The Deep North

DRAFT This is complete, but it still needs some revision and polishing...  I'm trying not to make this too much of a downer, but our prevailing cultures, even in the best cases, are incredibly hostile toward women. Everywhere, they are an underclass. The extent to which this harms women varies, but it harms women everywhere.  I went to  confirm the date for International Women’s Day  on my calendar and  discovered it had been erased. Google Calendar scrubbed it. It appears to be a consequence of the Project 2025 inspired dismantling of DEI. That was the rabbit hole moment. Because  when a culture starts erasing its recognition of women altogether, you know the situation isn’t just bad—it’s accelerating into something worse. Let’s take stock. Women in the U.S.  no longer have full control over their own bodies . Legislation is  actively moving toward removing women’s right to vote. The baseline for how women are treated isn’t just  alrea...

  Former President of Poland Lech Walesa wrote the following letter to Trump. Your Excellency, Mr. President, We watched the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, with fear and distaste. We find it insulting that you expect Ukraine to show respect and gratitude for the material assistance provided by the United States in its fight against Russia. Gratitude is owed to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defense of the values of the free world. They have been dying on the front lines for more than 11 years in the name of these values and the independence of their homeland, which was attacked by Putin’s Russia. We do not understand how the leader of a country that symbolizes the free world cannot recognize this. Our alarm was also heightened by the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation, which reminded us of the interrogations we endured at the hands of the Security Services and the debates in Communist courts....

Today I am posting this calendar that I am following along with. Near as I can tell, we are on a trajectory similar to what we saw in 1933 when the German Republic was dismantled and converted to the dictator led fascist state of Nazi Germany. Godwin's Law is well take in that hyperbolic Internet discussions can devolve into inappropriate comparisons with Hitler and Nazis. Godwin's Law aside, when the match is comparable in scale (Trump intends to deport more than ten million people), in severity (Trump/Musk actions are already killing people), and in kind (Trump has attempted to get Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia, and has credibly threatened to take over Greenland, Panama, Gaza, and even Canada). The project 2025 plan, which Trump disavowed prior to being sworn in as President, is well underway now. Its goal is, quite explicitly, to "... dismantle the administrative state" of the United States of America.  Other people have drawn parallels between the ascen...