Hal Brown's Substack (fomerly Hal Brown's Blog)

October 7, 2025

Today's political show is Pam Bondi and I give her performance a rave review, By Hal M. Brown

There are two basic defintions of the word honorable. One, shown above on the plaque in front of PamBondi is when it is used as a formal title. The other has to do with being an honorable person.

There’s more here. You may or may not believe Bondi is honorable.

As I watch Pam Bondi put on her partisan Trump praising and Democrat damning show in the Senate Judiciacy Committee hearing I do not see an honorable person.

What a show this has been so far. We had Lindsay Graham, and as I write this Josh Hawley, expressing feigned outrage as they lambast Democrats. “Good God in Heaven, what is happening to this country” Hawley says talking about Democrats.

I’m not suggesting that the Democratic Party senators don’t put on their own performances. After all, they know that these hearings give them exposure not only on MSNBC and CNN but also on Fox News.

Looking at this hearing as a rather long stage show where I’ve been sent as a drama critic to write an article for the Arts Section of a newspaper I have to give Bondi a rave review for her bravura performance. Considering that some of the Senators have been doing this for not just years but for decades Bondi is an ingénue. Consider that her former acting experience was the equivalent of regional theater and she’s only been on the national stage for less than a year.

She came well prepared with attack lines aimed at many of the Democratic senators blaming them for their alleged transgressions. For example “how dare you accuse me of whatever, when you did such and such.”

She is proving as nimble as any accomplished improv performer as she interjects prepared slams and insults.

Compared to her unhinged, sometimes incoherent boss who actually has a (sometimes defaced) star among the more than 2800 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , she' deserves an Oscar.

Note: This is a break from my writing about what is happening in my city of Portland. We are all anxiously waiting to see what happens next. My Substack yesterday was about something I haven’t seen covered anywhere else: I had to revise this because on closer look the two people on the left seem to be aiming long range paintball guns like this.

October 6, 2025

Who are these Trump thugs aiming their sniper rifles at? They are aiming them at us. By Hal M. Brown

Of the 11 photos in this Portland TV station, WKOIN, website article…

… two sent a chill down my spine. The one above and the one below show men with sniper rifles. They are all wearing masks. If they shot someone they couldn’t readily be identifed.

To me this masked man looks really serious. I wonder what is going on in his mind. It’s one thing to practice shooting at a range, but perhaps there are people who would like to have human targets.

The most disquieting one has three of them who seem to be looking though the sights.

The text below that photo says that the agents are “looking down” at protestors. I fact they are looking down and aiming rifles at them.

Who, I pondered, are they looking at. Who may they actually have their crosshairs on? At least one of them seems to have be looking through the scope and has his finger close to the trigger.

Is there a bullet in the chamber? Is the weapon a finger squeeze away from being fired which would result in a life being ended?

These photos are in stark contrast to the photo below of three Portland police officers, two of whom appear to be smiling and relaxed:

You might think, naively, that some higher-up would have told the agents to keep their long guns out of sight and limit themselves to the “job” of taking photos knowing that reporters on the ground would also be taking pictures.

But no, obviously intimidating people by taking their photographs wasn’t enough. They had to remind them that if it came right down to it they could put bullets through their brains.

Every American should be “up in arms,” not the kind of arms that fire bullets, but “up in arms” meaning protesting vigorously over being treated like a an enemy within.

Addendum:

Yesterday’s Substack, Go beyond keeping protests peaceful, Portland, pretend ICE headquarters is invisible, included a map showing how close I live to the ICE building.

October 5, 2025

Go beyond keeping protests peaceful, Portland, pretend ICE headquarters is invisible. By Portland resident Hal M. Brown If anything leave them our famous Voodoo Doughnuts.

The slogan above is derived from an American antiwar slogan from the hippie subculture during the Vietnam War era. It was popularized by Charlotte E. Keyes in her 1966 article for McCall’s magazine titled “Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came.” It was also the title of a movie.

Trump has gone beyond declaring war on American democracy, on us. He is currently engaged in waging this war. The ICE building in Portland (pictured below) has become a symbol of his war here in my city.

Because of this, our current antiwar protestors are gathering there to express their outrage.

Trump and his Gestapo couldn’t be happier about this. Here in Portland, we have a temporary reprieve as long as they abide by Judge Karin Immergut’s order.

This gives the major influencers in Portland and Oregon, the mayor, governor, police chief, and others a chance to mount a major campaign to make sure protests are small and peaceful. We must not give them reasons to claim that we are the war-torn city they want to depict us as.

Like so many people who feel strongly about an issue, Portlanders don’t want to be told not to do something. There will be those who want to be one of the “handful” of protestors at the ICE building. It should be easy to make sure those who do go there are peaceful, but keeping the group so small it could be barely called a crowd will be a challenge.

There are plenty of places to protest in and around downtown Portland. There’s no way to get around the fact that this building is symbolic. It is really tempting to protest there. I urge resisting the temptation.

In Chicago yesterday supposedly one or more people tried to ram ICE vehicles with their cars. This led to a woman being shot. This is the absolute worst way to protest. In Chicago, Portland, and elsewhere we must not to give federal agents or troops any reason to react with violence.

I think it is vital that whatever these agents of authoritarianism do is documented but mostly this happens out in the community. In what I think is an architecturally ugly building in Portland, here’s what they are doing:

The office is where ICE agents take people after they’re arrested and before they’re sent to a long-term detention facility. It also serves as a place for immigrants to do required check-ins with immigration authorities and for other immigration-related appointments.
“People go in there for various kinds of interviews,” said Robert Brown, a volunteer with the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, a Democrat who represents portions of Portland and the rest of Oregon’s 1st Congressional District, recently toured the building with other members of Congress. They were told about 70 people go through the field office each month for processing, she said.
The building also has temporary cells where people are held while they’re being processed. (From article)

In the Portland building they are probably consuming our famous VooDoo Doughuts.

I suggest that if anyone wants to go to the ICE building they go bearing the gift of VooDoo Donuts. Leave them at the front door. Tempt the agents to eat these delicious Portland treats.

Let them feed their faces, dress up like they’re about to raid a drug kingpin’s lair, and leave the building and see

They WANT to see protestors. It gives them a thrill. It makes them feel powerful. It is best to ignore them. After all they are just coming and going into a building. It is best to make sure their activities are documented when they do their actual dirty work.

Trump and his Gestapo henchmen / henchwomen want Portland to give them a party so they can happily dance in swinging their big black assault rifles. They want that party. They want a war with us. That would be their party. I ask what would happen if they gave a party and nobody came?

Addendum:

Because of a jog in the city boundries even though I’m a half hour drive from downtown I have a Portland address. Therefore I can honestly say I am a Portlander even though I really live in a suburb.