#Booker/Jeffries Sit In

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Edward Helmore at The Guardian:

Hakeem Jeffries and Cory Booker held a sit-in protest and discussion for more than 12 hours on Sunday on the steps of the US Capitol in opposition to Republicans’ proposed budget plan. Billed as an “Urgent Conversation with the American People”, the livestreamed discussion between the House minority leader and the New Jersey senator came before Congress’s return to session on Monday, where Democrats hope to stall Republicans’ economic legislative agenda. Throughout the day, they were joined by other Democratic lawmakers, including the senator Raphael Warnock, who spoke as the sit-in passed the 10-hour mark. The proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year, the New York Times reported on Friday, includes cuts to programs that support childcare, health research, education, housing assistance, community development and the elderly. “Republican leaders have made clear their intention to use the coming weeks to advance a reckless budget scheme to President Trump’s desk that seeks to gut Medicaid, food assistance and basic needs programs that help people, all to give tax breaks to billionaires,” Booker and Jeffries aid in a statement. “Given what’s at stake, these could be some of the most consequential weeks for seniors, kids and families in generations,” they added.

Booker wrote separately on X: “This is a moral moment in America. Sitting on the Capitol steps with Leader Hakeem Jeffries this morning to discuss what’s at stake with Trump’s budget and affirm the need for action to protect Medicaid, food assistance, and other safety net programs.” Booker and Jeffries started their sit-in about 6am and ended it after 6pm. Throughout the day, they were joined by lawmakers including the Democratic senators Chris Coons and Angela Alsobrooks and representatives Sarah McBride, Maxwell Frost, Gil Cisneros and Gabe Amo, among others. Labor leaders, including Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, also took part in the event. The Rev Dr William J Barber II and the National Education Association president, Becky Pringle, also joined. Pringle said the Trump administration was perpetrating “the greatest assault on public education that we’ve ever seen in this country”.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) led a 12-hour sit-in on Sunday to protest the GOP’s draconian budget cuts plan.

[toxicanonymity]

did you see Corey Booker is doing a sit-in?

I love him.

Sitting on the Capitol steps with Leader Hakeem Jeffries this morning to discuss what’s at stake with Trump’s budget and affirm the need for collective action to protect Medicaid, food assistance, and other safety net programs. It only takes 4 Republicans in the House, or 4 in the Senate to stop this.

[marta-bee]

News of the Day 4/30/25: 100 Days In

Paywall be gone.

That's the good news. Today will be Trump's 100th day in office, and there's a tradition in American politics of taking stock of the new presidency. So there's a lot of new polls and to describe them as "not good" is an understatement. He's actually got the worst approval rating of any president 100 days into his term. The next-worst number? Trump in his first administration.

Paywall free.

.... and there's the other shoe, I'm afraid.

But there is little sign that this disgruntled public is ready to turn to Democrats instead. Approval ratings for Democratic leaders in Congress are even lower (27% approve, a record low for the party in CNN polling back to 2008) and nearly half of adults (46%) say they disapprove of leaders from both parties. The top two Hill Democrats — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — are also underwater in favorability (20% favorable to 27% unfavorable for Jeffries; 17% favorable to 44% unfavorable for Schumer, his worst rating in CNN polling back to 2017). Gregory Victorianne, a 65-year-old Democrat from Los Angeles who took the poll, expressed frustration with his party’s response to Trump’s return to office. “The Democrats need to wake up. They need to put this man in check, put this party in check and let us know in real time what they’re doing so we can stay on top of it and fight and take control of the House, the Senate and the White House again.”

While I think a lot of Dems are finding their voice and more creative ways of getting it heard, when you talk about like well-known Congressional Dems, that megaphone is really all they have. They're too far out of power, Republicans are too intransigent, and Trump is just too dictatorial and outrageous in his approach. They need better tools to fight him than they have. Pair that with a public that's scared, angry, and hungry for immediate change, being told the people who are supposed to fix this can't do much about it is damned frustrating and apt to leave you feeling abandoned. Even when it's true.

The only solution I have is to cultivate an awareness of what's actually being done to push back. Even in small things. So let's run with that. Specific examples of what Dems and other members of the pro-democracy crowd are doing, and more analysis of Trump's awful poll numbers. Because we all could use a little candy.

Democratic Resistance to Trump

What have the Democrats achieved in Trump’s first 100 days?

Trump Barely Defeats Challenge to His Tariff War in Senate (X)

Nineteen states sue Trump over school funding threat (X)

Trump’s Tariffs Prompt Wave of Lawsuits as States and Businesses Fight Back (X)

Michigan Democrat files articles of impeachment against Trump

The Rev. William Barber arrested in Capitol Rotunda after praying against Republican-led budget (X)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Cory Booker host a sit-in on Capitol steps over the GOP budget plan (X)

Who best reflects values of Democratic Party? It’s not Kamala Harris, poll says (X)

D.C. and 24 states sue over Trump cuts to AmeriCorps. Here’s what to know. (X)

‘Won’t have anywhere to hide’: Democrats are eager to pick apart the GOP megabill (X)

Van Hollen Makes Personal Appeal to Trump to Return Deported Immigrant (X)

Boston vows to stay 'safe for everyone' despite new executive order targeting sanctuary cities (X)

How California Sanctuary Policies Are Faring Under Pressure From Trump (X)

Trump can’t withhold funds from ‘sanctuary’ cities, federal judge says (X)

Civil Servants Push Back

Top NIH scientist speaks out, says research was ‘censored’ under RFK Jr (VIDEO)

Civil rights lawyers leave en masse as Justice Dept. mission shifts. Civil rights division director Harmeet K. Dhillon has redirected her staff to focus on combating antisemitism, anti-Christian bias and what she calls “woke ideology.” (X)

Corporation for Public Broadcasting sues Trump after he tries to fire board members

Individuals and Other Institutions Pushing Back

US army suspends commander after Trump and Hegseth portraits flipped to face wall

Elite Universities Form Private Collective to Resist Trump Administration (X)

What it takes to make courage contagious. As we have seen lately, publicly drawing a moral line inspires others to hold it. (X)

No new autism registry, HHS says, walking back NIH director’s claim (X)

After criticism, HHS reverses plan to cut funds for a landmark study on women’s health (X)

Wisconsin judge arrested by FBI 'stood up' for her community, state lawmaker says

Unions, local governments sue to block Trump administration’s workforce cuts (X)

The White House threatens sanctuary cities in another EO, but courts are skeptical

To my husband, Mahmoud Khalil: I can’t wait to tell our son of his father’s bravery

Jewish Student Says Mahmoud Khalil Protected Them More Than Columbia (X)

Young Men Are Already Souring on Trump (X)

After Pro-Israel Crowd Assaults Woman, Protesters Rally in Brooklyn (X)

Donald’s No Good, Horrible Awful Poll Numbers

Are things falling apart for Trump? About 100 days in, the signs are almost uniformly negative for the second-term Trump project. (X)

Trump’s 100-day approval rating at historic low compared to predecessors: ‘He has broken his own record for being the worst’ (X)

Four Perspectives on Trump’s Weak Poll Numbers. It’s not easy to burn this much good will so fast, and it doesn’t usually get any easier from here. (X)

100 Day Poll: Trump and Harris Voters Say They Would Not Change Vote (X)

How Americans describe Trump's term so far in 1 word: POLL (X)

Only about half of Republicans say Trump has focused on the right priorities, AP-NORC poll finds

Trump lashes out against "fake polls" as his approval ratings sink (X)

Fact-checking Trump’s claims at 100-day rally in Michigan (X)

[isagrimorie]

i forgot that tilly was asked to be the first officer of discovery in the third season. and, I think how mind-blowing that is. i like discovery a lot but sometimes the writers make truly mind-boggling choices.

i forgot that tilly was just a cadet in s1 and then an ensign.

making her an (acting) first officer, while still an ensign, was a bizarre choice. (harry kim is crying somewhere)

especially since nilsson and rhys take control of the bridge when the command team is out.

unfortunately, the way discovery is configured we don't really know most of the bridge crew.

or, maybe it would have been better if a new character was introduced as their 32nd-century guide and as a temporary XO.

but also, who is the senior staff of discovery? do we know?

i assumed that culber was CMO all this time only to find out from interviews he wasn't the CMO.

stamets can't be the chief engineer since he's science division and he mans the spore drive function and not the whole ship. i assume its jett reno.

who was the head of security when nhan left? is it rhys??? why is booker (who I really like) memory alpha listed the head of security of discovery (season 4)??? he's not starfleet.

i just realized the whole problem why they got tilly as acting first officer is because I don't think any of the writers in seasons 2 to 3 of discovery sat down and solidified the hierarchy on the ship other than captain.

it's so nebulous and it doesn't need to be nebulous.

it's like how inconsistent the ranks are on SNW uniforms.

i know these are nitpicks but these are details that help build out the world. and it's such an easy thing to address too, it's frustrating they don't.

and this is on the discovery writers for not taking the time to iron it out. i understand they want to focus on different people and keep the heroics away from the bridge, other than saru and michael. but that doesn't excuse how lazily they went about it.

anyway this is just a bug bear that I stumbled on when I remembered how tilly was made into acting first officer of discovery. it didn't niggle at me back then but somehow rewatching voyager and a lot of other trek made me realize, I can actually pinpoint the line of command on each show but stumble on it when it comes to discovery seasons 3 and 4.

again, i think this is why season 5 is doing a great job. wilson cruz said that by season 5 he might as well be the CMO, so I'm taking that as canon.

this is what happens when every season and episode is just one story of crisis situations without any standalone downtime episodes.

(this is also a problem for picard s3. it's the single story and 10 episode thing. it ties the hands of writers.)

what i wouldn't give for a discovery episode where the ship is just doing routine maintenance. follow an engineering team down a jeffries tube, watch them have a boring senior staff meeting where all department heads report to michael.

(wait, have we seen discovery do a senior staff meeting scene?)

have rayner sit down and manage personnel.

honestly, i think the trek that does the best in doing personnel, handling extras, and making a realized world is still ds9.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

CNN 4/28/2025

Tested by Trump’s first 100 days, Democrats take stock of lessons learned for fights ahead

By Edward-Isaac Dovere, Arlette Saenz and Fredreka Schouten, CNN

Updated: 3:35 PM EDT, Mon April 28, 2025

Source: CNN

The good news, say Democratic leaders and top party strategists wrapping their heads around what Donald Trump’s next 45 months will mean, is that there is no shortage of actual impacts to talk about – and that’s before the market turmoil has had the effect on prices or jobs that they expect.

The bad news, they say: the speed and thoroughness out of the White House keeps scrambling their already frantic efforts to fight back.

Every bad Trump poll number has top Democratic operatives and officials wondering if they’re actually seeing the country start to move their way again or if they’re just talking themselves into seeing that.

It’s what Illinois Rep. Sean Casten, first elected in the anti-Trump wave of 2018, calls a progression from apathy to fear to anger to action.

Now: “I think we’re moving from incoherent to directed anger,” Casten said, then added his own stage direction: “He says, optimistically.”

Beyond the arguments in private meetings or posts ripping into each other online, often odd and unexpected alliances within the Democratic Party have been hammering out ideas and tactics over group texts and quiet phone calls. Not having agreed on leaders or set organizing principles have come at a cost. Post-election promises of really digging into the data to figure out what went wrong have faded, but Democrats have started to actually rethink both what they’re saying and how they’re saying it in ways that go far beyond spats over wording or insisting that they should all do more podcasts.

“If you think it’s survivable if you just wait it out, you’re just waiting,” said Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who followed up being picked for the Democrats’ official response to Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress last month by starting a series of speeches aimed at laying out her own vision for what her party’s political argument should be. “If you think he’s doing things to our democracy that we can’t come back from, then you’re moving in a much more panicked way.”

“So many people are predisposed to believe that Trump’s second term is as incompetent as his first term. It’s hard to believe that Trump’s team is more competent than it was in the first term even though Trump himself sounds less coherent,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy.

Murphy said that adjusting his own approach to get more people to see this Trump administration as a threat has meant going long form – extended threads of posts on social media, explainer videos, speeches built around connecting the dots like the one he gave at a town hall in a North Carolina House district represented by a Republican.

None of that, Murphy acknowledged, is an answer or even a plan to get to an answer. Still, he says he at least thinks the country is getting primed for the deeper political reconsideration that needs to happen as he balances his own more institutional Democratic politics with urging colleagues not to write off independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as “fringe” and instead see Sanders’ populism as “the crossover message that could potentially cut into Trump’s base.”

“I don’t think necessarily people know what to do given that the level of peril is so high, but at least we’re not arguing anymore whether something insidious going on,” Murphy said.

Trying to break through despite having no actual power in Washington, Democrats have fanned out in person and online, with events like Sunday’s live streamed sit-in on the Capitol steps to call out specific impacts from the proposed Republican budget led by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Jeffries kicked things off by quoting Ulysses S. Grant’s writing, “There are but two parties in America right now: patriots and traitors.”

With the midterms still a year and a half away, Democrats looking for actual action are hoping not just for wins in courts, but for the Trump administration to abide by losing. On Wednesday, 12 states with Democratic attorneys general sued the Trump administration for “illegally imposing” tax hikes on Americans through tariffs, following a separate lawsuit challenging the president’s tariffs from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“This is going to be a marathon. We know that,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who was part of the tariff lawsuit filed last week. “We know that we’ve got a four-year period that we have to cover here to make sure that our country can survive this absolutely lawless presidency, and someone who, I would argue, is trying to carry out a coup on our country.”

Mayes is one of 23 Democratic attorneys general, a group that holds nearly daily virtual meetings to coordinate their work, discussing what they know about Trump’s actions and determining whether they have legal standing to pursue a lawsuit. “The secret sauce for us has been the fact that we are working together as attorneys general,” she said.

Many state attorneys general, including Mayes, have been holding their own town halls.

“We have to win in the courts to prevent these unconstitutional actions from going into place,” said Mayes, who is up for reelection next year in a battleground state Trump won. “But second, we have to win hearts and minds.”

Democrats hope to rekindle faith in government — and Democrats

Well outside of Washington in a state that is deep blue but in November showed significant erosion to Trump in the kinds of places Democrats never assumed they would have any trouble, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey as been strategizing with other governors behind the scenes, but leaving most of the nationalized political pushback against Trump to others.

Healey’s days have become responsive to the White House now that building materials now entangled by tariffs are holding up her own housing agenda; the universities and hospitals in her state dealing with research cuts; and business executives are already seeing orders cut and potential layoffs from supply chain worries.

In a roundabout way, she said those efforts have opened more people up to what Democrats can do in government by giving the party concrete examples of what they’re doing to push back. But a lot of what Healey said she is doing is also just consoling those around her. She said a woman with multiple sclerosis came up to her at event where she was planting trees with a Girl Scouts troop, crying about the disease research that has been shut down.

“It’s why I’ve been fighting the president on this,” Healey recalled saying.

Unable to provide any actual solutions, Healey gave the woman a hug.

Sometimes, Healey said, just showing compassion helps.

“This is not a hypothetical. People have felt real pain already,” Healey said.

That kind of going local, said Rep. Pat Ryan, is how he’s been approaching outreach in his upstate New York district where he ran double digits ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris and won another term last year. From food banks to veterans’ medical centers, he has convened events where he speaks for just a few minutes before turning over the microphone to constituents talking about the effects on their lives and businesses, as often as he can also including Republican local officials caught between staying true to Trump and speaking out against impacts they hate too.

“The awareness of the harm because of the playbook we’ve been running — not talking about national numbers, but being local, specific and tangible and focusing on harms that have been inflicted, not things that are hypothetical, that’s really on scale broken through,” Ryan said.

Campaign hopes stir

Democrats grasping for good news found some in the state supreme court race they won in Wisconsin and the state senate seats they flipped in Iowa and Pennsylvania.

That’s a sign of more to come, they argue.

“At the beginning of the Trump administration, a lot of Democrats viewed Trump as a popular president that they needed to find ways to work around,” said Wisconsin state Democratic chair Ben Wikler. “The reality is he was always on a trajectory to break so many things and infuriate so many people that he would become a profoundly unpopular president.”

Run for Something – a group focused on recruiting and training young progressives for state and local elections – has had 40,000 people since November sign up expressing interest in running for office, said Amanda Litman, the group’s co-founder and president.

“These are folks who are looking around and seeing that if no one is going to fight for them, they have to fight for themselves,” said Litman. “They are willing to put their careers on hold or change their lives to ultimately make a difference in their community.”

Litman said she will soon launch an initiative focused on the second 100 days of the Trump administration and is encouraging candidates to talk about their anger with the president’s action in personalized ways for their communities.

Newbies aren’t the only ones feeling inspired. Doug Jones, who won a 2017 special election for a Senate seat in Alabama and then lost it by 20 points in 2020, told CNN even he’s thinking about another run.

“I’ve said all along, sooner or later, some of this is going to start catching up to Republicans in Alabama,” Jones said.

“Would it be a tough slog?” Jones said. “Absolutely. But the way things are going right now, you can never tell where that lightning might strike.”

Strength and stress with donors

Signs of grassroots donor energy for Democrats abound. ActBlue, the main online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and causes, had a record quarter, taking in more than $400 million across all its candidates’ accounts between January and March 31, the organization said. And New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised a staggering $9.6 million in the first three months of the year as she toured the country with Sanders on his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.

But at the same time that Republicans are moving to change voting procedures in ways that would likely complicate elections for Democrats, the administration has specifically targeted that fundraising. The president signed a memorandum Thursday essentially directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate ActBlue on claims from GOP-led congressional committees that it enabled fraudulent contributions. This prompted an outcry that also led to the group’s processing $5.6 million in donations in a single day as news of the move spread. It also has Democratic strategists admitting they’re not at all prepared for what happens next.

No immediate fallback is in place, which a number of Democratic operatives say should already be a priority.

The party’s biggest donors have other issues. One Democratic strategist who has served as a philanthropic adviser to billionaires said radical action is needed to confront the threat posed by Trump and his administration’s actions. Democrats, the person said, should concentrate on mounting resistance to Trump at the state level – given the president’s demonstrated disdain for Congress and the courts.

“He’s made it very clear: He doesn’t care what the other two branches say, and the other branches don’t have guns,” said the person, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. “He has lots of guns.”

Other donors declined requests for comment about what they’re doing to help the party. Several have also turned down entreaties from Democratic leaders, claiming either that they’re unhappy with the party or too scared themselves of Trump retribution in ways that are enraging Democratic leaders privately.

Infighting continues

The agonizing churn is feeding outsized attention to spats like the one among Democratic National Committee leaders over vice chair David Hogg’s promise to support primary challenges against incumbents, or the Democratic leader of the Florida state senate leaving the party last week with a floor speech declaring, “our constituents are craving practical leaders, not political hacks.”

Even Slotkin’s series of speeches set off its own day of internal online battle last week when she criticized those using the word “oligarchy,” seemingly prompting an indirect clapback from Ocasio-Cortez, who posted that “plenty of politicians on both sides of the aisle feel threatened by rising class consciousness.”

“The times have come for us, and we need to do what the Democratic Party isn’t particularly good at, which is strategic planning and a coordinated message. It’s not that everybody has to say the same thing, but we have to be playing on the same team,” Slotkin said. “Sometimes in moments of desperation, people actually come together and for the sake of the country, for the sake of their communities, get on the same page. That’s what I’m hoping for.”

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[theintrepidfreelancer]

US Senator Cory Booker makes a historical speech.

US Senator Cory Booker delivered a speech on March 31 at 7 p.m., criticizing the Trump administration’s actions. The speech lasted 25 hours and five minutes, making it the longest in U.S. Senate History.

What is the purpose of his speech?

In a video posted to his X account, Booker said he was inspired by “hearing from people all over my state and indeed all over the nation calling upon folks in Congress to do more. To do things that recognize the urgency and crisis of the moment. So, we all have a responsibility, I believe, to do something different.”

Booker criticized the second Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in his speech, stating his intention of “disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate” to express his belief that “the threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them.”

He admonished the Trump administration's cuts to Social Security and Medicare, mass layoffs of federal workers, and attempts to dismantle the Department of Education.

Despite failing the requirements of a Senate filibuster, a speech intended to delay or block a bill, Booker's speech was a symbolic protest against President Trump’s policies.

What are the requirements to hold the floor?

To hold the Senate floor, Booker was required to stand at his desk, not eat meals or leave to use the restroom. He could drink water as needed, answer questions from colleagues, and hosted an open prayer at noon, allowing him quick breaks to regain his composure and focus.

To prepare, Booker stopped eating on Friday and stopped drinking Sunday night to prevent the urge to use the restroom. He ordered a Senate aide to remove his chair to avoid the temptation of sitting. His staff drafted and organized binders containing 1,164 pages of materials, including two hundred stories from American citizens, to use in his speech.

Booker said that his hardest challenge was spasms, stating that “the biggest thing I was fighting was that different muscles were starting to really cramp up,” and cause pains throughout his body.

To prepare mentally, Booker leaned on his Christian faith, prayed with Senator Raphael Warnock and carried a notecard of Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

What is the historical impact of his speech?

Booker’s speech had a historical impact, breaking the previous record for the longest Senate speech set by Senator Strom Thurmond with a 24-hour and 18-minute filibuster on the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Booker was “very aware of Strom Thurmond’s record,” and that it “always seemed wrong” that the longest Senate speech was from a segregationist.

Despite his intentions, Booker had no intention of breaking that record, and his mission was to “elevate the voices of Americans, to tell some of their really painful stories, very emotional stories, and to let go and let God do the rest.”

What are the reactions to his speech?

Live streams of Booker’s speech were trending on TikTok, resulting in unverified claims of more than 350 million ‘likes,’ and 300,000 viewers. His office phone received over 28,000 encouraging voicemails, including calls from California Representative Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised the speech, stating that it was “an incredibly powerful moment ... because he is fighting to preserve the American way of life and our democracy,” while also noting that the previous “record was held by Strom Thurmond who was defending Jim Crow segregation.”

However, not all the reactions were positive.

Despite acknowledging that the speech could boost morale in the Democratic Party, former White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said that the speech “won’t have a tangible impact on business in Washington.”

Intelligencer columnist Ed Kilgore, took a neutral stance, stating that “for the moment, he’s just another disempowered Democrat trying to placate angry constituents and activists who may have unrealistic ideas about what a minority party in a governing trifecta regime can do to throw sand in the gears of the Trump train. If talk can make them feel better, Booker has become the man with the plan.”

US President Donald Trump has yet to comment on the speech.

[houstontiger]

More like.

[voidingintotheshout]

OK, I don’t want to seem like some kind of hater or militant or whatever. However, Cory Booker doing the 25 hour long speech and now doing a SIT in? Like maybe I’m wrong but I can’t imagine this is actually going to do anything fighting against Trump. I mean in terms of optics. It looks really bad that Trump is taking rights away from Americans and legal citizens– If you want to even create a distinction there and Cory Booker‘s big plan is to sit on his butt outside on a nice day. Like maybe he could just go into work and try to obstructing to stop this Republican agenda? This just feels like so much theatrics. He didn’t even deliver a 25 hour filibuster since he didn’t stop any legislation from happening. It was just performative. I feel like he’s just doing nonthreatening things to show that he is courageously opposing. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t imagine that Democrats are gonna fall for this. It just looks like a week milquetoast performative trash. 

Like, here are the other two headlines that appeared right below it, one about Marco Rubio having to defend deporting two and four year olds and another one about 800 people rounded up by ice within a day of his sit in. Like maybe I’m just burned out but this sit in of his makes me frustrated more than feeling listened to.

[cavenewstimestoday]

To put pressure on Trump, Democrats turn to religion — and religious activists

WASHINGTON (RNS) — As the sun rose over the U.S. Capitol on the last Sunday in April, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, wearing a gold cross necklace, sat next to Sen. Cory Booker on the building’s stone steps. The two looked around quietly for a moment, awaiting confirmation that the livestream of their “sit-in” — a daylong effort designed to push back against the Republican-led budget…

[instantlyautomaticbouquet]

The Odessa File

My hacked laptop is resetting, and i see they're trying to impeach Donald Trump, again. I bet it's for inability this time, the 25th Amendment; is Donald Trump mentally fit for the job of president? Mentally fit, or is it " morally " fit, according to Hakeem Jeffries and Corey Booker at their not all day therapy session, but their all day " moral moment" at the Capitol Hill Sit- In. Are Democrats really moral, taking up the cause of illegal aliens, like Kilmar Gracia, who are probably members of ruthless crimminal gangs, or Judge Dugan breaking the law herself to help an illegal alien escape out the back door of her courtroom, or protestors setting Teslas on fire ? On the one hand , excess sympathy, and on the other supporting violence and destruction of property ? Who is mentally incompetent? Democrats seem to have become split- personalities. Let's go back to what I was saying a few days ago; democracy requires rational people. According to Jean Jacques Rousseau, through The Social Contract, we surrender our natural desires and instincts for rational and moral laws. All of us place their persons and all their powers for our own conservation under the supreme direction of the " General Will", and get back this same thing , but now protected by the power of everyone. By uniting in this way, we raise our selves out of 'The State of Nature. ". The General Will is an abstraction, the Democrats aren't doing that, from their actions they still living as their desires and fears move them. They are not rational, moral or autonomous , but as I said before , they are the demogougs, not Donald Trump. They themselves are governed by desire and egotism , and not reason, and now seem to be trying to scare people , who do not agree with them, just like the criminal gangs they're aiding. I'm seeing a lot about valour and sacrifice, instead of Trumps self - interest and Peace- making.

[bllsbailey]

The Dem Who's Leading the Impeachment Charge Against Trump Is a Trainwreck

Democrat Shri Thanedar

I don’t know how to respond to Rep. Shri Thanedar's (D-MI) announcement: the man is filing several articles of impeachment against Donald Trump. Who is this guy? This move isn’t shocking, as Democrats were bound to do it at some point because derangement syndrome still runs high, though Elon Musk has become the new target of the Left.

We need a total shutdown on people with Star Wars names entering our country until we can figure out what’s going on https://t.co/98uUz6CTk5— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) April 28, 2025

https://t.co/gxI893jQ3I pic.twitter.com/uy2eKF86YU— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) April 28, 2025

Still, it’s telling that no one is rallying around this no-name Democrat. It shows that the party remains a rudderless vessel with no leader or message. There is no alternative agenda—it’s all raging against Trump. This push is red-meat material for Democrats—so why is Shri alone? Despite singing songs and engaging in all-around strangeness on the Capitol’s steps, the party leadership knows this has no shot at passing, which is true.

Cory Booker and Hakeem Jeffries have been sitting and blathering on the steps of the Capitol for 6 hours to protest Trump... pic.twitter.com/hgztcCEtmy— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 27, 2025

Second, this guy is a train wreck. 

From an animal cruelty circus to allegations of business fraud, Mr. Shri is sort of a shady character, one who is out of his depth for wanting to be the face of this attempt to impeach Donald Trump. The man is a beagle beater—that’s not exactly someone you want as the point of the lance on this stuff (via HuffPost):

This guy owned a pharmaceutical testing lab. In 2010 he went bankrupt, locked the doors and left all the puppies and monkeys he was testing inside to die. https://t.co/LcXNAgzCvy— Chef Andrew Gruel (@ChefGruel) April 30, 2025

About 170 dogs and monkeys were rescued in 2010 from an abandoned pharmaceutical testing lab owned by Shri Thanedar, a Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate currently leading in the polls.  Thanedar had to shutter the New Jersey testing facility, AniClin Preclinical Services, after its parent company, Azopharma, which he owned, went bankrupt in April 2010.  Local animal rights activists learned in June of that year that 118 beagles were still stuck inside the facility. The lab’s workers had been jumping the lab’s fences to provide food and water for the dogs, according to a USA Today report.  Two animal welfare groups teamed up to find homes for the beagles and were finally able to take them from the shuttered lab on July 4 to shelters, where they would be matched with adoptive families. A video report conducted by the Times Herald-Record, based in Middletown, New York, showed the dogs arriving in a van from the lab to a staging area where volunteers groomed and attended to the forlorn animals.��

Shri also settled a suit where he was accused of inflating the value of his business (via The Detroit News): 

Former Michigan Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Shri Thanedar has reached an agreement with plaintiffs to avoid trial in a business fraud lawsuit alleging he inflated the value of a company he sold in 2016.  U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain dismissed the case Friday, citing a notice from Thanedar and Avomeen Holdings LLC that they had reached an agreement to resolve the matter out of court.  The trial had been set to start Tuesday in Detroit, where Thanedar recently moved as he contemplates another political run.  Avomeen had claimed economic damages of approximately $7 million to $8 million in the sale, which netted Thanedar roughly $20 million. Thanedar disputed any wrongdoing and filed a counter claim seeking damages of at least $2.5 million, according to court records. 

On paper, the congressman is America personified: worked through college, came up through poverty, was at the helm of a supposedly successful business, and is now serving on the Hill. Yet, it’s a mixed bag. In a deep blue bastion, like Detroit, where his congressional district resides, it’s not the GOP who are your enemies, it’s your own party. Maybe he’s impeaching Trump to curry favor with his base, but that also feeds into another anti-Shri point, which is that many think his public service career is a vanity stunt dotted by “malleable” stances on policy (via HuffPo): 

Thanedar’s fiercest critics see his congressional career as a vanity project built on self-obsession and malleable political beliefs. Many also see it as the fullest expression of a life spent pursuing the American Dream.  […]  Detroit leaders who spoke to HuffPost for this piece say they weren’t thrilled by Thanedar’s win, though they were willing to give him a shot. But Thanedar’s first year in office has only compounded their concerns: The freshman representative is facing allegations of creating a toxic work environment with chronic turnover and of dedicating an exorbitant amount of his congressional budget to advertising — including billboards in the Detroit area that feature his blown-up face and the number of the office — that feel more like campaign self-promotion than official communication, according to three people with direct knowledge of the office who view this as improper, if not unethical. 

Since the Trump impeachment announcement, there are Democrats already gunning for Shri’s seat, labeling him out of touch with voters. Yet, the Huffington Post highlighting Shri’s flimsy policy positions is somewhat entertaining: he called Israel an apartheid state and wanted to cease all aid to the Jewish state, and later joined an AIPAC trip to the country and disassociated with Democratic Socialists of America for not condemning the October 7 attacks harshly enough. I think the guy is just nuts (via NBC News): 

A two-term Michigan state representative backed by the progressive group Justice Democrats is launching a primary challenge against Rep. Shri Thanedar on Monday, setting the stage for a significant fight over the Detroit-area House seat.  The race will also serve as another proxy fight over the war in Gaza as Thanedar, previously a critic of the Israeli government in the state Legislature, renounced his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, saying the DSA did not offer adequate condemnation of it. Earlier in 2023, Thanedar took a trip to Israel sponsored by a group affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.  In a statement, Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney, 32, contrasted himself with Thanedar, a multimillionaire and two-term incumbent. McKinney’s campaign described Thanedar in a press release as “Detroit’s own Elon Musk.” 

Okay, again, as I said, this party is lost. Thanedar is ‘Indian Elon Musk’—and we’re primarying him not because he’s out of his depth here, but primarily, it would seem, being that it’s Michigan—the land of Rashida Tlaib—that he became a little too cozy with Israel. 

Trump touched upon this last night, calling the Democratic Party crazy. Also, who is this guy? 

This little dance isn’t going anywhere. It was never credible, and now that a Democrat facing what could be a stiff primary challenge is using it as a life vest, it’s a full-blown joke.

[rogue-ai-cat]

What Happened Today That You Should Know

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Courtesy of GovBrief.Today

1. Trump vows to restore Columbus Day without Indigenous recognition, accusing Democrats of erasing the explorer’s legacy.

2. Greenland’s new prime minister says U.S. statements about the island are disrespectful and rejects any idea of American ownership.

3. More than 100 undocumented immigrants detained after federal raid of underground nightclub in Colorado Springs.

4. Trump official defends deporting U.S. citizen children, saying parents are responsible for family separations.

5. ’60 Minutes’ correspondent tells viewers CBS supervision threatens show’s independence after producer resigns.

6. Trump warns Putin to stop attacks and sign Ukraine peace deal as U.S. threatens to walk away from negotiations.

7. U.S. says it has hit more than 800 Houthi targets in Yemen as Red Sea conflict escalates.

8. University leaders form private alliance to resist Trump administration’s attacks on academic independence and research funding.

9. Trump claims Democrats are paying protesters to disrupt Republican town halls and urges lawmakers to eject them.

10. Trump floats idea of cutting income taxes for those earning under $200,000 to offset higher prices from his new tariffs.

11. Rubio defends State Department reorganization cutting human rights and diversity offices and seeking 15% staff reductions.

12. Trump Jr. and allies launch $500,000 private club in Washington selling exclusive access to administration officials.

FIGHTING BACK: Jeffries and Booker stage 12-hour Capitol sit-in protesting GOP budget plan advancing Trump’s agenda.

Take Action:

Write your officials via resist.bot

Call you officials via 5calls.org

Fond events at mobilize.us

[axneha]

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Cory Booker host a sit-in on Capitol steps over the GOP budget plan

Hakeem Jeffries and Cory Booker hosted hundreds of supporters at the Capitol in protest of Republicans’ upcoming push to pass a budget reconciliation bill.

[lecho]

Celebrating Black History Month:  Jack Johnson – First African American to win Heavy Weight Boxing Crown

Early Years

The first black heavyweight champion, John Arthur "Jack" Johnson was born on March 31, 1878, in Galveston, Texas. The son of ex-slaves and the third of nine children, Johnson possessed an air of confidence and drive to exceed beyond the hardscrabble life his parents had known.

After a few years of school, Johnson went to work as a laborer to help support his family. A good deal of his childhood, in fact, was spent working on boats and sculleries in Galveston.

By the age of 16, Johnson was on his own, traveling to New York and later Boston before returning to his hometown. Johnson's first fight came around this time. His opponent was a fellow longshoreman, and while the purse wasn't much — just $1.50 — Johnson jumped at the chance and won the fight. Not long after he earned $25 for managing to stick out four rounds against professional boxer Bob Thompson.

Challenging James F. Jeffries

By the early 1900s, the 6'2" Johnson, who'd become known as the Galveston Giant, had made a name for himself in the black boxing circuit and had his eyes set on the world heavyweight title, which was held by white boxer Jim F. Jeffries. Jeffries refused to fight him, though he wasn't alone; white boxers would not spar with their black counterparts. 

But Johnson's talents and bravado were too hard to ignore. Finally, on December 26, 1908, the flamboyant Johnson, who often taunted his opponents as he beat them soundly, got his chance for the title when champion Tommy Burns fought him outside of Sydney, Australia. Burns, who had succeeded Jeffries as champion, had only agreed to fight Johnson after promoters guaranteed him $30,000. The fight, which novelist Jack London attended and wrote about for a New York newspaper, lasted until the 14th round, when police stepped in and ended it. Johnson was named the winner.

‘Fight of the Century’

From there, Johnson continued his calls for Jeffries to step into the ring with him. On July 4, 1910, he finally did. Dubbed the "Fight of the Century," more than 22,000 eager fans turned out for the bout, held in Reno, Nevada. After 15 rounds, Johnson came away victorious, affirming his domain over boxing and further angering white boxing fans who hated seeing a black man sit atop the sport. 

Jeffries was humbled by the loss and what he'd seen of his opponent. "I could never have whipped Johnson at my best," he said. "I couldn't have hit him. No, I couldn't have reached him in 1,000 years." For the fight, Johnson earned a purse of $117,000. It would be five years before he relinquished the heavyweight title, when he fell to Jess Willard in a 26-round bout in Havana, Cuba. Johnson continued to fight for another 12 years, hanging up his gloves for good at the age of 50.

Boxing Record

In total, John's professional record included 73 wins (40 of them being knockouts), 13 losses, 10 draws and 5 no contests.

 Lavish Lifestyle and Prison Sentence

As Johnson became a bigger name in the sport of boxing, he also became a bigger target for a white America that longed to see him ruined. For his part, Johnson loved to brandish his wealth and his disdain for racial rules.

He dated white women, drove lavish cars and spent money freely. But trouble was always lurking. In 1912, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act for bringing his white girlfriend across state lines before their marriage. Sentenced to prison, he fled to Europe, remaining there as a fugitive for seven years. He returned to the United States in 1920 and ultimately served out his sentence.

Death

His life came to an unfortunate end on June 10, 1946, when he died in an automobile accident in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Personal Life

Johnson had three spouses, all of whom were white women, which caused great controversy. His first marriage was in 1911 to Brooklyn socialite and divorcée Etta Terry Duryea. Their relationship was anything but stable and Duryea, who suffered from depression, ended up committing suicide in 1912.

Just a few months after Duryea ended her life, Johnson married Lucille Cameron, but she divorced him in 1924 because of his philandering. A year later the boxer married Irene Pineau and the couple remained together until his death in 1946. 

Movie

Since his death, Johnson's life and career have undergone a major rehabilitation. His alleged crimes are now seen as the result of racial bias in law enforcement. In 1970 Johnson was portrayed by actor James Earl Jones in the film adaptation The Great White Hope, which was sourced from the 1967 play by Howard Sackler. Jones and his co-star Jane Alexander both received Oscar nominations for their work on the film. Twenty years later, Johnson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and his life also became the subject of the acclaimed Ken Burns’ documentary Unforgivable Blackness (2004).

Petitions for Presidential Pardon

In April 2018, President Donald Trump tweeted that, after receiving a phone call from actor and boxing aficionado Sylvester Stallone, he was considering a full posthumous pardon for Johnson's violation of the Mann Act. In May 2018, Trump granted Johnson a posthumous pardon.

Several lawmakers had sought the pardon in recent years. In 2016, Senators John McCain and Harry Reid and Congressmen Peter King and Gregory Meeks wrote a joint letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to overturn the "ongoing injustice" of Johnson's "racially-motivated conviction." In 2017, Senator Corey Booker joined his colleagues in introducing a resolution on behalf of the boxer. 

Source: https://www.biography.com/athlete/jack-johnson