The last few days:
- Biden reminded the American military to remember their oaths (to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic)
- The German ambassador to the US, Andreas Michaelis, wrote a confidential report to Berlin, warning that "the Trump agenda would rob the legislative branch, law enforcement and media of their independence."
- The Americans shut down TikTok "for being Chinese"
- TikTok started up again less than 24 hours later, with the founder thanking Trump (who had it shut down to begin with) for working out a solution; having removed his status as owner from his profile
- Meta is now on TikTok and American users are finding that their Trump-critical posts are being censored. Brightly, the Ben & Jerry's ice cream account is busy posting anti-oligarch protest videos
- Trump held an inauguration speech for his new Oligarch government which included snide remarks about how Elon rigged the election and promises to expand American territories
- Elon Musk did the Sieg Heil twice at said inauguration
- apologists argue online that Elon was just using the 'Roman salute' because Romans are cool. Which was also the reason Hitler was using it, btw.
- Among other things, Trump has already signed papers to:
pull out of the Paris climate agreement,
limit birthright citizenship for children of immigrants (which goes against the 14th amendment, so might take a little bit),
pull out of the World Health Organization,
officially declare that there is "only two genders, male and female",
rename the Gulf of Mexico "the Gulf of America,"
pardon the January 6 insurrectionists,
and declare states of national emergency at the border and concerning fossil fuels, giving him extra leeway to disregard usual jurisdiction where it concerns oil drilling or mass deportations.
We need to start organizing our resistance to the wave that's rising in the West. It won't stay there, and it won't just affect pregnant women, lgbt+ people, the press, immigrants, children of immigrants, liberals, Greenland, and the climate.
Today, I feel afraid. Tomorrow, I will try to shake it off and think about what we can do. Apart from keeping our eyes wide-open and our minds sharp.
Photo by: Ashton Legris