The Rogovoy Report 6.9.25

From around the corner to around the globe...

Jun 08, 2025

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FASCISM WATCH

Trump Sends Federal Troops to Los Angeles to Fight Protestors

(NYT) - Los Angeles was quiet on Sunday morning as the first members of the National Guard arrived in the city, where President Trump took the extraordinary action of ordering them to assist immigration agents who clashed with demonstrators during two days of protests. Trump’s decision to order in the guard made rare use of federal powers to bypass the authority of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, who called the deployment “purposefully inflammatory” on Saturday night and added that there was “no unmet need.” It was the first time that a president has activated a state’s National Guard force for a domestic operation without a request from the state’s governor since 1965. Law enforcement officers faced off with hundreds of protesters on Saturday, in some cases using rubber bullets and flash bang grenades. Read also, ICE arrested a California union leader. Does Trump understand what that means? (LAT) and Trump’s dangerous escalation in LA (The Nation) and ICE agents with assault rifles toss flash-bangs in trendy San Diego neighborhood. Community fights back (LAT)

For Trump, this is a dress rehearsal (The Atlantic)

We’re minimizing the horror of Trump’s military birthday parade. History may mark 14 June as the ceremonial birth of US fascism. (The Guardian)

ICE arrests Great Barrington man for drunk driving. He has no car and can't drive. (Newsweek)

Trump taps Palantir to compile data on Americans (NYT)

The empty shell of Trump’s and Hegseth’s fake military machismo (Lucian Truscott IV/Substack)

Elon Musk’s real drug problem is much worse than you think (The Nation)

Russia offers Elon Musk asylum as fight with Trump intensifies (TNR)

Every election is now existential, by Anne Applebaum (The Atlantic)

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Progressive bluegrass innovator Tony Trischka

Trischka, Molsky & Daves Headline This Year’s Down County Jump Festival

(Berkshire Edge) SHEFFIELD, Mass. - The third annual Down County Jump, produced in partnership with Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theatre, promises to be the biggest ever, with even more music from old-time heritage bands that dwell in the spaces between genres. Eleven acts bridging folk, roots, jazz, and global traditions -- including bluegrass legends Tony Trischka, Bruce Molsky, and Michael Daves plus the newly formed Hudson Valley-based Driftwood Chorus, a 30-person polyphonic ensemble, led by renowned Romani vocalist Eva Salina -- will convene at Race Brook Lodge for a raucous and magical two-day festival on Fri-Sat, June 13-14.

After 40 years, Norman Rockwell Museum Director Laurie Norton Moffatt to retire (RI)

With this year’s BIFF in the rear-view mirror, planning begins for next year’s 20th anniversary film fest (Berkshire Edge)

Steve Earle will blend music and memoir in acoustic performance at Mahaiwe (RI)

REVIEW: ‘Elephant Man’ a mirror of our nature in Stockbridge (ATU)

Natalie Merchant announces intimate fall tour with dates in Hudson and Great Barrington (RI)

Mahaiwe announces full 100 years of movies series (iBerkshires)

From North Adams to Great Barrington, 9 Berkshire art galleries to visit in June (Berkshire Eagle)

Former Berkshire Eagle music critic Andrew Pincus dies at 94 (B Edge)

Maverick Concerts and Ashokan Center lose federal grants (The Overlook)

NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES

Bard College Preparing for Relocation of Simon’s Rock Campus

(WAMC) GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - With its last graduation in western Massachusetts in the rearview mirror, Bard College at Simon’s Rock is preparing to relocate from Great Barrington to the Hudson Valley this fall. Simon’s Rock, which allows high school students to start college as early as 10th grade, announced last year that it would be moving to a recently-acquired facility next to the main Bard campus in Fall 2025. Bard Academy, its pre-college program for eighth and ninth graders, will also be moving to Annandale-on-Hudson. Read also, Questions remain about future of campus, gym at Simon’s Rock (Berkshire Edge)

Gunsmith Bob Lamb, 71, worked in his shop at B&W Firearms in Cheshire, Mass.

‘Everybody on Our Street Owns a Weapon’: An 800-Resident Berkshire Town Has the State’s Highest Rate of Licenses to Carry

(Boston Globe) PERU, Mass. - By at least one metric, here is the gun capital of Massachusetts, a hamlet that shares its name with a South American nation and is home to about 800 residents nestled in the hill country of the Berkshires, just under three hours from downtown Boston. The center of town consists of a few nondescript buildings along Route 143. There is a tiny library and an unremarkable-looking town office building that sometimes is unlocked even when no one is there. As in many New England communities, there is a church painted white, and a patch of grass memorializing the town’s war dead. There are no gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, or bars. There is a single blinking traffic light in Peru’s 26-miles-square. But there are guns. Many guns. Peru has the highest per capita rate of licenses to carry in Massachusetts. Nearby Savoy, with a population of about 645 people, according to the 2020 census, is No. 2. “Everybody on our street owns a weapon,” said Dave Drosehn, a 65-year-old retired machine tender and Peru resident.

READ MORE:

Federal agents detain Great Barrington gardener, residents say agents ‘unidentifiable’ (NEPM)

Trump targets workplaces -- including the Berkshires -- as immigration crackdown widens (NYT)

Disagreement over who will be board chair mars Stockbridge Select Board meeting (B Edge)

Town of Lee seeks to draw new businesses after recent ‘upward swing’ (Berkshire Eagle)

South Street sign marks 1902 trolley incident which caused President Teddy Roosevelt to say, “If you're set on risking your life, go to Pittsfield, Mass., and take a trolley ride." (iBerkshires)

Jane Larkworthy, of New Marlborough, a top magazine writer and editor on beauty, dies at 62 (NYT)

Berkshire facing decline in pet grooming sites (B Edge)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

Hudson's Joe Ferris (left) is challenging Mayor Kamal Johnson in the June 24 Democratic primary

Hudson’s Mayor Faces an Unexpected Challenge in This Month’s Democratic Primary

(WAMC) HUDSON, N.Y. - The city of Hudson is gearing up for the Democratic Primary, with a political newcomer challenging sitting mayor Kamal Johnson. 40-year-old Joe Ferris entered the Hudson mayoral race at the end of March, saying he was motivated to run because he believes the current administration lacks competence and doesn't communicate well with residents. Ferris, who has lived in Hudson since 2022, has called into question the current administration’s basic financial housekeeping and cited technology issues affecting the city of 5,500 people. 40-year-old Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson shrugs off the criticisms. Read also, Hudson newcomer challenges Kamal Johnson in mayoral primary (ATU)

READ MORE:

The cost of getting it wrong at the Hudson Waterfront, by Ron Bogle (RI)

Hudson planning board approves Mill Street affordable housing project located in a flood zone (HV360)

Barge that destroyed Hudson-Athens Lighthouse dock also hit the base (ATU)

154-unit housing project proposed for Greenport (HV360)

42 single parents in Columbia County to get $500 a month (ATU)

State to fund 1-mile rail trail extension between Copake, Hillsdale (HV360)

Battle over the bands: noise ordinance causes tension in Woodstock (WAMC)

Lt. Gov. Delgado holds first campaign event in bid to unseat his boss (WAMC)

Catskill's $10M DRI project planning process underway (HV360)

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