I’m feeling so uneasy with everything I’ve been seeing. I keep thinking about what we will be this time next year, and if shit hits the fan, what is your plan? I’m queer and was politically active in 2020, so I would potentially be considered a political enemy.
The only blueprint I can think of is what you do in an active shooter situation; Flee, Hide, Fight.
I know there’s that romantic notion of “don’t be a coward, get out and protest”, but I remember the brutality of the 2020 protests firsthand, and even then I thought “thank god I’m going toe to toe with the CPD and not the CCP”. Next time is going to be different. The president now has authority to send drone strikes. Protests and riots don’t stand a chance agains missiles and live rounds.
Flee- I have an Uncle in Montreal who my family could potentially use as a way to at least temporarily escape the chaos. The hope I’d have is that Canada and other countries would accept American refugees, however that’s not a guarantee.
Hide- If borders are closed, lay low and move away from major cities if possible. If civil war breaks out, try to get away from the violence even if you think your side will win. Todays losers may be tomorrows victors.
Fight- If cellular data/ social media algorithms can keep track of you, and surveillance can make sure there’s no movement, this would be the last resort of desperation. I guess if possible try to either find a group for safety in numbers, or conversely go guerrilla as groups of resistance would make easy targets.
Sorry my mind is running and I’m getting scared.
“On Tyranny” has some great guidance on this, as well as some guidance on how to do what you can to help put the brakes on it happening.
TL;DR there’s quite a lot more, but stay off the internet, get used to making small talk, making eye contact. Know who’s in your community physically and who has your back. Renew your passport, make friends in other countries if you can. Make friends. Stay off the internet.
It’s really hard to make friends in other countries without the internet. Gonna have to go back to ARPANET.
He didn’t actually say stay off the internet; that was my oversimplified retelling. A little more complete but still oversimplified version would be: Be careful and don’t share more than what you think is safe to share, and try to focus on the real world as much as you can. The real world doesn’t have mass surveillance in quite such a prepackaged and straightforward fashion, and it is where all the real outcomes good or bad will eventually take place anyway, so prioritize it as much as you can.
Curious: Why “stay off the internet” ? It’s mentioned twice, so I’m assuming for a good reason.
Is that a mental health thing or a keep from being profiled/targeted thing?
It is soo easy to forget about just how much identifying metadata you leave on the internet just by reading stuff.
You know the cookie banners you see? Those that claim to let you opt out from being tracked by advertisers?
Yeah, those are just the overt tracking mechanism, tracking pixels are far far more insidious.
Lets backtrack a bit, back when Facebook started getting big, companies started embedded Like buttons on their webpages, cool right? You could just click the Like button and it would help you post a link to your Facebook feed to the page you were visiting.
Seems fine, right? What’s the issue?
It would be fine if the image of the Like button was stored on the local web server hosting the rest of the site.
But it isn’t.
It is stored on Facebook’s servers, it is stored in a way that every single Like button has their own ID, so every time you load up your favourite website about abandoned radiation experiment sites it makes your browser send a request to Facebook’s servers as well and depending on how the request is sent they can at minimum log that your IP address loaded the Like button with the ID number X, the ID number X is tied to the specific webpage you visited.
Then you go and do some research on impotense and how to cure it, the pages you read all have Like buttons as above, but with their own ID numbers, Facebook now knows at a minimum that you are a man who is interested in science, technology, society and modern history, you may also suffer from impotense.
Well, you keep browsing the web and read local news, well the Like button is also there, and with the ID number Facebook can add an area of interest to your profile.
It keeps going like this, but with one huge important change, people are starting getting warey of the Like buttons and Facebook in general, so they simply remove the button, while introducing the tracking pixel, a 1px*1px transparent picture, it works like how the Like button loads, and keeps generating data for Facebook.
Facebook is not alone in this, I just used them as an example.
You can read more here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_pixel
This is also not even getting into browser fingerprinting.
Oh, yeah. I’m aware of all that. Good info, though.
I meant for the purposes of what moz was saying from that “On Tyranny” TL;DR guidance. Like, should I just assume that metadata is going to be immediately used against me to determine if i’m an “undesirable” ?
May have answered my own question there lol
Well, yes. There’s no take backsies, but showing you’ve dropped off the internet, as sus as it is, also shows you’re done with all this, and makes it harder to prove your current status as “undesireableness” by lack of evidence. The longer you wait to disappear, the more relevant the evidence that can be used against you.
I have not read that book, but seeing as the right is on the rise also here in Europe, it might be worth checking it out.
Your IP addresses, home, cellphone, etc… They all lead back to your actual home address where you can be identified.
Have a pint at the Winchester and wait for it all to blow over
Canada will not accept US citizens as refugees unless things really goes to hell, we’re not even accepting refugees who come from other countries via the USA as they’re supposed to ask for refugee status in the first of the two country they step in. So yeah, don’t get your hopes up, Canada isn’t a consolation prize for you guys, fix your own shit.
That doesn’t stop you from getting a work visa and moving there.
Temporarily and only if you have qualifications for jobs where we need people
Temporarily can also become permanent. And many folks do have skills worth amassing.
Sure, doesn’t change the fact that we don’t don’t open our door to anyone and everyone and if you don’t have skills we need you don’t get a visa in the first place , we don’t need someone to move here from a first world country with a work visa just to end up not having a job and costing the system money.
Yep, same as most countries. No one is assuming we can just waltz right in.
It’s US’ decision on whether to grant those or not, and they grant them cause it benefits the US.
How’s the housing market going bud?
Terrible. I could flip this comment but it’s all been said before.
🥲
What does that have to do with the subject? Even more reason why we wouldn’t take in US citizens for no reason
Just returning fire
Not as if it was any better on your side of the border, the difference being that in some States you don’t have any safety nets to help!
Ever watched/read the Handmaid’s Tale? This scenario basically happens, and Canada has to cater to any refugees they can smuggle out.
Unfortunately/fortunately works of fiction aren’t binding on geopolitics. (Depending on the fiction)
Hi, Canadian here. The Handmaid’s Tale was seriously over optimistic about what kind of country we are.
Fair enough.
Suddenly all the people with anti migration sediment might realize how it’s like when the shoe is on the other foot.
Why so much hate for people just looking to survive?
It’s just the truth bud, people living in the richest country in the world can’t be bothered to go out and vote (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/voter-turnout-rate-by-age-usa the majority of electors under 30 support the Democrats) and every US elections research for Canadian immigration laws goes through the roof? If you guys can’t make your own country work (even when you’ve got an amendment made to secure people’s right to protect themselves against the shit show your government has become!) then why would you expect other countries to just welcome everyone of you? It’s not as if you would extend the same favor, people coming from the poorest countries in the world end up being detained when they cross into the USA.
We are pretty much screwed any way you slice it. Make sure you’ve got a trusted network of people, make sure you’ve got your passport renewed. Make sure you’ve got some coins stashed away.
But also, get into local government. Go to a city meeting. It sounds dumb but if you’re not involved then you’re not informed and have no power. A lot of cities have the power of ordinances that can make life less hellish.
Look up climate feedback loops cause we’re already over the edge on that crap. Ain’t nothing to be done except start living underground.
Look up climate feedback loops cause we’re already over the edge on that crap. Ain’t nothing to be done except start living underground.
We can still lessen the effect. Every .1 degree less average global temperature rise helps.
Yeah that .1 degree might stave off the extinction of several animal and insect species for a bit
Y he permafrost is melting in the tundra of Canada and Siberia, once we hit those methane pockets…it’s bad y’all and individuals can’t do nothing. It’s basically a greenhouse gas time bomb
A better question would be what are you going to do to make sure the orange Mussolini doesn’t win?
Make sure you, your friends, and your family are Registered to vote.
Make sure everyone you know gets to the polls on our before election day.
Become a poll worker.
We need to make sure we vote in numbers too big to steal. In 2000 the election was handed to Bush by the Supreme Court because of one state. Looking at the last term, the court would absolutely find a way to shift the election to the con in chief if it was just one swing state with irregularities.
Talk to people about project 2025 and what it will mean. This is how the guardrails from 2017 are removed. This is how we start a Christian theocracy. If we vote blue all the way down, the Dems may be able to put stronger rails in place. If it’s not Project 2025 it will be Project 2029. These conservative think tanks have been doing this since Reagan, but this is by far the scariest.
Talk to friends and family about the Biden administration wins. It’s not just Biden you’re voting for, it is a continuation of his administration.
- CHIPS and science act bringing an entire industry back home. This will make us competitive with China and boat domestic manufacturing.
- Inflation reduction act an investment in renewable and traditional energy.
- Biden has actually increased fossil fuel production which has kept energy prices low and curbed the post pandemic inflation. Record oil production SPR management
- What Has Biden Accomplished? Look at These 10 Metrics, Not the Polls
Bottom line, this is likely the most important election of many of our lives. All of us must participate.
Be really mad amd then do nothing
your honesty is refreshing, if not a bit depressing
Nice try, DHS. I’m just a silly wittle unarmed kitty :3
(You better fucking read this into evidence during my military tribunal)
how should
wethey prounce the smiley?Colon 3
As a non American living outside of the US; I’m much more concerned about a second Trump term.
The first one was mostly just annoying, funny and embarrassing for you guys.
This time he’ll be taking over with war in Europe and the whole Israel/Gaza thing. There is quite a lot of damage he can do…
Don’t underestimate the US military, as an ally. They are primarily younger, and the upper echelons are educated and all take their oath very seriously, to defend the Constitution, from enemies foreign and domestic. Of course there will be factions that will stick to Trump, like certain national guards, but that will fracture command and weaken our ability to react internationally. The military understand those implications, the potential literal end of the world. In the end, they push the button, not the president. The lower ranks have no desire to fight American civilians either, it’s antithetical to everything they are taught, and the age range is generally people in their 20’s and 30’s.I trust a Marine, a soldier, an airman, a seaman heheh, coast guard too, oh and the spacemen, way more than a cop, to do the right thing.
A vet.
Keep my head down and power through the next 4 years same as last time.
This is VERY MUCH not last time. There’s intent this time, you really need to tune in.
I’m on page 449 and there is nothing about banning contraceptives.
Seems to be referring to the whole section
In the context of current and emerging reproductive technologies, HHS policies should never place the desires of adults over the right of children to be raised by the biological fathers and mothers who conceive them. In cases involving biological parents who are found by a court to be unfit because of abuse or neglect, the process of adoption should be speedy, certain, and supported generously by HHS.
Page 451 (tbh more about voluntary adoption and possibly sperm donation than contraceptives but not that much of a stretch considering the mention of reproductive technologies.)
Additionally, TANF priorities are not implemented in an equally weighted way. Marriage, healthy family formation, and delaying sex to prevent pregnancy are virtually ignored in terms of priorities, yet these goals can reverse the cycle of poverty in meaningful ways. CMS should require explicit measurement of these goals.
Page 476 (They really want to promote abstinence and fertility awareness as the end-all be-all methods of contraceptive.)
Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) and Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP). TPP is operated by the Office of Population Affairs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health; PREP is operated by the ACF Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation. Both programs should ensure that there is better reporting of subgrantees and referral lists so that they do not promote abortion or high-risk sexual behavior among adolescents. CMS should ensure that Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) proponents receive these grants and are given every opportunity to prove their effectiveness. SRA programs, both at ACF and at OASH and both discretionary and mandatory, should be equal in funding and emphasis. Qualitative research should be conducted on both types of programs to ensure continuous improvement.
In addition, certain provisions should be employed so that these programs do not serve as advocacy tools to promote sex, promote prostitution, or provide a funnel effect for abortion facilities and school field trips to clinics, or for similar purposes. Parent involvement and parent–child communication should be encouraged and be a part of any funded project. Risk avoidance should be prioritized, and any program that submits a proposal that promotes risk rather than health should not be eligible for funding.
Site visits should be revamped to ensure adherence to these optimal health metrics, and a cost analysis of programming as compared to students served should be a metric in funding (taking into account that in certain cases, intensive programs will serve fewer students and can have more positive results). These same parameters should apply to sex education programs at ACF. Any lists with “approved curriculum” or so-called evidence-based lists should be abolished; HHS should not create a monopoly of curriculum, adding to the profit of certain publishers. Furthermore, lists created in the past have given priority to sex-promotion textbooks. HHS should create a list of criteria for evaluating the sort of curriculum that should be selected for any sex education grant programs, both at OASH and at ACF, with the aim of promoting optimal health and adhering to the legislative language of each program.
Page 477 (again more about sex ed than contraceptives but how are adults supposed to know about them if they cant be legally taught at school age, for fear of “promoting sexuality” despite abstinence-based (so-called “”“risk avoidance”“”) programs not actually reducing sexuality in young people.)
Restore Trump religious and moral exemptions to the contraceptive mandate (also a CMS rule). HHS should rescind, if finalized, the regulation titled “Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act,” proposed jointly by HHS, Treasury, and Labor.70 This rule proposes to amend Trump-era final rules regarding religious and moral exemptions and accommodations for coverage of certain preventive services under the ACA. Preventive services include contraception, and it appears the proposed rule would change the existing regulations for religious and moral exemptions to the ACA’s contraception mandate. There is no need for further rulemaking that curtails existing exemptions and accommodations.
Eliminate the week-after-pill from the contraceptive mandate as a potential abortifacient. One of the emergency contraceptives covered under the HRSA preventive services guidelines is Ella (ulipristal acetate). Like its close cousin, the abortion pill mifepristone, Ella is a progesterone blocker and can prevent a recently fertilized embryo from implanting in a woman’s uterus. HRSA should eliminate this potential abortifacient from the contraceptive mandate.
Pages 483/484 (actually, everything 483 - 485 really, its just a lot to paste here so im pulling out the worst ones. Left out the calls for promotion of fertility awareness, because totally in isolation of the rest of this stuff and with proper warning of its limitations I have less a problem with that than with losing access to more reliable contraceptives.)
Promoting Life and Family. In dealing with sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, the OASH should focus on root-cause analysis with a focus on strengthening marriage and sexual risk avoidance. Strong leadership is needed in the Office of Science and Medicine to drive investigative review of literature for a variety of issues including the effect of abortion on prematurity and breast cancer; lack of evidence for so-called gender-affirming care; and physical and emotional damage following cross-sex treatments, especially on children. The OASH should withdraw all recommendations of and support for cross-sex medical interventions and “gender-affirming care.”
Page 490 (they really talk around it here but the mention of STDs, unwanted pregnancies, and again “risk-avoidance” makes this pretty loaded. Hormonal contraceptives could also be considered gender-affirming care, as it alters a person’s natural hormonal state.)
Edits for formatting
I don’t have time/computer access right now to dive into actual doc and work to point you in the right direction work citation. But it’s likely discussing measures that would indirectly eliminate access to the so called “morning after pill” plan b, or oral birth control at least. Maybe through something like title X or things like that attempt to enforce that obscure law from the 1800s that didn’t ban the drugs directly, but banned shipping them into states (which again, would be an effective ban unless every state stood up its own infrastructure, which of course they’d also likely be trying to eliminate that ability to do that in parallel)
If you’re genuinely curious and not just a sad, impotent troll that looks at an entire mountain rocks on “blue mountain” and says, “AHHHH!!! But I found this one greenish blue rock!!! So it’s not actually blue mountain!!!” then here is a link that dives into some of the fascist’s angles on this specific matter - https://www.mediamatters.org/project-2025/inside-project-2025s-attack-reproductive-rights-contraception
You have to buy the book dummy - it’s always a grift inside a grift. Here, spend some coin: https://www.project2025.org/policy/
I have not bought the book. Many, many scholars have. I suppose they are all lying though, you know, deep state this that or something?
There’s a link just above “buy the book” that says “read the mandate” and downloads a PDF of the book when you tap it.
I hate to say it but if Trump wins, it will not be the same as last time. Trump and the Republicans have both learned a lot from their last go around, and they’ve got the benefit of a captive supreme court at their back this time. Last time they had no clear plan for what to do if they won. This time around their plan is very clear and very scary.
Last time there was a pandemic that killed millions of people…
As someone who might be targeted and killed as this drags on, I’m not really worrying about it much. Control whatever you can, be aware obviously, but what more could you possibly do? Monday’s ruling is already in the past - I mean to say that we’ve already made our choices, long ago (some people have seen this coming for nearly a decade now), and all that is left is to live (or whatever) with them. It “helps” that climate change awaits to kill us all regardless of who wins the next election. To be clear, no I do not say that lightly.
Hypothetical illustration: let’s say that you are a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Do you jump forward? Backwards? Remain still? Duck? Jump straight up vertically into the air as high as you can? Once in this position, no matter what you do there are risks, and your choices are limited, with the outcome of your decisions mostly not up to you. Side-note: you could maybe not have jumped out straight in front of a speeding car… but that choice is behind you now, and you can only deal with what is, not what you wish had been.
So don’t panic unduly - that isn’t helpful - just focus on doing the next correct thing, and the rest… well, isn’t up to you.
You guys make this sound like some kind of doomsday movie.
I’m not downplaying how bad things are, but if you really have the several thousand dollars you’d need to actually uproot your entire life just sitting around, good for you. Most people don’t have that kind of free money.
And good luck moving if you have pets, or have family members you care for. Have you guys even been to your “target” countries? Do you have plans for how you’ll make income? How does healthcare work in your target country?
If you have all that figured out, and have nothing to leave behind, then good for you, I really do hope you end up better off. But this panicked response of “What are you waiting for, run!!!” is way more entitled than people seem to think.
Don’t think you know what is 110% coming if Republicans get the presidency back.
And the even longer list of consequences that would result if these things came to be
Damn, I guess you’re right. It’s a shame I don’t have the money to move.
I’ll have to abandon my elderly family, put my pets up for adoption, and stow away on a local fishing boat for a few months. I guess it’s the only way.
…but seriously, this is my point. Yes, this is all bad, but what do you want me to do? Being able to just jump ship is a privilege I do not have. If the building is burning, then I’m not getting out in time.
I’m sorry about your situation. But asking this question “what if a fascist dictator comes to power in your country,” is not some veiled attack on you personally. Calling people “entitled” because they’re considering fleeing a fascist takeover of their government… ok. thanks for chiming in.
Now? Vote. Tell good people to vote. Convince bad people not to vote.
There are more extreme options too but I’m not going to ask someone to do things I’m not willing to do myself.
Packing the supreme court would be to increase the size of it, not just partisan appointing
Packing and expanding have different meanings colloquially, packing typically means packing with sycophantic loyalists, in our age.
that’s not what packing the court means to most people unless it’s being used as a politically motivated insult
I disagree and refer you to my previous statement.
Okay you’re free to define words how you like, but dictionary definitions generally are close to how most people define it
Okay you’re free to define words how you like, but dictionary definitions generally are close to how most people define it
Packing the supreme court would be to increase the size of it, not just partisan appointing
Free money? People have been running/fleeing, are still running/fleeing, from regimes/ideologies, etc. today. Running for your life is not an entitled act, it’s survival. Running while expecting to just continue your life as is (income, luxuries, etc,) that could be described as entitled.
So the question is - is this a survival moment? The answer might be no, we’re blowing this out of proportion. Or yes, now is the time.
I personally believe that if we had the highest voter turnout in US history, it would absolutely nail Trump. People need to exercise their right to vote, like their life depends on it.
What you forgot to mention is that the “target” country has to want you. Even progressive Americans seem to have the belief (american exceptionalism) that they can just “move” to another country if they wake up in November to find the wrong guy won. In reality, you have to apply to immigrate to a country. Your application is gone through with a fine tooth comb. It will be 50 pages of information including blood work, urine tests, xrays, and FBI background checks. You may be granted a visa if you have something the country wants or needs, like a higher qualification or a job offer. But chicken and egg, it will be near impossible to get a job offer without a visa. And if you have a high BMI, medical issues, or an arrest record, you may as well forget about it. Many countries require that you have a 4 figure wad of free cash to get yourself started. If your target country has already met its immigration quota for the year then forget about it. If your target country has thousands of applicants (which most “good” countries do at any time), then your application has to rise above the others e.g., you have a job offer and a phd. Assuming you get through all this, it will take months to well over a year to get through the process. Want to bring your pets? Factor in 5-10k USD each for shipping, veterinary, and quarantine fees.
The bottom line is… stop yammering on about moving to another country if the orange shitstain wins. If you haven’t started the process yet of your own volition then you’ve likely not the tenacity to work that Sisyphean task.
Instead, vote.
It will be 50 pages of information including blood work, urine tests, xrays, and FBI background checks.
Um, no. I’ve done visa and citizenship paperwork, it’s not easy, and you’re right that you need a compelling case for why you should be accepted. But I’ve never heard of requiring that extensive of medical checks for visa applications, especially not for from countries that have developed medical systems. Though some countries do require medical records. You’re right often a background check is required, but in my case at least, an apostilled affidavit where I just promised I was a good boy was accepted.
Perhaps the country you applied to is an outlier. Or maybe as is often the case, you applied a long time ago when things were simpler.
It was only a bit over 2 years ago. And no not particularly and outlier for US citizens at least. My sister also applied to another country and didn’t have big problems.
It will be 50 pages of information including blood work, urine tests, xrays, and FBI background checks.
Um, no. I’ve done visa and citizenship paperwork, it’s not easy, and you’re right that you need a compelling case for why you should be accepted. But I’ve never heard of requiring that extensive of medical checks for visa applications, especially not for from countries that have developed medical systems. Though some countries do require medical records. You’re right often a background check is required, but in my case at least, a notorized affidavit where I just promised I was a good boy was accepted.
Get up, send my kids to school and go to work.
“What did you learn at school?”
“That life begins at contemplation”
Hit Facebook, Lawyer the Gym, Delete Up
It’s a good movie though.
Stay and vote. The way I see it, Canada is fucked if PP wins anyways, and will be hurt by Trump regardless. Europe is fucked if the alt right wins in France and hobbles Germany in the next couple elections. Nigel Farage is going to parasitically eat the conservatives from the inside out in the UK. Trump will pull put of NATO, which means war on Europe’s doorstep and probably all of south east Asia if China decides they don’t mind war.
Running isn’t going to work. Voting and protesting and political action is what will keep us all at peace and ever vigilant against populism and later, fascism. All hope isn’t lost. We still can undo the damage and categorically reject hate and corruption that is threatening democracies worldwide (and already dooming authoritarian countries with massive population gaps and economic damage)