https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/04/house-democrats-shutdown-doge-00205584

«Democrats want Republicans to put some policy handcuffs on Musk, something Republicans are firmly rejecting. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole called it “a non-starter and battle they lost to the American people” on Monday.»

You’re right, Mr. Cole. You do have two more votes than the Dems. So you should be able to pass a budget *without a single Democratic vote* then. Go ahead.

«Some senior House Democrats believe the impacts of the DOGE cuts have already created a shutdown of sorts»

Right, so an actual shutdown shouldn’t be that much of a change, right? Plus, people can experience what not having a government would feel like.

Count me as in support of a govt shutdown if the Republicans refuse to reign in Musk/DOGE.

Honestly, at what point do we have billionaires picking up the phone and giving their pet Senators enough shit that something happens? How inside-out does the economy have to be?

Or do they not even care so long as there’s something they can loot? Are they all multi-national (even the ones we haven’t heard of), so they can just up stakes and move to… Singapore?

Update:

Not yet, I guess. ☹️

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/opinion/trump-wall-street-biden-big-business.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E4.YFzj.WU_zWmDl1uKc&smid=url-share

«But many, maybe even most, of the people I’m talking to in private are still quietly cheering his move-fast-and-break-things approach — even if they are starting to feel doubts about specific issues, particularly Ukraine and tariffs.»

Pretty sure this is going to be where we discover that the wisdom of the markets and free enterprise ain’t all that.

«“That last part is true, technically,” Pin-Lee said. “You fit the legal definition of a refugee.”

“It’s very dramatic,” Ratthi added. “The crew think you’re a special security agent who betrayed the company to save us.”

It was very dramatic, like something out of a historical adventure serial. Also correct in every aspect except for all the facts, like something out of a historical adventure serial.»

«Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.

…

I hope you will write this on your wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.»

https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=2195&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Title says it. I “subscribed”.

https://www.reuters.com/world/norway-says-it-will-keep-supplying-fuel-us-navy-after-company-calls-boycott-2025-03-02/

«Haltbakk Bunkers CEO Gunnar Gran confirmed to Norwegian newspaper VG that the company made a decision not to supply the U.S. military, but said the move would have a “symbolic” impact as it didn’t have a fixed contract.»

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/03/01/zelenskyy-says-hell-sign-minerals-deal-and-urges-us-to-stand-more-firmly-for-ukraine-after-oval-office-clash/

I hope the deal has an out for Ukraine to say, in six months or a year, “Nope, sorry, we’re out. You’re not helping.”

Hey, older Trump voters: you were lied to.

(Trump’s man Elon wants to gut Social Security next.)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-social-security-ponzi-scheme_n_67c337cce4b049364f4586a3

Saw a post on Mastodon from someone in Hungary saying that it’s now a soft dictatorship. They cautioned us not to let Trump/Musk get rid of our checks and balances.

https://social.coop/@judell/114091295390017218

Our checks and balances are built in to our constitution, by and large (apart from Congress ceding power to the President over the years and the Supreme Court becoming owned by the Right).

So, we’d need a constitutional convention to erase our checks and balances. Unlikely, right?

Not so much. A number of states have already officially called for a convention over the years, without rescinding their votes. And it’s unknown if recesion is even effective, legally.

So, like Project 2025, there’s a body of people on the right who have planned for a convention for *years*. And they want to make it happen. And that’s where the bad decisions of the Supreme Court could be enshrined permanently or good decisions overturned. Where Congress could be made into a rubber stamp. Where the Federal government could be dismantled with *no* option of rebuilding. Where the right of private militias to own complete military weapon systems could be written into unchangeable law. And on and on. There are no rules for what a constitutional convention can’t do.

We cannot be caught flat-footed. “It can’t happen here” is simply not true.

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/some-democrats-fear-a-runaway-constitutional-convention-has-threshold-already-been-met

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution

https://kottke.org/25/03/jd-vance-chastised-by-vermont-snow-reporter

Lucy Welch Sugarbush March 1, 2025 snow report actual text.