The United States(!) of A

The Clown in Chief has (almost) left the building...

Domestic terrorism in the US is a serious and increasing problem, particularly far right inspired domestic terrorism. To deny this, you'd really have to be deeply embedded in an your alternate reality really.

https://theconversation.com/19-years-after-9-11-americans-continue-to-fe...

'Between 1990 and 2019, the ECDB identified 47 events in the U.S. motivated by Islamist extremism that killed 154 people. When you include 9/11 as a singular event, those numbers jump dramatically to 48 homicide events and 3,150 people killed.

The database also identified 217 homicide events motivated by far-right extremism, with 345 killed. And when you include the Oklahoma City bombing, it rises to 218 homicide events and 513 killed.'

In reality, far from '1 to date'.

Just in a few from recent times -

August 3, 2019:

21 year old Texas man shot and killed 23 people and injured 23 others, specifically targeting Mexicans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/el-paso-suspect-said-he-was-targ...

It is suspected that the shooter posted a manifesto on 8chan prior to committing his act of domestic terrorism, he cited the 'great replacement' conspiracy theory.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2019/08/04/the-el-paso-shooting....

Feb 15, 2019:

50 year old Maryland man arrested for plotting politically motivated attacks on Democratic politicians and media figures.

Found on his computer by authorities:

...'Have to take serious look at appropriate individual targets, to bring greatest impact. Professors, DR's, Politicians, Judges, leftists in general.

Look up tactics used during Ukrainian civil war. During unrest target both sides to increase tension. In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence.'...

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5745142-Motion-for-Pending-Trial...

October 27, 2018:

46 year old Pennsylvania man arrested for killing 11 people and injuring 7 others. The attack took place at a synagogue, all victims were Jewish. The shooter was an anti-semite and subscribed to a version of the 'great replacement' conspiracy theory.

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/27/661409410/whats-known-about-robert-bowers...

The shooter posted on Gab about HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) :

"Why hello there HIAS! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us?"

and a few hours before his attack:

"HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

And that's about as much as I want to read about that in one sitting I think. Domestic terrorism, particularly right wing extremism is a serious, ongoing and growing threat in the US and here in Australia. This is reflected in the attitudes of our security agencies.

https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/australian-security-intel...

'Extreme right-wing groups and individuals have been in ASIO’s sights for many decades—while we have maintained continuous and dedicated resources to this area, extremists such as neo-Nazis represent a serious, increasing and evolving threat to security. The 2019 Christchurch attack continues to be drawn on for inspiration by right-wing extremists worldwide.'

Jesus, you can be a pillock sometimes Indo.

“Same shit someone dished up the other day”

or, the same (reputable) source highlighting the growth of domestic terrorist threats, intent and capability from the extreme right wing. They’re not talking about civil unrest (yes, some protests are violent) They’re talking about groups that they’re tracking with the intent to commit pre-planned acts of terrorism. Get your fucking head out of your arsehole. When left wing terrorism presents as a threat the FBI (and ASIO) will acknowledge it. It’s in their interest to do so. New threat = more funding.

Present a credible source for your assertions, beyond your gut feel, or STFU.

Ah, Congress.
What would they know?
https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s894/BILLS-116s894is.xml

To be aware and ahead of terrorist threats, especially those already within your country obviously is of paramount importance especially in a time of such volatile polarity as now. Invoking the term terrorist so rampantly just makes me think of the Patriot Act and I would be worried for my civil rights if I were a conservative in the states right now. (Loss of employment, loss of insurance, loss of access to social media and digital financial services, to name a few).

The way that the 74MILLION trump voters are being morally denigrated by the new governing establishment shows that unity is not going to happen, indeed if this keeps up the polarity will get worse. Biden and the DNC need to ask themselves why ALMOST HALF of the voters in the 2020 election voted against them. They would be doing this and behaving differently if their claims of working for unity had any credence.

Sadly, the Dems idea of unity is subjugating their opposition and having the instruments and institutions of power unified under DNC control. (The GOP are no better granted). Instead of winning their opposition over, with empathy, humility and vision, many of them (politicians) openly talk about “reprogramming” Trump voters. Caution hyperbole ahead... perhaps the Biden administration will contract this out to the experts in Xinjiang? UNITYAZ

The shutdown of conservative voices on social media and news outlets is nothing short of authoritarian SOCIAL fascism. Indeed some Dem congressmen/women have called for FOX news to be cancelled. The calls for censorship and other authoritarian actions are obviously not Unifying in their motives, otherwise they would include other partisan outlets who spread disinformation (MSNBC, CNN and plenty of others) in their request. They want to suppress their opposition. Hashtags like #killtrump and #assassinatetrump apparently are not an incitement to violence and do not warrant censorship. Makes sense.

Recent Glenn Greenwald interview. Glenn is an old fashioned objective journalist, he discusses big tech censorship and more.
https://m.

Trump is gone. The reason people voted for a outsider to the political establishment promising “drain the swamp” and represent Americas disenfranchised is as prescient as ever. In the swing states Biden only just won despite the media reporting on Trump was almost uniform representing him as a traitorous (Russia) dolt, a white supremist, corrupt, misogynist... The list goes on and on.

Now we are expected to believe Biden will bring “unity”? Joe Biden... who has been a federal politician since he was 27... and his most famous political legacies are the ‘Crime Bill’ and minority bussing. Who HIS OWN VP has accused of racism and sexual assault. Who has had allegations of corruption and influence peddling following him around since he was VP. Not likely.

If there is one person that I listen to about the state of the US it is Eric Weinstein. Very very smart (Harvard mathematics PHD) and no bullshit guy, his social, historical and political insights are very interesting and compelling. (I have noticed some Sam Harris links on here, if you like him I think you might like Eric. I personally think Eric is about ten times as insightful as Sam Harris).

This link is a great recent conversation with a conservative Radio/Youtube/podcast personality named Glenn Beck, who is admittedly a tosser. Eric seems to be a progressive liberal/lefty (never voted GOP). Eric’s summation of the US situation is very insightful. In the end of the conversation they tell each other that they love each other!

It is long but worth it IMO.
https://m.

ps: I would not be surprised if SOMEHOW Eric had a crack at the presidency in the next few years.

United States of Unity

Far Out! That's a generic theme for an alternative swellnet Inauguration Soundtrack
tbb crankin' the Graveyard shift tone arm...just gotta rework this somehow? Got it!

What we need is a great big Melting Pot.

Reaching for tbb's Top Shelf ...You & I United.

Dobbed in these performers for kick flippin' their censorship boards.

Unity Parody

Leftist Unity

Sun is arising...back to the sarcophagus....lid...the lid...ya don't live in a tent tbb.
Fark some strange Aussie bird calls this time of mornin'...sounds like Gorillas!

Well put Sickaz

I think Trump is the great reset, the question is have things been reset enough?

I doubt we will see another political dynasty in USA so a tick there.

I think Biden will do his best to avoid going into a new war because if he doesn't he will be compared badly with Trump in that regard and seen as just another war mongering USA president. (so ironically Trump has helped bring peace to the world war wise)

If Biden kisses Chinas arse, and doesn't have more of a nationalistic approach Americans won't have that.

Anyway the unrest from Antifa and BLM that he and the left used political will also come back to bite them now they are in power, it isn't going anywhere and they want be able to use the excuse its because of Trump and wth less Trump stories to focus on media will latch onto it more..

Still many dark days for USA ahead.

Anyway congratulations to Kamala

Trump the Great Reset?

FFS. C'mon...

Nepotism, cronyism, egotism and lies, are the better alternative? What a load of utter bollocks.

Another one who's fallen for the Big Lie.

The real tragedy of Trump is that he signposted another way, could've got people on board if he wasn't such a deeply flawed individual, and the moment was wasted because of the above. He was well manipulated by Bannon and co to highlight flaws in neoliberalism and offer a different path forward but the man simply couldn't lead. He's wreaked havoc, but not in a good way.

In a way, many of Trump's detractors were correct in their predictions. They'll feel empowered by his fall, and that's another tragedy.

"Anyway the unrest from Antifa and BLM that he and the left used political will also come back to bite them now they are in power, it isn't going anywhere and they want be able to use the excuse its because of Trump and wth less Trump stories to focus on media will latch onto it more.".
That is some dumb shit Indo.

Indo what do you mean when you say Trump is the great reset?

AndyM, it means he’s got absolutely zero idea.
Great reset. Pffft. Look at the legacy of his final weeks. From rolling back environmental protections to re introduction and implementation of the federal death penalty.

Reset? Well put stu

I thought my post made it pretty clear, people can deny this factor because they don't like trump, or because of their political leanings

But Trump got in because people were sick of the same cookie cut USA presidents, political dynasties, being sold out to China etc., war mongering etc

These things and more will now be harder from here on in.

Trump sure wasn't perfect, but things will never be the same after his presidency, and I'm sure in many Americans mind that's a good thing.

"These things and more will now be harder from here on in."

Wouldn't count on that, ID. There's every chance - perhaps even a greater chance - that the moment has been lost and corporate America, never mind the Republicans who are licking their wounds, will do everything in their power to stop another politician of Trump's ilk attaining power.

It will be interesting to see if Trump follows through with the rumour that he is going to start his own political party, the 'Patriot Party'.

This will pretty much guarantee that the republicans will be on the wrong side of history for a long time as it splits that party in two.

And all those Q folks apparently have been losing their minds today as Biden was made President. That wasn't part of their great 'plan', and they are having meltdowns because their promised reality of Trump still being the President is all a steaming pile of poop.

just a perfect end take from a rolled gold con man.

Thankfully, America saw through this fraudulent human being.

its amazing something worse didnt happen in 4 years with him in charge really

There're some clothes on this site that you might like Indo.
They're really cheap too.

https://www.blaroken.com/activity/hot-sale-4088/?tspu=SP3TP4KUXE3%2CSP8W...

FFS Andy im not sure what thats really meant to imply, my view is really not that out there.

All i am doing is acknowledging the importance of change that has now hopefully been set.

If we rewind and put Hillary in charge.

1. Political dynasties would have continued in USA
2. Going of history highly likely USA would have entered another conflict.
3. Highly doubt she would have started trade wars with China and helped open up peoples eyes to the issues around China the west have, she wouldn't have called out the WHO kissing China's butt and China's releasing Covid onto the world.

It would have been pretty much more of the same, Trump was the shake up that was needed.

On a larger scale it's benefitted us, not having to follow USA into another conflict and Trumps approach to China has helped us to be able to bring to light our reliance on China and hopefully singled a turning point where we move away from reliance on China and the government and public are more wary of China's.

Do they sell the hats as well Andy?

"On a larger scale it's benefitted us, not having to follow USA into another conflict and Trumps approach to China has helped us to be able to bring to light our reliance on China and hopefully singled a turning point where we move away from reliance on China and the government and public are more wary of China's."

maybe in the long term. You could make an argument that China has made Aus it's whipping boy and part of that has been caused by Trumps aggressive posturing.

which has cost us billions.

Personally I agree that it's probably been a good thing to become more aware of how dangerous China is as a major trading partner.

Totally.

The loss in trade is a small price to pay for seeing the China wolf shed its sheep’s clothing.

It was always going to happen.....if we were lucky.

If there was no Trump and no Covid it would be very hard for Australia to reach that turning point, it would have been much easier to keep on coasting along not upsetting the apple cart.

go antifa!!

now you're making sense...

https://mobile.twitter.com/heckyessica/status/1352108377862795264

@Adam12

Yeah you would think today maybe they might be a little happy and have a break and celebrate seeing the arse end of Trump but nah they are already protesting against Biden, not much will change for these anarchist.

From todays news: (and see sypkan's link above)

"We don't care who's President: Antifa rioters smash windows at Oregon's Democratic Party headquarters in Portland, burn American flags in Denver and vandalize stores in Seattle just hours after Biden took office"

Antifa demonstrators smashed the windows of the Democratic Party headquarters in Portland, Oregon; burned American flags and spray-painted graffiti onto storefronts in Denver and Seattle; marched in Columbus, Ohio; and wielded shields and clubs while protesting in Sacramento hours after President Joe Biden's inauguration.

A group of protesters carrying anti-Biden and anti-police signs were marching Wednesday in Portland streets and damaged the headquarters of the Democratic Party of Oregon, police said.

One of the signs read 'We don’t want Biden, we want revenge!' in response to 'police murders' and 'imperialist wars.'
The group in Portland smashed windows and spray-painted anarchist symbols at the political party building. It was one of at least four groups planning to gather in the city on Inauguration Day, police said.

At its peak, the group numbered around 200 people.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9170237/Protesters-gather-damag...

Leftist protesters wreak havoc in Portland, vandalize Oregon’s Dem headquarters

eftist protesters wreaked havoc on the streets of Portland Wednesday evening, smashing windows at the state’s Democratic Party headquarters while chanting anti-cop slogans, according to police and a local report.

Eight protesters were arrested on a range of charges as hundreds of black-clad demonstrators marched in the northeast section of the city, the police department said.

https://nypost.com/2021/01/20/leftist-protesters-wreak-havoc-confront-co...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Protesters started gathering in Southeast Portland on Wednesday afternoon following the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

The so-called J20 protest was billed as a demonstration against the Biden inauguration and law enforcement, while also supporting the rights of indigenous peoples.

https://katu.com/news/local/protesters-at-j20-demonstration-march-throug...

More

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2021/01/inauguration-d...

"Personally I agree that it's probably been a good thing to become more aware of how dangerous China is as a major trading partner."

no probably about it

and the trading partner bit is the least of our worries

trigger warning: anti trumpers are gonna hate this

...a lot...

trump saved the world to a certain extent, this pandemic would have been an absolute nightmare with the democrats running the show. the world would have swallowed china's 'narrative' for way longer. and the 'free world' would have been totally held hostage for that period. begging for a bare bone of aid.

luckily the curtain was already being pulled back by trump, without that wrecking ball ground work approach, we would have been steam rolled, big time...

yes there's been much collatoral damage from trump, but he was a totally necessary evil

or...

we'd still be patsies to china, the virus would have been 'contained' (...remained contained?) the world would appear to be in less turmoil, and china's master plan would be much more under full effect... slowly but surely... subtlely...

Been looking for some certainty & continuity in US policy and can see some encouraging signs. For Oz, anyway.

Janet Yellen testified before the senate and takeaway points of note:
-help of small business in corona epidemic there
-introduce a 50 year Treasury bond (Japanification: just issue further out debt at lower rates... Japan never really marked to market it's 89 crash, they did this policy instead, it seems to keep the world as you know it existing, albeit with lower rates of growth, but the central bank ends up owning the entire bond 'market' - then they start buying assets. This means US will stagger on as Japan has for a very long time.
- Yellen attacked China for IP theft, dumping, trade barriers and SOE subsidies. Which the free trade crew never seemed to acknowledge, but Trump did. This would suggest US, under the surface, is alert to the threat.
- US to invest in infrastructure and R&D to take on China. They need it, and it was the bit of the 'green new deal' that appealed here; re-make your economy with renewables, employ everyday people and give them a decent wage, cut the reliance on foreign oil, bank the productivity increases. Hope they go through with it.

Combine this with the recent Navy paper I linked, and a clearer picture emerges.

The culture wars, however, are going to be nuts. Can they exceed Lando Calrisian being pansexual with a robot? That's the question.

Oh puke, get a friggin' grip sypkan

'trump saved the world to a certain extent, this pandemic would have been an absolute nightmare with the democrats running the show. the world would have swallowed china's 'narrative' for way longer. and the 'free world' would have been totally held hostage for that period. begging for a bare bone of aid.'

What nonsense of the highest order.

I can think of 400k peoples families who'd heartily disagree with you, then again, their priority was probably the health and well being of the friends and family, not scoring political points.

Pity we cant look into the same world in a parallel universe with an alternative leader to see how things would have panned out, i doubt USA would be much or any better off under any other president in regards to Covid. (but im sure the Trump haters would never agree)

Trump basically got unlucky if it wasn't for Covid he would have been much more likely to be re-elected.

“Pity we cant look into the same world in a parallel universe ...”

Odd that I’ve thought you’ve resided in one for years ......

A parallel universe viewer would be an interesting thing... never been a Trumper but I was certainly a Hilary sceptic.

You can give Trump the credit for China, but I think they revealed themselves of their own (Xi’s) volition. They were becoming increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, on trade, on BRI. It wasn’t going unnoticed, even as far back as 2015/16 (and earlier).
I think covid has more to do with The ‘awakening’ than Trump’s trade games. It forced the hand of the rest of the world. So what caused China’s change in behaviour? Good money is on Xi as the key driver in the shift of the CCP’s strategic approach.

I think you need to look a little wider than your 400k point scorers jq

but that is quite difficult for some

and I'm not even being condescending

yep etarip, even biden cannot ignore them anymore, as ideologically difficult as that is for him...

but he's still pathetic, surrounded by patheticness

@ Guy

Yep well i guess when you are stuck in some woke bubble the real world does seem like a distant place.

I doubt Biden will fight a culture war.

he's too old and there's no gain in it for him.

Trump needed constant toxic rhetoric and culture war to keep the Breitbart base fully pumped up.
I reckon Biden will go far more middle of the road.

just an opinion.

One of the FA articles i posted the other day supported that view FR. Biden will need to lead from the centre, not the left.

And if you think that Trump has ‘ended’ the wars in the Middle East - they’re still going. It’s just a little quieter.... ssssshhhh
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/09/18/us-sends-mechanized-...

Nice do info

“trump saved the world to a certain extent, this pandemic would have been an absolute nightmare with the democrats running the show. the world would have swallowed china's 'narrative' for way longer. and the 'free world' would have been totally held hostage for that period. begging for a bare bone of aid.”

Sypkan, do you remember in the early days of the Pandemic when that leaked audio of Trump came out admitting flat out that he deliberately down played the seriousness of Covid-19 because he didn’t want the general public to panic, when he actually knew how serious it was? All depends on your definition of “saving the world” I suppose....

etarip I don't think anyone ever expects the middle east to suddenly become peaceful there have been wars in the area more often than not for hundreds or even thousands of years.

But he has

1. Helped bring ISIS close to defeat.

2. Had three noble peace prize nominations for 2021 noble peace prize.

3. Helped bring about peace deals in the region (think it was four all up?)

4. Most importantly he didn't start any new wars/conflicts the first president not to do so in decades.

That last one in itself is huge.

I remember when Trump was elected and even though i was stoked watching the left go into meltdown, i myself still had a little bit of fear of what would come war wise, lets be honest we all thought he would create new conflicts/wars.

He has proven us all wrong in this area.

I cant be bothered myself, but id love to see a comparison to past USA presidents of the last 30 to 50 years and see how he rates, surely he would be close to the most peaceful USA president on a world scale, just not starting a new conflict puts him ahead of pretty much all the others.

Trump even with all his antics was a great president not to mention entertaining
as above said no new wars and was getting USA back into shape only leader to
directly call out China on its virus war on the world. He did make a massive mistake
with underestimating the Chinese virus and possibly cost him the election. This new guy looks week and already seems to be pandering to these Chinese RATS they are saying the black Asian girl ( I hope shes not part Chinese ) is the real power. All I know China has become a major threat to Australia and our way of
living and without America to protect us we are doomed. China would appear
to be preparing something very special for us in a few years. This country has
every conceivable thing they need. Even koalas for their dinner and maybe even
future koala virus.

The Chinese Rats want Koalas for Dinner

Best wishes to Joe but the loony left will be devastated that the inauguration week went so peacefully. Their hopes/predictions of mass protests and disruption was proven (unsurprisingly) to be empty hysteria. Now, if Donald had won, there wouldn't have been a TV set left or vehicle unburned in and around the White House.

Trump is a failure, lost the House and the Senate...end of story in US politics!
Whatever way you want to spin his Presidency, the discussion on this forum proves exactly how divisive he was.

"Sypkan, do you remember in the early days of the Pandemic when that leaked audio of Trump came out admitting flat out that he deliberately down played the seriousness of Covid-19 because he didn’t want the general public to panic, when he actually knew how serious it was? All depends on your definition of “saving the world” I suppose...."

with respect rabbit, this is the dumbest argument ever, that keeps getting trotted out by various sources, for various point scoring exercises...

do you remember how just about every leader across the world has downplayed the seriousness of the virus, because they don't want the general public to panic?

because they have, big time

if world leaders told the public what they actually knew about this virus it would have been absolute mayhem, ...it already is...

if world leaders told the public now what they actually know the mayhem would unleash next level again

it's what governments do, to keep the peace and some semblance of cooperation, trump probably overplayed it, as did jokowi in indo, but they all have their own style and challenges to deal with

I'd say jokowi is one of the best leaders ever, and he totally downplayed it, ...to the point of flat out lying... not his finest hour... from my perspective... but Im sure there are people who would argue he did what he needed to do

trump overcooked it too, but for the media to constantly bring this up as some kind of all encompassing gotcha moment (...yet another one... sigh...) is just disingenuous to say the least

What a coincidence !!!!!!

Back to normal indeed.....

The WHO completely down played the virus, remember when they didnt even want countries to close their borders to China.

"WHO Chief Urges Countries Not to Close Borders to Foreigners From China"

https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/who-chief-ur...

Yay great job WHO and who called out the WHO pretty much no one except Trump