Milestones Toward an Authoritarian Government

Maphistos_Sidekick · September 13, 2025, 4:35am

Well, looks like some in Memphis are welcoming the military assistance.

Adult entertainment sign within

EimonGnome · September 13, 2025, 6:32am

What a Country!

ArthurItas · September 13, 2025, 2:45pm

This. He is setting the stage for future widespread use of the military in cities.

Maphistos_Sidekick · September 13, 2025, 3:10pm

In fairness, Memphis has had a crime problem since the 1960’s. It’s reasonable to think the city needs additional resources.

However, I don’t think having National Guard troops stationed around high-visibility/touristy areas, looking bored or picking up trash are the resources the city needs.

now_samantha · September 15, 2025, 4:41pm

ArthurItas · September 15, 2025, 5:36pm

ArthurItas · September 15, 2025, 9:16pm

now_samantha · September 15, 2025, 9:19pm

Groups named in the article to be targeted: a group created by George Soros, who is not the largest Democratic donor by a large margin, but is one of the largest Jewish Democratic donors, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which specializes in civil rights, and the Ford Foundation. None of the problematic statements that I have seen about Kirk come from any of those groups or their leadership.

The_Polymath · September 15, 2025, 10:00pm

This is all being driven by that scumbag Miller. All of it.

Miller also detailed how the administration would use the federal government to achieve this goal.

“With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, [Department of] Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks,” Miller said, adding that they would do this “in Charlie’s name”.

…

Miller said he had been feeling “incredible sadness, but there’s incredible anger” and would be focusing his “righteous anger” on the “organized campaign that led to this assassination, to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks”.

Detailing what he believes is a “vast domestic terror movement”, Miller pointed to what he said were “organized doxing campaigns, the organized riots, the organized street violence, the organized campaigns of dehumanization, vilification, posting people’s addresses, combining that with messaging designed to trigger, incite violence, and the actual organized cells that carry out and facilitate the violence”.

ArthurItas · September 15, 2025, 10:12pm

Meanwhile Trump orders more extrajudicial killing

Maphistos_Sidekick · September 16, 2025, 2:04am

Filming/posting videos of agents isn’t doxxing, but going a step further and publicizing the identities in the venues where the information is likely to incite harassment certainly is.

Of course, there’s a fine line there in the sense that folks wrongfully detained or improperly treated while detained have a valid reason to name their assailants in civil suits, and that information is generally public…

now_samantha · September 16, 2025, 10:11am

Trump is suing the NYT for more than its market cap for being a Democratic mouthpiece. This is after the Times has largely been sanewashing Trump, and ignores the first amendment and existence of FoxNews.

Cooke · September 16, 2025, 2:54pm

The case will invariably be thrown out. Just Trump being a bully.

If Trump truly longs for the early days of the US he should remember that newspapers then were almost always just mouthpieces for one party or another.

Triweasel · September 16, 2025, 4:49pm

This is what everyone thought about his cases against ABC and CBS, but they settled instead of taking an easy W.

YankeeTripper · September 16, 2025, 5:10pm

We’re moving to state sponsored media if we aren’t already there. Might as well rename Fox Pravda right now.

Maphistos_Sidekick · September 16, 2025, 5:19pm

You have to register for an account (free, but you only get minimal access to content and presumably suffer through a bunch of spam), but…

Relevant explanation below, so you don’t have to jump through the hoops:

Trump’s litigation is a pristine example of the so-called SLAPP suit, or Strategic Litigation Against Public Policy. SLAPPs are typically filed by powerful entities like corporations, businesses, and government officials against less powerful and vulnerable critics. The overriding goal of a SLAPP suit is not necessarily to win the lawsuit on the merits but to burden the adversary with expensive legal fees and time-consuming proceedings, ultimately coercing them into silence, submission, or settlement. This tactic creates a chilling effect that discourages people from speaking out against powerful interests. Also, a common feature of a SLAPP suit is forum shopping—finding the most favorable venue for the suit. And in contrast to England, the loser in the U.S. does not have to pay the adversary’s cost of litigation.

Trump, over the years, has shown himself a master at SLAPP suits. Many of his SLAPP suits were a tactic in his bare-knuckle financial brawls. But more recently, Trump has displayed his SLAPP skills in his war against journalists, dissidents, and critics. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a greater threat to democracy and silencing free expression than Trump’s SLAPP suits against the media.

(skipping over a list of examples)

now_samantha · September 16, 2025, 5:29pm

Purging of inconvenient truths matters.

Cooke · September 16, 2025, 6:20pm

Are Trump’s lawyers ultimately paid by MAGA donors rather than out of Trump’s pocket?

Cooke · September 16, 2025, 6:20pm

Scary times.

Maphistos_Sidekick · September 16, 2025, 6:53pm

I haven’t tracked recent money flows, but with his legal woes pre-election one of his PACs was covering his legal bills. I suspect that that’s still the case. If not…the market value of Truth Social, his profit from crypto, etc. certainly provide a windfall to use in paying legal fees.

I don’t understand the full political campaign law gymnastics, but my takeaway is that mode of financing was at least plausibly legal given how US campaign finance laws work and given the structure of the PAC in question.