Remarks

August 23 2026

Greetings. The authoritarian grip on our country has been grinding on.  At an appearance by the President yesterday, instead of the national anthem they played the version that’s been opening Trump rallies, a song called “Justice for All.” It was performed on video by January 6 rioters who are now called “J6 hostages,” and it includes video of the 2021 attack on the Capitol framed not as a disgrace but portraying the rioters as patriots.

The twisting of reality in the propaganda state continues everywhere. Stars and Stripes is the newspaper that serves the two million members of the US armed forces and has done so continuously, retaining editorial independence, for the last eighty years. The Pentagon has just now fired the people who run the paper.

The US Navy is actively considering naming a new aircraft carrier not after the war hero they had planned--Doris Miller--but instead, after Donald Trump. Trump would be the first sitting president with his name on a ship. Doris Miller was a black sailor on the day of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. He was retrieving laundry when the bombs began falling. He proceeded to aid his wounded commanding officer, and then even though he had no training on the anti-aircraft guns, he took one over and opened fire on the Japanese bombers. He managed to shoot down two of their planes. A year later, in 1942, he died in battle. The commissioning of the USS Miller marked the first time an aircraft carrier would honor an enlisted sailor, and the first aircraft carrier to be named for an African American.

Oh well.

Tariffs. Canada’s president Carney announced that in their talks, the unacceptable American terms brought trade negotiations to failure. American tariffs of 50% on some Canadian products now go into effect, and Canada plans to retaliate in what is an entirely unnecessary trade war based on Trump’s spite. Of course the cost will be paid by we-the-people as usual. Carney says the two countries will “not return to our old relationship.” Canada has been our closest trading partner for over a century, but now it is not. The world can trust the US no longer to keep its word on anything, and now our main “allies” are the dictatorships--Russia, North Korea, and so forth.

Aaaannnd the Supreme Court has allowed construction to continue on Trump’s $400 million ballroom. To quote Mary Geddry: “The Administration has argued that stopping construction would create national security concerns. Apparently, American national security now requires an enormous dance floor.”

Here’s a spot of sunshine: in the Florida Democratic primary for Senate last week, state representative Angie Nixon unexpectedly trounced the Democratic party machine’s centrist pick, Alexander Vindman. Nixon campaigned with one-twentieth of Vindman’s budget. The people preferred a black woman with fire in her belly who talked to them about health care and housing and food. In such a red state as Florida she has a steep hill to climb in the general election; in any case it appears that in at least some areas of the nation, voters are finally gravitating to progressives who address their concerns and needs, not those of corporations.

Speaking of elections, the US Postal Service is refusing to deliver mailed ballots from states that are not complying with federal demands for voter lists. This is a completely illegal demand, but who cares about legal these days? The Post Office’s stonewalling is one giant step in MAGA’s plan to dismantle and discredit the November vote. Anybody worried? November is the last chance the nation has to restore Congressional guardrails around Trump and his dictatorship.

In another alarming move, DOJ is going to deploy one thousand “election observers” in November. While DOJ is saying these monitors will be deployed solely to protect Americans’ right to vote, many fear that their real mission is to intimidate voters, pressure election officials, and make more claims about fraud. 

Such signs from the administration sow doubt on the integrity of US elections, presumably so that Trump could declare a national emergency. In the case of a national emergency, elections can get canceled. Do not say you weren’t warned. 

The war on people of color, the purging of America, has been shifting into high gear on all fronts. ICE has been systematically targeting children. Immigration courts are now issuing more than 10,000 orders per month for removal and voluntary departure of immigrant minors. This surge is part of an escalated mass deportation effort targeting unaccompanied minors and families. A few weeks ago, the government suspended all legal aid for children in immigration courts so that they’re left without representation. Children.

The government is proposing a massive new kids-only super-detention camp, what they call an "emergency intake facility," designed to hold up to 3,000 unaccompanied immigrant minors. (Location still undetermined.) Trump is also assigning over $2 billion for “rover teams” to find kids to self-deport—and DHS will offer a $4,000 bounty for each successful operation. Zero rules, zero standards, zero safeguards.

ICE has an ongoing contract with a private company, MVM Inc., to help locate and track undocumented migrant children. MVM has previously been hit with lawsuits regarding its handling of migrant children, including in 2018, holding minors overnight in vacant office buildings, and a federal lawsuit accusing it of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

More general news on ICE: surely we all know about the gloves now, the electric gloves. ICE intends to spend $20 million on thousands of pairs of gloves that can deliver painful shocks--to be used when they arrest immigrants, to render them more “compliant.” Another story relevant to us here is that ICE is trying to take control of the Tacoma Detention Center, the place where immigrants in Kitsap, Pierce, and other counties are warehoused upon arrest.. ICE has been maneuvering for many months to block Washington State’s oversight of conditions at the center; but now it appears that ICE wants to directly control the facility as GEO’s contract to run it is expiring or coming up for renewal.

Facts and figures. How many immigrants would you say has ICE taken since January 2025? – about 400,000. How many Mexicans in particular? -- 150,000. What’s the daily population in ICE concentration camps in the US? -- 65,000 to over 70,000. What percentage of the people currently being held in these facilities have no criminal convictions? -- Over 70%.Finally, "third-country deportations": ICE uses 3^rd-country removals to deport noncitizens to nations other than their native countries. Operating under opaque bilateral agreements, the administration has sent hundreds of migrants to unfamiliar countries across Africa and Central America. Asians and people from Caribbean countries have been deported to South Sudan and also to tiny Eswatini, an absolute monarchy in southern Africa. The US has contracts with these countries—it’s all for the money, and there’s no thought for the safety or sanity of the deportees.

Finally, what can we do? Immigrants in Kitsap are living in fear. Courageous allies here, and many across our region and our nation, have formed food cooperatives to donate and distribute food and supplies to families too scared to leave their houses. There are people in our community getting school supplies and backpacks for immigrant kids starting school at the end of this month. There are people keeping watch over the schools themselves that might be targeted by the ICE raids. There are groups doing the arduous and invaluable work of legal advocacy for individuals detained in Tacoma. There are groups on lookout patrols for ICE vehicles, hoping to be able to prevent or at least document ICE actions. Anyone with a conscience and a heart knows we must help and protect our vulnerable neighbors. These efforts are growing, and they need you. You can help by doing something as simple as going to Walmart and buying a couple of backpacks and water bottles that will go to a couple of immigrant schoolkids. You can join a neighborhood group uniting to bring food to the food banks or to informal food collectives for direct help. Or with training, you can serve on patrols, protecting schools.

Please, you can help in these desperate times, and we thank you in advance.