This 'bout sums up the 2020s for me so far.

https://twitter.com/michele_norris/status/1383035972263280641

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We interrupt the coverage of the shooting of a 13-yr-old boy that interrupted coverage of traffic stop shooting of a 20–yr-old man that interrupted coverage of Derek Chauvin trial for the killing of George Floyd for news of 8 ppl killed at Fedex facility in Indianapolis

America

The framers were in the midst of a war with England and created a document that

a) assumed no free man (i.e., a man free from the divine right of kings) would favor a tyrant;
b) only men of "honor" would be elected to Congress by a free electorate;
c) all the MEN making these decisions were white landowners who created a document that both protected their wealth/power/status/privilege and was flexible enough for evolving interpretation and revision.

IOW, there is no fail-safe for the majority under the Constitution when foxes are in the hen house. Literally, we are held hostage by voting cycles and we have to change procedural rules (which again, assumes only honorable people are elected to Congress).

There is also no professional penalty for lying to the detriment of the nation. Censure is toothless. It is an imperfect system created by imperfect men and it can be changed. Abolish the electoral college, and go with straight majority rule. The judicial system is designed to protect minority rights under majority rule. (In theory, though that, too, is made ineffective by racist authoritarian abusers. But that's a rant for another thread.)

So it wasn't individuals that failed us here, it's the systems we have in place. That's not to say that the 43 aren't responsible for their actions, but that their actions only succeeded because of the system.

https://twitter.com/what_eats_owls/status/1360695913019179009
https://twitter.com/what_eats_owls/status/1360698165293240320
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The Lincoln Project is the "leftist" arm of the GOP (Generators of Propaganda). Advertising is their thing, they've just evolved since Gingrich's direct mail campaigns. This shocks so many on the left because when it came to Trump (and Trumpers), they were actually telling the truth. But I'm sure it's a one-off because these guys are the party of Reagan and the Bushes.* And that party is toxic and conservative AF.








*Reagan and the Bushes would be my punk band name, if I were ever to start one.

I know SO MANY people who grew up impoverished and/or have financial problems now who have never been driven to National insurrection. Considering how badly we treat poor people - especially BIPOC, who traditionally have the highest rates of debt/financial trauma - blaming the "poor whites" who defaulted on business loans or taxes feels like a microaggression that excuses white insurrectionists because of their financial background but may end up creating policies or practices that will be harmfully and/or unfairly directed at other protests/protestors, including peaceful ones. Remember, Hoover kept files on MLK and John Lennon. That's the norm of our history and "reporting" like this only serves to justify continuing the war against poor people in the US.

We live in a society where white is assumed. The only time anyone’s race is specified in news reports are Black and other POC. Unless white people are killing Black folk or acting overtly racist. It is not race-baiting to note the absence of race, but it is racist to assume anything in the US exists in a race-neutral context.

Edited to add: the cop didn’t need to expressly think it. That’s the insidious nature of system racism. I’m not saying this cop would have emptied a can of whoop-ass on a Black shoplifter, but I bet the encounter would have gone MUCH differently if the family was Black.

He's the real anomaly in the force, as opposed to the supposed singular "bad apples" who always seem to kill Black people with other officers standing around not doing anything. So glad for this cop and the people he helped. This is not the norm, and quite honestly, no one, cops or otherwise, should have to pay out of his own pocket for poor people's groceries in the wealthiest country on the planet.

Also: guaranteed 100% the shop lifters were white. Why?

a) Somerset, MA is 98%+ white.
b) The officer is white so when he saw the two kids, he "saw" his own children.
c) He bought them a $250 gift card instead of arresting them, or worse.
d) All of the above.

Anyone using this story to voice opposition to the Defund the Police movement have no fucking concept of what policing is like for nonwhite people.

Here's former Rep Peter King (R) talking on election day 2004, when DU was a-buzz with fear for possible voting fraud by the Republicans using ES&S and other e-voting machines:

Here's an article from St. John's Law Review outlining ongoing problems with ES&S systems (among others): https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1247&context=lawreview

This ain't new, they stole the Dominion voting machine fraud rant from us (with no evidence), but we have 16 years of reporting the ES&S machines are unsecure and subject to tampering.

People usually feel disenfranchised voting Blue in a state with a long Red history. "It doesn't matter, no way this state will go Democratic." This is a chance for people to know that their vote can make a difference on a national level. That's a heady thought. Very empowering!

I bet we'll also see a big bump in newly registered 18-year-olds, voting for the first time.

I don't see this as an attack, however. Stating a problem is NOT the problem. And neither is the person stating the problem.