Ok, folks, we just lost the vote on Scott Pruitt. It’s extraordinary to me that the Republicans continue to stand behind Trump even as he and his White House continue unraveling.
But he’s still pushing their retrograde agenda, and I guess they plan to stick with him until he’s no longer useful to them, despite the risks he poses to American democracy and, well, the whole world. Each day they stick with him they’re playing Russian roulette with all of our lives at stake.
So we need to keep pushing.
Today we’re all about the protests. I’m just going to paste in a bunch of stuff from the Resistable newsletter, the best source I know of to keep up with protests. There are a bunch this weekend, and even more on what’s been dubbed Not My President’s Day on Monday.
But before I do that: Some folks are talking about protesting Trump’s rally tomorrow in Florida. Trouble is, a lot of people think there’s something sketchy about the organizers and are urging people NOT to go. Others are worried that Trump’s private security forces could resort to violence against protesters. I don’t know who to believe here, but here’s a Twitter thread on the issue that was linked to in the Resistable newsletter. If you know more, leave it in a comment below.
And now, the PROTESTS. Subscribe to the Resistable newsletter to get these updates on protests delivered several times a week to your inbox.
**TODAY** Friday, February 17
General Strike Day (nationwide): People nationwide are joining events to observe the general strike in protest of the Muslim ban, the pipelines, global gag rules, and in support of healthcare for all. There are tons of events happening: check out this site to find one near you.
12PM PT — Rally for No Border Walls-Cancel NAFTA-Unity Between US & Mexican Workers, San Francisco, CA
10AM PT — Legal Community Strikes Back #F17 with National Lawyers Guild San Jose, CA
1PM PT — Rhode Island Legal Community Stands Against Fascism, Providence, RI
3PM ET — Immigrant Solidarity Protest against ICE Detention Center, Detroit, MI
3PM MT — Let Them Pee Protest, Salt Lake City, UT
4PM CT — STL Disability Rights Community Strikes Back, St. Louis, MO
6PM PT — Popular Assembly in Pasadena, Pasadena, CA
Saturday, February 18
10AM CT— Presidents Day Weekend March and Rally, Dallas, TX
10AM CT — President’s Day Weekend March and Rally – In support of all Immigrants and Refugees., Dallas, TX
11AM CT — No Ban No Wall Protest & March, San Antonio, TX
9AM MT — Honoring Our Grandmothers: An Indigenous Womens Gathering, Standing Rock, Oceti Oyate Camp
1PM ET — No Ban No Wall No Registry Salisbury Rally, Salisbury, MD
11AM MT — One Billion Rising – March & Rally, Denver, CO
11AM PT — Free the People Immigration March, Los Angeles, CA
10AM PT — Black Lives Matter Corner Stand, Santa Cruz, CA
1PM PT — Sanctuary for All Solidarity March, Fresno, CA
Sunday, February 19
12PM ET — Stand Up For Science, Boston, MA
12PM ET — Today, I Am A Muslim Too: A Day of Solidarity!, New York, NY
11AM CT — Silent protest for marginalized communities, Austin, TX
12PM CT — Stop the Trump Agenda, Chicago, IL
3PM ET — Down with the Trump Agenda: Rally on 1 month anniv. of Trump, Pittsburgh, PA
4:30PM ET — Stop the Trump Agenda! Protest Trump’s first month in office, Asheville, NC
Monday, February 20
Not My President’s Day events:
Portland, OR
Salt Lake City, UT
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Boston, MA
Philadelphia, PA
Austin, TX
Chicago, IL
Atlanta, GA
San Francisco, CA
Washington, DC
Milwaukee, WI
Denver, CO
Minneapolis, MN
Kansas City, MO
Concord, NH
Santa Barbara, CA
Dallas, TX
11AM ET — Voting Rights Rally at The Supreme Court, Washington, DC
11:30AM ET — Stand Up For Your Forests: A Rally at the Statehouse, Indianapolis, IN
7PM ET — Women’s Rally, Annapolis, MD
12PM AKST — Anchorage Stand with Planned Parenthood Rally, Anchorage, AK
KEEP IT UP, FOLKS!
And have a great weekend, insofar as that’s possible any more.
You think they might be preparing another Kent State? There are those in the GOP who are itching for that.Can’t help feeling that would harden the opposition of the intelligence community, though.
@ Moggie
I hate to see it, but I think it’s inevitable. Kent state, along with the other high- profile police state actions, definitely hardened the opposition to the Vietnam war.
As I explained to my trumpkin associates, we protested unsafe coal mines and got shot by the army, and this led to coal miner’s unions… we protested civil rights violations and got shot by the Dixiecrat governors, this led to the Civil Rights Act… we protested the War and got shot by Nixon, this led to the end of the war and of Nixon… we’ll protest trumpism and get shot by trump, this will lead to the end of trumpism and of trump…
We will not give in, we will not give up, and we WILL WIN!
There’s a women’s strike on March 8th via the same people who put together the women’s march.
I figured Pruitt would probably get in, but the news still hit me like a blow. Is it good or bad that I’m not numb to this yet?
I literally can’t get my head around the mindset of people like Pruitt and the Republicans in Congress. On an individual level, yeah, I can see someone being blinded by power and money…. but as a group?
Trump himself I can see, cause he gets to be God… but the others? Can there literally be no one with a soul, without compassion for Country and the other people who live in it?
“I destroyed lives, killed people with pollution and racism, raped the planet, and guaranteed my children will live under dictatorship all their lives…. but hey, I died with the most toys, so I WIN!”
Really, all of them?
@MAWG
The entire GOP hasn’t a single conscience among them. The whole party is rotten to the core.
Please don’t again. Thanks in advance.
It’s not all bad news. On the national security side of things, Vice Adm. Harward turned down the national security adviser position recently vacated by not-so-secret agent Flynn.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/02/robert_harward_turned_down_trump_now_others_can_too.html
As the article points out, the fact that such a senior retired officer turned down a request from Trump makes it easier for others to do the same.
There’s also this gem:
@WeirdEddie
I’ve been buying into the meme that violence just plays into the Alt-Right’s hands, gives them what they want…. but then I read your comment and thought “Shoot (no pun), Eddie’s correct”.
The only challenge I can think of to what you said was that the protests (civil and of the war) of the 1960s led to the “Moral Majority” and Nixon. But otherwise, yeah……….. you’re right.
So are you able to flesh it out better for me? I see lots of commentators saying Trump and Co. (@trademark) WANT violence because they will more and more get the “Law and Order” vote. Why is that argument wrong?
Since when what Trump want is something that would actually help him ?
In all seriousness, if Trump want to be a dictator, having domestic terrorist is helpful on surface to him. But it also can backfire terribly in his face. And there is a non zero possibility that such a gambit would work, which is terrifying.
(plus, personaly, not gonna going in any riot that might degenerate just yet. I hate violence, both the one I commit and the one I take in the face)
There’s one in Melbourne today (the 18h, in Australia) at 2.00 PM at the State Library. I’m going.
@Middle Aged White Guy:
At a guess, I’d say that the big problem with getting out the ‘Law and Order’ vote is that it only works as long as the ‘Law and Order’ vote remains convinced that they will never be on the wrong side of it. (This is Black Lives Matter’s biggest problem, of course; the majority doesn’t usually see what police can be like, and tend to try their best to rationalize away counter-examples.)
Not only did Kent State galvanize the protesters in many ways, as Weird Eddie said, it also made a number of other people a lot less sure of being on the right side of this.
Having vocal Trump supporters being on the receiving end of ‘Law and Order’ at Trump events could take some of the shine off in a hurry. The ACA repeal mess already has been taking the shine off for a number of people once they realized they were going to be affected as well.
That said, even that doesn’t always work. Ghandi’s resistance against the British worked largely because the British had a sense of shame and thought they should be better than shooting peaceful protesters. Not everybody has a sense of shame, as recent events have made very obvious.
The Trump administration has launched a “Mainstream Media Accountability Survey” with such legitimate, not-at-all leading questions as “Do you believe that contrary to what the media says, raising taxes does not create jobs?”
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/president-trump-wants-you-to-take-this-bizarre-survey-on-med
like holy shit are they serious
ETA: Fill it out, and spread it around. Apparently it was emailed directly to Trump supporters, and you know they’re going to try to pass it off as a “public opinion poll” or some such bullshit, so don’t let them get the numbers they want.
Oh, that survey is completely full of shit, and no WAY am I using my name and email. Not to those vindictive assholes.
No. Way.
I read a little bit of that Twitter thread, but the increasing number of comments along the lines of “Buy a ticket, send a Muslim” made me quit.
I will be watching tomorrow with bated breath, though.
My brain kicked up the scenario “Violence at Trump rally results in fatal attack on POTUS. Fortunately, Senior Strategist Steve Bannon has executive order naming him Supreme Commander for Life which Trump signed in secret shortly before his death!”
@ dlouwe: Time to boot up Tor and take that survey, I think. Decided to call breitbart ‘bitefart’ so they can’t just control+F and count how many times people mentioned it.
At the end, it goes to this:
http://i.imgur.com/Zs5L2e0.png
Self funded indeed!
*is really annoyed*
…and I’m back! At first, it looked liked turnout would be really small due to bad weather, but then the weather cleared up, and it ballooned! Plus, I learned of many future events to attend (such has been the case at every event I’ve attended thus far, actually). Gotta cling to every sliver of light.
And on the other side of the pond, in London on Monday, there’s a “Defend Migrants, Stop Trump” protest in Parliament Square from 5pm.
At the moment, I’m intending to be there, but we’ll see how it goes.
@Weatherwax:
I’ll see if I can make it too. I won’t be able to get there for 5pm but I may be able to come later.
May I look out for you?
@abars01:
I hope you had a good time! One of the things that people always forget about protests is how much fun they are.
@EJ
Please do! I suspect I’ll be leaving the dog at home (it’s very easy to tread on a little black dog after dark, even when there isn’t a crowd), so he won’t help with identification.
I will be wearing my purple coat that resembles a duvet, my cherry red pussy hat (knitted by my own fair hands) and I will almost certainly be a 5’2″ white woman wearing glasses.
I’ll post here if I end up not going after all. I’ll be coming from Brighton so I should know for certain by 4pm at the absolute latest.
I’d be amazed if we find each other, but stranger things have happened!
@Weatherwax:
I’ll look out for you.
I’ll be a 6’3″ white man in glasses. What I wear will probably depend upon how warm or otherwise it is.
I’m going to bring an EU flag, so you might be able to spot me based on that.
@EJ (TMJW)
For me they’re panic inducing.
I’m sorry to hear that, Dali. Thank you for putting yourself through that (on the occasions when you have), then.
For me, protests aren’t panic-inducing, but they make me depressed. I see all the gregarious people having a good time, and I can never be a part of that. So I feel like I don’t belong, and maybe shouldn’t be there. And then I tell myself “fuck sake, stop thinking of yourself, this is not about you”. So, yeah. Not everyone there is having fun.