This requires action across multiple fronts.
The Republican Party is an authoritarian power structure.
For decades, it embraced greedy nihilists in order to win elections.
In the last 10+ years, a well-funded insurgency has infiltrated and captured it.
They are now threatening & purging any remaining opposition.
This requires action across multiple fronts.
-Bills to eliminate the GOP’s counter-majorian control (voting security, eliminating vote suppression)
-Exposing dark money networks who are funding them (forcing transparency for anonymous shell companies)
This is moving us in the right direction, and shows that they get what needs to be done here. This is good.
There are three areas that still concern me, that I have been trying to call attention to...
Many changes that we need to enact may be thwarted by a judicial branch that is controlled by private interests and authoritarian elements.
Example - what happens if they use the courts to enshrine *rights* for anonymous shell companies? https://t.co/qWVm061TQ6
\U0001f6a8 Details:
— ClearingTheFog (@clearing_fog) January 18, 2021
Two days after the insurrection, SCOTUS quietly took up a case by Charles Koch\u2019s AFPF.
Suing former CA AG Xavier Becerra, AFPF claims that requiring anonymous shell companies to routinely disclose their donors is a violation of their rights.https://t.co/IYv7Qr59xZ
This may be the solution, and it may be enough.
But it still concerns me, as I am not sure if it is aggressive enough.
IMO, we also need to review impeachable activities.
These need to be investigated, along with Ginni Thomas’ involvement in efforts against the US government.
Impeachable?
The GOP insurgents are emboldened by the power they have now.
If we can expel Senators who had roles in the insurrection (via 14th amendment), this may allow decent GOP to act & vote.
This is about finding the truth, determining whether specific people acted in support of an insurrection against the United States, and enforcing the law and the constitution without fear or favor. Period.
Unsure how likely this is.
Even so:
A) We should still hold officials accountable, and
B) We should be working on multiple fronts (plan Bs), and not placing all our eggs in one basket (our opponents don’t).
This is a harder issue to tackle, without trampling 1A protections, but we have seen that lawsuits work very well (e.g. Dominion).
We need more of that.
There is also no easy way for public officials to sue media outlets.
Can we do that? I don’t know. https://t.co/zTh8iPaI9B
The fact that public officials can\u2019t sue for slander/defamation seems like a pretty big loophole that is easy for bad actors to exploit.
— ClearingTheFog (@clearing_fog) February 15, 2021
Do any of the rest of us have any standing to sue on public officials\u2019 behalf, just to correct the record and discourage this? https://t.co/7iKJbyJcIJ
Authoritarian support depends on having enemies.
What is acceptable in our politics? https://t.co/h05ZQgM7QI
Thirty three years ago, Republican Party leadership began teaching conservatives to hate and fear liberals.
— ClearingTheFog (@clearing_fog) January 27, 2021
There is no Trump without this conspiratorial fear of an \u2018evil liberal agenda.\u2019
Americans need to learn that the lies they have been told about each other aren\u2019t true. pic.twitter.com/vIssj6YJ7X
His moderate & unifying approach to politics, while still enacting progressive policies that help working class Americans, completely short circuits right wing fear mongering about ‘evil socialist plots.’
Between that,
But we have to be helpers here also.
We have to show our friends and neighbors who we are.
Some may be too far gone to ever turn back, but you may be surprised.
We need to connect with the elephant before addressing the rider. https://t.co/asioXZFKYT
We aren\u2019t as rational as we like to think we are.
— ClearingTheFog (@clearing_fog) January 9, 2020
The emotional part of us - the \u201clizard brain\u201d if you will - is like an elephant. And our logical brain/cortex is just a rider on that elephant.
We like to think that the rider is making all the decisions, but it\u2019s rarely true. https://t.co/A2vZrklyvq
More from Politics
Funny, before the election I recall lefties muttering the caravan must have been a Trump setup because it made the open borders crowd look so bad. Why would the pro-migrant crowd engineer a crisis that played into Trump's hands? THIS is why. THESE are the "optics" they wanted.
This media manipulation effort was inspired by the success of the "kids in cages" freakout, a 100% Stalinist propaganda drive that required people to forget about Obama putting migrant children in cells. It worked, so now they want pics of Trump "gassing children on the border."
There's a heavy air of Pallywood around the whole thing as well. If the Palestinians can stage huge theatrical performances of victimhood with the willing cooperation of Western media, why shouldn't the migrant caravan organizers expect the same?
It's business as usual for Anarchy, Inc. - the worldwide shredding of national sovereignty to increase the power of transnational organizations and left-wing ideology. Many in the media are true believers. Others just cannot resist the narrative of "change" and "social justice."
The product sold by Anarchy, Inc. is victimhood. It always boils down to the same formula: once the existing order can be painted as oppressors and children as their victims, chaos wins and order loses. Look at the lefties shrieking in unison about "Trump gassing children" today.
Funny there are those who think these migrant caravans were a FANTASTIC idea that's going to take the immigration issue away from you.
— Brian Cates (@drawandstrike) November 26, 2018
Like several weeks watching a rampaging horde storm the fences & throw rocks at our border patrol agents & getting gassed = great optics!
This media manipulation effort was inspired by the success of the "kids in cages" freakout, a 100% Stalinist propaganda drive that required people to forget about Obama putting migrant children in cells. It worked, so now they want pics of Trump "gassing children on the border."
There's a heavy air of Pallywood around the whole thing as well. If the Palestinians can stage huge theatrical performances of victimhood with the willing cooperation of Western media, why shouldn't the migrant caravan organizers expect the same?
It's business as usual for Anarchy, Inc. - the worldwide shredding of national sovereignty to increase the power of transnational organizations and left-wing ideology. Many in the media are true believers. Others just cannot resist the narrative of "change" and "social justice."
The product sold by Anarchy, Inc. is victimhood. It always boils down to the same formula: once the existing order can be painted as oppressors and children as their victims, chaos wins and order loses. Look at the lefties shrieking in unison about "Trump gassing children" today.
"3 million people are estimated not to have official photo ID, with ethnic minorities more at risk". They will "have to contact their council to confirm their ID if they want to vote"
This is shameful legislation, that does nothing to tackle the problems with UK elections.THREAD
There is no evidence in-person voter fraud is a problem, and it wd be near-impossible to organise on an effective scale. Campaign finance violations, digital disinformation & manipulation of postal voting are bigger issues, but these are crimes of the powerful, not the powerless.
In a democracy, anything that makes it harder to vote - in particular, anything that disadvantages one group of voters - should face an extremely high bar. Compulsory voter ID takes a hammer to 3 million legitimate voters (disproportionately poor & BAME) to crack an imaginary nut
If the government is concerned about the purity of elections, it should reflect on its own conduct. In 2019 it circulated doctored news footage of an opponent, disguised its twitter feed as a fake fact-checking site, and ran adverts so dishonest that even Facebook took them down.
Britain's electoral law largely predates the internet. There is little serious regulation of online campaigning or the cash that pays for it. That allows unscrupulous campaigners to ignore much of the legal framework erected since the C19th to guard against electoral misconduct.
This is shameful legislation, that does nothing to tackle the problems with UK elections.THREAD
Millions of people do not have photo ID. By forcing through mandatory voter-ID the government risk disenfranchising millions of legitimate voters. https://t.co/y0Upzof2FI
— Electoral Reform Society (@electoralreform) February 17, 2021
There is no evidence in-person voter fraud is a problem, and it wd be near-impossible to organise on an effective scale. Campaign finance violations, digital disinformation & manipulation of postal voting are bigger issues, but these are crimes of the powerful, not the powerless.
In a democracy, anything that makes it harder to vote - in particular, anything that disadvantages one group of voters - should face an extremely high bar. Compulsory voter ID takes a hammer to 3 million legitimate voters (disproportionately poor & BAME) to crack an imaginary nut
If the government is concerned about the purity of elections, it should reflect on its own conduct. In 2019 it circulated doctored news footage of an opponent, disguised its twitter feed as a fake fact-checking site, and ran adverts so dishonest that even Facebook took them down.
Britain's electoral law largely predates the internet. There is little serious regulation of online campaigning or the cash that pays for it. That allows unscrupulous campaigners to ignore much of the legal framework erected since the C19th to guard against electoral misconduct.
You May Also Like
Stan Lee’s fictional superheroes lived in the real New York. Here’s where they lived, and why. https://t.co/oV1IGGN8R6
Stan Lee, who died Monday at 95, was born in Manhattan and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. His pulp-fiction heroes have come to define much of popular culture in the early 21st century.
Tying Marvel’s stable of pulp-fiction heroes to a real place — New York — served a counterbalance to the sometimes gravity-challenged action and the improbability of the stories. That was just what Stan Lee wanted. https://t.co/rDosqzpP8i
The New York universe hooked readers. And the artists drew what they were familiar with, which made the Marvel universe authentic-looking, down to the water towers atop many of the buildings. https://t.co/rDosqzpP8i
The Avengers Mansion was a Beaux-Arts palace. Fans know it as 890 Fifth Avenue. The Frick Collection, which now occupies the place, uses the address of the front door: 1 East 70th Street.
Stan Lee, who died Monday at 95, was born in Manhattan and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. His pulp-fiction heroes have come to define much of popular culture in the early 21st century.
Tying Marvel’s stable of pulp-fiction heroes to a real place — New York — served a counterbalance to the sometimes gravity-challenged action and the improbability of the stories. That was just what Stan Lee wanted. https://t.co/rDosqzpP8i
The New York universe hooked readers. And the artists drew what they were familiar with, which made the Marvel universe authentic-looking, down to the water towers atop many of the buildings. https://t.co/rDosqzpP8i
The Avengers Mansion was a Beaux-Arts palace. Fans know it as 890 Fifth Avenue. The Frick Collection, which now occupies the place, uses the address of the front door: 1 East 70th Street.
