ID4 in Real Time
@1996id4.bsky.social
Skeeting the sights, sounds, & news from 1996's historic alien attack & subsequent global (read: American) military response in real time. #IndependenceDay #ID4
We had a Pittsburgh radio host reporting an alien invasion from our annual tweeting of this silly movie in 2025. Just a little gimmick twitter account with 15,000 followers or whatever.
Ed Zitron@edzitron.com · 4w agoI am serious that today’s journalism ecosystem would be fooled if they played war of the worlds on the radio. It would be on CNN within hours
It’s been a fun eight years! Thanks to the new followers here this year, the OG’s, and those of you who reluctantly jumped over from the zombie bird gimmick to keep up the tradition. I hope we’re all together in 2027 for the 9th run at this. Happy #IndependenceDay! #ID4
Thanks to EVERYONE following and playing along. This doesn’t happen without reskeets, comments, and word of mouth. The comments and reactions from you are what make this worth it. Otherwise, it’s just scheduled posts.
And as the good Reverend would say, “Why we’re on this particular mission, we’ll never know. But I do know, here today, that the Black Knights will emerge victorious once again.”
As always, pour a few out for the incomparable Robert Loggia and the always underrated James Rebhorn. Masters of their craft, made everything they touched better. Legends. Those guys weren’t bad. They weren’t too bad at all.
Big ups to Dean Devlin at @ElectriceEntertainment.com and, of course, Roland Emmerich for the very fertile source material. None of this happens without them. The writing, the characters, the whole thing is PERFECT for this medium.
Executive producer credit to @WendyPrater.bsky.social, who not only encouraged this concept from the jump back in 2019, but has been putting up with my shit in some form or fashion for TWENTY YEARS as of last week. She’s clearly the brains and the beauty behind this operation.
The guy behind the shenanigans here is @mdwdfw.bsky.social. As a Carolina boy, I take GREAT offense to Hiller’s improper use of the word “barbecue.” It’s a cookout, dammit. Also, as a Carolina boy, have you heard the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup?? #SoundTheSiren #GoHeels #GoAmerica
[play dramatic score] [audience cheers] [fireworks] [ballyhoo] [open sodas] [streamers and kazoos] [toss beers] [crack beers] [drink beers] [pop champagne] [all that stuff] *ROLL CREDITS*
Today, we heed the words of President Thomas Whitmore, and we celebrate.
This is a testament to American ingenuity & the U.S. military, who at only 15% capacity, took out the greatest threat civilization has ever seen in approximately 36 hrs. This is Yorktown, D-Day, Iwo Jima, and Macho Grande all wrapped into one.
Millions of people were murdered by this invading ARMADA and countless more were injured and incapacitated. The events of the past two days constitute the greatest mass death event since the Black Plague, which lasted 7-8 years - not 48 hours.
Second is that this account was able to provide thrilling updates and analysis for an EIGHTH straight yr. No simulcast this year - it was a BlueSky exclusive. And considering vacation kinda got on the way til 4 days ago, we had to hustle to get everything up to speed, in place, and on track.
Humanity has been saved! The events of the past 48 hours will be taught, discussed, researched, and celebrated for thousands of years. It is the single greatest achievement in the history of mankind and I'm not sure what's third, because...
We are getting numerous reports across North America of a massive meteor shower all over the sky. The mothership in orbit was obliterated and these are the pieces of the ship colorfully burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. Talk about #IndependenceDay fireworks!
Call em heroes, call em saviors, call em patriots. Whatever you call em, call em badasses. Because these are two Badasses. Capital B, son.
UNBELIEVABLE: The rescue party has found Captain Hiller and David Levinson in the desert, unharmed, having landed their spacecraft. Each are proudly strutting along the sand smoking cigars.
We understand that Dubrow and Hiller were married last night at Area 51 in a private ceremony. Congratulations to the newlyweds, especially since, ya know, they didn’t get microwaved this morning. Also: keep her name out your mouth.
Also in the party headed to meet Hiller and Levinson is a woman named Jasmine Dubrow. Dubrow, a dancer from Los Angeles, has been credited with saving the lives of at least a half dozen victims in L.A. & was the driver of the truck that found First Lady Whitmore in the LA rubble.
President Whitmore, General Grey, and Communications Director Spano are among the party en route to meet who we presume to be Hiller and Levinson... if they survived re-entry.
President Whitmore and others are presuming that the unidentified crash is the spacecraft flown by Hiller and Levinson. General Grey is gathering a party to drive thru the desert to the site for investigation.
A report from @kennen11.bsky.social says that radar has picked up an unidentified downed aircraft roughly 15 miles away from Hiller and Levinson's designated landing site.
We have confirmation of other alien spacecrafts being destroyed over Cairo, Sydney, and other major metro areas across Europe and Asia. What would the world have done without the technological brilliance of the ol' Red, White, and Blue?? #Merica #CameramanZoomIt
Our boys on the ground are good, but we also have a couple of heroes in low orbit, and the Area 51 command center lost contact with Hiller and Levinson over 20 minutes ago.
President Whitmore and other surviving U.S. pilots involved in this morning's battle in the desert have landed safely at Area 51.