Thread by @sarahjeong

Just a reminder that Signal calls and FaceTime Audio are both end to end encrypted.

and this is maybe beside the point and a distraction from a real horror show, but I will never get over the mental image of law enforcement trying to surveil and interrogate people to unmask the leader of antifa, and only amassing a giant file of who’s canceling whom on twitter

Half the time I talked to seemingly well-organized protesters on the ground, they’d say stuff like, “oh, I showed up to pick up trash because I saw someone else on social media do it? Maybe we’ll get to meet up with Team Raccoon tonight?”

or “I DMed this random account and they suggested I help direct traffic? I don’t know who’s in charge or if I’m supposed to be reporting to anyone?”

or, “I saw the Moms on television and so I drove in from the suburbs to join!”

Yes, there are people who are leading and organizing on the ground. But not a single one is a linchpin, and they all operate in what seems to be a chaotic maelstrom of willing hands.

I simply do not understand why DHS is treating Portland like a top-down hierarchical insurrection while flouting every guideline in the counter-insurgency manual.

People are passionate and outraged and feel like they have been politically disenfranchised. They also have a lot of fucking time on their hands because there are no jobs.

“Lasting victory may come from a vibrant economy and political participation that restore hope.”

All of this points to the United States government going out of its way to go to war with Portland (?!!), a midsized city in the Pacific Northwest best known for a television show about hipsterism

This is not how you treat a city when you want to “rescue” it from “anarchists.” This is a recipe for a pointless forever-war on its own citizens.