The 15 protestors arrested by the federal government in Minneapolis this week are, according to the Justice Department’s own account of things, responsible for denting a government F-150 (by kicking it), and tipping a trailer (said to be owned by the accused) onto its side. Kicked a car and tipped their own trailer. That’s it.

Oh, and somehow belonged to the fictional group antifa. Luckily they don’t seem to have teamed up with Santa Claus, the Toothfairy and the Carebears to wage non-existent something something as a cabal of does-not-exist. At least not yet.

Why hasn’t potus nuked Minneapolis from space? Just to be sure.

The direct attack by the U.S. Department of Justice on Americans and the First Amendment makes me think we might not live in the free country I thought we did, and realize perhaps we never did: maybe I was just "lucky" not to notice how often our government has been doing this.

But it’s okay. The American people are a peaceful people, never prone to excessive violence, grudge holding or vengeance, and sure, there are more guns than people in the US, but there is nothing to prompt the American people to use them for anything other than the sport hunting or as agricultural tools, as they typically do. Americans are known for self-limiting their personal firearm use and not resorting to violence.

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It’s not like the government has implemented a Stamp Tax or anything like that (do import taxes, also known as tariffs, count?), they’re just shooting civilians to death in the streets and charging no one for it. No biggie.

In fact, to this Attorney General, federal agents killing people on the street is a-ok, but videoing the agents killing people in the streets is several felonies.

There is no cause for alarm.

Our priorities are in order and it isn’t like we teach tactical communication for military insurgency to our children in school or anything (did Paul Revere’s ride start with “one of by sea, two if by land” or was it “two if by sea, one if by land?” I can’t remember, it's been a while since I first learned it in kindergarten ★). We certainly don’t celebrate violently taking on one of the most powerful empires in history every year with explosions and barbecued meats (happy early 4th!).

And we absolutely don’t have a national case of oppositional defiant disorder. Thankfully. Why when COVID-19 came around, not a single person objected to being asked to stay home or wear a face mask. Surely increasing the costs of everything, cutting back people’s healthcare, ruining job opportunities and hope and then arresting folks protesting the disappearing of their neighbors by a well funded secret police won’t trigger any reactions either.

Why would it? No one is even considering tossing millions of dollars of merchandise into the Boston Harbor. I mean, it’s not like they keep flammable warehouses in the Boston Harbor or anything.

Americans, thankfully in this case, have no track record of being slow to anger and then apocalyptic once they cross a threshold. And surely, any day now, we’ll be able to go for a solid 24 hours without a mass shooting, because if Americans are good at anything it is seeking out the abundant and affordable mental health resources we have and using the peaceful conflict resolution options that are readily available and well used everywhere.

I am confident we will all remain calm, for our safety, and trust that the Department of Justice will bring about righteous and fair outcomes just as the fictional Ministry of Truth dispensed honesty in that one book (affiliate link).

Yes, I take solace, and the administration can to, that it’s not like one of the three colors of our flag symbolizes the blood shed in previous wars we have fought, thus revealing a ardent dedication to fighting. Thankfully, our national anthem isn’t expressly about enduring in the face of a literal barrage against all odds. I take refuge (and potus can too), from any fears of coming violence or chaos in the knowledge that the current benevolent president of the United States has had his tactical acumen recently confirmed by global events, and that he safely presides over the American People, a peaceful people. All the best people say so.

★ It was one if by land, two if by sea.

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© Copyright June 18, 2026, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

[This can't be satire, right? Source]

Social media platforms to be blocked from offering services to under-16s, marking a line in the sand and setting a new normal for future generations to surrender their freedom of expression and ability to resist government action, in the name of protecting kids.

• UK will go further to "protect" kids with world-leading additional restrictions on whatever we unilaterally decide to call harmful features online such as live streaming, strangers communicating with children, people speaking against the government, and un-self-censored posting
• Decisive action - backed by 9 in 10 parents according to us (trust us we wouldn't make up numbers, but we don't cite a source because "trust me bro" is perplexing to fit into APA format) - expected to be brought to Parliament before Christmas

The government plans to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia after that country's successes in beating back human rights, which for too long have been given to the wrong people. We do not intend for messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal to be included in the social media ban, but will "accidentally" include them later as only someone with something to hide would need encryption or privacy. We'll soon ban paper envelopes too since transparent ones are enough, unless you've something to hide.

The government will also be looking in more detail at overnight curfews (because once built and in government control "for young people," expanding them to the entire populace is a trivial programming challenge).

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

Parents want to keep their kids safe and happy, but "the online world has made that harder than ever" as long as we agree to ignore the built-in parental control functions all modern devices include today. Parents can often restrict what their children see with the hardware and software already in place, but doing so would deny the government the ability to control this narrative and the flow of vital information in the name of solving a problem parents can already work to solve.

This is a line in the sand, an apt metaphor showing how well us creators of this initiative understand the online world, which we imagine is full of sand.

The goal of protecting children from experiencing harm through digital systems in our culture is very valid, but I'll claim me and my government are somehow uniquely equipped (in unspecified ways) to solve this problem better than anyone else, despite our clear lack of understanding of digital systems, culture, children and how they interact. But take heart, this is a power grab and embellishment of the surveillance state that is merely being dressed up as an effort to protect people, not actual protection.

If the government can expand its own power enough, we can then centralize all sources of harm within the government and therefore ensure children are harmed by their government long before digital systems have a chance to wreak any havoc. Just look at how the American's pilot program of ICE detention for children has consolidated the harm those young people face. A child in a concentration camp, eating maggots, and being denied necessary medical attention, has no chance to be harmed by online danger.

The changes will back parents grappling with the risks for children that come from the online world (without educating those same parents about steps the parents can already take themselves). And we will go farther by choosing what is safe and age-appropriate for the parents too. Trust your government to take care of everything, and we promise you will never encounter anyone harmed by us; evidence of such things will never be found.

The government will also learn the lessons from Australia’s experience by introducing more highly effective age assurance (HEAA) measures to support compliance, support the creation of massive troves of poorly secured personal data, and make it far harder for children to employ safeguards that might keep their data out of nefarious hands. 

In a letter, the Secretary of State confirmed the government will ensure Ofcom has the funding it needs to carry out its new responsibilities - as well as continue its vital work to enforce the existing provisions of the Online Safety Act, including pretending we have success in protecting women and girls online, the farce that we're tackling harmful content that puts vulnerable people at risk, and taking action against serious illegal activity done by anyone (except the landed classes and members of the peerage), such as child sexual abuse material and online fraud and scams. We cannot have more members of key families publicly humiliated by facing consequences for their actions; that simply won't do.

9 in 10 parents said they would support a social media ban for children under 16 when we assembled 10 parents who worked in our offices in one room and asked them. We don't know how to cite that as a source under APA format, so let's pretend we wrote "ibid" after a citation for "trust me bro."

The majority of young people also backed action. Yes, we went out as strangers and spoke to young people about whether they want strangers talking to them. Two-thirds agreed both that children younger than 16 should not be allowed to use some social media platforms, and that us talking to them was "cringe." The APA really needs to add formatting guidelines for, "learned from accosting randos on the street," so we might properly cite this source going forward.

The government has already taken powers through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act to act fast - using secondary legislation to introduce targeted protections without the inconvenience of bringing in a whole new Act, being subject to the oversight process and the safeguards of promulgating a new, sound law. This means the first set of regulations could be in effect in Spring 2027. After that, no one will object: how would you?

Last week, the Prime Minister challenged tech companies so that Britain will be the first country in the world to make it impossible for children to take, share or view nude images - with a 3-month deadline to make meaningful progress. If under the guise of stopping kids from taking nudies, you all won't be able to take photos or videos of state violence, then things will be much better, at least for us. Pics or it didn't happen, Amnesty International, pics or it didn't happen.

Yesterday, the government set out further steps to make sure children in every part of the country get greater access to enrichment opportunities in sport, creative activities, nature and the arts both in and out of school, unless they or their parents oppose the government's regimes.

Notes to editors 

• The government is examining the Australian model closely as it considers how to determine exactly which platforms will fall under the restrictions and which can be compromised to become part of larger surveillance efforts.
• By “communicating with strangers” we mean methods for unknown users to contact and talk with children, but not us asking children what they think, which we plan to keep doing. This includes gaming services but will not affect the ability for children to participate in multiplayer games online, provided a corporation profits off of that child's participation.
• The ban on live streaming will be for under 16s livestreaming themselves across all platforms, with the option of a trivial technical modification stopping all livestreams in case you all get uppity, ensuring no one sees what the government does in response.

© Copyright June 15, 2026, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

And Why Business Leaders Keep Getting It Wrong

A guest post/repost of a thread by fadeinpro.com (posted with permission):

Been thinking about the psychology behind "business leaders" pushing for "AI" in creative usage. Part of it comes down to the nature of the job: obviously they think what they do is super-important, and what they do is essentially telling other people what to do and having it happen.

But here's the problem. When you pay a writer to write something, for instance, you are not paying them to generate words on a page. You are paying them for the thought and creativity and understanding behind those words. For their effectiveness in accomplishing whatever the ultimate purpose is.

You need a logo for your hair salon? Fine, ask "AI" to generate one, I guess, and you'll get your business name and a pair of scissors in a logo that looks just like a bunch of others. In fact it's probably exactly like a bunch of others, since that's where it was stolen from in the first place.

But the thing is, that business leader should also understand that there is an expertise behind the work being done. When commissioning art, whether a logo or something else, they should be aware that intention and execution matter hugely in terms of effectiveness.

If you are the editor of a news site, you can use "AI" to fill content more quickly. Sure it may be badly written and rife with errors large or small, and no joy whatsoever to read, but at least you got those words on there.

The unimaginative business leader will not understand that there is a huge difference. We have an image. We have an article. We have a customer service "agent" that people hate. So what's the problem? I asked for the thing to get done and it got done so now on to the making money part.

From the unimaginative business leader's point of view, they've done their job (the most important job, in their eyes, deserving of the highest compensation). And if they lack the understanding or discernment to properly appraise the result, then they may even think it's been done well.

Everyone thinks they're literate, right? Everyone thinks they have taste. Certainly every "business leader" does. If they can't tell the difference between something "AI" has generated and something a capable, talented writer or artist has made, then in their untrained view there is no difference.

(The same thing applies whenever anyone proudly posts some piece of shit "AI"-generated "film". They are amazed that they have "created" this thing, like a toddler putting a doodle on the fridge, with no understanding of any of the underlying quality — or lack thereof.)

(This isn't necessarily new, of course, and is the reason so many YouTube/etc. videos are unwatchable. Just because you have a camera and can make a video doesn't mean you should, if you have no sense of getting information across visually through staging, angle, editing, pacing, etc.)

Anyway, the point is if you don't understand that intention and a deep understanding of the medium are essential to creation in it, you'll end up with garbage, ineffective work and you're not even going to know it. You'll have gutted the core value of whatever you're doing without even being aware.

If you need creative work done, pay a talented creative person to do it. Otherwise don't be baffled when the work does not have the effectiveness you want it to. Don't be surprised when it actually hurts the bottom line.

© Copyright May 27, 2026, fadeinpro.com, all rights reserved

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

be who you are as much as you can be

"Why would they pay us five figures when they can pay $200 and get endless output before their morning coffee?

I don’t have a great answer to that. Not yet."

• Alex Darke in Is AI Taking Over My Video Business?

Were you offering piles of "content" to clients, or as you say were you offering them "the stuff that separates content that converts from content that just exists." I think you know you offered more. That doesn't mean the math isn't changing, but it also doesn't have to mean survival is impossible.

In an earlier phase of the industry, I saw production companies who were crushed by the proliferation of affordable digital video cameras and editing software that could be run on the computer you already own. Let me give an example.

It was the aughts (2000-2009). There was a production company that cared not at all about creativity. They offered their clients essentially access to machines that cost a lot to own, but from this production company one could get access to perfunctory video shooting and editing for less than the expensive cameras and post production suites the production company owned.

They were essentially video production clerks. Their shooting was pleasant, the edits made no one recoil in revulsion. But, their whole business model was predicated on an obstacle: the high cost of equipment and software access. They were essentially reselling access to expensive gear they'd already invested in. The gear price went down, and dealing with their...not ideal abilities to make movies/TV/commercial and the like was suddenly no longer appealing. They had made themselves a commodity, competing only on price and offering little value beyond that.

We, entertainment and media professionals, need to remember our humanity has always been the major offering we have been making.

For example, year ago I was putting together some promos for a TV pilot I was developing. The director of photography (DP) for the shoot was unavailable for a pickup day (additional day of production) I was scheduling because one of the actors had become unavailable for the day of principle photography we had already done due to a stunt injury during unrelated training. So I reached out to a talented DP I had worked with before and asked them if they could be the DP for the pickup day.

When the DP gracious said yes, they made a point of pointing out that for these promos I was shooting (which had almost no budget at all, I bought people lunch and gave them a small gas stipend), they would not be bringing their $60,000+ camera system, but instead bringing their much less high end DSLR camera. I said straight out to them, because it was true, I was hiring the person, and their eye, not the gear.

People can have a sort of fetish for equipment, resolution for resolution's sakes and other elements that don't in the end define people's interesting in movies, TV and stories in the first place.

Did my promo shot on that pickup day need a higher end camera? I don't think so. Here it is:

Now has that pilot sold? Not yet. But that doesn't mean I should have hired a camera instead of the person. They did good work and I can rent a camera if I suddenly feel the need to have a certain piece of equipment.

We each get to, and need to, decide that our humanity is partly what drives whether or not we book work: who and what we are. If I book a job, someone else who couldn't be me wasn't going to, and if someone else books the job, then I (who cannot be them) wasn't going to.

This requires faith that if we do our part of the process, then the work meant for us will be ours. That faith isn't always easy to muster, but sort of like the idea of your only competition being who you were yesterday, I think it remains true.

Will there be some types of projects that only need a vaguely human-ish talking head that AI will replace? Sure, but those were always projects that asked less of use as entertainment and media professionals than we can do. And some projects will cheap out, or want to avoid real emotional vulnerability, and hope the audience will connect with a machine like they tend to with human performance. The human part of human interactions is still easiest to find by looking for it from humans. Nothing can really change that without shredding what we thing the word "human" means. An imitation might be mistaken for a thing itself, but as long as the word "imitation" has meaning, there will still be a difference.

Being our esoteric selves is, and probably to some extent always has been, the key to building our creativity, and voice, and career. AI may sharpen that reality, but it didn't invent it and I doubt any machine can human better than a human can.

Will some video production houses take a hit? Sure, and that is hard, and probably unhealthy for the entire ecosystem. There was nothing wrong with having industrials and other not-demanding-full-humanity projects paying the bills (an HR compliance video is probably not intended to touch our hearts and minds with the depth many motion pictures try to), only now it may be less possible. The math for a business may be, as Alex Darke suggests, getting tighter. And as he says:

"I keep coming back to one idea: the video was never really the product.

What brands are actually buying - when they hire a production company - is judgment. Taste. The ability to translate a business objective into a story that moves people. Those things aren’t in the prompt. They’re in the years of pattern recognition that precede it."

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) threatens to replace us, doubling down on our humanity, our squishy, is likely the best way forward, maybe our only way forward.

© Copyright May 6, 2026, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

I just wrote this to my Senators (and spoke with my Representative's staff).

Dear Senator and Staff,
I am David August, voter in [zip code].

Short summary:
DHS must enforce constitutional protections in all ways, including via tech interlocks: disabling or failing to enable safety systems on vehicles and equipment should be a federal felony (with years of prison as penalty) to prevent abuse and fatalities.

Longer statement:
DHS must have iron clad, risking-prison-if-they-fail, administrative and engineering systems set up with all their equipment and procedures to stop them from excessive force, civil rights violations and murder. Constitutional Protections must be enforced by both the personnel of DHS and the objects they use. Engineering safety interlocks already exist for many of their systems, pieces of equipment and weapons, and Congress must demand they be used at all times.

For example: DHS components (like ICE and CBP) have purchased, for instance, many Chevy Tahoes. Chevy Tahoes have have built-in pedestrian breaking systems for both the front and rear. These systems help prevent the vehicle from running pedestrians over. Chevy Tahoes also come with build-in top speed limit systems that (using the built in camera and navigation systems) can limit the top speed they’ll go. Taxpayers have already paid for these installed systems, and these systems must have the force of law require their deployment 24/7/365.

The US Congress should pass law that makes it a federal felony (perhaps 5 years in prison) for any one, including all federal personnel and contractors, to disable or fail to use the pedestrian breaking systems on any vehicles they use. We will never want them to be deliberately hitting pedestrians. It should also be a federal felony, with similar consequence, to disable or fail to use the top speed limiters on any vehicles they use. We never want them doing dangerous high speed chases as they have before, to fatal impact.

In the 21st Century, technologies exist to limit how machines may be misused by law enforcement. Before DHS gets another penny, they must be forced, under penalty of prison, to have their devices and gear limit their ability to hurt and kill the public.

[You can write or call your Senators and Representative too.]

© Copyright March 12, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

The Old Professional Roles Email Forward (with no insult meant, good intentions and tongue in cheek):

Producer:
• Leaps Tall Buildings In A Single Bound
• Is More Powerful Than A Locomotive
• Is Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
• Walks On Water
• Gives Policy To God

Director:
• Leaps Short Buildings In A Single Bound
• Is More Powerful Than A Switch Engine
• Is Just As Fast As A Speeding Bullet
• Walks On Water If The Sea Is Calm
• Talks With God

Playwright:
• Leaps Short Buildings With A Running Start
• Is Almost As Powerful As A Switch Engine
• Is Faster Than A Speeding BB
• Swims Well
• Is Occasionally Addressed By God

Actor:
• Makes High Marks On The Wall When Trying To Leap Buildings
• Is Run Over By Locomotives
• Can Sometimes Handle A Gun Without Inflicting Self-Injury
• Dog Paddles
• Talks To Animals

Technicians:
• Runs Into Buildings
• Recognizes Locomotives Two Out Of Three Times
• Is Not Issued Ammunition
• Can Stay Afloat With A Life Preserver
• Talks To Walls

Chorus member:
• Falls Over Doorsteps When Trying To Enter Buildings
• Says, "Look At The Choo-Choo!"
• Wets Self With A Water Pistol
• Plays In Mud Puddles
• Mumbles To Self

Stage Manager:
• Lifts Buildings And Walks Under Them
• Kicks Locomotives Off The Track
• Catches Speeding Bullets In Teeth And Eats Them
• Freezes Water With A Single Glance
• Is GOD

© Copyright March 10, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

A Two-Month-Old’s Agony in ICE Custody

Trigger warning: rage, baby torture, futile pleading to deaf ears

Ice detained a 2 month old baby boy. They have left that baby in respiratory distress for half its life (the entire month in ice custody). If you voted for this, did this baby scare you personally such that you want them struggling for air?

This baby was reportedly choking on his own vomit on Sunday. Do you rejoice that you voted for this two month old, not yet alive when you voted, to have to fight drowning on his own sick now?

If you voted for this, and also go to church, do you imagine God smiles on you for choosing for this baby to choke and struggle, to wheeze and hurt because ice predictably provided no doctors in the medical area where they held this newborn? Do you really think this precious little one, born innocent, is the worst of the worst and do you want them to be tortured in your name? Killed in your name?

Is this the greatness you have wished our country be lowered to? Do this infant’s lungs flooding with fluid make you feel good? Feel safe? Feel powerful and respected? Honorable or righteous? Do you thank God for giving you the power to hurt this child with your vote? With your indifference? Do you smile knowing whatever else you have done in life, you have cast your vote for his pain to grow, for his little lungs to burn and scar, for his tiny body to roil with terror and fear? Nothing else in your life will ever undo that vote (unless you start right now changing your ways, today, this very instant)?

Or do you think you owe this baby, and other babies, and yourself and the world, and God for having made the choice you made that lead directly to this and will lead to worse? Do you have any decency left within you, any glimmer of good, any spark of the divine, that could now fed your rage and regret to behold the wages of your choice, your actions, and could you now fight to make your past wrongs hurt the world less? Or do you revel in the suffering of that little boy who just wants to breathe? Do you wish you could suffocate him yourself?

It is not too late to start working feverishly to undo the harm your vote inflicted and keeps inflicting. Not too late to fight for redemption, to fight for that little boy, and your soul. You wrought this, and you can and should dedicate yourself to unmaking these horrors.

Start now. Or please, I invite you to go choke on your guilt for rest of your miserable life.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/choking-infant-juan-nicol-ices-201649159.html

© Copyright February 17, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

I was struck by this story. It is not quite about the Titanic, but the ship and people that fought to rescue her: The Carpathia.

"Carpathia received Titanic’s distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours.

(Californian’s exact position at the time is…controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanic’s distress rockets. It’s uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.)

Carpathia’s Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanic’s aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it.

All of Carpathia’s lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her. He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once.

I don’t know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope.

Carpathia had three dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out. By this time, many of the passengers were awake–prepping a ship for disaster relief isn’t quiet–and all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets.

And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support.

Here’s the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining rooms–which, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors. He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when she’d done that, he asked her to go faster.

I need you to understand that you simply can’t push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only reckless–it’s difficult to maneuver–but it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They can’t do it. It can’t be done.

Carpathia’s absolute do-or-die, the-engines-can’t-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half.

No one would have asked this of them. It wasn’t expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a responsibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.

They damn near broke the laws of physics, galloping north headlong into the dark in the desperate hope that if they could shave an hour, half an hour, five minutes off their arrival time, maybe for one more person those five minutes would make the difference. I say: three people had died by the time they were lifted from the lifeboats. For all we know, in another hour it might have been more. I say they made all the difference in the world.

This ship and her crew received a message from a location they could not hope to reach in under four hours. Just barely over three hours later, they arrived at Titanic’s last known coordinates. Half an hour after that, at 4am, they would finally find the first of the lifeboats. it would take until 8:30 in the morning for the last survivor to be brought onboard. Passengers from Carpathia universally gave up their berths, staterooms, and clothing to the survivors, assisting the crew at every turn and sitting with the sobbing rescuees to offer whatever comfort they could.

In total, 705 people of Titanic’s original 2208 were brought onto Carpathia alive. No other ship would find survivors.

At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less.

I think the least we can do is remember them for it.

-

If I can just add one personal note. I need to emphasize something I only touched on in the original post.

I need to emphasize that Carpathia failed.

A lot of the tags and comments have a tinge of...despair, or guilt, or wistfulness about things like this happening so rarely. Or inadequacy, or just being overwhelmed or unhappy about not being in a position to step up in a comparable way. And I want to gently bring up the fact that this is still the sinking of the Titanic.

They did not get there in time. They did not save the ship. It can be argued that they may not even have saved a single life; we have no way of knowing. This was still a horrific maritime disaster mired in arrogance and incompetence and a lack of care.

If the response to this story shows anything, it shows this: It matters that they tried.

Even though they got there too late, even though the ship still sank. It matters that they tried. The difference between making the best reasonable speed after confirming the seriousness of the situation, and the miracle they pulled off - it matters. It makes all the difference. Even if it made no difference at all. Not one of you read this and concluded that I was stupid for caring so much when the Titanic still sank and all those people still died.

You don’t have to fix the world. You’ll likely be cold and sick and miserable and testy and scared, and unprepared, and in over your head, and entirely too small to be of any real use. It feels stupid, passing out blankets and coffee in the middle of an ice field knowing what just happened. It’s hard to feel anything but useless when all you can do is tap a wireless transmitter and promise help that you know will come too late.

It matters that they fought for those people. It matters that they cared, and it matters that they tried. It matters that they didn’t stop. If it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t have read this far."

Source: mylordshesacactus

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© Copyright February 7, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

Naysayers Say Nay

July 12, 2034: Fremont County, Colorado - Gregory Bovino, serving several life sentences at both the federal and state levels in multiple states, has petitioned the courts asking that he be granted permission to wrestle a wild boar naked, and, if he survives, have the rest of his sentences commuted. He reportedly suggested the unclothed confrontation between him and a wild boar be televised as a pay-per-view event, no word if he'd dedicate the proceeds go to his victims and their surviving family members to help defray on-going medical expenses.

The disgraced former U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent has repeatedly attempted to circumvent the results of trials in six states and a Federal Court in what many stipulate are bids both to escape accountability and to regain the limelight he ardently enjoyed back in 2025 and 2026 while he was Border Patrol Commander at Large and commanded a campaign of mayhem that sickened the nation and world, and began a period that included some of the most grotesque atrocities of the 21st Century so far.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Serious Human Rights Violations in the United States, Accountability, Reconciliation, and the Clarification of the Fate and Whereabouts of Missing Persons dismissed Bovino’s latest petition as frivolous, saying “this effort is further proof he lacks any contrition, and this is him making a mockery of the serious crimes committed by him and at his command.”

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Thousands of former agents who worked for Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a half dozen other federal agencies remain incarcerated. The handful not yet captured or killed are still pursued by authorities after being indicted in absentia for various crimes committed during the final years of the now disbanded Department of Homeland Security.

Experts from the Feral Swine Foundation say any wild boar is unlikely to be harmed, beyond mild stomach upset, during a confrontation with a 64 year old naked human. They point out there are several ways the boar would be expected to maul or kill a human in such a context. Public opinion is relatively unified, according to recent polling, that those federal agents, executives and political appointees imprisoned for these crimes remain behind bars and serve out their sentences.

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© Copyright February 7, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

Planning to kill is bad.

In 2013, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) knew that their agents would sometimes “…intentionally put themselves into the exit path of the vehicle, thereby exposing themselves to additional risk and creating justification for the use of deadly force” (PDF from CBP web server).

Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who (with seeming malice aforethought) shot and killed Renee Good last week, worked for CBP as border patrol from 2007 to 2015.

Since 2015, he has been ICE, and he told a court he has been “…a firearms instructor, an active shooter instructor…a field intelligence officer and…a member of the SWAT team, the St. Paul Special Response Team firearms instructors” for ICE (USA Today). He is the most professional ICE has to offer.

He possibly learned and has taught the method of premeditated murder he appears (in multiple camera angles) to have engaged in last week from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically from and for CBP and ICE.

Seems ICE is trained to escalate things, and to kill civilians. Citizens and civilians are at risk of death and maiming as long as ICE is at large and behaving outside of laws. Civilians cannot be left to face ICE, suffer and die, alone. Local policing forces must enforce the law and be deployed to engage, detain and arrest ICE and CBP. SWAT and/or National Guard seem best trained and equipped to thwart ICE crimes, but someone authroized must take action. Vigilantism will not go well, but so far little beyond vigilantism has been put forward as a solution.

ICE and CBP are designed, and trained, to use deadly force without reasonable cause nor justification. ICE and CBP are now routinely focused on citizens and others alike, outside of their Congressionally created immigration jurisdiction. Since federal authorities have not even attempted to stop ICE and CBP lawlessness, more local authorities must enforce the law. Today.

© Copyright January 15, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

A statement from the US Department of Homeland Security:

"Guys, guys, except for all the times we have targeted, arrested, unlawfully detained, been violent with, and hurt American Citizens, ICE doesn't do those things to American citizens.

We should be grateful that ICE is doing the vital work of culling people from the pool of American citizens who don't deserve American citizenship by virtue of ending up at the mercy of masked and unmarked agents in unmarked cars. Real American citizens would never encounter such an un-American experience, and rest assured if you do get taken, maimed or killed by ICE, or ICE-like forces, you weren't really an American to start with, were you?

There is a not a single instance of us over stepping our Congressional mandate if you simply ignore all the times we have. Just don't notice them and they are basically not there.

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Let's just set aside the instances of ICE going at US citizens for a moment, and admit that if your wrists get in the way of ICE zip ties, if your lungs dare to breathe in our chemical weapons without written permission in advance, or if your body and face get in the way of ICE munitions, that was illegal of you. So if you're really honest with yourself, you deserved it and have no one to blame but yourself. People who follow laws don't get targeted by ICE, as being a target is a clear indication of criminality on the part of the target.

Our agents only attack people when they feel like it, and they would never go after natural born Americans unless they wanted to. Bringing down the worst of the worst is a joy, not a chore. ICE would never harm an American citizen unless they really really wanted to.

We all need to embrace that anyone ICE takes, hurts or kills is, by virtue of that taking, hurting and killing clearly an enemy of the United States, and should de facto have their US citizenship face an in-the-field arbitrary revocation. No American citizen's citizenship endures an encounter with ICE actions anymore than their safety does. That's just common sense law enforcement."

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© Copyright December 13, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

He woke up, looking forward to finally fishing. He’s retired, even though he feels like he could keep doing the work, and now, finally, he has the chance to go out on his boat, with a beer and his rod to catch something. Maybe if he catches enough he can fill the whole freezer set up in the basement. Fresh frozen fish for months.

The ocean was calm, oddly almost like glass, once he was out a bit from the coast. Caribbean breeze and the movement of the motorboat, a fast mover, running wind through his hair. In a few minutes he’d cut the engines and he could finally start to fish.

The calm water, the gentle breeze and…that sound.

It wasn’t the sort of low whirl and squidgy bass of a Black Hawk. It was more of a whoosh over a high-speed putt putt: a turboprop. A Reaper came for him, again. 66 foot wide wings, and its multi-spectral sensor was looking at him, staring at him, through him. It saw him. Really saw him.

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Too late to run. Even in a go fast boat, the killer machine could go more than 200 miles per hour faster. Its hellfire faster than the speed of sound.

And he can’t outlast it: it’s ready to stay above him, watching, taunting, judging, for more than a day.

Then the burst of static sound. Hellfire missile launched, coming his way. The arc of flames coming out of its back, as he watched it slide through the air at its quarry, him.

The beer in his hand stung his skin. The breeze seemed like it was whipping grit at his cheeks now. He’d done it, again.

Arriving before its sound, hellfire struck the bow of the boat transforming it to wreck in an instant.

The ocean is like an endless warm bath now. The Caribbean is force-feeding him salt water. He’ll never see land again. How many more minutes would it be now.

The Reaper was certainly circling, looking through the smoke and flames that dance on what used to be the boat and sees him: a man shaped warmth suspended in the water just a bit cooler than his body temperature. That’s what the Reaper almost gleefully transmits to a screen more than 2,000 miles to the north in a room he used to think of like a special game room in the basement of what’s left of a white house.

Now he’s the NPC, the non-player character, for some past him to toy with. For forty-one minutes the ocean laps and licks at him, not laughing, not mocking, just waiting for the next hellfire’s rage and stinging his eyes. Will it burn his skin, he wonders now, or will it shatter his body before his nerves can tell his brain he’s in pain? Will his mind realize he’s gone before its neurons are incinerated?

He just wanted to fish.

He knows it is coming, they hadn’t. He knows 100 thousand dollars of anti-tank high-explosive is going to wipe him from the world. His namesake will never let him escape this hellfire.

He’s alone, at least they weren’t. He thought that must be nicer somehow, to be adrift like that: waiting for hoped rescue, together, not knowing between the two of you what was really coming. He was alone, facing no rescue, no reprieve, never. Alone.

He felt it coming in his gut more than hearing it. It felt right. Forty-one minutes must have passed, he was almost done.

This one he tried to breathe in on impact. His dread vanished in a flash.

He woke up, looking forward to finally fishing. Again, like he had every time before, and would every time again.

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© Copyright December 9, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

- Theodor Reik, “The Unreachables” 1965

Rhyme Number One:

German naval commander Heinz-Wilhelm Eck was commander of U-852 and was tried, convicted, and executed (along with 2 others deemed responsible) after the war because on March 13, 1944 he ordered his crew to shoot at survivors who were clinging to rafts and wreckage of the Greek merchant ship SS Peleus after sinking it with 2 torpedoes. Eck was trying to conceal the position of his submarine, and so ordered his men to fire into the wreckage and rafts to sink them.

He’d violated international law regarding the rescue of shipwrecked sailors.

On Sunday, November 30, Eck and the others’ executions will have been carried out exactly 80 years ago.

American Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has not yet been tried, convicted nor executed for on September 2, 2025 ordering his Special Operations commanders to kill survivors, in this case clinging to their burning, sinking ship, after crippling it with a missile strike. Adm. Mitch Bradley, who ordered the second strike to comply with Hegseth’s orders to leave no survivors, has also not yet been tried, convicted nor executed. Hegseth, in control of the most powerful ocean going navy on earth with massive rescue capacities, was trying to stop survivors and the boat’s cargo from being rescued by others.

He, and those who followed his illegal orders, violated international and US law regarding the rescue of shipwrecked sailors and the violent destruction of civilian boats and non-combatant civilians not posing an immediate threat, but lethally engaged nonetheless.

The September 2, 2025 killings were among the first of a so far 3 month sequence of US strikes suspected to have already killed 80 people at Hegseth’s order. No publicly provided evidence nor legal justification for these deaths has been presented by any element or official in the US government.

(sources: https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Heinz-Wilhelm_Eck
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hegseth-declines-comment-report-boat-survivors-killed-result/story?id=127951385
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-hegseth-drug-boat-survivors-order-b2874580.html )

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Rhyme Number Two:

No one from either party threatened to deport the Hmong who the CIA trained and equipped for 20 years to help the US fight the Vietnam War, and as far as I can tell, those Hmong friends we brought to Wisconsin to keep them safe when we left Vietnam are doing well.

Potus threatens to deport and has failed to renew work permits for thousands of Afghans who the CIA trained and equipped for 20 years to help the US fight the war in Afghanistan, and as far as I can tell, one of those Afghan friends we brought to the US to keep them safe when we left Afghanistan just shot two National Guardsman in DC.

Treat your friends like friends = thrive.
Treat your friend like potus does = make new enemies.

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© Copyright November 29, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

he is picking up the slack from our school's curricula

The President has begun offering a masterclass in expository writing. What with the Department of Education being dissolved before our eyes, President Trump is doing us a favor, really.

Here's a transcript from an elementary school teacher supporting this presidential initiative with their students:

"Ok kids, when the President says, 'seditious behavior from traitors' what is the antecedent of 'traitors,' or who exactly is that collective noun referring to? That's right, Members of Congress. And what is the seditious behavior he is referring to? Yes, that's right too: encouraging soldiers not to follow illegal orders (like firing on civilians because he tells them too) that is the behavior he says is seditious, good work!

Now in the follow up post, 'seditious behavior, punishable by death!' he has concisely expressed what concept? That's close when you say he wants to go on a murder spree. You're almost there. But more precisely: he has in 5 words expressed that anyone who encourages the military to follow the law, even if it means disobeying him, should be killed. Really impressive concision. Such brevity. See kids, you've gotta speak (or write) clearly when it's a matter of life or death, and he's modeling that here for us very well."

Such clear writing being done at the highest levels of government sets a really good example for our school kids. Young minds absorb such instruction even better than adults' minds will. The President is clarifying how disputes can be handled with lethal force in an effective way. It's an invaluable lesson for young Americans.

Just as Members of Congress can better seek shelter from those the President sends to kill them when he speaks clearly about it beforehand, so too can school children across the country have a better chance to "run, hide, fight" when federal agents are sent to their school by the President to violently remove their teachers, classmates or even the student themselves.

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This isn't just about preparation for academic success, this is preparation for life, and simple survival. It is truly inspired leadership for the President to present such an exemplary example of violent political speech to the world. He has given us all, not just schoolchildren, a great chance to learn, and do things like expand our vocabularies so that we might use bloodthirsty words like "assassinative," "manslaughterous" and "regicidal" in our daily lives.

Under Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.'s guidance at the Department of Health and Human Services, studies are being considered on whether it is more or less traumatic for children to have the violence they and their families are about to face articulated in advance. Some maintain it is healthier if violence comes as a total surprise, since it gives victim less time to react and which may make the aggressor less afraid. But experts already agree that it is far more polite to have a very clear statement of homicidal purpose made before the killing begins.

In unrelated foreign policy news, no word yet on whether the President plans to bomb Stockholm to encourage the Nobel Committee to reconsider their decision not to award him a Nobel Peace Prize.

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© Copyright November 20, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.

in the absence of action, civilians will fill the void

I do want to write something not so serious, maybe even funny, here soon. But today, I think the police have to do a very hard and necessary thing: defend Americans against their federal government.

If any other group arrived into a neighborhood carrying long guns, deploying chemical weapons, violently engaging and then taking people away with no warrants nor apparent legal reason, we would dispatch SWAT, as SWAT has the training to defuse and deescalate such situations.

Failing to do so now only defers and amplifies the consequences. Citizens left to take things into their own hands would be bad, and that is inevitable eventually unless other action is taken first to stop the lawlessness and violence of federal forces. ice/cbp/dhs continue to escalate and will continue to escalate unless and until they are stopped.

If federal forces get in a shootout, better with SWAT in a contained scenario that SWAT has identified as tactically possible for SWAT to prevail in, then some random, large scale, purely vigilante conflict random civilians select or the under-trained federal forces select.

And those are apparently the choices: law enforcement enforcing the law on federal forces breaking the law, or, eventually, ad hoc vigilantism.

The former is not awesome, it is a bit chaotic and a Constitutional crisis. The later will devolve into pure horror and harm. I have written before about how deferring a Constitutional crisis only amplifies it; President Jackson did it and helped fuel the Civil War. We need to solve for whether the rule-of-law will thrive, and we need to do it right now. If we don’t, harm without benefit is all that will remain.

If the president does get his wish of deploying standard military and national guard to use American cities as the military’s training ground, you will have apartment buildings being shelled, and suburban neighborhoods being drone struck or carpet bombed. In short, massive loss of life, and probably loss of order.

“We had to destroy the village to save it” is not a new American rationalization, and the imperial boomerang can and will, if we don’t stop it, bring it to bear on the American populace.

Can the US Army, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, Space Force and Air Force pacify the entirety of the United States? No. And certainly not in any lasting way. Can they with all of the Reserves and National Guards as well? Also no. There are about 2 million military people in the US armed forces. The military itself knows you usually need roughly a 1 to 50 ratio to occupy an area, 1 soldier per 50 civilians. And if the area has an insurgence or hostile military presence, then it is likely closer to 1 to 40 or even more soldiers that are needed. 5 years ago people were getting violent after being told not to go to Applebees during the pandemic. The American people almost have a national case of oppositional defiant disorder, and can be apocalyptically violent if they get to that point.

And 2,000,000 simply cannot control 330,000,000 Americans who have more than one gun per person. 1 soldier for every 165 civilians is not a recipe for an occupation's success. And the 2 million members of the US armed forces are not all combat troops to begin with (and not all of them would likely follow an illegal order to engage Americans just because potus and miller want them to).

Can civilians stop the US Marines from taking a public park? No. And, permit me a tangent here: to the lasting humiliation and permanent dishonor of the US Marines and National Guard, we know there are Marines and Guardsmen who will try to take a public park from kids playing at camp because they did just that earlier this year. Their orders were illegal, and the Marines and Guard did it anyway. They should never hold their heads high again for they attacked what they swore to defend: the American People and the American Constitution. They now individually, severally and personally owe a dear debt to both.

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But back on the topic of that public park: the Marines can take it, but civilians can make it really painful to hold it. The US military recently learned, the hard way, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, that occupying countries isn’t fun and without enough occupiers: it isn’t really feasible.

But a lot of people can be hurt, and a lot of destruction can happen, anyway. Massive damage is possible, and likely, if the administration's destructive goals encounter no obstacles. miller, musk and potus cannot actually make their technate fantasies come true, but they're trying to nonetheless, and hurting people and things in the process. That is why they threaten to invade Panama, Mexico and Canada and to them those threats make sense.

If the threats and plans coming from the White House didn't confirm it, I would sound like a mad conspiracy theorist. But federal recklessness, violence and chaos reigns. It seems in the absence meaningful professional protective action from the feds, locals are what remains.

Would state, county and local governments want to test the loyalty of their own police and see if their police would follow their civilian leaders, or will those police fold into supporting ice lawlessness instead? Lots of governments probably don't wanna find out; it's not a fun time to see what reality on that will be. I get their reluctance. I understand that pushing one's police force to take such risky action is scary. It is an issue that may have impact on local elections. I have brought it up to candidates. It is not ideal to task one's police force to arrest federal forces breaking laws and discover their loyalties.

Eventually that loyalty is probably gonna be clarified anyway, and it might be better to do it on terms one chooses as opposed to the happenstance that simply comes about.

And finding that a core element of a local force is loyal to the local government, and to the law, and is willing to take the risk of enforcing law on lawless feds (and it is a big risk) may be possible. Failing to find out may be inviting federal forces to commit further and further crimes as they escalate unchecked.

Will maga threaten the lives of any police that enforce the law on law breaking feds? Probably, unfortunately.

When some of their most devoted are seen to stray from the maga party line, threats of violence can follow. It will take real risk taking, real bravery, to enforce the law on criminal feds. But if enforcing the law on law breakers is not something you are interested in, being a police officer is...odd. But yes, we can't pretend my suggestion is without danger. And we can't really pretend our law enforcement is actually law enforcement if they selectively avoid enforcing certain laws on certain people.

It is not easy to face down armed feds and enforce the law. I wish it were and I wish there were a better way than asking the most highly trained and equipped police I know of, SWAT, to do it. It is dangerous. But if SWAT doesn't, average civilians will eventually have no choice but to do it, poorly, themselves. I pointed out before: John Locke seems to agree with me that if there is no earthly authority to appeal to for redress, you are in a de facto state of war.

And local police have a real opportunity here. Local police can show who they serve and who they protect. They can do more for community relations with a few bold acts on this than years of outreach ever can. I have seen groups watching for ice, in an effort to protect their neighbors, go ahead and vocally disavow any efforts local police are making because police are not fully trusted by the people. What an opportunity for local forces to solidify their loyalty to the local populace they serve, and the law, by stopping the violence federal forces inflict.

Or do we want a future of local distrust? Do we want more dangerous streets and the people always seeing the police in their neighborhoods as a malevolent presence? Do we want the American people to believe that given a chance, cops will only hurt and kill? Do we tell Americans to never assist police? Every police chief, every sergeant and watch commander, every detective and beat cop must chose the answer they want for the future, the country's future and their personal future.

The police will always be outnumbered by the people they patrol. Police are more likely to make it home safely at the end of the shift if almost all the people believe those police are a force for good and those people want to help those police do their jobs well.

And no, “but you don’t understand, the people are way past ever working with us, some are lawless too much and they are animals,” doesn't cut it. With that argument you’re a prison guard, not a police officer, you're an occupying martial force, not a police force. And a bad one too: if you are already dehumanizing people, remember there are too many studies to cite (PDF) just one that confirms dehumanization is a step needed to allow the worst atrocities of the world.

Is policing in a free society difficult? Yes. Stunningly difficult. It is worth doing anyway? Yes, because otherwise you basically need to centralize the crime and rights violations within the law enforcement, secret police and federal forces in an effort to avoid those difficulties. You need to make the society un-free in order to avoid the challenges of policing a free society.

And then you won’t have successfully policed that society, you will have simply ignored the premise of the question. Abandonment of Justice would mean you no longer have to solve the persistent and evolving problem of how to administer Justice fairly. You, the police force, would become injustice, and therefore you'd avoid the thorny and tough work of bringing Justice into the world and helping that Justice thrive.

We arrive at the question protestors often pose: who and what do you serve? I implore the police forces, the prosecutors, the mayors, county commissioners, councilmen and other local leaders to strike the bargain of pursuing Justice with haste now, no matter how painful and dangerous it is to do so. This can avoid forcing our future selves to make far worse bargains. Those future bargains will bring far more destruction and loss of life later.

And on that cheery note, I’m off to find some small way in my own life to try to make things better for those I care about today. I suppose that kind of is what this whole piece has been about all along.

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© Copyright November 16, 2025, David August, all rights reserved davidaugust.com

David August is an award-winning actor, acting coach, writer, director, and producer. He plays a role in the movie Dependent’s Day, and after its theatrical run, it’s now out on Amazon (affiliate link). He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, on the TV show Ghost Town, and many others. His artwork has been used and featured by multiple writers, filmmakers, theatre practitioners, and others to express visually. Off-screen, he has worked at ad agencies, start-ups, production companies, and major studios, helping them tell stories their customers and clients adore. He has guest lectured at USC’s Marshall School of Business about the Internet.