Update no.1224

 Update from the Heartland

No.1224

23.6.25 – 29.6.25

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

The U.S. Supreme Court considered the appeal of a 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the case of United States v. Skrmetti [605 U.S. ____ (2025)]. The 6-3 ideologically divided Court affirmed the Circuit Court’s judgment. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority. The case centered upon a Tennessee law created by SB1 that prohibited gender-affirming medical care to minor children in the state. The argument among the justices involved what level of judicial scrutiny the case warranted. The majority decided the lowest level of analysis would suffice—rational basis review. The dissent insisted that the facts justified intermediate scrutiny. That judgment alone allowed the conservative majority to wave their hands dismissively regarding the rights of individual children and their parents. 

At issue is the authority of a State to intervene in the medical treatment of a teenager or minor child. Like any other medical treatment, informed consent is essential. In the case of minor children that decision rests with the parents or legal guardians. Part of that informed consent is the advice of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the benefits, risks, and efficacy of any treatment process. The majority argues that that this case is not about sex. The argument is outrageous. By the very essence of the case, it is about sex. The majority does not want it to be about sex, because they do not want increased scrutiny of the fundamentals of the case.

Associate Justice Thomas, as he often does in such cases, provided a concurring opinion, in which he asserts that the law exceeds the medical expertise in determining the best medical treatment for medical matters. He invariably reverts to his strict constructionist ideology. The Tennessee SB1 law may not be explicitly about sex, but the central topic and issue is emphatically about sex. His convoluted reasoning is an insult to all transgender individuals of any age.

Associate Justice Alito treated us to a really lame assessment in his concurring opinion as to why he believed trans-gender individuals do not deserve the protecton of enhanced scrutiny in their claims before the court. The undercurrent beneath his words suggest he holds considerable animus toward anyone not like him. By his words, he has no clue regarding sex discrimination in general and especially with respect to trans-gender individuals.

In her dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Sotomayor provided real world examples of teenage minor children dealing with gender dysphoria. She put a live face on the issue before the Court. She does a masterful job of debunking the majority opinion and clearly stating why the majority should not have been so dismissive of the medical issues faced by the parents of minor children with faced with gender dysphoria.

While this ruling does not establish new federal legal position, it does directly affect residents of Tennessee, and worse, it signals to other conservative states that they too can pass discriminatory laws against minor children dealing with some form of gender dysphoria. Medical treatment is not a legal matter; it IS a medical issue. The assessment of risk and benefit in any medical treatment for a minor child rests with the parents and legal guardians, NOT with any state legislature, which leads me to ask, where are the parents in all this? As best I can determine, the SB1 law and the Supreme’s Skrmetti ruling virtually ignore the parents in the decision-making process. The social conservatives in legislatures and sitting in judgment in the courts are imposing their beliefs on all citizens. They are superseding the judgments of parents and medical professionals. As with the conservative faction’s grossly wrong ruling in Dobbs {[597 U. S. 215 (2022)] [1067, 1068]}, the same conservative majority once again demonstrated, the conservatives are quite comfortable imposing their beliefs, their perspectives, their opinions on all citizens. This is what the strict constructionists like Thomas and Alito bring us—regression.

The judicial conservatives want to revert all cases not explicitly and precisely written in the U.S. Constitution back to the states for judgment. They conveniently ignore the protection of human rights for all citizens. Human rights cannot be parsed by state. The Supremes are allowing the states to interfere directly in the progressive advance of medicine, asserting that the politicians in state legislatures know best. In medicine, efficacy determines what procedures and processes are retained and advanced. Parents are in the best possible position to assess the appropriateness of any medical treatment for their child.

If you only listen to or favor the critics more so than the beneficiaries, then you take on a lopsided or biased perspective. The majority has definitely fallen victim to the biased phenomenon of the religious right and social conservatives. Looking back at virtually every medical advance in history, there were substantial dissenting factions and forecasts of doom & gloom—vaccines, radiation, transplants et al ad infinitum.

The Skrmetti decision is typical, if not classic, moral projection by conservatives. It is sad, if not tragic, that this bunch has so little compassion for other citizens, especially those who are dealing with deeply personal and private medical issues. These are the times in which we live.

 

As if we needed more examples of the gauche, crass character of our current  employee occupying the White House Oval Office, [no name] held an impromptu Press gathering on the lawn as he departed for a NATO summit conference in the Netherlands. Reporters asked him questions about including one about the recent air raids on the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). He answered in part, and I quote, “They have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they are doing. Do you understand that?” And then, he waddled off to the waiting and turning Marine One helicopter. He has had a hair trigger temper all his adult life and probably since he was a toddler learning to speak. As is so often the case these days, I can agree with his point, but I strongly object to the way he chooses to deliver his perspective.

 

The de facto penchant of the U.S. Supreme Court to release controversial rulings at the end of each session remains the Court’s modus operandi. So, it is once again. In addition to Skrmetti reviewed in this week’s Update and numerous other cases, we have cases expanding presidential power, Medicaid constraints, birthright citizenship, and yet another LGBT rights ruling. I barely got through Skrmetti this week, so my reading of the other noted decisions will take some time. I have four more Supreme Court pronouncements to get through in the latest data dump.

 

I will add a quasi-footnote to this edition of the Update. I gladly pay my taxes, federal and state, each year to have the government we need. I do not want a government driven by the profit-motive. Humanitarian objectives are not divisive by some concept of profit. Human rights are “inalienable rights” and NOT subject to the capriciousness of state governments or transient administrations. I do not want to pay more tax than is my share. Yet, I want a federal government that is compassionate, that helps those in need, that has a heart for those suffering around us.

I do not want a government in the image of the conservatives currently in power. Yes, I gladly pay my taxes without complaint or objection. I do not need a tax cut, and I know emphatically that billionaires do not need another tax cut; they need to pay their share. We can argue about how and on what the federal government expends our precious tax dollars, and we can find some mutually acceptable compromise. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, we need a government with heart and concern for our disadvantaged citizens.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1223:

Comment to the Blog:

“Robert Reich really hit the nail on the head. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been letting the other party control the national discussion, among other failings, for decades.

“SpaceX blows up a few million more tax dollars. (Yawns) Do we know what the Muskrat’s doing?

“The Resident’s own Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, recently stated that Iran wasn’t close to having nuclear weapons. The Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to make war, but that has been ignored over and over since World War II.

“The various attacks on LGBTQ+ people are attacks on real people, which matters. However, the underlying purposes of the attackers are (a) keeping the hateful base voting for them, and (b) distracting the rest of us from financial maneuvers.

“I wish you well in your settling in and peace with the process.”

My response to the Blog:

Yes, he did. And, I do believe your assessment is correct.

I understand your criticism of SpaceX. Based on the success of the Falcon 9 launch system development, I still believe they will lick these development problems. They do have an advantage—no living creatures on these flights.

Yeah, I saw that. I suspect Gabbard is not long for the job. The con-man-in-chief cannot tolerate any dissent, and she contradicted the Oh-So-Great-Orange-One. At least she had the balls to tell the truth as the Intelligence Community sees it.

I must quibble with one aspect of your comment regarding “Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to make war.” By the Constitution, Congress has sole authority to ‘declare’ war—a formal action. However, the president retains the authority to act with offensive military force when faced with a clear and present danger; he does not need a declaration or permission. Usually, the president will inform the Congressional leadership of a pending action. This is NOT a usual president. We have only to look at what Bill Clinton did. Every time he got into political trouble, he would lob a passel of cruise missiles at one country or another. The president has the authority to act, e.g., War Powers Act of 1973 [PL 93-148; 87 Stat. 555] {BTW, passed over Nixon’s veto}. The key in all this is the rationale and justification for any action, which must be investigated and assessed by Congress. The paramount focus is (or should be) whether the rationale for such aggressive action was warranted. With a MAGAt controlled Congress, accountability for the con-man is not likely to happen.

The difficulty in LGBT treatment by the MAGAts and the current administration is they do not care a twit for other people, especially not like them. They have no sense of humanity, equality, equal protection, privacy, and freedom of choice. I agree with your recognition of the purpose, although there are many other issues that they seek distraction for.

Thank you so much for your kinds words and generous thoughts.

. . . Round two:

“I have the ‘advantage’ of not making enough money to pay income tax these days. SpaceX is your loss. If Muskrat ever gets a Mars colony, he will abandon Earth’s nations altogether at your expense.

“Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation to the National Intelligence job surprised me. That said, she’s probably still the best source of information.

“Come on, Cap. Presidents have acted on nonexistent ‘clear and present danger’ in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and many other places since World War II.

“The operators of the MAGAts don’t feel one way or the other about LGBTQ+ people. One of the Felon’s early mentors was Roy Cohn, who was gay. However, they thrive by inflaming the fears of the ignorant. It’s an art form with them.”

. . . my response to round two:

That is a rather cynical perspective, it seems to me, but not without substance. Only time shall tell.

Re: Gabbard. Surprised me as well. However, placed beside Hegseth & RFK Jr., she is a breath of hope, having stood up and publicly contradicted the orange one. We shall see how long she lasts.

We can argue each of those points, but that is not a couple of sentences proposition. To my surprise, [no name] has not cited that rationale, yet. He has given us nothing beyond “because I said so.”

I agree. I think you described “they don’t care.” They are using their assault on non-heterosexual citizens as political cover for other activities like their decimation of the federal government.

 . . . Round three:

“The Constitution doesn't discuss rationale. The Congress has the power to declare war. The fact that Presidents have been skirting that clause doesn't make it right.”

. . . my response to round three:

No, of course it does not. You are quite correct. It has been a persistent, chronic, political issue. This president has gone farther down that road, in that he did not inform Congress or even congressional leadership, and certainly made no effort to seek an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which seems to be the common workaround to a proper declaration of war. I doubt the Founders/Framers ever intended to constrain presidents to only a declaration of war. The problem we have is, this president has stretched virtually every constitutional restraint on Executive authority.

Just a side note, we have very little from the congressional minority on the president’s persistent abuses to his constitutional constraints. The Democrats seem to immediately jump to impeachment, which is a bridge too far in many instances. They have got to find a more effective voice.

. . . Round four:

“I did a quick search and found an interesting MSN article on the legality of the Felon’s attack on Iran: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/was-trump-s-attack-on-iran-legal-experts-weigh-in-on-us-and-international-law/ar-AA1HlVqK. AUMFs are basically irrelevant. The article also discusses international law, which is clearer.

“The Democratic Party as operated by the DNC does little. The victory of Zohran Mamdani in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary upset Wall Street and the DNC, so that’s a sign of hope.”

 . . . my response to round four:

I have never been a proponent of AUMFs, but it is not clear to me why you consider them ‘irrelevant’?

Mamdani seemed rather steady and far more seasoned than his age would suggest. He is still a long way from the mayor’s office. Eric Adams is going to run as an independent. I cannot imagine Adams has a prayer, but then again, that is exactly what I thought in 2016 about a different fellow. Go figure!

. . . Round five:

“AUMFs are irrelevant because (A) Presidents sometimes don’t bother with them, and (B) the Constitution gives a different method of authorizing military force.

“I haven’t studied Mamdani’s presentation yet, but I know it counts in marketing him. Never underestimate the importance of marketing. New Yorkers saw through the DNC’s marketing of Cuomo (or oppo of Mamdani). Adams might actually perform worse than Cuomo; his scandals are more recent. The Felon won his races by marketing the hateful ideas we’ve talked about here. I doubt Wall Street and their DNC lackeys can match the powerful appeals of those campaigns. I hope not. So far, their opposition ads feature Mamdani’s platform. I guess Wall Street doesn’t understand the appeal of those ideas.”

. . . my response to round five:

Interesting perspective. We could argue the point, but I am not convinced it is worth the time. I do not believe the Founders/Framers intended to constrain the president to an all or nothing process. The Supreme Court has validated that assumption.

It will be interesting how Mamdani evolves politically. So far, his calm, measured rhetoric has been noteworthy.

 

Another contribution:

“Welcome home to you and your wife! As a champion procrastinator I cannot imagine personally tackling such a challenge, so I admire you two for your intellectual and physical courage. It will be for the best, once the painful downsizing details are complete.

“As you near that point, please dive back into this forum of yours, which enlightens and encourages more passive patriots like me.”

My reply:

Thank you for your generous words. This proved my contention—I’m too old for this sh*t. As I have publicly proclaimed, this is where I die. But, then again, I thought our home in Arizona was that final place. I am not (cannot) do this again. The last phase, unpacking & downsizing, is underway and will likely take many months. I finally have begun stepping into normalcy, although a long way from the solace of my routine. This last phase is going to take months.

I have tried to keep the Update alive, at least. It is my intention to get back to a higher degree of commentary and opinion, but that will take time.

. . . follow-up comment:

“I very much appreciate your warm response and proud confession of normalcy, a goal or process I have been trying unsuccessfully to perfect for all of my six years as a surprised octogenarian. Keep your eyes on the target in accordance with your habits of adulthood, service, and parenting. and y'all will soon be settled in. Don't worry about those unpacked boxes-- that's for later fun. I'm pretty sure some of ours are gathering a 49th year of dust in the barn loft.”

. . . my follow-up reply:

Wise words, my friend.

Despite my extended efforts to organize things to enhance displaced recovery, things did not go according to plan. Movers are interested in only one thing, transporting a bunch of stuff from point A to point B. They could not care less about normalcy, routine, or stability at point B. Like we are prone to joke, what we want or need to move forward is “in a box.” We’ll get their eventually. Our challenge is to get there before patience runs out and we buy replacement parts. In the meantime, life goes on.

 

A different contribution:

“Read your update. How did we put humans on the moon 50+ years ago but still have rockets/spacecraft that blow up?

“Maybe conspiracy theorists are right? :-)”

My answer:

I suppose that is a natural assessment. Until we know the root cause, we cannot know the answer. I am quite reluctant intellectually to embrace any of the various conspiracy theories rumbling around. That said, it is quite unusual for a COPV to fail and especially to an extent leading to cascading ruptures. We cannot eliminate sabotage at this stage; it would be easy enough if someone had a mind to do such a thing.

. . . follow-up comment:

“My question was definitely said with an ounce of sarcasm, but it is weird no other country (not even us) have been back to the moon since.”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

But we’re going back.

And then onto Mars.

 

Yet, another contribution:

“Thanks for your update on the SpaceX explosion, during testing on the ground, in Texas. Being as paranoid as a cat, my first thoughts of concern were whether the explosion could have been sabotage, and I even thought of the Persians as they are quite smart on the I.Q. scale.

“Like you, I would think unless there is a dire emergency for America, POTUS should get Congress to approve of war. I suppose such Constitutionality is a bit too much to ask, and we would lose the element of time and surprise.

“We are seeing the so called ‘peace’ or ‘truce’ or ‘ceasefire’ between Israel & Iran, is faltering, as I suspected. I wrote this just last night:

“I've sent the Drudge headlines in the attachment, and a PIC they posted from Iranian news media, of Trump's hair ablaze.

“I suspected the ‘ceasefire’ deal was fake or imagined. I don't see it between Israel who does not seem to back down out of a fight, nor Iran. There has been much more enormous damage done to mainly Tel Aviv, then their news services admit. On Iran, we have no true confirmation that our bombs from the B-2's even destroyed Iran's nuclear development capacity. Many experts doubt we really took out Iran's development.

“One question I see hardly no one ask is since Israel has hundreds of nukes, why are we so concerned in the collective West, that Iran seeks some too?

“We've had sanctions against Iran since 1979 and pigeonholed them as the dark demon and they with us that we're the Great Satan and Israel the Small Satan. Along these decades, had anyone considered diplomacy, the old fashion kind? Instead of Iran entering agreements with Russia and China, maybe that could have been USA. Maybe we could have $old them some great F-16's to replace their very aged F-14's (which BTW, Israel destroyed a bunch of them last week while they were AOG).

“Let's just say we live in Disneyland at the moment. Hopefully it does not go kinetic for everyone else.

“Pray for the innocents in both Israel & Iran. As far as I am concerned, Israel started this conflict. So, about the Jews, Christians try to tell me they are ‘God's chosen people’ which is ironic as they start so many wars and conduct genocide. If you did a sample of their DNA and compared it to those Jews of our Old Testament Bible, I doubt we would get much a match. I just got my copy The 10 Tribes of Israel. If one wants to call themselves ‘God's chosen people’ well then, they might try acting like it.”

My response:

Such a causal factor cannot be eliminated at this stage. Where there is a will, there is a way. It is fairly rare for a COPV to fail.

War is a step too far for me. Unfortunately, we do not know what the triggering events were. It is my humble opinion only, that POTUS approved the preparatory assault by the IAF to soften the IRI air defense system as a prerequisite for the B-2 raid—a deal done in secret. Perhaps, diplomacy was a cover for the offensive action that he had decided some time ago to take, ala the Japanese prior to Pearl Harbor. The objective of stopping IRI nuclear ambitions is a good one, and in that, I support the extraordinary intervention. But, I ask, why now? What triggered this attack? I am not keen on his MO, yet I must laud his efforts to inject a ceasefire immediately after the attack.

Imagination seems quite appropriate to me.

The ceasefire appears to be holding so far. The president’s insistence on the use of the word ‘obliteration’ with subterranean, presumably hardened, targets seems to be yet another gross exaggeration on his part that simply diminishes his credibility even further. Worse now, he is castigating the IC for contradicting him.

Well, the last time I checked, no one in the Israeli government has been shouting, “Death to America.” Just an additional thought, the IRI theocracy, like all autocratic and dictatorial systems, needs a villain to focus the people and deflect them from social unrest they face.

I am an outspoken critic of Netanyahu. Like the orange one, I vehemently object to his MO in dealing with the affairs of state. So much of his saber-rattling is a direct consequence of his legal and political troubles.

I will not get into antisemitic intercourse. The Israeli government is markedly and demonstrably different and separate from the Jewish people and the Jewish faith. The Israeli government has been captured and dominated by far-right wing conservative factions within the Israeli population, much as the MAGAts have done in this country. Let us be very careful not to extend the beliefs of those Israeli conservatives to the population in general. Likud is not all Israelis and especially not all Jewish people, just as MAGAts are not all Americans.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1223

 Update from the Heartland

No.1223

16.6.25 – 22.6.25

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

Another excellent and stimulating article by Robert Reich . . .

“The Democrats’ ‘Great Un-awokening’ is a Giant Political Diversion – Democrats should not play on Republican turf”

By Robert Reich

Published: Jun 17 [2025]

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/where-the-hell-is-the-moderate-middle

Mister Reich hits the nail square and drives it home. I used to think of my political inclinations as fiscally conservative, socially liberal. In the turmoil of the last few decades, I have abandoned any element of conservatism. The contemporary Republican Party has left me with nothing whatsoever. I identify far more with ‘woke’ than MAGA. Mister Reich emphasized that aspect for me brilliantly.

 

Wednesday night, circa 00:37 [S] CDT, SpaceX was preparing for a static fire test of the engines on the Super Heavy Booster in advance of Integrated Flight Test number 10 (IFT-10) later this month or early July. The booster and Starship on top were fully fueled. The booster exploded on the test stand creating a massive progressive fire ball as the entire vehicle disintegrated. As best I could determine from the vidclip, the explosion appears to have originated at the top of the support & service tower, which in turn, would suggest a fuel feed rupture of some sort. As SpaceX is inclined to do, they declared the booster "experienced a major anomaly." Disintegration certainly qualifies as a major anomaly. The immediate objective was safing the test zone. No injuries have been reported, and the extent of damage has yet to be assessed. If the engineers can quickly determine the cause, they may be able to recover the test plan quickly.

By the end of the week, the investigation determine that the explosion began with the rupture of a gaseous nitrogen Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV) located in the payload bay of the Starship. The concussion initiated a cascade of ruptures of the Starship fuel tanks and finally the booster fuel tanks. The entire stack-up was loaded with 4,600 tons of volatile fuel (liquid methane and liquid oxygen). The sequence created quite the impressive explosion fireball. What they have not told us as yet is why the COPV failed.  I do not know the precise structure of this particular design, but in general, COPVs do not spontaneously rupture. I eagerly await the full story.

 

On Saturday [circa midnight local], the United States carried out air raids on three key Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Fourteen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator [MOP] bombs, the so-called ‘bunker buster’ bombs, were delivered by B-2 bombers as part of Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER. In addition, 30 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile were fired from submarines into Iran. The president and his administration claimed that Iran’s nuclear facilities were ‘obliterated.’ I suspect such a claim is rather a stretch, given the nature of the professed targets. The action appears to be the president’s desire to assist Israel rather than a ‘clear and present danger’ to the nation. The isolationist MAGAts immediately got all riled up over the president’s unilateral attack—an act of war. Whether the president’s action is justified or authorized by the Constitution remains unclear. It is arguable both ways.

 

The Supremes dropped another love-bomb from the conservative movement on Wednesday—United States v. Skrmetti [605 U.S. ____ (2025)]. I have not been able to read the decision due to the exigencies of our lives at the moment. Thus, my reading of the ruling shall have to wait until next week. The case centers upon a recent Tennessee state law that forbids transgender medical intervention to underage children (less than 18 years of age). I shall withhold comment until I have read and absorbed the words of the precisely ideologically divided Court in the 6-3 rendering.

For those who may clamor that anything related to transgender and non-heterosexual individuals is a distraction and waste of the Court’s time, I shall say simply bunkum. Like it or not, this case deals with the fundamental human rights of a small fraction of our population, and that alone makes such judgments of vital importance to all of us.

 

What were the exigencies of life referred to in the section above some of you may ask? Well, our household goods were finally delivered to our new home this week. It was not a smooth, organized, or problem-free process. The now-empty trailer remains parked in front of our driveway, partially blocking our access (but not entirely). We are not happy campers. At least, we are finally and fully in residence. Another vital phase completed. The final arduous and laborious phase of unpacking, situating, and downsizing our stuff has begun. At our age, this last phase will also be rather slow and tortuous at times, but at least, it will be on our timetable—no one else’s. Fortunately for us, our children and grandchildren have provided incalculable assistance in the unpacking, but we have a very long way to go. They will also be vital in our downsizing efforts.

That said, I am not optimistic what we shall settle into our routines of life anytime soon. I shall endeavor to keep up with this humble forum as best I can and hope to return to my routine as soon as possible. I desperately need to get back to regular exercise for my general health. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding in these last few months and also in advance for the months ahead. This too shall pass.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1222:

Comment to the Blog:

“With respect to the protesters in Los Angeles, I support neither the ‘what’ of repressing them nor the ‘how’ of the Orange Clown’s methods. Extensive video and first-hand reports support Mayor Bass’s and Governor Newsom’s statements that they were peaceful and legal protests. The LAPD performed admirably in policing those. ICE, on the other hand, was and is obeying the Orange Clown’s unconstitutional response to a trumped-up crisis. Unless and until due process takes place, we can’t know how few of those kidnapped from our nation by ICE have actually committed any crime. The National Guard and the Marine Corps have no legitimate role in the whole thing.

“The No Kings protests are separate actions, with other actions coordinated by the same group going back to February. The Orange Clown merely played into their hands.

“Congratulations on finding permanent housing. I hope the balance of the process goes well.

“Your other commenter’s rampant emotions and grotesque misinformation concern me. People who blindly follow a leader are dangerous.”

My response:

If anyone enters this country (and many other countries, I might add) without permission, i.e., with a visa of some sort, then that individual is here illegally and is eligible to be permanently deported. ICE has a duty to detain and deport those folks who are here illegally. Because POTUS unilaterally declared his focus on the criminal subset does not alter the fact that all illegals are eligible to be deported. Thus, I do support the ‘what.’ I cannot support the ‘how.’ I agree, [no name]’s deployment of the National Guard and active duty Marines to a local police action against the governor and mayor is wrong in so many ways—part of the ‘how.’

Also agreed, the “No Kings” protests are far more expansive than the ICE protests, but they grew out of the ICE protests from my perspective.

Thank you very much. Progress by jerks.

You are not alone in that comment. I try to respect all sides.

. . . Round two:

“Without due process, we don’t know whether those being kidnapped are here with permission or not. Reports keep coming of citizens and legal residents being detained, that is, kidnapped. ICE agents are our brownshirts. Their targets are chosen with no regard for legalities.

“Cap, your ‘perspective’ isn’t accurate. The ‘No Kings’ protests go back to February; the ICE protests in Los Angeles are much more recent. The ICE protests energized the most recent No Kings events, but they’re not the cause. You might need to find more sources of information.

“Respecting all sides is a fine concept, but it’s unwise to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. The audience can’t tell who’s who.”

. . . my response to round two:

Precisely the point of my objection to the administration’s current immigration actions. They were ordered to take such aggressive, indiscriminate action. It is [no name], Noem, and Lyons who are responsible for this travesty of justice.

My sources are just fine. My mistake was not fully describing the conditions. I was not arguing the genesis of “No Kings” protests. ‘Energized’ is a good, applicable, descriptive verb. The error is mine, not my sources of information.

Oh, I think you can tell who is who.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1222

 Update from the Heartland

No.1222

9.6.25 – 15.6.25

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

Erratum:

In Update no.1221, I mistakenly wrote that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was charged with sex trafficking crimes. That was incorrect. He is charged with human trafficking, i.e., moving undocumented individuals in this country without permission across state lines. While there is not much difference between human trafficking and sex trafficking, a clear distinction remains, and accuracy is important. I lamely fell victim to the plethora of sex trafficking intercourse with Jeffrey Epstein and his clientele, and “P-diddy” and his abusive shenanigans. Please accept my humble apology for the error. I stand corrected.

 

The follow-up news items:

-- First, [the person who shall no longer be named, AKA no name] deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell the immigration enforcement unrest [1214, 1221]. Now, he is sending active duty combat Marines. This is a public demonstration of exactly the problem I have with the president and his administration. I support the ‘what’ and strongly disagree with the ‘how.’ Instead of working with Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass, he ignores the local leaders so he can ‘take charge’ of the situation. [No name] created the crisis by directing the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Lyons to move aggressively with the removal of individuals in this country without permission. After creating the problem, he deploys the federal military to squash the protests that involve a handful of city blocks in a city of 500 square miles and 3.9 million residents. As best I can determine, the protests are over the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’ of this enforcement action. His aggressive, non-collaborative, dictatorial approach to governance has only made the situation much worse. 

The protests, which have picked up the title “No Kings Protest,” have spread nationwide and rightly so. This is not how a democratic nation should be governed. Governor Newsom has taken legal action against the president over federal interference in a local matter. [No name] created the problem, so he could fix the problem and claim credit for ‘saving the City of Los Angeles.’ We will not forget.

 

Well, now, after the last couple of months of instability and induced chaos, we finally have a home. It is not yet occupied, since our household goods won’t arrive until next week sometimes, but another milestone achieved on this long journey. Our hoped for return to stability and routine is closer but not here yet.

 

Congratulations to the United States Army for 250 of service to the Republic [14.6.1775]. They executed an excellent parade on Saturday evening in Washington, DC. I shall withhold my nit-picky criticism as irrelevant. The Commander-in-Chief even conducted himself admirably, standing and saluting as each unit passed in review. They also had units in period uniforms from the Revolutionary War through history to the Future. Well done, soldiers!

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1221:

Comment to the Blog:

“I’m glad if you’re safe from the storm, or nearly so. Our rain is nearly over, but the smoke will keep coming until after the wildfires are out.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is charged with human smuggling, not sex trafficking. It’s just as ludicrous.

“I no longer doubt that a Nuremberg-like trial will eventually feature Israeli and U.S. war criminals.

“Someone pointed out that Obama and Biden each deported more people than the Felon, all without major protests or misusing the National Guard.”

My response to the Blog:

I am afraid Mother Nature must quench the Canadian fires. They need a good soaking rain like most of the rest of us.

I stand corrected. Thank you. My bad! Yes, it does. Vindictiveness and vengeance are very blinding emotions, and do not belong anywhere is government. These are the time in which we live.

Perhaps so . . . but not likely. When Rubio claims national sovereignty, as most of recent predecessors have done, he is indirectly stating that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States. Thus, any ‘prosecution’ of an American citizen by the ICC is moot.

Good point. No president, until this one, has ever taken such an aggressive action in the name of immigration control. It is the near total disregard for constitutional due process of law that sets this administration apart from their predecessors. The misuse National Guard and active duty Marines is frankly appalling. He is using a sledge hammer to do what a simple tack hammer would do.

 

A contribution from another contributor:

“I am diametrically opposed to almost every proposition you make in your Update.

“Amazing how you and I are fairly well studied, and fairly intelligent creatures, yet are ‘diametrically’ in total opposition how we handle information and thus form our opinions.

“I have challenged you before that I think you have a very serious confirmation (or continuation) bias, that inhibits your capacity to look at information, situations, trends, in a more objective or unbiased manner. 

“You continued lack of naming Donald J. Trump as our president, is clearly prolonged adolescence on your part. It is really quite old for me, and likely many of your readers to your blog, UPDATE. [redaction mine]

“I wonder how you can still call yourself a Marine. You were to uphold our Constitution and laws of our country.

“President Trump did not cause the riots in Los Angeles. Do you also call them ‘peaceful protesters’? [redaction mine]

“President Trump decided to enforce the law and protect our borders from foreign invaders. Just now America discovers our foreign invaders are violent, and near terrorist in their actions on the streets of America. [redaction mine]

“It was under Obama and his co-conspirator Biden's watches, that our country was invaded by foreign terrorists, who were given coddles, money, welfare and state benefits.

“Cap, I ask you to take off whatever glasses you wear or drugs you depend on and become objective and truthful. You are way out of line buddy.

“Your high emotionalism against Trump and conservatism, is truly clouding your capacity to be objective and honest. I find it very sad, because you have been my friend.” [redaction mine]

My reply:

Well, now, that was quite the contribution. Thank you for taking the time to express your opinion(s). You are welcome to share and contribute as you wish.

Opposition, argument, and debate are essential elements of any viable democracy. Thank you, again, for doing your part.

My handling and processing of information is largely governed by my experience in the Intelligence Community. I am comfortable with the process.

You are welcome to criticize, disagree, call me names, and accuse me as you see fit. Unlike your cherished messiah, I have never enjoyed the tête-à-tête of personal assault, and I shall forego yet another opportunity in this instance.

Like it or not, I have been consistent in my criticism of the fellow who is currently occuping the Office of the President. I do not dispute that he was duly and properly elected for either term as our president. For the record, I have enormous respect for the presidency and the Office of the President. Unfortunately, I see our current employee in that posting through an entirely and vastly different lens than you (and many others) apparently do. He is and always has been a con-man extraordinaire. He is now and always will be a convicted felon (and should have been many times over). He is the contemporary version of Clark Stanley from a century ago—a snake-oil salesman. He suffers from the affliction of malignant narcissism, and unchecked, unbridled egotism. The paucity of any form of humility does not make him unique but certainly sets him apart from the vast majority of civilized society. You choose to see him as you wish. I see him for what he is.

When he respects the Office of the President (if ever), I will give him appropriate respect; until then, he is just another con-man felon who duped 77M American citizens and now wields the power of the presidency in the furtherance of his national & internation grift. I am truly sorry you fell victim to the Siren’s Song, but that’s life I’m afraid. I shall continue to hold onto the hope that you and all the others eventually see him as he is rather than as you want him to be.

. . . Round two:

“I appreciate your response. I will let it stand as is, without much debate from myself.

“Since this past weekend in California, I've read and had to listen to the alphabet news agencies with their propaganda and deliberate disinformation call the riots ‘peaceful protests’ just like they did with the terrible BLM Saint Floyd riots, some that were close to home (La Mesa, CA). We've endured legal ICE raids and arrests, with all the blame from news media targeting Trump for the fact Biden allowed millions of illegal aliens to enter America, many with criminal intent, many with gang affiliations, and some are terrorists intending harm on USA. [redaction mine]

“Call my issue with riots and fires: PTSD. We've seen enough in California, not to mention the wildfires. 

“Did you see last night the ‘peaceful protesters’ were now looting stores, carrying out as much as they could steal?  Do you recall during the Saint Rodney King riots, the Korean store owners were on the roofs of their markets shooting dead looters? Rightly so! Right on! I say the way to end these riots is to allow the Marines or NG to start putting some live rounds into the center masses of those that are arsonists, looters and ringleaders wherever they may reside. DHS determine who the ringleaders are, find them, arrest them, execute them as traitors to the USA. If it happens to be people at George Soros' Foundation, well so be it. 

“Did anyone think deporting 15 million illegal aliens from America was gonna be pretty? Someone needed to finally do it.

“Like you I think we'll agree that the ones DHS/ICE needs to target are the criminal element of the aliens. I am not too concerned about those that came or stayed here who do not have papers, who are law abiding and mind their own business, many who work and produce and pay taxes. We could look the other way on those folks who are not going out and rioting and throwing rocks and concrete chunks from an overpass down at CHP troopers like on Sunday. [emphasis by the author]

“The criminal element who came here from a gang in Honduras, or wherever, they need to be discovered and deported.

“The news services are professionals at distorting reality and causing more chaos and confusion. They are directed by the politicians, and the programming produced by the group of groups, somewhere offshore.

“Trump is merely ordering his team, to enforce the laws of America. It may not be comfortable, but we in California have been overtaken. Call it an invasion. [redaction mine]

“Language, borders, customs. How many Muslims from Syria or Iraq, do you see come to America and assimilate or even integrate into our culture, religion and values?  How's uncontrolled immigration going for Western Europe? Been to Paris, London or Munich lately?

“Gavin Newsom is a fraud, and traitor, and should be arrested and then deported to El Salvador's prison. Anyone investigating his fraud and millions spent on the high-speed train?

“They made such a big deal of the JAN6 patriots that descended on Washington D.C., so many persecuted for that day, yet we are supposed to harbor true rioters, criminals, murderers and rapists, when they are illegally in America, and hug them because the Democrats project they have bleeding hearts, but no heart for our country's security. No heart for the war wounded living on the streets. No heart for the seniors unable to afford a one-bedroom apartment on their own. No heart for those that paid into the system, but the system cannot help them. “

. . . my reply to round two:

I considered carefully how I should respond to your follow-up comment. I shall attempt to boil down my response. Perhaps, one sentence in your follow-up summarizes our differences.

You stated, “Gavin Newsom is a fraud, and traitor, and should be arrested and then deported to El Salvador's prison.” To put this directly and bluntly, Newsom is a United States citizen. He is, like you and me, entitled to due process of law. If he has committed a crime under the statutes of the United States, charge him, present your evidence, submit to cross-examination, and if convicted by a jury of his peers, send him to prison, just as [no name] was convicted [but never sent to prison as he should have been; but hey, at least [no name] was found guilty, unlike O.J.]. The last time I checked, disagreement is NOT a crime.

I want the USG to deport any individual from any country who is in the United States without permission (border crossers and overstays alike). To that end, I laud the USG effort. Where we go crosswise and I cannot tolerate is how he is doing it. The USG is casting a very broad net and aggressively detaining individuals who are emphatically NOT criminals, e.g. Abrego Garcia. The USG arrested and deported Abrego Garcia to a foreign prison as a terrorist, and he was one of those who was entitled to due process of law. A federal judge issued a court order giving him asylum protection. If he was truly a card-carrying member of MS-13, then charge him, try him, and if the evidence warrants, convict him, and then we can legally deport him. What the USG did in his case was kidnap him (a felonious crime), detain and deport him without due process of law, and then transport him across national and international borders to incarcerate him at a notorious foreign prison.

The disagreement among progressives like me is, NOT what he is doing but rather how he is doing it. We cannot and must not ignore the Constitution and the law; [no name] is doing exactly that. The protesters are against the ‘how,’ not the ‘what.’

One last comment in this response . . . I believe (as with most public assembly protests these days) that the majority of protesters are indeed peaceful. Unfortunately, a criminal element, including outright anarchists, uses these mass public assembly protests as cover to commit crimes and induce chaos. We have not yet figured out how to identify, isolate, and arrest that criminal element. Governmental over-reaction to that reality harms innocent people exercising their constitutional rights.

“That’s just my opinion, but I could be wrong.”

 . . . Round three:

“Keep in mind most of my gesture on Gavin Newsom is tongue-in-cheek. Though after witnessing the damage Newsom has done to our state of California, and his doctorial fashion during COVID-19, I likely would not come to his aid if someone wants to drop a watermelon on him, from the 19th floor of a building.

“BTW Cap, are you monitoring the back-and-forth between the appeals courts and emergency motions on who controls the California National Guard. Interest late last night developments putting the control back to the FEDS/Trump. I'm still waiting for the tennis ball to possibly go back to state control which will please Newsom.  I can only imagine at this hour, he is fuming. [redaction mine]

“I appreciate you have always been a big proponent of due process and also our civil liberties.

“Cap, I think many of us are charitable type people who have looked the other way when immigrants arrive in America, we don't question their ‘status’ and if they don't commit crimes, and respect our laws, we are more than willing to help them out. I know many churches doing this each week. Most Mexicans, one ethnic group seemingly under deportation attack, are honorable and humble folks who were looking for a better life. Sadly, within that same group are in general, Hispanics arriving here willing to commit crimes, do harm, with gang affiliations, who are not nice people here, nor were they at their Mexican, Central American, South American home countries, which might be why they are here. They have no respect for our land, laws and values.

“On Abrego Garcia, wasn't he here illegally on an overstay? Is he truly afforded the 14^th Amendment? I doubt he is the poster boy of good nature and fatherhood, as the news agencies have been portraying. How did Garcia get himself on the radar. If he was living that good clean life the news media propagated, I doubt ICE/DHS would have picked him up. I will promise you he was not just walking down the street wearing his new Nike Air Jordans chewing Juice Fruit gum, when H.I.S. (sic) targeted him for arrest and removal. Didn't Garcia also have a domestic violence case against his wife or girlfriend. Does that warrant deportation? Perhaps.

“Did you know over 300 of the ‘peaceful protesters’ in the last few days since Saturday, were arrested in Los Angeles alone, due to being here illegally. They are now under detention with a bunch of them likely already deported. Why would they become so emboldened in a host country, as guests, to go protest. If I was illegally in Argentina, the last thing I would go do is protest against their government in civil disorder. Lay low. But they got caught up in the extreme emotionalism due to the liberal politicians and news media that fuel the fires in America. Just like how the news propogandists did what they do best, during the BLM riots of 2020+. What they did is criminal in my opinion.

“I think you and I will strongly agree that the pendulum is what we need to keep an eye on. Civil liberties and 1^st plus 4^thAmendment protections, for truly peaceful protests. Once illegal invaders intent on doing harm here, do violence and start fires, the gloves should be off for police, national guard, and Marines. How else do we keep some semblance of an orderly nation where we need not fear when we go out, or where we park our cars, or with our kids walking home from school. I am concerned too if the military is deployed in our cities, whether it could go into an overreach or military-police-state like we see in other nations.

“Cap, I do respect your opinions, though recently I became a bit heated in my emotions. These are trying times for many of us who value our country.

“Maybe the Israel's war vs. Iran will help distract me for a few days until Saturday, when civil unrest in America may get very heated (1,500 protests planned). “

. . . my reply to round three:

My capacity to keep pace with you has diminished of late. I shall confine my reply to a couple of key elements.

Re: Abrego Garcia. Yes, he entered the U.S. without permission in 2011. He went through numerous legal steps, but at the bottom line, Immigration Judge David M. Jones issued a “withholding of removal” order in 2019 that gave him indefinite protection and full rights including due process of law under the 5^th and 14^th Amendments. If he has committed crimes inside the United States, then charge and try him in a court of law in accordance with the Constitution. If convicted, then he can be legally deported.

Re: “peaceful protesters.” I understand and appreciate the urge to use full force to stop riots, i.e., injury to others and destruction of property. However, when that force injures innocent people or damages other property, then that force is verging upon criminal action itself. As I stated earlier, we have not yet figured out how to isolate the criminal element that invades peaceful protests (assemblies) and that presents a serious threat to all our rights. Let us not forget, in this instance, the protests began when the USG used very heavy handed, indiscriminate, aggressive action to arrest individuals in the country without permission, and in doing so, treated citizens and legal individuals as if they were illegal.

From my perspective, Netanyahu needed a distraction to overshadow his other legal problems. Iran is a convenient target. The U.S. was reportedly making progress in negotiations with the IRI. Netanyahu’s attacks quelched all that diplomacy. Now, we must deal with the consequences.

. . . Round five:

“I appreciate any/all responses on your part.

“On Abrego Garcia, sad our news agencies have converted Garcia into a saint, just like they did with Saint Floyd. They did the same thing with Rodney King in the early 1990's, the quick criminal-to-saint process only our news programmers can do. The ABC's of NBC, CBS, CNN and more, did not show us the full video clip of Rodney King fighting LAPD, prior to getting the attitude adjustment earned, by PR-24's. King was high on PCP and had many prior contacts and arrests with LAPD.

“Isn't Garcia affiliated with MS-13? Well, if so, get him out of here, now!

“As to your third (#3) paragraph: How are riot police using mobile field force tactics, supposed to clearly and quickly differentiate between violent and non-violent protesters in a crowd full of teargas and chaos? Furthermore, along the pushback to your proposition, the protesters/rioters (fine line there in-between), well they should be much more responsible and considerate to the police and public not involved in their crazy marches, as to not be mixed in, providing synergy, to the violent protesters walking near them. Get out of that march and go home, don't be part of it unless one likes to get PepperBall'd and rubber bulleted. I call it guilt by association. I'm OK if the Marines/NG, or LAPD, want to round everyone up in those so called ‘peaceful protests’ once violence and fires begin.

“Again, on paragraph #3, many of these ICE/DHS/HSI raids were not sporadic, punitive or unplanned. Many of them targeted cartel linked criminals here in America illegally. Other raids targeted employers/worksites, that have for years been hiring and harboring illegal aliens, purposely. Even in some case helping them with green card brokers, who issue fake green cards. Some activities of the cartels are human and child trafficking. Where are all those poor South/Central America and Mexico children going missing to??? And about the drug connections of the many illegal invaders selling drugs in America, well, that is why we see DEA and FBI participating on some of those raids.

“I doubt ICE/DHS/HSI is snatching brown looking people from churches, which is what the news media liars keep reporting.

“As to your paragraph #4, I agree. I saw just 3 days ago that Israel's OM Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud was on the verge of collapse. I said to myself war would be days ahead. Yes, what happened on Friday the 13th has made the world much more dangerous. I suspect what cannot be accomplished by failed counter-attacks by Iran, may be done thru terrorism by Iran and their many proxies. If we get too engaged with Israel, then there goes Ukraine, Russia will have a field day.“

. . . my reply to round five:

Re: Abrego Garcia. As I have stated many times before, if Garcia is affiliated in any way with MS-13, then charge him, try him, convict him, and then deport him. The same laws that protect us, protect him by a proper court order. If the USG breaks the law out of convenience, we are all at risk. Present the evidence, submit to cross-examination, and let a judge and jury decide. I cannot tolerate the shuffling aside due process of law because some USG agent believes. Present the evidence . . . in court, not in the Press.

Re: Rodney King. Those police officers grossly over-reacted to King’s resistance, just as they did in the case of George Floyd and many others.

Deal with the violent ones, the lawbreakers. The U.S. Constitution protects the right of the people to assemble and protest any issue they wish. Let us avoid denying the rights of the many because of the crimes of a few.

You may doubt it, but due process of law is in place to protect citizens from the abuses of government. ICE agents have no right whatsoever to be judge, jury, and executioner. They do not decide; a court decides.

Re: Israel-IRI. Yes, that is exactly what Netanyahu has done. We shall all suffer the consequences. The IRI has bombarded Israel with missiles, rockets, and drones. They will use their myriad proxies elsewhere.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)

Update no.1221

 Update from the Heartland

No.1221

2.6.25 – 8.6.25

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

The Update [no.1221] was late hitting the Web this week and making distribution. I offer my humble apologies. The exigencies of life occasionally hit an amplified peak and so it was last week. Further, we are in a particularly vulnerable state at the moment. The combination proved to be more stressful and exceeded our capacity. The worst of the storm has passed, and we are all in fine fettle on the other side. Progress continues and stability is certainly closer but not here yet. Please be patient.

 

The follow-up news items:

-- The sad and wholly unnecessary saga of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia [1214] continues to play out before us. He was finally returned to the U.S. and immediately arrested for sex trafficking charges in Nashville. Attorney General Bondi offered a public statement claiming she had an indictment against Abrego Garcia. He was arraigned and faces a preliminary hearing on the 13^th. None of us has seen the indictment. The administration seems to be hell bent on digging the hole deeper and deeper. That is what vindictiveness, and vengeance does to careful contemplation.

 

If anyone needed a physical example of the Ugly American Syndrome, we have a plethora of such examples in just the last five months. I offer a recent such example (I cannot claim the latest instance since there are so many that come virtually every day, but this is a recent example). On Thursday (undoubtedly at the behest of der Lieber Anführer), Secretary of State Rubio issued official State sanctions against four judges within the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The four are:

-- Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda,

- -Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, 

-- Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and 

-- Beti Hohler of Slovenia.

What did the judges do to warrant State sanctions, you may ask? Well, Bossa and Carranza authorized an ICC investigation into the conduct of U.S. personnel during military operations in Afghanistan. Gansou and Hohler authorized ICC arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and former Defense Minister Gallant of Israel. The issue at hand is alleged war crimes in both instances. In an associated public statement, Rubio declared, “The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel, and any other U.S. ally from illegitimate actions by the ICC. I call on the countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices to fight this disgraceful attack on our nation and Israel.”

I will argue that the government’s action against the ICC is a direct effort to intimidate, cower, and obstruct an investigation into the conduct of the U.S. and Israel, like the big dog bully on the schoolyard playground. The U.S. would be in a far better position to allow the ICC investigations, argue the facts, and debate the conclusions from such investigations. Sadly, this looks like a blatant attempt to cover up malfeasance, which is not good for anyone, including the United States and Israel.

 

U.S. District Judge Allison Dale Burroughs of Massachusetts issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in the case of Harvard v. Department of Homeland Security [USDC MA Case No. 1:25-cv-11472-ADB (2025)]. The TRO blocks the USG from the personal vindictive action of [the person who shall no longer be named, AKA no name]. At least the Judiciary is standing up to the ego-maniacal con-man. What the president is doing is quite consistent with his conduct past and present (and quite likely in the future). He is blatantly attempting to bully Harvard into submission to his will. Hopefully, Harvard and Judge Burroughs will remain strong and resolute in their resistance to the juvenile, verging upon infantile, con-man who occupied the White House.

 

Then, we have more idiocy showing up at the state level. Raleigh County (West Virginia) Prosecuting Attorney Tom Truman publicly stated that a woman suffering a miscarriage might face criminal charges under the state’s anti-abortion statute, although he proclaimed that he would not do so. Truman was reflecting indicates he has received from other prosecutors in West Virginia.

The ignorance and insanity of such an action is incomprehensible and beyond adequate description. First and foremost, a woman does not decide to have a miscarriage. Other biological and physiological forces are at play in such occurrences. She is not (cannot) committing any crime. Perhaps an argument can be made that her body is committing a crime (in West Virginia), or perhaps, God is committing a crime. This nonsense has gone way too far.

 

Like true dictators before him, [no name] manufactured a crisis and then deployed the federal military to ‘fix’ the problem. The crisis was not the fact that individuals had entered and remained in this country illegally, i.e., without permission. It was the aggressive, cast the net, willy-nilly action of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service, which has a mounting reputation for scooping up legal as well as illegal individual. This whole ICE action began with a noble purpose—remove violent criminals in this country illegally. That noble purpose soon degenerated into this trawling exercise that ignores due process of law and assumes everyone is guilty until they can prove they are not. Proving a negative is never easy in any circumstance, e.g., Abrego Garcia noted above. Now, watch, as with his dictator predecessors, he will claim he and he alone saved the day and saved Los Angeles, and therefore, we need more of his definitive action.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1220:

Comment to the Blog:

“SpaceX’s spacecraft development process costs billions, but Muskrat comes out ahead. You pay, not him.

“The Felon wins some of the legal actions; in the CBS case, via meddling in corporate oligarchy.

“The Felon knows no public response to reality other than to attack some person or group. He’s suffering with that approach on the international front.

“I’m seeing an ad on local TV (right now) featuring a betrayed Republican who stands to lose his job in solar thanks in part to our Republican US House Representative’s vote on the budget. The tide may turn in time.”

My response to the Blog:

I do not think it is that simple.

I imagine that man is a subscriber to the Rasputin Hypothesis, i.e., for every 100 law suits he files, he will win one . . . and, he is probably content with that ratio. He will be stopped eventually.

I suspect the number of citizens who voted for him and are now disgusted by his conduct is growing . . . perhaps not enough to overcome the 18M disinterested citizens who did not vote in the last election. But, that is the nature of democracy. I suspect there will be a prolonged blowback period once he is gone. Other countries may well be reluctant to stand with the United States after being burned by the fickle isolation foolishness of this administration. We shall see.

The tide will turn in time—always does. And, if all citizens voted, we would not have to deal with this nonsense ever again.

. . . Round two:

“I think it’s that simple. SpaceX and the others receive massive subsidies; Musk and Bezos aren’t paying for this. The wealthy pay lower and lower rates. The middle class is left holding the bag.

“The citizens who didn’t vote probably aren’t ‘disinterested.’ Like me, they likely didn’t see a good choice between the two major parties. Major electoral reform must occur before most people will vote.

“Recovery will take time. Probably we’d be ahead to stick to humility as long as we can.”

. . . my response to round two:

I am not sure what you expect. Any customer, including the USG, pays a contractor to develop a specific type of vehicle, fighter jet, aircraft carrier, bridge, dam, or spacecraft. It is no different here. There is little question that development by failure is less expensive and faster than the traditional process, e.g., NASA’s Apollo System development.

We have had this discussion about voting for the candidate I like versus the best of the available candidates. I have nothing new to add. The former approach has given us our current predicament. Go figure!

Humility is an admirable trait.

. . . Round three:

“I’d love to see an unbiased cost comparison report based on actual documentation of capitalist versus government space programs. ‘There is little question’ just means the marketing works. Corporations must make profits, and that likely cancels any savings.

“You may continue to criticize non-voters, but it won’t change anyone. No motivation = no action.

“Humility is more than just admirable. Its opposite, egotism, got us into this mess.”

. . . my response to round three:

I am with you on that one. I would love to see a comparison like that. I come from the world of Defense acquisitions. I have a pretty good idea how they work. I cannot say you are wrong in your assessment. I just see things through a different lens, I suppose.

Quite so. That is the very nature of democracy. I am certain all 18M of those good citizens who chose not to vote had very good reason(s) for not voting. I am only saying we have what we have today because of their choices. So it is with democracy—every democracy, from the Greeks onward.

Al-righty-then. I cannot and will not argue against that view. I agree. I value humility a great deal, above many other human attributes.

. . . Round four:

“You ask that people vote for the lesser evil. Nope.”

. . . my response to round four:

Ah yes, the classic conundrum, is the glass half empty or half full?

I am not arguing with your personal choices. They are your choices entirely.

I am wrestling with the cause & effect reality of voting in a closely divided democracy. Today, we have another classic demonstrable consequence of not voting. There is a monumental different between voting for some other candidate you do like and not voting for anyone. If those 18M citizens who chose not to vote in the last presidential election had voted for anyone, I would have a far weaker argument. But no, they chose not to vote at all. They voted in 2020. They chose not to vote at all in 2024. And, today, we have arguably the most corrupt, abusive, defy-the-Constitution administration in all American history. Cause & Effect.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)