Recap of this week in the revolution: Sanders and AOC draw record crowds as they fight oligarchy. DOGE seeks to cripple the Social Security Administration and the Institute of Peace. Republican Dooh Nibors steal from the poor to give to the rich while Trump deports hundreds to slave prison without due process. Travelers visiting the United States are being detained and interrogated for no reason and school teachers are ordered to remove the message 'everyone is welcome here' from their classroom. Join the resistance by learning how to fight against intimidation, run for office yourself, and find resistance activities near you.
The Good...
Tens of thousands gather in Denver to hear Sanders and AOC speak on March 21
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are touring the nation to rally the people to stand up against Trump's takeover of our government. Despite the fact that this is not an election year, these two representatives are drawing the largest crowds in their history as people pour out to show support for the Democrats who dare to stand up to Trump.
In Denver, over 34,000 people gathered at their state capital to hear the two speak. Sanders had this to say:
"In the hundreds of rallies that I have done, we have never, ever, had a rally as large as this."
The tour was launched in February, and is primarily targeted at working-class districts with mixed constituents (Won by Biden in 2020, but a Republican House Representative in 2024). Reporters point out that half of the RSVPs for Denver's event came from people who were not on Sanders' supporter list.
A recent poll indicates that 72% of Americans are "concerned about tariffs," up 11% in the past two months. In every category surveyed (Democrats, Republicans, and Independents), more than 80% of respondents said they are concerned about the economy and inflation.
How does Donald Trump respond to these growing concerns over his policies? The same way he always does: Double-down on the very policies that people are complaining about.
Right now, tariffs can be seen as leverage over other countries, who depend on the income they receive from their goods purchased in the United States. But that leverage only works when it is applied skillfully. Trump's tariffs will cause foreign suppliers to seek now markets for their goods, decreasing their reliance on American money and weakening the leverage tariffs have over them.
The Bad...
Trump has repeatedly promised "not to touch" the Social Security Administration in his dismantling of the country. Why? Not because he cares about it or relies on it. But because everyone knows that cutting social security benefits for American citizens will not be tolerated.
But what if the social security system just happened to fall apart on its own? Then he could preside over the demise of the most popular government policy in the United States and claim it wasn't his fault.
That seems to be the plan, according to a leaked internal memo from the social security administration. Instead of proposing cuts to benefits, Trump and Musk will simply cripple the day-to-day operations of the already-struggling SSA until it is no longer able to function.
Under the guise of addressing the national debt, a new push to amend the Constitution could give Trump even more power.
Under Article V the Constitution, if 2/3 of the states request a convention to propose and pass amendments, it must be granted. There has never been a time when 2/3 of the states have called for this, but activist organizations are trying to push the claim that old calls for convention, dating back to the 1700s, count towards the total needed (34 states). If every historical call for a convention is counted, the total may reach 34, but nearly half of the calls for convention that activists are counting have been formally rescinded.
This is nothing more than another in a long line of absurd power grabs based on lies and blatant abuses of our legal system. The goal would be to create a forum where changes to the constitution could be drafted and approved quickly in a single convention, rather than being dragged out over many years as the normal process would require.
United States Institute of Peace
Image by Something Original from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Musk's rats forced their way into the United States Institute of Peace to install a new president.
Because the USIP is an independent, nonprofit institute, the Office of Management and Budget is only authorized to comment in the institute's budget requests. The president of the United States has power to remove USIP board members in certain circumstances, but USIP contends that he has no authority to fire the president of the USIP.
George Foote, a lawyer representing USIP, said the headquarters was "seized by force, by police officers with guns acting under the authority of a resolution that we are going to get a court to declare invalid."
A federal judge denied an emergency request to restrain DOGE, but expressed concern over DOGE's aggressive moves and the use of armed police officers in the takeover. "I have to say, I'm offended on behalf of the American citizens who have done so much service to this country to be treated so abominably," she said.
Image by Perlinator from Pixabay
Republicans are making sweeping tax cuts to benefit the rich. Under the new plan, "America's top 0.1% would get a tax cut of $278,000 while 28 million households in the bottom 80 percent would have no change in their tax bill and 14 million in the bottom [20] percent would actually have their taxes go up."
These tax cuts are estimated to increase the budget deficit by about $3 trillion dollars over the next decade, all while transferring wealth from the poorest in the country to the richest.
We call anyone who favors policies like this a "Dooh Nibor," because they are taking money from the poor to give to the rich. Dooh Nibor is Robin Hood spelled backwards, which fits since these people are doing the opposite of Robin Hood, who famously stole from the rich to give to the poor.
The Ugly...
The Trump regime deported 250 people claiming they are members of a Venezuelan prison gang known as Tren de Aragua. But no one knows if that's true or not, because the deported individuals did not receive a trial.
These deportations happened despite the fact that a federal judge had ordered the regime to stop deportations and to turn around any planes already in the air. The Trump regime claimed that they did not have to comply because the planes were outside U.S. territory when the order came in.
The removal was carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime provision allowing deportation without normal due process. There are several problems with using the Alien Enemies Act to justify these deportations:
- To be invoked, the United States must be at war with the foreign nation or government that is invading or threatening to invade the United States. But Tren de Aragua is a criminal organization, or perhaps a terrorist organization, and the United States cannot declare war against a non-nation. Furthermore, neither Venezuela nor Tren de Aragua have perpetrated, attempted, or threatened an invasion of the United States.
- Donald Trump has claimed that he didn't sign the proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, even though it is in the Federal Register with his signature attached to it. Trump tried to throw Marco Rubio under the bus, telling reporters to as the Secretary of State because "I'm not really involved in that."
Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed that dead people are receiving social security benefits. So, he and his rats have "fixed the glitch" and cut off payments to at least one dead man still receiving benefits. Oh, and they went ahead and withdrew money from his bank account to recover past social security benefits paid out.
The problem is, he's not dead. In fact, he's very much alive, and has been forced to spend weeks trying to sort out the mess DOGE created. And the false claim of his death will probably continue to plague him for the rest of his life.
"I was thinking that if I was living solely off Social Security, I could be close to dumpster diving about now," said Leonard Johnson, the man falsely accused of being dead. "I'm OK with mistakes being made. But I'm not sure how much they're focused on fixing these kinds of mistakes going forward, as they are in using the mistakes to tear the place down."
New Hampshire resident Fabian Schmidt was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and "violently interrogated" in inhumane conditions. Schmidt is a permanent legal resident with a green card in good standing. His abuse apparently came when his green card was "flagged" for unknown reasons.
Schmidt is only one of many legal residents in the United States who are being attacked by the Trump regime on false charges. Many foreign nationals, whether residents of the U.S. or visitors, have reported being detained and abused by immigration officials for no valid reasons.
This seems to be the new status quo: The people who might possibly stand up to the Trump regime have all proven to be remarkably apathetic. In this article, acting SSA commissioner Dudek essentially sums up his own actions with this phrase: "I work for the president. I need to do what the president tells me to do." It's worth noting that acting director of the SSA is not a position Dudek is trained for or actively sought out. In fact, he never thought he would hold such a role, which may help explain, but not justify, why he isn't resisting.
This is oddly reminiscent of Schumer's sudden flip on last week's CR when he suddenly decided that giving in to the Republicans would somehow put them in a position where they would have to start negotiating with Democrats.
I am not calling this a conspiracy, but if this were a James Bond movie, you know the only possible explanation would be that the "bad guys" had some sort of mind control device that they were using to keep potential agitators under control.
Sarah Inama, a sixth-grade history teacher in Idaho, was ordered to remove two signs from her classroom. One sign contained the words "Everyone is welcome here," above several raised hands of different skin tones. The other sign says "In this room everyone is welcome important accepted respected encouraged valued equal."
Inama was told to remove the signs because they "violated district policy." School officials said that "Everyone is welcome here is not something that everyone believes."
Chief Academic Officer Marcus Myers said that he had no problem with the wording on the sign, but that the depiction if different skin colors combined with the text turned it into a personal opinion. Apparently, it's only OK to say, "Everyone is welcome" when you don't actually mean everyone.
Brigade Screen Printing, a family-run custom print shop in Boise, Idaho, was selling apparel with the "controversial" message. Due to overwhelming demand, they have temporarily stopped accepting orders while they scramble to fill all their back orders. Turns out, the people of the United States of America actually believe that "everyone is welcome."
What did I/we do last week?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders
Image by Gage Skidmore from Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
I joined with thousands of my neighbors to hear Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders speak out against the oligarchy. Sanders noted that, "a few years ago, when I used the word 'oligarchy,' people didn't know what I was talking about. Well. they know what I'm talking about now. You got to be dumb, blind, and deaf not to see what's going on."
Everywhere the tour goes, the two champions of democracy are drawing record crowds. Opposition to Donald Trump is rising, and, with the right leaders to guide our paths, the people will rise up and eliminate the greatest threat to our national security we have ever witnessed.
No matter how the next few weeks, months, or years play out, the effects of Trump's dismantling of our government will drastically alter life as we know it for years to come.
As we stand up against the Trump regime, we need to realize that we don't want to restore the United States of America to where it was before Trump took his second term in office because that would bring us right back to a place where we gladly hand our country over to an enemy of the people.
Instead, we need to create something new. Something where it's the people, not the government, not the tech-bros, and not the corporations, who chart the course our country will take into the future.
What can you do this week?
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Robert Reich outlines the three rules for fighting fear and intimidation he's learned from conversations with people living under oppressive regimes.
- Do not give in: Fear only works if people are intimidated.
- Join others and speak out: Find safety in numbers. One voice can be ignored, but it's harder to silence or oppress the masses.
- Everyone has to support these efforts: To the extent possible, we all need to support those standing up to and speaking out against the oppression.
We each have our own strengths and weaknesses, our own limits to what we can do or what we can endure. These are general guidelines to be followed to the extent that we are able, weighing our personal well-being against our duty to protect our fellow compatriots.
Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay
It's easy to complain about those who are supposed to represent our interests in the government. But do you think you have what it takes to do better? Learn how to run for local office, and get the support and encouragement you need to "Run for something."
This organization lowers the barriers to entry for starting a career as a civil servant, and provides guidance, assistance, and visibility along the way.
So go ahead...Run for something!
"Left and right, we unite. United we stand, united we fight."
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
It can be hard to find information about resistance activities near you. Many people want to get involved, but just don't know where or when others will be gathering.
The BLOP allows organizers to post information about their events in a community platform where users can filter the list down to a particular state or date.
Keeping you informed...
Image by user1489788142 from Pixabay
The belief that the president has the authority to withhold (or impound) funds that have been appropriated by Congress is based on misconceptions and lies spread by an organization founded by OMB Director Russ Vought. Legally and historically, the president is obligated to follow Congress' spending instructions.
While there are certain limited cases where the president can temporarily withhold Congressional appropriations, there is no provision for him to simply refuse to spend the money. The president can request a rescission of funds he does not want to spend, but unless both the House and Senate approve the request, the administration has to release the funds.
Most people are probably aware of the ongoing boycott of Tesla, but several other businesses are in hot water with the American public.
This article gives a brief overview of the boycotts against Tesla, Target, Amazon, Walmart, Nestlé, McDonald's, Best Buy, Starbucks, Nike, Facebook, Coca-Cola, Uber, H&M, Disney, and Apple.
On the lighter side...
— Nile (like the river) (@nilejoan.com) March 19, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Can’t make this up.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) March 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
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