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You feel it, don’t you?
That exhaustion. That sense that you can’t possibly keep up. That nagging feeling that important things are happening just outside your field of vision while you’re being pulled in twelve different directions at once, while simultaneously going numb from an incessant barrage of increasingly heinous authoritarian acts and incomprehensibly stupid statements. You’re not imagining it. You’re not crazy. And you’re definitely not alone.
You are missing things. And that’s by design. But if we’re going to push through the dark times and win, we have to stay focused and keep our eyes on the ball. Time to log on.
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The Strategy Has a Name
Steve Bannon said the quiet part out loud years ago: “flood the zone with shit.” The idea is simple and devastatingly effective: create so much chaos, so many simultaneous controversies, so much noise that the public becomes overwhelmed, disengaged, and unable to focus on any single issue long enough to organize a meaningful response. And right now, we have to be honest, the flood the zone strategy is working exactly as intended.
BUT it only works if we stop paying attention.
What’s Actually Happening Right Now (That You Might Have Missed)
While we’re all scrambling to keep up with the 24-hour news cycle’s favorite main character of the day, here’s what’s actually going down:
ICE Raids Across the Country
After occupying Washington D.C., immigration enforcement operations have ramped up dramatically across Chicago, Portland, and Boston, with reports of workplace and school raids and community sweeps affecting hundreds of families. These are coordinated operations happening while most people are distracted by whatever manufactured outrage is trending on Twitter. We need to tune back in.
In Portland, Oregon, there have been ongoing protests outside an ICE detention facility, which Trump described as making the city “war-ravaged” and “under siege.” Last week, Trump ordered 200 Oregon National Guard troops deployed to Portland (the first time Oregon’s Guard has been deployed within the state over the governor’s objections). But, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut (a Trump appointee) blocked the deployment, writing, “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.” Last month, the City Council also moved to codify sanctuary status into binding law; prohibiting city resources from being used for immigration enforcement and requiring public reports on ICE activities which is a serious policy shift with national implications that you probably didn’t see trending anywhere.
In Chicago, DHS launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, with ICE detaining at least five people over one weekend. But Chicago isn’t having it. On October 6, reports emerged that Chicago Police dispatchers refused calls for help from ICE agents under attack by protesters, with a dispatcher allegedly saying “We’re not sending anybody out to that location.” Mayor Brandon Johnson also testified before Congress defending [ [link removed] ] the city’s sanctuary policies, refusing to cooperate with federal immigration transfer requests. Typically a story of local police refusing to help federal agents under attack and the likes would make national news. Typically stories like the one below of everyday citizens running off ICE agents would be plastered across CNN. But there is just too much going on for even mass media to keep up.
The Government Shutdown (Currently Happening—Yes, Right Now)
The federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT on October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year. The shutdown resulted in the furlough of roughly 750,000 federal employees so far.
As of October 7, the Senate has rejected competing funding bills five times and Democrats are demanding extensions of Affordable Care Act tax credits (which Republicans flatly refuse). The Senate likely won’t reconcile this in the coming days or vote over the weekend, pushing the shutdown into at least next week. While Republicans control the White House, Congress, and the Senate, they are still trying to blame the shut down on democrats for holding out on the ACA tax credits when really its republicans who should be acquiescing to not attempting to remove health insurance coverage from millions of their own constituency.
Gaza Flotilla Intercepted
Between October 1-3, 2025, Israeli naval forces intercepted all 44 vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, detaining approximately 500 activists from more than 40 countries. One break away boat slipped [ [link removed] ] under the radar for more than 24 hrs following the mass intercept before also being captured. Among those detained were climate activist Greta Thunberg, former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, and European Parliament member Rima Hassan. So far, the Israeli navy has intercepted [ [link removed] ] all Gaza-bound flotilla boats and arrests all activists on board. The interceptions sparked global protests in Barcelona (15,000 demonstrators), Rome (10,000), and cities across Europe, South America, and Australia. Colombian President Gustavo Petro even expelled Israeli diplomats and canceled Colombia’s free trade agreement with Israel in response. A diplomatic crisis. Global protests. And it was displaced from mainstream news within 48 hours like it never happened.
Mike Johnson Blocks Grijalva Swearing-In to Bury the Epstein Files
The audacity here is beyond. Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who won a special election on September 23 to replace her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva.
His sole reason for this is that Grijalva has pledged to sign a discharge petition to force a vote releasing Jeffrey Epstein files; she would be the 218th and final signature needed.
Sign the petition demanding Mike Johnson swear in Rep. Grijalva ASAP! [ [link removed] ]
Johnson denies it’s about the Epstein files, claiming it’s “standard practice” even as 180 House Democrats demand her immediate swearing-in. Even though Johnson himself swore in two Florida Republicans during a pro forma session in April, the day after their elections.
Arizona voters elected her. She won. But Johnson won’t seat her because she’d force a vote on files the American people deserve to see. And yet this blatant subversion of democracy to protect powerful people has barely made headlines.
What’s Getting All the Oxygen
Meanwhile, here’s what IS getting wall-to-wall coverage:
Every psycho thing that comes out of Trump’s mouth
Manufactured culture war controversies designed to generate engagement
Did we mention [ [link removed] ]Trump [ [link removed] ]says [ [link removed] ]a lot [ [link removed] ]of INSANE [ [link removed] ]stuff?
Endless speculation about 2026 and 2028 elections instead of current governance
Notice a pattern? The stories that require you to actually do something get buried. The stories that just make you angry and keep you scrolling get amplified.
This Is Information Warfare, and We’re Losing
The flood-the-zone strategy doesn’t require a conspiracy. It doesn’t need a smoke-filled room of puppet masters pulling strings. It’s an emergent property of:
Social media algorithms that prioritize engagement over importance
Traditional media desperate for clicks and treating politics like sports
Bad-faith actors who’ve learned exactly how to game both systems
Our own cognitive limitations (We literally cannot process this volume of information)
When you’re exhausted, you disengage. When you disengage, there’s no accountability. When there’s no accountability, they can do whatever they want.
So What Do We Do?
First: Recognize the game being played. You’re not losing your mind. You’re being deliberately overwhelmed. Name it. See it. Refuse to let the gaslighting work.
Second: Get angry. Not the kind of anger that burns out in a social media rant. The kind that sustains action. The kind that shows up and commits to elevating the stories that are important to YOU.
Third: Pick your battles strategically. You cannot track everything, and they’re counting on that. Choose 2-3 issues that matter most to you and go DEEP. Become the person your community can count on to know what’s actually happening on those fronts.
Fourth: Support independent journalism. The outlets doing the unglamorous work of tracking ICE raids, government spending, local policy fights, and holding power accountable need your subscription dollars desperately. Show, with your wallet, the journalism you want to see.
Fifth: Amplify what matters. When you see important stories getting buried, SHARE THEM. Use your platform, whatever its size, to redirect attention to substance over sensationalism. Break the algorithm. Refuse to play their game.
Sixth: Build community and distribute the labor. Connect with others tracking the issues you care about. No one person can monitor everything, but a network absolutely can. Share the work. Share the outrage. Share the resources.
Seventh: Show the fuck up. Protests. Town halls. City council meetings. School board sessions. The boring, unglamorous places where decisions actually get made. Democracy isn’t a spectator sport! It requires your (and all of our) presence.
The Flood Only Works If We Drown
Yes, the zone is flooded. Yes, they’re relying on our exhaustion. Yes, they’re banking on our short attention spans. Yes, the hypocrisy is maddening. Yes, important things are being buried while garbage floats to the top.
But we’re not powerless. Every time you choose to focus on substance over sensationalism, you’re resisting. Every time you stay engaged when they want you exhausted, you’re winning. The flood-the-zone strategy only works if we let ourselves drown.
So let’s not.
They want you tired. Be relentless. They want you distracted. Be focused. They want you silent. Be loud as hell. They want you to give up. Show up instead.
The system is rigged to exhaust you, but exhaustion is a choice they’re counting on you to make.
Choose rage. Choose focus. Choose action.
What stories are you seeing get buried right now? What are you choosing to focus on? Drop them in the comments and let’s build our own counter-narrative together to hold these hypocrites accountable.
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