Notices by bhahne (bhahne@mastodon.online)

@inthehands FYI I just posted a new set of windshield leaflets designed to put onto Tesla windshields in parking lots. These use language suggested by Anat Shenker-Osorio, to trash the brand and also to encourage the owner to sell.

See the top of the page here: https://sites.google.com/site/bonhoffertv/teslatakedown

#teslatakedown

Quakers are kicking ass in court! It's just a TRO, but I'll take it.

"Judge blocks ICE enforcement actions at churches, other houses of worship"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/24/judge-blocks-immigration-enforcement-churches/80043880007

"U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland ordered the Department of Homeland Security and its subdivision, ICE, not to conduct immigration enforcement actions "in or near any place of worship" associated with the case brought by Quakers, Baptists and Sikhs."

#uspol #immigration #Quakers #ICE

(17/N)
(Really long URL because it has a bypass-the-paywall token in it)

Bloomberg: "Behind DOGE’s Standoff at USAID"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-03/behind-doge-s-standoff-at-usaid-desk-searches-and-elon-musk-calling?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTczODYwMjU3MiwiZXhwIjoxNzM5MjA3MzcyLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTUjQwRFhEV1gyUFMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIyQjE3NzFFOTlEODc0QzRDOTY1Njg1RTZBQkJGM0QwRCJ9.EJFs84O-BxRxxaCqapC1hHwp_8hlRZRnOuYOMZ25TtU

"On Saturday, the standoff centered on access to a secure room that’s designed for reviewing classified and sensitive information. Called a “secure compartmented information facility,” or SCIF, the room on the second floor of the Reagan Building houses some of USAID’s most sensitive documents and personnel information"

#uspol #coup

(13/N)
Aaron Fritschner, Deputy Chief of Staff for Virginia Congressperson Don Beyer, has announced that Beyer and friends will do a physical visit to the USAID office at 1 PM eastern time today (Monday Feb. 3)

https://bsky.app/profile/fritschner.bsky.social/post/3lhbqph7rjc2e

"Congressman @beyer.house.gov will be going to USAID today with colleagues to shine a light on what is happening there, I think others will join us. Figuring out details now and will share but flagging now for press and public in the area"

#uspol #coup

(11/N) I should note that one of the better sources of current information has, incredibly, been the Alt National Park Service on Bluesky. Alt National Park Service is a federal employees' resistance group that as I recall was created during the first Trump administration.

They're here:
https://bsky.app/profile/altnps.bsky.social

#uspol #coup

(6/N)

5. Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College

Richardson's video update from Sunday Feb. 2 (login not required):

https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/videos/sunday-chat-february-2-2025/590837890530283

She confirms in the video that what we're seeing is a coup. She also covered what's known as of Sunday about the computer systems that Musk and his coup supporters have seized.

#uspol #coup

(1/N) MUSK COUP INFORMATION: Here are the collected information links that I have on the ongoing Elon Musk administrative coup that started this weekend.

1. Yale historian of fascism Tim Snyder:
"The Logic of Destruction"
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-of-destruction

"The federal government has immense capacity and control over trillions of dollars. That power was a cocreation of the American people. It belongs to them. The oligarchs around Trump are working now to take it for themselves."

#uspol #coup #Musk

(3/N)
Ben-Ghiat cont:

"That means that random individuals, whose credentials seem to lie mainly in their loyalty to Musk, now have enormous power over America’s purse strings and access to a treasure trove of sensitive personal data. They locked out the federal employees to prevent any obstructions to this access.

This is what militaries do during coups: you capture the major targets, with government buildings high on the list, and you take over communications and other systems."

#uspol #coup

(2/N)

2. Fascism and authoritarianism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat, New York University:
"A New Kind of Coup: Trump and Musk are Updating the Autocratic Playbook"
https://lucid.substack.com/p/a-new-kind-of-coup-trump-and-musk

"Musk and his surrogates have physically occupied the Office of Personnel Management, setting up beds to have a 24/7 presence. They have also infiltrated the General Services Administration, which manages technology in government buildings..."

#uspol #coup

(5/N)

4. Indivisible's call to act: go to your Senators' offices this week in person

Indivisible asks all supporters of the U.S. as a functioning country to PHYSICALLY go to their U.S. Senators' offices this week to demand a "no" vote on Project 2025 author Russell Vought, and to demand that Democrats use all possible procedural power to slow-walk the U.S. Senate.

Background:
https://bsky.app/profile/joshuajfriedman.com/post/3lhag7plcl22m

Indivisible "We Choose to Fight" state office toolkit document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cru6DBkH5gadq3S-mVhiSU72mC2ZeDHXG93jeiemFH0

(4/N)

3. ChooseDemocracy.us information page:
https://choosedemocracy.us/what-is-an-administrative-coup/

"We are in an Administrative Coup.
This is not a test — it’s not a “Test of the Constitution” or testing the “limits of presidential power.” It’s a fully-fledged coup attempt.
Coup d’état, or coups, are illegal or overt attempts to seize control of a government. You can have a coup by a democratically elected regime."

#uspol #coup

(8/N)

ACTION: Richardson noted that information about the coup isn't making it into right-wing media sources AT ALL, and recommends that all people use the relationships and channels that you have to communicate what's happening to the Republican voters that you know.

#uspol #coup

(7/N)
Heather Cox Richardson continued (summarizing from her video):

Musk is now believed to have full control over the system that issues all federal government payments ($6 trillion per year), to have access to the full tax records of all Americans, and to have breached U.S. State Department intelligence systems that contain classified information. He's gleefully tweeting about the different payments that he's blocking.

#uspol #coup

(10/N)
Heather Cox Richardson cont:

[Her recommended message to Republican voters]:

"... If this isn't what you voted for, please call your Senators and your Representative and tell them to take back control."

#uspol #coup

(9/N)
Heather Cox Richardson cont:

It's crucial that the message NOT be "I told you so, are you sorry yet?" but rather should be "This is what's happening: an ultra-billionaire from South Africa has seized control of the computer system that makes your social security and medicare payments, and all other federal payments, and that holds your tax records and financial information, and he says he has the right to block any payment that he wants to..."

#uspol #coup

(12/N)
Here are some updates that I've seen as of Monday morning:

Judd Legum at Popular Information:
"Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees"
https://popular.info/p/musk-associates-given-unfettered

"Musk’s influence now extends to the U,S. Treasury Department, where he and his team took over the federal government’s enormous payment system... Over the weekend, Musk said he would use his access to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal grants."

#uspol #coup

(14/N)

(This article is from Feb. 1)

"Elon Musk’s DOGE commission gains access to sensitive Treasury payment systems"
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-elon-musk-doge-treasury-5e26cc80fcb766981cea56afd57ae759

#uspol #coup

(15/N)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/03/usaid-closed-trump-musk

"USAid headquarters reportedly closed and workers told to stay home"

"Orders come less than a day after top security officials suspended as Musk leads moves towards agency’s closure"

"Workers for Doge, an unofficial government department with no congressionally approved mandate, have also gained access to the US treasury’s highly sensitive database and federal payments system"

#uspol #coup

(16/N)

"I’m a Federal Worker. Elon Musk’s Government Data Heist Is the Entire Ballgame."

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/elon-musk-us-aid-social-security-data-heist-trump.html

"OPM maintains the private information of federal civil servants—bank codes, addresses, insurance information, retirement accounts, employment records. The Treasury’s system processes every payment to everyone from grandmothers waiting for their Social Security check to cancer researchers working to crack the cure."

#uspol #coup

(19/N)
Here's the Youtube video from press event outside USAID office at 1 PM eastern time today. Posted by the account of Senator Chris Van Hollen.

"Van Hollen, Colleagues Host Press Availability At USAID HQ Amid Illegal Shut Down Of Agency "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stI7ZIb9FDg

#uspol #coup