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 spend a fair amount of time on social media and since the election, people have been asking, ‘what can we do?’ A lot of us acknowledge just how deeply we are into totalitarian rule and the undercurrents that flow on the socials often combine bewilderment with despair. In fact, if you aren’t feeling that from time to time, I’m wondering about you as a person.
To the extent that I can, I try to remind people to show up for the protests. Those non-violent protests where 3.5 percent of the population take to the streets ALWAYS leads to change.* But I always add— eventually. I recommend joining the ACLU and doing all their email campaigns. They make it easy, and they have had major wins. But what else???
Well, here’s the pitch— I want you to imagine a different world. One that takes courage. One where you put yourself on the line. One where you’re willing to stand out and stand up. Ready??
I’m asking you to fly the RESIST flag at your house. Why? Why will this make a difference?
Because we need to take the fight against fascism into every neighborhood in America. We need to empower all those sleepy individuals who up until now knew that what they were seeing was wrong but felt too alone or too scared to speak up. We must be that first wave to act to empower others. To do the next right thing. As we look out across America, the real patriots are the resistors, not the false flyers of American flags who hide behind a history that never existed. Can you also fly the American flag? Yes! But only if you pair it with the resistance flag or banner.
Imagine that world where all of us stand together. Imagine a world where we push back against totalitarian rule and all its trampling of American freedoms. You want to know what you can do today? Get your flag up! Become a role model for your community. Be the change.
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
Most of us are struggling to understand what is going on in the country. A country that seems to have gone off-rail and is headed for disaster. This is the go-to book to start to understand the history and current dynamics at work behind it all. Best of all, Stanley’s book is easily readable and short. It also seems to be on sale on Amazon. Because it’s a bestseller, you can probably get a copy at your library as well. Grab it, it’s your sanity blanket as we navigate these turbulent times. It has been said that no other single book is more relevant to this moment in history.
Stanley used to teach at Yale but has recently relocated to Canada because of the current political situation. You’ll have a deeper understanding of how universities, who are on the frontlines of free speech always become targets under fascism, once you read his chapter on anti-intellectualism. Stanley also brings his unique perspective of being the child of WWII refugees who fled Europe to come to the US and begin a new life.
Photo by Paul Sableman
How Fascism Works contains ten chapters outlining the structure of fascist politics, how they become established, complete with historical examples including those from Poland, Hungary, Myanmar, India, and (sadly) the US. Stanley explores the powerful tactics used by a fascist regime that if not checked successfully can ultimately lead to authoritarianism. These tactics involve many policies including:
Fracturing a society into believing there’s an “US” versus a “Them,” which can be based on color, religion, or culture.
Creating a mythic past about the nation, steeped in nostalgia, intangible, and not based on reality. A place where patriarchy was strong and unthreatened.
Using propaganda to deliberately pervert meaning. Masking corruption under the guise of anti-corruption is a hallmark strategy. Ultimately, the twisting of democratic language through propaganda is aimed at dismantling the “rule of law” and replacing it with authoritarian rule. Propaganda elevates the irrational over the rational, emotion over intellect. Fascists reject Enlightenment ideals because they conflict with “natural law.”
Crafting a society that is anti-intellectual. Universities and experts are attacked and debased. Education is remade to support the mythic past where only that viewpoint is tolerated. Certain areas of study are suspect or eliminated (especially gender studies, African American studies, Middle Eastern studies, Women’s studies, etc.). In the US, fascist policy attacked government, science, academia, and the media. Fascism dumbs down the message and loves repeating slogans.
Building a state of unreality in which truth is in constant doubt. Fascism attacks information spaces that allow lively debate. Lying without consequence destabilizes causing a sense of loss and mistrust. Conspiracy theories target an outside group to benefit an in-group. Trusted media sources are questioned or vilified. These techniques stoke fear and allow the regime to curb freedoms with support from the populace. In Fascist politics, speech isn’t about truth it’s about stirring emotion. Truth is not necessary. In this world of unreality, news becomes sport, tribal identification extreme, and the strongman becomes the star.
Photo by Jvrijman
Supplanting democracy’s fundamental principle of equality with hierarchy. Hierarchy is the idea that a given society is at the top with regard to power and dominance and that this is a consequence of nature. The idea is inconsistent with everyone being equal or having human dignity. When a society faces outside pressure or is in decline, and its loss of exceptionalism is possible, liberal democracy frequently falls prey to fascist attacks. Fascist forces flourish in a fearful, uncertain society.
Cultivating victimhood. Fascism exploits feelings of victimization by a dominant group when a subordinate group achieves or tries to achieve a sharing of power. In the US, there has been a popularization of the fact that by 2050 the racial makeup of the country will be very different. This has been done purposely by certain activists to create and exaggerate fear and uncertainty. Additionally, there has been a general lack of education about how far blacks have come economically. Figures suggest we are still at Reconstruction levels, although most Americans think we have achieved close to equity. Affirmative Action has been attacked for decades and presented as something detached from merit when it never was. Immigrants have been targeted as criminals and usurpers stealing jobs. All of these kinds of things have allowed a part of society to decide it is being victimized. Fascism allows the victimhood to be manipulated to justify the past, to continue policies, or implement new policies of oppression.
Advancing a policy of “law and order” based on the underlying assumption that minority groups are criminals. Fascist policies reinforce “US v. Them.” In 2016, Trump ran on expelling criminal aliens. During his second term, Homeland Security has created an office to track crimes by aliens. These stories flood the headlines distorting reality and sparking fear. Fascism utilizes the intentional use of words like riot over protest, invasion over entry.
Exploiting a climate of sexual anxiety. Fascism promotes a fear of interbreeding where defending white purity becomes a calling. Anything that departs from the patriarchy and traditional values degrades purity and is seen as threatening. Fascism distorts male anxiety especially when the society already has outside pressures. This perceived existential crisis rallies the fearful into rejecting those outside the traditional structure. LGBT, trans, feminists, etc. become targets.
Rejecting pluralism (power sharing among parties) and tolerance. The rural v. urban divide is exploited as fascism promotes the idea that cities are parasites-filled with weak unproductive people, crime, and urban blight. The rural country is seen as full of healthy, productive, sacrificing citizens who haven’t been corrupted. Diversity is a city thing where low birthrates prevail. Cities become proxy targets as representing liberals, elites, cosmopolitans, religious diversity, sexual expression, and diverse culture. Everything fascism hates. The fact that cities are the economic powerhouse of the nation doesn’t matter because facts have been left behind.
Photo by All-Night Images
Curing laziness with hard work. (Albeit Macht Frei– work shall make you free, written on the gates of Auschwitz) Fascist ideology bases an individual’s worth on struggle and achievement over others. If you win, you get resources. Fascist society doesn’t grant worth based on merely being a human being (that’s a liberal democratic value). Therefore, anyone’s worth is strictly associated with productivity. Those who are not deemed productive or are branded lazy and are of no use to the state. They become disposable. Social programs are not seen as necessary to support productive citizens. Anything that supports the old, the weak, or the ill drain resources from a productive fascist society. Also under this category, is an attack on unions by fascists. Unions bring together diverse people in an attempt to gain resources. That solidarity threatens a fascist regime, and so unions become targets.
During the campaign of 2024, the American public seemed allergic to the use of the word fascism. It seemed extreme and was associated with the past and foreign regimes. Now, the word is everywhere, and it should be. We are in peril. Is there any one of the ten tenets above that we don’t see at work every day in American society? Some of them are a little better veiled than others but they are all in play. This is an important book. If you read only one book this year, let it be this one. The insights you’ll gain will help you to understand emerging Republican policy. It will all make sense.
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.
“This is a nationwide mobilization to stop the most brazen power grab in modern history.,” according to the organizers. “Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies are orchestrating an all-out assault on our government, our economy, and our basic rights—enabled by Congress every step of the way.”
Things are moving fast and gaining momentum. A recent article in the Times Weekly, reported that 2,085 events protesting the Trump administration happened nationwide in Feb. 2025. More than 500 events were scheduled during the recent congressional recess that became notable for the Republicans who refused to meet their constituents and the lively interaction that resulted from those Congressmen and women who actually showed up.
April 5this a day of what organizers hope will be the biggest single day of protest since DJT took office. More than 1000 events are planned across the US and in multiple foreign countries. That’s what happens when you turn on your friends, become a bully, and threaten democracy worldwide. In Washington DC, Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin will headline the event along with multiple other speakers scheduled.
The crisis is here. Up close and personal, and it’s time to act. Fascism is on the march in the US. The last I saw, 14 countries had travel advisories out warning their citizens about traveling to the US. Social media is full of every-day-Americans warning citizens of other countries, “don’t come here, we’re not safe.” Not safe to travel, not safe to work, not safe to study abroad, not safe to do research. We are busy stripping human rights away, allowing the consolidation of power, building concentration camps, eliminating protective social systems, and gutting economies. And make no mistake about it, there is a level of cruelty that underlies all of this. When some Americans see photos of the El Salvadoran prison that the Trump administration has funded which looks remarkably like Holocaust pictures, they react with glee. Humanity and empathy have been surrendered at the feet of the anointed savior, DJT.
Another milestone passed this week. We have known since the election that people are leaving the country. Although it’s too early to assess the brain drain occurring as a result of those fleeing (and the effects of not receiving the necessary infusion of academic minds from other nations who normally would have come to the US), three professors from Yale jumped ship. One of them, Jason Stanley, is considered an expert on fascism (I’ll be talking about his book soon). If a leading expert on fascism thinks it’s getting too dangerous and is leaving the US for Canada, what does that say about the current state of the country?
Links are below to find an event near you. You should also consider joining a rapid respond team in your area to help protect immigrants, your neighbors, and yourself. They teach basic rights in the face of the continued assault by ICE. Once upon a time in America, immigration was an activity done without a paramilitary organization armed to the teeth, sidestepping the rule of law. Those days may be gone forever.
This Is Canada Maple Syrup ‘N Log Cabins, Eh Kick Your Ass All Hockey Season, Eh Mounties Be Ridin’ Horses, Eh Yeah, This Is Canada Furry Woodland Critters In Our Zone We Got The Best Weed Ever Grown We Got The Best Bacon Ever Known This Is Canada
The adventure starts. Four days on the road from Denver with two senior cats who made traveling rough. But then, they weren’t consulted about the trial escape made necessary after Trump was elected. Total shock about that election led to a plan that was whittled down to leaving for just three months to the great white north. Here, we’ll avoid the 24-hour news cycle and do a bit of local travel. Read some books, take an online class.
We’re about six miles north of the border and about an hour east of Vancouver in a rural area that grows blueberries, hops, brussel sprouts, and where neighbors sell eggs to each other at prices Americans would go crazy over right now. Bird flu has not ravaged small Canadian poultry farms.
Canada has always been a nation known for its friendliness, its niceness. They were (and should be) our closest ally. In a way, we’re like cousins—sharing a continent, history, and values. I remember 9/11 when flights were grounded in Canada and how Canadians took people into their homes. I remember how recently Canadian firefighters helped with the LA fires. There are countless other times, Canadians have had our backs and we’ve done the same. But the times are changing.
“Elbows up!,” Canada cries in a hockey phrase that means defend yourself. Immigration to Canada is difficult and has become more difficult recently. Canadians are cracking down just like a lot of the rest of the world. Americans can still cross the border to travel in Canada, but residency is altogether a different thing. You can come as a student, with a Canadian job (a company here would have to sponsor you), or a relative in Canada could sponsor you. Even after my son attended a four-year university and obtained his degree, he found it virtually impossible to remain in Canada (and that was a decade ago BEFORE the new restrictions involving quotas). The only way for me to feasibly immigrate to Canada would have to involve a sponsorship where my son would immigrate first (by first obtaining a Canadian job), and that would open a grandparents’ option. I bring this up because there has been interest from people in how to leave the US and Canada does feel like the easy answer. I wish it were.
Canada feels a lot like the US but there are differences. We’re saved from the language issue we faced in Belgium when we lived there. But products contain French directions and ingredients. Packages are in grams and kg. The sizes and choice of items are different. 3% milk (it’s a choice here)? Spreadable butter seems exotic and difficult to find. We haven’t found a breakfast sausage that suits yet. There’s a mixture of pork and ground beef widely available. That’s not commonly found in the US, but we did see meat mixtures in Europe. Many American products are on the shelves but we’re trying to buy Canadian (since we are ashamed of the deranged orange one). Canadian products are increasingly being marked by a red maple symbol in the store and there is an active movement among Canadians to buy Canadian. Every time we go shopping; I experience sticker shock. The exchange rate means that I have to discount everything by about 30% just to accommodate for the currency difference. Still, things feel more expensive.
Yesterday, we filled up the gas in the car for the first time on this side of the border. My husband got out to pump it. An attendant came out to do full service and my husband was stunned. When was the last time you didn’t pump your own gas?
Driving around we notice many American chain stores and restaurants but there are uniquely Canadian ones, too. At this point, we’ve only explored a small mall and there aren’t any significant differences to report. London Drugs was the biggest “drug” store I’ve ever been in. It resembles a small department store. You can buy furniture and TVs there.
We have settled into the day-to-day necessities and will be turning more towards travel. I hope to post more about what we see and experience. But at the same time, this away from home time is a time of preparation for what’s to come. I’m trying to fill in some gaps in education that I think are necessary. I’m finishing up a course on the Constitution, a book on fascism, and a dive into class war is upcoming. All heavy topics-but that’s where we are.
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.
The past few days have been dark and intense. Even before, the stress of the election was so unsettling my hair started falling out. Being in Colorado, I was able to vote weeks ahead of election day and although I knew the media was calling for a close election, I managed to hold onto faith (I’m a Jupiter ruled sign, that’s what we do). Tuesday, I managed to stay busy and didn’t park myself in front of the TV until about 8PM locally (10PM east coast). Even by then things looked bad. By 9, I couldn’t watch anymore. Well, you all know how it went.
Wednesday was devastating and that’s truly an understatement. The full ramifications of the victory were hollowing. Now my stomach was fully involved. Burn, baby burn! No amount of ginger tea can touch the soul trauma my “fellow” Americans had wrought. Some people want logical answers about how this happened, why this happened. They will emerge in time. But at this point, it’s irrelevant. To the winner go the spoils. And spoils it shall be.
2024 was a year of choice. A year to get it right. The easy way was to make the moral choice. It was actually easy. History will bear this out.
However, the “people” did not make the easy, moral choice. Instead, they sacrificed the future for what they hope will be immediate personal gain. And now these people are on the march (I do mean, literally). I’ve seen the gleeful, verbal punching on social media from the previously timid so you can imagine what the prideful, emboldened will now do. It starts with words that go unchecked. It will manifest into action (and yes, violence against parts of society). Because the dark has been given full, legal reign now. (Oh, they’ll cry. We didn’t want that! Yes, you did. That’s what you voted for.)
2025 (I believe) will be even more challenging and consequential than Covid. The dark has risen. Don’t tell me you can negotiate with the darkness. Remember when Chamberlain tried? Many of us will be tested in ways we never thought imaginable. Many of us will be forced to draw lines and make choices that are irrevocable. We are now forced to inherit the wind of this election.
I don’t resonate with this new American poised on retribution, violence, and white power. Now is the time to make some assessments on your own safety. Colorado is supposedly a blue state but that’s highly deceptive. I live in a red county, and I don’t feel welcome or safe. For 2025, I will be living in exile and assessing options. (Never did I think I’d ever write a line like that.)
To all of us who fought this fight and lost this week, remember self-care. Do what is required to make it through the day, week, and month. Don’t push yourself too hard. Take time to grieve. High quality nutritious food, rest, meditation, get out and take a walk. Seek out conversations with safe people. All this can help.
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!
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