If you feel you need to put on a costume to disguise what you are, doesn't that suggest that you are the scary thing you're trying to cover up? I think of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
The image of wolf in sheep's clothing comes from in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
From the WaPo article:
Costumed demonstrators emerged most prominently earlier this year in Portland. Local activists have tapped into the city’s counterculture history by staging deliberately absurd protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.... One recent viral video from Portland captured federal agents pepper-spraying a protester in an inflatable frog costume. People in other cities began dressing up at protests, too. Brooks Brown, a streamer based in Portland, was inspired to co-found “Operation Inflation,” which solicits donations to provide free inflatable costumes for people to wear at anti-ICE protests.
“It cuts across any narrative: You can’t say, ‘Oh look that’s antifa, the terrorist organization,’” Brown said. He added that the costumes help keep demonstrations calm and help discourage angry rhetoric: “When you have the inflatables, everyone starts dancing, and even the people who are very serious, they continue what they’re doing, they’re disciplined … but they’re not angry. There’s not an angry vibe behind them.... People see [the arrest of an inflatable giraffe] and they are infuriated and they want to support that situation.... They want to let people in power know: That’s me, too. I stand with wiener dog, I stand with giraffe, I stand with frog army.”
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161 comments:
Nutcases.
I assume the purpose of the costume is to make it easier to conceal firearms and explosives.
My sisters have been posting those “cute” videos on FB, making a solid argument for repealing 19A
Pepe the frog has entered the conversation
"I stand with wiener dog, I stand with giraffe, I stand with frog army.”
I think the Democrats have just found their new slogan!
They’re also wearing the costumes because so many on the left are profoundly unserious people. They had an eight foot tall unicorn inflatable at our local event for some reason. Now, a T. Rex would have been appropriate for the obvious Latinate reason…
When the White House wants to brand protest as insurrection, optics might be an effective counter.
For others, it reminds people of masked ununiformed ICE agents grabbing people off the street, pepper spraying people and abusing people in the proximity of their 'actions'.
I’m thinking of counter protesting dressed as… “Antifa the Anteater.”
https://www.facemakersincorporated.com/anteater-mascot-costumes
Inflatables are entirely appropriate for individuals who are chock-full of balloon juice.
Why do you all hate fun, dressing up, costumes, Halloween, creativity... America?
I know. Go as a sourpuss again this year? lol
Y'all are just sad there's no morning-after violence and death on American streets you can celebrate here... "They got what they had coming to 'em." Meanwhile in Gaza, the food aid to the hungry civilians has stopped flowing again...
Go USA/Jewish coalition! "USA USA USA"
Your tax dollars at work. "They got what they had coming to 'em..." Sad. How can you enjoy our land of plenty when you know what's being done in our name? Evil.
Have a great week, pensioners.
The people in the costumes are unserious people with too much time on their hands.
They are explaining why their strategists thought is was a good idea and are suggesting you think it about it the way they want you to think about it. I’m going to ignore their suggestion…
How about the Antefa squads cosplaying as Mussolini era Fascist squadristi black shirts and all.
Add in street fighting for additional vetsimilitude.
John Henry
It does suggest this grassroots, definitely not an organization is quite organized. Someone to buy the toys, someone else to distribute the toys, someone to collect the money for the toys, someone to hide all the evidence of the buying and distributing and collecting…
I guess the idea of Democrats being the adults in the room was so last year…
The stupid cosplaying isn't the problem. The very essence of the No Kings "rallies" is to give the multivarious entities that hate Trump a place to gather and hate him in unison. That's it. It's not really "hate America" (although that group is a huge part of the attendees too) so much as a "Hate Trump" rally thinly disguised as a rejection of monarchy. That's all the opposition is: HATE.
Go ahead ask a "protester" (and ignore the contradiction between a "protester" joining a "rally" which styles itself "not a protest") what he or she or heshe is there for and you will get a smorgasbord answer unless they happen to cough up the truth like the gal on CNN who said "we were trained to peacefully demonstrate and taught deescalation techniques so today would be peaceful."
Ah. So "trained" and "taught" and employing "deescalation techniques" eh? And handed out songsheets! So it was a highly organized and artificially "peaceful" protest disguised as a "rally" to reject Trump while pretending to rebel against a mythical monarchy. How organic! What great messaging! Democrats should be so proud that ALL the energy in their party has finally bifurcated into two nations: Those who HATE TRUMP above all else and those who LOVE SOCIALISM (and obviously want to destroy "our democracy" to get it) above all else.
What a fantastic message to take into the midterms. Good luck with that.
They wanted 20 years for the guy wearing buffalo horns. Double standards.
Makes the Yippies look like intellectuals by comparison.
“How about the Antefa squads cosplaying as Mussolini era Fascist squadristi black shirts and all.”
Actually, they were originally black shirted Marxists, directed from and funded by Moscow, fighting Hitler’s Brown Shirted National Socialists across Germany for control of European socialism.
The guy wearing charlie murderers jacket the ones with allusions to charles 1st and king louis suggest otherwise
It's funny to see pictures of these protests here in Michigan. They were, all lily white, with none of the desired diversity they claim to love and foster. They all got very specific instructions prior to the events - which suggests much larger organizing from someone on high.
When the White House wants to brand protest as insurrection, optics might be an effective counter.
Talk about a crazy projection disguised as a hypothetical posted as a deep thought! Exactly how many protests over say the last 10 years have been labeled an "insurrection" by politicians and/or the Media?
Yes Chris the crowds were described accurately as looking like a box of Q-Tips.
No time like the present to focus attention on the original crest of the Fabian Society (pre-turtle)
Fabian Society Original Crest - aka "Wolf? What Wolf?"
Si, the Operation Inflation guy gives two reasons for the costumes that he himself is urging on people: 1. To try to keep things more peaceful: "People might be less likely to indulge their anger with acts of violence if there's a T. rex bouncing around making them laugh"; and 2. To provide a rallying point when when the people in the costumes do something unlawful and are arrested for it: "I stand with the unicorn that just threw something at the ICE agent, because who could be mad at a unicorn?"
Doesn't that kind of imply that he doesn't trust his coreligionists to behave properly at a peaceful protest?
Not seeing any pictures, but a person could stash several 50 round drum magazines plus the delivery device in a TeleTubby suit
I wonder if the result will be different from the intended one.
It’s hard to maintain an atmosphere of hate waving American flags, singing patriotic songs and running around in inflatable cartoon characters. Add food carts and craft booths and you’ve got yourself an old fashioned all American fair.
And furthermore! I, for one (and I know I'm not alone even just on this blog), have not been either expecting nor characterizing these rallies as "violent, 'hate America' rallies."
I think there's a lot of 'hate America' sentiment, maybe even the majority message since "No Kings" doesn't make the slightest bit of sense, but that's easily (and constantly) communicated without resorting to violence. So the writer of the article felt the need to justify the costumes by tarring the opposition as reactionary. Nothing new there, especially for socialists.
If this follows the color revolution pattern, you know "Arab Spring" what they did in Georgia (the country), or Maidan Square, is that they will come back with more peaceful protests, increasing the numbers each time. Start paying people to hang camp out in numbers somewhere, and then there will be a violent incident, and it will be blamed on MAGA.
In Maidan Square, a Ukrainian court found that it was Maidan snipers who fired into the crowd, the police were blamed, and the government was overthrown. Now, I recognize that Zelensky's secret police have done their own "tests" on the recovered bullets, and they find themselves innocent on all counts and so they find that their claim to power is totally legitimate, but this is how it is done.
If it's another color revolution, it will start out as fun and games to suck in the good hearted people who genuinely believe in the cause and who don't believe in violence, and slowly violence will appear, blamed on MAGA.
Remember, it's fiercely urgent that the billionaires funding these protest have their cronies in the Democratic Party returned to power as soon as possible, before peace breaks out everywhere!
Re: Eva Marie @7:34 - it would be hilarious if the non-existent organizers were trying so hard to keep everyone's dudgeon high but all they could manage was people complaining if they ran out of Dragon's Blood flavor for the sno-cones.
OMG it's a scawy mob of hysterical Karen's and Soy Boys playing dress up. Send in the Marines to protect the MAGA normies from these inflatable monsters.
It will be known as the Revolution of the Q-Tips.
They are sheep in Sesame Street clothing
"Send in the Marines to protect the MAGA normies from these inflatable monsters."
See, they have planted the psychological seeds of escalation to violence, and when it comes, which it probably will, it will be blamed on MAGA.
also Hallow-witch-even
Victoria Nuland was handing out cookies at Maidan Square, then a couple of weeks of the paid mobs milling around, the bullets began to fly.
I’m going to go with Occam’s and believe most of these protesters are mentally ill kooks and the costume wearing is part of the derangement. That’s not to say they aren’t dangerous nor that they don’t earnestly believe what they claim. I’m just more concerned about the people that encourage the protest behavior, even fund it, while sipping champagne somewhere far away. In a way, the protesters are their costume.
It's just another disguise with frog ears.
The goal of the violence will not be to overthrow Trump, to seize power, but to delegitimize and permanently destroy the Republican Party, so that they have unfettered exercise of power and those billionaires who are funding this will be roundly rewarded.
It is very heartening to know that at least one brave politician has taken a stand against Trantifa. Crisis averted:
Yes, Texas Governor Greg Abbott mobilized the state's National Guard in advance of the "No Kings" protest on Saturday, October 18, 2025. He also deployed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Texas Rangers to Austin.
Governor Abbott stated that the mobilization was necessary due to the "planned antifa-linked demonstration" to ensure peace and order and to protect Texans and their property, warning that "violence and destruction will never be tolerated in Texas".
Despite the mobilization, organizers emphasized their commitment to peaceful assembly, and reports from law enforcement in Austin indicate the protest, which drew an estimated 30,000 people, remained peaceful with no arrests made.
The "No Kings" protests were a series of nationwide demonstrations against the Trump administration, taking place in cities across the U.S. and worldwide on October 18, 2025.
If it follows the globalist pattern, used in country after country, they have just lit the pilot light on the exercise in boiling the frog.
Hopefully it's all fun and games, but it sure is conveniently deniable.
Mike MJB, @ 7:05 AM, there’s actually some merit in what you describe, in that:
The No Kings protests are clearly anti-Trump, or at least critical of what many see as his executive overreach.
The movement was organized rather than purely spontaneous.
And the message is broad, which critics can easily spin as “more hate than policy.”
But your description also follows a familiar playbook that glosses over some key facts:
The organizers don’t present themselves as “anti-America” or simply “hating Trump.” Their stated focus is on democratic values, non-violence, and citizen-led action.
The idea of “No Kings” is a metaphor for rejecting authoritarianism — not a disguise for some secret agenda.
The diversity of participants — from those concerned about immigration and inequality to others alarmed by DOJ defiance of the courts — shows it’s more than one-note anger.
And calling an organized, peaceful protest “artificial” mistakes discipline for manipulation. Most effective civic movements, from the civil-rights marches to women’s suffrage, were highly organized.
When you strip away the partisan noise, the message of No Kings is simple:
The United States must never become a nation ruled by a single dominant figure. Power belongs to the people, and it’s the duty of citizens to resist any slide toward monarchical or authoritarian rule.
And that, it seems, is the conversation Trump and MAGA loyalists don’t actually want to have.
Despite the mobilization, organizers emphasized their commitment to peaceful assembly, and reports from law enforcement in Austin indicate the protest, which drew an estimated 30,000 people, remained peaceful with no arrests made.
Fox Butterfield is that you?
"The diversity of participants — from those concerned about immigration and inequality to others alarmed by DOJ defiance of the courts — shows it’s more than one-note anger."
That's a funny definition of "diversity" given that we have all seen the video of the crowds.
"The United States must never become a nation ruled by a single dominant figure."
Unless it's Obama or Joe Biden, who gutted our immigration laws with the stroke of a pen.
"If you feel you need to put on a costume to disguise what you are, doesn't that suggest that you are the scary thing you're trying to cover up?"
People without ulterior motives don't wear masks. And the wearing of masks (such as KKK hoods and the like) has been outlawed before to stop the Democrats using them.
These people don't want others knowing about what they're doing because what they're doing is wrong.
We of course want to identify them. To ensure they are not members of the terrorist group identified by the Federal government as ANTIFA.
We wish to discuss their activities with their employers. Notify their significant others that their spouse is behaving erratically. Discuss these events with their children to ensure they feel safe at home. Perhaps schedule them for a lobotomy after involuntarily housing them in the asylums we will shortly begin building.
You know, all the Nazi stuff the Democrats would do if they were able to continue stealing elections.
Now juxtapose people wearing animalistic costume wearing people with furry loving violent extremist Tyler Robinson and what do you have?
Ronald J Ward, add to your list America must never become a nation ruled by a nameless unelected bureaucracy and we are on the same side. Being on the American flags and patriotic songs.
@Ronald J. Ward
Of course we want that conversation. It's called an election, and we had it a year ago. The fact that Congress has become dysfunctional can be laid almost entirely at the feet of the recalcitrant Democrats. They are not serious people.
They have to appear non threatening.
The J6 prosecutions established a precedent for prosecuting protestors for small infractions. So, no more scary violent mobs like the George Floyd rioters.
But of course, that takes the oomph out of the whole thing.
Begley begs the question: "The people in the costumes are unserious people with too much time on their hands."
They are the employees of domestic terrorist organizations funded by George Soros who should all be arrested.
We need a LOT more prisons.
Oh please, RJW. Trump has meticulously adhered to the law in both terms. If your side wants to characterize him - and by the way, all Republicans, per Jaq's 7:53 - as authoritarian, it's because you have nothing else to object to, and it just bugs the crap out of you all that the "consensus" that your side deserves to rule (like kings, per your behavior around the Biden and Obama administrations) has broken for the moment.
The United States must never become a nation ruled by a single dominant figure.
It has already happened multiple times. FDR is perhaps the most recent to hold that title. The founders intended that the president have executive powers, for otherwise government would be an endless squabble of competing interest groups working at cross purposes. Human nature seems to require it when living in civilized settled groups, it isn't an historical anomaly.
Video: Whatever the Democrats try, it just doesn't work
Jaq, fair point that every president has used executive authority — sometimes too broadly — and both Obama and Biden faced legal challenges over immigration orders. The difference is, those actions were subject to judicial review and, in several cases, blocked or modified by the courts — and both administrations complied.
That’s not “gutting the law”; that’s the system working as designed.
What makes No Kings different — and why people are out protesting now — is the growing sense that Trump rejects the idea of limits altogether. The issue isn’t whether a president uses power; it’s whether he accepts that power can be checked. For example, on the Abrego Garcia ordeal, fired DOJ lawyer Erez Reuven says his boss stated “those planes need to take off, no matter what, and if some court should issue an order preventing that, we may have to consider telling that court, 'f*** you.'" That isn’t an isolated case.
That’s the distinction between leadership in a democracy and rule by decree — and it’s exactly what “No Kings” is about.
When has Trump defied the courts?
’Power belongs to the people, and it’s the duty of citizens to resist any slide toward monarchical or authoritarian rule.’
Seems like a good time to discuss how the citizens were involved with Kamala’s nomination in ‘24. lol
"growing sense..."
Oh, I get it, it's the media produced narrative is making the Q-Tip crown nervous.
Q-Tip crowd.
Ron Ward: Bullshit on steroids.
You don't even know who the organizers are if you can write that slop. They absolutely "present themselves" as revolutionary change artists who want to bring socialism to America. If you DO know who the organizers are then you are spreading the exact disinformation they want distributed by their allies. I'd prefer to think of you as ignorant rather than evil but your past writings betray you.
This is hilarious. You guys are on top of the world. President Trump is the most powerful president that we have ever had. He's an original gangster who is making peace deals around the planet turning the global economy on its head with his tariff trade and investment policies, he's going directly after narco traffickers using the US military which is seeking to remold into the most fierce fighting force to ever exist on the planet.. In addition your guys completely control Congress and the United States supreme Court as well as a majority of the states within our Union.
With all of this going so well and right for you, you seem so put off and intimidated by a bunch of aging hippies and millennial soy boys staging a ridiculous demonstration that nobody cares about except for apparently you.
"we may have to consider..."
The entire event was silly and pointless.
Howard, "Are you not entertained?"
John Wayne Gacy dressed up as a clown.
you seem so put off and intimidated by a bunch of aging hippies and millennial soy boys
Who's "put off" or "intimidated"? We're laughing.
Tim: Are we not Men?
’…you seem so put off and intimidated by a bunch of aging hippies and millennial soy boys staging a ridiculous demonstration that nobody cares about except for apparently you.’
Neither put off nor intimidated, Howard. We’re simply amused that an organized protest is proof of something or anything, less than a year after Trump’s electoral romp.
The Trump is King trope is sort of similar. After years of "Trump is Hitler," it seems relatively mild to portray him as an old-fashioned monarch. Of course, all those pre-printed Soros "No Kings" signs proved awkward at the UK and Canadian protests. King Charles need not worry, his crown is secure (except from Parisian cherry pickers).
"If you feel you need to put on a costume to disguise what you are, doesn't that suggest that you are the scary thing you're trying to cover up?"
Does this apply to ICE agents?
"They wanted 20 years for the guy wearing buffalo horns. Double standards."
Exactly. Now it's totally different right? The frog guy *really is* a violent insurrectionist while "our" viking horn guy was just a harmless goofball.
Both tribes are morons.
I mean, it's frustrating that the other side continues to present the Trump administration as "lawless" and "authoritarian" when it's the opposite, complying with every law and court order and forbidding it breaking up exactly zero protests, in person or online, against it, in contrast to the two previous Democrat administrations. But the protests themselves are just funny - the wide-eyed earnestness of the auld folk, the utter confusion of the yutes...
Maybe sitting around the cracker barrel and BSing about what a bunch of superannuated hippies are doing is amusing to us.
Jaq, the democrats already had their Reichstag Fire Moment on J6 and tried mightily to blow it up into what you describe. But that moment has passed, politics has moved on and Trump is presently working on reestablishing the Republican Party on its original roots as the anti-slavery party broadened out to be the pro-freedom Party. This is stark contrast to the old GOP that had become the supporting cast for (and crumb snatching participant in) the Democrat Industrial Party, gladly accepting second-class status in DC for access to Deep State graft and cocktails.
Trump has done the Iowahawk meme:
1. Identify a respected institution.
2. Take control, hollow it out and wear the skinsuit as a trophy.
3. Demand respect.
It's very Alinskyite in effect, but Trump has done to the Republican Party what the Uniparty (Made up of Democrats Inc and the GOPe) was doing to America's institutions and the country as a whole.
And indeed it really is DIFFERENT when WE do it!
Performance over substance. There is no substance, so what else can they do?
I click on the #wolves tag and... it gave me a Buddy Hackett inspired idea.
Democrats as Wolves and Wolves as Democrats.
"There is no threat to humans from Democrats. I live in northern Minnesota Democrat country, and Democrats avoid people like the plague."
"I've come across them when walking in the woods and they always run away."
Chris (7:18am):
Not just Michigan. Lefties on Twitter were smugly showing pictures of ‘huge’ (250+) crowds in Birmingham, Alabama, that were also (we couldn’t help noticing) lily-white. The city is 68% black, 22% white! Even in George Wallace’s day, it would have been damned near impossible to take a picture of a crowd in Birmingham without including a few black faces, even if you were trying.
---- Jesus said: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
Obama.
No-Kings phonies sipping champagne.
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Burning down buildings, shooting law enforcement: bad fruit.
Making peace, good fruit. Blessed are the peacemakers.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%207&version=NIV
Just shows how smart the far-left is. One of the differences between Antifa and the extreme right is Antifa has big money behind it, along with some very smart people leading it.
It also has Democrat Pols and the MSM protecting them, while the extreme right get zero support from the R's.
Does this apply to ICE agents?
No dumbass. This is how we know you are a leftist. When you wear a uniform to serve your country it is not a "costume" and what happens is not "play." It is deadly serious. And you mock our objections to law enforcement officers being attacked by mobs, pelted with rocks and concrete-filled soda cups, eyes lasered by idiots like you, and if you got your way having their families doxxed and kids harassed.
How many cops did Buffalo guy put in the hospital? Did he do MORE or less time than the typical antifa faggot?
"If you feel you need to put on a costume to disguise what you are, doesn't that suggest that you are the scary thing you're trying to cover up? I think of the wolf in sheep's clothing."
I think of "The Communist Manifesto" with a happy face sticker.
Henceforth, the rally goers shall be known as Geritolics Anonymous.
The whole “No Kings” idea is bullshit. They’re perfectly happy when their king is in charge. Still, the protests were peaceful. They have every right to proclaim their stupidity, no matter how stupid.
Wearing inflated costumes does two things that doesn't help their cause. I can have empathy for a person getting punched in the face, but hitting a T Rex seems whimsical.
Grass roots protests don't have T Rex costumes. That makes the whole thing look financed and phony.
"If you feel you need to put on a costume to disguise what you are..."
But that's not what's going on. They are wearing silly costumes so that its harder to smear them as "insurrectionists" not because they are "hiding" what they are up to. It's the exact opposite of why ICE wears masks. ICE wears masks to intimidate and hide their identities. It's Unamerican.
Grass roots protests don't have T Rex costumes. That makes the whole thing look financed and phony.
Yes, only the ultra-rich (I'm looking at you Soros) can afford inflated T-Rex costumes.
(Checks Amazon-did not use the Althouse link, oh they are $40)
Never mind!
"No dumbass. This is how we know you are a leftist. When you wear a uniform to serve your country it is not a "costume" and what happens is not "play.""
No, dumbass. We have never supported masked stormtroopers in America.
Those ICE agents aren't wearing UNIFORMS you fuckwit. They are wearing jeans and hoodies and MASKS. They looks like thugs and fat fucking slobs. Not law enforcement.
I can have empathy for a person getting punched in the face, but hitting a T Rex seems whimsical.
It is still assault and battery even if it is "whimsical" to you.
’Those ICE agents aren't wearing UNIFORMS you fuckwit. They are wearing jeans and hoodies and MASKS. They looks like thugs and fat fucking slobs.’
Someone didn’t get a good night’s sleep…
D. D. Driver:
ICE wears masks because Mexican drug cartels are offering $2,000 rewards for doxxing them, $5,000 for killing them. If they had the same offer for doxxing or killing anti-Trump demonstrators, their masks would be justified.
Jaq wants to know: "When has Trump defied the courts?"
Biden BRAGGED about defying the courts. That's Trump's problem, he's got no balls.
Trump should do as Lincoln did and suspend habeas corpus. Dispense with the Judiciary peeing upon the Constitutional lawn of the Executive.
You know, there's a reason Abraham Lincoln is on Mt. Rushmore and Trump isn't: Lincoln wasn't afraid to order the US military to kill the Democrats.
Mike MJB, when personal attacks start replacing arguments, it usually means the facts aren’t doing much heavy lifting.
You’re free to label it however you like, but the No Kings movement’s own published materials — their site, event toolkits, and statements to the press — frame it around democracy, accountability, and non-violence, not socialism or revolution. If some fringe voices mix in other goals, that doesn’t change the central message or the conduct of millions who turned out peacefully.
What’s telling is that critics keep trying to redefine a protest about presidential overreach as something sinister rather than addressing the core concern: that no leader, left or right, should be above constitutional limits. That is the point.
That’s not “revolutionary change.” That’s the foundation of American self-government.
ICE wears masks because Mexican drug cartels are offering $2,000 rewards for doxxing them, $5,000 for killing them.
According to who? The administration?! Just like that assaults on ICE officers have increased 1000%. Evidence? We don't need no stinking evidence
It seems plain and simple to me that the Fourth amendment protects people's rights to hide their identity in public.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
No, dumbass. We have never supported masked stormtroopers in America.
Really? Why is there a federal law against revealing their identity when they work undercover then? Why have the courts continued to allow this?
I'm pretty sure your dumb ass won't see the obvious answer, so I'll spell it out. Dangerous jobs require specialized equipment. If exposing their identities, say because of bounties on their heads, would endanger the LEO they are allowed to disguise themselves at work.
Now I will spell out the flip side: You are willing to let cops be killed for your stupid take on "stormtroopers" and masking. I am not. Dumbass!
Rush Limbaugh often said that the only way the Left can win elections is by hiding who they are and what they want.
It seems quite reasonable to me that both law enforcement and the demonstrating public has an absolute right to keep their faces hidden from photography facial recognition software and doxing. Remember, nobody has an expectation of privacy in public.
It is just a natural response to the increase in technological surveillance. We've come a long way from wanted posters with poorly drawn caricatures of suspects here today wear a computer can identify anybody anywhere and then provide information on their complete life history.
Traumatized by Mickey Mouse.
If we had Truth in Elections & Politicking, a la Truth in Lending laws, Ds would never be elected. Hence, their need for disguises.
There are publicly available sources where you can go right now and listen to the hideous threats made in telephone messages of WIVES of ICE agents. Several Mexican cartels have posted hit lists with names and faces, because of people like Freder and DD that deny reality. The evidence is in plain sight. No one is asking you to take the word of Orange Man Bad. Look for yourself you lazy fucks. You can't be informed well if all you read is this blog.
Nobody here is seeing the tactical opportunity. It's important that the same relentless Alinsky methods and turn them against these clowns at every opportunity.
Puffy costumes can't move fast; follow them, and photograph everybody as they take them off, get good face pictures. Get your own costumes and join the crowd, with police standing by if they react violently. What kind of costumes? How about a Joe Biden costume? Hillary? How about Obama? An Antifa Terrorist? A Drag Queen? Let them attack these costumes as they join in with the others, and have the police move right in, arrest, and prefer charges for aggravated assault and mayhem. Try to hire someone with a handicap to be inside the costume, to elevate the charges, or use older volunteers to make it a 'senior abuse' assault charge. The list goes on and on and on.
Nobody complains about masked firefighters, do they? I suppose people do mock and laugh at people who wear surgical masks out in the open air because they are paranoid about airborne disease.
"..."Democrats say the use of silly inflatable costumes is a way to undercut Republican portrayals of such events as violent 'hate America rallies.".....
Oh, really? Can we conclude from this that the Democrats are aligned with the Antifa black-bloc protestors, maybe even giving them instructions? Anybody in the media following up with such questions?
I feel Soros is paying for a lot of this 'astroturf' protest... I presume next will be 'No Queen's Day' protest..
Regarding masked federal agents, I am uncomfortable with the militarization of our police agencies and the apparent need for masking of some units. It feels too much like Mexico.
I am uncomfortable with it, but I am more uncomfortable that we've allowed our society to degenerate to the point that it is prudent to mask our officers.
I grew up in a town of 55,000 that always had a smiling cop in a traditional Andy Griffith-style uniform at the crossroad in the town center. The last time I drove through, they still had a cop there, but he was scowling, wearing black tactical gear, and almost certainly was on steroids. It ain't Mayberry any more, that's for sure.
This reminds me of an earlier protest, in Portland I think, that had a bunch of folks, mostly older, playing the song "This Land is Your Land." I saw someone say in response, "Metalheads are nice people cosplaying as mean people, while Hippies are mean people cosplaying as nice people." The Left very strongly wants to feel like they are the good guys. This is part of the moral inferiority complex that is prevalent on the Left. I think this is why Jimmy Kimmel falsely claimed that Charlie Kirk's assassin was a MAGA type. He wanted to feel like he and the rest of the Left are the moral superiors to the mean, angry, racist, sexist, homophobic etc. people on the right. The killing was absolutely heinous and probably caused cognitive dissonance in him and other Lefties, making them very willing to latch onto the idea that the murderer was really a MAGA type and definitely not a Lefty. Similarly, I think the costumes of these rallies aren't primarily motivated to affect or manipulate other people's perceptions of them but their own perceptions of themselves. We're the good guys, we can't be the bad guys, look at the silly costumes we're wearing.
Serious Question for the Democrats out there:
WHAT are Democrats in favor of?
please don't say; "oh, they're against Trump"
don't pretend; "oh, they're in favor of being against Trump"
i want to know, WHAT are Democrats in Favor of?
this is a question for the Democrats out there.
I don't want to hear what right wingers THINK Democrats are in For..
i Want to hear, from DEMOCRATS, what They are for.
I've got my own ignorant ideas, and would love to educated.
So.. You Democrats out there.. WHAT is your party FOR?
"Meet the Organizers Behind No Kings protest: Indivisible’s Leah Greenberg & Ezra Levin"
CTRL-C CTRL-V that in your browser if you are still so dumb as to muse about what's behind the protests without actually looking at who ORGANIZED AND FUNDED them.
FormerLawClerk, thank you for that admission. I think you just captured why No Kings exists in the first place.
When someone can write—without irony—that a president should “suspend habeas corpus” and “use the military to kill Democrats,” that’s not defending the Constitution; that’s dismantling it.
Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus happened under the literal chaos of civil war, when the government was fighting to preserve the Union and the Constitution—not to elevate himself above it. Trump isn’t Lincoln; there’s no civil war, just a man facing lawful checks on his power.
And if you’re arguing that presidents should be free to ignore courts and unleash the military on political opponents, you’ve already crossed the line from patriotism into the very monarchy—or worse—that No Kings is warning about.
In case it wasn't clear, I agree that masks are necessary for groups like ICE agents. I may not like that they are necessary, but that is the situation on the ground.
I agree that saying law enforcement and military people wearing masks is unsettling. At Harkins to the dystopian future that we have seen in motion pictures for quite some time now.
That's sad, it seems like a practical necessity given the power of the surveillance state that we now live in. It is a method for people to feel secure in their person. Like it or not but cops are people too.
I am uncomfortable with it, but I am more uncomfortable that we've allowed our society to degenerate to the point that it is prudent to mask our officers.
Exactly this. Trump encourages others to and studiously himself follows the law. Governors and mayors encouraging residents to "oppose ICE" is very insurrectiony in nature and fact. Withholding law enforcement support for the Feds is encouraging this action. Idiots like Newsome and motards like Pritzker say stupid things like "unmask the agents" and NPCs repeat it with no thought and no pause to consider how we got here.
I am uncomfortable with [masked law enforcement officers], but I am more uncomfortable that we've allowed our society to degenerate to the point that it is prudent to mask our officers.
@Biff, +1
just a man facing lawful checks on his power
I truly wish that were true, but we all know it is not. Like everything Ward writes here it is complete bullshit.
There are publicly available sources where you can go right now and listen to the hideous threats made in telephone messages of WIVES of ICE agents.
Anecdotes are not data. Provide me some actual numbers?
Can we conclude from this that the Democrats are aligned with the Antifa black-bloc protestors, maybe even giving them instructions?
No. First you need to demonstrate there were a significant Antifa activity in the demonstrations.
Exactly how many arrests were there on Saturday?
You all pissed off because these events ended up being completely peaceful. You were looking for an excuse to bust some heads as is apparent from this comment thread.
"It ain't Mayberry any more, that's for sure."
Mayberry requires buy-in from both sides, not perfect 100% buy-in, but still substantial and consistent effort.
The data shows attacks on ICE up over 1000% since Spring. You are a phony, Freder. You don't care any more about data than you do objective truth. It's a front. Even you can remember the halcyon days of Biden Era when zero attacks on ICE came from Americans but the cartels were allowed to shoot at them from across the border.
Why Freder? Why did ICE suddenly come under extreme duress?
’Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus happened under the literal chaos of civil war, when the government was fighting to preserve the Union and the Constitution…’
Lincoln had to suspend the Constitution in order to save the Constitution.
The Chorus line is doing their part today, “Why are you worried, little frog about us lighting the pilot lights?”
Ezra and Leah are very scary looking people. No doubt they were handpicked by George Soros because of their very bland and non-threatening look as a young bland couple. In actuality they are like a combination of Joseph Stalin and Vladimir elitch Lennon masterminding a series of secret cells throughout the United States plotting the overthrow of what? Starbucks? Maybe a takedown of chick-fil-a?
The data shows attacks on ICE up over 1000% since Spring.
Source and link please.
Mike, that’s fine — you can call it “bullshit” if it makes you feel better, but facts don’t hinge on how either of us feel.
Trump’s lawful checks are well-documented: multiple court orders, criminal indictments, and civil judgments — all processed through the same judicial system that has ruled for him at times as well. That is the rule of law at work.
If the argument is that any accountability for Trump is automatically illegitimate, then we’ve already stepped beyond conservatism and into cult thinking — where the leader’s will outweighs the Constitution.
That’s precisely why millions turned out under the banner of No Kings.
OK this is funny.
You all pissed off because these events ended up being completely peaceful. You were looking for an excuse to bust some heads as is apparent from this comment thread.
No one is pissed at the Q-Tips for nokings. That's a howler! We are laughing. We mock you and your hippie friends Freder. Great! You all -- through "extensive training and deescalation techniques" put on a fake rally for a fake cause had no violence for a change. Yay! Peace!
They are stupid paid NPCs, representing nothing, whipped into a "story" by a media that really wants to depose the duly elected president. Look at all the resources and energy your side wastes... on nothing. A Movement About Nothing.
That Freder is the modern Left. A Movement About Nothing.
The Vault Dweller said...
"Mayberry requires buy-in from both sides, not perfect 100% buy-in, but still substantial and consistent effort."
Good point. Interestingly, when I was a kid, my town was purplish, slightly more Republican than Democrat, but there was no rending of garments or gnashing of teeth when the "other side" won an election. Now the town is overwhelmingly Democrat, without a single Republican on the town council, yet the gnashing of teeth and air of conflict is constant.
It doesn't matter if the cops are being threatened or not. Protecting their personal privacy is their right as human beings living in the United States of America.
The problem with people at the extreme on both sides of the fence is they actually are afraid of freedom.
Fortunately leaving fast great silent majority of this country does not give a tinker's dam about all of these petty little issues and scary theories.
However I can tell you that you people and when I say you people I mean the libs here as well are merely tools for the advancement of the billionaire agenda to continue their raping of the world to fund their private jets and ginormous compounds.
It's kind of sad that you don't see one another as crabs in the same boiling pot of water.
Somebody should start passing out bingo cards.
Short list from the short-bus kid:
1. multiple court orders
2. criminal indictments
3. civil judgments
NONE of those are the checks and balances established in our Constitutional Republic. The sheer volume of overturned orders where courts have overstepped their own authority should have caused you to giggle when writing that stupid little list.
The "check" on a president is elections and impeachment. Everything else is sound and fury signifying nothing.
I was wondering why so many at the Portland ICE protest were wearing animal onesies. Or maybe pokemon onesises. It was hard to tell in all the chaos.
I also wondered how many of the people who were in DC yelling about Bowser extending the NG's stay there actually live there. It's one thing to disagree on policy, but it's another when that policy affects the safety of the residents while the protesters can go back to their suburban gated communities.
It's funny to see pictures of these protests here in Michigan. They were, all lily white, with none of the desired diversity they claim to love and foster.
Take a look at the Atlanta crowd - a city that is 46-49% black and only 38-40% white has literally no black people at the protest.
The actual Republican portrayal is that they are all nuts, and this seems in line with that.
FormerLawClerk
"Lincoln wasn't afraid to order the US military to kill the Democrats."
Those particular democrats were taking part in an armed rebellion against the United States. Otherwise known as war.
I’d rather be ruled by a king than a Byzantine deep state of unaccountable agencies, a cabal of bien-pensant election fortifiers, or a nation of nannies (or nabobs, nattering or not)
No Kinks
’Otherwise known as war.’
Otherwise known as defending Federalism.
“When you strip away the partisan noise, the message of No Kings is simple:”
“The United States must never become a nation ruled by a single dominant figure. Power belongs to the people, and it’s the duty of citizens to resist any slide toward monarchical or authoritarian rule.”
“And that, it seems, is the conversation Trump and MAGA loyalists don’t actually want to have.”
We live in a constitutional democratic republic. The big debate is over immigration in general, and illegal immigration in particular. Congress has spoken. Illegal immigration is a crime, and the remedy for that is sending them home (“removal”). If you don’t like that, then motivate your federally elected representatives to change the law. It should be a simple matter to eliminate the crime of being an illegal immigrant. Just pass a law. Except that a sizable majority of the country don’t want that. Instead, Dems insist that the President and his Executive Branch just ignore immigration laws, like Biden and Obama did. And they want to federally subsidize the illegals - hence the current government shut down.
The use of silly costumes certainly undercuts the seriousness of their protest.
"Exactly how many arrests were there on Saturday?"
Worst Hitler ever.
They're all drama-club kids and theater majors, of course this is what they do.
“The United States must never become a nation ruled by a single dominant figure."
Article II, Section 1, US Constitution: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." Seems like a single dominant figure to me...
They came for the wiener dogs, and I did nothing . . .
Because they are yappy little dogs whom my neighbor can never control, and ruined my garden with their constant digging.
Then they came for the giraffes, and I did nothing, because they sat in front of me at "Avengers: Endgame" . . . . .
"No Kings" is the Seinfeld of protests. It's a movement about nothing except hating Trump. Doubtless the funders of the protests have an agenda of their own, but the aging boomers don't seem to be proposing anything that would make the country a better place.
The "no kings" theme was developed to go with the anniversary of the Revolution. It's not surprising that so many of the attendees remember the bicentennial. Younger people aren't connecting with the 250th anniversary, and the media and government haven't been playing it up as they did with the bicentennial.
The underlying objective of the financing entities is to destabilize the republic. The costumes are to perpetuate the effort while avoiding the NG with judicial assistance. Violence will return. Trump should let the judges have their way, withdraw, enforce elsewhere and let fleeing illegals infest sanctuary cities. Oh, and postpone the census or identify illegals therein.
One of the No Kings protesters in Portland showed up dressed in an inflatable penis suit. No point in speculating whether that revealed that the guy or was it one of the alphabet people LGBTQQ had a "bedroom problem". That said the Team Trump Trolls promptly posted a picture of the "inflatable penis" saying that Gavin Newsom had showed up for the rally.
Looks like fun. Republicans should join next one with pro-America signs, flags, sing patriotic songs, some Maga hats. All positives, no hate stuff.
Do paid protesters get 1099s, or are they considered employees?
Cash, checks, or gift cards?
Cash, checks, or gift cards?
Still haven't gotten mine.
Hey, DeeDee… no teabagging. You know the rules. No balls on foreheads.
After taking a shot at Trump and killing Charlie Kirk it's clear they've drawn a line at............well, all of us. ICE should be masked and allowed to shoot anyone in their way. It's the way our Democrat 'betters' would do it.
Assume arguendo that the No Kings protests are peaceful. And they are limited to decrying Trump's "overreach."
This makes them like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament protests decrying those ugly B-52s and Pershing missiles back in the Cold War.
In both cases, they are fellow-travellers or useful idiots, doing the "clean work" of the actual bad guys, by trying to take tools out of the good guys' toolboxes. CC, JSM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...
I’d rather be ruled by a king than a Byzantine deep state of unaccountable agencies, a cabal of bien-pensant election fortifiers, or a nation of nannies (or nabobs, nattering or not)
10/20/25, 10:00 AM
There it is again, the final phase. Trump would never be a king- he may have said it but was joking or didn’t mean it- maybe he meant it but clearly would never happen- you know, being ruled by a king wouldn’t be so bad.
Protests, as a recall, was a great way to meet women.
Mosby, I never said I wanted a king, and I’m not MAGA. True, I prefer Trump to you malefactors, but that’s like saying I’d prefer eating dog food to eating dog shit
Ronald J. Ward, we’re being led by the King of Comedy and you just can’t handle the truth. Lighten up.
It's pretty common for Antifa to use seemingly innocuous items for nefarious purposes. Surgical masks and umbrellas hide their identity, but hey, we don't want to spread a disease and it might rain. Skateboards can be used as a weapon or a means to shatter a window, but it's just how I get around, man. Water bottles when frozen can be used as projectiles, but I gotta stay hydrated. I don't see how these inflatable costumes have a similar nefarious purpose, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.
Sorry, Mosby, I meant Ward, not you
It's like we share the country with a bunch of fucking third-graders. And they vote.
“no teabagging. You know the rules. No balls on foreheads.”
From the description I can only infer that the victim is standing on his head and the perp is a 70 year old man.
Well, that really changed the world.
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