Recap of this week in the revolution: A ceasefire is possible between Russia and Ukraine, Trump is called out for insane economic policies, laid off federal workers are mocked by their own families, and protesters are arrested and threatened with deportation for participation in legal activities. Congress hands over the last of their authority to Donald Trump even while he removes the last remnants of the judicial branch to achieve a total elimination of the separation of powers our government depends on. Join the revolution by dumping Tesla stock or joining a Tesla takedown. Call your MOC and tell them not to support the SAVE act if/when it comes up for a vote. Let's make some noise, people.
The Good...
All across the country, Republicans are hiding from their constituents to avoid accountability for their support of Donald Trump's regime.
While they hide in the shadows, Democrats are willing to talk to their constituents as well as constituents whose representatives are not showing up for their people.
Image by Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Ukraine has signaled that it is willing to enter into a 30-day ceasefire if Russia is willing to accept. That is excellent news, as any pause in this war will be a welcome respite and will save lives. Russia and Ukraine will both use any potential ceasefire to re-position their troops and reinforce their positions to gain advantage.
Russia will likely make a large push forward to gain new territory, then sign the ceasefire to give them time to fortify their position to better hold that territory. The main reason Ukraine would agree to the ceasefire is to continue receiving U.S. intelligence about Russian movements.
Donald Trump ran for president in each of the last 3 elections largely on the claim that the United States should be run by a businessman instead of a politician.
The problem is that Donald Trump is a terrible businessman. He has no idea how to run a business, as indicated by the economic policies he is advancing right now, which can only be described as "insane."
The Bad...
Image by Azmi Talib from Pixabay
Thousands of federal employees have recently had their lives turned upside down when they were fired without cause by Elon Musk's rats in DOGE. While they try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, some of them are facing relatives who are cheering their unemployment.
Trump loyalists blindly adhere to the belief that these layoffs have something to do with cutting waste out of our government, even if it is their own family members who are being called "parasites" by a madman who has become the richest man in the world by grifting off of the hard working employees in the companies he owns.
For the last 30 years, the EPA's environmental justice offices have fought resolve environmental issues affecting communities that have been burdened by pollution, which are often low-income and minority communities.
Protecting our own people, especially our most vulnerable people, from economic, health, and safety issues caused by industrial pollution can never be legitimately considered fraud, waste, or abuse. This move is just another in a long line of examples of our government telling its people: "We don't care about you."
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
Congressional Republicans drafted a continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown this week. That's not at all unusual these days, but this CR includes provisions that take away Congress' "power of the purse" and gives the Trump regime authority to decide where the government funding is spent.
The net result: Republicans have chosen to take power away from democratically-elected members of Congress and hand it over to the un-elected bureaucrat, Elon Musk. Musk has already dismantled many of the major institutions of democracy in this country, and this bill gives him even more power to continue this wanton destruction.
United States Treasury, Washington, D.C.
Image by Tony Webster from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Donald Trump has increased the U.S. budget deficit to record levels already, after only 2 months in office.
Trump has been claiming that he would make fiscal responsibility a priority, even creating the sham government agency called the Department of Government Efficiency. But instead of saving us money, his regime has left us with a massive budget shortfall in his first months in office.
For Donald Trump's first full month in office (February, 2025), the budget deficit was $307 billion, 4% over last February.
The Ugly...
"Free Mahmoud Khalil Immediately! Stop fascist assault on basic rights & academic freedom"
Image by SWinxy from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
On March 9, a recent Columbia University graduate by the name of Mahmoud Khalil was detained by out-of-uniform ICE agents who did not identify themselves and displayed no warrant. His wife, who witnessed and recorded the arrest, compares it to a kidnapping.
Khalil has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights, and has led or helped organize several legal pro-Palestine and antiwar protests.
Donald Trump continues to show his absolute disregard for the rights of his people by withdrawing federal funds from universities where protests occur, arresting protesters, and deporting legal residents. The American people (including foreign nationals legally residing in the United States) have not only a right, but a responsibility to protest unjust actions when we see them. Donald Trump has no right to block, punish, or threaten people who protest his actions, but he's doing it anyway.
The Alarming Moves You Might Have Missed Lost in the noise of the past two weeks, Trump has taken unprecedented steps to undermine the one branch of government he doesn’t fully control — the judiciary.
— 50501: The People’s Movement (@50501movement.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM
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- (Bluesky - 50501) The Alarming Moves you Might Have Missed
- (Reuters) Trump Administration Fires Team of Lawyers who Prosecuted Him, Official Says
- (TechDirt) Trump's Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers
- (CNBC) Trump to Sign Executive Order Limiting Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
- (Reuters) Trump Directs Government to ask for Bond in Lawsuits Challenging Policies
Congress voted to pass the Republicans' corrupt continuing resolution (CR) described above. While the bill was introduced by and supported by Republicans, it could not have passed without Democratic support, which it received.
The United States was founded on the principle of a separation of powers between three branches of government. Over time, these branches have been abdicating their power for short-term, personal gain. Never has this been so blatant as this vote for the CR.
This is an act of cowardice on the part of everyone who supported the bill. These MOCs gave up the power granted to them by the Constitution so they would not have to bear responsibility. Since the Judicial branch has already given up it's power by declaring that the president is above the law, this is effectively the end of the separation of powers in this country.
What did I/we do last week?
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
One of our three dogs suffered from a rapid decline in health this week. She is a fifteen-year-old chihuahua, and suddenly stopped eating and lost most of her motor functions. Our family has been taking turns watching her and assisting her as much as possible.
Over the past few days, her health has improved, and she is eating again and able to walk, somewhat, without assistance. But she still requires monitoring as she is prone to falling down and not being able to get back up again.
I was able to set up a new account on Substack and create a YouTube channel for free-the-people.us, but there is no content on either account at this time. That's about as much as I've been able to accomplish this week, aside from this newsletter.
What can you do this week?
Image by bookdragon from Pixabay
House Resolution 22, also know as the "Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act" or the "SAVE Act," allegedly makes elections more secure by requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
But in reality, this bill is intended to make it more difficult to vote, especially for the poor, women, and new citizens, exactly the demographics the Republican party seeks to disenfranchise.
Perhaps the biggest blow would be to women who legally changed their names when they got married. Under the SAVE Act, since their birth certificate would not match their current legal name, as many as 69 million American women would be unable to register to vote or update their registration status.
This bill would also effectively halt all third-party voter registration initiatives and online voter registration, disenfranchising millions of Americans.
Find peaceful protests scheduled at your local Tesla showroom. Musk has heavily leveraged his Tesla stock to prop up many of his other assets. When the stock price goes down, it hurts Musk's bottom line.
How to participate:
- Sell your Tesla
- Dump you Tesla stock
- Find or host a protest near you
Keeping you informed...
It must be because we never had a way of identifying and stopping fraud, waste, and abuse in our government before, right?
Wrong. The paltry savings that DOGE has created are just random cuts, and have nothing to do with eliminating fraud, waste, or abuse. But there have always been people in our government who really find and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse. And they're good at what they do. Or, at least they were, before they were fired.
"Our democracy is not in danger. It is no longer a democracy."
On the lighter side...
"Could it be that my anger towards trans people, who have affected me in no way, could it be that that anger is better directed towards the ultra rich and politicians who mislead me to vote against my own self interest time and time again?"
Who made this? 🤣
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@calltoactivism.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 7:42 AM
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