Yep, in October 2024 Israel wanted to bomb nuclear and oil resources in Iran but Biden said no to that and that they needed to pick another target, so Israel blew up a military base and killed some Iranian soldiers instead

Hopefully they feel like they’re under a ton of pressure from all angles between everyone calling them out for being the fascist thugs they are and Trump constantly screaming at them for more deportations and it’s making them sloppy

Fair enough, but, like, 100 archers against 1000 people ends poorly for the archers if the people are willing to take some casualties, and a keep wall is only good so long as nobody inside decides to unlock a door or people outside can’t get a ladder set up somewhere for a few minutes

Yes, there have been successful revolutions since the 1850s, but they’re definitely a lot harder than they used to be, and I think they now really do require some sort of defection from the ruling classes or military over to the opposition in a way that you didn’t really need for, say, the French revolution, where an angry mob of peasant women could just force their way into the kings castle and tell him how things were gonna be going forward

I’m not saying it’s impossible, and I’m definitely not saying people should give up protesting all the bullshit going on right now, but I do think meta social contract between the rulers and the ruled has changed a lot since the 18th century because of technological progress

Good question

why people aren’t gathering in mobs

Well, it happened about a hundred years after your time, but there’s this thing called the Gatling gun that got invented that really became a hard counter to angry mobs trying to storm things, and once that stopped being an option they just kinda stopped listening to us

Actually, I think NPR gets money from Amazon because they pay NPR for ad free versions of their shows for Prime subscribers, and Amazon just chooses to advertise that on their own

Of course, the fact that NPR is being paid by Amazon and Amazon customers get a premium version of public media is a total fucking disgrace, but NPR rightly or wrongly felt they had to do this because they’ve been expecting the federal government to try to cut them for years and they needed new revenue streams

I wonder if Denmark regrets this yet (arc)

With 94 votes in favor and only 11 against, the Danish parliament last night (June 11) passed a new defense agreement granting the United States extended access to military bases in three Danish cities: Karup, Skrydstrup, and Aalborg. The deal allows the US military to operate from these sites, store military equipment, conduct maintenance, exercises, and station personnel. The US forces will also have autonomous legal jurisdiction over their own military, relieving them from compliance with Danish law in the first degree.

Imagine how Garcia feels

SIMON SANDOVAL-MOSHENBERG: His head is spinning. I mean, he’s really surprised. He doesn’t understand what’s going on. He understood that his case was over and won in 2019, when the immigration judge issued him an order of protection and allowed him to be released from ICE custody. He got a work permit. He was renewing it year after year. He understood that his problems were behind him.

And then, all of a sudden, one day out of nowhere, he gets pulled over in his car, taken into custody, finds himself in El Salvador, the one country where the judge had ordered he could not be sent. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he’s meeting with a U.S. senator. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he’s being flown back to United States on a private jet and, you know, is being told that his name and his face are known around the world. You know, it’s almost like one of those movies where someone wakes up out of a coma.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: I was going to ask to what extent he is aware that he has become something of a household name in the U.S.

SANDOVAL-MOSHENBERG: Yeah, he didn’t have an understanding because he was held completely incommunicado in both of the prisons that he was in, in El Salvador. That is one of the principal human rights violations, is that there’s no access to legal counsel, not even a phone call. We sent a lawyer down three times to try to visit with him, and that lawyer was not allowed to visit with him. So he had no idea…

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/12/nx-s1-5428138/what-happens-next-for-a-man-at-the-center-of-trumps-immigration-crackdown (arc)

Comedy bit idea, CVS mass texts their customers to overthrow the government of Louisiana

“Sir, our men are trying to hold the line, but these protesters just won’t quit! They’re all so healthy!”

“Got-damned multivitamins! [eats beignet, has three heart attacks, belches]”

The first “expert organization” they talk to in this article published a “research study” last year saying DEI policies cause workplace hostility, this is propaganda bullshit

being strong enough to quit refuse unlawful orders and use your own common sense and basic decency to resolve conflicts in the field and deal with the court martial.

These deaths came during the same period that Portland began a two-pronged response to public pressure over homelessness. City leaders began moving homeless people out of public view by removing tents at a rate far surpassing those of its West Coast peers. Since 2021, it carried out 19,000 sweeps, and it dismantled over 20 encampments per day in 2024, according to city records.

At the same time, the city reduced money for stable permanent housing while dramatically increasing its investment in temporary shelters. The city spent $19.4 million to house formerly homeless Portlanders in 2019, according to the city budget. By 2024, the city budgeted $4.3 million, which housed 391 people.

They got what they paid for

Yeah, also even though it’s “almost half” there’s more people saying disapprove than approve, so there’s a large number in the “unsure” category right now, and the more we find out about who’s being deported and how and what the cops will do to suppress these protests the more that disapprove number will go up

Also, all the Republicans who don’t work for this administration. Not like they just became fascist scum overnight, they’ve been headed this direction since the 60s maybe even since the 30s.

Weird coincidence how this memo was written shortly before the national guard was deployed to these protests, don’t know if they’ve done any kidnappings since getting there tho

The fact that this person is a state senator is ridiculous, she’s clearly way way way too stupid to be having opinions anyone else listens to if any of what’s happening now is a surprise to her

She’s determined to get puppy killing off her top 10 worst moments list, I’ll give her that

Please do, I bet a lot more people saw that absolute garbage article than will see either of these because NBC has a way bigger reach than Mediate or the Empty Wheel blog so, so it deserves to be called out a ton

Okay, first I think it needs to be said that this is a complex and difficult situation that really doesn’t leave us with any good options either way, and I think both sides of this debate have people with good intentions behind them.

Second, this

Cops beat the shit out of compliant protesters all the time.

is true and something people need to be aware of.

However, third, it needs to be said that

Fight back

will absolutely get the shit beaten out of you unless you got an army in your back pocket I somehow haven’t heard about yet.

Fourth,

Fight back or run away. If you’re not capable of either then you’ve already missed your chance at contributing to the movement.

Bullshit. Every news story picture and video that shows protesters getting attacked and arrested is an incredibly powerful piece of evidence showing the consequences of rising fascism in America that’s going to be harder and harder for the people who are trying to ignore all this stuff to tune out. Even the selfish asshole centrist dipshits who don’t care about immigrant rights and just want everything to settle down are going to see that this unrest can’t be beaten into submission and efforts to do so just make the protests bigger, and that’s when those people are going to turn on the fascists and say “Look, I was willing to give up civil liberties for law and order, but you can’t even give us that.” (we’re already seeing talk like that out of Gavin Newsom).

Personally, I say if you’re in a protest and cops start attacking, run away if you can or sit down if you can’t, because I don’t feel comfortable asking people to just turn themselves over to the mercy of law enforcement who may very well do permanent injury to them, but I have nothing but respect for the people who do make that sacrifice for this movement, and the notion that people being arrested aren’t contributing is absolute bullshit.

Good to know anything we can about fascist infiltration into the resistance and agent provocateurs, but the implication that protesters can do anything to stop these plans seems incorrect to me. If a proud boy or whoever dresses up as a protester and torches a cop car or whatever, there’s nothing protesters can really do to stop it. The people who will need to be vigilant are the media and lawmakers who will be pressured into condemning the protests as a whole because of the actions of these infiltrator assholes.