Revs 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The verse was *so* perfect to start, whether or not you follow mainstream religion, and it’s your choice, and none of my business. But this article I found worried me, because people are looking at the opposite of what we need to do. Violence, pain, and bleeding are not the way. It is not what Dr. King chose. Human being against human being – that doesn’t work for a solution. We don’t want or need a war inside our country because of the problems with Trump. That’s not the way. I’m not sure what it is, but that isn’t. With thanks to Raw Story:
Trump resistance protesters have planned to pivot to disruption — signaling a major change in the movement, according to a report Monday. A “Free America” walkout slated for Tuesday has anticipated tens of thousands to participate on the day of President Donald Trump’s one-year anniversary of his inauguration, according to a new Axios report. “The vanguard in this are starting to think about how … one day, peaceful, legally permitted marches are not enough to push back” against the Trump administration, Dana Fisher, professor at American University’s School of International Service, told the outlet.
And you see the concern. You see the worry. The Civil War abolished slavery. And that is a marvelous thing. But how many thousands of people were killed? How many lives were lost? We have much better weaponry at this moment, which anyone can have at home. The military has even more state-of-the-art weaponry at its disposal. And if the protests become violent, exponentially more lives could be lost. Trump would love it as long as the people dying are anything but white. Trump will install *martial law*, and his law is not ours. It might be MAGAs. It’s terrifying.
“And they’re starting to think through what types of tactics are ones that people are comfortable with and would be willing and open to participating in to expand the toolbox,” Fisher said. Past demonstrations have remained mainly peaceful throughout 2025, including “No Kings” protests. “I don’t think that there is an intervention that will have the MAGA regime see the error of its ways,” Rachel O’Leary Carmona, Women’s March executive director, told Axios.
“I do think there are interventions that demonstrate the political, electoral, and financial cost of authoritarianism in our communities, and those are the things that we have to be focused on,” O’Leary Carmona added.
Geez, people, think about opening Pandora’s box! We’ve already lost Renee. We don’t need to lose someone else. How many people are willing to choose cruelty? Are you? (It’s a rhetorical question.) There’s so much more to be considered as opposed to just pulling a trigger or throwing a Molotov cocktail. Think about the people who own those buildings or own those businesses that someone is trashing. Think about them, too. Think outside the box.
The Trump administration has long claimed that protesters are paid, despite evidence that they are not. Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act — yet has said he has “no reason” to do it — as a response to the rising protests in response to the increased violence. “A free America begins the moment we refuse to cooperate,” the movement’s website said.
“This is not a request. This is a rupture. This is a protest and a promise. In the face of fascism, we will be ungovernable.” More protesters have expressed they are now increasingly more open to political violence, according to survey data shared by Fisher with Axios.
“As of Jan. 16, 34% of those polled agreed that Americans ‘may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,'” according to the poll results. “Only so many more people [can] get murdered in front of cameras who are peaceful protesters in cities at the hands of ICE before there are going to be some folks in the streets who feel like peaceful non-violence is not enough,” Fisher said.
Trump wants this. He wants to turn our country into a dictatorship. He wants this to deflect from Epstein. Too bad for him, THAT one isn’t going to happen. Deflect, deflect, re-direct. He blusters and bloviates. Martial law would throw that Nobel prize right out the window, since we can assume he still wants one, not just the medal, but the whole thing. Taking Greenland will definitely throw it out the window, too. Let’s hope that a bunch of ‘little’ things will stick around in his rotten little brain so that he won’t make a decision the wrong way. Violence is not the answer. May it never be the *only* answer. You do not have to be a pacifist. But.
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No No NO! Today of all days it’s time to take stock of the movement Martin Luther King organized and led. Without the benefits and advantages of social media, knowing Hoover’s FBI was ‘monitoring’ him (including trying to plant dirt on him) he put in hard work in countless places to convince followers NON-violent protests were the correct path. Yes he told them people would get hurt and perhaps worse. Then again, that was already happening only it was the Klan doing it in the dead of night. Alerting national news, the major networks sometimes had cameras on hand to film the brutality taken against people who peacefully marches, or sometimes literally sat down in streets in front of government buildings, or at lunch counters. “Sit ins” they were called.
Among my earliest memories is a flash of Bull Connor setting dogs loose on the evening news. And Selma? Our youngish Presbyterian minister answered Dr. King’s call and went down there after Bloody Sunday. I clearly remember us intently watching news coverage of the march from Selma to Montgomery hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
But the point is that it was NON-violent protest. It takes a willingness to sacrifice close to a level of what we expect from our troops. What ICE is doing and will do is an ugly reprise of what local and county LE did back during the 1960s. Too many white Americans stood back for too long but eventually felt shame over their silence and acquiescence and the “southern Democrats” couldn’t hold out any longer. Enough of the reluctantly stepped aside and we got landmark Civil and Voting Rights legislation passed along with other significant programs of LBJ’s Great Society package.
The executives at most major news outlets do NOT want their reporters to be covering what ICE is doing. Their problem is that countless people are using their cell phones to capture the brutality of ICE (and other federal agents) and spreading it on social media. Protest organizers need to set up things so it can be live streamed, and do one other important thing.
What made the video of George Floyd’s murder into a conviction was the steady hand of the young woman who stood there and kept the focus exactly where she should have. She didn’t try to play ‘filmmaker’ and pan around trying to show other stuff. No, she kept her focus on Floyd and the officer squeezing the breath and life out of him. Other LE showed up in the frame but she kept her eye/focus on what really mattered. People filming can be taught to divvy up tasks if others are present. If four or five people have phones whomever was first should call out a number and others starting to film the scene should ‘count off’ and whomever got the ball rolling can call out a second person to keep their camera pointed on the beatdown and others can be told to focus on other parts of the scene.
As for groups of protesters I say bring a seat cushion like you would have to Vikings games at the old Vet where fans sat in sub zero temps to watch their team. Or like they still do at Green Bay’s Lambeau or at Soldier Field in Chicago. Just sit down. Make ICE pick them up and cart them away. And make sure more than one person is filming from a distance and from multiple angles because you KNOW once away from the group some of the ICE THUGS will decide to play rough.
Well, Denis, while I do agree with you for the most part, you seem to have overlooked ONE CRUCIAL difference between what’s happening now and what happened during the Civil Rights struggle and that would be THE SURRENDER MONKEYS IN CHARGE OF THE NETWORKS. We frequently have read stories about how Murrow and Cronkite are spinning in their graves at the current state of the network news operations and there’s a reason for that: THE SURRENDER MONKEYS IN CHARGE OF THE NETWORKS.
The gist of this article and thread seems to be that “violence never solves anything.” Seriously? While I detest violence in most situations, it’s glaringly obvious that violence has solved more problems than all other solutions put together. I usually lurk here, but I had to say something to counteract the wooly headed nonsense that got us into this mess in the first place.
According to polls, there are at least 100M more Americans who hate what’s going on than who love it. I’m not advocating anything, but even a long series of one-for-one trades would leave this country in the hands of the good guys.the real question is, what are you willing to sacrifice to live in freedom and peace?
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” Thomas Jefferson
Denis, I agree 100%! Once we stop the peaceful protests, we’re no better than ICE. I wonder if someone or a bunch of evil doers are infiltrating the media or something to start this discussion of violence for violence. I think that’s is suicide for those of us with more than a reptile brain! Let that be tRump’s signature style, not ours.
In LA/Chicago/Minnesota, the local community have organised and drive around and blow whistles as you see them. this is disrupting ICE. So supporting local communities is important while remaining peaceful