New polls confirm Trump is the most unpopular President at 100 days since polling was invented. We The People are really f-ing unhappy and want something better.
Unrelated, but this was nice to read with my Sunday morning coffee:
The final honor guard for Pope Francis included migrants, prisoners, transgender people, the homeless and others selected by the Vicariate of Rome as a symbol of the late pope’s mission of inclusion and outreach.
The pope’s unadorned tomb, marked by a single Latin word – Franciscus – reflects a life of “simplicity and essential things.”
I may be a Protestant but for the last few weeks I have had our congregation pray for Pope Francis. As I reminded them, both churches are Christian and in my 74 years I never saw anyone more Christ like. A Pope for the People.
Thank you for posting. I didn't watch more than a few seconds. Enough to see Trump, in his bright blue suit, bad makeup, slumped over and Melania looking terrible. What a beautiful way to honor both Pope Francis and the people he advocated for the most. I don't subscribe to WA Post (cancelled it) but this was a nice read for me with my morning tea. ❤️
I was so happy to see that Bezos is posting the tariff cost on the Amazon site. I guess all that boot/___-licking didn't work so well! (I also cancelled my WaPo months ago because of Bezos. Of course, I called my reps as I do every day, as a Registered Independent, Retired RN, MPH, and US Army Reserves medical officer. I actually got my R (not MAGA) Rep Hurd pn the phone in our district! He is a "constitutional conservative lawyer,: and I was very impressed with his involvement in our huge rural district's concerns. I asked him to support the efforts to investigate Hegseth as a national security risk. I always remind him of the oath we took to the Constitution, rule of law and sue process. He even knew who I was before I went into my identifying spiel! I call my Dem. senators' offices, every day, also, after checking my non corporate news sites for my daily concerns.Polite succinct, professional. Every day. When anyone vents to me in person or on line, I repeat myself about calling their reps' offices every day in a similar manner.
I usually call the D.C. number and leave a voice message or send an email For whatever reason, they have been unavailable, so I called his main office in our state, and he happened to pick up the phone himself. I expected to leave a voice mail at that number. I have talked to aides when I've called my senators' DC numbers. Former Sen. Al Franken said that messages really count. Aides write them down or play them back and pass info onto the rep.
You speak of Letter to America, an excellent idea! Do you have the support and buy in of any presidential historian and fascism historian? I think adding these two important and influential figures would bolster the argument and make for more willingness by Dem leaders to implement. We need it now. Thank you!
I’ve been thinking about July 4 for a while now in terms of rallying. Friday is the 4th and would be properly shared with family and friends and fireworks.
THEN, we hit the streets on Saturday! One main rally in D C with smaller rallies everywhere else. We’ve done the local rallies on April 5 and 19, so we know we can get the people out to protest. Ask our Democratic politicians to be there.
May Day has also been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups since the Second International. May Day is one of the most important holidays in communist countries such as China, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union countries. May Day celebrations in these countries typically feature elaborate workforce parades, including displays of military hardware and soldiers.
There was a previous discussion in the chat about the importance of knowing WHO is requesting the affiliated protests. Our local organizations are the most trusted, yet I am still concerned when they sign on with another organization that they do not know or have any personal relationship with. Newsweek noted "Little information has been given about the organizers of the May Day protests on the group's website." https://www.newsweek.com/may-day-trump-protest-demonstration-workers-2062098
Here is the current website for the protests with a list or organizations that are planning events. Do registering organizations know to whom they are sending the requested information? Anyone can use *.org for their website. https://maydaystrong.org/
The counter argument would be that perhaps the name May Day has been repurposed without intent of its origins. Does Caitlin have any comments to add?
I'm sure nothing I'm about to say will be news to *you* Simon, but I'll say it anyway for the benefit of others. I'm going to be honest here; I don't know why people are making this a focal point. While it's true that the labor version of the holiday has its origins *here,* as a commemoration of the Haymarket bombing and its aftermath in Chicago, it has since been hijacked for decades by countries we don't want to be affiliated with, and even the originating incident, in which a bomb went off and killed more police than civilians, isn't an ideal sell in this day and age. Like Reagan and Romney said, when you're explaining you're losing--unless you're directly educating people, front foot forward, against the other side, which this is not.
Frankly, this has all the hallmarks of something Putin would take the lead on organizing a la 2016 in order to smear us, this time with an assist from Washington). The older origins of the holiday aren't helpful either--it's furrin, European, pagan; MAGA could cut digital ads with footage from Midsommer playing in the background.
It has felt all along (to me at least) like the struggle against dictatorship was going to come down to a simple choice for us: tool up or talk, because as Jonathan Chait wrote today, this presidency is "unsustainable....The clash between the president’s determination to rule and his inability to govern has generated two opposing forces: a weaponized, illiberal state, and a smoldering political backlash. One of them will have to break." Milquetoasts like David Brooks are calling for "mass civic uprisings... Trump is about power. The only way he's going to be stopped is if he's confronted by some movement that possesses rival power."
We are clearly the majority, but we are also badly and literally outgunned. To create the kind of credible deterrent to allow Ukrainian Maidan-type protests and other actions to be successful in stopping him in his tracks, we can all go buy tons of weapons (before, like Hitler, Trump decides certain groups aren’t allowed to own them) and join Liberal Gun Clubs to learn how to use them…or we can win over enough of three key groups—Trump supporters, active duty military, and veterans—to make arming ourselves unnecessary. In my conservative little town, at least, that’s happening (I’m hearing it from conservative friends here, Trump signs are completely gone, everywhere--people are p***ed and ready to rumble. I can’t imagine how demonstrations on May Day, a holiday virtually all Americans over the age of maypoles associated with Russian missiles, will win over a *single* person in any of those groups, and if Trump and Putin are smart in how they respond (to a trap they may well have set), we might even lose a bunch of those people via this tomfoolery.
In an ideal world, what would happen instead is that Trump would eagerly smear these demonstrations (which he likely generated), crow to the MAGAs about how he’s owned us again—only to learn from the media that nobody showed up, proving once and for all that ours is a movement of ordinary people, not “radical leftist elites”
You know what would be a much better day for huge demonstrations? May 11th. Mothers Day. A *beloved* holiday; a holiday about our obligations to those who came before us, to keep and build on what they bequeathed to us. Imagine mothers and their children--the primal keepers of our values and the guardians of our future--spending time they'd normally be brunching away up on the hustings together instead, letting the administration *and the world* know we mean *business* by speaking out on this special day, during their special time. In autocracy after autocracy, it's been the mothers who have stood up and been counted, who have brought down regimes like this one. Instead, the movement has allegedly picked the "commie" alternative to "the real Labor Day?" I call BS.
The author puts out a regular column of all the protests in the upcoming week. So the link above in not a one-off - it is regular Friday occurrence. Also if you are aware of a protest that is not on the list you can submit it through the ADD a Protest link at the top of the lsit view.
The People, the protectors of Democracy, are out and about. What "people," out where, about what--and why? First, millions said "Hand Off"to Trump/Musk et al, then on the 19th via 50501" (50 protests, 5o states, 1 Movement) millions more protested the mess in WDC. Also on the 19th we celebrated the "the shot heard around the world at Lexington and Concord, starting the Revolution and our country. On the 22nd protectors of the environment cleaned up a different kind of mess on Earth Day.
As important as the participants in environmental mess cleanup and American history are, this post is dedicated to the named and unnamed protestors fighting the Trump/Musk Washington, DC, tyrannical mess. Or as Susan Grymes calls it: "Protectors" of democracy, and so shall I in this post.
Who are the Protectors of democracy on April 5, 19th, May 1st--or all the everydays in between and into the future?? We will never know the names of each individual marcher, sign holder (or just standing together in solidarity). But we do know by name some people, advocacy groups, judges and law firms, and other entities who have not been cowed, and have fought back publicly--sometimes under threat of death.. Some, such as Sen. Cory Booker, with his 25 hour righteous speech on ethics, morality, and American democracy,have become an inspiration. Here then, in no particular order of noteworthy (except the first three), are the names of many of the army of protectors of democracy--and remember Courage is Contagious:
(Of course, the list is imperfect, Additions are welcomed. Also re-posting is permitted and encouraged.
PROTECTORS OF DEMOCRACY (By pen, voice, sign, or act)
(Updated April 25, 2025 Individuals
Heather Cox Richardson/"Letters from an American,"
Jess Piper/"View from Rural Missouri,"
Joyce Vance/"Civil Discourse,"
Rep. AOC,
AGs, 23 Blue States,
Aaron Parnas,
Adam Kinzinger,
Sen. Adam Schiff,
Adam Smith,
Alex Wagner,
Alexander Vindman,
Ali Velshi,
Alison Gill
Alvin Bragg (and the unnamed Manhattan jurors),
Amb. Susan Rice,
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales/Democracy Now,
Anand Giridharadas,
Anat Shenker-Osario,
Andrew Weissmann,
Andy Borowitz,
Ann Telnaes,
Anne Applebaum,
Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF (Freedom from Religion Foundation),
Ari Melber,
Asha Rangappa
August Flentje,
Ben Meiselas,
Beth Benike,
Brett Meiselas,
Brian Tyler Cohen,
Cassidy Hutchinson,
Charlotte Clymer,
Chris Geidne/LAW Dork
Chris Hayes,
Chris Krebs,
Col. Susannah Meyers,
Congressman Jim Himes,
D. Earl Stevens,
Dan Barker, FFRF (Freedom from Religion Foundation)
Dan Pfeiffer,
Dan Rather,
Daniel Berulis,
Daniel Morton-Bentley,
David Frumm,
David Hogg,
Dean Obeidallah,
Delia Ramirez,
Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
Sen. Elyssa Slotkin,
Erez Reuveni,
Rep. Eric Swalwell,
Francie Garber Pepper (1940-2025),
Garrison Keillor,
Garry Kasparov,
George Conway,
Glenn Kirschner,
Gov. Beshear,
Gov. Janet Mills,
Gov. Kathy Hochul,
Gov. Maura Healey (MA),
Gov. Tim Walz (MN),
Gov. Tony Evers (WI),
Greg Olear,
Harry Litman,
J.B. Pritzker,
Jake Auchincloss,
Rep. Jamie Raskin,
Rep. Jasmine Crockett,
Jay Kou,
Jeff Danziger,
Sen. Jeff Merkley,
Jeff Stein,
Jeff Tiedrich,
Jen Rubin And the Contrarians,
,Jeremy Seahill,
Jessica Craven,
Jessica Yellin,
Jim Acosta,
Jim Hightower,
Jimmy Kimmel,
J-L Cauvin,
John Cusack,
John Larson
Sen. Jon Ossoff,
Jonathan Bernstein,
Jordy Meiselas,
Josh Johnson (stand-up comedian),
Josh Marshall/TPM,
Joy Reid,
Judd Legum (Popular Information),
Julie Roginsky,
Katie Phang,
Ken Harbaugh,
Lawrence O'Donnell,
Liz Cheney,
Lucian Truscott IV,
Marianne Williamson,
Mark Fiore,
Marvin Kalb,
Mary L. Trump,
Maxwell Frost,
Mayor Michelle Wu,
Mehdi Hasan,
Melvin Gurai,
Michael Bennett,
Michael Cohn,
Michel Zeitgeist,
Miles Taylor,
Nicolle Wallllace,
Noel Casler (former and current staff of the Inter-American Foundation, a small but mighty federal agency for Latin America)
Olga Lautman,
Oliva Troye,
Paul Krugman,
Prof. Lawrence Tribe,
Qasim Rachid,
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman,
Rachel Cohen,
Rachel Maddow,
Rebecca Solnit,
Rep. Andrew Egger,
Rep. Emily Randall,
Rep. Jessica Denson,
Rep. Jonathan V. Last,
Rep. Noe Casler,
Rep. Pramila Jayapal,
Rep. Sarah Longwell,
Rep. Al Green,
Rep. Don Beyer,
Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde,
Rev. William J. Barber II,
Representative Yassamin Ansari
Rez Reuveni (acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation, and his supervisor),
Rich Wilson,
Robert B. Hubbell,
Robert Reich,
Roger Parloff,
Ron Filipkowski,
Ruth Ben-Ghait,
Sarah Inama,
Scott Dworkin,
Sen. Amy Klobuchar,
Sen. Andy Kim,
Sen. Angus King,
Sen. Bernie Sanders,
Sen. Chris Murphy,
Sen. Chris Van Hollen,
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand,
Sen. Lisa Murkowski,
Sen. Maria Cantwell,
Sen. Patty Murray,
Sen. Raphael Warnock,
Sen. Ron Wyden,
Sharon McMahon,
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse,
Simon Rosenberg,
Stacey Abrams,
Stephanie Miller,
Stephen King,
Steve Brodner,
Steve Schmidt,
Sue Nethercott,
Sen. Tammy Duckworth,
Tennessee Brandon,
Thom Hartmann,
Tim Miller,
Tim Snyder,
Timothy Snyder
Tristan Snell,
Will Bunch,
Zev Shalev,
ADVOCACY GROUPS, MEDIA NETWORKS
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union),
AICN (North Carolina),
American Oversight,
Bill Kristol/all NeverTrumpers,
Blue Future,
Blue Missouri,
Blue Wave,
Bluesky,
Bulwark Media,
CODEPINK,
CREW,
DemCast,
Democracy Forward,
Democracy Index,
DemocracyLabs,
Every State Blue,
Feathers of Hope/Jerry Weiss,,
Field Team 6 (North Carolina),
FiftyFifty one (50501),
Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF),
Fred Wellman/On Democracy,
"Hands Off,"
Indivisible,
Jessica Valenti/Abortion Everyday,
Lambda Legal,
League of Women Voters/Dr. Allan Lichtman,
Marc Elias/Democracy Docket,
MeidasTouch Network,
MoveOn,
MSNBC (an exception to corporate news, and their suppressing news0,
No Kings,
Olivia Troye,
Protect Democracy,
Public Citizen/Co-president Robert Weissman,
Run for Something,
Seneca Project,
Substack,
Team Sunrise,
The 19th/Errin Haines,
The American Manifesto,
The Bulwark,
The Civic Center,
The Dean's List/ Dean Obeidallah,
The Dr. Martin Luther King Center
The Lincoln Project,
The Politics Girl,
The States Project (North Carolina),
The Union (North Carolina)
Third Act,,
Thomas Zimmer/Democracy Americana,
Truth Matters,
We the People Dissent,
Working Families Party,
LAW FIRMS/ORGANIZATIONS, LAWYERS, COURTS, ACADEMIA
American Bar Association,
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer,
Big Ten Universities,
Brenna Trout Frey
David Pepper,
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (representing the Amica Center for Immigrants Rights and others seeking to block funding cuts for immigrant legal services),
Harvard/President Alan M. Garber,
Hogan Lovells (seeking to block executive orders to end federal funding for gender-affirming medical care),
Jenner & Block (also seeking to block the orders on cuts to medical research funding),
Judge Hannah Dugan,
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III,
(former) Judge J. Michael Luttig,
Judge James Boasberg,
Judge Paula Xinis,
Judge Royce Lamberth,
Justice Elena Kagan,
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson,
Justices Sonia Sotomayer,
Lawyers for Good Government,
Northwestern University,
Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling (have resisted Trump, fighting back with the help of other courageous firms like Williams& Connolly),
Presidents of 328 U.S. colleges and universities who have signed a letter condemning “government overreach" (including St. Louis University),
Ropes & Gray (seeking to block cuts to medical research funding), Susman Godfrey law firm,
UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky,
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (per the ABA Journal, representing fired inspectors general),
Wilmer Hale Keker, Van Nest & Peters,
Southern Poverty Law Center,
Letter signed by 500 law firms joined a court brief supporting Perkins Coie lawsuit against the Trump Administration),
To paraphrase Churchill: We shall fight them in the streets, we shall fight them on the sidewalks, we shall fight them on the internet, we shall fight them in the courts, we shall fight them in the Congress, we shall fight them in the voting booth--We shall never surrender. YOU ARE NEVER ALONE. SOLIDARITY..
Thank you for this comprehensive list of action steps, which makes is a lot easier for planning purposes. I would like us, while still keeping the Orange Turnip and fElon Muskrat in view, to place attention and focus on the Heritage Foundation and the people implementing the action steps delineated in the P2025
manifesto. This is their planning document and is what they are implementing. tRump et al are smoke and mirrors, albeit dangerous ones. I like to think of the Wizard of Oz with the P2025 guys being behind the curtain manipulating implementation and tRump et al the menace projected out on the big screen for us to see. Pay no attention to those little guys behind the curtain!Just keep your eyes on ME, sayeth the Orange Menace. Weird shit. We need to throw back the curtain and quash them. Clock is at 12:50 +- now. Time is running out. Also we seem to have lost track of the P2025 Wizard,
Curtis Yarvin. What is he up to these days with his plan to have America run like a corporation with tRump and family plus the oligarchs at the helm?
Speaking of Heritage Foundation, Claremont Institute cofounded by John Eastman has been targeting rural counties in the Rockies and in Oregon with disinformation that has led to hate crime and ballot curing interference.
Self report. Making my 3 daily phone calls /or emails depending. And I’m on a campaign to educate my neighbors through a series of letters to the editor. Along the lines of Letter to Americans, as I think we all need to be reeducated on our Constitutional Democracy, how it works, how we benefit, how it made America prosperous and stable. How it’s being sabotaged. I’m also working on storytelling. So people read it and understand. My latest.
Congress keep your promise
My dad, a G.I. went to law school on the G.I. bill and benefited from a G.I. mortgage. His favorite job was public defender, giving a voice to those who needed one most.
He saw our U.S. Constitution as a living promise, giving our country great stability and reliability. He liked to tell us that in rejecting monarchy for democracy, we became a model for the world. He said the Constitution protected freedoms — speech, religion, assembly, and due process — while limiting government power through the separation of legislative, executive, and judicial branches, each able to check the others.
The rule of law, he said, made prosperity possible. It built trust, encouraged fairness in business, investment, and gave everyday Americans a real shot at a better life. He lived to see a stronger, more respected nation and the dollar become the international standard
My dad passed away at 65, a lifelong contributor to Social Security which had helped his WWI veteran father. Since the age of 17, I too have paid into this earned benefit. Like my dad, I made this investment in good faith, for the dignity and security for all Americans. We voted for Social Security and kept our part of the promise.
I love your letter to the editor. I need to get busy and write some. I wrote one a couple months ago with the intention of doing it regularly but haven't followed through. I do call or email my Rep and Sens at least once daily, write postcards, and attend rallies.
Thanks Kate. I’m sick in bed w a cold/ flu and writing it makes me feel better. I hope it does for you too. I do get a little feedback from neighbors. They like the personal touch.
I put together a small guide for my local group on how to write effective letters to the editor. (Used to be the person you wrote to among other things.)
Tips: Most submissions are online. Sometimes it takes a few clicks to find the form.
The paper will specify number of words. Do that or risk having it changed.
Write a few days ahead of time of an event or vote. Timing can help bend behavior.
Use one short (5-7 word) initial sentence that can be grabbed for a headline. Put your main point in the first paragraph.
LTE doesn’t get used? It still matters. It gets read and it shows editors what people want to read about.
Tons more ways to prepare, submit, and leverage LTEs, but I didn't want to be a bore!
Letters to the editor are a great tool, especially in rural states like Maine. The LTE below was printed in today's Bangor Daily News, and signed by three local residents of Waldo County (the maximum number of signatories allowed by the BDN), with the backing of more than 300 supporters. It targets the local sheriff in a very pointed way for his role in a recent ICE arrest. Good stuff, and replicable for other lower-level electeds who may be tempted to obey in advance.
One of the signers, Judy Berk, posted the following:
I am proud to be a co-signer of this letter that appears in today’s [4/27/25] Bangor Daily News.
Don Hoenig, Jay Davis and Trudy Miller are residents of Waldo County. They are writing on behalf of more than 390 others who signed on to this document.
We are residents of Waldo County who have been moved to act by a recent incident in which two people were turned over to the Border Patrol following a traffic stop in our county. One of them is back home but the status and location of the other is unknown to us. We have no idea if this individual was accorded due process or if he has wrongly been detained.
The Constitution guarantees each of us the right to be informed of the charges against us, the right to an attorney, and the right to present evidence in one’s own defense. These rights are guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and by the Fourteenth Amendment, which says: “ … nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
We know that the current federal administration has sent many people to prison in other countries without according them these rights. They have admitted that at least one of those people was mistakenly detained. By these actions, the federal authorities are operating outside the rule of law, which is the pillar of our democracy.
Our concern is based on the clear knowledge that due process applies to everyone in the U.S. Imagine that these rights apply only to people who are here legally and that you were taken into custody because you are believed to be undocumented.
Because of the mistaken assumption that you are undocumented, you would be without the right to prove that is not the case. Because of this paradox it is often said that “if due process does not apply to everyone then it applies to no one.” Even people without legal status are covered as “any person.”
With respect to our situation in Waldo County, we commend our sheriff for his openness and transparency about the incident in Montville. However, he has left the door open to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in some as yet undefined situations. This leaves us uneasy.
The constitutional separation of powers between federal and state governments requires that cooperation between a county sheriff and immigration authorities is voluntary absent a state law or specific contract otherwise. As reported widely in Maine, the federal government is pressuring local authorities to sign such an agreement as part of ICE’s 287(g) program and at least one jurisdiction in Maine has done so.
Because the federal authorities cannot be trusted to follow due process and because we do not want our elected officials (and by extension, us) to be complicit in even one person being kidnapped or incarcerated extra-judicially, we strongly urge our sheriff to pledge to abide by the prohibitions listed in LD 1259, which is currently being considered by the Legislature. That bill is summarized as: “This bill prohibits state or local law enforcement agencies or officers from entering into contracts with federal immigration enforcement authorities.”
We know that the issue of immigration is complex and contentious. However, there are not two sides to whether or not to follow the U.S. Constitution in upholding the rule of law. Our sheriff took an oath to do just that. We believe this must be his primary concern, as this is what protects us all. Maine is known to be independent-minded and has a history of strong local control in governance. Asking our sheriff to assert his legal independence from federal lawlessness is well within our rights and traditions, and we hope he will agree.
I watched for over 5 hours, and it was excellent. One of the first speakers I saw was Rep. Maxine Dexter, the freshman from Oregon. I had wondered why she was one of the 4 representatives that went to El Salvador, because Oregon is not a border state, and immigration is not as big of an issue here as it is in other states. Rep. Dexter said that she had received so many phone calls, people stopped her on the street and in the grocery store begging her to do something. So she did.
Every call matters, even if it is to a Democrat in a very blue district.
Over and over again Sen. Booker and Leader Jeffries said that they only need 4 Republicans in the House and 4 in the Senate to flip to stop Trump's budget. Every call is important.
One thing I did this week was attend Pete Buttigieg's speech at our local theater in Santa Barbara. Many college students attended as well as us older senior citizens. It was uplifting and honest! He talked about his 4 main principles and emphasized how we must enter honest debate with those who don't agree with us. He also felt social media is causing too much division and we need to encounter more face to face discussions. It is apparent that our younger generations do not receive their news from TV or newspapers, it is all social media influencing. Pete goes on right wing podcasts to present facts so that the audience can hear actual information that is researched or data based. I believe Dems need to follow his model so we can reach those who are stuck in the right wing vortex and don't see any other side but what they are presented. That is our challenge!
Clearly it's more than honing some fantastic perfect message that will make all see the light. On the right, you have a cacophony of noise and entertainment, conflicting messages, but the net effect is to move people to the right if they engage with it.
ActBlue sent me their T-shirt. Was not expecting it.
Simon - I’ve been impressed with Sam Liccardo (my congressperson). He is a co-signer of the letter to Paul Weiss (and by association, other capitulating law firms) as well as some anti-corruption legislation. He also talked about a conversation he had with General Milley about whether the officer corps and enlisted soldiers will follow unlawful orders. I wonder if you know him yet, and whether you could do an interview with him to get the perspective of a first-term representative. He also might have some insights into the techbro billionares from his district.
It sure feels like a rollercoaster these days with so many ups and downs but the continuing gathering of courage and resistance from so many is heartening!
Wyden/Oregon is ours. He had a very well attended online town hall opposite the SOTU. I attended, it was even better than most town halls because he engaged people on the call to provide experience stories for his efforts for legislation. We'd just had a major illegal downsizing of Forest Service employees seriously compromising wildfire and other resource work, and he suggested using the "Help with a federal agency" that every CongressCritter has on the website. If you aren't familiar, Congressional inquiries to agencies are required to at least be acknowledged within 10 days. Have used it for justice a time or two.
Since last week: 1) I attended a town hall then provided feedback to my (D) House Rep on his need to further up his verbal game. (BTW he has come a long way since being pressured, but not AOC level yet); 2) signed up for the May Day protest; 3) sent $$ to ActBlue; 4) wrote my Senators and asked them to be more Dark Woke esp. on due process rights; 5) sent a donation to my alma matre and thanked them for walking their DEI talk. 6) Prayed that the Pope inspired ‘blue suit, orange face’ to $upport Zelenskyy from on high.
A reminder as we all plan for the week ahead: May Day is this Thursday, May 1, the next big protest day with unions leading. Interestingly "mayday!" is also a distress call.
Anyway, look in your area (https://maydaystrong.org) to find a protest near you, or organize one. There are almost a thousand already organized. It's a good opportunity to join with labor (valuable by itself) and protest AGAINST tariffs and their impacts (job losses, inflation...), abuse of power, kings, corruption, cruelty... and rally FOR workers, immigrants, rule of law...
From my sister in Minneapolis. What one person can do! I’m so proud of her. “I was so upset by judges arrest, I bought an Am flag, turned it upside down. Put on my hands off shirt and walked around my neighborhood intersection a few times. Then went to lake for an hr. Someone joined me for 15 min. Once I started waving at cars, they honked and waved.
Anytime I saw a few teens and old folks walking, I asked them if they knew what an upside down flag meant. NOT ONE in 25 people knew. I said it used to be disrespectful and now it means America in Distress, and explained that. Encouraged the young people to get out and attend these marches and learn what is happening in our country. People bring stolen.
Unrelated, but this was nice to read with my Sunday morning coffee:
The final honor guard for Pope Francis included migrants, prisoners, transgender people, the homeless and others selected by the Vicariate of Rome as a symbol of the late pope’s mission of inclusion and outreach.
The pope’s unadorned tomb, marked by a single Latin word – Franciscus – reflects a life of “simplicity and essential things.”
https://bsky.app/profile/1gregtodd.bsky.social/post/3lnqx5e7kas2t
Great performance by Trump! (Mind you, that’s Judd Trump...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w6ul2mWt_E
I may be a Protestant but for the last few weeks I have had our congregation pray for Pope Francis. As I reminded them, both churches are Christian and in my 74 years I never saw anyone more Christ like. A Pope for the People.
Personally, I was at least as impressed by Pope John Paul I – Albino Luciani. But tragically he was Pope only for 33 days.
Can't forget the great Pope John XXIII.
Vatican II, reconciliation with the Jewish people...
On the other hand, his role in the coverup of the Church’s child sexual abuse was unforgivable.
I haven't heard as much about that. Do you have anything I could read on it?
Check out his 1962 document, "Crimen sollicitationis" and more on the Pope’s response to the scandal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimen_sollicitationis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XXIII#Response_to_sexual_abuse
Definitely not unrelated. Thanks for sharing. It’s a start contrast between those enlightened and unenlightened.
Thank you for posting. I didn't watch more than a few seconds. Enough to see Trump, in his bright blue suit, bad makeup, slumped over and Melania looking terrible. What a beautiful way to honor both Pope Francis and the people he advocated for the most. I don't subscribe to WA Post (cancelled it) but this was a nice read for me with my morning tea. ❤️
I was so happy to see that Bezos is posting the tariff cost on the Amazon site. I guess all that boot/___-licking didn't work so well! (I also cancelled my WaPo months ago because of Bezos. Of course, I called my reps as I do every day, as a Registered Independent, Retired RN, MPH, and US Army Reserves medical officer. I actually got my R (not MAGA) Rep Hurd pn the phone in our district! He is a "constitutional conservative lawyer,: and I was very impressed with his involvement in our huge rural district's concerns. I asked him to support the efforts to investigate Hegseth as a national security risk. I always remind him of the oath we took to the Constitution, rule of law and sue process. He even knew who I was before I went into my identifying spiel! I call my Dem. senators' offices, every day, also, after checking my non corporate news sites for my daily concerns.Polite succinct, professional. Every day. When anyone vents to me in person or on line, I repeat myself about calling their reps' offices every day in a similar manner.
Wow. How did you manage to get your actual Rep on the line?
I usually call the D.C. number and leave a voice message or send an email For whatever reason, they have been unavailable, so I called his main office in our state, and he happened to pick up the phone himself. I expected to leave a voice mail at that number. I have talked to aides when I've called my senators' DC numbers. Former Sen. Al Franken said that messages really count. Aides write them down or play them back and pass info onto the rep.
Good for you! You called at exactly the right time!
I am not Catholic. I will miss his voice of integrity, accountability, simplicity and love.
We need more like him.
What a pope! God speed, Francis!
You speak of Letter to America, an excellent idea! Do you have the support and buy in of any presidential historian and fascism historian? I think adding these two important and influential figures would bolster the argument and make for more willingness by Dem leaders to implement. We need it now. Thank you!
I’ve been thinking about July 4 for a while now in terms of rallying. Friday is the 4th and would be properly shared with family and friends and fireworks.
THEN, we hit the streets on Saturday! One main rally in D C with smaller rallies everywhere else. We’ve done the local rallies on April 5 and 19, so we know we can get the people out to protest. Ask our Democratic politicians to be there.
GET PEOPLE OUT!! On the streets.
There are May Day protests around the country, including San Antonio at the federal building, sponsored by several unions.
There’s also a protest today at a Republican fundraiser in a red county near San Antonio.
These will continue until he’s out of office and as his poll numbers drop into the 20s!
I would like to begin a conversation here on the history and meaning of May Day. I start with this Wikipedia entry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day
and this passage:
May Day has also been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups since the Second International. May Day is one of the most important holidays in communist countries such as China, Vietnam, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union countries. May Day celebrations in these countries typically feature elaborate workforce parades, including displays of military hardware and soldiers.
Similarly, May Day has communist, socialist and Nazi roots according to Britanica.com.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/May-Day-international-observance
There was a previous discussion in the chat about the importance of knowing WHO is requesting the affiliated protests. Our local organizations are the most trusted, yet I am still concerned when they sign on with another organization that they do not know or have any personal relationship with. Newsweek noted "Little information has been given about the organizers of the May Day protests on the group's website." https://www.newsweek.com/may-day-trump-protest-demonstration-workers-2062098
Here is the current website for the protests with a list or organizations that are planning events. Do registering organizations know to whom they are sending the requested information? Anyone can use *.org for their website. https://maydaystrong.org/
The counter argument would be that perhaps the name May Day has been repurposed without intent of its origins. Does Caitlin have any comments to add?
I'm sure nothing I'm about to say will be news to *you* Simon, but I'll say it anyway for the benefit of others. I'm going to be honest here; I don't know why people are making this a focal point. While it's true that the labor version of the holiday has its origins *here,* as a commemoration of the Haymarket bombing and its aftermath in Chicago, it has since been hijacked for decades by countries we don't want to be affiliated with, and even the originating incident, in which a bomb went off and killed more police than civilians, isn't an ideal sell in this day and age. Like Reagan and Romney said, when you're explaining you're losing--unless you're directly educating people, front foot forward, against the other side, which this is not.
Frankly, this has all the hallmarks of something Putin would take the lead on organizing a la 2016 in order to smear us, this time with an assist from Washington). The older origins of the holiday aren't helpful either--it's furrin, European, pagan; MAGA could cut digital ads with footage from Midsommer playing in the background.
It has felt all along (to me at least) like the struggle against dictatorship was going to come down to a simple choice for us: tool up or talk, because as Jonathan Chait wrote today, this presidency is "unsustainable....The clash between the president’s determination to rule and his inability to govern has generated two opposing forces: a weaponized, illiberal state, and a smoldering political backlash. One of them will have to break." Milquetoasts like David Brooks are calling for "mass civic uprisings... Trump is about power. The only way he's going to be stopped is if he's confronted by some movement that possesses rival power."
We are clearly the majority, but we are also badly and literally outgunned. To create the kind of credible deterrent to allow Ukrainian Maidan-type protests and other actions to be successful in stopping him in his tracks, we can all go buy tons of weapons (before, like Hitler, Trump decides certain groups aren’t allowed to own them) and join Liberal Gun Clubs to learn how to use them…or we can win over enough of three key groups—Trump supporters, active duty military, and veterans—to make arming ourselves unnecessary. In my conservative little town, at least, that’s happening (I’m hearing it from conservative friends here, Trump signs are completely gone, everywhere--people are p***ed and ready to rumble. I can’t imagine how demonstrations on May Day, a holiday virtually all Americans over the age of maypoles associated with Russian missiles, will win over a *single* person in any of those groups, and if Trump and Putin are smart in how they respond (to a trap they may well have set), we might even lose a bunch of those people via this tomfoolery.
In an ideal world, what would happen instead is that Trump would eagerly smear these demonstrations (which he likely generated), crow to the MAGAs about how he’s owned us again—only to learn from the media that nobody showed up, proving once and for all that ours is a movement of ordinary people, not “radical leftist elites”
You know what would be a much better day for huge demonstrations? May 11th. Mothers Day. A *beloved* holiday; a holiday about our obligations to those who came before us, to keep and build on what they bequeathed to us. Imagine mothers and their children--the primal keepers of our values and the guardians of our future--spending time they'd normally be brunching away up on the hustings together instead, letting the administration *and the world* know we mean *business* by speaking out on this special day, during their special time. In autocracy after autocracy, it's been the mothers who have stood up and been counted, who have brought down regimes like this one. Instead, the movement has allegedly picked the "commie" alternative to "the real Labor Day?" I call BS.
Here is a good listing of the May Day events:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thepeopledissent/p/update-may-day-protestseverything?r=1aiy5t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
The author puts out a regular column of all the protests in the upcoming week. So the link above in not a one-off - it is regular Friday occurrence. Also if you are aware of a protest that is not on the list you can submit it through the ADD a Protest link at the top of the lsit view.
(Dupe of earlier comment)
We the People at Work
The People, the protectors of Democracy, are out and about. What "people," out where, about what--and why? First, millions said "Hand Off"to Trump/Musk et al, then on the 19th via 50501" (50 protests, 5o states, 1 Movement) millions more protested the mess in WDC. Also on the 19th we celebrated the "the shot heard around the world at Lexington and Concord, starting the Revolution and our country. On the 22nd protectors of the environment cleaned up a different kind of mess on Earth Day.
As important as the participants in environmental mess cleanup and American history are, this post is dedicated to the named and unnamed protestors fighting the Trump/Musk Washington, DC, tyrannical mess. Or as Susan Grymes calls it: "Protectors" of democracy, and so shall I in this post.
Who are the Protectors of democracy on April 5, 19th, May 1st--or all the everydays in between and into the future?? We will never know the names of each individual marcher, sign holder (or just standing together in solidarity). But we do know by name some people, advocacy groups, judges and law firms, and other entities who have not been cowed, and have fought back publicly--sometimes under threat of death.. Some, such as Sen. Cory Booker, with his 25 hour righteous speech on ethics, morality, and American democracy,have become an inspiration. Here then, in no particular order of noteworthy (except the first three), are the names of many of the army of protectors of democracy--and remember Courage is Contagious:
(Of course, the list is imperfect, Additions are welcomed. Also re-posting is permitted and encouraged.
PROTECTORS OF DEMOCRACY (By pen, voice, sign, or act)
(Updated April 25, 2025 Individuals
Heather Cox Richardson/"Letters from an American,"
Jess Piper/"View from Rural Missouri,"
Joyce Vance/"Civil Discourse,"
Rep. AOC,
AGs, 23 Blue States,
Aaron Parnas,
Adam Kinzinger,
Sen. Adam Schiff,
Adam Smith,
Alex Wagner,
Alexander Vindman,
Ali Velshi,
Alison Gill
Alvin Bragg (and the unnamed Manhattan jurors),
Amb. Susan Rice,
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales/Democracy Now,
Anand Giridharadas,
Anat Shenker-Osario,
Andrew Weissmann,
Andy Borowitz,
Ann Telnaes,
Anne Applebaum,
Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF (Freedom from Religion Foundation),
Ari Melber,
Asha Rangappa
August Flentje,
Ben Meiselas,
Beth Benike,
Brett Meiselas,
Brian Tyler Cohen,
Cassidy Hutchinson,
Charlotte Clymer,
Chris Geidne/LAW Dork
Chris Hayes,
Chris Krebs,
Col. Susannah Meyers,
Congressman Jim Himes,
D. Earl Stevens,
Dan Barker, FFRF (Freedom from Religion Foundation)
Dan Pfeiffer,
Dan Rather,
Daniel Berulis,
Daniel Morton-Bentley,
David Frumm,
David Hogg,
Dean Obeidallah,
Delia Ramirez,
Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
Sen. Elyssa Slotkin,
Erez Reuveni,
Rep. Eric Swalwell,
Francie Garber Pepper (1940-2025),
Garrison Keillor,
Garry Kasparov,
George Conway,
Glenn Kirschner,
Gov. Beshear,
Gov. Janet Mills,
Gov. Kathy Hochul,
Gov. Maura Healey (MA),
Gov. Tim Walz (MN),
Gov. Tony Evers (WI),
Greg Olear,
Harry Litman,
J.B. Pritzker,
Jake Auchincloss,
Rep. Jamie Raskin,
Rep. Jasmine Crockett,
Jay Kou,
Jeff Danziger,
Sen. Jeff Merkley,
Jeff Stein,
Jeff Tiedrich,
Jen Rubin And the Contrarians,
,Jeremy Seahill,
Jessica Craven,
Jessica Yellin,
Jim Acosta,
Jim Hightower,
Jimmy Kimmel,
J-L Cauvin,
John Cusack,
John Larson
Sen. Jon Ossoff,
Jonathan Bernstein,
Jordy Meiselas,
Josh Johnson (stand-up comedian),
Josh Marshall/TPM,
Joy Reid,
Judd Legum (Popular Information),
Julie Roginsky,
Katie Phang,
Ken Harbaugh,
Lawrence O'Donnell,
Liz Cheney,
Lucian Truscott IV,
Marianne Williamson,
Mark Fiore,
Marvin Kalb,
Mary L. Trump,
Maxwell Frost,
Mayor Michelle Wu,
Mehdi Hasan,
Melvin Gurai,
Michael Bennett,
Michael Cohn,
Michel Zeitgeist,
Miles Taylor,
Nicolle Wallllace,
Noel Casler (former and current staff of the Inter-American Foundation, a small but mighty federal agency for Latin America)
Olga Lautman,
Oliva Troye,
Paul Krugman,
Prof. Lawrence Tribe,
Qasim Rachid,
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman,
Rachel Cohen,
Rachel Maddow,
Rebecca Solnit,
Rep. Andrew Egger,
Rep. Emily Randall,
Rep. Jessica Denson,
Rep. Jonathan V. Last,
Rep. Noe Casler,
Rep. Pramila Jayapal,
Rep. Sarah Longwell,
Rep. Al Green,
Rep. Don Beyer,
Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde,
Rev. William J. Barber II,
Representative Yassamin Ansari
Rez Reuveni (acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation, and his supervisor),
Rich Wilson,
Robert B. Hubbell,
Robert Reich,
Roger Parloff,
Ron Filipkowski,
Ruth Ben-Ghait,
Sarah Inama,
Scott Dworkin,
Sen. Amy Klobuchar,
Sen. Andy Kim,
Sen. Angus King,
Sen. Bernie Sanders,
Sen. Chris Murphy,
Sen. Chris Van Hollen,
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand,
Sen. Lisa Murkowski,
Sen. Maria Cantwell,
Sen. Patty Murray,
Sen. Raphael Warnock,
Sen. Ron Wyden,
Sharon McMahon,
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse,
Simon Rosenberg,
Stacey Abrams,
Stephanie Miller,
Stephen King,
Steve Brodner,
Steve Schmidt,
Sue Nethercott,
Sen. Tammy Duckworth,
Tennessee Brandon,
Thom Hartmann,
Tim Miller,
Tim Snyder,
Timothy Snyder
Tristan Snell,
Will Bunch,
Zev Shalev,
ADVOCACY GROUPS, MEDIA NETWORKS
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union),
AICN (North Carolina),
American Oversight,
Bill Kristol/all NeverTrumpers,
Blue Future,
Blue Missouri,
Blue Wave,
Bluesky,
Bulwark Media,
CODEPINK,
CREW,
DemCast,
Democracy Forward,
Democracy Index,
DemocracyLabs,
Every State Blue,
Feathers of Hope/Jerry Weiss,,
Field Team 6 (North Carolina),
FiftyFifty one (50501),
Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF),
Fred Wellman/On Democracy,
"Hands Off,"
Indivisible,
Jessica Valenti/Abortion Everyday,
Lambda Legal,
League of Women Voters/Dr. Allan Lichtman,
Marc Elias/Democracy Docket,
MeidasTouch Network,
MoveOn,
MSNBC (an exception to corporate news, and their suppressing news0,
No Kings,
Olivia Troye,
Protect Democracy,
Public Citizen/Co-president Robert Weissman,
Run for Something,
Seneca Project,
Substack,
Team Sunrise,
The 19th/Errin Haines,
The American Manifesto,
The Bulwark,
The Civic Center,
The Dean's List/ Dean Obeidallah,
The Dr. Martin Luther King Center
The Lincoln Project,
The Politics Girl,
The States Project (North Carolina),
The Union (North Carolina)
Third Act,,
Thomas Zimmer/Democracy Americana,
Truth Matters,
We the People Dissent,
Working Families Party,
LAW FIRMS/ORGANIZATIONS, LAWYERS, COURTS, ACADEMIA
American Bar Association,
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer,
Big Ten Universities,
Brenna Trout Frey
David Pepper,
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (representing the Amica Center for Immigrants Rights and others seeking to block funding cuts for immigrant legal services),
Harvard/President Alan M. Garber,
Hogan Lovells (seeking to block executive orders to end federal funding for gender-affirming medical care),
Jenner & Block (also seeking to block the orders on cuts to medical research funding),
Judge Hannah Dugan,
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III,
(former) Judge J. Michael Luttig,
Judge James Boasberg,
Judge Paula Xinis,
Judge Royce Lamberth,
Justice Elena Kagan,
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson,
Justices Sonia Sotomayer,
Lawyers for Good Government,
Northwestern University,
Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling (have resisted Trump, fighting back with the help of other courageous firms like Williams& Connolly),
Presidents of 328 U.S. colleges and universities who have signed a letter condemning “government overreach" (including St. Louis University),
Ropes & Gray (seeking to block cuts to medical research funding), Susman Godfrey law firm,
UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky,
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (per the ABA Journal, representing fired inspectors general),
Wilmer Hale Keker, Van Nest & Peters,
Southern Poverty Law Center,
Letter signed by 500 law firms joined a court brief supporting Perkins Coie lawsuit against the Trump Administration),
To paraphrase Churchill: We shall fight them in the streets, we shall fight them on the sidewalks, we shall fight them on the internet, we shall fight them in the courts, we shall fight them in the Congress, we shall fight them in the voting booth--We shall never surrender. YOU ARE NEVER ALONE. SOLIDARITY..
E pluribus unum ( "Out of many, one")
Those headlines are going to make his head explode! Happy Sunday everyone!
Thank you for this comprehensive list of action steps, which makes is a lot easier for planning purposes. I would like us, while still keeping the Orange Turnip and fElon Muskrat in view, to place attention and focus on the Heritage Foundation and the people implementing the action steps delineated in the P2025
manifesto. This is their planning document and is what they are implementing. tRump et al are smoke and mirrors, albeit dangerous ones. I like to think of the Wizard of Oz with the P2025 guys being behind the curtain manipulating implementation and tRump et al the menace projected out on the big screen for us to see. Pay no attention to those little guys behind the curtain!Just keep your eyes on ME, sayeth the Orange Menace. Weird shit. We need to throw back the curtain and quash them. Clock is at 12:50 +- now. Time is running out. Also we seem to have lost track of the P2025 Wizard,
Curtis Yarvin. What is he up to these days with his plan to have America run like a corporation with tRump and family plus the oligarchs at the helm?
Speaking of Heritage Foundation, Claremont Institute cofounded by John Eastman has been targeting rural counties in the Rockies and in Oregon with disinformation that has led to hate crime and ballot curing interference.
🙁😡😫
Self report. Making my 3 daily phone calls /or emails depending. And I’m on a campaign to educate my neighbors through a series of letters to the editor. Along the lines of Letter to Americans, as I think we all need to be reeducated on our Constitutional Democracy, how it works, how we benefit, how it made America prosperous and stable. How it’s being sabotaged. I’m also working on storytelling. So people read it and understand. My latest.
Congress keep your promise
My dad, a G.I. went to law school on the G.I. bill and benefited from a G.I. mortgage. His favorite job was public defender, giving a voice to those who needed one most.
He saw our U.S. Constitution as a living promise, giving our country great stability and reliability. He liked to tell us that in rejecting monarchy for democracy, we became a model for the world. He said the Constitution protected freedoms — speech, religion, assembly, and due process — while limiting government power through the separation of legislative, executive, and judicial branches, each able to check the others.
The rule of law, he said, made prosperity possible. It built trust, encouraged fairness in business, investment, and gave everyday Americans a real shot at a better life. He lived to see a stronger, more respected nation and the dollar become the international standard
My dad passed away at 65, a lifelong contributor to Social Security which had helped his WWI veteran father. Since the age of 17, I too have paid into this earned benefit. Like my dad, I made this investment in good faith, for the dignity and security for all Americans. We voted for Social Security and kept our part of the promise.
Now Congress, keep yours.
I love your letter to the editor. I need to get busy and write some. I wrote one a couple months ago with the intention of doing it regularly but haven't followed through. I do call or email my Rep and Sens at least once daily, write postcards, and attend rallies.
Thanks Kate. I’m sick in bed w a cold/ flu and writing it makes me feel better. I hope it does for you too. I do get a little feedback from neighbors. They like the personal touch.
I put together a small guide for my local group on how to write effective letters to the editor. (Used to be the person you wrote to among other things.)
Tips: Most submissions are online. Sometimes it takes a few clicks to find the form.
The paper will specify number of words. Do that or risk having it changed.
Write a few days ahead of time of an event or vote. Timing can help bend behavior.
Use one short (5-7 word) initial sentence that can be grabbed for a headline. Put your main point in the first paragraph.
LTE doesn’t get used? It still matters. It gets read and it shows editors what people want to read about.
Tons more ways to prepare, submit, and leverage LTEs, but I didn't want to be a bore!
Flippers up, valiant activists!
Letters to the editor are a great tool, especially in rural states like Maine. The LTE below was printed in today's Bangor Daily News, and signed by three local residents of Waldo County (the maximum number of signatories allowed by the BDN), with the backing of more than 300 supporters. It targets the local sheriff in a very pointed way for his role in a recent ICE arrest. Good stuff, and replicable for other lower-level electeds who may be tempted to obey in advance.
One of the signers, Judy Berk, posted the following:
I am proud to be a co-signer of this letter that appears in today’s [4/27/25] Bangor Daily News.
Don Hoenig, Jay Davis and Trudy Miller are residents of Waldo County. They are writing on behalf of more than 390 others who signed on to this document.
We are residents of Waldo County who have been moved to act by a recent incident in which two people were turned over to the Border Patrol following a traffic stop in our county. One of them is back home but the status and location of the other is unknown to us. We have no idea if this individual was accorded due process or if he has wrongly been detained.
The Constitution guarantees each of us the right to be informed of the charges against us, the right to an attorney, and the right to present evidence in one’s own defense. These rights are guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and by the Fourteenth Amendment, which says: “ … nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
We know that the current federal administration has sent many people to prison in other countries without according them these rights. They have admitted that at least one of those people was mistakenly detained. By these actions, the federal authorities are operating outside the rule of law, which is the pillar of our democracy.
Our concern is based on the clear knowledge that due process applies to everyone in the U.S. Imagine that these rights apply only to people who are here legally and that you were taken into custody because you are believed to be undocumented.
Because of the mistaken assumption that you are undocumented, you would be without the right to prove that is not the case. Because of this paradox it is often said that “if due process does not apply to everyone then it applies to no one.” Even people without legal status are covered as “any person.”
With respect to our situation in Waldo County, we commend our sheriff for his openness and transparency about the incident in Montville. However, he has left the door open to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in some as yet undefined situations. This leaves us uneasy.
The constitutional separation of powers between federal and state governments requires that cooperation between a county sheriff and immigration authorities is voluntary absent a state law or specific contract otherwise. As reported widely in Maine, the federal government is pressuring local authorities to sign such an agreement as part of ICE’s 287(g) program and at least one jurisdiction in Maine has done so.
Because the federal authorities cannot be trusted to follow due process and because we do not want our elected officials (and by extension, us) to be complicit in even one person being kidnapped or incarcerated extra-judicially, we strongly urge our sheriff to pledge to abide by the prohibitions listed in LD 1259, which is currently being considered by the Legislature. That bill is summarized as: “This bill prohibits state or local law enforcement agencies or officers from entering into contracts with federal immigration enforcement authorities.”
We know that the issue of immigration is complex and contentious. However, there are not two sides to whether or not to follow the U.S. Constitution in upholding the rule of law. Our sheriff took an oath to do just that. We believe this must be his primary concern, as this is what protects us all. Maine is known to be independent-minded and has a history of strong local control in governance. Asking our sheriff to assert his legal independence from federal lawlessness is well within our rights and traditions, and we hope he will agree.
In defense of due process in Waldo County
bangordailynews.com
In defense of due process in Waldo County
“Our concern is based on the clear knowledge that due process applies to everyone in the U.S.”
🙌🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thanks for posting this. Good stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/live/5ceR90lihX8?si=drRClr22FX_PQqFC
Live from the steps of the Capitol, Booker & Jeffries
This is amazing!!! Thanks for sharing!
Watching!
I watched for over 5 hours, and it was excellent. One of the first speakers I saw was Rep. Maxine Dexter, the freshman from Oregon. I had wondered why she was one of the 4 representatives that went to El Salvador, because Oregon is not a border state, and immigration is not as big of an issue here as it is in other states. Rep. Dexter said that she had received so many phone calls, people stopped her on the street and in the grocery store begging her to do something. So she did.
Every call matters, even if it is to a Democrat in a very blue district.
Over and over again Sen. Booker and Leader Jeffries said that they only need 4 Republicans in the House and 4 in the Senate to flip to stop Trump's budget. Every call is important.
One thing I did this week was attend Pete Buttigieg's speech at our local theater in Santa Barbara. Many college students attended as well as us older senior citizens. It was uplifting and honest! He talked about his 4 main principles and emphasized how we must enter honest debate with those who don't agree with us. He also felt social media is causing too much division and we need to encounter more face to face discussions. It is apparent that our younger generations do not receive their news from TV or newspapers, it is all social media influencing. Pete goes on right wing podcasts to present facts so that the audience can hear actual information that is researched or data based. I believe Dems need to follow his model so we can reach those who are stuck in the right wing vortex and don't see any other side but what they are presented. That is our challenge!
This I think is a bit what Newsome is trying to do and getting dinged for. YMMV.
Clearly it's more than honing some fantastic perfect message that will make all see the light. On the right, you have a cacophony of noise and entertainment, conflicting messages, but the net effect is to move people to the right if they engage with it.
ActBlue sent me their T-shirt. Was not expecting it.
Using 5Calls.com everyday. We've composed our own scripts. Keep on truckin' !
Simon - I’ve been impressed with Sam Liccardo (my congressperson). He is a co-signer of the letter to Paul Weiss (and by association, other capitulating law firms) as well as some anti-corruption legislation. He also talked about a conversation he had with General Milley about whether the officer corps and enlisted soldiers will follow unlawful orders. I wonder if you know him yet, and whether you could do an interview with him to get the perspective of a first-term representative. He also might have some insights into the techbro billionares from his district.
https://min.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/min.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/04.24.25-letters-to-law-firms-on-trump-administration-agreements-all.pdf
It sure feels like a rollercoaster these days with so many ups and downs but the continuing gathering of courage and resistance from so many is heartening!
Please consider joining:
https://www.dailyhaikuforyou.com
Today's is all about truth telling!
Monica, Washington DC
I used to adore Haiku Headlines, which summarized the news in that form.
Wow! Now there's a new challenge! I don't know about them.
Down down down down Don
pollsters enumerate - act-
ivists soldier on!
Wyden/Oregon is ours. He had a very well attended online town hall opposite the SOTU. I attended, it was even better than most town halls because he engaged people on the call to provide experience stories for his efforts for legislation. We'd just had a major illegal downsizing of Forest Service employees seriously compromising wildfire and other resource work, and he suggested using the "Help with a federal agency" that every CongressCritter has on the website. If you aren't familiar, Congressional inquiries to agencies are required to at least be acknowledged within 10 days. Have used it for justice a time or two.
Since last week: 1) I attended a town hall then provided feedback to my (D) House Rep on his need to further up his verbal game. (BTW he has come a long way since being pressured, but not AOC level yet); 2) signed up for the May Day protest; 3) sent $$ to ActBlue; 4) wrote my Senators and asked them to be more Dark Woke esp. on due process rights; 5) sent a donation to my alma matre and thanked them for walking their DEI talk. 6) Prayed that the Pope inspired ‘blue suit, orange face’ to $upport Zelenskyy from on high.
A reminder as we all plan for the week ahead: May Day is this Thursday, May 1, the next big protest day with unions leading. Interestingly "mayday!" is also a distress call.
Anyway, look in your area (https://maydaystrong.org) to find a protest near you, or organize one. There are almost a thousand already organized. It's a good opportunity to join with labor (valuable by itself) and protest AGAINST tariffs and their impacts (job losses, inflation...), abuse of power, kings, corruption, cruelty... and rally FOR workers, immigrants, rule of law...
From my sister in Minneapolis. What one person can do! I’m so proud of her. “I was so upset by judges arrest, I bought an Am flag, turned it upside down. Put on my hands off shirt and walked around my neighborhood intersection a few times. Then went to lake for an hr. Someone joined me for 15 min. Once I started waving at cars, they honked and waved.
Anytime I saw a few teens and old folks walking, I asked them if they knew what an upside down flag meant. NOT ONE in 25 people knew. I said it used to be disrespectful and now it means America in Distress, and explained that. Encouraged the young people to get out and attend these marches and learn what is happening in our country. People bring stolen.
They were clueless. SAD”