— from Thom Carnevale —

I am having a very difficult time, not because I am ill or in the financial dregs, but because of a recent news headline.

In downtown Portland, Federal police from the Department of Homeland Security, commissioned by Donald Trump, in camouflage dress, in unmarked vans are grabbing suspected demonstrators off the street, hooding them, taking them in to be photographed, fingerprinted, eye scanned, interrogated, registering them in a central database, placing them on a Federal watchlist. Has Trump adopted the policies of China, Russia, the Philippines and other authoritarian regimes? If so, will the Democratic and Republican parties stand silently while this abridgment of freedoms is saddled on a moribund American democracy.

PS – Please don’t say, an election looms. At a minimum, Trump will remain in office another six months.  Even middle of the road Joe Biden has questioned whether Trump will voluntarily leave office.

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