Deported on the way to Thanksgiving with her parents

A 19-year-old college student, Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, was headed home from Massachusetts to Texas for Thanksgiving with her parents.  She was brought here from Honduras when she was seven.  Her father’s employer had arranged for her flight so she could surprise him at work.

There was a court order that she could not be removed from the U.S. while her case was pending.  She was arrested at the Logan Airport in Boston, detained in Texas, and  “...put on a bus with shackles on her wrists, waist and ankles before being put on a flight to Honduras.”

She had been studying business at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  She is now in Honduras with grandparents.

We have become evil, led by an evil man and abetted by evil underlings.

Information for this post, including the quotation, is from Amada Holpuch and Annie Correal, “A College Student Tried to Go Home to Texas for Thanksgiving.  She Was Deported,” New York Times, (2 Dec. 2025), p. A17. 

Where was Gen Z?

In an article in the Opinion section of the Sunday New York Times, Brendan Nyhan bemoaned the absence of young people at the latest  “No Kings” rally.  He thought maybe it was because meaningful change seemed so unlikely to young Americans.

Both of the rallies I attended in Carbon County had a wide mixture of age groups, from people in their teens and twenties to people who were what I would consider elderly.  

I’ve been to rallies in the Sixties and Seventies where almost everybody was under thirty.  I’ve been to anti-pipeline rallies where almost everyone was over 50.  The No Kings rallies, by contrast, contained a broad cross-section of Carbon County residents.  We even had a guy in a MAGA hat.  Great turnout.

Admiration for Francisco Franco?

 Generalisimo Francisco Franco, an ally of Hitler and Mussolini, came to power in 1939 after a bloody civil war.  He then ruled Spain for 36 years, killing and imprisoning his enemies, retarding Spanish economic progress, mistreating Spanish colonies in Africa, and ruling Spain with an iron fist.  He died in 1975, 50 years ago.

I was in Spain in 1979, four years after his death.  It was an exciting time.  The bookstores were selling books by Marxists and Socialists And Feminists.  I stopped in at a local Socialist Party headquarters and got a huge poster, which I still have.  Spain was free and democratic, the country was vibrant, and people were happy.

Now I read that many young men in Spain admire Franco and long for the type of tyrannical leadership he provided.  I think this must be some mental aberration on the part of young men.  The same thing seems to be happening in the U.S. where young men like tech bros and Proud Boys and followers of Charlie Kirk think it is manly to be racist and “tough.”  

Get a grip, guys.  You are not “masculine.”  You are like sad little boys trying really really hard to be grown up men.

Two-movie Weekend

Some days I can’t bear to read the news.  Selling out Ukraine, “disappearing” immigrants, speeding global warming, fake news from the White House–it’s all too much, too evil, too hateful, too everything.  

So yesterday I saw “Wicked 2,” or whatever it is called, and today I saw “Knives Out–3,” which I think is called “Wake Up Dead Man.”  Sequels are never as good as the originals, but I spent four hours not thinking about the cruel and ugly people running my country’s government and the awful things they are doing not just to the United States, but to the future of the planet.

I’ll be back at it tomorrow.  Promise.

The "top two" electoral system

Some years ago California voters adopted an initiative mandating that the top two voters in the primary, whatever their party affiliation, would be the only candidates on the ballot in the fall.  The immediate result was that Libertarian Party, Green Party, and other minor parties were kept off the fall ballot.

Another interesting result that no one anticipated occurred in districts with a  dominant party.  Two candidates from that party could receive so many votes that in the fall election voters occasionally had the choice of two Democrats or two Republicans.

And even weirder result might occur this fall.  The Dems have eight candidates for governor, the Republicans two.  If the Democratic candidates split the primary vote eight ways, it is quite possible that in the fall of 2026 voters will have a choice of two Republican candidates.  California fall ballots make no room for write-ins.

What an idiotic system.

I.C.E. pint glasses as a Republican fundraiser

Here's a letter I'm sending to Republican Senator McCormick:

Sen. Dave McCormick

SH-702 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator McCormick:

Today’s New York Times had a two-page spread about how I.C.E. is separating families.  Deported parents are desperately trying to connect with their kids.

An article about deportees who never committed any type of crime and were sent off to foreign countries in which they had no connection appeared in the latest issue of the New Yorker magazine.

And how is the National Republican Senatorial Committee raising money in this holiday season?  By selling I.C.E. pint glasses, “the official drink of conservatives who want secure borders and frosty beverages.”

Really?  This is the level to which one of two major political parties in American has sunk.  The party is using this to raise money?  This abomination is connected to a celebration of the birth of Jesus, born in a foreign land because his parents were refugees fleeing oppression.  This is beyond pathetic.  It is also one more reason why this Republican Party and its candidates will be repudiated next November and in 2028, and deservedly so.

Sincerely,

Roy Christman 

Jimmy Cliff, 1944-2025

In the movie “High Fidelity,” John Cusack turns around at a funeral service and addresses the movie audience, listing the best songs for a funeral.  The first one he mentions is “Many River to Cross” by Jimmy Cliff.  I had already decided that I wanted that one played at my funeral service, if one was held.  I turned to Linda and said, “Now everyone will think I got the idea from the movie.”  

It is a great song.  Jimmy Cliff sang it better than anyone. 

Just in case you are curious, I am also requesting “Drive” by the Cars and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”  I picked that last one just for the line, “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.”  In fact, I don’t think I want anyone to speak.  Just listen to some good music.

By the way, I’ll be off for at least the next two nights.  I’m spending Thanksgiving in Richmond, Virginia.  Looking forward to Chinese takeout.