Good morning! After Sunday’s wild, chaotic patchwork of sun showers, we’re getting a break from the rain. For the next few days, it’ll be partly sunny with highs in the low 60s. Get outside. The Big Dark starts in 13 days.
But first, the news.
Seattle’s Best Inflatables Hit the Streets: On Saturday, 90,000 protesters hit the streets for the No Kings march in Seattle, according to an initial estimate from the organizers. If their guess is right, this march beat the first No Kings march by 20k, and amounts to about 11 percent of the city’s population. It’s clear that Seattle doesn’t know what our answer to Portland’s protest frogs are. There were inflatable axolotls, inflatable sumo wrestlers, inflatable unicorns, inflatable dinosaurs, an inflatable St. Rat. But our sign game was solid.
To the march haters: I hear you. You feel like these marches are a way for libs to get their anti-Trump out without actually doing anything. A way for cis, straight, white, wealthy people with less on the line to anoint themselves with a gold anti-fascist star. And you’re right that this isn’t the frontline fight. This isn’t the protests outside ICE facilities or immigration courts or federal buildings. This is a rally. Rallies are silly and energetic and they provide a wide-ass umbrella. And that’s not a bad thing. Making dissenters feel powerless is one of the essential tenets of an authoritarian government. And rallies—whether they’re before a sports game or against a government—their job is to make you feel like you’re part of something big and powerful. Seven million people marched against the sitting president of the United States on Saturday. And it’s a lot easier to do your part, whatever that is, when you have hope. When you feel like you’re a part of something. And when you know you’re not alone.
Plus, visible shows of dissent create a PR problem for MAGA that they don’t know how to deal with, so then…
Trump Blows His Load: Our Dear Leader didn’t enjoy knowing that 7 million people were marching in the streets with signs calling him a turd, so he took matters into his own tiny hands. On Saturday night, he posted an AI-generated video of him climbing into the cockpit of a fighter jet painted with “King Trump.” To the tune of “Danger Zone”—with an oxygen mask on his chin—Top Trump dumps piles of liquid shit over protesters in New York. Not to be one-upped, JD Vance then posted a video of Trump being crowned, which cuts to what appears to be video of the Democratic leadership kneeling during their incredibly cringey Black Lives Matter media stunt.
Meanwhile, in Real Life: Actual Vance gave a speech on Saturday in front of hundreds of US Marines (none of them fat or bearded, we assume), ranting about Senator Chuck Schumer and the government shutdown. Then, Vance watched Marines fire 155-millimeter artillery shells over a major interstate highway, while parachuters jumped from the sky and Navy seals swam out of the ocean. Vance called the whole fever dream “testament to the corps’ strength and unbeatable power.”
First “Antifa” “Terrorism” Charges Are In: On Thursday, federal prosecutors announced that terrorism charges had been filed against two people for their alleged involvement in a shooting that injured a police officer during a July 4 ICE protest in Alvarado, Texas. It’s been about a month since Trump shouted on social media that he was going to designate “antifa” a “major terrorist organization,” which isn’t technically possible for domestic groups in the US. But anything is possible if you make up your own rules, and that’s just what Trump did.
What are they actually charged with? Neither of them are accused of shooting the gun. Instead, the government accused them of “providing material support to terrorists” and having “aided and abetted” the alleged attempted murder of the cop. It also accuses them of being part of an “antifa cell.” Because there’s no such thing as a centralized Antifa organization, that means nothing. But this case will be Pam Bondi’s testing ground for using this terrorist designation as a form of repression.
Speaking of Shit Trump Made Up: Trump’s undeclared war on narcotraffic in the Caribbean is still roaring. On Thursday, the US military hit its sixth boat that they claim is carrying drug traffickers, and unlike the previous five strikes, this one left two survivors. They’re now theoretically prisoners of war? In a war that was never declared or approved by Congress. At least 29 people have been killed in these extrajudicial killings (murders), and Trump is now flirting with continuing these attacks on land in Venezuela.
A Broken Ceasefire: On Sunday, ten days into a fragile truce, Israel launched an attack on Gaza and halted aid deliveries. In a truly spectacular use of doublespeak, Israeli officials said the attacks were “enforcement of the cease-fire.” Israel claims that two of its soldiers were killed by “Palestinian militants” on Sunday before they launched the attack. Gaza’s health officials reported that 44 Palestinians died in Israel’s bombing. Both Israel and Hamas accuse the other of breaking the ceasefire, and both Israel and Hamas say they’re still committed to it.
Ocean’s Four: On Sunday, in broad daylight, two burglars drove a truck carrying an electric-powered ladder to the Louvre, climbed up to the second floor and broke a window into the gallery holding a collection of royal jewels. They smashed two cases and nabbed eight objects, including a royal sapphire necklace and a diadem worn by Empress Eugénie. Then they shot back down the ladder, and hopped on two scooters driven by their getaway drivers. The heist took seven minutes.
It’s Election Time: By now, your ballot has probably arrived in your mailbox. Our general election voters’ guide is out, our cheat sheet is live if you don’t feel like reading that much. If your stomach sank because you just realized you’re not registered to vote, fear not. You can register to vote until October 27, and if you miss that deadline, you can still go to a voting center on election day. We have a real, proper slate of progressive candidates, but please, don’t assume the primary results mean we’ve got it in the bag. VOTE!
Winner Takes All: We can’t say the Mariners aren’t keeping it exciting. We’re now 3-3 in a seven game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, and tonight’s game will decide who goes to the World Series. The Mariners are the only MLB team never to go to the Series, and this is the closest they’ve ever gotten, which means at 5:08 p.m. today they’re starting the biggest game in the team’s history. Everybody be cool.
Here’s a Headline for Ya: “Police Break Up Lego Theft Ring, Recovering Hundreds of Beheaded Figurines.” A California man was arrested for stealing $6,000-worth of Legos, the New York Times reports. The article does not address how or why they lost their heads.
I have briefly returned to encourage the Mariners to commence “going” this evening. GOMS!
An excellent characterization Hannah.
“These marches are a way for libs to get their anti-Trump out without actually doing anything.”
According to a PBS Marris Poll Trump’s approval rating in October 2024 was 44%. A year of marches later it’s 43%, which is within the margin of error of the original 44%. So no movement.
The working class voters defecting from the Democrat brand don’t give a shit about the issues Progressives keep championing. Progressives keep thinking if they only shout the same things louder, with more of their believers out on march day, they will win hearts and minds.
How about changing the policies and messages to something that will broaden the Democrat tent, and downplaying the issues these voters are repelled by?
Do Dems want.to be a perpetual minority party to MAGA? I hope not.
“This isn’t the protests outside ICE facilities or immigration courts or federal buildings.”
Which is a good thing. Protesting outside of ICE facilities is exactly what Trump wants. He wants protesters getting in the face of ICE agents and attempting to block vehicles from entering or exiting the facilities. If it happens often enough he can claim that local law enforcement has lost control of the situation giving him justification to invoke the Insurrection Act.
Protests at immigration facilities and federal buildings are high risk events with very little upside and huge downsides.
“A way for cis, straight, white, wealthy people with less on the line to anoint themselves with a gold anti-fascist star.”
Good lord that’s obnoxious and condescending.
First of all, cis is a slur. We don’t use words to people who are comfortable in their own skin things and don’t have a pathology.
The rest of the adjectives describe us all to one degree or another.
That headline “Police Break Up Lego Theft Ring, Recovering Hundreds of Beheaded Figurines” is so stupid (I realize it wasn’t Hannah / TS) – all Lego mini figures come in pieces, the head is just one such piece.
Also, nobody has anything more “on the line” than anyone else as we battle the Trump administration. Screw this victimhood hierarchy.
NotMyopic dear, that’s not at all what Our Hannah said, and you know it. She was saying that she “gets” what the Purity Voters and anarchists say, which is that any sort of peaceful protest is futile (unless they’re doing it, of course). But it’s not the 1960’s anymore now is it, dear?
Sir Andrew, there was a protester outside of the Immigration Court in the Federal Building (or so the official city listings said).
Mr. Vel-DuRay and I did an inspection tour of the northland: Shoreline, Ballard, Everett, LFP, U Village, etc. There was an impressive crowd at all of them, and also a good number of one-offs (highway overpasses, etc). Across the mountains, Moses Lake and Omak both had very respectable turnouts, as did even tiny little Grand Coulee, WA. None of those towns are known for their progressive politics. (I’m sure there were other protests in eastern WA. Those are the only towns I keep track of).
Most remarkably, my hometown in Iowa, which prides itself on it’s willful stupidity, had a rally with about 250.
So those on the right and the left who want to dismiss these protests because they aren’t 100% in line with their politics, dismiss this at their own peril.
Wonderful to see all the inflatable costumes. No need to be in a competition to one-up Portland on the inflatables. It was their brainchild: the frog front and then the OPERATION INFLATION people who built on that. They deserve the flowers. Let a million flowers bloom.
https://www.operationinflation.com/
It looks like Max @1 is weaning himself off Slog commenting. On a related note, it just occurred to me that we haven’t heard from the one commenter xina since March. Considering she had been dealing with health challenges, my mind immediately turns to the gravest possibility. Such is the nature of our virtual identities that we will likely never know.
Uh, isn’t it the job of the “privileged” to show up on behalf of the marginalized? Would we really ask our brown, immigrant, trans etc etc neighbors to bear the burden of the mainstream’s terrible choices and behaviors once again? And we’re just going to dismiss that fact of SEVEN MILLION – largest US demonstration ever – as somehow not useful??? There is room for all of us. These purity tests are what got us here in the first place.
@2: I invite you to choke on 8.1 million people.
Ugh. The first game this year that the Mariners have committed three errors—all of which led to runs. I hope the boys unclench their buttcheeks tonight!
LOL I told you goofy naive libprogs about the Texas Antifa / John Brown Gun Club attack on the ICE facility in Alvarado Texas, in which an Alvarado cop got shot, right after it happened on July 4th, and you naive goofy libprogs tried to ignore it as hard as you could, even to the extent of basically doing the online text version of “NANNY NANNY BOO BOO WE CAN’T HEAR YOU!”. Can’t ignore it anymore naive goofs lol.
@11 Grounding into inning ending double plays with the bases loaded two innings in a row wasn’t very helpful either. Definitely a missed opportunity last night.
@12 You still think antifa is some sort of an organization. That’s the part we think you’re stupid for. It has nothing to do with who or how or why the cop got shot.
@12 I know you think you have something here but gun violence is a daily part of American life and no one can keep up with all the shootings. Sad!
Hard to tell whether people are reading hannah’s message to “march haters” in bad faith or if they’re just that stupid because these traits often travel together, especially here
@ Hannah and @14 –
“It also accuses them of being part of an “antifa cell.” Because there’s no such thing as a centralized Antifa organization, that means nothing.”
“You still think antifa is some sort of an organization. That’s the part we think you’re stupid for. It has nothing to do with who or how or why the cop got shot.”
From Rose City Antifa’s website (Rose City Antifa is Portland’s famous Antifa chapter:
https://rosecityantifa.org/about/
“How can I get involved/support you?
We appreciate and value our community and couldn’t do this without your support. You can send us tips if you see anything, share our social media posts and articles, attend events and rallies, and participate in call-in campaigns. We are a group closed to members only, but if you are interested in joining please send us an email with a little bit of information about you and what makes you interested in joining.”
That sure seems like an organization to me. Who is the dummy now, goofy naive libprog?
Next you will be telling me that the John Brown Gun Club and its chapters don’t exist either.
This is cool: Chicagoans save man from ICE:
https://youtu.be/7ZfI-5rTGKo
Cressona @8…
I’ve also been wondering about Xina.
I hope she is well…
That “King Trump” video is such a blatant self-own that I strongly suspect whoever made it was trolling him. “You’ll really own the libs with this one, Sir!” [snicker]
@4 Oh god, this again. If “cis” is a slur for the presumptuous reason you cite (I’m guessing you feel the same way about “heterosexual,” no?) what do you propose instead? I suppose you could use “non-trans” but doesn’t that go even further than “cisgender” to posit transgender people as the supposed norm? Just asking. Language is supposed to evolve as new concepts develop, and “cisgender” fills a real need. I’ve never understood the hatred toward this useful, entirely value-neutral term, no matter how one feels about actual trans people.
One important thing No Kings did accomplish was to change the prevailing image of Trump’s grass-roots opposition in the eyes of many people who don’t consider themselves progressive or left-leaning. For weeks, the administration, Republican officials and the right-wing media breathlessly warned their supporters and audiences that the No Kings events were led by terrorists and criminals who would bring riots, violence, fires and general mayhem to their towns. None of that happened anywhere. The small handful of provocateurs and assorted hotheads were quickly and appropriately dealt with. They can’t even pretend otherwise. Well, OK, they’ll try, but far fewer people outside of hard-core MAGA world will swallow it. What happened Saturday was a modest but real paradigm shift, and I’m certain we’ll see it manifested in the days and weeks ahead.
@2 these marches have nothing at all to do with any policies they are strictly a rebuke of Trump* and ~7 million people from all over the country joined in said rebuke so they seem pretty broadly popular.
that and building email lists for Democrat fundraising
@21 the venn diagram of transphobes and people who think cis is a slur is the most perfect circle you’ve ever seen
“Vance watched Marines fire 155-millimeter artillery shells over a major interstate highway”
Its worse than that. One of the shells prematurely exploded, sending shrapnel onto the freeway:
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/camp-pendleton-live-fire-demonstration-shrapnel-5-freeway-california-highway-patrol/
@21: Shouldn’t a community who dictates preferred pronouns have respect for a people who take issue with an unwanted adjective?
@17 lol
Sometimes it’s hard to tell between bad faith and stupidity and other times it’s so obvious it almost hurts
Biped dear, it’s not that we can’t hear you. It’s that you have nothing worthwhile to say.
@7, The protests are moving Trumps approval numbers down or Dems numbers up.
So there is nothing in these protests to dismiss at anyone’s peril. It’s doing the same thing over again and hoping for a different result.
@7, The protests are NOT moving Trumps approval numbers down or Dems numbers up.
So there is nothing in these protests to dismiss at anyone’s peril. It’s doing the same thing over again and hoping for a different result.
@26 & @27 –
Nothing that either of you wrote came even close to refuting the facts (and logical conclusions thereof) that I presented. Goofy naive libprogs
Back in the late twentieth century those who aspired to coolness would get mad when their favorite band sold too many records, because it meant liking that band was no longer a sufficiently exclusive mark of being an insider. Nowadays this game is played with politics. “Ugh these 8 million people marching in the streets are SO BASIC.”
How does the need to be in an exclusive club of cool kids work with majority-rules politics? It doesn’t!
@10 , It’s the same 8.1 million that rightly hated Trump’s guts before, just being more vocal and visible. They are doing nothing to erode Trump’s approval ratings or raise that of Dems.
Making the same arguments that didn’t move voters before, but making them louder and more visibly, doesn’t make them more effective. They aren’t working.
@25 Sure, if they can make a good-faith, plausible case for their objection. “Trans people are just not NORMAL, dammit!” meets neither requirement.
30 you challenged the assertion that antifa is a centralized organization with an example of a local, independent activist group. No one is denying that antifascist activist groups exist, they are denying that these groups are cells taking orders from central planning like trump keeps insisting.
antifa is *not a centralized organization
That’s a very good analogy, Tradgedy dear. At least on the left. On the right they’re so convinced that they are in the popular kid’s club (many for the first time in their lives) that they get upset when they see evidence to the contrary.
The only pro-trump protesters I saw yesterday were three pathetic souls on the pedestrian overpass by the Burgermaster on Aurora. Their signs were so small that you had to squint to see them. I think they were hoping to get some honks that way.
Biped dear, I looked up the Texas incident you cite (there’ve been so many shootings it’s hard to keep up). The first thing I noticed is that AI is making ANTIFA into an organization because there’s so many nutjobs out there saying that ANTIFA is an organization, and AI’s intelligence is – as it says so itself – artificial. Sort of like the ANTIFA organization.
@25 we can call you non-trans if that’s what you would prefer but asking everyone to stop using a harmless adjective because it offends a small number of too-online weirdos is asking a lot
Is Hamas a “centralized organization”? NO.
Does it “exist”? YES.
Is it dangerous? YES.
Rinse and repeat for Antifa
@30: The antifa indictment does not, in fact, allege that “these groups are cells taking orders from central planning.” 😄 Instead, the indictment alleges that antifa is a “militant enterprise made up of networks of individuals and small groups primarily ascribing [sic, lol] to a revolutionary anarchist or autonomous Marxist ideology, which explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law.” I think that’s a pretty fair description, no? 😉
There’s even precedent for this kind of thing: the Operation Backfire indictments against the Earth Liberation Front in the 90s and 00s. Like antifa, ELF was a leaderless, member-less, non-organization. The disparate ELF cells were affiliated by shared ideology and tactics, not formal relationships. There was never any kind of ELF kingpin for the government to investigate and imprison! 😂
Yet in the end, the government had no difficulty identifying the members of ELF cells and holding each of the cell members responsible not only for each member’s personal criminal conduct but also for the criminal conduct of the cell as a whole. Supporters of the activists tried argue that “ELF is not a group, there’s no such thing as ELF,” but those arguments were irrelevant, and the same arguments that “antifa is not a group, there’s no such thing as antifa” are also irrelevant. These antifa terrorists are cooked. 😂
@39: “Is Hamas a “centralized organization”? NO”
Um, but yes? 😆
You think the group that has governed gaza for almost 2 decades is not a centralized organization? Please be serious
@39 God, you’re dumb.
@33: It’s not that. It’s showing respect for people who understand biology. It’s offensive to assume people should dissociate from their inner immutable awareness of their gender and sex (exact same thing, btw) and that they can choose to be male or female just so that the tiny population who have gender dysphoria are placated in their facsimile as the opposite sex.
@40 oh well if the W DOJ thought it was ok then it must be
AI says that Hamas has historically been a hierarchical organization but has faced significant challenges to its centralized authority.
44 calling people whose gender identity matches the sex on their birth certificate “cis” is exactly what people do when they understand not only biology but the english language. Same for sex and gender so you’re 0 for 2, not looking good for you. You can’t just twist language to erase people from existence no matter how much you hate them.
@29,
Every single person I’ve heard from who was involved with or participated in Saturday’s events had an absolutely delightful and fulfilling time doing so. This is, in and of itself sufficient justification for not only Saturday’s protests, but plenty of future ones as well. Though knowing that 7 million people out enjoying themselves in solidarity with one another also chafes your craw is certainly an added bonus.
So for the last week, I’ve been seeing people yammering about the No Kings PROTEST, but when you realized you weren’t actually accomplishing anything, you decided to call it a rally.
This is the kind of comedy that makes reading The Stranger worthwhile.
Following that line of reasoning, there was never an actual protest in Seattle during the 21 years I lived there.
@47: Well, you can’t just twist language to create people who are not either biologically male or biological female. But out of good manners and being respectful, we honor an adult’s pursuit of happiness. The same courtesy should be applied to not use a slang that is disrespectful to those who see no need to question their immutable sex and gender.
@50, Cis isn’t slang, it’s a scientific term, something you would know if you understood biology. Anyway i already told you i would call you non-trans if cis is so offensive to you, so we can distinguish you from the people you’re trying to logic-trap out of existence.
@51: Logic trap out of existence. That happened to the probe in the Star Trek episode “The Changeling”.
Given that apparently we can choose our own realties – I’ll let you dwell in yours and won’t belabor the point.
51 well no, we can’t choose our own realities (star trek is a work of fiction) but you’re always welcome to join us in the one where trans people exist regardless of what words we use to distinguish them from everyone else so you don’t have to keep feeling victimized by value-neutral adjectives
@49 It was referred to a “MASS RALLY AND MARCH” from the beginning, dummy.
@53: Seems the power to make people un-exist merely by the use of language is a work of fiction also.
Hey, I tossed you an out on a silver platter but you chose to belabor this and continue embarrassing yourself.
@45: And the Obama DOJ. And the Biden DOJ. And the Trump DOJ. 😁 And the federal courts, where the ELF terrorists were tried and convicted. 😆
I mean, at what point do you abandon this whole bogus defense of “ELF is not actually a real group, the government is only chasing shadows?” Cause that defense led ELF straight to prison, and it won’t work any better for antifa than it did for ELF! 😉
55 yes that’s exactly what I’ve been saying this whole time why would i be embarrassed that you’re agreeing with me
@57: whatever barth, whatever, you’ve exhausted me.
Ok
@15 – Less than ten percent of the gun violence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is committed by White people, and that’s just one of the things that made the attack on the Alvarado ICE facility notable, newsworthy, and unusual.
I suspect what really bugs the “cis” haters is that it sounds too close to “sissy.” That’s actually an easier, less overtly bigoted argument to make (albeit no more rational or persuasive) than denying the equal humanity of trans people. Why not just go with that?
@48, 7 million people out accomplishing no change in Trump’s approval or 7 million people staying home and not changing Trump’s approvsl rating is the same OUTCOME.
@61: We can love trans people and they can love us without qualifiers and labels and the humanity will balance out.
Trust me.
Oh look, the Stranger finally discovered Gaza remains violent: “On Sunday, ten days into a fragile truce, Israel launched an attack on Gaza and halted aid deliveries.”
Or Hamas, having started shooting Palestinians almost from the moment the IDF withdrew, started shooting at Israelis again. Which could more likely prove correct?
Well, to the first point, anyone who paid attention after the cease-fire began knew Hamas started shooting Palestinians almost from the moment the IDF withdrew:
“As Israeli troops pulled back last week to facilitate a deal that freed the living hostages still held in Gaza, Hamas surged security forces in behind them—a public assertion of authority intended to make clear the group remains the enclave’s governing power.
“Those forces immediately began cracking down on rival militias controlled by prominent Palestinian families, engaging in firefights and conducting public executions that have spread fear and raised concerns that a spiral of internecine violence could bring new pain to a long-suffering population.”
Not merely “public executions,” but full-out extra-judicial mass killing, in public and in daylight:
“Clashes around a hospital in Gaza City on Sunday left dozens dead, according to the Hamas unit that conducted the raid and members of the family it was fighting. Videos that emerged Monday—verified by Storyful, which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp—show Hamas fighters dragging a number of men from the family into a public square in broad daylight, forcing them to kneel and executing them in front of a crowd of onlookers.”
(https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-gaza-israel-withdrawal-33d69b55?mod=Searchresults&pos=9&page=1)
Spoiler alert: that “Sunday” mentioned above? That was Sunday the 12th of October. You know, the very first Sunday after the Thursday when the cease-fire started. Not that other Sunday, which has passed since then. (Perhaps the Stranger can understand this before yet another Sunday arrives?) To the Stranger, the only possible explanation for this (the most recent, that is) violence is the IDF started it! (Why, it’s almost like dead Palestinians simply don’t count here at the Stranger — if Hamas kills them. In public. In daylight. Without a hint of due process.)
What’s that, you say? Hamas murdered those prisoners in front of a hospital? Yes, yes indeed. Specifically, this hospital:
“Heavily armed Hamas fighters seized the Jordanian Field Hospital complex in Gaza City last weekend after a gunbattle with a rival Palestinian group, re-establishing their control over what residents and Israel’s military said had long been a redoubt for the Islamist militants.”
Oh, look: Hamas had been using this hospital as a military center, just as the Israelis had said! Hamas used a hospital, the medical staff, and the patients as shields against the IDF. Wow, what a surprise the Stranger, and supportive commenters, must feel! After all, as far as they know about this conflict, no such thing has ever been described to them in the past. They certainly have shown no awareness of what this NATO report (Note: Israel not a member of NATO) had described over the period 2007-2014:
‘Hamas, an Islamist militant group and the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip, has been
using human shields in conflicts with Israel since 2007. According to the Statute of the International
Criminal Court (ICC), the war crime of using human shields encompasses “utilizing the presence of
a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas, or military forces immune from
military operations.” Hamas has launched rockets, positioned military-related infrastructure-hubs
and routes, and engaged the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from, or in proximity to, residential and
commercial areas.’
(https://stratcomcoe.org/cuploads/pfiles/hamas_human_shields.pdf)
Well, this comment contains a lot of unpleasant news for the Stranger. Luckily, from the second WSJ link comes a statement the Stranger can regard with warm familiarity, a statement the Stranger can believe without reservation:
“Hamas has vehemently denied using hospitals in the fight.”
wasn’t it
tS’s reich-wing
commentariat who
shrieked for two fucking
Years — if they wanna END
bibi’s Keep-outta-Prison scheme
cum “War” on Palestinians all Hamas
had to DO was ‘Release the Hostages’?
they’ll ALWAYS find a way to Justify
nutnyahoo’s war crimes, like @64
does in their 2,ooo word
diatribe, above
AIPAC
is Here.
Mariners
lose by
One in
fucking
Montreal
but it was
ONEHELLOVA RUN.
Pretty damn
Well-Played,
lads. hats off.
@65: lol no, it was always release the hostages AND disarm AND exit government. You keep moving the goal posts closer and closer for Hamas, and I think I know why 😉
ah,
Yes
and
right
on Cue
UP pops
thumpfnsorna
with all the ANDs
The
imperial
propaganda
machine is crumbling
in ways we’ve never seen in our lifetime.
They wouldn’t work so hard on
shoring up narrative control if they didn’t
need it, and their narrative control is falling apart.
Look at Israel.
This is an arm of the empire
that understands the importance of
narrative manipulation so acutely that
they’ve got their own term for the practice,
“hasbara”, with countless systems in place
for influencing the way westerners
view the Zionist entity.
But they’re losing.
Israel and its supporters
are more keenly aware of how
important it is to control the narrative
than maybe any other population on earth,
and yet they are losing control of the narrative.
Worldwide support for Israel is plummeting,
with more American voters sympathizing
with the Palestinians than the Israelis
for the first time in history.
And Israel is panicking.
They’ve been ramping up spending
on propaganda and influence operations
while billionaire Zionists like Larry Ellison use
their fortunes to shore up more control over social
media platforms and mainstream news outlets. They
wouldn’t be doing this
if they didn’t feel the need to,
and it won’t even work. No amount
of propaganda is going to cause people
to unsee two years of live-streamed genocide.
Propaganda is a powerful tool, but it isn’t magic.
The Zionists in the White House
are panicking as well.
Donald Trump has stated
that his goal in securing a ceasefire
was to rescue Israel from the PR crisis
created by the Netanyahu regime, saying,
“Bibi
took it
very far
and Israel lost
a lot of support
in the world. Now I
am gonna get all that support back.”
–by Caitlin Johnstone; October 20, 2025
oodles:
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-imperial-propaganda-machine-is
yeah
Nice work,
Bonespurs. bibi
and his psycophants
looking at You
thumpfnsornas
are doing
Israel oodles More
Damage than they are good
get
Rid of
bibi — depose
indict or even Pardon
and Israel’s
“War” on Palestinians
Fucking ENDS Tomorrow.
oh, and Fuck Hamas.
@thrumpet
I am looking for all this love and support you claim slog commenters are heaping on Hamas. But I’m not seeing it. Do you have any examples?
@70: Sure, you see an example in Kristo’s @65, where he thinks the only thing Hamas has to do to end the war is release the hostages. Not so. Releasing the hostages is not Hamas’s only obligation, it’s merely Hamas’s first obligation. 😁 Like many so-called “pro-Palestinian” progressives, Kristo is eager to let Hamas off the hook easy. 😆 Sound familiar, Angry One? 😘
speaking
of Losing
Narratival
Control &,
Once Again,
Right On Cue:
AND, just like FOX
Fucking “News” AND,
the Donald Fucking Eltrumpfster
where a well-Told LIE
is JUST AS GOOD
AS THE FUCK-
ING TRUTH:
“… where he [that’d
be Me, Elkristo] thinks
the only thing Hamas has to
do to end the war is release the hostages.”
when the Lies
Come and Oh,
So EASILY, one
Knows they are
Dealing with The
Wormtongue &/or its
sicsokbott Thumpf You!
aka thumpfnsorna derr Schlogg
and AIPAC’s one-man, two-headed
Propaganda Machine aka La Machine
See: @65, so fucking Closely, just Above
and Below, too!
(AND
see Also @67,
for further Confirmation):
@65:
“wasn’t it
tS’s reich-wing
commentariat who
shrieked for two fucking
Years — if they wanna END
bibi’s Keep-outta-Prison scheme
cum “War” on Palestinians all Hamas
had to DO was ‘Release the Hostages’?”
my oh my
how Easily
the Lies can
AND do Flow!
thanks
for Proving
My (and Caitlin’s!)
Points and so Succinctly
Wormtongue thumpfnsorna!
The Zionists
in the White House
are panicking as well.
@wormmy
You’re
Late!
HEY lil
thumpfer
is your Master
sleeping in? better
check & see if he still has
a Pulse? or have you done
the Unthinkable and
Finally Subsumed
ole wormmy?
Hath
Slave be-
Cometh Master?
we always
Knew this Day
was Coming. oh
Lordy, Have Mercy!
@70: Expanding on @71, this thread is not even the first time since the cease-fire started that thumpus has corrected kristo’s blatantly false assertion about Hamas and ‘only hostage release’. Kristo’ simply does not want Hamas disarmed, and so has repeatedly lied in service of keeping Hamas fully armed. (So they can kill yet more Palestinians without trial, apparently.)
@75: They’re in a bind. If they admit that Palestinian terrorism is the main obstacle to peace, it could undermine their argument that a Jewish state must be uniquely evil and sinister. 😂 Just look at Kristo, ranting about “AIPAC” and “Zionists in the White House!”🤣🤣🤣
A whole lot of republican text messages involving racist nazi shit getting leaked lately… but Trump is building a golden ballroom so… yay?
it ain’t about what I want
it Is about the Reality
that is bibi’s keep
outta prison
gambit
now, in a Blast from The Past
for the Hard of Reading
(read: thumpfnsorna):
Trump’s Sham Peace Plan
There will be no peace in Gaza.
Only the temporary absence of war.
There is no shortage of failed peace plans in occupied Palestine,
all of them incorporating detailed phases and timelines,
going back to the presidency of Jimmy Carter. They
end the same way. Israel gets what it wants initially
~in the latest case the release of the remaining
Israeli hostages!while it ignores and violates
every other phase until it resumes its
attacks on the Palestinian people.
It is a sadistic game.
A merry-go-round of death.
This ceasefire, like those of the past,
is a commercial break. A moment when the
condemned man is allowed to smoke a cigarette
before being gunned down in a fusillade of bullets.
Once Israeli hostages are released,
the genocide will continue. I do not know
how soon. Let’s hope the mass slaughter is delayed
for at least a few weeks. But a pause in the genocide
is the best we can anticipate. Israel is on the cusp of em-
ptying Gaza, which has been all but obliterated under two
years of relentless bombing. It is not about to be stopped.
This is the culmination of the Zionist dream.
The United States, which has given Israel
a staggering $22 billion in military aid
since Oct, 7, 2023, will not shut
down its pipeline, the only
tool that might halt
the genocide.
Israel,
as it always does,
will blame Hamas and
the Palestinians for failing
to abide by the agreement,
most probably a refusal~true
or not~to disarm, as the proposal
demands. Washington, condemning
Hamas’s supposed violation, will give
Israel the green light to continue its genocide
to create Trump’s fantasy of a Gaza Riviera and
“special economic zone” with its “voluntary” relo-
cation of Palestinians in exchange for digital tokens.
–by Chris Hedges; October 10, 2025
from The Chris Hedges Report
oodles:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/trumps-sham-peace-plan
kristofarian on October 11, 2025 at 6:27 AM
for two years
tS’s reich wing
contingent shrieked
how if Hamas simply
‘released the Hostages’
the “War” on Palestine’d
be wrapped up the next day
but That was Never gonna happen
even if Hamas Did Release the Hostages:
@thrumpus,
I disagree. The current Jewish state and Hamas are both evil in their own unique ways.
The Israeli state might be reformable. Let’s hope.
And you do know that AIPAC targets candidates that aren’t pro zion/pro illegal setttlements, right?
Legal, sure. Moral, nope.
It’s only a rant when you disagree with it.
@79
fawking
bingo. bibi’s
the albatross
that’ll sink Israel.
@79: lol, there’s nothing evil about a Jewish state. 😂 And AIPAC’s political spending is something like one-half of one percent of the total spending on US elections. The people who are obsessed with AIPAC are conspiracy theorists who think they’ve uncovered “the Jews” sinister plot for world domination! 🤣 Even Kristofarian, in his unguarded moments, will sometimes slip up and refer to AIPAC as the “Jewish lobby,” giving away the game! 😂🤣😂🤣
Oh look, it appears Hamas may actually stop killing Palestinians without trials:
“The U.S. approach appears to be working, with both Israel and Hamas signaling they aren’t interested in collapsing the deal.
“Following Trump’s warnings, Hamas told mediators it would stop public executions of rival gangs after mediators argued those actions could give Israel an excuse to resume fighting, the Arab officials said.”
(WSJ.com/world/middle-east/trump-officials-ratchet-up-pressure-on-israel-and-hamas-1e525492?mod=world_lead_story)
Who cares more about the deaths of civilians in Gaza: 1/ the Stranger and supportive commenters, or 2/ Donald Trump?
Ouch.
That’ll leave a mark (here).
“lol,
there’s
nothing
evil about
a Jewish state.”
–@thumpfnsorna
of Course not.
but when they’re
Controlled By an Iron-
Fisted Magalomaniac and
Forced to commit War Crimes
in his/their Names
there IS Evil.
and, rightly or Wrongly
mostly 99% wrongly
it’ll be Attributed to
Jews, Planet-
fucking
Wide.
how’s
That
working
out for anti-
Genocidal Jews,
so far,
thumpfnsorna?
@83: antisemitism is the fault of antisemites not the fault of Jews, this point seems obvious? And there is no genocide in Gaza, just urban warfare against an enemy who uses their own kids’ bedrooms as armories 😂
@79: “The current Jewish state and Hamas are both evil in their own unique ways.
The Israeli state might be reformable. Let’s hope.”
Citizens of a country which twice elected Trump really shouldn’t presume to lecture other democracies on how to govern themselves properly, ‘k?
More to the point, getting on with the two-state solution will help both the existing state of Israel, and the new state of Palestine (or whatever the citizens decide to call it). That starts with supporting this peace deal, which in turn means loudly and proudly advocating for Hamas to disarm.
You know, doing the very thing the Stranger, and supporting commenters, now very carefully avoid doing?
@Biped “AntiFA” stands for Anti-Fascist action. AntiFA is the default position of every patriotic American. That a group of activists in Portland calls themselves Rose City AntiFA does not mean that there is a nationwide organization called AntiFA. Now if you want to talk about actual organized domestic terrorist organizations, how about talking the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Patriot Prayer, and the 3%ers.
@86 – “We call ourselves the Anti Bad-Guy Squad, and we label our opponents The Bad Guys. How can people not understand this? We can never be terrorists because we’re fighting The Bad Guys. It’s so simple to understand. Everything we do is justified because of our name.”
You did the meme lol
@86 Greenwood Slob
Hey have you noticed that the official name of “North Korea” is “The People’s Democratic Republic of Korea”? That means the DPRK is totally democratic and not a totalitarian state in any way.
You might have heard of the “NSDAP” too, the “National Socialist German Workers’ Party”!
They were totally Socialist dontcha know. It’s right there in their name! If you are ignorant (you probably are) of the NDSAP, look em up!
@84: “antisemitism is the fault of antisemites not the fault of Jews, this point seems obvious?”
Yes, but such hateful, bigoted attitudes can receive encouragement. Examples include:
Accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza constantly for two years, then saying absolutely nothing as Hamas engages in mass murder in Gaza;
Making an explicit moral equivalence between mass-murdering Hamas and “the Jewish state”;
Advocating disarmament of Israel because of the war in Gaza, then refusing to call for disarming Hamas to prevent resumption of the war in Gaza;
Luckily no one here would ever encourage anti-Jewish bigotry in these ways, hm?
Nobody decent, anyway…