When the Oath Collides with the Order

I remember the words clearly. "To support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." That’s the part that always stuck with me. Not the follow-on about obeying orders. Not the chain of command. Just that first line. The one that…

They Sent the Marines

June 6th, 2025. Los Angeles. I watched it from a concrete room in Cambodia, the ceiling fan whining overhead, a quiet lunch going cold beside me. Protesters filled the screen. Screaming. Throwing. Bleeding. ICE had kicked off another wave of raids — this time sweeping through Westlake and the Fashion District…

They Came for the Classrooms

Harvard didn’t flinch. That’s what I keep circling back to. In a year where most institutions either went quiet or contorted themselves into compliance, Harvard filed suit. Refused to hand over surveillance data. Challenged the regime's gag orders. Took hit after hit and stood back up.…

The Silence of the Bench

You can only stare at the numbers so long before they start to feel fake. One hundred sixty-two federal judges threatened in the first fifteen days of May. Two hundred seventy-seven over six months. One-third of the entire federal bench, marked and stalked and harassed into silence or worse. These…

The Month the Mask Slipped

May 2025 didn’t announce itself. It just sharpened. Week by week. Action by action. Until even the air felt thinner. It started with May Day protests—a nationwide wave of resistance against a renewed deportation machine. People marching in a thousand cities, trying to drag the country's…

He Didn’t Want Dialogue—He Wanted Dominance

I didn’t watch the video. I couldn’t. I read the transcript instead. The whole thing. It was enough. Trump hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa this week should have been routine. Two nations. Longstanding ties. Trade, security, rare earths, diplomacy. The kind of state meeting that once passed…

What Kind of Country Throws a Parade for a Man Like This?

Note (June 1, 2025): Since this was published, new details about the June 14th parade have emerged—including a lowered cost estimate ($25–$45 million), D.C. street damage concerns, and the relocation of a Vietnam vet memorial event. The broader sentiment still stands, but the specifics have shifted. Marking…

When They Arrest the Mayor

On May 9th, 2025, federal agents arrested Ras Baraka, the sitting mayor of Newark, New Jersey. They cuffed him outside Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility with a $1 billion contract tied to GEO Group, during what should have been a routine oversight visit. Let that settle in. A mayor.…