Via Josh Marshall:

Harvard sociologist/polisci Theda Skocpol explains how the vast expansion of ICE in BBB may be Trump's secret weapon to overcome the barriers of federalism and complete his autocratic takeover of the American state. (History from Germany & Hungary in 20s/30s.)

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/critical-read-about-the-bbb-federalism-and-the-future-of-american-democracy

Okay, I've mentioned this a few times, but let's talk about The Orange Alternative. It's Poland in the 80's and an art history student noticed that when someone would paint an anti-authoritarian message, it would very quickly get painted over by the government. He decided to paint a dwarf with an orange hat any time he'd see the white paint that covered these messages. Soon other people were doing the same. They embraced this kind of absurdism, what the government was doing was ridiculous, so they leaned into it. The paintings of dwarves soon became organized street parties. They would all wear orange pointy hats and walk through the streets with banners, chanting Dwarf Dwarf Dwarf! They would pool what little extra funds they had together and buy things that people needed like toliet paper and tampons, and would have street fairs with food and dancing, and hand them out. At Christmas, they would dress as Santas, and do the same. The police were flummoxed by what to do, if they arrested people for wearing hats and giving out tampons, they looked foolish and would be embarrassed, not sure what to do with these surreal forms of protest.

There is so much more to this, definitely read up on it, but it was an effective form of protest, creating community, spreading joy and absurdism, because authoritarian governments are absurd. Protests are going to look like a lot of different things, and this is just one of them.

In Russia, they have created Little Picketers, tiny rough clay figures holding banners, that they press into people's hands to remind them, that they aren't alone.

So, don't believe the propaganda, you aren't alone in caring, you aren't alone in wanting a different world, put on your goofiest hat, and let people know they aren't alone either.

Our flag.

Illustration: Aida Amer/Axios

An iPhone app called ICEBlock, which allows anyone to lawfully and anonymously report ICE sightings and get notified about nearby ICE agents, went viral overnight after criticism from the US Attorney General.

FYI: The app doesn't collect or store user data. (I checked by doing a network traffic analysis of the app.)

https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/01/iceblock-an-app-for-anonymously-reporting-ice-sightings-goes-viral-overnight-after-bondi-criticism/

@VeroniqueB99

C or R or both?

https://kolektiva.social/@youranonriots/114688279595805812