150 Comments
User's avatar
Leanne Wells's avatar

Perfectly expressed. I feel so much rage and helplessness.

Expand full comment
Mike Nellis's avatar

Thank you

Expand full comment
Leanne Wells's avatar

I NEED A TARGET! Just somewhere to direct my rage

Expand full comment
Carmen S Quiles's avatar

Soft secession.

Expand full comment
Joy Lee's avatar

Wonderfully said. My rage is making me physically ill. Something’s gotta give.

Expand full comment
Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

I so understand. I close my eyes and I can visualize that corner of Chicago, where I'm from. And it's filled with perfectly normal people that the fascists in our government think they can get away with abusing because they're not white and affluent.

Expand full comment
Joan Wiersma's avatar

Same with me!! I've been forcing myself to take time out to rest and recover. It's not easy, b/c I WANT to fight this!

Expand full comment
Janice Palesch's avatar

Same here. More than half of my hair has fallen out over the last 2 1/2 months, and my naturally dark brown hair is turning white from all the stress Trump and his goons are creating. I'm also developing ulcers. NO legitimate government causes this to happen to its citizens. NONE.

Expand full comment
Gloria Ramirez's avatar

The struggle is definitely real and punching us in the face.

Expand full comment
Cherae Stone's avatar

I understand.

Expand full comment
ConnieW's avatar

Of all the terrible things piggy (greedy, selfish, cruel, dishonest sexual predator, definitely a pig) is doing to people, ICE is the worst. I don’t understand why after what it did in Chicago, everyone isn’t out in the streets protesting. Since ICE is trumps alternate army, will it be too late when we finally do?

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

Please don't insult the pigs.

Expand full comment
Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

Pigs are nice animals. These people aren't nice.

Expand full comment
Bob  Helmick's avatar

Think what it’s like to be an old person. There is a feeling of helplessness about what is going to be the future for your kids and grandkids.

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

I think about that every single day.

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

The report I saw said that some of the children were even naked. What kind of monsters do this to children?

Expand full comment
Jan Maltzan's avatar

From a witness - "The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other. That’s all I kept asking. What is the morality? Where’s the human? One of them (ICE goon) literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, ‘f*ck them kids.’” That's the kind of monster they are...

Expand full comment
Janice Palesch's avatar

I see mass psychosis in this country.

Expand full comment
Caryn Vesperman's avatar

My first thought was this depraved Trump administration and Trump’s Gestapo are getting their rocks off with seeing naked children—and who knows what is happening out of sight.

Expand full comment
Cynthia selby's avatar

Definitely something that needs to be investigated, starting now, given the pedophile's penchant.....

Release the Epstein files!!!! In case all this military presence in our cities is mainly to distract us from good ol' Jeffrey.

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

I just had something come up called the Aravosis Report. He reported that when someone challenged the ICE agents about what was happening to the children, one of them said F*** the kids. This is the rise of Nazi Germany all over again...and our gestapo is made up of the lowest common denominator of humanity...and I use the word humanity with hesitation!

Expand full comment
Doriane Salem's avatar

I am way too scared to move an inch. I emigrated 45 years ago from an authoritarian country in the promise of the USA. This USA will be as bad if not worst than where I came from. 😱

Expand full comment
Nancy Stone's avatar

I am ashamed of the U.S. we have now. It’s not the U.S. we had even 15 years ago and certainly not the U.S. I grew up in. I’m sorry you are reliving what you had thought you escaped.

Expand full comment
Diana E's avatar

One of my brothers, who is a vet, was adopted at 4 and is a naturalized citizen. He worries, and I’m enraged. I am so sorry, and keep yourself safe. Its time for us white folks to stand up and be the wall against supremacists like Miller, Vance (yes even though his wife and kids are “brown”) and Trump, et al.

Expand full comment
Janice Palesch's avatar

It's past time for EVERYBODY to stand up, not just whites. This fight needs everyone.

Expand full comment
Diana E's avatar

Yes, but we are unlikely to face the same repercussions for speaking out.

Expand full comment
Janice Palesch's avatar

That isn't true. Do you understand Martin Niemoller's poem, "First They Came"? NO ONE is safe.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me - and there was NO ONE LEFT to speak for Me.

Those who think they are safer if they don't speak out might be safe for 5 minutes more, but eventually they will come for YOU, too. And, at that point, there will be no one left to try to save you. My life was already threatened once - and I am white and heading toward 80. How do any of this group think their lives would be made better by murdering an 80-year-old woman, who is alone in the world? Keeping ones head down gets everyone beheaded in the end anyway, unless we fight together before all hope is gone.

Take one single match and see how easily it is broken. Now, gather together 40 matches in a bunch, and see how hard it is to break them. Our strength is in our numbers; without everyone participating, we will ALL be broken, one by one.

Expand full comment
Diana E's avatar

I was involved in the civil right movement and am white, and also come from a multi racial family. So yes, of course they will come for us too, but, as a former public defender as well, I can tell you that persons of color are more at risk. So, that means we have to exercise our unearned power of being white to push, and be allies, to fight this. When you say all people need to be involved it may not be what you intended, but it doesn’t capture the fact that folks of color have been fighting for their rights since the beginning of this country’s birth. And yes I know about Niemoller, a was also ordained clergy before I retired.

Expand full comment
Janice Palesch's avatar

I did Civil Rights and discrimination law, and my heart has always been there. People from every race, creed, and religion marched for Civil Rights. So did the clergy, by the way (but that is a separate issue). When freedom is at stake everyone must participate. My family left behind in Germany when my mother and grandparents immigrated to the US learned that lesson the hard way. We are not Jewish, but that doesn't matter to a fascist regime. My grandparents' siblings, their children, and their grandchildren did not live to taste freedom again. They all died before the Wall fell in 1989. THREE generations lost to repression because not ALL fought against it when it first arrived. I know exactly what I'm saying. This fight needs ALL of us.

Expand full comment
Cynthia selby's avatar

I am so sorry. I am afraid for all immigrants right now. And very ashamed of this "government."

Expand full comment
Cherae Stone's avatar

I’m so sorry.

Expand full comment
Doriane Salem's avatar

😔

Expand full comment
Beth Barany's avatar

Thank you for your work, Mike, and your care and your rage and your words. And your actions. Stay safe out there. Your son needs you too.

Expand full comment
Steve's avatar

Quote from movie Night Train to Lisbon: “When fascism is a fact, revolution is duty.” (Apologies for any inaccuracy.) This takeover of our government has to stop - now!

Expand full comment
Murray Smart's avatar

It is time for every Americans who cares about the future of America to stand up to this corrupt regime that cares nothing about America and what America stands for. This is OUR country and not the personal kingdom of Donald Trump, who gets to do whatever the hell he wants with NO consequences ever, and those who are behind and supporting his damaging and destroying of our country....... (And everyone keep hammering away for the release of the Epstein Files....... There is a reason for the hiding of it.....)

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

Can we start with his biggest enablers...the six on the Supreme Court?

Expand full comment
Murray Smart's avatar

100%!! The Roberts 6 (Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett) are nothing but a 6-3 Rubber Stamp Kangaroo court for whatever Trump and the right wing and the billionaires want. They have been captured and only serve their masters, who are not America or the American people. Every single one of them should be removed from the court and every one of their rulings voided. And the court must be fixed so this never happens again, ever.

Expand full comment
Diana E's avatar

They are dishonorable and cowardly men and a woman. As a retired lawyer who still takes my oath seriously, they should all be disbarred. They know darned well what they are doing is a violation of the oath they took.

Expand full comment
Murray Smart's avatar

Every single one of them are a disgrace to the institution. They should ALL be removed!!

Expand full comment
Diana E's avatar

What are the three liberal justices supposed to do? They have been very pointed in writing and publicly about the failures of the other 6.

Expand full comment
Murray Smart's avatar

Keep pointing out the hypocrisy of the Roberts 6 so there are records and receipts to refer to and use when this all comes crashing down on the Roberts 6.

Expand full comment
Caryn Vesperman's avatar

You’d think any normal, ethical and principled Chief Justice of the Supreme Court would WANT to do the correct thing so future generations wouldn’t look back and say that Roberts was a huge contributory reason for why the U.S. went downhill in being a world leader in democracy and freedoms.

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

It seems to me that since they are violating their oaths to our Constitution, there are grounds for removing them. He also disregarded a decision they made that he didn't like, and they didn't do anything about his contempt of court. Maybe term limits would help solve the problem?

Expand full comment
Bensnewlogin's avatar

I absolutely believe that we must end lifetime judicial appointments. An appointment can be renewed, but it cannot be for life. This is a severe problem with our system.

Of course, I have a list of about 20 things that must be corrected in our constitution if we are to survive as a country. Ending lifetime judicial appointments is one of them.

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

I agree, but getting an amendment passed could be difficult, if not impossible, in this climate. I fear that if these MAGAs get too close to our Constitution, they'll try to bring back slavery!

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

I also remind us that at least three of those six perjured themselves during their confirmation hearings, by denying their religions or personal feelings would affect their decisions, by assuring that previous judgments would be honored, and by out right lying about offenses they had committed

Expand full comment
Cynthia selby's avatar

Probably how they plan to use all those brown people. Makes me sick to think of it.

Expand full comment
Bensnewlogin's avatar

I don’t even remember the last time a constitutional amendment was passed. This is yet another thing that must change if we ever can rewrite the constitution. A 2/3 super majority makes it very difficult to alter the constitution. That might’ve been a good idea 240 years ago, but it’s no longer a good idea at all. Especially, considering The lack of morals on the right>

Expand full comment
Anastasia Pantsios's avatar

The problem is there is a process, it's a massively heavy lift, and it would require huge GOP buy-in. We don't have that. There's no way that constitutional amendments limiting the power of the Supreme Court have any change in today's political climate.

Expand full comment
Damn's avatar

Term limits? It's too late for that.

Expand full comment
Hope Crescione's avatar

Why?

Expand full comment
Damn's avatar

It will take far too long to enact. Fascism is already here. We'll be lucky if we have a year left in which to defeat it. ICE (our new Gestapo) is already attacking US citizens.

Expand full comment
Cindy Brown's avatar

I feel rage at what is happening and absolutely sick that I can't do anything. Writing senators and representatives and joining protests just doesn't seem enough. I watch all these people on Bluesky and Substack talking about what's going on, but I haven't heard anything helpful on what to do to get us put of this mess.

Expand full comment
Gregory Cravens's avatar

Hey bro, on a sidenote, I used to weigh 454 lbs, now I am at 235. I know a little bit about the shit that weighing that much entails, the causes are many, mine were different from yours, but we shared a common nightmare. It's cool that you lost the extra lbs. Stay cool, bro', and Eff Trump and his fascist bunch of hangers-on!!

Expand full comment
Janice Palesch's avatar

Kudos to both of you and to everybody else who have achieved so much.

Expand full comment
Ana Luz Rios-Arriola's avatar

May I share your post on Facebook? I am so sick of this administration. I’m 79 and wonder what more can I do to my community that is very diverse. I live across from Portland, OR read “puppy killer” wants troop to rough up peaceful protesters in Portland. Sick sick administration🤯😡🤬

Expand full comment
Gregory Cravens's avatar

Absolutely! You go, girl!

Expand full comment
Richard York's avatar

It is time to get out and start marching. The only branch of government left to stop this abuse is The Voice of the People.

This has been effective in the US in the ‘60s and ‘70s with Civil Rights and VietNam. In Poland in the ‘90s with Solidarity , and with the country of Georgia today.

The next big event is October 18, a “No Kings” march with events all over the US. Get on the streets. See you there!

Expand full comment
Lucy Frost's avatar

Yes. I’m one of the organizers in Austin. Expecting 30k ppl.

Connect with an organization somewhere — ideally an Indivisible group. So you can get word when the mass of ppl makes a move

Expand full comment
Glenn T Morgan Sr's avatar

I know just how you feel. I'm an older disabled veteran who didn't serve this country for sociopaths like Kegsbreath and The Orange Mussellini to turn it into their personal playground of lawlessness. I'm not sure what I can do in my condition but I can show up to every protest and point out every illegal action taken by the masked hoodlums that Stephen Voldemort Miller's inflicted on our communities. I can subscribe to every Substack and YouTube channel of democratic leaning pundits and while my meager financial resources limit the support I can give, I can listen to the very end to help them monetize their channels and share them far and wide with all of my Facebook friends. I didn't serve for racist fascist psychopaths, but for like minded compassionate people who have built this country into the beautiful place it is.

Expand full comment
Sharyn Dimmick's avatar

The raid on that Chicago apartment house was horrific: the cruelty, the destruction, the entitlement, the lack of apology. I'm sorry that this is happening in your home city (and that it is happening anywhere else).

Expand full comment
rlritt's avatar

One question. I was born and raised in Chicago. Lived all over. Grew up in Roger's Park, Jewish neighborhood. Then lived in a Greek neighborhood for several years all the signs in Greek. However, it was not Greek Town, that's nicer and has lots of popular restaurants. Then for several years I lived in a Polish neighborhood, again all the signs in Polish. When I moved there were Russians moving in, the Poles will move up. So where will ICE go? Greek? Pole? Mexican? There's also a small China town. The city is a melting pot as is New York and other big cities.

Expand full comment