Thursday, May 1, 2025

a little bird told me

 a little bird told me 

 

Twitter Logo, Twitter Symbol, Meaning, History and Evolution 

Elon Musk responds to Twitter’s threat to sue him over reneging on deal with a meme

 

donald-trump-recruited-by-kgb-in-80s-and-even-has-codename-claims-former-soviet-spy

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book


https://archive.is/ohI5R


https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/163709/us-air-force-plane-spy-plane-lands-moscow-carrying-sensitive-cargo-after-putin-invite


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ex-soviet-spy-makes-sensational-kgb-claim-about-trump/ar-AA1zxhrZ


https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/163709/us-air-force-plane-spy-plane-lands-moscow-carrying-sensitive-cargo-after-putin-invite


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/donald-trump-recruited-kgb-codename-34726995


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kgb-spy-trump-asset-russia-b1794955.html


https://bylinetimes.com/2025/02/21/donald-trump-was-recruited-by-the-kgb-under-codename-krasnov-claims-former-soviet-spy-chief/


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-recruited-by-kgb-in-80s-and-even-has-codename-claims-former-soviet-spy/ar-AA1zwS2y


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/21/2305351/-Magic-Disappearing-DB-Story-About-Allegations-Trump-Was-Recruited-as-a-Russian-Asset


https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/21/2305375/-Before-Trump-was-exposed-as-Krasnov-and-after


https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/2/21/2305257/-Krasnov

INDIVISIBLE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DEMOCRACY ON THE BRINK Strategies, Tactics, & Tips For How Everyday Americans Can Fight Back Together Wherever We Live

 https://indivisible.org/resource/guide

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Now in Introduction

What’s Up With This Document
    Who this is for: Anyone who lives in America 
    and is upset, scared, and determined. You want to do your part to protect your family, your neighbors, and democracy from Trump 2.0. Maybe you’re a current Indivisible group leader or member or maybe you’re brand new - welcome!
    What this guide is: A set of strategies and practical first steps to help you get started. It’s not everything we need to do. We’re going to need a lot of different people and groups to do their part. We don’t have all the answers yet, but we know we need to put one foot in front of the other.
    How to use it: Join or form a local Indivisible group or review this guide with your existing group, and start putting the parts of this into action that make sense for where you live. Don’t wait for orders and don’t ask for permission. If you’re in, you’re a leader in this movement, and we’re here to help.;

If there's one universally accepted truth in the modern age, it's that sequels suck. And Trump 2.0 will be no exception. Trump, Vance, and their MAGA minions feel vindicated by the victory of their bigoted, fascistic clown show of a presidential campaign. Trump takes office with a plan to institute the worst parts of Project 2025. He’ll be enabled by a judiciary packed with right-wing ideologues and a congressional majority stacked with MAGA foot soldiers. And he’s assembled a bloc of corporations and billionaires eager to do his bidding in exchange for tax cuts and corrupt favors. But he has no mandate for the staggeringly harmful agenda he’s about to unleash on the country. And together, we have the power to fight back — and win.

Democracy is in grave peril, but it is not dead. Fascists depend on convincing us to give our power away and fall in line, that the fight is over and we lost. And while we must be clear-eyed about the threat, we must not do the fascists’ work for them by giving them powers they do not have. Trump wants to govern as a dictator, but he has the slimmest possible congressional majority and a grossly unpopular agenda. Winning an election with 49.9% of the vote (of those who voted) does not make him a Dictator for Life and does not make Project 2025 the law of the land.

The truth is that political power resides in many places — from local to state to federal. To stave off the fascists, we must tap into that power in every corner of our country. We must organize ourselves to block their attacks, break MAGA’s political strength, and build a winning majority coalition of our own. Leadership in this moment must come from regular people, not just politicians. Elected Democrats will need our encouragement, support, and cajoling to find their spines and fight back. Elected Republicans can and must break with MAGA or be held accountable for the harm they cause. This guide outlines concrete strategies and tactics that collectively will help us limit harm, win in 2026, and throw MAGA out in 2028.

Eight years ago, we wrote the Indivisible Guide to organizing locally to pressure Congress and block the Trump agenda. Now, we’re offering our best advice on how everyday people can organize to stop Trump 2.0. There’s a lot we don’t know about what needs to be done. We’ll need to learn and experiment as we go. But we hope that this guide will be useful for people across the country who are grappling with what they can do in this moment.

Our shared future depends on everyday Americans choosing to fight back. We believe each of us has a role to play — in blue states, red states, and political battlegrounds across America. We believe MAGA will seek to divide and conquer us, isolating us one by one in an attempt to fracture our resolve. We believe standing together, Indivisible, is the only way to protect our families, our neighbors, and our democracy. And we believe that we will win.

The two lead authors of this doc were Leah and Ezra, co-founders of Indivisible. Find us on Bluesky at @ezralevin and @leahgreenberg. We didn’t do this alone - huge thanks to the 2-3 dozen friends, family, colleagues, Indivisible leaders, and brilliant minds in the pro-democracy world who in the week after a traumatic election conspired with us on how to move forward. in this movement, and we’re here to help.;

Skip to jump navigation section
Now in Summary/TL;DR

One-Page Summary

Chapter 1: What Happened and Why it Matters. Heading into the 2024 election, Americans were angry about inflation and frustrated with the status quo. Some voters either flipped to Trump or didn’t vote at all. That gave Trump the margins to win — but it doesn’t give him a mandate for dictatorship or Project 2025. Americans of all stripes are going to be pissed when Trump 2.0 comes to town dressed in chaos, corruption, and cruelty. We can stoke that backlash to break up their coalition and build ours.

Chapter 2: A Quick Primer on Constituent Power. Trump wants us to believe that the presidency is all-powerful. It ain’t true. Political power in our democracy overlaps between local, state, and federal electeds. Your power comes from your ability to be a source of support (or a pain in the ass) to those electeds. You can use this power to get them to stand up to Trump 2.0 or face political consequences. We review the basics of constituent power — what it is, how it works, and how yours can do the most good in this moment where you live.

Chapter 3: The Plan to Get Through the Next 2 Years. Our best chance to get through this era with some amount of democracy intact is to hang on until 2026 and win big in the midterms — breaking Trump’s hold on Congress and making sure election deniers and saboteurs aren’t in charge of the 2028 election. We’ve boiled it down to three big plays:

  1. We will all throw in to say NO to the Project 2025 agenda pushed by the White House and Congress. We’ll stop what we can and pick strategic fights to drive national backlash to win in 2026.
  2. We will play hardball wherever we’ve got Democrats in local, city, or state office — pushing them to block, delay, and challenge MAGA’s attacks.
  3. We will work to protect and win elections — defending against election deniers in swing states and turning all that national backlash into an electoral majority coalition that delivers big wins in 2026.

You’ll plug into the plays that make the most sense for where you live and the leverage you have. Think of it as a giant national pro-democracy team — some of us are playing offense, some are playing defense, but if we all play our roles, we’ll make it through together.

Chapter 4: Protect and Prepare. Things are about to get much worse, and we need to treat an attack on one as an attack on all of us. That means supporting communities under threat and preparing to operate under increasingly authoritarian conditions. We’ll review how to:

  1. Organize to Protect Communities Under Threat. MAGA will hit hard, and we’ll need to stand together.
  2. Operate Under Authoritarian Creep. We’re not giving up on democracy, but we are not naive about what we face. We’ll cover lessons learned about operating under increasingly authoritarian conditions.

Chapter 5: Practical steps for finding or forming your local Indivisible group. Fascists depend on you, believing you’re alone and powerless. And honestly, on your own, you don’t have a ton of power. But, organized groups of individuals do have power. If you’re a fan of an existing group in your area, join it. If not, get a few friends together, start a new local Indivisible group, and build from there. Your local group is the basis for everything else you can hope to achieve in this period. This chapter includes some starter recommendations for how to pull your new, local, volunteer-led Indivisible group together, connect with others on the ground, and get to work.


The big decision that could shape AOC’s future

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/30/aoc-house-oversight-democratic-party-future-00317612

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/30/aoc-house-oversight-democratic-party-future-00317612

Congress

The big decision that could shape AOC’s future

A career move that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pursued five months ago might make less sense now.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks with reporters.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is at a crossroads — again.

Five months ago, she chose to play the inside game with her fellow House Democrats, running for her party’s top post on the high-profile Oversight Committee. She came up short to a more senior lawmaker, Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, and left the committee entirely.

Now she has a second chance. Connolly unexpectedly announced Monday he will soon step aside for health reasons, leaving her with another critical choice — one made even more momentous by how much has changed inside the Democratic Party since she last chose to try and move up the House ranks.

Faced with the stresses of President Donald Trump’s second term, Democratic voters are yearning for younger and more assertive leadership. Many see exactly what they are looking for in Ocasio-Cortez, 35, who has traveled the country in recent months, packing rally after rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and fueling speculation about a potential White House run.

In other words, the stage afforded as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee is suddenly looking a whole lot smaller, and Ocasio-Cortez is remaining publicly and privately noncommittal as speculation swirls about Connolly’s successor.

Even colleagues who enthusiastically backed her Oversight bid last year have been left guessing about her final decision.

“The group of us who were her whip team have asked for her plans, and she’s still sorting out what she wants to do,” said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.). “I think, to the person, we’ve all said, ‘Just let us know what you want to do, and we’ll work on your behalf.’”

That’s a common sentiment inside the House Democratic Caucus, where many members see her as the perfect fit for the Oversight job — a skill requiring media savvy, quick thinking and a political killer instinct.

But others off Capitol Hill think she’s better off seeking a bigger stage and continuing to build a national platform to reshape the future of the Democratic Party. Instead of chasing a mid-level House job, some suggest she’s better off preparing a run for Senate or even the presidency in 2028.

“I think the work being done in Oversight by the minority party is way less important than the work being done in communities and across America painting a different path, a different vision for the Democratic Party,” said Corbin Trent, a former Ocasio-Cortez aide.

“I think we really are in the midst of defining what the next political era could be and defining what the Democratic Party should be,” added an ally of Ocasio-Cortez granted anonymity to speak candidly. “And I think she has a much bigger role to play in that conversation than she does in the kind of nitty-gritty of gaining power within the House.”

There are signs that the congresswoman is torn herself. Even after losing to Connolly, she has continued to position herself as a team player after being seen for years as the leader of the Squad — the hard-left cadre that was often defined in opposition to the elected Democratic leadership in the House. She has paid her dues to the party campaign arm and worked to calm previous jitters about her support for primary challenges to Democratic incumbents.

She has garnered praise from fellow House Democrats for staying on message at her rallies with Sanders, and some said that Ocasio-Cortez, one of the party’s top communicators, could help them meet the base’s demand for more vigorous, visible opposition to Trump in a prime leadership role.

There’s also nothing preventing her from seeking the Oversight post and then seeking higher office down the road. If Democrats retake the House majority next year, Ocasio-Cortez would be in line to wield broad subpoena power and lead the charge in investigating the Trump administration. It could be a huge platform for an ambitious Democrat, albeit one with huge responsibilities.

Plenty of her colleagues are hoping she will take on the challenge, and they believe she would be the immediate frontrunner if she does.

“Folks are asking us to use every tool that we can to hold this administration accountable,” said Rep. Emily Randall (D-Wash.), an Oversight member who said she’d support Ocasio-Cortez if she ran.

“I think my constituents and the American people want us to show the fight against the harm being done, and Alex has been one of the strongest voices on that,” seconded Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.). “When you’re in an existential fight, and you’re on a team, you want to have your best players in all the key roles.”

A House Democratic aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that the caucus had made a “mistake” in electing Connolly to lead the panel last year and now had “an opportunity to right that wrong and put in one of the most powerful voices in a high-profile position.”

Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview Monday that “right now there’s no vacancy” and that she wanted to be respectful of Connolly, who has not yet formally stepped down from the panel.

While she might be the prohibitive favorite if she runs, there are obstacles. For one, she would need to rejoin the panel after securing a junior post on the more coveted Energy and Commerce Committee, which would force senior leaders to waive some caucus rules and potentially do some reshuffling. Most Democrats believe that would be a formality if she ultimately decides to run.

There’s also a candidate in the race already. Connolly named Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) to head up the committee in his absence, and Lynch said Monday he intends to run for the permanent post and had Connolly’s endorsement to do so. Lynch gave a presentation on behalf of the committee in a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday morning on the impact of Republicans’ pending domestic policy bill.

“It’s a great committee,” Lynch, 70, said in an interview. “There are a lot of younger members on the committee. It’s probably the youngest committee and the committee with the least seniority and time on the Hill. I think having a little bit of balance will help.”

But Lynch has twice sought Democrats’ top Oversight slot and, dogged by his past positioning as a moderate, fallen well short. He opposed the Affordable Care Act, though he’s since embraced the legislation, and he opposed gay marriage as a state legislator, though he’s since become supportive of LGBTQ+ rights.

If Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t run, it could open the floodgates for a number of other young, ambitious Democrats on the panel. Reps. Jasmine Crockett of Texas is expected to run if Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t, and Reps. Ro Khanna of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California are also potential candidates.

 

new years eve

 ball.jpg 

waiting for the balls to decend

 

new years eve - waiting for the balls to descend...
in times square? -------- not! --------
--- in dadadrumpf's pants!

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

the 40 days of trumpmas - a surreal serial poem

 

 guyhair1_517UcgHYK3L._AC_UL320_SR256_320_.png 

Remember, remember! The fifth of trumpvember

 the 40 days of trumpmas - a serial poem

 

for 40 days the trumpeter reigns,

his lies and hate on whom he disdains,

but election day will come so soon,

we'll no longer hear the orange baboon;

 

in 39 days full of world wide problems.

we could elect him to get rid of the muslims,

but as he'll rant on trivialities of his presidential life,

what could be worse? - you could be his wife;

 

in 38 days just what will you do?

the donald has said he likes lgbtq,

but as he bullies his women and all his men too,

if youre questioning, what stops him from bullying you?

 

in just 37 days, some people are saying,

(or pleading or hoping or some even praying)

the duke of prunes will dye his forelock purple my friend,

and thus make america grape again,

 

our days are down to just 36,

before our problems the don will fix,

he will on day one do what hes said - true,

he'll wall out our enemies - and fat women too!

 

on the 35th day of trumpmas

yes just seven weeks remain!

will the polls and tallies deliver us

donald with his golden mane?

 

34 days and the vice-pipers have piped,

though pence didnt say why donalds suit shouldnt be striped,

he wouldnt defend his master's string pulling,

to make america great? - who do they think they're fooling?

 

just 33 days till the macho tornado,

unless its blown away by hurricane machado,

with women and voters he has so much to loose.

keep your mouth shut donald (unless youre changing your shoes)

 

32 days and we’ve been hit by the big blowhard,

donald spoke here in fla (oh, we had a hurricane too)

this administration gives us playing the race card, a weak economy, and unemployment

but if you want a job you could be donald’s campaign manager (unless youre a jew)

 

31 days, just a month, remains;

will the donald say hes sorry, and his baser impulses restrain?

or keep blaming bill clinton for our moral demise;

when trump speaks to us, our NO votes must be our replies!

 

election comes this time (in 30 days) each 4 years,

time for praise and tears and fears;

as polls will open in many states,

vote early, please dont vote late!

 

down to 29, just a leap february,

and theres still the donald quite

contrary;

donald donald, how does your garden grow?

quoth the master debater, "with pretty maids groped in a row"

 

just 28 days - later or soon,

and the zombies will rise, led by the big goon;

unless everyone gets a reality inoculation,

i might have to move to canada for a well deserved vacation; 

 

now just 27, less than 4 weeks,

no time for you to say 'yikes!' or 'eeeks!'

obama wants to go to mars and colonize it for man,

lets send trump tomorrow! and colonize it for orangutan!

 

26 days are all that remain,

will our democracy and economy go down the drain?

if we all keep listening to the blustering oaf,

will he give jobs and prosperity? - or just half a loaf

 

25 days - will more women speak?,

of the antics of donald who the presidency seeks,

dating 14 year old girls or groping their mothers,

how did the gop pick him over the others?,

 

24 days - were down to two dozen,

the next woman who speaks just might be your cousin,

or mother or sister, aunt, niece, even daughter,

describing the circumstance in which donald caught her,

 

23 days left and trump doesnt yet have as many accusers,

as cosby, but he assures us that they are all really losers,

sent by bankers or hillary with secret agendas,

to disrupt our election of him - our defender!,

 

22 days and we know charity begins at home,

but donalds attention is so prone to roam,

his gift that disappeared to 911 survivors from his foundation?,

oops! maybe donald spent it on a vacation,

 

21 days and trump says the election may be rig-ly,

if hes not the winner and his total's not big-ly,

tremendously higher than hillary gets,

he warns his supporters may all lose their wits,

 

20 days left and while george zimmerman still walks free,

the man who shot at HIM got 20 years - while trayvon got eternity,

trump wants us to support our cops and maintain law and order,

he'll put all the inner city dwellers in jail, and send the immigrant criminals far across the border,

 

19 days left till we all go to pretend,

to elect someone to lead us, as if on it our lives depend,

but wise man, donald trump, already really knows,

who we really voted for - a wolf in president's clothes?,

 

18 days and we bad hombres demand a rebate,

on the ill feelings left since the comments of one candidate,

the debaters have met in their final grudge match,

but only donald can say from whose hands victory will be snatched,

 

17 days and our government is corrupt with quid pro quo,

did you take latin at wharton? is that how you know?,

donald wants us to fire at them all - the bureaucrats lined up in rows,

and believe me, corruption is a subject. that donald really knows,

 

16 days - lets set term limits on all our office holders,

and put all our women in binders - or maybe in folders,

donalds endless complaints are becoming a sour whine,

have a little cheese with that, from wisconsin, where 

hillary's doing fine,

 

15 days and on stocking covered thighs did linger,

two miniature hands with two thumbs and eight tiny fingers,

they belonged to the donald who believed that he owned,

any thing that he wanted - or anyone he got alone,

 

14 days yes only two weeks,

till the duke of orange assends to the throne he seeks?,

to rule all americans, the strong and the weak?,

and dominate the globe with power that's peak?,

 

the 13th day to go - does that seem unlucky?,

not for donald whos lately been appearing quite plucky,

claiming media, polls, and parties are against him,

and rallying his multitudes with wit waxing dim,

 

on the 12th day of trumpmas donald awoke with a jerk,

promptly fired his latest campaign manager (who considered that a perk),

if youre "AAAfroAAAmurikan" and unemployed i can put you to work,

barked donald the businessman from behind his sly smirk,

 

it's the 11th and engineer casey trump is in the caboose,

i hear some of you saying oh no! what's the use,

our campaign will probably just go off the tracks,

but donald says its ok - cause he's got "the blacks",

 

just ten days left yes only one-zero,

til donald is hoping that he'll be your hero,

as new hillary emails come under investigation,

donald hopes to rename camp david to camp donald for

his vacations,

 

like a cat has nine lives we're left with only 9 days,

till we're subject to donald? and his old wicked ways,

on foreign affairs he says he'll save us from isis,

but his domestic affairs are misogyny and crisis,

 

our days are numbered - yes only eight,

till once again we make america great,

by getting rid of candidates who have nothing to add,

goodbye donald you wont make america sad,

 

just one week to go - its day minus seven,

till america's lifted above - to trumpty dump heaven?,

where for rich folks like donald opportunity abounds,

and we keep the working poor with a wall that surrounds,

 

how the time it does fly its already day 6,

till americans problems the donald will fix,

his solutions begin on trumpday number one,

dont you like them? they'll come at the barrel of a gun,

 

Five days to go, baby, One in five,

No one here gets out alive, now,

david dukes not opposed to all jews,

he backs trump - who are you going to choose?,

 

only 4 days left till the armaged-don,

he'll seize power by the horns once he has won,

and donnie will be what he longs for - a winner,

using the FBI to wreak havoc on hillary the sinner,

 

only three left, just a triad of days,

and the donald his supporters continues to amaze,

with hoopla and folderoll made up in his head,

his winning temperament will leave us all dead,

 

just a pair of days - 2 - till trump paradise,

since these words you're reading please heed my advice,

the creatures that surround us are beginning to bite,

'blacks for trump' fear the Illuminati so lets turn out their light,

 

just a single day left till our thanksgiving,

deliver us from donald and preserve the living,

forget sanity and disgard your misgivings,

but pray hard to your gods that they'll be forgiving,

since we've got the nukes why can't we use'em?,

on the road to 2016 why couldn't we lose HIM?,

 

and trumpmas now has finally come,

the tallies will count up to a winning sum,

unless the earth is struck soon by a cataclysmic comet,

to elect a candidate who just makes you want to vomit?,

we wish you a merry trumpmas at this time each 4 years,

if you have'nt voted you've lost the chance to mitigate your fears,

cause donald duck is ready to lead, forget your crocodile tears,

so you'd better get the vaseline and lubricate your rears!

deck the halls?

 

 fa.jpg 

rama lama fa fa fa

 

 

when you see dadadrumpf on the holidays and really feel like decking him - deck the halls instead!

deck.jpg
Deck the halls with bows to folly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
build the wall we'll all be jolly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Don will not don gay apparel
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
promises he made will soon unravel
Fa la la la la, la la la la
See the flaming fool before us
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Strike at work and join the chorus
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Follow him in cautious measure
Fa la la la la, la la la la
While he loots our nation's treasure
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Fast away the old year passes
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Hail the fearless leader's gasses
Fa la la la la, la la la la
hang the expensive drumpftree ornaments
Fa la la la la, la la la la
He's heedless now of your forlorn laments
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Deck the halls with tired cliches
Fa la la la la, la la la la
if this were france hes be a vichy
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Don we now our alt-right hoods
Fa la la la la, la la la la
see how he now delivers the goods
Fa la la la la, la la la la
ride the ship named donald's folly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
make amerrika great again oh golly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
thanks to
BROOKS, KIX / DEMARCUS, JAY / TRADITIONAL