Issues You May Know, 14 March 2025.
A list of things you might want to know about - or write your reps about.
Cuts to good stuff? — OR we could ask tycoons to cut back on the avocado toast and the superyachts.
The New Republic - Edith Olmsted / March 6, 2025 Rick Scott Reveals Republicans Are Absolutely Cutting Medicare Republicans are starting to admit that cuts are on the horizon. Notorious Medicare thief and Republican Senator Rick Scott is the only one who wants to admit that his GOP colleagues are plotting to gut an essential health care program. During an appearance at the Rescuing the American Dream Summit in Washington Thursday, Scott said it was only a matter of time before the government would have to cut spending to “any program you care about.” “Because Medicare is going bankrupt, Social Security is going bankrupt. You know, inflation can’t go away, interest rates can’t come down. So, my belief is that … we’re gonna have to do this,” the Florida Republican said.
Or we could ask tycoons to pay their fair share because some of these people are billionaires and have more money than the next 6 generations of tycoon heirs will ever need.
My letter to reps:
I keep hearing politicians claim there's not enough money to keep essential public services that we all rely upon, that politicians are hell bent on cutting necessary public services, healthcare, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid – that politicians want to cut these things. I'm confused about why politicians aren't suggesting NOT cutting taxes on tycoons and business moguls. Why not just raise taxes on the very wealthy who can well afford it and use so many services, and rely upon the labor of people who need these services. I think business leaders need to learn to cut back on the avocado toast and superyachts, that's all. The tycoons just need to learn some discipline. TAX THE TYCOONS. Problem solved.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Rob Bresnahan is being called on the carpet by constituents on Medicaid vote.
River Reporter - letter to the editor - ‘Doing what is best’ for PA? Congressman Rob Bresnahan "made a pledge" to vote against legislation to cut Medicaid, then "he broke that pledge." Posted Wednesday, March 5, 2025 9:16 am That procedural step could lead DIRECTLY to changing current law, and if you mean what you say, you would vote against it from the beginning. This is the coward’s way out—hope it never gets in the law so you will not be put in a position to deal with the consequences of voting for or against it.
I saw a letter to the editor from someone way out at the rural edge of the district. And at my state rep's Medicaid town hall someone in the audience mentioned having been at a zoom meeting with lots of other constituents of Rob Bresnahan where his staffer assured everyone he wasn't going to vote to cut Medicaid – and then he voted to cut Medicaid. I sent him a postcard with a jellyfish, and I have more jellyfish postcards reserved just for him.
Rep. Rob Bresnahan's staffer I believe was speaking genuinely, so I want to make it clear I don't blame them, because first, Rob Bresnahan was quoted in the River Reporter stating this. The staffer was obviously told to state that Bresnahan was definitely voting against Medicaid cuts. I've had some interaction with the staff for constituency casework on some questions I have needed answered about the IRS regarding FSA rules, and they have been responsive, if slow to respond, since I wrote them about this issue the first day Bresnahan took office.. They're likely slow to respond because a lot of constituents are calling and writing their office not just with objections to the crap going on right now, but probably their caseworkers are being hammered with people having problems with the federal government because of the dysfunction being caused by the Trump administration's unqualified executives and Elon Musk's dog crew deliberately sabotaging government agencies. Obviously the staff should have some human consideration, mostly they’re just following orders, however we shouldn't feel bad about keeping them busy, as our representatives are there to work for us.
Postcard with a picture of aquarium jellyfish lit up in purple, photo by Chloe Kaczenski Humbert, postcard is addressed to Rep Rob Bresnahan at his office in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. The postcard text: March 13, 2025. Dear Rob Bresnahan, Elon Musk said they're going to shut down Social Security & Medicare. He said it straight out to that drunk guy from 2020 Larry Kudlow. He said they have to go. This is our money! Where's my representation? What are you doing about this? Don't be such a jellyfish! Chloe Humbert, Scranton PA.
Accelerationist James Carville at a retreat this week advising House Dems and Dem governors.
The Democrats have an apocalyptic hopium problem. Nobody should be listening to James Carville for any reason. Who the hell is hiring this guy to go to conferences to give dubious instructions to my elected representatives?
Politico - House Democrats try to get their act together following joint session fiasco - Leaders are looking for a reset as they try to close gaping divides over the party’s messaging and strategy. By Nicholas Wu and Mia McCarthy 03/12/2025 04:45 AM EDT House Democrats are headed into their annual policy retreat Wednesday looking for a reset as they try to close gaping divides over the party’s messaging and strategy — and regroup ahead of the 2026 midterms, where they have to flip only a handful of seats to regain the majority. (...) They include three Democratic governors from states won by Trump in 2024 — Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania — who are set to share their insights in a Thursday night conversation with Jeffries. Presidential pundits including James Carville, Bill Clinton’s strategy maven, and Dan Pfeiffer, Barack Obama’s comms brain, will advise members about getting their messaging back on track. (emphasis added)
This is the guy who said Dem politicians – our representatives – should play dead and do nothing.
Just have to wonder about the people who want his advice so badly, and the people who think Democrats should listen to that. Seems a little suspicious.
The Seagulls Descend — Living in a shadow future vs. engaging with the present, and creating unmistakable, effective differentiators — both for ourselves and for our nation’s low-information voters. A.R. Moxon Jul 27, 2024 So often it feels as if we’re accepting the current media framework of speculation and prediction and punditry, not so much dealing with what is or contending for what should be but living in a bleak and unbroken shadow future, where everything is already decided, which frees us from the moral imperative to have to do anything. It’s just as freeing in a way to believe everything is doomed as it is to believe that everything will be fine; either way you don’t have to do much thinking or work, or even take the next step that will allow us to take the next step, however easy or hard or palatable or unpalatable that next step might be. So we behave as if we are political operatives, predictive wizards, demonstrating not our commitment to a better vision of the future by contending with reality here in the present and working for best outcomes, but rather our ability to know what will happen before it happens, so that when it happens we can say see? and if we are wrong, we just run on to the next topic, chasing seagulls.
The Trump Social accusation of supposedly illegal "collusive boycott" against Elon Musk is a threat of lawfare.
France 24 - Trump says will buy a Tesla to show support for Musk Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will buy a "brand new Tesla" in support of his top donor and close advisor, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after share prices tanked amid recession fears and Musk's controversial actions in Washington. Issued on: 11/03/2025 Unhappy Tesla owners have even slapped bumper stickers on their vehicles claiming they had purchased them "before Elon went crazy." "The Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World's great automakers, and Elon's 'baby,' in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for," Trump's post said.
Billionaires are already using antitrust law to suppress community organizing resistance to their authoritarian corporate hostile takeover of democracy and personal freedoms.
FindLaw - Elon Musk Sues Advertisers Who Boycott X Under Antitrust Laws By Catherine Hodder, Esq. | Reviewed by Joseph Fawbush, Esq. | Last updated on February 06, 2025 Is a group of companies refusing to advertise on social media an antitrust violation? Or do companies have a right to freedom of speech to determine where and how they promote their brand?
These tech billionaires are trying to do eminent domain, except privatized eminent domain, in order to create their company towns, mini fiefdoms they run like a corporate monarchy.
Tech Billionaires’ Shocking Plot for Rural America More Perfect Union Sep 4, 2024 "So they're saying they want to be good neighbors with people in Solano County, at the same time, they're suing their own literal fence-by-fence neighbors."
I wish I was kidding about this but it's absolutely real, and their plan is to take over huge portions of the world with these operations where they export the externalities, like garbage or nuclear fallout.
How a Libertarian Island Exper - Bloomberg Big Take - Feb 17, 2025 Prospera is a city-state operated by a private company on the Honduran island of Roatan. It offers businesses single-digit tax rates and the ability to choose their own regulations. Its proponents have touted it as a poverty relief initiative for the country and as the most ambitious experiment in self-governance ever undertaken. But that dream is now facing an existential crisis. A little more than a decade after Honduras changed its constitution to allow for places like Prospera, a new political party is in charge — and they’re looking to shut the whole thing down. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Industry Group’s Umar Farooq and Bloomberg’s Michael McDonald join host Sarah Holder to break down the $11 billion battle over the fate of a special economic zone in the Caribbean.
Literally their neighbors in Honduras complain that they use the roads, the airport, and the garbage dump, but don't pay any taxes. And they plan on setting up shop with nuclear reactors that aren't subject to the U.S. laws, so if you live next to one of these, you don't have any say about the safety measures at these operations.
The Nerd Reich - Network State Unveils Push for Corporate Dystopia Cities - Gil Duran 08 Mar 2025 Trump’s 2024 campaign proposed something called “freedom cities,” a lightly rebranded version of the Network State. Yet, most news outlets mentioned the idea without providing any real explanation of the concept. Let’s be clear: These cities will be controlled entirely by tech billionaires and corporations, operating outside of U.S. laws. As this story comes into focus, there is no reason why anyone should accept the Orwellian term “freedom city” to describe zones that will actually be devoid of the laws, rights, freedoms and protections of normal American law. The term is an overt political manipulation that should be rejected by media outlets going forward, as it serves only the interest of propaganda. Fascist Cities would be more accurate, though I’m sure U.S. newsrooms can find a milder term.
I wish I didn't feel like I need to keep repeating this stuff.
It's an attempt at regime change to corporate monarchy. wat3rm370n.tumblr March 12, 2025
Facebook is censoring articles about tech tycoons plans for monarchy.
The Nerd Reich - Censored on Facebook? The Nerd Reich's Meta Mystery Is Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, which purports to be a bastion of free speech, censoring criticism of tech zillionaires and their dreams of government control? Gil Duran 13 Mar 2025 This week, a customer service agent from Meta Support provide another explanation: Upon checking, this site focuses on political commentary, particularly involving Silicon Valley tech billionaires and their influence on politics. There are several reasons why a website might be blocked. 1. Content Sensitivity: The site addresses topics like the "Network State" concept and critiques of tech industry figures. Some networks or platforms may flag such content as sensitive or controversial, leading to restrictions.
The Nerd Reich - Memo: 'Capture of U.S. Critical Infrastructure by Neoreactionaries' Memo details how Elon Musk has orchestrated a stunning takeover of the U.S. government Gil Duran 10 Feb 2025 Under the guise of streamlining bureaucracy through DOGE, Musk has installed loyalists throughout federal agencies, taking over everything from Personnel Management to sensitive Treasury payment systems. His young and unvetted recruits now hold high-level access to government infrastructure while career civil servants find themselves locked out of their own systems. Most alarming is how this transformation mirrors the explicit goals of Silicon Valley's "neo-reactionary" movement—a group of tech elites who dream of replacing democracy with corporate-style rule.
Same memo that I included in my February 7th newsletter.
Send a FOIA to try to find out what the Elon Musk's dog crew is doing with your PII?
Rep Jamie Raskin provides a template letter for people to make a FOIA request to Elon Musk's dog crew (aka Department Of Government Efficiency).
DOGE Privacy Act Requests - Jamie Raskin for Congress
U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him this week in filing formal demands for access to their personal data obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has issued an injunction commanding DOGE to comply with citizen requests under the Freedom of Information Act. This law encompasses the Federal Privacy Act of 1974, which entitles any citizen to access personal information held in any U.S. government records system.
I'm sending in my request. I've been employed by the federal government in the past, and obviously we all have our personally identifiable information (PII) at federal government agencies, it's just a given.
Rep. Raskin legally OUTSMARTS Elon Musk with MAJOR move - Brian Tyler Cohen Mar 13, 2025 Rep Jamie Raskin: "Everywhere I go people are asking, what's the story with our data, is it safe there? So we deserve an accounting."
Some conversation about how the government works, and Raskin explains the FOIA request to what Raskin called the "Dissing Our Government Employees" (Elon Musk's dog crew) or DOGE – which is now legally considered a federal agency according to federal district court.
What Every American Can Do To Fight DOGE | Rep. Jamie Raskin - Democracy Docket - Mar 13, 2025
(Note: Indivisible’s Levin gave Raskin’s FOIA request step a stamp of approval in Thursday’s “What’s the Plan” session.)
VACCINATION IS POPULAR. It is certainly worth it to keep up the pressure in favour of vaccines.
NBC - White House withdraws CDC director nomination just before his Senate confirmation hearing - Former Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., was set to face questions at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday morning. March 13, 2025, 9:16 AM EDT / Updated March 13, 2025, 12:18 PM EDT By Garrett Haake, Rebecca Shabad, Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Erika Edwards The White House decided to pull Weldon’s nomination when it became clear that he would not have the votes to be favorably reported out of committee because of his past controversial comments about vaccines, the official said. The Senate committee chairman, Bill Cassidy, R-La., had been looking forward to the hearing, but Weldon didn’t have the votes from the panel to get the nomination onto the Senate floor, a source on Capitol Hill close to the chairman said.
Keep telling the people in elected positions at all levels of government.
My letter to elected representatives:
I want vaccines. I want research on effective vaccines funded, I want covid vaccines, I want vaccines covered by all insurance, and I want free vaccination available to the uninsured. I want you to make sure I'm able to get vaccinated and that we have effective vaccination campaigns.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Are your state and local elected officials meeting the moment?
This is not a purely federal issue. State governments are being seriously impacted by the federal government being dismantled. My state rep hosted an informational town hall on Medicaid. Is your state rep doing that kind of thing? Maybe you should ask them to.
Annexation and invasion threats should be taken seriously — dump the normalcy bias.
I think people really normalcy bias’d the first Trump administration. There was pushback that’s the only thing that stopped nonsense back then too.
The New Republic - Hafiz Rashid / March 13, 2025 Trump Gives New Orders to U.S. Military on Panama Canal Takeover Donald Trump is moving forward on his plans to seize the Panama Canal. The Trump administration has asked the U.S. military to draw up options for retaking the Panama Canal.
I was talking about the reality of this sort of thing BEFORE the election, when people were trying claim erroneously and foolishly that Trump was “anti-war” compared to Joe Biden or Harris or whatever the nonsense was permeating the damn discourse.
Trump admin had pulled out dusty decades old plans for a North Korea invasion.
Spytalk podcast episode 128, Would Trump Revive “Fire and Fury” for North Korea? October 19, 2024
It’s a mistake to think Trump is just fooling about Canada too.
Special Intelligence URGENT WARNING: Trump is Planning to Invade Canada & Greenland The Regime’s Big Talk Indicates that the Decision Has Been Made; They Just Don’t Know How or When. Malcolm Nance Mar 08, 2025 The political rhetoric in the first five weeks of the Trump regime is giving clear indications that the United States fully intends to invade and seize Canada and Greenland at President Trump’s command. The possible timeline is 6-18 months of political destabilization to weaken the Canadian economy, split political parties, and carry out secret destabilization efforts, including identifying and making contact with Canadians who would betray their country. The best hope is that the operation would be compromised and the planning publicized well in advance of mobilization by anti-Trump loyalists to the Constitution in the intelligence and armed forces who would recognize the campaign's foolhardiness. However, this does not guarantee that Trump would not carry out the attack. The occupation of Canada would quickly become a continent-wide, high-intensity modern war akin to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It would rapidly devolve into a higher-intensity insurgency, which could lead to the deaths of thousands on both sides. Any operation would most likely collapse the American economy and precipitate a violent Second American Civil War.
Also Greenland…
The New Republic - Edith Olmsted / March 13, 2025 Trump Threatens to Invade Greenland in Wild Press Conference It seems Donald Trump learned nothing from the island’s recent parliamentary elections. “Maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers go there, I don’t know,” he mused. Greenland’s parliamentary elections this week saw the victory of a center-right party that is set on a slower course toward independence and has already pushed back on Trump’s hopes of making Greenlanders American. The U.S. president has threatened to use tariffs to squeeze Denmark into relinquishing its claim on the world’s largest island.
I realize that some people would call the people who fled Pompeii “alarmists” but alarm is appropriate when the volcano is erupting!
People need to stop it with the normalcy bias.
My letter to reps:
Seizing the Panama Canal is inappropriate. Invading or even a trade war with Canada is inappropriate. Threats to Greenland are inappropriate. We are supposed to be a civilized society, and Trump and many Republicans claimed to be anti-war, so the rhetoric & plans I'm hearing about are grossly inappropriate and against anything anyone campaigned on, and nobody voted for this outrageous bonkers nonsense. What are you doing to put a stop to this crap madness?
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
US Mail Not For Sale National Day of Action March 20
https://apwu.org/day-of-action