You Know Who Didn't Show up Yesterday? ICE

[MineralMan]

I saw none of the masked, uniformed, quasi-LEOs anywhere at one of the No Kings Protests. None.

ICE only seems to show up where they can just grab people and haul them away. If there's an organized event that will have lots of attendees, you don't see the ICE thugs. They appear to stay away from anything that might produce a protest against their illegal search and seizure routine.

They know. We know. It's all illegal. They can't really be doing that. Fourth Amendment.

They are cowards is what they are.

[C_U_L8R]

1. ICE melts in the sunlight

[littlemissmartypants]

21. DUzy!! 🏆🏅

[mucifer]

2. they did however scare a lot of people away from protesting. I have a few people of

color friends who wanted to protest but were fearful of being arrested.

If more people felt safe in this country who knows how many people would show up.

I have a very close friend who is white and has been so fearful of the ice behavior here in Chicago, she decided not to protest even though she really wanted to.

I am very glad I went .

But, understand the terror is real.

[OMGWTF]

19. We had so much support from people driving by our local protest --

it's too bad we can't include them in the total number.

[littlemissmartypants]

22. Great point! Maybe there should be a way for them to sign up and be counted. 🤔❤️

[hlthe2b]

3. They are scared to death of large public crowds...

Even small neighborhood crowds protesting their actions have not infrequently ended with them leaving sans their attempted detainee.

[MineralMan]

10. Yes!

Cowardly thugs, one and all. Unlike regular LEOs, they are afraid to even show their faces.

[Ocelot II]

4. ICE Barbie wouldn't send them to a demonstration.

Too many people; too hard to sort out and haul away the brown people, of whom there were a number at the Minneapolis rally, including one of the speakers, without inciting a major riot (100,000 people fighting back?) that would end up looking very bad for them and the Trump regime. Video of ICE goons beating up inflatable frogs and unicorns would go viral very quickly and in a bad way for ICE Barbie (there was an inflatable puppy at the rally; wouldn't an attack on that be some bit of video?). I was a bit concerned that the non-federal Trump goons like the Proud Boys might show up somewhere to stir up trouble, but they must have been put off by the numbers, too.

[underpants]

8. They don't go after people they think would have legal assistance

I know that sounds stereotypical but if you are a day laborer or just a laborer in general you likely don’t have anyone under retainer. A sudden legal expense for anyone is a shock aside from being carted away in the first place.

I have seen video of a few people being arrested. One lady had on a clown nose and breached the fake perimeter in Chicago (I think).

What I said before reminds me of DWD (Driving While Dead) which was a big thing with deadheads. As they followed the tour up and down 95 on the east coast some would get pulled over in small towns. South and north. The local cops see a dead sticker on the car so they pull them over. A lot of people were getting busted especially with weed which, as you know, was a life changer. Well yes they were deadheads but a lot of them came from families or were in their professional careers and fought it in court. After wrongful arrest fines one after another draining local budgets (unexpected legal fee for them) word got out to leave the deadheads alone unless you had really strong probable cause. This got some coverage about the same time DWBlack got attention mostly in MTV News.

[SunSeeker]

18. Love the costume! So many clever signs and costumes yesterday! nt

[leftstreet]

5. Good observation

Makes the recent ICE and National Guard business seem performative

It's also fascinating there was no counter-protesting. No Proud Boys or Patriot Whatnots.

Trumpism and MAGA has slowly been collapsing. It's mostly media and troll driven at this point. Hence the desperation behind Charlie Kirk memorials and Young Republicans nonsense. They've lost their power and they know it

[MineralMan]

11. That, too. The MAGAts are losing followers.

They just aren't showing up.

[pandr32]

6. They prefer easy targets.

The protests had too many people with signs on sticks.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Yesterday held very deep, foundational and emotional, meaning

ICE is ICE. They are now labeled. The citizenry knows what they're up to. And they told the world. There is no ideological footing to justify these actions. I would almost say that when we look back on this era, yesterday was the day that turned the corner. Free peoples seized the momentum as well as the narrative. Grass roots. More oppression will not stop this movement. Thimbleheads in power are political zombies, they just don't know it yet.

[Ping Tung]

9. They were too busy guarding dangerous infant immigrants they'd kidnapped.

[usonian]

12. SEND ICE TO GAZA, EVERY ONE OF THEM.

To cool things off.

[mainer]

13. MAGA seemed to avoid No Kings, too

At the No Kings demonstration in our small Maine town (where 1700 people showed up!) I saw only one truck with Trump flags drive by. It was soundly booed. I think MAGA was afraid to show up when they were so clearly outnumbered.

[littlemissmartypants]

25. We've got them running for cover. Hot damn..❤️

[LiberalArkie]

14. Cause they are wimps.

[haele]

15. They didn't need to show. They are hooked into the traffic cams....

Facial and voice recognition software is now available to be hooked into towns and cities where they have traffic cams.
Besides, there were no easy targets. It was obvious that the No Kings organizers are on the alert for troublemakers, and there would not be a lot of chances to trigger a riot without making it obvious it was right wing agitators.
Crowds were too big in the cities, and in the smaller locations, so no easy kettling and extraction for untrained goons.
There's only so much lying they can do without making it obvious even to their base they're lying and maybe they're doing something wrong.
Kent State did a lot to turn even the most conservative anti-communist citizen, because two of those killed were not part of the protest; meaning their kids could be caught up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Ohioboy]

16. Funny how peaceful things can be without ICE, Proud Boys etc.

Plus, "No Kings" is inherently a unifying message. Who is going to be pro- king and not look like an idiot? That's why the republicans tried to reframe it as a "hate America" rally. They knew deep down inside "no kings" was a unifying message.

[SSJVegeta]

20. There is nothing more terrifying to unrefined jealous power

...than large groups of people peacefully opposing them. There is also nothing more threatening to their hold on such power.

I increasingly believe that the BLM protests were a large contributor to ending the previous Trump regime. If we ever see an end to this dystopia, these protests will likely be a big part of it.

[SSJVegeta]

17. We are in dark times, BUT

...we can be the light that shines through it.

https://images.zapnito.com/cdn-cgi/image/metadata=copyright,format=auto,quality=95,fit=scale-down/

[littlemissmartypants]

26. ❤️

[sop]

23. Like a pack of jackals, ICE goons skulk around at the edges, opportunistically preying on the most vulnerable.

[AntiFascist]

24. Too many white people n/t

[littlemissmartypants]

27. Great point. All the wrong targets! Makes me sad we can't take better care of our black and brown brothers and sisters.

We all need to grow an abundance of courage. ❤️

[AntiFascist]

28. Blocking, intimidating, protesting ICE...

all of these tactics have been shown to work, particularly with a very diverse crowd, and along with the support of police who are not under Trump's little thumb.

[littlemissmartypants]

29. ❤️