#trump was shot a WEEK AGO

[thepurplebones]

[faketokufan]

CAN WE SLOW DOWN FOR ONE FUCKEN SECOND PLEASE?!

[plugnuts]

what a fucking year this week has been

[darlingillustrations]

DO NOT USE STICKER MULE

I stopped using Sticker Mule years ago when I learned they donated to the Trump presidential campaign. Now they have taken their support of Trump propaganda one step further. This email was sent out to the Sticker Mule mailing list this morning (links removed for tumblr):

Donald Trump was shot. I don’t care what your political views are but the hate for Trump and his supporters has gone too far. People are terrified to admit they support Trump. I’ve been scared myself. Americans shouldn’t live in fear. I support Trump. Many at Sticker Mule do. Many at Sticker Mule also support Biden. The political hate needs to stop. Hopefully this email helps. Btw, this week, get 1 shirt for $4 (normally $19). I suggest buying one that shows you support Trump. The more people realize that millions of kind-hearted, compassionate people support Trump, the sooner the hate will end. Awesome people, all over the world, love Trump. Don’t limit your friendships and diminish your happiness by indulging in political hate. Vocalize your support. Stop the hate. Anthony Constantino Cofounder, Sticker Mule P.S. Discuss this message on X.

[covid-safer-hotties]

With the toll of new COVID-19 infections regularly topping 1 million a day and weekly deaths creeping toward the 1,000 mark, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a campaign aimed not at protecting the public from this ongoing pandemic, now in its fifth year, but at washing its hands of responsibility.

CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen held a press conference August 23 to review the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and encourage the public to get their winter COVID-19, RSV and flu vaccines once they are made available. While bluntly acknowledging that “COVID is with us,” she tried unconvincingly to assure reporters and viewers that “we have the tools to protect ourselves.” She then added, as a way of shifting the blame, “We just need to use them!”

Dr. Cohen was silent on who was responsible for the failure of most Americans to get booster shots or otherwise protect themselves from a disease, which can be fatal for many and cause lifelong debilitation for many more.

She could have named the Democratic administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which ended the COVID-19 emergency more than a year ago and treats the pandemic as a thing of the past. She could have named Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the promoter of quack remedies like ivermectin and bleach, who recently welcomed into his campaign the anti-vaxxer and enemy of science and public health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

And if she had been equipped with a mirror—and a conscience—she could have pointed to herself and other top CDC officials, who have collaborated in the anti-scientific rampage to shut down both mitigation efforts and even elementary data collection on cases of illness, hospitalization and death.

Most importantly (and therefore least likely) she could have acknowledged that within the framework of the capitalist system, the profits of giant banks and corporations are far more important than the lives of human beings. That is the meaning of the incessant claims that schools, factories, public transportation and facilities must be kept open, to save “the economy,” despite the inevitable spread of the infection as a result.

Dr. Cohen, like her predecessors and colleagues at the top of the public health establishment, puts political pressures above science and medicine. The nearly hour-long briefing was simply political theater, where a panel of experts attempted to place the public health agency in the best light despite acknowledging the monumental number of daily infections that have seen hospitalizations and fatalities climb.

Meanwhile, schools across multiple states have announced closures—affecting thousands—just as the new academic year has begun, in response to mass infections among faculty and students.

So far this year, more than 26,000 Americans have died from acute COVID-19 complications, and more than 800 per week are being killed by a preventable infection, a figure 20 percent higher than last year this time. At the current rate, it is expected that between 50,000 to 60,000 Americans will die from COVID-19 in 2024, a rate two to three times higher than fatalities from flu. However, these do not take into consideration excess deaths, and given the complete dismantling of the reporting systems, these figures are known undercounts.

Such figures could only appear low in comparison to the colossal death toll of the first three years of the pandemic, when 352,000 died in 2020, 464,000 in 2021 and 260,000 in 2022. In 2023, 76,000 COVID-19 deaths were recorded. All these numbers are underestimates, as excess mortality figures are considerably higher. The cumulative death toll from COVID-19 is likely well over 1.4 million in the United States and approaching 30 million worldwide.

Neither did the panel address any concerns over the fact that millions continue to suffer from Long COVID, which has taken a significant toll on the health of Americans and the world over. It bears mentioning that a recent study noted that 410 million people across the world have had Long COVID with a $1 trillion impact on global GDP. Yet, no treatment for this condition exists. Without health insurance and means, issues of brain fog, chronic fatigue and sleep disturbances become part of one’s physiognomy.

Much about Dr. Cohen’s characterization of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is deeply flawed and should have been taken up by the press, who remained silent on the matter. First and foremost, her claim, in response to a direct question that COVID-19 “is endemic,” is completely misleading.

An infection is endemic when it is contained, not spreading uncontrolled and not causing significant impact on the society. COVID-19 is none of these. It remains a pandemic, with new waves of infections where millions are being infected daily by a virus whose mutation far outstrips the efforts of public health agencies and pharmaceutical companies to provide vaccines, medicines and mitigation practices. It continues to cause large-scale social disruption, economic loss and general hardship.

The opposition of both capitalist parties to any significant effort to fight the pandemic was on display last week. The Democratic National Convention, like its Republican counterpart in July, was a massive superspreader event, with thousands of delegates and media personnel congregating in an enclosed arena, where there was continuous cheering, shouting and singing. There are already anecdotal reports of widespread sickness in state delegations returning from Chicago.

As for the Republicans, Trump staged his appearance with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday afternoon, beaming as Kennedy announced he was folding up his independent presidential campaign and endorsing the ex-president and would-be dictator. Kennedy said he was working with Trump on staffing agencies like the CDC, NIH, FDA and USDA from the standpoint of ending the “chronic disease crisis.” By this he means, of course, ending efforts to fight diseases and letting children, the elderly, and the entire American population suffer the consequences.

Fundamentally, all large epidemics and pandemics are serious social issues that require broad-scale infection control in place to disrupt and prevent disease. And with respect to COVID-19 and all future pandemics, these require an international collaborative perspective.

In 2024 so far, 179 million people were infected in the United States, a total that is eventually expected to surpass 2023, when more than 248 million Americans, or three-quarters of the population, caught COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 wastewater levels throughout the pandemic suggest that there have been more than 1.1 billion infections in the United States, between three and four for every person in the country.

This begs the question how are those most vulnerable, such as the elderly, immunocompromised, and those with chronic disabling medical conditions, which represent a significant portion of the population, to protect themselves from perpetual mass infection?

For the CDC director to present public health efforts as a matter of individual, personal choice is a gross falsification of reality. The policy of mass infection has been forced on the population.

As for having the tools to protect themselves, what is being offered are simply vaccines and more vaccines as a means to prevent COVID-19. As the WSWS recently noted, “Despite the limitations, the uptake of the vaccines is vital for the health of the population. The shots have a strong, proven safety record and do prevent severe disease and potentially reduce the risk of Long COVID, as studies have indicated. However, they do not prevent infections and the immunity they offer is short-lived given the constant mutation of the virus.”

The vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna carry a cost of $120 to $130 per shot. In some regions, these can be as high as $160 or even $200. However, the rescinding in March of $4.3 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services in COVID-19 supplemental funding means access to free vaccines for the 26 million uninsured and tens of millions more underinsured, essentially all from working class families, will only mean that the vaccination campaign will simply languish as it did last year when only 7 million Americans accepted the boosters within six weeks of their delivery to pharmacies.

As for other tools in their toolbox, Cohen refers to anti-viral treatments like Paxlovid, which are regularly being denied to patients by their physicians or when they actually are given a prescription, face the daunting price tag of $1,300 to $2,400 per course because their insurance denies them coverage. Meanwhile, repurposed medications like Metformin, a drug that treats diabetes, which has shown anti-viral properties and shown in randomized trials to reduce COVID-19 viral loads and decrease risk of Long COVID, remain unmentioned. In particular, this raises the question of why there are so few tools in the toolbox, and why some are being removed, such as the ability to wear N95 masks in public.

The arrest of an 18-year-old New York man in Nassau County on Tuesday who was wearing a black ski mask utilizing the recently passed mask-ban legislation will only embolden police departments and threaten the public who face possible detentions and arrest simply on charges of police suspicion.

At the Democratic National Convention, guidance was issued forbidding mask wearing by attendees unless “it was necessary due to a disability” and this at the discretion of security.

[simply-ivanka]

Are the Democrats trying to assassinate President Trump, or are they just rooting for it?

Shortly after Donald Trump was inaugurated after the 2016 election, a so-called comedienne posted a picture of herself holding Trump’s severed, bloodied head. That apparently passes for comedy among Democrats.

In a presentation of Julius Caesar in the venerable Shakespeare in the Park production in New York City a few months later, a likeness of Trump was cast in the role of Caesar. I don’t need to remind you what happens to Caesar in the end.

The violent rhetoric from Democrats just keeps on coming, through Trump’s first term, into this year’s re-election campaign, and right up to weeks before the election. And now, it’s predictably escalating from violent rhetoric and into violent acts.

A month ago, a would-be assassin missed Trump’s cranium by a quarter-inch with a bullet from an AR-15, only because Trump luckily turned at the last possible second. It came out that the Trump campaign had requested beefed-up security prior to the incident, and the White House had denied his request.

The Secret Service at the time was headed by a DEI hire, and the agents at the event were test-failing amateurs. They allowed the shooter within 130 yards of Trump on an unsecured rooftop. Even after they saw him there, with a gun, they failed to take him out and failed to alert Trump or his staff until he’d fired eight shots, killing one man, seriously wounding another, and grazing Trump’s ear.  

In an apparent admission of near-lethal negligence by the Service, five agents were later suspended.

Their replacements seem not much better. In yesterday’s attempt, a Democrat donor got within easy range of Trump on a golf course with a rifle equipped with a high-powered scope. The shooter was wearing a Go-Pro, apparently to post his assassination on YouTube where Democrats everywhere could cheer it. He was thwarted only because he was foolish enough to poke his rifle out of the bushes, where an agent happened to see it.

The shooter had been on the golf course for at least 12 hours. One must wonder, how did he know Trump’s golfing schedule at least 12 hours in advance?

Even now, after two assassination attempts that missed due only to incredible luck or Providence, President Trump is not afforded the level of protection that President Biden or even Vice President Harris receives.

Most recently, President Doofus again falsely accused Trump of saying that neo-Nazis are “fine people” even though that accusation has been thoroughly debunked even by leftist fact-checkers.

Kamala Harris repeated the lie in her debate with Trump – and was not corrected by the moderators even though the moderators purported to correct at least seven Trump statements (some of which were not factual claims, but mere opinions).

You might think the mainstream media would condemn these assassination attempts in the strongest words possible. But if you do think that, then you haven’t been paying attention to the mainstream media for the last ten years.

The mainstream media is implying – no, they’re outright stating – that Trump has all this coming because he’s a Republican who says nasty things. The Washington Post has already dismissed the assassination attempt and has framed it instead as Trump unfairly capitalizing on the incident politically.

The media take their cue from Biden and Harris. They routinely equate Trump with Adolf Hitler, the mass murderer of millions.

The Democrats let their rank and file connect the dots: Everyone has been taught, correctly, that killing Hitler would have been a heroic act that would have saved millions. So, the Democrats don’t exactly say “kill Trump” but they do suggest you’d be a hero if you did.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

wrt your post about US elections influencing the whole world and the "European privilege" we exhibit: yes and? The dogshit american empire rules us. Before them it was the soviets. Before that it was the nazis and before them it the austrians and hungarians and turks. What is your fucking point? we KNOW your ratfucker private-sector-imported political class is salivating to make us work 7 days a week for 14 hours, and cook us in our cities by burning 30 trillion times more petrol. We have to see your fucking politicians' faces on every social media site and be swamped with gofundmes for black folks shot dead by your SS policemen. Are you trying to say politics is a distraction from labour disputes? WHAT? It's the same. Politics IS labour dispute. None of us are free until we all are, we KNOW. FUCK. Like no bitch, we KNOW the IMF is fucking us in the ass because a bunch of US economists normalized the Ayn Rand ideas of market capitalism 50 years ago. Yeah we would machinegun them for christmas if we could but we CAN'T. We can't even vote for the slightly less gaza genociding party but you can. SO SHUT UP! Don't you fucking understand we're governed by your economic power with no recourse or representation? That everything comes from you because you're at the top? Even fucking LEFTISM is INFESTED by tankie shitheads from america whose only idea of communism is that it must be good because they've reversed american exceptionalism in their heads and think anything opposing the US must be better? I can't even go online without some redfash LA shithead telling me about the virtues of Ho Chi Minh and Ceaușescu. GOD. If Trump pulls NATO out of europe Putin will be at my doorstep TOMORROW. Shut the FUCK up about europeans complaining that you english ratfucker colonists are governing us. Vote blue no matter who, strike, kill your bosses, guillotine your politicians and maybe our children - which we wont have - can live in peace one day. And for the love of gun-toting truck-driving hillbilly american Jesus shut the FUCK up and let europeans complain. CHRIST.

I love when I get five paragraphs long asks that can be completely invalidated with the following words:

I live in the global south.

[jaythelay]

Dump's outta ammo.

1. He tried to start a rumor of Biden coming back. He then, very exceptionally poorly, tried to insert this talking point in the middle of a completely different rally. This, made him look like he has dementia. But make no mistake, the issue was nobody believed him literally instantly, and everyone forgot he even said it the week/day prior because he never built it up. He then immedietely dropped the "Biden's coming back" bit afterwards. Making him look far more dementia riddled than previous.

2. He's trying to claim nobody know's Kamala Harris' last name. Only reason to try this angle is because you're outta ammo and wanted to somehow make her name less recognizable in the moment. But soon after, much like with point 1, he went in too early before it could spread and become common, and thus, had to drop that angle entirely aswell, causing more dementia awareness of himself.

It's like he wanted an instant "her emails" or "his laptop" angle without any time or work at fucking all.

The goal is make shit up til something sticks but it's so old and tired and he's incapable of patience. If it doesn't immedietely work, he jumps to another made up point. Much like with point 1 and 2, point 0 was "Kamala ain't black" which he then, also, abandoned when it didn't immedietly stick.

His cohorts are trying to make it stick but if you call them weird they get reeeeeal defensive and forget what the conversation was, so, the points aren't sticking at all.

3. Him almost getting shot by one of his own party absolutely scared the shit out of him. It's partly why he's sending Vance out. Let him get shot next time, not Dump. Regardless of accuracy on that bit, the fact remains, Republican voters Scared Donald Trump from going to rallies, and Vance is a bodyshield for his weak ass.

4. On top of all this is the stunning double fact: One, is that we all collectively moved on from the republican shooting dump situation, because republican violence is so normalized, and second, his rallies are shrinking Because Even The People Find Them Too Dangerous.

Turns out guns are a problem for republicans. But unlike kids in school, they have the choice not to go to a dangerous republican gathering.

All this to culminate in my theory: R's will drop Dump 2 months in and just accept the losses by replacing him with god knows who probably RFK tbh. They know his goose is completely cooked if he loses, and presently? He's losing. Publically and Loudly.

He's scared as fuck right now and R's eat each other for any social weakness they can create. Dump looks weaker than inch thin frozen piss like my god Cruz has more of a spine now and it may be entirely due to age.

You also have his core fanbae (white supremecists) starting to turn on him. There's leak after leak of stuff he's saying none of it new but desperately old and tried and thus nothing sticks for his fanbase. Every poll has him losing hard, worst of all? To a Bi-Racial Woman. His voters hate her but hate a weak man more. (see how they view trans issues)

He himself will never ever drop out. But his party Absolutely Will Kick Him Out Guaranteed. And we'll see a very bizarre flop in the narrative about Dump from R talking heads. Suddenly when he's gone, they can be honest about him. (Like dems with Biden, literally already, as I called it probably a year ago now)

All this to say, Ya'll if he doesn't have a stroke or some shit, it's either his voter base or cohorts that'll ensure one for him. I kinda feel like most of the political violence that'll come out when Dump loses, will turn inward near immedietely, likely, towards himself.

I mean, they didn't make gallows with a dems name on em, and they did kill some cops, just saying they appear to go after their own when they're in crowds. That and a single gunshot sent them all running, and a single black man completely diverted their attention from their actual goals simply by being black. Literal Toddlers are more successful in any of their goals.

NONE of this is to placate. Vote Kamala, vote Third Party. Just don't not vote. Don't let this opportunity slip away, Dems actually trying is a first in a lifetime, keep that momentum going, and stop allowing bullshit based on party affiliation. God damn RFK the starved brain word dude is considered dem, we deserve better than Biden or RFK, and Kamala/Walz is a hell of a start.

Vote. But ensure you crush R's voting spirit.

We don't need nazis voting for nazis. Ya don't have to sell Kamala/Walz to R's, you need to make R's and Dump appear as weak as they've always been, that's what is working best, because their image is actually everything, we saw it with Rittenhouse and Rogan. Immedietely flip flop because their image was made weak.

That's all a theory, a politic theory. Thank. go now.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the classified documents case against Donald Trump, a shock ruling that clears away one of the major legal challenges facing the former president.

In a 93-page ruling, District Judge Aileen Cannon said the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution. She did not rule on whether Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents was proper or not.

“In the end, it seems the Executive’s growing comfort in appointing ‘regulatory’ special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” Cannon wrote.

The ruling by Cannon, a judge Trump appointed in 2020, comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention. Even though a trial before the presidential election was considered highly unlikely, many legal experts had viewed the classified documents case as the strongest one of the four cases that were pending against the former president.

The White House referred requests for comment to the Justice Department. Smith’s office has not responded to a call for comment.

Smith had charged Trump last year with taking classified documents from the White House and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials. He pleaded not guilty.

In a separate criminal case brought by Smith against Trump in Washington, DC, the special counsel was pursuing federal charges stemming from Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Trump also faces a state-level election subversion case in Georgia and he was convicted of state crimes in New York earlier this year for his role in a hush money payment scheme before the 2016 election.

Trump’s efforts to dismiss the case under the appointments clause was seen as a long shot, as several special counsels – even during his own presidential administration – were run the same way.

But the fringe argument gained steam when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas threw his support behind the theory, writing in a footnote in the high court’s presidential immunity decision that there are “serious questions whether the Attorney General has violated that structure by creating an office of the Special Counsel that has not been established by law. Those questions must be answered before this prosecution can proceed.”

Still, Cannon held a hearing on the issue several weeks ago, pushing attorneys to explain exactly how Smith’s investigation into Trump was being funded. The judge’s questions were so pointed that special counsel attorney James Pearce argued that, even if Cannon were to throw out the case due to an appointments clause issue, the Justice Department was “prepared” to fund Smith’s cases through trial if necessary.

Cannon said in her order that the special counsel’s position “effectively usurps” Congress’ “important legislative authority” by giving it to the head of a department – DOJ, in this case – to appoint such an official.

“If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States Attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so,” she wrote.

COULD CASE BE REVIVED?

Cannon said in her ruling Monday that the Justice Department “could reallocate funds to finance the continued operation of Special Counsel Smith’s office,” but said it’s not yet clear whether a newly-brought case would pass legal muster.

“For more than 18 months, Special Counsel Smith’s investigation and prosecution has been financed by substantial funds drawn from the Treasury without statutory authorization, and to try to rewrite history at this point seems near impossible,” Cannon wrote. “The Court has difficulty seeing how a remedy short of dismissal would cure this substantial separation-of-powers violation, but the answers are not entirely self-evident, and the caselaw is not well developed.”

She noted in her ruling that Smith’s team “suggested” at a court hearing on the matter that they could restructure the office’s funding to satisfy her concerns.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dan Pfeiffer at The Message Box:

The generally accepted — and oft-repeated — narrative about Trump is that he is a cult-leader who can bend the Republican base to his will. On issues like free trade and foreign policy, he broke with long-standing Republican orthodoxy and faced no repercussions. He attacked Republican stalwarts like the Bush family and John McCain. Not only was there no blowback, Trump also made these folks' personas non-grata in the Republican Party. Whether it’s indictments, his sexual assaults, or his dalliances and dinner dates with Nazis, Trump could force the Republican Party to go along. The GOP is Trump’s party and what he says goes. Trump is a man accountable to no one. This has benefited him politically and brought in folks who hate politics and distrust institutions. But that image became fuzzy last week when Donald Trump bent to the will of anti-abortion extremists in a stunning flip-flop on abortion that tells us everything we need to know about Donald Trump. He poses an existential threat to reproductive freedom for tens of millions of Americans.

The Flip-Flop to End All Flip-Flops

I have written about Trump’s abortion flip-flop a couple of times in the last week, so if you are a regular reader of Message Box, please feel free to skip ahead. If not… In an interview with Dasha Burns of NBC News, Trump implied that he would vote for the amendment on the Florida ballot guaranteeing access to abortion and effectively overturning the state’s six-week ban. Trump is now a Florida resident and many are unsure how he plans to vote on the amendment. Trump’s stated position on abortion is that it's up to the states. For crass political reasons he has been critical of Florida’s extreme ban. A day ago, Trump flip-flopped, telling Fox News that he would vote NO on the amendment. So what happened in the subsequent twenty-four hours?

Well, the evangelical community and anti-abortion activists went ballistic. They blew up the phone lines to Mar-a-Lago or wherever Trump  was laying his head last week. They argued that Trump’s new stance would depress turnout from his base. Ever since Dobbs, Trump cannot get it right. He watched his slate of hand-picked candidates get mowed down in 2022 and he sees the polls showing large majorities oppose the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the sorts of state and national abortion bans of which Republicans have long dreamed. Trump thought his “leave it to the states” policy would help. It didn’t. Floating the idea of voting for the abortion amendment was another desperate effort to get on the right side of the issue that has cost Republicans nearly every election. This time, Trump crossed a line. The anti-abortion faction of the party told him to reverse course and he did so immediately. One of the core tenets of Trump’s political philosophy is to never, under any circumstances admit to wrongdoing. Heck, Trump doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on defending and dining with Nazis. So the fact that Trump changed course so quickly and with so little resistance on abortion is quite notable.

[...] These folks will be calling the shots in a Trump Administration. They will influence policy and staffing decisions and that should scare the shit out of anyone who cares about reproductive freedom. Dobbs was the beginning — not the end — of the Far Right’s efforts.

Donald Trump being made to cry “uncle” and say that he is voting no on Florida Amendment 4 after being heavily criticized by anti-abortion commentators when he stated that he would initially consider voting in favor of Amendment 4 is proof that the anti-abortion extremists still call the shots in the GOP.

[sonicboomseason3]

this is really fucked up, but one of the reasons why actors tend to not speak out on big political topics is because on some contracts, production companies will include clauses such as not being able to publicly contradict their political beliefs. this is enforced through either monetary penalties and non disparagement agreements, but they both serve the same purpose of having a legal precedent to publicly punish actors who do it

i was originally just gonna respond to this with an "ok" and nothing else but then i caught a good handful of people in my notes dickriding an actor who doesn't even know that they exist (and really only him because i haven't seen anyone doing the same for marsden or pally) so ykw how about i just take this opportunity to bring up a couple of other sketch things that keanu has done that show that he isn't nearly as cool as everyone wants to believe:

the party with netanyahu isn't actually the only time he's rubbed elbows with a prominent israeli - he actually trained with IOF special ops vet aaron cohen in order to play john wick (and on the off chance that anyone wants to dismiss cohen as some guy who was just in the IOF decades ago and left that shit behind, just take a look at his history here). cohen on his own is just an absolute piece of work and a cursory glance at his social media should tell you everything in case the past couple of sentences didn't

and since people want to play the fucking "keanu attended that party a decade ago!!1!" card with me (interestingly enough nobody's doing the same for marsden even though the thing with him was way back in like 2004) i'll go for something relatively recent: he's friends with killer cop toni mcbride. in 2020 mcbride shot and killed daniel hernandez and subsequently got sued by his family for it (guess whose movies they've requested that people boycott?). around the 0:10 mark of this video of the two of them meeting up, they make jokes about "shootin' newton," which is a chant lapd newton division cops came up with to reference the high amount of police shootings that happen there. also in case none of this is enough for you mcbride's a proud trump supporter so yeah she's just a full-on white supremacist and keanu not only decided to hang out with her for a day but also evidently knew enough about the lapd to know about "shootin' newton"

but back to anon's original point, am i supposed to care that he could potentially get fined for saying shit? this past week, hundreds of college students and faculty, most if not all of whom are significantly worse off than an a-list celebrity like keanu, have been brutalized and arrested for protesting the genocide on campuses. and somehow an actor with a net worth of $380 million can't say or do anything lest he run the risk of being fined or fired or whatever

[misfitwashere]

Political Violence

Reflections from the 1920s and 1930s

Timothy Snyder

Jul 14, 2024

What to make of the assassination attempt?

I am sharing a few thoughts about where we are, based on assassinations during the interwar period, the 1920s and 1930s.  It is distant enough that perhaps we can attend to the examples without too much emotion, and yet close enough to be useful.

We learn that violence that starts on one corner of the far right often ricochets.  We find that the important threshold is the enabling of the violence.  And we realize is what we do afterwards that counts the most.

None of this makes the outcome of a horrid act completely predictable.  But it does help us to see how some things that will predictably be said might be unhelpful and untrue. 

Some of Donald Trump’s supporters, including one right-radical senator and one right-radical congressman, were quick to blame the Democrats.  (This is also, of course, Moscow’s line).

Their reasoning might seem intuitive, and clearly did seem intuitive to many people. If a radical-right politician such as Donald Trump is the victim of an assassination attempt, should we not presume that the perpetrator is on the radical left?

No, we should not.

That sort of presumption, based on us-and-them thinking, is dangerous.  It begins a chain of thinking that can lead to more violence.  We are the victims, and they are the aggressors.  We have been hurt, so it must have been them.  No one thinking this way ever asks about the violence on one’s own side. 

And this way of thinking is also very often erroneous.  The history of the far right tells a different story, one in which violence often refracts within and around a political movement that endorses it.

This afternoon I passed by the Austrian parliament, where the chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, was assassinated ninety years ago.  Dollfuss had introduced political violence into the political system, and was very much ruling from the far right.  And he died by political violence nonetheless, by the hand of people who found him not radical enough.

In March 1933, Dollfuss dissolved the Austrian parliament, bringing electoral democracy to an end.  He transformed his political party (and a few other groups, and a right-wing paramilitary) into a new Fatherland Front.  The Fatherland Front government crushed the Left with armed force.  Dollfuss began to build a regime on the model of Italian fascism, defined in Christian nationalist terms.  That was not enough for the most extreme elements of the Austrian right. In July 1934 a group of Nazis dressed as policemen made their way into the parliament, shot Dollfuss, and let him bleed to death.

Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany a few weeks earlier than Dollfuss in Austria.  He too crushed the Left, grouping socialists and communists as “Marxists” and placing them in concentration camps.  He represented the extreme right in German politics.  On the streets, Hitler’s cause was pushed forward by the violent SA (Sturmabteilung), led by Ernst Röhm. Hitler’s rise to the office of chancellor was enabled by conservatives and militarists.  They believed, wrongly, that Hitler’s violent rhetoric would serve their interests.  In the “Night of the Long Knives,” Hitler had Röhm and many of his men assassinated, along with others who had helped bring him to power.

A drastic case of right-wing murderousness in the interwar period was among the various elements of the Romanian far right.  The twists and turns here would take too long to describe. In brief: the fascists who themselves glorified violence were attacked by others on the far right.

To be sure, not all would-be assassins of the period were on the right.  A German carpenter tried to kill Hitler.  A marble worker threw a bomb at Mussolini’s car. 

And the general point about how violence, once authorized, can turn in an unexpected direction, also applies to the far left of the 1920s and 1930s.  A number of Josef Stalin’s fellow Bolsheviks, who endorsed and applied political violence to come to power between 1917 and 1922, were then killed in the name of that revolution in the 1930s. 

That, if anything, just confirms the general point.  We might be tempted to think that violence against one side must come from the other side.  But the bloody genie, once unleashed, often stays close to home.  Those who have made violence normal are especially vulnerable, because they will always have colleagues or followers who think they have not gone far enough.

Of course, not all right-wing assassins killed their fellow right-wingers.  Eligiusz Niewiadomski murdered the centrist Polish president in December 1922.  Niewiadomski seems to have been an unstable personality, whose dreadful beliefs were brought towards action by the media around him. 

As far as we can tell right now, the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump was a registered Republican gun enthusiast.  As more details emerge, the image will clarify.  Assassins are individuals, and their motivations can sometimes be surprising or turn out to be obscure and debatable.

At this point, it is just worth noting that it would not be surprising if the man who tried to assassinate Trump was, like Trump, a right-wing radical.  That would be typical of the United States, where most terrorist acts come from the far right.  It would also be historically normal.  Trump, like extreme-right-wing politicians in the past, has legitimated violence. 

Nothing in recent American political life resembles Trump’s call for “Second-Amendment people” to kill Hillary Clinton, his mockery of Paul Pelosi after an attempted murder, his belittling of Gretchen Whitmer after a kidnapping attempt, the stochastic violence he directs against critics to intimidate them and against his fellow Republicans to keep them in line, the brutal language of his rallies since 2016, his vocal admiration for leaders known to be mass killers, and his violent attempt to overthrow constitutional rule in January 2021.

What matters more than the action, though, is the reaction.  We should all condemn political violence.  We should all proclaim that this next election will be settled by the number of votes, rather than by threats, coups, beatings, or murders.  The media should not spread messages of hatred and baseless conspiratorial thinking.

And we should all be aware of the temptations of martyrdom.

Whatever actually happens in an act of political violence, there will be someone, somewhere, who claims that victimhood means innocence, and that innocence justifies more violence by hands that remain ever blameless.  This sort of logic is already all over the internet.  That move was made in all the fascist cases.  When the German Nazis took over Austria in 1938, they raised a monument to their martyrs.  The Romanian fascists killed to avenge theirs. 

Trump is of similar mind: he refers to the convicted criminals who stormed the White House as “martyrs” and makes them part of his rallies.  He constantly refers to himself as a victim.

One can only hope that he does not escalate such rhetoric, or direct blame where it does not belong.  Doing so won’t help him win an election, but it will make further violence more likely.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from E&E News/Politico:

The Supreme Court is facing calls to undermine EPA’s efforts to curb planet-warming emissions from the power sector for a second time.

But at least some legal observers questioned whether the Biden administration’s power plant rule will meet the same fate on the high court’s “shadow” docket as the Obama-era Clean Power Plan did nearly a decade ago.

“For the Supreme Court to grant a stay would be shocking, and truly ominous,” Michael Gerrard, faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, said of President Joe Biden’s rule.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and Republican state attorneys general filed parallel requests Tuesday to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket to stop EPA’s rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal and new gas-fired power plants. [The states asking the court to take the case are: West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.]

America’s Power and the National Mining Association are expected to file their own joint application to the court this week.

The applicants are asking the justices to put the Biden rule on ice while they and other opponents make their case to a lower court that EPA exceeded its authority. That would include the time it would take for the Supreme Court to consider any appeals.

If they get their way, EPA critics could repeat the massive victory they won in 2016, when the Supreme Court stayed the Obama Clean Power Plan — a move that prevented the regulation from ever going into effect. The court later invalidated the rule in 2022 in West Virginia v. EPA.

“This rule poses a significant threat to affordable and reliable electricity for millions of Americans, especially as power demand skyrockets across the nation,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said of the Biden rule in a statement Tuesday.

“A Supreme Court stay is necessary to prevent immediate harm to the nation’s electric grid and the American economy,” Matheson continued. “The path outlined by the EPA is unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable.”

A court order freezing the Biden rule could mean delays in establishing federal standards to address pollution from the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. And if former President Donald Trump wins a second term, his administration would likely ensure that the rule is never implemented.

[darkmaga-retard]

The FBI received social media comments made by the Trump shooter from an organization called GAB. The head of the FBI then testified that the Trump shooter was posting right-wing, antisemitic, and anti-immigrant content.

The CEO of GAB, Andrew Torba, then released some of that content to the public to show that the head of the FBI openly and deliberately lied to Congress. The Trump shooter was 100% pro-illegal immigration, pro-Covid lockdown, pro-Biden, and anti-Trump.

The head of the FBI lied to Congress and the American people, and the mainstream media, whose job is supposed to protect us from such lies, covered for him.

We are going to learn just how much power the mass media really has in November, as for all practical purposes, this election was over the moment Trump pumped his fist in the air after being shot ⏤ until the media flipped the script.

A little over two weeks ago, the mainstream media knew that Kamala Harris was the least popular VP in American history and was openly asking how much of a drag she was on the Biden ticket.

And that was after Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

Once Joe Biden dropped out of the election, ActBlue, the organization running donations for the DNC, dumped more than $200 million into the Harris campaign in less than 24 hours, all of it supposedly from small donations, converting Kamala Harris into one of the supposedly most popular figures in modern American politics.

ActBlue, incidentally, is under investigation for taking illegal foreign donations and committing identity theft to launder that illegal foreign money through millions of fake, small donations. Republicans tried to make ActBlue require CVV numbers to be used for online credit/debit card donations (as is required to buy anything else online), but Democrats, of course, shot that down.

[saturniandevil]

August 22 Important Dates

AKA my notes on The Astrology Podcast's August forecast, hosted by Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock.

July recap: The violent, explosive Mars-Uranus conjunction showed up in many prominent news stories last month. Here's a graphic showing its exactness over time by Madeline at honeycomb.co:

Though the conjunction went exact on the 15th, the orb is pretty wide, with the most dramatic events occurring from about July 10th-21st. This was on the fixed star Algol (the head of the demon), which is associated with the death of innocents on a broad level, and Austin provides some historical examples. The most prominent manifestation in July was the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, who was shot in the ear. Mars-Uranus was on his natal Midheaven (23♉), and closely square his natal Mars in the first house (26♌) which in turn conjoins his Ascendant (29♌). The Ascendant/first house connection makes this especially physically dangerous for him as the Ascendant is associated with one's body and physical health. As the highest point in a chart, the Midheaven is associated with public image and prominence, so in going up on a podium Trump really leaned into the transit in an inadvisable way. Chris mentions that there are some remediating factors from benefics that could explain why he survived the encounter an even got a dramatic rallying photo out of it. When the conjunction went exact on his Midheaven, though, the classified documents case against him was suddenly dismissed--a case started when Mars was on this point two years ago. Austin suggests that, due to a natal Sun-Uranus-Rahu conjunction, Trump is probably one of those people for whom Uranus, not quite universally benefic or malefic, works in his favor. The Mars-Uranus conjunction also hits the 10th house/MH of JD Vance, whose Ascendant is 27 Leo, very similar to Trump. Will he regret this choice and go back on his pick of running mate during the upcoming Mercury retrograde?

On July 17th, Biden announced he had COVID; this Mars-Uranus conjunction took place in his 6th house. (Last time Mars was in Taurus was the first time he got COVID.) It also squared his Sun (27♏) pretty closely--any president is playing the role of the Sun--and his Venus (28♏), which rules his 11th house of friends & allies. Indeed many within his own party began to call for him to step down from seeking another term around this time. He finally did so on the 21st, a conclusion to Saturn stationing retrograde on his Imum Coeli during the debate. The most recent time this happened was in 1968 when Lyndon B Johnson stepped down to let RFK run just days after a solar eclipse in Aries--the same sign as the total solar eclipse that darkened much of the US in April. Biden also stepped down during the Full Moon conjunct Pluto, which opposed his own natal Leo Pluto--last month our hosts had discussed how that generation may need to finally let go of power. Mercury (26♌) was also square Uranus (26♉) at the time, and indeed this was a shocking communication for many, including the Republican party which had just spent the last week strategizing how to beat him. Mars had also just entered Gemini, Biden's natal 7th house of partnerships and Harris's natal 1st, while Jupiter (12♊) sextiled Venus (12♌)--the most positive transit of the month. Thus we have the end of a political career for one candidate and the start of a new chapter for another--and hope for the Democrats now that they have someone other than an obviously senile candidate. Mars being copresent with Jupiter in Harris's first house heralds well for competition, and indeed she's more popular now than she ever was. Also notable is that Harris and Trump were both born on a Full Moon (as was RKF Jr!). On a mundane level, the Mars-Uranus conjunction squared the US Sibly chart Moon (27♒)...and Uranus will be there during the election cycle and beyond. Austin cautions that Uranus-Algol significations are not over just because Mars has now left the sign. The upcoming eclipse in September will likely bring more dramatic changes.

Another notable story is the Crowdstrike outage, the largest computer outage in history, affecting air traffic control, hospitals, and other heavy infrastructure. This occurred right as Mercury joined Mars & Uranus, and additionally entered the shadow period (degree to which he will regress) to his upcoming retrograde. The company is based in the path of the eclipse in April, which aligns with the path of Hurricane Beryl that ravaged much of the country in early July. Austin says as the sign of exaltation of the Sun, Aries eclipses are especially tough on leaders and indeed we have seen quite a few attempted and successful assassinations this eclipse season (said to be in effect for about 6 months). Other Mars-Uranus in Taurus stories include the Houthi drone attack near the US embassy in Israel and ensuing Isareli missile attack back on a Yemeni port, the ICJ ruling Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, a political leader assassinated in Ukraine, and student protests against the government in Bangladesh. Saturn-Neptune has brought some AI deepfake controversies, and on July 29th Biden proposed Supreme Court reforms including term limits and a code of ethics, which Chris connects to Jupiter (judges) & Saturn (constraints) coming within 5 degrees of an exact square. Austin connects Justice Department events to events in Leo, the 9th house (legal system) of the US Sibley chart, such as Mercury's upcoming retrograde. Jupiter squares Saturn in December and we may see some dramatic events with the Supreme Court then (in 2000 it decided the outcome of the election). Mars moves into Leo the day of the election and then stations early in December, further indicating confusing events around the US election late this year. It's also a recurrence of Venus opposing Jupiter on election day in 2000...but let's get to the forecast.

Forecast

August is full of dramatic T-squares and a bunch of crazy alignments. Here's a graphic by Madeline at honeycomb.co:

Chris breaks it into 4 parts: first, Mercury retrograde in Virgo and into Leo. The second week is dominated by Mars conjoining Jupiter in Gemini and squaring Saturn (which leads into the DNC...👀). The third week sees the Jupiter-Saturn square go exact, with Venus swooping in to activate Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars. Both benefics and both malefics are all struggling for dominance. Finally, at the end of the month Mercury stations direct sextile Jupiter, bringing some events to completion, while Venus leaves Virgo for her home sign of Libra. Mutable signs are especially affected this month, especially middle degrees.

August 4th - New Moon in Leo, Venus enters Virgo In the Sun's sign, this is an especially supportive New Moon with a sextile from Jupiter (15♊). Things are clearing up in the fixed signs! However, the impending Mercury retrograde in Virgo casts a shadow of impending confusion.

The New Moon also occurs with Venus in late Leo, which Chris points out is Donald Trump's ascendant and to expect further developments like reconsidering his choice of running mate.

August 5th - Mercury stations retrograde Mercury is already very slow at the beginning of the month, and stations at 4 degrees of Virgo, and will eventually bring this energy back into Leo/fixed signs as well. Common Mercury rx themes are revisiting ideas from the past, people coming back into your life, and rethinking decisions. Also delays, detours, setbacks, technical issues, travel disruptions, and for individuals moments of introspection. It's a good time to reevaluate the words we use to describe things. The station starts within squaring distance of Mars, suggesting it may start with conflict before things clear up during the cazimi on the 18th.

August 7th - Mercury (rx) conjunct Venus She gives him a helping hand early in his retrograde--a moment of sweetness or repair. Venus doesn't necessarily prefer to spend her afternoon this way, especially in her sign of fall, but it's helpful for Mercury (who's calling the shots). However, Mars and Jupiter are now already within 3 degrees of conjunction--the range at which we began to see dramatic events for the Mars-Uranus conjunction in July.

August 14th - Mars conjunct Jupiter, Mercury regresses into Leo Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus are all looking at another in one way or another in a T-square for much of the month. Mars and Jupiter can give us triumphant victory and enthusiasm--exceptional quarterback Tom Brady has this conjunction natally. Mars and Jupiter also represent war and peace respectively, which bodes ill for current conflicts. Explosions and guns are also signified here: the largest non-nuclear explosion, in a Beirut warehouse, occurred under a Mars-Jupiter square. Mars-Jupiter means aggressive expansion, but with Saturn poised to square each of them in turn later this month, we'll soon run into barriers. Beware excessive confidence; it can backfire. In economic significations, Obama signed in his 2009 stimulus package under this configuration, as did Congress in 2020 (this also influenced by other major configurations, including Saturn).

August 15th/16th - Mars square retrograde Saturn Mars-Saturn is traditionally one of the most difficult alignments due to their malefic natures. Keywords include frustration, blocks and restrictions, such as the lockdowns of March & April of 2020. Mars-Saturn is hitting the brakes and the gas at the same time (and occurs right after Jupiter-Mars had the pedal to the medal). We also see fighting authority or restriction, rebellion and repression, stress-testing structures and burnout after being pushed past our limits. Mars-Saturn will definitely help you discover your limits, with Mars pushing as Saturn brings the wall. We want Jupiter's offers and rewards, but we must move carefully through disputed terrain. Mars-Saturn is a helpful configuration for aggressive discipline and relentlessness. If you're pushing physical limits during this time, do so incrementally. Additionally, with Saturn in Pisces we've seen a lot of water disasters like the Key Bridge collapse and the submarine disaster. However, with Mars in an air sign we may see an overlap in difficulties across multiple modes of transformation, especially with Mercury retrograde. It's safe to say we'll see shipping issues during this time, and a patron in the chat suggests hurricanes. In politics and extreme manifestations, Mars-Saturn squares can indicate political assassinations like that of Shinzo Abe in 2022.

August 18th - Retrograde Mercury cazimi Occurring at 26 degrees of Leo, this is the halfway point of the retrograde and occurs shortly after Mercury squares Uranus. Things start to clear up and turn around in the retrograde story. However, now Venus starts activating all this Mars-Saturn-Jupiter stuff. She's applying to a square with Mars which is interrupted by contacts to other planets, but we'll be feeling the buildup to it in the background.

August 19th - Full Moon in Aquarius, Venus opposite Saturn (Rx), both square Jupiter Based on past events, Jupiter square Saturn may bring economic contraction despite optimistic unemployment/inflation reports in the US (A/N: imo whatever good reports Chris is seeing are definitely a total load). Regardless, some of the seeds planted in 2020 during the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction in Aquarius will come to fruition this month. Jupiter-Saturn keywords include the new vs. the old and optimism vs. pessimism, especially when configured by a square and working at cross-purposes. Jupiter raises possibilities while Saturn brings the grim reality--will one side win out in a compromise, or will we found ourselves at an impasse? Chris predicts this will affect the Democratic National Convention. Other keywords include the law and courts, being held back from progress, cutting back after aggressive expansion, and indecision if growth and boundaries can't be reconciled.

This Full Moon will bring dramatic endings and beginnings, as did the one in July with Biden stepping down. The DNC starts on this day, and Chris predicts some event in the preceding days will cast a shadow over it (as was the case with Trump's assassination attempt and the RNC). Venus opposes Saturn and squares Jupiter right on this lunation, just after a Mercury cazimi square Uranus, and the Full Moon itself squares Uranus. The Venus-Mars square will go exact right as the DNC ends--expected the unexpected at Harris's likely acceptance speech. Austin describes this as a switcheroo, where it feels like Venus-Mars and then pivots to Venus-Saturn before going to Venus-Mars again.

August 22nd - Sun in Virgo, Venus square Mars Venus-Mars squares brings passion, both for romance and fighting. Sex scandals often come to light under this alignment. Mars will pass 21Gemini22, the degree he's at in the Sibley chart, right before the square to Venus, so US politics will be affected strikingly. Mars-Venus can bring us a battle of the sexes and gender-based warfare, and if it's a Trump-Harris race we'll likely see these themes take prominence. The Venus-Saturn opposition also occurs right on Harris's own natal Venus (which rules her Sun) and Saturn (12th house ruler) is transiting her 10th house now, so we're definitely going to see big developments with her (Mars transiting her first house indicates conflict or competition).

There are a lot of parallels to 1968 right now: the nodes are repeating, with eclipses in the same signs, and the Venus cycle is repeating. Already mentioned is Johnson stepping down after an eclipse. We've also had high-profile assassinations and attempts again, student antiwar protests, and a repeat of DNC being in Chicago--in 1968 the convention was marred by police brutalizing antiwar protestors. We've also got another Kennedy running for president and may see a third-party candidate having significant effect on the election (our hosts go into detail on other examples). Austin reminds us that these events will affect the whole world. As other astrologers are also pointing out, none of the indicators point towards a simple, clear election for the United States.

August 28th - Mercury stations direct The chaos is beginning to die down at this point. Mercury stations sextile Jupiter (17♊) with reception, relieving some of the tension. Enjoy a brief respite after the August storm before those of the fall.

August 29th - Venus enters Libra She's been separating from the T-square and is now in a new sign. She's now moving towards a trine with Jupiter (and away from Saturn in Virgo!), bringing some support to us.

On September 1st, Uranus will station at 27 Taurus, intensifying his significations, and Pluto regresses into Capricorn for the final time (in ~200 years). Pluto enters Aquarius for good in November, ending a 15-year transit through Capricorn (since 2008-9). Mars also shifts into Cancer early September, setting up an extended stay in that sign and Leo.

[thatonebirdwrites]

Unintentional War that I didn't realize was happening

So I moved into this place about two years ago I think? Anyway, it's a poorer neighborhood with a lot of immigrants, poorer white folks, Black folks, and Hispanic folks -- basically very multicultural area. Not long after I moved in, I found my old pride flags and put one up in a window as a curtain. (I needed something for that window.) A few months after I moved in on a very snowy day, the next door neighbor to the South of me came over to offer to snowblow my driveway for twenty dollars. Now to set the stage, this guy's house looks like a literal dump. His front steps are caved in, his front door can't be opened, parts of siding is falling off, and who knows what the interior looks like. Also, I am disabled, and I only leave the house for medical appointments these days. So I get a good view of happenings in the neighborhood from my windows. So anyway, after he knocked, I came to the door in my wheelchair with a rainbow mask on and there's a pride flag in my window. He took one look at me, then at the pride flag and took several steps backward. Cursed and stalked off. I was very confused until I remembered what I was using for curtains. He never offered help again. But then signs appeared on his lawn. I didn't really notice what type of sign since I don't look his way much. Until I saw kids in his law tearing up a sign and dumping it in his trash. (How kind of them not to litter!) They timed it for when he was not home (smart kids!) So I kept a closer eye and discovered that the sign was a pro-Trump sign because he angrily put another out a week later. (Only for the kids to be at it again. Using his trash as the place to put the torn up sign.) This continued for a long time. Kids always timing it for when he's not home. It's not the same kids either. It's just whoever is passing by and sees it. Since I'm poor and can't afford real curtains (and blinds), I added another flag as curtains (demisexual). Seriously, pride flags make great curtains and are way cheaper than them where I am. Again I didn't think anything of it since for me it was just me being practical. Within a week of my new curtain-flag, he must have noticed because there was a forest of Pro-Trump signs in his yard. I was baffled by why he put out FIVE of them. Well, the kids didn't like that. So they tore them all up too. That's when I realized that maybe he thought this was some sort of war? Whoops. I had a few more pride flags given to me as gifts, and two more windows that needed curtains, so I put them up too (nonbinary and LGBTQIA flag that includes the brown and black stripes). Sure enough, pro-Trump signs appeared in his yard not long after (only for the kids passing by, timing it for again when he's gone, to tear them down). Then last week he shot off firearms in his lawn. We're in the middle of a CITY. It's illegal to shoot off firearms in city limits (If you are not at a licensed gun range). My friends urged me to call the cops on him since my house is very close to his and he could easily shoot through my window. I'm terrified of cops honestly, and I panic at phone calls. But never fear! The others who have valiantly torn down pro-Trump signs are here to save the day! They or someone like them called the cops. Now remember how I said his house looks like a dump? Cops must have brought in another agency because my younger sister sighted a condemned notice on his front door when she visited this past weekend. So for the past three days, he has torn out the rotted parts of his house. There's giant bags of trash in his yard that he puts a holey tarp over. The front part that was rotted out and literally falling apart was torn out. Quark (my cat) and I have been watching this drama from my bedroom window. The pro-trump signs in his yard got torn up again. I am thinking I should add more pride flags as curtains. What do y'all think?