Tag: MAGA

A Call To Arms?

We do not need Paul and his horse anymore for we have the internet and social media.

Of course I am referring to the re4sponse from MAGA loyalists after the conviction of their hero recently…..

Is it truly a call to arms?

After a jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony charges yesterday, Bronze Age Pervert, the alter ego of the edgelord influencer Costin Alamariu, retweeted one of his own posts from March. It is a movie clip depicting a scene of armed men storming buildings and gunning people down. In the text accompanying the post, Bronze Age Pervert jokes that the clip is real footage of a “well-planned neutralization operation” that will take place after Trump wins his reelection campaign.

The MAGA faithful are once again on the internet threatening violence. Lots of Republicans, of course, responded to Trump’s felony verdict with simple outrage rather than calls for a “neutralization operation.” But more extreme language has appeared all across the right-wing posting ecosystem. Some Proud Boys chapters responded with the word “war” on their Telegram channels, as reported by Wired, and Reuters found instances of Trump supporters calling for violence against jurors and the judge in the case, as well as calls for civil war and insurrection.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/05/trump-trial-maga-internet-violence/678571/

The rhetoric is getting very disturbing…..

As supporters of Donald Trump flood right-wing platforms with threats against the jurors and judge following guilty verdicts Thursday in his criminal case regarding hush money payments, fears are growing that the influence the Republican presumptive presidential nominee has over his supporters will soon lead to violence.

“Until and unless he accepts the process, the extremist reaction to his legal troubles will be militant,” Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, toldReuters.

The former president gave no sign of accepting the legal process Friday as he held a press conference at Trump Tower, repeating claims that the case had been “rigged.”

Shortly after a New York jury announced its verdict in the case regarding documents that were falsified to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniel just before the 2016 election to keep her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump, right-wing websites like Gateway Pundit, Truth Social, and Patriots.Win saw an uptick in violent posts from users.

One commenter called for “someone in NY with nothing to lose” to “take care of” New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, while another on Gateway Pundit directed a threat at any and all opponents of Trump.

“Time to start capping some leftys,” said the user. “This cannot be fixed by voting.”

The reaction is a direct result, said Ware, of Trump’s “insistence that he is being mistreated.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-supporters-2668430042

Social media could possibly make the reality of violence very likely….for we know how some creeps take all this tough talk to heart.

Just a hint at what they propose….

Shortly after a New York jury announced its verdict in the case regarding documents that were falsified to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniel just before the 2016 election to keep her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump, right-wing websites like Gateway Pundit, Truth Social, and Patriots.Win saw an uptick in violent posts from users.

One commenter called for “someone in NY with nothing to lose” to “take care of” New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, while another on Gateway Pundit directed a threat at any and all opponents of Trump.

“Time to start capping some leftys,” said the user. “This cannot be fixed by voting.”

The reaction is a direct result, said Ware, of Trump’s “insistence that he is being mistreated.”

https://www.alternet.org/violent-trump-supporters/

Even more calls for violence….

“Pick a side, or YOU are next,” wrote conservative talkshow host Dan Bongino on the Truth Social media platform in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions.

The replies were even more so.

“Dan, seriously now,” one user wrote in response to Bongino. “I see no way out of all this mess without bloodshed. When you can rig an election, then weaponize the government and the courts against a former President, what other alternative is there? I’m almost 70 and would rather die than live in tyranny.”

That’s a common version of how many people on the US right reacted to the ex-president’s verdict, drawing on a “mirror world” where Trump is seen as the selfless martyr to powerful state forces and Joe Biden is the dangerous autocrat wielding the justice system as his own personal plaything and a threat to US democracy.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/02/far-right-mobilizing-biden-presidency

How likely will all this escalate into a situation of terrible conflict?

Will the idiots heed this call to arms?

In the days of my ‘pinko’ ways we were accused of wanting to destroy democracy and now the very people doing the accusing are doing what we were accused of wanting.

We never wanted to destroy democracy….but my accusers cannot say that.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Give Us That Old-Time Purge

Just like the days of old when the USSR purged people by Stalin or Kim in North Korea purging opponents or China purging dissent to policies….the RNC seems to be solidifying Trump’s control….

It’s been just a few days since the Republican National Committee welcomed its new leadership—including Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former President Trump—but big moves are already afoot. Politico reports on a “bloodbath” at the RNC, with sources telling the outlet that more than five dozen staffers in the communications, data, and political departments are being fired—including five of the committee’s more senior members, though they haven’t yet been named. Cuts were also made to vendor contracts, as well as to staffers that managed the RNC’s community centers, which did outreach to minority groups in blue states, per the AP.

“During this process, certain staff are being asked to resign and reapply for a position on the team,” Sean Cairncross, the RNC’s new COO, said in a letter to employees, adding that the shake-up was meant to “ensure the building is aligned” with the committee’s new vision. In addition to these other developments, the Trump campaign is prepping to merge its operations with that of the RNC, which would mark “an unprecedented level of integration between the former president’s campaign and the GOP’s formal political and fundraising apparatus,” per the AP. In addition to Lara Trump, North Carolina Republican chief Michael Whatley will co-chair the RNC, with political consultant Chris LaCivita named as the group’s new chief of staff.

LaCivita and others celebrated the news of the RNC shift, proclaiming it to be necessary in the name of streamlining an overly bureaucratic organization. Other prominent Republicans also weighed in. “MAGA is now in control of the Republican Party!!” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted late Tuesday on X. Not everyone was happy about the change. “Gutting a committee just before the election seems insane,” one ex-RNC worker tells the Washington Post. Staffers who don’t intend to reapply for their jobs will be asked to leave at the end of March, though some were asked to vacate RNC offices on Monday, per the AP.

Any excuse to rid the RNC of any disloyal followers.

But this is not the first time Trumpers have gone on a witch hunt….think back to 2016 (don’t bother I wrote about it and you can read for yourselves)

Is This A Purge?

Let’s see…sign a loyalty pledge and purges….does that sound like democracy at work?

Not for me.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Project 2025

College of Political Knowledge

2024 Election Series

November is just months away….now would be a good time to pay attention!

If Trump is successful in his bid for a second term these are things we can look forward to in the future.

It is a Heritage and GOP blueprint to destroy the planet…..and the MAGA movement and Donald the Orange are embracing the 920 page blueprint.

I would post the link here but that would drive me into a stroke laughing so hard to think anyone would actually care enough to read the document.

We all have an idea what will happen if a conserv is elected….those ideas are valid but here is what will probably be the game plan.

With that in mind I found an article that will inform you before your attention span wanes.

When former President Donald Trump exited the Oval Office in January 2021, he left behind a record of environmental rollbacks unrivaled in modern U.S. history. Over his 1,461 days as commander-in-chief, Trump replaced, eliminated, or otherwise dismantled more than 100 environmental rules — at least — from repealing the Clean Air Act to allowing coal plants to dump toxic wastewater into lakes and rivers to declaring open season on endangered gray wolves.

President Joe Biden then rolled back most of the rollbacks, largely before their full impacts could be felt, which is why some experts say the most significant climate consequence of Trump’s presidency was actually the loss of four years that could have moved the green transition forward.

Had all Trump’s policies gone into effect, the nonpartisan Rhodium Group estimated at the end of 2020, they would have added an additional 1.8 gigatons of CO2-equivalent to the atmosphere by 2035 — more than the annual energy emissions of Germany, Britain, and Canada combined. But even though we never felt the full brunt of them, the medical journal The Lancet estimated that the policies undertaken during his presidency were responsible for 22,000 deaths in 2019 alone due to sharp increases in things like asthma, heart disease, and lung cancer.

Now Trump is once again the presumed Republican nominee and currently leads Biden in general election polls. Were he to win, he has a ready roadmap for building on his dubious environmental legacy: Project 2025, a 920-page document developed by the right wing think tank The Heritage Foundation.

Project 2025 isn’t just a climate plan, or course — it’s a comprehensive proposal, covering everything from immigration to abortion, education, pornography, and child labor. Though billed as a “presidential transition project,” its wishlist includes numerous actions that would require Republican control of both chambers of Congress (admittedly possible, though currently looking like a longshot) to enact. Undaunted, the document sets its sights on the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s landmark climate legislation, which — since the U.S. is the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter — is all but necessary to keep the planet off the path to 1.5 degrees Celcius.

Read On!

https://heatmap.news/politics/trump-climate-change-project-2025

Then there is the 4 prong attack on society…..

Called the 2025 Presidential Transition Project—or “Project 2025,” for short—the plan has “four pillars”:

  1. an 887-page policy agenda,
  2. a presidential personnel database of vetted conservatives,
  3. a Presidential Administration Academy to train these people to achieve the Project 2025 policy agenda, and
  4. a 180-day playbook, which is what they hope to achieve in the first 180 days if Trump takes office in January 2025.

Project 2025: The Right’s Dystopian Plan to Dismantle Civil Rights and What It Means for Women

You might want to read this careful for your vote could be helping to destroy the planet and your way of life.

Just a thought

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That MAGA ‘Hot Babe’

I do enjoy a good ‘ba-zinga’….and this is a great one.

Another MAGA supporter has been outed for being a Chinese spy….

Another pro-MAGA activist has been outed as a Chinese spy, according to the Washington Post.

Just as Elon Musk is taking over Twitter, the company uncovered three China-based operatives pretending to be influencers in American politics as part of an effort to polarize Americans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

In a cache of data released by the site, nearly 2,000 users were uncovered as they claimed election-rigging and attacked members of the transgender community. They also promoted pro-China narratives to their American audience.

“The disclosure by Twitter adds to what is known about China-based efforts to influence American audiences by mimicking the strategies Russia-based operatives used to stoke cultural and political tensions during the 2016 election,” said the Post. “In September, Meta announced it had disrupted a China-based operation seeking to influence U.S. politics. The U.S. government also has issued warnings about Chinese influence efforts, as have a spate of reports from cybersecurity firms including Google’s Mandiant, Recorded Future and Alethea Group.”

Another network in Iran was uncovered with people claiming to be based in the U.S. or Israel, data showed. An account using the same name and logo was also present on YouTube, TikTok and Reddit.

“This is equal opportunity hyper-partisanship, a tactic that’s been more embraced by Russia,” said Graham Brookie, head of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab. “It’s the same theory of the case: A weakened adversary is one that allows you to shape geopolitics more.”

https://www.rawstory.com/maga-republican-uncovered-chinese-spy/

AS the tale unravels it gets more and more humorous….

I do love a good spy story.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is ‘MAGA’ On The Wane?

I say the best news…..we have heard all the outright lies these candidates have told and yet they are still spouting crap while the rest of us suffer…..

There are some reports that point to a dwindling of the MAGA candidates….could this be good news on the horizon?

The state and nation’s voters are, as usual, deluged by a tidal wave of campaign promises from candidates as the November elections draw near. And as usual, we are being promised far more than these candidates can or will deliver should they attain the offices they seek. But after the absolute debacle of the Trump/MAGA/insurrection administration — and evidence of failing campaigns by those who followed, supported, or emulated those extreme positions — it appears voters have wised up to the fact that their promises are as phony as the inflated assets valuations that now have their grifter-in-chief sinking in a quicksand of legal woes.

It’s telling that a desperate GOP is withdrawing tens of millions of dollars from political races in which the far-right candidates parroted MAGA’s extreme agenda that seeks to divide Americans based on any number of issues. Wrong skin color or race? Love someone of the same sex? Came from a “shithole” country? Want to control your own body and decide when or if you want to have children? Won’t give the Q-Anon one finger salute at MAGA rallies? Think the climate crisis is real?

The reasons go on and on but the bottom line remains the same — if you’re not with us, you’re against us. But lo and behold, it would appear there are far more voters who are not marching in goose-step with the MAGA crowd, and who believe in tolerance, acceptance, and common humanity. And that’s causing Congressional Republicans to distance themselves from those positions.

But at this late stage of the game, even those candidates who are trying to scurry away from their far-right primary positions are facing the ugly reality that they’re likely to lose. Why? For the simple reason that the vast majority of American voters and businesses prefer stability and predictability to insurrection, lawlessness, and disregard for future generations.

The GOP’s MAGA Campaigns Aren’t Going So Well

I do not know if I believe this report…..I want to but I have seen how these things go….

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Why Has Our Country Come To This?

There is a social/political storm brewing on the horizon….one that could have long ranging consequences for a generation maybe longer…….

This is my series trying to make sense and help explain why this storm is approaching.

I have written many times about the direction of this country….that it is slipping into complete chaos o rival some third world countries.

But when our political system devolves into this silliness there seems to be no hope remaining…..

Missouri GOP Senate candidate Eric Greitens on Tuesday published a video encouraging voters to get “RINO-hunting permits.” The 38-second spot shows him on the front porch of a home holding a tactical shotgun and “surrounded by men in US armed forces camouflage uniforms,” per the Hill.As though narrating a wildlife documentary, Greitens whispers, “the RINO feeds off corruption and is marked by the stripes of cowardice.” The armed men then batter down the door and toss a flash grenade into the residence. Greitens enters and urges viewers to “join the MAGA crew” and get the permit, adding, “there’s no bagging limit … and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.” The caption in the accompanying tweet says, “We are sick and tired of Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left.”

Backlash came quickly from all sides. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego said the video “encourages political violence,””and Rep. Juan Castro, another Democrat, called it “sociopathic.” Per the Kansas City Star, Greitens’ GOP primary opponents also condemned the message. Rep. Vicky Hartzler called Greitens “an abuser” and “a blackmailer.” Rep. Billy Long said the ad was “very distasteful,” but he also called his other primary opponents RINOs and said, “The only way to beat RINOs … is at the ballot box.” In response to the Hill, Greitens’ campaign said, “If anyone doesn’t get the metaphor, they are either lying or dumb.”

Rolling Stonesays, “the ad is not subtle. It isn’t even metaphorical.” It is, however, in keeping with past themes in Greitens’ career, including a 2016 campaign video of himself “unleashing hell” with a heavy machinegun. Greitens is former governor of Missouri but was forced to resign in 2018 amid allegations of sexual assault and campaign finance violations. His then-wife also accused him of physical abuse. He and others are running to fill the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt. Per Real Clear Politics, Greitens leads the Republican field in recent polls. The Missouri primary is in August.

This guy is the perfect candidate of the GOP….corrupt, abuser and sexual assault….makes near and dear to Trump.

Has the GOP opened up a ‘paramilitary wing’?

Pennsylvania Capital-Star, columnist J. Patrick Coolican warned that far-right Republican lawmakers are effectively building up their branch of the party into a “paramilitary wing” — driven in part by their voting base’s own fetishization of political violence.

“J.R. Majewski, a Republican candidate for Congress in Ohio, ran an ad (since taken down for copyright issues) in which images of President Joe Biden, Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Colin Kaepernick (?!) are flashed on the screen, and then Majewski casually walks around with a rifle and says he’ll ‘do whatever it takes to return this country back to its former glory,'” wrote Coolican. “Blake Masters, the Trump-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona, builds his own guns and recently showed one off on social media with the caption: ‘I will remind everyone in Congress what ‘shall not be infringed’ means.’ It’s an especially sinister message, given that Masters’ potential opponent is U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, whose wife former Rep. Gabby Giffords was badly injured in a 2011 mall shooting.”

As Coolican wrote, people should not dismiss these as idle threats — because in the past, long before former President Donald Trump was even born, elected lawmakers and large blocs of their constituents endorsed and carried out acts of violence in similar ways, with horrible consequences.

“America has a long history of political violence, often — though not always — rooted in white supremacy,” wrote Coolican. “As Jelani Cobb recounted in 2020, the American Party, aka the ‘Know Nothings,’ were infamous for their bludgeoning mobs, particularly against immigrant voters. The brutal caning of abolitionist U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner by U.S. Rep. Preston Brooks on the floor of the Senate in 1856 was just the most infamous attack during a time when physical combat in the U.S. Congress was shockingly common, as historian Joanne Freeman records in ‘The Fields of Blood.’ Between 1830 and 1860, there were more than 70 violent incidents in House and Senate chambers, on nearby streets and — yes, this is real — ‘dueling grounds.'”

https://www.rawstory.com/republican-paramilitary/

Many Americans of both parties think the government is corrupt and needs to be dealt with on some level….

A new poll from the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics finds a majority of Americans think the government is corrupt and stacked against them.

To probably no one’s surprise, 73 percent of poll respondents who identify as “strong Republican” respondents agreed with the statement that the government is “corrupt and rigged against everyday people like me.” But Republicans are far from alone in this sentiment. Fifty-one percent of “very liberal” voters agreed with the same statement.

Overall, 56 percent of survey respondents said that the government is corrupt. This included 66 percent of all Republican respondents, 63 percent of independents, and 46 percent of Democrats.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters found that a significant number of people expect that extreme measures may be necessary to protect against government overreach. 28 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that “it may be necessary at some point soon for citizens to take up arms against the government.” Thirty-six percent of Republicans, 35 percent of independents, and 20 percent of Democrats agreed. 

Most Americans Think Government Is Corrupt, a Third Say Armed Revolution ‘May Be Necessary’ Soon

I ask the question again….how did it come to this?

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A New Word–Antifa

There is a new word that is making the rounds in news reports that the media is trying to slyly blame for the violence.

The word is “ANTIFA” (caps for effect only)…..

Read and learn

It came about in 2017 in Charlottesville when protesters clashed with bigot white boys….and the media went batcrap crazy with news of these clashes…..my thoughts on Charlottesville–2017…..https://gulfsouthfreepress.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/antifa-out-of-the-shadows/

Personally I was pleased to see these folks show up and take on the fascist scum….and now the word ANTIFA is once again in the news……and once again the old professor will help you understand these protesters.

The group that Donald the Orange has decided he will add to the terrorism list….a foolish threat from a foolish immature toad.

But who are these people/groups?

There many ways to tell who the people are and what they want….most of the definitions are not accurate but they will be used ad nauseum….like this one…

The anti-fascist protest movement known as antifa gained new prominence in the United States after the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA, in August 2017. In Charlottesville and at many subsequent events held by white supremacists or right-wing extremists, antifa activists have aggressively confronted what they believe to be authoritarian movements and groups. While most counter-protestors tend to be peaceful, there have been several instances where encounters between antifa and the far-right have turned violent.

https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/who-are-antifa

Online battles between far right groups and anti-fascists – or “Antifa” – are now regularly spilling out onto the streets of America. But who are Antifa and what do they represent? Anisa Subedar and Mike Wendling went to the West coast of America to find out for Seriously… podcast Political Violence in America. Here are seven facts you need to know.

1. How long have Antifa been around?

Some Antifa groups date the origins of their movement to fights against European fascists in the 1920s and 1930s. Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, says the modern American Antifa movement began in the 1980s with a group called Anti-Racist Action. Its members confronted neo-Nazi skinheads at punk gigs in the American Midwest and elsewhere. By the early 2000s the Antifa movement was mostly dormant – until the rise of Donald Trump and the alt-right.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/X56rQkDgd0qqB7R68t6t7C/seven-things-you-need-to-know-about-antifa

There is lots of disinformation about Antifa circling the social media accounts.

A compilation of arguments addressing some of the claims and conspiracy theories that have been circulating about “outside agitators” and “ANTIFA” in recent days. These were originally posted as social media threads by Crimethinc and It’s Going Down.

https://libcom.org/news/outside-agitators-antifa-conspiracy-theories-disinformation-01062020

This is another example of the far right’s attempts to discredit Antifa….

As if tensions weren’t high enough with the George Floyd protests taking place across America, an ominous message circulated Sunday night that seemed to hint at more violence to come—and it appeared to be linked to antifa. “Tonight’s the night, Comrades,” the @ANTIFA_US account said in the tweet. “Tonight we say ‘F— The City’ and we move into the residential areas … and we take what’s ours.” That account has since been suspended by Twitter, and NBC News reports that it was fake. It wasn’t tied to anyone involved with the antifa movement, but to Identity Evropa, a white nationalist group that Twitter has had to contend with before regarding fraudulent accounts, per a Twitter spokesperson. “This account violated our platform manipulation and spam policy, specifically the creation of fake accounts,” a Twitter rep tells Axios.

“We took action after the account sent a Tweet inciting violence and broke the Twitter rules,” the rep adds. NBC notes there was other misinformation that started circulating Sunday night revolving around a supposed “cover-up” or “blackout” of DC protests, but that was also a hoax.

I have defended the actions of Antifa and now it is good to see someone else doing the same…..

Antifa is once again being attacked by elements of the right, elements of the Left and the center. Those on the right see an anarchist anti-capitalist bogeyman. The critics on the left see nihilism and a misunderstanding of the definition of fascism. Those in the liberal/conservative center see an undefinable and unquantifiable element in the body politic that prefers violence to debate and vandalism to voting. All of these criticisms are both wrong and right. Precisely because it is not an organized group and has no politics beyond challenging those it considers fascists or very sympathetic to fascism, Antifa opens itself to these and other misunderstandings. There is no single spokesperson or committee to defend and explain it. Because it so loosely defined, it opens itself up to multiple definitions, many of which are lies.

In Defense of Antifa

By the way…..all that crap Trump spouted about Antifa last week was just, like most of his stuff, bullshit…..

The FBI’s Washington Field Office “has no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence” in the violence that occurred on May 31 during the D.C.-area protests over the murder of George Floyd, according to an internal FBI situation report obtained exclusively by The Nation. That same day, President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he would designate “Antifa” a terrorist organization, even though the government has no existing authority to declare a domestic group a terrorist organization, and antifa is not an organized group. Following the president’s tweet, Attorney General William Barr said in a statement, “The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly.”

The FBI report, however, states that “based on CHS [Confidential Human Source] canvassing, open source/social media partner engagement, and liaison, FBI WFO has no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence.” The statement followed a list of violent acts like throwing bricks at police and the discovery of a backpack containing explosive materials, which were flagged by the FBI under a “Key Updates” section of the report. The FBI has been issuing such reports daily since the weekend, according to a Bureau source, who added that none of these documents contained any evidence of antifa violence.

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/antifa-trump-fbi/

One last thought…take the word “antifa” and turn it around to “fitna”….kinda cool the definition of the word in Arabic….Fitna (or fitnah, pl. fitan; Arabic: فتنة , فتن‎: “temptation, trial; sedition, civil strife, conflict…….

Kinda fits huh?  (This should give those idiot conspiracy theorist something to work with)

Time to be a by-stander is over….either join the move or learn to live on your knees with Donald the Orange…..the choice is yours….I have made mine.

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“Lego ergo scribo”