Yesterday’s Tesla protests got some attention — here’s a story from The Guardian, The site TeslaTakedown is still up.
The 50501 movement is planning a “no kings” protest at every state capitol for Presidents’ Day (tomorrow). They’re using this site to keep track of every state’s protest, so look up your location if you’re interested. Here’s an NPR story with background on the protests.
Indivisible is pushing “Musk or Us” action over the Congressional recess, Feb 14-23. In the past, they’ve done things like hosting empty chair town halls for Republican Reps who wouldn’t show up. Though billed as a “home district period”, these recesses have morphed into opportunities for Reps and Senators to fundraise, meet privately with donors and elites, and generally have little to no interaction with their regular constituents.
The NAACP has issued a Black Consumer Advisory:
We encourage you to spend your money where you’re respected, support Black-owned businesses, and demand businesses prioritize people over profit. Above all, we must continue to advocate for policies that insure people of color, women, veterans, those with a disability, and all protected groups have equal access to opportunities across the country.
Related to that, a number of groups are proposing a Feb 28 “consumer blackout” with a similar goal as the NAACP. On Feb 28, the last Friday of the month, the plan is to not spend any money online or in person, and if you must, spend it at locally-owned, DEIA-friendly stores. Here’s an non-paywalled link with more information and a list of the companies that have rolled back their DEIA initiatives post-Trump.
Feel free to post anything else protest or resistance related that you think is worth attention in the comments. Also, if you go to a protest and have photos or a report, you can email those to me at [email protected] and I’ll start gathering them for front-page posts and the revolving protest photos over here >>>>> at the bottom. If you want an open thread, WaterGirl posted one just below this post.
jehrler
While taking part in a #TeslaTakedown protest I saw a driver of a Tesla pull into the lot and drive out in different non-Tesla car. Realized that this was an Uber/Lyft driver who is leasing the car to drive.
It got me thinking. Our electric car is not a Tesla, we don’t charge at Tesla stations and don’t own any Tesla stock. Given this there is really no leverage we have over Musk/Tesla.
Except, what if we start refusing Uber/Lyft rides in Teslas. I’m sorry for the drivers who will lose rides but maybe, just maybe, it encourages some drivers to find alternatives to a Tesla, increasing the pressure on Tesla/Musk.
#AITA or is this something that should be part of the #TeslaTakedown protests?
MomSense
We had a protest at our local Tesla charging station yesterday. Same one Maddow mentioned on her show. It’s going to be every weekend! We are small but mighty!
Leto
Rikyrah posted, a few days ago, that there was a new Green Book updated for the 21st century and it just checks another box on the “FFS” bingo card.
Just going to bring this up from 3 below:
“America is finally being run like a business: a business acquired by private equity that’s being stripped for parts before being liquidated.”
How many more of these dumb motherf’kers are going to parrot the line, “No, a competent business leader!” This is the person you chose. They’re following the standard business model of the past 50 years. How about we try something else? No? You’re gonna burn it all down instead? Ok then.
dc
This is the web page for the Raleigh area 50501 group: https://sites.google.com/view/50501-northcarolina?usp=sharing
Their march is from 3-5 in order not to conflict with the anti-Griffin rally from 12-2 (which I’m going to participate in).
Steve LaBonne
This is happening in my town tomorrow, and my wife and I were going to be there, but it’s going to be brutally cold so we old folks may have to sit this one out. I am signed up for a visit to Bernie Moreno’s Cleveland office the first Wednesday in March (Indivisible is organizing these for every Wednesday).
Elizabelle
I really like the protest sign up today in the sidebar.
Gonna use that.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Elizabelle:
Great! Then we’ve done what we set out to do in terms of spreading pithy slogans. It’s amazing how little they percolate into a normie’s event horizon so the more we can spread them, the better.
I provided one to some friends last week, it came out of Occupy:
“I’ll believe that corporations are people when Texas executes one.”
They thought it was hysterical and had never heard of it before.
Elizabelle
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yes, that is an excellent Occupy slogan.
Jeez. Musk has ruined “Occupy” too, with the sophomoric “Occupy Mars” tee shirts.
And no executing corporations! Just federal agencies saving lives around the nation and world. Research that can benefit this terra firma. None of that, now.
TBone
I just got the Chewy Box cardboard cut and taped up with some taped together paint stirring sticks to hold it with.
I am in the process of choosing my words carefully!
Short & sweet, TBone! Hubby says I’m gonna be on the WNEP 5:00 news hahaha!
Union County & Lewisburg Standing UP at the post office tomorrow! I’ll ask hubby to be my photographer and try to send in some photos.
I am so excited I can get out of the house & SHOUT!
*Barring unforeseen emergency medical events aaarrggh they’ve been challenging too long!
I did
PEOPLE
OVER
PROFIT
for Occupy, need sumthin’ new for 2025
prostratedragon
One runs short of words sometimes:
Oh, those deadly perimeters! And the man has the untroubled affect of a bright, indulged 8-year-old. This is what the full and unrestrained misuse of the nation’s coercive power is shoving down our throats.
TBone
@prostratedragon:
holee shit
AM in NC
@dc: I’ll be there at 12 with another friend of mine! NC represent!
RaflW
I also recommend this interview between Rebecca Solnit and Erica Chenoweth from a few days ago. The lede:
Steve LaBonne
My condolences to anyone who is trying to sign up for Medicare.
TBone
@TBone: oh this one is so very tempting
Gonna go consult with the Freeway Blogger & Panhandle Slim before I choose my words.
Elizabelle
@RaflW: Thank you. Am a fan of both of them. Will read this.
Bill Arnold
@RaflW:
For those who want some more reading on non-violent resistance:
Why Civil Resistance Works – The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (PDF, 38 pages, Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth, 2008)
Why Civil Resistance Works (Slides (22), Erica Chenoweth, April 8, 2010)
Ohio Mom
@jehrler: Yeah, I didn’t buy a Tesla yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that… I haven’t bought millions of Teslas.
About Uber: You do realize that the driver rates you as a customer? You have a secret (to you) score. I think if there is a history of you cancelling, the pattern of you cancelling Teslas won’t be noticed, the fact that you are erratic might be.
Ohio Son takes a lot of Ubers and I monitor his trips through the “Share my Ride” feature. I can’t say I’ve noticed any Teslas but I will say that almost all of his drivers lately are immigrants. I am not sure from where though I think a portion are from Central Asia. I’ve been wondering who is going to be driving Ubers if we do away with immigrants.
Ubering is a hard way to make a living, especially since you have to have a new, pristine car. If you are leasing a Tesla for your Uber business, how many trips a day or week before you meet your expenses and start making money? (Obviously we don’t have any numbers with which to do the calculations).
TBone
How about the Where Do I Start ?!? on the front, and on the back:
BlueGuitarist
Iowa City Eastside Democrats posted a call to action on BlueSky re the March 11 special election I mentioned yesterday for Iowa House District 100 in Lee County in southeastern Iowa.
https://bsky.app/profile/iceastsidedems.bsky.social/post/3lhzkf4k6cc2v
Includes postcard writing.
Democrat Nannette Griffin, who owns an auto repair shop, is running in the March 11 special election for Iowa House District 100.
Overlapping US House district: IA-01, the closest US House seat won by a Republican last year.
Trump carried IAH-100 by 27 points; Republican US House candidate by 14.
A few weeks ago, Democrat Mike Zimmer, a HS principal, flipped a Trump +21 district, (R US House candidate +9) in an Iowa state legislative special election.
Griffin has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, as she was when she ran for State Senate last year. That campaign was a supported by the UAW, IUOE Local 150, and the DLCC (Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee). State senate campaign results similar to the top of the ticket.
Obama carried the district in 2008 and 2012, but the district moved sharply to the right in 2016, and has shifted further right than the statewide results since then.
I believe some others here share the view that folks like Nannette Griffin – candidates willing to run facing these odds – are heroic.
For more info:
Nannette Griffin’s website: https://www.nannetteforiowa.com/
Includes ActBlue link.
You can get more info from the outstanding Iowa Blog, Bleeding Heartland run by LauraBellin who is also on BlueSky.
https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/02/15/tactics-for-blaine-watkins-nannette-griffin-take-shape-in-house-district-100/
Rob Sand, Iowa Auditor, the only Democrat holding statewide office in Iowa
a potential candidate for US Senate in 2026
has boosted Nannette Griffin’s campaign on BlueSky
Thanks AnotherScott!
no se le olvide:
There’s a thermometer right here on BJ for WI State Supreme Court
and you can write postcards for
Susan Crawford for Supreme Court
via Tony the Democrat at postcards to voters.
raven
A friend lost his job yesterday and his colleague wrote this:
I was unjustly and illegally fired from my job along with tens of thousands of other federal employees. (But honestly, if you care about me or the state of our country, please read this.)
In this picture, I am performing a public service. A public service that the National Institute for Food and Agriculture deemed important enough to grant our unit enough money to specifically hire someone to do. The work I’m doing here directly impacts the livelihoods of growers, the production of alfalfa seed and hay, the dairy and livestock industries, and $11 billion of US agricultural production. Do you drink milk, eat cheese, or use butter? My work helps you. Does your horse eat alfalfa? My work helps you. Do you care about “saving the bees”? My work helps you. Do you care about what pesticides are used and how safe they are? My work helps you.
Nevertheless, last night I received an email stating: “Based on your performance, you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest. For this reason, the Agency informs you that the Agency is removing you from your position”.
The agency in question is the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, for whom I have worked for the last 10 months. During that time, I have received glowing performance reviews from my supervisors, including a performance award. I have submitted 3 scientific manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals. I have been awarded $25,000 from stakeholders to continue this research. I spent two months in rural eastern Washington, sweating in over 100° heat every day to collect essential data. This termination is not based on my performance.
My direct supervisors had no say in this termination. My direct supervisors’ boss’ boss’ boss had no say in this termination. They also will not have the opportunity to file, fill out, or sign any of my termination paperwork, as is typical in this process. Instead, all of that will be handled by HR headquarters in Washington, DC. In other words, the paperwork that officially states that I am being fired for poor performance will be filled out and signed off by people who have had no possible way to assess my performance.
My job, as do most jobs, came with a probationary period, during which my performance would be assessed to determine my “fitness or qualifications for continued employment”. In my position this was 1 year. In other federal positions this can be up to 3 years. While this is a probationary period, employees can still only be terminated under specific circumstances related to their fitness for the position. https://www.ecfr.gov/…/subchapter-B/part-315/subpart-H
The President, DOGE, and Elon Musk are saying that these cuts are to increase efficiency and the federal budget. These are blatant lies.
1. If this was about efficiency, they would have taken the time to actually assess people’s performances. Instead, they are unanimously slashing the (typically) most motivated part of the workforce giving little to no notice to employees, supervisors, or even higher-ups. This is causing chaos, panic, and an extreme decrease in efficiency. This is part of their plan. They cause the inefficiency and then point to the agencies and say “Look at how inefficient they are!” For example, because I have been fired and we’re on a hiring freeze, there will be no one to perform the mission-critical work I was doing. The money that NIFA granted our unit over a year ago to do this job will sit in an account and gather dust, because it is legally not allowed to be used for anything else. Yes, I agree this is inefficient. But this is inefficient, because of the way the executive branch + Musk are operating.
2. Which brings me to my 2nd point. If this was about the money, I would still have a job. I was paid by a grant that was already paid out to our unit over a year ago. This is not money appropriated by Congress. This is a very specific amount of money set aside for a very specific purpose on a very specific 3 year timeline. As I said above, it cannot be used for anything else. Additionally, the majority of the workforce that was terminated are those that are lower on the pay scale! Mainly folks that make less than $100k/year and many less than half that. If this was truly about money, is targeting the lower end of the <4% of the entire budget allotted to federal salaries really the way to save “trillions”?
When Trump, Musk, and their friends are talking about “trimming the fat”, “dumping the waste”, or “lazy federal employees”. They’re talking about me and people just like me.
When the richest man in the world is responsible for tens of thousands of hardworking Americans performing a public service for you and your country losing their livelihoods with less than 24h notice, it’s time to think about if he truly has your best interest in mind.
If you voted for Trump and this upsets you, call your state and local representatives and TELL THEM. Please, it’s the only way we can get this to stop.
If you voted for Trump and this doesn’t upset you, then maybe reflect some more on what they’re doing to our country.
If you have questions or would like further information or clarification, feel free to ask in a respectful manner.
Thank you for reading this. Thank you for caring. Please help us stop this.
–Michelle
Elizabelle
@raven: Good for Michelle for writing that. Tragic that she is being treated this way, and that we lose her services, and commitment to protecting our health and foodstuffs.
And this email is straight out of Big Brother or 1984.
No one elected Elon Musk. I hope he is removed from the Earth, and soon.
Nukular Biskits
MM2, strongly recommend you post all this on Bluesky so we can promote/repost it and spread the news.
And, related, doesn’t look like anything is planned for Jackson, MS. I haz a sad.
BlueGuitarist
@Bill Arnold:
Dana R. Fisher, coauthor with Chenoweth et al of “The science of contemporary street protest: New efforts in the United States” is on Bluesky [email protected]
The Crowd Counting Consortium doesn’t seem to have updates accessible daily as previously, but updates at least monthly, and also a good place for people to send data on protests that may not be getting much attention.
Nukular Biskits
I’ll add one more thing:
If it’s convenient, pay a visit to your US Rep’s and US Senators’ local offices this week. Just so happens all three of mine are right down the road here where I live.
Nukular Biskits
@MomSense:
Hmmm. There’s an idea!
There’s one in D’Iberville here on the Coast.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Coming soon, Mars Needs Nazis. Direct to video, direct to the bargain bin.
//
zhena gogolia
@raven: All these stories need to come out. It is ENRAGING.
raven
@Elizabelle:
@zhena gogolia:
It truly is
TBone
@raven: someone should read that aloud through a bullhorn at a protest tomorrow. My local protest org invites speakers to do just that!
West of the Rockies
I am really heartened to see the resistance growing.
We knew what would happen: Trump and his evil followers would flood the zone with their puke funnel as they try to overwhelm society and create chaos and acceptance. They wanted mass emotional and political resignation.
They isn’t happening. Such posts as these are soooo important and valuable. Yes, hope is not a strategy. No hope is, however, the road to perdition.
Sally
From the post two down, that “activists” fear acting in case trump might declare martial law, is exactly the same as the west not supporting UA fighting freely because putin might use nuclear weapons. Self constrained by (unjustified) fear. This fear is what bullies rely on. The greatest threat to our freedom we face is not trump, or putin, but our fear.
We have so many examples of bravery. Georgians, Ukrainians, public servants speaking up, lawyers, doctors.
ActivistsPassivistsDon’t poke the bear. No, shoot the damn thing.
Professor Bigfoot
@West of the Rockies: Hope is fuel.
With no fuel, the most powerful rocket will never leave the pad.
Without hope, the power to fight disappears.
Hope is fuel.
And this place is a fuel station.
TBone
Cardboard sign progress: had a pack of construction paper leftover from a hubby grankids visit. One side of sign now has a bright pink background, and the other side bright orange 🍊
Will make final decision on words tomorrow morning.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: indeed!
Sally
It is also enraging that this situation is forcing us to spend so much money on legal fees, instead of funding candidates, publicising our messages. LG&M has a piece up about Planned Parenthood local branches starved of finances, despite donation increases. The money is going to fight case after case in states trying to defend abortion care, instead of pain relief, nurses salaries, IV flushes. Is this the correct priority, I don’t know, but it is certainly an effective way of gutting women’s health care. And Dem politics. Tying Dem money up in court cases is certainly a happy outcome for R’s. It allows the circular argument, Dems do nothing for me, so I won’t bother voting for them. So they are not in a position to be able to deliver on our policies that will help you.
Life is better with a Democrat.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Nukular Biskits: Thanks for the reminder. I forgot to post it before I left the house. It’s up now.
TBone
Some sign lettering language music
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k-bpuCbU6MY
sxjames
Sorta on topic….
The Sunday Oregonian newspaper has a good article on page A3 about OR Sen. Ron Wyden’s town hall a few days ago in Hillsboro (a suburb of Portland). At least 1,200 folks showed up (maxing out the Middle school gym capacity), contrasting to a usual crowd of 200 or so for a town hall. According to the reporting, the focus of the questions were on the hiring freeze, Musk & DODGE and the tariffs. (Much of Oregon’s trade is with Japan and China). Even had a few on T—-s plans for Gaza. And from the reporting folks are worried and angry and just. plain. pissed.
I know people are looking for a leader (not necessarily an elected official, maybe something/someone to just rally around?) but understand this – when (not if) that entity stands up there are many, many folks ready to follow.
At least, that is what I’m telling myself. Beats despair.
(Here is the link. I don’t know if it will work for those without a subscription and I don’t see a way to gift an article)
https://reader.theoregonian.com/wyden-addresses-packed-town-hall-in-hillsboro/content.html
Bill Arnold
duplicate
Bill Arnold
@BlueGuitarist:
Thanks for the Dana R. Fisher name! I had those links handy and saw an opportunity to drop them early in a thread.
Here’s another: Erica Chenoweth, google scholar, sorted by most recent first
I need to look at more of her work, and Dana’s.
prostratedragon
A refreshing hour focussing on what people are doing. And remember, everything is everything.
Dangerman
Inaction. POS shows up in Daytona. Rains come. Coincidence?
Can’t we tell him there are a buttload of TV cameras on the South Pole? Sure, AF1 would have a problem but Elon can solve it.
ETA: More Cybertrucks in the wild. Don’t they realize the thing is a POS like you know who?
Nukular Biskits
@sxjames:
Must be nice.
Neither of my senators have ever held a town hall meeting since taking office.
RaflW
@BlueGuitarist: Quick note, I’ve seen a few Bsky handles posted around here of late with the “@” in the middle, but that’s an email address. @fisherdanar.bsky.social is how to find the person.
Thanks, y’all. It is helpful to be finding and following the good people.
Dan B
There was a concert / dance at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in honor of the Jews who performed in orchestras in the Nazi death camps. They even used a restored violin from the camps. The composer, conductor, and soloists were black. Everyone felt wonderful about coming together as two different sets of people who had been persecuted but didn’t always get along. It reminded me of the antiwar protests in the 60’s and Gay Liberation. There were always art and fun performance. Culture is a great way to bring people into the resistance. I leafletted with WITCH, the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell. They had a cauldron and dressed as witches. Everybody took their leaflets unlike other “serious” protests.
tailfedders
@AM in NC: Another NC represent!
Dan B
@Dan B: I thought it would be wonderful to organize a performance to honor trans people.
sxjames
@Nukular Biskits:
Yes, I am lucky. Both my senators and US representative keep in regular contact with their voters. Maybe is has something to do with the political party they belong to?
Nukular Biskits
@sxjames:
Surely you jest …
Baud
@Sally:
Good slogan.
sxjames
@Nukular Biskits: Well, I had to say something to counteract all the Dem bashing :)
In all seriousness, thanks for reminding me how blessed I am to have decent representation. Whatever one wants to say about the Democratic party, at least they believe in a lawful government that treats citizens with respect.
Sally
@Baud: I thought so. Simple. True.
Sally
@Sally: There are so many great ideas in these forums, why can’t those highly paid consultants come up with these ideas! Even if they steal them from us. That’s fine by me.
Nukular Biskits
@sxjames:
I probably misread your statement about the elected officials’ political party.
I thought you were commenting on the refusal of mine (all Republicans) to hold town hall meetings, not the willingness of yours (presumably all Dem) to do so.
I’ve asked my rep’s staffers and the staffers for both senators when their bosses were going to be in district and when they were going to hold town hall meetings. The answer always is something along the lines of “I’m not sure but I’ll have someone get that information to you” which, of course, never happens.
Suzanne
Man, I have been stuck inside all weekend due to the weather — and this morning’s dead rat incident did nothing for my mood — and I really want to dunk on Elon some more.
BlueGuitarist
@Bill Arnold:
Crowd Counting Consortium data:
https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/RI9JFU
They have 2025 data including events scheduled thru 2/28.
Includes protests against Musk in DC and 42 events coded as organized by 50501 Movement.
For the latter they don’t have much detail (yet?)
source listed is generic instagram.
They’ve got Denver but not how many people, etc.
Ojo – check this out – Mistermix, Comrade Scott, anyone who has been at a protest, you can improve the information available about protest actions, which can be a meaningful resource for other protests:
Link to submit a record for the Crowd Counting Consortium
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc3W_tb71fiEJhi379y0T6gttQ0f9nbb23bj8iicceLP_j8rQ/viewform
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne: You probably already know he has ghosted the latest baby mama, last I saw
p.s. i’m always up for elno dunkin’
Suzanne
@MagdaInBlack: I saw a rumor that there are at least 100 Elmo children out there, via sperm donation.
Dude looks like a human tub of cottage cheese.
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne: These people are not just weird, they are gross. I do not want to think of elno making “donations.”
Spanky
Frankly, I thought it would get personal sooner, but here we are.
The Unmitigated Gaul
Seen from afar, the emerging, Sassoon-ish vibes are GOOD.
Suzanne
@MagdaInBlack: It’s also circulating that Elmo has a botched penis implant.
I don’t know if it’s true, but it feels true.
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne: Well, that would explain……just a whole lot.
Ms Crockett has some thoughts..
https://www.rawstory.com/jasmine-crockett-wrong-maga-musk/
Suzanne
@MagdaInBlack: It really, really would.
BlueGuitarist
@Nukular Biskits:
The Crowd Counting Consortium mentioned above at #57 has 3 Mississippi demonstrations so far in 2025:
200 people at an anti-Trump rally 1/18/25 in Jackson, at Bellwether Church
20-25 at an anti-Trump rally 1/20/25 in Jackson at the State Capitol
And unknown (as of yet) number 2/5/25.
Mentions as “notables” at the first event: “Rep. Alyce Clarke; Jackson Free Press editor-in-chief and CEO Donna Ladd; Felicia Brown-Williams, the director of public policy at Planned Parenthood Southeast; Kristy Johnson, Miss Black Mississippi USA; Hattiesburg pastor Brandiilyne Mangum-Dear”
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
Nice.
Nukular Biskits
@BlueGuitarist:
Thanks for the reminder. I patronize the Mississippi Free Press and had forgotten about those events.
Still, this is MS so I would expect most, if any, Trump protests would be organized/led primarily by members of the African-American community via churches .. ’cause most of my fellow white Mississippians are fucking morons.
Baud
Apparently, not just an American problem.
I believe Liberal = Conservative because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere.
BlueGuitarist
@raven:
Thanks for posting this!
So many unsung individuals doing good work, day after day, prevented from continuing to make things better by Musk, an incompetent unelected bureaucrat, making everything worse.
Kayla Rudbek
@Suzanne: the wankpanzers have a worse safety record than the Ford Pinto, did I see this article here or on Bluesky? https://fuelarc.com/evs/its-official-the-cybertruck-is-more-explosive-than-the-ford-pinto/
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
I thought liberals in Australia were slɐɹǝqᴉl
Spanky
@Suzanne: Perfect! To call him a “dickless wonder” now has the benefit of being possibly true.
TBone
@BlueGuitarist: very cool, thanks for sharing!
tobie
@Elizabelle: I wonder if Michelle has a lawyer. How can an agency that is not Congressionally approved be firing federal employees? I was told that if you’re a union member, the union lawyers can represent you, but someone who has only been in a position for 10 months and has been working her tail off may not have signed up yet. This just wants to make me scream. We’re tossing science, learning, expertise, commitment, and achievement to the wayside. Why? (Rhetorical question. Ressentiment is all about pulling people down, so they’re as miserable as you are, not lifting yourself up. Nietzsche diagnosed MAGA long before the brownshirts or the MAGAts were a phenomenon.)
BlueGuitarist
@Nukular Biskits:
From this article about the pipeline explosion in Satartia, MS a few years back i learned that the zombie apocalypse had already begun – you won’t be surprised, begun in MS.
“‘It was almost like something you’d see in a zombie movie. They were just walking in circles….with this blank look on their face….I said, ‘Get in the truck or you’re gonna die!’”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gassing-satartia-mississippi-co2-pipeline_n_60ddea9fe4b0ddef8b0ddc8f
Now they’re going to have a lot more ways to poison us.
Nukular Biskits
@BlueGuitarist:
I remember that. And, to my knowledge, no one was ever held liable or accountable.
Thanks for that info … I’m posting it on Bluesky.
Ruckus
@Elizabelle:
No one elected Elon Musk. I hope he is removed from the Earth, and soon.
Humanity can’t be that lucky. If we were he wouldn’t have shown up in the first place. Someone once stated that humanity takes all kinds. It doesn’t take all kinds – IT HAS ALL KINDS. Some percentage of which the vast majority of us don’t need.
FDRLincoln
I’d protest tomorrow except I’m teaching a class to sheriff deputies about “The History of Law Enforcement in the United States”. Which pulls no punches, covers everything from slave patrols to police brutality to reform attempts.
I’m sure it’s a matter of time before someone pulls the plug on my class as too woke.
Next week I’m teaching the deputies about Constitutional Law. Even more woke.
Suzanne
@Spanky: I am deeply saddened by how much of our public life is in the hands of these past-their-peak white men are obviously having trouble coping.
Suzanne
Another interesting xheet going around…. suggests that Elmo paid a guy to be the full-time manager of his baby mamas and to keep them quiet, and he got fired after Ashley St. Clair spilled the beans on Friday.
dc
@AM in NC:
I’ll have a sign that says: Defend Democracy on one side and Defund the Oligarchy on the other. Say hi if you see me!
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne: Didn’t he buy or build a “compound” for them all to live together or some such nonsense?
Almost Retired
@Baud: Yes. When the right wing is in power, the Australian economy circles the drain counter-clockwise.
Bill Arnold
@Suzanne:
That’s the sort of joke that Reality’s Scriptwriters appreciate, so it must be true.
Suzanne
@MagdaInBlack: A compound? Is this some sister wives shit? A harem? Real Housewives of Gross Freak? I’m not kinky enough to keep up.
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne:
https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/elon-musk-compound-austin-children/
( sorry for all the elno pics)
Nukular Biskits
@FDRLincoln:
I’d be interested in seeing your material for both classes.
Maybe a “guest post” here, perhaps?
dc
Streaming now, North Carolina Dem meeting, right now Congresswoman Ross who represents Wake county. https://www.youtube.com/live/zAsW6lyzocI?si=8V6VZxV-qiRRAvKI
Jackie
@MagdaInBlack: From the link, as WaterGirl and others don’t click RawStory links:
And, she posted this on X. Love her feistiness and cajones!
FDRLincoln
@Nukular Biskits: I will see what I can put together. Its a 2 hour class, combo of lecture, powerpoint, youtube clips to illustrate both good and bad policing, class discussion. Topics include law enforcement in colonial America, slave patrols, the chaos of Bleeding Kansas (we are in Kansas), Pinkertons, Haymarket, early 20th century police reformers, LAPD and Dragnet, community policing, examples of hero cops, examples of villain cops. It is a rapid overview but the idea is to get them thinking about their careers within historical context.
YY_Sima Qian
My hope is that Trump & Musk indiscriminately taking the huge axe to all parts of USG will radicalize many current & recently former federal employees, educated & connected compared to the general population, experienced in working in & perhaps establishing complex alternative organizations, many w/ prior experience in the military or natsec functions, people who previously had been of the establishment/institutionalist/technocratic inclination. It might also radicalize some previously disengaged people who are beneficiaries of federal services.
All of these could plant the seeds for the eventual downfall of MAGA, at least in its current incarnation.
MagdaInBlack
@Jackie: Thank you.
RaflW
@YY_Sima Qian: Related concept, and one I find appealing
I’ll add: For actual lawbreaking.
Nukular Biskits
@FDRLincoln:
Thanks! No rush, I just thought it sounded interesting.
FDRLincoln
The Constitutional Law class next week includes clips from Schoolhouse Rock and Captain Kirk’s preamble speech from The Omega Glory.
ColoradoGuy
“Defund Musk!”
Seriously, if all of his assets were seized and distributed equally to everyone on Earth, every one of us would get $50. Think about that for a little while.
In brute economic terms, billionaires perform no useful economic function. They sop up wealth, far more than can ever be spent, and hoard it, or “invest” in wild schemes unlikely to benefit anyone. There really should be an upper limit, maybe around $100 million, which is about the most anyone could spend in a lifetime.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: I will be interested to see the ramifications of this purge on the Virgina Governor’s race. Virginia has a ton of federal employees, and Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate is a former Postal Inspector and CIA agent.
A few weeks ago Politico Playbook had a brief preview of upcoming governor races this year and next. They rated Virginia’s as a Toss-up. I did not think it was, but it definitely isn’t now.
YY_Sima Qian
@RaflW: Well, this time around I hope these “Blobby” types will rethink their commitment to US primacy, too. Decades of pursuing geopolitical, military, economic & financial primacy is what helped to lead to this moment, for such efforts generally came at the expense of the working & lower middle classes, not to mention impoverished minorities. So much resources spent in alliance/hegemonic maintenance, while the US decayed from w/in.
Otherwise, it is just replacing one incarnation of MAGA w/ another. Of course, current incarnation of MAGA taking the torch to the world will likely force such a rethink whether Americans like it or not.
Jay
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3nrx1dq5o
Nukular Biskits
@Jay:
I have to wonder how many gov’t employees would want to come back.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: NoVa heavily populated by federal employees is already solidly Blue, no. But local/regional races definitely bear watching. The fight against MAGA is everywhere all at once, 1st to slow it down, then to stall it, & eventually turning it back.
I wish I could be confident that the solutions lie in elections, but whether you think the solution lie in electoral politics, mass action, or armed resistance (or all of the above), coalition building, organization & activism are must.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: There is an interesting conflict playing out in Northeast Syria between the US as an international power and regional power Turkiye. This has been a source of friction for a decade, but it seems like there will be a resolution in the next few weeks.
Jackie
@Nukular Biskits:
How many have to go back – if they need that paycheck!
I’m sure they’re feverishly updating their resumes as I type. Those who hope they’ve still got a job, aren’t expecting to remain there, regardless.
coin operated
@Nukular Biskits: I’ll bet every foreign intelligence service knows who these people are and can get hold of them. Ukraine and the EU, who will be talking about nuclear arsenals here soon, could make some sweet offers and get some expertise for a song.
Were I a federal employee who was just unceremoniously sacked by someone who didn’t know what I did for a living, I’d entertain an offer of employment overseas.
Jay
@coin operated:
the entire team that monitors Ukraine’s Nuclear Energy sectors, as part of the Budapest Memorandum, to ensure that Ukraine is not working on nuclear weapons, were fired.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: I read last week that Trump wants to completely pull out of Syria.
MAGA wants leave the buffer & sacrificial zones between spheres influence of great powers (such as MENA) to the regional players to fight over, as long as they pay tithes (literally) to Trumpian interests. MAGA wants to realize an ethnic-nationalist multipolarity of the late 19th century age of empires kind, interlaced w/ a corporatist multipolarity w/ Trumpian interests deeply enmeshed.
Jay
@Nukular Biskits:
I wonder how many employee’s know that they are no longer fired, as the Agencies have no means of contacting them.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: Besides Northern Virginia, there als are a lotof federal employees in Central Virginia where I live and in the Richmond area as well. The Hampton Roads area has a larger concentration of civilian federal employees as well as military, active and retired. The latter and their families will feel VA cuts acutely.
Federal employees are often typed as Democrats but many are Independents. Those are often swing voters.
Elizabelle
@ColoradoGuy: We need to severely tax the billionaires and insanely large incomes, so that these weasels cannot buy the government and drown us out.
Corporate compensation is out of control, too. It does not help our economy.
Stuff that should have been handled in the 1990s, and is now becoming so apparent.
I think everything over $5 million in annual income should get a huge haircut. That’s a very nice house, and even a boat. It’s also your family farm, isn’t it?
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: Thanks for the explanation!
Just out of curiosity, do these federal employees commute, or WFH, or are there a lot of federal bureaucracy located in Central Virginia?
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: I keep hanging on to what I guess is hope, but, jeezuz, I don’t see how we recover from this dismantling of everything.
Jackie
The FFOTUS isn’t going to escape testimonials such as this report:
My bold.
The full report is in the link. Eta: Something tells me he voted for FFOTUS – he comes across as if he was personally betrayed. Oh well <shrug>
Sorry about the ugly link; it didn’t give me a better option.
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/weve-been-betrayed-local-veterans-angry-after-being-laid-off-by-trump-administration/FBCKFRIFQRHZVK5FG3W7MUQEYA/
MagdaInBlack
@Jackie: Good friends sister works at the VA in Gainseville, FL. She chose to take the “buy-out.” Friend and I are interested in seeing how that all works out.
Kay
@Jackie:
Oh that is sad, that they’re telling them it’s “poor performance” – they’re making it so they will have trouble getting a job. Just pure meanness, really evil people.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: The future of the U.S. military mission in Syria is still unclear. I think the administration has not yet made a decision. The ongoing negotiations between Syria’s new givernment and the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces are an important factor here.
I saw a picture of U.S. Secretary of Marco Rubio and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan at the Munich conference. They were doing one of those handshakes where they face the cameras and smile; or in Rubio’s case, tries to smile.
It was an interesting contrast. One of them– Fidan– has his President’s full trust and confidence. Rubio does not.
Kay
Elon Musk is threatening a judges daughter on his Nazi website.
This is getting so bad so fast.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Which judge? What is the case?
Jay
@Jackie:
“If only the Tsar knew what his Cossack’s are doing” whinging posts by MAGgot’s are popping up all over the web.
“I didn’t think the Leopards would eat my face”.
Jackie
@Kay:
And, it’s basically a form letter – all blaming poor work reviews for their termination. Raven’s post above from someone else laid off states the same wording. And there are other reports of everyone notified said terminated for same reasons. GRRRR!
Elizabelle
@YY_Sima Qian: Sort of all of the above.
RE DC and Northern Virginia: traffic lessened considerably once Covid arrived, and a lot of those workers never went back into the office fulltime.
Although there are customer/patient-facing jobs, where the employee must be onsite.
Previously, I think the Biden administration’s federal planners were just as glad to have the WFH workforce, because they could dispense with a lot of excess office space.
And employees like the quality of life. Commutes in the DC area were absolutely among the worst in the nation.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
McConnell. The judge who ordered the funds released. Musk posted a picture of his daughter, her full name, where she works and a photo of a tax statement she filed.
Jay
@Elizabelle:
District Judge John McConnell Jr
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-allies-criticism-of-judges-prompts-security-concerns
Kay
@Jackie:
Its not over. They’ll sue. There would have been a performance review process in place. They can’t just invent some poor performance reviews immediately incident to firing.
Renie
Since Musk first started with his destruction, I’ve sent at least 12 emails to Schumer and Gillibrand, my senators. (Phones are always busy or “mailbox full”.) I got one generic reply from Schumer after my first one and nothing since. Is anyone else getting nothing back from contacting their senators?
Elizabelle
@Kay: OMG. And weirdly, disclosing the tax document makes it really awful.
WaPost just ran a red banner a few hours ago, that Musk is trying to get into the IRS database for taxpayers’ individual information.
Here is the headline up at top left of WaPost website right now:
Musk’s DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS
The unusual request would put sensitive data about millions of American taxpayers in the hands of Trump political appointees.
Underneath it:
As Musk reshapes the government, some ask: Where are the guardrails?
Uh, yeah.
Americans did not vote for this. Trump always lied and ran away from any mention of Project 2025 on the campaign trail.
Jay
@MagdaInBlack:
It’s not going to turn out well. There is $0 funding for the “buy out” and there never will be.
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: That’s what we both told her sister.
Jackie
@Jay:
And, tomorrow (President’s Day) marks POTUS/Musk’s 4 weeks anniversary. I don’t think the Administration thought MAGA voters would openly rebel quite this soon.
In another month or so, MAGA will be eating each other’s faces – and we can sit back and watch, while deciding the right strategies to take advantage…
coin operated
@Jay: Yup…read that too. One of the reasons I mentioned foreign intelligence services…they know who these people are.
The US really screwed the pooch with regards to security guarantees to Ukraine. Hell…let them pilfer a few of our best nuclear techs and get their program spun up again. I’m as anti-proliferation as anyone, but I recognize that nuclear deterrence might be the only thing that saves the UKR and, by extension, the EU.
Jay
@Elizabelle:
They absolutely did.
Elizabelle
@Jay: No Jay, they did not. If it were that popular, Trump would have been running on it. He was actually running away from it, every time it came up.
Do you not understand the leopards eating faces meme?
They did not vote for indiscriminate firing of federal employees, and dismantling of government agencies. Or for the laughable entity called DOGE.
FWIW, I think Musk bought the presidency.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
They’re going to get a judge killed. One of their recently released Right wing thugs are going to ACT on these commands from Musk.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Yes. Judges, and judges’ families and staff.
I think it’s ridiculous we were told Congresscritters are afraid of the threats, and that’s why they voted en masse for the insanely bad Cabinet nominees. They have better security than your average judge, or civil/public servant.
YY_Sima Qian
@Elizabelle: Thanks for the explanation.
Jackie
@Elizabelle:
With a nod and a wink.
FFOTUS has Michael Jackson’s moon walk perfected…
MagdaInBlack
@Elizabelle: Musk bought himself a country.
Elizabelle
@MagdaInBlack: Yeah, he did. Now, what do we do about it?
Kay
@Jackie:
In the postal service managers had a very specific process for firing even provisional employees. The process protects both the manager and the employee – the employee can’t claim bias or retaliation as long as the process is followed – it’s designed to do that. Also we were not allowed to reveal the reason for separation – if a future employer checked references we could only verify dates of employment.
The fired employees are scared right now – and who can blame them – but when they’re done being scared they’re going to get mad and start looking for lawyers.
Kay
@Jackie:
I would love if there were a national fundraising effort for wrongfully terminated federal employees – like a sort of strike fund to pay their expenses while they sue. I would donate to that.
Elizabelle
@Kay: I am thinking the employees will prevail in court, eventually, but many will go under in the meantime.
Would this be class action suits?
It just seems so blatantly illegal, not to mention wholly indecent and shortsighted.
MagdaInBlack
@Elizabelle: At this moment, I have no answers.
That’s where I am today. Tomorrow may be better for me.
Ksmiami
@Kay: me too
Kay
@Ksmiami:
Someone needs to post it on Bluesky and tag labor unions. Call it a strike fund for unlawfully terminated workers. Labor language. Democratic rank and file can raise a shit load of money – we’ve raised billions- and it’s a great story for media.
Plus they truly need the help.
YY_Sima Qian
@Kay: As would I.
Elizabelle
@Kay: Yes. Even our addled media would cover the story, if there was some big money and numbers in the game.
And, for local media. Little kids holding lemonade and hot chocolate sales and saving their allowance. To save their parents’, and aunts’ and uncles’, and neighbors’ jobs.
Excellent way to show some fervor and enthusiasm and decency, since next elections are too far away.
Ksmiami
@Kay: do you have any union contacts
Spanky
@Kay:
We already donated. It’s called paying taxes. Their salaries were already accounted for in the budget.
You already know this. I just think it better to pound on this fact when it comes up.
That money was stolen from the taxpayers.
Jackie
@Kay:
I love that concept – at first thought.
I truly think those who voted for Trump – knowing his promises of revenge and retribution – need to FEEL their faces being eaten by the leopard.
If there was a way to support those who didn’t vote him, I’d be the first in line. But I don’t want a penny going to those who knew who FFOTUS was/is – and voted for him, anyway.
Elizabelle
@Jackie: It might be the cheapest way to reach the reachable who “did their own research” and voted for The Felon. Some mercy and concern for their plight might get through.
Sally
@Suzanne: They were always past their peak.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: The National Ground Intelligence Center has been in Charlottesville ever since the Cold War. I think they’re the ones who analyse satellite pictures. More recently, since 9/11, a lot of security agency personnel have been based at that location.
Last year I was listening to local radio and happened to hear an Albemarle County Supervisor explain why the County had purchased a ~250 acre tract adjacent to the Ground Intelligence Center. She said the federal complex there accounted for a billion dollars in economic activity annually, and the County wanted to make sure they had room to expand.
This area is riddled with federal installations. There’s a gravel road over Turkeysag Mountain, northeast of Charlottesville that has a steep asphalt driveway leading from it, with the U.S. government shield on the gateposts. Word is that this facility holds the underground refuge that would shelter the Federal Reserve in the event of a nuclear war.
I’ve also heard stories about construction activity on top the Blue Ridge indicating there are military installations located there.
Kay
@Ksmiami:
I can try. It could be administered thru an existing nonprofit like MoveOn or Indivisible so we can get it out fast but with proper accounting and transparency – have the employees apply for funds rather than distributing.
I think it would be amazing to provide actual, tangible help while this vicious fucking tech bro billionaire screws working people. Nice contrast. We’ll win VA by 10 next cycle :)
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: Thanks for the color.
Jay
@Elizabelle:
Dolt 45 was a known quantity, Project 2025 was published, 2025 “people” were embedded in Dolt 45’s campaign, Apartheid Clyde ketamine tweeted his plans 24/7 365.
All Dolt47 voters and non-voters deluded themselves that the “Leopards wouldn’t eat their face”.
As one Dolt 45 voter interviewed in his first term made clear when she was laid off, “But you are hurting the “wrong” people”.
And yes, she voted for Dolt 47.
Kay
@Jackie:
This is where the rubber meets the road though. This is where we can be on their side when no one else is. They’ll never forget it.
Kayla Rudbek
@RaflW: an army of Abigail Spanberger types?
Jackie
@Elizabelle: No, because the government or “someone” was always there to bail them out – thanks to Democrats.
It’s time for them to get educated.
Jackie
@Kay:
You mean the republicans, independents, and yes, democrats – who voted for Biden to be rid of the Convicted Felon? Then turned around and… voted him back in.
Those people?
YY_Sima Qian
@Kayla Rudbek: I would hope the new breed be far more radical than the Abigail Spanberger types.
Kay
@Jackie:
You could donate by region, so you (for example) could contribute only to DC area workers – probably D voters.
Someone else could take pity on the Oklahomans :)
Jay
ChrisO_wiki
@ChrisO_wiki
6h
So many faces eaten, so many more to eat
Feb 16, 2025 · 7:48 PM UTC
Image at link,
https://nitter.poast.org/ChrisO_wiki/status/1891213005288817060#m
Jay
@Kay:
Saving MAGgot asses since 1932 has not won the Democratic Party any favours.
Jackie
@Kay: Touche. This week has been heart wrenching, to be sure. Obviously I’ve reached the last straw stage from Nov 5.
I’d better build up my back to brace against further straws.
Kayla Rudbek
@Renie: I maybe have received one reply from Warner, a few replies from Kaine. Beyer at least sends out a form acknowledging that I contacted him every time I submit something to his office website. I am not overly impressed with either of my senators at this point in time, Beyer at least did a telephone town hall but again I would prefer an approach more like Crocket or AOC.
Kay
Trump and Musk’s scumbag militia are now trying to get off on their child porn and domestic violence charges, using Trump’s pardon:
Elon Musk’s Nazi site is hosting people planning to murder law enforcement and judges.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: I would not umderestimate Abigail Spanberger. Spanberger may be labeled a “Moderate,” but she is a ruthless politician..
Kay
“Domestic violence battery by strangulation”
Thats what the scumbag wants a pardon for. Domestic violence strangulation is a red flag for prosecutors because we have tons of data that men who try to strangle a woman eventually kill that same woman. That’s why it’s treated so specifically and so seriously- those abusers are killers.
Jackie
@Kay: This is giving me flashbacks to the Unibomber killing judges and abortion clinics being bombed, along with doctors providing safe, legal abortions being assassinated while attending church.
Those are the very people who are feeling betrayed by FFOTUS today.
We’re going full circle.
BlueGuitarist
@raven:
Amanda Litman posted on bluesky:
”Any terminated/current federal employee who’s furious & wants to run for local office, @runforsomething.net would love to help you figure out next steps. We have lots of public resources for all & programming for ppl of all ages, even if our endorsements are targeted. runforwhat.net
https://bsky.app/profile/amandalitman.bsky.social/post/3licg4lluac26
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: We definitely need ruthless political fighters in the current moment, but we also need to shift the policy Overton Window back left.
Anyone remember that Milton effin’ Friedman was a strong supporter of UBI (Universal Basic Income), in the form of the NIT (Negative Income Tax)? Of course, unless the US increases productive factors, even inflation indexed UBI will just lead to inflation spiral, &/or massive imports & the multiples effect going to foreign economies.
Kayla Rudbek
@Jay:
And
@MagdaInBlack: yeah, I have been following r/patentexaminer to try to get an idea of what is going on at the Patent Office, and I don’t think that very many of them took the buyout at all. They spend a lot of time reading technical documents and government procedures, and having to sort through bullshit from the attorneys and applicants.
The examiners (patent and trademark) are unionized, but the supervisors and appeals judges (PTAB and TTAB) are not. So the examiners have not yet had to return to office, but their supervisors and appeals judges have had to report back in.
And the annoying thing is that USPTO is self-funded by the patent and trademark applications, and usually winds up with an excess which historically it was not allowed to keep for future use. So there is no rationale for trying to make anyone at USPTO take the “fork” deal.
Note that that jerk Eugene Quinn at IP Watchdog claimed that the Commissioner of Patents took the deal, but I personally think that she just resigned (being a woman of Indian descent who was working on a lot of DEIA under the Biden administration, and also not having patent prosecution experience from what I remember, so no friends in the Republican party or the patent prosecution community).
Kayla Rudbek
@Kay: NTEU is the main union for federal workers, so you might want to contact them directly https://www.nteu.org
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: Abigail Spanberger won’t try to shift this imaginary “Overton Window” in any direction. Her goal is to kick Republican ass and bring in more Democratic Delegates on her coattails.
Ed. A simple, practical goal, not an abstract one.
Jackie
@Jay: Worth repeating.
RevRick
@raven: Efficiency is a crappy metric for what government does. The thing we need is effectiveness. But really what Musk and his vandals are doing at Trump’s behest is looting the government of the resources they need to carry out their programs in order to transfer that loot to the billionaire class.
Ksmiami
@Kay: please keep me posted and I’m happy to help financially. I want to destroy the GOP for good.
villiageidiocy
@Kay: Perhaps cruelty is a bonus, but legally, a probationary employee can only easily be removed for “poor performance”. They aren’t trying to prove it, they are just saying the magic words. In a functional system, the employee would then have the right to challenge this statement with a lawyer. The only way that will work now is a class action suit.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: Sure, but then how would the Dems govern once they return to power? That is where the Overton Window needs shifting. If the entire focus is to get back to power, what gets us out of the dynamic of GWB following Clinton, Trump following Obama, & Trump following Biden?
Sister Golden Bear
@RevRick: Government, by design, inherently has built in inefficiencies. Soliciting feedback before implementing regulations. Inefficient. Requiring contracts to be put out to bid? Inefficient. Building sufficient redundancy to ensure critical systems are always available? Inefficient. Just to name a few.
Sister Golden Bear
@villiageidiocy:
It’s the same play that Silicon Valley companies have used when doing mass layoffs (for all employees not just probationary ones). When Facebook did a large layoff recently, they claimed they were weeding out poor performers, despite a number of those laid off having had excellent performance reviews.
YY_Sima Qian
@Sister Golden Bear: Just like public goods should not be judged on profitability on a project by project basis. They are supposed to bring holistic benefits to the large economy, as well as non-financial/non-monetary value (such as quality of life, social stability, class mobility, etc.).
Neoliberalism & the current techno-libertarianism in vogue in parts of SV is all about privatizing the profits & socializing the costs.
Yutsano
@Kayla Rudbek: The AFGE is the largest federal employee union. The NTEU is growing (and is my union) but AFGE is the biggest. There are others & they all coöperate.
RevRick
@Renie: So, you have sent 12 emails to Schumer. He does not have to deal with them. His staffers do. And of all his staffers, how many deal with the phone calls/mail/emails/faxes?
My suspicion is that they are absolutely swamped. Four weeks in to the Trump regime and they’re probably six months behind in dealing with the tidal wave of communications from constituents.
YY_Sima Qian
Never thought I would find some of the best analysis of DOGE operations from Sinologists:
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: That’s the view from 25,000 feet. These matters will be decided on the ground, by Democrats winning purple districts and purple states. They’re not going win them with a program of combating end-stage capitalism. And they can’t combat anything unless they a majority.
Abigail Spanberger was one of 40 Democrats who flipped Republican districts in 2018. I remember how that year pundits proclaimed that four other Democrats who won blue districts that year, the famous “Squad,” had shifted the “Overton Window.” But the forty Democrats who beat Republicans in 2018 shifted a real window. They elected a Democratic Speaker and stopped Trump and the Republicans from doing more damage. That was not a small thing.
But in any event, we have win majorities to shift anything. But the view that only certain kinds of Democrats can win a sustainable, long-term majority is fallacious in my opinion, and lacks real evidence to support it.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: To me, winning the next elections is the rear guard action. Reorienting the US political economy away from over-financialization, away from the tilt toward capital owners, taking money out of politics, cut down the monopolies & oligopolies, etc., are the counterattack needed to break down the ethno-nationalist & techno-authoritarian coalition animating the MAGA movement. All of these battles have to be fought to win the war.
Sure, at this moment of extreme peril, the enemy assaulting in all directions (& disorienting the opposition), even winning rear guard actions are critical victories. We lost the last big one in Nov.
The necessary strategy has always been “more & better” Democrats, not just “more” Democrats. What constitutes “better” Democrats is a legitimate matter that is healthy for the anti-Fascist coalition to debate & then come to some form of consensus over. First, get MAGA out of positions of power, then have the “better” Democrats win primaries & keep beating the Repubs in general elections, then have them implement the policies while in power that address the pathologies the US has accumulated over the decades.
That assumes elections remain largely real & functional.
TBone
Still chewing my cud, ruminating on sign language. Another idea:
GOP with the Hammer & Sickle symbol where the “O” is supposed to be (stolen from Freeway Blogger).
“I DISSENT” on the other side.
TBone
TBone
Jay
“People are not Illegal”
Jay
If you have a colour printer, the image of the obese leopard with a pile of MAGA hats is available.
https://nitter.poast.org/ChrisO_wiki/status/1891213005288817060#m
TBone
@Kay: I wish that would fit on my sign
TBone
@Jay: excellent! I have actually used that one IRL conversation.
TBone
@Jay: so tempting!
*licks lips, brushes whiskers with paw
TBone
Maybe a big red 🚫 over a black swastika.
What, then, goes on the other side…
EDOLPH covered with another 🚫
White background
RaflW
@Elizabelle: Yes. Mercy is one of the traits we should not dispense with. We lower ourselves to their level when we seek retribution against everyone who voted for Trump.
Those not regretting it? Not rethinking? I can hold back on offering assistance. But if folks are willing to see that they screwed up, we’ll have a chance to expand our coalition and beat the political fuckers back.
It wasn’t that long ago that Nebraska was solidly Democrat. Farmers and ag sector folks knew who had their backs. It’ll take a lot of work, but most everything good does.
Jay
@RaflW:
So, 0.001%
MAGgots are a cult, you can’t deprogram them.
The ones fired are currently writing blegs to Dolt 47 along the lines of “if only the Tsar knew what his Cossacks are doing”.
TBone
Best to sleep on it and see if Mom shows up again in her Piper Cub, skywriting.
Last dream, she said
flying high and doing loop de loops, wings glinting in the sun…
🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NJz0wDOB74U
(She was a TWA stewardess in the 60s and her dream was to own a Piper Cub. Dad was a Flying Tigers Marine.)
TBone
@TBone: can’t sleep, ugh
In the meantime, a short film entitled “Crime Pays.”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v4xCsP9qIgI
He who saves his country does not violate any law!
Does anyone know if someone is keeping track of the new # of lies? That might make good signage
Front: 30,573 lies told first term
Back (new #) and counting!
TBone
Heh.
TBone
I made brownies today with good cocoa and instead of water I use strong brewed coffee to make the cocoa flavor pop. Regerts!
TBone
TBone
Hubby has a good sedatives arsenal stash and even those aren’t working. Sigh.
Jay
@TBone:
Red wine amps chocolate big time.
TBone
@Jay: I have some! I keep good wine on hand for cooking and next time will skip the coffee and use wine, thank you! Also, gonna have a nip right now. Just a nip because sedatives.
I went to bed at 9pm and fell asleep but had to get up at 10:30 to prepare Noah’s 11:00 tube feeding and can’t get back to sleep.
TBone
@TBone: screaming into void not helping hahaha
🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WcubRzV7VEs
I shoulda put the weed in the brownies duh
TBone
@TBone: my wine is called Da Vinci (Italian chianti with notes of chocolate). Their website says fruity but I digress…
TBone
Getting slowly fuzzier. A glass of cool water and a cozy bed looking better now. Almost there …
TBone
@TBone: A lovely lullaby foams the runway
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lbjZPFBD6JU
Phylllis
Gvg
@Jay: we have to try. Not sure this is the way but that farmer political consultants response to the trump voter who could lose his farm the other day has had me thinking about the decades of rural propaganda and how we counter it. I don’t think the answer is something we can do quickly so it won’t really help with the current emergency, but if we don’t want to have this fight AGAIN in 20 or 30 years, we need to not forget. We need to fix the lies being uncontested because they are no longer coming over public airwaves or whatever the rationalization is. Somehow the penalty for lying has to be stiffer. The truth has to be told too. The government can’t dictate truth, that is also problematic, but other viewpoints getting time worked ok.
I really feel like these people don’t know any history. They could use some good entertaining storytelling that explained why about a bunch of things. And repeat the stories about every year, for decades, don’t quit and assume they know or remember. For instance the connection between tariffs, trade wars and the Great Depression. Also low government spending making it worse….