measure, they set up chain-link partitions inside warehouses to separate children, teens, and adults for safety — mainly so children weren't held in cells with unrelated adults.
The goal was to hold children temporarily (for a few days) before transferring them to Health and Human Services facilities, which were more appropriate for longer-term care and finding sponsors or family members in the U.S.
Well, finally, you got one accurately except for one problem. Please tell me how these kids acted alone. What do they have a credit card to get here who helped them? And why did they get across the border? They should’ve never even made it across the border. In fact, if you want to tell the whole truth, you should go look at what the immigration laws are in Mexico if you enter a Mexico illegally, you are a felon and you have to pay a daily fine. I believe it’s 1000 pesos a day or more could be 10 times that I don’t remember the number, but they should’ve never been allowed across the border in the first place and don’t be a naïve idiot, saying they got here on their own.
I hear you. My thoughts exactly this morning. The ICE agents remind me of the Secret Service agents during the Hitler regime. Sad!
Indeed - the world that awaits us is becoming painful and difficult.
Babies under the maga regime would be subjected to qualify control. If any hint of color other than white, they would be discarded.
The MAGA need to be informed that their so-called family values are being undermined. While they wring their hands over the unborn, they are ignoring, eviscerating, the health and the life of the born!! By any standard comprehensible this is an unimaginable travesty. These acts by ICE, supported by Trump and his merry band of henchmen and henchwomen, are degrading and despicable. Who will put a stop to this???
Unless and until Faux noise tells them (or OAN, NewsMax, or whatever liestream they suck up), no one will even take the information.
My God, I go from one nauseating, lying, deceptive, deceitful slanted post to another here. It’s really sickening. Your people need to change the channel, watch other networks, read other news and see the other side of the story. Otherwise, you’re nothing but the gullible lemmings that people think you are
Every act glows with malice.....
Pretty damn despicable!
Herb Klinker: ....And the Republicans who shuffle after him!!!
Hey Herb, try this for a second. Turn off your TV turn off your radio don’t read the newspaper stop blogging and posting here and here’s what you’ll find
Nothing in your daily life has changed since Trump has taken office except the border is closed and prices on everything have come down including eggs, gas , groceries mortgage rates and inflation in just 90 days. Oooops Obama deported 3, million only 1/4 of those got a hearing Clinton did the same…less than that . got a hearing from him
Typical liberal double standards and hypocrisy
I, like thousands of others around the world, attended several Holy Week services last week. We heard and read the Passion of Jesus. As a young girl I was always saddened when we came to the part where Jesus tells Simon Peter that he will deny him, and Simon Peter says he will never deny him. Then comes the scene in the courtyard with the three denials. And the cock crowed three times.
If there were a cock on Capital Hill outside of Congress, the cock would be hoarse and barely able to crow - for things done and left undone!
Senators Graham and Scott, and Representative Timmons, the Carolina Gamecock is barely able to crow.
Herb, tragic, beastly behavior.
Keep being loud!
Use this spreadsheet to call/email/write any of our representatives as often as possible. Not just your own state reps, reach out to those in other states. Be as loud as you can and share this. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit
Awesome resource. I will be using and sharing. Especially important that senators and representatives hear from not just their own constituents. They need a sense of what is happening nationwide. Don't forget that these elected officials have staff members who can be influenced and can then potentially alter course on policy, and even small deflections can matter.
Real representatives have a fiduciary duty to their constituents, but also a duty as a citizen of our whole society.
Yes! If only our whole society was more important than money and fear. I’m hopeful though ❤️🩹
Dear J L
Thank you for your response yesterday. For some reason, I couldn’t respond back without logging in? I need to check with the site to find out why (and need to find my log in” code.
Yes! All of that! I feel like it’s not a “I need to listen only to my constituents” issue anymore, it’s a nationwide crisis where their job will be meaningless if we continue down the road we’re on and they need to hear from as many of us as possible.
Thank you for helping share it!!
It is obvious that the easier those of us who are more motivated can make it, for those who are somewhat less motivated, the more actions we can bring about, which is a part of what makes policies change. Great job.
Also, if you send me an email message I can send you an issue of my newsletter, Random Guy Noticing Stuff, and if you find it useful you are welcome to share it as widely as you want. If you want to be on the email list, you can let me know. One or another little part of HCR's messaging is sometimes included, always giving credit, although I am looking far and wide for what I end up posting. It's about twice a week and runs ~25 pages, with a list of titles to allow for selected reading. My email is bertrandbartok@gmail.com. It is NO SUBSTITUTE for HCR - she is one awesome source. A friend asked my what I relied upon for news, and Letters From an American is definitely on my short list.
Thank you. Yes, their jobs will be meaningless. They are dithering their roles out of existence.
Especially when you address that as a member of such and such a committee, they represent us as well.
Do you think it’d be helpful then if I went through my House reps tab and put what their title (what committee they’re representing?). It’s a good thought I hadn’t thought of
I think it would be.
Thanks— I’m bookmarking this one!
Woohoo! Thanks for using your voice right now!
Wow! Thanks for this!
You’re welcome! Thanks for using your voice right now!
Thank you. Passed it on to everyone I thought would use it....
Thank you for sharing it! Hopefully it helps make it easier for people to speak up right now
The 5 calls app is also excellent.
Yes it’s great, but only for phone calls. That’s what I was using initially but then wanted to be able to email after my kids went to bed and not reach full voicemails. I love the scripts on 5 calls though. You’ll see 5calls listed at the top of my spreadsheet, I put it there when I made it and put a note about using it to help with what to say if needed - it’s definitely an amazing resource!
Got it bookmarked!
This post is so sad.
My great-grandfather (b. 1856) was orphaned at age 5; his parents had fled the Irish Potato Famine, yet he became Attorney General of Texas, stood for the working man, and prosecuted Sun Oil (now Exxon) under the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. My grandchildren are Chinese/Jewish WASPs. Their earliest American ancestor was a Jamestown settler and slave holder. ALL of their ancestors, including poor Swedish coalminers and Chiang Kai-shek partisans, were immigrants. Every family has such a tangled story.
The depth of Trump’s ignorance can only be remarked on with sorrow, at this point. He has created such a mess of misery and pain.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
He certainly has alot of support, doesn’t he. That, in and of itself, is deeply disturbing.
Except for indigenous people, we are all descendants of immigrants, whether our ancestors came to the US in 2025, 1925, 1825, 1725, or on the Mayflower or on slave ships. Republicans were once the party promoting equal rights. Now they are dividing the US between those who “belong” and those who don’t belong. “A house divided cannot stand.”
Trump does not care about our Constitution, our history, our laws or treating people with respect in any way. This is how authoritarians take over a democracy. Hitler was also elected into office.
"Those who do not remember the lessons of History are doomed to repeat them." It permeates every hour of every day now. This is history all over again. We, as Americans of every stripe, need to refuse to accept this degradation of our democracy. We must recognize, and stand against this repeat of Fascism's rise in Europe and Japan in the 1930's.
We all know where this is going...
Heather, those words from Reagan, were not to be believed. He mouthed them but he didn’t mean them, not one iota. If everyone wants to educate themselves as to how we reached a very conservative “religious” jurists on the Supreme Court, one has to look at Leonard Leo. He is a religious fanatic, a Catholic, who put together the Federalist Society and was past president of The Heritage Foundation. It was he and his extremely wealthy friends, like the Koch brothers and the Mercer family, who put Alito, Roberts, Gorsuch, Coney-Barrett, Thomas, and Kavanaugh on the bench. They have destroyed Roe v Wade, Voting Rights, and it was Roberts who held the floodgates opened for Citizens United. Both parties are holding PACS and SUPER PACS now. It’s abhorrent!
Trump was not a Leo pick, by the way, however, Leo guided Trump. So we have a fat little religious fanatic who is swimming in money that comes from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, and elsewhere through Leo’s 42 shell companies that he has declared are under 504(c)3. No taxes are paid and that SOB has made over $90 million in less than 6 years! HE is running the White House. HE is running SCOTUS!
Watch HBO MAX or MAX which features the journalist, Jane Mayer, THE DARK MONEY GAME. Your jaw will drop!
I suppose we do have to admit that Reagan was known as the great communicator. He had a knack for speaking and good speech writers too, Peggy Noonan being the one that I remember.
The words "were not to be believed" because Reagan's actions did say otherwise. Delaying the release of the hostages in Iran until the day he was inaugurated. Lack of concern and response to AIDS and the Crack cocaine epidemic. Iran-Contra affair. Supporting apartheid South Africa. A lot more could be added, it's an extensive list.
Though I will never forgive Reagan and his handlers for unleashing so-called trickle down economics on America yet again, it should be noted that he did accomplish a blanket amnesty for immigrants who were in this country without documentation. That was the last time any intelligent action was taken on immigration in the US. Credit where credit is due, folks.
I just read the ProPublica piece on Leonard Leo-eye-opening about how our judiciary has transformed. Highly recommend- I just became a monthly ProPublica donor!
ProPublica has done some terrific reporting on Leo, Alito, Thomas, etc. The documentary I mentioned above is truly an eye-opener of just how evil Leo really is. If you get a chance, watch it.
DONALD! STOP!
Vlad: "Ah lak it when Donolt says zeez sings to me - eet mek me laff a LOT! Hey, Dimitri - get me zat photo album of ze pictures fram ze hotel. Tam ah waved zem under his noz again. . . "
No Herb, STOP DONALD!
Bravo! You made me laugh.
Herb, hopefully he'll pay more attention to your plea than Putin to his.
No I like Biden better when he said if you’re thinking of invading don’t, but he was really scary wasn’t he? Yikes. And you liberals brought into every lie that the Legacy media was telling you about his mental capacity.
Oh Ricky…. You are so adorable! You’ve been posting so much this morning but no one but me is paying attention to how hard you’re working. I know how hard it can be when you have a bottomless need for someone to acknowledge you. Your mommy and daddy may have not been there for you, but I am buddy. Hang in there!❤️
Bless his heart 😈
Bar you have no idea this is not work. This is pure pleasure for me. Are you kidding? To call out a bunch of idiots here who look at only one side of the ledger, or who don’t have a clue as to how life is really happening here because they only listen to one side of an argument. I would love to have any of the people here have to put up with jurors selected from the people that post here because what would happen would be this. The prosecutor would get up, give his story, and the judge would send it right to the jury. There’s no reason to go to the other side of the story. Omg. PS when you only hear one side of the story you were immediately identified as gullible why don’t you stand in front of a mirror and understand that.
PS I could care if anyone acknowledges my post doesn’t matter to me one iota. But all you have here are liberal lemmings patting the massage on the back commiserating with each other, without ever hearing the truth from the other side as well. Enjoy the next four years it’s gonna be blissful
Aww… Thanks Ricky! I hope you enjoy the next four years too. ❤️
Trust me, I am and I will as well you if you love America.
I subscribe to the WSJ, whose editors are conservative as are many of their readers. There’s a few areas where I believe they’re right and the left is wrong (men in women’s sports, for example).
But lately even Republicans are unhappy. They don’t like the tariffs, which are having a bad affect on the economy. Many find Trump unacceptable.
Well, as we say in English frau, you have jumped the gun on the effect of the tariffs and as usual because you hate the president so much you have no patience to see what the final effect will be. SO FAR THIS YEAR AMERICA HAS SOLD KORE CARS THAN IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS!!
Oh, and by the way, Tesla is still leading the world
People are worried that prices will go up so they’re buying cars now so the unintended consequences of the tariffs of so far have been good.
As an example, Ford is now discounting their cars to employee pricing so they sell more Not only in this venue/arena, but in the number of companies that are now committed to build their factory here versus elsewhere.
The actual final outcome of the tariffs will only be resolved when the tariff negotiations Are completed. Then we can fully assess their affect
In the meantime, egg prices are down two dollars, gas is down a dollar and a quarter, . Mortgage rates are down 3/4 of a percent inflation is down and New job hiring double the amount of estimate.
Oh, and the border is closed. Which was the top priority from all the surveys done by every major network.
By the way, many on both sides of the aisle found Biden unacceptable and with due reason as we don’t even know now who wssreally running the country.. And even left-wing prudence are now disclosing how bad Biden’s mental decline was and how long it was covered up
I just wanted to point out that there are many Republicans who do not care for Trump.
You can’t characterize them all as crazy lefties.
I seriously think it’s time for you to up the meds!
I’m not on any meds like most of the liberals. But may be a trip to the psychiatrist or maybe you should look at the survey results from ABC NBC, and CBS when they said that 50% of the Democrats have TDS but don’t admit they have it and refused to accept the fact that they have it and don’t recognize that they have it. Not my words. They also said this 65% of Democrats said that they would vote against a proposal or a law that Trump proposed even if it helped all Americans. Not my words. So who needs the meds? So sad you guys still don’t understand why you lost the election and why you can’t find any footing whatsoever because you’re always on the wrong side of issues. You wanna protect illegal immigrants do you want men playing women’s sports? Every member of the Democratic Congress voted to allow men in women’s sports, except for two. Good call
Hey look everyone.. a fascist sympathizer..
Mr. McMillan. I doubt very seriously if you even know what a fascist look like, so stop using words, you don’t even understand. This administration has done nothing different than any other administration. Only the reaction has been different. Obama deported 3 million people and only 2.25 million of them had a hearing. There was no whining or complaining about that. Obama, let go almost half 1000,000 federal employees over his term. Did you hear any complaints about that?
Trump, let’s go 30,000 and the world turns upside down. Lololol
Clinton let’s go 375,000 employees did you hear anything about that?
Putting deported over 2 million people. Didn’t hear anybody worrying about hearings back then.
Go get a life and look up fascism in the dictionary. If you just wanna use Bernie Sanders term oligarch another word that nobody understands and throws around like it’s meaningful or applicable to anything here
Stop being so stupid.
Another well-thought-out analytical researched post. You should run for Congress.
You should fuck your self, you authoritarian fan -boy you..
Sorry, I read that statistic wrong. Only 25% had a hearing the 2.25 million that got deported didn’t even have a due process hearing. But one illegal immigrant and your world turns upside down for you guys because he didn’t get due process. By the way, the national Paul suggested 90% of the people don’t want these people here in the country they want them somewhere else and of course so the liberals and people like you you support the 10% keep that up and your approval rating which was at 80% of Democrats approve of the congressional leader ship a year ago April now it’s 20% and that my friend came from CNN itself.
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I'm reading a very interesting book, "West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire," by Kevin Waite. Not mamny of us are likely aware that Oregon and California did not vote for the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, because they were so busy persecuting the Chinese and keeping down the Mexicans whose country those states had previously been before the land grab of the Mexican War - and because they had significant populations of southerners who identified as such and acted as an organized group, thus taking power in California and Oregon after they became states despite being a minority. Neither state voted for the Civil War amendments until 1960. In the New Mexican Territory (which included what is now Arizona and southern Utah, and the Utah Territory, slavery was legalized in the 1850s (which is why northerners were so upset with the South's political moves in the 1850s). In those areas, debyu peonage was used to control the Mestizo and Mexican population, and there was quite an active trade in captured Indians forced into slavery. All the Official Mythology masquerading as "history" about how the "southern plantation system" didn't work in the West is just more of the Official Bullshit we were fed in American "History" classes. They may not have used plantations, but they did use slaves. This now makes the fact most of the western territories were subject to military law during the Civil War make sense - the Enemy was already out there. There were in fact pro-Confederacy rallies held throughout California and a Regiment of Confederate sympathizers was raised in Los Angeles and went to Texas to fight. Unionists were a minority in both California and Oregon during the war. The book is well written and makes a solid case. More Actual History that isn't what the mythology says. As an historian, I recommend it highly. (He cites HCR's "How The South Won the Civil War" in how the West allied with the South to fight Reconstruction.)
I'm going to get that book! Oregon finally (in 2022) voted to amend the state constitution to remove "involuntary servitude" from its verbiage (55%-45%). We were a sundown state into the 1960's, and are still VERY racist.
Yes! I have and read the book. Indeed, an eye-opener.
I strongly believe that Reagan's slander of our form of government and his faith in the alleged natural leadership of the very wealthy set the ball rolling towards Trump, yet while he was authentically right wing, he was not devoid of a sense of responsibility. He differed with Trump on the role of tariffs as well. That said, he set the tone for the "GOPs" subsequent hostility to protecting the the environment.
Since I was born in 1968, every Republican presidency has pushed such right wing ideology and forced their greedy rigid fascist agendas upon the U.S.(& the world) that their administrations were stepping stones to this disastrous Trumpian regime.
Even when Reagan was just running for governor of California he was hostile towards the environment, saying something along the lines of: "if you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all". Such a heartless, soulless, stupid thing to say.
And when Reagan became president in the 1980s, that's when the axe really fell on the mighty old-growth forests of redwoods and douglas fir. Lumber companies accelerated logging to such an unsustainable level because the Reagan administration was approving of it. They didn't care and only saw the forests that were being clearcut and destroyed as Wall Street commodities that their wealthy savings & loan and junk bond friends could get rich off of.
and he removed President Carter's solar panels (1980 version) from the White House when he moved in....
Ugh!! Of course he REMOVED the solar panels…🤬🤬
An indelible image from Trump 1.0 was a little girl, maybe 3 years old, sitting alone at a defendant's table in front of an immigration judge. The judge acted as if it was just fine to proceed with the child, who didn't understand English, much less what was happening, without a caretaker, much less an attorney. Now it's worse, much worse. I remember that child when hear tight-wing "Christians" invoke Jesus. They make me sick.
Maybe the orange felon & crew are self-immolating? Let’s not delight too soon.
If we read Timothy Snyder’s “The Road to Unfreedom,” we can see how Putin, his fellow fascists, and their full panoply of oligarchs all carefully plotted their role for chaos.
Chaos must rule above all – or apparently above all – because for these Eurasian-empire-obsessed Russians the world of adherence to facts and evidence gets only their scorn. For their desired empire they rely on fantasy, on repetitive scripts of themselves all being victims to how they see Western culture marauding, besieging them, emphasizing for them their white Slav innocence.
So they are constantly reveling in sensationalism which just keeps spurting on and on. (Timothy Snyder calls this, for them, their “eternity.) The fat convicted criminal in the White House barely compares to them in how relentlessly they keep shrieking at what gays might be doing, what women with some personal freedom might be doing, with what hordes of encroaching immigrants might portend.
Timothy Snyder gets it on target in this history of his originally from 2018. It’s a bit unbelievable what extents of madness accompany the fantasyland – but for those who value facts and evidence, “The Road to Unfreedom” delivers.
You guys sound like the hope of the hopeless and you are. As I’ve sent to many of you nothing in your daily lives has changed not a damn thing except for the reckless fools that go light up Tesla dealerships. The difference between boycott by conservatives is when they don’t buy a product and liberals when they go burn/destroy the products they don’t like. Or entire cities.
This is what 'conservatives' do when they're angry -
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/211228143855-14-jan-6-capitol-unf-restricted.jpg?q=w_1576,c_fill
People's lives haven't changed isn't a very good argument. Grocery prices were supposed to be down by now, Russia's invasion of Ukraine was supposed to have ended by now and all sorts of other things were supposed to be happening by now, reverting the US to the greatness of the late 19th Century Robber Baron days.
I suppose the Measles epidemic is the fulfilment of a MAHA promise and the oligarchical 21st Century Robber Barons will be delighted by the plans to reintroduce child labour to pick the crops. But really, that's a pretty poor show considering what was promised to transform people's lives.
The truth is that we have suffered a massive governmental downgrade with the damage done so far by trump/musk DOGE and the acquiescence of the fascist GOP Congress.
The pain is not so apparent now, but it won't take long before the average American's quality of life nosedives, and only the right-wing leadership and the ultra-rich Oligarchs can prosper while the vast majority lose ground.
I thought you went out and bought a new crystal ball but I guess not…..lmao.
In the meantime, what happened to all the people that were complaining about the stock market drop? I kept saying patience, but nobody cares all I want to know is, let’s see how quickly America can fail under Trump. And applaud while it’s happening. In the meantime, do you want us going to 12% of the shares of Tesla and 75% of the shares are owned by 401(k) pension plans by the states of the United States of America. Oooops. And while Walsh was applauding the drop of Tesla stock, his state lost $250 million in value. You people are just haters
And I’m one more note Sondra, based on every survey that was taken in America. The most important thing to Americans were the border and the economy. Joe Biden, AOC Mayorkas, and every other Democrat lied about the border being secure after allowing 11,000 people per day to come across without stopping.. they all said it would take legislation to change that to change the immigration policies of this country.
And in less than 60 days Trump stopped it from 11,000 a day to 70 a day
And as he said, at the State of the Union message to congress, we didn’t need legislation we just needed a new president.
Regarding the economy, egg prices are down almost 2 dollars. Gas is down to $1.25 inflation is down significantly versus Biden and mortgage rates are down ¾Regarding the economy, egg prices are down almost 2 dollars. Gas is down $1.25 inflation is down significantly versus Biden and mortgage rates are down 3/4 of one percent. No president in history has been able to do that as quickly as he did. Change the freaking channel
Sandra, for four years grocery prices were up and you think Trump just snaps his fingers and just lowers them immediately? You were complaining for four years about the price of groceries on the price of gas and the increase in inflation and the price of mortgages and you think Trump just walked into the office besides the fact that all the judges and try to stop him from doing anything to fix the problem and you think you could just snap his fingers and bingo??? . You people are just such a double standard hypocrites it’s crazy.
Now let’s talk about Russia how about that? Obama was in office when Russia came in and actually took Crimea and Obama did nothing. Biden was in office when Russia came in and start of the war in Ukraine and Biden did nothing. What the hell are you thinking? Do you think these two presidents just allow a war to start and Trump just comes in and you dump it in his lap
He’s working on it. We have no jurisdiction over Ukraine or or Russia do we?
But instead of sending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars there, he’s trying to stop the war. Europe should’ve been there to stop at the first place and wasn’t we I no longer afford to be the worlds police force or 36 trillion in the hole and we can’t even take care of the people in this country well enough. WTFU
Well, and now, Trump is in charge of the measles epidemic as well?
Yeah he’s the he’s in charge of all diseases now. lol
You know maybe you haven’t been around very long but we’ve always had people picking our crops, white black, yellow, etc. and we always will have people picking our crops until we automate that as well someday.
Do you know only the liberals are whining? And that’s all they do every time republican gets into office, even though it was the Democratic way.
Don’t worry, you only have 45 beautiful months to go
There are an awful lot of words here. I'm guessing they are excuses for broken promises and broken laws.
Why don’t you try reading them instead of critiquing them before you even understand them. Every Single word has meaning you just don’t want to accept them. I gave you back the truth right down your throat to everything that you asserted that was incorrect. It’s like people that don’t recognize that they have TDS you don’t recognize facts when you see them because you don’t like them.
I'll take that as a "Yes".
I think it is humorous that Teslas and Tesla dealers are being attached but don't approve of violent and destructive acts. However, it did catch the Tesla Board of Directors attention as Elon is going to go back with his tail between his legs for being a SUCH A NAUGHTY BOY and ruining the Tesla reputation (if it hasn't been damaged enough by bad engineering defects). There is a fellow selling bumper stickers that say, "I bought my Tesla before DOGE" and is he ever making money.
A “Special Government Employee” (SGE) is an American government worker who is employed to work in a temporary role. This employee must not work for a government agency for longer than 130 days during a 365 day period.
I believe this is behind the reason for Elon Musk “leaving” & going back to Tesla. If he stays longer he would be subject to government regulation as any employee would. In theory, anyway. He has his buddies installed in the government, so he will will still have influence.
Do you know Diana you are so demented it’s actually pathetic.
Elon Musk had nothing to do with Tesla‘s reputation being diminished . The morons on the left had everything to do with his reputation, which was ridiculously misguided. I’ll give you one good example has anything changed with Tesla‘s cars since Elon went to work for DOGE? Nope not a damn thing they were still saving the planet by replacing combustion engines with you climate change, hoaxers believe.
Donald Trump could’ve picked anybody to run Doge and hired big balls or whoever he wanted to hire to do the job. Tesla‘s been saving the planet for 10 years and most of the teslas are owned by liberals themselves. Ooooops
Elon musk is the Alexander, Graham Bell, Enrico Fermi, Henry Ford and Thomas Alva Edison, all in one generations human being.
yawn
You must have a lot of free time on your hands.
I have time to try to stop the idiocy here. TDS is now an actual medical disease and it’s spreading like wildfire and apparently incurable. A major pole by the major networks just determined at 50% of Democrats now have TDS but are unaware that they have it and are unwilling to recognize the fact that they do. Not my words
I already blocked you once, but you have multiple profiles for annoying people. That’s what I mean by time on your hands. (“A major pole” lol.)
And you’ve just to find yourself as a hypocrite. Good job. Free-speech, huh? You left these have been trying to cut off free-speech for a long time or blaming the right for trying to do that when it’s actually the opposite. Free-speech is just that you don’t like the opinion fine but blocking it is being gullible because then you only hear one side of the story but that’s all you can hear anyway just out of your left ear and your left eye
Defined
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Don’t you just love Republican family values.
I had to pause reading after the first two paragraphs of HCR’s letter this morning. Besides the anger, I’m left wondering about the requirements for candidates applying to be ICE agents.
“Cold-blooded SOB’s only need apply. Willingness to rip families apart a plus.”
Closing with the Reagan quote was masterful. I didn’t think there was anything he and I could agree on. I see now there is.
Boycott AVELO AIRLINES that flies people in shackles to death camps for ICE. Follow AVELO's operation with this interactive map.
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/04/26/boycott-avelo-airlines-that-flies-people-in-shackles-to-death-camps-for-ice/
Worried about your kids if you’re 'disappeared'? Try this free app.
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/04/26/immigrant-country-free-app-resources-groups-disappeared-deported/
the federalist society + the heritage foundation + tech bros + hydrocarbon oligarchs = the same old toxic brew of fascism just posing behind social media as something new
Add to that mix: an idiotic reality tv frontman who conned viewers into thinking he was some great businessman
When the government criminalizes compassion, democracy itself is in danger.
In reading Heather Cox Richardson’s moving post today about the illegal deportations of U.S. citizen children and their mothers by ICE — including a 7-year-old child with Stage 4 cancer flown without medical consultation to Honduras — we see the very real, devastating impact of Trump's unconstitutional executive orders attempting to erase birthright citizenship and subvert due process.
But it’s not just happening at airports or immigration detention centers. We also saw it this week in the case of former Las Cruces, New Mexico Judge Joel Cano.
After nearly 25 years as a police officer and 15 years as a judge, Cano and his wife opened their property to three young Venezuelan men awaiting the outcomes of their immigration cases — men who had survived the brutal Darién Gap journey to seek refuge in the U.S., undergone airport screenings, Border Patrol checkpoints, and multiple interviews without any prior accusations of gang membership. They became, in Cano’s words, part of his extended family.
Without warning, dozens of masked, unidentified federal agents raided Cano’s home and his daughter's home, arrested the young men, and charged them with gang membership — citing tattoos, social media emojis, and Chicago Cubs sportswear as "evidence." Cano himself was then accused of "harboring" and pressured into resigning, based solely on guilt by association and sensationalized claims.
This pattern — ICE bypassing lawyers, due process, and constitutional protections; DHS labeling migrants as criminals without evidence; the administration using loaded, dehumanizing language like "harboring" to criminalize compassion — mirrors exactly the lawless authoritarianism Heather describes.
It’s a systematic dismantling of the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" are citizens — and more broadly, a war on the fundamental principle that America is a nation of laws, not executive whim.
The attacks on migrants, naturalized citizens, and anyone who offers them shelter — even a retired judge with a long record of public service — are not isolated incidents. They are part of the Trump regime’s ongoing, unlawful effort to overturn centuries of American constitutional rights in favor of fear, exclusion, and racialized second-class status.
If America abandons its constitutional guarantees for some, it abandons them for all.
The fight to defend due process, birthright citizenship, and equal protection under the law is the fight to preserve democracy itself.
I was born in Canada of American citizens and registered at the American consulate immediately after my birth. My husband has been awarded a Gauss Award from the university in Göttingen Germany and we are to spend two months there. Should I be worried now about being able to return to this country? Trump is an abomination!
Trump is evil incarnate, I'm surprised he didn't incinerate at some point during Pope Francis' funeral.
Reentering the U.S. during this Trumpian era doesn't seem like something I would want to do right now. But if do go think about what electronic devices you take because they are taking phones, laptops, whatever they want it seems. Maybe bring a cheap burner phone that you wouldn't care about so much if they want to seize it.
Latest article from Wired. International airports are considered border zones and outside 4th Amendment protections.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-protect-yourself-from-phone-searches-at-the-us-border/
true but not new to the Trump era.
Yes, possibly being white may improve your chances.
Yes, possibly being white may improve your chances.