The Dark Side

WE ARE HERE

This image was posted on the official Whitewash House social media pages. 

The blood on his jacket: nice touch

He recently posted on his social media site as well as Twitter: "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law." 

This quote is attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. Go ahead and channel Napoleon, you twit. We know how that ended.

King.... pshaw. Not on my watch!

President Muskrat and the DOGE Bags

What is Muskolini's role? No one knows. SCROTUS doesn't know.

Patriot? 
Employee?
Consultant?
Whatever you want?

I choose criminal asshole. 

What Musk isn't:

Elected

Appointed

Confirmed

In charge of DOGE?

Ignore his blathering about social security in that video. I'll talk about that below.

Meanwhile, while this nonentity is running rampant through our government, the supposed president is golfing. He has no idea what is going on, and he doesn't care.

Fort Knox

Now Muskovite literally wants the keys to Fort Knox. 

Why do I suddenly feel the urge to travel to Kentucky to stand in front of the doors?

(Bonus: I'll actually be in the area in a few weeks, and if this moron decides to go when I'm there, you can bet I'll be in front of the gates!)

LSR's attempt at AI "art"

Social Security

Elon Musk literally wants to steal your social security money.

Wow wow wow. There is so much freaking mis- and disinformation flowing about social security. It messes with a person. 

Let's break it down. 

150-year-olds on the social security rolls?

Well, yes and no. There's a couple things to understand here. Firstly, way back in the olden days, when Social Security was started to become digitized, an ancient language called COBOL was used. Mr. Musk might be too young to remember the language of the grandfather coders, and certainly his baby minions are. (Oh, but Elon isn't a coder at all; he does not understand much in the engineering world other than how to exploit engineers' knowledge for his own gain)

The default year of birth put into the database for unknown DOBs was 1875. Ta-da! 150-year-olds show up.

That doesn't mean they are receiving SS checks.

There is a culling of people on the rolls who are 115 years old. The very few that slip through the cracks have payments stopped. 

AND! Funeral homes are required – and do – send a form (SSA-721) for every death that comes to them. Social Security payments are stopped at death.

All the people that are in the system do not receive Social Security checks! The new Social Security acting chief – installed by the Cheeto himself – clarified this over the last couple days.

The Muskrat and his orange baby man are lying because they want to instill fear and outrage so that they can gut the system and steal our money. 

What a bunch of incompetents!

This moronic move...

Can we just not please?

Below the screenshot, I paste the entire post from The Trumpland Diary. It's worth the read.

Let me give everyone one quick example of why Elon and his pack of flying monkeys at DOGE aren't quite the savvy tech geniuses playing 4D chess MAGA seems to think. They're more like a bunch of idiots playing checkers with rocks, bottle caps, and some saltine crackers the high schoolers keep nibbling on.

Here's how the idiocy began:

1. A wanna-be political influencer named Mario Nawfal went over to USASpending.gov and uncovered what he THOUGHT was a $9M contract between the Department of Defense (DOD) and Reuters (the news outlet) for a nefarious psy-op.

Nawfal then tweets out to his 44 million followers: "DOGE investigations reveal mysterious Defense Department payments to Reuters for "large scale social deception" project between 2018-2022."

2. Elon Musk sees Nawfal's tweet, reads it, doesn't bother to double check the story about what HIS OWN department is doing, and shares it to his 218 million followers.

3. Donald Trump reads Elon's tweet, and "truths" it out to his [sad] 9 million followers on Truth* Social, calling out the "Radical Left Reuters" and demanding they give back the money!!!

Here's WHY it's 9 levels beyond idiotic:

If you go to the USASpending.gov website (which Nawfal actually provides a screenshot of), you can plainly see the contract in question is between the DOD and "Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC."

REUTERS is a news outlet.

THOMSON REUTERS SPECIAL SERVICES is a cyber security firm ( https://www.trssllc.com/ )

Other than having the name "Reuters" in common, these businesses are different entities to each other.

"Okay, Shane, but then why did the DOD give THOMSON REUTERS a $9M contract for some 'large scale social deception'?!? Why is the DOD paying ANYONE—even if they're not a media outlet—to engage in 'large scale social deception?'"

THEY DIDN'T!

Look at the ENTIRE line item Mario Nawfal took a screenshot of:

ACTIVE SOCIAL ENGINEERING DEFENSE (ASED) LARGE SCALE SOCIAL DECEPTION (LSD)

Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC is a cyber security firm that was contracted by the DOD to provide cyber DEFENSE AGAINST "large scale social deception."

This contract DOGE "uncovered" doesn't involve in any way the media outlet they're naming. They got confused because 2 different companies have the same name. And the actual contract they're freaking out about does the exact OPPOSITE of what they're claiming it does.

Aren't we all so lucky to have DOGE uncovering all this "waste, fraud, and abuse?"

Here's more stupidity:

I don't know much about coding, but I'm including this for posterity. Follow this thread about the making of the DOGE website which shows what absolute incompetents are on the inside taking over our systems! People Who Know Stuff are exposing these idiots for what they are. Half-wits! Dangerous half-wits!

How 'bout this blunder:

The Accidental Firings

Oopsie! Did we really want to fire the people overseeing our nuclear supplies? 

Yeah, so it happened. A bunch of experts were fired and purged from the government systems. When someone raised a finger, ummmm, maybe we need these people, they couldn't find them because all of their information had been erased from databases.

You can't make this shit up! 

And what about those people tracking and mitigating bird flu? 

Fire them! 

Oh no, wait! – my bad – Get them backkkkk!

Consider this idiocy...

DOGE has claimed $55 billion in "savings" so far. But the math doesn't math.

Just like LSR trying to figure out her part of the tab after a cocktail or two, they just can't get their numbers straight.

One of the discrepancies listed a contract cancellation that netted $8 billion "savings." Ummm, except that the contract cited was worth $8 million. 

Billion, million, you say tomato....

I'll let The New York Times tell you more, because, well, yanno.... LSR and numbers....

This. This is why we don't hire pimply-faced post-pubescent coders to "audit" for fraud. See, an accountant wouldn't make a 1000-fold mistake like that.

Speaking of pimply-faced post-pubescent coders...

Big Balls now has access to our cybersecurity agency. This 19-year-old fucker, along with his buddy, 38-year-old software engineer Kyle Schutt, has infiltrated the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Forget hacking! Just walk in through the front doors!

Not only are they infiltrating our most sensitive data, DOGE is sharing classified information with the entire world. 

People, this is concerning. Our most sensitive information is being seized and disseminated! Please, call your Members of Congress again today. Here is the script from 5calls.org. Please!

DOGE checks?

Ahhh, yes, let's bribe American citizens to overlook the rape of their government and theft of their tax dollars by offering them $5000.

There's a bunch of problems with this plan, of course. Things like economics, Congress, laws, ....yanno, stuff DOGE hates. 

If they do send a check, and if you receive it, and if you decide to cash it, inspect the accompanying documents carefully. Make sure there is no hold harmless clause. That would prevent any future action against the criminals, say in a class action lawsuit. 

Muskrat's Neuralink company is facing investigations

Just a quick note, because LSR does not have time to go down every rabbit hole.

His firm has been under scrutiny for years. From 2022, Reuters: the firm was accused of unethical animal treatment during testing of the device.

This month, Reuters reports that staff at the FDA who was investigating Neuralink were fired. 

Because of course. How can a megalomaniac take over the most powerful country in the world without eliminating people who stand in his way?

The FAFO Files

Ahh, yes. They fucked around on November 5. They are finding out now.

"I will lower prices on Day 1".

Americans want lower prices. Period. He ain't delivering, and as much as we will suffer for it, it may be his undoing (is that what Elong meant by "temporary hardship?").

I'll let Rachel Maddow tell you about other FAFO moments.

And the amazing Rep. Jasmine Crockett also outlines some more FO:

Crockett: "Down in Alabama, who's broke. Down in Louisiana, who's broke. I can go through pretty much the entire south and tell you that they're broke and rely on a lot of welfare from the government. To be perfectly honest, it is tax dollars from these big blue states...we're in the find out phase"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 19, 2025 at 4:05 PM

Finally, Yair Rosenberg in The Atlantic writes about more. 

CIA

So this is complete conjecture, but do you think the CIA is working on something WRT Napoleon Fingers and Elong?

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have this idea, but it came to me when I learned of a 1943 Report on the psychology of Adolph Hitler. I got to wondering, is anyone working on a counter-intelligence report on the Rabid Demented Incompetent Incontinent ? Who would do that? The CIA, of course. They get to do lots n lots of secret things.

Yes, technically the CIA is under the executive branch, but we know they act on their own! TЯUMP is a national security threat, as is President Muskolini. Will the CIA do anything, or are they too entrenched? 

Other CIA stuff: He's trying to revoke the clearances from a bunch of former intelligence officers. He is trying to fire a bunch of CIA agents, but the courts are pushing back. And the agency is shooting themselves in their own foot by sending an unclassified email with the names of several newly hired (under probation; easy to fire) agents so they can be dismissed. This kind of stupidity puts real lives at risk. 

Brief notes on other shit nuggets

Eric Adams fallout

The newest: the judge in the case conducted a hearing about whether to drop charges against Adams. Judge Dale Ho wanted to know why. Was dropping the charges in exchange for cooperation with immigration policies? 🤔

Breaking: Today, Judge Ho appointed an outside lawyer to examine the case and present arguments. 

Judge Chutkin's ruling

Judge Tanya Chutkin, sadly, ruled against 14 states, led by New Mexico, in their bid for a temporary restraining order against the DOGE bags. The rejection of a TRO, however, may very well turn out to be a win for the states in the long term. She indicated that a later permanent injunction may win on the merits of the case. Right now, it was a bit early to bring a restraining order. 

Immigration

We are in a world of hurt. 

The official Whitewash House social media accounts shared a disgusting video mocking and dehumanizing immigrants being shipped out. I won't embed the video, but here is the link. 

It has sparked outrage, rightly so.

Have you called your MoCs lately about immigration issues? For example, ask them to oppose H.R. 32.

The Measles Outbreak

Chris Britt

As you probably know, because you haven't seen a case in the last couple decades, measles has been nearly eradicated in the U.S. because of good vaccine programs. I should say had been. West Texas and eastern New Mexico are experiencing an outbreak, with nearly 100 cases so far this month. 

The biggest numbers are in Gaines County, Texas, which also has the (surprise) highest rate of opt-outs for vaccinations. I'm so sad for the kids who have no choice and are at the mercy of their parents' wacko ideas. 

It's not going to get better, friends. Not with the guy running our health agencies. 

Nick Anderson

Mitch McConnell is retiring.

As I had predicted in my last post, he has decided not to run for reelection in 2026.

Good riddance, you fuckface.

Here are true words from Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge

Well, well, well—if it isn’t the Grim Reaper of the Senate finally shuffling off into the abyss, his shell cracked, his soul long since pawned off for one last round of tax cuts and judicial hijackings. Mitch McConnell, America’s favorite political corpse, has finally decided to retire—not because of some grand epiphany, not because the weight of his sins finally crushed him, but because gravity and basic bodily function caught up with him first.

It’s been quite a run, Mitch. Five decades of sucking the life force out of democracy like some kind of turtle-faced Nosferatu, leeching every last drop of decency from the American political system until all that remained was a gangrenous husk of partisan hackery and corporate handouts. You were never a visionary, never a leader—just a slithering, backroom dealmaker with the charisma of a tax audit and the moral compass of a used car salesman running a Ponzi scheme out of a strip mall.

And yet, somehow, against all odds, you became the most powerful man in Washington. A political crypt keeper, embalming progress, cackling over the filibuster like some deranged museum curator protecting a pile of dinosaur bones. Your greatest achievement? Turning the Senate into a nursing home for bad ideas, where legislation goes to die and decency is left to rot in the hallway like an unclaimed corpse.

But now, after a series of public malfunctions that made Joe Biden’s verbal misfires look like Shakespearean soliloquies, you’ve decided to hang up your cloak and scythe. And not a moment too soon, Mitch. America has been watching you glitch out like a broken animatronic at Chuck E. Cheese, freezing mid-sentence at press conferences, tumbling down stairs, and getting that haunted “blue screen of death” look in your eyes every time a reporter asks if you plan to run in 2026. Spoiler alert: No, you don’t. You’ll be lucky if you make it to 2026 without turning into a cautionary tale about why we shouldn’t let octogenarians run the country.

But let’s talk about your legacy, Mitch, because that’s what really matters. What will history say about you? That you were a master strategist? A political genius? No, Mitch, history will remember you as the smirking, soulless little gremlin who sold the country down the river one judicial appointment at a time. You thought you were playing four-dimensional chess, but in the end, you were just a pawn in Donald Trump’s undersized, greasy hands—a miserable little footnote in the great tragedy of American democracy.

You could have stopped Trump. You could have buried him after January 6, when you had the chance. But instead, you did what you do best—nothing. You let the orange buffoon off the hook, muttering something about "criminal justice" handling him later, as if the court system you rigged in his favor was ever going to hold him accountable. And now look at you: retiring in disgrace while Trump rides high, surrounded by bootlickers and lunatics, reshaping the GOP into something so grotesque even Richard Nixon would be clawing at the lid of his coffin trying to escape.

You spent your whole life consolidating power, only to end up a punchline—a broken-down, malfunctioning fossil, mumbling your way through press conferences while Trump calls you “Old Crow” and mocks your wife with racist slurs. That’s the best part, Mitch: he never even respected you. You did everything for him, debased yourself, torched every bridge to reality, and he still treated you like a dented can of expired soup taking up space in his cupboard.

But hey, enjoy retirement! Maybe take up painting, like Bush. Maybe shuffle around Kentucky’s bourbon distilleries, sipping Old Crow, wondering if it was all worth it. Because here’s the thing, Mitch—history doesn’t care about "legislative genius" or "tactical brilliance" when it comes at the cost of the country. You’ll be remembered not as a mastermind, but as a political cockroach—scurrying in the dark, surviving, outlasting your enemies, but never actually winning.

So, farewell, Mitch. May your retirement be long, humiliating, and filled with endless reminders that despite all your efforts, your greatest achievement was being the guy who enabled Trump, only to be discarded like a used napkin.

Happy retirement, you withered old bastard. History will write your obituary in ink as cold as your heart.

Here are Ann Telnaes's cartoons about him from over the years.

Lots of other stuff. So much comes so fast! 

Ukraine

Gah! Babyhands called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator," accused him of starting the war, and shut him out of deal talks to end the war. Russia was there. Marco Rubio, the "Secretary of State" was there. Zelenskyy, president of the other party in the three-years-long war? Not invited. 

This love affair with Russia. I don't like it.

Veterans cuts

Veterans are worried about job cuts as well as benefits cuts. VA Secretary Doug Collins defends the DOGE cuts but tries to tell us that benefits won't be cut. Don't bet on it! 

Chaos and confusion rule the land. 

IRS cuts

Six thousand IRS jobs were cut, right here smack dab in the middle of tax season. What a shit show. Will we get the help we need to prepare our tax returns? Will we get refunds? When? Will they be able to audit millionaire tax cheats? Can you say: "this is opposite of saving money"?

Gary Varvel

The Purge

Associated Press is keeping track of firings. There are no official numbers – that would mean transparency from DOGE – but they are reporting the best they can.

Walt Handelsman

Fighting Back

Attend your representatives' town halls. Put the fear into Repug reps who are up for re-election in 2026. People like Georgia's Rich McCormick. He faced his constituents recently. They are big mad. 

Watch the meeting here:

@kharrisfans Republicans are NOT the party of the working class and that is LOUD AND CLEAR! #kamala #kamalaharris #kamalaharris2024 #vp #biden #fyp #foryoupage #donaldtrump #viral #joebiden #democrats #washington #republican #jdvance #trump #elonmusk ♬ original sound - kharrisfans

Yes, I know they voted for the Orange Julius Caesar, but we need to support them in their push-back! 

Be like Chris Kluwe.

Video:

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— Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) February 19, 2025 at 3:07 PM

Here's an article about it from the Orange County Register. Go, Chris!

Demonstrate!

The people on the street have a huge say. Do not underestimate your presence! 

Get sign materials ready for the next call for action. Mine is on March 1, when we will be protesting at the Tesla dealership.

Here are a couple events I attended this month. 

• More than a thousand attended our emergency Feb 8 town hall with Rep. Salud Carbajal on February 8. I attended on Zoom. The meeting was featured on Rachel Maddow!

• On February 17, I attended a demonstration in nearby Carpinteria. A bunch of us stood on the four corners of an intersection. It was gratifying to have passing cars honk and wave in solidarity. 

There are pictures in this post. And here I am!

I know; I need to fix my sign and fill in the letters. Thanks for side #1, SRAnne!

Donate or volunteer!

Musk is pouring millions into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Write postcards to Democratic voters in Wisconsin in favor of the preferred candidate for justice, Judge Susan Crawford. Postcards to Voters will help. It's an easy act of resistance. Or donate to Judge Crawford's campaign. Or both!

Wear your colors! 

Buy a T-shirt from Raygun, who teamed up with Brian Gibbs, the former Iowa National Park ranger who went viral for his heart-felt post after being fired (I shared it in the last LSR offering). Stand with rangers! 

AltNPS t-shirts are sold out, but they have cool stickers. Keep your eye on their store. Maybe they will restock shirts!

Be a Karen!

In a good way! 

You know, things like:

Talk to the managers (your members of Congress)! 

Yes, call them again! They need to hear from you oftenly! In blue states: thank them for resisting the current administration. In red states and purple states, tell them plainly that you are paying attention, that you care, and that you vote! Tell them what you want! Use 5calls or resistbot. 

Speak your mind! 

Do not comply! Be courageous!

"Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage." Thanks, Gov. Pritzker!

Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage.

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— Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov) February 19, 2025 at 6:14 PM

Boycott!

Here are upcoming events nationwide:

Get ready for NO SPENDING on Friday, February 28. If you must buy essentials, try to use cash and spend at locally owned businesses (bonus if you can find Black-, women-, LGBTQ- or other minority-owned businesses).

Our country needs more Karens!

Again, I remind you: Find joy! Live joyfully! Do not cower in fear. This is exactly what Repug congresspeople are doing. Fear allows you to be controlled. We will not be controlled!

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." – Yoda 

You know it's true.

I leave you with a couple yummy nuggets.

The 🔥 Jasmine Crockett

Your Moment of Beauty

See? Good leaders can be found in Kentucky!

Coming soon: a meme dump. Stay tuned.

We are the rightful masters

Drawn by Bill Mauldin after JFK's assassination. I know Lincoln would feel the same today.

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." – Abraham Lincoln.

As I start this, it is Abraham Lincoln's birthday, and we are facing a Constitutional crisis. There are men perverting the Constitution today. 

It is important for us all to understand what is going on, so that we can embrace our role of rightful masters in this nation. News Flash: No one is going to save us. It is up to us, The People.

The shock and awe continue. Things are happening so fast, and there's a lot. I am bound to miss something, or as Muskolini would say, "We are moving fast. So we will make mistakes."

Here I go, throwing it all out there. Forgive me for being pretty superficial on most of it.

Please don't be overwhelmed. Just be informed. We'll take this situation one bite at a time.

Tuesday, the non-elected President Musk held court over the press in the Oval Office (if you can stand it – I admit I couldn't – here is the full event). 

Musk's li'l puppet was nearby. Here he is, at the children's table with Φβφn-ʞrs $, Elon's toddler son (note: mocking the name, not the boy. He's a cutie and an innocent).

Admiring the technique

Mrs. Musk was a small, deflated, powerless, impotent person. Mr. Musk was standing tall, the rapt audience at his command. There was no question about who was in charge.

By the way, who brings their unruly little child to a press conference at the freaking Oval Office with the President of the United States? Why? Just why?? Does anybody else get the feeling that he uses his child as a human shield?

Little X Æ A-Xii, who goes by X, had some choice things to say. I'll let this guy tell ya about it:

Not only did he mouth off to his daddy's li'l puppet in the Oval Office, he told reporters to "shut your mouth." He also wiped a booger on the Resolute desk. 

While little X told the truth to his daddy's friend, SCROTUS sat small and silent, Musk stood there, spouting complete lies. One of the lies was this:

When ABC's Rachel Scott asked the Muskrat on the accountability he faces and if he is "policing" himself, he responded that his actions with DOGE are "maximally transparent." He went on to say, "Well, all of our actions are fully public. So, if you see anything you say like, wait a second, hey, you know what that does? That seems like maybe that's, you know, that there's a conflict there. It’s not like people are going to be shy about saying that. They'll say it immediately." 

That night, by the way, even after the Oval Office press conference, the DOGE webpage, in its entirety, was this:

Soon, after it was a little more built out. Here, Resisters, is DOGE's "transparent," "actions-fully-public" website. Go ahead, search the actions. Look for conflicts. Look for transparency. All it is, is links to Twitter posts and data from the Office of Personnel Management. We're lucky to still have that data, because a lot of other federal data will disappear once an agency is dismantled. 

It was soon hacked. More about that below.

The Facts

If you want to know what is going on, do not depend on DOGE to tell you. There is no transparency. There is no oversight. We must depend on the press to get to the truth.

Alt National Park Service, the coalition of federal employees led by our brave National Parks employees, are on the front lines and have been feeding us information early, confirmed by the regular press in a day or two. Follow AltNPS for up-to-the-minute information. 

Here's a fact-check from BBC on Elong's blathering at the Oval Office.

Here are summaries of the nefarious goings-on so far:

From NYMag's Intelligencer: All the Federal Agencies DOGE Has Gotten Access To

From ABC News: Here are all the agencies that Elon Musk and DOGE have been trying to dismantle so far

From The New York Times (gift article): Where Trump, Musk and DOGE Have Cut Federal Workers So Far (note: I'm sure it's outdated, here a few days later)

The non-elected President, Elon Musk, has taken over about 15 federal agencies. He has infiltrated their computer systems, fired employees, and in some cases, such as USAID, dismantled the entire organization altogether.

He is gleeful in his rampage through our agencies. Regarding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he tweeted, "CFPB RIP," with an emoji of a gravestone. 

By the way, the government's savings from eliminating CFPB? Negligible, but U.S. consumers have benefitted greatly financially from the agency helping them avoid predatory banks. We will all be worse off, and Musk will be richer, for eliminating the CFPB. 

As for his first target, USAID, well, that cost is also less than .05% of the total budget, but the agency helps immeasurably in sending food, clean water, and humanitarian aid to desperate people all over the world. It also helps sow good will around the world, which is a sort of soft diplomacy. China is ready to fill that void.

What else did USAID do? It helped dismantle apartheid in Musk's native South Africa. Musk has a grudge and he's using his power to act on it.

Here is a fact-check of all the other "waste and abuse" from USAID. 

Muskovite's is also benefitting from the firing of 18 inspectors general -- the people who have actually been tasked with overseeing malfeasance.

They are trying to frame it as an "audit." No, an audit has actual accountants that actually examine data. An audit is not an overnight process. It takes time. This is not an audit. It is a rape of our government. 

Make no mistake, Musk will benefit and profit from all of this. 

Thousands of federal employees are out of work, billions of our dollars have been frozen.

The Courts have stepped in to order emergency stops. The stop on most spending has been reversed, but there is some that is still in limbo.

Here is a summary of the court actions so far:

From Forbes, with the newest, the Inspectors General are suing over their dismissal: Here Are All The Major Lawsuits Against Trump And Musk: 8 Inspectors General Challenge Their Firing In Court

From Huffpost. It's a little bit dated; published a whole week ago: A Look At All The Lawsuits Coming For DOGE

Before a judge stopped the program, Musk was able to induce some federal employees to quit with some sort of financial carrot. Really, who are they fooling? That carrot is the shriveled little one at the back of the crisper drawer. The former employees won't get a dime. And since they took a deal and resigned, there will be no unemployment benefits either.

Remember, Musk did the same thing when he took over Twitter. He used the same verbiage: "Fork in the Road." He enticed people to quit and then didn't follow through with their promised severance packages. IQ47 is also notorious for not paying his debts. You think he'll start now?

Late Wednesday, a judge gave the go-ahead for the "buyout" play. Just as soon as it was given the go-ahead, though, the offer was rescinded. Employees by the thousands are now being fired outright.

This judge ordered all the health-related websites to be restored, and their data, too.

The states are suing, too. Led by New Mexico, 14 states have sued Traitor Tot and Muskolini. They are calling the actions undertaken by DOGE unconstitutional. Side note: two of the states are Republican-led.

Now it's our turn to use the "states' rights" card. Call your state representatives and put pressure on them to push back on President Musk's agenda. I know that Resistbot has an option for contacting them; 5Calls is a little behind on that aspect. 

Our next crossroads in this shitshow: Whether or not 47 defies court orders. If he does, that throws us into a full-fledged Constitutional crisis, by which I mean no more Constitution. Checks and balances will be gone. The Orange Turd will be an authoritarian by every measure of the word. 

Federal Employees out of Work

Acccck! Every time I sit down to write, a new nugget comes flying at us. As of Friday, AltNPS reports 200,000 federal employees have been fired. And no one is happy about it. Let's hope they join the resistance, even those who voted for this mess.

It's a sad day for America when our proud and loyal civil servants have been sent packing. They were doing important work: looking out for land, for people, for arts, for health and safety. 

There are too many stories to mention, of course, but I want to highlight a couple. How about a bunch of people working for Indian agencies? The Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Indian Education: all gutted. Our tribes don't have much to lose, and now they are losing more. Hundreds of health workers are now unemployed. The people they serve: Shit out of luck. It's makes me so mad and sad. 

How about (former) Ranger Brian? Read his post. Please. 

May I just say, Fuck TRUMP and the horse he rode in on!

The corruption runs rampant 

Here's just one recent example of corruption: The State Department just put an order in for $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles. Conflict of interest much?

As soon as the press got wind of the order, they quickly changed the verbiage to "electric vehicles." Uh, yeah, sure they'll put the contract out for bids. ...And I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

More Corruption

The Department of Justice dropped the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who had been facing charges for bribery, campaign finance offenses, allegations of accepting illegal gifts and contributions from foreign nationals, specifically Turkish citizens. 

I knew it! I thought I smelled something stinky when I read that Adams had been cozying up to Twitler after the election. Now he's off scot-free.

Federal prosecutors are livid. At least seven prosecutors in Washington and New York quit in protest.

Putie the Cutie got a gift when TЯUMP called him this week. 

Let Brian Tyler Cohen summarize the Muskovite shitshow for you:

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A post shared by Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen)

The Farmers: They fucked around; we are all finding out

America's Heartland: red, red, red. Not just the soil, but the electorate. They voted for the orange monster, and they are now reaping what they sowed. 

I thank Sister Resister Martha for pointing me to this trove of information about the farmers getting shafted. As they fall under the combine, we all get dragged in. 

I post it in its entirety because I think it is important to understand this information. Written by Farmer Georgie. Links to the source information are in her article. 

 

Folks, it's taken a few days to trickle down, but I'm seeing post after post after post in the ag community social media channels of massive issues impacting U.S. farmers and the U.S. ag economy from Trump's DOGE efforts, tariff wars and the USAID shutdown.

Here are a few:

Lost Contracts to Canada

Cotton and grain growers are losing contracts to long-time Canadian buyers because, even with the tariff pause, Canadian buyers don't trust the stability of U.S. export commerce with Trump in office. Plus, Canadians are just flat-out pissed and avoiding U.S. made/produced goods, including farm products.

Increasing Input Prices

Chuck Grassley, of all people, is pleading with Trump to exempt potash from any Canadian tariffs because U.S. potash (a major fertilizer in agriculture) mainly comes from Canada. Impending tariffs will shoot farmers' fertilizer prices sky-high.

Cancelled Government Grants 

Corn and soybean farmers are upset because Trump cancelled all of Biden's Climate Smart grants that were supposed to help them offset their adoption of soil health, improving new practices like no-till and cover cropping.

$2 Billion In Annual Commodity Crop Sales Lost

USAID's cancellation cuts $2 billion straight out of U.S. farmer's pockets from the Food for Peace program which purchased rice, wheat, corn and soy from U.S. farmers and distributed them to hungry nations. In some states and for some crops, USAID was their primary buyer.

More Promised Grants and Reimbursements Reneged Upon

USDA NRCS is cancelling conservation contracts and leaving farmers holding the bag. These are things like fence improvements and upgraded water lines that boost farmer efficiency while also conserving the environment. Plus, the way they work is the farmer has to do the work first, then once they are done, the NRCS reimburses them. So now farmers that have spent the money to do the work are being told the NRCS won't honor their contracts.

Precious Irrigation Water Wasted

California farmers are PISSED because his "turn on the taps" PR move did nothing to combat California wildfires and instead wasted 2 BILLION gallons of water being held in reservoirs for summer irrigation.

Jeopardized Export Commodity Crop Purchases

U.S. crop farmers are freaked out over the trade wars since Canada, China and Mexico represent half - let me repeat that again, HALF, of all U.S. agricultural exports!

Organic Farmer Funds Frozen

Per Trump's freeze on financial contracts, the USDA is withholding funds for the Organic Market Development Grant program and the Transition to Organic Partnership Program, which typically go directly to organic farmers or to non-profits supporting organic farmers.

New Ag Innovation Programs Shuttered

The shutdown of USAID has been trickling down through multiple ag-focused agencies, including the Soybean Innovation Labs, which were hosted at land-grant universities across the U.S.. These research labs focused on developing new genetics and growing practices in soybeans critical to U.S. and international growers. They had to close the entire program, laying off 30 scientists and researchers in 19 labs across 17 states.

Sustainable Agriculture Health Research Funds Lost

K State University lost up to $50 million that was pledged through a USAID Program over the next five years to advance research in “sustainable intensification,” an approach focused on increasing crop yields without expanding agricultural land use, expected to directly benefit Kansas (and U.S.) farmers.

Ag Machinery Manufacturers to Lose Export Sales

China's retaliatory tariffs (although not yet on crops, we shall see) are expected to have a major impact on U.S. ag machinery manufacturers, who were already struggling and have had massive lay-offs over the last 12 months. China imported almost $800 million of U.S.-manufactured ag machinery in 2020.

And it goes on and on and on with new, major issues coming to light on a near-hourly basis. My heart hurts for U.S. farmers and U.S. farm communities, large and small, that are needlessly and thoughtlessly being impacted by this.

But hey, on the bright side, Trump banned those infuriating paper straws!

 

The Cracks

The GOP is starting – slowly and quietly – to sour on this administration.

Several GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, Susan Collins of Maine, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, have spoken out about the loss of NIH funding as well as the loss of USAID monies in the agriculture arena. 

The Wall Street Journal published a couple articles showing that corporate America is starting to get fed up:

In fact, his tariff orders seem to come and go on whims. I suspect when he sees what his announcements do to the stock market, he changes tack. 

Truthfully, I can't keep my head straight on what the current tariff situation is. I think, tariffs on aluminum and steel from everywhere? Ten percent on everything from China? Canada and Mexico "gave him what he wanted" (which to my understanding was the same or worse than the previous deal) and their tariffs were rescinded? or paused? I'm running out of steam, friends, and can't find my way to look for tariff information. 

In any case, we need corporate America to push back. Those are true masters politically. They will be hurting along with the rest of us. Put pressure on them!

One way to do that is the Economic Blackout on February 28.

There have been calls for this in the past, but this one seems to be getting some traction. So, let's plan on NOT spending money on February 28.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in-store

No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy

Nowhere!

Do not spend money on:

Fast Food

Gas

Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary. Use cash if you can. 

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

Use cash if you can for these essential purchases.

Let's get corporate America to crack!

The McConnell Factor

Mitch McConnell is cracking, too. He is 83 years old. His term ends in 2027, when he will be 85. By all appearances, it looks like he will not be running for re-election in 2026.

How do we know? He finally grew a portion of a spine. 

He voted no on Tulsi Gabbard's nomination for Director of National Intelligence, Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, as well as on RFK Jr's nomination for HHS Secretary. He's been speaking out against the tariff talk, too. 

Too little too late, Senator Turtle. 

Weird stuff

IMPOTUS fired the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and installed himself as chairman. 

Yeah, because being president gives a person a lot of free time to sit on boards.

The fallout: staff members and artists are bailing. What once was a shining performing arts center is destined to be just another propaganda pipeline. 

Google and Apple both fell in line to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" on their map apps. 

So freaking weird.

From a FB post: The Indigenous People of North America have decided to go back to calling the Gulf of Mexico, “Chalchiuhtlicueyecatl”. It is what the Nahuatl People originally called it as it is the domain of the goddess Chalchiuhtlicue, who is associated with water bodies, including the Gulf of Mexico

This is prolly my favorite one

If you wanna do a quick little act of resistance, do this. But if you only have time for one thing, call your MoCs instead!

Apple Maps has a error-reporting place, too.

Incompetent Baby Software Engineers 

In the meantime, Musk's baby coders are idiots. Hackers were easily able to get into Musky's boys' DOGE website and defaced it, mocking all the while. 

I don't know much about coding, but apparently they used open-source stuff and left the database open so that hackers could easily waltz in.

You remember one of the babes was let go (and I think brought back) for racist posts on social media.

One of the teens was fired from an internship because he shared secrets with a competitor. 

Yeah. And they want to run our country's payment systems. 

The Cruelty

• Elmo mocked a blind witness, testifying before Congress about DOGE.

• How 'bout this headline: Trump State Department official has repeatedly called for mass sterilization of ‘low-IQ trash’

• This:

• Kim Don Un's short-sighted executive order freezing grants shafted hundreds of low-income Alabamans out of an energy subsidy. They have to come up with $100 to pay the charge that is suddenly appearing on their bill. 

I hate that they voted against their own interests, but I hate more that the poor are getting the worst of these actions. 

• Alabama will hurt even more by the freezing of grants from the National Institutes of Health grants. University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of the top recipients for the grants. Losing them could be devastating to health care in Alabama, the research at the university, the prestige of the university, as well as jobs. 

• This:

It's true

Not gonna lie...

LSR is panicked-adjacent. It's been a rough couple of weeks. 

I feel disoriented some of the time. I don't know about you, but I've experience brain fog like I never have before. And when I read too many headlines, I get a physical reaction that is hard to explain. It's like becoming disassociated. It's weird and off-putting.

It's important to try to step back from that brink, because it's what they want:

So, more deep breathing, another drink of water. And more resolve.

When I stew in the middle of the night, I have to remind myself, "There's nothing I can do at 4am to save our democracy." 

Come morning, I resist. Every day.

• I contact my members of Congress.

I told them this week to push back on Musk's takeover and I called for them to demand oversight hearings in Congress. I asked them to oppose RFK's nomination to lead Heath and Human Services, and in fact to oppose all nominations until some oversight has been put in place for Musk's nefarious activities. 

 

Have you contacted your MoCs today? It is not a one-and-done action. Things are moving fast, and you need to remind your members that you are paying attention, that you care, and that you vote. Go to 5calls.org and get dialing! If you can't get through, use resistbot. 

 

• I find joy and take care of my body and spirit. 

This week I went dancing and I helped a friend in need. 

 

What have you done to live happily and well today? 

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• I find a way to resist: a donation, some postcards, developing an idea, volunteer with an organization helping immigrants, writing this blog.

Today I am writing and organizing. I made another donation to ACLU. I gave some Constitutional rights cards to people I care about.

 

What have you done today or this week?

Other strategies

• The DNC is trying to illustrate how Vladamir Gluten's and MUSK's actions are hurting red states. It's true. All this shit will bring harm to the poorest communities, which are the ones who voted for him.

• Somebody put out this call for Pete Buttigieg to offer daily crisis briefings. Genius idea! He is one of the smartest, most articulate Americans in the land. 

• Think about this technique: using Aikido. Aikido is a martial art where instead of fighting, you re-direct your opponent's momentum to take them down.

From Brad Templeton

This doesn't mean you stop resisting, but you do it with precision. Avoid symbolic gestures and outrage. Focus on tactics that have a decent shot at actually changing things. The quieter you can do it the better, if you can be effective. 

For every effort, you must ask, "will this unify them?" If it will unify them, it helps them and hurts you. Judge the gain you will get from any tactic, and how much it will help keep them together. 

This means giving up on hate, difficult as that is. It shouldn't be difficult. Every great liberal and progressive philosopher, be it Gandhi or Jesus or Obama or Martin Luther King, Jr. has preached this message strongly and consistently. Pull back from hate, and do not drive them to hate you. Stop calling them clever names or lecturing them on their immorality and stupidity, as satisfying as that may be. When you preach, ask what your message will do. If it will just make you and your cohort feel superior, skip it. If it will make them hate you, definitely skip it. When they bait you -- and they will bait you, not just Trump but Putin too -- ignore the bait. They want your outrage and your anger. Imagine them as Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, monologuing that your hate makes you strong, to feel your anger, and be Luke Skywalker. I used to think those scenes were stupid, why is the Emperor reminding Luke that he's trying to trigger him, but it turns out it really works. 

Yup, frustrating as it may be, you have to stop calling them Fascists and Nazis, and idiots and dupes and evil. Frankly, stop thinking it, because they are not that stupid, and they can tell what you think, because it's really obvious. Resist in more subtle ways, and let them start to ignore you. Let them stop thinking of you as the threat, as instead turn towards, and on, their fellow Republicans. (And they will, even though I just explained this to them.) This is not appeasement, or surrender. This is strategic resistance. It's Aikido - using your enemy's strength against themselves when they have all the strength. 

There will be great frustration at not doing all you can think of. I know many will refuse, both because of the frustration, but out of fear of not doing absolutely everything they could. You may have heard that the triumph of evil happens because good people do nothing.

That's not the actual lesson of history. The good people didn't do nothing when the fascists rose, they objected, strenuously. The triumph of evil happens when the average people, neither very good nor very bad, enable the evil. But there is a difference between doing all you can think of and doing all that will work. This strategy is one of those things that can work. If you think the Democrats in Congress are keeping too quiet, maybe it's because they realize that.

How can you use Aikido in your everyday resistance?

We must not let up! We are the ones who are going to save us.

Until we are on firmer footing, we can dream. 

California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, for seven years running. It's no wonder that we are being courted by Denmark and Canada:

A petition for Denmark to purchase California is gaining momentum. I'd be down.

And Canada is making this generous offer:

@nowthisimpact we volunteer as tribute #trump #healthcaresystem #democrat ♬ original sound - NowThis Impact

Would you join a class action lawsuit? This idea came to me during one of my middle-of-the-night worry sessions. Turns out Rep. Jamie Raskin has the same idea.

There's so much coming at us. It's so scattershot, it's overwhelming. That is what they want. To overwhelm us and shut us down. 

I'm going to try to outline some of the other stuff coming. Not to overwhelm, but to inform you. Just keep it in the back of your mind; no need to go down every rabbit hole.

Dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion measures.

This erodes our very fabric as a melting pot. They want you to think that DEI means favored treatment by unqualified people. They want you to think that by someone's very color or gender that they are immediately unqualified, simply because they are not a white man. 

These are words that have been ordered to be removed from government documents and websites:

DEI is this:

Next time you have a person tell you how bad DEI is, use the full words and ask them to name which aspect – diversity, equity, or inclusion? – that they like the least and why. 

I'll let Rep. Jasmine Crockett tell you more. (Can I just say right now, Jasmine for President 2028!)

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The really stupid stuff. 

These are distractions. Try to avoid getting into the weeds with the idiocy; keep your eye on the ball. 

• Ignore the buying Greenland thing.
• Ignore the Panama Canal thing.
• Ignore the Gulf of America thing. Go ahead and report the fix to the online map-makers if it makes you feel better, but the name on a map is not a threat to our democracy. 
• Ignore the ban on exploding paper straws. 

Those are all distractions. Save your energy and your outrage for the biggies: stopping the stripping of rights of anyone other than cis-gendered, heterosexual, white Christian men, halting the dismantling of our government systems, and getting Elon Musk out of power.

Your Moment of Beauty

Just outside my front door on a recent rainy day.

An Important Reminder

We will win. Right always wins. Stay true to your core beliefs. Do not let them corrode that. Keep kindness and love in your heart. It may take time, but we will prevail. Hang in there. 

Four weeks down, 204 to go.

Memeville

 

We need powerful artists to say powerful things:

From Germany's Carnival parades. They know what's what:

Don't forget!

Finally....

Stand! Take Sly Stone's words and music to heart. (And if you subscribe to Hulu, watch the documentary on Sly's music today!)