For the duration of 2026 and much of the 21st century, anyone with Internet access can view inhumanities of all kinds with a single click and scroll.

Executions of the innocent occur in the street; mothers leave Earth while their child is in school down the road; nurses are punished for protecting.

Actions taken on our own soil, to our own people, by our own people—these would be called war crimes in active duty, even when committed against an opponent.

Even policemen, detectives, and the most imperiled of special agents are taught to avoid lethal force unless absolutely necessary.

This year, this regime has decided that “absolutely necessary” is:

Murder captured at every angle, thousands mobilized in revolt—none of this scares the lawless forces being encouraged by the man they idolize most, the symbol of their hatred, the permission for their cruelty.

The regime and its accomplices have decided that the possibility of maybe being here without citizenship, or of maybesupporting those who do, warrants a charge worse than that of the most heinous criminals—without even touching on those sitting on the throne of this chaos. Judge, jury, and executioner, before you even get a chance to speak your name.

Consider this post made by Charlie Kirk, a far-right podcaster and face of the regime post-humously:

By this logic, largely supported by conservatives seeking lessened firearm restrictions, taking a legally registered firearm to a protest, as Nurse Alex Pretti did, is completely within the bounds of the Second Amendment, if not the cookie-cutter reason for its existence. In light of good taste, I will not be quoting Kirk’s other statements about public executions, but hopefully the implications regarding the hypocrisy in conservative rhetoric are clear.

Additionally, the American government turning on its people during protest is not new; in fact, it’s straight out of the American history guidebook, just like diverting attention to foreign affairs in times of civil unrest.

As described in Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the World” (and understood in the general framework of American History from most perspectives), the US government is notorious for stoking fear and attempting to invite patriotism in a country united against a civil issue—be it women’s rights, racial equality, or God forbid, class equality. When the functioning of the system is threatened on home turf, attention is turned elsewhere until the fires can be silently put out, with citizens proudly distracted by a false sense of commitment to a country that would sell them out for an acre.

Protestors have long been on the receiving end of violence from local police and troops ordered by the president. In the past, however, they didn’t have a stream of social media and could rely only on their government’s reports, which would be quickly squared away in the filing cabinets after laying the whole “tragic circumstance” to rest.

What scares me, though, isn’t just the blatant lies and abominable denial on the part of the Administration and parts of society. That is, of course, terrifying; without video evidence and witness testimony (which has been largely buried, as the government has always done in the past for protestor violence, among other things), we would have only the words of the Administration.

Much like the protestors in generations past, we would not be protected, however scarcely, by the presence of an interconnected online world. This is the sad and terrifying reality of the individuals being stopped, detained, deported, and more without the cameras rolling, without the attention of the nation, or the protection of their status and role.

My question, my true fear, is—what horrors are happening that we can’t see? If they will do all of this in front of us, and lie about it expecting us all to accept it and move on, they know they are free to act lawlessly behind closed doors, loyal to the union of cruelty.

Liam Ramos, a 5-year-old boy living in Minnesota, was detained by ICE after being tricked into knocking for his relatives. I ask—are they keeping him warm? Does he have access to a bathroom, to snacks, to toys, to his favorite stuffie? Does his family know where he is; has he spoken with them? Are they being nice; what is he hearing about himself and his family that is so untrue?

Maher Tarabishi has been working, raising a family, and attending immigration check-ins since 1994. His son, Wale, suffered from a debilitating disease that rendered Maher his full-time caretaker, a task he faithfully owned. This past month, ICE detained Maher at a routine immigration meeting, leaving no one to care for Wale, who passed as a result of their cruelty. Today, I ask—does Maher know about his son? Was he able to plan a memorial, to attend? Is anyone able to fight for them? How can I fight for them?

These are just two of the named individuals that have been detained — what of the names of those who have died under suspicious and negligent circumstances, without a second look at the case file by those “in charge”. This cannot even begin to cover the amount of people who are not getting coverage, those who may not have any family or even anyone looking for them, those who could be alive or dead to their family’s knowledge. Those “disappeared,” those wrongfully deported, those sent to the wrong country, those separated from their families, those in deplorable conditions.

The truth is, we can assume without much doubt that horrific things are occurring on the inside, especially with horrific things bleeding out all around. Today, I ask—how much longer can this go on? How many people have been traumatized beyond repair, directly or indirectly, for generations to come? How many lives have been disrupted, ruptured, disrespected, ended—with no regard for life or decency or honor?

I wish that I had a solution, a unique call to action—while protesters have never been given the peace they are promised in return for their own, we must continue to be the voice of the people. The good will outweigh the bad; the villains will receive their penance. We must keep fighting.

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