Hello, I’ve got a major problem going on, so this will be quick…I don’t even have time to put up pictures of the numerous protests that went on yesterday…
Please help me out and post protest pictures in the comments below …
This is an open thread.
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dakinikat
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Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
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The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.
You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.
Sky Dancing 
”Hands Off” was an amazing success. It went far beyond capitol cities.
BB might be interested to know that thousands were protesting in places like Muncie, Lafayette, Fort Wayne and South Bend.
https://bsky.app/profile/maddow.msnbc.com
great round up of rallies across the country with pictures!
I noticed this seem to be primary an event with huge numbers of older white people. Those optics probably scared Trump but wow, where were the POC?
I did have two thoughts. The first is older white people would scare Trump more. Plus, the wouldn’t be able to blame black Lives Matter, and less young people would leave less of a possibility they would blame Antifa
A friend also sent me this:
Why Some Black Folks Are Sitting This One Out—and That’s Okay
https://rabbisandra.substack.com/p/why-some-black-folks-are-sitting
“Many Black folks are opting out of April 5 because we’ve seen this play out before. We’ve shown up in droves for causes, and we’ve taken risks in the streets for doing so. And in today’s climate, where threats of violence are real and the memory of disproportionate police response is fresh, some are asking a very reasonable question: Is it safe for me to be there?
We’ve marched, we’ve organized, we’ve shut down streets. From Selma to Ferguson to 2020, our bodies have always been on the frontlines—often without protection, often without recognition. And too often, once the dust settled, we were left out of the story entirely.
Some are saying no.
And here’s the deeper truth: Many Black folks are tired. Tired of marching for justice only to see the same systems stay intact. Tired of fighting battles that don’t center our needs. And many of us are still angry, that in the 2024 election, 57 percent of white people voted to elect President Donald Trump a second time. Now, it seems some of them are having buyers remorse and are preparing to get in formation to let him know how they feel about him. Angry that once again, we’re expected to risk our bodies while others organize rallies that may not fully account for our safety or our history. That anger is righteous. That exhaustion is earned.
In fact, I want to affirm that all forms of protest matter. Whether you’re marching, organizing, creating, educating, resting, voting, or buying from Black owned business, if you are working toward justice, you are doing sacred work.
Black TikTokers and other social media influencers played a key role in shaping this narrative. They creatively used humor and popular trends to advise against participating in the April 5th demonstrations. Some made hilarious videos with captions. The message is funny on the surface, but serious at its core. Some believe Trump could use this mass gathering as a reason to invoke martial law. And based on things he’s said in recent interviews, that fear isn’t unfounded.”
Rabbi Sandra Lawson
Thanks for a great post, JJ.
Where do these idiots get this stupid and false talking points? Robots!
Doge’s attack on social security causing ‘complete, utter chaos’, staff says
Understaffed agency sent into ‘death spiral’ as employees warn Musk-led cuts will lead to structural collapse
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/06/musk-doge-social-security
Office closures, staffing and service cuts, and policy changes at the Social Security Administration (SSA) have caused “complete, utter chaos” and are threatening to send the agency into a “death spiral”, according to workers at the agency.
The SSA operates the largest government program in the US, administering social insurance programs, including retirement, disability and survivor benefits.
An average of almost 69 million Americans per month will receive a social security benefit in 2025, totaling about $1.6tn in benefits paid during the year and accounting for 22% of the federal budget. While expensive and challenged by an ageing population, social security remains overwhelmingly popular with Americans. But the agency has been dubbed a “Ponzi scheme” by Elon Musk, the billionaire whose so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is currently slashing its staff and budgets.
“They have these ‘concepts of plans’ that they’re hoping are sticking but in reality, are really hurting American people,” said a longtime SSA employee and military veteran who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “No one knows what’s going on. They’re just coming up with ideas at the top of their head.”
The SSA website has crashed several times this month. Wired reported Doge staff want to migrate all social security data and rewrite code in months, which could cause system collapse and further outages.
The agency plans to eliminate the jobs of 7,000 workers at the agency through voluntary buyouts, resignations or firings, though the union representing SSA employees anticipate even more firings beyond cutting staff to 50,000 workers.
Acting commissioner Leland Dudek has acknowledged to staff that Doge are making the decisions at the agency. Musk, Donald Trump and others have claimed action is being taken to tackle widespread fraud at the agency.
Dudek was appointed acting commissioner after he reportedly secretly shared information with Doge staff. He has threatened to shut down the agency in response to a court order barring Doge from accessing the data.
“It’s just been a lot of craziness, a lot of foolishness. Until they get rid of Doge and the person in office right now, and the Republicans actually get a backbone and stand up for something for once in their lives, things are just going to be complete chaos. That’s really the best word to describe SSA right now, just complete, utter chaos,” the worker added. “They couldn’t understand the coding, so everything they said SSA was doing illegally, they weren’t. Common sense is something they lack. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
Rich Couture, a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees’ Social Security Administration general committee, the union representing roughly 42,000 social security workers, said Doge’s public targets for cuts make no sense.
Why are they cutting 7,000 jobs, asked Couture. “It has never been explained with any degree of clarity how they came up with that figure. What’s being served by that by a loss of 7,000 jobs? How does any of that supposedly makes this operation more efficient? How does it improve service? How does it improve productivity? Our position is that losing 7,000 people doesn’t do any of those things,” he said.
There’s more … please let my check come tomorrow!