What Would Nellis Say?

 

this is not who we are!

By Rick Stiller​​​​​​​

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How is it possible that over the past ten months, our country has purged any remaining sense of courtesy, empathy, and decency as we plunged into this putrid mire where armed masked unidentifiable thugs drag grandmothers, children on chemo, their parents, your neighbors, coworkers, friends, and far too many legal American citizens, who are guilty of no crimes or offenses, off the streets or out of their homes and cars to be detained without charges or access to legal assistance in deplorable conditions until they can be deported without a trial or judicial process to brutal prisons in countries they’ve never heard of, with no hope of repatriation or freedom…because they have brown skin or speak Spanish or are brave enough to speak out against this administration’s racist policies?

 

Why do we tolerate our government committing murder on the high seas, blowing up dozens of boats without knowledge of who is aboard or proof that they are carrying drugs, instead of deploying the Coast Guard to intercept and inspect suspected “narco-terrorists” before they get anywhere close to our shores? Fentanyl is the primary drug killing users, and it is smuggled across the Mexican border by land, not in open boats pounding through the seas.

 

Despite having the best intelligence network in the world to guide foreign policy, the draft dodger-in-chief is hellbent on proving his own impotence by moving a carrier group into the Caribbean Sea to threaten war on Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico. The objective has nothing to do with curbing the drug trade. It is simply the first move in Trump’s campaign to dominate the Western Hemisphere, while Putin reconstructs the Soviet Union and Xi consolidates his power over Asia and significant portions of Africa.

 

Why does anyone doubt that the adjudicated rapist in the Oval Office is implicated in the Epstein files? Will anyone be surprised when the Justice Department refuses to release at least some of the files, citing pending investigations into Trump’s Democratic enemies who might have been associated with Epstein? The victims are ready to publish their own list of their abusers if Congressional investigations are stymied or delayed.

 

Why does Congress refuse to investigate the obvious and enormous graft, flagrant bribery, and blatant corruption, not only in the White House but throughout the administration?  Stock manipulation is small potatoes compared to hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into anonymous cryptocurrency exchanges, meme coins, mega real estate deals in foreign countries, exclusive clubs in Washington, D.C., and $400 million planes.

 

Republican Senators and Congressmen set up and refused to negotiate before, during, or after the government shutdown over a funding bill that offered the Democratic opposition a stark choice between funding the SNAP program that provides supplemental nutrition assistance for 42 million underprivileged citizens including millions of children…or ending Medicaid coverage for those same millions and support for Affordable Care Act subsidies that would result in doubling or tripling the premiums for health insurance for more than 45 million workers and their families, a drastic change that could bankrupt thousands of small businesses, close rural hospitals and nursing homes, and clog up every emergency room in the country. 

 

The Republicans have been trying to destroy “Obamacare”, which is providing affordable health care for more than 20 million citizens, since its inception in 2010, and they have never offered an alternative plan other than returning to expensive, high-deductible catastrophic policies that denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.

 

Letting millions of our neighbors starve or die is the MAGA Republicans’ cruel and inhumane response to their oath to serve their constituents. The objective is to move the funds saved through ending these programs to pay for the $4.5 trillion tax deductions for the richest 1% of the richest 1%.

 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re black, white, purple, green, gay, straight, right, left, rich, poor, or uncommitted…this is not who we, the American people, are. The cruelty, hate, lies, and endless deflections are masking efforts by a cadre of billionaires to dismantle the structures of democracy to make way for “aristocratic fascism” that rewards the rich at the expense of everyone else.

 

While the massive ‘No Kings’ rallies across the country and community efforts to inhibit ICE commandos’ unconstitutional and illegal kidnappings offer hope, the thundering voice of the people needs to be heard loud and clear, all day, every day. The peaceful demonstrations need to expand until everyone in the current administration is driven from office, so the nation can begin to rebuild a real democracy that represents all of us, not just the richest few.

 

It’s up to all of us. Stand up! Speak Out! Make a Difference!

 

 

Thanks for your support! I look forward to your thoughts, appreciate your dedication to freedom, and hope you will share these opinions with everyone you know!

 

To read more essays or the first chapters of more than a dozen of my novels, visit: www.rickstiller.com, and for a moment of calm, enjoy my new portfolio of floral portraits from this season in Kelian’s Garden at www.rickstillerart.com. Beautiful prints and gorgeous merchandise make great holiday gifts!

 

 

PS – If you know any immigrants who have been, are, or might be subject to arrest for attending required court hearings, a group of volunteers, based out of the USC Dornsife program, has established a free hotline to help those with in-person immigration hearings file motions to move their appointments online. 

 

The hotline is available for use by anyone, anywhere, and may be reached at 888-462-5211. Services are available in both English and Spanish. For the full article, please visit: https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/06/18/usc-agents-of-change-establishes-hotline-to-help-move-immigration-hearings-online/.​​