Thirteen years ago today, 17-year-old Jordan Davis was shot and killed by a white man because he and his friends were playing “loud music” at a Florida gas station. After his senseless death, Jordan’s mother, @RepLucyMcBath, dedicated her life to ending gun violence, becoming a national leader with Moms Demand Action and @Everytown.
In Jordan’s honor, Lucy ran for and won a seat in Congress on a gun safety platform. She was re-elected to her fourth term last year. In that time, she helped pass the first major gun safety legislation in nearly three decades—the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
We are forever grateful to @RepLucyMcBath for turning her anguish over Jordan’s senseless death into action. We’ll continue to follow her lead. In Jordan’s honor, we fight for stronger gun laws alongside Lucy to spare other families this same pain.
The story below shows how lawless and belligerent ICE has gotten. The laws and the legal authority of a judge mean nothing to them. There is a video at the link below.
On a personal note I have a doctor’s appointment this morning for steroid injections. Depending on how it goes I may need them for the next three months. I will try to do a video to explain as it is too hard to type out. I am way too tired starting from when Ron and I had what we think is Covid a few months ago. Hugs
“If they had the wrong person, then they didn’t know who they were looking for, which calls into question whether they had the legal right to seize anybody,” Weizenbaum said. “It’s very frightening.”
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos referred to the ICE agents’ actions as an “attempted abduction,” adding that it only emphasizes “the danger of flooding our streets with masked thugs who can’t tell the difference between a hardened criminal and a high school student.”
A Rhode Island Superior Court intern was briefly taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Providence Thursday afternoon before a judge intervened, according to the state’s Judiciary office.
The student, a high school intern at Superior Court, was reportedly detained by the agents outside the Licht Judicial Complex on Benefit Street.
Superior Court Judge Joseph McBurney insisted the agents had the wrong person. It was not until ICE verified their information and admitted the intern was not their intended target that he was released.
Multiple sources told Target 12 that Rhode Island sheriffs earlier noticed someone taking photos of the intern inside the courthouse and in Superior Court Judge McBurney’s courtroom. When approached, the individual identified himself as an ICE agent and was told to abide by standard courthouse rules, and to stop taking pictures.
The intern was reportedly shaken, so McBurney offered to drive him home. ICE agents then surrounded the judge’s car and demanded everyone to exit the vehicle, threatening to smash in the windows if they did not comply.
Dana Smith, Head of Security Operations for R.I. Superior Court, confronted the agents and told both the judge and the intern to stay inside the car. After an argument, ICE confirmed they had misidentified the teen and left. The intern was released once his ID was checked.
Community reaction
“This egregious incident underscores both the community’s and the Judiciary’s concerns about how ICE is conducting its operations in Rhode Island,” R.I. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell said.
Citing that climate, Suttell said the Judiciary understands recent calls to expand the use of virtual court hearings in Providence.
“The need to balance constitutional considerations, the public’s right of access, and the integrity of testimonial and evidentiary processes do not allow for a fully virtual court system,” Suttell said. “What occurred today, however, reinforces the Judiciary’s need to focus on ways to enhance access to virtual hearings and to educate the public as to how to request such hearings.”
Attorney Miriam Weizenbaum was outside the courthouse as the intern was being detained.
“If they had the wrong person, then they didn’t know who they were looking for, which calls into question whether they had the legal right to seize anybody,” Weizenbaum said. “It’s very frightening.”
Gov. Dan McKee described the intern’s wrongful detainment as being “an outrageous and indefensible act that could have completely upended a young person’s life. “
“Rhode Islanders should not have to fear federal agents operating with such reckless disregard for the law and human dignity,” McKee said. “This was not a harmless mistake. It was the direct result of callous and chaotic policies by the Trump administration. Moreover, ICE’s failure to exercise even a shred of due diligence is shameful and underscores just how broken and dangerous these federal policies are.”
McKee said he supports the judiciary’s commitment “to enhance access to virtual hearings and promote safe access to courts.”
Rep. Seth Magaziner called the incident “completely unacceptable.”
“This is yet another example of the disregard for civil liberties by immigration enforcement under the Trump administration,” Magaziner said, adding that he will “continue to call out the administration’s reckless actions.”
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos referred to the ICE agents’ actions as an “attempted abduction,” adding that it only emphasizes “the danger of flooding our streets with masked thugs who can’t tell the difference between a hardened criminal and a high school student.”
Matos commended Judge McBurney for using his position to speak up, while condemning those who continue to support ICE.
Tim White (twhite@wpri.com) is Target 12 managing editor and chief investigative reporter and host of Newsmakers for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.
I’d been thinking of this song over this past week; today I was pleased to see it on another blog, so this one from the Isley Brothers is my choice. There are other covers, maybe almost equal to this one, which you can see at the page linked “another blog.” Enjoy! It’s smooth.
In response to recent letters deeply concerned about the election of socialists: I don’t like excessive government ownership of the means of production or of businesses either. Though President Trump doesn’t seem to mind direct government stakes in publicly traded corporations, that seems a bit too socialist for me.
But as for other issues typically supported by American socialists: How much do you really want to oppose higher taxation of the very rich in order to redistribute wealth more appropriately? How much can we object to raising a federal minimum wage level that hasn’t changed since 2009 while the cost of living has increased far beyond it? How much can we oppose the freedom to unionize so that workers have a greater chance against large corporate employers?
People toss around the word “socialism” as if it were like anthrax. I think of it, though, as being more like salt. Though countries like Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea fell into it so heavily that it became worse than unpalatable, that’s not a reason to treat socialism as if it were categorically poisonous. You can kill a recipe with too much salt, but do you really want to do without it?
John Groff
Allentown
Don’t pay legislators who don’t pass budget
Thank goodness the state budget has been passed. The four-month delay caused chaos for many school systems, counties and nonprofits in the commonwealth. Loans had to be taken, layoffs were required and uncertainty created stress on many. This mess was caused because our elected officials didn’t do their No. 1 job, pass a budget by June 30.
That date used to be important. Now it’s treated as just a guideline. Our legislators are some of the highest paid in the country, but they don’t deserve their salary if they fail this basic responsibility. I believe that the next politician to run on the motto “No budget, no pay” would win in a landslide. As I stand on the street corner during the 2026 primary season, my sign will read just that: No budget, no pay!
Joan Howe
Bethlehem Township
Trump should have reported Epstein’s crimes
In Pennsylvania any teacher, social worker, church member, medical employee, law enforcement officer — anyone who has any contact with young people — has to register with the state. This involves fingerprinting, several hours of training, and a background investigation. Once you jump through these hoops and pass the tests, you are then a “mandated reporter.” This means that, if you suspect that a child has been abused, trafficked or neglected in any way, you are required by the Child Protective Services Law to report the situation. Not to your principal, not to the director of your social agency or hospital network, not to the head of your church or organization. You are given a phone number to call at the Department of Human Services. Failure to report abuse immediately at this number will result in your being charged with a misdemeanor or, in some cases, a felony.
That the president of the United States, even though perhaps he did not approve of Jeffrey Epstein’s behavior, did not report to anyone what Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were up to is unconscionable and amoral. He didn’t get charged. He got elected to the highest office in the country. What’s wrong with this picture? What’s wrong with this country?
JoAnn Klucsarits
Walnutport
Will everyone really be able to use White House?
Since the White House is the people’s house and it was said after construction it’s going to be magnificent and everyone is going to use it: Can I have my next birthday party there?
Beth Laury
Allentown
Trump is wrong about food prices
How can our president say food prices are way down? Did he ever buy food in a grocery store for his family? Who is telling him all these lies? I’d like to have him come here and check out food prices in our grocery stores.
I don’t think it will change his mind. But one can hope for a miracle.
Ron Snyder
North Whitehall Township
The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com.The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.
“I’m you from the future, where your fate is entirely decided by the whims of a few billionaires whom you’ll never meet, so I don’t really have anything to tell you, advice-wise!”
“You know the game: run around the store, pick up a few essentials, and try to not somehow spend two hundred dollars!”
Most of these are female dominated professions AND Mandated Reporters.
A mandated reporter is a professional legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect of vulnerable individuals, such as children, elders, or disabled persons . Failure to report can result in criminal charges or loss of licensure.
Bee brings us the Black Pumas, and a bit of commentary that begins, “One aspect of a peaceful existence is to consider our fellow humans as our family not our enemies.” Precisely!
My selection is this story, with The BeeGees performing Bob Dylan and then their own peace music. It’s an excellent story, and very good performances! Their own song is equal, at least, to Bob Dylan’s, but Barry Gibb discusses Bob Dylan’s influence on his music.
In 1962, the Australian Army began its formal military commitment to the U.S war in Vietnam. Two years later, young men were required to register for the National Service scheme and forced to fight in a bloody war that would enlist over 80,000 Australians. Over the next 11 years, 523 Australians died in battle and nearly 2400 were wounded before the country withdrew.
The fear of being sent to Vietnam to kill or be killed for the government struck fear into the hearts of many young Australians in 1963. That’s why three teenage boys, Barry (17), Robin (14), and Maurice (14) Gibb, The Bee Gees, took their big moment on Australian TV to speak truth to power by singing Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” The Bee Gees were relative unknowns that night on Bandstand, but by the end of the decade, they would be among the biggest acts in the world.
The Bee Gees sang ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ on Australian TV in 1963
“Blowin’ in the Wind,” released earlier that year, asks fundamental questions about war, racial justice, and whether humanity will ever live in peace and equality. The song would become one of the most important anthems in the Civil Rights and peace movements of the ‘60s and beyond.
Barry Gibb, now 79, says that even as a teenager, he completely understood why Dylan’s song needed to be heard. “I was rapidly approaching the time when I would have to register for the draft,” he told Upworthy in an exclusive interview. “It’s hard to explain that period, except that everyone was very worried, very worried, and Bob Dylan was our hero.”
“The Vietnam War was such chaos to the Australian people that it shadowed everything. I wrote a song called ‘And the Children Laughing’ because of what Bob Dylan had written. It’s about life and dying, and the idea that you would die for your country or go and kill people you don’t know. And I don’t want to go kill people. It was not on the table for me. So everything he wrote touched me deeply,” Gibb continued.
Why don’t you get on your feet
It’s about time you got to think
Whatever happened to peace?
Well, open your eyes and you’ll see children laughing
Voices singin’, hearts a-beatin’ ah…
Barry Gibb has always believed in peace
(snip-there MORE; it’s not too long, but this is a long post with the music)
We get Mississippi Kites in late Spring; they’re about gone now. They give amazing air shows! Watching them makes a day better.-Ali
About
With pearlescent gray feathers and a sleek silhouette, the Mississippi Kite glides gracefully through the skies on wingbeats that manage to look effortless. While this medium-sized raptor with long, pointed wings and a squared-off tail may resemble a Peregrine Falcon in flight, the Mississippi Kite’s bouyant and easy flight can quickly distinguish it from the rapid, businesslike flight of the falcon. Its aerial acrobatics have earned the kite nicknames like “Hovering Kite.”
A long-distance migratory species, the Mississippi Kite breeds throughout the southern and central United States, making use of wooded areas in a range of settings — in large, low-lying forest tracts, windbreaks (stands of wind-resistant trees and shrubs) in prairies, and even in urban settings. Their habitat use and even their social behaviors vary throughout their range, with kites in the west being more likely to nest in colonies than their counterparts in the east.
Threats
The global Mississippi Kite population is increasing, and its range has expanded into parts of the Southwest since the mid-20th century. Even so, the cumulative impacts from threats like habitat degradation and loss, pesticide use, and collisions may make the Mississippi Kite more vulnerable across parts of its range.
Scottie's Playtime 
