RedDirtGirl just sent me a message about doing an NYC meet-up in February. Here’s what she sent me:
RedDirtGirl here, following up from our exchange before the New Year, soon after the election.
I am still interested in instigating a metro-area Take Action Gathering. I have a germ of an idea for how it might go, but would also be happy to put it out to the BJ community in very loose terms, and see where that takes us. I just know that I want to become part of a more Engaged Citizenry, and BJ seems like a great space in which to explore that. Thoughts?
I may as well come right flat out and tell you what I think is one of the most useful things we can do to fight Trump: protest outside of Congressperson’s district offices. Get a big enough crowd and you can get the media to cover it. And it’s very likely to rattle the Congressperson and the Congressperson’s staff. Maybe rattle them enough to make them rethink their blind support for Dear Leader.
I don’t know much about what kinds of permits are needed for this.
trollhattan
Everytime I phone you, I just wanna put you down.
Seems about right.
Jeffro
Be sure to blitz all media outlets in advance with press releases, notices of when you’ll be outside the MoCs’ offices, what your demands are, and so on. Put a short, simple list of questions out when you arrive: things you want to hold the MoC accountable for and expect him/her to answer to his/hier constituents for.
Renie
@Jeffro: My Rep, the great Muslim hater, Peter King is never at the office when we protest and never has town halls; very frustrating to catch him
Renie
am reading that at Dulles they are not obeying court order and at JFK immigrants still detained are being pressured to sign away their long-term status; they saw the stay issued doesn’t prevent detainment, only deportations and removals
Arclite
It’s a shame Phillip Seymour Hoffman died last year. When they make the movie about the disaster that is the Trump administration, he would have made a great Steve Bannon.
Arclite
Also, God Bless the ACLU.
Suzanne
O/T: I had said that I was going to change my organ donor status to NO because I didn’t want my organs going to Trump supporters. As it happens, I misplaced my driver’s license and had to order a new one. Got to the organ donor question…..and couldn’t do it. I’m still an organ donor. Fuck. I have no conviction.
SWMBO
@Suzanne: It could save a Hillary supporter. Plus we don’t want to lose you anytime soon anyway. So there’s that.
sharl
@Renie:
Thanks for that detail; that helps to make sense of why Customs at IAD didn’t release all the detainees.
sloan
Anyone else get the sense that Republicans are just saying “fuck it” and going for broke because they already know they are the white people’s party and are going to pay a generational price for this shit?
I’m not predicting 30 years of Democrats ruling America or anything like that, but the GOP and whatever is left of the conservative movement seems oddly detached and resigned to letting this happen, as if they assume they’ll be losing BIG TIME in the near future, so they might as well trash the place on the way out.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
Well, if your organ does end up in a Trump supporter, you can give them indigestion. Happy thoughts! ?
Renie
@sloan: always party first country last with the GOP
CaseyL
@sloan: I get the sense they said “Fuck it” a long time ago – as long ago as 1992 maybe, and definitely since 2008 – and decided they’d rather destroy the country than see liberal policies succeed. Trump is the culmination of their mission.
Timurid
One exchange I’ve overheard a lot tonight:
Q: “What if Trump fires the judge?”
A: “You can’t just fire a Federal judge!”
And no, they can’t be fired by POTUS. But they can be impeached. Do Ryan and McConnell have the stones for that?
If Putin is half the nine-dimensional chess master everyone thinks he is, the FSB has spent the last few years searching for kompromat on Federal judges… The lower tech solution is having Bannon’s ghouls dox every judge who crosses Trump, hoping that fear of being pushed down a flight of stairs by some random 27 percenter will prove to be salutary…
Redshift
As long as you’re on the sidewalk on public property, and you keep moving, you don’t need a permit. (And realistically, you’re not going to be asked to keep moving if you’re at some district office and not in a city center.) Do contact local media; they won’t just magically show up.
Speaking of which, hey everybody, did you see me on Rachel Maddow last week? She featured someone’s cell phone video of our protest at Mark Warner’s office, and there I was!
Timurid
@efgoldman:
But they’re still facing very public humiliation and questions about everything they’ve ever done, including pulling Annie’s hair that one time in fifth grade math class. And that’s assuming there is no kompromat…
Sab
@Suzanne: Wait to see if they repeal Obamacare. I was never signed up to be an organ donor until I knew kids like my kids might benefit.
Mike J
Flake from AZ came out with a wishy washy, “well, we shouldn’t turn away people with green cards, buuuuut” statement.
This will be the “responsible” Republican angle tomorrow. Roll back the stuff about citizens and permanent residents, continue to let five year olds be murdered by Russian bombers. The Russians helped choose the leader of their party, can’t deny them targets now.
sloan
@efgoldman: Yeah, I think you’re right they’re going to ride it to the bottom. Maybe they just did.
@CaseyL: Yes. For crying out loud they don’t criticize Vladimir Putin now just because liberals are pissed off at him.
Lizzy L
Fuck these mofos. This is heart-breaking.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-yazidi-refugee-stranded-at-the-airport-by-trump?mbid=gnep&intcid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true
James Powell
@sloan:
I’m seeing & hearing the opposite. They think they are the majority, or at least the ones who are always going to win. Even after winning complete control of the federal government they are angry and spiteful and committed to doing whatever it takes to grind their enemies into the dust.
Peale
@Mike J: it’s kind of funny. They run to 9/11 to show what happens when we don’t vet refugees, and everyone notes that none of the perps were from those countries. There actually was a big time case of refugee/asylee terrorism…the Chechnyan Tsarniv bros. but they can’t use that example, or we’d start to ask if Russian should be barred.
James Powell
@Redshift:
You left out the part about being white. A lot of times you have to be white.
Redshift
@Timurid: I can imagine Bannon thinking that would work, because he’s a brownshirt wannabe, but federal judges are way tougher than that. I was once in the courtroom of Judge Brinkema, who issued the order in Virginia tonight, and if they fuck with her they will learn a hard lesson.
Redshift
@James Powell: Sadly, yes, or at least have a critical mass of white people with you.
Redshift
@sloan: No, I don’t think they expect to be losing. I think they believe they can ride voter suppression and gerrymandering for a long time. And if we can’t get enough people off their asses, they may be right.
I think some of them have enough awareness to know that the things they’re doing aren’t popular, which is why they try to ram them through as quickly as possible, but I don’t think they believe they’re unpopular enough to threaten their reelection.
Redshift
Oh, and RedDirtGirl, I’d strongly suggest going to the Indivisible Guide website and looking up a group near you. If there is one, it’s much more likely to provide a group you can do effective local action with than BJ, and more quickly. No knock against BJ, but we’re a pretty geographically diffuse bunch.
CarolDuhart2
@Redshift: If they thought that way, they would slow walk them and wait until everybody was in place before doing much of anything on the theory that outrage would be slow to develop. But the women’s march, I believe has spooked them more than they will admit. For one thing, there is no way to gerrymander women and suppressing them can’t be done without suppressing their own.
Plus, they also counted on there being an afterglow of sorts from the Inauguration, and depended on a quiet left (for the most part). Sure there would be some protest, but from the usual suspects.
I also believe (no evidence, take with grain of salt) that Orange Cheeto is sicker both mentally and physically than anyone around him will admit. They know it, which is why they are rushing so much through right now. No 70 year old man is in perfect health, and the way Trump is carrying both his weight, his eating habits, his stress, he might not make it to 2020. If he were 20 years younger, they might hold off on the egregious stuff until he won a second term and nominated a successor. But they can’t count on that now and probably not even more than a year.
Lizzy L
IANAL, but I found this article to be very readable. Long, though. You may want to bookmark it and read it in the morning. I’m both wasted and wired — it’s been a long horrifying day — I’m going to take a Benadryl and go to bed, and hope for sleep.
https://lawfareblog.com/malevolence-tempered-incompetence-trumps-horrifying-executive-order-refugees-and-visas
Jim, Foolish Literalist
andy
Yep- a protest outside of a rep’s office- like the tea party but for truth and justice. They need to feel fear again.
Dog Dawg Damn
@Lizzy L: That article is amazing.
Is anyone planning anything for DACA?
My guess is DACA is going to happen next week. The sheer evil of what he did today makes me incredibly certain, and Bannon is running the show. There needs to be a targeted, planned, constant civil disruption (think bus boycotts, shutting down airports, roadways, general strikes, etc.) DACA is going to happen and happen fast, and I’m afraid major protests won’t do much to stop it.
sloan
@Redshift: Agree about people getting off their asses. I think Dems got complacent after 8 good years of Obama, and Republicans forgot how furious the backlash could be to their bullshit after not having to face any huge protests since Bush left.
The opposition to -rump (I refuse to write his name) is bigger and more energized than any support I saw for Clinton. We are the majority.
? Martin
@sloan:
What other electoral strategy could they have at this point? They tried several times to turn the right way on immigration and they got primaried from the right.
sloan
What do we call that piece of shit who lives in the White House?
I liked Bush being called Dubya. An easy nickname that was somewhat dismissive and disrespectful. As it should be.
So many options for Lord Shortfingers. But I’m looking for an easy one.
Come on, America! Let’s all agree on one so we can mock this fucker properly.
Kryptik
Been calling my Sens. and Rep. every other day lately. Still can’t get through to Menendez at all, but talked to staffers for Booker and left messages. And his involvement at Dulles is a good sign.
amk
@Redshift:
yup. a 56% turnout in a do-or-die election was pathetic. hope the entire spectrum of left wakes the fuck up soon.
Dog Dawg Damn
@sloan: Shitler or Twitler work.
Kryptik
@sloan:
Dolt 45
Annoying Orange
Agent Orange
Mango Mussolini
Papaya Pol Pot
Spray Tan Stalin
Toupee’d Tyrant
The Great Orange Shitgibbon
Il Douche
A-Dolt Twitler
Littlehands
President Evil
I can keep going.
sloan
@? Martin: Yeah, man. I lived in San Diego at the time and that shit didn’t fly. The next election in 2008, SD County went Democrat for the first time in forever, as it remains to this day.
seaboogie
@Renie: I’m in NorCal, so nothing to protest here. Just trying to convice DiFi to forget comity and vote NO on DeVos, Price, Sessions Mnuchin. I really hope the establishment Dems have a finger in the wind….
sloan
@Dog Dawg Damn: Oh yeah, Twitler! I saw that last week and laughed my ass off.
So perfect.
I am drinking, which happens roughly 1.3 times per year so I may be posting way too much tonight. Be forewarned.
Mnemosyne
@James Powell:
@Redshift:
Honestly, that’s one of the reasons I went to the LAX protest tonight. If dragging my white middle-aged ass there means the cops are going to stay calm and not start busting heads, then I need to show up.
Mnemosyne
@Kryptik:
If you have a fax machine, send a fax. It’s almost as good as a paper letter, and harder to ignore than a voicemail.
sharl
Federal judges in Boston issued a 7-day stay on enforcement of the EO, applicable only for those flying into Logan.
Calming Influence
@Suzanne: My theory is that by signing up as an organ donor, I’ll live to be 112, with useless worn-out organs. (Nothing I plan for ever works out.)
Mike E
Spray-tan Satan
The Baron Glässjau von Stümbledick
Cheeto Pez
Hair Twitler
Mafia Don
STFU Donny you’re out of your element
Pres Pig Fucker
The Biggest Looser
*
brendancalling
@sloan: garbagefuck
sharl
Things still hot at SFO apparently, judging from recent tweets. (Here’s a 2:22 Periscope video, for which taping ended just a few minutes ago, but still plays – at least for me.)
ETA: Hahaha, a band showed up at SFO, so they have live music.
Tripod
When and where is the next event in Chicago?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike E: efgoldman has the best collection of names for Dolt 45.
Mnemosyne
@sharl:
The LAX protest was still going on when I left around 10-ish. People would leave in ones and twos, but more people also kept trickling in.
sharl
@Mnemosyne: Folks are fired up!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Is it my imagination or has Trump visibly aged like 10 years since the election?
MisterForkbeard
@seaboogie: There’s people at SFO, if you’re up for the drive. :(
Mnemosyne
@sharl:
BillInGlendaleCA let me know that me and my pink hat made it into a shot on the channel 4 news. I guess I need to remember to wear lipstick next time. ?
(We’ve met before, so he knows what I look like IRL.)
Mike E
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, he’s an inspiration… I’m kinda proud of “The Baron”
sharl
@Mnemosyne: If it is known that camera crews are around, an entrepreneur could probably operate something like Protest Cosmetics out of a wagon or portable kiosk and make a nice bit of money, assuming they could dodge airport police.
Thor Heyerdahl
@Kryptik:
Tangerine Taint
As in, “T’aint Donny making the WH decisions”
sharl
Police appear to be a bit more aggressive at Sea-Tac (37sec video).
ETA: Things will get rougher from here on out. Even if Trump’s usual thin skin doesn’t lead to that, Bannon would likely insist on it. So hopefully no one gets all comfy with the relatively mild airport police responses at most airports over the last 24 hours.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Nope, he looked awful.
Mnemosyne
@sharl:
Hopefully that’s not a sign that the Black Bloc assholes are taking over the protest. Everyone on the West Coast has to watch out for them, because they ruin everything.
bluehill
Here’s an interesting take on the ban.
“In cases like this, the smart money is usually on incompetence, not malice. But this looks more like deliberate malice to me. Bannon wanted turmoil and condemnation. He wanted this executive order to get as much publicity as possible. He wanted the ACLU involved. He thinks this will be a PR win.”
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/01/trumps-immigration-fiasco-might-be-more-premeditated-we-think” rel=”nofollow”
Mnemosyne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Being president is a tough job, and even people like W who half-ass the job get worn down by it.
Trump is a narcissist who has to confront visible evidence every day that people hate him, so it’s actually harder on him in some ways, because he doesn’t have the strong ego that Obama or even W had to withstand the pressure. Trump is emotionally hollow at his core.
Dog Dawg Damn
l love how #DeleteUber is the #1 trend on Twitter right now.
Companies need to learn (and quickly), that we have the GDP, and if they scab our resistance, they’ll suffer.
Chet Murthy
@sharl: How does one find out about these protests? I mean, with enough warning to make plans to show up?
Mnemosyne
@sharl:
Hmmm. Yes and no. If the crowds still have a good mix like they do now, it will be tougher to get the police to overreact, at least in blue states and cities. Certainly not impossible, but tougher.
@Chet Murthy:
I found out on Facebook. It looks like MoveOn is an online clearinghouse if you don’t use Facebook.
sloan
@Chet Murthy:here is a list of protests: https://thinkprogress.org/muslim-ban-protests-344f6e66022e#.1ayqzm7kw
Mnemosyne
@bluehill:
I think Drum is right that Bannon thinks this will be a PR win. I think Bannon vastly underestimated how many people would be pissed off about this. He’s trying to claim via Breitbart that this was all staged by CAIR, but the protests are too big for that claim to stick, IMO.
ETA: The more “ordinary” (white, middle-class, middle-aged) the people who show up to these protests are, the harder its going to be for Bannon to sell his propaganda. That’s another reason I drove down to LAX. It was good traffic, so it only took me 90 minutes.
sharl
@Chet Murthy: I’ll let Mnem field that question for LAX specifically, since she was there.
I’m only learning about them after they are well under way, via twitter, typically starting with general and highly active hashtags like #MuslimBan. In this case I’d see hashtags for specific airport actions pop up in that stream.
As far as advance planning goes, these particular protests seemed to happen almost spontaneously, which I don’t think has been very common, but maybe with our new regime it will be(?) Otherwise belonging to an organization which is known for organizing things quickly and competently – and one whose values you share – would be the best way to go, I suppose.
ETA: Excellent, I see Mnem and Sloan got in some good answers while I was typing my verbose reply.
ETA2 – I’m not on Facebook, but as Mnem noted, that seems to be a great conduit for quickly getting word and putting something together.
rikyrah
@sloan:
Dolt45
? Martin
@Mnemosyne:
True sign of a SoCal native. 90 minutes on the east coast is generally at least one state away. In CA it’s often not even one city away.
Chet Murthy
@sharl: thank you for the pointers. I followed another suggestion up-thread, found the Indivisible Guide, searched, found local orgs. Tomorrow I guess it’s time to create an anonymous FB account (not that I’m trying to prevent my govt from knowing me (I work in IT so I know precisely how pointless that is) but b/c I don’t believe in social media) and connect with these local indivisible groups.
Chet Murthy
@? Martin: Heck, in Houston that won’t even get you crosstown.
BillinGlendaleCA
@? Martin: Mnemo’s not a native, though she’s lived here for a while.
Mnemosyne
@Chet Murthy:
It will also partly depend on your local group. Mine are big Facebookers (which is how I found them), but others concentrate more on Twitter or email.
sharl
Pizza delivery ops for protesters at SFO appear to be A+.
Mnemosyne
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’ve lived here for over 25 years (longer than I lived in IL), which some people seems to think makes me an honorary native. I usually call CA my “adopted home state.”
Morzer
@sloan:
Donnie Putinobitch
The Alzheimer Fuhrer
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: We natives take the whole native thing seriously. //
BillinGlendaleCA
The local news said that Dolt 45 signed an EO to reorganize the NSC but didn’t say that they were excluding the Chair of the Joint Chiefs and the DNI, Shoddy reporting.
Morzer
https://www.lawfareblog.com/malevolence-tempered-incompetence-trumps-horrifying-executive-order-refugees-and-visas
Benjamin Wittes is a long way from a bleeding heart liberal – and he finds Trump’s order both appalling and incompetent. I wonder whether the Trumpzis have gone so far so fast that they might just provoke a genuine civil war.
sharl
Between Uber CEO’s expressed support for Trump, and its behavior in response to last night’s NYC cabbie boycott at JFK, there seems to be a growing #BoycottUber trend. Too early to tell if it will go big.
So many people in big congested cities rely on Uber, including media people, that getting reasonably unslanted reporting on that company can be challenging. So bear that in mind if you read this SFGate piece on this boycott thing.
If you’re looking for a way to annoy the wingnut(s) in your life – real or online – this might be something:
JordanRules
@BillinGlendaleCA: This is super feaking scary.
danielx
Totally off topic, but saw this band this evening with a (new) guitarist this evening making them considerably more Allman-esque, if that is an acceptable construction. All hands who think they’re a kick ass rock and roll band, raise your hands!
Dog Dawg Damn
Uh, guys?
The DHS just issued a statement in defiance of the Court orders.
8 days. 8 days is all it took to reach full Constitutional Crisis.
https://twitter.com/BobMcGovernJr/status/825592669564985344
sigaba
@Mnemosyne:
LAX Flyaway bus or green line….
sigaba
@Dog Dawg Damn: That statement is basically moot, it says they’ll comply with judicial orders, it says there’s all kinds of executive orders to come, but apart from that there’s a lot of language that amounts to “We’re the Customs Department!”
Morzer
@Dog Dawg Damn:
The choice: to be Americans or be Trumpistanis.
Nelle
@Kryptik: always, always, the Republican whatever you choose. Make the party own this.
Ksmiami
And here we go Civil War part 2 the farce be with us…
Central Planning
@sloan: I like Dolt 45
Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.
@sloan: [VOID] is an apt nickname as noun, adjective and verb
Dolt 45 also seems to be catching on, but that’s not harsh enough in my book. He’s not Gerald Ford.
Bupalos
@bluehill:
Agree. Well, not “pr” perse, like always, what they are counting on is dominating the news and driving chaos and polarization especially around an issue of ethnicity. And getting the conversation off kompromat and ethics violations.
Doug!
@Redshift:
Very cool!
RedDirtGirl
@Redshift:
I am looking into things like that. I’ve just had fun at the BJ gatherings I’ve attended and thought it might be cool to do one with more of an action focus. I’ve been thinking about getting together and all writing letters to the editor of a chosen paper. If they get 10 letters on a topic in one day they may be more likely to publish one. YMMV.