Courageous Republicans who are brave enough to abandon evil Donald Trump like Maryland Allan Kittleman

Maryland:  Allan Kittleman: Why I’m leaving the GOP (aka "Growing Old Party") | Reader Commentary published in The Baltimore Sun

After 50 years as a registered Republican, I made the difficult decision to leave the GOP party and become an unaffiliated voter.

My family spent generations helping build the Republican Party. 

My grandfather chaired his county GOP, in lowa. My father, Bob Kittleman, led the Howard County (Maryland) Republican Party and served more than two decades in the Maryland General Assembly. I followed the same path, chairing the county party, serving in the Maryland Senate — including three years as minority leader — and later as Howard County executive.

For several years, I hoped this was temporary. I stayed through 2016, through 2020, through January 6, believing the party might eventually reclaim its core values. 

But, tragically, Trump’s 2024, election and his illegal actions during the past year have made the truth unavoidable: The Republican Party has fully become the Trump maga Party. Those who refuse to fall in line are pushed out or ignored.

My own beliefs have not changed. I remain fiscally conservative and socially moderate — a combination that once had room in the GOP. It no longer does. And to be clear: I am not joining the Democratic Party. I cannot support the direction of either party, both of which have drifted toward their extremes and away from the broad middle where most Americans live.

My decision isn’t a rejection of the people in my life who remain Republicans. This is not a conversion to the other side. 

Rather, this is simply me saying I can no longer put my name next to a culture that treats disagreement as warfare and political opponents as enemies.

Yet, I try to remain optimistic about our future.

But the GOP party we devoted our lives to no longer exists.😟😥

The GOP once stood for limited government, fiscal discipline and individual liberty. Today, it is defined by loyalty to one man: Donald Trump. Principles that once guided Republican leaders — even in moments of national crisis — have been replaced by a demand for personal allegiance. The independence Republicans showed during Watergate has all but vanished. Too many elected officials now treat dissent as betrayal.

Most Americans want something better ❗than the politics of fear, outrage and blind loyalty.

What we want are leaders who tell the truth, who listen, who solve problems and who put country above personal ambition. We want public service grounded in integrity, not intimidation. I will continue to advocate for these principles and for leaders who fit this profile.

For me, leaving the Republican Party is painful. It means stepping away from a lifelong identity and a family legacy I deeply respect. But staying meant accepting what the party has become — and I refuse to do that.

From— Allan H. Kittleman, West Friendship, Maryland

Kittleman is a former Republican Senate minority leader in the Maryland General Assembly and was the Howard County executive.

Recognizing and calling out antisemitism in dog whistles and euphemisms

Have you heard the anti-Jewish conspiracy theory about Maryland’s debate over congressional redistricting? 

Echo opinion published in the Baltimore Sun by Howard Libit:

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore district 49) blocked redrawing the maps because he’s bought and paid for by Jewish donors.

Yes, you’re reading that correctly. During the recently concluded legislative session, emails landed in the president’s office making that antisemitic accusation.

A decade ago, we might have dismissed these kinds of letters and emails as conspiracy foolishness to be ignored, tossed right onto the crazy pile. But today, after years of surging antisemitism in all parts of American society, we don’t have the luxury of disregarding any hatred against Jews.  All accusations must receive pushback.

Whether it comes from the dog-whistle social media posts of elected officials and those who want to play a role in local and national politics, or podcasts filled with references to writings and ideas of antisemites, hatred against Jews is making its way into too many areas of our political discourse.

And the drive to say our elected officials are controlled by Jewish donors continues to infect our political debates. 

Frequently, this antisemitic talk is masked by linking Jewish donor donations to organizations that support Israel or other Jewish causes, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Democratic Majority for Israel.

Where did the specific antisemitism conspiracy about Ferguson originate from❓ It’s hard to say for sure, but a good place to start looking for answers is the Reddit posts from his primary election opponent. These posts talk about campaign contributions from a donor who also happens to be an AIPAC board member. He continues to target the evil AIPAC donations in literature he is distributing within the legislative district.

Across our political landscape in Maryland and across our country, we are seeing growing references to the supposedly evil intentions related to campaign donations coming from members of the Jewish community.

If an elected official or a candidate for office makes a commitment or takes an action that we don’t like, it must be because they’re controlled by Jewish money. We’re seeing that implication being raised in congressional primaries here in Maryland — much like we did two years ago — and we’re sure to see more of it as Election Day approaches. One primary congressional challenger here in Baltimore seems to be centering much of his campaign around calling out the incumbent for having been backed by donors who support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.

It’s antisemitism, pure and simple.

When leaders in the Catholic community (or pick your faith of choice) make campaign contributions to a particular candidate, no one accuses that candidate of being controlled by that faith group. We only see that smear being made when Jewish campaign donors are involved.

The Jewish community is being held to a different standard than others, and this creates an atmosphere ripe for the antisemitism pervasive in today’s society. And it isn’t much of a stretch to see words get translated into action.

Consider the vandalism this year of Shaare Tefila Congregation in Olney. Or the murders last May of two staff members of the Israeli embassy outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Or the arson attack on a peaceful march for the hostages being held in Gaza in Boulder, Colorado, over the summer that left a Holocaust survivor fatally burned. And, most recently, the attack on a synagogue and its preschool in Michigan.

Of course, our leaders who create this atmosphere through their not-so-subtle social media posts and coded language insist they’re not responsible for the threats, vandalism and violence against Jews. They say they’re just exercising their free speech and that they can’t be held responsible for what their statements and actions ultimately encourage their supporters to do.

This isn’t partisan. It’s coming from the left and the right. This must stop💥❗ The dog whistles. The wink-and-nod statements about Jewish money. We must tell our elected officials and those who want to get elected that there’s no place in our public discourse for antisemitism and hate against Jews.

And getting back to the Jewish donors who supposedly manipulated Ferguson’s efforts to block mid-cycle congressional districting. As best as I can tell, many of those Jewish donors gave campaign contributions to Gov. Wes Moore and lots of other Democrats — including many who were champions of the effort to redraw Maryland’s congressional districts. Hmm. Somehow, the Jewish donors don’t control them, only Ferguson.

It’s essential for all of us to disinfect antisemitism from our politics — locally, in Maryland, and nationally.

Howard Libit (hlibit@baltjc.org) is the executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must support legal work permits policy to protect immigrant workers

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025, an incident in Glen Burnie, Maryland, involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents resulted in two undocumented men being injured.😠

Where is the sensible approach to immigration policy ❓

Echo opinion published in the Baltimore Sun newspaper:

If I were confronted by (evil❗ ) ICE agents, as were two unfortunate undocumented immigrants who were shot at in West Court in Glen Burnie Maryland, on Wednesday, I wouldn’t resist. 

If it were me, I would be confident in my safety and quick release because, as a U.S. citizen, I need not fear that I might face possible lifelong imprisonment in El Salvador. 

Sadly, if I were undocumented, like they were, my reaction would be very different. I would, like they did, make a break for it. To smash up several vehicles, to attempt to intimidate several ICE agents, to perhaps hurt someone or even to risk my own life, might well be the price I would deem worthy of paying (“2 injured as ICE agents shoot driver trying to run them down in Glen Burnie, officials say,” Dec. 24).

When an outrageous circumstance like this erupts, all of us should be asking two questions: What possible sense is there in our government’s articulating unseemly imprisonment punishments that encourage dangerous and excessive violence? And why do our legislators not enact a sensible guest workers program so that many of the illegals could be legal, and so that U.S. employers wouldn’t need to continue to be constantly skirting the law by hiring undocumented workers?

To answer the first question: Donald Trump's horrible personality has required that his pronouncements be "over the top" (stupid❗), because that enhances his preferred image as being (cruel😒), decisive and forceful. 

And, the answer to the second question, is that our congressmen and senators won’t act on the guest workers issue because they perceive that taking any stand at all on this might threaten their own re-election prospects. 

As long as our elected federal officials are hung up this way, there is no hope for badly needed improvement.

There is no indication, up to the present time, that either Donald Trump, or other elected federal officials, are about to change. Donald Trump is what he is, and most everyone else now in Congress is, for some reason, fearful about how speaking out will affect their careers. (Ugh❗)

So, it is up us, to the voters, to now to take charge and then vote in people who will deal with the issues. From— Jack Wickham, in Glen Arm, (Baltimore County) Maryland #VoteBlue

Donald Trump created his "NAZI-like" SS squad by using Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents to terrorize immigrants

Ordinary Americans are fighting back against ICE: ‘We’re going to outlast them’

Echo report published in The Guardian:  “'Right now, every undocumented person is at risk,' said Maria, who is undocumented herself."

ICE Alert❗

As evil Donald Trump carries out his mass deportation operation, residents are banding together to block raids and distribute groceries

A year into his second term, Donald Trump’s pledge to stage the “largest deportation operation in American history” has already made an indelible mark on the nation. (Donald Trump broke his campaign promise. He said his deportations would be to remove the immigrants who were criminals. Instead, he has turned Immigration and Customs agents into a Nazi style SS squad where they terrorize immigrant groups separate families without regard for criminal history or due process.)

Tragically, nearly 300,000 people have been deported, and a record 65,000 people are being held in detention centers. Aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, sometimes with the backing of federalized national guard units, have terrorized immigrant communities from Charlotte to Chicago, New Orleans to New York. Enabled by a supreme court ruling that “effectively legalized racial profiling”, immigration enforcement has separated families, forced targeted individuals to miss work, school and doctors appointments, and caused communities to cancel festivals and gatherings.

Despite the best efforts of the Trump administration to suppress dissent, however, Americans have responded to the aggressive assault on immigrant communities with defiance. 

In cities and communities across the US, residents disgusted by Trump’s attack on their neighbors are banding together in group chats on Signal, an encrypted messaging app, to coordinate community defense. The Guardian spoke with several activists – some seasoned, some brand new – about what they are doing to help.

The real-estate appraiser chasing ICE agents on bicycle.

The Trump administration had launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in early September, sending hundreds of federal agents to Chicago to crack down on supposedly criminal immigrants and intimidate a largely Democratic-voting population; now they had been spotted in Rogers Park, the neighborhood where Jose had lived his entire life, harassing a well-known tamale vendor. (Jose, like many of the activists interviewed in this piece, asked to be identified by a pseudonym out of fear of being targeted by the government.)

Jose jumped on his bike and rode to the intersection in question, where he spoke to bystanders and workers in a nearby restaurant to find out what had happened. When he and a fellow responder spotted a Jeep that matched the description witnesses had given them, they chased it, catching up at a stop light. Jose pulled in front of the SUV and attempted to impede its way. The driver – possibly an ICE or CBP agent – started yelling and threatening arrest; at the urging of another activist, he decided to let the car go. 

Then, three days later, when ICE returned to the neighborhood, Jose and his fellow rapid responders had all begun wearing whistles. They followed the agents’ vehicles through the streets on their bikes, blowing their whistles to alert their neighbors to the raid.

A 49-year-old father who in the past dedicated his free time to performing in Gilbert and Sullivan productions with a local community theater, Jose had no experience in community organizing when he volunteered to join the core team of Protect Rogers Park, a group that had organized resistance activities during the first Trump administration.

“My job is real-estate appraiser of all things,” he told the Guardian. “I mean, what a double life.”

Over the spring and summer, he pitched in as the group organized neighborhood assemblies and trainings to prepare for ICE raids or direct actions. “This might seem cliche but the trainings do work,” he said. “We try to simulate what it’s like when ICE agents are in your face and yelling at you and grabbing. It’s like rehearsal, so you don’t have as much stage fright.” 

Also, there was a social component; the group set up a book club and everyone read Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny together. “It’s community building,” he said. “It’s getting to know the people you’re going to be with when the time comes to go up against ICE. Now, obviously, we’re in it.”

When Operation Midway Blitz began, Jose volunteered to do “rapid response”, but he wants others to know that confrontation is not the only way to help. “You don’t have to go chase after ICE agents,” he said. “If you can be a person behind the computer screen directing people or checking license plate numbers – that’s so helpful. Even just standing on a corner with a whistle around your neck provides incredible peace of mind to vulnerable people.”

For those who are up for chasing ICE around: “We have a few goals,” he said. “The first is you want to get more help if you’re alone. The next is you want to try to help the victim as much as possible. The last thing is slowing them down. I’m not going to be able to go up against armed ICE agents with just my bike, so I’ll just stop traffic. We want to make it so it’s just not worth their while.”

“We’re going to outlast them,” he added. “They can’t sustain this forever.”

The mannequins in the windows of Red Vault in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood tend to wear a selection of the shop’s fashion and fetish wares, from adult onesies to mesh tank tops and leather harnesses. Starting in October, however, store owner Mark Selner added a new accessory to the display: a cheap plastic whistle worn around the neck.

“I’ve been really angry because I was bullied when I was young, and these are bullies,” said Selner, 59, of the ICE and CBP agents who have flooded Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. “I’m working in the store all the time so I can’t necessarily attend [protests], so what can I do? I saw people handing out whistles and I was like, let me use some of my white privilege for good.”

Sellner ordered a batch of whistles and put up a notice outside the shop that he was giving them away for free. He also posted a sign warning ICE and CBP agents that they cannot enter his business without a judicial warrant, and, on the advice of community organizers, posted a sign on his backroom that says: “Private Area, Authorized Employees Only”. Within a few weeks, he had distributed almost 400 whistles.

“I don’t want any of my customer base to be afraid to be in here,” he said. “I have the sign on the backroom so that, if need be, someone can go back there and [ICE] is not supposed to go back there legally.”

Customers have been supportive and appreciative, Sellner said.

“I had a customer ask me: ‘How much did you pay for the whistles?’ I said it was $22 and he goes: ‘Here’s $22.’ I said: ‘You don’t have to do that,’ but he was like, ‘No I want to. I’m glad you’re doing this.’

“So I used that to buy more whistles.”

When the Trump administration launched a series of aggressive immigration raids in Los Angeles in June, Miguel Montes quickly saw the impact on Boyle Heights, the heavily Latino neighborhood where he was born and raised. Montes is in his final year of studies for a degree in public health, and he also works full-time as a certified medical assistant at a public hospital.

“I noticed that people were not showing up to their appointments at my job,” he said. “People were not even going out to get food, because they were scared.”

Montes’s passion for providing public health resources to his community had seen him set up an organization, Raíces Con Voz, that ran educational events about hypertension, diabetes and the health effects of climate change in his community. Now, the needs were much more immediate. With a small group of close friends, Montes spread the word that he was organizing grocery delivery for families scared of being detained by ICE. The group circulated an online signup form for families in need of support and solicited donations of goods and cash.

Since June, Montes and his group have delivered groceries to about 1,500 families. They are hoping to expand their reach to the Inland Empire; they also want to figure out a way to connect more people with mental health resources. It’s a personal issue for Montes, whose mother was undocumented until recently. As a child, he had not realized how difficult her lack of legal status made things for her.

“Being a first generation Latino, I don’t know anybody who started their own non-profit,” Montes said. “Everything that I’ve done has been trial and error.”

When the Trump administration deployed the national guard and amped up immigration enforcement in and around Washington DC this summer, some parents at a predominantly Latino elementary school in Montgomery county, Maryland, proposed setting up “walking school buses” to accompany children to school. The only problem: not everyone wanted them to.

“The community was like, ‘Nah, we don’t need the white folks walking us to school,” recalled Sarah Hunter, 47. “There were folks saying this is necessary, and folks saying ‘I don’t want you here.’ Sometimes you just have to stand in the fray and be willing to mess up.”

Hunter and her co-parent, Jane Palmer, worked with fellow parents, organizers with the Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective and school administration figures to come up with a plan for something that would be actually helpful. The compromise plan they hit upon may still be unwanted for some, but they decided that having to work through any conflict was worth it. “That’s not the worst outcome,” Hunter said. “The worst outcome is that we’re not there and people are getting kidnapped.”

Now, they have a network of about 30 volunteers who are stationed at set locations around the school for a half hour each morning and afternoon during student arrival and dismissal. The volunteers initially identified themselves with a button, but after a parent had 1,000 made, the button spread to the entire school community.

Parent organizers are in touch with other groups that are organizing ICE watch and rapid response in the area, but their volunteers are focused exclusively on the school. “Whenever ICE has been in our school area, we’ve learned about it on Signal before we saw anything visually,” Palmer said.

“We’re really not trying to do surveillance,” Hunter said. “We are greeting families in our community and getting to know each other, saying ‘good morning’, developing friendships.”

“If this does nothing but build community across these populations, then we’ve succeeded,” said Palmer. On Halloween, she wore an inflatable costume of the school’s mascot during her shift outside the school and handed out stickers with the same design as the buttons.

“It was like I was Lady Gaga or something,” Palmer said. “Everyone was talking pictures with me. Some lady handed me her baby to take a picture with … It’s about ICE watch but it’s also about how we build community.”

A chilling scene keeps playing out in the halls of Manhattan’s federal office buildings. Asylum seekers attend hearings before immigration judges, receive a future hearing date, and go to leave, only to be surrounded by a crowd of masked ICE agents who arrest them and whisk them away to the bank of elevators.

The detention trap at New York’s immigration courts has attracted a cadre of dedicated court watch volunteers who bear witness to the daily abductions. Their efforts gained national attention in June, when city comptroller and then mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested as he attempted to accompany an asylum seeker from his hearing to the subway.

As Lander’s arrest showed, there is nothing the court watchers can do to prevent these detentions. Instead, they do their best to get individuals to fill out a form with their name, A-number and emergency contact. Those forms are then passed on to Mi Tlalli, a volunteer collective whose mission is both simple and expansive. “We provide ongoing care,” said Maria, a member of the collective.

What that care looks like depends on what people need, Maria said. The group has been in contact with 3,000 people and families since May, and has provided direct support to 300 detainees. For those who are being held in ICE detention centers, Mi Tlalli puts $50 in their commissary account weekly. A collective of mental health care providers meets with affected children and family members; the group also has a weekly mutual aid distribution for basic necessities.

“We maintain contact with people who have been deported,” Maria said. “It’s not like we can build them a house, but we can send some money for clothing, and give them some hope that someone cares.”

The knowledge that immigrants are cared for is crucial to Maria, who is a social worker in mental health. She recalled a recent case where an individual was detained on a Friday in New York and sent to a detention facility in Louisiana that Sunday. Mi Tlalli spoke to the individual’s family and contacted an activist group in Louisiana, which arranged to have someone visit the immigrant before they were deported.

“That was the last caring interaction that this person had,” Maria said. “That’s better than going to your court appearance and being put on a plane in chains without ever knowing that someone cared about you.”

“Right now, every undocumented person is at risk,” said Maria, who is undocumented herself. “We may not be able to save everyone, but is that going to keep us from helping anyone? As a person who has had relatives kidnapped, and is at risk of being kidnapped myself, I have to hold on to the idea that there is a way we can organize not just being resilient, not just saying ‘deal with it,’ but coming together to care for each other.”

Donald Trump is a bully and Republicans must impeach him for death threats to elected lawmakers

Trump’s violent rhetoric endangers democracy

An echo opinion published in The Daily Record in Maryland

Incredibly, Donald Trump, 🤢who is the President of the United States, accused six Democratic members of Congress of “seditious behavior punishable by death.” Their so-called crime in his eyes was to advise United States service members to refuse to obey illegal orders. Yes, the president called for the execution of members of Congress because they told servicemen and women to obey the law.

Melania Trump's failed anti-bully campaign

Donald Trump called their experienced advice, set out on a videotape, “seditious behavior at the highest level,” and he demanded they be arrested and tried for their crimes. He shared another post saying, “Hang them [sic] George Washington would.” 🤥

All who serve in the military swear a solemn oath to uphold and protect the Constitution. To be clear, the US military’s Uniform Code of Justice allows a military member to refuse to obey a “patently illegal order.” That would include an order that directs the commission of a crime or the violation of constitutional rights. In his first term, Trump suggested that the military shoot peaceful protesters in the legs, an illegal and unconstitutional action should it have occurred.

We don’t know for sure yet whether Donald Trump actually believes he has the right to execute these members of Congress, or any service member who refuses to obey an illegal order, or whether he is playing to his maga cult supporters. 

But, what we do know is that political violence in this country is on the rise, and his statements calling for execution serve as a dog whistle to those who might do the president’s bidding.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the congresswoman from Georgia, announced recently she has received threats of violence after Trump attacked her, because she refused to remove her name from the Epstein Files discharge petition. 

In a short time, we witnessed the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the fire bombing of the residence of Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, and the murder of an elected Minnesota Democrat, on June 14, 2025, state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated in a shooting at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and her husband Mark was also murdered. 

Our politics have become far too violent, and we must find a way to tone down the rhetoric. All six who Trump threatened are under 24-hour protection and one senator received a bomb threat.

Donald Trump, when he issues threats like the one he has directed at the six members of Congress, acts more like a 250-pound, 10-year-old schoolyard bully than the leader of a free nation. His actions are wrong, they are evil, dangerous and frankly, they are revolting. 

We are aware that nothing will distract him from doing this in the future, that there is no one to rein him in partly because he believes he’s above the law, but we wanted to go on record to express our views.

#ImpeachTrumpNow

Donald Trump and maga Republicans cutting medical research money but Argentina will receive $40 million US tax dollars?

Echo opinion letter published in the Baltimore Sun, Maryland:

#ImpeachRFKjr  #ImpeachTrumpAgain


As a cancer survivor, I’m saddened that Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have ended cancer funding and research. Instead, $40 billion, much of it American tax dollars, is going to prop up the failing economy of Argentina.

As the former executive director of a community-based nonprofit youth services organization, I’m puzzled as to why the Trump/Kennedy administration killed funding and programs for school-based youth mental health and after-school programs❓ Instead, they’re asking their deep-pocketed supporters to add another

💲40 billion to the Argentine pot.

As a person with physical disabilities, I’m also mad that the Trump administration wants to ban mail-in voting. Press reports suggest that a rationale for the $40 billion to Argentina is to assure votes for its president, Javier Milei. Why🥺❓

From Don Mathis, in Havre de Grace, Maryland

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must revisit the basics of decency and kindness! End hate speech caused by extremism

Civility matters:  Maine Writer preface, it is time to revisit quotes by Fred Rogers.  "There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind."

Echo opinion letter published in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

I fear we are losing sight of how effective democratic political discourse has historically depended on applying the “Golden Rule” across party lines — that is, treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. In one notable example, then-presidential candidate, Republican John McCain, publicly defended his opponent, Democrat Barack Obama, during a town-hall meeting in 2008 when one person stated, “I don’t trust Obama … he is an Arab.” “No, ma’am,” McCain responded. “He’s a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.”

At that time, political debates emphasized policy differences rather than constant ad hominem personal attacks. Lawmaking in our democracy was understood to nearly always require compromise. However, this administration’s stated intention is to “flood the zone” with divisive and inflammatory rhetoric, purposely cutting off constructive and factual dialogue over policy differences.

A return to resilient American democracy calls for increased bipartisanship, collaboration across political lines, and stopping the personal attacks on character, integrity, and motives of those with differing political views. 

Recently, there was widespread public advocacy for a renewed commitment to our First Amendment rights. We must seize the moment and extend it to encouraging “Golden Rule” practices within our democracy. Healthy debate requires that we disagree without being disagreeable. A return to respectful and civil political discourse is essential if our Great American Experiment is to survive.

From Douglas Coe, retired captain, U.S. Navy, and former senior executive at U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Donald Trump and maga Repubicans illegally use the National Guard to upstage law enforcement rather than support resources to help public safety

Echo opinion letter published in the Baltimore Sun newspaper, in Maryland:

Donald Trump made his clearest signal yet that signal yet that Baltimoree could be one of the next targets of his campaign against blue cities, warning that he is prepared to deploy federal law enforcement and National Guard troops under the guise of fighting crime. As someone who spent more than two decades in law enforcement, I share the president’s concern for public safety. 

Nevertheless, I also know from experience that Trump's (IMO "over reach") show-of-force approach is the wrong path, which risks fracturing public trust and making the city less safe in the long run. Now, the administration appears poised to bring its failed public safety playbook to Baltimore, Maryland. 

Apparently unfazed by a recent federal court ruling finding that Trump acted illegally when he dispatched National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles this summer, federal agents and military personnel could soon flood into the city. History shows these deployments rarely reduce crime in the long term. They do, however, deepen divides between police and the communities they serve, casting law enforcement as an adversary rather than a partner and weakening the cooperation officers rely on to prevent and solve crime. In this environment, victims and witnesses become less likely to report offenses or assist investigations, making our job exponentially harder. This is not abstract theory. As a retired police major, I saw firsthand how fragile public trust can be, and how essential it is for effective crime prevention and deterrence. When law enforcement is perceived as an illegitimate or oppositional force, the public turns away. This is especially problematic in immigrant communities, where the separation between local police and federal immigration authorities may soon become less clear across Baltimore. As trust erodes, offenders exploit the resulting silence, leaving police with fewer tools to identify, investigate and deter crime. And this compromises safety for everyone.

The Trumpzi administration’s recent incursions into local policing also raise a troubling contradiction. Earlier this year, federal officials ended consent decrees with local departments, insisting Washington had no business dictating how cities run their agencies. Yet now, the same administration is directly interfering in local policing when it is politically convenient. This willingness to override democratically enacted policies sets a dangerous precedent that will almost certainly extend beyond Baltimore.
The frustration is compounded by the administration’s decision to dismantle federal grants for community-based strategies proven to reduce violence, including violence interruption programs, mental health crisis response, youth outreach and other supportive services. These efforts may lack the political punch of a city takeover, but in Baltimore and elsewhere, the evidence shows they save lives, reduce violence and strengthen the social fabric that prevents crime in the first place. The impulse to project strength in the face of crime is not imposed with an iron fist. Rather, it is earned through the consent of the governed, built on trust, and sustained through accountability. If the administration is serious about safety in Baltimore, it should support the city’s leaders, invest in proven community partnerships and provide police with the resources they need to build relationships — not tear them down.

Trump's threats now aimed at Baltimore are about more than one city. They reflect a broader politicization of public safety, which emphasizes rhetoric over evidence and props up a vision of policing that demands compliance through intimidation, rather than earning respect through integrity. If we continue down this path, the damage to our democracy — and to the legitimacy of law enforcement — will long outlast the current administration.

From Neill Franklin, a retired 34-year law enforcement veteran of the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department. He was recruited in 2000 by the commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department to reconstruct and command Baltimore’s Education and Training Section. During his time with the Maryland State Police, he held the position of commander for the Education and Training Division and the Bureau of Drug and Criminal Enforcement. After 10 years of leadership, Franklin retired as executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership in 2020.
The frustration is compounded by the administration’s decision to dismantle federal grants for community-based strategies proven to reduce violence, including violence interruption programs, mental health crisis response, youth outreach and other supportive services. These efforts may lack the political punch of a city takeover, but in Baltimore and elsewhere, the evidence shows they save lives, reduce violence and strengthen the social fabric that prevents crime in the first place. I understand the impulse to  project strength in the face of crime. But real strength is not imposed with an iron fist. It is earned through the consent of the governed, built on trust, and sustained through accountability. If the administration is serious about safety in Baltimore, it should support the city’s leaders, invest in proven community partnerships and provide police with the resources they need to build relationships — not tear them down.

The threats now aimed at Baltimore are about more than one city. They reflect a broader politicization of public safety, which emphasizes rhetoric over evidence and props up a vision of policing that demands compliance through intimidation, rather than earning respect through integrity. If we continue down this path, the damage to our democracy — and to the legitimacy of law enforcement — will long outlast the current administration.

Neill Franklin is a retired 34-year law enforcement veteran of the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department. He was recruited in 2000 by the commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department to reconstruct and command Baltimore’s Education and Training Section. During his time with the Maryland State Police, he held the position of commander for the Education and Training Division and the Bureau of Drug and Criminal Enforcement. After 10 years of leadership, Franklin retired as executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership in 2020.

 

First Amerndment rights are protected for all Americans by the U.S. Constitution and that includes Jimmy Kimmel

Echo opinion letter published in the Maryland, Baltimore Sun newspaper :

Freedom of speech, meaning freedom from governmental regulation of ideas or interference in declaring those ideas, is a bedrock principle of constitutional democracy. 

Jimmy Kimmel’s suggestion that the killer of Charlie Kirk* was acting on behalf of the MAGA movement was stupid, thoughtless and wrong. However, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s ham-handed attempt to punish Kimmel for his careless remark was worse (“Kimmel’s suspension is the latest display of Trump’s growing power over the US media landscape,” Sept. 18).

And worst of all was ABC’s bending of its corporate knee to Carr and his master, Donald Trump, by indefinitely suspending Kimmel. What have we come to? Have we forgotten the moral foundation and express dictate of the First Amendment that many people consider the most important words in the Constitution? How would Carr respond if asked whether or not he agreed with this view of freedom of speech: “I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it?”

From Ben Rosenberg, in Baltimore Maryland

*Check out my own opinion about this subject on my substacks

Creaating cheap political stunt in Arlington National Cemetery Section 60 does not end well for Donald Trump

Trump owns the Afghanistan debacle

Scenes from the final days of America's two decades in Afghanistan.

Echo opinion letters published in The Washington Post (Democracy Dies in Darkness) 🌒

Although it is true that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan could have been done with somewhat more effectiveness, but no termination of an operation of this scope could have been done easily.

Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2021. U.S. Air Force/Air Mobility Command Public Affairs: KABUL, Afghanistan

President Joe Biden showed true courage to take an action that neither of his predecessors was bold and principled enough to complete. Yes, we unfortunately lost 13 U.S.😥😯 troops to a bombing at the Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate during the pullout, and 170 Afghan citizens died.

How many soldiers would we have lost if we stayed in Afghanistan? How much military resources would we have consumed if we stayed❓ The actions the president took should have been taken under Presidents Barack Obama or Donald Trump. 

Neither had the courage. Let’s not tear President Biden down for his action in Afghanistan. Let’s give him credit for taking us out of a situation we most likely should never have been in.

I wish Democrats would confront Trump on this issue and directly ask him why he didn’t withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan as he promised.

From:  Howard Pedolsky, Rockville Maryland

Dear Editor:  Military leaders must speak up❗

I am grateful to those in past Republican administrations and campaigns who have finally endorsed the Democratic candidates for president and vice president. Retired military leaders must follow the lead of retired four-star Gen. Larry Ellis and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Former guy Donald Trump’s past comments about veterans and his recent stunt at Arlington National Cemetery should make it abundantly clear that making him commander in chief is wrong and dangerous. This should be apparent to all, but Trump’s poll numbers say otherwise.

A quintessential part of leading is setting an example. It is now (💥beyond ❗)  time for respected military veterans, including Trump’s former Homeland Security secretary and chief of staff John F. Kelly, to make it plain to all what a danger a second Trump presidency poses and to make a commitment to do whatever it takes to make sure that does not happen. The only way to show the full depth of that commitment is to endorse Vice-President Harris and Governor Walz.

From Jill Leiner, Baltimore, Maryland

Republicans finally revolt against Project 2025 but cannot excape the vile document's intentions

Project 2025:  "This 900-page proposal from the Heritage Foundation was published last year — with the input of many former Trump administration officials and those with close ties to the former president — to serve as a (dangerous) blueprint for a future administration."

Echo opinion by Governor Larry Hogan, a former Maryland governor, is the state’s Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, published in The Washington Post (Democracy Dies in Darkness).

I am a firm believer in what might be called traditional American values: rule of law, separation of church and state, and respect for civil service professionals. 

Never before have I seen those core principles more under threat.On the left, the refusal by some to clearly stand up to radicals such as antisemitic and pro-Hamas protesters, advocates of defunding the police, and the open-borders movement has done substantial damage. However, on the right, there is no clearer example of the threat to American values than Project 2025.

This 900-page proposal from the Heritage Foundation was published last year — with the input of many former Trump administration officials and those with close ties to the former president — to serve as a blueprint for a future administration. To call many of these ideas “radical” is a disservice. In truth, Project 2025, takes many of the principles that have made this nation great and shreds them.

On the left, the refusal by some to clearly stand up to radicals such as antisemitic and pro-Hamas protesters, advocates of defunding the police, and the open-borders movement has done substantial damage. However, on the right, there is no clearer example of the threat to American values than Project 2025.

This 900-page proposal from the Heritage Foundation was published last year — with the input of many former Trump administration officials and those with close ties to the former president — to serve as a blueprint for a future administration. To call many of these ideas “radical” is a disservice. In truth, Project 2025, takes many of the principles that have made this nation great and shreds them.

Toxic politics on both sides of the aisle are undermining faith in our system of government. But Project 2025, sends this disturbing trend into overdrive, casting aside the checks on presidential power that have protected our democracy for more than 200 years.

One of Project 2025’s primary targets is federal workers, including about 150,000 Marylanders. Project 2025, proposes to eliminate civil service protections for most of these workers, instead creating more political appointees chosen by the president.

The goal is to remove nonpartisan civil servants, most of whom patriotically do their jobs without fanfare or political agendas, and replace them with loyalists to the president.

Republicans who believe this power grab will benefit them in the short term will ultimately regret empowering a Democratic president with this level of control.

Perhaps more troubling, Project 2025 would undermine the Justice Department by weakening its independence from the president, eliminating the norm that the White House does not intervene in federal investigations. My father was an FBI agent who believed deeply that this work should not be infected by politics. It was that approach that gave him credibility when he became the first Republican in Congress to come out in favor of the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon.

It’s true that the ideal of impartial justice that my father embodied has not always been realized. But that does not mean it should be abandoned by choice and design.

Project 2025, also proposes enacting absurd and dangerous policies that must be rejected, including mass deportations, disbanding the Education Department, potentially abolishing the Federal Reserve, and withdrawing the abortion medication mifepristone from the market.

This radical approach is out of touch with the American people. Most Americans — regardless of party affiliation — have more in common than many realize. They want common-sense solutions to address the cost of living, make our communities safer, and secure the border while fixing the broken immigration system. Instead of addressing these problems, Project 2025, opts for total war against the other side, making it impossible to find common ground.

I still believe that bipartisan progress is possible in Washington, but not if we keep going down this dangerous path and fail to defend what made this nation great. The extremes feed off each other, and the exhausted majority of Americans are left trapped between the crazy. 😲😳😵The way to start to fix the broken system in Washington is to elect leaders who will do things differently, stand up for American values and hold both parties accountable. That is the only real bulwark against extremism.

P.S. Although the Trumpzi extremists finally rebuked Proect 2025, the fact remains....they wrote it....and they cannot hide from the dangers it mapped out to destroy American democracy.

Harvard University continues to face criticism about antisemitism

Echo report by Elizabeth Crisp, published in The Hill:

Larry Hogan former Maryland governor

Larry Hogan pulls out of Harvard programs over ‘anti-Semitic vitriol’ on campus.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) dropped out of two fellowship programs at Harvard amid the fallout after the university’s reaction to Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel earlier this month.

Hogan, who left office earlier this year at the end of his term, had agreed several months ago to take part in leadership fellowships at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In a letter to the university, which Hogan posted publicly online, the moderate Republican said he would no longer participate after more than 30 student groups signed onto a joint statement blaming Israel for the attack.

“I cannot condone the dangerous anti-Semitism that has taken root on your campus,” he wrote. “This horrific terrorist attack was the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust and it should be universally condemned as exactly what it is: Pure evil.”

The statement, which most of its signers have since disavowed, said they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” they wrote the day of the terror attack, which left more than 1,400 dead. “For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced.”

The statement drew national backlash, with companies vowing that they would not hire any of the students, who were not individually named, upon graduation.

Harvard didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment. In an Oct. 9 statement, school President Claudine Gay condemned Hamas’s violence.

“Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership,” she wrote. “We will all be well served in such a difficult moment by rhetoric that aims to illuminate and not inflame.”

Hogan said the students’ statement amounted to “hate speech,” and he didn’t feel like the university had sufficiently denounced “anti-Semitic vitriol” from the students.

“This is not a decision I have taken lightly, but it is my hope that it may help further spur you to take meaningful action to address anti-Semitism and restore the values Harvard should represent to the world,” he wrote in his letter.