Strangers in My Land: Is There an Invasion By My Own Government?
The image I created today came to mind as the news was playing in the background on my television. There have been images on that television all day, repeated video displays, of a shooting that took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota yesterday. Tonight, as I listened to the reports, another news story broke of a shooting in Portland, Oregon.
I can't tear myself away from the news. I've had a sense that my country was in crisis for months, and this sense has only intensified in recent weeks.
In the cases of the Minneapolis and Portland shootings, federal agents were wandering the streets looking for undocumented immigrants. The agents were masked. They did not have to identify themselves. In each case they shot someone who was sitting in a car.
Already the president of the United States and the boss of yesterday's shooter, Kristi Noem, declared their employee, who worked for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), was innocent. They described him as a victim of a terrorist act. The 'terrorist' was a woman, a mother, sitting in her car.
In this past year, ICE agents have popped up all over the country, swarming like an alien army. They invade schools. They stop cars and smash windows. They swoop down on box stores such as Walmart and Home Depot. They stop people at will.
Technically they are not supposed to racially profile, but the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling that the officers could stop anyone, given the totality of circumstances. That means if someone is speaking with an accent, 'looks' like they might be an immigrant, and is in a place where immigrants might be found (????), then that person can be stopped and challenged. That person can be asked to prove citizenship on the spot. If that is not possible the person can be detained until such proof is forthcoming.
The agents wear camouflage. They carry automatic weapons. They carry tear gas. They come in groups. They seem to behave with impunity.
I feel, many of my fellow citizens feel, that we are now subject to an invasion. Am I safe? I would have said, a short time ago, yes. I am very white (pale). I am old. I speak very good English. I probably would not be a target, but I could be in the area when one of these hunters is pursuing a target. Will I be shot, accidentally, in such a situation?
I am, my country is, in the midst of an invasion. I do not recognize the men and women who are carrying guns and wearing camouflage. This is not merely because they are disguised. It is because of the way they behave.
These invaders display no humanity. Their actions are harsh and sudden. They separate children from their parents...not criminal parents, just parents who are suspected of being undocumented residents. They invade schools. They lurk in courthouse corridors.
So, when I saw this week's template photo for the most recent LMAC collage contest, all I could think of was the invasion over which I seem to have no control. The template was of a car. See it here.
This template photo was provided by one of our valued LMAC members, @seckorama. I'm sorry @seckorama that I saw such a horrible thing in your wonderful picture.
I couldn't be inspired by a car (well, actually, a car would never inspire me anyway). I saw the cracks in the pavement. I was drawn to that flaw. From that I thought of a monster. Slowly the monster took shape.
This is how I feel about the agents who have invaded my country. This monster I created is how I feel about what is happening to my country.
Sources Used in Making My Collage
Eyeball
@justclickindiva
LIL
Mouth
hudelschnupfe
Pixabay
Legs
Janson_G
Pixabay
Ears
Adege
Pixabay
War Scene
ELG21
Pixabay
This is how the collage started.
You can see I isolated the cracks.
Then I took a piece from the car and made the monster's body.
As indicated above, I borrowed the eyes, the mouth, the limbs and the ears.
I found a scene of urban warfare on Pixabay and placed my monster in it.
I used GIMP and Paint 3D to create the collage. I added a Lunapic filter to the monster at the end.
I am rather satisfied with the monster I created. It feels appropriately diabolical.
The LMAC Collage Contest
In this round of the contest we offer a first prize of 41.4 Hive. Let me repeat that. The winning collage earns 41.4 Hive. There are also second and third prizes. There are bonus SBI tokens handed out. LMAC offers the opportunity to express yourself, to create, to be part of a welcoming community, and to win prizes.
Join us. I can't win a prize. I'm a judge so that wouldn't be very fair.
The contest ends on January 19. You have plenty of time to make collages. You can make several. Each one is eligible to compete and we will curate each collage that shows effort and is original.
Thank you for reading my blog. Health and peace to all. May the invaders soon leave the streets of my country.
(Please note: I wrote this post last night and am publishinhg it this morning. I haven't listened to the news since I got up so I don't know if there are any updates on the tragic events).
The first picture is not loading for me but I am with you on the invasion. The most shocking thing I am seeing, well besides invading your own land and murdering people who are simply scared of the armed and reckless Secret Service, is that nobody in ruling positions takes responsibility for anything.
It is on my mind too and I am not even in that country.
So, let's focus on ways of moderating this trend, focus on our community, and making art and collages with eachother.
I really appreciate your comments. Before this administration was elected, I and others warned my fellow citizens to listen. Listen to his words. Listen to the people around him. There is nothing surprising about what is taking place. It could have been prevented. I don't understand why people chose this.
Here is a small version of my nightmare picture. Hope it displays.
It's scary, and according to half the country we are the problem. I think the Mayor of Minneapolis said it best...
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The goal has always been to separate us, to sow unrest, to justify a crackdown and complete loss of our liberties. The other half of the country better wake up soon....
Troubling part is how the country is being rammed to one half or the other. That is not leadership.
I believe that is the goal...rather nefarious.
But according to the Trumpian administration, all is going well in the US. I think he's the type that sees everything as being alright, even when it's not, so far they are still in power and pushing their senseless policies.
It's alarming that these isn't one person within the Republican circles who could call the erring president to order, not even among Republicans in the congress. If it so be, then America is lost, the only hope being that Trump has just a few more years to continue his mayhem. But who knows what type of person comes after Trump?
This is exactly the path many great Republics walked before their collapse. Someone who can't properly manage national affairs coming to power. It's scary.
Indeed. I am a student of history. I have read about nations that have gone to war, that have collapsed, that have experienced rebellions, social unrest. I was always fascinated by the people, the common people, who were taken along by the tides of history. Events out of their control.
That I fear is where I find myself now.
It doesn't sound something expected from the "biggest democracy" in the world, to be randomly grabbed around and detained... Is that even legal? No judge can stop that?
According to the courts, each person detained is entitled to 'due process'. This means people are entitled to a lawyer and to have their cases adjudicated in court. Doesn't work out that way for most of them. I don't know why.
A new world order, but it has been going on for some time. We can only watch and hope that it does not catch up with us.
I think it has caught up with us, at least here, in my country it has.
Una realidad muy triste, me da mucha pena que tengan que vivir esta situación y pensar que muchos de estos perseguidos son de mi país me duele. Saludos amiga, que termine pronto esa invacion!
Dear @inessita,
We are at the end of the Christmas season. The story at the heart of Christmas, a family wandering without shelter, seems not to move the people in charge of immigration policy in my country. I think just about everybody in the Trump administration celebrates Christmas, the Christmas 'miracle', and yet they are unable to see that what they do is in defiance of that miracle.
It is heartbreaking, and I will continue to speak out.
I wish you a peaceful 2026.
Igual te deseo un 2026 lleno de paz, prosperidad y felicidad 🤗
Powerful is all I can say about your article. Truth in every word. My heart aches for the people under scrutiny in this country. Where is the shame>? Where is the humanity? Where is the compassion? Where is the empathy? There is none as long as the person in charge is allowed to run rampant unchecked by those who wish it so. In my opinion, the U.S. has topped the list of racist countries and has been for so long that ordinary citizens look the other way and become complacent as long as it isn't directed toward them. Those individuals who believe in racism and practice it are celebrating in the privacy of their homes.
Thank you for exposing this cruel reality.
Three hundred years with slavery. Another hundred under Jim Crow. How can we deny that racism is part of this country's history? But we are not alone in that, sadly.
All we can do is resist.
I wish more peace and empathy in this country and around the world.
Deny, Deflect, Defend, Destroy Evidence, then try to Redefine and Rewrite. You are correct. All we can de is expose, keep telling the true story to those who are willing to listen, and resist to our ability. It's daunting but worth it because our next generations won't know the real truth if it's buried so deep they can't find it.
Take care and bless you for always exposing the truth.
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This is not new. I felt this threatened under the last administration, called a domestic terrorist. I was very afraid. I began serious prepping. Covid was your creature released.
We must, no matter which political party we are enthralled with (read enslaved), must all oppose the invasion by Federal agents into work places and public places, endangering others, to hunt for a certain demographic of humans like vermin. None of us should be tolerating this for what it actually is: Nazi tactics being carried out by our government and on our property. Just say no.
I think back to the Whiskey Rebellion. https://www.history.com/articles/whiskey-rebellion. I think the first, large-scale popular rebellion against the federal government. It was a rebellion against taxes!! (I know that warms your heart😃). What does this incident teach? I don't know, but it is an interesting example of popular protest that had teeth.
Very interesting! The Federal government was trying to tax us right from the get go. I thought that all started later, although in this case they were taxing businesses, not individuals, and true to form to this day, the larger businesses got tax breaks. It seems this particular tax was levied in order to reimburse the states for money they'd spent on the revolutionary war, which was waged in large part (if the history we are taught in the government indoctrination camps is true) to oppose taxation! Washington assumed emergency powers in order to attack US citizens! This is a very interesting event in US history and shows that for all the pretty language, a central government is a central government and so plays by its own rules. Nothing stopping it but its own sense of morality. Thank you for providing the link.
You are welcome. I taught American history briefly and the Whiskey Rebellion is taught as the first instance of the federal government asserting its authority over popular resistance. It's exactly as you say. This was a turning point. The history of the country could have gone either way. If the federal government hadn't been able to stand up to popular rebellion, it (the government) would not have held together. If it had not held--if the country had fragmented into separate, individual factions, then foreign powers that were eager to take over would have come in. We would not have been a country. There would not be a USA today. However, in asserting that power, the government was on the path to taking away rights. I think that's one of the reasons people kept moving West. It wasn't always for land and opportunity. I think it was sometimes in search of a place where the government could not go.
And right from the start! My understanding has been that the States are nations, and the federal government was established for only two purposes: military might against enemies on behalf of all states, which makes some sense of the imposition of the tax. The states paid to defend the federation of states known as the united States. That federation suggest paying the States back, and taxes the citizens to do it!!!
Hello! I mean honestly this whole taxing thing has gotten grossly out of hand if you ask me. One of my daughters asked me why things had gotten so much more expensive to build of late (she's a carpenter) and I said "because every single little piece of that building is now taxed, every step along the way, and we the customers pay that price." Plus sales tax.
The US government is a rogue government, and has been for a very long time. The Whiskey rebellion shows the struggle right from the beginning. It's not Trump. He's a patsy, willing to go down in history as another Hitler, for his 15 minutes on the throne. We usher this crisis along by believing it is all his doing, but it is not. He's a tool, nothing more.
and
I beg to differ. Again, my understanding is that the States were (still are actually) sovereign nations united by a central government that was supposed to have very limited power over the States, each state one nation under God all on its own. These states, that early in the game and having just won a war of independence without the help of central government, could have simply disbanded the still very young government and carried on pretty much as they had been not long before.
The united States is not a country. It's a federation of 50 smaller States, each one of those a nation of its own.
The United States, as I understand it, is comprised of DC, PR, Samoa, Guam etc.
OK that's it I have a long drive ahead of me, just me and my dog and all the stuff I take with me everywhere I do (this is some sort of sickness). Let me say that I know almost nothing about history, I appreciate hearing what you have to say about this.
But they did have the help of a central government.
Copying from the website The Boston Tea Party
The 13 states did unite under one central government, the Continental Congress. They came together as a unified entity, a national government. The war could not have been won if each state fought separately. As it was, the fact that our newly formed army beat the British was a miracle.
After the war the individual states were loathe to give up their independence. They formed a loose association called the Articles of Confederation. This form of government, however, proved to be too weak to deal with the matters of a unified country--commerce, defense, etc. That's when the decision was made to draft a new form of government, under a Constitution. This government would have greater powers over the states and individuals. Each one of the states had to ratify the new Constitution. Each state had to approve all the provisions of the Constitution. The original document, ratified by all the states, had seven Articles and ten Amendments (the Bill of Rights). So...originally, all the states agreed to the Constitution in that form and their association with the government was voluntary.
The Constitution we have today is not that original document. That document has been amended over the years and interpreted. Obviously, there are a lot of issues :)))
You must have seen this; but Iran's currency have collapsed completely...people are on the streets, and authorities have shut down the internet for the whole country...
1 USD = 1,000,000 rial...or something nonsensical...
I heard the Internet was shutdown. Didn't know about the collapse of the currency. I do know that the aspirant to the Nobel Peace Prize is threatening intervention--again.
You know more about international affairs and the economy than I do. I know history. That's all I have to go on. What is in our future?
Crazy, crazy times. Nothing is certain. It's like the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland is running the world.