All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Farealmer]

Andrew Yang tweets:
“If they raided his home just to find classified documents he took from The White House,” one legal expert noted, “he will be re-elected president in 2024, hands down. It will prove to be the greatest law enforcement mistake in history.”

https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/statu...89150687072256

Do you have an opinion not put there by Mr. Yang?

[CaptainEurope]

Do you have an opinion not put there by Mr. Yang?

That's unfair, he also has opinions put there by this guy. One of the three. You pick.

[Dalak]

That's a good point.

A civil war won't start with one idiot. It would have to be the sense that the idiot was able to get away with it.

It's not a protestor taking the first shot, as much as it would be local prosecutors making it clear they're on the shooter's side.

No it's not a good point, and ignores large-scale riots and a world war caused by the wrong person getting shot at the wrong time. What you describe here is a direct consequence of that as well so doesn't discount what I said at all. It also ignores that the person killed could be famous of influential in their own right and just happened to be caught up in a protest if they weren't there deliberately. Could you imagine the reaction if Dwayne Johnson or Idris Elba were gunned down at such a protest?

Before any strawman BS from anyone: I am not saying this will lead to world war, but it can turn what were probably peaceful protests against a blatant power grab (as I described) into full on riots/magnify outright riots that could lead to more. I also find this dismissal of a civil war being caused now that ELECTED GOP are mentioning it as a possibility very suspect. The fact that I brought it up as a hypothetical for it to become so real so quickly is terrifying as well.

[Mister Mets]

No it's not a good point, and ignores large-scale riots and a world war caused by the wrong person getting shot at the wrong time. What you describe here is a direct consequence of that as well so doesn't discount what I said at all. It also ignores that the person killed could be famous of influential in their own right and just happened to be caught up in a protest if they weren't there deliberately. Could you imagine the reaction if Dwayne Johnson or Idris Elba were gunned down at such a protest?

Before any strawman BS from anyone: I am not saying this will lead to world war, but it can turn what were probably peaceful protests against a blatant power grab (as I described) into full on riots/magnify outright riots that could lead to more. I also find this dismissal of a civil war being caused now that ELECTED GOP are mentioning it as a possibility very suspect. The fact that I brought it up as a hypothetical for it to become so real so quickly is terrifying as well.

If there was a riot in response to an idiot doing something illegal that was certain to result in prosecution, that is the fault of the rioters. Violence should be discouraged. As the majority of people reading this board favor the American left, it should be clear that the regulars do not provide any moral permission for violence, and that they wish the same fate to any violent protesters as they would to January 6 rioters.

One key point here is the distinction between a new Civil War and something that's more like the troubles in Ireland, where many people died, there were restrictions on liberty, but it wasn't on the same level. That's another scenario that we still want to avoid, even if it's not as bad as a civil war.

There are some potential grey areas, and it may be important to set lines in the sand now rather than when there's a concrete situation that's politically loaded. If a standard celebrity were shot in a protest, that would be a catastrophically big deal, although the legal system would likely respond appropriately. But what if the celebrity is in the wrong? What if it's someone like Ezra Miller, especially a few months ago when they was mentally unwell but they hadn't yet been accused of grooming, or been the subject of restraining orders from fans in Hawaii? What if it's a right-wing celebrity has a meltdown at a protest and gets into a fight with authorities?

[Amadeus Arkham]

[babyblob]

NBC News and Fox News are reporting that Trump is very happy with the way the GOP has come to his defense and backed him up.

Well Duh! They are stroking his ego big time right now. He is playing the victim getting tons of attention and is now having the party fall all over themselves to paint him as the poor victim of the Libs and talk about how much they are outraged and love him.

[worstblogever]

More bad news for the orange criminal stain...the D.C. Court of Appeals rules that Congress’s House Ways & Means Committee can gain access to Trump's tax returns.

The ones he's been lying about and so desperately trying to hide.

I'd say the GOP will also now begin screaming, "DEFUND THE IRS!"

But they've been doing that for the past twelve years.

[Dalak]

If there was a riot in response to an idiot doing something illegal that was certain to result in prosecution, that is the fault of the rioters. Violence should be discouraged. As the majority of people reading this board favor the American left, it should be clear that the regulars do not provide any moral permission for violence, and that they wish the same fate to any violent protesters as they would to January 6 rioters.

One key point here is the distinction between a new Civil War and something that's more like the troubles in Ireland, where many people died, there were restrictions on liberty, but it wasn't on the same level. That's another scenario that we still want to avoid, even if it's not as bad as a civil war.

There are some potential grey areas, and it may be important to set lines in the sand now rather than when there's a concrete situation that's politically loaded. If a standard celebrity were shot in a protest, that would be a catastrophically big deal, although the legal system would likely respond appropriately. But what if the celebrity is in the wrong? What if it's someone like Ezra Miller, especially a few months ago when they was mentally unwell but they hadn't yet been accused of grooming, or been the subject of restraining orders from fans in Hawaii? What if it's a right-wing celebrity has a meltdown at a protest and gets into a fight with authorities?

I consider an uprising of the populace to replace the false authorities with ones chosen by the people counting as a civil war even if it's not the American Civil War all over again, and I made that clear when it was being discussed originally before suddenly it's back again thanks to elected GoP openly bandying it about. I also made it clear that it couldn't succeed unless there was enough resentment for a significant part of the military to back them. It is not something I'm encouraging, and is frankly something I think anyone SHOULD condemn, but thinking about where the overturning of our electoral system by the GoP who are seemly threatening civil war could lead is where this whole train of thought started from. Whether it's likely or not wasn't the point of it, just that this is how these things start and with the last several years as a guide I think anything is possible nowadays.

I also wouldn't consider it all the one idiot's fault considering all the elected officials, media pundits, and Proud Boys/militia members carrying water for Trump & Jan 6th, who are the ones taking us down this road. Those ones and the people who mindlessly support them would all share in it.

[worstblogever]

Speaking of Republicans whining about the FBI investigating them for the crimes they did in plain sight...

Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry impotently bleated to Fox News that the FBI has taken his cellphone as evidence.

[Malvolio]

So if you make up a story about me that makes me look bad, that is totally false, and I accuse you of lying about me, and then you accuse me of lying about you, we're equally bad because we've both accused each other of lying. Does that sound like an accurate summary of this poll?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

NBC News and Fox News are reporting that Trump is very happy with the way the GOP has come to his defense and backed him up.

Well Duh! They are stroking his ego big time right now. He is playing the victim getting tons of attention and is now having the party fall all over themselves to paint him as the poor victim of the Libs and talk about how much they are outraged and love him.

Like Qpublicans have a choice but to support Trump. When he once threatened to launch a third party, and take his legions of supporters with him because the GQP didn’t kiss his ass enough to satisfy him, Mitch McConnell and company were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of losing that support and quickly fell in line. And they’ve been dutifully slurping Caramel Caligula ever since.

[Tendrin]

We warned people.

https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/...03774560772096

Facebook turned over the chats of a mother and her daughter to Nebraska police after they were served with a warrant as part of an investigation into an illegal abortion, court documents show.

The investigation, which was launched in April before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, is one of the few known instances of Facebook’s turning over information to help law enforcement officials pursue an abortion case — but it is also an example of a scenario that abortion rights experts have warned will be more common as all abortions becomes illegal in many states.

This will only become more common as abortion becomes harder to access.

Madison County prosecutors say Jessica Burgess, 41, acquired and gave abortion pills to her daughter, Celeste, who was 17 at the time, and then helped her bury and then rebury the fetus. The Norfolk Daily News first reported the case. The two were charged last month and have pleaded not guilty. A lawyer for the two women didn’t respond to a request for comment.

According to a sworn affidavit from Detective Ben McBride of the Norfolk Police Investigations Unit, police started with a tip from a woman who described herself as a friend of Celeste’s who said she saw her take the first pill in April.

There is always gonna be someone who falls on the other side of your chosen level of comfort, and some of those people are always going to seek an abortion. This is why autonomy in these situations and accessibility is vital.

[Tendrin]

Right wing extremists have already doxed the judge who signed the warrant.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ts-fbi-search/

For months, right-wing agitators with millions of followers have peddled the idea that a moment was coming soon when violence would become necessary — a patriotic duty — to save the republic.

With the FBI search Monday of Donald Trump’s compound in Florida, that moment is now, according to enraged commentators’ all-caps, exclamation-pointed screeds urging supporters of the former president to take up arms. Within hours of the search at Mar-a-Lago, a chorus of Republican lawmakers, conservative talk-show hosts, anti-government provocateurs and pro-Trump conspiracy theorists began issuing explicit or thinly veiled calls for violence.

“Today is war. That is all you will get on today’s show,” right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder announced Tuesday to his nearly 2 million followers on Twitter, referring to the program that goes to his YouTube audience of 5.6 million.

Extremist organizers have tried to hold on to the momentum they built in recent years by finding big-tent causes disparate factions could rally around, such as opposition to pandemic restrictions, “Stop the Steal” election denial, or an imagined socialist “indoctrination” of schoolchildren. With each iteration, analysts say, the networks have grown more sophisticated and more violent, as evidenced by the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

documents

Extremism researcher Caroline Orr Bueno compiled a collage of dozens of screenshots of tweets calling for violence in response to the search, or “raid” in the parlance of Trump supporters. “I already bought my ammo,” one person boasted in the sampling. “Civil war! Pick up arms, people!” ordered another.

An immediate concern is the safety of the federal judge in Florida who approved the search warrant. Once his name made its way to right-wing forums, threats and conspiracy theories soon followed. Online pro-Trump groups spread his contact information and, as of Tuesday afternoon, the judge’s official page was no longer accessible on the court’s website.

Orr Bueno said it was ominous to see “a disturbing number of elected Republicans and influential right-wing figures joining in on the ‘civil war’ rhetoric.”

The hope, of course, is that some 'patriotic hero' will stochastically murder the judge as a warning to others who might actually enforce laws against right-wing extremists and on Republican politicians more broadly. Remember, in conservatism, there is no such thing as 'pro-law and order'. Laws are only useful in so far as they enforce servility of the underclasses and can be enforced on their political opponents but not themselves. We're so unused to conservatives actually having the weight of law applied to them that it remains shocking and we instinctively fear 'overreach' that might inflame and empower the conservative-grievance-complex. In reality, right-wing politicians and activists are already given far more slack than they deserve, to the point where actual consequences for guys like Alex Jones or Donald Trump is almost unthinkable, and basic enforcement of records laws that no one would bat an eyelash at if it were done to a Democratic politician becomes 'alarming signals of politicization' when it's done to the leader of an administration that almost pulled a coup.

[Iron Maiden]

This just makes me feel even more afraid that this country is heading for some dark times. For the life of me I can't understand this worship of Trump. I've always found him to be repulsive, long before he ever voiced any political aspirations. This man is not worthy of being dogcatcher let alone President again. Yet we have millions who blindly follow this piece of excrement. Even worse are those that know better and voiced it in the early days after January 6th. People like Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell. But then they suddenly got amnesia. BTW, Mitch McConnell ever thanked the current adminstration for coming to the aid of Kentucky after all the flooding? I'm not holding my breath.

[Iron Maiden]

If you are suggesting that the timing of the FBI raid was ill-timed, you might be correct. Maybe the FBI should have done it after the midterms. You all saw and heard many of the Republicans' outrage over the FBI raid already.

That would be a dumb idea. Trump could probably destroy some documents in the mean time. After all, some of the stuff that he did turn in was taped back together by staff members to preserve it. He also would flush things down the toilet.

Truthfully, I don't know why they don't scan this stuff in and store them on a secure server somewhere, if they don't already.