[Puck]

Seriously wondering the same thing.

[HoosierDaddy]

A toxic mix of individual greed, perverted divine election, and assumed rights created from the previous two are at the core.

Stir and mix and the absolved responsibilities to one another become extreme.

[Gust Hubb]

What do you all think happens if a militia tries something, like overthrowing a state government?

[Aptorian]

Didn't something like that happen in a town or county within the past decade? I remember there was some stand off.

[Gust Hubb]

 Aptorian, on 18 April 2020 - 04:22 PM, said:

Didn't something like that happen in a town or county within the past decade? I remember there was some stand off.

Yeah, there was a stand off for something in Oregon and militia have popped up to defend this or that. But I don't believe outright insurrection has happened recently. Just those people saying "CIVIL WAR" that made me wonder.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

I'm worried there's an outside chance Trump is treating this as a test run for refusing to concede the election. (Particularly if Biden doesn't offer him immunity from prosecution, or at least a chance to 'escape' to Russia.) OTOH the military would be far more important than armed insurrection. But whether Trump fully understands that is questionable. And Trump could use the threat of mass uprisings as leverage.

[HoosierDaddy]

 Gust Hubb, on 18 April 2020 - 04:16 PM, said:

What do you all think happens if a militia tries something, like overthrowing a state government?

Maybe it'd be a good thing. The last one led to the Constitutional Convention (Shay's Rebellion) and the second one (the Civil War) led to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Either way, they led to necessary changes that needed to be made in the U.S. Perhaps it would ultimately be a good way to finally reframe the 2nd Amendment and its ridiculous breadth.

 Azath Vitr (D, on 18 April 2020 - 05:55 PM, said:

I'm worried there's an outside chance Trump is treating this as a test run for refusing to concede the election. (Particularly if Biden doesn't offer him immunity from prosecution, or at least a chance to 'escape' to Russia.) OTOH the military would be far more important than armed insurrection. But whether Trump fully understands that is questionable. And Trump could use the threat of mass uprisings as leverage.

All the people I'm around (to be specific, that is pretty much all conservatives generally, and certainly hardcore religious conservative religious right more recently believe Trump has 4 more years (at the least) coming. But, it could be the Trump Admin floating that balloon.

I'm far more easily convinced that it is simply Trump being supremely ignorant and just shooting from the hip with no one there to stop him from saying it.

[Terez]

Daddy, you went out for cigarettes years ago!

(I actually don't know how long you went without posting in this thread at all but my impression is that it was a long time.)

[HoosierDaddy]

See the thread in The Phoenix Inn wherein I discuss my 7 month sabbatical to Luddite land.

So, 7 months at the least.

[Terez]

Nice. Welcome back.

(I haven't been to the Phoenix Inn in literal years. Even when I was more active here, it terrified me.)

[Zaloopa]

 Azath Vitr (D, on 18 April 2020 - 05:55 PM, said:

I'm worried there's an outside chance Trump is treating this as a test run for refusing to concede the election. (Particularly if Biden doesn't offer him immunity from prosecution, or at least a chance to 'escape' to Russia.) OTOH the military would be far more important than armed insurrection. But whether Trump fully understands that is questionable. And Trump could use the threat of mass uprisings as leverage.

All the websites for these protests (things like reopenmn.com, reopenpa.com, reopenma.com) were all registered around the same time by someone in florida and they all have almost identical descriptions for their facebook groups. It's almost as if these grassroots protests are actually being organized at the national level by someone.

[Garak]

Think it's a false flag operation?

[Lady Bliss]

I think we are getting a lot of mixed messages and very little leadership. So unions and grocers actually want to close down stores outside of curbside pickup and deliveries. But we are told we should reopen the economy. Oh, and the US is at about 40k deaths so far. The US is broken.

[Macros]

The US is beyond broken. The more I read in here the less hope I have for you guys.

At least in an corrupt African nation I see the chance of an armed insurrection, but the wackos with guns are the 2nd amendment types that are probably diehard GOP supporters anyway.

You are fucked so badly it makes our Tory majority almost tolerable

[Lady Bliss]

 Macros, on 19 April 2020 - 09:07 PM, said:

The US is beyond broken. The more I read in here the less hope I have for you guys.

At least in an corrupt African nation I see the chance of an armed insurrection, but the wackos with guns are the 2nd amendment types that are probably diehard GOP supporters anyway.

You are fucked so badly it makes our Tory majority almost tolerable

Well that’s comforting.

[Macros]

Sorry, immediately after posting I realised how shitty that reads.

I guess I mean it puts a better light on our chances here of getting out from under Tory rule compared to the state of the USA getting away from the GOP.

I feel for Americans, I would be leaving or trying to if I lived there, I can't imagine me being able to stay non partisan under such a completely broken system

[Lady Bliss]

No worries. As an American, I already know I’m screwed.

[Zaloopa]

 Garak, on 19 April 2020 - 07:15 PM, said:

Think it's a false flag operation?

Nah, just astroturfing.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'Donald Trump's re-election campaign sent out an email to his supporters on Friday accusing the Democratic Party of "trying to STEAL THE ELECTION["...]

"The Democrats are trying to STEAL THE ELECTION right before our eyes. They can't stand that the American People are rejecting Sleepy Joe Biden - a pathetic excuse for a candidate - so now they're trying to stuff the ballot boxes with FAKE and FRAUDULENT votes.

[...] The future of our Nation relies the integrity of our Election in November, and the Democrats are trying to RIG THE SYSTEM against President Trump by not requiring a Voter I.D. - it's madness."

[...]

Washington Post columnist and University College London assistant professor of global politics Brian Klass warns [...]

"Trump is calling for insurrection with reference to guns at the same time his campaign is falsely claiming that Democrats are trying to "steal" the election. This is what despots do. It's dangerous. He's laying the groundwork for his supporters to reject results and use violence."'

https://dailyboulder...H6m1wB0mDZbFraQ

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 20 April 2020 - 03:42 AM

[Tavvar]

The rest of this year is going to be fascinating in the US. Will Trump successfully deflect blame on to governors and convince people who don't pay all that much attention to politics to vote for him? Will enough people be able to hold their noses and vote for Biden? (I'm not sure we've really had this much of a "lesser of two evils" vote in quite a while.) If Biden wins, will Trump/Fox News concede? or will they blame voting irregularities that don't actually exist? Will everyone be able to vote or will the Republicans manage to stop the expansion of vote-by-mail in key swing states?

I think its kind of ironic that after the Democrats had their primary of basically "slight change to the status quo" vs "major changes," we get a crisis that shows how much change is needed in this country. And we have the Democratic candidate who wants to turn the clock back to at least 2008.