Reuters reports: “The U.S. Army deployed AeroVironment Inc’s (AVAV.O) LOCUST laser counter-drone weapon system near El Paso International Airport on Wednesday (February 11, 2026), leading to a seven-hour airspace shutdown, two people briefed on the situation told Reuters.” (1)

“The use of the 20-kilowatt LOCUST direct-energy weapon, which has not previously been reported, is a rare known example of the U.S. deploying cutting-edge counter-drone technology capable of defeating flying objects at a fraction of the cost of traditional interceptor missiles.” (1)

SummersTimes offers a snarky alternative name for the Pentagon’s latest plaything: the Bodacious Unreal Zippy Zapper, or BUZZ.

With hilarity worthy of the Keystone Kops (2), three wretchedly confused entities – the Department of Defense (a/k/a War?), the Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection agency – fumbled and bumbled and stumbled and stomped all over one another and shut down El Paso airspace (initially for ten days, lifted after seven hours) because of consternation (or was it panic?) about a nefarious drone.

“Several outlets have also reported that the laser was fired at an object officials believed was a drone. They later learned it was a party balloon”. (3)

This is not the first time in recent years that the foo fighters (4) in the Pentagon have hunted down and destroyed a menacing party decoration.

“Today (12 February 2023) at 2:42 p.m. ET, at the direction of President Biden, and based on the recommendations of Secretary Austin and military leadership, an F-16 fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down an airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in U.S. airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan.” It turned out to be a party balloon. Cost of an AIM9x: $472,000.00. (5)

With all of the money that we waste on weaponry, one would think that contractors could come up with software sophisticated enough to differentiate toy balloons from other targets.

Back to the second paragraph. The LOCUST system (6) defeats “...flying objects at a fraction of the cost of traditional interceptor missiles.”

What does one make of that? Why, the Department of Defense/War is looking out for taxpayers and diligently slashing costs, of course!

Let us be grateful.

Endnotes:

(1) https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/aerovironments-locust-counter-drone-laser-used-by-us-army-near-el-paso-airport-2026-02-12/

(2) https://www.britannica.com/topic/Keystone-Kops

(3) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cbp-fired-military-laser-triggered-el-paso-communication-meltdown/ar-AA1Wf9MA

(4) No, not Dave Grohl and friends. “The term foo fighters was used by Allied aircraft pilots during World War II to describe various unidentified flying objects or mysterious aerial phenomena…” See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_fighter. (Now you know the origin of the band’s name!)

(5) SummersTimes, February 13, 2023

(6) LOCUST. As in a plague of locusts. As in Exodus 10:12-5. Uh-huh. Got it.

The annual spectacle is nigh. Two days away, in fact.

I refer, of course, to Super Bowl LVI.

The gladiators (I mean, the Los Angeles and Cincinnati teams) will be beating their brains out (literally, sad to say) in the new SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California.

That’s the way, way, over-the-top facility that cost $5 billion in private funds (and counting) to build. (1)

Have you ever wondered about who provides Super Bowl security?

Local law enforcement, of course. The Inglewood police chief is said to be in charge overall. (2)

“In addition to the Secret Service, numerous agencies are involved in protecting the Super Bowl, including US Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, FBI, Department of Defense, as well as other local agencies, such as the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol. CBP helicopters and Defense Department fighter jets will be available to help protect the air space.” (2)

That’s one heckuva list, isn’t it?

There are more. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Office of Intelligence Analysis, the Office of Operations Coordination, and the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) are involved. (3)

And the National Football League (NFL) is pitching in to help cover the costs.

Not!

“When a city bids on a Super Bowl, the NFL stipulates that pregame and day-of-game security will be incurred ‘at no cost to the NFL.’” (4)

Way out in the weeds, one finds an obscure (yet highly telling) document: a confidential 2013 set of Super Bowl requirements that the NFL imposed on Minneapolis. “In 153 pages of previously-secret bid specifications, the plan to have the NFL control many of the public and private aspects of the event is outlined.” (5)

It’s rather turgid and tedious reading.

Supposedly, it’s a set of “Bid Specifications and Requirements.”

It hardly reads, though, as an arms-length set of agreements, fairly bargained. Minneapolis seems more like a supplicant, making all kinds of expansive and expensive promises and concessions, and effectively pledging fealty to the NFL.

As for security costs, page 67 reveals the precise operative language: “The NFL requires that all necessary and recommended public safety and security deployments….will be provided at no cost to the NFL.”

There you have it. No cost. Zero. Zip. Nada.

To me, sports extravaganzas in general (e.g., Super Bowl, Olympics, building new stadiums) often are, for public entities, dicey and dubious financial undertakings.

States and cities can financially prostitute themselves all they want in order to land future Super Bowls (or Olympics, or whatever). Who am I to tell them what to do?

I will say this, though: we as federal taxpayers should not have to subsidize the National Football League.

If anything, it’s way past time for the NFL to chip in and at least defray the enormous costs incurred by the federal government each year for providing Super Bowl security.

Sources:

(1) https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-nfls-5-billion-bet-to-make-football-work-in-los-angeles-11568376042

(2) https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/02/politics/super-bowl-security-federal-planning/index.html

(3) https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/02/09/dhs-partners-state-and-local-officials-secure-super-bowl-lvi

(4) https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/01/28/nfl-should-pay-super-bowl-security-not-federal-government/

(5) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1184220-20140605190910.html#document/p36

Background:

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0905_ops_sear-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/02/03/secretary-johnson-highlights-super-bowl-50-security-operations

https://www.nj.com/super-bowl/2014/02/nj_gave_nfl_8_million_tax_break_and_pass_on_security_costs_to_land_the_2014_super_bowl.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hosting-super-bowl-worth-cities-000059204.html

Bully for Trump.

In 2022, I wrote:

When one thinks of landmark Supreme Court cases, several immediately come to mind: Brown vs. Board of Education, Roe vs. Wade, Bush vs. Gore, Marquette National Bank vs. First of Omaha.

Say again? Marquette National what?

A U.S. Supreme Court case called Marquette National Bank v. First of Omaha Service Corporation, 439 U.S. 299 (1978), effectively nullified many usury laws. The Court held that states cannot impose interest rate caps on national banks that are headquartered in other states.

The result? Indirectly, the ruling threw open the doors to punishing interest rates on bank credit cards.

Accordingly, you may have paid a good chunk of change in interest over the years.

Congress could amend national banking laws and effectively allow for the reestablishment of state laws limiting interest rates – if only it wished to do so.

Forty-three years have passed. Month after month, Americans docilely pay huge amounts of interest on credit cards.

The big banks love it. Why would they want to change a thing? The profit margins on bank cards are enormous.

My point is this: the banks would (and should) remain profitable if usury laws were to be reinstated. Their credit cards simply wouldn’t be off-the-charts profitable.

In short, Congress has the power to rein in bank card interest rates. But they’ll do so if and only if enough of us insist that it be done.

Afternotes:

(1) In February 2025, Senators Josh Hawley and Bernie Sanders introduced the “10 Percent Credit Card Interest Rate Cap Act”. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/381/text It’s bottled up in committee.

(2) There’s more to bank cards than sky high interest. So-called (and largely stealthy) “swipe fees” are imposed at points of purchase. Merchants have little choice but to pass them on to consumers. Background is here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2024/12/09/credit-card-processing-fees-inflation/76713979007/

December 4, 1915.

My dear Mr. President:

You will recall that I told you of the informal conversations I have had with the Danish Minister in regard to the purchase by this government of the Danish West Indies. …In October I spoke to the Danish Minister of the desire of this government to consider the purchase of the islands… Some days later he replied to my inquiry that his government at the present time would not negotiate upon the subject… On Nov. 15 the Minister again called to see me about the matter and said he was under considerable embarrassment about a question which his government had asked, but which he had hesitated to present to me. The question was this: “Whether he thought in case the Danish Government did not agree to a sale of the islands the United States would feel it necessary to take possession of them.” In reply I told the Minister that, while it had not been in my mind that action of this sort would be necessary, as I had hoped some formal negotiation would result in the transfer of the sovereignty, I could conceive of circumstances which would compel such an act on our part.”

Source https://www.nytimes.com/1931/07/19/archives/drama-of-the-virgin-islands-purchase-robert-lansings-story-of-the.html

First Name, Last Name, Title, Company, Salary, Total Compensation

(1) William Sibold

Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc

$275,400.00

$32,268,400.00

____________________

(2) Ari Bousbib

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

IQVIA Holdings Inc

$1,800,000.00

$29,151,752.00

____________________

(3) Joseph Hogan

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Align Technology Inc

$1,354,769.00

$28,952,411.00

_____________________

(4) Joaquin Duato

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Johnson & Johnson

$1,584,615.00

$28,397,240.00

_____________________

(5) David Ricks

Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Eli Lilly and Co

$1,621,154.00

$26,565,732.00

_____________________

(6) Jason Holler

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Cardinal Health Inc

$1,434,153.00

$25,650,709.00

______________________

(7) Rami Elghandour

President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

Arcellx Inc

$600,960.00

$24,964,306.00

______________________

(8) Albert Bourla

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Pfizer Inc

$1,800,000.00

$24,648,727.00

______________________

(9) Samuel Hazen

Director and Chief Executive Officer

HCA Healthcare Inc

$1,539,947.00

$23,799,137.00

______________________

(10) Andrew Witty

Director and Chief Executive Officer

UnitedHealth Group Inc

$1,500,000.00

$23,534,936.00

_______________________

(11) Robert Ford

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Abbott Laboratories

$1,500,000.00

$23,268,171.00

________________________

(12) David Cordani

Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

The Cigna Group

$1,573,077.00

$23,251,096.00

_________________________

(13) Robert Bradway

Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Amgen Inc

$1,786,977.00

$22,643,650.00

_________________________

(14) Daniel O’Day

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Gilead Sciences Inc

$1,740,962.00

$22,607,690.00

_________________________

(15) Gail Boudreaux

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Anthem Inc

$1,600,000.00

$21,889,039.00

_________________________

(16) Karen Lynch

Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

CVS Health Corp

$1,500,000.00

$21,615,034.00

_________________________

(17) Michael Mahoney

Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Boston Scientific Corp

$1,400,000.00

$21,420,801.00

_________________________

(18) Rainer Blair

Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Danaher Corp

$1,300,000.00

$20,903,282.00

__________________________

(19) Kevin Lobo

Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President

Stryker Corp

$1,391,667.00

$20,767,847.00

__________________________

(20) Reshma Kewalramani

Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

$1,500,000.00

$20,594,441.00

Source: https://blog.salaryexpert.com/blog/top-20-highest-paid-ceos-in-health-care/

Background: “Health Benefits for Members of Congress and Designated Congressional Staff: In Brief”. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R43194

I was in Japan last month. An opportunity arose to spend a day in Nagasaki, site of the second atomic bombing of August, 1945. So I decided to go. In my own feeble and fumbling way, I hoped – or did I resolve? -- to achieve some measures of empathy and contrition for the sheer horror and terror and unspeakable suffering.

On the day of my visit, the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum was packed with people. It was well appointed: artifacts and photos and exhibits and carefully curated explanations abounded. But I found myself feeling hollow and numb. Somehow I could not relate to any of it.

I trudged – or perhaps stumbled? – out the door and into the adjoining garden. Meticulously groomed, it was filled with statuary and monuments gifted to the city of Nagasaki by nations and people from throughout the world.

Listlessly, I walked – or did I shuffle? – through the grounds. Draped under – or perhaps smothered by? -- a sullen November sky, the sculptures seemed to be merely drab and inanimate forms. Or were they shapes without form? They were cold – cold beyond cold, I thought, in ways that only bronze and granite can possibly know. I was just like them. I was devoid of feeling.

Suddenly -- singing. Were my ears deceiving me? I thought that I heard singing in the distance!

Singing it was. The lilting voices of a children’s choir were taking flight. The children of Nagasaki were singing!

It was then that I realized that my quest for meaning and understanding was not to be through the museum. My pilgrimage for forgiveness and atonement was not to culminate in the garden. Redemption was to be had through the children.

Sometimes terror and hope can be bound up as one. The children of Nagasaki taught me that.

So perhaps it will be children who help us back away from the precipice. Perhaps it will be children who guide us from the abyss.

The children. The children. We dare not betray the children.

Photo credit #1: Geopolitical Economy Report

Photo credit #2: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

“Israel facilitated the transportation of 140,000 tarpaulins to the residents of Gaza ahead of the winter, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on Sunday….”

“Along with our partners at the [U.S.-run Civil-Military Coordination Center] and in the international community, we are planning a catered humanitarian response for the upcoming winter, COGAT added.” Source: https://www.jns.org/edited-pub-tues-israel-facilitates-140000-tarpaulins-for-gaza-ahead-of-winter/

Catering defined: “to provide food or entertainment; to be particularly attentive or solicitous; to attend to wants and needs; to supply what is needed or desired at theatrical or musical entertainments…” Source: https://www.wordnik.com/words/cater

A catered humanitarian response. Why, yes, I’ll have some more hors d’ouvres. And at what time will we be seated for the rations du jour?

Parenthetically -- the population of Gaza is 823,400. Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/cities/palestine/gaza

823,400 people divided by 140,000 tarps equals 5.88 people per tarp.

Not all of the people need tarps, of course. So let’s cut that population figure to less than half: 400,000.

400,000 people divided by 140,000 tarps equals 2.85 people per tarp.

Then again -- perhaps more tarps will be sent. So let’s double the tarp figure to 280,000.

400,000 divided by 280,000 equals 1.42 people per tarp.

As if tarps provide suitable winter shelter in the first place.

Or you live in an apartment, you say, so there are no opportunities to install a system.

Ah, but wait. An elegant workaround may be coming.

How about portable solar?

How about out-of-the-box panels that you can hang from an apartment balcony, or set up on a porch or on a deck or in a small yard? Systems that simply plug into a standard electrical outlet (or, perhaps, into a battery storage system) and -- on a small scale and intermittent basis -- generate power for your own use?

Such devices have caught on in Europe (Germany in particular). But here in the U.S., there are a number of issues that must be resolved in order to permit widespread adoption. These include establishment of product uniformity standards, compliance with electrical codes, interconnection rules, harmonization of state and local regulations, and industry buy-in.

Here’s hoping. Let’s all become advocates for – and, as we are able, users of – portable solar generation!

Background:

https://solartechonline.com/blog/solar-panels-apartment-balcony-guide/

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/balcony-solar-plug-in-systems-home/

https://www.theenergymix.com/solar-panels-that-fit-on-your-balcony-or-deck-are-gaining-traction-in-the-u-s/

Photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/2023-05-05_Sogenanntes_Balkonkraftwerk%2C_eine_Mini-PV-Anlage%2C_in_Tauberbischofsheim_01.jpg

One seemingly innocuous item recently caught my eye. Roku spritely announced “We’ve Recently Updated Our Privacy Policy.”

Reflexively, I dispatched it – almost. I decided instead to take a short (or so I thought) look.

Short it is not.

See for yourself: https://docs.roku.com/published/userprivacypolicy/en/us.

It turns out that a handful of states -- California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia – have established varying forms of disclosure requirements.

So Roku wearily (or is it warily?) plows through the strictures (such as they are) of the aforementioned states.

The list is pretty intrusive. Up to a point, though, what Roku gathers is (even to cynics) unsurprising.

“Commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.”

“Internet or other electronic network activity information, including, but not limited to, browsing history, search history, and information regarding a consumer’s interaction with an Internet website, application, or advertisement.”

“General geolocation data, such as general location and geographical information, including designated market area, country, province, state, city, and postal code.”

But then it veers into the unexpected.

“Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.”

Thermal? Olfactory? WHAT?

“Inferences drawn from Personal Information, including your preferences, interests, and other information used to personalize your experience.”

Huh? They makes inferences?

“Personal Information that reveals racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, union membership, health, and wellness information.”

What the hey?

“Personal Information that reveals...social security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number, and...content of consumer emails, texts and messages where we are not the intended recipient.”

So they’re also going to root through all the information they receive, even if by accident?

That’s not all.

“Roku does not have actual knowledge that it processes the Personal Information of consumers under 13 years of age.”

So they leave open the possibility that they process it inadvertently?

“Personal Information we collect may be retained for as long as needed to fulfill legitimate business purposes…”

Like in perpetuity, perhaps?

Way, way, WAY at the bottom is this seemingly soothing Balm for the Paranoid: “You can exercise your right to opt out of the “sale” of your Personal Information, or the processing of your Personal Information for targeted advertising, and limit our use of your sensitive Personal Information, where permitted by law, by visiting Roku’s Your Privacy Choices page...”

But note well that there’s nothing in that “concession” that actually stops their data collection practices.

Whew. Do we EVER need a set of national privacy laws! (The yammering of just a few states simply will not do.)

It’s enough to make me set my Roku remote to the Dust Bunny Channel. Permanently.

That’s precisely what Grover Cleveland did in 1894: he dispatched troops to Chicago to quell a railroad strike.

“A federal injunction having been issued, President Cleveland could now treat the strike and boycott as a federal issue, and he ordered troops into Chicago on July 3. ...Cleveland continued to send troops, even though the state militia seemed quite capable of handling the situation.” (1)

Illinois governor JB Pritzker has – dare I say? – railed against the present prospects. So is he unwittingly channeling his inner J.P. Altgeld?

“(Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld) was outraged and immediately wired the president (Cleveland), saying, “Surely the facts have not been correctly presented to you in this case, or you would not have taken the step, for it seems to me unjustifiable.” (1)

The so-called Pullman Strike turned violent.

“On July 6 some 6,000 rioters destroyed hundreds of railcars in the South Chicago Panhandle yards (of the Pullman Company). By that time, there were some 6,000 federal and state troops, 3,100 police, and 5,000 deputy marshals in the city, but they could not contain the violence. On July 7 national guardsmen, after having been assaulted, fired into a mob, killing between 4 and 30 people and wounding many others.” (1)

“Congress supported Cleveland’s use of troops, and the mainstream press, in Chicago and elsewhere, turned against...labor in general.” (1)

Anyone for a dollop of irony? Today is August 29, 2025; Labor Day is but three days away.

“Amid the crisis, on June 28 Pres. Grover Cleveland and Congress created a national holiday, Labor Day, as a conciliatory gesture toward the American (labor) movement.” (1)

I’ll close with this as a coda:

"I believe a rich plunderer like Pullman is a greater felon than a poor thief, and it has become no small part of the duty of this organization to strip the mask of hypocrisy from the pretended philanthropist and show him to the world as an oppressor of labor...The paternalism of the Pullman is the same as the interest of a slaveholder in his human chattels. You are striking to avert slavery and degradation." Eugene V. Debs, President of the American Railway Union, speech of May 16, 1894 (2)

National Guard troops at the Hotel Florence in Pullman, 1894. Photo credit: Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Sources:

(1) https://www.britannica.com/event/Pullman-Strike

(2) https://www.nps.gov/pull/learn/historyculture/the-strike-of-1894.htm

Background:

https://www.history.com/articles/labor-day-pullman-railway-strike-origins

https://www.nps.gov/pull/learn/historyculture/the-strike-of-1894.htm

https://www.library.illinois.edu/idhh-highlights/index.php/2019/09/12/honoring-labor-remembering-the-pullman-strike-and-boycott/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike

Visit the Pullman National Historic Park: https://www.nps.gov/pull/index.htm

I’ll not delve into what I’ll call the Trump Effect. But I am amazed -- incredulous, even –- about how Democrats are dealing with it. (Or perhaps more accurately, how they’re not dealing with it.)

In the United Kingdom and other countries, the opposition party/parties formally or informally designate people to follow sitting members of cabinet. As counterpoints, these individuals comment on governmental activity. They provide constructive criticism. They focus and advance minority party policy. They bring coherence. They add vision.

By way of quick examples, think about some of the respected individuals that the Democrats could bring to the fore as shadow cabinet officers. Former senator, secretary of state, and climate ambassador John Kerry. Former representative, chief of staff, defense secretary, and CIA director Leon Panetta. Former treasury secretary and Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellin. Economist and former labor secretary Robert Reich. Former jurist and attorney general Merrick Garland. Former senator and vice president Al Gore.

One can hope.

I close with another cheery Will Rogers quotation: “Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they’d be Republicans.”

Now: the entrance at McCook, Nebraska

“Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Tuesday afternoon (August 19, 2025) that the McCook Work Ethic Camp, currently a minimum-security prison, will be repurposed into a detention facility to hold immigration detainees as they await court hearings or deportation flights.” (2)

(1) Source: Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oswiecimiu, via https://www.ushmm.org/online-calendar/event/MWCHICLAWMEET1218

(2) Source: https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/reports-mccook-will-be-home-to-immigration-detention-facility/

News item: “(Illinois Governor JB) Pritzker also said he has considered whether Illinois should respond (to proposed Congressional redistricting in Texas) by redrawing its own map in Democrats' favor, as “’everything has to be on the table.’" (1)

As if an Illinois Congressional delegation of fourteen Democrats and three Republicans isn’t enough of a partisan gerrymander and cramdown. Thanks to Illinois’ convoluted and contorted election laws, candidates are already out gathering petition signatures for a general election that is fully fifteen months away. And they’re doing it based on the existing rules. (2)

Change the maps midstream? Good luck with that.

Sources:

(1) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pritzker-says-redrawing-illinois-district-map-on-the-table-in-response-to-texas-redistricting-push/ar-AA1JSZSF

(2) file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/2026electioncalendar_638902585589323060.pdf

Yes. Illinois law provides for short term guardianship. Parents may, in writing, appoint a trusted person to help their children in case of a family separation or other emergency. The individual so named – the guardian – then takes over management of the living arrangements, health care, and schooling of the children.

Usually, a short term guardianship lasts for up to 365 days. Court involvement is not required.

Under some circumstances, the arrangement may be extended. According to 755 ILCS 5/11-5.4 (d-5), “... a short-term guardian appointed as the result of an administrative separation may renew a short-term guardianship for an additional 365 days...”

As defined by 755 ILCS 5/11-1, "'Administrative separation'" means a parent's, legal guardian's, legal custodian's, or primary caretaker's: (1) arrest, detention, incarceration, removal, or deportation in connection with federal immigration enforcement; or (2) receipt of official communication by federal, State, or local authorities regarding immigration enforcement that gives reasonable notice that care and supervision of the child by the parent, legal guardian, legal custodian, or primary caretaker will be interrupted or cannot be provided.”

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has posted a state-suggested form for appointment of a short term guardian. Download it using the search term “CFS 444-2”. For a Spanish language version, go to “CFS 444-2 Espanol”.

Illinois statutory reference for short term guardianship: 755 ILCS 5/11-5.4. Also see 755 ILCS 5/11-5.3 about standby guardianship (a backup to short term guardianship that is not time-limited).

Please note: states other than Illinois may (or may not) have similar arrangements.

“The plan, reviewed by Reuters, describes the camps as ‘large-scale’ and ‘voluntary’ places where the Gazan population could ‘temporarily reside, deradicalize, re-integrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so.’” (1)

“It calls for using the sprawling facilities to ‘gain trust with the local population’ and to facilitate U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘vision for Gaza.’" (1)

“On February 4 Trump first publicly said that the U.S. should ‘take over’ the war-battered enclave and rebuild it as ‘the Riviera of the Middle East’ after resettling the population of 2.3 million Palestinians elsewhere.” (1)

We’ve long had them, I suppose – glib terms to describe and justify confinement and abuse and expulsion of displaced, marginalized, and reviled populations. They connote a galaxy of monstrous evils: forced labor, genocide, starvation, disease, deprivation, torture, sexual abuse, euthanasia, and execution.

Let’s consider a few hall-of-famers:

Reservations: the system adopted by the United States and Canada for forced relocations of indigenous people. https://www.history.com/articles/indian-reservations

Ghettos: recall the Warsaw uprising of 1943. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ghettos

Concentration camps for wholesale extermination and genocide, World War II: "‘Arbeit macht frei’ – work will set you free.’” https://www.britannica.com/topic/concentration-camp

Homelands: a function of apartheid South Africa. https://southafrica-info.com/infographics/provinces-homelands-south-africa-1996/

Plantations: slavery in the western hemisphere. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/plantation-system/

“Vocational Training” for China’s Uigher populations. https://www.state.gov/forced-labor-in-chinas-xinjiang-region/

Re-education camps: Viet Nam, 1975. https://www.thevietnamese.org/2024/05/post-1975-tragedy-the-grim-reality-of-life-in-vietnams-re-education-camps/

Gulags: Grotesque Stalin-era treatments of dissidents and perceived state enemies. https://allthatsinteresting.com/gulag

Ah. Humanitarian Transit Areas. So soothing a term. So uplifting. So sensitive. So accommodating. So thoughtful. So charitable. So………...Orwellian!

A snide aside: dogs seemingly get better treatment than some human beings, courtesy of another euphemism now common at airports: Pet Relief Areas. (2)

Sources:

(1) https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-backed-aid-group-proposed-human-transit-areas-palestinians-gaza-2025-07-07/

(2) https://www.dogsonplanes.com/airports/mia/pet-relief-areas/

“The U.N. human rights office said on Friday (July 04, 2025) it had recorded at least 613 killings both at aid points run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief groups including the U.N.” (1)

Amidst this carnage, “the GHF said it had delivered more than 52 million meals in five weeks…." (2)

52 million meals. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?

It’s not. The population of the Gaza Strip is 2.1 million. (3) 2.1 million people times five weeks (35 days) equals 73,500,000. Divide those 52 million meals by 73.5 million. By its own account, then, the euphemistically named Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is providing 0.7 meals per person per day.

0.7 meals per day is bait. Unspeakably cruel bait. Bait for the killing fields of Gaza.

Sources:

(1) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/613-killed-gaza-aid-distribution-sites-near-humanitarian-covoys-says-un-2025-07-04/

(2) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5kk1w00xyo

(3) https://www.statista.com/topics/11678/gaza-strip/

A rocket ship.

YouTube helps us count it down. Three—two—one………….

“USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the abrupt funding cuts announced and implemented in the first half of 2025 are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030.” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext

So what are government officials saying?

Surprise! A link to the U.S. Department of State’s website regarding USAID (https://www.state.gov/policy-issues/u-s-agency-for-international-development-usaid) comes back with an error code.

The agency’s own website (www.usaid.gov) carries only a terse statement about the February 23^rd riffing (Reduction In Force) of approximately 1,600 staff. The last line advises that “additional guidance is forthcoming.” Oooookay. Still waiting!

How can the prospect of fourteen million needless deaths possibly advance U.S. foreign policy interests?

There are three perverted morals to this story.

Stonewall your dogma. And your arrogance. And your stupidity.

You may just get away with it!

Background on USAID: https://www.britannica.com/topic/US-Agency-for-International-Development