THE PERSON who MAKES the FIRST COMMENT WILL GET TWO CRITTERS
EVERY PERSON WHO COMMENTS WILL GET A CRITTER
RULES IN THE DIARY
WHEN YOU FIND SOMETHING in the DIARY that you LIKE
YOU CAN REPOST IT AS COMMENT in the DIARY
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Hello everyone! I saw a red winged blackbird today which means spring has sprung! We get them during spring and fall migrations and I love their whistle song. Looking forward to seeing lots of the birds return from their wintering areas. One of my favorite migratory birds is the red breasted grosbeak. Lovely.
An image I found in the Dkos library
We’ve had very mild weather this week and blooms are bursting on some things, but true to form, we are expecting storms this weekend and cooler temperatures next week. The rollercoaster weather continues. I hope you all are experiencing the early teases of spring and are able to get outside some. 💗
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I don’t know what pleased me more: some of the content of this article, or that a correspondent was reporting to a French newspaper that all Americans don’t love what’s happening in America and are speaking out through protests. Will we ever be trusted again?!?
www.democracydocket.com/...
✂ Correspondent Corine Lesnes described in the French newspaper Le Monde:
Every day, or almost, protests are taking place in the US against the brutality of Donald Trump’s executive orders. They’re small-scale, not very visible, sometimes made up of a few individuals at a crossroads (‘Planet over profit!’) or in front of a Tesla dealership. The “resistance” of 2025 is a fragmented phenomenon. Here, in Des Moines, Iowa, several hundred demonstrators showed their solidarity with transgender people. There, in Vermont, a thousand residents protested the arrival of JD Vance and his family: ‘Go ski in Russia!’
The organic nature of these actions creates the basis for strong opposition in the months and years to come. As we know, this is a long battle and it began in defeat.
Meanwhile, institutional Democrats are doing what they can to throw sand in the gears of the Trump machine — and it’s working, both in court and in some cases, in Congress. The disastrous Medicaid vote and the pushback on the heinous Musk DOGE evisceration of functioning government are two examples. As Washington Monthly’s Bill Scher noted in his incisive column this week, “Moving public opinion is what Democrats must prioritize because that will lead to electoral victories, and electoral victories are what will bury MAGA—Make Authoritarianism Great Again—for good.”
So there’s reason for long-term optimism even as we know there is no short-term magical victory. And the biggest reason is the most obvious: people are finding their voices. Please use yours.
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Obviously there's a long way to go, and the odds the US emerges from all of this as a functioning liberal democracy are still far lower than I'd like them to be. But we've been blessed with the stupidest fucking enemies imaginable.
— James Medlock (@jdcmedlock.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 10:33 PM
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www.democracydocket.com/…
Marc Elias is calling out the republicans and corporations remaining silent against the insanity of the felon and f’elon.
✂If I could speak to billionaires quivering in fear, I would ask: Is the risk of losing some money worth sacrificing your dignity?
If I could speak to media executives pandering to Trump, I would ask: Is the risk of losing access worth compromising your principles?
If I could speak to Republican politicians, I would ask: Is the risk of losing an election worth being remembered as a coward?
If I could speak to the heads of big law firms, I would ask: Is the risk of losing some clients worth betraying your oath to the rule of law?
To everyone nodding in agreement but refusing to take a stand, I say this: You are ignoring Martin Niemöller’s message. It is you that Martin Luther King Jr. was condemning. ✂
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Ok, so the hideous CR passed the house. Yuck! I’m highlighting Hakeem Jeffries tonight because I’m sick and tired of the criticisms aimed at him and the Democrats.
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This is such a good analysis. I highly recommend reading all of it to get a better understanding of where we are. I’ve snatched several snippets because it is all really good.
wolvesandsheep.substack.com/…
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Congressional Republicans and Democrats had been negotiating language that could potentially sail through Congress with large bipartisan majorities. That’s how these things have been done in the past. But with Donald Trump refusing to spend funds appropriated by Congress, Democrats started demanding assurances that whatever funds they approved in the CR would actually be spent.
Republicans would not agree. So they settled on a strategy aimed at shifting the blame for a potential shutdown to their opponents.
Rather than support a bipartisan measure that maintains spending at current levels across the board, they rallied behind a partisan bill containing multiple provisions Democrats strongly dislike, with the intention to pass it on their own. They chose this strategy knowing they don’t have the votes to do it. ✂
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The way things are set up, with Republicans controlling the entire government, they would be the natural recipients of public anger if the government shuts down on their watch.
What they’re hoping to do is look responsible by pushing the CR through the House on a party line vote and blaming Democrats for the ensuing shutdown if they filibuster the bill in the Senate.
At that point, they would make a play for public opinion. They would try to undermine Democrats who have been attacking Trump for dismantling the government by contending that Democratic attacks are empty because Democrats are the ones who voted to shut the government down. And a protracted government shutdown would allow them to muddy the waters about who’s to blame for the sputtering economy at a time when people are starting to blame Trump.
Democrats see this too. It’s why the fate of the CR in the Senate is up in the air, with the possibility that Democrats will stand down and let it pass. ✂
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So there are risks to blocking the CR and risks to supporting it.
The irony here may be that the biggest risk for Republicans is the possibility that they will lose by winning. If they get their way, unpopular measures in the CR will only compound the deeply unpopular things Trump is doing. Ironically, there could be more liability for them if they successfully keep the government running on their terms.
But the biggest risk for Democrats in a shutdown is changing the national narrative at a time when it is really starting to hurt Trump’s standing with the country. And anything that deflects from what this sadistic and chaotic administration is doing will make it harder to keep attention focused where it needs to be.
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To follow up on Nanny Ogg’s comment in the shade last night...
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DOJ now needs an attorney willing to show up in court tomorrow to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. I suggest anyone who asked to do so, respond: "I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me."
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— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 6:29 PM
And even more on this from Norm Eisen:
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Trump's EO pulling security clearances from top law firms is a clear example of dictatorial posturing; violating free speech, cutting due process & limiting a client’s right to counsel These intimidation tactics won’t stop us from getting justice, as I explained @cnn.com
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— Norm Eisen (@normeisen.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 10:33 AM
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I joined Anderson Cooper to respond to Tulsi Gabbard revoking my security clearance—clearly a response to @sddfund.bsky.social's work challenging the lawlessness of this administration We’re winning in court—& it’s getting under their skin I discussed @cnn.com 👇
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— Norm Eisen (@normeisen.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 10:31 AM
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Sorry for all the flutters, but Marc Elias is on FIRE!!
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NEW: Unions representing career diplomats and federal workers filed an emergency motion against the Trump administration to prevent officials at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from violating federal law by destroying classified records.
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— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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I may as well have just asked Bluesky to write this shade…
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My question is whether Wall Street understands that an important segment of the EV market customer base will not buy a Tesla at any price. It could teleport me places and I would not buy it. I would not drive one if you gave it to me for free.
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— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) March 10, 2025 at 1:47 PM
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I’ll never pass up a chance to praise our Joe:
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I've seen no credible insight into what is driving Trump's decision-making, if you can call it that, this term. Is someone malicious making near-daily suggestions to inflict maximal damage on the US? Is Trump so angry Murica was mean to him he wants to bring it down? Has Susie Wiles lost her grip?
— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Is it Russia, perhaps?!?
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The madness is showing.
paulkrugman.substack.com/…
The whole article is worth a read, but here is the gist:
✂ Leave aside the nonsensical claims that Canada is a high-tariff nation subsidized by the United States. When Trump first began talking about turning Canada into the 51st state, many people treated it as a joke. But Trump doesn’t appear to be in on the joke. He just keeps doubling down, even as the people of Canada grow ever more outraged. No sane leader would imagine that it’s a good idea to threaten a heretofore friendly but proudly patriotic neighbor and ally with annexation. But a sane leader is exactly what we don’t have.
Then there’s Elon Musk. Surely almost everyone except Trump realizes that DOGE has been a bust; despite unprecedented and often illegal access to government agencies, it has yet to come up with any credible major examples of waste or fraud. Even Musk, I suspect, knows at some level that he’s failing. But like Trump on Canada, he just keeps doubling down. ✂
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If we can hang on until the midterms…
I am glad the rest of the world has decided to sit up and pay attention to what happens when the far right invades politics. At least America’s misfortune, brought on by largely uninformed voters, is alerting other countries to prioritize sanity!
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The long arm of justice…
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, who left a savage legacy from his deadly anti-drugs crackdown, was arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity for the thousands killed in a war he waged against drugs in a political career spanning decades. His detention capped an international investigation into the killings, which unfolded for more than a dozen years. ✂
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I love a good resistance action!!
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Office of @raskin.house.gov provided a letter template to officially request your federal personal data from DOGE in accordance with the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(1) and this could be interesting jamieraskin.com/doge-privacy...
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— Bill Attainder (@davidcarroll.org) March 11, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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Today is National Plant a Flower Day!!!
And National Girl Scout Day
Public Service Announcement! Do not play this video unless you are in dire need of an earworm! OMG, I cannot get this song out of my head! 😱
It's also Equal Pay Day
The date of this holiday changes each year as it is observed on the day that women's earnings catch up to men's from the year before.
Equal Pay Day is an attempt to raise awareness about the raw wage gap, the figure that shows that women, on average, earn about 80 cents for every dollar men earn. The date moves earlier each year as the wage gap closes, as women’s average wages rise faster than men’s.
“Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages. (It was originally called ‘National Pay Inequity Awareness Day’ and changed to Equal Pay Day in 1998.)
And National Baked Scallops Day
I'm not sure if any of you have a national day calendar, but the one I refer to also lists World Day Against Cyber Censorship (it would be a great day for X to die!), World Glaucoma Day, National Registered Dietician Nutritionist Day (nutrition is such a complicated subject!), and in the United Kingdom No Smoking Day.
Tomorrow is Coconut Torte Day and Good Samaritan Day!
Welcome to the comments, shady people! 😁
