Doing What We Can to Stop Unjust Arrests of Immigrants

I share today the above two images that, sadly, complement one another.

Artist Christian Faltis says his latest work depicts Our Lady of Guadalupe “urging us to stop unjust arrests of immigrants” by ICE.

One such unjust arrest occurred this past Tuesday (December 9) just blocks from my home in south Minneapolis.

Writes Matt Sepic of Minnesota Public Radio News about this arrest:

Federal immigration agents tackled and arrested a Somali American man in Minneapolis on Tuesday and detained him for about two hours for no apparent reason other than his ethnicity. The man who was arrested said that the agents had trouble finding the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling while driving him there.

The 20-year-old was not suspected of any crime, and described his ordeal during a Wednesday news conference alongside Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who each denounced the agents’ actions.

Mubashir declined to share his last name out of fear for his and his family’s safety, but he gave a detailed account of the incident to reporters, who also viewed video that city officials shared recorded on a business’ security camera and a bystander’s mobile phone.

Mubashir, who moved to the United States as a small boy and became a naturalized American citizen, said that he stepped onto a sidewalk near 4th Street and Cedar Avenue during his lunch break when two masked men approached him. The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is the heart of the city’s Somali American community.

Sensing trouble, he ducked into a restaurant. They followed him inside, dragged him out and forcibly arrested him. The agents handcuffed Mubashir, took him across 4th Street and pushed him onto his knees in the snow. One put him in a choke hold.

“I have my ID!” Mubashir shouted repeatedly, as heard on the video. The agents do not respond.

He added that the agents never identified themselves as ICE, and he feared that they could have been anyone. In the video, one agent is seen wearing a vest marked “POLICE FEDERAL OFFICER” the other’s is marked “POLICE ICE.”

Mubashir said that the agents put him in an unmarked SUV and asked to take his picture.

“I declined, because how will a picture prove I’m a U.S. citizen?” Mubashir said. “I told him I have my passport, it’s in my phone. Can I open it and show you? He declined. I told him can I give you my name and my date of birth. He declined.”

Mubashir said that the agents detained him in their vehicle for about an hour after he refused to consent to a photo. Mubashir said that they also tried to take his fingerprints but their digital reader wouldn’t work, so they drove toward Fort Snelling, where ICE has a detention facility, but they appeared unfamiliar with the area.

“While they were driving me all the way there, they were wasting time,” Mubashir said. “They kept going back on the same highway. I told them, ‘Are you guys lost?’ They said, ‘This is our first time taking someone in.’ They had their maps out and everything, and they were trying to intimidate me.”

Mubashir said that when they finally arrived at the Whipple Federal Building, the agents took him out of the vehicle and made him stand in the cold unless he consented to a face scan, so he finally did. He said that the face scanner appeared not to work either, so they took him inside the federal building. Mubashir said that they refused his request for water or to warm his hands.

Once inside, a staff member finally allowed him to turn on his phone and show his ID before releasing him. His parents picked him up.

Mayor Jacob Frey, who’s an attorney, said that the agents’ actions were blatantly unconstitutional.

“What we saw by these ICE agents that clearly did not know what they were doing was violence and unwillingness to hear the simple truth, which he was repeating again and again, which is, ‘I’m an American citizen.’”

Police Chief Brian O’Hara called it embarrassing to the law enforcement profession that the agents were wearing vests that said ‘POLICE.’

“Random efforts, including individuals who are American citizens are being stopped because they appear to be Latino or because they appear to be Somali, is wrong,” O’Hara said.

___________________

I have to say that not only do I find the racist rheoric of Trump and the actions of ICE dispicable but also the support such rhetoric and actions are receiving by some. I often encounter such expressions of support online in the comments of various Facebook posts. There’s just so much ignorance and vitriol out there when it comes to immigrants and/or those perceived to be in the U.S. illegally.

I tend not to respond to such comments, though recently found myself unable to resist replying to the following by “Mike”:

ICE serve their country not “one man.” Okay, so they wear intimidating clothes, but they are not “terrorizing” neighborhoods or “kidnapping” anyone; those they’re getting are illegal, and as illegals they are not gauranteed a trial. ICE is not sending these criminals to “concentration camps” they are sending them to detention centers waiting deportation. ICE agents hide their faces to protect their families from being targeted by thugs.

Here’s my response:

Mike, a few points:

1) While ever both the legislative and judicial branches of our government refuse to do their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution against an increasingly autocratic executive branch, then ICE truly is serving “one man.”

2) We don’t really know who ICE is deporting and to where, just as we don’t really know who the Trump regime is killing on those boats in the Caribbean. This is a corrupt and lawless administration. And it and those doing its dirty work WILL one day be brought to justice.

3) You must live in a bubble, or at least a place where ICE hasn’t shown up yet, because ICE is terrorizing communities and kidnapping people off our streets. There are numerous videos documenting this. And, again, we don’t know if those being hauled off are “illegals.” We DO know that in Chicago when ICE invaded and terrorized residents – U.S. citizens – of an apartment complex, the vast majority of those detained – over 97% – had no criminal convictions. And yet the whole purpose of this middle-of-the-night raid was supposedly to catch criminals. Either ICE is incompetent or it’s all about terrorizing and intimidating citizens. Maybe both. 4) ICE agents are hiding their faces because what they’re doing is immoral and often times illegal.

4) This idea that because the people ICE are “getting” are “illegal” they are therefore “not guaranteed a trial,” is incorrect. The U.S. Constitution applies to non-citizens present in the United States, protecting them with the fundamental rights of due process (fair treatment), free speech, religious freedom, and protection from unreasonable searches, as these rights extend to “all persons” or “people,” not just citizens. Exceptions include certain political rights, such as voting, which are reserved for citizens. Although the extent of these protections can vary depending on circumstances, such as location (e.g., border vs. interior) or status (lawful vs. undocumented), the core constitutional guarantees overwhelmingly apply. Also, it’s not just people here illegally that ICE agents are racially (and thus unconstitutionally) targeting and detaining. They’re also taking U.S. citizens, a reality that continues to be well documented.

Christian Faltis painted a powerful picture to draw attention to – and help stop – unjust arrests of immigrants by ICE.

I waded into the cesspool of online punditry and shared facts in a respectful way with someone whose misinformed views I find adhorrent.

Others are serving as observers when ICE shows up in their neighborhood.

Others, still, are banging pots and pans outside the hotels where ICE agents are being housed.

In short, people across the Twin Cities metro are doing what they can to denounce and disrupt the terrorizing and often uncontitutional activities of Trump’s fascist goons. And they are doing so in ways that feel true to who they are.

The key is to do something. Join us, won’t you?


Related Off-site Links:
Activists Turn to Noise Demonstrations at Local Hotels to Get “ICE Out of Minnesota” – Chris Juhn (Sahan Journal, December 12, 2025).
How Is the ICE Surge Affecting Somali Minnesotans? – Hannah Ihekoronye (Sahan Journal, December 12, 2025).
Should You Call 911 on ICE? What Can Local Police Do, If Anything? – Mohamed Ibrahim (Sahan Journal, December 12, 2025).
What to Do and Not to Do When Monitoring ICE Agents and Immigration Actions in Minnesota – Cathy Wurzer, Gracie Stockton and Lukas Levin (MPR News, December 11, 2025).
ICE Agents in Cedar-Riverside Acting “Without Regard for Civil Rights,” Minnesota Rep. Mohamud Noor Says – Clay Masters and Gretchen Brown (MPR News, December 11, 2025).
Minneapolis City Council Bolsters Ordinance That Prevent Police From Helping ICE – Howard Thompson (FOX 9 News, December 11, 2025).
ICE Agents Tackle and Arrest American Citizen in Minneapolis – Matt Sepic (MPR News, December 10, 2025).
Minnesota Arrest Highlights Concerns of Racial Profiling in Immigration Enforcement – Abdirizak Diis (Somali Media MN, December 10, 2025).
Augsburg University President Decries 'Illegal' Arrest of Student by ICE Agents – Brianna Kelly (Bring Me the News, December 9, 2025).
Minneapolis Woman Recounts Being Detained by ICE – Felicity Dachel (KARE 11 News, December 9, 2025).
ICE in Minnesota: Agents Pepper Spray Crowd in Cedar-Riverside – Kyle Brown and Richard Reeve (KSTP News, December 9, 2025).
ICE Arrests Observer, Maces Press and Detains People as Agents Are Confronted Across Minneapolis – Unicorn Riot (December 9, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Susie Hayward on What’s Happening in Minneapolis
• Photo of the Day – December 5, 2025
• Omar Fateh: Quote of the Day – December 4, 2025
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 20, 2025
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works
• James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”
• The Choice Before Us
• James Greenberg: “The Choices We Make Matter”
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Donald Trump’s Militarization of Law Enforcement
• Jason Duchin: “It’s Here, and We Are Sleepwalking Through It”
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Moving Into Totalitarianism”
• Garrett Graff: “America Tips Into Fascism”
• James Greenberg on the Identity Politics of MAGA
• Jason Duchin: Quote of the Day – September 24, 2025
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• “If a Praying Minister Isn’t Safe, None of Us Are”
• James Greenberg on Trump’s “Larger Design” – the Construction of a Military Dictatorship
• Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present
• Protesting Trump’s “Dystopian” Immigration Policies
• The Declaration of Resistance


Image: Artist unknown.

Susie Hayward on What’s Happening in Minneapolis

Despite the terror and awfulness of ICE’s Operation Metro Surge, “there is beauty in how the community is responding to care for each other,” writes Minneapolis resident Susie Hayward. This response “is the immanent presence of God, Emmanuel, also known as Love.” It’s a fitting observation, given this season of Advent.

Hey, Beloveds . . . I want to offer a glimpse what we’re experiencing in Minneapolis for those outside, because I honestly have no idea how much is being reported.

What the federal government is calling “Operation Metro Surge” began about a week ago, inaugurated with multiple racist, dehumanizing remarks by President Trump about Minnesotans (calling Somali Minnesotans “garbage,” for example). We then saw a big influx of out-of-state ICE agents arrive on our streets. They drive in unmarked cars throughout the city and into the suburbs beginning at about 6:30am every day until well after dark, detaining our neighbors.

Some of those detained include citizens, targeted because they appear to be Somali or Latinx. One man was detained from his minivan, his two small children left behind alone, crying. One student was detained at Augsburg, and the staff and fellow students demanding to see a judicial warrant had guns pulled on them. The ICE agents did not produce a judicial warrant but took the student anyway. One white woman serving as a legal observer was detained for five hours by ICE, her wedding ring cut off.

I see video footage throughout the day of ICE agents violating traffic laws (especially dangerous on our current snowy streets where coming to a quick stop is hard), berating legal observers or those seeking to protect their neighbors (including derogatory remarks to women about their bodies or obnoxious promises to “dedicate my next arrest to you”), tackling Minnesotans in the snow, using tear gas on observers.

Two days ago, an ICE agent pointed a high-powered green laser pointer toward the cars of observers. There are multiple laws regulating the use of these laser pointers in the U.S. because they can cause retina damage. It’s clear these ICE agents are poorly trained.

Yesterday, Blackhawk helicopters joined the operation. Many of those disappeared by ICE here are not listed on their website of detainees. The majority of those arrested do not have criminal backgrounds. Minnesotans are feeling terrorized by our federal government.

Last night was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Catholic churches with a high number of Latine members held celebrations throughout the night. Faith trumped fear. Non-Catholic Minnesotans patrolled outside the churches to protect those inside. Today, Friday, mosques will hold jummah prayers and non-Muslim Minneapolitans (some of whom aren’t themselves religious, but are sure displaying faithful action) have signed up to be a protective presence outside every mosque in the city. This too is religious freedom activism.

Local democracy is coming alive here. Neighborhoods have organized school patrols, meal deliveries, rides for immigrant neighbors. Local elected leaders are coordinating closely with residents. The city government is strengthening ordinances to ensure federal agents cannot use city parking lots to stage their operations. Workers at the airport where deportation flights operate and U.S. postal service workers are rallying in opposition to the use of their facilities to enable Operation Metro Surge. City police officers have shown up to protect community members from federal agents. Faith leaders are organizing spiritual support and care for the hundreds of people out on the streets all day long who are protecting neighbors and documenting illegal ICE actions, those who are making sure we know about every person taken to ensure nothing happens in the dark.

And then on Sundays, those of us who are practicing Christians go to church and we hear the Advent message about a holy light shining in darkness, the promise of God’s arrival even – especially – in a world full of suffering and chaos. This Sunday, the scripture will be Mary’s Magnificat, in which she sings praises for God’s ability to “cast down the mighty from their thrones.” May it be so.

So to put it simply: It is awful here, what is happening. We are tired, afraid, anxious, angry. And, there is beauty in how the community is responding to care for each other. This is the immanent presence of God, Emmanuel, also known as Love.

– Susie Hayward
via social media
December 12, 2025

Writes Mahad Gedi about the above image:

Picture of the Year: there are good human beings whose humanity isn’t shaped by race. Our Minnesota neighbors came out to show support and solidarity with the Somali American community, standing firmly against the racism and prejudice being pushed by President Trump and his MAGA supporters. We are truly grateful for everyone who chose unity over division and love over hate. God bless America.

Related Off-site Links:
How Is the ICE Surge Affecting Somali Minnesotans? – Hannah Ihekoronye (Sahan Journal, December 12, 2025).
Activists Turn to Noise Demonstrations at Local Hotels to Get “ICE Out of Minnesota” – Chris Juhn (Sahan Journal, December 12, 2025).
What to Do and Not to Do When Monitoring ICE Agents and Immigration Actions in Minnesota – Cathy Wurzer, Gracie Stockton and Lukas Levin (MPR News, December 11, 2025).
ICE Agents in Cedar-Riverside Acting “Without Regard for Civil Rights,” Minnesota Rep. Mohamud Noor Says – Clay Masters and Gretchen Brown (MPR News, December 11, 2025).
Minneapolis City Council Bolsters Ordinance That Prevent Police From Helping ICE – Howard Thompson (FOX 9 News, December 11, 2025).
ICE Agents Tackle and Arrest American Citizen in Minneapolis – Matt Sepic (MPR News, December 10, 2025).
Minnesota Arrest Highlights Concerns of Racial Profiling in Immigration Enforcement – Abdirizak Diis (Somali Media MN, December 10, 2025).
He Called Us “Garbage.” Here Is the Somali Community I Know – Faisa Ahmed (Minnesota Reformer, December 10, 2025).
Augsburg University President Decries 'Illegal' Arrest of Student by ICE Agents – Brianna Kelly (Bring Me the News, December 9, 2025).
Minneapolis Woman Recounts Being Detained by ICE – Felicity Dachel (KARE 11 News, December 9, 2025).
ICE in Minnesota: Agents Pepper Spray Crowd in Cedar-Riverside – Kyle Brown and Richard Reeve (KSTP News, December 9, 2025).
ICE Arrests Observer, Maces Press and Detains People as Agents Are Confronted Across Minneapolis – Unicorn Riot (December 9, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Photo of the Day – December 5, 2025
• Omar Fateh: Quote of the Day – December 4, 2025
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 20, 2025
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works
• James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”
• The Choice Before Us
• James Greenberg: “The Choices We Make Matter”
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Donald Trump’s Militarization of Law Enforcement
• Jason Duchin: “It’s Here, and We Are Sleepwalking Through It”
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Moving Into Totalitarianism”
• Garrett Graff: “America Tips Into Fascism”
• James Greenberg on the Identity Politics of MAGA
• Jason Duchin: Quote of the Day – September 24, 2025
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• “If a Praying Minister Isn’t Safe, None of Us Are”
• James Greenberg on Trump’s “Larger Design” – the Construction of a Military Dictatorship
• Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present
• Protesting Trump’s “Dystopian” Immigration Policies
• The Declaration of Resistance


Image: Artist unknown.

The Essence of Both Palliative and Spiritual Care

This evening as part of my “From the Palliative/Spiritual Care Bookshelf” series, I highlight an informative article from the spring/summer 2015 issue of Caring for the Human Spirit, a publication of the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network, dedicated to “advancing the integration of spiritual care in health care.”

As most reading this would know, since September 2018 I’ve been working as a palliative care interfaith chaplain (or spiritual health provider) in a hospital in the north-west metro of the Twin Cities of St. Paul/Minneapolis.

The article I share tonight is by Rabbi Edith Meyerson and Dr. Diane Meier. Entitled “Hearing Our Patients’ Voices,” this article focuses specifically on spiritual care in the context of palliative care. In doing so, it defines and explores the essence of both of these types of care.

__________________

The essence of palliative care is understanding who the patient is as a person – what matters most to that person. This – the search for meaning – is also the essence of spiritual care.

This medical speciality focuses on patient- and family-centered care, operating within the construct of an interdisciplinary team comprised of physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, massage and yoga therapists, and other health care professionals, and provided across all health care setting to assist patients and their loved ones navigate serious or life-threatening illness.

Eligibility and appropriateness for palliative care is based on need and not prognosis. It is appropriate for people pursuing cure (for example, head and neck cancer or acute myeloid leukemia); living with long-term chronic but debilitating illness like chronic obstructive pilmonary disease (COPD), dementia, or congestive heart failure; and approaching the end of life as a result of a progressive disease (e.g., stage 4 lung cancer metastatic to brain and liver). Patients can be receiving both curative chemotherapy and palliative care.

As palliative care clinicians, we empower people who are navigating serious illness to make decisions that are right for them in the context of the reality of the illness. We hear our patients' voices and ask them important questions. “Tell us about your life.” “Who are you and what is important to you?” “What are your greates hopes and concerns?” “Tell us about your family.” “How do you want to live your life?”

Too often in the treatment of serious and chronic illness, patients and families struggle to voice a great many things, and things are left unsaid even at the end of life. The palliative care team, trained and expert in communication skills, helps patients and families express their true feelings, questions and concerns. They work to ensure that those involved have the appropriate information about the diagnosis and have space to express how they would like to proceed -- keeping the patient’s priorities and goals at the center.

When there are discrepancies in a family’s wishes, the team helps the parties assert their opinions and needs, and then attempts to mediate, bringing the conversation back to what matters most to the patient. For patients, for their families, for consulting providers, for all human beings, to be known and understood, to be heard, is the basis for spiritual care.

Our patients and their families so often are grateful for the infusion of authenticity the palliative care team provides. Patients will say, “This is the first time anyone has sat down with me or with my family to ask us who we are, how we’re doing, and to have a conversation about the big picture.” Within the fragmented, time-pressured, health care system, the team approach that characterize palliative care permits skilled staff the time and attention necessary to do just that.

. . . Who are you and what is important to you? This is the basis for palliative care and for spiritual care.

– Rabbi Edith M. Meyerson, D.Min., BCC
and Diane E. Meier, M.D. FACP
Excerpted from “Hearing Our Patients’ Voices”
in Caring for the Human Spirit
Spring/Summer 2015

Related Off-site Links:
Finding Meaning in Serious Illness: The Role of Spiritual, Religious, and Existential Care in Palliative Support – National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care (March 9, 2025).
The Nature of Religious and Spiritual Needs in Palliative Care Patients, Carers, and Families and How They Can Be Addressed from a Specialist Spiritual Care Perspective – Kate L. Bradford (MDPI, January 16, 2023).
Integrating Spirituality in Palliative Care Goals of Care Conversations – Denise Hess (Palliative Care Network of Wisconsin, October 15, 2018).
State of the Science of Spirituality and Palliative Care Research – Karen E. Steinhauser, at el (Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, September 2017).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• From the Palliative/Spiritual Care Bookshelf – Part I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX
• Arthur Kleinman on the “Soul of Care”
• Chaplaincy: A Ministry of Welcome
• Interfaith Chaplaincy: Meeting People Where They're At
• In the Telling – and the Listening – There Is Healing
• Spirituality and the Healthcare Setting
• World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
• A Common Misconception About Palliative Care
• Resilience and Hope
• George Yancy on the “Unspoken Reality of Death”
• “Call Upon Those You Love”
• Yahia Lababidi: “Poetry Is How We Pray Now”
• Tina Turner on “Changing Poison Into Medicine”
• The Calm Before the Storm
• Out and About – Spring 2020
• A Pandemic Year
• Out and About – Autumn 2021
• Difficult Choices
• On the 2nd Anniversary of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Words of Gratitude and Hope

“So Much Emotion and Soul”

This evening for “music night” at The Wild Reed I share singer and actor Luke Evans’ rendition of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” Ewan MacColl’s beautiful 1957 ballad that was immortalized by Roberta Flack in 1972. Flack’s recording of the song became an international hit, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Many artists, both before and after Flack’s version, have covered “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” including The Kingston Trio, Gordon Lightfoot, Elvis Presley, Shirley Bassey (a personal favorite), Nana Mouskouri, George Michael, and Josh Groban.

For reasons I won’t get into now, I’ve recently wanted to hear “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” from a male vocalist. After a YouTube search, it’s Luke Evans’s version I consider the best from the male singers I heard.

Oh, and there’s an added bonus: Luke’s gay, so I can readily imagine him singing this beautiful song to another man. I like the thought of that. . . . And I also appreciate how, as said elsewhere online, there’s just “so much emotion and soul in this song. It’s just beautiful.” . . . I hope that’s your experience of it too.

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars
Were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies

And the first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hands
Like the trembling heart
Of a captive bird
That was there at my command
My love

And the first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart, oh, so close to mine
And I knew our joy
It would fill the earth
And would last ’til the end of time
My love

The first time ever I saw
Your face

Related Off-site Links:
First Time Hearing Luke Evans’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” – Zooty Reactions (February 4, 2023).
“Truly Beautiful!” Luke Evans – “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”: A Reaction – Shawn and Mel (March 11, 2023).
Luke Evans Steps Into Fishnets for The Rocky Horror Show on Broadway – Beth Stevens (Broadway News, October 29, 2025).
Luke Evans Starring in ITV Thriller The Party Adapted From Novel by How To Fail Podcast’s Elizabeth Day – Max Goldbart (Deadline, November 6, 2025).

Other featured musicians at The Wild Reed:
Dusty Springfield | David Bowie | Kate Bush | Maxwell | Buffy Sainte-Marie | Prince | Frank Ocean | Maria Callas | Loreena McKennitt | Rosanne Cash | Petula Clark | Wendy Matthews | Darren Hayes | Jenny Morris | Gil Scott-Heron | Shirley Bassey | Rufus Wainwright | Kiki Dee | Suede | Marianne Faithfull | Dionne Warwick | Seal | Sam Sparro | Wanda Jackson | Engelbert Humperdinck | Pink Floyd | Carl Anderson | The Church | Enrique Iglesias | Yvonne Elliman | Lenny Kravitz | Helen Reddy | Stephen Gately | Judith Durham | Nat King Cole | Emmylou Harris | Bobbie Gentry | Russell Elliot | BØRNS | Hozier | Enigma | Moby (featuring the Banks Brothers) | Cat Stevens | Chrissy Amphlett | Jon Stevens | Nada Surf | Tom Goss (featuring Matt Alber) | Autoheart | Scissor Sisters | Mavis Staples | Claude Chalhoub | Cass Elliot | Duffy | The Cruel Sea | Wall of Voodoo | Loretta Lynn and Jack White | Foo Fighters | 1927 | Kate Ceberano | Tee Set | Joan Baez | Wet, Wet, Wet | Stephen “Tin Tin” Duffy | Fleetwood Mac | Jane Clifton | Australian Crawl | Pet Shop Boys | Marty Rhone | Josef Salvat | Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri | Aquilo | The Breeders | Tony Enos | Tupac Shakur | Nakhane Touré | Al Green | Donald Glover/Childish Gambino | Josh Garrels | Stromae | Damiyr Shuford | Vaudou Game | Yotha Yindi and The Treaty Project | Lil Nas X | Daby Touré | Sheku Kanneh-Mason | Susan Boyle | D’Angelo | Little Richard | Black Pumas | Mbemba Diebaté | Judie Tzuke | Seckou Keita | Rahsaan Patterson | Black | Ash Dargan | ABBA | The KLF and Tammy Wynette | Luke James and Samoht | Julee Cruise | Olivia Newton-John | Dyllón Burnside | Christine McVie | Rita Coolidge | Bettye LaVette | Burt Bacharach | Kimi Djabaté | Benjamin Booker | Tina Turner | Julie Covington | Midist/Wasim | Durrand Bernarr | Cold Play | Keiynan Lonsdale | Sharon Jones | Sylvester | Warumpi Band | Bad Bunny | Fantastic Negrito | Gordon Lightfoot | Diana Trask

Photo of the Day

On December 3, 2025, Michelle Woster, Executive Director of The Cedar Cultural Center in south Minneapolis, posted the following via social media.

We are saddened that our incredible Somali neighbors are living in fear for their safety and the safety of their loved ones. One way you can support our Cedar-Riverside community at this moment is to activate the block by dining at one of the many immigrant-owned restaurants and showing up for community spaces that make this neighborhood so vibrant. If you plan to attend one of our shows this weekend, we will be excited to welcome you at The Cedar. Our events staff and volunteers are always ready to ensure you enjoy a great evening of live music.

Related Off-site Links:
Trump Calls Somalis “Garbage” He Doesn’t Want in the Country – Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Shawn McCreesh (The New York Times, December 3, 2025).
From Mogadishu to Minneapolis, Somalis Reject Trump’s Bigoted Remarks – Faisal Ali (Al Jazeera, December 4, 2025).
Trump Calls Somali Community “Garbage”: Minnesota Responds to Racist Rant and Immigration Sweeps: An Interview with Jaylani Hussein – Democracy Now! (December 5, 2025).
Anxiety Grips Minneapolis’s Somali Community as Immigration Agents Zero In on the Twin Cities – Rob Kuznia (CNN, December 4, 2025).
When a President Calls a Black Congresswoman “Garbage,” That’s Genocidal Language – Stacey Patton (Dr. Stacey Patton, December 3, 2025).
Trump’s Bigoted Attack on Somalis Denounced From Minneapolis to D.C. to Mogadishu – Brad Reed (Common Dreams, December 4, 2025).
Minnesota Lawmakers React to Trump Comments About Somali Immigrants, ICE Confirms Arrests – MPR News (December 4, 2025).
Sen. Omar Fateh: Trump’s Criticism of Somalis in U.S. Just “Political Theatre” – Al Jazeera (December 4, 2025).
“We Are Here”: In St. Cloud, Somali Community Pushes Back Against Trump’s “Garbage” Comments – Kirsti Marohn (MPR News, December 4, 2025).
Trump’s Current Tirade Targeting Somali Minnesotans Should Come as No Surprise – Jennifer Brooks (Minnesota Star Tribune, December 3, 2025).
“Making America White Again”: Trump Further Restricts Immigration, Ramps Up ICE Raids – Democracy Now! (December 4, 2025).
ICE Restricted from Minneapolis-owned Parking Areas, Mayor Frey Orders – Kilat Fitzgerald (Fox 9 News, December 3, 2025).
Trump Vows to “Permanently Pause” Migration from Poor Nations in Social Media Screed – The Associated Press via NPR News (November 28, 2025). In “Political Attack,” Trump Revokes Protected Status for Minnesota Somalis – Olivia Rosane (Common Dreams, November 23, 2025).
“The Promised Land”: Somali Americans Flip Trump’s Attack Into a Global Meme – Maysa Mustafa (Middle East Eye, December 4, 2025).

UPDATES: Minneapolis Police Chief Warns Officers: Stop Unlawful Force by ICE or Lose Your Job – Alex Tabet (MS Now, December 5, 2025).
More ICE Arrests in Minnesota Disclosed as White House and Democrats Spar Over Operation – MPR News (December 7, 2025).
He Called Us “Garbage.” Here Is the Somali Community I Know – Faisa Ahmed (Minnesota Reformer, December 10, 2025).
How Is the ICE Surge Affecting Somali Minnesotans? – Hannah Ihekoronye (Sahan Journal, December 12, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Omar Fateh: Quote of the Day – December 4, 2025
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works
• James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”
• “This Is What Fascism Looks Like”
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – June 20, 2025
• The Declaration of Resistance
• The Choice Before Us
• James Greenberg: “The Choices We Make Matter”
• Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Donald Trump’s Militarization of Law Enforcement
• Jason Duchin: “It’s Here, and We Are Sleepwalking Through It”
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Moving Into Totalitarianism”
• Garrett Graff: “America Tips Into Fascism”
• James Greenberg on the Identity Politics of MAGA
• Jason Duchin: Quote of the Day – September 24, 2025
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• “If a Praying Minister Isn’t Safe, None of Us Are”
• James Greenberg on Trump’s “Larger Design” – the Construction of a Military Dictatorship
• Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present
• Protesting Trump’s “Dystopian” Immigration Policies


Image: The marquee of The Cedar Cultural Center in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of south Minneapolis – Wednesday, December 3, 2025. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly)

Quote of the Day

[Trump’s verbal attack] was hurtful. It was shameful, disgraceful. But also, it was flat out wrong calling not only our [Minnesota] congresswoman [Ilhan Omar] “garbage,” but calling the entire [Somali] community “garbage,” saying they’re good for nothing.

It is a community that has been resilient, that has produced so much. We are teachers and doctors and lawyers and even politicians taking part in every part of Minnesota’s economy and the nation’s economy. And so, right now, this is nothing more than political theatre in time for the midterms, by which Trump wants to rally his base.

Language matters, and we know that hateful rhetoric and language leads to action. And right now, our community is afraid. We’ve seen that our president and ICE have overstepped and have consistently violated our residents’ consitution right. And what I mean by that is it’s going far beyond just immigration enforcement. We’ve seen residents, U.S. citizens, getting detained.

. . . President Trump made it very clear he wants all Somalis gone. Not just a category of them, not just the ones he thinks are bad, but all Somalis. I’ve heard from our young people – folks that were born in America, that have never seen Somalia; in fact, some whose parents were born in America – reaching out to us saying that they’re fearful, that they feel like they have to walk around with their passports because they don’t want to be targeted. And in America in 2025, that should not be happening.

– Omar Fateh
via social media
December 4, 2025

NEXT:
Photo of the Day
– December 5, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
Trump Calls Somali Community “Garbage”: Minnesota Responds to Racist Rant and Immigration Sweep – Democracy Now! (December 5, 2025).
Anxiety Grips Minneapolis’s Somali Community as Immigration Agents Zero In on the Twin Cities – Rob Kuznia (CNN, December 4, 2025).
When a President Calls a Black Congresswoman “Garbage,” That’s Genocidal Language – Stacey Patton (Dr. Stacey Patton, December 3, 2025).
Trump’s Bigoted Attack on Somalis Denounced From Minneapolis to D.C. to Mogadishu – Brad Reed (Common Dreams, December 4, 2025).
Minnesota Lawmakers React to Trump Comments About Somali Immigrants, ICE Confirms Arrests – MPR News (December 4, 2025).
“We Are Here”: In St. Cloud, Somali Community Pushes Back Against Trump’s “Garbage” Comments – Kirsti Marohn (MPR News, December 4, 2025).
Trump’s Current Tirade Targeting Somali Minnesotans Should Come as No Surprise – Jennifer Brooks (Minnesota Star Tribune, December 3, 2025).
“Making America White Again”: Trump Further Restricts Immigration, Ramps Up ICE Raids – Democracy Now! (December 4, 2025).
ICE Restricted From Minneapolis-owned Parking Areas, Mayor Frey Orders – Kilat Fitzgerald (Fox 9, December 3, 2025).
The U.S. Helped Destroy Modern Somalia: An Interview with Elizabeth Schmidt – Daniel Finn (Jacobin, November 21, 2022).

UPDATES: Minneapolis Police Chief Warns Officers: Stop Unlawful Force by ICE or Lose Your Job – Alex Tabet (MS Now, December 5, 2025).
More ICE Arrests in Minnesota Disclosed as White House and Democrats Spar Over Operation – MPR News (December 7, 2025).
He Called Us “Garbage.” Here Is the Somali Community I Know – Faisa Ahmed (Minnesota Reformer, December 10, 2025).
How Is the ICE Surge Affecting Somali Minnesotans? – Hannah Ihekoronye (Sahan Journal, December 12, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Protesting Trump’s “Dystopian” Immigration Policies
• Derek Johnson on the “Courage to Call Fascism by Its Name”
• An Incident That Feels “Ripped from a Dystopian Novel”
• James Greenberg: “I Am in Mourning for America”
• “If a Praying Minister Isn’t Safe, None of Us Are”


For The Wild Reed’s coverage of Omar Fateh’s 2025 run for Minneapolis Mayor, see the following chronologically-ordered posts:
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Omar | Jazz | DeWayne
• In His Efforts to “Build a City That Works for All,” Omar Fateh Secures a Key Endorsement
• Something to Think About – July 25, 2025
• The Longstanding Fault Lines Within the Democratic Party Have Surfaced Again in Minnesota
• Omar Fateh: “We Need to Meet the Needs of Working People”
• “Hopeful and Grounded”: Omar Fateh’s Vision of Democratic Socialism
• Omar Fateh: A “Person-Centered Leader”
• Why Omar Fateh Is the Right Choice for Mayor of Minneapolis
• Omar Fateh on LGBTQ Issues
• Omar Fateh’s Grassroots Campaign for Mayor of Minneapolis
• The Rise of Omar Fateh
• Omar Fateh: A Mayor Who Will “Meet the Moment”
• Why Omar Fateh Lost
• Thank you, Omar!

Happy Birthday, Mum!

In Australia today my Mum celebrates her 87th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mum!

I’ve said it many times before but it’s always worth repeating: My brothers and I are very fortunate to have Margaret Anne Bayly (née Sparkes) as our mother. She is a beautiful, wise and strong woman who extends care, kindness and love to everyone she encounters.

I love you, Mum, and can’t thank you enough for who you are and for all you continue to be and give to me, my brothers, our family, and so many others whose lives are fortunate enough to be touched by yours. Wishing you the happiest of birthdays! 💗

This is mum’s first birthday since she began her journey of recovery from the stroke she experienced in April. I continue to thank God for her ongoing recovery and for the ways she is participating in this recovery through her chosen attitudes and actions. As I’ve said previously, they are attitudes and actions of grace and gratitude, surrender and trust. I’m grateful too for those in her life who are helping facilitate mum’s healing – our family, her friends, and the staff at the assisted living home where she now resides.

Above: With Mum and some of her Port Macquarie friends during my most recent visit back to Australia – June-July 2025.

Above: Mum with two of her four great grandchildren, Ramy and Jake – July 2025.

In celebrating Mum’s birthday over the years at The Wild Reed, I’ve shared quite a number of photos from the Bayly family archives. In fact, I’ve pretty much exhausted my supply. So if you’d like to take a wonderful “trip down memory lane,” as they say, then click on any of the links below. You won’t be disappointed!


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Thanks, Mum!
• Home to Be With Mum (2025)
• June 2025 Vignettes
• Family Time in Guruk (2025)
• Last Days in Australia (2025)
• Happy Birthday, Mum – 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2018 | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009
• Congratulations, Mum and Dad! (2009)
• Catholic Rainbow (Australian) Parents (2006)
• Remembering and Celebrating Dad

Progressive Perspectives on Hillary Clinton’s Comments on Pro-Palestine “Propaganda” and TikTok

UPDATED 12/9/2025

At an event hosted by an Israeli news outlet owned by Israeli-American billionaire and Trump donor Miriam Adelson, Hillary Clinton says young Americans fell victim to pro-Palestine “propaganda” on social media.

She makes no mention of corporate media’s role in pushing hoaxes following October 7 or publishing Israeli government talking points without scrutiny

– Qasim Rashid
via social media
December 3, 2025

Hillary Clinton is out here claiming young people, including young Jewish people, are only pro Palestine because of TikTok – not because of the painfully documented fact by dozens of human rights organizations confirming genocide, famine, mass rape, and war crimes by IDF.

No acknowledgment that people are relying on social media because the Israeli government has illegally blocked out all international media and killed more than 250 journalists inside Gaza. Her claim is “Just believe Netanyahu.” Absurd.

– Qasim Rashid
via social media
December 3, 2025

[Israel’s genocide in Gaza] is more documented and more confessed to than any other genocide-as-it-happened in history. We have detailed reports from the United Nations, non-governmental organizations [NGOs] ranging from Amnesty International to Human Rights Watch to Médecins Sans Frontières. We have detailed studies from the likes of Airwars, an NGO comprised of experts who looked at 606 incidents of civilian harm in the first 25 days of the genocide alone in October 2023. According to the most conservative estimates, at least 5,139 civilians were killed in the sample of 606 attacks they analyzed. They made sure to say this was just a fraction. They found evidence of Hamas military casualties in just 26 of those 606 attacks. That’s just 4% of cases. The number of militants believed to be actually killed was between 32 and 60.

We also have overwhelming evidence of Israeli soldiers gleefully posting their war crimes, yes, Hillary, on TikTok, as well as an avalanche of statements of genocide and criminal intent issued by Israeli leaders and officials.

Hillary Clinton should not just be seen as a political failure who handed Donald Trump power in the United States. She’s a monster, with blood on her hands, who was associated with some of the great foreign policy catastrophes and crimes of our age.

The younger generation of Americans, including Jewish Americans, that she smears are far more knowledgable and moral than she is. And it’s not hard to be more moral than Hillary Clinton because there’s no evidence of any moral compass at all.

– Owen Jones
Excerpted from “Hillary Clinton Blames TikTok
for Opposition to Israel's Genocide”
via YouTube
December 3, 2025

By boiling down backlash against Israel to a social media problem, Clinton and her allies seem to have forgotten they’re still in an echo chamber that they built with their own hands and words.

– John Smith
via social media
December 3, 2025

[Clinton’s] remarks echoed those of former Obama White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz, who spoke recently about the challenges Zionists are presented with when they try to defend Israel to young Jewish people who have seen widely available, credible images and news out of Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians and is continuing to restrict humanitarian aid despite a ceasefire deal reached in October. “Anything that we try to say to them, they’re hearing it through this wall of carnage,” Hurwitz lamented last month, drawing condemnation.

. . . Clinton has frequently claimed that pro-Palestinian Americans, particularly students who took part in nationwide campus protests last year as they urged the Biden administration to comply with US law and stop funding Israel’s attacks on Gaza, are simply misinformed about Palestine and ignorant of history, particularly pointing to the 2000 Camp David Summit hosted by former President Bill Clinton.

The former secretary of state has repeated the claim that the Palestinians were offered a “generous deal” at the meeting and “walked away” – a “myth” that Camp David negotiator Robert Malley has debunked, warning it’s been used by Clinton and others to “justify Israel’s genocide.”

“She’s the one getting the history wrong,” including at the Israel Hayom event, said Drop Site News on Tuesday.

A number of observers took issue with Clinton’s suggestion that anti-Israel sentiment in the US is being driven solely by young people, with Just Security executive editor Adil Haque issuing a “periodic reminder that the biggest shift in attitudes toward Israel and Palestine has been among older Democrats.”

In 2022, 43% Democratic voters ages 50 and up had an unfavorable view of Israel. That percentage has risen sharply since Israel began its onslaught in Gaza, with 66% of those voters reporting an unfavorable view in a Pew Research Center poll this year.

Meanwhile, 71% of Democrats ages 49 and under opposed Israel in the same poll, and 62% of them had expressed opposition in 2022, denoting a less extreme shift in opinion.

“Democrats get their news from CNN more than other mainstream sources,” said Haque, pointing to the network’s recent investigation about Palestinian aid-seekers who were killed by Israeli forces. “If you’re a 60-year-old with grandkids and you read or watch CNN‘s Gaza reporting, you don’t need TikTok to know that what’s happening is very, very wrong.”

Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs at the Center for International Policy, also suggested Clinton has an inaccurate view of who opposes Israel’s ongoing attacks on Palestinians.

“I’m nearly 50. I don’t use TikTok. I listen to NPR Morning Edition and read the Financial Times daily,” said Williams. “I’m a lawyer who has worked on Israel-Palestine issues for the last 20 years. The evidence I’ve seen that Israel committed atrocities including genocide in Gaza is overwhelming.”

– Julia Conley
Excerpted from “Hillary Clinton Joins in Blaming TikTok
for Young Americans’ View That Israel
Is Committing Genocide”
Common Dreams
December 3, 2025

Hillary Clinton doesn’t care that young Jewish students were moved by videos and photos of the firebombing of families huddled in their tents after their homes were reduced to rubble, or the bloated bellies of children being starved to death by Israel’s deliberate policy of famine, or the murder or scores of doctors, nurses and paramedics, or the blatant killing of more journalists than any other conflict in the world, or the rape of a Palestinian prisoner, or the complete and utter decimation of nearly every structure in Gaza, or the coldblooded killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab who was shot 335 times by Israeli soldiers as she sat in a car surrounded by the bodies of her dead family.

What Hillary Clinton does care about is that some of these young Jewish students couldn’t tell her which river or which sea was being referred to in the popular chant "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free."

To her, this is all "TikTok propaganda." Never mind about the scores of genocide scholars who have declared this to be a genocide. Never mind that Israeli human rights organizations like B’Tselem said their country is committing genocide. Never mind Doctors Without Borders, or Amnesty International, or Human Rights Watch. Never mind UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. It is all just social media from the "Chinese communist party." Apparently, those Israeli politicians who talked about their genocidal plans openly and the IDF soldiers who posted their crimes were all "propaganda" from TikTok and China. This is her metric.

And why is this so important? Why do we need to keep talking about what Hillary Clinton said? Because it is the same metric and coldblooded calculous that every Western, liberal Zionist apologist has used to justify Israel’s genocide. A metric that involves ignoring a "wall of carnage," as former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz so aptly put it. Or the endless "Dead Gaza Babies" as liberal icon Van Jones bemoaned.

It is a metric of breathtaking arrogance, staggering apologetics and nauseating sycophancy. A metric that extracts the humanity of the Palestinians from the entire equation to rationalize and excuse their annihilation.

Western liberalism is even more dangerous than the far right because it has the effect of normalizing state violence in the name of "humanitarian intervention." It lulls decent people into complacency by using pacified and watered down rhetoric about human rights, inclusivity and equality, so much so that these terms becomes utterly toothless and devoid of any power. And it provides a veneer of respectability and civility through platitudes and bromides, masking its true imperialistic nature. It has also played the role of handmaiden to Trumpian fascism.

And it doesn’t stop in the U.S. Liberal leaders like Justin Trudeau, Kier Starmer, Ursula von der Leyen and Frank-Walter Steinmeier have all used their positions to justify and support this crime against humanity.

The genocide in Gaza has done what no other atrocity in contemporary history has been able to do. It has revealed to us just how depraved and twisted most Western political leaders and media figures are at their core. It showed us that if they can allow, aid or even applaud what Israel is doing, then they can easily do the same to us.

– Kenn Orfanos
Excerpted from “The Mask is Off
of Western Liberal Zionism”
Pharos
December 5, 2025

In the following BreakThrough News video Rania Khalek and Eugene Puryear discuss Hillary Clinton's claim that young people’s supposed inability to have a “reasonable discussion” about Israel is due to “propaganda” and “totally made-up” videos of atrocities in Gaza, and that these same videos are responsible for growing pro-Palestine sentiment. Khalek and Puryear also examine Clinton’s “long history as a war hawk who has peddled anti-Arab racism in support of U.S. geopolitical interests.”






And finally, in the following 10-minute video Angela of Parkrose Permaculture offers her informed critique of Hillary Clinton after Clinton doubled down on her comments blaming TikTok for young people in the U.S. and around the world becoming increasingly informed and thus critical of Israel and its genocide in Gaza.





Related Off-site Links:
Hillary Clinton Blames TikTok for Gaza “Propaganda.” She Can’t See Her Own Complicity – Etan Nechin (Haaretz, December 3, 2025).
Hillary Clinton Blames TikTok for Young People Turning Against Israel – Glenn Greenwald (System Update, December 3, 2025).
Hillary Clinton Teams Up With Miriam Adelson – Sabrina Salvati (Sabby Sabs, December 3, 2025).
Ro Khanna to Hillary Clinton: Don’t “Disparage the Intelligence of Young People” on Israel – Prem Thakker (Zeteo, December 3, 2025).
Hillary Blames Anti-Zionism on TikTok – Michael Walker and Tadhg Hickey (Novara Media, December 4, 2025).
Hillary Clinton Delivers Israeli Propaganda, Proving Why Corporate Democratss Fail – Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan (I’ve Had It, December 5, 2025).
Hillary Doubles Down on Blaming TikTok for Israel PR – Breaking Points (December 8, 2025).
Hillary Clinton Confronted by Aaron Maté – Sabrina Salvati (Sabby Sabs, December 8, 2025).
Hillary Clinton Still Out Here Proving Why Democratic Elites are Part of the Problem – Parkrose Permaculture (December 8, 2025).
Hillary Clinton Blames TikTok Again for Israel Critiques: An Interview with Aaron Maté – Useful Idiots (December 9, 2025).

UPDATE: Lemkin Institute Rebukes Clinton for Blaming Youth Outrage Over Gaza Genocide on TikTok – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, December 9, 2025).


Image: Jacquelyn Martin / AP.