‘Grind the country to a halt’: Democrat urges national strike if Trump meddles in midterms — The Guardian
“We have to prepare for the outmost scenario, the worst scenario, which is they try to either capture the ballot box as ballots are being counted, they try to stop the count, they try to surround polling places, whatever it is,” he told the Court of History podcast with political historians Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz.
“We need to make sure that we have an ultimate response to that which, I believe, has to be a true national strike in the sense that, if they do this, if they try to overthrow our democracy, if you are allied with democracy, do not go to work. If you’re a pilot, do not show up. If you drive a train, do not show up. If you’re a teacher, do not show up. We grind the country to a halt.”Gallego, who defeated Trump loyalist Kari Lake in 2024, has gained a reputation as a blunt speaker who sometimes uses profane language to take the fight to Republicans. He continued: “We’re not going to keep going to work and boosting the world’s greatest economy in exchange for us to give up on democracy.
“If we have to destroy the stock market to save democracy, we need to accept that and, more importantly, the richest and the most powerful people in the world and in this country need to understand that that is a real possibility. There is no economic stability without democratic stability. If you take away our democratic stability, we will take away the economic stability.”
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♲ @fraterchaos@diasporasocial.net:stands to reason… look at prostitution law
we arrest and jail or fine the women, never the “Johns”
I’m a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here’s how ICE observers are helping.
Since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good on Jan. 7, Minneapolis has seen a sharp escalation in the agency’s brutal tactics.
In my own neighborhood, ICE agents have tear-gassed schools and local businesses. They have physically assaulted people pumping gas and buying groceries. They have begun door-to-door operations and followed protesters home, demanding to see documentation of citizenship, uploading photos from their encounters into facial recognition databases and detaining thousands of people.
In response, Minneapolis citizens have come out in droves to protest and to observe ICE agents in an informally organized community action called ICE Watch.
If you have watched the videos on social media, you have probably seen large crowds surrounding ICE agents, blowing whistles, honking horns and yelling for the agency to leave the state. They are chaotic scenes, which has led a lot of people to raise the alarm that ICE Watch could spark more retaliatory violence from agents.
As a sociologist who studies violence, I know these concerns are misguided. They betray a fundamental misunderstanding of what ICE Watch is and why it’s an effective tool to protect a community whose rights are being flagrantly violated by the very people who swore an oath to uphold them.
Simply put, ICE Watch does not spur violence; it reduces it. It’s based on de-escalation tactics that have long historical roots in American antiviolence and civil rights movements, as well as a strong theoretical foundation in countless scientific studies about why violence happens and how it can be prevented.
Researchers have known for decades that there are two primary types of people who perpetrate violence. The first is the small fraction who are independently motivated to commit violent acts. The second, and much larger group, are those who commit violence to seek approval and status from others. This is especially true among men who use violence to affirm their masculinity.
Research on gender is particularly relevant for understanding ICE, which has an overwhelmingly male workforce and uses messages of masculinity and domination in its recruitment materials. A lot of men may be joining ICE because they think it will allow them to bond with other men and gain power in our society.
But the conditions required for that to escalate into public violence are extremely specific.
Gang rape is a clear example. Studies show that most perpetrators are unlikely to be sexually violent in other settings. They aren’t individually motivated to commit sexual assault, but they are willing to participate in violence if it means they can deepen their social bonds with the other men present or gain access to an elite organization like a fraternity. Researchers find the same thing is true of sexual harassment. The majority of sexual harassment takes places without the victim’s knowledge in private conversations between men trying to impress one another and gain power in their workplace.
#article by #NicoleBedera https://www.ms.now/opinion/minneapolis-ice-watch-protesters-violence-research
I’m a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here’s how ICE observers are helping.
Scientific research has shown that their tactics can undermine the conditions that lead to violence.Nicole Bedera (MS NOW)
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♲ @mikhailmuzakmen@pod.geraspora.de:We demand an end to a racist, corporate-sponsored mass deportation operation. Take action to keep ICE out of your wallet.
♲ @dianea@diasporasocial.net:We mask for health and strength. They mask for fascism. They are not the same.
National Strike.
Let's talk about Senators, strikes, and your questions....
Belle of the Ranch
https://youtu.be/rea6B-_arjM
Perfectionists when they meet the Nirvana fallacy. :P
The nirvana fallacy is the informal fallacy of comparing actual things with unrealistic, idealized alternatives. It can also refer to the tendency to assume there is a perfect solution to a particular problem. A closely related concept is the "perfect solution fallacy".By creating a false dichotomy that presents one option which is obviously advantageous—while at the same time being completely unrealistic—a person using the nirvana fallacy can attack any opposing idea because it is imperfect. Under this fallacy, the choice is not between real world solutions; it is, rather, a choice between one realistic achievable possibility and another unrealistic solution that could in some way be "better".
It is also related to the appeal to purity fallacy where the person rejects all criticism on basis of it being applied to a non ideal case.
History
In La Bégueule (1772), Voltaire wrote Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien, which is often translated as "The perfect is the enemy of the good" (literally: "The best is the enemy of the good").
The nirvana fallacy was given its name by economist Harold Demsetz in 1969, who said:
The view that now pervades much public policy economics implicitly presents the relevant choice as between an ideal norm and an existing "imperfect" institutional arrangement. This nirvana approach differs considerably from a comparative institution approach in which the relevant choice is between alternative real institutional arrangements.
#uspol♲ Vee - 2026-02-07 13:49:54 GMT
If Trump disappeared today, this guy would still exist and would still be influencing both parties with his billions unless we do something about it.
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♲ @vextaur@blog.taursnd.haus:#uspol♲ Vee - 2026-02-07 13:49:54 GMT
If Trump disappeared today, this guy would still exist and would still be influencing both parties with his billions unless we do something about it.
"Norman Road Riverbank Repair"
This road was closed the past few times I've ridden through, but the new repairs are now in place.
#mywork #photog #photography #rural #water
"Centennial Trail Bridge"
A fork of the trail I didn't take.
#bicycleinfrastructure #biking #bridge #cycling #mywork #photog #photography
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Trump's Legislative Blueprint for Permanent PowerTrump's Legislative Blueprint for Permanent Power
With a smirk and uncontrollable rage, Trump unleashed another attack on a female reporter in the Oval Office. But that wasn't the only unconscionable thing he said. He laid the foundation for federal election takeover, using the SAVE Act as cover.Heather Delaney Reese
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indyradio
in reply to Neil E. Hodges • • •You know, that was how J. Epstein started. Anything less than a millionaire is time wasted.
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