This isn’t the American way, and we know it.

Today, just hours before it was set to air, CBS pulled a 60 Minutes report titled “Inside CECOT.” The segment, which investigated what immigrants are enduring inside one of the most brutal prisons in the world, was suddenly withdrawn with no explanation. The only public statement was an editor’s note on X: “The broadcast lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated. Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast.”

They had already released teasers that showed interviews with men who were shackled, terrified, and told they were being sent back to Venezuela. Instead, they were flown to El Salvador, where they say they were kidnapped, transported to CECOT, and imprisoned. The footage showed a plane landing and immigrants hunched over, shackled in chains, paraded in front of cameras. Some told 60 Minutes they endured “four months of hell,” “brutal and torturous conditions,” and believed they were already dead. They described being held in concrete cells, denied sunlight, food, and communication, abandoned by the United States of America in a facility designed for maximum pain and cruelty.

CBS now claims the segment needed “additional reporting.” It was replaced with a profile of seven British siblings who are classical musicians. The decision to pull the story reportedly came from Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Weiss had no experience in broadcasting before being appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News. She built her brand by criticizing “woke culture” and mainstream media institutions. In October, her online publication The Free Press was acquired by Paramount for $150 million. The merger that brought her into the top of CBS News required Trump administration approval. That same month, Paramount paid Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Now, Bari Weiss holds final editorial control over one of the most-watched investigative news platforms in America.

Anyone who has followed the slow capture of what was the “free press” by this administration knows exactly what this is. This isn’t about programming schedules or editorial caution. This is censorship. And it’s not the first time. When CBS made a deal with the Trump administration last year, they quietly agreed to install an internal “review board” to evaluate politically sensitive material. This is the result. The public doesn’t get the truth. They get what survives the filter. It is no longer journalism; it’s state media-type messaging. Something that you would find in Hiter’s Germany or North Korea. And it is as un-American as they come.

For those unfamiliar, CECOT, El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, is a government-run mega-prison where over 12,000 people are packed into overcrowded, windowless cells. Many have been detained without formal charges. There is no access to legal counsel. No trial dates. International human rights organizations have called it a site of state-sponsored torture. There is growing concern that the U.S. is not only aware of this but enabling it, outsourcing detention to authoritarian governments in the region while hiding the reality from the American public. That’s the story CBS spiked. That’s what you were never supposed to see. History should make this immediately familiar. Nazi Germany did not keep its camps confined within Germany. People were deported and disappeared into facilities across occupied Europe, far from public view. Distance made denial easier. Outsourcing made brutality easier to hide. And silence made it possible to continue.

We also heard from Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week during his year-end briefing, when he stated that what is happening in Ukraine is “not our war. It’s a war on another continent.” He added, “What we’re trying to figure out here is, what can Ukraine live with and what can Russia live with? Sort of identify what both sides’ positions are, and see if we can sort of drive them towards each other to some agreement.”

But we’ve heard this before. It’s what was said when Roosevelt was begged by Churchill to intervene in World War II. It’s what was said when Jewish refugees fleeing genocide arrived on our shores and were turned away. “Not our war.” That phrase has always been the prelude to disaster. Not just for the people left behind, but for us. Because when authoritarian regimes test how far they can go and don’t find appropriate resistance, or are treated as equals in negotiations, they don’t stop. They regroup and push harder. Putin has made his intentions clear. He wants more than Ukraine. He wants influence, destabilization, and revenge for the collapse of the Soviet empire, and he wants it to be felt much farther than the borders of Ukraine. He is older, more isolated, and more brazen than ever. He has nothing left to lose. And he’s watching us closely.

Because this is how authoritarian minds work. Every move is a test. And to even suggest that Russia should be allowed to keep part of the land it stole is failing the lesson of history. But Trump doesn’t care, because he likes Putin and strongmen like him, and their praise and acceptance are all that matter to him.

And while our “peace president” has failed to keep his promise to “end the war within 24 hours” of his return to office, he’s still actively pushing to start one against Venezuela. Earlier today, December 21, the U.S. Coast Guard seized its third oil tanker in less than a week in international waters near Venezuela. These seizures are part of what the administration is calling a blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, targeting crude exports that make up over half of the country’s total revenue. Caracas has called the moves “international piracy” and vowed to take legal action. Oil traders are already warning that these actions will raise prices globally when Asian markets reopen, and legal experts note that under international law, such blockades can qualify as acts of war, all while House Republicans work to limit congressional oversight.

This was not a coordinated allied effort. Congress hasn’t approved any of this, and there has been no war declared. This is just Trump ordering the military to surround Venezuela and start seizing oil tankers in international waters because he wants to. The reason? Control. Power. Oil. He’s not doing this to protect democracy or stop human rights abuses; he’s doing it because it makes him feel powerful. Because it gets him attention. Because he wants to be seen as one of the good old boys. The strongmen who are part of the oil dynasty.

Trump doesn’t need more money. This isn’t about personal wealth. It’s about the rush. The same kind of high-risk, thrill-seeking behavior you see in billionaires and celebrities who already have everything and still want more. It’s the same pattern you see in Elon Musk and others who burn things down just to feel something. For Trump, this isn’t strategy; it’s about getting that feeling back. He’s already been president. He already broke the system once. Now he’s chasing the next level. He wants a legacy. He wants to control the oil market. He wants leverage over China, which depends heavily on Venezuelan crude. And if he can’t control Venezuela directly, he’ll install someone who will take orders. Someone loyal, someone he can trade favors with. It doesn’t have to be democratic. It just has to serve him.

And let’s be clear: none of this is peacekeeping. And it is not the American way. This is the behavior of a man addicted to power and willing to risk anything, even war, to get back the feeling he thinks comes with unchecked control.

If that weren’t enough, the Trump administration has now recalled nearly 30 U.S. ambassadors, nearly all of them career diplomats. These are not political operatives. These are public servants with decades of experience managing international relationships, navigating crises, and advancing American interests abroad. The cuts are targeted. Thirteen of the affected posts are in Africa, another six in Asia. No replacements have been named. The vacancies are strategic. And the damage is real. The American Foreign Service Association has raised serious concerns, warning that this mass recall represents an unprecedented loss of institutional knowledge and credibility. The purpose isn’t just to shift tone, it’s to sever the relationships that bind us to the rest of the world. Many of these regions are already under pressure from Chinese and Russian influence. Now we’re stepping back entirely and leaving the vacuum to be filled by authoritarian powers. We are gutting our own presence on the world stage and making room for regimes that do not share our democratic values. This isn’t “America First.” It’s deliberate sabotage. This is what regimes do when they want to centralize power and remove those who might object. And again, it is un-American.

I want to step away from my usual commentary for a moment and talk about something that weighs on me every day. Our public health system is unraveling. And now a dangerous new flu variant is spreading quickly, already confirmed in 34 countries. In Canada, nearly 30 percent of flu tests are coming back positive. In the UK, hospitals are becoming overwhelmed. Here in the U.S., over 4.6 million people have been infected so far this season, and more than 49,000 have been hospitalized. Children and older adults are being hit the hardest.

This new strain, Subclade K of H3N2, has picked up several mutations that make it easier to spread. The current flu shot still helps protect against severe illness, and antiviral medications like Tamiflu and Xofluza can be effective, but only if taken early in the course of the illness. That’s why staying informed, and why acting early matters.

Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re being told. Public health has been politicized. The same doctors we called heroes, who guided us through a pandemic just five years ago, are now being dismissed, silenced, or threatened for sharing evidence-based science. And the messaging we do get from this administration is vague, delayed, or distorted.

I’m not a medical professional, but I trust mine. My entire family is fully vaccinated with everything we’re eligible for. I wear a high-quality mask in crowded indoor spaces, especially during cold and flu season. I wash my hands. I do this not out of fear, but out of respect for my community and care for the people around me. We should never see compassion or caution as weakness. But too many Americans now do. We’re being conditioned to ignore all forms of suffering unless it reaches our own doorstep. That’s not how communities survive. That’s how they break. And that’s not the country I believe in. It is un-American.

So if you haven’t yet received a recent COVID or flu vaccine, please speak to your doctor or pharmacist. We need to stay healthy, because this fight for our country is far from over.

None of these stories are isolated. They are the same rope tightening around our democracy. Because every step of this is about control. But here’s what I know: I’m still writing. You’re still reading. And that means something. That means we haven’t lost everything yet. But what we’re seeing now, the censorship, the cruelty, the lawlessness, the lies, none of it should feel normal. None of it should feel acceptable. We cannot afford to become numb to this moment. Because what we’re watching, day after day, policy after policy, is the slow unraveling of a country we used to recognize.

What is happening is un-American. And it’s our job to remind each other what America is supposed to stand for, and to speak up, even when those in charge want us to forget.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, chances are we see things the same way. You can help keep this work going by subscribing to my Substack; there’s a free option, or you can become a paid subscriber for just $5 a month. Paid subscriptions help me reach more people, cover more ground, and keep telling the truth about what’s happening to our country.