🔸️NONE of the big blubbery baby man's clown show would be happening if he was disqualified day one after forensic psychiatrist Dr Bandy X Lee's report of the FIVE DANGEROUS MENTAL PATHOLOGIES of Donald Trump.
Dear Lonnie - I don’t believe there is any point in “what ifs”. History is full of “what if” this or “if only” that. It doesn’t matter if your point is valid or not. At this point it’s immaterial.
I am regularly calling my 2 Massachusetts Senators (Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey) and 1 Congresswoman (Katherine Clark) and will add my Attorney General to my call list.
Can we citizens bring a lawsuit to the Supreme Court on the basis of our Constitutional rights are being trampled, even if Congress won't fight this? Trump/Musk cannot dismantle agencies and not provide funding that Congress has approved, right? So can we file charges in a class action suit?
Article says the AGs are NM, MI (yay!!), AZ, Maryland, Minnesota, California, Nevada, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
Connecticut ( yay). Unfortunately Musk is now going thru our SS and IRS records as I write this. He just replaced the head of SS!!! How can he do this? Ah! Courts, wake up, didn't he just give you the finger?
The injury is having unelected people looking and doing God knows what with our personal and financial information. Has anyone who has filed a complaint to their A.G. in a blue state had their A.G. said no? Mine is under review for the past few weeks. I think they would like to have a number of people file with them so they can file a class-action suit I believe it is called.
SELF-REPORTING: This morning's actions - Calls made and contacted Senators and Rep on Ukraine, SAVE, criminal referrals for T & M (each issue a separate one-issue call); donated to Crawford/Wikler.
NOTE: https://5calls.org responded to requests for adding your own personal history of calls made - and has included checks etc. Makes a great action asset even greater.
Simon, I take your admonition that we trust those who are organizing public protests/boycotts/etc very seriously. So if the Democratic leadership is not going to weigh in on public action, who are we to trust? There seems to be a disconnect between the anger and fear that is rising in those who seek to preserve the rule of law and those trusted organizations that would/should be calling for mass protests of what's happening. Is this a crisis or isn't it? If it is, why aren't we, why shouldn't we be in the streets?
For now just keep it simple - if you do not know and trust the organizer of any activity do not do it. I am not saying do not attend public events but at this critical moment in our history we cannot follow some random dude who throws up a website or an organization whose leaders stay anonymous. I think our elected leaders and Dem Parties orgs are going to have to start organizing these protests so they are legal, strategic, accountable. We cannot make mistakes here.
Bob, I agree 100%. I also agree with Simon’s caution to know the organizers. But there is enough fear out there already, I see so much obeying in advance, simply because people are already resigned to the idea we have lost. 50501 is a grassroots group that is sponsoring ongoing demonstrations all over the country. Indivisible is a well-known progressive group that it’s also promoting various actions. I just joined a local. SHUTDOWN315 is another. Look for actions from these groups.
Our local organizing group removed all of our leadership's names from our web site. It is understandable in these times that an opposition organization would remain anonymous. Your position that everyone should wait for a protest organized by Democrats seems somewhat ridiculous. Where are these Democrats? When is the protest coming? Will it be too late?
The DC Capitol protest was safe; there wasn't even a police presence. It's disappointing to see this kind of divisive influence on the pro-democracy movement coming from your site; making people afraid to go to a protest and disparaging a group that is working for the same goals. We need a bigger movement, not one that is only lead by the Democratic Party.
You can work with your state parties and local orgs to develop an organized effort to reach them and while the calls should be from the district in person protests need not be. Call your Dem state and local parties and insist they take the lead here in building a loud sustained lobbying campaign against the budget. Call them. Help them understand is expected of them now.
I always sneer when our opposition uses terms like "woke", especially talking
about that buffoon of a governor from Florida who graduated from Yale, I believe. Woke is not a noun. And what is it about these prestigious universities allowing people into them that have no sense of decency? Or know their parts of speech!
I do know that woke was formerly used in the black community as a noun, but the proper English usage would never allow that word to be used as a noun in any college setting ( or high school) that I am aware other than in using it as describing the word in its setting of black culture.
Oh, there is so much that can be said about the peculiarities and absurdities of American English usage!
One of my pet peeves is to insist on the logical phrase "different from", despite "different than" being far more widely used – and never mind that British atrocity "different to". These latter two annoy me far more than "woke" used as a noun.
You want another? "Snow storm" or "rain storm" being used to mean simply "lots of snow" or "lots of rain". No, please! "Storm" means winds that rate 10 on the Beaufort scale (at least 55 mph), and the term "snow storm" ought to be reserved for snowy weather combined with storm winds.
Supermarkets no longer sell toilet paper, only "bathroom tissue".
Then you have the American idiom "to sleep with". As the famous saying goes (Woody Allen?): "It’s not the men who sleep with my wife I’m worried about, it’s the ones who stay awake."
And then we have "decimate" being used to mean "wipe out" rather than "reduced by one-tenth" or "greatly reduced". (Yes, I realize American English calls for that quotation mark to be beyond the period.)
PS. A standard comical situation is a Norwegian being greeted by an American asking "How are you?" – whereby the Norwegian proceeds to give a comprehensive answer.
Well our snowstorm yesterday, it was so windy during the snow, sleet and wind I am compressing the words into one word as the two words have blown together. Actually, I was already for a medical procedure this a.m., afraid that it was so bad outside, my husband wouldn't be able to get me there. Instead it was the doctor who had to cancel ( would have been pissed if this had been a colonoscopy instead of an endoscopy, if you get my drift). Tomorrow, is iffy as well. Can't tell for sure how much snow we have because there is so much ice compressing it. But, fortunately we didn't lose power yet, the wind gusts have dropped to a mere 50 mph.
Yes, the English language is almost as crazy as one of the main contributors of the OEM who was an American who died in an insane asylum in England after committing murder. I think people should be arrested for murdering our language. Yes, I am a language snob but not quite as knowledgeable as you!
Another thing I am doing is boycotting Jeff Bezo's companies. I have not stepped foot in Whole Foods since WP decided not to endorse Kamala Harris, I go to Amazon to find out what vendors have things I want to purchase and then I order directly from those vendors (even if I have to pay additional shipping costs - seems like a small price to pay for Democracy!). We have discontinued our Prime membership and I am not renewing my Audible membership (after over a decade of being a member). I don't own a Tesla so I can't do much about Musk, but we can do what we can with other billionaires who are lining up with Trump. Money talks, as we've learned, so let's use our money to get through to these idiots!
My wife and I like to use Amazon to research products. However, we prefer to purchase from brick-and-mortar stores locally whenever possible, not minding if there is a price premium, or directly from the producer or vendor without going through Amazon. (That puts more money in their pocket; and it feels good to deprive Bezos of his cut.) In addition, we try to buy locally grown or regionally produced products.
If you have retirement accounts, even if they just have mutual funds, with a little research (an hour or two) you can probably sell the funds that hold Tesla and swap in something else. 401k funds available are chosen by an intermediary, but I was able to find an international large cap and a domestic larger cap fund w/a dividend focus to swap in for my index funds. It's a hassle, and in one cast, the fund's fees are a little higher, as actively managed portfolios. But, it felt good to know I was selling out of my (admittedly very small) positions in Tesla.
I'll try to remember to double check and post here's, but in general, different platforms or 401(k) plans will have funds that they offer (not necessarily the entire universe of what's out there). You may need to see what you have access to, and research from there (copy/paste name or ticker of fund into search engine of choice, click through to Morningstar or other link, find portfolio holdings and then skim the list. A PITA, but not intrinsically difficult).
Okay, with the caveats that I am just some rando from the InterWebz; am not now, not have I ever been a licensed financial professional; and that past performance is no guarantee of future results and that investments can and do lose money (duh!),
I swapped my S&P 500 Index fund on E*Trade for Green Century MSCI Intl Indx Indvl Inv (GCINX)
and my S&P 500/other large cap index mirroring funds in my 401(k) (the foregoing not being offered there) for:
* MFS Total Return Fund (MSFRX)
* T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth Fund (PRDGX)
* T. Rowe Price Overseas Stock Fund (TROSX)
======
Small- and Mid-cap funds wouldn't hold Tesla, anyway at this point, so if it's specifically that stock you're punishing (as it is for me), that's good...at least until the company is wrecked enough that it stops being a large market cap (number of outstanding shares x share price = market capitalization). So, that's MY situation... YMMV!
Big thanks! Tesla is my major target also. Musk is intent on driving all the other EV start-ups out of business, by getting Biden's national network of EV charging stations plan ended. Only Tesla stations will be left.
Heading to Union Square in NYC for a President's Day protest starting at 1:00, organized by Indivisible, 50501 and others. One more step in making our voices heard.
Thank you, Simon. I think the time to start voter registration drives is now. Requirements vary a bit by state but it's generally not that difficult to get qualified to register voters. You don't need to wait for permission from your local party. In Virginia, voters don't register by party, but it's easy to figure out where setting up a table will capture a lot of voters who side with us -- near a university, at the local LGBTQ coffee shop, at the weekend farmers' market, etc. When I lived in Arlington, we'd set up just outside the Clarendon metro entrance because Clarendon had lots of folks who'd recently moved to the DC area. Most local League of Women Voters can provide more how-to information.
I suggested something to my husband today and I don't know if this is heretical, but should we start a process to get every voter to get identification cards that will stand up no matter what the other side does? I'm concerned that latest SAVE act will pass and they'll somehow make it effective for the midterms and we'll be caught flat-footed. I know how hard it is to get IDs for people (I tried for an elderly friend who didn't have a license, and it was near impossible!) but I don't want to be caught short. I have a passport so I'm not worried for myself.
I think the SAVE act will not pass as currently written. The largest percentage of women who took their husbands' names who do not have passports reside in solidly GOP states. Will they rewrite the law to allow these women to vote? Probably. History tells us that legislators are very good at disenfranchising voters. Research the history of the Grandfather Clause. You'll never use the term "grandfathered" again.
This past year a group of us went out with clipboards to parking lots, grocery stores, college campuses and registered voters and did deep canvassing, talking to folks. We found walking with clipboards and enthusiastically but politely approaching people led to more conversations than sitting at a table. We ended up registering 500 voters; the margin for the NC Supreme Court race, now being challenged, was 734...
There is a new bill in the NC state government to prohibit GOTV drives by third parties. It will probably pass, but the GOP no longer has a supermajority. Thank heavens.
“While the Washington Party gets its act together you are not waiting. All of you who are taking these actions are leading. You are becoming, through these works, the ones we’ve all been waiting for.”
Sorry… just now seeing this! We had 57 of us show up to protest which was impressive since we were shooting for 50! The local paper came and published photos and told our story. ( they were criticized by the magas as behaving like the woke WAPO) We had a member of our school board speak to us regarding what cuts we would see if the Department of Education was dismantled. A woman whose family was 4th generation farmers spoke about the cuts to USAID and its impact on our farms. A mother of a trans daughter spoke of her fears. A gay man stood up for the need to keep protesting and fighting for LGBTQ rights.
Thank you for keeping Wisconsin's Ben Wikler (Chair WisDems) and Judge Susan Crawford (candidate for WI Supreme Court) in front of everybody. We need all the help we can get.
I sent Susan Crawford a check. I am not using ActBlue at the current time. I am going to send out a BCC email to several friends in red states, urging them to call their Senators and reps. I will continue to call Klobuchar and Smith and my Democratic rep. Hope to see many at the noon protests today, although I can't go myself for health reasons.
This is critical. Joyce Vance wrote extensively about this last night on her Substack.Later this week she is appearing on Stacey Abram’s podcast to emphasize that “ time is of the essence “ in stopping this in Congress.
I just sent this to my representative in western NC (R-Chuck Edwards) and I did steal some of your words verbatim, Simon. Then I’ll send a resustbit or two as suggested by Jess Craven.
“I honestly believe that Elon Musk is on a crime spreewith his assault on the US government. He has priduced NO evidence that anything needs to be cut. He is not an elected official. He seeks to cut departments that are either examining him or that stand in the way of him making money via government contracts with his many companies. I believe you need to file a criminal referral for him and his malicious posse to DOJ/FBI.
In addition, I would like funding for USAID fully restored so our government does not kill millions and millions of people this year in our name or allow more pandemics both in the U.S. and around the world to occur. “
If I may be so bold, I would add on one additional item to Simon's comments today. In addition to pushing your electeds not to vote for any budget/government funding bill until the lawlessness stops, I would implore all of our elected D's to push the message that Republicans have the majority everywhere. It's is up to Republicans to find a path forward. They are in charge.
🔸️NONE of the big blubbery baby man's clown show would be happening if he was disqualified day one after forensic psychiatrist Dr Bandy X Lee's report of the FIVE DANGEROUS MENTAL PATHOLOGIES of Donald Trump.
"Stephen Xenakis-Fitness for Duty Exams"
https://youtu.be/vdtChF07ryU?si=XJzMjvTsSfKn5UTn
Dear Lonnie - I don’t believe there is any point in “what ifs”. History is full of “what if” this or “if only” that. It doesn’t matter if your point is valid or not. At this point it’s immaterial.
The Constitution of the United States has been amended 27 times since it was ratified in 1788.
Every Ammendment was a "What if", until it became a "What is".
It's long past time for Senate Leadership to protect American Voters from dangerous mentally unfit candidates.
Don't wait for others to get loud. YOU get loud. It's easier to fly with 100 than to drag one.
I am regularly calling my 2 Massachusetts Senators (Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey) and 1 Congresswoman (Katherine Clark) and will add my Attorney General to my call list.
Can we citizens bring a lawsuit to the Supreme Court on the basis of our Constitutional rights are being trampled, even if Congress won't fight this? Trump/Musk cannot dismantle agencies and not provide funding that Congress has approved, right? So can we file charges in a class action suit?
Great idea - Democracy Docket might know?
Democratic AGs are suing on behalf of their residents. You can follow litigation at https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/
Check and see if your state is part of the complaints. I believe the latest had 14 A.G.'s
going after Musk. If you want a criminal federal send a complaint ( a lawsuit) to your atty. general, usually can find it on their website.
I think this is the suit you are referring to: https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/02/michigan-13-states-seek-injunction-to-rein-in-elon-musk-and-doge.html
Article says the AGs are NM, MI (yay!!), AZ, Maryland, Minnesota, California, Nevada, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
Connecticut ( yay). Unfortunately Musk is now going thru our SS and IRS records as I write this. He just replaced the head of SS!!! How can he do this? Ah! Courts, wake up, didn't he just give you the finger?
Thanks! Sign up for their email.
Basically, no. The courts have fashioned a doctrine known as "standing" which limits who can bring lawsuits. You have to have a particularized injury.
The injury is having unelected people looking and doing God knows what with our personal and financial information. Has anyone who has filed a complaint to their A.G. in a blue state had their A.G. said no? Mine is under review for the past few weeks. I think they would like to have a number of people file with them so they can file a class-action suit I believe it is called.
SELF-REPORTING: This morning's actions - Calls made and contacted Senators and Rep on Ukraine, SAVE, criminal referrals for T & M (each issue a separate one-issue call); donated to Crawford/Wikler.
NOTE: https://5calls.org responded to requests for adding your own personal history of calls made - and has included checks etc. Makes a great action asset even greater.
thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And YOU and all of Hopium!
Simon, I take your admonition that we trust those who are organizing public protests/boycotts/etc very seriously. So if the Democratic leadership is not going to weigh in on public action, who are we to trust? There seems to be a disconnect between the anger and fear that is rising in those who seek to preserve the rule of law and those trusted organizations that would/should be calling for mass protests of what's happening. Is this a crisis or isn't it? If it is, why aren't we, why shouldn't we be in the streets?
For now just keep it simple - if you do not know and trust the organizer of any activity do not do it. I am not saying do not attend public events but at this critical moment in our history we cannot follow some random dude who throws up a website or an organization whose leaders stay anonymous. I think our elected leaders and Dem Parties orgs are going to have to start organizing these protests so they are legal, strategic, accountable. We cannot make mistakes here.
Bob, I agree 100%. I also agree with Simon’s caution to know the organizers. But there is enough fear out there already, I see so much obeying in advance, simply because people are already resigned to the idea we have lost. 50501 is a grassroots group that is sponsoring ongoing demonstrations all over the country. Indivisible is a well-known progressive group that it’s also promoting various actions. I just joined a local. SHUTDOWN315 is another. Look for actions from these groups.
the leaders of 50501 are anonymous. It is a big problem.
We simply cannot be asked to go out into public settings as ourselves by people who remain functionally masked. It's not acceptable.
I am putting my life, reputation, family on the line everyday. If they do not have the courage to do that too we should not follow them.
Our county Democratic Party is promoting their (50501 ) noon demonstration here in Eugene, Oregon. I hope they know what they’re doing.
Indivisible signed on early, without vetting. Others thought it was legit if Indivisible was now part of it.
Our local organizing group removed all of our leadership's names from our web site. It is understandable in these times that an opposition organization would remain anonymous. Your position that everyone should wait for a protest organized by Democrats seems somewhat ridiculous. Where are these Democrats? When is the protest coming? Will it be too late?
The DC Capitol protest was safe; there wasn't even a police presence. It's disappointing to see this kind of divisive influence on the pro-democracy movement coming from your site; making people afraid to go to a protest and disparaging a group that is working for the same goals. We need a bigger movement, not one that is only lead by the Democratic Party.
I live in PA. I can call other representatives that aren't my district?
You can work with your state parties and local orgs to develop an organized effort to reach them and while the calls should be from the district in person protests need not be. Call your Dem state and local parties and insist they take the lead here in building a loud sustained lobbying campaign against the budget. Call them. Help them understand is expected of them now.
we have to keep waking our family up from its slumber
"Better woke than catatonic."
Lol :D
I always sneer when our opposition uses terms like "woke", especially talking
about that buffoon of a governor from Florida who graduated from Yale, I believe. Woke is not a noun. And what is it about these prestigious universities allowing people into them that have no sense of decency? Or know their parts of speech!
I do know that woke was formerly used in the black community as a noun, but the proper English usage would never allow that word to be used as a noun in any college setting ( or high school) that I am aware other than in using it as describing the word in its setting of black culture.
Oh, there is so much that can be said about the peculiarities and absurdities of American English usage!
One of my pet peeves is to insist on the logical phrase "different from", despite "different than" being far more widely used – and never mind that British atrocity "different to". These latter two annoy me far more than "woke" used as a noun.
You want another? "Snow storm" or "rain storm" being used to mean simply "lots of snow" or "lots of rain". No, please! "Storm" means winds that rate 10 on the Beaufort scale (at least 55 mph), and the term "snow storm" ought to be reserved for snowy weather combined with storm winds.
Supermarkets no longer sell toilet paper, only "bathroom tissue".
Then you have the American idiom "to sleep with". As the famous saying goes (Woody Allen?): "It’s not the men who sleep with my wife I’m worried about, it’s the ones who stay awake."
And then we have "decimate" being used to mean "wipe out" rather than "reduced by one-tenth" or "greatly reduced". (Yes, I realize American English calls for that quotation mark to be beyond the period.)
PS. A standard comical situation is a Norwegian being greeted by an American asking "How are you?" – whereby the Norwegian proceeds to give a comprehensive answer.
Well our snowstorm yesterday, it was so windy during the snow, sleet and wind I am compressing the words into one word as the two words have blown together. Actually, I was already for a medical procedure this a.m., afraid that it was so bad outside, my husband wouldn't be able to get me there. Instead it was the doctor who had to cancel ( would have been pissed if this had been a colonoscopy instead of an endoscopy, if you get my drift). Tomorrow, is iffy as well. Can't tell for sure how much snow we have because there is so much ice compressing it. But, fortunately we didn't lose power yet, the wind gusts have dropped to a mere 50 mph.
Yes, the English language is almost as crazy as one of the main contributors of the OEM who was an American who died in an insane asylum in England after committing murder. I think people should be arrested for murdering our language. Yes, I am a language snob but not quite as knowledgeable as you!
Amen!
Another thing I am doing is boycotting Jeff Bezo's companies. I have not stepped foot in Whole Foods since WP decided not to endorse Kamala Harris, I go to Amazon to find out what vendors have things I want to purchase and then I order directly from those vendors (even if I have to pay additional shipping costs - seems like a small price to pay for Democracy!). We have discontinued our Prime membership and I am not renewing my Audible membership (after over a decade of being a member). I don't own a Tesla so I can't do much about Musk, but we can do what we can with other billionaires who are lining up with Trump. Money talks, as we've learned, so let's use our money to get through to these idiots!
Bravo! I will try to follow suit.
We are moving as much of our purchases from Amazon Prime as possible, and we have deleted the Prime app from our tvs.
My wife and I like to use Amazon to research products. However, we prefer to purchase from brick-and-mortar stores locally whenever possible, not minding if there is a price premium, or directly from the producer or vendor without going through Amazon. (That puts more money in their pocket; and it feels good to deprive Bezos of his cut.) In addition, we try to buy locally grown or regionally produced products.
Same. Use the app Goods Unite Us for more info.
If you have retirement accounts, even if they just have mutual funds, with a little research (an hour or two) you can probably sell the funds that hold Tesla and swap in something else. 401k funds available are chosen by an intermediary, but I was able to find an international large cap and a domestic larger cap fund w/a dividend focus to swap in for my index funds. It's a hassle, and in one cast, the fund's fees are a little higher, as actively managed portfolios. But, it felt good to know I was selling out of my (admittedly very small) positions in Tesla.
Could you share the names of those funds for all of us?
I'll try to remember to double check and post here's, but in general, different platforms or 401(k) plans will have funds that they offer (not necessarily the entire universe of what's out there). You may need to see what you have access to, and research from there (copy/paste name or ticker of fund into search engine of choice, click through to Morningstar or other link, find portfolio holdings and then skim the list. A PITA, but not intrinsically difficult).
Thanks! Will look. Just being lazy and time-choked.
I 💯 understand being busy and needing any assist I can get! 😉
Okay, with the caveats that I am just some rando from the InterWebz; am not now, not have I ever been a licensed financial professional; and that past performance is no guarantee of future results and that investments can and do lose money (duh!),
I swapped my S&P 500 Index fund on E*Trade for Green Century MSCI Intl Indx Indvl Inv (GCINX)
and my S&P 500/other large cap index mirroring funds in my 401(k) (the foregoing not being offered there) for:
* MFS Total Return Fund (MSFRX)
* T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth Fund (PRDGX)
* T. Rowe Price Overseas Stock Fund (TROSX)
======
Small- and Mid-cap funds wouldn't hold Tesla, anyway at this point, so if it's specifically that stock you're punishing (as it is for me), that's good...at least until the company is wrecked enough that it stops being a large market cap (number of outstanding shares x share price = market capitalization). So, that's MY situation... YMMV!
Big thanks! Tesla is my major target also. Musk is intent on driving all the other EV start-ups out of business, by getting Biden's national network of EV charging stations plan ended. Only Tesla stations will be left.
Heading to Union Square in NYC for a President's Day protest starting at 1:00, organized by Indivisible, 50501 and others. One more step in making our voices heard.
thank you!
Please report back later today.....
My husband and were also there! It was nice being around so many other like minded folks.
Thank you, Simon. I think the time to start voter registration drives is now. Requirements vary a bit by state but it's generally not that difficult to get qualified to register voters. You don't need to wait for permission from your local party. In Virginia, voters don't register by party, but it's easy to figure out where setting up a table will capture a lot of voters who side with us -- near a university, at the local LGBTQ coffee shop, at the weekend farmers' market, etc. When I lived in Arlington, we'd set up just outside the Clarendon metro entrance because Clarendon had lots of folks who'd recently moved to the DC area. Most local League of Women Voters can provide more how-to information.
Agree with this.
I suggested something to my husband today and I don't know if this is heretical, but should we start a process to get every voter to get identification cards that will stand up no matter what the other side does? I'm concerned that latest SAVE act will pass and they'll somehow make it effective for the midterms and we'll be caught flat-footed. I know how hard it is to get IDs for people (I tried for an elderly friend who didn't have a license, and it was near impossible!) but I don't want to be caught short. I have a passport so I'm not worried for myself.
I think the SAVE act will not pass as currently written. The largest percentage of women who took their husbands' names who do not have passports reside in solidly GOP states. Will they rewrite the law to allow these women to vote? Probably. History tells us that legislators are very good at disenfranchising voters. Research the history of the Grandfather Clause. You'll never use the term "grandfathered" again.
This past year a group of us went out with clipboards to parking lots, grocery stores, college campuses and registered voters and did deep canvassing, talking to folks. We found walking with clipboards and enthusiastically but politely approaching people led to more conversations than sitting at a table. We ended up registering 500 voters; the margin for the NC Supreme Court race, now being challenged, was 734...
There is a new bill in the NC state government to prohibit GOTV drives by third parties. It will probably pass, but the GOP no longer has a supermajority. Thank heavens.
Thx Simon. I appreciate this advice very much:
“While the Washington Party gets its act together you are not waiting. All of you who are taking these actions are leading. You are becoming, through these works, the ones we’ve all been waiting for.”
Proud of all of you!
I’m heading out to PROTEST at our Courthouse in my little rural town of Mathews, VA ! Hoping for a great turnout of people making GOOD TROUBLE!!!
thank you! Please report back here later today....
Sorry… just now seeing this! We had 57 of us show up to protest which was impressive since we were shooting for 50! The local paper came and published photos and told our story. ( they were criticized by the magas as behaving like the woke WAPO) We had a member of our school board speak to us regarding what cuts we would see if the Department of Education was dismantled. A woman whose family was 4th generation farmers spoke about the cuts to USAID and its impact on our farms. A mother of a trans daughter spoke of her fears. A gay man stood up for the need to keep protesting and fighting for LGBTQ rights.
Thank you for keeping Wisconsin's Ben Wikler (Chair WisDems) and Judge Susan Crawford (candidate for WI Supreme Court) in front of everybody. We need all the help we can get.
yes! wonderful interviews!
I sent Susan Crawford a check. I am not using ActBlue at the current time. I am going to send out a BCC email to several friends in red states, urging them to call their Senators and reps. I will continue to call Klobuchar and Smith and my Democratic rep. Hope to see many at the noon protests today, although I can't go myself for health reasons.
thank you!
Is there a reason to avoid ActBlue?
May I suggest that we also start asking our electeds to oppose the SAVE Act? It will make voter registration/reregistration/updating enormously more difficult, including for everyone who has a name different from their birth name (that means you, women-who-took-their-husband’s-surname!) It is a voter suppression bill. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/save-act-would-undermine-voter-registration-all-americans
This is critical. Joyce Vance wrote extensively about this last night on her Substack.Later this week she is appearing on Stacey Abram’s podcast to emphasize that “ time is of the essence “ in stopping this in Congress.
I just sent this to my representative in western NC (R-Chuck Edwards) and I did steal some of your words verbatim, Simon. Then I’ll send a resustbit or two as suggested by Jess Craven.
“I honestly believe that Elon Musk is on a crime spreewith his assault on the US government. He has priduced NO evidence that anything needs to be cut. He is not an elected official. He seeks to cut departments that are either examining him or that stand in the way of him making money via government contracts with his many companies. I believe you need to file a criminal referral for him and his malicious posse to DOJ/FBI.
In addition, I would like funding for USAID fully restored so our government does not kill millions and millions of people this year in our name or allow more pandemics both in the U.S. and around the world to occur. “
I’m going to use some of this when I call my (R) rep tomorrow. Thanks!
If I may be so bold, I would add on one additional item to Simon's comments today. In addition to pushing your electeds not to vote for any budget/government funding bill until the lawlessness stops, I would implore all of our elected D's to push the message that Republicans have the majority everywhere. It's is up to Republicans to find a path forward. They are in charge.
I say this because the national/corporate media has already started to say "Democrats are going to withhold votes and cause a government shutdown". https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/sen-andy-kim-democrats-may-shut-down-government-to-oppose-trump-if-we-have-to-231499333645
We have to give our electeds the strength to push back on this and not fall for it. We don't have control. It's up to Republicans. That's the message.
One other comment. I called my electeds today and the mailboxes are full for two of the three of them. Obviously, calls are still coming in!
Same!
Same for me!