this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2026
330 points (99.4% liked)

pics

26536 readers
577 users here now

Rules:

1.. Please mark original photos with [OC] in the title if you're the photographer

2..Pictures containing a politician from any country or planet are prohibited, this is a community voted on rule.

3.. Image must be a photograph, no AI or digital art.

4.. No NSFW/Cosplay/Spam/Trolling images.

5.. Be civil. No racism or bigotry.

Photo of the Week Rule(s):

1.. On Fridays, the most upvoted original, marked [OC], photo posted between Friday and Thursday will be the next week's banner and featured photo.

2.. The weekly photos will be saved for an end of the year run off.

Weeks 2023

Instance-wide rules always apply. https://mastodon.world/about

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Source: Dave Guttenfelder

He is a photographer usually covering conflict zones like Syria, Israel/Palestine, Ukraine

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Damage@feddit.it 106 points 3 days ago (7 children)

I still don't understand how it can be considered acceptable to have officers not wearing uniform

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 7 points 2 days ago

Death Squads don't wear uniforms.

[–] KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

They aren't "officers". They're terrorists. What was the last terrorist group you can remember that had an enforced dress code?

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 46 points 3 days ago

Because chaos, escalation, martial law, and a civil war is the goal.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Yeah, that's the problem with this picture.

[–] GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's the least of the issues

[–] BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

The fact that they're not in uniform is closely interrelated with the fact that they're paramilitary goons and not a legitimate law enforcement outfit. It's all part and parcel.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 points 3 days ago
[–] n0respect@lemmy.dbzer0.com 94 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

And in that confusion, you can't tell who's a federal officer and who's just a dude ... oh what a perfect way for an officer to get shot.

[–] saimen@feddit.org 31 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I honestly believe the administration is doing everything to get an officer killed so they pull use it to declare some kind of emergency and finally abolish democracy for good.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They want a Reichstachfeuer, yes.

[–] killingspark@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

That's Reichstag for you. Reichstach is only for close friends

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

"One of us, all of yours"

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 28 points 3 days ago

Oh no not an officer

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

More than just one, maybe. Fingers crossed. Praying for the people of Minnesota and the world.

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

protests raise awareness, but when it gets violent like this, you're basically just crashing the protestor trolley into the government low tier goons trolley, while the guy at the government goon lever cranks the amount of government goon trolleys up after each crash.

you gotta get ahold of their lever.

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

there's no way to get a hold of that lever without violence. this will escalate. we need to show those in power that we're not scared to fight back. unfortunately, aggression is the only language fascists listen to.

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

if you want to show those in power, why do you attack the goon meatwaves they specifically created to wear you out?

[–] bearboiblake@pawb.social 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"if you want to fight the nazis, why would you attack the gestapo?"

good one

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago

yes, because you can kill a hundred thousand gestapo officers and all it does is get your strongest fighters killed, but start at the nazi leadership and you're done in a week.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 48 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Of all the places I would have guessed Trump would start this level of shit, Minneapolis was not on that list for me.

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

ICE can't handle anything bigger but they don't want you to know that. This regime already tried to tell you Minnesota is a warzone in 2020. Same with Portland.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

They saw Minneapolis go nuts over George Floyd, they already knew that they could inflame the citizens there. A Blue City in a Blue State, predisposed to riot, the perfect target.

[–] Soulphite@reddthat.com 26 points 3 days ago

He tried with LA, Chicago, hell even DC.

[–] psion1369@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The state is still run by one of his opponents from the election. My theory will be that ICE and other federal officers will back off once Walz is out of office.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

He doesn't back down until there is something that he's afraid of, like losing money or power. To make Trump stop Walz needs to release the Epstein Files unredacted but no one has those.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Never invade Minnesota in the winder, it's the first rule in Sun Tsu's art of war.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago

An actual rule from Sun Tzu that applies is roughly this:

Never engage the enemy on 'Death Ground'.

'Death Ground' is basically territory that cannot be retreated from, in any direction, cannot be abandoned, due to physical/terrain constraints, or I think serious strategic necessity, like uh, you can't retreat from where all your army's food is.

The idea is you never want to fight people who have no option but to fight to the death, because they will fight fiercely.

You always want to give them an option to runaway, don't block all their possible escape routes.

... ICE is treated the Twin Cities like Fallujah, and this is literally the home of everyone who lives there.

Beyond the moral atrocity and PR nightmare of what they are doing... they're just actually being strategically incompetent at this point.

... The only way what they are doing maybe strategically makes any sense is if they assume they can literally kill or imprison everyone in the country who would resist them, that they have the resources and manpower to be able to do that.

Even viewing their whole campaign as an occupation of hostile territory... you can't win that in the long run with the kinds of 'tactics' they are using, we learned that the hard way, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also Vietnam, many other examples.

Oh and of course there's the problem that if your campaign is in your own territory... you're destroying your own economic basis for a sustained campaign.

[–] sol6_vi@lemmy.makearmy.io 3 points 3 days ago

The fourth classic blunder!

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 3 days ago

The head of DHS is Kristi Noem.

She was the governor of South Dakota.

She's also famous for shooting her puppy.

... South Dakota is a joke of a state compared to Minnesota, and they're neighboring states.

Inferiority complex + racism + psychopathy + fascism, but I repeat myself.

[–] notsosure@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 days ago

He’s taking revenge on Harris’ VP candidate.

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago

Walz is refusing to hand over Minnesota voter lists, among other things.

[–] FundMECFS@quokk.au 36 points 3 days ago

Fuck ICE. Free Minnesota.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 22 points 3 days ago (3 children)

So out of the loop. Is the US starting a civil war in Minis City?

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The Trump administration is sending increasing numbers of ICE agents - many of whom are untrained new recruits while the DHS makes recruitment ads targeting white supremacists - into Minneapolis and having them raid schools, churches, workplaces, and homes without warrants to arrest people based on things like the color of their skin, accents, and perceived political leanings (in addition to snatching people directly off the street or their vehicles). The community in Minneapolis has responded by organizing neighborhood watches that coordinate to track the location of ICE agents and warn people of their approach (often by blowing whistles), while also showing up to film them. Many are sheltering immigrant families in their homes to protect them from ICE. Local officials have been urging Minnesotans to stay peaceful while ICE and DHS have been using increasingly aggressive tactics, and several people have already been shot and killed by ICE agents, which the Trump administration has been lying about despite there being video with multiple angles of the incidents.

People - including state and local officials - have speculated that Trump is attempting to provoke a violent backlash to use as justification for invoking the insurrection act, which would allow Trump to send in the military (of which he has already put troops on standby) and put the state under direct federal control. As a result they are continuing to urge people to remain peaceful even as ICE agents are becoming increasingly violent. There is also a leaked letter that Pam Bondi (US Attorney General) sent to Tim Walz (Governor of Minnesota) offering to consider pulling ICE out of the state in exchange for repealing sanctuary policies as well as turning over the state's voter rolls and social welfare records.

Short answer: The administration is trying to start a civil war, the state is trying not to give them what they want, and the people are becoming increasingly organized. This is the closest we have been to civil war since, well, the lead-up to the first one, but if it were to break out today it would look very different (probably more like a larger scale version of Ireland's 'troubles').

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 0 points 2 days ago (2 children)

What's the point of a civil war? To try and "weed out" the non-believers?

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So Trump can invoke the Insurrection Act and/or martial law, which puts him s step closer to totalitarian control of the country. It would also weaken the country greatly, leading to societal and economic collapse and chaos, potentially even collapse as a world superpower, opening the door for Russia or some other dictatorship that Trump is friendly with to fill the power vacuum.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 2 days ago

More importantly, he thinks Martial Law would allow him to "suspend" elections until peace is restored, and since he controls the peace, that will never happen. We will have constant manufactured street battles so that we can remain under Martial Law.

It's all about avoiding the Midterms, which is likely to be a bloodbath, and the Dems will take at least one chamber, giving them investigative committees, with subpoena and arrest powers. Imagine EVERY Congressional committee going after MAGA corruption and malfeasance in their field?

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 days ago

To consolidate power. As ineffectual as the Democrats are they remain a barrier to Trump and his backers' autocratic ambitions. He wants his coalition to stay in power more or less indefinitely, and to do that he needs to take control of state and local elections. That's why he's targeting blue states like MN and demanding voter rolls. He will make baseless claims of voter fraud and use that as justification to throw out votes, allowing Republicans to win a state that has voted Democrat every election since 1976.

He doesn't necessarily want a civil war, he wants an excuse to bring the boot of the US military down on his political enemies to suppress their vote and he isn't expecting a fair fight, he expects people to roll over and surrender.

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The feds are trying. Minneapolis isn't taking the bait.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

You know why they refuse to leave? Because the government wants the data for all voters so they can use it to manipulate the elections, and Waltz is refusing to give it to them.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 3 days ago

Basically yes.

[–] 20cello@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago

Molotov time

[–] systemglitch@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Honestly, I hope this esculates. Best thing to happen in the last year for Canada's sovereignty. The more white Americans hurt the higher chance you overthrow this criminal regime.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Trump has already said he will invoke the insurrection clause when that happens, which will make him a dictator.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago

If he invokes the Insurrection Clause, let's give him an Insurrection.

[–] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Be careful of what you wish for… what if the good guys get steamrolled and, bolstered by the result, they accelerate their program towards the north? He’s triggered quite easily…

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's extraordinarily insulting to Canada: our neighbor to the north does not rely on the US in any way for its sovereignty. If anything, it's the other way around (looking at you, 1812).

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Can you do it again please?