Tonoccus McClain: Congress only 'looks alive from the outside'

USA: Is the federal government done?

Tonoccus McClain wrote on Facebook on October 22:

"No Speaker of the House who seriously wants to end this government shutdown would disband Congress with no firm date to return. Period.

It is simply impossible to navigate negotiations of any kind and also not be at work. In fact, not only do the actions of the Speaker more closely align with those of a person not planning to reopen the federal government anytime soon, his actions suggest he isn’t planning to reopen it at all."

Further, "by failing to publish a calendar or set a date of return, the Speaker of the House caused the House of Representatives to cease to exist as an active governing body." Johnson's "48-hour recall rule is actually a death note of paralysis dressed up as flexibility. Members are told to stay 'on standby,' ready to return to Washington within two days of notice," which is burdensome since "members juggle hundreds of staff, district obligations, and fixed travel windows. A published schedule lets them plan hearings, show up for votes, and coordinate oversight. Without that schedule, they’re forced into immobility, for fear of missing a vote entirely."

And:

"By withholding the public legislative calendar, the Speaker sealed the only real window the people have into how their government works. Without a predictable schedule to anchor responsibility, nobody knows when the government is failing in its promises or whom to blame.

When the public can’t see Congress work, they lose their most basic tool of oversight: knowing when government business happens. The House calendar decides when members must be in Washington, when votes will be held, and when committees meet. It is the frame that keeps the window clear. When a Speaker hides or shifts that calendar unpredictably, transparency vanishes, and the public can’t tell when—or even if—their representatives are working. Reporters can’t pinpoint when a missed vote, broken promise, or delayed bill should have been handled. Constituents can’t say, “You failed to vote on X last week,” because there was no published “last week.”

No votes can occur. There’s no mechanism to restart proceedings or challenge the Speaker’s schedule. The Speaker becomes the sole decider of when government acts, making criticism easy to deflect. Skipping a voicemail is far easier than facing an enraged constituent outside the Capitol."

Congress only "looks alive from the outside — members still going on CNN and FOX News, staff still answering phones and dodging constituent questions." As the shutdown wears on, "the return of what we once took for granted grows less likely, and the idea of a permanently diminished Congress begins to feel normal."

"The government isn’t “waiting to reopen.” It’s been locked shut, deliberately and indefinitely," as a "containment strategy."

Incidentally, Trump's building a new bunker

"The bunker under the East Wing will also be upgraded, sources told CBS News. The White House Military Office is handling the renovation of the bunker, which is known as the President's Emergency Operations Center." (CBS News, Oct 22)

My essay

Why we feel sad about the East Wing of the White House

No deal on maritime carbon emissions

Six months ago: All Authors Working on Flagship U.S. Climate Report Are Dismissed: The Trump administration told researchers it was “releasing” them from their roles. It puts the future of the assessment, which is required by Congress, in doubt. (New York Times, April 28):

"On Monday, researchers around the country who had begun work on the sixth national climate assessment, planned for early 2028, received an email informing them that the scope of the report “is currently being re-evaluated” and that all contributors were being dismissed."

Essentially, that cancels the assessment going forward.

Today, the Financial Times wrote this editorial: "Trump’s victory for fossil fuels in shipping: US pressure has derailed a landmark deal to curb maritime carbon emissions":

"Since Donald Trump came to office in January, he has fought a remorseless battle against any move to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Some of his efforts have hit home in the US, where large solar projects have been pointlessly cancelled and important weather and data services gutted. Cuts to US foreign aid have hurt climate programmes in developing countries.

But last week’s regrettable derailment of a landmark global deal to cut shipping emissions is one of Trump’s most successful attempts yet to force all countries, rich and poor, to back his push to prolong the era of fossil fuels.

The decision to defer adoption of the deal for a year is likely to have immediate effects on an industry that has long escaped internationally co-ordinated climate measures even though it accounts for around 3 per cent of global emissions, roughly the same as Japan. That share is forecast to rise sharply without action."

About 'No Kings' on Oct 18

"October’s No Kings rallies were different. People had their bearings. There was a widespread understanding – both at the rally I attended and the many rallies I watched unfold on the internet – that the mealymouthed norms enjoyers had no place here anymore, for there are no more norms. They’re all gone, and fuck, that might be a good thing. There was anger, visceral anger, about how the country had been sold to the highest bidders, how anti-constitutionalism had become normalized by the regime and its frothing allies on the Supreme Court. Republicans had told us for generations that it was us – their opponents – who hated America. The No Kings rallies rejected that framing. No, we said, it’s you who hate this country. It’s you who are committing crimes against it and its people. America has an enemy, and it is you."

Honk If You Feel Alone Against The Leviathan, Denny Carter, Bad Faith Times, Oct 20, 2025

---

"CBS News, newly conservative, played “No Kings” very quietly on their website — by Sunday afternoon, you had to search to find it. And when you did, the first paragraph managed to include the Republican diss. It went like this: “Crowds hit the streets Saturday … to vent their anger over President Trump’s policies in ‘No Kings’ protests, which Republicans have slammed as ‘Hate America’ rallies.”

‘Who cares?’ About 7 million people, that’s who: Media coverage of Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ protests included the New York Times’s shrug, Margaret Sullivan, Oct 20, 2025

---

"No Kings 2.0 was a huge success. More than 7 million (by some estimates, more than 8 million) showed up. We were peaceful. We were patriotic (many of us waved American flags). We stuck to one message: that we refuse to live under a dictator. We had fun (the costumes and signs were fabulous). We felt powerful in our solidarity.

And we are powerful.

What’s next? How do we use that power? What should we do now? I’ll leave to others bigger or more dramatic suggestions. Mine boil down to a dozen simple ones..."

What Should We Do NOW? What comes next, after No Kings 2.0, Robert Reich, Oct 21, 2025

---

"When I look out at the world, not at the cowardice of large institutions but the actions of actual human beings, I am verklempt at the scale of love, rage and (most of all) principled action that I see all around me. Honestly, every single step that I wish was being taken right now is in fact being taken. Sometimes a million times over. Mass protests? Direct civil disobedience against agents of state violence? Ad-hoc community safety networks? Mutual aid? Big-hearted people running for office for the right reasons? Bodies on the line? Writing that speaks truth and buoys spirits? Potlucks? People are doing it. You’re doing it. We are doing it."

Here is a very specific thing you can do right now that will meet the moment quite nicely: Maybe do it five or six times, actually Garrett Bucks, The White Pages, Oct 22, 2025

---

"I’ll talk to you, specifically, because if you’re reading this you’re interested in change, in politics, in defeating fascism. If you’re reading this you’re probably among the growing majority of the US population who thinks we’re on the wrong track. Or, you might live elsewhere and think our species is on the wrong track in a few key ways. Most importantly, you probably want to do something about it.

* * *

I moved into community and city-wide organizing instead. These changes came out of a desire to build power, to build institutions that would allow us to care for one another and actively shape a better society, instead of just responding to the ills of the current system. My politics now are rooted in the slower and steadier work of building power in my neighborhood, and in my city.

* * *

Some folks lash out under stress, a natural response. But effectiveness doesn’t mean berating those who you think are ineffective. Effectiveness in the fight against fascism means figuring out how to bring millions and millions of people into this work. It means remembering that all of us once knew less, were less politicized, were less radical. It means helping people on their own journeys rather than mocking those who aren’t yet where you think they need to be.

My journey from protest to organizing: How millions in the streets can move to millions of organizers, J. P. Hill, Oct 21, 2025

---

What comes after 'No Kings' is crucial, from Cardinal Pine

Fenway Healthcare in Boston will only provide trans healthcare to age 19+

"We didn’t think this would happen here. For years, Massachusetts has been the place families point to when they say, “at least we’re safe here.” But on October 13th, Fenway Health, one of the most trusted names in LGBTQ+ care, announced it could no longer provide medical gender-affirming care for anyone under nineteen." — Rebecca Minor, We Thought We Were Safe Here: What Fenway’s Decision Reveals About Bureaucratic Fear, Oct 14

Fenway Health Restricts Treatment for Patients Under 19 In Capitulation To Trump: “This is a fundamental betrayal to the core mission of Fenway and the patients they serve.” s. baum, Erin in the Morning, Oct 14, 2025

MassEquality responds (PDF). Oct 15, 2025.

Contact the Trans Youth Emergency Project if you need help. You can also try GLAD Law. If you're a parent in a court case or going to mediation with the other parent, please write a parenting plan and try to anticipate situations like this that may affect your child.

What the heck was this email I received, then, post-Skrmetti?

"By cutting off the very trans youth who helped build its reputation today, Fenway is abandoning their mission. If the line isn’t drawn here, when it’s our lives on the chopping block, who will be left to draw it when it’s theirs?" — A Line Must Be Drawn: The Cowardice Of Historic LGBTQ+ Provider Fenway Health: Fenway Health must return to its roots and care for those the government casts aside. Erin Reed, Oct 22, 2025

Hate Crimes Awareness Month

For Hate Crimes Awareness Month, Michael Lieberman (no relation to me), SPLC Senior Policy Counsel regarding Hate and Extremism, has written Hate Crimes, Explained (dated today, October 17, 2025). It's on the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center. See also the SPLC's report We can fight hate and build community (October 7).

ICYMI: Arturo Dominguez, Jewish Academics Denounce Flawed ADL Antisemitism Hate Crime Data: The ADL’s audit of antisemitic incidents was characterized as ‘misleading and dangerous’ for Jewish people while glossing over the most targeted group, Black people, May 7, 2025

Trump 'peace plan' in Gaza is not holding

Good lord. @apnews.com

[image or embed]

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 4:45 PM

“I’ll declare war on you if you don’t give me the peace prize” is an incredible bit

[image or embed]

— James Medlock (@jdcmedlock.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 5:16 PM

---

Israel claims that Hamas can turn over six more bodies of hostages. Hamas says it doesn't have them.

As a result, Trump is already saying that his "peace plan" for Gaza does not have to be obeyed by Israel. On October 15, he said Israel can police Gaza again "as soon as I say the word." The next day, he alleged that Hamas was killing people in Gaza and that if they persisted, "we will have no choice but to go in and kill them."

---

No more free support for Windows 10 — pay or else your computer is e-waste

Jason Koebler writes yesterday for 404 Media that people are either going to keep using unsecure Windows computers or else throw the computers into the trash. Yesterday's

end of free Windows 10 support is an environmental disaster in the making, with as many as 400 million computers that cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 set to be cut off from receiving free security updates. The move is an egregious example of planned obsolescence that will inevitably result in the early deaths of millions of computers that would have otherwise had years of life left, and it is set to affect as many as 42 percent of all Windows computers worldwide.

“There’s 400 million computers that are going to enter the waste stream. That’s a disaster, just in terms of the sheer volume,” Nathan Proctor, director of consumer rights group PIRG’s right to repair campaign, said on the 404 Media Podcast. “And then you have people who are going to ignore the warnings and use a computer that’s insecure, so there’s going to [eventually] be some widespread security problems with these older, unsupported, no longer getting security updates computers.”

Koebler adds: "Notably, Microsoft is going to continue offering security updates to customers who pay for them, meaning that it would be trivial for the company to continue to offer critical security updates for free." In other words, the security update exists, it's just that Microsoft wants money, either by making people pay for the security update or by prompting them to toss out their old computer and buy a new one.

Also read: The Life and Death of Things: A Call for Action: Can ‘planned obsolescence’ — building things that don’t last, to maximise profit — be replaced by the sharing economy? Anouk Patel-Campillo, Ph.D. Medium, October 15, 2025

Somewhat relatedly: Human waste

In case you missed it: "Is it time to revolutionize the toilet?" Jacqui Palumbo, CNN, February 22, 2024

Trump's military aggression against South America

Stories to read:

‘Patently Illegal’: Experts Raise Major Red Flags About Trump’s Drug Boat Bombings: “As history shows, no nation can kill their way out of the drug problem,” argued one critic. Brad Reed, Common Dreams, Sep 24, 2025

Trump Anoints Himself Judge, Jury And Executioner Of Alleged Drug Smugglers: While the president jokes about the killings, legal experts worry he could use the same logic to target others, even those in the U.S. S.V. Date, HuffPost, Sep 25, 2025

Read this too:

"A confidential memo obtained by The Intercept that was sent to multiple congressional committees this week asserted that the president had sweeping discretion to order the executions of alleged drug smugglers because he had declared a state of “non-international armed conflict” against boats that are part of “designated terrorist organizations.”

But if the U.S. is at war, that’s for Congress to decide—not Trump—and the administration has offered no actual evidence to back up its claims that the vessels were linked to any drug cartel at all."

— The Chilling New Detail About Trump’s “Drug Boat” Attacks: Report: Donald Trump has apparently claimed the right to unilaterally declare war. Edith Olmsted, The New Republic, October 3, 2025

Trump’s phony war on Venezuela — and his larger war on reality: Why is Trump attacking Venezuela? All the usual reasons: Wounded pride, limitless greed and conspiracy theories. Andrew O'Hehir. Salon, October 5, 2025

Exclusive: Classified Justice Department opinion authorizes strikes on secret list of cartels, sources say Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, CNN, Oct 7, 2025

Fact check: Trump’s absurd claim that he saved 100,000 lives by attacking alleged Venezuelan drug boats, Daniel Dale, CNN, Oct 8, 2025

"The US military conducted yet another strike on a boat alleged to be trafficking drugs off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people on board...This is at least the fifth time the US has announced such a strike." Six killed after US strikes another boat off coast of Venezuela, CNN, Oct 14, 2025

Not all of those five strikes were against Venezuela. One was against Colombia.

"The third publicly acknowledged strike on September 19 targeted a boat leaving Colombia..." (At least one US military strike on alleged drug trafficking boat in Caribbean targeted Colombians, CNN, Oct 15, 2025)

And:

"Venezuela escalation: President Trump said he was considering expanding his military operations in the Caribbean to include ground strikes in Venezuela, which would be a significant escalation of the campaign that has so far targeted vessels at sea. The Trump administration has said, without evidence, that those strikes had hit boats transporting drugs for cartels. “We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” he said." NY Times, October 15, 2025

More info on Common Dreams and in the Washington Post

Trump said on Oct 15 that "he authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela to clamp down on illegal flows of migrants and drugs from the South American nation, but stopped short of saying they would have authority to remove President Nicolas Maduro." (CNN)

Another attack

Some survivors after US strikes another suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, sources say, Natasha Bertrand, Kylie Atwood, CNN, October 16, 2025

US has seized survivors after strike on suspected drug-carrying vessel in Caribbean, AP sources say, Konstantin Toropin and Lisa Mascaro, AP, October 17, 2025

U.S. Returning Caribbean Strike Survivors To Colombia And Ecuador, Trump Says: The U.S. military flew the survivors to a U.S. Navy warship in the Caribbean after they were rescued. Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali. Reuters, Oct 18, 2025

Abby Phillip Calls Scott Jennings A Liar As On-Air Fight Spills Onto Social Media: The two tangled over Trump's bombing attacks on vessels he alleged were carrying fentanyl to the U.S. Ron Dicker, Oct 20, 2025

History shows that Trump’s Venezuela campaign will be disastrous: Trump is just the latest president to meddle in Latin America — and the outcome will be no different, Heather Digby Parton, October 21, 2025

UN experts say US strikes against Venezuela in international waters amount to 'extrajudicial executions', Jasper Ward, Reuters, October 21, 2025

The U.S. Isn’t Even Bothering With Its Usual Lies to Sell Its Regime Change War in Venezuela, The days of justifying American military intervention anywhere in the world are on their way out. Séamus Malekafzali, The Intercept, Oct 22, 2025

Trump Insists He Doesn't Need Congressional Approval To Kill Alleged Drug Smugglers, Lydia O'Connor, HuffPost, Oct 23, 2025

Trump Balks At Declaring War For Venezuelan Drug Cartel Strikes: ‘We’re Just Going To Kill People’, Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes, Oct 23, 2025

"Meanwhile, Hegseth says US has conducted 10th strike against alleged drug smuggling boat, killing 6" From CNN's Michael Williams, October 24, 2025

US Moving Huge Navy Firepower Close to Venezuela: Live Updates, Amanda Castro and Gabe Whisnant, Newsweek, Oct 24, 2025

U.S. Is Sending An Aircraft Carrier To Latin America In Major Escalation Of Military Firepower: The U.S. military has conducted its 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Friday. Konstantin Toropin, AP, Oct 24, 2025

Trump’s Escalation Against Venezuela Continues as Hegseth Deploys Aircraft Carrier Strike Group to Latin American Waters: An aide to Brazil’s president warned that a US regime change operation in Venezuela “could inflame South America and lead to radicalization of politics on the whole continent.” Stephen Prager, Common Dreams, Oct 24, 2025

US sanctions Colombian president, CNN, Oct 24, 2025

Relations between Colombia and US ‘absolutely dire’, says expert, CNN, Video: 18:40

Video Trump insists he can strike alleged drug traffickers without Congress declaring war, CNN, Video: 6:56

Panetta: One US misstep could result in small war with Venezuela, CNN, Video: 4:36

Rand Paul: "In the one instance you're killed on sight. On the other instance, if you're captured, we just say, 'Oh well, we're gonna send you back to your country.' It doesn't make any sense."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 26, 2025 at 8:45 AM

Venezuela's Maduro Says The US Is Fabricating A War, Seeks To Revoke Citizenship Of Opponent López: In a national broadcast on Friday night, Maduro accused the administration of President Donald Trump of “fabricating a new eternal war." AP, Oct 25, 2025

Now they are surveilling everyone

The EU-Commission wants to negotiate a very sensitive agreement that would allow US authorities direct (!) access to police-stored fingerprints & facial images in Europe. Potentially, all travelers could be affected by this #EBSP – and people in need for protection. digit.site36.net/2025/08/29/e...

[image or embed]

— Matthias Monroy (@matthimon.bsky.social) August 29, 2025 at 6:39 AM

we need to abolish this shit

[image or embed]

— onion person (@junlper.beer) October 12, 2025 at 1:42 AM

Universities as military-industrial watchdogs: British colleges must never offer to monitor students for arms firms aoav.org.uk/2025/univers...

[image or embed]

— Dr Iain Overton (@iainoverton.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 6:25 AM

You may be interested in my two-year-old story: Transphobia Speaks in the Voice of Surveillance Capitalism: It believes it knows, and can shape, who we are and what we’ll do. (11 min read) Medium, Oct 2, 2023

Trump's assault on Chicago

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

[image or embed]

— Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie (@audrelawdamercy.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 5:31 PM

Q: We've seen images out of Chicago of federal agents shooting faith leaders with pepper balls and arresting journalists. Where's the limit for you on what's acceptable conduct by federal agents? MIKE JOHNSON: I've not seen them cross the line yet.

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 14, 2025 at 9:42 AM

We have reached a point where you can morally differentiate yourself from Mike “If you want to know what I believe, just read the Bible” Johnson simply by acknowledging that shooting unarmed priests in the head is bad. newrepublic.com/post/201757/...

[image or embed]

— Sean Casten (@seancasten.bsky.social) October 14, 2025 at 7:04 PM

Ellis: Have any officers have been disciplined for violating use-of-force policies outside the Broadview? Byers: No.

— Heather Cherone (@heathercherone.bsky.social) October 20, 2025 at 1:45 PM

It appears ICE/CBP chased a vehicle, conducted a dangerous maneuver to intentionally cause a crash, then later tear-gassed bystanders.

[image or embed]

— The People's Fabric (@peoplesfabric.com) October 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM

Read: Federal judge demands answers from Trump admin on following order to avoid violent encounters with Chicago protesters, Bill Kirkos, Andy Rose, CNN, Oct 16, 2025

Feds tear-gassed a Northwest Side street, disrupting a Halloween parade for kids. blockclubchi.co/4quhdSA

— Block Club Chicago (@blockclubchi.bsky.social) October 27, 2025 at 9:37 AM

Behavior repeated in San Francisco

They are firing pepper balls into the faces of clergy, again www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

[image or embed]

— Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) October 23, 2025 at 10:44 AM

Trump's assault on Portland, Oregon

Read:

* A majority of Americans oppose Trump sending the National Guard to Democratic-run cities: The president is defying the will of the people, federal judges, and the Constitution G. Elliott Morris, Oct 10, 2025

* "Portland," Nadin Brzezinski, Medium, Oct 9, 2025 (5 min read)

---

---

"Today the White House tried harder than ever to push the idea that the country is consumed by violence from the “Radical Left.” This afternoon a press release from the White House claimed that “[f]or years, an Antifa-led hellfire has turned Portland into a wasteland of firebombs, beatings, and brazen attacks on federal officers and property—yet the Fake News remains in shameful denial about the Radical Left’s reign of terror.” In fact, before Trump ordered troops into the city, federal agents described the small protests at the ICE facility as “low energy,” consisting of people standing in front of vehicles, raising a middle finger, and playing loud music.

To push the administration’s narrative, Trump held an “Antifa Roundtable” at the White House this afternoon. There, far-right influencers tried to make the case that “antifa” is real and has harassed them, although as The Guardian noted, many of those influencers feed their media channels by confronting protesters and filming the responses they’ve provoked. The press release claimed that “terrorists” have “laid siege” to the ICE office in Portland, Oregon, and at the meeting, Trump claimed that “paid anarchists” want to “destroy our country.” Bizarrely, he claimed that “I don’t know what could be worse than Portland. You don’t even have stores anymore. They don’t even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows.”"

— Heather Cox Richardson, October 8, 2025.

How do you respond to allegations that make no sense?

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 10, 2025 at 5:25 PM

Oh

[image or embed]

— Saint Sherman - The Ultimate Patriot (@claypotter.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 5:27 PM

Decision: State of Illinois v. Trump

Judge Sara Ellis' opinion: people who protest ICE don't necessarily reject federal government authority overall.

Whoa, Judge Perry says the Feds’ declarations about unrest at ICE facilities are not credible because some of the incidents they cite in their declarations were separately no-billed by grand juries

[image or embed]

— ❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ (@sababausa.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 6:16 PM

U.S. government shutdown since Oct 1, 2025

The shutdown is about whether Democrats will be an opposing party or will capitulate to fascism.

Read: Trump Digs In On Anti-Trans Provisions In Shutdown Fight Message: The provisions are becoming a key sticking point in the ongoing fight to keep the government open. Erin Reed, Sep 23, 2025

"Nationally, the government is hurtling toward a shutdown, with Republicans demanding dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ riders—from bathroom bans on military bases to a sweeping federal funding ban on transgender care that could gut access nationwide. The fight hit a breaking point two days ago when Trump canceled negotiations with Democrats, citing in part their refusal to enshrine anti-trans discrimination into law. Where that standoff ends is uncertain." as Erin Reed (Sept 26, 2025)

Read: Republicans Start Shutdown Payback As White House Blocks Blue State Funds The Trump administration announced a hold on a New York infrastructure project and threatened more layoffs for federal workers. Arthur Delaney and Igor Bobic, HuffPost, Oct 1, 2025

“.. This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought,” the Senate majority leader said .. @politico.com www.politico.com/live-updates...

[image or embed]

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 10:05 AM

MIKE LEE: Russ Vought has been dreaming about this moment since puberty MIKE JOHNSON: Russ Vought does not enjoy this responsibility

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 2, 2025 at 10:07 AM

Bonica used to have to analyze data to show this kind of pattern, but now they just come out and say it

[image or embed]

— Jake Grumbach (@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social) October 2, 2025 at 2:18 PM

Read: Legal Experts Call Trump’s Response To The Shutdown ‘Extremely Alarming’ Federal workers must walk a free speech tightrope while the Trump administration openly flouts the rules. Brandi Buchman, HuffPost, Oct 2, 2025

Also:

"The White House suggested Tuesday that furloughed federal workers won’t necessarily get paid when the government eventually reopens, contrary to a law signed by President Donald Trump in 2019.

"The law states that all furloughed workers “shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations,” also known as a government shutdown." (HuffPost, Oct 7)

Will Bunch reminds us in the Philadelphia Inquirer ("Why we can’t allow Trump to ban that other f-word," October 5, 2025):

"Too many lawmakers, and journalists, refuse to understand the fascist moment because their salary depends on not understanding it. But I’ve been struck this weekend by how one prominent political figure is actually getting it — properly framing the current government shutdown as more than a squabble over healthcare but a fight for democracy.

“Listen, I don’t think we’re asking for too much in that we are telling the president that if you want us to sign onto a budget, it can’t be a budget that funds the destruction of our democracy,“ Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told the New Republic’s essential Greg Sargent last week. ”I would be a sucker to agree to a budget that literally funds an operation to hunt me and my allies down — to imprison us, harass us, intimidate us.""

Image caption: Christians in the Roosevelt Room in the White House, Oct. 29, 2019. Official White House photo by Joyce Boghosian.

Margaret Sullivan, in American Crisis, Oct 5, 2025, says that "the larger story" is that "Democrats are determined to prevent huge increases in Americans’ health care costs by standing firm." And, while "the mainstream press is largely playing its usual “both-sides at fault” game...Americans nevertheless do understand the reality." Unfortunately:

"“Partisan bickering” was a favorite phrase in news alerts. Headlines featured how Democrats and Republicans “trade blame” and we heard a lot about “dueling measures.”

Here’s one from CBS News on Sunday that was typical enough: “Johnson, Schumer accuse each other of not being serious about negotiations as shutdown stretches into another week.”

These words are factual, but they fail to get the bigger picture across. They are accurate but not truthful in a larger sense."

The Republican shutdown means that nonessential federal employees like soldiers and TSA agents aren't being paid anymore, but rest assured that the truly vital work of this administration -- building a Dancing with the Stars ballroom for the dementia-addled president -- still goes on.

[image or embed]

— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) October 20, 2025 at 1:55 PM

Independent C-SPAN caller to Rep. Mark Alford: "You're taking credit for $50b that you just gave to the hospital industry. That's after you took away $150b. You don't take credit for just giving back a little bit of money after taking away so much. So quit lying. It just makes you look horrible."

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 10, 2025 at 8:42 AM

Despite allegedly trying to save money, in early October, Trump promised a $20 billion loan to Argentina, contingent on President Javier Milei staying in power, then doubled it, adding the second $20 billion on October 15. Bessent says bailout for Argentina will double to boost U.S. influence in region: The Trump administration is arranging another $20 billion infusion from banks and sovereign wealth funds to prop up the flailing Argentine peso. Jacob Bogage, David J. Lynch and David Feliba, Washington Post, October 15, 2025

This is why the Republicans chose Mike Johnson. The reason is skypoop.

"...another important reason why this will likely become the longest government shutdown ever and stretch on with no end in sight: President Donald Trump has usurped Congress’ power to appropriate and direct government spending and refuses to give it back. In doing so, Trump has broken any semblance of trust that Democrats may have that his end of any deal they strike will be honored after a bill is passed." (Paul Blumenthal, HuffPost, Oct 25, 2025)

What we're witnessing is U.S. fascism

In a post last week on Democracy Americana, Thomas Zimmer reminds us that, on September 25, Trump

"released a presidential memo – an instrument quite similar to a presidential executive order – on “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.” It was entirely geared towards laying the groundwork for the type of comprehensive crackdown on the “Left” the Trumpists had been demanding since the murder of Charlie Kirk: The memo instructed the entire machinery of the federal government to employ an incredibly expansive definition of “domestic terrorism” to go after any organization or individual associated with leftist “anti-fascism.”"

This memo

"open[s] the door for virtually anyone in the United States – certainly anyone who is critical of Trump – to be harassed by the state as a domestic terrorist. If you believe that sounds hyperbolic, please read the memo yourself. ...my first reaction is that it is a breathtakingly authoritarian document. The only purpose it serves is to create a flexible instrument that could be used against anyone the regime deems an enemy. It employs a definition of “domestic terrorism” that is entirely directed against the bizarre phantasma of “the Left” as it exists in the feverish mind of someone like Stephen Miller – even going so far as to explicitly declare all “activities under the umbrella of self-described ‘anti-fascism’” as likely to be terroristic. Meanwhile, the memo widens the definition so much – including “organized doxing campaigns, swatting, rioting, looting, trespass, assault, destruction of property, threats of violence, and civil disorder” – that it becomes difficult to identify what act of resistance or disobedience the state couldn’t persecute as “domestic terrorism.”"

Will Bunch reminds us today in the Philadelphia Inquirer ("Why we can’t allow Trump to ban that other f-word," October 5, 2025):

"The president, Vice President JD Vance, and their minions have seized on the actions of a few young, lone-wolf assassins to issue blanket condemnations seeking to vilify and, in essence, ban free speech that accurately describes America’s downward spiral into autocracy."

It matters.

"This isn’t some arcane dispute over language. The Trump regime is desperate to control the words of America’s political conversation because they want to normalize what they are doing right now, which is pursuing a rapid race to demolish democratic norms and institutions. Vance’s goal in his North Carolina speech is really to lump the most outrageous comments online with the bulk of legitimate dissent about the outrages that are happening right now from Chicago to the Caribbean."

They can try.

"It’s horrific that militarized cops are firing projectiles at working journalists, or that a reporter covering ICE raids in Atlanta can be arrested and deported to El Salvador. But they haven’t worked their way down to schlubby white boomer columnists — not yet — so I’m going to use the might of this keyboard until they take it away.

Words still not only matter, but have incredible power. What we are witnessing is American fascism. I am an anti-fascist."

Zachary B. Wolf, CNN, Oct 11:

“If we don’t have FREE SPEECH, then we just don’t have a FREE COUNTRY,” then-candidate Donald Trump said in a campaign video.

But less than nine months into his second term, he was explaining his administration’s stance this this way:

“We took the freedom of speech away,” he said at a White House event Wednesday [October 8] as he tried to explain his call to put people who burn the American flag behind bars for years despite a very clear Supreme Court decision that lists flag burning as free speech.

migrantinsider.com/p/scoop-appl...

[image or embed]

— David Bier (@davidjbier.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 10:51 AM