GASSED — The Weekly Opine

Protestors quickly retreat as ICE agents flood the zone with teargas and pepper balls. Note the ICE agents on top of the building. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

ICE rachets up violence

Last week, The Weekly Opine mentioned the need to catch your second wind, i.e., take a mental and physical break from resisting. Let go of cable news, social media, lamenting with neighbors, etc. And then, refreshed and reinvigorated, re-enter the fray of resistance against America’s sprouting fascism. (Initially, I wrote the word “budding.” But what is happening is beyond the budding stage. Fascism is sprouting all around us.)

As you may know, there is another large anti-Trump demonstration planned for Saturday, October 18. However, don’t wait until mid-October to push back.

For example, you can write letters or email politicians at the national, state or local level. You can make phone calls to politicians’ headquarters, or in the case of U.S. Congress members, call the U.S. Capitol switchboard. Simply dial 202-224-3121, tell the operator (or voice answering machine) the name of the congressperson you’d like to speak with, and you are instantly connected to their office.

When I’ve called (about a dozen times) roughly two-thirds of the time a live staffer answers and I ask to speak with the officeholder. The congressperson is never available, so I leave a professional but firm message with the staffer. I close by asking them to politely make sure the politician gets my message, e.g., regarding the Epstein files, or how dumb it was of the congressperson to vote “yes” to confirm RFK Jr. Sometimes, I call back a few days later to make sure the staffer delivered my message.

Great question. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

While letters, emails and phone calls have their place alongside protest marches, the path to victory requires everyone to vote. The goal is for eligible voters to be informed, inform others, and then get out and vote. Facts and common sense add up to the electorate making smart choices.

Takin’ it to the streets

Practicing what I preached last week, buoyed by my second wind, on Friday I joined protestors at the ICE detention center in Broadview, Illinois. Watching local news while eating breakfast, there was a live report from the detention center. The reporter painted a picture of a tense situation. After wolfing down a bowl of cereal and grabbing copies of my birth certificate and social security card, I draped my trusty media credential around my neck and drove the less than ten minutes to the ICE facility.

Upon arrival stress was evident. After walking past local cops stationed at the corner, I approached the perimeter of the protest and immediately noticed ICE agents on the roof of the detention center carrying what appeared to be rifles. Their presence clearly contributed to approximately 100 protestors’ unease and agitation. (Whereas in 1968, Chicago protestors chanted poetically, “The whole world is watching,” nowadays many protestors simply shout, “F-you fascists!”)

Candidate for U.S. Congress Kat Abughazaleh was violently assaulted by an ICE thug. (Photo credit Bluesky/X user)

An ICE vehicle began transporting detainees from a fenced section of the facility to an adjacent fenced area, which required making a tight U-turn. Protestors attempted to block the vehicle. A dozen or so ICE agents pushed the crowd back. Resisters refused to budge. Sensing trouble, I began moving away from the center of the protest. Then it happened.

First, from the roof above, ICE agents began shooting pepper balls into the crowd that surrounded the vehicle. Next, the ICE agents on the ground released tear gas. By this time, I’d re-positioned myself on the perimeter with an escape path. Still, I was close enough to get a momentary burning tinge in my eyes. Fortunately, I wore a mask. Many protestors were overcome by the teargas, falling to the ground in anguish and coughing and crying out. It was not a pretty scene. I retreated to where the local cops stood compliantly, ignoring protestors shouts to arrest ICE agents for assault.

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton was present along with the two congressional candidates competing for Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s soon-to-be open seat. Kat Abughazaleh (who was violently thrown to the ground by an ICE goon) and her opponent, Evanston, Illinois Mayor Daniel Biss were on scene.

So was Ricky Hendon, Jr., son of former Illinois State Senator Ricky Hendon. Hendon, Jr. was sporting a tee shirt with VOTE across the back and in smaller letters on the front. He carried an American flag. I decided to interview Hendon, Jr. (not knowing who he was as I approached him). I complimented Hendon’s shirt’s message, and he emphatically stated that voting is everything.

Not surprisingly, Homeland Security’s website falsely claimed violent protesters attacked ICE agents.

(L) Reporting live from ICE detention center. (R) Protestor Ricky Hendon Jr. “gets it.” Vote! (Photos credit The Weekly Opine)

What he was

Several readers of The Weekly Opine asked if I planned to comment on Charlie Kirk. Last week, I wrote that political violence, hell any violence, is wrong. I also said Kirk was a piece of trash whose murder was already in my rearview mirror. But I will briefly comment since undeserved, ridiculous memorials are being held across the U.S. for Kirk.

(America’s ignorance is on full display as even hundreds of Democrat members of the House of Representatives voted in favor of a resolution honoring the reprehensible Kirk.)

The great Popeye the Sailor used to say, “I am what I am.” Charlie Kirk was what he was; a racist, misogynist, homophobic, anti-trans, white supremacist, violence-inciting, fake-Christian. I am standing by my assessment and, as the boss of The Weekly Opine, will not fire myself or temporarily suspend myself.

Tributes to Kirk are an embarrassment. (A proposed statue at the U.S. Capitol!? An utterly laughable idea).

My alma mater, Indiana University, permitted the student chapter of Kirk’s Turning Point USA to hold a memorial service on campus honoring a man who was the exact opposite of a good human. This is the same school that in 2023, succumbing to outside pressure, cancelled a retrospective art exhibition by Samia Halaby, a prominent Palestinian American artist who is an IU alumna.

Frankly, the controversial Charlie Kirk’s views – factually documented for anyone to see – were disgusting and offensive, and at least as dangerous, as views espoused by the controversial Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan.

When the 92-year-old Farrakhan dies, I doubt Indiana University will allow students to hold a memorial for Farrakhan inside the hallowed Indiana Memorial Union Building.