Resist: It's Time

"The funny thing is that there’s a playbook for overturning autocrats. It was written here in America, by a rumpled political scientist I knew named Gene Sharp. While little known in the United States before his death in 2018, he was celebrated abroad, and his tool kit was used by activists in Eastern Europe, in the Middle East and across Asia. His books, emphasizing nonviolent protests that become contagious, have been translated into at least 34 languages."

“I would rather have this book than the nuclear bomb,” a former Lithuanian defense minister once said of Sharp’s writing."

"A soft-spoken scholar working from his Boston apartment, Sharp recommended 198 actions that were often performative, ranging from hunger strikes to sex boycotts to mock funerals."

“Dictators are never as strong as they tell you they are,” he once said, “and people are never as weak as they think they are.”

"The Democrats’ message last year revolved in part around earnest appeals to democratic values, but one of the lessons from anti-authoritarian movements around the world is that such abstract arguments aren’t terribly effective. Rather, three other approaches, drawing on Sharp’s work, seem to work better."

"The first is mockery and humor — preferably salacious."

"Wang Dan, a leader of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy demonstrations, told me that in China, puns often “resonate more than solemn political slogans.”

"The Chinese internet for a time delighted in grass-mud horses — which may puzzle future zoologists exploring Chinese archives, for there is no such animal. It’s all a bawdy joke: In Chinese, “grass-mud horse” sounds very much like a curse, one so vulgar it would make your screen blush. But on its face it is an innocent homonym about an animal and thus is used to mock China’s censors."

"Shops in China peddled dolls of grass-mud horses (resembling alpacas), and a faux nature documentary described their habits. One Chinese song recounted the epic conflict between grass-mud horses and river crabs — because “river crab” is a play on the Chinese term for censorship. It optimistically declared the horses triumphant."

Hey fellow federal workers, I noticed a DOGE "suggestion box" near the entrance to my building today, and I'm assuming other offices have them, too. Start putting your best suggestions in there and flood them with good ideas. Some examples: "Stop costly deportation flights" or "Disband DOGE" or "Stop targeting trans people"

Will it make a difference? Probably not, but at least some DOGE kid will have to read how much their policies suck while wasting their time combing through the mountain of paper. Or at the very least it'll bury any ideas from sympathizers that could be actually damaging.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29785804

The Trump administration continues to detain, expel, and imprison thousands of Americans for the most cruel and arbitrary reasons, helped in no small part by the advanced surveillance networks provided by Silicon Valley contractors: sweeping databases of sensitive information, sophisticated tracking devices, facial recognition software, social media screening. In response, tech-savvy users are taking to social media platforms and encrypted messaging apps to warn their communities, in real time, of encroachments from immigration agents. Some are even going beyond that—by building their own tools to fight back.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/64035920

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/44364106

I wrote the book Copaganda based on my years of being a civil rights lawyer and public defender representing the most vulnerable people in our society. I watched as the police and the news media distorted how we think about our collective safety. Copaganda makes us afraid of the most powerless people, helps us ignore far greater harms committed by people with money and power, and always pushes on us the idea that our fears can be solved by more money for police, prosecution, and prisons. Based on the evidence, this idea of more investment in the punishment bureaucracy making us safer is like climate science denial.

Cross-posted from "Tesla tells Model Y and Cybertruck workers to stay home for a week" by @MicroWave in !news

Tesla told Austin workers on its Model Y and Cybertruck lines to stay home for the week of Memorial Day, three workers told Business Insider.

The break is unusually long, the workers said. Production lines were up and running during the same period last year, they said.

The electric vehicle maker notified employees earlier this week. The workers, who are paid hourly, were told they could either take paid time off or come in for cleaning and training but would not be working on the production line.

Tesla deliveries dropped 13% year over year during the first quarter.

](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f/_auto,q/_auto:good,fl/_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa73f562d-28c5-4219-a351-38ad1eac5eb9/_2048x1367.avif)

Friends,

Trump is planning a giant military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., to coincide with his 79th birthday on June 14. According to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the parade was pushed by the White House.

Bad enough that the nation has to display its militarism in such a crude, authoritarian way. To do it at the behest of the most authoritarian president in the nation’s history who wants a big military parade on his birthday is disgraceful.

Plans call for 6,686 soldiers, 50 aircraft, seven bands, and 152 vehicles — including M-1 Abrams tanks and vintage World War II Sherman tanks — moving past a reviewing stand near the White House, where Trump will be. The parade is scheduled to last nearly four hours and be capped off with a fireworks display.

The White House says the purpose of the parade isn’t just to celebrate Trump’s birthday but also to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, which happens to fall on the same day.

Rubbish. The only thing that happened on June 14, 1775, was the Continental Congress’s authorizing the enlistment of expert riflemen.

If any day deserves to be celebrated as the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, it’s the following day, June 15, when George Washington was appointed its commander-in-chief.

George Washington himself would have recoiled at any military parade in his honor.

When in 1782 Colonel Lewis Nicola, writing on behalf of army officers, proposed to Washington that he become the king of the newly formed United States, Washington vehemently rejected the idea, responding that he would not become “George the First” after fighting against “George the Third.”

The giant military parade planned by Trump dishonors the memory of the Army’s first commander-in-chief.

We have no kings in America.

If you’d like to make this point forcefully, consider joining the nationwide protest scheduled for June 14. More details can be found on the Bluesky thread here. Events will also be listed here.

Let’s make this a birthday King Trump will never forget.

cross-posted from: https://50501.chat/post/184725

Idea for a poster - WE DO NOT SERVE KINGS IN AMERICA 🇺🇸

Originally Posted By u/GhostieThatHauntsMe At 2025-05-04 11:31:20 AM | Source

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A whistleblower at the NLRB is pushing for a Congressional investigation and letting the public know about an ongoing data breach involving Russia. He's already been threatened.

PDF with the full text of the disclosure Reddit post discussing it on /r/fednews

ICE, alongside the U.S. Secret Service, conducted a large-scale operation in an upscale Irvine, California neighborhood Wednesday to apprehend an individual accused of distributing fliers containing the personal information of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, authorities confirmed.

One of us.

Resistance to Trump's anti-democratic agenda is succeeding on multiple fronts. May Day 2025 brought major new roadblocks to Trump's efforts to overturn the Constitution. For those asking, “How does this end? What is the path to victory?” May Day reminded us that we must do everything, everywhere, all at once—because Trump is assaulting democracy in every possible way, everywhere, and all at once.

Any objective observer should conclude that those resisting Trump are achieving significant progress that will hasten victory over the long run, even as Trump creates new chaos in the short term. (It is easier to break things than it is to fix them.) So, as we begin the second 100 days of Trump's second term, we have reason to be proud of what we have accomplished and to be hopeful about our path forward.

Let’s take a look at the various ways that those defending democracy held the line on Thursday.

Defenders of Democracy showed up in force on May Day 2025

Defenders of democracy showed up in force at rallies across the nation on May Day, 2025. My inbox is filled with photos taken by readers at protests from California to New Hampshire—and most places in between. Even the hard-to-impress New York Times placed the protests “above the fold” in the center of page A1. See New York Times, Trump Policies Draw Outrage at May Day Protests Across the U.S. (Accessible to all.)

The sub-headline to the Times’ story gets it right:

Labor rallies in large cities swelled with demonstrators focused on immigration, education and worker’s rights. But protesters also rallied at small-town schools and city halls in Trump country.

Notice the phrase “in Trump country” at the end of the Times’ sub-headline. That phrase should send a powerful message to Republicans who are about to vote on a bill that will wreak havoc on all states by decimating Medicaid. Those cuts will hit “Trump country” particularly hard. In response to a reader's suggestion, I am re-posting an article by the Center for American Progress that quantifies the number of constituents in each congressional district that will be affected by the proposed cuts. Check out your congressional district here: The Republican House Budget Resolution's Potential $880 Billion in Medicaid Cuts by Congressional District - Center for American Progress.]

The Times also did justice to the nationwide scale of the protests and the fact that demonstrations are becoming larger and more frequent:

Similar scenes unfolded across the country, as the police closed streets for the crowds in major cities including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington.

But protesters also rallied in small communities that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump, including Norman, Okla.; Sauk City, Wis.; and Hendersonville, N.C. Groups held signs in front of municipal buildings and public schools, and some demonstrators wore red to indicate their support for public education.

[I] n recent weeks, demonstrations opposing the president’s agenda, as well as resistance from some of the institutions targeted by Mr. Trump, have increased in size and frequency.

To everyone who helped make the May Day protests a success, thank you! You are heroes of democracy!

A case study on resistance by the minority party in Congress

Many readers are still reeling from the unexpected support by fifteen Democratic senators for the nomination of David Perdue to be US Ambassador to China. Their support for Perdue is puzzling because we have repeatedly witnessed the transformation of supposedly “sane and reasonable” Trump nominees (e.g., Rubio, Bessent, Waltz, Burgum) into MAGA foot soldiers for whom no task is too extreme or humiliating.

Trump is trying to overturn the Constitution, and every nominee should be viewed as a loyalist who will support Trump in achieving that goal. Voting for an ambassador may not seem like the place to draw a line in the sand, but only because there should be no line. Democrats should oppose every Trump nominee for every position, even if that opposition may seem hopeless.

On Thursday, we witnessed how opposition to Trump's nominees can lead to unexpected successes. Trump has nominated the truly awful Ed Martin to serve as the US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin is ethically challenged and is an extremist, white supremacist, pro-January 6, conspiracy theorist whose views are inimical to the Constitution. His sole qualification for the job (in Trumpworld) is that he is willing to convert the US Attorney’s Office in D.C. into an instrument of Trump's revenge agenda.

One month ago, Senator Adam Schiff announced that he was placing a “hold” on Ed Martin’s nomination. Although the “hold” could be overcome by Senate Republicans, doing so would consume precious time and resources for the GOP caucus in the Senate.

After Senator Schiff announced the hold, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee began to discover that Ed Martin had made material omissions on his questionnaire. For example, Martin failed to disclose hundreds of appearances on the Russia Today (RT) network, a media source that is effectively Putin’s propaganda firm and PR outlet. See uPolitics, Trump's Pick To Be U.S. Attorney For D.C. Made Over 150 Appearances On Russian State Media – And Failed To Disclose Them.

Over the last few days, Democratic investigators learned that Martin had promoted and praised a Nazi sympathizer on several podcast appearances. Maddow Blog | Ed Martin’s earlier praise for a Nazi sympathizer and Jan. 6 rioter draws fresh scrutiny.

The additional time to investigate Ed Martin gave Judiciary Committee staff time to build a case against Martin’s confirmation. It now appears that Martin’s nomination is on the rocks—and may be dead. See Talking Points Memo, It Appears Ed Martin ‘Doesn’t Have The Votes’ To Be Confirmed—At Least Not Right Now.

I do not know whether placing a “hold” on David Perdue’s nomination would have prevented confirmation. I do know that a hold would have given staff on the Foreign Relations Committee time to investigate Perdue’s apparent insider trading upon receiving a confidential briefing in the Senate about the possibility of a Covid pandemic.

And let’s not forget that when Perdue was running for re-election in 2020, he used antisemitic tropes to attack Jon Ossoff (who is Jewish) by (among other things) running ads that enlarged Ossoff’s nose, and deliberately mispronounced Kamala Harris’s name as “Kamamboamamla.”

A hearing on Perdue’s nomination would have at least allowed discussion of whether nominating someone accused of antisemitism and racism is qualified to serve as US Ambassador to China.

Trump is nominating candidates who are not only unqualified for the jobs they seek but whose very nomination serves to mock and attack the agencies they seek to lead. That track record certainly justifies placing a “hold” on every Trump nominee to investigate what perverse reason motivated Trump to nominate the candidate.

Senator Schiff’s hold on Ed Martin may not prevent confirmation. But at least we have a fighting chance of doing so—which we would not have if Senate Democrats followed the “go along to get along” strategy used in confirming David Perdue.

So, good for Senator Schiff for placing a hold on Ed Martin—and here’s hoping that other Democratic Senators follow suit.

Federal judge rules that Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act is unlawful

Trump is using the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants without due process. By its terms, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 applies during war or when the US is under invasion by a foreign power. Trump has declared that Venezuela had “invaded” the US by way of criminal gangs selling drugs; on that basis, he invoked the provisions of the Alien Enemies Act.

Legal advocacy groups—including the ACLU--have sued Trump in multiple cases that challenge the lawfulness of Trump's declaration that Venezuela has invaded the US.

On Thursday, a federal judge (appointed by Trump) ruled that the proclamation by Trump was unlawful because Venezuela had not invaded the United States. For an excellent discussion, see Chris Geidner at Law Dork (Substack), Federal judge appointed by Trump rules that Trump's AEA proclamation is "unlawful".

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr is the first time that a court has reached the merits of Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. As explained by Chris Geidner,

No court has ruled that the law allows Trump to use the AEA how he did here, although he has won a few procedural arguments along the way. At the same time, Rodriguez is the first just to issue a final ruling that Trump’s action is illegal.

“[T]he historical record renders clear that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms,” Rodriguez wrote in his opinion, finding that the 1798 law’s use of “invasion” and “predatory incursion” do not sweep as broadly as the Trump administration argued.

The ruling will undoubtedly be appealed. However, it was a significant victory that was achieved because of the persistence of the ACLU in filing multiple actions to challenge Trump's unlawful invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.

Congratulations to the ACLU and thanks to all legal advocacy groups that refuse to give up the fight despite temporary setbacks and shifting goalposts!

Two more examples of the resistance changing the narrative

I have run out of time (again) due to our 24/7 childcare for our granddaughter as we await the return of her mom, dad, and brother (Jay) from the hospital. (Everything is fine; the delay in returning home is due to a C Section.)

But if I had more time, I would discuss how two additional developments were caused, in part, by the resistance and persistence of democracy defenders across the nation:

Trump fires Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor and moves him to the US Ambassador to the United Nations. See The Guardian, Trump moves Mike Waltz from national security adviser to UN ambassador role.

The Tesla board of directors considered replacing Musk as CEO. WSJ, Tesla Board Opened Search for a CEO to Succeed Elon Musk (Accessible to all). Musk clearly blames the #TeslaTakedown protests as the cause of Tesla’s woes and the board’s loss of confidence in him. During the Q1 earnings call, Musk began a discussion of the company’s financial performance by blaming the protests. Per the WSJ,

Musk told investors the blowback against Tesla stemmed from his work with DOGE. “The real reason for the protests, the actual reason, is that is those receiving the waste and fraud wish to continue receiving it,” he said. “That is the real thing that’s going on here, obviously.”

Concluding Thoughts

My usual Saturday morning Substack livestream will take place at 8:30 am Pacific / 11:30 am Eastern. Jill and I will attend a political gathering early Saturday morning, so I will hold the livestream from my (parked) car. Hope to see you there!

Jill and I will decamp for D.C. on Monday for three weeks to be with our youngest daughter and her husband as they welcome their first child into the world. I will make arrangements for meetings with readers in D.C. after the delivery. That will allow us to plan with more certainty.

Even as democracy defenders achieve significant victories, Trump continues his unconstitutional and illegal cuts to federal programs and grants appropriated by Congress. On Wednesday and Thursday, we learned of devastating cuts to the National Science Foundation. Although those cuts are likely to be reversed, significant damage will be inflicted on ongoing trials and studies that cannot be interrupted and then restarted when Trump loses in court.

Part of Trump's strategy is to “break things” before a court can prevent the damage. The short-term damage may be irremediable. However, over the long term, we can and will reconstruct the infrastructure and mission of the agencies that Trump has hobbled.

We are thus faced with the task of acting urgently to prevent short-term damage and persisting over the long term to preserve democracy, the rule of law, and the fruits of scientific knowledge built up over centuries. We can do that, so long as we remain steadfast during a time of chaos and confusion. If May Day 2025 is any indication, we are up to the task!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Daily Dose of Perspective

A late afternoon bike ride, waiting for the homecoming of mom, dad, and new baby brother.

The Big List of Protests ("the BLOP") is a community-driven project to help people find and share information about protests, rallies, and other events in the United States.

There's a site called Public Square that is a dog whistle for like minded MAGA Nazis to find businesses that share their fascistic beliefs. I propose everyone find their local Nazi businesses and let folks know on mainstream review sites where their money should go instead. I'm getting some friends in on it too. Obligatory "make a throwaway account with a fake email to do so" notice here.

My parents are both in the far-right misinformation gutter on Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, and maybe some other apps I don't know about. I had the idea recently to try and surreptitiously deradicalize their algorithms by logging into their accounts and watching content that'll steer them towards credible information, but I'm not entirely sure what the best approach is. I know that if their feeds suddenly become left-leaning, they're going to notice something is up. They might even think the platform is trying to do a DEI on them, and may try switching to Truth Social.

Does anyone know if there are resources out there explaining how to do something like this? I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this idea. I don't use any of these sites/apps myself, so I don't feel like I know them enough to come up with a solid plan. I don't wanna fuck it up lol

This is an excerpt from Politics of Nonviolent Action (Gene Sharp) on how non violent resistance affected Kapp Putsch in Germany (1920).

The monarchist-military Kapp Putsch of 1920 against the new German Weimar Republic was defeated. According to the eminent German historian Erich Eyck, victory for the republic against this attempted coup d’état was won principally by “the general strike of the workers and the refusal of the higher civil servants to collaborate with their rebel masters.” Particular attention will be given here to the refusal of assistance by these civil servants and certain other key groups. A further description is offered in Chapter Two.

At the onset of the Putsch, the legal Ebert government had proclaimed that German citizens remained under obligation to be loyal to and obey it alone. The resulting resistance of the civil servants took a variety of forms. The officers of the Reichsbank refused Kapp’s request for ten million Marks because it lacked an authorized official signature–all the undersecretaries in the ministries had refused to sign. The bank’s cashier rejected Kapp’s own signature as worthless, even though his troops occupied the capital and the legal government had fled.

Unable to obtain the cooperation of qualified men to form the promised cabinet of experts, the Kappists asked public patience with a government of inexperienced men. Some cabinet posts were never filled. Many officials already in government bureaus refused to assist the Kapp regime; those in the government grain bureau, for example, threatened to strike unless Kapp retired.

Even lesser civil servants were not very helpful to those who had seized the pinnacle of power; as a result, hopelessly incompetent men were appointed to lesser but nonetheless important posts, such as directorship of the press bureau; this weakened the Kapp regime. Even the noncooperation of clerks and typists was felt. When Kapp’s daughter, who was to draft the new regime’s manifesto to the nation, arrived at the Reich Chancellery on Saturday, March 13, she found no one to type for her–no one had turned up for work that day–and no typewriter; as a result, Kapp’s manifesto was too late for the Sunday papers. Many offices of the Defense Ministry were also vacant that day. Toward the end even the Security Police turned against Kapp, demanding his resignation.

Combined with a powerful general strike, the impact of such noncooperation was considerable. A specialist in the history of the coup d’état and a historian of the Kapp Putsch, Lieutenant Colonel D.J. Goodspeed, writes: “No government can function long without a certain necessary minimum of popular support and cooperation.”

Related Wikipedia article

50501 is looking for moderators! 🇺🇸

If you're looking for ways to contribute to #50501, the official forum over at https://50501.chat/ is currently looking for volunteers to help moderate. As the movement is increasingly targeted by trolls, help is needed!

➡️ https://50501.chat/post/146959 ⬅️

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21226561

Cross-posted from "🎥 How Governments Spy On Protestors—And How To Avoid It" by @LWD@lemm.ee in !privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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