Friday Potpourri: 7 March 2025
Today, I am not amused. Rather, I have a little anger going on.
I didn’t watch the propaganda blather the other night. I know Congressman Al Green (TX-hero) stood up in protest, and was ousted by the Sergeant at Arms, under the direction of Moscow Mike. I am saddened that no one stood with him. I heard there were little paddle signs. Meh. It’s not enough.
Even worse is Senator John Fetterman (PA - Collaborator). He posted this to Twitter:
I can only conclude that his stroke a few years ago did a lot more damage to his cognitive functions then we have been led to believe.
There are a limited number of tools in the Democratic toolbox available to the Senate, and one of them is the 60-vote threshold to get things on the floor, which Rethuglicans cannot reach without 7 Democratic votes.
In general, I’m in favor of government shutdowns because it gets the two sides to come together and get things done. But this time, shutting down the Federal government is actually critically important.
The fascist regime has been refusing to deploy properly allocated Congressional appropriations, and there is NO guarantee that whatever Congress agrees to will be honoured by the regime.
The promulgated legislation will be a disaster. It will raise the national debt. It will pull funding from critical programs, like Medicaid. It will cause people to DIE. It is dedicated to RAISING taxes on most people. Per Robert Reich:
Right now, there are groups of Americans who are seeing direct impacts of the horror show: Federal employees fired, promised agriculture grants rescinded, programs slashed, etc. BUT most Americans have not been directly impacted1. If the government shuts down, more people will NOTICE when they don’t receive their tax refunds, Social Security checks are delayed, and there is no one to answer Social Security calls, National Parks and museums will be closed. We NEED more people to NOTICE.
This is the time we need to root for a complete government shutdown until the 2017 tax cuts are rescinded, the idiot tax proposals2 are vanquished, taxes are RAISED on the very rich, the cap is raised on payroll taxes, and policies are revamped so that they benefit AMERICANS and not the 1% and their corporations.
SHAME ON YOU, JOHN.
And as for “tools”, there’s a movement for a national strike. Like the one in Greece a few days ago. It’s being led by “The General Strike” and you can read about them here.
To hold the strike, they are shooting for a commitment from 10,707,163 working Americans3. That’s the 3.5% that would make a difference.
But is a general strike a good idea? I vacillate. In principle, yes, it’s necessary. But the ramifications could be problematic.
People like me who work for corporate America can easily use PTO to take strike day off. There is no risk to us for doing so. Other people have no PTO, are paid hourly, and likely need that day’s pay. Plus, they can get fired for striking. Other people are contractually prohibited from striking. From what I’ve read, none of the unions has committed their members. Yet.
And then there is the issue of what would happen that day. Would people be in the streets? Would protests be violent? Would the regime kill protesters?
While the fascist regime has been thwarted in court, and has faced huge blowback on a lot of things from regular people, the one thing continuing unabated is the deployment of military troops and equipment for all sorts of nonsense. It’s outrageously costly, like those flights to Gitmo, but there has been ZERO response to troop deployments. And I fear that, in complete violation of Posse Comitatus, the convicted felon would send armed troops to any protests with not just tear gas and rubber bullets, but live fire ammunition.
Still, if the unions signed on, a general strike would be worth participating in.
I have a two-part post that I’ve been holding on to for several weeks. It’s about how the Democratic Party should move forward in terms of alignment, money and messaging. As we face a year of disinformation relative to our candidates, and a party that, let’s face it, messages poorly and messages consistently to the wrong people, we need to think about WHAT to say and TO WHOM to say it.
I haven’t published it because I fear it will offend many of you. So, I’m asking…
I’ll be back on Monday - it’s the final weekend of petition parties, plus, it’s my husband’s birthday, and I have some plans for him!
If you’re invested in the stock market, you’ve seen your portfolio go down to where it was prior to Election Day last year, but it’s only a loss if you sell. And yes, we’ll all see tariff costs in the near future.
No taxes on Social Security, tips, American cars, etc.
Last time I checked the site, they had approximately 293,000 signups, which at this point include unemployed and retired Americans.
Please remember to share with all of us Tim's reaction to whatever it was? Curiosity abounds (or is it: knows no bounds?)
Happy Healthy Birthday Tim! Thank you for taking care of our Jessica the genius.