Christine Lemmer-WebberJul 1

So, ICE is getting $75 billion in funding in this spending bill.

There's a directive to build a ton of new private prisons which are effectively concentration camps. Actually let's remove the "effectively". They ARE concentration camps, under nearly any definition of that term.

So why do people keep getting swept up for nearly no reason whatsoever? It's about quotas. 🧵

Show threadChristine Lemmer-WebberJul 1

When you have a system like this, what we are looking at is a well funded set of slots and quotas, a promise of numbers.

And you know what happens with this. You know what it's like for you or someone else to get pulled over for a bullshit speeding ticket at the end of the month. The cop has been given a quota to fill. They'll be in trouble if they don't fill it. They *have to find* people who are in trouble, or *they'll* be in trouble. 🧵

Show threadChristine Lemmer-WebberJul 1

We are looking at maybe the most well funded goon squad / gestapo / secret police style system of all time. They've made the spaces for it, they have the directive to fill them.

Who's going in the prisons? Who is "breaking the rules", including under the new rules they're setting up?

Is it you?

Is it someone you love?

Is it someone you don't know directly, but someone you know indirectly?

This is where things are going. That's what's at stake.

Show threadnobodyJul 1
@cwebber Yup. and the only thing Americans have to do to end it, is stand up and march on dc and demand it end, before it gets any worse, or god forbid completely in motion.

no one is coming to save the usa…. only the people can.
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 2
@quin @cwebber
...Uh huh. I'm "just" supposed to march from *thousands of miles away*, into a *heavily surveilled city guarded by snipers*, in a country where there was *already* a *massive* double standard between how our cops treat left-wing and right-wing protesters, and that was *before* it started morphing into an outright fascist state. Explain to me exactly how that's supposed to work? And how I, in particular, avoid collapsing into a panic attack trying?
Show threadnobodyJul 2
@pteryx @cwebber Look, for Americans at this point right now in time. YES, it is either The American People unify and march on DC, to hold their corrupt government accountable.

OR

Tens of Millions of us get murdered by Nazis..

I'm sorry to be so openly honest about how Fascists operate. but no one is coming to save to us.

and no amount of cowardice or obedience will keep any of us safe.

Read some History Kid.

Italy 1922. Germany 1933. Russia 2000. USA 2025.

The Fourth Reich has bloomed and only The People can stop it.

The Government which ALLOWED fascism into power, is not going to save you from Fascism.
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 2

@quin @cwebber
"Read some history" doesn't answer my question, seeing as from what *I* remember from history, the Third Reich wasn't ended from within, but from losing WWII.

I'm not in denial of what's happening, I just think you're deluded about what the logistics of this are, and do not see a role I can effectively play in stopping things. You seem as though you're just putting a pretty face on "go get yourself killed because you deserve it, Amerikkkan".

Show threadnobodyJul 2
@pteryx @cwebber Yes, but the difference between the Third and Fourth Reich.
No one is coming to help us. we have alienated ourselves from the entire planet, by being absolutely fucking horrible.

If no one is coming to save us, that just leaves us, doesn't it?

First off, I am an American.
Secondly, if 20 million Americans march on DC like they do in other cities, they could coerce government reform without any violence.

But you damned kids, always think violence it's a fucking prerequisite for anything. it's NOT, grow up already.

and again, if 20 million Americans March on DC to Demand Government reform, would put enough pressure on the criminals in DC to actually make the changes.
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 2

@quin @cwebber
First, this "damned kid" is in her late 40s. Just because you don't agree with me doesn't mean the source of my demand for a realistic plan of action is naïveté.

Second, you're deliberately maliciously misinterpreting me. I'm not saying violence *by* leftist marchers would be necessary, but that violence *against* such marchers would be the result. Even Jan 6th was clearly pushing it, given for once MAGA was actually getting punished.

1/2

Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 2

@quin @cwebber
Third, I don't believe you're actually an American or you'd *know* about the left vs. right double standards about protest. A leftist January 6th wouldn't play out like the original; we'd just be massacred, and the propaganda machine would demonize it all.

Fourth, also pointing to your foreignness: most foreigners don't grasp the physical size of the US, and thus make demands exactly like this. Agatha Christie is not a geographer.

Show threadnobodyJul 2
@pteryx @cwebber No shit she was a novelist…

what the fuck are you smoking lady???
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 2
@quin @cwebber
The root of the snark there is that Murder on the Orient Express had an infamous geographical absurdity in it wherein it was asserted that people from an East Coast city would naturally know people from a Midwest city because the US is all one country. Sadly, that kind of misapprehension of how big the US is incredibly common among people who don't live in similarly large countries, which *does* lead to "why don't you take a daytrip?"
Show threadnobodyJul 2
@pteryx @cwebber oh, so we don’t have 20 million people on the east coast who could march on DC and also be joined by people who can get there..

that’s not possible in your world??

you’re a defeatist. you’ve given up without even tying.

it’s pathetic.
Show threadChristine Lemmer-WebberJul 2

@quin @pteryx Hey, I'm going to ask that you not call people pathetic like this on my thread.

And neither of you is going to be able to reach each other, so probably just let this subthread die here, cool off, do your best to move forward in whichever ways *you each* can. Thanks.

Show threadnobodyJul 2
@cwebber @pteryx Look, all i am trying to do. is convince people to take part of the largest non violent sit in in human history.

what is pathetic, is that everyone i try to tell this to, has to devolve the idea into "but when does the violence happen, there has to be violence"

and to be honest, i am starting to believe that human beings are just, not evolved enough to actually save themselves.

and that's just sad..
Show threadChristine Lemmer-WebberJul 2
@quin @pteryx I actually am on the nonviolent sit-in side myself, in terms of tactics. I am just saying calling people "pathetic" is not an effective tactic itself.
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 2
@cwebber @quin
Claiming only one tactic is "right", acting like that tactic is perfect and can't possibly go wrong in any way, saying only people willing to engage in that tactic are "trying", and insisting that anyone trying to find other tactics more suited to their own strengths, weaknesses, and life situation means they're "defeatist" isn't exactly persuasive either.
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle Secretary

@cwebber @quin
Does this person even realize her pings are still showing up for me despite her blocking me?

In any case, just because I don't know what to do *instead of* standing in front of militarized police waving my arms and shouting "Gas-bomb me!" doesn't mean I'm ignoring fascism or intend to do *nothing* about it. I'm not some ostrich letting normalcy bias tell me that the unmarked neutrally-colored vans are just someone's small business vehicle.

Jul 3 at 12:33amWeb