"On Nov. 1, Chicago Auxiliary Bishop José García-Maldonado and a delegation of priests, nuns, and lay Catholics walked in solemn procession toward the Broadview Immigration Processing Center in suburban Chicago after an outdoor Mass.

They carried sacred vessels of the Eucharist — which Catholics revere as the body of Christ — hoping to share it with the faithful locked inside."

~ Christopher Hale

#Trump #Republicans #ICE #immigrants #ReligiousFreedom #Catholic
/5

https://www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/trump-vances-ice-blocks-catholic

"What I've come to see is that men like [Charlie] Kirk and Trump truly are a test of white Christian America. And not like a test where you pass or fail, but a litmus test, a test that shows you the true nature of something."

~ Matthew Pridgen

#Trump #authoritarianism #WhiteChristianNationalism #WhiteSupremacy
/1

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Seuz20SMn5c

"Before these two men and so many others came along, we didn't know how far to the extreme white Christian culture would go with racism, with authoritarianism, with corruption, with just a flat-out rejection of truth itself."

#Trump #authoritarianism #WhiteChristianNationalism #WhiteSupremacy
/2

Greg Olear looks at Trump and Hegseth's sword-rattling about Nigeria and Islam and Christianity and says,

"Christian Nationalism, it seems, is having a moment.

But the Christianity, so called, practiced by the Trump regime is informed less by the teachings of Jesus Christ than by the religious philosophy of Arnaud Amalric," (continued in /4)

#Trump #Hegseth #authoritarianism #WhiteChristianNationalism #WhiteSupremacy #Nigeria #Islam
/3

https://gregolear.substack.com/p/sunday-pages-the-garden-of-earthly

(continued from /5)

"the Languedoc papal legate who, when asked before the 1209 massacre at Béziers how he advised his Catholic charges to tell the heretical Cathars from the True Believers, said (and I’m paraphrasing): 'Kill them all and let God sort them out.”'

#Trump #Hegseth #authoritarianism #WhiteChristianNationalism #WhiteSupremacy #Nigeria #Islam
/4

In Facebook groups & on Signal chats, tens of thousands of residents regularly #crowdsource information on #immigration agents’ last-known locations, neighborhoods being targeted that day & — importantly — the license plates, makes & models of the rental cars used by agents, which can change daily.

Some #ICE-spotting Facebook pages in #Chicago have up to 50,000 members.

#resist #Trump #law #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #Authoritarianism #fascism #Tyranny #ICE #CBP #Gestapo

That hyperlocal effort, spun off into dozens of chats on social platforms, has helped create a type of zone defense that - activists say - has slowed down #immigration agents & in some cases forced them to withdraw without making an arrest.

…Over 3,000 people have been detained in #Chicago since early September, acc/to #DHS.

#Trump #law #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #Authoritarianism #fascism #Tyranny #ICE #CBP #Gestapo

"Republicans have been brainwashed for decades to believe in the myth of the freeloading Black welfare queen, who sits at home eating bonbons while defrauding the government and voting for Democrats.

Except it’s not true."

#Trump #Republicans #SNAP #WIC #food #hunger #children #shutdown #cruelty
/2

"The highest SNAP participation rates cluster in the rural South, Appalachia, and the Midwest — regions that overwhelmingly voted Republican — while wealthier suburban and coastal counties, which voted Democratic, have far lower rates. The typical red county is poorer and more reliant on food assistance than the typical blue county."

~ Julie Roginsky

#Trump #Republicans #SNAP #WIC #food #hunger #children #shutdown #cruelty
/1

https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/these-monsters-must-be-brought-to

“We are not a violent city. This is not a war zone, & I think these guys are terrorizing us & trying to incite us,” said Conway. “We want them out. We want them to stop kidnapping our neighbors.”

#Chicago, a city of 2.7 million, has long been known as a patchwork of close-knit neighborhoods. And since the city took center stage of #Trump’s #immigration crackdown in September, those neighborhoods have mobilized against enforcement efforts, sometimes block-by-block.

#law #RightToProtest #fascism

The squad of agents had appeared in Lakeview last month, an upscale neighborhood dotted with dog daycares, medical spas & vegan restaurants, hopping over a gate to chase down a construction worker who was handcuffed & shoved into a vehicle.

When Courtney Conway, a 42-yr-old lifelong #Chicago resident, heard about the chase through FB groups & text message chains, she hopped on her bike to join the #protesters.

#Trump #law #immigration #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #fascism

#Chicago locals take on #ICE block-by-block

The #immigration agents' #TearGas #grenades clinked & then exploded against the concrete, shrouding the block in plumes of white gas. The dozen or so residents at the scene only screamed louder.
“We don't want you here,”yelled Rae Lindenberg. The 32-yr-old, who works in marketing, ran out of her apartment when she heard the shrill sound of whistles. "Get out of our neighborhood!"

#Trump #law #Constitution #CivilRights #fascism
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/were-not-violent-city-chicago-locals-take-ice-block-by-block-2025-11-02/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

#UPDATE

#Nigeria says #US *help* [unsolicited interference] against Islamist insurgents must respect its #sovereignty

Nigeria said on Sunday it would *welcome* US help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as its territorial integrity is respected, responding to #threats of #military action by #Trump over what he said was the ill-treatment of #Christians in the West African country.

#law #Constitution #InternationalLaw #WarPowers #Evangelism #Autocracy #theocracy
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigeria-welcomes-us-assistance-fight-terrorism-presidency-spokesperson-says-2025-11-02/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

The #FBI’s leadership page was updated to show Devin Kowalski, previously special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Juan branch, is now running CIRG. Kowalski had been appointed to take over as permanent head of CIRG before the jet controversy, but Palmer was planning to stay on [as] his deputy….

The head of the CIRG team has oversight of thousands of agents & analysts specialized in handling dangerous threats, such as hostage rescues, & safety at major events….

#ShitShow #KashPatel #Trump #law

Continuous Turnover

Palmer stepped into the role of acting leader of the critical incident response group [CIRG] in August when the prior chief was fired. That predecessor, Brian Driscoll, is now suing the admin with other ousted #FBI officials who say they were targeted for lacking loyalty to #Trump.

Wes Wheeler led the group until he was told to resign in March, along with numerous other leaders at FBI headquarters & Quantico.

#NationalSecurity #ShitShow #KashPatel #Trump #law #idiocracy

His exit was made official Friday, & a replacement to head the bureau’s crisis management operations including hostage rescue & bomb detection, has already been posted on the #FBI’s website.

#KashPatel was angered this week by social media posts & news stories calling attention to his use of an FBI jet that arrived in State College, Pennsylvania, where his 26yr-old girlfriend, country music artist Alexis Wilkins, sang the national anthem at a wrestling match….

#law #Trump #idiocracy

The #FBI forced out a senior official overseeing aviation shortly after #KashPatel grew outraged about revelations of his PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE jet logs indicating he’d flown to see his musician girlfriend perform….

Steven Palmer, a 27-year veteran of the FBI, became the 3rd head of the critical incident response group—which includes FBI pilots—to be fired or removed in Patel’s short regime, adding to a year filled with retributive terminations.

#law #Trump #idiocracy
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/fbi-ousts-leader-as-patel-fumes-over-attention-to-agency-jet-use

The letter says that thus far the admin "has selectively shared what has at times been contradictory information" with some members, "while excluding others."

Earlier Fri, the Republican chair & ranking Democrat on the #Senate #ArmedServices Cmte released a pair of letters sent to #Hegseth written in late Sept & early Oct requesting DOD's legal rationale for the strikes & a list of drug cartels the #Trump admin has designated terrorist orgs in its justification for use of #military force.

#law

#Senate #Democrats renewed their request for more info about the strikes in a [strongly worded] letter on Friday to Secy of State #MarcoRubio, DNI #TulsiGabbard & #Hegseth.

"We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes & a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable," the senators wrote.

#Trump #criminal #law #murder #ExtrajudicialKillings #InternationalLaw #Constitution #Congress #WarPowers #AbuseOfPower #Autocracy #MafiaState

#US lawmakers have been repeatedly
rebuffed by the White House in their demand that the #Trump admin release more info about the legal justification for the strikes as well as greater details about which cartels have been targeted & the individuals killed.

#Hegseth in his posting announcing the latest strike said "narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home" & the Defense Dept "will treat them EXACTLY how we treated Al-Qaeda."

#law #murder #Congress #WarPowers

It's at least the 15th such strike carried out by the #US #military in the #Caribbean or eastern #Pacific since early September.

…The US military has now killed at least 64 people in the strikes.

#Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the US. He has asserted the US is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, relying on the same #legal authority used by the Bush admin when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

The #US #military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the #Caribbean Sea, #Defense Sec #PeteHegseth announced.

#Hegseth in a social media posting said the vessel was operated by a US designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. He said 3 people were killed in the strike.

#Trump #criminal #law #murder #ExtrajudicialKillings #InternationalLaw #Congress #WarPowers #AbuseOfPower #Authoritarianism #fascism
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/02/nx-s1-5594753/us-strike-caribbean-kills-3-drug-smugglers

Must-read, the next terrorist attack in the USA, and what comes after.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-next-terrorist-attack-26b?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
#usa #terrorism #trump #geopolitics @geopolitics

"The richest country in the history of the earth has allowed its people to go hungry. Not by accident. Not by misfortune. But by conscious decisions driven by ego and ideology."

~ Michael Cohen

#Trump #Republicans #shutdown #SNAP #food #hunger #children #cruelty #MaraLago #EconomicElites
/17

https://www.meidasplus.com/p/leaders-turn-lives-into-the-hunger

Mad with power

#Trump threatens #US #military action in #Nigeria over treatment of #Christians

Trump said on Saturday that he has asked the #Defense Dept to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria if the Nigerian government "continues to allow the killing of Christians."

#law #Constitution #InternationalLaw #WarPowers #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #Congress #AbuseOfPower #Authoritarianism #Autocracy #Dictatorship #fascism #Tyranny #MafiaState
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/trump-threatens-us-military-action-nigeria-over-treatment-christians-2025-11-01/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

Gaiser said the admin did not believe the strikes met the definition of hostilities under the #law & did not intend to seek an extension of the deadline nor Congress’s approval of ongoing action, acc/to 3 people familiar with the matter….

“The administration appears to be blowing through the 60-day limit,” said a senior congressional aide.

#Trump #law #WarPowers #InternationalLaw #HumanRights #DueProcess #Authoritarianism #fascism #CrimesAgainstHumanity

A 60-day clock started ticking after the admin informed #Congress on Sept 4 that it had conducted a strike on an alleged drug boat in the #Caribbean 2 days earlier. It has followed that with a series of other strikes & has killed dozens of people so far.

The 60-day window closes Monday, & up to now it’s been unclear what the admin would do.

#Trump #law #Constitution #InternationalLaw #HumanRights #DueProcess #AbuseOfPower #Authoritarianism #Autocracy #Dictatorship #fascism #Tyranny

T. Elliot Gaiser, head of the #Trump admin’s Office of Legal Counsel, made his remarks to a small group of lawmakers this week amid signs that Trump may be planning to escalate the #military campaign in the region, including potentially hitting targets within #Venezuela.

A president needs lawmakers’ approval for sustained military conflict under the 1973 #WarPowers Resolution, passed in the wake of the #VietnamWar to prevent another drawn-out, undeclared conflict.

#law #Authoritarianism

Lies

#Trump admin tells #Congress #war #law doesn’t apply to cartel strikes

The Office of Legal Counsel told lawmakers that the #WarPowers Resolution, which requires Congress’s approval for ongoing #military conflict, does not apply.

A top #DOJ lawyer told lawmakers that the Trump admin can continue its lethal strikes against alleged drug traffickers in #LatinAmerica — & is not bound by a decades-old #law requiring Congress to give approval for ongoing hostilities.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/01/trump-venezuela-war-drugs-law/

While Trump is partying with friends, Ukraine is barely holding the line, with no extra effort from the US to support them or force Russia to stop it's aggression.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crklljyx6mzo
#trump #ukraine #russia #usa

"There's always a grift angle. They always want power. And the Russell Vaughts and the Stephen Millers and the Peter Thiels, what? They don't agree on everything. What do they agree on?

White supremacy and eugenics, okay? White Christian nationalism."

#TuckerCarlson #NickFuentes #antisemitism #Holocaust #Nazis #MAGA #TechBros #Trump #Republicans #WhiteChristianNationalism
/3

"Now you have it all together. You have white Christian nationalism with white supremacy, with the techno fascism all merged together.

And what I've always said is the underlying, the underpin, of all these groups has always been white supremacy, white supremacy, power, money, white supremacy, power, money."

~ Wajahat Ali

#TuckerCarlson #NickFuentes #antisemitism #Holocaust #Nazis #MAGA #TechBros #Trump #Republicans #WhiteChristianNationalism
/2

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/nick-fuentes-neo-nazis-and-groypers

"It may be the Roaring 20s for Trump and his rich cronies, but not for everyone else. And perhaps someone should let them know how the Roaring 20s ended? …

It’s hard to overstate how disconnected, and dangerous, this level of delusion is."

#Trump #Republicans #shutdown #SNAP #food #hunger #children #cruelty #MaraLago #EconomicElites
/16

"As families stand in the longest food bank lines in modern history, Trump and his inner circle dance beneath chandeliers, drinking champagne and laughing in gold-plated rooms.

Eric Trump’s family dressed as literal money. Cabinet members and senators mingled among performers dressed as flappers, twirling and grinning while Americans starve."

#Trump #Republicans #shutdown #SNAP #food #hunger #children #cruelty #MaraLago #EconomicElites
/15

"And what is Donald Trump doing in this moment of global and domestic crisis? Throwing a Great Gatsby–themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago.

The theme, 'A Little Party Never Killed Nobody,' could not be more grotesque in its irony."

~ Ben Meiselas

#Trump #Republicans #shutdown #SNAP #food #hunger #children #cruelty #MaraLago #EconomicElites
/14

https://www.meidasplus.com/p/saturday-afternoon-news-updates-11125

#Broadview #ICE facility a ‘black box’ where #immigrants denied access to #lawyers, #medicine, lawsuit claims

The ACLU of #Illinois & others ask a federal judge to intervene against “inhumane” conditions. Federal #immigration officials [who no one believes anymore] say claims that there are “subprime conditions at the Broadview ICE facility are false.”

#Trump #law #Chicago #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #DueProcess #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #fascism #WhiteSupremacy
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/31/advocates-allege-inhumane-conditions-at-chicago-area-ice-facility-in-new-lawsuit

More pepper spray was deployed in #Evanston in the afternoon, acc/to the #DHS spox & Evanston police.

A driver crashed into a #BorderPatrol vehicle near Oakton St & Asbury Ave, drawing a large crowd to the area who shouted at the agents, some of whom allegedly spit on them, acc/to DHS. 3 #US #citizens in the crowd of #protesters were arrested as agents deployed pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

#Trump #law #Chicago #immigration #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #fascism #Gestapo

Agents issued one warning about #TearGas but did not deploy it. They fired #PepperBalls instead toward #demonstrators before #Chicago police arrived & cleared the roadway, allowing the vehicles with agents & detainees to leave.

Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd) was holding a staff meeting in her ward office around the corner when she heard whistles & ran out the door.

#Trump #law #immigration #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #PoliceBrutality #fascism #MilitaryState #Gestapo

A reporter spotted one agent without a #BodyCamera. Another agent used a GoPro camera in addition to a body camera. Some agents had numbered identifiers on patches on their uniforms. Others had identifying numbers written on tape.

The Sun-Times reported Friday that several federal #immigration agents have not worn identifying information, against a judge’s order.

#Trump #law #Chicago #judiciary #Constitution #CivilRights #fascism #Tyranny #MilitaryState #Gestapo
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/31/ice-border-patrol-operation-midway-blitz-ids-gregory-bovino-immigration-enforcement-chicago-arrests-detention

A crowd gathered & shouted, “Let them go,” at the agents. Agents ripped another man from his car & detained him after other community members tried to put themselves in front of him.

“It’s actually horrifying,” said a friend of one of the men detained, who did not want to be identified. Minutes earlier, the person had just seen the man standing there.

“It happens so fast. You prepare, but then you don’t know what to do,” the person said.

#Trump #law #Chicago #immigration #CivilRights #fascism

About 15 mins before that incident, #Bovino’s caravan stopped in the H Mart grocery store parking lot in Niles & detained another man who was just walking through the lot.

Friday’s arrests began around 9:30AM in the Albany Park neighborhood, when agents tackled a man to the pavement in the 3200 block of West Lawrence Ave after they accused him of assaulting one of them [no one including CST journos witnessed the alleged assault].

#Trump #law #Chicago #immigration #CivilRights #fascism #Gestapo

About 5 neighbors stood nearby, shouting at the agents [#FreeSpeech] who gave verbal warnings they would deploy #TearGas. They never did.

Klim & the other man had been working on the house for a couple weeks, acc/to Brendan Ek, a neighbor across the street. “It seemed a little ridiculous, honestly. Big waste of #taxpayers’ money, if you ask me,” Ek, 30, said.

#Trump #law #Chicago #immigration #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #fascism #Tyranny #MilitaryState #Gestapo

His co-worker, who Klim said also is a #US #citizen from #Poland, was arrested & taken away in the caravan of SUVs.

“I’m not [a] criminal. I’m just working,” Klim, 59, said shortly after he was released & the federal agents had driven away.

“I’m so stressed…I’m worried,” Klim said of his co-worker. “He’s got his car. He lives not so far from here, but I don’t know even [his] last name & I don’t have a phone number to his wife.”

#Trump #law #Chicago #immigration #CivilRights #fascism #Gestapo

US #BorderPatrol Commander-at-large Gregory #Bovino led a caravan of at least a dozen agents across #Chicago suburbs including Evanston, Skokie & Niles, & Edison Park neighborhood.

Sun-Times journalists followed the caravan for at least an hour & witnessed 4 arrests—2 in Albany Park & 2 others in Edison Park & Niles.

Christopher Klim, a #US #citizen from #Poland, was seen handcuffed & later released ~2PM as he remodeled a home in the 7400 block of North Oconto Ave.

#Trump #law #immigration

#Bovino carries out #Halloween #arrests. 'They showed up here to terrorize people,' alder says

The agents swept through the #Chicago Albany Park & Edison Park neighborhoods, & suburban #Evanston, #Skokie & #Niles Friday morning & afternoon after [dog killer] #DHS Secy #KristiNoem said *enforcement* [terrorist] operations would continue on Halloween despite #Illinois Gov #JBPritzker asking they pause for the holiday.

#Trump #law #CivilRights #fascism #WhiteSupremacy
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/31/2-detained-pepper-balls-fired-by-federal-agents-in-albany-park-it-happens-so-fast

In #Chicago, residents & local journalists have captured footage showing clouds of #TearGas drifting toward #homes, #storefronts & #schools. Some residents said the tear gas has aggravated their #asthma. Others said they’ve experienced severe emotional distress [#trauma].

#Trump #law #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #HumanRights #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #PoliceBrutality #fascism #Tyranny #MilitaryState #ICE #CBP #Gestapo #WhiteSupremacy

…The frequent use of #ChemicalAgents raises questions about training & tactics being used by #ICE officers & #BorderPatrol agents. The latter are now heavily involved in #immigration arrests FAR from the US-Mexico #border; most federal agents have scant experience dealing with #protesters in #urban areas. #DHS claims *assaults* [people defending themselves] against officers have risen significantly.

#Trump #law #Chicago #RightToProtest #CivilRights #HumanRights #PoliceBrutality #fascism

“Generally, these kinds of crowd control devices are reserved for truly dangerous situations,” said Kevin Fee, legal director of the #ACLU of #Illinois, which is part of a legal coalition representing #journalists & #protesters in a lawsuit. “I cannot think of a good parallel for what the administration is doing right now.”

#Trump #law #Chicago #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #HumanRights #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #PoliceBrutality #fascism #Tyranny #MilitaryState #Gestapo #WhiteSupremacy

The use of #TearGas has persisted in recent days despite a #CourtOrder forbidding officers from using #ChemicalAgents against #demonstrators & #journalists unless they pose a safety threat. Last week, Gregory #Bovino, the #BorderPatrol official leading the #Chicago operation, was videotaped throwing a tear-gas canister into a crowd. In another incident, #immigration officers deployed tear gas as #families were walking to a Halloween parade.

#Trump #law #CivilRights #HumanRights #PoliceBrutality