THREE VIGNETTES SHOW THE LAMENTABLE STATE OF OUR COUNTRY PART 1

PRONOUNCEMENTS FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION continue to emphasize its dedicated march to autocracy. Just so there’s no BS about its meaning (like the phony “antifa/terrorism”), Merriam-Webster defines “autocracy” as “1. the authority or rule of an autocrat. 2. government in which one person possesses unlimited power. 3. a community or state governed by autocracy.”

Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, are three recent vignettes of this: Pam Bondi’s Chicago propaganda flick, Trump’s threat about federal government pay reimbursement, and Stephen Miller’s quixotic CNN pause. These are all well documented by videos (though, alas, the first has already appeared to have undergone modification).

Department of Homeland Security Raid, Chicago. The nearest I could find online of the DHS’s original chilling propaganda was a portion of it included in “ ‘It Was Like a Movie’—How Immigration Raid on Chicago Apartments Unfolded,” by BBC Verify’s Nick Beake, October 8, 2025.

Image from BBC. The video can be accessed through BBC.  

Beake cites, “Residents of an apartment block in Chicago that was targeted in a raid on suspected illegal immigrants have described seeing armed agents in the hallways and a helicopter landing on the roof of the building. One US-born resident told BBC Verify he had his hands zip-tied by officers, before being released.The Department of Homeland Security, which released dramatic footage of the raid, said 37 ‘illegal aliens’ were arrested, including suspected gang members.’ ”

Citizen Videos Too. ICE agents weren’t the only ones with their videographers. Nearby citizens bravely contested the masked belligerents. This Instagram posting by heartlandsignal shows such an encounter.

Body-cam footage identifies the raid as occurring on September 30, 2025. An Instagram posted by harrietsdreams on October 5, 2025, notes, “Witnesses say some U.S. citizens were detained, children were separated from parents, and some were taken naked and zip-tied in front of neighbors. Critics argue the video glorifies trauma while hiding constitutional violations and the human cost of these raids. Some are calling it a political stunt used to release a chilling piece of propaganda.” 

Increasingly Aggressive. PBS News cites Sophia Tareen of Associated Press reporting, “Immigration Agents Become Increasingly Aggressive in Chicago,” October 6, 2025. She observes, “Storming an apartment complex by helicopter as families slept. Deploying chemical agents near a public school. Handcuffing a Chicago City Council member at a hospital. Activists, residents and leaders say increasingly combative tactics used by federal immigration agents are sparking violence and fueling neighborhood tensions in the nation’s third-largest city.” 

“They are the ones that are making it a war zone,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday on CNN. “They fire tear gas and smoke grenades, and they make it look like it’s a war zone.”

I agree completely.

Tomorrow in Part 2, we pick up with the Queens Felon and his mobster lingo. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025