Most of the time I’m not, but the moments happen.

There was one this morning. I read about a young Indonesian man, married to a US citizen, caring for their disabled baby, applying to be a permanent resident. He had a good job in a hospital, until ICE came in and told his work colleagues to call a fake meeting in the basement so it could nab him.

They complied. Jesus wept.

ICE doesn’t need any real reason to nab anyone now, but sometimes it enjoys pretending it has one. In this case it retroactively revoked his visa, set to expire in 2026, by changing its expiration date to sometime in March of this year. Then it picked him up based on criminal activity which involved graffiti years ago. The victim had traveled outside the country and returned multiple times since that misdemeanor (not punishable by deportation) offense.

Criminal activity is one of our new opposite word/phrases, like merit hire, as in the sentence, Current US cabinet members are merit hires.

These stories of individuals, usually men around the ages of my sons, illegally torn from there homes and jobs and families and deported if they’re “lucky,” or imprisoned in harsh conditions with no legal recourse if they are not, affect me much more than the threat of losing Social Security or the US betraying the good guys and joining the bad guys. It’s horrific for even one person to be snatched from their life for no reason. Are we just going to get used to this happening again and again?

Well, we have certainly adapted to regular school shootings.

Things are going well for my family and for me, and yet we live in the midst of increasing rancor and lawlessness of the worst kind, that perpetrated by authorities and fueled by capitulation. Now happiness now often seems gratuitous, and our right to pursue it a slender, shreddable veneer.

I haven’t blogged in a while because, well, they always start out like this. I will regain equilibrium shortly and probably not feel like this for a while, maybe even days. But I needed to acknowledge the situation today. Every room is filled with elephants.