6 responses to “And Now the News — 8/26”

1. 

   granville

   08/26/2025

   Being in Chicago this chatter is relevant to my interests.

   There were a couple of violent incidents this weekend — mass shoplifting at a luxury store, and then a 17 year old black kid assaulting 3 white people from behind in a tony neighborhood, followed by a black security guard seemingly robbing one of the unconscious victims on the ground — that immediately went viral. The incidents weren’t staged, or at least I don’t think so, but the virality was. This is the reality of all of the major social media networks being owned by fascist or fascist-adjacent (which also means “fascist”) gits. The new Hearsts and Pulitzers: promise them violence and coercion and they’ll deliver the crisis.

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      08/27/2025

      Bread and circuses, to keep us distracted. Muggings and murders are bad news for the victims, but not news at all to the rest of the world, same as house fires and auto wrecks. Media that makes such stuff headline news is shit media, and social media is shit media, so it doesn’t surprise me when things like what you describe dominate the viral horizon. It’s always & only about holding peoples’ attention for the next ads and tracking.

      Meanwhile, Trump is about to send the National Guard to occupy your city. Is any chatter about that going viral?

      When it was all new, I very, very briefly dabbled in social media, same as I dabbled in AI, just long enough to see if it’s worthwhile, but the answer was no, it’s horseshit. Swear to Jeebers, the longer anyone spends on Facebook and Xitter and such, the dumber they become.

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      1. 

         granville

         08/27/2025

         I think the city’s under a spotlight, and they mayor is an incompetent buffoon who is making it worse by the day because he has no cards to play other than racial grievance, but also these (very real) incidents seem to be getting boosted to portray the city as a hellscape. Of which there are parts that certainly are as bad as anything in America, but these seem to be specifically racial — black attacks on white people. I suspect they’re building toward something big and blowing up these incidents to justify what they have in mind.

         Is ICE ready to act as his praetorian guard yet? Do they need another few months to fatten up the ranks? I think that and uncertainty about the best kindling to use to burn the Reichstag is the only thing causing any hesitation right now. Apparently feds have been prepping at a nearby naval base for the last *several months.* Absolutely insane:

         https://capitolfax.com/2025/08/27/report-ice-planning-to-send-strike-team-to-chicago/

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         1. 

            Doug Holland

            08/28/2025

            The plan works best when it’s implemented incrementally, something understood by whoever’s running Trump. The biggest ugly America’s ever seen is coming soon, and I like your assessment that “uncertainty about the best kindling to use to burn the Reichstag” is the key delay.

            Training for months? How much training does anyone need to bash heads? Get on with it, I say. The anticipation could give me an ulcer.

            Once martial law is declared, denial will be impossible, right? The head-and-shoulders-in-the-sand crowd will snap out of it, I stupidly tell myself, but of course they never will.

            Ah, Chicago. It’s bigger and meaner than Seattle, and with better transit. Spent exactly one day there, maybe twenty years ago, and had a blast, though we only saw the city’s tourist attractions and rode the el. Can’t comment on your local politics, but I don’t doubt Mayor Johnson’s an incompetent buffoon. He’s a Democrat, so — of course.

            Reply
2. 

   leaving this blank

   08/28/2025

   Everything ends. The America we grew up in was always rotten, and now it’s over and what we get instead is absolute shit but Trump et al are too destructive to survive for long once the economy is ruined. It’s a snake eating its own tail. This regime will end too, not via elections, and who knows what comes after. These are perilous times,watch out for yourself and your loved ones.

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   1. 

      Doug Holland

      08/29/2025

      Yup.

      Reply

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