Monday, June 29, 2020

What Police Can Learn From the Military About the Effectiveness of Soft Power

Soft power is less expensive and more effective than hard power:

John Bolton: It's ‘Remarkable’ Trump Says He Wasn’t Briefed About Russia's Reported U.S. Troop Bounties

There is no way he wasn't briefed, and he'll lose a lot of military support for this:

Trump in ‘fragile’ mood and may drop out of 2020 race if poll numbers don’t improve, GOP insiders tell Fox News

If he thinks quitting will make him seem any less of a loser, he's mistaken. He'll be a loser AND a quitter:


I hate the idea of Pence getting to be on the list of presidents, but he wouldn't be president for long.

Trump’s Real Reason for Running for a Second Term: Fear of Being Remembered as a One-Term ‘Loser’

With nothing to offer but a personal desire not to appear a loser, he's going to lose:

Sacha Baron Cohen Pranks Right-Wing Rally Into Racist Singalong

Way to expose those who claim they're not racist (watch the video):

Trump Seemingly Tells Sean Hannity That Biden Will Win, Saying ‘He’s Going to Be Your President’

I love seeing Trump acting defeated:

Have fun with this, Senate Republicans: Trump tells SCOTUS it was your idea to dismantle the ACA

How can he be so profoundly stupid?

Monday, June 22, 2020

Thursday, June 11, 2020

A 2010 Scientific Paper Predicted That 2020 Would Be a Shitshow

“Records show that societies can avert disaster,” Turchin wrote. “We need to find ways to ameliorate the negative effects of globalization on people’s well-being. Economic inequality, accompanied by burgeoning public debt, can be addressed by making tax rates more progressive. And we should not expand our system of higher education beyond the ability of the economy to absorb university graduates.”

In other words, conservatism isn't the solution, it's the problem:


Cops slash car tires at protests in Minneapolis

This is some seriously fascist behavior:

CNN's response to Trump campaign's demand for an apology over poll that shows Biden leading

Trump actually threatens to sue over unfavorable poll results. What a child:

More Than 1,250 Ex-DOJ Workers Demand Probe Of AG Barr Over Protesters’ Removal

I'm really glad to see Barr's butt-kissing behavior called out:

The Coronavirus Is Already Reshaping Urban Life

How cities may change:

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Tensions flare between Trump, military figures over handling of George Floyd unrest

I love seeing Fox News print negative stories about Trump:


Read the comments. Almost all are anti-Trump.

Trump and allies try to rewrite history on handling of police brutality protests

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-and-allies-try-to-rewrite-history-on-handling-of-police-brutality-protests/2020/06/03/21d49c22-a5af-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html

One of America's most prominent conservative columnists wants Republicans to lose in 2020

Wow. Conservative George Will wants to see the Republicans lose the Senate. That's huge:

Evidence mounts of far-right extremists' violent chicanery at police protests around the nation

Several examples of right-wing extremists trying to turn protests violent:

Trump Went Full-On Fascist For A Photo-Op. What’s He Willing To Do To Keep Power?

I'm glad he's called out for each of these displays of authoritarianism, but he should have been kicked out of office long ago:

James Mattis Denounces Trump as Threat to Constitution

IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH

I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.

When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.

We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.

James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.

Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.

We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.

Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.

Trump Brutally Mocked For Saying He Went To Bunker Just To Inspect It

Some delightful burns:

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Leaked Proud Boys Chats Show Members Plotting Violence At Rallies

More examples of right-wing extremist attempts to subvert peaceful protests. Fortunately, they are incompetent wannabes:

American society is teetering on the edge

Well this is just fucking cheerful:

White Nationalists Posing As Antifa Caught Calling For Violence On Twitter

The next time a conservative accuses ANTIFA of violence, show them this:

Roberts Upholds COVID-19 Restrictions on Churches, Scolds Kavanaugh

Yup, turns out Kavanaugh isn't a great judge. Shocker. Roberts has to be the adult in the room:

'Trump’s Re-Election Chances Are Going Down in Flames.' How Trump's Divisive Rhetoric Could Hurt Republicans in November

Music to my ears:

Monday, June 1, 2020

That time Donald Trump tweeted about 'weak leadership' leading to riots

There really is a tweet for everything:

Obama’s new statement on the protests exposes Trump’s failures

The stark difference between how Obama handles national tragedies vs. how Trump does:

Temperature Tipping Point for Tropical Forests Identified – Scientists Recommend Immediate Steps

Yet another reason to move quickly on combating climate change:

Ferguson Police Take A Knee In Honor Of George Floyd

I don't understand how nobody seems to have noticed the fact that police are kneeling to honor a victim of police kneeling:


OTOH, what other option is there? Bow? A moment of silence? 

How Vietnam managed to keep its coronavirus death toll at zero

Who would have thought that the Vietnamese would do it right: