Workers arrested after civil disobedience in Philadelphia

It’s a first for the second resistance

It didn’t make the national news, but the massive May Day rally in Philadelphia last Thursday also featured the first significant act of civil disobedience of the resistance against Trump’s second presidency.

About 70 unionized hotel and food service workers protesting Trump’s economic and immigration policies were arrested after staging a peaceful sit-in at a busy downtown intersection.

They were led away in zip ties, charged with obstruction of a highway, and released later that night.

“Courage is contagious, and we’re going to need a lot more of us in order to be able to push back on the things that are happening,” Danny Bauder, president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, told CBS News Philadelphia. “This administration just does not seem to care about regular people, does not care about workers, and in some cases is trying to dismantle things that regular people rely on every day.”

Huge May Day crowds also turned out in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington. Bernie Sanders headlined the rally in Philadelphia. All told, there were protests in 1,100 locations.

See these photo essays from USA Today and Axios.

What’s Next? No Kings Day on June 14

June 14 is Donald Trump’s birthday, which he intends to celebrate with a military parade in Washington.

But Indivisible and a coalition of pro-democracy organizations including 50501 and Public Citizen are hoping to upstage the parade with a NO KINGS Nationwide Day of Defiance.

Indivisible said in a statement that “Instead of allowing this military parade to be the center of gravity, activists will make action everywhere else the story of America that day.” Here’s a list and map of planned events.

Medicaid Vigil Today and Tomorrow

People's Action Institute and Progressive Maryland are holding a 24 hour Medicaid vigil on the National Mall starting today (Wednesday) at 1 pm.

People will share their experiences with Medicaid and demand that leaders protect the program.

The vigil wraps up with a rally at noon on Thursday.

#HandsOffOurHistory Rally

USA Today reports:

Hundreds of people joined a rally on May 3 to show support for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the wake of threats by the Trump administration and others that civil rights activists said aim to erase Black history.

Organizers planned the rally after President Donald Trump indicated in a recent executive order that he wanted to curtail "narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive."

“So much of Black history was lost and was recaptured,” marcher Beatrice Turpin-Peek, told the New York Times. “To hear that it’s under attack — it’s just heartbreaking.”

GOP Town Hall Goes Off the Rails

Most Republicans aren’t holding town halls anymore, out of fear of angry audiences.

Rep. Mike Lawler bucked the trend last week in his suburban New York swing district and. despite his attempt to set ground rules, the meeting “began to teeter off the rails soon after it began,” the Associated Press reported.

The audience responded to his comments with jeers and groans.

One woman – a 64-year-old social worker named Emily Feiner – was dragged and carried out of the auditorium by state troopers after asking Lawler what it would take for him to stand up to the Trump administration. The audience booed and chanted “let her stay.”

As Mother Jones reported:

The moment, which was caught on video and quickly went viral on social media, serves as the latest example of Republican lawmakers endorsing seemingly drastic measures to silence calls for accountability from the constituents they represent.

What You Can Do to Help, Part One

The question I hear the most often these days is: What can I do to help?

I offered some answers to this question back in February.

But now I have another idea.

Over at my other newsletter, Press Watch, where I normally engage in media criticism, I'm calling for an army of volunteers to build a massive wiki that enumerates the things that Trump has broken and that will need fixing.

The headline on my post is We need a way to aggregate what Donald Trump is doing to this country. And the idea is to create a people-powered online repository of information about all the damage Trump is doing to the government, the country and the world.

It would also effectively build a roadmap for returning the country to normalcy.

Wouldn’t that be satisfying and empowering?

Please take a look. And share the piece with your friends, if you’re so inclined.

(I also published a list of very cool Trump administration trackers already being produced by news organizations, nonprofits and individuals, each monitoring and summarizing developments in areas they care about the most.)

What You Can Do to Help, Part Two

Democracy Forward has launched an intriguing program to address that same question. It offers people a way to connect with people locally and find ways to engage in pro-democracy work in their communities.

They’re calling it Dinners for Democracy and Coffee for Change.

There’s a free Digital Toolkit that “includes conversation starters, discussion questions, and other resources to help make gatherings a success.”

Among the conversation starters: “What gives you hope? What does a day-in-the-life living in a ‘perfect’ world look like for you? If the government worked for you, what would be the first task you would assign it?”

Looking for Leadership

The Associated Press crowns Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and JB Pritzker -- a billionaire and a former bartender – as resistance leaders.

The AP notes that “their arguments, despite some overlap, are distinct enough to raise familiar questions for Democrats: Should they make their challenges to Trump about threats to democracy and national stability, as Pritzker has done, or portray him as a corrupt billionaire exacerbating an uneven economy, as Ocasio-Cortez does?”

Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, says resistance isn’t enough. “The American people, I think, not only want resistance to Trump, but I think they want what the Democratic Party in the last many years has not given them, and that is an agenda that speaks to the needs of the working class,” Sanders told HuffPost after his rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Friday.

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch lists six Democrats he thinks are leading the resistance right now. He starts with Pritzker and Ocasio-Cortez, but then goes on to list Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

Lawsuit Watch

Just Security is now tracking 220 open legal challenges to Trump administration actions.

Among the new cases filed:

• Three groups of scholars filed a lawsuit in federal court last week seeking to reverse the elimination of grant programs, staff, and entire divisions and programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities.

• A nationwide coalition filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Trump’s attempt to dismantle AmeriCorps, the nation’s flagship civil service program.

• Attorney Mark Zaid filed a lawsuit on Monday saying the suspension of his security clearance is unconstitutional retaliation by Trump.

Among the recent decisions:

• A federal judge on Friday struck down Trump's executive order targeting the Perkins Coie law firm. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the order violates the First, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and is therefore null and void.

• A federal judge in Washington, D.C., last week temporarily stopped the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. A federal judge in Rhode Island on Tuesday ordered the government to stop taking apart the Institute and two other small agencies as well: the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

• Two more federal judges on Tuesday ruled that Trump's Alien Enemies Act proclamation against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is unlawful — making them the second and third judges to reach that conclusion, after Texas Judge Fernando Rodriguez on May 1. In his order, New York District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote that “the predicates for the Presidential Proclamation, that TdA has engaged in either a ‘war,’ ‘invasion’ or a ‘predatory incursion’ of the United States, do not exist.” Colorado District Judge Charlotte Sweeney’s order called the government’s arguments “unpersuasive”.

Unhappy Public Service Recognition Week

The first full week of May is Public Service Recognition Week, meant to honor the people who serve the nation as government employees.

This year, the backdrop is grim. The Trump/Musk regime seems to have nothing but contempt for the federal civil servants who keep the country running. Hundreds of thousands have either been fired or intimidated into leaving their jobs. Trump is attempting to strip many of them of their right to join a union.

Union leaders say the best way to honor public servants this week is with action.

National Federation of Federal Employees president Randy Erwin:

To support federal workers and public servants this week, I urge you to contact your representatives in Congress and demand they stand up to the Trump Administration’s shameful abuse of civil servants and gutting of critical federal agencies. We must ensure that federal employees and the essential services they provide are protected, or the American people will suffer the consequences.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees president Lee Saunders:

Across the nation, we are getting organized, talking to our coworkers, bringing thousands of new members into our union family, and mobilizing to defend the public services vital to the wellbeing of our communities and the foundation of our democracy. This week – and every week – we proudly say that public service is worth fighting for.

One easy way you can honor public servants this week is to post a comment opposing a proposed federal regulation that would strip many civil servants of their current employment protections, such as they are. The If You Can Keep It blog from Protect Democracy has more here. The comment period ends May 23.

And you can add to the Partnership for Public Service’s Story Wall with your own tale of “how a federal employee inspired you or made a positive impact on your community, on our country or on the world.”

“This year,” the Partnership states, “supporting our nation’s civil servants matters more than ever.”