Donald Trumpโs ICE is doing exactly what he wants. And now they are holding aย political prisonerย for nearly a year in an ICE detention camp simply because 33-year-oldย Leqaa Kordiaย dared to champion views the Trump regime opposes. This should concern all Americans especially given the recentย warningย from concentration camp expertย Andrea Pitzerโwho explained on my SiriusXM show that history tells the Trump regime buildingย massive ICE detention campsย will ultimately be used to imprison political prisoners.
That should not be a surprise to anyone who follows the history of fascist and other right wing regimes. Trump is following the fascist playbook, complete with his own secret police that has terrorized and even killed Americans who defy him. The most glaring example being the murder of Renee Good and Alex Prettiโwho were then smeared by Trump officials as โdomestic terrorists.โ
Shockingly, we just learned that Trumpโs ICE shot and killedย another US citizen, 23 year old Ruben Ray Martinez, almost a year ago in March of 2025. However, Trumpโs secret police covered up their involvement until recent media reports broke the story open. The details surrounding the murder of Martinez–who worked at Amazon–are simply unbelievable with ICE claiming that for someย unknown reasonย this young man with no criminal record suddenly used his car to attack ICE officers.
Beyond that ICE has terrorized American citizens who dared film themโwhich they are legally entitled toโassaulted protesters and engaged in conduct consistent with an occupying army, not federal agents.
But itโs not ICE acting as a rogue agencyโTrump wants them to do this. Trumpโlike Putin– wants to silence dissent as weโve seen with his regime targeting all who oppose him from comedians like Jimmy Kimmel to seeking to criminally charge and imprisonย six Democratic membersย of Congress for warning members of the military to not follow illegal orders. A grand jury blocked thatโat least for now.
That is why the caseย Leqaa Kordiaย demands far more attention given itโs a sneak preview of what we can expect from Trump for not just immigrants–but also U.S. citizens. Leqaa is a 33-year-old Palestinian woman with family in Gaza and the United States. Her mother is a US citizen living in Paterson, New Jerseyโwhich is where Leqaa was staying and working as a waitress until she taken by ICE.
Leqaa Kordia
Kordiaโwho came to the US in 2016 on a student visa and was in the process of seekingย permanent residenceย status via her mother –has no criminal record. The diminutive woman poses no threat to anyone. But to the Trump regime she is dangerous because she participated in peaceful protests advocating for Palestinian humanity. In the case, of Leqaa this issue is very personal in that she has lost nearlyย 200 relativesย in Gaza.
But Leqaaโs case is not about Palestineโnor it is about Israel. Rather, itโs about freedom of speechโand the Trumpโs regime targeting those who dare defy them.
How this case began was that in March of 2025, ICE informed Leqaa they wanted to speak to her. In response, she voluntarily appeared at the ICE office in Newark, New Jersey–where she was quickly arrested, thrown into an unmarked van and sentย 1,500 miles away toย the Prairieland Detention Facility in Texas far from her lawyer and family.
Since then, she has been detained in horrific conditions. As Leqaa detailed in a recentย op-ed, the ICE facility she has been held in for nearly a year โis filthy, overcrowded and inhumane.โ She slept in a plastic shell โsurrounded by cockroaches and only a thin blanket.โ And the food quality is so atrocious, it has caused her to vomit resulting in significant weight loss.
Worse, just a few weeks ago sheย experiencedย the first seizure of her life, collapsing to the floor. From there, ICE transported her to a hospital where her wrists and legs shackled to her bed for the three days. Asย she put it,ย โThe entire time I was chainedโฆI felt like an animal.โ And simply to be cruel, ICE refused to tell her lawyers or family where she was or her medical condition.
None of this should be happening. As her lawyer Amal Thabateh explained to me, two different immigration judges ruled that Leqaa should be released on bond. But the Trump regime instead invoked a little used procedure to keep her in detention open ended.
To do that, serial liar DHS Secretary Kristi Noemย smearedย Leqaa as being a โterroristโ sympathizer for expressing concern for Palestinians in Gaza. They even claimed that releasing Leqaaโwho again has no criminal record and was living with her US citizen mother in New Jersey–was somehow a threat to our nation. Of course, this is the same Noem who smeared with lies Renee Good and Alex Pretti as โterroristsโ to justify their murders so we know she will say anything to defend the Trump regimeโs crimes against humanity.
The idea Leqaa is a political prisoner is not just my view. Amnesty Internationalย lists herย on their websiteย demandingย that the US government โrelease detained protester.โ Her case is in the same section on theย Amnesty websiteย where they are calling for the release of dissidents in Russia, Belarus and other authoritarian regimes. This is where our nation is now viewed by human rights organizations.
Deeply alarming is that these ICE dentition centers are increasingly become death camps. At leastย 32 people diedย in ICE custody in 2025โthe highest number in two decades. And in the past six weeks,ย six peopleย have died in ICE custody including one man killed by ICE agents as they wereย restraining him. Will anyone be held accountable for this manโs death? That is like asking will anyone beย held accountableย for the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny killed in a Russian prison two years ago. We know that no one will be prosecuted because Russia is an authoritarian nation. As disturbing as it sounds, so is the United States under Trump.
But for those who refuse to submit to Trump and want to stand up for freedom of speech, I hope you will sign theย Amnesty International petitionย calling for the US government to release Leqaa. Other ways to help this young woman include calling on your members of Congress to demand her release. You can also consider making a donation to herย online fundraising pageย to help her and her family. Finally, you can follow Leqaaโs campaign forย freedom on Instagramย and amplify the updates.
As Andrea Pitzer repeatedlyย warnedย in our conversation on concentration camps, it does not end with people like Leqaa. It begins with people like Leqaa being held with in a camp for as long as the regime wants to keep her–in horrific conditions–simply because they want to silence her political views. They then continue until they reach people like us. But as theย famous poemย goes, by then itโs too late because when โthey came for meโฆthere was no one left to speak out.โ
——
Below is my recent interview about Leqaaโs wrongful detention with her lawyerย Amal Thabateh,ย who is with Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) Project andย Laila El-Haddad, an award-winning Palestinian author, social activist, policy analyst and journalist.
The Dean’s Report by Dean Obeidallah is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
It is always OK to ask to stop.ย Consent can be withdrawn at any time!ย You are not a sex toy or sex slave unless that is what turns you on.ย Even then you have the right to say stop.ย You are a person.ย Anyone who doesn’t stop when asked is an abuser that doesn’t deserve you.ย Hugs
โIf you donโt help dig out the car, then I canโt take you to school, and if you donโt go to school Iโm going to lose my frigginโ mind. You donโt want Mommy to lose her frigginโ mind, do you?โ
โTheyโre also my staying-indoors-all-winter clothes.โ
I really don’t care to dignify or even acknowledge that last night’s spectacle was an actual State Of The Union address, but it was what we get. I thought I’d simply ignore all of it and all surrounding it, but of course I read this article in The Guardian because old civic duties habits die hard (this one’s not dead yet!), and I thought I’d bring it here because it’s not sharp or negative. It’s simply what happened. (And what, no doubt, we all expected, though I’m certain some expected far less from the Democrats in attendance.)
Amid Trumpโs lies and xenophobic rants, people struggling to pay bills and make ends meet are unlikely to be moved
He wanted to give the kingโs speech. Donald Trump entered the US House chamber on Tuesday like a medieval monarch, with Republicans lined up eager to touch his royal robes (or, in two cases, grab a selfie with him). But within moments, the illusion was shattered.
As the US president strolled by, soaking up adulation, Democratic representative Al Green of Texas held aloft a handwritten sign: โBlack people arenโt apes!โ โ a reference to Trump recently sharing a racist video depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama.
When the first State of the Union address of Trumpโs second term got under way, Republicans moved in on Green menacingly and tried to tear the sign away. But he persisted until being escorted out for the second year in a row. As he departed, there were more acrimonious exchanges with Republicans, a few of whom tried to start a chant of โUSA! USA!โ
(snip-embedded 3 minute video, on the page: “Donald Trump’s two-hour State of the Union address in 3 minutes โ video”)
It was the first but not the last time that a person of color would take a stand during the wannabe autocratโs record 107-minute speech while others remained silent or raucously egged him on. It was a night where Trump again sought to poison US politics and divide Americans along various fault lines, none more inflammatory than race.
The great salesman, sporting his familiar red tie and orange hue, began with a predictable pitch: โOur nation is back โ bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.โ In his telling, inflation, mortgage rates and gas prices are falling, while the stock market, oil production and foreign direct investment are booming along with construction and factory jobs.
Luckily for Trumpโs speechwriter, the US menโs hockey team won Olympic gold two days earlier. The reality TV president hailed them in the press gallery, prompting applause and roars from both Democrats and Republicans. But while Republicans chanted โUSA! USA!โ with gusto, barely any Democrats did.
โWeโre winning so much that we really donโt know what to do about it,โ Trump declared. While he didnโt mention his gilded ballroom, it was still a Pollyannish version of America that will not be recognized by people struggling to pay bills and make ends meet. Trump is not the man to offer: โI feel your pain.โ
Republicans ritually stood and clapped and cheered all the same. Democrats, who last year waved protest signs that looked like Marty Supremeโs table tennis paddle, this time remained bolted to their seats and grunted, rolled their eyes, dropped their jaws, shook their heads, waved their hands or got bored and studied their phones.
Trump moved on to his beloved tariffs, calling the supreme court decision to kill his pet project โvery unfortunateโ and โdisappointingโ as four black-robed justices wore inscrutable expressions on the front row. Compared with last weekโs White House tantrum, when he threw all toys and decorum out of the pram, this was Trump showing self-restraint worthy of a child refusing a second ice cream.
It didnโt last. As Trump riffed on crime, election integrity and transgender issues, he turned his fire on Democrats: โThese people are crazy, Iโm telling ya, theyโre crazy. Boy, oh, boy, weโre lucky we have a country with people like this. Democrats are destroying our country, but weโve stopped it just in the nick of time.โ
He soon reminded everyone that, since the day he came down the golden escalator a decade ago and ranted about immigrants, race has always been at the heart of the Trumpist project. He gazed out at a chamber where Democrats โ including the late Jesse Jacksonโs son, Jonathan Jackson โ somewhat resembled America in their diversity while Republicans presented a sea of white faces with only a handful of exceptions.
Trump announced a โwar on fraudโ led by vice-president JD Vance, citing a social services scam in Minnesota that he mendaciously and absurdly estimated to have cost $19bn. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born representative from Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American from Michigan, shouted: โThatโs a lie!โ and โYouโre a liar!โ
The president was just warming up. He went on a xenophobic rant: โThe Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception. Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here, to the USA.โ
Omar shook her head, perhaps more in sorrow than in anger.
Trump challenged Democrats: โIf you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.โ Democrats remained seated. Trump retorted: โYou should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up.โ
It was rich from the man who sent a goon squad into Minneapolis that resulted in the needless deaths of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who went unmentioned by the president (as did survivors of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein).
Omar, raising a hand to the side of her mouth to project her voice, yelled with piercing moral clarity: โYou have killed Americans! You have killed Americans! You have killed Americans! You have killed Americans!โ
Helpfully, Omar and Tlaib had set up a real-time factchecking service for the chamber. Trump boasted that he ended eight wars. Tlaib shouted: โItโs a lie! What are you talking about?โ
Trump said: โNo one cares more about protecting Americaโs youth โ .โ Tlaib interjected: โThen release the Epstein files!โ
Trump vowed to halt insider trading by members of Congress. Mark Takano of California yelled: โHow about you first!โ Tlaib called out: โYouโre the most corrupt president!โ
The more Trump talked, the less he said. He had gone into the address with an approval rating of 39% positive and 60% negative, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, lower than any past president delivering his first State of the Union address. Over an hour and 47 minutes, he offered little to change that equation. The longest State of the Union speech in history was also one of the most inconsequential.
It was small wonder that Omar, Tlaib and several other Democrats walked out before the end. As for Green, his seat remained empty too save for a handwritten cardboard sign that simply and defiantly said: โAl Green.โ
Hello Everyone. Scottie recently asked me why I’ve not posted in a while. How do I tell this man who has been fighting the good fight for so many years that I’m just so damned tired? I’m so tired of being lied to, of being called names because I don’t believe the lies, of being caught between morality and caring for people caught in the trumpian trap. I’ve written this post over and over, and each time it seems so damned obvious that I run into the exhausted question of “what’s the damned point”? How can people be so blind, so hateful, so abusive and willing to be robbed by this unrepentent conman thief, this criminal in cheap suit, this shit-stain on the satin sheets? I actually looked into asking an AI why politics in the trump era is so damned exhausting. This is what it said:
Politics, particularly in the Trump era, are exhausting due to constant, high-stakes news coverage, extreme polarization, and the erosion of traditional political norms. This creates a 24/7 cycle of outrage, fear-based media consumption, and personal fatigue, with 65% of Americans reporting feeling “worn out” by the political environment.ย NPRย +4
Key reasons for this exhaustion include:
Constant Crisis and High Drama:ย The political climate is defined by perpetual drama, making it difficult to find calm or “normal” moments, leading to a state of constant, low-level stress.
Breaking Norms:ย The Trump administration frequently violated long-held political, social, and legal norms, which created a sense of instability and constant, shocking developments.
Extreme Polarization and Tribalism:ย Politics has become an “us vs. them” mentality, where individuals may view opposing views as existential threats rather than just policy disagreements.
Information Overload:ย Social media algorithms and a 24-hour news cycle create a constant stream of political content, making it difficult to escape or disengage.
Personalized Politics:ย Political opinions have become closely linked to personal identity, making political debates feel deeply personal and emotionally charged.
Financial Stress:ย Economic concerns, such as rising costs for necessities, are often part of the political narrative, adding to the feeling of personal strain.ย The Conversationย +6
I rambled for paragraphs, deleted, rambled for paragraphs again. The simple thing, the direct thing is likely best here. Dammit, I’m tired of just how bad it all is and not having a way to repair it. My only choice is to pull in, withdraw, ignore it all.
Ok, I’ve got chicken frying. Sorry to be such a downer, but I guess I’ve run out of impotent rage. Hugs.
The primary focus this week is probably going to be on the State of the Union address. Will any of the Justices show up in the wake of Trumpโs Friday afternoon press conference, where he excoriated the ones who ruled against him in the tariffs case and called them an embarrassment to their families? Will Trump continue to talk about his ability to destroy other countries? We will see what Tuesday brings.
But he heads into SOTU with a new Washington Post-ABC poll showing that his approval rating is at 39%โthe last time it dipped below 60% was in the wake of January 6. Forty-seven percent of Americans strongly disapprove of the job the president is doing.
Late last week, there was reporting on a tremendously important story, one that should be topping every news cycle, but doesnโt seem to be. On this administrationโs watch, a DHS agent shot and killed an American citizen living in Texas during a traffic stop last March. According to the report, released as part of a FOIA request, 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez is now the earliest known shooting by federal agents associated with the Trump administrationโs mass deportation policy. Weโre only finding out about it now.
Once upon a time, we would have taken the governmentโs version of an officer-involved shooting at face value. Here, according to the New York Times, the governmentโs report claims that, โMr. Martinez initially did not follow officersโ instructions but eventually slowed to a stop after receiving verbal commands. Agents surrounded the vehicle and told him to get out of the car before Mr. Martinez accelerated and hit a federal agent, who landed on the roof of the car according to the documents. Another agent then fired multiple times through the driverโs side window. Mr. Martinez was transported to a hospital in Brownsville and later died.โ NBC filed essentially the same report, but noted that the agent landed on the hood of the car when the driver accelerated after โAgents then surrounded the vehicle.โ
Maybe the governmentโs story is true. Maybe itโs not. It doesnโt make a lot of senseโweโre to believe Martinez came to a stop and then, while surrounded by agents, managed to accelerate with enough force that he hit one of them, who ended up on either the hood or the roof of his vehicle. Were there bystanders nearby? The agent fired into a vehicle, an apparent violation of DHS policy. And was the agent still on the hood or roof when the other agent fired? Did they put him in danger? Iโm having trouble envisioning it. The documents apparently reflect that the agent was treated for a knee injury at a local hospital and released.
One problem when the government consistently lies is that itโs hard to know when (if) it might be telling the truth. And the fact that this report was concealed for so long doesnโt do anything to calm suspicion. There was reporting of his death at the time it happened, but federal and state officials failed to disclose that ICE agents were involved.
The report that was released under FOIA does not disclose the reason Martinez was stopped by officers working on an immigration detail. He was a brown-skinned American citizen. We have a phrase that describes this in Alabamaโdriving while brownโand to state the obvious, it is not a legitimate reason for police, including federal agents, to make a traffic stop.
Martinezโs mom, Rachel Reyes, described her son as a hard-working young man who had no history of confronting law enforcement officials. She said he worked at an Amazon warehouse in San Antonio and was out celebrating his birthday when he was killed. โHe was a good kid. He doesnโt have a criminal history. He never got in trouble. He was never violent.โ She also said she was told by Texas Rangers that there was video that contradicted DHSโ version of events, but did not provide any details.
Under existing policy, every DHS component, including ICE, is required to have a โuse of force review council or committeeโ to analyze incidents. The use of deadly force โmust be reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting the LEO [law enforcement officer] at the time force is applied.โ It can only be used if agents reasonably believe there is an imminent threat of death or serious injury to an agent or someone else. Itโs not clear whether a review was taken here and if so, what the results were.
There has been no outrage from Martinezโs senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. It is essential that there be a full accounting for Martinezโs death. The facts matter.
There are also ongoing reports of deaths at immigration detention facilities, even as the government is reportedly ramping up to literally warehouse human beings, including children, in actual warehouses, being snapped up with your taxpayer dollars. The Texas Tribune, a local paper that still does independent journalism, has a report calling out horrific conditions in Texas prisons, including the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, which weโve previously discussed. The official report says he tried to hang himself. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide, and a witness allegedly backs that up. There have been six deaths in six weeks at ICE-run facilities in Texas.
Although the Supreme Court released its decision in the tariffs case last week (6-3, IEEPA, the statute that doesnโt use the word โtariffโ doesnโt authorize the president to issue them), we havenโt heard that last word on the issue yet. Trump is serious about tariffs. During the campaign, he called โtariffโ the most beautiful word in the English language. He withdrew his support for incumbent Colorado Congressman Jeff Hurd, calling him a โRINO,โ because he opposes tariffs. And Trump has said that he will issue new ones.
He has the authority to do that. Although Congress has the power to impose tariffs, it can and has loaned some of it to the president. What Congress intends to do that, it knows the right wayโit uses the word โtariffsโ in the statute and places limitations on their use, like a time limit or a limit on how high the percentage of the tax can be. It also provides conditions under which the tariffs the specific law allows for can be imposed by a president.
That was the whole reason Trump used IEEPA: Because it didnโt give him any tariff powers, it necessarily didnโt impose any limits on what he could do. It would be as if you told your teenager they could go to a movie so long as they were home by 10 p.m. and it didnโt cost more than $10. You also have a rule that itโs a good idea for family members to be happy. Using the happiness rule, the kid then goes to a movie that doesnโt get out until 11 p.m. and costs $15. Itโs an imperfect analogy, but you get the point of what Trump did and why.
Now heโs stuck in a world where he can only use the specific tariff authority Congress has granted him. So hereโs what he had to say, in a Truth Social post:
โBased on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been โrippingโ the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level. During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again – GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMPโ
Trump seems to be contemplating tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That provision is designed to address short-term emergencies, not to implement trade policy, and it has never been used. He also seems to be contemplating other authorities for his new tariffs, and who knows what, if anything, heโll actually end up doingโhe repeatedly announced, repealed, waffled, and wavered on tariffs at the start of this term. One thing that is for sure is that if he actually enacts them, heโll have a fight on his hands in court
Heโs already lost conservative commentator Andy McCarthy, who says tariffs under Section 122 would be illegal. Neal Katyal, who argued the IEEPA case successfully tweeted โSeems hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122) when his DOJ in our case told the Court the opposite: โNor does [122] have any obvious application here, where the concerns the President identified in declaring an emergency arise from trade deficits, which are conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits.โ If he wants sweeping tariffs, he should do the American thing and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no problem persuading Congress. Thatโs what our Constitution requires.โ
Neal Katyal@neal_katyal
Seems hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122) when his DOJ in our case told the Court the opposite: โNor does [122] have any obvious application here, where the concerns the President identified in declaring an emergency arise from trade deficits, which
While we are not done with tariffs, we can expect more Supreme Court decisions this week, on the 24th and 25th.
We were supposed to see Volume 2 of Jack Smithโs special counsel report, the one about classified documents, on Tuesday. That deadline was set after the Eleventh Circuit chastised Judge Cannon for dragging her feet in the matter. But when she finally got around to setting the date, she noted that Trump could appeal, which he, of course, did. Delay. Delay. Delay. He filed a motion in his personal capacity in January, asking Cannon to permanently block the reportโs release (he argued Smithโs appointment was illegal, so we should pretend it never happened). DOJ chimed in to support the boss. Trumpโs former co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, filed a request of their own, seeking a ruling that all copies of the report be destroyed.
Earlier this month, journalists who had previously intervened in the matter to force the release of the report went to the Eleventh Circuit. That court has expedited the matter, which means Trump and his supporters have briefs due next month. His delay game is still holding up, but unless the Supreme Court weighs in on his side again in a criminal matter, thereโs a limited shelf life on this one.
Other events to watch for this week:
On Tuesday, Secretaries of State who have decided to participate will meet with the FBI on unspecified issues. We discussed that meetingย here.
On Friday, a federal judge in Fulton County, Georgia, will hold a hearing on the countyโs request to have items returned, including ballots and voter rolls, that were seized by the federal government during a search warrant executed on January 28.
Thursday, Hillary Clinton testifies in front of the House Oversight Committee looking into Jeffrey Epstein. Friday, Bill Clinton testifies. Both have previously provided sworn statements. Their testimony will be behind closed doors. Iโm in favor of taking testimony from everyone who appears to have had a close enough relationship with Epstein to participate in or observe his crimes. The Clintons have both denied any involvement. Please consider grabbing this meme and posting it (I made it, so itโs fair game) and calling your Republican representatives to highlight the hypocrisy theyโre engaging in.
While Republicans are focused on the Clintons, we still donโt know who the redacted name in this email, which was flagged in a CNN report, belongs to:
We donโt know the name behind the redaction of the person who sent Epstein this email in 2018
The survivors deserve to have all of this made public. A number of them plan to attend the State of the Union as guests of members of Congress.
What else will we see this week? Maybe in the wake of his receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize from the actual winner, weโll see athletes come to the White House to deliver their gold medals to Trump? My bingo card says heโll float the idea during State of the Union ( Iโm only partially joking).
This next cartoon is seriously important.ย It is how every parent of a gay kid who accepts their child’s sexuality feels.ย Can you imagine a father who accepts his gay son talking to them about lube?ย And I don’t even want to discuss the parents who refuse to accept their child’s sexuality and instead try to force them to change. Hugs
Many people seem to expect me to draw this comic forever. Youโve seen the amount of hate that I get for it. Anyone who googles my name will be terrified to even speak to me. Every bit of the person I am is being shred and crushed and mocked. Itโs practically destroying my life and any hope that I do anything else in the future, as well as affecting me on physical and mental levels.
Now why am I still doing it? Part of it because making comics is everything I wanted in my life. I guess I could make comics that would make the majority feel good or that arenโt political, but that would feel like betraying my readers. Another part is because those readers are amazing and give me life. People have been sharing their stories with me in a way that would make any creator jealous.
The fact is that I am doing all of this by myself. I never got any help or support from publishers, editors, media, government or visible person of any kind. Iโm putting everything in your hands. I trust my readers to keep this project alive. It might make my anxiety peak, as I know that as soon as you grow disinterested in my silly stories, I wonโt have any other choice to survive than change my name and return to school.
So please, keep reblogging those stories, like them, comment on them. Thatโs the reasons why theyโre out there.ย โค