If you need some inspiration, AOC posted a long reel on her Instagram last night, and her main points were that we should contact our Senators and tell them to slow everything down. She likened the authoritarian Musk junta to the Wizard of Oz — small men behind a curtain. She pointed out the special elections that will be held, which are a big lift, but even if we outperform expectations, it sends a message to the vulnerable reps who were elected in Biden or Harris districts. Watch the whole thing if you’re interested. I couldn’t find a full YouTube version and Instagram reels suck, so I didn’t embed this.
Comrade Scott sent me an update that the Denver Mobilize events for today had such large signups that they’re split into Hickenlooper and Bennet visits. Here’s a note from the organizer:
Notes from the organizer: I can’t edit the main description for some reason, BUT we have decided to hold this event at two locations simultaneously (so at Senator Bennet’s office AND at Senator Hickenlooper’s office 1961 Stout Street) rather than try to go from one location to the other. This is because so many people are signing up and for accessibility/logistics reasons. Feel free to go to EITHER office at 2:30, as we will have people at both and want people at both.
Feel free to add any small (or large) actions in the comments. I’ve got a busy day today with work and family commitments so I’ll make this an open thread.
John S.
Still trying to get a hold of someone at Sen. Cantwell’s offices. I suspect she has been getting hammered over her confirmation votes, especially Scott Bessent given the recent fuckery by Musk’s minions.
frosty
Phone call to all of Fetterman’s offices drops immediately. Busy? Voicemail full? Doesn’t want to hear from constituents?
I used the Contact form and wrote. I hope somebody reads it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
We’re going to Hick’s office. For some reason the organizers can’t/won’t decide how to split up people, it ain’t hard. Thus, my fear is that everybody will go to one office and 3 of us to the other.
Given Hick’s “introduction” of the DOE nominee yesterday, Hick’s staff needs to hear from his constituents that he needs to grow a pair.
Baud
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Eh, women are generally tougher, so growing a pair is kind of a waste of time.
Quinerly
MSNBC reporting that Cory Booker is NOT A FIRM NO on Kennedy when the full Semate votes.
WTF?
Baud
@Quinerly:
The people freaking out about Whitehouse need something to do.
Have Bernie and Fetterman declared how they will vote yet? Last I heard, they were still undecided.
Jay K.
Just got back from Moreno the Car Salesman’s office* and read his staff the riot act. All they could provide was BS excuses. The young guy who buzzed me in the door called his superior when he heard “there’s another one here to talk about Elon Musk.”
*this was Sherrod Brown’s office. I sure hate Ohio.
brendancalling
@frosty: I had that problem yesterday. Phones are overloaded. I went down in person to his Philly office, and was turned away by security, who said no one was in the office on Mondays.
I emailed him today (and yesterday, and the day before that). Today’s email reminded him that I volunteered to help get him elected, that I will be participating in our monthly ward meeting tomorrow (2/5/2025), and that his recent actions and refusal to meet with constituents) will be addressed.
There used to be a group called “Tuesdays With Toomey,” a weekly protest outside his office because the coward wouldn’t talk to us. Thinking we need a new one called “Fridays With Fetterman.”
Protests at the garden side of Philadelphia City Hall tomorrow, “noon til whenever.”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Hey, guess who’s going after Totebagger Radio?
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/02/03/congress/doge-musk-mtg-trump-00202103
They can join all those Cletii (or wtf the plural is of Cletuses) at the weekly Leopards Eat Faces meetings.
Per the article, federal funding for Totebagger Radio comprises 10% of their funding.
Of course Rafael “Calgary!” “Ted!” Cruz was beating on them last year because of the funding they were getting from “liberal” corporate sources:
https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2024/7/sen-cruz-presses-npr-on-left-wing-mega-donors-influence-over-partisan-news-coverage
Of course he was hammering them for their “librul bias”. I guess he’s never heard Moira Liarson do a piece.
Nature Andy
Hello, I’ve been a lurker since the early to mid 2000s. This site has been an absolutely fantastic resource. I just have quite a bit of social anxiety so I have enjoyed lurking.
I am an amateur historian (my degree is in Entomology) and I am absolutely terrified. For the first time I’ve tried reaching out to my congressional representative and senators. I live in Michigan so they are Democratic but other than stern statements I haven’t heard/seen much action from them. I also read a lot from Talking Points Memo and I understand their options are limited, it just doesn’t seem like they are taking any action available to them
On their websites I could only find contact forms to complete, how do you call their offices?
Is there an easy to use resource for calling the office? The numbers and tips for what to say? I vaguely remember a resource like that but haven’t been able to find it.
Miss Bianca
MM, I hope you are going to Hick’s office. You and Comrade Scott can tear him a new one for me, won’t you? (respectfully, *of course*!)
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Miss Bianca:
MM’s not gonna be able to come down today. I believe commenter “Wag” (I think I got that right) said they’d be at one of the offices today.
MM’s coming to the national state capitol rally tomorrow at noon. I’ll be there as well. One of my oldest friends, now trans (or whatever the appropriate verbiage is to refer to that), will be there as I’m guessing much of Denver’s trans community.
Belafon
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: When people dismiss that it’s only 10% of their funding, remember they don’t run a profit.
H.E.Wolf
@Nature Andy:
As an interim option, FaxZero.com lets people send 5 free faxes per day – and they have a section that is specifically for elected officials, sorted by state.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Belafon:
I wasn’t dismissing the sum, simply relating it.
I know some commenters who remain supportive of that entity often say they should simply give up the gubmint funding and turn to other sources, specifically more listener support.
I simply wanted to provide some context of what that support would need to be.
brendancalling
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: LOL, but not LOL.
LOL, because NPR news (All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace) sucks and richly deserves to have its face eaten by leaopards. They were liars during the Iraq invasion, they were liars during the Obama years, and they relentlessly attacked Joe Biden. Fuck them, NPR news is no loss, and their suffering makes me laugh.
THAT SAID: one of the best stations in Philly for music is WXPN, which also hosts World Cafe Live, a national program that plays all sorts of stuff. They’re an NPR affiliate as well. I believe Mountain Stage is an NPR show. Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me is NPR.
OTOH, all those soundalike shows (Hidden Radio Lab Freakonomics Brain, The Moth American Snap Life Radio Judgement, New Yorker Hour, etc) are boring AF, and I won’t miss them. TBH, I haven’t listened to NPR news and human interest programming since… 2023? I don’t feel like I’m any less informed.
dc
@Nature Andy: Their phone numbers should be on their official congressional web page. Look at the very bottom.
Peters: https://www.peters.senate.gov/
Slotkin: https://www.slotkin.senate.gov/
Toward the bottom they have both DC and state offices.
H.E.Wolf
More on finding Senators/House members’ office phone numbers:
Google “US Senator [name] office phone”.
Look for the .gov link – that’s the official web page for that person.
There should be phone #s for both DC and in-state offices.
What to say?
I usually say: Hi, I’m [Name] in [City and Zip code], asking the senator to [protect our government from un-elected creepazoids; or your own current main issue].
And then I call back, a day or a week later, and do it again.
CaseyL
@John S.:
I ran into the same thing. I filled out the contact form on Cantwell’s website, wherein I gave her hell for voting for confirm Bessent, and listed the names of the incels helping Musk take control of the Federal computer networks. I also pointed out that GOP Senators seemed to have no trouble bringing the Senate to a halt when they were in the minority. I mentioned Rand Paul and Tuberville specifically.
Ditto for Patty Murray, where I started off by thanking her for voting against Bessent, then gave her the same message.
I did talk to someone in Jayapal’s office early yesterday, when the news about Musk & Co. first broke. The person did say they were getting a lot of calls, and she would pass the info on to Jayapal – but I noticed that Jayapal was NOT among the Democratic Reps who went to OPM.
sentient ai from the future
@Nature Andy: congressional switchboard 202 224 3121
Old School
@Nature Andy:
You should be able to find your representative’s contact information through this site. It also has the main number to the House of Representatives if you want to go though the main switchboard.
suzanne
@frosty: When I called Fetterman’s and McCormick’s offices yesterday, the call quality was really bad. I left messages, but I have no confidence that they were audible!
H.E.Wolf
Small actions for the phone-phobic:
PostcardsToVoters.org is writing for Judge Susan Crawford in WI. She’s running for WI Supreme Court, and the next 5-6 weeks is a postcard campaign.
To sign up: [email protected]
4 addresses minimum, 3 required sentences (and they’re really short this time!), and 3 business days in which to write and send them.
This is a really good time to elect really good state supreme court justices!
Thor Heyerdahl
@H.E.Wolf: Thanks – I was going to comment about sending faxes since it will be something that will be noted/counted and get through
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’m sure Cruz has heard their abortion coverage which is absolutely better than most. Plus, in a lot of rural communities they are the only non-talabangelical thing on the radio. That’s why the GOP has been trying to kill it for years.
Jeffro
for what it’s worth, last night I made a dozen pairs of signs to put along the major roads here
first sign in each pair says “NO ONE ELECTED MUSK!” or “NO R, D, or I ELECTED MUSK!”
second sign in each pair says “CALL U.S. REP McGUIRE AT (202) 225-4711 – NO MUSK!”
let’s see if Mr. Originalist Constitution-Protecting Guy can do something for his constituents here in the 5th CD that just had all their data stolen by an unelected South African
(I’ll make another dozen pairs later this week)
John S.
@CaseyL:
It definitely has to be an increase in call volume (which is good). Earlier last week, I had no trouble getting through to Sen. Cantwell’s offices.
Sen. Murray has set the much better example. I hope Sen. Cantwell pays attention and follows suit.
Belafon
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Sorry, I should have written it to say it wasn’t explicitly pointed at you.
As for turning to user funding, if they could, I think they would. But that would require almost non-stop funding, since far too many people use it and don’t subscribe (it’s something I worry about with so many of the news people we like turning to their own locations). If everyone who listened would step up, they could fund their operations and afford to be more liberal than they are I believe. Otherwise, they more corporations that step up, the more they’re going to have to move in that direction.
TONYG
Yesterday I called my worthless “Democratic” congressman (Josh Gottheimer) and my not-very-useful Senators (Corey Booker and Andy Kim) to (not politely) ask them why they’re not fighting this coup. I also contacted NPR (an organization to which I’ve been shoveling money for 46 years) to kick their ass for their non-coverage of this existential crisis. I don’t expect anything to change. All of the power centers in this country are corrupt.
windpondalaska
I watched AOC’s live talk last night and found myself taking a breath, as she suggested. I came away with: 1. Know your rights whether you are an immigrant or citizen, 2. Educate yourself, 3. Follow the money – the huge tax cuts on the 1% sunset in March, they need to find $4trillion to pay for continuing and expanding on those tax cuts, 4. We outnumber the 1% and can do this, 5. Do not comply. I never watch live talks, it was long, almost 2 hours and I came away empowered with knowledge.
Belafon
@brendancalling:
Here in the DFW area, the station is called kxt, and they are about the best place for indie music, plus all of the other stuff they do.
CaseyL
Indivisible has an entire webpage of actions happening immediately.
The page includes a link to see what’s happening in your immediate area.
TaMara
@brendancalling: Come sit right here, next to me. Though I haven’t listened to NPR news since about 2005.
But I am right there with you on all the rest
EarthWindFire
Both my Senators (Kaine and Warner) phones have been slammed (district and DC) so I used Resistbot to send emails and faxes. There’s a fee for faxes but it isn’t much and Congressional offices are still very paper driven. Text 50409 and they “talk” you through it.
brendancalling
@TONYG: That’s another reason I don’t listen to NPR. They never cover news when it’s happening. Biden would be in the middle of a speech, and the NPR host would be blathering about some idjit who collects clams.
mali muso
5 calls is a great resource for looking up not just who to call and ALL of their contact numbers but also provides sample scripts for different issues. Here’s a link to the Elon Musk one: https://5calls.org/issue/elon-musk-opm-gsa-takeover/
EarthWindFire
@brendancalling: They don’t call them Nice Polite Republicans for nothing. Now that Republicans don’t even pretend to have a use for nice and polite, I guess they’re screwed. Thoughts and prayers.
hitchhiker
@TaMara: I was a faithful NPR listener until the day I turned it on and they introduced their next guest, Karl Rove. This was during the fluffing of the looming invasion of Iraq.
The end, done. If I wanted that shit I’d turn on Fox.
ArchTeryx
@hitchhiker: They also were hugely involved in the attempt to sink the ACA by getting Scott Brown (remember that asshole? His campaign staff came up with the “Pocahontas” slur for Elizabeth Warren) elected. And they succeeded, which damn near did sink the ACA.
(It didn’t, but his election prevented any fixes from being applied to the final product. Most of those bugs are still with us today, because Congress is just about 100% paralyzed even when we control it)
That’s when I knew that at best they were Vichy collaborators, and at worst now actively worked for the enemy. That the Rethugs STILL want to defund them just shows they can’t take yes for an answer. All they KNOW is grievance and vengeance. Enjoy those faces, leopards!
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’ll be at the Capital protest in Denver tomorrow. Give Hick hell for me today; schedule conflict so I won’t be there today.
Quinerly
@Baud:
I’m not freaking. NJ folks need to be making phone calls. I did a few yesterday.
Quinerly
@Jay K.:
Good for you!
Spanky
Somewhat on – or off – topic: RFKJr’s nomination has cleared the committee along party line votes. So physician Bill Cassidy voted to confirm.
ETA Partei über alles.
ArchTeryx
@Spanky: The elephant always flies above the Stars and Stripes. Always.
TONYG
@TONYG: I also tried tuning into the New York City “leftist” radio station WBAI. The same performative “leftist” jargon as always. “The genocidal colonialist American criminal justice system”. Blah blah blah. (We got all the right words, didn’t we.). But no mention of Trump or Musk or any of that shit. Certain segments of “the left” apparently think that the United States is hopeless corrupt no matter who is in charge. Bullshit from all sides.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Spanky:
At least that means all Dems voted to oppose
NotMax
@ArchTeryx
How else is it going to poop on it?
//
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@brendancalling:
The entirety of that comment just made my week and we’re barely into it. I really like the “soundalike shows” crack from which so much of today’s “podcast culture” on the political left comes from.
One of my favorite dunks on Totebagger Radio is from 15 years ago:
sixthdoctor
Article link: https://www.axios.com/2025/02/04/senate-democrats-holds-nominees-usaid
Senate Democrats are privately eyeing delays on all Trump nominees as retaliation for his restructuring of USAID, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: This would go beyond the “blanket hold” that Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has placed on State Department nominees. Democrats are furious at Trump’s actions, and want to signal a strong response.
TONYG
@Belafon: I listen to WXPN sometimes. Good music. The radio station of my Dear Alma Mater. WXPN should hire Amy Wax as an afternoon DJ. Better than her keeping that law professor gig.
hitchhiker
The thought of that crackpot in charge of Health and Human Services for the United fucking States of America takes my breath away.
We’ve officially crossed the line between tragedy and farce.
zhena gogolia
My normie friend knew all about tariffs and Musk because it’s all over her Facebook feed. So that’s something new. I used to have to tell her everything that’s happening.
sentient ai from the future
PUT MUSK BACK IN HIS BOTTLE
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
I had people ask me about the tariffs at work, too
TONYG
@brendancalling: Yes, NPR has been doing this shit for decades. I lost it when, a couple of days after Elon’s coup, they had a ten-minute segment about how Melania Trump is planning her second iteration of being First Lady. In other news, Eva Braun was wearing some daring fashions during her visit to Auschwitz … And they hire these female correspondents who talk like kindergarten teachers reading to unusually slow pupils.
ArchTeryx
@NotMax: Yuuuuup. You get it!
Old School
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@TONYG:
A supposed FTFNYT Cletus Safari in Germany circa 1937 with an NPR connection:
“Hitler I feel speaks for me like no one has, why just a few years ago a Jewish clerk was rude to me at a bakery,” said Josef Botterbusch, a German textile worker, as he stared pensively out the window of a Hamburg eatery. – NYT in 1937
Also, it would be parroted in a very cheery-voiced report on NPR’s Morning Edition.
sentient ai from the future
was turned away from drop in to electeds’ offices but senior senator staffer called back and have an appointment for tomorrow after or possibly during the indivisible protests.
gonna bring the (trans) kiddo.
this is gonna be awesome.
TBone
@frosty: he emailed me directly in the past, so I can just use my “reply” button again and again and again…
I was proud of him in the not so distant past, mebbe he’ll earn that back somehow. Mebbe.
TBone
@Nature Andy: here ya go! All in one easy place!
https://resist.bot/
☝️helps your fingers DO THE WALKING
WTFGhost
I’ve stopped using alcohol and THC for pain control, so that’s a small action. Other pain meds, too. WHEE!
ArchTeryx
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: There are actual headlines from the NYT that were at best Hitler-curious and at worst openly supportive of him. All the same sanewashing and careful hiding of the truth. That only came to an end after Pearl Harbor and Hitler declaring war on us, because they well knew if they kept openly supporting the American Bund, they’d find their paper rapidly shut down. FDR didn’t screw around with pro-fascist outlets during wartime. Continuing to be pro-Hitler would have been literal treason, so they STFU about it until after the war.
TBone
@WTFGhost: do you have a plan for continuing success? Good food, great IRL friends for support, exercise as you can, The Thomas Method (that helped get me through the worst of the withdrawals more than once because I am a dumbass in that dept.)
https://endaddiction.life/2023/12/11/thomas-recipe/
TBone
@brendancalling: oh dear LORT yer makin’ me homesick today!!!!!!
Emily B.
Met with one of Andy Kim’s staffers today as part of a local activist group. Our ask: Shut down the nomination process until Musk is out of government. We didn’t get into the office, but she came down to talk to us in the lobby for 20-30 minutes. Her ask of us: personal stories of how the funding freeze or other Trump actions have affected us or our families. Storytelling is key.
Also attended an Indivisible action outside Cory Booker’s office in Newark. About 70-80 people demonstrating. Some support (honking) from passing motorists. We all signed a letter with a similar ask, which the leaders presented to Booker’s staffers afterward. Again, we were encouraged to share our stories—so if you’re contacting your reps, be sure to tell them how the Trump agenda is affecting you personally.
Another action is scheduled for Newark at noon on Wednesday, if any jackals are in the vicinity.
TBone
@windpondalaska: awesome!
Lobo
Repeat the mantra to Senators:
If they give the “advise and consent” bs, remind them of their duty to the Constitution. It may over ride their precious “advise & consent” fixation.
sxjames
@sentient ai from the future:
Thanks for the number. That was the only way I was able to contact senator Ron Wyden. Both his Portland and DC #s were busy. Anyways, left a message thanking him for his statements on Monday (especially the language – ‘hatchetmen’, ‘coup’) and urged him to delay any further nominations.
Don’t know how much good it will do…but at least I tried.
Another Scott
ICYMI, NewRepublic – Greg Sergent interview with Rep. Don Beyer:
More at the link.
(via Fritschner)
Best wishes,
Scott.
WTFGhost
@TBone: Oh, I’m not struggling with addiction. My pain meds are anti-seizure meds. I don’t drink enough to have withdrawal, in spite of doctors who lie in my chart, and THC was my best defense against unceasing pain that ruins every aspect of my life, yes, that, that, that too, and yes, of COURSE that, that, and that. AND that.
It was just a small thing that, absent context, looks good. But in point of fact, it was caused because I found it doesn’t matter how much pain I’m in, because I don’t have the right broken bones, I can’t be disabled… even if I can’t talk. Meh. No big.
Redshift
@CaseyL:
And for people in the DC area, there’s an Indivisible/MoveOn protest at the Treasury building at 5pm today.
Redshift
@Another Scott: Yeah, that was good. A few more “maybe’s” than I’d like, but I expect that’s because he can’t guarantee what his colleagues will do. At least they’re getting there on going to total procedural war, and I’m hopeful the massive number of office visits this week will get them the rest of the way.
Leto
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’m way late in responding to this, just getting to this thread, but Maddow was speaking about this last night. They’re not going after the federal funding piece, but now going after all the underwriters of NPR/PBS. Like you said, federal funding is minuscule so they’re going to target everyone who writes checks to them. That includes a ton of the right wingers, like the Koch’s, etc… On the one hand, ok, bring it on; but on the other, most of our local NPR/PBS stations do a lot of good reporting. The national part is shit, but locally is solid programming. So overall this is going after local reporting which ofc is a shit thing.
Ok, catching up with the rest of the thread.
Redshift
@Lobo:
Remind them that it’s become painfully clear (State and Treasury being specific examples) that absolute loyalty to the point of being willing to violate the law was required for anyone to be considered for these jobs, so even ones who aren’t completely lacking qualifications are unfit because of that.
RaflW
I called Sen. Ron Johnson’s D.C. office today and was able to leave a message (box was full Friday so that day I called a district office).
My gist, which has the benefit of being true! ~ My stepmom lives in a senior community owned by Lutheran Social Services. So I asked the Senator to put a stop to Elon Musk — unappointed & uncomfirmed — threatening to unilaterally cut the funding to LSS. I made a mildly angry plea to the senator to help her stop worrying about Musk forcing her nursing home to close.
If nothing else, I hope at least his staffer takes a moment to think about how shitty things are getting if a constituent calls thinking Musk is gonna f-k up senior communities. That’s the kind of chaos that does get bums thrown out of office.
NotMax
@Redshift
Advise the administration to not put up grossly unqualified nominees.
KatKapCC
@Leto:
At first glance I read that as Kohl’s and I was like……wut.
Another Scott
@brendancalling: Marketplace is a product of Minnesota Public Radio distributed by American Public Media.
Public Radio is much, much more than ME and ATC and deserves our support even when we want to throw things at the big morning and evening news shows because we would be much, much worse off if we were limited to commercial radio only.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Geminid
@Jeffro: I think you ought to send John McGuire a handwritten note saying:
You don’t need to sign it. McGuire will know who it’s from.
Nelle
Kim Reynolds, guv of Iowa and MAGA, declared a disaster in Iowa due to bid flu. I tried to make the point to the senators that it is a pretty poor time to be approving Kennedy and his lack of commitment to public health. Getting a lot of busy signals.
Old School
Belafon
@Another Scott: I will repeat this over and over, but we often forget that there are lots of people that aren’t political junkies, and the read the NYT and Washington Post, they watch the evening news on TV, and they listen to NPR. And they think of a lot of those as left leaning, and haven’t notices the rightward shift they have taken at times. And all underfunding some of those will do is force them into the hands of oligarchs and business, which will subtly push them right even more, and yet people will think they’re still liberal. I don’t have all the answers on how to fix that, but acting like we’re the audience and they’ll be crushed without us makes us look out of touch.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Without NPR, my rural, Southern cousin would be a Republican. They aren’t liberal, but they are much, much better than what passes for radio news, which is mostly Limbaugh clones. We need it if we don’t want to completely abandon rural areas to the fascists.
JaySinWA
@CaseyL: Jayapal was in India for her father’s funeral from Jan 21 – I can’t find whether she has returned. Some of the press releases from her about current events were from India.
Leto
H/t Avalune: Wes Siler substack – Elon Musk’s DOGE Sowing Chaos In National Park Service
Personnel files disappear and seasonal jobs cancelled as “Fork in the Road” email upends NPS staffing
People just *disappearing*; Avalune’s worried my retirement/disability pay is just gonna go *poof* in the night.
sxjames
My earlier comment got ate so….
The only way I could get to Oregon senator Ron Wyden’s office was thru the congressional switchboard (Thanks @sentient AI from the future!) – the direct line to his DC and Portland offices were busy. I left a message thanking him for his statements Monday (especially the language: ‘hatchet men’, ‘coup’) and urged him to delay any further nomination by whatever means necessary. Also left basically the same message to my other senator (Jeff Merkley).
I don’t know how much good it will do, but its better than sitting here doom scrolling.
Betty
@frosty: I did that and put a post on his Bluesky post telling him I want to hearb his voice in opposition to the Musk operation. I also requested a response to my email.
Starfish (she/her)
@Nature Andy: Hi, Andy.
Yes, there are websites that will give you scripts and help you find phone numbers.
A friend of mine really liked to use https://5calls.org/ for the scripts and numbers and all that. They will tell you what to say to your Democrat, what to say to your Republican, and so on.
Lobo
Reminder: Senators going to the “advise & consent” role argued it gave space to Repubs to oppose the worst candidates, e.g., Kennedy and Tulsi. How well did that work out?
Steve LaBonne
@Leto: Well duh, obviously those people won’t be needed after the parks are sold off to resource-extraction companies. I wish I were joking.
CaseyL
@JaySinWA: Ah, I did not know that.
@Steve LaBonne: What Interior will do to the national parks is another one of my ongoing nightmares.
Starfish (she/her)
@Steve LaBonne: Stupid people are going to be gored by bison.
Steve LaBonne
@Starfish (she/her): And by Musk oxen.
TONYG
@CaseyL: They’ll be paved over soon.
prostratedragon
@CaseyL: [Shudder] There are so many right now, aren’t there?
TBone
@WTFGhost: I just had to wean Noah The Love Cat off of (unnecessarily prescribed) gabapentin (for non-existent pain) that was making him into a zombie. At the “final diagnosis” visit when I asked if he will need REAL pain meds going forward (buprenorphine) while we wait for the finality they diagnosed, I was ASSURED he is NOT in pain and that definitely won’t be necessary. Why the fucking gabapentin then??? They told me it was for pain!
(I’m pretty sure they suspected that I wanted the buprenorphine for myself.) Fuckers.
Anywho, Noah is having another great day in a row!
TONYG
@Leto: This has to be violating a shitload of laws. But federal law enforcement is in the hands of that figurehead DONALD TRUMP now.
Another Scott
@Starfish (she/her):
(repost) If not friend, why friend shaped?
(from https://xcancel.com/NatlParkService )
Best wishes,
Scott.
TONYG
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Absolutely. NPR — as mediocre as it is — has to be judged in comparison to the terrible alternatives. It should also be noted that many rural areas have no internet access.
TONYG
@Leto: I guess we’ll find out soon whether Elon will steal all the money or target those thefts to the untermenschen. My guess is “all the money”.
TBone
@Another Scott: thank you hahahaha! I just told someone I am edible downstairs!
TONYG
@Nelle: Kim Reynolds will be shocked to learn that the Good White People of her state will be fucked just like Common Negroes.
TBone
@WTFGhost: manners, TBone!
I don’t mean to sound callous because I know firsthand what unrelenting pain can do to a person. I just didn’t know what else to say because I’m sure you, as an adult, have already tried anything helpful I could suggest. My best hopes that you find relief go with this more better reply!
prostratedragon
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
And not only rural areas. While I was in Washtenaw County, MI (think UMich and EMU), the best local news provider by far was NPR station WEMU; still is, from a glance at their website wemu.org. That station has also tried to hang on to the jazz and blues format, though over time the budget squeeze has forced them to forgo most of their live local hosts in favor of syndications. One stalwart weekday host and a weekend afternoon lineup somehow are still around, providing important cultural air.
NotMax
@TONYG
(With apologies to James Caan) — accompaniment.
;)
Nature Andy
Thank you all! That has been incredibly helpful!
TONYG
@Belafon: That’s right. I live in the New York Metropolitan Area and even here there’s no news media that I would call “liberal”. Local newspapers here in New Jersey are pretty much extinct. There’s the New York Times which (for some people) has a deteriorating facade of liberalism from the Pentagon Papers days but is now mostly a fluffer publication for very rich Wall Street people. NPR gets worse every year but it’s better than right-wing talk radio. And then there’s WBAI — where a diminishing group of cosplay “radicals” spew jargon at each other.
TBone
@Nature Andy: welcome aboard, hombre!
JaySinWA
@John S.: Cantwell managed to get some ink by voting against RFK jr nomination in Finance committee.
TONYG
@TONYG: I have Obsessive-Compulsive disorder about WBAI because when I was a teenager in the early seventies it was an interesting radio station. For the past fifty years: Not so much.
prostratedragon
Here’s a bit of respite I found on today’s wemu.org home page: “Sometimes you just need to take a break and watch a guy unclog a drain”. Article, which is by an NPR correspondent for their pop cultur desk, has various links, including a 6-hour ASMR rug cleaning video.
Just thinking of you all.
TBone
@TONYG: KYW newsradio played almost constantly in our kitchen from the 1970s right on through the aughts.
It was epic back then.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/KYW_(AM)
First in the nation!
Matt McIrvin
@prostratedragon: there’s a YouTube channel called “Drain Cleaning AUSTRALIA” that I got oddly fascinated with–this exceedingly Australian fellow unblocking disgusting obstructions from toilets and restaurant grease traps while shouting about the joys of doing so with theatrically exaggerated enthusiasm in a manner recalling the late Steve Irwin poking at venomous snakes.
Sister Golden Bear
@TONYG: Nah, they’ll be strip mining Yosemite in search of coal. Beautiful, beautiful coal.
Scout211
More lawsuits being filed today.
NotMax
@Sister Golden Bear
Did someone mention coal?
;)
dkinPa
@frosty: I had no problem getting through to Fetterman’s office yesterday. I suspect that they’re getting snowed under. Good. Sen. McCormick is probably still in NJ/Wherever. His phone system sucks.
@sentient ai from the future:
dkinPa
@sentient ai from the future: You and your kiddo are my heroes! Let us know how it goes tomorrow.
Redshift
@Belafon: In that chart of news sources and voting patterns, if I recall correctly, people who listen to NPR are the most Democratic voters. (Which is one of the reasons they’re trying to destroy it.)
We need to distinguish between frustrating and could do better (which I completely agree with) vs. “basically Republicans, who needs ’em.” If NPR is Nice Polite Republicans, they’re Nice Polite circa 1990 Republicans, and that’s a hell of a lot better than anything we have to deal with now.
AWOL
@TONYG: I was involved with those thieves. I Ieft after the 2001 Race War. People here listen to “Democracy Now.” Amy Goodman is a tankie who works against the Democratic Party. That’s why her garbage is aired everywhere. I hope it doesn’t make our approved-media list. (My fourth plea.)
WTFGhost
@TBone: Yeah, gabapentin helps with some neurological pain, but it doesn’t tend to help with normal pain. You might be right about the buprenorphine – vets have been hobbled by pain control zealots.
sentient ai from the future
@dkinPa: it’s really not going to be much, my senator is doing everything right, but since there is also going to be the indivisible protest around the same time I think there’s going to be a lot of modeling and civic education here. Really I’m just giving attaboys and saying keep up the good work, which is a thing a lot of people just don’t bother to do even if they are politically aware and active.
My kid seeing that people in the halls of power can and do care of you take the time to talk with them is super important.
Quinerly
We can add this to our list of lawsuits being filed.
Doctors for America claims that in taking public health data offline without advance notice, agencies including the CDC and FDA abused their discretion and arbitrarily deprived clinicians and researchers of tools necessary to treat patients. Complaint filed in DC US District Court and names HHS and the White House Office of Personnel Management, which directed agencies to remove or modify websites in accordance with executive orders from President Trump.
https://www.axios.com/2025/02/04/doctors-sue-trump-removed-health-data
sab
@Redshift: So true about NPR. Also too, a lot of their stations are in the red boondocks, so they need to have a balance to not be completely offputting to those listeners. I have lived in many conservatine areas, and NPR was almost always there to at least offer something for those not lost to Fox and Sinclair radio.
pajaro
@TONYG:
Andy Kim was just about the first Senator to go down to the Agency for International Development and find out what was going on. Don’t give up on him.
pajaro
I really appreciate the efforts of everyone to be constructive and to focus on things we can do. I’ve made my calls as well. Best to everyone.
TONYG
@pajaro: Good. I didn’t know that. (Don’t ask me my opinion of Josh Gottheimer though.
TONYG
@Belafon: That is true. I’m well aware of the fact that I pay a lot more attention to politics than “the average person” does. People have only so much bandwidth. I had an interesting experience a few days ago. A close friend (who is NOT a political junkie) had seen my stupid Facebook posts complaining about this coup, and she asked me what the hell is going on. So, I explained. She was appalled. I like to make an analogy with ice hockey. I neither know nor care which NHL teams are good. That’s the way a lot of people treat politics.