Oh, my goodness, there’s so much happening and about to happen. My brain has been swirling, my emotions are barely contained, and I need to process all of it. So, I decided I would create a little space to do just that – process it.

While I totally understand the urge to ostrich in this moment, I personally can’t do it. I tried. I lasted about a week. You know, it is going to be hard. Not just in the insanity of it but navigating the misinformation and disinformation. I am sensing a tsunami of information warfare on the horizon. Navigating it and separating truth from lies and deliberate distractions (i.e. Canada being the 51^st state) is going test every one of us.

I’ve decided to focus on the areas that are most important to me. For example, the number of lives hurt (or worse) by Dobbs is a very serious issue, but it isn’t one that affects me personally. Childless Cat Lady here. I’m not going to be focusing my energy on following that. My areas of concern are big enough and are going to take up a lot of my mental and emotional energy.

These are the areas I am going to follow and process here.

Climate Change

I’ve never been polled, but if I was asked what I would rank number one of my worries it would be climate. A project I’ve been wanting to do for a long time is tracking the progress and retraction of that progress of the last 15 years. I was stunned to hear that Jimmy Carter had solar panels on the White House and that Reagan took them down. I want to look at where we were at the end of the Obama era, and what Asshole (sorry he will not be named here) undid. Then look at what was in Biden’s climate package, so I can be on the watch for which parts go first and how it is done.

Mass Deportation

We are all holding our breath with this one. There are three camps as I see it. 1) The folks who voted for him either didn’t hear about the mass deportations or did and don’t think it will happen. 2) The Bulwark’s JVL thinks there will be a show of doing “some” raids, but they won’t be to the extent threatened. Then they will be able to show the clips of the raids on repeat and not do more than that first sweep. 3) Steven Miller’s camp where there will be actual camps. Miller has said repeatedly that he wants all 11 million people out. I’m going to be honest here, I think Miller is serious and probably what’s going to happen. I hope I’m wrong.

The Dismantling of our Government

I mean, this is huge, and I don’t expect to fully process all the ways our government will be sliced up bit by bit. Project 2025 was very specific and wide reaching. I watched a couple of the videos that were released on YouTube. It turned my stomach. They have been planning this for years and are going to be ready on day one. I worry that we won’t see a lot of it, as it will be done behind the scenes. Will the public see or feel Schedule F being implemented? I don’t know. Pete Hegseth is probably going to oversee the military, and I believe his top priority will be purging the “woke” generals etc. This is means he will be getting rid of anyone who would stand up to Asshole or disobey an order. Terrifying. We cannot look away from this.

Tech Oligarchy

These guys came out of nowhere. I have been trying to get my mind around how these relationships work and how they are similar and dissimilar from what Putin has going. It is more a topic of self-education. I bring it up because I’ve been thinking about what I would say here since the election, and the Musk situation has only surfaced since Christmas. Things change so fast.

My self-education is a big part of this. I put up a question on Anne Applebaum’s chat asking fellow readers if they had suggestions about writings on Viktor Orban. Orban has been courted by CPAC and Tucker for years. The Christian Nationalists think he’s done great things in Hungary. I want to know what he did to shore up his control of Hungary. It would make sense that we could see his tactics being implemented here in the US. It is just another thing to watch.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading. One of my projects is The Origins of Totalitarianism. I specifically want to look at how the language of antisemitism was used in Germany, and how that compares to the current language being used against brown and black illegal immigrants and LGBTQ people.

I am going to make a serious effort to site my sources. For years I’ll have said, “I heard in my silo, …” That’s not going to cut it anymore. There so much coming, and maybe I’m naïve to think I can even do this. I just think processing what I am hearing, reading, and thinking about will help me navigate it all. Maybe, if anyone reads this, it will help them, too. ✌️

Leave a comment