The Price of Tea and Law
What Made Them Toss It All Away? April 15, 2025
Note: Some days I’m lulled into believing we can actually tackle issues rationally. Congress takes a recess. The Supreme Court decides and I’m not embarrassed. I take a deep breath and start analyzing. And then President 2.0 says that laws don’t apply to him, and no one stops him.
And no one stops him.
And no one will stop him, unless we step up.
It is Revolting
By Sabra Briere
Historians want to step back from events and get perspective. Pundits are reactive, jumping in, often with little information. Reason and Emotion.
These times call for both. But there’s little time for a wait-and-see approach to events, because we know — we know! — that events have moved too fast and too far for that. Whatever lines there may be remaining, before we all agree that President 2.0 has crossed them, well, they are faint and disappearing.
I wrote about six paragraphs on taxes and tariffs the other day — because we are all going to see the cost of everyday items go up, like coffee. And history is echoing really loudly in my ears as I remember every book I ever read on the causes of the American Revolution.
But then there was Monday, when President 2.0 and his minions laughed about kidnapping innocent people. And how they won’t stop can’t stop and nobody, not even the courts, will ever make them.
It won’t stop with dissidents. It won’t stop with immigrants.
The President 2.0 wants El Salvador to build more prison camps to house more people he will send there — without due process, without any process, people he wants to be anonymous and disappeared. Will they be dangerous criminals? Why would you think so? Most of the people he has ordered removed from our streets and neighborhoods have not been dangerous. They expressed opinions, or immigrated here, or had tattoos. Or went shopping. Or to school. Or to the next step in becoming a citizen.
His refusal to get warrants, to prove guilt, to obey the orders of the court system — that should have been the line. His announcement that being born in the US does not grant citizen-rights should have been the line. His willingness to intimidate law firms, accept bribes, attempt to impose his will on schools — there are lines everywhere — and he crossed all of them.
And then there’s the threats against those who just disagree. Who expose. Who defend. Who protest.
You and me.
Because once the government decides one person doesn’t have legal rights because of what they say, or write, or the protest they attend, or the charity they give to … it’s really easy to decide that all people don’t have rights.
The New Republican Vision of the Future
Before our country sinks further into modeling government of Hungary or Turkey or El Salvador or other autocratic states (what some style fascist), we need to see clearly and speak loudly about why this is not America.
In the future they imagine, most of the generation born after 2020 won’t have a way to get a full education. Public education will die. Private education will be tied to wealth and religion. Many will get their education at home; it will differ depending on the skills and dedication — and wealth — of their parents. The economy will encourage families to send their children to work — it’s already legal in several states for children older than 12 to work in dangerous jobs, like meat packing plants, and to work long hours. School will no longer be mandatory if many are home schooled.
College, already out of reach, will become available only to a few. And it will be under the control of the government. What is said, and taught, and which professions people get trained for — all under government control. Free speech will be twisted to mean something else entirely.
There will be more poor people, and the poverty will become harsh. Natural disasters, medical crises, job losses — all of these and more will swell the ranks of the very poor, and there will be no safety net to catch many. Children and women will fall through. So will the elderly.
We always talk about how we can turn things around in the next election. More and more districts will become dominated by a single party; this will freeze the balance of power, keeping those in power today where they are. Fewer people will be able to vote; fewer people will find any reason to try to vote.
The economy will become worse for most of us.
This is not my dream. This is theirs.
Only we can stop it. And we cannot wait for the next election. And we cannot wait for the next court decision. We must influence Congress today.
It’s time to march on April 19. And again after that. At every opportunity.
Stand up. Step up. Speak out.
Direct Actions
By Tom Benthin
Free America from Tyranny
It’s time for us to build this movement together. There is a role for each of us to play. Our task is to build a large, broad coalition of citizens who will confront and oppose fascism both through actions and in their daily lives.Here are some ways to get started now.
Attend a protest rally. Rallies are popping up all over - see our calendar and action listings to find the one(s) that’s a fit for you. Be peaceful, but be visible and loud. We need to let everyone know that we’re in danger, now - and we are here to fight back. Find the right rally for you in our calendar.
Take the lead on forming neighborhood or cafe gatherings. Go local. Invite people in your immediate neighborhood to get together, get to know each other, and plan actions. Meet in your home (easier for confidential conversations) or at a cafe (move visible for drawing others to you). If you’re willing to lead, write to us here [need email address] and tell us where you live. We’ll help put out the word that there’s a new group forming there.
Join Bob’s music group. Bob Hahn is helping put together a group to bring music and singing to protest events - and to get together to play for the sheer joy and pleasure of it (which is also a blow against fascism, btw). If you’re interested in joining, let him know at rfh511@gmail.com.
Come to an Activists’ Support and Brainstorm meeting. There is one this week, Thursday at 6:00. Find out more in our calendar.
More actions coming soon. The pivot from constituent pressure to direct action is a big one for us. We’re moving as fast as we can, so expect new actions to pop up. If you have ideas for actions, write to us. And if you want to help lead actions, let us know!
Takin’ It To The Streets
Making Our Opposition Visible
We are largely shifting our focus from pressuring our Members of Congress to direct and visible actions, such as rallies and marches. We are taking it to the streets. While it’s still important to make calls and goad our representatives to do more, the more critical job now is to grow and broaden our movement and to make it visible and compelling.
Nonviolent protest movements that organize and persist have nearly always been successful when they are able to engage at least 3.5% of the population. While this is still a small minority, it can represent a societal rejection of the authoritarians in power and force them out. That’s our job now, folks.
Getting to 3.5% also means growing beyond “activists” to a diverse, broad movement that reflects society, so that others who haven’t yet joined can imaging themselves taking part. This also makes it harder for our fascist opponents to demonize protesters, as they have done for decades.
Recent surveys have shown that many people (21%) are ready to be activated - yet most (75%) haven’t been asked to participate. So here’s what you can do about it: find someone new (a friend, neighbor, colleague) this week and invite them to a protest you’re planning to attend. (How about this Saturday’s Step Up, Stand Up, Show Up! Rally?).
Sometimes it can feel intimidating to invite someone to take action, particularly if you’re not close to them. A helpful way to think about it is that you’re giving them an opportunity to do something and inviting them to be a part of your group (perhaps even to go with you). If you don’t ask, you’re denying them the opportunity to say yes. And one thing we know is there are a lot of people ready and waiting to say yes, if only someone will invite them to.
Guest Editorials
Sunday Thought
By Robert Reich
How does a moral person live with this? How do we not become complicit?
The answer, I think, is to do whatever we can to protect those who are vulnerable to this cruelty.
We speak out against Trump’s use of criminal investigations to punish public servants who helped expose his venality.
We make our communities into sanctuaries that limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
We urge our universities to protect free speech and expression of everyone, at whatever the cost.
To the extent we can, we fund groups that are helping poor families around the world get the medical assistance they need.
We call our senators and members of Congress to tell them to retrieve their constitutional authority over government spending.
We tell them to stop the brutality in Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, and everywhere else America is either encouraging it or failing to discourage it.
We tell them to stop Trump’s criminal investigations of opponents.
We protest. We organize. We mobilize. We do what we can to put good people into office and keep them there, and we help regain control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
In other words, we become organized activists against Trump’s organized cruelty.
We try to make this country an America we can love again.
Years from now, when our children and grandchildren ask what we did during Trump’s reign of terror, we can tell them that we worked tirelessly to curb his cruelty — and we did it with our compassion.
Read the rest of this:
Empathy In The Crosshairs
Rebecca Stanwyck, LCSW, BCD
The #1 Bestselling non-fiction paperback for the last few weeks was On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. In second place was Bessel van der Kolk’s classic book on trauma, The Body Keeps the Score. What does that tell you? It tells me that Americans want to know how to stand up to authoritarianism, and at the same time, are feeling traumatized.
No surprise, given what the principal architect of Project 2025 said, after he was given the keys and passwords to the federal Office of Personnel Management (which is like the fox guarding the henhouse, but amplified 100,000 times): “we want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected.” How’s that for inspiring leadership?
This week, the new head of the Department of Health & Human Services cut 10,000 jobs and eliminated dozens of programs, including safety net stalwarts Head Start and Meals on Wheels, as well as HIV prevention, Alzheimer’s research, and the Suicide Crisis Hotline. Many of those who lost their jobs found out when they tried to badge in and couldn’t.
Then there’s the man in black who appears to be in charge – you know, the chainsaw-brandishing guy who claims Social Security is a Ponzi scheme – and who has said “empathy is the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.” Our government has been taken over by a band of sociopaths! And I mean that in the most accurate clinical sense.
As a mental health expert, I know how dangerous it is to have sociopaths in charge. With empathy in the crosshairs, the most vulnerable members of our society – children, the elderly, people with disabilities and special needs – are the first to lose essential services. Next are all of the hard-working, dedicated public servants . . .
Read the rest, here.
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Check our website for more information and to learn more about Indivisible. Don’t forget to bookmark our calendar (yes, it’s on the website!) Every protest, rally, action, postcard party, phonebank, and letter writing campaign we hear about we share with you. Rely on our calendar to get you started. Rely on us to keep you engaged.