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A Deeply Fractured US

I wouldn't read much into the Alaska vote. It was a special election.

They square off again in November. More people will understand how ranked ballots work then. Could make a difference.
 
I wouldn't read much into the Alaska vote. It was a special election.

They square off again in November. More people will understand how ranked ballots work then. Could make a difference.
Absolutely fair to say.
But the GOP could have some difficulty with the midterms resulting from the USSC Roe decision... maybe a combination of Biden's inflammatory remarks and the unprecedented FBI/DOJ actions on 45 could cancel the Roe decision out... it's hard to say.
I think it’s hilariously fanciful to think that the search of Mar-A-Lago and the seizure of over a hundred classified documents plus 11,000 more government records is going to sway anyone to Trump’s defense who wasn’t already solidly on his side. I’ve not seen any new voices coming to his defense on this, and a whole lot of familiar ones have been oddly quiet.

Whether or not the classified/government documents investigation spills over into the midterms remains to be seen, but if it does I doubt it’ll be in his favour.
 
Yup. Here’s a link with it as images for anyone reluctant to download.


A lot of noise is being made today about the presence of a bunch of empty folders with classification markings. I’m not as excited about that, based on previous reporting that some classified cumbersome without their accompanying folders were previously returned to the archives. It may well be that the empty folders will have marking or records numbers that will allow a cross referencing of what those folders contained versus what documents have been recovered, but I don’t know. The folders themselves may not have been registered or serialized. Obviously, if they were, and some classified documents are found to be outstanding and not yet returned or seized in the search, then that would be a problem.

The judge in the civil case still has not made her decision about whether there will be any injunction on investigative efforts involving the documents, or on whether a ‘special master’ will be appointed to help adjudicate some matters of privilege. If she does, the timeline to actually do so will be fast, and DOJ would also probably appeal.

Interestingly, Trump’s lawyers have not made any claim in any legal filing that the documents were declassified. They have also accepted the need for any Special Master who might be appointed to have a security clearance.

The gears continue to turn…
 
I noticed they left the inventory at TS, and didn't further identify documents by higher classifications
 
I noticed they left the inventory at TS, and didn't further identify documents by higher classifications
I noticed that too. For inventory purposes it should be sufficient. Each piece of evidence will be more specifically described if needed for any subsequent judicial process.
 
I’ve not seen any new voices coming to his defense on this, and a whole lot of familiar ones have been oddly quiet.

They're at the same point they were early during the Trump administration - grave allegations, not much information. This time around the information is credible, but still too much unknown to stake out a position. That's the legal situation. Politically, there is nothing to be gained for making the midterms about Trump instead of about Biden and the Democrats in Congress, so there's no incentive to pump up anything to do with Trump.
 
They're at the same point they were early during the Trump administration - grave allegations, not much information. This time around the information is credible, but still too much unknown to stake out a position. That's the legal situation. Politically, there is nothing to be gained for making the midterms about Trump instead of about Biden and the Democrats in Congress, so there's no incentive to pump up anything to do with Trump.
I think you’re largely right, although some Republicans have hitched themselves inextricably to the Trump wagon, and are past a point of no return there. I’m talking about defence of a trump for its own sake. But mostly I was dismissing QV’s notion that this will somehow bring more people over to his side. I don’t see that happening.
 
Biden may or may not have won or lost support but I know one thing for sure, he created much inspiration for the meme industry.
 
The Archives are a library.
FBI is like Seinfeld's Library Cop
Trump was picked up for not returning his library books.
😆🤣
 
The Archives are a library.
FBI is like Seinfeld's Library Cop
Trump was picked up for not returning his library books.
😆🤣
Yeah, basically it’s exactly that. Reminds me of the time I got a seventy five cent fine cause I was two weeks late returning a book to the TS//SI//NOFORN section of the public library.
 
Let's be honest here - the US is so divided in many respects that Jesus (not Supply Side Jesus) would probably fail to bring everyone together.

And I'm just talking about the Christians, let alone the other faiths.
If Jesus were to walk on water today, one half of America would proclaim a miracle, and the other half would criticize him for not being able to swim.
 
"Democracy in danger" was always an expected theme for the Democrats heading into the midterms, being an extension of the J6 committee show.
 
Democracy in the US is not in danger. A handful of hours of disorder, some of it violent, wasn't the end of days for elections and democratic institutions in the US. They recently had prolonged violent rioting in a few cities, and it wasn't the end of democracy. They've had prolonged violence and unrest at other periods, and it wasn't the end of democracy.

"Democracy in danger" is QAnon for progressives and anyone else who decides to wear that tinfoil hat. It's an electioneering slogan, a device to generate FUD. Note that they've invented a new term: "semi-fascism". It's not "fascism", for which they've been repeatedly taken to the woodshed for misusing, but a made-up term which can mean whatever they say while carrying the visible taint of "fascism", which is really what they want it for. Try and get them to define what it is, and when they do, measure their behaviour against it.

The chief risk in the US right now is that the people bleating "danger to democracy" will use the alleged danger as their excuse to do things that actually do undermine democratic institutions, including the fundamental one: trust.

Democrats are the ones who most often express desire to change the fundamental rules for elections (eg. electoral college); to stack or otherwise alter the USSC; to add states purely for the purpose of rebalancing the senate; to narrow the scope of the First Amendment; to narrow the scope of the Second Amendment (a lot).

Objectively, Democrats are the greater threat to the status quo constitution and the institutions it lays down.
 
Democracy in the US is not in danger. A handful of hours of disorder, some of it violent, wasn't the end of days for elections and democratic institutions in the US. They recently had prolonged violent rioting in a few cities, and it wasn't the end of democracy. They've had prolonged violence and unrest at other periods, and it wasn't the end of democracy.

"Democracy in danger" is QAnon for progressives and anyone else who decides to wear that tinfoil hat. It's an electioneering slogan, a device to generate FUD. Note that they've invented a new term: "semi-fascism". It's not "fascism", for which they've been repeatedly taken to the woodshed for misusing, but a made-up term which can mean whatever they say while carrying the visible taint of "fascism", which is really what they want it for. Try and get them to define what it is, and when they do, measure their behaviour against it.

The chief risk in the US right now is that the people bleating "danger to democracy" will use the alleged danger as their excuse to do things that actually do undermine democratic institutions, including the fundamental one: trust.

Democrats are the ones who most often express desire to change the fundamental rules for elections (eg. electoral college); to stack or otherwise alter the USSC; to add states purely for the purpose of rebalancing the senate; to narrow the scope of the First Amendment; to narrow the scope of the Second Amendment (a lot).

Objectively, Democrats are the greater threat to the status quo constitution and the institutions it lays down.
Donald Trump falsely claimed election fraud before, during, and after election.

He pressured state officials to invalidate results.

He pressured state officials to "find" votes for him.

He actively and publicly encouraged disruption of the counting of Electoral College votes.

He and his supporters / surrogates have loudly proclaimed widespread election fraud and openly questioned the legitimacy of the election, despite being unable to prove these claims, despite election officials attesting to the legitimacy of the election, and his own AG definitively stating that no fraud occurred - certainly not at a level that would have changed the election results.

Objectively, do you believe these actions and statements serve to foster trust in American democracy and its institutions?
 
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