Is democracy slipping away from us?

Dear Editor,

A raid by ICE agents looking for illegals occurred in Chicago at 1 a.m. in a 5-story apartment building. Agents surrounded the building; agents also repelled from helicopters to the roof. What did that cost us? Did these agents think illegals would make it to the roof and fly away like scared pigeons. There was no authorization from any court for this raid. American citizens were herded to the street and zip tied while their children were traumatized by masked heavily armed ICE agents. They suspected up to 40 illegals were living at that apartment building; they could have picked these people up on the street going to work or at work. Were they sending us a message, can they do this to anyone at any time? Is our democracy slipping away from us? Two hundred and fifty years ago a lot of bullets and blood were expended to form this democracy we take for granted today.

A people who never experienced life in a Democracy; governed by czars and dictators through history are the people of Russia. Alexei Navalny, a Russian dissident, fought for changes in his homeland and fought against graft and corruption. Navalny organized a series of anti-corruption rallies in cities across Russia. In some cities, the rallies were sanctioned by authorities, but in others, including Moscow and Saint Petersburg, they were not allowed. He was fined 20,000 rubles for organizing illegal protests. Navalny was hospitalized after being severely poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin. He accused President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service. He was poisoned a second time and attacked with acid resulting in the loss of vision in one eye.

On his return, Navalny was arrested on trumped-up charges, tried and sent to a federal prison in Siberia. His wife received messages from him through his lawyers during his imprisonment. He said he suffered constantly from hunger and the cold. The guards woke him every hour and moved him to a different cell, depriving him of sleep. Alexei said Jesus took the punches for him. Dying at the hands of your tormenters with no family within a thousand miles would be a very lonely and desolate way for anyone to die.

On 16 February 2024, the Federal Penitentiary Service announced that Navalny had died in prison. Prior to his death, Navalny had been treated in a hospital for ailments due to mistreatment in the prison. His body was returned to his mother. The pathology reports his wife requested stated he was again poisoned.

Three of Navalny’s lawyers were arrested and charged with “participation in extremist communications” for passing his messages from the penal colony to Alexei’s wife. The punishment for this crime is up to 6 years in prison.

Trump and Putin met in Anchorage to work out an end to the Ukraine war. Trump literally rolled out the red carpet and treated Putin like royalty. What is the criteria a convicted felon such as Trump would use to gage a person’s character and worth as a leader? I believe the criteria you and I would judge a world leader by would differ widely from Trump’s. Putin came away from the meeting looking like a world leader and embolden to step up his bombing of the Ukraine.

— Tom Janicki
Almont