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

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?

yeah ok i'm not crazy this is the beach
http://www.cityofbrooklyncenter.org/index.aspx?NID=463&MOBILE=OFF

yeah brooklyn center and park are next to each other kinda dumb and confusing

the Senate, the FBI, the military, etc

yeah our oath is to the constitution buddy

nobody pledged loyalty to the president. Maybe that’s the NYPD union you’re thinking about

I mean the intelligence community has spent four years leaking dirt on this guy and publicly disagreeing with him despite being subjected to a series of increasingly dimwitted sycophants as their appointed leadership

lol The Dems should name all future reforms after him so he could boast of the number of laws he got changed.

Robbinsdale, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park (where Hesse Ventura was mayor) have always been more lower middle class than other north/northwest Hennepin County suburbs eg. Plymouth and Golden Valley. They are all old-school suburbs, though, and the next move for people who lived in north/northeast Minneapolis in the mid-20th century.

Thread:

Let's not pretend that we are at the mercy of Trump, or that we give two hoots about whether he will "respect" the results of the election.

Secret service can escort him out of the White House in January.https://t.co/mIpUgWeL37

— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) September 23, 2020

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

“Lived” but I did love it.

xxpost Very good thread, thank you Alfred

It’s not that I think Trump can get away with not accepting the results, it’s that he felt comfortable enough to voice that in the first place that should concern us.

he feels comfortable saying a lot of shit

he felt comfortable enough to voice that

The fact that Trump works hard even to appear comfortable in his own skin tells us that he will never willingly or consciously tip people off how he afraid he feels about being turned out of office and the possible consequences of that. I don't think Biden will encourage the Justice Dept. to go after him on criminal charges, but I'm completely in the dark about whether Biden would do the 'full pardon' thing in order to calm down the White Militia/Q-Anon die-hards in the hope they won't kill a hundred or so innocent people.

I think Biden would go after him

in order to calm down the White Militia/Q-Anon die-hards in the hope they won't kill a hundred or so innocent people.

I think enough people in Biden's orbit (and possible White House) are fully aware those people are trolls and cowards that'll shit the bed before even getting to that stage.

I think on principle Biden should go after him otherwise the rule of law is further weakened. Is it already inevitable that somebody more organised is going to come along and try to repeat what t has been doing but in a more organised, effective way. Unless the loopholes that have been exploited are patched up or removed.

America is broken and needs to heal itself before doing anything else. I'm getting tired of hearing references to a return to American leadership. The civil rights problems that are being highlighted now have been constant subtexts for decades even centuries.
But even supposedly liberal media uses that as an idea of a norm that needs to be returned to.
We've just spent nearly 4 years showing how problematic that can be and it seems the rest of the world is feeling the effect of that too.

Hoping for a less chaotic future.

Me too

Thanks for that thread, Alfred. I may sleep better tonight!