Yesterday, I was thinking about Kent State and the impact that had.
And that made me wonder how our present-day media will cover the inevitable massacres that Trump will be ordering. The Chicago apartment raid was appalling, and yet even people I know who follow the news did not hear of it until I told them about it. So if federal troops open fire on Portland's protesters, will mainstream media even deign to mention it?
Considering how hard the media works to present Donald Trump as a normal president, as just another president doing presidential things, I have my doubts about whether the media would do more than note in passing that America troops had opened fire on American citizens in an American city.
The networks are already owned by the billionaires supporting the destruction of the country. This is why the takeover will be finished by the time most people know it is happening.
ICE response to Portland protests have been over-the-top. Groups have been outside ICE facility have been ICE fishing ... donuts on pole and string. Yes they have been verbally abusive but by and large peaceful. ICE response has been aggressive, drones, chemical crowd control including pepper balls and tear gas.
Later they pushed the crowds down streets, pushing down some protesters and firing more munitions into the crowds without clear sign of provocation.
They are trying to provoke people to violence. They want to justify calling up National Guard. To me, the local police should arrest ICE for rioting and causing harm to public safety.
It is individual brutality that should have consequences. They are not keeping them from executing federal law. But they cannot throw pepperballs at preachers at a peaceful protest. That should have an arrest warrant. This is why they should not be able to hide behind masks.
Here's the conundrum...should law enforcement be protecting peaceful protesters from ICE? If it was any other group there would be arrests of the antagonists .... right?
Chilling reading...violent provocation by the feds, and the ICE squadristi had their own film crews documenting the violence from behind the goon wall. This stuff will be shown to tRump, who then goes all "Portland on fire...out of control...", and then invokes the Insurrection Act, bypassing the TROs.
The media seems totally complicit and asleep at the wheel. This incident should have been top headlines. It's...nowhere. His bumbling and fumbling is an afterthought, or Trump being Trump. It's pathetic. Had Biden done this, it would be headlines for months.
This is what really cheeses my crackers the most! Had anyone in the Biden administration done any one, single thing that the Trump “administration” is doing, it would be all over the news with outrage, people screaming to high heck, and most likely articles of impeachment (or multiples). I struggle to find the words to quantify just how grossly out of bounds the media, companies, and institutions are with their complacency, capitulation, and false equivalency. The damage is reaching the point of irrevocable on just about every front.
More people have died in ICE custody than died at Kent State, yet we hear very little about them. We should be telling their stories so that everyone knows about Trump's atrocities.
Short answer: the economy. Americans have become used to having it all, meaning that we can have a lawbreaking ‘cult daddy’ in the Oval Office and not suffer any tangible consequences from it. It’s an indulgence. The Trump supporters in my orbit have refused to take his abuses seriously because they can afford to ignore it. They love their guy, but he clearly doesn’t love them back and the hangover is about to kick in; it will be a doozy, imho.
While I agree that economic hardship generally resonates with people, it's also difficult to get the average person to understand who bears the blame for a bad economy. Unfortunately, millions of Americans are disengaged. They gripe about the price of eggs but can't explain why the prices are so high. They pay little attention to the news and have little patience for political discussion because they find it boring. They're more interested in their social media feeds, the events on The Bachelor, and whatever life hacks Tik Tok is serving up. These are the people who need to be convinced to care, and I don't know how that happens.
This! I admit that through his first term I was somebody that stayed completely disengaged. At the time I had gone back to school full time and had good reason to not get caught up in his bullshit theatrics. This time I can’t ignore it, and I have no idea how there are so many people that are. This is not normal. This is not business as usual. this is not just a crazy man throwing a tantrum with safe guards in place. I had a conversation with someone I hadn’t seen in a few months who did not know about National Guard going into any cities, didn’t know about the Chicago apartment raid, didn’t know about the Venezuelan fishing boats, and unaware of Fox News (basically) taking over TikTok.... Where they spend most their time.
Too many either pay no attention because "it doesn't affect me," or they let propaganda be spoonfed to them. I don't know how to get ahead of that.
Yes - simple, to-the-point messaging is extremely important. Marketers and advertisers have been convincing us for decades that we don't have enough time. That means political messaging needs to be as succinct as possible. If you want to turn the tide quickly, you have to figure out how to convince the 85 million people who didn't vote in 2024 why they need to care now - forget about changing MAGA minds.
They get hungry. If the AI bubble bursts as is being predicted and recession comes, it could happen. Right now, we have record airline sales. It hasn’t happened yet.
The Chicago raid echoes the murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark orchestrated by Cook County Sheriff Edward J Hanrahan. Shot dead in their beds at night with Hampton’s eight-months pregnant partner right next to him. The brief was that a future US Congressman dropped a dime on Hampton and Clark.
It was well known locally but not widely reported nationally. The background to it, that Hampton had a message which began to cross cultural and racial boundaries, was portrayed in the film “Judas and the Black Messiah”.
I was around then and, y'know what? After Kent State a slim majority of Americans surveyed held that 4 students who were killed had it coming to them. This is what the working class wants--beat the crap out of people and kill. Be tough, play rough, and everything will be fixed.
I have an unusually well informed friend in Canada operating under similar foggy news reporting. So it isn't just in the States. I have always found this friend very well informed (worked as a civil servant in Canada for years) on American political events. The friend frequently has alerted me of events. Not anymore. I also found myself the Chicago apartment raid and other active ICE events. The friend has no cancelled a DC legal conference trip. The "Billionaire GAG" on the press, sadly, appears to be a united action against the informed and best interests of the American middle and working classes.
What most of the mainstream media don’t seem to realize is that Trump now owns their collective ass. And that means that it is now open season on any reporter, columnist, camera operator, or any other of their employees. If any one of them even looks cross eyed at a Stormtrooper, they will be, at best, arrested, beaten, pepper-sprayed… and at worst, shot dead on the spot. If they thought that telling each other to BOHICA would spare them from the worst kind of criminal violence, they were sadly mistaken.
Trump himself is increasingly demented—and he never did have much interest in governing anyway. He is just a puppet, babbling what our own home-grown Himmler and Heydrich (Miller and Vought, in case you were wondering) tell him to say and do. And both Miller and Vought are so turned on by the advent of our Fourth Reich that they can’t help slobbering in ecstasy like a couple of hyenas on an Ibogaine rush! We are all in very serious trouble—and that includes MAGA. What, did they think that all this fascist violence would stop, after the Stormtroopers and the Party had finished with Americans of colour? Did Hitler stop when he had rounded up all the Communists and Socialists? Did Stalin stop when he had finished off the ‘kulaks’? Once people like these have the taste of blood in their mouths, they won’t stop until they are forced to stop….
I, too, follow the news but also hadn't heard about the Chicago raid, either in print or via broadcasts. (But I live outside Portland, and we've been a bit preoccupied the past few days).
And now trump’s cronies are taking over all the national media. Kent State became notorious because it was on the cover of Time magazine. Time captured so many iconic moments in history and helped turn the tide on many issues.
The way to fight back against these no warrant searches is through a civil suit for damages. About half of those targeted were American citizens, all of them black. What we need at this point is not ambulance chasing lawyers but ICE chasing lawyers. Having your front door bashed in and being held handcuffed for three hours should be worth at least $100,000 per citizen. All the kids involved should have college tuition funds waiting for them when they grow up. If I was a lawyer, I would be in Chicago signing up clients right now. Money and ongoing bad publicity are the only things that can stop this!
Paul, can you contact appropriate lawyers in Chicago? This needs to get going!
This will also give ongoing publicity to this horrific event as the case winds its way through court procedures.
We need both and all. Community action, work stoppages, legal action, boycotts, resistance art and music, and state actions to protect their residents and stand firm against federal government excess.
PS Baker, Chicagoan here...I watched this video early this morning and was sickened but so proud of those neighbors/citizens who kept at it, honking, talking and yelling at the supposed agents. I have seen several reels this morning of a similar nature. One was outside of a parking garage on Monroe just west of Michigan Ave. Literally these thugs had no identifying uniforms. This is despicable and has to stop! The fact that Krugman said he spoke to some people in the "know" and they hadn't heard about the raid of the apartment building in the middle of the night on Tuesday frankly worries me greatly.
True that, but this is why they wear masks and no ID. IANAL but presumably you first have to sue the government to get their names. A long process, but that in itself could start to make these goons worry. Deploying things like voice and gait identification might not turn up names but, again, just starting forensics would send a message. It is vital that the bad guys start to wonder if there will be a reckoning.
This is a very useful point, and identifying ICE and other federal agents is a priority. Not doxxing, simple identification with names. If they're engaged in public actions, they are not undercover and there is no need to hide there identities.
Supreme Farce member Kavanaugh made sure individuals would not be subject to law suits or any accountability from their thuggish and extreme force actions. Supreme Farce's "2022 majority opinion in Egbert v. Boule, which as I noted at the time, 'made it practically impossible to sue a federal officer over an alleged constitutional rights violation.'" Quote from today's The Ink/Anand Giridharadas Substack post.
Paul who? Krugman? Why would an older economist in NYC know who the appropriate lawyers are, he isn’t a civil rights attorney. Illinois attorneys general and the Illinois chapter of the ACLU are likely exploring their options already. Their counterparts here on the West Coast have said they’ve been preparing since last January and have talked to their counterparts in Illinois.
Well, when the Illinois ACLU steps up to the plate and files a suit, I'll start clapping. Paul Krugman's been around forever, and he knows LOTS of people. And Paul Krugman gets things done.
Don’t forget about the folks at “The Contrarian.” Norm Eisen and Katie Phang are spending most of their time litigating against the Trump administration.
Actually, the ACLU is behind many of the lawsuits filed against the Trump administration, but I do not think they have acted on this Chicago outrage yet.
Heinous as these attacks on democracy are, they are a distraction from where billionaires’ real action is: the tokenization, control, and theft of everyone’s money. Is it better to buy into the DOGE-Palantir-Oracle control apparatus, or opt out and see what happens? Oops, trick question—you can’t opt out!
October 18 is the next national day of action. There are dozens of rallys planned in every state. Find a No Kings event near you and get out there!!! Your country needs you!
It’s interesting, a number of European countries have constitutional monarchies (so joining in NO KING doesn’t make sense) but they are joining in solidarity on October 18 with NO DICTATORS, as you suggest!
In Canada we call it No Tyrants day. The King of Canada is a source of democratic/parliamentary sovereignty and rule of law in our parliamentary democracy.
Each day from Canada I send out the best energy I can to the utterly decent Americans of all political persuasions who are devoted to the principles of your democracy and your republic.
The protests I've been to have No Kings, but they are always more than that. I like No Kings because it's very direct and to the point. Constitutional monarchy is too abstract a concept for 70% of America.
It's really just mere semantical hair splitting. It really means exactly the same thing. We could say Kings, dictators, tyrants, authoritarians, autocrats, etc., etc. We accept none of them.
Or organize a No Kings event in your neighborhood even if it is small at first as we have 13 months to go to removal of those who are supporting Trump politically in Congress! The ultimate peaceful “weapon” is to regain control of majorities not only in the House but also in 5 targeted states in the Senate: ME, NC,OH, NE and IA! We can do it if we work together starting now? If we fail, we will be living in a fascist dictatorship! That is not an exaggeration, is it?
It is very important that we get to 3.5% of population participating in the October 18th events. Go look up the work of Erica Chenoweth in this subject. That’s the threshold that represents our first step on the road to bringing this nightmare to an end.
Boycott the entire Christmas buying binge. Also, make no durable goods purchases, and take out no loans. If possible, pay off credit cards and then don't use them.
A neighbor is an immigration attorney and she says when undocumented workers get uppity about safety, wage violations, workers' rights, the employers call in ICE, because a couple of years ago, there were many more willing to take their place. Code violations were reported against the landlord and residents cleaning their hallways....the landlord called ICE. The landlord should be outed...that's coming up here where tenants of several different properties have organized a union in the city, I predict.
They invaded from above using aircraft, but they did a lot less damage than the bomb dropped on MOVE in 1985 in Philly. But that was the city police. Perhaps that was OK according to conservative lore. State's rights and all that.
It appears that they are attempting to control the narrative. A clear report of the news without having to go to the Guardian or Reuters is not available. Reminds me of the song: You won't hear about the revolution on the TV. Social media is a clear and present danger to our ways of life. Thanks for the report.
I support the NYT, even though it's bending in the wind. I also support the WSJ for the same reason. They do have some very good reporting, though you can definitely see the difference post January 2025.
You've got to read past the headlines. Those are adjusted for Trump.
I think it’s really important to stop supporting outlets like them right now, there needs to be some consequences to the media for their negligence at a time like this. There are far better sources for news, lots of independent channels on YouTube started by people like Joyann Reid, Don Lemmon, and there’s Zeteo on Substack itself. It’s so important we support effective journalism right now, so please consider this 💜
The reason mainstream media did not lose its collective mind over the Chicago government terrorist attack is that mainstream media is protecting its bottom line from the Trumpanistas. Just ask Shari Redstone and Bob Iger. I also suspect the folks who run mainstream media don’t give a shit.
MSM executives are simply afraid of the administration. They're afraid of being singled out by Trump and having their network become the target of a lawsuit, no matter how frivolous it is. There are a lot of fearless journalists out there, but it's their cowardly editors and network CEOs who are desperate to avoid making Trump mad.
Exactly, NYT ran an article today of an interview with 50 different attorneys from both parties who have worked in the DOJ in previous administrations....after the explosion and fire of the SC judge's home, the writing is on the wall.
Yes, they did print the results of that bipartisan survey of former judges & senior lawyers. _Most_of_them_ only spoke anonymously. Says something, eh?
Yes. Heather Cox Richardson has pointed out that there are 52,000 (!) elections next month across the country - obviously most of them for local and low-level officials, though not all. But that's where retaking control of government starts. That's where the Republicans got started and we are left with rampant gerrymandering and corruption at all levels as a result. Opposition needs to get organized.
Probably the three elections this year with the greatest national impact are the Governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia, and the Supreme Court retention ballot in Pennsylvania.
HCR also pointed out that this is the time for old white women to really come to the fore. Even ICE will be a bit embarrassed to attack people who look like their granny.
Trump claims the blue cities are hell holes. This raises the obvious question: if that's true, why do the people in those cities keep voting blue? I haven't heard a satisfactory answer.
Greetings from the PNW. I follow local news sources here from Seattle and Portland, along with smaller cities. After the news broke last week about the deployment to Portland, a local station carried a live press conference involving elected officials, faith leaders, and the Chamber of Commerce. At least a couple of speakers mentioned the negative effect the deployment to DC had on restaurants and small shops and they begged Portlanders to keep up their commercial activity no matter what happens.
Since that is unlikely to happen, those red area beneficiaries of blue city economies will feel the negative down stream effects of the Trumpist WWE-style performances. But instead of recognizing their complicity in their reduced benefits, they’ll blame urbanites yet again, and we’ll be scolded by MSM for not listening to their tales of self-inflicted woe.
Maybe we should try Cold Rage, methodically applied by all levels of society and its institutions. Sort of like how Sherman handled the Georgia problem in 1864.
Even the charge is fluid and unsatisfactory. On the one hand, the administration is claiming the cities are "warzones" allowing "lawlessness" against ICE facilities; on the other hand, they also claim the cities themselves are just "hell holes."
The paradox here, of course, is that claiming a city is a "hell hole" invariably draws attention to that city, and people quickly discover that there's no truth behind the claim.
Paul thank you for your great posts. Living in the home of Leprechaun Economics. Ireland we are looking in horror at the Country Europeans respected and even idolised become a horror show. Keep safe.
Astonishing, in my view, that government officials like Miller (if in fact he is an official) can issue such statements on a social media platform. Nothing but propaganda. The whole administration is a charade. ‘Government’ media releases should be distributed to all outlets.
When politicians start talking about large groups of their fellow Americans as 'enemies,' it's time for a quiet stir of alertness. Polarizing people is a good way to win an election, and also a good way to wreck a country.
The way to fight back about against these no warrant searches is through a civil suit for damages. About half of those targeted were American citizens, all of them black. What we need at this point is not ambulance chasing lawyers but ICE chasing lawyers. Having your front door bashed in and being held handcuffed for three hours should be worth at least $100,000 per citizen. All the kids involved should have college tuition funds waiting for them when they grow up. If I was a lawyer, I would be in Chicago signing up clients right now. Money and ongoing bad publicity are the only things that can stop this!
Paul, can you contact appropriate lawyers in Chicago? This needs to get going!
This will also give ongoing publicity to this horrific event as the case winds its way through court procedures.
We alarmists have been right all along. Major corporate media has failed us continually, really my entire adult life. Trump should have been shamed out of public life decades ago, after he ran that full-page ad advocating conviction for the central park five.
Anyone with any lingering questions should pop over to Apple TV and check out. BBC’s very excellent documentary Rise of the Nazis. Mark you, it isn’t easy to watch. Not because it’s dull, but because saying it’s like watching Satan reincarnated right now is something of an understatement.
Yeah. Google did too. They were "tracking" apps which showed where the Storm Troopers were operating.
They were EXTREMELY useful.
But, like the forced shut-down of the tracking app on Elon's plane, stomping your feet & whining gets action.
How does Tim Cook sleep at night?
For that matter, Sergi Brin?
BOTH belong to groups targeted by the Fascists. I can't believe men of their age haven't realized the whole ".. but I'm one of the good ones," never works. They'll end up in the camps just like the rest of us.
They sleep quite soundly. Their products have driven teenagers to self-harm, torn apart families, and ripped apart many peoples' ability to discern truth from lie, and it's made them wealthy beyond comprehension. "It's a big club, and you ain't in it"
When you say the Chicago raid was severely underreported I want to believe you but I still find it astonishing. Because I would NOT say that it’s been underreported here in Canada. On Saturday, I attended a CFL football game in Toronto. I was seated beside a very lovely woman from Atlanta who was up here cheering on her son who played for the opposing team. She kept saying the same thing; that she’d never heard some of the things I was sharing with her. I admit I was of the opinion she was likely being too casual with her news gathering by comments such as ‘I try not to get too wrapped up in this’. It didn’t occur to me that there was actually a dearth of reporting — but more of lack of interest in sourcing it? I mean, you can definitely find it in our media. And if I can find it there AND on The Guardian, on Al Jazeera and on Substack etc etc etc., why can’t Americans? Elbows Up! 💪💪 And please don’t wait for some kind of saviour to swoop in & save your democracy for you. I doesn’t work that way. You gotta get out in the streets. And the No Kings rallies on Oct 18th are as good a place as any to get started. Get involved now — for your time is quite obviously & very quickly running out.
Yesterday, I was thinking about Kent State and the impact that had.
And that made me wonder how our present-day media will cover the inevitable massacres that Trump will be ordering. The Chicago apartment raid was appalling, and yet even people I know who follow the news did not hear of it until I told them about it. So if federal troops open fire on Portland's protesters, will mainstream media even deign to mention it?
Considering how hard the media works to present Donald Trump as a normal president, as just another president doing presidential things, I have my doubts about whether the media would do more than note in passing that America troops had opened fire on American citizens in an American city.
The networks are already owned by the billionaires supporting the destruction of the country. This is why the takeover will be finished by the time most people know it is happening.
Bingo!
ICE response to Portland protests have been over-the-top. Groups have been outside ICE facility have been ICE fishing ... donuts on pole and string. Yes they have been verbally abusive but by and large peaceful. ICE response has been aggressive, drones, chemical crowd control including pepper balls and tear gas.
Later they pushed the crowds down streets, pushing down some protesters and firing more munitions into the crowds without clear sign of provocation.
They are trying to provoke people to violence. They want to justify calling up National Guard. To me, the local police should arrest ICE for rioting and causing harm to public safety.
Exactly ... but local law enforcement taking on federal enforcement group .... unprecedented.
It is individual brutality that should have consequences. They are not keeping them from executing federal law. But they cannot throw pepperballs at preachers at a peaceful protest. That should have an arrest warrant. This is why they should not be able to hide behind masks.
ICE should have nothing to do with Portland protests. That isn’t their job but the media just accepts it now just.
Portland is used to it too - there were plainclothes US Marshals shoving people into vans 5 years ago.
Here's the conundrum...should law enforcement be protecting peaceful protesters from ICE? If it was any other group there would be arrests of the antagonists .... right?
ICE is now Trump’s personal police force.
Here, direct from Oregon Public Broadcasting:
Federal tactics on Portland protesters escalate, hours after judge rules against Trump
https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/05/federal-tactics-on-protesters-escalates-hours-after-judge-rules-against-trump/
Chilling reading...violent provocation by the feds, and the ICE squadristi had their own film crews documenting the violence from behind the goon wall. This stuff will be shown to tRump, who then goes all "Portland on fire...out of control...", and then invokes the Insurrection Act, bypassing the TROs.
Anyone wanna bet?
The media seems totally complicit and asleep at the wheel. This incident should have been top headlines. It's...nowhere. His bumbling and fumbling is an afterthought, or Trump being Trump. It's pathetic. Had Biden done this, it would be headlines for months.
This is what really cheeses my crackers the most! Had anyone in the Biden administration done any one, single thing that the Trump “administration” is doing, it would be all over the news with outrage, people screaming to high heck, and most likely articles of impeachment (or multiples). I struggle to find the words to quantify just how grossly out of bounds the media, companies, and institutions are with their complacency, capitulation, and false equivalency. The damage is reaching the point of irrevocable on just about every front.
Exactly
love the phrasology the pundits use "it's as if"....
More people have died in ICE custody than died at Kent State, yet we hear very little about them. We should be telling their stories so that everyone knows about Trump's atrocities.
Not to mention the more than 1200 who simply "disappeared" from Alligator Auschwitz.
A sad question. What kind of tragedy would it take for many Americans to care? I guess these tragedies not bad enough.
Short answer: the economy. Americans have become used to having it all, meaning that we can have a lawbreaking ‘cult daddy’ in the Oval Office and not suffer any tangible consequences from it. It’s an indulgence. The Trump supporters in my orbit have refused to take his abuses seriously because they can afford to ignore it. They love their guy, but he clearly doesn’t love them back and the hangover is about to kick in; it will be a doozy, imho.
While I agree that economic hardship generally resonates with people, it's also difficult to get the average person to understand who bears the blame for a bad economy. Unfortunately, millions of Americans are disengaged. They gripe about the price of eggs but can't explain why the prices are so high. They pay little attention to the news and have little patience for political discussion because they find it boring. They're more interested in their social media feeds, the events on The Bachelor, and whatever life hacks Tik Tok is serving up. These are the people who need to be convinced to care, and I don't know how that happens.
This! I admit that through his first term I was somebody that stayed completely disengaged. At the time I had gone back to school full time and had good reason to not get caught up in his bullshit theatrics. This time I can’t ignore it, and I have no idea how there are so many people that are. This is not normal. This is not business as usual. this is not just a crazy man throwing a tantrum with safe guards in place. I had a conversation with someone I hadn’t seen in a few months who did not know about National Guard going into any cities, didn’t know about the Chicago apartment raid, didn’t know about the Venezuelan fishing boats, and unaware of Fox News (basically) taking over TikTok.... Where they spend most their time.
Too many either pay no attention because "it doesn't affect me," or they let propaganda be spoonfed to them. I don't know how to get ahead of that.
I was feeling better. Then I read your post. I don’t know how to get ahead of it either
Totally agree. Opposition to this administration needs short, simple messaging on social media feeds and billboards.
Then a massive campaign to get those one line messages out.
More Madison Ave...less Meet The Press.
The mainstream press is dying quickly, surrendering as it sinks.
Social media (owned by a billionaire suckup oligarch) is the only way the majority of the population gets any info.
When the various iterations of chatgpt start purposefully lying to us, the Orwellian future will have arrived.
Yes - simple, to-the-point messaging is extremely important. Marketers and advertisers have been convincing us for decades that we don't have enough time. That means political messaging needs to be as succinct as possible. If you want to turn the tide quickly, you have to figure out how to convince the 85 million people who didn't vote in 2024 why they need to care now - forget about changing MAGA minds.
well let the economic shit fly and the sooner the better. That's how it happens.
They get hungry. If the AI bubble bursts as is being predicted and recession comes, it could happen. Right now, we have record airline sales. It hasn’t happened yet.
Any that hit them personally.
Steven Miller is inciting violence! He doesn't know our rule of law, the Constitution. REMOVE HIM! He is toxic to our Constitutional Republic.
The Chicago raid echoes the murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark orchestrated by Cook County Sheriff Edward J Hanrahan. Shot dead in their beds at night with Hampton’s eight-months pregnant partner right next to him. The brief was that a future US Congressman dropped a dime on Hampton and Clark.
It was well known locally but not widely reported nationally. The background to it, that Hampton had a message which began to cross cultural and racial boundaries, was portrayed in the film “Judas and the Black Messiah”.
Was that about the Black Panthers?
Yes
The Black Panthers were vilified for defying the “accepted norms”
They provided free lunch, after school tutoring and free medical clinics
Most of what is “taught” about the Black Panther Party was that it was a violent ad destabilizing organization. Narrow and inaccurate depiction.
It is what I was taught. I was a senior citizen before I really understood I had been lied to.
It was buried on page A10 of the print NYTimes, nowhere to be seen on the website without searching for it.
It popped up on the main page on my algorithm.
I was around then and, y'know what? After Kent State a slim majority of Americans surveyed held that 4 students who were killed had it coming to them. This is what the working class wants--beat the crap out of people and kill. Be tough, play rough, and everything will be fixed.
I recall that too.
I have an unusually well informed friend in Canada operating under similar foggy news reporting. So it isn't just in the States. I have always found this friend very well informed (worked as a civil servant in Canada for years) on American political events. The friend frequently has alerted me of events. Not anymore. I also found myself the Chicago apartment raid and other active ICE events. The friend has no cancelled a DC legal conference trip. The "Billionaire GAG" on the press, sadly, appears to be a united action against the informed and best interests of the American middle and working classes.
What most of the mainstream media don’t seem to realize is that Trump now owns their collective ass. And that means that it is now open season on any reporter, columnist, camera operator, or any other of their employees. If any one of them even looks cross eyed at a Stormtrooper, they will be, at best, arrested, beaten, pepper-sprayed… and at worst, shot dead on the spot. If they thought that telling each other to BOHICA would spare them from the worst kind of criminal violence, they were sadly mistaken.
Trump himself is increasingly demented—and he never did have much interest in governing anyway. He is just a puppet, babbling what our own home-grown Himmler and Heydrich (Miller and Vought, in case you were wondering) tell him to say and do. And both Miller and Vought are so turned on by the advent of our Fourth Reich that they can’t help slobbering in ecstasy like a couple of hyenas on an Ibogaine rush! We are all in very serious trouble—and that includes MAGA. What, did they think that all this fascist violence would stop, after the Stormtroopers and the Party had finished with Americans of colour? Did Hitler stop when he had rounded up all the Communists and Socialists? Did Stalin stop when he had finished off the ‘kulaks’? Once people like these have the taste of blood in their mouths, they won’t stop until they are forced to stop….
I agree. The only way to get attention is to call a National strike.
I, too, follow the news but also hadn't heard about the Chicago raid, either in print or via broadcasts. (But I live outside Portland, and we've been a bit preoccupied the past few days).
I reckon the US is living the prequel to The Mandibles
We'll get no help from the corporate media. They've been in on the fascist coup for at least a decade.
If the Fourth Estate had been doing their job, Trump would never have won in 2016.
After January 6th, if the Fourth Estate had been doing their job, Trump would be in prison.
And now trump’s cronies are taking over all the national media. Kent State became notorious because it was on the cover of Time magazine. Time captured so many iconic moments in history and helped turn the tide on many issues.
It is against the law for military personnel to follow an unlawful order or to make such an order.
Yes, state terror. It’s time for people to go on strike.
The way to fight back against these no warrant searches is through a civil suit for damages. About half of those targeted were American citizens, all of them black. What we need at this point is not ambulance chasing lawyers but ICE chasing lawyers. Having your front door bashed in and being held handcuffed for three hours should be worth at least $100,000 per citizen. All the kids involved should have college tuition funds waiting for them when they grow up. If I was a lawyer, I would be in Chicago signing up clients right now. Money and ongoing bad publicity are the only things that can stop this!
Paul, can you contact appropriate lawyers in Chicago? This needs to get going!
This will also give ongoing publicity to this horrific event as the case winds its way through court procedures.
That is fine, but will take too long; mass action is needed now before it's too late.
It may already be too late...
Community action works! https://bsky.app/profile/cristianfarias.com/post/3m2hmiitdc22m
We need both and all. Community action, work stoppages, legal action, boycotts, resistance art and music, and state actions to protect their residents and stand firm against federal government excess.
Let's all start donating to the ACLU! They aren't afraid to bring legal action!
Both and all, now and in the foreseeable future.
👍Absolutely. We need to do anything and everything we can, every day.
PS Baker, Chicagoan here...I watched this video early this morning and was sickened but so proud of those neighbors/citizens who kept at it, honking, talking and yelling at the supposed agents. I have seen several reels this morning of a similar nature. One was outside of a parking garage on Monroe just west of Michigan Ave. Literally these thugs had no identifying uniforms. This is despicable and has to stop! The fact that Krugman said he spoke to some people in the "know" and they hadn't heard about the raid of the apartment building in the middle of the night on Tuesday frankly worries me greatly.
Keep putting it on social media. Try to get it into the right wing circles. It takes a long time for stuff to filter through, but it eventually does.
Soon they'll start saying it's AI and not real.
Every non violent response is needed.
It’s the individuals that should be charged, otherwise it’s taxpayers that will be fined.
True that, but this is why they wear masks and no ID. IANAL but presumably you first have to sue the government to get their names. A long process, but that in itself could start to make these goons worry. Deploying things like voice and gait identification might not turn up names but, again, just starting forensics would send a message. It is vital that the bad guys start to wonder if there will be a reckoning.
This is a very useful point, and identifying ICE and other federal agents is a priority. Not doxxing, simple identification with names. If they're engaged in public actions, they are not undercover and there is no need to hide there identities.
I'd rather spend money compensating the victims of ICE than paying the salaries of ICE employees.
We'll need to set up Nuremberg-like trials.
Supreme Farce member Kavanaugh made sure individuals would not be subject to law suits or any accountability from their thuggish and extreme force actions. Supreme Farce's "2022 majority opinion in Egbert v. Boule, which as I noted at the time, 'made it practically impossible to sue a federal officer over an alleged constitutional rights violation.'" Quote from today's The Ink/Anand Giridharadas Substack post.
Sue in their official and individual capacity.
Paul who? Krugman? Why would an older economist in NYC know who the appropriate lawyers are, he isn’t a civil rights attorney. Illinois attorneys general and the Illinois chapter of the ACLU are likely exploring their options already. Their counterparts here on the West Coast have said they’ve been preparing since last January and have talked to their counterparts in Illinois.
Well, when the Illinois ACLU steps up to the plate and files a suit, I'll start clapping. Paul Krugman's been around forever, and he knows LOTS of people. And Paul Krugman gets things done.
Don’t forget about the folks at “The Contrarian.” Norm Eisen and Katie Phang are spending most of their time litigating against the Trump administration.
Preparing since January? Exploring options ? For God's sake! This is October. Zero impact in over 9 months. DO SOMETHING NOW.
USA probably has until Chrismas to STOP this fascist takeover.
Actually, the ACLU is behind many of the lawsuits filed against the Trump administration, but I do not think they have acted on this Chicago outrage yet.
Law is like a glacier, slow but powerful.
Justice delayed is justice denied
Heinous as these attacks on democracy are, they are a distraction from where billionaires’ real action is: the tokenization, control, and theft of everyone’s money. Is it better to buy into the DOGE-Palantir-Oracle control apparatus, or opt out and see what happens? Oops, trick question—you can’t opt out!
True he’s not a lawyer but this international superstar knows other international superstars outside his field. All hands on deck!!
throw all the suggestions out there
right again Kathleen.
Takes too long. It’s too late for judicial to save us against monsters. The American military has to step in and intercede or we are finished.
October 18 is the next national day of action. There are dozens of rallys planned in every state. Find a No Kings event near you and get out there!!! Your country needs you!
This No Kings demonstration was scheduled so that We the People can respond to the Republican government shutdown!
To find a location, follow this link--
https://www.nokings.org/
How about a “no dictators” day ????
It’s interesting, a number of European countries have constitutional monarchies (so joining in NO KING doesn’t make sense) but they are joining in solidarity on October 18 with NO DICTATORS, as you suggest!
In Canada we call it No Tyrants day. The King of Canada is a source of democratic/parliamentary sovereignty and rule of law in our parliamentary democracy.
No Tyrants day is perfect.
Each day from Canada I send out the best energy I can to the utterly decent Americans of all political persuasions who are devoted to the principles of your democracy and your republic.
The protests I've been to have No Kings, but they are always more than that. I like No Kings because it's very direct and to the point. Constitutional monarchy is too abstract a concept for 70% of America.
It's really just mere semantical hair splitting. It really means exactly the same thing. We could say Kings, dictators, tyrants, authoritarians, autocrats, etc., etc. We accept none of them.
Given the US history I think NO Kings is more than appropriate.
I’d like to see No Traitors added to the list.
Yes! It's imperative that we continue to Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊
Be there or be square!
Or organize a No Kings event in your neighborhood even if it is small at first as we have 13 months to go to removal of those who are supporting Trump politically in Congress! The ultimate peaceful “weapon” is to regain control of majorities not only in the House but also in 5 targeted states in the Senate: ME, NC,OH, NE and IA! We can do it if we work together starting now? If we fail, we will be living in a fascist dictatorship! That is not an exaggeration, is it?
The fascist dictatorship is already here.
No, it's not an exaggeration.
It is very important that we get to 3.5% of population participating in the October 18th events. Go look up the work of Erica Chenoweth in this subject. That’s the threshold that represents our first step on the road to bringing this nightmare to an end.
General Strike.
Mass boycott. Buy nothing but essentials.
Boycott Black Friday? 🤔 Boy, THAT would get their attention.
Boycott the entire Christmas buying binge. Also, make no durable goods purchases, and take out no loans. If possible, pay off credit cards and then don't use them.
General Strike
Money speaks the loudest in this country. And your own wallet is your strongest weapon against MAGA Republican fascism.
Use this free tool/website to help weaponize your wallet -
https://www.goodsuniteus.com
The same applies to people. They will only react to the insanity when it effects their wallets. Most don't have a clue as to what is happening.
Yes. Check out the boycotts as well. That is the thing companies understand.
Well, Media can still publish photos such as this: https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2025/10/01/massive-immigration-raid-on-chicago-apartment-building-leaves-residents-reeling-i-feel-defeated. I suppose it is a war zone, and our government is the aggressor. Perhaps this makes Putin look better to Russians. After all, he invaded another country, while Trump i invading his own.
A neighbor is an immigration attorney and she says when undocumented workers get uppity about safety, wage violations, workers' rights, the employers call in ICE, because a couple of years ago, there were many more willing to take their place. Code violations were reported against the landlord and residents cleaning their hallways....the landlord called ICE. The landlord should be outed...that's coming up here where tenants of several different properties have organized a union in the city, I predict.
They invaded from above using aircraft, but they did a lot less damage than the bomb dropped on MOVE in 1985 in Philly. But that was the city police. Perhaps that was OK according to conservative lore. State's rights and all that.
Both cases involve excessive force in predominantly Black areas, so it’s more than just ok with “conservatives”.
States only have rights when they do what Trump wants.
Sign up here:
https://generalstrikeus.com/strikecard
Sure, but they'll send the Pinkertons to break it.
We need strike funds . . . .and rifles
It appears that they are attempting to control the narrative. A clear report of the news without having to go to the Guardian or Reuters is not available. Reminds me of the song: You won't hear about the revolution on the TV. Social media is a clear and present danger to our ways of life. Thanks for the report.
“The Revolution will not be televised” by Gil Scott Heron
Local news outlets have become even more important in this environment, e.g. https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/01/massive-immigration-raid-on-chicago-apartment-building-leaves-residents-reeling-i-feel-defeated and https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article312042943.html.
"Don’t mute your criticisms in an attempt to seem even-handed." THis is why it becames more and more difficult to justify a NY Times subscription.
I support the NYT, even though it's bending in the wind. I also support the WSJ for the same reason. They do have some very good reporting, though you can definitely see the difference post January 2025.
You've got to read past the headlines. Those are adjusted for Trump.
Agree. Only reason I’m still a subscriber is that I have a really cheap rate right now. I spend so much less time reading it.
I think it’s really important to stop supporting outlets like them right now, there needs to be some consequences to the media for their negligence at a time like this. There are far better sources for news, lots of independent channels on YouTube started by people like Joyann Reid, Don Lemmon, and there’s Zeteo on Substack itself. It’s so important we support effective journalism right now, so please consider this 💜
The reason mainstream media did not lose its collective mind over the Chicago government terrorist attack is that mainstream media is protecting its bottom line from the Trumpanistas. Just ask Shari Redstone and Bob Iger. I also suspect the folks who run mainstream media don’t give a shit.
MSM executives are simply afraid of the administration. They're afraid of being singled out by Trump and having their network become the target of a lawsuit, no matter how frivolous it is. There are a lot of fearless journalists out there, but it's their cowardly editors and network CEOs who are desperate to avoid making Trump mad.
Exactly, NYT ran an article today of an interview with 50 different attorneys from both parties who have worked in the DOJ in previous administrations....after the explosion and fire of the SC judge's home, the writing is on the wall.
Yes, they did print the results of that bipartisan survey of former judges & senior lawyers. _Most_of_them_ only spoke anonymously. Says something, eh?
Two words: NO KINGS. We need to be on the streets in huge numbers on October 18. Don’t make excuses for yourself. Be there.
A few more words, run for political offices at all levels of government and vote.
Yes. Heather Cox Richardson has pointed out that there are 52,000 (!) elections next month across the country - obviously most of them for local and low-level officials, though not all. But that's where retaking control of government starts. That's where the Republicans got started and we are left with rampant gerrymandering and corruption at all levels as a result. Opposition needs to get organized.
We must win the House. Choose the US House races you are willing to support with time and money.For me, MO2 and CA22
Probably the three elections this year with the greatest national impact are the Governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia, and the Supreme Court retention ballot in Pennsylvania.
HCR also pointed out that this is the time for old white women to really come to the fore. Even ICE will be a bit embarrassed to attack people who look like their granny.
One thing about local races, is that they people move up to higher offices.
This No Kings demonstration was scheduled so that We the People can respond to the Republican government shutdown!
To find a location, follow this link--
https://www.nokings.org/
Yes! Rise! Resist! ✊✊✊ Be there or be square! ✊✊✊
Trump claims the blue cities are hell holes. This raises the obvious question: if that's true, why do the people in those cities keep voting blue? I haven't heard a satisfactory answer.
And why is it that tax money from these shit holes are used to fund services for poor in 'red' states?
Greetings from the PNW. I follow local news sources here from Seattle and Portland, along with smaller cities. After the news broke last week about the deployment to Portland, a local station carried a live press conference involving elected officials, faith leaders, and the Chamber of Commerce. At least a couple of speakers mentioned the negative effect the deployment to DC had on restaurants and small shops and they begged Portlanders to keep up their commercial activity no matter what happens.
Since that is unlikely to happen, those red area beneficiaries of blue city economies will feel the negative down stream effects of the Trumpist WWE-style performances. But instead of recognizing their complicity in their reduced benefits, they’ll blame urbanites yet again, and we’ll be scolded by MSM for not listening to their tales of self-inflicted woe.
The answer will not be found in being rational, citing facts, etc.
Maybe we should try Cold Rage, methodically applied by all levels of society and its institutions. Sort of like how Sherman handled the Georgia problem in 1864.
Even the charge is fluid and unsatisfactory. On the one hand, the administration is claiming the cities are "warzones" allowing "lawlessness" against ICE facilities; on the other hand, they also claim the cities themselves are just "hell holes."
The paradox here, of course, is that claiming a city is a "hell hole" invariably draws attention to that city, and people quickly discover that there's no truth behind the claim.
I fail to see why anyone would believe Trump given his propensity for lying.
MAGA’s heads explode when they talk about Biden yet he did nothing (absolutely nothing) like what Trump is doing as an authoritarian.
It just boggles the mind.
Paul thank you for your great posts. Living in the home of Leprechaun Economics. Ireland we are looking in horror at the Country Europeans respected and even idolised become a horror show. Keep safe.
Astonishing, in my view, that government officials like Miller (if in fact he is an official) can issue such statements on a social media platform. Nothing but propaganda. The whole administration is a charade. ‘Government’ media releases should be distributed to all outlets.
When politicians start talking about large groups of their fellow Americans as 'enemies,' it's time for a quiet stir of alertness. Polarizing people is a good way to win an election, and also a good way to wreck a country.
Molly Ivins
The way to fight back about against these no warrant searches is through a civil suit for damages. About half of those targeted were American citizens, all of them black. What we need at this point is not ambulance chasing lawyers but ICE chasing lawyers. Having your front door bashed in and being held handcuffed for three hours should be worth at least $100,000 per citizen. All the kids involved should have college tuition funds waiting for them when they grow up. If I was a lawyer, I would be in Chicago signing up clients right now. Money and ongoing bad publicity are the only things that can stop this!
Paul, can you contact appropriate lawyers in Chicago? This needs to get going!
This will also give ongoing publicity to this horrific event as the case winds its way through court procedures.
Donate to ACLU, join a local chapter.
We alarmists have been right all along. Major corporate media has failed us continually, really my entire adult life. Trump should have been shamed out of public life decades ago, after he ran that full-page ad advocating conviction for the central park five.
Facts, straight up undeniable facts. ✊.
Anyone with any lingering questions should pop over to Apple TV and check out. BBC’s very excellent documentary Rise of the Nazis. Mark you, it isn’t easy to watch. Not because it’s dull, but because saying it’s like watching Satan reincarnated right now is something of an understatement.
Apple just bent the knee to Trump and removed all the ICE-related apps from the app store.
Yeah. Google did too. They were "tracking" apps which showed where the Storm Troopers were operating.
They were EXTREMELY useful.
But, like the forced shut-down of the tracking app on Elon's plane, stomping your feet & whining gets action.
How does Tim Cook sleep at night?
For that matter, Sergi Brin?
BOTH belong to groups targeted by the Fascists. I can't believe men of their age haven't realized the whole ".. but I'm one of the good ones," never works. They'll end up in the camps just like the rest of us.
They sleep quite soundly. Their products have driven teenagers to self-harm, torn apart families, and ripped apart many peoples' ability to discern truth from lie, and it's made them wealthy beyond comprehension. "It's a big club, and you ain't in it"
Thank you PK. This raid has been severely under-reported. Resembled the raid on Black Panthers in Philadelphia in the '70's.
When you say the Chicago raid was severely underreported I want to believe you but I still find it astonishing. Because I would NOT say that it’s been underreported here in Canada. On Saturday, I attended a CFL football game in Toronto. I was seated beside a very lovely woman from Atlanta who was up here cheering on her son who played for the opposing team. She kept saying the same thing; that she’d never heard some of the things I was sharing with her. I admit I was of the opinion she was likely being too casual with her news gathering by comments such as ‘I try not to get too wrapped up in this’. It didn’t occur to me that there was actually a dearth of reporting — but more of lack of interest in sourcing it? I mean, you can definitely find it in our media. And if I can find it there AND on The Guardian, on Al Jazeera and on Substack etc etc etc., why can’t Americans? Elbows Up! 💪💪 And please don’t wait for some kind of saviour to swoop in & save your democracy for you. I doesn’t work that way. You gotta get out in the streets. And the No Kings rallies on Oct 18th are as good a place as any to get started. Get involved now — for your time is quite obviously & very quickly running out.
I find plenty coverage in the US press. maybe there was some delay?
Thx for the lecture. I never knew about The Guardian, Al Jazeera, or Substack! I now feel edified and inspired!