Worried and concerned, more than 100 gather to organize in Glens Falls

Wall Street policeman (CFPB) is shut down by Trump administration

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This should tell you all you need to know.

More than 100 worried, concerned and passionate people gathered in the basement of Crandall Library on Super Bowl Sunday to find out what they could do to save their country.

They are heart attack serious about that.

Because of the recent actions of Donald Trump - many of which are blatantly illegal - they are mobilizing to right the wrongs they see coming since Republican members of Congress repeatedly have shirked their responsibility to uphold their oaths of office.

In their words, Indivisible ADK/Saratoga "is a local chapter of INDIVISIBLE, active in Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties that welcomes people with our shared values and goals. We organize and mobilize for actions that safeguard and advocate for vulnerable communities, protect human rights, guard our planet, elect progressive candidates, and protect democracy."

Joe seeman (left) was one of the leaders of the local INDIVISIBLE group that met at Crandall Library in Glens Falls on Super Bowl Sunday. More than 100 were in attendance and many more were on Zoom.

Yeah, it was the liberal crowd led by former Assembly candidate Joe Seeman, who seems to be in the middle of everything liberal north of Albany, who were leading the push, but anyone with concerns about the direction of the country was welcome..

INDIVISIBLE is a national organization that recently organized rallies in state capitals all around the country, including Albany.

But their concern is not driven by ideology as much as the concern for upholding the rule of law and adhering to the Constitution.

For two hours Sunday, the organizers in Glens Falls went through the tedious process of organizing a local response to the Trump administration on multiple fronts and issues.

Although, it occurred to me at one point the term "unconstitutional" does not have much of a meaning to the masses anymore with each side using it as the ultimate authority even though it is just a piece of parchment.

As I have lamented previously, most of us cannot imagine our freedoms being taken away or our elections paused, yet the meeting Sunday showed there is widespread concern about it may be possible in the wake of the dismantling of many departments in the federal government, the attacks on the media and firings that appear to be in retaliation for past prosecutions of Trump.

Just consider:

- Ellen Weintraub of the Federal Elections Commission was fired Friday, although she contends her removal is illegal.

- Colleen Shogan, the Archivist of the United States, head of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), was also fired. The archivist is the official responsible for receiving and validating the certified electoral ballots for presidential elections. Her firing appears to be payback for Trump's loss in the 2020 election. Her organization was also the first to discover Trump had illegally retained classified documents after he left the presidency, although she was not the archivist then.

- David Huitema, director of the Office of Government Ethics which overseas political appointments and helps nominees avoid conflicts of interest, was fired.

- Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel which enforced federal whistleblower laws and the law that forbids federal employees from engaging in political activity, also was fired, although a judge later blocked that firing.

One by one, the Trump administration and its Project 2025 blueprint are eliminating the checks and balances in our government.

The people gathered at Crandall Library needed to do something, anything.

The laid out what it was done so far, what it hopes to do in the future and the help it needs.

The 100 strong looked like they might already be retired, but their concern was obvious.

They were willing to act. They had ideas. And as person after person weighed in, it was clear many initiatives were in motion already, but needed to be coordinated for the best result.

At times it seemed like group therapy.

One speaker remarked, "There is power here."

Harnessing that power is the key.

Substack writer Robert Hubbell, Today's Edition Newsletter on Substack, has been sounding the alarm about an ongoing "coup" and has voiced his belief that only the people can stop this from happening.

"The power of mass protests, strikes, stoppages, and boycotts will be particularly potent in America," Hubbell wrote in his Tuesday commentary. "The US is the largest economy in the world because its markets are stable, its political climate is (relatively) corruption-free, and the rule of law is enforced.

"Business thrives on order, predictability, and risk management. If the rule of law is overthrown, business profits will take a nose-dive. The bond market is acting in an unnatural manner, suggesting a deep-seated suspicion that something bad may be happening. The markets are not worried only about Trump's tariffs increasing inflation. They are beginning to price in a risk premium for political instability. (That is my personal opinion based on reading the financial press; I am not an economist.)"

So far, INDIVISIBLE's has directed its followers to lobbying their U.S. Senators and congresspeople. Those have evolved into rallies at state capitals around the country, including Albany.

Several in the room took part.

They recommend flooding their representatives with phone calls and emails to get their attention. It's a start, but it was also clear from the meeting that the organizing was still in its early stages.

One man concluded, "We have to do something, fast."

While the spirit is strong, the organization is still assembling its infrastructure and the obvious question was whether they could accomplish that in time to raise enough voices of descent.

Jean Lapper, a Queensbury woman who made a run for state office recently, suggested that raising their voices at local town board meetings might have an immediate impact, especially since most of the Republicans leaders of those board have been silent about what is happening on a national level.

They talked about forming "rapid response teams" to help illegal immigrants such as the ones working locally on the backstretch at Saratoga to make sure their rights are protected.

What was even more compelling was that with the Super Bowl beckoning in just a couple hours, most stayed the full two hours and lingered to talk some more afterward.

Robert Hubbell, the Substack writer, could have been speaking for all of them:

"As I wrote yesterday, a system in which the leaders claim to be exempt from the rule of law contains an inherent instability: If the rule of law does not apply to the leaders, it does not apply to the people. That is not a threat but an observation of how other nations have brought dictators to heel. Trump and Musk should, therefore, stop their lawless spree well short of mass action by citizens fed up with a lawless “government.”

That should be INDIVISIBLE's mission statement.

For more information on “Indivisible ADK/Saratoga” check out their Facebook page.

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Transparency

Bernice Mennis, as an avowed liberal as you are going to find in these parts, wrote to tell me the local weekly would not print her letter to the editor.

While we have not done that in the past, I thought in the name of transparency, we would give Bernice her voice.

Letter to Editor

Editor:

I am perplexed with hatred–of people who do us no harm (and who we have often harmed), the hatred of Blacks, Jews, immigrants, of gays and lesbians, trans, of people wanting to live their own authentic lives. And here, now, in our society, I am perplexed with the incredible violent vendetta against DEI and woke, the outrage, the closing of websites and programs, the firing of faculty, the banning of books and curriculum. A self righteous vendetta as violent as the one against women wanting control of their reproductive health, of their own bodies. Who are the ones controlling and why? Do people even know what DEI is?

D for diversity, the principle of life on this earth, the interconnection of plants and animals, the keystone species, a healthy ecology. It is the opposite of monocultures, of ignorantly removing the “unwanted” and “unproductive, ”eliminating predators, destroying wetlands, deforesting, not understanding the intricate interweaving of life. In human communities it is not seeing the richness of different cultures, language, art, beliefs.

And the “E” for equity. How could fairness, equality, the recognition of the dignity of every being not be good?

And “I” for inclusion: The expansion of our world by allowing in rather than keeping out people, knowledge, understanding. Who would be threatened by DEI–human and ecological wealth? And who are these Republican politicians screaming against “wok”? Woke as being aware, being awake, seeing–the goodness of saying “now i see,” of understanding. How did “woke” become a crime, a reason to ban books, restrict curriculum, protecting us from the “discomfort” of growth of mind and heart.

How were so many people scammed by those who want control, power, conformity, obedience, sterility, death….who make us afraid of the beauty and richness of our earth and of our bodies and our possible lives…who demand loyalty to them? I pledge my loyalty to the earth and all the life that it sustains, to our constitution and our democracy and “one nation with liberty and justice for all,” to continually learning and growing.

-Bernice Mennis, West Fort Ann

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CFPB shut down

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C. has been closed and its employees ordered to stop working.

The CFPB is the agency charged with oversight of Wall Street and is responsible for returning some $17 billion to consumers over the past decade. It was formed so that a financial collapse like the one we had in 2008 - gutting our retirement accounts - would not happen again.

Employees have filed a lawsuit to stop the closing.

The New York Times reported that the agency "cannot be closed without congressional action, but its director can freeze most of its actions by halting enforcement, weakening or repealing regulations and softening its supervision of banks and other lenders."

That appears to be what is happening.

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Post-Star attacked

The Post-Star finally posted the news that Lee Enterprise has been dealing with a cybersecurity attack on its computer system that has disrupted its newspaper production in all its markets.

The Post-Star actually used a story that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - a sister newspaper at Lee - wrote.

“We are now focused on determining what information — if any — may have been affected by the situation,” CEO Kevin Mowbray said in an email to company employees and reported in the story. “We are working to complete this investigation as quickly and thoroughly as possible. We have notified law enforcement of the situation.”

The story also said the company is working to identify “additional steps we can take to help prevent something like this from happening again.”

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Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.