Sunday Hopium - Can Bring Needed Change, Leaning Hard Into The Terrible Tariffs, Standing With Ukraine Not PutinHosting 2 live events this week - Lincoln Square's Stuart Stevens Monday 1230pm ET, TX Dem Chair Kendall Scudder Wednesday Noon ETHappy Sunday all. We are in the midst of a glorious stretch of weather here in DC. Low humidity, lots of sun, 80s not 90s. Enjoy these photos of some of our roses this morning. They are loving the weather!  This past week we explored some important emerging themes - Dems finding a higher gear; the need for us to be perceived as strong enough to “bring needed change”; creating a clearer and more powerful rallying cry for our politics; Standing with Ukraine, not Putin. In yesterday’s post I offered up a new, concise four-part agenda for our collective consideration, something to animate and guide our work, together:
While it’s recess here in DC we need to be loud this week, very, very loud. Make the case for our our emerging four part agenda, and demand your Senators and Rep 1) Stand with Ukraine and work to block Trump’s selling out of the West to Putin 2) Roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs 3) Block the expansion of ICE 4) End the war on science, higher education and the public health of the American people. We need to be very, very loud this week all. I shared this data from the 2024 exit polls several times this week. It is data we must learn from as we work to make our pro-democracy movement stronger:
This week we also got hear from Nathan Heller on the “Ambiance of Information” and former RNC Chairman Michael Steele on “Winning in More Red States and Red Places.” I also strongly recommend my recent conversations with Professor Leah Litman on the corrupt Roberts Court and historian Anne Applebaum on Trump’s dictatorial aspirations and his illicit relationship with Putin. All of our discussions can be found on under the Podcast tab on the main Hopium site and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify too. We have a busy week ahead with two live events now scheduled:
Hopium Paid Subscribers gather at our usual time this week, Wednesday at 7pm ET. Hopium Founding Members will get together on Friday at 1pm ET. Looking further ahead I will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday, August 22nd for a fundraiser for the great grassroots organization, BlueCD2 New Mexico. Will share additional details tomorrow. I will be in St. Paul, Minnesota on Wednesday, September 17th for a fundraiser for the Minnesota Democratic Party (DFL). You can find links to all of our upcoming events under the Events tab on the main Hopium site. Our friends at Stand Up For Science have launched a new 31 Days of Action campaign to lobby Congress this August. As they write:
Learn more, take action through the link above. Finally, Hopium community member Deborah Potter sent in this exciting update on our Resolutions Project this morning….. …….Hopium has 61 resolutions passed or moving now in 19 states -- NM, AZ, WA, NJ, NC, MA, CA, MN, IA, GA, PA, CO, NY, OR, MO, IL, CT, MD, TN!!!! California is leading the pack with 18 resolutions. Focus ranges from a specific issue like immigration to defense of Our U.S. Constitution and Separation of Powers. Jurisdictions include town, city, county, state legislature and Congressional District. Boston’s resolution was read at a Good Trouble event. There has been resolution coverage on social media and in local newspapers. Even AI stories have been posted on the Internet (citizenportal.ai).
Here’s a great write up about the passage of the Boston, MA resolution on the city’s official website. More Shout-outs to Hopium members: Rachel Poliner, Tim Wegener, John Payne, Randy Gold, Michael G. Baer, Nancy Zweng, Mark Roberts, Rebecca E; and to Susan Pfeifer, Bobbie, Anny Why, Matt Greenwolfe, Sarah Marshall, MAE, Judy Grant, Dana Supplee, Karen Meneghin, Deb Rosenthal, Learn About Beads, Anne Fitzpatrick, Ann H, Kati Kertesz, Cecilia Siino, Victor Hasting, Pam Stoesser, J Thompson, Eric Johnson, BeeBee in NYC, Mary CFM, Nancy Bruski, Miriam Defant, Judy Corbett, Jean R, John, Stephen Sepaniak, Lauren, Patricia, Rodica Stoicoiu, CC Befana, and anyone not previously mentioned for their resolutions. Please let us know where you are working on a new resolution and whether your planned resolution has progressed to drafted, submitted or passed. Updates can be shared in the public chat for resolutions or by email to resolutions@hopiumchronicles.com. Great work everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, Let’s Get To Work People!Support Hopium’s Priority Candidates And Party Committees - A reminder that Election Day, 2025 is a little less than three months away and early voting starts in Virginia in less than six weeks - September 19th! As background learn about 1) our big recommendations to the family coming out of the 2024 elections 2) the many important wins we had together last cycle 3) my latest thinking on where we are and the path forward for the Hopium community. Donate, volunteer, learn more about our candidates and opportunities here. I consider all these options must dos for anyone serious about winning this year and next year...
Our updated fundraising goals are now for the end of the year, December 31st, except for the 2025 races, which are now for Election Day, 2025. Our Recommended Actions - We are prioritizing three actions today. You can get our full list of recommended actions here. Let’s get to it: 1 - Call Your Senators and Member Of The House And Demand They Act Upon Our Four-Part Agenda - While it is recess we need to be loud this week, very, very loud. Make the case for our our emerging four part agenda, and demand they 1) Stand with Ukraine and work to block Trump’s selling out of the West to Putin 2) Roll back Trump’s terrible tariffs 3) Block the expansion of ICE 4) End the war on science, higher education and the public health of the American people. 2 - Bring “Resolutions Of Condemnation” To Your Community - Inspired by the tactics of our Founders learn about how Hopium members are advancing “Resolutions of Condemnation” in their communities across the country and consider bringing this initiative to your state, country or city/town. Remarkably, members of this community are now advancing 61 (!!!!) resolutions projects in 19 states. Can we get to all 50 states by the fall election? Our newly updated Resolutions page includes a new chat for folks to report in on their progress or seek counsel from those interested in launching a resolutions project in their community. This is one way to fight back against Trump’s unprecedented abandonment of our Constitutional order. 3 - Grow Hopium And This Wonderful Community Of Proud, Plucky, Patriots - We’ve set a goal of trying to grow the Hopium community from the 152,000 we are now to 175,000 by Election Day, 2025. Do what you can to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to become a summer subscriber to Hopium, free or paid. If each current paid subscriber brings in just one new subscriber this summer and fall we will hit our goal. To encourage the growth of our community annual paid subscriptions are 10% off through Labor Day. Use that link to buy gift or group subscriptions, and join our new referral rewards program too. A further note - if you want to up your support of Hopium a powerful way to do it is to buy group or gift subscriptions for others. Finally, please self-report your activities to our daily paid subscriber chat. These reports help inspire all of us to do more and fight harder! Been impressive to see how many of you remain involved in local, in person protests of all kinds in your communities. Keep it up!!! Keep working hard all. Proud to be in this fight with all of you, and a fight it truly is - Simon COMMENTS: I find it a remarkable lack of rigor that no mainstream media are reporting Putin is considered a criminal by the International Criminal Court. Now we are permitting him onto American soil? Here's what the ICC has to say: Allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute). From the UK Telegraph: When Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to Alaska next week to meet with US President Donald Trump, he will be able to do so with confidence that he will not be arrested. This is because, while Putin is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued in 2023, neither Russia nor the US are signatories to the Rome Statute, which created the court in 2002. ON REPEAT (FROM MARCH) PER DOLOS, THE TSAR, AND ALASKA: The NETWORK STATE - For the best synopsis of the objectives of the “Tech Lords”, please listen to this 45-minute podcast and share widely (these folks are going to leave a huge blast radius - if we let them): https://www.thenerdreich.com/the-nerd-reich-podcast-episode-1-the-network-state-2/ . Project 2025 Trackers: https://www.project2025.observer . https://substack.com/@project2025progress . https://substack.com/@ahmedbaba/p-158109308 . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPElaGebGPc (timestamps 13:10 and 55:07). Simon et al.: First, take a look at (and LISTEN to) this 2-minute interview with a BRAVE YOUNG AMERICAN VOLUNTEER MEDIC ON THE FRONTLINES of the Russian attack on Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lvIYp41Wrg&list=TLPQMTgwMzIwMjV80y8DdiE1-w. Second, ask yourself if you would trust her safety to the tender mercies of the Tsar or Dolos? I know my answer. Also, if they could spare her, Rebekah Maciorowski would make a great advocate for Ukraine on the home front. Previously, I said that the allegiance of Dolos to his Tsar makes him predictable. Other observers agree on this predictability as well. Soon, we will have to ask if the USA is sharing its mail about Ukraine with Russia. So, here is Peter Zeihan’s take on the (for more timely updates, take a look at his Patreon: patreon.com/PeterZeihan) Russian “Honey Do” list for Ukrainian surrender (forget peace) that will be part of a bilateral arrangement between Dolos and the Tsar (they have a call this morning) to “defang” Ukraine for later conquest by Russia. Please note that any mistakes in “translation” are my own with these rough transcriptions: 1. No restrictions on the type of Russian forces on their side of the line of control. 2. A demilitarized zone on the Ukrainian side of the line of control. 3. No NATO peacekeepers in Ukraine’s territory at all. 4. Remanding the Ukrainian leadership for trial in Russia for … (your guess?). 5. A public admission that the war was the fault of the Ukrainians. 6. Relative to #5, the Ukrainians need to pay war reparations. 7. The US needs to state that the war was also Western Europe’s idea to help with the war reparations. 8. The US will provide financial assistance to rebuild the hydrocarbon infrastructure across Ukraine and the Black Sea [see my other note about the new USA Sovereign Wealth Fund controlled by Dolos]. 9. To give Russia their old market back, the US must no longer provide LNG to Europe. 10. The USA should bar Europe from providing military aid to Ukraine. 11. The USA will impose secondary sanctions on any European country that provides arms to Ukraine. 12. The USA will publicly declare all lands that the Russians have taken recently from their neighboring countries as sovereign Russian territory, and these lands can never revert to their original countries. 13. A US ban on all weapons transfers and civilian assistance to Ukraine. 14. A ban on all weapons transfers and civilian assistance to Ukraine from Europe. 15. Russia must have a presence on all points of entry in Ukraine for customs monitoring by Moscow. 16. The USA will provide intelligence sharing to Russia about European activities relative to Ukraine [Mike Walz has recently broached intelligence sharing with Russia]. 17. Managing the deindustrialization of Ukraine so that they cannot develop indigenous weapons. Per Zeihan, by completing all or most of the above list, this scenario would effectively place the USA outside of NATO (the dream of all dreams for the Tsar). Once separated from NATO, there would be no “Article 5” protections (i.e. military aid assurances), and the smaller Baltic and East European members of NATO would fall like a deck of cards to Russia in the near future. Yes, there is more: 18. The USA will spy on NATO for Russia to help with their future plans of attack. 19. All Russian news outlets should be allowed to operate in the USA (please watch Russian Media Monitor on YouTube) without restrictions. 20. All agricultural products from Canada should be banned and replaced with Russian produce (are we halfway there with the tariff regime of Dolos?). 21. Decommission our icebreakers (we have two) and abandon any US efforts in the Arctic. Leave this area to Russia. 22. Wipe out all Russian debt held in the USA, and allow all Russian firms to return without restrictions to the US capital markets. 23. Have future Russian debt be backstopped by the sovereign credit ranking of the USA. 24. Have the USA offer financial guarantees to ask US firms to return and invest in Russia [I shared some Bloomberg coverage on investors wanting to return to Russia last Thursday - coincidence?]. 25. US firms should set up in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to solidify the commitment to Russian development. 26. Russians want RFK jr. to help remove the demographic advantage of the USA by reducing the life expectancy of US youngsters (yes, end generalized vaccinations since the Department of Education will no longer be around to mandate vaccinations). Make America Russia Like (MARL). 27. Break the Federal Reserve System, and enhance the use of cryptocurrencies instead of the dollar (as Russia has done to get around sanctions). 28. Use the FBI to go after financial institutions that provide stability [I shared in another post about how “rule of law” has its own intrinsic value to financial markets] under the guise of being against the directives of the Dolos administration. 29. Arrest industrial development in the NAFTA/USMCA region by having a contradictory tariff policy and threatening war with your trading partners (currently, no one wants to manufacture in Russia). 30. Destroy the American agricultural miracle by banning synthetic pesticides and fertilizers to substantially reduce yields. This scenario would enhance Russia’s agricultural position (not unlike destroying Ukraine’s output earlier in the conflict). 31. End American restrictions on high-end chip manufacturing to China to give Russia and China production opportunities and alternative sourcing options (in the war with Ukraine, chips have been harder for Russia to access). 32. Break up the USA and UK alliance which allows for the sharing of bases in former British colonies around the world (creating more freedom of movement for Russian mischief-makers). 33. Have the USA unilaterally reduce its nuclear arsenal, as Dolos has mentioned in the past (supposedly, nuclear research scientists are presently getting fired by Leon and his “incels”). 34. Create a new arms reduction pact to prohibit nuclear weapons from the US Navy, and allow for intrusive inspections of US ships (please notice that the Ukrainians have sunken a large proportion of the Russian Navy without having a navy). CARTHAGO DELENDA EST (via nonviolence). P.S.: Do the following now! FIRST, TEACH CIVICS. Second, register voters. THIRD, TEACH CIVICS. Rinse. Repeat. P.P.S.: DEMOCRATS (AND PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE) NEED TO HAVE “TOWN HALLS” IN REPUBLICAN DISTRICTS - ASAP. YOUR OPPONENTS HAVE WILLINGLY CONCEDED THE FIELD. P.P.P.S.: Simon has often mentioned the earnest six-million patriots from the last cycle. This is a large pool of thoughtful energy/talent. SO, DEMOCRATS SHOULD ALLOW VETTED-VOLUNTEERS TO AUGMENT THEIR PAID OFFICE STAFF MEMBERS IN ORDER TO COVER THE INCOMING TSUNAMI OF COMMUNICATIONS (AND OTHER CONCERNS) FROM CITIZENS IN GENERAL AND CONSTITUENTS IN PARTICULAR!! The Hopium community is going to love hearing from The Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder. We had him on Friday for our Minnesota DFL Daily War Room Call (link here) https://youtu.be/M_pvLMO559Y?si=7QtN7FMgnZhJovaZ And he was fantastic. The Texas Dems are under new leadership and he knows how to fight back! We may not win every battle, but in order to win the war, we have to fight the battles. And they are doing it in TX! I am thinking about Simon's reference this week to Frost's "the best way out is always through." The full quote, which comes from Frost's terrifying and haunting "A Servant to Servants" published in North of Boston, is: "He says the best way out is always through. And I agree to that, or in so far As that I can see no way out but through--" The "He" in the poem is Len, the speaker's husband. The speaker is talking to someone who camps on their land, perhaps hired help. She knows him enough to confide in him how exhausted she is with her work, how she's suffering emotionally. The point, then, of these lines is that the way out of the exhaustion, the emotional strain, is to get through it. There's no alternative. The woman in the poem is too burdened with work to be able to take any kind of rejuvenating break from it. Frost is a poet who writes a lot about the unbalanced. He seems like a nice old New England poet-farmer, but scratch beneath the surface and you find he is dealing with some very troubling themes. In a political context, I will take this quote to mean that there is no way to escape the political madness we're burdened to live through except by working it directly in whatever way we can. Yet, at the same time, I'm aware that many of us are privileged to take periodic breaks from the work and the burden. We ought to. We need balance. We need to remind ourselves of the good in life that we're fighting for. If anyone is interested in postcarding, letterwriting or phonebanking here are some options: VoterRiders (voteriders.org) fights voter disenfranchisement by helping voters in states with onerous voter ID laws. They have current letter writing-campaigns to voters in AZ, FL, GA, NC, OH, PA, and TX (!) who may not have the IDs they need to vote. Volunteers download a state-specific Fact Sheet (with info on upcoming elections, valid forms of IDs, and ways to contact VoteRiders for help) and a list of names and addresses (you choose how many). Volunteers add a brief hand written message encouraging the the recipient to vote, handwrite the envelope, stamp it and drop it in the mail! For more info on how to volunteer see: https://www.voteriders.org/letterinfo. VoteRiders is also hosting a textbank this Thursday for voters in NC: https://www.mobilize.us/voteriders/event/821091/ Vote Forward (https://votefwd.org/) is writing get out the vote (GOTV) letters for the Supreme Court races in PA. Here is a link to a great getting started document: https://votefwd.org/instructions Field Team 6 (fieldteam6.org) has a mission of partisan voter registration. I write postcards with them, but you can also volunteer to do phone- and text-banking. They offer state-specific zoom training for registering voters in person and for "Social Storming" (i.e., leveraging social media). They are currently writing postcards to get people registered in NJ and PA for 2025 and for GA and NC for 2026 elections (https://fieldteam6.herokuapp.com/getting_started). Also check out their schedule of events on Mobilize: https://www.mobilize.us/?org_ids=1255 Activate America has launched postcard campaigns for NJ and PA. They are switching over to a postcard platform on SincereApp (which is also used by VoteRiders and Reclaim Our Vote). You can request access for SincereApp here: https://sincereapp.com/join/92GAm8Oqlu7_nNGZsjQiYw (They also do phonebanks but I don't think they are active yet for 2025 races). Postcards4VA (https://addresses.postcards4va.com/) has lots of different postcard campaigns for VA. They have part 4 of their "Wake Up Virginia" campaign that is targeting registered women voters 40 - 90 yo who haven't voted in past elections. They also have "Spotlight" campaigns for 6 female candidates endorsed by the National Women's Political Caucus of VA all running in races in Southern VA. Markers for Democracy also has several VA House of Delegates candidates on their postcard platform (https://postcards.markersfordemocracy.org/). This group in very security conscious so you may be asked where you heard about their campaigns. If you say "a comment on Hopium Chronicles" you shouldn't have any issues being accepted. Reclaim Our Vote (https://www.centerforcommonground.org/reclaim-our-vote) is writing postcards for VA. This group focuses on increasing BIPOC voter turnout through postcarding, texting, and phone banking in Southern states. There is a brief on-line training and you must use one of their exclusive postcards. The current campaign is write and hold until the mailing window (Sept 15 - October 20) - VA has a very long early voting period. Sister District chapters around the country are phonebanking for various VA delegate candidates which they have adopted. Check out this Mobilize link for phonebanking opportunities. (They will provide training at the beginning of each phonebank for newbies.): https://www.mobilize.us/?event_type=26&event_type=2&org_ids=3235&org_ids=6465&org_ids=6493&org_ids=6495&org_ids=6496&org_ids=6521&org_ids=6523&org_ids=6525&org_ids=6526&org_ids=6527&org_ids=6529&org_ids=6694&org_ids=7234&org_ids=6934 For anyone who participated in Simon's Thursday activist zooms for the Hopium candidates last year, you should recognize the name Grassroots Democrats HQ. (They were in charge of the phone banking part of the weekly events). They are currently hosting phone banks in support of Abigail Spanberger's run for Governor of VA. Abigail Spanberger's campaign is also hosting virtual textbanking Zooms on Tuesdays (5 - 6:30 pm) and Sundays (2 -3:30 pm) - both are EDT: https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/814038/ I wanted to share this Substack post by G. Elliott Morris on gerrymandering: I also wanted to share this disturbing post about the assault on Public Health including the recent attack on the CDC campus: I think this qualifies as Stochastic Terrorism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_terrorism) |
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Sunday Hopium - Can Bring Needed Change, Leaning Hard Into The Terrible Tariffs, Standing With Ukraine Not Putin
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