Category: Civil Rights

Lefties Must Pay

In my younger years, after Vietnam, I was an anti-war protester and as such I was a target of the government’s program, COINETPRO….a program that targeted protesters….I wrote about the program many years ago….

COINTELPRO: The Ghosts Of Protests Past

Thanks to this government program once I finished college I could get a good job….I settled for shoe store clerk then a bookkeeper the went to work for the state but thanks to the government that did not last long….then there was a string of similar jobs….all because the government used my anti-war stance against me then I got a good job as the manager of a pub that lasted 11 years but all that time I continued my protests against the government on many issues.

Sadly in today’s world the government has many ways of spying on protesters….from social media to phone conversations to face recognition….which makes their job so much easier than in the 70s.

That program never really went away they just used other terms to describe it and now with all the protests that is across the country the government is at it in a big way again…

Newly disclosed records reveal the US government extensively spied on prominent leftwing organizations and on protesters as part of a vast operation into groups opposing the immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year.

Internal investigative reports show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York City, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records of mainstream unions and left-leaning non-profit groups.

Nearly 30 internal law enforcement reports were released on Thursday as part of a criminal case the Department of Justice has filed against 15 Minneapolis protesters. The defendants are accused of a “conspiracy” to “impede” US immigration officers during the Trump administration’s surge in the region.

The DHS investigative reports were disclosed by the government and submitted to the court by an attorney for one of the defendants. The records show that in January, DHS launched an inquiry called “Operation Puppet Master” to identify a “network of conspirators” organizing against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The operation came as community organizing against ICE was swelling in the region in response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/13/us-government-spied-anti-ice-protesters

Us so called ‘pinkos’ may not be the only targets of our government….you could be ….

The rapid spread of public surveillance cameras represents something far more consequential than a new piece of police technology. It represents a fundamental change in the relationship between the individual and the state.

These cameras allow government agents to record, identify, catalog and retroactively track the movements of people who have committed no crime, are suspected of no wrongdoing and have done nothing to invite government scrutiny. That’s not public safety. It’s an assault upon individual privacy.

Privacy is not a privilege granted by government. It is an aspect of personal liberty that the government exists to protect. It is a natural human right protected from the government in the Bill of Rights. The fact that a person leaves his home and travels upon a public road does not mean that he has surrendered that right.

There is an enormous moral and constitutional difference between a police officer who happens to observe a person in public and government surveillance that automatically and systematically records that person’s vehicle, location and movements; and stores that information for future use.

A free society doesn’t just protect people from crime; it protects them from arbitrary government. The presumption is liberty. Government is the negation of liberty. A person should not have to establish his innocence before the government leaves him alone. The burden always belongs to the government to justify all intrusions into personal liberty. Police cameras reverse that principle. They collect information about everyone the camera views and leave it to individuals to challenge the collections afterward.

A State of Surveillance

Be on your best behavior….Big Brother Is Watching.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Chipping The 2nd

I WOULD LIKE TO WISH MY CANADIAN FOLLOWERS A VERY HAPPY CANADA DAY.

SCOTUS seems to be the theme or the meme for today…..they will be ruling on the law against AR-15s….a good law in my opinion…..

The Supreme Court is stepping directly into the fight over bans on AR-15-style rifles. On Tuesday, the justices agreed to hear challenges to assault-style weapons restrictions in Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois, setting up a major Second Amendment clash in the term that begins in October, NBC News reports. Both laws bar certain semiautomatic rifles that gun-control advocates label “assault weapons,” including AR-15s, which have been used in mass shootings such as the 2012 attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School and the 2022 Uvalde school massacre. Connecticut expanded its ban after 20 children and six adults were killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has recently broadened gun rights, including a 2022 decision that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry guns outside the home. Last week, the court struck down a Hawaii gun law. When the justices declined to hear a similar case last year, four conservatives signaled they view AR-15 bans as unconstitutional; Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that the court “should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon.”

Under longstanding precedent, bans of “dangerous” or “unusual” weapons are allowed, but gun rights advocates say that as “the most popular rifle in the country,” AR-15-style rifles shouldn’t be considered unusual, Politico reports. At least 10 states have banned “assault weapons,” arguing that they don’t qualify as “arms” protected by the Second Amendment, per the Hill. Challenges to the Connecticut and Cook County laws were brought by individual gun owners and gun-rights groups including the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation. Lower courts have so far upheld both bans.

I look for SCOTUS to strike down the law for they have not been a friend to the people but rather the gun industry….it has a lot more money to give than joe blow.

Do not get me wrong….I have no problem with gun ownership just that of assault weapons and such….no one needs that for hunting or personal protection….if they are that bad of a shot then get a shotgun the coverage is better.

Do you think SCOTUS will do the right thing?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

If At First…

Yesterday SCOTUS handed another defeat to Donny’s push to rid this country of brown skin people….and after the ruling I said it would not end there….and I was right…..

President Trump isn’t dropping his fight over birthright citizenship, even after the Supreme Court ruled against him. In a social media post, Trump called the decision “too bad for our Country” and urged Congress to start work immediately on a legislative workaround, reports the New York Times. “No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!” he wrote. In its ruling Tuesday, the court overturned a Trump executive order that sought to end the policy of bestowing citizenship on children born on American soil. The order violates the 14th Amendment, declared the 6-3 ruling authored by Chief Justice John Roberts.

  • Kavanaugh dissent: Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh joined the majority, along with the court’s three liberal justices. Kavanaugh, however, dissented from the majority ruling by disagreeing that the order violated the Constitution, per the Washington Post. He agreed it violated federal law, though.
  • Thomas vents: Clarence Thomas was in the “no” camp with Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, and Thomas wrote a dissenting opinion joined by Gorsuch. “The Court adds to the sad history of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support,” Thomas wrote.
  • Alito, too: “This is one of the most important decisions in the history of the Court, and in my judgment, the Court has made a serious mistake,” Alito wrote. “As interpreted by the Court today, the Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on virtually everyone who happens to be born in this country, including the children of ‘birth tourists.'” But a “careful analysis” of the amendment shows it does not do that, he asserted. (The full text of the 1868 amendment is here.)
  • Birth tourism: As alluded to by Alito, supporters of Trump’s executive order argued that the existing policy encourages “birth tourism,” in which pregnant women come to the US for the express purpose of giving birth. “The trouble is that there is scant evidence for this dramatically revisionist view,” wrote Roberts, per the Wall Street Journal.

Birth tourism?  Sounds a lot like the crap that use to be spread about women who got pregnant so they could collect welfare…that was bullshit and this subject is too.

This is just hatred of people with brown skin….they can put all the cheap lipstick on that pig but it will not change the bigotry.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Donny Loses To SCOTUS (Go Figure)

Donny has been trying really hard to see the babies born on US soil to non-citizens lose their right to be Americans for being born here….

The Supreme Court upheld the principle of birthright citizenship on Tuesday, handing President Trump a major defeat on one of his signature immigration initiatives. In the 6-3 ruling, the court backed the idea that nearly all children born on US soil are American citizens, no matter the status of their parents. Chief Justice John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in striking down an executive order issued by Trump, reports SCOTUSblog and the New York Times. Roberts wrote the majority opinion.

The concept of birthright citizenship has been in place for more than a century under the 14th Amendment, which stipulates that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The Trump administration disagrees with the interpretation of the sentence. But Roberts’ opinion declares:

  • “Citizenship, then and now was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”
  • In a sign of how much the case mattered to the White House, Trump attended oral arguments in person earlier this year. The ruling could affect the legal status of about 250,000 babies a year, notes Reuters.

One of the few times that the judges did not side with Donny Do-Little….why?

You can bet that the little nazi fucker Miller will be working on the next way to try and take citizenship away from some Americans.

I do not think this issue is dead just yet…..

What do you think of this turn?

I Read, I* Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

Birthday Wish From “No Kings”

Sunday is Flag Day…..it’s Donny’s birthday….it’s time to protest.

The anti-Donny movement, No Kings, has had several successful protests and they have another planned for Donny’s birthday, 14 June…..

It’s been more than two months since “No Kings” protests again drew crowds across the U.S. Another event is set to take place in just over a week, but the call to action by organizers is a little different than others before it.

Back in March, millions attended more than 3,000 “No Kings” events held nationwide, marking the third round of rallies since President Trump took office. Rallies last year attracted more than 5 million in June and 7 million in October, according to U.S. organizers.

The next event is scheduled for June 14. The same day, Trump’s birthday, UFC match-ups are set to be held on the White House’s South Lawn as part of a series of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary.

Meanwhile, the Committee for the First Amendment, relaunched last year, will be hosting “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment.

Being held at The Town Hall in New York City, the 90-minute event is set to be headlined by Bette Midler, Patti Smith, and Jane Fonda. It will “celebrate the freedoms guaranteed by our First Amendment … and the people power that both fuels these rights and is essential to guarantee them.”

The No Kings Coalition, which is partnering with the Committee on the First Amendment, says watch parties are being scheduled across the country to stream the event, giving communities space “to sing along, make art, share food, connect with neighbors, and take meaningful action together.”

While previous No Kings events have resulted in rallies, June 14’s event “will serve as a critical opportunity for No Kings supporters to strategize, connect with local organizers, and prepare for the ongoing fights ahead of the midterm elections.”

“… while the President attempts to distract the country with his UFC cage fight spectacle, the No Kings movement will be gathering in living rooms, community centers, and local businesses for public and private watch parties in key cities and rural communities alike,” a press release reads.

Several watch parties have already been scheduled, including events in and around Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco.

(thehill.com)

Let’s wish this fool a happy birthday by protesting his stranglehold on the country and his killer policies…..time for this clown to go away….one way or another.

https://www.nokings.org/ can help make this happen but it will take much more work for a success.

There is an op-ed about this protest….and I agree with it for the most part…..

Americans across the country are banding together to fight the Trump administration. Sort of. Maybe. Well, not really. But many will spend a few hours on June 14 standing in a park, yelling into the air, and then go home wondering why nothing has changed. On the president’s birthday, there will be yet another “No Kings” protest – and it will accomplish next to nothing.

We keep getting calls to protest for a day, boycott for a day, stay silent for a day, wear a color for a day, post on social media one time. There’s a phrase for this kind of action: Doing the bare minimum.

The 1950s Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 13 months. To desegregate a single public transit system in a single city, residents sacrificed for more than a year. They carpooled, walked, watched each other’s kids, left home earlier and got back later. They didn’t ride the bus for a day and pat themselves on the back. The same goes for the lunch counter sit-ins across the South. Those college students didn’t get food dumped on them, get punched and kicked, get spit on and called racial slurs for an afternoon and call it a victory. They went back again and again.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/06/11/no-kings-protest-june-2026-trump-resistance/90422193007/

These protests are a good idea but they are short-term…..for a Saturday protest will be forgotten by the following Thursday.  If you want these protests to have lasting effect then they must be continuous and relentless.

So on one hand the op-ed is correct and should be a long-term strategy.

You thoughts will be appreciated.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Freedom To Worship?

Not according to Pistol Pete.

I do not normally post on religion for to me it is a personal decision and should stay that way….because I do not care how you choose to worship because it is a personal thing and should stay that way.

We have the freedom to worship as we see fit….well that is not exactly true you must be part of the ‘qualified’ religions…..

The Department of Defense announced on Friday a significant reduction in the number of religious affiliations it officially recognizes. The new list of 31 is down from more than 200 previously recognized traditions that troops could choose from. The list no longer includes atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans, or Wiccans, the AP reports. “This decrease in religious affiliation codes is not designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief, nor is it intended to provide a list of ‘officially approved’ religions,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement. The move is intended to help chaplains quickly assess the religious composition of their units to allocate resources, he added.

The list creates broad categories of some Christian traditions—Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist—without specifying denominations within those traditions, which can span the theological and ideological spectrum. Service members can choose to identify as “no religion,””other religions” or agnostic. Also included are Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, the Baha’i faith, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Unitarian Universalist Association, which was cut from the list, said in a statement, “This may make it more difficult for our uniformed UUs to access the spiritual care that they need.” The denomination said it is working on a strategic response to support its adherents in the service.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the impending changes in December, saying the number of faith codes had become unmanageable. “Secretary Hegseth is not ‘streamlining’ anything. He is elevating one narrow religious worldview from the top of the chain of command,” said the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and head of the progressive Interfaith Alliance. “The First Amendment does not allow the government to create a hierarchy of faiths, and it certainly does not allow the Pentagon to decide which beliefs are worthy of recognition.” Nearly 70% of troops identify as Christian, a 2019 congressional report said. Almost a quarter of troops were listed as other, unclassified, or unknown. “As a member of a minority religion, I think it’s really important that we be counted,” said Irene Glasse, a pagan religious professional and Marine veteran. “It erases us, and so many of us have served so proudly, so well, and so honorably.”

This is such BS….just more of Pistol Pete’s religious crap.

Here is a list of what Pete says are not recognized religions….

Complete List off Faiths That Just Got Dropped From the Pentagon’s Recognized Religions List

This should go to SCOTUS….they may side with Pistol Pete but at least make an effort to right this damn wrong.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“leho ergo scribo”

Once Upon a Time In The South

SCOTUS has made it official that the hard fought right of voting is dead….but what can those alienated from voting do to make up for this loss?

 

https://newrepublic.com/article/210669/voting-rights-act-dead-new-model-black-politics

 

The marginalization of voters must come to a halt….we must make damn sure that every qualified voter has the right to do so and without interference.

That means….time to step up and fight!

And now the South should lead the way once again….the voting rights movement started in the South and now it is time for the South to rise again and take the lead.

Time to Cause Some Good Trouble Again in the South

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Can We Be Hopeful?

These are days that try men’s souls….our nation seems to be dissolving in front of our eyes.

Many of us are worried the nation will destroy itself and others are just as certain that all will be okay if we just give it time to straighten itself out.

This is an opinion piece along these lines…..

I grew up in a place called Freedom.

Freedom, Pennsylvania, to be exact. In the borough of Economy. My high school is in a town named after the American Bridge Company. The son of an Army veteran and a nurse. A literal white picket fence. Family of five. A dog. The American Dream by many measures.

Nearly 40 years later, I’m not sure I believe in that American Dream. And I’m not alone in that doubt. This year, the United States will celebrate 250 years of independence — with fireworks, reenactments, and the familiar stories of founders and freedom. But for a lot of us, the milestone lands differently. Not as a celebration, exactly. More like a question we can’t stop asking.

Independence from what? And for whom?

I’ve watched the definition of freedom narrow in my lifetime. I’ve felt the quiet suggestion — sometimes subtle, sometimes loud — that people like me are outside the frame of what this country was meant to be. And yet, queer people have always been here. In towns like mine. In families like mine. Serving, building, showing up. We were never separate from the American story; we were just edited out.

When I say I’m not sure I believe in the American Dream, I mean: I’m not sure the version I was handed was ever the whole truth. What I’m still reaching for is something underneath it — a possibility that requires participation, friction, and revision. Something that asks more from us than nostalgia.

Which brings me to hope. And how hard it is to hold onto right now. Author and civil rights activist James Baldwin once wrote, Hope — the hope that we, human beings, can be better than we are — dies hard; perhaps one can no longer live if one allows that hope to die. But it is also hard to see what one sees. Published in 1972. It could have been written this morning.

https://thefulcrum.us/democracy/i-m-not-optimistic-about-america-at-250-im-still-hopeful

What do you think?

I think we can survive….but not from the sidelines as a by-stander….I think we need to go out and make our positions known and demand our rights and the survival of our country.

But that is just me.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Racial Resentment

For many years now those religious nationalists have been plugging away at anything that smacks of equality….then in the past decade these creeps have been winning this fight.

What is it about racial resentment?

 

https://www.psypost.org/how-racial-resentment-relates-to-political-conservatism-across-different-white-religious-groups/

 

It is silly when we allow any one group to lead on trying to return this country to yesteryear.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Loss Of Voting Rights

SCOTUS has done so much to roll back any progress this country has made but their stupidity on voting takes the cake.

 

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dismantling-the-voting-rights-act-sets-american-democracy-back-decades/

 

Some think it will take decades to recover but others think we could never recover from this betrayal of the American ideal by SCOTUS…..

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”