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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 14m

At least one thing down here ISN'T total shit!

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😭

Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 16m

Governmental models can't run by themselves; people have to abide by them. We're in the catastrophic position that the Republicans are ignoring the rules, the SC is saying there are no rules, and the media are lying at worst or acting like reporting on the rule-breaking would be rude at best.

Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 22m

These are the feeblest "tough guys" ever. My dudes, you're wearing an entire surplus store's worth of cosplay tactical gear. What exactly do you need to be protected from? Priests? Old ladies saying mean things?

Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 4h

The weird thing about the collapse of the US’s constitutional order is that it felt very abrupt from the inside, but when I try to write it up as a narrative I find myself starting with something like Ford’s pardon of Nixon in 1974.

a man in a suit and tie is looking down with his eyes closed

Alt: Gerald Ford making a speech.

media.tenor.com

Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

time drumming up opposition. Fortunately for all of us, they’re all wearing surplus store cosplay NGO mercenary outfits, which don’t really scream “POLICE” to anyone. /2

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

At any rate, “let’s go confront the police,” is an instinct that American has been ruthlessly suppressing for decades. That said; this is one place where “Trump is an idiot” is paying off—if he’d outfitted ICE with shiny blue uniforms with patches and pleats, we’d have a much harder /1

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

Already _had_

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

A second problem is that the US _already_ has authoritarian tendencies — for half a century we’ve had an incarceration rate four times that of a typical European country, and police officers had near legal impunity before Trump.

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

It’s fine. He said OpSec Is Clean, which is how he tries to cast Turn Reporter.

Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

It is really strange watching this whole group rant endlessly about strength while apparently having no idea what strength is for.

If you’re not protecting people, you’re not strong.

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

I normally warn Canadians not to visit for now, but the RCAF is probably going to be fine. Welcome to California.

sfstandard.com/2025/10/01/s...

Canadians and civilian volunteer pilots will save Fleet Week

Thank you, Canada 🫡

sfstandard.com

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

He isn’t popular. The only reason things are still reasonably peaceful is that the majority of Americans expect that the 2026 and 2028 elections will happen as per normal, and that things won’t get “too bad” (for some interpretation) in the meanwhile.

If that changes things will get terrible, fast.

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 1d

In the same speech he’s starting to throw around the word insurrection. If he invokes the Insurrection Act all bets are off—he _could_ use the NG for “policing”—but it’s meant in the sense of “of conquered territory.”

That would be “legal.” It would also destroy the US, forever.

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 2d

Wish I could disagree.

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 2d

Oh, I know, and I'm sorry. This is one of my private rage buttons, because I can't get other Americans to _see_ it. We're sitting around glowing a sort of nuclear apocalypse red on incarceration rate graphs, and people just sort of slide across it and don't see a problem.

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Ian Sammis @isammis.bsky.social · 2d

"Now?"

Have you _seen_ our incarceration rate?

(It's literally six times that of Canada.)

We've been dehumanizing Americans since Reagan. This is about the only part of all this that _isn't_ new.

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