Our Democracy is hanging by a thread. ...It might not be so if it weren't faced with an idiot with a sharp machete and an army of weasels surrounding him.
It's been a few minutes since I have been on these pages. I took a long roadtrip (see my other blog, LittleSisterAdventures.com) and then took another couple weeks' break.
Here we are, at the 100 days' mark and it feels like we have lived 100 years... backwards.
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| Bill Bramhall |
It's been 100 days of slashing and burning in an attempt to wrest power from the other two branches of government and consolidate the presidency into a dictatorship. It's not an exaggeration. It is happening.
LSR has been away for 55 days of those 100, and it's going to be hard to catch up on the horrors we have faced, but I'll try! My readers have undoubtedly been keeping up; I remain devoted to one of the goals of this blog: to journal and keep an accounting of what is happening to us.
Because it is so much, I may have errors or omissions. Forgive me; I'm trying my best to get it all straight.
Kudos to Terry Moran for letting him be Grandpa McFuddlepants
Last night's ABCNews interview was a master class in "Sure, OK, Grandpa. Let's get you to bed."
It was the usual litany of grievances and self-aggrandizing lies, but the best part came mid-way through, when for almost three minutes Grandpa argued about the photoshopped letters and numbers superimposed over a widely shared photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's knuckles.
Start at 21:30
Yes, I stayed up until midnight watching it, and my eyes are sore this morning from rolling so far back in my head for 40 minutes straight.
For the record, here is the photo he had seen:
Grandpa is so gullible.
The Constitutional Crisis, or The Kidnapping
If our democracy is to die, the pulling of the plug will be noted to be on March 15, when Abrego Garcia and a group of nearly 250 Venezuelan immigrants was loaded onto a plane headed for El Salvador, where the notorious CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or Terrorism Confinement Center) prison awaited them.
SCROTUS declared them all members of a specific gang called Tren de Aragua. By coloring the gang as being "at war" with the United States, and by invoking a wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, he declared that he had the power to detain and deport noncitizens.
Except we're not at war.
And he doesn't have that power.
And they may not all be members of the gang.
Once at CECOT, the men were shaved, stripped of their clothing, and packed into cells that hold 80 men, with nothing more than bare metal planks – no sheets, blankets, or pillows – for sitting and sleeping. Lights stay on all the time. The prisoners have no rights. They do not get phone calls, they do not get visitors, they do not go outside. Their access to hygiene and food is questionable. There is no rehabilitation; there are no prisoner releases.
We are a nation of due process for criminals of all kinds, citizens and non-citizens alike. It has been one of the strongest, brightest threads in the blanket of our democracy. Due process is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The fact that these hundreds of men were rounded up and shipped to another country's notorious prison shocks the conscience in and of itself.
And it shocks the conscience even more that a federal judge had ordered the administration to turn the plane around, but it was allowed to continue and landed in El Salvador.
It shocks the conscience again that this prison even exists; there are serious human rights concerns about CECOT.
But what shocks the conscience right out of the atmosphere is the story of one man who was on that plane due to an "administrative error."
Among the men IQ47 rounded up: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old family man who had been living in Maryland.
Abrego Garcia arrived in the U.S. in 2012 and lived with his brother, a U.S. citizen. He subsequently married and had a child. Mr. Abrego Garcia had sought asylum, saying he had fled gang violence in El Salvador. He was arrested in 2019, and authorities claimed (based on the "evidence" of the hat he was wearing) for being in the violent MS-13 gang. Abrego Garcia denies being in the gang, and he has never been arrested for any criminal conduct.
Nothing came from that 2019 arrest, but his legal status was questioned and finally an immigration judge found the he had indeed suffered persecution and had been threatened with death in his home country. The judge then granted him a status of “withholding of removal,” which prevents a person from being deported to the person’s home country and allows that person the right to remain in the U.S. and work legally. It does not allow a path to permanent residence or citizenship in the U.S, so the person can still be deported to a third country, just not the country in which their safety is threatened.
In short, the immigration judge ruled that Abrego Garcia could not be sent back to the country where he would be likely to suffer persecution, and he could remain in the U.S. legally. The government (then headed by 45) did not appeal this 2019 ruling.
Abrego Garcia has been living and working in Maryland since then, without any arrests.
That is, until March 15, when he was arrested and shoved into the plane on an admitted "administrative error" and sent to the very country that the government was prevented from sending him.
The administration admitted the mistake. But doesn't matter to the MAGA world that he was on that plane in error. The 2019 arrest with spurious claims of MS-13 membership is "evidence" enough. The MAGA world is, not surprisingly, firmly on the side of lawlessness and depravity.
"He's a member of MS-13!" they cry. "He deserves to be in a prison where the only way out is in a coffin!"
Let's say he is a member of MS-13. OK. He 👏🏼 still 👏🏼 has 👏🏼 a 👏🏼 right 👏🏼 to 👏🏼 due 👏🏼 process 👏🏼.
PERIOD.
This was the most disturbing part of Terry Moran's interview, when the Commander-in-Grief verbally shrugged off the ruling that the Supreme Court of the United States had made, saying, yes he can bring Abrego Garcia home, but he won't.
He, and the rest of the MAGAts in the world should be reminded that the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution reads thusly:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
PERSON. Not "citizen" not "person whose heritage we like." PERSON. Every person in the country has rights.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia to be returned, telling the administration that "For weeks, Defendants have sought refuge behind vague and unsubstantiated assertions of privilege, using them as a shield to obstruct discovery and evade compliance with this Court’s orders. Defendants have known, at least since last week, that this Court requires specific legal and factual showings to support any claim of privilege. Yet they have continued to rely on boilerplate assertions. That ends now.”
The Mango Mussolini shrugged his shoulders and said it's up to the up-and-coming dictator of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, to release him.
Suddenly, law and decorum became sacrosanct. Attorney General Pam Bondi deferred to El Salvador. “That’s not up to us,” she said, adding, “If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it. Meaning provide a plane.”
The administration further said "that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys 'do not argue that the United States can exercise its will over a foreign sovereign. The most they ask for is a court order that the United States entreat — or even cajole — a close ally.'"
That disgusting rat Stephen Miller harped on the MS-13 angle, saying that Abrego Garcia “was no longer eligible for any foreign immigration relief in the United States” and was deported under a “valid” order. Ummm....wrongo, buddy.
Is Miller the one who convinced Dear Leader that the tattoos were real?
Then, according to Miller, “a district court judge tried to tell the administration that they had to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here.”
This is where the Constitutional crisis arises. Abrego Garcia has yet to be released, and there has been no movement from the administration to comply with the Supreme Court's order.
Senator Chris Van Holland (D) from Maryland flew to El Salvador and was able to meet with Abrego Garcia. He released a photo from their meeting and said that Abrego Garcia had been moved to a different facility.
Judge Xinis has decried the administration's "bad faith" with regard to Abrego Garcia's situation, and a three-member federal appellate court called the administration’s claims that it is powerless to facilitate efforts to free Abrego Garcia “shocking.”
If 47 gets away with this, then he will have carte blanche to flout other court orders and will only work to push his autocracy further. We must put pressure on our Members of Congress – as well as the Supreme Court – to do something. We must rise up and yell loudly.
This must not stand! If we lose the rule of law, we lose everything.
The Other Deportation Horrors
There are many, but maybe the worst is the four (at least) citizen babies who have been deported.
When their mothers, one Cuban and two Honduran, made their usual ICE check-ins, they were arrested and they and their citizen children were shipped out within days without adequate opportunity for making decisions about their children, and perhaps not even given the semblance of a choice to leave them behind.
The children were aged 1 to 7. One of the children has brain cancer and was taken out of the country without medication and access to medical care.
Disgusting and beyond concerning.
ICE has been making raids, often without identifiers on the so-called officers, arriving in unmarked cars, and without warrants. This is called kidnapping. Here is one instance. Absolutely appalling.
Eight hundred people were arrested throughout Florida in "Operation Tidal Wave" in recent days.
In their rush, ICE is making mistakes, like raiding the wrong house in Oklahoma and leaving an innocent family traumatized.
Letters have been sent to U.S. citizens telling them to "leave the country."
The Department of Homeland Security has called the letters "a mistake," but let me ask you. Mistake or intimidation? At least four of the letters were sent to immigration attorneys (See here, here, here and here).
What if you get such a letter? Gather your documentation together, birth certificate and passport, and contact an immigration attorney.
Seriously? We need to worry about this now?
Students have been threatened with cancelled visas. Adding to the chaos, confusion, and fear, student visas were threatened to be revoked, before the decision was reversed this week.
The DOGE Shit
Yeah. What we've stepped in does not smell good.
Chaos has been rampant across the entire federal judiciary as The Pillsbury DOGE Boy wields his DOGE chainsaw to our institutions.
Departments have been eliminated or cut severely. Thousands of federal employees have been fired. Funding for federal programs, grants, science, has been slashed. It's bad.
We are all on edge. Our institutions that lift people are crumbling. Will we lose our Social Security? What about Medicare? And Medicaid?
The federal workforce has been gutted. Thousands have been fired. What about our National Parks? Will we be able to visit this summer? Or will their status be revoked in the name of Drill, Baby, Drill?
What about funding for cancer research, among other scientific endeavors?
A recent analysis has found that, yes, the "Department of Government Efficiency" has saved about $160 billion. The cost of that shredding? Not only our sense of well-being, but $135 billion of our tax dollars. Yup. You read that right.
And that doesn't even count the loss of tax revenue due to the gutting of the IRS or the cost to defend a multitude of lawsuits levied against the administration.
Here's a graphic from the BBC:
It makes you realize: the chaos, confusion, and fear is the point.
Signalgate
The idiocracy is in full force.
It was astounding that the Defense Secretary of the United States of America saw fit to text classified war plans on an unsecured texting platform, Signal. Vice President JD Vance was on the group chat, as well as several high-level cabinet members, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who saw fit to add one special guy to the war-plan chat: the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg.
Here is Mr. Goldberg's write-up in The Atlantic. He had included details of the chat including redacted screenshots. Goldberg did not want to include himself in the doofusity, so he redacted enough to illustrate the facts but not the sensitive information that was contained in the chats.
Of course, (alleged) Drunken Pete couldn't let it stand; he had to deny, deny, deny, as the MAGAheads do. Goldberg's hand was forced, and soon he released the rest of the content. Here's a podcast interview about the situation.
Soon after, it was revealed that Hegseth had started a second Signal text chat, and texted war plans to a dozen other people, including his wife and his brother. Note to self: put away the Jim Beam before picking up the phone.
It was beyond obvious that this administration is full of fuck-ups.
Tariffs and the Stock Market Tumble
Where do we begin?
I guess with the complete stupidity of the Ignoramus-in-Chief who does not understand how tariffs work and is making it up as he goes along.
Tariffs on. Tariffs off. Tariffs on. Tariffs off.
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| Greg Perry |
When the tariffs are on, the stock market plunges and SCROTUS declares, "It's a great time to buy!" Transparent much?
A few days later, he reverses course and the markets recover, a bit or a lot.
Soon, he announces more tariffs and there's another big sell-off. I'm convinced it's been the plan all along to manipulate the market so he and his buddies can get rich.
Getting rich may be the primary objective in this 4-year scheme, now that he is not facing jail and can crime at will.
In fact.... Watch the first bit of Jon Stewart in this video.
For the rest of us, the chaos of the tariffs has been so much that the stock market just feels like a boiling pot of unknown fecal stew. Who wants to go there?
He placed tariffs on all countries except Russia, Belarus, and North Korea. Transparent much?
His tariff orders was so overreaching that it included an island populated by U.S. citizens and one that is inhabited by a large population of penguins, and no one else. Finally! We'll get our due on the lopsided mackerel trade deficit!
Making America great? Ask the farmers. The nation's agriculture industry is in "a full blown crisis" because of tariffs.
Meanwhile, other countries aren't playing. China has retaliated with tariffs of its own.
While the administration claims that they are making headway in negotiations with China, China says, "Nope. Not happening."
Anywhooo. I'm not sure exactly where we are. I think the latest is a 90-day pause? I guess it gives him enough time for stock prices to go up so he can sell the day before he announces the resumption of the trade war.
Breaking: yesterday, he announced that tariffs on foreign automobiles and auto parts will be scaled back.
The Grifter-in-Chief told ABC that he has made "200 deals" with regard to tariffs. Ummm.... there are 195 countries. New Republic calls the claim "bonkers."
My guess is that at some point he'll lie and say he made all these deals, that countries capitulated to his every whim, and he is suspending tariffs (but not before he buys up some cheap stock).
Tariffs have been a moving target. Here is a tariff tracker site.
In the end, his capricious tariff announcements have led to the worst stock market since Nixon. Go team.
The Anti-DEI Shit
There's a lot.
In their hatred for everyone that is not a white heterosexual cis-gender Christian man, they have strived to erase anything not that, i.e. DEI, from existence. In their quest to eliminate diversity, in their disdain for equity, and in their thirst to shred inclusiveness, and with a huge number of websites and data centers to cull, they have turned to AI to help out.
I'll let "The Daily Show" tell you about a bit of it.
Besides references to Jackie Robinson, Harriet Tubman was removed, too. Just too darn Black, I guess. (To be fair, they were returned to federal websites. Still, WTF?)
The War with Harvard
The war with intellectuals is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. We can't have people thinking! That defeats the whole purpose of world domination!
But 389-year-old Harvard University don't play that game. Harvard was around long before Donald Jessica Trump, and it will remain long after that grease stain has soaked into the ground.
Traitor Tot threatened to withhold billions in federal funding from the storied institution, thinking that they would simply capitulate and kiss his feet. But they did not. They instituted a lawsuit, and with the law school alumni that they count in their corner, and the billions of dollars in their coffers, they are a formidable opponent.
A lot is at stake, as John Micek writes in MassLive. There are serious constitutional questions. Again, we are a nation bound by laws. This dick-tator wannabe is not going to topple them.
Other universities are finally getting the cajones to join the fight. Hundreds of other institutions signed a letter in support for Harvard. We'll see where this ends.
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| Chris Britt |
The War on Women
Yes it continues, full force. Besides the overarching gutting of diversity, equity, and inclusion measures, and the reversal of Roe v. Wade and its subsequent attacks on abortion rights, other specific attacks against women have been in the works.
- Congress is considering the SAVE Act, which is not only an assault on voters, it is a direct assault on women's rights. The law would require that your name match the name on your birth certificate in order to register to vote in federal elections. How unAmerican is that?
- Women's financial independence – truthfully only in its infancy (women have only been able to get credit cards and mortgages in their own names since the mid-1970s) – is under threat with an executive order called, "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy" which Agent Orange intends will instill "meritocracy and a colorblind society, not race- or sex-based favoritism." But of course, we are in the Upside Down, so it does the exact opposite.
- There is a push to get women to have babies. An incentive has been suggested to offer women $5,000 to have a child. Blessed be the fruit. We are living The Handmaid's Tale, folks.
- Pete Hegseth cut a program implemented by 45 last time around and that had wide MAGA support. He boasted about doing away with the “Women, Peace & Security” program. Why? Women. Duh.
- Transgender women (and men) are no longer welcome to serve in the United States Armed Services. The matter is working its way through the courts. SCOTUS may soon rule on the matter.
- The National Organization of Women has outlined more than 100 other attacks.
The War with the Media
The assault on media and truth is another authoritarian tactic. He's been at it for years, but here are the latest sorties.
He has called the media "the enemy of the people." What he doesn't understand is that the media *is* The People. They are our eyes, ears, and mouths.
Cheeto Benito vs. The Associated Press. I touched on this here before. When the AP decided that they would not capitulate and rename the Gulf of Mexico, the outlet was banned from the Whitewash House press corps.
Babyhands vs. 60 Minutes. 47 has a big beef with CBS and 60 Minutes. He filed a $60 billion lawsuit over their editing of an interview with Kamala Harris (get over it; you won the election!). Executive Producer Bill Owens recently resigned over the matter, saying that editorial independence has been compromised. It is to be determined whether CBS will bend a knee.
SCROTUS vs. PBS and NPR. Threats to remove federal funding and to re-make the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has prompted lawsuits from the media outlets.
Diaper Don vs. The Voice of America. He tried gutting the source that informs the world about news from the United States. A lawsuit ensued, and the courts have reversed the administration.
Drumpf vs. Pollsters. He has sued the Iowa pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register over their poll last fall that erroneously predicted Iowa's electoral votes would go for Kamala Harris (get over it; you won the election!). He is railing against pollsters this week for their accurate reporting of his record-breaking low approval ratings. He has, as he does, asked for a criminal probe of the pollsters who reported their latest findings.
The War with the Judiciary
How dictator-y can we get? He has already usurped the power of Congress by unconstitutionally gutting programs that they had approved funding for, but to be a true dictator he must also destroy the last remaining bulwark of our democracy: the Judicial Branch.
The FBI arrested a Minnesota judge at the courthouse as she was conducting a hearing with an immigrant on charges unrelated to his immigration status. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was frustrated that there was an arrest attempt while the man was in her courtroom. She confronted the officers and asked that they talk to to the head judge. In the meantime, it appears that she escorted he man through a jury door.
After the man left the courthouse, he was soon apprehended.
The judge was charged with obstruction and concealing the man.
It is concerning for the rule of law and for ensuring due process. Defendants will be afraid to show up to court dates.
King Ketchup has also waged a fight with law firms, insisting that they be loyal to him or face the consequences.
The consequence in this case is suffering from his extortion. SCROTUS will ensure that the firms don't come under the threat of his executive orders that would investigate them for "discriminatory" hiring practices. In exchange, and to prove their fealty, they must provide millions of dollars of pro bono services to the administration.
That's one way to hire a lawyer.
It's all so disgusting and corrupt. I hate this shit we're slogging through.
The Disaster that is RFK, Jr.
Besides his subscription to vaccination conspiracy theories which have contributed to the worst measles outbreak in 50 years, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recently made odious – ODIOUS – statements about autism.
He characterized people with autism as stains on the community who "will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted."
It's eugenics talk, and it is evil.
His startments about autism incidence are skewed. Yes, the incidence has been increasing. That is because more people are being diagnosed with autism, not because there are suddenly more people with autism.
Autistic people always been there, quietly. They just weren't identified.
Here's a piece from PBS about his remarks on autism.
This whack-job has no business being anywhere near human beings.
Ukraine
I would like to delve into the war in Ukraine, but I just don't have the bandwidth. In short, Mr. Sniffles has taken Russia's side and is bullying Ukraine to make concessions, specifically letting Russia have Crimea.
It's a sad situation, and though this week Russia announced a limited cease-fire to be in a couple weeks, I just don't see how this will end.
The minor stuff that would probably be major if we didn't already have so much major stuff
- A corporate-sponsored Whitewash House Easter egg hunt? WTAF?
- Repug lawmakers are afraid. Not only for their political lives, like Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski described recently, but for their actual lives. Eric Swalwell talked about it a couple months ago. Repugs and their families have been threatened with violence. Spine-chilling, truly.
- "Trump Derangement Syndrome" is a real mental disorder, don't you know? This joker, who I will not digify by naming here, serving in the Minnesota state Senate, co-authored a bill to make "TDS" a diagnosable disorder. I should have said, "served" in the Minnesota state Senate. He has been arrested and charged with soliciting a minor. Just another sick, whackadoodle Republican. It's hard to keep track of them.
The weird stuff
- Among the 137 executive orders he has issued, maybe the weirdest one was the executive order to "make America's showers great again." No joke. He continues his obsession about the "drip drip drip" of the water fixtures. I don't know who his plumber is, but I think he should find a new one. Maybe hire that guy who installed the 50-foot faucet in Canada.
- Puppy Killer and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem can't even secure her own belongings adequately. While at an Easter meal, she had her purse stolen. It contained, among other things, her passport and $3000 in cash. What exactly was she planning on doing after dinner?
- WWE fighter and Education Secretary Linda McMahon boosts using "A-1" in schools.
Does a scorched Department of Education go better with A1? "Yeah, it's that important."
- Grandpa McFuddlepants clearly did not know anything about the Declaration of Independence. Terry Moran asked him about it and he gave a nonsense answer. (Maybe this belongs in the dementia section....)
Video starts at the clip.
- Wait. You...you wanna be... Pope?!
- And your bootlicker endorses the idea?
So freaking weird.
The Dementia Angle
I've written extensively about the specter of dementia in his shrinking brain. It is becoming more evident. So much word salad lately! A daily recommended serving of fiber with every speech!
You've seen the first two before; they are making the rounds again, but they are from 2022 and 2020. I'll leave them because they are real quotes.
From 2022
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| From 2020 regarding George Floyd protests |
About baseball (I think?) April 7, 2025
Trump: When you ran out the healthy arms, you ran out of really healthy— they had great arms but they ran out. It’s called sports. It’s called baseball in particular and pitchers I guess you could say, really particular pic.twitter.com/f4tfZfWTcL
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 7, 2025
About tech companies (April 10, 2025)
Trump: "We're letting people build their own power plants. A lot of them are being built with the AI and beyond the AI. Chips. We're letting them build their own power. Never been done before ... they'll sort of be their own power company. They couldn't believe it when I told them that."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 10, 2025 at 10:05 AM
[image or embed]
About the Great Lakes (April 9, 2025)
Trump on the Great Lakes: "I assume the lakes are all interconnected."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 9, 2025 at 1:31 PM
[image or embed]
Every single item of grocery.
Project 2025's Progress
It is obvious from this post that the groundwork of Project 2025 was thorough. Its blueprint is being put into motion, rapidly. Some Redditors made a tracking website to illustrate how much of the plan has been implemented. They created an agency-by-agency tracker.
It's alarming; more than a third of P25's objectives have been met in only 100 days. Look at it here.
An interesting note
Some of our quagmire may best be summarized by looking at our Forebears' grievances against the English monarchy listed in the Declaration of Independence. Read the grievances and see which ones ring true to us today.
Many of them!
Grievance 2
"He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them."
Grievance 9
"He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries."
Grievance 10
"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance."
Grievance 11
"He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures."
Grievance 16
"For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world."
Grievance 17
"For imposing taxes on us without our consent."
Grievance 18
"For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury."
Grievance 19
"For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses."
Grievance 24
"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people."
Many Positive Stories!
Get your soothing balm here. All is not lost!
The Hands Off! protests on April 5 were 🔥!
It was reported that nearly 5 million people showed up coast to coast to demonstrate! What a wonderful show of force! We the People are strong!
I was lucky enough to be near Santa Fe, New Mexico on the day and attended the protest with my sister resisters! It was cold, snowy, and awesome! Here are a few photos.
Consequences!
Remember Teresa Borrenpohl, the woman who was dragged out of a Republican town hall meeting in Idaho? Six men have been criminally charged, and she is asking for damages in the amount of $5 million.
Cory Booker's Speech
Sen, Cory Booker (D-NJ) broke the record for longest floor speech by talking against Trumplethinskin's policies for over 25 hours! No food - no sitting - no pee breaks! So excellent!
And even more excellent is that he mentioned one of my best high school friends for her cancer research activism! I'm so proud of Lola, forever in the Senate's record books, and doing great things to better the world!
Here is the whole 25-hour speech! Lola is mentioned at around 04:38:58.
Cory Booker and Hakeem Jeffries did a sit-in
They sat on the Capitol steps for a day to call for action to protect Medicaid.
AltNPS
The resistance group led by rebel park rangers and now consisting of thousands of federal employees are staying strong. They are a source of strength for the rest of us, even at their own peril.
They report the daily goings-on by DOGE operatives as well as throughout the agencies, now taken over by regime toadies. They are the first to report the harrowing things within all the federal agencies.
There are people like Mallory McMorrow out there, fighting
Watch her speech. (Sorry; I just realized this is three years old. I'm leaving it, though, because it's inspirational)
There are people like these Tennesseeans, protecting their neighbors
These companies are still standing up for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Save this list and shop with the businesses.
King Minus has record-breaking low approval ratings
It's the lowest 100-day approval rating in 80 years. He even beat his own dismal numbers of four years ago. Voters give his first 100 days an "F" grade.
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| Clay Bennett |
This student protester was released from jail
Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested for no good reason after he led pro-Palistinian protests on campus. A judge ordered his release, and he was freed today. The Mango Mussolini wants him deported, and those efforts will proceed, but he's not imprisoned anymore!
"Tesler" saw profits drop by 71% last quarter
The masses are angry!
Elon Musk is leaving Washington
But not before doing a major self-destruction tour.
Former Congressman George Santos was sentenced to prison
George Santos (or is it Anthony Devolder? Anthony Santos? Kitara Ravache? Anthony Zabrovsky? George Anthony Devolder? Anthony Santos-Devolder?) committed much fraud and was sentenced to seven years in the Graybar Hotel. Good riddance. Get some help.
A federal judge ruled against the administration
A judge blocked an executive order that a labor union said would cancel collective bargaining rights for thousands of federal employees.
Another federal judge (appointed by 45 in his first term, no less) ruled against him
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy ordered the administration to release billions of dollars meant to finance climate and infrastructure projects across the country.
Another judge blocked an attempt to divest public schools
From the AP: Judge orders federal agencies to release billions of dollars from two Biden-era initiatives
A judge blocked the attempts to require proof of citizenship in elections
A U.S. judge halted plans to rapidly deport immigrants to third countries
A federal judge blocked DOGE access to Social Security information
A federal judge extended the block on using the Alien Enemies Act to deport folks
He called it "medieval."
The Guardian recreated a severe weather tool
FEMA had removed the tool, but the news organization made a new one for us.
The Pentagon will resume transgender care for service members
Take that, (alleged) Drunken Pete!
Repug Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon was the first to call for (alleged) Drunken Pete's resignation
"Sticking his neck out" is not a metaphor.
The Border Patrol will retrain hundreds of California agents in the Constitution
California moved to fourth place in the world economy
And, not related (or maybe it is), our Governor Newsom made generic Narcan available for $24 after President Stupor moved to slash access by canceling a grant for first responders to have supplies of the medication.
It's becoming evident that he is too incompetent to become a true dictator
Read up in The Hill: Trump is proving too incompetent to be an authoritarian
Calls to Action
Instead, show up!
- Senator Chris Murphy (CT) is entreating us to rise up and act.
- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is gunning for bear. He says "these Republicans cannot know a moment of peace." It's up to us!
- Even the conservative columnist David Brooks is calling for The People to rise up, writing, "It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. 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."
- Robert Riech tells you how to prepare for the uprising.
- So, let's go! There is a nationwide May Day protest planned for tomorrow evening, Thursday, May 1. Find your local Indivisible group and make a plan.
Further Reading
100 Days Summaries
- The BBC looks back at the last few months.
- A look at New Mexico as a microcosm of the country after the first 100 days.
- NPR: 10 key numbers that sum up Trump's first 100 days
- Jon Stewart and the Daily Show take a look at the second first 100 days:
Other reading
AP News on the Abrego Garcia timeline: https://apnews.com/article/kilmar-abrego-garcia-deportation-mistake-el-salvador-ed94130580412b81d5ff5c86aea5c0c7
47's war on the media: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/04/28/trumps-war-with-the-media-he-calls-unfavorable-polls-illegal-amid-lawsuits-and-threats-to-defund-broadcasters/
How the Redditor-created Project 2025 Tracker came about: https://www.fastcompany.com/91286705/project-2025-tracker-website-trump-second-term
Memes 'n' Toons
Will be coming soon!
....Th..th....that's all folks!
ALL? You gotta be kidding!
#Resist!
