Is it time to start sleeping in our clothes?

 With Vice President JD Vance threatening that ICE will begin "door to door operations," and the rogue agency clearly targeting anyone even slightly uncooperative with the regime, maybe those of us who are at all vocal in opposition need to start sleeping in our clothes. Especially in colder climates, who wants to be dragged out in their PJs for the humiliating spectacle of being cuffed and stuffed, carted away to a mysterious fate by secret police?

Keep some sturdy slip-on footwear beside the bed to complete your ensemble. And be mindful of how your nightly moisturizing routine might make you look to the cameras.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!! Likewise, you may have no hint that the all-seeing eye of the regime has settled upon little old you. Dress for the weather outside, in case you have to face it unexpectedly.

Lots of apocalypticists and general preparedness advocates have kept a "go bag" handy for years. Unless you plan to beat feet through the back door as the agents kick down the front one, don't expect to be able to retain a handy kit of personal possessions after your arrest. You'll probably have a shaved head and an orange jumpsuit within hours. But, for the sake of dignity and protection from the weather, stay suited up at all times, in anticipation of your time in transit to that fate.

Even if they just pop the door and shoot you in the face, you want to look good. On the other hand, in the case of summary execution, sporting the flannel pajamas, mug of cocoa, and fleece blanket will get the point across that maybe you aren't such a terrorist mastermind after all.

Everything in political violence is for emotional effect. That's why we keep our protests scrupulously nonviolent. They call us a threat, we show up in goofy costumes, or cheerfully assure them that we're not mad at them. And they shoot someone in the face. Who looks like a threat now? All of this posturing from the regime on one side and positioning from the opposition on the other is ultimately to persuade the sideline public that they want to support one side or the other. Do you prefer the goofballs in frog suits who want to share a living wage and universal health care, or the masked, armed, angry men who want to shoot you because you don't grovel quickly and thoroughly enough?

The vast majority of us do not have to worry about the goon squad kicking our door in and dragging one or more family members away. But no one has perfect immunity. Just because it probably won't be you does not mean that it never could. Certainly the percentage of people who should be subject to home invasion by law enforcement, after thorough investigation and under a valid warrant, is minuscule. There were already enough mistakes before the current regime decided to make it a regular occurrence. They're being sloppy both in preparation and in accountability afterward, because the people in power don't really care about accuracy. They care about intimidation, about maintaining order by making obedience seem like wisdom and self defense.

Are you ready to disappear?

 With the abduction of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia at the top of the news right now because the two potentates of their respective domains assert that neither of them has the power to return him to his home, it might be a good time to review your own preparations for whoever will be left behind if you suddenly disappear into a foreign prison. Are your affairs in order? Your loved ones and pets ready to get along without you?

Trump was caught on a hot mic telling President Bukele of El Salvador that he intends to send "home grown" prisoners to the care and custody of whoever is in charge down there. In other words, US citizens need to be ready to take a one-way trip. I guess he was just telling Bukele as a courtesy, since that poor guy apparently has no control over what happens once the door slams behind them.

So... are you ready in case you somehow manage to catch the attention of the secret police and get snatched off the street or dragged from your house? Better sleep in your clothes if you don't want to take a 6- or 8-hour flight in your pajamas, or underwear.

This sounds crazy to all you fine, upstanding citizens who have the good sense to keep your heads down and your mouths shut while the easier targets get picked off. Look at Russia: guys like Alexei Navalny get imprisoned and killed. Regular citizens just have to get by and avoid getting drafted as cannon fodder in Ukraine. You'll learn to mind your mouth and write nothing down and avoid eye contact with the cops and trust no one. Those are the keys to freedom.

"If you haven't done anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about." Yeah, but who decides if you've done wrong? Imagine living every moment of your life as if you're driving in front of a cop along a stretch where the speed limit keeps changing and the yellow lights last about a tenth of a second. Only the consequences are potentially much worse than a traffic stop.

Rural folks probably think that low population density and local knowledge will protect them. Maybe. Unless your local sheriff bought into the regime's philosophy, and maybe agreed to cooperate with the national authorities. An overbearing government has plenty of ways to bring pressure on you by declaring activities of self sufficiency illegal. Sure, laws are only as good as enforcement, but if enough things are illegal they have ample probable cause to poke into your business.

Are you going to arm yourself and put up a fight? The regime has laid the groundwork to pit you against the armed forces. While it's true that the American military has a poor record against unconventional warfare, they have a lot of napalm, and worse things, to keep you too distracted to raise your food crops. Agent Orange, anyone? Perhaps when fighting on their own soil, US forces will be much more effective against the guerillas, because no one will be supplying the insurrection from a neighboring country that the US doesn't want to piss off.

You've got one more chance -- maybe -- to end this before it blossoms fully into a police state. Malcontents gripe that it's been one for years, but they ain't seen nothing. Yeah, there's been surveillance of dissidents, and selective enforcement, and targeting of activists. It has been bad and wrong. But up until now they haven't outright disappeared US citizens and legal residents the way they're fixing to.

Most people don't think about the phrase "due process" except as something they talk about in cop shows. Or if you've had your own brush with the law you might have direct experience. For a lot of us it sounds made up. We don't know what the process is, so we don't know how much we should care. "I'm a good person. I'll never have to worry about this."

Well, now you don't have to worry at all. Because law enforcement isn't going to worry about it either.

As always, the erosion of liberties will begin with outsiders: immigrants, refugees, criminals. You know, lowlife. People you probably don't want around you. They had it comin'. Believe me that once you write off anyone you have created a movable line. And now that incarceration is an industry, the government has little incentive to avoid relinquishing anyone to the prison system. The prisons, for their part, have every incentive to provide as little as possible for the inmates, to maximize profits for shareholders.

I suppose you could look way down the road to when no one is left to pay taxes, so the prison no longer has a revenue stream. I'd look out of the cell block to see where the excavators are digging mass graves at that point. When all we represent to each other is a source of money we can squeeze out, who needs you around once you're drained?

We have a long way to go to get to that point. But this regime has already started the trip.