ICE – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Sunday Morning Reading

Football, opera, dying newspapers and politics are on the menu

Somehow amidst all we’re living through in the dual state of America it’s the Sunday of the Super Bowl. A dual state that will feature dueling half time spectacles. Apparently we have nothing better to fight over. Go figure. Even so, there’s Sunday Morning Reading to share on a variety of topics amidst it all. I’m avoiding links on Artificial Intelligence this Sunday, because I shared a few in a post on that topic earlier. If you’re interested you can find that here. So, onward.

Kicking off, Jason Snell penned a post on Apple’s Long History With The Super Bowl. Call me old fashioned but when a sports contest becomes as much about the commercials and half-time shows, I don’t think anybody wins regardless of how many points anyone scores.

If football or sports aren’t your cup of tea, perhaps the arts are. Ronald Blum tells us about ‘Monster’s Paradise,’ Lampooning US President Donald Trump, Has World Premiere At Hamburg Opera. It’s inspired by Alfred Jarry’s play “Ubu Roi.” I imagine it will be quite some time, if ever, we see this on an American opera stage. Although I can dream of seeing it at the Kennedy Center, restored from Trump’s desecrations long after he’s gone. (This week’s image above is a publicity still from the Hamburg State Opera.)

Media attention on ICE atrocities may be fading at the moment, but ProPublica continues to do excellent investigative work on the subject even after the headlines fade. Check out The Real Story Behind The Midnight Immigration Raid On A Chicago Apartment Building by Melissa Sanchez and Jodi S. Cohen.

It’s tough to keep up with the avalanche of things rolling our way. That’s certainly been true with the torrent of news surrounding the partial release of the Epstein files. There’s so much information that I can’t imagine anyone trying to sum it all up, and yet, Elizabeth Lopatto might have come damn near close in her piece, How The Men In The Epstein Files Defeated #MeToo. It’s a bigger article with an even more powerful scope than the #MeToo in the headline suggests.

Also addressing the scope of that mess, Anand Giridharadas says It’s So Much Bigger Than Epstein. I agree.

JA Westenberg tackles The Coherence Premium. No real hints here beyond this quote: “When I say coherence, I mean something specific: the degree to which every part of an operation derives from the same understanding, the same model of reality and set of priorities and tradeoffs.”

Ashley Parker writes about The Murder of The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, David Todd McCarty suggests that The Return of The Local Newspaper may be the path to reclaiming power over information and securing democracy. It certainly might beat the ways we seem to be trying now

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Ian McKellen, Thomas More, Shakespeare, and The Strangers’ Case

Watch this

There really is nothing new under the sun. Man’s “mountainous inhumanity” is something that’s always been with us. We constantly need to remind ourselves of that when it comes to our current moment, especially as relates to our current ICE capades.

Ian McKellen appeared recently on The Late Night With Stephen Colbert for an extended interview in which he recited a 400-year-old monologue from the play Sir Thomas Moore, that speaks to directly to the plight of immigrants.

You can watch the clip below. It should be cued to the monologue. In case it’s not, the monologue begins at roughly 22:16 in the 26 minutes interview. Naturally I’d recommend watching the entire thing.

For an intriguing bit of context, the play largely thought to have been originally written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, but contains pages attributed to Shakespeare and others in what was largely a collaborative effort over time as it passed from troupe to troupe. Which is when Shakespeare would have entered the picture. Of course, Shakespeare’s authorship has been debated as it always is. If interested, you can check out a Wikipedia entry on the play and its history that will give you some idea.

McKellen stepped into the play for the first time in 1964 after the original actor left the production due to artistic differences.

Setting aside authorship debates, the 400-year-old speech certainly speaks to our current moment as it has through generations, even if the play has been rarely performed live in its 400-year-old history.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

A Question for Senate Democrats: Which Side Are You On?

Showing up is half the battle

Each time I try to lower my blood pressure a bit and calm down about the abhorrent political situation we’re living through in this country, something else pops and causes it to spike again. This time it’s the Democrats in the Senate.

It’s bad enough that we have to deal with the shit that’s continually dumped on us from the Trump regime, but when the Democrats have a chance to at least show up and threaten a fight they seem to forget that showing up is more than half the battle.

Both branches of Congress decided to split out DHS funding from the recently passed appropriations bills, leading to what most presume is a ridiculous two week timeline to debate changes for that appropriation. Call me skeptical, but I see that as another Lucy and the football moment just waiting to play out.

But it gets worse. The Democrats, according to this report from Politico, decided to strip from their demands a requirement banning ICE agents from polling sites.

If it seems feckless, that’s because it is.

At the very least include the requirement as a demand and make the GOP work to negotiate it away. Given words coming out of the White House about nationalizing voting and the pot stirring of its allies, you’d think they’d at least pay lip service to the threat. From a pure political standpoint I don’t understand the rationalization for this move given what we’ve seen with our own eyes and the words we’re hearing.

If Pete Seeger was alive today I’m sure he’d still be singing.

Treading Through the Storms

Rough weather on all fronts still ahead.

Those blobs on weather radar maps that blanketed vast amounts of the U.S this past weekend felt not just predictive, but also somewhat defining. The traditional red and blue color schemes signaling rough weather almost hinted at our political and social divisions, reminding those that pay attention that Mother Nature doesn’t pick sides when she chooses to show her wrath.

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And she’s tossing a torrent in this, our winter of discontent. Weather, politics, culture and technology all seem to be conspiring to obscure our view in a swirling tempest that chills to the bone, while boiling the blood.

We’ve all seen movies where folks get lost in winter terrain during a storm and can’t find their bearings. It feels like we’re all in that movie, or maybe it’s a stultified streaming series, given how it just keeps stringing us along and clogging up the queue, long after we’ve figured out the formula.

But this is a tortuous tempest. Minneapolis murders. Booting Bovino (or not?) Now US owned TikTok being more ruthless censoring than the Chinese. The gun nuts prematurely treading all over their cherished 2nd amendment, only to retreat after the muzzle blew up in their faces with the shots they just fired. Tim Cook continuing to debase himself and Apple by attending the Melania premiere at the White House. ICE here, there, and everywhere including the Winter Olympics. Consumer confidence hitting a 12-year low. The Doomsday Clock moving closer to midnight. Greenland. Venezuela. Canada. Europe. Iran.

Billy Joel in his heyday would have a rough time chronicling all that’s currently swirling in this winter’s winds for a new version of We Didn’t Start the Fire.

I’m not sure if we’ve reached a tipping point, but it feels like we’re closer to it than we have been since these idiots started shredding all of the life preservers and poking holes in the rowboats on their version of the Titanic. (Thanks for that reference J.D. Vance.)

They wanted to flood the zone with shit so that we couldn’t keep up. By and large they’ve succeeded to this point, but you can sense that the smell may be shifting. There’s chaos all over, but there’s just as much chaos in their inner sanctums as they try to trim sails to survive the storms they’ve created. Small victories add up. Take the wins when they happen and build on that.

It’s up to us to keep the pressure on, because if you’re relying on any of those lifeboats or life preservers (Congress, media, the business community) we’re all going to freeze before we go under with them.

It’s not going to happen overnight. There will be setbacks. It’s One Battle After Another. (Talk about a prescient film release.)

No one knows how this is going to end. No one knows when it’s going to end. No one knows what will be once it does end. But certainly it will end.

Rough weather still ahead. Uncharted waters in a storm. No horizon in sight.

Bundle up. Buckle up. Trust your own compass. Follow the lead of the good folks from Minneapolis causing good trouble. As my friend, David Todd McCarty says, Stand Your Ground.

(Photo by Viktor Mogilat on Unsplash)

Cracks In The ICE Are Showing: Keep The Pressure Up

Winter irony alert

Here’s an update to this post from earlier today. It’s being reported that Greg Bovino has been relieved of duty and sent home. He has also reportedly lost access to his social media accounts. Let’s hope the reports are accurate, and even if not they add to the pressure. Pressure works. Keep it up.

After another weekend filled with horrendous news as most of the country weathered a massive winter storm that left snow and ice everywhere, it appears that are a few cracks starting to show in the ICE. To be honest, I’m actually surprised.

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Word is that the latest murder in Minneapolis is giving quite a few so-called Republicans cold feet in Washington DC and elsewhere. The apparent leading candidate for the GOP nomination for governor of Minnesota has withdrawn his candidacy in the wake of what’s happening.

Apparently the White House is also putting on heavy socks and trying to tiptoe out from under the fallout. Or so the reporting says. The guy who passes for a president is sending in Tom Homan to try and clean up the mess, which I’m sure he’ll attempt to do for the right amount of cash in a Cava bag.

Heck, even a few GOP congressional critters are making noise. But I’m sure that will soften as the week goes on. I mean there’s a government they need to pretend to run.

And there’s the rub. The government is facing another potential partial shutdown at the end of the week. The House passed that legislation on to the Senate, with the help of seven Democrats voting for it, without whom the bill would have failed. Senators are hinting they’ll hold the line after this latest murder, but I wouldn’t count on it in the end.

I’m hoping the Senators and all of those who were out and about in horrendous weather protesting this weekend keep the pressure up to widen those cracks in the ICE were hearing before this cold snap ends and things begin melting. It would be both a positive for us all and also be quite ironic.

Will it stop things? I doubt it. There will probably be a doubling down. But in my opinion either way the heat needs to ratchet up and keep the pressure building.

I also encourage you to read this piece by Popehat called We Should Talk About The Morality of Political Violence.

I earnestly hope things pull back from the dangerous way they seem to be heading. I also earnestly hope those who can keep the pressure up will continue, so that the lives lost in Minnesota and elsewhere (there have been others less publicized) won’t have been lost in vain.

(Image from Emily Lauren on Unsplash.

Try

Another shooting in Minneapolis

Following the general strikes in Minnesota yesterday and in the wake of yet another horrific shooting in Minneapolis this morning, this brilliant YouTube from Ana Marie Cox filtered through my feeds. Using Nemick’s speech from Andor as a eulogy for Renee Nicole Good, it’s powerful stuff.

Watch it the video below. Share it. Do so often. Because I think we’re going to be faced with more of this in the future.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

At some point the rock breaks

Not many words to share. Sad. Beyond angry about the tragic events in Minneapolis today. Yet another death, yet more of the same tired lies justifying it. This isn’t the first death at the hands of this abhorrent administration. It is another. There have been several since ICE was unleashed on this country. There will be more.

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The administration is saying what you expect them to. It’s a litany we’re all too familiar with. Leaders in Minneapolis and around the country are saying what you expect them to also, another litany trying to prevent what I maintain is all but inevitable.

There is no way out of this but through it. Through it is perilous. So is standing put.

When you’re caught between a rock and hard place, at some point the rock breaks and the hard place gets harder.

Sunday Morning Reading

Boulder bustling

The world prepares to begin a new year and wakes up to an entirely new world. Or does it?

You go to bed on a Friday night with the holiday season inching to a close and wake up on Saturday morning and your country is running Venezuela after invading it and kidnapping its president and his wife. Or so the narrative on Sunday morning goes. I’m sure it will change by the time we get to midweek. Yeah, it was that kind of weekend and that will be reflected in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading along with a host of other topics.

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I’ll lead off with a few in the moment takes on what happened in Venezuela yesterday. Note that in the moment takes often fade once the moment has its moment.

First up, David Frum says that Trump’s Critics Are Falling Into An Obvious Trap. Frankly, whether you’re a critic or a MAGA hat wearing supporter we’ve all fallen for so many obvious traps, what’s one more?

Thinking bigger picture, Tom Nichols thinks Maybe Russia and China Should Sit This One Out. They need to stop laughing first.

In the wake of the news, Carole Cadwalladr sees “a mass propaganda event” about to engulf the US in her piece, The Threat From America. She’s correct.

Written before the events of this weekend, Mathew Walther’s The Strange Death of Make America Great Again may seem out of place and time as it focuses on the MAGA culture wars within itself. I would venture that it is not, so stay tuned.

Turning to more local concerns that resonate alongside the global news, the folks at Block Club Chicago including Francia Garcia Hernádez and Madison Savedra have an excellent look at How Operation Midway Blitz Changed Our City in Chicago Under Siege.

As if not to be left out of the making bad news moment, Elon Musk’s back in the swing of things with his AI tool Grok allowing users to essentially turn X into a porn machine using photos of real folks to wreak havoc. Just note that X is still the social media platform of choice for far too many. Matteo Wong has the story in Elon Musk’s Pornography Machine.

Cory Doctorow published the text of a recent speech called A Post-American, Enshittification-Resistant Internet. He continues fighting the good fight like Sisyphus with that boulder.

JA Westenberg makes The Case For Blogging In The Ruins.

And to close out the week when holiday close out sales come to an end, Jake Lundberg takes a look at The Cult of Costco. Great piece whether you shop there or not.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Apple’s Freezing Out Another ICE Related App: DeICER

Apple continues working for ICE

I’ve linked to coverage about Apple purging apps that are designed to help those looking to protect themselves from the Trump regime’s ICE actions including ICEBlock and Eyes Up. Add another one to the list, this time the app is called DeICER.

According to Pablo Manríquez of Migrant Insider, DeICER is a “civic-reporting app used to log immigration enforcement activity.”

Manríquez goes on to suggest that Apple effectively is treating federal immigration agents as a protected class of individuals. HIs article also includes an account of an interview with the app’s developer Rafel Concepcion over Apple pulling the app and the app’s intended purpose. It is worth a read.

In Chicago, these are dangerous and confusing times, even more so depending on who you are, what you look like and where you live. With a largely unhelpful media, it is challenging for anyone concerned to find accurate info or, as in the case of Eyes Up, preserve what they may have seen or recorded. Do note that recording info with smartphones is one of the methods of resistance Illinois and Chicago officials are encouraging citizens to perform in the face of these actions.

Even so, there are areas of Chicago wherein you would never know this kind of thing is happening. Local independent media is stepping up its game, but unfortunately doesn’t have the reach that large outlets do.

Apple isn’t alone in their cowardly actions. Google is also pulling apps of similar ilk. Both companies are referring to their respective App Store guidelines in their defense of their actions with Apple telling Concepcion,

Information provided to Apple by law enforcement shows that your app violates Guideline 1.1.1 … because its purpose is to provide location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group.

These ICE enforcement actions want to project toughness in their aim to intimidate and harass, but by and large each of these maneuvers to hide what they are doing only serves to show how afraid those responsible for these actions actually are of the chaos, fear, and harm they are causing, regardless of the chest-thumping content they are creating on their raids.

The only ones who appear more afraid are Apple and the other big tech and media companies that keep going along to get along.

Apple Bans “Eyes Up” A Video Archival App For Perserving Video of ICE Actions

Stephen Miller wishes he had Apple’s plenary powers

Apple is at it again as it works hard to keep in the evil regime’s favor, banning yet another app. The latest target, Eyes Up is “dedicated to preserving video evidence of ICE abuses until it can be used in court.”

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According to the report from 404 Media, the developers of Eyes Up state that unlock ICEBlock, an app Apple banned last week that allows uses to track ICE actions, Eyes Up does not do real-time tracking of ICE Actions.

The Eyes Up website is still up and can be used for the same video archiving purposes with content uploaded from TikTok, Instagram or X and include “a mix of professional media reports and user-generated clips of ICE arrests.”

Apple’s cowardly capitulations and its own plenary actions here are bad enough. As wrong as they are, they seem beyond odd, given that ICE itself has camera crews filming their actions and creating content about their actions to broadcast as it seems fit in its own promotional videos. Talk about a disconnect.