This happened a few blocks from my home. I'm ashamed but candid enough to admit that the shocking proximity, plus seeing it play out in broad daylight on the video footage, has me apoplectic. (Even more than usual, which I did not think possible.) Three marches in 24 hours and I'm thisclose to picketing in front of the ICE agents' homes. Fascism is NOT "coming," IT IS HERE.
See, folks, it is all up to us now. America is finally finding out what it is to live in a dictatorship. Right now, they are after foreigners. Tomorrow, just anyone who is a regime dissenter. Now, just like in any other country, you have to protect yourself, just like you're in a war or walking in a dark alley. You have to be strategic and know how to fight or run away.
What I don't understand is once the court order has been issued (and potentially violated), doesn't the United States Government/ICE have an obligation to return these people back to the states they were kidnapped from so that due process can take place? If they refuse to cooperate, can ICE be held in contempt?
YES. The courts should immediately send planes to whatever countries took the people and return them to a safe place in the U.S. Round up the fake ice individuals doing this and throw them in prison. We as a people should all surround anyone trying to do this and stop them! These are fake ice men and women. And a fake white house. Only there because THEY committed fraud to get there in the WH. REMEMBER THAT. Stand up damn it!
How would “The courts should immediately send planes”? They don’t have planes—they aren’t enforcers of the law!
This is the grim discovery we’re making: ninjas in black masks appear & grab people, “disappear” them in broad daylight, and nobody knows who to call because they ARE THE POLICE. Courts can’t demand they stop, because the victim is already gone, and the Federal Marshalls, who would likely be tasked enforcement of a judicial order, are under control of the DOJ, and that means Pam Bondi.
Ms. Hardeman, It is a question of power. Power comes through the barrel of a gun. The courts have no power. The Congress has no power. The Executive branch has the power.
Salisbury, the Exec's power comes in the form of bullets fired in the streets of America's cities., killing citizens. If you find this hard to believe, or farfetched; let me tell you about my days in 1967 in Detroit as a social worker.
As a consequence of a police raid on an after hours gambling parlor wherein a young Black man, a decorated veteran of combat in Vietnam was arrested; the citizens of Detroit spontaneously demonstrated in the streets.
The governor of Michigan sent the national guard into the city. The Democratic president of the U.S. Lyndon Baines Johnson [a man I voted for] sent the 82nd air-born division of the U.S. infantry into my home town, Detroit. I watched in fear and loathing as 20 armed helicopters flew over my house at low altitude. They were heading to East Kercheval Street where the copters disgorged heavily armed soldiers into the street. Those soldiers killed a factually unknown number of American citizens before the eyes of me and my neighbors. Eventually the government authorities admitted to 34 killings. However, I had been working as an employee of Harper Hospital, the oldest and one of the largest hospitals in Michigan at that time. I know from my own knowledge that Harper's huge morgue which could hold hundreds of corpses was filled to overflowing. There were corpses stored on gurneys in the hallways. And this was only one Detroit hospital. The city had many hospitals.
During this invasion of Detroit I had occasion to look out the 3rd. floor window of my friend's apartment across the street from the home office of the General Motors Corporation. I felt the floor in the building vibrating under my feet and heard strange sounds out in the street below. When I looked out of the window I saw an army tank in the street firing tracer rounds up into the air in the direction of the roof of the Herman Kiefer Hospital on the other side of the John Lodge Freeway. As I watched in horror; a young soldier poked his head out of the tank's top hatch and with a bullhorn in his hand he yelled at me to pull my head into the building or I would be shot.
This was my experience in Detroit. Similar things have happened in cities like Los Angeles and Newark. I have no personal knowledge of how it played out in those places. But I assure you that it happened to me and the two million citizens in Detroit, the fifth largest city in the country at that time.
Mao Ze Dong was correct when he said "Power comes through the barrel of a gun." The only big difference between Mao on one hand and LBJ and other American presidents on the other, is that Mao was honest enough to state the existential reality aloud.
There is much more to this story. But, you get the picture. Read John Hersey's book THE ALGIERS MOTEL INCIDENT, as a beginning. If you are interested in more about my home town, then try DETROIT I DO MIND DYING by Dan Georgakas.
Wow. I lived in the Detroit area (Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Southfield) for 27 years & I didn’t know this history. I’ve only returned to California to live with my daughter & son-in-law, who are both Trumpers. I’m 77 & somewhat disabled & I’m afraid I made a mistake coming here. I’m having a hard time keeping my mouth shut & my son-in-law said tonight I had Trump Derangement Syndrome. I didn’t mind that. I’ve been speaking out here & on Facebook & am challenging everyone to call or message the White House every day as well as their Congresspeople. I just decided that I need to make sure my daughter knows how to get into my phone in case I go missing. Am I being too much of an alarmist?
Ms. Gerbi, I too moved to a new place to be near my children and grand children. Sorry about your son-in-law. I cannot comment on your alarmism. However, I believe you and I are both quite low on the Orange Rapist's list. He has much bigger fish to fry.
I do not know if the following will be a comfort to you or not. But, things are going to change enough, very soon. Even your uninformed son-in-law might see that he stands to be hurt by events. The stock exchange has been falling precipitously for months. All the big investors on the stock exchanges, like Warren Buffet, George Soros and Bill Gates are selling their stock. This is known as liquidating one's assets, before the crash. China, France and some other countries like Japan are selling their U.S. securities and buying gold like crazy. This is anticipatory fear of an economic depression.
All of the money trump and his pall Musk are removing from our economy, by shutting down Federal government agencies, combined with his tariffs, will bring commercial activity to a slow trickle in the U.S. In other words: a depression just like 1929.
I hope this does not seem cynical of me. I am not hoping for this to happen. As someone who has studied economics; I am simply making a prediction.
Thank you. I know that neither my daughter or son-in-law & my son & his wife will not question their MAGA loyalty until it hits their pocketbooks hard. I do have questions I would like to ask you. If you are inclined, I can be reached at sherry.gerbi@yahoo.com
In this artice and in every other article I've read about this, it says she is in a private prison in Louisiana, sent there despite a court order not allowing her to be moved out of MA.
Need to surround our citizens and students to protect them from illegal seizures and a corrupt beast in the WH who is the most ignorant as are these supposed ice people or his henchmen. They probably aren't legal. Students should have online classes as they did during covid.
I am ready to be sympathetic. I am alarmed by this story. But it bothers me that you don't tell us when this happened or provide a link by which we can watch the video. Can you please correct those omissions?
Hey, we’re on the same side here! It depresses me even further when people who could speedily look up and paste a link, instead say “Google it” or “look it up”—not everyone spends all day and night doing internet searches (unlike ME, and perhaps YOU).
Here’s a link, Kate—the kidnapping was on Tuesday:
Actually, I'm trying to help this site, to which I subscribe. There are lots of sites out there right now, and if the basic info isn't supplied, it's easy to start doubting. This site is too good for that to happen. Your comment is snarky and unhelpful to me and to this site.
Maria, I was replying to Maureen. I am 78 years old, a veteran of many campaigns, and I've often heard the saying that "The definition of the left is people who stand in a circle and shoot." I agree with you that we need to stop that! This is an overwhelming moment, and we have to stand together. There are many people out there who would be sympathetic, but don't need to be told to "Look it up." A high-quality publication like Closer to the Edge needs to be careful to give basic information people can use and pass on to others. Heather Cox Richardson, who carefully documents all she says, earns great credibility that way.
And yes not everyone has the same skill set. I currently don’t have a computer so do everything by phone. The advantage of a computer is you can have multiple tabs open & can move from one to another. With a phone, it can be a little more cumbersome. I have discovered Perplexity, a free ai search engine that gives you the ability to ask follow-up questions. I highly recommend it. I’ve also tried ChatGPT, DuckDuckGo & of course Google.
I’d like to say “unbelievable,” but it’s happening here in the UNITED STATES 🇺🇸!
Will the fascist Trump regime slam the federal courts again saying “Sorry, it’s State Secrets!” No! It’s no secret! You’re fascist SOBs taking over our government before our very eyes!
These “Due Process” violations need to get to the Roberts’ Court ASSP!
These violations of basic, fundamental rights GUARANTEED IN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION MUST BE PROTECTED NOW!
Trump’s impeachable on these violations!
(Also, These goons in masks without IDs need to be arrested!)
Arrested BY WHOM? We’re seeing that “law enforcement” in the largest sense seems to be all in on these actions. It’s not just a few rogue sheriffs in CO etc— it’s ICE, and DOJ and more. Law enforcement has always leaned right, and a lot of the personnel are now able to fully display their authoritarian attitudes and ACT on them, with no fear of restraint, judicial or otherwise.
Ms. Jette, it still disappoints me when I see how Americans simply do not understand it. We are now living in a fascist dictatorship. The potential for it has been with us for decades. All it took was someone with the gaul to pull it off. Please notice that there is not one prominent member of the American business community speaking out against this. As long as their profits keep rolling into their banks; they are happy. The lukewarm, pusillanimous response of the tufts university president is revealing and shameful.
We all witnessed our government arresting an innocent woman (a difference of opinion is not a crime. The Constitution guarantees it). Then we were told she was illegally trafficked to another state. Our government is officially terrorist. Every employee who participated are culpable. Federal law says you can disobey a direct order, if it's illegal. Remember the Mai Lai massacre. Don't be complicit.
Any non-lily-white woman needs to think very carefully about how to defend herself from these rogue organizations. Probably all women really. It seems we can no longer trust the law for protection.
You use all the important and impossible words for speaking to truth. I use a favorite of mine, just now much more often. "Are you F'ing kidding me?" "What the Holy F'ing hell" "What the F' did he just say?" there are more but finally "I'm F'ing scared about so many F'ing things!"
Part of me believes that things will go on, not so world shattering because most of us just want to live our life, do our jobs, have fun with our friends and neighbors, heck, we want an easy button for our daily life.
Most people seem to not really pay attention except to themselves. Clean the car? Throw the trash out the window. In a hurry? bump into somebody to get in line first. We don't care about anything but what we see from our own eyes, things that only relate to: ME ME ME ME!
But now is the time to pay attention. Sherry, if you are subscribed to this, you already care. To lesson the fear, find things you can support that make life better. I also read Axios AM, great summary of news and why it's important - I feel informed. I just found Country First, being started by republican Adam Kinzinger, I am a tad surprised, but as an Illinois resident I have always appreciated his thoughtfulness so I am following this. The goals: Country over Party, Stand for Truth, Build Common Ground. Wherever this goes that is a solid start. Finally, Indivisible is hosting a nation wide rally. Hands Off! Rally and March to Rise Up and Fight Back Against Trump/Musk Attacks on Saturday, April 5, in numerous locations. I believe in the power of numbers so I am going. They have a newsletter that is helpful in following the issues and opportunities to connect with our leaders, as well as a section with posters you can print and post.
So sleep! You need the strength to care and support change in your own way. As you know I occassionally swear like a teapot which releases some steam. Hang in there.
This happened a few blocks from my home. I'm ashamed but candid enough to admit that the shocking proximity, plus seeing it play out in broad daylight on the video footage, has me apoplectic. (Even more than usual, which I did not think possible.) Three marches in 24 hours and I'm thisclose to picketing in front of the ICE agents' homes. Fascism is NOT "coming," IT IS HERE.
Do it. Picket their homes. Gotta fight fire with fire.
See, folks, it is all up to us now. America is finally finding out what it is to live in a dictatorship. Right now, they are after foreigners. Tomorrow, just anyone who is a regime dissenter. Now, just like in any other country, you have to protect yourself, just like you're in a war or walking in a dark alley. You have to be strategic and know how to fight or run away.
Yet another reason to show up with millions of others on April 5 at one of the 650+ protests.
What I don't understand is once the court order has been issued (and potentially violated), doesn't the United States Government/ICE have an obligation to return these people back to the states they were kidnapped from so that due process can take place? If they refuse to cooperate, can ICE be held in contempt?
YES. The courts should immediately send planes to whatever countries took the people and return them to a safe place in the U.S. Round up the fake ice individuals doing this and throw them in prison. We as a people should all surround anyone trying to do this and stop them! These are fake ice men and women. And a fake white house. Only there because THEY committed fraud to get there in the WH. REMEMBER THAT. Stand up damn it!
How would “The courts should immediately send planes”? They don’t have planes—they aren’t enforcers of the law!
This is the grim discovery we’re making: ninjas in black masks appear & grab people, “disappear” them in broad daylight, and nobody knows who to call because they ARE THE POLICE. Courts can’t demand they stop, because the victim is already gone, and the Federal Marshalls, who would likely be tasked enforcement of a judicial order, are under control of the DOJ, and that means Pam Bondi.
Laws need to change. Mindsets need to change. These are war time crimes.
It is war time.
Ms. Hardeman, It is a question of power. Power comes through the barrel of a gun. The courts have no power. The Congress has no power. The Executive branch has the power.
What form does the Exec's power take? Is it in exclusive addresses?
Salisbury, the Exec's power comes in the form of bullets fired in the streets of America's cities., killing citizens. If you find this hard to believe, or farfetched; let me tell you about my days in 1967 in Detroit as a social worker.
As a consequence of a police raid on an after hours gambling parlor wherein a young Black man, a decorated veteran of combat in Vietnam was arrested; the citizens of Detroit spontaneously demonstrated in the streets.
The governor of Michigan sent the national guard into the city. The Democratic president of the U.S. Lyndon Baines Johnson [a man I voted for] sent the 82nd air-born division of the U.S. infantry into my home town, Detroit. I watched in fear and loathing as 20 armed helicopters flew over my house at low altitude. They were heading to East Kercheval Street where the copters disgorged heavily armed soldiers into the street. Those soldiers killed a factually unknown number of American citizens before the eyes of me and my neighbors. Eventually the government authorities admitted to 34 killings. However, I had been working as an employee of Harper Hospital, the oldest and one of the largest hospitals in Michigan at that time. I know from my own knowledge that Harper's huge morgue which could hold hundreds of corpses was filled to overflowing. There were corpses stored on gurneys in the hallways. And this was only one Detroit hospital. The city had many hospitals.
During this invasion of Detroit I had occasion to look out the 3rd. floor window of my friend's apartment across the street from the home office of the General Motors Corporation. I felt the floor in the building vibrating under my feet and heard strange sounds out in the street below. When I looked out of the window I saw an army tank in the street firing tracer rounds up into the air in the direction of the roof of the Herman Kiefer Hospital on the other side of the John Lodge Freeway. As I watched in horror; a young soldier poked his head out of the tank's top hatch and with a bullhorn in his hand he yelled at me to pull my head into the building or I would be shot.
This was my experience in Detroit. Similar things have happened in cities like Los Angeles and Newark. I have no personal knowledge of how it played out in those places. But I assure you that it happened to me and the two million citizens in Detroit, the fifth largest city in the country at that time.
Mao Ze Dong was correct when he said "Power comes through the barrel of a gun." The only big difference between Mao on one hand and LBJ and other American presidents on the other, is that Mao was honest enough to state the existential reality aloud.
There is much more to this story. But, you get the picture. Read John Hersey's book THE ALGIERS MOTEL INCIDENT, as a beginning. If you are interested in more about my home town, then try DETROIT I DO MIND DYING by Dan Georgakas.
Wow. I lived in the Detroit area (Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Southfield) for 27 years & I didn’t know this history. I’ve only returned to California to live with my daughter & son-in-law, who are both Trumpers. I’m 77 & somewhat disabled & I’m afraid I made a mistake coming here. I’m having a hard time keeping my mouth shut & my son-in-law said tonight I had Trump Derangement Syndrome. I didn’t mind that. I’ve been speaking out here & on Facebook & am challenging everyone to call or message the White House every day as well as their Congresspeople. I just decided that I need to make sure my daughter knows how to get into my phone in case I go missing. Am I being too much of an alarmist?
Ms. Gerbi, I too moved to a new place to be near my children and grand children. Sorry about your son-in-law. I cannot comment on your alarmism. However, I believe you and I are both quite low on the Orange Rapist's list. He has much bigger fish to fry.
I do not know if the following will be a comfort to you or not. But, things are going to change enough, very soon. Even your uninformed son-in-law might see that he stands to be hurt by events. The stock exchange has been falling precipitously for months. All the big investors on the stock exchanges, like Warren Buffet, George Soros and Bill Gates are selling their stock. This is known as liquidating one's assets, before the crash. China, France and some other countries like Japan are selling their U.S. securities and buying gold like crazy. This is anticipatory fear of an economic depression.
All of the money trump and his pall Musk are removing from our economy, by shutting down Federal government agencies, combined with his tariffs, will bring commercial activity to a slow trickle in the U.S. In other words: a depression just like 1929.
I hope this does not seem cynical of me. I am not hoping for this to happen. As someone who has studied economics; I am simply making a prediction.
Thank you. I know that neither my daughter or son-in-law & my son & his wife will not question their MAGA loyalty until it hits their pocketbooks hard. I do have questions I would like to ask you. If you are inclined, I can be reached at sherry.gerbi@yahoo.com
No. You're not. And I for one am very proud of the stand you are taking.
Joanne! BRAVA!! BRAVA !!! BRAVA!!
They came for the Muslim students. I spoke out because I know how the rest of the fucking poem goes.
This is horrifying! Where the hell is she now?!?
Also where is Mahmoud Khalil?
In this artice and in every other article I've read about this, it says she is in a private prison in Louisiana, sent there despite a court order not allowing her to be moved out of MA.
Take an attorney and get her out. Trump needs to be put in prison.
Louisiana
Linda!!! TYTYTYTY!!
Louisiana according to the story.
I hope you consider doing a podcast or getting a YouTube channel.
She's in your pen.
Need to surround our citizens and students to protect them from illegal seizures and a corrupt beast in the WH who is the most ignorant as are these supposed ice people or his henchmen. They probably aren't legal. Students should have online classes as they did during covid.
Keep safe and vigilant out there. 🇺🇸🗽🗽💪🇨🇦
I am ready to be sympathetic. I am alarmed by this story. But it bothers me that you don't tell us when this happened or provide a link by which we can watch the video. Can you please correct those omissions?
Chris Hayes has it on Youtube. Look it up.
Hey, we’re on the same side here! It depresses me even further when people who could speedily look up and paste a link, instead say “Google it” or “look it up”—not everyone spends all day and night doing internet searches (unlike ME, and perhaps YOU).
Here’s a link, Kate—the kidnapping was on Tuesday:
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/03/27/us/rumeysa-ozturk-detained-what-we-know
And FFR: I typed into the Google window
Turkish Tufts student ICE
…and lots of articles popped up.
Actually, I'm trying to help this site, to which I subscribe. There are lots of sites out there right now, and if the basic info isn't supplied, it's easy to start doubting. This site is too good for that to happen. Your comment is snarky and unhelpful to me and to this site.
I was replying to the snarky comment of Maureen Longo! I thought he comment was rude to YOU. Was I wrong?
I didn’t even mean it to be snarky to HER— I merely wanted to beg people who are on the SAME SIDE to quit telling each other to “look it up”!
Maria, I was replying to Maureen. I am 78 years old, a veteran of many campaigns, and I've often heard the saying that "The definition of the left is people who stand in a circle and shoot." I agree with you that we need to stop that! This is an overwhelming moment, and we have to stand together. There are many people out there who would be sympathetic, but don't need to be told to "Look it up." A high-quality publication like Closer to the Edge needs to be careful to give basic information people can use and pass on to others. Heather Cox Richardson, who carefully documents all she says, earns great credibility that way.
And yes not everyone has the same skill set. I currently don’t have a computer so do everything by phone. The advantage of a computer is you can have multiple tabs open & can move from one to another. With a phone, it can be a little more cumbersome. I have discovered Perplexity, a free ai search engine that gives you the ability to ask follow-up questions. I highly recommend it. I’ve also tried ChatGPT, DuckDuckGo & of course Google.
I’d like to say “unbelievable,” but it’s happening here in the UNITED STATES 🇺🇸!
Will the fascist Trump regime slam the federal courts again saying “Sorry, it’s State Secrets!” No! It’s no secret! You’re fascist SOBs taking over our government before our very eyes!
These “Due Process” violations need to get to the Roberts’ Court ASSP!
These violations of basic, fundamental rights GUARANTEED IN THE U.S. CONSTITUTION MUST BE PROTECTED NOW!
Trump’s impeachable on these violations!
(Also, These goons in masks without IDs need to be arrested!)
Arrested BY WHOM? We’re seeing that “law enforcement” in the largest sense seems to be all in on these actions. It’s not just a few rogue sheriffs in CO etc— it’s ICE, and DOJ and more. Law enforcement has always leaned right, and a lot of the personnel are now able to fully display their authoritarian attitudes and ACT on them, with no fear of restraint, judicial or otherwise.
Ms. Jette, it still disappoints me when I see how Americans simply do not understand it. We are now living in a fascist dictatorship. The potential for it has been with us for decades. All it took was someone with the gaul to pull it off. Please notice that there is not one prominent member of the American business community speaking out against this. As long as their profits keep rolling into their banks; they are happy. The lukewarm, pusillanimous response of the tufts university president is revealing and shameful.
Maria! I suspect ICE BUT THEY DID NOT IDENTIFY THEMSELVES!
Unacceptable!!!
Kumar needs to resign. Now. Deplorable. I graduated from Harvard, had a student visa, as I am Canadian. My rage holds no bounds.
We all witnessed our government arresting an innocent woman (a difference of opinion is not a crime. The Constitution guarantees it). Then we were told she was illegally trafficked to another state. Our government is officially terrorist. Every employee who participated are culpable. Federal law says you can disobey a direct order, if it's illegal. Remember the Mai Lai massacre. Don't be complicit.
If this doesn't scare you, you're asleep.
Or your soul is dead.
Any non-lily-white woman needs to think very carefully about how to defend herself from these rogue organizations. Probably all women really. It seems we can no longer trust the law for protection.
You use all the important and impossible words for speaking to truth. I use a favorite of mine, just now much more often. "Are you F'ing kidding me?" "What the Holy F'ing hell" "What the F' did he just say?" there are more but finally "I'm F'ing scared about so many F'ing things!"
Dearest Diane!
TYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTY
Glad to not be alone. TY!
Yes, I’m generally an optimist but there are some nights I start feeling scared. That’s the case tonight and I suspect I may not sleep.
Part of me believes that things will go on, not so world shattering because most of us just want to live our life, do our jobs, have fun with our friends and neighbors, heck, we want an easy button for our daily life.
Most people seem to not really pay attention except to themselves. Clean the car? Throw the trash out the window. In a hurry? bump into somebody to get in line first. We don't care about anything but what we see from our own eyes, things that only relate to: ME ME ME ME!
But now is the time to pay attention. Sherry, if you are subscribed to this, you already care. To lesson the fear, find things you can support that make life better. I also read Axios AM, great summary of news and why it's important - I feel informed. I just found Country First, being started by republican Adam Kinzinger, I am a tad surprised, but as an Illinois resident I have always appreciated his thoughtfulness so I am following this. The goals: Country over Party, Stand for Truth, Build Common Ground. Wherever this goes that is a solid start. Finally, Indivisible is hosting a nation wide rally. Hands Off! Rally and March to Rise Up and Fight Back Against Trump/Musk Attacks on Saturday, April 5, in numerous locations. I believe in the power of numbers so I am going. They have a newsletter that is helpful in following the issues and opportunities to connect with our leaders, as well as a section with posters you can print and post.
So sleep! You need the strength to care and support change in your own way. As you know I occassionally swear like a teapot which releases some steam. Hang in there.
I’ve been known to swear on a very rare occasion. Maybe I should try it more often.
Desperate times, desperate measures!