Friday, January 24, 2025

Protect Yourself

Nothing that has happened this week should be a surprise, not even the record-setting weather along the Gulf Coast. The weather is the result of unchecked climate change and everything else was telegraphed in Project 2025 long before Felonious Punk was elected. We, in all our arrogance, allowed this to happen. Just like 1930s Germany, we were sure that there would be no negative fallout from all our nationalistic posturing. We were wrong, and now we’re beginning to pay an extremely high price for more than just eggs.

We talked yesterday about Tipper’s concern over possible ICE enforcement in the city, particularly at her school. Checking with her when she got home, she said that she didn’t see anything, but that a lot of kids were talking about it, many were scared, and a few students were missing from classes. Apparently, both school and city officials noticed the unrest and fear. Shortly after school ended yesterday, we received the following email from the school’s principal.

Dear PPHS Community,

Purdue Polytechnic Schools (PPHS) are dedicated to creating equitable and inclusive environments where every student feels safe and supported both socially and emotionally. Due to potential changes in federal policies, many students, families, and staff are facing heightened anxiety and uncertainty about the possibility of mass deportation. While we still do not know exactly what actions the incoming administration may or may not take at this time, it is important that our families have access to resources and information to establish an action plan.

This Family Resource Toolkit is available in English and Spanish and contains information and resources about your rights, current DPS policies, training, mental health support, and a list of community resources. Please read this guide and save it so you can refer back to it whenever necessary.

It is also important that families update emergency contacts. Each student should have at least two emergency contacts. These individuals do not need to be family members; they can be any trusted adult known by the family. We also ask that families identify those authorized to pick up their students (including older siblings) from school if a parent or guardian cannot. Please email us if you need to update emergency contacts.

Our schools are safe, and we want our students here. While our function is to provide education for all students, our responsibility is to provide safe and welcoming environments. That commitment remains true.

Jacob Pactor, principal

Within the hour, the following statement hit social media from IMPD Chief Chris Bailey.

Almost simultaneously, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) released their own statement, complete with a new website. If officials wanted to communicate that the city of Indianapolis is safe for immigrants, they almost made their point. At least, it seemed they made a good effort.

Then, from the statehouse came the news that a new bill requiring police in the state to report anyone suspected of being undocumented had passed out of committee. So much for immigrants being safe. For that matter, no one is safe because the bill only requires that an officer ‘suspect’ that a person, driver, or passenger, might be undocumented. No actual evidence is required. That makes everyone a target.

Yes, a federal judge did issue a temporary restraining order preventing ICE from implementing Punk’s executive order. The order lasts for 14 days so that no immigration authority can make a rush to lock up immigrants before courts have a chance to decide on the legality of the issue. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour stopped the Justice Department’s lawyer mid-sentence, pummeled him with questions, and then called the order “blatantly unconstitutional.”

On the surface, this seems like a cut-and-dried case. The 14th Amendment makes it extremely clear that anyone born here in the US is a citizen. However, Punk’s justice department is trying to get around that. An article published by Salon late yesterday outlines exactly how lawyers intend to argue that even Indigenous peoples, Native Americans, are not necessarily citizens. If Indigenous people, whose ancestors have lived on this land for over 50,000 years, are not citizens, then who the fuck is? Certainly not any offspring of late-coming Europeans! By this argument, does the US have any citizens at all?

Pay attention to the timing here. Monday marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. The opening paragraph on the website memorializing the lives lost reads as follows:

Soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates of Auschwitz Concentration Camp on January 27, 1945. The prisoners greeted them as authentic liberators. It was a paradox of history that soldiers formally representing Stalinist totalitarianism brought freedom to the prisoners of Nazi totalitarianism.

There aren’t many survivors of Auschwitz or Birkenau left. Of the few remaining, at least one is still actively telling his story. The frightening experience he endured, the millions of lives lost, should stand as a stark reminder of what happens if people like you and I stand by and do absolutely nothing.

I know this is going to hit some people the wrong way, but now is the time for Democrats, progressive thinkers, liberals, and academics to begin arming themselves. We’ve spent so much time over the past 50 years advocating for gun laws that we’ve lost sight of the original purpose of the 2nd Amendment: Protecting ourselves from the government. I hate to think that we actually have anything in common with the militias that participated in the January 6 insurrection, but the truth is that we are at a point where arming ourselves is a necessity. Republicans are counting on us trying to use the courts, stretching the battle out over the next four years, while ICE and other DOJ agencies do their evil deeds unthwarted. We cannot let that happen.

I’m willing to bet that if liberals suddenly start buying the same weapons we’ve been screaming against, folks in government are going to notice. One of two things will happen. Either they’ll change their tune on birthright citizenship and immigration policy, or we’ll finally start getting the restrictive gun laws we’ve needed. I’m willing to bet on the former.

We cannot make the same mistake that German citizens did. They waited until it was too late and a monster was unleashed upon the world. We have the opportunity to stop this new monster in his tracks. Arm yourselves. Stand your ground. You have an inherent right to defend yourself, your family, and your property against government intrusion. Use it.

Just make sure you’re well caffeinated when you do it. No one needs a sleepy shooter.