Los Angeles experienced a long weekend of spirited, raucous and occasionally violent protests against the Trump adminstration's aggressive enforcement of its policies against illegal immigrants. Our Catholic leaders have an opportunity, and perhaps a moral obligation, to weigh in on the still-developing events.
From Amira Abuzeid's Catholic News Agency report:
The unrest, which began on June 6 in response to ICE raids at multiple work sites, escalated after the arrest of David Huerta, president of the California chapter of the Service Employees International Union, who allegedly blocked the path of ICE vehicles.
Videos showed crowds surrounding vans, chanting, and growing in number as the protests extended into the night. Demonstrations intensified on Saturday, with protesters gathering outside the detention facility where Huerta was being held after his release from the hospital, where he was treated for injuries sustained during his demonstration and subsequent arrest.
On Sunday, the situation worsened as California Highway Patrol used flash-bang grenades to clear Highway 101 after protesters blocked the roadway, throwing debris, including tree branches and fireworks, at police vehicles below.
Sunday night saw further chaos, with protesters setting multiple Waymo driverless taxis on fire, throwing rocks at officers, and defacing neighborhoods with anti-ICE graffiti.
This brief on-the-scene video report (which I hope isn't behind a subscriber wall) from Austin Jeffs of The Free Press shows some of the images of the protest.
The Associated Press is reporting that, so far today (Tuesday), there hasn't been much protest activity; President Trump has now deployed several hundred United States Marines to protect federal government property, but apparently there has been no engagement yet between protesters and Marines.
When I checked a few minutes ago, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has not yet issued a statement on the weekend's events, at least not that I have been able to locate on its website.
Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles (himself an immigrant from Mexico) released a statement when the protests began on Friday, June 6 (prior to the escalation in mayhem later that weekend) that is quite measured and moderate in tone. Here is his statement:
Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los AngelesJune 6, 2025
“I am troubled by today’s immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles, and I am praying for our community. I pray tonight that everyone involved will exercise restraint and calm.
We all agree that we don’t want undocumented immigrants who are known terrorists or violent criminals in our communities. But there is no need for the government to carry out enforcement actions in a way that provokes fear and anxiety among ordinary, hard-working immigrants and their families.
Again, I urge Congress to get serious about fixing our broken immigration system that leads so many to seek to cross our borders illegally.
Other nations have a coherent immigration policy that respects the natural rights of people to emigrate in search of a better life and also ensures control of their borders. America should too. It’s been almost 40 years since the last reform of our immigration laws. That’s too long and it’s time to do something about that.
May Our Lady of Guadalupe continue to watch over her children and pray for America.”
Even though the events in Los Angeles may be viewed as a local set of occurrences, the issues are national in nature; and the AP's report referenced above notes that protests are now spreading to other cities. My friendly advice to our bishops is to speak out, directly and clearly, from the point of view of Catholic Social Teaching on these unfolding events.
Amen to what AB Gomez says! But I'm not holding my breath re immigration statements from USCCB. Trump overturned Roe for them, and they owe him. Plus, if Justice Sotomayor retires due to ill-health (she has suffered from Type diabetes most of her life), they'll want to stay on his good side and get another conservative Catholic on the court to get those vouchers for Catholic schools.
ReplyDeleteShort-term, LAPD forces were able to disperse vandals and looters and those blocking the 101 without "help" from President Trump. These civil disturbances do not rise to the level of 1967 or 1992.
But Trump seems bent on amplifying the "dangerous radicals and criminal immigrants" narrative and belittling the authority of Democratic governors by calling in troops, calling Newsom an "idiot," and suggesting that he be arrested.
He wants as much power vested in the presidency as possible, and the next 3.5 years will tell how much Americans really just don't care.
Remember, 39 percent of the electorate didn't bother last year.
If Trump is smart enough to have gamed this out (and I don't think he is, although some of his advisers may be), he couldn't have orchestrated this better. He is getting a two-fer: demonstrating decisive action against illegal immigrants while also standing up to street lawlessness. Both stances are quite popular with Americans. This Ruy Texeira headline captures it: "The LA Riots are a Trump Ad".
Deletehttps://www.thefp.com/p/la-riots-trump-immigration-democrats?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Btw, I don't think the bishops believe they owe Trump anything. All the more reason for them to speak up now.
Yes, I Trump's actions will play with Republicans, social conservatives, and Christian nationalists. The rest of us will find the irony of the person who incited Jan 6 "standing up against street lawlessness" almost unbearable.
DeleteI think Catholic bishops are largely political creatures. They have goals they want to achieve for the institutional Church, and overturning Roe was one of them. That Oklahoma charter school decision was a setback, so my sense is that they won't upset the status quo by doing too much complaining about rounding up immigrants. If they are doing anything concrete to see that immigrants get due process before they are shipped off to Nicaragua's prison camp, I have sure not heard about it.
Jim, as smart as you are, sometimes you seem very naive. Of course trump’s advisers gamed this out. That’s why they are raiding day laborers in Home Depot parking lots instead of the thousands of immigrants in the valleys picking the strawberries you enjoy for breakfast or dessert. Those big farmers can’t survive without immigrant labor and the agribusiness owners donate big bucks to trump. He hates California with a passion, and he hates Newsom with a passion, so why not start there? He’s flexing his power with the intention to intimidate any other governor who might try to stand up to him.
DeleteThe bishops want stuff from trump - money for their schools, especially since this generation of Catholics is unwilling to subsidize them. So ask all the not Catholics to do it instead. They also don’t t like the members of the gay/ queer community and are probably hoping that the SC decision that legalized gay marriage will also be tossed. They are probably hoping that trump might be able o replace the liberal Catholic on the SC with a right- wing Catholic, as Jean pointed out. Abortions have gone up since Roe was overthrown so they will redouble their efforts to outlaw it everywhere from the moment of conception even though women have already died because they couldn’t get timely care when miscarrying.. The Catholic bishops are every bit as cynical and transactional as trump himself.
Everything trump is doing in LA has familiar goals - he is again getting away with blowing off the Constitution. He is working hard to turn a relatively small, relatively unviolent protest into a violent one so that he can crush it with excessive force using the marines. . It’s a performative exercise to show his base that they are getting what they wanted - a “ strong” alpha- male president who will be ruthless against immigrants - ALL immigrants (check out what Stephen Miller is saying). He’s showing that he - and only he - is in charge. Not governors, not judges, not the laws, not the Constitution. He IS the law - he says so himself. He’s now pre- emptively threatening those who might want to protest his self- glorifying parade. No more freedom of speech, academic freedom or any other freedom. Pandering to right- wing voters, including Catholics and their bishops, does not mean he supports religious freedom. Precisely the opposite in fact. If he gets away with this - and I’m terrified that he will - I’m going to guess that the 2026 elections might not occur. He’ll declare martial law on some pretext to cancel them because of a threatened “ state of emergency “ and Hegseth will go along with it. The transformation to an authoritarian government planned by the Heritage Foundation in Project 2025 might we’ll be accomplished in a record two years. The US will become an officially ( white) Christian nation, with a conservative, fundamentalist version of Christianity imposed on public school students. I honestly don’t know who can stop him now.
You wanted the abortion ban, and you got it. You want tax money for Catholic schools and might get it. The right wing evangelicals don’t much like Catholicism. Once they are in charge, they might begin replacing Catholic teaching in tax supported Catholic schools with their own version of Christianity. Just remember the adage - be careful what you wish for.
Politico has an interesting article. The author leaves out a few details, but the general argument is mostly on the mark. Minor point- Bass is Mayor of the city of LA. Paramount ( where the protests are) is not in the city of LA, but in LA county and has its own mayor.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/06/10/trump-california-history-unrest-00396549
Yesterday evening, Steve, with his teenage daughter, while returning to the hotel in his rented Tesla, engaged a car full of honking, Mexican flag waving guys in conversation. As with most people in CA, a very nice, friendly interaction. “Oh, on vacation? Where you from? NJ? Nice. Enjoy your vacation.” Real gangster terrorist stuff. I can only imagine how the dorky dweebsters of Fox Nooz are portraying the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteWhen they had BLM marches in Lansing, organizers put a hard end time on the events, and everybody knew it. Anybody on the street after 6 pm was not part of the demonstration. The Boy said that the make-up of the crowd started to change by about 5 pm. As legit demonstrators started dispersing, the troublemakers started moving in. Most of the local news outlets understood this and made the distinction between BLM and looters. So did cops in their news reports.
DeleteIt sounds like the LA demonstrations were spontaneous and varied in different parts of LA and Paramount, but were generally peaceful.
There are always cruds intent on mayhem, who use demonstrations as a cover for their activities, in which group I'd include Trump and Hegseth.
I might add that I would rather be in Los Angeles during these protests than Philadelphia when a home team wins a championship. That’s real chaos.
DeleteTrump is evil enough but not smart enough to have gamed this all out. It has Stephen Miller's fingerprints all over it. I don't know if his parents didn't love him or the kids at school picked on him, but he is one sour, bitter, twisted, hateful person. He is pushing quotas for ICE. Of course Trump is happy that it's happening, to draw attention away from the big beautiful bill that is going to have trouble passing, and his big breakup with Elon. And of course Trump has always hated California. But CA is one of those "too big to fail" things, he can't own and dominate it like he wants to.
ReplyDeleteAnd ICE is coming soon to a city near you. They hit Omaha today, but I would call it a minor raid, they picked up about 30 people from a minor food processing plant. They hit a popular restaurant there a couple of days ago and knocked over a table to grab one of the servers, whom everyone says is a hard worker who hasn't done anything. But it is conspicuous that they haven't hit any of the big packing plants, and they hire thousands. Most of them are outstate rather than in Omaha. Of course the Repubs hate Omaha's blue dot. But Nebraska is just a token thing for ICE, with their Repub governor, senators, and House members.
I don't believe that all the US bishops are cynical opportunists who are only interested in pushing a far right agenda. Certainly the pope is not, and he hasn't been shy about calling out some of the anti immigrant rhetoric.
I should note that Omaha has a new, Black, Democratic mayor, who just took office after beating 5 term, Pete Ricketts-supported Republican Jean Stothert. Nothing like starting office with a challenge.
Deletehttps://omaha.com/news/local/crime-courts/article_8e7dfc2d-a822-4de2-9997-cc06c20099ed.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
ReplyDeleteThis article references a national news team being embedded with ICE when they raided the Omaha plant. Turns out there were about 70 taken into custody, and says there were people trying to hide in a walk-in freezer. Someone pulled a box knife on an ICE office. They'll probably throw the book at him.
The employer said they vetted all their employees with e-verify. Don't know if that will make any difference or not.
There was a short bit on Facebook with Archbishop Michael McGovern speaking in Spanish to the immigrant community. I could sort of make out what he was saying, assuring them of the church's support and prayers and commending them to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Anything concrete besides thoughts-n-prayers? Sure, we're all praying that God will change the hearts of Trump and Stephen Miller, but immigrants get disappeared real quick. Some kind of independent effort to track where they've gone, coordinating assistance with churches in their deportation destinations, help with legal aid, assurances to look after children or others they may have to leave behind would all be something.
DeleteCatholic Charities in Omaha has legal aid services for immigrants, and help for families of people who have been detained. St. Vincent de Paul has things like food and clothing.
DeleteThanks. Not finding anything in my diocese. There is the Catholic Legal Immigration Network that has outlets nationwide. Several in Michigan, but none in my diocese. https://www.cliniclegal.org/
DeleteSo far the big Hispanic parish in Lansing has nothing on its site responding to ICE raids, but my guess is that there's a healthy grapevine there because of outreach to workers in area migrant camps. They were active in the first Trump admin. Will be sending what we can to them + St Vincent donations.
There are Middle Eastern immigrants who are also vulnerable here in Michigan.
I have hit a wall. I can’t even read the news without fighting tears. It’s surreal - trump is moving very fast towards a total
Deleteauthoritarian presidency and most Americans just say “ that’s terrible “, shrug their shoulders and go back to watching the game or deciding what outrageous color to paint their toenails. Meanwhile, immigrants of color - even citizens - are scared. The war on judges has the judiciary scared too. According to multiple polls trump is supported in these moves -and in everything else he does - by about 37% of Americans. So why are the rest of Americans not rising up by the millions all over the countries peaceful protests? Why are we letting this happen?
Anne, I hit my own kind of a wall yesterday. The awful news nationally, some family members having some minor health issues, my husband obsessing about some property tax and insurance issues, and me supposed to be still low activity and low stress, recovering from surgery. I decided that I had to prioritize my own health and recognize the things I had zero control over. Which is most of it, especially the news. I pray for it and put it in God's hands, because what else can you do?
DeleteRead about "hypernormalizing," trying to act normal in abnormal times and the psychological distress that causes.
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/hypernormalization-dysfunction-status-quo
It sounds excessively snowflake-y and sob-sister-y, the kind of thing jeered at by the jackbooted thugs running everything. But it seems to be a feeling that resonates with a lot of people to some degree.
And I just got a talking to from my doc about the correlation of stress with my bad liver and blood numbers. "You won't live another three years to write your letters to your elected officials, Jean, if you keep refreshing your Washington Post feed from 7 am to 11 pm."
"You won't live another three years to write your letters to your elected officials, Jean, if you keep refreshing your Washington Post feed from 7 am to 11 pm."
DeleteGood advice. We first have to live our lives in all their simplicity and complexity.
This week, like last week, each day I spent time taking Betty somewhere since she can no longer drive herself. On Monday it was a doctor's appointment, on Tuesday a checkup on her pacemaker, on Wednesday to her physical therapist, and today to be with her son to celebrate his birthday feeding the geese.
During each of these appointments, I do all of our daily errands. That about takes out most of my physical energy. These appointments also exhaust most of Betty's energy.
In the meantime, we are both processing her daughter's death: cremation in Montana, buying a burial plot, keeping vigil with the Hours while planning the small gatherings that will lead to the closure of committing her ashes to the grave. Her daughter's wishes were clear. No public funeral services, no obituary, no internet social network talk, just small gatherings in our homes (the daughter's network is actually spread across the country). So, we are simply gathering the network here around Betty that her daughter grew up with. Others from Montana to the Southwest will be doing whatever they can to deal with their grief, we have some contact with some of them.
Trump was created by the media and is maintained by the media. When he first became president, I pulled the plug on Television. I have kept the NYTimes but honestly each day I go to their front page and find it full of Trump. I was greatly relieved when for a few days they featured the death of Francis and the election of Leo, both of which may ultimately mean more to the world than Trump. But it was short lived.
The insanity of our crumbling American empire continues to take center stage. But it has been going on for decades now. When has democracy really flourished in our country under Democratic or Republican presidents. I helped defeat a setting US president by campaigning against Lyndon Johnson in Wisconsin. What did that get? Not Eugene McCarthy or Robert Kennedy, or Hubert Horatio Humphrey, but rather Richard Nixon!
I campaigned for Bernie in 2016. The Democrats rejected him in favor of Hiliary, so we got Trump. Where has been all the democracy which some fear is now leaving us? I tried my best when there were opportunities.
I am very glad to be a part of NewGathering. I agree that it is important to have others who share my concerns. I hope some of you find the time and ways to contribute to the present political process. I value your discernment about how to do that. Maybe in the coming months and years, I will again discern how to do that without becoming a part of the problem.
Right now, daily life is more important, first to take care of our health, to manage the dwindling psychological and social resources of our old age, and to help Betty heal.
No time for Trump. We cannot make opposing evil the center of our lives. I have seen people on the right do that with the abortion issue. I have seen people on the left do that with the nuclear war issue. Maybe they both thought they were proclaiming the Gospel. I agree with Francis that we must be witnesses of the Gospel in our daily lives; however, when we become protagonists of the "Gospel" trying to change the world we deceive ourselves. Neither Jesus nor Early Christianity rose up against the Roman Empire.
The only thing that comforts me is that, unlike the short-lived Third Reich, if we end up totally fascist, we are going into it in a weakened state and hopefully will not be too much of a problem for the rest of the planet. Without the industrial base we had in WWII, I think China would clean our clock in a “conventional” war. This makes me fear that a fascist, stupid US leadership might resort to nuclear weapons. Also, Israel has them, too. If US power collapses, Israel collapses with it. That country seems to have gone collectively insane like ours. As for me, I would like to lighten my material burdens and prepare for something, not sure what it will be. Personally, I feel a certain lightness of being when I think of my being expendable. I would not recommend to others how to deal with this ongoing catastrophe, but I think I’ve figured how I will dispose myself.
DeleteStan, your comment gave me pause and concern. A lot of people got us into this, and it will take a lot of people to get us out. I know my letters and thousands like it are being heard cuz my idiot congressman is afraid to hold town halls and is running ads protesting that he's not hurting seniors and veterans. We need everybody to add to the volume. No sense pretending everything is normal. But we have to pace ourselves. And it doesn't hurt to do like Jack does and take the long view. Yesterday I dragged Raber to a historical home building exhibit so he could recharge. Wednesday I watched the kids at the local library make Jackson Pollock inspired paintings. Do what you have to to remember that the world is more than Trump and his ilk doing evil and stupid things.
DeleteSo occasionally a newsletter pops up in my e mail, The Liberal Patriot, by Ruy Tiexeira. Most of the time it isn't what I would call liberal and is kind of irritating. This morning it was titled, "Riot on! The Democrats still don't get it." It had this to say:
ReplyDelete"The chaos in Southern California could have been designed in a lab to exploit Democratic weak spots, combining the issues of illegal immigration, crime, and public disorder. Yet their most visible response to the anti-deportation riots in Los Angeles has been to denounce President Trump for sending National Guard troops to quell the riots."
That doesn't correspond to what I read from people on the scene who actually are in L.A. Which points to the problem of people seeing the same events in a completely different different light. Is a protest the same thing as a riot? For sure on a Venn diagram there could be some overlap, but the circles aren't concentic.
LA is pretty calm according to my son. But trump is doing his best to incite violence there. They are targeting other cities now because it’s all about the fake optics meant to scare people. Alexandria VA is apparently being targeted. No meat packing plants there. But lots of Central American immigrants in or near greater Alexandria who do all the hard labor jobs, from mowing the lawns, to roofing old houses, to spreading hot tar to patch up roads, to climbing trees to cut off dangerous branches, to being virtually 100% of the staffs of nursing homes, assisted living, caregiving agencies, and day care centers. Not to mention cleaning the bathrooms of thousands and thousands of homes, hotels, restaurants and office buildings. Alexandria is very historic - multi- $ million historic townhomes on the Potomac river, and the historic district itself was where George Washington hung out. Mount Vernon is just down the road n the river. It’s just across the river from DC, bordering National Airport. Not sure what they are going to try there. Stanley, I think Philadelphia might be on the list too. Chicago is for sure.
DeleteYes, Katherine, take care of yourself. I also had several things converge in our personal situation and the acceleration of the move to solidify the authoritarian executive branch has made it worse. I worry for my children, my three not “ born in the USA” daughters- in- law, two of whom do not have white skin, and our four brown, mixed race grandchildren. Two grandchildren were not born in the US but have American citizenship through our son. Fortunately they do have white skin. They all leave for their annual two months in Europe next week. I wonder what shape the country will be in when they return. Maybe they can get through immigration without being detained.
I'm curious what it will be like even for my friend and her daughter, lily white, blond and blue-eyed. They're returning from Europe next week. Any scary stuff relating to re-entry, I'll let you know, Anne. I hate and despise all of this.
DeleteOff topic - there are two articles at NCR online today that are of personal interest to me. Perhaps to others too. One is MSW on Robert Barron. The other is Pope Leo annd Opus Dei. I hadn’t realized that Francis was working to force them to reform. They are a very strange group indeed based on our family’s personal experience with them. Very cult- like. Dan Brown may have exaggerated but he captured the creepiness of them, all smiles and charm, all dressed up with Ivy League educations and dressed in black tie finery, proud of their wives, pregnant again - with their seventh, or eighth, or tenth child. I’m surprised JD hasn’t joined them yet.
ReplyDeleteUsha doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who will just passively agree to a 10th pregnancy.
DeleteI think Usha is still a Hindu. She probably has different ideas than a trad Catholic.
DeleteI read both articles. One sentence from MSW's piece jumped out at me, about the "...negative effects that affluence has on Christian discipleship." We pay too little attention to that.
DeleteAbout Opus Dei, it appears that they were slow-walking reform in an attempt to run out the clock on Francis. Well, that didn't work, Pope Leo is not going to be easier on them.
Katherine, The same line about affluence also jumped out at me when I read it. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot over the years. Especially because we live in an affluent community, and sent our kids to private schools with many way more affluent than us families. Opus Dei actively courts the affluent - the richer the better. Just as the Legionaries of Christ do. Unfortunately we had close experience with both groups when our sons were growing up because they went to Catholic private independent schools, that fed Georgetown Prep mostly. Our sons didn’t go there but most of their classmates did. As did Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch and a bunch of lesser political class folk. They both targeted families in a couple of parochial schools too, but they were in very, very wealthy neighborhoods and very wealthy parishes.
DeleteI have always heard that the church taught against membership in "secret societies". Seems to me there are good reasons for that. Opus Dei sure seems like a secret society. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck....
DeleteNot to mention, a lot of bishops don't want O.D. in their dioceses, because they have no jurisdiction over it.
Delete""...negative effects that affluence has on Christian discipleship." We pay too little attention to that."
DeleteI think it's fair to say that the spiritual danger of affluence is an important theme in the Gospels. And the affluence of some of its members is pretty clearly something the church has struggled with from the very beginning - certainly going back to New Testament times.
I'm also very concerned about Donald Trump's envelope-pushing when it comes to executive-branch power.
ReplyDeleteA Democratic Congress in 2026 will shut down and/or obstruct many of his worst excesses. That seems reasonable to expect. Even if just the House flips to Democrats, it would cause Trump real problems.
In 2028, perhaps the Democrats could win back control of the White House, and both houses of Congress. And then, there is a sliver of a chance that they could enact new legislation that restricts some/most of Trump's most questionable unilateral moves.
But - would a Democratic president agree to do this? It's the Ring of Power conundrum from Lord of the Rings: if the new, super-powerful presidency falls into your hands, should you seek to destroy it, or to use it against your enemies?
I am remembering that the ring of power was destroyed in the story.
DeleteI think what needs to happen is for the guard rails in government to be shored up again, this time with more legal teeth. Seems like a lot of it was honor system based before, and what happens if the players are devoid of honor?
The trouble with the next president keeping the power to use against opponents is that what goes around, comes around, and keeps on going around in an unending cycle.
The other trouble is that there might not be a free election in 2028. Or even 2026.
DeleteI think there will be elections, but there will be (and already are) attempts by Republican dominated states to build "flow restrictors" into the system, i.e. more hoops to jump through. Such as requiring documents that most people don't have on hand to register to vote, like official copies of birth certificates, or Visas.
DeleteThe Republicans have been passing voter suppression laws for years to make it harder for poor black and brown Americans to be able to vote. Not to mention the gerrymandering. But that’s an equal opportunity sport for both parties, although some of the GOP maps were so obviously designed to shut off black voters that even some of the state courts in the south threw them out. Elections might take place but they won’t be real elections. They are continuing to follow the Orban ( and Russian) playbook - if they can get away with it, Nd I’m afraid that they will, they will only have pseudo elections, with predetermined outcomes.
DeleteIt’s been so many years ( about 45) since I read the Lord of the Rings that I don’t remember much about it. My son tried to get me to watch the movie, but I got so tired and bored with the never ending battle scenes that I gave up long before the end.
Elections, even national elections, are run by the states, not the federal government. It doesn't seem likely to me that Trump will be able to prevail upon the states not to have elections. And ironically, if DOGE does its work, the federal bureaucracy might be too depleted and broke to try to work mischief.
DeleteJim, the red states will run faux elections to make sure that in swing states, red will win. When they lose they will call voter fraud and tie up certifications endlessly.
DeleteI wish I could share your faith that the system will hold. But it’s crumbling right now, before our very eyes and lots of TV cameras.
I saw what could happen with trump back in 2016. It did. I knew by spring of 2020 that if trump lost he would attempt a coup of some kind, and everyone laughed at me then. He attempted a coup, a violent one at that. He now has control of the military and is backed by a DOD secretary who is just a tool. Who will do anything he wants, whether legal or not. They are arresting and threatening judges. They violently removed a Calif Senator ( Latino) who had a right to ask Norm about the provocations in LA - so she had her thugs wrestle him to the floor and handcuff him simply for trying to ask a question about how her people were treating his constituents. . Of course the ICE Barbie ordered her thugs to do this with the transparent lie as an excuse after. Intimidation is their tool. ICE Barbie and Hegseth are not only sycophants, they share a love of the camera and now Hegseth has his very own make- up room at the Pentagon and every lock of her perfectly waved hair, and every bit of her makeup are done by professional before she struts in front of the cameras. All of the stuff in LA is performative. It’s fitting that a second rate tv reality show star hires similar people to carry out his orders.
I dunno about canceling elections. Seems more likely to me that MAGA might push to overturn the two-terms-only rule and let Trump or his anointed run indefinitely. Friendly media keep asking him about his "successor."
DeleteCould moderate Repubs form an opposition conservative party? They've got money and attractive, principled people who speak well, but they seem more inclined to go home, enjoy their money, and hope things change.
Meantime, Bernie is now making noise against both MAGA and "status quo Democrats" funded by big corporations, i.e., the Limousine Libs.
That Hogg kid, who left (was invited to leave) as DNC co-chair and wanted to primary ancient Dems in safe Blue districts, could take up with the Bernie-ites in some kind of New Democratic Party like in Canada.
Hopefully they know that anything with "socialist" in it is gonna go nowhere, and neither is "green." "Socialist" says "handouts" and "green" says "deprivation."
Bernie's great mistake was to label himself a socialist democrat in analogy to European parties. Actually, his 2016 program was short of those parties, e.g. he wanted two weeks of paid vacation, sick leave, paternity leave whereas in Europe it is mostly a month. I think he is American enough that he would like strong unions that would negotiate the difference on a corporation by corporation, industry by industry basis.
DeleteHe is really more the successor of FDR; he should have painted the current Democrats as abandoning the working class. But he came of age at a time when young people were flirting with socialism and never got over it.
We watch Bernie's YouTube spiels, and the abandonment of the working class by Democrats is a frequent theme.
DeleteI'm not sure how he defines "working class." I think blue collar, hourly wage workers vs white-collar salaried.
If you ask The Boy, he'll include retail/service workers, small farmers, and even many desk workers whose pay covers monthly expenses, but not much in the way of wiggle room for retirement savings or emergency funds.
Bernie talks less about unions since Trump took office, focusing more on the oligarchy and wealth redistribution to the rich through the Big Beautiful Bill provisions.
I never "got over" thinking democratic socialism was a good idea. But I know Americans won't put up with it.
With AI and everything else, I don’t know how we can have a livable society without some form of socialism. Robots can make cars and TV’s but they don’t buy them. Then there are the megamonopolies that kill competition. Capitalism has already been reduced to an absurdity. But, yes, Americans are sold on it. Kinda like a Rape Victims for Rape organization.
DeleteAmericans cling to the fiction that unfettered capitalism gives everybody a chance to become fabulously wealthy and that sharing wealth thru socialism will queer their chances.
DeleteHowever, the US has fewer millionaires (per capita) than Switzerland and the Netherlands, countries with European-style socialism. And Sweden and Belgium are not far behind us. At least according to Wikipedia.
So you can get rich under socialism, you just can't screw everybody else while you're doing it. And that takes all the fun out of it for capitalists like Trump, who like to brag about not paying people.
Americans misunderstand European democratic, capitalist socialism. They don’t understand that the European economies all have capitalism - people can get filthy rich there if that’s their goal in life. They will pay more of that in taxes than here, but they will still have more than they can spend in a lifetime. But most people are happy with“ enough” especially if there is a little icing on top. They are happy with a home of their own even if it’s not a 15,000 sq ft McMansion.They are happy to be able to buy some decent clothes, take a vacation now and then, go out to dinner at a decent restaurant with nice ambience, good food and service, and a fair price,( They really don’t care if it has any Michelin stars.) , go to a movie, or a pro sports game, or a concert or whatever gives them some pleasure. Most importantly they want to be able to access good health care without going broke, and know that they won’t be poverty stricken in old age. Because if they are lucky enough to live in a Western European country, they don’t have to save $1-2 million ( recommended for zAmericans) to have enough to live decently in retirement. So money - wealth,- is less important as long is there is enough - far less important than being free from worry. Free of worry about affording needed health care, freedom from worry about not being poor when old due to some bad luck ( like the struggle people we know are facing):and freedom from many American worries. Their kids don’t have to undergo active shooter drills at age 5. Moms can take months of paid leave with their babies (as can dads) and know that if they go back to work after six months or so that their child will be cared for by highly trained, licensed child care providers, and that this won’t cause them to go into debt, because it is either completely free or very affordable, depending on the country. Daycare for our son’s two kids in San Jose was $40,000/ year for two, with fairly basic care - they were safe it seemed there but it was not fancy daycare. I didn’t like my eldest grandsons daycare when he was two and told our son and daughter in law in LActhat we would subsidize the difference in cost between the one he was in and a better daycare. The kids in the first daycare center were not safe - bored, indifferent women who paid little to no attention to what kids were doing , getting into, and an unlocked door onto a main street. It was all they could afford at the time, so we covered the difference. Lots of young parents don’t have that kind of backup. I don’t know if there is a heaven, or what it’s like, but to me, being free from worry would be heaven. Europeans enjoy that far more frequently than Americans do.
DeleteI attended the “No Kings” march in Stroudsburg. Despite the rain, around 1500 people showed at Dansbury Park and marched the mile to downtown S-burg. Conveniently, there was a Juneteenth celebration there where I could get something for lunch. Good energy at the march. Much bigger than the last demonstration I attended. Need more and more people.
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to attend. Be sure to fill out your Paid Agitator Time Sheet so George Soros can get your check in the mail. ;-)
DeleteYeah, maybe I should send George the bill. Lots pf people were driving by and beeping their horns. My County of Monroe went Trumpy but not by much. No violence or confrontation anywhere. A couple cop cars were pacing the march. The nationwide turnout looked good. So many things happening so quickly, though. I just hope Zion doesn't pull us into a war with Iran. I'm waiting for a false flag incident here any day.
DeleteWatched Pope Leo's love and hope message on YouTube. Very simple. Strips down the message to what's at the heart of faith for me: God loves you, and your job is to spread it around.
ReplyDeleteThere is a FB blogger who says that counts of No King protests are coming in ( to whom? ) and that the total number of protesters around the country were 11 million. I have no idea if this is a credible report. It seems way too high. Up there were protestors on freeway overpasses around DC as well as in towns and different suburbs. I didn’t go. One friend counted protestors on 11 overpasses in a row in her part of northern Virginia.
ReplyDeleteI’ve stopped reading the news stories mostly, , but I did see the headlines about the murders of the Dem politicians in Minnesota. I reluctantly read the story. Our country is going downhill at an accelerating rate. As one comment noted in the story, political gun crimes are becoming as frequent, and ho hum, as school shootings. We are very much a banana republic these days.
I think I will try to find the Pooe Leo video.
I am reading 9 million, I don't know if this is credible either, but given the crowds at multiple locations, I think it is at least possible.
DeleteReading about, and looking at photos of the DC event shows a whole lot of empty space on the Mall and the parade route. Apparently turnout was much less than expected. Trump will probably provide a few alternate facts about the size of the crowd. The weather was cloudy, but not cold, and no downpours forecast. Muggy - warm and humid, which is very common in DC in the summer. We didn’t experience any rain . Our house is about 15 miles from the WH as the crow flies. I thought it would be a crowded event ( all day and evening) because there are a fair number of military bases within a Couple of hours drive, as well as all the people who work at the Pentagon, Navy Dept etc in DC. Plus the MAGA types who might travel to see it. The viewing stands on the parade route also looked pretty empty. Very glad that millions turned out all over the country. We drove to Baltimore on I95 (the main highway from Maine to Florida) and there were protesters and signs on the overpasses. If we hadn’t been going to Baltimore I would have gone to one of the protests around here. It’s possible more people might have come for the parade in DC if it had not been linked to trumps birthday, but was really just to mark the Army anniversary. I think many who live in this area may have boycotted it.
DeleteThe parade was not well attended. The photos show the reality. But the alternative fact number is out + - 250,000: Funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
Deletehttps://www.themirror.com/news/politics/trump-mocked-claims-parade-attendance-1209255
I understand Putin and his coterie of military bloggers mocked the American parade, too.
DeleteFor Jim especially
ReplyDeletehttps://apnews.com/article/trump-justice-department-voting-elections-democrats-efa955a7785fdaddbf6d28956d1072ff
Funny how they're very concerned about the integrity of the 2020 election, but apparently are A-okay with the 2024 results.
DeleteAnd they are apparently ok with interfering with states’ jurisdiction over elections - at least with blue or purple states .
DeleteAnne, thanks. That AP article ran in our local suburban newspaper this morning, too. I read the first few paragraphs this morning but didn't plow through the whole thing. But it was enough to worry me.
DeleteCongress is supposed to serve as a brake on a runaway executive branch. Congress blew it in confirming all these Trump nominees whose first, last and only "qualification" is fanatical loyalty to Trump.
Stanley, there is a fictional mini- series about climate change forcng Denmark to voluntarily shut down . I haven’t watched it,.
ReplyDelete“The Netflix mini-series "Families Like Ours" is about Denmark evacuating its population due to rising sea levels and climate change. The series explores the societal impact of this mass evacuation as six million Danes prepare to leave their homes. “
Thanks for the reference, Anne.
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