Margaret I believe in boycotts. They do work when we all band together. Look at Tesla...Target is another corporation claiming they took a hit from boycotts.
Indivisible does a good job in getting out actions.
I also subscribe to MoveOn who send me actions via text. Mostly doing phone calls to reps across the nation.
Idk if it actually helps but it makes me feel like I'm taking part in a cause and at least attempting to let these politicians know we aren't all stupid and understand that they in fact are in this for themselves.
Keep supporting local. Buy from small business when you can and join with community.
There's a parade on Flag Day in Saratoga where the local Saratoga/Adk Indivisible is taking part in. (In the parade itself)
Come join Indivisible ADK/Saratoga, www.indivisibleadksaratoga.org. We are having our first community “United We Sip” at Common Roots Brewing Company in Glens Falls, Thursday, 29th of May from 4 - 6.
We will be presenting Pramila Jayapal’s Resistance Lab - Virtual Organizing Training 1.0 on Sunday, June 1st, from 1:30PM - 4PM at the Saratoga Public Library, Harry Dutcher Room (49 Henry St.
Saratoga Springs).
There will be many rallies in our area on June 14th starting at 9:30am in Troy, 11am for the 56th Annual Flag Day Parade in Saratoga (this will be marching in a parade wearing No Kings T-shirts, signs not allowed), We Rise @ 12pm in Glens Falls at the corner of Bay &.Glens St, 1pm in Albany along Wolf and Central Ave and lastly in Warrensburg from 4 to 5:30pm.
I would like to remind everyone that "beginning of Armageddon" did not begin on January 20th. It began when 45 years ago When Ronald Reagan said these words "...Government IS the problem". A small number of greedy and corrupt people nursed this little cancer cell into full blown cancer. Now the U.S. Government is in hospice.
This administration reminds me of a venture capitalist. Takes over a business, sells off anything that makes that business valuable then has a fire sale. Except, government is not a business. I can see why Joseph, and many his age, are feeling hopeless. For his generation, homeownership may be a thing of the past, pensions, no more, a planet in which we did too little, too late. Hope we can turn this ship around before we're past the point of no return.
Well written, as usual! As a water quality scientist, I feel as though my 30-year career in the Adirondacks working on acidification in lakes and ponds and all of the advancements have now been lost b/c of all the greed in our society. At this point in my 8th decade of life, I am ashamed to be an "American."
The depraved disregard for the safety of current and future generations, by tRump and this enabling GOP regime of elected and selected officials… along with all the American gazillionaires who have funded this intentional, demented destruction of critical agencies…is demoralizing for all of us Americans who have devoted our lives to the preservation and improvement of human and environmental health.
It defies sanity… and was designed to do so…to strip us of personal and national pride… and the energy necessary to rally and persist in our opposition to this well-orchestrated coup. But we must persist and resist anyway we can…hour by hour…day by day…in creative ways…whether writing in this forum to provide mutual support to kindred spirits… letters to local/state/federal officials and newspapers…standing still or marching with other peaceful protesters in solidarity to show other Americans and those around the world who are watching that we are not all complicit in these crimes against humanity.
It is not incorrect to blame Trump's admin for their direct assault on addressing climate, but Trump is the current end-game effective installment of a decades-long assault of the GOP pushback on global climate policy. I see the US-driven military complex (how much fossil fuel do *they* use in a day?) and the fossil fuel industry in general (now LNG a major export) and history's MOST PROFITABLE product...you can draw very simple lines from the election disruption of Al Gore, our preeminent climate politician, and this was how many years ago?, through the installation of Dubya, who never pushed to ratify the historic Kyoto treaty, and this was how many years ago?, and then the whiplash of agendas as we rock from Dem to GOP on MPG, Paris Accord, renewable investment. I see Putin's interests (his GDP is fully dependent on oil revenue, with the exception of his infiltration to global crime syndicates) as fully aligned with the disinformation campaigns and policy pushes of the GOP as it relates to oil. It's a hell of a story, Ken. It's so much bigger than Trump, but he is a hell of a spokesperson, sadly.
Another great thread on this is the notion of disaster capitalism. Using human suffering for profit--think health care and climate disaster. When people are vulnerable and desperate for life-saving products and services. It's why hedge funders started buying life-saving Pharma patents--because people will pay when they are desperate. It's a thing. Imagine how much political disruption will happen in your son's lifetime as the populations of many coastal cities is threatened with rising seas, including his home. This is all scientifically predictable. Imagine who will be in power to capitalize on the desperation.
It is a great point. When Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" came out 20 or so years ago, I feared using his name with the issue of climate change because it would poison the debate. He did go on to win the Nobel Prize.
It's not surprising that Stefanik was the deciding vote to Destabilize The North Country in New York! Let's remember, if the Independents vote with the Democrats in the district, we can unseat her. I'm forever the optimist!!!
Allow me to point to Dr. Chris Hoy’s op-ed published in the Post Star on May 25. It is the result of careful analysis of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and beautifully lists the probable consequences of the proposed defunding of Medicaid for our Congressional District 21.
Frightening costs to you and me.
Now let’s ask: if we in CD-21 will be made to pay so dearly, who gains?
The bill makes its major aim quite clear: it is to extend tax cuts enacted in 2017 under the first Trump administration. They will otherwise elapse at the end of 2025. What will refreshing the tax cuts do? They will save some $4.5 trillion for corporations and individuals over 10 years.
But let’s focus on the details - per projections from the Congressional Budget Office.
Those in the middle income range will see very modest tax reductions.
Those in the lowest 10% will see their incomes and resources reduced.
Those in the highest 10% of the income scale would profit handsomely, because their tax bills will be decreased by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
For those who live in CD-21, there is another impact of the bill to understand.
It also provides $160 billion for border security and for deportation of millions of migrants. This provision effectively means there will be far fewer folks to do the work that lots of businesses in our region depend on. Think migrant workers in farms, orchards, restaurants, quarries, tourism-related hospitality establishments. Our local economies will therefore suffer further on this basis.
So the bill would reduce our work forces, cut Medicaid for 28% of us and diminish our local resources for all - mostly to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Mr. Trump wants this bill. He is in the top 0.1%. But is it what we want?
The Senate will make its changes to the bill next, and then the House will have to vote again to finalize it. We are The People. Senators and Representatives work for us. Silence can be misrepresented as consent. If you think this One Big Beautiful Bill is fiscally irresponsible, is self-serving, and is a serious threat to the future of what we have in CD-21, then talk to your town supervisors and flood Elise Stefanik’s office with your voices.
Yesterday's parade made me look at all the people marching and those watching and wonder...how many of you pay any attention at all to what is happening to this country? Do you choose instead to focus on your family and your own little bubble of life and just figure...."well, what can I do that would matter??" I am completely SICK of hearing the media discuss how "out of touch the Democrats are!" THAT is NUTS, for the most part. The media should be concentrating on what is happening NOW, with what those in control are destroying....constantly and loudly.... listing, as you just did Ken....describe what is happening. YES, it's depressing and very soon I think it really will begin to hit everyone in this country in ways they never imagined....yes, with no help coming ---eg., no FEMA, no Weather, losses to Medicare, Medicaid, Snap, Meals on Wheels, Head Start....etc, etc..... How else do you reach people because the media certainly isn't the answer....too easy to just...turn it off. YES, and THEN what, when it really does happen and people FEEL it.
SURRENDER IS NOT AN OPTION! I marched w/the Sackets Harbor NY 1000 & ICE released the family it seized. Tomorrow a hundred of us or so will visit Stefanik-clone Claudia Tenney's office. Read Tim Snyder's "ON TYRANNY" & Jonathan Greenblatt's "It Could Happen HERE." Snyder gives us the playbook & Greenblatt the MAGA energy drink (hate). From nearby our home, we can see the windmills in Canada, cheering US on. My autocorrect always capitalizes the letters "u" & "s". This is not the Alamo. 90 million registered voters stayed home last year & will see by the 2026 midterms that the GOP bill manages to screw almost all of them, one way or another. Keep fighting, praying, marching, getting out the vote, & even the Democrats will finally stop bringing a knife to a gunfight.
I think he believes this stuff,an when he dosent want to answer a question from news people its always i Don t know anything about it , isn't the president surposed to know what his cabinet is doing?
Thank you for putting into words the thoughts that keep me up at night. And, a timely message for the people of Asheville and our surrounding areas that need, let me repeat that, that NEED federal help to get back to living normal...ish lives. It's difficult here in Western North Carolina for a lot of folks and this regime is only making things worse for the masses.
"The only people who are mad at you for speaking the truth are those who are living a lie." - Frida Kahlo
Thank you for your articles. They are informative and interesting.
I am wondering if you could dedicate an article or two to how we can all get involved to help fight back against this administration.
How can the average concerned citizen make a difference? Thanks.
Margaret I believe in boycotts. They do work when we all band together. Look at Tesla...Target is another corporation claiming they took a hit from boycotts.
Indivisible does a good job in getting out actions.
I also subscribe to MoveOn who send me actions via text. Mostly doing phone calls to reps across the nation.
Idk if it actually helps but it makes me feel like I'm taking part in a cause and at least attempting to let these politicians know we aren't all stupid and understand that they in fact are in this for themselves.
Keep supporting local. Buy from small business when you can and join with community.
There's a parade on Flag Day in Saratoga where the local Saratoga/Adk Indivisible is taking part in. (In the parade itself)
Come join Indivisible ADK/Saratoga, www.indivisibleadksaratoga.org. We are having our first community “United We Sip” at Common Roots Brewing Company in Glens Falls, Thursday, 29th of May from 4 - 6.
We will be presenting Pramila Jayapal’s Resistance Lab - Virtual Organizing Training 1.0 on Sunday, June 1st, from 1:30PM - 4PM at the Saratoga Public Library, Harry Dutcher Room (49 Henry St.
Saratoga Springs).
There will be many rallies in our area on June 14th starting at 9:30am in Troy, 11am for the 56th Annual Flag Day Parade in Saratoga (this will be marching in a parade wearing No Kings T-shirts, signs not allowed), We Rise @ 12pm in Glens Falls at the corner of Bay &.Glens St, 1pm in Albany along Wolf and Central Ave and lastly in Warrensburg from 4 to 5:30pm.
The app 5 calls provides scripts to use when contacting reps.
I can only hope the Senate and house reps for NC go ballistic and find a way to get some colleagues to chime in.
Denying a problem doesn't make it go away. We have all learned that lesson at some point in our lives.
It is amazing how a few people can affect our lives.
I would like to remind everyone that "beginning of Armageddon" did not begin on January 20th. It began when 45 years ago When Ronald Reagan said these words "...Government IS the problem". A small number of greedy and corrupt people nursed this little cancer cell into full blown cancer. Now the U.S. Government is in hospice.
This administration reminds me of a venture capitalist. Takes over a business, sells off anything that makes that business valuable then has a fire sale. Except, government is not a business. I can see why Joseph, and many his age, are feeling hopeless. For his generation, homeownership may be a thing of the past, pensions, no more, a planet in which we did too little, too late. Hope we can turn this ship around before we're past the point of no return.
And many of his friends have significant student debt.
Well written, as usual! As a water quality scientist, I feel as though my 30-year career in the Adirondacks working on acidification in lakes and ponds and all of the advancements have now been lost b/c of all the greed in our society. At this point in my 8th decade of life, I am ashamed to be an "American."
Thanks for your work, Jim. I do see the coordinated and scientific response to acid rain as the good ol days, but grateful for the success.
The depraved disregard for the safety of current and future generations, by tRump and this enabling GOP regime of elected and selected officials… along with all the American gazillionaires who have funded this intentional, demented destruction of critical agencies…is demoralizing for all of us Americans who have devoted our lives to the preservation and improvement of human and environmental health.
It defies sanity… and was designed to do so…to strip us of personal and national pride… and the energy necessary to rally and persist in our opposition to this well-orchestrated coup. But we must persist and resist anyway we can…hour by hour…day by day…in creative ways…whether writing in this forum to provide mutual support to kindred spirits… letters to local/state/federal officials and newspapers…standing still or marching with other peaceful protesters in solidarity to show other Americans and those around the world who are watching that we are not all complicit in these crimes against humanity.
Wow, that is shocking, but I guess it shouldn't be surprising.
It is not incorrect to blame Trump's admin for their direct assault on addressing climate, but Trump is the current end-game effective installment of a decades-long assault of the GOP pushback on global climate policy. I see the US-driven military complex (how much fossil fuel do *they* use in a day?) and the fossil fuel industry in general (now LNG a major export) and history's MOST PROFITABLE product...you can draw very simple lines from the election disruption of Al Gore, our preeminent climate politician, and this was how many years ago?, through the installation of Dubya, who never pushed to ratify the historic Kyoto treaty, and this was how many years ago?, and then the whiplash of agendas as we rock from Dem to GOP on MPG, Paris Accord, renewable investment. I see Putin's interests (his GDP is fully dependent on oil revenue, with the exception of his infiltration to global crime syndicates) as fully aligned with the disinformation campaigns and policy pushes of the GOP as it relates to oil. It's a hell of a story, Ken. It's so much bigger than Trump, but he is a hell of a spokesperson, sadly.
Another great thread on this is the notion of disaster capitalism. Using human suffering for profit--think health care and climate disaster. When people are vulnerable and desperate for life-saving products and services. It's why hedge funders started buying life-saving Pharma patents--because people will pay when they are desperate. It's a thing. Imagine how much political disruption will happen in your son's lifetime as the populations of many coastal cities is threatened with rising seas, including his home. This is all scientifically predictable. Imagine who will be in power to capitalize on the desperation.
It is a great point. When Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" came out 20 or so years ago, I feared using his name with the issue of climate change because it would poison the debate. He did go on to win the Nobel Prize.
It's not surprising that Stefanik was the deciding vote to Destabilize The North Country in New York! Let's remember, if the Independents vote with the Democrats in the district, we can unseat her. I'm forever the optimist!!!
I can’t believe Stefanik thinks she has a chance at becoming governor. But then, I never thought Trump would win either. 😣
I've said that repeatedly as well. It CAN happen.
Thanks for this column, Ken.
Allow me to point to Dr. Chris Hoy’s op-ed published in the Post Star on May 25. It is the result of careful analysis of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and beautifully lists the probable consequences of the proposed defunding of Medicaid for our Congressional District 21.
Frightening costs to you and me.
Now let’s ask: if we in CD-21 will be made to pay so dearly, who gains?
The bill makes its major aim quite clear: it is to extend tax cuts enacted in 2017 under the first Trump administration. They will otherwise elapse at the end of 2025. What will refreshing the tax cuts do? They will save some $4.5 trillion for corporations and individuals over 10 years.
But let’s focus on the details - per projections from the Congressional Budget Office.
Those in the middle income range will see very modest tax reductions.
Those in the lowest 10% will see their incomes and resources reduced.
Those in the highest 10% of the income scale would profit handsomely, because their tax bills will be decreased by hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
For those who live in CD-21, there is another impact of the bill to understand.
It also provides $160 billion for border security and for deportation of millions of migrants. This provision effectively means there will be far fewer folks to do the work that lots of businesses in our region depend on. Think migrant workers in farms, orchards, restaurants, quarries, tourism-related hospitality establishments. Our local economies will therefore suffer further on this basis.
So the bill would reduce our work forces, cut Medicaid for 28% of us and diminish our local resources for all - mostly to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Mr. Trump wants this bill. He is in the top 0.1%. But is it what we want?
The Senate will make its changes to the bill next, and then the House will have to vote again to finalize it. We are The People. Senators and Representatives work for us. Silence can be misrepresented as consent. If you think this One Big Beautiful Bill is fiscally irresponsible, is self-serving, and is a serious threat to the future of what we have in CD-21, then talk to your town supervisors and flood Elise Stefanik’s office with your voices.
Yesterday's parade made me look at all the people marching and those watching and wonder...how many of you pay any attention at all to what is happening to this country? Do you choose instead to focus on your family and your own little bubble of life and just figure...."well, what can I do that would matter??" I am completely SICK of hearing the media discuss how "out of touch the Democrats are!" THAT is NUTS, for the most part. The media should be concentrating on what is happening NOW, with what those in control are destroying....constantly and loudly.... listing, as you just did Ken....describe what is happening. YES, it's depressing and very soon I think it really will begin to hit everyone in this country in ways they never imagined....yes, with no help coming ---eg., no FEMA, no Weather, losses to Medicare, Medicaid, Snap, Meals on Wheels, Head Start....etc, etc..... How else do you reach people because the media certainly isn't the answer....too easy to just...turn it off. YES, and THEN what, when it really does happen and people FEEL it.
It can happen here. People have no idea it IS happening.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KVZ8Id2Q0m6mctNJcT3wBClCccQC29x4/view
SURRENDER IS NOT AN OPTION! I marched w/the Sackets Harbor NY 1000 & ICE released the family it seized. Tomorrow a hundred of us or so will visit Stefanik-clone Claudia Tenney's office. Read Tim Snyder's "ON TYRANNY" & Jonathan Greenblatt's "It Could Happen HERE." Snyder gives us the playbook & Greenblatt the MAGA energy drink (hate). From nearby our home, we can see the windmills in Canada, cheering US on. My autocorrect always capitalizes the letters "u" & "s". This is not the Alamo. 90 million registered voters stayed home last year & will see by the 2026 midterms that the GOP bill manages to screw almost all of them, one way or another. Keep fighting, praying, marching, getting out the vote, & even the Democrats will finally stop bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Maybe our people will wake up an smell the trump greed be for its too late, hope this 4 years goes fast
I think he believes this stuff,an when he dosent want to answer a question from news people its always i Don t know anything about it , isn't the president surposed to know what his cabinet is doing?
Thank you for putting into words the thoughts that keep me up at night. And, a timely message for the people of Asheville and our surrounding areas that need, let me repeat that, that NEED federal help to get back to living normal...ish lives. It's difficult here in Western North Carolina for a lot of folks and this regime is only making things worse for the masses.