We've Got Each Other

20 Lessons--Be as Courageous As You Can

The somewhat “softer” language used by Rump and ICE after the killings of Renee and Alex in Minneapolis—is over. They never meant it.

Democrats in Congress worked hard to get concessions and hold up funding for ICE and HSA, driven by the lawlessness of these killings.

What Democrats wanted (their key demands)

• ICE agents must wear visible ID / no masks during operations

• Judicial warrants (not just administrative warrants) to enter homes

• Body cameras on officers

• Reduced detention center bed capacity

• A ban on certain enforcement tactics

GOP advanced bill to fund HSA/ICE through budget reconciliation process, which needs only 50 votes to pass Senate. NONE of the Demoract demands were met. NONE.

The GOP rules in the House and Senate—and used it to bend the budget rules

The bill released by the Judiciary Committee would provide $30.73 billion for hiring, paying, training and equipping ICE personnel, including officers, agents, investigators, attorneys and support staff through fiscal year 2029, a year past the end of President Trump’s second term.

The Judiciary and Homeland Security bills would provide $22.57 billion to hire, train, pay and equip Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel through fiscal year 2029.

The Judiciary panel’s legislation would also provide $2.5 billion to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin generally to enforce immigration laws and $1 billion to the U.S. Secret Service to make security upgrades to the White House compound related to the construction of the ballroom.

Over $56 billion in INCREASED funding.

Recent —April 14——comments by “Border Czar” Tom Horman

Top Trump administration officials this week reinforced their plans to execute mass deportations as a key strategy on immigration.

“If you think last year’s historic number is good, wait till next year and we have 10,000 more agents on the border. You ain’t seen s*** yet,” Homan said in his opening remarks to kick off the Expo. “This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.”

Speaking at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Ariz., White House border czar Tom Homan praised the work of Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers over the last year and said the high number of arrests and deportations was expected to continue.

A federal police force , 1000’s of agents, billions of funding. No accountability.

Renee and Alex are American citizens, engaged in non violent watching and caring for others. (deliberate use of present tense) .

Killed by ICE. No charges.

ICE plans to increase detention sites to hold 92,000 people. Pic of warehouse they just bought in Texas.

More of this is coming

Review these 20 lessons—take them to heart—and mind—and into actions.

Be as courageous as you are able—and then just a bit more.

20 Lessons on Fighting Tyranny

Timothy Snyder https://timothysnyder.org/

Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. From across the fearful twentieth century, here are twenty lessons about what it takes to oppose tyranny, adapted to the circumstances of today.

1. Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.

2. Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. So choose an institution you care about and take its side.

3. Beware the one-party state. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections.

4. Take responsibility for the face of the world. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.

5. Remember professional ethics. When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor.

6. Be wary of paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.

7. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no.

8. Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.

9. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.

10. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

11. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on the internet is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns (some of which come from abroad). Take responsibility for what you communicate to others.

12. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

13. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.

14. Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the Internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble.

15. Contribute to good causes. Be active in organizations, political or not, that express your own view of life. Pick a charity or two and set up autopay.

16. Learn from peers in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties in the United States are an element of a larger trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.

17. Listen for dangerous words. Be alert to the use of the words extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.

18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power. Do not fall for it.

19. Be a patriot. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come.

20. Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny.

Hannah Arendt—a powerful resource.

You may know her book The Origins of Totalitarianism.—1958,revised,1966.

•The goal of totalitarian domination, in its modern forms of racism and communism, is the total control of humans through organized domination in every sphere of life, thus not only isolating humans from each other but also ultimately making them superfluous.

This book We Are Free to Change the World, is excellent. It brings Arendt’s insights into this moment in the USA.

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi (or MAGA)…but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction…between true and false (the standards of thought) no longer exists”

Radical resistance!!—be the fullest,compassionate,caring,curious,most courageous, human you can be.

We’ve got each other.

Want to help—join—?

Consider Unidos

Our Vision

We organize for a Minnesota where everyone’s inherent dignity and worth, regardless of age, race, class, gender identity, incarceration history, disability, or immigration status, is fully recognized and honored. Every person deserves the freedom and opportunity to live a good life (el buen vivir).

We organize for a Minnesota where grassroots power, driven by our shared love for each other and the planet, reshapes the structures, systems, and institutions that have excluded and divided us. Together, we will build pathways that ensure all communities can thrive.

We organize for a Minnesota where Latine communities, alongside people of all races and backgrounds, work shoulder to shoulder to end oppression in all its forms and fight for justice, self-determination, and equality for all.

We organize for a multiracial, inclusive, and vibrant democracy that serves every person, without exception—because when we come together, we all win.

You Read This Far—Great—Now Review the 20 Lessons. Practice. Act on them.