it makes absolutely no sense for her to testify. shes a certified liar trying to get a pardon from Trump. lock her back up, ignore and leave her there to rot.
Trump has said he should nationalize voting, get rid of mail-in ballots and essentially cancel John Lewis's voting act. The "stench" is he will lie, cheat and steal the midterms. This is not a drill.
Call it simple, or call it limited thinking due to overwhelming considerations, but one particular fact stands out to me right now. The essence of saying, “Promise me what I WANT, if you want me to talk at all, and you already know I do not tell the truth,” does not cut it as being anywhere near a hint of legal. Nobody, but NOBODY should fall for it, accept it, or agree to it! The whole cult in office and in their surroundings, here and abroad, must be laughing at the foolish public while patting themselves on the back for getting away with murder, torture, and organized crime as I see it. Surely our country is not stupid enough to fall for any of that.
In a way, even though I wish for their comfort and protection over all, I almost wonder if the survivors were to sit en masse in the courtroom, possibly veiled for security, if it would help. Still, no survivor should ever be put through that additional torture. They never should have had to suffer, and they bravely have spoken out as adults. THEY, THE SURVIVORS, MUST BE BELIEVED! They also must be believed because they have said and have proven with their testimonies or stories, the exact term which I cannot recall, that G. Maxwell cannot be believed, and I am sure that that extends to time in the courtroom, while supposedly under oath, if she speaks. What about what her statement is, the statement which was read. Is that not breaking her 5th Amendment plea?
She already has had more leniency than anyone else would have in such a situation of any lesser degree, because of some bargain she has made, a bargain I would not trust, and a bargain which seems to be a conflict of interest, directly or through a chain.
Please everyone, do not be gullible! We need truth and justice. What kind of precedent would be set to ruin any future case if anyone is buying into her own proposed condition for speaking? Every American should think of that.
One other thought that comes to mind is related to ICE. What crime committed by ICE agents are congressional leaders, and Americans willing to accept? Why? To accept any crime committed by ICE agents, by any individual among them, and by the group as a whole, which is contaminated by probably a large percentage of their number, is a crime by our legislators against the murdered people, and it is a crime against the abused people, as well as against the population, by maintaining ICE, and by paying them.
These crimes on top of crimes amount to a total crime against America itself and its people as a whole. End ICE. IT SEEMS THAT TOTALLY DEFUNDING IT NOW IS THE ONLY THING TO DO. (The all capitals were not intended, but I am leaving them because they are that important!) Human beings are still more important.
So my two conclusions for now are no leniency for G. Maxwell., and no funding for ICE and DHS. A revamping and a division of jobs by description and funding and each position must be newly applied for, strictly screened, and if accepted, each person must be trained to the highest extent with the idea of fulfilling their purpose, and only accepting people who will serve, politely, honestly, and with care for humanity and the individuals who compose it.
My first thought was that I was speechless and overwhelmed, but for now, those are my immediate thoughts. I want compassion for all innocent people and firmly placed justice being upheld as precedents are set, and rights are defended.
Judy, what you’re reacting to is the core absurdity:
“Promise me what I want before I tell you anything...knowing I don’t tell the truth.” That’s not cooperation...it’s leverage theater. Accepting it would set a POISONOUS precedent...and you’re right to warn people not to fall for it.
Truth doesn’t come with preconditions written by the LIAR.
On survivors: you’re unequivocal...and rightly so.
They’ve spoken...consistently and bravely...and their testimony has already established who cannot be trusted.
Justice doesn’t require re-traumatizing them to launder credibility back to someone who forfeited it long ago.
Your broader point lands too: when institutions are protected despite repeated harm...whether in courts or in enforcement agencies...that protection itself becomes an offense against the public.
Accountability isn’t cruelty. It’s the MINIMUM requirement for legitimacy.
You’re not being gullible. You’re demanding standards. Compassion for the innocent... justice without carve-outs...and systems rebuilt to serve people rather than power...that’s the throughline.
Immediately after Renee Good was killed, Kristi Noem said the ICE officer "followed his training". This statement took advantage of our understanding of contemporary police training, which did not match with what we saw on video. We said she was lying. But what if she wasn't lying? What if ice officers are currently being actually trained to surround and gun down people in our streets. Chilling!
Noem said the officer “followed his training.” We called it a LIE because the video doesn’t match what people assume “training” means.
But...your “what if” is the right accountability move: don’t argue the vibe...force the receipts.
If they’re invoking training as the shield...then training becomes the evidence.
So the question isn’t “are they evil?” It’s: what does ICE training and use-of-force policy ACTUALLY authorize in vehicle encounters...and who signed off on it?
Reporters and lawyers are already pushing for the agent’s training records...and the full investigative file for exactly this reason.
Rep Massie suggesting he will use the house nuclear option to name names. Always suggesting but never following thru seems like a tactic to forever stall the Epstein files.
Deborah, yep...“might use the nuclear option” can be a pressure-release valve:
BIG headline...no consequence.
If it’s always hinted and never executed...it functions as a stall tactic that keeps the Epstein files permanently in "soon."
I'm just as irritated with Democratic leadership for the same damn reason. I'm tired of "If, then" I want to hear about a lot of stuff, post-ACTION.
The tell is procedural...not rhetorical: What motion gets filed? What rule is invoked? What date is set? What’s entered into the record? Who blocks it...and how? Until there’s a concrete step + timeline...it’s just talk...or, even more accurately stated...just bullshit.
Rosemary...“Only two fatalities” is one of those phrases...that tells you everything about the mindset in a single breath.
Two lives aren’t a rounding error. And...when you’re talking about 70,000 human beings warehoused...the moral math is already broken.
The point of language like that is to sedate outrage...to turn suffering into a statistic...and then declare the system “successful” because the number is “low.”
But...here’s what doesn’t show up in that headline number:
*The preventable injuries and medical neglect
*The suicides and “unclassified” deaths
*The assaults, the trauma, the family separation damage
*The due-process collapse that makes abuse inevitable because nobody can see inside it
When people brag about “only two,” what they’re really saying is...we’ve normalized the cage.
And once you normalize the cage...the threshold...for what comes next...drops damn fast.
You’re right to recoil. That instinct...is the LAST healthy thing...in a sick system.
Jack-hard action item today! Distraction makes a percentage of us “squirrel;” intimidation makes another percentage of us pull the covers over our head; the pretext or the lies seem to provide distraction and intimidation in nicely wrapped packages . All of it reminds me of Monty Hall’s “Let’s Make a Deal!” with our collective lives in the balance.
So “pretext” is my marker today. Manipulation is alive and well-I’m just not sure if the incompetence of this administration is a benefit (in that they are so bad at covert operations) or a terrifying, very short fuse, moving us closer on the doomsday clock!!!
Diana...this is exactly the right marker. Pretext is the move...because it does two jobs at once: it fragments attention...and manufactures fear.
Some people chase the shiny object. Some people freeze. Both reactions remove pressure...from power. That’s not an accident...it’s the design.
The Monty Hall comparison is dead-on. You’re offered a choice...a spectacle...a narrative switch… while the real mechanism stays untouched...and behind the curtain.
The danger isn’t whether this administration is bad at covert operations. The danger...is that pretext doesn’t require competence...only volume...repetition...and asymmetric consequences. Chaos still advances the clock.
Action item today:
When a new claim...threat...or “emergency” drops...don’t argue its surface truth first.
Ask one question before anything else: What authority...capacity...or precedent does this justify if accepted...even briefly? If you train yourself to spot that...distraction loses its teeth.
Pretext is the tell. Once you see it...the game gets much harder for them to play.
Jack - thanks for the reminder to always look behind the curtain. My late husband was a Phoenix Police Officer for 25 years. His “tell” were those asymmetric consequences that alerted him to nefarious intentions.
Tell and conditioning. Trotting out Ghislaine Maxwell so she can lie and confuse. The appropriate response to her would be: Okay. We don't need your testmony. Go back to maximim security prison where you belong.
Lynn...yes! This is classic tell-and-conditioning: roll her out...flood the zone..muddy the water...and turn the public’s attention into a fog machine.
And...your instinct is right: Maxwell isn’t a truth source. She’s a leverage asset.
If she’s speaking...it’s because someone believes confusion is more useful than clarity.
The correct posture toward her...is procedural...and cold:
“Noted. We don’t need your stories. We need records.”
No spectacle testimony. No narrative jousting. No letting her steer the frame.
If she has anything of value...it’s sure as hell not in her mouth...it’s in documents... communications...flight logs...calendars...financial trails...plea proffers...and sworn statements that can be cross-checked.
So...yes...skip the theater. Put her back in MAX security. Then...subpoena the paper...NOT the performer.
I'd have to say distraction, which leads to chaos, which is the state we've been in since Prez. Dumbfuck came on the scene. We never get a break because he thrives on chaos, which is probably what is keeping him alive.
Jan...yes...and the key is that chaos isn’t a byproduct for him...it’s the fuel source.
When everything is loud...fractured...and emotionally exhausting...nothing can fully land. Accountability needs stillness. Memory needs sequencing. Democracy needs people rested enough...to notice PATTERNS. Chaos short-circuits ALL THREE.
That’s why it never pauses. A pause would be dangerous. A pause...would let people connect yesterday...to today. So the system stays in permanent agitation...new outrage before the last one can resolve. Not to win arguments...but...to keep the environment unstable.
The survival mechanism you’re pointing at is real: chaos externalized becomes regulation for someone who can’t tolerate stillness.
Which is exactly why the most threatening move against it isn’t outrage...it’s sustained attention.
If distraction creates chaos...then orientation is resistance. Staying anchored...naming the pattern...refusing the bait...that’s how you starve the thing that keeps him animated.
Exactly, Bradley...and that simultaneity is the tell.
Distraction floods the field...pretext supplies the excuse...and the “blah blah” (which defines this entire administration) keeps people arguing semantics while decisions lock in.
None of it is sequential. It’s layered...on purpose or by decay...so attention is split and accountability slips. When they happen together...the move isn’t debate...it’s containment.
It is distraction. I’m old. I don’t care about Bad Bunny one way or the other OR whoever is the Alternative. It isn’t my generation. She doesn’t need to talk. There are files and files of evidence. She just needs to stay in jail. I would love for Ds to follow through instead of pretending they are for actual change when history shows ala Merrick Garland they just pretend.
My evidence for this is that the historical Democratic Party way of being “progressive in” and then only throwing the working class the occasional bone while jobs were getting shifted overseas during the Clinton administration. And even when there was a majority, the minimum wage never got raised and on and on, and on
This sort of thing is what gave us Donald Trump‘s first term to begin withperiod. People who didn’t know any better actually thought he was for the working class. People didn’t trust Hillary and while Russia Russia, Russia has a lot to do with why he won, it wasn’t totally out in the field given that dynamic. I never voted for him, but I sure know a lot of people who did.
The celebrity junk is a shiny object...meant to burn attention...while the real machinery keeps moving.
You’re also right about Maxwell: she doesn’t need to talk. We don’t need her storyline. We need the paper...files...money trails...logs...sworn statements. Put her back in prison and subpoena records.
And yes: people are exhausted by Democrats performing “progress” while working-class trust erodes...jobs shipped out...wages stagnant...majorities wasted...accountability slow-walked.
That doesn’t excuse Trump. It explains the opening a con man walked through.
So...the demand now is simple....no more theater. Bring receipts...pass laws...enforce them...or get out of the way.
Rae...I’m smiling because this is exactly the behavior I’m trying to teach: read in-app...drop the marker...then keep moving.
That’s not “engagement.” That’s pattern discipline!
And “set-up” is a hell of a one-word knife. It stops the vibe debate and forces the real questions: Who benefits? What’s being normalized? What’s the next move?
Your pattern machine should get sharper edges. If I’m doing this right...you won’t be able to name one neat “aha” moment… because it’s not one moment.
It’s the accumulation.
I hope your supper was delish!
Seriously. Hungry brains get jumpy and miss tells.
When you’re done...come back and give me the closest thing to a moment...even one line that tripped your “set-up” alarm.
You’re correct once again. Try as I do, I cannot isolate one particular moment. It’s the continuous barrage of horrible that makes it seem that no matter what we do it won’t be enough, quick enough, strong enough, soon enough, thorough enough (or is thorough a superlative and therefore always “enough”?) ENOUGH enough? I really could’ve chosen any of your options but set-up seemed to kind of include the others.
The prevalent narratives distract from actions happening in the background - the push on the right for the Save America Act which is a voting disenfranchise law and the buying and/or construction of multiple warehouses for confinement.
Pamela H, yes. This is the right read...front-stage narrative...back-stage machinery.
The “prevailing story” is there to burn bandwidth...so the public argues about the headline while the infrastructure gets poured behind it: rules that narrow the electorate and capacity that normalizes confinement.
Two moves I’d offer you (and everyone reading this) as a discipline:
Track legislation + logistics, not rhetoric. If it changes who can vote...how they can vote... or whether their vote counts...treat it as a power move...not a policy debate.
Follow the build. Warehouses don’t buy themselves. Contracts don’t write themselves. Sites don’t appear by accident. When physical capacity expands, it’s because someone plans to use it.
Drop one detail in the thread...one link...one line...one receipt (where you saw the Save America Act push, and what you’re seeing on the warehouse side). Let’s turn “set-up”... into a paper trail others can grab and run with!
I really appreciated this piece. Taking atmosphere seriously—how fear, distraction, and urgency condition people—is exactly the right move, and you articulate it clearly. I hope this doesn’t come across as a destructive note, because it’s meant in the spirit of engagement. Where I pause is the emphasis on design. Much of what we’re seeing may not require orchestration so much as misaligned incentives, weak oversight, and a growing tolerance for damage. That distinction matters because if everything is a “setup,” the response becomes pattern-spotting. Historically, the real leverage is more ordinary and effective: who ordered what, under what authority, with what evidence, and subject to what review. I don’t disagree about the smell—I just think decay, not cleverness, is the more dangerous driver here.
I love reading your work, Jack, because you treat political atmosphere as seriously as policy. You don’t just report events—you show how fear, distraction, and urgency shape what people accept and ignore. That kind of insight is rare and necessary.
Intimidation is the setup to me. It began with what I have read were the threats to the Republican congress people after Trump was elected. They have to follow their Dear Leader’s orders or their families will pay the price. It has escalated with threats to all people living in this country because of ICE. Intimidation is their standard MO.
Sara...you’re naming the spine of it: intimidation is the operating system.
It starts by keeping Republicans in line...cross him and you get targeted.
Then it scales outward. ICE is especially effective because it doesn’t need speeches; it produces silence through uncertainty.
Best response is to treat intimidation like EVIDENCE...not atmosphere: name it...document it...force it into records. Fear thrives in the dark...paper trails raise the cost!
it makes absolutely no sense for her to testify. shes a certified liar trying to get a pardon from Trump. lock her back up, ignore and leave her there to rot.
Mary Lou...it's disgusting, eh?!
Here's are a few of my thoughts:
No deal for testimony: A pardon-for-words arrangement would be a moral and legal disgrace.
If she’s questioned at all, it’s for leads...not “truth.”:
Treat every claim as a starting point for subpoenas, records, and corroboration.
Receipts or it didn’t happen:
Names, dates, travel, communications, money trails...things investigators can independently verify.
Public narrative discipline:
Don’t let her become the main character. The point is the network and the evidence, not her performance.
-Jack
PeeUew 🤢 is right, Jack, you have the perfect headline today. Thank you, and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Thank you, Karen. Wouldn’t it be nice if headlines like this weren’t applicable…every damn day of the week?! Damn.
Thank you for the reStack!
-Jack
My reaction: what about the words of the victims? They don’t count?
These other things going on are a distraction from the Epstein files.
Trump has said he should nationalize voting, get rid of mail-in ballots and essentially cancel John Lewis's voting act. The "stench" is he will lie, cheat and steal the midterms. This is not a drill.
Leslie, Trump has been explicit: nationalize voting...kill mail-in ballots...and wipe out the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Taken together...that’s NOT reform...it’s CONTROL.
The stench isn’t subtle. It’s the groundwork for lying...cheating...and stealing the midterms...through rule changes and pressure...not persuasion.
This isn’t alarmism. It’s pattern recognition. And...that, Leslie...as you clearly stated...is damn sure NOT a drill.
-Jack
Call it simple, or call it limited thinking due to overwhelming considerations, but one particular fact stands out to me right now. The essence of saying, “Promise me what I WANT, if you want me to talk at all, and you already know I do not tell the truth,” does not cut it as being anywhere near a hint of legal. Nobody, but NOBODY should fall for it, accept it, or agree to it! The whole cult in office and in their surroundings, here and abroad, must be laughing at the foolish public while patting themselves on the back for getting away with murder, torture, and organized crime as I see it. Surely our country is not stupid enough to fall for any of that.
In a way, even though I wish for their comfort and protection over all, I almost wonder if the survivors were to sit en masse in the courtroom, possibly veiled for security, if it would help. Still, no survivor should ever be put through that additional torture. They never should have had to suffer, and they bravely have spoken out as adults. THEY, THE SURVIVORS, MUST BE BELIEVED! They also must be believed because they have said and have proven with their testimonies or stories, the exact term which I cannot recall, that G. Maxwell cannot be believed, and I am sure that that extends to time in the courtroom, while supposedly under oath, if she speaks. What about what her statement is, the statement which was read. Is that not breaking her 5th Amendment plea?
She already has had more leniency than anyone else would have in such a situation of any lesser degree, because of some bargain she has made, a bargain I would not trust, and a bargain which seems to be a conflict of interest, directly or through a chain.
Please everyone, do not be gullible! We need truth and justice. What kind of precedent would be set to ruin any future case if anyone is buying into her own proposed condition for speaking? Every American should think of that.
One other thought that comes to mind is related to ICE. What crime committed by ICE agents are congressional leaders, and Americans willing to accept? Why? To accept any crime committed by ICE agents, by any individual among them, and by the group as a whole, which is contaminated by probably a large percentage of their number, is a crime by our legislators against the murdered people, and it is a crime against the abused people, as well as against the population, by maintaining ICE, and by paying them.
These crimes on top of crimes amount to a total crime against America itself and its people as a whole. End ICE. IT SEEMS THAT TOTALLY DEFUNDING IT NOW IS THE ONLY THING TO DO. (The all capitals were not intended, but I am leaving them because they are that important!) Human beings are still more important.
So my two conclusions for now are no leniency for G. Maxwell., and no funding for ICE and DHS. A revamping and a division of jobs by description and funding and each position must be newly applied for, strictly screened, and if accepted, each person must be trained to the highest extent with the idea of fulfilling their purpose, and only accepting people who will serve, politely, honestly, and with care for humanity and the individuals who compose it.
My first thought was that I was speechless and overwhelmed, but for now, those are my immediate thoughts. I want compassion for all innocent people and firmly placed justice being upheld as precedents are set, and rights are defended.
Judy, what you’re reacting to is the core absurdity:
“Promise me what I want before I tell you anything...knowing I don’t tell the truth.” That’s not cooperation...it’s leverage theater. Accepting it would set a POISONOUS precedent...and you’re right to warn people not to fall for it.
Truth doesn’t come with preconditions written by the LIAR.
On survivors: you’re unequivocal...and rightly so.
They’ve spoken...consistently and bravely...and their testimony has already established who cannot be trusted.
Justice doesn’t require re-traumatizing them to launder credibility back to someone who forfeited it long ago.
Your broader point lands too: when institutions are protected despite repeated harm...whether in courts or in enforcement agencies...that protection itself becomes an offense against the public.
Accountability isn’t cruelty. It’s the MINIMUM requirement for legitimacy.
You’re not being gullible. You’re demanding standards. Compassion for the innocent... justice without carve-outs...and systems rebuilt to serve people rather than power...that’s the throughline.
-Jack
Immediately after Renee Good was killed, Kristi Noem said the ICE officer "followed his training". This statement took advantage of our understanding of contemporary police training, which did not match with what we saw on video. We said she was lying. But what if she wasn't lying? What if ice officers are currently being actually trained to surround and gun down people in our streets. Chilling!
Ch. Bou, I had the same jolt reading that line.
Noem said the officer “followed his training.” We called it a LIE because the video doesn’t match what people assume “training” means.
But...your “what if” is the right accountability move: don’t argue the vibe...force the receipts.
If they’re invoking training as the shield...then training becomes the evidence.
So the question isn’t “are they evil?” It’s: what does ICE training and use-of-force policy ACTUALLY authorize in vehicle encounters...and who signed off on it?
Reporters and lawyers are already pushing for the agent’s training records...and the full investigative file for exactly this reason.
Thank you for being here!
-Jack
Rep Massie suggesting he will use the house nuclear option to name names. Always suggesting but never following thru seems like a tactic to forever stall the Epstein files.
Deborah, yep...“might use the nuclear option” can be a pressure-release valve:
BIG headline...no consequence.
If it’s always hinted and never executed...it functions as a stall tactic that keeps the Epstein files permanently in "soon."
I'm just as irritated with Democratic leadership for the same damn reason. I'm tired of "If, then" I want to hear about a lot of stuff, post-ACTION.
The tell is procedural...not rhetorical: What motion gets filed? What rule is invoked? What date is set? What’s entered into the record? Who blocks it...and how? Until there’s a concrete step + timeline...it’s just talk...or, even more accurately stated...just bullshit.
-Jack
Johnson will just adjourn the House.
ONLY TWO FATALITIES. Really? And 70,000 people warehoused in concentration camps.
Rosemary...“Only two fatalities” is one of those phrases...that tells you everything about the mindset in a single breath.
Two lives aren’t a rounding error. And...when you’re talking about 70,000 human beings warehoused...the moral math is already broken.
The point of language like that is to sedate outrage...to turn suffering into a statistic...and then declare the system “successful” because the number is “low.”
But...here’s what doesn’t show up in that headline number:
*The preventable injuries and medical neglect
*The suicides and “unclassified” deaths
*The assaults, the trauma, the family separation damage
*The due-process collapse that makes abuse inevitable because nobody can see inside it
When people brag about “only two,” what they’re really saying is...we’ve normalized the cage.
And once you normalize the cage...the threshold...for what comes next...drops damn fast.
You’re right to recoil. That instinct...is the LAST healthy thing...in a sick system.
-Jack
Jack-hard action item today! Distraction makes a percentage of us “squirrel;” intimidation makes another percentage of us pull the covers over our head; the pretext or the lies seem to provide distraction and intimidation in nicely wrapped packages . All of it reminds me of Monty Hall’s “Let’s Make a Deal!” with our collective lives in the balance.
So “pretext” is my marker today. Manipulation is alive and well-I’m just not sure if the incompetence of this administration is a benefit (in that they are so bad at covert operations) or a terrifying, very short fuse, moving us closer on the doomsday clock!!!
Diana...this is exactly the right marker. Pretext is the move...because it does two jobs at once: it fragments attention...and manufactures fear.
Some people chase the shiny object. Some people freeze. Both reactions remove pressure...from power. That’s not an accident...it’s the design.
The Monty Hall comparison is dead-on. You’re offered a choice...a spectacle...a narrative switch… while the real mechanism stays untouched...and behind the curtain.
The danger isn’t whether this administration is bad at covert operations. The danger...is that pretext doesn’t require competence...only volume...repetition...and asymmetric consequences. Chaos still advances the clock.
Action item today:
When a new claim...threat...or “emergency” drops...don’t argue its surface truth first.
Ask one question before anything else: What authority...capacity...or precedent does this justify if accepted...even briefly? If you train yourself to spot that...distraction loses its teeth.
Pretext is the tell. Once you see it...the game gets much harder for them to play.
-Jack
Jack - thanks for the reminder to always look behind the curtain. My late husband was a Phoenix Police Officer for 25 years. His “tell” were those asymmetric consequences that alerted him to nefarious intentions.
Diana
You're welcome, Diana. Always.
-Jack
Tell and conditioning. Trotting out Ghislaine Maxwell so she can lie and confuse. The appropriate response to her would be: Okay. We don't need your testmony. Go back to maximim security prison where you belong.
Lynn...yes! This is classic tell-and-conditioning: roll her out...flood the zone..muddy the water...and turn the public’s attention into a fog machine.
And...your instinct is right: Maxwell isn’t a truth source. She’s a leverage asset.
If she’s speaking...it’s because someone believes confusion is more useful than clarity.
The correct posture toward her...is procedural...and cold:
“Noted. We don’t need your stories. We need records.”
No spectacle testimony. No narrative jousting. No letting her steer the frame.
If she has anything of value...it’s sure as hell not in her mouth...it’s in documents... communications...flight logs...calendars...financial trails...plea proffers...and sworn statements that can be cross-checked.
So...yes...skip the theater. Put her back in MAX security. Then...subpoena the paper...NOT the performer.
-Jack
I'd have to say distraction, which leads to chaos, which is the state we've been in since Prez. Dumbfuck came on the scene. We never get a break because he thrives on chaos, which is probably what is keeping him alive.
Jan...yes...and the key is that chaos isn’t a byproduct for him...it’s the fuel source.
When everything is loud...fractured...and emotionally exhausting...nothing can fully land. Accountability needs stillness. Memory needs sequencing. Democracy needs people rested enough...to notice PATTERNS. Chaos short-circuits ALL THREE.
That’s why it never pauses. A pause would be dangerous. A pause...would let people connect yesterday...to today. So the system stays in permanent agitation...new outrage before the last one can resolve. Not to win arguments...but...to keep the environment unstable.
The survival mechanism you’re pointing at is real: chaos externalized becomes regulation for someone who can’t tolerate stillness.
Which is exactly why the most threatening move against it isn’t outrage...it’s sustained attention.
If distraction creates chaos...then orientation is resistance. Staying anchored...naming the pattern...refusing the bait...that’s how you starve the thing that keeps him animated.
-Jack
Your 3 words, distraction, pretext, blah blah are happening at the same time
Exactly, Bradley...and that simultaneity is the tell.
Distraction floods the field...pretext supplies the excuse...and the “blah blah” (which defines this entire administration) keeps people arguing semantics while decisions lock in.
None of it is sequential. It’s layered...on purpose or by decay...so attention is split and accountability slips. When they happen together...the move isn’t debate...it’s containment.
-Jack
Yes, all 3.
It is distraction. I’m old. I don’t care about Bad Bunny one way or the other OR whoever is the Alternative. It isn’t my generation. She doesn’t need to talk. There are files and files of evidence. She just needs to stay in jail. I would love for Ds to follow through instead of pretending they are for actual change when history shows ala Merrick Garland they just pretend.
My evidence for this is that the historical Democratic Party way of being “progressive in” and then only throwing the working class the occasional bone while jobs were getting shifted overseas during the Clinton administration. And even when there was a majority, the minimum wage never got raised and on and on, and on
This sort of thing is what gave us Donald Trump‘s first term to begin withperiod. People who didn’t know any better actually thought he was for the working class. People didn’t trust Hillary and while Russia Russia, Russia has a lot to do with why he won, it wasn’t totally out in the field given that dynamic. I never voted for him, but I sure know a lot of people who did.
Marian, you’re saying the quiet part out loud.
The celebrity junk is a shiny object...meant to burn attention...while the real machinery keeps moving.
You’re also right about Maxwell: she doesn’t need to talk. We don’t need her storyline. We need the paper...files...money trails...logs...sworn statements. Put her back in prison and subpoena records.
And yes: people are exhausted by Democrats performing “progress” while working-class trust erodes...jobs shipped out...wages stagnant...majorities wasted...accountability slow-walked.
That doesn’t excuse Trump. It explains the opening a con man walked through.
So...the demand now is simple....no more theater. Bring receipts...pass laws...enforce them...or get out of the way.
I appreciate you being here, Marian!
-Jack
Thank you.
I switched to the app so I could comment “set-up” and then finished reading the piece.
Dammit, Jack, you continue to blow my pattern machine.
🤣
I love it.
Trying to choose an exact moment in the past two weeks, but it hurts my head.
I need supper first.
Rae...I’m smiling because this is exactly the behavior I’m trying to teach: read in-app...drop the marker...then keep moving.
That’s not “engagement.” That’s pattern discipline!
And “set-up” is a hell of a one-word knife. It stops the vibe debate and forces the real questions: Who benefits? What’s being normalized? What’s the next move?
Your pattern machine should get sharper edges. If I’m doing this right...you won’t be able to name one neat “aha” moment… because it’s not one moment.
It’s the accumulation.
I hope your supper was delish!
Seriously. Hungry brains get jumpy and miss tells.
When you’re done...come back and give me the closest thing to a moment...even one line that tripped your “set-up” alarm.
#HoldFast
-Jack
You’re correct once again. Try as I do, I cannot isolate one particular moment. It’s the continuous barrage of horrible that makes it seem that no matter what we do it won’t be enough, quick enough, strong enough, soon enough, thorough enough (or is thorough a superlative and therefore always “enough”?) ENOUGH enough? I really could’ve chosen any of your options but set-up seemed to kind of include the others.
Don’t worry. You’re definitely doing it right.
And I’m enjoying it.
Muchas gracias.
#HOLDingasFASTasIcan
OH, and dinner was yum. I make damn good soup.
The prevalent narratives distract from actions happening in the background - the push on the right for the Save America Act which is a voting disenfranchise law and the buying and/or construction of multiple warehouses for confinement.
Pamela H, yes. This is the right read...front-stage narrative...back-stage machinery.
The “prevailing story” is there to burn bandwidth...so the public argues about the headline while the infrastructure gets poured behind it: rules that narrow the electorate and capacity that normalizes confinement.
Two moves I’d offer you (and everyone reading this) as a discipline:
Track legislation + logistics, not rhetoric. If it changes who can vote...how they can vote... or whether their vote counts...treat it as a power move...not a policy debate.
Follow the build. Warehouses don’t buy themselves. Contracts don’t write themselves. Sites don’t appear by accident. When physical capacity expands, it’s because someone plans to use it.
Drop one detail in the thread...one link...one line...one receipt (where you saw the Save America Act push, and what you’re seeing on the warehouse side). Let’s turn “set-up”... into a paper trail others can grab and run with!
-Jack
I really appreciated this piece. Taking atmosphere seriously—how fear, distraction, and urgency condition people—is exactly the right move, and you articulate it clearly. I hope this doesn’t come across as a destructive note, because it’s meant in the spirit of engagement. Where I pause is the emphasis on design. Much of what we’re seeing may not require orchestration so much as misaligned incentives, weak oversight, and a growing tolerance for damage. That distinction matters because if everything is a “setup,” the response becomes pattern-spotting. Historically, the real leverage is more ordinary and effective: who ordered what, under what authority, with what evidence, and subject to what review. I don’t disagree about the smell—I just think decay, not cleverness, is the more dangerous driver here.
#HOLDFAST
Jane…thank you, I appreciate that. I also appreciate you always showing up!
#HoldFast
-Jack
I love reading your work, Jack, because you treat political atmosphere as seriously as policy. You don’t just report events—you show how fear, distraction, and urgency shape what people accept and ignore. That kind of insight is rare and necessary.
Very kind, Jane. Thank you.
-Jack
Distraction AND intimidation
Thank you for showing up, Jill Branch!
I mean that.
-Jack
Intimidation is the setup to me. It began with what I have read were the threats to the Republican congress people after Trump was elected. They have to follow their Dear Leader’s orders or their families will pay the price. It has escalated with threats to all people living in this country because of ICE. Intimidation is their standard MO.
Sara...you’re naming the spine of it: intimidation is the operating system.
It starts by keeping Republicans in line...cross him and you get targeted.
Then it scales outward. ICE is especially effective because it doesn’t need speeches; it produces silence through uncertainty.
Best response is to treat intimidation like EVIDENCE...not atmosphere: name it...document it...force it into records. Fear thrives in the dark...paper trails raise the cost!
-Jack