Big Bill Fallout
Three Wins Today, Aug 15, 2025
Tomorrow is “Fight the Trump Takeover” a protest day against the Republican gerrymandering. If you go to fightthetrumptakeover.com you can see all the partners and find a protest near you.
What you probably don’t know is that this day of action was organized by the DNC and Texas For All. I want the attention to be on the Day of Action itself, but I think it’s unhelpful to ignore the lack of acknowledgement of the DNC’s involvement.
The DNC (
) is a scapegoat, it’s easy to garner hate for the organization that people view as “the establishment.” But if we don’t change that narrative, we’re gonna be in trouble. To do the work that they do, to go to red states, and help get really solid Dems to run for office in red states, they need to fundraise. And they need support for that.Everyone has been talking about the town halls, especially in red states, well most of those were organized by the DNC in collaboration with other local organizations. This DNC is not the DNC of the establishment, in fact they are working to get rid of the consulting class.
You know how a lot of people are leaving? That’s a good thing. That means Ken Martin created an environment that isn’t favorable to those who want to keep the status quo.
My point is, this DNC, with Chair Ken Martin and Vice Chairs Malcolm Kenyatta and Shasti Conrad and Artie Blanco is not the establishment. They are working like hell to establish something new.
We need to acknowledge when they are involved in something so that narrative can begin to change.
So, I hope you show up tomorrow, if you can, if not, just make sure to spread the word as much as possible, sharing photos and videos and of course local news coverage, and please tag the DNC when you do. That’s how we change the narrative.
Speaking of changing the narrative, hopefully these three wins can help show people that everything is not a lost cause.
YESTERDAY - Hundreds of Alaskans gathered in Anchorage to protest today’s Trump/Putin meeting. I know hundreds doesn’t sound like a lot, but there are just over 200k people in Anchorage, and many of them are pissed. Associated Press was there and they interviewed several protesters. The nice thing about AP is that they don’t have on camera reporters, so the focus is all on the activists, which is lovely.
And shout out to Anchorage Daily News for their reporting as well. There are a lot of things happening today, but, I think it would be incredibly powerful to see Ukrainian flags flooding social media, to make it very clear where we stand. 🇺🇦
YESTERDAY - Actually last night, was the first stop on the Colorado Dems Big Bill Fallout Tour. This is an 11 city town hall tour with the Dems in the Colorado legislature. It started in Gypsum, and will end in Pueblo on Sept 6.
On their website they explain:
We’re not letting them rewrite history. The Big Bill Fallout Tour will connect the dots between these votes in Congress and the real-world harm to Colorado families, schools, and communities. At each stop, you’ll hear from state party leaders, Democratic lawmakers, community members, and Coloradans directly impacted by these cuts, and you’ll have the chance to ask questions and share your story.
If you live in Colorado, find your closest event and RSVP!
Wed, Aug 13 - Obama appointee, Judge Carlos Mendoza struck down much of the Florida book ban law. Judge Mendoza argues that “minor” is an overly broad concept. Something inappropriate for a child is very likely appropriate for an older minor.
Without further definition, this provision treats all minors as if they are the same, rendering content that is obscene as to younger children also obscene as to older children.
As for removing any book with sexual conduct, he said:
As outlined earlier, the first problem with this provision is that it does not
evaluate the work to determine if it has any holistic value…As Plaintiffs note, it is unclear what the statute actually prohibits.
It might forbid material that states characters “spent the night together” or “made love.” Perhaps not. Defendants do not attempt to explain how the statute should work.
What I am still unclear on is which parts of the bill weren’t struck down. The only place I see him agree with the Florida law is:
The Court finds that the term “pornographic” is synonymous
with “harmful to minors”
I will say, I highly recommend reading the Book Riot’s analysis of the order as it’s the most complete analysis I’ve seen through my research.
Bottom line, this is a huge win for free speech and against book banning.
So, as always, those are just three of today’s wins. I hope this brought you some joy and that the calls to action are helpful.
Remember, these wins aren’t possible without us.
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
Jesica Craven has a great interview with Ken Martin which folks should watch. He answered hard questions and didn’t sidestep them.