Tomorrow is Candlemas, a lovely festival. I'm down to do the OT reading, which is Malachi 3. 1-5. V. 5 especially struck me as pertinent:
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
I'm likely to choke on this ..... Mr Trump says 'God is very proud of what he's doing'. He is wicked and deluded.
To our prayers
I'm following the lectionary, with the Gospel from Matthew 5. Particular emphasis on "blessed are the peacemakers", two of whom have recently paid with their lives in Minneapolis.
A CNN video of a big shift on how Americans fell about immigration enforcement. 59% of all Americans say ICE is too aggressive. Rises to 79% among Independents.
I see the Ramos boy and his father were returned to Minneapolis today. First thing Liam wanted when he got home was pizza. I know this experience will stay with him for the rest of his life. He keeps asking his father if the police are going to come get them again.
No child should ever have to experience such trauma. No adult either, for that matter.
Talking to a friend today who asked how can people be so disconnected from the human cost? I really don’t know the answer to that.
A certain number of people are sociopaths.
True. About 1 to 4% of the population according to studies I’ve read. Which suggests to me that the vast majority of Trump supporters are not sociopaths.
In the context of this thread (as a good friend said to me on Saturday) loyalists seem to be capable of disbelieving evidence they can see with their own eyes. And professional politicians seem comfortable with smearing victims. Despite the high probability that they are not sociopaths.
The situation here is appalling. Any sort of rule of law or due process has been thrown out the window. They're harassing people with any nexus to a person who they believe to be undocumented, roommates, relatives, traveling companions, former roommates. They're harassing people who are filming them. They're harassing people who are making their job more difficult through lawful and protected behavior.
They're identifying people involved in protest activities and flagging them as security threats without any sort of proof or due process and without regard to whether any actual laws have been violated. We don't know how far it's going to go. You have to pass a federal background check for all kinds of reasons in this modern age. People who have jobs in transportation or the energy sector, or who work for the government, all have to keep their heads down and can't afford to be seen supporting the protest movement. If you work in aviation you could lose your job and have to leave the industry because your wife was identified at a protest.
Worst of all is the inhumane treatment of those they conclude are non-citizens that have violated one or another of the myriad immigration rules or who can't find their papers. They're breaking up families. They are barging into workplaces, setting up highway blockades and checking IDs for everyone passing through who does not project a white, northern European appearance. They are entering playgrounds and trying to enter schools and hospitals. People are being arrested/detained/abducted/whatever for trivially minor paperwork problems and inconsistencies that would have been dealt with administratively in the past.
Recent immigrants who have money and mobility have, in many cases, left the state to wait for things to settle down. As with so many things it's the poorer people who are left to take the brunt of it.
Some churches talk about this all the time and look for ways their congregations can make a difference. Some churches are trying to be apolitical and provide a place of peace and escape from worldly matters.
The violence and the tactics have not been materially scaled back despite the changes in leadership at ICE and the purported framework of an agreement to pull some of the agents out.
The situation here is appalling. Any sort of rule of law or due process has been thrown out the window. They're harassing people with any nexus to a person who they believe to be undocumented, roommates, relatives, traveling companions, former roommates. They're harassing people who are filming them. They're harassing people who are making their job more difficult through lawful and protected behavior.
They're identifying people involved in protest activities and flagging them as security threats without any sort of proof or due process and without regard to whether any actual laws have been violated. We don't know how far it's going to go. You have to pass a federal background check for all kinds of reasons in this modern age. People who have jobs in transportation or the energy sector, or who work for the government, all have to keep their heads down and can't afford to be seen supporting the protest movement. If you work in aviation you could lose your job and have to leave the industry because your wife was identified at a protest.
Worst of all is the inhumane treatment of those they conclude are non-citizens that have violated one or another of the myriad immigration rules or who can't find their papers. They're breaking up families. They are barging into workplaces, setting up highway blockades and checking IDs for everyone passing through who does not project a white, northern European appearance. They are entering playgrounds and trying to enter schools and hospitals. People are being arrested/detained/abducted/whatever for trivially minor paperwork problems and inconsistencies that would have been dealt with administratively in the past.
Recent immigrants who have money and mobility have, in many cases, left the state to wait for things to settle down. As with so many things it's the poorer people who are left to take the brunt of it.
Some churches talk about this all the time and look for ways their congregations can make a difference. Some churches are trying to be apolitical and provide a place of peace and escape from worldly matters.
The violence and the tactics have not been materially scaled back despite the changes in leadership at ICE and the purported framework of an agreement to pull some of the agents out.
Yes, thanks @Bartolomeo. and stay safe. Firsthand reports from Minnesota are terrifying.
Considering Tom Homan was the first director of ICE in the first Trump administration and one of the authors of its policy to separate children from their parents in 2017, I am not the least bit surprised.
There is no bread
The bakers are in hiding
The table is empty
Eleven are marching with the thousands
There is a new song on the streets
Only Judas is sitting at Target Plaza, counting his silver coins
While Pontius Pilate issues carefully worded statements
Meanwhile centurions have quotas to fill.
But on the streets there is a new communion
As Jesus takes the city in his hands saying:
"This is my Body broken for you."
Tom Hardy
Classics Professor
Carlton College, MN
Feb 3, 2026
I did adapt the poem a little bit. Tom had written the Twelve were marching with the thousands while Judas was sitting at Target Plaza. Judas was part of the twelve,
There is no bread
The bakers are in hiding
The table is empty
Eleven are marching with the thousands
There is a new song on the streets
Only Judas is sitting at Target Plaza, counting his silver coins
While Pontius Pilate issues carefully worded statements
Meanwhile centurions have quotas to fill.
But on the streets there is a new communion
As Jesus takes the city in his hands saying:
"This is my Body broken for you."
Tom Hardy
Classics Professor
Carlton College, MN
Feb 3, 2026
I did adapt the poem a little bit. Tom had written the Twelve were marching with the thousands while Judas was sitting at Target Plaza. Judas was part of the twelve,
Comments
Talking to a friend today who asked how can people be so disconnected from the human cost? I really don’t know the answer to that.
If only...but what's heard, or read, can't be unheard or unread.
Someone tampered with the Large Hadron Collider back in 2016 or thereabouts, and somehow got us into this evil parallel universe.
Me? I shared it with my 800 some friends.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
I'm likely to choke on this ..... Mr Trump says 'God is very proud of what he's doing'. He is wicked and deluded.
To our prayers
A certain number of people are sociopaths.
I see the Ramos boy and his father were returned to Minneapolis today. First thing Liam wanted when he got home was pizza. I know this experience will stay with him for the rest of his life. He keeps asking his father if the police are going to come get them again.
No child should ever have to experience such trauma. No adult either, for that matter.
In the context of this thread (as a good friend said to me on Saturday) loyalists seem to be capable of disbelieving evidence they can see with their own eyes. And professional politicians seem comfortable with smearing victims. Despite the high probability that they are not sociopaths.
The situation here is appalling. Any sort of rule of law or due process has been thrown out the window. They're harassing people with any nexus to a person who they believe to be undocumented, roommates, relatives, traveling companions, former roommates. They're harassing people who are filming them. They're harassing people who are making their job more difficult through lawful and protected behavior.
They're identifying people involved in protest activities and flagging them as security threats without any sort of proof or due process and without regard to whether any actual laws have been violated. We don't know how far it's going to go. You have to pass a federal background check for all kinds of reasons in this modern age. People who have jobs in transportation or the energy sector, or who work for the government, all have to keep their heads down and can't afford to be seen supporting the protest movement. If you work in aviation you could lose your job and have to leave the industry because your wife was identified at a protest.
Worst of all is the inhumane treatment of those they conclude are non-citizens that have violated one or another of the myriad immigration rules or who can't find their papers. They're breaking up families. They are barging into workplaces, setting up highway blockades and checking IDs for everyone passing through who does not project a white, northern European appearance. They are entering playgrounds and trying to enter schools and hospitals. People are being arrested/detained/abducted/whatever for trivially minor paperwork problems and inconsistencies that would have been dealt with administratively in the past.
Recent immigrants who have money and mobility have, in many cases, left the state to wait for things to settle down. As with so many things it's the poorer people who are left to take the brunt of it.
Some churches talk about this all the time and look for ways their congregations can make a difference. Some churches are trying to be apolitical and provide a place of peace and escape from worldly matters.
The violence and the tactics have not been materially scaled back despite the changes in leadership at ICE and the purported framework of an agreement to pull some of the agents out.
Yes, thanks @Bartolomeo. and stay safe. Firsthand reports from Minnesota are terrifying.
There is no bread
The bakers are in hiding
The table is empty
Eleven are marching with the thousands
There is a new song on the streets
Only Judas is sitting at Target Plaza, counting his silver coins
While Pontius Pilate issues carefully worded statements
Meanwhile centurions have quotas to fill.
But on the streets there is a new communion
As Jesus takes the city in his hands saying:
"This is my Body broken for you."
Tom Hardy
Classics Professor
Carlton College, MN
Feb 3, 2026
I did adapt the poem a little bit. Tom had written the Twelve were marching with the thousands while Judas was sitting at Target Plaza. Judas was part of the twelve,
Amen and amen!