Notices by Heidi Li Feldman (heidilifeldman@mastodon.social)

My tolerance for deceit and cowardice has gone to almost zero.

Democratic state attorneys general will be vital to protecting immigrants and others from Trump regime actions. #Nevada A.G. #AaronFord heads the Democratic Association of Attorneys General. https://nevadacurrent.com/2024/11/20/ford-and-other-democratic-ags-vow-to-form-a-line-of-defense-against-trump/

It is an utter waste of time for elected Democrats to be making nice with Trump or his proposed cabinet members. Instead…. 1/

Democratic electeds should be getting themselves onto social platforms less vulnerable to interference from tech bros, large and small. Maybe Bluesky, definitely Mastodon. 4/

We need Democratic electeds to be sharing ideas for local and state action to protect Americans from the Trump regime. They should be making concrete plans. Also…. 3/

Elected Democrats should be conferring with each other, strengthening and establishing regular channels of communication both interstate and intrastate. 2/

“Holy hell, these two have the memories of concussed goldfish.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/wonkette/p/suckers-make-up-with-fascist

Remember how Donald kept saying he had never heard of Project 2025? Well, his pick for FCC chair wrote the section on the FCC. https://www.ksfr.org/npr-news/2024-11-17/trump-taps-fccs-brendan-carr-to-lead-the-agency

I'll despair when I'm dead.

Very important column from Will Bunch. Highly recommend. https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trump-cabinet-gaetz-rfk-gabbard-20241117.html?id=GlcsMNuxeRajN&utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral

“… The reality-based community — from Maureen Dowd to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to America’s fireside von Hindenburg in President Joe Biden — are all treating … Trump like another president, when he is busy turning his unreality into our new reality, and ruling as a dictator.” https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trump-cabinet-gaetz-rfk-gabbard-20241117.html?id=GlcsMNuxeRajN&utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral

“[T]rump is not selecting his Cabinet as much as he is creating his own reality, and daring our broken institutions like Congress, the Democratic Party and the mainstream media to point out these picks are buck naked as they parade criminally down Fifth Avenue on horseback. …” 1/2

Hello all. I’m hearing from people all over the U.S. in response to the thread that starts here, https://mastodon.social/@heidilifeldman/113495959991743487. Looks like I’ll be creating a group chat on Signal where people can connect with other to organize in-person meetups. If you want to host or attend, contact me on Signal (how to in the thread) and I’ll add you.

I think I would try to host a Santa Fe Mastodon meeting once a month. Maybe others in other parts of the U.S. could try something similar. I could create an online sign up sheet for people around the country to register that they are hosting such meetings, and maybe eventually the hosts would meet or hold a regional gathering. 7/

We could host Mastodon meetups, not aimed at accomplishing any particular or immediate political action, but just an opportunity to see a group of likeminded people on a regular basis. For example, I could hold a Mastodon coffee klatch for people within driving distance of Santa Fe. Even if it only gathered a few people that would be a start. 6/

Still, we are going to need what I will call call background networks of trust that can ground protection from and opposition to Republican Fascism. This is why I have been urging people to show up to settings where we might develop them such as local libraries and muncipal government meetings. But then today, I realized that we who are active on Mastodon have another channel. Some of us live near each other. 5/

But, many of us who stand for secular constitutional democracy, rule of law, anti-corruption in government, women’s liberation, equal justice for black and brown people, and so forth are not church or synagogue goers. The sort of close knit intellectual circles of the late 1800s (e.g. American Transcendentalism or American Pragmatism) don’t exist in the same way today. 4/

Trust and camaraderie can be developed without personal, face to face contact, but that sort of interaction makes it much easier. We are evolutionarily adapted for developing trust or distraction on the basis of in person encounters; now, when we in the U.S. face serious danger, we are going to need networks of trusted others. 3/

All of these movements tapped into previously existing networks, such as churches, older political movements, magazine editors and writers. Those networks gave rise to coalitions and collaborations which did things that were new and daring. What got the new coalitions and collaborations off the ground was some level of preexisting trust and camaraderie rooted in the original networks. 2/

So, I’ve been thinking about movements ultimately successful in the face of home-grown fascism, terrorism, and violent subordination, as well as the rise of Republican Fascism at the grassroots level. I am thinking of U.S. abolitionism from Revolutionary times to the Civil War, the fight for women’s suffrage, and the anti-Jim-Crow/civil rights movement associated with MLK Jr. and Bayard Ruskin. And of white Christian patriarchal movement that led to today’s Republican Fascism. 1/