ICE

The mark of (Dean) Cain and other victories   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged fandom ICE New Hampshire on by

I was pleased to learn that ICE agent Dean Cain is having trouble getting gigs at fan conventions. GalaxyCon, a company that runs commercial fan conventions, has notified him that it won’t work with him because “GalaxyCon’s values don’t align with Dean.” He faulted GalaxyCon for not being more specific, but I can understand their wanting to handle the matter politely. He surely knows what they meant.

In August 2025, I pointed out that having an ICE agent as a guest puts attendees in danger. Cincinnati Comic Expo had him slated as a guest, and I left a comment on their Facebook post expressing my concern. I felt I was fighting a lonely battle, but later on the organization found a reason not to have him appear. GalaxyCon also sees the danger, and Cain’s reference to a “blacklist” suggests that other conventions have similarly rebuffed him.

While I doubt that I had any great influence on the decisions, I can say I was one of the first to point out the concern. Some people in the Cincinnati organization must have seen my comment. Maybe it gave someone encouragement or a better choice of words to address the issue. The effect of what you say isn’t always immediate or obvious.

In other good news, Rockingham County in New Hampshire has “tabled” plans to hold ICE abductees in the county jail. County commissioners Tombarello and Coyle supported this position. In September 2025 I wrote about Commissioner Steven Goddu’s position, which was basically that the county should be morally agnostic and grab the opportunity for federal money: “It is not my position that the county should evaluate the appropriateness of actions ICE is taking.”

Did I have any significant effect on the decision to turn ICE away? Probably not, but it’s possible I made a little difference. This post, if the right people see it, might encourage someone to run against Goddu and replace him.

Speak out when you can, after being as informed as you can. It can make a difference.

Layout note: Up to now, I’ve laid out the blog with ten posts per page, displaying only the start of each post. This is causing problems with email subscriptions, which I just can’t get to show the start of the post and clearly let the recipient know there’s more. Starting with this post, I’m switching to putting full posts in the blog page. Once there are a couple of these, I’ll reduce the posts per page from 10 to 5. I think this will make it easier for people to follow the blog without extra navigation. Let me know what you think.

ICE watching in Maine

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged ICE Maine on by

On Wednesday I learned that ICE had launched an incursion into Maine. They call it “Operation Catch of the Day,” implying that human beings are just fish to be swept up in their net. Maine is alarmingly close to home. I considered what I could do and decided that going to Maine to watch for ICE activity would be useful. Yesterday (as of Friday, when this will be posted) I drove to York, which is about an hour from home. The biggest trouble area is in Lewiston, which is twice as far, but I decided I couldn’t justify that much travel. Besides, ICE might strike anywhere in Maine.

I followed recommended precautions: Have a plan. Let people know your plans. Turn off phone face unlocking. Dress inconspicuously. Bring food and water.
(more…)

Auburn and Troy, NH: ICE hazard, seek alternate routes

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged ICE liberty New Hampshire on by

The towns of Auburn and Troy, New Hampshire, have set up “task force agreements” with ICE. According to the Boston Globe, they let the local police ” interrogate people suspected of being present in the country illegally and arrest those accused of violating immigration laws.” The ICE standard of “suspicion” includes looking foreign or speaking with a foreign accent. Accusation (by whom?) is an abnormally low bar for arrest; probable cause is normally required. The Troy police have made at least a dozen arrests for ICE. The towns of Colebrook and Carroll, in the northern part of the state, also have entered agreements with ICE, as have the New Hampshire State Police.
(more…)

Accentuating the positive when opposing ICE

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged Avelo ICE news on by

Recently Avelo Airlines announced it would no longer provide ICE with flights to transport abductees. CEO Andrew Levy wrote: “We moved a portion of our fleet into a government program which promised more financial stability but placed us in the center of a political controversy. … The program provided short-term benefits but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs.” Avelo didn’t admit that negative publicity motivated its decision, but businesses never like to say such things.
(more…)