They are sounding the alarm. Are we listening?
Listening is step one. Step two is figuring out what we do about it.
Donald Trump is attempting to impose his authoritarian rule across the United States.
Sending troops to cities against their will is unconstitutional and un-American.
Stand up, speak out, and be loud against it.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) September 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Twitter links below, which I hate to do.
But I think what Newsom is saying is important to hear.
.
Donald Trump is not concerned about safety — only about inciting fear and creating chaos.
Federal officers must follow the law in Illinois and respect constitutional rights to peaceful assembly without the fear of intimidation and physical harm.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) September 26, 2025 at 3:48 PM
.
Donald Trump is not concerned about safety — only about inciting fear and creating chaos.
.
Trump’s administration claims they’re arresting criminals, yet they’ve detained US citizens.
Illinoisans deserve to know why the federal government is spending their money to promulgate a fear campaign instead of supporting public safety efforts.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) September 26, 2025 at 1:59 PM
.
I embedded the video rather than the whole tweet, which I hope will allow it to play here without going to twitter.
Can you guys without twitter accounts click play, if you want to?Wake up, America, or I fear we may not have elections in 2028. pic.twitter.com/paO3Pwvqts
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) September 24, 2025
.Trump’s using American military forces to further his own political agenda rather than protect American citizens. He’s deploying our own military against us. pic.twitter.com/1yz9cgIm9X
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) September 24, 2025
.
Update:
Speaking of which, BlueGuitarist just sent me this info:
There’s a virtual phone bank for good Kim (and 2 other good candidates)
The next 4 Saturdays
(10 am-noon Pacific time (early afternoons blog time)organized by Sister District CA Peninsula.
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/615402/
The 2 other D candidates are women
challenging strong R incumbents in flippable districts:
Jessica Anderson VAH-71 (Williamsburg area) and
Lindsey Dougherty VAH-75 (Hopewell area)Sister District had raised well over $600k for Virginia House candidates by July.
They’re good: here’s their page about Kim https://sisterdistrict.com/candidates/kimberly-pope-adams/
Postcards4va said last day for mailing current postcards is Oct. 9 – possibly later date with next batch of cards.
Looks like they’re done with postcards for Kim and Virgil and most of the strongest challengers.
Lots of addresses still available for longer-shot candidates and a few tighter races.
WaterGirl
I haven’t done a thing about this today, other than type about stuff here. I didn’t make a single call to my elected officials.
Hopefully you guys did better than I did.
Nelle
What you do here matters more than you can imagine. Thank you.
Baud
@Nelle:
Seconded.
Math Guy
The only way this ends is when 12-15 million people say “This Ends Now” and demonstrate publicly and refuse to go back to life as usual. Nothing else is sufficient, though it all matters.
iKropoclast
The best time to realize Republicans are Nazis is 1992. The next best time is now.
cain
I say a economic strike at the same time govt shuts down. Trump says he’s the great negotiator and deal maker. Putting the economy under siege by liberals is the one power we have where he can’t send his thugs against us.
Like one day, we just do not spend any money. No amazon, no nothing. See how it goes.. then extend it by another day. Then do it again, a week later, for longer. The administration will start panicking because you can’t attack an enemy that refuses to participate
Force him and the GOP to negotiate. Let’s see if he can rise to the occasion. He can’t. He will be absolutely very upset that we have this power.
H.E.Wolf
I’m just quietly writing GOTV postcards and updating our state Democratic voter database.
We all do what we can. It’s all helpful.
(I see you, Nelle! The work you do in your locale is an abiding inspiration to me.)
Math Guy
@cain: 👍
WaterGirl
Speaking of which, BlueGuitarist just sent me this info:
There’s a virtual phone bank for good Kim (and 2 other good candidates)
Another Scott
Relatedly, … GovExec.com (from yesterday):
(Emphasis added.)
Genius.
It looks like an incompetent MAGA operative is Secretary of Agriculture, so that take isn’t unexpected.
Grr…
Something something no way out but through.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@cain:
It may come to that. I’m not sure the public is there yet.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Okay. So THEY are going to send shut down the House, so the only people who could potentially work on keeping government open will not have that option.
THEN THEY want to make sure people feel maximum pain in the situation that THEY are causing.
Do I have that right?
*THEY being this administration
Baud
@Another Scott:
Cool. Piss off the farmers even more.
AM in NC
@WaterGirl: I made calls to my two useless GOP senators and stood with a protest sign during lunch hour at a busy intersection
ETA: What Nelle said at comment #2
Baud
PsiFighter37
@Baud: The farmers of this country are, by a vast majority, morons who will continue to vote for the GOP even though Chinese purchases of soybeans have gone to $0 and will undoubtedly cause bankruptcies across the board. The fact they do it because they hate brown people, even though they hire those same folks to do their hard work in the fields, speaks to their idiocy.
If William Sherman was alive and a woke-ass general, he would burn their silos to the ground and salt the earth around the charred remains of their farms.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Another Scott: so, this regime plans to screw their own voters once again? Apparently the sight of red America bleeding is manna to magas. As usual, this makes zero sense.
scav
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Blood letting is oolllddd school medicine. Bring on the leaches from the king of brainworms!
scav
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Blood letting is oolllddd school medicine. Bring on the leaches from the king of brainworms!
brought to you by bespoke rediss error!
eclare
And here in Memphis, we have to do this
wreg.com/news/local/gov-bill-lee-holds-press-conference-in-memphis/
Fuck you.
sab
Lots of small farmers near me in Ohio who will be doing fine as farmers to locavores. Seasonal produce: sweet corn, tomatoes, string beans, peaches, pears, apples, squashes and pumpkins. Ohio fields to Ohio markets. No tariffs there.
The soybean farmers sell overseas. Why the phuck should my tax dollars reimburse them for what Trump did when none of the food they grow goes to US consumers.
We used to have a world economy. If Trump wants it local those farmers better come around and get with the program.
CatRadio
I live in a very red district of Northwest Florida. Have not seen a single sign in support of Trump. Big difference from a few years ago. What that means is somewhere between zip and zero, but the absence of flags and banners, I sense a lack of support.
sab
@scav: I tripped over the dog in the dark a couple of nights ago. HUGE bruise on my arm where it hit the doorframe as I went down. Subcutaneus bleeding and all. A couple of leeches would have been useful but we don’t do that here.
PsiFighter37
@CatRadio: No, what it means is that his cretins only give a shit if he’s on the ballot. Otherwise they could not give two shits about what is going on around them.
WaterGirl
@AM in NC: I loved your story about your solo lunchtime action!
Very inspiring. I bet you really pissed off that lady by continuing to be pleasant while she showed what an awful person she was.
I love how she went from grocery prices – did you ask what magical store she shopped at where the prices aren’t going up? – to what really mattered, which is those pesky black people she hates so much.
WaterGirl
@eclare: That must be so disheartening to have a governor who is welcoming these thugs with open arms. We’re so lucky!!!
CatRadio
@PsiFighter37: I agree. And yet, I hope. It’s an odd spot to be in, but I lived in the DC area during Watergate era.
PsiFighter37
@WaterGirl: Not to give credence to this deployment, but Memphis definitely has a crime problem. Not just the stats, but also what I have seen having been there personally for business over recent years. However, I doubt that this National Guard deployment will do anything more than keep the ‘nice’ parts of town safe (although calling any part of Memphis nice frankly is a stretch) and letting crime continue unabated in other parts.
Deputinize America
I see that SCOTUS has once more applied the Weimar Constitution rules circa 1933-1945 via the shadow docket.
Captain C
@WaterGirl: I think you do enough that you can take the occasional day off. All hands on deck means we get each other’s back when necessary. Plus, you curate the best photo series in blogdom :^)
Ishiyama
At the risk of making myself a target, I will ask, when Bernie Sanders and AOC are crisscrossing the country trying to rally the people against oligarchy, where are the public rallies by, e.g., Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the rest of the crew who were so ambitious to be national leaders when it wasn’t so dangerous.
WaterGirl
@PsiFighter37: Yeah, they’re not in Memphis to help with the crime problem.
WaterGirl
@Deputinize America: What ruling are you referring to?
Baud
@Deputinize America:
They need to replace their gavel with a rubber stamp.
Professor Bigfoot
@eclare: I ran away from Tennessee about 45 years ago because it was still Confederate to the core.
Never thought they’d take over Ohio, but here we are- and here I am.
Baud
Posted for the the wonderful failure to use commas for clarity.
Socolofi
I’m gonna watch the M’s vs the Dodgers. Sometimes, even while the world burns, you need some coffee. This is fine.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Ishiyama: Obama, Hillary, Kamala, and others have been speaking. Frequently.
However, since the modern Progressive movement has declared them adversaries at best, they are often ignored and shunned in favor of Bernie’s Trumpian rallies which traffic heavily in vibes and focus on “class warfare”. The only times they deem it necessary to bring up their names is to accuse them of “not doing more” – and more is never given a hard definition so that when it’s pointed out what they not only are doing but are capable of doing, the goalposts can get moved to the next unreachable target.
eclare
@PsiFighter37:
No part of Memphis is nice?
Professor Bigfoot
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Thank you. I think more than most I take umbrage at the continual demands for MORE MORE MORE.
I will add this: Kamala and Barack and Hillary all campaigned their asses off in those 107 days and white America told them and us to fuck right off.
THEY DON’T OWE YOU JACK SHIT.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl:
E.g. Steve Vladeck (via Popehat).
47 can do no wrong according to the SCOTUS…
Grr…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Deputinize America
@WaterGirl:
Failure to distribute budgeted foreign aid.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Professor Bigfoot: I mentioned in a previous thread that I think the current-day Progressive movement desperately needs an intervention. It’s my sincere hope that however that happens, when it does they are forced to recognize the roles their arrogance and petulance played in creating today’s world. Progressives will be doomed to keep repeating the same stupid mistakes until they do.
Gvg
@WaterGirl: I read that as the government employees want the citizens AND the elected officials to find out they NEED the government workers doing their jobs. That the bureaucracy is actually useful and important, and people should quit taking them for granted and assuming they do nothing that impacts them. Show them.
I don’t know if it will work. I wonder if judges and the court system is included. Revenue collection….
They Call Me Noni
@eclare: So sorry.
How’s your cat? Didn’t she have a blood test?
Harrison Wesley
Do you hear the lambs screaming,Clarice?
zhena gogolia
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Thanks for handling that one!
prostratedragon
eclare
@They Call Me Noni:
My dog had some issues, but thanks to a great vet, she’s ok. She is 90% back, once she is 100% she will restart destroying everything in sight.
stinger
@Baud:
@Nelle: Tripled.
Ishiyama
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Where are they speaking, and to whom? How large are their public appearances? Media interviews and speeches to donor groups is all I hear about. Rebut me with facts if you don’t like my point.
Almost Retired
@eclare: Right!?! Midtown? South Main? No part of Memphis is nice? I’m one of those weirdos who likes Memphis more than Nashville so that comment sat poorly with me.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Ishiyama: Kamala Harris just visited Howard University today.
You don’t want facts. You want performances, and Bernie’s delivering that in spades. It seems to be the one thing he’s good at.
Jackie
Update on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
Didn’t take long!!! BWAAHAHAHA!
prostratedragon
WaterGirl
@Deputinize America: Unbelieveable.
frosty
I’ve mailed 21 of my 50 postcards for Andrew Payton in Harrisonburg. If I can get them done in the next couple of days I’ll probably sign up for more. It’s tedious … but not as bad as knocking on doors and pretending to be extroverted.
sab
@Professor Bigfoot: Yikes. I am in Ohio Connecticut Western Reserve. Underground railroad ran through here. My white ancestors might have helped from things they have written ( It was Very Illegal.) But other related ancestors were slaveholders and prospered doing so. We had an ancestor who was the first president of the continental congress before the new constitution. It was a tough job and he did it badly, hence our new better constitution. His grandfather came over from England as indentured debtor. A generation later they owned 100 slaves. He got seven years for debt. They got life and beyond for farming rice wnen slavers went by.
I know my shameful family history. We stopped doing that, but we have an economic leg up because of that and most of us know it.
UncleEbeneezer
@Professor Bigfoot: As noted in the brilliant film Sinners: “Chicago ain’t nothing but Mississippi with tall buildings instead of plantations.” One of the biggest centers of the KKKlan revival in the 1920’s was Indiana. And the West is certainly not any better, though much of our racism was historically aimed at Chinese, Mexicans and Native Americans. America ain’t shit, in a lot of ways.
Nukular Biskits
Good evenin’, y’all.
The battle against the armadillo does not go well.
Nukular Biskits
@WaterGirl:
Don’t feel bad.
Other than yell at my congressional delegation on social media, I haven’t had time to call/write either.
sab
@Nukular Biskits: For him/her or for you and your lawn?
( I confess I am rooting for the armadillo. I love my local possum, goofy as she/he is.)
MagdaInBlack
@sab: Team Armadillo here too.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
LOL!
Reminds me of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Melancholy Jaques
@Interesting Name Goes Here:
I’ve never seen evidence that St. Bernie delivers Democratic votes. For the time being, that’s all I care about.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Melancholy Jaques: Exactly.
Nukular Biskits
@sab:
Yes!
WaterGirl
@frosty: Go, you!
different-church-lady
@Nukular Biskits: For reasons I can’t possibly explain, a friend recently referred to the action of “Milking the cow in a thong.” And I, chronic wiseass, said, “Wait, how did the cow put the thong on?”
But then we realized it was a great example of how important a comma is:
Milking the cow, in a thong = the human is wearing the thong
Milking the cow in a thong = the cow is wearing the thong
sab
@Nukular Biskits: You are rooting for the armadillo??!!
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Ishiyama: this is a question worth asking. Usually former presidents don’t hold rallies. Is today different? Yes.
Yet, former presidents should not step on present prospects either. Still should they do and say more? Yet, remember how often the MSM informs us “we” want them to shut-up already, too.
We do have responses from our current prospects too. True the responses so far aren’t rallies. Governor Newsom is trolling this president relentlessly. Governor Pritzker is doing his mighty thing. Many congress folk have marched alongside no King’s protesters. Elizabeth Warren has been wonderfully withering and reassuringly sane.
IMHO we need everybody, everywhere as much as humanly possible, Senator Sanders’ exceptional skills, too.
Nukular Biskits
@different-church-lady:
When I’m feeling particularly evil, I take on the persona of a Grammar Nazi when dealing with MAGA trolls, most of whom do not know the difference between your and you’re.
My favorite response to them (which was stolen from somewhere on the intertubes of which I have no memory:
Nukular Biskits
@sab:
Well, in a manner of speaking, yes.
I’m really hoping he’ll GTFO like yesterday. Otherwise, I’ll have to defeat him at great cost.
Jager
@Baud:
Third
Interesting Name Goes Here
@HopefullyNotcassandra: The problem is, the people who demand that Barack Obama stand up and do more with his platform now didn’t listen when he did what they asked last year. They didn’t listen in 2016, either. Or 2014. Or 2010.
Obama, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Hakeem Jeffries, and so many others have made the case to the public as a collective and in their own ways, and the public rejected that. But now in the face of the consequences of their rejection, they demand eternal duty and sacrifice from the very people they jeered and turned away. You don’t see anything wrong with that?
frosty
@WaterGirl: Last year I did 300 for Dave Min in Huntington Beach and 100 for Janelle Stelson attempting to knock off Scott Perry. This is pitiful. Thanks, but save your kudos for a little while. But like someone said upthread, you’re doing more than your share with the fundraising.
WaterGirl
@frosty: But you’ve been putting it off, and now you’re back to it.
I stand by my “go, you!” :-)
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Interesting Name Goes Here: I see lots of problems everywhere in this gop self-created immolation. Indeed, I find it mind-numbing that anybody, anywhere is still blaming any democrat for any of this.
I am not throwing darts at any democrat anywhere. Our current mess is a wholly owned creation of the gop.
Jackie
Sad, but not surprising:
Jackie
Will the supreme 6 continue to destroy the Constitution? I say probably.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@HopefullyNotcassandra: It’s a creation of the GOP, but it couldn’t reach the heights that it did without the inactions and opposing actions of some who claim to be on our side. Take, for example, the continued harassment of Kamala Harris by protestors like the Free Palestine movement – they exert great financial and physical effort to follow her (and other prominent figures) around and disrupt any gathering she may be involved in, such as an event earlier this week in NYC. Yet, when Trump was there days earlier at the UN, they made no effort to appear and disrupt. Netanyahu was there today. Crickets from that group. But they have all the smoke for someone who is Black and someone who is, for all intents and purposes, now a private citizen. Multiple someones, really
Kamala endorsed Mamdani during her interview with Maddow on Monday and went further, reminding people that there are other races to keep focused on and candidates to support. Yet some Mamdani supporters felt disrespect because she didn’t say his name. That’s not just GOP nonsense.
different-church-lady
@Jackie: Comedy is when you get fired for protesting the murder of a black man. Tragedy is when I don’t get to fire a comedian for being insufficiently reverential of a murdered racist white man.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Jackie: if we do not recognize the 6 as hacks-for-hire thanks to today’s Court finding that the president is harmed simply by honoring Congress’ power of the purse,
we certainly will know them for the unserious hacks they will self-prove themselves to be
Should they rule the 14th amendment is void as unambiguously written because “reasons”.
Jackie
@different-church-lady: Disgusting and sad, isn’t it.
Craig
@different-church-lady: “How he got into my pajamas, I’ll never know”
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Interesting Name Goes Here: no doubt there is stupidity everywhere.
Nevertheless, the mess in which our country now flounders is a wholly owned creation of the modern Republican Party.
@Interesting Name Goes Here:
Marc
@Ishiyama: This is one of those things that can’t really be discussed rationally, as it ends up in the I’m hating on them because they dissed my favorite politician/country/singer infinite loop (as us programmers would refer to it).
People have varying expectations of what a political party actually should do, then there is reality. Providing useful leadership in the face of an opposition willing to break the law with impunity does not appear to be one of the things the current Democratic Party leadership is willing or capable of doing in reality.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Marc: Define useful leadership. Because if your idea of that is doing what the GOP did and continues to do, then there’s plenty of reasons why that’s a bad idea and will have knock-on effects down the road. That’s a big part of the issue – people want entertainment and superheroes to save them from themselves and their stupid actions. It’s like the stupid argument about messaging not being good enough. As has been noted repeatedly, black people understood the assignment. Jewish people understood the assignment. Why didn’t anyone else? And why should it be expected that things will be different now, aside from the fact that the people who flat-out refused to pay attention are now paying dearly for that?
Marc
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Acceptable messaging did not get through to the white people who might have made a difference. That’s done and gone, time to move on. So, here we are, approaching a complete fascist takeover of the government. What is Democratic leadership doing to stop that, except saying they have no tools to stop that?
Karen Gail
Just reading the latest “news” so now antifascist is a terrorist group; how long before someone slides an EO in front of Trump proclaiming that the Democratic Party is a fascist group and registered Democrats are all terrorists?
I am sure that one of his minions will find a way to get him going to declare that Democrats are the cause of all this countries problems. It wouldn’t take much, not after his rant at the UN.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Marc: Democratic leadership is doing what they can in a situation in which they have no power to stop it – part of which is keeping the public informed about what is happening.
The public, in response, has only decided to collectively show out once Jimmy fucking Kimmel went on a forced vacation for a weekend. Some of them, despite knowing exactly what is up, continue to harass people who are no longer in any position to do anything about it and demand that they perform and sacrifice for them. That, on it’s own, is wrong before you even begin to consider the racial and gender aspects of those being harassed the most.
kalakal
@Nukular Biskits:
Years ago was working on some software to attempt to parse English correctly. Some genius came up with a brilliant triply ambiguous sentence as our test.
“I saw the man on the beach with the telescope”
Marc
To my thinking (only), that is not providing useful leadership, that is more like leading lambs to the slaughter.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Marc: With all due respect, that’s childish thinking. What should they be doing? All current indications are that they are going to call the GOP’s bluff with regards to the impending shutdown. What more can they do that wasn’t first attempted in Hollywood and comic books? Let me guess – they should go on a college tour like a certain celebrity from Vermont?
Jackie
Heh! This’ll help the Pillow Guy become MN’s next Governor!
Marc
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Yes, I know it’s childish to think that an actual Democrat might lead a popular movement to make it clear that we aren’t going to take this lying down. That suggests that either there is no such thing as effective leadership in this situation, or whatever kind of leadership might emerge is not going to acceptable. Which leads to my conclusion that some (largish) subset of progressive people are willing to take this lying down. Am I wrong?
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Marc: The Democrats are leading as effectively as they can be for being part of the minority half of the current government.
What you and the majority of Progressives want are The Avengers to show up. Check Disney+ for that.
Marc
@Interesting Name Goes Here: I’m trying to elicit an alternative from you, one in which there is a way to stand up against tyranny, but if everyone keeps hoping things work out at the next election, we’re all likely toast. I’ve known white people all my life, once you give them a taste of this kind of power, they ain’t giving it back without a fight. And, so it goes.
prostratedragon
@Marc: The call to arms is unlikely to go out on a blog.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Marc: There is no alternative. At least, nothing quick and painless and realistic.
Should have thought about that before you let the clown back into the White House.
prostratedragon
I thought I remembered right!
Marc
@prostratedragon: My god, you folks are so literal.
Marc
@Interesting Name Goes Here: End of conversation. GFY.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Marc: Typical.
Marc
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Ahem, I at least try to come up with ideas other than riding it out like the good Germans. Exactly what use are your posts? No need for answer, I have actual things to accomplish right now. Byeee!
Interesting Name Goes Here
@Marc: Again, typical. You do you, ITG.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@prostratedragon: Honestly, the more I’m considering this poster’s words, the more I’m thinking this was an op. The “Good German” bit in his last post was a tell.
Oh, well. Progressives continue to not beat the allegations.
planetjanet
@Interesting Name Goes Here: You are so right. People find what they are looking for. Or don’t look for. If it is not right in front of their face, it doesn’t exist.