People that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows -- US Politics September 2020

I feel somewhat confident in claiming that Barry Manilow wrote the Bumblebee Tuna jingle: "bum-bum-bumblebee, bumblebee tooona!"

xpost contingent on losing the election *while* having created enough noise and confusion surrounding mail-in voting to build popular support for the notion that what actually happened is the Democrats created "chaos" and the results are therefore somehow suspect.

obviously flimsy logically and also constitutionally - if the sacred Framers had intended state legislators to just pick the electors, they would have said so, like they did for state legislators picking Senators. instead they articulated the baroque and problematic Electoral College system.

the scariest part to me is the doubletalk non-answers when public officials and politicians are pressed --- no sense that they're obliged to flatly deny an obvious plan for election-stealing, instead taking it as an opportunity to continue muddying the waters about mail-in. a lie repeated often enough, etc. hopefully most non-cultists aren't buying it but, god.

yeah i dunno, my stomach hurts all the time when i even try to think about this

I had to stop reading at some point because it made me enraged. What is the best organization providing election-day monitoring/legal assistance to which to donate?

Alcoholics Anonymous

They'll never get me no matter how hard they try.

Imagine if he put this much work and planning into actual fucking governance.

Trump’s personal capacity for flooding the channel with noise to confuse easily duped morons is his main (only) talent, but to actually fuck with the electors will require the GOP as a whole to function like a reasonably well maintained machine.

When they held the trifecta from 2016-2018 they couldn’t even pass a budget. They got through one tax cut bill. That’s it.

they get their shit together for ratfucking though

the scariest part to me is the doubletalk non-answers when public officials and politicians are pressed

paired with the disbelief that fascism is at the door, among just about everyone. seriously, the last few days have me freaked

What is the best organization providing election-day monitoring/legal assistance to which to donate?

― Quiet Storm Thorgerson (PBKR), Wednesday, September 23, 2020 11:28 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I just looked to see if Marc Elias (Democratic lawyer who has been filing lawsuits to expand ballot access) was recommending anything, and it turns out he has an organization called Democracy Docket, which you can donate to: https://www.democracydocket.com/

60% of the country really really hates this guy. That is not going to change between now and January. That can’t be waved away by half-assed attempts at ratfuckery conducted by a caucus of buffoons.

they get their shit together for ratfucking though

well, while getting blown up pieces they managed to pick up some Senate seats

I'm not even sure Trump wants the job; he just doesn't want anyone else to have it. The humiliation of being the first one-term president in 30 years is too much to bear.

he'll get a higher % votes than GHWB in '92. I'm sure he'll tell us that.

_the scariest part to me is the doubletalk non-answers when public officials and politicians are pressed _

paired with the disbelief that fascism is at the door, among just about everyone. seriously, the last few days have me freaked

Actual defenses of the President's hateful statements
-He's not as much of a racist as Woodrow Wilson
-He's not smart enough to understand white nationalism
-He also says hateful things about women and is abusive toward many groupshttps://t.co/ZDdEJ3J4fV pic.twitter.com/2vobbwa3mI

— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) September 23, 2020

lots of batshit justifications but my favorite one is that trump isn't smart enough to by an ideological white nationalist. sure, man, white nationalism is sooooo complex.

coming soon: 100 Smartest White Nationalists

If all the fears expressed in that Atlantic article come to pass, I am forced to conclude that the fate of the nation would be determined by the loyalty and sense of duty among the US armed forces, particularly the general staff officers.

to by *to be

If all the fears expressed in that Atlantic article come to pass, I am forced to conclude that the fate of the nation would be determined by the loyalty and sense of duty among the US armed forces, particularly the general staff officers.

the guys who lack the courage to go on the record with their honest opinions of Trump's presidency?

that is not filling me with confidence

(xpost) No idea, but if it ever did come to that, my hope is that a) there are clearly many retired military people who despise Trump (they're on cable news all the time), and that b) although they're retired, the upper echelon of the military is filled with their friends.

maybe it was the Portland paramilitary hysteria that did it, but I'm extremely dismissive of hypothetical liberal doomsday scenarios. vigilance is fine of course

that is not filling me with confidence

it doesn't fill me with confidence, either. but this is not such a slender reed upon which to base one's hope as you might think. the military cultivates a particular kind of patriotic ideology that genuinely elevates loyalty to the traditions of democracy and rule of law above whoever occupies civilian office.

atm, Trump is seen as the democratically elected idiot they are bound to serve. if the election aftermath is Trump-generated chaos with Biden winning the popular vote but the Electoral College result undermined by subterfuge, Trump's claim to authority will not be clear and until it is clear he will revert to just an idiot they loathe.

Way more worried about the antisocial elements unleashed by this POS.

State Senate, pro-Biden rally canceled after threats of violence

The rally was called off Saturday after an anonymous caller warned organizers that "shots will be fired" if the event was held in downtown Gettysburg, said Rich Sterner, a Democratic candidate for the state's 33rd Senate District.

We're going to be cleaning up after this c**t for years.

"maybe it was the Portland paramilitary hysteria that did it, but I'm extremely dismissive of hypothetical liberal doomsday scenarios"

having honestly not followed it much beyond the superficial, what was the outcome of people getting pulled off the streets and into vans, etc? were they just released? we don't have people permanently disappeared, do we?

Both sides, people. BOTH. SIDES.

Here's what's happening, 41 days until #Election2020:

• 200,000 in U.S. dead from virus. Trump gives himself "A+" on pandemic

• Joe Biden battles being chronically late

• Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Delaware defends Ginsburg memehttps://t.co/8T8pYkG9na

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) September 23, 2020

are those multiple choice questions

akm: I've mostly followed Portland through Robert Evan's reporting. Evidently a few people who put their foot on the sidewalk outside the Fed building were abducted by unmarked Fed agents, charged with trespassing on Federal property, and released if they agreed to not participate in lawful/peaceful protests in the future. The local ACLU was all over it a couple months ago.

So, there are no disappeared people (yet). Homeland Security, and their BORTAC and hired Blackwater goons don't know how to deter 1st Amendment protected protests. If you march with BLM there's a good chance the Nazis will tear gas you, but unless they can pin arson/vandalism on you they aren't holding protesters indefinitely. Yet.

Too many dumb Trumpists wearing "RWDS" or helicopter murder T-shirts to assume this will last indefinitely. They think they're fighting a communist insurgency, and their amygdalas are firing. But I think there won't be many political murders until after this election.

thanks Sanpaku; hyperbolic reports from segments of the left bother me as it damages credibility.

Committing insurance fraud to own the libs... (This is the Brooklyn in Minnesota, not the New York one.)

A Brooklyn Center resident says their house was targeted by “BLM/Antifa” this morning and a camper, trucks and garage were set ablaze. pic.twitter.com/GK6nuHXRXO

— TC Crime Watch (@TCCrimeWatch) September 23, 2020

"joe biden battles being chronically late" wow relatable joe. never thought i'd see the day

this is a step in the right direction toward trying to repair this shitty country after the election, if we can just get there:

House Democrats unveiled a sweeping package of changes Wednesday morning designed to strengthen Congress’s ability to check the executive branch and prevent abuses of power, especially by the president.

The package, which its architects have informally referred to as “post-Trump reforms,” includes measures to restrain the president’s power to grant pardons and declare national emergencies, to prevent federal officials from enriching themselves and to accelerate the process of enforcing congressional subpoenas in court. It also includes provisions to protect inspectors general and whistleblowers, increase penalties for officials who subvert congressional appropriations or engage in overt political activity and safeguard against foreign election interference.

The proposals were introduced at a news conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning.

Taken together, the measures represent the Democrats’ attempt to correct what they have identified as systematic deficiencies during the course of President Trump’s tenure and impeachment, in the style of changes Congress adopted after Richard Nixon left office.

Unlike the post-Watergate reforms, however, which took years to enact, today’s House Democrats have collected their proposed changes under one bill reflecting several measures that have been percolating piecemeal through the House.

In a joint statement, seven committee chairs signaled their legislation is intended to “prevent future presidential abuses, restore our checks and balances, strengthen accountability and transparency, and protect our elections.”

Brooklyn Center is an inner ring suburb, affluent and white when I was a kid, now very ethnically diverse and lower middle/middle class now. There's a some lakes there and it's my dream to buy a house on one, the prices are insanely low for lakefront property. Only problem is "insanely low for lakefront property" =/ I can afford it.

xp
also, i think there's a political benefit to passing post-trump reform in the house, and then letting the senate GOP obstruct passage of it in Spring 2021. keep tying them with the obvious lying fascist even after he's left, never let them move on from it

Ha! You notice they spray-painted "BIDEN" as well as BLM and the anarchy sign. Anarchists don't like Biden - they like Kropotkin.... that's a dead giveaway.

There’s an even funnier possibility it’s supposed to be A for antifa, instead of the three arrows.

And it looks like blue spray paint.. no self-respecting marxist rabble-rouser would use blue paint.

Brooklyn Center is an inner ring suburb, affluent and white when I was a kid, now very ethnically diverse and lower middle/middle class now. There's a some lakes there and it's my dream to buy a house on one, the prices are insanely low for lakefront property. Only problem is "insanely low for lakefront property" =/ I can afford it.

Brooklyn Center is an inner ring suburb, affluent and white when I was a kid, now very ethnically diverse and lower middle/middle class now. There's a some lakes there and it's my dream to buy a house on one, the prices are insanely low for lakefront property. Only problem is "insanely low for lakefront property" =/ I can afford it.

Oops!

This is interesting... From Politico:
The RNC sent $1.3 million to the Republican Party of Texas in August, double what it sent in July and on par with what central battlegrounds like Arizona and North Carolina are getting. It’s also the biggest transfer ever from the RNC to the Texas state party....

They're now a little worried about Texas! Crazy times.

it says brooklyn in minnesota, not maryland. signed an expert on brooklyn park, maryland. lol.

starting to get a little worried about November, particularly in light of shit like this

Asked if he'll commit to a peaceful transition of power, Trump says he will not, and says that if you "get rid of the [mail in?] ballots" there won't be any transfer of power to worry about.

— Susan Simpson (@TheViewFromLL2) September 23, 2020

we know that Trump absolutely will not accept a loss (especially if he wins "in person" voting but loses once mail-ins are counted) and half the federal government and most federal judges are absolutely subservient to him. my gut feeling is he'll whine and gnash his teeth, shit will get ugly on the streets, but ultimately things will be okay, but I do believe there's like...a 20% chance that America is basically over after November

XPS They wanna protect and regain congressional seats here.

xpost - it's Twin Lake which I think is Brooklyn Center, at least the beach I take my daughter to is, if anything it might be Robbinsdale

also I'm talking early 80s

oh lol there is a brooklyn park in MN, boring's username made me think he was confusing it with another brooklyn park

half the federal government ... are absolutely subservient to him

Uh, how do you mean? The Senate?