TrueBlue4ever

One other thing about the reporter for Sputnik - that organization was directly linked to the Russian hacking efforts to undermine the 2016 U.S. election according to the FBI investigation.

I am at the point where I don't even flinch when Trump engages in this level of idiocy. I just ask "OK, what is he doing illegally behind the scenes today to fill his own pockets that he doesn't want anyone to know about, hence this ridiculous tweet so that we all focus on something shiny instead of the real story?"

Duplicate post. Ignore

He does hockey now. Has been doing NBC broadcasts on the weekends. It’s not at all accurate that he’d be waiting 7 years to do a hockey game. Only if he confines himself to hockey for TSN, which he hasn’t been.

As I said on Twitter, replacing Rod Black with Rod Peterson is like replacing George W. Bush with Donald Trump.

Guess Cuthbert is hitching his wagon to hockey full-time. Maybe he knows something about what will happen to the CFL in the future if they don’t play this year.

https://religionnews.com/2020/06/04/we-all-have-racial-bias-even-cops-attacking-racial-justice-protesters/ After seeing more an more videos, hard to ignore the increasing perception (reality?) that the police culture is so much more than “a few bad apples” or even a product of unconscious systemic racism, and is just at it’s core authoritarian and truly racist. With all the attention on them following George Floyd and with cameras everywhere, I keep seeing images of unprovoked attacks on unarmed, peaceful protestors. Have to face the disappointing and disillusioning truth that they are at their most basic not about protecting and serving but rather controlling and dominating. And they are working for an authoritarian wannabe dictator against the citizens they were sworn to protect. Who can stand up to that?

The most galling thing about this post (aside from all of it) is where she says Mattis' comments were "overdue". Like he should have said something long ago. And where was she to speak to these "overdue" comments all this time? Especially when she had the chance at the impeachment to send that "necessary" message herself. Do or Die's point about "never be the first to stop applauding" is bang on here. But on the bright side, Mattis' rebuke of the Donald may have cracked open the floodgates. It was speculated on CNN that him taking that first step (which is much easier for him since he already quit and had nothing to lose from Trump) would open the doors for other military personnel (like Esper, who already followed the lead) to defy Trump and hopefully refuse to follow any orders to "dominate" civilians. Looks like that turncoat turning of the tide will now extend to the Republican senate. Can't wait for the biggest lackeys like Gaetz, Cruz, Graham and McConnell to cut bait and get all self-righteous against Trump to try and save their own political skin. That will be rich.

According to this article, the officer convicted of murder got life, the other 3 each got 30 years (which was the minimum for the firearms offences). https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/13/former-blackwater-guards-sentencing-baghdad-massacre

I always thought BDI would be a great fit there. On a bridge, lots of foot traffic from the Forks, only meant to be open in the summer anyway so no loss of patronage in the cold of winter.

And so they were charged and convicted in an American court. So they were answerable to a court according to the article.

Not according to the article: "In 2014, four Blackwater employees were tried[5] and convicted in U.S. federal court; one of murder, and the other three of manslaughter and firearms charges"

They seem to have patches on their arms. But to answer your question, you could fight back but would get a beatdown, just as you would if you knew they were legit police or of you knew they were not. US has “stand your ground” law (at least on some states) where homicide is justifiable if you feel threat. The bigger question is, do they have the proper authority to effect an arrest? If they are not a legitimate police force, then they have no authority to legally arrest and charge someone. That may not be their goal, though.

Reminded me of a joke I once heard. Stop me if you've heard it: Why did the chicken cross the road?

That's actually a really good out strategy for the protestors. Can say they've been heard with the other 3 arrests, and they see the need for healing and unity that the President does not. Good call.

That's the long game. What about short-term and these protests? Continue, and deal with the collateral damage of unrest and an authoritarian Government response, or back down now and move on to the long game, giving Trump a victory for now in his "law and order" actions?

Remember that historically a President's approval ratings have jumped significantly during war time. The highest rated President of all time was Bush 1 during the Gulf War, at 94% or something like that. He would see it disappear within 2 years and he was gone, but the spike was there. Same for Bush 2 after 9/11, and we all see how that war turned out. Trump labelled himself as the "law and order" President, and if his show of force quells the insurrection, I still believe a lot of "oh, look how tough our President (and we as well) is!" followers boost his numbers. Common-sense? No. In keeping with the cowboy way of Americans? Absolutely. I'm wondering what the protestors' next move is. More mayhem undercuts the President's attempt to prove his strength and that he has it under control, but he has crossed that line now and I think he'd push even harder now - out-and-out violence and death to protestors, violent and non alike, would not be off the table. And more looting only hurts their image and distorts the orignal point of the protest which is systemic racism and police brutality. So how to keep the message loud and the protest strong without devolving into anarchy, when both extreme sides of Antifa (because the non-peaceful approach isn't working and now you'll notice us) and white supremacist infiltrators (to undercut the legitimacy of the protest and paint BLM as domestic terrorists) are looking to cause a disturbance, and the general run-of-the-mill idiots who see an opportunity to steal and pillage for personal profit or just sh*ts and giggles will join in too. Then that gives the green light and moral high ground to the President, police, and military to yell "threat to all decent law-abiding Americans!" and go in in attack mode. Who will be the unifying voice to lead the protestors but also demand peace and accountability like Dr. King did, but also can weed out the undesirables from within and keep them from subverting the message with looting and violence? I don't think that's really Biden's job here. He needs to be more a conciliator, not a counter-Government protest leader.

I would not be surprised to see him have an exit strategy in place where he bolts the country to go to some extradiction-free zone. Saudi Arabia, Russia? He has properties in a lot of countries.

Because you don't get rich without having some influence somewhere, so the more rich, the greater the perception that you have influence, and people who want to be rich too will want to listen to you to see how you did it and follow in your footsteps. Just a theory.

Funny that African-Americans have been realizing it (and telling us) for a long time, yet white people still, even with the evidence of George Floyd and countless other victims before him, did not internalize it until they were tear-gassed as peaceful protestors last night. Even this commentator said they ignored it abroad. No, they ignored it at home too, because it was black people and not them who suffered. That's what they have been trying to tell you all along. Thanks for waking up. (Would say the same thing to myself).

Yep. It's the "cowboy" mentality as I said before. A very American way of looking at the world. Everything is showdown at the OK Corral. That's why the words Vietnam and 9/11 sting so much, Not just tragedies, but the tough USA getting punched in the mouth and not having a response. Not just a loss, but an embarrassment to their ego. Losing the schoolyard fight. That mentality bleeds into their right to bear arms, their "policemen of the world" attitude, their military and police stance.

If Trump loses, I don't think he pushes as much as he is pushed by the GOP to go through the courts to claim the election (with the Bush v Gore precedent) and have the votes discounted. They have more to hold on to than him as they are career politicos. For him it is a game show starring him, and if it is more effort than it is worth to carry on, he walks out on his own terms. If that Supreme Court intervention does not work, I do not see him starting an insurrection. His followers may well protest, and there may be a lot of residual violence, but Trump is not going to put himself at the forefront of it, IMO. Why? Look at his history. In business, he always talked a tough game, would threaten lawsuits, would not pay his bills, but when push came to shove he would settle and pay out of pocket, conceding defeat in the lawsuits against him, and buy his way out of it. He'd give in, and the only "win" was that he would exhaust the other side enough to take a lesser amount to end the squabble. And he's declared bankruptcy 6 times to "re-finance", not caring what damage he's left in his wake but not staying around to clean up the mess or fight and carry on and rebuild. I suspect what he will do is sow discord amongst the public with his rhetoric until inauguration day, not to try and overturn the result but merely to provide distraction and cover while he silently feathers his nest on the way out. He will not bother with the "peaceful transition of power" not as a revolt but simply because he doesn't care to clean up shop and turn over the keys before he leaves. To him, it's easier to leave the destruction, shrug and say "here's the damage deposit, just easier and less work for me on the way out" and not care how he leaves his supporters hanging (THAT'S when they'll finally realize they've been conned all along, when the payoff they've been waiting for doesn't come in and it's obvious he's fled town - that's how all con men operate). Since he doesn't answer to the people any more, and they cannot help feed his ego, screw them. His only real concern after his defeat will be "now that I'm on the clock, how do I grab what I can on the way out?" He may or may not pardon his buddies. Remember how many people he leaves high and dry? If his political allies cannot help him in the business world, who cares about what they sacrificed to get him to where he was? Cost of doing business. Roger Stone who? If releasing Stone helps Trump later, then he gets out. If not, why bother? Trump demands loyalty but gives none in return, so I would not be surprised to see him walk away from those he has hinted (promised) to pardon. The only pardon he cares about will be his own, or anyone who will be a part of his next venture. Trump does not care about the fascist revolution he has started, he only likes the power he personally derives from it, so I don't see him leading a rebellion if he loses, he just skips town with the gold and his supporters stand around saying "what do we do now, dear leader? Dear Leader? Anybody seen him?" Think Hitler's exit in his bunker or the other members of the Gestapo sneaking off to Argentina and leaving the rank and file soldiers to face judgment at Nuremburg.

I remember at the start of isolation in Europe where a Spanish soccer team played before an empty stadium and clinched a playoff spot. Outside the stadium right after the game, 20,000 fans gathered in the parking lot to celebrate. Completely negated the effect of social distancing. I can recall a post here saying play the Bomber game in the empty stadium, and set up TV screens in the parking lots where people could tailgate. Missing the point entirely. My opinion is that it is too difficult to impose half measures like a limited reduction in fans and forced distancing by allocating seats. The only way is to make every seat the same price and do a lottery for total fairness, but it still doesn't address the crowd bottlenecks at the entrances or concessions or bathrooms, or the littering or enforcing social distancing in the seats once the game is underway. If you are in the end zone or the nosebleeds, and 2/3 of the great seats are open, who isn't moving down? Either zero fans and no gathering outside the stadium permitted, or the usual lot of fans as normal, encourage or mandate masks (even mandating impossible to enforce, are you going to kick out a fan because they took off their mask to sip their beer?), keep things as clean as possible, and accept that social distancing won't occur and people enter at their own peril. As we've seen with the US protests, controlling disobedient large scale masses without a military show of force is not possible, and no one wants a football game to turn into a riot. Did I mention that people would be drinking?

How do people avoid crowds at the 4 entrance points of the stadium? If queueing occurs like at big box stores, with 6 feet between each person, then even a line of 2,500 people will extend 3 miles. How long do you want to wait to get in or out of the stadium? 2hours, 3? And with 18,000 season ticket holders, who are the half who get denied the chance to go to a game? And if I pay for a P1 seat on the 45 yard line, who decides that for social distancing and equal spreading out I will now be seated in the end zone, while my neighbour still gets his same seat we both paid the same prime price for, just because random selection?