October 14 Update: BIG TERROR #2; Trans Terror Panic at the Heritage Foundation; Young Republicans Go Full Fash; Gaza Protest Crackdowns are a Canary in the Coalmine; Renewable Power's Inexorable Rise; Baader-Meinhoff Redux.

A family kidnapped from Millennium Park in downtown Chicago by the Border Patrol in late September, during Stephen Miller's long-desired pogrom (photo: Lindsay Rich)

Fall's in the air, and so is the tear gas.

Despite federal judges finding ICE is making illegal warrantless arrests and systematically assaulting journalists during the latest 'enforcement' surge/Epstein distraction mechanism, there's been no let up in 'Operation Midway Blitz,' with wild scenes reported over the weekend. ICE agents arrested and held Chicagoans at gunpoint for following their vehicles and videotaping their actions, while the feds maintain an endless babble of Newspeak about 'crime' and 'domestic terrorism.'

The use of flashbangs, pepperballs, mace, and firearms directly echoes the spring immigration offensive in Los Angeles. It's not a mistake, it's by design: ICE and the Border Patrol are running around with their own film crews in tow to assemble their own cringe-worthy propaganda clips that are sad, Fascistic re-enactments of American night raids in Iraq two decades ago. One thousand people have been detained in Chicago since the beginning of September through today. 70 percent of all ICE detainees, by the way, have no criminal record right now.

While the scenes playing out on screens small and large throughout the United States are indeed chilling, it's also impossible not to notice the sheer level of resistance to the feds. Trump's approval ratings are abysmal, even on immigration and as the economy continues to stall out, it will only get worse. If it's not clear already, this administration has no bigger plan beyond shredding the rule of law, gutting the administrative state and enriching its cronies through no-bid government contracts, cryptocurrency scams, and naked stock market manipulation. But it sure does seem like a domestic 'forever war' is the ostensible target, though it's a lot harder to do that in a continent-sized nation armed to the teeth than Iraq or Afghanistan. And look how those went for the military.

The second episode of BIG TERROR, focused on the 'Green Scare' of the 2000s, is out as of last week. It's quite poignant given the authoritarian crackdown the Trump Administration is planning/implementing in select Democrat-run cities this Fall. The tools they're employing did not come out of nowhere: they are the product of more than two decades of bipartisan consensus on how to 'fight' that good ol' 'Global War on Terror' - except now we've substituted 'domestic' for 'global.' Jake and I went long on the initial September 11th phase in our pilot episode. We'll have one a month for the next year or so, or until one/both of us get picked up by the goon squad.

Written output will resume shortly. This summer was consumed by research and writing (!) for Imperial Feedback, as well as a recent reporting trip over to Europe. More on that later but it does relate directly to some of the material covered in BIG TERROR this month. I've got a piece coming up on Mamdani and the NYPD that should strike some chords with longtime Bleeding Edge readers, as well as a few more pieces about domestic terrorism. I'll be sending those around when they run.

Let's get to it.

BLEEDING EDGE JOURNALISM

-On the heels of Christian Nationalist and inveterate bigot Charlie Kirk getting blown away last month by a young gunman allegedly furious with the MAGA youth whisperer's virulently anti-transgender rhetoric, the Justice Department and FBI went for broke pushing a narrative about rampant violence by gender-fluid extremists. Turns out that came from none other but the Heritage Foundation's brain trust - yes, the same Fascist thinktank that brought you Project 2025. Kudos to my WIRED colleagues for landing this excellent investigative story that most outlets wouldn't dare to touch.

-No one could've guess it, but the Young Republicans are...just as racist, homophobic, and Fascist as the current crop in power. Politico got hold of seven months worth of supposedly confidential Telegram chats among Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont. The results are what you'd expect: Hitler worship, gas chamber jokes, virulent anti-Blackness and all the signs of deeply maladjusted, power-hungry young men and women who've sacrificed their souls for proximity to power.

-All that's old is new again, with Europe's 2000s 'counterterrorism' laws and the anti-direct action legislation American states passed following the 2016 Dakota Access pipeline blockades rearing their heads again. This time, however, demonstrations against Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza (that ceasefire is already looking pretty thin) are the target, with pro-Palestinian activists coming under remarkable legal pressure in Great Britain, France, and Germany, according to a new report from the International Federation for Human Rights. The American story is all too familiar, with Palestine solidarity activists having their visas revoked and being held in immigration detention for months before being deported.

-An excellent FT visual feature tracking California's ongoing transformation of its electrical grid to full renewable power is a worthwhile anecdote to the pervasive pessimism in the contemporary news media as a spate of executive orders seek to roll back everything remotely progressive from the voting rights act to Biden's landmark green energy legislation. There's no changing the cold, hard calculus on energy, however.

-All the hand-wringing over protests, broken windows and the minor civil disturbances the United States has witnessed over the past decade look like child's play compared to the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. Longtime Guardian reporter has a book coming out in January about hard left militant groups in the late 20th Century, and Germany's Red Army Fraktione are front and center. Better known in their first generation as the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the RAF waged war against the West German state, major corporations and supported other Maoist revolutionary groups around the world. The group is remarkable for its longevity, staying active almost to the turn of the millenium. This except from Burke's book is fascinating and a tantalizing hint of what his forthcoming book has to offer.

-The last month made clear that Charlie Kirk's killing, which appears to have been carried out by a lone gunman with no ties to any above or below-ground group, was the long-awaited Reichstag Fire to trigger Stephen Miller's war on the left. Rolling Stone unwound the Santa Monica Himmler's frantic work last month to create new legal and policy authorities to target liberal and progressive organizations for civil, criminal and fiscal penalties that are blatantly, illegal, but the entire modus operandi of this administration is to kick and scream until the Supreme Court gets the case and gives them what they want. It's a critical read to understand the ambition and scope of Administration - they want to control every aspect of public life in the Untied States.

-Lastly, please never use in-flight internet without a Virtual Private Network, or if you're a T-Mobile subscriber, run all sensitive or private calls and messages through Signal. For a VPN, I recommend ProtonVPN.

FILM - I've been a reporter for almost two decades and for all but maybe two of those years, American journalism has been in freefall. A combination of 1990s corporate mergers and their attendant debt loads, complacency, a failures to establish digital paywall structure and the devil's bargain struck by newsrooms with social media companies to chase those ephemeral digital advertising dollars have left the only profession mentioned in the Bill of Rights on life support. Stripped for Parts, a new documentary, explores the role of a 'vulture fund', Alden Global Capital, in tearing down what's left of the news industry. Operating on the 'distressed assets' principle of management, Alden acquired dozens of still-profitable newspapers around the country in the 2010s and proceeded to sell off their real estate holdings and gut employee benefits and pensions all for the purposes of quarterly profits. A must-watch.

BOOK - This website takes its name from a Pynchon novel, so it should be no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm one hundred and ten percent in the bag for Terrible Tommy's latest book, Shadow Ticket.

Set in Prohibition-era Milwaukee and highly reminiscent of the tone, scope and era that made his 2006 brick Against the Day one of my favorite novels of all time, the latest book from the current apple of Hollywood's eye does not disappoint. Fascism, the occult, labor unions, crooked cops - Pynchon delivers yet again. Some may want to wait for paperback, but this may well be his last book. Sometimes a first edition is worth it.

MUSIC - Since the criminal justice system is all but entirely out of the frame of New York City mayoral race (I'll have more on that next week), here's a bit of a sonic reminder. Maestro pianist Elmo Hope's 1963 classic, 'Sounds from Rikers Island,' named after NYC's island mega-jail that is ostensibly slated for closure in 2027. Fat chance. Regardless, this album is a barn burner.