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Politics: Biden, Brexit and Beyond
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“We must also understand why the federal law enforcement response was much stronger at the protests over the summer than during yesterday’s attack on Congress,” Bowser said, referring to the overwhelming response to those protesting police violence in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
Like a recent FBI report said “some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses”
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Trump Is Said to Have Discussed Pardoning Himself
President Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would mark one of the most extraordinary and untested uses of presidential power in American history.
In several conversations since Election Day, Mr. Trump has told advisers that he is considering giving himself a pardon and, in other instances, asked whether he should and what the effect would be on him legally and politically, according to the two people. It was not clear whether he had broached the topic since he incited his supporters on Wednesday to march on the Capitol, where some stormed the building in a mob attack.
Mr. Trump has shown signs that his level of interest in pardoning himself goes beyond idle musings. He has long maintained he has the power to pardon himself, and his polling of aides’ views is typically a sign that he is preparing to follow through on his aims. He has also become increasingly convinced that his perceived enemies will use the levers of law enforcement to target him after he leaves office.
No president has pardoned himself, so the legitimacy of prospective self-clemency has never been tested in the justice system, and legal scholars are divided about whether the courts would recognize it. But they agree a presidential self-pardon could create a dangerous new precedent for presidents to unilaterally declare they are above the law and to insulate themselves from being held accountable for any crimes they committed in office.
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump has considered a range of pre-emptive pardons for family, including his three oldest children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump — for Ms. Trump’s husband, the senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, and for close associates like the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani. The president has expressed concerns to advisers that a Biden Justice Department might investigate all of them.
Mr. Trump, who has told advisers how much he likes having the power to issue clemency, has for weeks solicited aides and allies for suggestions on whom to pardon. He has also offered pre-emptive pardons to advisers and administration officials. Many were taken aback because they did not believe they were in legal jeopardy and thought that accepting his offer would be seen as an admission of guilt, according to the two people.
Presidential pardons apply only to federal law and provide no protection against state crimes. They would not apply to charges that could be brought by prosecutors in Manhattan investigating the Trump Organization’s finances.
The discussions between Mr. Trump and his aides about a self-pardon came before his pressure over the weekend on Georgia officials to help him try to overturn the election results or his incitement of the riots at the Capitol. Trump allies believe that both episodes increased Mr. Trump’s criminal exposure.
As aides urged Mr. Trump to issue a strong condemnation on Wednesday and he rejected that advice, the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, warned Mr. Trump that he could face legal exposure for the riot given that he had urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight” beforehand, according to people briefed on the discussion. The president had appeared to White House aides to be enjoying watching the scenes play out on television.
Beyond that, the extent of Mr. Trump’s criminal exposure is unclear. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, outlined 10 instances in which Mr. Trump may have obstructed justice but declined to say whether he broke the law, citing legal and factual constraints of prosecuting a sitting president. Former Justice Department officials and legal experts said that several of the acts should be prosecuted.
In 2018, federal prosecutors in New York named Mr. Trump as a conspirator in an illegal campaign finance scheme.
Pardons can be broad or narrowly tailored. White-collar defense lawyers said that Mr. Trump would be best served by citing specific crimes if he pardoned himself, but such details could be politically damaging by suggesting that he was acknowledging he had committed those crimes.
A self-pardon would complicate the already fraught question for the Biden Justice Department about whether to investigate and ultimately prosecute Mr. Trump. Democrats and former Justice Department officials contend that if the president pardons himself and the Justice Department declines to prosecute Mr. Trump, it will send a troubling message to Americans about the rule of law and to future presidents about their ability to flout the law.
“The Biden Justice Department will not want to acquiesce in a Trump self-pardon, which implies that the president is literally above federal law,” said Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor and former top Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration.
A self-pardon would align with Mr. Trump’s unprecedented use of the pardon power. The framers of the Constitution gave the president almost total authority to grant clemency for federal crimes, positioning the head of the executive branch as a check on the judicial branch and as someone who could dip into the justice system to show grace and mercy on the downtrodden.
But Mr. Trump has eschewed the formal Justice Department process set up to ensure pardons are handed out fairly. Instead, he has used his pardon power unlike any other president to help allies, undermine rivals and push his own political agenda. Of the 94 pardons and commutations Mr. Trump has granted, 89 percent were issued to people who had a personal tie to Mr. Trump, helped him politically or whose case resonated with him, according to a tabulation by Mr. Goldsmith.
The only president to receive a pardon was Richard M. Nixon. A month after Nixon left office, his former vice president, President Gerald R. Ford, pardoned him for all crimes he committed in office. The move was widely criticized at the time as allowing the presidency to hover above the law. Ford supporters later blamed the pardon for his election loss two years later, though ultimately the pardon came to be seen as a move that helped the country move on from Watergate.
Mr. Trump has maintained throughout his presidency that he has the authority to pardon himself and first discussed the possibility with aides as early as his first year in office. Those discussions began when his campaign’s ties to Russia were being scrutinized and investigators were examining whether he had obstructed justice.
Legal scholars are less certain about Mr. Trump’s declaration that he has an “absolute right” to pardon himself.
The Justice Department said in a short August 1974 opinion, just four days before Mr. Nixon resigned, that “it would seem” that presidents cannot pardon themselves “under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case.”
But the president is not bound by those opinions, and there is nothing stopping Mr. Trump from signing a pardon for himself. The questions would be whether the Justice Department under another president would honor the pardon and set aside any potential prosecution of Mr. Trump and, if he were prosecuted, whether the judicial system would ultimately decide whether the pardon insulates Mr. Trump from facing charges.
“Only a court can invalidate a self-pardon, and it can only do so if the Biden administration brings a case against Trump,” Mr. Goldsmith said. “A Trump self-pardon would thus make it more likely the Biden team prosecutes Trump for crimes committed in office.”
Throughout Mr. Trump’s presidency, he and allies have looked to pardons as a way of helping the president protect himself in criminal investigations. During the Russia investigation, Mr. Trump and his personal lawyer John M. Dowd dangled pardons to former aides. One, his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, flouted a plea deal to work with prosecutors.
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The obvious thing to do is to resign and then have Pence pardon him before the inauguration, right?
“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”
Then he can move to Russia.
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If the 25th is not invoked, President-Elect Biden should announce that if any American citizen who is brave enough to “do something” about The Orange Thing Claiming To Be Human Living In The White House, the first action Biden takes after taking the oath of office is to pardon the person for any crimes committed, and give them the medal of freedom.
While I truly do appreciate the sentiment (and believe me as a Texan, I really do), murdering him would make him a martyr.
I want that mother fucker to go to prison and die there. That is punishment he deserves.
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I have LAUGHED from deep in my belly. This laugh came from my SOUL! 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/jI7Gqj7bRP
— Kevín (@KevOnStage) January 7, 2021
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The obvious thing to do is to resign and then have Pence pardon him before the inauguration, right?
“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”
Then he can move to Russia.
Pence: “If you resign, I will pardon you and your entire family. You will never ever have to worry about federal prosecution for anything you have done while President.”
Trump: “You promise?”
Pence: “I promise. The Feds will never be able to touch you or your family.”
Trump: “Okay, that sounds like a great deal. Here’s my signed resignation. I am officially no longer President.”
Pence: (reviewing the documents) “Everything looks to be in order. We’re good to go.”
Trump: “So when are you going to pardon me and my family?”
Pence: “Pardon? What are you talking about?”
Trump: “You promised to pardon me and my family!”
Pence: “No, I didn’t. You must be hallucinating. It’s a good thing you’re no longer President.”
Trump: “YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS!!!”
Pence: “Secret Service, please escort him to the J. Edgar Hoover Building. I believe the FBI would like to talk to him. So would the Justice Department among others, come to think about it.”
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If the 25th is not invoked, President-Elect Biden should announce that if any American citizen who is brave enough to “do something” about The Orange Thing Claiming To Be Human Living In The White House, the first action Biden takes after taking the oath of office is to pardon the person for any crimes committed, and give them the medal of freedom.
While I truly do appreciate the sentiment (and believe me as a Texan, I really do), murdering him would make him a martyr.
I want that mother fucker to go to prison and die there. That is punishment he deserves.
When my view on something (or someone) is forced to change, I go to the opposite extreme for a while, even if it makes no sense. It’s just my way of dealing with changing views.
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Congrats to Kalman for finally figuring out Trump’s a monster, I guess.
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Damn. I wanted to see the Secret Service drag him out of the White House, kicking and screaming.
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Well Trump just pretty much conceded. I don’t think Todd is gonna get his way, I think there is a deal not to prosecute him.
If they don’t start prosecuting Trump and his cronies, then they’re guaranteeing the same thing will happen again and again and again. So many of America’s cultural issues are directly related to mollycoddling politicians who work to undermine the state for personal gain, in the name of unity or to “move past a difficult time”.
But they’ve been doing it for almost 200 years so why start now?
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Damn. I wanted to see the Secret Service drag him out of the White House, kicking and screaming.
Bleeding. You forgot bleeding.
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Well Trump just pretty much conceded. I don’t think Todd is gonna get his way, I think there is a deal not to prosecute him.
He said he’s not going to have a second term but didn’t actually concede.
Even if there is a deal on the federal level, he’s still facing changes in New York.
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The end of the Roman Republic was the beginning of the Roman Empire for about 700 years. That’s one way to make America great again, I guess.
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The end of the Roman Republic was the beginning of the Roman Empire for about 700 years. That’s one way to make America great again, I guess
So the New United States Of America will, much like the Holy Roman Empire wasn’t Holy, Roman or an Empire, be Old, Divided and not in America?
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The end of the Roman Republic was the beginning of the Roman Empire for about 700 years. That’s one way to make America great again, I guess.
Honestly, I prefer to call Trump “American Caesar Wannabe” rather then “American Hitler”. What finally pushed me into realizing what Trump is, was somebody pointing out that The Fourth Reich of The Turner Diaries began with storming the capital, so I’m scared enough that this is a dog-whistle.
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos submitted her resignation Thursday, citing the president’s role in the riot on Capitol Hill.
Honestly, I think she knows her gravy train is over and is using this as cover.
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Good riddance.
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Elizabeth Warren’s tweet on DeVos’ resignation sums it up pretty well.
But we can all be glad she’s finally gone.
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The end of the Roman Republic was the beginning of the Roman Empire for about 700 years. That’s one way to make America great again, I guess.
Honestly, I prefer to call Trump “American Caesar Wannabe” rather then “American Hitler”. What finally pushed me into realizing what Trump is, was somebody pointing out that The Fourth Reich of The Turner Diaries began with storming the capital, so I’m scared enough that this is a dog-whistle.
Just to clarify, while he may be dogwhistling a Neo-Nazi book, I don’t think Trump is a Nazi; He’s his own thing, and just used a dogwhistle that part of his radical base will respond to, damn the ideological source, and the rest will follow because “Trumpus Vult”. Basically, an Underpants Gnome approach to a power grab:
Step 1: Rile up some Neo-Nazis into thinking the time has come for “The Day of The Rope”
Step 2: ???????????????????????????????????
Step 3: Consolidate power under his own cult of personality, not Nazism.
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The mayor of Washington, D.C., called on Congress to establish a panel to investigate the security lapses that enabled a mob to penetrate the U.S. Capitol Complex and threaten lawmakers.
Quite honestly regardless of all the politics this is pretty shocking. A country that spends $750bn on defence lets its seat of government be overwhelmed by an untrained rabble. Even acknowledging the police there played it softly through a combination of limited perceived threat and some political bias it was incredibly easy. If a really organised group wanting to cause severe damage and death had planned an attack they would have achieved it and wiped out pretty much every senior politician in the US.
It smacks a lot of complacency around air travel security before 9-11 or at Buckingham Palace when Michael Fagin climbed over the wall and in.
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos submitted her resignation Thursday, citing the president’s role in the riot on Capitol Hill.
Honestly, I think she knows her gravy train is over and is using this as cover.
Pictured: DeVos leaving the Department of Education for the last time
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The mayor of Washington, D.C., called on Congress to establish a panel to investigate the security lapses that enabled a mob to penetrate the U.S. Capitol Complex and threaten lawmakers.
Quite honestly regardless of all the politics this is pretty shocking. A country that spends $750bn on defence lets its seat of government be overwhelmed by an untrained rabble. Even acknowledging the police there played it softly through a combination of limited perceived threat and some political bias it was incredibly easy. If a really organised group wanting to cause severe damage and death had planned an attack they would have achieved it and wiped out pretty much every senior politician in the US.
It smacks a lot of complacency around air travel security before 9-11 or at Buckingham Palace when Michael Fagin climbed over the wall and in.
In all honesty, we’re lucky that these guys were as incompetent as they were, the backlash has been as great as it is, and the riots happened as a result of a change of power. The night before the vote on Biden, Proud Boys were fighting in the streets with the DC cops and they clearly weren’t ready for it in the same way that BLM and other left-wing groups are – they were wearing their tacticool getups but brought nothing to protect themselves from tear gas and were so unfamiliar with crowd control tactics that they got the shit beat out of them a few times. And as we have seen the cops didn’t even break out the heavy riot stuff for those clashes.
Similarly the idiots who stormed the Capitol filmed themselves doing it and in many cases were livestreaming or bragging about it later on social media, and again went unmasked.
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Only Trump would be stupid enough to stage a coup after he’s already become president.
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And now that it turns a police officer has been killed by the rioters, shit’s going to get even more real.
I am more convinced than ever that this will burn the GOP to the fucking ground.
WASHINGTON — President Trump not only inspired a mob to storm the Capitol on Wednesday — he also brought the Republican Party close to a breaking point.
Having lost the presidency, the House and now the Senate on Mr. Trump’s watch, Republicans are so deeply divided that many are insisting that they must fully break from the president to rebound.
Those divisions were in especially sharp relief this week when scores of House Republicans sided with Mr. Trump in voting to block certification of the election — in a tally taken after the mob rampaged through the Capitol — while dozens of other House members and all but eight Republican senators refused to go along.
Too little, too late, fuckers. I hereby predict two terms of the Harris administration following Joe Biden.
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I am more convinced than ever that this will burn the GOP to the fucking ground.
Here’s hoping.
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It’s very possible that this rift in the GOP will spark the creation of a third party. I know the idea pops up all the time (the Tea Party a few elections ago, the Progressive Democrats more recently), but there seems to be a deep, irreparable tear within the Republican Party between the “McConnells” who want to maintain the status quo that has worked for them from the Reagan administration up until 2016, and the “MAGA” adherents who admire the extremism that Trump cultivated where White American Privilege must be preserved at all costs. At the moment I don’t see how they will be able to select a candidate for the 2024 election who satisfies both factions.
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White American Privilege
I much prefer the other WAP.
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Oh, look! Actions have consequences!
As he strolled past gold-framed portraits of past Congressional leaders, one rioter who stormed the Capitol in a pro-Trump mob on Wednesday wore a red Trump hat, a commemorative sweatshirt from the president’s inauguration and a lanyard around his neck.
When a photo of him went viral, it didn’t take Internet sleuths long to realize that the lanyard held his work badge — clearly identifying him as an employee of Navistar Direct Marketing, a printing company in Frederick, Md.
On Thursday, Navistar swiftly fired him.
He’s not alone among the rioters who wreaked havoc in Congress. While police and the FBI work to identify and arrest members of the mob, online detectives are also crowdsourcing information and doxing them — exposing the rioters to criminal prosecution, but also more immediate action from their bosses.
Since most of the rioters stormed the Capitol maskless, online detectives had a unique opportunity to easily identify them. And many made it even easier — they live-streamed their participation and later bragged about their escapades.
Using journalists’ photos and videos, as well as live-streamed videos from rioters, untold Twitter users and Instagram accounts have been feverishly working since Wednesday to ID and name the participants who stormed the halls of the Capitol, ransacking lawmakers’ offices and occupying the House Chamber.
Some, like the Instagram account @homegrownterrorists, amassed huge followings in a few hours. When posters believe they’ve identified someone, the images are updated with names and details about the person — like their social media handle, hometown or job title.
The FBI has been attempting a similar tactic. The Washington field office tweeted dozens of images of rioters on Thursday, asking the public to help identify people. Through early Thursday, police said they arrested 69 people from at least 20 states and the District for charges ranging from unlawful entry of public property, to violating curfew and assaulting a police officer. The department is also offering a $1,000 reward for tips that lead to an arrest.
Dozens arrested after mob storms Capitol; officials vow that more will be charged. But even for some who haven’t yet been charged with a crime, the consequences have been swift for their crowdsourced identifications.
Paul Davis, a Dallas-area lawyer, was fired on Thursday from his position as associate general counsel and director of human resources at Goosehead Insurance after a Twitter user posted his Instagram story, showing Davis live-streaming outside the Capitol and talking about wanting to get inside. Davis said in the video that he had been tear-gassed.
Goosehead confirmed Davis’s firing on Twitter. Davis could not be reached for comment.
A Chicago real estate brokerage firm confirmed that it had fired an agent, Libby Andrews, after receiving a “tremendous amount of outreach” regarding her posts on social media about “storming the Capitol.”
Andrews told the Chicago Tribune that she arrived at the Capitol after people had already broken in and didn’t realize what they were doing was illegal.
“I had no idea people were breaking in and that destruction was happening,” she told the Tribune.
Others have been suspended. A teacher in Allentown, Pa., was put on temporary leave while the school district completes an investigation into his participation in the melee. Brad Rukstales, the chief executive of Cogensia, a marketing data company in Chicago, was arrested on Wednesday for his involvement in the riots. In a statement on Twitter, Cogensia said it had placed Rukstales “on leave of absence while we assess further.”
Rukstales told WBBM that he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time and I regret my part in that.”
“Everything that happened yesterday I think was absolutely terrible,” Rukstales said.
A lieutenant sheriff in Bexar County, Tex., who has been on leave since October as the department investigates allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an inmate, is under a second investigation after she posted multiple images of breaking into the Capitol on her Facebook account, according to KSAT. A Sanford, Fla., firefighter is also on administrative leave and under investigation after he was spotted among the mob in photographs, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
By early Friday, other videos continued to go viral of rioters boasting about their participation and even identifying themselves.
A recording on Facebook Live from Jenny Cudd, a small-business owner who in 2019 mounted a failed mayoral campaign in Midland, Tex., went viral on Twitter, amassing nearly 4 million views as of early Friday. In it, Cudd boasted about breaking into the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“We did break down Nancy Pelosi’s office door and somebody stole her gavel, and I took a picture sitting in the chair flipping off the camera and that was on Fox News,” she said.
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Whole lot of people suddenly finding out that committing a crime and boasting about it afterwards isn’t a smart idea.
Whoever could have expected something like that?5 users thanked author for this post.
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I am more convinced than ever that this will burn the GOP to the fucking ground.
45% of Republicans explicitly support the storming of the Capitol according to a poll published today
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To all those who have asked, I will not be attending Batman Day. pic.twitter.com/K20k37ob7I
— Scott Snyder (@Ssnyder1835) January 8, 2021
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Ironically, if they had been wearing masks for Covid, they would not have been so easy to identify. Doh!
45% of Republicans explicitly support the storming of the Capitol according to a poll published today
Exactly, the GOP will not be going anywhere. If anything, the white nationalist movement in the party will become more organized. They’ve already been using previous civil rights activist strategies to grow in size, power and membership. Imagine if groups like the Black Panthers or Nation of Islam were ten times the size, included police officers and many officials in local, state and federal positions, and had many times the influence and resources as well as funding from some of the wealthiest people in the country. They are hardly in a minority position in many local and state governments and being in the “opposition” in the national government will only motivate their agenda.
It’ll be like going from a problem with fire ants to one with bullet ants.
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I am more convinced than ever that this will burn the GOP to the fucking ground.
45% of Republicans explicitly support the storming of the Capitol according to a poll published today
Sounds about right. About half of the party is now just the Cult of Trump and are completely reprehensible. Hilary was so spot on when she called them deplorables. I do hope this ends up tearing the GOP apart.
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One of your viewers https://t.co/gwrC5Y3qZL
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 7, 2021
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45% of Republicans explicitly support the storming of the Capitol according to a poll published today
That’s not something the remaining 55% will be able to live with very well. If the right wing of the Republicans develops the way Jonny is describing, the rest of the party will be shitting their pants now that they’ve seen what can happen to them.
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No, Peanut. They are not Patriots. They are your flying monkeys,homegrown terrorists, QAnon actors. They are the douchebags that go out and do the evil bidding of people like you who like to wind them up like toys and let them do their worst. #keepingYourFilthyHandsclean #enabler
— Lucy Lawless (@RealLucyLawless) January 7, 2021
Lucy Lawless
@RealLucyLawless
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21h
No, Peanut. They are not Patriots. They are your flying monkeys,homegrown terrorists, QAnon actors. They are the douchebags that go out and do the evil bidding of people like you who like to wind them up like toys and let them do their worst. #keepingYourFilthyHandsclean #enabler -
“ we will continue to methodically assess evidence, charge crimes and make arrests in the coming days and weeks to ensure that those responsible are held accountable under the law,” he said.
in other words, we will sit on our asses until Biden fires us
edit: Xena has always been better than Hercules
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Rioters left feces, urine in hallways and offices during mobbing of US capitol https://t.co/ye9EhzsJEu pic.twitter.com/mkN4nzyG1q
— New York Post (@nypost) January 8, 2021
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45% of Republicans explicitly support the storming of the Capitol according to a poll published today
That’s not something the remaining 55% will be able to live with very well. If the right wing of the Republicans develops the way Jonny is describing, the rest of the party will be shitting their pants now that they’ve seen what can happen to them.
That’s what people said about Republicans supporting Trump, and more of them voted for him last year than in 2016. At this point I don’t see how anyone can realistically expect the Republicans to expel, punish, or otherwise censure the extremists in the party, or to engage in self-reflection.
At this point, the sane Republicans are basically the rightmost Democrats, or groups like the Lincoln Project, who are really just a Democrat-faced lobby group for Republican ideals
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That’s not something the remaining 55% will be able to live with very well. If the right wing of the Republicans develops the way Jonny is describing, the rest of the party will be shitting their pants now that they’ve seen what can happen to them.
I don’t think that 55% supports it, but I don’t think they will be very motivated to actively oppose it either. It’s not like they will support the Democrats and they are still just as opposed to those progressive commies as they ever were.
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To be fair, the restrooms in the Capitol have barely been upgrade since colonial times. When you gotta go, you gotta go!
Rioters left feces, urine in hallways and offices during mobbing of US capitol https://t.co/ye9EhzsJEu pic.twitter.com/mkN4nzyG1q
— New York Post (@nypost) January 8, 2021
<span class=”css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0″ style=”border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; min-width: 0px;”>New York Post</span><span class=”css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0″ style=”border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; min-width: 0px;”>@nypost</span><span class=”css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0″ style=”border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; min-width: 0px;”>Rioters left feces, urine in hallways and offices during mobbing of US capitol </span><span class=”css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-hiw28u r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0″ style=”border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0px; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; min-width: 0px;” aria-hidden=”true”>https://</span>trib.al/HbhxwNm1 user thanked author for this post.
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At this point, the sane Republicans are basically the rightmost Democrats, or groups like the Lincoln Project, who are really just a Democrat-faced lobby group for Republican ideals
so do they switch parties or create a new one?
Neither, they colonise the Democratsm who are a right-wing party with some vaguely progressive social policies.
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Rioters left feces, urine in hallways and offices during mobbing of US capitol https://t.co/ye9EhzsJEu pic.twitter.com/mkN4nzyG1q
— New York Post (@nypost) January 8, 2021
Thank you for leaving your DNA that can be used to prosecute you!
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Kevin Sorbo reading reports that the people who stormed the Capitol are right-wing lunatics:
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Neither, they colonise the Democratsm who are a right-wing party with some vaguely progressive social policies.
Right wing used to mean authoritarian with an extreme end being totalitarian, but today the trend is more toward what I like to call ignoritarian. In authoritarian regimes, they clamp down on any exercise of free expression or civil rights in opposition to the power of the party. In ignoritarian regimes, the governmental system is designed so that anything the populace does, wants or needs is irrelevant and inconsequential to whatever the government wants to do.
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In ignoritarian regimes, the governmental system is designed so that anything the populace does, wants or needs is irrelevant and inconsequential to whatever the government wants to do.
Is it what the government wants to do or what big tech, big pharma and other corporations want? With the US and to some extent other Western countries I get the impression we’re more an oligarchy led by corporate interests.
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With the US and to some extent other Western countries I get the impression we’re more an oligarchy led by corporate interests.
That’s more or less correct.
If you look at the likes of the Koch brothers their industry is fucked really. In the UK now wind power is the cheapest generator, it’s at half the price of nuclear per kw, cheaper than coal and reducing every year. Wales is powered entirely without coal which is ironic really as they have huge coal reserves, it just doesn’t make economic sense to use it.
The only driver for the fossil fuel guys is bribes and influence.
Finland banned private education and rose up to the top of the world education tables with the concept that if you can’t opt out of the system you need to make it the best it can be. In the UK and US I’d suspect a small minority of the politicians’ kids go to state schools and have no outside tuition.
So the reason their governments are driving shit like private school vouchers and privately owned ‘academies’ has no basis in fact, it’s just spooning cash onto friends.
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Still, I’m always going back and forth on this. “Corporate interests” is not often very well defined so it turns into a straw man for whatever you want it to be. However, if you’re an employee for Wal-Mart or Amazon or FedEx or Exxon or General Motors, you will certainly have a personal interest aligned with corporate interests. If you have a retirement fund or pension, it will be dependent upon the interests of many corporations.
Whatever conflicts there are between management and labor, the corporation needs more from you than just your vote, and they certainly won’t call you for donations (though many do participate in their company PACs). Also, your manager is right there with you and not out in Washington or the State Capital making deals with the heads of other corporations to screw you over.
I’m reminded of the scene in THE AVIATOR where a senator asks Howard Hughes about all the trips and perks his company provide to government regulators during contract negotiations. He says something like “Would you consider that bribery, Mr. Hughes?” To which Hughes replies, “Yes, sir, I do. And if you people here in the Senate would pass a law to make it illegal, then I’d stop doing it.”
It’s easy to think that corporate money and “interests” have corrupted government, but it seems far more likely that the government was all too ready to invite that corruption and has been for a long time. Also, as far as all the environmental, political, military and economic troubles that corporations are a part of, it is hard to deny that they’ve also been crucial to the solutions to poverty, promotion of peace and relative prosperity that we have today compared to nearly any era in the past thousand years. The corporation today is where class interests, political interests and economic interests from labor to consumers all meet much more than they do in the halls of government.
Again, it’s hard to really claim that it is just a few people who want the system rigged this way when it seems that the vast majority of people are actually fairly aware and comfortable with it. Certainly, in USA corporations today, more people are far more aware of their own companies rules and regulations than any of the documents, laws, regulations or administrative rules of their own governments from the courthouse to Capitol Hill.
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Rioters left feces, urine in hallways and offices during mobbing of US capitol https://t.co/ye9EhzsJEu pic.twitter.com/mkN4nzyG1q
— New York Post (@nypost) January 8, 2021
I would imagine a bigger concern is that they’ve left coronavirus.
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I still want to know about that guy with the zip ties in his hand:
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I’m glad they arrested Barnett but I desperately want them to arrest that smug-looking neo-nazi skyrim clown in the buffalo suit.
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I’m glad they arrested Barnett but I desperately want them to arrest that smug-looking neo-nazi skyrim clown in the buffalo suit.
I agree, that hat is an arrestable offense.
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My girlfriend thought it was really weird that Trump bothered tweeting that he wouldn’t be attending the inaguration, so her conspiracy theory is he said it so his rabid cult will know the inaguration is safe to attack. It’s honestly far more plausible than any of the nonsense Trump and his ilk spout off about.
Also, looks like Twitter suspended Trump’s account. It’s gone now.
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Also, looks like Twitter suspended Trump’s account. It’s gone now.
Or is it?
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Also, looks like Twitter suspended Trump’s account.
So who holds the real power in the US?
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It’s interesting. Trump’s populism has essentially been 4 years of pushing at the norms of what’s acceptable and the line has continually stretched out with him. It’s been that way since he said he could shoot a man dead in Times Square and he’d lose no popularity.
The storming of the Capitol really has been the red line that’s brought about a sudden collapse of that. As flawed as they may be no country bangs on about their democratic traditions more than the USA.
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A friend sent this to me:
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So who holds the real power in the US?
The banks, the multinationals/megacorporations and the magnates… same as always.
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This shows how pervasive arguments and movements can be on social media. Someone today posted a small pro Trump and anti-lockdown march in Auckland, New Zealand.
1) Why do they care about Trump or not? There is surely a right wing candidate in NZ to rally for.
2) There is no lockdown to protest in NZ, they are one of very few places where they can carry on as normal (barring overseas travel).
However the various pressure groups invading their devices gets them to march against shit that doesn’t even affect them.
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Wrong year.
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Wrong year.
Everyone spends the first few weeks of the year accidentally putting the last year on the end of dates.
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Also, looks like Twitter suspended Trump’s account.
So who holds the real power in the US?
What’s happening right now is a mad scramble with social media companies to prevent lawsuits and to look like they’re regulating themselves so the government has no reason to step in and pass laws to regulate them. This isn’t Twitter saying Trump is an illegitimate leader, this is them covering their asses.
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Parler has been removed from the Google Play store, and will probably be gone from the iOS app store soon:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/8/22221648/google-suspends-bans-parler-play-store
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Looks like it’s finally MySpace’s time to shine!
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Looks like it’s finally MySpace’s time to shine!
He was banned from Friendster and MySpace yesterday too
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He’s going to be giving them hell on GeoCities.
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I can tell him how to set up a message board for under $100 a month.
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Rocket, 
njerry, Dave,
Will_C, Todd, 
Al-x, 
DavidM, 
lorcan_nagle, 
Christian, 
Mark Abnett, 
Martin Smith -
Looks like it’s finally MySpace’s time to shine!
He was banned from Friendster and MySpace yesterday too
I read that on ShackNews (after Googling) and I’m not convinced those quotes are real.
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Hi guys ! Long time not chat!
Boy could I tell you stories about those NZ right wing nut jobs.
But I would strongly recomend signing up to David Farriers Newsletter (DArk Tourist Netflix Fame)
https://www.webworm.co/p/webworms-conspiracy-coverage-so-far
Unfortunatly in a country with only 5 million people the press there is fuelled by click bait journailsm.
They spent the last 12 months tearing Jacinda to bits over her actions with covid.They give the smallest nut jobs mile and miles of ink just to get clicks
Fortunatley the public saw right through that and she won in a landslide at the election.
The NZ National party (see Republicans /Torries) tried to use the trump playbook and fell flat on their faces.
My brother and his wife are moving back from San Francisco to NZ with their daughter as they have zero faith in a vaccine being distributed fairly and successfully across the popultation.
Sitting here in Scotland and honestly wondering if we shouldnt do the same.
Sorry I havent been more active as Im trying to sort my back/comics/kickstarter life out!
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That’s what people said about Republicans supporting Trump, and more of them voted for him last year than in 2016. At this point I don’t see how anyone can realistically expect the Republicans to expel, punish, or otherwise censure the extremists in the party, or to engage in self-reflection.
I’m not thinking about the general electorate but about the GOP establishment here. And I don’t think what happened in the Capitol is comparable to anything that has gone before, as far as party politics are concerned. The experience must’ve been just as traumatising for the Republican members of the Senate as for the Democrat ones. This has shown them that the violence and hatred they’ve been encouraging and trying to harness can be unleashed on them anytime, without warning. Shitting your pants like that is the kind of thing that’ll make you reasses your perspective a little.
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Looks like it’s finally MySpace’s time to shine!
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It seems to me there isn’t really a healthy debate right now in the US. It’s not edgy or cool but I do think you need reconciliation somehow.
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That’s what people said about Republicans supporting Trump, and more of them voted for him last year than in 2016. At this point I don’t see how anyone can realistically expect the Republicans to expel, punish, or otherwise censure the extremists in the party, or to engage in self-reflection.
I’m not thinking about the general electorate but about the GOP establishment here. And I don’t think what happened in the Capitol is comparable to anything that has gone before, as far as party politics are concerned. The experience must’ve been just as traumatising for the Republican members of the Senate as for the Democrat ones. This has shown them that the violence and hatred they’ve been encouraging and trying to harness can be unleashed on them anytime, without warning. Shitting your pants like that is the kind of thing that’ll make you reasses your perspective a little.
Of course it’s rattled them to some degree, but that doesn’t mean they won’t turn around and cynically harness that energy in like two weeks’ time.
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My girlfriend thought it was really weird that Trump bothered tweeting that he wouldn’t be attending the inaguration, so her conspiracy theory is he said it so his rabid cult will know the inaguration is safe to attack. It’s honestly far more plausible than any of the nonsense Trump and his ilk spout off about. Also, looks like Twitter suspended Trump’s account. It’s gone now.
Security will definitely be a concern at the inaugeration. Especially so, since many of the officials and officers have resigned due to the security failures.
Police chief and two security officials resign over Capitol assault | US news | The Guardian
However, fortunately, the Secret Service is in charge of the inauguration.
Statement from the U.S. Secret Service on Inauguration Security | United States Secret Service
National Special Security Event – Wikipedia
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Well there can be consequences…but that doesn’t mean you don’t need healing. Of course people like the assholes who stormed the Capitol deserve punishment. But the division in the US is so big that it seems impossible to thrive as a country without trying to fix it.
What do you define “healing” as exactly? The people who were in charge for the last four years just threw a massive hissy fit about losing the election and instigated an inept coup against state, yet apparently it’s up to everyone else to “heal” the country? Fuck that noise.
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Unfortunatly in a country with only 5 million people the press there is fuelled by click bait journailsm. They spent the last 12 months tearing Jacinda to bits over her actions with covid.
To be honest it doesn’t surprise me there are right wing idiots and nutjobs there, they appear everywhere. The angle is more the way they are really protesting stuff that’s driven purely by an internet agenda. I’m assuming the only reason you have an anti-lockdown protest in a city with no lockdown is just copying what you’ve seen others do and blindly following the ‘rage’.
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Well alternatively you can continue living in a divided shithole, whatever suits you.
You are right Arjan in the sense that the division is definitely a bad thing. Especially in the US system which is really designed to work with consensus compared to more confrontational systems of government.
I do get the pushback from liberals though because it’s basically always them being asked to move towards the other side. If one side continually concedes the ground rather than both then you become a doormat.
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It’s more that insurrection has never been tolerated to any degree in the history of the United States. The obvious historic example that has had a fundamental effect on the USA of course is the Civil War. It is notable that before that war, people would say “The United States are…” and after they would say “The United States is…”
There is a danger here because the obvious legal course of action would be to treat these groups as exactly what they claim to be – insurrectionists. Naturally, if they were violent anarchist or communist groups like we had in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s or militant and separatist civil rights groups or rabidly racist rural paramilitaries like we had in the 60’s, they would be major targets for the Federal Government to arrest and eliminate.
The fact that they are mostly white, middle class and aligned with the interests of many of the most powerful politicians in the country makes the proper approach more difficult. Also, of course, there is the serious problem that for all the extremely vile philosophies and conspiracy theories that are propounded by the extreme groups, the truth is that our government is not transparent, abuses its police and surveillance powers, is too tied in to the military industry that drives conflicts around the world, and it does infringe and violate civil rights daily.
At the heart of the difficulty, I think, is the fact that the US government may have overwhelming force, but it does not have the true monopoly on violence that has really led to the current development of democratic nations. As Americans we have access to an incredible array of devastating legal weapons as well as gray and black markets of even more lethal weapons. I used to support personal gun ownership, but the facts of history – especially recent history – have not borne that position out. The truth is that nations that have instituted strict gun controls – including in their police forces – have proven to grow more democratic, prosperous, peaceful and secure.
We certainly need a complete reconsideration of the 2nd amendment that enforces membership in a “well-regulated militia” requirement for gun ownership. If anyone owns a gun, it should only be after rigorous and repeated reviews and be answerable to elected authorities.
