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

[Jack Dracula]

So pretty much, the police are basically a fascist gang that is holding the nation hostage with the implicit threat of doing even more violence if we cut them loose? And this means that we should keep giving them MORE funding and the legal cover to keep brutalizing people? And what would we think if any other public institutions behaved this way? Can you imagine what the reaction would have been if the USPS and Amtrak had been sending veiled threats of sabotage if their funding had been cut, which it has repeatedly been? Also, just try to slow play this issue isn't going to work, because while there are good cops, the general atmosphere in a lot of these departments means that the bad cops tend to push out the good ones, particularly those that speak out against police brutality, and so over time you'll see more and more of the cops with moral qualms about what they're asked to do leaving, while the remaining hardliners double down on the extreme tactics, all while we keep throwing more and more money at them in the hope that they'll change someday.

The best strategy to deal with these problems is honestly rather simple - on a mass scale, people just need to stop cooperating with the police altogether. Of course they will respond with increased repression, but if enough people get behind this idea of simply pretending like the police don't even exist, then they will find it increasingly difficult to maintain their authority, and once this weakness becomes evident even their supporters will desert them because a police force that can't keep all the peasants in line isn't a police force that's worth supporting. Obviously this has the potential to go really badly if we don't go in with a plan, and of course we will have to establish community organizations that are able to settle disputes peaceably and fairly so that we can still maintain order without having to resort to calling the cops.

Gosh, when you put it that way, it sounds so feasible. What could possibly go wrong?

[worstblogever]

Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar is whipping up a mob of white nationalist conspiracy theorists about non-existent voter fraud in Maricopa County. He literally organized this event.

[zinderel]

"These calls for understanding ignore the very real fact that Trump has had a tremendous impact on the lives of so many marginalized people.

Jews like me were literally slaughtered in their place of worship in my home state of Pennsylvania, where a gunman opened fire on the congregation at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The president failed to implement commonsense gun control policies while stoking anti-Semitism, claiming that “Jews are only in it for themselves.” Trump repeatedly questioned whether Jews could be loyal to the United States by telling Jews that Israel is “your country,” seemingly unwilling to distinguish American Jews from Israelis. In this climate, it was inevitable that violence would be unleashed against Jews and that some would lose their lives. I will not forgive, and I will not forget.

As an atheist, I have watched in horror as the Trump administration has tried to turn our country, which was founded on the belief that church and state should remain separate, into a theocracy. Trump’s latest Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett, is poised to impose her extreme religious views on the rest of us. She has gone so far as to state that Catholic judges are “obliged to adhere to their church’s teaching on moral matters.” Religious views have allowed corporations such as Hobby Lobby to circumvent laws requiring insurance coverage for birth control and discriminate against the LGBTQ community.

As the mother of two daughters, I have spent the Trump years fearing that none of us will have the right to control our own reproductive choices if Trump has his way. I have watched as Trump’s atrocious handling of the pandemic has forced women out of the workforce in record numbers. He bragged about how his celebrity status allows him to sexually assault women with impunity, and then he lashed out at the 26 women who have accused him of sexual assault. The fact that such a person could rise to the most powerful office in the world has created a dangerous environment for all women."

No, I Will Not Be ‘Reaching Out’ To Trump Voters, Now Or Ever. Here’s Why.

[InformationGeek]

And speaking of horrible people, here's a new congresswoman heading to Washington DC next year.

[Joker]

CNN reporting Biden 306 to Trump's 232. Biden flipped Georgia.

And speaking of horrible people, here's a new congresswoman heading to Washington DC next year.

It's amazing, and frightening that you can platform on stupidity, and a lack of basic survival instinct.

I also just don't understand the end goal here. What do you win by not wearing a mask? What is the victory? Furthering the spread of the virus? Causing untold amounts of financial ruin to hospitals everywhere? Killing people? I mean, she's not saying Covid is a hoax. Her text seems to acknowledge that it's real, so...

[Revolutionary_Jack]

And speaking of horrible people, here's a new congresswoman heading to Washington DC next year.

Turns out she's lying. She actually did wear a mask.
https://twitter.com/QueenMaryBlair/s...158338/photo/1

[Revolutionary_Jack]

CNN reporting Biden 306 to Trump's 232. Biden flipped Georgia.



It's amazing, and frightening that you can platform on stupidity, and a lack of basic survival instinct.

A toast to Joey, he brought home the gold.

[zinderel]

Turns out she's lying. She actually did wear a mask.
https://twitter.com/QueenMaryBlair/s...158338/photo/1

Wait, wait, wait...a QANON-supporting, anti-science fundamentalist Republican...is a liar?! No...say it ain't so...

[Joker]

Wait, wait, wait...a QANON-supporting, anti-science fundamentalist Republican...is a liar?! No...say it ain't so...

2020 never fails to surprise!

[Bruce Wayne]

So pretty much, the police are basically a fascist gang that is holding the nation hostage with the implicit threat of doing even more violence if we cut them loose? And this means that we should keep giving them MORE funding and the legal cover to keep brutalizing people? And what would we think if any other public institutions behaved this way?

The best strategy to deal with these problems is honestly rather simple - on a mass scale, people just need to stop cooperating with the police altogether... then they will find it increasingly difficult to maintain their authority, and once this weakness becomes evident even their supporters will desert them because a police force that can't keep all the peasants in line isn't a police force that's worth supporting.

This isn't a solution at all. How does this prevent the police from exercising their ability to commit violence and to kill people under the the aegis of the "monopoly on violence". The violence they respond with is something that Left has no answer to. The state not the people grant them legitimacy. Trying to build extra-governmental institutions outside of the state to undermine them will do nothing when the state can just utilize violence to tear them down. If anything this is just a complicated game of trying to ignore the police and hope they go away when they are a threat that needs to be controlled somehow. Defunding them will just cut them loose and fill the ranks of right-wing militias with ex-police officers. I

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Wait, wait, wait...a QANON-supporting, anti-science fundamentalist Republican...is a liar?! No...say it ain't so...

I hope the Dems censure her soon.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Turns out she's lying. She actually did wear a mask.
https://twitter.com/QueenMaryBlair/s...158338/photo/1

I’m shocked, shocked I tell you! These nutbags are classic examples of “do as I say, not as I do”.

[BeastieRunner]

Beastie's Cartoons of the Week

[CJStriker]

BREAKING: ABC, NBC, CNN Call Georgia for Joe Biden!

https://www.mediaite.com/election-20...#disqus_thread

[BeastieRunner]

NC called too. AK called yesterday, same with AZ.

So 306 Biden - 232 Trump.

Now we see what the EC does.