It doesn’t matter that you just made a first down if there’s only 6 seconds left on the clock.

Yes! After all, how do the jack-booted thugs beat up people who aren’t even there?

You don’t have to have a revolution where some whole new government takes over from scratch–a new political party could be enough if enough support. I think most people want to keep the Constitution but with fixes to safeguard the freedoms it was supposed to guarantee, but turned out to be optional.

We can demand new elections and amendments to the constitution (probably via a Constitutional Convention), and until that can happen, legislation to prevent the executive branch from ever being able to take this much power again.

Reforms to demand would need to start with the most crucial, including things like those listed here. Especially stripping power from the oligarchs! by massively taxing them, overturning Citizens United, and allowing only publicly funded elections. Shoring up the checks and balances to fix the vulnerabilities we’ve learned the hard way. Expanding the Supreme Court to a fairly large number would also be important so our very rights don’t depend on something like one person not dying. Etc, etc. Ah well, I can dream, right?

[Chicago mayor Brandon] Johnson closed out his remarks by calling for a general strike.

Yes!. This is why the regime is scared of large peaceful protests–it tells them we are reaching enough support a stage a successful general strike. I’m glad to hear the mayor call for it! May the idea gain momentum.

The regime was really pushing their propaganda portraying the opposition as consisting of mostly “Hamas supporters”, “antifa terrorists”, marxists, etc. and to expect violence! But what they got was peaceful protestors, costumes, and kids in strollers. You can be sure teams of agents and right wing media are combing footage to find any violence they can possibly use, but it’s too late this time since everyone has seen the peaceful footage. Next time they’ll probably resort to rolling out some AI stuff.

BTW another important thing about these protests is alluded to in the article:

During the march, two protesters stood across from the Trump Tower handing out zines — small, often handmade, booklets — titled, “Why Escalation?” The zines discussed various methods of making protests more disruptive to the status quo — like blocking major roads and occupying buildings — as well as the role these methods played in the work of historical radical groups like the Black Panther Party. “It gives us a really good opportunity to reach people that we wouldn’t have reached otherwise,” one protester, Sarah, said about their decision to come to the No Kings protest.

1. No I don’t, I don’t have a smartphone and my phone only takes still pictures… But that is irrelevant.

2. You missed the entire point of my post, which is to suggest that someone take this propaganda video which is the topic of this thread, and make some edits to it that turns the tables so that it’s mocking trump.

3. I’m not interested in going down a rabbit hole arguing about how people who may decide to make additional, anti-magat videos should go about doing that.

Yes, but it’s easier and faster to do the slop–for those who know how to use it and/or are willing to pay for the subscription, which doesn’t include me but there must be plenty of people who can. So scripts, actors, production, time, editing can’t keep up with their method of just typing in prompts until posting the results.

Of course South Park and SNL and those who can do more professional stuff should keep doing what they’re doing, but meanwhile they are “flooding the zone” as they call it, and it works. Turning their slop-generated messaging (Trump is a king who humiliates his enemies by dropping shit on them from our mighty military jets) into our own messaging (trump is a doofus who shits his pants uncontrollably).

Oh, and in addition to the edits I suggested above, the crowd his shit falls on should all be wearing red MAGA hats and waving MAGA signs!

Can someone please take that video and have AI insert a cut to a shot of his diaper filling up, he gets a surprised “oh-uh” look on his face, then cut back to the original where the shit shoots out? Also maybe put a “Fisher-Price” label on the crown and a three stooges kind of look on his face?

Also I hate to encourage use of AI slop generators, but it looks like ‘our side’ needs to start making some mocking AI vids too.

Edit to add: I just thought of something else, the crowd his shit falls on should all be wearing red MAGA hats and waving MAGA signs. Some could be farmers holding signs saying Soybeans FOR SALE Cheap!

Part of the reason the SCOTUS has been avoiding ruling against trump is that they don’t want to be in that “Emperor has no clothes” position where he defies them with impunity and everyone sees that they have no power over him and his minions at all. The other part is that at least 4 of them are delighted by his actions and 2 are at least OK enough with what he does to go along with those 4.

Fluoride Disconnects One from God

OK, but at least one’s teeth are strong and healthy.

I get more and more impressed with Gov. Pritzker each day with how he is handling things. Coming out and saying this in every interview is another good move.

trump’s troops invading Chicago only gets Pritzker more media attention he’s making full use of it to help counteract the regime’s propaganda.

The problem is that while trump may not know what he’s talking about, his followers will believe him anyway. So it’s important to loudly and repeatedly point these things out.

Of course the media should but won’t do it, so it’s good that Newsom is calling attention to it, but even then he has to be aggressive and sensationalist about it for the media to report what he says. It’s a role he has taken on, possibly detrimental to his career (or maybe not–we’ll see) but it’s a role that someone with influence like his needs to play so I’m glad he’s stepping up.

And yet as outraged as they are, MAGA still finds a way to say this is the Democrats’ fault:

This is what happens when you gut national-security training, scrub every mention of Islam, jihad, and Sharia from the manuals, and let Obama- and Biden-era bureaucrats turn counterterrorism into cultural sensitivity class. We’re being led by officials who no longer recognize or refuse to name the enemy they’re inviting into our own backyard.’

🙄

Yawn. Wake me when it’s JD Vance and Mike Johnson.

Oh, if they (along with Vought and Miller behind the scenes) can get to where they don’t need him any more, they’d absolutely love to invoke the 25th. The problem for them is, so far they’re still dependent on his cult of personality. They just need to finish consolidating their power. They’re working on that with the military right now and the goal is to have everything cemented before the midterms that would normally take place next November, or before the time trump kicks the bucket, whichever comes first.

It’s true that the media focuses on trump. That’s why the rhetoric directed at him by Newsom and Pritzker has worked to get plenty of media attention. The conflict of governors either mocking or talking tough to him and his reacting to them appeals to the media, which gives the opening for opponents to get their messaging out. Of course as you say, they’ll spin it in trump’s favor as best they can, but they’ll report what is said.

As you say, right wing media has been a major factor getting us here, but that now includes all the corporate-owned major broadcasters, especially CBS and CNN but the others as well, not just Fox, Newsmax etc. All the major network and social media is already aligned with the regime. So it’s a bit late for that.

Has anyone watched the CBS Evening News lately with John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois? They are pathetic.

Don’t forget I also said a big part of the strategy is in the messaging, which needs to be ramped up exponentially. Loudly and repeatedly using strong rhetoric and deliberate propaganda, which is (usually exaggerated) messaging designed to achieve a goal, and what trump has been doing effectively for years.

Notice how trump backed off after Pritzker talked tough? Then Nosferatu (Stephen Miller) talked him into it again. Miller is the driving force behind how they’re using ICE. trump is continuously being manipulated by whoever has his ear at any time, and that includes --or can include-- his opponents if they know how to handle him.

Who says who can and can’t dictate policy now? There are no longer any rules. Laws are violated continuously by the very government that is supposed to follow and enforce them. The Constitution is nothing but a piece of paper now. A right-wing authoritarian power, enthusiastically supported by at least a third of the populace, has control of all three branches of the federal government. Troops are being deployed against the residents of states and cities the regime doesn’t like. The federal funding they are owed is being withheld. There is no more “you can’t do that”, there’s only strategy and tactics on how to deal with the situation. The available options are shrinking every day.

States need to be putting out their own narratives and setting rules, not just letting the rump regime set the narrative (“Portland is burning to the ground!”, “Chicago is a war zone, the most dangerous city in the world!” etc). They should use their own messaging. And states should band together to take a stand.

Here’s an example of the type of propaganda and tactics that Governors, mayors, etc. should use:

"Gangs of masked criminals are running rampant, impersonating ICE officers to commit crimes against defenseless civilians, who don’t know who to believe! [give an example or two]. This cannot stand–we must have law and order!

Therefore I have signed an order that our City Police (our National Guard may be called to help them if necessary) will arrest anyone who cannot show that they are an ICE or law enforcement agent. To distinguish them from the criminal gangs, Agents must wear badges in plain view to identify themselves and are prohibited from wearing masks that hide their faces. They must show valid warrants and provide their badge numbers when asked.

Anyone who cannot show they are a legal agent and acts violently toward or violates the rights of civilians may be assumed to be a criminal and be arrested. Furthermore, citizens may protect themselves or others in self-defense. If you are an ICE agent and don’t display your badge, you have only yourself to blame if anyone assumes you are one of these criminal gang members and acts accordingly.