This suggests pretty strongly that somebody in their propaganda manufacturing world figured out that the "terrorist" angle was getting no traction with the public; that the only thing it really accomplished was to emphasize what fools Mike Johnson and Karoline Leavit are.

Yesterday and today, with an infinitesimally small number of actual arrests and police departments nationwide reaffirming that protests were peaceful, crickets.

Second, the thing I am NOT seeing in the MAGA faithful comments anywhere are references to the "terrorists", "antifa", "America haters", and so on. Last week, the No Kings terrorists posed such a threat potential that Texas' leadership went through theatrics of calling out their Guard units.

I'm noticing two other things alongside this. The first is that this line of ridicule seems new. I can't remember seeing anything like it before, say, this past Friday.

What they can't do with their mockery is change the numbers that actually happened yesterday and that are going to keep happening. It can't change the way that this turnout showed decisively just how deeply unpopular the current would-be regime is.

One thousand dollars says that this is a coordinated talking point, because the trolls and bigots in MAGA leadership understand the same thing that Portland's inflatable frogs do: making your opponents look ridiculous, worthy of mockery, can serve to weaken them.

Even that jaw-droppingly crass AI video of King Trump piloting a fighter jet to dump literal shit on Americans is in this vein: it's trolling we deserve, because we're ridiculous, etc.

Variations include versions of "you wouldn't be able to protest if we had a king", as if the 7 million+ who were out yesterday don't understand that.

I'm seeing a whole mountain of memes and I moments from the MAGA faithful, all expressing the same idea, namely that us No Kings protesters are too dumb to understand that we already have a president, not a king.

This suggests pretty strongly that somebody in their propaganda manufacturing world figured out that the "terrorist" angle was getting no traction with the public; that the only thing it really accomplished was to emphasize what fools Mike Johnson and Karoline Leavit are.

Yesterday and today, with an infinitesimally small number of actual arrests and police departments nationwide reaffirming that protests were peaceful, crickets.

Last week, the No Kings terrorists posed such a threat potential that Texas' leadership went through theatrics of calling out their National Guard units.

Second, the thing I am NOT seeing in the MAGA faithful comments anywhere are references to the "terrorists", "antifa", "America haters", and so on.

I'm noticing two other things alongside this. The first is that this line of ridicule seems new. I can't remember seeing anything like it before, say, this past Friday.

What they can't do with their mockery is change the numbers that actually happened yesterday and that are going to keep happening. It can't change the way that this turnout showed decisively just how deeply unpopular the current would-be regime is.

One thousand dollars says that this is a coordinated talking point, because the trolls and bigots in MAGA leadership understand the same thing that Portland's inflatable frogs do: making your opponents look ridiculous, worthy of mockery, can serve to weaken them.

Even that jaw-droppingly crass AI video of King Trump piloting a fighter jet to dump literal shit on Americans is in this vein: it's trolling we deserve, because we're ridiculous, etc.

Variations include versions of "you wouldn't be able to protest if we had a king", as if the 7 million+ who were out yesterday don't understand that.

I think I know what they were going for with Trump’s ridiculous AI generated “portrait.” (If you zoom in on his left lapel you can see they altered his jawline).

What do you think?

bsky.app/profile/acyn...

What many students don’t understand is humanities profs don’t assign writing to get the product. We are extending invitations to know yourself. If you conjure AI, it doesn’t impact us. You cheat only yourself. And knowing yourself today is the best defense you’ve got against fascism.

If you think a just-fertilized ovary is entitled to life but are indifferent to what happens to a kidnapped 4-year-old with cancer, sent to a dangerous country without meds, you don’t give a fuck about the lives of children. You are just in a cult that fetishizes being against abortions.

<—I’m rereading my Jan 6=alt-right larping chapter, for class today. A shred of hope: Although we are now living in Kekistan (“LOL Land”), they got here with shitposting and larping. You can’t be taken seriously when all your power comes from LOLz. We are right to ridicule and dismiss them.

bsky.app/profile/drra...

1/4. On the White House’s theory, if they abduct you, get you on a helicopter, get to international waters, shoot you in the head, and drop your corpse into the ocean, that is legal, because it is the conduct of foreign affairs.

The American Age Is Over Emergency Triad: The United States commits imperial suicide.

"And just like that, the age of American empire, the great Pax Americana, ended." @jvl.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/the-americ...

JD Vance went to Greenland, a territory of Denmark, and gave a speech criticizing the Danish government. Implying there could be violence if Greenland and Demark didn't give in to his political demands regarding the ownership of territory.

Meanwhile...

1/

ICE Raid app ideraid . us uses geotagged submissions, AI verification, and tip-sharing to assist local & federal law enforcement in catching (people) to be deported.

How comfortable are you with digital activism? ICE has a new snitch App. If you have the skills, remember this: random inputs will do more good than cute ones targeting Musk.

When the world is viewed as an apocalyptic game, it can become one. When people want to believe the end is near, they will try to bring it on. When their world is disrupted, when they begin to lose power, they will view events through a cosmic lens. Quotes from #cowboyapocalypse

Trump allies are starting to notice Hegseth's growing pile of mistakes Some White House and Pentagon officials now believe Hegseth is the one who messed up in the Signal chat scandal by sending sensitive details on his phone.

The real problem for this administration is that what they intend and what they want to be SEEN as intending are not the same. Thus any breach of the inside voice is a vulnerability.