Underneath my yellow skin

Tag Archives: protests

Jerking that cirrcle harder, part two

We’re in a holding pattern right now. The border ‘czar’ (god, I hate the use of that term in government. We’re not supposed to have kings of any sort, and that smacks of kingdom to me. It also amuses me in a sardonic way that his name in Homan. Like he misspelled human. RKG (a YouTube content creator I watch) has a longstanding joke for when they play Resi games. They make the spiders say, “I aM hOomAn” in a robotic voice, and that’s what Tom Homan’s name reminds me of.

Anyway. The border guy is here and talking about how the agents have been in ‘theater’ for eight months. Uh, that’s war talk. Is he admitting that the ICE agents and Border Patrol are at war with Minnesotans?

As joyous as I am that Bovino is out, I know it’s just a cosmetic change. This new guy may placate the locals for a few days, but then it’s going to be business as usual. Or they may be quieter and less egregious in their thuggery, but it’ll still continue.

I have to say that the rightwing pundits are running on fumes right now, though. They’re using their tired old lines about how everyone in Mnnieapolis is a paid agitator. They cite the well-written signs and how organized everyone was.

I mean, yes and yes? The former is just sad. They’re shocked at how literate Minnesotans are! As for the latter, well, we’ve had a lot of practice. After the George Floyd murder at the beginning of the pandemic, Minneapolis people organized hard. And they kept it up because there were other issues in South Minneapolis.

Chris Hayes pointed out that as a parent, he had several text groups for various parent groups that had texts such as, “Who’s bringing the snacks?” He implied they had to be highly effecient and organized in orderr for them to get shit done. He made the connection that it would be easy to use a  group such as that to organize protesters.

If there’s one thing Minnesotans can do well, it’s organize. We can do a potluck like no one else’s business. Also, we’re used to our winters. We arre not deterred by the blistering cold, snow, or actual ice. We know how to deal with all that whereas people coming in with no training do not.

I’ve talked in previous posts about how Minnesotans are made of stern stuff and how this federal administrration underestimated their enemy (and I do not use that last word lightly).

I firmly believe that Trump is laying siege to cities that voted against him. He’s even mentioned it several times that he ‘won’ Minnesota three times (he lost all three times he ran0. Whether or not he truly believes that he won Mninnesota, it doesn’t matter. It he does, then he thinks he’s takking back what is truly his. If he dosen’t (and to be clear, I leaned this way), then he’s getting revenged. In the case of Minnesota, there’s the added injustice (in his mind) that our governor was the Democratic candidate for VP. And is pretty outspoken on the issues with the Trump presidency.

As with many things about this president, it comes down to petty revenge. If you’re not 100% for him, then you’re against him. If you’re against him, then he’s going to try to take you out.

I want to reiterate that I kknew he was going to be awful this time around because he had nothing to lose, because he had a revenge list and was determined to go through it, and because he was not restrrained by normal human morality.


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A small sliver of hope

Throughout this horror shitshow, I have had been almost overwhelmed by anger, depression, futility, fear, and a whole host of other negative feelings.

Once again, before I get into it, I have to give thanks that people are videotaping what is happening on the daily because it’s so much easier to refute the lies coming out of this federal administration on a regular basis.

Because of this, Gregory Bovino, is being pulled out of Minnesota. Rumors are that he’s being demoted or ‘allowed’ to retired (read, forced to retire). If this happens, I will be dancing in the streets because rightly or wrongly (probbaly wrongly), he has become the focus of my ire. Why? Because he’s here. He’s actively hurting my state. Like, physically. Because he dresses like he’s part of SEAL or some elite military squad like that.

He so desperately wants to be John Wayne, it’s pathetic. Also, I did not realize/remember that border ppatrol and ICE are not actually law enforcement. They want people to think they are, but they are not. Despite what the leaked memo says, they don’t have the legal right to go into the home of a legal citizen without a federal warrant. That’s not going to stop them, but I needed to remember that, for my own sanity.

He lies without hesitation and without remorse. He did it so relentlessly to a judge, she said that she could not take anything he said as truth (paraphrasing). I’ll post a video below of Jana Shortal, a local news anchor (and my local crush) and a colleague talking about this very topic. I have to give reporters credit for trying to hold his feet to the fire, but he just blusters, gets angry, talks over them, or the interview gets cut short.

I hope he steps on a Lego ever three to seven minutes at varying intervasls. I hope he never finds the cool part of his pillow as he tries to sleep. I hope his pants are always just a bit too tight and I hope that he never sleeps well again. Also, if he’s ‘allowed’ to retire, I hope that his every minute in of retirement is empty and painful.

As for Noem, the call for her impeachment grows louder. 140 signatures so far, and it’s only growing. There are also calls to remove Stephen Miller. Let’s throw the whole lot out and try again. Can we have a do-over on the 2024 election?


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Taking the high road when others aren’t

Life is still rough here in Minnesota. Very rough. So very fucking rough. The Federal DOJ opened an investigation into Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey for exceedingly bogus reasons. I’m not going to name them because my god. It doesrn’t matter at this point. None of this matters at any point. I included the video of the charges below if you want to see them with your own eyes/hear them with your own ears. One tiny bit of good news is that it was ruled by a federal judge that Minnesotans can follow ICE as long as it was from a safe distance away (ICE/feds claimed this was not allowed), but it just doesn’t seem enough.

Nothing is enough, obviously. Jen Psaki, the host of the video I included below (and warning for rough viewing, by the way), made it clear that the investigation is bullshit. She cites the numbers, and, yes, they are horrible for this persident. Some are the lowest they’ve ever been–ever!–, but they’re still at anywhere from 30% to 41%. That’s still way too many people who think everything is just hunky-dory.

This is actually part of the bigger problem–which is my fellow Americans. That’s not what this post is about, though–you know what? I ‘m going to make it about that because I can. And because it fits with the theme (sort of). The theme being taking the high or low road. I wrote at length about this fallacy (taking the high road is always a  good thing, solely on an idealogical level) in a prior post.

Quick primer: For most of my life as a Democrat, I’d watch the Democrats bleat about taking the high road. They gave in over and over again, and it was always frustrating. Why was it only the Dems who were expected to negotiate and meet in the middle? I mentioned in a prior post that I’m at the end of my rope with being compassionate and peaceful.e

Every time the Republicans won a major election, it was spun as them having the will of the people to do what they wanted. When a Democrat won, however, it was spun as the country being fractured, and the Dems had to work extra hard to make sure the Republican Americans did not feel shunned/rebuffed/out in the cold.

Many Dems felt that way, too. Or at least they mouthed the words that sounded like they agreed. Whereas the Republicans blithely ignored any semblance of extending the olive branch. Thirty yaers, I’ve listened to this. It’s always been a case of being on different teams, but there were lines that neither side would cross.

Those lines are completely erased now. As I’ve said, my friends and I have agreed that we’re not exactly surprised by what this president has done, but the surprise is how quickly and violently it’s happened. Also, in my case, it’s how efficiently it’s happening. Which makes me suspect that it’s not him.


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