“ICE” [FN1] agents, in masks, grab people who “look like” they are neither U.S. citizens nor in the U.S. with proper documentation. Parallels can be drawn between agents of ICE & agents of of other police States. Germany, 1933-45, is one such State. 1/6

There is a difference between ICE and agents of the NSDAP, including the SS and the SA. ICE personnel seek to hide their identities with masks. Perhaps they realize there’s no immunity from prosecution because they only are…

John Steinbeck’s novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” shows economic devastation of the 1930s. Made into a movie, the story is about the Joad family, evicted, like many families, from their Oklahoma farm. Banks seized a lot of land thanks to the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. 1/5

In an op-ed on Daily Kos this week, AuntieB wrote of her conversation w/a family member of the owners of an orchard near her: “A few years ago, the family refinanced to install solar panels and new walk-in…

Our country is being destroyed. Since January our Federal government has been chopped up & pieces tossed aside. The qualifications to head an agency seem to require holding views antithetical to the reasons the agency was created. [FN1] And then there’s ICE. 1/12

ICE seems to be everywhere and its masked agents act like secret police the U.S. once trained in other countries. [FN2] Of course we have election interference in favor of GOP candidates, and it consists of more than the…

By degrees on a continuum or by categories of qualitative distinction, there are different kinds of surprise. From pleasant albeit mundane to mind-shatteringly & life altering, some types of surprise are far and away clearly different. Yesterday, I experienced the latter. 1/8

Saturday morning’s rain gave way to an afternoon of clear skies and high temperatures. Humidity also was high. River City Pride was held in downtown Peoria on the riverfront. A lot of people stopped at the…

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show is being canceled. For those of the “maga” world, who espouse the freedom of speech in the marketplace of ideas, please understand: Colbert succeeds. [FN1] The show is being canceled because it airs on CBS. CBS is owned by Paramount. 1/8

A sale of Paramount to Skydance Media is pending, but requires trump administration approval. [FN2] CBS already wimped out & paid damages to trump for a segment of “60 Minutes” trump didn’t like. History shows that…

These past few months, individuals, under the aegis of “ICE,” [FN1] carried out trump administration seizures of immigrants. [FN2] I’ve referred to ICE as equal to the SA, or “brown shirts,” who were the muscle of the Third Reich. [FN3] They were typified by: 1/11

“‘the bulky, bloated forms with that special development of the upper neck, the roundish faces, the uninspired eyes.” [FN4] The “first Nazi strong-arm squads” they were an “army of storm troopers.” [FN5] Hitler’s support for…

The latest is that “Elon Musk has said that he’s formed a new political party, but it’s unclear what steps — if any — he’s taken to do so, or how the effort might affect upcoming elections.” [FN1] So Dear Mr Musk: starting a political party in the land of liberty isn’t easy. 1/16

You know pesky laws of physics from rocketing into space & regulatory statutes from conquests in business, but more imposing are election laws & not like SCOTUS tossed in Citizen’s United, [FN2] where…

Your wish in your 7/4 op-ed, that “people who live in the United States and hate it” should leave, implies you long for the time when “men and women far more courageous than I am broke Britain's chains of tyranny.” You miss a dynamic of our history: grand ideals. 1/21

Our founding documents [FN1] include “all men are created equal” & were written by white males who owned property. No woman signed any of the documents. No woman could vote. [FN2] Another contradiction for “a land…

Delaware was first to ratify the Constitution [FN1] & is among several States whose ratification conventions [FN2] left few records. Elliot’s Debates [FN3] has few entries for Delaware. [FN4] In no record does anyone declare Delaware is part of a Christian nation. [FN5] 1/19

Another collection of documents for this period is relatively recent in publication. [FN6] Edited by Prof Merrill Jensen, [FN7] relevant history of Delaware is noted [FN8] and descriptions of sources are…