February has arrived in the North Country. The inevitable Arctic temperatures of January should be behind us for the most part now.

I wish I could say the same for ICE. They are still here, after all—though supposedly in fewer and less visible numbers. But the damage to Democracy has been done. The America that existed before the madness of Trump no longer exists.

Hate, corruption, and untruth have been given full rein. The so-called “leaders” in the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court have abdicated their collective responsibilities; they have given up on Democracy and embraced self-destruction and death.

For all we know, the damage done to Truth (with a capital “T”) and the very institutions of a functional democracy in America may be permanent. There may be no way back. I hope that is not the case.

For now, though, I am proud to say that my adopted state of almost 40 years fights on. We will resist the Christian Nationalist “Storm Troopers” just as our forefathers once did at Gettysburg, when a small contingent of Minnesotans held and broke the insurgent forces of the Confederacy.