Trump just praised a violent rallygoer who attempted to inflict violence on the press. Earlier this week, his team pushed aside an Arlington Cemetary official who protested his photo-op. Enough.
Because close to half, if not fully half of this Country, is inhabited by Adult American Citizens who are enamored of "Christian" White-Nationalist Fascism. As outlined in Project 2025. And they hate democracy. I mean Hate democracy. Because democracy means their eventual loss of political power, even at the State and local level. And they know it. They've seen the writing on the wall. And the only way they know to remain in power is to subvert the results of free and fair small "d" democratic elections, by cheating and changing the rules. In my opinion, that is the short, and unpleasant reality that answers your question and the very real threat that all Constitution-loving citizens face.
The normalization of Trump’s behavior has at least four elements. First, he may be a loon, but he is a rich, white, male Republican loon. Second. I fear we no longer give kids a sense of the perils of authoritarianism. The relatives and friends who remembered the Holocaust or Stalinism are fast dying out. Even thinking about our troops no longer is as vivid in people’s thoughts. I remember wearing a POW bracelet in school. That made me think of Vietnam on a regular basis. The protests at the universities occurred when I was a child in NY. They made an impact too. But the students weren’t protesting just the treatment of civilians, they were concerned about the draft, and about the deaths of young soldiers. (Not that old soldiers do not deserve equal worry.)
Third, there is a sense in the country that it will blow over if you ignore it. Trump is just a thug with lots of thugs around him. Sadly Hitler was only a thug with his rough and uncouth savage brown shirts around him. Like Trump, he disposed of followers who were no longer of use. He killed his officers in the Night of the Ling Knives. So when Trump is talking about retribution we should be very concerned. Even if he only means imprisonment. His thugs, of course, may decide more is indicated. How much will Vance think his ruffled feathers are worth? If you read The Rise of the Third Reich, you will find remarkable parallels between the Nazis and MAGA. I am not catastrophizing. Look for yourselves. Remember that the best way for an authoritarian to stay in power is to kill all their enemies. Second best is to kill or imprison a random selection (see Stalin and the Great Terror), and put the fear of God in everyone else. Russian citizens turned one another in at an astonishing rate because they thought they could earn Brownie points that way. They were wrong. Or you could starve millions as Stalin did to the Ukrainians in the Xolodomer.
Have you noticed how Trump’s minions, including LaCivita, have all become openly aggressive? They were both physically and verbally confrontational at Arlington. And there was a lot of that about in DC during Trump’s photo op amid a Black Lives Matter protest. It doesn’t change. It gets worse. Sad thing is that it works. The Arlington worker should and could have pressed charges, but WAS AFRAID to do so. Why are we not supporting these people? We should have their backs when they do the right thing.
The last major piece is the media’s overt, stupid or inadvertent support for Trump. The call of the dollar is behind most of it. You need ratings. But I fail to see what “the balance approach” does as it is neither exciting nor elucidating.
I have lots of ideas for the long term, but for now Trump must be held accountable for everything, and we should guard his accusers from harm. The media must be shamed. And we must stop watching because viewers mean money. Problem is that some media outlet owners don’t need the money. They would prefer to mandate their preferred vision. Things are tough, but underscoring Kamala’s joy and the egregious rhetoric of Trance and Vump might help. A lot of people are sickened by what they say.
One other thought. Trump may be an old geezer, but his supporters, particularly the Christian Nationalists are not, and they have a ton of cash on hand for purchasing their political future.
Exactly right. Where the heck is Merrick Garland and the DOJ. If we had "Bill bar" there would be a lot of people already bind Bars! Sickening to see this and just feel helpless. Very important to help with getting folks to vote blue everywhere!
barr is a federalist. he’s responsible for a lot. nixon reagan and more. fox news got created late /after nixon, to get their version out. this has been an ongoing project, project 2025 came out of heritage docs written for reagan. now there’s so many enthralled by (speech patterns etc) of the faux notion of going back to a time of greatness. 🤷🏽♀️
Enough my sweet patootie, I mean, come on, he deliberately and explicitly--not just stochastically!--called for violence multiple times during his first campaign in 2016, was allowed to get away with it scot-free and has continued ever since including Jan 6. Why would he, or anyone, believe anything or anyone would even try to make him stop now.
why? desperation. desire to live. wanting a good life for all, including youngsters to Not receive their inculcation in the schools (as is already in several states). effective regulation of toxins, clean water, air, earth … for health of all species flora, fauna, avian 🤎
It's often difficult to strike the right chord in dealing with Magas, but I think my combination of a doormat that says "Welcome, Magas. Ignore the Claymores" might get it right. It's my anti-stochastic terrorist formula.
Thank you for this. Have shared this with fellow ex-pats and the national news media here (publicly funded abc aus) in Australia. Constantly they cover trump (making him relevant) and hardly a mention of Harris and Walz.. and I'm constantly emailing complaints to public media as taxpayers here are paying for at least 3 journalists to cover the US presidential campaign... "Both sides" reporting has crept into international reporting even though globally Trump is considered an idiot buffoon that 'quirky gun-toting right-wing Americans' have mindlessly made powerful..
Ruining the reputation of America generally (Internationally) trumpism has only added to the disrespect for America's stance on supplying weaponry in conflicts that involve genocide. If Harris is not elected this global reputation of America (and its people) will never recover.
The MAGA guard will turn around and say, “Uh, we’re killing you all tomorrow,” to which the journalist will respond, “Great! Can I have the exclusive?”
This is basically what was portrayed in the recent movie Civil War. Not only the ghastliness of such a conflict, but the Press's too eager coverage of it. The fpotus will be encouraging more and more violence from his minions as the election ends, and the results certified. He was proud of the guy who rushed the press area at his rally, and said it made his rallies "exciting"; the sick horror that is fpotus is metastasizing daily. He must be stopped at the voting booth and by the courts, in spite of the expectation this SC will absolve the fpotus of all criminal acts. We need Harris/Walz to win in a landslide. MSM will then die out from their sycophancy, and sources such as Substack will proliferate to give us real coverage of events.
His violent core drips with putrid sickness. He is a vile thing that I cannot even equate to being human. His and why are others drawn to him and would vote for him? I have a million questions but the same answer appears … The Law of Attraction. It attracts every sick person out there who needs sees their internal beast mirrored in its orange mass of greasy flesh. And their dark side bathes in his ignorance and violence and utter stupidity. Until they wake up then lay horrified in their beds.
Trump's psychotic behavior is normalized by his MAGA sycophants and the news media, who love him because he cranks out a new scandal every day. Let's just make sure we keep him out of returning to the WH. He's an old geezer with authoritarian dreams.
I can hardly wait to see the NYT's headline tomorrow. /s
You speak the TRUTH, my compatriot! I am the Widow of a Boriqua (Native Puerto Rican) Soldier named Tito. Tito served in ‘Nam 1968-1970, Combat Engineer, Spec 5 Charlie Company and a “Tunnel Rat” due to his slim, albeit muscular build and slight stature. It angers me to no end that this white “PIGMAN”, whom if truth be told—desires to be brown, given his wearing the absolute absurd shade of girlie makeup! “ORANGE” But listen! The “Orange PIGMAN” is a goddamn freakin’ crazy craven 5X draft dodging mothafuckin’ FOP, okay? I’m a Very, Very proud born New Yawka whom is an Italian/Irish American. I am now in my late 60’s but I’d still knock “orangey trumpie” into the middle of next week, I despise him that much.!! There you have it. Vija! Y Waaaapa!!
I very much appreciate you and your moral courage for writing this article, for asking this question and for speaking up since day one nine years ago. I agree with every point you made here, especially in asking “Where the hell is the DOJ?” I’ve asked that since the day Garland reported for work.
Garland and Biden will go down in the history books - if history is allowed to be written truthfully - for allowing trump to continue his assaults against our country, society, laws and individual people. Biden for not treating trump as the very real threat he is and has been all along (remember him making jokes about trump as “the other guy” for laughs?) and for choosing a person utterly unsuited as our AG. Garland has failed every one of us in declining to hold trump and his group of thugs responsible for every law broken, for every subpoena ignored, for every verbal and physical threat fomented against our very country and against individuals from General Miley on down the line.
No legal accountability or consequence only strengthened their resolve and actions. Trump and his ilk know, beyond any doubt, that they can continue their rampage over us all.
Here’s a personal example of how trump’s poison has filtered down. I served in the US Army for ten years and ended up disabled while doing so. For female veterans medical care has to be fought for (even before trump). You fight against the VA’s standard responses of “you can live it”, “it’s not nearly as bad as you think it is” and “you’re just an anxious/angry/neurotic woman, go away”. After years of living with military service caused spine injuries I desperately need spine surgery now before I end up in a wheelchair. Yet I have been denied that surgery since October 2023 by a hateful, misogynistic VA employee. He has denied my various primary care doctor’s requests for authorization to send me to a non-VA spine surgeon 13+ times. His ‘medical’ reason? “She can live with it”. He told me “you’re just a complainer and I’ll NEVER authorize this surgery”. How do I know this is blatant misogyny? I’ve had multiple medical tests that prove the service connected spine injuries exist and are deteriorating. He regularly authorizes the same surgery for male veterans. Another VA employee even spoke up and verified this and yet, this individual is not only allowed to treat me this way he is fully supported in doing so by a Deputy Chief of Staff and a Medical Director at the VA hospital who both quote him and his reason of “she can live with it” with each denial. When I wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper to warn other female veterans of how I have been treated a violently killed dead rat was left in a garbage bag on my doorstep three days after the letter was published. Now my medical files are being altered - the reports submitted by other doctors and myself were recently removed so this person now claims “there’s no evidence to back up her complaints”. I’ve notified the VA OIG and even the Secretary of the VA several times each and nothing has been done. I contacted Senator Todd Young’s office for help and was told “we can’t make the VA do anything”. An employee of his was highly sympathetic (which I appreciated) but said those words and wished me good luck as she closed out my request for help.
I’ve been treated like this because at least one third of our population believes women deserve to suffer, to be ground under the heel of toxic masculinity that is and has been trump’s modus operandi. This behavior has increased beyond belief for nine years along with racism, bigotry, xenophobia, cruelty and hatred. When behaviors like these aren’t confronted and aren’t held legally responsible as they happen you end up with where we are today. The Arlington employee is, completely understandably, frightened to stand up against the vile pieces of shit who shoved her and ridiculed her. She knows no one who should absolutely have her back will. She knows what will happen to her and her life if she presses charges and speaks out.
This wave of aggressive, vile behavior that has been openly directed against many others (and against me, a nobody) will continue to grow and build until your dark joke is plain reality. That’s where we are headed.
(I figure I’ll end up in one of Miller’s “re-education” camps and since I’ll be in a wheelchair by then I’ll be one of the first to disappear. Can’t have any of those “loser suckers” who served and then ended up disabled speaking out for justice or for the medical care they earned, especially a woman who won’t stay in her place - quiet, obedient and subservient.)
PS. I wrote this ⬆️ earlier, at oh-dark-thirty while lying on icepacks to try and numb the sharp nerve pains from the ruptured disc in my back that is pressing directly on the sciatic nerve root, and I just now realized I forgot to tie together how our society has changed due to trump with what is happening to me at the VA. Sorry about that.
While I’ve always had to fight for medical care at the VA and always had to deal with verbal and sexual abuse at the VA, until trump began spewing his hatred, misogyny, racism, bigotry and ugliness at all of us on a daily basis I was always able to eventually get the medical care I needed. It could take years but I always ended up getting the medical care. (It took being the proverbial, tenacious squeaky wheel.)
However, beginning after his escalator ride, the verbal and sexual abuse increased and actual physical abuse began - all slowly at first and then quite rapidly - and I’m now blatantly, gleefully, denied medical care even in the face of medical evidence it is needed. Contrary to what Secretary McDonough says, reporting the abuse - physical, verbal and sexual, does nothing. Asking for help, following all the proper protocols for help, does nothing.
We’ve all been subjected to a daily onslaught of abuse, lies and gaslighting from trump and his cult for years. Those who agree with him have taken to acting like him - without reservation or shame. Those who don’t have been fighting to preserve who we are, what we believe in and to watch out for those who can’t fight back. This has all deeply affected each of us in so many ways - from our daily moods to how we live our lives. Telling my story shows one example of what has changed. I’m going to end up in a wheelchair - or worse - because of how abuse has become accepted and even celebrated.
We have to keep fighting back and watching out for each other.
The problem of course is the limitation by US v Brandenburg of "incitement" to speech "“directed to inciting or producing IMMINENT lawless action and is LIKELY to incite or produce such action.” (emphasis added). The problem with stochastic terrorism is that it is indirect. I understand that this is why Jack Smith's J6 case doesn't have a cause of action for incitement.
This actually protects a lot of speech that isn't intended to actually produce action: say Joan Baez singing "raze the prisons to the ground" and then someone trying to blow up a prison. Trump sails pretty close to the wind.
I've wondered if the courts would entertain a statute allowing a private right of action to victims of stochastic terrorism against both the perp and the instigator. The burden would be on plaintiff to show that the instigator at least intended to inflame his followers and that the perp actually thought he was being told to do something in particular advocated by that inflammatory speech.
Would having this a private right of action (not a crime, but a tort action) get around the First Amendment's narrow exception? Lord only knows, and probably not THIS Extreme Court if the perp and instigator were right wing.
But the threat of a lawsuit might cause at least some folks to tone down their attempts. Not, sadly, trump.
That may be in ordinary usage, but the TERM here involves an specific instigator who is advocating a general kind of violence, though possibly of selected targets. Thus you can't just substitute "random violence" which could arise from a variety of causes. In some cases even WITH an instigator the call to violence may simply be too general to even count as 'stochastic terrorism." "Fight for your rights with all you've got" for example.
Stochastic terrorism aims at a particular person or group of people in the instigating and appeals to a specific group of people (the followers prone to violence); the random part is not being able to predict which of THAT group might respond, or specifically how and, for purposes of Brandenburg, specifically when. It becomes plain incitement if it tells a specific group to take a specific action now: carrying a torch and urging others to go burn down the police station which is then done by admittedly random people in that group.
Stochastic means "random" but when joined with "terrorism" involves leaving the timing open and vague--just 'sometime' which puts it into an incitement NOT covered by Brandenburg because of the lack of "imminence." It also can be a dog whistle rather than a call for a specific act: "the judge in New York is so unfair" suggesting that he doesn't deserve to be left unpunished--but without saying "go punish the NY judge." Or simply calling something horrific The China Virus, leaving it up to random followers to punish people of Chinese descent.
It's a term that hasn't been much needed until the trumpian era. It also implies an increased likelihood of violent acts, caused by the instigation.
Because close to half, if not fully half of this Country, is inhabited by Adult American Citizens who are enamored of "Christian" White-Nationalist Fascism. As outlined in Project 2025. And they hate democracy. I mean Hate democracy. Because democracy means their eventual loss of political power, even at the State and local level. And they know it. They've seen the writing on the wall. And the only way they know to remain in power is to subvert the results of free and fair small "d" democratic elections, by cheating and changing the rules. In my opinion, that is the short, and unpleasant reality that answers your question and the very real threat that all Constitution-loving citizens face.
Not nearly that many, although sometimes it feels like it.
The normalization of Trump’s behavior has at least four elements. First, he may be a loon, but he is a rich, white, male Republican loon. Second. I fear we no longer give kids a sense of the perils of authoritarianism. The relatives and friends who remembered the Holocaust or Stalinism are fast dying out. Even thinking about our troops no longer is as vivid in people’s thoughts. I remember wearing a POW bracelet in school. That made me think of Vietnam on a regular basis. The protests at the universities occurred when I was a child in NY. They made an impact too. But the students weren’t protesting just the treatment of civilians, they were concerned about the draft, and about the deaths of young soldiers. (Not that old soldiers do not deserve equal worry.)
Third, there is a sense in the country that it will blow over if you ignore it. Trump is just a thug with lots of thugs around him. Sadly Hitler was only a thug with his rough and uncouth savage brown shirts around him. Like Trump, he disposed of followers who were no longer of use. He killed his officers in the Night of the Ling Knives. So when Trump is talking about retribution we should be very concerned. Even if he only means imprisonment. His thugs, of course, may decide more is indicated. How much will Vance think his ruffled feathers are worth? If you read The Rise of the Third Reich, you will find remarkable parallels between the Nazis and MAGA. I am not catastrophizing. Look for yourselves. Remember that the best way for an authoritarian to stay in power is to kill all their enemies. Second best is to kill or imprison a random selection (see Stalin and the Great Terror), and put the fear of God in everyone else. Russian citizens turned one another in at an astonishing rate because they thought they could earn Brownie points that way. They were wrong. Or you could starve millions as Stalin did to the Ukrainians in the Xolodomer.
Have you noticed how Trump’s minions, including LaCivita, have all become openly aggressive? They were both physically and verbally confrontational at Arlington. And there was a lot of that about in DC during Trump’s photo op amid a Black Lives Matter protest. It doesn’t change. It gets worse. Sad thing is that it works. The Arlington worker should and could have pressed charges, but WAS AFRAID to do so. Why are we not supporting these people? We should have their backs when they do the right thing.
The last major piece is the media’s overt, stupid or inadvertent support for Trump. The call of the dollar is behind most of it. You need ratings. But I fail to see what “the balance approach” does as it is neither exciting nor elucidating.
I have lots of ideas for the long term, but for now Trump must be held accountable for everything, and we should guard his accusers from harm. The media must be shamed. And we must stop watching because viewers mean money. Problem is that some media outlet owners don’t need the money. They would prefer to mandate their preferred vision. Things are tough, but underscoring Kamala’s joy and the egregious rhetoric of Trance and Vump might help. A lot of people are sickened by what they say.
Excellent analysis. Thank you!
Well said. I couldn't agree more. I'm sorry I have nothing clever to offer but appreciate those such as yourself who tell it like it is.
Thank you. You make it worth the effort.
You couldn't be more right. Where the hell IS the Department of Justice??
One other thought. Trump may be an old geezer, but his supporters, particularly the Christian Nationalists are not, and they have a ton of cash on hand for purchasing their political future.
Exactly right. Where the heck is Merrick Garland and the DOJ. If we had "Bill bar" there would be a lot of people already bind Bars! Sickening to see this and just feel helpless. Very important to help with getting folks to vote blue everywhere!
barr is a federalist. he’s responsible for a lot. nixon reagan and more. fox news got created late /after nixon, to get their version out. this has been an ongoing project, project 2025 came out of heritage docs written for reagan. now there’s so many enthralled by (speech patterns etc) of the faux notion of going back to a time of greatness. 🤷🏽♀️
Enough my sweet patootie, I mean, come on, he deliberately and explicitly--not just stochastically!--called for violence multiple times during his first campaign in 2016, was allowed to get away with it scot-free and has continued ever since including Jan 6. Why would he, or anyone, believe anything or anyone would even try to make him stop now.
Stochastic means random, keeping people off balance. Nothing works better than surprise.
why? desperation. desire to live. wanting a good life for all, including youngsters to Not receive their inculcation in the schools (as is already in several states). effective regulation of toxins, clean water, air, earth … for health of all species flora, fauna, avian 🤎
It's often difficult to strike the right chord in dealing with Magas, but I think my combination of a doormat that says "Welcome, Magas. Ignore the Claymores" might get it right. It's my anti-stochastic terrorist formula.
Thank you for this. Have shared this with fellow ex-pats and the national news media here (publicly funded abc aus) in Australia. Constantly they cover trump (making him relevant) and hardly a mention of Harris and Walz.. and I'm constantly emailing complaints to public media as taxpayers here are paying for at least 3 journalists to cover the US presidential campaign... "Both sides" reporting has crept into international reporting even though globally Trump is considered an idiot buffoon that 'quirky gun-toting right-wing Americans' have mindlessly made powerful..
Ruining the reputation of America generally (Internationally) trumpism has only added to the disrespect for America's stance on supplying weaponry in conflicts that involve genocide. If Harris is not elected this global reputation of America (and its people) will never recover.
The MAGA guard will turn around and say, “Uh, we’re killing you all tomorrow,” to which the journalist will respond, “Great! Can I have the exclusive?”
This is basically what was portrayed in the recent movie Civil War. Not only the ghastliness of such a conflict, but the Press's too eager coverage of it. The fpotus will be encouraging more and more violence from his minions as the election ends, and the results certified. He was proud of the guy who rushed the press area at his rally, and said it made his rallies "exciting"; the sick horror that is fpotus is metastasizing daily. He must be stopped at the voting booth and by the courts, in spite of the expectation this SC will absolve the fpotus of all criminal acts. We need Harris/Walz to win in a landslide. MSM will then die out from their sycophancy, and sources such as Substack will proliferate to give us real coverage of events.
🎤👏🏼
Ali. Out.
His violent core drips with putrid sickness. He is a vile thing that I cannot even equate to being human. His and why are others drawn to him and would vote for him? I have a million questions but the same answer appears … The Law of Attraction. It attracts every sick person out there who needs sees their internal beast mirrored in its orange mass of greasy flesh. And their dark side bathes in his ignorance and violence and utter stupidity. Until they wake up then lay horrified in their beds.
He is literally and figuratively “UNCLASSIFIED!”
Trump's psychotic behavior is normalized by his MAGA sycophants and the news media, who love him because he cranks out a new scandal every day. Let's just make sure we keep him out of returning to the WH. He's an old geezer with authoritarian dreams.
I can hardly wait to see the NYT's headline tomorrow. /s
Take away his media oxygen the only patriotic action to take
You speak the TRUTH, my compatriot! I am the Widow of a Boriqua (Native Puerto Rican) Soldier named Tito. Tito served in ‘Nam 1968-1970, Combat Engineer, Spec 5 Charlie Company and a “Tunnel Rat” due to his slim, albeit muscular build and slight stature. It angers me to no end that this white “PIGMAN”, whom if truth be told—desires to be brown, given his wearing the absolute absurd shade of girlie makeup! “ORANGE” But listen! The “Orange PIGMAN” is a goddamn freakin’ crazy craven 5X draft dodging mothafuckin’ FOP, okay? I’m a Very, Very proud born New Yawka whom is an Italian/Irish American. I am now in my late 60’s but I’d still knock “orangey trumpie” into the middle of next week, I despise him that much.!! There you have it. Vija! Y Waaaapa!!
I very much appreciate you and your moral courage for writing this article, for asking this question and for speaking up since day one nine years ago. I agree with every point you made here, especially in asking “Where the hell is the DOJ?” I’ve asked that since the day Garland reported for work.
Garland and Biden will go down in the history books - if history is allowed to be written truthfully - for allowing trump to continue his assaults against our country, society, laws and individual people. Biden for not treating trump as the very real threat he is and has been all along (remember him making jokes about trump as “the other guy” for laughs?) and for choosing a person utterly unsuited as our AG. Garland has failed every one of us in declining to hold trump and his group of thugs responsible for every law broken, for every subpoena ignored, for every verbal and physical threat fomented against our very country and against individuals from General Miley on down the line.
No legal accountability or consequence only strengthened their resolve and actions. Trump and his ilk know, beyond any doubt, that they can continue their rampage over us all.
Here’s a personal example of how trump’s poison has filtered down. I served in the US Army for ten years and ended up disabled while doing so. For female veterans medical care has to be fought for (even before trump). You fight against the VA’s standard responses of “you can live it”, “it’s not nearly as bad as you think it is” and “you’re just an anxious/angry/neurotic woman, go away”. After years of living with military service caused spine injuries I desperately need spine surgery now before I end up in a wheelchair. Yet I have been denied that surgery since October 2023 by a hateful, misogynistic VA employee. He has denied my various primary care doctor’s requests for authorization to send me to a non-VA spine surgeon 13+ times. His ‘medical’ reason? “She can live with it”. He told me “you’re just a complainer and I’ll NEVER authorize this surgery”. How do I know this is blatant misogyny? I’ve had multiple medical tests that prove the service connected spine injuries exist and are deteriorating. He regularly authorizes the same surgery for male veterans. Another VA employee even spoke up and verified this and yet, this individual is not only allowed to treat me this way he is fully supported in doing so by a Deputy Chief of Staff and a Medical Director at the VA hospital who both quote him and his reason of “she can live with it” with each denial. When I wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper to warn other female veterans of how I have been treated a violently killed dead rat was left in a garbage bag on my doorstep three days after the letter was published. Now my medical files are being altered - the reports submitted by other doctors and myself were recently removed so this person now claims “there’s no evidence to back up her complaints”. I’ve notified the VA OIG and even the Secretary of the VA several times each and nothing has been done. I contacted Senator Todd Young’s office for help and was told “we can’t make the VA do anything”. An employee of his was highly sympathetic (which I appreciated) but said those words and wished me good luck as she closed out my request for help.
I’ve been treated like this because at least one third of our population believes women deserve to suffer, to be ground under the heel of toxic masculinity that is and has been trump’s modus operandi. This behavior has increased beyond belief for nine years along with racism, bigotry, xenophobia, cruelty and hatred. When behaviors like these aren’t confronted and aren’t held legally responsible as they happen you end up with where we are today. The Arlington employee is, completely understandably, frightened to stand up against the vile pieces of shit who shoved her and ridiculed her. She knows no one who should absolutely have her back will. She knows what will happen to her and her life if she presses charges and speaks out.
This wave of aggressive, vile behavior that has been openly directed against many others (and against me, a nobody) will continue to grow and build until your dark joke is plain reality. That’s where we are headed.
(I figure I’ll end up in one of Miller’s “re-education” camps and since I’ll be in a wheelchair by then I’ll be one of the first to disappear. Can’t have any of those “loser suckers” who served and then ended up disabled speaking out for justice or for the medical care they earned, especially a woman who won’t stay in her place - quiet, obedient and subservient.)
PS. I wrote this ⬆️ earlier, at oh-dark-thirty while lying on icepacks to try and numb the sharp nerve pains from the ruptured disc in my back that is pressing directly on the sciatic nerve root, and I just now realized I forgot to tie together how our society has changed due to trump with what is happening to me at the VA. Sorry about that.
While I’ve always had to fight for medical care at the VA and always had to deal with verbal and sexual abuse at the VA, until trump began spewing his hatred, misogyny, racism, bigotry and ugliness at all of us on a daily basis I was always able to eventually get the medical care I needed. It could take years but I always ended up getting the medical care. (It took being the proverbial, tenacious squeaky wheel.)
However, beginning after his escalator ride, the verbal and sexual abuse increased and actual physical abuse began - all slowly at first and then quite rapidly - and I’m now blatantly, gleefully, denied medical care even in the face of medical evidence it is needed. Contrary to what Secretary McDonough says, reporting the abuse - physical, verbal and sexual, does nothing. Asking for help, following all the proper protocols for help, does nothing.
We’ve all been subjected to a daily onslaught of abuse, lies and gaslighting from trump and his cult for years. Those who agree with him have taken to acting like him - without reservation or shame. Those who don’t have been fighting to preserve who we are, what we believe in and to watch out for those who can’t fight back. This has all deeply affected each of us in so many ways - from our daily moods to how we live our lives. Telling my story shows one example of what has changed. I’m going to end up in a wheelchair - or worse - because of how abuse has become accepted and even celebrated.
We have to keep fighting back and watching out for each other.
I am so sorry for you. 😪❤️
The problem of course is the limitation by US v Brandenburg of "incitement" to speech "“directed to inciting or producing IMMINENT lawless action and is LIKELY to incite or produce such action.” (emphasis added). The problem with stochastic terrorism is that it is indirect. I understand that this is why Jack Smith's J6 case doesn't have a cause of action for incitement.
This actually protects a lot of speech that isn't intended to actually produce action: say Joan Baez singing "raze the prisons to the ground" and then someone trying to blow up a prison. Trump sails pretty close to the wind.
I've wondered if the courts would entertain a statute allowing a private right of action to victims of stochastic terrorism against both the perp and the instigator. The burden would be on plaintiff to show that the instigator at least intended to inflame his followers and that the perp actually thought he was being told to do something in particular advocated by that inflammatory speech.
Would having this a private right of action (not a crime, but a tort action) get around the First Amendment's narrow exception? Lord only knows, and probably not THIS Extreme Court if the perp and instigator were right wing.
But the threat of a lawsuit might cause at least some folks to tone down their attempts. Not, sadly, trump.
Random is the same as stochastic, just not as fancy.
That may be in ordinary usage, but the TERM here involves an specific instigator who is advocating a general kind of violence, though possibly of selected targets. Thus you can't just substitute "random violence" which could arise from a variety of causes. In some cases even WITH an instigator the call to violence may simply be too general to even count as 'stochastic terrorism." "Fight for your rights with all you've got" for example.
Stochastic terrorism aims at a particular person or group of people in the instigating and appeals to a specific group of people (the followers prone to violence); the random part is not being able to predict which of THAT group might respond, or specifically how and, for purposes of Brandenburg, specifically when. It becomes plain incitement if it tells a specific group to take a specific action now: carrying a torch and urging others to go burn down the police station which is then done by admittedly random people in that group.
Stochastic means "random" but when joined with "terrorism" involves leaving the timing open and vague--just 'sometime' which puts it into an incitement NOT covered by Brandenburg because of the lack of "imminence." It also can be a dog whistle rather than a call for a specific act: "the judge in New York is so unfair" suggesting that he doesn't deserve to be left unpunished--but without saying "go punish the NY judge." Or simply calling something horrific The China Virus, leaving it up to random followers to punish people of Chinese descent.
It's a term that hasn't been much needed until the trumpian era. It also implies an increased likelihood of violent acts, caused by the instigation.
Ya
Kinda like the violence the Biden/Harris/deep state is imposing in Gaza/West Bank and surround with USA weaponry and surveillance