Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

The first wave is just to normalize it.

Get em! All those dudes in beanies drinking craft beer in pinball bars and starting random beard oil companies are nothing but terrorists! Don't let them escape!

The fascists are coming! The fascists are coming!

will
Cadet
Bonespurs
put Bounties
on the Homeless*

dead or alive?

b. can you be Homeless
and Still be a member
of our National
Guard?

*if thedjt makes America
any more Expensive
that'll soon be
1/2 of Us

@2 hit the nail on the head. That's why calls to just ignore them are the worst possible response and the opposite of "giving Trump what he wants"

@6. You must be referring Tensora's admonition of street action, a position I strongly agree with.

I have two honest questions for you;

Among all the ways citizens have agency in opposing some government policy, what makes direct action superior or necessary or attractive to the alternatives?
Do you personally participate in direct actions? To this question my hope is that you do, frequently. That would be respectable. I have this suspicion that here at TS there are at least a few Chickantifas - that analogue of Chicken Hawks who called for war but never served in the military. Chickantifas likewise promote direct action and/or civil unrest but let others catch the pepper spray and batons.

@6: The best way to oppose Trump on this issue is to take him to court, a place where he loses early and often. Giving his supporters images of armed soldiers menacing scruffy lefties in blue cities is exactly what he wants, and plays right into his hands. Images of soldiers patrolling empty streets would show dramatically how bullying doesn't work, how mobilizing reservists wastes their time, and how all of it wastes our money.

@8 "Images of soldiers patrolling empty streets would show dramatically how bullying doesn't work"

The opposite actually. Troops are being sent into Portland because the people of Portland have been protesting ICE. If all the protesters go home Trump will have achieved exactly what he hoped to with his bullying tactics.

@7 "Do you personally participate in direct actions?"

Yes, but that's all I'm gonna say on the subject, except to encourage others to do the same.

@9: "Troops are being sent into Portland because the people of Portland have been protesting ICE."

Prior to Trump's bullying, there have been several dozen protestors on any given day, and fewer at night. That's hardly "the people of Portland."

'On Monday mornings since January, an interdenominational religious group organized in part by local Quakers stands on the sidewalk in front of the building and holds up protesting signs. They are quiet — most of the sound comes from the honking of passersby car horns, generally in support of the protesters — and peaceful; most are seniors. About 30 were there this week; the group’s mailing list was said to include 60 people. Around noon, they packed up their signs and later other groups, at least one of them Buddhist, took their place. Most of the protesters come from a variety of religious groups.'

'People there say the scene is different at night, when a smaller and more hard-edged group — some of the day-timers called them “rowdies” — show up. They make noise, have left graffiti, and have thrown objects. In response, ICE troops, whose appearance usually is limited in the day, were said to sometimes emerge with tear gas. The usual number of people showing up at night, according to the daytime regulars, is small, usually fewer than two dozen.'

(https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/09/11/a-more-complicated-protest-outside-portlands-ice-facility/)

"If all the protesters go home Trump will have achieved exactly what he hoped to with his bullying tactics."

And so what? The protestors, "all" (several dozen) of them, can return immediately after the National Guard troops leave. It's all theatre anyway, as there seems to be absolutely no evidence to show the protests at the Portland ICE building have had any effect of any kind whatsoever on ICE's activities there.

"Yes, but that's all I'm gonna say on the subject, except to encourage others to do the same."

Hey, leading from far, far, far in the rear is still leading! Even from there, you can still bravely send any number of young persons to get caught in the middle and injured, when the rowdies rile the cops, or vice versa.

@7: While you didn't exactly play against the varsity, you still won this round rather easily. Nicely done!

@10 so to summarize: we both recognize that Trump is sending the troops to silence dissent, but where we differ is you believe the best response would be for the dissent to silence themselves. To show "how bullying doesn't work." Do I have that right?

@11: To summarize accurately, I have proposed engaging Trump in a place and manner in which he has repeatedly lost. You have proposed engaging Trump in a place and manner of his choosing. Please consult Sun Tzu as to which method will more likely succeed.

Now, the ideal would be for the National Guard to arrive and find ... several dozen Quaker or Buddhist protestors. But the rowdies can't tolerate that; the rowdies will have violence, no matter what they must do -- or whom they must hurt -- to get it. (As the most obstreperous of all our unwanted preening, prancing, political purity poseurs, they can have no less.) So we don't have the option of a peaceful response to Trump's provocation. Therefore, the next best option would be no response at all.

Just go join the leadership of the International Solidarity Movement. For decades, they've reliably gotten young persons killed for no gain. That's your ideal of direct action.

@12 "Now, the ideal would be for the National Guard to arrive and find ... several dozen Quaker or Buddhist protestors."

Never let let it be said you can't grasp a concept even after being repeatedly beat over the head with it

Tensorna to Martin Luther King, Jr: Why don't you guys just like... go home and come back later?

Groundbreaking stuff.

@14: Tell us you know absolutely nothing about the Civil Rights movement, without the shameful agony of explicitly admitting you know absolutely nothing about the Civil Rights movement.

(That F minus you got on your high school essay about Henry David Thoreau was trying to tell you something, too...)

More like Secretary of Douche