I keep finding the parallels with 1930s Germany irresistible. Arnie has already talked about Krystalnacht, and add the seizing of the Reichstag, Goebbels fake news campaign, a very hard-up section of the Arian population convinced it’s the fault of a racial group, a growingly right-wing press, but above all opposition leaders and citizens across Europe all convinced that the next outrageous action being considered was something he wouldn’t dare do, and being proved wrong.

A week ago I thought that the state by state insurrections being planned for Inauguration Day were a wild prediction and most unlikely. Now I’m not so sure.

https://twitter.com/bitburner/status/1348558563019427842

This is just, well, brilliant. The geeky lot here would find this thread hilarious, but - long story short - all of the security authentications for Parler was made available, so admin accounts were created which didn't need any authorisation. The hackers could also see who were the existing admin accounts ... so they changed those passwords. And then, as the existing Parler administrators were locked out, the hackers downloaded all of the Parler data (about 70TB) - files, video clips, the lot.

But it wasn't just the hackers who got hold of this information - so did the FBI, so now the FBI knows who is on Parler, who is talking to who, what they've said, where they are and *who they are*. How did they know this? Because part of the authentication process for Parler was a picture of that user's driving license.

This is how the FBI managed to get info about a credible threat of an attack on Inauguration Day, and why so many people have suddenly been added to their "no fly" list.

That is brilliant! It seems that many of those brave patriots were busy deleting stuff, but...

"Also, a lot of posts were deleted by Parler members after the riots on the 6th. Turned out... Parler didn't actually delete anything.. just set a bit as deleted."

I keep finding the parallels with 1930s Germany irresistible. Arnie has already talked about Krystalnacht, and add the seizing of the Reichstag, Goebbels fake news campaign, a very hard-up section of the Arian population convinced it’s the fault of a racial group, a growingly right-wing press, but above all opposition leaders and citizens across Europe all convinced that the next outrageous action being considered was something he wouldn’t dare do, and being proved wrong.

A week ago I thought that the state by state insurrections being planned for Inauguration Day were a wild prediction and most unlikely. Now I’m not so sure.

Yes, the parallells have been uncomfortable since before he even got elected, and have just been falling more and more into line ever since.

I'm sure there will still at least be attempts to "storm" all 50 capitols plus DC, but don't I think they'll be so enthusiastic or well attended now.

As John Lydon one said, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/16/us-capitol-rioters-donald-trump-pardons

As John Lydon one said, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/16/us-capitol-rioters-donald-trump-pardons

The trouble is... I can well see him doing a mass pardon in the next few days. Let's hope that DC can get them on lots of non-federal crimes as well, leaving them beyond Trump's ever so generous reach. (I can't say state crimes because, bizarrely, DC is not a state and has no representation at all in Congress. That's also why they had to wait for other states' National Guards to be called in on the 6th, because they don't have one of their own.)

I keep finding the parallels with 1930s Germany irresistible. Arnie has already talked about Krystalnacht, and add the seizing of the Reichstag, Goebbels fake news campaign, a very hard-up section of the Arian population convinced it’s the fault of a racial group, a growingly right-wing press, but above all opposition leaders and citizens across Europe all convinced that the next outrageous action being considered was something he wouldn’t dare do, and being proved wrong.

A week ago I thought that the state by state insurrections being planned for Inauguration Day were a wild prediction and most unlikely. Now I’m not so sure.

Yes, the parallells have been uncomfortable since before he even got elected, and have just been falling more and more into line ever since.

I'm sure there will still at least be attempts to "storm" all 50 capitols plus DC, but don't I think they'll be so enthusiastic or well attended now.

And the parallels are emphasised even more by his disregard for human life and eagerness to kill as many as he can on Death Row. All black apart from one woman. He's enabled it on a whim and because he can, which says more about him than the criminals he has had executed and asks the question how far would he go if he had control of the totalitarian state he appears to crave.

And there were concerns that this dear old 74 four year old could possibly be halted by Covid before he could achieve his ambitions.

I keep finding the parallels with 1930s Germany irresistible. Arnie has already talked about Krystalnacht, and add the seizing of the Reichstag, Goebbels fake news campaign, a very hard-up section of the Arian population convinced it’s the fault of a racial group, a growingly right-wing press, but above all opposition leaders and citizens across Europe all convinced that the next outrageous action being considered was something he wouldn’t dare do, and being proved wrong.

A week ago I thought that the state by state insurrections being planned for Inauguration Day were a wild prediction and most unlikely. Now I’m not so sure.

Yes, the parallells have been uncomfortable since before he even got elected, and have just been falling more and more into line ever since.

I'm sure there will still at least be attempts to "storm" all 50 capitols plus DC, but don't I think they'll be so enthusiastic or well attended now.

And the parallels are emphasised even more by his disregard for human life and eagerness to kill as many as he can on Death Row. All black apart from one woman. He's enabled it on a whim and because he can, which says more about him than the criminals he has had executed and asks the question how far would he go if he had control of the totalitarian state he appears to crave ?

And there were concerns that this dear old 74 four year old could possibly be halted by Covid before he could achieve his ambitions.

The trouble is... I can well see him doing a mass pardon in the next few days. Let's hope that DC can get them on lots of non-federal crimes as well, leaving them beyond Trump's ever so generous reach. (I can't say state crimes because, bizarrely, DC is not a state and has no representation at all in Congress. That's also why they had to wait for other states' National Guards to be called in on the 6th, because they don't have one of their own.)

I'm not sure he can issue a pardon for an event which he was also impeached for.

The trouble is... I can well see him doing a mass pardon in the next few days. Let's hope that DC can get them on lots of non-federal crimes as well, leaving them beyond Trump's ever so generous reach. (I can't say state crimes because, bizarrely, DC is not a state and has no representation at all in Congress. That's also why they had to wait for other states' National Guards to be called in on the 6th, because they don't have one of their own.)

I'm not sure he can issue a pardon for an event which he was also impeached for.

That won't stop him doing it if the whim takes him, then (not) worrying about the consequences later! Actually, I think the only thing that would stop him would be the advice from one of those very few remaining sensible lawyers in his orbit that it would seriously damage his own legal standing - the same lawyers who forced him, kicking and screaming, to release those videos "denouncing violence".

The trouble is... I can well see him doing a mass pardon in the next few days. Let's hope that DC can get them on lots of non-federal crimes as well, leaving them beyond Trump's ever so generous reach. (I can't say state crimes because, bizarrely, DC is not a state and has no representation at all in Congress. That's also why they had to wait for other states' National Guards to be called in on the 6th, because they don't have one of their own.)

I'm not sure he can issue a pardon for an event which he was also impeached for.

That won't stop him doing it if the whim takes him, then (not) worrying about the consequences later! Actually, I think the only thing that would stop him would be the advice from one of those very few remaining sensible lawyers in his orbit that it would seriously damage his own legal standing - the same lawyers who forced him, kicking and screaming, to release those videos "denouncing violence".

May be a silly question but can someone be pardoned when they haven't actually been convicted yet?!

The trouble is... I can well see him doing a mass pardon in the next few days. Let's hope that DC can get them on lots of non-federal crimes as well, leaving them beyond Trump's ever so generous reach. (I can't say state crimes because, bizarrely, DC is not a state and has no representation at all in Congress. That's also why they had to wait for other states' National Guards to be called in on the 6th, because they don't have one of their own.)

I'm not sure he can issue a pardon for an event which he was also impeached for.

That won't stop him doing it if the whim takes him, then (not) worrying about the consequences later! Actually, I think the only thing that would stop him would be the advice from one of those very few remaining sensible lawyers in his orbit that it would seriously damage his own legal standing - the same lawyers who forced him, kicking and screaming, to release those videos "denouncing violence".

May be a silly question but can someone be pardoned when they haven't actually been convicted yet?!

Well, that's one of the many frankly ludicrous legal questions that Trump has forced so many people to ask - same as all the mooted "preemptive" pardons for his family members, Giuliani, and all those other pond-scum lowlifes that he attracts. Yet again, he's forcing the country to wade into dark, murky, dangerous, uncharted waters because nobody ever imagined that someone could possibly rise all the way to the presidency while being a truly loathsome and totally amoral scumbag of the lowest possible order.

I don't like him very much.

The trouble is... I can well see him doing a mass pardon in the next few days. Let's hope that DC can get them on lots of non-federal crimes as well, leaving them beyond Trump's ever so generous reach. (I can't say state crimes because, bizarrely, DC is not a state and has no representation at all in Congress. That's also why they had to wait for other states' National Guards to be called in on the 6th, because they don't have one of their own.)

I'm not sure he can issue a pardon for an event which he was also impeached for.

That won't stop him doing it if the whim takes him, then (not) worrying about the consequences later! Actually, I think the only thing that would stop him would be the advice from one of those very few remaining sensible lawyers in his orbit that it would seriously damage his own legal standing - the same lawyers who forced him, kicking and screaming, to release those videos "denouncing violence".

May be a silly question but can someone be pardoned when they haven't actually been convicted yet?!

Well, that's one of the many frankly ludicrous legal questions that Trump has forced so many people to ask - same as all the mooted "preemptive" pardons for his family members, Giuliani, and all those other pond-scum lowlifes that he attracts. Yet again, he's forcing the country to wade into dark, murky, dangerous, uncharted waters because nobody ever imagined that someone could possibly rise all the way to the presidency while being a truly loathsome and totally amoral scumbag of the lowest possible order.

I don't like him very much.

What are his good points though?!

The trouble is... I can well see him doing a mass pardon in the next few days. Let's hope that DC can get them on lots of non-federal crimes as well, leaving them beyond Trump's ever so generous reach. (I can't say state crimes because, bizarrely, DC is not a state and has no representation at all in Congress. That's also why they had to wait for other states' National Guards to be called in on the 6th, because they don't have one of their own.)

I'm not sure he can issue a pardon for an event which he was also impeached for.

That won't stop him doing it if the whim takes him, then (not) worrying about the consequences later! Actually, I think the only thing that would stop him would be the advice from one of those very few remaining sensible lawyers in his orbit that it would seriously damage his own legal standing - the same lawyers who forced him, kicking and screaming, to release those videos "denouncing violence".

May be a silly question but can someone be pardoned when they haven't actually been convicted yet?!

Well, that's one of the many frankly ludicrous legal questions that Trump has forced so many people to ask - same as all the mooted "preemptive" pardons for his family members, Giuliani, and all those other pond-scum lowlifes that he attracts. Yet again, he's forcing the country to wade into dark, murky, dangerous, uncharted waters because nobody ever imagined that someone could possibly rise all the way to the presidency while being a truly loathsome and totally amoral scumbag of the lowest possible order.

I don't like him very much.

What are his good points though?!

My wife and I discussed this question, and we genuinely couldn’t think of one single advantage to his presence in this world. The one thing that shocked me most about him was contained in a documentary on his life I watched last year. I was unaware of how big a celebrity he already was in the states at the time of his first divorce. The programme showed an interview at the time where the interviewer asked the cause of the divorce. Trump said “well, after our third child was born, I couldn’t possibly go to bed with a woman who had produced three children”.

This is a precise quote, and was said with no sense of irony, or jokiness of any kind; he really meant it.
As a father of three I found this truly shocking. To state publicly that his immediate sexual needs totally outweighed all other considerations normally associated with fatherhood, without the remotest twinge of a conscience, proved to me the real depths of his narcissism.