
01-01-2021, 07:26 PM
|
 |
PW Enlightenment
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Esto perpetua
Posts: 88,192
Thanks: 57,099
Thanked 26,866 Times in 19,315 Posts
|
|
Fourteen days that will test our democracy
Fourteen days that will test our democracy
Quote:
Under normal times, Wednesday would be just another day. Congressional certification of the electoral college winner is nothing new. Neither is a presidential oath-taking. Both are ceremonial formalities that memorialize politically settled events. Likewise, political protests on any given day and time are hardly novel in Washington.
This year, however, all three are fraught with uncertainty because President Trump, a buffoonish one-term wannabe autocrat, will not accept his election loss. Weeks after his rejection at the polls, Trump continues to falsely portray the outcome as fraudulent. And in the waning days of his presidency, when he should have one foot out the door, Trump is desperately scheming to find new ways to alter the outcome.
|
Article outlines what's coming:
Quote:
“threats of violence, ploys to smuggle guns into the District and calls to set up an ‘armed encampment’ on the Mall have proliferated in online chats about the Jan. 6 day of protest. The Proud Boys, members of armed right-wing groups, conspiracy theorists and white supremacists have pledged to attend.”
|
Quote:
Trump is actively inciting supporters to amass in Washington to pressure Congress to not approve the 2020 elections results. “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” tweeted Trump. He followed that up with a Wednesday tweet to supporters, “JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!”
|
Quote:
Imagine Congress assembling to count electoral college votes in the midst of Trump-encouraged chaos.
Are D.C. residents, local law enforcement and America up to the challenge?
Nothing would please Trump diehards more than the eruption of an all-out conflagration around Capitol Hill. (Trump: “Be there, will be wild!”) Obstructions that throw congressional proceedings in disarray. A breakdown in order that would give Trump an excuse to call out military force in response, citing the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to send troops when “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” prevents enforcement of state laws in a manner that deprives residents of that state of their federal constitutional rights.
And get this: There is no intrinsic limit on how long he can employ troops to enforce federal law, reports University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck.
|
__________________
On a more positive note, people still can't order dialysis w/o a referral.
|