Exercising Those Democracy Muscles

There Are No Shortcuts

Saturday Balboa Park event in support of Ukraine (Pic via Indivisible)

The folks at the “Third Way” political grouping have thrown in the towel and are proposing that the Democratic Party should bend a knee and accept Dear Leader as ruler.

The title for Sunday’s Politico Playbook Newsletter was “Democrats in Despair.”

• If Trump’s first term energized the party’s progressives, there are early signs his second term is doing the same for Democratic moderates.

The article drew its inspiration from a retreat hosted by “moderate” Democrats in early February to plot a comeback course for their party. It would be safe to say that none of those at this gathering would be personally impacted by the Trump administration.

The political zeitgeist has changed radically in the past month. Back then nobody in a position of power was denigrating Social Security as being “riddled with fraud” and a “ponzi” scheme. Back then the country wasn’t being led into the despotism of Russian imperialism. Back then tens of thousands of government employees hadn’t indiscriminately been given the boot. Back then the DOGE team hadn’t failed to come up with any fraud, even as the administration claimed success.

Secondly, take a look at one of the items on the five pages of takeaways coming out of the retreat. (There’s more garbage amid the obvious errors in strategy and tactics catalogued but this one says it all.)

• Democrats should “ban far-left candidate questionnaires and refuse to participate in forums that create ideological purity tests” and “move away from the dominance of small-dollar donors whose preferences may not align with the broader electorate”;

Wow. So the small donor segment of the electorate ain’t cutting it; I’m sure the large donor segment of the population will be thrilled.

I’m certain that by “broader electorate” they really mean billionaires and their minions.

As if the stratification of wealth in the U.S. isn’t the most obvious characteristic of the past five decades. As if the country’s ultra-ultra wealthy aren’t openly thrilled about the prospects of ending democracy. As if the destruction of the social safety net as outlined in Project 2025 wasn’t a top priority of the incoming administration.

The “related read” section of that Politico newsletter cited an Associated Press story on the wave of activism appearing at town halls where elected “Democratic officials” were called out. What would you like to bet that the citizens doing the calling out didn’t have the following “moderate” action items in mind?

• “push back against far-left staffers and groups that exert a disproportionate influence on policy and messaging” ;

• Candidates should “get out of elite circles and into real communities (e.g., tailgates, gun shows, local restaurants, churches)”;

What the Third Way peeps aren’t capable of addressing –other than begging activists to tamp down their demands– are the widespread grassroots protests building momentum across the nation.

Locally, activists who participated in the recent virtual forum hosted by Rep. Scott Peters weren’t suggesting that Democrats should “own the failures of Democratic governance in large cities.” (Unfortunately the live chat part of the YouTube recap isn’t available, so it’s not possible to gauge the vibe from the audience, I’ll bet the anger was bipartisan.)

From the Union-Tribune:

• Republican officeholders are facing so many angry voters at town halls that party leaders have reportedly recommended suspending the events. Scores of people protested outside the Escondido office of Rep. Darrell Issa on Friday, urging the congressman to take their questions.

• Democrats are being criticized for their response to the spending cuts and job losses. At a virtual town hall event Wednesday joined by more than 500 people, Rep. Scott Peters faced pointed questions about what he was doing to stop Trump’s cuts.

• The San Diego Democrat told the Union-Tribune his office has received at least 4,000 calls from people worried about the president’s actions. He said the firing of 6,000 Internal Revenue Service and 2,400 Veterans Affairs workers already has harmed the public.

Rep. Peters told one participant who feared repercussions to their group if she spoke up that he wasn’t sure she'd be targeted. It must be nice to be so privileged.

Democratic values don't defend themselves. They require active citizen participation and protection. Any longer term resistance to the Trump/Musk trauma in this country MUST have a class element baked in, as in “Billionaires have been taking your stuff away for years. It’s time to put that to a stop.”

Personally, I’d add that it’s either pitchfolks or tax increases, pick one. But that’s just me.

Enough about Democrats. In case it hasn’t become obvious to readers, no hero is going to come out of a political party to save the day, if for no reason other than the erosion of the rule of law.

If House Speaker Mike Johnson’s prostration to the President in response to the Ukraine debacle is any guide, we should assume that the vast majority of Republicans will accede to anything —no matter how outrageous– done in the name of Trump.

Our European cousins are gathering up their wits. The European Union and the United Kingdom combined have ten times Russia’s Gross Domestic Product.

Big Lie Fact Check: European aid to Ukraine has long exceeded US aid, and Europe could easily replace America’s share. Some US weapons systems have made a critical difference and will be difficult to replace. Still, it’s the Ukrainians we’re talking about, and thanks to Trump and Vance, they are more united than ever.

Aid chart via Paul Krugman

Also, via Krugman:

• Trump probably imagines that he can bully European leaders into standing aside and letting his friend (or boss?) Vladimir win. And given Europe’s history of timidity, you can understand why he might think that. But European leaders are certainly saying the right things now and also talking, in a way I’ve never seen before, about in effect declaring independence from the United States.

• If Trump nonetheless tries to pressure Europe into abandoning Ukraine, say by imposing tariffs on European goods (which seems to be his only tactic), someone will have to tell him, “Sir, you don’t have the cards.” The EU exports less than 3 percent of its GDP to the United States. And there’s already a public backlash against even the threat of tariffs, as well as the absence of any visible effort on Trump’s part to make good on his campaign promises to bring down grocery prices.

• In short, Europe shouldn’t be afraid of Donald Trump. If it wants to save democracy in Ukraine, it can.

The path forward in the United States –there is no path backward except MAGA– will arise out of the actual work of resisting the authoritarian agenda being pushed upon us. It won’t be Congressional Democrats, Third Way Republicrats, or pinkie waving socialites expressing disapproval; their performative gestures assume finality and have the effect of lending legitimacy to each outrage.

Mike Brock at Notes From the Circus speaks to our situation:

• The truth is, the question "what should we do?" often masks a deeper hesitation—a search for the perfect, risk-free action that will somehow satisfy both our conscience and our comfort. But that's precisely the trap. There is no algorithm for moral action in immoral times. There is no checklist that, once completed, absolves you of the responsibility to keep acting, keep choosing, keep standing for something.

So let’s review what’s happening. I shouldn't need to remind you, but I will anyway, about Gil Scott-Heron’s lyrics, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised…”

There were thousands upon thousands of acts of resistance and protest this weekend. And it ain’t Democrats who are leading them.

According to a report from Business Insider, angry customers have joined a “Tesla Takedown” effort, showing up with signs at over 100 dealerships across the United States to demand a boycott.

Tesla dealerships in Manhattan and Tucson saw hundreds of people intent on disrupting their operations as a means of pushing back against the clout of Elon Musk. His day-to-day existence is funded by borrowing on the valuation of his assets. In addition to his assholiness, weak sales, disappointing earnings, and a major safety recall have pushed Tesla stock down by 28% over the past month.

In New York, the Resistance Revival Chorus had a song to share while closing down a Tesla dealership.

Well we, went down to the rich man's house and we 🎶
Took back what he stole from us
Took back our dignity
Took back our humanity

Making Elon Musk’s brand suck will eventually grind the bastard down.

There is already one local protest scheduled for the Encinitas Tesla dealership on March 14. There are also sales locations in Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Miramar, and UTC that can be picketed if anybody has an interest. TeslaTakedown.com can help with ideas and publicity. (Remember, even a handful of protesters makes a difference!)

Vice President JD Vance was met by protests by hundreds of demonstrators on a ski weekend in Vermont and changed his destination to an undisclosed location.

Via The Guardian:

• Hundreds of protesters gathered in Waitsfield, Vermont, on Saturday morning to oppose the vice-president’s visit to the state for a ski trip with his family.

• The demonstration had been planned earlier in the week by the Mad River Valley chapter of Indivisible, a grassroots organizing group, but additional protesters said they were motivated to join after watching Vance and Trump’s combative White House meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday.

• Protesters held signs reading “Vermont stands with Ukraine” and “International embarrassment”, while many waved Ukrainian flags in solidarity. Fox aired video of the protesters, but blurred out signs displaying messages against Vance and in favor of Ukraine.

A notable local demonstration, via the Times of San Diego:

• Residents of La Jolla’s Casa de Mañana Retirement Community gathered outside their home, across from the Children’s Pool, on Saturday morning to protest actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration.

• The gathering and march, for those who were able, was organized by 87-year-old resident Judy Sowder…

• …One lifelong activist noted her decades of participation in protests — and at 105, Alice Yee has been doing it for a long time.

Hundreds of people, answering a call from the House of Ukraine in Balboa Park showed up on Saturday to support their cause after the Trump administration openly insulted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and threatened to withdraw support.

The New York Times headline was “Thousands Gather at National Parks Across U.S. to Protest Job Cuts.,”

• A group called Resistance Rangers — consisting of about 700 off-duty rangers, including some who were fired from the National Park Service — tried to organize protests at each of the country’s 433 national park sites on Saturday to stand up against what they see as threats to public lands, including the job cuts. By the afternoon, there were protests at at least 145 sites, according to Nick Graver, a 30-year-old graduate student who helped organize the demonstration at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.

San Diegans were among the participants, gathering at the Cabrillo National Monument, which, according to CBS8 News, has already lost three employees as part of the Musk-led degradation of the federal government.

For more information on Park Service worker protests (and others) check out https://www.facebook.com/AltUSNationalParkService
And
Alt US Forest Service (at BlueSky)

Upcoming political actions include “Stand Up for Science” in Washington, D.C., and nationwide on March 7. The local event is at UCSD.

The big picture: The number of federal lawsuits against Trump policies hit 100 yesterday, according to the New York Times, with 21 rulings already blocking his moves at least temporarily. Now the big question is what happens if Trump doesn’t comply.

In London, the Europeans decided they’re in charge over the weekend, with leaders from more than a dozen countries announcing that they had worked out a deal to replace the once proffered by the Trump administration. France and Great Britain announced they’d work with Ukraine to draft a peace deal, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer committing the UK to putting “boots on the ground and planes in the air”.

Dead Athletes. Empty Stands. Why Are We Paying Billions to Keep This Sport Alive? By Noah Schactman

• It’s true that football and basketball teams get tax incentives, but sports like those have hundreds of millions of fans. The audience for horse racing — except for high-profile events like the Kentucky Derby, which is booming — has plummeted, even as the rise of online gambling has made it easier than ever to place a bet.

• Another key distinction: Those other sports don’t routinely kill their athletes. The antiracing advocacy organization Horseracing Wrongs has shown that 11,000 horses have been put to death at American racetracks since 2014. Driven in part by opponents of horse racing and by landmark investigations by The New York Times, a new, federally monitored watchdog has already had a significant impact. Even so, hundreds and hundreds of thoroughbreds still perish each year. In one recent monthlong stretch, 10 thoroughbreds died in New York alone.

• As for the jobs that the industry touts, despite recent workplace improvements these workers, many of whom are brought in seasonally from Latin American countries, still in many cases labor seven days a week for minimum wage (when they get it) and sleep in dorms or are jammed into communal apartments. Several told me they had to ride long stretches in the back of a horse trailer with the animals.

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Retinol: The Skin-Care Ingredient With a Horrifying History by Kim Kelly at Teen Vogue

• Skin care was only one of Dr. Kligman's areas of interest. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, his clients also included major pharmaceutical manufacturers like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, chemical companies, as well as the US Army. Test subjects were exposed to asbestos and radioactive isotopes as well as to diseases like herpes and staphylococcus, the latter recalling the infamous and contemporaneous Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Per the Inquirer, the Army used the Holmesburg prisoners to test chemical agents and psychotropic drugs while the CIA experimented on them with mind-control compounds. Dow Chemical funded a study in which prisoners were exposed to dioxin, an extremely poisonous, carcinogenic component of Agent Orange — but pulled the plug after Dr. Kligman radically increased the dosage they’d prescribed. "Looking back, would similar tests be done using the prison population?" a Dow spokesperson commented in 2000. "Absolutely not.”

• Dr. Kligman’s testing program was shut down in 1974, but by then the doctor was set. His discovery of Retin-A gave him enormous financial and professional success and provided cover when critics spoke up. Whenever a survivor tried to hold him accountable by filing legal charges, like Jerome Roach did in 1976 and Leodus Jones did in 1987, the case was dismissed based on insufficient evidence. In Jones’s case, Dr. Kligman elected to settle for $40,000.

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An Incomplete List of Things Donald Trump Considers to be 'DEI' by Michael Harriot at CountraBandCamp

• The administration’s resegregation initiative does not apply to white people.

• Their definition of “diversity” does not prevent Ron DeSantis from forcing an elite public college to admit white baseball players, despite “grades and test scores that lag badly behind other students on campus.” Giving public funds to right-wing Christian schools and private segregation academies apparently doesn’t violate their “inclusion” ban. Replacing a Black four-star general with a lesser-qualified white man and purging the entire military of female four-star generals is not considered “equity.”

• The people who believe in the myth of “meritocracy” would never admit that they are the recipients of Diversity, Equity and inclusion. And thanks to the Trump Administration, DEI has become a catchall phrase that means “not white.”