Hell Freezes Over.
Today begins a different reality. Today, Democracy takes a back seat to Oligarchy. Today, people celebrate evil intentions. Today, one’s skin color can get them arrested. Today, science and education are the enemies of higher stock prices. Today, Americans reject the qualities that once made the country great. Today, the media makes a hard pivot to prevent becoming the target of retribution. Today, one has to do the fact-checking for themselves. Today, we stop being the country our forefathers envisioned. Therefore, it is appropriate that this morning much of the continental US wakes up to polar temperatures and life-threatening windchill. We elected to go to hell and it has frozen over.
When I took the dogs out at 7:00 this morning, the air temperature was -1F. The wind blew from the North across frozen snow, creating a windchill of -11F. I could feel my mustache freezing on my face. The dogs, who had snuggled closely all night, were quick to take care of business and quite happy to come back inside. There were no birds singing this morning. As our blue-collar neighbors left for work, no one had their music turned up loud, no one was speeding through the intersection, and no one bothered to wave. The tight grip of the polar vortex leaves everyone looking for warmth and struggling to find it.
Already this morning, President Biden has made the unprecedented move of issuing preemptive pardons to retired Gen. Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Adam Schiff to protect them against retribution from the incoming administration. This isn’t normal. In a peaceful transition of power, there’s no reason to worry about becoming a political target for legal action. Only in a country preparing to yield to a dictator are such pardons necessary.
The country we face this morning is not one our children want handed down to them. In the midst of yesterday’s temporary TikTok outage, Tipper came to me with a video excerpted from last year’s Congressional hearings into the social media app. In it, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton ‘grills’ TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi. Here’s the clip:
Now, people who’ve been watching for a time understand that the entire Arkansas congressional delegation is like a herd of orange cats: they share a single brain cell and Senator Cotton never gets a turn at using it. This was Tipper’s first introduction to the nonsense, however, and as we watched the clip together she asked, “Who the fuck elected this idiot that doesn’t even know Singapore is not in China?” Our 14-year-old, who enabled a VPN on her own yesterday, understands that what is happening is bad news for the future of the US and she’s expecting those of us old enough to vote to do something about it. “You need to find a solution,” she warned.
After all the noise and protesting, few people in the US are paying any attention as prisoners are being released in Gaza and Israel. Instead, we’re all bracing for the impact of the Felonious Punk’s sweeping executive orders, which he says he’ll issue this afternoon. Believe it or not, there was a time when executive orders were rare. Prior to President Grant’s administration, executive orders were rarely used and only for limited White House purposes. While FDR holds the record at 3,721 (most related to WWII), President Biden has issued comparatively few, less than anyone since Grover Cleveland’s second term. The idea of coming into the office ready to issue 100 orders or more deliberately and maliciously demonstrates the president’s desire to bypass the role of Congress in establishing laws.
Here’s the thing: while federal employees are bound to follow executive orders as if they are law, the rest of us don’t. Executive orders are limited by the Constitutional reach of the Executive Branch. States can defy them. Cities can defy them. You and I can, and should, defy them. We do not have to be complicit in this rush toward dictatorship. We have choices and we are duty-bound as citizens to exercise them.
As chaos unfolds in DC, the rest of the world’s rich and powerful are gathering in Davos, Switzerland for their annual conference on how to run the world. According to Oxfam, billionaires’ wealth grew three times faster in 2024 than the year before. The wealthier billionaires become the more poverty the rest of us experience. With poverty comes disease and hunger. Along with the poverty comes a feeling of helplessness.
The good news: there are more of us than there are of them. We hold more power than any of us realize. All it takes is one nationwide strike to bring the powerful to their knees. We’ve been loathe to do that for fear that our 401Ks would suffer, but my friends, your 401Ks are meaningless if we allow the creation of an economy that won’t let you retire. We’re almost at that point already. There is absolutely no reason to not kick the stilts out from under the economy and take the country, and the world, back for people who are in the true majority.
I, for one, refuse to cooperate with the incoming administration. I’m not watching anything to do with the inauguration. I won’t cooperate with any executive orders. I won’t ‘turn in’ neighbors whose citizenship might be questionable. I won’t out people who fall anywhere on the LGBTQIA spectrum. I will support the use of alternative fuels. I will encourage those who defy this government. I will resist, dissent, and deny any unreasonable use of power by any government agency.
What about you? Are you willing to take a stand or will you roll over and play dead?
What the world needs now are more badgers and fewer possums.
URGENT UPDATE! PLEASE READ & RESPOND
AN ATTEMPT AT DICTATORSHIP HAS BEEN MADE
The next step is martial law and at this rate, we could be there by the end of the week. What the fuck am I talking about? An executive order signed late yesterday titled ‘Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies.‘ When I first read it last night, my initial reaction was, “Huh?” On its surface, the order appears to be laying out a chain of accountability for government agencies. That would be redundant, however, given that accountability for all branches of government is outlined in the Constitution. So, I asked for help. It took a while, which is why this post is running so late. After reading it, I didn’t think this should wait until morning.
When we brush past the legal speak, here’s what this order actually does:
This is a massive power grab on the part of the White House. It effectively seeks to either bypass or override the authorities of both the Congress and the Supreme Court. Just a refresher for those of you who skipped Civics class, the Constitution requires Congress to control the nation’s purse strings. There is zero allowance for the OMB or the President to preempt Congress’ funding decisions in any way. The Constitution also demonstrably states that it is the Supreme Court that interprets the law for the entire country, including all portions of government. There is zero allowance for the President or the Attorney General to even get involved with that discussion.
Several agencies that are meant to operate independently of political considerations include the SEC, FTC, FCC, FEC, FDA, EPA, and all consumer protection-oriented agencies. They will now have a ‘White House Liason,’ essentially an enforcement officer, that occupies space in every department and oversees their actions to ensure that they align with the plans of the White House. There is no more independence anywhere. Even the stock market can now be controlled by the President.
Think: insider trading is on the table. Enforcement of antitrust laws now depends in part on who is in favor with the President. Political opponents can be directly targeted through regulatory agencies. Entire states could, in theory, be stripped of all federal funds simply because their governors stood up to the President.
Scientific research and new drug approval must now have the approval of the White House before it can be released. If the President chooses to not believe in Climate Change, and we already know he doesn’t, then he can kill the publication of any research that warns of impending disaster and remove environmental protections where they exist.
How does the President shut down the Department of Education without Congress? This gives him the power to defund any federal department for any reason, or no reason at all. How does the President gain the power to run for a third term? This gives him complete power to control elections, who can be in them, and whether they happen at all.
Remember how we warned against Project 2025? The recently confirmed head of OMB is Russel Vought, one of the primary authors of Project 2025. This order now gives him sufficient power to implement every aspect of that horrendous document without any oversight. Congress can’t stop him. SCOTUS won’t stop him.
The Attorney General’s opinions override those of the Justice Department. The Justice Department, which includes the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and all federal courts, is completely sidelined to interpret and enforce laws that might run against the wishes of the President.
THE PRESIDENT HAS COMPLETE AND TOTAL CONTROL.
Sure, Congress and SCOTUS still exist, but only for the feel-good purpose of rubber stamping what the President wants. If that sounds familiar, it is exactly the type of government found in both Russia and China.
Ladies and Gentlemen, democracy died with this executive order.
For now, the Second Amendment is still in play. I strongly recommend using it. Any hope for keeping this country even relatively free depends on our use of that Amendment to take back the government.
I’ll talk more about it in the morning.
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