Thursday, January 23, 2025

Friend or Foe?

The conversation with Tipper this morning, as she got ready to leave for school, was one that I never imagined needing to have. “If you see anyone coming into your classroom or anywhere else at the school and removing students, I want you to text me immediately.” I didn’t have to tell her why. She’s already well aware of the ICE raids going on around town. She and her classmates have been discussing them and sharing their fears with each other all week.

“It’s more likely to happen on the bus than at school, I think,” Tipper said. “They’ve already been doing that. My friends have seen it. I’ll call you if I see anything.”

“No, text me, don’t call. Don’t do anything that would draw attention to yourself,” I warned her. “Putting your phone up to your ear could be seen as an aggressive action.”

The fact is, she’s concerned. Sure, she’s trying to blow it off and knows that she’s not likely to be at the top of anyone’s list, but there’s that lingering doubt. Tipper knows she can no longer trust some authority figures. She wants to be defiant and protect her friends but she also knows she can’t really fight back against armed adults.

Why the concern? Tipper wasn’t born in the US. Kat and her bio-dad were stationed at the Marine base in Okinawa when she was born. Both US and Japanese birth certificates were issued. Both of her parents are US citizens. Yet, as Felonious Punk wages war against the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, there’s room to question whether she might potentially be caught up in the new detention of immigrants. I’ve tried easing her concerns, she knows her risks are slim, but she’s also aware that situations like these are unpredictable and that innocent people can be caught up.

Making matters worse is the knowledge that the DOJ is investigating any local police who don’t go along with the immigration round-up. This page, straight out of the Waffen SS playbook, makes it impossible to know which police officers can be trusted to uphold the Constitution and which can’t. Crime never stops, but if you can’t trust local police to do the right thing, what happens next? Is it still safe to call 911 if you only speak Spanish? What if you have an ‘accent’ of some kind? Are 911 operators going to send ICE along with emergency services if they think the caller might be an immigrant?

I’m watching to see if there are any mass resignations from the Department of Justice in light of these new presidential orders. I’m not expecting it, at least not yet, but that is what needs to happen. One of the most critical things coming out of the Nuremberg Trials is the legal concept that ‘following orders’ is not an excuse for actions that violate human rights. Nazi soldiers who served as guards at concentration camps were imprisoned and some were put to death for carrying out orders that resulted in the deaths of millions of Jews and other imprisoned people. Officials with the FBI, CIA, ICE, and Homeland Security could potentially be prosecuted in the same way if they carry out Punk’s orders. Better for them that they find jobs in the private sector rather than be found complicit with evil.

There is a lot of evil in this administration. Felonious Punk set us back 60 years yesterday when his orders rescinded the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and other long-standing civil rights protections. So far, only COSTCO is standing up and defying the administration. Publicly traded companies are running scared of potential legal costs if white, straight men start claiming that DEI or EEOC policies discriminate against them. You and I both know that such a claim is absolute bullshit, but the legal costs of being involved in such a suit could dramatically affect a company’s bottom line regardless of the outcome. The fact is that anyone who’s not a straight, white male is likely in for a rough time in the employment arena, especially if they work for a publicly traded company. The rights you thought you had have been eliminated.

Congress is complicit in this evil and they’re actively preparing to bring more hardship to your door. Republicans in the House are passing around a proposed list of ways to pay for the Punk’s tax cut and immigration crackdown. Click the link and you can read the whole thing for free. Some of the more aggregious items on the list include but are not limited to the following:

• Limit Federal Health Program Eligibility Based on Citizenship Status. This policy would remove specified categories of non-citizens from eligibility for federal health care programs.
• Repeal Title I of IRA (Excluding: 45Q Carbon Sequestration, 45U Nuclear Power, 45Z Clean Fuels, and EV Tax Credit).
• Repeal Green Energy Tax Credits.
• End Employee Retention Tax Credit
• Repeal SALT Deduction. This option would eliminate both the individual and business State and Local Tax deduction.
• Eliminate Nonprofit Status for Hospitals. Because healthcare isn’t expensive enough already.
• Eliminate Head of Household Filing Status. The Head of Household filing status provides a larger standard deduction for unmarried individuals who have children.
• Eliminate Credit for Child and Dependent Care.
• Eliminate Deduction of Interest on Student Loans.

I’ll stop there because if I included everything on this list that’s alarming it would be over 100 points long. Read the whole thing, please. Descriptions of Republican’s reasoning for these actions are included with most of the items.

The Punk’s recent actions put almost everyone I know at some form of risk. The administration is hoping that you’ll just roll over and take it. I’m sure that a lot of people will. The truth is, we can and should fight back, loudly, ferociously, and using every option available to us. I don’t think we have time for suits to make their way through the court system, especially then the Punk is pushing the DOJ to support his policies. We have to take a more immediate and physical stand. Yes, that may put some of us at greater risk, but we’re already at severe risk just from all the bullshit that Punk has dumped on us this week. I’d rather go out fighting than whimpering in a ditch.

This is the battle against tyranny and fascism that your grandparents and great-grandparents fought in wars to avoid. They didn’t want you to be subject to this type of government. They believed that the United States is better than this. They would all be severely disappointed, if not downright angry, to see where we are now.

Scream. Shout. Disobey. Resist. Dissent. If a 14-year-old can do it, so can you.