Liberté, égalité, fraternité

 I typically stay away from political topics, but once in a while—like my vaccine post on September 1, 2025 —I must address behavior that I consider morally bankrupt and even criminal. The murders by ICE agents in Minneapolis are the epitome of that behavior.

 Many people are as appalled as I am, and many are writing or posting about it.  My post is about my feelings, widely shared I believe. I do not pretend to be objective or reportorial. What I am is outraged.

 How dare you, Trump and cronies, upend the course of American life with phony and false narratives about deporting the “worst of the worst” when we can clearly see that this is a lie? Do you think Americans are stupid?

 Despite the outright lies of Kristi Noem, a woman who has perfected prissiness and belligerence, and of Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, neither Renee Good or Alex Pretti were terrorists, domestic or otherwise. Neither of them presented a threat to ICE agents. Both of them were murdered in cold blood.

 How do I know this? Because I watched the many on-site, in-the-moment videos bystanders made on their phones. Not the AI-doctored crap that rightwing influencers are putting up on the internet to prove Noem and Bovino were correct. No, I’m talking about the IRL videos that abound thanks to the people of Minneapolis taking their jobs as documenters of wrongdoing seriously.

 To Donald Trump, Kristi Noem, Gregory Bovino, and every other lying mouthpiece of this administration I say this: Our eyes do not deceive us. You cannot deceive us. We know immorality and criminality when we see it. It’s past time to stop your false narrative and take responsibility for your actions.

  When reality feels unbearable, I turn to art that mirrors it back to us—sometimes more truthfully than the official record. Therefore, I am recommending two movies to everyone who has not seen them.

 The first is Civil War, a thriller about America—our America, this America— in a civil war. It takes no sides, assigns no rightwing or leftwing interpretations to events. Civil War simply reveals what a civil war would do to our society and our citizens if it happened now.

 The scenes of an America we recognize destroyed by bombs, of Americans we recognize lining up for food in a Wal-Mart parking lot, of American combatants who look just like us because they are us dumping bodies in unmarked graves are beyond chilling. Kirsten Dunst stars in the movie and is supported by a strong cast. Jesse Plemons delivers a disturbing cameo as the soldier overseeing the burial detail. That was, for me, the film's most harrowing scene.

 The other movie I highly recommend is Bonhoeffer. It is an historical drama about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. In this movie, you will see how cleverly and insidiously the Nazi movement overwhelmed Germany and perverted its people into accomplices in the worst war crimes in history. You will recognize some of those tactics in practice by our government right now.

 (Let me add that there is some controversy about an important detail of this film that Bonhoeffer’s family disputes in the strongest terms. You can find that information on the internet and I urge you to read it.)

 I am demoralized but not deterred. I believe that the rule of law will persevere, although I foresee much more pain before things turn around. I don’t want a longer list of martyrs to the cause of liberty and freedom, but I fear there will be more. I hope that our collective voices of outrage will bring down the figurative walls of Congress so that our representatives hear—and heed—our outcry.

We must keep speaking, keep documenting, keep resisting—because silence is complicity.

 Liberté, égalité, fraternité