Larssen
Member
+99|1858
I mean, did anyone expect different. Throughout his 4 years he has been remarkably predictable in his self righteousness, selfishness, denialism and general asshole behaviour. The only thing that may sometimes stop him is a legal advisor telling him he'll be in big big trouble if he does Y or doesn't do Z.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

On a different note, one of my conservative relatives seems strangely subdued these days. I don't think that's due to introspection, but more to embarrassment and some measure of shame finally sinking in. I'm no longer getting The Emails from them, at least. While I was, it appeared the quickest way to shut them down was to deconstruct the sources. Their complaints are now restricted to state Democrats and the city council, though I imagine it's only a matter of time before they come at me with something akin to "Pelosi is banning gendered terms, you won't be able to say aunt or grandpa!" again.

Also expecting the "you gotta respect the Democrats on the quality execution of their coup" to start showing up often, once Trump is safely out of the way.
uziq
Member
+492|3423
Right-wing extremists are using channels on the encrypted communication app Telegram to call for violence against government officials on inauguration day next week.

Some are sharing knowledge of how to make, conceal and use homemade guns and bombs, NBC News is reporting.

The messages are being posted in Telegram chatrooms where white supremacist content has been freely shared for months, but chatter on these channels has increased, NBC adds, since extremists have been forced off other platforms in the wake of the January 6 siege of the US Capitol by a violent, pro-Trump mob.

Telegram is a Dubai-based messaging service that does little moderation of its content and has a sizable international user base, particularly in eastern Europe and the Middle East.

In the days since the Capitol attack for example, a US Army field manual and exhortations to ‘shoot politicians’ and ‘encourage armed struggle’ have been posted in a Telegram channel that uses ‘fascist’ in its name.

Chris Sampson, chief of research at the defense research institute Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and Radical Ideologies, said his group is focused on and concerned about users of the channel and has alerted the FBI about it. (TAPSTRI is run by Malcolm Nance, an NBC News terrorism analyst.)

‘When they start calling for assassinations, when they start calling for action versus sharing information, we flag them a little higher,’ said Sampson. ‘Some channels merely swap information, but then they accelerated into conversations of where to be.’......

....yesterday the FBI sent a memo to law enforcement agencies warning about possible armed protests at all 50 state Capitols starting January 16.
but the real problem group are 'radical black communists', lesbian schoolteachers, the always-shadowy 'antifa'. oh and muslims.

Last edited by uziq (2021-01-12 13:52:37)

SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3690
America's most senior general Mark Milley and the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is comprised of the heads of each military branch, issued a statement Tuesday condemning the violent invasion of the US Capitol last week and reminding service members of their obligation to support and defend the Constitution and reject extremism.

Read the Joint Chief's statement here:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics … index.html

Meanwhile there will be 10,000 National Guard troops in Washington D.C. through the inauguration. Pretty crazy it has come to this. There shouldn't be that many/any soldiers in the capital.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

Trumpism tearing apart families.

Daughter Publicly Shames Mother For Getting Punched While Attending Pro-Trump Protest
https://www.newsweek.com/daughter-helen … on-1560003

Video of punch in link.

"Her actions were appalling and I did not think she could possibly stoop this low," the 18-year-old told Newsweek. "I do find her participation in the insurrection extremely hypocritical as she has kicked me out of the house for attending BLM protests."
I've been told separately (though haven't read any confirmation), that the mother used to be a liberal Democrat but was radicalized online. But imagine telling your kid to avoid the violent BLM protests only to go to a stop the steal rally to harass black people there.

Also via buzzfeed (add'l links in link):

The next day, after Therese texted saying she was home, Helena simply responded, "how's your nose."

"Please call me or talk to me if you really wanna know," her mom wrote.

Her mom and aunt — whom she said she was close to until their relationship broke down in recent years — have sent her pleas and threats to remove her tweets.

"We are not proud of how things went in DC," Annie said in a text reviewed by BuzzFeed News. "I know you are upset but putting us in danger isn't going to solve anything. Please ... I am Begging you to remove."
The unrest and violence at the Capitol on Wednesday has driven a deeper wedge into already strained relationships between Trump supporters and those around them.

Many have spoken out about arguing with loved ones who blame antifa for the violence (the FBI has said there is no evidence that anti-fascist activists played any role). People who had family members at the Capitol have talked about their anger and disappointment.

Robyn Sweet, a woman whose dad stormed the Capitol with a mob and was arrested, told BuzzFeed News previously, "I am completely ashamed and disgusted of him."
https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2021-01/8/20/asset/91e59bd4811d/sub-buzz-721-1610136572-3.jpg?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto
Look out, it's the internet!

The president squats at the center of this chaos like a diseased toad, completely unrepentant. His former Republican allies blame it on him but accept none of their own responsibility.
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3690
You don't have to disagree with your loved one's politics to be mortified that they went to this thing. Aside from COVID, had the ball bounced a little different a lot of the stormers could have gotten seriously injured or killed. Again it bears pointing that many other places would have sent in soldiers shooting for less.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3690
Watching the 25th amendment arguments in congress. I agree with the Republicans that the 25th amendment wasn't made with this intention and it is inappropriate for congress to pressure the vice president to invoke it.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
DesertFox-
The very model of a modern major general
+794|6655|United States of America
Gotta love Republicans toadying to their leader who agitated a mob that would have at the very least beaten a large amount of their caucus.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

SuperJail Warden wrote:

Watching the 25th amendment arguments in congress. I agree with the Republicans that the 25th amendment wasn't made with this intention and it is inappropriate for congress to pressure the vice president to invoke it.
Section 4 in focus here, it's a little slippery. He's capable of executing the powers of office (albeit irresponsibly), and it seems unlikely that it would be decided that he's impaired within such a short period of time. It would be nice to see him gone asap, but there's a possibility it could be just a symbolic waste of time at this point for the politicians involved.

from twitter:
TRUMP: “The 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration. As the expression goes, be careful what you wish for…Respect for law enforcement...is the foundation of the MAGA agenda. And we're a nation of law and…of order."
Yes, it will "Haunt Biden."

Also, respect for law enforcement being the foundation of the MAGA agenda sure shone through these last few days. /s
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3690
"MAGA lady yells at Chuck Schumer & says the right-wing terrorists made her "sexually excited"."
https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout … _says_the/

Chuck was as cool as a kosher pickle throughout the whole thing.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6077|eXtreme to the maX

uziq wrote:

trump's bank have dropped him (reportedly, at least). will be interesting to see what happens to him if his phoney 're-election campaign' grift doesn't manage to pay off those hundreds of millions in loans.
Also his biggest donor just died, some creepy zionist gangster

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/12/busi … index.html
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6077|eXtreme to the maX
Seven days, there's still time to nuke Iran

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/1 … se-is-iran

Silly Al-Jazeera, no-one needs evidence for anything these days.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

Stories from the "other side," still relevant:

Why Republican voters say there’s ‘no way in hell’ Trump lost
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- … SKBN2801D4

Worth a read. Excerpt:
The widespread rejection of the election result among Republicans reflects a new and dangerous dynamic in American politics: the normalization of false and increasingly extreme conspiracy theories among tens of millions of mainstream voters, according to government scholars, analysts and some lawmakers on both sides of the political divide. The trend has deeply troubling long-term implications for American political and civic institutions, said Paul Light, a veteran political scientist at New York University (NYU).

“This is dystopian,” Light said. “America could fracture.”

Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is among the few party members to publicly recognize Biden’s victory. He called his Republican colleagues’ reluctance to reject Trump’s conspiracies a failure of political courage that threatens to undermine American democracy for years. If citizens lose faith in election integrity, that could lead to “really bad things,” including violence and social unrest, he said in an interview.

David Gergen - an adviser to four previous U.S. presidents, two Democrats and two Republicans - said Trump is trying to “kneecap” the Biden administration before it takes power, noting this is the first time a sitting American president has tried to overthrow an election result.

It may not be the last time. Many Republicans see attacks on election integrity as a winning issue for future campaigns - including the next presidential race, according to one Republican operative close to the Trump campaign. The party, the person said, is setting up a push for “far more stringent oversight on voting procedures in 2024,” when the party’s nominee will likely be Trump or his anointed successor.
Comedy elsewhere:

"Trump Lost, Everything Must Go"
https://i.imgur.com/5CKsWOx.mp4
Dilbert_X
The X stands for
+1,810|6077|eXtreme to the maX
If everything is fake then nothing is real.

Where to go from here?

Every time I've seen Trump I've thought he's playing a game, seeing just how far he can push a crowd and what he can get them to do for him, like a hypnotist.
Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

The seeds were planted and sprouted since before Trump took the reins.
uziq
Member
+492|3423
the far-right have operated in a slippery, ironic-not-ironic, it's a joke-but it's serious mode for years. it's their modus operandi: routine bad faith.

it's what has enabled 'lulz' posters on 4chan to seamlessly slip into being school-shooting incels and pavement-driving van drivers.

it's what has seen a bunch of cosplayers making trump warhammer memes segue into being armed insurrectionists in the national Capitol.

who can tell the difference between someone role-playing a white nationalist armed rebel and the real thing?

for groups whose whole ideology and identity is formed on the internet, the image, shifting appearances, and virtuality are the essence.

the same theatrical approach to politics, 'all the world's a stage', has been adopted and used in putin's russia, too. plausible deniability especially.

Last edited by uziq (2021-01-13 05:26:40)

SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3690
Aside from the bad faith argumentation of the right, the lack of coherent political goals is also grating. You can't negotiate or reason with someone who doesn't know what it is they even want or they want something impossible to implement.

Some of them want to "stop socialism" which they use to describe everything democrats do as part of. I have seen people genuinely argue that banks, big tech, and liberals are in an alliance to promote socialism. Because banks and massive corporations are infamously socialist.

The aforementioned group aren't the dangerous ones. The subset of right wingers who envision race war or ruling over a society that hates them are the ones who are most likely to commit to violence. They are also the most politically delusional. I would genuinely love to hear someone explain in detail how America could win a race war at home, stop Chinese expansion, launch a crusade against Islam, and maintain their current quality of life all at the same time.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3423
meanwhile your capitol hill visitor centre is full of national guard, in case there's further uprisings because of the impeachment.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErnY3prXYAMcBEY?format=jpg&name=large

the era of populist demagoguery has to end. complaining about the far-right's 'freedom of speech' is a bad joke. soldiers don't get deployed to guard legislative processes because they're afraid of a group exercising their free speech.

Last edited by uziq (2021-01-13 06:33:51)

Larssen
Member
+99|1858
Looks like a nice covid hotspot
uziq
Member
+492|3423
they're all wearing masks and the capitol has moved quickly to make that an official rule or something, i think.

i mean, yeah, the inauguration and just about everything else is a covid hotspot. the speaker's chamber is a covid hotspot. a few representatives have become sick since being locked-down during the riot.

of course, republicans refused to wear masks even when confined in panic rooms or under desks with other people.
DesertFox-
The very model of a modern major general
+794|6655|United States of America

SuperJail Warden wrote:

Aside from the bad faith argumentation of the right, the lack of coherent political goals is also grating. You can't negotiate or reason with someone who doesn't know what it is they even want or they want something impossible to implement.

Some of them want to "stop socialism" which they use to describe everything democrats do as part of. I have seen people genuinely argue that banks, big tech, and liberals are in an alliance to promote socialism. Because banks and massive corporations are infamously socialist.

The aforementioned group aren't the dangerous ones. The subset of right wingers who envision race war or ruling over a society that hates them are the ones who are most likely to commit to violence. They are also the most politically delusional. I would genuinely love to hear someone explain in detail how America could win a race war at home, stop Chinese expansion, launch a crusade against Islam, and maintain their current quality of life all at the same time.
I do worry about the uncritical movement from one thought to the next from them. When Twitter shut down Trump, they flocked to Parler and Gab, havens for legit white supremacists, without considering if that's where they want to be. Worse, I suspect the influx of less-overtly extreme users masks the content, which leads to the "it's not so bad - I haven't seen anything racist there" mindset.

I want to ask how they'd approach the situation if Trump was declared the winner but millions of Biden voters just KNEW the election was stolen and broke into congress to stop the electoral vote. They'd be ODing on liberal tears in that scenario.

True about the tech companies being socialist, though. The ignorance is very revealing. If they were actually being censored, posts about trickle-down would be verboten, but they're (unfortunately) not. I dunno how hard it is to just not talk about your violent fantasies for them...
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

If you want an impression of how they'd react to that, just take a look at what they've already been saying. "Yes the raid on the capital was bad, but do you know what was REALLY bad? All the liberal riots in 2020."
SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3690
Reports are that a lot of republicans are worried about literally getting murdered if they vote to impeach Trump. In retrospect it probably wasn't a good idea to promote their side arming themselves with rifles and other firearms. It's pretty ignorant of history for them to think they couldn't become victims of their side's weapon erotica.
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
uziq
Member
+492|3423
imagine fearing for your life because of your democratic decision-making.

that's the sort of political conditions that america normally exports to central and south american states.
unnamednewbie13
Moderator
+2,053|6742|PNW

The idiots storming the building probably wouldn't have stopped very long to consider whether or not a lawmaker in their grasp was a republican or democrat unless they were immediately recognizable. Although even Mitch might have been pushed over for not doing more for Trump.

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