My friend is a deep-dyed liberal. He’s also a hunter and has a concealed carry permit.
He said he told his son, “Man, if I’m there and I see those ICE agents acting like they do, bullying and attacking people, I would have to step and intervene. Then I added to him, I guess I’m going to need to start carrying.”
I said, “You’ll need to be a good shot. They armor up.”
He nodded. “I am a good shot.”
I wonder, how many other Americans are thinking like my friend?
I also wonder, is that what Trump and his minions want, to create armed confrontation?
Armed confrontation would give Trump the excuse he’s desperately hungered for to use the U.S. military to attack American citizens. During his first term, he was interested in having the military shoot protestors in the leg or the foot.
Since taking the oath to “protect, defend, and preserve the Constitution” to begin his second term, Trump used excuses to deploy National Guard forces to multiple U.S. cities, including Portland (Oregon), Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and now, Minneapolis in Minnesota.
These actions and statements he made, such as “The next time, I am not waiting,” (March, 2023) are concerning. I can’t know his intent—but the pattern is difficult to ignore.
I worry that Trump’s plan is to provoke violent resistance. That would generate excuses for him to use the military and law enforcement to attack people. From that, only small steps would be needed to establish a police state.
That’s where I’m at today, sitting and watching, breathing with concern about my nation and the President of the United States in 2026.
Last week, Trump ordered the attack of Venezuela to kidnap their president. This strategy has been pulled lifted from dusty history books.
Trump is claiming this is a ‘law enforcement’ action and not a military action. Not only is this not original, but it’s been used before, with extended, problematic results.
Looking back at history, early involvement in Korea was called a ‘police action’. President Truman was playing with the truth to avoid the need for Congress to declare war before sending in troops.
Tens of thousands of American soldiers were killed. A heavy U.S. military presence in Korea began in the 1950s and continues in 2026.
Vietnam is another place where early U.S. military involvement was categorized as a ‘police action’. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed during that police action. Environmentally, the war wreaked wholesale destruction on Vietnam and its people.
Politically, the Vietnam War became a catalyst for the emerging generation gap. Cultural and moral splits arose across the United States as demonstrators took over streets and campuses to protest the draft, deaths, and war. Our involvement in that war created a symbolic battlefield in the United States as involvement was argued.
As a person born in 1956 in the United States, I vividly remember the news reports of these demonstrations I read about as a teen or saw on television. As a retired military member, I heard too many horror stories of Vietnam. Films of the bombing campaigns such as Operation Rolling Thunder and Linebacker I and II were shown to us, including the violent destruction.
I remember the My Lai massacre, a scandal that shocked us, and young John Kerry’s testimony. I recall photographs of children burned with napalm. The vivid imagery of Operation Babylift and the fall of Saigon are seared into memory.
I imagine that Trump and his advisors are madly spinning that this is nothing like either of those wars. Glances back to early newspaper articles reveal slow, soft involvement in them, just as we see unfolding for us today.
Trump’s Administration has revealed confusion about what’s intended in Venezuela at this point. Trump informs We the People that the United States will ‘run Venezuela’. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez has taken over as interim President to manage the country.
Much as you would expect if another nation attacked the United States and kidnapped Donald Trump, acting President Rodríguez made a defiant speech against allowing any nation to run them or treat them like a colony.
Trump responded as a bully, threatening acting President Rodríguez she’ll pay a bigger price if she doesn’t comply with his demands. The messages and mannerism of Trump’s response don’t project an early or peaceful resolution, as he included threats to send more military into Venezuela.
Yet, Trump has continually employed the military as a baseball bat during his second term’s first year in office. He’s suggested annexing Greenland is a good idea, and has implied using military action against Mexico and other nations is possible while recently adding Cuba to the conversation.
My last concern goes back to ‘exit strategies’. Trump complained mightily that exit strategies for U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t exist. He then established a clumsy exit strategy for removing troops from Afghanistan (the Doha Agreement) which President Biden executed.
*An important side note to Trump’s approach to the Doha Agreement is that he didn’t include the Afghani government in the negotiations. This is the same approach he’s trying to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not including Ukraine in the negotiations.
During his first term, Trump also directly answered reporters’ questions with the response, “I don’t do exit strategies.” That doesn’t bode well for the United States now.
We know from Trump’s business practices and marriages, his business strategies are bankruptcy, divorce, or cheating on his businesses and partners. But in those endeavors, he lacked the U.S. Treasury’s resources and U.S. military power.
It feels to me, Trump is making the same historic mistakes the United States made in the past, repeating his own patterns of impulsive errors. But now, the stakes and consequences are much, much higher.
“Exciting day for old ladies, I was arrested in front of the ICE building in Portland Oregon. The charge was obstructing access to a federal facility. Great optics a 75 year old white woman, 5’2”, 120 lbs., being dragged off by armed DHS officers. I was handcuffed and held for almost an hour. Being a nasty woman, instead of cringing and crying, I made fun of them and bragged about my history as a serial murderer and how being arrested and handcuffed ticked off another bucket list item for me. We have it all on video, can’t wait to show it to the judge.”
Patricia, two days after her arrest outside ICE headquarters in Portland: “Like many criminals, I felt compelled to return to the scene of the crime.”
One of the great joys of publishing TBR is the time I spend each day in the comments section reading what you have to say.
Last week, this comment from a subscriber named Patricia got my attention:
“Exciting day for old ladies, I was arrested in front of the ICE building in Portland Oregon. The charge was obstructing access to a federal facility. Great optics a 75 year old white woman, 5’2”, 120 lbs., being dragged off by armed DHS officers. I was handcuffed and held for almost an hour. Being a nasty woman, instead of cringing and crying, I made fun of them and bragged about my history as a serial murderer and how being arrested and handcuffed ticked off another bucket list item for me. We have it all on video, can’t wait to show it to the judge.”
If this is the first you’re hearing of this incident, there’s a good reason: the corporate media refused to cover it.
This Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday – let’s make our dollars count. We’re asking Americans to hit pause on shopping from major corporations.
JOIN US ON NOV. 27TH – DEC. 1ST, 2025
Target
Target has rolled back their DEI initiatives, which included ending programs that help Black employees advance, cutting financial support for Black-Owned businesses, and removing LGBTQ+ products from their stores.
Amazon
Amazon holds a monopolistic position in the market, contributes to dangerous working conditions for its employees and drivers, and CEO Jeff Bezos has donated over $1 million to this administration.
Home Depot
Home Depot is allowing ICE agents to illegally detain and kidnap laborers from their stores. The laborers in our communities are not able to look for work safely.
How to Participate
Full Black Out: Don’t buy anything from Target, Amazon or Home Depot stores during this week. Use the time and money to connect with those you love, and rediscover what matters.
Redirect Spending: Skip the companies undermining democracy. Shop small, local, or with businesses affirming our humanity.
Join the Movement: Pledge to be a conscious consumer.
Amplify: Spread the word. Share the message in conversation and online.
I know I’ve been a bit AWOL what with finishing up school, planning my move, and all that, but I had this idea. The MAGA goons/the Trump Administration is spewing out all this nonsense about Antifa, so what if we (the collective resisters) take the hashtag #AntifaWasHere and attach it to posts ranging from volunteer activities to random acts of kindness for friends, neighbors, elderly, etc. etc.?
Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and other Republicans in Congress are calling today’s protests a “Hate America” rally sponsored by extreme leftists, pro-Hamas activists, hardened criminals, and terrorist organizations like ANTIFA.[2] Apparently, they’ve never read the first amendment to the Constitution.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
I think that We the People proved to the leaders of this regime that we will not lie down and let them kick us, will not give in and will fight to the death against their lawless attempts to replace our democratic republic with a dictatorship run by a cruel and evil tyrant. Remember these images next time you hear Felon Trump say that “everybody” loves him or “everybody” believes what he is doing is right.
No act of resistance is wasted, and no act of resistance is unsuccessful. Because in resisting, we redeem ourselves, we consecrate ourselves, we reclaim our dignity, and we assert our agency as American citizens who control the destiny of our nation.
Yesterday’s No Kings Rally wasn’t just a protest — it was a reckoning. A mosaic of causes, signs, and voices, all bound together by one unifying thread: We the People have been stirred to action. Not by policy differences. Not by party loyalty. But by the cruelty, the malignant narcissism, and the corrosive influence of Donald Trump.
Fascism began as a Roman metaphor: a bundle of sticks (fasces) symbolizing strength through unity. One stick breaks easily. A bundle resists. Mussolini twisted that into authoritarianism. Hitler weaponized it. And Trump? He tried to make the bundle serve only him — demanding loyalty, punishing dissent, and mocking the vulnerable.
But yesterday, we reclaimed the bundle. Not as a tool of domination, but as a symbol of democratic resistance. Many years ago, Chief Tecumseh taught the same lesson with arrows. The Founders echoed it with E Pluribus Unum. And yesterday, the signs told the story.
It was so amazing to see older folks and younger people alike coming together, and I saw a friend there who gave me a sign, so I was thankful for that. It was such a great feeling to look around and see everyone coming together for the same cause, to speak up against the tyranny and tell the world (or at least Miami County) “this is not okay.”
Thousands of people turned out to participate in the #NoKings March, which started at Grand Army Plaza and ended at the southern end of Prospect Park. We were surrounded by people carrying signs and chanting “Hey hey hi ho/Donald Trump has got to go.” Many signs were very clever. I couldn’t photograph them all.
I liked the little girl who had a sign that said, “I should be worried about tests/Not my rights.”
This No Kings Day was the one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history—with upwards of seven million Americans estimated to have gathered across all 50 states, with thousands more protesting across the world, to stand up against tyranny; stand up against corruption; and stand up for the ideals that make this nation exceptional.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In yet another indication of the heavy turnout for the No Kings rallies, over 400 of Elon Musk’s children attended the protests, according to estimates released on Sunday.
Donald J. Trump, furious at the size of the No Kings crowds, claimed that the estimated attendance of 7 million “is much lower when you subtract all the people who were there to show their hate for Elon.”
Sunda. October 19, 2025. Rain hissed on the roof. The house heater added a rush of air. 49 F, rain is expected all day, with a temperature that peaks at 61 F. Fog has sunk its teeth into the surrounding mountains. Leafy golds, yellows, oranges, and reds glow. Papi galloped in, threw himself down and vigorously applied his tongue to his orange fur to rid himself of that accursed wet. Then it was on to food, nom nom nom.
The No Kings II protest went well. We made it an hour late. Finding parking was a Lewis & Clark expedition. Was great being out there yesterday with other protestors, waving our signs, protesting the GOP eagerness to let Trump be king, protesting Trump’s arrogance that he should be king, protesting the general shit show Trump, Project 2025, and the GOP are putting on. Felt good to know others like us are out there, and they’re standing up. Even more satisfying and validating were the cars going by, horns blowing, giving us thumbs up, holding up peace signs, shouting, “Right on.” Only heard one “Fuck you,” and one “Sieg heil.” The latter came from a woman. Both of these disapprovers were in huge pickemups.
My greatest disappointment was that most of the protesters were old folks like us. The young were in short supply. My wife reminded me that they probably have to work and to cut them some slack. Anyway, thinking about the young provoked The Neurons to bring up a Eurythmics song, “All the Young (People of Today)”. Came out in 1981. Odd vibe to it. I thought, wow, that’s a weird one to come up with. I know it from listening to Euythmics CDs. Don’t think any radio station ever sent it to my ears.
Mom’s new habitat enclosure at sis’s house is getting developed fast. Small dorm frig has been added. A microwave. Hope Mom will be happy there, along with warm and safe. There was a whole late-night misadventure on Friday night. Mom thought she heard someone trying to get into her house and knocking on the door, calling her name. She was there alone. Hiding in her bathroom, she texted her daughters and grandchildren to call the police for her. Why she didn’t do that for herself is one aspect of the mystery. As it was after midnight, most were asleep or away from their phones. Mom’s texts went unnoticed until a grandson, Michael, saw it. Then 911 was called, etc. Police showed up, knocking on Mom’s front door. She wouldn’t answer. She was hiding in the bathroom. The police reported deer were on the small stoop outside of Mom’s room, eating off a tree by the house. 911 had to call my sister, who called Mom to tell her what was going on.
Coffee is singing to The Neurons once again. The day has grown brighter. The temperature has climbed to 50 and if you lean forward and squint at just the right angle, there’s a small blue patch struggling to break out of the cloud eggs containing it. Which reminds me. Hope peace and grace break out of their shells soon and bless us with some visiting. Here we go, on into another day, another week, another…well, you know. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 