Rising fascism in the US

The media very rarely critiques the failed policies and actions / inactions of their party—the Democrats.

I’m still wondering about this recent drumbeat to get rid of Biden.

An msm attack on a sitting Democrat president is unusual.

I’d love to know the underlying motivation.

Why did Trump steal documents and then refuse to give them back even when served with a subpoena? Nothing Trump does is by accident. He, or his associates, had a reason to keep those documents, and nobody has come up with answers.

Why did they find it in their best interests to ignore a subpoena to return the documents? Now Trump is trying to fan the flames of division in the country with his supporters against all governmental institutions including the FBI by playing the martyr? He's good at that, and the Republicans are rallying around him. If he can convince his supporters that he is being persecuted by the FBI and the Democrats, it would strengthen the division in the country making it more difficult to get an impartial jury and a conviction in a court of law. Trump doesn't show it, but his one fear is goingu to jail, something he has evaded all
his life. But the indictments are looming.

Remember, Trump's loyalty is only to himself, not his country, not his followers, not his party, not his associates, not his family, himself. All of Trump's strategies involve strengthening his own defense mechanisms. Trump is being backed into a cormer or rather he's painted himself into a corner. Either way we shouldn't be surprised at any statement or action he makes to try to escape.

(quote)
"On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland made a public statement saying he had personally authorized the decision to seek the search warrant for Mr. Trump’s property, and he indicated that the Justice Department would have made such a move only after trying less invasive measures.

Shortly before Mr. Garland made the announcement, a person close to Mr. Trump reached out to a Justice Department official to pass along a message from the former president to the attorney general. Mr. Trump wanted Mr. Garland to know that he had been checking in with people around the country and found them to be enraged by the search. [Is that a threat?]

The message Mr. Trump wanted conveyed, according to a person familiar with the exchange, was: “The country is on fire. What can I do to reduce the heat?” [Stop fanning the flames.]

The following day, as a judge unsealed the warrant and the inventory of items that the F.B.I. took, Mr. Trump alternately claimed he did nothing wrong and also made the baseless statement that officials may have planted evidence at his property during the search." [Do you really expect anybody but the most gullible to believe that? Oh, you do.] [Sure, and the communists set the Reichstag on fire.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2022/08/13/us/politics/trump-classified-material-fbi.html

Defendants targeted in DeSantis’ voter fraud crackdown were told they could vote

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Several people who were arrested last week as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ voter fraud crackdown were notified by official government entities they were eligible to vote, according to court documents and interviews.

The defendants told authorities they had no intention of committing voter fraud, according to affidavits, and in some cases were baffled by their arrests because counties had sent them voter registration cards and approved them to vote.

The defendants were vilified by the governor during a high profile press conference last week, where DeSantis announced the arrest of 20 people — convicted murderers and sex offenders — who allegedly cast votes in the 2020 election when they weren’t eligible to. The defendants, because of their convictions, weren’t permitted to vote.


DeSantis highlighted their arrests to show his new $1.1 million election security office, created during the 2022 legislative session, was paying off and rooting out bad actors looking to commit voter fraud. Such fraud has become a top tier issue for Republicans across the country, including DeSantis, who has championed a series of election reform bills, including the creation of a first-of-its kind election investigations unit housed under Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody.

In the days since the announcement, however, several of those arrested have told media outlets or authorities that they had no idea they were not eligible to vote. In court documents filed in five counties, most say at least one official government body — in most cases a local election supervisor — incorrectly indicated to them they could vote, including allowing them to register and sending them voter cards in the mail.

Court records show that many who were swept up by authorities have little education or financial resources and are now back in the state’s criminal justice system. Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agents interviewed the defendants over a few days in early August before arresting them last Thursday.

Peter Washington, a 59-year-old Black man from Orlando, who served 10 years in prison related to sexual battery conviction, told a Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent that prison officials informed him he could vote. At the time, he was taking classes to transition back into society as his release date from prison approached. He received no indication from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections office that he was not eligible to vote.

“Washington received a voter registration form in the mail, filled it out and mailed it back to the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office,” read an affidavit filed by authorities in Orange County court. “The Orange County Supervisor of Elections mailed him a voter card.”

Voting rights groups have been highly critical of Florida’s creation of the election investigation office and DeSantis’ decision to arrest 20 people. They argue it’s symptomatic of an overall broken system, and that the people could have been removed from the voting rolls rather than arrested in their homes, especially considering local election officials had permitted them to vote.

To see the state going after folks and dragging them out of their homes in handcuffs and throwing them in jail, that is just overreach, especially when the state knows there was not intent,” said Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

Meade was one of the chief architects of Amendment 4, which voters approved in 2018 and setup a framework for most ex-felons to regain their voting rights.

Michelle Stribling, a 52-year-old Black woman from Eatonville convicted in 1993 of second degree murder, told investigators during an Aug. 5 interview at her house that she “could not read or write very well,” and did not understand questions related to her status as an ex-felon on registration paperwork. But Orange County election officials mailed her a voter card after she registered, which led her to believe she was able to vote.

“Stribling believed that her rights were restored because she completed the voter registration application and received a voter registration card,” read her probable cause affidavit.

Leo Grant, a 55-year-old Black man from South Bay, told Florida department of law enforcement special agents he has been diagnosed with stress, depression and wears a pacemaker. He also told authorities that a local election office sent him a voter identification card and was able to vote without issue.

“Grant remembers filling out his vote-by-mail ballot at his house and mailing it in for the November 2020 election by putting it in a Post Office mailbox,” read the criminal affidavit.

Grant told the Miami Herald last Friday, one day after the DeSantis press conference and his arrest, that he was completely confused by the ordeal.

“I don’t really understand, how did I commit fraud?” Grant told the newspaper. “I don’t understand any of this stuff.”

Meade said it should be reasonable for citizens to trust that when the government tells them they can vote, that they are eligible.

“It is their [government’s] responsibility to make the determination on eligibility to vote and to send you a voter education card,” Meade said. “It is purely natural for a citizen to rely on the government to make those determinations and that they be accurate.”

His group on Thursday set up a bail and legal defense fund for those arrested, most of which do not have significant personal financial resources.

“We don’t want anyone to take plea deals just because they can’t pay bail,” Meade said. “They are in danger of losing their jobs, and some are key providers for their families. This could impact more than just the individuals.”

I don't believe I would live in Florida right now, even if somehow I would win a lottery for doing so.

Rev, I think most of us realize that DeSantis is every bit as much a scumbag as is Trump.

Quote:

Rev, I think most of us realize that DeSantis is every bit as much a scumbag as is Trump.

I AGREE
I AGREE
I AGREE

Our ultimate defense against the federal government is the right of secession. Yes, most people assume that the Civil War settled that. But superior force proves nothing. If there was a right of secession before that war, it should be just as valid now. It wasn’t negated because Northern munitions factories were more efficient than Southern ones.

Among the Founding Fathers there was no doubt. The United States had just seceded from the British Empire, exercising the right of the people to “alter or abolish” — by force, if necessary — a despotic government. The Declaration of Independence is the most famous act of secession in our history, though modern rhetoric makes “secession” sound somehow different from, and more sinister than, claiming independence.



The original 13 states formed a “Confederation,” under which each state retained its “sovereignty, freedom, and independence.” The Constitution didn’t change this; each sovereign state was free to reject the Constitution. The new powers of the federal government were “granted” and “delegated” by the states, which implies that the states were prior and superior to the federal government.

Although Trump has done his damage, I think DeSantis, marching boldly with his Christian-styled fascism will make Trump’s swath look like child’s play.

Answer honestly.

If Texas and Florida, Washington to California, seceded from the union and formed a big liberal country and two conservative countries, would you oppose this and try to force them to be part of America? Or would you allow them to do so, and for people who didn't like the US to move?

From my experience, most conservatives that aren't some type of Christian fundies prefer that other people do what makes them happy. By contrast, most liberals are utterly unhappy that people aren't cooperating with their ideas.

https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2012/12/the-right-to-secede.html

Quote:

Our ultimate defense against the federal government is the right of secession. Yes, most people assume that the Civil War settled that. But superior force proves nothing. If there was a right of secession before that war, it should be just as valid now. It wasn’t negated because Northern munitions factories were more efficient than Southern ones.

Among the Founding Fathers there was no doubt. The United States had just seceded from the British Empire, exercising the right of the people to “alter or abolish” — by force, if necessary — a despotic government. The Declaration of Independence is the most famous act of secession in our history, though modern rhetoric makes “secession” sound somehow different from, and more sinister than, claiming independence.



The original 13 states formed a “Confederation,” under which each state retained its “sovereignty, freedom, and independence.” The Constitution didn’t change this; each sovereign state was free to reject the Constitution. The new powers of the federal government were “granted” and “delegated” by the states, which implies that the states were prior and superior to the federal government.

So, if Trump had won 2020, and people in California wanted to secede, would you move there?

Lash wrote:

Although Trump has done his damage, I think DeSantis, marching boldly with his Christian-styled fascism will make Trump’s swath look like child’s play.

I think Trump paved the way for fascism to emerge in America revealing the willingness of the people to accept such. There's something lacking in Americans to be taken in so easily by these sociopaths.