There’s one important detail that you might be missing here: Republicans are coming for the filibuster indirectly despite profusely saying how much they valued preserving senate rules

They are overriding the senate parliamentarian to do this. They are carving out the filibuster without saying they’re doing so. Right now it’s on some more technical details, but they are setting precedent that they can ignore the parliamentarian. The senate parliamentarian is the one who decides what counts as budget related for reconciliation (which is used as a narrow way around the filibuster strictly for budget). If they can just declare anything budget related and ignore the parliamentarian, they can push all kinds of stuff through that they otherwise couldn’t get through now

Through the series of votes Wednesday, Republicans set precedent for the Senate to reject the state EPA waivers with a simple majority vote. They made that move even after the Senate parliamentarian agreed with the Government Accountability Office that California’s policies are not subject to the Congressional Review Act, a law that allows Congress to reject federal regulations under certain circumstances

Overall in net, there is not much way around the fact that we have to reduce consumption and production of fish to end overfishing. Even fish farms often use wild caught fish as feed

Labels that get funding by producers paying to have them tend to not work out well. Massive conflict of interests emerge. Here’s some articles ranging from 2013 to 2023 showing different problems with the MSC’s labels

Scores of organisations have expressed concern that the MSC’s certification process does not properly account for bycatch, particularly of sharks and cetaceans. In 2018, a group of 66 conservation groups and academics accused the MSC of not paying enough attention to the protection of species not specifically targeted by fisheries.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/26/blue-ticked-off-the-controversy-over-the-msc-fish-ecolabel

Report: Half of MSC-certified ‘sustainable’ tuna caught with controversial gear

Biologist Susanna Fuller, co-director of marine programs at Canada’s Ecology Action Centre, agrees. “We know … that blue stamp doesn’t mean that you’re sustainable,” she says. When asked if consumers should choose MSC-labeled seafood, Fuller pauses. “It’s a gamble,” she says.

https://www.npr.org/2013/02/11/171376509/is-sustainable-labeled-seafood-really-sustainable

State & local dem parties have, generally speaking, been better about standing up compared to the national party

Obviously not 100% of them, but certainly a lot more

See: States limiting involvement with ICE, tons of state AGs suing trump, Maine’s Governor directly challenging trump’s anti trans actions and winning, NY Governor challenging trump’s threats on pulling congesting pricing, Illinois Governor signing an EO to limit the state’s sharing of any Autism data with the federal government after RFK’s registry comments, etc.

Unclear, but in any case I think this was more of a sign they were spooked by the pushback. People showed up to protest right away, and planned to stay at the protests until he was freed

Remember that we the people have power

Update, has been released from custody

https://www.northjersey.com/videos/news/essex/2025/05/09/newark-nj-mayor-ras-baraka-released-from-custody/83545443007/

As an update to this, they now have fully released her following a judge ordering her immediate release! Here she is speaking to supporters

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/bail-hearing-tufts-student-rumeysa-ozturk-detained-in-louisiana/3708999/

The administration is also folding in many, though not all, of these cases. Just with 10x less media coverage

For instance, a week ago ICE released Columbia pro-Palestine activist Mohsen Mahdawi from detention after a judge ordered immediate release. Here’s a photo of him leaving

Or when Maine’s governor stood up to Trump’s anti-trans attacks, he at first suspended federal school lunch funding to the state. But a month later he backed down

The Trump administration has agreed not to freeze funds to Maine schools, a win for a state that was targeted by the president over its support of transgender rights.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/02/trump-maine-funding-freeze

This is not to say what they’re trying to do is not dangerous. This is to say they are weaker than they want us all to think

EDIT: also just now, Rümeysa Öztürk has been released from ICE detention after a judge ordered her immediate release earlier today. Here she is speaking to supporters

Maybe, maybe not. Don’t assume it’s a given that they will ignore it. This is not a defense of this administration. This is a reminder against always having the hopelessness that this administration wants us all to have. They want us to assume all fights are hopeless so we don’t fight them

While they have very notably been ignoring the order on Abrego Garcia, they have followed some of the court order in other related cases like this

For instance, a week ago ICE released Columbia pro-Palestine activist Mohsen Mahdawi from detention after a judge ordered immediate release. Here’s a photo of him leaving

Don’t spread the fear they want us to have to stop people from acting. This is a nationwide protest - not a protest at the parade itself. This isn’t the first nationwide protest against Trump recently nor will it be the last. There have been millions on the street across the US without incident on April 5th, April 19th, and May 1st. There were smaller nationwide protests on February 5th, February 17th, and March 4th as well

Eh, I’m not sure I’d call it so unambiguously correct. Is it understandable, certainly, but this is fear he wants us to have so that people don’t fight back. This is what the part about complying in advance is all about. Things won’t get better if everyone or most people cower before he acts

He wants people to not act so that he can bulldoze through. We need people to be brave and to stand up against fear. Fear is contagious - just as courage is

Yep, all of them already do - including standard plant-milks! Have baked plenty with oatmilk and soymilk before and gotten great results with no issues. Had others try what I had made and they had no idea there was anything substituted. It’s a one to one substitution too

Also can sub stuff like buttermilk too. Use a plant-milk and add something acidic (lemon juice, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, etc). Can look up plant-based buttermilks recipes to find the ratios here

You can sometimes even just use water in some recipes that only call for a small amount of milk too. Though that is less reliable than using plant-milks

If you’re not super familiar with using plant milks, I will note that coconut milk specifically has a very strong flavor which can change the overall flavor. This unlike almost all the other mainstream plant milks which don’t really noticeably change the flavor when baking. I tend to only use coconut milk when a recipe calls for it specifically or you can lookup recipes that use it if you are inclined

Non-animal whey is already a thing you can get in products in stores today! Perfect Day is the main company I am aware of doing that. They use precision fermentation to do so. https://perfectday.com/made-with-perfect-day/

There are also groups working to do non-animal casein which is the protein in dairy-based cheeses that gives cheese most of its important replicate properties

Or you can also just go with other plant milks like oat milk, pea milk, soy milk, etc. Some types like pea-based plant milks emulate dairy milk better than others if that is what you are looking for

Aside about Rwanda - not only are they another dictatorial country, but they are also heavily backing the M23 militia in the DRC who have been committing some pretty horrible war crimes. Rwanda claims they aren’t tied to M23 at all, yet things have been happening like Rwanda suddenly exporting resources that it doesn’t have (that do exist within the DRC)

The war in the DRC has substantially less attention in the west than that of Ukraine and Gaza, but is still pretty horrifying

Not fully free from similar issues here. For instance, the BBC is massively downplaying turnout

The BBC is saying “thousands” were protesting on April 19th when others estimate in the range of 4 million. Counting people in photos on social media in just a handful of cities gives a figure higher than thousands. There were hundreds of protest locations

The BBC also claims there were “tens of thousands” on April 5th when it was estimated at 3-5 million. There were over 100 000 in DC and 100 000 in NYC alone on April 5th!

Blocking roads is not the only method of disruptive protest. There are a lot more options than that. Everything from sit-ins to much more creative disruptions

For instance, one technique that animal rights activists have successfully used before is gluing hands to tables to protest various things. May sound silly, but it gets outsized attention on both traditional and social media. For instance, it’s been a factor to help get over 330 coffee chains to drop their non-dairy milk upcharge (including some major ones like Starbucks, Dunkin, Tim Hortons, etc.)

Protests too can be disruptive. They don’t have to be just people along the side of the road, building, etc. For instance, here’s thousands of people blocking a freeway in downtown LA as part of anti-ICE protests in February

https://abc7ny.com/post/la-protest-thousands-anti-ice-protesters-block-101-freeway-streets-downtown-los-angeles/15858620/

(Did get more media coverage indeed due to being more disruptive)

Organizing a general strike is also more difficult in the US with union membership being so comparatively low. Greece and the UK both have around double the unionization rate (~20% vs ~10%). Not impossible, and would be great to see, but protests themselves are a tool that can help get there. Help people see that people within your community are just a pissed as you are and you’ll have a lot more people willing to join in. Unions are some of the people organizing various protests too. They are able to drive membership up because of it

Protests take time to work. If you think that one day of protest is going to change it all, look to other movements. You can succeeded; it just takes much longer than people think they take. They want you thinking it’s hopeless so when you don’t get immediate results, they’re happy to call them failures

Estimates are far higher than 100,000 people. Not just a small number. It was ~4 million on April 19th and ~3-5 million on April 5th depending on the estimates you look at

They are claiming it’s “thousands” across the limited US media coverage, but you can find photos online of those kinds of numbers in various smaller cities alone

Oh hmm, maybe I had just heard people misuse it in the past? Had only heard it being used as a synonym for possibility in the context of “every eventuality” but other times meaning something definitive. Looking it up I see that it’s supposed to just always refer to possibility

It is not an eventuality, it is a possibility that he tries

Thinking that everything is 100% certain to happen is how we get ourselves too paralyzed to act. We can reduce the odds of many things from happening by showing up and building pressure

Join protests, boycotts, strikes, etc.

EDIT: or maybe I apparently have misunderstood how the word eventuality is supposed to be a synonymy of possibility. My bad on that one

Musk will likely control elections going forward

Elections are run by the states themselves even for federal office. Notable race in particular for Musk was the Wisconsin Supreme Court race earlier this month. Musk poured millions to try to make it go the other way and tried to bribe voters with $1 million lotteries if they “signed a petition against activist judges”. The Musk backed candidate still lost by 10 points

Don’t do his dirty work for him and suppress the vote before anything happens. The fight ain’t over till it’s over