Grassroots Joe

@anamariecox.bsky.social

And fun to read too!

Platner draws a distinction between the Trump voters who might still be convinced to rise up against the real elites and the Trump enablers who’ve grown rich and powerful by backing him. “I’m not going to go down to Washington, have some conversations in a back room with somebody, and convince them that being a corrupt corporate scumbag is bad,” he says at the house party. It is his third campaign event ever and has about 50 people in attendance. To him, persuasion is a dead end if the people you’re trying to sway have already torched the rulebook. Power, as he sees it, is the ability to ignore the referee and keep scoring. His goal isn’t to negotiate—it’s to demonstrate what a candidate backed by a real movement can do. “It’s not about getting me elected. It’s not about getting anybody elected in many ways. It’s about using all of this as a mechanism of building working-class power.”


“Individualism and hustle culture mean we’re always killing ourselves with work,” he says. “You’re too busy to talk to your neighbors.” Platner treasures the freedom that his disability pension gives him: He gets to choose to keep his company small, he gets to work the hours that make sense for him. Everyone should be able to. Precarity can spark the political division that Star Trek–style post-scarcity might alleviate, but Platner thinks its most pervasive damage to our society is more subtle: We just don’t have time for each other. This is not just a political crisis. It’s an existential one.

He turns around in the front seat and stabs a thick finger at the notebook that I had set aside. “Write this down,” he says. “No matter which way it goes—taking the Senate or the fall of democracy—whatever the eventuality, the work remains the same. “You have to build things for people to access. You have to build the apparatus for change, even if no one else shows up. If you don’t build the movement, it won’t be there when the day for action comes. It’s thankless. People live their entire lives building something they may never see succeed. And you do it anyway.”

A Maine senate nominee who can quote Andor, shuck oysters, and knock heads?

From my August profile of Graham Platner, the beefy scifi nerd who wants to put Susan Collins in the dustbin of history.

newrepublic.com/article/1996...

[References racism, slurs, violence as part of article about Young Republicans in USA.]

What do leaders of Young Republican groups talk about when they think no one's eavesdropping? Leaked private messages suggest they use racist slurs, joke about slavery and gas chambers, and share violent […]

An edited image depicting a cartoon frog in a blue scarf standing in front of a military tank on a city street, creating a juxtaposition between a whimsical character and a serious military vehicle.

Can’t stop posting these. #portlandfrog #nokings

@WarnerCrocker

FYI, there are 100s of local Indivisible leaders like me regularly piping action opportunities to our members & they're executing on them most every day.
We've helped with Tesla Takedown protests, had one day protesting Citizens Bank branches in and around Philly with many more […]

NPR’s Tom Bowman today is handing in the Pentagon press pass he has held for 28 years. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/14/g-s1-93297/pentagon-reporter-opinion-press-policy

@volts.wtf

A leftist cancel culture revival seems in order...

CNN - Major US airports refusing to play a “public service announcement” from DHS Security Noem at security checkpoints in which she blames Democrats for the federal government shutdown. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/13/us/kristi-noem-tsa-video

Opinion | Hundreds of CDC Layoffs Reversed Some of Friday's cuts were walked back on Saturday in the latest federal whiplash

Just another day of incompetence in this administration.

Hundreds of CDC Layoffs Reversed www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/faus...

Exclusive: #Assad government secretly moved #MassGrave to cover up killings, Reuters investigation finds

From 2019 to 2021, #Syria’s #authoritarian govt carried out a secret operation to move tens of thousands of bodies from the exposed #Qutayfah mass grave to a hidden site in the desert east […]

@GottaLaff

In many ways these are the intellectual children of Charlie Kirk.

Holy crap.

“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,” Joe Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote back."

"Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas […]

#Murder

#Trump says the #US struck another small boat that he accused of carrying drugs in the waters off #Venezuela.

He posted on social media Tuesday that 6 people aboard the vessel were killed in the strike & no US forces were harmed. It’s the 5th deadly strike in the #Caribbean as the […]

@Nonilex

Impeachable offense for him, criminal act by his underlings, each and every one.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi today reaffirmed the validity of the video showing ICE agents violently detaining individuals in Hoffman Estates,

confirmed that the incident occurred in his district,
and condemned the Trump Administration’s campaign of secrecy, brutality, and misinformation.

This has always been legally possible but the law has virtually never been enforced
— and now this is the SECOND case I've heard of in the last month
(first involving a person with a green card)
of a noncitizen being charged for
FAILURE TO CARRY THEIR PAPERS

Here's our Diary of Anne Frank

https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/10/neighbor-shielded-7-year-old-during-south-shore-federal-raid-i-didnt-want-them-to-take-her

Evacuation warnings issued for Palisades and Eaton fire burn areas ahead of storm By Kyle Chrise, Jacob Margolis Published October 13, 2025 12:31 PM PDT FLOODED A sign warning of flooding in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena. That same area is among many under high alert with heavy rains heading into Southern California this week. (David McNew)

As someone who’s lived through seasonal wildfire cycles in Malibu and the Palisades, it’s not just evacuating for a day or three and returning if your house survives.

It’s then hoping to god rainstorms don’t turn barren hillsides into huge mudslides and […]

[Original post on mstdn.social]

Joint statement of 22 attorneys general condemning retaliatory prosecution of New York AG Letitia James https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/joint-statement-22-attorneys-general-condemning-retaliatory-prosecution-new-york

North Carolina GOP announce plans to vote on new House map amid nationwide redistricting battle North Carolina Republican legislative leaders say they will vote next week on redrawing the state’s U.S. House district map.

North Carolina GOP announce plans to vote on new House map amid nationwide redistricting battle https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-congress-redistricting-house-b32b6b1c52d9f59efac41c3b8c0db971?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

4 frame comics. One person says to another : violent radical transgender leftists are trying to overthrow the government! The other replies : you mean these violent radical transgender leftists? We see three people in frog costumes, one is holding a sign that reads Frogs Together Strong. The two guys say : i'm feeling so threatened right now. The president needs to invoke the insurrection act!

Violent radical transgender leftists

"What is arson, though, is the attempt to skew history to serve a modern-day political narrative. Rejecting an honest account of the past makes it impossible to see accurate patterns. The lessons we learn about how society changes will be false, and the decisions we make based on those false […]

@RonSupportsYou @renewedresistance

I guess they should all do what they tell so many Black and brown people stuck in shitty low wage service jobs to do, go get a better job.

Men "on the front lines of a relentless crackdown are tasked with meeting sky-high arrest quotas of migrants detained, many of whom allegedly have no criminal record. This is the reality for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents under Pres. Trump's aggressive immigration […]

Now’s the time to brush up on our relational organizing skills!

There is power I’m numbers and #nokings on October 18 is a day to visibly show the mass resistance against #authoritarianism and #fascism (different words for white supremacy)

Organize your community and get them out. If they’re […]

A graphic on light blue background announcing DA's virtual Vote "Yes on CA Proposition 50" event Oct 13. The text says "Mon., Oct. 13th - 1:00PM ET Zoom CA PROP 50: THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST GOP ELECTION RIGGING California voters abroad have a unique chance to fight back against MAGA's attempts to rig the 2026 midterms. RSVP NOW! NO SLEEP 'TIL NOVEMBER"

CA Voters Abroad! One of the most consequential votes of 2025 is taking place in your state - @yesonCA50 It's the best opportunity of fighting back against Republican efforts to rig the 2026 Congressional elections through mid-term partisan redistricting […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

AG Brown joins opposition to Trump’s unlawful National Guard deployment to Chicago https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-brown-joins-opposition-trump-s-unlawful-national-guard-deployment-chicago

Attorney General Platkin Joins Opposition to Trump’s Unlawful Deployment of National Guard to Chicago https://www.njoag.gov/attorney-general-platkin-joins-opposition-to-trumps-unlawful-deployment-of-national-guard-to-chicago/

After almost two centuries,
Baker & Taylor,
a nationwide library book distributor,
will reportedly shut down operations in January.
Baker & Taylor CEO Aman Kochar told employees Monday that following a recent failed acquisition deal with ReaderLink, the Charlotte-based company has no viable path […]