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Posted by wmeredith 1/25/2026

White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue"(arstechnica.com)
342 points | 114 commentspage 2
Herring 1/25/2026|
Reminder that the most reliable way to prevent the rise of the far right is to implement robust safety nets and low inequality, to reduce status anxiety and grievance.

Europe found that out the hard way, and America is in the early stages of realizing it.

morgengold 1/25/2026|
If we (Europe) are not careful, we will have to find out this pretty soon again.
Herring 1/25/2026||
It's so tricky. You can do most things right like Denmark/Netherlands, then you mess up just one (housing) and the far-right surges. Now you can't import immigrants to deal with your aging population, which means you're on a timer.

Or your neighbor goes far-right (US, maybe eventually Germany/France) and suddenly they start objecting to your internal policies (eg regulating big tech).

Or Russia+Covid combo suddenly inflating all kinds of prices, and again the far right surges.

I think it's going to be a dramatic few decades.

morgengold 1/26/2026||
Yes, extremely tricky. Imo the current ruling class just needs to mess up just on thing, because there is a deep underlaying discontent with the subjectively felt way of living in our modern societies. So housing / migrants are just the spark.
1attice 1/26/2026||
How is this flagged? Deepfakes aren't a tech story now?

HN reveals itself again as the manicured lawn of the fascist tranche of our industry

whateveracct 1/25/2026||
> [flagged]

Now surely, this won't stay removed from the front page. This is highly relevant to tech current events and therefore HN.

phplovesong 1/25/2026||
The US has become such a disgusting place. A failed democracy.
loudmax 1/25/2026||
As a US citizen, I'm proud of Minnesotans for standing up for American values.
mothballed 1/25/2026||
It's nice that they're doing it. And they are certainly the bravest we have to offer; much braver than you or I.

That said, the bravest we have are asking that they please not be murdered. And then peacefully kneeling down to be executed, even when they are armed.

Obviously this only emboldens the murderers. The options moving forward look bleak.

filoeleven 1/25/2026|||
The instant there is armed pushback, Trump will declare martial law. It's entirely plausible that had there not been so many people with cameras around, this would have been used as the excuse.

The best thing to do is to be out there recording everything. You are right that they are emboldened, so you're putting yourself in danger by filming. When people continue to do that despite the danger, and despite the internal or external pressure to escalate, it shows more people what's really happening.

I've witnessed people change their position on ICE's actions based on the video evidence of the last killing. Videos 1 and 2 weren't convincing to them, but the 3rd angle was. That's important, because they now know that the administration is lying in the face of directly contradicting evidence.

tremon 1/25/2026||
will declare martial law

I don't understand how that will be meaningfully different from what is happening already?

mike50 1/26/2026|||
Use the actual military with more personnel tanks and air support.
filoeleven 1/25/2026|||
Suspension of 2026 midterm elections
spencerflem 1/25/2026||||
I’m not convinced we’d be in a better place if the ICE officer had been shot in self defense. It’s a really powerful story and cements to ‘normal people’ who are just barely following the news what ICE is like.

FWIW I do think things might be different later but there’s still a lot of room for escalation left

hackable_sand 1/26/2026|||
What a bitchy comment

Do yourself a favor and sit this one out while the rest of us fix it.

PearlRiver 1/26/2026||
It cannot be fixed. Red states would have to flip to blue states. I recall general Lee to consider the civil war a stupid mistake but still off he went because he was from Virginia.
madeofpalk 1/25/2026|||
I find it very difficult to come to a different conclusion. What is tolerated in the United States is deplorable.
whateveracct 1/25/2026|||
Failing - I didn't hear no bell.

We have a fascist President, yes. We will see if this means we have a fascist government within the next decade.

ku-man 1/25/2026||
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danorama 1/25/2026||
Not to be too reductive, but while there are some amazing technical achievements there, generative AI seems to be really good for individuals (particularly wealthy ones) and bad for society as a whole. I can create lots of neat new things for my own purposes while social trust dissolves in a sea of slop.

Collective action problems are just the worst.

Swoerd 1/25/2026||
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codyb 1/25/2026||
[flagged]
codyb 1/25/2026|
Non-violent protest only! Encouraged by me based on successes at Selma, in India, and in response to the killing of George Floyd.

It's a long, inexorable march, but violence only perpetuates more violence and reduces sympathy for the protest movement.

filoeleven 1/25/2026||
Not sure why this is being downvoted. It's from the same poster who just gave all the info.

It mirrors what is working in Minneapolis. It shows public outrage at what is happening. The absence of violence in the crowd makes it even clearer that ICE are the ones provoking incidents. It helps city and state officials make their case that their people need protection from ICE, not the other way around.

codyb 1/25/2026|||
There's a lot of folk out here downvoting my protest and boycott encouragement. I just assume they're do nothing goobers or worse.

The sad fact is, even most of the people who're sympathetic to democracy and human rights will do just about zero to protect or fight for them.

I don't really know what else to do though, so I keep trying!

paperwallet 1/26/2026||
Working with your local government and particpating in it will create greater change because you have the ability to influence laws at a local level.

From there, it opens doors to working with towns and eventually the state.

States have the power to override Federal laws in greater numbers.

This is by design. If you dont understand how your country works, the systems that run it, then you will fail.

Awareness helps, but it rarely changes things. Participating in the democratic process creates the potential for change before it's too late.

codyb 1/26/2026||
Sure. I participate quite frequently through calls, donations, and voting.

But I'm not sure if you've looked at the news lately... we're pretty far into "too late".

Non-violent protest movements have a great record of creating real, and sustained change. Whether that's in India, or the civil rights and gay rights and suffrage and abolition movements here, peaceful protest is a powerful way to send a message to the people in your governments what you and the rest of the people there support and expect of them.

It's a great way to meet folk, to get good energy, to get a message out, to get a little exercise and fresh air, and to support your causes in an effective and, relatively light time commitment manner.

relaxing 1/25/2026|||
It’s both condescending and unhelpful, since the people doing the violence aren’t on here reading hn.
codyb 1/25/2026||
You found my message condescending? Lol. You must be really easily offended
cocodill 1/25/2026||
[flagged]
danorama 1/25/2026|
[flagged]
miltonlost 1/25/2026|
Glad you love fascism and don't think its use of Gen AI is worth discussing
danorama 1/25/2026|||
Apologies. I forget the /s is mandatory in 2026, since the world is so weird that it's really not obvious any more.
miltonlost 1/25/2026||
Ah, I had replied before your parenthetical addition. That portion made the /s clear.
whateveracct 1/25/2026|||
(it was sarcasm i'm p sure)
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