Evening Roundup, September 22
Featuring Erwin Chemerinsky, Mimi Rocah, "Offsides with Pablo Torre," Tom Joscelyn & Susan Corke, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, RJ Matson, and "Talking Feds"
Trump's direct attack on free speech
We should be very afraid of what is happening to freedom of speech in the United States. The Trump administration’s orchestrated removal of Jimmy Kimmel as a late-night talk show host is just the most recent example of a systematic effort to silence critics.
Trump has crossed the reddest line
Like many Department of Justice alums, I have spent a great deal of time over the past eight months writing and talking about all the dangerous red lines President Donald Trump and his administration have crossed in the administration of an apolitical, fair justice system. And, yet, the reddest of lines has just been crossed.
Offsides with Pablo Torre: The glue of sports, The LA Clippers, Clayton Kershaw & more
Pablo Torre joins Jen to discuss his reporting on the LA Clippers’ alleged salary cap workaround, Clayton Kershaw’s final home start in Dodger blue, the upcoming Ryder Cup, and the enduring role sports play in our shared cultural fabric.
What Kirk actually said matters
The regime’s critics face retribution for accurately reflecting the conservative commentator’s words.
Trump is Wielding “Religious Liberty” As A Weapon
By Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush
Religious Americans Must Have the Courage to Push Back
Josh Johnson is the new appointment viewing
By Shalise Manza Young
The comedian, part storyteller and part philosopher, uses his own experiences to delve into history, politics, and pop culture.
Cancel Culture Queen
RJ draws several editorial cartoons each week for his substack, e pluribus cartoonum, and for Roll Call, the newspaper of Congress and Capitol Hill. His work is widely syndicated to print newspapers by Cagle Cartoons.
Autocracy Live!
A week in which America suddenly came to look like classic autocratic regimes with the removal from TV of late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, and more enforced exiles to come, for the simple sin of displeasing Trump. A trenchant panel on Talking Feds Substack of Bill Kristol and Juliette Kayyem join founding Contrarian Harry Litman to take stock of this nightmarish development.
The Contrarian Shop is LIVE! Our limited-time collection is available for preorder! Each purchase helps power our work to boldly defend democracy. https://shop.contrariannews.org
How much do you want to stop His Royal Heinous and the fascist takeover of the country? Part 1 of 3
Enough that you’re willing to make a small sacrifice? Like altering your spending habits for a month or two or three? That could be all it would take to get the attention of the oligarchs (formerly known as The Robber Barons in the first Gilded Age, also The Fat Cats, The Greedy Bastards).
A brief demonstration of We, the People’s, power of the purse could persuade them to quit supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
We quit spending, except on essentials, businesses lose money, stock market goes down, Greedy Bastards pay attention to our demands.
Greedy Bastards own most of the politicians of both major parties. GBs start losing money, tell politicians to change course and do what We, the People want.
We are running out of peaceful options. The legislature and Supreme Court are controlled by HRH. He controls the executive branch, including the Military, Justice Department, FBI, ICE, the IRS. He controls all levers of power.
We, the people, still have the power of the purse. No one can control our spending, or lack of spending. When all else fails we can go on a spending strike until the business community stops supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
Economic warfare is the only thing the oligarchs, the business community will understand and act on. Call it a Surreptitious General Strike (Quiet Quitting). Go to work, do as little as possible. Stop spending money except on essentials. Quit feeding the corporate beast that supports the HRH.
Stop participating. Nearly 70% of the U.S. economy is driven by consumer spending. All of us. Hobble the economy and the stock market. Mahatma Gandhi drove the British from India by peaceful civil disobedience. We can stop the fascist takeover in the same way.
We can keep rehashing past and present atrocities until our access to the internet is taken away by the regime, or we can DO something!
Now is the time for this Peaceful Solution.
How much do you want to stop His Royal Heinous and the fascist takeover of the country? Part-2 of 3
Why a Spending Strike is the best option.
Other peaceful options:
Soft Secession
Federal funds make up 35% of California’s state budget, with $173 billion in federal grants awarded in Fiscal Year 2021 alone, making up a significant portion of state and local budgets for programs like health, education, and infrastructure.
Are they really going to pissoff HRH to the extent that he cuts off their federal funding?
Soft secession? Only to the point when HRH feels threatened.
He will move in with all his resources and stop it.
This soft secession idea is a political ploy by state officials to get their constituents to believe the officials are doing something to stop the takeover.
It’s also another distraction to the resistance in that it keeps us from organizing and uniting around what must be done and what will work. It’s another example of hoping for an easy fix, one that will not take any sacrifice.
In addition, soft secession is divisive, pitting blue states against red states, playing into the narrative of the Rat, who wants to start a civil war. MAGA not only wants to “own the libs”, they’d like to kill as many as possible, to eliminate the opposition.
Targeted boycotts
Why targeted boycotts are ineffective
Boycotts often fail because they require massive, sustained participation to create meaningful financial pressure, lack clear alternatives for consumers, generate insufficient negative media attention, and are easily weathered by companies waiting for the protest to fade. Additionally, the complex nature of modern capitalism and the proliferation of corporate conglomerates can make it difficult for boycotters to effectively target and impact a company's bottom line or reputation, especially when companies have multiple revenue streams, like real estate, that aren't affected by consumer boycotts.
In 2020, Goya Foods praised President Donald Trump on social media, which caused those in opposition to Trump to boycott their products. Trump loyalists simultaneously initated a counter-boycott, where consumers bought mass quantities of their products, in response. The boycott caused Goya profits to increase dramatically because Trump supporters started an opposing campaign.
The midterm election
Will it be free and fair? It won’t be. Will it occur at all? HRH has already said that if we’re at war there’ll be no election. Guess what? If it’s looking bad for him, we’ll be at war to stop the election. The election is important to him because having the majority in the legislature gives the fascist regime the look of legitimacy.
People are putting too much faith in what the midterms will do. They may have a beneficial psychologic effect but in reality the outcome will have little or no practical effect, unless the Dems can get 2/3 majority in the house and senate, which they won’t. They will not be able to undo anything HRH has done or pass new legislation because of his veto power.
SCOTUS members Roberts and Barrett may have an epiphany and save the country from civil war, but it’s doubtful. It’s going to be up to us to stop this.
Time is running out for a Peaceful Solution. Please spread the word.
Next
This is a draft of part 3- How to accomplish a Spending Strike
How to accomplish a Spending Strike
My belief is that there will have to be a lot of grassroot support before a national “leader” will take up the cause. Most of our supposed leaders are really followers of movements. They’ll get out front after it’s shown to have popular support. So, we recruit more foot soldiers, like ourselves, and spread the word on various Substacks and other social media platforms.
Get some Substack writers with lots of readers to take up the cause and spread the word, like Jen Rubin, Steve Schmidt, Robert Reich, Heather Richardson, Paul krugman. Again, a good amount of grassroot support will have to be demonstrated.
Then hopefully one or more national leaders will take up the cause. I think we need an organized effort to encourage those writers to concentrate on this method of opposition. Coordinated mass emails to them promoting the idea.
That’s where I see the usefulness of The Peaceful Solution Subscriber Chat. Coordinate effort, exchange information, resources, ideas.
Trump, Musk, Noem & Mace & so many on the right are always the victims. BTW, Trump answered Ms. Kirk's call for forgiveness with incitement to hatred of critics. Trump's with Stephen Miller not Erika Kirk as a crusader for hate & war against critics that he views as less than human.
Get up stand up, resist the fraudster authoritarians & #Vote Blue!