#fbi official trump

[ausetkmt]

A former FBI counterterrorism agent, Dave Gomez, told The Washington Post he thought that a fear of being seen as targeting President Donald Trump's base was muting the agency's response to violence by white nationalists."There's some reluctance among agents to bring forth an investigation that targets what the president perceives as his base," Gomez told the publication.The comments followed an attack on Saturday by a gunman at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that the FBI is treating as a domestic terrorism incident.Investigators have said the gunman left a racist manifesto on the messaging board 8chan ahead of the attack.

FBI agents are hesitant to investigate white nationalist extremists because they don't want to be seen as pursuing investigations against President Donald Trump's base, a former FBI counterterrorism agent told The Washington Post.

The former agent, Dave Gomez, said he believes that FBI Director Christopher Wray "is an honorable man, but I think in many ways the FBI is hamstrung in trying to investigate the white supremacist movement like the old FBI would."

"There's some reluctance among agents to bring forth an investigation that targets what the president perceives as his base," Gomez said. "It's a no-win situation for the FBI agent or supervisor."

He said that Trump's repeated criticism of the FBI and its investigation into Russian election interference and collusion were likely factors as well.

The FBI declined to comment to Business Insider on Gomez's claims. An FBI representative told The Post that the comments were not accurate and that the agency distributes resources according to its assessment of the threat posed by domestic terrorism.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the FBI says about 40% of the domestic terrorism cases it is investigating involve racism.

Gomez's comments followed Saturday's shooting in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that killed 20 people. Investigators have told media outlets that shortly before the shooting, the gunman posted a racist and anti-immigrant screed on the messaging board 8chan, known as a hub for white nationalists. Authorities have identified Patrick Crusius as the suspect in the shooting.

That shooting was followed hours later by another mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that investigators have not tied to racist ideology. Authorities have not publicly identified a motive in that shooting.

Saturday's shooting was the latest in a long series of deadly attacks by white nationalist extremists in the US and abroad. In March, a gunman killed 51 people in mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and livestreamed the attack on social media.

At a Senate hearing in July, Wray said an increasing number of domestic terrorism incidents were motivated by white supremacist and white nationalist ideologies.

Law-enforcement responses to violence by white nationalists have long been the focus of fierce bipartisan disputes. Republicans in 2009 reacted furiously to a Department of Homeland Security report that described right-wing extremist violence as a rising threat. They accused the agency of a bid to smear conservatives.

Trump's political opponents have accused him of deliberately stoking racist divisions in the US and actively courting the support of white nationalists during his 2016 presidential campaign.

In a March op-ed article for Time, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University linked a rise in white nationalism to "a coarsening of mainstream politics, where debates on national security and immigration have become rabbit holes for the exploitation of fear and bigotry."

The president last week claimed he is "the least racist person anywhere in the world" and on Sunday linked the El Paso attack to a "mental-illness problem." In the wake of the New Zealand attack, he said he didn't see white nationalism as a growing global threat.

Under US law, while it is a crime to provide support for foreign terror groups like ISIS, there is no equivalent for domestic terrorism organizations, The Post said.

The FBI is investigating the El Paso attack as a domestic terrorism incident and possible hate crime. In a statement on Sunday, it warned that Saturday's attack could inspire copycats.

[tomorrowusa]

Lawrence O’Donnell describes the vile hate messages Trump supporters are sending to judges and prosecutors involved in cases where Trump is a defendant.

Yes, these are disturbed people – not unlike Trump himself. Their threats of violence need to be taken seriously.

If you happen to see or overhear such threats against ANY public officials, report them to the FBI. If filming those people would be too conspicuous, use an audio recording app such as Apple's Voice Memos to capture evidence of violent threats.

The FBI site for reporting crimes has a number of categories. A threat against public officials would probably be covered by Other FBI Crimes.

Electronic Tip Form | FBI

And yes, they are still seeking information on the pro-Trump terrorists who attacked the US Capitol on 06 January 2021. Many have been apprehended and are serving hard time. But some are still at large.

We can't leave it to the next person to protect democracy and the rule of law.

[welcometoqueer]

I haven’t really seen any of the more recent U.S. election news hitting tumblr yet so here’s some updates (now edited with sources added):

There’s evidence of Trump cheating and interfering with the election.

Possible Russian interference.

Mail-in ballots are not being counted or “recognized” in multiple (notably swing) states.

30+ bomb threats were called in and shut down polling stations on Election Day.

20+ million votes are still unaccounted for, and that’s just to have the same voter turnout as 2020.

There was record voter turnout and new/first-time voter registration this year. We definitely should be well over the turnout in 2020.

U.S. citizens are using this site to demand, not only a recount, but a complete investigation into election fraud and interference for the reasons stated above:

Here is what I submitted as an example:

An investigation for election interference and fraud is required. We desperately need a recount or even a revote. The American people deserve the right to a free and fair election. There has been evidence unveiled of Trump cheating and committing election fraud which is illegal. There is some evidence of possible Russian interference. At least 30+ bomb threats were called in to polling places. Multiple, notably swing states, have ballots unaccounted for and voting machines not registering votes. Ballots and ballot boxes were tampered with and burned. Over 20 million votes that we know of are unaccounted for. With record turnout and new voter registration this year, there should be no possibility that there are less votes than even in the 2020 election.

Sources (working on finding more links but if anyone wants to add info, it’s appreciated):

FBI addressing Russian interference and bomb threats:

Emails released by Rachael Bellis (private account, can’t share original tweet) confirming Trump committing election fraud:

Pennsylvania's Centre County officials say they are working with their ballot scanner vendor to figure out why the county's mail-in ballot data is "not being recognized when uploaded to the elections software:”

Wisconsin recount:

[ID:

Multiple screenshots and images.

The first is a screenshot with a link and information for contacting the White House directly regarding election fraud. The instructions include choosing to leave a comment to President Joe Biden directly and to select election security as the reason.

The screenshot then instructs people to include any or all of the following information in a paragraph as a comment to the president:

32 fake bomb threats were called into Democratic leaning poll places, rendering polling places closed for at least an hour.

A lot of people reporting their ballots were not counted for various reasons.

This all occurred in swing states.

This is too coincidental that these things happen and swing in his favor after months of hinting at foul play.

Directly state that an investigation for tampering, interference, fraud is required, not just a recount.

The second image is from the FBI Twitter account that reads:

The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains. None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far. https://t.co/j3YfajVK1m — FBI (@FBI) November 5, 2024

The next four Gmail screenshots of an email sent to Rachael Bellis from Chris T. Spackman that read together as follows:

Dear BELLIS, RACHAEL E., The Dauphin County Board of Elections received a challenge to your absentee ballot you applied for in the November 5, 2024 General Election. The challenge argues that a provision of the Pennsylvania Election Code takes precedence over the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which requires states and counties to permit U.S. citizens who move overseas to vote by absentee ballot for federal offices based on their last U.S. residential address.

The full text of the challenge that was filed appears below this email.

You may respond to the challenge in any of the following ways:

1. Call the Bureau of Registration and Election at (717) 780-6360;

2. Email a statement to the Bureau at Election election@dauphincounty.gov. Any statement you submit regarding the period during which you lived in Dauphin County, any family or connections that you still have here, and why you are now residing abroad would be read into the record.

3. Appear in person at a Board of Elections hearing scheduled for Friday, November 8 at a time to be determined in the Commissioners Public Hearing Room, 4th floor of Dauphin County Administration Building, 2 S 20d St, Harrisburg, PA 17111. The meeting is also likely to be livestreamed on Facebook on the Dauphin County channel.

Sincerely,

Christopher T Spackman

TEXT OF CHALLENGE BEGINS

Dear Dauphin County Board of Elections,

I am submitting this challenge to an absentee ballot application pursuant to 25 Pa. Stat.

3146.8(f).

25 Pa. Stat. 3146.8(f) Any person challenging an application for an absentee ballot, an absentee ballot, an application for a mail-in ballot or a mail-in ballot for any of the reasons provided in this act shall deposit the sum of ten dollars ($10.00) in cash with the county board, which sum shall only be refunded if the challenge is sustained or if the challenge is withdrawn within five (5) days after the primary or election. If the challenge is dismissed by any lawful order then the deposit shall be forfeited. The county board shall deposit all deposit money in the general fund of the…

The rest of the forwarded email is cut off.

The last image is a screenshot of the official statement from the Centre County, Pennsylvania Board of Commissioners released on November 6, 2024 that states:

Centre County Working with Ballot Scanner Vendor to Export Election Results.

(Bellefonte, PA) -Centre County Elections Office is working continuously to provide mail-in ballot data in order to post unofficial results.

To this point, all ballots have been scanned, including all mail-in ballots.

Centre County's Election team and IT team have identified that the data are successfully being exported from the mail-in ballot scanners, but that the data is not being recognized when uploaded to the elections software.

Centre County's Administrator, John Franek, Jr. stated, "We have not stopped working, and we will continue to work until unofficial results are posted and reported to the Pennsylvania Department of State."

As a next step, Centre County has begun working with the equipment vendor to adjust configurations to make the two systems-the mail-in ballot scanner and the elections software where data are uploaded -compatible with one another.

We will provide updates as we make progress.

/end ID]

[biglisbonnews]

Top FBI official who investigated ties between Trump and Russia has been charged with illegally helping a Russian oligarch The former head of counterintelligence for the FBI's New York office, Charles McGonigal, was indicted yesterday on money laundering charges and violating U.S. sanctions against Russia. McGonigal is accused of illegally trying to remove Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska from the U.S. — Read the rest https://boingboing.net/2023/01/24/top-fbi-official-who-investigated-ties-between-trump-and-russia-has-been-charged-with-illegally-helping-a-russian-oligarch.html

[doubleddenden]

Listen, I know it's not really my lane here, but I need to say something because Tumblr isn't concerned with a deadly attack in New Orleans that killed between 10 to 15 people last night on Bourbon Street during NYE or so. About 30 were injured, too, and it looks as if it was an almost worse terrorist attack because of IED's they found in the truck responsible. One was found in the French Quarter and detonated by cops.

The far right is already jumping on the blame game to illegal immigrants, especially Trump, but the man from the truck was gunned down after attempting to open fire on police and revealed to be a 42 year old American Vet- however, he seems to have one of "those" names and had an Islamic State flag on his truck, along with a gun with a silencer. FBI thinks he didn't work alone because of the bombs found, and the Airbnb the guy rented was lit on fire.

I'm not talking about this to scare you, however because the majority of Tumblr doesn't give a shit about the south unless it is to point at us and laugh, and I have seen zero posts about it here, I would implore you to do a couple of things

1. If you're in New Orleans or Louisiana, or near borders like i am, please listen to the news. I'm getting mine from AP and CBS.

2. If you know anyone that may have been there, please check in on them. I'm relieved to know two friends of mine in NO are alive and well, but I'm concerned for a couple of others.

3. I think most probably can already guess, but I'd personally get ready for another wave of xenophobia and violence towards vulnerable people that could be affected, the same way it always happens when a non white person does something like this. Take precautions to keep yourself, friends, and family safe, please.

Sources:

I'll delete this once things finally start circulating here. I'm just trying to get the word out because I almost lost friends to this.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

China hacked Verizon, AT&T and Lumen using the FBI’s backdoor

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

State-affiliated Chinese hackers penetrated AT&T, Verizon, Lumen and others; they entered their networks and spent months intercepting US traffic – from individuals, firms, government officials, etc – and they did it all without having to exploit any code vulnerabilities. Instead, they used the back door that the FBI requires every carrier to furnish:

https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/u-s-wiretap-systems-targeted-in-china-linked-hack-327fc63b?st=C5ywbp&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

In 1994, Bill Clinton signed CALEA into law. The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act requires every US telecommunications network to be designed around facilitating access to law-enforcement wiretaps. Prior to CALEA, telecoms operators were often at pains to design their networks to resist infiltration and interception. Even if a telco didn't go that far, they were at the very least indifferent to the needs of law enforcement, and attuned instead to building efficient, robust networks.

Predictably, CALEA met stiff opposition from powerful telecoms companies as it worked its way through Congress, but the Clinton administration bought them off with hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to acquire wiretap-facilitation technologies. Immediately, a new industry sprang into being; companies that promised to help the carriers hack themselves, punching back doors into their networks. The pioneers of this dirty business were overwhelmingly founded by ex-Israeli signals intelligence personnel, though they often poached senior American military and intelligence officials to serve as the face of their operations and liase with their former colleagues in law enforcement and intelligence.

Telcos weren't the only opponents of CALEA, of course. Security experts – those who weren't hoping to cash in on government pork, anyways – warned that there was no way to make a back door that was only useful to the "good guys" but would keep the "bad guys" out.

These experts were – then as now – dismissed as neurotic worriers who simultaneously failed to understand the need to facilitate mass surveillance in order to keep the nation safe, and who lacked appropriate faith in American ingenuity. If we can put a man on the moon, surely we can build a security system that selectively fails when a cop needs it to, but stands up to every crook, bully, corporate snoop and foreign government. In other words: "We have faith in you! NERD HARDER!"

NERD HARDER! has been the answer ever since CALEA – and related Clinton-era initiatives, like the failed Clipper Chip program, which would have put a spy chip in every computer, and, eventually, every phone and gadget:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip

America may have invented NERD HARDER! but plenty of other countries have taken up the cause. The all-time champion is former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who, when informed that the laws of mathematics dictate that it is impossible to make an encryption scheme that only protects good secrets and not bad ones, replied, "The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia":

https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-laws-of-australia-will-trump-the-laws-of-mathematics-turnbull/

CALEA forced a redesign of the foundational, physical layer of the internet. Thankfully, encryption at the protocol layer – in the programs we use – partially counters this deliberately introduced brittleness in the security of all our communications. CALEA can be used to intercept your communications, but mostly what an attacker gets is "metadata" ("so-and-so sent a message of X bytes to such and such") because the data is scrambled and they can't unscramble it, because cryptography actually works, unlike back doors. Of course, that's why governments in the EU, the US, the UK and all over the world are still trying to ban working encryption, insisting that the back doors they'll install will only let the good guys in:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/05/theyre-still-trying-to-ban-cryptography/

Any back door can be exploited by your adversaries. The Chinese sponsored hacking group know as Salt Typhoon intercepted the communications of hundreds of millions of American residents, businesses, and institutions. From that position, they could do NSA-style metadata-analysis, malware injection, and interception of unencrypted traffic. And they didn't have to hack anything, because the US government insists that all networking gear ship pre-hacked so that cops can get into it.

This isn't even the first time that CALEA back doors have been exploited by a hostile foreign power as a matter of geopolitical skullduggery. In 2004-2005, Greece's telecommunications were under mass surveillance by US spy agencies who wiretapped Greek officials, all the way up to the Prime Minister, in order to mess with the Greek Olympic bid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_wiretapping_case_2004%E2%80%9305

This is a wild story in so many ways. For one thing, CALEA isn't law in Greece! You can totally sell working, secure networking gear in Greece, and in many other countries around the world where they have not passed a stupid CALEA-style law. However the US telecoms market is so fucking huge that all the manufacturers build CALEA back doors into their gear, no matter where it's destined for. So the US has effectively exported this deliberate insecurity to the whole planet – and used it to screw around with Olympic bids, the most penny-ante bullshit imaginable.

Now Chinese-sponsored hackers with cool names like "Salt Typhoon" are traipsing around inside US telecoms infrastructure, using the back doors the FBI insisted would be safe.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/07/foreseeable-outcomes/#calea

Image: Kris Duda, modified https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahorcado/5433669707/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[kiyomitakada]

i know its a classic. possibly cliche already. but i do wonder about Tumblr In The Death Note Universe probably more than i should

2 notes

💅 toxicbff Follow

if i see one more post attributing kira's powers to ~supernatural powers~ instead of the obvious fact that the cia is doing a coup I'm going to start giving You the heart attacks

💅 toxicbff

of course i saw the news how does that not prove my point further

the idea that all the police around the world could be mobilized by one single person is ridiculous (just look at this list of how many civilian militia there are globally)

heart attack victims don't seize the way "lind l tailor" did

i don't know how to tell you that You Can't Kill People Just By Knowing Their Name And Face because this is Real Life and not the newest grimdark marvel villain

people need to stop being scared of the ~bogeyman in the closet~ and wake up to the fact that usamerica is trying to take over the goddamned world

💅 toxicbff

im going to kill you all and nuke this website

#sayonara you weeaboo shits

2,925 notes

👾 lets-go-geeks Follow

DO TRUMP NEXT

🕵🏾‍♀️ penny-penelope Follow

LIKES TO CHARGE REBLOGS TO CAST

16,375 notes

❤️‍🔥 lovesickened Follow

i know its stupid but im so fucking scared for my brother i heard that seven people died this week at the prison he's in and iinjust dont kenow what to do ihate him for ehat he did to mom but i never wanted him to die

#vent tw #delete later

0 notes

🏎 fastandyurious Follow

if i get a single more comment about why i don't tag "genderbend" on my kiratective fics i'm going to blow up the entire building. we don't know EITHER of their genders. why don't YOU tag your mediocre yaoi genderbend instead

🔆 sparkling-world Follow

…OP, you realize the news reports all consistently use "he," right?

🏎 fastandyurious

of course i do???? just because you see something on the news doesn't mean you have to believe it?????? they don't have any information on kira yet but i'm supposed to believe the fbi knows their gender already??????? also kira is literally a fucking girl's name my classmate in elementary school was called kira

🔆 sparkling-world

Kira comes from the Japanese romanization for "killer," it isn't gendered whatsoever.

Also, evidence shows the majority of serial killers are male, so I'd argue that the statistics favor the fujoshis here.

🏎 fastandyurious

well evidence shows that female serial killers are just more fun to write about and I'd argue that you're ignoring my fucking POINT which is that we DON'T KNOW KIRA'S GENDER and if people don't want to read lesbian kiratective they can FUCK OFF MY BLOG

🥚 i-offer-eggman Follow

I offer you an Eggman in these trying times.

🔮 I-stands-for-le-gay Follow

@lashitpostcalligrapher yo can i get "the statistics favor the fujoshis" on my tombstone

#fandom: kira rpf #ship: kiral #never heard it called kiratective before… #also uh. prayer circle for op's classmate lmaoooo

2,107 notes

💃🏻 modelingmadness Follow

BOYCOTT EIGHTEEN MAGAZINE

THEY ALLOW KIRA-SUPPORTING MODELS AND ARE COMPLICIT IN THIS MASSACRE

SOURCES HERE AND HERE (TRIGGER WARNING: KIRA DISCUSSION)

PUSH BACK AGAINST HEART ATTACKS

🧚🏽‍♂️ harubaru Follow

golly gee ^_^ suddenly i feel like taking to the high seas in a way that the eighteen company cant get profit from. oh no ! who left this link here

🐦‍⬛ kuro--misa Follow

thanks for the link but jesus fucking christ man what happened to free speech. misa-misa's parents were killed by a burglar who kira punished. did you all expect her to just sit there, look pretty, and say nothing about it?

you people only like models when they're nice pictures for you to consume. you only like them two-dimensional and smiling and hot. the second a woman actually speaks her mind she's thrown to the wolves

💃🏻 modelingmadness

DID YOU NOT SEE MY BANNER YOU PIECE OF SHIT

#BLOCKED

140 notes

🐦‍⬛ kuro--misa Follow

lol. lmao even

#they blocked me but whatever #official eighteen site just said misamisa wont be in the next issue #(eighteen sucks but i kind of want to use it more out of spite now) #so much for apologism huh? #god. i feel sick. #hasn't she been through enough.

1 note

🥷🏻 kira-imagines Follow

Imagine you're going home after a long day. Suddenly there's a sound. "Huh? Whose there" you ask, dropping your keys on the floor. Then you feel it. A knife pressing in your neck.

"Don't move kitten" Kira purrs behind you. "You're all mine now…"

#kiraxreader #kiraxoc #kira #kira rpf #kira investigation #kira fucker #kira fudger #kira lover #kira haters dont touch #kira haters please touch #kira supporters please touch #l

5,733 notes

asahi-the-student-deactivated201

Hello, everyone! My little sister told me about this microblogging platform (I admit, I'm a Twitter refugee) and that many of you are discussing the Kira investigation on here. I'm really interested in hearing what your thoughts are!

💋 sunny-sayu Follow

let the record show he lasted like. a day

#i think it was the imagines that did him in #bro is so sensitive :p

15 notes

kiyomitakada

the world could be beautiful

[ @deathnotetober day 14: trigger ]

[reality-detective]

In a crazy turn of events, a former top FBI official, who played a key role in the Trump-Russia collusion probe, was just sentenced to four years in prison for colluding with Russia. But it gets crazier 🤔

[simply-ivanka]

Democrats, former President Obama, President Biden, his Administration officials, the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice, those elected officials that provided cover, those "intelligence experts" who lied about the Hunter Biden Laptop, mainstream media, social media, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others and all others involved directly or indirectly should be investigated by an independent prosecutor (with no political ties and strict legal authority that would severely punish them for unfair, unreasonable, false and political decision making), indicted and prosecuted. Punishment upon conviction should include banishment from elected and appointed government office, LOSS OF BRAODCASTING LICENSES lengthy prison terms with no parole, hefty financial penalties, public humiliation and apologies and no access to media at all.

(Siberia!)

Enough is enough with all this. Wiped the slate clean. Start over. Eliminate our society and country from this filth!

[robertreich]

How Trump is Following Hitler's Playbook

You’ve heard Trump’s promise:

TRUMP: I’m going to be a dictator for one day.

History shows there are no “one-day” dictatorships. When democracies fall, they typically fall completely.

In a previous video, I laid out the defining traits of fascism and how MAGA Republicans embody them. But how could Trump — or someone like him — actually turn America into a fascist state? Here’s how in five steps.

Step 1: Use threats of violence to gain power

Hitler and Mussolini relied on their vigilante militias to intimidate voters and local officials. We watched Trump try to do the same in 2020.

TRUMP: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.

Republican election officials testified to the threats they faced when they refused Trump’s demands to falsify the election results.

RAFFENSPERGER: My email, my cell phone was doxxed.

RUSTY BOWERS: They have had video panel trucks with videos of me proclaiming me to be a pedophile.

GABRIEL STERLING: A 20-something tech in Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out saying he should be hung for treason.

If the next election is close, threats to voters and election officials could be enough to sabotage it.

Step 2: Consolidate power

After taking office, a would-be fascist must turn every arm of government into a tool of the party. One of Hitler’s first steps was to take over the civil service, purging it of non-Nazis.

In October of 2020, Trump issued his own executive order that would have enabled him to fire tens of thousands of civil servants and replace them with MAGA loyalists. He never got to act on it, but he’s now promising to apply it to the entire civil service.

That’s become the centerpiece of something called Project 2025, a presidential agenda assembled by MAGA Republicans, that would, as the AP put it, “dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump’s vision.”

Step 3: Establish a police state

Hitler used the imaginary threat of “the poison of foreign races” to justify taking control of the military and police, placing both under his top general, and granting law-enforcement powers to his civilian militias.

Now Trump is using the same language to claim he needs similar powers to deal with immigrants.

Trump plans to deploy troops within the U.S. to conduct immigration raids and round up what he estimates to be 18 million people who would be placed in mass-detention camps while their fate is decided.

And even though crime is actually down across the nation, Trump is citing an imaginary crime wave to justify sending troops into blue cities and states against the will of governors and mayors.

Trump insiders say he plans to invoke the Insurrection Act to have the military crush civilian protests. We saw a glimpse of that in 2020, when Trump deployed the National Guard against peaceful protesters outside the White House.

And with promises to pardon January 6 criminals and stop prosecutions of right-wing domestic terrorists, Trump would empower groups like the Proud Boys to act as MAGA enforcers.

Step 4: Jail the opposition

In classic dictatorial fashion, Trump is now openly threatening to prosecute his opponents.

TRUMP: if I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business.

And he’s looking to remake the Justice Department into a tool for his personal vendettas.

TRUMP: As we completely overhaul the federal Department of Justice and FBI, we will also launch sweeping civil rights investigations into Marxist local district attorneys.

In the model of Hitler and Mussolini, Trump describes his opponents as subhuman.

TRUMP: …the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country…

Step 5: Undermine the free press

As Hitler well understood, a fascist needs to control the flow of information. Trump has been attacking the press for years.

And he’s threatening to punish news outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

He has helped to reduce trust in the media to such a historic low that his supporters now view him as their most trusted source of information.

Within a democracy, we may often have leaders we don’t like. But we have the power to change them — at the ballot box and through public pressure. Once fascism takes hold, those freedoms are gone and can’t easily be won back.

We must recognize the threat of fascism when it appears, and do everything in our power to stop it.

[beatrice-otter]

The President and the Police

It is curious to me that people who are (rightly) outraged at the police being sent against the college protestors and want to reflect that in their voting in the next election are focusing on the office that has zero power over the police, and not the offices that actually control the police. (This is especially aggravating because we've been talking about the police a lot over the last four years, and so if people actually wanted to change things you would think they would have figured out basic things like "who controls the police.")

The President does not and never has controlled the police. Anywhere in the US. Policing is a local matter. The vast majority of law enforcement is done by the city police (employed and governed by the city), county sheriffs and their deputies (employed by the county), and state police (employed and governed by the state). The laws and regulations and policies are made at the local level. So are hiring decisions! If you want to change things--and God knows the police are corrupt and violent and bigoted and awful, and DESPERATELY need to be changed--you can't do it through which presidential candidate you vote for (or don't vote for). You do it by voting for your local elected officials: town mayor and city councilmen (or whatever the exact positions are in your area), your county sheriff, and your state representatives. And then following up by doing things like attending city council meetings and raising the question of police reform--and talking to your neighbors and people in your community and building a coalition of people to work on alternatives to the police and convincing people to try some of them. If you live in a city that has a protest that the cops have been called to, please call your city government and complain. It won't magically change things but it'll be a little bit of pressure in the right direction.

The President does have some control over Federal law enforcement, but that's the FBI, DEA, ICE, and other more specialized groups (like the military police and Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers). And God knows that they could desperately use reform as well! ICE in particular should be abolished. So yeah, your vote for President will affect those organizations. (Trump, of course, loves ICE and wants to expand its powers and reach.)

But if you are rightly concerned by police response to the protests, and want to use your vote to do something about it, you need to be thinking locally.

And good news! Local elections have far fewer people voting in them, so it's actually much easier to affect things at a local level than it is to affect national affairs.

I know this, because I've seen it happen in my community. I am a supporter of an immigrant rights group in my community, and a while back our little local police department hired a guy who had been fired for racism by the biggest city in the region. This is extremely common; most trained and experienced police would much rather work in larger cities which pay better. So a lot of small towns and county sheriff's departments have trouble getting "qualified" people who want to work there, and regularly hire cops who are only willing to move to rural areas because they've been fired for cause and no larger police department will touch them.

But in this specific case, the local immigrant support group was watching, saw he'd been hired, and swung into action. They encouraged their members to call the city council, and go to city council meetings, and write letters to the editor, and after a couple of months of this the city council conceded and got rid of the guy. If you get a group of people together to make a concerted effort, you can make a difference in the policing in your local community.

But the President can't do jack about it. So don't blame him, blame the people who actually hire, train, and write the policies for the police. Who are all local people living in your area!

[mariacallous]

lol philadelphia inquirer bodying nyt

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/first-presidential-debate-joe-biden-donald-trump-withdraw-20240629.html

President Joe Biden’s debate performance was a disaster. His disjointed responses and dazed look sparked calls for him to drop out of the presidential race.

But lost in the hand wringing was Donald Trump’s usual bombastic litany of lies, hyperbole, bigotry, ignorance, and fear mongering. His performance demonstrated once again that he is a danger to democracy and unfit for office.

In fact, the debate about the debate is misplaced. The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.

Trump, 78, has been on the political stage for eight years marked by chaos, corruption, and incivility. Why go back to that?

To build himself up, Trump constantly tears the country down. There is no shining city on the hill. It’s just mourning in America.

Throughout the debate, Trump repeatedly said we are a “failing” country. He called the United States a “third world nation.” He said, “we’re living in hell” and “very close to World War III.”

“People are dying all over the place,” Trump said, later adding “we’re literally an uncivilized country now.”

Trump told more than 30 lies during the debate to go with the more than 30,000 mistruths told during his four years as president. He dodged the CNN moderators’ questions, took no responsibility for his actions, and blamed others, mainly Biden, for everything that is wrong in the world.

Trump’s response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection he fueled was farcical. He said a “relatively small number of people” went to the Capitol and many were “ushered in by the police.”

After scheming to overturn the 2020 election, Trump refused to say if he would accept the results of the 2024 election. Unless, of course, he wins.

The debate served as a reminder of what another four years of Trump would look like. More lies, grievance, narcissism, and hate. Supporters say they like Trump because he says whatever he thinks. But he mainly spews raw sewage.

Trump attacks the military. He denigrates the Justice Department and judges. He belittles the FBI and the CIA. He picks fights with allies and cozies up to dictators.

Trump is an unserious carnival barker running for the most serious job in the world. During his last term, Trump served himself and not the American people.

Trump spent chunks of time watching TV, tweeting, and hanging out at his country clubs. Over his four-year term, Trump played roughly 261 rounds of golf.

As president, Trump didn’t read the daily intelligence briefs. He continued to use his personal cell phone, allowing Chinese spies to listen to his calls. During one Oval Office meeting, Trump shared highly classified intelligence with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador.

Trump’s term did plenty of damage and had few accomplishments. The much-hyped wall didn’t get built. Infrastructure week was a recurring joke. Giant tax cuts made the rich richer, while fueling massive deficits for others to pay for years. His support for coal, oil drilling and withdrawal from the Paris Agreement worsened the growing impact of climate change.

Trump stacked the judiciary with extreme judges consisting mainly of white males, including a number who the American Bar Association rated as not qualified. A record number of cabinet officials were fired or left the office. The West Wing was in constant chaos and infighting.

Many Trump appointees exited under a cloud of corruption, grifting and ethical scandals. Trump’s children made millions off the White House. His dilettante son-in-law got $2 billion from the Saudi government for his fledgling investment firm even though he never managed money before.

Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic resulted in tens of thousands of needless deaths. He boasts about stacking the Supreme Court with extreme right-wingers who are stripping away individual rights, upending legal precedents, and making the country less safe. If elected, Trump may add to the court’s conservative majority.

Of course, there were the unprecedented two impeachments. Now, Trump is a convicted felon who is staring at three more criminal indictments. He is running for president to stay out of prison.

If anything, Trump doesn’t deserve to be on the presidential debate stage. Why even give him a platform?

Trump allegedly stole classified information and tried to overturn an election. His plans for a second term are worse than the last one. We cannot be serious about letting such a crooked clown back in the White House.

Yes, Biden had a horrible night. He’s 81 and not as sharp as he used to be. But Biden on his worst day remains lightyears better than Trump on his best.

Biden must show that he is up to the job. This much is clear: He has a substantive record of real accomplishments, fighting the pandemic, combating climate change, investing in infrastructure, and supporting working families and the most vulnerable.

Biden has surrounded himself with experienced people who take public service seriously. He has passed major bipartisan legislation despite a dysfunctional Republican House majority.

Biden believes in the best of America. He has rebuilt relationships with allies around the world and stood up to foes like Russia and China.

There was only one person at the debate who does not deserve to be running for president. The sooner Trump exits the stage, the better off the country will be.

[contemplatingoutlander]

Patel is a very dangerous conspiracy theorist. Putting him in charge of the FBI will destroy the independence of that institution. Patel will likely turn FBI agents into 'enforcers' for the Trump agenda that will be used to investigate and intimidate his critics.

“We will go out and find the conspirators — not just in government, but in the media — yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. “We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice, and Steve, this is why they hate us. This is why we’re tyrannical. This is why we’re dictators.... Because we’re actually going to use the Constitution to prosecute them for crimes they said we have always been guilty of but never have.” Kash Patel (Dec. 2023) on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast

Indoctrinating Children Into MAGA Beliefs

I don't know if Patel is just corrupt or he actually believes the conspiracy theories about the 2020 election having been rigged, or that "federal bureaucrats in the 'deep state' tried to overthrow the former president."

Regardless, Patel actually wrote a series of children's books whose purpose was to indoctrinate children into the belief that the Democrats had created terrible "plots" to prevent Trump from becoming and remaining president

Here are the book series titles: The Plot Against the King (April 1, 2022),The Plot Against the King 2000 Mules (Aug. 29, 2022), The Plot Against the King 3: The Return of the King (Sept. 9, 2024).

Furthermore, the article above claims the book series features Patel "as a 'wizard' defending “King Donald.'”

Below is the cover from the third book. You can see Patel as the "wizard" on the left:

I'm sorry, but anyone who stoops to indoctrinating children regarding MAGA conspiracies should NOT be in charge of the FBI.

For a humorous take on the second book in the series, by a left- leaning TikToker SnoozeAlarmMom, see this POST.

[Below the cut are some excerpts from the article. It's one of the more thorough articles out there about Kash Patel, so I highly recommend reading it.]

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday he would pick Kashyap "Kash" Patel, a 44-year-old loyalist with little significant experience in federal law enforcement, to serve as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [...] A former senior law enforcement official who interacted with Patel in the past said he was not qualified for the position.

"It’s ridiculous. He’s arguably the least qualified person ever nominated for a senior position in federal law enforcement," said the former official, who asked not to be named citing fears of retaliation from Trump. "I don’t know anything significant that he achieved at the DOJ. He was not well regarded as a prosecutor." [...] Patel has promoted the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump as well as the baseless conspiracy theory that federal bureaucrats in the “deep state” tried to overthrow the former president.

Patel has called for replacing “anti-democratic” civil servants in law enforcement and intelligence with “patriots” who he says will work for the American people. In his memoir, "Government Gangsters," he described the current political moment as “a battle between the people and a corrupt ruling class." [...] Patel has also echoed Trump’s rhetoric labeling journalists as traitors and calling for “cleaning out” of allegedly disloyal federal civil servants. In an interview last year with longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, Patel vowed to go after “conspirators” who he claimed had abused their positions in government.  “The one thing we learned in the Trump administration the first go-around is that we have to put in all-American patriots top to bottom,” Patel told Bannon. 

“And the one thing that we will do that they never will do is that we will follow the facts and the law and go to courts of law," he said. "And correct these justices and lawyers who have been prosecuting these cases based on politics."  “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media — yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections," Patel said. "Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’re going to figure that out — but yeah, we’re putting you all on notice."

A “wizard” defending “King Donald”

Patel joined Trump on the 2024 campaign trail and has promoted his memoir, a film adaptation of the memoir and a line of children’s books featuring him as a “wizard” defending “King Donald.” [...]  A former senior federal law enforcement official who served under Trump during his first term said that the Patel and Gaetz nominations were signs of Trump's disdain for the DOJ and FBI and both agencies' efforts to not be used to settle political scores.

"He's just going to run roughshod over them," predicted the former official, who asked not to be named due to fear of retaliation by Trump. "He’s thumbing his nose at the DOJ and FBI with these nominations. He’s going to effect his will regardless of our norms."

[collapsedsquid]

The way J6 failed is also instructive, and helps us understand the reason far-rightist streetfighters declined in relevance as of January 7. Yes, many people brought guns to the Capitol. Yes, many hoped their victory would result in the invocation of the Insurrection Act or some other signal to begin massive retribution against traitors and subversives. But nobody shot at the cops, and exactly one person was willing to stare into a cop’s loaded handgun and step forward. The kitted-up tactical team that emerged from a stairwell in the wake of Ashli Babbit’s death encountered a crowd shocked and demoralized, not energized, by the presence of death and the blood of martyrs. The J6 insurrectionists largely returned to their hotel rooms - some full of firearms - and then their homes, to be later arrested by the FBI. There was no need to shoot or shell holdouts at the legislature, no attempts by sympathetic actors to seize control of other government or media institutions, no militia revolts in the countryside, no effort to sustain or capture the momentum. The J6 prosecutions knocked these organizations back to actions of primarily local relevance as the far-right almost immediately began making gains on more favorable institutional terrains, efforts to mobilize on a national scale, and in DC especially, elicited paranoid theories of false flags and FBI machinations. Neither did hardcore subsets of these groups successfully build violent underground organizations - there were no cagoulards carrying on the leagues’ struggles against the victorious left wing government. Street-fighters became liabilities to classic fascist movements because they became too powerful, and arguably, too fascist. The fascist squads became their own bases of power within the classic fascist movements, capable of threatening party officials and even the leadership cult. There is no Trumpian equivalent to the Pact of Pacification or Stennes Revolt because streetfighters wielded no similar political power within the Trump coalition and advanced no coherent agenda with which to discipline Trump. Nor did the public square - largely demobilized after January 6 - offer much of an opportunity for streetfighters to demonstrate their relevance to the Trump coalition outside of localized demonstrations and confrontations. While the Proud Boys (more so than the Oath Keepers) may have sought to build a kind of neofascist élan, with their vague gestures towards uniform, hazing rituals, and the relative centrality of physical force confrontation to their identity, these efforts largely failed. Contrast with the streetfighters of the interwar era: the old fascist squads, especially the most militant ones, were useful organizational cages for younger members whose belief in force, revolution, and disillusionment with the system left them uninterested in conventional politics and who in many cases saw more to admire, or at least imitate, in revolutionary Communist structures than bourgeois right-wing parties. While the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers certainly attracted a cast of characters ill-suited for conventional politics, they were (and are) more likely to be relatively older men with families, truck payments, and decent jobs; the kind of people you would expect to react to a defeat in the streets and government repression by spending more time harassing people at school board meetings, rather than uncompromising radicals willing to give their lives for a doomed cause (and let alone radicals willing to find a new cause if the old one proves too inclined to compromise).

[patriottruth]

A 12/17/2024 Update on Why donald j. trump is NOT the 47th President-elect of the United States. The Final Checkmate Has Arrived!

It's 12/17/2024. donald j. trump failed to have his Sec3/14A insurrectionist disqualification removed prior to the certificates of ascertainment and certificates of vote being created and sent to the U.S. Archives, the U.S. Senate, and other government officials.

That was fooling around. Now it's time for every state elector, governor, and secretary of state to find out that enforcing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was never a legal option and they are all guilty of federal election crimes that the DOJ and FBI now have no choice but to investigate, charge, indict, prosecute, try, convict, and sentence every state official who unlawfully assisted donald trump's efforts to unlawfully hold office in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

12/17/2024: It's the official beginning of the end for donald trump. The federal Electoral Count Act requires state governors and secretaries of state to submit a list of the electors (certificate of ascertainment) to the U.S. Archives prior to the meeting of the electors by 12/16/2024.

The certificates of ascertainment list the electors of the state & the votes they intend to cast for the president and vice president candidate of their party. The certificates of ascertainment are due by 12/16/2024 & are regulated by Sec3/14A. These establish premeditated Sec3/14A unlawful intent.

After the Electoral College meets on 12/17/2024, state electors, governors, & secretaries of state submit certificates of vote to the U.S. Archives, the U.S. Senate, & other officials. This is the 2nd round of electoral certificates that are regulated by Sec3/14A. These are proof of unlawful acts.

The U.S. Archives will have both the unlawful certificates of ascertainment, establishing intent to commit Sec3/14A violations by all trump electors, governors, and secretairies of state, AND the unlawful certificates of vote, proving the Sec3/14A violations follow through, by 12/25/2024.

This is why it's best to wait until 12/25/2024; when all of the electors, governors, and secretaries of state are caught red-handed engaging in multiple federal election crimes by attempting to give aid, comfort, & assistance to known Sec3/14A disqualified insurrectionist candidate donald j. trump.

The U.S. Archives, the U.S. Senate, and all other officials who receive any certificates of ascertainment and certificates of vote attempting to give aid, comfort, & assistance to Sec3/14A disqualified insurrectionist candidate donald j. trump must immediately reject those certificates per Sec3/14A.

Per their precedents of prosecuting all of donald trump's fake electors conspirators, including donald trump, the DOJ & FBI have no choice but to give the same prosecutorial treatment to all state electors, governors, and secretaries of state who are violating Sec3/14A on donald trump's behalf.

If donald trump and his unlawful electors, governors, and secretaries of state attempt to take his Sec3/14A insurrectionist disqualification to SCOTUS, they'll have to refer them all to their previous Anderson ruling, opinions, and dissents, which settled the matter on 3/4/2024.

If donald trump & his unlawful electors, governors, & secretaries of state attempt to throw the vote to Congress to have the House vote for him & the Senate vote for vance, the attempt will fail; because Kamala Harris already has 226 Electoral College votes, & trump has zero.

Per the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the vote can only be thrown back to Congress if neither Kamala Harris, nor donald trump, has a majority of the Electoral College votes. Harris will have either 226, 315, or 538 Electoral College votes, & trump will have 0; a clear Harris majority.

If trump attempts to force a 270 Electoral College vote requirement, per Sec3/14A, the Democrat governors of AZ, KS, KY, ME, MI, NC, PA, & WI can assign a slate of Democrat electors & create new certificates of ascertainment & certificates of vote to get Harris to 315 votes, or Harris could have 538

And per Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, if trump managed to throw the vote to the House & Senate, any representative or senator attempting to vote for disqualified insurrectionist trump would be instantly disqualified from voting for trump, or remaining elected, so trump would still have 0 votes.

Per the SCOTUS' Anderson ruling, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, unless trump can get 87 Democrats in the U.S. Congress to clear his disqualification, donald j. trump lost the 2024 U.S. presidential election to Kamala Harris on March 4, 2024.

And trump's desperate move of attempting to delay things past 1/20/2025; & have himself appointed as Speaker of the House, so he can become the 47th President via the emergency line of presidential succession, is a moot point; because Kamala Harris has a clear Electoral College majority of 226 to 0.

And because j.d. vance has provided aid, comfort, & assistance to a known disqualified insurrectionist, and spread all the same 2020 election lies as donald trump, he's disqualified from being vice-president, so there's no line of succession for Sec3/14A disqualified insurrectionist donald j. trump.

No other presidential candidate in U.S. history has ever received 0 Electoral College votes. That makes donald trump not only the worst, least popular, and most incompetent president in U.S. history, but also the most pathetic presidential candidate loser in U.S. history. No mandate for trump! SAD!

Per Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution & the SCOTUS' Anderson ruling, opinions, & dissents, Kamala Harris will be the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to receive all 538 electoral votes! donald trump is the biggest loser in American and U.S. elections history! SAD!

What happens if Democrats wait to unveil donald trump's insurrectionist disqualification, and the invalidation of all of his unlawful and invalid certificates of ascertainment and certificates of vote, until the Senate vote certification in January?

3 U.S. Code § 15 - Counting electoral votes in Congress (2)Action on certificate.— (A) In general.— Upon the reading of each certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any.

(ii) Grounds for objections.—The only grounds for objections shall be as follows: (I) The electors of the State were not lawfully certified under a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors according to section 5(a)(1).

No elector of any state can be lawfully certified under a certificate of ascertainment when they clearly state they'll be giving aid, comfort, and assistance to a known disqualified insurrectionist presidential candidate, donald j. trump, by attempting to elect him in clear violation of Sec3/14A.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

[eugenedebs1920]

What bizzaro alternate American timeline are we on? When did the United States start ignoring the Constitution? When did the good, honest, ethical citizens of this nation relinquish control over it? I must have missed that meeting because I don’t recall that sh*t

The timeline I grew up on, (although I had yet to be born) a sitting president was forced to resign over a cover up of illegal wire tapping among other things not nearly as corrupt. The timeline I grew up in a guy lost an election because he spelled potato wrong. The timeline in a guy almost got impeached because he had relations with a lady and said he didn’t. The timeline I grew up in America was the good guys. What happened!?

When did we urge the Supreme Court to allow corporations and the wealthy to purchase our elections?! When did we allow senators from Kentucky to block Supreme Court picks with no reasoning behind it?! When did we tell John Roberts racism had ended and we could remove voting protections from the Constitution!? When did we decide that a person can make fake electors to circumvent democracy, knowing lie about a stolen election to later stage a coup, then violate the Constitution again by allowing him to run for ANY federal office again? When, in any timeline can you steal classified documents, refuse to return them, then when the FBI raids where they are, there are more than 50 empty folders that once held top secret information, and you’re not locked the f*ck up!? When did we become an oligarchy?

I just don’t recall when this was acceptable. I simply can’t recall how this happened.