Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Consistently wrong since 2002

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

This chaos was totally avoidable.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

You are here: Home / Politics / Political Action / Don’t Like This? Do Something About It!

Don’t Like This? Do Something About It!

by | 141 Comments

This post is in: ,

In six weeks DOGE lit $500B on fire.  Don’t like that?

To give a sense of how much money this is: according to CBO in 2023, non-defense discretionary spending was $917B. So the cost of running the entire federal govt, aside from SocSec, Medicare, Medicaid & defense was $917B. And in six weeks DOGE lit $500B on fire.

[image or embed]

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) March 22, 2025 at 4:36 PM

Do something about it.  Today!

If you’re not in Wisconsin, one, I feel sorry for you, but, two, you can head to wisdems.org/phonebank. We have just a few days to reach every voter in Wisconsin and urge them to vote now. Let’s do this.

[image or embed]

— Ben Wikler (@benwikler.bsky.social) March 22, 2025 at 10:16 PM

Text or make calls through National Ground Game for the House Seats in Florida.   Election on April 1.

There are only 8 days left. That’s it.

Get out of your comfort zone and make some calls.  

Bueller?   Anyone?

It’s all about no regrets, right?

What are the rest of you up to today?  Open thread.

Reader Interactions

141Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    When this posted, the image in the sidebar came up.

    SCIENCE.  It’s better than making things up!

    And it made me think…

    ACTION.  Isn’t that better than just complaining or wringing our hands.

  3. 3.

    Hildebrand

    I’m both sad that Wikler isn’t running the DNC, and glad he is still in charge of the party in Wisconsin.

  4. 4.

    NobodySpecial

    @Hildebrand: As an Illinois resident, I question his judgement if he feels being in Wisconsin is some kind of net good. But other than that, he seems nice.

  5. 5.

    kindness

    Go Team!  How is the polling in Florida shaking out for their elections?  I know, I know….really red districts, but still.

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    On Wisconsin!!

    MPRNews.org today:

    […]

    Anthony Chergosky, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political scientist, said Schimel has been “borrowing from the Republican playbook of avoiding the issue of abortion” by leaving the question to voters in individual states.

    The message has still gotten across to many Democratic voters, who cited abortion as a top issue while waiting in line for early voting this past week.

    Jane Delzer, a 75-year-old liberal voter in Waukesha, said “a woman’s right to choose is my biggest motivator. I’m deeply worried about what Schimel may do on abortion.”

    June Behrens, a 79-year-old retired teacher, spoke about a loved one’s abortion experience: “Everyone makes their own choice and has their own journey in life, and they deserve that right.”

    Republican voters primarily cited immigration and the economy as their top issues, essentially the same ones that helped propel Republican Donald Trump’s win over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris last November in the presidential election. But others said they also wanted conservative social views reflected on the court.

    Lewis Titus, a 72-year-old volunteer for the city of Eau Claire, said restricting abortion was his top issue in the Supreme Court race: “I believe that Brad Schimel is the one to carry that on.”

    While it’s one of the key issues this year, abortion played a much larger role two years ago, when a race for Wisconsin’s highest court demonstrated how expensive and nationalized state Supreme Court races have become.

    This year’s campaigns have focused primarily on “criminal sentencing and attempting to paint one another as soft on crime,” said Howard Schweber, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor emeritus.

    Crawford also has tried to make the race a referendum on Trump after his first months in office and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is running Trump’s massive federal cost-cutting initiative and has funded two groups that have together spent more than $10 million to promote Schimel.

    “Two years ago, abortion was a hugely mobilizing issue, and we saw that clearly in the lead-up to the election,” Schweber said. “We’re seeing some of this but not to the same extent, which really makes no sense. The issues and stakes are exactly the same.”

    The decision to elevate other issues might be the result of anxiety among Democrats that abortion may not resonate as deeply as they once believed after significant election losses in November, despite Harris using abortion as a pillar of her campaign, several Wisconsin politics experts said.

    Franklin, the political scientist, said he believes abortion will motivate Democrats, but the issue may not rank high in the priorities of independent voters, who he says will be central to the race’s outcome.

    “In the early days after Roe v. Wade was overturned, it was still a very hot issue for voters,” he said. “But as states have codified their abortion laws, the issue doesn’t seem to motivate voters to the same extent. In the fall, many Democrats believed abortion was still this magic silver bullet and would win them the presidential and Senate races. But the outcomes didn’t seem to support that.”

    There are so many reasons for Crawford to win, so many good things that are possible with a sensible court, and so many horrible things that likely will happen without it. I hope the voters recognize that and don’t end up in a mode where “she didn’t talk enough about XYZ so I stayed home” or “he seems like a nice man so I voted for him” or similar. Voters need to take responsibility and do the right thing or bad things will happen.

    As long as the MAGAts keep winning with their divisive playbook, they’ll keep using it. Finding ways to defeat them in Wisconsin will help inform races in VA, NJ, and all around the country.

    Thanks to Wikler and everyone in the trenches. Forward!!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  7. 7.

    Shalimar

    @Another Scott: Lewis Titus, a 72-year-old volunteer for the city of Eau Claire, said restricting abortion was his top issue in the Supreme Court race

    That is seriously fucked up.  He should have a thousand more important concerns than whether a female 1/4th of his age gets an abortion or has a baby.  Or a miscarriage for that matter.  If a woman chooses not to have an abortion at 12 weeks but then has a miscarriage at 20 weeks, is God telling her she made a bad decision

    Edit: Also, too, what do you think the odds are that he votes against every new tax to fund schools because he no longer has kids in school?

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    @kindness: I do not know about polling, and I haven’t checked.

    Not only has the table been tipped over, but all the cards have been shredded and the chips have been melted.

    There is no pollster who can accurately predict how these races are going to come out.

  11. 11.

    gene108

    I know someone who works for the IRS. She’s going to take early retirement and the buy out. The work environment has become bad.

    They are not giving them any work*, shutting down audits before they are completed, dismantling the ability to go after wealthy individuals**, probably closing the field office sending agents to work in Philadelphia, and agents that get deputed to ICE will be at lower pay grades.

    *Probably a new way to get around federal laws protecting workers, and the inevitable lawsuits when people are laid off. “Oh, look we don’t have enough work for them. We’re over staffed. Time to downsize”.

    **IRS will probably shift auditors to go after less wealthy individuals, including EITC filers.

  13. 13.

    Glidwrith

    Can someone explain to me how DOGE has cost the government money? They’ve cancelled contracts and closed departments, I don’t understand.

  16. 16.

    Jackie

    Oh, for pity sakes! Even republicans are rolling their eyes…

    “The White House, through an outside event production company called Harbinger, is soliciting corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll, which is prompting major concerns from ethics experts and shock from former White House officials from both parties,” CNN reports.

    “The sponsorship offers range from $75,000 to $200,000, with the promise of logo and branding opportunities.”

    I truly hope this doesn’t come to fruition, but if it does, it’s boycotted by all but his MAGA lapdogs. This is a CHILDREN’S EVENT for Dog’s sake!

  21. 21.

    H.E.Wolf

    As our high school gym teacher used to say, “Get up off your petunias and get moving.”

    I’m writing GOTV postcards to Democratic voters in WI, 5 addresses at a time, 20 minutes’ writing at a time. Which is why it takes me 2-3 days per batch. :-)

    It adds up. I’m on cards 101 through 105 this weekend.

    Sign up here:
    [this is for PostcardsToVoters.org]
    [email protected]

  23. 23.

    matt

    @kindness: There’s no winning in Florida. Very strong state Republican Party, and integrated operations with government offices, judges, etc.

  26. 26.

    gene108

    @different-church-lady:

    I think Elon, Vought, and the rest of the goons are very much running government like a business. Customer service is seen as a nuisance and not an essential function for most businesses, unlike the government where addressing people’s concerns should be core duty.

    @Glidwrith:

    Can someone explain to me how DOGE has cost the government money? They’ve cancelled contracts and closed departments, I don’t understand.

    The IRS makes sure government revenue via tax payments are collected. Gutting the IRS, like Trump is doing now, will reduce the ability of the government to collect the tax revenue it is owed.

    Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share nonpublic data. That would amount to more than $500 billion in lost federal revenue; the IRS collected $5.1 trillion last year. For context, the U.S. government spent $825 billion on the Defense Department in fiscal 2024.

    SNIP

    The prediction, officials say, is directly tied to changing taxpayer behavior and President Donald Trump’s rapid demolition of parts of the IRS. Senior tax agency officials issued detailed warnings about those outcomes to the incoming Trump administration before the president took office, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

    The administration has moved to fire nearly 20,000 agency employees, specifically targeting new hires in taxpayer services and enforcement divisions. It’s already dismissed more than 11,000 workers at the agency, though some of their statuses are unclear pending fast-moving court cases.

    SNIP

    The IRS has dropped investigations of high-value corporations and taxpayers, according to several agency employees involved in those inquiries, because it’s had to triage resources to keep internal systems operating.

    Much more below.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/tax-revenue-could-drop-by-10-percent-amid-turmoil-at-irs/ar-AA1Bs7Yp?ocid=BingNewsSerp

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    It’s not great to be living in a time when you see a story like this and it’s not crazy to wonder if it was not natural causes.

    Former federal prosecutor found dead in Virginia home.

    A former federal prosecutor was found dead Saturday morning at a home in Alexandria, Virginia, authorities said.

    Officers with the Alexandria Police Department were dispatched to the home at 9:18 a.m. Eastern Time on a report of an unresponsive woman.

    They arrived to find 43-year-old Jessica Aber, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, dead at the scene, police reported. It was not immediately clear if the home belonged to Aber, or who had contacted police.

    Her cause of death will be determined by the Virginia medical examiner’s office. No further details were provided.

    Police said in a statement that “as a matter of protocol, an investigation is underway surrounding the circumstances of her death.”

    Kind of like the initial story about Gene Hackman where it just didn’t feel right, and then it turned out not to be.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    My mood today matches Bohdi in the sidebar.  Such a good boy, and today he is my spirit animal.

  29. 29.

    oldgold

    I used to watch the Sunday morning news programs– shows – Meet the Press, Face The Nation and This week w/o George Stephanopoulos. At some point I stopped watching these programs because I could not stomach the mendacious MAGA guests and Vichy Democrats being coddled by clueless moderators.

    I have found an alternative to wasting lots of  time watching this dreck. Each Sunday morning Aaron Rupar at bluesky monitors these shows and posts clips of the high low lights. Rupar does a good job.

    https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    @matt: FL-1 is indeed very unlikely.  FL-6, who knows?

    What I do know is that even if we don’t get outright wins, a big swing in voting patterns will help breathe life into the fight to take our country back.

    It will send a message to the looters in power, and it will put the wind at our back going into the NY special election and in Virginia in November.

    I believe it’s totally worth fighting the fight.  Rolling over with a shrug that they are unwindable gets us absolutely nowhere.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @oldgold: I still miss the bobblehead translations on Sunday morning – or whatever the exact name was.

    That was fun and informative.  I’ll have to check out Aaron Ruper for that.  I didn’t realize he did Sunday show summaries.

  34. 34.

    Ohio Mom

    @Glidwrith: DOGE staff is paying themselves handsomely, this is one of the first things that popped up when I goggled: https://www.wired.com/story/doge-government-salaries-elon-musk/#:~:text=3%3A08%20PM-,Some%20DOGE%20Staffers%20Are%20Drawing%20Six%2DFigure%20Government%20Salaries,very%20agencies%20they%20are%20cutting.

    There’s also costs associated with firing and rehiring staff and all the chaos they are sowing. All those court cases come with expenses and opportunity costs.

  35. 35.

    matt

    @WaterGirl: I am 100% onboard with still fighting. Let’s fight and have fun doing it! I just worry about expectations in places like Florida where the fix is in. Don’t want to have a repeat of the ‘Beto groundswell’ which I think was a sinkhole for money and enthusiasm.

  38. 38.

    tobie

    @WaterGirl: I know nothing about VA’s Chief Medical Examiner William Gormely but there was a whistleblower complaint against him in 2016. VA residents on BJ may know more about the medical examiner than me.

    Whaley also alleges that under the Chief Medical Examiner, Doctor William Gormley, examiners are subtly being urged to show bias toward law enforcement.

    “We`re physicians and we`re supposed to be in the best interest of our patients, who for us are the decedents and their families, and we`re not acting in that fashion,” Whaley said.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    Does anyone else occasionally read a comment and think “I thought the same thing!” only to see that it was your own comment?

    Asking for a friend.

    Oh, and @Baud at #41, shunning may be one of our best tools.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    I am watching Enemy of the State while I figure out the next series to watch while I’m on the treadmill.  I have to say the movie reads differently watching it in these times.  It’s the visceral recognition that this could happen to any of us that does it for me.

  48. 48.

    Bill Arnold

    @matt:
    Yep. When it is clear that resources for fighting tax fraud are being/will be gutted, potential tax fraudsters feel much freer to commit tax fraud.
    Also applies to line-crossing aggressive tax avoidance.

  49. 49.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl:

    Does anyone else occasionally read a comment and think “I thought the same thing!” only to see that it was your own comment?

    Asking for a friend.

    Tell your friend it happens with my friend all the time! ;)

  52. 52.

    Gretchen

    @Jackie: Musk shutting off STARLINK in Ukraine when he felt like it should have been the deciding factor for anyone else thinking of buying it

  53. 53.

    Jackie

    @Gretchen:

    Musk shutting off STARLINK in Ukraine when he felt like it should have been the deciding factor for anyone else thinking of buying it

    Absolutely!

  54. 54.

    Lyrebird

    @WaterGirl: Thank you WG for all you do!

    I did call Target this week, and the customer service rep was super kind.  While saying she couldn’t speak for the company, she suggested they will be reading comments and playing call recordings at a big meeting…  I hope the bigwigs hear my voice saying, “if it walks like a fascist and quacks like a fascist, maybe it’s a fascist, and you don’t have to comply in advance for these people!”

  57. 57.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @WaterGirl: Long ago I read Dean Koontz’s “Dark Rivers of the Heart,” and it hits the same way as Enemy of the State.

    Last year I started “2034: A Novel of the Next World War” and threw it aside a third of the way through because “the Americans can be stupid, but they’re not THAT FUCKING STUPID.”

    Then they elected Trump. <sigh>

  58. 58.

    brantl

    @Glidwrith: by cutting off the IRS’s ability to look into tax filings, fir money they’re due, they’re costing the federal government money in unclaimed owed money.

  59. 59.

    tobie

    @Gretchen: This has been bothering me for several years. We knew from early 2023 onward the games Musk was playing with Starlink in Ukraine and the fact that he was having conversations with Putin. Why didn’t Lloyd Austin do everything in his power as Sec of Defense to find or fund alternatives to Starlink? He threw some money at Boeing which didn’t work out. That was it.

  60. 60.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Jackie: There is no event so sacred that this president cannot corrupt.  It certainly appears that corrupting as much as he can, as fast as he can  That   is the reason he pulls himself out of incoherently hate tweeting in the morning.

    Our Supreme Court will certainly consider such Easter corporate “branding” simple tips from his grateful corporate “persons”.  Our GOP controlled Congress will call those “tips” tax free in legislation they pass through reconciliation.  The circle of corruption will thus be complete.

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    Chuck clears it up.

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will not step down, as anger and pressure builds among his fellow Democrats over his decision not to block a Republican-led government funding measure.
    “Look, I’m not stepping down,” Schumer told NBC News’ Meet the Press programme on Sunday.
    Some Democrats wanted Schumer to block the most recent government funding bill, which they believed enabled President Donald Trump’s agenda, but Schumer decided to allow a full vote.
    He and a handful of other Senate Democrats voted to advance the measure to a final vote, but voted against the funding bill’s ultimate passage.

    Schumer told Meet the Press he made his decisions “out of pure conviction as to what a leader should do and what the right thing for America and my party was”.

    “Pure conviction” doing heavy lifting here.

  62. 62.

    oldgold

    Speaking of the dreck on the Sunday shows, this happened on This Week.

    While speaking to Bernie Sanders, Karl wondered if Ocasio-Cortez had a future in the U.S. Senate. “Would you like to see her join you in the Senate?” Karl asked. Sanders got up to leave the interview.

    “Wait, I got one more — I got one more. This is an important…” Karl pleaded.

    “No, you want to do nonsense. Do nonsense,” Sanders interrupted. “I don’t want to talk about inside the beltway stuff.”

  68. 68.

    Glidwrith

    Thank you all for answering my question. Husband thought it would be related to lost productivity and the firings.

  70. 70.

    ascap_scab

    So that $5,000 DOGE “dividend check” is actually going to be a bill?

    Gobsmacked!

  71. 71.

    chemiclord

    @Baud: And sure enough, he’s being dragged by the aggressively online making demands of him almost immediately.

    It’s like, “Bro.  He doesn’t owe you shit.  Hell, you’re lucky he cares enough about the people who elected the man who accused him of being Kenyan that he makes any statements at all.”

  72. 72.

    Steve LaBonne

    The service at my UU church this morning featured members of our board (which I will be joining in July) talking about how we can reach out more effectively to the community beyond our walls. This is more important than ever in the times we live in. Our values and our work for social justice are really needed.

  75. 75.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @trollhattan: Gah! His every utterance: It’s all about me, Chuck Schumer, master strategist!

    I certainly see both sides here,* but there is no excuse for Chuck’s “plan,” which was essentially assuming that the House Republicans would never send the CR to the Senate. So, no prepping for any other outcome, waffling back and forth, dithering right up to the end, then shitting on House Dems.

    Chuck, that’s called a clusterfuck. Worse, instead of at least being able to put all focus on Republican failures and how bad the CR is, the entire focus is, again, on Democratic failures.

    Fucking step down, you idiot. Nancy’s not around to save you ass anymore. Step down.

    *Check out The Find Out Podcast. Not perfect, but happened to have a good back-and-forth about this topic.

    https://findoutpodcast.substack.com/

  76. 76.

    Geo Wilcox

    OT/ Maybe

    My husband is watching the NCAA basketball tournament like he does every year. As I walked by I wondered how many of the athletes competing were from the public schools system. (You can see where I am going with this…) I also wondered how fewer athletes will be coming out of said system once it is dismantled.

    Where in the hell are pro teams going to get top caliber athletes of the farm system is shut down by Trump? Are none of the pro teams even thinking about this? What about athletic apparel corporations who sell jerseys to teams and fans? What about the producers of athletic equipment for the teams and fans?  What about the stadiums built in for the teams and all the people who work there?

    Is this being discussed any where in the press or media? If not why not?

  79. 79.

    tobie

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Worse, instead of at least being able to put all focus on Republican failures and how bad the CR is, the entire focus is, again, on Democratic failures.

    Nailed it. Schumer’s guilty of professional malpractice. We’re spending all our time talking about Dems instead of about how awful the Republican budget is.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    @Steve LaBonne: There’s no reason that Obama and others cannot be part of that.

    Me? I think it’s all hands on deck when democracy is at stake, whether you have reason to be pissed or not.  Whether you have been taken for granted or not.  Whether you like the guys who’s next to you in the foxhole or not.

  82. 82.

    Kelly

    @Geo Wilcox: The leading NCAA sports teams are only superficially attached to the colleges whose names they use. Wealthy alumni will continue lavish support of the teams regardless of how skeletal the schools become. The pro farm team system will continue.

  84. 84.

    Anyway

    @eclare: I don’t like Jon Stewart anymore, but a friend recommended this clip to me, and he eviscerates Schumer over the CR vote.

    Not directed at you,— eviscerating Ds is easy — I haven’t watched him for years now but hope he was as upset about arbitrary cuts to public universities, firing federal employees en masse, shipping Venezuelans to El Salvador without any process or record-keeping, detaining people in for-profit prisons when they could be sent to their home countries, letting Tate brothers into the country, pardoning the Silk Road guy etc etc

  87. 87.

    Martin

    @gene108: Is it not COMPLETELY obvious to everyone that the IRS is not going to audit anyone except as a form of harassment? Trump used the IRS for that purpose in his first term, and it’s completely obvious that no republican, no person earning over $100K is going to get audited ever under this administration, the auditors are going to be purged and auditors that have signaled a willingness to break kneecaps of political rivals are going to be hired in their place.

    People need to stop pretending that Trump has any interest whatsoever is running a technocratic government. The federal government from here on will be tuned to act as his muscle, punishing democrats, women, minorities, etc. individually and collectively, and it’s not really hard to get around the courts on this either. They can force him to reinstate workers, but they can’t force him to not put them in an office in the basement of an abandoned building and leave them there to rot. He’s already doing that now. Yes, workers need to have their purchasing authority restored, but we’ll set their purchasing limit at $1. Complying with the law.

    Y’all need to gear up for a much bigger fight than you are gearing up for.

  88. 88.

    Baud

    @oldgold:

    I don’t want to talk about inside the beltway stuff.”

     

    @WaterGirl:

     I think it’s all hands on deck when democracy is at stake,

     

    I’m going to agree with Bernie here and apply it to people still wringing their hands about Schumer. Perfectly reasonable not to like how he’s handled things or prefer someone else. But if people can’t move on and be all hands on deck when it comes to Trump, then people like Obama should not bother wasting his time with us.

    IMHO. Everyone is free to do what they want.

  90. 90.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @WaterGirl: The thing is, Obama (and Mrs. Obama) were out on the campaign trail HARD for the VP.

    They, and we, were rebuked on November 5.

    Perhaps it should be “all hands on deck,” but what make anyone think Americans* will listen to Obama anyway?

  92. 92.

    Baud

    @Professor Bigfoot:

    Agree. I want people to learn on fight for democracy for themselves. Obviously, WaterGirl is a person of immense good faith, but I think a lot of the critics out there who aren’t just trolling want to delegate their civic responsibility (and blame) to some prominent person.

  96. 96.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Glidwrith: there is significant loss there too

    unfortunately nobody is assessing that loss.

    Remember when every rule making required a cost-benefit analysis?

    Those were heady days that exist no more.

  97. 97.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Ohio Mom: the DOGE bastards are paying themselves more than I make per year, and I have a lot more academic qualifications than any two of them combined.And I probably have about two decades more work experience as well.

  99. 99.

    Martin

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: I’ve been trying to get this point across for a bit now. We’re now in the 2007 housing crisis category of needing the courts to put the burden on the banks that they do indeed hold title to your loan, and if they can’t prove it, you owe them nothing. Now, the courts didn’t exactly hold the line on that – and not nearly enough borrowers tested those waters, but one lady did.

    If the feds have broken those student loan contracts (not precisely clear to me they have, but it seems likely) then borrowers can, in theory, stop paying. They won’t, because they’ll be afraid of getting in trouble, the same reason we aren’t burning shit down right now, but some will. Courts may or may not side with borrowers, same as with the housing situation. But under the circumstances, if you get some tort lawyers confirming that these contracts are likely breached, I would encourage borrowers to stop paying on a broad scale as an act of civil disobedience at a minimum.

  100. 100.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @chemiclord: sometimes I do wonder if some of the more aggressively on line are not payed by the GRU or FSB (or actually are GRU or FSB).  It certainly has happened in our recent past.  There have also been a significant uptick in baseless attacks on both Obamas lately which just feels astroturf.

    We are in an information war and the Republican framing of everything, but especially the frame that democrats are hopelessly divided, is our foremost opponent in my humble opinion

  101. 101.

    prostratedragon

    @Geo Wilcox:

    I posted something I found about that the other day. From Seth Rockman:

    In honor of #MarchMadness, let’s talk about how all 8 men’s teams playing in Providence this week are threatened by the Musk/Trump Admin.

    If you love college sports, you’re going to have to stand up for colleges!!!!

    The schools are Clemson, High Point, Purdue, McNeese State, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska-Omaha, and St. John.

    And then,

    Before we get to the 4 teams in the West bracket, let’s note: the Trump Admin is not just waging war on elite institutions for being “woke.” None of these schools are hotbeds of student activism. These are places where people come to be educated as a means to social mobility. And all are at risk.

    @Kelly:

    I wouldn’t be too sure about that beyond the bigger conferences/schools that have very large alumni bases. Of the 8 schools in Rockman’s example, at most 5 are in that category, and of those 5, no more than one is maybe not a football first base.

  102. 102.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @Martin: I would not propose that.  Default holds serious consequences.  I would propose suing for breach of contract and attempting to certify a class.

  104. 104.

    Martin

    @Kelly: This is all correct. I will add, however, that the institutions can take the sports revenue from athletics and spend it on academics and research. That’s permitted. Whether campus leadership is bold enough to do that is another story. But we’re well into closing down academic departments territory on even well established institutions, and the faculty backlash is going to be pretty serious.

    Honestly, if the feds are going to crater the research/academic mission of higher education, taking away college sports is a proportionate and consequential decision that universities should be making. I would go so far as to argue it’s immoral to not do that. Athletics are part of a well-rounded university, but they cannot thrive at the expense of the other areas. They are a perk, not the mission, and I would be leading that charge at mine if I were still working.

  105. 105.

    Martin

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: The problem is that the feds are sovereign, and they need to consent to be sued. It’s not like suing other parties, and there’s no reason to believe that this administration will allow a suit to happen. You’re still thinking as though this is a functional democratic institution. It is not. It does not seek to be one. And seeking such a suit will take years to resolve, because again, that’s how they operate.

  106. 106.

    Marc

    @Martin:  no person earning over $100K is going to get audited ever under this administration

    I’d change that to “no white conservative male earning over $100K…”.  I suspect the rest of us will get audited by Grok and tough luck if you don’t agree with Musk’s LLM.

  107. 107.

    Jackie

    @HopefullyNotcassandra: Oooh, this is good! From your link:

    I get it. In the world of “Trump” (Mr. “I built a very good business ripping people off and going bankrupt every 19 seconds,”) a contract is just toilet paper. You don’t follow them. You don’t honor them. You don’t give two flips about them. But this isn’t one of your sleazy real estate deals. This is federal law. Millions of contracts. And you just tore them all up with your sharpie and MAGA bullshit.

    You’ve invalidated the contracts by moving student loans to agencies like the SBA or HHS, agencies with no legal authority to hold or enforce them. You’ve breached the agreement the U.S. Government made with its citizens. At the simplest level, you are attempting to renegotiate contracts without a negotiation. That may be how it works in “Trumpbullshitland,” but that’s not how it works in the rest of the land.

    So guess what?

    You breached, asshole. It’s lawsuit time or contract recision time; your choice!

    Go through with this plan, and you’ve made every student loan in the country legally unenforceable. Student loan debt forgiveness for every contract ever signed. Full fucking stop. Forget Public Service. Forget IDR. Done. Every contract is invalidated.

    Followed by this disclaimer:

    Let me be clear: This is not legal advice. Like all things with the Orangutan, we need to see the details before the legal challenges begin. But on its face, this appears to be an unprecedented, system-wide breach of the Master Promissory Note—every single one of them.

  110. 110.

    Marc

    @prostratedragon: ​

    the Trump Admin is not just waging war on elite institutions for being “woke.” None of these schools are hotbeds of student activism. These are places where people come to be educated as a means to social mobility.

    Which is exactly what they intend to accomplish.

  111. 111.

    Jackie

    Usha is alive!

    “Usha Vance, the second lady, is scheduled to join the White House national security adviser, the energy secretary and other U.S. officials to visit Greenland this week, amid President Trump’s continued push to take over the island,” the New York Times reports.

    “Other senior administration officials may also visit.”

  112. 112.

    Anyway

    @Steve LaBonne: We have to stop looking for magic people who can save us. We are the ones we have been waiting for.

    yeh but the asymmetry! Words by the right “magic” people have a huge multiplier effect — I don’t have much hope of accomplishing much, sad to say.

  113. 113.

    Jay

    @Jackie:

    Don’t you have homeless people you can give a few bucks to and a MAGA hat to, for a faux photo in America, and barren places to stand in for Greenland?

  115. 115.

    prostratedragon

    @prostratedragon:

    The bracket Rockman discussed played this weekend in Providence; Rockman is a prof at Brown. He and others used the opportunity to have a teach-in demonstration about the effects of funding cuts, including Pell and other student aid, on which students at places like St. John’s and McNeese State are especially reliant.

  116. 116.

    Marc

    @Martin: ​
     

    if the feds are going to crater the research/academic mission of higher education

    I’m not sure that “if” is serving any purpose here. It’s happening right now, both directly and indirectly. I believe the notion here is that the private sector will pick up the research where needed. Of which few of us will be rich enough to actually take advantage. Feature not bug.

  119. 119.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    I’m going to agree with Bernie here and apply it to people still wringing their hands about Schumer.

    This. I’m no fan of Schumer, but the ‘CR’ passed and now it’s just part of the terrain.  Similarly with Bernie and 2016.

  120. 120.

    Kelly

    @prostratedragon: If I recall correctly there are 30 NBA teams and 32 NFL. The pro teams only need a fraction of 1% of NCAA players as rookies each year.

    Some of the big sports schools have large donor bases. Some just have one rich guy. My Oregon Ducks mainly have 87 year old Nike billionaire Phil Knight. I have no idea what will happen to the Ducks athletics after he’s gone

  121. 121.

    Jay

    Bluefish tuna were overfished in the mid-Atlantic this month because NOAA did not issue the regulation to close the fishery after fishermen filled the quota in mid-January, according to two letters sent to NOAA from Bill Keating, a Democratic representative from Massachusetts.

    Keating’s initial attempt to reach NOAA’s congressional liaison failed because that person had been fired, and his second attempt to warn the interim administrator went unanswered, his office said.

    NOAA eventually closed the mid-Atlantic fishery on February 28 after 125% of the catch quota had been taken. But John McMurray, a bluefin fisherman in New York, says he is not sure how much of the prized fish will be available for him to catch when his season gets underway in June.

    “It’s hard for me to believe we’re not going to get punished up here in New York and New England for that,” he said.

    Actions have consequences.

    https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/trump-s-regulatory-freeze-throws-us-fishing-industry-into-chaos/ar-AA1Bu1BE

  122. 122.

    jowriter

    @Anyway: Stewart is always ready to lay into Democrats, no matter who and no matter why.  He’s just the worst of fake liberals.

  125. 125.

    Jay

    @eclare:

    @Jackie:

    They are probably flying Commercial, as Greenland is often a refueling stop, in theory, Greenland/Denmark could refuse them entry, and require them to stay on board the aircraft for it’s return or travels onward, but at that level, (VP’s Trad Wife and entourage), it usually requires that then be declared persona non grata, which is a big escalation diplomatically.

    It would be easier to just round up the unhoused, give them three hots and a cot, a couple of Euro’s for the duration of their stay, to deny them a photo op.

  126. 126.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jackie:

    I went there too.  The writer’s argument seems to be absolutely dependent on who the Department of Education can and can’t outsource the servicing of the loan to.

    And this person seems to be awfully sure that no other government agency can be assigned the role of servicing the loan.

    OK, I thought, let’s see the Master Promissory Note and how it defines ‘servicer.’  I found the PDF. It doesn’t have a definition section, and doesn’t define ‘servicer’ in the text. Maybe the enabling legislation has a definitions section that defines ‘servicer,’ but I’m not good at searching the U.S. Code.

    The other thing that occurs to me is that a loan contract is an asset of the party that’s lent the money.  When a person dies, someone else inherits their assets. If I owed you $5000 and you dropped dead, that debt wouldn’t vanish; I’d owe the money to your heirs and assigns.  And if I owed a corporation money and it went bust, some other entity would wind up with the right to demand that I make the payments.

    IANAL, but I can’t see how this would be any different with the Federal government.  Some other agency would surely inherit the assets and be responsible for the liabilities of an agency that was shut down.  Normally that would be in the legislation that shut down the agency.  And here, since there was no such legislation, legally the Department of Education continues to exist.

    If I still had a student loan that I was paying off, I’d definitely still make the payments.  But if sending my payments in by personal check through the U.S. mail was an option, I’d utilize that option. And if I hadn’t already been making my payments that way, I’d let them know by email and certified mail that I would be making my future payments that way. Because in the general chaos of Trump shutting down the Department of Education, who knows what will happen to those checks? Might be years before they’re ever cashed.  Hell, they might get lost and wind up in a landfill.  Their problem, not mine.

  127. 127.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jackie:

    Too bad they can’t refuse to let the plane land…

    Well, they could refuse to let them through Customs.

  128. 128.

    Martin

    @Marc: The ‘if’ signifies a choice to be made, which in this case has been made, but which also can be reversed.

    This is a normal usage in English language, for instance: “If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything”.

  129. 129.

    Another Scott

    @tobie:

    The DoD buys more stuff than anybody on the planet. They’re always looking at alternatives.

    SpaceNews.com (from January 2024):

    The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), a combat support agency of the DoD, manages many of the Pentagon’s commercial satcom contracts in partnership with CSCO. In July, DISA launched the Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) Satellite-Based Services contract, the first major opportunity for space companies to propose new offerings tailored to evolving military requirements.

    Under the PLEO indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, space companies will be able to bid on about $900 million worth of military task orders over the next five years. “Once we make a determination of a customer’s needs, we try to help connect them to capability as soon as possible,” said Hopper.

    Vendors have until May 31 to submit a menu of products and services for military customers to choose from. “It’s what we call open season,” Hopper said. “It enables contractors to propose new services or new service-level agreements that they think might match customer needs.”

    To date, 20 companies have been selected for the IDIQ. The first task order, worth about $70 million, went to SpaceX’s Starlink in September.

    Starlink service is now highly sought after by many parts of the DoD and U.S. armed forces. Of the $70 million task order awarded to SpaceX, “we’ve obligated approximately $25 million in funds sourced from about 50 different customers” across the DoD, Hopper added. “We’re seeing a diverse demand for that vehicle, and we’ve been modifying that particular task order seemingly every couple of weeks.”

    Hopper noted that the $70 million task order is not a complete reflection of DoD’s entire use of Starlink, as some organizations procure services under other contracts not managed by CSCO.

    “We just make sure that we are prepared to meet demand,” she said.

    Starlink is the dominant LEO internet provider with the most extensive constellation — with more than 5,200 satellites providing services worldwide as of early January. But DoD is also a customer of LEO satcom provider Eutelsat OneWeb, which has more than 600 satellites in orbit and can now provide global coverage.

    Additionally, the military will aim to take advantage of emerging providers as they come online, including Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Telesat Lightspeed. “We expect greater competition and more offerers being able to respond to the needs of the DoD,” Hopper said.

    Hopper expects the PLEO contract to be expanded over time. “This will be a continued process,” she said. “We will, over the course of the contract, extend opportunities for industry to update their offerings as well as invite new entrants.”

    She said the current contract ceiling of $900 million could be raised if needed. “We are working with DISA on perhaps adjusting that due to demand.”

    DoD still funds Iridium, also too.

    I have no idea the proportion of the business that Melon has via SpaceX (I’m sure it’s significant), but DoD is always looking for alternatives and backups and ways to reduce risk and enhance capabilities. They’ve probably got a lot of their own satellite stuff too (with different capabilities).

    My $0.02.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    @Professor Bigfoot: Also, George Bush is a worthless piece of shit, so I have no expectations of him.  If, however, he wanted to stand up for democracy, I would welcome him into the foxhole.

  132. 132.

    chemiclord

    @lowtechcyclist: I think the issue is that it was a Congressional act that created the Department of Education and granted it the power to service student loans.  Congress is the one that has to assign that service to another agency, not Trump.

    So if Trump actually goes through with this, that is the breach of contract that renders the contract void, not necessarily the reassignment of who manages and services the loans.

  133. 133.

    Interesting Name Goes Here

    @chemiclord: Between that and the obnoxiously stupid take from Andrew Lawrence that still has me seething, I have an exceptionally lower view of the left than usual this week.

    I really wish AOC and Jasmine Crockett all of the success and then some, but I hope they also realize that a lot of the people who claim to support them just see them as tokens to be spent instead.

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    I really hope they drop a lot more – but.

    And it is a rather large round but. How many people does elon employ? It’s way more than 25 for sure. If he’s losing a lot of money, those people are going to become unemployed. And it’s in his best interest to cut unemployment so that his loss is not as high.

    IOW he gains either way, he sells more shitmobiles or he pays fewer employees. Although, he is so wealthy that in his lifetime it really doesn’t matter. Which is different for the vast majority of the public.

    Now another point, Social Security benefits. I am an old, I get SS and because I worked into my 72 year my benefit is reasonable. IOW I paid into SS for approximately 6 decades. I served 42 1/2 months in the USN. I EARNED MY monthly payment. As did everyone else over the last 90 years, that collects back what they paid in, military service or not. Which was and is the point of Social Security in the first damn place. Sure shitforbrains and his buddy don’t NEED the money, but if they paid into it, they should get paid to retire as well.

    Social Security is an important – huge deal to many citizens of this country and we paid into it, #1 because we had to and #2 because it makes for a better life for us in retirement.

  138. 138.

    Josie

    @tobie: ​
     There is a solution to that. We could stop talking about Schumer. i like Bernie’s solution. If a question or statement is stupid, walk away.

  139. 139.

    Another Scott

    @Interesting Name Goes Here: Thanks for the pointer.

    Naima Cochrane
    ‪@stillnaima.bsky.social‬

    White leftists: “we need NEW voices! No more status quo”

    Also white leftists: “Where are the people who are no longer in office who we said were responsible for the status quo?”

    March 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM

    Yeah, funny how that works.

    [ groucho-roll-eyes.gif ]

    It’s tiresome.

    Thanks again.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  140. 140.

    Interesting Name Goes Here

    @Another Scott: Oh, it’s so much worse than that.  As Ms. Cochrane and Professor Bigfoot have noted (and not for the first time, it should be added), people aren’t making these demands of the Clintons.  They’re not hitting up Howard Dean, or Al Franken.  But the Obamas?  Kamala Harris?  Oh, they need to be on the front lines.  I’m sure you can figure out what’s the chief difference between Barack Obama and Howard Dean.  I post on another site, Fark.com, and a couple of months back when Maxwell Frost was at one of the sites DOGE had gotten into, Maxine Waters was there as well.  Guess what posters there were saying about Maxine?  Go ahead, guess.

    But, in the midst of all of this furor about no one stepping up to the plate and what is a very concerted effort to remove anyone out of office older than 30 or 35, so many of these people – who have turned on damn near everyone who has made a honest effort to help them – are enraptured and enthralled by Bernie Sanders, an 83-year-old Vermont senator, because “he speaks for the people.”

    About that…

    You should see the reaction to that on BlueSky right now.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    @Interesting Name Goes Here: Good points.  It’s always easier to beat up on folks that aren’t in your tribe.

    re Bernie – I’ve got extended problems with him.  He’s – still – not a Democrat.  He showed his colors with his extended, years-long, poisoning of the party with his “CORRUPT” finger pointing screeds.  He’s done a lot of damage, and I do my best to ignore him.

    But we say we want a representative democracy.  We want elected representatives in power acting on our concerns.  A majority – including a lot of Democrats – want more action on limiting immigration.  I, personally, think that’s a big mistake.  But it needs to be addressed by people in elected office (and people wanting elected office).

    It can be done in a smart way, or it can be done in a stupid, dangerous, and damaging way.  Enough people wanted the monsters to be in office, so we’re getting the 2nd option (along with a bunch of other stupid, dangerous, and damaging stuff).

    Grr…

    Thanks.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

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