In the recent past, we’ve discussed ways to bypass our dysfunctional and/or actively pro-fascist political press to smuggle facts about our current political predicament to people who don’t pay much attention. I’ve taken action in a couple of small ways, including participating in protests.
I’ve also created flyers about Trump admin cuts to medical research and science (with citations that can be checked online) and posted them at a couple of places where I receive treatment — in elevators, stairwells, restroom stall doors, etc. I figure cutting cancer research is unpopular, maybe especially among people currently receiving care developed via NIH research and their loved ones.
It’s impossible to know what impact this sort of guerilla political communication has, but I think it’s not zero.
Here’s another idea along those lines from Marcy Wheeler. It targets members of the Ohio National Guard who’ve been called up to staff Trump’s dictatorial fantasy life.
This strikes me as effective messaging. National Guard personnel aren’t typically drawn from the elite strata that produces people like “Big Balls,” Musk and the Trumps. It’s entirely possible troops would resent having their lives turned upside down to avenge a beatdown of a pipsqueak aide to oligarchs. Here’s side two of Wheeler’s flyer:
Nice detail there about the D.C. crime rate relative to that in Ohio cities. It inspires me to come up with a (one-sided as I would print it) version for Florida National Guard troops who’ve been dragooned into staffing the DeSantis 2028 primary campaign and are now miserably guarding nannies and landscapers at the hellhole the governor created in the Everglades.
Not sure where I’d post it — maybe interstate rest areas? Bar restrooms closest to the internment camps? Ideas welcome!
Understandably, people who aren’t MAGA shitheads are scared and disgusted and overwhelmed. I know for me, the temptation to withdraw from the larger world, block out all this upsetting fascist bullshit and focus on home and family is ever present.
But while Trump is destroying government and civic institutions and wielding dictatorial power, he’s unpopular, and his regime is more brittle than it appears. In fact, I think all these power moves are designed in part to keep us from noticing that.
If we keep pushing back in whatever ways we can, the whole rotten edifice will collapse. I believe that.
Open thread.
Baud
Good for you, BC.
I don’t know if you saw this in the early morning thread. It’s from the Florida subreddit.
reddit.com/r/florida/comments/1ms33q0/the_nature_of_florida_is_slowly_fading
ETA: I saw that you just responded in that thread
VeniceRiley
Maybe hotels or big box parking lots near internment camps or off base guard facilities … Flyer under windshield wipers?
Better use of them than the insurance and religion flyers I used to get.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I reposted it on Bluesky. It’s depressing as hell, but I’ve been watching that happen literally all of my life. I hate it.
Kathleen
Brilliant, BC. Thank you.
caphilldcne
I’m thinking a boycott of West Virginia’s tourism industry could be impactful. They get lots of visitors from the DC Maryland Virginia metro area.
David Collier-Brown
Post the long version on every telephone pole near an armoury or rally point. These are for the guard to read and tell their families and employers. Have a link and a QR code pointing to the source, so people can email them around.
Create a short version with a link and a QR code too, and paste it up in business areas.
Customise both for the state in question, and appeal to people to run them off on their home printers and post them in their residential neighbourhoods.
[This is the kind of thing interest groups like ours could get behind. Anyone know groups who are mostly real-world, and especially have done poster campaigns before?]
Chief Oshkosh
That’s a great flyer! Nearly perfect — just needs the following at the bottom:
“AND WHERE ARE THE EPSTEIN FILES??!!”
frosty
@Betty Cracker: At the entrance to all of Florida’s State Parks is a sign: “Welcome to the Real Florida.” It’s absolutely true!
We love the parks and camp there any time we can get a reservation … which is harder and harder after everyone decided to buy an RV during COVID.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Two things:
oldster
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Dorothy, you’re a better person than I am. Even if I did not know how much destruction that kid has caused — how many millions of lives he has doomed by his destruction of USAID — I would still look at that face and think it needed a few violent collisions with blunt objects.
Marcopolo
Read an article yesterday where the reporters looked at the repercussions from the LA National Guard deployment on the guard members. The number that struck me most was that 75% said they were no longer planning to re-enlist after the experience. Morale is terrible. Normal figures for reupping have been 60%. It’s info like this that gives me hope that all of these deployments backfire in the long run. If I can find the article I’ll post it.
Chief Oshkosh
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I have no sympathy for Big Balls, nor the entire system that resulted in me having to even know of his existence. He’s gifted and had every opportunity. THIS is what he chose to do with his life. I hope that the concussion results in cognitive issues that prevents him from further damaging innocent people, maybe allow him for calm introspection.
But really, fuck ‘im.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Chief Oshkosh:
I think a flyer that says nothing but:
WHERE ARE THE EPSTEIN FILES?
In bold, screaming caps, would work as well.
And sympathy for that DOGE douche? To paraphrase Hunter Biden, Fuck That Shit.
Betty Cracker
@David Collier-Brown, @VeniceRiley & @Chief Oshkosh: Great ideas — thanks!
RevRick
@Betty Cracker: First, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Second, I am reminded of the words of Vaclav Havel, leader of the Velvet Revolution that overthrew the Czechoslovakia communist regime in 1989. He stated that the ultimate power of the individual in an authoritarian regime is refusal. Just don’t obey. Just don’t consent. Which of course leads to Timothy Snyder’s notion of refusing to obey in advance.
So, again, thank you for this model of nonviolent resistance.
Deputinize America
Looks like police in Henderson NV committed an antisemitism:
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/16/nevada-arrest-israeli-official
Prediction – He will never return to the US, and Israel will never extradite him.
Time Travelin
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Big Balls is an obnoxious, entitled, criminal, d-bag. He’s 19. WTF was he doing there at 3am? Buying drugs? He probably said or did something that lead to 15 year olds kicking his ass. Zero sympathy.
Professor Bigfoot
I do too; and from your keyboard to God’s monitor.
Suzanne
I agree with you here.
One critical thing about this Big Balls flyer is that it has a good tone, somewhat snarky and a little bit wry. (The aesthetics could be better.) I think one of the things we really struggle with is that facts are simply not persuasive on their own. People have to be primed and ready to hear stuff, to being persuaded to believe something. Any woman who has had her ideas positively received by a man in a meeting has experienced this. The relatability of the messenger matters. Trump comes off as funny to a lot of people, but he also doesn’t come across as uptight or “proper” or, like, Protestant….. and that has a refreshing and relatable quality to it for a lot of people who see all that as pretentious and fake and old-fashioned.
The language and style of traditional media has that same pretentious tone and look. But any of these kinds of “guerilla” efforts should absolutely abandon that, IMO. Think of the copy-machine aesthetic of the 90s, or graffiti, and radical media forever. It’s always had a feeling like it was made in the college basement after-hours.
Professor Bigfoot
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You are so much kinder than I.
I’m entirely at “fuck that entitled little shiteweasel beyotch, hope it happens to him again soon.”
Hate, it is well known, poisons the soul; and I can feel its effects… and alas, still, fuck that guy.
oldster
@Suzanne:
Your point about aesthetics is one that Mamdani’s team has completely mastered. His videos are impeccable in this regard — they don’t seem cheap or desperate or “college basement after-hours.” They are professionally produced, filmed and edited. And of course they have a great pitchman, sc. Mamdani himself.
That’s the style to copy here — not old mimeograph, but 2025 tiktok.
Suzanne
@oldster: Disagree. His videos feel, to me, totally self-produced and unmediated….. which is what makes them refreshing and incredibly effective. It’s the 2025 version of low-fi. Today’s version of the basement.
It’s also an inherently youthful energy.
Mike E
@Professor Bigfoot: from wiki:
“The paradox of tolerance is a philosophical concept suggesting that if a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant, it risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance; thereby undermining the very principle of tolerance.”
I can feel sorry for those whom lack the basic underpinnings of a healthy personality (don’t ask me how I know about this!) but I see them as the dire threat to our society once they get ahold of the levers of power, and this cannot stand.
MazeDancer
Not Lesser Evil! The popcorn company which makes a great product. Organic. More tasty before they sold to Hershey. But still good.
There are two bags in my kitchen, Clearly, my last two bags.
The dad is still CEO.
Apparently, Lesser Evil put out a statement saying they weren’t connected to DOGE.
But unless dad takes his 750 million he got from Hershey and quits, I’m done.
Professor Bigfoot
@Mike E: Absolutely.
Tolerance isn’t a “moral” thing so much as it’s an agreement among sophonts to “live and let live.”
Those for whom the mere existence of sophonts that look, think, love, believe, worship, or simply exist differently is offensive, put themselves outside that agreement, and therefore should be fuckin’ throat punched early and often.
Baud
@MazeDancer:
So when we buy all the popcorn, we’re helping to fund fascists?
Cliosfanboy
@Betty Cracker: Great, if very sad, video. I know you love your state Betty, but I don’t understand why so many retirees move there. The humidity, the hurricanes, and the abundant wildlife that think household pets are snacks. I wish Florida’s powers-that-be would realize the value of the natural beauty they have, but so-called “conservatives” never actually conserve anything that is worth conserving.
Marcopolo
@RevRick: in some circles this is called the bartelby strategy: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartleby,_the_Scrivener
Herman Melville at his finest.
@RevRick:
oldster
@Suzanne:
If you find Mamdani’s videos effective, refreshing, and youthful, then we are not disagreeing about the important part.
You think they are spontaneous and unmediated; I think the art lies in concealing the art.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Mamdani’s video approach seems to have gotten it’s inspiration from how Scott Bradlee and then girlfriend Robyn Adele Anderson started Post Modern Jukebox.
Their initial videos were incredibly basic at one level, just that one camera, shot in an apartment room. But they went viral (and thus created the interest and market for PMJ, I’m not articulating this well) because of the front person (Robyn), the music interpretation, the sound, the performance quality and that inherent minimalism one gets at a house concert.
Mel
Betty, would you be willing to share the text of your flyers? I would happily print and post that info as well.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Luckily where I live is surrounded by the Amish and so I can get their popcorn.
(microwave popcorn is anathema, and i said what i said ;)
brendancalling
My guerilla communications tactic is to talk loudly in public on the phone, or to my g/f (when she’s around) , or to myself in the grocery about rising prices and scarcity. “WHAT THE HELL!?! WHY IS COFFEE SO EXPENSIVE? I’LL BET ITS THOSE STUPID TARIFFS TRUMP PUTS ON EVERYTHING.”
Stuff like that. And because I’m not *addressing* anyone, there’s no social prompt to respond or participate in the conversation (and maybe push back w/MAGA talking points).
”THEY TOLD ME THE PART IS $500 BECAUSE OF TARIFFS… YEAH I DON’T KNOW EITHER, BUT I DIDNT VOTE FOR THIS SHIT. HE SAID HE WAS GONNA LOWER PRI—DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, HONEY…” Loud enough so everyone can hear it, but in the context of a personal conversation.
No idea if it works, but I love sowing doubt.
brendancalling
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: their current guitar player, Anthony Castagna, is an old bandmate of mine. He is ridiculously talented.
Professor Bigfoot
@brendancalling: LOL, a man after my own heart!
Mine is to loudly say to my wife, “But I was ASSURED, I tell you, ASSURED that egg prices were going to fall!” Followed by snickering and “stupid fuckers” sotto voce.
Suzanne
@oldster: I think his videos are great because he dresses, interacts, and moves about like a far more normal person than most politicians.
I’m sick of the formal aesthetics of government — Greek columns and suits and podia. What used to read as aspirational and dignified now reads, IMO, as ivory tower-ish, grossed out by normal people. Also sick of the aesthetics of Trump, which are of course, about shameless displays of wealth and kitsch. But what I am super-duper sick of….. is the minimalist look in which the world has turned into an Apple Store. Used to feel fresh and modern, now feels sterile, cold, and unfeeling. Inhumane. Made by machine, not created by hands.
Mamdani comes off as humane. We can learn from that.
Baud
@Suzanne:
So no UFC fights on the 250th Fourth?
Stuffed shirt.
H.E.Wolf
From the report of the DC incident, I noticed that the first violent act was Rich Young Man forcibly shoving a teenager against a large, hard surface.
No one in the encounter was in the right. And yet striking first has consequences.
I used to teach this stuff in classrooms, and we used a (fake) push as a classic escalation move to invite an act of retaliation from the push-ee.
My assistant and I would do the push as a demo, and then I’d pause the class for a moment and let everyone absorb the changed – and charged – atmosphere after that first violent act… and let them imagine what might happen next.
That class was secretly about life skills. How to DE-escalate, how to cooperate, how to keep one’s emotions in check, etc.
That rich young man in DC was poor in all of those skills, and he cost himself a beating.
ETA: Took out the reference to a previous comment, because it seemed argumentative and I wasn’t aiming for that vibe. Apologies to the commenter!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@H.E.Wolf: That’s a super interesting observation. Thanks. I’ll think about it.
David Collier-Brown
@Suzanne:
I think one of the things we really struggle with is that facts are simply not persuasive on their own. People have to be primed and ready to hear stuff
I quite agree!
I think that “inoculating” people against cults and fads works: Downtown Toronto has a lot of postings on telephone poles that initially attract people’s attention to problem, and set their expectations when they go to learn further, or are targeted by propagandists.
Not perfect, but a good part of a defence in depth
Geminid
@Professor Bigfoot: Too bad you can’t eat their fried pies anymore. When I lived in the Shenandoah Valley I bought plenty of Mennonite-made fried pies. They use lard, and that’s why the pies are so good.
The pies I get on this side of Blue Ridge are made with soybean oil and they’re just not the same. I expect if a Valley Mennonite marketed pies made with soybean oil they might get shunned.
H.E.Wolf
Oh, as for guerrilla action: it’s Sidewalk Chalk Central on our sidewalk. Maybe I’ll start carrying a stick or two when I go for walks. :) One of which I’m about to set out on.
Professor Bigfoot
Doing “good guy shit,” guerrilla style. Well done, sir.
VeniceRiley
@brendancalling: Brilliant! Needs to be done in “this Ohio diners” and stores, dealerships, etc everywhere.
Suzanne
@oldster:
I get what you mean….. but I will also note that there was a ton of graphic design skill at work in a lot of those college-basement-ish publications and flyers. That’s really the point…. people with skills but maybe not a lot of means are the ones who craft the most enduring aesthetics of their time. Whether or not that’s the copy machine, or the clay tablet, or the TikTok video.
Guerilla communications are their most powerful when they tap into this energy. I would argue that the handwritten postcards than many valued commenters write are sorta in this vein, there is a humanity to handwritten things that isn’t present in print materials. I think we would do well to remember this.
Betty Cracker
@Mel: Yes! I’m not on that device now but will post a reply later with the text. It may be out of date; I made my flyers using stats from articles published a few months ago, IIRC.
Aziz, light!
@brendancalling: Democrats need to stop using the word “tariff.” People don’t know what it means. Plain and simple, a tariff is a Trump Tax.
“Wow, have you seen the price of coffee now?”
“Yeah. It’s the Trump Tax.”
m.j.
Hollywood should ban the Red Carpet.
Baud
@m.j.:
Blue carpet!
Geminid
@H.E.Wolf: As Teddy Roosevelt might say:
“Walk softly, and carry a bright stick.”
Baud
@Geminid:
According to AI, Teddy Roosevelt did say that.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Bill’s family used to have an undeveloped lot for camping on a lake in the Adirondacks foothills. One summer morning, I was taking a walk and chanced upon a roadside honor system baked goods stand at an Amish farm. The deliciousness of those doughnuts still haunts my dreams nearly 30 years later!
Lyrebird
@Betty Cracker: I wonder whether a mention of the environmental impact of that detention center would help or just sound “woke” to the audience.
Either way, I wish I could find a Florida version of the top chart here showing how in TX citizens commit crimes way more often than undocumented people.
Suzanne
On a totally unrelated note, I am planning to go to the gym and lift weights. I am trying to be better about weight training three times a week. I am quickly losing my motivation. LOL.
Raoul Paste
@Baud: “ So no UFC fights on the 250th fourth?”
It’s like a scene out of Idiocracy.
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: I graduate from Cardiac Rehab soon; and I already know how NOT motivated I will be to continue cardio exercise 3 times a week… <sigh>
Anyway
@Betty Cracker: speaking of — what’s the update on Bill’s ear(s)?
Love the blueberry (apple in fall) fritters made by the local Amish vendors — so yum!
Suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot: See, I like the cardio stuff a lot. And the flexibility stuff most of all. But lifting weights, pushups, etc….. God. It’s terrible. LOL. So I feel you.
Do you think you’d like cardio more if you did it outside? That’s part of why I like it….. get outdoors, feel wind on my face, work up a sweat when it’s cold outside. Love that. Being stuck indoors? Terrible. LOL.
Deputinize America
@Time Travelin:
Sounded to me like Big Balls had an ass-beating coming. At 19 and born of great privilege, he never got the lesson that “mostly stupid shit happens out in the streets after 11, and sometimes you’ll have to take a beating.”
brendancalling
@Professor Bigfoot: are you allowed to use a rowing machine? I ask because those things are great for cardio, you can find one used for cheap, and (IMO) they’re fun. Just plop it in front of the tv, put in your favorite show/music, and go to it.
I got mine at the beginning of summer, and it’s been MORE than worth the $35 I paid for it. Great cardio, low impact.
satby
@Aziz, light!: how can you say “people don’t know what tariffs are” when the felon brags about them constantly and even the business and news media has been forced to point out that we pay them and that’s a factor in prices rising? I think you’d be surprised how many people understand exactly what they are and that it’s a tax on them. Wait till the dollar stores are empty, then the shit will really hit the fan.
brendancalling
@Suzanne: Doing the same. I’ve lost a bunch of weight since I stopped drinking, but I’m not happy w/my remaining belly fat. I’d also like more toned biceps and nicer chest. So, it’s off to Planet Fitness I go, once I’ve figured out at which school district I’ll be employed.
Fair Economist
Wow, Betty, that seems like a great idea.
brendancalling
@VeniceRiley: and it’s best to use words and phrasing such that it’s difficult/impossible to discern your politics.
Suzanne
@brendancalling: I will also put in a plug for Peloton, they have the bike, the treadmill, and their rowing machine. The instructors are all fiendishly attractive and there’s a big range of musical choices. Saved my sanity during the pandemic, during those winter months when there was ice all over the ground. I see used Peloton equipment on FB Marketplace all the time.
The subscription also includes home yoga, Pilates, and other stuff. I’ve been doing some of it with SuzMom, since she still needs to rehab her hip.
satby
Paul Krugman on stagflation, which was the economic landscape I graduated into after school. Everything old is new again.
Chief Oshkosh
@Aziz, light!: I disagree. Until Trump started touting tariffs, nobody thought much about them, and as you say, nobody knew (or knows) what they are. That is great, because all people know about tariffs now is that they’re something they never had to worry about before, but they have to now, that they are bad, and that this “bad” is 100% caused by Trump.
Trump = Tariffs = Bad. Trump = Bad.
David Collier-Brown
@David Collier-Brown: I cross-posted this discussion to AltNPS on bluesky
Ramalama
@Professor Bigfoot: Another nomination.
Please don’t think I’m stalking you.
Barbara
@caphilldcne: Even my husband, who has tried so hard for so long, to be apolitical, has drawn up a list of STATES WE WON’T BE VISITING. Florida is first on the list. Trump, and really, Trump enablers, broke his world view.
Betty Cracker
@Anyway: Bill can hear again, cured by either time or the hydrogen peroxide he poured into his ears for a few days. :-)
Your note about the fritters gave me an earworm — Jerry Garcia and David Grisman’s “Shady Grove.” (YouTube)
mappy!
This,
One bit of news and news delivery that mainstream media and Taco have no control over is the checkout line and resulting cash register receipt. And they can’t depend on the Enquirer to play nice with maga…
Lyrebird
@Deputinize America: Still hard for me to believe these jackasses got to adulthood without learning basic sense, let alone that someone would put them in such positions of power.Did you see the maps Anne Laurie posted, one with the military and DEA units and the other where there is more violent crime? Almost no overlap except where that thief (stealer of our personal info) ran into trouble, and when I was young, 14th St was THEEEE line* where white people who didn’t want to start something were told not to cross at night. I am not saying the whole system was good or without racism, just saying what the fascism was this fellow doing?
Make Orwell Fiction Again!
Make Lying Wrong Again!
etc. ETA: caphilldc or caphillnedc might rightly look down on the attitudes behind that advice, I am not defending it as right, just as common
ETA again! @caphilldcne: there you are!
WereBear
Essentially, he’s a dirty-minded ol’ dawg who knows how to handle wimmins and slurs and has a lot of money by mysterious means.
MAGA men want to be him. Women are afraid of him.
Sure Lurkalot
@Suzanne: I started lifting weights when I was a youngster like you and didn’t like it either. Doing circuit routines with cardio and weights helped get me jazzed to eventually do all weight workouts. Now I feel the same kind of buzz I get from cardio driven exercise.
Ella in New Mexico
So what, if any, is the legal standing for other states to invade DC with their National Guard? Isn’t there a remedy for DC to ask for in the courts?
Or are they just allowed to continue to influx more “the liberals already ruined it” Red Staters until they outnumber the actual residents of the city?
jlowe
Thanks for sharing this – it’s communication really worth doing. Next step is figuring out how to push the messages through the phones of the Guard members.
One thought about the whole rotten edifice collapsing is that it’s going to collapse on us as well as the foul people who wanted this so much they voted for it three times. Sadly, a part of resisting totalitarianism is bracing ourselves for the big ouchie that’s coming, willing to put our bodies on the line against heat, drought, flood, famine, disease, domestic terrorism etc. because it’s going to take out a bunch of the foul people too and perhaps realign demographics so that democratic norms might eventually emerge again in the US. I’m not looking forward towards any of this (no sane person would), but I think it’s an aspect of our own climate adventure that’s overlooked.
WereBear
@Cliosfanboy: I love the state too, and it kills me metaphorically to see it overrun by the worst impulses of MAGA instead of the hippie/outlaw/Key West vibe that was its gift to me.
That heart is a wild beast, but it should be. Conservatism destroys what it claims to love.
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: Ugh. My physiology (other than simply being a fat guy) has always hindered my cardio. My nostrils are so small that under cardio stress I simply cannot get enough air through them, so I have to be a mouth-breather. Bleah.
I’m doing it because I absolutely have to; but it ain’t ever been no fun.
But now *lifting?* That’s FUN! lol
WereBear
@brendancalling: I love it.
Another Scott
@Dorothy A. Winsor: On the one hand, I wasn’t there and AFAIK all the reporting is by people who weren’t there either. One has to figure out who is a trustworthy narrator here.
On the other hand, if he initiated the shoving, then he shouldn’t be surprised by the consequences.
On the other other hand, being mugged while out with a friend is a traumatic experience, whether one initiated the contact or not.
On the 4th hand, being out in a city at 0300, especially a city where one is a newcomer, should always put oneself on guard and on good behavior. He didn’t seem to be on good behavior at DOGE; maybe this will teach him a little humility and get him thinking outside his bubble (though I am not expecting it).
So, that’s where I am.
I think we all agree that whatever the ground truth, what happened to him should not be used as a pretext to federalize DC law enforcement and call out the national guard. That’s yet another abomination by 47 that we cannot treat as normal.
My $0.02.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
japa21
Put signs on those grocery store bulletin boards. “You have entered the Trumpflation Zone”
Professor Bigfoot
@brendancalling: May the Universe forgive me, but I’ve come to kinda like running on the treadmill… and I did the rowing machine once in cardio class and thank you, no. ;)
But I have purchased exercise equipment before that has famously become a clothes rack, so… let’s see if I can get this ol’ boy to the Y three times a week and MAYBE I’ll consider getting him (me!) a machine. (nevermind the space constraints!! LOL)
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: We still have Amish and honor pie stands. Come up and see us sometime.
CliosFanboy
@Deputinize America:
Not to mention, don’t pick fights with strangers , ESPECIALLY when you’re outnumbered.
Another Scott
@Marcopolo: Interesting. Made me look.
Relatedly, NGAUS.org (from November 2024):
Yeah, what’s happening in LA and DC and elsewhere has to be devastating to recruitment.
“Join the National Guard!
Serve the Nation! Earn Benefits! Save your Neighbors in Natural Disasters!Get called away from your job and family to walk city streets with dew points at 80F in the middle of the night in body armor while people mock you and scream “your father never loved you”!Winning message, there!! Sign me up!!11
Grr…
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gin & Tonic
@Deputinize America: And the question hangs in the air like a San Francisco fog: what’s a guy two years shy of legal drinking age doing out in the streets at 0300?
H.E.Wolf
@Professor Bigfoot:
Thank you for the kind words! You’re right; I do like to subvert the dominant Paradigm. And I sure did, in that class. :)
Gin & Tonic
@Professor Bigfoot: Have you tried swimming? You mentioned going to the Y, they usually have a pool, and you pretty much have to breathe through your mouth.
H.E.Wolf
@Geminid:
@H.E.Wolf: As Teddy Roosevelt might say:
“Walk softly, and carry a bright stick.”
As it happens, I took a 90-min. workshop once, in which we used light sabers. The instructor was an aikido practitioner, and adapted some katas for us.
When he turned out the classroom lights, it was “bright stick” scenarios indeed!
karensky
@Betty Cracker: The Amish bakery targeted folks strategically just like you do with your flyers! Awesome
Another Scott
@oldster: @Suzanne:
I haven’t seen all his videos, obviously, but I noticed recent ones, like this one seems to have more fancy editing than before.
They also seem to be playing with the colors in some of the scenes. Not as bad as this blog of infamous examples, but it’s still strong enough to be noticed (at least by me).
I’m not the audience, though, so carry on. Crush Cuomo and Adams and Sliwa!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
H.E.Wolf
@Professor Bigfoot:
Re: motivation. I do surprisingly well when I make little charts and give myself stars for doing a detested chore. It’s working for my PT exercises. *($@# it, I am going to achieve those #@(&* stars three times a week.
One of my siblings used to eat one M&M for every piece of paperwork filed or tossed (the sugar highs were epic). That may not be on a cardiologist’s “yes” list, though.
Apparently the bribe/reward system works really well for members of our family! I’m passing it along in case I have any cousins here. :)
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: I did not realize (until Adam informed me) the extent of Coristine’s ties to Russia. Maybe the unarmed teens who beat that punk should get a Medal of Freedom from a post-fascist U.S. administration. 🤔
emjayay
Comparing crime rates between cities seems a little tricky to me. New York City for example is huge, incorporating five boroughs including one that is relatively suburban and on an island that should be part of New Jersey, even though when people hear “New York City” they probably mostly imagine Manhattan. Washington DC, kind of like San Francisco, does not include the metro area but only the central city. DC is only about 20% larger than San Francisco.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker:
It’s remarkable, isn’t it? Every rock you turn over in this administration has russia under it.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: If it’s any consolation, Jack LaLanne said he hated, absolutely hated to exercise. But he loved the results more.
Keep at it. Inspire us all. ;-)
Best wishes,
Scott.
Cliosfanboy
@H.E.Wolf: Mommy and Daddy were able to shield him from the consequences of his own bad actions in the past. OOPS. Karma came calling.
Mel
@Betty Cracker: Thank you!
H.E.Wolf
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Thanks to you in return. I too regret that the incident happened at all, and that someone was injured.
Gin & Tonic
BTW, looks like Zelensky is bringing quite the posse with him to Washington tomorrow. I’m waiting to see photos of US military personnel on their knees rolling out the red carpet for them at Andrews.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@brendancalling:
Having followed PMJ since they were literally in Scott and Robyn’s apartment and seen various setups of the band live, yeah, it’s nothing but ridiculously talented people.
Nice connection!
zhena gogolia
@brendancalling: I love that!
wonkie
I think the guerrilla communication is a great idea! One place to hand it out is to send a copy to activists in DC and hopefully they can hand them out to the guards in DC. As for distribution in OH–hand them out anywhere. Maybe stage a media event and get the flier into the hands of local media to cover and, in effect distribute for you.
years ago when a group of us were trying to shut down a horribly abused hoarding situation what was protected by local government, we made fliers with pictures of the interior of the facility–dogs smashed into crates covered with filth–and laid the fliers all over town in laundry mats, shopping carts, benches at bus stops, near (but not in) mail boxes, the lobby of the hospital, all over. It was a small town and we put out about 1000 fliers.
I don’t know if we got any results of not–hard to measure–but the facility was shut down by former WA Ag and now Gov Bob Ferguson.
MagdaInBlack
@Gin & Tonic: What are your thoughts on this “posse” joining him?
Other MJS
I’ve been browsing for resources and found that Visibility Brigade has lots of good stuff (and links to other good stuff), even if you’re not planning to put signage on overpasses.
I’ve found that PosteRazor is a great tool that enlarges an image into chunks of PDF pages that you can assemble on a poster board.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Brilliant strategy. Safety (and witnesses) in numbers.
I hope the US of Trump does not impede their visit.
MagdaInBlack
@Elizabelle: I am very interested in seeing how trump and crew (mis)handle this.
Shakti
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Ok.
The only pause I would have is to consider how I’m being conditioned not to feel overall sympathy for humans.
I don’t assume that’s what happened or that he was injured, simply because everyone in this administration is a liar on a logorithmic level.
They are actively destroying record keeping and journalistic institutions of all sorts, and Trump has been begging for a pretext to do this to DC for years. It’s like Trump’s ear that was injured from the attempt on his life. Manufacturing consent.
Big Balls had a bunch of private security with him when he went to all those DOGE agencies. I don’t believe that twerp he “lost” that security for a second.
I reject this stupid media framing that DC is super full of “crime” and they are so concerned about “crime”. It’s a fucking lie.
Why would anyone so concerned about “crime” overfund ICE over the levels of several security agencies and police departments and most saliently, authorise ICE agents to operate with masks and no ids, who refuse to identify themselves, an enormous home invasion shaped hole to drive through?
Crime, my ass. The algo pushed a story about me about some Apple alert that lets you push out your location to your emergency contacts to call certain numbers so if you get Taken by ICE they can attempt to track you — pure motherfucking email/facebook/whatsapp forward shit, that actually could be a smart thing to do. Thanks in part for this Mechanical Turk keyboard smashing ADULT.
Mart
“It’s impossible to know what impact this sort of guerilla political communication has, but I think it’s not zero.” The right works these edges hard. We befriended a Haitian expat who ran a pizza joint. We went in soon after the felon won in 2016 bitching about it. For the first time he raised his voice, told us we don’t know his politics, that the Clinton’s charity had ripped off Haitians and they were horrible persons. Later read examples of how the Felon’s campaign used Cambridge Analytica, that boasted it knew you based on 40 of your Facebook “likes”. One of the targets was Haitians in Miami, and the message to them was the horrors of the Clinton’s hurting Haiti thru their charity. Found the whole thing hard to believe it could work, and frightening that it did work.
Baud
@Mart:
People believe what they want to believe.
Harrison Wesley
@MagdaInBlack: The honor guard of ICE agents will be a tell.
Betty Cracker
@Mart: It is jarring to run into that sort of cognitive dissonance. And like you said, a lot of it is deliberately manufactured by charlatans armed with propaganda tools that totalitarians of past generations could only dream of having.
On a related note, I am acquainted with and related to a fairly large number of Trump voters. Some are morons who fit every dumb, lazy, racist cracker stereotype. Others are people from diverse backgrounds whom I know to be of above average intelligence and who are polite, kind, generous and do skilled highly skilled work that makes the world a better place when they’re not voting for hideous fascist assholes.
People are mindbogglingly complicated, man. There are no simple answers.
Elizabelle
@MagdaInBlack: Hopefully JD Vance is still running amok in the Cotswolds, pretending to be to the manor born.
XeckyGilchrist
I love this angle. Thank you!
Elizabelle
@Mart: Which reminds.
Cambridge Analytica fell right off the radar after 2016 election. Why?
It is hiding in obscurity with the Panama Papers. Again, why?
Why was this not a bigger story, with staying power? I realize the media is craven. But someone has to have done some excellent work on the subject. (Pro Publica?)
Thank you for your story about the Haitian friends. We need to be aware of that, and able to counterprogram.
Ramalama
Cats on a Couch, Instagram link, makes guerilla style memos in 3D (along with videos) and posts them places wherever JD Vance goes to suck up money or to relax in his jeans on vacay. Her goal is to hound him, mixed-metaphor-wise.
The Cats lady noted that some of the posters that were taped by fans of her account to poles in busy DC areas were still up two weeks later. Which meant nobody had pulled them down.
It’s a useful practice. I’m glad Marcy Wheeler also thought to post memos for National Guardspeeps.
wonkie
Local group plans protest of Gov. DeWine helping Donald Trump with National Guard troops
wonkie
The political right puts huge effort into contacting a wide array of low info voters and many of those voters the contact with rightwingers is the first time they have every felt contacted by anyone. Just the fact that REpublicans seemed to want to communicate with them made them pre-disposed to hear the message–especially since the message has a calculated emotional effect in an info vaccum. I know there are lots of Dems involved in face to face contacts with people but really we need to do more and more and more of it.
ruckus
shitforbrains – djt, was supposed to be their savior, their guy, that would make their lives better than anyone else their money could buy. But. And it of course is a huge, smelly but, shitforbrains is exactly that, shit for brains. (Yes I know it’s crude and disgusting – but it is appropriate) Humanity has always had people with money, no matter what form that money took or was called. We call it dollars, others pounds, lire, or now – euros, gold, silver, etc. Money is nice, more money is nicer, too much money very often leads to pompous arrogance and the concept that the wealthiest is the best. But humanity is not measured by money, that measures wealth – and often pompous arrogance, because of course more money is better and way more money is best. Now having some is better than having none, but having way, way more than enough is often a human disaster in action. Not always of course, but often more than a minor annoyance. We used to tax huge monetary value at a high level but of course money paid for that to change somewhat so that money could be the measure of the value of a human being, not the size of a bank account. It isn’t. Humanity isn’t money. Now that’s not to say that humanity can’t be bought, much of it can. And often is. But what is being bought is not humanity.
Is there a fix for this? I wanna bet no, because some/many of those with money will pay some to insure that their money remains their money and their, if you will, calling. As in money defines them, not their humanity or lack thereof, every damn thing is about money. Is money an illness? No, but the greed about it is. Is there a fix? Not that money can’t override.
wonkie
Someone else is engaged in guerilla messaging. I saw this on Blue Sky:![]()
ruckus
@Elizabelle:
The answer is MONEY.
Money buys a lot. It buys humans. Not in the same way it once did in this country, but it still does. Because some money is necessary in a modern world, but too much or basically none is unworkable in modern life.
Thomas C Smith
@jlowe: Getting a message to National Guard members phones is a great idea. ICE phones too. Not only do they get to hear us but they see that we know who they are.
Emily B.
A couple of months ago, Watergirl posted some info about the News Boosting project from Postcards to Swing States. They’re focused on Virginia, and the idea is to send each voter multiple postcards over the course of a few months highlighting different news stories. The postcards direct recipients to a website, InformedVotersVA.org, where they can find the news articles in full.
I signed up for 100 postcards, the smallest available option. They arrived at the end of July and have to be mailed on August 25. The front of the post card has a short quote from a story by a local ABC affiliate about Abigail Spanberger’s affordable housing plan. On the back, you write: “Hi [Voter name] It’s great to see someone fighting to build more affordable housing in Virginia. Many people have left the state because of rising prices and the housing shortage. [My name]” Very simple, no personal touches allowed.
Postcards to Swing States says they’re doing this as a test project. Seems like a worthwhile experiment to me—even though it’s going to be a race to get all my postcards written by next Monday.
caphilldcne
@Barbara: it’s really sad and I hate having to do it but invading a nearby city with the national guard is crossing a red line.
caphilldcne
@Lyrebird: I certainly think people need to be cognizant of their own safety when being out at night. I was sort of afraid of crossing H and many years ago 6th street when I first moved here so I get that feeling.
ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
People are mindbogglingly complicated, man. There are no simple answers.
1 billion percent this.
I was at one time long ago a mental health counselor. For many people I had as clients, money was a part of the problems. Not too much money but how to earn more than enough, or have enough, or worry about enough, or wonder how much is enough. It wasn’t always the important part of their story but the deeper one dug, the concept was there. Money makes a modern society work, it’s the grease for the gears, the thing that makes the lights work or puts food on the table. How many people in this country grow, raise, make our food? Well we all do to some aspect but not at the base level of how we have food in a modern society. Money is the concept of how we have food, electricity, water, a roof over our heads. Or not. It’s one way we measure humanity these days. Not saying that’s right but it is a reality. Most of us do things other than growing, raising, creating, delivering our food. I made tools that created bottles and other items for putting food into. But not all of us do this level because there are numerous levels in modern life.
We have social security so that most of us can have a not unreasonable retirement. And food. And shelter. But all of it is a part of modern life. Not all that long ago it wasn’t. Over lifetimes sure, but not many of them.
Parfigliano
@Time Travelin: I’m disappointed “big balls” wasn’t beaten to death
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: Yeah, the Paradise Papers fell off the map quickly.
:-(
The ICIJ.org website for it is still out there.
“Follow the Money!!”
Best wishes,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: Thanks for the link.
Citizen Alan
@Dorothy A. Winsor: i don’t have any sympathy for him. Frankly, he’s on my list of people who should be hanged after the truth and reconciliation hearings are done.
ruckus
Never forget that this is a democracy.
This is not shitforbrains country.
It is OUR country. All of ours. Not his, not the uber rich’s country, ALL OF OURS. Sure the uber wealthy can own a fair bit of land but land ownership is not the country. The country is all of US. The people, not some of the people, ALL OF THE PEOPLE. All the skin colors, all the genders or seemingly lack thereof, ALL OF US. Money buys stuff, it does not buy the country. The country is all of ours. Regardless of skin tone or gender, or money. ALL OF OURS. You don’t have to own land to be a citizen and own your piece of this country. You do have to vote and protect the country from being stolen or burnt to the ground. But that is being a part owner. Sure we only own a tiny bit but we all own the same amount, no matter our bank account size or existence. The more of us there are, the smaller each piece but it is still our piece and each one of those pieces is the same size, money does not buy you a bigger piece of the country. More dirt maybe but not more of the country. Each of us gets one piece – our one piece. We get a voice in how it works and how it is protected to continue to work. And that voice is not louder for any one of us, no matter how much money we have. Money is not the basis for citizenship. Breathing is.
And we cannot forget this. We’ve had marches to show the monied that they are not the country, that no matter how much money they have, their slice of the country is the same size as mine or yours, or anyone one else’s. Color does not own the country, not green as in currency, not white as in pale skin, human beings of all shapes, sizes, gender, bank accounts or lack thereof, own their piece of this country. What is going on with grabbing people off the street by masked goons with no legal concept is not this country, pompous arrogance because of money is not this country, skin color is not this country. I got paid during a war for over 3 1/2 years to help protect this country of ALL of us. Not much mind you but paid. Millions of others have been paid to do that same job. In different ways but paid to do their part in keeping this country for ALL OF US, not the monied, not the pale skinned, ALL of US. Every damn last one of us. A bank account or accounts is not the measure of citizenship, no matter how much is in them.
Citizen Alan
@Barbara: whwhen I fly back to mississippi (which I try never to do anymore), i refuse to take any flight that carries me through dallas/fort worth, because I don’t want to spend an hour in texas, even in an airport.
ruckus
Betty
In fact, I think all these power moves are designed in part to keep us from noticing that.
They may not see it that way but this IS the reality. Some people with money (and often not actually all that much….) think that money is what owns this country.
But that is the exact opposite of a democracy.
And it’s bullshit.
Money is often about power, sometimes the power to purchase and sometimes to influence what others will believe for the monied’s benefit. It isn’t in a democracy. Breathing and doing so not illegally is all that is needed in a democracy to be part owner. Now sure one should vote for things that make it better and vote for those that will make it better for all, and NOT FOR THEMSELVES BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY HUMAN THEY CAN THINK ABOUT. (I give you djt. Please take your present far, far, far away…)
NickM
@caphilldcne: WV ironically has a major ad campaign going on in the DC Metro, advertising the eastern panhandle being only an hour away. Ironic.
E.
We are preparing to picket at local semi-pro baseball games on the “release the Epstein files” issue. Not my fave but designed to get people talking about it in between innings. We will have a “Join us in calling for Congressman X to open a congressional inquiry on Epstein’s crimes.” Not exclusively anti-Trump as we are going to be open about Clinton being in the “files” too but that’s where the weight really falls. I wish everyone would do this. Or do something. Do something united and consistent. Everything depends on us winning quickly.
Redshift
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Keep in mind that Marcy’s description is based on Coristine’s own description in the police report, and even he says he shoved the woman into the car and went to “deal with” the allegedly threatening teens. He’s a well-documented racist asshole, so it’s entirely likely he wanted to play the hero and started the fight himself, and could have left unharmed if he’d just gotten in the car.
Redshift
Stand Up For Science has microflyers that the organizer has put in places like egg cartons at the grocery store, in addition to more usual ones like libraries.
ruckus
“If we keep pushing back in whatever ways we can, the whole rotten edifice will collapse. I believe that.”
Something we always need to do in a democracy. And the reason is that life is never equal for all. A democracy is supposed to give us at least the concept of equality but that money part always, ALWAYS sticks it’s head in the works, almost always looking for more money and/or power to buy with all that money. Now it’s not the money that does that, it’s the person with the money that does it. And it’s not everyone with money but some will sell themselves for money. Not their skill, themselves. And if you wonder which side djt is on, he has zero skills. But he’s worth all the money, just ask him.
Humanity is a often a funny part of life, often believing that their humanity, or lack thereof makes them worth all the money.
ruckus
@Marcopolo:
Sending people out to fuck over their neighbors is rarely a positive concept for most people. Sure there is a segment that doesn’t mind doing it for any advantage they can get. And the bigger the city the smaller the percentage of those they might know, or who might know them. But anyone with more brains than a gutter drain is very unlikely to see this as a positive in any way. Now unfortunately there is a not insignificant percentage of humans that at least seem to have less brain power than a gutter drain.
CCL
@brendancalling: Dead thread and all, but this is brilliant! Especially getting that “he lied to us!” out there.
I can remember A$@#$@holes in the grocery stores loudly complaining about the price of eggs.
Brilliant, just brilliant.
Glory b
@Citizen Alan: AND he’s the son of a very successful investment banker who also owns the “Lesser Evil” snack food company.
I am boycotting it, I urge everyone to fo the same.
prostratedragon
Guerilla action on a lightpost.
From the comments, these people provide some content:
Marc
Sometimes it’s helpful to remember that Mamdani’s Mom is Mira Nair, award winning Indian-American filmmaker. It probably comes kind of natural.
Marc
Missed one important Who is Big Balls?
I have trouble believing that any of the target market for these things is capable of being redirected by mere facts, they’ve shown no such tendency in the past. I think a point that may have been missed by some is that effective guerrilla political communication often involves strategic use of lies. It is a form of political propaganda, after all.
Bill Arnold
@Betty Cracker:
My hearing is generally improved by using a basic warm water ear wash. Drugstores have a basic ear-cleaning syringe with a head that sprays mostly sideways. A bowl of water warmed in the microwave, not hot but not lukewarm.
Also, men in particular should wear hearing protection when around loud noises. I keep a pair of corded earplugs around my neck so there is never an excuse. Was at an airshow a couple of years ago and put them in when an F-35 started doing its fly-byes. (Those are LOUD, and i could visually see the engine exhaust port at 2 kilometers on a clear blue day.)