Here's a link to the memo: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence – The White House
 

Here is Beth's latest newsletter:
https://bethshelburne.substack.com/p/do-the-crime-do-the-time

In Chicago, Portland, and other communities that are under attack by ICE, they are organizing groups to assemble and distribute ICE kits that contain whistles and multi-lingual Know Your Rights cards. You loudly blow the whistle with three short bursts if you see federal agents, and you loudly blow three long bursts if you see a detention or police action in progress. Keep blowing your whistle until a crowd shows up, and if you hear whistles being blown then you should find them and record what is going on. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has a People Power group, offers legal assistance, and has lots of other important information for activists.

The Black Voters Matter Fund has lots of actions planned, including their We Ain't Buying It pledge campaign to use our economic power to force change by boycotting companies that don't support the community. Voting with your wallet is one way for all of us to make a difference, regardless of our financial resources. Grassroots organizations like the Black Voters Matter Fund, Indivisible, and Until Freedom organize local events, and they are urging shoppers to boycott companies who reneged under pressure from Trump on their promise of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts such as Target, Amazon, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, Ford, Wal-Mart, Harley-Davidson, John Deere, and Tesla. The goal is to support the retailers that have stood up to Trump, as well as the Black, minority, and immigrant-owned businesses, and all of the small and local businesses who support the community.

Blackout The System is a national movement across all races, cultures and classes to strategically and peacefully withdraw our labor and spending. They have planned a Mass Blackout for November 25th through December 2nd where participants will limit their spending by only using cash and supporting local businesses if you need to spend money. You can sign up for more upcoming events, as well as learn about divestment and mutual aid projects.

On Veterans Day, there are lots of anti-Trump protests organized in several major cities across the country. The "Vets Say No" protests are organized by the veterans group About Face, and May Day Strong, which is an anti-authoritarian movement. The "Vets Say No" protests are to say “no to ICE, no to occupation, no to fascism, and no to cuts stripping away life saving services our communities need.”

For separation of Church and State issues, I recommend joining Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Their motto is “Freedom Without Favor, Equality Without Exception” and they do great work! There's also the Southern Poverty Law Center who is great at racial justice issues. And there is the Equal Justice Initiative that has some must-see museums like their Legacy Sites in Montgomery, Alabama. My visit to their Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park really was eye-opening and life-changing.

For LGBTQIA+ activism, I love working with groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, GLAAD, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays PFLAG, Lambda Legal, and the National LGBTQ Task Force, just to name a few. Many of these groups are organized at the local level in order to provide vital services for the community, and so it's easy to get involved.

For political activism, there are the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) who organize local events such as protests and mutual aid.

Regardless of your interests, you should be able to find several groups where you can get involved with local activism. All of the groups that I have mentioned support change through non-violent actions, so be sure to leave your weapons at home (even if they're legal), and commit to de-escalation with counter-protesters and authorities.

Did I leave out an organization that deserves to be listed? There are so many to choose from, but if you have suggestions and are a site member, please leave a comment below.

In Massachusetts, they require the foster parents to respect each child’s chosen name, their pronouns, and their gender expression, prohibiting any attempts to change a youth’s identity. This is especially important to prevent "Christians" who want to perform harmful "conversion therapy" on kids.

The Supreme Court has recently heard a case where "Christians" claim religious freedom violations because of the many state bans on "conversion therapy." We should receive a decision on that case by June, but we also need to monitor these harmful ADF cases that are working their way through the courts.🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Here's France24's news coverage about the arrest warrant: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20251107-turkey-issues-genocide-arrest-warrant-against-netanyahu

The USA has $38T in debt, gaining the fastest $1T since the pandemic. Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” will nearly double the debt, at a time when our interest payments on the debt is approaching our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Twenty-two states are already in a recession. Consumers are also drowning in debt, and so car repossessions are rapidly increasing with a $1.66T auto debt crisis. The average price of a car is now $50,000. Average monthly payments for new vehicles exceed $750, with about one in five borrowers facing payments over $1,000 per month. Car insurance premiums have jumped 19% in the past year, and car repair costs are up 33% since 2020. An rapidly increasing percentage of borrowers are delinquent in their auto loans leading to repossession. Many car owners are “underwater” where they owe more than the car is worth. Student loan debts hit a record high of $1.65T with nearly 10% of those debt payments being more than 90 days overdue, and the delinquency problem is growing. Total household debt has reached $18.59T.

One-half of workers are relying on their debt just to buy the essentials, so we also have a $1T credit card debt crisis. The average credit card debt is $7,321 while the credit card rates just hit a 13 year high. Half of Americans have their paycheck gone in just 2 days, and many of the high-earners are living paycheck to paycheck. Electricity bills are up 11%. Foreclosures have surged 17%, as the housing market hits a 30 year low. Insurance rates have skyrocketing with some companies leaving entire states behind. In California, the companies fled because of the wildfire risk, and in Florida they fled because of the hurricanes and flooding risk. There is no affordable housing to be found, and the price of food has soared because of tariffs and inflation. Wages haven't even come close to keeping up with the rapid rise in inflation and cost of living. Many young people are having to put off marriage because they can't afford to start a family. People also can't afford their pets, so animal surrenders at the shelters have increased.

Health care costs have made medical care unobtainable by millions of Americans, and rural hospitals have been closing their doors. Doctors are no longer able to be recruited because of the $100,000 H1-B visa fee and crackdown on legal immigration. Prescription drug prices are too high and going up, ACA premiums rose 30%, and in some states by much more. Medical costs  now outpace inflation by 40%.

Our economy is in danger because many companies that have been around for decades are closing up shop. Even the large and profitable companies are laying off employees by the thousands. They've already passed on over half of the tariffs to the consumer, while trying to absorb the rest. In order to retain their profitability, companies either will have to pass all of it on the the consumer and/or greatly reduce their staff and investments in the future. And when prices go up, they rarely come back down. 81% of Gen X will rely on Social Security, and the experts say that it will be insolvent by 2033. The problem is much greater because of the immigration crackdown and our birth rate. Immigrants pay into the system and keep it afloat for the rest of us. Without a reversal of course, I think we'll see a social security crisis before 2033.

Farmers really got screwed over (but they overwhelming voted for it). The US bailed out Argentina by exchanging $40B with their pesos. That is an investment we'll likely never make back. Beef prices are up 16% this year, so Trump is ordering beef from Argentina to be imported. The price of bananas is up 5%. In the latest big “deal” Trump made with Xi, China has reduced the tariffs on some goods while keeping the tariff on imported soybeans at 16%. Meanwhile, this administration is spending $3B to bailout the farmers from a self-created crisis. Despite the bailout, 500,000 farm families are still facing bankruptcy. “Shrinkflation” has been happening across the board, as companies reduce the size of their packaging, or use deceptive packaging to make it seem like you are buying the same amount of product for the same price.

What is the government doing address these problems? Trump has remodeled the Lincoln bathroom, demolished the entire White House east wing to build a $300M ballroom, and is preparing to build a ridiculous arch in front of the Lincoln Memorial. DHS, police, and the military are way over-funded with most of the money going to private military contractors. Both parties have committed the sin of giving almost unlimited funds to the military industrial complex while the people are struggling to make ends meet. On Halloween, while millions of Americans were waiting in lines at the food pantry because of the suspension of SNAP benefits and the longest government shutdown in history, Trump held a “Great Gatsby” ball at Mar-a-Lago where they used the theme from a song from the movie that's called "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody".

The “American Dream” as we've always know it is completely dead now, and we have problems that will take many generations to resolve. Our current trajectory is simply not sustainable, and so major changes will have to be made. Who will be the courageous leaders who will guide us out of this mess? Only time will tell. Empires rise, and empires fall. By nearly every measure the USA is a failed nation-state. The current iteration of the American Empire and experiment in democracy lasted 250 years. Let's hope the next iteration is more stable, equitable, and democratic - but for now I pronounce the USA is dead and this blog post serves as its autopsy.

Hackers have done their jobs by penetrating all of the Israeli systems and providing evidence of their crimes, but nation-state actors are also involved, and they are altering and sometimes completely fabricating the evidence. A good source for reliable hacked files is DDOSecrets.

Last month, US Army veteran Anthony Aguilar held a discussion where he described the war crimes that he personally witnessed as a security subcontractor for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. He is a highly decorated former Special Forces Green Beret who spent 25 years in the Army, and received a Purple Heart for his wounds suffered in combat. He recently disrupted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing to denounce the US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Aguilar has been meeting with lawmakers, protesting major speeches over US complicity in war crimes, and continuing to speak out about the abuses he witnessed first-hand. In this livestream recording, he is hosted by Chip Gibbons of Defending Rights & Dissent who frequently reports on whistleblowers and those who sound the alarm on human rights abuses committed in the name of national security.

Here's a recording of the livestream: https://www.rightsanddissent.org/news/event-anthony-aguilar-on-gazas-death-traps-live-in-washington-d-c/