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takingaction4us.bsky.social
Taking Action 4 US🇺🇸🇪🇺🇺🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇨🇦🇩🇪📚📗
@takingaction4us.bsky.social
1.6K followers 2.5K following 1.6K posts
Interests: democracy—is it crumbling beyond repair at home🇺🇸& where I live🇩🇪,history, ethics, science, foreign policy, education, communication, art, leadership, food…
Big fan of 13th, 14th, & 15th Amendments
My dog’s name is Ginsburg
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takingaction4us.bsky.social
weaintbuyingit.com
We Ain't Buying It Target Companies This action is taking direct aim at Target, for caving to this administration's biased attacks on DEl; Home Depot, for allowing and colluding with ICE to kidnap our neighbors on their properties; and Amazon, for funding this administration to secure their own corporate tax cuts Target Target has rolled back their DEl initiatives, which included ending programs that help Black employees advance, cutting financial support for Black-Owned businesses, and removing LGBTQ+ products from their stores. Amazon Amazon holds a monopolistic position in the market, contributes to dangerous working conditions for its employees and drivers, and CEO Jeff Bezos has donated over $1 million to this administration. Home Depot Home Depot is allowing ICE agents to illegally detain and kidnap laborers from their stores. The laborers in our communities are not able to look for work safely. How to Participate • Full Black Out: Don't buy anything from Target, Amazon or Home Depot stores during this week. Use the time and money to connect with those you love, and rediscover what matters. • Redirect Spending: Skip the companies undermining democracy. Shop small, local, or with businesses affirming our humanity. • Join the Movement: Pledge to be a conscious consumer. • Amplify: Spread the word. Share the message in conversation and online. • Use and SHARE Our Toolkit: Get the word out about this economic action so we can hit the billionaire's pockets where it hurts! Share now!
November 18, 2025 at 4:22 AM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
Call Schumer and tell him to whip his caucus

If you can’t get him in Washington call his other offices
Albany Phone: (518) 431-4070 Buffalo Phone: (716) 846-4111 New York City Phone: (212) 486-4430 Rochester Phone: (585) 263-5866 Syracuse Phone: (315) 423-5471 Washington D.C. Phone: (202) 224-6542 Binghamton Phone: (607) 772-6792 Melville Phone: (631) 753-0978 Peekskill Phone: (914) 734-1532
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
Call them!
All of them! I’m even calling my 2 GOP Senators, so if you have one of these Dems please 🙏 call them (again)

A U.S. Capitol Switchboard operator can connect you directly with the Senate office
(202) 224-3121
November 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
I highly recommend Ryback’s “Takeover”
A word of caution from his
Notes on Sources:
Book Cover (background photo Hitler and Hindenburg shaking hands) TAKEOVER HITLER'S FINAL RISE TO POWER TIMOTHY W. RYBACK "Refreshingly candid.... Riveting." —The New York Review of Books I also relied frequently on The New York Times, not only because it was the newspaper of record but also because it occasionally got things so remarkably wrong, repeatedly predicting Hitler's political demise, even after January 30, 1933.
November 9, 2025 at 5:54 AM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
I just finished Timothy W. Ryback’s “Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power”.
From the author’s Note on Sources:
“I…relied frequently on The New York Times, not only because it was the newspaper of record but also because it occasionally got things so remarkably wrong, …”
Just saying
Book Cover Background black and white photo Hitler and Hindenburg shaking hands TAKEOVER HITLER'S FINAL RISE TO POWER TIMOTHY W. RYBACK "Refreshingly candid.... Riveting." —The New York Review of Books
November 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
Reminds me I’m just finishing Timothy Ryback’s “Takeover Hitler’s Final Rise to Power”
Highly Recommended!
Book cover Background photo: Hitler shaking hands with President von Hindenburg, Germany, 1933. Heritage Images/Getty Images Cover design by John Gall TAKEOVER HITLER'S FINAL RISE TO POWER TIMOTHY W. RYBACK "Refreshingly candid.... Riveting." —The New York Review of Books
November 4, 2025 at 7:09 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
Billboard in Chicago paid for by Win Without War ARMY NATIONAL GUARD YOU JOINED TO SERVE YOUR COMMUNITY. SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN CHICAGO? NotWhat YouSignedUpFor.org New billboards were put up on expressways leading to U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, where the U.S. military's ongoing operations in the Caribbean Sea are being overseen. Photo by OUTFRONT Media. SOUTHCOM: DON'T LET THEM MAKE YOU BREAK THE LAW NotWhatYouSignedUpFor.org Billboard with following text DID YOU GO AIRBORNE JUST TO PULL SECURITY FOR ICE? ›NotWhatYouSignedUpFor.org New billboards were put up on expressways leading to U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, where the U.S. military's ongoing operations in the Caribbean Sea are being overseen. Photo by OUTFRONT Media.
November 1, 2025 at 7:04 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
Gift 🎁 link
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/u...
"’reprehensible, abusive & demeaning material.’ [published in] the magazine, The Harvard Salient, which was founded during the Reagan era & revived four years ago…”

We are confronted constantly by so very much Reagan residue
The board of a conservative magazine at Harvard known for its muckraking suspended the publication on Sunday, citing the printing of "reprehensible, abusive and demeaning material." The magazine, The Harvard Salient, which was founded during the Reagan era and revived four years ago after a decade-long absence, is editorially and financially independent from the university. e statement from the board, which is made up of conservative umni, did not provide any detail about what incident prompted the review, but the publication had recently been embroiled in a controversy over an article that included a line similar to one in a Hitler speech.
October 28, 2025 at 7:04 AM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
The military leaders were reportedly aghast, & see their boss, Hegseth as untrustworthy out of his depth. “Comments from military leaders interviewed by the right-wing Washington Times describing Hegseth and his address to them in the most unflattering terms:”
October 27, 2025 at 8:20 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
It’s quite remarkable they’ve been disappearing the few sensible things he said but amplifying the rest of it including “Make America Great”, sending Don Jr to repeat Reagan’s creepily calculated campaign stop in Philadelphia, MS, dog whistles & behind the scenes racism amplified to bullhorns 📢
Campaign button picturing Reagan and Busch in the center with the text Reagan Butch in ‘80 across the top and Let’s Make America Great Again across the bottom
October 26, 2025 at 11:49 AM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
“The violence produced the sort of headlines Hitler had hoped for—‘Reds Shoot at Nazis from Roofs in Altona,’ in The New York Times”
from Timothy Ryback’s “Takeover Hitler’s Final Rise to Power”
Book Cover Cover image: Hitler shaking hands with President von Hindenburg, Germany, 1933. TAKEOVER HITLER'S FINAL RISE TO POWER TIMOTHY W. RYBACK "Refreshingly candid.... Riveting." —The New York Review of Books
October 23, 2025 at 8:16 AM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
Favorite is difficult…kinda like what’s my favorite book… couldn’t answer it…
But 1 of my favorites is Waterllama
Visual icon (the head of a white llama on a blue background, wearing orange glasses sipping blue water through an orange straw) for Waterllama water tracking app
October 11, 2025 at 6:24 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
A far cry from the care & thoughtfulness of Paul White, news director, CBS News, in a memo, Feb 1944:

Keep an informative, unexcited demeanor at the microphone…Don’t risk accuracy…Use care in your choice of words

From “When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day” by @vermontgmg.bsky.social
Paul White, news director, CBS News, memo, February 1944, on how to cover an invasion: Keep an informative, unexcited demeanor at the microphone.… Give sources.… Don’t risk accuracy for the sake of a beat.… Use care in your choice of words.… Don’t say “German defenses were pulverized.” Say “German defenses were hard hit.”… When you don’t know, say so. Locutions like “Allied troops were believed to be progressing, etc.” are out. Rather say “Nothing has been released during the past 24 hours, etc.”… Exaggeration and immoderate language breed dangerous optimism.… Respect the listener’s trust. Remember that winning the war is a hell of a lot more important than reporting it. The first news reports of D-Day came in Berlin, from Germany’s Trans-Ocean News Service, which announced that a possible invasion appeared under way at 6:33 a.m.—just 43 minutes after the first bombardments had begun. Four minutes later, the Associated Press followed with an international news bulletin: 12:37 A.M. WASHINGTON, D.C. / 6:37 A.M. LONDON Bulletin London Tuesday June 6 (AP): THE GERMAN NEWS AGENCY TRANSOCEAN SAID TODAY IN A BROADCAST THAT THE ALLIED INVASION HAS BEGUN. 12:48 A.M. WASHINGTON, D.C. / 6:48 A.M. LONDON Jim Sirmons, CBS News: We are interrupting this program to bring you a special bulletin. A bulletin has just been received from the London office of the Associated Press which quotes the German Transocean News Agency as asserting that the invasion of Western Europe has begun. This report—and we stress it is of enemy origin with absolutely no confirmation from Allied sources—says that American landings were made this morning on the shores of northwestern France. There is as yet no reason to believe that this report is anything more than a German propaganda move or a fishing expedition for information. You will recall that Prime Minister Churchill warned us not long ago that the actual invasion would be preceded by feints and diversions. Nevertheless, until confirmation or denial of this German report is forthcoming, the CBS World News staff is standing by and will bring you developments as reported. Beginning at 3:32 a.m. in Washington, 9:32 a.m. in London, the Allies officially confirmed the landings and issued a series of messages from key leaders of occupied nations—a series, again, carefully calculated to sow doubt and confusion among the Germans about whether the Normandy landings represented an initial stage or the entirety of the…
October 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
“In each recent emergency decision for the Trump administration, the order in question, once in effect, did irreparable harm to some or all of its targets.”

Irreparable harm…it doesn’t get worse. There can & probably will be much more of it, but irreparabel harm is permanent damage
In July, in a panel discussion at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the legal scholar Stephen Vladeck, who in 2023 published The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic, had explained the logic behind the Roberts Court's decisions: Emergency relief is based on the view that the party requesting it is likely to win on the merits. Until that victory, it will suffer irreparable harm without the relief. The government suffers irreparable harm whenever one of its laws, including an executive order, is blocked. But, Kagan pointed out in her dissent about the refusal to pay foreign aid, the administration had not shown it was likely to win on the merits. It had not shown it would suffer irreparable harm without the relief granted in the order. It had not "met our standard for emergency relief." In each recent emergency decision for the Trump administration, the order in question, once in effect, did irreparable harm to some or all of its targets.
October 9, 2025 at 5:15 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
…If “the interpretation of the law was dependent on the will of the Judge, then the government is very emphatically a despotism.”

It does seem Biden’s buddy Jimmy Madison understood and warned us back in 1788 about John Roberts & his particular brand of SCOTUS.
Book Cover The Creation of the American Republic 1776 - 1787 by Grant S. Wood
October 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
To allow “Judges to set aside the law” made by the representatives …“This,” said James Madison in 1788, “makes the Judiciary Dept paramount in fact to the Legislature, which was never intended & can never be proper…

in Gordon Wood’s The Creation of the American Republic 1776 - 1787
Book cover The Creation of the American Republic 1776-2787 by Gordon S. Wood
October 9, 2025 at 1:31 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
To allow “Judges to set aside the law” made by the representatives …“This,” said James Madison in 1788, “makes the Judiciary Dept paramount in fact to the Legislature, which was never intended & can never be proper…

The Creation of the American Republic 1776 - 1787
By Gordon S.Wood 1/2
Book cover The Creation of the American Republic 1776 - 1787 By Gordon S.Wood
October 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
The tech overlords are more akin to the Trumps & et al than longtime keepers of western democracies
Like them they’re eccentric, break rules, distrust experts They crave action & believe they can shape reality to their desires
Virality prevails over truth Speed is at the service of the strongest 2/
By their very nature and background, the tech overlords are more akin to nationalist-populist leaders - the Trumps, Mileis, Bolsonaros and leaders of the European far-right movements - than to the moderate political classes that have governed western democracies for decades. Like these leaders, they are almost always eccentric characters who have had to break the rules to get ahead. Like them, they distrust experts and elites, all those who represent the old world and who could prevent them from pursuing their vision. Like them, they have a taste for action and are convinced that they can shape reality according to their desires: virality prevails over truth, and speed is at the service of the strongest. Like them, they have nothing but contempt for politicians and bureaucrats: they see their weakness and hypocrisy and believe that their era is coming to an end. “Beyond individual sympathies, the convergence between digital moguls and national-populist leaders is structural. Both derive their power from the digital insurrection, and neither group is willing to tolerate any limits on their desire for more”
September 30, 2025 at 12:13 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
“After a retired senior officer, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, tweeted that German generals were ‘called to a surprise assembly in Berlin’ in 1935 and
‘required to swear a personal oath to the Führer,‘ the defense secretary responded with sarcasm.
‘Cool story, General,‘
Hegseth wrote.“
By Tara Copp, Ellen Nakashima, Dan Lamothe, Alex Horton and Noah Robertson Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of generals to travel on short notice from around the world to hear him make a short speech on military standards and the "warrior ethos," multiple people familiar with the event told The Washington Post. Hegseth's orders, which were sent earlier this week to senior generals and admirals worldwide, require anyone in a command position with the rank of one-star general or rear admiral and above, as well as their senior enlisted leaders, to be at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday. Exceptions will be granted on a rare basis with approval from top military officials, the people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning. "It's meant to be an eyeball-to-eyeball kind of conversation," one person familiar with ongoing discussions said. "He wants to see the generals." The orders, first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday, were delivered without any stated reason, sending staff scrambling to make travel arrangements - many of whom will be coming in from commands that are focused on the world's global conflicts. The directive comes in the wake of Hegseth's firing of numerous senior military officers without cause this year, upending military norms and creating a culture of fear in the Pentagon, the people familiar with the matter said. The Pentagon has declined to clarify the purpose or detail the agenda of the meeting and did not immediately respond to questions on the nature of Hegseth's speech. Sean Parnell, a spokesman, affirmed in a statement that Hegseth "will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week." Hegseth appeared to address concerns about the meeting for the first time Friday morning, using his personal social media account. After a retired senior officer, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, tweeted that German generals were "called to a surprise assembly in Berlin" in 1935 and "required to swear a personal oath to the Führer," the defense secretary responded with sarcasm. "Cool story, General," Hegseth wrote. "Warrior ethos" across the services can have different meanings, but in general it refers to professional dedication to fighting and winning wars. It is a regular focus of Hegseth, a former National Guard infantry officer, who has also rhetorically championed a "return to lethality."
September 26, 2025 at 6:51 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
“For younger viewers, who may think 🇩🇪has gone to extremes in its vigilance against fascism, these voices will explain the persistence of neo-Nazi parties … & the surge of support (including from the Trump administration) for far-right groups such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD).”4/
Veiel's film uses television clips, scenes and outtakes from interviews and documentaries to anatomize Riefenstahl's carefully curated public persona. Confronted during a 1976 talk show by a woman who opposed Hitler, a contemporary who saw the truth as it was unfolding, Riefenstahl reverts to a familiar mode: energetic bluster. She filibusters, then she retreats into her shell, like a wounded kitten. No one understands, she says, how difficult it is not to be believed. That interview led to an outpouring of support from Germans of the same generation. They wrote and called her, offering thanks and encouragement, sometimes excusing their own blindness and culpability, often sounding nostalgic for the good old days of Nazi moral certainty. For younger viewers, who may think Germany has gone to extremes in its vigilance against fascism, these voices will explain the persistence of neo-Nazi parties like the National Democratic Party (NPD), and the surge of support (including from the Trump administration) for far-right groups such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
September 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
“Very likely, in their minds, our demagogues and the people who serve them will outrun justice, too. That leaves their legacy in our hands.” /4
Very likely, in their minds, our demagogues and the people who serve them will outrun justice, too. That leaves their legacy in our hands. We must take notes, hang on to the evidence, write down the facts, never waver in demands for the truth. And pass this all along in hopes that some tribunal of history, some court of public opinion, will note the lies, scorn the liars and consign them to the same rubble and shame left behind by artists like Leni Riefenstahl.
September 21, 2025 at 2:57 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day by @vermontgmg.bsky.social
“It is good to be reminded that there are such men, that there always have been & that there always will be…
S.Sgt. John B. Ellery, Company B, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division: When you talk about combat leadership under fire, on the beach at Normandy, I don't see how the credit can go to anyone other than the company grade officers and senior NCO's who led the way. It is good to be reminded that there are such men, that there always have been and that there always will be. We sometimes forget, I think, that you can manufacture weapons, and you can purchase ammunition, but you can't buy valor, and you can't pull heroes off an assembly line.
September 21, 2025 at 12:23 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
C’mon I can’t be the only one finding myself thinking about Father Coughlin today
“How Democracies Die”
HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE To the contrary, extremist figures have long dotted the landscape of American politics. In the 1930s alone, as many as eight hundred right-wing extremist groups existed in the United States. Among the most important figures to emerge during this period was Father Charles Coughlin, an anti-Semitic Catholic priest whose fiery nationalist radio program reached up to forty million listeners a week. Father Coughlin was openly antidemo-cratic, calling for the abolition of political parties and questioning the value of elections. His newspaper, Social Justice, adopted pro-fascist positions in the 1930s, naming Mussolini its "Man of the Week" and often defending the Nazi regime. Despite his extremism, Father Coughlin was immensely popular. Fortune magazine called him "just about the biggest thing ever to happen to radio." He delivered speeches to packed stadiums and auditoriums across the country; as he traveled from city to city, fans lined his route to see him passing by. Some contemporary observers called him the most influential figure in the United States after Roosevelt. The Depression also gave rise to Louisiana governor and senator Huey Long, who called himself "the King-fish." Long was described by the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. as "the great demagogue of the day, a man who resembled...a Latin American dictator, a Vargas or a Perón." The Kingfish was a gifted stump
September 19, 2025 at 4:44 PM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
In her Nobel lecture in 1993, the writer Toni Morrison observed
"Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge…”
"Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge. Whether it is obscuring state language or the faux-language of mindless media; whether it is the proud but calcified language of the academy or the commodity driven language of science; whether it is the malign language of law-without-ethics, or language designed for the estrangement of minorities, hiding its racist plunder in its literary cheek-it must be rejected, altered and exposed." The aim of my resignation is to break free of powers that seek to limit knowledge and silence voice. To signal that certain boundary lines have been crossed. To insist that advisory roles must expand knowledge and be more than appendages to predetermined decisions.
September 18, 2025 at 11:39 AM
takingaction4us.bsky.social
Someone I respect recently asked why some folks were issuing cautions about Gavin Newsom at a time when get was doing good important tactical work
Newsom is a showman & a loose cannon, NOT someone it would be wise to designate as a leader or Dem standard-bearer

This is an example of why:
Governor Gavin Newsom framed Kirk's project as a healthy democratic exercise: "The best way to honor Charlie's memory is to continue his work: engage with each other, across ideology, through spirited discourse. In a democracy, ideas are tested through words and good-faith debate." This downwardly defines both "discourse" and "good-faith." There is no requirement to take part in this whitewashing campaign, and refusing to join in doesn't make anyone a bad person. It's a choice to write an obituary that begins "Joseph Goebbels was a gifted marketer and loving father to six children."
September 16, 2025 at 3:01 AM