Recap of this week in the revolution: Iowan refuses to lower flag for Kirk, judge upholds ban on child deportations, and We Are America march arrives in D.C. NY elected officials arrested while protesting. ICE misrepresents events after killing a man in Chicago and NY Democratic Chair refuses to endorse winner of Democratic mayoral primary. Join the resistance by attending No Kings Day October 18.
The good...
Johnson County Courthouse, Iowa. Image by Billwhittaker from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic, and 1.0 Generic license.
Jon Green, the chair of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in Iowa is refusing to follow the governor's order to lower the flags on public grounds to half-staff in honor of Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last week. While Green has made it clear that he does not condone Kirk's killing, he does not believe Charlie Kirk is worthy of the ceremonial honor.
[I will] not grant Johnson County honors to a man who made it his life’s mission to denigrate so many of the constituents I have sworn an oath to protect, and who did so much to harm not only the marginalized, but also to degrade the fabric of our body politic.
Johnson County flags will fly as usual. I will accept any consequence, whether legal or electoral, for my decision. It is mine alone.
Green's decision immediately sparked debate, with some supporting his stance and others opposing it on both sides of the political spectrum. Whether you agree with Green's decision or not, there are a few things worth noting:
- Green has taken full and sole responsibility for the action and any consequences
- This action does no harm to anyone, nor does it dehumanize, marginalize, or denigrate any person or group of people
- Green has made it clear that this action is not meant to condone or endorse the murder of Charlie Kirk
I do agree with Green's choice here, but can certainly understand why others might disagree. What I appreciate most, however, is how this act of defiance was carried out without anger, vitriol, finger-pointing, name-calling, dehumanizing, etc. on Jon Green's part. It's a very professional and dignified symbolic action, and I'd love to see more of this good trouble.
United States District Judge Timothy Kelly.
Federal Judge Timothy Kelly upheld an earlier judicial block on the Trump regime's attempt to deport unaccompanied migrant children from Guatemala and criticized the regime's claim that the parents of those children "wanted them deported." Evidence submitted during the hearing disproved that claim.
The law requires that children who cross the border into the US without a parent or guardian be placed in government-run shelters pending placement with a family member or foster home. But over the Labor Day holiday weekend, these children were taken out of their beds in the middle of the night and rushed to the airport for immediate deportation without warning. An emergency hearing demanded the children be returned to their shelters. This new ruling upholds the temporary results of that emergency hearing.
14 DAYS | 160 MILES | Sept 6-19, 2025 | PHL - DC
The We Are America march for democracy arrived in Washington D.C. on September 18, after a 160-mile journey from Philadelphia. The march began on September 6 with the goal of raising awareness about the importance of protecting and strengthening democracy in the United States.
The bad...
This sculpture containing the text, "Equal Justice Under Law," ironically adorns one of the rooms in the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building: The very building that is housing immigrants in such inhumane conditions.
More than 70 people were arrested this week protesting conditions at a New York City holding facility for immigrants. The facility has been ordered by the court to reduce the number of detainees held in the facility, improve the cleanliness, and provide sleeping mats to detainees. Protesters were in the building along with elected officials who were seeking to inspect the facility for compliance with the court order.
More than a dozen of the arrested protesters were elected officials of the city and state of New York. They were later released, and have been ordered to appear in court at a later date.
The ugly...
Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, gunned down by ICE in broad daylight on a busy public street.
Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was shot and killed by ICE agents in Chicago. According to the report by the agents, they were conducting a vehicle stop when Villegas-Gonzalez attempted to drive his vehicle into the arrest team, and dragged one of the agents through the street for a "significant distance." The dragged officer, "fearing for his life," fatally shot Villegas-Gonzalez and was later transported to a local hospital to be treated for his own "serious injuries."
Video footage from surveillance cameras and bystanders tells a very different story.
The agents drove an unmarked car in front of Villegas-Gonzalez and two men jumped out of the back of the vehicle and started shouting orders. In a surveillance video, the frightened Villegas-Gonzalez can be seen trying to escape by backing his car away from the officers and attempting to drive back into traffic. An officer on the passenger side of the car can be seen drawing a firearm and pointing it at Villegas-Gonzalez, but the officer on the driver's side cannot be seen. Another video filmed by a bystander shows two very uninjured ICE agents dragging Villegas-Gonzalez out of the car and over to the sidewalk, where they apply bandages. It is unclear whether Villegas-Gonzalez is alive at this point or not. The agent from the driver's side of the vehicle from the first video has a tear in his jeans, but is quite obviously uninjured, as he is not limping or favoring his leg in any way. In fact, he's the one who pulls Villegas-Gonzalez out of the car, drags him to the curk, and is later seen kneeling on the same knee where his pants are torn. Several other videos show that neither agent shows any sign of injury after the shooting, which took place on a busy road with heavy traffic, nearby pedestrians, storefronts, and homes.
Zohran Mamdani. Image by Karamccurdy from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Zohran Mamdani is one of the most popular, energetic, and influential political figures in the country at this time. His ideas on how a government should be run are so in-touch with how most voters in New York (and around the country) feel that he stands out from the status-quo politicians. His surprise win in the New York Democratic primary election in June reflects the desire so many New Yorkers have for a new breed of representation in their government.
New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs has stated that he will not endorse Mamdani's campaign, claiming that Mamdani's platform as a Democratic Socialist does not reflect the values of the Democratic Party. It's worth noting that Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two of the most popular political figures in the country, are also Democratic Socialists. Ocasio-Cortez is officially a member of the Democratic Party. Though Sanders is designated as an independent, he has caucused with, campaigned with, and received primary nominations from the Democratic Party. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez held a Fighting Oligarchy nationwide tour this year, drawing some of the largest crowds in history for a political event, and neither of them were even campaigning for election at the time.
Th kind of in-fighting within the Democratic party that Jacobs is showing is one of the key reasons Republicans currently have control over all three branches of our government, and the public approval rating of the Democratic Party as a whole is at a record low. It is my opinion that if the Democratic party has any hope of turning this country around, it will only be able to do so by supporting candidates that have the support of the voters. Mamdani is exactly the kind of politician this country needs. But instead of supporting the people's choice of candidates and building on that momentum, the Democratic party of New York is splitting itself apart when it needs to be unifying.
The people of the United States of America clearly want a change. It's time for the Democratic Party to either embrace that and unify in their endorsement of popular candidates like Mamdani who have captured the hearts of the people, or get the hell out of the way.
What can you do this week?
On June 14, millions of Americans hit the streets for No Kings Day to send a message to the Trump regime: No Kings in America.
Next month, we are doing it again. We are calling on all Americans to find a local protest to join on October 18.
Together, we can overthrow a tyrant. Again.
On the lighter side...
