Hello, friends,
It's time for the first article of the year from this once-weekly publication. As a reminder, I hiatus'd this project in 2015, so it's been non-weekly for almost a decade, now. Neat, huh?
But this news effects all of Long Island - the whole country, in a sense - so we're diving right in.
Up-front: I'm biased. Real journalism has biases. Deal with it, or just click off now.
What Were These Protests?
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| Protest on 2/5/2025, photo by Jesse Pohlman |
In many ways, these protests were frustration-ventilation for those of us who are fed up with unelected not-even-bureaucrats getting access to our Treasury department.
But for a more focused take on things, the protests were held at the Senators' offices to encourage them to do something about this situation. The truth is, there are a few simple demands, some of which I'm sure I'm missing:
- No more approvals.
- Quorum checks.
- No more unanimous consent.
- No more voice votes.
Leeja Miller does a fantastic breakdown of what Democrats could be doing about the situation, for those who want the juicy details. She goes over how each tool would work, and all that jazz.
Now, would these decisions be a departure from the norms? Sure!
But we've already widely departed from the norms. Here's an interim U.S. Attorney dismissing charges against an accused criminal who was - at the time! - his client as a defense attorney. Picture that! Imagine if any criminal you don't like (I dunno, insert Osama Bin Laden for New Yorker anger) had a defense lawyer who, over the course of defending charges against them, got a job as a U.S. Attorney supervising their case.
They then dropped their own case.
So...Yeah. Norms? Those are long gone.
Is That All?
Well, no. Technically the protests were focused on Russell Vought, the Project 2025 co-author who wants to be in charge of the Office of Management and Budget. You know! That office Trump's been sued over? Look it up.
Anyway, the goal was to get the Senate to do the above things to slow down, if not totally block his appointment. A good goal. After all - didn't Trump run on Project 2025 NOT being his thing? We shouldn't be letting Project 2025 people in, then - right??
Also, coincidentally, there was a movement I'm aware of called "50501" which had the goal of hitting 50 state capitals in 50 states in 1 day. Obviously this wasn't an Albany-based protest, but it also was coincidental timing, wasn't it? Or maybe they knew that Indivisible, MoveOn, and The Working Families Party were doing events today, and just kinda winged it. Who knows? I approve.
What Can You Do?
The three organizations I just mentioned (Indivisible, Move On, and The Working Families Party) are all good groups to follow for more actions. You can always call your Senators, Representatives, and who-so-ever.
As part of another project I'm doing, I made a whole video with a few protest tips using my experience as a teacher/TA under the Taylor Law as an example of things to be aware of when trying to organize a movement.
That said, today's protest had about 400 people at it - and I know there were others like it in NYC, in Peekskill (though I believe that was on the 4th), and many more.
I've seen video of plenty of protests nation-wide, to boot. This wasn't just a New York thing, even if this article is about Long Island's end in the business.
But, anyway. That's all I have for you.
Well, other than the fact that the police threw us out of the Senators' office. I don't even know which Senators' office we were at, since they're separate but adjacent buildings. And...Well, let's just say they didn't want to face us.
Jesse Pohlman is an author from Freeport, New York, who will always remember his roots in Port Knox. The easiest way to reach him is through his Bluesky account.
Editorial note: I reached out to the protest organizers for comment about being thrown out, but they didn't get back to me. If they do, I'll update.
Update: I was notified by the protest organizers that they did indeed get to speak to representatives. So at least our message was conveyed. There's that.
