Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Time to Grow Up . . .

It seems to me that it is a minority that ever gets the true and full Gospel – in any denomination. Most of us just keep worshiping Jesus and arguing over the right way to do it. The amazing thing is that Jesus never once says, “Worship me!” whereas he frequently says, “Follow me” (see, for example, Matthew 4:19).

Christianity is a lifestyle – a way of being in the world that is simple, nonviolent, shared, and loving. However, we made it into an established religion (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain throughout most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one’s personal Lord and Savior or continue to receive the sacraments in good standing. The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on earth is too great.

Richard Rohr, O.F.M
Excerpted from Yes, and...: Daily Meditations
Franciscan Media (2017)


See also the related Wild Reed posts:
Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
The Model of Leadership Offered by Jesus: “More Like the Gardener Than the Owner of the Garden”
Jesus Our Guide to Mystical Love – Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Revolution and Mysticism
Jesus: Path-Blazer of Radical Transformation
Adam Eriksen on the Subversive Politics of Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday: “A Planned Political Demonstration”
The Mystic Jesus: “A Name for the Unalterable Love That All of Us Share”
Why Jesus is My Man

Image: Artist unknown.


Tuesday, February 11, 2025

“The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly

“We are going to galvanize
all of those forces that are disaffected
with this corrupt corporate duopoly
that comes in blue or red flavors.”

Butch Ware
February 5, 2025


Butch Ware, who was Jill Stein’s vice presidential running mate on the 2024 Green Party presidential ticket, recently announced that he is running as a Green Party candidate for Governor of California.

Last Wednesday Butch was a guest on Sabrina Salvati’s podcast Sabby Sabs. Their 30-minute conversation is well worth checking out (below) as it includes Butch’s insightful analysis of the Democratic Party and why it cannot be relied upon to counter the authoritarianism of Donald Trump.

“The moment is ripe,” says Butch, “for a genuine populist progressive alternative . . . because we know that the corporate [Republican/Democrat] duopoly is not serving the people. So we’re going to have to build something that will.”

Continues Butch:

The Democrats are going the way of the Whig Party. . . . They are never going to get up from what they have done to themselves in this last election cycle and in the 30 years that preceeded that. The corporate sell-off of this party – from Bill Clinton to now Kamala Harris – has put the final nails in the coffin of this party. And if you look and zoom out objectively, you see a party that is in utter shambles. It has no capacity to reassemble the base that has departed it.

And so if we show strength and present a true oppositional alternative, you are going to watch people move to a new party. And that’s what I’m trying to facilitate.

. . . We are going to run to win in the state of California, yes. But we are also going to galvanize all of those forces that are disaffected with this corrupt corporate duopoly that comes in blue or red flavors. And we are going to build a [national] movement because you don’t have to be a resident of California to donate or to volunteer to help build this strength. And the more strength we show in this 2026 electoral cycle, the more damage we’re capable of inflicting [on the duopoly] in 2028 and 2032.

So instead of talking about it, be about it. Put your money where your mouth is and help us win in the state of California.






Above: With Butch Ware in Minneapolis – October 14, 2024.
For The Wild Reed’s coverage of Dr. Ware’s September 8, 2024
meet-and-greet event in Minneapolis, click here.


Related Off-site Links:
Butch Ware for Governor – Official campaign website.
Where the Ultra-Competitive 2026 California Gubernatorial Race Currently Stands – Evan Symon (California Globe, November 19, 2024).
Butch Ware, Former Green Party VP Nominee, Announces Next Run for Office – David Doonan (GP.org, November 12, 2024).
Democrats Have “No Hope” of Winning Election Warns Green Party VP Candidate Butch WareSystem Update with Glenn Greenwald (September 20, 2024).
Green Party VP Candidate Butch Ware Talks 2024 Race, 2026 Gubernatorial Bid, and More – Marc Lamont Hill (Night School, September 19, 2024).


UPDATE: Butch Ware: “Democrats Are Never Coming Back After Genocide Support” – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, February 13, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – January 30, 2025
Something to Think About – December 8, 2024
The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
The “Green Smoothie” Option
Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
Jill Stein in the Twin Cities
Anti-Genocide Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Reflects on the First Anniversary of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
“This Is a Tragic, Heartbreaking Moment in the History of Humanity”: Butch Ware on the Gaza Genocide
Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
Butch Ware: “You Can Actually Vote Your Conscience”
Butch Ware: “I’m Not Here as a Spoiler . . . I am Called Into the Fight for the Struggle for Freedom in Our Time”
Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
When Democrats Undermine Democracy
“Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
Progressive Perspectives on the Presidential Nomination of Kamala Harris
Progressive Perspectives On an American Coronation
Demolishing the False Narrative About Jill Stein and the 2016 Election


Thursday, February 06, 2025

“To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”


Related Off-site Links:
Meditations in an Emergency – Rebecca Solnit (February 2, 2025).
Fighting for Justice Doesn’t Have to Be a Big Dramatic Act. It Ban Be Small – Rebecca Solnit (The Guardian, February 2, 2025).
What to Do – Marianne Williamson (Transform, February 3, 2025).
How to Organize Under Authoritarian Creep in a Closing Civil Society – Nadine Bloch (Waging Nonviolence, January 30, 2025).
Trump’s Neofascism Is Here Now. Here Are 10 Things You Can Do to Resist – Robert Reich (The Guardian, January 24, 2025).
Can Nonviolent Struggle Defeat a Dictator? This Database Emphatically Says Yes – George Lakey (Waging Nonviolence, January 8, 2025).
A Time for BodhisattvasLion’s Roar (November 6, 2024).
A Lighthouse for Dark Times – Maria Popova (The Marginalian, November 6, 2024).
Grassroots Organizing Wisdom Will Be Crucial With a Fascist in the White House – Schuyler Mitchell (TruthOut, November 6, 2024).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
Active Hope
Why “Revolutionary Love” Gives Michelle Alexander Hope


Tuesday, February 04, 2025

“An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup

British journalist and activist Owen Jones posted a video commentary today that provides a timely and informed appraisal of the coup that’s currently taking place here in the U.S.

It’s being called an “administrative coup,” a “plutocratic coup,” and a “soft coup.” Regardless of the descriptor, it’s a coup – an illegal and overt attempt to subvert democracy and destroy government so that those orchestrating this subversion and destruction can enrich themselves and those loyal to them.

So if you need to get up to speed on how this is all playing out in the U.S., Jones’ 10-minute commentary is a good place to start.





NEXT:
“To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”


Related Off-site Links:
Stating the Obvious: The Replacement of Our Constitutional System of Government With the Whims of an Unelected Private Citizen Is a Coup – Heather Cox Richardson (Letters From an American, February 4, 2025).
Signs of a New Anti-Trump Opposition Amid Elon Musk’s Coup – Joan Walsh (The Nation, February 4, 2025).
Unions Sue to Revoke Musk Cronies’ Access to Critical Payment System – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 4, 2025).
Musk Intensifies Government Spending Attack With Push to Cut All Regulations – Robert Tait (The Guardian, February 4, 2025).
It’s a War. Do Democrats Get That? – David Corn (Mother Jones, February 4, 2025).
“It’s a Coup”: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security – Olivia Rosane (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Trump and Musk Have All of Washington on Edge – Just Like They Wanted – Philip Elliott (TIME, February 3, 2025).
“Americans Were Sleep-Marched Into Fascism”: Signs of Creeping Authoritarianism We Can’t Miss Again – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, February 3, 2025).
Musk’s DOGE Blitzkrieg Should Infuriate the Nation – Ann Wright (Common Dreams, February 3, 2025).
“Solidarity Is the Antidote to Fascism”: Progressives Organize Treasury Protest Over Musk Takeover – Charles R. Davis (Salon, February 3, 2025).
The Fu*king Nightmare – Robert Reich (RobertReich.com, February 2, 2025).
We Must Create a Broad Anti-Fascist Movement to Fight Back Against Trump 2.0 – C.J. Polychroniou (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Fighting for Justice Doesn’t Have to Be a Big Dramatic Act. It Can Be Small – Rebecca Solnit (The Guardian, February 2, 2025).
Did You Hear About the Friday Coup? – Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket, February 1, 2025).
Call It by Its Name: A Coup – Robert B. Hubbell (Today’s Edition Newsletter, February 1, 2025).
Dictator Donald Thinks He’s Invincible; He’s Not – Ralph Nader (Common Dreams, February 1, 2025).
Top Treasury Official Out as Musk Cronies Demand Access to Payment System That Funnels Trillions in U.S. Funds – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
“DOGE-Affiliated Goons” Accused of Locking Career Civil Servants Out of Key Databases – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
Trump’s First Week: “Designed to Destroy the United States From Within” – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, January 30, 2025).
How to Organize Under Authoritarian Creep in a Closing Civil Society – Nadine Bloch (Waging Nonviolence, January 30, 2025).
Trump’s Neofascism Is Here Now. Here Are 10 Things You Can Do to Resist – Robert Reich (The Guardian, January 24, 2025).
Can Nonviolent Struggle Defeat a Dictator? This Database Emphatically Says Yes – George Lakey (Waging Nonviolence, January 8, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
“This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
Inauguration Day Thoughts
Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born
Neoliberalism vs Neofascism: Cornel West on the State of U.S. Politics
Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
What the Republican Party Now Stands For
Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
History Matters
Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
Will We Let Fascism Come to America?

Image 1: Donald Trump and Elon Musk at SpaceX’s launch site in Boca Chica, Texas – November 19, 2024 (Photo: Brandon Bell/AP)
Image 2: Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán in New Jersey – August 2022. (Photo: Source)


Monday, February 03, 2025

“This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”


Waleed Shahid is a political strategist who has worked as spokesperson for Justice Democrats and adviser for the campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman.

Earlier today Shahid was interviewed by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now about his latest piece on Substack entitled “Elon Musk Is Staging a Coup.”

Following is some of what Shahid had to say.

If this story was taking place somewhere in Central Asia or in Africa [then] the United States media, the United States State Department, and international institutions would likely refer to it as a coup.

[Elon Musk] a billionaire industrialist who donated $300 million to [Trump’s presidential] campaign is installing his personal loyalists in key parts of the federal bureaucracy. This is essentially Viktor Orbán’s playbook.

And we need to know: Why does a billionaire industrialist, with millions in government contracts and military contracts for his private companies, need the Social Security numbers of every American, needs to know every single check that the U.S. government gives out to businesses and to charities? Why does this billionaire need to know this information?

He was not vetted or approved by the U.S. Senate. He has a history of corruption, for using public resources for private gain. He’s one of the wealthiest men in the world. In any other situation this would be called state capture, and people around the world would be condemning it. But in the United States we are not used to this kind of level of creeping authoritarianism, of plutocracy, of oligarchy so explicit.

. . . The Democratic Party in Washington is largely asleep at the wheel. They are acting as if they’re kind of a librarian shushing noise in a crowded room. They are still believing in the normal procedures, normal decorum; [still believing] that everything here is the normal transition of power. And they still believe that what Elon Musk and Donald Trump are doing is just a libertarian reform of the government, not an oligarchic, plutocratic takeover by a private billionaire who is potentially seeking to know what his competitors might be doing with government contracts. . . . But the Democratic Party is not able to put forward an opposition message right now, because they feel like this is normal.

And that’s why it’s so important for concerned citizens all across the country to twist the arm of your Senate Democrat. Go to their office. If you go to Indivisible.org today, you can find a way to join your local chapter all around the country, whether your senators are Republican or Democrat or independent. They need to hear from concerned citizens, because the Democratic Party doesn’t move on issues of oligarchy, of plutocracy, of taking action, unless their constituents show up in person and demand that they hold hearings . . . [and] grind the Senate to a halt until we know why Elon Musk, someone who was not elected, has this information.



NEXT:
“An Extremely Clever Ruse” By and For
the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup


Related Off-site Links:
“It’s a Coup”: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security – Olivia Rosane (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Trump and Musk Have All of Washington on Edge – Just Like They Wanted – Philip Elliott (TIME, February 3, 2025).
“Americans Were Sleep-Marched Into Fascism”: Signs of Creeping Authoritarianism We Can’t Miss Again – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, February 3, 2025).
Musk’s DOGE Blitzkrieg Should Infuriate the Nation – Ann Wright (Common Dreams, February 3, 2025).
“Solidarity Is the Antidote to Fascism”: Progressives Organize Treasury Protest Over Musk Takeover – Charles R. Davis (Salon, February 3, 2025).
The Fu*king Nightmare – Robert Reich (RobertReich.com, February 2, 2025).
We Must Create a Broad Anti-Fascist Movement to Fight Back Against Trump 2.0 – C.J. Polychroniou (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Fighting for Justice Doesn’t Have to Be a Big Dramatic Act. It Can Be Small – Rebecca Solnit (The Guardian, February 2, 2025).
Did You Hear About the Friday Coup? – Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket, February 1, 2025).
Call It by Its Name: A Coup – Robert B. Hubbell (Today’s Edition Newsletter, February 1, 2025).
Dictator Donald Thinks He’s Invincible; He’s Not – Ralph Nader (Common Dreams, February 1, 2025).
Top Treasury Official Out as Musk Cronies Demand Access to Payment System That Funnels Trillions in U.S. Funds – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
“DOGE-Affiliated Goons” Accused of Locking Career Civil Servants Out of Key Databases – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
Trump’s First Week: “Designed to Destroy the United States From Within” – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, January 30, 2025).
How to Organize Under Authoritarian Creep in a Closing Civil Society – Nadine Bloch (Waging Nonviolence, January 30, 2025).
Trump’s Neofascism Is Here Now. Here Are 10 Things You Can Do to Resist – Robert Reich (The Guardian, January 24, 2025).
Can Nonviolent Struggle Defeat a Dictator? This Database Emphatically Says Yes – George Lakey (Waging Nonviolence, January 8, 2025).
The Hungaryfication of the USA – Thomas Klikauer (Other News, January 9, 2025).
I Watched Orbán Destroy Hungary’s Democracy. Here’s My Advice for the Trump Era – Gábor Scheiring (Politico, November 23, 2024).


UPDATES: Unions Sue to Revoke Musk Cronies’ Access to Critical Payment System – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 4, 2025).
Musk Intensifies Government Spending Attack with Push to Cut All Regulations – Robert Tait (The Guardian, February 4, 2025).
It’s a War. Do Democrats Get That? – David Corn (Mother Jones, February 4, 2025).
Marianne Williamson: “This Will Not Stand”Piers Morgan Uncensored (February 4, 2025).
Elon Musk Stages Coup d’etat – Owen Jones (Owen Jones Talks, February 4, 2025).
Stating the Obvious: The Replacement of Our Constitutional System of Government With the Whims of an Unelected Private Citizen Is a Coup – Heather Cox Richardson (Letters From an American, February 4, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
Inauguration Day Thoughts
Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born
Neoliberalism vs Neofascism: Cornel West on the State of U.S. Politics
Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
What the Republican Party Now Stands For
Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
History Matters
Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
Will We Let Fascism Come to America?

Image 1: Donald Trump and Elon Musk at SpaceX’s launch site in Boca Chica, Texas – November 19, 2024 (Photo: Brandon Bell/AP)
Image 2: Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán in New Jersey – August 2022. (Photo: Source)


Sunday, February 02, 2025

Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”

The federal government has immense capacity and control over trillions of dollars. That power was a co-creation of the American people. It belongs to them. The oligarchs around Trump are working now to take it for themselves.

Theirs is a logic of destruction. It is very hard to create a large, legitimate, functioning government. The oligarchs have no plan to govern. They will take what they can, and disable the rest. The destruction is the point. They don’t want to control the existing order. They want disorder in which their relative power will grow.

. . . The gap between the oligarchs’ wealth and everyone else’s will grow. Knowing what they themselves will do and when, they will have bet against the stock market in advance of Trump’s deliberately destructive tariffs, and will be ready to tell everyone to buy the crypto they already own. But that is just tomorrow and the day after.

In general, the economic collapse they plan is more like a reverse flood from the Book of Genesis, in which the righteous will all be submerged while the very worst ride Satan’s ark. The self-chosen few will ride out the forty days and forty night. When the waters subside, they will be alone to dominate.

. . . In [this] logic of destruction, there is no need to rebuild afterwards. In this chaos, the oligarchs will tell us that there is no choice but to have a strong man in charge. It can be a befuddled Trump signing ever larger pieces of paper for the cameras, or a conniving Vance who, unlike Trump, has always known the plot. Or someone else.

. . . [T]the men currently pillaging the federal government . . . see themselves as the servants of the freedom of the chosen few, but in fact they are possessed, like millennia of tyrants before them, of fantastic dreams: they will live forever, they will go to Mars. None of that will happen; they will die here on Earth, with the rest of us, their only legacy, if we let it happen, one of ruins. . . . The attempt by the oligarchs to destroy our government is illegal, unconstitutional, and more than a little mad. The people in charge, though, are very intelligent politically, and have a plan. I describe it not because it must succeed but because it must be described so that we can make it fail. This will require clarity, and speed, and coalitions.

. . . The logic of “move fast and break things,” like the logic of all coups, is to gain quick dramatic successes that deter and demoralize and create the impression of inevitability. Nothing is inevitable. Do not be alone and do not be dismayed. Find someone who is doing something you admire and join them.

What is a country? The way its people govern themselves. Sometimes self-government just means elections. And sometimes it means recognizing the deeper dignity and meaning of what it means to be a people. That means speaking up, standing out, and protesting. We can only be free together.

Timothy Snyder
Excerpted from "The Logic of Destruction
. . . And How to Resist It

Thinking About
February 2, 2025


NEXT:
“This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”


Related Off-site Links:
“It’s a Coup”: Musk’s DOGE Granted Access to Treasury System That Pays Out Social Security – Olivia Rosane (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
The Fu*king Nightmare – Robert Reich (RobertReich.com, February 2, 2025).
We Must Create a Broad Anti-Fascist Movement to Fight Back Against Trump 2.0 – C.J. Polychroniou (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Fighting for Justice Doesn’t Have to Be a Big Dramatic Act. It Can Be Small – Rebecca Solnit (The Guardian, February 2, 2025).
Did You Hear About the Friday Coup? – Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket, February 1, 2025).
Call It by Its Name: A Coup – Robert B. Hubbell (Today’s Edition Newsletter, February 1, 2025).
Dictator Donald Thinks He’s Invincible; He’s Not – Ralph Nader (Common Dreams, February 1, 2025).
Top Treasury Official Out as Musk Cronies Demand Access to Payment System That Funnels Trillions in U.S. Funds – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
“DOGE-Affiliated Goons” Accused of Locking Career Civil Servants Out of Key Databases – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
Trump’s First Week: “Designed to Destroy the United States From Within" – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, January 30, 2025).
How to Organize Under Authoritarian Creep in a Closing Civil Society – Nadine Bloch (Waging Nonviolence, January 30, 2025).
Amid Confusion, Panic and Backlash, Trump’s White House Rescinds Funding “Freeze” on Grants and Programs – Chris Walker (TruthOut, January 29, 2025).
Think Trump’s Tyranny Can’t Be Opposed or Stopped? Think Again – Jeremy Brecher (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
In High-Speed Power Grab, Trump Seeks to Remake the Federal Government – Don Kettl (The Bulwark, January 29, 2025).
The Hostile Takeover of the United States by Corporate Raiders Has Arrived in Full – Thom Hartmann (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
Trump Is Clearly Moving in an Authoritarian and Potentially Fascist Direction – John Ripton (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
What Trump’s Pardons and Retribution Say About His Fascist Threat – Chuck Idelson (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
“Trump Is Trying to Collapse Our Economy”: War on “Woke” Revealed as a War on All Americans – Amanda Marcotte (Salon, January 29, 2025).
“We Do Not Consent” Says Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Illegal “Power Grab” as Judge Halts Trump Order – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, January 28, 2025).
Trump Tries a January Coup – Again: The President Wages War on the Separation of PowersThe Ink (January 28, 2025).
Trump’s Most Lawless Action Yet – David Dayen (The American Prospect, January 28, 2025).
Energized Neo-Nazis Feel Their Moment Has Come as Trump Changes Everything – Ben Makuch (The Guardian, January 26, 2025).
Donald Trump Is the Empire Unmasked – Caitlin Johnstone (CaitlinJohnstone.com, January 21, 2025).
Can Nonviolent Struggle Defeat a Dictator? This Database Emphatically Says Yes – George Lakey (Waging Nonviolence, January 8, 2025).


UPDATES: Is Elon Musk Staging a Coup? Unelected Billionaire Seizes Control at Treasury Department and Other AgenciesDemocracy Now! (February 3, 2025).
Trump’s Trade War, Authoritarian Power, and the Oligarchs – Robert Reich (Common Dreams, February 3, 2025).
Unions Sue to Revoke Musk Cronies’ Access to Critical Payment System – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 4, 2025).
Musk Intensifies Government Spending Attack with Push to Cut All Regulations – Robert Tait (The Guardian, February 4, 2025).
It’s a War. Do Democrats Get That? – David Corn (Mother Jones, February 4, 2025).
Marianne Williamson: “This Will Not Stand”Piers Morgan Uncensored (February 4, 2025).
Elon Musk Stages Coup d’etat – Owen Jones (Owen Jones Talks, February 4, 2025).
Stating the Obvious: The Replacement of Our Constitutional System of Government With the Whims of an Unelected Private Citizen Is a Coup – Heather Cox Richardson (Letters From an American, February 4, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
Inauguration Day Thoughts
Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born
Neoliberalism vs Neofascism: Cornel West on the State of U.S. Politics
Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
What the Republican Party Now Stands For
Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
History Matters
Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
Will We Let Fascism Come to America?

Image: Artist unknown.


Protesting Trump’s “Dystopian” Immigration Policies


Yesterday I joined with hundreds of others in taking to the streets of south Minneapolis to protest the Trump administration’s racist and inhumane immigration polices, including raids by ICE and immigrant deportations. Our core message was a simple one: Immigrants are welcome here.

The rally and march was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC).

Following are a few of my photographs from yesterday, accompanied by an excerpt from Feven Gerezgiher’s MPR News article about the event.


Since Donald Trump returned to the White House last month, America hasn’t felt the same to Antonio Hernandez.

“I cannot believe it,” he said. “It feels very dystopian.”

Hernandez, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, joined the ranks of demonstrators in Minneapolis on Saturday to protest President Trump's immigration policies.

Trump, on entering office last month, signed scores of executive orders reversing Biden-era policies and reinstituting plans he set in place during his first term. At least 20 executive orders are aimed at blocking immigration, including directives to stop refugee arrivals, redefine who can become a U.S. citizen at birth, continue building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and bolstering the ranks of federal immigration officers.

Supporters rallied on Minneapolis’ East Lake Street – a vibrant corridor of Mexican, Somali and other immigrant-owned businesses – packing the area on a grey and cold winter afternoon. They carried signs reading “All are welcome here” and “Immigrants Make America Great.”

. . . While “sanctuary cities” like Minneapolis and St. Paul limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and have ordinances in place to prioritize local trust and safety, sanctuary cities have also been targeted by Trump. In January, the president signed an executive order denying federal funding to sanctuary cities and directing his administration to pursue action “to the maximum extent possible under the law.”

The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee organized the protest. “We want to show that we are in solidarity with our immigrant community . . . and tell Trump that we’re not going anywhere,” said Latifah Moss, a MIRAC spokesperson.

Moss said people now know what Trump is capable of and are more prepared to act.

She said MIRAC has ramped up its activism since Trump’s inauguration, offering more “Know Your Rights” trainings aimed at supporting immigrant communities and their neighbors.

Feven Gerezgiher
Excerpted from “Demonstrators Protest Trump’s
‘Dystopian’ Immigration Policies
and Promise to Fight Back

Minnesota Public Radio News
February 1, 2025



Related Off-site Links
Protests Against Mass Deportations Erupt in Los Angeles, San Diego and Other U.S. Cities – Josh DuBose (KTLA-5, February 2, 2025).
Marchers Protesting Planned Deportations Block Major Freeway in Los AngelesAP News (February 2, 2025).
“Resetting of the Goalposts”: White House Says All Undocumented Immigrants Are “Criminals” – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, January 28, 2025).
Communities Vow Resistance as Trump Unleashes ICE to Raid Previously Protected Spaces – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, January 22, 2025).


UPDATE: “A Day Without Immigrants”: Protests Against Trump’s Mass Deportation Plans Across U.S. – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, February 3, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:

2025
Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
Bishop Budde Confronts President Trump on His Anti-Trans and Anti-Immigrant Policies

2024
International Migrants Day

2021
“The Absolute Gall”

2019
Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – January 8, 2019
Honoring Óscar and Valeria
Demanding Justice and Embodying Compassion for Separated Families
Holden Shearer: Quote of the Day – July 12, 2019
Marianne Williamson: “Today Is a Day of Shame”
Let Us Be the Wise Ones They’re Waiting For

2018
“What We’re Seeing Here Is a Tipping Point”
Jeremy Scahill on the Historical Context of Trump’s “Pathologically Sick” Anti-Immigrant Agenda
Something to Think About – November 27, 2018
Christmas in America, 2018

2017
“It Is All Connected”
Stephen Mattson: Quote of the Day – January 25, 2017
Historian: Trump's Immigration Ban is a “Shock Event” Orchestrated by Steve Bannon to Destabilize and Distract
Something to Think About – January 29, 2017
2000+ Take to the Streets of Minneapolis to Express Solidarity with Immigrants and Refugees
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, James Martin Labels as “Appalling” President Trump’s Plan to Demonize Immigrants
A Prayer for Refugees

2016
Progressive Perspectives on the Rise of Donald Trump
Trump’s Playbook
Progressive Perspectives on the Election of Donald Trump
On International Human Rights Day, Saying "No" to Donald Trump and His Fascist Agenda

2015
Rallying in Solidarity with the Refugees of Syria and the World
Sanctuary for Gay Syrians Danny and Aamer

2012
Something to Think About – June 25, 2012

2007
Fasting, Praying, and Walking for Immigration Reform
May Day 2007


Images: Michael J. Bayly (except opening image which is by Ben Hovland of MPR News).


Saturday, February 01, 2025

Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”

Marisa Kabas is a Brooklyn-based independent writer and reporter. In June of 2022 she launched her blog The Handbasket “after watching the journalism infrastructure crumble over the last decade.”

Following (with added links) is an excerpt from her latest post, “Did You Hear About the Friday Coup?”

This week felt like the first battle of a long war — and that’s because it was. On Monday the White House Office of Management and Budget announced a freeze on all federal funding, and — aside from that order being blocked by a judge later in the week — it was all downhill from there. The enormity of the week culminated in a deluge of distressing developments on Friday that you may or may not have heard about.

Elon Musk has, for all intents and purposes, taken control of the inner-workings of the federal government. As the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he’s been given a mandate by President Trump to severely cut the number of federal government workers by whatever means he sees fit, like pressuring them to retire early or accept a deferred resignation. He’s also been tasked with slashing spending — and if it benefits him personally as well, that’s fine, too.

Friday began with the news that the highest ranking nonpolitical staffer and acting director at the U.S. Department of Treasury was retiring after a dispute with Musk’s henchmen. They wanted access to the payment system that the government uses to disburse trillions of dollars, and David Lebryk, a career civil servant, was not having it.

Lebryk was the only thing standing between DOGE taking control of the system that pays out Social Security and Medicare benefits, federal salaries, tax refunds, among many other crucial systems. And on Saturday, we learned DOGE has, in fact, been handed full access to the nation’s wallet by newly-confirmed Department of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“Mr. Musk, who has been given wide latitude by President Trump to find ways to slash government spending, has recently fixated on Treasury’s payment processes, criticizing the department in a social media post on Saturday for not rejecting more payments as fraudulent or improper,” the New York Times wrote. “It is not clear whether the team led by Mr. Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, has blocked any payments since gaining access to the system.

“It’s like a bank heist and the bank is America,” a source in the federal government told me. “Not really being hyperbolic to say control of those systems would allow an extremely fast collapse of the economy. Imagine it’s a plumbing system and someone takes a sledgehammer to the central pipe.”

. . . It’s essential to reiterate that all of this is illegal. What remains to be seen is how broadly the legality of it will be challenged, and whether Trump-appointed judges will rubber stamp Musk’s actions anyway.

At the end of a historically hellish Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer could only offer toothless posts on Bluesky. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar told the New York Times, “If there is a middle of all of this hot mess of division, Americans want us to work together when we can and find common ground.”

The impotence is as staggering as the abdication is sickening. But the current message from elected Democrats is loud and clear: You’re on your own. And the message from the Musk/Trump administration is even clearer: You’re next.

As someone wrote to me today, “The first coup was violent insurrection. The second coup is administrative. We failed to ensure Donald Trump could never return to power again after the first coup; our job right now in this moment is to acknowledge reality and halt the second.”

Organizers are trying to get the wheels in motion for a real opposition. Sunday night at 8pm ET there will be a virtual call hosted by Indivisible, a group that rose to national prominence during the first Trump administration. RSVP here if you’d like to join.

. . . It’s not even two weeks into the second Trump administration, but the breadth of the destruction is clear. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say we’re witnessing a coup by an unelected billionaire propped up by a felonious president, and we must treat it as such. Even if, as some have reported, it wasn’t even featured on Friday’s nightly news.

Marisa Kabas
Excerpted from “Did You Hear About the Friday Coup?
The Handbasket
February 1, 2025


NEXT:
Timothy Snyder on Resisting
the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”


Related Off-site Links:
Call It by Its Name: A Coup – Robert B. Hubbell (Today’s Edition Newsletter, February 1, 2025).
The Logic of Destruction . . . And How to Resist It – Timothy Snyder (Thinking About, February 2, 2025).
Dictator Donald Thinks He’s Invincible; He’s Not – Ralph Nader (Common Dreams, February 1, 2025).
We Must Create a Broad Anti-Fascist Movement to Fight Back Against Trump 2.0 – C.J. Polychroniou (Common Dreams, February 2, 2025).
Top Treasury Official Out as Musk Cronies Demand Access to Payment System That Funnels Trillions in U.S. Funds – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
“DOGE-Affiliated Goons” Accused of Locking Career Civil Servants Out of Key Databases – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, January 31, 2025).
Trump’s First Week: “Designed to Destroy the United States From Within" – Chauncey DeVega (Salon, January 30, 2025).
How to Organize Under Authoritarian Creep in a Closing Civil Society – Nadine Bloch (Waging Nonviolence, January 30, 2025).
In High-Speed Power Grab, Trump Seeks to Remake the Federal Government – Don Kettl (The Bulwark, January 29, 2025).
Amid Confusion, Panic and Backlash, Trump’s White House Rescinds Funding “Freeze” on Grants and Programs – Chris Walker (TruthOut, January 29, 2025).
Think Trump’s Tyranny Can’t Be Opposed or Stopped? Think Again – Jeremy Brecher (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
The Hostile Takeover of the United States by Corporate Raiders Has Arrived in Full – Thom Hartmann (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
Trump Is Clearly Moving in an Authoritarian and Potentially Fascist Direction – John Ripton (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
What Trump’s Pardons and Retribution Say About His Fascist Threat – Chuck Idelson (Common Dreams, January 29, 2025).
“Trump Is Trying to Collapse Our Economy”: War on “Woke” Revealed as a War on All Americans – Amanda Marcotte (Salon, January 29, 2025).
“We Do Not Consent” Says Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Illegal “Power Grab” as Judge Halts Trump Order – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, January 28, 2025).
Trump Tries a January Coup – Again: The President Wages War on the Separation of PowersThe Ink (January 28, 2025).
Trump’s Most Lawless Action Yet – David Dayen (The American Prospect, January 28, 2025).
Energized Neo-Nazis Feel Their Moment Has Come as Trump Changes Everything – Ben Makuch (The Guardian, January 26, 2025).
Donald Trump Is the Empire Unmasked – Caitlin Johnstone (CaitlinJohnstone.com, January 21, 2025).
Can Nonviolent Struggle Defeat a Dictator? This Database Emphatically Says Yes – George Lakey (Waging Nonviolence, January 8, 2025).


UPDATES: Is Elon Musk Staging a Coup? Unelected Billionaire Seizes Control at Treasury Department and Other AgenciesDemocracy Now! (February 3, 2025).
Unions Sue to Revoke Musk Cronies’ Access to Critical Payment System – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, February 4, 2025).
Musk Intensifies Government Spending Attack with Push to Cut All Regulations – Robert Tait (The Guardian, February 4, 2025).
It’s a War. Do Democrats Get That? – David Corn (Mother Jones, February 4, 2025).
Marianne Williamson: “This Will Not Stand”Piers Morgan Uncensored (February 4, 2025).
Elon Musk Stages Coup d’etat – Owen Jones (Owen Jones Talks, February 4, 2025).
Stating the Obvious: The Replacement of Our Constitutional System of Government With the Whims of an Unelected Private Citizen Is a Coup – Heather Cox Richardson (Letters From an American, February 4, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
Inauguration Day Thoughts
Neoliberalism vs Neofascism: Cornel West on the State of U.S. Politics
How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born
Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
What the Republican Party Now Stands For
Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
History Matters
Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
Will We Let Fascism Come to America?

Image: Artist unknown.