I was talking to a friend yesterday who has to go to US for their child's graduation. A person of colour who has done a lot of work in DEI. They are so scared but don't want to let their child down.
So we discussed safety plans. Get a burner phone. Don't take your laptop, buy a second hand iPad/device or borrow one. Leave it behind when you leave. Go through social media and delete posts that might get you in trouble. Etc etc.
I'm not a security expert but I feel that people need a full security plan before they leave. As a Muslim women whose main work is on belonging and inclusion, I wouldn't dare travel to the US at the moment. And I've been 4 times since 2019.
Great points you make there, Anjum! I'm a very happily transplanted American, living as a dual citizen of the US and NZ at the moment, and I don't plan to ever return to the USA. What is happening there is horrific! I'm worried about David still being there, tbh.
I'm due to go to a Theology conference down in the Southern states - at a "Liberal Arts College". - then traveling onwards to another country. If the organisation I am going on behalf of hadn't already paid airfare and conference fees I wouldn't be going. I'm going through and deleting stuff. Anjum, so sorry to hear about your friend's dilemma - this shouldn't be how it is.
I have to say, when I travelled to NY in 2019, it was weeks after a Muslim mayor from that region had been detained at the border (see https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/09/15/us/muslim-mayor-border-patrol-jfk-trnd). So I went through my emails and deleted whole folders before I left. My family were so worried, and I made sure I had an MFAT contact in my phone as well as letters of support. In the end, everything went well, and subsequent trips have been fine. But the events of this year mean it's a hard no, I won't even transit through the US.
I run a committee that selects students to spend the last two years of high school at a set of 18 international schools around the world - United World Colleges (UWC) - alongside students from around the world selected by other committees like mine. Most students attend with significant or full scholarships.
In 2000 a US billionaire, Shelby Davis, established the world's largest private scholarship programme. It exclusively funds UWC students to attend US universities. Consequently, a lot of my committee's alumni go on to study in the US.
This is the email I sent last week to my committee's graduating students:
Kia ora UWC Aotearoa NZ class of 2025.
...
I know that with Davis and other scholarships, the USA has been an attractive post-UWC study destination. UWC has often held up Davis scholarships as one of the benefits of attending UWC. For that reason, I feel I have a duty of pastoral care to offer the following advice.
If you are planning to study in the USA, my first advice is to look elsewhere. The USA is no longer a safe travel destination for anyone not born there (and potentially, in future, even some who were, if their parents were not US citizens at the time of their birth - the US President wants to remove/revoke birthright citizenship). The risk is higher still for those of you who are not 'white'; and there is a separate additional set of risks if you have a uterus. [_I would have included an additional point on risks for trans people if it had applied to any of this year's graduands_].
-- Have an alternative study or gap year plan to fall back on.
3. What is your plan if you are detained at the border?
- Ensure you memorise at least one phone number of a US-born 'safe' US citizen you trust, who will be awake at the time you arrive in the USA. Tell them your travel plans. It is possible you may only get one phone call, after your phone has already been removed. It is also possible you will get no phone call at all. Make sure your friends and family know the website for tracking people detained by ICE (https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/search)
4. What is your backup plan if you are detained while in the USA?
- N.B. Do not involve yourself in any political/protest activity while in the USA. (I hate having to say this. UWC students should be standing up and speaking out. However, it is not currently safe to do so in the USA, and particularly not safe for non-citizens)
5. What is your backup plan if you are deported partway through your studies?
- Have in mind a suitable university/course, and familiarise yourself with the transfer process.
6. What is your plan for reducing risk?
- See point 4 on non-involvement in politics/protest
- Note that every engagement with border authorities is a high risk engagement. The safest plan (after 'not going at all') would mean staying in the USA for the full duration of your studies.
7. If you have a uterus, I would strongly advise checking the reproductive healthcare policies of the State where you are planning to study. In many states, if you have a pregnancy, planned or unplanned, even if you _want_ to carry the pregnancy to term, you risk your fertility and even your life if something goes wrong; and doctors may be legally unable to provide life-saving treatment if doing so would endanger the life of the foetus, even if you would _both_ die without that treatment. See https://https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jul/29/abortion-laws-bans-by-state for where things stood a month ago. Stick to the States coloured 'Legal'.
Your school university advisor should be available to discuss non-USA options.
Those plans sound like those needed by someone needing to go undercover as a journalist, spy or cop. I'd summarise them as "don't go". Remember that your bland persona with no values must be maintained for the entire time you're there until you hopefully escape back to your home country.
Yes. However, it's a tough call when the bland persona gives you a fully funded tertiary education, and coming home will leave you with a large student loan. One of my current students had been accepted to Harvard the day I sent that email. I have another needing to decide if it's safe to do her final year at Cornell. I really feel for them having to make these decisions.
David, you (and anyone else in living in the USA honestly, born on American soil or not) really need to use a legacy deliverer, AKA a dead man’s switch. A service that delivers pre written information in the event you fail to respond to scheduled prompts.
Definitely something to think about - so thank you! Preferably I'd like to have it interface with Webworm, so it goes out *wide*. Of course I could also just have the switch generate an email with all the info for a friend to access the Webworm backend and do it manually...
I feel reasonably confident that at least one person in the US who is aware of your work and not a fan (to put it lightly) will have sent an email about you to some ICE tip-off address or something.
Like, I'm sure someone out there will have seen what's happening and thought of "that fucking cuck liberal New Zealander!!" and their chance to point the US Federal Government in your direction.
Ooft that just about gave me a heart attack for a second! I'm not in the US, but my brother is. So scary. My fellow webworm pal and I were talking just today about how we admire that you are talking about this all, even when it paints a target on you.
Hopefully you never have to send that webworm.
Reading about that dad who was detained and then basically sold to an El Salvador prison and now they can't get him back... Horrendous. So horrendous.
That El Salvador prison story is SUCH a mess. Just stranded there. Normal stuff.
The Onion handled it well as per usual:
"TECOLUCA, EL SALVADOR—Saying things had only gone downhill after a terrible morning, lawful U.S. resident Oscar Fernandez-Lopez, 38, stated Wednesday that he had already been having a bad day before being deported to the Salvadoran mega-prison known as CECOT. “I knew things were heading in the wrong direction when I spilled coffee on my shirt, and that was without getting sent to one of the most hellish prisons in Central America,” said the husband and father of three, who described his rendition to a penitentiary that can hold up to 40,000 people as “just the cherry on top” of an awful day that had begun with him missing his bus to work and ended with him being shoved into a cramped cell to be sadistically tortured by Barrio 18 gang members. “Maybe it was my mistake for thinking everything might turn around after I stepped in a puddle and got my shoe soaking wet. Now my right to a trial has been suspended for no clear reason, I’ve been falsely labeled as part of the MS-13 gang, I’m separated from my family despite my status as a legal immigrant to the United States, and they’re apparently going to starve me? Jesus Christ, there are days and then there are days.” At press time, when Fernandez-Lopez was overheard telling himself that things would surely start to improve now, several baton-wielding guards in body armor had reportedly entered his cell."
Has Margaret Atwood stepped forward publicly with an ''I told you so'' yet? For me reading about that woman being bundled in a van, I'm thinking of the bystanders around trying to work out a) what is happening and b) what they need to do as an individual to stay safe. Tinoarohanui ki a koe, David, kei runga noa at koe!
Margaret Atwood has said herself that she hasn’t written about anything that hasn’t happened before. You want to talk some real prescient shit, The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler is very popular at the moment for a reason. And even she said that she was just watching trends. That’s the thing, nothing is ever new. This has happened before. And we know how it ended.
Right. I am reading the graphic version of "On Tyranny" and, oh, it's everything that is happening right now. If you are in the US the time to get mad, get organized, get creative, and get loud is NOW.
The Husband and I were planning to go to Hawaii this year to see an old friend. That's now cancelled. I can just imagine my moko kauwae exciting the wrong kind of attention from border staff.
We’re not thrilled. But I feel fot her living in Trump’s America - she’s appalled at what’s happening and as she works in the humanities in a university who knows what might happen there.
It seems so ridiculous but you probably made the right decision there.
Hell, I'm the "safe" gender and "safe" ethnicity but I'd avoid transiting through the US right now, even if it meant paying a little more to go through other countries.
Maybe you can get creative and go halves on a flight to beautiful Aotearoa for your friend.
Or meet up in a more sane country and holiday there instead
Dear David, like everyone else here I also really hope you’ll never have to send this email, and I am deeply, sincerely worried for you and anyone who is brave and still speaks out against genocide and brazen criminality. And, let’s face it, without the American people being willing to stand up bravely and speak out against the atrocities committed in their name, all hope is lost already.
From my own birth country’s terrible history (Austria), I can tell you that shit goes dark really fast - much faster than a lot of folks can ever imagine. The U.S. is now an enemy of the free world. The Mango Muskolini regime has pushed past all the red lines already, including the constitutional ones. The use of military force against its own citizens is just around the corner, maybe as soon as this weekend when large protests are planned. The concentration camps are being filled already, here and overseas.
Being white won’t save you anymore when you’re clearly “woke” and seen as the enemy of the regime. I agree with Dylan that some of the internet trolls hating on you very likely have raised your activities with ICE already. The Stasi was only that effective because people were willing to dob in their neighbours and friends, despite knowing they’d get tortured or disappeared for good. These people were taught to hate you, without ever having met you. You’d just be a liberal, snowflake scalp. Empathy is society’s greatest weakness, remember?
The Nazis went for intellectuals and “sexual deviants” first. Breaking the voice of the independent media is one of the main and early pillars they need to achieve. Please be careful and take this seriously - especially when you cross the border. A lawyer may not be able to get you out of an El Salvadorian death camp, as we are currently witnessing.
I’ve been so freaked out I even changed my transit via San Fran to instead go to Europe via Hong Kong. I will never go back there (and I went twice a year for the last 10 years for work and friends), until the fascist regime is purged the way Germany did in the late 40s (not Austria, unfortunately, we played the victims and kept the Nazi underbelly going til this day where it’s now the #1 party again 😞). It really isn’t safe anymore. Kia kaha.
Thanks for this, and yeah - I think Dylan did make a good point (as aspect I had not even thought about). Let's just say I am less prone to walking around with headphones blasting - and much more alert and aware when out walkin'.
And you're right in the direction this could go. I need to keep that mind mind, as I still tend to hope for the best (despite being cynical as all hell).
It’s scary for sure. I also wonder at what point natural born citizens will lose their constitutional right to free speech. I have just received a lovely hand knitted hat that says “Fuck Trump”. My son was very alarmist and was like “Mom, don’t wear that in public, you’ll get arrested.” It made me pause and think about my purchase. The Fuck Your Feelings crowd, really can’t handle Trump being criticized, and Trump’s fragile ego cannot handle it either. We have prided ourselves, as a country, to be able to speak out against leadership, but I truly do fear that it will be taken away.
Stay safe, David, and everyone else legally here or not. 🖤
We do. We are organizing. We do still have free speech, the right to protest, to organize, to be involved and call our reps and attend the town halls and meetings (or hold our own if our reps won't have one bc they are too scared of their own constituents, happened in my district.) A lot more people need to realize it though, to realize the power that we have together and USE IT to stop this. Cory Booker's speech helped. Elon failed to buy the special election in Wisconsin. I think these tariffs and subsequent stock market dive snd hardship will help more people get mad and active bc it will affect everyone's $$. Momentum is there and building. But unfortunately there will be a lot of people that have to be impacted directly before they wake up.
There's a service that will send out messages to people you select if you don't check in for awhile and thus may have been disappeared...same idea as your SOS thing here, but automated. Creepy as shit, but probably a good idea for anybody here in the US rn
Amy you are so right about raccoons in Toronto. My thesis supervisor was from Toronto and told legendary stories of the critters and the battle with green bins that were raccoon proof. 99% invisible did a podcast episode on this.
Lol, we don't need a fight with LA raccoons on top of everything else. Toronto is raccoon heaven, though. Holiday decor? Raccoons. Clothing? Raccoons. Dog ID tags? Raccoons. They are a source of great joy, and tremendous frustration here. Winter is a nightmare and summer humidity is brutal but if you have to leave LA? Toronto!
I think you're braver than me David. If I were here on a Visa I'd probably be halfway packed by now.
People are too blind to see that any BS justification used to deport non-citizens will eventually be turned against all Americans. Immigrants are already being denied due process and put on flights before the courts have time to react. How much longer before ICE "accidentally" starts picking up citizens?
I think we've reached a point of comfort and stability in this country where a lot of people can't imagine how much worse things could possibly get. We're too far removed from the cultural memories of ACTUAL hard times like World Wars and the Great Depression, and we've grown soft and complacent. I worry at how much worse things will have to get before the American people will wake up.
Appreciate the kind words, but I am not sure it's brave. Maybe - belligerent? The fact I don't have family in the US, or a house, makes me so, so mobile. I mean - it's all awful what is hanging over us here, but at least I have a fairly simple setup that is disrupted won't cause me insane emotional stress.
This thing that you said - it's the clincher and you're so, so right: "People are too blind to see that any BS justification used to deport non-citizens will eventually be turned against all Americans."
Right on. I know people that seem to be paralyzed by doom. You think it's bad right now? It can get much much much worse. We need to not wait for it to get worse before we do something. But a lot people won't fight it until it is directly affecting them or they are just lying down and complying in advance. It's infuriating. But I take hope in all of the people that do get it and are getting active in their community. We are out there.
I can only imagine how entirely bizarre and surreal it must feel to be boots on the ground in actual America. From the distance here in Hamilton New Zealand it's scary enough.
I've always said, and believe wholeheartedly, you do vital work David, and I truly hope that you never have to send you draft Webworm.
I noticed on that Op-Ed that there are 4 authors. Has anything happened with the other three? Was Rumeysa Ozturk just the easiest target? The other three must be terrified!!
I will also say that amongst all of this I too would consider the squirrels, the raccoons & the opossums an extremely valid reason to be staying as long as possible!!
Valmoody and stonedape don't really seem like the kind of people who would listen to your podcast. I'm inclined to think they aren't. Real people, that is.
Tragic to think that the new advice for "if you see a woman being attacked by masked men" the answer is "they are probably law enforcement and they'll black bag you too".
You might be right. But also I’m sure there are folks who’ve followed from the Arm Chair umbrella and they “both sides” and “devils advocate” the shit out of every issue and I’ve rarely heard them take a firm stance on a lot of issues as David does. All I’m saying is I am sure there are pretty conservative people who find Arm Chair Expert and the early FB episodes palatable only because of the lack of stances taken. Or maybe they are just trolls 🤷♀️
I think you're right to have a plan in place. If I was in your position I'd be anticipating deportation as an inevitability.
Did you see that political historian Heather Cox Richardson is being censored? There won't be legal structure or history to protect anyone who doesn't toe the line.
She's being censored on Facebook/by Meta. Lots of people are saying they can't see anything from 26 March, including Heather herself, even though she's been posting daily. I could still see posts from the last few days, but I'm in NZ.
I was talking to a friend yesterday who has to go to US for their child's graduation. A person of colour who has done a lot of work in DEI. They are so scared but don't want to let their child down.
So we discussed safety plans. Get a burner phone. Don't take your laptop, buy a second hand iPad/device or borrow one. Leave it behind when you leave. Go through social media and delete posts that might get you in trouble. Etc etc.
I'm not a security expert but I feel that people need a full security plan before they leave. As a Muslim women whose main work is on belonging and inclusion, I wouldn't dare travel to the US at the moment. And I've been 4 times since 2019.
All your advice here is *great* and glad it's being seen my other readers. Also going to pin this to the top.
Great points you make there, Anjum! I'm a very happily transplanted American, living as a dual citizen of the US and NZ at the moment, and I don't plan to ever return to the USA. What is happening there is horrific! I'm worried about David still being there, tbh.
I'm due to go to a Theology conference down in the Southern states - at a "Liberal Arts College". - then traveling onwards to another country. If the organisation I am going on behalf of hadn't already paid airfare and conference fees I wouldn't be going. I'm going through and deleting stuff. Anjum, so sorry to hear about your friend's dilemma - this shouldn't be how it is.
I have to say, when I travelled to NY in 2019, it was weeks after a Muslim mayor from that region had been detained at the border (see https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/09/15/us/muslim-mayor-border-patrol-jfk-trnd). So I went through my emails and deleted whole folders before I left. My family were so worried, and I made sure I had an MFAT contact in my phone as well as letters of support. In the end, everything went well, and subsequent trips have been fine. But the events of this year mean it's a hard no, I won't even transit through the US.
I think you are right to be freaked out.
The ICE detentions have been on my mind too.
I run a committee that selects students to spend the last two years of high school at a set of 18 international schools around the world - United World Colleges (UWC) - alongside students from around the world selected by other committees like mine. Most students attend with significant or full scholarships.
In 2000 a US billionaire, Shelby Davis, established the world's largest private scholarship programme. It exclusively funds UWC students to attend US universities. Consequently, a lot of my committee's alumni go on to study in the US.
This is the email I sent last week to my committee's graduating students:
Kia ora UWC Aotearoa NZ class of 2025.
...
I know that with Davis and other scholarships, the USA has been an attractive post-UWC study destination. UWC has often held up Davis scholarships as one of the benefits of attending UWC. For that reason, I feel I have a duty of pastoral care to offer the following advice.
If you are planning to study in the USA, my first advice is to look elsewhere. The USA is no longer a safe travel destination for anyone not born there (and potentially, in future, even some who were, if their parents were not US citizens at the time of their birth - the US President wants to remove/revoke birthright citizenship). The risk is higher still for those of you who are not 'white'; and there is a separate additional set of risks if you have a uterus. [_I would have included an additional point on risks for trans people if it had applied to any of this year's graduands_].
I recommend visiting https://www.uwc.org/educationalpartners to see some universities outside the USA that have UWC-specific programmes or funding.
If you do decide to go ahead with US study plans, my key second piece of advice is to have a set of backup plans.
Your plans should include the following:
1. What is your plan if your US visa application is refused?
- N.B. before applying, scrub your social media. Visas are being refused even for 'liking' posts that criticise the current regime, or showing/liking any political position inconsistent with current regime views. See https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/28/student-visa-applications-denials
- Ask your school university advisor if they will be able to support you after you've left UWC, in case your US study plans become non-viable.
2. What is your plan if you are refused entry at the border?
- N.B. Before travelling, as well as the aforementioned social media scrub:
-- delete any stored information on your phone that could even vaguely be viewed as opposed to the regime.
-- Delete your browser history.
-- Delete all cookies so that opening your browser will not automatically open your emails.
-- Scrub your message history.
-- Let any friends/family in/from countries out of favour with the regime know you will need to unfriend/unfollow them before travel.
-- Set up Signal for communication, but delete the app prior to travel (reinstall after arrival). You can reach me on [number]
-- Delete this email.
-- See https://www.wired.com/2017/02/guide-getting-past-customs-digital-privacy-intact/
-- Have an alternative study or gap year plan to fall back on.
3. What is your plan if you are detained at the border?
- Ensure you memorise at least one phone number of a US-born 'safe' US citizen you trust, who will be awake at the time you arrive in the USA. Tell them your travel plans. It is possible you may only get one phone call, after your phone has already been removed. It is also possible you will get no phone call at all. Make sure your friends and family know the website for tracking people detained by ICE (https://locator.ice.gov/odls/#/search)
4. What is your backup plan if you are detained while in the USA?
- N.B. Do not involve yourself in any political/protest activity while in the USA. (I hate having to say this. UWC students should be standing up and speaking out. However, it is not currently safe to do so in the USA, and particularly not safe for non-citizens)
5. What is your backup plan if you are deported partway through your studies?
- Have in mind a suitable university/course, and familiarise yourself with the transfer process.
6. What is your plan for reducing risk?
- See point 4 on non-involvement in politics/protest
- Note that every engagement with border authorities is a high risk engagement. The safest plan (after 'not going at all') would mean staying in the USA for the full duration of your studies.
7. If you have a uterus, I would strongly advise checking the reproductive healthcare policies of the State where you are planning to study. In many states, if you have a pregnancy, planned or unplanned, even if you _want_ to carry the pregnancy to term, you risk your fertility and even your life if something goes wrong; and doctors may be legally unable to provide life-saving treatment if doing so would endanger the life of the foetus, even if you would _both_ die without that treatment. See https://https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jul/29/abortion-laws-bans-by-state for where things stood a month ago. Stick to the States coloured 'Legal'.
Your school university advisor should be available to discuss non-USA options.
Do please let me know if you need support.
Kia kaha, arohanui,
I am glad you are - and I am glad you sent this email. Valid, smart points made. Pinning this.
Very valid points and well thought through.
The lengths people are having to go to avoid drawing attention to themselves is just insane.
All this from the supposed "Bastion of Free Speech" that is America
This made me… really really sad. It’s hard to believe it’s come to this.
Those plans sound like those needed by someone needing to go undercover as a journalist, spy or cop. I'd summarise them as "don't go". Remember that your bland persona with no values must be maintained for the entire time you're there until you hopefully escape back to your home country.
Yes. However, it's a tough call when the bland persona gives you a fully funded tertiary education, and coming home will leave you with a large student loan. One of my current students had been accepted to Harvard the day I sent that email. I have another needing to decide if it's safe to do her final year at Cornell. I really feel for them having to make these decisions.
David, you (and anyone else in living in the USA honestly, born on American soil or not) really need to use a legacy deliverer, AKA a dead man’s switch. A service that delivers pre written information in the event you fail to respond to scheduled prompts.
Definitely something to think about - so thank you! Preferably I'd like to have it interface with Webworm, so it goes out *wide*. Of course I could also just have the switch generate an email with all the info for a friend to access the Webworm backend and do it manually...
Apparently you can schedule a substack post to go out at some future date. https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037870412-How-do-I-schedule-a-post-for-a-future-date
Of course then you have to remember to reschedule it if you're still free to do so...
I'm sure it would sound better in Latin, but ... who dead man switches for the dead man switch?
Ah i think you beat me to my comment about this and explained it much more clearly lol but here be the link https://www.deadmansswitch.net/
Thank you!
Oh this is cool. Thank you
Yes, I was coming to say this exact thing!
I was thinking about this the other day...
I feel reasonably confident that at least one person in the US who is aware of your work and not a fan (to put it lightly) will have sent an email about you to some ICE tip-off address or something.
Like, I'm sure someone out there will have seen what's happening and thought of "that fucking cuck liberal New Zealander!!" and their chance to point the US Federal Government in your direction.
A really good point, and you know as well as anyone some of the people who are out to "get me" (YOU INCLUDED MAYBE WHO KNOWS ANYMORE!)
This is exactly what happened to Rumeysa Ozturk. I imagine it's the reason so many Pro-Palestine college students have been kidnapped in recent weeks.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/rumeysa-ozturk-tufts-canary-mission.html
Oh, I agree!
Ooft that just about gave me a heart attack for a second! I'm not in the US, but my brother is. So scary. My fellow webworm pal and I were talking just today about how we admire that you are talking about this all, even when it paints a target on you.
Hopefully you never have to send that webworm.
Reading about that dad who was detained and then basically sold to an El Salvador prison and now they can't get him back... Horrendous. So horrendous.
That El Salvador prison story is SUCH a mess. Just stranded there. Normal stuff.
The Onion handled it well as per usual:
"TECOLUCA, EL SALVADOR—Saying things had only gone downhill after a terrible morning, lawful U.S. resident Oscar Fernandez-Lopez, 38, stated Wednesday that he had already been having a bad day before being deported to the Salvadoran mega-prison known as CECOT. “I knew things were heading in the wrong direction when I spilled coffee on my shirt, and that was without getting sent to one of the most hellish prisons in Central America,” said the husband and father of three, who described his rendition to a penitentiary that can hold up to 40,000 people as “just the cherry on top” of an awful day that had begun with him missing his bus to work and ended with him being shoved into a cramped cell to be sadistically tortured by Barrio 18 gang members. “Maybe it was my mistake for thinking everything might turn around after I stepped in a puddle and got my shoe soaking wet. Now my right to a trial has been suspended for no clear reason, I’ve been falsely labeled as part of the MS-13 gang, I’m separated from my family despite my status as a legal immigrant to the United States, and they’re apparently going to starve me? Jesus Christ, there are days and then there are days.” At press time, when Fernandez-Lopez was overheard telling himself that things would surely start to improve now, several baton-wielding guards in body armor had reportedly entered his cell."
https://theonion.com/man-already-having-bad-day-deported-to-salvadoran-mega-prison/
Slight correction. They're not even trying to get him back. They don't care about other human beings.
Stephen Colbert highlighted that case earlier this week on one of his shows.
Has Margaret Atwood stepped forward publicly with an ''I told you so'' yet? For me reading about that woman being bundled in a van, I'm thinking of the bystanders around trying to work out a) what is happening and b) what they need to do as an individual to stay safe. Tinoarohanui ki a koe, David, kei runga noa at koe!
Margaret Atwood has said herself that she hasn’t written about anything that hasn’t happened before. You want to talk some real prescient shit, The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler is very popular at the moment for a reason. And even she said that she was just watching trends. That’s the thing, nothing is ever new. This has happened before. And we know how it ended.
Right. I am reading the graphic version of "On Tyranny" and, oh, it's everything that is happening right now. If you are in the US the time to get mad, get organized, get creative, and get loud is NOW.
Terrifying. Thanks for the recommendation.
The Husband and I were planning to go to Hawaii this year to see an old friend. That's now cancelled. I can just imagine my moko kauwae exciting the wrong kind of attention from border staff.
Look, I get it. I think you're being sensible and logical. I'm sorry you don't get to see your buddy.
We’re not thrilled. But I feel fot her living in Trump’s America - she’s appalled at what’s happening and as she works in the humanities in a university who knows what might happen there.
It seems so ridiculous but you probably made the right decision there.
Hell, I'm the "safe" gender and "safe" ethnicity but I'd avoid transiting through the US right now, even if it meant paying a little more to go through other countries.
Maybe you can get creative and go halves on a flight to beautiful Aotearoa for your friend.
Or meet up in a more sane country and holiday there instead
Dear David, like everyone else here I also really hope you’ll never have to send this email, and I am deeply, sincerely worried for you and anyone who is brave and still speaks out against genocide and brazen criminality. And, let’s face it, without the American people being willing to stand up bravely and speak out against the atrocities committed in their name, all hope is lost already.
From my own birth country’s terrible history (Austria), I can tell you that shit goes dark really fast - much faster than a lot of folks can ever imagine. The U.S. is now an enemy of the free world. The Mango Muskolini regime has pushed past all the red lines already, including the constitutional ones. The use of military force against its own citizens is just around the corner, maybe as soon as this weekend when large protests are planned. The concentration camps are being filled already, here and overseas.
Being white won’t save you anymore when you’re clearly “woke” and seen as the enemy of the regime. I agree with Dylan that some of the internet trolls hating on you very likely have raised your activities with ICE already. The Stasi was only that effective because people were willing to dob in their neighbours and friends, despite knowing they’d get tortured or disappeared for good. These people were taught to hate you, without ever having met you. You’d just be a liberal, snowflake scalp. Empathy is society’s greatest weakness, remember?
The Nazis went for intellectuals and “sexual deviants” first. Breaking the voice of the independent media is one of the main and early pillars they need to achieve. Please be careful and take this seriously - especially when you cross the border. A lawyer may not be able to get you out of an El Salvadorian death camp, as we are currently witnessing.
I’ve been so freaked out I even changed my transit via San Fran to instead go to Europe via Hong Kong. I will never go back there (and I went twice a year for the last 10 years for work and friends), until the fascist regime is purged the way Germany did in the late 40s (not Austria, unfortunately, we played the victims and kept the Nazi underbelly going til this day where it’s now the #1 party again 😞). It really isn’t safe anymore. Kia kaha.
Thanks for this, and yeah - I think Dylan did make a good point (as aspect I had not even thought about). Let's just say I am less prone to walking around with headphones blasting - and much more alert and aware when out walkin'.
And you're right in the direction this could go. I need to keep that mind mind, as I still tend to hope for the best (despite being cynical as all hell).
The El Salvadorian situation you raise is very valid - and this story is just, yeah, no words: https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-maryland-man-trump-617bfac0e54b241fa2f54783bdf08628
It’s scary for sure. I also wonder at what point natural born citizens will lose their constitutional right to free speech. I have just received a lovely hand knitted hat that says “Fuck Trump”. My son was very alarmist and was like “Mom, don’t wear that in public, you’ll get arrested.” It made me pause and think about my purchase. The Fuck Your Feelings crowd, really can’t handle Trump being criticized, and Trump’s fragile ego cannot handle it either. We have prided ourselves, as a country, to be able to speak out against leadership, but I truly do fear that it will be taken away.
Stay safe, David, and everyone else legally here or not. 🖤
I think that's the thing, right? Natural born citizens don't realise what this means for *them* - and that yes, they are at risk too here.
We do. We are organizing. We do still have free speech, the right to protest, to organize, to be involved and call our reps and attend the town halls and meetings (or hold our own if our reps won't have one bc they are too scared of their own constituents, happened in my district.) A lot more people need to realize it though, to realize the power that we have together and USE IT to stop this. Cory Booker's speech helped. Elon failed to buy the special election in Wisconsin. I think these tariffs and subsequent stock market dive snd hardship will help more people get mad and active bc it will affect everyone's $$. Momentum is there and building. But unfortunately there will be a lot of people that have to be impacted directly before they wake up.
There's a service that will send out messages to people you select if you don't check in for awhile and thus may have been disappeared...same idea as your SOS thing here, but automated. Creepy as shit, but probably a good idea for anybody here in the US rn
https://www.deadmansswitch.net/
Thanks for this.
Not to make light of such a serious topic but, we do have the best raccoons in this part of Canada . . .
what part of Canada are you referring to? seriously considering a move but we love our local raccoons so much!
Toronto
Amy you are so right about raccoons in Toronto. My thesis supervisor was from Toronto and told legendary stories of the critters and the battle with green bins that were raccoon proof. 99% invisible did a podcast episode on this.
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/raccoon-resistance/transcript/
Hahaha, yes! The city spent SO much money on those bins, only for the raccoons to defeat them immediately.
What makes your raccoons superior to my raccoons?
Lol, we don't need a fight with LA raccoons on top of everything else. Toronto is raccoon heaven, though. Holiday decor? Raccoons. Clothing? Raccoons. Dog ID tags? Raccoons. They are a source of great joy, and tremendous frustration here. Winter is a nightmare and summer humidity is brutal but if you have to leave LA? Toronto!
I think you're braver than me David. If I were here on a Visa I'd probably be halfway packed by now.
People are too blind to see that any BS justification used to deport non-citizens will eventually be turned against all Americans. Immigrants are already being denied due process and put on flights before the courts have time to react. How much longer before ICE "accidentally" starts picking up citizens?
I think we've reached a point of comfort and stability in this country where a lot of people can't imagine how much worse things could possibly get. We're too far removed from the cultural memories of ACTUAL hard times like World Wars and the Great Depression, and we've grown soft and complacent. I worry at how much worse things will have to get before the American people will wake up.
Appreciate the kind words, but I am not sure it's brave. Maybe - belligerent? The fact I don't have family in the US, or a house, makes me so, so mobile. I mean - it's all awful what is hanging over us here, but at least I have a fairly simple setup that is disrupted won't cause me insane emotional stress.
This thing that you said - it's the clincher and you're so, so right: "People are too blind to see that any BS justification used to deport non-citizens will eventually be turned against all Americans."
Right on. I know people that seem to be paralyzed by doom. You think it's bad right now? It can get much much much worse. We need to not wait for it to get worse before we do something. But a lot people won't fight it until it is directly affecting them or they are just lying down and complying in advance. It's infuriating. But I take hope in all of the people that do get it and are getting active in their community. We are out there.
Sheesh... That was a read!
I can only imagine how entirely bizarre and surreal it must feel to be boots on the ground in actual America. From the distance here in Hamilton New Zealand it's scary enough.
I've always said, and believe wholeheartedly, you do vital work David, and I truly hope that you never have to send you draft Webworm.
I noticed on that Op-Ed that there are 4 authors. Has anything happened with the other three? Was Rumeysa Ozturk just the easiest target? The other three must be terrified!!
I will also say that amongst all of this I too would consider the squirrels, the raccoons & the opossums an extremely valid reason to be staying as long as possible!!
Thanks, Jesse. To my understanding it's just her thus far from that op-ed team. Keeping an eye on it. I had the same thought.
HOLY SHIT, David.
As an American, I’m horrified, embarrassed, and ashamed. I’m glad to know that organizations like FIRE exist, though.
I really hope you’ll be okay, and that you’ll never need to send that Webworm message out. Just remember that you’re not alone. 😢
Yeah, I think FIRE has been doing some pretty good work lately. And they made themselves available to me despite being very, very fucking busy!
Valmoody and stonedape don't really seem like the kind of people who would listen to your podcast. I'm inclined to think they aren't. Real people, that is.
Tragic to think that the new advice for "if you see a woman being attacked by masked men" the answer is "they are probably law enforcement and they'll black bag you too".
Practice your shortcut, stay safe.
You might be right. But also I’m sure there are folks who’ve followed from the Arm Chair umbrella and they “both sides” and “devils advocate” the shit out of every issue and I’ve rarely heard them take a firm stance on a lot of issues as David does. All I’m saying is I am sure there are pretty conservative people who find Arm Chair Expert and the early FB episodes palatable only because of the lack of stances taken. Or maybe they are just trolls 🤷♀️
I think you're right to have a plan in place. If I was in your position I'd be anticipating deportation as an inevitability.
Did you see that political historian Heather Cox Richardson is being censored? There won't be legal structure or history to protect anyone who doesn't toe the line.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
I did not see that? What's the story?
(Assuming we are both talking about https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/)
She's being censored on Facebook/by Meta. Lots of people are saying they can't see anything from 26 March, including Heather herself, even though she's been posting daily. I could still see posts from the last few days, but I'm in NZ.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1YffvMFsnG/?mibextid=oFDknk