President Trump says he federalized the Washington police department and deployed the National Guard on the city’s streets in order to fight street crime and make people safer. However, it looks far more likely that he is trying to normalize the ubiquitous presence of military troops in civilian life.
Now that the Trump Administration’s ICE goons are sweeping up U.S. citizens along with illegal immigrants, there’s an opportunity for people who want a free trip overseas, and possibly a huge payout in the long run, at taxpayer expense.
The Trump Administration has used baseless accusations of anti-Semitism to shake hundreds of millions of dollars out of colleges and universities, just as it’s extracting protection money out of law firms, media companies and, now big banks. Because they’ve paid out, however, the public believes these schools tolerated anti-Semitic hate crimes from pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Ironically, there were no credible, well-sourced incidents at those protests.
Israel and its remaining supporters keep denying their blockade of food, water, fuel and medicine has caused famine in Gaza and is killing innocent people, including young children and babies. But there’s no denying the facts on the ground. Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians is well underway.
Whether it’s a long-running horror like Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians or a public health menace like smoking, humans tend not to act to put an end to it before a certain tipping point. It comes as small comfort to the victims, of course, that their sacrifice is simply a matter of timing and psychological consciousness.
When government offices like courthouses and ICE offices become traps for unsuspecting deportation victims, how long will it take before Trump weaponizes the post office and the DMV to lure in and assault ordinary people?
After more than a year of Israel’s relentless genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, establishment and mainstream people and institutions finally feel it is safe to criticize the Jewish state. This is the latest instance of a dispiriting aspect of social behavior. Most people can identify wrongdoing when they see it, but they will not call it out until it feels safe to do so. This is especially true when the perpetrator is rich or powerful. However, that can take a long time—so long that it is often too late for the victims.
Columbia University became the latest huge academic institution to kowtow to Donald Trump’s shakedown, agreeing to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars so they can get their research funding back. But Trump still hasn’t restored their accreditation. And there’s no assurance that Trump, like any mafia shakedown artist running a protection racket, won’t keep coming back for more.
Every day brings a new executive order by Donald Trump, many of which attempt to effect radical changes like abolishing the constitutional right to birthright citizenship. Many are also highly personal. How long before everyone gets their own personal executive order from the president telling them if and when they can go to the bathroom and whether it’s number one or number two?
Supporters and critics of Israel’s war against the civilians of Gaza keep arguing over whether the mass killings, famine, and ethnic cleansing amount to genocide. No doubt it does. But why are we arguing about semantics? Israel doesn’t dispute what it’s doing; they’re using the debate over the G-word as a distraction.
