In mid-August the Washington Post broke an important story about Stephen Miller ramping up his mass deportation scheme. All over the country, ICE is eyeing defunct prisons and slowly re-opening some of them. Some communities have tried to fight these re-openings. Some see dollar signs and roll-over, often thinking they have no grounds to stop the feds making contracts with private companies like GEO and Core-Civic.
ICE’s new plan will double detention capacity to over 100,000 people and spread detention centers into new areas of the country. Fueled by the $45 Billion from the Big Beautiful Bill, ICE will hire 10,000 new employees and expand existing and soft-sided detention centers (like Alligator Alcatraz). Of special note is the impending growth in family detention facilities that the administration has said is its preferred method of deporting families. Apparently, we should expect to see a lot more of this in 2026 and onward.
In Colorado, ICE seems to be planning to open up to three new sites: Walsenburg, Hudson, and Ignacio. Reporting from Walsenburg indicates that their mayor is all in for ICE to come to town. He expects an economic boom. The problem is that there’s a body of research that suggests that prisons don’t actually lead to economic growth. The research indicates that employment growth doesn’t happen. Towns with prisons have lower retail sales, lower wages, and slower housing growth compared to towns without prisons. Property values decline near the prison with a shift to lower income households. Any jobs the prison might bring in generally go to senior people already in the system (or company). People in these small rural towns where ICE wants to re-open a defunct prison often don’t have the skillsets required to be hired. One study showed that prison employees commuted twice as far as other workers indicating prison workers often don’t reside in the communities where the prison is located.
And those wonderful economic benefits that are sure to flow back into a community with a prison? They just don’t materialize. A prison (or ICE detention facility) operates as a unique business model, a self-sustaining entity that takes care of its own food, laundry, maintenance, security, transportation, etc. It doesn’t link into the community to buy things or stimulate local businesses the way any other kind of operation might. In addition, prison or detainee labor can compete and crowd out local competition for services in the community.
And then there are the costs that local taxpayers would be required to bear to have the “privilege” of being stigmatized with having a morally repugnant entity in town. It’s a shame that so many towns have already had ICE reactivate these centers. More are scheduled to open unless something changes and changes fast.
•The Development of Last Resort: The Impact of New State Prisons on Small Town Economies, Terry L. Besser and Margaret M. Hanson, Iowa State University (paper under review at the Journal of the Community Development Society) Microsoft Word – Besser Hanson CDS 04.doc
I’m one of those people who believe that forewarned is forearmed. That anxiety and worry is often set aside if we have a plan. In fact, the mere act of planning involves us in a positive process that assures that we are not frozen in a time of crisis. But I’ve also come to understand that my way of seeing the world is not necessarily the only way. There are some of us right now who are already tuning out, going to ground. Some can’t stand to think about next steps. For those of you of that ilk, we part ways here. Reading on is not for the faint-hearted.
OK, let’s talk about what happens if Trump enacts the Insurrection Act.
Last weekend the Hands Off! protests brought an estimated 5 million Americans (approximately 2% of the population) flooding into the streets protesting a whole host of violations to fundamental rights, the destruction of the government, infrastructure, the obliteration of the economy, and many other things. These were peaceful protests and remarkable feats.
A looming deadline of April 20th is approaching when a joint report from the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security is due concerning the safety on the southern border. They are tasked to specifically address whether the Insurrection Act of 1807 should be invoked. Note that April 20th is Easter AND Hitler’s birthday. The next nationwide day of protest is the day before (April 19th). Some think that if Trump gets the recommendation to invoke this act, he will likely do it either on or about this date. This would allow him to use the military at the border and potentially in blue “sanctuary” cities. While the Insurrection Act has been used at times by Presidents, its use is reviewed by the courts only in retrospect.
photo: AramiFeraxa
THE FALSE FLAG EVENT:
What may be even more concerning is that with mass demonstrations becoming more and more popular, Trump may choose to create a false flag crisis that conveniently leads to martial law. This could be easily done if he calls up groups like the Alt-Right, Neo-Nazis, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, right wing militias, and others. Some believe that Trump is just waiting to deploy these troops against peaceful demonstrators in order to provoke a violent clash that would lead to a call for martial law to reestablish order. After Charlottesville and January 6th, it’s hard to dismiss the idea. Many people seem to think Trump has waited this long to invoke the act because he needed to have his people in key positions to get the job done. His cabinet was seated, and his minions are now in place.
THE PLAYBOOK:
Of course, causing the violence that requires the full use of martial law ultimately is how democracy falls. It doesn’t happen in one day, but it does happen quickly. There is a playbook by which totalitarian rulers have historically accomplished this goal and if we are going to stop America falling, we have to recognize the pattern.
CREATE THE SITUATION & MANIPULATE THE POPULACE:
As the initial violence kicks off, it’s likely that we will see other escalations to follow. Simple crowd control at an event or two would hardly get Americans behind the idea of giving up freedoms (and that’s what this administration is after). So, we should expect things like “terrorist” bombings, targeted assassinations, and other high-profile acts of violence that shock us. All of these events would be used to manipulate the public to call for law and order. The media will then be flooded with images of rioting, cities burning, all kinds of out-of-control behavior, much- if not all of this, will be orchestrated by the right. If done correctly by the playbook, Trump will appear to be a hero answering the growing cries of citizens to reestablish order. Trump will be only too happy to step in and assume total control. He has no plan to ever cede that control back.
photo: Martin Falbisoner
At this point, Trump can now mobilize and order troops into major American cities where his opposition is the greatest. These people are vilified as the enemy and are rebranded seditionists, traitors, and the woke mob. Good Americans are now asked to grab their guns and defend ‘Merica. Trump uses the militias that have been reformed after being freed from the Jan. 6th incarcerations. That way any military professionals who balk at using force against their own people can be sidestepped. Now citizens (largely from the right) have been cast into roles of helping the police or keeping order.
ELIMINATE OPPOSITION:
What follows next is likely to be the arrest of high-profile opposition. We should expect that journalists, Democratic officials, activists, academics, and anyone who has publicly taken on Trump or his policies publicly to be arrested. The media will cover all aspects of this round up of those people now made criminal under this administration. Democratic governors may become a special target because removing them removes all resistance at a state level. This would allow Trump the freedom to do what he wants in each and every state. To solidify control, military and law enforcement are then made to take loyalty oaths.
As the cities are locked down, the military and National Guard might be used to establish firm control. Curfews, lockdowns, and checkpoints would be created to maintain order. Militarized presence on the streets defines a new normal. Highways to Canada and Mexico are strictly patrolled by Trumpian forces. Red states are especially enthusiastic to answer the call to man checkpoints and identify traitors, seditionists, and anyone they deem a threat to Trump. Recall the move to open Guantanamo Bay, the 106 ICE detention centers, and various for-profit prisons to retain illegals? That “system” is now used to house the thousands of American citizens deemed traitorous under the Insurrection Act. And still there isn’t enough room. Texas comes through with “open air” jails (tent cities) scattered throughout the state.
photo: Jesse Collins
CONTROL THE MESSAGING:
While all this is under way, the press comes under increasing pressure. The administration needs total control of the messaging to silence dissent. We should expect to see journalists and media heads threatened with legal action, blackmailing, and pressure to comply. The social media that Trump controls (X, Truth Social, etc.) will become increasingly loud in an attempt to drown out any contrary opinions. Some social media will go dark. Some media will cave to the pressure. We enter the police state where monitoring of everyone’s communication becomes routine. Trump exploits his friendships with tech giants to conduct surveillance on all Americans to root out dissent. Arrests are made when people express non-Trumpian ideas. Incentives are created to have Americans report on each other’s behavior.
CLOSE THE BORDERS:
Borders close. No one, especially anyone who opposes the dictator is leaving. Passports are revoked. No-fly lists are created and enforced. Apprehensions at the borders and airports are commonplace. ICE and DHS arrest political enemies. Many are lost or have disappeared.
END FREE ELECTIONS:
The 2026 election is postponed due to national security concerns. This is a pretext to do away with democratic elections forever. By 2028, the first rigged American election (similar to a Russian election) takes place. The 250-year American democratic experiment has died. Americans live under totalitarian rule.
Although I’ve laid this out as a linear plan, it’s likely that many events would be overlapping, and other parts may occur even earlier than I outline. Some steps may be invisible to us, at least for a while. Might it not happen at all? Of course! But remember, they have a plan in Project 2025 and Trump and his bunch have been making remarkable progress checking off all those tasks that he supposedly knew nothing about. Well, Ellis- this just sounds crazy! Yeah, I know!! But this is the same bunch that engineered Jan. 6th. Who thought that would happen? Who thought Trump would be elected? Who thought all the insurrectionists from Jan. 6th would be pardoned? Let’s not say- who thought they’d end democracy?
I am indebted to Angela Woodward and others for their keen insight and understanding of these times we live in.
Perhaps the shock of the election has worn off. But I sense that many of us are looking at the change in leadership with fear and apprehension. There are only a few days left before we find out what happens now. The second Trump administration is set to come storming into office and even if they only manage half of what’s on the agenda, the US will be a very different place indeed.
The People’s March on Washington will take place this weekend (Jan. 18th). It will bring together many groups to protest the inauguration. This includes a partnership with Abortion Access Now, Climate Action Campaign, Ben and Jerry’s, The Frontline, Feminist, National Women’s Law Center, National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Popular Democracy Action, Reproductive Freedom for All, Sierra Club, Time to Act, Women’s March, and the Women’s March Network. An intentional group of speakers has been chosen to inspire, energize, and unite the movement. Resources will be made available to sustain long-term resistance and to participate in training that will help people develop critical skills to protect yourself and your community. A crowd of 50,000 is expected.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. (Edmund Burke)
But if you haven’t already committed to this event or some other local happening, what can you do?
I learned too late that I could have requested inauguration tickets and then stayed home. Damn! I missed that window.
I think finding an answer to what can you do will require you to look inside yourself to see where you want to draw the line, because a line will (eventually) be drawn. What will it take to awaken in each one of us a spirit of resistance? When we feel isolated and powerless, we tend to stay frozen. We have all been through a ton of demoralizing and depressing events that have left us exhausted. It was natural to seek a down-time to rest and restore but— that time is over. Look into your soul and decide which side of history you want to be on.
I won’t be in DC. But I will do what I can, where I am. On inauguration day, when the country turns down this dark and dangerous path, I will announce to the world that I’m not OK with it. I am not a supporter of MAGA-land. A place that stomps on freedoms, targets individuals and groups, rewards tyrants, ignores the environmental crisis, attacks friendly nations, and all the rest of it.
My house will be draped in black mourning bunting again. The flag will fly upside down indicating the nation is under severe duress. It is a form of protest and protected speech. I will also wear black on Monday. I’ve mentioned before that I live in a red county with red neighbors. So, there is a risk of being targeted now or in the future. That’s where I’m making my stand. If I can’t do this one easy thing to show that Donald J. Trump does not have a mandate, how will I ever stand up to what’s coming? By doing this, I’m signaling to parts of the wider community who also don’t support what’s happening that they are not alone. They too can stand up and protest.
Let me know if you are going to a protest event or if you’ve created your own unique way to resist. Be aware that 2025 is a year where we will see massive protests in the streets. Fascism won’t surrender easily. We are in historic times.
Shortly after Trump was elected in 2016, we moved to Belgium. I was happy to be out of the country after the shocking and devastating defeat of Hillary Clinton. I wasn’t alone feeling sucker punched. In Europe, the news focused on NATO and Brexit. I avoided all but the top headlines coming from the US, and I was grateful to turn a blind eye. It wasn’t until I met up with my brother on his stopover during a river cruise that I felt I missed something important. He mentioned Charlottesville and I had barely a passing acquaintance with the events. But the way he wouldn’t let go of it gave me the impression, it was big. Still, I was in Europe and wanted no part of the US scene. I was free to ignore it, and I did.
Those of you who read this blog, know I’m an astrologer and all of us in that community, knew something big (and traumatic) was going to happen in 2020. It was looking like a time to be home and circle the wagons. Besides that, my first granddaughter was turning one. We had already missed so much. Home we came in late 2018. But recent events and especially the close (how is that possible????) election has me wanting to fill in the missing pieces of 2017/2018.
Black Pillby Elle Reeve is a book about how small groups in the darkest corners of the internet gained power and led to Charlottesville and beyond. As a journalist uniquely positioned to report on the rise of the alt-right, Reeve draws a line from Charlottesville to the siege on the Capitol. Along the way, she teaches us “normies” a lot of vocabulary, dispels common myths, and fills in the blanks of what was happening behind the scenes in parts of society that most of us are afraid to look at. Let’s start with the obvious—black pilled. To be black pilled is to believe that times are bad, the system is corrupt and beyond saving, and the end is coming. People who buy into this philosophy lack hope for a better tomorrow. Societal collapse is guaranteed. This fatalistic attitude prevails in many of these fringe groups who have recently had massive effects on society. A solid case can be made that the concept of black pilling has spilled into mainstream America. (More than once, I asked myself, have I been black pilled? I certainly have met young Americans who are expressing a lack of faith in being able to change anything about society. Have we all been black pilled to a certain extent?)
Elle Reeve starts her book talking about “incels” (a group of men who are involuntarily celibate). These guys banned together on the internet to banter about their frustrations over the unattainable beautiful “Staceys” and the lucky “Chads” who always get the girls. The larger frame here has to do with how the isolation of relatively small groups is overcome on internet platforms especially where there is little to no regulation. Places like 4chan and 8chan gave what became known as the alt-right, a home to gather together, multiply, and go unchecked. A new white supremacism grew on the internet to challenge the old traditional, racist power structure. It was fueled by internet savvy, disenfranchisement, what was termed “isms” (where people with autism spectrum were attracted), and radical political beliefs. Unite the Right was an attempt by the movement to leave the internet and be seen in real life. Charlottesville was shocking and violent. The way the book reads, however, if more people had been paying attention we probably wouldn’t have been so surprised. The tell-tale signs were there. Of course, even in the aftermath of Charlottesville many questions remain. Why do we bend over backward to allow Nazi and white power protests? (Would we allow armed black power protests?) Why did the police fail to protect the citizens of Charlottesville? Do we have one kind of policing for whites and one kind of policing for blacks?) Even the verdict in Sines v. Kessler seemed way off. Although the white defendants were found guilty of conspiracy and racially motivated harassment or violence, the judgement was reduced from $26 M to $300K.
(photos: Anthony Crider, Agnostic Preachers Kid, Redneck Revolt)
Mainstream America was appalled. The alt-right did take a hit in the court of public opinion. Initially, recruitment into the alt-right swelled after Charlottesville but as infamy and shame as well as real world consequences grew, their numbers and leadership suffered. They were kicked off social media, lost credit cards, jobs, and became pariahs.
In a bizarre twist, back in 2017, a 4chan user claimed to know details about Hillary Clinton’s imminent arrest and the countries that would extradite her should she flee the US. This unknown individual claimed to have a top government clearance called Q. This was the start of QAnon. QAnon moved to 8chan and grew into even more peculiar conspiracy theories attracting greater numbers than the alt-right and especially notable—many women.
Echoes of the internet and Charlottesville connections played out in violent episodes across the globe in the following years. In Toronto, in April 2018, Alex Minassian, an incel, drove a van into a crowd killing 11 and wounding 15. The following spring saw 51 killed in attacks on mosques in Christchurch, NZ. The killer posted his manifesto on 8chan and called on others to act to destabilize and radicalize society. Poway, CA became the scene of another death and 3 injured just a month later. The killer cited the Christchurch shooter as his inspiration. The one I remember the most happened in August 2019. A 21-year-old white man went into a Walmart and killed 23. He also cited the Christchurch shootings as well as the far-right, Great Replacement conspiracy theory. He posted his ideas on 8chan.
Elle Reeve spent most of 2020 covering Seattle and Portland during the right-wing backlash to the Black Lives Matter Movement. This is where the reader gets an introduction to the Proud Boys. She describes them as a group without a political agenda. “They had a vibe and they had a look.” In the northwest, they acted as a security force for conservative groups, but they were most known for street fighting. The Proud Boys attracted young, disenfranchised men who wanted to fight.
On January 6th, 2021, Reeve was at the Capitol watching events unfold. Since she had followed so many of these groups, she was not surprised at what happened.
(Jan. 6th violent insurrection at the Capitol, showing Oath Keepers)
The book did fill in some of the blanks for me. All are now part of history. Reeve makes a case for how personal choice can be exercised in the making of history. We are still standing on a precipice. Trying to decide who we are as a nation. The consequences couldn’t be higher. Lives are at stake. Holding a mirror to ourselves is not easy but how can we go forward without confronting our past? Black Pill is a cautionary tale about how small, radical groups can use technology to mobilize and influence American life. It is also a call to understand the deeper psychological forces at work which produce these movements in order to combat their negative effects on society. Highly recommended!
TO FIND MY BOOKS:
LOOK FOR A $.99 Promotion on Timeless Tulips, Dark Diamonds (Kindle edition- now through Halloween!!) Scary, ghost read for the fall chill. Grab yours today!
It’s time to announce a big change. Over the next few months, I will be relocating to Brussels, Belgium. Living abroad will bring many new challenges and hopefully, lots of new experiences. I speak no French or Dutch so that in itself will be tough, but we’ve been assured that many Belgians speak English and there are lots of expats already in the city. My most pressing issue is to figure out how to get a big dog and two cats into the country. So if anyone has sage advice on airlines, routes, or anything else- please share.
We are planning to travel just after Christmas and so much has to be done between now and then. Because of that, I probably won’t be as available on social media as I have been. Be patient, I’ll be back. 2017 will bring the publication of a new book called Tender Tulips, Dark Diamonds:A Ghost Story. Part of the story takes place in the Netherlands and this move will allow me the opportunity to explore some of the places mentioned in that book. Oddly enough, I’ll be writing a new novel set in Colorado at the turn of the last century while I’m in one of the low countries. So on to new adventures!
ellisnelson 