And remember....we all know what happened on J6. We all saw what insurrectionists did to our capitol to "protest" a lie. Well, in LA and across the country, people are protesting THE TRUTH and the horrible actions being performed by the administration and ill-trained supposed ICE agents. These are not the same. The hypocritical double standard is rampant. Kudos to all who call out this hypocrisy including Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass.
Again, we need someone with access to the data to identify how many of these ICE agents are former J6 perps who were convicted and then pardoned bt Trump for attacking DC law enforcement.
100%! And also, when/where were these so-called "ICE agents" trained? I mean, the head of HS and the other safety/security/defense agencies are the world's most incompetent heads of departments ever, right?
Reading tRUMP's blather yesterday -- This is INSURRECTION! This must be stopped! I'll have to do whatever is necessary! -- made me want to vomit. The fucking hypocrisy after his first coup attempt J6! Yes, kudos to Newsom and even Mayor Bass, who is finally acting like a real mayor.
But tRUMP did make it glaringly obvious he was waiting, like a big predatory spider, for the right excuse to deploy troops and get his 2nd coup attempt underway.
I am an Angeleno. My family has lived in this city for over 100 years. I was a public librarian for the City of Los Angeles for almost 30 years until my retirement in 2023. I have lived and worked in dozens of neighborhoods and met and served people from all over the world who came here for a better life. What this regime is doing is a deliberate act to sow chaos and divide our communities. We are here just living our lives and they cannot stand that we see who and what they really are. STAY STRONG L.A.
Rest assured, John, that we the people who are not in Los Angeles WILL be out to protest illegal acts of ICE and the regime in DC. I and many of my friends will be in the crowd protesting, taking the tear gas and rubber bullets (i HOPE they stay rubber!) if and when they come to our city. We have taken a vow to not be complicit and to perhaps risk our lives to ensure the safety and right of all people in the U.S. It's given new meaning to being a patriot for our country.
The images from Los Angeles don’t leave you. They cling. You go to make coffee, and there’s the footage of a kid coughing through tear gas. You check the news, and there’s a grandmother being dragged from a sidewalk protest. And for a moment—maybe longer—you try to tell yourself that this is L.A., not here. That it’s a coastal eruption, not a national illness.
But denial, as you say, is a hell of a drug.
What’s happening in Los Angeles is not a flare-up—it’s a flare-gun fired into the sky. A warning shot. A test. And we’d be fools to think the test ends at the city limits of California.
Because this administration is not confused. It is not improvising. It is stress-testing the boundaries of American obedience, in real time, and Los Angeles is the lab. ICE raids turned to riots, peaceful protestors turned into “rebels,” military force framed as “rescue.” The script couldn’t be more obvious if Trump had handed it out on White House letterhead.
Let’s stop pretending this is reactionary chaos.
It’s choreography.
And here’s the part that turns my stomach: it’s working. At least, for now. The tear gas clouds are doing more than choking airways—they’re clouding judgment. They’re banking on our disbelief, our fatigue, our “surely this can’t be happening here” reflex. They want you to scroll past. They want you to intellectualize this. And most of all, they want you to believe it isn’t your fight.
But that’s the lie. Because what they’re doing in Los Angeles today is what they’ll do in your city tomorrow—once the optics are right. Once the resistance thins. Once enough people have chosen safety over solidarity.
And so we’re left with this bitter clarity: there are no sidelines anymore. There are only those who will be swallowed by this authoritarian moment—and those who will stand in its way.
You asked the right question: Is our patriotism real enough?
I’m asking myself the same thing. Because I come from a line of patriots—of uniform-wearers and oath-takers. My family has bled for this country since the Revolution. And not one of them ever imagined patriotism meant crushing dissent or goose-stepping down Main Street. They didn’t serve so a would-be Caesar could play dress-up with the military and use it to pacify his wounded ego.
They served so people could speak. Protest. Resist.
So yes—today, I’m an Angeleno.
Because the man being dragged from a car in L.A. might as well be my brother. The woman shielding her child from riot shields might as well be my neighbor. This is not their crisis—it’s ours.
And I don’t say that lightly. I say it with a hollow in my gut and a fire behind my ribs. Because I know what comes next if we fail to meet this moment. If we let Los Angeles fall alone, we are already lost. If we keep waiting for someone else to fix it—Congress, the courts, the press—we’ll be watching our own streets burn from behind the same cage we ignored last week.
This is where the line gets drawn.
No, not in the sand—in our skin.
It’s going to cost something now. Time. Safety. Silence. Maybe more.
But as for me, I’d rather stand with bruised people in righteous defiance than watch one more American city be swallowed by the machinery of fear.
And if you’re reading this—wherever you are—know this:
You’re in it too.
You always were.
So let’s honor those in the streets—not just with admiration, but with action.
This reply gave me goose bumps Dino. I'm ready for the streets June 14th, but will have in the back of my mind the thoughts of that g-damn birthday melee happening and it's absolutely sickening. Our country hath raised up so many vile folks, it's overwhelming to me that we made it this far. ..
I know it’s choreographed. My concern is that if it gets violent, then all protesting crowds will be seen as a signal to send in the troops before there’s any violence. I hope the baiting doesn’t work. Yes, it is my crisis. I just don’t want a Rodney King escalation.
Exactly -- perfectly stated. Please submit this to all major media that might reprint it or read it on the news WHOLE UNEDITED. It's that important and needs to be read and heard.
What I can’t understand is that the 🌮 probably has no idea about the Reichstag fire and couldn’t find Berlin on a map of Brandenburg.
So who is feeding him this info? Heritage Foundation? Clarence Thomas? Ginny Thomas? Who of his staff or his friends are smart and vile enough? Beats me.
Russell Vought and Heritage. Thry had thr EOs ready on Day One. I fault legacy media for refusing to investigate and cover Project 2025 during the 2024 campaign.
The June 9th issue of The New Yorker has a profile of Curtis Yarvin, detailing his "philosophy " and his connections to Silicon Valley and White Supremacists.
JMHO, Schumer and some other old school Dems have treated Trump as an aberration and MAGA as a passing phase.. They aren't. Trump and MAGA have unleashed a really ugly, dangerous movement.
I have no doubt that he knows about the Reichstag fire as well as the apartment building explosion that Putin used to cement his power. He’s pure evil along with all his minders.
I erroneously predicted he’d declare martial law/invoke the Insurrection act on January 20. Guess I was wrong about the date, he wanted to wear us down first and overwhelm the nation, make the media bow and create a chilling effect over the business, legal and financial world. Even Musk’s tantrum has walked itself back. Dems apologizing for the Biden book while tanks are rolling into DC. These are terrifyingly unstable times, and our time to step up is NOW.
I choose to hope that we will be not cowed but infuriated with the orange outrage. I remember Kent State when the National Guard fired on protesters. I really believe that it turned people against the war and folk who had never protested protested, me included. This outrage should infuriate every patriotic American, every person of faith who cares about our citizens legal and those who are here and contributing but not "legal". I know that No Kings Day is on Saturday, we need to make it even bigger than it was going to be because we need to stand with the people of LA and everywhere that ICE is overstepping and against this administration that is just looking for a way to remove people that are not bowing to the orange outrage.
I am old enough to remember the ‘70ies and the massive protests during that time. There was not this overreaction by the President. Even if he wanted to -he was kept in check by his Cabinet and the other branches of Government.
To those who call themselves “Christian”, I will repeat the phrase used during the turmoil of the ‘70ies as a moral guidepost.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO
Keep asking that! Ask that of your Congressional Representative. Ask that of your Senators both State and Federal.
Ask that of the Judges
Some people are claiming this is a “Christian” Nation -
YES! Exactly! Jesus would defend ALL peoples because all have equal rights in this nation.
What would Jesus NOT do? Jesus would NOT tolerate the violent crushing discriminatory practices of this hate-mongering, chaos-fomenting illegal "president."
I live in Los Angeles. Cheeto Chump, Sec’y Puppy Killer, Sec’y Shitfaced Drunk and the Cryptkeeper are sending in paid “protestors” (like CC did for its campaign rallies) to cause chaos. Complicit legacy media is adding fuel as are wannabe news folks who want to make a career covering this. CC wants to invoke the Insurrection Act on or prior to June 14 so protest peacefully. Don’t give it what it wants. #NoKings
I don't have cable TV, but I heard that the news is showing one (just one) instance of cars being burned by rioters, over and over and over and over in their coverage of the protesters. It makes it look like multiple cars are burning when in fact it was only a few. This is how the media is twisting this. Which is why I never watch news on TV anymore.
I hope you’re wrong and the protesters are people in the community. If there are paid protestors who are encouraging violence, they may set things off. It doesn’t take much.
Now he’s sending in Marines. I haven’t looked at my Apple News yet, so don’t know the particulars. If you had killed an unarmed man in Afghanistan or Iraq, it was a war crime. If you kill a man or woman in LA, it’s 8a pardon from Trump.
Oh God, I gotta disagree on that last Huey Newton part "Off The Pigs" -- unless you mean ALL the shitheads -- Congress & Senate members, cabinet heads, justices [SCOTUS particularly] and MAGAts -- going along with and making possible the plan of our odious egomaniacal sociopathic rapist & pedophile, misogynistic cheating asswipe illegal "president" to foment war, i.e., a coup, by creating a broken nation that's easy to take over.
The protestors in L.A., though absolutely righteous, brave & wonderful in standing up to oppose ICE's illegal grabs and deportations (loved all the FUCK ICE graffiti), did get out of hand. Violence did erupt caused by some, not the majority. And that was the "in" tRUMP was hoping for in order to send in a military presence and test the waters. Big big big mistake on the part of those protestors who escalated matters. I don't hold the police responsible here. The protestors should have demonstrated resistance to the illegal, unethical, immoral, and vicious policies of this corrupt federal government -- AND THAT'S ALL. Good God, don't hand tRUMP the excuse he wants to institute martial law and bring this nation to war!
How much of the violence is caused by Trump’s minions? Social media is rampant with lies and photos from older protests. A photo of a pallet of bricks, supposedly brought in to L.A. for protesters to lob during the unrest, is from a construction yard in Malaysia.
100% AGREED!!! When I wrote the above, I'd forgotten about the FBI's outrageous tactics in the late 60s and into the 70s to plant instigating operatives into protest groups to stir up violence and escalate peaceful protests into riots to discredit and/or criminalize protestors.
The same is EXTREMELY LIKELY TO BE HAPPENING HERE & NOW. I hope, along with many others, that instigating operatives sent in to escalate a peaceful protest into a near riot will be arrested -- and then *surprise* be unmasked for what they are. The more we can expose and PROVE that Orange Shitler's tactics are unlawful, calculated to create chaos & harm, egregious, contemptible, and absolutely unacceptable, the better.
And yes -- then you have social media further instigating with all kinds of photos from many different places and times that the posters are purporting are of what went down in LA over the past few days. DISGUSTING BULLSHIT. But what else do you expect from tRUMP's busy little MAGAt trolls?
And now, as of Tues morning June 10, the Orange Malignant Grand Poobah has sent in 2,700 more troops -- 700 Marines + a further 2,000 federalized National Guards = a total troops presence of 4,700. Wow. Just wow in the very worst possible way.
This started as a peaceful protest... Now that we know the escalation into a shit show was very purposefully manufactured by tRUMP, we can't let him get away with any of it. He must be held accountable. His reign of terror must be ended.
And BTW, now I do hold the police responsible for using unnecessary & undue force and helping to escalate matters.
FSB, I think this week’s chaos is a performative test to determine whether protesters can be goaded into violence. Every organizer and leader of the response to the regime’s deportation horrors and DOGE’s rape and pillaging of our government has stressed the need for PEACEFUL gatherings. And there’s next week’s massive No Kings national protests. The ghouls behind the “Deportations” are warning all of us that they’re willing to perpetrate extreme lawlessness to keep us in line. They don’t account for the rage of our populace over their mistreatment of innocent people. Their hateful policies appeal only to extreme MAGAs. The rest of us are appalled by their destructive malignancy. They are about to learn that their malevolence won’t stand against citizens with empathy and decency. They think we’re weak. They’re in for a shock.
Yes, absolutely right on all points and very well said. Thank you, Glenna.
Sad, though, that demonstrators could be goaded into violence. I hope leaders and organizers of the resistance emphasize LOUDLY & CLEARLY that we must not allow ourselves to be provoked.
I believe tRUMP when he said (some) protestors were paid -- yeah, HE paid the nasty little shills doing his dirty work.
Please also read this column by Johnny Palmadessa who was an on the ground eye witness to events in LA yesterday, June 8.
Trump Empowers Chaos At Los Angeles Protests: Here's What I Saw.
I'm on the ground in Los Angeles.
JOHNNY PALMADESSA, JUN 9
Enough Is Enough
Yesterday, I flew to Los Angeles early in the morning—boots on the ground as the protests erupted across the city. I was there to document what unfolded in real time. And I want you to understand exactly what I witnessed.
First, let me be perfectly clear: there is no place for violence in this country—especially not when someone as unhinged as Donald Trump sits in a position of power. His deepest wish appears to be the opportunity to declare martial law. We cannot, under any circumstance, give him even a sliver of justification to do so.
But let me also be absolutely clear: what I saw on the streets of Los Angeles—what I bore witness to as a journalist—was his fault.
The charred cars lining sidewalks. The thunder of weapons fired at peaceful protestors and reporters alike. All of it—Donald Trump’s fault. His failing administration has spiraled out of control, and it’s past time he was held accountable.
In a country that prides itself on being “the land of the free,” no one should feel forced to take to the streets in desperation just to be heard. People should feel seen. They should be listened to. And Donald Trump should be doing exactly that—listening.
While moving through the crowd, I met a man marching alongside thousands of others. I asked him why he was there. He told me:
He was protesting for his father—his father was deported just one day prior while getting a coffee at a local cafe. He was protesting for him.
That moment hit me hard—but nothing prepared me for what came next.
As I approached the Los Angeles Federal Building, I heard something strange. A soft but steady tapping. Yes, tapping. The sound echoed through the building’s glass panels—repetitive, haunting, impossible to ignore.
I couldn’t place it at first. Then it hit me.
Those knocks? They were detainees. Knocking on their cell windows. Witnessing that—feeling that—shattered something in me. It broke my heart. And it gave me even more reason to keep documenting what’s happening in our streets.
I saw fire—cars and dumpsters engulfed. I saw fireworks launched toward officers. But I also saw something far more terrifying: the overwhelming, disproportionate use of force.
Rubber bullets fired at reporters simply doing their jobs—including myself. Tear gas deployed like it was air freshener—indiscriminate and constant.
And through it all, I saw no solutions. No outreach. No dialogue. No accountability. Just escalating force.
What struck me most was this: these protests began peacefully. There was no chaos—until Donald Trump inserted himself.
He didn’t calm the situation. He amplified it. He stoked fear. He unleashed federal power like a weapon, not a tool of governance.
He fanned the flames—literally and figuratively—by federalizing the National Guard. California Governor Gavin Newsom has made it clear: he wants that authority returned to the state. He said:
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”
We’ve reached a breaking point.
America deserves better than this. Our communities deserve better. Protesters and journalists deserve better. And if we want to avoid the collapse of trust in our institutions, we need leadership that understands the difference between control and compassion.
Because this? This isn’t leadership. This is fear masquerading as strength. And we’ve had enough.
The images I have seen are not of large numbers of protesters, and they have signs. They don’t look violent. There are some pictures of a car burning and a fire in the street and some broken concrete blocks and a row of Home Depot carts turned over in the road. There will be a lot of videos taken by people in the crowds. Will we see those? It’s clear to me that Trump is baiting the protesters. Those who are behaving badly may well be plants. Hopefully, the protesters will calm down. If the protesters increase in numbers and become more violent, Trump will have gotten his excuse to send in troops in any protest saying it may get violent and provoking the protesters. He doesn’t play fair.
Excellent point re some of the behaving badly protestors may well be plants. This was a well-known tactic used by the FBI in protests during the late 60s and the 70s. And yes, of course tRUMP is just that sleazily cunning to make use of that tactic. I hope that if there were tRUMP plants among the protestors that escalated things with violence, some who were arrested will be unmasked when investigated.
He will stop at nothing. His disorder requires that he whip up false flags and emergencies to keep attention away from himself and his shameful inadequacies. The desperation that the narcissist experiences when the supply of energy wanes, when being 'seen' for one's inadequacies and shameful tendencies is more and more revealed, the actions become more extreme, keeping attention from where it needs to be, projecting evil outwards towards those who he targets. This will not decrease, it will increase. He needs the emergencies, the bad guys the revenge (an addiction that never gets satisfied). He will be stopped one day, but it will not be pretty. We need to continue to be informed, to support those who are speaking the truth, and to disseminate it ourselves.
YES!!! And more, he does this to create the national breakdown, division, pandemonium, chaos, disorder, and miserable morale necessary to get a 2nd coup attempt underway. So far a pretty effective strategy.
We need a unified resistance disciplined enough not to give into the momentary satisfaction of striking back with our own acts of violence -- that is, until they are absolutely necessary to defend & safeguard our nation, our democracy, our Constitution, and our freedoms & rights.
If we agree with you, then what are we to do? Write our Trump-loving Congressmen? Write the Secretary of Defense? Exactly what are we supposed to do to make a difference at this moment in time? Find a protest somewhere within driving range and participate? Just what?
What everyone is saying: find a way to protest. Get out on the street where and when you can. Right now, that's the only thing we the people have. Also, what I do is support a cause called Democracy Forward by sending money every so often. They are the ones bringing law suits against all the illegal things the Taco wannabe king is doing. There might be other causes you can support. Every little bit helps.
And remember....we all know what happened on J6. We all saw what insurrectionists did to our capitol to "protest" a lie. Well, in LA and across the country, people are protesting THE TRUTH and the horrible actions being performed by the administration and ill-trained supposed ICE agents. These are not the same. The hypocritical double standard is rampant. Kudos to all who call out this hypocrisy including Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass.
Again, we need someone with access to the data to identify how many of these ICE agents are former J6 perps who were convicted and then pardoned bt Trump for attacking DC law enforcement.
100%! And also, when/where were these so-called "ICE agents" trained? I mean, the head of HS and the other safety/security/defense agencies are the world's most incompetent heads of departments ever, right?
Well said! Thank you for all points made!
Reading tRUMP's blather yesterday -- This is INSURRECTION! This must be stopped! I'll have to do whatever is necessary! -- made me want to vomit. The fucking hypocrisy after his first coup attempt J6! Yes, kudos to Newsom and even Mayor Bass, who is finally acting like a real mayor.
But tRUMP did make it glaringly obvious he was waiting, like a big predatory spider, for the right excuse to deploy troops and get his 2nd coup attempt underway.
I am an Angeleno. My family has lived in this city for over 100 years. I was a public librarian for the City of Los Angeles for almost 30 years until my retirement in 2023. I have lived and worked in dozens of neighborhoods and met and served people from all over the world who came here for a better life. What this regime is doing is a deliberate act to sow chaos and divide our communities. We are here just living our lives and they cannot stand that we see who and what they really are. STAY STRONG L.A.
Rest assured, John, that we the people who are not in Los Angeles WILL be out to protest illegal acts of ICE and the regime in DC. I and many of my friends will be in the crowd protesting, taking the tear gas and rubber bullets (i HOPE they stay rubber!) if and when they come to our city. We have taken a vow to not be complicit and to perhaps risk our lives to ensure the safety and right of all people in the U.S. It's given new meaning to being a patriot for our country.
I’ve been sitting with this all day.
The images from Los Angeles don’t leave you. They cling. You go to make coffee, and there’s the footage of a kid coughing through tear gas. You check the news, and there’s a grandmother being dragged from a sidewalk protest. And for a moment—maybe longer—you try to tell yourself that this is L.A., not here. That it’s a coastal eruption, not a national illness.
But denial, as you say, is a hell of a drug.
What’s happening in Los Angeles is not a flare-up—it’s a flare-gun fired into the sky. A warning shot. A test. And we’d be fools to think the test ends at the city limits of California.
Because this administration is not confused. It is not improvising. It is stress-testing the boundaries of American obedience, in real time, and Los Angeles is the lab. ICE raids turned to riots, peaceful protestors turned into “rebels,” military force framed as “rescue.” The script couldn’t be more obvious if Trump had handed it out on White House letterhead.
Let’s stop pretending this is reactionary chaos.
It’s choreography.
And here’s the part that turns my stomach: it’s working. At least, for now. The tear gas clouds are doing more than choking airways—they’re clouding judgment. They’re banking on our disbelief, our fatigue, our “surely this can’t be happening here” reflex. They want you to scroll past. They want you to intellectualize this. And most of all, they want you to believe it isn’t your fight.
But that’s the lie. Because what they’re doing in Los Angeles today is what they’ll do in your city tomorrow—once the optics are right. Once the resistance thins. Once enough people have chosen safety over solidarity.
And so we’re left with this bitter clarity: there are no sidelines anymore. There are only those who will be swallowed by this authoritarian moment—and those who will stand in its way.
You asked the right question: Is our patriotism real enough?
I’m asking myself the same thing. Because I come from a line of patriots—of uniform-wearers and oath-takers. My family has bled for this country since the Revolution. And not one of them ever imagined patriotism meant crushing dissent or goose-stepping down Main Street. They didn’t serve so a would-be Caesar could play dress-up with the military and use it to pacify his wounded ego.
They served so people could speak. Protest. Resist.
So yes—today, I’m an Angeleno.
Because the man being dragged from a car in L.A. might as well be my brother. The woman shielding her child from riot shields might as well be my neighbor. This is not their crisis—it’s ours.
And I don’t say that lightly. I say it with a hollow in my gut and a fire behind my ribs. Because I know what comes next if we fail to meet this moment. If we let Los Angeles fall alone, we are already lost. If we keep waiting for someone else to fix it—Congress, the courts, the press—we’ll be watching our own streets burn from behind the same cage we ignored last week.
This is where the line gets drawn.
No, not in the sand—in our skin.
It’s going to cost something now. Time. Safety. Silence. Maybe more.
But as for me, I’d rather stand with bruised people in righteous defiance than watch one more American city be swallowed by the machinery of fear.
And if you’re reading this—wherever you are—know this:
You’re in it too.
You always were.
So let’s honor those in the streets—not just with admiration, but with action.
Let’s hold the line.
This reply gave me goose bumps Dino. I'm ready for the streets June 14th, but will have in the back of my mind the thoughts of that g-damn birthday melee happening and it's absolutely sickening. Our country hath raised up so many vile folks, it's overwhelming to me that we made it this far. ..
I know it’s choreographed. My concern is that if it gets violent, then all protesting crowds will be seen as a signal to send in the troops before there’s any violence. I hope the baiting doesn’t work. Yes, it is my crisis. I just don’t want a Rodney King escalation.
Exactly -- perfectly stated. Please submit this to all major media that might reprint it or read it on the news WHOLE UNEDITED. It's that important and needs to be read and heard.
That AND THIS EQUALLY, John's column today.
Hoping to find my place in the resistance
What I can’t understand is that the 🌮 probably has no idea about the Reichstag fire and couldn’t find Berlin on a map of Brandenburg.
So who is feeding him this info? Heritage Foundation? Clarence Thomas? Ginny Thomas? Who of his staff or his friends are smart and vile enough? Beats me.
Russell Vought and Heritage. Thry had thr EOs ready on Day One. I fault legacy media for refusing to investigate and cover Project 2025 during the 2024 campaign.
Curtis Yarvin, Peter Thiele, JD Vance, Russell Vought and Heritage....there is a plan. Something the dems and the rest of us don't seem to have.
The June 9th issue of The New Yorker has a profile of Curtis Yarvin, detailing his "philosophy " and his connections to Silicon Valley and White Supremacists.
JMHO, Schumer and some other old school Dems have treated Trump as an aberration and MAGA as a passing phase.. They aren't. Trump and MAGA have unleashed a really ugly, dangerous movement.
I have no doubt that he knows about the Reichstag fire as well as the apartment building explosion that Putin used to cement his power. He’s pure evil along with all his minders.
Stephen fucking Miller perhaps?
Stephen Miller might be too obvious.
Miller? Thiel?
I erroneously predicted he’d declare martial law/invoke the Insurrection act on January 20. Guess I was wrong about the date, he wanted to wear us down first and overwhelm the nation, make the media bow and create a chilling effect over the business, legal and financial world. Even Musk’s tantrum has walked itself back. Dems apologizing for the Biden book while tanks are rolling into DC. These are terrifyingly unstable times, and our time to step up is NOW.
You described tRUMP's strategy perfectly. THANK YOU.
And YES!!! -- our time to step up is NOW.
I choose to hope that we will be not cowed but infuriated with the orange outrage. I remember Kent State when the National Guard fired on protesters. I really believe that it turned people against the war and folk who had never protested protested, me included. This outrage should infuriate every patriotic American, every person of faith who cares about our citizens legal and those who are here and contributing but not "legal". I know that No Kings Day is on Saturday, we need to make it even bigger than it was going to be because we need to stand with the people of LA and everywhere that ICE is overstepping and against this administration that is just looking for a way to remove people that are not bowing to the orange outrage.
Only difference is Fox News …..
Brilliant!!! YES YES YES to EVERYTHING you said here!!! Thank you!
I am old enough to remember the ‘70ies and the massive protests during that time. There was not this overreaction by the President. Even if he wanted to -he was kept in check by his Cabinet and the other branches of Government.
To those who call themselves “Christian”, I will repeat the phrase used during the turmoil of the ‘70ies as a moral guidepost.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO
Keep asking that! Ask that of your Congressional Representative. Ask that of your Senators both State and Federal.
Ask that of the Judges
Some people are claiming this is a “Christian” Nation -
Then make them ANSWER the question
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
YES! Exactly! Jesus would defend ALL peoples because all have equal rights in this nation.
What would Jesus NOT do? Jesus would NOT tolerate the violent crushing discriminatory practices of this hate-mongering, chaos-fomenting illegal "president."
Jesus isn’t included in their so-called Christianity. They’d deport him to El Salvador as soon as he acted on his teachings.
I live in Los Angeles. Cheeto Chump, Sec’y Puppy Killer, Sec’y Shitfaced Drunk and the Cryptkeeper are sending in paid “protestors” (like CC did for its campaign rallies) to cause chaos. Complicit legacy media is adding fuel as are wannabe news folks who want to make a career covering this. CC wants to invoke the Insurrection Act on or prior to June 14 so protest peacefully. Don’t give it what it wants. #NoKings
I don't have cable TV, but I heard that the news is showing one (just one) instance of cars being burned by rioters, over and over and over and over in their coverage of the protesters. It makes it look like multiple cars are burning when in fact it was only a few. This is how the media is twisting this. Which is why I never watch news on TV anymore.
Exactly. Also the same “rioter” getting pushed to the street. A paid repugnant punk. Like the paid attendees of Cheeto’s campaign rallies.
I hope you’re wrong and the protesters are people in the community. If there are paid protestors who are encouraging violence, they may set things off. It doesn’t take much.
I’m not. That’s why this situation is so precarious.
Now he’s sending in Marines. I haven’t looked at my Apple News yet, so don’t know the particulars. If you had killed an unarmed man in Afghanistan or Iraq, it was a war crime. If you kill a man or woman in LA, it’s 8a pardon from Trump.
Years ago I lived in LA. Great place. Still miss it, mostly. Keep up the good fight! And as Huey Newton once said..." Off The Pigs"
Oh God, I gotta disagree on that last Huey Newton part "Off The Pigs" -- unless you mean ALL the shitheads -- Congress & Senate members, cabinet heads, justices [SCOTUS particularly] and MAGAts -- going along with and making possible the plan of our odious egomaniacal sociopathic rapist & pedophile, misogynistic cheating asswipe illegal "president" to foment war, i.e., a coup, by creating a broken nation that's easy to take over.
The protestors in L.A., though absolutely righteous, brave & wonderful in standing up to oppose ICE's illegal grabs and deportations (loved all the FUCK ICE graffiti), did get out of hand. Violence did erupt caused by some, not the majority. And that was the "in" tRUMP was hoping for in order to send in a military presence and test the waters. Big big big mistake on the part of those protestors who escalated matters. I don't hold the police responsible here. The protestors should have demonstrated resistance to the illegal, unethical, immoral, and vicious policies of this corrupt federal government -- AND THAT'S ALL. Good God, don't hand tRUMP the excuse he wants to institute martial law and bring this nation to war!
How much of the violence is caused by Trump’s minions? Social media is rampant with lies and photos from older protests. A photo of a pallet of bricks, supposedly brought in to L.A. for protesters to lob during the unrest, is from a construction yard in Malaysia.
100% AGREED!!! When I wrote the above, I'd forgotten about the FBI's outrageous tactics in the late 60s and into the 70s to plant instigating operatives into protest groups to stir up violence and escalate peaceful protests into riots to discredit and/or criminalize protestors.
The same is EXTREMELY LIKELY TO BE HAPPENING HERE & NOW. I hope, along with many others, that instigating operatives sent in to escalate a peaceful protest into a near riot will be arrested -- and then *surprise* be unmasked for what they are. The more we can expose and PROVE that Orange Shitler's tactics are unlawful, calculated to create chaos & harm, egregious, contemptible, and absolutely unacceptable, the better.
And yes -- then you have social media further instigating with all kinds of photos from many different places and times that the posters are purporting are of what went down in LA over the past few days. DISGUSTING BULLSHIT. But what else do you expect from tRUMP's busy little MAGAt trolls?
And now, as of Tues morning June 10, the Orange Malignant Grand Poobah has sent in 2,700 more troops -- 700 Marines + a further 2,000 federalized National Guards = a total troops presence of 4,700. Wow. Just wow in the very worst possible way.
This started as a peaceful protest... Now that we know the escalation into a shit show was very purposefully manufactured by tRUMP, we can't let him get away with any of it. He must be held accountable. His reign of terror must be ended.
And BTW, now I do hold the police responsible for using unnecessary & undue force and helping to escalate matters.
FSB, I think this week’s chaos is a performative test to determine whether protesters can be goaded into violence. Every organizer and leader of the response to the regime’s deportation horrors and DOGE’s rape and pillaging of our government has stressed the need for PEACEFUL gatherings. And there’s next week’s massive No Kings national protests. The ghouls behind the “Deportations” are warning all of us that they’re willing to perpetrate extreme lawlessness to keep us in line. They don’t account for the rage of our populace over their mistreatment of innocent people. Their hateful policies appeal only to extreme MAGAs. The rest of us are appalled by their destructive malignancy. They are about to learn that their malevolence won’t stand against citizens with empathy and decency. They think we’re weak. They’re in for a shock.
Yes, absolutely right on all points and very well said. Thank you, Glenna.
Sad, though, that demonstrators could be goaded into violence. I hope leaders and organizers of the resistance emphasize LOUDLY & CLEARLY that we must not allow ourselves to be provoked.
I believe tRUMP when he said (some) protestors were paid -- yeah, HE paid the nasty little shills doing his dirty work.
Please also read this column by Johnny Palmadessa who was an on the ground eye witness to events in LA yesterday, June 8.
Trump Empowers Chaos At Los Angeles Protests: Here's What I Saw.
I'm on the ground in Los Angeles.
JOHNNY PALMADESSA, JUN 9
Enough Is Enough
Yesterday, I flew to Los Angeles early in the morning—boots on the ground as the protests erupted across the city. I was there to document what unfolded in real time. And I want you to understand exactly what I witnessed.
First, let me be perfectly clear: there is no place for violence in this country—especially not when someone as unhinged as Donald Trump sits in a position of power. His deepest wish appears to be the opportunity to declare martial law. We cannot, under any circumstance, give him even a sliver of justification to do so.
But let me also be absolutely clear: what I saw on the streets of Los Angeles—what I bore witness to as a journalist—was his fault.
The charred cars lining sidewalks. The thunder of weapons fired at peaceful protestors and reporters alike. All of it—Donald Trump’s fault. His failing administration has spiraled out of control, and it’s past time he was held accountable.
In a country that prides itself on being “the land of the free,” no one should feel forced to take to the streets in desperation just to be heard. People should feel seen. They should be listened to. And Donald Trump should be doing exactly that—listening.
While moving through the crowd, I met a man marching alongside thousands of others. I asked him why he was there. He told me:
He was protesting for his father—his father was deported just one day prior while getting a coffee at a local cafe. He was protesting for him.
That moment hit me hard—but nothing prepared me for what came next.
As I approached the Los Angeles Federal Building, I heard something strange. A soft but steady tapping. Yes, tapping. The sound echoed through the building’s glass panels—repetitive, haunting, impossible to ignore.
I couldn’t place it at first. Then it hit me.
Those knocks? They were detainees. Knocking on their cell windows. Witnessing that—feeling that—shattered something in me. It broke my heart. And it gave me even more reason to keep documenting what’s happening in our streets.
I saw fire—cars and dumpsters engulfed. I saw fireworks launched toward officers. But I also saw something far more terrifying: the overwhelming, disproportionate use of force.
Rubber bullets fired at reporters simply doing their jobs—including myself. Tear gas deployed like it was air freshener—indiscriminate and constant.
And through it all, I saw no solutions. No outreach. No dialogue. No accountability. Just escalating force.
What struck me most was this: these protests began peacefully. There was no chaos—until Donald Trump inserted himself.
He didn’t calm the situation. He amplified it. He stoked fear. He unleashed federal power like a weapon, not a tool of governance.
He fanned the flames—literally and figuratively—by federalizing the National Guard. California Governor Gavin Newsom has made it clear: he wants that authority returned to the state. He said:
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”
We’ve reached a breaking point.
America deserves better than this. Our communities deserve better. Protesters and journalists deserve better. And if we want to avoid the collapse of trust in our institutions, we need leadership that understands the difference between control and compassion.
Because this? This isn’t leadership. This is fear masquerading as strength. And we’ve had enough.
The images I have seen are not of large numbers of protesters, and they have signs. They don’t look violent. There are some pictures of a car burning and a fire in the street and some broken concrete blocks and a row of Home Depot carts turned over in the road. There will be a lot of videos taken by people in the crowds. Will we see those? It’s clear to me that Trump is baiting the protesters. Those who are behaving badly may well be plants. Hopefully, the protesters will calm down. If the protesters increase in numbers and become more violent, Trump will have gotten his excuse to send in troops in any protest saying it may get violent and provoking the protesters. He doesn’t play fair.
Excellent point re some of the behaving badly protestors may well be plants. This was a well-known tactic used by the FBI in protests during the late 60s and the 70s. And yes, of course tRUMP is just that sleazily cunning to make use of that tactic. I hope that if there were tRUMP plants among the protestors that escalated things with violence, some who were arrested will be unmasked when investigated.
I hope that will be proven. Some in the crowd may recognize who doesn’t belong. Unmasking the plants would be ideal, but unlikely.
Most eloquently written. Thank you again for speaking the truth.
He will stop at nothing. His disorder requires that he whip up false flags and emergencies to keep attention away from himself and his shameful inadequacies. The desperation that the narcissist experiences when the supply of energy wanes, when being 'seen' for one's inadequacies and shameful tendencies is more and more revealed, the actions become more extreme, keeping attention from where it needs to be, projecting evil outwards towards those who he targets. This will not decrease, it will increase. He needs the emergencies, the bad guys the revenge (an addiction that never gets satisfied). He will be stopped one day, but it will not be pretty. We need to continue to be informed, to support those who are speaking the truth, and to disseminate it ourselves.
YES!!! And more, he does this to create the national breakdown, division, pandemonium, chaos, disorder, and miserable morale necessary to get a 2nd coup attempt underway. So far a pretty effective strategy.
We need a unified resistance disciplined enough not to give into the momentary satisfaction of striking back with our own acts of violence -- that is, until they are absolutely necessary to defend & safeguard our nation, our democracy, our Constitution, and our freedoms & rights.
If we agree with you, then what are we to do? Write our Trump-loving Congressmen? Write the Secretary of Defense? Exactly what are we supposed to do to make a difference at this moment in time? Find a protest somewhere within driving range and participate? Just what?
What everyone is saying: find a way to protest. Get out on the street where and when you can. Right now, that's the only thing we the people have. Also, what I do is support a cause called Democracy Forward by sending money every so often. They are the ones bringing law suits against all the illegal things the Taco wannabe king is doing. There might be other causes you can support. Every little bit helps.