Punk Labs Blog

Please remember to fucking VOTE in the 2026 midterm election if you're a US citizen. Don't wait until Nov 3rd, vote early! Democracy only works when we all participate in it.

What The Fuck?

Great question, and probably the question of this era. I can't believe I even have to write this, and I will not mince words here; The United States is currently undergoing a violent attempt by the Republican party to transition us from a vibrant and diverse Democracy to a White Christo-fascist State. Their plan was laid out in "Project 2025", and it is being implemented relentlessly.

What's The Big Deal?

If you've been living under a rock, you need to wake up right now and start paying attention. Here's a woefully incomplete list off the top of my head of the nightmarish things happening in the United States today.

• Secret Police are killing and brutalizing citizens, children, legal residents, LGBTQ, and undocumented people. We personally know fellow citizens who have been kidnapped as retaliation for peacefully exercising their 1st amendment rights.
• Human beings are being thrown into for profit concentration camps with little recourse, access to a lawyer, or medical care. Inside they are being abused, raped, and sometimes killed. DHS is buying up massive Amazon-scale warehouses as I write this.
• We are experiencing a rapid ethnic cleansing, as people are being targeted based on the color of their skin, or their accents/culture. Amnesty International is calling for ICE to be abolished.
• Republicans in Congress have abdicated their duty to act as a check on Executive overreach, but also their law-making, budgetary, and military duties.
• Republicans are actively gerrymandering, and evolving their voter suppression tactics. Election offices are being raided in the continued attempt to undermine our elections. We will most likely see ICE intimidating voters in the midterms.
• Much of our Government has been illegally dismantled and/or defunded, further concentrating power, and losing generations of institutional knowledge.
• The Administration is pushing out propaganda at an alarming rate on government websites in violation of the Hatch Act, on social media, and now TV commercials "Paid for by the U.S. Government".
• We are seeing unprecedented levels of open corruption, with the President enriching himself to the tune of billions of dollars. He is selling pardons, and selling access in various pay-for-play schemes.
• The President has unilaterally, and illegally, imposed tariffs without involving Congress, wreaking havoc on our economy.
• The President has weaponized the DOJ against his political enemies.
• Republicans have threatened to invade/annex our closest NATO allies such as Greenland and Canada, damaging our reputation and safety.
• The Administration has engaged in extrajudicial killings off the coast of Venezuela, and abducted their leader. These are war crimes.
• The President has unilaterally started a war with Iran without the required approval of Congress.
• The Administration has imposed loyalty tests on the federal workforce.
• We citizens have already effectively lost many of our constitutional rights.
  • 1st Amendment: Journalists are being arrested. The FCC is engaging in censorship. Universities are being threatened. Peaceful protestors are being violently targeted and deemed terrorist. Museums are being coerced into sanitizing exhibits, and rewriting history. I fear retaliation for protesting, or simply for writing this.
  • 2nd Amendment: The Administration used Alex Pretti's legally registered firearm as a justification for his murder, saying he was inviting trouble by carrying, although he never threatened or reached for his gun. His gun had been secured by agents before he was killed.
  • 4th Amendment: CBP and ICE are regularly smashing windows and kicking in doors without a signed warrant. They do this with no reasonable articulable suspicion of a crime in direct violation of the constitution.
  • 8th Amendment: People are being kept in inhumane conditions at the concentration camps, fed rotten food, mistreated, and denied medical care. This is clearly "cruel and unusual punishment".
  • 10th Amendment: The Administration has been sending Military into states without consent of state governors, something that has never happened before.
  • 14th Amendment: Due process is not being afforded to citizens or non-citizens in cases involving ICE and CBP. Contrary to current right-wing dogma, the 14th amendment covers "any person" under US jurisdiction, not just citizens. Re-read your constitution.
• Roe v. Wade is gone, removing a key federal protection of women's bodily autonomy, putting them at medical and legal risk.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has been neutered, sending us back to the Jim Crow era. Republicans are already gerrymandering to further remove minority representation.
• This isn't going to stop...

What Can I Do?

First and foremost, and I'm not shilling here, we have to vote for Democrats. Absolutely no more "protest votes", or staying home, or voting Independent. The US has a deeply flawed two-party system, and any vote for a 3rd party is basically a wasted vote. The Democratic party may be flawed, but it is our lifeboat, and we need to patch the leaks and repair it. We can do this by voting in primaries to select better candidates, this is how you shape a political party.

Contact your local and state representatives and tell them what you think. Get out there and protest, join a group, or start one. Indivisible or 50501 are great places to start.

Speak out, get loud, and make your voice heard. Be kind to one another, and remember that people are afraid; your neighbors are afraid. Compassion goes a long way, and compassion is antithetical to fascism. We will get through this, because luckily for us, this Administration is unimaginably stupid.

FROGS 🐸🐸 TOGETHER 🐸🐸 STRONG

You Should Stick To Software Development!

That's a splendid idea, but while you may ignore politics, they won't ignore you! We will not remain silent while our Democracy is under attack. For the time being, we will continue to focus our efforts on protesting, activism, and mutual aid (food drives, etc) in San Diego. If you're in the area, you might hear us on our megaphone, in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Minneapolis, and Portland, and Chicago, and LA.

NO ICE, NO KKK, NO FASCIST USA! 📢