IT SEEMED TO START with the antics of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which US Congressmember Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington State) referred to as the “Department of Greed and Evil” and has also been lampooned as the “Doggy”, “Dogebags”, “Department of Grabbing Everything” and other unflattering euphemisms. But not long afterwards, the Trump administration seems to have further weaponized DOGE’s “smash and grab” military-style tactics on a much more personal, and (if that’s possible) menacing level. After the (so far) successful detention of Columbia University student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, the taking of Maryland’s Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador on trumped-up charges of gang activity (which are now pending in a US court after his return to the United States) and the brief (though ultimately unsuccessful) March 25, 2025 broad-daylight abduction of Tufts University PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk in Somerville, Massachusetts, followed by the coercion of Columbia University to allow the restriction of free speech on campus in a manner not seen since the days of the Red Scare, the administration has returned its focus to the enemy Trump had targeted in 2015 when he launched his first presidential campaign from Trump Tower’s golden escalator: the immigrant population in the United States. After branding Mexicans as “rapists … importing drugs”, Haitians as AIDS-infected dog-and-cat-eaters and Nigerians as being unwilling to “return to their huts” back home in their “shithole countries” and after blustering about annexing the Panama Canal, buying Greenland and making Canada the 51st state, Trump has moved his xenophobic gaze further inward as he has moved to execute his campaign promise to get rid of the immigrants (unless, of course, they’re White South Africans or Norwegians). The DOGE model is now being used to carry out nationwide masked, armed raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) against not only the “violent illegal immigrant criminals” about whom Trump has repeatedly stoked fears in his numerous “America Is A Hellscape” speeches, but also against student-visa holders, green card holders, those under Temporary Protective Status and even some US citizens whom Trump has successfully convinced some people, including judges and the occasional Supreme Court justice, are a danger to the United States because of the offensive (to him) exercise of their free-speech rights. As Trump revels in his Kim Jong Un-style military parade, held coincidentally on Saturday, June 14, the 250th anniversary of the US Army and his own 79th birthday, his administration has proposed the end of birthright citizenship and the abolishment of habeas corpus (when they have been able even to define it), perhaps the final hurdles that must be cleared in order to usher in the authoritarian dictatorship he seems to covet so dearly. The massive “No Kings” Protests, rallies and marches that took place that Saturday, in defiance of his threat of “severe punishment” to be meted out to those who would dare protest on his special day, have not only put a damper on his coveted celebration, but demonstrated to the world that this emperor truly has no clothes (a distasteful image I will now try hard to banish from my mind).

In case anyone needs a bit of a refresher, here is a little of how we got here (with several articles cited and linked so you can look up the sources and so I don’t have to re-write everything):

The DOGE Raids

An article from Sean O’Kane of TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/30/doge-left-united-states-institute-of-peace-office-with-water-damage-rats-and-roaches/, DOGE left United States Institute of Peace office with water damage, rats, and roaches, dated May 30, 2025, discusses the aftermath of DOGE’s raid on the United States Institute of Peace.

The chief executive of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) says Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency left the nonprofit’s Washington, D.C., headquarters in disarray, full of water damage, rats, and roaches, according to a new sworn statement first reported by Court Watch.

The statement from the executive, George Moose, comes just a few days after a federal judge ruled that DOGE’s takeover of the nonprofit was illegal. And this week [late May 2025], Musk has claimed he is stepping away from DOGE …

DOGE started its takeover of USIP in mid-March after a standoff that saw the nonprofit call the police on Musk’s government workers. Moose said at the time that DOGE staff had “broken into” the USIP headquarters in Washington, despite the fact that the nonprofit is not part of the executive branch and isn’t subject to the White House’s whims.

“It was very clear that there was a desire on the part of the administration to dismantle a lot of what we call foreign assistance, and we are part of that family,” Moose said at the time, referencing the Trump administration’s and DOGE’s dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development.
…
Moose wrote in his statement that, ahead of the judge’s ruling, the headquarters had been “essentially abandoned for many weeks” before USIP regained control. He said that DOGE had failed to “maintain and secure the building,” including “evidence of rats and roaches.”

“Vermin were not a problem prior to March 17, 2025, when USIP was actively using and maintaining the building,” Moose wrote.

An article from the Economic Policy Institute dated February 6, 2025, https://www.epi.org/policywatch/doge-shuts-down-usaid/, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) shuts down USAID and State Dept. seeks to absorb parts of the agency and eliminate the rest, discussed DOGE’s raid on USAID, which appears to have made the agency even less useful than it was by eliminating the agency’s initiatives that actually did some good.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk and a team of his followers, entered the offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), shuttering much of the agency and its functions. They’ve sent home a majority of the Washington D.C.-based staff on administrative leave, ordered that staff located abroad travel back to the United States, and altogether roughly 10,000 staffers from around the globe are to be placed on leave. There are serious questions about the legality of this maneuver, given that the agency was created by Congress.

Musk has recently said that President Trump has agreed to shut down USAID, and called the agency a “criminal organization” and that it was “time for it to die,” and that he “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” On February 3, Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled plans to restructure and potentially abolish USAID, and noted that “In consultation with Congress, USAID may move, reorganize, and integrate certain missions, bureaus, and offices into the Department of State, and the remainder of the Agency may be abolished consistent with applicable law.”

Impact: USAID is a federal agency that was started during President Kennedy’s administration, to manage the U.S.’s foreign assistance and manage numerous projects abroad that seek to “end extreme poverty, and promote resilient democratic societies…by partnering with individuals and citizens around the world.” USAID distributes the vast majority of the foreign aid that Congress authorizes, and all of the agency’s disbursements were paused as part of the January 20, 2025 Executive Order, “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid.” The agency funds projects in a number of areas such as agriculture, human rights, health initiatives, and others. Some of the programs and funding support workers around the world through initiatives to improve labor standards, increase access to justice for workers, and promote gender equality and migrant worker rights, for example.

While we have often been critical of several of USAID’s initiatives, such as pushing Monsanto’s GMO BT cotton on Indian farmers which resulted in the collapse of the farmers’ crop yields and directly led to thousands of farmer suicides, other initiatives for food aid and the provision of antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS are apparently now being discontinued, which are now predicted to lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths among vulnerable populations in Afrika and elsewhere in the world.

An article from Reuters by Tim Reid, Alexandra Alper and Nathan Layne, with additional reporting from Julie Steenhuysen and Leah Douglas, and editing by Ross Colvin and Suzanne Goldenberg, on April 24, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/100-days-doge-lots-chaos-not-so-much-efficiency-2025-04-24/, 100 days of DOGE: lots of chaos, not so much efficiency, indicates a pattern of the Trump administration that has repeated from his previous stint in the White House: replacing professionals with political loyalists who are fundamentally unqualified (Betsy DeVos and Ben Carson from his first term; Linda McMahon, Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Elon Musk and others in this term) and who then go about eviscerating professionals in government agencies under their control to cripple those agencies’ operations through personal incompetence or lack of tools and resources to operate.

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) – At the Social Security Administration, lawyers, statisticians and other high-ranking agency officials are being sent from the Baltimore headquarters to regional offices to replace veteran claims processors who have been fired or taken buyouts from the Trump administration.

But most of the new arrivals don’t know how to do the job, leading to longer wait times for disabled and elderly Americans who depend on these benefits, according to two people familiar with the situation. Asked about the changes, an SSA official said in an email that reassigned employees “have vast knowledge about our programs and services.”

At the Internal Revenue Service, the internet has become so patchy since President Donald Trump ordered remote workers back to overcrowded offices that staff are resorting to personal hotspots, crashing their computers at the height of tax processing season, two IRS officials told Reuters. The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.

Nearly 100 days into what Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk have called a mission to make the federal bureaucracy more efficient, Reuters found 20 instances where the staff and funding cuts led to purchasing bottlenecks and increased costs; paralysis in decision-making; longer public wait times; higher-paid civil servants filling in menial jobs, and a brain drain of scientific and technological talent.

“DOGE is not a serious exercise,” said Jessica Riedl, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a fiscally conservative think tank that supports streamlining government. She estimates DOGE has only saved $5 billion to date, and believes it will end up costing more than it saves.

The examples – previously unreported – span 14 government agencies and were described in Reuters interviews with three dozen federal workers, union representatives and governance experts.

Although these accounts do not provide a comprehensive picture of the project by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to drastically cut the cost and size of the federal bureaucracy, they do reveal collateral damage resulting from DOGE’s efforts to make the sprawling federal bureaucracy more efficient.
…
Musk and his lieutenants have to date provided little concrete evidence about how the government is operating more efficiently as a result of the mass layoffs and terminated government contracts.

DOGE teams that have burrowed into a swath of government agencies and their computer systems operate in great secrecy, dozens of government officials have told Reuters.

A DOGE website that gives regular updates on what it claims it has saved U.S. taxpayers – $160 billion to date – has been riddled with errors and corrections.
…
So far, the people most affected by DOGE’s efforts have been recipients of foreign aid. Since its founding on Trump’s first day in the White House, DOGE has largely shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides aid to the world’s needy, canceling more than 80 percent of its humanitarian programs. Almost all of the agency’s employees will be fired by September, all of its overseas offices shut, with some functions absorbed into the State Department.

At home, the government overhaul has resulted in the firing, resignations and early retirements of 260,000 civil servants, according to a Reuters tally.
…
In January, Trump fired 17 inspectors general, whose mission as government watchdogs includes reducing waste and fraud.

An article from Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/as-musk-exits-doge-employees-are-being-booted-from-offices-many-fired-staff-now-being-rehired/articleshow/121730883.cms, As Musk exits, DOGE employees are being booted from offices; many fired staff now being rehired, discussed the fallout coming from Musk’s resignation from DOGE, how many of its employees may now be out of jobs and how some previously fired employees must be “quietly” re-hired.

Now that Elon Musk has stepped down from his role in the Trump administration, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) he helped establish is collapsing. Many of his allies are being stripped of their credentials, while long-term government employees quietly celebrate. The power dynamic has shifted quite quickly.

The ICE Raids

And now the “jack-booted thugs” swing into action. An article from NBC News by Marlene Lenthang dated January 29, 2025, Here are the cities where ICE raids are taking place (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/are-cities-ice-raids-are-taking-place-rcna189390), reported that:

The Trump administration is planning to conduct major immigration raids in three U.S. cities per week, according to three sources familiar with the planning. One of the sources described the operations as “all hands on deck.”

The raids are being carried out with ICE; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; FBI and other federal agencies.

ICE’s 25 field offices were told in a meeting with senior leadership over the weekend to enhance their “routine operations” by meeting a quota of between 1,200 to 1,500 arrests per day, the sources said. The quota was first reported by the Washington Post.

Asked about the reporting, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told NBC News that he did not have a quota and that the goal is to “get as many criminals as possible.”

Here are the major cities where arrests had unfolded by late January, according to the article: New York City; Chicago; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; Phoenix; San Diego; Denver; Miami; Atlanta; Seattle; Various cities in Texas; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

An article in The Immigrant’s Journal on January 28, 2025 by Esther Claudette Gittens (https://theimmigrantsjournal.com/analysis-of-ice-raids-in-2025-targeted-locations-and-methods-of-identifying-undocumented-immigrants/), Analysis of ICE Raids in 2025: Targeted Locations and Methods of Identifying Undocumented Immigrants, noted that

Reports indicate that ICE agents have conducted enforcement actions in public areas, though specific instances are less documented.

Methods used included setting up checkpoints to request identification from individuals, boarding buses and trains to conduct random checks, utilizing surveillance technologies to monitor public spaces and targeting sensitive locations.

A significant policy shift in 2025 has been the removal of restrictions on enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as schools, churches, and hospitals. The administration rescinded previous guidelines that limited ICE operations in these areas, arguing that law enforcement should not be restricted. This change has led to increased fear within immigrant communities, with concerns that individuals may avoid seeking essential services due to the threat of enforcement actions.

Locations cited in this article include Chicago, New York and Aurora, Colorado.

In 2025, ICE has significantly expanded its enforcement operations, targeting a wider array of locations and employing advanced methods to identify undocumented individuals. The removal of restrictions on sensitive locations and the integration of advanced surveillance technologies represent a notable shift in immigration enforcement strategy. These actions have profound implications for immigrant communities and raise important questions about civil liberties and the balance between enforcement and humanitarian considerations.

A Newsweek article by Dan Gooding, dated January 28, 2025 (https://www.newsweek.com/map-ice-illegal-immigration-raids-trump-administration-2020613), Map Shows Where ICE Raids Have Taken Place Across US, mentioned a New York Times/Ipsos poll taken between January 2-10 of this year which found that Americans initially largely supported Trump’s mass deportation plans.

Americans largely support his mass deportation plans. A New York Times/Ipsos poll, carried out from January 2 to 10, found 55 percent of voters strongly or somewhat supported such plans. Eighty-eight percent supported “Deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records.” Large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agreed that the immigration system is broken.

An example of the personal upheaval caused by the ICE raids was detailed in a June 7, 2025 article on Nexstar Media by Vivian Chow (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/southern-california-father-detained-by-ice-at-immigration-hearing/ar-AA1Gh9QB?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=d6e67267f3734a8a8620157d1e77fb68&ei=66), Southern California father detained by ICE at immigration hearing:

Moe Rahman, 38, lives in Orange County and has been married to his wife for 10 years. He was born in Bangladesh and his family moved to the U.S. when he was 4 years old.

On May 7, Rahman had a routine check-in appointment in Santa Ana. However, instead of receiving an update on his immigration case, he was detained by ICE and transferred to a facility in Adelanto.

News reports flashed on television screens of raids taking place in cities across the United States, primarily (if not entirely) cities and states led by Democratic Party mayors and governors. Communities who dared to confront or even question these raids were often met by heavily armed paramilitary personnel in armored vehicles, wearing Kevlar and masks, brandishing military style weapons and deploying “flash-bang” grenades and teargas. When ICE agents launched raids in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the ICE raids, according to an article by Helen Jong for Channel 4 Los Angeles on June 6, 2025 (https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/cruel-and-chaotic-la-mayor-bass-gov-newsom-slam-ice-raids-in-downtown-la/3717684/), ‘Cruel and chaotic.’ LA Mayor Bass, Gov. Newsom slam ICE raids in downtown LA.

“It sows a sense of terror in the community. It’s bad enough that it happened at this location, but the way this goes and spreads throughout the community, people are not sure where they are safe,” Bass said, explaining that another raid during which day laborers were arrested at the parking lot of Home Depot in Westlake happened near a high school.

Governor Newsom also took to social media to criticize the raids, calling them chaotic and reckless.

“Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel,” Newsom said. “Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy.”

The Los Angeles City Council released a joint statement denouncing the raids. The article continues:

Senator Adam Schiff called the raids “unconscionable” as they targeted LA’s immigration communities.

“Today’s detention of, and injury to David Huerta, President of @seiuusww [Service Employees International Union California — Editor], and a U.S. citizen, while acting as a community observer during an immigration raid in LA is another terrible example,” Schiff said in a social media announcement. “This is part of a larger campaign of intimidation by the White House. And it must end.”

Huerta was later released on $50,000 bond, according to reports. The article adds:

LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis also said the raids were “deeply disturbing,” saying ICE agents targeted some of the most vulnerable residents of LA.“

“The individuals detained are hardworking Angelenos who contribute to our local economy and labor force every day,” Solis said. “Los Angeles County remains committed to standing with our immigrant communities, providing support through our Office of Immigrant Affairs and our network of nonprofit partners.”

The Los Angeles Police Department reiterated that it does not cooperate with federal agencies’ immigration raids as California and Los Angeles are sanctuary entities.

An Al Jazeera article, published June 7, 2025, provides a bit more detail on the Los Angeles raids and some of the legal justifications that are being made for them (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/7/ice-launches-military-style-raids-in-los-angeles-what-we-know), ICE launches ‘military-style’ raids in Los Angeles: What we know:

The raids, which were carried out in a military-style operation, have intensified concerns about the force used by federal immigration officials and the rights of undocumented individuals. …

ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) reported the “administrative arrest” of 44 individuals for immigration-related offences.

An administrative arrest, unlike a criminal arrest, refers to detention for civil immigration violations such as overstaying a visa or lacking legal status, and does not require criminal charges. These arrests can result in detention, deportation, temporary re-entry bans and denial of future immigration requests. …

Soto added that members of the community had effectively been “kidnapped” as officials, wearing masks had not shown warrants or any form of documentation when carrying out arrests. …

What sets these raids apart from typical civil enforcement actions was their military-style execution, experts say.

According to witnesses, legal observers and advocacy groups, federal agents involved in the operations were heavily armed and dressed in tactical gear, with some wearing camouflage and carrying rifles.

Agents arrived in unmarked black SUVs and armoured vehicles and, at certain points, sealed off entire streets around targeted buildings. Drones were reportedly used for surveillance in some areas and access to sites was blocked off with yellow tape, similar to measures which would be taken during a high-threat counterterrorism or drug bust operation.

The ACLU described the show of force as an “oppressive and vile paramilitary operation”. Civil liberties groups said the tactics used had created panic in local communities and may have violated protocols for civil immigration enforcement.

Trump Ups the Ante, Sends In the Marines

All of this popular resistance was, of course, intolerable to the self-proclaimed lover of free speech who sits in the White House, so swift punishment was needed, taking care to seek to place blame for the situation in Los Angeles on the Democratic mayor and governor, so he sent in the National Guard, followed quickly by a contingent of Marines, in what appears to be a violation of Posse Comitatus.

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) signed on June 18, 1878, by President Rutherford B. Hayes that limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. Congress passed the Act as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction and updated it in 1956, 1981 and 2021.

The Act originally applied only to the United States Army, but a subsequent amendment in 1956 expanded its scope to the United States Air Force. In 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 further expanded the scope of the Act to cover the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Space Force. The Act does not prevent the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor. The United States Coast Guard (under the Department of Homeland Security) is not covered by the Act either, primarily because although it is an armed service, it also has a maritime law enforcement mission.

The title of the Act comes from the legal concept of posse comitatus, the authority under which a county sheriff, or another law officer, can conscript any able-bodied person to assist in keeping the peace.

— from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

An article in USA Today by John Bacon, Trevor Hughes, N’dea Yancey-Bragg, Michael Loria, Tom Vanden Brook, Davis Winkie dated June 9, 2025 (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/06/09/ice-raids-los-angeles-protests-live-updates/84110835007/), 700 Marines heading to LA for riot assistance; Newsom calls move ‘deranged fantasy’ of Trump, describes the deteriorating situation there:

Amid moves from the Trump administration to deploy as many as 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to Los Angeles, California Governor Gavin Newsom is firing back with all tools in his arsenal, including 800 additional officers, a lawsuit and invectives warning Trump is acting like a “dictator.”

“Los Angeles: don’t take Trump’s bait. Trump wants chaos and he’s instigated violence,” Newsom said in a post on X. “Stay peaceful. Stay focused. Don’t give him the excuse he’s looking for.”

Newsom’s move to rally support comes after Trump ordered National Guardsmen to Los Angeles without the governor’s consent and after the president even suggested Newsom should be arrested.

Trump has even resorted to provocation in his rhetoric, creating the suspicion that he wants to provoke violence in Los Angeles, perhaps to distract public scrutiny from the actions of his sycophants in Washington, DC. According to a story from The New Civil Rights Movement by David Badash, dated June 9, 2025,
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/a-warning-sign-trump-under-fire-for-new-violent-slogan-as-he-sends-marines-to-la/ar-AA1Go7st?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ASTS&cvid=afc2de55bfbc42a3b3213e4ab02646d4&ei=17,
‘A warning sign’: Trump under fire for new violent slogan as he sends Marines to LA,

President Donald Trump has unveiled a new slogan amid the ongoing protests in Los Angeles, warning critics of his deportation policies, “If you spit, we will hit”—a statement critics say could incite violence. As tensions rise, Trump is escalating the federal response, expanding the National Guard presence and now ordering U.S. Marines into the city.

In a Monday afternoon Truth Social post, Trump wrote:

“’If they spit, we will hit.’ This is a statement from the President of the United States concerning the catastrophic Gavin Newscum inspired Riots going on in Los Angeles. The Insurrectionists have a tendency to spit in the face of the National Guardsmen/women, and others. These Patriots are told to accept this, it’s just the way life runs. But not in the Trump Administration. IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT, and I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!”

Trump is also sending in heavily armed, masked and unidentified ICE raids while at the same time attempting to outlaw masks being worn by protesters, according to June 8, 2025 articles by Rachel Scully of The Hill
(https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-protesters-not-allowed-135106247.html?guccounter=1), Trump says protesters will not be allowed to wear masks and the administrators of Mahomet Daily (https://mahometdaily.com/trump-bans-protester-masks-citing-nothing-to-hide-while-ice-agents-conceal-identities-amid-raids/).

Here is an excerpt from the Mahomet Daily article:

Trump Bans Protester Masks, Citing “Nothing to Hide”, While ICE Agents Conceal Identities Amid Raids

… Yet, in a striking juxtaposition, ICE agents conducting the very raids that sparked the protests are themselves routinely wearing masks, often obscuring their identities completely. This practice, now common across the country, has drawn sharp criticism from civil liberties advocates and lawmakers, who argue it undermines transparency and public trust.

ICE officials, including acting director Todd Lyons, have defended the use of masks, citing threats, harassment, and “doxxing”, the online publication of personal information, as justification. Lyons explained that agents have been targeted, with their families’ identities and locations posted online, sometimes accompanied by death threats.

New York Congressman Dan Goldman told The Point, “Why are you wearing masks? I was a federal prosecutor for 10 years. I worked with ICE agents, I worked with law enforcement agents. I never saw any of them wear masks. This is brand new. And the question is, if everything is legitimate and proper, why are you wearing masks to hide your face.”
…
“It is the height of hypocrisy, but it also really reflects something underneath, which is the cruelty and the fear and the terror and the anti foreigner sentiment that this administration is moving forward with, and they know that it’s not favored by many, which is why they’re worried about being seen.”

Commentaries concerning these anti-mask laws were published by the American Civil Liberties Union (https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/states-dust-off-obscure-anti-mask-laws-to-target-pro-palestine-protesters), States Dust Off Obscure Anti-Mask Laws to Target Pro-Palestine Protesters, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/criminalizing-masks-protests-wrong), Criminalizing Masks at Protests is Wrong By Matthew Guariglia and Adam Schwartz from June 9, 2025.

Robert Reich’s Appeal for Peaceful and Intelligent Protest

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor whose writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. He penned the following appeal for peaceful and intelligent protest (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/why-trump-wants-to-turn-america-violent-opinion/ar-AA1GqfVP?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ASTS&cvid=b85fde5e3caf4c7fad78296d65445901&ei=72):

Why Trump wants to turn America violent
Opinion by Robert Reich • June 10, 2025

The man who launched an attempted coup on the United States in 2020 and instigated an insurrection at the Capitol that resulted in five deaths now claims that people in Los Angeles are launching an insurrection. They’re not.

Yesterday, the Pentagon activated 700 Marines out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, to join the 4,000 federalized National Guard’s military occupation of parts of Los Angeles.

Trump doesn’t give a damn whether the troops are necessary. Nor does he care how many people are injured or even killed in his raid on Los Angeles. The show of military force is the point. It gives him the appearance of power.

Like any bully, Trump is fundamentally a coward. Humiliated by China, Harvard, the Supreme Court, Elon Musk, and the federal courts, Trump has launched a war inside America on vulnerable people inside America, in a place — California — most of whose inhabitants loathe him.

All of this was manufactured by Trump. It was and is his creation. The frightful specter of federally controlled troops in American streets has historically signaled a social crisis — forcing integration in Arkansas, protecting civil rights marchers in Alabama. But Trump is sending the military to Los Angeles at a time when state and local officials say there is no need.

Let’s be clear: Trump and his lackeys want blood in the streets. They have been planning for it. “Looking really bad in L.A.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight Sunday night. “BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!”

The bully-in-chief has appointed a bunch of tin-pot bullies to every position of lethal force in the federal government — and is now activating them.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristy Noem is a Trump stooge seemingly without understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears willing to go along with whatever Trump wants. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is a maniacal xenophobe. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a brain-dead Trump sycophant. Border czar Tom Homan is a toady who has not ruled out arresting California’s leaders if they obstruct federal law enforcement.
***
The central struggle of civilization has always been to stop brutality. Unless we prevent the stronger from attacking or exploiting the weaker, none of us is safe.

A civil society is the opposite of what Trump seeks. A civil society doesn’t allow the strong to brutalize the weak. It moves as far as possible away from brutality.

Every time the stronger brutalize the weaker — whether it’s Trump and his flunkies bullying immigrants and the state of California, white supremacists bullying Black and Latino people, giant corporations bullying customers with high prices, the wealthy bullying the public to get giant tax cuts, Elon Musk bullying poor people by cutting programs they depend on, police bullying poor Black people, powerful men bullying women through sexual harassment, politicians building their power by bullying racial or ethnic minorities, Netanyahu wiping out Palestinians in Gaza, Putin trying to take over Ukraine — it’s fundamentally the same playbook: Stoke fear. Exploit desperation. Suspend the rule of law. Fan brutality.

Unless the bullies are stopped, an entire society — even the world — can descend into chaos.

Our duty is to stop brutality. Our responsibility is to hold the powerful accountable. Our challenge is to stand up to abuses of power. Our moral obligation is to protect the vulnerable.

This week and through Saturday, protest but please do it peacefully. Do not be provoked into violence. Take videos of any brutality Trump’s agents are wreaking, to show the rest of America and the world. Be smart. Be careful.

“No Kings”: Trump’s ICE Raids and Military Parade Face Popular Resistance

As of this writing, it would appear that protesters are largely taking Mr. Reich’s advice, though Trump, his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and his press secretary continuously insist that the protesters are nothing more than “violent radical left criminals who hate America”. On Saturday, July 14, the “No Kings” marches, rallies and protests took place protests across the United States, including Central and South Florida, including Mar-A-Lago (https://youtu.be/QfpYYNknGcA?si=OY1aLGOyCTLYAtD8, https://youtu.be/2zyJT2kNIzM?si=YAvFGJW_awSxlzpW, https://youtu.be/dcBozKswAGM?si=aYqiDZIMZpLTfXVo, https://youtu.be/2zyJT2kNIzM?si=YAvFGJW_awSxlzpW and https://youtu.be/1Ajfv50Pqgk?si=ZfYebVOL6m-2Uly5); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (https://youtu.be/6pT-B49-9Vk?si=PgXzaQkoa2LpjO3Z and https://youtu.be/udBac5U7Lf0?si=GEd3u3N_wUT-ISsi); Cleveland, Ohio (https://www.youtube.com/live/qa8L6opIRm8?si=_YaSGcDl2Y9vIr81); Manhattan, New York City (https://youtu.be/CXzWcbiyTYQ?si=bKtqQauvDzZqG8ox); Dallas, Texas (https://youtu.be/_fw3CHhHj8k?si=OUvE_HWf1UCjhYYU); Arizona (https://youtu.be/rCPqoX9qw74?si=nBtQUan4agCY0-V_); an Omaha, Nebraska meatpacking plant (https://youtu.be/LroKaDcjKM4?si=riTgTKFESCD5Qfsg); and other locations around the country (https://youtu.be/JJQS22Off2E?si=iCzuqtW_QPxsRHBO and https://youtu.be/sH7SMgvHOrs?si=LEgXN8Gr5oBhItKB).

A protest of Trump’s North Korea-style military parade in the streets of Washington, DC was also met with a protest (https://www.youtube.com/live/GCiMElf0cUk?si=Si3XSbvIspgk2wyY and https://www.youtube.com/live/GCiMElf0cUk?si=66b1O66TnkWT8tBU), though that one was not officially designated a “No Kings” protest. Of some interest is the list of apparent sponsors of both the parade (Lockheed Martin, Coinbase, Palantir, UFC and Amazon among others) and the “No Kings” protests (Walmart heiress Christy Walton, who took out an ad in The New York Times supporting the protests, which led to some backlash from Trump supporters against Walmart).

Meanwhile, Trump is considering adding more countries to his list of nations whose citizens are to be restricted or denied from entering the United States (https://wapo.st/3SOaeED) and Congress member Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) appeared on DemocracyNow! to warn of the United States’ current course toward dictatorship (https://youtu.be/Y7r9W1QGqSE?si=b3Lhf2SKDzrmz7Q2).

The extreme political rhetoric, laced with xenophobia and grievance-peddling, is only stirring up an already hot pot of simmering anger. The situation in Minnesota is particularly concerning since on June 14, 2025, a gunman, apparently posing as a police officer, assassinated Democratic State Delegate and former Speaker Melissa Holtman and her husband Mark, and also shot and seriously injured Democratic Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, both in what have been determined to be targeted political shootings (Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband killed; Sen. John Hoffman, his wife shot in ‘targeted’ shootings | FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul). This would seem to indicate, as many on the political left have feared, that Trump’s bombastic, divisive rhetoric has continued to embolden armed members of his ultra-right-wing “base” to acts of violence, similar to the January 8, 2011 near-assassination of US Congress member Gabby Giffords (D-Arizona) and the June 14, 2017 mass shooting of US Congress person and then U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, U.S. Capitol Police officer Crystal Griner, congressional aide Zack Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika at a practice session for the annual Congressional Baseball Game in Alexandria, Virginia that seemed to target Scalise.

The temperature has been turning up for a long time now. And we’re seeing a lot of old models of repression being remixed, recycled, reborn and reused. The detentions of Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Kilmar Abrego Garcia and others, especially Ozturk literally being snatched off the street in broad daylight by masked ICE agents, smack of the disappearances that ensued after the overthrow and assassination of Salvador Allende of Chile in 1973 (September 11, 1973 to be exact). The military-style raids in primarily Democrat-run cities across the country conjures up images of authoritarian regimes around the world invading towns, villages and communities that would not tow the line for the dictator. And if Trump gets his way, we might see something akin to Tianenmen Square in 1989 in the future. But we’ve even seen that before, right here in the US. We’ve seen it in post-Reconstruction terrorism against Black communities from Wilmington, North Carolina to the Red Summer of 1919 to Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. We’ve seen it in violent SWAT raids against Black Panther headquarters in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere. We’ve seen it in the targeted assassinations of Bunchy Carter and Fred Hampton by police. We’ve seen it in the fates of political prisoners from the Palmer Raids to the Red Scare to COINTELPRO to MOVE. We’ve seen it in the repressive plans of political ideologues from the Contract On America to the Tea Party to the Project for a New American Century to the Freedom Caucus to MAGA to Project 2025 and Agenda 47. And we’re seeing it in Trump’s current favorite Central American country of El Salvador, where president Nayib Bukele is arresting prominent critics of his regime, perhaps to bury them in one of the prisons Trump is urging him to build for the imprisonment of US deportees and other insurgents. Too many of us have been asleep through all of these signs of the advance of fascism, authoritarianism and oligarchy in the US and around the world. Some of us even cheered these developments because we thought we could profit from the dispossession of others, such as the LGBTQ+ people who threaten our sense of manhood, womanhood and family, or the immigrant community that some self-described Black Nationalists see only as competition for limited resources that we feel uniquely entitled to. The current repressive developments are geared toward appealing to our narrow sense of self-interest, as though the oppression of others will somehow guarantee our freedom and uplift. We too easily forget the immortal words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We are currently living in a time approaching that of German pastor Martin Niemoller, who had been an early supporter of the Nazis but, as the injustices piled up and he faced imprisonment himself from the regime he would come to resist, learned the hard way the consequences of silence and inaction in the face of tyranny and discrimination.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
— Martin Niemöller