waterwatcher123
waterwatcher123's JournalOur local community newspaper published my editorial.
So, you voted for an assholeIt was a slight majority of voters nationally (49.8%) who lifted Donald J. Trump to a second term as President of the United States. Regrettably, Trump voters were convinced he was the better choice despite the daily turmoil and mismanagement of his first term in office. Donald Trump’s political success has been based on degrading everyone who opposes him and elevating himself as the savior. The truth of the matter is his success is part of the “art of the con.” To the extent you could call it success, his life story is based on deceit and treachery. He stiffed students who fell for his snake oil promises at Trump University, reneged on paying small contractors who worked on his failed casinos and left a trail of unpaid campaign debt with cities that hosted his rallies. He defrauded New York on his taxes, assaulted women, and defamed person-after-person. This is the person many of you voted for as president. You knew better and still voted for a man whose has no business in the White House or any position of power. He should be in a federal or state penitentiary instead of behind the famous Resolute desk.
(entire version at link below)
https://duluthreader.com/articles/2025/02/06/130587-letters-feb-6-2025
It is US citizens who are the drug smugglers, not illegal immigrants
"U.S. Citizens Were 89% of Convicted Fentanyl Traffickers in 2022
Fentanyl overdoses tragically caused tens of thousands of preventable deaths last year. Many politicians who want to end U.S. asylum law claim that immigrants crossing the border illegally are responsible. An NPR‐Ipsos poll found that 39 percent of Americans and 60 percent of Republicans believe, “Most of the fentanyl entering the U.S. is smuggled in by unauthorized migrants crossing the border illegally.” A more accurate summary is that fentanyl is overwhelmingly smuggled by U.S. citizens, almost entirely for U.S. citizen consumers.
Fentanyl smuggling is ultimately funded by U.S. consumers who pay for illicit opioids: nearly 99 percent of whom are U.S. citizens.
In 2022, U.S. citizens were 89 percent of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers—12 times greater than convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense.
In 2023, 93 percent of fentanyl seizures occurred at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints, not on illegal migration routes, so U.S. citizens (who are subject to less scrutiny) when crossing legally are the best smugglers."
https://www.cato.org/blog/us-citizens-were-89-convicted-fentanyl-traffickers-2022
(even conservative think tanks can not deny the facts)
Start raising your voice - ask your elected officals and the GSA Inspector General to apply FACA to DOGE
If you have a moment, consider writing to your U.S. Senators, Members of Congress, and the General Services Administration (GSA) to demand that they apply the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) to Musk and Ramaswamy's so called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and to any group providing advice to the Trump Administration. These are the email addresses for the GSA, who oversee FACA for the U.S. government (one is for the inspector general).
OIG_PublicAffairs@gsaig.gov
cms@gsa.gov
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Letter from Public Citizen on FACA:
"Dear Transition Co-Chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon:
President-elect Trump has announced that he intends to name Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” (the Department) in the new administration. According to Mr. Trump, the Department “will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management and Budget [OMB] to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” Mr. Trump’s announcement did not indicate the date on which the Department would be established, but it stated that the Department “work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026,” approximately a year and half into Mr. Trump’s second term.
The Department, of course, is not a true governmental department, which can be created only by an act of Congress. Based on publicly available information about the Department’s purpose and proposed leadership, it appears that the Department will be subject to the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Accordingly, the Department must abide by the rules of that law and you should instruct Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy to prepare to conduct their operations in accordance with the law.
These requirements include establishing fair balance and representation on the committee, holding open meetings and maintaining and preserving records available to the public."
https://www.citizen.org/article/letter-to-trump-transition-team-on-doge-compliance-with-faca/
Would it be OK to post a rather long narrative on some ideas for Trump resistance?
I apologize for being so unaware of what you folks were doing every day to support Democratic candidates in the 2024 election (just never really looked at the forums). But it is clear with just a little review you folks are doers while so many others spend all their time talking. I should have been here all along since I much prefer people who act to those who spend their time trying to dissuade you from doing something they view as insurmountable or ill-advised.
My professional career focused on trying to protect the watershed of one of the world's true natural wonders, Lake Superior. I once organized one of the largest environmental conferences on the Great Lakes in our hometown (Duluth, MN) for the International Joint Commission's (IJC) Biennial Meeting on Great Lakes Water Quality. This conference brought together activists from around the country and world to focus on the sun-setting of a series of forever chemicals showing up in fish and water throughout the Great Lakes. We were advised by any number of well-wishers this conference would never be held in Duluth due to our remote location and size (furthest point west on the Great Lakes). We doggedly pursued this conference, and it ended up attracting scientists from throughout the Great Lakes and world, as well as large numbers of activists and the public. It was great fun, and we had Greenpeace scaling buildings with signs and floating around in the harbor with their Great Lakes ship (not the Rainbow Warrior). The conference was a remarkable success and IJC was able to again force a larger public conversation around forever chemicals.
The only reason to mention this story is to remind everyone that what is possible is limited only by the minds of the doers (those in the fight). I understand no one really wanted to make it their full-time job to fight these MAGA nuts. But here we are with these people moving into the White House in mid-January. So, why not do our part to make their stay as non-productive and frustrating as possible. I started to jot down a few ideas about how to frustrate these people that I refer to as "Operation Creative Mischief." I am wondering if I can post these ideas and see if you can add to them, suggest changes, and/or help develop a mischief plan?
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pre-emptively pardon people to frustrate the Trump vengeance and retribution tour.
It might be a good time to use whatever options we all have available to ourselves to suggest to Democratic law makers that they encourage Joe Biden to per-emptively pardon anyone in Trump's cross hairs for his vengeance and vendetta tour (Kamala Harris, Liz Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff, General Mark Milley, General John Kelley, Justice Department Prosecutors, etc.). You may recall that Trump sycophants were requesting such pardons in 2019-2020 to cover up their involvement in the insurrection. If Biden were able to accomplish this goal before he departs, it would take the wind right out this mad man's sails (hard to prosecute someone who has a pardon).
Absolute-and-Total-Non-Cooperation
"Like pretty much everyone here I’ve been in a dark place since the election. It’s hard to feel as though we aren’t experiencing the complete and total triumph of evil. And we are just getting started. The country is going to go through some awful and dark things. Good people will be hurt. Some will die. Our Democracy is on life support. We may really see mass deportations. Another pandemic could hit with a man who had a brain worm in charge. Trade wars will be the results of tariffs, the kind that led to the great depression. We could abandon Ukraine, pull out NATO, lose our place in the world, Get a national abortion ban and so on and so on.
Trump is a destroyer not a builder. He is a malignant narcissist, whose only real goal is to inflect as much pain and darkness on the world as exists in his bitter tormented soul. Those of us here see clearly what a monster he is. The rest of the country—god help them—do not.
So bad things are coming and I don’t know any better than you whether our country can be saved or not. Since the election I have been trying to stay away from the news. Going for walks, meditating, Taking a break. I encourage everyone to do this. I have been trying to heal some before what is to come. Because, like it or not, tired or not, we have to be ready to fight.
The greatest generation became the greatest generation because they survived the Great Depression and Won World War II. I’m guessing most of them would have rather skipped both those events if they could have. They fought them, not because they wanted to, but because they had no choice. Same as us. If you are like me you’d probably rather skip this one. I know I want to. But we can’t. It’s our turn and like it or not we must dig deep and fight again."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/16/2286592/-Absolute-and-Total-Non-Cooperation?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
Economic Power is One Way to Fight Back
Eloon Musk was one of the principle financial backers and looks to play a key role in Trump's resurrection. As the richest man on the planet, he now wants everyone else to plan for austerity because he is going to cut every federal program he deems unnecessary (like Social Security and Medicare). I would like to suggest we collectively fight back by taking steps to seriously impact this man's wealth and power. His primary source of wealth is Tesla stock, which has soared in value in recent years. If you have any Tesla stock or a mutual fund that invests in Tesla, seriously consider selling it now. Another thing we can do is to stop buying his cars. Democrats are one of the primary buyers of Tesla cars for obvious reasons. However, there are lots of alternatives available that do not enrich megalomaniacs. Getting rid of your existing car would also drive down the value of new cars and the stock by flooding the market with used vehicles. Secondly, if you have any option, get rid of your Starlink internet service now. This man cannot be trusted with any of your data and will pass it on to the new Republican Gestapo.
My guess is that Eloon will be involved in the federal procurement process that results in our tax money being used to buy his vehicles and to enrich him. Usually, the government must go through a bidding process when it purchases equipment or fleets of cars and trucks. In the past, nefarious people within the G.W. Bush administration got around the bidding process by offering no bid contracts to companies like Haliburton (Vice President Dick Cheney's friends). These "sole source" contracts made Haliburton and others like them billions of dollars by fleecing the American treasury through excessive costs and mismanagement. We need to intercede in this effort this time to stop this fleecing of America and force these vulture capitalists to play by the same rules as everyone else. Does anyone here know how to get registered in the federal procurement process so we can expose this corruption and frustrate their efforts? The federal government uses Grants.gov for federal grants. This is another place where corruption can go on unchecked if they are gaming the federal government to reward their cronies. There is a process to dispute these awards if it looks like they issued based on favoritism or connections.
Economic power can be a highly effective tool coupled with political action. So, consider using your power to stop these Trump con men from destroying the country and enriching themselves. Use your personal power to boycott certain services and products. We can use our collective power to stop and expose the worst abuses in the federal procurement and grants programs. This abuse must be exposed, or they will get away with their corruption (one of the main reasons they pursue power).
Watch the Democratic National Convention Pundit Free
If you want to watch the convention without the pundits, try Amazon Prime Live TV (they are streaming the convention without commercials or pundits). It is pretty refreshing to see it without someone interpreting every speech or convention nuance.
This image should be tied around the necks of Trump and J.D. Vance.
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Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayHometown: Duluth, Minnesota
Home country: USA
Current location: Hawaii
Member since: Tue Feb 14, 2012, 09:27 PM
Number of posts: 347