Abortion rights protesters face off with PAAU forced-birth counterprotesters as SCOTUS hears abortion pill case
On the 26th of March, the U$ Supreme Court held oral arguments in a case brought by pro-forced birth doctors challenging the FDA's approval of mifepristone.
Outside the Supreme Court, abortion rights protesters stood their ground against screaming harassment by so-called "Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising." This is the group best known for stealing fetuses.
Inside, observers from many publications reported SCOTUS appears inclined to punt this one away on grounds that the original plaintiffs did not have standing to bring their case. This would leave in place the appeals court ruling overturning a trial court ruling revoking abortion pill approval.
Other healthcare professionals and even Big Pharma bosses warned that if SCOTUS permits any court to overturn any approval of any drug by FDA, that will sow chaos by making the legal status of every drug on the market difficult to predict going forward.
Black Women drop banner in Atlanta City hall demanding right to vote on Stop Cop City referendum
Another Week of Action against Cop City is now underway
On the 22nd of March, a group of mostly Black Women got inside Atlanta's City Hall. Once inside, they dropped a banner and chanted demands that the city drop their appeal of a so far failed court challenge to the referendum to cancel the lease on Weelaunee Forest.
Police removed the banner, but this did not stop the rest of the protest
If the referendum reaches the ballot is is considered almost certain to pass. Contractors and especially investors might start pulling out at that point, seeing no chance of finishing.
Security WARNING: ad tracking being tested NOW by the Pentagon to find targets. Since this is now in the open, police departments are not far behind. So far it has been demonstrated doing things like tracking Putin in realtime.
You MUST block ads and trackers all the time, all devices, no exceptions if you want to be private!
Quote:
"The advertising technology ecosystem is the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man. And it wasn’t built by the government."
This began with a security contractor who used Grindr as for a proof of concept attack. This was done while while Grindr was under Chinese ownership, tracking phones in places like the Pentagon so people inside the government would pay attention. By tracking those who advertise on Grindr he was able to "geofence" places like the Pentagon and various Fderal buildings and monitor phones of Grindr uses there-and then track them everywhere else. No action was taken against Grindr users as this was not the objective.
Israeli Ambassador gets huge residential protest after major protest at Israeli Embassy
On the 2nd of March, a major protest at the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC was followed by a residential protest at the home of the Israeli Ambassador. This may have been the largest home demo in DC history, as it was reported "thousands" were present. The next largest was an ANSWER protest at the home of GW Bush's secretary of Offence Rumsfeld early in the second Iraq War.
Israel has pushed the patience of the world to the breaking point. Nearly 40, 000 people have been murdered in Gaza. A US Airman just burned himself to death protesting these horrors, which have included firebombs dropped on hospitals. The US, Jordan, and Egyt have had to airdrop food to Gaza as both the IOF and militant settlers have been blocking ground deliveries. Last week over 100 people were killed in the "Bread Massacre" as a crowd scene at a bread distribution erupted into gunfire from Israeli tanks.
If anything, residential protests a very civilized response to Israel's destruction of most of the homes in Gaza.
Update: the UK owned (but not registered of course...) cargo ship carrying fertilizer hit by two Houthi missiles has SUNK! That means Yemen has officially responded to the genocide in Gaza by sinking a ship attempting to defy their maritime blockade of traffic to Israel via the Red Sea.
One down, more to go!
The Washington Post et all are screaming that the fertilizer will be an "environmental disaster" but buried in the bottom of the Post's report is the admission that unless the ship broke up on hitting the bottom the fertilizer will be released slowly. Had that fertilizer been applied to farms near rivers, it would have reached some sea or ocean anyway, so this was only moved.
Christian nationalists trespassed, driven out from Pasco Pride
On the 24th of February, the same Christian nationalist cult that assaulted a child at Pasco Pride last year took a crushing defeat. As soon as they arrived, they were served trespass warnings and forced to retreat to the park entrance.
As soon as I advanced on them and raised my camera, they pulled their signs down and started packing out. Word was they had gotten bored standing at the entrance all by themselves instead of invading the festival and assaulting patrons.
Chris Nelson's "Gays against Groomers" did little better: they circled and circled but were unable to find any way into the park not corked up solid by security.
Note that Florida is now joining several other states in attempting to require AGE VERIFICATION for social media sites. It may or may not survive a court challenge, bans in two other states have been tossed.
For any activist-centered mastodon instance, allowing a 3ed party, commercial age verification service to interact with users would generate records available to the police and the FBI and represent an extreme risk.
If attempts at prosecuting server administrators for not doing this become a threat, the same system Pornhub uses is totally legal: block all clearnet instance from every offending state, then make sure word gets out access using a VPN or Tor is still welcome. Pornhub has poured the porn age verification states a huge cup of "shut the fuck up" with absolute impunity.
I myself do not carry ID on the street and have no "verified" accounts anywhere on any site, and that's not going to change. I would rather migrate to a noncomplying instance than submit to age verification to remain on a complying instance.
I am probably already blocking the age verification servers from my computers, but if not I most certainly plan to find and block every one of them.
US Palestinian Community Network reports the FBI and their JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force) is hassling community leaders and pro-Palestine activists in Chicago again.
If they show up at YOUR door, remember this is done without a warrant, they can do nothing if you refuse to talk to them, cannot force entry, and should leave your property when so ordered.
The deadline for Fulton County, GA to pay the ransom to Lockbit has EXPIRED. I see no online reports of ransom paid.
This means that essentially ALL of Fulton County's court and police records should soon be appearing on Lockbit's website alongside the teasers already released.
Already this includes a great deal of information that will be priceless to defense attorneys. With luck this will bring the Cop City prosecutions crashing down in flames!
Today, the Washington DC climate action group Declare Emergency slipped into the National Archives and dusted the display case over the (presumably original) US Constitution document with red powder. They were there to demand that Biden declare a climate emergency.
That document describes what is essentially an operating system for a government. While this was one of the first governments in European culture not to rely on a king, it was and is also an invasive, settler colonial regime.
One the one hand, this document does not contain any passages that relate to fighting climate change other than perhaps checks and balances that raise the threshold for doing anything on any issue, good or bad.
On the other, it contains passages such as the "3 fifths of a man compromise" on slavery that may as well have been written with a pen dipped in piss and shit.
The later additions to it as well as the portions concerning elections and Presidential succession have fared a lot worse than having red powder dumped on their display case. They are subject daily to attempts especially but not exclusively by the GOP to burn them. With every new Cop City conspiracy charge or raid, more of the First Amendment is burned away from the parchment upon which it was writte., The Forth Amendment too is in flames in Atlanta.
First Amendment guarantees of religious freedom are also smouldering under the relentless torches of Christian Nationalism in US politics.
For Declare Emergency to treat the US Constitution the way the GOP and Christian Nationalists have been treating it, they would have needed to bring lit Tiki torches into the National Archives, chop the document out of its case with a hatchet, and feed it to the hungry flames of the torches of hate.
Reportback: Emergency Protest for Rafah in Orlando
On the 13th of February, Palestinians and their allies gathered at Mills and E Colonial Dr (interesting name here...) for an emergency march for Rafah in Gaza.
Twice when the march passed a Starbucks, Starbucks was called out for supporting genocide in Gaza. Chants against Genocide Joe and chants supporting Yemen's direct action solidarity with Gaza were also used.
Late in the march, a motorist attempted to ram their way through multiple marchers but was brought to a stop by them. This took place well behind me, I was unable to get the camera up fast enough to capture the initial attack, so this is not in the video report. All present were able to return to action, and the march continued unabated.
Background: Two days earlier, Netanyahu bombed residential houses in Rafah, Gaza killing between 50 and 100 people as a DIVERSION! This to protect a raid that recovered only two hostages at such a horrific price paid by uninvolved civilians. Threats of an all-out assault on Rafeh are considered imminent, and five times Rafeh's normal population is now present there, forced out of the rest of Gaza under a storm of terror bombing by Israel.
Video: Transgender activists hold die-in at Tampa motor vehicle office.
On the 9th of February, transgender activists and their allies descended on Florida Department of Motor Vehicles offices throughout the state. One of these protests was at the Tampa office. Protesters were there to oppose the administrative ban on driver's licenses with gender markers disagreeing with gender assigned at birth.
Protesters staged a die-in inside the DMV office in front of all the customers, plus a second die-in outside.
This administrative ban deems to be the DeathSantis administration's answer to a FL House bill to do the same thing being stopped by the clock after no companion Senate bill was filed in time.
Under this policy, licenses with PREVIOUSLY revised gender are now considered invalid and will be suspended, and it has been declared a criminal offense as well as grounds for revocation to attempt to change gender markers now.
For a trans person to present a license listing a gender disagreeing with their physical appearance is just as dangerous as defying this: any bigoted, Southern Baptist cop could use this as an excuse to arrest them for "confirmation of identity" or worse. Given the sprawl in FL that makes not driving at all impossible for too many people, this is a life threatening decision by the government and is probably intended as one.
DeSantis has all but promised his Christian nationalist base that he will carry out a genocide against transgender Floridians. This is starting the same way the Nazi Holocaust started: with administrative restrictions. Whether this proceeds to a wipeout is up to you and me. If trans folks are rounded up, murdered, or driven from the state, don't think for one minute that Desantis will stop there. He will simply pick another part of the LGBTQ community to assault, probably "cruising" Gay/Queer/Bi men such as myself.
Video clips provided by Women's Voices of South West Florida (WVSWFL)
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer gets residential protest over refusal to sign on to Gaza cease-fire
When a Gaza ceasefire resolution came before the Orlando City Council, Mayor Buddy Dyer refused to support it. One protester asked him "how do you sleep at night?!" Later, he sent a message that he sleeps at night just fine.
Infuriated by this response, pro-Palestine protesters marched on the Mayor's ritzy gated community, demanding he endorse a Gaza ceasefire as many other cities have. They also called out his language so callously dismissing activists seeking to stop the brutal genocide of Gaza.
(video made in the tradition of DC's WSQT Guerrilla Radio's pirate radio broadcast coverage of similar protests circa 2006-2007)
SDS holds protest at USF-Tampa demanding divestment from Israeli genocide
On the 5th of February, University of S Florida's Tampa campus SDS chapter held a protest demanding the university divest from Israeli genocide. Protesters also demanded the US stop bombing Yemen and stop sending military aid to Israel.
The protest was small but USF-Tampa has become notorious for police violence against protesters. Notably, this was where the Tampa 5 case originated in a storm of police brutality. It takes courage to sail into the teeth of such a storm, to stand forth against real risk to say NO to genocide. This goes doubly so with all of the proposals for charging out of state tuition, reporting students to Homeland Security, and possibly more spewing from the sewer that is DeathSantis's mouth and pen.
Also note that this is just one of a great many protests being held nationally by SDS as part of a Feb 5-11 week of action for Palestine. National demands are "Stand with Palestine, Hands off Yemen, End US Aid to Israel." This is but the first of many such protests
If we get lucky and Eagle Pass blows out to sea, we need to treat it as a warning of what could have been and double our own efforts to make ready.
If the US breaks up over Eagle Pass or any subsequent incident, don't be surprised to see hard borders and military checkpoints at the front lines. You might be stuck here behind enemy lines in places like FL or TX.
I know "a Fascist trained today, did you?" sounds trite and even ablist, but there is a role for everyone in any possible kind of conflict. Not all roles are physical but all roles need to be filled. No matter what your age or condition you will be able to help.
Whatever you think you would be doing, that's what you should be training for.
The abilty to handle yourself in hand to hand combat could be a lifesaver, but if there is no path forward for you in this you are NOT out of the struggle, you are just more vulnerable.
It is good to have some overland and rough ground capability too, and in each group of friends some crosstraining will be valuble. How big a pack do you need for your EMERGENCY gear? You should be able to carry it from your backdoor to a pickup point out of sight of the house at the very least. If you can't, make your go-bag lighter.
If you drive, have you ever driven off-road and on dirt? That might be the only way around a militia roadblock someday. Is there someone in your crew who can fix that car with iffy parts supplies and no outside help? Do you have spare parts?
If you bike, can you ride off-road in the woods on one or more bikes you already have, fix a problem in there and keep going? Do you have spare tires, tubes, and cables for that bike?
Biking may seem nuts in this, but during WWII bicycle use by the French Resistance was quite common. It is quiet and stealthy at night. Learn to ride with lights off at night (in a SAFE place when training please), as this can save your ass. Use your lights in all normal riding: going dark is for when the risk of attack exceeds the risk of being hit by a random motorist.
If you are on foot, how far can you hike, and carrying what? How fast can you run, focussing on with a load on?
Can you or someone in your crew navigate without GPS? The civilian version of it might be turned off or made uselessly inaccurate in conflict zones.
Do you have someone who can act as a medic? What are your food supply plans-and contingencies if it becomes hard to get?
Can you assemble your crew with the cell phone towers turned off?
For each item you will be depending on, you need spares, someone in the crew who can fix it, or better yet both.
A good idea right now is to get on that deferred maintainance starting tomorrow: Replace worn out tires, brakes, and similar and parts on bikes, cars, etc. Tune up engines, get fresh batteries for e-bikes and scooters if yours are old. Get extras for this if you expect to operate in a city. Anything that might leave you stuck somewhere should be a top priority to fix. Families with trans kids in Texas and similar states have been doing this since last year.
One advantage we get over the fash is this:
they seem to think they can train by ONLY working on their shooting. If they spend all their time at the range and no time doing anything else, then anything that doesn't involve shooting becomes harder for them. They have admitted on their own media that "the Left" can easily out-organize and out-mobilize them.
FSU had revoked official status for their SDS chapter until mid-May. Note that they cannot prevent a non-recognized group from holding events and meeting up, all they can do is not provide funding or meeting space.
This was in response to a pro-Palestine protest at a meeting of the university's governing board. Sorry FSU, but stopping genocide is more important than recognition of anyone by your bosses, and sure as hell more important than meeting decorum.
With legislation to de facto ban trans residents in FL from driving blocked by a Senate deadline, the DeSantis regime has instead done the same thing by regulatory action.
Existing licenses with gender markers changed are to be suspended, applications for new ones after today risk PROSECUTION for "fraud." Note that driving without a license is a lesser offense than this but means insurance on cars either cannot be obtained or will refuse to pay.
Also consider the likelihood that a cop will consider a drivers license claiming a (no longer valid) birth certificate gender that does not match a person's presentation to be automatically suspicions and may presume it false. There is thus NO way for a trans person to safely drive on a Florida license.
This is going to force more trans people to move out of Florida due to sprawl that makes getting around without a care considerably more difficult than in the big northeast cities. Miami and Fort Lauderdale might be exceptions.
Since ANY display of a FL license by any trans person to any cop is now dangerous, I would suggest that drivers licenses should be left in cars and never carried on foot or bike unless going someplace that checks ID. In that case carry it well concealed. Purchases at stores where ID is asked for can be declined, I do this all the time, telling staff "just get rid of it" with never a problem, then trying a different chain for that item.
This also means that trans folks who are forced to drive without licenses won't have insurance, and there will be a non-zero number of crashes where "in-solid" cishet, Southern Baptist Flori-Duh KKKonservatives have to pay for their own car repairs after getting their BMW or their jacked-up truck smashed up by a trans driver who then takes off to avoid arrest. They will deserve every dollar of the bill and every sore neck they get.
Protesters camp out at US SecState Blinken's house
On the 28th of January, protesters staged what at first was to be a short-term campout protesting the Gaza Genocide at Secretary of State Blinken's house in Virginia. Once there, it was announced the protest would now continue the entire week.
Someone asked if the occupation of Blinken's block would be permanent, only to be told "we are not Israeli" and that it would not be.
Protesters show up at Heritage Foundation opposing Trump/GOP "Project 2025"
The extreme-right "Heritage Foundation" is the lead developer of the "Project 2025" plan to replace much of the Federal government with Trump stooges if he wins or steals the Nov 5 2024 election. On Jan 27, protesters showed up to call out Heritage for promoting Fascism in the so-called "United States."
With what people like Trump and Heritage are pushing and the boiling mess in Texas, maybe the name "Divided States" is more appropriate now?
