Thread by @jacknielsenN7

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Before I was a resister, I was a storyteller. I have another story for anyone who wants to read it.

Saturday was our #BlizzardInLA meeting IRL for our group, #BlizzardOfUS❄️. The catalyst was one of our long-time members came to LA to see an LA Kings game./1

About 5 of us carpooled to LA to meet on the beach: @realident @yogaskidogs @JackyMarie, Mrs. Snow & I. Waiting outside of her hotel was our friend & #SisterResister, @JCTheResistance, who managed to bring us together. After all these months working together, we finally met!/2

Jamie had a surprise for us - a special guest. We were standing on the walk, outside the hotel, when to our great surprise, our NYC #sisterResister, extraordinaire, @B52Malmet!

I rushed over to hug her. "You came so far!"

"I needed to see you," she replied.

Babs is a towering figure on twitter, but when @ProudResister arrived we had her stand behind us. As we all hugged our Blizzard brother, Ryan, he eventually got to Jamie. As he hugged her, he could finally see Babs, standing behind us. It was a wonderful surprise for all of us./4

Babs & Ryan are our Blizzard rock stars - if you aren't sure why, give them a follow so you can find out!/5

We strolled down the walk to a plaza with trendy beach pubs and found a place to our liking - a place called American Junkie - and found a table. Some of us are a little shier than others, but we took a few group-approved pictures to commemorate the occasion./6

We talked about what's going on on twitter and across the nation. Ryan is an amazing tweeter, but you don't get a real sense of his intense passion until you meet him. The trolls have put him through the ringer. In defiance of their harassment, he's remained steadfast./7

Babs, who's met with some of our Blizzard heavy-hitters back in NYC (@Politikiss, @olgaNYC1211, @mmpadellan & @MattAsherS, among others) is a sage presence. She has taken the anti-semitism & violence that has accompanied the vulgar right as a call to action./8

Jamie been a political activist and organizer since long before Trump. She was inspired by @POTUS44 when he she saw him at the DNC in 2004. Later, she saw him speak in Las Vegas & described how he raised the crowd's excitement in a voice, little more than a whisper./9

MuellerTime doesn't know how amazing she is. She is a constant source of encouragement for all our Wintry Folk. She doesn't feel like she's clever enough to write great tweets, but at our meet up, I burgled this tweet from what she said in conversation./10

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by @jacksnowknows view original on Twitter

Realident takes a boots-on-the-ground approach to activism. He's a friendly, quick-witted independent, who was motivated to pick a side when mainstream conservatism gave way to the vulgar strain of theocratic, authoritarianism that infects it now./11

Trussia is also a real-world activist. Smart & passionately concerned with the chain of events that have unspooled since 45 first announced his candidacy to much loathing and fanfare, she & Realident have been strong voices to combat the rising tide of hate accompanying Trump./12

Over lunch, we shared our thoughts on the state of our great country and what we could do to put things right again. We all agreed that the Resistance would be need to be a key factor in winning elections locally as well as nationally./13

We agreed that there would be a time when the Resistance would necessarily become something else: a movement to preserve and defend liberty from those authoritarian-minded individuals, who prefer autocratic rule to representative government./14

And we agreed that the center must hold if we are to reclaim our nation from such people: the #CoalitionOfTheDecent, a term coined by @SteveSchmidtSES, would need to resist efforts, from both far-left and vulgar right, to drag us too far in either direction./15

After our long lunch meeting, we paid our bill & generously tipped our server. Jamie introduced our group to him proudly as members of the Resistance. It was just before sunset when we walked back to the beach, where we met @sarahTRUMPMORON./16

In conversation, Sarah speaks in a tone of measured passion, thoughtful consideration of facts & clarity of expression that leaves everyone nodding in agreement. She expressed, in very precise terms, the sense we of dealing with the propaganda from Russia & the vulgar right./17

Ryan was only able to stay with us until sunset, so we hugged him goodbye. We continued our meeting in the hotel room, with Realident and I sharing bartending duties. We alternated between multiple conversations and larger, full group discussions. We got to know each other./18

Eventually Sarah had to go home. We said our goodbyes. We didn't get to have her long, but it was great getting to know her in the real world./19

Several of us left the hotel room to take a nocturnal stroll on the beach. As I rested my head in Mrs. Snow's lap & looked up at the stars, everything felt right. Down on the shoreline, the water was warm. Jamie, Trussia and I waded to warm our feet from the cool sand./20

Back at the hotel room, it was time to go home. We said our goodbyes and hugged each other.

Most of our group members couldn't make the trip to LA, but we were in touch with them the whole time. #BlizzardInLA will happen again, hopefully, along with other regional meetups./21

It was inspiring for me to meet these Wintry Folk I've resisted with since the world fell apart. We're coming through this together. We're in the trenches, every day together. We are #StrongerTogether. And when this dark epoch of history ends, we'll defend liberty together.
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EPILOGUE:
This morning, I woke up to find the present @B52Malmet brought me from the other coast.

This crisis has brought us together from around the country and around the world. #BlizzardInLA was not an event for Angelenos, but for all the Wintry folk, across our great nation.