"Every single member of congress needs to be pressured because of what they are doing to Social Security."
@samseder.bsky.social @majorityreport.bsky.social
@socialsecurityworks.org is setting up people to rally at their local #SocialSecurity offices. Go to
HandsOffSocialSecurity.org
The rallies at Social Security offices will bring the issue to the media, which is great, but we know how people live in media bubbles. Fox News won’t cover them. But they might make the local news. Lately I’ve been talking to some activists on how to reach the “normies” who only watch their local TV news, and prepare for the ways that protests are “balanced” by TV media in red states.
(I’ll do a post about how Rep Mike Flood’s Town Hall in Nebraska was covered by local TV & media. It’s not the same coverage we saw on MSNBC, and we need to understand how local media in Red States work, in order to each more people.)
Folks who read lefty blogs want to take action NOW. Some of us are already burning up the phone lines with the 5calls.org site. I’ve already left messages for my Dem Senators & Congressperson about Elon Musk & DOGE. Yesterday I used a modified 5 Calls script on Protect Social Security Benefits
My friends in Texas, Nebraska, Arizona and Florida are all in MAGA Republican districts. They don’t feel like they’re being heard. They are told “We will never touch your Social Security Benefits” in their email response, but they won’t admit that DOGE is shutting down offices, firing staff and stopping phone service. Arggghhh!!
So I was thrilled to hear Alex Lawson on the Nicole Sandler show talk about a brilliant new strategy that people can use RIGHT NOW to show politicians how concerned you are about the possibility that your Social Security might be disrupted. And it can work for Blue Dots in Red States.
To prepare for disruptions of your Social Security checks, first go to SSA.gov and get a print out of how much you are owed.
Then contact both your senators and your rep in the house, on the constituent services side. Get their name, phone and email. So if you DO face a disruption, they know who you are and you’re ready to contact all 3 of those offices’ constituent services right away & demand that they do their job.
Unlike billionaire Howard Lutnick’s mother-in-law, who wouldn’t complain if her Social Security check stopped, for millions of recipients, if checks stop, people will die.
So, yesterday I contacted Senators Schiff, Padilla and my representative, Nancy Pelosi, on the constituent services side to prepare for a disruption to my Social Security. What was interesting was that Padilla staff member said they are getting overwhelmed with requests for help because of all the DOGE cuts in so many areas. If my social security is disrupted I’m to call back to fill out a privacy release form.
This call prepared ME AND let my representatives that know I’ll be demanding they help me, since this is their job. Also, like a lot of people, we are responsible for elderly parents who depend on Social Security. They live in another district, but since we are legally financially responsible for them, I’m going to get the same info from that Rep’s constituent services on their behalf.
Mrs. Spocko often asks, “How do we reach the people who watch Fox News?” Now my in-laws were never Fox News watchers. And they are the kind who WOULD call their Rep if they were concerned.
But imagine that they your parents are MAGA Republicans. They only watch Fox and believe their MAGA Rep who said at a Town Hall that “Your Social Security benefits will never be touched.” They wouldn’t call until something happened. But how long can they survive without a check? How long will it take to get them set up again? They can’t make a phone call anymore. What if they have to go to a local social security office to get their benefits? Who will help them? You.
So, if you have power of attorney for them, and manage their finances, it is your responsibility to prepare for this. So call their MAGA Rep on behalf of your MAGA parents to make sure their earned benefits keep coming.
Chelsea Milburn, a disabled Navy vet, was fired from her job because of sweeping cuts to federal agencies. But her story won’t be on Fox “News”
When I saw Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw at CPAC I knew it would be shared everywhere. MAGA people LOVE that image, “He’s owning the libs! AWESOME! An Alpha male cutting Federal Government waste!” But what they won’t see are the lives destroyed by the illegal and reckless cuts.
The pattern we are seeing is a massive sweeping cut, then outrage. If it is so egregious or outrageous like Nuclear Security it’s “an accident” and they try to rehire the people fired. Now you would THINK that if it hits a program or constituent base that Republican politicians care about, they would stand up for their own people. But that hasn’t happened. We see them go on TV and say, the cuts are a good thing.
She needs to be on Fox “News” so people can connect Musk’s cuts & the betrayal of vets to GOP senators who aren’t helping her, but praising Musk. But that is not going to happen because Fox is busy talking about how the cuts are justified. They . . . → Read More: Vets Lives Are Being Destroyed By Federal Cuts
I got into a conversation with some friend’s about the Dem’s failure to prepare for the nomination hearings. I KNEW that there were multiple weaknesses in them, but I also know that the Trump team had a strategy to push them through.
I saw lots of complaints about Dem Senator questions at the hearings. It is hard, especially when Team Trump uses these tactics
1) Withholding evidence
2) No background checks by FBI AND the FBI doesn’t share the info with all committee members
3) Coach candidates to give non-answers and to give technically correct, but misleading answers
“It wasn’t an NDA, It was a”non- disparagement clause in the divorce proceedings”
4) Threaten people who have legit questions about their qualifications, or have issues about their character. See what they did to Sen. Joni Ernst.
I started looking into Tulsi Gabbard. Howie Klein wrote about her at Down With Tyranny. Will Senate Republicans Draw The Line At Tulsi Gabbard? Very Very Unlikely Subhead: Does Trump’s Crazy Hare Krishna Belong To Putin?
I learned a lot. There are multiple weakness that could be exploited if someone was in charge of a PR campaign to derail her . . . → Read More: Hey Dems! You can derail Tulsi’s nomination
I’m a HUGE fan of A Closer Look on the Seth Meyer show. It’s written by Sal Gentile and the supervising producer is Emily Erotas.They have a limited series podcast called A. Closer Look Back, talking about what they learned during Trump first term & what they can do to prepare for Trump 2.0. It’s insightful & funny and I highly recommend it.
Listening to this podcast and Rachel Maddow’s recent show on preparing for Trump’s next term got me thinking.
Who has a media and social media strategy to mess with Trump this time around? And, because nothing seems to hurt Trump, who is focusing on busting his nominees & minions? I ask because I don’t see the Dems doing it.
I wondered what I can do. Who can I help that I think is doing good work to counter the RW narrative? I looked at what was breaking thru the RW narrative IN MULTIPLE SPACES. One was comedy. So I wrote the best comedy writers & producers I knew about & asked them this question:
Today Cliff Schecter and Hal Sparks talked about Kash Patel & how he could be the first possible leather daddy to head the FBI.
The Steve Bannon plan is to overwhelm the media with Trump’s horrible nominees. What gets to the MSM, that makes them disqualified, isn’t the same as what makes it to late night comedy shows, or to Fox News, or RW social media.
Part of what we can do with our audiences is to show how weird these people are. There are serious reasons these people are horrible, that would disqualify them to normal people like us. But we need to also point out stuff that the MAGAs have a hard time with, but we can’t reach their channels. If we tried they’d say, “I thought you were COOL WITH DEI, gays, and leather daddies!” So we put stuff out saying, “We’re cool them being gay or leather daddies, but we are not cool with their policies to destroy our national security, are you?”
Frankly I don’t know which weird, corrupt, sick, incompetent or illegal activity of Trump’s nominees will knock them out of the process. But we need to find them and . . . → Read More: Trump’s Leather Daddy To Head FBI
I just saw a great video from my old friend Cliff Schechter on his new YouTube channel, Cliff’s Edge.
Is It Time to Start FIGHTING Dirty Against Donald Trump?
After I watched it, I liked, subscribed and joined the channel as a paying member. I’d like folks to do the same. Then I called Cliff to talk about it.
I’ve known Cliff for years and we talked about “fighting” on camera on RW media, and the opportunity for a lefty billionaire to buy a media outlet like CNBC and MSNBC. I hope it happens. If it DOES happen, we need to understand the fear of funders on the left to fighting back and what to do about it.
One thing that I’ve seen is that people who consider themselves journalists in the mainstream media don’t see “fighting back” as their job. That’s the job of activists. That’s the job of Democrats. Many see their role as reporting the facts. (Or “documenting the atrocities” as Atrios would say.)
I’ve written about what happens to journalists when they do report the facts, do the “both sides” bit, and talk to experts. They get threatened. Accepting death threats IS . . . → Read More: What’s Behind The Fear of Fighting Back?
What do we do when we fight & lose? Never Give Up! Never surrender!
People admire that about a leader and a cause. We don’t just fight the fights we can win. You fight the fights that need fighting!” Martin Sheen, The American President (1995)
We expect THEM to follow the norms of losing. Like we do. Accept the loss. Don’t flip the board over.
And when we WIN? We are supposed to accept the win. Stop fighting. Reach out to the losing side & shake hands. Follow the norms of winners. Say, “Good luck! It’s great to have a strong opponent!”
Don’t be a sore winner! Don’t spike the football. Don’t mock them for losing. Don’t brag about the win everywhere. “Don’t get cocky kid!”
I’m getting into too many sports and movie metaphors here, so I want to talk about a specific win and why when we fight & win against RWers we must keep fighting, because the norms of winning aren’t enough against today’s RW.
Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss won a $148 million judgement against Giuliani after he defamed them
NEW YORK— A time-traveling man from the 22nd century revealed Monday that, while many timelines are terrible, the current version, as of Nov 17, 2024 is one of the worst ones. Wolcott, a self-described physicist and adventurer who traveled back in time from 2147 New York City, expressed sorry for the pain people in America will be suffering.
“Look, time travel isn’t like in the movies. When we go back and change something, a whole new timeline is created. Sometimes the people in that timeline are happy, but in some leftover timelines, it’s TERRIBLE! For example, in the timeline where Al Gore is President everyone wears brown. Sure they stopped global climate change & Americans have universal health care, but not everything is perfect! The Wire doesn’t exist! Breaking Bad was never made!
Another timeline has the first female President, but it’s not great either. Sure women’s reproductive freedom is assured. But that timeline doesn’t have an MRA vaccine for COVID-19, because there was no botched response by the other President who ignored the pandemic playbook. The show trials for her impeachment are still continuing. Also, there are NO FUN press conferences! Late night comedy is horrible!
Now that it’s clear that Elon is “Dark Gothic MAGA” he’s using multiple methods to help Trump return to power. Here’s one I spotted the other day, from Doge Designer (a suspected Musk sock puppet account).
He says Elon Musk’s PAC launched an X Community focused on “exposing voter fraud and election interference” and it asks people to post videos or information about “election interference” or “anything compromising election integrity” in the X Community.
What’s this really about? It’s a place to dump false and unverified stories that can be used to create the appearance of widespread voter fraud. It will be used right after the election to demand that the votes not be certified until the “fraud” is investigated. It’s also about “flooding the zone with sh*t” in social media so that the media, who are all still on Twitter/X, will have to address all the “fraud” that is posted. Especially since the Musk X algorithm will be amplifying them.
I went to X’s “Election Integrity Community” and found a handful of posts. Three were looking to dox someone who delivered ballots. MAGAts are going after a postal worker for doing his job. Just like they . . . → Read More: Musk’s PAC Used To Dox Election Workers, Spread Lies
Now that it’s clear that Elon is “Dark Gothic MAGA” he’s using multiple ways to help Trump return to power. Here’s one I spotted the other day, from Doge Designer (a suspected Musk sock puppet account).
He says Elon Musk’s PAC launched an X Community focused on “exposing voter fraud and election interference” and it asks people to post videos or information about “election interference” or “anything compromising election integrity” in the X Community.
What’s this really about? It’s a place to dump false and unverified stories that can be used to create the appearance of widespread voter fraud. It will be used right after the election to demand that the votes not be certified until the “fraud” is investigated. It’s also about “flooding the zone with sh*t” in social media so that the media, who are all still on Twitter/X, will have to address all the “fraud” that is posted. Especially since the Musk X algorithm will be amplifying them.
I went to X’s “Election Integrity Community” and found a handful of posts. Three were looking to dox someone who delivered ballots. MAGAts are going after a postal worker for doing his job. Just like they . . . → Read More: Musk’s X community is being used to dox election workers & spread lies
