It’s from a year ago even though it showed up in my phone stream-thing last night. It’s good, so here it is. ALSO: remember he’s hosting The Daily Show Tues. through Thurs. this coming week-yay!
We Are The Ones
Checking In; Love Is The Ultimate Resistance!
🫶 💖 🌻 ☮
Hi, there. I bet everyone who reads and writes here, is unhappy and at least a little apprehensive about the state of the USA. Everywhere we turn, there is another story of an illegal and outrageous action that our current administration has ordered our government to perform. So, I’m also certain I’m not the only one who feels the USA is in living nightmare territory. And then, we being who we are, we are also informed as to how the entire planet is undergoing increasing violence to itself and to people everywhere. Meanwhile, all that could be dissonant with our immediate surroundings, which increases the anxiety and/or whichever symptom/s we may have going.
For instance, while Ollie and I were outside playing this evening, we heard a great deal of “show-offy” driving in our area. Tonight’s high school game is Homecoming, which is celebrated by the town for a couple of days prior to the game, then the students get their celebration during half-time and after the game. Some of those students I had when they were kindergarteners and up, in the after-schools where I worked. Also, many alumnae have their reunions over Homecoming weekend. Fall Fest happens tomorrow and Sunday morning. Among other things, there are apple cider slushies at Fall Fest! So there is more traffic, and the younger people drive as if they’re Masters of the Universe (some of the old guys, if they have a muscle car to show off, drive just like that, too!) A person can almost forget about everything negative except hoping that no one is injured in the game, and that no one drives impaired tonight. A nice, relaxing evening, going into the night.
Then the other reality comes that some of the people who are here will not have a job to work on Monday, or a student won’t have a para, a nurse’s aide will be overworked and underpaid, and so on. Some of it due to the federal shutdown, or shutdown “related” cuts, some due to cuts that have been ongoing since January. Prices are still high; my own city has not cut services but has not replaced personnel who have moved on, so services are affected negatively for people who live here; more cities than not have done the same. It’s always something, everywhere. It’s a lot, and it’s overwhelming. And there are still the good and nice things happening within miles of us, or next door, or our own homes, too. It’s enough to explode a head!
So I thought I’d write in. None of us is alone. Everyone is at least stressed, so first, I want to check on people, see how you’re doing, see if you want to vent in comments, or ask questions, or share whatever you care to share. I know it’s a little late, at least on the East coast, but, well, this’ll be here all weekend.
I’ll share a little bit of a way to maybe work with/around what’s happening in everyone’s world. There is a saying: “Do small things with great love.” It may sound too easy, but it’s really not-it’s exactly what we all need: to show love and show how to show love so that everyone catches a ripple and does it, too. Most of us can do little if anything about the world-wide violence, but waving at our neighbor, offering a hello at the store or someplace, and simply smiling at people while looking at them will make a difference. And doing these things is actually being part of the resistance. Love is the ultimate resistance!
Finally, interestingly, when we do small things with great love, it’s almost as if someone did that for us, too, even if they really didn’t! It’s amazing how it works, but it does.
So, I hope everyone rests easily tonight, and gets some early sunshine when we get up. Enjoy the view at a local river side, and some chalk art I did during the pandemic.
Supreme Court lets Trump strip deportation protections for Venezuelan migrants
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
Supreme Court lets Trump strip deportation protections for Venezuelan migrants
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
Kansas Supreme Court Delivers Big Win For Driver’s License Gender Markers
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
800 arrests amid Chicago immigration ‘blitz’ of helicopters and midnight raids
The USpublic is under assault from the government. In this raid against black people most were US citizens. It was a happy community. ICE made women and children go outside zip tied NUDE. Kids tied up NUDE! They help at least one US citizen for 0ver 3 hours zip tied even though he said he was a citizen and they refused to accept anything until they looked him up. Over 3 hours later. They used Appachie military helicopters in the US on US citizens and totally ignored all civil rights. Anyone who now thinks they are safe are maga white supremacists who don’t realize the country they are pushing for. The lost of every right the government don’t want you to have to voice your thoughts on anything negitive to the state. Just like the right is trying to claim that even legal immigrant here legally by law are the democrats trying to give free health care is giving it to illegals. Hugs
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
800 arrests amid Chicago immigration ‘blitz’ of helicopters and midnight raids
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
THE GUARDIAN: ‘They never told me where I was going’: a family falls into Louisiana’ s ‘black hole’ of deportation
‘They never told me where I was going’: a family falls into Louisiana’s ‘black hole’ of deportation
Exclusive: A mother and her two US citizen children – including one with stage 4 cancer – disappeared and were deported to Honduras
Read in The Guardian: https://apple.news/A6C4SVyMiTRmEOO_ly-O0jw
Shared from Apple News
Best Wishes and Hugs,Scottie
THE HILL: GOP on shaky ground with claim about Democrats’ shutdown demands
GOP on shaky ground with claim about Democrats’ shutdown demands
Amid a stalemate over government funding, Republicans have repeatedly accused Democrats of demanding free health care for immigrants in the country illegally in return for their support of a federal funding bill.
Read in The Hill: https://apple.news/ANQEsefbDQyO-I6ii6Vct2A
Shared from Apple News
Best Wishes and Hugs,Scottie
It’s not just a shutdown. I’m afraid of what this means for our democracy. | Your Turn
Check out this article from USA TODAY:
It’s not just a shutdown. I’m afraid of what this means for our democracy. | Your Turn
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
See Beethoven’s 9th-
Flowers & The Military
Maybe we all live in red states, and this won’t be a thing with which we deal (just maybe.) But, just in case, here is a pointer for coping. Pass it along!
As the Military Occupies your Town, Give them Flowers and a Note
Arnold Oliver 10/02/2025
An anti-Vietnam demonstration. Arlington, Virginia, USA. By S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson. Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. – This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 594360. Public Domain. Via Picryl.
Tiffin, Ohio (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – During some of the large anti-war demonstrations during the 1960’s some of the protesters gave flowers to the troops faced off against them. In the 1967 March on the Pentagon it was the 503rd Military Police Battalion, and elsewhere the National Guard was deployed. An iconic photo from 1967 shows a young man placing a flower into a soldier’s gun barrel during the protest. Let’s bring that custom back when the US military occupies your town in 2025, but this time let’s include a note along with the flower.
Allow me to explain.
The demonstrators of the 1960’s understood that the soldiers faced off against him were not the enemy. Nearly all of the soldiers were young and patriotic and trying to do the right thing. Many of them were under economic hardship and wanted help paying for their education. The flower symbolized the protesters’ belief that the soldiers were not their enemies, and they did not wish to be theirs. And in fact, as the almost entirely peaceful protests grew, many soldiers came to sympathize and began to actively oppose the war as well.
Now we have federalized Guard troops being called out by President Trump in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Portland with other cities soon to follow. Chicago is likely next. The authority for this is said to be Title Ten of the US Code which says that the president may federalize the National Guard if the US “is invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation; there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion . . or the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
Legitimate grounds for a US military or National Guard deployment do not exist. The claim that crime is spiraling out of control is false, and those pushing for the deployments know it. There is zero credible proof that crime is increasing. According to a recent FBI report (August, 2025) robbery, assault, rape and murder all continued a decline that began post-covid. We are not being invaded, there is no rebellion, and the laws are being enforced about as well as ever.
A second reason against deploying the military on our streets is that the Posse Comitatus act of 1878 forbids the use of US military forces within the country for active law enforcement except in exceptional circumstances such as insurrection, and explicitly approved by Congress. The military is forbidden from making arrests, conducting searches, issuing warrants, or interfering with local law enforcement. The law also applies to National Guard forces unless approved by state governors. No governors this year have made any requests for federalized National Guard troops.
And it is worth noting that Trump’s military forays into cities are only being used in areas run by Democratic officials. High crime in red state cities is ignored. And the Trump administration refuses to realize the obvious danger of political violence and threats from MAGA and the American right which are much higher than those from the left, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and others. Antifa is officially (and improperly) designated as domestic terrorists while violent right wing groups get a pass from the administration.
The President’s rhetoric seems aimed at inflaming and dividing. The “enemy from within”, “full force”, “thugs”, “vermin”, and much more. And there is hardly a peep of protest from the Republican party.
So this time around, how about if we give the troops a note along with the flower? You could use wording such as this:
Dear US soldier –
Your service oath included a pledge to uphold the US constitution, and your training taught you to disobey illegal orders.The orders sending you here (insert name of your city or town) are unlawful and unjust. You have a legal obligation to disobey.
We encourage you to go home, and we will support you in that decision.
About the Author
Arnold Oliver is an emeritus professor of political science at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. A Vietnam veteran, he belongs to Veterans For Peace, and can be reached at soliver@heidelberg.edu.
