ICE; Epstein; Thiel; and Resistance Through Song

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Week of 9/8-13/2025: ICE, Epstein, Thiel, & Resistance through Song

This is a weekly summary of the previous week’s Daily Meditations. Some are penned by Matthew Fox (MF), and some by Gianluigi Gugliermetto (GG). You can click on the title of a DM in order to view the original piece in its entirety. Also, please note, we will continue to offer a video teaching by Matthew each Monday.

September 8, 2025: America’s People-Shortage vs. ICE Deportation Mania (MF)

One of the more horrendous of many things being done by the current administration is the funding of ICE for a ridiculous $45 billion and the near-constant abductions and deportations—of Latinos especially, most of whom have no criminal record whatsoever.

In addition, Trump has spearheaded the rush to build substandard, inhumane concentration camps. Meanwhile, the U.S. birthrate continues to tumble at the same time that our economy is starting to falter. Worker shortages are already notable in the agricultural and health industries. By 2032, there will be a deficit of 6 million workers. Massive deportation of immigrants is not only highly immoral, it also negatively impacts our economy and our birth rate.

September 9, 2025: Thanks & Lessons for Epstein Victims & Other Assault Survivors (MF)

Matthew shares a short video created by Tara Sullivan, a graduate of the Creation Spirituality program in Oakland. In it, she addresses those who may have been triggered by the press conference which featured survivors of the Epstein horror due to their own history with sexual violence.

She encourages exquisite self-care as we process what we are seeing and hearing. She acknowledges that we may want to leave our bodies, as perhaps we did during our assault or abuse, but that it’s actually essential to remain in our bodies and take care of them.

As Meister Eckhart says, “compassion begins at home with one’s own body and one’s own soul.”

September 10, 2025: Resistance and Songs – Part 1 (GG)

Gianluigi tells us how he is very fond of Anglican hymns written at the turn of the 20th century. He loves not only the melodies and harmonies, but the blend of religious exultation with societal engagement.

See, for example, these words written by G. K. Chesterton for the Hymnal of 1906: From all that terror teaches / From lies of tongue and pen / From all the easy speeches / That comfort cruel men / Deliver us, O Lord!

GG says that he finds the same energy of strength, resilience, and challenge to power in some transcendent non-church pieces, such as the song “Mio fratello che guardi il mondo” (My Brother Who Looks at the World) written over 30 years ago by Italian poet/singer Ivano Fossat. Among the words: I was born, and I died in every country/ and I defended my dignity at a high price/ I was born, and I worked in every country/ and I walked on every road of the world that you can see.

Ivano Fossati | Mio Fratello Che Guardi Il Mondo

“Ivano Fossati / Mio Fratello Che Guardi Il Mondo.” (My Brother Who Looks at the World.) VideoBoxMusic

September 11, 2025; Leadership, Past and Present (GG)

After 9/11/2001, the world changed for the Arab populations more than for anybody else. There was the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as well as upsets in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere. And, of course, the persecution of Palestinians, which began as early as 1948, has now reached epic proportions.

Examples of leaders lacking moral character are: Tony Blair and George W. Bush who started the Iraq War with inconclusive intelligence, and, of course, currently Trump and the neofascist Italian head of government Giorgia Meloni.

On the other side of the coin we have those who inspire the best in people. They include: the wonderful Pedro Sánchez, prime minister of Spain, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to name just two. There are many more. It is up to those of us with true spiritual values to throw our support behind the wisest and best leaders.

September 12, 2025: Resistance and Songs – Part 2 (GG)

There is no clearer example of how music and songs can be a means for resistance than the Gaza Birds Singing, a group of children and young people who gather in Gaza City under the most challenging circumstances. There is a page on the official UN website about them saying: In a place stripped of necessities, the sound of music feels both surreal and sacred.

There is a song by the Brazilian musician, Toquinho, which embodies similar qualities of aliveness, imagination, and hope in the future, while also suggesting a deep awareness of mortality. Some say that fantasy and creativity will not change the world. GG’s reply is that they always have—though possibly not at the pace we want.

Music Amid the Rubble: A Gazan Musician Plants Seeds of Hope | United Nations

“Music Amid the Rubble: A Gazan Musician Plants Seeds of Hope.” Find the Gaza Birds Singing GoFundMe HERE. Hear more of their music HERE. United Nations

September 13, 2025: Silicon Valley’s “Scary Religion,” Peter Thiel, et alia (MF)

This coming Monday is the first day of a four-part series on the Antichrist at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, led by right-wing mogul Peter Thiel, the man who brought us JD Vance and whose company, Palantir, holds multi-billion-dollar contracts with the defense department.

One of Thiel’s ridiculous claims is that Greta Thunberg is the antichrist. We are told that this closed-door series is sold out. Matthew says he was urged by some to offer an alternative seminar on the Antichrist in the same venue, based on his book, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Antichrist. Unfortunately, the several thousand-dollar rental fee was prohibitive.

Banner image: Screenshot from video: “Prayer of the Mothers,” by Yael Deckelbaum. Watch video HERE.

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