US Presidential Election 2024

[alloneword]

I actually managed to get caught up in a coup, once. Suva, Fiji, back in May or June of 2000. Apparently, it was a 'real' one.

We all thought it was a bit of a joke, really... well, until a bullet found this guy Jerry's arm, that is. But even then.

I decided it's wasn't really the best place to be right then, so GTFO round to Nandi - all the way in a taxi driven by a lovely guy named Baghrat. I still have his card, somewhere.

There were a handful of checkpoints on the way out. I was a bit concerned about having large, heavy and grumpy looking dudes with semi-automatics pointing in my direction, TBH, until I realised that all the officers appeared to have been educated at Sandhurst.

I eventually flew out on an Air NZ 747 - just me and six other passengers. We were totally outnumbered by the cabin crew. Fun times.

So, yeah. Even before I saw the videos of the 'buffalo horns' guy getting his guided tour, I couldn't help but think: Meh.

Having trawled through that endless 'Russia Gate' drivel, only to discover the actual substance of the accusations against this cheeto-faced shit-gibbon to be non-existent, I'm inclined to think that were there any real substance to the charge of 'inciting an insurrection', we'd have maybe heard a bit more about it. Perhaps it's just not that apparent from this side of the Atlantic - although (from here) the notion that 'insurrection' is not compatible with the US political system raises a chuckle: So, erm... 'Scuse me, mate - can we have our colony back, then?

It looked like a piece of performance art, but that's just my take. A desperate attempt at boosting the rating and audience figures for a show that ever fewer people are tuning into. Caricature heroes and villains (and clowns, oh, don't forget the clowns) all vying for the attention of their increasingly disinterested audience.

The only thing we can be absolutely sure of is that the pantomime will continue, because it's divisive. But do wake me up when one of them starts reading Bookchin or something.

[DrEvil]

No one ever said it was a competent coup attempt, but now they know what works and what doesn't, what laws need to be changed, and what positions need to be staffed by the right people next go-around.

[Elvis]

No one ever said it was a competent coup attempt, but now they know what works and what doesn't, what laws need to be changed, and what positions need to be staffed by the right people next go-around.

Yes and one must wonder if the next attempt will be more effectively planned. I'd bet people are working full time on it right now.

[JackRiddler]

No one ever said it was a competent coup attempt, but now they know what works and what doesn't, what laws need to be changed, and what positions need to be staffed by the right people next go-around.

Yes and one must wonder if the next attempt will be more effectively planned. I'd bet people are working full time on it right now.

The next attempt will begin immediately on the (re?) election of Trump in November. He's promised as much, and I believe him.

I'm older now, I've seen a lot of rounds of this constantly degenerating elections game, so I have the privilege of being equaninomous (if that's a word) about the most extreme version of the non-choice being offered in the coming election. I mean, it's got some classical Shakespearian aspects to it, a falling empire with the factions in charge of its policy so possessed by hubris and intellectual fracture that they don't even see how thoroughly they are hammering away at its traditional foundations (the dollar and the legend of an all-powerful military force), and the people being harangued to choose an emperor from among two one-dimensional caricatures of ancient right-wing racist macho blowhards who have brought nothing but destruction in their long careers, both on the brink of irretrievably senility or death (we can only hope) from believably natural causes, both marinated in long histories of organized corporate crime and family corruption. And meanwhile, half the country seems to believe the real problem is that "woke" liberals took over everything (but how is that different from the past?).

*

[Belligerent Savant]

.

A few thoughts:

- "If it wasn't an attempted insurrection or coup, what was it?" I alluded to it a few times here -- and may have delved into it further (or not) when this topic was hot back in 2020 in another thread -- but I do believe there was some form of operation that day, with little/no doubt. The spooks amidst the crowd were ‘directing traffic’/inciting certain sentiments & actions (not to mention the details of that shooting that occurred in the building, with its own share of plants/agents provocateurs, etc; we should re-surface that old thread at some point, or at least revisit it). Chaos and discord are clearly part of the underlying themes, pushed particularly aggressively since 2020 (among other overt affronts). My speculation is that Trump had some awareness of certain aspects of it and is/has been a willing player, deeply compromised. These are very 'hi-level' musings at this time.

- I have to add here that I continue to be perplexed/amazed/mystified by any commentary that hints -- with concern -- at a potential for "another attempt" (by Trump) in some sort of shenanigans. It's as if NO MAJOR PARADIGM SHIFTING EVENTS HAPPENED BETWEEN JAN 6th and NOW! I mean, really folks?

YES: Trump (and others) may well be involved in whatever mindfuckery/operations/sentiment manipulation tactics to be perpetrated in the months ahead.

But holy shit: since 2020 -- and apparently I need to bring the oft-repeated refrain to the forefront yet again here -- there have been EGREGIOUS and BLATANTLY OVERT affronts to fundamental human rights: UNJUSTIFIED mandates, lockdowns, censorship, segregation, FASCIST rhetoric, lives & livelihoods lost due to draconian policies, OPEN and BRAZEN PROPAGANDA by the "Press", acts of genocide/ethnic cleansing overseas -- in more than 1 region, since 2020. Shit is fucked up, folks, IRRESPECTIVE of whatever TRUMP did in 2020 or may do in 2024.

I mean, fully understand that discussing what may happen later this year is all fair game, and absolutely worthwhile for discussion, but:

We have been essentially in a Banana Republic/FASCIST/TOTALITARIAN System for some time now (albeit 'lighter' fare in some respects than what we've observed historically in other regimes outside the U.S. -- we still have entertainment, porn, professional sports and social media, which at all times/around the clock market & promote the status quo, pharma products, increasingly unhinged ideology, etc.), arguably starting with Trump's term and then going full-throttle into hyperdrive dystopia since 2020. And we're not at the climax yet. This is Election Year.

What type of System is TRUMP threatening to 'overturn'? It's already on a downward spiral and/or on an aggressive trajectory towards overt control and repression of the population (we're experiencing a bit of a reprieve at the moment on the tyrannical controls front; let's see what happens the next time they claim we're in a "pandemic"!). Y'all are expressing concerns here as if we're in some sort of legacy-era semi-utopia that Bad Orange Man may 'ruin' for the rest of us.

In other words: Whatever Trump may or may not do, the "other side" may or may not do as well -- ultimately with the same/similar outcome but with different demographics reacting differently depending on what "team" they root for and/or which "team" is perpetrating the affronts against The People. Things have already been quite fucked up (worse), clearly, wholly outside of whatever happened on Jan 6 or whatever may happen later this year.

Captain obvious... right?

[Belligerent Savant]

.
Going back to a prior news item I shared:

.
...
Meanwhile, actions at the border of Texas seem to building up to the early phases of yet another OP*. On an election year, naturally.

Observe, the current front-facing news. ‘Developing’ story, of course.

https://www.newsweek.com/greg-abbott-ur ... en-1863871

Greg Abbott Urged To 'Fully Militarize' Texas State Guard To Counter Biden
Jan 25, 2024 at 8:23 AM EST

A leading Texan nationalist has urged Governor Greg Abbott to dramatically expand and militarize the Texas State Guard if President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard, as some Democrats are demanding, in response to the ongoing border crisis.

Texan House Democrats Greg Casar and Joaquin Castro have suggested Biden should bring the Texas National Guard under federal control using a mechanism known as Title 10 status if Abbott maintains his current policy over the border with Mexico.
…

.

This is continuing to develop and may well become an escalation (timed months+ in advance?) impacting Election Year in a number of ways.

25 states have signed a letter pledging their support to Texas and its constitutional right to defending the Southern Border:

ALABAMA
ALASKA
ARKANSAS
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
IDAHO
INDIANA
IOWA
LOUISIANA
MISSISSIPPI
MISSOURI
MONTANA
NEBRASKA
NEVADA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NORTH DAKOTA
OHIO
OKLAHOMA
SOUTH CAROLINA
SOUTH DAKOTA
TENNESSEE
UTAH
VIRGINIA
WEST VIRGINIA
WYOMING

https://www.rga.org/republican-governor ... f-defense/

[DrEvil]

.

A few thoughts:

- "If it wasn't an attempted insurrection or coup, what was it?" I alluded to it a few times here -- and may have delved into it further (or not) when this topic was hot back in 2020 in another thread -- but I do believe there was some form of operation that day, with little/no doubt. The spooks amidst the crowd were ‘directing traffic’/inciting certain sentiments & actions (not to mention the details of that shooting that occurred in the building, with its own share of plants/agents provocateurs, etc; we should re-surface that old thread at some point, or at least revisit it). Chaos and discord are clearly part of the underlying themes, pushed particularly aggressively since 2020 (among other overt affronts). My speculation is that Trump had some awareness of certain aspects of it and is/has been a willing player, deeply compromised. These are very 'hi-level' musings at this time.

- I have to add here that I continue to be perplexed/amazed/mystified by any commentary that hints -- with concern -- at a potential for "another attempt" (by Trump) in some sort of shenanigans. It's as if NO MAJOR PARADIGM SHIFTING EVENTS HAPPENED BETWEEN JAN 6th and NOW! I mean, really folks?

YES: Trump (and others) may well be involved in whatever mindfuckery/operations/sentiment manipulation tactics to be perpetrated in the months ahead.

But holy shit: since 2020 -- and apparently I need to bring the oft-repeated refrain to the forefront yet again here -- there have been EGREGIOUS and BLATANTLY OVERT affronts to fundamental human rights: UNJUSTIFIED mandates, lockdowns, censorship, segregation, FASCIST rhetoric, lives & livelihoods lost due to draconian policies, OPEN and BRAZEN PROPAGANDA by the "Press", acts of genocide/ethnic cleansing overseas -- in more than 1 region, since 2020. Shit is fucked up, folks, IRRESPECTIVE of whatever TRUMP did in 2020 or may do in 2024.

I mean, fully understand that discussing what may happen later this year is all fair game, and absolutely worthwhile for discussion, but:

We have been essentially in a Banana Republic/FASCIST/TOTALITARIAN System for some time now (albeit 'lighter' fare in some respects than what we've observed historically in other regimes outside the U.S. -- we still have entertainment, porn, professional sports and social media, which at all times/around the clock market & promote the status quo, pharma products, increasingly unhinged ideology, etc.), arguably starting with Trump's term and then going full-throttle into hyperdrive dystopia since 2020. And we're not at the climax yet. This is Election Year.

What type of System is TRUMP threatening to 'overturn'? It's already on a downward spiral and/or on an aggressive trajectory towards overt control and repression of the population (we're experiencing a bit of a reprieve at the moment on the tyrannical controls front; let's see what happens the next time they claim we're in a "pandemic"!). Y'all are expressing concerns here as if we're in some sort of legacy-era semi-utopia that Bad Orange Man may 'ruin' for the rest of us.

In other words: Whatever Trump may or may not do, the "other side" may or may not do as well -- ultimately with the same/similar outcome but with different demographics reacting differently depending on what "team" they root for and/or which "team" is perpetrating the affronts against The People. Things have already been quite fucked up (worse), clearly, wholly outside of whatever happened on Jan 6 or whatever may happen later this year.

Captain obvious... right?

That's a lot of words to say "things are fucked up and shit, so who cares", and while it's fun to watch a failing empire consume itself, I am a little worried about the fallout. Empires don't tend to go quietly, and when shit is bad at home nothing rallies morale like fucking shit up elsewhere.

The problem with Trump is that he's turbocharging the decline. He's like a toddler, gleefully smashing the few remaining checks and balances you have, and cheering him on are a bunch of theocratic fascists who long ago realized the only way they retain power is by seizing control by any means necessary. Up until now it's been mostly "innocent" stuff where they can at least come up with a semblance of a legal argument, like trashing education, gerrymandering, purging voter rolls, fucking with mail-in ballots, stricter voter id laws, making it illegal to give food and water to people standing in line to vote, closing down voting locations in predominantly democratic areas, etc., but those things aren't going to work forever. Slowly and surely their dirty tricks will fail as demographics and attitudes shift (why do you think the GOP are so obsessed with wokeness and immigrants?), and slowly and surely their dirty tricks will get more extreme in response, and Trump, quite possibly the president again soon, is their most vocal cheerleader.

Even if Trump goes peacefully after his next term, the smoking crater he leaves behind will be ripe for the picking for the next demagogue to come along, and there's plenty of those waiting patiently in the wings.

[DrEvil]

Here's an example of what I was referring to above with theocratic fascists:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01 ... comments=1

Tens of thousands of pregnancies from rape occurring in abortion-ban states

States with bans logged 10 or fewer legal abortions per month, despite rape exceptions.

Beth Mole - 1/26/2024, 8:02 PM

Fourteen states have banned abortions at any gestational age since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022. Since the enactment of those abortion bans, an estimated 64,565 people became pregnant as a result of rape in those states. But, while five of the 14 states have exceptions for rape, all of the states logged only 10 or fewer legal abortions per month since their respective bans were enacted.

The finding, published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine, is a stark look at the effects of such bans on reproductive health care. The study did not assess how many of the estimated 64,565 pregnancies resulted in births, but it makes clear that tens of thousands of pregnant rape survivors, including children, were forced to turn to illegal procedures, self-managed abortions, or burdensome travel to states where abortion is legal—cost-prohibitive to many—as an alternative to carrying a rape-related pregnancy to term.

It also showed that legal exceptions for rape don't work. The states with those exceptions apply stringent time limits on the pregnancy and require victims to report their rapes to law enforcement, which likely disqualifies most. The US Department of Justice estimates that only 21 percent of victims report their rape to police, for myriad reasons.

In an editor's note accompanying the study, a trio of JAMA Internal Medicine editors—who are also medical researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, Harvard, and NYC Health and Hospitals—note the findings "demonstrate the scope of the problem," as the number of rape-related pregnancies is "exponentially larger" than the number of legal abortions in those states.

"As physicians, we do not see abortion as a political, religious, or legal issue. Rather we see access to safe abortions as a necessary part of reproductive health services to protect the physical and mental well-being of patients. The best solution to this problem is a national law protecting the right of all people to choose to terminate pregnancy," they write.

Study design

The study, led by a researcher at Planned Parenthood of Montana, is only an estimate because hard, state-level numbers are impossible to come by. The researchers pulled rape data from the DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics, the FBI, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence survey, a specially designed survey to ascertain reported and unreported rapes.

With national data from various sources, the researchers estimated the proportion of rape survivors that are female individuals ages 15 to 45, and they further adjusted for the number of rapes that are vaginal. To estimate state-level rapes, they proportioned the rapes by states based on the FBI's 2022 crime data, which includes rapes. They then multiplied each state's rapes by the fraction of rapes likely to result in pregnancy. And finally, adjusted for the months between July 1, 2022 and January 1, 2024 that an abortion ban was in effect in each of the 14 states. Among the 14 states, the number of months in which a ban was in effect ranged from four to 18 months.

In all, the researchers estimated 519,981 completed vaginal rapes in the 14 abortion ban states which resulted in a collective total of 64,565 pregnancies during the four to 18 months that bans were in effect. Of the rape-related pregnancies, an estimated 5,586 (9 percent) were in states with rape exceptions, and 58,979 (91 percent) were in states with no exception.

Texas, the abortion-ban state with the largest population, had an estimated 26,313 (41 percent) of all rape-related pregnancies under its ban, which was enacted for 16 months during the study time frame. The state's large number drew outrage from Democratic state lawmakers, particularly in light Gov. Greg Abbott’s vow to "eliminate rape" in Texas after a 2021 six-week abortion ban took effect (the state enacted a total ban in August 2022).

"Women and girls across our state are enduring unwanted pregnancies, suffering from life-endangering complications in desired pregnancies and fleeing the state for medical care," the 13 Democratic state senators said in a Thursday news release, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. "We cannot allow this to be the new norm."

[Grizzly]

Democratic concerns grow amid RFK Jr. ballot push in battleground states
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4430026-democratic-concerns-grow-amid-rfk-jr-ballot-push-in-battleground-states/

Is it Bobby the OP or isn't it? I really want to believe in the guy. But it's hard.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement Tuesday that he had amassed enough signatures to qualify for the New Hampshire ballot for the general election, after already getting on Utah’s, is drawing fresh concern from Democrats over how he could transform the race.

Freeing himself from the Democratic Party to run as an independent, Kennedy was ineligible to appear as a candidate in New Hampshire’s primary Tuesday, when voters sent President Biden and former President Trump to resounding victories in their party contests.

But after months of speculation about the credibility of his campaign, Kennedy found success in a small battleground state nonetheless, giving Democrats pause that he could muddy their path to the White House.

“Whatever point Robert Kennedy Jr. wants to make, the time for making it is over,” said Michael Starr Hopkins, a Democratic operative and political commentator. “All this bulls–t about No Labels and third-party runs; RFK Jr.’s vanity project is an embarrassment to his family’s legacy and a danger to voters.”

Biden’s write-in win in the Granite State, which went as expected, meant the president and his inner circle shifted quickly to Trump, effectively preparing for a rematch that few voters have said they want. He has not publicly entertained the possibility that the election could turn into a three-way contest this fall, with Kennedy as an attractive choice for voters in states with prime electoral votes up for grabs.

“It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee,” Biden said in a statement released by his campaign this week. “And my message to the country is the stakes could not be higher.”

more..

[Belligerent Savant]

That's a lot of words to say "things are fucked up and shit, so who cares", and while it's fun to watch a failing empire consume itself, I am a little worried about the fallout. Empires don't tend to go quietly, and when shit is bad at home nothing rallies morale like fucking shit up elsewhere.

The problem with Trump is that he's turbocharging the decline. He's like a toddler, gleefully smashing the few remaining checks and balances you have, and cheering him on are a bunch of theocratic fascists who long ago realized the only way they retain power is by seizing control by any means necessary. Up until now it's been mostly "innocent" stuff where they can at least come up with a semblance of a legal argument, like trashing education, gerrymandering, purging voter rolls, fucking with mail-in ballots, stricter voter id laws, making it illegal to give food and water to people standing in line to vote, closing down voting locations in predominantly democratic areas, etc., but those things aren't going to work forever. Slowly and surely their dirty tricks will fail as demographics and attitudes shift (why do you think the GOP are so obsessed with wokeness and immigrants?), and slowly and surely their dirty tricks will get more extreme in response, and Trump, quite possibly the president again soon, is their most vocal cheerleader.

Even if Trump goes peacefully after his next term, the smoking crater he leaves behind will be ripe for the picking for the next demagogue to come along, and there's plenty of those waiting patiently in the wings.

Your first line is a terrible take, and absolutely counter to my point. Clearly, I — and millions of others — ‘care’ very much. Demonstrably.
My point is the sheer lack of recognition (by you and others that continue to suffer from variations of Trump Derangement Syndrome) / seeming inability to plainly call out that the last ~4 yrs were obviously and brazenly/markedly disastrous for U.S. citizens, for all the reasons I articulated above and more.

“Checks and balances” are long gone. And to suggest Trump is the sole or even primary reason for that is to be blind to all that’s occurred, especially over these last several years.

You continue to insist on ‘legacy’/antiquated thinking, and refuse to see that the GOP is merely one of several ‘tools’ being implemented against the average citizen, against the middle/working classes, and against human agency. The Biden admin, his handlers and the fraudulent party he represents is complicit in all of this as well.

But by all means, you may persist in your selective observations.

Far from a “who cares” mindset, there very much are options, and I maintain that the collective will — and already has, incrementally — awaken from collective trance-like states, eventually. The key questions are When and At What Cost.

A subset will have long made other adjustments/counter-measures in the meantime.

[Belligerent Savant]

Also:

“Theocratic fascists” — lol.

(The 20th Century called and wants their scare-mongering tactics back)

The irony here is, in a number of respects we have, indeed, observed the immense wide-ranging harms/destruction wrought by ‘theocratic fascists’ over the last few years. Except it didn’t happen via the religion(s) you tout. It was carried out by the Religious Cult of “The Science” (not to be confused with sound, reasoned science, to be clear).

This fucking Cult is indeed a menace to society, culture, and current zeitgeist.

And the harms/damage have by no means ended. Far from it: they are extending their dogmatic/unhinged tentacles on ‘climate alarm’, gender ideology, ‘transhumanism’, farming (pesticides, attacks on livestock, etc), and of course, continued affronts to human health.

This Fascist Ideology is absolutely a threat to humankind.


However: ‘legacy’ religions are indeed utilized as tools by puppet politicians (and their cynical handlers) to commit acts of despicable genocide/ethnic cleansing. See: current activities in Gaza as yet another example of crimes against humanity occurring in the last ~couple years (and of course, historically). Unfortunately there are also many humans that continue to subscribe to such barbaric thinking (specifically: applying interpretations to texts in books associated with Organized Religions to commit and justify atrocities. Some do this in earnest [deluded] belief; others utilize such texts cynically for nefarious objectives), which contribute to the persistence of these vile actors committing abhorrent acts.
(This is only one factor: greed, power/land/control accumulation — secular interests — underpin all of this, naturally)

[DrEvil]

Theocratic fascists, aka fundamentalist evangelicals, of which the US has a lot. The same people who get an erection every time a rape victim, including children, is forced to carry their child to term, something that is happening right now by the thousands because of these same people. Do you think they're going to stop there? Do you really not see the problem with them getting even more power (which they will under Trump)?

[Belligerent Savant]

(I returned here to post something else, and am just now seeing DrEvil's last reply. I will need to repeat, once more, that this notion of 'theocracy' as a critical threat in this zeitgeist is a woefully myopic view. And, irrespective of a subset of Trump's followers, Trump himself is far from a 'Theocratic' entity. He may use such rhetoric when it serves him -- as politicians do -- but he is far from 'theocratic' in his approach. Again: the 'religion' currently causing the most harms is the corrupted, distorted religion of 'The Science', which is -- among other traits -- an inversion of sound principles; it is deeply compromised, and the antithesis of critical thinking, reason, and logic. It's been utilized to great effect to influence millions into complying with egregious affronts to fundamental human rights, particularly since 2020).

-----------------------------------------------

A reminder that the American voting process -- especially at the National level -- is an outright sham. Manipulations abound; rigging and outright fraud an expected occurrence (refined well beyond the old-school methods of Mafia tampering of the ~mid 20th Century).

@ggreenwald

As I've pointed out many times, Brazil's population is 215 million people: not much smaller than the US's.

Voting is mandatory for everyone above 16. It happens on Sunday. The full vote tally is released within hours of poll closing.

The complete mess in the US is a choice:

11 days later and 12% of the 7.2M ballots in California have not been counted

Argentina hand-counted 99.9% of their 27 million paper ballots in less than 6 hours

9:19 AM · Mar 14, 2024

https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1768268 ... 39643?s=20

[kelley]

sorry my bad

. . .

how does a bankrupt felon with insurmountable debts run let alone govern from prison

i mean come on

[drstrangelove]

Trump will win. The flood of migrants into the country has been to necessitate measures the average American ordinarily wouldn't accept. Perhaps the whole thing would be worth it if this new-wave American nationalism could rid the country of zionist hegemony and become more isolationist. But it isn't isolationist.

Everything is being poised for a war with China. I imagine those drums will start beating loudly once Trump takes office. This war will be very hard to sell, because it's very retarded. But then again, much of Trump's base are retards. Carlson and Jones are already priming them.

It'll be interesting to see how they try and achieve this, especially in Australia, as China is our largest trading partner. I imagine the whole covid pandemic/WEF as a Chinese communist conspiracy works.