2020 Election Commentary

[myleftnut]

Instead of making shit up, maybe you chuckleheads should give a listen to someone who was actually there.

I just started listening to it myself, so I don't know what she has to say, but it's got more relevance than anybody here does.

Was she one of the people who entered the building?

[Shasarak]

Interesting thought experiment from Macris

https://macris.substack.com/p/trump-at-the-rubicon

There are a couple of problems with Maxris's thought experiment.

1) Biden is not going to come after Trump when he is not President; there is no way that the Swamp is going to unleash that Kraken that will devour him as soon as he is not President.

and b) Trump is not going to cross the rubicon with his army, Trump is just neither a Caesar nor a Hitler.

Looks like I am 50% correct with my predictions so far.

Still need to wait for China Joe.

[Shasarak]

Instead of making shit up, maybe you chuckleheads should give a listen to someone who was actually there.

As if my narrative requires boots on the ground evidence.

Thats so 1999

[VisionStorm]

Russell Brand provides some good insights into the feelings of discontent that's leading people into the situation going on right now. Granted, he comes to it from a more "Left" perspective that's critical of Trump, but he's also critical of Biden, and highlights some of the systemic issues that have being going on for decades in American politics, going back to Clinton, how neither party serves the people and has abandoned the public, and everyone has become disenfranchised, regardless of race.

[rawma]

Well if you have a enemy you hate in a optic war and the ability to transport politicians safely out of the building within minutes so no damage is done it is a smart trap to lax the security.  This is classical rabbit box trap with Capital Hill as a carrot.  It would be a move I would do knowing damn well that many of these people have lost their lively hoods, homes, and are completely desperate.

I think that would be more believable if things like computers and papers were more secured, if there weren't significant symbolic meaning to the Capitol Building, and if the actual members of Congress hadn't still been in a building that could have been burned down.

But, OK, ignoring all that, maybe the whole thing was a deep state honeypot to lure the traitors out into the open. And clever move, to make not wearing a mask a sign of tribal identity so they can be more easily identified.

[rawma]

you'd expect white people to form lunch mobs all the time

Well, only during the lunch hour, but then there was a pandemic and they're all working from home.

[jhkim]

But no, people shouldn't uphold rhetoric that isn't universally applied-in-fact.  It's aspirational, only, until such time.

If you use unrestricted submarine warfare and urban terror bombing in violation of the treaty rules of war, so will we.  The principle of matching your enemies actions instead of past words is established and accepted.

Aspiration is exactly what I was talking about. If an enemy like the Imperial Japanese tortures prisoners, that sucks, and we shouldn't feel bound to keep to agreements with them. But that doesn't mean that we should then celebrate torture and televise torture as cool. It's still completely wrong and we should continue to condemn it.

If someone punches me, I can and will punch back to defend myself. But that doesn't mean that I then feel free to punch whoever I want in the future - or that I now think that punching is the right way to argue.

If it counts for anything, Donald Trump has now conceded the election and condemned the attack.

I'd like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.

I immediately deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is and must always be a nation of law and order.

America is and must always be a nation of law and order. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.

We have just been through an intense election and emotions are high. But now, tempers must be cooled and calm restored. We must get on with the business of America.

My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results, my only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy.

I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.

Now, Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.

2020 has been a challenging time for our people, a menacing pandemic has upended the lives of our citizens, isolated millions in their homes damaged our economy, and claimed countless lives.

Defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together. It will require a renewed emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community and family.

We must revitalise the sacred bonds of love and loyalty, that bind us together as one national family. To the citizens of our country, serving as your president has been the honour of my lifetime.

And to all of my wonderful supporters. I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

[Shasarak]

Robert Barnes, as always, shutting down QAnon and dropping the truth bombs:

[Mistwell]

tl;dr: Real life crept up ~ losing service for a while ~ got work anyway ~ be back l8r!

OOooooh! It IS a show! All this time I thought you were a nutcase. Someone earlier said you were playing the role of a character and I didn't buy it, but sure enough, they were right.

[EOTB]

But no, people shouldn't uphold rhetoric that isn't universally applied-in-fact.  It's aspirational, only, until such time.

If you use unrestricted submarine warfare and urban terror bombing in violation of the treaty rules of war, so will we.  The principle of matching your enemies actions instead of past words is established and accepted.

Aspiration is exactly what I was talking about. If an enemy like the Imperial Japanese tortures prisoners, that sucks, and we shouldn't feel bound to keep to agreements with them. But that doesn't mean that we should then celebrate torture and televise torture as cool. It's still completely wrong and we should continue to condemn it.

If someone punches me, I can and will punch back to defend myself. But that doesn't mean that I then feel free to punch whoever I want in the future - or that I now think that punching is the right way to argue.

If it counts for anything, Donald Trump has now conceded the election and condemned the attack.

I'd like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.

I immediately deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is and must always be a nation of law and order.

America is and must always be a nation of law and order. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.

We have just been through an intense election and emotions are high. But now, tempers must be cooled and calm restored. We must get on with the business of America.

My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results, my only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy.

I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.

Now, Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.

2020 has been a challenging time for our people, a menacing pandemic has upended the lives of our citizens, isolated millions in their homes damaged our economy, and claimed countless lives.

Defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together. It will require a renewed emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community and family.

We must revitalise the sacred bonds of love and loyalty, that bind us together as one national family. To the citizens of our country, serving as your president has been the honour of my lifetime.

And to all of my wonderful supporters. I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

I've said since the election ended I didn't think Trump was the type of guy who would do a coup, and that any hope in that area was thin.

Yes, obviously in addition to torture we shouldn't resort to ritual cannibalism either.  That rejoinder is incredibly shameless in regards to the subject of Portland vs DC. 

It's also very clear from what I said that "but that doesn't mean that I then feel free to punch whoever I want in the future - or that I now think that punching is the right way to argue." is yet another misleading paraphrase which is your favorite debate tactic.  Again, your enemies actions currently undertaken do color your own.  Excepting torture and ritual cannibalism, of course.  This must be noted. 

You have a serious, conditional, sometimes, context problem. 

[Ratman_tf]

You have to eat your enemies to absorb their power.

[VisionStorm]

Instead of making shit up, maybe you chuckleheads should give a listen to someone who was actually there.

I just started listening to it myself, so I don't know what she has to say, but it's got more relevance than anybody here does.

Was she one of the people who entered the building?

Apparently she stayed outside. Covers most of it in the first 20 minutes or so. The rest apparently is mostly her giving her opinion on the whole situation and answering chats (haven't heard to all of it yet).

[Pat]

I'd like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.

I immediately deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is and must always be a nation of law and order.

America is and must always be a nation of law and order. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.

We have just been through an intense election and emotions are high. But now, tempers must be cooled and calm restored. We must get on with the business of America.

My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results, my only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy.

I continue to strongly believe that we must reform our election laws to verify the identity and eligibility of all voters and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections.

Now, Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.

2020 has been a challenging time for our people, a menacing pandemic has upended the lives of our citizens, isolated millions in their homes damaged our economy, and claimed countless lives.

Defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together. It will require a renewed emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community and family.

We must revitalise the sacred bonds of love and loyalty, that bind us together as one national family. To the citizens of our country, serving as your president has been the honour of my lifetime.

And to all of my wonderful supporters. I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

That's perfectly reasonable. Presidential even.

Except for all the British spellings. That's just un-American.

[HappyDaze]

tl;dr: Real life crept up ~ losing service for a while ~ got work anyway ~ be back l8r!

OOooooh! It IS a show! All this time I thought you were a nutcase. Someone earlier said you were playing the role of a character and I didn't buy it, but sure enough, they were right.

Yeah, I called that one, and it was an easy one, but there are a lot of people here that are just playing characters, and a lot of fake nonsense here. Even some of the people that are total raging asshats in their posts can have civil conversations over on the gaming side of the forum or in PMs. But here? Everyone is just here for Thunderdome.

[Trond]

you'd expect white people to form lunch mobs all the time

Well, only during the lunch hour, but then there was a pandemic and they're all working from home.

Lunch mobs are the best kind of mobs and those white hoods are perfect as masks.