No food, water or other supplies have entered Gaza since March. People are starving to death.

People are dying of diseases because there is no clean water. Their relatives in Yemen, the Houthis, are desperate to do something. They are launching missile attacks on Israel. We are responding with airstrikes, one on a market in the capital that killed 12 people and wounded 34 others.

Why are we attacking civilian targets? How long before they attack us directly? People in the region blame us for the genocide. Israel is doing it with our weapons and support.

Young people in universities are seeing pictures of starving children. They are saying loudly “This Genocide must stop.” Speaking out on this issue has become dangerous. Romeysa Ozturk wrote an editorial for her student newspaper criticizing Tuft University’s response to the student protests. She didn’t take part in the protests themselves, just wrote about them. President Donald Trump had ICE pick her up off the street in Vermont. Then she was sent to Louisiana because the judge there is more conservative than the one in Vermont.

There was no due process. She did not have her day in court. I am deeply shocked and afraid seeing these masked men take away a woman in broad daylight. That kind of thing should not happen in a free country. Can we still call ourselves free if the government can make people disappear?

She is being punished for what she said. I am doing the same thing — criticizing authority. If they can do it to her, they can do it to me. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This administration is trying to frighten us into compliance. To obey in advance of being asked. Would my conservative friends miss me if I were silenced?

Some critical voices have been silenced. Joy Reed is no longer on MSNBC, but as long as Rachel Maddow is on there I feel pretty safe. I’m pretty far down the list but I am on that list along with Trans people and immigrants.

Trump has said he wants to send “Homegrowns” to El Salvador. The Supreme Court has said unanimously that Trump must bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Trump is defying the court order. This is a true constitutional crisis.

The Constitution has given us almost 250 years of relative freedom. I don’t want to see that end. I will work to keep our democracy functioning by writing these letters and voicing my opposition.

The Executive Branch is claiming arbitrary power and the Legislative Branch is not doing its job. Three Coequal Branches of Government are supposed to provide checks and balances on each other. The Judicial Branch is doing its job but it has no enforcement mechanism.

Congress has the “power of the purse.” They are the ones to raise tariffs and allocate money. We can call U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy. His Jamestown office number is 716-488-8111. Tell him we like our government, of the people, by the people, for the people. Tell him to do his job. The legislative branch is supposed to provide a limit on the executive branch.

We like our National Parks and we like our Universities. We like the economic advantage the research by the Universities gave us in new products we can make and in medical advances. We want him to restore funding to the Universities and restore USAID and rehire everyone at the VA. How will the VA deliver services without staff? They were all doing important work that benefited everyone. We want him to help SUNY Fredonia get money for a research laboratory to find uses for the compounds found in the husks of Black Walnuts. If you have ever picked one up you can smell that it is a mix of powerful chemicals. We currently throw them away but they are worthy of study.

Elon Musk did not bring in auditors; he brought in hackers and they downloaded massive amounts of our data. Who owns the information in our Social Security account? Does it belong to the government? Does it belong to you? It has every job you’ve ever worked and everything you were paid your whole life. It’s worth a fortune. Musk should face charges for stealing it.

We can support the Constitution by exercising our First Amendment right to Peaceable Assembly. May 1 — Thursday — is a worker’s day. Workers around the World Celebrate and demand better working conditions, the four-day work week, higher wages, a better environment and healthcare for all. We will be doing something locally that day. Keep your eye on the paper for announcements. Join us and make your voice heard.

No one at these demonstrations is being paid. We are doing it out of love for the country, because getting involved is the only way to make it better.

Marie Tomlinson is a Fredonia resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com