This is the second 50501 protest from the original that took place on February 5th. That first one was more loosely organized (plus many including myself had no idea how legitimate it was). This one is gaining more traction now since there is actual organizers in every state coordinating the efforts; this one takes place on the Presidents Day holiday in the US, and has a main slogan called “No Kings Day” (which harkens back to the founding of the US back in 1776 when it made a declaration of wanting independence from the British Empire and its king).
Non-violet/peaceful protests such as this are effectively the last major form of action that citizens can take part in when their government is no longer acting in accordance to the existing laws and/or mandate/decrees (in the case of the US, its Constitution). It is known this current regime wants to stifle these constitutional rights of ours (including freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble/protest against the government) with the felon in chief looking for reasons to declare the Insurrection Act of 1807 (so that martial law can be declared in order to enact the US military against its own citizens).
This one is a hot topic because of the chain of command protocol (which is a civilian command via the Secretary of Defense [SecDef] plus the under secretaries for each branch that report to the SecDef) where the SecDef reports directly to the Commander in Chief (CIC) who is also the President. What happens when that chain of command is acting unlawfully and/or doing things against the Constitution? We will eventually find out that reality. This Military.com article from July 2024 questioned the scenario of a CIC issuing illegal/immoral orders (which every officer is drilled to having an obligation to disobey such illegal/immoral orders). It’s clear there aren’t very specific guidelines; more so should the actual active duty leadership be purged and replaced with loyalists who demand such orders to be carried out during the chaos).
The US armed forces is NOT homogenous by any stretch though (some branches have a decent number of radical elements that would no doubt carry through with illegal orders; January 6, 2021 bore that out with many veterans taking part in that insurrection; many veterans take their oath seriously post service). Malcolm Nance (a former US intelligence officer who has remained active in the intelligence world and also took part in active combat in Ukraine including being part of the viral NAFO social media movement that was effective in information warfare by trolling back Russian propaganda), put out this video recently. This IMHO is like a “pre-rally pep talk” for these upcoming protests in terms of required viewing (IMHO, every American citizen ought to understand what the hell is going on, and he puts “where we are at” in pretty stark/succinct terms in this video).
While there was a point in the past year where I couldn’t watch much of his videos (because it was becoming more unhinged at times when talking about Gaza), this 30 minutes is spot on. I do not blame him for the anger in this one (given the military sacrifice his family has engaged in along with the countless number of those who fought against fascism in previous wars).
As someone who had grand-uncles who fought (and at least 4 who were killed in combat operations) as part of the 442nd infantry while their families were holed up in Japanese American concentration camps (a gross violation of their rights by the US government exemplifying how your rights can be taken away), I’m also angered by this betrayal of their sacrifice. None of this is hyperbole (he’s been talking about this fascist threat for many years and has witnessed first hand as an intelligence officer, autocracies/dictatorships taking hold in other countries).
Myself, I’ve been a casual “observer” following this over the years (just not constantly engaged in it hourly/daily like many who cannot tear themselves away from this social media cycle) including reading material that historians like Timothy Snyder put out regarding autocracies/tyranny. It’s all coming to fruition unfortunately (and as the US goes, so does the impact it has on the rest of the world). The US has military bases in many countries for example. How do you realistically have a once close ally but now adversarial nation’s military base operating this way on your own home soil?
We have an alcoholic/loyalist SecDef making dumbass statements that alienated European allies on his first speech there. Europe (plus the rest of the free world) has to wakeup quickly and come to the realization that this criminal regime is not their friend (the wise thing for Europe to do is no longer rely on the US as an ally). Other allies need to also consider the same (including Japan and South Korea). Canada has already pronounced this loudly now (and I am supporting their vociferous opposition to these criminal thugs that are dismantling the US). Sure, some of DOGE is performative distraction. The point is it’s illegal and should not even be doing what it is doing. The point is the check on that (the legislative branch with the US Congress, is rendered useless because the majority GOP are in complicit lockstep with the criminality of the executive branch that will weaponize the power they have not only against American’s, but also their global rivals – because that is how mob bosses like Felon47 operate).
Related to all of these mass terminations happening and properties going up for sale in the DC area now. Guess what bastards are going to come in to hoover up all those properties once they TANK in value? You got it, these RICH SOB’s who did the same thing back during COVID and the prior housing market bubble crash. And people aren’t waking up yet and getting pissed off that they are being taken to the cleaners? (mind you, they still haven’t managed to crash the banking sector, stock market, nor ended your healthcare and social security payments yet). So many are totally unprepared for the chaos that is going to drop on their head once the final Russian asset is confirmed (Patel as FBI director).
Point is, there should be hundreds of thousands beginning to take part in these protests while we still can. I am writing about this while I still can (Google which owns Blogger caved so easily with pulling their entire diversity, equality, inclusion initiative and Black History month calendar down). The corporate capitulation is frankly such a sign of weakness by these executives. And it’s not going to get better. Once this autocratic breakthrough is completed, you can expect the real crackdowns on free speech to begin.
But that is the challenge; too many (especially those in “leadership” positions) that are stuck in the old paradigm (head stuck in the sand). It’s not just a US thing either, it’s global. The EU itself is a body not designed to make decisions like this quickly; it will take a very strong leader to get everyone on the same page. NATO itself is kind of rendered neutered (with the US taking a similar obstructionist position now as Hungary). In this new reality, Europe should also form their own new alliance that obsoletes NATO (and excludes Hungary and the US). Ukraine’s Zelensky in such an alliance would be a formidable leader because he and his country are living this actuality of being attacked (serving as a bulwark against this expansion by Russia).
From the US military industrial complex POV, money from military hardware purchased by allies from the US is what the oligarchs involved in those industries are salivating over (greedy SOB’s). European countries need to begin making their own hardware and freezing these US military suppliers out of that equation (France has long been building their own fighter jets for example in order to not be heavily reliant on another country). This is something that should’ve started years ago in Europe versus ignoring the elephant in the room (what happened back in 2017-2020 and the new incursion by Russia in February 2022 during the Biden administration).
9m20s in is the salient meat of the economic stranglehold the rest of the world could bring to bear on the US IF it choses to do so (and I am an advocate for that approach because that is the only thing these oligarchs give a shit about; MONEY which allows them to wield POWER). I don’t see that happening yet because too many leaders (domestically and globally) are trying to treat this as business as usual. If they cannot see that what is happening with DOGE as being an illegal hostile takeover (and calling it out as such), then they are willfully being blind to the reality what is actually happening in the US. Look at Japan and South Korea pledging their “unshakeable” commitment to their tri-lateral agreement with what is a CRIMINAL regime (using mob tactics) cosplaying as an US administration. Tell me you enjoy kissing ass without saying it (is what these diplomats are bowing down to).
It’s why I am pissed off about our corporations putting their advertising back on Twitter/X. Little actual spine and principles by most all of them. February 28th is supposed to be a one day economic blackout day in the US. BFD. That needs to be PERMANENT until this criminal regime is taken down. Are people willing to give up stuff like their Amazon Prime, streaming services, unnecessary discretionary purchases for the long haul? A one day stand down isn’t going to mean jack. The commitment to getting the message across requires long term fortitude (I don’t think the average American is there because most have no clue what is going down).
While this entire video is worth watching, the most important part (at least to me) is around the 16m mark (until the end when he unleashes on the Democratic opposition for mostly just sitting on their butts) when Nance leads in to his remarks about the US intelligence and military apparatus splintering (should illegal orders be given by the CIC and SecDef). That there is pretty much like waiting for a modern day version of the American Revolutionary War that took place from 1775-1783. I’ve already spoken to some former military (well before watching this video) who said they will protect and defend the Constitution should the active duty military be deployed against US citizens who are engaging in their right to peacefully assemble and protest. Yeah, people have no clue of how bad things are about to get in terms of actual kinetic warfare domestically (how much of that spills over globally is anyones best guess).
Protests like this have to be large enough to send a signal of how much of us, they will need to take out. But yes, you see many just carrying on as business as usual (and would view even this video as someone going on an alarmist style unhinged rant because of the long term conditioning that “something like this could never happen in America”. On teh flipside, history does have a tendency of repeating itself in so many ways when the lessons of the past aren’t learned. Oligarchs and fascists should look at what their past fates were when they pushed the common people too far in their greedy quest to have it all (but that requires the people to wake up).
