And Now Time For Our Regularly Scheduled Conspiracy Theory

[Carborendum]

Any bets on whether Dems will TRY to suspend elections this year?  Perhaps we're building up a backlog of wars to the level we have not seen since Korea and Vietnam?

"We can't waste our time with pesky little things like elections when we're fighting for our lives."

Just wondering.  We'll see.

Edited February 3 by Carborendum

[mirkwood]

Suspend?  No.

 

Cheat?  Yes.  I would argue they already are with the attempts to keep Trump off the ballot.

[mikbone]

I got like 4 pounds of election guide paperwork from the state of California just for the primaries.  A 70 page manual for every resident in the household (13). Even though 6 of the children live out of state.

Ain’t nobody gonna read that garbage.  I wasn’t even offered a digital version.

And last time I went over some of the paperwork (like 5 years ago) I couldn’t understand the material.  I asked my wife to help and her English degree and J.D. didn’t help either.

I suspect that Gavin Newsom and Nancy Pelosi own paper mills and a print shop.

Oh, the elections will happen.  Too much money on the line for the advertising, infrastructure, etc.

Edited February 3 by mikbone

[Phoenix_person]

On 2/3/2024 at 7:30 AM, Carborendum said:

Any bets on whether Dems will TRY to suspend elections this year?  Perhaps we're building up a backlog of wars to the level we have not seen since Korea and Vietnam?

"We can't waste our time with pesky little things like elections when we're fighting for our lives."

Just wondering.  We'll see.

As someone who has a front row seat to DFL operations, I am very confident that the answer is no. A small contingent of leftists is entertaining your conspiracy theory about replacing Biden with Harris, but I don't see that being pursued with any kind of seriousness either.

[Traveler]

On 2/3/2024 at 6:30 AM, Carborendum said:

Any bets on whether Dems will TRY to suspend elections this year?  Perhaps we're building up a backlog of wars to the level we have not seen since Korea and Vietnam?

"We can't waste our time with pesky little things like elections when we're fighting for our lives."

Just wondering.  We'll see.

If I were to bet on the election – I would bet that the Democrats out smart the Republicans in the coming election – especially if the Republicans elect Trump.  The argument that the world will end unless our party wins – always works much better for the Democrats (liberals) than it does for Republicans (conservatives).

 

The Traveler

[JohnsonJones]

I think it depends on how much People are looking at what Republicans are doing vs. common sense.

The Republicans are trying to impeach Biden and cause trouble for his son...and one of their star witnesses and who they relied on for a LOT of their information was just revealed to be a Russian stooge (and possibly spy/agent to cause disruption and chaos).

The Republicans say they want to stop what's happening at the Border but then vote against the strongest border bill in decades, one they helped craft even!!!  And then go on to have a House impeachment of someone else saying he isn't enforcing the Border...well...you bunch of fools...the same could be said of YOU!!!

They have talked a LOT about the budget and cutting spending...but one of the BIG reasons we are in this mess is because those tax changes you made under Trump (which are expiring for the Middle Class in many ways, but NOT those who actually help PAY a LOT of the Taxes previously) are causing us to have a smaller amount of money and go deeper in DEBT!  How about actually putting your actions where your mouth is, undo those tax cuts for the wealthy and in general and get a sensible monetary policy (that most others do) where you actually need to have an INCOME to  pay the bills, rather than constantly trying to cut your income and then blame someone else for all the bills??

I'm probably a conservative leaning independent, and in the past I've loved some of the Republican lawmakers, but I'm about sick of the clown show they've been running in the House.  They are chasing away a lot of moderate who are now choosing to retire rather than re-run for election.  They are making those left even less desired as those I would like in office. 

I don't know who will win or won't win, but I say let's be done with the conspiracy theories and just kick out the Do NOTHING Republicans who hypocritically say one thing and do the exact opposite (for example, the border...let's be realistic...that bill was the BEST bill they could have hoped for since they don't fully control their OWN HOUSE because they are split and they don't control the Senate...a vote against it was a vote for do nothing  because anything THEY come up with that is stronger won't stand a chance of passing and THEY KNOW IT).

Edited February 21 by JohnsonJones

[LDSGator]

5 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

They are chasing away a lot of moderate who are now choosing to retire rather than re-run for election.

That, and Trump is chasing away a lot of people who consistently vote republican because of his legal problems.

I predict two things will happen. Trump will probably, but not certainly lose, and his followers/disciples/acolytes/viceroys will jump up and down, complain about fraud and probably do a Jan 6th sequel. His zealots are unable to grasp that a large portion of the voting public simply don’t want him as president.  They grossly overestimate their size because they (generally speaking) surround themselves with people who only agree with them. Which is the easiest way to delude yourself. 
 

It’s amusing and scary how devoted these people are to him.  
 

What I can’t figure out is if they hate liberalism more than they love Trump or if it’s really hero worship. 

Edited February 22 by LDSGator

[LDSGator]

I also think Biden supporters will claim some giant conspiracy if he loses. His supporters might also have a temper tantrum and pull a Jan 6th, and why not? After all, Trump supporters did the same so it’s only fair to throw an elbow if your opponent throws one first.  

[estradling75]

Indeed...

My prediction/conspiracy theory is..

No matter who wins the loser will claim election fraud as an excuse for poor behavior for losing.

But neither party will be proactive in securing the election because neither one are sure they can win a fair vote.  Calling fraud is too good of a tool for either side to risk giving it up.  Thus furthering our slide into the Divided States of America

 

[NeuroTypical]

18 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

The Republicans say they want to stop what's happening at the Border but then vote against the strongest border bill in decades, one they helped craft even!!! 

I read through the highlights of that bill.  A handful of millions for wall construction over 5 years, and a several billion for ankle monitors?  Yeah, the bipartisanship wasn't there enough to craft a serious bill.  And it wasn't the Republicans who refused to fund wall building.

[LDSGator]

2 hours ago, estradling75 said:

No matter who wins the loser will claim election fraud as an excuse for poor behavior for losing.

 

Yup. I’ve seen children lose in TKD and handle it better than grown adults do. Ironically, these adults almost always are the first ones to whine about “kids today” with no sense of irony. It’s astounding! 

[Phoenix_person]

On 2/21/2024 at 7:48 PM, LDSGator said:

I also think Biden supporters will claim some giant conspiracy if he loses. His supporters might also have a temper tantrum and pull a Jan 6th, and why not? After all, Trump supporters did the same so it’s only fair to throw an elbow if your opponent throws one first.  

I strongly disagree. J6 was the act of right-wing extremists. Left wing extremists have no love for Biden. Liberal Dems will weep if Biden loses, but there won't be an insurrection. Liberals don't have the stomach for that. Investigations, perhaps, but nothing outside the official bureaucratic channels.

[LDSGator]

23 minutes ago, Phoenix_person said:

I strongly disagree. J6 was the act of right-wing extremists. Left wing extremists have no love for Biden. Liberal Dems will weep if Biden loses, but there won't be an insurrection. Liberals don't have the stomach for that. Investigations, perhaps, but nothing outside the official bureaucratic channels.

Yeah, I see it totally differently. If Biden loses left wingers will take it as a reason to strike back-only because Trumpers started it and did it first. So even if they don’t like Biden-and you are right, they don’t, the hard left (Antifa, BLM) loves to riot and destroy stuff so they’ll align with Biden simply because the enemy of their enemy is a friend.  And, they’ll look for any reason to do what the J6th crowd did. Any reason. Including Biden losing. They’ll rally around him. 
 

I can’t wait to watch the j6 crowd talk about respecting law and order, the constitution, democracy, etc. It’s going to be delicious.  

Edited February 23 by LDSGator

[NeuroTypical]

29 minutes ago, Phoenix_person said:

Left wing extremists have no love for Biden.

I noticed this for the first time when Hilary was running.  The amount of hate directed at her from the hard left surprised the heck out of me.  But it made sense after a little thought.  15+ years ago, Democrats were the people-friendly anti-corporatists, and Republicans were the pro-business fans of deregulation.   By the time Hilary was on the ticket, we all knew the Dems were all making millions with insider stock trades, in bed with big business and lobbyists.  They were livid that Hil and Trump were basically both (in their minds) corrupt capitalists bankrolled by big business.

In fact, it was from a hard leftie that I got this pic:

 

29 minutes ago, Phoenix_person said:

Liberal Dems will weep if Biden loses, but there won't be an insurrection. Liberals don't have the stomach for that.

Agreed.  They're all about supporting the 2020-21 BLM civil unrest, but they do it by wearing blinders and refusing to acknowledge the lawlessness/rioting/looting/destruction/violence.  The average democrat or liberal has zero interest in actually moving onto the street and trying to do something themselves.  They're all about having government do the things with other people's money.

As for J6, I'm grateful they found, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced so many.  98% of what happened that day was just fine, but holy crap that 2% was a doozie.  

Edited February 23 by NeuroTypical

[LDSGator]

1 minute ago, NeuroTypical said:

I noticed this for the first time when Hilary was running.  The amount of hate directed at her from the hard left surprised the heck out of me.  But it made sense after a little thought.  15+ years ago, Democrats were the people-friendly anti-corporatists, and Republicans were the pro-business fans of deregulation.   By the time Hilary was on the ticket, we all knew the Dems were all making millions with insider stock trades, in bed with big business and lobbyists.  They were livid that Hil and Trump were basically both (in their minds) corrupt capitalists bankrolled by big business.

In fact, it was from a hard leftie that I got this pic:

 

As for J6, I'm grateful they found, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced so many.  98% of what happened that day was just fine, but holy crap that 2% was a doozie.  

Hillary and Biden are viewed by leftists the same way Romney and Susan Collins are viewed by conservatives. In fact, I think the extremes of the party hate “moderates” in their own party more than they hate the opposing side! 

Edited February 23 by LDSGator

[LDSGator]

8 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

I think the extremes of the party hate “moderates” in their own party more than they hate the opposing side! 

I don’t know why that happens, but I do think the extremes are flooded with people who genuinely like hating others. Politics gives them an outlet for it.  

Edited February 23 by LDSGator

[JohnsonJones]

Okay, reading various news feeds and stumble across this on Yahoo News.

Jack Posbiec calls for the end of Democracy at CPAC

Quote

“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,” Posobiec said as the event began.

“We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this, right here,” he said, gesturing to the crowd and holding up his fist.

As he spoke, Bannon laughed and said, “Amen!”

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS!!!!

I immediately tried to find a conservative slant or report on this as I can't believe this story has the entire context of what was being said.  If it is...what in the world!!!???

Certainly there had to be an uproar in the audience shouting down such a statement? 

I can't believe ANYONE in US politics would say something like this and get away with it!?

Something is seriously wrong with the party if they are having speakers that are allowed to say such things without a TON of pushback and then proclamations against such statements if the article states it in context (I can't believe it is saying all there is, there HAS to be more context to this type of statement than what the article shows...I can't find it though...hopefully someone here can find it where it doesn't sound as bad as it is made out to sound in the article).

[mirkwood]

On 2/23/2024 at 1:28 PM, LDSGator said:

Yeah, I see it totally differently. If Biden loses left wingers will take it as a reason to strike back-only because Trumpers started it and did it first. So even if they don’t like Biden-and you are right, they don’t, the hard left (Antifa, BLM) loves to riot and destroy stuff so they’ll align with Biden simply because the enemy of their enemy is a friend.  And, they’ll look for any reason to do what the J6th crowd did. Any reason. Including Biden losing. They’ll rally around him. 
 

I can’t wait to watch the j6 crowd talk about respecting law and order, the constitution, democracy, etc. It’s going to be delicious.  

IF they do the same as you say, it will look a lot different.  As you said, Antifa and BLM love to burn and destroy.  That won't look anything like the J6 crowd and talk about respecting law and order would be a very different conversation.

[mirkwood]

On 2/23/2024 at 1:36 PM, NeuroTypical said:

 

As for J6, I'm grateful they found, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced so many.  98% of what happened that day was just fine, but holy crap that 2% was a doozie.  

 

Yes. Now if only they would hold the left accountable when they act this way (and they have.)

 

As a noteworthy point.  It still was not an insurrection.  Nobody was charged with insurrection.  Nobody was convicted of insurrection.

[NeuroTypical]

1 hour ago, mirkwood said:

Yes. Now if only they would hold the left accountable when they act this way (and they have.)

Oh yeah.  June 2020 was lit.  We forget pretty quickly.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests

Just my own personal experiences: 

My uncle was Facebooking live from Provo, the day after the mob shot the elderly guy trying to drive around them.

After Colorado Springs had 2 days of rioting and violence, largely centered around a couple of police stations, my kids and I took a drive.  We saw the ashes of the torched overturned car.  Around the corner there was the police station and some protesters, holding their BLM signs and smiling and waving at the cars that drove by.  A big difference between night and day.

As BLM tried to close down I-25, my county sheriff's Twitter account had an active day posting pics and video of the overwhelming LEO response to the blockading cars.  I guess my county was ready, because people were arrested quickly and the cars were impounded quickly.  Just one day. 

As the Antifa started an effort to "take it to the countryside", I saw a local video of a bunch of black bloc-wearing idiots getting into a fight in a rural field.  One large local resident had one of the idiots face down in the dirt, yelling "say uncle!".  Again, that only lasted about a day.

My buddy @mirkwood was talking about getting training on riot situations.

After the Rittenhouse verdict in Nov 2021, I watched some low-information leftie co-workers burst into tears at the terrible injustice.  Then I watched Daryl Brooks finally made good on his Facebook threats to start "bakk knokkin white people TF out ion wanna hear it...the old white ppl 2", and he drove his SUV through a parade of old white women in Waukesha, killing 6 and injuring 62.  4 of the dead were with the "Milwaukee Dancing Grannies".  The leftie co-workers didn't notice that part.

 

As for holding the left accountable, sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world who watches boring news.  All across 2021 and 2022, I saw brief footnote after brief footnote of rioters who were finally receiving their verdicts and sentences.  At least 2-3 dozen of them across the country.  Lots of Portland, Wisconsin, local stuff from Denver.  The guy in Colorado Springs who led the protest against the police chief's family, showing up at his private residence, got his sentence.  I watched a lot of the Daryl Brooks trial and verdict - they never mentioned any politics or racial motivation, his Facebook history of BLM support and advocating violence against white people didn't make it into the trial.  Nobody mentioned just before his SUV murder spree, he got released on zero bail for trying to run over his girlfriend - a recent change in how Minnesotans were handling bail, reacting to the defund-the-cops movement.

But yeah, I get it Mirk.  Nobody else seemed to notice any of that but me.  And yet we've been force-fed an endless tsunami of Jan6 news and commentary for 3 years now. 

 

 

Quote

As a noteworthy point.  It still was not an insurrection.  Nobody was charged with insurrection.  Nobody was convicted of insurrection.

Well, lots and lots of seditious conspiracy convictions.  I guess that's "insurrection light"?  I'm not smart enough to know the difference between seditious conspiracy and insurrection.   730 or more guilty pleas, mostly to minor charges.  

Trump was charged for "incitement of insurrection" by the house, (who impeached him over it and the senate acquitted him of it after he had left office).  It's sort of a weak nitpicky point - "inciting insurrection" is not actually committing insurrection.  So yeah, Mirk is correct - nobody has been charged with "insurrection", just "inciting insurrection".  This point is currently being argued by Trump in his brief to the Supreme Court, as they consider whether he can be on the ballot in Colorado or not.

And the current politically-timed charges Trump is facing is also not incitement.  
- One count of conspiracy to defraud the US
- One count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
- One count of obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
- One count of conspiracy against rights (an 1870-era charge created to keep the KKK from oppressing blacks in the South)

Edited February 25 by NeuroTypical

[Still_Small_Voice]

I do not trust most of our elections now with the ballot harvesting, ballot curing and no identification in the current voting process.  See the thread where I spoke against it here:

https://thirdhour.org/forums/topic/75323-divided-country/page/3/#comment-1091247

We need to put a lot of restrictions on vote by mail and require previously registered voters to show up at the polls with identification to vote again.

[JohnsonJones]

4 hours ago, Still_Small_Voice said:

I do not trust most of our elections now with the ballot harvesting, ballot curing and no identification in the current voting process.  See the thread where I spoke against it here:

https://thirdhour.org/forums/topic/75323-divided-country/page/3/#comment-1091247

We need to put a lot of restrictions on vote by mail and require previously registered voters to show up at the polls with identification to vote again.

I'd agree with voters showing up to vote with ID (come on folks, it's not THAT hard to get an ID, it takes TIME though), with the caveat...they NEED to open more voting places if they want everyone to vote in person...INCLUDING the areas that do not lean towards your party (there's been a move in some states to get rid of voting locations in large urban areas....and try to restrict how many can vote in those urban areas).   Also, make it so that an employer can be FINED if they try to make it so that their employees do not have time to vote...OR try to mandate (same with unions) or force their employees to vote a specific or certain way.

Ensure every US citizen who has the right to vote has the opportunity to vote...and I'm right there with you in saying that making sure those who vote have identification and show up in person at the polls is the right thing to do.

[prisonchaplain]

On 2/20/2024 at 9:38 PM, Traveler said:

If I were to bet on the election – I would bet that the Democrats out smart the Republicans in the coming election – especially if the Republicans elect Trump.  The argument that the world will end unless our party wins – always works much better for the Democrats (liberals) than it does for Republicans (conservatives).

 

The Traveler

The Democrats are becoming the Republicans. Who wants to support Ukraine? Israel? Who's attacking Anti-Communists for not loving America (Tucker Carlson)? Next thing you know, Democrats will be demonstrating to RE-fund the police. When they do, I may switch parties. 

[LDSGator]

1 hour ago, prisonchaplain said:

The Democrats are becoming the Republicans. Who wants to support Ukraine? Israel? Who's attacking Anti-Communists for not loving America (Tucker Carlson)? Next thing you know, Democrats will be demonstrating to RE-fund the police. When they do, I may switch parties. 

I laugh, but you aren’t wrong. 
 

@Phoenix_person-are you suddenly donning a MAGA cap too? 😉 

Edited February 27 by LDSGator

[NeuroTypical]

I think I understand Trump's rhetoric re: "Let Russia have any Nato country that won't meet it's funding committments"

https://drescherlaw.com/case-results/threat-bankruptcy-helps-tenant-renegotiate-commercial-lease/

I was looking for a clip from an old episode of Law and Order, where the new boss impressed everyone by threatening to move offices, which brought his landlord to the negotiating table, whereupon he negotiated a much superior lease agreement, which allowed him to pay his co-workers' bonuses.  Basically, Trump has no intention of weakening NATO or abandoning any of it's members.  It's a shock tactic to enable the under-contributing nations to step up and do what they agreed to do.  Politicians and leaders of nations do what gets them support, so if you're the leader of a nation that's used to old reliable USofA paying your bills for you, why on earth would you want to spend your precious political capital with your own people by making them pay more?  The specter of Russia coming to get them while the US sits there and laughs at the cheapskates getting what they deserve, that's why.

Geopolitics is a nasty game.  Like a group of unsupervised 12 year old boys fighting over the best toys in the sandbox.

Edited February 28 by NeuroTypical