Turnout for Hands Off - Mn Capitol grounds, St. Paul, MN

https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/04/05/hands-off-rally-draws-thousands-to-minnesota-capitol-to-protest-trump/

UPDATE: The problem with Hand's Off? It is a defensive effort. Reactive not proactive. It says only, keep what we have that has worked well for decades.

We need to press an improved agenda, not merely saving the best of a flawed status quo. But with chaos and grief being Trump's agenda, and his getting more votes, the short term goal is to stop the people's bleeding. Long term, make it the oligarchs who bleed. 

Make it better for everybody by making Elon give a little, millionaires in Congress having to give a little. 

Otherwise known as justice for all. Not all to the oligarchs. 

Spread the wealth. See how there is more than enough, if merely used wisely.

Noteworthy.

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/senators-introduce-bill-require-congressional-160702152.html

https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-cantwell-introduce-bill-to-restore-congress-constitutional-role-in-trade 

https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-cantwell-and-grassley-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-reassert-congressional-trade-role

https://www.bennet.senate.gov/2025/04/04/bennet-cantwell-grassley-bipartisan-colleagues-introduce-bill-to-reassert-congressional-trade-role/ 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senators-propose-congress-over-tariff-175226558.html

It's a life preserver of a bill. In case the fan really loads up, tariff-wise.

If the fan really loads up badly, worldwide, from this Trump idiocy, there's already a Congressional process started, in the Senate, and in the House if it looks like the tariff stuff is a load of garbage, a failure, the Republicans can abandon the sinking ship, in hope of survival.

If they are smart enough. That's one hell of a big IF. Don't bet on it.

Tariffs are upon us and we will find out how bad the outcome. Saturday protests were a start, but voting against Republicans in 2026 is the remedy. Absent that, same old .

 The headline is the story. The HAND'S OFF protest effort will be tested via an ongoing turnout.

A growing turnout is best. A vote is the only thing that will quell the billionaires, and then, getting votes >> politicians with guts to fight is not assured in the two party universe.

Anoka County, MN, where I live had its Hands Off turnout, and the strongest thing was drivers passing and honking their solidarity.

But if you don't get out the vote you don't get reform. Simple, but people stowing thier MAGA caps do vote, so people otherwise inclined need to counter them each and every time, each and every chance, fair weather or foul, by mail or in person.

Vote the raacals out, or live under their meanness. Simple. Do it. Again and again.

And force your party to reform its ties to the same people who run the Republicans, or wish you had. It's not easy. It's not always effective. But it is all you have.

 

The case against New York Mayor Adams is dismissed - with prejudice.

 Opinion. EmptyWheel analysis and commentary.

Rather than trying to explain what the case is about Crabgrass refers readers to the first few pages of the opinion.

In effect, Pam Bondi's DOJ wanted to tie a string to the Mayor, to keep him in a place where, to do well and not be bomed he'd have to embrace and follow administration immigration policy, in his city. 

Consider the classic image of the organ grinder having a string tied to the dancing monkey, to assure it keeps dancing to the tune, rather than going away on its own path. There is that feeling of impropriety to how the Bondi DOJ does things.

 

Two old guys, and current events.

 https://www.youtube.com/embed/633Y9mcxN-s

In order to galvanize together his Billionaire base and his Christian Nationalist base, Trump signs executive order to compel a camel to fit through the eye of a needle.

 

image source

 While admitting its much like getting to Mars, Elon says, "We need it. We really, really, really need it. Trump listened. We got the order signed, so it's all over but the shouting."

 Hegseth to make it a DOD priority. Not just a priority actually, but a crusade.

"If I can get the ocean to tilt, I can do this too."

With his getting Palintir into the project, and his main man in Idaho, the best hearts and minds are on it, Hegseth says. Have faith. "We're aiming to be engineering a camel downward; from the size of a Tesla to the size of a dust spec, and going to the finish line from there. Of late, we're down to mouse size, but our most recent lab instantiation met with a house cat and we're starting over from there."

So, if you miss or pass over the video, you may be more confused by this post than otherwise.  Not saying you should watch it, just that you might.

Alternatively, try this.  It's sounder than crypto. Buy in. Enjoy mixing with best/brightest. Ask: Where would DOGE be without Palintir as a trailblazer? Guess.

 

  

Elon bought a lemon with million dollar checks.

 https://www.fox9.com/news/democratic-backed-susan-crawford-wins-wisconsin-supreme-court-seat-cementing-liberal-majority

 

The Brief

• • Susan Crawford, a Democratic-backed candidate, won the Wisconsin Supreme Court race against Republican-backed Brad Schimel, ensuring a liberal majority for at least three more years.
  • The election was marked by record-breaking spending and high turnout, with Crawford supported by figures like Barack Obama and George Soros, while Schimel was endorsed by Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
  • Elon Musk played a significant role by funding Schimel's campaign and personally distributing $1 million checks to voters, highlighting the national political stakes of the race.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Democratic-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court defeated a challenger endorsed by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday, cementing a liberal majority for at least three more years.

Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power and abortion rights and to oppose voter ID, defeated Republican-backed Brad Schimel in a race that broke records for spending, was on pace to be the highest-turnout Wisconsin Supreme Court election ever and became a proxy fight for the nation’s political battles.

Trump, Musk and other Republicans lined up behind Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Crawford.

The first major election in the country since November was seen as a litmus test of how voters feel about Trump’s first months back in office and the role played by Musk, [...who] traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday to make a pitch for Schimel and personally hand out to [sic] $1 million checks to voters.

Crawford embraced the backing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates, running ads that highlighted Schimel’s opposition to the procedure. She also attacked Schimel for his ties to Musk and Republicans, referring to Musk as "Elon Schimel" during a debate.

Young and right minded. Yes!

California Dreaming - I trust Katie Porter to bring it on, Harris to be vapid and empty of policy ideas and ideals, and Republicans to run Steve Garvery. The run to replace Governor Gavin.

NBC has a report with a Porter campaign ad saying she's not an empty vessel.

Here,  with this video URL if you, like Chauncey Gardner, prefer to watch. 

Porter is well known nationally, and in California as a former U.S. House member who rolled the dice for the Feinstein Senate seat but ending up as third in the primary behind Schiff and Garvey. With top to going to the general election.

Garvey, for Christsakes, good baseball player, short on cause to be taken seriously as a politician, but there to squeeze out Porter.

 Schiff not unhappy about it turning out that way.

So Guv race. Expect Harris - Hollywood Harris, to expect it as hers, because.

Crabgrass is 100% behind the Porter candidacy at this point.

Show me something better. You don't have it, so Porter's the one.

Wikipedia page. 

From that NBC page:

“If Vice President Harris were to choose to run, I am certain that that would have a near field-clearing effect on the Democratic side,” Porter told The Orange County Register late last year. 

Harris, also a former California senator and state attorney general, will decide whether to run for governor by the end of the summer, according to a source familiar with her planning. Harris is also weighing a possible presidential run in 2028, and the source said she is “keeping all options open.”

The people of California need a Governor, not a dilettante who took a loss head on, and down ticket, to Dondald J. Trump and the red cappers. 

So -- Please Kamala, give it up. You blew it big time and there are reasons. 

For Governor Kamala -- You're the second best candidate, between you and Porter. 

Plain, simple, and true. Clyburn has no real say, in California.

_______________UPDATE_______________

https://katieporter.com/

https://katieporter.com/2025/03/consumer-protection-attorney-and-former-congresswoman-katie-porter-launches-campaign-for-california-governor/

 

 

"Governor Ron DeSantis leads push to loosen child labor laws as immigration crackdown leads to workforce shortage"

 Guardian -

Alarm as Florida Republicans move to fill deported workers’ jobs with children: ‘It’s insane, right?’

 

Beneath the smugness of Ron DeSantis, at Florida leading the nation in immigration enforcement lies something of a conundrum: how to fill the essential jobs of the scores of immigrant workers targeted for deportation.

The answer, according to Florida lawmakers, is the state’s schoolchildren, who as young as 14 could soon be allowed to work overnight shifts without a break – even on school nights.

A bill that progressed this week through the Republican-dominated state senate seeks to remove numerous existing protections for teenage workers, and allow them, in the Florida governor’s words, to step into the shoes of immigrants who supply Florida’s tourism and agriculture industries with “dirt cheap labor”.

“What’s wrong with expecting our young people to be working part-time now? That’s how it used to be when I was growing up,” DeSantis said at an immigration forum with Donald Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, in Sarasota last week.

“Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be [doing] all this stuff.”

Unsurprisingly, the proposal has alarmed immigration advocates and watchdog groups concerned about child labor abuses and exploitation.

They point out that there is nothing “part-time” in the language of the companion senate and house bills currently before lawmakers, which instead will permit unlimited working hours without breaks for 14- and 15-year-olds who are schooled at home or online, and allow employers to require 16- and 17-year-olds to work for more than six days in a row.

Florida. Alternatively, they could use convict labor. If too few convicts, that can be fixed, Florida style.

What's a politician's Town Hall event, without a town, or a hall? One answer, Planned Bullshit. Or Fear of facing the people.

 

scardey cat

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/03/04/house-republicans-doge-town-halls/81417000007/

title:

House Republicans advised to stop holding in-person town halls after DOGE complaints

https://apnews.com/article/town-halls-musk-doge-trump-gop-749d91ea516284057e4c7bcb1615527e

title: 

Speaker Johnson tells GOP lawmakers to skip town halls after an onslaught of protests

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5175061-house-republicans-town-halls-protests/

title: 

House Republicans advised to avoid in-person town halls amid protests

*****

As in be gutless, don't face the people in a real town, at a real hall.

Why this focus? My district's Rep. Tom Emmer says he'll do a town hall - But ---

His latest email, hitting the inbox three hours ago, one day's notice. This [images omitted] -

Dear Friend, 

As we’ve said for years, Congress is a customer service business. As we continue our work in Washington, D.C., we have announced a telephone town hall to give you an update on our work, hear your input and answer your questions.

The telephone town hall is scheduled for this Wednesday, April 2nd at 5:30 pm. Many of you will receive a call inviting you to participate, but in case you don’t, to join the event call 833-425-1492. Being transparent and accessible to our constituents is always a top priority and we hope you are able join us for this event.

Sincerely, 

 

 

Sincerely, but what's sincere about it? It's phony to the core. It's an insult.

No town. No hall. Why bother?

To stage a controlled phone-based propaganda fling?

For gulls, to gull them further?  BFD

Sorry Tom. NO GUTS. NO GLORY. 

[end of story]