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From the US election of 2016 to about 2018 I was a regular listener of Debbie Sane Progressive.
I had a lot of her stuff on my blog until I got some fairly panicky emails requesting me to take them down which I respectfully did.
Since then she seemed to have disappeared I was wondering what had happened and I have to say, even after getting the news that she died by her hand, presumably because of depressive illness the questions still remain.
UPDATE: Activist Mourn While Creators Ignore Debbie's Passing
And this
“SEEKING TO INJECT SOME SANITY INTO MODERN AMERICAN POLITICAL DIALOGUE” – SANE PROGRESSIVE
The title of this blog piece was the opening line for every one of Sane Progressive’s broadcasts.
We thought about doing a short video to explain our position on the recent death of Debbie Lusignan, also known as “The Sane Progressive” but what we thought would simply be an archiving of how she influenced us, turned out to be complicated and difficult to articulate and leaving us, and many others, with more questions than closure.
This is ironic because the woman herself was very good at communicating effectively and eloquently, in her own way. She had a very compelling way of shedding the light on just about everything you could possibly want to know about the fraud, corruption and collusion that comes with American life.
Recently Lusignan’s cousin announced on Facebook Debbie died of a lifelong battle with mental illness. We do not know Debbie. So we can’t argue with that sentiment because the cousin has had a lifetime with her. We had two interactions with her: one interaction was when she thanked us for sending her a special edition box of See’s Easter Candy. I’ll tell you the second interaction in a bit.
We also noticed that Lusignan’s sister is the founder of The Northhampton Couples Therapy and made a career in the Mental Health world. However, her 8 minute blog post from 2020 should be read, for it does clearly depict what trauma can do to an individual: This Is What Trauma Does. We’ll also come back to this later.
Obviously her cousin and sister and family and closest friends have insight into the “lifetime of mental illness” that apparently plagued a woman who seemed perfectly rational and sensible in the eyes of the public that adored her. But, just because we don’t know her doesn’t mean we are not allowed an opinion and doesn’t mean that we won’t describe odd behavior we witnessed from those, who at one point, considered her their closest ally.
For instance, Gerard Kenyatte Hay, as of now, has been eerily silent about her death. This is odd behavior for someone who used to occasionally join her on her broadcasts. Tatsu Ikeda has also been radio silent. Update: Tatsu has since made a “friends only” statement on his Facebook page. It’s innocuous enough so I don’t think there’s any harm in sharing it. If he asks me to remove it I will:
Tatsu Ikeda. December 14, 2022, writes:
“I don’t enjoy online eulogizing, seems highly inappropriate, gauche and uncouth, but people seem to want me to say something. For too brief a time, Debbie was a great friend. I’m not sure how I earned her trust, initially I was just some quiet techie type arranging livestreams for some morons who thought they are going to save the world but couldn’t even livestream properly. (Funny how the irony didn’t occur to me.) She was picky about people of course, so am I, and so we were happy to spend time and exchange friendship. Eventually we both decided to get on with our lives, and she quit social media completely, as you know. It was the healthy choice, her choice alone, and you should consider it too, at least take breaks. Claudia and I are still here, sort of, and I bet Debbie would give us a bit of a scowl if she could. On the other hand, she wasn’t really judgmental at all, quite honestly. Maybe she would just say “You guyyysss!” in her saucy way, making you feel semi-guilty but fully loved at the same time.
So yes, Debbie fought demons inside and outside of her. You don’t win every fight, but she won enough. Yes, I am proud how she was able to galvanize and charm others, but it took a toll, just so you know. I was always concerned for her, I knew how sometimes when you care too much about something you can’t do anything about, it tears you apart. If you admired her, please take a moment to appreciate not the content, but Debbie as a person pouring her heart out at great cost to herself at times. I’m afraid none of us are going to be able to pay this back, but there’s one thing you can do at the end of this, keep reading, please.
I was happy when she “retired” and forthrightly went into healing, gardening, homesteading, activities that are HEALTHY and spending time with her kids and her wonderful partner, David. David is a hell of a standup competent man, an ideal mate, and Debbie knew it the moment she laid eyes on him. I can’t imagine what he’s going through. He was such a rock for her. Debbie was very loyal and kind to her family, friends, and animals. She was of course exuberant, playful, and just lovable. I’m never going to forget her funny froggy laugh, the unique way she interacted with nature, the way her eyes would zoom open or dart across the room, and how her gaze would just transfix my own gaze and of others. She just had an energy and presence that very few people have, as trite as that sounds.
For a while, Debbie wanted to make the world a better place with all of you. Debbie didn’t want you to just listen in. It’s nice to know what’s going on in the world. It is better to make your mark in it, while avoiding the dangers you now know about. “Truthtelling” is just information, it won’t set you free or make anyone a hero. In fact, it mostly lands people in prisons or unjustly persecuted. You have to actually do something hard, not just read or watch, and oh boy is it going to be a struggle indeed. So get strong, get ready. She wanted you to make your own little world a better place, like she did after she left “the show”. She was so proud of her beautiful home! You can be your own Debbie, your own hero, whatever you would like to be – the best version of yourself, ever. It will take some time, years even, so one day at a time, please. So please also take care of yourself meanwhile. Make the world a better place tomorrow by making yourself a bit of a better person today, but do it every day, and you’ll win at life. That’s how I plan to honor Debbie and the brief time I had with her. Debbie lives on in her kids, family, friends, and you too if you have the strength to follow through on your convictions and build daily with consistent effort. I hope you can do that for her and someday when you or I or we make the world just a little bit better, Debbie will smile down at us and give us another croaky laugh!”
If Holly Seeliger has been silent, I give her a pass since she recently lost everything in Hurricane Ian. The only real commentary that Claudia Stauber has had since Debbie was kicked off Facebook and YouTube quite a few years ago was to announce in a short message that Debbie was doing great and was enrolled in Nursing School. I didn’t believe her then and I don’t believe her now. After that, the only time Stauber talked about Debbie was to announce her death the other day via social media, giving no explanation about how her once-closest friend died and for anyone who did ask, offering only a makeshift memorial website as an answer for people to go and leave comments. Furthermore, the popular Stauber announced Lusignan’s passing on this memorial site and mentions the cause of death as a bad reaction to medication. This seems vague, especially since up until her very last broadcast, or even guest appearance, Debbie seemed in perfect health. Plus, we all know she was vehemently against allopathic medicine in general so why was she on medication in the first place?
Lusignan’s closest allies aren’t even mentioning her in any way, are sharing a different memorial website than her son publicly shared and they are not acknowledging or even answering the burning question of how she died. Are they even talking to each other anymore? The fact that these four are so silent, not speaking at all about Debbie and her death and have virtually wiped their feeds of her existence seems odd. Sometimes it’s what isn’t said that offers a clearer and more comprehensive explanation.
Incidentally, the memorial site Stauber shared is not the memorial site Debbie’s son Shawn Kirchner shared for people to go and make comments. If you would like to share your thoughts, photos or celebration of The Sane Progressive, click here.
The above memorial site insinuates she died in MA but makes it unclear where exactly she took her last breath and again, gives no clue as to her health status at the time.
One of the last video broadcasts I witnessed, years ago, was Lusignan acknowledging that an unrecognizable black car was outside her house and had been sitting there for days. Not long after, she was virtually disappeared off the internet, except for the occasional mirrored videos. To be fair she warned her followers in many of her last broadcasts that she would be ending her role as The Sane Progressive and removing her content. To carefully take the time to warn her followers and adoring fans she would be less accessible to them is actually a very responsible thing to do. It doesn’t seem fitting of someone who suffers from “lifelong mental illness.”
When she was being censored right and left, our platform attempted to share a video of hers by mirroring it on our own page. This brings us to our second interaction with her. We received a message from her attacking us for doing so. We apologized and removed the mirrored video. We reached out to another person, a random person on YouTube who had mirrored her and asked them if they received a vitriolic email attacking them for not getting permission to share her work. They said they had received the same message but ignored it, believing it to be someone other than Debbie who wrote that email or made that comment. We agreed it wasn’t like her to be vitriolic. Our first, albeit brief, interaction with her was very sweet and kind. It seemed out of character for her to go on the attack when she had always hoped her message would be shared widely and had never complained about the hundreds of shares she received from her daily broadcasts. It seemed odd she would suddenly, out of the blue, start to care if her work was shared.
Lusignan’s obituary states her last place of employment was Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA. This is a mental health facility in the Berkshires. I suppose it is common for someone who battled “lifelong mental illness” (according to her family) to also be on staff at a long-established mental health center, but in Lusignan’s case who lived in an isolated, ambling estate it doesn’t seem plausible or even necessary.
Others have shared this so I am not offering any new information here but she wasn’t completely erased out of our eyesight. In July 2021 The Providence Town Independent attacked her, but Lusignan is no stranger to being maligned on the internet. She continued, in her own way, to share what she knew and wrote under a pseudonym, “Rose”, on Unite4Truth. But, why did Debbie feel the need to write under a pseudonym? Why did she suddenly stop writing? She hasn’t written anything since January 2022.
Taking our cue from Lusignan’s sister’s blog post regarding trauma, we believe a person’s behavior is shaped by the abuse, neglect and scorn they receive from close society, like their family or even outer society, like friends and colleagues or even mutuals on social media. Children are not born with mental illness, in our opinion. We believe mental illness is made and molded into people based on how their parents chose to raise them up or based on how society treats them in general. This is our opinion.
We tend to agree with Peter Breggin, the psychiatrist who, decades ago, exposed the extraordinary and horrifying abuses that were happening in mental health facilities all across the world. In the age of Covid, he has been very concerned about the mental welfare of American citizens, believing that this soft goose-stepping into totalitarianism has given rise to the suicide rate as well as other traumatic reactions that the American consciousness is not equipped to diagnose on their own, let alone manage in their personal lives.
With that in mind, because no one else is doing it we are going to play social anthropologist and make a feeble attempt at an armchair analysis.
Lusignan was passionate about sharing her knowledge of what was happening in the world and her focus of course was on political corruption. She wasn’t camera shy by any means and did display some narcissistic traits but it ended there. She never harmed anyone nor did she use her position or her adoring fans to commit harm to others. She had a little Hedgehog, Humphrey, that she would bring in front of the camera from time to time. Any mental illness that she may have had was probably trauma from experiences she had as a child on into adulthood with a failed relationship, facing homelessness with small children and quite possibly a long standing, strained and difficult relationship with her mother.
The entire culmination of her work, her research and her passion came to a head at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, and it was the tipping point of her life and so many others. The very essence of her soul was put into the Bernie Sanders campaign and what it represented to her, and when all of the shenanigans at the Convention took place that year, the reality of the mess that is our “democracy” came crashing down all around her like Rome burning at her feet.
For those who don’t know, the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia informed us quite clearly how the establishment feels about all of us. Bernie Sanders delegates were locked out of the Convention itself so they couldn’t even vote. Sections of Bernie Sanders fans and delegates and representatives of his campaign sat in darkness with muted mics in a packed arena while the media focused all their attention on the small smattering of Hilary Clinton supporters and delegates, giving the illusion to television screens and social media feeds all across the world that she was the favored Democratic Nominee. After the Convention, there were impromptu rallies in the streets, calling for a recall, shouting for fairness.
It was at that moment that hundreds of thousands of lifelong Democrats changed their political affiliation and voted for Trump. Perhaps this was all done by design. But Lusignan didn’t stop there. After the Convention she poured all of her energy into uncovering the data and the fraud around the Nomination. Turns out Bernie Sanders did win the Democratic Nomination and it wasn’t that a bunch of Berniecrats were being babies and throwing tantrums that their favorite lost. Their nominee was literally stolen right out from under them and no one who could influence a recall was doing anything about it.
Except Debbie, who had all the proof.
I think after that moment, after all the work and passion that had gone into awakening the minds of so many and animating herself into the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every day, only to have nothing to show for it, shattered her soul into a million pieces. The heartbreak is palpable even today and it was palpable even when she didn’t say anything on screen.
This is a normal reaction when you see the rise of totalitarianism in your world and are helpless to stop it. If her mental health waned a bit, then so did mine. And so did yours. We were all tragically wounded when we saw collusion, corruption and fraud win the day against a smattering of ingenious hope, even if it was fed to us through a kindly old man and his marketing campaign.
The fraud of 2016, though, informed us of the future, didn’t it?
Lusignan felt all the things that wronged people feel: used, abandoned, helpless, despair, frail from abuse. If she were mentally ill she probably wouldn’t have felt these things. We would have seen a deep shift in her personality somehow. But we didn’t and despite the attacks on her, she continued to live what seemed a normal, functioning life. She was still the intelligent and detailed woman that we’d all come to appreciate and admire.
But, she was being banished almost everyday off Facebook and YouTube and unable to fight it any longer, she acquiesced and after fair warning, removed herself. She was wounded and tired and angry and passionate and sad and euphoric and seeing the world as it was, all at the same time. This doesn’t make her crazy or mentally ill. It makes her human.
So, when it is announced she “lost her life long battle with mental illness” we wonder what exactly that means. We are not here to offer conspiracy or put ideas into anyone’s head. We’re simply saying out loud what you are all thinking anyway.
Why won’t her besties say anything at all or even take a guess at what they think? Where has she been for the last year since her last blog entry? Did she wander off and die of exposure? Was she wasting away at a mental health facility, placed there against her will? Did she take her own life suddenly and without warning?
Sadly Lusignan’s death doesn’t sit right with us at all. And that’s why we’re writing, because we know it doesn’t sit right with you either. In fact, none of these deaths are sitting right these days.
That’s why we produced The Reason. (Watch The Reason Redux here https://rumble.com/v1qye4k-about-61000-lives-perished.html)
But we think it’s simply part of our new normal now, not being given a believable reason for anything anymore. The fact that we will never really know the full truth, about Debbie and how she died, or about anything at all, is going to be a challenging reality for those of us who need to feel informed and confident about the world around us.
December 15, 2022: In a stunning turn of events, Lusignan’s family acted in military precision to sadistically remove their public invites to attend her memorial service, and, acting as a unified front posted this publicly on their pages:
This lashing out at people, accusing them of things which may or may not be true, seems a little too precise. It reminds us of a wartime tactic. Although we have had no interaction with this family and have never reached out to them in any way and never planned to, we blocked them anyway. Such erratic, hateful dangerous behavior feels irresponsible, authoritarian, repressive, abusive and calculated. I can only assume they did this to antagonize a response in order to isolate people to have them either arrested or served.
Even when the Royal Family spent decades informing the public Diana, Princess of Wales, was mentally ill and unstable, when she died the Queen put aside her pride and addressed the nation, sharing in their collective grief, extolling the public of Diana’s humanitarianism and limitleness kindness to the world. The Queen was gracious, poised, forgiving of emotional outbursts and handled the situation with the utmost decorum. Since Lusignan herself was such an agreeable character, I had assumed the Lusignan family would do the same: reach out to the public that adored her and share in their collective grief. I’m shocked that this is how it’s turned out. And our hearts are broken that so many who followed Debbie and whose lives were changed by her were treated so awfully: a smidgeon of hope was dangled in front of them, they thought they were getting closure only to have it snatched away and then be the subject of vitriol and beratement. These are the actions of authoritarians, not gracious humans who understand her powerful mark on society and behave responsibly around it.
Because the family refuses to acknowledge her work, and I can assume only associates anyone who follows her as being “mentally ill” or simply “internet obsessors”, Julie felt compelled to write something to all of you:
“Since the dreadful news of Debbie Lusignan’s death earlier this week, we have seen an overwhelming expression of grief and shock throughout the world. Her valuable contribution to the world is simply unmatched and her removal from the world is palpable to all who knew her or were affected by her. Her tireless efforts to unpack and expose the machinations of politics and culture have been seen by courts, changed policy and inspired current researchers who carry on her work in their own way. But most importantly her gentle understanding of human nature and her ability to reach inside and inspire individuals to grow, change and become more human and more free was indeed her greatest gift to us all. Those affected by her death have been doing their very best to cope, especially as the initial shock is often followed by questions surrounding her sudden death, then anger, disbelief, incomprehension and confusion. So what I’m saying today as your friend and comrade I’m saying from my heart. First I want to assure you that the extraordinary gifts Debbie offered to the world was not a sign of mental illness. She would be enormously proud of you for questioning her mysterious death and disappearance from this world, challenging the narrative you have been fed, and your refusal to be bound as you’ve been scorned by those closest to her. Second, your friendships or associations or respect or connection with her does not make you mentally ill by proxy. You, like her, are human and like her, are full of flaws with potential for growth and your mind and heart are evolving into new spaces and new territories that inspire the world around you. I have been inspired by you. She would have been inspired by you. Being exceptional and gifted does not make one mentally ill. It makes one extraordinary and it also, unfortunately, makes one a threat to those who aren’t exceptional or gifted or full of compassion for the world around them. This week I have been attempting in my own feeble way to help people come to terms with this devastating loss, which has left an irreplaceable hole in the world. Although I wasn’t as influenced by her as some of you were, it doesn’t mean I didn’t feel that sudden, bolt of grief and shock at the announcement of her death. Debbie did not belong in a uniform, tightly bound to policy and rules and closed-off walls of conformity. She belonged in front of a microphone or a camera, a powerful and motivating inspiration for change and humanitarianism to ripple across the world. If she had been allowed to live, one can only imagine what could have been possible. The ground shook beneath her feet when she stood upon it, she was such a powerful force of reason and passion combined. And I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life, and death, and these lessons inform our future, and what is to come. In closing my only wish is that we all can be just as powerful and determined and just as unshakeable as she was. All my love and hope for a better future.” Julie, Book of Ours.
We wish we could end this piece on a better note, on solid ground or with an answer.
We can’t.
Recommended viewing by “Beau Tender”: https://youtu.be/T5R8q6oEef8
Recommended Newsweek article. A woman who looks suspiciously like Debbie Lusignan caused a disturbance on an airplane. A passenger recorded it and it got over 1 million views:
Decide for yourself if The Sane Progressive was about ready to make a comeback:. I million views: https://www.newsweek.com/woman-brings-microphone-plane-rant-about-covid-tiktok-video-viewed-1m-times-1639710
Here are a couple of videos I have been able to find
#WHEREISDEBBIE | SANE PROGRESSIVE IN FEB 2018 TALKS VEGAS HOAX | DEBBIE LUSIGNAN MIA
I have found her final podcast from July, 2018
Revolution of the Mind
