If you were so naïve as to think it couldn’t happen here, think again, damnit, and this time open your eyes and ears to what’s going on around you.
If you thought only Ivy Leage colleges were being targeted for Don the Con’s interpretation of subversive, terrorist and dangerous threats, well, wake up and see that it’s come a little closer – this time to the UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA.
Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian national pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, was taken into custody by ICE’s jack-booted Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) and incarcerated in an ICE detention facility in Jena, one of several private prison companies now poised to rake in a fortune in taxpayer money to imprison students and women who have done nothing but exercise the free speech guaranteed to us but now decidedly endangered.
And, of course, the raid and arrest of Doroudi wouldn’t be acceptable unless it occurred as it did at 3 a.m. That’s the best time because the ones detained are likely roused from sleep, confused and disoriented and naturally, out of touch with and unable to reach any legal counsel.
University of Alabama. Hey, folks, that’s just two states over. You know, Louisiana Tech, my old school, is a pretty reputable engineering school and there are a lot of Mideastern students there. I reckon they’d be wise to keep an extremely low profile. Never thought ICE would come to Ruston but you never know…
Come to think of it, LSU has a pretty fair engineering department that is home to quite a few foreign nationals.
We’re in a dark place, folks. Believe it. Private prisons are making a fortune imposing inhumane treatment of powerless detainees, many, like Doroudi, here legally; IMPOTUS is having a heyday rolling over the Bill or Rights like it was last week’s expired Arby’s coupons. Elon Musk, not even an elected official of any sort, is wreaking havoc across the board.
News media are shaking in their shoes, scared s**tless of being sued or having their licenses revoked. Billionaires are looting the federal treasury via generous tax cuts and incentives to which the rest of us have no avenue.
This maniac has already or is seriously talking about:
- Invading Greenland to take it over. Think about that for a moment. Greenland is a sovereign nation and we’re talking about making it our very own Ukraine.
- Ditto Canada and the Panama Canal
- Having his mug carved onto Mount Rushmore along with Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. That might spur the furtive purchases of dynamite.
- Running for a third term in stark violation of the Constitution of the United States of America.
- Abandoning NATO, the one thing stopping Russia from running over Europe.
- Taking over the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and installed himself as the center’s board chair. Everything he knows about art is confined to a WWE ring.
- Targeted the Smithsonian Institute to rewrite history and to “Restore Truth and Sanity to American History,” prompting one historian to say, “It reminds you of a fascist state.”
A man recently lamented to my daughter that he is a veteran and that he voted for Trump who is now stripping away veterans’ benefits, causing him anguish, stress and hardship.
My daughter just looked at him and said, “He told you he was going to do that. Weren’t you listening?”
Indeed, weren’t you listening, America?
Want more?
Where do sexual predators go when they get out of jail?
Well, if you’re pedophiles Andrew Tate and little brother Tristan or if you just love to beat up women or
If you’ve fathered a baker’s dozen children by several different women…you seek out Donald Trump for companionship and solace and maybe even a cabinet position or even head up an outfit called DOGE.
I saw an interesting meme today. It said “…You can put our troops’ lives in danger, compromise our national security and violate the Espionage Act. And the government will do nothing.
But if you write an editorial for your school newspaper that Trump doesn’t like, you will be abducted on the street and disappeared.”
Weren’t you listening, America?
Apparently not. Especially not our Republican members of Congress and by extension, our Republican governors and legislators.
The Republicans who have dared challenge or even question Trump’s actions could hold a convention in a phone booth (yesh, remember those things?). Jack Kennedy’s Profiles of Courage has no place in the libraries or our Republican congressmen.
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, along with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, lead the spineless pack. These two, along with Steve Scalise and Gov. Jeff Landry, are an embarrassment to the entire state. Not one shred of courage will you find in the entire lot – combined. They are the very personification of putting party over principles, political survival over country. Remember, it was Johnson who said it mattered not that Hunter Biden was a private citizen but the moment Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress just as a report on his sexual exploits was about to be released, he said that we oughta leave Matt along because he’s a private citizen now.
Weren’t you listening, America?
Louisiana Voice 
Tom, you are so right. Trump told us from the beginning what he planned to do. He said it straight out. I believed him. In one of his first rallies when running in 2016, when a protester protested, Trump said he’d like to punch him in the face. When a Black Lives Matter protester was punched and kicked by attendees at a Trump rally, Trump remarked the next day that “maybe he should have been roughed up.” And he has continued these threats to this day. He has provoked violence and still does. People minimized, rationalized, and excused what he said. Trump is the one who spews violent rhetoric, while he and Republicans blame it on Democrats. Julia Letlow seems to excuse him. In her meeting with the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce on March 28, here’s what she said: I think when it comes to tariffs, you have to understand that the president is using this as a negotiation tool. And he’s already had some major successes with it, so I think just trust the president, take a deep breath; things are going to be okay in the long run. Julia Letlow, Congresswoman for Louisiana’s Fifth District. Frankly, I’m not seeing any successes from Trump, only chaos, fear, and dictatorial edicts, in his plan to rule the country. He loves being bowed to. We can’t “take a deep breath.” It’ll be too late. However, based on the results of this last amendment election, I am hoping that people are waking up to Trump’s and Republicans’ destruction of the country. There are a few who were listening and hopefully there will be more to join us.
Butch, this article has to be one of the best you’ve written, and, sadly, spot on. I’m going to forward it to friends who voted for that doofus and will see if they are as frightened as I am.
Elizabeth
maddening!!!!!
At 80 years old, I am planning to be at the state capitol for the Hands-off rally this Saturday. I am doing it for my grandchildren. Hopefully we can get someone’s attention. I once had a little hope for Cassidy, but when he voted to confirm Kennedy I knew he was a lost cause.