This is our final episode. The demands of creating the show are much greater than its reach, so we are focusing our energies to do good in other ways and leaving the podcast behind.

We are grateful to all our listeners, and to all the people who commented and contacted us. We thank you for letting us be part of your lives for the last year.

Carry on and fight the good fight.

Here are the shownotes to this week's episode:

SHOW NOTES

States of Washington, Illinois, Arizona, and Oregon’s Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order, January 21, 2025: https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/10_TROMot.pdf?VersionId=eWXZfvZtw60HmNTPOMluCKS_Li3n1Tu8

David Guttman, “Judge in Seattle blocks Trump order on birthright citizenship nationwide,” January 23, 2025, The Seattle Times, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/judge-in-seattle-blocks-trump-order-on-birthright-citizenship-nationwide/

Matthew J. Vaeth, Acting Director, Office of Management and Budget, “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs” January 27, 2025: https://blog.researchadmin.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/omb-memo-1-27.pdf

National Immigration Project, Community Explainer: Laken Riley Act, January 27, 2025: https://nipnlg.org/work/resources/community-explainer-laken-riley-act

Martin Niemöller: "First they came for..." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

Merriam-Webster Dictionary online page for "mandate": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandate

Thomas Friedman, “Trump is Going Woke,” New York Times, January 29, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/opinion/deepseek-ai-trump.html?searchResultPosition=3

Craig’s article on the benefits of DEIB for an institution, “Facilitating Belonging: Ombuds as the Helpful Stranger,” January, 2025, Journal of the International Ombuds Association, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5101487

REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE:

Craig has worked with The Marjorie Kovler Center four decades and serves on its Leadership Council. The Marjorie Kovler Center is one of the world’s preeminent programs for specialized services for survivors of torture and severe trauma, including mental health care, medical care, and case management. Since its founding in 1987, the Kovler Center has served thousands of survivors, along with families and children experiencing forced migration. Today, the Kovler Center is facing an unprecedented emergency due to funding freezes from the Trump administration at a time when survivors need us more than ever before. We need your help to keep our doors open.

Link: https://heartlandallianceinternational.org/donate/ (select Marjorie Kovler Center in the "I want to support" drop-down menu)

INFORMATION ON IMMIGRATION AND IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS

National Immigration Justice Center: https://immigrantjustice.org/

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: https://www.icirr.org/

American Immigration Council: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/

Center for Migration Studies: https://cmsny.org/?s=Kerwin&view=list&perpage=6&sort=desc

National Immigration Project: https://nipnlg.org/work/resources

Today we talk about the 14th amendment and the executive order to change it signed recently. We also talk about Episcopal DC Bishop the Right Rev. Mariann Budde, and the new policies of ICE

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/politics/ice-can-arrest-people-at-churches-and-schools

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/01/21/republican-reaction-jan-6-violent-offenders-trump-pardon/?utm_campaign=wp_the_5_minute_fix&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/21/trumps-un-ambassador-pick-says-israel-has-biblical-right-to-west-bank

https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-brown-challenges-unconstitutional-order-birthright-citizenship

SHOW NOTES

1. Peter L. Markowitz, “NYC’s Sanctuary Law Helps Defeat Crime,” January 22, 2025, Daily News:

https://outlook.office.com/mail/id/AAMkAGQ0OTc4Yzg3LWM1ZmQtNDk2My05MDE2LWJmMTQzNjBjN2EzZABGAAAAAAAuHa6nzIS9Q7wlj7bMjykXBwCucHtiDUopSpTFhKH4HVWkAAAAf4RCAAAv5SVIveJEQpbNf6pkO5iaAAKrTT0wAAA%3D/sxs/AAMkAGQ0OTc4Yzg3LWM1ZmQtNDk2My05MDE2LWJmMTQzNjBjN2EzZABGAAAAAAAuHa6nzIS9Q7wlj7bMjykXBwCucHtiDUopSpTFhKH4HVWkAAAAf4RCAAAv5SVIveJEQpbNf6pkO5iaAAKrTT0wAAABEgAQAFDIlJqE2AdHoPzJBUZmTOA%3D

2. The case we quoted is from New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support

v. Donald Trump et al., https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2025/01/0176.pdf

3. “Protecting the Value and Meaning of American Citizenship,” Executive Order, January 20, 2025: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/

ACTION STEPS:

1. Please support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and seek to end the Knesset’s ban on its humanitarian activities: https://www.unrwausa.org/hands-off-unrwa

2. Please call your Senators and ask them to vote no on the nominations of Elsie Stefanik for United States Ambassador to the United Nations and Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel. You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senator’s office.

SHOW NOTES

We talk about the confirmation hearings, the release of the special counsels report and the vote in Chicago to help protect immigrants.

https://news.wttw.com/2025/01/15/chicago-city-council-votes-39-11-reject-push-scale-back-protections-undocumented

https://apnews.com/article/pete-hegseth-background-defense-secretary-confirmation-hearing-e160e10c86385a8beff110d9190fb34e

https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-announces-israel-hamas-ceasefire-deal-2025-01-15/

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/14/politics/takeaways-jack-smith-report-donald-trump/index.html

For more information on Pete Hegseth’s connection to the Crusades, see Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite’s Substack, “Hegseth; The Tatooed Crusader.” https://susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/p/hegseth-the-tatooed-crusader?publication_id=1360431&post_id=154832528&isFreemail=true&r=4pgnh9&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

See also, Ben Samuels, “Trump's Defense Secretary Pick Supports Israel 'Killing Every Last Member of Hamas',” https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2025-01-14/ty-article/.premium/trumps-defense-secretary-pick-supports-israel-killing-every-last-member-of-hamas/00000194-65d5-db9d-a1b5-7fd7b4b20000

The quote from Diarmaid MacCulloch on the Crusades came from his book, Christianity, The First Three Thousand Years, (N.Y., Viking, 2010), p. 387. In addition to his criticism of the Crusades and the Knights Templar (p. 386), see also, Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity, The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, Vol. I of, (N.Y., Harper One, 2010), pp. 345-56)

ACTION STEPS

1. Please support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and seek to end the Knesset’s ban on its humanitarian activities: https://www.unrwausa.org/hands-off-unrwa

2. Please immediately contact your Senators to vote no on the Laken-Riley Act. The vote may come as early as Saturday, January 18. For more information on the Act, see the National Immigration Law Center’s five points against the Act. https://www.nilc.org/articles/nilc-opposes-the-h-r-29-the-laken-riley-act/

Detention Watch Network asks you to call or email your Senator and ask them to vote no. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-to-s5-laken-riley

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at: 202-224-3121. They suggest the following call script: "Hello, I am a constituent, and I urge the Senator to vote NO on the Laken Riley Act.”