Taxpayers subsidize LA unrest through California’s ‘protest-industrial complex

/2 Comments/in /by

Taxpayers subsidize LA unrest through California’s ‘protest-industrial complex’

It’s not just Soros et al. The massively subsidized left: A political engine for the open-borders left was given $34 million by the government

Los Angeles has erupted into violence and at the center of it stands a cast of progressive activists and political operatives – some generously bankrolled by California taxpayers.

One organization in particular has emerged as a key player: the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA. The LA-based nonprofit has long pushed radical positions on immigration – for example, in 2018, it spearheaded a campaign to abolish ICE. Its stated mission is to “build power, transform public opinion, and change policies” to achieve “full human, civil, and labor rights.”
Critics might describe CHIRLA instead as a well-funded political engine for the open-borders left.
And taxpayers might question the source of that funding. According to its 2023 audit, CHIRLA received $34 million from the government, with 96 percent from the State of California. State funding of $32.5 million in 2023 represented a dramatic increase from $11.4 million in 2022.
CHIRLA leads the LA Rapid Response Network (LARRN), a hotline launched in January to collect tips about ICE activity and dispatch activists to intervene. Mayor Karen Bass herself has admitted that the city relies on this network to monitor federal immigration enforcement.
The LA protests kicked into high gear after David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in California, was arrested for allegedly obstructing ICE officers. Huerta is a major political player in the state, leading a union of 750,000 workers that is a major donor to the Democratic Party. Though his spokesperson claimed he was merely observing, video released by the US Attorney appears to show him blocking an ICE vehicle.
CHIRLA sprang into action, organizing a rally to protest Huerta’s arrest. Demonstrators waved signs from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Communist group, and chanted familiar slogans: “No justice, no peace!” and “Stand up, fight back!” CHIRLA’s executive director referred to Huerta as her “brother,” highlighting the group’s close ties to organized labor.
Mayor Bass joined posted on X, “We will not stand for this” – “this” referring not to street violence, but to ICE enforcing federal law. In Spanish, she was more direct: “We are not going to permit these actions.”
Bass has a long-standing relationship with CHIRLA. Just last year, she congratulated the organization for acquiring a new building to continue advancing “justice and full inclusion for all immigrants.” In August, her office issued a press release bragging about securing federal funds for CHIRLA.
Roughly 37 percent of CHIRLA’s expenditures last year went to legal services, including representing both legal and undocumented immigrants in deportation proceedings. Whether California taxpayers should foot the bill for such services is an open question.
Laura Powell
Laura Powell is a civil liberties attorney and founder of Californians for Good Governance.

 

A U.S. War With Iran Would Be a Catastrophe

/4 Comments/in /by

Very surprised to see this in the NYTimes.

A U.S. War With Iran Would Be a Catastrophe

Credit…Middle East Images/Redux
Listen to this article · 6:45 min Learn more

The United States is alarmingly close to getting dragged into yet another military entanglement in the Middle East, this time by Israel — which is looking less and less like a true friend.

Israel’s surprise attack on Iran on Friday has almost certainly blown up any chance of reaching the nuclear deal the United States was pursuing for months. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has also recklessly endangered the 40,000 U.S. troops deployed in the region, putting them at immediate risk of Iranian retaliation, which could draw America into a war with Iran.

However Iran interprets our role in the attacks, Israel appears to have acted without giving the United States enough warning to take adequate precautions. Though President Trump acknowledged on Thursday that an Israeli attack might be imminent, the United States only began voluntary evacuations of military families and nonessential embassy personnel on Wednesday afternoon, while the State Department began drawing up plans for mass evacuation of U.S. citizens mere hours before the attack.

Mr. Trump, and all Americans, should be furious. Now Mr. Netanyahu and hawkish voices in the United States will almost certainly put pressure on Mr. Trump to assist Israel in destroying Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites, something that will be difficult for the Israeli military to do on its own and that even the U.S. military might be unable to accomplish. It would be the worst mistake of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

Americans of all political stripes oppose war with Iran, presumably because they understand the two big lessons from U.S. experiences fighting in the Middle East over the past 25 years. Not only do preventive wars not work; they also have unintended consequences with lasting impact on America’s national security.

The misguided 2003 invasion of Iraq was also a war to forestall nuclear proliferation. Disaster ensued, and not just because Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. invasion triggered chaos and civil war in Iraq and tipped the regional balance of power toward Iran by allowing it to establish new proxy militias in the country. It also led to the eventual rise of ISIS.

There is no reason to think that a war with Iran would go any more smoothly — and it could turn out considerably worse. If drawn in, the U.S. military’s involvement would likely begin with airstrikes rather than a ground invasion, given Iran’s large size and forbidding mountainous terrain. But as the fruitless $7 billion campaign against the Houthis showed, airstrikes are exorbitantly expensive, entail significant risks of American casualties and are likely to fail anyway. The United States never even gained air superiority over the Houthis, a ragtag militant group with the resource base of an impoverished country, Yemen, over which it couldn’t even consolidate control.

Iran is far more capable of defending itself than the Houthis are. If airstrikes fail to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, pressure would dramatically increase on U.S. forces to pair an aerial barrage with a ground component, perhaps something akin to the “Afghan model” the United States used to topple the Taliban. We know how that went. Despite the intent to keep that war small and brief, an engagement that started with just 1,300 U.S. troops in November 2001 snowballed into a disastrous 20-year occupation that reached some 100,000 U.S. troops at its height in 2011 and ultimately caused the deaths of 2,324 U.S. military personnel.

Assuming some continuity of technical knowledge persists, Iran would likely be able to rebuild its nuclear facilities quickly. And a defiant Iranian regime would no doubt be determined on weaponizing to deter future Israeli and U.S. attacks.

That likelihood, coupled with Israel’s insistence that Iran must never get the bomb, suggests that Mr. Netanyahu’s theory of victory could be premised on an underlying logic of regime change. Supporting that point, Israel appears to be engaging in strikes aimed at disabling the regime’s leadership in Tehran.

The Israeli leader has long embraced the desirability of regime change in Iran, and hinted in September that it could happen “sooner than people think.” As a French diplomatic source told Le Monde last fall, “The idea is circulating in certain circles that perhaps the Israelis are leading us toward a historic moment, that this is the beginning of the end for the Iranian regime.” The fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in December intensified speculation about similar upheaval in Iran. Some U.S. policy hawks and members of the Iranian diaspora now claim regime change is becoming inevitable; as Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton put it, “It’s now time to think of the campaign for regime change in Iran.”

That is magical thinking. History has shown again and again that bombing a country turns its people against the attacker, not against their own regime, despite its deep unpopularity. Images already show Iranians demonstrating in the streets — not to oppose their government but to urge retaliation against Israel. And even if the regime were to be deposed, what then? For all the Iranian government’s faults, a bad government is preferable to the chaos of no government. Do we really want to turn Iran into a failed state, like Iraq or Libya after the United States attacked those countries?

Prof. John Mearsheimer on the Israeli attacks

/12 Comments/in , , /by

Mearsheimer: Trump was trapped by Israelis—once attack happened (against the president’s expressed wishes) the forces for war (Israel Lobby, etc.) were too much, so that he would have a political disaster if he disowned Israel. As I noted, “Trump is likely unhappy with what Israel did but will make the best of it and will defend Israel if it comes to that.” It has come to that.

Mearsheimer: Israel knows that no matter what anti-war conservatives say, when push comes to shove, “Israel has us tied around their little finger.” This does not exonerate Trump, but it would have been political suicide to jettison Israel as people like Tucker Carlson have advocated. Napolitano especially condemns Trump while Mearsheimer seems more willing to see the wider picture of Israel’s ultimate responsibility.

Mearsheimer:  Israel “Israel owns us”; Israel did not do all that much damage yet—lots of Iranian missiles underground; Iran can do serious damage to Israel (as we are seeing). He is worried about wider war, bombing oil facilities leading to disaster, global recession, etc. “Israel wants Americans to be killed because it would suck us into the war.” False Flag alert!

Iran responds to Israeli attack

/1 Comment/in /by

Wir werden Tel Aviv ausradieren [We will wipe out Tel Aviv.] From a French website hostile to Israel in English translation, courtesy of Francis Goumain.

‌’Promise kept 3′, Iran responds to the Israeli attack. “Unprecedented images in Tel Aviv” Two F-35s shot down, an Israeli pilot captured.
[Shooting down 2 F-35s is important. F-35s are stealth fighters; this is the first time they have been shot down in combat. Denied by Israel.

Israel, one of the few countries allowed to buy and use this aircraft, received its first F-35 jets around the year 2016. These were provided by the United States under a program called the Foreign Military Sales (FMS). Israel later developed its own version of the aircraft, known as the F-35I, which includes special changes to better suit its military needs.

The F-35I is equipped with powerful technology that helps it avoid enemy radars and perform deep missions with low chances of being shot down. Because of these features, it is seen as a major part of Israel’s air power.

That is why the downing of not one, but two of these jets by Iran is a very big deal. It shows that even the most advanced aircraft in the world are not impossible to stop. …

This development has sent shockwaves through military experts worldwide. It challenges long-held beliefs about the F-35’s invincibility and raises questions about how future air battles might look in a world where stealth is no longer a guaranteed shield.]

It was not until 18 hours later that Iran responded to the large-scale offensive launched since the dawn of this Friday by the Zionist entity against its territory.

Baptized ‘Promise kept 3’, in the continuity of the previous two that had been carried out in 2024, it was launched at the beginning of the evening, directly after a speech to the Iranian people by the supreme leader of the revolution Imam Khamenei in which he stated that “the Zionist entity will undergo a difficult punishment.”

https://media2.mediaforall.net/videofiles/2025/June/news/reports/13-IMG_2972.MP4.mp4‌

Iranian media reported four waves of ballistic missiles launched at four points during the evening. The Israeli media have mentioned two of them. There are 200 ballistic missiles, according to the public Israeli broadcasting company Kan.

Missiles bypassed the Iron Dome and fell in 7 areas of Tel Aviv. Israeli channel 13 reports several dozen damaged buildings and cars. Nearly 7 missiles crashed on Gush Etzion in central Israel

Israeli media reveal that 9 regions were targeted by Iranian missiles, including Haifa, Beersheba (Bir as-Sabaa)

The images of destruction in the center, especially in Tel Aviv, are unprecedented, commented Israeli media according to which they were caused both by Iranian missiles and by the fragments of Israeli interception missiles.

There were reportedly 40 injured, according to Israeli relief workers.

It is difficult to identify the places that were hit, especially since Israel asked people not to photograph them.

However, the media had reported that the Ministry of Defense building was hit twice. And a fire broke out near him.

The spokesperson of the occupation army was in the middle of a press conference when the Iranian response was launched. He had to interrupt it. The Israelis had been asked to hide in the shelters before the missiles arrived. While the alert sirens sounded throughout the territory.

Ballistic missiles were seen flying over the Galilee from southern Lebanon.

In its statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched “its overwhelming and precise response against dozens of targets, military centers and air bases of the usurping Zionist regime in the occupied territories.”

The missiles were fired from several Iranian provinces, report the Israeli media which also broadcast images of missile launches from Iranian submarines.

https://media2.mediaforall.net/videofiles/2025/June/news/reports/13-fpvh_(1).mp4.mp4‌

 

During the day, Israel launched dozens of air raids via 200 fighter jets that targeted nuclear and ballistic facilities in Tehran, Tabriz, Hamadān, Mashhad, and Bushehr. A hundred targets were targeted.

According to the Iranian media, they targeted among others:

+ the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in Isfahan province. According to the deputy director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the damage caused is in the buildings on the surface. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that the important uranium enrichment site at Natanz had been targeted, but stressed that the level of radiation in the area had not increased.

10 other regions in this province had also been subject to raids.

+ the region of the Fordo nuclear reactor

+ the capital Tehran where the Milad tower was damaged, and were targeted among others the Qouy Nasr neighborhood and Zawiyat al-Nasr

According to official figures, 78 people were martyred and more than 320 injured in Tehran.

+ Tabriz airport in the north of the country where a fire broke out and strong explosions occurred with plumes of black smoke

+ the Nojeh air base, military centers in Nahawand, the two airports Mehr Abad and Bouchehr

+ Qasr Chrine city and Kangaour city in the province of Kermânchâh.

+The holy city Qom

+ the border crossing in East Azerbaijan where a border guard fell martyred

+ Local media reported an Iranian soldier killed in a strike on a military base in the north-west near Iraq.

While the Israeli army also claimed to have eliminated missile launchers and air defenses, an air battle occurred in the evening between Israeli fighter jets and Iranian air defense over the capital Tehran.

The Iranian army later reported shooting down two F-35s and capturing a female pilot who ejected from one of them. The fate of the second pilot has not been specified.

The image of the Israeli pilot parachuting down:

https://media2.mediaforall.net/videofiles/2025/June/news/reports/13-IMG_2938.MP4.mp4‌

Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Most Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries

/12 Comments/in /by

Very disappointing. At about the same time as Trump was involved in giving the Iranians a false sense of security despite his supposed break with Netanyahu and his many anti-war declarations (see Glenn Greenwald’s previously posted video), he backtracks on immigration enforcement. The long-term result will be further demographic shifts toward Third Worldism and further deterioration of White political power as the illegals become citizens, get married, have citizen children, etc. Somehow parts of the country that have thus far escaped the onslaught manage to find workers for farms, restaurants, and hotels.

Yet another example of the weakness of democratic systems where politicians fail to take a long-term view of the country’s interests because they are subject to pressure from various groups, particularly from billionaire donors like Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson (Adelson gave Trump $100 M in 2024 and Perlmutter has donated millions for Trump’s campaigns; both Perlmutter and Adelson reportedly called Trump to urge U.S. involvement in Israel’s war against Iran).

My optimism about Trump 2.o has given way to cynicism and doubt—which seem to be the only sane default position on American politics. Nothing will change despite all the promises.

Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Most Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries

The abrupt pivot on an issue at the heart of Mr. Trump’s presidency suggested his broad immigration crackdown was hurting industries and constituencies he does not want to lose.

Listen to this article · 4:41 min Learn more
The Trump administration has abruptly shifted the focus of its mass deportation campaign, telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to largely pause raids and arrests in the agricultural industry, hotels and restaurants, according to an internal email and three U.S. officials with knowledge of the guidance.

The decision suggested that the scale of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign — an issue that is at the heart of his presidency — is hurting industries and constituencies that he does not want to lose.

The new guidance comes after protests in Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s immigration raids, including at farms and businesses. It also came as Mr. Trump made a rare concession this week that his crackdown was hurting American farmers and hospitality businesses.

The guidance was sent on Thursday in an email by a senior ICE official, Tatum King, to regional leaders of the ICE department that generally carries out criminal investigations, including work site operations, known as Homeland Security Investigations.

“Effective today, please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels,” he wrote in the message.

The email explained that investigations involving “human trafficking, money laundering, drug smuggling into these industries are OK.” But it said — crucially — that agents were not to make arrests of “noncriminal collaterals,” a reference to people who are undocumented but who are not known to have committed any crime.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the guidance.

“We will follow the president’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets,” Tricia McLaughlin, a department spokeswoman, said in a statement.

For months, Mr. Trump and his aides have said they would target all immigrants without legal status in the United States to make good on his campaign promise for mass deportations. While the administration came into office saying it would initially target undocumented immigrants with criminal records, it has in recent weeks expanded to raiding work sites and sweeping up other undocumented immigrants broadly.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement bus leaving after a raid on Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha on Tuesday.Credit…Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald, via Associated Press

On Thursday, Mr. Trump acknowledged that the crackdown might be alienating industries he wanted to keep on his side.

“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” he said on social media.

Mr. Trump posted after Brooke Rollins, the secretary of agriculture, informed him of farmers who were concerned about the ICE enforcement affecting their businesses, according to a White House official and a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump has for decades owned luxury hotels, an industry with a strong immigrant labor force.

A former Trump administration official added that throughout his first term, Mr. Trump often heard concerns from some Republicans from rural states about how the immigration crackdown would hurt the agricultural industry.

The decision to scale back operations at work sites comes at a crucial time, and the implications of the guidance are still to be determined on the ground. The guidance did not appear to rule out raids at work sites in other industries, like the one at a garment factory in Los Angeles that sparked the protests.

In recent weeks, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has publicly pushed for a “minimum” of 3,000 arrests per day.

Following Mr. Miller’s comments, arrests shot up to over 2,000 a day last week, and in recent days and weeks, ICE officials have conducted operations at restaurants, factories and business across the country.

One Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of the email said that agents had felt the pressure for more arrests and that the guidance took them by surprise. Agents were still digesting the long-term implications without a direct signal from the White House about how to carry out the new guidance, the official said.

Mr. King seemed to acknowledge that the new guidance would hurt the quest for higher numbers of arrests.

“We acknowledge that by taking this off the table, that we are eliminating a significant # of potential targets,” he wrote.

Tucker on the pressure on Trump for war

/2 Comments/in /by

Glenn Greenwald on Rumble: U.S. Involvement in Israel’s Iran Attack; the View from Tehran: Iranian Professor on Reactions to Strikes; CATO Analysts on Dangers and War Escalations

/2 Comments/in /by

“Utterly inconceivable Israel would have done this without a green light from the U.S.