Enough With The Cutesy Titles, People Are Dead: US Politics January 2021 pt 2

I was talking abt this w/ someone last night and we speculated that the crackdown/arrests would necessarily put the breaks on any violence before the 20th...fingers crossed though it'll be a whimper

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/18/us-defense-officials-fear-insider-attack-biden-inauguration

i'm glad they're thinking about it/doing their best to vet the people who will be there.

when it comes to the military, it basically seems like we've been told all along - top brass would never accept or go along with a coup, but individuals within the military, even those who might have decent rank, definitely violate their oath to the Constitution.

even though there are 74 million Trump voters I think only a small handful of them are crazy enough to actually attempt a coup. they blew their shot on 2 weeks ago. I don't think they're going to get another chance like that.

Yeah that's the thing here -- there's not a 74 million person army. There was (in comparison to those numbers) an utterly miniscule clutch of deluded/rich/weird supporters who showed up in the first place -- from all over the country! this wasn't a groundswell of specific local support reflecting percentages across the board -- and then a smaller number of them who got in the building and then a smaller number of THEM who were out for blood. None of which is meant to be reassuring or an excuse, people are dead, more might have been, it's terrible all around! But...we gotta keep this in mind.

i'm going to be watching my back when I go out a little more, that's for sure.

but I"m mega paranoid as it is so that part isn't a problem

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/business/media/fox-news-seth-rich-settlement.html

fuckin ghouls

Agree with Ned. A lot of pants-wetters are like, "But 74 million people voted for him! The country is teetering on the precipice of insurrection!" Nah. 73,995,000 of those people are lazy fucks who shot their wad on Election Day. Of the remaining 5000 potentially violent/dangerous individuals, at least half are dumb as shit (cf. the guy who wore his police ankle monitor on his trip to DC, or all the ones who shouted their names into the camera, bare-faced, during the 1/6 rampage). This is one of the biggest examples of "Twitter/Facebook/Gab/etc. is not real life" I can imagine.

it was so clear that none of them even considered there would be consequences

they either thought they would a) succeed, with the assistance of the Capitol police and military by their side or b) wouldn't, but would be spared/pardoned by Trump

counterpoint: how many people voted for biden? do we think there are 81M ardent Biden fans willing to die for him? or is it more like a small margin that are the true believers (Jill), and a bunch of other people willing to go along with it? that's why i wet my pants about 74M trump voters. there's the marginal-crazy that can and will "storm the capitol" and then just stand there in it, once stormed, like a dog who is trying to figure out how to have sex with a car it caught. but then there are aaaaaall the other people (including Cruz, Hawley, etc etc) that are willing to step up and validate the marginal-crazy, over and over. it's not just the people who traveled from across the country, it is many more people

xposts

xxpost that one lady who cried and said "this isn't America, why are they shooting at us? they're supposed to be shooting at BLM!" being one of the most disgusting examples of their mindrot

there are armed lefties out there willing to take to the streets, but they knew it a folly to be there on January 6th. would have possibly been a bloodbath

but anyway, not trying to wet my pants about this again. i think the worst is over (for now), and yes, the fact that the 16th and 17th have passed without much trouble is very comforting (less comforting is the fact that the reason they didn't emerge is probably because it was a once in a lifetime event when mainstream media were loudly warning about the possibility of widespread violence for a week in advance, which led to every state making precautions and white supremacists telling each other to back down (for now), smartly, because it's clearly a trap). but i expect that anyone talking about pants-wetting right now, worrying about the issue of white supremacy and violence, was probably also telling me not to wet my pants about potential violence pre-1/6/21

It only takes one dumb as shit (or smart!) person with an assault weapon to do a ton of damage. Seeing a few hundred dumbs shits with weapons and a motive, however ill-conceived, it does not make me feel better that it's just a fraction of the millions of total dumb shits. Which is to say, I'm not worried about an insurrection, as such, I'm worried about all the other shit that could go wrong until these lunatics settle down a little. Which hopefully happens relatively quickly after this week is over, but let's just say as with most things in life these days, I have very low hopes.

also, just because i'm counterpointing everyone right now - unpopular opinion, but there are a TON of dumbasses on the left too

I'm not yet worried about them shooting or blowing up a crowd.

i expect that this inauguration will be "fine", meaning little violence. but that achievement comes in the reality of holding the ceremony in a heavily guarded warzone with a trillion cameras and barbed wire and bulletproof glass and security zones and free speech zones and all the rest. all while pretending that none of that exists, and that instead it's a normal, crisp January inauguration like any other. but it's not

You are right there. It's going to be a little unsettling seeing 25,000 Guardsmen on the lawn who are literally there to prevent a fuckin' insurrection

Not something i ever thought possible in my lifetime a decade ago

Not to mention that we are still taking our shoes off in airports because one guy tried to light his foot on fire and blow up a plane 20 years ago, god knows what this addition need for "security" might spiral into.

Toby Keith concerts must be performed in a dome

On Mars

if we get through today without any major incidents, i'll be happy. it seems too tempting for assholes to use their MLK day holiday to pull some crap

Celebrating Martin Luther King Day. With music by Sam Cooke, Herbie Hancock, and The Staples Singers. Also: Martin Luther King, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Charles Mingus, John Fahey, SNCC Freedom Singers, Sly and The Family Stone, Public Enemy, many more:
http://americanroutes.wwno.org/archives/show/420/Martin-Luther-King-Day Think there's a more recent version, just now in the radio, not posted yet apparently.

It only takes one dumb as shit (or smart!) person with an assault weapon to do a ton of damage.

This is true, and I'm 100% sure that as soon as we have mass gatherings again, we will have mass shootings again. And some of those maniacs will be wearing MAGA hats. But there's always been an underpants-gnomes quality to terrorism, to me:

Step 1: mass shooting event/blow up government building
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Society/the US government collapses and the rebels take over

January 6 was as close as we've gotten to actual sedition/rebellion since the end of the Civil War, and it was...not close at all.

we should have told them the Electoral Vote counting was on the 7th

BREAKING: Smoke rising behind Capitol building. Inauguration rehearsal appears to be evacuating. Emergency announcement playing at Capitol grounds. pic.twitter.com/86J9S8CsMY

— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) January 18, 2021

doh sorry wrong link

Not to mention that we are still taking our shoes off in airports because one guy tried to light his foot on fire

speak for yourself, I'm TSA plus, by which I mean to say more generally that the costs and constraints of all the extra security are inevitably and by design going to fall more lightly on people who can spend money to avoid being inconvenienced

I’m wondering if eating 10 weeks months between the election and the inauguration is the best idea?

These people still 'believe' the election was stolen - a circumstance which would probably justify violence. Not sure that has changed.

I’m wondering if eating 10 weeks months between the election and the inauguration is the best idea?

good old american exceptionalism

i guess the question is whether we should expect to see this again and take steps to address it, or if this is a one-time unique event:

What’ve seen is the President turn the transition period – something pretty unique to the American system – into a two-plus month long period in which the winner of the election has to fight to make sure the results of the election are honored. Given Trump’s history, the best way to view it is that Joe Biden won a court judgment against Trump and Trump said, “Fine, good luck enforcing it.”

Thank you for ignoring the gibberish typos in my comment Karl.

gibberish typos are my love language <3

After what we've seen I find it a little unsettling that enough ppl itt are so ready to underestimate what these people are capable of.

Also this idea that "only a fraction" are nutjobs, when +/- 80% of Republicans believe the election was stolen and Biden is illegitimate. "Only a fraction" of 70 million is....millions of people.

A lot of October posts dismissing the idea that anything near where what has *actually happened* was remotely possible. Anybody suggesting as much was an alarmist and "doomposting"

I for one am hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.

A lot of October posts dismissing the idea that anything near where what has *actually happened* was remotely possible. Anybody suggesting as much was an alarmist and "doomposting"

yeah, trying my best not to let this go down the memory hole

xp Hadrian otm

when you repeatedly tell tens of millions of gullible people with guns and a persecution complex that their country is being "stolen", you should expect the repercussions to continue coming for years, decades, lifetimes

It's funny, but I have no use for this thread at the moment. I wish I could just get banned from ILE sometimes.

i fully expect that my moment of death will be a heart attack, directly caused by arguing with some doofus whippersnapper in the mid-21st century that just SWEARS that trump actually won the 2020 election and they have the proof

there are other threads table!

xp table- it's good for your mental health to walk away from the internet!

visit the Hades thread on i love games. Hades is one of the best games of ALL TIME

I don't own a television, grew up without video games, don't play them now. Waste of time.

Just going to unbookmark this thread.

This thread helps my sanity.

sorry table, i didn't mean to run you off! i was just trying to be kind of funny, sorry. but yeah, i get unbookmarking this thread. it's a mix of bleakness and unwarranted optimism (or unwarranted bleakness and clearheaded optimism)

xp me too, and I know we have different coping mechanisms

total aside, i will say that there are things about games that are interesting and important, even if you don't play them. like, the structure of games influences art and narrative works as well (or it should)