Hi friends,
The work has a National Parks Service permit and will be on display through 5 PM June 22. Bronze plaques on the pedestal include quotes from Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin:
“The most respected, the most feared person is Donald Trump.” - Orbán
“President Trump is a very bright and talented man.” - Putin
The sculpture on the pedestal shows a gold emoji-like thumbs up smashing Lady Liberty’s crown. The photographs in the article are worth the click.
My personal hope is that there will be an accompanying performance piece on 5 PM Sunday, involving a MAGA-hatted mob toppling the sculpture and pedestal, and ICE cosplayers arresting the artwork and detaining it.
Art is a refuge in troubled times.
Photograph by Stanley Greenberg
There was a rapid response protest yesterday afternoon in Foley Square to demand the release of Brad Lander, who was released without charge shortly after this photo was taken.
Lander had been inside 26 Federal Plaza to observe hearings and accompany immigrants leaving routine court appearances. This was Lander’s third weekly observation of federal immigration hearings, which Lander wrote into his schedule after “masked federal agents began staking out immigration courtrooms last month, targeting immigrants for arrest.”
Lander expressed gratitude for their support:
"What New Yorkers are deciding right now is, will we have a mayor who stands up for the traditions of the city, who protects immigrant New Yorkers, and who protects all New Yorkers," Lander said. "I am very grateful to the other mayoral candidates who came out here to call for my release, to stand up for those traditions, and I really hope New Yorkers will elect one of us."
Let’s do it. Early voting continues through Sunday!
Cuomo spoke out against ICE thuggery, but probably didn’t realize that the rally for Lander was just 1 stop downtown on the Q train. Mamdani came from Queens and Myrie came from Brooklyn.
New York is a union town. I will note, however, that Adrienne Adams spoke at the rally to free David Huerta last week, even though the union that organized it endorsed Cuomo, who was nowhere to be seen.
Love should go both ways.
Tell the Senate to oppose provisions of the budget bill that attack federal workers and unions! Personalize this quick action from AFGE and mention your public service and/or union membership.
Regular folks can do what Lander has been doing by taking an
online training course that provides detailed information about how to engage in court observation. Volunteers do not need any previous experience with immigration law, and do not need to be lawyers or other legal professionals.
Register to volunteer with the Immigration Court Observation & Awareness Project.
in part because of concerns the mayor invited them back in as part of a deal with the Trump administration to end his corruption case.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu signed an executive order calling for regular filings of public records requests from the Department of Homeland Security in order to pressure the regime to expose ICE’s tactics in the current federal immigration crackdown.
The followed a ruling by a federal judge that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s determination that Khalil’s presence in the US has
“potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States” was likely unconstitutional.
That judge ordered Khalil’s release, but the DOJ appealed on the basis of supposed irregularities in his green card application. We will root for justice.
Judge Young, a Reagan appointee, citing the regime’s assault on diversity and equity initiatives and its attacks on transgender people,
said that over the course of his career he had “never seen government racial discrimination like this,” and that he felt duty bound to state his conclusion about the government’s intent.
“I would be blind not to call it out,” he said.
It’s not raining in NYC today and you’ve cashed your good news raincheck.
with love,
L