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From Redcoats to ICE: The Return of the Internal Security State
For most of American history, Americans have imagined the threat to our liberty as something that originated from a foreign entity. An invading army, a hostile ideology, perhaps a distant tyrant like Adolph Hitler or Putin. But our founders feared something closer to home: a government that would turn its power inward, using surveillance, force,…
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The Violence Comes From ICE, and It’s Increasingly Deadly
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Over the past twelve months, a pattern has emerged across the United States, a pattern that is stark, consistent, and deadly. From Colorado to California, from Maryland to Minnesota, ICE agents have shot, wounded, and killed civilians with increasing frequency. This can only be described as an…
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ICE on Steroids: The New Face of Federal Violence
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift The New Normal of ICE Violence We’re all watching something dangerous take shape in real time. ICE is no longer acting like a federal law enforcement agency that has to follow professional rules or answer to the public. It’s behaving like a force that’s been given a…
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ICE’s Nationalistic Enforcement Culture Was Built Under Bush
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift The Bush Years ICE hasn’t really changed since it was created. The agency you see today is the same one that came into being in 2003, and it goes after its goals with the same fire it had back then. If you’re looking for a single thread…
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What Are You Going to Do About It?
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Renee Nicole Good, a 37‑year‑old American woman, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis yesterday. I’ve watched multiple videos of the killing, different witnesses, different angles, and the experience was numbing. Then I listened to Kristi Noem, who immediately went on the offensive, branding…
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Trump’s Plan for Venezuela Leads Straight to Occupation
It started how these things often do: an early morning post on Truth Social. Trump announced that Nicolás Maduro was gone, seized and flown out of Venezuela. The timing was pure theater, but what he said later that day was deadly serious. At a Saturday press conference, Trump declared that the United States would now…
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Words in the Wind
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Actions have always spoken louder than words. It’s one of those truths so fundamental it barely needs repeating, yet it feels newly relevant in a political era built on the opposite premise. Promises mean nothing unless they’re matched by deeds that prove them real. Assertions fall into…
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A Hard Christmas and the Courage We Need Next
← Back to Community Engagement Christmas 2025 is only days away, but for many Americans, this season feels heavier than festive. After a year spent struggling to stay afloat, countless families are entering the holidays with more worry than joy. Wages remain stagnant, often hovering just above minimum wage. Housing costs have soared so high…
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Silence Is Not Honor: The Dangerous New Doctrine of “Retire and Look Away”
← Back to Community Engagement Something deeply wrong is taking root inside the American military. It’s not about new jets or high-tech weapons. It’s a shift in thinking, a quiet betrayal of a core principle: the duty to stand up to an unlawful order. Instead, a convenient new doctrine is emerging: just retire and look…
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Indiana Republicans Embarrass Trump and Expose the GOP’s War on Democracy
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Indiana Republicans didn’t just blow off President Trump this week. In a 31–19 vote rejecting a mid-cycle redistricting plan, the state Senate embarrassed him. For once, a Republican-controlled legislature refused to bend to Trump’s demand for gerrymandering that would have tilted the 2026 congressional map further in…
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Narco‑Terrorist Rhetoric, Oil‑Driven Reality
← Back to Democratic Backsliding & Authoritarian Drift Until recently, drug interdiction was the domain of law enforcement and the Coast Guard. Smugglers were treated as criminals, afforded due process. That changed on September 2, when the U.S. military carried out a strike on a boat off Venezuela’s coast, killing eleven passengers. In remarks and…
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The Constitution Comes First — Not Trump
← Back to Community Engagement I’ve been listening closely to the elevated rhetoric surrounding the recent video recorded by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D‑MI), former CIA officer; Sen. Mark Kelly (D‑AZ), former Navy captain and astronaut; Rep. Jason Crow (D‑CO), former Army Ranger; Rep. Chris Deluzio (D‑PA), Navy veteran; Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D‑NH), national security lawyer;…