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Jane Huey's avatar

We'll be attending a protest at ICE headquarters in Portland Oregon tomorrow. My sign reads "JACKBOOTED THUGS" with an enlarged picture of ICE agents all lined up in full gear. The other side reads "STOP TRUMP'S GESTAPO (swastica inside the O). And the building is right next door to a Tesla dealership where we've been holding twice weekly protests. Should be fun!

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Sally Rosloff's avatar

Thank you!

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elliemae.padme66's avatar

Be careful

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Michela A. C.'s avatar

LOVE!

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David Maceira's avatar

From down in Salem to keeping Portland weird! You guys rock! ❤️❤️❤️

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Jane Huey's avatar

Back at you, brother! Everywhere all at once!

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Bambi Vargo's avatar

I have been told not to include swastikas on protest signs as they may cause trauma for some people.

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Mary Bee's avatar

Protests don't work. Bombarding the republicans with phone calls and texts who are complicit is the only way to get your message across. Your protests are not in front of the houses of the thugs doing this so it has no impact on these MAGAS.

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Mardi Crane-Godreau, PhD's avatar

Both are needed.

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Kevin's avatar

They do work quite well and are extremely important, as long as you don't expect instant results. The steady drip hollows the stone, or something like that.

The Occupy Wallstreet protests had little immediate effect, but without the awareness they brought, people might not have been as sensitive to Musk's corroding influence.

BLM and George Floyd protests are a factor why people are so upset about the rollback of DEI (and apparently, at least Target is now paying a price for rolling back their DEI initiatives).

And today's protests at Tesla dealerships are having a pretty direct effect on their bottom line.

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Diane's avatar

I disagree - protests are visible signs to others - I actually overheard someone watching a march I participated in say "I've never seen protestors in real life before" If you can see it you can be it!

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Bambi Vargo's avatar

I have been protesting regularly at a Tesla dealership in Lyndhurst, Ohio, and in Mentor, Ohio on a busy street. The protests send an important message to the rest of the community and they are a source of fellowship for protesters.

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David Maceira's avatar

Protests do work. Case in point. Tesla's new car sales in Sweden were down by 81 percent in April. In the Netherlands down 74 percent. Down 59 percent in France. In Denmark sales dropped by 67 percent. In the US they're down by 9 percent. But you know it's hitting him where it hurts the most.

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Neita Oates's avatar

But wouldn’t you expect sales to be worse here than in Europe if the protests are working ? They need more MSM overage. So many people aren’t concerned (by anything, not just tesla) because for them, life is merrily good along. “Here we are at Disneyland, in Italy, in Greece, etc)

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David Maceira's avatar

Quater 1 sales for Tesla were actually down 13% over last year. Tesla may lead the US sales and EV purchases. But I suspect they will only get worse as protests continue. And I wouldn't hold my breath on the media. They would rather bash President Biden than t's egregious constitutional violations, mental decline and corruption.

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Neita Oates's avatar

“going along”

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David Maceira's avatar

Emails, phone calls, texts do work. Even calling representatives in other states. Especially those who are souring on t's offenses and constitutional violations.

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Dr. Connie Kellogg's avatar

So why can’t we get the addresses of Republican Representatives and Senators and protest outsttheir homes? DEMOCRATS STOP FOLLOWING THE RULES!! They no longer work!!!!

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Jeannine Johnson's avatar

Right? They don't play by the rules so neither should we.

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Diana Haering's avatar

With greed, there will never be an end goal. They will never be satisfied.

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Mardi Crane-Godreau, PhD's avatar

Yes, greed and power. Cruelty and misinformation are key tools for bullies.

I did some research of bullying and have posted on the topic. It's easier to stand against bullies if you understand them. The better we understand, the more resilient we can be.

https://longcovidjourney2wellness.substack.com/p/bullying

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Save Our Country's avatar

Greed for money AND power. That is the magic elixir that keeps these psychopaths going. I get that.

What I don't get, is the tens of millions of emotionally and mentally crippled people who refuse to even try to connect to reality. WTF? We should throw them a lifeline when they cut off ours?

When the inevitable happens and these deplorable cretins seek forgiveness and mercy, my answer is, you were dead to me years ago. You are on your own now suckers. FREEDOM!

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Joanna Weinberger's avatar

Don't you think they'll be satisfied when the humans are extinct and they control the planet?

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Kathleen Fernandez's avatar

Is this the America we want? I will attempt to do everything I can to stop these atrocities. I am sickened by this cruel treatment of people who came here for a better life, just like our ancestors did.

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Michela A. C.'s avatar

This is the America the magats want and voted for. We have to take it back from them. We need to hit them with sensory overstimulation as to why it's wrong. We need to flip the script.

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Scott Gilbert's avatar

That will never happen. WE WILL NEVER CONVINCE THEM EVER. The only ways they will drop out of the cult is for Trump's policies to ROYALLY FUCK THEM OVER (as a modest fucking will be Biden's fault) or for him to die.

Without Trump, MAGA will fall apart, and all of the Project 2025 guys who are REALLY running the show now will be laid bare, and I don't think that the cultists will fall in line behind JD Vance or Russell Vought.

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Kevin's avatar

Sadly, I am afraid you are right. In Germany, the Nazi horror did not end until the country utterly lost WW II and cities were bombed left and right.

And in the US, slavery didn't end until the South utterly lost the civil war.

I hope it won't come to that this time, and I have some hope due to Trump's age and health status.

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Teresa G's avatar

I agree

FFOTUS needs to go one way or another

Soon

As my t shirt says 8647

Hit it way before the shells😂

Any ideas ?

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Scott Gilbert's avatar

I saw one image made out of dog shit bags.

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Neita Oates's avatar

Agreed. But I fear that once the takeover is complete they will have one’s for the cult base. 🤞

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Scott Gilbert's avatar

The goal to treating immigrants so cruelly?

To make the public so numb and uncaring about it that there won't be much of an uproar when they start pulling Americans into concentration camps because their Facebook posts would offend their dear leader, Der Trumpenfuehrer.

But the LONG TERM goal is to make this a place where Trumpnazis flourish and whoever may be unfortunate enough to not be one of them and still here, will either become servants or victims.

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Stephen Brady's avatar

A couple of weeks ago, Jasmine Crockett had a post which I am paraphrasing (since I can no longer find it): 'She was sorry to state the obvious, but there are quite a number of Americans who are crude and callous enough to enjoy the cruelty inflicted on 'those people'... This is another way that the Orange Ogre is hobbling our economy. I am sure that people made fearful will take the free rides out of the country rather than get kidnapped and deported to a prison. And later this summer when there is no one left working in the meat processing plants, no one cleaning motel rooms, no one harvesting crops, the economy will take another step down. These are acts of war against the American Nation and the American people.

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Mary Bee's avatar

These are all the playground bullies from elementary school. You know how they were cruel to little kids and shy kids. I kicked a few where it hurt and got their respect that way. They only understand someone stronger than them.

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Stephen Brady's avatar

I don’t think they understand people who stand up to them. I think they are cowards. They just move on looking for someone who will give up their lunch money.

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Diane Hilscher's avatar

This post by Oliver Kornetzke, with his view as a Russian, speaks to me about the real reason for the cruelty. No deep beliefs, it's all about the heist. From 4/22/25 Diane

Pic related—personal hero of mine, Russian patriot and dissident Alexei Navalny.

pdterosnoSl3f2m51MuiPtA56f0a8 4 c096 1 147c2u:1hl4p3l20rmmuc ·

I’m not a historian. I’m not a Kremlinologist or a credentialed scholar on authoritarian regimes. I’m not a behavioral psychologist, and I don’t hold a PhD in fascism or kleptocracy—though frankly, given the state of the world, I’m starting to wonder if we all should. But I’ve lived in Russia for some time. I’ve spent time in Eastern Europe. I’ve read obsessively, listened carefully, and paid attention like my life depended on it—because, in a very real sense, it does. And while I’ll leave academic dissection to the ivory tower, what I can tell you from the ground is this:

What’s happening in this country isn’t just cruel—it’s methodical, strategic, and deeply familiar to anyone who’s studied or survived under regimes built on repression and rot.

We’re watching a script play out—one that was written in the blood and bureaucracy of Putin’s Russia, refined in the dungeons of Chechnya, perfected through decades of oligarchic decay, secret police intimidation, and mafia-state theatrics. And now it’s being re-staged here in America, rebranded with flags and lapel pins and the tired language of “law and order.”

The Trump regime—this carnival of third-rate strongmen, grifters, sycophants, and sadists—isn’t innovating anything. It’s copying. It’s importing the authoritarian model wholesale. They’ve read the Putin playbook, dog-eared the best parts, and now they’re running it in real time. And the cruelty? That’s not a flaw in the system. That is the system.

Because cruelty serves a dual purpose: it distracts and it paralyzes. It shocks the conscience just long enough to make you forget about the theft happening in broad daylight. It freezes resistance by making you wonder who’s next. It’s not just about dehumanizing the target—it’s about disarming the observer. You see a 52-year-old seamstress abducted by masked agents in broad daylight, and your mind stops. That’s the point. While you’re frozen, they’re looting the vault.

Putin’s critics—brave dissidents like Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Alexei Navalny—laid it out plainly: behind the thuggish repression, there’s no grand ideology. There’s only theft. Power is just a means to steal more, protect the stolen, and destroy anyone who threatens the racket. Navalny made that crystal clear. Putin’s state isn’t built on belief—it’s built on plunder. And everything else—beatings, censorship, propaganda, disappearances—is just set dressing for the heist.

Trump, a failed businessman and serial conman, didn’t stumble into power because he had a vision. He stumbled into it like a raccoon into a jewelry store: overwhelmed, opportunistic, and desperate to grab everything shiny before the lights come on. He brought with him a gang of similarly hollow, self-serving goons—parasites in flag pins—who recognized that brute force and spectacle could serve as a perfect cover for mass-scale corruption. All they needed was enough boots, enough masks, and enough Americans too scared or too exhausted to resist.

That’s what ICE is now—a terror squad designed not just to punish the “other,” but to frighten the rest into submission. They don’t need to knock on your door. They just need you to see what happens when they knock on hers. They want you disoriented, enraged, heartbroken, and above all—silent.

It’s not about immigration. It’s about domination.

But here’s the part they never count on: you can only keep people paralyzed for so long. Fear calcifies. Shock fades. And eventually, rage focuses.

So, let’s speak plainly: this is not normal, it’s not American, and it’s not sustainable. It’s a kleptocratic death cult wearing the face of democracy. It’s an authoritarian racket hiding behind courtrooms and uniforms. And it will fall—just like every regime before it that mistook violence for invincibility and corruption for competence.

What can we do? First, resist the paralysis. Rage, yes—but don’t retreat. Pay attention. Speak out. If something feels wrong, say it’s wrong. Refuse to play along with their language, their framing, their euphemisms. They are not “removing undocumented immigrants.” They are disappearing people. They are not “restoring law and order.” They are weaponizing the state.

And just as importantly: take care of yourself. Joy, community, love, rest—these are not luxuries in a time of repression. They are acts of defiance. They are the fuel for the long fight ahead. Because this will be a long fight. There will be distractions, casualties, betrayals. But there will also be courage. And solidarity. And moments that remind us exactly why we fight.

Because we don’t do it for the flag. We don’t do it for politicians. We do it for every seamstress dragged from her car. Every family torn apart. Every dissident silenced. Every protestor jailed. We do it to honor the civil rights marchers, the freedom riders, the Stonewall rebels, the water protectors, the labor organizers—the defiant, the bold, the brave.

And we do it for the Americans who laid down their lives to crush fascism in Europe. For the soldiers who stormed beaches to fight against tyranny, not wave it in through the front door. For those who fought in the jungles and the deserts and the streets—not for conquest, but for freedom. For those who knew that authoritarianism doesn’t need to speak a foreign language to be a threat.

And we do it because we must. Because history is watching. And this time, it’s our names on the line.

Let’s make sure they’re remembered for the right reasons.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Navalny

Very similar information in author/professor Ruth Ben Ghiat’s book “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present”.

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Save Our Country's avatar

Powerful words that I hope that everyone who reads them will take to heart.

Cannot thank you enough Diane for making us aware of this.

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Diane Hilscher's avatar

Thank you, Save Our Country. Oliver is a fine writer. It's time to go back to this post on the St Croix Valley Indivisible Chapter (Stillwater, MN) FB page to thank my fellow member for sharing. I'll mention your comment, too. Yes, powerful words.

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Cathy Wray's avatar

Diane, well said!! Thank you!!💙

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Terri S's avatar

Excellent piece and my first ‘restack.’ With regard to your last paragraph, I ask myself ‘But how? What more, what else, what will have an effect?’

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LizBiz851's avatar

I agree.

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Mark Steinberg's avatar

But what is the strategy to stop this, to challenge its momentum?? What is the force that can meet and beat the dominance that this cruelty is designed to enshrine??

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LizBiz851's avatar

It just seems protests aren't doing it. The Dems have to take back both houses in Congress. I've been writing Postcards to Swing States since 2020. I donate a lot of money to Dem candidates. What else can I/we do? I'm afraid I/we are becoming immune.

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Kevin's avatar

First, the Democrats have to face their own reckoning. Which thankfully seems to be happening. The Dems lost to Trump, not once but twice, because they had little more to offer than "we are not quit as bad as the other guy".

After the Schumer debacle, I think the Party is finally starting waking up. There are still too many people who don't want to face the truth (just look at the attempts to silence David Hogg), but things are moving in the right direction.

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Richard's avatar

Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem are pure evil. The ICE Barbie travels down there to do a photo-op at the prison. Plus, a few GOP politicians traveled there to do a photo-op and one of them did a thumbs up as the photo was being taken. Geez, what a bunch of sick minded people.

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Katharine Hill's avatar

You are absolutely right, Jay, the time for action is now. We must stand firmly together and say not on our watch.

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Amy goes to Washington's avatar

This is so bone chilling. Reading this makes me so uneasy and desperate. I couldn't get my self to watch the videos.

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mtlb's avatar

I don't think the 'why' will ever enter into it. It's just what they are. Vampires never stop needing blood – until they're stopped.

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Thomas Darron's avatar

The goal is to be cruel so they can feel powerful...and openly racist.

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Jen Guernsey's avatar

"All cruelty flows from weakness."

-- Seneca

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56gtzgz5hx's avatar

Yes, but what are ordinary citizens to do? Could you explain what you are thinking about how to combat this awful political group of people?

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Paula B.'s avatar

Keep reminding everyone that this is not normal and is heinous. Don't let people become numb to it.

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Sally Rosloff's avatar

I had the same thought as I finished reading it. We're at the point where we need mass demonstrations daily, not every few months or weeks...

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Vickie Berry's avatar

Indivisible, 50501, your local Democratic Party, JessicaCraven of Chop Wood, Carry Water Substack, and others have many protests listed. And, check out The General Strike. It could be time for that.

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Save Our Country's avatar

No taxation without representation was the basis of the American Revolution. Might be time to remind all politicians that We the People are in charge and they serve us at our discretion.

We are the ones that sacrificed everything "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

We all must accept responsibility for losing our way and electing people who betrayed us. Each of us must decide whether we, like our forefathers, are willing to sacrifice everything to preserve our way of life. I promise you, expecting the politicians we elected to sacrifice everything to preserve democracy, protect the rule of law, or uphold the Constitution, is a fool's errand.

This has been coming on for 50 or more years. We fell in line, played by the rules and every step of the way most of us feared speaking truth to power. For reasons of self-preservation, self-serving gratification, and selfish aggrandizement, we failed to uphold the common good. Everyone of us could have done better!

How many of you lost family in WWII? How about WWI or the Civil War? Have any of you tracked your family history back to the War of Independence.? I have! It is true my ancestors are only names to me. But every day, I think about the sacrifices they made and the loyalty they professed to the United States of America.

At the end of the day, there is only one sane and coherent way to rid us of this destructive and inordinately cruel regime. History tells us how this ends if we let it play out. Maybe this time we spare millions of an early demise. The sooner it happens the better, because every day that goes by more people will die and suffer.

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David Collier-Brown's avatar

I notice you refer to the Venezuelans as "migrants".

Migrants are people who bring the goats to the high pastures in summer, and back down again in winter. They're pretty rare these days.

People moving to your country are "immigrants".

Letting your opponent change the language used, to their advantage, is A Bad Thing.

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LizBiz851's avatar

migrant | ˈmīɡr(ə)nt |

noun

1. a person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions.

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Mary Bee's avatar

They're called migrants because they came to work in fields in the past. Some were here for certain seasons to work, then went back over the border in Winter because they didn't like the cold. The money they earned in a few months helped them live comfortably in their home country.

Because of violence in their countries, they are immigrants who seek refuge and want to stay and need a job and housing while they are processed.

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D Epp's avatar

Canadian Oxford;

Migrate: move from one place of residence to another, esp. in a different country..

Migrant: that migrates.

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Mila's avatar

You're thinking about "trashumants", also called "migrants", but within this context, the "migrant" noun refers to people moving from one region to the next, without planning on circling back.

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