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US Politics: Nine Days in January


Fragile Bird

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I don't think the below has been posted.  Debunks the items that Trump would be stipped of if impeached.  He can even run in 2024, unless the Senate votes specifically to disallow him (which requires a straight up and down vote). 

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/01/11/politics/fact-check-tweet-trump-impeachment-run-2024-secret-service/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

 

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@Kalbear Total Landscaping
@Ormond

Gents, in this case - absolutely. I am 100% OK with my characterization and I will die on this hill. I understand what you are saying about how humans are susceptible to lying to themselves when the truth is difficult to bear - and indeed that this is probably a necessary survival mechanism and that we all do it to a certain degree. I would agree with the argument that religion, for a pretty mainstream example, is definitely a manifestation of this. Got that.

My point is that we are talking about some next level shit here. Religion necessarily relies on faith. Unlike spiritual ideas, these conspiracies exist in a realm where if they are true, they should definitely be provable. There should be clear demonstrable evidence. 

The pope has been arrested for pedophilia when he clearly hasn’t. Hilary Clinton is running a pedophile ring out of a DC pizza parlor, when she isn’t. Trump has invoked the insurrection act - he hasn’t. The military is helping Trump stay in office - they aren’t. Trump - and just pause to think about this for a second here - Donald Fucking Trump is the last great hope of humanity against Satan worshipping, infant blood-drinking Democrats and globalist pedophiles hell bent on destroying America, capitalism, and Western society.  

It isn’t like there’s some grey area here or that these are matters of personal faith - ALL of it is false. There is no proof for any of it. All it has taken is some internet opportunists and the complicity of Trump who won’t dispel the rumors, most likely because he has a titanic ego and the conspiracies place him in a messianic role, which he likes.

And honestly the items I mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Q and the surge in right-wing conspiracy thinking. It’s straight up nuts and I really do believe that those who are balls deep into this are particularly emotionally weak. 

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1 hour ago, Relic said:

Worth reading - 

https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5

When I saw QAnon, I knew exactly what it was and what it was doing. I had seen it before. I had almost built it before. It was gaming’s evil twin. A game that plays people. (cue ominous music)

Very interesting, thanks for posting. 

Loved this line:

It’s like a Darwinian fiction lab, where the best stories and the most engaging and satisfying misinterpretations rise to the top and are then elaborated upon for the next version.

Even Q-Anon was only one of several “anons” including FBIanon and CIAanon, etc, etc. Q rose to the top, so it got its own YouTube channels. That tested, so it moved to Reddit. The theories that didn’t work, disappeared while others got up-voted. It’s ingenious. It’s AI with a group-think engine. The group, led by the puppet masters, decide what is the most entertaining and gripping explanation, and that is amplified. It’s a Slenderman board gone amok.

 

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Quote

 

truly think it is mainly fueled by economic anxiety, but they're displacing that anxiety. This is the hegemony our oligarchy uses to keep people from revolting against them. "It's not the lack of financial security that's upsetting you--if you work hard you'll do fine. So work harder. Unless you have illegal aliens and people of color and women unfairly taking the work that has always been rightfully yours." In a lot of ways, it probably feels easier to believe these lies than deal with the truth that the America they were told they lived in doesn't exist and maybe never did.

@Simon Steele
I can’t agree with this. I see how the idea could be appealing to leftists. The idea that trumpism and the rise of the far right could/would be solved if everyone had a decent standard of living.

That if people’s basic needs are met they’ll act rationally and there would not be a significant level of support for people like Trump.

But there’s not a lot of evidence for this. 
Trump supporters tended to be richer than Clinton’s https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/9/15592634/trump-clinton-racism-economy-prri-survey

Rural voter—who made up Trump’s biggest support—don’t show an inclination to vote for trump on any economic anxiety.

But the view that America continuing to be vote is preferable.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-donald-trump-white-rural-voters-20170619-story.html

This notion of trumpism and the far right being fueled by economic anxiety can actually help add onto the fire by luring some people who are concerned with those things into believing that’s the primary grievance of the far right.

@Lollygag

In a previous you cautioned against monolithiicthing Trump supporters.

I think that’s a fair view to hold.
If I was pro-life I could see that easily casting my vote for him on that basis.

Or an evangelical Christian who thinks supporting Israel s crucial.

And many second generation Cuban Americans would vote for Trump because of fearmongering about Democrats being commies or socialists.

I get that that there are Trump supporters whose primary motivation for supporting him isn’t his overt racism.

But a significant amount of his popularity was that.Take the past year; the economy was tanked.

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This article makes a pretty good argument on how Democrats may be pursing impeachment.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/10/trump-impeachment-articles-incite-insurrection-seditious-conspiracy-456937

Such as neglecting to put in charges for trying to tamper with the election results in Georgia, or his explicit urging of pence to just give Trump the presidency.

 

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Does it matter too much? You could quibble about what charges they might have a stronger chance of proving in court but does anyone really think they'll get enough Republican votes in the Senate for it to matter either way? It's really more of a symbolic demonstration of what Congress should be doing in the face of such a palpably unfit/corrupt President as Trump rather than any expectation it's actually going to produce results. 

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Frankly terrifying article about a security briefing House Democrats got late last night...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democrats-briefed-plot-overthrow-government_n_5ffd29a4c5b691806c4bf199

Intel on new plots against the Capitol

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On a private call Monday night, new leaders of the Capitol Police told House Democrats they were closely monitoring three separate plans that could pose serious threats to members of Congress as Washington prepares for Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. 

The first is a demonstration billed as the “largest armed protest ever to take place on American soil.” 

Another is a protest in honor of Ashli Babbitt, the woman killed while trying to climb into the Speaker’s Lobby during Wednesday’s pro-Trump siege of the Capitol. 

And another demonstration, which three members said was by far the most concerning plot, would involve insurrectionists forming a perimeter around the Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court, and then blocking Democrats from entering the Capitol ― perhaps even killing them ― so that Republicans could take control of the government.

 

The Pentagon preparing for what sounds like literal civil war...

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Democrats were told that the Capitol Police and the National Guard were preparing for potentially tens of thousands of armed protesters coming to Washington and were establishing rules of engagement for warfare. In general, the military and police don’t plan to shoot anyone until one of the rioters fires, but there could be exceptions.

Concern that a member of congress could be a security threat...

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One topic of discussion was the need to put every member of Congress through a metal detector before the inauguration. A member on the call told HuffPost that there was an “eyes-wide-open realization” that Capitol Police needed to take precautions against “all these members who were in league with the insurrectionists who love to carry their guns.”

“You can’t just let them bypass security and walk right up to [Joe] Biden and [Kamala] Harris at inauguration,” this lawmaker told HuffPost.

 

Things have the potential to get so fucked.

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33 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Does it matter too much? You could quibble about what charges they might have a stronger chance of proving in court but does anyone really think they'll get enough Republican votes in the Senate for it to matter either way? It's really more of a symbolic demonstration of what Congress should be doing in the face of such a palpably unfit/corrupt President as Trump rather than any expectation it's actually going to produce results. 

They could honestly charge him with a dozen things. It doesn't matter what they picked.

 

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22 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

After years of closing lines and brands, GM just announced a new brand name, to sell electric vehicles, commercial vehicles.

And what manly name would you pick to sell commercial electric vehicles?

Brightdrop.

 

That should work.

I guess this is worthy of discussion, but for the life of me I can't understand why you posted it in this thread. 

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Just now, Ormond said:

I guess this is worthy of discussion, but for the life of me I can't understand why you posted it in this thread. 

Well, we talk about politics and the economy,  the environment, climate policy, climate deniers, Biden’s policies, rejoining the Paris treaty etc etc, this does seem like the right place. What thread would I post it? The Good News thread? The Small Things thread?

 

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I thought Brightdrop was a care bear? 
sigh, who are sponsors for Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro? ( I don’t watch)Who are the worst/ most influential? I understand there are already companies distancing from the Trumpers, but can’t hurt to give some support on this. My state politicians have already condemned the actions, so I should message them, too, giving thumbs up.

By the way, immigrant documents that one signs, specifically ask if your purpose is to overthrow the government. Can’t imagine who would tick that box. I guess they could revoke your citizenship if you lied?

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I believe the single biggest advertiser on Fox is the My Pillow guy.

I wonder if anyone charged and convicted with the attack on the Capitol might lose their citizenship. Trump put new rules in place, didn’t he? I might just be imagining that.

re: Sheldon Adelson. He was Trumps biggest contributor in 2016, he donated $100 M in 2018, and he donated $218 M in 2020. He’s gone, but his wife is still alive. I suspect a little thing like a Trump-led coup event won’t change her donation policy.

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Question for you DC insider types.

My House rep (Ashley Hinson - R) has made a fuss about receiving a copy of China Daily. From what I can gather, it's a paper that is delivered to congress (just the house?) automatically. Apparently this has been happening for years and other congress members have raised concerns about it. It has been labeled communist propaganda by the State Dept.

So what is this all about? Why would they be receiving this? It seems like a strange thing to get, but I assume there is a reason (I don't automatically assume it's a good reason, however).

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