Everything posted by Mole
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The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
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.
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The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
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.
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The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
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.
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A story about a pathetic man's downfall [34 Felony Convictions]
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?
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Biden Legislation - What do you hope to see in 2021?
Probably the earth on fire. Or perhaps hoping to avoid that. But yeah, good luck with that.
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The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
If this is true and republican leadership isn’t livid about this, isn’t that tacit admission that he’s unfit?
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The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
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.
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Biden Legislation - What do you hope to see in 2021?
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.
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The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
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.
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The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
- The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
Yeah, that sure looks like he’s about to go on for his start the terrorist attack speech.- 25th Amendment- 2nd Impeachment
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.- Sweet Jawja Special Elections
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.- Sweet Jawja Special Elections
And it was won by a boy named Sue.- The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
I give her slightly less sympathy than I do for an ISIS terrorist who gets killed. On a fundamental level, a someone's child was radicalized, became a terrorist, and ultimately died because of it. That's a sad story, but the death itself was necessary. The difference between her and the ISIS terrorist is that she was radicalized while resting in the relative ease and wealth of a formerly first world country.- The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
FIFY- The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
What has struck me about the interviews with the terrorists is the casual disengagement from reality. I saw a video of a terrorist couple, arm in arm and walking away from the capitol. Two terrorist love birds having a romantic coup attempt. She had been pepper sprayed and looked and sounded like she felt she was the victim, much like we saw in the protests this summer. When asked why she was there, she said — not metaphorically— for the “revolution.” She participated in an attack on congress to overthrow the government and yet she seemed aggrieved because she was pepper sprayed. It was like she was just playing around. There’s too much make-believe and gleeful untethering from reality going on. I can’t wrap my mind around it, but I see it everywhere these days.- Joint Session of Congress to Count Electoral Votes and Declare Election Results: 1/6/21
Based on his record from his inauguration to this past Election Day, he’s the worst and most destructive by far, probably even if you include Jefferson Davis. Based just on his record from Election Day through 1/5, he’s also the worst, even if he had actually been great otherwise. Based on his record just starting yesterday at lunch time, he’s still easily the worst, even if he was otherwise great. He’s speeding up.- Joint Session of Congress to Count Electoral Votes and Declare Election Results: 1/6/21
Her speech sounded like someone stole her puppy. I guess losing an election and having the terrorists you riled up try to murder you and your colleagues is a lot for one day. Maybe now the farmer girl understands the phrase, chickens coming home to roost.- Joint Session of Congress to Count Electoral Votes and Declare Election Results: 1/6/21
PBS report did a quick interview where the terrorist said this like the American Revolution.- Joint Session of Congress to Count Electoral Votes and Declare Election Results: 1/6/21
Radical Christian terrorism. American ISIS.- Joint Session of Congress to Count Electoral Votes and Declare Election Results: 1/6/21
Today will be an objective lesson in morality for the VP. Pence being the Bible believer that he is surely knows 1 Cor. 33: Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Or to quote the modern day Philly prophet, Rocky Balboa, "You hang out with nice people, you get nice friends, ya understand? You hang out with smart people, you get smart friends. You hang out with yo-yo's, you get yo-yo friends. You see, simple mathematics."- Sweet Jawja Special Elections
More conservative than Attila the Hun.- Sweet Jawja Special Elections
Possibly. Warnock’s position at Ebenezer gives him a lot of weight. Of course, there was a third runoff election for Public Service Commission (utilities). There, it looks like the R (a white man named Lauren) beat the D (a Black man named Blackman). As of 10 minutes ago, the R candidate for Public Service Commission has more votes than everyone but Warnock.- Sweet Jawja Special Elections
Some of this. Also, Loeffler is cartoonishly horrifying. Maybe her cartoon villain qualities seem more offensive to some because she’s a woman, but she’s objectively more horrifying than Perdue. Probably a little of this. There’s probably a bit of anti-Semitism baked into American politics in general, but Perdue hasn’t altered any pictures of Ossoff’s nose in months, so I guess they didn’t find it that effective. More generally, while Ossoff is young, smart, and a good candidate, he isn’t quite as compelling as Warnock. Georgia was won with black organizers registering black voters. The senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist and a child of the poverty resonates in a way that a child of privilege turned documentarian doesn’t. Add in Loeffler’s making this election about the black church too. I suspect that enthusiasm was far higher for Warnock than Ossoff. I could also see some generally R leaning, white Christian values voters seeing Warnock as acceptable and then also voting for Perdue. If you look at county by county numbers, there wasn’t that much splitting of tickets, just a little here and there, always favoring Warnock over Ossoff. What’s absolutely amazing to me is that during the height of extreme right wing nationalist identity politics, Georgia just elected a Black senator and a Jewish senator. - The US Capitol has been Breached [Action and Developing stories]
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