We are living through the slow death of outrage.

What should shatter us has become wallpaper. What should be unimaginable is now routine. That numbness is the real victory Trump and MAGA are counting on.

I’ll never forget a drive we once took in Ireland. It was years ago, along a scenic road between stone walls and rolling green hills. The road was so narrow I remember gripping the seat, nervous as cars passed us with only inches to spare. I finally asked our guide, “Do you even notice these roads anymore, or does it just feel normal to you?”

She laughed softly and said, “No, they’re still narrow. We think about it every time. It hasn’t become normal.” Then she added something I will never forget: “Much like your school shootings in America. They happen so often, but they don’t feel normal.”

I told her, “They don’t. Not yet. But I fear the day will come when they do.”

That was six or seven years ago. And today, after hearing about another shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, I realize I was right to be afraid.

An eight-year-old and a ten-year-old were killed. Seventeen others were injured, most of them children, while attending morning Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church. Police later said 14 of the injured were children and three were elderly parishioners. The FBI has already opened an investigation, calling it both a domestic terrorism case and a hate crime targeting Catholics. The shooter, a 23-year-old who legally purchased multiple firearms, a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, ended the attack by taking their own life in the parking lot.

Two children dead. Seventeen wounded. Families forever broken.

Once, tragedies like this would stop the nation. Every TV station would go live. Every radio show would break in. Everyone at the grocery store or gas station would be talking about it. We would grieve together. We would demand change.

Now? It’s Wednesday in America.

A phone alert buzzes. A quick flash of fear, please let no children be dead, please let no families be shattered. And then the day goes on. Not because we don’t care, but because we care too much and nothing ever changes. And that’s what terrifies me most.

Because this same numbness is everywhere.

This week, more than 180 FEMA employees signed a letter warning that the agency is collapsing. They called it the “Katrina Declaration,” a reminder of the failures that left New Orleans underwater in 2005 and forced Congress to pass the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act in 2006. About 180 current and former FEMA employees signed the letter; more than 30 staffers were placed on administrative leave afterward. Workers say those safeguards are being gutted. Staff are being reassigned away from disaster relief to ICE. Budget cuts have stripped the agency of expertise. And leadership is now forced to wait on political approval, even from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, before sending aid. Politico reported allegations that new approval layers for large contracts are slowing response.

Their reward for telling the truth? Thirty employees put on leave. Silenced. Taken off duty during hurricane season. Outrage should have filled the air. Instead, it barely made a ripple.

At the same time, deportation flights are surging to record highs. More than 1,200 flights in July alone, the highest monthly number ever recorded, up 41% from last year. Since January, there have been nearly 6,000. Families ripped apart. Children sent to countries they’ve never even known.

And here’s the part that should stop us cold: advocates say airlines are making flights harder to track by using the FAA’s LADD program to limit public display of tail-number and route data. Carriers like GlobalX, Eastern Air Express, and Avelo are leaning in on this program. Avelo only began deportation flights in May. By July, they were already responsible for about 10% of international removal flights and 20% of all ICE Air flights, according to analysis cited by the Houston Chronicle. GlobalX carries more than half. Eastern flies another 14%. Even military aircraft have been used on some deportation routes.

It is cruelty disguised as logistics. A system of suffering so vast it has to be covered up. Outrage should be everywhere. Instead, most Americans don’t even know it’s happening.

Across the ocean, Denmark summoned the U.S. envoy after discovering that Trump-linked Americans were running secret influence campaigns in Greenland. At least three individuals tied to Trump were caught compiling lists of “friends and enemies,” courting local leaders, and hinting at secession from Denmark.

Denmark’s intelligence service has warned that Greenland is especially vulnerable to outside interference because of its small population and strategic importance. And here’s what we have to understand: when the United States is caught meddling in the affairs of an ally, it doesn’t just embarrass us, it erodes trust. It makes us look unstable on the world stage. It tells NATO partners that America cannot be counted on to play by the rules, even with those we call friends. Denmark’s PET intelligence service has explicitly warned Greenland is vulnerable to foreign influence campaigns, and summoning the U.S. envoy is a serious diplomatic step between NATO allies.

That matters because NATO doesn’t work without trust. Article 5, “an attack on one is an attack on all”, is only as strong as the belief that every member is acting in good faith. While there may not be a single NATO bylaw spelling out “don’t interfere in your ally’s politics,” the spirit of the treaty is clear: allies settle disputes peacefully and protect each other under Article 1. Trying to destabilize Greenland’s relationship with Denmark runs against everything NATO is supposed to stand for.

And hovering behind all of this is Trump’s long obsession with Greenland. He has been blunt about wanting it, first joking about buying it, then seriously pushing it, and now we learn about people tied to him trying to shape politics on the island itself. This is not a passing fancy. It is a fixation. Greenland holds rare earth minerals, strategic military value, and a place in Trump’s vision of power. That should alarm every one of us, because he’s not joking. He’s dead serious. And when a leader obsessed with power is willing to risk alliances, NATO unity, and global stability for his own gain, the world becomes less safe, not just for Greenland, but for all of us.

And then there’s Trump himself. This week, he demanded that billionaire George Soros and his son Alex be charged under RICO laws, designed for mob bosses, accusing them of funding violent protests. No evidence. No crime. Just the President of the United States ordering the Justice Department to arrest his political enemies.

George Soros is a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who built his fortune as a financier and then spent decades giving much of it away. He is not a mob boss. Through his Open Society Foundations, he has funded universities, democracy movements, free press, and human rights groups around the world. He has poured hundreds of millions into fighting authoritarianism and advancing causes like voting rights, education, and refugee aid. In American politics, he’s one of the largest donors to Democratic candidates and progressive causes.

And that’s why Trump and MAGA hate him. Because Soros has the resources to support the very things they want to destroy, democracy, civil rights, freedom of the press, and an open society. Instead of debating those values, they demonize him. They turn him into a caricature, spinning conspiracy theories that paint him as the mastermind behind every protest, every reform movement, every threat to their power. Those lies aren’t just political, they’re dangerous. They’ve fueled antisemitic hate around the world, casting Soros as the eternal “other” to be blamed for everything.

So when Trump calls for Soros and his son to be charged like mobsters, it’s not about law or justice. It’s about silencing opposition. It’s about feeding his base the villain they’ve been taught to fear. The Open Society Foundations called the claims “outrageous and false,” and DOJ declined to comment. But the fact remains: we used to call this kind of thing tyranny. Now it’s just another post on Truth Social.

Each of these stories shows the cost of numbness. None of this is politics as usual. It is life and death.

History warns us about what happens when people grow numb to cruelty. In Nazi Germany, neighbors stopped reacting when people disappeared. In Stalin’s Russia, show trials and purges became background noise. In the American South, lynchings once made front-page news. Eventually, they became routine, barely mentioned outside local papers. The pattern is always the same: what should spark outrage becomes ordinary. And when outrage dies, resistance weakens. That is how authoritarianism wins, not just through fear, but through fatigue.

Back on that Irish road, our guide explained their gun laws. Yes, you could own a gun, but you had to justify it. The government inspected your home to make sure it was safe. The process was long and expensive. Most people didn’t bother, because it wasn’t worth it. She said, “It’s just not safe otherwise. But America values guns more than children.” Her words haunt me, because we have proven them to be true.

And yet, I believe it doesn’t have to stay this way. Outrage is still possible. We don’t have ot stay numb. Change is still possible. But only if we refuse to let the unthinkable become routine.

So I will keep saying it. This is not normal.

Not the children shot while praying.
Not the disaster workers punished.
Not the deportation planes hidden.
Not the foreign meddling ignored.
Not the political enemies threatened with arrest.

None of this is normal. And none of it should ever be wallpaper.

We are living through the slow death of outrage. But outrage is exactly what we must keep alive. Because outrage is not weakness, it is strength. Outrage is not despair, it is love in action. Outrage is not hopelessness, it is the very spark of change.

They are counting on our numbness. We cannot give it to them. Not now. Not ever.

Because the moment we choose to feel again, to care again, to rise again, is the moment they lose.

And I believe with everything in me that we are not done rising.

Now is the time to pick up that phone again and call all of your reps, both on the local and the federal level. I mean, everyone. Put signs outside your home. Stickers on your cars. Join rallies and protests, large and small. Comment on social media posts every time you see someone speaking out. It all counts. Call out the lies and the hypocrisy and let others know they are not alone in this fight.

I see a light at the end of the tunnel for the midterms, and for those of us in California, for the November special election this year on Prop 50.

I won’t just be voting YES on it. I’ll be voting HELL YES.

Using our voices stops the numbness from taking over. And I’m looking forward to using mine soon. Because I still believe in America, and you should too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather