"Many in the media expect news consumers to believe that normal people with jobs and lives just put down everything to stand in unity against President Trump’s immigration enforcement policy. Or just against Trump."
Around eight friends and I will be doing exactly this on Saturday. It'll be my fourth protest this year, and likely not my last one. Before this administration and its assault on my values and livelihood, I'd marched in exactly ONE protest before, and that was when it looked like Trump was looking to fire Robert Mueller.
I'm looking forward to joining thousands of other Chicagoans at Daley Plaza downtown for the No Kings protest, and I'll be waving my American flag (with the Rebel Alliance starbird logo on it) to show that there are plenty of regular Americans who have no interest in Trump's participation trophy parade. And if any of Trump's thugs decide to play stormtrooper, I'll have a Bluetooth speaker with me with the Imperial March queued up. (Given that most Americans skipped out on Schoolhouse Rock, I'm hoping that some Star Wars symbolism gets through.)
"In fact, Newsom will sue to keep Trump from doing what presidents have the legal right to do, which is protect federal personnel and assets using federal troops."
As Curtis and I have hashed out in the comments in previous posts, Trump DOES NOT have the legal right to federalize the California National Guard under the authority they cite[1] (read it - it's not difficult legal English), but he DOES have the authority under the Insurrection Act, if (and only if) he makes the relevant proclamation instructing the "insurgents" to go home, and giving notice to Congress[2] (read it - also not difficult legal English).
"It’s the lash that hurts. In ICE’s case, the lash is mostly, really overwhelmingly, against people who should not be in the United States..."
Like the soccer mom in Missouri that ICE arrested (and backtracked on)[3], an Iraq war veteran[4], a British tourist[5], or that high school band member[6]?
"There is no way to clean up our illegal immigration problem without conducting job site raids in California."
Sure there is - mandatory eVerify. Instead of arresting the worker ants who come here looking for a better life for their family, arrest the queen bees who hire and take advantage of undocumented labor. Arrest Americans who are breaking the law to save on labor costs, and a lot of this problem goes away as the supply of jobs for folks who aren't documented vanishes.
"The number of protesters is not thousands, it’s a few hundred."
I'm not going to speak for LA, but expect thousands in Chicago this weekend. You don't fill the streets from Washington and La Salle over down to Jackson Boulevard, over to State Street, back up to Washington Street, back to Daley Plaza with a mere hundreds of people. This was during the FIRST protest of the season, where tons of regular people - not agitators - flooded in to be seen. Given that Trump is moving hard against Chicago and the surrounding area, expect a much larger turnout.
"I also believe that the Border Patrol and ICE in general are professionals at their jobs, with Tom Homan an expert in how to conduct mass deportation."
It's hard to act professionally when you have Stephen Miller yelling at you and your bosses to raid Home Depots and 7-Elevens to meet a bogus quota[7].
"And it’s very convenient to blame the abuses for the backlash, because the lash hurts when the protesters who show up in L.A. aren’t protesting abuses, they are protesting any immigration enforcement at all. It’s the lash that stings."
Not speaking for LA, but here in Chicago, we'll be protesting the stupidity and cruelty of it all. Hell, there's a large contingent of us who wouldn't mind the administration FOLLOWING THE LAW and deporting violent criminals after they have been found guilty. However, we're stuck with the One Weird Trick Administration who thinks that loopholes they have misinterpreted into existence (like the one Trump used to federalize the CA Guard or outright ignoring the 30-day notice requirement for final removal) gives them a shortcut not only for the laws of this country, but the values that underpin all of this avoidable nonsense.
"Open borders, unlimited immigration, voting rights for non-citizens, and generally policies that hand power to progressive liberals are causes that progressive liberals will fund and tolerate (if not encourage) violent mobs."
Progressives and liberals are NOT the issue here. Remember back to early 2024 when Democrats advanced the James Lankford bill to give Republicans what they wanted on immigration in exchange for funding for Ukraine.[8] What happened? Trump had his minions torpedo it, so that he could run the next year on Biden being weak on the border. Omitting that important context from these accounts is just cherry picking and being disingenuous. We could be dealing with immigration issues as adults in this country, but Trump and his enablers (and apologists) decided that unleashing this chaos was preferable.
"We don’t see the factories and warehouses who employ thousands of illegal immigrants using faked paperwork. We see how the owners of those places squeal like stuck pigs that they might have other pay California’s $15 minimum wage and that would put them out of business."
This is intentional. The day worker at Home Depot or the guy working the factory floor is never going to be able to contribute to Trump's campaign or buy their way into a cryptocoin dinner to get Trump to instruct his goons to look the other way. The guy running the factory is another story. If ICE went after these crooked employers with the same gusto and highlighted how they were taking advantage of undocumented workers, a lot of this problem would vanish overnight. That's a pretty good tell that this isn't about actually solving ANYTHING with respect to illegal immigration, but merely serving as a useful pretext to push and expand the boundaries of Trump's power.
"We only see the optics we’re shown..."
Like Kristi Noem's taxpayer-funded ads?[9]
There's a propaganda war being waged, and it's not just "The Media" fighting it, so let's not pretend otherwise.
"They want us to believe that the same ICE agents who worked under the previous administration somehow became Nazis overnight, or they were crypto-Nazis before."
There's a saying that "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck". If ICE doesn't want to be seen in the same light as the stormtroopers on Ghorman, there's a pretty simple solution - quit acting like them. "I was just following orders" is NOT a valid defense. If Stephen Miller's going after people he sees as subhumans, because he feels slighted for having to attend public school as a youth[10] (and more recently cuckolded by Elon Musk), the proper response from ICE agents isn't "Yes sir, right away", it's "these orders are counterproductive, cruel, and stupid, and I won't carry them out".
I walked away from this site for a variety of reasons. Still click and read upon occasion and today's column was the classic example of why i left. Steve is without question a smart guy who enjoys knowing everything.
Your rebuttal Chris was sheer genius...my only question is this: How much did George Soros pay you to write the response and more importantly how much is George paying you and hundreds of thousands of others to march on Saturday. Smirking as i type a response to Steve's nonsense.
By the way, i'll believe in this purge of all these evil brown people when trump et al clean out the red state meat and poultry plants. Once that's done, bang on to the hospitality industry and good luck getting a room cleaned. Then just for shits and giggles, devastate the health care industry and all those in underpaid jobs caring for our sick and elderly. Evil brown people indeed!
Kudos Chris, now i'll fade away into the sunset of my life and ignore all the carping and crapping by the "experts." Stay safe on Saturday.
That dude's as big of a deadbeat when it comes to paying folks like me, as Trump is with his contractors. I haven't seen a single check to even cover the time I divert from my other paying work to write these responses. I've sent in my W-9 many times, but they keep acting like they've never seen it. Going certified mail next time...
"Trump's thugs" won't be the ones throwing stones, frozen water bottles, molotov cocktails, overturning cars and setting them on fire, scuffling with law enforcement, setting off fireworks, etc.
How many cops are in the hospital? How many shop owners have had their businesses virtually destroyed? How many rioters are in the hospital or worse not as a result of the cops but by just being in the middle of the mayhem?
You seem to have a number in mind. Share it. With links or other evidence substantiating the numbers. Facts, not your feelings.
That said, here's one more person hospitalized by thugs. It's pretty shocking that LAPD officers* intentionally trampled a woman they had under control with their horses:
If you think that's acceptable, I don't think we share enough humanity in common to continue this discussion.
* Since this was LAPD, I'm NOT going to blame this one on Trump, and the ball is in Mayor Bass's court to fire and arrest these officers for a dangerous dereliction of their duties and abusing their power to go after this woman.
I am an average citizen who has attended several protests against the cruelty and lawlessness of the Trump administration beginning with the Wonen’s March in 2017. I have never been paid for my attendance.
If, has you state, the protestors in LA number in the hundreds, why is there a need for the National Guard or the Marines?
It is a myth that undocumented immigrants are dangerous. Most are people who have come here for a better life and to escape untenable situations. Workplace raids will not solve the problem. The problem will only be solved by reform that recognizes the reality that America depends on undocumented immigrant labor and the contributions undocumented immigrants make to our economy.
The difference in ICE’s actions now and in prior administrations is the lack of regard for due process. They are picking up people at court houses after they have attended mandatory check ins using a cruel twist of the law: DHS attorneys are asking for their cases to be dismissed so they are then subject to expedited removal.
The disregard for due process means that people are being detained even when they are on a path to citizenship or have pending asylum cases.
Probably, the most dangerous illegals are not gainfully employed. In addition, E-Verify could be a good tool but is not nearly perfect as my son and a number of taxpayers I assisted for ten years can attest.
E-Verify detects stolen identities by ensuring workers have proper documentation23. However, it cannot detect identity fraud or the use of legitimate (work-authorized) name and ID data by someone other than its true owner5.
It's a good thing that E-Verify isn't carved into stone and can be updated to address shortcomings like these.
Seems kind of silly that ICE is hiring Palantir to build a surveillance network for rounding up people, and they're not pushing those tools out to employers.
Maybe I shouldn't doubt a Boolean Algebrist, but I'm skeptical about any digital data and imaging information. Especially from states such a California that blur the lines between citizens and non-citizens and have policies that encourage that. At some point, there must be human verification, sometimes called ICE raids.
You have a job candidate with a Real ID and their citizenship or lawful status has been vetted by another trusted party - great.
You have candidates who bring in paper birth certificates, Social Security cards, or other documents that could be stolen / forged and there's no biometric data (like a photo) to verify them - they get categorized in the "risky" bin, and there's a random chance that someone from ICE - not a full raid - shows up to interview them and audit their documentation.
At a macro level, you look at the reported employee composition, and if you see a company staffed with employees in the risky bin, that becomes a trigger for a company-wide audit. If you see a company that has a dramatically smaller reported employee base - compared to other companies its size - that becomes a trigger for an audit to see if they're just that more efficient than competitors OR if they're running with undocumented labor.
There are quite a few tests and heuristics that can be used to identify bad actors (including employers) before you are calling in guys with machine guns to detain people in El Salvador. It's not as sexy as treating L.A. as a festering hive of illegals, but you'd have a lot more popular support than what ICE has now. Make ICE's mission about protecting vulnerable workers from exploitative employers rather than ripping families apart to meet quotas that Stephen Miller's pulling out of his rear end.
I remain skeptical. The illegal protection enterprise is too vast with millions of clients and billions of dollars involved.
Families are not ripped apart (except by imprisonment) unless it's the decision of one or all. The goal should be to enforce the law with exceptions for those who were minors and played no role in their illegal entry. I agree on how enforcement should be prioritized but there is no way illegals who are caught merely because of their proximity to bad actors should be released. The situation could be improved if all local and state governments would simply cooperate and turn over to immigration authorities illegals who are already in their custody.
Anyhow, enjoy your Trump Hate March this weekend. I hope it's more peaceful than some of Chicago was last night. Watch out for the dudes with supersized, heavily loaded backpacks and stay. Say hello to Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson.
Where did you get the idea that I thought ANY mistreatment of another human being is acceptable!? Come on, Mr. Karr, you can do better than this. For every person you cite that has been roughed up by the authorities, I can give you another who has been killed, raped, and/or roughed up by ILLEGAL immigrants! So, you go ahead and weep for those who get taken off the streets by ICE and beaten, jailed, or otherwise mistreated by rogue cops. I don't like it either, but can your humanity allow you to feel even the slightest sympathy for those parents, husbands, and other family members who wake up every day WITHOUT their loved ones who they had to put into the ground!?
"Many in the media expect news consumers to believe that normal people with jobs and lives just put down everything to stand in unity against President Trump’s immigration enforcement policy. Or just against Trump."
Around eight friends and I will be doing exactly this on Saturday. It'll be my fourth protest this year, and likely not my last one. Before this administration and its assault on my values and livelihood, I'd marched in exactly ONE protest before, and that was when it looked like Trump was looking to fire Robert Mueller.
I'm looking forward to joining thousands of other Chicagoans at Daley Plaza downtown for the No Kings protest, and I'll be waving my American flag (with the Rebel Alliance starbird logo on it) to show that there are plenty of regular Americans who have no interest in Trump's participation trophy parade. And if any of Trump's thugs decide to play stormtrooper, I'll have a Bluetooth speaker with me with the Imperial March queued up. (Given that most Americans skipped out on Schoolhouse Rock, I'm hoping that some Star Wars symbolism gets through.)
"In fact, Newsom will sue to keep Trump from doing what presidents have the legal right to do, which is protect federal personnel and assets using federal troops."
As Curtis and I have hashed out in the comments in previous posts, Trump DOES NOT have the legal right to federalize the California National Guard under the authority they cite[1] (read it - it's not difficult legal English), but he DOES have the authority under the Insurrection Act, if (and only if) he makes the relevant proclamation instructing the "insurgents" to go home, and giving notice to Congress[2] (read it - also not difficult legal English).
"It’s the lash that hurts. In ICE’s case, the lash is mostly, really overwhelmingly, against people who should not be in the United States..."
Like the soccer mom in Missouri that ICE arrested (and backtracked on)[3], an Iraq war veteran[4], a British tourist[5], or that high school band member[6]?
"There is no way to clean up our illegal immigration problem without conducting job site raids in California."
Sure there is - mandatory eVerify. Instead of arresting the worker ants who come here looking for a better life for their family, arrest the queen bees who hire and take advantage of undocumented labor. Arrest Americans who are breaking the law to save on labor costs, and a lot of this problem goes away as the supply of jobs for folks who aren't documented vanishes.
"The number of protesters is not thousands, it’s a few hundred."
I'm not going to speak for LA, but expect thousands in Chicago this weekend. You don't fill the streets from Washington and La Salle over down to Jackson Boulevard, over to State Street, back up to Washington Street, back to Daley Plaza with a mere hundreds of people. This was during the FIRST protest of the season, where tons of regular people - not agitators - flooded in to be seen. Given that Trump is moving hard against Chicago and the surrounding area, expect a much larger turnout.
"I also believe that the Border Patrol and ICE in general are professionals at their jobs, with Tom Homan an expert in how to conduct mass deportation."
It's hard to act professionally when you have Stephen Miller yelling at you and your bosses to raid Home Depots and 7-Elevens to meet a bogus quota[7].
"And it’s very convenient to blame the abuses for the backlash, because the lash hurts when the protesters who show up in L.A. aren’t protesting abuses, they are protesting any immigration enforcement at all. It’s the lash that stings."
Not speaking for LA, but here in Chicago, we'll be protesting the stupidity and cruelty of it all. Hell, there's a large contingent of us who wouldn't mind the administration FOLLOWING THE LAW and deporting violent criminals after they have been found guilty. However, we're stuck with the One Weird Trick Administration who thinks that loopholes they have misinterpreted into existence (like the one Trump used to federalize the CA Guard or outright ignoring the 30-day notice requirement for final removal) gives them a shortcut not only for the laws of this country, but the values that underpin all of this avoidable nonsense.
"Open borders, unlimited immigration, voting rights for non-citizens, and generally policies that hand power to progressive liberals are causes that progressive liberals will fund and tolerate (if not encourage) violent mobs."
Progressives and liberals are NOT the issue here. Remember back to early 2024 when Democrats advanced the James Lankford bill to give Republicans what they wanted on immigration in exchange for funding for Ukraine.[8] What happened? Trump had his minions torpedo it, so that he could run the next year on Biden being weak on the border. Omitting that important context from these accounts is just cherry picking and being disingenuous. We could be dealing with immigration issues as adults in this country, but Trump and his enablers (and apologists) decided that unleashing this chaos was preferable.
"We don’t see the factories and warehouses who employ thousands of illegal immigrants using faked paperwork. We see how the owners of those places squeal like stuck pigs that they might have other pay California’s $15 minimum wage and that would put them out of business."
This is intentional. The day worker at Home Depot or the guy working the factory floor is never going to be able to contribute to Trump's campaign or buy their way into a cryptocoin dinner to get Trump to instruct his goons to look the other way. The guy running the factory is another story. If ICE went after these crooked employers with the same gusto and highlighted how they were taking advantage of undocumented workers, a lot of this problem would vanish overnight. That's a pretty good tell that this isn't about actually solving ANYTHING with respect to illegal immigration, but merely serving as a useful pretext to push and expand the boundaries of Trump's power.
"We only see the optics we’re shown..."
Like Kristi Noem's taxpayer-funded ads?[9]
There's a propaganda war being waged, and it's not just "The Media" fighting it, so let's not pretend otherwise.
"They want us to believe that the same ICE agents who worked under the previous administration somehow became Nazis overnight, or they were crypto-Nazis before."
There's a saying that "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck". If ICE doesn't want to be seen in the same light as the stormtroopers on Ghorman, there's a pretty simple solution - quit acting like them. "I was just following orders" is NOT a valid defense. If Stephen Miller's going after people he sees as subhumans, because he feels slighted for having to attend public school as a youth[10] (and more recently cuckolded by Elon Musk), the proper response from ICE agents isn't "Yes sir, right away", it's "these orders are counterproductive, cruel, and stupid, and I won't carry them out".
[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/12406
[2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/254
[3] https://www.livenowfox.com/news/carol-hui-mayorga-released-ice-kennett-missouri
[4] https://www.abc15.com/news/region-west-valley/laveen/wife-of-iraq-veteran-detained-by-ice-says-husband-was-told-he-would-not-be-deported
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/10/british-tourist-detained-us-authorities-10-days-visa-issue
[6] https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/massachusetts-maura-healey-demands-answers-milford-student-arrested-by-ice/
[7] https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/stephen-miller-demanded-ice-target-home-depots
[8] https://www.lankford.senate.gov/news/press-releases/lankford-releases-border-security-package-with-huge-wins-for-securing-the-border/
[9] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-kristi-noem-200-million-dhs-ad-campaign-thanks-president-1235276324/
[10] https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/stephen-miller-hatemonger-biography/
I was gonna bring up the Lankford bill too - thanks for doing it first!
I walked away from this site for a variety of reasons. Still click and read upon occasion and today's column was the classic example of why i left. Steve is without question a smart guy who enjoys knowing everything.
Your rebuttal Chris was sheer genius...my only question is this: How much did George Soros pay you to write the response and more importantly how much is George paying you and hundreds of thousands of others to march on Saturday. Smirking as i type a response to Steve's nonsense.
By the way, i'll believe in this purge of all these evil brown people when trump et al clean out the red state meat and poultry plants. Once that's done, bang on to the hospitality industry and good luck getting a room cleaned. Then just for shits and giggles, devastate the health care industry and all those in underpaid jobs caring for our sick and elderly. Evil brown people indeed!
Kudos Chris, now i'll fade away into the sunset of my life and ignore all the carping and crapping by the "experts." Stay safe on Saturday.
I don't work for George Soros.
That dude's as big of a deadbeat when it comes to paying folks like me, as Trump is with his contractors. I haven't seen a single check to even cover the time I divert from my other paying work to write these responses. I've sent in my W-9 many times, but they keep acting like they've never seen it. Going certified mail next time...
;-)
"Trump's thugs" won't be the ones throwing stones, frozen water bottles, molotov cocktails, overturning cars and setting them on fire, scuffling with law enforcement, setting off fireworks, etc.
No. They'll be the ones beating folks within an inch of their lives and the claiming afterwards that the victim is a member of an international gang.
https://sourcenm.com/2025/06/11/ice-arrested-an-albuquerque-man-he-ended-up-in-the-hospital-now-no-one-knows-where-he-is/
How many cops are in the hospital? How many shop owners have had their businesses virtually destroyed? How many rioters are in the hospital or worse not as a result of the cops but by just being in the middle of the mayhem?
You seem to have a number in mind. Share it. With links or other evidence substantiating the numbers. Facts, not your feelings.
That said, here's one more person hospitalized by thugs. It's pretty shocking that LAPD officers* intentionally trampled a woman they had under control with their horses:
https://www.newsweek.com/la-protestor-stomped-police-horseback-violence-video-2082637
Fortunately, she survived with some pretty bad injuries after her treatment by the local Gestapo:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Whistleblowers/comments/1l94f8e/woman_who_was_trampled_by_the_police_horse_speaks/
If you think that's acceptable, I don't think we share enough humanity in common to continue this discussion.
* Since this was LAPD, I'm NOT going to blame this one on Trump, and the ball is in Mayor Bass's court to fire and arrest these officers for a dangerous dereliction of their duties and abusing their power to go after this woman.
I am an average citizen who has attended several protests against the cruelty and lawlessness of the Trump administration beginning with the Wonen’s March in 2017. I have never been paid for my attendance.
If, has you state, the protestors in LA number in the hundreds, why is there a need for the National Guard or the Marines?
It is a myth that undocumented immigrants are dangerous. Most are people who have come here for a better life and to escape untenable situations. Workplace raids will not solve the problem. The problem will only be solved by reform that recognizes the reality that America depends on undocumented immigrant labor and the contributions undocumented immigrants make to our economy.
The difference in ICE’s actions now and in prior administrations is the lack of regard for due process. They are picking up people at court houses after they have attended mandatory check ins using a cruel twist of the law: DHS attorneys are asking for their cases to be dismissed so they are then subject to expedited removal.
The disregard for due process means that people are being detained even when they are on a path to citizenship or have pending asylum cases.
I’m not saying all undocumented aliens are dangerous. But the ones who are are the primary targets of ICE efforts.
Probably, the most dangerous illegals are not gainfully employed. In addition, E-Verify could be a good tool but is not nearly perfect as my son and a number of taxpayers I assisted for ten years can attest.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/basics-e-verify-us-employer-verification-system-0
Ensuring workers have proper documentation
E-Verify detects stolen identities by ensuring workers have proper documentation23. However, it cannot detect identity fraud or the use of legitimate (work-authorized) name and ID data by someone other than its true owner5.
It's a good thing that E-Verify isn't carved into stone and can be updated to address shortcomings like these.
Seems kind of silly that ICE is hiring Palantir to build a surveillance network for rounding up people, and they're not pushing those tools out to employers.
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202506/ice-advances-sole-source-deal-with-palantir-for-new-surveillance-backbone
Maybe I shouldn't doubt a Boolean Algebrist, but I'm skeptical about any digital data and imaging information. Especially from states such a California that blur the lines between citizens and non-citizens and have policies that encourage that. At some point, there must be human verification, sometimes called ICE raids.
It's all about your risk populations.
You have a job candidate with a Real ID and their citizenship or lawful status has been vetted by another trusted party - great.
You have candidates who bring in paper birth certificates, Social Security cards, or other documents that could be stolen / forged and there's no biometric data (like a photo) to verify them - they get categorized in the "risky" bin, and there's a random chance that someone from ICE - not a full raid - shows up to interview them and audit their documentation.
At a macro level, you look at the reported employee composition, and if you see a company staffed with employees in the risky bin, that becomes a trigger for a company-wide audit. If you see a company that has a dramatically smaller reported employee base - compared to other companies its size - that becomes a trigger for an audit to see if they're just that more efficient than competitors OR if they're running with undocumented labor.
There are quite a few tests and heuristics that can be used to identify bad actors (including employers) before you are calling in guys with machine guns to detain people in El Salvador. It's not as sexy as treating L.A. as a festering hive of illegals, but you'd have a lot more popular support than what ICE has now. Make ICE's mission about protecting vulnerable workers from exploitative employers rather than ripping families apart to meet quotas that Stephen Miller's pulling out of his rear end.
I remain skeptical. The illegal protection enterprise is too vast with millions of clients and billions of dollars involved.
Families are not ripped apart (except by imprisonment) unless it's the decision of one or all. The goal should be to enforce the law with exceptions for those who were minors and played no role in their illegal entry. I agree on how enforcement should be prioritized but there is no way illegals who are caught merely because of their proximity to bad actors should be released. The situation could be improved if all local and state governments would simply cooperate and turn over to immigration authorities illegals who are already in their custody.
Anyhow, enjoy your Trump Hate March this weekend. I hope it's more peaceful than some of Chicago was last night. Watch out for the dudes with supersized, heavily loaded backpacks and stay. Say hello to Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson.
Are they, though?
OK, this is funny enough to have to put it here even though it's unrelated.
There's a Craigslist gig post looking for seat fillers for Trump's military parade on Saturday.
https://archive.is/VjHJb
Can undocumented folks apply to fill a seat?
They "encourage people of color and ethnic groups", so probably yes they can
Has this been vetted as authentic? If I were writing this as a story and included this, my editor would send it back for laziness:
"Extras are required to wear Red, White and Blue clothing and will be provided a RED hat to wear. GOLD accessories are acceptable as well."
I can state that it truly is on Craigslist, and that that archive link is one I personally grabbed.
I had also seen that hotel prices in DC are still low, which is an indicator there's not a lot of demand.
It does track, but actually verified? That I can't say.
Good nuanced take, Steve. Always like to read your opinion, even when we frequently disagree on our conclusions.
This thread is quite relevant: https://x.com/davidfrum/status/1932797868173062242
Cuts both ways too
Where did you get the idea that I thought ANY mistreatment of another human being is acceptable!? Come on, Mr. Karr, you can do better than this. For every person you cite that has been roughed up by the authorities, I can give you another who has been killed, raped, and/or roughed up by ILLEGAL immigrants! So, you go ahead and weep for those who get taken off the streets by ICE and beaten, jailed, or otherwise mistreated by rogue cops. I don't like it either, but can your humanity allow you to feel even the slightest sympathy for those parents, husbands, and other family members who wake up every day WITHOUT their loved ones who they had to put into the ground!?
Every once in a while, Steve has a bout with lucidity. This is one of those times. Good column, Steve.