How many billion dollars must one have to be free to fling words of protest in any direction; even if that protest is loaded with insults and misleading statements?  Apparently being President or his wealthy loyal friend are the new benchmark for freedom of speech and protest. How poor and vulnerable do you have to be before being arrested for protesting the factual deaths of civilian friends and family in the motherland?  Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and is detained for possible deportation for protesting the conduct of a war in which approximately and very conservatively 49,000 plus noncombatant civilians inclusive of minimally 1,500 plus of those being children had thus far perished in the conflict.  Right or wrong and regardless of politics, protesting a tragedy such as that has up to this time been a right in this country. The questions now is when and what kind of protests are now crimes and what is the charge?

The decision to become an activist is complex with consequences for you and possibly your family. The decision to become a front line activist in this country on a green card could be called foolhardy, courageous or a mix of the two.  But the deeper questions deserve to be addressed. The current administration acts indifferent and unresponsive to the safe theater of the peaceful protest but between the peaceful protest and outright hot violence is the third form called disruptive protest.  Mahmoud Khalil engaged in a leadership role in an extended disruptive protest. The fact that there are people with very solid differences with Mr Kahlil and this protest movement seems not to be the central point here.  Both sides have a right to their differences. What would be the point of protesting if everyone agrees. Right now, the Tesla protests are making the news. There are arrests being made. As the protests dig into profits, what is the future fate of those people being detained?  The onset of this problem begins and belongs with this administration’s complete failure to respond in any meaningful way in the first place to the purely peaceful protests.  The escalation into disruption is inevitable when you run into stone cold unresponsiveness. A scary serious question now is when will people who participate in disruptive protests start disappearing without due process or even a fare thee well.  

Good in this case is being serious about the right of free speech and peaceful protest in the land we call America.  Good is every person being provided due process, respect, and dignity.  The crude hammer blow to Mahmoud Kahlil and his family is a prelude to the kinds of abuses we have seen in a range of dictatorships in this hemisphere.  We have just seen this administration blow off and violate a federal court order to halt a deportation.  Good riddance to the rule of law is too high a price to pay for deporting some very questionable characters.  Good is due process for every person detained. Due Process is a counter intuitive discipline but absolutely essential in a democracy such as ours.  Justice is hard and fairness even harder.  Mr. President, this isn’t a television game show. This is the United States of America and we need to return to our values as well as traditions as a nation. That would be good.