Just Saying…

By Judy Loeb – January 18th, 2026

Our country is in CRISIS! We are watching the events in Minneapolis in horror, disgust and fear. There is no question but that ICE is as brutal as the brown shirts were in Nazi Germany.

But we ARE making a difference. Demonstrations and phone calls to our representatives are causing the regime to question their own tactics.

As Jessica Craven just wrote:

Axios reported this morning that “Trump advisers quietly are talking about ‘recalibrating’ the White House’s approach” to immigration enforcement.”

WE MUST KEEP UP THE PRESSURE!

Call your senators and Congress people TODAY.

Here is the background from 5Calls:

“Following the federal funding deal passed in mid-November 2025, Congress faces another to fully fund the government for fiscal year (FY) 2026; this includes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill.

Recent atrocities committed against both immigrants and citizens under the Trump administration have shone a light on abuses of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its parent agency, Customs and Border Protection (CBP). However, these abuses are hardly new. Since ICE and CBP were established in 2003, the agencies have terrorized immigrant communities, conducted unconstitutional border checkpoints, torn apart families, denied immigrants their due process rights, and subjected detained immigrants to physical, sexual, and mental abuse. The killing of Renee Good in Minnesota was the 9th ICE shooting since September 2025.

ICE also received an influx of billions in additional funding from the so-called “One Big Beautiful” bill. The bill placed no guardrails or conditional oversight on the use of this money, essentially creating a $75 billion slush fund for ICE to continue their violent attacks on communities across the country.

Use 5Calls to Call on your representatives to block any DHS appropriations bill or Continuing Resolution (CR) that maintains funding for ICE. This lawless and violent agency must be defunded and dissolved for good”.

A Letter from Your Grandma
Barbara Leish

I’m writing this letter out of love for you and fear for our country.

First of all, I know you are horrified by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So am I. What’s happening in Gaza is appalling, and Netanyahu is leading Israel down a very dangerous path. But you must understand why Israel was created in 1948 in the first place, and why it is essential that it survive today. And you mustn’t let your anger over Gaza cloud your understanding of the dangers facing us here in the U.S.

Simply put, we are in danger of losing our freedom.

I know that your generation looks at Biden and sees an old man. What I see is a man with enormous experience and a long track record of supporting a fair system for all, in which women’s rights are protected, children aren’t allowed to go hungry, medicine is affordable, every citizen can vote, and the super wealthy pay their fair share.

Then there’s Trump. He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade. He holds up bibles he’s never read and says we must be a Christian nation. He says immigrants are animals. He promises bloodbaths, promises to prosecute his enemies, promises to let Putin do “whatever the hell he wants” in Europe. He lies about everything. On top of all this, he’s showing clear signs of mental decline.

I am terrified that Trump – an immoral egotist who wants to be a king – will be elected.

Don’t let that happen. I believe Biden must be re-elected. And he needs your vote.

A CIVIL RIGHTS TRIP
Judy Loeb & Jane Eisenberg

We’ve just returned from a week in Georgia and Alabama, tracing the history of African-American civil rights in America. The tour was led by Road Scholars which provided excellent guides and historians who shared their often firsthand experiences and led us through wonderful museums and pivotal churches in Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham.

While many of us believe we know the history of The Civil Rights Movement, what we’ve learned only brushes the surface. The sustained discrimination and brutality suffered by black people over hundreds of years was hard to watch and harder to absorb. From the emancipation proclamation on, each gain was met with brutal crackdowns, hatred and horror. Every step forward resulted in vicious attacks and setbacks. For those of us who have always regarded The Holocaust as the ultimate example of brutality and hatred, it is clearly rivaled by the long history of black oppression.

That leaders like Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Rosa Parks and others were able to summon the fortitude to meet each horrible set-back, including murders, torture and bombings, with renewed dedication to the non-violent fight for ending segregation and obtaining voting rights is stunning.

People fought so hard for the right to vote that today so many cavalierly dismiss or ignore. It is heartbreaking and infuriating! Our country is literally on the brink of losing our democracy. Nothing and nobody is coming to save us. Our only recourse is to out-vote the other side. We must redouble our efforts to do all we can to get out the vote for Joe Biden and Democrats everywhere!