Etiquette



DP Etiquette

First rule: Don't be a jackass.

Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.

Sunday, June 16, 2024

Thinking about DJT; Dem messaging; Misc.

Lately the news has been pretty much the same. Trump lies. Trump slanders. Trump is corrupt. Trump hates the rule of law applied to himself. Trump hates democracy, but lies about it. Trump has dementia, but Biden is old. Trump says something outrageous and the MSM gives him free air time and support by reporting his nonsense. Trump etc. 

It does not seem worth it to post about it much any more. By now, either people see the gravity and depth of America’s very real, very corrupt, authoritarian radical right anti-democracy threat or they don’t or can’t. Either they can see the rise of kleptocratic plutocracy, Christian fundamentalist theocracy and Trump-style autocracy or they cannot or will not. People know Trump or they do not.

Maybe a lot of Americans knowingly support the fall of their democracy, rule of law and civil liberties. I bet that very few of them would say that, maybe ~2%, while vehemently asserting (i) they are doing the opposite of what they are doing, while (ii) the Dems are doing mostly the opposite of what they are doing.

These are strange, unpleasant days. Like the very real reality of Trump, the very real power of decades of radical right dark free speech, planning and quiet, focused work against democracy and civil liberties cannot be denied. American authoritarianism has crystallized around its leader. He means to use all of his power and cause as much damage to democracy pro-public interest government as he possibly can, while serving himself and elites as much as possible with government on serving them.

To some non-trivial extent, the leadership of the Democratic Party does not appear to fully understand what America faces from the authoritarian radical right. That seems to be especially true of Joe Biden. But maybe his milquetoast style of politics masks a deeper understanding of the threat than his behavior conveys. Regardless of what he might know, we are stuck with Joe and his rather inept, probably partly subverted center to center-right Democratic Party.

Among the polling intelligentsia, there is a bit of evidence of a recent shift of sentiment away from the election being a coin toss to Trump probably being the winner if the election were to be held today. This far out, it is not clear whether that means anything or not. That may be just a minority view. Maybe it could vanish in the wake of a gigantic October surprise like Trump dropping dead from old age.

Q: Is it more useful than not to keep posting bad stuff that we already know about Trump?
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Vox reports about a common complaint about weak or ineffective Democratic Party messaging:
Biden’s overlooked campaign to protect Americans from Big Business

Many Americans are focused on inflation, but from Big Tech to junk fees, Biden is advancing a pro-consumer agenda

Through his executive authority, Biden has taken steps to combat “junk fees” — hidden fees that make everything from airline bookings to concert tickets more expensive than their sticker price, but also just feel like shady corporate attempts to get the better of consumers. He has also required companies to provide more transparency in their pricing.

His administration has also tackled monopolies like it’s the Roosevelt era, filing a flurry of sweeping lawsuits against major companies, including four Big Tech companies, on the grounds that they are harming competition in their industries and, therefore, American consumers.

Though those lawsuits have yet to be decided, they have already put companies on watch and, if successful, could create new legal precedents that would protect consumers well after Biden leaves office.  
In both its use of executive action and litigation, the Biden administration has been “more aggressive on antitrust than any previous administration in at least the last 50 to 75 years,” said Andre Delattre, who directs national campaign programs at the Public Interest Network, a public interest advocacy group.
It is fair to say that if Trump is put back in power and he moves to implement Project 2025 with authoritarian radical right Republicans in control of the US Senate, everything Biden has done will be attacked and reversed as much as possible, as fast as possible.
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Trump threatens to cut US aid to Ukraine quickly if reelected -- Ukraine’s allies are scrambling to secure long-term aid for Kyiv amid fears about a second Trump term -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday blasted the scale of U.S. support for Ukraine and said that if he is reelected in November he would immediately “have that settled.”

There, that foreign policy issue is settled.


Trump challenges Biden to a cognitive test but confuses the name of the doctor who tested him -- Donald Trump has suggested President Joe Biden “should have to take a cognitive test,” only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence


Lara Trump is building an army of ‘100,000 poll watchers and over 500 lawyers’ to ‘deploy’ across America in November -- These volunteers will have three missions: Watch people vote, watch people count votes, and sue anybody who gets in the way. “I believe if we have a free, fair and transparent election that there’s no question we’ll all be going to bed early on November 5,” she said. Following her remarks — which were full of militaristic language such as “deploy” and “battleground” — the assembled volunteers (around 75 in total) began “training” as potential poll watchers. The press was not allowed to view the training, The Post’s request to view training materials was declined.

Actually, those poll watchers have a fourth mission: Intimidate as many Democratic voters as possible. Notice the secrecy? The radical right has always worked in as much secrecy as possible. It has lied as much as possible about its agenda and tactics, e.g., FTZWS (flood the zone with shit).

Neo-Nazi who protested drag shows has been arrested on child porn charges -- The Nationalist Social Club-131, a neo-Nazi group, is known for harassing drag queen story hours and calling queens “pedo scum.” Now one of its members has been charged with possessing child pornography. The Nationalist Social Club-131, a neo-Nazi group, is known for harassing drag queen story hours and calling queens “pedo scum.” Now one of its members has been charged with possessing child pornography.

Some of those Trump supporters are feisty little stinkers. Hypocrites too! ðŸ¤¨

Bannon vows Trump’s opponents will be prosecuted in a second term -- Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, vowed investigations and prosecutions of those who have probed the former president and his political allies, declaring at a conservative gathering Saturday that Inauguration Day in 2025 will be “accountability day.” “You are going to be investigated, prosecuted and incarcerated,” he said. “This has nothing to do with retribution. It has nothing to do with revenge. Because retribution and revenge might be another order of magnitude. This has to do with justice.” Bannon was referring to recent comments by Trump vowing to be his supporters’ “retribution” and saying that “sometimes revenge can be justified.”

Geez, all of that sounds like it has everything to do with retribution and revenge and little or nothing to do with justice. Whatever, that is just standard authoritarian radical right messaging.

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