Creeping Authoritarianism

[GratefulCitizen]

Maybe this is necessary, but don’t we already have sufficient police resources to address any real threat?
Looks like an excuse to centralize and target political threats.

Will improper speech get you investigated?
Harassment is an effective deterrent where convictions aren’t possible.

Be interesting to see how this is used.

https://apnews.com/article/united-st...04f73e65659e68
From the article:
“We have seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus, as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies,”

[Paslode]

I would agree with you and speculate this announcement by the DOJ is merely asn official notice of something that has been operational for sometime. I would say it was operational prior to 1/6/21.

[Sohei]

They have been doing that for the past several decades. They are called JTTF's and they get the glory for the work that the locals are doing concerning domestic terrorists. The Feds are fairly lost when it comes to the "locals" who *are* the domestic terrorists. They just want to let the public know they are about to start *targeting* whatever group they now feel fits their definition of a domestic terrorist. Let the fun begin!

[Penn]

Durbin

It’s a simple request, but sadly a necessary one,” Durbin added. “This committee should speak with a unified voice in saying violence is unacceptable.”

Except for AntiFa, BLm, and The Whole of the D卐M☭CRAT Party.

[Paslode]

Originally Posted by Penn

Durbin


Except for AntiFa, BLm, and The Whole of the D卐M☭CRAT Party.

Did you hear about Garrett James Smith? A Google search gives you a birds eye view into how the National Media handles them.

https://www.google.com/search?client...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[Florida Patriot]

Very interesting. And there's this too.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/202...es-army-warns/

[Box]

You guys are hilarious. You actually still believe that a government that has labeled the contents of our nations founding documents as "problematic" somehow give a pebbled fuck about "the people"


You guys are awesome. Your optimism really brightens my days.

[tom kelly]

What will it take to state the shooting part of this war ? Will China & Russia take opposite sides ? who will win ?....Thoughts !

[Box]

I can only tell you won't win. The American people won't win. They'll be labeled as either commies or terrorists - depending on which side decides to make the first riduclous leap forward.

At that point - everyone loses - everyone except the governing class and the billionaires - they won't "win" but they'll all be just fine.

[exsquid]

Almost makes you wonder if the 1970s/80s LATAM paramilitaries weren't on the right side of history after all. Is it any coincidence that their primary targets were academics, university students, clergy, NGOs, press, etc?

x/S

[Old Dog New Trick]

Originally Posted by tom kelly

What will it take to state the shooting part of this war ? Will China & Russia take opposite sides ? who will win ?....Thoughts !

I really believe that Vlad and Ji Ying Ping-Pong are discussing who gets what when they are done. China has bought up so much of the world lately that they just have to install new leadership under the control of the CCP. Vladimir will be happy with the rest of the mineral production that he doesn’t already own.

We already lost!

[Trapper John]

I am coming to the opinion that the real threats are coming from alliances between the institutional bureaucracies, NGOs, Big Tech, MSM, and wealthy lone wolf actors like George Soros.

[Box]

Oddly - when I used to joke about those very things quite some years ago, I was teased about being one of those clownspearasea therapists...

[Golf1echo]

Originally Posted by Box

I can only tell you won't win. The American people won't win. They'll be labeled as either commies or terrorists - depending on which side decides to make the first riduclous leap forward.

At that point - everyone loses - everyone except the governing class and the billionaires - they won't "win" but they'll all be just fine.

Agree.
Do our current problems not stem from a cultural movement, or revolution, of the disenfranchised that began in the 60s? Be it real or perceived.

Well who is becoming disenfranchised now?

A couple quotes from Maxine Waters

“You think we’re rallying now? You ain’t seen nothing yet,”

“If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere,”

Edit: Trying to highlight hypocrisy of the left, while that is a technique it turns out it’s not that influential or in the best interests of the people...

[GratefulCitizen]

Assuming some sort of oligarchical cooperation exists among powerful entities and individuals which serves to consolidate their power, I see an Achilles’ heel in their methods.
Their methods assume some sort of centralization in the opposition to their schemes.

They instinctively attack Trump as if he were the motivator, rather than an opportunist who correctly read public sentiment.
They create boogeymen “motivated by racial animus,…anti-government and anti-authority ideologies” where none actually exist in significant numbers.

They assume they have the ability to create or suppress public sentiment from the top down when, in reality, these things are grass-roots in their genesis.
The nation is simply too large with too much tradition in rebellion to succumb, in the long-term, to centralized influence.

The only other option is direct coercion.
This brings up the problem of force.

The citizens of this nation are the most well-armed force in all of human history.
Military and law enforcement do have substantial capabilities, but even if the command structures were willing to act against the people, this still assumes seamless maintenance of top down authority within those organizations, which are made up of those same pesky rebellious Americans.

Where the rubber meets the road, who are the trigger pullers in these organizations?
What are the political and personal tendencies of the typical enlisted and NCOs among Army and Marine Corps infantrymen?

What about the competent trigger pullers in various LEO agencies who live and work among the people they would be tasked to oppress?
Right now, many LEO organizations are refusing to enforce mask and vaccine mandates within their jurisdictions, so they would be unlikely to take more drastic action on a larger scale.

With regards to the threat of coercion, Paul Howe correctly discerned the implausibility of that path in his article “Second Amendment and the Kool-Aid Drinkers.”
Those who would concentrate power are running into that reality.

I suspect the oligarchs have discovered the limits of their power, in this nation at least.
Each new attempt at assumption of power reeks of desperation.

Too many Americans have learned the effectiveness of a firm and consistent “no.”
Their ranks continue to swell as more realize that the emperor has no clothes.

In time, the would-be kings will slink away into their particular exiles with whatever spoils they can take.
Meanwhile, the best path is to maintain cool heads and confidently proclaim inevitable victory to those who haven’t yet chosen a side.

The powerful are attempting to rule through fear and confusion.
The best way to counter that is to firmly say “no” while demonstrating hope and optimism.

Like a virus, that hope and optimism spreads at the grass-roots level.
Hearts and minds are the prize.