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

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)

I'm all for optimistic bleakness!

I come and go on this thread, but I am damn sure keeping up until the 22nd at least

in the same way that one might not watch tv, but it's still important and useful to know about it because it has had such a pervasive influence on EVERYTHING since it existed

xp

Same

CNN headline: "Harris resigns"--what????!!!--"from the Senate ahead of inauguration."

what if the true kamala conspiracy theory is that BOTH biden and harris are going to be overwhelmed by their physical and mental deterioration, giving us _president nancy pelosi_ by fall 2021!??

Inbox: Speaker Pelosi sent a letter late yesterday to Acting Defense Secretary Miller demanding an immediate halt to "the improper process of installing unqualified Trump-loyalist Michael Ellis" as the new NSA General Counsel 72 hours prior to the beginning of the new admin.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 18, 2021

I won't let on exactly why I unbookmarked, but I will say that it isn't the bleakness. I eat bleakness three meals a day.

I don't want to get in one of the old ILX challops tropes, and I really don't think this stance makes me superior to anyone, but I just really don't think that knowing about or understanding television is important, and considering that I've gone 15+ years without a proper TV or cable, not much is going to change my mind about that. (Yes, I have Netflix).

The video games thing I understand, it's just very much not for me— if I'm going to waste time in a fantasy world, I'd rather be reading. Also, again, raised without TV.

There really needs to be a purge of these Trump turds. The Deep-Clean State.

The lefty journalist David Klion was acquaintances with Michael Ellis in high school and wrote about him a few months ago:

Ellis was awkward and gangly, like the rest of us, but he had a certain old-fashioned gallantry; always well-mannered, always chivalrous. He was intelligent, a star student at Richard Montgomery High School’s competitive international baccalaureate program, from which he would go on to Dartmouth College(where he edited the Dartmouth Review) and Yale Law School. He was an Eagle Scout, a classical music aficionado, and an unabashed snob. He subscribed to National Review and once chided me for reading Entertainment Weekly, and he made a point of not listening to any contemporary popular music—no alternative rock or hip-hop for him. He sometimes wore bowties; he rotated daily between vintage Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, and Richard Nixon campaign buttons; and he carried a pocket Constitution to deploy during arguments.

He was by far the more competent and hard-working of the two of us, and his reward for that has been to carry water for both of the most destructive presidents of our lifetime. As our cohort became more politically conscious toward the end of high school, some of the women we knew began questioning how Michael could support a party opposed to their reproductive rights. “Michael’s response was that he didn’t really care one way or another about abortion rights and just enjoyed politics and thought that you could have more fun as a Republican,” one friend and fellow veteran of our Diplomacy games told me.

Speaking of games, Jan 15 New Yorker Radio Hour (incl. xp Mogelson) And a game designer offers insights on how the fantastical, wholly fictional narrative of QAnon has captivated so many people—to such dangerous effect. He also suggests ways to counteract, but I dunno...
Posted here: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/458929150/the-new-yorker-radio-hour

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.

Actually, the Jan. 6 assault *was* close. By some reports they were seconds away from getting to Pence, and had they made it into congress with one assault weapon or bomb or grenade - and there *were* bombs and molotov cocktails discovered elsewhere - they could have killed or injured dozens. And they weren't stopped because they were met by overwhelming force or anything, they failed because they lacked the necessary tools (weapons and smarts and imagination). But had they succeeded in that window of opportunity? If several members of congress and/or the VP were killed or incapacitated? I'm not sure what the next step after that would have been. Again, they weren't really *stopped.* They were left wandering around for ages. So were they "close?" Absolutely, as close as anyone has ever gotten to effectively taking out a big part of the government.

xp The game designer recognizes a lot of classic techniques, but says such projects usually burn out after a few years at most---this has become more of a back-and-forth, expansive, Tik Tok-type folk process (my terms---also I recall, maybe from 90s doc, a salesman who shrugged off then-recent"revelations" of certain Mormon documents as bogus: he grew up in this still-golden Promised Land culture, and whattayagonnado anyway)