Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… down to kool-aid drinkers and next of kin at the trump White House

Saul Alinsky is my co-pilot.

I’m only here for the duck photos.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Shelter in place is one thing. Shelter in pants is quite another.

Something seems odd about that, but i have been drinking.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Where tasty lettuce and good mustard aren’t elitist.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Screw the Judean People’s Front. Splitters.

Fuck if i know. i just get yelled at when i try it.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

I swear, each month of 2020 will have its own history degree.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Just a few bad apples.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I thought we were promised Infrastructure Week.

False Scribes! False Scribes!

Not all heroes wear capes.

Too inconsequential to be sued

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Crazification Factor

My Normie

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Betty wrote about her normie husband the other day, and that got me thinking because I’m married to a political normie, too.  She’s a liberal/progressive Democrat who doesn’t follow politics much, though she hates Trump with the passion of a thousand flaming suns.  Anyway, she grew up in the Dakotas, like me.  Unlike me, she’s on Facebook, and she has a lot of relatives and friends back where we grew up.  Most of them are, naturally, conservative, and some of them are rabid.

Our conversations have two themes: decoding and lamenting.  By “decoding”, I mean trying to figure out the genesis of whatever horseshit story is being pushed on Facebook that day.   That mostly happened earlier this year when some of her connections were pushing right wing bullshit that you can only understand if you spend hours watching Fox at night.  We moved to the lamentations after the election, when her connects began spouting theories about non-existent election fraud.

She made a good point the other day — she’s not the only liberal or centrist Democrat (or even centrist Republican) among her connections.  Yet, she noted, nobody (including her) says anything as the most feral morons on her feed push out their hot garbage.  The reason is probably obvious to any of you, but engaging with these folks just encourages them, and it’s an exhausting, pointless exercise.  Still, I’m sure at one point these idiots got some pushback, and Facebook’s algorithm dutifully recorded that as “engagement” and trained itself to prefer the kind of language present in their posts.  Since that algorithm earns Mark Zuckerberg a lot of money, it’s natural that this is position on Steve Bannon:

The results of the election show that shithead Trump worshipers is a growing group, and Facebook is a huge part of the reason. I know this is obvious to us, but my normie believes it, so maybe some kind of regulation of Facebook would be accepted by normies in addition to those of us who are more engaged.

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Yes. They Really Are Assholes.

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Did what amounts to a symbolic bit of electioneering today–a lit drop in Salem, NH. I haven’t been nearly as active-on-the-streets as I usually am, for a variety of reasons; it’s been money and a bit of post-carding for me.

So this was my first real on-the-ground experience outside the Brookline, MA bubble–which really is a bubble. Our politics basically runs from tote-bag liberal to unreconstructed lefty, and that’s fine by me. (Like a lot of town-governed-towns, actual local politics is run by a small, deeply embedded cabal and it’s just as tricky as you might imagine, but that’s for a different post.)

New Hampshire, though it’s been pretty blue for a while now still has plenty of the Hamshirtucky that made it a rock-ribbed/crazy right wing state for a long time. So when we showed up at the local HQ in Salem NH, we were met by a wall of Trump signs and some very loud MAGATs, using a bullhorn to taunt Democrats for all kinds of things.

Yes. They Really Are Assholes. 4

One of the weirder moments in that monologue, by the way, was a sudden diversion into California mandating all-electric cars by 2035, as the highly informed and judicious asshole with the bullhorn complained about the quality of CA’s current grid. He then asserted CA is a shithole of state, and as a scion of the place, I wondered what it was that so upset him: the weather? The food? The quality of higher ed in the state? Etc.  Take it from me folks:  New Hamster has its virtues–but it’s not going to win most competitions with the Golden State.

But I digress.

What struck me was the purity of the demonstration: this was simply an expression of assholery.  This guy, at least, had some stamina, and he was a blessedly silent performer:

Yes. They Really Are Assholes.

He was doing his Trump dance for at least three hours that I could check, so give the man some points for persistence.

But this captures the tone of what was being bullhorn across the street:

Yes. They Really Are Assholes. 1

The good news is that all this involved a fair amount of local resources: ten or dozen people (none masked, of course), lots of signs, lots of energy. The D’s had three or four folks at the HQ–and all the volunteers (and there were a bunch) were out canvassing and dropping literature.  The Trumpanzees went for what really amounts to political masturbation.

So yeah, it was uncomfortable, and it was intended to be so: these scumbags wanted to make some other folks lives miserable, and between the horns (some truckers driving big rigs really enjoyed leaning on theirs) and the blather, they did a pretty good job.

Except for the fact that the Democratic GOTV effort was completely undisturbed.

But besides being forced to come to some conclusions about how these losers were raised, it was a reminder that these are not people with whom one can respectfully disagree. From the top down, they are performative jerks–on their best days.

Oh–and they cheat all the time, large and small.  One more photo (ETA: actually loaded the photo this time):

Yes. They Really Are Assholes. 2

What you’re seeing is a Trump flyer, placed in a mailbox. As everyone here likely knows (at least everyone who has canvassed in the last many decades) that’s a big no-no. Just last night in our volunteer training Zoom, they told us at least three times that it is a federal crime to do that. We saw Trump leaflets in each of the open mailboxes we passed.

Admittedly, when the tally of Trump-era crimes are totted up, this won’t rank high. But to me that’s what’s telling: there is simply no rule, no matter how minor, that they won’t break.

Fuck ’em. Let’s roll their sorry asses through Tuesday. Even my cup of coffee agrees:

Yes. They Really Are Assholes. 3

This thread.

It is open for anything.

Image: Jan Pietersz. Saenredam, The Fool, between 1590 and 1600.

 

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It’s Getting So Hard To Tell The Crazies From The Understandably Deranged

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Dear FSM make it stop…

It’s a measure of my bewilderment and, perhaps, the effects of having spent the last four days with my head under a blanket, sucking down pureed suppers through a straw insinuated into the bedclothes, that it took me a very long time to realize this was parody:

I think it was Carl Hiassen whom I once heard in an interview saying that the hardest thing about writing fiction about Florida was how the reality kept exceeding his imagination.

That’s where I am with Trumpistan.

Anyway, enjoy the above in all its grotesque glory. And, because I am not wholly a monster, here’s a bonus kitten pic to make amends.

And heck, a wistful Tikka, in glorious black and white, represents!

 

ETA: Commenter Wormtown believes Tikka above is pissed.  Nope.

This is Tikka pissed:

It's Getting So Hard To Tell The Crazies From The Understandably Deranged 1

 

This thread, it is open.

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The Former Special Operations Bubbas Sought To Provide Private Security in Minneapolis On Election Day Are Going To Be Breaking All Sorts of Laws

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The Washington Post is reporting that:

A private security company is recruiting former U.S. military Special Operations personnel to guard polling sites in Minnesota on Election Day, an effort the chairman of the company said is intended to prevent left-wing activists from disrupting the election but that the state attorney general warned would amount to voter intimidation and violate the law.

The recruiting effort is being done by Atlas Aegis, a private security company based in Tennessee that was formed last year and is run by U.S. military veterans, including people with Special Operations experience, according to its website.

The company chairman, Anthony Caudle, posted a message through a defense industry jobs site this week calling for former Special Operations forces to staff “security positions in Minnesota during the November Election and beyond to protect election polls, local businesses and residences from looting and destruction.” He said in an interview earlier this week he is planning to send a “large contingent” to Minnesota but did not specify the numbers.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said in a statement Friday that he joined election officials in “strongly discouraging this unnecessary interference in Minnesota’s elections, which we have not asked for and do not welcome.”

“Federal law and state law are both clear: No one may interfere with or intimidate a voter at a polling place,” he said. “The presence of armed outside contractors at polling places would constitute intimidation and violate the law. I request this company cease and desist any planning and stop making any statements about engaging in this activity.”

Ellison added that “we don’t expect to have to enforce our laws against voter intimidation, but we will use every resource available to us and all the power of the law if we have to.”

Caudle did not respond to a request for comment Friday on Ellison’s statement.

Much more at the link.

I just checked out Atlas Aegis’s “Our Team” page, their Chairman, Anthony Caudle is not part of the Special Operations community. He was in the 1st Battalion/509th Airborne Infantry Regiment, which serves as the Opposing Force personnel at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk. It is not attached to or part of the 82nd Airborne Division, which is garrisoned at Ft. Bragg. 1st Battalion/509th ABN INF is not an operational unit or element it is a training unit/element. Moreover, he indicates he was in their Headquarters and Headquarters Command Company, which means he was part of a group of Soldiers responsible for paperwork, bunks, showers, equipment, and meals. Is he Airborne? Yes. Does his bio indicate any operational deployments as an Airborne Soldier? No, not it does not.

Of the remaining four members of the team one is a Green Beret, one served in both the Ranger Regiment and in 1st Special Operational Detachment Delta, and one is a physician who is certified in Undersea Warfare Medicine, which is what is taught at the Navy Undersea Medical Institute. It means he is certified to work as a doctor on a submarine. Naval Special Warfare medical training is done within the Navy Special Operations Medical Institute, which certifies corpsmen and combat medics for the Naval Special Warfare community. So it is unclear if he comes out of the Navy Special Warfare community, ie Navy Special Ops, or if he wore dolphins, not a trident. The final member has no military experience, or even civilian service with the Department of Defense or the Services.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, as reported by The Washington Post and quoted above, has already indicated that what Aegis is saying it has been contracted to do will run afoul of both Federal and Minnesota state laws regarding elections.

It will also run afoul of Minnesota’s laws on unlawful militias.

Does the Second Amendment protect private militias?

No. In fact, the Supreme Court decided in 1886—and repeated in 2008—that the Second Amendment “does not prevent the prohibition of private paramilitary organizations.” District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 621 (2008) (citing Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886)).

Is it legal to act as a private militia in Minnesota?

No. All 50 states prohibit private, unauthorized militias and military units from engaging in activities reserved for the state militia, including law enforcement activities. Some, including Minnesota, also prohibit paramilitary activity during or in furtherance of a civil disorder. Minnesota’s laws are described below:

Minnesota Constitution: The Minnesota Constitution forbids private military units from operating outside state authority, providing that “[t]he military shall be subordinate to the civil power.” Minn. Const. art. I, § 14.

Minnesota Statutes

Prohibition on private military units: Minnesota law makes it illegal for groups of people to organize as private militias without permission from the state. It is a misdemeanor for “any body of persons, other than the National Guard, troops of the United States,” military students, and veterans organizations, “to associate themselves together as a military company with arms.” Minn. Stat. § 624.61.

Prohibition on paramilitary activity: In Minnesota, it is a gross misdemeanor to either:

“(1) teach[] or demonstrate[] to any other person how to use or make any firearm, or explosive or incendiary device capable of causing injury or death, knowing or having reason to know that it will be unlawfully employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder”; or

(2) “assemble[] with one or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, or explosive or incendiary device capable of causing injury or death, with the intent that it be unlawfully employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder.” Minn. Stat. § 609.669.

Georgetown University Law School’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) recommends the following actions at the bottom of their fact sheets on the illegality of militias in all fifty states if one sees armed groups and/or individuals near a polling place:

What should I do if I see armed groups near a polling place or voter registration drive?

First, document what you see:

  •  What are the armed people doing?
  • What are the armed people wearing?
  • Are they carrying firearms? If so, what type? If not, are they carrying other types of weapons?
  • Are they wearing insignia? If so, what does it say or look like?
  • Are they bearing signs or flags?
  • Do they seem to be patrolling like a law enforcement officer might do?
  • Do they seem to be coordinating their actions?
  • Do they have a leader?
  • Are they stopping or talking to people outside of their group?
  • Do they appear to be provoking or threatening violence? If so, what are they doing specifically?
  • Are people turning away from the polling station after seeing or speaking with them?Second, call Election Protection at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to report what you see.Assistance in also available in Spanish at 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888- 839-8682), in Arabic at 844- YALLA-US (844-915-5187), and Asian languages at 888-API-VOTE (1-888-174-8683). A video call number for American Sign Language is available at 301-818-VOTE (301-818-8683).

If Mr. Caudle deploys his paramilitary contractors to Minnesota on behalf of unidentified Minnesota business owners with the contract run through a shell company (unidentified business organization/UBO) to obscure who is actually hiring and paying him, they are not only going to run afoul of Federal and Minnesota election law, but also Minnesota’s state laws against private paramilitary units and activities.

As they say in the Ranger Regiment: “That’s a technique!”

Open thread!

Adam L. Silverman, PhD served as a Senior Fellow for Special Operations at the Center for Special Operations Study and Research at US Special Operations Command’s Joint Special Operations University in 2015. He served as the Senior Civilian Advisor/Cultural Advisor, under temporary assigned control, to the Branch Chief at US Army Civil Affairs, which is part of US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), from October 2012 through December 2013. In November 2018 he gave the keynote address at the US Army Psychological Operations Regiment’s 100th Anniversary Regimental Dinner.

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Today In Stochastic Terrorism: The FBI and Michigan State Police Prevent the Kidnapping of Governor Whitmer

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I can’t imagine why anyone in Michigan would think it was okay to plan a terroristic kidnapping and execution of the state governor?

Well that tweet explains it…

From The Detroit News (emphasis mine)

The FBI says it thwarted what it described as a plot to violently overthrow the government and kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The alleged plot involved reaching out to members of a Michigan militia, according to a federal affidavit filed Thursday.

The court filing also alleges the conspirators twice conducted surveillance at Whitmer’s personal vacation home and discussed kidnapping her to a “secure location” in Wisconsin to stand “trial” for treason prior to the Nov. 3 election.

“Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor,” an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. “The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message.”

More than 12 people were arrested late Wednesday on state and federal charges.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, federal and state officers on Thursday detailed charges and what they described as “elaborate plans” to overthrow the government and kidnap Whitmer.

Michigan State Police Col. Joe Gasper said the department will take swift action against those seeking to harm anyone in the state of Michigan.

“This case is one of the largest cases in recent history that the MSP has been involved in,” Gasper said during an afternoon news conference.

The affidavit filed in federal court details probable cause to charge the six men with conspiring to kidnap Whitmer. Those identified by name include:

  • Adam Fox
  • Barry Croft
  • Garbin
  • Kaleb Franks
  • Daniel Harris
  • Brandon Caserta

In late June, Fox posted on Facebook a video in which he complained about the state’s judicial system and COVID-19 restrictions on gyms operating in Michigan.

“Fox referred to Governor Whitmer as ‘this tyrant b—-,’ and stated, ‘I don’t know, boys, we gotta do something,” according to the court affidavit. “You guys link with me on our other location system, give me some ideas of what we can do.”

The affidavit describing the thwarted plot reports two occasions when the alleged conspirators conducted surveillance on Whitmer’s vacation home — during the day on Aug. 29 and at night over the weekend of Sept. 12-13.

Fox and two other individuals located Whitmer’s home and shot video and took photos of it as they drove by on Aug. 29. One of the individuals then calculated how long it would take local and state police to respond to an incident at the property.

“We ain’t going to let ’em burn our f—in’ state down. I don’t give a f— if there’s only 20 or 30 of us, dude, we’ll go out there and use deadly force,” said Fox during the surveillance operation, according to an audio recording quoted in the affidavit.

In an encrypted group chat, Garbin later suggested that demolishing a nearby bridge would hamper a response by police to the governor’s home, according to the court filing.

The September surveillance followed a field exercise in at Garbin’s property in Luther, Michigan, where the conspirators allegedly detonated an improvised explosive device made from a commercial firework wrapped in shrapnel “to test its anti-personnel effectiveness.”

After a briefing on the plan to kidnap Whitmer, a larger group of the men drive from Luther to the vacation home in three separate vehicles while armed.

They stopped to check the underside of a highway bridge to check for places to attach an explosive charge, and discussed detonating explosive devices to divert law enforcement officers from the area of the governor’s home.

“She f—ing goddamn loves the power she has right now,” Fox said during the surveillance operation, according to the affidavit. “I can see several states takin’ their f—in’ tyrants. Everybody takes their tyrants.”

The group later returned to Garbin’s property, where they discussed destroying Whitmer’s vacation home. “Kidnapping, arson, death, I don’t care,” Franks said, according to the affidavit.

The group later made plans to conduct a final training exercise in late October but then decided that was too close to the November election, so they moved forward with raising money to procure explosives and other supplies including an 800,000-volt taser. It’s unclear when the kidnapping was planned for.

Much more at the link.

In addition to the charges against the six men above, Michigan State Attorney General Dana Nessel has brought state charges against seven additional men and identified the militia involved as the Wolverine Watchmen.

The Wolverine Watchmen would be the Michigan Militia Corps, Wolverines. The front page of their website provides this information:

A well-armed citizenry is the best form of Homeland Security and can better deter crime, invasion, terrorism, and tyranny. The intention of this website is to inform, promote and facilitate the development and training of the militia. Everyone is welcome, regardless of race, creed, color, religion or political affiliation, provided you do not wish to bring harm to our country or people. If you are a United States citizen (or have declared your intent to become such), who is capable of bearing arms, or supports the right to do so, then YOU ARE the MILITIA!

The Bill of Rights Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN OF 1963 ARTICLE I
§6 Bearing of arms.
Sec. 6. Every person has a right to keep and bear
arms for the defense of himself and the state.

And they have a link to their very long pdf handbook that goes into excruciatingly bad historic detail in asserting and delineating what a militia is, why it is legal under natural and constitutional law, and why it is necessary. For example:

The Militia for Beginners

The militia — sit down, brace yourself, this gets complicated — is: everyone! By definition, the militia consists of “all citizens capable of bearing arms”. I can list everyone and everything we are, but I think “everyone” pretty much covers it; so let’s move on to what we are not.

We are not racists fighting the “great race war…to annihilate the mud people”, we welcome everyone, regardless of the hue of their skin; we are not terrorists advocating violence or destroying buildings in Oklahoma full of men, women, and children, only lunatics do that; we are not right-wing religious extremists fighting “demonically controlled people activated by Satan”, we welcome everyone of every religion, no religion, or anything in between as the case may be.

We are portrayed as above, as it serves the purpose of tainting the legitimacy of our concerns. (Apply the duh theory here.)

The reality is that it is illegal to form a militia in all 50 states. You can find all the state by state details here at Georgetown Law Schools Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, which has produced this handy and easy to use online fact sheet. Here’s the details for Michigan:

Is it legal to act as a private militia in Michigan?

No. All 50 states prohibit private, unauthorized militias and military units from engaging in activities reserved for the state militia, including law enforcement activities. Some, including Michigan, also prohibit paramilitary activity during or in furtherance of a civil disorder. Michigan’s laws are described below:

Michigan Constitution: The Michigan Constitution forbids private military units from operating outside state authority, providing that “[t]he military shall in all cases and at all times be in strict subordination to the civil power.” Mich. Const. art. I, § 7.

Michigan Statutes:

Prohibition on paramilitary activity: It is a felony in Michigan to either:

(1) “teach or demonstrate to another person the use, application, or construction of any firearm, or any explosive orincendiary device, if that person knows, has reason to know, or intends that what is taught or demonstrated will be used in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder,” or

(2) “assemble with 1 or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, or any explosive or incendiary device, if that person intends to use that firearm or device in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder.” Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.528a.

Prohibition on falsely assuming functions of a peace officer: It is also a crime in Michigan for any person who is not a “peace officer” to “[p]erform the duties of a peace officer.” A “peace officer” includes a sheriff, deputy sheriff, police officer, federal or state law enforcement officer, and security employee, among others. Mich. Comp. laws § 750.215.

This is thwarted domestic stochastic terrorism. You have a group of people who are illegally conspiring under several Michigan state statutes and the Michigan constitution to undertake what would clearly be illegal violent actions against persons and property. They had tested improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They had planned several types of actions that would have resulted in mass casualties.

DHS finally released their October 2020 domestic threat assessment, that they tried to bury until a whistleblower made that impossible. The assessment makes it very, very, very clear that the predominant terrorism threat to Americans in the US are white supremacists and other right wing domestic extremists and that one of Russia’s major influence operations to disrupt the 2020 elections is to incite terroristic violence by these groups against visible racial, ethnic, and religious minorities.

Updated at 3:05 PM EDT

Here’s the live feed of Governor Whitmer’s press conference:

Open thread!

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The New Hydroxychloroquine Social Media Push Is Step 1 In a New Influence Operation

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A new push to promote hydroxychloroquine began yesterday. While it got kicked off in the real world by a real person with some real issues at a rally covered by Breitbart Media, that coverage was designed to move it onto social media.

This is step 1 of a new influence op. It sets the conditions for step 2, which is blaming doctors who refused to prescribe it; the FDA commissioner because the FDA has removed the emergency use exemption; Dr. Fauci; the World Health Organization; governors, especially Democratic ones who didn’t want shipments of it; and Democratic officials in general and VP Biden in specific, for all the COVID-19 deaths because they wouldn’t use or endorse the use of hydrochloroquine to treat patients infected with COVID-19. Step 3 will flow from step 2, and will be the the President and his surrogates going on the offensive against all of these folks to shift the blame onto them.

Open thread!

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Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: Another Benefit to Last Night’s Debate…

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It pretty well drowned out ‘news’ of the Oval Office Squatter’s latest round of California gold-digging. Himself is very upset about this slight! The never-very-secure hinges, they are slipping!

Trump — and worse, Trump Jr. — video clips below the fold. Can’t say you weren’t warned…

Also, I’m afraid Junior — d/b/a as ‘the Heir Apparent’ (according to his Fox-News-trained side piece) — is back on the sauce.

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