Tag: International Affairs

16:58 EST

Sharing this here so others can find the news… FaceBook doesn’t like it when I link news stories from here in Montréal — so here from the Guardian’s reporting:

Trump suggests he’s not prepared to invoke Insurrection Act, saying he doesn’t think events in California are an ‘insurrection’

Asked if he’s prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, Donald Trump told reporters in New Jersey: “It depends on whether or not there’s an insurrection.”

Asked if he thinks there is one, Trump replied: “No, no, but we have violent people and we’re not going to let them get away with it.”

In response to another journalist’s question, Trump said: “I think you’re going to see some very strong law and order.”

“Insurrection”

Tonight in Los Angeles — sharing this link so my friends can see this from outside of Canada, where I cannot post news stories.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/07/immigration-raids-los-angeles

The Trump administration will deploy the national guard to immigration protests in Los Angeles, border czar Tom Homan said on Saturday, as an immigration crackdown in the area erupted into mass protests with police in riot gear deploying teargas at bystanders.

“We’re already mobilizing. We’re gonna bring national guard in tonight and we’re gonna continue doing our job. This is about enforcing the law,” Homan said in an interview with Fox News.

#ViveLaInsurrectionDeLosAngeles #TheWholeWorldIsWatching

The Whole World Is Watching…

… and it would seem that the US (almost said “we”, but I hardly feel that way anymore) is headed for the wrong side of history. How that course could be changed is subject to debate, but the following offers some ideas.

“This is a summary of what citizens can do to dislodge an oppressive dictator. It focuses entirely on nonviolent action, because the state almost always has overwhelming superiority when it comes to the use of force. Violent opposition most often leads to prolonged stalemate or prolonged civil war.”

~~ from the text of the link below:

How to Get Rid of a Dictator
https://citizenshandbook.org/get_rid_of_a_dictator.html

“… that which once was.”

I’m getting really tired of Suckerburg’s tiff with Canadian news sources… while I didn’t particularly notice while in Europe, now that I am here, it is a constant annoyance. I have taken to obfuscating the URLs, but this has meant that images, which are always more potent, were also unable to be displayed. So it looks like the blog will be getting a workout… today’s treat follows.

Take some time to drift through the images of Palestine before the nakkba of 1948. It reminds me of the stories of an earlier time further to the west, of Alfonso el Sabio.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2025/5/15/palestine-before-the-nakba-in-100-photos

Image of Druze family members in Palestine.

In the interest of sharing…

Facebook has some rules about sharing what it deems to be news sources, when posting from Canada.

In the interest of sharing information widely concerning the clampdown being experienced in the US by the current regime, I am sharing an URL from The Guardian UK concerning the recent denial of entry of a French researcher in to the US so that my friends on FB can access it freely…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-french-scientist-detained

.. et voilá!

Die weiße Rose/ The White Rose

On this anniversary of their murder by guillotine at the hands of the Nazi Volksgerichthof (22 February 1943), we reflect on the need for resistance to tyranny taking place in the US right now. It behooves us to read about “die weiße Rose” (The White Rose) and their efforts at resistance to the Nazis.

The US military (and many of the civilian public servants) swear an oath to uphold and protect the US Constitution, not to any other entities or personalities. It is one of the unique aspects of the operations of the US military.
Firing the people who make the judgements of what constitutes a “legal” order (the JAG, or Judge Advocate General’s Corps, basically high level lawyers for all the US military) is a step towards martial law, or worse. Such an actions allow all manner abuse by redefining what constitutes a legal order. After all, one of the unsuccessful defenses used by the Nazis in the Nuremberg trials was that they were simply following orders.

When an individual is running around claiming that “they are the law” and also happen to be the Commander-in-Chief of the entire US military (yep, got the finger on the nuclear button), one feels a certain amount of alarm concerning what is happening next — especially when it’s done on a Friday evening, at the end of the news cycle so it gets buried over the weekend. Mondays are a feint, designed to distract by presenting new crises to discuss over the rest of the week.

And that’s where we are. The mainstream media are systematically being overwhelmed by the actions of the coup leaders (yes, it’s a coup — no other way to talk about what has been happening since 20 January 2025), with the aim of frustrating any attempt at an organized resistance against them. But we must resist, even if it is only with the smallest gestures. We must not allow this to continue. It must not come to this:
A color-coded chart explaining the symbols used by the concentration camps by the Nazis in WWII

There are many ways in which to resist. I hope to be able to share more in the coming days and weeks. Let us hope that it will not be an exercise of months or years.

A clenched fist with the text "Resist"