When the looting starts...

[-Jrabbit]

How do you feel about the footage of Boston police in a department SUV, unloading a stack of bricks to stack up in a convenient spot and entice protesters into violence? Stacks of bricks are appearing randomly in many large cities, on protest routes. More footage of black-clad white dudes - quite possibly undercover cops - literally handing them to protesters and encouraging them to throw at police. It makes me think we're seeing the result of an ongoing program among racist asses to both recruit in, and get jobs in, law enforcement.

(Of course, on the Open Illinois FB group, they claim that it's the work or Soros, Gates, and Pritzker.)

[Ted Striker]

The Bill Gates one is the most hilarious

[Ted Striker]

hahahahaha

****ing stupid



everybody wants to play soldier

[Docfeelgood]

Uncle Sparky commented
Today, 01:44

I'm guessing you view both posts #61 and #66 as humour. I sometimes laugh at inappropriate times (like very violent scenes in John Wick movies), But unless I'm misreading (and most people outside of the US are misreading) what is going on in the US, some people, including the POTUS are taking this sh!t seriously, and even encouraging violence. If Trump can get a civil war started, he won't need to bother with an election... rule by biker gangs.

True, I have a weird sense of humor.
To be honest, It feels like living on another planet watching this happen on the TV news. I live in a mostly hispanic/ black neighborhood. It's just like any other day of the week. The people are cordial and caring to each other. We have more earthly concerns about our people getting sick, having enough to eat and able to pay bills.

[Berzerker]

if I laughed during a violent fight scene it'd probably because something hit my phony bone

[Ted Striker]

Looks like Miller's resignation letter is having a huge effect as the Pentagon is pushing back against Trump and getting very uncomfortable with his requests and are trying to push most of the policing to the...police.

Trump was asking about using tanks!


https://www.businessinsider.com/pent...er-call-2020-6

June 2, 2020

Hon. Mark T. Esper

Secretary of Defense

The Pentagon

Washington, D.C., 20301

Dear Secretary Esper,

I resign from the Defense Science Board, effective immediately.

When I joined the Board in early 2014, after leaving government service as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, I again swore an oath of office, one familiar to you, that includes the commitment to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States . . . and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”

You recited that same oath on July 23, 2019, when you were sworn in as Secretary of Defense. On Monday, June 1, 2020, I believe that you violated that oath. Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op. You then accompanied President Trump in walking from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church for that photo.

President Trump’s actions Monday night violated his oath to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” as well as the First Amendment “right of the people peaceably to assemble.” You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it.

Anyone who takes the oath of office must decide where he or she will draw the line: What are the things that they will refuse to do? Secretary Esper, you have served honorably for many years, in active and reserve military duty, as Secretary of the Army, and now as Secretary of Defense. You must have thought long and hard about where that line should be drawn. I must now ask: If last night’s blatant violations do not cross the line for you, what will?

Unfortunately, it appears there may be few if any lines that President Trump is not willing to cross, so you will probably be faced with this terrible question again in the coming days. You may be asked to take, or to direct the men and women serving in the U.S. military to take, actions that further undermine the Constitution and harm Americans.

As a concerned citizen, and as a former senior defense official who cares deeply about the military, I urge you to consider closely both your future actions and your future words. For example, some could interpret literally your suggestion to the nation’s governors Monday that they need to “dominate the battlespace.” I cannot believe that you see the United States as a “battlespace,” or that you believe our citizens must be “dominated.” Such language sends an extremely dangerous signal.

You have made life-and-death decisions in combat overseas; soon you may be asked to make life-and-death decisions about using the military on American streets and against Americans. Where will you draw the line, and when will you draw it?

I hope this letter of resignation will encourage you to again contemplate the obligations you undertook in your oath of office, as well as your obligations to the men and women in our military and other Americans whose lives may be at stake. In the event that at least some other senior officials may be inclined to ask these questions after reading this letter, I am making it public.

I wish you the best, in very difficult times. The sanctity of the U.S. Constitution, and the lives of Americans, may depend on your choices.

Sincerely,

James N. Miller

[Berzerker]

If I was into voting for the evil of 2 lessers, I'd vote for Trump. Do you guys know what Biden has been doing for the last 5 decades? Killing and jailing people en masse.

I'll be voting 3rd party, Libertarian or maybe the greens if they pick Jesse Ventura.

[giblets]

Biden says shoot them in the leg instead of the heart, wow what a huge improvement.

[Ted Striker]

Yeah that comment was pretty stupid giblets I agree. What are we supposed to do then? We're forced into a ****ty corner with a bad choice and an apocalyptic bad choice.

We basically have to eat either dog **** or cyanide. I'll take the dog ****.

[Ted Striker]

Wow, even George Bush supports the protesters and endorsed Biden for President.

WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO YOU NEED TO WAKE THE F UP AMERICA

TRUMP IS TRYING TO ESTABLISH A FASCIST STATE THIS CRAP LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE 1920s ITALY/GERMANY

It's clear who the bad guys are here.

1) Bad cops
2) The President of the United States and his GOP enablers (Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell, idiots like the lady above flexing with her weapons and itching to be a playacting hero)
3) Outside interloper looters (like 1% of the actual protesters)

[Elok]

Military police obeyed orders when he was right there and told them to use nonlethal dispersal tactics. Immoral as hell, but the odds of actually killing someone was low. Big difference from commanders nationwide deciding to use lethal force against their own countrymen. People in the military frequently get queasy and whistleblow even against abuses against people they have cause to loathe, e.g. Abu Ghraib. Trump perhaps believes, erroneously, that he has a cult of personality. In reality, he has people who side with him because they fear and hate his enemies. That isn't enough to support total overthrow of American institutions.

[Berzerker]

George Bush (and his daddy) lied us into war and Trump blamed the quagmire on him and destroyed Jeb in the primaries, the Bush family hates Trump

thats a plus for Trump in my book

[Uncle Sparky]

Donald J Trump has a very punchable face... that is a plus in my book.

[Dauphin]

So, remember when citizens of Trumpistan said they would rise up if Trump lost the rigged 2016 election. At the time I thought it folly, all talk no action (although I didn’t discount The possibility of him winning).

Given four years of divisiveness, and the past few months of riots and discontent with no sign of healing, what will the Trumpistanists do if he loses and he doesn’t concede: Claims a hoax and riles up nut jobs to armed action through Tweet rather than direct command (e.g. “Hoax. I was robbed, you know what to do”. We know that his supporters will happily carry guns into a government building, but would they be up for shooting if they are enticed to do so by him?

I don’t think it likely to happen, but I don’t feel comfortable saying it won’t right now.

[Berzerker]

I dont know what it is with the right/left, Dems/Repubs paranoia, I heard people claiming Obama was gonna stay in office too.

[ZEE]

Berzerker, please try to maintain your composure. You are a bit over the line right now.

[Dauphin]

I dont know what it is with the right/left, Dems/Repubs paranoia, I heard people claiming Obama was gonna stay in office too.

Did Obama ever joke about stuff like this?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1225174713992990721?s=20

And I believe it is nothing more than a troll. But the thing is, his supporters may not be in on the joke.

[Ted Striker]

This is my biggest fear. It's clear his supporters can arm themselves with rifles and occupy government buildings and get a free pass. They are also easily manipulated and can be mobilized by bad actors to cause all kinds of trouble.

I am just glad he hasn't gutted the FBI yet. There's still good cops out there, let's hope they all don't quit.

He has crossed every line previously thought unthinkable and will cross more before he leaves. Our only hope is Ivanka has some sort of shred of decency in her to talk him out of it (she is the only one that holds influence over him) but she seems to be a clone of her dad, so who knows if deep down she'd actually do the right thing when it came down to it. Her husband is just as big of a scumbag lacking empathy so that counts him out too.

[Ted Striker]

Honestly conversations about contingency plans need to start now. You can't influence Trump directly because of his ego, but there are some around him that can, so let's figure out who those people are and how they can help us when the time comes and somebody needs to tell him he can't buy 10 packs of candy at the supermarket.

Instead of hoping he doesn't throw an tantrum about leaving, we need to EXPECT it and figure out the next steps.

[Elok]

I don't have time to get into the weeds right now, but again: it is a common error to believe Trump has a cult of personality. He does not. To the extent his followers are loyal to him, they are so because he attacks their enemies in a way nobody else does. They don't, by and large, think he is some kind of god-king.

[Dauphin]

He doesn't need to have a cult of personality. You just need a large group of primed, angry and volatile people who would feel cheated by a rotten election - that rotten election justification becomes more open to rationalisation if the defeated party acts petulantly. They may not actually care that Trump himself is out. Angry mob rules apply.

Again - I do not think this is likely to happen. But it could reasonably occur.

[Ted Striker]

I'm expecting it. Writing all the congressional leaders now and telling them to start having conversations about the exact scenario of him not relinquishing power.

[The Mad Monk]

[Elok]

Okay, in brief:

1. Trump openly refusing to relinquish power would require him to take a large risk, which entails a fair amount of personal courage, which he has never once displayed in his life. Trump making vague "it's everybody's fault but mine and my enemies played dirty" noises is pretty much a given in any situation and will not be enough by itself to spark insurrection.
2. There is no reason to believe Trump would be remotely competent at managing such a fight, which he would be expected to do.
3. There is no point in trying to plan or prepare for this scenario, because

A. If it actually happens events on the ground will move far too rapidly and chaotically for any kind of planned response to deal with, and
B. Making preparations for domestic insurrection will look, in the current climate of overwhelming paranoia, a lot like preparations to purge the losers in the aftermath of victory. This will, if anything, make the feared assault far more likely, and a pre-emptive strike more appealing.

4. We've already seen what it looks like when big chunks of one party doggedly refuse to believe an election was legitimate. It was called Russiagate. It was stupid and embarrassing and wasted a lot of time and money, but we survived. We have also seen how Republicans reacted to Clinton and Obama. It generally makes sense to assume more of the same.
5. Most Republicans have jobs, or responsibilities, or at least families.
6. Ending the lockdowns would probably do a great deal to defuse all this stupidity. There are too many idle and frustrated people, and disease containment is a farce when you have thousands of people shouting in close quarters for hours.
EDIT: 7. 1968.

[Ted Striker]

Bro. Look what is going on right now and ask the 3 years ago version of "you" if he thought any of this was possible back then. "That would never happen." All that "never happen" stuff did happen. It's all the stuff we we warning about Trump from the start. He's doing all the stuff we expected him to do.

How many times has he crossed a line previously thought unthinkable? He is a slimy self-preservationist with the mind of a 1st grader. He's a fascist with fantasies of becoming a dictator. His paper thin skin and ego trumps everything else. He doesn't want to be be seen as the loser he actually is. He can't win anything fairly his entire life and has always had outside help.

Planning needs to happen now when he crosses that line. Don't underestimate him or his sycophant enablers who will protect a fantasy.

He's not a useful idiot. He's just an idiot.

[Elok]

Well, I would not have expected COVID, and the magnitude of the Floyd riots is basically due to COVID in combination with the three years of mounting hostility. But if you'd told me there'd be a big disease scare, yes, I would have expected Trump to be pretty well useless, because he's a useless human being. I'm mildly surprised by the actual depths of his stupidity, but given that we seem to agree he is utterly incompetent I don't see what you're scared of. He couldn't tyrannize a Dairy Queen. I'm most surprised by the nearly equal incompetence of the opposition, and its abject failure to react constructively.

[tamimayer]

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[Bereta_Eder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tj2zJ2Wvg

Jesus.


but with pelple like pchamg (and another I won't mention due to his personal grief) it's no wonder their country is a post apolaclyptic neoliberal racist jungle

[pchang]

Says the only one here actually banned for being racist....