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Mole

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Everything posted by Mole

  1. I could only listen for about 30 seconds before my blood pressure shot up, but the double standard argument tacitly admits that Trump incited the attack.
  2. Cultural divide right here: I’ll never understand the hate for Liz Warren. She’s always clear and understandable and even when she’s wrong, she’s well-reasoned. Maybe I just answered my question.
  3. I’ll talk you off. They clearly shouldn’t be doing it, but I think the more likely explanation is that they were all almost murdered by terrorists and many of the Capitol police seem useless at best or possibly in on it. I can understand feeling scared and wanting to exert some control and personal self defense by coming armed. Armed debate is obviously a terrible idea even in sane times, but I can understand the sentiment. They all legitimately had a terrifying and traumatic experience — even those who egged it on — so we should expect some extra crazy behavior. Of course that’s just another reason to keep weapons out.
  4. This is a dishonest straw man. Or maybe several straw men piled on top of each other. It’s hard to tell with all of the straw.
  5. I’d say that the terrorists that tried to overthrow the government and their sympathizers now trying to excuse these attacks with straw men and fabricated false equivalencies are most certainly the villains. The great thing is that besides the terrorists and their instigators, all of the terrorist sympathizers can give up their villain status by simply stopping their villainy. They don’t even have to change their views on any particular political hot button or philosophy (unless it involves overthrowing the government), they just have to stop being villains. Stop creating false equivalencies and straw men in support of terrorism and rejoin team America. It’s so easy that I can’t understand why it’s so hard. There are lines that can’t be crossed and this is so far over the line that I can’t fathom the reflexive need to muddy the waters. Comparing the reaction to the George Floyd death — a sad, terrible, destructive, yet completely unsurprising reaction to real injustice — to terrorists and seditionists storming the Capitol, beating a cop to death, and seeking to take hostages because of a constant stream of lies, propaganda, and incitement is impossibly intellectually dishonest.
  6. Mr. Georgia from Georgia?
  7. There’s a reason beyond cocaine why the 1970s NBA isn’t considered the glory years. Feeling like you have a shot is important, but great teams are fun and memorable to watch. If victory seems more due to chance and luck rather than greatness, I’m not sure why I wouldn’t just watch reruns of Price Is Right Plinko. There’s obviously a point where the dominance becomes so substantial and sustained that you lose interest, but I don’t think we’re there.
  8. “We’re a republic, not a democracy.” Also, “we the people, not the elites.” To be clearer, the president is actively engaged in this and the platform of one party is loyalty to the president. So, yeah, right now party seems to matter.
  9. So with the go fund me thing, I have a question for the law dogs. What would be me legal exposure if I photoshopped an AI generated face into riot pictures and used those to start a patriot legal defense go fund me? Or would I be better off if I just started ‘Mericans Over Biden LLC to fundraise for unlicensed legal advice for the terrorists. The advice would be get ready for prison and stop trying to overthrow the government, so I think it’s pretty sound advice. There’s lots of money to be made here and skimming money from terrorists and terrorist supporters seems like a public good. I just wouldn’t want to end up on the wrong side of the law and have someone else start skimming money on my behalf.
  10. Obviously there’s a big need for intrusive investigation, but it’s worth considering that some people in positions of authority are really terrible at their jobs. Your instincts might be right that they can’t possibly be this terrible at their jobs, but it’s also possible that they’re actually that incompetent.
  11. While I guess the technical definition fits, I don’t like the way riot is being used to describe this. In many cases, the term “riot” removes the sense of responsibility from the individuals over to the mob. Riots often have the connotation of something that just unexpectedly happened based on circumstances. “Things got out of control” and a riot broke out. This term removes some of the responsibility from the individuals involved. Things didn’t simply get out of control on Wednesday. This was terrorism. The individuals involved and those who planned and executed it are terrorists. The terrorism was executed via a riot, but the participants were terrorists more so than rioters. They should be labeled as such.
  12. A culture of free speech is generally a social good. I have bristled at times over tech companies deplatforming unpopular ideas even if it's their legal right. It's good to openly and honestly discuss differing viewpoints. Openly and honestly being the key words. Terrorism is a complete disengagement from a culture of free speech. Attempting to violently overthrow the government, taking elected representatives hostage, and murdering police officers aren't valid contributions to the marketplace of ideas; neither is planning and encouraging those actions through terrorist propaganda. We need a variety of perspectives on difficult issues like the role of the federal government in COVID response. These perspectives are valuable even if they ultimately don't win out. The debate adds value when everyone is intellectually engaged. We need small government perspectives to challenge for better approaches. Homer Simpson once mooned for rebuttal. If only we could be so genteel and studious. That many conservatives seem unable to disentangle violence with their other values is a pretty strong indictment of their intellectual foundations. If silencing terrorists is silencing conservatism, that speaks volumes about conservatism.
  13. What’s the conservative position on terrorism? For or against? Based on the conservative response this week, it seems like they’re in the “for” box. The thesis of this post assumes domestic terrorism is a conservative value, otherwise the post doesn’t make any sense. If this is the case, then yes, conservative terrorists and their sympathizers need to be silenced from mainstream society. If, on the other hand, conservatives are actually against terrorism, then maybe they should oppose the terrorists in their ranks. Right now, the movement seems more concerned with overthrowing the government and murdering cops than they do upholding federalism. Making this about politics and not the terrorist attacks is just another conservative terrorist lie. Claiming victimhood because conservative terrorists and sympathizers can’t use big tech to organize more murder is rich.
  14. The Trump movement has now committed a terrorist attack on American soil. How much consideration should we give to the intellectual underpinnings of the movement that believes that invading the Capitol building will stop the election and resurrect JFK Jr. or whatever? Did we demand that Bin Laden's videos be broadcast nightly so the radical Muslim terrorists could "blow off steam" or so we could soberly consider their viewpoint?
  15. Probably the earth on fire. Or perhaps hoping to avoid that. But yeah, good luck with that.
  16. If this is true and republican leadership isn’t livid about this, isn’t that tacit admission that he’s unfit?
  17. Why are roving hoards of terrorist and terrorist sympathizers running loose in the airport? They are a danger to everyone there. Would TSA let guys with ISIS lapel pins run wild in the airport? After Tuesday, I'm struggling to see the difference.
  18. The only priorities that I see: 1. Fix COVID and COVID related problems -- vaccine rollout, masks, stimulus, etc. 2. Fix structural problems that led us past the brink of the disaster that came to a head again on Tuesday. I'm not even sure where to begin with this, but everything is broken. Voting rights is a good start. The large American terrorist movement has to be marginalized and dealt with as well. Sadly, everything else seems like distractions to me. If it can't be directly tied back to one of these two, I'm not sure it's worth the effort right now. You don't lecture your kids about the dangers of playing with matches while the house burns down, even if that's the cause of the fire.
  19. Mostly the bolded, but I think part of the disconnect is the lack of seriousness by so many of the terrorists. The attack was partially a party, partially a sight-seeing trip, and part coup attempt. The Q movement is so absurd that it’s difficult to take seriously. Trump is such a buffoon of a leader and his attempted overthrow of the government was so unserious that it’s easy to dismiss it, even when you intellectually understand its danger. The deceased terrorist was not a person with legitimate or serious grievances. She died for a lie, a joke, entertainment. If a radical arm of BLM arose and started carrying out attacks, I’d be horrified, but I’d understand their logic and complaints. Same for when Muslim terrorists attacked the US. There’s an actual problem that they’re trying to remedy in the most terrible way. Even when a lone nutcase tries to attack the IRS, I can empathize with being frustrated with the IRS. Tuesday’s terrorist attack has no basis in reality and was so absurd that it’s really hard to take seriously, even when you intellectually understand that it’s deadly serious.
  20. Yeah, that sure looks like he’s about to go on for his start the terrorist attack speech.
  21. There’s a reasonable case that his status as a dangerous lunatic qualifies for the 25th, but the precedent of using claims of mental illness to remove people from power seems really dangerous. Weaponizing claims of mental illness against political rivals is also a terrifying possibility. He’s a danger to everyone on earth, but the better way long term is to use the normal route of impeachment. Of course, if the alternative is a mass death event concurrent with our ongoing mass death event, then precedent might not seem as important.
  22. When I first saw Lauren “Bubba” McDowell Jr. on a ballot, I was a little confused. When my wife was due with our kid and we were trying to pick a name, I looked up government lists of names going back to the beginning of the 20th century. It was amazing to see how many gendered names have switched since the early 1900s.
  23. And it was won by a boy named Sue.
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