If you are a person of color, I suggest carrying your US passport at all times, given recent detentions of US citizens. I certainly am. After all, “mistakes” occur.
If you are a person of color, I suggest carrying your US passport at all times, given recent detentions of US citizens. I certainly am. After all, “mistakes” occur.
Thank you
Thanks Menzie – I’ve been rereading Arendt –
“Politically speaking, tribal nationalism [patriotism] always insists that its own people are surrounded by ‘a world of enemies’ – ‘one against all’ – and that a fundamental difference exists between this people and all others. It claims its people to be unique, individual, incompatible with all others, and denies theoretically the very possibility of a common mankind long before it is used to destroy the humanity of man.” – Hannah Arendt
Passport cards are recommended.
SAD.
“Show me your papers.”
Right out of the Nazi playbook. It’s 1933 in Germany all over again. It’s now or never for the resistance.
this is unfortunate. people like bruce hall and rick stryker will disregard such concerns. old white males will not have this problem, so it is not a “real” problem. but what causes an ICE agent to detain and question somebody in California, texas or Arizona? it is the color of their skin, and the language that they speak. no violations need to actually occur. you just need to look like those “other” people.
seriously bruce, should I be obligated to prove to somebody on the street that I am a citizen of the usa? is that the America we live in? the answer is no, I should not have to prove that to ANYBODY while I am walking down the street. get a warrant and follow the rules of law.
I know people here in Tennessee who’ve come to the same conclusion.
MAGA? Apparently “greatness” means keeping people frightened. joseph’s point about showing papers is entirely apt. baffling’s point, too; demanding anything from civilians when there is no warrant or reasonable suspicion of a crime is an illegal search, a violation of the Constitution.
California’s US Senator Alex Padilla wrestled to the ground and cuffed for trying to ask a question at Kristi Noem’s ICE press conference.
https://bsky.app/profile/ronfilipkowski.bsky.social/post/3lrgl54lpxs2e
This is where we are today in America. Like I said, this is Germany in 1933. You need to decide what comes next.
and yet republicans will stand by and make excuses for the treatment of a sitting senator. because they have so much cowardice of trump. not a single republican will come out and denounce Noem and the DHS. instead, they will denounce a sitting us senator. the officers who detained Padilla should be prosecuted and fired. there is no defense for that action.
And just to emphasize what was going on here, this is what Noem said leading up to the physical attack on Senator Padilla:
Noem: “We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.”
They aren’t even pretending anymore. They are saying it right out loud. They are executing a federal military coup to “liberate” Californians from their democratically elected representatives. You can imagine why Padilla might have been a bit agitated. All Democratic politicians should be backing him up.
This has to be stopped now.
And there is more. Noem is now claiming that she didn’t recognize Padilla, as if that is an excuse for treating any citizen that way. But Noem is in LA, California and Padilla is one of just two US Senators. Further, Padilla is co-chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Safety. His literal job is oversight of Noem’s activities. If she doesn’t know who he is, she is too dumb for her job.
But the more likely explanation is that Padilla’s parents are both Mexican immigrants. Let’s just say that Padilla’s appearance is of such a persuasion that Noem and her goons instinctively identified him as member of the enemy and assaulted him accordingly.
As Dr. Chinn says, nobody is safe anymore.
The U.S. is reportedly pulling personnel out of the Middle East:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-partially-evacuate-iraq-embassy-232740034.html
We may be about to find out whether an Israeli attack can do anything to slow Iran’s nuclear development. Most reporting on the issue says they can’t. Alternatively, the U.S. withdrawal of personnel may be an effort to spook Iran into a deal. Quite possibly, it’s both – either back down or bomb.
If we do reach a deal with Iran, it will be more or less the same one we already had before the felon-in-chief blew it up in his first term. Just like NAFTA, the felon will claim to have “done something” by slapping a new name on the same old deal. And on the example of NAFTA, Iran will have reason to suspect the felon will turn around and break a deal that he had previously signed.
Speaking of accomplishing nothing and claiming victory:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/us/politics/us-china-trade-deal-trump.html
We are approaching a trade deal with China, or have a deal with China – pick one, depending on which version the felon-in-chief is telling at any given time. As the NYT reports (with apparent scorn), the “deal” is pretty much what we had before the felon decided to cause trouble and break faith.
That’s just China. Rinse and repeat for Japan, South Korea, the EU… Each one will be a “win” in the felon’s tweets and in the GOP’s mid-term political ads.
Steel and aluminum tariffs, meanwhile, will hammer U.S. goods exports, as will slower growth abroad. Uncertainty will constrain investment and hiring. So much winning.