Northfield Indivisible

February 3, 2026

Caucus night

If you’re reading this, then I want to remind you that tonight is Caucus Night in MN.

This is your chance to influence things at the foundation. It’s not hard, and you can hang out with a bunch of your friends and neighbors and maybe move the needle a little.

It’s been a few days, so there’s a lot to catch up on. I won’t go into too much, but since I last posted a lot has happened.

“If it looks like fascism, sounds like fascism, acts like fascism, dresses like fascism, talks like fascism, kills like fascism, and lies like fascism, then my friends, it’s f***ing fascism!” -Tom Morello

“Nuance is nice, but sometimes you gotta kick ’em in the teeth.” — Bruce Springsteen

On Friday, 1/30, there was, as I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, a “Brunch Concert” at First Ave.

Tom Morello and his “special guest”, Bruce Springsteen, along with Al DiMeola, and rest of the “Rage Against” orchestra, (and Michael Stipe?!?!) performed an exhilarating, inspiring and all-around kick-a** show.

They then joined the protesters on the street for one of the biggest marches the nation has ever seen.

(Personally, I wasn’t able to get tickets, but there’s a lot of video of it on line. I encourage you all to watch it.)

Okay, fan-boy excitement aside, it was an amazing thing to see — not just the video of the concert, but the thousands who filled the streets of Minneapolis showed that we are not alone. That each one of us is a drop in this wave that will wash away the fascism that occupies our state.

Yesterday, on a call with MN Indivisible Leaders, we were joined by Ezra and Leah, the Nat’l Indivisible leaders.

Leah spoke movingly about how those of us in MN are moving the country, and the world, with our resolve, determination and strength in the face of unspeakable cruelty.

She and Ezra both spoke of the historic nature of this moment, saying, (and I’m paraphrasing some): “This is a watershed moment. Historians will speak of the times ‘before Minnesota’ and ‘after Minnesota’. “

From K. Starling at We The People Dissent, “Dear Future Historians: Our Children Led Us to Strike”.

Minnesota is the rock that can change the course of history. We must stand strong, and we must stand together.

And from Paul Krugman, “Minnesota is the Beginning of an American Color Revolution”.

We The People Dissent also has a convenient list and map of protests this week here.

No Kings III is scheduled for March 28th. The flagship protest will be here in Minnesota.

And while that will take place in the Twin Cities, there will also be rallies and other protests throughout the state.

That includes Northfield. Like NKII, it will most likely be in Ames Park, but beyond that we’re still pulling together ideas and logistics. We welcome your input, so please, let us know what you’d like to see/hear!

So REMEMBER — Tonight, 2/3, is caucus night. It’s one of your best opportunities to be heard and “kick ’em in the teeth!”, metaphorically speaking, of course!

And finally,

On Saturday, 1/31, we held a “Dance Party Protest” at Bridge Square here in Northfield.

As always, it was an amazing time! And it was incredible, as always to see everyone out and the unbridled enthusiasm we all had to stand up to this fascist regime!

The aim, like the Friday “Brunch Concert” at First Ave., was to channel our rage, our sadness, our fear into joyous resistance. We played protest songs old and new, shouted chants of “ICE OUT NOW” and Holly Kelchner shared here stories and observations from the front lines of the protests in Minneapolis. (she was among those clergy arrested at MSP, and has been at Whipple regularly, facing off ICE.)

There is a lot of justifiable anger out there at what is being done to our community, our nation, and the world by this fascist regime. And a lot of the songs and chants and statements of resistance use the “f**k” word – justifiably, in my view, (see Jeremy Messersmith)

We had a Spotify playlist that featured a selection of protest songs, old and new, that featured more “radio friendly” language for about the first hour. However, “shuffle” was on, and a song that I added to the playlist, “OLE F**k Trump!”, popped up. It was a song that was sung by protesters in NYC, and has proved popular around the country . I added it because it seemed to express the “niceness” of MN, in the vocal delivery, and the steadfastness of our resistance in the chorus. When it popped up, we rolled with it, feeling it embodied some of the spirit of the time and the resistance.

Unfortunately, that language was unsuitable for a public gathering that included small children, mid-afternoon, in downtown Northfield.

I, personally, take full responsibility for that. As the main ‘face’ of Northfield Indivisible in these events, I should have known better.

I give all of you my promise to do better, and to be more vigilant about my language, and the language we broadcast, in the future.

Okay. Go to the caucus tonight. Make your voice heard. Support your neighbors.

Thanks for everyhing!

Steve

January 29, 2026

“This is where our salvation lies: in our relationships in our communities, our love for our neighbors, and our hatred of bullies. There’s a suffocating amount of malice and evil out there right now. But there’s also a tremendous amount of good old-fashioned American moxie, compassion, and stubbornness.”

That’s from an article by Aaroon Regunberg in The New Republic, Jan. 23, 2026, the day before Alex Pretti was executed on the street in my old neighborhood in Minneapolis.

“Here’s Your Damn Playbook, Democrats” is well worth reading in full for it’s insight into how we are showing the nation, and the world, how to fight fascism. It is a reminder, and encouragement, for us to hold our representatives accountable, and — even though we are tired, battered and bruised — to never be demoralized or give in. It is an exhortation for us to continue fighting, because there are more of us (a lot more!) than them, and we are on the right side of history, and humanity.

“Americans Are Remembering Who We Are” Heather Cox Richardson reminds us that the fundamental, foundational character of America, of what truly makes us great, is our sense of community, of acceptance, of support for our neighbors, of the knowledge that we have all suffered, that we can see each other’s struggle and willingly, enthusiastically, extend our hand to help. The power of standing up for each other, of standing between oppressor and oppressed, as Alex Pretti and Nicole Good did, as so many have done and continue to do here, is our strength. We do it willingly, at great risk, with great cost, but we stand firm in standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

It is paying off.

We made them blink, and we must continue to push back at them. We must continue to keep the pressure on. We must continue to call and write and shout at our representatives to represent us, and ALL Americans.

We must defund DHS and ICE and not back down. NOW.

To that end, tomorrow, 1/30, is another “MN Economic Freeze Out”.

Don’t buy anything. Don’t go to work. Especially make the Oligarchs and Corporate CEOs take notice, (lookin’ at you, Target and Amazon).

A key to our success is our non-violent approach. The fact that we are really pisses them off. It enrages them. It deprives them of validation for their lies, (and, not coincidentally, makes it harder to justify the Insurrection Act).

It makes them even more angry when we are able to show that we are strong and unbowed by them.

On Saturday, 1/31, at 3:00pm, here in Bridge Square in Northfield, we will have a protest and dance party. Officially, for about an hour, but we’re there for each other, for as long as we need to be.

January 27, 2026

As you all now know, Greg Bovino (aka, “Capt. Nazi” cosplayer), has been removed from command.

This is great. No question. But the fight is far from over.

The Trump regime blinked, and it’s because of us — all of us in Minnesota, standing up and showing the world how it’s done!

I have never been so proud of my fellow Minnesotans. We are standing strong, and fighting their hate and sadism with what we do best — kindness for our neighbors, looking out for each other, standing up and, like Alex Pretti, coming between the monsters and the innocent.

And doing it all non-violently, (and we all know how good it would feel to punch them! Sorry/not sorry.)

We had a great, first-time all-virtual Northfield Indivisible meeting last night, and it was a great conversation.

We’re building teams, (or committees or workgroups) that will help us all in our fight to be more effective in pushing back and pushing out the MAGA Republicans, (looking at you, Tom F***ing Emmer!) in November. And, in building a stronger community and nation to repair and rebuild.

Sign up for a team/committee/workgroup here:

Northfield Indivisible Teams

The Cannon Valley Friends are helping and providing Fiscal Agency for donations for us to purchase our own PA system for rallies and protests. Something that we can use for those events that demand a quick response, (for the “Bridge Square” sized rallies. And something that we can add to with systems loaned to us by some of our members, (as we have been doing) for the larger, “No Kings in Ames Park” scale of events.

You can find that here: https://cannonvalleyfriendsorg.wordpress.com/donations-to-help-indivisible-with-sound-amplification/

The tide may be turning, but we have a long way to go. We are all in this together, and we have shown the world what we can do when we stand strong with each other.

Here’s a couple of inspiring “musical codas” that have popped up this week:

And my personal favorite:

(I f***ing love this)

and for all us Boomers, there’s this memory:

Stay strong! Don’t back down!

Peace out!

Steve