Police State

[normiss 619]

1 hour ago, okalb said:

I don't think so. My guess is he sends more. He will need them to quell the violence that will occur when he challenges the election results based on nothing other than he can't accept the fact that he lost.

I can't imagine the national response to him trying to stop a peaceful democratic process of transfer of power.

If the current republicans continue to not support the nation during the pandemic, MORE people will have the time and the reasons to join the protests. I think it might result in the nation being shut down/stopped to make the public heard.

This might get interesting. Unless current leadership gets corona'ed off anyway.

[Phil1111 901]

40 minutes ago, normiss said:

This might get interesting. Unless current leadership gets corona'ed off anyway.

The current GOP leadership will be singing the Blues and double checking their banking accounts to make sure they stole enough for retirement.

[billvon 2,379]

50 minutes ago, normiss said:

I can't imagine the national response to him trying to stop a peaceful democratic process of transfer of power.

I can.  38% of Americans would support him 100%.  They will not say that they are "trying to stop a peaceful transfer of power" of course - they will claim they are trying to prevent democrats from illegally stealing the election.

[Phil1111 901]

1 hour ago, billvon said:

I can.  38% of Americans would support him 100%.  They will not say that they are "trying to stop a peaceful transfer of power" of course - they will claim they are trying to prevent democrats from illegally stealing the election.

With trump whipping them all the way. Putin meanwhile will be playing that narrative as hard as he can while smiling about four good years.

trump, the worst Russian government ever.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Phil1111

[nigel99 143]

On 7/24/2020 at 10:44 PM, wmw999 said:

I have a young relative who's involved with the current spate of activism. They are not vandalizing anything. They were arrested a couple of months ago on a protest-related charge, booked, and released without a charge.

They were picked up at home last night by officers who refused to show a warrant; taken downtown and strip-searched, and placed in a cell. Officers made too much noise (i.e. whistles, banging bars, etc) for any sleep to happen. Then late at night they were given their clothes back and told to walk home. No charge, no appearance, no nothing. Their main point in saying this was "if they have enough time on their hands to do this, why not invest a litlte more in health care and housing?"

This is not acceptable. I'm seeing the other side of the story. Do we want to spend more of our society's money controlling people, or providing for them? If freedom is so important, I'd imagine that controlling should be a last, rather than a first, resort.

Wendy P.

In sorry Wendy. That is a really stressful and disturbing situation 

[mistercwood 287]

2 hours ago, normiss said:

I can't imagine the national response to him trying to stop a peaceful democratic process of transfer of power.

I genuinely think he'd be relieved (but never admit it) if he loses. He doesn't want the actual job, he wants the attention and the adulation. Losing is the best of all worlds for him - he gets to go off and do whatever he wants again, while still claiming everything was rigged against him and claim how badly he was wronged.

[JoeWeber 2,294]

5 hours ago, BIGUN said:

No we're not. You're banned from CNN for a week. Go to your room.  

How can you not agree? What would it take to now cause you to agree that Trump is acting like an ascendent authoritarian? Joe did not claim that Trump was now, effectively, an authoritarian. But he is spot on that Trump would grab the brass ring given the chance. Keith, you're a sharp guy (except for your embarrassing failure to find a firing pin for my BRNO). What am I missing?

[turtlespeed 212]

3 hours ago, normiss said:

Unless current leadership gets corona'ed off anyway.

Careful - Weber doesn't appreciate it when you make light of the Rona.

[BIGUN 1,042]

12 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

Trump would grab the brass ring given the chance. What am I missing?

October 20, 1973

[Phil1111 901]

11 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

October 20, 1973

Oh, 43 years ago. Way back when the constitution mattered to the GOP. When the GOP stood up because backbones existed and were connected to independent brains within the GOP.

Scroll ahead to five minutes ago when trump tweeted about postponing the 2020 election. An executive order to follow?

Edited July 30, 2020 by Phil1111

[JoeWeber 2,294]

16 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

October 20, 1973

July 30, 2020. 

 

[BIGUN 1,042]

11 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

July 30, 2020. 

Morning, Joe. When is the left going to realize that this is just another ramble of the week until there's something bright & shiny to twitter about next week. Look at what he wrote . . . (Absentee Voting - Good) Absentee Voting IS Mail-In voting. This too will pass. Quit worrying about him becoming a dictator - There's too many veterans who sleep with the constitution to allow that to happen.    

[gowlerk 1,901]

4 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

Morning, Joe. When is the left going to realize that this is just another ramble of the week until there's something bright & shiny to twitter about next week. Look at what he wrote . . . (Absentee Voting - Good) Absentee Voting IS Mail-In voting. This too will pass. Quit worrying about him becoming a dictator - There's too many veterans who sleep with the constitution to allow that to happen.    

Trump exposes both  the weaknesses of American democracy, and its strengths. It’s hard to conceive of a greater test then the last four years.

[kallend 1,618]

13 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

 But he is spot on that Trump would grab the brass ring given the chance.

Even if there's a pussy to be grabbed?

[BIGUN 1,042]

3 minutes ago, kallend said:

Even if there's a pussy to be grabbed?

HEY, let's be a little more respectful of the disabled, please.  Alien Hand Syndrome is a debilitating problem. 

[kallend 1,618]

2 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

HEY, let's be a little more respectful of the disabled, please.  Alien Hand Syndrome is a debilitating problem. 

Right along with being infected with demon sperm and a bad dose of alien DNA.

[BIGUN 1,042]

5 minutes ago, kallend said:

Right along with being infected with demon sperm and a bad dose of alien DNA.

There ya go - I knew you had a little more compassion. 

[wolfriverjoe 1,339]

14 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

Morning, Joe. When is the left going to realize that this is just another ramble of the week until there's something bright & shiny to twitter about next week. Look at what he wrote . . . (Absentee Voting - Good) Absentee Voting IS Mail-In voting. This too will pass. Quit worrying about him becoming a dictator - There's too many veterans who sleep with the constitution to allow that to happen.    

Not necessarily. I can 'absentee vote' in person at my city hall. 

There is over 1/3 of the country that supports this idiot and his agenda.

I know people who think that the feds in Portland should switch to 'real' ammo. 

They want Trump to send all the blacks back to Africa. And all the Latinos back to Mexico. 

I agree that the military (both active and not) will, to a large degree oppose him and his criminal behavior.

But he's already trying to delay the election. That was out today. 

I honestly don't believe it will happen. 

But I fully believe Trump wants to put a dictatorship in place. As do many of his supporters. 
And to think it cannot happen is rather naive. 

And the chaos that would happen should he seriously try is frightening. 

I think that's what Putin is trying to get to happen. To weaken the US as much as possible. He's done a pretty good job of pulling Trump's strings to make it happen. See the troop withdrawl from Germany. 

[BIGUN 1,042]

7 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Not necessarily. I can 'absentee vote' in person at my city hall. 

There is over 1/3 of the country that supports this idiot and his agenda.

I know people who think that the feds in Portland should switch to 'real' ammo. 

They want Trump to send all the blacks back to Africa. And all the Latinos back to Mexico. 

I agree that the military (both active and not) will, to a large degree oppose him and his criminal behavior.

But he's already trying to delay the election. That was out today. 

I honestly don't believe it will happen. 

But I fully believe Trump wants to put a dictatorship in place. As do many of his supporters. 
And to think it cannot happen is rather naive. 

And the chaos that would happen should he seriously try is frightening. 

I think that's what Putin is trying to get to happen. To weaken the US as much as possible. He's done a pretty good job of pulling Trump's strings to make it happen. See the troop withdrawl from Germany. 

Holy shit, Brother. Do you even sleep at night? 

[JoeWeber 2,294]

22 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

Morning, Joe. When is the left going to realize that this is just another ramble of the week until there's something bright & shiny to twitter about next week. Look at what he wrote . . . (Absentee Voting - Good) Absentee Voting IS Mail-In voting. This too will pass. Quit worrying about him becoming a dictator - There's too many veterans who sleep with the constitution to allow that to happen.    

In fairness, Joe said "approaching an authoritarian dictatorship." I believe the tweet conforms. I'm also not keen on dismissing as transient and benign what to my eye is another Trump fishing expedition to check support and opposition. I believe Trump would cancel the election and assume authoritarian power if he could and he may well try even knowing that he cannot. There weren't any Black Swans until there were and until I see a million armed Vets marching on Washington well in advance of the election demanding his ouster I'm going with what seems obvious: they're on Trumps side.
 

[BIGUN 1,042]

3 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

they're on Trumps side.

I know a myriad of veterans - you'd be surprised at how many of them are not going to vote for Trump. Lately, I have been wondering if Trump is trying to lose the election. so he can get out of the job. 

[ryoder 1,380]

1 minute ago, BIGUN said:

I know a myriad of veterans - you'd be surprised at how many of them are not going to vote for Trump. Lately, I have been wondering if Trump is trying to lose the election. so he can get out of the job. 

If he really doesn't want the job, he is free to resign at any time. No one is forcing him to stay. But as a narcissist, he is addicted to power.

[JoeWeber 2,294]

1 minute ago, BIGUN said:

I know a myriad of veterans - you'd be surprised at how many of them are not going to vote for Trump. Lately, I have been wondering if Trump is trying to lose the election. so he can get out of the job. 

I'm not surprised that you have the guy's in your circle thinking right, hell you've nearly coopted me a few times. But, unfortunately, owing to how we've built our armed forces over the last number of decades there is now an over representation of Christians and right wingers in uniform. So, I'm not quite hopeful.

[BIGUN 1,042]

9 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

Christians and right wingers in uniform. So, I'm not quite hopeful.

Don't confuse active duty with veterans.

For veterans under the age of 45, 51 percent voted for Obama. Of those ages 45 to 59, 53 percent voted for Obama. That was significant, especially since Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was a prisoner of war, our country was still in an active state of war, and Obama was against the war in Iraq.

https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2019/02/27/why-democratic-candidates-should-court-the-veteran-vote-in-2020/

[JoeWeber 2,294]

24 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

Don't confuse active duty with veterans.

For veterans under the age of 45, 51 percent voted for Obama. Of those ages 45 to 59, 53 percent voted for Obama. That was significant, especially since Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was a prisoner of war, our country was still in an active state of war, and Obama was against the war in Iraq.

https://www.militarytimes.,com/opinion/commentary/2019/02/27/why-democratic-candidates-should-court-the-veteran-vote-in-2020/

Even if I am confused, and I'll look to Coreece for further clarification, I'm only confused by a few percent. In any case, grabbing a ballot and grabbing a gun aren't equivalent actions. You wouldn't happen to have data on how the officers voted versus enlisted, would you? Seems to me that might have a few clues in it.