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State Terror, American Style

paulkrugman.substack.com

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Re: State Terror, American Style

#41

Post by ModernMech »

throwaway173738 wrote: post #35
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #10

Are they limiting their raids to be within 'blue' states / districts to minimise the collateral damage their reputation may receive from those sympathetic to this cause? Chicago was 77% Democrat in the last election. These behaviours won't stop if there's no blowback from the MAGA base.

It’s also about scaring the liberals into compliance.

Let's not be naive -- scaring people into compliance is what they do to conservatives via Fox News.

With liberals, deploying the military to their cities is about instigating actual violence, so they can imprison and kill them.

Re: State Terror, American Style

#42

Post by [deleted] »

srean wrote: post #6

What I found so remarkable was Trump's address to the generals. I am a little queasy of throwing the fascism word around willy nilly, but the story of "internal enemies" could not have been more formulaic.

[deleted]

Re: State Terror, American Style

#43

Post by ModernMech »

foogazi wrote: post #31
tdeck wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was after Trump's secretary of war said the following on the same stage: “We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy,” Hegseth said. “We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement.” It's not exactly subtle. The message i…

All very vague We all have an understanding of the power of the US military and its foreign agencies But it’s tough to square this quote with that - what is going to change ? What does a nuclear superpower need to be untied ? Mass world surveillance, bombing foreign countries? All of that has happened - what more is needed and why ?

> All of that has happened - what more is needed and why ?

Who they are threatening:

1) Latin American people and countries

2) Canada + Greenland

3) US Liberal cities.

The American war machine has come home to the Western hemisphere. This is a declaration of war against us.

As for the why... again listen to them. Trump said it: "I am your retribution". This is all about settling petty vindictive scores.

Re: State Terror, American Style

#44

Post by [deleted] »

foogazi wrote: post #31
tdeck wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was after Trump's secretary of war said the following on the same stage: “We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy,” Hegseth said. “We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement.” It's not exactly subtle. The message i…

All very vague We all have an understanding of the power of the US military and its foreign agencies But it’s tough to square this quote with that - what is going to change ? What does a nuclear superpower need to be untied ? Mass world surveillance, bombing foreign countries? All of that has happened - what more is needed and why ?

[deleted]

Re: State Terror, American Style

#45

Post by throwaway173738 »

lapcat wrote: post #40
throwaway173738 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How convenient that you have an argument for lumping together both a party that wants to continue the liberal democracy and a party that wants to cling to power at the expense of creating an actual authoritarian state complete with a secret police.

The two parties are not the same, but the privately funded electoral system of the US applies to all parties. Democrats cannot escape the corrupting influence of money. Consider, as a revealing example, the Patriot Act of 2001. There was more resisitance to it from Democrats than from Republicans, yet there was still not nearly enough resistance. In the Senate, the vote was 98-1, with only Democrat Russ Feingold agai…

What do you want people to do about the current crisis? What action could be taken to resolve the situation today?

Re: State Terror, American Style

#46

Post by HankStallone »

bko wrote: post #22
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article, from my reading, is separating this particular behaviour from normal law enforcement behaviour, and within that space of difference is the problem. It is a problem of recent creation.

'democracy' is used 4 times. Arguments like this: >But as I said, this isn’t about crime. It’s about paranoid conspiracy theories and an attempt to dismantle democracy. Most people don't think of 'normal law enforcement', they just see crime, people in the country illegally and others trying to make law enforcements job harder. They don't care about these types of arguments about how this is different from "normal" l…

"Democracy" in these discussions increasingly just means the 21st-century bureaucratic status quo. It no longer has anything to do with antiquated notions like "the will of the people." If the people want something different, they're trying to dismantle democracy and should be ignored and given what the managerial class knows is best for them.

Persuading the voters is seen as a last resort, a distasteful task that really shouldn't be necessary, if we could just get the right systems in place to keep them pacified and voting for more of the same.

Re: State Terror, American Style

#47

Post by iseletsk »

I visited Portland a month ago. There are security guards at each pharmacy and supermarket. I got screamed at by a violent/homeless person because I walked on her block. Some streets - and we are talking downtown/center - I was just afraid or disgusted to walk on. So, yes, Portland is a dump that needs to get cleaned up.

Re: State Terror, American Style

#48

Post by JohnFen »

srean wrote: post #6

What I found so remarkable was Trump's address to the generals. I am a little queasy of throwing the fascism word around willy nilly, but the story of "internal enemies" could not have been more formulaic.

That entire event was the loud, blaring claxon that the current administration has actually declared war on the US. It was straight-up treasonous.

Re: State Terror, American Style

#49

Post by AnimalMuppet »

ModernMech wrote: post #41
throwaway173738 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also about scaring the liberals into compliance.

Let's not be naive -- scaring people into compliance is what they do to conservatives via Fox News. With liberals, deploying the military to their cities is about instigating actual violence, so they can imprison and kill them.

Ah. They actually want a violent confrontation. That would explain some things.

Re: State Terror, American Style

#50

Post by actionfromafar »

MSFT_Edging wrote: post #39
actionfromafar wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Please avoid political speech" is often just shorthand for "you are not allowed to talk about how the current rules just so happen to be my rules".

It's easy to forget the Hacker website is actually just a VC discussion board and the "avoid politics" is simply "avoid talking about our future business lines"

Haha, yes. I meant more in general discourse though. Maybe HN should shift to "how to prosper in a dictatorship". :)
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