Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

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

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

The revolution will be supervised.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Bark louder, little dog.

This really is a full service blog.

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

You are here: Home / Archives for Anxiety Antidote

Sweet Home Chicago, Where They Know Their Rights

by | 79 Comments

This post is in: , ,

I lived in Chicago for five years after undergrad, and they were some of the best years of my life. It’s a fabulous town. So this does not surprise me at all:

Sweet Home Chicago

You see that? Fascist thumb Tom Homan is BIG MAD that Chicagoans are protecting one another by… knowing the law. Which seems to amount to an admission that what he’s doing isn’t legal, exactly, but set that aside for now. The point is that there are still actions to be taken that can stymie these jackbooted dipshits.

There were lots of people organizing around what to do about potential mass deportation raids in the weeks leading up to inauguration (it helped that the new administration telegraphed their intentions). Lo, that organization has reduced suffering for the communities being targeted.

Here are the simple legal resources, compiled by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, [ETA: link fixed!] that Homan is complaining about in the above post. Download them if you think they might come in handy where you live, too. Give money to a food bank or a community health clinic today if you can—I sent money to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, even though I just cleaned out my savings to close on my house. Do something to help people near you (or in places you love), no matter how small.

Also keep calling your reps about the unconstitutional power grab by the executive branch. It seems to be working. This memo from OMB clarifying what is and isn’t affected, in spite of the original memo declaring that all federal grants were affected, sounds awfully sweaty: “SNAP and student loans are totally not subject to this order!”

Thread is open (I know we have several going right now), but would love to hear about other positive actions people are taking at any level as we enter the second week of this administration.

Sweet Home Chicago, Where They Know Their RightsPost + Comments (79)

Uneasy Listening – Two Podcasts About Abortion Rights

by | 71 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

I’ve got a long travel day coming up tomorrow—heading to Tucson for a client’s event. I’ve been downloading podcasts to listen to on the flights, and while sampling shows over the weekend, I wound up listening to an entire series I thought I’d share here. It’s called Flashpoint. It’s a Tenderfoot/IHeartMedia show that came out this past summer (you can find it on Apple Podcasts here, or on Spotify here).

a protester holds up a KEEP ABORTION LEGAL sign in front of the Supreme Court building

Flashpoint is nominally about Eric Rudolph, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bomber. What it really manages to do is to use his story as a lens to examine home-grown right-wing terrorism, which the show casts as “America’s greatest threat.” (Rudolph, by-the-bye, was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to avoid the death penalty; he recently tried to weasel out of that deal, but the life sentence was just upheld this past February.)

It turns out that Cole Locasio, the young journalist presenting the show, has a strange personal connection to the case. I won’t spoil that for you. What I will express is my admiration for the way he works to present the points of view of the people most affected by Rudolph’s crimes, particularly those injured in the 1997 Atlanta Northside Family Planning Services clinic bombings.

If you listen to nothing else, listen to the final episode (episode 8, “The Paradox”). It is a full-throated defense of abortion rights—a former clinic nurse injured in the bombing gives exceptionally stirring testimony. It’s a rousing reminder of what we are deciding in this race: whether or not we as a country capitulate to the right-wing terrorists who have been working to crush our institutions and our rights for the last 60-plus years.

Another recommendation on this theme (and a few others that are great, but less relevant) after the jump.

show full post on front page

Uneasy Listening – Two Podcasts About Abortion RightsPost + Comments (71)

What We Can Do: 85 Days, 85 Things

by | 74 Comments

This post is in: , ,

There are 85 days before the November elections.  Just 85 days.  We can’t afford to wish that time away in the hopes that we will dump Trump, so at least part of this nightmare will end.  Or spiral with fear or anxiety at the thought that he might actually win, no matter how hard we work or how incomprehensible a win for Trump would be after all we have been through.

We have 85 days of hard work ahead, and so many things have changed since February that the title Playing to Win doesn’t seem to fit anymore.

Here, in this thread?  I’d like to focus on what we can do.

There is so much that is outside our control that it can get to be overwhelming.  Not to mention anxiety-producing. Especially when Trump shits out democracy-destroying actions multiple times a day.  That’s his real operation warp speed.

I’ll start with a list of 15 things that we can do.  Just so you know, I’m gonna pick some obvious ones and count on all of you to supply 70 more by the end of today.  But first, a bit of levity.

Here’s What We Can Do.

show full post on front page

What We Can Do: 85 Days, 85 ThingsPost + Comments (74)