Someday the current administration will fall, their hateful policies will be reversed, and we'll be left to reckon with and rebuild from the wreckage caused by the frothing at the mouth foot-soldiers of this new American fascism, starting here in Glendale.
Glendale Extremist Network (formerly Real Jordan Henry) from its beginning has documented the appearance and escalation of local fascist actors. We do not shy from that word because it is clear that the demands of the reactionary cohort exist within what philosopher Judith Butler calls a "fascist logic." (Hi Jordan!)
Our local fascists began with opposition to so-called CRT. They then moved on to book bans, demands for curricular censorship, and the erasure of LGBTQ+ people from content and public life. Screaming "leave our kids alone" they rioted, led harassment campaigns (including of children), and continue to target and defame community members, students, and educators.
Thankfully, they lost their attempts to gain power at the school board level and have, at least temporarily, mostly refrained from showing up to rant at board meetings.
Instead they've shifted their focus to the much more moveable, feckless, and complicit Glendale City Council (hi, Ara Najarian, hi Vartan Gharpetian. Ardy Kassakhian seems to be waiting in the wings...).
There, the same anti-GUSD crew has won fights to remove bike lanes and postponed action on a planned city green space and a committee focused on addressing issues of division and bigotry in the city. Their primary social media account (content warning if you click through) appears to be a Trump/Musk fan page with breaks for conspiracy theorizing about wildfires and harassing local homeless people.
These familiar faces in the council chambers - Maro Yacoubian, James Clarke, Jordan Henry, Alex Balekian, Mike Mohill, Narek Palyan, Celena Mesa, Manuk Grigoryan (not a GUSD public school parent among them, by the way) - who claimed they were being "smeared" or the victims of "hate speech" when rightly identified as fascists, are now emboldened:
The original namesake of this site, while quiet in public, is leaving a trail that will haunt him forever. Despite claiming to be a "classical liberal" and joining his man-crush James Lindsay to try to disavow the now-overt Nazis of their coalition with the nonsensical term "woke right," Jordan Henry continues to reveal himself, even if he's in denial about who he really is (in more than one way, we hear).
Glorifying Robert E. Lee, celebrating the release of a violent Proud Boy, and urging people to report those they think are immigrants to ICE. We see you, Jordan. You too, Lizzy.
If you want to counterbalance the efforts and hate of people like this, get educated here.
If you see ICE/DHS activity in your neighborhood - immediately call one of the rapid response networks here: (Spanish language and other resources available here.)
