I have been suspicious that my city is being used as sort of a testing ground for a full scale authoritarian takeover for a while, now. I know that sounds pretty paranoid, and I don’t blame anyone for thinking that. I have been trying to tell myself that’s all it is, but it’s getting harder to convince myself. Things are changing here so rapidly, and I know they’re changing everywhere all over the U.S. There’s so much going on at once, and it’s impossible to keep up with it all. But, that also means there’s a lot you won’t notice until it’s right in front of you.
If you want to write off everything else I’m about to say, I hope you will at least understand why it’s so important to prepare for and be on the lookout for this kind of thing, even if you’re in a liberal blue state.
Back in October, Time, actually wrote a pretty detailed article, about what is happening in cities like mine. It’s actually not a new phenomenon at all, but it’s never been more of a threat in recent history.
The Troubling Consequence of State Takeovers of Local Government
It’s been an ongoing problem in places like Atlanta and Nashville, and while it hasn’t received much press coverage, it’s been especially awful in blue cities without the same level of wealth and influence, like Jackson, MS and Memphis.
My city is New Orleans. This past Monday, the Washington Post wrote about the use of a mass surveillance program in my city. Facial recognition AI is being used to constantly scan city surveillance cameras (owned by a private company) and provide real time tracking of individuals on a watchlist. While the city police have paused their use of the tracking app (at least momentarily), state and federal police, such as ICE are now using it.
It’s a very complicated story, but I tried to explain what I can in a different post if anyone is interested in reading about more background details.
The reason I bring it up in this post, is that the very authoritarian governor established a permanent state police force within my city last year (Troop Nola.) He is a very staunch Trump loyalist and visits the president frequently. He has been issuing non stop executive orders since Trump was inaugurated in order to run Louisiana like his own dictatorship.
The city has no authority to regulate state police activity, (not that they even really seem to be trying) and with Trump rolling back civil rights protections and federal oversight, there is little standing in the way of him seeing how far he can go in terms of abuse of power.
He is trying to force all police officers and jails in the state to collaborate on Trump’s mission via bills and EOs, and has even pulled people from the state department of wildlife and fisheries to help enforce immigration. This means that these people now are working with a private company to use this AI and tracking software all over the city.
The local news has barely covered the Washington Post story, and most people seem pretty oblivious about what is going on. People are also doing a good job spreading disinformation and pretending that the WaPo story is misleading and this is no different than surveillance in any other city.
Given the Governor’s long standing hostility towards the city over our sanctuary policy, and the language used in many of Trump’s own EOs, I am also worried he is not too far off from using his secret police to go after people who he will try to argue are “interfering” with his immigration mission.
The Louisiana National Guard is headquartered in New Orleans, and a member of the Governor’s DOGE taskforce has proposed a bill that is worded in a way that at first glance, makes it seem similar to other bills that say foreign adversaries cannot buy land near military bases. This bill would allow the military to seize land within a 50 square mile radius of national guard bases if foreign adversaries are considered to be noncompliant with the law.
That would be pretty much all of New Orleans, if we were ruled noncompliant.
If that bill passes in Louisiana, then similar bills spread to other states, how would your blue state keep the national guard from a bordering red state from seizing territory? Especially following something like an emergency or natural disaster? Do you honestly think Trump will do anything at the federal level to stop it?
It’s a fear some blue states have actually created legislation against but it’s not something anyone seems to be seriously discussing and preparing for, even though we definitely should.
This National Guard training drill that happened recently in Jackson, MS makes me suspicious other red states may be preparing to do something exactly like that.
“Vigilant Guard 2025,” will take place May 12-18. It will give participants the opportunity to activate and employ their response plans to improve mission command, relationships, and interoperability among federal, state, and local agencies.
Guardsmen from Mississippi, along with those from Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, the ability to command a statewide response to a major disaster in coordination with the Mississippi and Tennessee Emergency Management Agencies
Why those states specifically? Considering how different everything would be in terms of landscape and infrastructure, why would you bring the national guard in from Utah and Wyoming to Mississippi to take place in a drill preparing them for a natural disaster??
Keep in mind too, these people are very sneaky. They’re unlikely to just try to take over the entire state or city at once. They gain ground they need slowly (usually by pushing and seeing what they can get away with.) They may try to take take control of the area around a state border following a disaster, and little by little, find excuses for why they need to encroach a little more. Maybe it’s to provide aid or an excuse they need to do so to help keep Americans in neighboring states safe. Like I said, you probably won’t realize what is really happening until it’s too late.
If you are in a blue city or state, and you haven’t noticed much of a drastic shift locally over the last few months, then you’re either very lucky or you’re not paying attention. Please stay vigilant and also try to take notice of how your local leaders are handling even small changes happening.
If you notice they’re not pushing back, or they’re keeping things quiet and under wraps because they believe compromise today will mean a safer tomorrow and that will be the end of it, I am begging you to call them out.
Do not let them give an inch, because these people will always take a mile. Things are pretty awful now, and they’re only going to get worse. Possibly worse than you can imagine, but I promise you, compromise will only help them achieve their goals.
I am livid with the spineless leadership officials in my city are showing, but I also know it’s because they’re scared. The governor was allowed to establish too much authority here. Some people pushed back last year, but not enough, and now everyone is scared to step out of line. It’s the kind of human behavior you read about over and over throughout history. Compliance will not save you. It will only delay what we all know is coming.
As of yesterday, I also learned Louisiana will be the first state to start using the DOGE voter maintenance database, to prevent “voter fraud” and make sure illegal immigrants and dead people aren’t registered to vote. Let’s say myself and the entire city of New Orleans “accidentally” ends up purged from the voter system on the next voting day. Who do we complain to when we’re refused the right to vote? Trump’s DOJ?
What am I supposed to do if the state police or ICE decide to violate my rights? The DOJ just said two days ago, they’re dropping ongoing investigations into civil rights complaints against the Louisiana State Police and retracting their previous findings. As far as I can tell, if they decide to do something to me, I have nothing currently protecting my civil rights and liberties.
We may be the first state, but if this isn’t stopped we definitely won’t be the last.
If you have any ideas on how to stop it or how to prepare your own cities and states, I believe it’s critical to discuss.
If you think that this is all just paranoia and could never happen, feel free to say why you believe that.
SLC Utah. Prime example.
What’s going on there?
To start: https://translegislation.com/bills/2025/UT
also, in the original post
“Vigilant Guard 2025,” will take place May 12-18. It will give participants the opportunity to activate and employ their response plans to improve mission command, relationships, and interoperability among federal, state, and local agencies.
Guardsmen from Mississippi, along with those from Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, the ability to command a statewide response to a major disaster in coordination with the Mississippi and Tennessee Emergency Management Agencies
Why those states specifically? Considering how different everything would be in terms of landscape and infrastructure, why would you bring the national guard in from Utah and Wyoming to Mississippi to take place in a drill preparing them for a natural disaster??
The most important asset you will have when shit hits the fan, are people you can trust and will also trust you. Band together, know your rights, think of scenarios where injustice befalls your community and what your group could and would do in each of those cases. I’m sure if you group up with enough people, someone among you will have lawyer-type experience and find grounds on which to sue, but you can also try to read up in the meantime for yourself. Ensure your emergency kit has sufficient food&water for 72 hours or more.
lol. sure.
Let’s say myself and the entire city of New Orleans “accidentally” ends up purged from the voter system on the next voting day. Who do we complain to when we’re refused the right to vote? Trump’s DOJ?
I’ve been saying for a while, Trump is going to fuck with the next vote. And there is nothing we can do to stop him from bullying or arresting anyone who doesn’t dance to his tune.
As far as I can tell, if they decide to do something to me, I have nothing currently protecting my civil rights and liberties.
You’ve got friends and neighbors and guns, and the first two can’t do much and the last one will get you killed. Things are liable to get really dark and ugly. And half the country would cheer for your death or mine.
A gun won’t help you.
You’ll either be killed upon brandishing or become a fugitive.
The media will paint you as a terrorist and enemy of the state and the few people who know you well enough to know it isn’t true won’t be able to convince anyone else because of the propaganda machine.That’s basically what I said. The gun will only get you killed. But hey, if you’re fucked anyway might as well roll the dice.
Idk about half the country, I would guess ~35-40%.
What’s funny about that 35-40% though, is that almost all of them can’t really wrap their head around the fact that a loss of constitutional rights isn’t something that you can force to only hurt the right people.
It means that if your house gets raided by accident, you would not be in the right to stand your ground in your own home. But yeah even if you tried it would almost certainly not end well against the government. Even if you somehow survived you’d probably end up on trial for defending your home.
Regardless of the reasons behind what led to Waco, that really should be enough evidence for anyone (left or right) to understand how that scenario is most likely to end.
I think a better bet is to use what remains of the law to your advantage. It’s just a matter of getting enough groups of people United together to take on something like a lawsuit.
I don’t think state national guards will be invading the neighbors in the near future (Trump’s second term). Ice and state militias might work together against sanctuary cities, but invading the neighbors is civil war, even if it’s bloodless. Maybe Trump’s third term and if that happens all bets are off.
As far as what to do, for us little people, there isn’t much. Calling your reps does nothing but annoy them and they ignore peaceful protest. Unfortunately until the 2026 midterms, MAGA controls everything and can do what they want. And that assumes we have fair elections. The best thing you can do is keep yourself safe and volunteer your extra time and/or resources to some form of mutual aid. The only way out is through.
It seems like you’re really invested in this, but don’t forget to enjoy what you can while you can. Nothing has happened yet and there is little you or I can do to change what is to come, but it hasn’t happened yet and you are still (relatively) safe. Try to enjoy it while it lasts.
I am trying to enjoy it while it lasts, but the combination of federal policy and state policy, and the state trying to takeover my city, have already fucked my life up in so many ways, it’s hard not to stay angry.
I’m losing my job soon, everybody I know is struggling to pay bills, even groceries are becoming barely affordable, I love where I live but I’m probably going to have to move to find a cheaper place bc I can’t afford rent without a steady income, and no luck on any other jobs I’ve applied to.
I was the first person in my family to get a college degree and I was planning to go back to school this fall, but had to put that on hold. I have family and other people I care about who are dependent on Medicaid, and I am already watching them lose so much health progress they had previously made bc the hospital oligopolies in this state began implementing policy ramping down Medicaid acceptance long before the House actually admitted they would be cutting anything in the budget. They’ve already done so much harm to so many people, and it’s only going to get worse. All just to give wealthy people who already received an insane amount of corporate welfare even more of a tax break. I also know I’m not the only one in my state going through this, and I know I’m relatively privileged compared to many people right now.
Frankly, I don’t see much of a point in planning for the future bc there doesn’t seem to be one. They’ve fucked this whole country over, and I don’t believe there is even any money left for things like federal aid/emergency relief/funding for grants, because they have either stolen it all or flushed it down the toilet on AI.
They just constantly use disinformation and distractions to keep people from seeing what is actually going on, and then dangle hope that if you comply, if you pretend along with them that everything is ok, maybe you’ll be taken care of. I’ve never believed it, and I think more people are finally starting to understand it’s just another distraction.
I’ve said this before, but it’s like being in a burning building, and knowing the people that are supposed to be in charge of the building were the ones that started the fire. They’re not trying to put it out, they’re just stuffing as much cash into their pockets as possible before the roof collapses while screaming it was somebody else’s fault. Even if we can’t stop them, why not throw some banana peels for them to slip on as they try to run out the door?
The Louisiana National Guard has officially partnered with ICE so they will obviously be enforcing immigration, and depending on Hodges bill, potentially seizing property and parts of the city from anyone who the state AG can successfully argue is a foreign adversary or aiding a foreign adversary.
As far as not thinking they won’t be trying to take over other states, I feel like it says a lot that the bill the Rep from Washington introduced as a safety assurance, was modeled after a law that several of the states participating in the MS training drill already have in place. Kind of funny they would be so concerned about other states doing it to them, if it really wasn’t a reasonable concern to have.
The legislation is about maintaining the state’s autonomy and authority, Mena, a Democrat, told her colleagues during last week’s hearing. “Without this bill, there’s nothing on the books to prevent this.”
“Other states may take matters into their own hands when they want to enforce federal laws.”
Mena pointed out that Idaho, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas have laws that prevent other states’ National Guard troops from entering without permission.
This is the part that seems so telling bc Texas was the first state to agree to allow their national guard to be used for enforcing Trump’s immigration policy, and attended the recent National Guard training in MS along with South Carolina.
Louisiana is trying so hard to model itself after Texas, so of course the Governor would do the same with our own national guard, but it’s kinda funny we don’t have a similar law protecting ourselves from invasion by the National Guard in other states.
Given that so much of the strategy currently being used to divide the country and dismantle the U.S., seems to be based off of the same strategy that was used to dismantle the Soviet Union,(I also have some suspicions about why that strategy might be so similar given the role of the Heritage Foundation in post Soviet Russia) I wouldn’t be surprised to also see something like state secession from the Union, followed by the formation of new “state-countries.”
In our case, you might see states like Louisiana do a lot of work, thinking they’re gaining independence, only to then be absorbed into a “super-state” by Texas.
You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to worry about it. Shit’s bad. It feels like someone’s master plan is coming together. The world is changing and it’s really scary. A little paranoia is called for, but you can’t let it get to you.
The truth is humans are really really really bad at predicting the future. We don’t have the full picture and probably won’t in our lifetimes. The heritage foundation has plans but they aren’t the only player and their hold on power is weak. In 2026, with fair elections, they lose congress. That pretty much makes Trump a lame duck and slams on the breaks of whatever shenanigans are going on in the south. Maybe that’s when the civil war pops off for realsies, but we won’t know until it happens.
We all need to be keeping ourselves safe, sane, and healthy. That’s the only thing most people can do at this point. Take care of ourselves and our neighbors if we can. Pay attention, but better not to try to guess what’s coming and ignore anyone who claims to know.
If you have any ideas on how to stop it or how to prepare your own cities and states, I believe it’s critical to discuss.
The little groupings of people who have started to set up networks to observe and disrupt ICE operations to go out and snatch people, are probably the best people to get in contact with and become involved with. I would prioritize offline things more than online things. Although talking about it online is good to spread the word, it won’t be where any of the actual action happens as things develop. Those people and local government are the best people I can see that it is good to coordinate with.
Be safe. Reasonably safe. Hopefully we can shake hands at the end of all this.
I am involved in community activities, but the problem is that a bunch of small groups have less power than one large group. We need to remember this is still the United States of America and join in with people that remember what that is supposed to mean.
Several blue jurisdictions that were being targeted for sanctuary policy joined together in a lawsuit, but my city never had an official policy, it was the result of a federal decree (which is itself a whole other long story).
I feel like joining in on something like that would provide the most protection, but like I said, the city leaders aren’t doing shit except pointing the finger at each other and spreading Landry’s narrative about the recent jailbreak bc they’re all hoping to save themselves. It’s like he set a trap and they are all falling for it.
Given there are so many cities all over the country facing similar things, I feel like maybe we should even consider creating a giant lawsuit as blue cities, blue states, and all Americans regardless of location (community organizations, small businesses, and non profits, universities) to at least attempt to get back and rebuild federal protections for our rights and liberties from the people who are behaving like traitors to the U.S. constitution.
There is a reason the union is powerful, whether it’s a workers union or remembering we are supposed to be part of the Union not some neo confederacy.
Even if you’re not seeing it around you yet, if we as a country let them continue like this, you will eventually find yourself face to face with it and surrounded by it on all sides.
If he is allowed to keep these departments and agencies dismantled and empty, then that means there is nobody there to enforce protections. It’s kind if nobody is on duty at the weather center, then when a tornado comes in at 1 am, that means nobody is there to warn people of the danger. Pretty sure that actually happened recently exactly bc of these dumb fucking policies and cuts…
We’re sitting back and falling into the trap he’s laid for us by breaking apart and keeping ourselves isolated and then panicking once we start to feel the heat.
For example, Nashville is a very wealthy city (and we all know wealth=power). They actually sued their governor over trying to force his policy on the city, and they actually won! I doubt that’s an option for New Orleans v our oligarch Governor unless we join in with others that have more power and money.
Why couldn’t all individuals and organizations that were interested in doing so as citizens of the United States (I mean, I just realized corporations are people, right? So any businesses really) join together in a massive lawsuit and sue the President for something like threatening our rights and liberty?
The People v. The President of the United States?
I’m half kidding about the name on the lawsuit but very serious about figuring out how to do that. You already have hundreds of small lawsuits, why not offer something like a giant class action lawsuit open for all Americans as individuals, small groups, or businesses, etc., to join? Why the fuck should we be sitting back and handing over any of the rights we had to fight to gain in the first place?
If we’re going to devolve into a civil war anyway why not at least try to a lawsuit first?
