Culture Warriors category archive

Michael in Norfolk hears a rhyme. Here’s bit of the cadence:

In Nazi Germany one of the regime’s tactics was to use the Gestapo and SS to terrorize the population into silence and obedience. . . . Fast forward to 2026 America and ICE under Kristi Noem . . . and the message being sent to citizens is to be silent and submit . . . .

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*Mark Twain.

Via the Las Vegas Sun, Sal Rodriguez discusses that furor over welfare fraud in Minnesota. He notes that, though Somali immigrants are being targeted by the Trump maladministration, (emphasis added)

The most prominent example of fraud took place via a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which bilked taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of federal COVID dollars as it falsely claimed to distribute meals.

The founder of the organization, a white American named Aimee Bock, was convicted of her crimes. Dozens of others involved in the scheme have pled guilty. Most of those involved were of Somali background.

So why, one wonders, are Somalis getting all the blame publicity? Rodriguez suggests that the answer is quite simple:

The MAGA movement is basically a fever dream for racists and xenophobes in which they can leverage the force of the federal government and right-wing media echo chambers to punish and demonize disfavored groups.

Methinks the full article. is worth your while.

From the Youtube page:

While anyone even suspected of being an undocumented immigrant is facing the threat of violence from Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s ICE agents at any moment, U.S. citizens, as predicted, are also getting caught up in the lawlessness these thugs are operating with and are becoming victims of the same brutality as their fellow community members. Rick Strom breaks it down.

Via the Charlotte Observer, Jodi Bondi Norgaard expresses concern over the ethnic and national slurs, invective, and insults that have become routine under Donald Trump and his maladministration. She has qualms about what this behavior may portend.

Methinks her concerns may not be misplaced. A snippet:

Children model adult behavior; when cruelty becomes normalized, so do bullying, misogyny, racism and xenophobia. Marginalized communities absorb the harm first and worst through fear, trauma and harassment. And democracy itself corrodes. Cruelty becomes a brand. Authoritarian swagger becomes a leadership style. Governance loses the possibility of compassion.

So we must ask, as citizens and as humans: What kind of society do we want?

Writing at The Sacramento Bee, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law, reminds us that mean for the sake of mean seems to have become the overriding Republican family value. Here’s how he opens his piece:

Although there is much to lament in the unconstitutional and illegal policies of the Trump administration, not enough has been said about its lack of compassion and basic human decency.

The entire article is worthy of your attention.

Who’s making money from the racist crackdown by the New Secesh? Truthout follows the money. A snippet:

In the wake of the major operations in Louisiana and North Carolina, Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies collected and analyzed data from USASpending.gov on more than 50 businesses headquartered in those states who are receiving CBP and ICE contracts for fiscal years 2025-2026. The contracts for companies based in Louisiana and North Carolina total more than $341 million.