Little Sister Resister: Bettering the Instruction

“The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.” ~ Shylock, The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare

Are we ready to go hard on some newly-learned villainy, Resisters?

Drew Sheneman

Today, we take a breather. The bad news is coming fast and furious. It's hard to keep up, but you Resisters have been doing it! Today, we focus on the positives!

Democracy = Action

“In a democracy, the highest office is the office of citizen.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter (in office 1939-1962)

It's been extremely gratifying that so many people have been taking to the phones, to the streets, and sticking sticks in the spokes of Ketamine Caligula's and Shitler's machine. Let's look at the citizens putting democracy in action.

From Andy Borowitz, many reports of acts of resistance. Here are the ones he posted. Inspiring!

Demonstrations from coast to coast. The 50501 (50 protests in all 50 state capitols on 1 day) demonstrations on Wednesday brought out many. BuzzFeed has pictures.

There have been demonstrations against ICE raids. Here is the news about the local protest, but there have been protests popping up around the country.

People are getting riled up! In my orbit, so many are discovering how to call their reps, and are doing so for the first time. The People are mobilizing!

If you still can access WaPo, here's an article about the impact that your calls are making! Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) reports that the Senate was receiving 1600 calls per minute, compared to an average 40 per minute normally.

On Resistbot, once you send a message, it tells you how many messages have been sent in the previous 24 hours. In calmer days, it was 3,000 or 7,000. The numbers are growing. There were 17,000 messages sent last Tuesday, January 28. After the shit hit the fan over the weekend, it was 46,000 on Monday; 71,000 on Tuesday; and today (Friday), it was 121,000!

Keep the momentum going, Resisters! There is still much work to be done!

Members of Congress have been riled up

They are getting going, thanks to our voices!

Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan from Wisconsin has introduced a bill called the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy (ELON MUSK) Act. It seeks to ban special government employees (SGEs; Muskovite has been given that designation) from obtaining federal contracts.

Rep. Al Green (D-Tex.) plans to bring articles of impeachment against IQ47 after his comments about "taking over" Gaza. Yes, I know: it won't go anywhere with the lily-livered Repugs lapping up every shit stain Diaper Don flings about. But, it's something. It's been said out loud.

Democrat Reps. Judy Chu (Calif.) and Gwen Moore (Wisc.) burst into Speaker Mike Johnson's office to confront him about Musty and DOGE running ramshod over our nation.

Other Dems have written letters to the Secretary of Transportation and the NASA Acting Director over conflict-of-interest concerns.

Several others from Wisconsin and Colorado and beyond have raised concerns.

Can I just take a moment to be sad and outraged again over Sen. McConnell's blocking 45's conviction in the first two impeachments? If only he had been convicted, we would not be in this mess.

Courts are putting blocks up

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotellyon put a block up and limited Muskovite's access to the Treasury Department's systems. The Treasury Department capitulated and agreed to limit access to DOGE while the court hears the case.

A judge is considering whether to block DOGE from the Labor Department's computers.

Labor groups are suing over the dismantling of USAID.

And here's a biggie: a judge stayed the deadline for the buyout offer.

The Press is Adding Sand to the Gears

An important strategy is to get Trump³⁴ to sour on Musk. Time Magazine is doing a good job of that with its cover. Here is the accompanying story.

One of Elong's boys, Marko Elez, resigned after The Wall Street Journal found a now-deleted Twitter account that contained racist posts, including calling for “eugenic immigration policy” and to “normalize Indian hate.”

The stilts are cracking

Republican voters' support for Musk has stated to slip according to a new Economist/YouGov poll. As The Hill reports, "in the days after the November 2024 election, 47 percent of surveyed Republicans said they wanted Musk to have 'a lot' of influence in the Trump administration, while 29 percent wanted 'a little' and 12 percent wanted him to have 'none at all.'"

Now, "the share of Republicans who say they want Musk to have 'a lot' of influence has fallen substantially to 26 percent. Meanwhile, 43 percent of Republican respondents say they want Musk to have 'a little' influence, and 17 percent say they want him to have 'none at all."

Not surprisingly, support has slipped for Democrats and independent voters, but not as dramatically as for Repugs. This data may help more GOP MoCs to reconsider their support.

Repug senators are at least quietly expressing concern over Elon Dude and his merry band of thieves.

Repugs are breaking with the Mango Mussolini over his whack-a-doodle Gaza idea. This was another spur-of-the-moment random thought that flitted through his brain bucket, found the one functioning neuron, and landed in his mouth. Everyone – including his own staff – were thrown for a loop.

It is a safe place for Repugs to resist. But every time they do resist, it's a win.

Here's The Daily's Show's Desi Lydic's take on that and other drips of shit:

Easy Acts of Resistance. Do one today.

Democracy is people in the streets, on the phones, writing letters, and staying informed. Keep up the good work, Resisters!

The following are easy, low-risk acts of resistance that you can do today and this weekend. Much of it is just reading homework.

Read the United States Constitution. It's an accessible document; it's The People's document. Yes, the language is archaic at times, but it really is easy to read. Find it online here. Get a pocket copy from the government here. Buy a few and give them to your friends!

Side note: I wonder why Congress isn't enacting Article 1, Section 8, Clause 15. One of their powers as outlined in Article 1 is, "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions."

Related: know your rights. Citizen and non-citizens have rights. Read here. Share the information. The Constitution is still in full effect!

Download the 5Calls app or bookmark the webpage. Just download and bookmark today if you are overwhelmed; tomorrow and next week use it to become more informed on the issues and to contact your Members of Congress. All members of Congress need to know that you are paying attention and that you care. And that you vote!

If their lines are always busy or their voicemail is full, use Resistbot to write an email or a fax.

In your letters, remind them that Congress and only Congress has the power of the purse as outlined in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. They should not give their power away!

If your Members are doing the right thing, send a message thanking them.

Write a letter to your bank. Banking controls a lot. If enough of us push them to act, they may have some influence. It's worth a try. Here is my letter; use it or write your own.

Freeze your credit. The data breach is massive. Go to the three credit bureaus and put a freeze on. It's easy, and if you need to access your credit for a loan application, for example, it's easy to temporarily lift the freeze. It might not technically be an act of resistance, but protecting yourself is peace of mind, which frees you to do other acts! Learn how to freeze your credit here.

Go on Resistbot and write to your state reps (5Calls does not connect you to state-level officials – although I see an option today to call your state AG). Ask your reps, the state attorney general, and your governor to do what they can to bring state charges against Elon Musk for all the shenanigans he's been committing. This can keep the DOJ from interfering, and bonus: state charges are not eligible for presidential pardons.

Keep talking about Elon. Keep the focus on him. King Ketchup is soon going to get very jealous of the ratings that his buddy is getting. Any wedge you can put between them, the better. Send an empty envelope to "President Elon Musk" or "King Elon Musk" to the Whitewash House or Mar-a-Lardo. I did both!

White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Mar-a-Lago
1100 S. Ocean Blvd.
Palm Beach, FL 33480

Do you have any other ideas to get a wedge between their egos?

I repeat an act of resistance that should be done every day: do self-care activities. Find joy in your life. Breathe deeply when you feel overwhelmed. Tune out when you need to, and then come back. We need you at your best. The Resistance doesn't work if everyone is under their beds.

Read this. Just read it for now. Then repeat the one just above.

Read this and gird yourself for the fight. Protests work! Sign up for alerts and newsletters from Indivisible; they will tell you about protests upcoming. Go to the dollar store for some sign supplies, and get ready for the next call to action.

Read this and always be prepared to be safe when you do go to a protest.

Follow AltNPS on Facebook or BlueSky. They are on the front lines. Not only are they the first to get information out, they need our support!

MEMES and TOONS

There hasn't been time or head space to include a lot in the last few posts, so here is your dose of satire, information, and hard-hitting editorial journalism in picture form.

Laugh, cry, be inspired!

Go, AltNPS, go!

Let's embrace our fierce, fierce representatives!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gwendolyn Quinn (@gwendolynquinnofficial)

and

@edensingsofficial Replying to @PapaPanda81 your wish is my command 🥰 “The Ballad of Jasmine Crockett” parody #parodysong #folkmusic #jasminecrockett #folk ♬ original sound - Eden