On this 80th anniversary of the first use of a nuclear weapon, I’m praying for a total, permanent, global ban.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Bonus: Click the link below for news about Linda’s latest book! https://lindaghill.com/2025/08/06/one-liner-wednesday-would-you-look-at-that-2/
Vote for Democracy #43
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
There are so many horrors happening every day in the United States under the Trump regime that it’s difficult to write posts because I feel like I’m not able to do justice to the topic when there are so many illegal, immoral, unconstitutional, and/or unconscionable actions and statements perpetrated in an ongoing basis.
Today, though, I decided to lift up the threats to immigrants and refugees beginning with a local story. Roger Wang, the owner of a local Chinese restaurant who fled political persecution in China, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as he arrived for his green card hearing. For those who may not be familiar, a green card is a document that means an immigrant can live and work permanently in the US. Roger had been in the legal process for twelve years and had fulfilled all the requirements that ICE set out to earn his green card, but he was arrested anyway. There is a fundraiser for legal costs and to try to offset the losses to his business. As I write this, I haven’t heard any updates about where Roger is and when or whether he might be able to be released.
Stories like Roger’s are being repeated around the country. Immigrants are being detained by ICE, even when they do have legal status. The Trump administration has shamefully rescinded the legal status of many refugees, including those who served alongside the US in Afghanistan, and who face danger if they return to their home countries. Government agents, sometimes without identifying insignia and with their faces covered, have snatched people from their workplaces, cars, or even the streets and detained them. Sometimes, people with citizenship are detained, too. Appallingly, agents have injured people they are taking into custody They also have taken parents away, leaving their young children behind; sometimes, they take the children into custody, too, and have deported them with their parent, even if the children are United States citizens. Trump tried to take away birthright citizenship from children if both of their parents are undocumented, but this order is on hold while the courts hear arguments about it, although the 14th Amendment, Section 1 is very clear that being born in the United States confers citizenship.
It’s become more difficult to travel into the United States, even for people who are citizens or have permanent status. This month, Wilmer Chavarria, the school superintendent in Winooski, Vermont and a naturalized citizen originally from Central America, was questioned for five hours at the Houston airport as he returned from visiting family in Nicaragua. This risk causes a chilling effect on international travel for both US citizens and for tourists from other countries, especially those who aren’t White, as people of color are disproportionately subjected to being hassled by government border agents. Some countries are warning against travel to the US and tourism is down significantly. This is especially true for Canadians, due to Trump’s threats to their sovereignty and damage to their economy. This is particularly sad because Canada has been such a good neighbor for so long; my spouse B has Canadian ancestry with one of his great-grandfathers immigrating to the US in the late-19th century.
The majority of Americans are upset about the cruelty and disregard for US and international law that the Trump administration is exhibiting. They have sent people to detention camps and dangerous foreign countries and prisons without hearings or formal charges. They have disrespected judges and skirted/defied court orders when cases are brought. Many people, including lawyers, local/state government officials, faith leaders, charitable organizations, schools, and local community members are doing all they can to speak up for the rights of our immigrant neighbors, but it’s difficult when unidentified federal officials snatch people without notice and take them to undisclosed locations, sometimes even deporting them to their country of origin or an unrelated country before their families or lawyers can speak to them.
It’s part of the authoritarian nightmare we are living.
We will keep speaking out and doing what we can, despite the grim reality.
I don’t know how long it will take but we have to get our democracy back on track and always, always, always respect human rights.
“Rosa Parks inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble… good trouble, necessary trouble.”
~~~ Representative John Lewis (1940-2020)
Tomorrow, on the fifth anniversary of John Lewis’s death, people are coming together to cause “good trouble” on behalf of freedom, love, and community. For more information and to find an event, please visit https://goodtroubleliveson.org/.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/07/16/one-liner-wednesday-did-i-mispronounce-it/
Vote for Democracy #42
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Today is July 4th, observed in the United States as Independence Day, commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The Declaration of Independence is a fundamental document for the United States and a copy of it currently hangs in the president’s Oval Office.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump does not seem to know what it says.
In an interview with Terry Moran two months ago, he answered a question about what the Declaration of Independence means to him by saying, “Well it means exactly what it says, it’s a declaration, it’s a declaration of unity and love and respect and it means a lot and it’s something very special to our country.”
While Trump is correct that the Declaration of Independence means a lot and is very special, he totally mischaracterizes its meaning and purpose.
The Continental Congress was declaring their freedom from Great Britain and its king, whose tyrannical actions they enumerate.
It is horrifying that the current president and administration are perpetrating tyrannical actions now, some of which reflect those in the Declaration and some additional ones.
It makes this 249th anniversary a somber one but also a challenge to all of us to speak up for our founding principles and the rule of law, for a government that “promote(s) the general welfare” as spelled out in the Preamble to our Constitution. This struggle needs to be carried out in justice and non-violence and progress may be slow, but, I hope, that our 250th anniversary next year will see us making progress toward realizing our democratic ideals rather than retreating further toward autocracy.
The Declaration declares that all are equal and endowed “with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
May our 250th Independence Day be with a government that recognizes the civil and human rights of all people so that we can truly celebrate our democracy on July 4th, 2026.
To any member of the US Congress voting to cut health and food assistance to their constituents in order to give huge, permanent tax cuts and subsidies to the very wealthy, including fossil fuel companies: You can expect that your voters will choose a candidate in the next election who will represent their interests, not those of millionaires and billionaires who only care about their own riches and not the common good or the planet.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/07/02/one-liner-wednesday-take-me-out/
I was getting something out of my Chevy Bolt EV in a parking lot of a small store/gas station yesterday when someone said, “Biden’s not president anymore.”
When I straightened up the only person who was there was a driver making a delivery about to enter the store, so, apparently, this comment was directed at me.
Here’s what I could have said, had this person actually wanted to have a conversation with me:
“Oh, are you asking about my car? Actually, we bought our Bolt in 2017, a couple of months into Trump’s first term. Our Chevy Bolt is a great, American-made car, which is much cheaper to power and maintain than a gasoline-powered one. It’s also fun to drive and has as much torque as a Camaro. You should test-drive an EV next time you are in the market.”
I’m hoping to still have my Bolt after Trump leaves office – and I hope that his successor will support electric vehicles more like Biden than Trump.
Vote for Democracy #41
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
I’m not able to write much these days for various reasons, but wanted to express my deep sorrow at the immense damage that Donald Trump and his administration are inflicting both in the US and around the world.
While I’m trying to do my (infinitesimal) part in bringing our country back to decency, I am comforted knowing that millions of others are doing their part, too.
Still, the sorrow remains for the lives lost and the damage done already and for those who will continue to be affected in the future, even after the United States government returns to sanity, decency, and striving for the ideals spelled out in our Constitution and laws.
Photo Credit: Ellen Morris Prewitt
On December 7, 2024, I shared Ellen Morris Prewitt’s essay about the 150th anniversary of the Vicksburg Massacres.
Ellen is the granddaughter of the main instigator of the Massacres and has been sharing her experiences as she has researched her family’s involvement and grappled with the continuing legacy of racism.
Now, Ellen has a powerful essay entitled “Granddaughter of The Instigator” in the Juneteenth special edition of Salvation South, which delves further into her witness to the legacy of the Vicksburg Massacres on a community and personal level. This essay is an excerpt from her memoir-in-progress, Loving My Hateful Ancestors. You can read a post about the publication of the essay in Ellen’s Very Southern Voice blog and, while you’re there, subscribe to her newsletter and/or follow her blog.
I just realized that I keep referring to Ellen Morris Prewitt by her first name, as though we were acquainted in real life, but we only met each other through blogging. Her writing is so vivid and heartfelt, though, that I feel as if we know each other through our posts and our comments on each other’s blogs with a side of occasional personal emails.
I’m a fan of Ellen’s and invite you to join me!
The people are what matter to government and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.
~~~ Frances Perkins
This flashback to the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration brought to you with an invitation to join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2025/06/18/one-liner-wednesday-handy-trick/
Vote for Democracy #40
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Conditions in the United States are deteriorating in terms of the legal rights of individuals and the rule of law.
The most obvious examples right now are in the state of California. As the Trump administration escalates its deportation campaign, it is arresting people as they appear for scheduled meetings regarding their immigration status, at workplaces, and, sometimes, grabbing them out of cars or on the street. The agents doing these things are often masked and not wearing identifying badges, making it look as though they are criminal kidnappers. It’s terrifying for the immigrant community and for mixed-status families where some members are US citizens and others are not. It’s also heart-breaking that Trump has rescinded the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people who are refugees or who had been on temporary protected status.
While these things are happening throughout the country, there had been a concentration of workplace raids in Los Angeles, resulting in demonstrations at a facility where it seems that arrested migrants were being held without the ability to contact their families. A small number of protesters clashed with police, resulting in some arrests. Even though, the protests were confined to a small area of the city and were being handled by the Los Angeles police, Trump signed an order saying he could take over control of the National Guard, even though governors are in charge of National Guard deployments in their states, and could use federal troops within the United States, which is forbidden except in circumstances such as armed insurrection.
Trump ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops and 700 US Marines to Los Angeles, adding almost 3,000 National Guard troops a few days later. Governor Gavin Newsom sued to return the National Guard to his control, and, last night, Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled that Trump’s move was illegal. Unfortunately, the Trump Justice Department immediately appealed and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has put a stay on the order until they can hear the case on Tuesday.
This is scary for several reasons. While the Trump administration is using this first in California, the executive order applies everywhere in the country, so Trump could call out the military anywhere in the US in the meantime. While these federalized National Guard or other troops are supposed to only act in a support role to protect federal property and personnel, they have already been shown to detain people while waiting for police to arrive to make arrests. On Saturday, Trump has scheduled a large military parade in Washington, DC, ostensibly to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the formation of the Army although June 14th is also his 79th birthday (and Flag Day). In reaction to this show of force by the President, there are about 2,000 protests being organized throughout the country – and even in a few international locations – as No Kings Day, also termed as No Tyrants Day in places that do have a monarch. The flagship protest is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; there is no event planned for Washington, DC in order to steer clear of Trump’s military parade. The No Kings Day events are peaceful marches and rallies, but I am afraid that Trump will send troops or federalized National Guard after protesters, especially in big, majority-Democratic cities.
Tensions are ratcheted even higher because, yesterday, California Senator Alex Padilla was detained while trying to ask a question at a press conference that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was giving at a federal building in Los Angeles. Sen. Padilla was forced from the room onto the floor and handcuffed, even though he announced that he was a senator and was accompanied by an FBI agent and security guard. If that can happen to a United States senator, what could happen to someone who is an immigrant or vulnerable or a member of a minority group?
While my health prevents me from attending in person, I offer my support to all those who will be at the No Kings protests tomorrow. I’m praying for their safety and hoping that police and other authorities have the good sense to honor the attendees as they exercise their First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom to peaceably assemble, and freedom to petition the government.
I hope that the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court will uphold Judge Breyer’s ruling in the coming days and that the Trump administration will abide by it. We must not militarize the country and disregard our Constitutional rights. The Republicans in Congress need to wake up and honor their oaths and demand resignations or impeach any officials who are breaking the law and undermining our democracy.
In less than a month, we will observe the 249th anniversary of the United States. We must do it as a free people with our full rights intact.
Joanne Corey 