Outrageous! There are no words, except this is the most racist government I have seen in my 75 years. It's like the South of my childhood. The republicans can no longer claim to be the "Party of Lincoln." They are the American version of the party of Hitler. Right here, right now.
They haven't been "the party of Lincoln" since at least the late 1960s, and I'd go back a lot further than that, maybe even to the 1877 Compromise. I'm glad you brought up the South of yesteryear. This stuff may be new to white people, but it's not new to people of color.
In the 1920's, way back in the day, people of color used to vote for Republicans in droves. That was before the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan in such Republican states as, for example, Indiana. The Republicans were all for the Klan and made no bones about it. The Klan became so prominent and so powerful that people of color switched their voter registrations from Republican to Democratic.
The Republican Party is dead as a doornail. It no longer exists. What we have now is a cult of personality
The Trump regime is full-on fascist now. They are now “detaining” We the People. The ICE goons are telling some U.S. citizens who are hispanic and caught up in Kavanaugh raids their Real I.D. isn’t enough proof. The very thing the GOP pushed hard for.
So true. Ellen. If the word Chicago were replaced with the word Berlin, and the t year 1939 for example and the ethnicity of the people was Jewish the cruel and inhuman treatment as described would fit right in. These masked men may as well start wearing swastika armbands. The once democratic government of the once free and once great United States has now become a fascist government - essentially a full dictatorship. If a place called hell exists every one of these thugs and their masters will rot there for eternity. /
Mary, very few if any would believe this and I did talk about it before, but over 60 years ago I had a near death experience and to cut a long story short was given a tour of the various levels of consciousness in the spirit realms, some hellish some beautiful beyond words. The residents in these levels created these levels themselves by their collective mindset. Not one person was "sent" there. I remeber thinking at the time, my God if everyone could see what I am seeing they'd stop all the bad stuff they are doing immediately. But was told by the advanced soul that arranged all this that he knew I'd like to shout it from the rooftops but it would do no good. It would not be believed. You would think religious people would be delighted to hear this but they have very fixed ideas that belief and faith is more important than works, even though it says in the bible By your works you shall be known, and Faith without works is as tinkling bells. It also says something about hell and heaven are not places but are within. In other words we take who we are - our inner being, our state of mind, with us when we die. If this is all true any guesses where Trump will be when he dies?
This from Politicus The Daily from Sarah Jones: "This is tyranny, this is absolute tyranny," a resident said, saying onlookers in the parking lot were tear-gassed. “My eyes are burning, my skin is burning, but more than that I’m just mad.”
SARAH JONES
OCT 4
"One of Trump’s masked ICE thugs tossed a smoke grenade onto a crowded Chicago street. The tear gas impacted families and residents who had nothing to do with the ICE raid, including a family walking home from their child’s preschool."
Exactly, Ellen. In fact if by some miracle every individual in the world suddenly followed that simple one rule, all wars would stop. there'd be no need for locks on doors, children could go anywhere alone without fear, on and on. We'd have heaven right here on earth, no greed, no anger, no hatred. But humans are too stupid for that to ever happen, We prefer misery and suffering.
That's really interesting, Gary. You are so right, it is really impossible to communicate the experience to others because words are inadequate. Also impossible to relate unless they have had the same experience. The answer regarding your friend's question is "When the Chela (student) is ready the master will appear." Very few people are ready for such a experience as it would be too confusing. You might read Anthony Borgia's book Life in the World Unseen. It was written in the 50's but I had never read it until after my NDE and he describes the lower and higher regions just as I observed them. his is the first in a number of books that claim to be the words of Monsignor Robert Hugh Bensons, as received by Anthony Borgia. They have proved very popular, possibly because he was a prolific writer while alive, and held a senior position in the Catholic Church. This volume was first published in 1954 an
I’d like to quote from an actual inhabitant of - not heaven exactly, but certainly heaven compared to earth. “….After a short while our progress seemed to slacken somewhat and I could feel something very solid under my feet. I was told to open my eyes and I did so. What I saw was my old home that I lived in on the earth-plane; my old home but with a difference. It was improved in a way I had not been able to do to its earthly counterpart. The house itself was rejuvenated, as it seemed to me from a first glance, rather than restored, but it was the gardens round it that attracted my attention more fully. They appeared to be quite extensive, and they were in a state of the most perfect order and arrangement. By this I do not mean the regular orderliness that one is accustomed to see in public gardens on the earth-plane, but that they were beautifully kept. There was no wild growths or masses of tangled foliage and weeds, but the most glorious profusion of beautiful flowers so arranged as to show themselves to absolute perfecion.“
So this is our friend’s first introduction to the spirit reams. He goes on from there in great detail to describe this new world. He says you would have to take his various descriptions of the landscapes and seascapes and magnificent architecture and halls of learning and magnify it tenfold and you still wouldn’t be able to capture the sheer essence of the beauty and serenity. And remember, this is not heaven in the truest sense of the word. But just the basic experience most of us will have who are by no means saints, but your average decent person trying to do the right thing in life. Incidentally, life there, is as on earth but without the trials and tribulations, or the need to make a living. Music art and literature abound, with the freedom to study whatever is of interest to you. But now for a contrasting experience: A man who in life seemed to be religious and a paragon of virue. But God - that supreme universal intelligence, cannot be fooled, and while not directly condemning this man, he, the man, being a part of the whole, condemns himself. He had condemned himself to a life of squalor for that was where his mind and soul was:
“We left my friend’s beautiful house. Quickly traversing our own realm, finding ourselves on the borders of a lower realm. We were walking along a great tract of barren country. The ground was hard underfoot; the green of trees and grass were gone. The sky was dull and leaden, and the temperature had dropped considerably, but being from a higher level we could feel an eternal warmth that counteracted it. Before us we could see nothing but a great bank of mist that gathered in density as we advanced, until finally we were within it. It swirled around in heavy damp clouds, and it seemd almost like a dead weight as it pressed upon us. The landscape was bleak with here and there a dwelling house of the meanest order. With the guidance of our escort we approached the nearest house. It was a small. Squat house, squarely built, devoid of ornament, and looking altogether uninviting. It even had a sinister look in spite of its plainness, and it seemed to repell us from it the nearer we approached it. There was no sign of life to be seen at any of the windows or round about it. There was no garden attached to it; it just stood out by itself, solitary and forlorn. We approached the door and our guide gave a knock upon it and without waiting for an answer opened it and walked in, beckoning us to follow. We did so and found ourselves in the poorest sort of apology for a house. There was little furniture, and an air of poverty pervaded. But to our spirit eyes the poverty was of the soul, the meanness of the spirit, and although it aroused our sympathy it was sympathy of another kind, of which material help is of no avail, The coldness seemd almost greater within than without, and we were told it came from the owner himself. We passed into the back room and met the sole occupant seated in a chair. He made no attempt to rise or give any sign of welcome. Although our guide had apparently visited in the past to try to awaken within him some measure of humanity to where he could be helped. But he merely scowled. It was a moment or two before he spoke and then he railed rather incoherently, but we were able to gather that he deemed himself to be suffering under an injustice. Our guide told him in plain terms that he was talking nonsense, because injustice does not exist in the spirit world. A heated argument ensued, heated that is on the part of our host. Our guide was calm and collected and in truth, wonderfully kind. At length our host calmed down and almost became affable. It was as if he was reluctant to submit to becoming pleasant. He walked us to the door and indicated that perhaps we may visit again. This was a breakthrough and our guide seemed happy.
Apparently in earth life he had been a successful business man- successful that is as far as the earth-plane judges such things. He had not thought of much more than his business, and he always considered that any means were justified in gaining his own ends, provided they were legal. He was ruthless in his dealings with all others, and he elevated efficiency to the level of a god. In his home. All things - and people - were subservient to him. He gave generously to charity where there was likely to accrue the greatest advantage and credit. He supported his own church and religion with vigor, regularity, and fervor. He felt he that was an ornament to the church, and he was much esteemed by all those connected with it. He added some new portions to the edifice at his own expense, and a chappel was named after him as the donor. But he scarcely committed one decent, unselfish action in the whole of his life. His motive was always self-aggrandizement. But he had achieved his purpose at the absolute expense of his life in the spirit world.”
Interesting list Gary. I took a stab at writing a book years ago, Couldn't get a publisher so made it free on the Internet. It is quite long in parts and too much philosophical discussion for a kid's book. Have trimmed it down now considerably with a different title and also wrote a script based on the story which actually got optioned but nothing going on with it as yet. Here is the original long version of the story as a free download ((There is some political discussion in it too :)
My blonde, blue eyed daughter and son-in-law who live a block away from where today’s ICE raid took place suffered along with thousands of other lily white native born taxpayers. This nonsense has to stop.
Well, as an 18-20 year old, 5' tall, 85 lbs., long blonde hair and blue eyes, looked like I was 12, lived this in 1968-69-70 in Berkeley. And it wasn't ICE, it was Alameda County Sheriffs, Berkeley Police, and University of California Police, did this too. Have you ever seen a National Guard helicopter drop tear gas on a crowd of 2000 penned into a plaza? Been shot at, beaten, tear gassed? Some of us have lived this before. As a Chicagoan, surely you should remember the 1968 Democratic Convention of 1968. What did Ribicoff say in the Convention, "there's a police riot going on"? Chicago, Days of Rage? Black Panther Party, Oakland, NYC, everywhere else? Most of the time, you just have to be alone, walking down the street, when they attack you. At least, that was my personal experience.
Chicago, DNC, 1968: Crowd chants "The whole world's watching! The whole world's watching!"
Chicago, Kavanaugh Raids, 2025: The FAA declares a 15-mile radius no-fly zone for _all_ privately owned drones, centered on the Sears Tower & up to 400 feet above ground level. Sean Duffy to the American public: "No journalists & no hobbyists allowed to watch or live-stream on Facebook. Nothing to see here, move along."
We get to relive everything, don't we? Did Duffy actually say, "Nothing to see here, move along."? My, my. Some people, the younger ones, or non-participants from the early days, get to live it for the first time.
No, Duffy did not. Nothing in the second quotation I attributed to him is verbatim, but that's the implied meaning & intent of the FAA's actual no-fly order.
The 15-mile radius ban on private drone operations is unprecedented in size. Nearly half the area is over Lake Michigan.
Abhorrent illegal behavior by this criminal regime. I’m sick to my stomach from this and other horrific crimes committed by these corrupt people. Shameful
I was sitting in the Chicago airport when I first read the Sun Times story about this horrid raid in roughly my part of the city. But, whereas my neighborhood is a wealthy, racially diverse neighborhood, this one just to the south is predominantly Black, but they also had a lot of immigrants placed there when Florida and Texas started sending people north to sanctuary cities. So, I can picture the area and the trauma to the people, particularly the naked ones, being tortured and degraded and made to suffer physically outside at night, where it gets cooler, even if their insides were too hot. We have an evil Nazi running our country, along with his evil Nazi henchmen.
The governor of Illinois should get a militia together and not allow ICE or any Federal troops in as being Federal overreach of states rights. This is Federal overreach. No one asked them to come to Chicago.
Ironically am just back in Germany from Chicago where I carried my passport on me the whole time and told my brown-skinned nephews to either carry their passports or their birth certificates. I read an article by Jay Kuo about this raid as I was sitting on a bus going to meet a group of friends for a Friday evening celebration of the Day of German Unity and I realized how much trauma I was holding in from having been in Chicago, which Trump is attacking, and I began to sob. Great gut wrenching sobs just hit me as I got off the bus. Just then friends of mine who were behind me welcomed me back and comforted me and I began to feel better. Here is Jay Kuo's piece. He also does not mention getting together a state militia, but I see this as civil war has begun in the USA. The president is using the federal forces to attack the citizens of this country illegally. We need a State militia to keep them out. We need to defund this government which has gone rogue.
As a fellow Chicagoan and former prosecutor I can’t tell you how upset I am to have heard the news tonight. My blonde and blue eyed daughter and my sixth generation Irish son-in-law live one block away from where teargas and pepper spray permeated the air when they got home from work. Tens of thousands of their American neighbors, Lily White, were forced to suffer the same indignity their brown and black brethren had to endure, almost all of them American citizens just like them.
In the short run, all I can do is shake my head. In the long run, I need to double down to make sure as many people as I know are encouraged to come to the polls in November of next year. I can only hope that in the short run, the great majority of Americans will rise up against this nonsense.
The anti-fascists of World War II were not terrorists anymore so than our the so-called “Antifa” citizens of today.
Thankfully,you made it back to Germany unscathed,, with the exception. of knowing about this, and other fascist raids in this country Linda! This is war by the billionaire class, I’ve been begging for our governors for a show of force in similar manner, withholding federal tax dollars, along with succession. Hopefully your time in Germany provides some relaxation!
It does provide relaxation even though we know that Russia is escalating its hybrid warfare. Germany is included. Trump has made Putin bold. He is spreading his war from Ukraine to elsewhere. European countries are getting training from Ukraine now in drone warfare. We are not in conventional warfare, this is why I think American states should get their militia together and train them in drone warfare too.
A friend shared this today.
Sweden has a Center for Psychological Defense. An important part of a country to be ready to defend itself is not only the military having sufficient equipment and being trained. An essential part is the populations psychological resilience against disinformation campaigns. Because the military can only defend a country when the population backs them up.
I listened to a lecture this morning. Sweden and Finland were mentioned as countries being ahead of the rest of Europe. The lecture mentioned the drone airspace violations as tactics to sow fear and demoralize the public.
The second most important part in being prepared is to have a positive vision for the future. This is both true for people signing up for the military as well as the general public. If we aren't clear about what we are striving for, what our collective vision is and what we want to defend, then resilience and motivation are close to zero. https://mpf.se/psychological-defence-agency/about-us/our-mission
I know that Chicago is under attack from Trump and should be treated as such. The federal government is the enemy to Blue States, and they have to proceed with such awareness.
I’m glad you’re calling them nazis Linda that’s exactly what they are. They want to pretend that we’re exaggerating, but their behavior speaks for itself. I’m totally disgusted with what’s going on in this country. We need a massive revolt against this BS.
I always say I am speechless. Every day. I don’t know how we are going to get out of this dystopia. Maybe Civil War? If so, I am on board. Glad I’m living in NYC. Go Mamdani!
Mamdani and the rest of us are going to have our hands full as soon as he's inaugurated on New Year's Day when djt starts punishing us for electing Zohran. I've no doubt he and Hochul are spending a lot of time planning together how to handle the inevitable.
I wouldn't exactly call her a trump whisperer, but Hochul has been surprisingly adept at pushing back his worst moves. Just Friday she persuaded him to reverse a profoundly stupid $187mil NY counter counter-terrorism initiative DHS didn't even inform him it was starting.
Perhaps Hochul's the kind of person who learns from experience? She has also managed astonishingly to get the fed reconstruction of Moynihan train hall—Penn Station—into the the hands of "train daddy" wizard Andy Byford, not some Sean Duffy-chosen moron. Also, although the shutdown has suspended construction of the massive new Hudson tunnel, Hochul managed to make the much-needed project real after years of GOP rejection. … And did I forget to mention that congestion traffic rates are in effect over trump's obnoxious objections? Huge improvement for traffic and those of us who live and walk here.
Yeah, let's not kid ourselves we are in fascism's lap.Whether or not we stay here is up to us. Our feckless msm is worthless. Our courts are sure helping us out with the exception of the SCROTUS. It is up to us to stop this horror.Our protests are making a difference. I think we need them but we also need more. Boycotts, strike , staying at home. Non violent stuff that will make ourselves known.Solidarity
And another despicable act- 400 Iranians are being sent back to Iran. No one even knows this is happening. The administration made an agreement with the Iranian government. These people will be tortured to death. Why? Anyone know what kind of a deal was made?
The only thing the adjudicated rapist, and 34 time felon cares about - $$$$$$. Remember the Epstein files? You know the documents the Felon and his den of thieves are terrified that we will finally see the whole ugly scenario? He doesn't give a damn about the children and young girls who were molested, but he does care if we all find out that he has been laundering billions of dollars for Putie and Co. That is what he cares about - money, only money. Everything else is chattel.
As for the Monster Miller, who is running this country? It's proving he's ugly, pitiful, despicable, and devoid of a heart and soul. It's proving all those nasty comments made to him and about him when he was in high school and at university weren't true. And the more he tries? The more evident it becomes that they were and then some.
Question, what is the Chicago media saying about this? If there still is any true 4th estate, that is.
Good question and thank you for asking. The paper clip symbolizes resistance to tyranny. During WWII Norwegians wore paperclips as a show of resistance to the Nazis. For more information please read E Jean Carroll’s Substack. 📎
I saw it on TV and I had to turn it off as it upset me. We are like a 3rd World Country now! I never thought I would see this!
Instead I put on some music. I put on the soundtrack from "Just in Time", the Bobby Darin musical story. I saw it last night as I live in NYC! Jonathan Groff plays him and he was excellent! Much more pleasant.
Now, I'm going to write some more letters to California to urge voters to vote for Prop 50 to redistrict in California!
Once again, thanks, Lucian, at least I think!! We really are there, and I am completely stumped regarding what we can do about this. I’m so pissed off about Johnson refusing to seat Grijalva that I am spitting nails. That leaves a whole shitload of people with no representation in Arizona. And these people call themselves Christians…please!🤬
Outrageous!!!! I’m speechless - this has got to stop!!! The media should be blasting this on the airwaves & the newspapers!! This is not the America I grew up in😡😡
It's very much the America I grew up in. I'm white and pretty privileged, but I've also been politically active and I pay attention. Fwiw, I came of political age in 1968, and I've never flown the U.S. flag. Maybe some day . . .
I've been fuming about this since yesterday! I don't think indigestion is what I am experiencing, though I also don't believe it is my heart. Stress seems more likely. I am tempted to put on my sleep mask and crawl into bed, staying there as long as humanly possible. There is a problem, though, I can't stay that way as long as I would like to. My body rebels, and I must get up and try to get my mind right and determine to do whatever I can to help defeat this attack on the country. I've never lived anywhere else. I am not sure if I could manage moving elsewhere. One thing I am aware of is that I need to expand my circle to include more people, so I have others around me, not just online. I've not done much since moving to my parents' home after my dad passed away (my mother several years ago) and taking over the family home. I am thankful for the writers I follow, such as Lucian and others. I am profoundly impressed and grateful for fellow commenters here and elsewhere who provide me with hope and clarity. Whew! Brain dump over. For now! ;
Outrageous! There are no words, except this is the most racist government I have seen in my 75 years. It's like the South of my childhood. The republicans can no longer claim to be the "Party of Lincoln." They are the American version of the party of Hitler. Right here, right now.
They haven't been "the party of Lincoln" since at least the late 1960s, and I'd go back a lot further than that, maybe even to the 1877 Compromise. I'm glad you brought up the South of yesteryear. This stuff may be new to white people, but it's not new to people of color.
No, but every so often one of them forgets. Nixon and Reagan really made them republicans.
In the 1920's, way back in the day, people of color used to vote for Republicans in droves. That was before the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan in such Republican states as, for example, Indiana. The Republicans were all for the Klan and made no bones about it. The Klan became so prominent and so powerful that people of color switched their voter registrations from Republican to Democratic.
The Republican Party is dead as a doornail. It no longer exists. What we have now is a cult of personality
The Trump regime is full-on fascist now. They are now “detaining” We the People. The ICE goons are telling some U.S. citizens who are hispanic and caught up in Kavanaugh raids their Real I.D. isn’t enough proof. The very thing the GOP pushed hard for.
So true. Ellen. If the word Chicago were replaced with the word Berlin, and the t year 1939 for example and the ethnicity of the people was Jewish the cruel and inhuman treatment as described would fit right in. These masked men may as well start wearing swastika armbands. The once democratic government of the once free and once great United States has now become a fascist government - essentially a full dictatorship. If a place called hell exists every one of these thugs and their masters will rot there for eternity. /
Hell exists and Satan is preparing their places in it.
Mary, very few if any would believe this and I did talk about it before, but over 60 years ago I had a near death experience and to cut a long story short was given a tour of the various levels of consciousness in the spirit realms, some hellish some beautiful beyond words. The residents in these levels created these levels themselves by their collective mindset. Not one person was "sent" there. I remeber thinking at the time, my God if everyone could see what I am seeing they'd stop all the bad stuff they are doing immediately. But was told by the advanced soul that arranged all this that he knew I'd like to shout it from the rooftops but it would do no good. It would not be believed. You would think religious people would be delighted to hear this but they have very fixed ideas that belief and faith is more important than works, even though it says in the bible By your works you shall be known, and Faith without works is as tinkling bells. It also says something about hell and heaven are not places but are within. In other words we take who we are - our inner being, our state of mind, with us when we die. If this is all true any guesses where Trump will be when he dies?
Hell. The ninth circle with all the other traitors.
This from Politicus The Daily from Sarah Jones: "This is tyranny, this is absolute tyranny," a resident said, saying onlookers in the parking lot were tear-gassed. “My eyes are burning, my skin is burning, but more than that I’m just mad.”
SARAH JONES
OCT 4
"One of Trump’s masked ICE thugs tossed a smoke grenade onto a crowded Chicago street. The tear gas impacted families and residents who had nothing to do with the ICE raid, including a family walking home from their child’s preschool."
Well, that goes well with my "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" theory.
Exactly, Ellen. In fact if by some miracle every individual in the world suddenly followed that simple one rule, all wars would stop. there'd be no need for locks on doors, children could go anywhere alone without fear, on and on. We'd have heaven right here on earth, no greed, no anger, no hatred. But humans are too stupid for that to ever happen, We prefer misery and suffering.
See, it's okay to give money to people on the street. I usually don't have any money with me, but sometimes...
Had a similar experience my first year back from Vietnam seeing no possibility of peace short of extinction.
Like you I tried to share, getting everything from worried looks to tolerant amusement.
The closest I have come to be able to communicate it has been with a convergence of Christ’s teachings and quantum psychophysics.
One of the few friends I actually explained the whole experience to; listened attentively and finally said, Why didn’t I get that experience?”
He died a few years later from complications stemming from his heroin addiction.
I had no answer for him then, and I have none now.
That's really interesting, Gary. You are so right, it is really impossible to communicate the experience to others because words are inadequate. Also impossible to relate unless they have had the same experience. The answer regarding your friend's question is "When the Chela (student) is ready the master will appear." Very few people are ready for such a experience as it would be too confusing. You might read Anthony Borgia's book Life in the World Unseen. It was written in the 50's but I had never read it until after my NDE and he describes the lower and higher regions just as I observed them. his is the first in a number of books that claim to be the words of Monsignor Robert Hugh Bensons, as received by Anthony Borgia. They have proved very popular, possibly because he was a prolific writer while alive, and held a senior position in the Catholic Church. This volume was first published in 1954 an
I’d like to quote from an actual inhabitant of - not heaven exactly, but certainly heaven compared to earth. “….After a short while our progress seemed to slacken somewhat and I could feel something very solid under my feet. I was told to open my eyes and I did so. What I saw was my old home that I lived in on the earth-plane; my old home but with a difference. It was improved in a way I had not been able to do to its earthly counterpart. The house itself was rejuvenated, as it seemed to me from a first glance, rather than restored, but it was the gardens round it that attracted my attention more fully. They appeared to be quite extensive, and they were in a state of the most perfect order and arrangement. By this I do not mean the regular orderliness that one is accustomed to see in public gardens on the earth-plane, but that they were beautifully kept. There was no wild growths or masses of tangled foliage and weeds, but the most glorious profusion of beautiful flowers so arranged as to show themselves to absolute perfecion.“
So this is our friend’s first introduction to the spirit reams. He goes on from there in great detail to describe this new world. He says you would have to take his various descriptions of the landscapes and seascapes and magnificent architecture and halls of learning and magnify it tenfold and you still wouldn’t be able to capture the sheer essence of the beauty and serenity. And remember, this is not heaven in the truest sense of the word. But just the basic experience most of us will have who are by no means saints, but your average decent person trying to do the right thing in life. Incidentally, life there, is as on earth but without the trials and tribulations, or the need to make a living. Music art and literature abound, with the freedom to study whatever is of interest to you. But now for a contrasting experience: A man who in life seemed to be religious and a paragon of virue. But God - that supreme universal intelligence, cannot be fooled, and while not directly condemning this man, he, the man, being a part of the whole, condemns himself. He had condemned himself to a life of squalor for that was where his mind and soul was:
“We left my friend’s beautiful house. Quickly traversing our own realm, finding ourselves on the borders of a lower realm. We were walking along a great tract of barren country. The ground was hard underfoot; the green of trees and grass were gone. The sky was dull and leaden, and the temperature had dropped considerably, but being from a higher level we could feel an eternal warmth that counteracted it. Before us we could see nothing but a great bank of mist that gathered in density as we advanced, until finally we were within it. It swirled around in heavy damp clouds, and it seemd almost like a dead weight as it pressed upon us. The landscape was bleak with here and there a dwelling house of the meanest order. With the guidance of our escort we approached the nearest house. It was a small. Squat house, squarely built, devoid of ornament, and looking altogether uninviting. It even had a sinister look in spite of its plainness, and it seemed to repell us from it the nearer we approached it. There was no sign of life to be seen at any of the windows or round about it. There was no garden attached to it; it just stood out by itself, solitary and forlorn. We approached the door and our guide gave a knock upon it and without waiting for an answer opened it and walked in, beckoning us to follow. We did so and found ourselves in the poorest sort of apology for a house. There was little furniture, and an air of poverty pervaded. But to our spirit eyes the poverty was of the soul, the meanness of the spirit, and although it aroused our sympathy it was sympathy of another kind, of which material help is of no avail, The coldness seemd almost greater within than without, and we were told it came from the owner himself. We passed into the back room and met the sole occupant seated in a chair. He made no attempt to rise or give any sign of welcome. Although our guide had apparently visited in the past to try to awaken within him some measure of humanity to where he could be helped. But he merely scowled. It was a moment or two before he spoke and then he railed rather incoherently, but we were able to gather that he deemed himself to be suffering under an injustice. Our guide told him in plain terms that he was talking nonsense, because injustice does not exist in the spirit world. A heated argument ensued, heated that is on the part of our host. Our guide was calm and collected and in truth, wonderfully kind. At length our host calmed down and almost became affable. It was as if he was reluctant to submit to becoming pleasant. He walked us to the door and indicated that perhaps we may visit again. This was a breakthrough and our guide seemed happy.
Apparently in earth life he had been a successful business man- successful that is as far as the earth-plane judges such things. He had not thought of much more than his business, and he always considered that any means were justified in gaining his own ends, provided they were legal. He was ruthless in his dealings with all others, and he elevated efficiency to the level of a god. In his home. All things - and people - were subservient to him. He gave generously to charity where there was likely to accrue the greatest advantage and credit. He supported his own church and religion with vigor, regularity, and fervor. He felt he that was an ornament to the church, and he was much esteemed by all those connected with it. He added some new portions to the edifice at his own expense, and a chappel was named after him as the donor. But he scarcely committed one decent, unselfish action in the whole of his life. His motive was always self-aggrandizement. But he had achieved his purpose at the absolute expense of his life in the spirit world.”
“…... a fragment of underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are.”
Best artistic attempts I have found are Bob Marley’s Exodus and Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill.
And C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce; and a nod to A Christmas Carol , and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Interesting list Gary. I took a stab at writing a book years ago, Couldn't get a publisher so made it free on the Internet. It is quite long in parts and too much philosophical discussion for a kid's book. Have trimmed it down now considerably with a different title and also wrote a script based on the story which actually got optioned but nothing going on with it as yet. Here is the original long version of the story as a free download ((There is some political discussion in it too :)
https://manybooks.net/titles/evansbother06dorom10.html
I wish he’d get a move on…
It’s a co-operative effort.
See my comment as a Chicagoan below
My blonde, blue eyed daughter and son-in-law who live a block away from where today’s ICE raid took place suffered along with thousands of other lily white native born taxpayers. This nonsense has to stop.
Well, as an 18-20 year old, 5' tall, 85 lbs., long blonde hair and blue eyes, looked like I was 12, lived this in 1968-69-70 in Berkeley. And it wasn't ICE, it was Alameda County Sheriffs, Berkeley Police, and University of California Police, did this too. Have you ever seen a National Guard helicopter drop tear gas on a crowd of 2000 penned into a plaza? Been shot at, beaten, tear gassed? Some of us have lived this before. As a Chicagoan, surely you should remember the 1968 Democratic Convention of 1968. What did Ribicoff say in the Convention, "there's a police riot going on"? Chicago, Days of Rage? Black Panther Party, Oakland, NYC, everywhere else? Most of the time, you just have to be alone, walking down the street, when they attack you. At least, that was my personal experience.
Chicago, DNC, 1968: Crowd chants "The whole world's watching! The whole world's watching!"
Chicago, Kavanaugh Raids, 2025: The FAA declares a 15-mile radius no-fly zone for _all_ privately owned drones, centered on the Sears Tower & up to 400 feet above ground level. Sean Duffy to the American public: "No journalists & no hobbyists allowed to watch or live-stream on Facebook. Nothing to see here, move along."
We get to relive everything, don't we? Did Duffy actually say, "Nothing to see here, move along."? My, my. Some people, the younger ones, or non-participants from the early days, get to live it for the first time.
No, Duffy did not. Nothing in the second quotation I attributed to him is verbatim, but that's the implied meaning & intent of the FAA's actual no-fly order.
The 15-mile radius ban on private drone operations is unprecedented in size. Nearly half the area is over Lake Michigan.
Seen on a t-shirt in Birmingham, Alabama, 2025: "I protested against all this in the Sixties. Never thought I'd have to do it again."
Seen on a t-shirt in Chicago, during the 1996 DNC: "My daddy beat up your daddy at the DNC in 1968."
Abhorrent illegal behavior by this criminal regime. I’m sick to my stomach from this and other horrific crimes committed by these corrupt people. Shameful
The sight of the little pink horse lying in the rubble by the door tells a story of cruelty. And apparently that is the point.
I was sitting in the Chicago airport when I first read the Sun Times story about this horrid raid in roughly my part of the city. But, whereas my neighborhood is a wealthy, racially diverse neighborhood, this one just to the south is predominantly Black, but they also had a lot of immigrants placed there when Florida and Texas started sending people north to sanctuary cities. So, I can picture the area and the trauma to the people, particularly the naked ones, being tortured and degraded and made to suffer physically outside at night, where it gets cooler, even if their insides were too hot. We have an evil Nazi running our country, along with his evil Nazi henchmen.
The governor of Illinois should get a militia together and not allow ICE or any Federal troops in as being Federal overreach of states rights. This is Federal overreach. No one asked them to come to Chicago.
Ironically am just back in Germany from Chicago where I carried my passport on me the whole time and told my brown-skinned nephews to either carry their passports or their birth certificates. I read an article by Jay Kuo about this raid as I was sitting on a bus going to meet a group of friends for a Friday evening celebration of the Day of German Unity and I realized how much trauma I was holding in from having been in Chicago, which Trump is attacking, and I began to sob. Great gut wrenching sobs just hit me as I got off the bus. Just then friends of mine who were behind me welcomed me back and comforted me and I began to feel better. Here is Jay Kuo's piece. He also does not mention getting together a state militia, but I see this as civil war has begun in the USA. The president is using the federal forces to attack the citizens of this country illegally. We need a State militia to keep them out. We need to defund this government which has gone rogue.
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/chicago-and-the-horrors-of-carte?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
I really empathize with your tears. This is a nightmare. I am exhausted. I think we all are.
Linda, your story is just heartbreaking. 🫂
As a fellow Chicagoan and former prosecutor I can’t tell you how upset I am to have heard the news tonight. My blonde and blue eyed daughter and my sixth generation Irish son-in-law live one block away from where teargas and pepper spray permeated the air when they got home from work. Tens of thousands of their American neighbors, Lily White, were forced to suffer the same indignity their brown and black brethren had to endure, almost all of them American citizens just like them.
In the short run, all I can do is shake my head. In the long run, I need to double down to make sure as many people as I know are encouraged to come to the polls in November of next year. I can only hope that in the short run, the great majority of Americans will rise up against this nonsense.
The anti-fascists of World War II were not terrorists anymore so than our the so-called “Antifa” citizens of today.
Don't come back. It's not safe.
I feel like sobbing also right now for Chicago and for America!
I've begun to think of it as America's id showing itself once again
💔
Thankfully,you made it back to Germany unscathed,, with the exception. of knowing about this, and other fascist raids in this country Linda! This is war by the billionaire class, I’ve been begging for our governors for a show of force in similar manner, withholding federal tax dollars, along with succession. Hopefully your time in Germany provides some relaxation!
It does provide relaxation even though we know that Russia is escalating its hybrid warfare. Germany is included. Trump has made Putin bold. He is spreading his war from Ukraine to elsewhere. European countries are getting training from Ukraine now in drone warfare. We are not in conventional warfare, this is why I think American states should get their militia together and train them in drone warfare too.
A friend shared this today.
Sweden has a Center for Psychological Defense. An important part of a country to be ready to defend itself is not only the military having sufficient equipment and being trained. An essential part is the populations psychological resilience against disinformation campaigns. Because the military can only defend a country when the population backs them up.
I listened to a lecture this morning. Sweden and Finland were mentioned as countries being ahead of the rest of Europe. The lecture mentioned the drone airspace violations as tactics to sow fear and demoralize the public.
The second most important part in being prepared is to have a positive vision for the future. This is both true for people signing up for the military as well as the general public. If we aren't clear about what we are striving for, what our collective vision is and what we want to defend, then resilience and motivation are close to zero. https://mpf.se/psychological-defence-agency/about-us/our-mission
I know that Chicago is under attack from Trump and should be treated as such. The federal government is the enemy to Blue States, and they have to proceed with such awareness.
I would put it at Finland, Denmark, and Norway. I have a positive vision for the future. It involves secession, at least for the West Coast.
Will they allow us to secede or will they just attack and murder us?
I'm hoping they say, "good riddance."
I’m glad you’re calling them nazis Linda that’s exactly what they are. They want to pretend that we’re exaggerating, but their behavior speaks for itself. I’m totally disgusted with what’s going on in this country. We need a massive revolt against this BS.
💔
Terrorism, by our government, the insecure losers running it (into the ground,)
Nazis in Chicago:
https://substack.com/@dereks/note/c-162478274?r=9qdtj&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
I always say I am speechless. Every day. I don’t know how we are going to get out of this dystopia. Maybe Civil War? If so, I am on board. Glad I’m living in NYC. Go Mamdani!
Mamdani and the rest of us are going to have our hands full as soon as he's inaugurated on New Year's Day when djt starts punishing us for electing Zohran. I've no doubt he and Hochul are spending a lot of time planning together how to handle the inevitable.
I wouldn't exactly call her a trump whisperer, but Hochul has been surprisingly adept at pushing back his worst moves. Just Friday she persuaded him to reverse a profoundly stupid $187mil NY counter counter-terrorism initiative DHS didn't even inform him it was starting.
Then blue states need to make a compact and stop sending our tax dollars to fund this criminal regime.
Sure. And how long would that take to pull together? Maybe three years?
From what I've heard of Hochul (my brother used to work with her) it is surprising to hear that she's been adept at anything.
Perhaps Hochul's the kind of person who learns from experience? She has also managed astonishingly to get the fed reconstruction of Moynihan train hall—Penn Station—into the the hands of "train daddy" wizard Andy Byford, not some Sean Duffy-chosen moron. Also, although the shutdown has suspended construction of the massive new Hudson tunnel, Hochul managed to make the much-needed project real after years of GOP rejection. … And did I forget to mention that congestion traffic rates are in effect over trump's obnoxious objections? Huge improvement for traffic and those of us who live and walk here.
Yeah, let's not kid ourselves we are in fascism's lap.Whether or not we stay here is up to us. Our feckless msm is worthless. Our courts are sure helping us out with the exception of the SCROTUS. It is up to us to stop this horror.Our protests are making a difference. I think we need them but we also need more. Boycotts, strike , staying at home. Non violent stuff that will make ourselves known.Solidarity
Lots of good ideas.
How about self defense?
Well shit. I guess I’ll need to stop speaking Spanish. Gonna B difficult after 63 yrs. Pero ya se puedo.
Hasta la Lucha! Abajo los Fascistas!
All joking aside, we R under attack by anti-democratic thugs. The danger is real. The danger is now. As you can, resist.
And another despicable act- 400 Iranians are being sent back to Iran. No one even knows this is happening. The administration made an agreement with the Iranian government. These people will be tortured to death. Why? Anyone know what kind of a deal was made?
The only thing the adjudicated rapist, and 34 time felon cares about - $$$$$$. Remember the Epstein files? You know the documents the Felon and his den of thieves are terrified that we will finally see the whole ugly scenario? He doesn't give a damn about the children and young girls who were molested, but he does care if we all find out that he has been laundering billions of dollars for Putie and Co. That is what he cares about - money, only money. Everything else is chattel.
As for the Monster Miller, who is running this country? It's proving he's ugly, pitiful, despicable, and devoid of a heart and soul. It's proving all those nasty comments made to him and about him when he was in high school and at university weren't true. And the more he tries? The more evident it becomes that they were and then some.
Question, what is the Chicago media saying about this? If there still is any true 4th estate, that is.
Haven’t heard this Carolann, thanks for the lead!
I am wearing a paperclip and am carrying extras with me to give away. 📎🖇️📎📎🖇️🖇️📎🖇️
Why?
Good question and thank you for asking. The paper clip symbolizes resistance to tyranny. During WWII Norwegians wore paperclips as a show of resistance to the Nazis. For more information please read E Jean Carroll’s Substack. 📎
Thank you. Recently on PBS I watched Atlantic Crossing.
Oh, you are welcome! I love Atlantic Crossing, recorded it and have watched it several times.
Why isn't someone doing something now? It's going to get worse! I wonder how this will all end! Mike Johnson is an asshole! He is no Christian!
I’m wondering why newspapers didn’t run photos of the carnage?? We need to get the populace up to speed here.
I saw it on TV and I had to turn it off as it upset me. We are like a 3rd World Country now! I never thought I would see this!
Instead I put on some music. I put on the soundtrack from "Just in Time", the Bobby Darin musical story. I saw it last night as I live in NYC! Jonathan Groff plays him and he was excellent! Much more pleasant.
Now, I'm going to write some more letters to California to urge voters to vote for Prop 50 to redistrict in California!
Heartsick and so angry … and learned long ago that underneath anger is sadness and hurt…
Absolutely disgusting !!
Once again, thanks, Lucian, at least I think!! We really are there, and I am completely stumped regarding what we can do about this. I’m so pissed off about Johnson refusing to seat Grijalva that I am spitting nails. That leaves a whole shitload of people with no representation in Arizona. And these people call themselves Christians…please!🤬
This is an obscenity and beyond outrageous. What recourse do those who were abused have? How the hell do we stop this? I feel so helpless.
Outrageous!!!! I’m speechless - this has got to stop!!! The media should be blasting this on the airwaves & the newspapers!! This is not the America I grew up in😡😡
It's very much the America I grew up in. I'm white and pretty privileged, but I've also been politically active and I pay attention. Fwiw, I came of political age in 1968, and I've never flown the U.S. flag. Maybe some day . . .
Yes! Keep running the story, show photos.
I've been fuming about this since yesterday! I don't think indigestion is what I am experiencing, though I also don't believe it is my heart. Stress seems more likely. I am tempted to put on my sleep mask and crawl into bed, staying there as long as humanly possible. There is a problem, though, I can't stay that way as long as I would like to. My body rebels, and I must get up and try to get my mind right and determine to do whatever I can to help defeat this attack on the country. I've never lived anywhere else. I am not sure if I could manage moving elsewhere. One thing I am aware of is that I need to expand my circle to include more people, so I have others around me, not just online. I've not done much since moving to my parents' home after my dad passed away (my mother several years ago) and taking over the family home. I am thankful for the writers I follow, such as Lucian and others. I am profoundly impressed and grateful for fellow commenters here and elsewhere who provide me with hope and clarity. Whew! Brain dump over. For now! ;
I hear you loud and clear. It’s past time that I can pull up stakes and get out of here. Way too disabled..feel as well as you can!💕