Hey there, Secular FAM, Happy New Year!
Lately I’ve been taking steps to cut back the noise in my life. I frequently lament with my colleagues about mental health and we all agree that our current “connectedness” is unhealthy.
Remember when we all got on Facebook 15-20 years ago? I immediately began looking for old friends and teachers from my hometown. Back then, we would all just reminisce about our teenage hijinks and look at pictures of each other's kids and vacations.
After the 2008 election however, things began shifting on my Facebook feed.
It didn’t happen overnight, but slowly, insidiously, I noticed people posting about the validity of Barack Obama’s birth certificate or Michelle Obama’s gender identity. It was gross and offensive, but still mostly on the fringes of my feed. Typically, I’d just unfriend and/or block the perpetrator. Like, why hang onto relationships with people I barely liked in high school?
The first time my Facebook blew up into a political debate was when then-VP candidate, Sarah Palin, used the mass shooting in Tucson that targeted then-Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, to promote her political aspirations and encourage violence on sitting members of Congress.
Despite the very obvious crosshairs used in the graphic, a bunch of racists and conspiracy theorists jumped onto my feed to deny what their own eyes were seeing. That was fourteen years ago, and now, I only have a Facebook account because Meta requires a personal account to run a nonprofit account.
Where I used to look forward to checking in on my social network, now I dread it. I notice that my chest tightens when I peruse most social media, and I’ve taken steps to reduce my time spent on most platforms.
My job requires that I’m informed on current events, so there’s no escaping that, and lately, the Epstein Files have been a major topic in this 24-hour news cycle.
When I imagined the end of capitalism, I really never thought there’d be so much pedophilia. And I especially couldn’t predict that so many people would bend themselves like pretzels to protect them.
I’ve talked about my own abuse before, and I don’t know how it works for other survivors of abuse, but with every mention of Epstein and the creeps that hung around him, I feel violated all over again. My family rejected me when I shared my story, and instead chose my abuser’s side. Now, the people who were the loudest about “pizzagate” and the Adrenochrome conspiracy theory are dead silent about real abuse perpetrated by the most powerful people in the world.
Earlier this year, a survey found that 47% of Trump supporters would still vote for him, even if the accusations of child rape are true.
At this point, if I see an elected official still fangirling over Felon 47, I see someone who supports pedophilia and sex trafficking. And when you look at their policies, dropped bills, and hearing agendas, it becomes incredibly clear that protecting children is last on their list of priorities. The folks that scream the loudest about trans people and drag queens and PrOtEcTiNg tHe cHiLdReN are frequently the greatest danger to children.
Recently, we spoke with Rich Logis, the founder of Leaving MAGA. Rich was fully aboard the Trump Train, and even started a podcast and became a pundit during his first term. It wasn’t until the botched handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the January 6th insurrection that he was able to separate himself from what he became a part of. He provides practical guidance for people escaping MAGA and those that love their estranged MAGA family members.
Something Rich said that struck me the most was that we have to remember that MAGA lives in an entirely different reality than we do. Since most Americans get their news from social media, and social media relies on algorithms for maximum engagement, most MAGA don’t even see the headlines that the rest of us see, and if they are faced with facts from a reputable source, their leaders have taught them to distrust said information and label it as “fake news.”
Already this year, bills are dropping into the “hopper,” and very few of them are connected to reality. If you were hoping that the House or Senate leadership in Arizona would focus on creating policies that would help everyday, working class Americans, well then, you must be new here!
There are bills that would further the voucher grift, ban school libraries from joining any professional organizations, a bunch of racist and xenophobic memorials that demonize the United Nations, any kind of industry oversight, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and one member dropped a bill that would direct the Department of Health Services to study…wait for it…“Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).”
I’ll be honest, when I first heard the term “TDS” I thought it referred to the people who drove around with multiple flags on their pickup trucks, wore diapers outside of their pants, and put pantyliners on their ears.
Turns out, they were talking about the rest of us!
And while this absurd bill may seem benign and we all know it will receive a veto from the Governor, let’s think about the potential implications: if they can legitimize the validity of “TDS” in a hearing, it paves the way to equating disagreement with the current Pedo-in-Chief with mental illness. Since Felon 47 has already promised to round up and imprison anyone suffering from legitimate mental illness, this is a thinly veiled attempt to round up dissenters.
If past legislative sessions are an indicator of what bills will be placed on a committee agenda, I predict that all of these terrible bills will get a hearing this year. Conversely, many good bills aimed at improving the everyday lives of Arizonans will never even make it onto an agenda.
One such bill has already been dropped into the hopper this year. Every year for the last several years, a bill has been dropped in the hopper that, if passed, would mandate that members of clergy must report abuse when they know about it.
I imagine that there are many of you reading this and thinking, “Ummm, WHAT? Clergy members aren’t mandated to report abuse already??” and the answer is: nope. Only a handful of states and US territories mandate that clergy report abuse, and Arizona isn’t one of them.
The 2026 legislative session starts in about two weeks, and is already riddled with deeply unserious legislation, coming from the pRoTeCt tHe cHiLdRen crowd, but please pay close attention to HB2039 that (I predict) will never get a hearing. While they file and agendize bills aimed at demonizing the checks notes American Library Association, in order to “pRoTeCt tHe cHiLdRen,” ask them why this bill isn’t on an agenda.
Additionally, as elected officials on school boards and town councils continue to push MAGA policies, call them out on their hypocrisy as they get rid of social workers, and enact anti-DEIA policies. There is so much evidence of their Dear Leader being a part of a sex trafficking ring that includes some of the world’s most powerful people, but they still loudly support him and his policies.
And now, the “Peace P(edo)resident” is declaring war on sovereign nations to distract us from his depravity.
Your job in 2026, Secular FAM, is to keep up the pressure. You can start your year by attending the 2026 Secular Summit on January 10th. The focus this year is “mutual aid and building community” and we will be highlighting local leaders committed to promoting the Common Good.
If you’re not already signed up for the AZ State Legislature’s “request to speak” (RTS) system, do so now. We also need to keep up the pressure at our local school and city councils, and be sure to point out the fact that the pRoTeCt tHe cHiLdReN crowd keeps voting for a rapist who spent an awful lot of time on Epstein Island, especially as they all vote to reorganize their board leadership structure. When they vote on the chairs and presidents of their boards, please ask: “do we really want pedo protectors in positions of power?”
And make no mistake, they will be voted in, but public record must reflect the times we live in, and if we don’t show up and make noise, their hypocrisy will go unchallenged.
Come at me, 2026! After over ten years of this nonsense, I’ve only gotten stronger!
