they didn't use maligned, monitored areas for communication.... people today should coordinate face-to-face or at worst via telephone if they haven't already exposed themselves.

1. I think so.

2. That's unclear but my take is that this is an expression of the distress felt by the employees, and perhaps the only possible outlet for their feelings. I suspect that it's more likely the action of one or two people rather that some kind of collectively approved signal.

3. I just don't know. I'm not even American but I feel very discombobulated.

Holy hell, the shit the pants statement is so on point.

The new "phone, wallet, keys"

3. It is bad. Like, really really bad.

This has happened in México too, the most famously recorded one was during Enrique Peña Nieto's term (sorry for linking to YT). They said the flag thing was an accident, but it was during the Flag Day and everyone was angry with the way the government was handling things. The government-influenced media was angry with the military because "they made a mistake", but we all knew why it happened.

https://youtu.be/cwW9X_GBtco

No vote. No opinion.

He got the majority of votes. He got the majority of the electoral.

The majority of participating voters wanted this.

Just because you guys cannot fathom how anyone would want this doesn't mean this is the same panic inducing situation for them. The majority of politically active people in the United States of America wanted this to happen as evidence of the election we just held.

He got the support of all the people who voted for him and all the people who didn't vote against him.

No. He got a plurality of the votes. Not a majority.

The majority of participating voters voted against him.

How many times do you need that repeated to understand?

Lucky the USA allows everyone to vote no matter what; doesn’t schedule it for a standard workday, meaning nobody has to choose between feeding their kids and voting; plans out enough polling stations so that people don’t have to wait for hours without access to food, water, or seating; doesn’t surprise deregister voters with little notice; and sends out absentee ballots reliably with sufficient time to return them…

I'm not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it.

History offers no control groups; there is no right way to proceed. What's certain is that "nothing" is not the answer.

I guess one more time?

Performative resistance from inside the machine. Cute gesture, but distress signals only work when someone's actually coming to help. Meanwhile, career diplomats keep writing memos and processing visas while posting their quiet protests on social.

Remember when we thought these symbols meant something would change? Now it's just content for the outrage cycle. Tomorrow there'll be a strongly worded letter, maybe some resigned LinkedIn posts from mid-level FSOs.

The machinery keeps grinding, upside down flag or not. Though I suppose watching institutional despair go viral is peak 2025.

Outdated data. The votes were not done being counted on November 10th. Trump got 49.8% to Harris' 48.3%

They still had third places where they could organize face-to-face. Think union halls, fraternal organizations (which us Millennials only know about from old cartoons), churches, etc.

See also this Adam Conover video, which isn't specifically about organizing to protest but nevertheless is pretty insightful about it.

balls so big they make black holes

The State is in distress. Who will answer the call? Who will come it's aid? We have all been summoned.