Portable Bohemia Newsletter May 15, 2025
Greetings from the Far Left Coast and congratulations to my friend Greg Bigler whose book Rabbit Decolonizes the Forest: Stories from the Euchee Reservation is a nonfiction finalist for the 2025 Oklahoma Book Award.
Gary Snyder celebrated his ninety-fifth birthday on May 8. Poet, scholar, bohemian, Zen Buddhist who lived in a monastery in Japan in the 1950s, Snyder translated Japanese and Chinese poetry into English, served as a member of the California Arts Council, received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Turtle Island (1974) and the American Book Award for Axe Handles (1983), and was a great friend of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, figuring prominently in Kerouac’s novel The Dharma Bums. Oh and by the way, he attended Reed College here in Portland.
I dropped off my ballot for our May 20 election at a library dropbox Saturday afternoon. On Monday afternoon I received a text confirming that my ballot had been accepted. Vote by mail works.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal is a nineteen-year-old student at Dalton College in Georgia. She attended Dalton High School where she was an honors student and ran cross-country. Arias-Cristobal’s parents are illegal immigrants who brought her to this country in 2010 when she was four years old. She was not eligible for DACA because she arrived after June 15, 2007 (see Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA] FAQs).
Arias-Cristobal was ticketed for making an illegal right turn on red and taken into custody for not having a valid Georgia driver’s license, an offense for which police typically issue a citation rather than make an arrest. When it became clear she was in the country illegally, she was handed over to ICE, her wrists and ankles chained, and taken to a detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia.
Two days ago CBS reported that local authorities dropped the traffic charges when review of dashboard camera footage by the police department and city prosecutor revealed that the truck that made the illegal turn was similar to the one Arias-Cristobal was driving. The police officer stopped the wrong vehicle (Montoya-Galvez, Officials drop).
In another twist to the story, Arias-Cristobal’s father was arrested two weeks earlier for allegedly going six miles an hour over the speed limit and is being held in the same detention center as his daughter. He owns a local business and has no criminal record. According to DHS the two now have the opportunity to return to Mexico where they can apply to reenter the US legally. One may presume that the DHS spokesperson spoke with a straight face.
Arias-Cristobal’s twelve-year-old sister, a US citizen because born in this country, said of her parents, “They're not criminals, and they're good people who came here to make a living for themselves. They came here for a better future, a bright future, and they came here to work and not to be criminals” (Rahman, Ximena). I have not seen anything about what her fate may be if other members of the family are deported.
Even a Republican state representative spoke to the absurdity of the situation:
The reality is, the conversation has always been that we need to get hard criminals out of the country.
Unfortunately, the people that aren't hard criminals are getting caught up in the wash. It seems like we are much better at catching people that are committing misdemeanors than people that are actually a danger to society. (Rahman)
The Arias-Cristobals, daughter and father, are guilty of the civil offense of being in the country illegally. They are not criminals or the worst of any worst. Rather, they follow in the footsteps of many who came to these shores in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their children. In a civilized country there would be some path to legal status for them.
Ximena Arias-Cristobal’s story is not an exception. There are many like it. The actions of Rubio, Noem, Homan, and the rest, all the way down to agents of the secret police who put this girl in chains, make clear there is no place for compassion or decency in the regime’s treatment of such people.
Michael A. Cohen, A 19-year-old college student had a minor traffic violation—now she faces deportation, MSNBC, May 9, 2025
Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Officials drop traffic charges that led ICE to arrest 19-year-old Georgia teen, CBS News, May 12, 2025
Billal Rahman, Ximena Arias-Cristobal Facing 'Nightmare' in ICE Detention, Friend Says, Newsweek, May 9, 2025
Speaking of ICE detention facilities: furor in Newark. Newark mayor Ras Baraka was arrested after he attempted to join three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, one of them, Bonnie Watson Coleman, eighty years old, who had come to make an unannounced oversight visit at an ICE detention facility that members of Congress have the legal right to make. An argument broke out when Baraka tried to enter the facility with the representatives. When told that he was not permitted to do so, he reportedly returned to the public side of the gates where he was arrested, handcuffed, charged with trespassing and ignoring warnings to leave the facility, and held for several hours.
Rep. Robert Menendez described the scene: “There was yelling and pushing. Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the lawmakers had not asked for a tour of Delaney Hall, which the agency said it would have facilitated. The department said that as a bus carrying detainees was entering in the afternoon “a group of protestors, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”
Watson Coleman spokesperson Ned Cooper said the three lawmakers went there unannounced because they planned to inspect it, not take a scheduled tour. (Offenhartz, Lauer, Mayor Baraka)
Watson Coleman disputed the DHS contention that they stormed the facility:
“Contrary to a press statement put out by DHS we did not ‘storm’ the detention center,” she wrote. “The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn’t even correctly count the number of Representatives present. We were exercising our legal oversight function as we have done at the Elizabeth Detention Center without incident.” (Offenhartz, Lauer)
Video of the incident shows much pushing, shoving, and confusion as the representatives tried to make their way back into the facility after the apprehension of Baraka. I did not see any agent of the secret police “body slammed” by one of the members, as was alleged by DHS but not witnessed by a Politico reporter on the scene. A DHS spokesperson said that arresting the three Democratic members of Congress is “on the table” and referred further questions to Alina Habba, Trump’s personal interim US attorney for NJ (Rivard, Han, DHS spokesperson).
Jake Offenhartz, Claudia Lauer, Mayor Baraka of Newark, New Jersey, arrested at immigration detention center he has been protesting, AP, May 9, 2025
Ry Rivard, Daniel Han, DHS spokesperson: More Dem arrests are ‘on the table’ after ICE facility scrum, Politico, May 10, 2025
Tara Suter, New Jersey Democratic Rep. slams ICE, HSI over Newark facility visit, The Hill, May 11, 2025
Next up: Library of Congress and US copyright office. The Library of Congress is part of legislative branch of government; the president nominates the Librarian of Congress for Senate confirmation. This week Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, whose ten-year term was set to expire next year, for DEI violations and named his former personal defense attorney, presently personal Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche as acting librarian.
Trump next dismissed Sherl Perlmutter, head of the copyright office within the Library of Congress. Some copyright office employees “suspect her firing may stem from her recent report on how using copyrighted material to train AI tech could overstep laws governing fair use” (Olivares, Trump reportedly fires). It so happens that Elon Musk owns an AI firm and supports deleting intellectual property laws. Quelle coïncidence!
Katherine Tully-McManus, Jordain Carney, Kyle Cheney, Hill leaders question Trump’s attempted Library of Congress takeover, Politico, May 12, 2025
José Olivares, Trump reportedly fires head of US copyright office after release of AI report, The Guardian, May 12, 2025
In a bold humanitarian initiative Trump fast-tracked refugee status for fifty-nine South Africans who are now in the US as part of a government resettlement program for Afrikaners who claim discrimination. According to Trump this is needed because of genocide in South Africa. It comes as the overall US refugee program is being shut down. The door is closed to people fleeing famine and violence in Sudan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and many other places around the globe.
On May 12 DHS announced it was terminating temporary protected status for Afghanistan effective July 14 because, per Kristi Noem, “Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent [sic] them from returning to their home country.” Are we really to believe that Afghan refugees who cooperated with the US before the withdrawal negotiated by Trump and poorly carried out under Biden have no reason to fear retribution from the Taliban?
Did I mention that Afrikaners are white, people from Sudan, Haiti, DR Congo, Afghanistan, etc., not so much? Another coincidence.
Amna Nawaz, White South Africans arrive in U.S. after receiving refugee status from Trump, PBS News Hour, May 12, 2025
Peter Smith, Episcopal Church says it won’t help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US, AP, May 12, 2025
On May 8 Kash Patel appeared at a Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee hearing on the fiscal year 2026 budget for the FBI. Patel told Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash) that he did not have a timeline for the fiscal year 2025 spend plan required by law and due more than a week earlier. Nor did he have in hand a budget request for which this hearing was ostensibly being held. Patel could say only that the budget was being worked on, somewhere, it seems, by someone or other, interagency partners. He had not reviewed it, much less approved anything. Again he could offer no timeline.
Murray did not posture or play for the cameras. Her questions were straightforward, reasonable, and purposeful. Patel appeared miserable and was pathetic.
FBI Director Shows Up to Budget Hearing With “No” Timeline for Budget, Walks Back His Criticism of Trump’s Plan for Big Cuts at FBI, Senate Appropriations Committee, Minority News Release, May 8, 2025
Murray Presses Patel on Lack of FBI Budget, Huge Proposed Cuts (video)
Space, time, and my exploding skull prompt me to give only passing mention to the epic boondoggle in the making with the gift of that jet from Qatar which would be in blatant violation of the constitution’s emoluments clause, meme coin dinners, other episodes of corruption, the Chinese tariff farce, and much else. On the Democratic side of the ledger there is the smoldering mess Joe Biden has left of his legacy, front and center again with the upcoming publication of the Tapper-Thompson book Original Sin, and the articles of impeachment filed by blockhead Shri Thanedar (D-Mich), for which he attempted to force a vote before backing down. His colleagues are royally ticked off. This comment by an unnamed House Democrat is typical: “This is the dumbest f***ing thing. Utterly selfish behavior.”
Andrew Solender, Dems privately rage over "utterly selfish" Trump impeachment vote, Axios, May 13, 2025
Nicholas Wu, Thanedar opts against forcing impeachment vote amid backlash, Politico, May 14, 2025
Would it be sexist to refer to Trump’s personal attorney general as Pam Blondie? Asking for a friend.
Memo from the Cinema Desk. Le mépris (Contempt) is a 1963 film by Jean-Luc Godard with Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Georgia Moll, and director Fritz Lang as Fritz Lang. Susan Sontag, an admirer of Godard, held that “there is no film of Godard’s which does not have many remarkable passages of the highest quality.” She called Le Mépris “a deeply flawed but nonetheless ambitious and original film.” Though we share a passion for film, Sontag’s sensibility was quite different from mine. For instance, I hold Ingmar Bergman in considerably higher regard than she did and have mixed feelings about Godard. Early on I thought c the most unpleasant film I had seen in a while. Any remarkable passages of the highest quality must have gone over my head.
Paul (Piccoli) is an author of crime novels who turned to scriptwriting to make money. He is hired by obnoxious American producer Jeremy Prokosch (Palance) to rewrite the script for a version of the Odyssey being filmed by Lang. Paul and his wife Camille (Bardot), a former typist, speak little English. Prokosch speaks little else and relies on his harried assistant Francesca (Moll) for translation as they discuss his dissatisfaction with Lang’s film and he eyes Camille with obvious intent.
Prokosch says that when he hears the word “culture” he reaches for his checkbook and proceeds to write Paul a check for $10,000. Not much for subtlety, Godard has Lang remind us all that the word made Göring reach for his revolver, a misattribution of which Godard appears to have been either unaware or unbothered by it (the line is from a play by Nazi playwright Hanns Johst).
Their marriage goes on the rocks after Paul encourages Camille to accept Prokosch’s offer of a ride back to his place in his red sports car while Paul follows in a taxi. His arrival delayed by a traffic accident, Paul finds Camille in a snit and begins to wonder if anything went on with Prokosch. For her part, she wonders what he had in mind when he pushed her to go with the producer. Later in the film discussion of the Odyssey with Lang will turn to speculation about whether Penelope was faithful while Odysseus was away and whether he purposefully took his time returning home.
There is a lengthy scene back in Rome between encounters with Prokosch where Paul and Camille argue, make up somewhat, and argue more about whether they still love each other and if they will remain together. Camille goes shopping and buys a black wig. Paul retrieves his revolver from its hiding place behind books on a shelf in the bookcase and puts it in his coat pocket as he and Camille head out for a visit to Prokosch’s villa in Capri where Lang is shooting the movie and Camille sunbathes and swims naked. The gun is a bit of directorial misdirection leading to a tragic ending that is contrived, cold, unmoving, which is characteristic of my experience with Godard, although I have in some sense enjoyed some of his films (À bout de souffle [Breathless], La Chinoise, Weekend).
I seldom regret watching a film, even one that does not do much for me. If nothing else Le Mépris prompted a revisit to trailers for other Godard films. The one for La Chinoise is a hoot.
Keep the faith. Stand with Ukraine. yr obdt svt