If you look at American wartime propaganda from days of yore, it wasn't so much "The enemy is terrifying" as "Look at these clowns, they don't stand a chance." And that's when it was about, like, actual Nazis. Our enemies now really ARE clowns, so it should be an easier sell.
I'm bad at self-reporting, as Simon asks of us - ugh! But I do want everyone to know that I make my calls - even though I always have to leave messages. And I know they're listening (as Simon says!) because unbelievably I got an email from Sen. Rick Scott and I've never even left them my email address!!! He thanked me for my call and then proceeded to explain that he is, in fact, protecting Social Security and explained about a bill that he is sponsoring...never mind the fact that he is supporting a regime that is stripping away at it with an unwieldy, reckless chainsaw. Now I know what my next phone call needs to address! :)
I never get a response from Scott. I sent an electronic communication (it might've been email) and he just slapped me onto his email distribution list which I then had to unsubscribe from. But I've never communicated about social security either. I've always picked other topics and I get ignored. By Moody too.
I'm thinking they looked at the voter roll in Palm Beach Country where my email is listed. I wish there was a way to share the email here. It was pretty lengthy. And yeah, Moody ignores me! My mom was at a meeting last night with Rep. Moskowitz and 25 other people. It sounds like he's starting to step up to the plate. She said that he said that he's learning a lot from Raskin.
A record 7.3 million people have cast their ballots over four days of advanced voting in Canada’s election, official figures showed on Tuesday. Elections Canada said its estimated tally for voting from Friday through Monday marked a 25 percent increase over the 5.8m advanced ballots cast in the 2021 vote.
With a population of 41 million, Canada has 28.9 million eligible voters, which means more than one-quarter have already cast a ballot. Yesterday was the last day of Early Voting before the 28 April Election Day.
Until Trump’s hostile tariffs, his outrageous anti-Canadian rhetoric, and Justin Trudeau’s resignation, Canada’s Liberal Party was looking to get trounced in the next election. Now the Liberal Party led by Mark Carney is projected to have a landslide victory, most likely gaining an absolute majority in parliament.
It's actually hard to know what this means for the liberals. The craziness that exists in the conservative party in Canada, exists primarily at the top. In BC, for example, the conservatives and the liberals are not very far apart on policy. And I am told, by people who Live in Canada, but this is not unusual in other provinces also.
Article by Krugman, detailing the rampant corruption in the Trump regime. Bessent at a private, closed door forum for investors, describe administration policy changes before a public announcement. This appears to be industrial-scale insider trading.
From the article:
"First — and why aren’t more people saying this? — what the hell was the Treasury secretary doing giving a closed-door briefing on a significant policy change that hadn’t yet been officially announced? Isn’t that a setup for large-scale insider trading? Indeed, attendees at that conference surely made market bets before Bessent’s remarks became public.
And since when are major policy announcements by government officials made off the record to closed private-sector meetings? One even wonders whether Bessent was announcing policy or making it: Did Trump back him up only after the fact?"
This should get more media attn. thanks for posting AOC talks about rampant insider trading very effectively. And now this—right in our face. We, the little people.
Trump is weak... and full of sh*t. The world knows it. Hopefully it will encourage stand up instead of bending the knee across all spectrums of the international democratic community and within our country too.
China didn't agree yet, did they? Trump is weak, and he weakens our reputation as well as our economy.
We manufacture board & card games in China - etc. We just had an air freight of plush toys arrive at 145% today. Yes, trump is weak. I hope he gets weaker, and stops this.
"60 MINUTES" CHIEF RESIGNS IN PROTEST – lauded on CBS Evening News
Executive producer Bill Owens is stepping down from "60 Minutes" due to concerns about journalistic independence.
"Over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for '60 Minutes,' right for the audience," Owens wrote in a memo to his staff.
(This clip from CBS Evening News is really quite astonishing.)
TRUMP APPLIES PRESSURE: CBS awaits regulatory approval for a merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. Trump has sued CBS for $20 billion, claiming that its editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris was tantamount to "voter interference". Paramount, the owner of CBS, is pressured to settle this lawsuit so its merger can be approved.
I call Ossoff and Warnock and Barry Loudermilk every day. I usually get a live person. I ask Loudermilk, who claims to have served in the United States Air Force, what he thinks about drunk Pete Hegseth sharing Top Secret military plans with family members on an unsecured App. I ask Loudermilk when he will have an in-person town hall in Georgia to speak with his constituents. I ask for that town hall every single time I call. The slow talkers staffing Loudermilk's office sound both stupid and dispirited and they never know when Loudermilk will host an in-person town hall....I'm starting to think I might need to host one on his behalf.....what a coward! I find it very hard to believe he ever put on a uniform and served this nation. Before this is all over, Loudermilk is going to wish he'd never heard my name. Ossoff and Warnock email me and send me letters, but I've not heard back from Loudermilk's office ever.
I am in GA-11 also. Rather than meet with constituents, Barry just met with a group called "Wallbuilders" -- no kidding -- and he reported on that. The Southern Poverty Law Center has an excellent "dossier" on Wallbuilders. Bottom line: their main mission is to counter the horrendous lie of the separation of church and state. These are Christo-fascists to the max. Total historical revisionists.
Thanks, Thomas. You and I will hold Mr. Loudermilk's town hall for him if he continues to act like a nutter. My BFF calls his office every day as well and today she requested an in person meeting with the slippery Loudermilk. I do know about the Wallbuilders, lifelong Southerner that I am! I'm a Christian who will not let a tiny, loud group of authoritarians take my Lord's name in vain without a big fight from me!
".I'm starting to think I might need to host one on his behalf."
Back in the day, we had a representative by the name of Bob Barr. He got involved in some scandals, and on the campaign trail in 2002, there was a little person decked out in a Yosemite Sam outfit who would dog him at his rallies. The cameras couldn't stay off of him.
At what I call "The Last Rally," Barr had his people beat up on Yosemite Sam. It was brutal.
Same. Except my GA 3rd Congress Critter-- Brian Jack-- is a 1st term, young, arrogant, no real life experience T syncophant. Lately, before they open, I have left very stern messages, and would just as soon leave a VM as have to talk to someone who isn't listening and really doesn't care about me. And I follow up with a more detailed email on same topic. His staff "confirmed" with me March 13 that he would hold town halls in each county, but details had not yet been finalized. Never heard back, but he met w/Republican groups last week, so guess that's what he counts as "town halls."
Isn't Loudermilk the one who said kids who can't afford school lunches need to be required to work in order to pay for them?
Warnock and Ossoff keep me sane. They are wonderful, aren't they?
Yes, host an empty chair town hall and spread pics and videos on Substack, FB, Blue Sky, etc. Invite local media. It’s controversial, so the press jumps on it.
Self reporting - Contacted Ciscomani's, Gallego & Kelly's office on the Tariffs and the SAVE Act. This evening there is a protest at a Ciscomani gathering, charging $30 to attend, in Tucson. Protesters will be out well before the meeting so they can be seen and heard as attendees enter the building. It is getting hot so we will be seeing changes to outdoor protests going forward.
Hello friends - I am in the UK 🇬🇧 and have just written to my MP, the Prime Minister and King Charles to ask that the invitation of a state visit for Mr Trump be withdrawn. I may not be able to influence what happens in the US but I can make my voice heard here. I’m a 67 year old woman and I’ve never protested anything in my life but I am so sick and tired of the absolute corruption we are seeing everywhere - there has to be a better way. Keep up the fight and thank you Simon for being a sane voice in all of this.
Thankyou so much for thinking of us in America, and for writing to your MP and King! I've been missing the international support that we got during the Presidential election.
As I previously reported, I and other members of the Democratic Party here have been pestering our Republican Congressman to hold a town hall meeting for many weeks. After many phone calls, and protests outside his office, on April 15th he held 3 public meetings.
The people at the meeting I was at were very angry and booed him a lot. Meidas Touch reported:”Republican Rep. Brian Mast Relentlessly Booed at Town Hall .” Our local papers headline was more kind: “Passionate Town Hall Crowds Hear Brian Mast Pledge Support for DOGE, Social Security.” They did say he was met with jeers and cheers. I would estimate that 75% jeers at my meeting. He definitely got an ear full. Even Republicans stood up and spoke against the policies.
Many of the Dems were sitting up front, and we actually got to talk to him before the meeting. I asked him to take back the power of the tariff.
Please do not give up on getting these meetings! It is important for them to see how angry their constituents are. I will try to post one of the videos.
Self reporting from WI… daily calls are in to Republican members of Congress. I always make my first calls based on Simon’s recommendations (Thank you Simon) additional calls might reinforce earlier calls or be on a specific concern that gets me riled in the moment. I feel like I could make dozens of calls every day but limit myself to 3 times a day for the republicans. I usually call my Democratic Senator only 2-3 times a week. Staying in the fight and, like Simon often says, I’m in it for my kids and all young people trying to make their way in the crazy world we’re living in right now. We have to fight for them.
If you look at American wartime propaganda from days of yore, it wasn't so much "The enemy is terrifying" as "Look at these clowns, they don't stand a chance." And that's when it was about, like, actual Nazis. Our enemies now really ARE clowns, so it should be an easier sell.
SHOULD be- indeed. But we need much louder, more insistent noise to overcome the echo chambers of lies (the more accurate term for disinformation).
I'm bad at self-reporting, as Simon asks of us - ugh! But I do want everyone to know that I make my calls - even though I always have to leave messages. And I know they're listening (as Simon says!) because unbelievably I got an email from Sen. Rick Scott and I've never even left them my email address!!! He thanked me for my call and then proceeded to explain that he is, in fact, protecting Social Security and explained about a bill that he is sponsoring...never mind the fact that he is supporting a regime that is stripping away at it with an unwieldy, reckless chainsaw. Now I know what my next phone call needs to address! :)
I never get a response from Scott. I sent an electronic communication (it might've been email) and he just slapped me onto his email distribution list which I then had to unsubscribe from. But I've never communicated about social security either. I've always picked other topics and I get ignored. By Moody too.
same
I'm thinking they looked at the voter roll in Palm Beach Country where my email is listed. I wish there was a way to share the email here. It was pretty lengthy. And yeah, Moody ignores me! My mom was at a meeting last night with Rep. Moskowitz and 25 other people. It sounds like he's starting to step up to the plate. She said that he said that he's learning a lot from Raskin.
Hope so!
Rick Scott is one of the biggest liars in the Senate!
NORWAY allocates money TO RECRUIT fired & fleeing American researchers.
https://www-nrk-no.translate.goog/norge/100-millioner-kroner-til-a-hente-forskere-til-norge-1.17389749?_x_tr_sl=no&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Lots of good information today. Thanks.
American Brain Drain.
CANADA: Record-high Early Voting
A record 7.3 million people have cast their ballots over four days of advanced voting in Canada’s election, official figures showed on Tuesday. Elections Canada said its estimated tally for voting from Friday through Monday marked a 25 percent increase over the 5.8m advanced ballots cast in the 2021 vote.
With a population of 41 million, Canada has 28.9 million eligible voters, which means more than one-quarter have already cast a ballot. Yesterday was the last day of Early Voting before the 28 April Election Day.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/22/canada-election-advance-voting
Until Trump’s hostile tariffs, his outrageous anti-Canadian rhetoric, and Justin Trudeau’s resignation, Canada’s Liberal Party was looking to get trounced in the next election. Now the Liberal Party led by Mark Carney is projected to have a landslide victory, most likely gaining an absolute majority in parliament.
silver linings... take the wins
Something good happening from the Trump disaster!
It's actually hard to know what this means for the liberals. The craziness that exists in the conservative party in Canada, exists primarily at the top. In BC, for example, the conservatives and the liberals are not very far apart on policy. And I am told, by people who Live in Canada, but this is not unusual in other provinces also.
I absolutely love your posts about voting data!
Article by Krugman, detailing the rampant corruption in the Trump regime. Bessent at a private, closed door forum for investors, describe administration policy changes before a public announcement. This appears to be industrial-scale insider trading.
From the article:
"First — and why aren’t more people saying this? — what the hell was the Treasury secretary doing giving a closed-door briefing on a significant policy change that hadn’t yet been officially announced? Isn’t that a setup for large-scale insider trading? Indeed, attendees at that conference surely made market bets before Bessent’s remarks became public.
And since when are major policy announcements by government officials made off the record to closed private-sector meetings? One even wonders whether Bessent was announcing policy or making it: Did Trump back him up only after the fact?"
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/cronyism-capitulation-and-chaos
This should get more media attn. thanks for posting AOC talks about rampant insider trading very effectively. And now this—right in our face. We, the little people.
Between 50 and 60% on tariffs
is better, but still incredibly high.
Trump is weak... and full of sh*t. The world knows it. Hopefully it will encourage stand up instead of bending the knee across all spectrums of the international democratic community and within our country too.
China didn't agree yet, did they? Trump is weak, and he weakens our reputation as well as our economy.
We manufacture board & card games in China - etc. We just had an air freight of plush toys arrive at 145% today. Yes, trump is weak. I hope he gets weaker, and stops this.
Sorry you are going through this.
Thank you 😊
"60 MINUTES" CHIEF RESIGNS IN PROTEST – lauded on CBS Evening News
Executive producer Bill Owens is stepping down from "60 Minutes" due to concerns about journalistic independence.
"Over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for '60 Minutes,' right for the audience," Owens wrote in a memo to his staff.
(This clip from CBS Evening News is really quite astonishing.)
https://bsky.app/profile/justinbaragona.bsky.social/post/3lnh75ahsck2d
TRUMP APPLIES PRESSURE: CBS awaits regulatory approval for a merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. Trump has sued CBS for $20 billion, claiming that its editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris was tantamount to "voter interference". Paramount, the owner of CBS, is pressured to settle this lawsuit so its merger can be approved.
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/22/60-minutes-bill-owens-producer-trump
Meidas Network responded with this - and a promise of a job for Owens should he want -
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastouch/p/meidas-responds-after-cbs-gave-us?r=25zh27&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
That was an interesting read, an excellent note of support. Thank you!
I call Ossoff and Warnock and Barry Loudermilk every day. I usually get a live person. I ask Loudermilk, who claims to have served in the United States Air Force, what he thinks about drunk Pete Hegseth sharing Top Secret military plans with family members on an unsecured App. I ask Loudermilk when he will have an in-person town hall in Georgia to speak with his constituents. I ask for that town hall every single time I call. The slow talkers staffing Loudermilk's office sound both stupid and dispirited and they never know when Loudermilk will host an in-person town hall....I'm starting to think I might need to host one on his behalf.....what a coward! I find it very hard to believe he ever put on a uniform and served this nation. Before this is all over, Loudermilk is going to wish he'd never heard my name. Ossoff and Warnock email me and send me letters, but I've not heard back from Loudermilk's office ever.
I am in GA-11 also. Rather than meet with constituents, Barry just met with a group called "Wallbuilders" -- no kidding -- and he reported on that. The Southern Poverty Law Center has an excellent "dossier" on Wallbuilders. Bottom line: their main mission is to counter the horrendous lie of the separation of church and state. These are Christo-fascists to the max. Total historical revisionists.
(one of two)
Thanks, Thomas. You and I will hold Mr. Loudermilk's town hall for him if he continues to act like a nutter. My BFF calls his office every day as well and today she requested an in person meeting with the slippery Loudermilk. I do know about the Wallbuilders, lifelong Southerner that I am! I'm a Christian who will not let a tiny, loud group of authoritarians take my Lord's name in vain without a big fight from me!
".I'm starting to think I might need to host one on his behalf."
Back in the day, we had a representative by the name of Bob Barr. He got involved in some scandals, and on the campaign trail in 2002, there was a little person decked out in a Yosemite Sam outfit who would dog him at his rallies. The cameras couldn't stay off of him.
At what I call "The Last Rally," Barr had his people beat up on Yosemite Sam. It was brutal.
Barr should have tried to make like Bugs.
(1.5 of 2)
https://youtu.be/cEStHCC-2Sc?si=tt8ZeuNTc6gsaT2r
Janice ... what we need is this. If I could wave a magic wand.
A skilled ventriloquist with a Barry Loudermilk dummy to do live town halls.
We bring 20 points AT LEAST over to our side.
(2 of 2)
I wonder if Ossoff would hold a townhall in BL's district. You might try pitching this idea to his office, if you haven't already.
Ossoff could get a lot of traction going to lots of these R districts where they will only meet with those they think won't challenge them.
Ali & Jayne - these are great ideas and I'll pitch them in my calls to Senator Warnock & Senator Ossoff tomorrow. So grateful for Georgia's Senators.
Same. Except my GA 3rd Congress Critter-- Brian Jack-- is a 1st term, young, arrogant, no real life experience T syncophant. Lately, before they open, I have left very stern messages, and would just as soon leave a VM as have to talk to someone who isn't listening and really doesn't care about me. And I follow up with a more detailed email on same topic. His staff "confirmed" with me March 13 that he would hold town halls in each county, but details had not yet been finalized. Never heard back, but he met w/Republican groups last week, so guess that's what he counts as "town halls."
Isn't Loudermilk the one who said kids who can't afford school lunches need to be required to work in order to pay for them?
Warnock and Ossoff keep me sane. They are wonderful, aren't they?
I volunteered for Sen Warnock when he was first challenging Kelly Loeffler. So proud to have been a very small part of his wonderful campaign.
Yes, host an empty chair town hall and spread pics and videos on Substack, FB, Blue Sky, etc. Invite local media. It’s controversial, so the press jumps on it.
Yay, Janice! Keep at it!!
Self reporting - Contacted Ciscomani's, Gallego & Kelly's office on the Tariffs and the SAVE Act. This evening there is a protest at a Ciscomani gathering, charging $30 to attend, in Tucson. Protesters will be out well before the meeting so they can be seen and heard as attendees enter the building. It is getting hot so we will be seeing changes to outdoor protests going forward.
Hello friends - I am in the UK 🇬🇧 and have just written to my MP, the Prime Minister and King Charles to ask that the invitation of a state visit for Mr Trump be withdrawn. I may not be able to influence what happens in the US but I can make my voice heard here. I’m a 67 year old woman and I’ve never protested anything in my life but I am so sick and tired of the absolute corruption we are seeing everywhere - there has to be a better way. Keep up the fight and thank you Simon for being a sane voice in all of this.
Thank you, Alexis! We need all the help we can get from our friends abroad!
Kudos! Thank you. Being rejected by royalty will make DT's head explode.
thx!! good idea!!
Thankyou so much for thinking of us in America, and for writing to your MP and King! I've been missing the international support that we got during the Presidential election.
Thank you, that's wonderful!
Thank you!
Thank you! Great idea!
THANK YOU Alexis!
As I previously reported, I and other members of the Democratic Party here have been pestering our Republican Congressman to hold a town hall meeting for many weeks. After many phone calls, and protests outside his office, on April 15th he held 3 public meetings.
The people at the meeting I was at were very angry and booed him a lot. Meidas Touch reported:”Republican Rep. Brian Mast Relentlessly Booed at Town Hall .” Our local papers headline was more kind: “Passionate Town Hall Crowds Hear Brian Mast Pledge Support for DOGE, Social Security.” They did say he was met with jeers and cheers. I would estimate that 75% jeers at my meeting. He definitely got an ear full. Even Republicans stood up and spoke against the policies.
Many of the Dems were sitting up front, and we actually got to talk to him before the meeting. I asked him to take back the power of the tariff.
Please do not give up on getting these meetings! It is important for them to see how angry their constituents are. I will try to post one of the videos.
Way to go!
https://meidasnews.com/news/republican-rep-brian-mast-relentlessly-booed-at-town-hall
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIedme3ssRx/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIedme3ssRx/
Self reporting from WI… daily calls are in to Republican members of Congress. I always make my first calls based on Simon’s recommendations (Thank you Simon) additional calls might reinforce earlier calls or be on a specific concern that gets me riled in the moment. I feel like I could make dozens of calls every day but limit myself to 3 times a day for the republicans. I usually call my Democratic Senator only 2-3 times a week. Staying in the fight and, like Simon often says, I’m in it for my kids and all young people trying to make their way in the crazy world we’re living in right now. We have to fight for them.
https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/martin-county/2025/04/15/u-s-rep-brian-mast-vows-no-cuts-to-social-security-support-for-doge/83044392007/