An Urgent Message From Senator Chris Murphy

Excellent, illuminating, and inspiring! Here once again we are encouraged to join in solidarity in ever growing numbers with Senator Murphy and all who are fighting the fascist takeover of our government and nation and beyond. Please share far and wide. Everything that we love and cherish is at stake — and our participation and commitment to doing our part is essential to the welfare of us all! — Molly

27 April, 2025 - Senator Chris Murphy asks us to post this statement to our public walls. Please amplify urgently.

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Report from the Senate Floor:

“Last night in the Senate, something really important happened. Republicans forced us to debate their billionaire bailout budget framework. We started voting at 6 PM because they knew doing it in the dark of night would minimize media coverage. And they do not want the American people to see how blatant their handover of our government to the billionaire class is.

So I want to explain what happened last night and what we did to fight back. The apex of Republicans’ plan to turn over our government to their wealthy cronies is a giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations. And they plan to pay for it with cuts to programs that working people rely on. Popular and necessary programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP, are all being targeted. In order to pass the tax cut, Republicans have to go through a series of procedural steps. Last night, they took the first step which requires them to pass an outline of their plan, but with it, any senator can offer as many amendments as we want. So my Democratic colleagues and I did just that.

Now, we knew that Republicans would largely unanimously oppose them, but we had two objectives here. One, Republicans were forced to put their opinion on record — many for the first time — on the most corrupt parts of Trump and Musk’s agenda. Two, as I’ve been saying, I am going to make every process and procedure as slow and painful as possible for as long as my colleagues choose to ignore the constitutional crisis happening before our eyes.

So what did we propose? We proposed no tax cuts for anyone who makes a billion dollars a year. We made them vote on whether or not Elon Musk and DOGE should have limitless access to Americans’ personal data. We made them vote on whether to protect IVF and require insurers to cover it. Every single amendment Democrats proposed was shot down. On almost every single amendment, Republicans universally opposed it. Every Republican voted against our proposal to prevent more tax cuts for billionaires. The corruption and theft is happening in the open here.

The whole game for Republicans is taking your money and giving it to the wealthiest corporations and billionaires — even if it means kicking your parents out of a nursing home or turning off Medicaid for the poorest children. They know what they are doing is deeply unpopular. They are offering a tax cut to the most wealthy that is 850 times larger than what they are offering working people. Oh and by the way, any tax cuts for working people are going to be washed out by higher costs for basic necessities, like health care and food. It’s a fundamental injustice.

Thanks to your pressure and support, many of my Democratic colleagues have joined my effort to do everything we can to make sure they cannot destroy democracy and steal your money in the dark of the night. We are being loud about what is happening. I’m going to continue to grind the gears of Congress down as much as possible to make it that much harder and slower to get away with this corruption. That’s why the votes lasted until nearly 5 AM.

This is a five-alarm fire. I don’t think we have two years to plan and fight back. I think we have months. It’s still in our power to stop the destruction of our democracy with mass mobilization and effective opposition from elected officials. So we can’t miss any opportunity to take advantage of opportunities to put Republicans on the record and shine a light on what is happening.

And you have a role to play in this as well. I need you to amplify what’s happening, support the leaders who are fighting for you to make sure they can continue speaking truth to power against Musk and Trump’s billionaire cronies, and show up at rallies and town halls. Use every tool at your disposal to send a message loud and clear about how you expect my colleagues to lead and fight in this moment.

Every best wish,

US Senator Chris Murphy

https://www.murphy.senate.gov/

It Is Our Responsibility to Make Good, to Reduce Harm, To Protect the Vulnerable

My friend's words here are absolutely spot on:

"I was going to write something similar, but I am glad that some folks remember. I know how shocking some of these deportations seem, but they are not a Trump-ian innovation. This has BEEN happening... It's important to understand the context, not to discourage people, but to get folks to realize the country's deep problem with immigrants. This has been escalating for years and just rolling back to another Democratic Party president is not going to solve these issues. We have to reevaluate how immigrants are seen as a whole."

So true, so true. We absolutely need to understand that the cruelty of dehumanization, of inhumane laws and practices, of terrorizing and criminalizing our immigrate sisters and brothers has been going on for a very long time. It is time, far past time, for humanity to evolve. May we engage in an ongoing way of doing the hard work of opening our hearts and refusing to exclude anyone from our circle of caring and compassion. May we stand in protection of life rather than collude in any way in the perpetuation of its harm. — Molly

Demonstrators in Hollywood in May support workers’ rights and immigrants’ rights. (Mario Tama / Getty Images) 

Protesters demonstrate for changes in front of the White House on Sept. 18, 2013. Alan Gomez, USA Today

As horrifying as the "US citizen kids with cancer being deported without medical support" thing is from ICE, I want to remind everyone IT IS NOT NEW and was happening UNDER BOTH REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTS. Ask me how I know.

How do I know? Because in 2013, when Obama was president, I had two children in foster care, both with severe kidney abnormalities who were in my care because their mother was picked up by ICE. She was charged with neglect for leaving her 6 year old in charge of her 18 month old, after her daycare threatened to call immigration on her.

The children had serious medical needs, were both US citizens, and were receiving treatment here. Their father had been picked up and deported before the younger child was born, and had never seen his son except through a screen. Both parents overstayed visas because of their children's medical needs.

What happened? Exactly what you are rightly outraged about now - the choices were for the parents to permanently lose custody or take the kids with them back to their country where they were a persecuted ethnic minority and where there was no appropriate medical care to be had. ICE deported the whole family together.

I held the older child and told her that I didn't know what would happen to her, but that I would still be here loving her and caring about her, even if we didn't see each other again, and I would still have her pictures. I have no idea if she and her brother survived. And yes, I am angry that my government did that to her family.

I'm not at all confused about the fact that the lesser of two evils is lesser, and that's a good thing. But I am damned tired of seeing in comments people defending or excusing the Democrats for how they have enabled the fascist state we have now. If you were blind to it then, if you only are angry about fascism when it comes from a Republican, you are part of the problem.

This comes up all over. With Gaza. With drone strikes. With police states and cop cities. With masking and covid. With bird flu.

Guys, you were there. If you had eyes, you should have seen. And excusing your own party while fixating on the evils fo the other is not ok. Yes, I know that right now we have to fight the fashy fucks. But we also need to be honest about the mote in our own eyes.

We can understand that the Republicans are WORSE and still not excuse the shameful inadequacies of our only alternative. Because otherwise, if we do manage to overthrow the damned fashy fuckers this time, we'll just get some more of it in a different, prettier coat next time.

If you are personally invested in something, it is your responsibility to make it good, to reduce the harm it does, to protect the vulnerable within it, to make it live up to its principles. That is, if you vote Democrat (for any Democrat) you are not only obligated to fight the Republicans, but you are obligated to stand up against your own when they go wrong. That's integrity.

— Sharon Astyk

Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire, as Israeli Leaders Boast of Playing Washington

My outrage and fury with Biden and all the enablers in both the Democratic and Republican Parties is huge and makes my heart hurt! Genocide Joe was absolutely 100% complicit in funding war crimes and crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing and all the horrors and atrocities in Gaza. How can anyone who has played a major role in causing an ongoing genocide live with themselves?!?!

And now the long term neoliberal era of Biden, Obama, and the Clintons has played a major role in ushering in the horrifying fascist era of today in which the genocide of the Palestinian people has escalated even further under the Trump regime and reflects the intention to completely annihilate the population and land of Gaza and any chance of Palestinians reclaiming their homeland.

The face of evil glares at us everyday pleading with us to repeatedly and strongly stand up in protection of these traumatized and terrorized human beings and stop the funding of this profound brutality and madness. — Molly

REPORT: Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire, as Israeli Leaders Boast of Playing Washington

“God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period… We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.”

—Former Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog:

A sweeping Israeli Channel 13 investigation has exposed the Biden administration’s complicity in Israel’s 19-month war on Gaza. Nine top Biden officials acknowledged avoiding real pressure on Israel—even as the death toll surpassed 30,000. Israeli leaders openly bragged they dragged out the war, playing for time until Donald Trump’s return.

Former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Ambassador Tom Nides, and others defended their unwavering support for Israel—even as they admitted enabling a campaign one U.S. aide described as “killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying.”

Here’s what the investigation revealed:

1. “Killing and Destroying for the Sake of Killing and Destroying”

➤ Ilan Goldenberg, a senior national security aide, described the war’s aimlessness: “If they’re never going to do this, it doesn’t matter what the outcome is, Hamas is still going to control Gaza. You’re just killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying. But you’re not building an alternative.”

➤ U.S. officials pushed a post-war plan modeled on the anti-ISIS campaign, proposing that Arab states temporarily secure Gaza—but Netanyahu blocked it, refusing any role for the Palestinian Authority.

➤ Far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich openly pushed for reoccupying Gaza and rebuilding settlements. Netanyahu refused to advance alternatives, keeping the door open to their demands.

2. “We Fought for Over a Year and the Administration Never Said ‘Ceasefire Now’”

➤ Israeli officials were blunt about the benefits of Biden’s passivity. Former ambassador Michael Herzog declared:

“God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period, because it could have been much worse. We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.”

➤ Biden aides privately admitted Netanyahu was dragging out the war. “He’s undercutting it every step of the way,” said Goldenberg. “All the security people are coming out and saying it.”

➤ He also revealed there were internal discussions in Washington about Biden giving a speech to pressure Israel politically, possibly triggering new elections there—but Biden backed off.

3. U.S. Covered for Israeli War Crimes and Blocked Aid Report

➤ State Department adviser Stacy Gilbert resigned after being cut out of the process of drafting a legally required arms compliance report.

➤ The final version cleared Israel of violating U.S. law—despite overwhelming evidence of aid obstruction. Gilbert called it “shocking in its mendacity,” adding: “Everyone knows that is not true.”

➤ Even as settlers looted Gaza-bound trucks and Israel blocked humanitarian aid, Biden certified compliance—and kept weapons flowing.

4. Netanyahu Sabotaged Captives Release Talks to Prolong the War

➤ Biden officials revealed that Netanyahu deliberately tanked negotiations, fearing a deal would force him to end the war.

➤ American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin was scheduled for release the day he was executed. Amos Hochstein confirmed: “There’s no doubt… those hostages would be alive.”

➤ Netanyahu’s public campaign to retain control over Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor was viewed by Biden officials as a smokescreen to kill the deal.

5. Biden Backed Israel Even After Netanyahu Publicly Undermined & Insulted Him

➤ Biden once told Netanyahu he was “full of shit,” and hung up the phone mid-call. But as Ambassador Tom Nides put it: “Biden saw [Netanyahu] as a manipulator, a magician… But he stood by him through the end.”

➤ In May 2024, Biden announced he was pausing a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs over concerns about their use in Gaza. Days later, Netanyahu accused the U.S. of freezing broader arms deliveries—reportedly pausing Biden’s plans to restore the paused shipment.

6. Saudi Deal Collapsed Because Israel Refused to Make Any Concessions

➤ Biden officials described how a U.S.-Saudi normalization deal—coupled with defense and economic pacts—was nearly complete. But it required Israel to accept a “political horizon” for Palestinians.

➤ Dan Shapiro, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, explained: “We always understood that the Israeli government depended on far-right ministers who would try to block that commitment… that might require an election or a coalition shuffle.”

➤ Former U.S. ambassador Jack Lew called Israel’s refusal to engage “kind of shocking.”

➤ Amos Hochstein said: “I don’t understand the decision not to grab that opportunity as the most important strategic move Israel can make.”

➤ Herzog claimed Netanyahu deliberately stalled, hoping Trump would return to office and take credit: “It was my understanding that Trump preferred for the deal to wait until he got into office so that he’d be the one to do it.”

Copied from Drop Site News

Rev. Darrell Goodwin: Rev. William Barber Arrested in Capitol Rotunda After Praying Against Republican-Led Budget

The madness of these times makes my heart hurt!

May Reverend Barber inspire us all!!

— Molly

The prophets were never popular. They were arrested, exiled, and silenced—yet they spoke anyway.

Yesterday, Rev. Dr. William Barber was arrested in the Capitol Rotunda—for praying. For daring to declare that a budget which abandons the poor is a moral failure. For reminding this nation that justice is not optional—it is divine demand.

Make no mistake: the cost of speaking truth is rising. But the cost of silence is far greater.

This is not a time for comfort. It is a time for courage.
This is not a time for retreat. It is a time for resistance.
Let the Church not be found sleeping while prophets are dragged from the temple.

Justice is God’s call. Risk is the price. Faithfulness is our response.

— Rev. Darrell Goodwin

#CryLoud #MoralResistance #JusticeIsHoly

#BarberWasRight #PropheticWitness

@unitedchurchofchrist @sojogram

@blackchurchpac @blackchurchcollective

@ctnaacp @ctvoice @hartfordcourant

@colorofchange @ulgh64 @sneucc