Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's Journal'The holy family is in hiding': nativity scenes at US churches push back on ICE
Satirical holiday displays mocking Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, portraying the newborn Jesus and his parents, Mary and Joseph, as victims of heavy-handed tactics by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), have appeared across the US.
One striking retelling of the Christmas story, at Lake Street church in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, features baby Jesus lying in a manger in the snow – but wrapped in the kind of thin, foil blankets given out in emergencies and regularly as bedding to ICE detainees, and with his wrists zip-tied.
The figure of Mary stands nearby just outside the church, wearing a gas mask, which anti-ICE protesters have been wearing to protect against teargas. She is flanked by figures of Roman soldiers, which the Bible depicts as having detained Jesus prior to his execution, but with those in the display now dressed in tactical vests labeled “ICE.”
At another location in Chicago, Urban Village church, the models of Jesus, Mary and Joseph are nowhere to be seen alongside the camels, donkeys, shepherds and wise men bearing gifts in the traditional nativity scene. Instead, there is a sign that reads: “Due to ICE activity in our community the Holy Family is in hiding.”
The displays are extensions of the prominent role taken in recent protests against the aggressive federal immigration enforcement by faith leaders, especially in Chicago and New York.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/12/church-jesus-nativity-scenes-mock-ice-trump
Good for them!
Flooding remains threat in Pacific north-west as Washington declares emergency
Dangerous flood waters from historically swollen rivers in the Pacific north-west were continuing to cause a huge threat on Friday as 100,000 people in the area were under evacuation warnings and more deluges are due on Sunday.
Torrential rain triggered flooding on Thursday across much of the region from Oregon north through Washington state and into British Columbia, closing dozens of roads and already prompting the evacuations of tens of thousands of people.
The intense rain began earlier in the week, swept into the region by a storm system meteorologists call an atmospheric river, a vast airborne current of dense moisture funneled inland from the Pacific Ocean.
The governor of Washington, Bob Ferguson, declared a statewide emergency on Wednesday in response to the heavy weather that has caused mudslides and washed out roads and submerged vehicles.
Western Washington state bore the brunt of the storm, with flood watches posted across the Cascade and Olympic mountains and Puget Sound, as well as for a northern slice of Oregon, a region home to some 5.8 million people, according to the US National Weather Service.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/12/flood-water-rain-pacific-northwest-washington
How to become a tyrant in 5 steps
Back in the 5th century BCE, Herodotus was the first to break from Greek literary tradition as he captured history as accurately as possible from a wide range of sources.
Within the kaleidoscope of stories he recounted in his groundbreaking tome — simply called The History — he shared vivid descriptions of autocratic and tyrannical rulers.
"One of the shocks you get when you read Herodotus is how modern these stories seem," said Kathryn Morgan, professor of classics at UCLA.
"You can imagine this kind of thing going on in any number of power centres across the globe.
"Herodotus is crafting his narrative to make a moral point about domination and power. And what happens when you have a ruler who's not subject to any constraints."
The stories Herodotus shares read like a virtual playbook for would-be tyrants.
Step 1: Cultivate your passion for power
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/tyranny-herodotus-authoritarianism-strongman-1.7315510
I don't think Shitler read this, because he can't read, or listened to the podcast, because he gets bored after 3 minutes if it's not about him, but somebody did.....
I have to wonder
how many of Shitler's Incompetent Corps will be left when (not IF) he dies and Shady McMaybelline is president?
Shall we play a game?
Who will quit (because they can't stand him) and who will he fire?
Your guesses, please.
This is a SERIOUS GAME.
Trump says Venezuela sends US lethal drugs, but data tells different story
President Donald Trump and his top aides have justified lethal military strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats from Venezuela by accusing Venezuela and suspected criminal networks operating on its soil like the Cartel de los Soles of flooding the United States with deadly drugs.
"This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people," Secretary of War (formally Secretary of Defense) Pete Hegseth posted Nov. 13 on X. He said the military mission has been named Operation Southern Spear.
In August, the United States doubled the reward for information leading to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to an unprecedented $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups. Attorney General Pam Bondi explained the bounty at the time by accusing Maduro in a video message of being "one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security."
That’s reason enough, Trump and administration officials say, for launching military attacks that have killed at least 87 people in recent months – including two men clinging to wreckage after they survived an initial strike Sept. 2 that killed nine other suspected smugglers. They say it might even warrant an attack on Venezuelan soil, which Trump has implied may be in the offing.
U.S. and United Nations drug data, however, show that Venezuela isn't a producer or exporter of fentanyl, a lab-made synthetic opioid, and that it plays a relatively minor role in the far-less-lethal cocaine trade.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/09/trump-venezuela-drug-trafficking/87573189007/?tbref=hp
Shitler will do anything to distract from the Epstein files, even start a war. He has no clue about the geography of Venezuela. This could turn into another Vietnam.
Officers at Texas immigration detention facility accused of beatings and sexual abuse
Officers at the large immigration detention camp located at the Fort Bliss army base in Texas are allegedly mistreating detainees, with accusations including beatings, sexual abuse and clandestine deportations of non-Mexican nationals into Mexico, according to a coalition of local and national US civil rights organizations.
In a 19-page letter, addressed to senior government officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and Fort Bliss military command, the coalition accuses officers at the immigration detention facility on the base, called Camp East Montana, of being “in violation of agency policies and standards, as well as statutory and constitutional protections”.
The advocates called for the immediate closure of the camp, where more than 2,700 detainees are being held in a complex of tents.
“In light of these abuses, we urge the end to detention of immigrants at Fort Bliss,” said the letter signed by eight organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Humans Rights Watch, Estrella del Paso, the Texas Civil Rights Project and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center.
The letter was addressed to ICE acting director Todd Lyons and others and copied to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) office of inspector general and the Senate armed forces committee.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/09/texas-ice-camp-abuse-immigration
Florida governor declares Muslim civil rights group a terrorist organization
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday designated one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the U.S. a “foreign terrorist organization,” following a similar step by Texas last month.
The directive against the Council on American-Islamic Relations comes in an executive order DeSantis posted on the social media site X. It also gives the same label to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Neither CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
The order instructs Florida agencies to prevent the two groups and those who have provided them material support from receiving contracts, employment and funds from a state executive or cabinet agency.
In an emailed statement, CAIR and its Florida chapter said the organization plans to sue DeSantis in response to what it called an “unconstitutional” and “defamatory” proclamation.
https://apnews.com/article/florida-desantis-muslim-group-terrorist-label-7113c982c43fed198cef9eaf85b23679
And here we go, back to the 19th century. Can we just secede from them?
Trump weighing Noem's ouster at Homeland Security
White House officials have grown frustrated with Kristi Noem’s leadership of the Department of Homeland Security, leading to calls for a new secretary to more aggressively support key parts of the president’s deportation agenda, two sources familiar with the situation told MS NOW.
President Trump is considering removing Noem as secretary as early as January, according to a White House official, a current federal official and two former Homeland Security officials.
Noem is on “very thin ice,” a White House official told MS NOW, adding she will likely be replaced early next year. The White House official added that Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff, is leading the charge to remove Noem.
Frustrations from Miller and other senior White House officials are two-fold. Noem isn’t moving fast enough to build out more detention centers with the money approved in Trump’s big summer spending bill, the White House official and a federal official said. The bill directed $170 billion toward immigration enforcement, with some $75 billion going to ICE alone. That massive cash infusion included $45 billion specifically for detention facilities.
Multiple governors have also called Trump personally and voiced frustration with Noem’s handling of FEMA and disaster relief funds, the White House official told MS NOW.
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-noem-dhs-homeland-security
The key phrase here is "Stephen Miller...is leading the charge". He's the shadow president, as we all know.
How do I post a video from my photo album?
This is one from my niece and it's too good not to share.
Zohran Mamdani tells immigrant New Yorkers about their right not to comply with ICE
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani posted a video to social media on Sunday explaining immigrants’ right to refuse to speak to or comply with agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, days after federal agents carried out a raid in Manhattan.
In the video, Mamdani vowed to protect the city’s 3 million immigrants, saying, “We can all stand up to ICE if you know your rights.”
He explained that people in the U.S. can chose not to speak to federal immigration agents, film them without interfering and refuse their requests to enter private spaces. ICE agents cannot enter spaces like a home, school or private area of a workplace without a judicial warrant signed by a judge, Mamdani said.
“ICE is legally allowed to lie to you, but you have the right to remain silent. If you’re being detained, you may always ask, ‘Am I free to go?’ repeatedly until they answer you,” said Mamdani, who will be sworn in as mayor on Jan 1.
https://apnews.com/article/zohran-mamdani-ice-b9584c354816e9b5a40912075e5e89d8
He's not doing anything illegal, merely reiterating immigrants' Constitutional rights, but Shitler will have an unholy fit over this, you can be sure
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Gender: Do not displayHome country: USA currently
Current location: Virginia
Member since: Wed Jun 1, 2011, 06:34 PM
Number of posts: 13,696