Life is still rough here in Minnesota. Very rough. So very fucking rough. The Federal DOJ opened an investigation into Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey for exceedingly bogus reasons. I’m not going to name them because my god. It doesrn’t matter at this point. None of this matters at any point. I included the video of the charges below if you want to see them with your own eyes/hear them with your own ears. One tiny bit of good news is that it was ruled by a federal judge that Minnesotans can follow ICE as long as it was from a safe distance away (ICE/feds claimed this was not allowed), but it just doesn’t seem enough.
Nothing is enough, obviously. Jen Psaki, the host of the video I included below (and warning for rough viewing, by the way), made it clear that the investigation is bullshit. She cites the numbers, and, yes, they are horrible for this persident. Some are the lowest they’ve ever been–ever!–, but they’re still at anywhere from 30% to 41%. That’s still way too many people who think everything is just hunky-dory.
This is actually part of the bigger problem–which is my fellow Americans. That’s not what this post is about, though–you know what? I ‘m going to make it about that because I can. And because it fits with the theme (sort of). The theme being taking the high or low road. I wrote at length about this fallacy (taking the high road is always a good thing, solely on an idealogical level) in a prior post.
Quick primer: For most of my life as a Democrat, I’d watch the Democrats bleat about taking the high road. They gave in over and over again, and it was always frustrating. Why was it only the Dems who were expected to negotiate and meet in the middle? I mentioned in a prior post that I’m at the end of my rope with being compassionate and peaceful.e
Every time the Republicans won a major election, it was spun as them having the will of the people to do what they wanted. When a Democrat won, however, it was spun as the country being fractured, and the Dems had to work extra hard to make sure the Republican Americans did not feel shunned/rebuffed/out in the cold.
Many Dems felt that way, too. Or at least they mouthed the words that sounded like they agreed. Whereas the Republicans blithely ignored any semblance of extending the olive branch. Thirty yaers, I’ve listened to this. It’s always been a case of being on different teams, but there were lines that neither side would cross.
Those lines are completely erased now. As I’ve said, my friends and I have agreed that we’re not exactly surprised by what this president has done, but the surprise is how quickly and violently it’s happened. Also, in my case, it’s how efficiently it’s happening. Which makes me suspect that it’s not him.
What I mean is that I don’t think most of this stuff is coming from this president because he’s not organized enough or smart enough to be this coordinated. Someone is feeding him ideas and keeping him on track. Except maybe the Greenland thing. I could easily see him fixating on that for some unknown reason.
I think the emphasis on taking the high road is a way to keep people down. I was reading an older post on Ask A Manager (but still recent), and it was about an employee who went to a town hall meeting as part of her work, then stayed after to yell at the mayor. Many people in the comments were saying how unprofessional the employee was, which was true. She was unprofessional, but a samll handful of people pointed out that you don’t change things by being professional and/or polite.
One person phrased it particularly well. Since I’m paraphrasing, it won’t sound quite as good, but I’ll do the best I can. They said that change came at a cost. Someone who was planning on agitating had to realize that it could cost them big. If they were fine with that (or resigned to it), then so be it.
That’s what I was thinking as I read the post (which I had read before, but had not remembered it very well). There’s professional, and then there’s professional. I would absolutely take any chance I had to have a chat with the mayor if he were of the asshole persuasion. Well, I may not, but I would understand someone doing that. And, as one person pointed out, if the employee was willing to lose their job over it, so be it.
Shit doesn’t get done because someone asks nicely. No one is just going to hand over more rights, liberty, etc. People with power don’t like to give it up, which means it has to be taken from them. And it’s not all Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., either, by the way. There are people behind them who did a lot of the grunt work. Plus money. And other needs.
It takes a village to take down a regime. As much as I’m appalled and horrified by what is happening in Minnesota, I’m also extremely proud of my fellow Minnesotans for standing up an doing the right thing. As much as I’ve been mouthing off about not wanting to take the high road, I am very impressed that most Minnesotans have risen to the challenge.
Despite what the feds are saying, the protests have been mostly peaceful. Wit and humor, yes. Sass? Yes, that too. Anger? Fuck yes. But not with violence. That is coming mostly (and I mean a great majority) from the other side.
I will admit I’m darkly amused at all the ICE officers slipping on the ice. Most of them are wearing sneakers or hiking boots, and it’s clear that no one prepared them for winter in Minnesota. Also, the feds not knowing the local weather is very clear when they talk about how Renee Good was clearly aiming for the ICE officer (intending to kill him).
My dudes. My guys. That is just not how it works with winter in Minnesota. I have not watched the videos of the killing beacuse I do not need that in my brain, but I know how vehicles work. There would be no flooring it–more like wheels spinning helplessly on the road until the tears actually grip the road.
It’s really hard to believe I’m living in an occupied state. For me, for the day to day, it’s not much different. And yet, on a global level, everything has changed.
That’s all for today. I’ll write more tomorrow.