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And another culture (and shooting) war event happening right now, event of more importance than the pathetic one in Montreal.
After a year (lightning speed for justice) events that happened during protest at ICE detention center in July 4, 2025 were resolved.
In rather unexpected way, by maximum possible prison sentences.
Ineffectiveness of your resistance is no longer an mitigating circumstance, and using Signal is highly aggravating one.
The judge openly said that the sentences are meant to "send a message".
As expected, Xitter celebrates while Bluesky mourns. We will see if this is one time occurance, or Trump's promise to crack down on Antifa was meant seriously.
Regardless of my views on the underlying merits of what ICE are doing, good.
There is a widespread view, historically on the left and increasingly on the anti-establishment right as well, that participating in a political protest should be a mitigating factor for ordinary violent and property crimes committed by protestors, when it is actually an aggravating factor. (The situation is different if the only crimes committed by the protesters are public order crimes). Political violence (including deliberate property destruction) is more dangerous than random criminal violence, and ideally the punishments should be harsh enough to push the frequency down to zero.
Political Violence is a semi-protected Constitutionally protected 2nd Amendment Right in the US which obviously disagrees with a lot of things related to having a functional society.
But I do think a bunch of rebels writing these words “ A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state” has a meaning that is broader than everyone has guns so the British can’t come back. It’s also an idea that political violence is one of the checks and balances in the US system that checks the power in Washington DC.
How this applies to modern level technology I have no idea. But I do think actual political violence is within the Spirit of the constructs of the US Constitution.
The Counter I think is the Civil War meant something in a common law sense and has the power of an actual written Amendment that ended the day of America being a bunch of rebels. I have no idea what this means in a practical sense and most likely nothing but the US would seem to be the only government ever formed that built in rebellion as a right. In which case armed rebellion as a form of protest is culturally within the American culture.
The people who wrote the Constitution had crushed Shay's Rebellion already and knew how to deal with the Whiskey Rebellion (and the violent crushing of these rebellions was broadly popular). As of 1789, the primary reason why the well-regulated militia was necessary to the security of a free state was because it could be used to do the crushing - avoiding the need for a (politically dangerous) standing army.
The structure set up by the militia clauses in the Constitution was designed to maximise the centrally controlled military power of the Federal Government within the limits of "no standing army" and the practical impossibility of drilling and training a geographically dispersed militia from Washington DC.
Not only that, but Shay's Rebellion was an immediate proximate cause of the transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution.
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