Tag: Protests

“Just Do Something”

With all the attacks on our lives from the lunatics on the Right my question is why are we, as Americans, doing something?

Yep from time to time we have these cute little protests that garner a bit of press but they are not doing anything to change things.

It is time for Americans to once again to hit the streets and make their dissatisfaction known.

There’s a lot of hurt, frustration, and anger over the lack of American action in ‘doing’ something — anything to stop America’s support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, US/Israeli destruction and destabilization of the region, and now, the duo’s senseless War against Iran.

Justifiably so.

Over the last few weeks in particular, I’ve had the opportunity to have a number of painful conversations with Palestinians and Iranians in the blast zone of America’s failed and flailing foreign policy. My experience over the years has only been reinforced by these conversations. Namely, that while there is a lot of hurt and anger, there is even more confusion. Where is America?

Why aren’t you doing anything?
Why don’t Americans stop this?
Why don’t Americans do anything at all?

America should be in the streets en masse. Americans should be organized to take any and all action necessary to stop genocide, the proliferation of terrorism, and now the immoral and unfounded war against Iran. I’m personally disgusted by American complacency and total lack of awareness, much less positive action — but do you really think the America that trains the hit squads and torture squads abroad is really so different at home?

…

America is not absent from action because nothing is wrong. America is not absent because no one here cares. America is absent because this country has spent decades making collective political action geographically unnatural, economically dangerous, socially isolating, politically disorienting, and — whenever it starts to become effective — punishable through job loss, criminal prosecution and imprisonment, or death. The business class, the media apparatus, the donor class, the party system, the state, and the state’s enforcement classes have all worked to build a public that is fragmented and atomized, exhausted and broke, frightened and paranoid, unimaginably misinformed and confused, and thus, nearly impossible to organize into any force capable of threatening their entrenched structures.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-americans-dont-just-do-something-a-letter-to-everyone-in-the-blast-radius/

Should we look to France for a little inspiration?  How about Albania?

https://thefulcrum.us/ethics-leadership/lessons-from-french-protests-democracy-governance

I am sorry but the time to sit by and hope things will change is over….time for Americans to stop acting like whipped sheep and take it to the bloody streets!

Go big or go home….

whimper in the corner and wait.

Not my style.

Time to wake this country up and get the masses moving.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is It A Ticking Bomb?

We have all seen (if you watch the news) the protests in France….even Donny and the Gang of Thugz are using the troubles to predict something similar will happen here if the GOP loses the elections (pure fantasy)….

But France may not be the only troubled spot in Europe….

It’s not just young people in France who fear for their futures. From France and Spain, to Portugal, Italy, Greece, Germany, Belgium, and Albania, students and young workers have poured into streets and squares in recent days, protesting everything from punishing rents and meager pay to crumbling schools and scant university funding, the New York Times reports. While there was a different spark for each of the country’s protests, there’s a unifying worry: that the social safety net that cushioned youth’s parents won’t be there for them.

Their anger is unfolding against a backdrop of aging populations, strained budgets, rising military spending, and uncertainty over Europe’s place between the US and China. “What’s the point of working and then not being able to afford a house, pay our bills at the end of the month, have a family?” a 29-year-old psychologist in Lisbon tells the Times. The unrest, including what Deutsche Welle describes as violence in France, Italy, and Spain, has handed Europe’s far-right parties an opening to campaign on law-and-order messages. Yet “governments of all ideological stripes—a right-wing leader in Italy, a left-wing one in Spain, a moderate in France—are all struggling to provide a plausible answer” to youth concerns, the Times reports.

A sign of the times, right?

So will protests erupt across Europe because of the conditions that was made by greed?

Better yet will the US participate?

I mean times are tough for everyone, not just in France or the US….where will this lead?

Will the protests move away from weekend warriors to all out commitment to change?

The possibility is there….the conditions are there….will it give birth to a national civil unrest?

There has got to be thoughts on this….please share with me.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Burn Baby Burn

If you are watching the news then you have seen the protests that have turned violent in France….Police arrested at least 1,800 people across France after violent groups clashed with officers and looted shops during nationwide demonstrations that drew hundreds of thousands of people who denounced rising living costs and poor conditions in schools, per the AP.

Does any of that sound like the conditions here in this country?

Donny jumped on this event with both feet and is using it as a campaign ad and of course the bad guys are the Dems….

President Trump continued his midterm campaign swing Monday in Kansas, where he used stark language to warn what would happen if Republicans lose control of Congress. “If you want to see what’s at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France,” he said, referring to widespread protests and looting fueled by anger over public services and the rising cost of living, reports Reuters. Trump said the “once-great nation” is being “conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists,” adding, “When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical Democrats want to do in America.”

Trump visited Kansas to support GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, who is in an unexpectedly tight race for reelection with Democrat Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor, per the Washington Post. In his speech and in comments to reporters beforehand, Trump emphasized his administration’s anti-immigration policies by seizing on the unrest in France. “The whole world was coming in, and as you know, Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon,” he said on the White House lawn, per the Guardian. “We closed our borders. He didn’t,” he added of French President Emmanuel Macron. Other top Republicans were hitting the same theme, with VP JD Vance calling the French violence a failure of “Western liberals.”

It’s those damn socialists according to the morons in charge.

Yeah that is it….it has nothing to do with what these slugs have done to the economy and society as a whole.

This is his pathetic attempt to gain the upper ground in the election where his numbers are in the crapper.

Yes I think it is a stupid thing to say….and I am not alone….

Emmanuel Macron says he has a message for “many people, including foreign leaders”: Stop using France’s troubles as campaign material. During a visit to Qatar, the French president blasted what he called “stupid” comments and the “manipulation of information” about last weekend’s riots, saying some foreign leaders were exploiting the unrest for political gain by claiming the social unrest is being caused by Muslim migrants. Pressed on whether that included President Trump, Macron answered, “Among others,” reports the Guardian.

Trump has tied the violence to “migrants, jihadists and communists” as he stumps ahead of US midterms; Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of an “invasion of extremist Islam.” Macron told reporters that some leaders “in the middle of election campaigns, whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic” were “naively spreading narratives that certain circles are clearly trying to promote.” The BBC calls that an “apparent swipe” against Trump and Netanyahu; Israel’s parliamentary elections are next Tuesday. Macron added that there have been “AI-generated images depicting scenes that never actually happened in France. We’ve had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false.”

I wish someone would tell this d/bag to STFU….someone besides me.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Meaning Of Political Protest

Now a days there are too many that are willing to sit on the sidelines and shrug at the events that are killing this country….their excuse is ‘there is nothing we can do about it’….well that is defeatism plain and simple and I for one will not embrace that cowardly situation.

About ten years ago I wrote a post on the meaning of protest and I offer it here for those that may not have been around that far back.

The Meaning of Political Protest

It is a simple thing….either you want change or you are happy being bullied by the government but are too meek to do anything about it.

Me I will do what I can to change things….I know I am a small voice but I will not accept this crap as my country is dying under the boot of stupid.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Where Have All The Protesters Gone?

That title would make a great protest song.

We have had many years of constant war and yet there seems to be little pushback on this…..why is that?

As a veteran of the war in Vietnam I have a hard time believing that the American people could care less about the lost of life and the life long injuries that war inflicts upon those that participate.

A recent op-ed tackles this question….

A University of Pennsylvania professor is arguing that if Americans want a louder debate over the war in Iran, they should start by putting their own kids at risk of fighting it. In an essay at the Hill, historian Jonathan Zimmerman contends the near-absence of campus protest—despite more than 750 US casualties and tens of thousands of Iranian ones—has much to do with the end of the draft. Students, he writes, know there’s no chance they’ll be sent, unlike during Vietnam, when the possibility of conscription helped turn colleges into centers of antiwar activism.

By contrast, “I haven’t heard a peep of antiwar sentiment as students return this semester,” writes Zimmerman, who also makes an equity case for a reinstated draft. The Vietnam-era draft was riddled with deferments that favored the affluent and connected, he notes, citing Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton as examples. A genuine, across-the-board draft could fix that. After all, he writes, “In a democracy, the burden of national defense should be shared.”

Read the full essay, which includes a mention of the satirical “Draft Barron Trump” movement.

I agree with this view….any opposition would be good for healthy debate….

I have written a couple of times about this…

War–Invest Your Children

Not long ago the Congress was considering the re-introduction of the draft….it did not go very far…

Conscription Anyone?

On a personal note….I would hate to see the draft again but I also worried about the lack of opposition to our many wars over the years….we cannot blame one party over another for both are guilty of wasting American lives and accomplishing nothing.

There needs to be a real revival of the antiwar opposition protests.

Without them there is no debate and without any debate there will be more American lives ruined by constant wars that no one wants to know about.

If there is another way for these conflicts to come to the forefront then please let us know….I am open to most solutions but solutions must be a priority.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

New Weapons For The Goon Platoon

ICE new slogan “to enslave and punish”

This post is let anyone who is confronting ICE in their Gestapo-esque tactics that there will be new weapons to be used against those that are protesting their presence and tactic

New toys for ‘sadists’….

First the new ‘shock gloves’….

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is putting millions into a new way to deliver pain, CBS News reports. The agency has approved a $16.7 million, no-bid contract for 6,000 “G.L.O.V.E.” devices—patrol gloves that can be switched into an electric-shock mode and used on people who are “actively or passively resisting,” according to federal documents. At roughly $2,500 each, the gloves are pitched by ICE as a “distraction and de-escalation” tool that could reduce reliance on physical force and firearms.

The six-month contract with Kentucky-based Compliant Technologies comes as ICE faces scrutiny over use-of-force incidents, including two recent fatal shootings during attempted vehicle stops in Maine and Texas. Sixteen Senate Democrats are urging ICE to cancel the deal, citing concerns about safety, oversight, and use during civil immigration arrests. Civil rights advocates have also raised alarms about the gloves, the AP reports. Per the Guardian, shock gloves were allegedly used 27 times against a man in a Kentucky county jail who later died. Homeland Security officials call the criticism an effort to deny officers needed protective gear.

If that was not bad enough ICE now has plans for the use of a robotic ‘war dog’….

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to spend up to $2 million on robot “dogs” to assist its agents’ operations, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding document.

A funding document posted to DHS’s Acquisition Planning Forecast System on Thursday said the agency could spend between $1 million and $2 million on Boston Dynamics’ “Spot” robot and accessories.

A senior DHS official confirmed the plans to NBC News and told the outlet that the robots will not be used to make arrests. The Hill has reached out to ICE for comment.

The technology is already in use by several law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles and New York police departments. The U.S. Secret Service also previously used the robotic dogs to secure President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2024.

These robots are equipped with cameras and sensors that can detect vibration, gas and radiation, according to Boston Dynamics.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6058739-ice-robot-dogs-2-million-plans/

More weapons of torture and torment for those that are protesting….

How soon will the tweaks be install to make them more deadly?

Since ICE thugs get carte blanche I see these new weapons becoming the focus of problems…but will it be reported?

What is the next weapon to be used on dissenters?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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”

This Is NOT Justice!

***Please forgive the harsh words.***

After a short respite from being the focus of so-called ‘domestic terrorism’ anitfa is being blamed for the problems Donny is having with the reflecting pool on the National Mall.

Once again the case by idiots is being made that antifa is some sort of organization of the far left….news broke that a couple of antifa ‘terrorists’ have bee tried in Minnesota…

Fifteen Minnesotans charged for conspiracy to impede or injure federal agents are part of what President Trump considers a terrorist group, prosecutors said.

The president signed an executive order last September that labeled antifa a “domestic terrorist organization.” Antifa is short for anti-fascist or anti-fascism. To put it simply, it’s people who oppose fascism.

But is it just a label? An idea? Or, as President Trump declared, a terrorist organization?

The Congressional Research Service investigated America’s antifa movement in 2020. It called it, “decentralized, consisting of independent, radical, like-minded groups and individuals.”

Decentralized means an organization that’s not controlled from one place or by one person. Essentially, antifa has no structure, no official membership and those who use the label can have different ideologies.

In his executive order declaring antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, Mr. Trump said the federal government should “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations … conducted by antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of antifa.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/what-is-antifa/

To prove the stupidity of these cocksuckers….

On July 4th of last year protesters were in Texas to protest ICE and the treatment they were dolling out to immigrants….did not end well for some protesters were arrested and they have finally come to court.

Eight people who joined a July 4 protest outside a Texas immigrant detention center were just handed sentences that could mean they spend most of their lives in prison, the Guardian reports. A federal judge on Tuesday handed down sentences of 50 to 100 years in a case that has become a flashpoint over how far the government can go in branding left-wing activists as terrorists. The so-called Prairieland defendants planned to set off fireworks to show solidarity with those detained at the Prairieland Detention Center, NBC DFW reports

Prosecutors said members of what they called a “North Texas antifa cell” plotted violence at the ICE facility in Alvarado, where vandalism escalated into an AR-15 round fired from nearby woods that wounded a police lieutenant. The shooter, Benjamin Song, who said he fired as he feared the officer was about to shoot a protester, received 100 years; six others got 50 to 70 years on riot, explosives, and terrorism charges, and another defendant, who wasn’t at the protest, got 30 years for concealing documents. He was accused of moving leftwing materials at the request of his wife after she was arrested; his attorney says he simply moved a box of his own artwork, zines, poetry, and journals, none of which were illegal, the AP reports.

A former US attorney called the stacked sentences unusually long, far exceeding those for leaders of the January 6 Capitol riot. The Trump administration praised the outcome as a warning to “Antifa terrorists,” while defense lawyers and families denounced the case as criminalizing freedom of speech, association, and lawful gun ownership. Antifa is not an organization, but an umbrella term for left-wing anti-fascists. Appeals are planned.

What bullshit is this?

More report….

https://www.commondreams.org/news/prairieland-ice-trial

This is Trump justice….treasonous assholes on J6 did not get such massive sentences and yet these protesters did ….a test of stupid’s bullshit about antifa and domestic terrorism…..it is made up crap.

This is NOT justice but nazi strong arm of opponents that they are too afraid of to meet head on.

As usual these toads prove just what cowards they truly have become.

Have you ever heard the term “cruel and unusual punishment”?

Whatcha got to say?

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”

Opposing The War Machine

Anti-war is a movement dear to my heart for I was a participant in the 1970s after I returned from Vietnam….it pains me to see just how compliant the American people have become to the nightmare of war….but there are some that will not look the other way because they are told to do so…..

Let’s revive the movement on a massive scale….especially now when the government is staring war after war with no clear reason other than their lies and misinformation.

Time for Americans to return to the days of confrontating the war machine….

The war resides mostly in the background here in the aggressor nation. Most of those who think about it at all tend to oppose it and seem to think it’s a task forced on the US by the zealots running Israel. Some take it even further, presenting an argument that blames the relationship between the mad rulers of Israel and the United States for the entire catastrophe. The argument varies, but its essence is that Bibi Netanyahu is the individual responsible for convincing the sundowning Donald Trump to bomb Iran for the sake of Israel. There are those who argue that the reason for this is because Israel’s Mossad has compromising materials on Trump and his escapades with Jeffrey Epstein, while others place Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the role of instigator. Of course, no one has produced a smoking gun for either possibility, even though both have a potential element of truth. It is likely that Epstein had some working relationship with Mossad and it’s an established fact that Kushner’s family have a long-term relationship with Netanyahu. Furthermore, Kushner is financially connected to Saudi Arabia and UAE’s monarchies. It’s an established fact that Israel, the Arab monarchies and the United States all oppose the Iranian government—its support of national liberation and anti-imperialist movements and its existence in general. Furthermore, all of these governments are more interested in maintaining the political situation in West Asia as it is and has been for decades. They are not interested in bringing popular democracy to the region, with some more than willing to maintain a constant state of war and occupation to maintain the current hierarchy of power.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/oppose-the-war-and-its-machinery/

To build a sustained anti-war movement one must look to the past and its many failures….

Before discussing the strengths and failures of the last major anti-war movement, we need to step back and look at US history. What that history shows is that the inability to build and sustain an anti-war movement or mass presence is directly linked to the absence of what one might call an anti-imperial/pro-democratic foreign policy on the part of progressive movements. As a result, those who adhere to the notion of a need for peace and justice find ourselves in a Groundhog Day scenario on a regular basis, trying our best to ignite or reignite a mass movement against US aggression each time that aggression raises its ugly head.

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/anti-war-movement-history/

The only way to make sure that there is always opposition to any worthless war we need a movement that will be there for the long run and not one we need to rebuild with every war the government decides it needs to fight.

We need this movement now more than ever…..we cannot turn our backs on the opposition to senseless violence in the name of our country.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”