ANNOUNCEMENT: JANUARY 20TH | FREE AMERICA WALKOUT
Free America Walkout | Jan 20th at 2 PM local time. Weekend recap (Epstein, enforcement, and institutional shakeups).
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TL;DR
Free America Walk Out announced: Nationwide coordinated action on January 20 at 2 PM local time. Walking away from authoritarianism in partnership with Women’s March. Free America.
Epstein files process collapsed: DOJ met court deadline but released heavily redacted documents, removed then restored Trump photo after backlash
Immigration crackdown detailed: Administration outlined $170 billion enforcement expansion starting January with workplace raids and mass detention infrastructure
Career diplomats recalled: Trump administration pulled nearly 30 career ambassadors from posts in what officials describe as standard transition practice
NEXT NATIONWIDE ACTION:
FREE AMERICA WALK OUT
January 20, 2026 | 2 PM Local Time | Nationwide
The Free America Walk Out is a coordinated nationwide action in partnership with Women’s March. At 2 PM local time on January 20th or whenever your community can safely coordinate, we walk out together.
From workplaces, schools, and homes.
Wherever we are, we stop and gather.
What to do:
★ Walk out at 2 PM local time
★ Gather for rallies, marches, town halls, or creative local actions
★ Keep it peaceful, public, and organized
There is a big need right now for hosts and organizers.
If you can help coordinate a local action, register at
the movement needs activists to anchor their communities.
Authoritarian power relies on official force and public exhaustion. A walkout disrupts the second by making refusal visible, collective, and simple.
We walk away from what we will not accept. We walk toward the country we’re building together.
Friday document dumps with selective transparency. Enforcement infrastructure announcements timed for holiday distraction. Institutional reshaping disguised as routine transitions.
This is control through process meeting deadlines while emptying them of substance, expanding enforcement while families line up for groceries, replacing career professionals with loyalists and calling it normal.
Weekend Recap
Transparency Theater
What happened:
The Justice Department met its Friday court-ordered deadline to release Jeffrey Epstein investigation materials. The release included a searchable photo database, but officials initially removed a widely-circulated photograph showing Trump with Epstein. After immediate criticism, the department restored the photo Saturday, attributing the removal to technical issues. Documents arrived with heavy redactions that victim advocates say protected prominent names inconsistently.
Why this is Important:
Court-ordered transparency means nothing when agencies control which photographs appear in databases and which details survive redaction. The removal and restoration of a single image reveals reactive decision-making, not consistent standards. When compliance replaces actual disclosure, accountability becomes performance art.
What To Watch For: Congressional demands for DOJ’s redaction criteria and database management protocols.
*The Epstein Files Transparency Act required DOJ to make records public within 30 days of enactment*
Signed Nov. 19 deadline Dec. 19
The law allows narrow redactions for withholding
(Victim-identifying info, CSAM, active investigations, graphic injury and death images, properly classified info) and forbids withholding for embarrassment or political sensitivity. Congress.gov
DOJ says it made “reasonable efforts” to redact victim and private info but warns the library may still contain sensitive and PII info and asks the public to report issues to EFTA@usdoj.gov. Department of Justice
Enforcement at Unprecedented Scale
What happened:
The administration announced plans to expand immigration enforcement in 2026 with $170 billion in funding. The operation includes workplace raids, expanded detention facilities, and deportation processing infrastructure at levels never previously attempted. Implementation begins in January despite opposition from business groups, faith organizations, and civil rights advocates. The announcement dropped as constituencies prepared holiday travel.
Why this is Important:
This is permanent infrastructure. The $170 billion price tag signals long-term operational capacity designed to outlast any single administration. Workplace raids affect American citizens working alongside immigrants. Expanded detention creates facilities that become facts on the ground. The scale reveals systematic enforcement reshaping, not targeted security measures.
What To Watch For: State-level legal challenges and business sector resistance as January implementation details emerge.
Career Diplomats Pulled From Posts
What happened:
The Trump administration recalled nearly 30 career Foreign Service officers serving as ambassadors in diplomatic posts worldwide. Officials characterized the recalls as standard transition practice, though the number and timing raised questions among former diplomats about institutional knowledge loss and relationship continuity with allied nations.
Why this is Important:
Career diplomats represent institutional memory and professional expertise built over decades. Their removal creates immediate relationship gaps with foreign governments and signals that loyalty is more important than experience.
What To Watch For: Announcement of replacement ambassadors and whether they come from career Foreign Service ranks or political appointments.
The Lines Keep Growing
Michigan food pantries reported long lines this weekend as families stretched budgets crushed by inflation through the holiday week. Working families, many who voted for economic relief, stood in December cold waiting for groceries.
The gap between political promises and kitchen table reality plays out in food pantry parking lots. When economic pressure hits communities that thought they’d voted for prosperity, the political ground shifts.
What we do with that pressure, whether it becomes organized accountability or resignation, will determine what happens next.
Numbers
29 days until Free America Walk Out on January 20
$170 billion proposed funding for 2026 immigration enforcement expansion
Nearly 30 career diplomats recalled from ambassadorial posts
Friday(12/19) at 5pm EST Epstein files released with photo initially removed, later restored
What We Can Do This Week
1) Register your January 20 action:
Visit www.freeameri.ca
to host a local walkout or find one near you
2) One call for transparency: Contact your representative about government document release standards. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
3) Document local conditions: If you see food pantry lines, ICE activity, or economic distress in your community, photograph it with date/location and share with local journalists
Will You Walk Out?
Are you planning to participate in the Free America Walk Out on January 20th?
Drop your city in comments if you’re walking out on January 20. Let’s see how many communities we’ve got covered.
SOURCES
Reuters: Justice Department restores Trump photo to Epstein files database
Reuters: Trump administration officials race to meet Epstein files deadline
AP: Trump recalls nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial posts
Reuters: Long lines at food pantry test Trump’s base in Michigan
💙 Thank you for staying vigilant through the holidays. Join us in collective action on January 20th.
Forward this to someone who needs to know: We walk out together.
Boise, Idaho
We are retired. So we will be protesting locally and honoring no spending ECT