Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalSenator whose wife was shot fears for safety after Trump sedition accusation
Senator Mark Kelly – whose wife, Gabrielle Giffords, narrowly survived an attempted assassination while she was in Congress in 2011 – says he is worried about “increased threats” to his family’s safety after Donald Trump accused him and other Democratic lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH”.
“This kind of language is dangerous, and it’s wrong,” Kelly said on Friday on MS NOW’s Morning Joe, with political violence one of the top topics in the US’s public discourse. He continued: “I’m not going to get into my specific security arrangements, but it would be irresponsible for me not to consider that [Trump’s] words result in increased threats to myself, even to my staff, to my family.
“It would be a rather irresponsible thing for us not to consider this seriously.”
The Arizona senator’s remarks came after he appeared in a video on Tuesday alongside five other federal Democratic lawmakers who have previously served in the military or in intelligence roles – and who all told active US service members that they should refuse illegal orders.
“Our laws are clear,” the senators and US House members in question say in the video. “You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.”
Trump reacted furiously to the video, writing on his Truth Social platform that Kelly and the others had engaged in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH”. The president also reposted another Truth Social user who wrote, in part, “HANG THEM”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/mark-kelly-gabby-giffords-threats-safety-trump
But it's Stephen Miller and ICE Barbie and their ilk who are so "frightened for their safety" that they're taking up space in military base housing 
The American Revolution, Part 4
After watching this chapter, ihave one buring question: HOW THE HELL DID WE WIN THIS WAR, ANYWAY? The whole chapter seemed to be a chronicle of American missteps and mistakes, with the odd victory (hurray for John Paul Jones!) stuck in there. But it sure looked like the British were winning by the end of it.
Stuff I did not know or was not taught in 1959-61 American history classes: I didn't know about Washington's horrible crusade against Native Americans in New York, or that George Rogers Clark was such a horrid racist. I was never taught that the reason Charleston fell was basically that white men refused to arm their Black slaves against the British for fear the slaves would revolt and turn their guns on them .Or that Washington wasn't the perfect strategist he was supposed to be, he was just a pretty good leader of men. And the list goes on...
Injunction ruling provides new look at 'Operation Midway Blitz,' tear gas to agent using ChatGPT to help write report
A federal judge on Thursday issued a scathing opinion that takes a deep dive into the use of force by immigration agents during “Operation Midway Blitz,” revealing new information gleaned from body-worn cameras and other evidence showing how agents used tear gas and flash bang grenades on fleeing protesters, shot a praying minister in the face with pepper balls, and even used ChatGPT to help write a report.
The 233-page written ruling by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, which memorializes her findings in issuing a preliminary injunction earlier this month, takes readers methodically through many of the more high-profile melees between immigration agents and protesters during the two-month operation, including incidents in Albany Park, Old Irving Park, Evanston and the Far East Side.
Ellis wrote in the opinion that, over and over, body-worn camera footage from the agents undermined what was eventually put in their use-of-force reports, rendering their statements unreliable.
The reports also misidentified “neighborhood moms and dads, Chicago Bears fans, people dressed in Halloween costumes, and the lawyer who lives on the block” as professional agitators, Ellis wrote, while the body cameras at times captured the agents’ apparent glee in deploying tear gas and other munitions on residential streets.
“Just start throwing s—” one agent told another during an incident on the East Side in October, according to Ellis’ report.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/20/injunction-scathing-ruling-midway-blitz/
She let them have it with all six!
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found.
The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement.
Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar.
Once limited to policing the nation’s boundaries, the Border Patrol has built a surveillance system stretching into the country’s interior that can monitor ordinary Americans’ daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects. Started about a decade ago to fight illegal border-related activities and the trafficking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past five years.
https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-patrol-surveillance-drivers-ice-trump-9f5d05469ce8c629d6fecf32d32098cd
When the Border atrol is in places like Chicago and Charlotte, nobody is safe. I put a Mexican flag decal on my car just to confuse them (along with my Ukrainian one). Let them sort it out. I daresay my family has been here longer than most of theirs.
The American Revolution, Part 2
There certainly are more parallels in this chapter. The biggest one was this, and I swear it could have been written directly at the Orange Slime, except maybe the last three points:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
Plastic surgeons wrestle with requests for 'Mar-a-Lago face': 'You're going to look like Maleficent'
Picture a plastic surgeon’s office. You might imagine a sleek Los Angeles practice, with discreet entrances meant to conceal celebrities from the paparazzi. Maybe a Dallas high-rise, where monied housewives spend on postpartum “mommy makeovers”. Or a Miami location, where influencers and OnlyFans stars film TikToks of their BBLs. One city you might not think of is Washington DC. But its buttoned-up reputation belies a newly buzzing industry.
Much has been made of the so-called “Mar-a-Lago face”, or the uncannily smooth and artificially voluminous features seen on the likes of Maga elite such as Kristi Noem, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Laura Loomer and Matt Gaetz. The bee-sting puffy lips, frozen brows and taut necks have been compared to Real Housewives stars, sleep paralysis demons and – ironically, considering the Republican party’s anti-LGBTQ+ culture war – drag queens (minus the campy fun).
As of January, plastic surgeons in Washington DC have seen a “surge in ‘Mar-a-Lago face’ requests from Trump insiders”, Axios recently reported. Surgeons told the outlet that more Washingtonians want their procedures to be not unnoticed but obvious and overdone.
Axios attributed the aesthetic shift to the influx of transplants from south Florida (where Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s gaudy private club, is located), who are no strangers to nip-tuck tune-ups. Others theorize that going through these procedures is a calculated act of political deference to Trump’s preferred (and unnatural) beauty standards.
Dr Anita Kulkarni is a plastic surgeon who practices out of DC’s West End neighborhood and specializes in postpartum body contouring. Enter her office, and you will be greeted by staff who look good, but not worked on – and that is the effect most of her clients have gone for. “Before this second Trump term, I just didn’t see a lot of patients coming in making unreasonable requests,” Kulkarni says. But since the inauguration, she has fielded half a dozen or more – not a large sample size, but enough for the surgeon to take note.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/18/mar-a-lago-face-plastic-surgery
Some of them, Guilfoys and Loomer in particular, just look STUPID.
Death threats and accusations: the professor targeted by the US far right
Baggage dropped and boarding passes in hand, Mark Bray and his family cleared security at Newark airport in early October. Their flight to Spain was meant to ferry the family of four to safety after days of mounting threats; instead, as they waited at the gate to board, they were told that someone had cancelled their reservation.
“It felt like I was being watched and laughed at,” said Bray, a professor at Rutgers university who teaches a course on the history of antifascism and in 2017 wrote a book on Antifa. “I knew it was politically motivated one way or the other.”
The incident catapulted Bray into the headlines as one of the highest-profile people caught up in Donald Trump’s efforts to target Antifa.
For years, Trump had taken aim at Antifa, seeking to turn it into a formal enemy despite the fact that the decentralised movement – which opposes the far right, fascists and racists – has no structure, hierarchy or leader.
His crusade took on new life after the killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. Days after the killing, without any evidence to show a link between the suspected assassin and Antifa, the president signed an executive order designating the movement as a “domestic terrorist organisation.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/18/death-threats-and-accusations-the-professor-targeted-by-the-us-far-right
Outrageous and STUPID!
Texas National Guard departs Illinois
The Texas National Guard has departed Illinois, ending a futile 41-day deployment in which its soldiers spent less than 24 hours working in support of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation mission.
The troops, who had been living at a U.S. Army Reserve training center in southwest suburban Elwood, left the facility around 1 p.m. Monday, according to a memorandum obtained by the Tribune. Additionally, any military personnel not permanently assigned to the Elwood facility would leave the site by Friday, the memo stated.
In the memo, which was sent to local government officials on Monday, an official with Homeland Operations, 88th Readiness Division in Fort Sheridan, wrote that the “status of forces at the Joliet Local Training Area (JLTA), Elwood” had changed.
As of 1 p.m., “all Soldiers that were utilizing the JLTA for living accommodations have departed the property. All established support requirements with your agencies beyond your normal scope of duties may cease at this time. There will still be a small element providing access control while contracted entities remove their equipment,” the memorandum stated. “Currently there is no definitive timetable for when the contractor will complete this action, however the Task Force Commander has directed that Friday will be the last day for any Military Personnel not permanently assigned to the Elwood Reserve center to be on site.”
The departure marks yet another sign that Operation Midway Blitz — the name given to Trump’s immigration crackdown — is winding down.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/17/texas-national-guard-illinois/
I don't think the DHS liked the reception it got in Chicago
Democrats should just shut up and watch Trump flail
Paul Fanlundemocrats steamrolled Republicans behind candidates who in every case seemed aligned with the electorates they will serve. Democrats won by embracing candidates with a range of ideologies and ages, bound together by their desire to make life better for average Americans, not just Trump’s plutocrat cronies.
What is more, Trump has had some of the worst days of his second presidency since those Democratic wins.
The ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal has exploded again with the release of incriminating emails that contradict Trump’s feigned ignorance about Epstein’s pedophile ring. The job market is weak and everyone knows Trump is to blame. Almost every day, he displays more signs of cognitive decline.
Democrats have forced a vote next month on extension of Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies, something the American public overwhelmingly supports but Republicans oppose. It obviously would have been great if Democrats could have won on this issue during the shutdown, but that was never going to happen. Planting a time bomb set to explode on Republicans in an election year is the next best thing.
Trump and his MAGA allies appear to be losing on every front, and he appears to become weaker — politically — week by week.
But it appears many Democrats never heard the adage, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
https://captimes.com/opinion/paul-fanlund/opinion-democrats-should-just-shut-up-and-watch-trump-flail/article_e830ca8f-04f3-4b9f-b491-730fb12da965.html
Perfect!
Who else watched "The American Revolution" Ch. 1 last night?
We did, and couldn't help drawing a couple of parallels with some things going on in the country right today. For instance, the sending of British troops to assorted cities to quell so-called ^unrest" exactly parallels Shitler's use of ICE/Border Patrol/National Guard in places like Portland, Chicago, Charlotte, LA. Then there was the Stamp Act and other taxes that more or less parallels the tariffs which make the essentials of daily living so much more expensive now. And George III's not having a clue and so having a habit of listening to advisors who were only in it for themselves. Not to mention that by then, he was at least in the beginning stages of, if not full blown, bipolar disorder, which kind of parallels with Shitler having dementia. It was all pretty interesting and thought-provoking. What else was interesting that the writers pointed out was that a majority of Americans *save the Black population and some, but not all, indentured servants) were literate. I pointed out to my husband that in the north and even down into Appalachia at the time, this was because a majority of them were Protestant and literacy was important to them because they were meant to be educated enough to read their Bible, Southern Americans were by and large of a more educated class (at the time) and so were also more likely to be literate.
I found it all extremely interesting and thought-provoking and I really wished that my American History professor from UW-Madison, William Appleman Williams, had been alive at the time the series was mad to give his thoughts on the subject. He would have had some interesting perspectives, as I remember his class.
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