A coup is underway in the United States, and we must stop pretending otherwise. The signs are unmistakable and accelerating: in just the past 48 hours, Elon Musk’s DOGE commission has seized …
Top comment from Mike Brock’s blog (where this diatribe came from):
Right now it feels we have a growing chorus of people raising alarm, but very few people proposing any specific actions that are commensurate with the scale of the crisis? I appreciate your work and I don’t mean this flippantly, but do you have any proposals more specific than “resist” or “do something”?
This comment is my thought exactly. Brock isn’t wrong, but he’s just blowing real hard and hoping the house falls down.
All this blog did was piss me of, but it didn’t point me in a direction.
Because there is still time for people in power to stop being cowed. That is what this is calling for: do something before it is too late to avoid it becoming an illegitimate government, with all that brings.
Is your interpretation that this post is intended for politicians to read and take action? If so what do you think they should do?
Like the commenter above us I’m at a loss. Short of resorting to force, there doesn’t seem like an action the average person can take that would accomplish anything. Our politicians don’t seem to be acting in proportion to the threat. And even if they were, Republicans have a (slim) majority. Even if you were to say we’ve reached the point where force is called for, against who?
Write to your elected representatives, organize protests, mutinies, unions and shut down the country. Read the constitution and look for parts that are meant as a safeguard against tyranny.
Little bit of discomfort now beats a lifetime of oppression. Unless you wanna fuck around and find out what it was like living in a totalitarian regime. You’re probs already on the death camp list for being on lemmy.
The 14th amendment prohibits people who did insurrection, but none of it counts if people don’t enforce it.
Even if we did have an uprising, and won, there’d be maga hats for decades whining about how they did nothing wrong. The roots of this problem are deep.
Republicans need Democrat votes in the House in order to raise the debt ceiling in March. In addition to blocking all remaining trump appointees, the Democrats should make it clear that if the Republicans want the debt ceiling raised, this lawlessness has to stop, musk must be ejected, etc. otherwise, the Republicans will all have to vote to raise the debt ceiling, and there are some Republicans that simply won’t vote to do so under any circumstances.
Supposedly we have mechanisms to counter what’s going on. The people in DC need to be pulling those lenders yesterday. Every person in politics should be fighting back.
If you’re looking for advice on what citizens should do, that’s not who the people sounding the are talking to.
Yeah. The instant this bullshit started happening, last week or ideally earlier, go to a federal judge. Ask for an injunction to allow you to physically put a stop to it, using some specifically named authorized law enforcement or military assets. Have something prepared for why it justifies that level of response, lord knows it wouldn’t be hard to come up with.
It might not work. They might not grant the order. All kinds of things could happen if they did. But fucking try. That’s the level that is required at this point. You can show up, with a physical piece of paper signed by an authorized judge and with deadly force at the ready, and if one of these tech-bro goons in a suit and a slick haircut bars the door with his 2 security people and tries to say “No that’s not how the constitution works anymore, Trump said so,” you’ll have however-many trained military personnel whose ear will perk back up to some things they heard in their training.
I don’t know, man. All kinds of things could go wrong. But if it doesn’t work, at least you can say you fucking tried before moving on to something more drastic, or else getting out of the country while the getting is good. Going on TV, or threatening to use your debating even debating-er, is clearly a waste of everyone’s time right now.
Yeah. The instant this bullshit started happening, last week or ideally earlier, go to a federal judge. Ask for an injunction to allow you to physically put a stop to it, using some specifically named authorized law enforcement or military assets. Have something prepared for why it justifies that level of response, lord knows it wouldn’t be hard to come up with.
There were some lawsuits filed:
Doe v. OPM, Case No. 1:25-cv-234 (D.D.C.) was filed on January 27, seeking to disconnect the DOGE server from OPM systems. Today, February 4, there was a motion filed for a temporary restraining order.
Doe v. DOJ, Case No. 1:25-cv-325 (D.D.C.) was filed today, February 4. With the filing came a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent the disclosure of the identities of the roughly 6000 FBI agents who worked on January 6 cases.
Maybe they’re granted, maybe not. I hope they are. But even if these motions are denied, this will at least force the Trump administration to make public statements and representations about what they’re doing. It’s a semblance of transparency by making the Trump people stand up and justify this bullshit.
Yeah, it’s a good step. What I’m saying is that I think it should start to get backed up with explicit plans for how someone is volunteering to enforce the rulings. Trump clearly doesn’t give a shit about losing in court.
They are. And by not standing in the way of it, they are also risking jail or death.
I won’t pretend to know what the right answer is for any person. I can’t answer it for them. I’m just saying what should happen. Haven’t you seen “The Iron Giant”?
Top comment from Mike Brock’s blog (where this diatribe came from):
This comment is my thought exactly. Brock isn’t wrong, but he’s just blowing real hard and hoping the house falls down.
All this blog did was piss me of, but it didn’t point me in a direction.
(But thanks for posting, OP.)
The founding fathers would have you join a mass of people outside the homes of the legislators demanding they take action or suffer consequences.
Because there is still time for people in power to stop being cowed. That is what this is calling for: do something before it is too late to avoid it becoming an illegitimate government, with all that brings.
Is your interpretation that this post is intended for politicians to read and take action? If so what do you think they should do?
Like the commenter above us I’m at a loss. Short of resorting to force, there doesn’t seem like an action the average person can take that would accomplish anything. Our politicians don’t seem to be acting in proportion to the threat. And even if they were, Republicans have a (slim) majority. Even if you were to say we’ve reached the point where force is called for, against who?
Write to your elected representatives, organize protests, mutinies, unions and shut down the country. Read the constitution and look for parts that are meant as a safeguard against tyranny. Little bit of discomfort now beats a lifetime of oppression. Unless you wanna fuck around and find out what it was like living in a totalitarian regime. You’re probs already on the death camp list for being on lemmy.
The 14th amendment prohibits people who did insurrection, but none of it counts if people don’t enforce it.
Even if we did have an uprising, and won, there’d be maga hats for decades whining about how they did nothing wrong. The roots of this problem are deep.
Republicans need Democrat votes in the House in order to raise the debt ceiling in March. In addition to blocking all remaining trump appointees, the Democrats should make it clear that if the Republicans want the debt ceiling raised, this lawlessness has to stop, musk must be ejected, etc. otherwise, the Republicans will all have to vote to raise the debt ceiling, and there are some Republicans that simply won’t vote to do so under any circumstances.
The Republicans are only +3 in the House.
FTFY. There are a few DINOs who sway that “slight” majority into a strong majority.
Supposedly we have mechanisms to counter what’s going on. The people in DC need to be pulling those lenders yesterday. Every person in politics should be fighting back.
If you’re looking for advice on what citizens should do, that’s not who the people sounding the are talking to.
Yeah. The instant this bullshit started happening, last week or ideally earlier, go to a federal judge. Ask for an injunction to allow you to physically put a stop to it, using some specifically named authorized law enforcement or military assets. Have something prepared for why it justifies that level of response, lord knows it wouldn’t be hard to come up with.
It might not work. They might not grant the order. All kinds of things could happen if they did. But fucking try. That’s the level that is required at this point. You can show up, with a physical piece of paper signed by an authorized judge and with deadly force at the ready, and if one of these tech-bro goons in a suit and a slick haircut bars the door with his 2 security people and tries to say “No that’s not how the constitution works anymore, Trump said so,” you’ll have however-many trained military personnel whose ear will perk back up to some things they heard in their training.
I don’t know, man. All kinds of things could go wrong. But if it doesn’t work, at least you can say you fucking tried before moving on to something more drastic, or else getting out of the country while the getting is good. Going on TV, or threatening to use your debating even debating-er, is clearly a waste of everyone’s time right now.
There were some lawsuits filed:
Doe v. OPM, Case No. 1:25-cv-234 (D.D.C.) was filed on January 27, seeking to disconnect the DOGE server from OPM systems. Today, February 4, there was a motion filed for a temporary restraining order.
Doe v. DOJ, Case No. 1:25-cv-325 (D.D.C.) was filed today, February 4. With the filing came a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent the disclosure of the identities of the roughly 6000 FBI agents who worked on January 6 cases.
Maybe they’re granted, maybe not. I hope they are. But even if these motions are denied, this will at least force the Trump administration to make public statements and representations about what they’re doing. It’s a semblance of transparency by making the Trump people stand up and justify this bullshit.
Yeah, it’s a good step. What I’m saying is that I think it should start to get backed up with explicit plans for how someone is volunteering to enforce the rulings. Trump clearly doesn’t give a shit about losing in court.
People who stand in the way of this type of thing are be risking jail and death.
They are. And by not standing in the way of it, they are also risking jail or death.
I won’t pretend to know what the right answer is for any person. I can’t answer it for them. I’m just saying what should happen. Haven’t you seen “The Iron Giant”?
Great, now I’m crying!