That’s the ball game:
The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed Kash Patel as the next director of the F.B.I., installing a hard-line critic of the bureau whose unwavering loyalty to President Trump has raised questions over the independence of the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
The 51-to-49 vote, with two Republican defections, means that Mr. Patel will now oversee the vast surveillance and investigative powers of the F.B.I., whose mission is seeking out the truth even if it angers the president. As its director, Mr. Patel will take over as the bureau has entered a particularly turbulent period, with the forced departures of some of its top officials.
It is not hyperbolic to state that in my lifetime there will be American gulags for dissidents and opposition to the regime. May be great as a creative influence for music and books, but otherwise, this is a disastrous outcome. There will be selective prosecutions, partisan political prosecutions, blackmail, harassment, and on and on. And it will start now.
If I had to game out how this will go, the very first thing that will happen (and is already happening) will be mass purges of the FBI, CIA, and every single investigative body in the country. The only people who will remain are obsequious loyalists. At the same time, I suspect there will be the criminalization of dissent, which, btw, is already happening:
So if you criticize Elon Musk, Trump’s DOJ will send you this letter. Members of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration. I will not be silenced.
— Robert Garcia (@robertgarcia.bsky.social) February 20, 2025 at 12:56 PM
This is not an isolated incident:
Trump Border Czar Tom Homan is not backing down from his suggestion that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could have broken the law by holding a webinar informing immigrants of their rights during encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Homan said on Fox News last week when discussing the webinar, “Is that impeding our law enforcement efforts? And if so, what are we going to do about it? Is she crossing the line? So, I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So, maybe AOC’s gonna be in trouble now.”
Obviously, neither of these is illegal, but that does not matter, and the next step they will take is a purge of the judiciary. Those lifetime appointments are a pain, so expect surveillance and harassment of judges and baseless accusations and prosecutions will begin in earnest to help clear the field.
The other impediment, a free press, is already under assault:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched an investigation into media outlets PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) over member stations potentially airing “prohibited commercial advertisements,” according to a letter obtained by The New York Times.
“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” FCC chair Brendan Carr wrote, according to the Times. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”
And NBC:
Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr told NBC News-parent Comcast (CMCSA.O), opens new tab it is opening a probe into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
“The FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act… including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” the letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said.
Comcast confirmed it had received an FCC inquiry and will cooperate and answer questions. “For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers,” the company said in a statement.
Likewise, you have all heard about the stuff AP is going through over simply refusing to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Again, the goal here is complete and total suppression of dissent.
With Patel at FBI, I expect and unprecedented domestic surveillance program to begin, which should not be difficult to implement with the data DOGE already has at their, willing help from large data brokers like Zuckerberg and Bezos already bending the knee, and the techbros finally able to unleash the programs they have been trying to sell and many times succeeding in selling to state and local law enforcement and already tested and in use in places like Israel (I doubt you all remember the Pegasus spyware).
We’ve already seen the regime move quickly, boldly, and overtly to declare many citizens to be “unpersons” with their broad assault on the trans community. We are reaching the point, quickly, where anyone who the regime does not like will be considered illegal. Nothing and no one is safe from the whims of the regime.
There will also be large and violent crackdowns on public protest. I expect this to happen sometime over the summer when the impact of the full on assault of the whole government starts to really impact the American public at large. Inflation and joblessness are going to increase dramatically as the cuts take place and the broligarchy consolidate their wealth, and there will be a public backlash. When people realize they are losing their healthcare so the wealthy can get another tax cut, when they learn their autistic or special needs child can no longer get care at school, or that they are going to gut their social security or tax their roth ira to fund tax cuts for Jeff Bezos and so on. There will be anger and it will be public in the form of mass protests. There will be blood this summer, and the regime is eager to spill it. Trump wanted to do it in his first term, but was restrained. No longer.
None of this will be news to members of the black community and other minority groups, who have dealt with moderated versions of this for decades (and obviously far far worse in the previous century), but it will come as quite a shock to many of the people who just couldn’t stomach a vote for a black woman from liberal California. But they will get caught up into it.
I don’t think any of this is hyperbole, unfortunately, and your level of safety for now depends on what state you live in, but soon, that will be a moot point, too, as everything is federalized. States rights are an impediment when you are the god king and hold all levers of power. It’s ugly out there right now, and it is going to get worse.
Today’s shirt:
And I am sorry if this post upsets you but we need to be real about what is happening. It’s time for you all to think about where your red line is and what you are willing to sacrifice and how you are going to defend those you love.
gratuitous
Rep. Garcia, allow me to write your response to USA Martin’s letter: Fetch off.
SoundArts
We have had an extended period of great art and books. Unfortunately they prove weak against a tide of ignorance and malfeasance.
Elizabelle
I don’t find this hyperbolic at all.
The people behind Trump studied Hitler’s consolidation of power very carefully. And they have unlimited money from the broligarchy.
I hope we do see mass protests, and soon — wear those masks as needed, for all the good that does.
The rest of the world has to be watching this in horror. Because many of them have news outlets that are reporting what is happening, much more honestly than our billionaire owned and corporate-fellating MSM.
Elizabelle
Fuckweasel Edward R. Martin, Jr., writing that ridiculous threatening letter from the comfort of his office in the Patrick Henry Building.
Give me liberty or give me death, indeed.
Makes me wonder if some of the spineless wonders in the Senate have been getting some love letters from the Trump-Musk administration.
Fuck Edward Martin and his one inch dick.
Old School
Dear Mr. Cole –
We take threats against public officials very seriously. (Well, some public officials.) Our inquiry about your shirt will be forthcoming.
Ed Martin
The Truffle
Even if it isn’t successful, the ACLU and similar groups will be filing lawsuits left and right.
This summer will be when the shit hits the fan. No argument there.
Beyond that, who knows? I do agree that there will be turmoil.
How to respond to this? Hope everyone has a plan.
i just wonder what happens if and when red state Americas realizes they have to eat the shit sandwich they ordered. Already some farmers are angry about losing USAID funding.
Anyway, good luck to you all. I have enjoyed this blog but now is the time to go.
I really suspect that the president is Hoover 2.0 but who knows. I’m just out.
gene108
Republican voters and racist none voters aren’t going peacefully protest. They’ll start the race war they’ve been dreaming about since the Turner Diaries were published.
Otherwise, they’d have to admit a mistake and they sure as hell will never do it.
Steve LaBonne
I’m starting to feel that a military coup (say, how are they liking those 8% annual funding reductions that are coming?) might actually be preferable to the continuation of the Musk regime. Talk about truly desperate expedients.
RedDirtGirl
Jesus wept.
Elizabelle
Congressman Robert Garcia is an incredibly good public servant, and all around decent and courageous guy.
Former mayor of Long Beach, CA (2014-2022). Tragically, lost both of his parents to Covid during the pandemic. Gay, married to a college professor since 2018.
Had not realized he is Peruvian-American, born in Peru. Here is his wiki entry.
Have been happily getting emails from him ever since he became mayor, even though I had already moved from Long Beach. City is still in my heart, and Mayor Garcia has always been someone to watch, and applaud.
Trollhattan
Already lying with the first three words.
Gin & Tonic
I’ve pointed this out before, but on these very days, 18-20 February of 2014, massive protests against a corrupt and illegitimate government came to a head in Kyiv. People were killed in the clashes, but the citizens forced the President to resign and, on 22 February, to flee the country. In the first weeks of February, things looked impossible for the people, but they held strong and prevailed. There are lessons in this.
Leto
“Speech and Debate Clause, bitch.” – hypothetical response from Rep. Garcia. It’d be mine.
A Ghost to Most
It would appear that this will not be ending with words.
Elizabelle
@Steve LaBonne: If it’s led by people similar to Lloyd Austin and his calibre of military leader and public servant.
No coincidence Musk is looking for deep cuts in military spending, as well.
Belafon
@Gin & Tonic: The question will be who is ready to die here.
Suzanne
Apparently we need to say it a little louder for the people in the back.
Elizabelle
@gene108: Shit like that is why you live in the pie filter, gene.
You are a leading Eeyore among eeyores.
Elizabelle
@Suzanne: Ah. Someone already edited a comment to remove that?
The Thin Black Duke
One thing that needs to happen is white keyboard Rambos online need to stop telling black people to “get over it” and it’s time to get back into the struggle. Some white people really don’t understand how traumatic it was to the black community to see how easily we were cast aside to send the most blatantly racist presidential candidate since George Wallace to the White House.
The Red Pen
I’m praying that eggs get so expensive that Waffle House becomes “upscale dining.”
The “got mine, up yours” contingent of Americans (which overlaps MAGA but is much broader) won’t do anything until their “got mine” fails.
TBone
@Gin & Tonic: I second your emotion. I’ve been outbursting today in solidarity.
Steve LaBonne
@The Thin Black Duke: I don’t expect Black people to do anything this time. This is a problem that we white people created and only we can fix it.
ArchTeryx
What kind of plan can we possibly have? This is the point where you stop posting on blogs like this and start using Signal, VPNs, and whatever else you need for end-to-end encryption and untraceability. If the blog is going to go the way of LGM and go 24/7 doomer, I’m not sure even I can hang around. I’m already on the thin edge of a mental breakdown and already have lost friends – liberal, LBGTQ+ friends – over this.
It’s time to think seriously about our own Underground Railroad. And to study what the actual one did in the slave years. That, arm up, and be ready to kill. I’m already targeted. Many here may not be. It’s time to learn to keep your mouths shut and stop posting publically about ANYTHING political. If it gets half as bad as the OP says it will, every single person here is at risk
At this point the prediction is we go straight past Nazi Germany and into Khmer Rouge/Pol Pot territory. That one ended in the deaths of 25% of Cambodia’s total population, torture facilities that would have made the SS blanch, and a civil war. They executed every single person in the country that wore glasses by torturing them to death. Think about that for a bit before you start howling “all is lost.”
TBone
Mood music
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jvfxI9yD2dM
Dark comedic relief
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rfLp3ZznYB0
Allen Henderson
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for that. I find these kinds of historical reminders deeply comforting.
Steve LaBonne
@ArchTeryx: I think in your situation you absolutely should withdraw and focus on protecting yourself and yours. Me, I’m old and tired and they’re going to try to kill me anyway with flu or COVID or destroying Medicare, so I am not going to shut up.
Gin & Tonic
@Suzanne:
Shouldn’t that be “whom”?
[Damn, I miss Amir.]
dc
TikTok of AOC on how every act of resistance matters: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2f4XL6c/
Mick McDick
I too think it likely that violence will come to the streets, followed by martial law. Does anyone think I’m overreacting when i say that elections may not fix this, because there may not be any.
Not to mention WWIII in Europe.
Good job Donny, for only four weeks work. We’ve just begun…
Warblewarble
Stasi state snitches will be everywhere.
Jeffro
Very, very naively, I thought that the GOP Senate would never confirm Gabbard, RFK Jr, and Patel.
Ah well. Hoping for heroes in the rank and file who can figure out how to throw wrenches in the works while the rest of us on the outside continue to do what we can.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Weirdly, I think the fact it is the dead of winter is tamping down the protests.
We are not Ukrainians, or even Germans or northern Europeans. We are not a hardy people. We are a nation of people obsessed with entertainment and trivialities, because a lot of us have had it way too easy for way too long, and don’t appreciate what we have or how we got here.
Don’t know that we will get there on the scale of the brave people in Kyiv in 2014, but we will get there. If not most of us, enough to make some noise and get some attention.
Have been wondering what the prevalence of guns in this country does to these predictions, though.
Their sheer numbers are a factor many other nations have not had to figure in.
And gene is right there; some of them may be aimed at those protesting President Musk and King Trump.
Hungry Joe
A thought experiment I’ve been running:
Will the United States exist as a country a million years from now? Of course not.
How about a thousand years from now? Highly unlikely.
Five hundred years? Still highly unlikely; not many regimes/empires from 1525 are on the scene today.
So: Now that we’ve implanted and are accepting of the idea that the U.S. is going to break apart probably sometime in the not terribly distant future … why would it happen later rather than sooner? Surely we’re closer than we’ve been in the last 165 years. I’m not predicting, just … contemplating. I would have dismissed the notion a few years ago, but if California (and maybe our West Coast neighbor states) were to have a vote on peaceable secession, I just might be in favor. I’d give it serious consideration, anyway. And if Trump and his Whole Sick Crew try to enforce Federal bans on abortions and other such outrages with actual physical force, it might come to that.
As I said, A thought experiment.
For now.
ArchTeryx
@Steve LaBonne: I’m in your boat. But the constant drumbeat of horror is becoming too much to bear. I can do virtually nothing to protect me or mine if it comes to civil war, except remember my WWII combat veteran father’s firearms training. And most of my Flock is scattered all over the country. I can do nothing to save them. All I can do is load my gun and wait.
Or do it myself.
Steve LaBonne
@ArchTeryx: :(
Sean
@ArchTeryx:
That’s where I’m at. There is no plan for societal collapse. I’m not a soldier. I plan on deleting as much online presence as I can so as to stop obvious routes to surveilling me. Beyond that, when the food scarcity, violence and disease hit – no amount of planning is going to save me.
FDRLincoln
I won’t live in a dictatorship willingly. If they gun me down in the streets, so be it.
Suzanne
@Gin & Tonic: It should be “whom”, but Edward R. Martin is the illiterate swine, not me!
I remember once, years ago, SuzMom somehow got onto a GOP mailing list. She is a lifelong Dem-voting hippie, so we don’t know how it happened. They had her listed by her initials, so we wondered if she got cross-referenced with someone else. Anyway, one day, she got a little certificate — suitable for framing! — indicating that she was a member of “the Joint Republican Task Force” because she “upheld the highest Republican ideals and principles”. Signed by Bill Frist (remember that motherfucker?!). Anyway, she framed it and hung it in front of the crapper.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro: Have to say, I am floored by the cowardice of some of the Republican Senators.
Steve LaBonne
@Hungry Joe: Our fault lines run WITHIN states. California has a hell of a lot of Trump voters.
Michael Bersin
Missouri knows Ed Martin (r):
Ed Martin (r): We were sitting around trying to think of a metaphor for the campaign…
[He lost the Attorney General race in 2012]
==========
Via Missouri Secretary of State:
Election Results
Official Election Returns
State of Missouri – General Election, November 06, 2012 [….]
As announced by the Board of State Canvassers on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Attorney General (3380 of 3380 Precincts Reported)
Chris Koster Democratic 1,491,139 55.9%
Ed Martin Republican 1,084,106 40.6%
Dave Browning Libertarian 92,819 3.5%
Total Votes 2,668,064
Aurona
Is BS (blue sky) the receptacle of “I’m sorry if this upsets you…”, or just the author of this post, as opposed to coming up with solutions? Nowhere in the post does it recommend we fight, only this is what it is. As a woman who has gone through a fraternity rape (9 of those motherfuckers and it happened almost 60 years ago, so that’s the weight for women, a lifetime of shit), couldn’t get an abortion because it was illegal at that time and now women have their rights taken away. Don’t you think its time to organize off line? The old constitution is dead; it was for white male slavers and never was for me. But thinking regionally, in what is left, break it down to regions, such as #CascadiaRegion: British Columbia (it can be both Canada & US), Washington, Oregon & California. Why don’t the rest of you gather your same-thinking states together and form up to fight. Oh yes; Spoutible is not white-owned, so no problems with the whiteness issue that keeps everyone sucking up to anything Zuckerberg, last dance of Jack at BS (gone now 10 months…and has a board of directors to slyme your info), the google boys and of course the South African small appendaged leader who should be deported. Social media/keyboarding Susan Collins’ concerns…I’ve gone through too much in my lifetime to live a life of medium rare white male conservatism when I’m a fucking liberal woman. #CasadiaRegion is here to fight.
gene108
@Mick McDick:
They’ll be elections. Elections are handled by the states. They’d have to force 50 states to not have elections. That’s a heavy lift even for Musk and Trump.
My question is will the DOJ sue to force Democratic wins to not be certified, like what the NC GOP is trying with a state Supreme Court election in the last election.
jackmac
And here’s another assault on the free press (with more undoubtedly to come) as a judge orders a Mississippi newspaper to remove an editorial from a web site that some public officials didn’t like:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/clarksdale-press-register-first-amendment-judge-b2701108.html
Belafon
@Steve LaBonne: I expect they will because they’re not going to be protected by not doing anything. But they have the right to punch anyone who declares that blacks could have done more.
raven
@Leto: Rule 303
Soprano2
I don’t think this is hyperbole, either. As you posted, Ed Martin and Tom Holman are already trying to go after members of Congress for doing things that are clearly legal. Once FBI gets involved, I think all bets are off. As for me, honestly I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do because of my husband. I have to be able to take care of him no matter what. I think I’m somewhat insulated because I’m a white woman and have enough money that I won’t have to worry about being able to pay for my husband’s care unless it goes on for a long, long time, but I can’t afford to get arrested because I’ve got no one else who could look after him, so I won’t be going to any protests. This just sucks so much, I can’t believe so many people were so blind to what they were trumpeting from the rooftops they were going to do
Now I’m off to pick up my husband from his iron infusion treatment. I’m being honest when I say I have no idea what would happen to him if something happened to me, but whatever it was it wouldn’t be good for him.
Ohio Mom
@FDRLincoln: Then who will take care of your family? I am not trying to guilt trip you, it is my question for myself.
Elizabelle
@Belafon: Thank you. I was dumbfounded by that comment.
Sean
@Mick McDick:
People keep framing it online as “4 years of this shit.” Kash Patel runs the FBI now. Elections are done. A result they don’t like will be disappeared as they seize the machines (where they couldn’t in 2020). They’ll yell fraud and “new” results will appear. Given what they’ve done already, this is not even remotely far-fetched. It’s likely. Elections are not going to save us. My only hope is Trump dies sooner rather than later of whatever dementia he has, and whatever nonsense “charisma” he is described as having is gone, and because Vance is reviled it all starts to come apart
ETA: Federal elections are not going to save us. State elections, who knows, although my state is already permanently fucked up in that regard.
gene108
@Hungry Joe:
Partition usually results in oceans of blood being spilled as neighbor turns on neighbor.
The breakup of Czechoslovakia is the only time I can think of that partition didn’t result in a bloodbath.
JMG
Show trials usually increase opposition and there’s always that chance the jury acquits. Hoover didn’t go for those. He preferred blackmail, which is why he acquired much power and lived to die of natural causes on the job. I don’t think Patel is smart enough for that. I also don’t think he’s smart enough to pull off his lurid revenge fantasies without them blowing up in his face.
JWR
And if or when there’s a terrorist attack due to all this slash and burn BS at the intel agencies, I’m sure we’ll all know who to blame, right? (Hint: it won’t be Trump.)
BTW, today marks the twentieth day I’d gone staring at a bricked computer. (Jan 20 – Feb 20), but I finally got it up and running just a few hours ago but still can’t access my #$@^% email.
Oh, and Trump said that Ukraine never should’ve started the damn war in the first place?! Good God. :(
Jay
@Aurona:
Cascadia has been a idea for light weights to wank off to since 1878.
In BC we are Canadian, and fierce about it. We have no interest in joining some rump of what used to be the USA,
and right now, we don’t want to visit you, buy your products, do business with you, trade with you or even rent condo’s to you.
We will stick to being Canadian at all costs.
Alce _e_ardillo
@Elizabelle: I am horribly ambivalent about that. I would dream of it ridding us of Trump and his pestilent sidekick, but it wouldn’t end there. Even the most “benign “ of takeovers would cause drastic curtailing of civil liberties, and possible widespread bloodshed.
lowtechcyclist
@Steve LaBonne:
Truth. As Randall Munroe noted in the mouseover text to xkcd.com/2399:
John Cole
@Suzanne: Suzanne can you email me I no longer use facebook and need to ask you something privately.
Hungry Joe
@Steve LaBonne: True … but that’s part of the thought experiment. They’d be free to go back to the Old Country or stay and suffer in our center-left, Canadian-ish nightmare of free health care and small, purely self-defense military.
Please don’t get me wrong: I’m out there, doing what I can — street protests, contributions, post cards, votes. But a boy … I mean, an old man can dream.
Trollhattan
If there was aaaaany doubt Musk is fucking with Donny 24/7, ditch it and grab a beer or something.
“Hey, boss, I’m really worried about something.”
“What’s that, Elmo?”
Remember Ron Paul and all the “audit the Fed” garbage? Now we’re going back to OG Bond.
Baud
Good on Garcia and AOC.
I hate to praise Comcast, but they have not been shy about running Black History Month commercials this month m
Elizabelle
@Alce _e_ardillo: Truth. And dog knows what is lurking in some of the US military. And law enforcement.
None of this hollowing out happened overnight.
John Cole
@Aurona: I don’t have answers. I am trying to figure this out myself. I have drawn lines I will not cross and am preparing.
Trollhattan
@lowtechcyclist:
We keep them here and torture them by making them pay five bucks/gallon to gas up their F-150s. Bet you can hear the squeals from there.
Leto
@John Cole: listen, we all want to know where the best taco truck is located there; why you trying to hide this information, Cole??? Share the info!!!
Joseph Nobles
This morning I heard that Hegseth was gearing up to purge the military of all the top brass that ever said good morning back to Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley. And now I fully expect that list of FBI agents who worked on January 6 cases to be right on top of Director Patel’s desk when he sits down.
This is not going to go the way they think it is.
Suzanne
@John Cole: Done. Hope February in Tempe is treating you nicely….
Curry Corner on Apache, man.
Carol
Thank god someone is fighting. The rest of the democrats, as far as I know, are cowering in their Congressional seats. Don’t want to lose their sinecure.
Suzanne
@Leto: The thing about PHX is that there is good Mexican food everywhere! Critical mass!
Elizabelle
We will know $hit has really hit the fan when we don’t feel we can sabre rattle and keyboard commando here.
Starfish (she/her)
@Leto: I had to tell my book club about the best Indigenous restaurant that serves fry bread.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: I’m shocked that they don’t recognize the danger to themselves and their families, particularly from having RFK Jr and Gabbard in there. Patel they can rationalize away as “well we won’t be in the FBI’s cross-hairs, so whatever” but the others? They’re seriously jeopardizing the nation in ways that they won’t be able to avoid the consequences.
Maybe they feel that the more immediate threat is whatever blackmail trumpov has on them (or threats of violence towards them/their families). But it’s just horrendous that not one of them can see how it will only get worse by bending the knee.
FDRLincoln
@Ohio Mom: we have a plan. It is drastic but less unthinkable than gulags or T4, which is where this is going if JC is right and I think he is.
Silence won’t save my son or wife. They always come for the disabled. Always.
If we go down, we go down as free people.
raven
@Suzanne: El Bravo!
Elizabelle
Reading that Martin letter more closely, and laughing.
Waah! Mommy — he called me a “dick!” Write him a nasty letter!
This reminds: Does Musk have any non-dick “government staff” (which can be a joke in itself, if you take my drift)??
All I have seen attached to him are young males.
I also find it interesting that Mr. Martin takes remarks about weaponry seriously. Or does not recognize the rhetorical “fight for democracy.”
Good to hear Missouri voters trounced him during his 2012 run for state Attorney General.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro:
I know. God forbid they show any concern for their goddamned constituents. But: themselves. And their families!
Raoul Paste
First, they purge the staff in the CIA and FBI. Wreck our intelligence capabilities. Then steal the land of 2 million Palestinians. What happens next? If there’s a resulting terrorist attack, we will have to rally around the president!!
I hate this timeline.
JWR
@Baud:
Good for them! Here in SoCal, both the ACLU and SPLC have ads for their services running on a seemingly continuous loop.
Jay
https://bsky.app/profile/darthputinkgb.bsky.social
New Deal democrat
@Starfish (she/her): I had lunch earlier this week at two of Tucson’s best rated Native/Mexican restaurants: La Indita and Cafe Santa Rosa.
Best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten in my life! And enjoyed the fry bread in lieu of tortilla bases.
New Deal democrat
@John Cole: At this point I would actually like to hear from the “optimists” like Omnes Omnibus about how they think this will *actually* turn out, because I just don’t see any returning to the status quo ante myself.
E.
The one red line I think we should all commit to, is if he starts shooting protesters, we stop what we are doing and we go protest.
Geminid
@New Deal democrat: I hear Omnes is posting on Blue Sky.
Spanky
@Elizabelle: “I understand that Mr. Musk is dickless, therefore my counsel and I find it ludicrous that he finds my description to be threatening.”
– Or some similar response.
Elizabelle
@E.: Agreed. Safety in numbers.
Or even arresting large numbers of protesters.
I do believe that by showing up, one gives courage and support to others who would be inclined to do so, also.
Jay
https://mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/issue/the-civil-rights-movement-in-mississippi-on-violence-and-nonviolence
The Unmitigated Gaul
@Elizabelle: Joy Reed’s remark – “We live in a time of extraordinary cowardice” – is on constant rotate with me.
Spanky
When I read about “show trials”, my brain always includes the June Taylor dancers. I don’t know whether that is a defect or a feature.
WTFGhost
(bolding added) Dude, didn’t you *listen* to Natasha Romanoff in *any* of her movies? That’s what happens to RUSSIANS, and have you *read* Russian lit? (No disrespect intended to Russians in the audience, but, your classics are *far* longer, and much more dense, than ours. Also: Dostoyevsky (sp?) RULES. Or he did, when I could finish a couple of his novels.)
Now, music… dear lord, man, *BLUES* started in prison, and what happened next? *COUNTRY*.
(I actually find a lot of country music to be enjoyable. Not good for staying awake on a long, tired road trip, but, enjoyable. Still, I’m a goddamned liberal, might as well live up to the stereotype.)
WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT CREATE GREAT WORKS IN PRISON.
(I kid, of course – I’m sure many a great person has found a voice, or a song/melody, in prison.)
STOP TRYING TO PRETEND THERE’S ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT THIS! Okay? This is like that awful Twilight Zone, where the guy who just wanted time to *read* gets all the time he wants, and then… breaks his glasses. Nuclear war ruins *everything*, and so does Trump.
(If I sound angry, I am, but not at anyone here, unless they cross my path in the next couple-three minutes :-) .)
Geminid
@Raoul Paste: That Gaza population removal may yet come to pass, but so far events on the ground are moving in the opposite direction. This morning I saw video of a line of front loaders driving up a Gaza avenue. Some were flying Egyptian flags. They’ll be used for debris removal.
And Egypt is trucking in panels for temporary housing units along with humanitarian supplies. I think Gulf Arab states are footing the bill.
Elizabelle
@The Unmitigated Gaul: Had not heard that, but it’s true.
And cowardice is counting on apathy, which is a real problem in the US of A.
Librarian
I think it’s worth noting that Patel’s effectiveness will be limited by several factors: his incompetence and arrogance, his unfamiliarity with the FBI, the firing/resignations of many competent agents, the fact that he doesn’t have unlimited funds, and the many lawsuits that he will inevitably be hit with.
WTFGhost
@Spanky: I confess, I think a bit about the Pom Farr ritual on Star Trek:TOS, with the semi-naked bell-ringers (with such interesting bells, and yes, I do mean metal musical percussion instruments), you know, Spock and Kirk battling to the death?
It was *clear* they were putting on a show, one that didn’t mean anything to the writers, but they had to *have* a show, because this was a big Vulcan ritual.
WTFGhost
@Spanky: Ah, another Ghostbusters fan. Oh, you’ve never seen the movie, and arrived at “dickless” on your own? Wow. You’re *good*.
Raoul Paste
@Geminid: Glad to hear it
Aurona
@ArchTeryx: Amen. As a full-fledged member of the #CascadiaRegion comprising CA, OR, WA, & BC (we’re too similar in regional economies, peoples & environments to not be together), I’ve been saying the revolution will not be online. I liked the old constitution but it didn’t have me included as a whole human being and non-slaver. So…Regions. We could probably get about 4 to 5 regions, but if we want to make democracy great again, we need our own underground railroad, newspapers, communication network to do this.
The Unmitigated Gaul
bluefoot
@The Unmitigated Gaul: We Americans have become cowardly complacent assholes.
I’ve said before that as a WOC, I don’t expect to live through this. What I’m trying to figure out is what to do in the meanwhile, and how to leave making things an easier lift for those that come after me.
Dman
@Geminid:
https://bsky.app/profile/omnesomnibus.bsky.social
Professor Bigfoot
@gene108: To which I like to reply, “plainly, you’re ready to kill for white supremacy– but are you also ready to die for it? Because some of y’all won’t write your mama again.”
We’ve been here before– white men died during the Sack of Tulsa, too.
With all their “tyranny” BS they know damned well they couldn’t stand against a single Marine rifle squad; but they can murder their neighbors.
Professor Bigfoot
@The Thin Black Duke: There is so much “y’all betta kiss my fat, hairy Black ass!” to go with that.
Spanky
@WTFGhost: Actchully, it was on this very blog that I read about the possibility of a failed penile implant, so there may be some truth in the statement.
And yes, of course I’ve seen Ghostbusters
ETA, and of course that sort of rumor comes with a heapin’ helpin’ of “make him deny it.”
Ryan
What the F does NBC’s internal policies have to do with… anything? Also, we’ll be waiting you this summer.
Ron
I think any judge that opposes them they’ll just stop the paycheck. And musk will put their personal info on shitter.
Geminid
@Raoul Paste: This situation still bears watching. I have found Al Arabiya to be a good source, but there are others including Middle East Eye and Axios.
Aurona
@Jay: Thoughts and prayers.
prostratedragon
For reasons I won’t go into here, when I trained a self-defense art regularly I preferred to empty all thoughts of a specific opponent from my mind. But that shirt up top captures my feelings quite well.
Professor Bigfoot
@New Deal democrat: It looks to me like “the 1798 Constitution” is dead; and like I said before, this terrifies me.
God Himself doesn’t know what comes after.
bluefoot
Speaking of oppression and show trials, I saw Chris Klewe was arrested today for speaking out during a city council meeting. The article wasn’t clear about whether he was actually disruptive in a way that would justify arrest.
I was talking to a white male colleague of mine, and he told me his plan is to keep his head down and hope he’ll be okay. Considering how the last four weeks have gone, and history, he should know better.
I’ve been feeling like a lot of people are hoping that the minority communities (LGBTQ+ esp trans people, disabled, non-white, non-Christian, poor, etc. people) are the redshirts. That we’ll suffer or be killed in enough numbers that they’ll be “safe.” The most privileged hiding behind the least privileged.
TBone
@Warblewarble: 🎯
Feed ’em disinformation and misinformation at every opportunity.
MikefromArlington
First the independent IG’s, then a crooked AG, and a corrupted head of the FBI. And with a Congress that doesn’t care and a feckless SC, nothing is stopping them from running completely lawlessly.
Bush and turd blossom seem tame to these guys and at the time, they were viewed and corrupt as federal prosecutors were canned.
Professor Bigfoot
@Jay: I highly recommend “Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms” by Nicholas Johnson.
Had there been no armed self defense of the civil rights activists and workers, they would ALL have died like Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner.
emjayay
@New Deal democrat: Fry bread is something that was invented to use government food allocations after they were run off their land and sent to reservations. You can wring a quart of oil out of one piece.
TBone
@Aurona: I applaud your courage.
emjayay
God this comment format totally sucks.
No simple thumbs up. And worst of all replies to a comment showing up half a mile south of the original comment. It’s absurd.
Why is it this way when it is done so much better almost everywhere else?
Elizabelle
@bluefoot: Saw the article in The Guardian, but not elsewhere yet, about Chris Kluwe.
Had never heard of him before, but he goes on my heroes list.
Thank you to The Guardian. Even though you as a paper don’t seem to understand US political parties very well.
Elizabelle
@emjayay: Because the majority here (me included) hate threaded comments.
It’s not that hard, and you don’t get roped off into a separate discussion.
WTFGhost
@bluefoot: I’m trying to write a series of essays on living with depression, me/CFS, and other disabling conditions.
Part of it is the astronaut’s credo, “make sure the next crew knows what killed you,” and part of it is teaching compassion. “We (disabled people who can’t act normally) don’t survive without compassion… and I’m actually only asking the same compassion you give to your other friends. It’ll just *look* different, sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time.”
It can’t hurt and it keeps me out of the pool hall, though I don’t know why I’d go to a pool hall, since I’ve only played pool as a child, when I had no understanding of the game, and no capability of learning any skills, given my young age. Still: no pool halls.
Do you think they mean *swimming pools*? I don’t want to avoid the wrong hall type!
A hundred years from now, for good or ill, no one is going to care what you, as a single individual, did in your spare time. Seriously: I don’t want to be too morbid, but, people die every day, and that means people like you die every day, and, well… did you feel the earth shake and the skies mourn? I didn’t, so, again, dark thought, but true: you’re not Superman. (And thank goodness – people don’t die every time you take an effing NAP.)
So if you feel horrible because you can’t think of anything to do that’s not “spinning your wheels” – don’t. Don’t feel horrible about that. If you want to feel horrible about something else, you have my permission. (And you, of course don’t need *my* permission to feel horrible about anything you choose, but, this is my kindest, most affectionate, advice.)
Look at your life – just yours – right now. What can you do to make your life better? Can you do that? Do it. You’ll be stronger and healthier for whatever else follows, be it good or bad.
If that thing, that makes your life better, is some form of effective protest or slowing down of the damage, that’s amazing and wonderful, because it’s not too often a chance like that drops into your lap, so, feel free to carpe the eff out of that diem. But if it’s not that – that’s okay.
If I had children, late teens to early 30s, I’d tell them “stay healthy, and take care of your feet.” Why? Well… the way things are going, there may be a war. Young people who fight a war will need to be healthy, and have good feet. There’s a whole lot else a young person can do, to help head off that war, but, that would be my over-arching advice, “stay fit, take care of your feet, because we may have to fight – though we hope we don’t have to.”
So, that’s the advice I give others, too. Do what it takes to make yourself happier, healthier, and better able to do battle, in whatever manner you can fight back. Health and feet don’t work for me; teaching compassion might help.
See, I had a point – oh, you all fell asleep? Well, me too, so I guess I can’t blame you….
Eolirin
@gene108: They can just arrest the people who run against them and deny elections that way. It’s how Putin does it.
New Deal democrat
@emjayay: In re frybread: yes, I did read that, thanks.
As I wrote before, I got a kick out of the guy selling frybread on the Rez who said that the Scottsdale native restaurant wasn’t authentic, because *real* Arizona Navajo don’t eat Buffalo meat.
Elizabelle
Here is the article about Chris Kluwe, from The Guardian. He protested in Huntington Beach, CA, an Orange County surfing town that has developed quite the Nazi and MAGA problem in recent years.
Gracey Van Der Mark. LOL.
TBone
I’m aware that there has been a dossier with my name on it since the Raygun Admin.
bluefoot
@Elizabelle: I was still watching football when Chris Kluwe showed up on my radar for being outspokenly in favor of same sex marriage and how the NFL appeared to respond. I read his book, Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies, when it came out, which was a fun read if not too deep (for a politically active liberal WOC…). I’ve always admired his willingness and commitment to speaking up.
New Deal democrat
@Professor Bigfoot:
I pretty much agree with you, in substance if not in form.
But Omnes and some others think we’ll recover. I would like to hear from them on the mechanics of how they think that will happen.
bluefoot
@WTFGhost: Yeah, I’m trying to figure it out.
TBone
@Elizabelle: a heartwarming tale of resistance and I share your Gracey giggle.
Ksmiami
@Hungry Joe: democracies last around 250 years . Time for an evolution
New Deal democrat
@Geminid: Thanks.
Elizabelle
@TBone: She knows nothink. Nothink! Sounds like a Boer, no?
Aziz, light!
@emjayay: May I suggest that you go everywhere else?
Elizabelle
LOL. Huntington Beach amended the MAGA plaque. They also added $1,000 to its cost to install lighting, so it doesn’t get vandalized. LA news channel KTLA has a good story on this. At least the plaque has an eagle, and not The Felon’s image.
Gin & Tonic
@emjayay:
Because threaded comments suck.
LAC
@bluefoot: Yeah, no thank you. Not gonna be the canary in the coal mine this time.
Marc
For those who like this kind of stuff, now might be a good time to learn just how easy it is to make drones with a $150 3D printer, carbon tubes (or even dollar store foam core boards), motors, and some inexpensive electronics and batteries, all of which can be delivered to your door by Amazon.
TBone
@Elizabelle: ha!!!
different-church-lady
This post is very clear eyed. If the post upsets someone, it’s because they’re not.
different-church-lady
Also: the game is not over — the game is just beginning. And it’s not our game. And we have to win it anyway.
Omnes Omnibus
@New Deal democrat: I haven’t been commenting for quite a while for my own reasons, but I decided to respond here to say this: Don’t put fucking words in my mouth.
different-church-lady
@New Deal democrat: We’ll recover.
…years after the coalition lead by Europe and South Korea liberates us.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Tell em. . .
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, I thought the commenter misrepresented your position. He’s usually more careful than that. But I’m glad to see you’re still kicking.
Speaking of kicking, do you think you’ll make it to the Dropkick Murphys concert in Madison? I think it’s early March.
Old School
@New Deal democrat:
If we recover from the current attacks, it’ll be because the courts held.
New Deal democrat
@Omnes Omnibus: Sorry, I thought I had read that the reason you weren’t commenting was because you thought this place had turned too Doomish.
Please accept my apologies.
Omnes Omnibus
@New Deal democrat: Whether have or have not been commenting here for that reason isn’t something that I have communicated to anyone here. People appear to have been speculating. Try not to join them in the future.
raven
Ya’ll fight, Imma watch the hockey game!
New Deal democrat
@Omnes Omnibus: No problem. Be well.
NaijaGal
@Elizabelle:
2018 Gracey. Still on the council.
kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: Good to hear you’re still going. All the best to you
Elizabelle
@NaijaGal: Yeah. I did look her up. Dog help us, she is honorary mayor now.
Culture warrior rightwing Latina, with images of porn she says is in libraries on her personal computer. Has been photographed with The Proud Boys.
LA Times has done a few stories on her. Dios mio. :-(
Citizen Alan
@The Thin Black Duke: I think Shitgibbon is more racist than George Wallace was. Wallace cynically embraced racism to get ahead in Alabama and later across the South. Trump and Edolph and Stephen Miller HATE blacks and other minority groups. Openly, unabashedly hate them.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: Sorry Omnes. I believe I may have started this clusterf__. Your absence has been noted, and you have been missed. Some jackals and I were speculating, offblog, that you had taken a break because you were sick of the doomerism.
It fit with observations at the time.
I mentioned that you were absent in a post maybe 2 or 3 days ago. And started off a round of speculating.
Your pal, Ebelle
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Omnes Omnibus: @Elizabelle: words, mere words…
Toxic Audio 🎶 Putting Words in my Mouth
Ruckus
@Steve LaBonne:
Never turn down help, especially when it’s likely necessary. We can use every single gram of help we can get.
Sure, most likely everyone creating this shit is white, I imagine that most (all) of the votes for all the shitty people like shitforbrains came from white people. And I’m not saying that people of color have to help, history being considered and all, but, and it is a big rotund country we live in and it takes all kinds and all of us to make it what it is supposed to be. The country belongs to ALL of us, black, brown, light tan, white as cotton.
shitforbrains has fucked over his very tiny sliver of it, along with most of the rest of it, and as he’s trying to fuck us all over he’s responsible for the disaster – same as elon. And while elon did not get elected, shitforbrains did. A side note. Think about the people that voted for shitforbrains – after his first go round. Think about elon trying to screw over the entire country for power – and I’d bet MONEY is also somewhere in that tiny, shitty mind.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Don’t put fucking words in my mouth.
Words to live by.
Peke Daddy
When metaphor is outlawed, only outlaws will use metaphor.
randy khan
Picking on AOC is stupid. She is smart and tough, and knows where the lines are, and will have the resources to fight any investigation, let alone an indictment.
And picking on Garcia doesn’t seem like it’s going to work, either. I hope he responds to the letter by saying that he expected the U.S. Attorney to understand the concept of a metaphor, maybe doing a compare and contrast with Trump’s January 6 speech for kicks.
glc
@randy khan:
It’s already worked. We’ve all seen the letter. Garcia is not the target. For the time being it’s “performative buffoonery” in Ken White’s phrase, but that’s a communication strategy that among other things won the last election. It’s also a clear demonstration that there is no rule of law at the federal level, as far as the executive branch is concerned. Not something to shrug off.
randy khan
@glc:
I do not think we should assume preemptive surrender, particularly given Garcia’s response. Also, it’s pretty clumsy, and reeks more of “respect muh authority” than anything else.
scott alloway
@Aurona:
Read this book years ago. It rings true today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Nations_of_North_America
Interstadial
@scott alloway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Nations goes deeper and gets closer to the mark IMO.
Ebony
We should force all pre-law students to take a full year of courses in the humanities. Yes the humanities will save us!!!! /s
sab
@Ebony: What on earth is a prelaw student? There is no such thing. Law schools don’t much care what your major was. They look at your GPA and your LSATs. It’s not like premed, where you need the science courses.
I have a law degree and I passed a state bar exam 55 years ago.
Law students had all sorts of backgrounds, often in humanities. Mine was History. English was also common. So was Accounting. Journalism also. Then the folks going for intellecrual properties (e.g. patent law) had more Science and Engineering.
glc
@randy khan: Actually, “preemptive surrender” is a meaningful concept. I’d suggest not using the term till you figure out what it refers to.
Professor Bigfoot
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, fuck… you just yanked that tiny candle of hope right out of my head.
Y’know, when you really, really, really hope TF you’re wrong about something?
I hope I’m wrong, but I think the 1798 Constitution is dead; and all because it permitted a Black man to become President “over them.”
(not doggin’ on you, Omnes… was just hoping against hope that you disagreed with me.)
Professor Bigfoot
@Ebony: Find somewhere to shove humanities into STEM education, especially for engineers.
Most of the people who have bachelors degrees or higher that also support Trump are… engineers. We are the best trained, most poorly educated demographic.