Today’s project: a GOP ransom note

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Mariame Kaba is soliciting submissions for a zine she’s creating (deadline extended to July 15!) which will be a collection of ransom notes from the GOP, and I highly recommend you check it out. I just finished creating my ransom note and had so much fun!

That last line is a tribute to stone-hearted Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) who, during a town hall meeting with constituents at the end of May, didn’t even pretend to care.

Appearing at a town hall on Friday, Ernst was pressed on cuts to Medicaid – the health care program for low-income Americans – in House Republicans’ budget plan. One audience member shouted that “people will die.”

The usual politician thing would have been to take issue with that premise – or to, as other Republicans have strained to do, cast the Medicaid cuts as merely cutting waste and abuse. (That’s not the full story, of course; the Congressional Budget Office recently projected that House Republicans’ changes to Medicaid, including work requirements for some recipients, would leave 7.6 million Americans uninsured by 2034.)

But Ernst decided to go in a different direction.

“Well, we all are going to die,” said Ernst, who’s facing reelection in 2026.

When hostile portions of the crowd balked at the response, she said: “For heaven’s sakes, folks.”

In researching this to provide links, I just found out that Ernst doubled down on her lack of compassion in that town hall by making a follow-up “apology” video in a cemetery and saying this [emphasis mine]:

“… I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this earth,” Ernst said. “So I apologize. And I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well.”

The condescension is grotesque. I don’t know how much money Ernst has, but I do know she’s paid a whopping $174,000 per year to represent her constituents in the Senate and is much more likely to weather a medical emergency than the typical U.S. citizen. Many of her constituents are rightfully worried about the proposed massive cuts to the social safety net, including Medicaid, that would hit them hard. The good news is that Ernst is up for reelection and is now more vulnerable as a result of that open contempt for her constituents. NOTE: If you’re in Iowa or have friends or family in Iowa, please know it’s very worth time and effort to push Ernst on the massive bill the Republicans are trying to ram through. Vulnerable Republicans like Ernst are more likely to peel off and cause further discord in the negotiations. Let Ernst know what you think of those proposed cuts and how they’d affect you.

Again, I hope you’ll check out Kaba’s call for submissions and have some fun cutting up old magazines! I found it to be cathartic and the perfect use of my time on a rainy Saturday. If you do make a ransom note, please share yours here!

Thankful Thursday: wild morning

/ Tracy Abell / 19 Comments

At a little after 7:00 this morning, we headed out for our walk. After a couple blocks of sunshine and birdsong, Emma decided it was time to relieve herself on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection lawn (shucks, no poop sack 🤷 ). As Zippy and I waited, a crow that’d been on the CBP roof flew down and dropped something furry a few feet from Emma. The crow hopped around as Zippy moved in for a closer look and announced, “It’s a mole.”

For whatever reason, the crow had gifted Emma/us with a dead mole! When we declined the gift (well, Zippy and I declined it without giving Emma a vote) and walked away, the crow picked up the mole and flew back to the CBP roof. That was a first for us. In Colorado, magpies regularly gifted us with pretty stones which we always thought were thanks for the peanut feeders and bird bath we provided. This dead rodent? A gift out of the blue.

Our second gift came later in the walk as we explored a street that was new to us. Suddenly, we were in dense forest where the air was clean and cool.

But it wasn’t only us in the forest. I looked down to see Gift #3 crossing the road:

I have no idea what kind of beetle this is (paging Mara at The Dirty Sneaker!) except that it was at least an inch long.

Later, after a stop at the local bakery for some muffins, we arrived back home where I cut some chard from our garden to add to my smoothie. When I went to wash out my blender, there was Wild Gift #4:

I know, I know. Most people aren’t fans of snails and their slime trails, especially not when they land on their dish cloths as a result of washing garden greens. But snails fascinate me. After watching it move about, I gently carried this one back outside to the flower portion of the garden. Slime away, funny snail!

So that’s my odd gratitude list. In this moment, I’m grateful for all the wildness in my life, big and small. These are very difficult days but as organizer Kelly Hayes says, there’s still so much left to fight for. Wishing everyone a day graced by the natural world. Solidarity!

No War on Iran: call to action

/ Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

My inbox is filled with messages from various organizations pointing out the efforts to manufacture consent for the assault on Iran, efforts that follow the same playbook used in the lead-up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG) sent No War on Iran: Reject the Lie of Preemption which opens with this [emphasis mine]:

When the Israeli attacks on Iranian military and civilian targets began on Friday, warmongering media outlets like the New York Times rushed to advance the West’s preferred narrative of the “preemptive strike.” This convenient logic — if you strike to remove a threat before it materializes, what will materialize is a response that looks like a threat — has time and time again distorted the realities of imperial aggression. As always, post-facto justification and proactive consent-building work in tandem: The aggressor becomes the victim, while a nation of 90 million people is vilified.

We reject any and all narratives that absolve the U.S.-Zionist alliance of its responsibility for the current war of aggression on Iran, which threatens to displace millions and plunge the country into Western-backed proxy conflict. We count in this camp the writers, editors, and producers of English-language media, who have long served as handmaidens to the forces of destruction in West Asia.

In Iraq, the grammar of preemption at the onset of the so-called War on Terror enabled hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. A multinational alliance of imperial powers committed billions in resources to George W. Bush’s “preemptive” hunt for weapons of mass destruction which, of course, never existed. Western media dutifully sought to convince the world of the justness and necessity of years of occupation, bombing, and forced economic dependency. For these crimes and cover-ups, there has never been any justice or reparation. The last week has shown that the media will not hesitate to corroborate imperial lies again, unless, with all our might, we refute them.

The article goes on to say “The only way to stop the genocide and support endogenous resistance to Zionism and imperialism — whether in Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, or Yemen — is to halt the flow of weapons to Israel.” and then lists some of the many global efforts to cut arms to Israel. You may read the entire article here. Key takeaway: ARMS EMBARGO NOW!

Another email came from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)’s newsletter, The Wire. Their headline? No War With Iran. This article also points out how the mainstream media are beating the war drums and then states “The truth is that the Israeli government has run an anti-Iran propaganda campaign for decades, doing everything in its power to provoke the Iranian government into the kind of war that we’re now seeing.” The article also includes a link to CNN’s compilation of clips showing Israel’s Netanyahu fear-mongering over Iran’s supposed nuclear weapons program, which Netanyahu has been doing since 1996. That 1:10 video is well worth the time.

The article continues [emphasis mine]: International impunity for Israel’s unspeakable crimes against Palestinians has led us to this point. 

Over and over again, the Israeli military has been allowed to bomb children while they slept, burn people alive in their hospital beds, shoot starving people waiting for food aid, orchestrate a famine, torture detainees, and nearly every other war crime imaginable, in a nineteen-month-long genocide funded and armed by the U.S.. At the same time, the Israeli government has been bombing sovereign states at will, all without repercussion.

Israel has received unconditional support from the U.S. as it genocides Palestinians and bombs neighboring countries, so it’s no shock that Netanyahu would feel confident that bombing Iran would receive the same support. But “Just last week, Netanyahu’s governing coalition was facing a vote of no confidence from his opposition, with protests and criticism only increasing. But attacking Iran, CNN reports, has “banished” the internal political challenges Netanyahu was facing “in an instant.” OOPS! Once again war is being used to to save a political career and/or divert attention from domestic policies. We see you, Natanyahu.

JVP has issued a call to action: Members of Congress just introduced War Powers Resolutions to try to prevent war with Iran.

After 20 months of escalating genocidal violence against Palestinians, the Israeli government has launched unprovoked attacks against Iran and is bringing the entire region to the brink of disastrous war. 

Write your members of Congress today to tell them to support the War Powers Resolutions and to stop arming Israel.

Please, take a moment to personalize the letter for your Senators and Representative. If, like me, you’re incapable of making a phone call these days without crying/screaming/swearing at the staffer, email messages are a great choice!
Thank you for reading this far and taking action. It’s horrifying that in addition to everything else we’re facing as humans, we’re perilously close to WWIII. We cannot afford to remain quiet. Solidarity!

In gratitude and grief

/ Tracy Abell / 13 Comments

For 10 months, I felt a close connection to a person in Gaza. I didn’t know their name and they didn’t know mine. That didn’t matter. What did matter was a Palestinian needed help and I was able to provide assistance. Our shared humanity brought us together.

Because Israel targeted (and continues to target) internet infrastructure in Gaza, it’s incredibly difficult for Palestinians to communicate with family, friends, and the world beyond the open air prison in which they live. Imagine not only being under constant bombardment while enduring forced starvation, but also desperately wanting the ability to say one last goodbye. This is why Egyptian writer and journalist Mirna El Helbawi stepped in to provide free esims to the people of Gaza. As explained in that article, “Despite the name, eSIM cards aren’t physical cards at all but pieces of software that act like traditional SIM cards, allowing people to activate a new cellular plan with phone and internet access on their existing phone.”

When I learned about El Helbawi’s efforts via Connecting-Humanity.org, I purchased esims to donate. Several esims were never activated and then one was, and my heart soared! Starting on August 10, 2024, I kept an open tab on my laptop for the Nomad esim site where I could monitor the 10 GB data usage. Each time I opened the tab, I made a silent wish that the data amount had gone down. Day after day, I cheered on the Palestinian recipient, sending thoughts of strength and solidarity. Each decrease in data was proof of Palestinian resiliency. Whenever the data usage reached 7-8 GBs, I topped off the esim, adding another 10 GB that would be ready when the other ran out.

Month after month, I was connected to that Palestinian in Gaza. A student doing online studies? A journalist? Healthcare worker or street medic? Mother of four? Older brother caring for younger siblings? I had no way of knowing who might be accessing the internet but my heart was filled with gratitude for El Helbawi and the other volunteers who provided vital assistance to my Palestinian “friend” and thousands of others while also providing people such as myself a way to make a tangible difference in Gaza.

Today, after 10 months of usage, that Nomad esim expired with 6.37 GB of data remaining. For the past three weeks or so, the usage had remained the same despite me  checking and rechecking the Nomad site. My Palestinian friend used only 3.63 of the 10 GB before the esim quietly expired.

Obviously, I have no way of knowing what happened. Maybe their phone was dropped and damaged. Maybe their phone got lost. Or maybe the genocidal Israeli forces dropped a bomb on their tent or denied them access to life-saving medicine or lured them to a humanitarian aid station in order to gun them down. Or maybe my Palestinian friend got thrown in prison along with the thousands of Palestinians that Israel holds on administrative detention.

I will never know what happened to that courageous and resilient Palestinian who used their phone to survive those many months of horror. My pain of not-knowing is the tiniest fraction of the pain Palestinians endure as their families, friends, and communities are destroyed, and tens of thousands remain buried beneath rubble. I can barely imagine the depth of their pain and trauma.

What is being done to Palestinians is horrific. Full stop. But the damage doesn’t end with the death and destruction that’s been live-streamed since October of 2023. This genocide damages all of us as we avert our gazes and harden our hearts in futile efforts to protect ourselves from the violence and trauma. Israel and the United States and every other genocide-enabling government — whether actively aiding and abetting the death and destruction or merely remaining quiet — are counting on us becoming numb. They are purposely normalizing genocide, ethnic cleansing, displacement, colonialism, and state-sanctioned brutality so that we quit feeling compassion for others. Make no mistake, there’s a direct connection between what’s happening in Gaza and what’s happening in Los Angeles. Israel’s IDF trains ICE and police to use IDF’s brutal tactics.

In honor of my Palestinian friend I never met, I invite you to make a donation to Crips for esims for Gaza  which is “a collaboration between Jane Shi, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Alice Wong. Disabled people around the world are raising funds to get as many eSims as we can into Gaza.” This group has raised $2.4 million to buy esims for Gaza. They’re doing good and compassionate work.

Finally, also in honor of my Palestinian friend, I post this image from my yard. While it’s been battered and bruised by the elements, this red poppy still shines bright. It will rise up again next spring. There’s a reason the poppy is the national flower of Palestine.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Journalist Ken Klippenstein just reported that the White House has laid the groundwork for utilizing the Insurrection Act  by labeling the Los Angeles anti-ICE protests an  insurrection, and that Trump’s “border czar” just told Fox News, “We’re gonna bring National Guard in tonight.”

Read Klippenstein’s full article Breaking: National Guard to Put Down LA Protests. And when you’re done, here are the lyrics to Ohio, the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song about the National Guard murdering Kent State students on May 4, 1970. Their crime? Protesting the Vietnam War.

 

Ohio

Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in OhioGotta get down to it
Soldiers are gunning us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na, na-na-na
Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na, na-na-naGotta get down to it
Soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been done long ago
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’
We’re finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin’
Four dead in Ohio

Four dead in Ohio (four dead)
Four dead in Ohio (four)
Four dead in Ohio (how many?)
Four dead in Ohio (how many more?)

Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (oh)
Four dead in Ohio (four)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)

Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio

On this Nakba Day

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

Hello, again. I’ve been absent from these parts as we continue the many efforts involved in our move to Washington and am looking forward to resuming my WordPress friendships and making more connections with folks in the very near future. In the meanwhile, I can’t let Nakba Day pass without acknowledgement.

I know I’m not alone in carrying the heavy grief that comes from the ongoing genocide in Palestine, a genocide enabled by the U.S. with full support from both Democrats and Republicans. As my son Wildebeest recently said, Palestine is the one consistent bi-partisan effort from our government. Palestinians are considered disposable.

I received the following from MPower Change this morning and while I know it’s bad form to ask for action when I haven’t been engaging with anyone else’s posts here lately, I want to share this information. Anything you can do on behalf of Palestine is greatly appreciated! Solidarity!

Today is a heavy day.

It is Nakba Day — a day of mourning and resistance, marking 77 years since the violent displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel. Known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, the 1948 Nakba saw over 750,000 Palestinians driven from their homes and hundreds of villages wiped out. Since then, Israel has relentlessly continued its occupation and destruction of Palestinian land and people. 

On this day of remembrance, here are four urgent actions you can take for Palestine: 

    1. Email your Members of Congress to demand an end to Israel’s blockade on Gaza. Over 2 million Palestinians are being forcibly starved, with over 70,000 children being hospitalized due to severe malnutrition.
    2. Urge Members of Congress to call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil and all others targeted by the administration for expressing their First Amendment rights. We have seen the recent releases of Dr. Badar Khan Suri, Rümeysa Öztürk, and Mohsen Mahdawi — but our fight doesn’t stop. Take action now for those still unlawfully detained.
    3. Tell university leadership to say NO to repressing and targeting students on campus.  Students speaking out against genocide are facing ongoing repression, police harassment, ICE abductions, and the threat of visa revocations. Together, we’ve sent nearly 800,000 letters to university presidents and administrators. They still need to hear from us.
    4. Tell Microsoft to stop partnering with Israel’s genocide. Microsoft’s AI and cloud support are core to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Microsoft workers are boldly calling on the company to stop using their labor to commit genocide and enforce apartheid. Tell Microsoft leaders to listen to their workers, adhere to their own human rights policies, and stop partnering with the Israeli military. 

We cannot stay idle as Israel wages yet another Nakba on the Palestinian people. Take action now — speak out, show up, and demand justice.

In solidarity,

Linda, Granate, Yasmine, Ishraq, and the team at MPower Change

 

Please, one quick action on behalf of students

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

I’ve been focused on stuff related to our recent move and haven’t been active here, but need to share information I received today. Spoiler alert: it’s rage-inducing. My ask? Use the template to personalize a letter that will be sent to 40+ university presidents and chancellors. Thank you in advance for taking two minutes to speak out on behalf of the courageous students who refuse to remain quiet about a genocide funded with their tuition and tax dollars. Solidarity!

Image from Truthout article linked below: Police and FBI agents raid a resident of University of Michigan pro-Palestine protesters in a video posted on April 23, 2025.
safexmich via Instagram

The following is from MPOWER Change:

Yesterday, police and the FBI raided the homes of students in Michigan who’ve engaged in Palestine solidarity, confiscating laptops and phones without making arrests. The Attorney General’s office claims the raids are part of a “vandalism investigation.”1

But even the press is questioning why the FBI would be involved in a vandalism investigation.

At a time when university leaders are finally standing up to Trump’s attacks on academic freedom, with Harvard’s public rejection of Trump’s orders and more than 200 educational leaders condemning “political interference” and “overreach,” many universities are still cooperating with Trump’s tyranny against students, including police raids and abductions.2

Tell the University of Michigan and other schools to protect students and academic freedom.

Despite the violent crackdowns, academic expulsions, and student abductions across the country, the encampment movement is strong and growing.

Students refuse to be silenced, and we must do everything we can to support and protect them.

Even if you have sent letters to university administrators before, please send more.

Trump fears students because they are demanding divestment from genocide and apartheid, and they are WINNING.

Yale students just relaunched their encampment after being forcibly cleared by police earlier this week, coming back even stronger. And their demands are being heard. At Northwestern, students just secured a historic agreement: the university will disclose its investments, establish a committee on divestment, and provide full funding for Middle Eastern and North African student groups.3

Take Action: Tell university administrators and presidents to protect students, not punish them.

From Columbia to UCLA, from Yale to Emory — this is a generation’s most significant wave of student protests. And the students are not alone: faculty are walking out, alumni are divesting, and communities are taking action to support them.

We must do our part as well.

Please take action now: Demand that more university administrators protect their students and reject Trump’s attack on academic freedom and student protesters.

Thank you for everything you do.

In solidarity,

Granate, Zara, Aydin, and the team at MPower Change

P.S. Want to support our work towards justice for all people, and against white supremacy and Islamophobia? Sign up for a recurring MPower Change gift now. 

Sources:

  1. “Activists say southeast Michigan police raids are targeting pro-Palestinian protesters,” Detroit Free Press, April 23, 2025. 
  2. “More Than 220 Academic Leaders Condemn Trump’s ‘Overreach’,” The New York Times, April 22, 2025.
  3. “The Daily Explains: As NU activists accept deal to deescalate encampment, demonstrators at other universities are seeing mixed results,” The Daily Northwestern, May 1, 2024

Learn more from Truthout: FBI and Police Raid Homes of Pro-Palestine Student Activists in Michigan

Call to Action: April 19th

/ Tracy Abell / 13 Comments

Hello, friends. I just had a change of heart regarding tomorrow’s Day of Action and want to share some thoughts. Zippy and I attended our local Hands Off! action on April 5th but because there was no clear “call to action” or visible (to me) organizing happening around it, I told Zippy I didn’t feel compelled to join future protests.

 

I’ve changed my mind and have journalist Laura Jedeed to thank because when I popped into Bluesky, this was at the top of my feed:

I felt called-out. I also knew in my gut that Laura was correct. And that feeling was cemented after reading her entire thread which also points out that optics do matter and how it’s imperative crowd sizes are even larger tomorrow than on the 5th in order to present a visual refutation of Trump’s so-called mandate.  (Go here to read a more fleshed-out version of Laura’s points via her newsletter.) Also? There was nothing stopping me on April 5th from doing some organizing of my own and it’s totally on me that I didn’t come prepared. Tomorrow, I will be prepared!

I’ll have the #TeslaTakedown flyers I didn’t think to bring on April 5th. (By the way, this campaign is having a huge impact and creating real pain for Nazi DOGE-bro Elon Musk: Tesla dealerships are no longer accepting Cybertruck trade-ins)

I’ll have Know Your Rights  With ICE flyers. From the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) site: These flyers explain what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) comes to your door or you have an encounter with immigration officials, what to do if you witness immigration activity by ICE or CBP, and examples of judicial warrants and ICE warrants.

I’m also trying to figure out how to also insert a QR code to the pdf flyer that links to an upcoming online KNOW YOUR RIGHTS / RAPID RESPONSE TRAINING led by WAISN. Doing so is a challenge for this low-tech person, so please share if you have ideas!

Anyway, I hope you’ll consider joining an action near you tomorrow, Saturday April 19th. I’ll be there and promise there will be no eye rolling!

Solidarity! ✊🏾

Thankful Thursday: holding onto my JOY

/ Tracy Abell / 24 Comments

These are incredibly hard days on the planet and today I want to give a shout-out to the JOY in my heart, something the fascists will never, ever take from me. They want us cowering in fear and apathy, quietly sinking into dark and joyless pits of despair, but it’s vital to stay connected to all the good stuff in this world. Here’s a list of some things bringing me joy today:

  • Running for the first time in months (not to mention at sea level!) and even though my joints were creaky and my pace pretty darned slow, it made me SO freaking happy. Joyous, even!
  • Singer/songwriter Valerie June‘s new release aptly titled “Joy, Joy!” which is catchy and uplifting (check it out here).
  • Watching the rain fall as the sun shines.
  • Putting on jeans still warm from the dryer.
  • Leaving on my walk to the library after posting this, knowing I’ll get answers to my questions because librarians rule! They take care of patrons and books alike!

I’d love to hear about what’s bringing you joy these days so please share in the comments!

Gaza is a “killing field”

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

Gaza is a ‘killing field’, says UN chief, as agencies urge world to act on Israel’s blockade by Megan Fisher (BBC News). Since Israel broke the fragile ceasefire on March 18, they have murdered 1,449 Palestinians. Food and medical supplies are blocked.

There’s a very good chance you haven’t given much thought to what’s happening to Palestinians, seeing as we’re under another kind of assault in the United States. It’s no coincidence that as the fascists openly and willfully destabilize this country, there’s less focus on Gaza and the U.S.-sponsored genocide of Palestinians. That’s intentional. They’re overwhelming us with their shock-and-awe destruction, throwing so much horribleness in our faces at once that we lose sight of what’s still happening on the other side of the world:

Genocide.
Ethnic cleansing.
Intentional starvation.
Journalists and medical personnel targeted for murder.
Children shot and bombed and slaughtered at a rate never seen before.

And the media isn’t helping matters. Journalist Adam Johnson documented how mass death and destruction has been normalized.

Know who else isn’t helping matters? The Democrats. Last week only 15 Senators voted to block more arms to Israel. This is NOT what democracy looks like. The majority of people in the U.S. do NOT want to spend billions of dollars to arm an apartheid state so they can commit genocide. Many of us called and sent emails only to have our voices ignored again.

I’m exhausted. We’re all exhausted. But we can’t stop talking about Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

Signage of the times

/ Tracy Abell / 7 Comments

Here are images from my community’s HANDS OFF! protest yesterday. Apologies for the poor quality as many were photographed from across the street plus I cropped them to remove all identifying features as I do NOT want to further fuel the surveillance state. It was a beautiful day and people were simultaneously upbeat and pissed. There were 1200 of us there, the majority in their 60s and 70s, which is why when the first speaker was introduced, I anticipated the white-haired woman would speak about the assault on Social Security. She did not. I missed much of what she said because I was across the street, straining to separate her words from the sounds of traffic, solidarity honking, and nearby conversations, but I did hear PALESTINE. I also heard GENOCIDE and STUDENT PROTESTERS. While I would’ve welcomed a story about how Trump and Musk’s greed and cruelty are affecting senior citizens, I was so very glad this speaker centered the U.S.-sponsored genocide and the ensuing attack on the brave students leading the moral fight. When I got home and uploaded my photos, I noticed someone behind the speaker with a sign: PROJECT ESTHER IS THE NEW RED SCARE.

These photos are presented in the order in which I photographed them and it feels like the story comes full circle, beginning with a reference to three immigrants recently abducted by ICE and currently incarcerated in Louisiana, and ending with NO TO FASCISM. NO TO FEAR. RESIST.

If you were able to attend a protest near you (and I fully understand it’s much more risky for some than others), please share in the comments.

Solidarity with the millions in the streets yesterday, April 5, 2025!

The abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Rümeysa Öztürk is the Tufts University grad student abducted off the street in Somerville, MA, on March 25 by Homeland Security. If you can stomach watching the confusion and terror of this young woman as masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel grab her, video is here.

h/t to Ryan Pancoast on Bluesky

The terror didn’t end there. Per this AP article, After being taken to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in remote Basile, Louisiana.

Why was Öztürk targeted? She’s one of several students at American universities whose visas were revoked after they expressed support for Palestinians during the ongoing conflict in Gaza. 

This strategy was laid out in Project Esther, the Heritage Foundation’s plan to use anti-terror and immigration laws to crush pro-Palestinian demonstrators under the guise of combatting anti-semitism. The fascists have made it crystal clear they’re going to use pro-Palestinian protest as the launching point to crush dissent in this country–ALL dissent. That’s why they went after Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil earlier in March. I shared Kelly Hayes’s piece on Khalil here and have been meaning to update that post with Khalil’s statement which you can find here.  Note: Khalil’s statement was dictated over the phone from where he’s being held in an ICE facility in, you guessed it, Louisiana.

The one piece of good news in all this is that yesterday, in a rare show of moral courage by a university, Tufts issued this University Declaration for Rumeysa Ozturk. I encourage you to read the entire declaration which includes a valuable timeline of events as well as full-throated support for their student.

 Today, Öztürk’s legal team had a hearing with a federal judge on jurisdiction (being sent out of state to Louisiana). That decision will come soon. A legal journalist live-posted this thread on Bluesky during the hearing.

If you’d like to contribute a few dollars to Öztürk’s legal fund, you may do that HERE.

Please do not remain silent while the U.S. government disappears people. Please understand that if we normalize what is happening, they will eventually come for you, too.

 

Standing in solidarity

/ Tracy Abell / 15 Comments

Hello, I’m popping in with three quick items:

  • Update: on Saturday, Zippy and I drove to another Washington community to participate in their Tesla Takedown picket attended by about 170 people with signs and flags and a fierce determination to help crash Tesla stock. I’m told it’s a pretty conservative community but the majority of responses from people driving past were positive: lots of honking, waving, thumbs-up, and peace signs. Spirits were high among the sign-wavers and there was spontaneous laughter each time one of those seriously ugly cyber trucks drove past. I felt even more invigorated by the time we left. PLEASE share your experience if you were able to attend a Tesla Takedown picket near you! (Remember: these pickets are ongoing so it’s not too late to participate.)
  • This Saturday, April 5th, is another National Day of Action as people around the country come together to say HANDS OFF! From Indivisible:

    Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They’re taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we’re taking to the streets nationwide to fight back with a clear message: Hands off! Go HERE to find an April 5th action near you.

  • Lastly, please take 10 minutes for John Lithgow’s reading of “20 Lessons On Tyranny” which is based on authoritarianism expert Timothy Snyder’s book, On Tyranny. Very good information to help keep us sharp in these perilous times.

Thank you for reading and engaging. Solidarity! ✊🏾

Hell NO to Huckabee nomination

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a worse nomination than Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel. The man’s like a walking molotov cocktail, inflammatory and extremely dangerous.

The Senate will hold a confirmation meeting for Huckabee tomorrow and it’s imperative they hear from us. Granted, our many, many calls and emails about other nominations went unheeded as the feckless Democrats rubber stamp the authoritarian agenda, but that doesn’t mean we should stop making noise.

How wrong is Huckabee for the position of Ambassador to Israel? MPower Action just led 65+ progressive, faith, and human rights organizations representing millions of their members across the country, including Justice Democrats, Pax Christi USA, Demand Progress, Our Revolution, and the IfNotNow Movement in a letter to Senators urging opposition to Mike Huckabee’s nomination.1

MPower Action has the receipts on Mike Huckabee:

In 2008, he denied Palestinian identity altogether, stating, “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”2 He has openly pushed racist and exclusionary views, disregarding Palestinian rights by supporting illegal settlements, and justifying Israel’s complete ownership over Palestinian land.

His Islamophobic rhetoric is just as dangerous.

Huckabee has vilified Islam, calling it “a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet.”3 His words are not just offensive — they incite discrimination and violence, harming Muslims both in the U.S. and abroad.

PLEASE take two minutes to personalize this email letter to your Senators. Extra credit if you call their offices to say NO TO MIKE HUCKABEE NOMINATION! They’re gone for the day so you won’t run the risk of talking to a person, you can just leave a voice mail. 🙂

Thank you in advance for taking action. Solidarity! ✊🏾

 

  1. 65+ Progressive, Faith, Human Rights Groups Urge Senate to Reject Mike Huckabee’s Nomination for Ambassador to Israel, MPower Change, March 24, 2025.
  2. “Factsheet: Mike Huckabee.” Bridge Initiative, November 26, 2024.
  3. “Mike Huckabee calls Muslims “uncorked animals.” HuffPost, August 9, 2013.

Thankful Thursday: Olympic National Park

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

It’s almost two weeks since we reached the Olympic Peninsula and because we’ve been busy with all sorts of tasks related to moving and relocation, we hadn’t yet visited the Olympic National Park. This morning, Zippy suggested a walk in the sunshine (!) to the Visitor’s Center to check it out. Kind of a recon mission. Well, before reaching the Visitor’s Center, we came upon a trail just off the street.

We stepped into the forest.

Oh my goodness. It was immediately like being in a whole different world. The sounds and smells of traffic disappeared, along with the stress I carried. Below you can see my spouse and our dog Emma, seemingly tiny beings against the backdrop of magnificent trees.

I’ve already developed a bit of a crick in my neck/shoulders from constantly tilting my head back in an attempt to see the tops of trees here and I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of admiring moss-covered trunks and limbs.

Here’s Zippy working on his own neck crick while checking out these two trees growing from a cedar stump.

We had plans to hike another few miles but when the trail got so slick it took down Zippy, we decided to turn around for the day.

Today I give thanks for the Olympic National Park, its proximity to our rental home, and the rejuvenating properties of time spent in the natural world.

I receive these gifts.

 

Twofer Tuesday: taking action edition

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

Before I get started, I want to share an image from our walk today on a portion of the Olympic Discovery Trail.

I don’t know about you, but I take great delight in this moss-covered stump that reminds me of some kind of velour throne. Full disclosure: I fought the urge to sit on it.

That beautiful walk rejuvenated me and while I’d like to wander forever amongst the ferns and trees, it was time to return to reality. And as you know, there’s a lot going on and so much of it feels out of our control which is why I’m here to share a couple opportunities to take action.

ONE) Tomorrow (Wednesday, March 19th) #TeslaTakedown is holding a mass mobilizing call at 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT that will be livestreamed on YouTube. A link will be sent in the morning.  Register HERE & go to TeslaTakedown.com for more info on the people’s movement that’s making Elon Musk angry and tanking Tesla stock.

TWO) On Thursday, March 20, the American Postal Workers Union is holding a Day of Action as the Postal Service faces the most serious threat in its history as the Trump administration prepares a hostile takeover in order to privatize this bedrock institution! Go HERE to find an action near you (along with LOTS of resources including flyers, talking points, signs, etc). Here’s a sample that includes these FACTS about the United States Postal Service:

Even if you’re unable to participate in either event, please keep talking about what’s happening. As I talked the other day with the truck driver who’d driven our belongings from Colorado to Washington, I realized he had no idea about the many, many ways the unelected billionaire Elon Musk has been wreaking havoc in our lives. We’ve got to educate each other and I kicked myself for not having a flyer I could hand him with all the info from TeslaTakedown. Same goes for the Postal Service. I’m going to have some of these flyers with me so I can hand them to folks as we talk.

There’s a lot going on as they aim to shock and awe us into submission, so don’t feel bad about not being able to help on every front! None of us have that bandwidth. Instead, pick an issue or two that resonate and put some energy into that. Every little ripple we create adds to the tsunami of people-power. Solidarity!

From Kelly Hayes: Mahmoud Khalil and the Repression That Was, Is, and Will Be

/ Tracy Abell / 12 Comments

I’m not only grateful for my move to Washington, but also the distraction from the horrors being inflicted upon us by the authoritarians. However, I can’t keep my head down forever and today want to share an important read from Kelly Hayes: Mahmoud Khalil and the Repression That Was, Is, and Will Be.

Mahmoud Khalil is a Columbia University student, Palestinian activist, and permanent resident of the U.S. with a Green card who was abducted by ICE a week ago in retaliation for pro-Palestinian activities. The government agents removed Khalil from his housing against the protestations of Khalil’s wife who is eight months pregnant with their first child.

This is incredibly dangerous and ominous territory. And what makes it even worse is that there’s not an opposition party in this moment. The Democrats have made it clear via their support for genocide and the brutalization of students who speak out against that genocide that they will not magically become better people who will fight for civil liberties for all.

As Palestinian activist and University of Chicago professor Eman Abdelhadi recently told me, “The abduction of Mahmoud Khalil represents a major escalation in the wars against political freedom, higher education and Palestine activism that this administration is waging.” Abdelhadi noted that these wars are intertwined. “Palestine solidarity activists have faced repression and criminalization for decades, and these escalated to unprecedented levels with the assault on Gaza that began in October 2023.” Abdelhadi noted that participants in the Palestine solidarity movement have long warned that the repression being waged against them was setting the stage for greater escalations. “We warned, over and over, that the repression we were facing was setting a dangerous precedent,” she said. “Democrats and college administrators didn’t listen.” 

Abdelhadi says that by treating Palestinians and their allies as “fair game for repression,” Democratic officials and college administrators “opened the door for the far right to strip away constitutional protections from everyone.” 

“Trump is waltzing through the door that liberals opened for him, and we are all suffering for it,” Abdelhadi said. “It is clear this administration is testing what we are willing to tolerate, what we are willing to sit through. If Mahmoud Khalil has no rights, none of us do.”

We cannot afford to look the other way, to tell ourselves this is an isolated case. They are coming for all of us.

They came for Mahmoud Khalil in the night, and they will come for us, too. They will come with immigration raids. They will come for us with AI searches, scraping our data, and compiling massive lists of political targets. They will come with RICO charges, as they have for Cop City protesters in Atlanta. They will come with bizarre allegations of “fraud.” They will accuse us of supporting and abetting terrorism. They will terrorize us, criminalize us, and attempt to silence us. Now is the time to speak out and to “flood the zone,” as Scot Nakagawa writes. 

As protests and support efforts for Khalil continue, we should all uplift demands for his freedom.

Do what you can, where you can.

Please read and share Mahmoud Khalil and the Repression That Was, Is, and Will Be.

 

Wordful Wednesday: travel edition

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Common Merganser in Umatilla River. Echo, Oregon. March 7, 2025

On our drive from Colorado to Washington, our second night’s stay was at a campground in Echo, Oregon. We arrived in the dark so it wasn’t until morning that I realized we were next to the Umatilla River. There was lots of bird song and movement, and I first grabbed the binoculars then the camera. The above photo was the first I took. I also saw a Belted Kingfisher, Greater Yellowlegs, California Scrub Jay, Mallards, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Eurasian-collared Doves. Zippy had to gently remind me that we had a full day’s drive ahead of us and so should leave.

I reluctantly said goodbye to everyone and everything there, thanking them for the gift of their presence. Echo was a lovely place to begin the day.

Friday Haiku

/ Tracy Abell / 1 Comment

look closely
who-who do you see
one great horned owl

Bear Creek Greenbelt Park. February 28, 2025

Thank you, Amy Law, for showing me the owl nest. While we didn’t see American Dippers, it was still a lovely walk and talk.