I’m grateful today to see all the sweet cabbage seedlings which have sprouted since I planted the seeds five days ago. A few had started popping up yesterday, and this morning many!

But my moments of delight are few and far between, corrupted by increasing dread and anger, fueled in large measure by the absolute failure of US media to do their job as the Fourth Estate: “The hallmark of the fourth estate is that it scrutinises the actions of public officials and political institutions in the interest of the public, serving as a watchdog that holds the other three estates (the legislation, the executive and the judiciary) accountable for their actions.” Can you imagine the uproar if Biden or Obama (or possibly even George W) had claimed to be a king and released official images of himself wearing a crown? There would have been a media feeding frenzy like giant piranhas over a donkey carcass.

I spend more and more of my waking hours each day consciously transforming a simmering rage into more helpful and beneficial actions, thoughts, and emotions. It’s exhausting. This is the strategy of the coup plotters, to overwhelm and exhaust. My aversion is so strong that I can’t even write their names, so I’m calling them Mump. And this is the ad accepted by The Washington Post and subsequently rejected:

What will it take to get the media to focus on the hostile takeover of our precious democracy? In an eloquent speech the other day, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker told the hard truth about what’s happening, including a humble confession illustrating the evil of the new regime. The last ten minutes is well worth watching and extrapolating from: “This is real,” he says. Maybe the press will listen if we come together and shut down the economy for a single day. What a great idea! Well, it’s a plan. Get on board:

“The 24 hour Economic Blackout

For one day we show them who really holds the power:

WHEN:

Thursday February 27th from Midnight till Friday the 28th Midnight

(A full 24 hours of the 28th)

12:00 AM to 12:00 AM

WHAT NOT TO DO:

Do not make any purchases

Do not shop online, or in-store

No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy

Nowhere!

Do not spend money on:

Fast Food

Gas

Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Only buy essentials if absolutely necessary 

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

Talk about it, post about it, and document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS!

~ Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

~ If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

~ If they don’t listen we make the next blackout longer.

From The People’s Union website

Also we need to be talking about the stories, our own or of people we know, who are suffering from the effects of these sudden layoffs. Soon we can share stories of people suffering medical crises from cuts to Medicaid, on the chopping block in the big House budget bill. Eventually we’ll be able to amplify the tragic stories of almost every American we know, except for our Billionaire friends. Well, I don’t personally have any billionaire friends, but most of us must, right? Or why else are we letting them get all the benefits from the proposed tax cuts which will save the government money at our (potentially lethal) expense?

So I’ll share the story of a couple of friends. As we share, let’s be sure to protect the identity and privacy of people we share about. A woman friend did a wonderful job for a contractor supporting CFPB, a job she loved and was great at. With the CFPB slaughter, she lost that job, was told one day to work from home the next week, and the next day told that her job was gone. She’s among the lucky: she has some savings, and a couple of other sources of minor income to help her limp along. Another friend, a young man, has been job-hunting in the DC area for a long time, and had just gone through a three week interview process that was going really well. He was so optimistic that this would be the job he’d get! It was with a government contractor. So guess what, now he’s back to square one. He lives on a very thin margin, and even volunteers at the food bank where he gets his groceries. Every day I hear from someone new about friends or family who have lost their jobs.

This is real. We have a very small window of opportunity to rally ourselves, our elected officials, and the press to see the truth of the dark hole this country is heading down. Speaking of holes, the burrow is active! And these are not gentle rock squirrel footprints; I think it’s a badger hole.

Damage is already done in our lives that will be hard to mitigate: further damage is inevitable, and could be irrevocable. It’s past time to WAKE UP and take action, take more action, and take more action. Resources for getting involved in the resistance abound. Start with Indivisible, Common Cause, ACLU, NRDC, Move On, or the nearest gathering of fierce old ladies or angry youth near you.

Once again, Topaz got too close for my comfort, and even for her own. As she stuck half herself down into the hole, I called “No, don’t do that!” and she ignored me, but a few beats later she squeaked and popped back out. I wish she could tell me what she met down in there. And oh, by the way…