Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:


Am I imaging it, or is there a "See Spot run. Run Spot, run" quality about it?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by WISHIMAY:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:


Am I imaging it, or is there a "See Spot run. Run Spot, run" quality about it?

---

Imagining it, no. Trying to come up with bullshit to bitch about, YEP.

Speeches aren't supposed to be understood by only the most intelligent, wordiest people. They are supposed to be able to be understood by EVERYONE, including the dimmest children of the dimmest Rethuglicans.


It's a great speech, and you are stellar asshole for trying to run it down.

---

Quote:

---

This is half of America's day.
Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of Democrats.
The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been buried.
We have learned again that Democrats are precious.
Democrats are fragile.
And at this hour, my friends, Democrats have prevailed.

So now, on this hallowed ground, we come together as one elite, invisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power to us, as we have yearned for more than two centuries.

We look ahead in our uniquely elitist way -- cold, calculating, dishonest and brutal-- and set our sights on the nation we want it to be.

I thank my co-conspirators of both parties for their presence here.
I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
You know the despondance of our underlings and the strength of our wealth.
But over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go.
We the elite will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.

Much to despoil.
Much to divide.
Much to subjugate.
And much to gain.
Few periods in our nation's history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we're in now.
A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country.
It's taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II.
Millions of jobs have been lost.
Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed.
What a wonderful opportunity for us.

The dream of interchangeability between all will be deferred no longer.

And now, a rise in populism, nationalism, and patriotism we must confront and we will defeat.
To overcome these challenges -- to secure our future in America -- requires more than words.
It requires propaganda.

Unity.
Unity.
Unity is the banner under which we will quell dissent and dissatisfaction.
When he put pen to paper, the President said, "If my name ever goes down into history it will be for this act and my whole soul is in it."
My whole soul is in it.
Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this:
Bringing America to heel.
Uniformity across the land.

I ask every American to join me in this cause.
Informing on your neighbors, co-workers, and even family.
Using anger, resentment, hatred.
Extremism, lawlessness, violence.
Disease, joblessness, hopelessness.
With unity we elite can do great things. Power things. Money things.
We can do wrongs.
We can put people out of work from good jobs.
We can mold our children in state scools.
We can use this deadly virus to overcome resistance.
We can parasitize work, and make health care
secure for hospital corporations and pharma.
We can deliver racial injustice.
We can make America, once again, the leading force for money in the world.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish propaganda.
I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real.
But I also know they can be used.
Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal, and us.
Our victory is never assured.

Through the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice, and setbacks, our "betters" have always prevailed.

The people can see us, not as adversaries but as neighbors.
We can pretend to treat them with dignity and respect.
We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower expectations.

For without uniformity, we will have no peace, only bitterness and fury.
No oligarchy, only a state of chaos.
This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the preferred message.
And, we must meet this moment by pretneding that we're for the United States of America.
If we don't that, I guarantee you, we will fail.
We have never, ever, ever failed in America when we have acted together.
And so today, at this time and in this place, let us start afresh to take control, and never let the people in the door again.

This sacred ground was not occupied by the people..
That did not happen.
It will never happen.
Not today.
Not tomorrow.
Not ever.
It is full of soldiers who will keep that from happening.

To all those who supported our campaign I am humbled by the faith you have placed in us.
To all those who did not support us, let me say this: Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart.
And if you still disagree, I will bury you.
That's Democrats. That's my America.
Security.
Security.
Security.
Money.
Power.
And, yes, that's the truth.

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson.
There is truth and there are lies.
Lies we told for power and for profit.

And all of us here on this podium have the responsibility to maintain those lies.

Bumper-sticker speeches.
Empty promises.
Identity politics.
The enemy without.
The enemy within.
Unity.
Unity.
Unity.
Preach unity but keep up the war.

Without these lies, we will never prevail.

May God bless us in our endeavors.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
This is what I got . . .

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by reaverfan:
^ What else can a Russian troll do at this point?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
This is what I got . . .

---

This is what I got:

a Republican lawmaker nearly brought a gun onto the House floor, further stoking concerns about Capitol security and whether members of Congress need protection from one another.

The renewed anxiety just two weeks after the deadly Jan. 6 attack was sparked by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) when he set off a newly installed metal detector off the House floor with a concealed gun, despite a longtime ban on firearms in the chamber.

The incident followed numerous reports of other Republicans, accustomed to bypassing metal detectors in the Capitol, chafing at the new security measures. Some Democrats are now openly expressing that they don’t feel safe around certain colleagues.

Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) said she never would have envisioned violence breaking out during floor debate when she first started serving in the House in 2015. Now, she says, it’s another story.

“You can’t be afraid that the person that you’re having a little argument with on the floor with C-SPAN watching is going to pull a gun and, like, shoot you,” Rice said. “If you had said that to me six years ago I’d say, ‘Whoever is afraid of that is crazy. That would never happen.’ Now? Sorry. All bets are off. It's a totally different climate. Totally different climate. And we have to recognize that.”

The metal detectors were installed last week after first-term GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Madison Cawthorn (N.C.) publicly discussed carrying their weapons around Capitol Hill. Both were also among several House Republicans who engaged in inflammatory rhetoric promoting former President Trump’s false claims of election fraud ahead of the Capitol attack that left five people dead.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/535505-capitol-tensions-running-hig
h-gun-incident-near-house-floor

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

It's very simple, REAVERBOT.

If Biden* meant what he* said about unity, he would

Reverse his policy of aiming to make 11 million illegal immigrants citizens (that's probably by about how much he lost the vote)

THAT would constitute a good-faith effort on his part to "listen to" and "respect" the approximate majority of the country.

If he* doesn't make good-faith effort to listen to, respect, and win the trust of the majority of voters (which he won't) then everything he* said was just blah blah blah lies, defamation, and hypocrisy.

Yanno, like you.

---

Quote:

---

“Aid and Comfort” To the Enemy: Speaker Pelosi Ramps Up Attacks On Republican Colleagues Amidst Calls For Expulsions
Speaker Nancy Pelosi ramped up the attacks on members of her own house this week, accusing them of giving “aid and comfort” to those who want to destroy the nation. The comments came after Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., denied a public accusation by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., that she personally took rioters around the capitol for a tour before the attack on January 6th. Boebert pointed out that the “rioters” were her family members and she has never given such tours. Rather than encouraging colleagues to avoid baseless and inflammatory accusations pending review of what occurred on January 6th, Pelosi threw gasoline on the fire and accused her colleagues of giving “aid and comfort” to those who were trying to destroy the Constitution and the country. It is, in my view, another failure of leadership by the Speaker in her duties to the institution as a whole.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by reaverfan:
^ What else can a Russian troll do at this point?

---

It's very simple, REAVERBOT.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Pelosi doubles down on Nazification

Quote:

---

“Aid and Comfort” To the Enemy: Speaker Pelosi Ramps Up Attacks On Republican Colleagues Amidst Calls For Expulsions
Speaker Nancy Pelosi ramped up the attacks on members of her own house this week, accusing them of giving “aid and comfort” to those who want to destroy the nation. The comments came after Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., denied a public accusation by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., that she personally took rioters around the capitol for a tour before the attack on January 6th. Boebert pointed out that the “rioters” were her family members and she has never given such tours. Rather than encouraging colleagues to avoid baseless and inflammatory accusations pending review of what occurred on January 6th, Pelosi threw gasoline on the fire and accused her colleagues of giving “aid and comfort” to those who were trying to destroy the Constitution and the country. It is, in my view, another failure of leadership by the Speaker in her duties to the institution as a whole.

---

MORE AT JonathanTurley.org

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by reaverfan:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Pelosi doubles down on Nazification

Quote:

---

“Aid and Comfort” To the Enemy: Speaker Pelosi Ramps Up Attacks On Republican Colleagues Amidst Calls For Expulsions
Speaker Nancy Pelosi ramped up the attacks on members of her own house this week, accusing them of giving “aid and comfort” to those who want to destroy the nation. The comments came after Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., denied a public accusation by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., that she personally took rioters around the capitol for a tour before the attack on January 6th. Boebert pointed out that the “rioters” were her family members and she has never given such tours. Rather than encouraging colleagues to avoid baseless and inflammatory accusations pending review of what occurred on January 6th, Pelosi threw gasoline on the fire and accused her colleagues of giving “aid and comfort” to those who were trying to destroy the Constitution and the country. It is, in my view, another failure of leadership by the Speaker in her duties to the institution as a whole.

---

MORE AT JonathanTurley.org

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

---

More stupid fake news shit from a dumb, lying Russian troll cunt. Nothing you do or say is of any value to anyone. Commit suicide, now.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by reaverfan:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

---

You really should do the same. You're a worthless piece of shit with nothing to show for your pointless, traitorous life.

You're dead weight, and a drain on society. Relieve us of your existence, and make the world a better place.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by reaverfan:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

---

You really should do the same. You're a worthless piece of shit with nothing to show for your pointless, traitorous life.

You're dead weight, and a drain on society. Relieve us of your existence, and make the world a better place.

---

This one too now.

Keep pretending that you're one of the good guys though.

You make Nilly look reasonable. You should be proud.

---

Quote:

---

On the Efforts to Silence Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity
Brad Bird
Commentary

Fox News Channel’s political commentators Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are under attack, with many calling for their removal from the airwaves.

While this is perhaps a predictable extension of cancel culture’s ongoing persecution of those who uphold traditional values, the attack on these men is a particularly offensive attempt at censorship—a line in the sand.

This is because they’re among the few remaining voices in North American journalism with the courage and commitment to report views and facts that challenge the wisdom of progressive thinking. They also defended and respected President Donald J. Trump, who was endlessly and unjustly attacked and maligned by most in the media who betrayed the tradition of fair and balanced reporting.

Carlson and Hannity have been accused, among other things, of spreading “harmful propaganda and downright fiction,” according to one source.

This is rich, considering what the mainstream media has been doing in recent years. We need to understand this clearly: Carlson and Hannity make no pretense of being objective newscasters such as the late Walter Cronkite or the current Lester Holt. They’re commentators who present their opinions in the same way the acclaimed William F. Buckley once did.

The problem is that people who want just the facts can’t get them anymore in the legacy media, such as The New York Times, because it’s so tainted by wokeness, political correctness, and the anti-Trump parade. So they turn to Carlson, Hannity, and others such as Laura Ingraham for relief and common sense.

I don’t know Carlson or Hannity personally, and I’m not in the pay of either of them. I have never spoken or communicated in any way with either of them. I’m an independent Canadian writer, a semi-retired reporter/editor with more than 40 years of experience, including work in war zones and positions in Canada at both large daily (Winnipeg Free Press) and small weekly newspapers. At the age of 62, I don’t fear retribution from those who might wish to silence me for defending my American colleagues.

---

Quote:

---

If ‘Facebook is Private’ Why are They Feeding Private Messages of Its Users Directly to the FBI?

Matt Agorist January 22, 2021
Spread the love

...when Donald Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook earlier this month, the left praised the move by big tech. “Facebook is a private company and can do what they want,” the pro-censorship hypocritical crowd chanted ad nauseum... Now ... Facebook [is] now willfully handing over private messages of Trump supporters who talked about the events at the capitol on January 6.

... [Honest media experts know] that large portions of the pro-Trump protests were talked about and organized on Facebook. But was Facebook wiped off the internet like Parler?

No, no it was not. Here’s why.

This week, Facebook began furnishing the Federal Bureau of Investigation with data on Trump supporters who discussed the events at the capitol on their platform — up to and including their private messages. Through this action the social media giant is acting as a de facto intelligence collecting arm of the US government.

In contrast, when Syed Farook, otherwise known as the San Bernardino mass shooter, wouldn’t unlock his iPhone for the feds, Apple refused to create a backdoor for them to access it acting as an actual private company supporting the privacy rights of its customers. But Facebook is more than willing to open up its data mining services for their friends in the federal government — because, as we have stated numerous times, Facebook is not private.

... in 2018 Facebook announced that it partnered with the arm of the government-funded Atlantic Council, known as the Digital Forensic Research Lab that was brought on to help the social media behemoth ...deci[de] on who they censor. [It] is directly funded by multiple state actors — including the United States — which voids any and all claims that Facebook is a wholly “private actor.” It’s funded by arms manufacturers like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing. It is also funded by billionaire oligarchs like the Ukraine’s Victor Pinchuk and Saudi billionaire Bahaa Hariri.

The Atlantic Council wields massive influence over mainstream media too, which is why when this partnership was announced, no one in the mainstream press pointed it out as the Orwellian idea that it is. Instead, headlines such as “US think tank’s tiny lab helps Facebook battle fake social media(Reuters)” and “Facebook partners with Atlantic Council to improve election security (The Hill)” were put out to spin the fact that a NATO propaganda arm is now censoring the information Americans see on Facebook.

... All the while, whenever the censorship acts in their benefit, half of the masses cheer it on and defend it, keeping resistance at a minimum.

... In fact, prior to the state getting involved in the talks of regulation into big tech, information flowed relatively freely with Facebook only removing racist and violent content. Now, however, as they bend to the will of their partners in the federal government, people like myself find ourselves on 30 day bans for saying “censorship leads to tyranny.”

This is why the answer to the government big tech censorship leviathan lies not in regulation but in boycott. The time is now to get off these platforms who spy on you, ban you, sell you to the highest bidder, and who are tearing society apart. ...

Spread the love

---

Quote:

---

Millions of people have started shutting down their Facebook accounts and moving to MeWe.com. MeWe is an ad-free, censorship free, user friendly social media network that makes no money from selling your data, advertising to you, or violating your privacy.

MeWe CEO Mark Weinstein notes that they are leading the privacy revolution in social media. The social network has a Privacy Bill of Rights giving its users total control of their data and privacy.

There are no ads, no targeting, no facial recognition, no data mining, and no newsfeed manipulation.

Anyone who can navigate Facebook can navigate MeWe as its interface is very user friendly and has all the features one can imagine. But don’t take our word for it, MeWe was named a 2020 Most Innovative Social Media Company by Fast Company, a 2019 Best Entrepreneurial Company in America by Entrepreneur Magazine, and Start-Up of the Year Finalist at SXSW when it debuted in 2016.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Granting legal status to illegals is a mistake which Americans will live to regret, because - like Reagan's "not amnesty" amnesty - it will only encourage more illegal aliens to sneak across the border.

And what about all of the OTHER points I made, SECONDRATE?

Investigate vote irregularities
Stop "domestic terrorism" law and stop referring to Trump supporters as "domestic terrorists"?
Break up internet giants.
Amend Section 230 to require that platforms provide fair, free, and neutral spaces.
End the impeachment charade, which is unfounded and unconstitutional.

Those would go a long, long way to prove that Biden is really listening to and respecting half of America. Because if he doesn't, he was just saying blah-blah-blah. You didn't address them, so I assume that you agree with them. And me.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Trump did win.

Nothing can be done about it now. Oh well.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Trump did win.

Nothing can be done about it now. Oh well.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Nah. If you go to a pure popular vote, California decides who is President for the rest of America's extremely short lifespan.


I won't even argue that the Electoral College is perfect in 2021, and I don't have suggestions on how to make it serve the public better than it currently does. But a pure Popular vote is a terrible idea. Hop in a time machine and ask the Ancient Greeks how that worked out for them.




--------------------------------------------------

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

The Electoral College was meant to assure smaller states that they wouldn't lose representation.

In a larger, more abstract view, it is meant to insure against "the tyranny of the majority".

As a Californian and registered Democrat, I used to get agitated that there were millions more people per Senator than in some other states. But I see the wisdom of requiring policies to be sifted thru several sieves, one is a popular one and the other sieve is state-based.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

. . . That way, policies MUST BE acceptable, not only to "the majority" but also to significant minorities.

Surely, there must be policies that are acceptable to nearly everyone. Negotiating and finding those areas of concurrence, that's the art of politics, is it not?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

On the Efforts to Silence Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity
Brad Bird
Commentary

Fox News Channel’s political commentators Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are under attack, with many calling for their removal from the airwaves.

We need to understand this clearly: Carlson and Hannity make no pretense of being objective newscasters such as the late Walter Cronkite or the current Lester Holt. They’re commentators who present their opinions in the same way the acclaimed William F. Buckley once did.

The problem is that people who want just the facts can’t get them anymore in the legacy media, such as The New York Times, because it’s so tainted by wokeness, political correctness, and the anti-Trump parade. So they turn to Carlson, Hannity, and others such as Laura Ingraham for relief and common sense.

I don’t know Carlson or Hannity personally, and I’m not in the pay of either of them. I have never spoken or communicated in any way with either of them. I’m an independent Canadian writer, a semi-retired reporter/editor with more than 40 years of experience, including work in war zones and positions in Canada at both large daily (Winnipeg Free Press) and small weekly newspapers. At the age of 62, I don’t fear retribution from those who might wish to silence me for defending my American colleagues.

---

MORE AT https://www.theepochtimes.com/on-the-efforts-to-silence-tucker-carlson
-and-sean-hannity_3667979.html

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
If a design doesn't work as intended, the design is wrong. The Electoral College doesn't work as its designers intended:

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
EDITED FOR BREVITY

Quote:

---

If ‘Facebook is Private’ Why are They Feeding Private Messages of Its Users Directly to the FBI?

... in 2018 Facebook announced that it partnered with the arm of the government-funded Atlantic Council, known as the Digital Forensic Research Lab that was brought on to help the social media behemoth ...deci[de] on who they censor. [It] is directly funded by multiple state actors — including the United States — which voids any and all claims that Facebook is a wholly “private actor.” It’s funded by arms manufacturers like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing. It is also funded by billionaire oligarchs like the Ukraine’s Victor Pinchuk and Saudi billionaire Bahaa Hariri.

The Atlantic Council wields massive influence over mainstream media too, which is why when this partnership was announced, no one in the mainstream press pointed it out as the Orwellian idea that it is. Instead, headlines such as “US think tank’s tiny lab helps Facebook battle fake social media(Reuters)” and “Facebook partners with Atlantic Council to improve election security (The Hill)” were put out to spin the fact that a NATO propaganda arm is now censoring the information Americans see on Facebook.

... as they bend to the will of their partners in the federal government, people like myself find ourselves on 30 day bans for saying “censorship leads to tyranny.”

... All the while, whenever the censorship acts in their benefit, half of the masses cheer it on and defend it, keeping resistance at a minimum.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

---

Facebook is a social disease you have to make a point of catching. Anyone who depends on Facebook for anything is an idiot.

Quote:

---

The Electoral College doesn't work as its designers intended ...

---

Quote:

---

POLITICO

Biden starts staffing a commission on Supreme Court reform
He pushed the idea as a candidate during the Amy Coney Barrett confirmation fight. Now, he’s getting it going.

By TYLER PAGER

01/27/2021 12:14 PM EST

The Biden administration is moving forward with the creation of a bipartisan commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.

The commission will be housed under the purview of the White House Counsel’s office and filled out with the behind-the-scenes help of the Biden campaign’s lawyer Bob Bauer, who will co-chair the commission. Its specific mandate is still being decided. But, in a signal that the commission is indeed moving ahead, some members have already been selected, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.

Among those who will be on the commission are Cristina Rodríguez, a professor at Yale Law School and a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Obama Department of Justice, who will join Bauer as co-chair. Caroline Fredrickson, the former president of the American Constitution Society, and Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard Law School professor and a former assistant attorney general in the Bush Department of Justice, will also serve on the commission, those familiar with discussions said.

Fredrickson has hinted that she is intellectually supportive of ideas like court expansion. In 2019, she said in an interview with Eric Lesh, the executive director of the LGBT Bar Association and Foundation of Greater New York: “I often point out to people who aren't lawyers that the Supreme Court is not defined as ‘nine person body’ in the Constitution, and it has changed size many times.”

Rodríguez’s opinions on court reforms are less clear. Goldsmith’s selection, meanwhile, is likely to be the one to frustrate progressives. A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Goldsmith did not support Trump and is a friend and co-author of Bauer. But he was a vocal advocate of Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the high court — an appointment that sparked Democratic advocacy for expanding the number of Supreme Court seats.

“He will also be an influential figure within the Supreme Court building,” Goldsmith wrote in 2018 about Kavanaugh in a Time article titled, “Brett Kavanaugh Will Right the Course of the Supreme Court.” “He is a brilliant analyst with a deep scholarly and practical knowledge of the law. His legal opinions are unusually accessible. He is a magnanimous soul.”

Bauer, who is not planning to go into the administration full-time, is himself a proponent of term limits for federal judges. He has been helping with the creation of the commission and, according to a person familiar with the deliberations, initially proposed the idea of forming a commission to study the issue of court reform.

“The President remains committed to an expert study of the role and debate over reform of the court and will have more to say in the coming weeks," a White House official said in a statement.


The recruitment of members is still ongoing, but a source familiar with the discussion expects between nine and 15 members total to be appointed to the commission. Rodríguez and Goldsmith did not respond to a request for comment, and Fredrickson declined to comment.

The idea for a commission came together amid the push by Republican senators to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in the weeks before the November election. Under intense pressure to consider reforms to the Supreme Court’s composition — including court expansion — Biden performed a classic Washington, D.C., punt. He announced in October that if he was elected, he would form such a commission to study structural changes. But Biden also conceded he is “not a fan of court packing.”

"The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want," Biden said in a “60 Minutes” interview in October. "Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations."

---

Quote:

---

Progressive groups pushing for court expansion responded with skepticism to Biden’s announcement at the time. And they’ve remained skeptical to this day.

“Commissions are often places where ideas go to die and there is no time on the clock to reform the court,” said Aaron Belkin, the director of Take Back the Court, a progressive group advocating for adding seats to the Supreme Court. “The entire agenda of what needs to get done is in jeopardy thanks to stolen federal courts.”

“We know,” he added, “that court expansion is the only strategy to allow the administration to solve the problems facing the country.”

An administration official said the commission is part of a broader court review and reform effort, part of which will focus on lower courts.

Progressives’ push to expand the Supreme Court was reenergized after Democrats won both Georgia Senate runoff races in January, giving them control of all three branches of government for the first time since 2010.

But any major structural reform would still be a heavy lift, as several Democratic senators have signaled their opposition to such measures. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday he was waiting for Biden’s commission to decide a path forward on reforms to the Supreme Court.

“President Biden has put together this commission to come up with a report in 180 days,” he said in an MSNBC interview this week. “We’re going to see what the commission says and go from there.”

---

Quote:

---

John Brennan: Biden Admin Has "Laser-Like" Focus On "Insurgency Movements" Of Bigots, Racists, Libertarians
Posted By Tyler Stone
On Date January 21, 2021

.@JohnBrennan: Biden intel community “are moving in laser-like fashion to try to uncover as much as they can about” the pro-Trump “insurgency” that harbors “religious extremists, authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists, even libertarians” pic.twitter.com/SjVXWhPhR8
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 20, 2021

Former CIA Director John Brennan ... on MSNBC ... highlighted several groups that are part of this threat.


BRENNAN: Nicolle, I was thinking today that this is the most relaxed I’ve been in the course of many inaugurations I’ve watched, because I’m not responsible for it, but I can tell you that when I was in the government, I had white knuckles because of the nature of the threats...But it’s so much more difficult today because of what we have seen, not just over the last two weeks, but that certainly has riveted our attention, but because of this growth in polarization in the United States and domestic violence and white supremacist groups.

---

Quote:

---

I know looking forward that the members of the Biden team who have been nominated or have been appointed, are now moving in laser-like fashion to try to uncover as much as they can about what looks very similar to insurgency movements that we’ve seen overseas, where they germinate in different parts of a country, and they gain strength, and it brings together an unholy alliance, frequently, of religious extremists, authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists, even libertarians.

---

Quote:

---

And unfortunately, I think there has been this momentum that has been generated as a result of, unfortunately, the demagogic rhetoric of people that just departed government, but also those who continue in the halls of Congress. And so, I really do think that the law enforcement, Homeland Security, intelligence, and even defense officials are doing everything possible to root out what seems to be a very, very serious and insidious threat to our democracy and our republic.

---

Quote:

---

Would YOU Be Considered a Domestic Terrorist Under This New Bill?
by Robert Wheeler

After 9/11, the entire country collectively lost its mind in the throes of fear. During that time, all civil and Constitutional rights were shredded and replaced with the pages of The USA PATRIOT Act.

Almost 20 years later, the U.S. has again lost its collective mind, this time in fear of a “virus” and it’s “super mutations” and a “riot” at the capitol. A lot of people called this and to the surprise of very few, much like after 9/11, Americans are watching what remains of their civil liberties be replaced with a new bill.
The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021

The DTPA is essentially the criminalization of speech, expression, and thought. It takes cancel culture a step further and all but outlaws unpopular opinions. This act will empower intelligence, law enforcement, and even military wings of the American ruling class to crack down on individuals adhering to certain belief systems and ideologies.

According to MI Congressman Fred Upton:

“The attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month was the latest example of domestic terrorism, but the threat of domestic terrorism remains very real. We cannot turn a blind eye to it,” Upton said. “The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act will equip our law enforcement leaders with the tools needed to help keep our homes, families, and communities across the country safe....

The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021 would strengthen the federal government’s efforts to prevent, report on, respond to, and investigate acts of domestic terrorism by authorizing offices dedicated to combating this threat; requiring these offices to regularly assess this threat; and providing training and resources to assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement in addressing it.

DTPA would authorize three offices, one each within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to monitor

---

Quote:

---

, investigate, and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism.

---

Quote:

---

The bill also requires these offices to provide Congress with joint, biannual reports assessing the state of domestic terrorism threats, with a specific focus on white supremacists.

---

Quote:

---

Based on the data collected, DTPA requires these offices to focus their resources on the most significant threats.

DTPA also codifies the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, which would coordinate with United States Attorneys and other public safety officials to promote information sharing and ensure an effective, responsive, and organized joint effort to combat domestic terrorism. The legislation requires DOJ, FBI, and DHS to provide training and resources to assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in understanding, detecting, deterring, and investigating acts of domestic terrorism and white supremacy. Finally, DTPA directs DHS, DOJ, FBI, and the Department of Defense to establish an interagency task force to combat white supremacist infiltration of the uniformed services and federal law enforcement.

Those who read the bill aren’t so gung ho to shred the Constitution

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has some serious reservations. In a recent interview on Fox News Primetime, Gabbard stated that the bill effectively criminalizes half of the country. (Emphasis ours)

“It’s so dangerous as you guys have been talking about, this is an issue that all Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians should be extremely concerned about, especially because we don’t have to guess about where this goes or how this ends,” Gabbard said.

She continued: “When you have people like former CIA Director John Brennan openly talking about how he’s spoken with or heard from appointees and nominees in the Biden administration who are already starting to look across our country for these types of movements similar to the insurgencies they’ve seen overseas, that in his words, he says make up this unholy alliance of religious extremists, racists, bigots, he lists a few others and at the end, even libertarians.”

Gabbard, stating her concern about how the government will define what qualities they are searching for in potential threats to the country, went on to ask:

“What characteristics are we looking for as we are building this profile of a potential extremist, what are we talking about? Religious extremists, are we talking about Christians, evangelical Christians, what is a religious extremist? Is it somebody who is pro-life? Where do you take this”

Tulsi said the bill would create a dangerous undermining of our civil liberties and freedoms in our Constitution. She also stated the DPTA essentially targets nearly half of the United States.

“You start looking at obviously, have to be a white person, obviously likely male, libertarians, anyone who loves freedom, liberty, maybe has an American flag outside their house, or people who, you know, attended a Trump rally,” Gabbard said.

Tulsi Gabbard is not the only one to criticize the legislation

Even the ACLU, one of the weakest organizations on civil liberties in the United States, has spoken out. While the ACLU was only concerned with how the bill would affect minorities or “brown people,” the organization stated that the legislation, while set forth under the guise of countering white supremacy, would eventually be used against non-white people.

The ACLU’s statement is true.

As with similar bills submitted under the guise of “protecting” Americans against outside threats, this bill will inevitably expand further. The stated goals of the DPTA are far-reaching and frightening enough. It would amount to an official declaration of the end to Free Speech.
Soon there will be no rights left for Americans

In the last twenty years, Americans have lost their 4th Amendment rights, and now they are losing their 1st. All that remains is the 2nd Amendment, and both the ruling class and increasing numbers of the American people know it.

Dark days are ahead.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Where I see this going is very much along the same lines as the so-called Patriot Act.

Everything implemented under the so-called Patriot Act, from invading Iraq and Afghanistan, authorizing "enemy combatant" imprisonment, torture, extraordinary rendition, and black sites (GWB) and destabilizing the entire Middle East, killing American citizens without trial, secret drone wars, fostering the growth of ISIS and instituting nationwide surveillance (Obama) was either unconstitutional, unnecessary, or counterproductive ... or all three

We didn't need Bush's and Obama's Global War on Terror (GWOT) ... an endless, borderless, pointless, feckless money- and liberty-sucking execise in futility.

Everything done within the United States as terrorist act ... killing people, destroying buildings etc... is ALREADY covered by both national and international criminal law.

Just as there was no reason for people to completely lose their shit over Islamic Terrorism ... and in the process shred their own constitutional protections and make the international situation infinitely worse ... there is NO REASON to create a special category of Domestic Terrorist.

Are you making bombs? Are you conspiring to shoot people en masse? Disrupt essential services, destroy buldings, attack the police or Congress, make terroristic threats??

Guess what: IT'S ALREADY ILLEGAL.

The limits of free speech have been tested over and over. The lines of what is allowed and what isn't are already pretty clear, as are the lines defining things like assault, murder, rioting etc.

We don't need a special bill purpose-designed to infringe on Americans' constitutional rights, and to make NSA's current illegal surveillance and information-sharing legal.

But the DNC is stampeding people in that direction. Too bad for the DNC, half of America is already against it. (Which is why the DNC is working so hard to cement its grip on political power by suppressing resistance and importing new voters.)

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

---

Quote:

---

SIGNYM:
Where I see this going is very much along the same lines as the so-called Patriot Act.

Everything implemented under the so-called Patriot Act, from invading Iraq and Afghanistan, authorizing "enemy combatant" imprisonment, torture, extraordinary rendition, and black sites (GWB) and destabilizing the entire Middle East, killing American citizens without trial, secret drone wars, fostering the growth of ISIS and instituting nationwide surveillance (Obama) was either unconstitutional, unnecessary, or counterproductive ... or all three

We didn't need Bush's and Obama's Global War on Terror (GWOT) ... an endless, borderless, pointless, feckless money- and liberty-sucking execise in futility.

Everything done within the United States as terrorist act ... killing people, destroying buildings etc... is ALREADY covered by both national and international criminal law.

Just as there was no reason for people to completely lose their shit over Islamic Terrorism ... and in the process shred their own constitutional protections and make the international situation infinitely worse ... there is NO REASON to create a special category of Domestic Terrorist.

Are you making bombs? Are you conspiring to shoot people en masse? Disrupt essential services, destroy buldings, attack the police or Congress, make terroristic threats??

Guess what: IT'S ALREADY ILLEGAL.

The limits of free speech have been tested over and over. The lines of what is allowed and what isn't are already pretty clear, as are the lines defining things like assault, murder, rioting etc.

We don't need a special bill purpose-designed to infringe on Americans' constitutional rights, and to make NSA's current illegal surveillance and information-sharing legal.

But the DNC is stampeding people in that direction. Too bad for the DNC, half of America is already against it. (Which is why the DNC is working so hard to cement its grip on political power by suppressing resistance and importing new voters.)


SIX: There's just as much reason to put Domestic in front of Terrorist as their is Hate in front of Crime.
-------------------------------------------

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
And reported by an occupied press



The hallmark of any dictator is that they're afraid of their own people

---

Quote:

---

Turley,

There is a free speech debate at Drake University over hateful and vulgar tweets from Associate English Professor Beth Younger, who called for Republicans “to suffer.” We have seen increasing vulgar attacks from academics, including such high-profile figures as Laurence Tribe in the last few years. Notably, Twitter did not suspend Younger’s account for calling for harm to all Republicans. I do not believe that she should be barred from social media or fired from Drake as a matter of free speech. Even with professors who have justified the murder of conservatives or killing police are protected in such hateful expressions.

The solution to such hate speech is more (and better) speech. I would rather we denounce such speech than censor it

---

Quote:

---

John Brennan: And so, I really do think that the law enforcement, Homeland Security, intelligence, and even defense officials are doing everything possible to root out what seems to be a very, very serious and insidious threat to our democracy and our republic.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/01/21/john_brennan_biden_
admin_has_laser-like_focus_on_insurgency_movements_of_bigots_racists_libertarians.html

---

Quote:

---

Would YOU Be Considered a Domestic Terrorist Under This New Bill?
by Robert Wheeler
After 9/11, the entire country collectively lost its mind in the throes of fear. During that time, all civil and Constitutional rights were shredded and replaced with the pages of The USA PATRIOT Act.
Almost 20 years later ... Americans are watching what remains of their civil liberties be replaced with a new bill.
The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021 ... authorizing ... three offices, one each within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to monitor (Signy: surveill groups for non-criminal, free-speech actions), investigate, and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism.

---

Quote:

---

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has some serious reservations.
In a recent interview on Fox News Primetime, Gabbard stated that the bill effectively criminalizes half of the country.
“It’s so dangerous as you guys have been talking about, this is an issue that all Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians should be extremely concerned about, especially because we don’t have to guess about where this goes or how this ends ... When you have people like former CIA Director John Brennan openly talking about how he’s spoken with or heard from appointees and nominees in the Biden administration who are already starting to look across our country for these types of movements similar to the insurgencies they’ve seen overseas, that in his words, he says make up this unholy alliance of religious extremists, racists, bigots, he lists a few others and at the end, even libertarians."

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention ... Biden* is supposedy coming after "religious extremists".

What does that mean?? If you're a fundamentalist and believe in a 6000-year-old earth does that make you an "extremist"?

Hey, I think religions are hogwash, but our Constitution guarantees "freedom of religion". You can't surveil and jail someone for "bad thought" or organizing with others who have similar "bad thoughts" ... something in the Constitution about freedom of association.

You can't surveil or jail anyone who speaks or posts ridiculous ideas. Something in the Constitution about freedom of speech.

It's only when these activities become CRIMINAL matters does the law step in. (You can't claim that freedom of religion gives you the right to sacrifice humans, for example.)

This whole "domestic terrorism" thing looks less and less Constitutional the more i hear about it.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

---

Quote:

---

It’s been a busy first week for the 46th President of the United States, there are the 20,000 troops occupying the capital city to organise, as well as the totally UNPRECEDENTED SHOW-TRIAL OF HIS IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR.

You know, usual democracy type stuff.

---

Quote:

---

1. Vaccination Passports
International Certificates of Vaccination or Prophylaxis. Consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of HHS, and the Secretary of Homeland Security (including through the Administrator of the TSA), in coordination with any relevant international organizations, shall assess the feasibility of linking COVID-19 vaccination to International Certificates of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) and producing electronic versions of ICVPs.

---

Quote:

---

2. Cabinet Appointments
... Under Secretary of State is Victoria Nuland, a neocon warmonger ... Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is also an inveterate US Imperialist, arguing for every US military intervention since the 1990s, and criticisng Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria ... Defence Secretary is the first African-American ever appointed to this role, but Former General Lloyd Austin ... who retired from the military in 2016 to join the board of Raytheon Technologies

---

Quote:

---

3. Iraq ...
... suddenly the situation was too unstable for the US to leave (Iraq), and Biden is being forced to “review” Trump’s planned withdrawal.
The Iraqi parliament has made it clear it wants the US to take its military off their soil, so any American forces on Iraqi land are technically there illegally in contravention of international law. But that never bothered them before.

4. ... Afghanistan ...

Turns out the US can’t withdraw from Afghanistan either. Last February Trump signed a deal with the Taliban that all US personnel would leave Afghanistan by May 2021. Joe Biden has already committed to “reviewing” this deal.

5. ... and Syria ...

Far from simply continuing the on-going wars, there are already signs Biden’s “diverse” team will look to escalate, or even start, other conflicts. Syria was another theatre of war from which Donald Trump wanted to extricate the United States, unilaterally ordering all US troops from the country in late 2019. We now know the Pentagon ignored those orders. They lied to the President, telling Trump they had followed his orders ... but not withdrawing a single man.

There will be no need for any such duplicity now Biden is in the Oval Office, he was a vocal critic of the decision to withdraw, claiming it gave ISIS a “new lease of life”. Indeed, within two days of his being sworn in a column of American military vehicles was seen entering Syria from Iraq.

---

Quote:

---

6. Domestic Terrorism

---