Havdalah #52: Passports, BlueAnon, and Protests

Hi everyone,

I can’t help but feeling that our democracy is dying a death by a thousand paper cuts. Each Executive Order that comes down the pipe reveals how little regard President Trump has for the norms of our political system. There is well-established precedent that flag burning is protected speech. War is generally disliked by the American public and we usually like to at least frame our military action as defensive.

I really have to fight the instinct to fall into complacency; to see the news of how we are falling into fascism today, roll my eyes, and put my phone back down because it all seems so inevitable, like no one in power gives a shit, like I should just put my head down and try to eek out a bearable existence in this terrible historical context into which I was born.

But then I think about Gaza, I think about refugees and immigrants, I think about the sick and disabled. I could put my head down and maybe be okay under the coming fascist regime, but there are a whole hell of a lot of people who wouldn’t be, and I owe it to them, fellow human beings made in the image of God and possessing the dignity of personhood, to do what is within my power and responsibility to stand against evil and suffering.

…

We have a Sidebar from Katherine today about why we haven’t been promoting some of the higher-visibility protests (namely those from 50501) that have been going on and explaining a bit of our philosophy of protest. There are some great public service events going on at local libraries as well as a handful of podcast episodes we appreciated this week, so take a look and a listen.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu…

Jackie (she/her)

PS: We’d like to hear from you! Let us know how we’re doing!

Passport Workshop with Seth Magaziner’s Office

• When: Saturday, September 13, 11:00am-1:00pm

• Where: Cranston Public Library, 140 Sockanosset Cross Road, Cranston, RI 02920

• Seth Magaziner’s office, in partnership with the Boston Passport Agency, is hosting a Passport Fair to assist people. State Department Passport employees will be available to provide guidance, answer questions, and help with applications. Their staff will also be present to assist with any other issues related to federal agencies that you may have. 

• If you are applying for a new passport or renewing an existing passport, please bring the following:

  • Application: If you are applying for a new passport, complete the DS-11 application form. It must be printed, unsigned, and submitted in-person during the event.

    • If you are renewing an existing passport, complete the DS-82 application form.

    • If you are unable to print or fill out application form prior to event, experts can help on site.

  • Citizenship evidence and photocopy of citizenship evidence

    • (Ex: Birth certificate, consular report of birth abroad, naturalization certificate, previous passport)

  • Government-issued photo ID and photocopy of government-issued photo ID

    • (Ex: driver’s license, state-issued ID)

  • A 2” x 2” Approved Passport Photo: If you do not have a passport photo, the West Warwick Library will be present on-site to take photos for $13.00 each.

  • Check or money order as payment, addressed to U.S. State Department:

    • Only these forms of payment will be accepted. See travel.state.gov for fees.

• If you have any questions about this event or Rep. Magaziner’s work in Congress or if you or a loved one needs assistance with a federal agency, you can reach out to his Warwick Office at (401) 244-1201 or submit a casework request on his website https://magaziner.house.gov/.

• Passport Fair RSVP and Information

Workers and Renters: Providence General Assembly

• When: Saturday, September 6, 12:00pm and every other Saturday

• Where: 134 Mathewson Street, Providence, RI 02903

• From their Instagram:

  • Worried about Trump?

  • Want to defend our communities?

  • Want a world that works for everyone?

  • Come to the Providence General Assembly!

• Spanish, ASL interpretation and childcare available upon email request

• Masking requested and masks will be provided

• Direct questions to [email protected]

• Providence General Assembly

• Workers and Renters Website

ACLU Rights Explainers

• When: Up now

• Where: Online

• The ACLU just released two updated versions of their explainers about your rights when interacting with immigration agents (ICE) or the police. They have them available in 10 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Cape Verdean, Haitian Creole, French, Swahili, Dari, Pashto, and Khmer.

• Read and save this material – regardless of your own immigration status – and send to friends and family! Click the link below and scroll to the bottom of the page to download PDFs that you can print, plus the ACLU posted on all their social media platforms (@riaclu) if you want to save and share online.

• If you have a specific way to distribute larger numbers of the paper copies, please email the RI ACLU at [email protected] or call them at 401-831-7171. They have a limited supply printed, but will provide as many as they are able.

• ACLU Rights Explainers

Documentary Film: Thirst for Justice

• When: Tuesday, September 9, 7:00pm-8:30pm

• Where: Salem Family Auditorium, Barrington Public Library, 281 County Road, Barrington, RI 02806

• Join the Library and the Barrington Land Conservation Trust for a free screening of Thirst for Justice, an award-winning documentary film about the quest for clean water, directed and produced by Leana Hosea. Armed with facts and their illnesses, extraordinary citizens take on industry and government, risking arrest to protect clean water. From Flint to the Navajo Nation, via Standing Rock, this is their story.

• Free and open to all.

• Thirst for Justice Event Page

• Thirst for Justice Registration Page

Cross’ Mills Public Library: Medicare 101: Medicare Explained

• When: Wednesday, September 10, 6:00pm

• Where: Cross' Mills Public Library, 4417 Old Post Road, Charlestown, RI 02813

• This program is geared toward individuals about to turn 65, or individuals who are already on Medicare but need more information. Ed Collins will cover topics such as Advantage vs. Supplement plans, and will explain the various enrollment dates.

• To RSVP, if you have questions about the event, or for accommodations for persons with special needs at meetings call Ed Collins at (401) 862-7151

The Deportation Defense Line of Rhode Island

Anchored by PSL, AMOR, and ONA, and supported by the work of over 200 volunteers across dozens of Providence area neighborhoods, the Deportation Defense Line responds to ICE sightings and mobilizes our community whenever ICE is spotted in the neighborhood. They have successfully driven ICE away multiple times and stopped deportations. 

Their work continues to grow because of a wide network of community members doing outreach and spreading the word about the defense line. To get the defense line phone number into people's hands, they print thousands of sheets every week to distribute to our community.

Your donation will help to purchase a printer, supplies, and ink, as well as to launch new and creative initiatives to spread the word so every Rhode Islander knows about the defense line, and whenever ICE shows up, they'll be there!

This fundraiser is hosted by the Providence Liberation Center, the home of PSL Rhode Island. 100% of your donation goes directly to the Deportation Defense Coalition.

Deportation Defense Line of Rhode Island Donation Link

News Round-Up: Local

Attorneys General Neronha and Tong sue Trump Administration over Revolution Wind stop-work order (Steve Ahlquist in SteveAhlquist.news, September 4, 2025)

Westerly School Committee discusses transgender student policy and the dangers of chalk rainbows (Steve Ahlquist in SteveAhlquist.news, September 5, 2025)

In a complaint to the Attorney General, DARE alleges abuse and mistreatmnt at the ACI (Steve Ahlquist in SteveAhlquist.news, September 5, 2025)

Op-Eds

Representative Teresa Tanzi on RIPTA cuts and RIDOT Director Alviti (Steve Ahlquist in SteveAhlquist.news, September 2, 2025)

Pod Recs: It Could Happen Here and Throughline

A History of Settlements (Throughline, August 28, 2025)

BlueAnon: Assassination False Flag and Liberal Election Denial (It Could Happen Here, September 3, 2025)

BlueAnon: Alt National Park Service (It Could Happen Here, September 4, 2025)

ICE (Throughline, September 4, 2025)

Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #32 (It Could Happen Here, September 5, 2025)

Hello, our loyal readers. You may (or may not) have noticed that there are a couple of groups organizing huge, nationwide protests. Indivisible, 50501, so on and so forth. You may have also noticed that we don’t always boost them. There’s a couple of reasons for that:

• Generally speaking, Trump doesn’t give a fuck about protests, especially in a blue state like Rhode Island.

• These sorts of protests are mostly a morale boosting measure for the participants rather than a way of effecting change. This is especially true for the rallies run by these big groups, which are very non-confrontational, non-disruptive, and by definition aren’t focused on Rhode Island issues.

This is not to say that they’re pointless, or a problem. I’ve been to a couple myself, most recently the No Kings rally. Morale boosting has a purpose, after all, and solidarity helps people stand strong.

However, we’ve had a couple of very specific concerns about some of the big recent protests. They were mostly hosted by brand new organizations, national and decentralized, and semi-anonymous. Particularly the new group 50501.

We had a couple initial misgivings about 50501:

• Who were the national organizers? The national organization’s announcements and organization were done in incredibly weird places — Reddit, Discord. It was so opaque that we were half wondering if it was a front organization at first, though once the first couple of events happened without issue or mass arrests we decided we were just being paranoid.

• Who were the local organizers?

  • There were nominally local people in charge of organizing for each state, but there never seemed to be names attached to it, at least not for Rhode Island.

  • National events would be created on their website for each state, but RI’s were often just a generic “noon at the capital building” without additional info. Generally this was only changed when a local group with actual presence (Indivisible RI, the Womxn Project) took over and organized it. If that didn’t happen, it still stayed up with that vague info, which seemed dangerous.

But, these issues seemed mostly a function of a new group with growing pains, so we kept including their events, though sometimes with riders or warnings.

However, after the shooting in Utah during the No Kings protest we had several STRONG misgivings about 50501. (For anyone who hasn’t heard about this shooting, you can check out coverage of it here and here). 50501 Utah had armed volunteers to ‘protect’ their protest who shot a man because he was holding a gun (not illegal, as Utah is in fact an open carry state) as well as an unrelated bystander (who died). 

Now, granted, 50501 Utah is disconnected from the national 50501 group — whoever they are — (remember the concerns we had with vague and mysterious organizers?) who have since disavowed the local group, but before that they had come down hard in support of Utah 50501. National 50501 even said the man who was shot was a ‘domestic terrorist’ — a totally unsupported statement that they have since retracted. None of this speaks of a responsible organization, and certainly not one we want to take the risk of sending people to.

So, in conclusion: we no longer feel okay with sharing events from 50501. If you want to go to one, that’s totally fair! The No Kings protest in RI was a blast (although, once again and forever, never never register your name for a protest). And if there are some events where there are legit, local, co-sponsoring organizations, we might include those. But we are not comfortable putting their stuff in our newsletter, given their track level and the fact we don’t know who the fuck they are.

Links: 

Good coverage of the shooting and 50501’s initial response

After this fiasco and their initial (bad) response, 50501 cuts the Utah chapter loose

Link to 50501 RI site

Needle Drop: “Face Down In The Moment”, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats