iNow

Unless perhaps they hope to solve those issues by accident and absent any meaningful intention or purpose

And yet we stumble at the start since so few even see the problem, and fewer still acknowledge or adequately understand it. The graphic I shared was about helping us better see it. I made no policy recommendations, but that may be an interesting oath to pursue.

I don’t really trust anybody who doesn’t cuss/swear

I forgot about it until you mentioned it here

No. Of course not, but quite likely. Yes. I’m aware, but you should’ve increased the font size on that IF bc it’s so big. I see it more as an issue of values, priorities, and critical thinking, not about the mongering of chaos as you imply. I’ve been paying attention to this stuff for a long time now and I’m no longer able to kick at the proverbial football Lucy keeps consistently pulling away. I don’t see how. The conspiracy thinking and bubbled information ecosystems have become far too entrenched and commonplace... so much so that challenges to it are often conflated with attacks on personal identity... but perhaps I’ve simply moved beyond your referenced optimism and into pragmatism and cynicism (realism?).

FINALLY

Meanwhile, I find myself feeling comforted and assured by the selections Biden is making/announcing for his team. There’s no direct comparison, but is like bringing in some major league all-star players after years watching the peewee league swinging and missing.

I don’t think this is even remotely plausible either, but appreciate you sharing your opinion (and your posts in general, as well). I suspect this is correct, though it may not depress it enough. Despite the amazing work of Stacey Abrams and her team, Georgia has been solidly red for decades.

Apparently there’s a lot of false equivalence going around, too

In the long term, yes. Absolutely. There are scores of young people who will NEVER vote Republican because of all of this, and many former republicans who will never vote that way again. This is Trumps party now, and legacy republicans and conservatives hate Trump and those like him coming up through the ranks. But in the short term, this is exactly what it takes to drive turnout. These claims of fraud piss people off and it’s the angry people who believe the conspiracies and who follow QAnon who are easiest to control and the most likely to show up in large numbers to vote. Overall, I seriously doubt the Democrats have their shit together enough to turn out more voters than the zombies Trump will get to show up. Republicans have created a monster, and they’re doing exactly what it takes to get the monster to arrive in January for the special elections in Georgia. “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” ~Voltaire

He was not a noob, but was instead a sockpuppet of a previously banned user. This has since been confirmed and the user banned... again. It’s not about trying to overturn the election result. It’s about trying to upend trust in democracy itself. You still think this is a chess game where thinking 4 moves ahead is how you win, but the “other” side is busy lighting the chess board itself on fire with a blow torch from underneath while replacing the pieces with cheese puffs. Nearly everything he wants to do will be obstructed by the Republican led senate. The senate will also continue blocking covid relief aid so the economy falters and then they can blame Biden for not fixing it. Biden will be forced to rely on executive orders and they’ll accuse him of being a rule breaking liberal who wants to be a dictator (even though Biden won’t likely use as many EOs as Trump has). Biden will be blamed for failing to bring the country together despite him being sincere and acting in good faith (unlike those out to whom he’ll be reaching). It’s basically this same exact playbook they used against Obama, and it worked then, too. This time with QAnon, NewsMax, Parler, and OAN and whatever grift Trump sets up next it will be like the tea party times 10 on steroids.

This set of visuals really helps put it into perspective. Some archers are shooting on still days well lit and flat, while others are shooting into a hurricane in the dark from uneven terrain and yet are getting judged by the same standard. Teaching about privilege: https://www.boredpanda.com/lesson-about-privilege-awareness/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Sometimes

I’m betting members themselves have, too. The rest of your post was mostly a bunch of judgey holier-than-thou buzzword salad that really had nothing whatsoever to do with the actual discussion taking place so I’ll ignore it. Probably

Try to remember that the Justices do more than just hear cases appealed to them. They’re also assigned regions across the US and given power to influence what happens at lower levels. It seems just yesterday, in fact, that now Kavanaugh has been put in charge of the Michigan circuit court, Barrett in charge of Wisconsin, Alito in charge of Pennsylvania, and Clarence Thomas in charge of Georgia (under Title 28 US code section 42). Could be nonsense, but worth remembering their power is about more than direct appeals on individual cases.

Hillary called Trump to concede on the same night as their election and their race was FAR closer than this one with Biden. Barrack Obama invited Trump to the WH a day or 2 later and made his entire team available to the incoming Trump admin to maximize their chances of quick success. Essentially every democratic leader and person with a national profile acknowledged Trumps win and congratulated him on his victory both privately and publicly. Nothing anywhere even remotely close to this has ever once happened before since George Washington as our very first president ever transitioned power to John Addams. Let’s not pretend for even one second that this is somehow a both sides issue.

Senator Mitt Romney from Utah (former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential nominee), but he’s basically all alone out by himself on an island in terms of Republican leadership or folks with a high profile speaking out. Tim DeWine the Republican Governor from Ohio and maybe a tiny handful of others you’ve never heard of have said this needs to stop. Republicans have made the calculation that this will all end soon enough anyway, and coming out against Trump right now does nothing other than to harm their chances of winning the next primary. Better to be silent than speak out at the cost of personal damage about something the system itself “should” rectify without further intervention from them.

That’s very on-brand for the Trump team

One analysis that resonated with me is that these court cases are just another part of the public relations campaign to add weight / heft in the public’s mind about these claims of fraud. The legal challenges are considered more credible even when dismissed because all people see are cases coming to the courts then they stop paying attention and don’t see them getting dismissed as laughable. They’re basically tweets with a filing fee

Overall, I suspect you're correct. With that said, Trump also learned an important lesson from an early age from one of his mentors, Roy Cohen (the lawyer who defended Joe McCarthy during the McCarthyism years in the US), that it doesn't actually matter what the law says. It only matters who the judge is. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interview/david-marcus/

And now after a call from Trump and an invitation to the WH, those election officials have filed an affidavit to rescind their votes in favor of certifying the election. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/19/politics/gop-michigan-results-trump/index.html

Confused isn’t the word that comes to my mind when describing Trumps behavior

Thank you. To them and to you

TBD

Two breaking stories right now. Trump fired his top cyber security expert after that expert debunked claims of election fraud. Also, two Republicans on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers in Michigan just voted against certifying their county’s results. This led to them being deadlocked in a 2-2 vote which would effectively block Detroit’s votes from being certified. Detroit is a majority minority community who overwhelmingly leans democratic