[[link removed]]

TIDBITS – FEB.13- READER COMMENTS: DICTATORIAL COUP UNFOLDS;
RESISTANCE GROWS; FEDERAL WORKERS MOBILIZE; WHAT YOU CAN DO TO FIGHT
THIS COUP – A GUIDE; NO TAX ON TIPS WILL HARM MORE WORKERS; ROLE OF
THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN DEFENDING IMMIGRANT RIGHTS;  
[[link removed]]


 

February 13, 2025
xxxxxx
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Reader Comments: Dictatorial Coup Unfolds; Resistance and Protests
Grows; Federal Workers Mobilize; What You Can Do To Fight This Coup -
A Guide; No Tax On Tips Will Harm More Workers; Role of the Labor
Movement in Defending Immigrant Rights; more; _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, AND cartoons -
Feb. 13, 2025, xxxxxx

 

* BRANCH REMOVAL  --  CARTOON BY MIKE LUCKOVICH
* RE: A PLAN FOR THE RESISTANCE  (MARY-ALICE STROM)
* RE: THE COURTS CAN’T STOP THE TRUMP-MUSK COUP  (DAVE LOTT)
* RE: FEDERAL WORKERS CAN DEFEAT MUSK’S COUP. HERE’S HOW.  (ROY
SCHULMAN)
* SUPER BOWL  --  CARTOON BY CLAY JONES
* RE: TWO GRIFTERS OFF TO SEIZE THE WORLD  (LYNN HAMILTON; ETHAN
YOUNG; DEBORAH R KINGERY)
* THE PROTÉGÉ  --  CARTOON BY DANIEL BORIS
* RE: WARREN SAYS TRUMP AND MUSK PUSHING TO GUT CFPB AS ’PAYOFF TO
THE RICH GUYS  (KYLE DAVID)
* TARIFFS  --  CARTOON BY NICK ANDERSON
* RE: WHO IS BEHIND TRUMP’S INTIMIDATION OF SOUTH AFRICA?  (CHUCK
DINEEN)
* MUSK'S TEAM IS JUST AS BAD AS HE IS, JUST YOUNGER VERSIONS  --
 CARTOON BY CLAY JONES
* RE: A COUP IS UNFOLDING BEFORE OUR EYES. HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO
 (JAY WILLARD)
* RE: KING MUSK’S GOVERNMENT PURGE HITS A SNAG  (ROSIN RAMIREZ)
* RE: WHAT HAPPENED HERE  (DAVID JOHNNSON)
* HOW CAN SO-CALLED ‘LAZY’ IMMIGRANTS ‘STEAL JOBS’?  --
 CARTOON BY LALO ALCARAZ
* TRUMP REVIVES LANGUAGE OF WHITE SUPREMACY  (ALEX J. HURDER)
* RE: ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTS BREAK OUT AT STATE CAPITOLS ACROSS THE
COUNTRY  (PATRICIA ADAMS)
* TRUMP RESORT  --  CARTOON BY ROB ROGERS
* RE: PALESTINIANS IN GAZA ON TRUMP’S PLAN: ‘WE WOULD RATHER DIE
HERE THAN LEAVE’  (JOSE LUIS MEDINA)
* RE: DON'T PRAISE IN ADVANCE: A CURE FOR MAD SURRENDER DISEASE
 (MICHAEL KOTTING)
* RE: UNIONIZED GROCERY WORKERS ARE A SLEEPING GIANT  (US
PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS' UPDATE; SPICER BLOUNT)
* RE: A NEW KIND OF CRISIS FOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES  (JIM LUNDAY)
* RE: SOCIALISM OR BARBARISM – A STATEMENT OF FACT  (MARY-ALICE
STROM)
* RE: EMILIA PÉREZ IS THE ULTIMATE UNLOVED OSCAR NOMINEE  (ROBERT
MERCADO)
* RE: HOW REFRIGERATION RUINED FRESH FOOD  (MARYLYN FORTIN)
* BACK IN THE DAY  --  CARTOON BY REX A. JONES
* THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL DESTRUCTION BUREAU  --  CARTOON AND
COMMENTARY BY JEN SORENSEN

.

RESOURCES:

* WHAT CAN I DO TO FIGHT THIS COUP?  (CHOOSE DEMOCRACY)

* “NO TAX ON TIPS” WILL HARM MORE WORKERS THAN IT HELPS  (
ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE)

 

* ARMED BY DESIGN: POSTERS AND PUBLICATIONS OF CUBA’S ORGANIZATION
OF SOLIDARITY OF THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA
(OSPAAAL)

.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

* THE ROLE OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN DEFENDING IMMIGRANT RIGHTS  --
 NEW YORK  --  FEBRUARY 25  (LEFT LABOR PROJECT)

.

.
 

BRANCH REMOVAL  --  CARTOON BY MIKE LUCKOVICH

 

Mike Luckovich
February 12, 2025
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
[[link removed]]

 

RE: A PLAN FOR THE RESISTANCE
 

Come April, it will be time to celebrate—and renew—America’s
1775 revolt against usurping monarchs.

The activists who have been struggling to figure out how to mount an
effective resistance to Trump’s barrage of power grabs represent a
panoply of causes and constituencies, which sometimes obscures (to
themselves as well as others) the fact of their common commitment to a
democratic order. That common commitment should be the purpose and
focus of an April 19 protest; its message should be that they are
marching to honor and restore America’s distinctly anti-autocratic
heritage. That might even begin a process of reconnection with those
working-class Americans who backed Trump for economic reasons while
seeing the Democrats as alien ideologues.

As ideologies go, that of April 19 is the least alien and most
American imaginable. As the Minutemen were fighting to create what
became defining American values, so the Resistance can fight to
reclaim them.

Mary-Alice Strom
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE COURTS CAN’T STOP THE TRUMP-MUSK COUP
 

Excerpt:

Or take the funding freeze. As of right now, according to the courts,
Trump is not allowed to withhold funding to any organization or
institution that receives federal money appropriated by Congress. But
it’s not at all clear that Trump has turned the money back on. Trump
is likely in violation of the TROs suspending his funding freeze as we
speak, but the Trump-aligned media refuses to talk about it that way.

TROs and nationwide injunctions worked in the past only because other
presidents agreed to be restrained by them. If courts tell Trump not
to do something, he’ll pretend his cell phone dropped the call and
keep right on doing it.

In response to this full blown crisis, rule-of-law aficionados,
feckless institutionalists, and Democratic Party leaders will counter
with something like “but the courts are all we have.” They’ll
wave court orders around like they’ve won the day. Meanwhile, Trump
and Musk will just laugh while their sycophants will crow about how
their daddies “defy Washington elites” even when that
“defiance” amounts to common thievery.

Dave Lott
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: FEDERAL WORKERS CAN DEFEAT MUSK’S COUP. HERE’S HOW.
 

Elon Musk is not invincible

Roy Schulman
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

SUPER BOWL  --  CARTOON BY CLAY JONES

 

Clay Jones
February 10, 2025
Claytoonz
[[link removed]]

 

RE: TWO GRIFTERS OFF TO SEIZE THE WORLD
 

Most fascist dictators have been more about ideology and absolute
power than about personal wealth. Trump and his crony Musk are at
least as interested in personal enrichment as they are in destroying
the deep state or the rule of law.

Lynn Hamilton
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

Dictatorship of the lumpen bourgeoisie

Ethan Young
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

Neonazis

Deborah R Kingery
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

THE PROTÉGÉ  --  CARTOON BY DANIEL BORIS

 

Daniel Boris
February 11, 2025
Daniel Boris
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WARREN SAYS TRUMP AND MUSK PUSHING TO GUT CFPB AS ’PAYOFF TO THE
RICH GUYS
 

"If they succeed, CEOs and Wall Street will once again be free to
trick, trap, and cheat you," said the Democratic senator.

Kyle David
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

TARIFFS  --  CARTOON BY NICK ANDERSON

 

Nick Anderson
February 10, 2025
Pen Strokes [[link removed]]

 

RE: WHO IS BEHIND TRUMP’S INTIMIDATION OF SOUTH AFRICA?
 

Pres. Donald Trump's bizarre, fact-free threat against South Africa
did not just arise in the back of his head last week. It is the
initiative of alt-right ex-South Africans in America and like-minded
people here who are urging them on.

Chuck Dineen
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

MUSK'S TEAM IS JUST AS BAD AS HE IS, JUST YOUNGER VERSIONS  --
 CARTOON BY CLAY JONES

 

Clay Jones
February 7, 2025
Claytoonz
[[link removed]]

 

RE: A COUP IS UNFOLDING BEFORE OUR EYES. HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO
 

Editorial from the York, Pennsylvania York Dispatch - Donald Trump and
his shadow president have worked to undermine our country's founding
democratic principles. Here are some things you can and must do.

Jay Willard
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: KING MUSK’S GOVERNMENT PURGE HITS A SNAG
 

Before Elon Musk and Donald Trump can exercise authoritarian power, he
must purge the federal bureaucracy. But federal workers aren’t
playing ball. Federal workers see they are the targets of an
authoritarian attempt to abolish democracy.

Rosin Ramirez
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WHAT HAPPENED HERE
 

The key difference between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0 is the alignment of
a reactionary fraction of Silicon Valley tech oligarchs with Trump, or
rather, the transformation of a significant part of tech capital from
an ostensibly progressive, liberal section of capital into a
reactionary one.

Very simply put, here’s what I believe happened: In the process of
accumulating enormous wealth, the tech-oligarchs created the
conditions for their loss of social power and, when they realized
this, they got a big dose of class consciousness and turned furiously
reactionary. The process is analogous to what Marx thought was taking
place in the industrial capitalist economy but transposed into the
digital realm: to accumulate wealth, the bourgeoisie needed factories,
and the factories needed workers, but the need for workers and their
exploitation created a mass, militant proletariat. This is the famous
“gravediggers” thesis immortally described in the Manifesto.

David Johnnson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

HOW CAN SO-CALLED ‘LAZY’ IMMIGRANTS ‘STEAL JOBS’?  --
 CARTOON BY LALO ALCARAZ

 

Lalo Alcaraz
February 11, 2025
[link removed]
[[link removed]]

 

TRUMP REVIVES LANGUAGE OF WHITE SUPREMACY
 

During the centuries of slavery and the years of segregation Americans
turned English into a language of words and stories that ridiculed,
humiliated, and isolated people of color. When I was growing up in
Louisiana and Georgia in the 1950s and 60s, it was almost impossible
for white people to speak without that language of hatred and
exclusion. Resistance to segregation required people to switch to
language that showed respect and inclusion of all people.

Donald Trump is demanding that Americans revive the language of racial
hatred, and he must be resisted. The initials DEI stand for Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion, three universal values of humanity, and yet
Trump is trying to turn DEI into a bad word. He knows that a system of
white supremacy requires a language of white supremacy, and he is
trying to establish a new system of white supremacy. Trump has the
support of a majority in Congress and most of the Justices of the U.S.
Supreme Court in his effort to establish white supremacy in the United
States.

A Supreme Court majority has told us that any effort to remedy
centuries of exploitation of nonwhite people injures white people. The
opposite is true. The division of white and nonwhite people has
perpetuated poverty and insecurity for the masses of both white and
nonwhite people. Racial division has deprived our entire population of
the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that was the goal of the
Declaration of Independence. A new multiracial freedom movement is the
only way to escape division and to restore democracy.

Alex J. Hurder
Murfreesboro, Tennessee

 

RE: ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTS BREAK OUT AT STATE CAPITOLS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
 

Protesters gathered nationwide to protest Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Patricia Adams
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

TRUMP RESORT  --  CARTOON BY ROB ROGERS

 

 

Trump is scoping out his next real estate deal, but unlike Canada or
Greenland, this one could incite and anger terrorist groups. Good
thing our intelligence agencies are focused on keeping us safe and not
distracted by petty White House retribution --- oh, wait.

Rob Rogers
February 7, 2025
TinyView [[link removed]]

 

RE: PALESTINIANS IN GAZA ON TRUMP’S PLAN: ‘WE WOULD RATHER DIE
HERE THAN LEAVE’
 

The US president’s idea to take over the territory and his claims
Palestinians were keen to move were met with anger – and a
determination to stay

Jose Luis Medina
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: DON'T PRAISE IN ADVANCE: A CURE FOR MAD SURRENDER DISEASE 
 

I'm wondering why Harris' refusal to condemn the genocide in Gaza
isn't mentioned. The negative responses on social media were intense
and revealing. I suppose that nobody thought it important enough to
ask those registered non-voters why they sat this one out.  

Michael Kotting

 

RE: UNIONIZED GROCERY WORKERS ARE A SLEEPING GIANT

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

Colorado Kroger workers are striking this week, and 130,000 union
grocery workers are bargaining contracts this year. Reformers see it
as a chance to transform the UFCW from America’s largest private
sector union into a fighting force.

US Progressive Activists' Update
[[link removed]]
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

And just imagine if every store had an actual Union Rep. who would
explain to all the (Safeway eh?) employees that pay union dues that
they ARE in a Union and what that means.

Spicer Blount
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: A NEW KIND OF CRISIS FOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
 

I spent my life teaching part-time at universities and community
colleges in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. I am offended that
you would publish an article by a professor at a PRIVATE university
that is a major recipient of federal research money and is a
university for the elites of the U.S. Public colleges and universities
are clearly in crisis and have been for a long time because Dems and
Republicans have fostered the commercialization of university research
rather than fostering decent and affordable higher education.

I almost always appreciate the articles you present, but in this case
i am very disappointed that you think private university research
carried out by people who are paid much too much, exploit graduate
students, and suck away funds needed by public universities and
community colleges to hire full time faculty, keep class sizes
reasonable and tuition affordable somehow advances the interests of
working people. Shame on you!

Jim Lunday

 

RE: SOCIALISM OR BARBARISM – A STATEMENT OF FACT
 

Trump’s return when we already see a world at war, breathtaking
inequality and climate catastrophe confirms Engles’ famous
dichotomy. 

the great socialist Rosa Luxemburg said: “What does ‘regression
into barbarism’ mean to our lofty European civilization? Until now,
we have all probably read and repeated these words thoughtlessly,
without suspecting their fearsome seriousness. A look around us at
this moment shows what the regression of bourgeois society into
barbarism means. This world war is a regression into barbarism. The
triumph of imperialism leads to the annihilation of civilization.”

Today, as we see the climate catastrophe, the wars in Gaza and
elsewhere, the insane new nuclear arms race which is set to escalate,
and the dire economic situation globally, it is clearly the case that
the choice is socialism or barbarism.

Mary-Alice Strom
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: EMILIA PÉREZ IS THE ULTIMATE UNLOVED OSCAR NOMINEE

(posting on xxxxxx Culture
[[link removed]])

Despite Emilia Pérez’s mixed reviews and poor audience reactions,
Hollywood handed the musical 13 Oscar nominations in the hopes of
proving its progressive bona fides. Then old tweets from its star
surfaced.

Robert Mercado
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HOW REFRIGERATION RUINED FRESH FOOD

(posting on xxxxxx Culture
[[link removed]])
 

This is LONG, but cleverly written.& VERY informative: so many facts I
never knew

Marylyn Fortin

 

BACK IN THE DAY  --  CARTOON BY REX A. JONES

 

 

Rex A. Jones
2018
Krazy Kartwonz

 

THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL DESTRUCTION BUREAU  --  CARTOON AND
COMMENTARY BY JEN SORENSEN

 

Founded by Elizabeth Warren in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis,
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau addressed all sorts of sleazy
practices in the financial services industry, from shady loans to
exorbitant junk fees to insecure payment apps. They recovered some $21
billion on behalf of the American people. This was an example of good
government fighting corporate abuses on behalf of the public. Yet how
many voters even knew or heard about it? Many have been led to believe
the oligarchs ransacking the country are fighting “corruption.”

Jen Sorensen
February 11, 2025
[link removed]

_For my weekly newsletter with background on each cartoon, please
consider joining the Sorensen Subscription Service!
[[link removed]] Also on Patreon
[[link removed]]._

 

WHAT CAN I DO TO FIGHT THIS COUP?  (CHOOSE DEMOCRACY)

 

If you look, there are people resisting at every level._ Blockades of
freeways. American Bar Association urging an end to illegal orders.
Past inspector generals penning op-eds, as a current inspector general
refuses to accept her illegal firing. The Pope slamming VP Vance’s
theology._

We can’t put everything you could do in here — including ways
to ground yourself in these times
[[link removed]] —
but HERE ARE SOME STARTING POINTS ON HOW TO ORIENT AND HELP FIGHT THE
COUP.

[[link removed]]

Click here [[link removed]]

[[link removed]]

Click here [[link removed]]

Choose Democracy [[link removed]] has a mission: prepare
US Americans to prevent and stop undemocratic power grabs. Our work
involves psychological preparation, lessons from history and around
the globe, and strategic sensibility.

Opt in to email updates from Choose Democracy
Click here  

 

“NO TAX ON TIPS” WILL HARM MORE WORKERS THAN IT HELPS  ( ECONOMIC
POLICY INSTITUTE)
 

Proposals in Congress and now 20 states could encourage harmful
employer practices and lead to tip requests in virtually every
consumer transaction
 

[[link removed]]

Click here to pull up map
[[link removed]] 

When President Trump proposed exempting tipped income from taxation
during his 2024 presidential campaign, many viewed it as a
politically expedient gimmick
[[link removed]] to
win support among tipped service workers. Unfortunately, then-Vice
President Harris soon followed suit, and since the election,
a federal “no tax on tips” bill
[[link removed]] has
been reintroduced and lawmakers in at least 20 states have proposed
similar bills (see map below).

Now that lawmakers in a multitude of states have supported the idea,
it’s worth unpacking just how incredibly foolish and dangerous these
proposals are. In summary, exempting tips from taxes would:

* help very few workers and undermine pay increases for many more;
* expand the use of tipped work—a system rife with discrimination
and worker abuse— potentially leading to consumers being asked to
tip on virtually every purchase; and
* deplete state and federal budgets and create new avenues of tax
avoidance, especially for high earners.

Read more here
[[link removed]]

 

ARMED BY DESIGN: POSTERS AND PUBLICATIONS OF CUBA’S ORGANIZATION OF
SOLIDARITY OF THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA (OSPAAAL)

 

EDITED BY INTERFERENCE ARCHIVE (LANI HANNA, JEN HOYER, JOSH MACPHEE,
VERO ORDAZ, SARAH SEIDMAN)

A stunning full-color, multilingual exploration of the profound
graphic and intellectual legacy of the OSPAAAL—for internationalism,
solidarity, communication, and art among movements today.

OSPAAAL developed out of the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana,
a meeting of delegates representing national liberation movements and
leftist political parties almost exclusively from the Global South.
Based in Havana, OSPAAAL produced nearly five hundred posters,
magazines, and books beginning in the late 1960s, with most of their
work ceasing by the late 1980s. Until 2019, OSPAAAL was a political
organization focused on fighting US imperialism and supporting
liberation movements around the world through poster production,
regularly produced publications, and a series of books featuring the
writings of the intellectual leadership of these movements.

_Armed By Design_ brings together artists and thinkers from around
the world whose work has been impacted by the legacy of OSPAAAL. These
contributions reflect on impacts of OSPAAAL’s work on regional
movements, including in the Arab world and Korea, design iconography,
the evolution of tricontinentalism, our present-day relationship to
OSPAAAL posters as a commodity, and authorship and reproduction.

The book itself is also a project of international solidarity. The
entire text is published in four languages (Spanish, Portuguese,
French, and English) and we worked with four publishers in three
countries (Common Notions/US
[[link removed]],
Coop Rebozo/Mexico, Tumblacasa/Mexico
[[link removed]],
and Sobinfluencia/Brazil
[[link removed]]).

Interference Archive [[link removed]]
314 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215

 

THE ROLE OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN DEFENDING IMMIGRANT RIGHTS  --
 NEW YORK  --  FEBRUARY 25  (LEFT LABOR PROJECT)

 

 

* Reader Comments
[[link removed]]
* Dictatorial Coup
[[link removed]]
* Administrative Coup
[[link removed]]
* Trump 2.0
[[link removed]]
* Trump Administration
[[link removed]]
* Donald Trump
[[link removed]]
* Fascism
[[link removed]]
* Elon Musk
[[link removed]]
* Project 2025
[[link removed]]
* Constitution
[[link removed]]
* power grab
[[link removed]]
* resistance
[[link removed]]
* Resistance 2.0
[[link removed]]
* Protest
[[link removed]]
* Unconstitutional
[[link removed]]
* Separation of Powers
[[link removed]]
* Congress
[[link removed]]
* Layoffs
[[link removed]]
* State and Local Government Layoffs
[[link removed]]
* Labor Unions
[[link removed]]
* government employees
[[link removed]]
* Tips
[[link removed]]
* taxes
[[link removed]]
* OSPAAAL
[[link removed]]
* immigrant rights
[[link removed]]
* Immigrants
[[link removed]]
* deportations
[[link removed]]
* ICE
[[link removed]]
* Labor Movement
[[link removed]]
* Palestine
[[link removed]]
* Palestinians
[[link removed]]
* Israel-Gaza War
[[link removed]]
* Cartoons
[[link removed]]
* resources
[[link removed]]
* Announcements
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]