Even In Connecticut

Bigoty is possible even in a Blue state.

There was a big ICE round-up in Danbury and that has polarized the states, bring out the haters from the swamp!

Danbury officials denounce masked group's 'Keep New England White' demonstration

WABC

By Joe Torres

Monday, October 5, 2026

A white supremacist demonstration in Danbury, Connecticut, drew condemnation from residents and local and state leaders after video of the weekend march spread on social media.

About a dozen members of a group called Northeast Action began marching Saturday night outside the police station before walking into the heart of Danbury.

The group carried the message, "Keep New England White." Video released by the group and reposted by a Connecticut state legislator later circulated on social media.

"History shows what happens when we let hatred keep on growing with nothing being done about it," Danbury resident Kathleen Zoto said.

Notice that they don't show their faces.

What we know about the masked white supremacist demonstration in Danbury

The New Haven Register

By Peter Yankowski,

Oct 5, 2026

On Saturday night, a crowd of at least a dozen participated in a demonstration on the corner outside the city's police department. 

Shouting "white power," the group displayed a banner that said "keep New England white."

[...]

In a video posted to Reddit, a group of about a dozen people in masks can been seen at the corner of East Franklin and Main streets. The group is shown holding up the large banner, and performing a "Sieg Heil" salute.

[...]

Saturday's incident was not the first involving white supremacist groups in Connecticut. 

In 2023, residents in Trumbull and Monroe reported finding propaganda leaflets from the group NSC-131. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the organization as a hate group. 

In February last year, a group of neo-Nazi protesters showed up outside a collectively run bookstore in New Haven. The incident ended without arrests or injuries, according to police.

The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that there are 10 hate groups here in Connecticut.

Northeast Action appears to be group behind demonstration

The banner displayed outside Danbury police headquarters referred to the group as Northeast Action. 

The group announced its existence in November 2025, according to the Counter Extremism Project. The organization said Northeast Action's "activities" included "graffiti, banner drops, boxing training, meetups, and small, flash-mob-style demonstrations."

They are one of the groups listed on the SPLC.

The Constitution allows this under the First Amendment they can preach all the bigotry they want but we can also protest against the protesters. We can speak up about these a** holes.

Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice To Deceive!

This administration has tried every which way to deny media access. Only media that toes the party line is allowed access to the administration. Let us list the times they went after the press:

Here’s a list of the major media-access restrictions and clashes in this administration (from Duck.ai):

•     AP barred from Oval Office, Air Force One, and some events over the “Gulf of America” naming dispute.
•    CNN, MS NOW, and Politico banned from White House coverage/grounds, with badges disabled or confiscated.
•    Pentagon access rules that led to reporters being denied badges or pushed out unless they accepted new restrictions.
•   Twice they threated or attempted bans aimed at individual reporters/outlets earlier in the term that were later reversed or ended up in court. 

Then we had the Defense Department starting a witch hunt for whoever leaked the story on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, along with Secretary Hegseth firing editors and some staff at Stars and Stripes, which he had no authority to do since Congress passed a law against it. But alas, the Trump administration decided not to investigate itself, and Congress just shakes in fear of Trump, bowing to every wish.

This morning I wrote that the administration is fudging the war casualties. Couple that with the attacks on the First Amendment, and you have to wonder what they want to keep from voters.

Where do you see government attacking the press? Russia, China, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Belarus, and Myanmar. What do they have in common? They are all authoritarian governments.

There was a reason the First Amendment was made first. The founders felt it was the most important.

There Is A Pattern

There is a pattern

[Editorial]

Trump is known for stalling, and his administration is doing the same. Back in the first part of the year, a judge ordered the ban on unescorted media access to be lifted. Here it is in August, and they still have no unescorted access. Why? Because of legal wrangling; the Pentagon won a key legal appeal in July. Now that is being adjudicated in the courts.

Then there is the case of Stars and Stripes. The newspaper has a special law from Congress dictating its independence from the military. The Secretary of Defense, Hegseth, fired editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, publisher Max Lederer, and reporter Lara Korte because they printed a story on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Then there is this, reported in The Intercept:

U.S. Central Command maintains a secret directory of journalists who have been blacklisted by the press office, according to an official with CENTCOM public affairs. The disclosure comes amid a failed war in Iran, a “cover-up” of U.S. casualties from that conflict, and repeated refusals by CENTCOM to address questions about civilian deaths in Iran, including the killing of a family recently disclosed by The Intercept.

The CENTCOM official who revealed the existence of the list threatened that this reporter could be added to it for calling the command too often.

“You’ll be put on a list of people to disregard,” Richard Allee, an executive assistant with CENTCOM public affairs, told this reporter. When asked for clarification — “You have a list of people to disregard?” — he confirmed it with an emphatic “Yes.” When asked which reporters or outlets were currently on the list, he replied, “I’m not privy to give you that information.”

Remember the sayings: “No news is good news” and “Whoever controls the press controls the mind.” Well, the current administration keeps the news close to its chest.

It was the conditions of the USS Abraham Lincoln coming to light that started the chain of events.

The story breaks; sailors jump ship.

Why?

Lack of food, sanitary system backups, low morale.

Why?

Resupply bases bombed, supplies destroyed, causing ships to have shortages.

Why was the ship deployed so long?

The war is going on longer than planned.

Did firing the planners and the logistics people have anything to do with it?

This whole thing reminds me of the song “For the Want of a Nail.”

I would say that this whole war is a clusterfuck, since even before the planning started, and I think the real reason they want to cover it up is their own incompetence.

[/Editorial'

---

Updated: 9/2 @ 5:00AM  

CBS New just published a list of fired officers and civilians.

Here are the military and civilian leaders who've been fired, forced out or resigned since Hegseth became defense secretary

By Eleanor Watson

September 1, 2026 / 9:43 PM EDT / CBS News

At least 20 generals, admirals and civilian defense leaders have been fired or have departed their jobs since Pete Hegseth became defense secretary at the beginning of the second Trump administration. 

Some of the military's most decorated leaders have either been fired by Hegseth and President Trump or have retired with little explanation, including the Army, Navy and Air Force's highest-ranking officers and the leaders of key units. The Army and Navy's top civilian leaders have also either been forced out or resigned.

Before becoming defense secretary, Hegseth had criticized military officers, accusing them of being too focused on diversity initiatives and insufficiently supportive of frontline service members. Before he was nominated, he said on a podcast that "any general that was involved — general, admiral, whatever — that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go."  

The Trump administration has pushed out top female and Black officers, and Black and female officers have been disproportionately removed from promotion lists, a source familiar with the lists told CBS News. There are currently no active four-star women generals or admirals in the military. Many of those who failed to secure promotions have left the military.

My worries are that the "new" generals are loyal to Hegseth and not the Consitution

The First Amendment Be...

[Editorial]

...Damned!

Why is that it seems like the Republicans hates the 1st Amendment? They want to tell you which books to read, what television shows to watch, and now what colors to paint the fence!

A Florida city fined a lesbian couple over a rainbow fence. Now they’re suing

The ACLU says Key West selectively enforced the city code after the women painted their fence in rainbow colors to protest the removal of Pride crosswalks.

The Advocate

Jacob Ogles

May 08, 2026

Many Key West residents protested Florida’s removal of a rainbow crosswalk by painting their fences in the same colors, only to be met with city fines. Now, a federal lawsuit backed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenges that punishment on First Amendment grounds.

Coley Sohn and Linda Bagley-Sohn repainted 12 pickets at their Old Town home, inspiring similar protests throughout the city. But code complaints with the city prompted Key West officials to cite the lesbian couple, with the threat of $250 fines each day until the fence was repainted white.

What? What? You mean the city has a law on what color you can paint your fence? It looks like that you can paint your any color as long as it is white!

Sohn and Bagley-Sohn applied to the city in December for a permit to paint the fence pickets rainbow colors, but the city, in February, determined the display violated the code because the fence was no longer painted in an approved color.

This might be a hard case to sue except for the fact that they are only enforcing the rainbow colors. NBC News 6 in South Florida writes that,

Their attorney, Nick Warren of the ACLU of Florida, argues the city’s actions amount to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

“If you walk around Old Town Key West, you’ll see lots of colorful displays and different colored paints on fences and houses,” Warren said. “Many of them violate the same rules that the city is citing — but if the city is only enforcing the law against some people because of the message they’re expressing, that’s viewpoint discrimination.”

Sohn said the couple believes they have the right to express themselves.

“We have the right, as anyone else does, to protest what they want to protest,” she said. “If the powers that be don’t agree with what we’re protesting, it doesn’t mean they can silence us.”

That shoots holes in the city argument... it seems that they are only enforcing the law for "The Rainbow!"

[/Editorial] 

I Am Not Anti-Christian

Before I came out, I never knew any rabbis, ministers, or priests. Now I know about a dozen from all denominations, and they all share one common trait: they are all affirming! So, I am a little confused.

Trump task force releases controversial 'anti-Christian bias' report

By BrieAnna J. Frank

USA TODAY

April 30, 2026

President Donald Trump’s task force to investigate "anti-Christian bias" in the federal government published a report on April 30 that criticized former President Joe Biden's administration for what it characterized as actions and policies that negatively impacted Christians around the country.

Several advocacy groups challenged the report's findings, describing them as deceptive and contradictory.

Trump established the task force in a February 2025 executive order that said his administration would “ensure that any unlawful and improper conduct, policies or practices that target Christians are identified, terminated and rectified.”

The report also took time to attack us...

"Those sentiments were reiterated in the task force’s nearly 200-page report, which criticized Biden's "Transgender Day of Visibility" proclamation (a longstanding observance which fell on Easter Sunday in 2024); charges against Christian anti-abortion activists; and alleged discrimination against Christian foster care families.

“By addressing anti-Christian bias and religious discrimination directly, Americans can make religious discrimination unthinkable for all faiths,” the report said.

Okay... everyone else does not think of abortion as a Christian issue, but rather about the right to self-determination! Our rights are not religious! Our rights are human rights!

The Baptist News wrote,

The Biden administration enacted policies intended to weaponize the federal government against conservative Christians, according to a report released April 30 by the U.S. Justice Department.

The controversial 208-page report was created by President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, established by executive order in February 2025. Church-state watchdog groups have criticized the task force’s composition and mission from the start, saying it is all about airing evangelicals’ imagined grievances.

The new report claims the Biden White House was adamantly opposed to a “Christian worldview” and determined to shut down “traditional religious practices” wherever it could.

Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, was perhaps the most religiously observant president in recent history. However, evangelicals believe his policies contradicted what they call a “Christian worldview.”}

Did you get that? "Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, was perhaps the most religiously observant president in recent history." But still, the hand-picked religious committee found the exact opposite! The task force claimed that:

The task force has interpreted the enforcement of federal law during the Biden presidency as ideologically motivated attacks against conservative Christians. Examples include prosecutions of anti-abortion protesters under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, fines levied against Christian universities for false reporting violations, mandating COVID vaccines for federal and some private employers, and prohibiting organized religious activities at government facilities.

You know, I do not know a single person who is against any religion; what we object to is those religions forcing their beliefs on us! We see the banning of abortions as a religious attack on those whose religious beliefs allow abortions; we see them forcing their religious beliefs on us... against other people's religious beliefs!

The Pink News reported,

Over the years Trump has cosied up to many evangelical Christian leaders, including prominent, wealthy right-wing evangelicals like American Values president Gary Bauer, and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

Family Research Council has been designated an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Tony Perkins, a former police officer, has repeatedly claimed that LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be paedophiles.

Those are the groups that are on Trump's side. When we passed the Connecticut gender non-discrimination law, we had support from religious leaders in Connecticut, including an Episcopal Bishop.

It is not religion that we are against, but rather them forcing their religious views on us

Of All The Things...

You would think that there are more important stuff to investigate!

FBI Launched Investigation Into New York Times Reporter Over Story on Kash Patel’s Girlfriend

The Justice Department ultimately decided not to pursue an investigation, according to the Times

The Wrap

Corbin Bolies

April 22, 2026

The FBI launched an initial investigation into New York Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson, who wrote about how FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the bureau to offer security and transportation to his girlfriend, according to the Times.

After the Feb. 28 story on Patel’s decision came out, FBI agents interviewed Alexis Wilkins and searched databases for information on Williamson, according to the Times. The bureau wanted to proceed with its investigation to determine whether Williamson broke federal stalking laws, a source told the outlet, but alarmed Justice Department officials ended the inquiry over concerns that it was rooted in retaliation and after establishing there was no legal basis for it.

[...]

Executive editor Joe Kahn told his paper it was “a blatant violation of Elizabeth’s First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions.”

“It’s alarming. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong,” Kahn said.

Wow!

What a national security issue! The press learned a highly classified document... on the passenger list that is a matter of public record or should be!

This comes as the latest attack by the FBI on the press, you might remember that they didn't tell the judge that the warrant they wanted was for a reporters.

FBI raids home of Washington Post reporter in ‘highly unusual and aggressive’ move

Agents searched Hannah Natanson’s Virginia home and seized devices in inquiry tied to a classified materials case

The Guardian

Richard Luscombe and Jeremy Barr

14 Jan 2026

The FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter early on Wednesday in what the newspaper called a “highly unusual and aggressive” move by law enforcement, and press freedom groups condemned as a “tremendous intrusion” by the Trump administration.

Agents descended on the Virginia home of Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.

[...]

Press freedom groups were united in their condemnation of the raid on Wednesday.

“Physical searches of reporters’ devices, homes and belongings are some of the most invasive investigative steps law enforcement can take,” Bruce D Brown, president of the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press, said in a statement.

“There are specific federal laws and policies at the Department of Justice that are meant to limit searches to the most extreme cases because they endanger confidential sources far beyond just one investigation and impair public interest reporting in general.

“While we won’t know the government’s arguments about overcoming these very steep hurdles until the affidavit is made public, this is a tremendous escalation in the administration’s intrusions into the independence of the press.”

Trump & Company have an irrational fear of the press and ignore the First Amendment!

It Keeps Getting Piled Higher and Deeper!

Down in Texas they they just love to pile it higher and deeper! This time it is the drag queens they are going after... it seems like the Texas courts never heard of the First Amendment! The courts in other case have upheld that dance is included under the 1^st Amendment.

Texas’ drag show ban takes effect after years of court challenges

KBTX Ch 3

By Alex Nguyen and Ayden Runnels

Published: Mar. 20, 2026

A 2023 law that restricts some public drag shows went into effect on Wednesday after a federal appeals court reaffirmed it in a February ruling. 

Senate Bill 12 prohibits drag performers from dancing suggestively or wearing certain prosthetics on public property or in front of children. Business owners who violate the law are fined $10,000 for hosting such events while performers could be hit with a Class A misdemeanor. 

In September 2023, U.S. District Judge David Hittner declared the law unconstitutional, saying that it “impermissibly infringes on the First Amendment” and that it is “not unreasonable” to think it could affect activities like live theater or dancing. More than two years later in November, a three-judge panel in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unblocked the law and returned the case to the district court. 

So the court shot them down in the appeal, basically saying the same thing but avoided the part the higher disliked. But here is the thing,

As part of the ruling, the panel found that most of the plaintiffs — a drag performer, a drag production company and pride groups — failed to show that they intended to conduct a “sexually oriented performance,” and therefore, could not be harmed by the law. The ruling suggests that the federal judges don’t believe all drag shows are sexually explicit.

So what the court said in a round about way, that the law doesn't bar drag shows, only sexually explicit shows! However here is the kicker... who decides if it is sexually explicit?

Critics of the ban have previously raised concerns that Republican lawmakers were portraying all drag performances as inherently sexual or obscene.

The "devil is in the details"

The First Amendment. What's That?

This is what authoritarian governments do... like Putin's, like Orbán's. Control the media, control the messaging, control the propaganda!

Trump administration threatens news outlets over critical coverage of Iran

FCC chair says news outlets that share ‘distortions’ about US war with Iran could lose their licences.

Al Jazeera

By Brian Osgood

14 Mar 2026

The administration of President Donald Trump has warned that news outlets could have their broadcasting licences revoked over critical reporting on the war against Iran, accusing the media of “distortions”.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said in a social media post on Saturday that broadcasters must “operate in the public interest”, or else lose their licences.

“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote.

The warning was the latest apparent threat from Carr, who has repeatedly attracted scrutiny for statements that appear to pressure broadcasters to conform with Trump priorities.

Despots need to control the messaging!

Carr’s latest statement prompted swift condemnation from politicians and free-speech advocates, who likened his remarks to censorship.

“This is a clear directive to provide positive war coverage or else licenses may not be renewed,” Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii wrote.

“This is worse than the comedian stuff, and by a lot. The stakes here are much higher. He’s not talking about late night shows, he’s talking about how a war is covered.”

Why what is Trump hiding? His ineptitude?

USA Today wrote,

Carr recently urged broadcast companies to air “patriotic, pro-America content” as part of programming aligned with the country's 250th anniversary.

MSN...

Trump calls 'lowlife' media 'sick and demented' over Iran war coverage

KCBD writes that,

The Trump administration denounced CNN on Thursday for airing a portion of the new Iranian supreme leader’s public statement, the second time in three days that he’s targeted the network for reporting on how the regime is responding to the American attacks.

The attack illustrated the care news outlets must take in reporting during wartime, and the responsibilities of American journalists to report the perspective of countries its government views as enemies. It also exposed inconsistencies. The message of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei during his first public statement since he succeeded his father, who was killed in an Israeli air strike, was widely available elsewhere.

The White House said on social media that “fake news CNN just aired four straight minutes of uninterrupted Iranian state TV, run by the same psychotic and murderous regime that prided itself on brutally slaughtering Americans for 47 years.”

Question: How can it be fake news when they are showing him speaking? Is Trump saying it is AI like the stuff he puts out? He must think that because he does everyone is doing it?

What does he want? Coverage like it was during the Stalin era in Russia?

Attacking The Forth Estate!

Once again the Trump adminstration is attacking the press, the church protest in Minneapolis! One of the traits that authoritarian government do is attack the press!

Ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon arrested on charges connected to Minnesota church protest

Lemon’s lawyer said he was taken into custody after attending protest in which demonstrators disrupted a church service earlier in January

The Guardian

Sam Levine, Jeremy Barr and Anna Betts

Fri 30 Jan 2026

Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, was arrested late on Thursday on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at a church in Minnesota earlier this month, according to his lawyer.

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Lemon, said that Lemon was “taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards”.

“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said. “The first amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.

“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump justice department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” Lowell added. “This unprecedented attack on the first amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”

Screw the First Amendment!

Lemon is expected to make a court appearance on Friday, CNN reported.

His arrest sparked outrage from former colleagues, first amendment advocates and members of Congress.

“This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!” Lemon’s former CNN colleague Jim Acosta wrote in a post on X.

Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, called Lemon’s arrest “a naked attack on freedom of the press”.

“Lemon’s arrest under a bogus legal theory is a clear warning shot aimed at other journalists,” he said in a statement to the Guardian. “The unmistakable message is that journalists must tread cautiously because the government is looking for any way to target them.”

You know there is something called "Fruit of the poisonous tree" where evidence seized illegally and all that was frond from the illegal seizers cannot be used!

But Fox News has a different view!

Earlier this month, Lemon livestreamed left-wing agitators who stormed St. Paul's Cities Church under the suspicion that its pastor had collaborated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Lemon told viewers that "the freedom to protest" is what the First Amendment is all about, but Justice Department officials have been working to hold the participants accountable. 

Attorney General Pamela Bondi wrote on X, "At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota."

[...]

The specific charges against Lemon have not been announced. DOJ officials have previously suggested the former CNN star and the other anti-ICE agitators had violated the FACE Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act, among other crimes.

Somebody should really tell Fox News about the First Amendment.

Mini-Post: What's The First Amendment?

It is Extortion! Pure and simple!

Donald Trump Calls For Late Night Host Seth Meyers To Be Fired — And This Time, FCC Chairman Reposts POTUS’ Demand

Deadline

By Ted Johnson

November 16, 2025

During a weekend in which he has raged at critics, Donald Trump lashed out at Seth Meyers, as he has done before, while calling on the NBC late-night host to be fired.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday, “NBC’s Seth Meyers is suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). He was viewed last night in an uncontrollable rage, likely due to the fact that his ‘show’ is a Ratings DISASTER. Aside from everything else, Meyers has no talent, and NBC should fire him, IMMEDIATELY!”

Soon after Trump’s post on Saturday, Trump’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, reposted the president’s angry message to his X account.

This is unethical and an unconstitutional abuse of power!

Carr did not make his own comment on Trump’s post, but his amplification of the president’s call for NBC to fire a late-night critic follows the FCC chairman’s warning to ABC stations in September over Jimmy Kimmel, whose comments about Charlie Kirk led to the network pulling the late-night house from the schedule for several days. Two major station groups, Nexstar and Sinclair, said they would not air the show. Nexstar is seeking FCC approval of its acquisition of Tegna.

Trump is learning this from his visits with Prime Minister Orbán and from other dictators on the controlling the press.

Mini-Post: Young Republican

Young Republican can do no wrong... they are just kids! (Who happen to be in their 20s.).

JD Vance dismisses bipartisan outrage over racist and offensive Young Republican group chat

PBS News

By Meg Kinnard,

Oct 15, 2025

The public release of a Young Republican group chat that included racist language, jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers prompted bipartisan calls for those involved to be removed from or resign their positions.

The Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40, called for those involved to step down from the organization. The group described the exchanges, first reported by Politico, as “unbecoming of any Republican.”

In the past Vance has called young protesters "Thugs" and "Criminals"

 

---

 

Updated 10/24

 

 

Shot In The Head.

A perfect headshot.

To a priest peacefully protesting!

Chicago pastor in head with pepper ball during Broadview ICE protest

By Nic FlosiPublished

October 8, 2025

FOX 32 Chicago

The Brief

• Video shows a federal agent firing pepper balls at protesters outside the Broadview ICE facility in September.
• According to Storyful, one pepper ball struck Chicago Pastor David Black, a Presbyterian minister, in the head.
• The ACLU says Black is part of a lawsuit alleging the government suppressed First Amendment rights.

A video shows a federal agent firing pepper balls at protesters outside the ICE processing center in the Chicago suburb of Broadview last month, striking a Chicago pastor in the head.

[...]

Big picture view:

The incident comes amid heightened federal immigration enforcement in the Chicago area under President Donald Trump, which has led to daily and sometimes tense demonstrations outside the Broadview facility.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement on Monday that Black and others are seeking an emergency court order to halt what they describe as "illegal and brutal suppression" of their free speech rights.

The National Catholic Reporter writes...

Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

"I invited them to repentance," Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. "I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming."

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

"We could hear them laughing," Black said.

It was one of several dramatic and violent scenes that unfolded in recent weeks near an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. About 12 miles from downtown Chicago, the suburban site has seen scores of demonstrators repeatedly confront ICE agents — sometimes jeering at agents or using acts of civil disobedience to block the entrance to the facility as part of a groundswell of protests against President Donald Trump's ongoing immigration crackdown in the city. The agents, mostly masked, have often responded with force, arresting demonstrators, tossing gas canisters, firing nonlethal rounds at activists and journalists and sometimes throwing protesters — including at least one local Democratic congressional candidate — to the ground.

These are the thugs that Trump is hiring... laughing at shooting a priest! These are nothing more than hired thug just waiting to bash head!

Then we have the "invasion" on an apartment building in Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago with helicopters a couple of weeks ago... no warrants but they busted into U.S. citizens apartment without warrants!

ICE Agents Rappel from Helicopter in Overnight Chicago Raid, Dragging Kids from Beds to U-Hauls

"It was heartbreaking to watch," said a neighbor who described seeing "buck naked" children getting separated from their mothers during the raid on a South Side apartment building.

People

By Janelle Griffith

October 2, 2025

NEED TO KNOW

• The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents from various agencies arrested 37 people without legal immigration status during an overnight raid, plus at least one U.S. citizen
• Eye witnesses described children, including some who were unclothed, being separated from their mothers and held in vans
• Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have condemned the federal response, saying it is not making the city safer

For months President Donald Trump threatened to escalate immigration enforcement in Chicago, and this week those threats came to bear in a dramatic way.

But what is most disturbing is,

Rodrick Johnson, 67, was among the U.S. residents who were detained by federal agents during the South Shore raid, he told the Sun-Times. He told the outlet agents broke through his door, dragged him out in zip ties and left him tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before he was released.

"I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer," he told the Sun-Times. "They never brought one."

These were U.S. citizens who were sleeping peacefully when their doors were busted open!

What does this remind you of? What countries bust down citizens doors in the middle of the night! Where in history have we seen this before?

Trump & Company are tearing up the Constitution and the First Amendment with gleeful abandonment in the name of patriotism!

---

Here comes the Judge!

Trump's prosecutors are before judges this morning defending Trump use of the Guard.

Trump's use of the National Guard faces critical legal tests

It could be one the most high-profile legal battles since Trump took office.

ABC News

By Peter Charalambous

October 9, 2025

In two courthouses on opposite sides of the country, Donald Trump’s attempt to send troops into Democratic-led cities will face a critical legal test on Thursday.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hold oral arguments at noon on whether to lift a lower court’s order blocking the deployment of troops into Portland, while a District Judge in Chicago has a hearing at the same time to consider stopping the deployment of the National Guard in Illinois.

The dueling hearings sets the stage for one of the most high-profile legal battles since President Trump took office, as local governments turn to the courts to stop what some judges have described as blurring of the line between military and civilian rule.

[...]

In an amicus brief filed on Thursday, a group of former secretaries of the Army and Navy and retired four-star admirals and generals encouraged Judge Perry to express caution about the broader use of the National Guard in domestic operations.

“Domestic deployments that fail to adhere to [the Posse Comitatus Act] threaten the Guard’s core national security and disaster relief missions; place deployed personnel in fraught situations for which they lack specific training, thus posing safety concerns for servicemembers and the public alike; and risk inappropriately politicizing the military, creating additional risks to recruitment, retention, morale, and cohesion of the force,” lawyers for the former military leaders wrote.

Trump is not trying to weaponize ICE and the Guard but rather desensitize us to the use of him using the military against citizens!

I'll Take The First!

How many time have you heard a suspect say that on TV? But it has new meaning under Trump!

Trump: ‘It’s no longer free speech.’

The president doubled down on his claims that critical media coverage of him is "illegal."

Politico

By Irie Sentner

09/19/2025

President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated his claim that critical television coverage of him is “illegal” and pushed back on criticisms that his administration was taking actions that chill free speech.

“When 97 percent of the stories are bad about a person, it’s no longer free speech,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, complaining about an apparent asymmetry between his victory in the 2024 election and his treatment by media organizations. It was not immediately clear what statistics or laws he was referencing.

As one commenter on Yahoo wrote... We got a consensus!

Trump’s comments came days after Disney indefinitely suspended the late night host Jimmy Kimmel after Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr suggested on a podcast that his agency may take regulatory action against ABC, which Disney owns. Kimmel drew ire over comments he made about Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist and White House ally who was shot and killed last week.

After Kimmel was suspended, Carr said “I don’t think this is the last shoe to drop” and suggested the FCC — an agency, overseen by Congress, designed to act independently from the president — may target other shows, including ABC’s “The View.”

Good bye the 1^st!

• Trump's law suits:
• A $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over articles/books he claims are false or defamatory
• A lawsuit against 60 Minutes (CBS) for allegedly deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris. 
• He filed a suit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch/News Corp related to coverage about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Then we have Trump's efforts to limit the press access to government agencies:

• Removed The Associated Press from the White House press pool (impacting access to certain events like Air Force One and the Oval Office). 
• Changed how White House publishes transcripts of remarks (making videos more common, removing transcripts).
• Sectary of Defense prohibits news media from having access to the Pentagon and the military/

The first thing a dictator does is control the media and control the message!

Where else have we seen these attacks on the media? Why it is Trump's bosom buddy Putin!

• Puppets (“Куклы”) Show on NTV: This was a satirical puppet show that mocked many politicians, including Putin.
• NTV Affair: In 2000–2001, the independent TV network NTV (which had been critical of Putin) was taken over by state-aligned interests (Gazprom).
• TV‑6: Was shut down in 2002, ostensibly for “bankruptcy” and financial issues, but critics argue that those financial pretexts masked political pressure.
• TVS: a follow‑on for TV‑6’s team, was shut down in 2003. Again, the government cited debts
• The Social Network (“The Social Network”) had an episode pulled after it included a spoof related to a dating‑site profile for Putin following his divorce announcement.
• ndependent Media & Channels Disappearing
• Dozhd (TV Rain),: an independent station, had to shut down in Russia (or curtail its operations) in March 2022 under stricter media laws related to the war in Ukraine.

Is this where Trump got the idea, is that what Trump talked about in the little "Tate to Tate talk has had with Putin? Did Putin call Trump a wimp for not going after the media?

The New York Times wrote in,

Threatening Broadcasters, Trump Takes a Page From the World’s Autocrats

The tactics President Trump has embraced place the United States in awkward company as freedom of expression is declining in dozens of countries.

By Damien Cave

September 19, 2025

A comedian steps onto the stage and makes a joke or barbed comment that offends a powerful leader. Or maybe it’s a cartoon or television program that pushes buttons.

Regardless, the targets and their ilk accuse the creators and their bosses of violating moral standards and national virtues. Then the state cracks down. The authorities issue threats, exert financial pressure and hint at shutdowns, as the humorists hire lawyers, executives cower and everyone learns the obvious: Nothing negative or embarrassing will be allowed about the government or its friends.

Those who live in China, India, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela are familiar with this scenario. Each is governed with various levels of authoritarianism; all have seen comedians, broadcasters, journalists and cartoonists squeezed toward silence.

Now, President Trump, with his threat on Thursday to revoke broadcasting licenses from networks with late-night hosts who make jokes or comments at his expense, has pushed the United States closer to that club. With lawsuits against media companies, cuts to public broadcasting, and threats to rescind licenses or deny mergers while rewarding friendlier outlets, Mr. Trump’s tactics fit a disturbing global pattern.

And now we here in America know government censorship!

“Controlling information and media is the one of the early and necessary steps of the authoritarian,” said Jennifer McCoy, a professor of political science at Georgia State University who studies the deterioration of democracy. “Then, repressing dissent and criticism, not just among the media, but among political opponents and citizens follows.”

CNBC wrote,

In an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, he singled out George Soros, the 95-year-old Democratic megadonor and the founder of a group called the Open Society Foundations. Trump said that “we’re going to look into Soros” for possible violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law.

[...]

Trump had posted that Soros and his son, Alex, now the chair of the organization, should be charged under RICO “because of their support for Violent Protest, and much more, all throughout the United States of America.”

In reply, the group wrote that it does not “support or fund violent protests. Allegations to the contrary are false, and the threats against our founder and chair are outrageous. Our mission is to advance human rights, justice, and democratic principles in the United States and around the world.”

Then we have the FCC’s head Brendan Carr saying according to Variety,

President Trump on Thursday offered his full support to Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman, and warned that broadcasters who criticize him could lose their licenses.

Congress has been mixed, Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul saying it is an attack om the First Amendment but other Republicans think in is the best thing since sliced bread. Senator Cynthia Lummis, the right-wing newspaper Washington Examiner wrote that,

Republicans are reexamining how far free expression should go in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a shift that underscores how the party’s positions are evolving in response to rising threats of political violence.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) acknowledged the change, saying she no longer views the First Amendment as absolute.

The Republicans are all giddy over this prospect of stripping the Freedom of the Press!

Freedom if the Press -- Nyet.

Freedom of Religion -- Da.

Mini-Post: Your Papers Please

Nineteen Eighty-four is here, and now!

Big brother is watching you are you read this, as I type this... we are now in a state (a condition) where we are constantly being monitored. Most of the monitoring is done for financial reasons but there are nefarious reasons out there.

Students have been called to the office — and even arrested — for AI surveillance false alarms

AP News

By  SHARON LURYE

August 8, 2025

My first thought was what state was this in?

Lesley Mathis knows what her daughter said was wrong. But she never expected the 13-year-old girl would get arrested for it.

The teenage girl made an offensive joke while chatting online with her classmates, triggering the school’s surveillance software.

Before the morning was even over, the Tennessee eighth grader was under arrest. She was interrogated, strip-searched and spent the night in a jail cell, her mother says.

Earlier in the day, her friends had teased the teen about her tanned complexion and called her “Mexican,” even though she’s not. When a friend asked what she was planning for Thursday, she wrote: “on Thursday we kill all the Mexico’s.”

What have you use your computer at for at work? Do you know that they use tracing software? So they know what you searched for... legally.

“It made me feel like, is this the America we live in?” Mathis said of her daughter’s arrest. “And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.”

Many times I got my hand slapped for a question I asked on ChatGPT AI and the AI replied, don't worry they are only keying off of the word "transgender" you asked a legitimate question.

How many times you wrote something on Facebook and the next thing you know you are inundated with ads for it!

So what does this tell us? That the era of Big Brother is here! With ALPR, the Ring Cameras, and the internet tracking we live in an era where there is no privacy? What is next... Thought Crimes"?

Mini-Post: Bully Pulpit

Teddy Roosevelt used the bully pulpit to push progressive reforms, trust-busting, and conservation. While Trump is using his bully pulpit to harass his opposition.

White House issues intimidating statement about The View being 'pulled off the air' over 'irrelevant loser' Joy Behar (exclusive)

A White House spokesperson exclusively responded to EW after Behar's criticism alleged Trump is "jealous of Obama" because president isn't "trim" or "happily married."

Entertainment Week

By Joey Nolfi

July 23, 2025

After The View cohosts clocked Donald Trump's potential jealousy meter amid the president's recent criticism of Barack Obama, the White House issued an intimidating statement to Entertainment Weekly referencing the potential for the talk show to be "pulled off the air."

In the aftermath of Trump making a shocking allegation Tuesday that Obama "was trying to lead a coup" in the past — which even prompted a rare response from the former president — Whoopi Goldberg introduced a Hot Topic on Wednesday's episode in observance of the strange development.

Joy Behar then jumped in with a criticism of her own, saying, "First of all, who tried to overthrow the government on Jan. 6. Who was that again? That was not Obama," referencing the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the United States Capitol, which mostly supporters of Trump participated in.

She pressed all of Trump buttons and he responded on social media!

They Have Our Backs!

Most of the time you only hear the negative but many time those who support us are not carried by the mainstream news agencies don’t carry the pro-trans article.

Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, and more urge NCAA to stand up for trans inclusion
They and hundreds of others have signed on to a pro-inclusion letter.

The Advocate

By TRUDY RING

APRIL 24 2024

Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, and other sports stars are urging the National Collegiate Athletic Association to allow transgender athletes to compete under their gender identity.

The NCAA last revised its policy on trans athletes in 2022. For a decade previously, it allowed trans women who’ve completed a year of testosterone suppression treatment to compete alongside cisgender women. The change in 2022 let the governing body for each sport to set standards on testosterone levels.

Now, after another college athletic association barred all trans women from participating in women’s sports, the star athletes and others are calling on the NCAA to stand up for inclusion. More than over 400 current and former NCAA, professional, Olympic, and Paralympic athletes sent an open letter expressing that sentiment to the NCAA Board of Governors, which is having a virtual meeting Thursday. It’s not clear if the trans policy is on the agenda, but “the end of April and beginning of May is typically a key rules-making period for the NCAA,” The Washington Post reports. The NCAA will also hold its annual inclusion forum this week.

“To deny transgender athletes the fundamental right to be who they are, to access the sport they love, and to receive the proven mental and physical health benefits of sport goes against the very principles of the NCAA’s Constitution,” says the letter. Its more well-known signers include WNBA coach Cheryl Reeve, soccer champion Megan Rapinoe, trans male swimmer Schuyler Bailar, and WNBA players Bird, Layshia Clarendon, and Brianna Turner.

[…]

The letter continues, “Within the context of broad legislative attacks on the rights of trans people in the United States, opposition to trans athletes is driven by certain politicians who seek to control our bodies, not by science or data. Although trans exclusionary efforts claim to ‘protect women’s sports,’ in reality, they fail to address any of the real, documented threats to women in sports, namely unequal pay, failure to uphold Title IX, rampant sexual abuse and harassment of women and girl athletes, and a lack of equal resources for men’s and women’s teams (as we saw in March Madness tournaments just three years ago).”

They are so right! “...opposition to trans athletes is driven by certain politicians who seek to control our bodies, not by science or data.”

Most people have no idea about what the research actually says, they just go by “Boy playing on girls teams” and they just parrot the Republican propaganda.

“Despite claims by those suing the NCAA over trans inclusion, studies used to justify the exclusion of transgender athletes are methodologically flawed and misinterpreted to further discrimination,” the missive goes on. “In fact, the most current scientific review of transgender women in elite sport (published in 2022 by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES)) underscores that transgender women do not have an advantage over cis women in sport.”

There is a law suit here in Connecticut about trans people playing in sports, the courts found in favor of the trans athletes, NBC News reported…

The case had been dismissed by a Connecticut judge in 2021, and that decision was affirmed by three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit a year ago.

But on appeal Reuters reported that,

A U.S. appeals court on Friday revived a lawsuit by female former high school track team members challenging a Connecticut policy that allows transgender girls to compete on girls' teams.

The full 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the four women could pursue claims that the policy deprived them of wins and athletic opportunities by requiring them to compete with two transgender sprinters.

And so it continues, our Human Rights are at the mercy of judges.

---

"...Prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…"

The Republicans only think that their views are permissible, that all other speech should be repressed!

Why Republicans think the National Guard is a solution to pro-Palestinian protests

There’s a reason House Speaker Mike Johnson is wrongly describing Columbia’s protests as violent.

MSNBC

By Zeeshan Aleem

April 26, 2024

House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Columbia University’s campus on Wednesday afternoon and said he would demand that President Joe Biden intervene in pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place on campus for over a week — including by potentially calling in the National Guard to dismantle encampments. His statement echoed calls from his Republican colleagues Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who have already asked for the National Guard to be sent in to clear out the protesters. (Cotton has also, in a now-deleted social media post, suggested that people should violently confront pro-Palestinian protesters on the streets.)

These Republicans’ calls for troops to be sent in to repress peaceful student protests are incredibly chilling. They also reflect the GOP’s generally extreme attitudes on the Israel-Hamas war and intolerance of rhetoric remotely critical of Israel. For Johnson, trying to seize control of a wedge issue for Democrats using aggressive law-and-order rhetoric also provides a convenient opportunity for political stagecraft as he faces internal dissent in the House.

Did you get the part where they said “...repress peaceful student protests…?”

The Republicans just don’t care First Amendment Rights only when it is in their favor. They just want to repress people and ideas they don’t like.

Friday I wrote, “Have we learned anything yet?” about Kent State in 1970 the Republicans want a repeat of that to prove to their right-wing base that they are tough on protesters. What is even more worrying is that the base agree with bringing the Guard to bash heads.

I’ll Take The 1st

I am a big fan of the Perry Mason show and anyone who watches crime drama know about the First Amendment. Well it seems like the Republicans don’t.
There’s a wave of new bills to define antisemitism. In these 3 states, they could become law
AP News
BY GEOFF MULVIHILL
January 29, 2024

Lawmakers in more than a half-dozen U.S. states are pushing laws to define antisemitism, triggering debates about free speech and bringing complicated world politics into statehouses.

Supporters say it’s increasingly important to add a definition that lays out how to determine whether some criticism of Israel also amounts to hatred of Jewish people. In so doing, lawmakers cited the Oct. 7 attacks in which Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages back to Gaza, which sparked a war that has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians.

“For anybody that didn’t think that anti-Zionism could cross into antisemitism, the rest of the world could see that it had,” said Democratic Rep. Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of Georgia’s Legislature and one of the sponsors of a bill that the state Legislature passed last week. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to sign.

Defined in 2016 by the the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, antisemitism is “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

No matter what you think about the Hamas - Israeli War the First Amendment is quite specific, the University of Wisconsin writes,

Hate speech may be offensive and hurtful; however, it is generally protected by the First Amendment. One common definition of hate speech is “any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability or national origin.” Courts have ruled that restrictions on hate speech would conflict with the First Amendment’s protection of the freedom of expression. Since public universities are bound by the First Amendment, public universities must adhere to these rulings. However, universities also have an obligation to create a safe, inclusive learning environment for all members of the campus community.

You might remember a couple of years ago a couple of UConn were walking through a parking lot late one night spouting racist speech and they were arrested for it… the court threw out the case on First Amendment grounds.

“There is fundamental First Amendment harm whenever the state tries to silence pure speech on the basis of its viewpoint,” said said Brian Hauss, an ACLU lawyer.

Backers of the laws emphasize that they’re not trying to ban speech but rather decipher between actions that amount to discrimination or hate crimes, which carry different degrees of severity.

[…]

How colleges are acting to prevent or stop antisemitism on campus has become a hot-button issue across the country. Last year, fallout from campus presidents’ testimony before Congress led to the resignation of presidents at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.

However, the college presidents were correct, the student protests are covered under the First Amendment contrary to what the Republicans say. As long as no violence occurred or threats made, it is protected speech. Hatred of a group of people does not constitute a hate crime no matter how despicable it is.