Here's Proof Republicans Are Done With Democracy
By Thom Hartmann A...
Show up for a protest, and end up losing your home, car, and retirement account? How about losing everything over just being at a meeting or on a conference call?
Confessed wife-beater and Arizona State Senator Sonny Borrelli (R-AZ) has introduced an amazing bit of legislation into the Arizona senate, which has already passed - it's in the House now. The bill would hyper-criminalize any sort of organized political dissent if any person involved with that dissent (including, presumably, agent provocateurs) were to engage in even minor "violence," so long as that violence harms the "property," regardless of value, of any person (including a corporation).
They're doing this by expanding the Arizona RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) law to include conspiracy to "riot" among the offenses RICO can be used against. Not unlike parts of the Patriot Act being used against wannabe terrorists, the RICO laws are a powerful blunt instrument that have been used successfully to take down mobsters who have done a very good job of insulating themselves from their crimes.
Inspired in part by the takedown of Al Capone for tax fraud and mobster Rico "Little Caesar" Bandello, the 1970 federal law was one of the first to, in a really big way, make it possible for prosecutors to go after an entire "group" of people, rather than having to target criminals one at a time. As such, it relies heavily on previous laws that had defined "conspiracy" to be a felony.
And much like Richard Nixon used the nation's drug laws to break the backs of the anti-war and civil-rights movements, Senator Borrelli and his Republican friends apparently want to break the back of anti-GOP, anti-Trump protests with the same type of police-state overkill.
This is merely a new twist on an old Republican strategy.
Read more here.
Comments
#2
Don't blame the 99% of peaceful protesters for the violence of the stupid 1%. That's just a swamp-wing talking point with no merit.
Speaking of criminals, here's some fake news that should be real news ...in a real democracy:
BREAKING NEWS ALERT:
"Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, plans on holding endless hearings to get to the bottom of the email scandal involving Michael Flynn and other Trump campaign officials who were in constant contact with the Russians in an attempt to undermine the most important institution of our nation.
"In related news, Paul Ryan has commissioned Trey Gowdy to restart the House Select Committee on Benghazi, rename it the House Select Committee on Yakla -- a small village in the Quifah district of Al Bayda Province in central Yemen.
Yakla Village will soon become a household name, repeatedly reminding shocked Americans where, on January 29, 2017, Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer, William Owens was killed and three other team members were wounded, and up to 25 civilians, including 8 women and 9 children, were slaughtered in a failed Special Operations Forces raid.
Evidently, it was authorized in haste without proper planning by a fake president wanting to boost his ratings while having dinner with his son-in-law and a conspiracy-theory nut, washed-up general. Inside leaks from the White House revealed that Trump didn't even bother going to the situation room while the raid was taking place, preferring instead to spend hours in front of the mirror combing his hair.
It has also been reported from Capital Hill that of more concern to conservative fiscal hawks than the lives, was the destruction of a seventy million dollar V-22 Osprey aircraft. Outrageous! More domestic programs will now have to be cut to make up for such a tragic loss.
"Republicans expect to spend tens of millions of taxpayers dollars on years of investigations of this travesty. At least seven different congressional committees will be involved: the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Committee on Armed Services, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Committee on the Judiciary, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Back to regular programming ...Trump plans another weekend playing golf at Mar-a-Lago, costing the taxpayers another ten million."
#3
So, how soon will it be a crime to NOT be a member of the Republican party, i.e. the ruling party. It happened in Germany, it's going to happen here. Already, Ohio is considering legislation requiring teachers to report their political affiliation.
This country isn't simply slipping down hill, it's rocketing down hill at warp speed.
R.I.P. America.
#4
There once was a man who thought he had a plan, he said "I think I can" and proceeded to do just that...the canning of America. I wonder what our shelf-life will be...
#5
So let me get this right. You are mad because your government wants to enforce a law that makes a group people accountable for damaging someone else property. Seems perfectly fine to me. Want is wrong with you people?
#6
"They operated in secret and usually under the cover of darkness." Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty would have laughed in Sonny Borrelli's face.
They risked their lives and homes for liberty, not for a future Fascist government run by self puffed and out of control billionaires.
They wouldn't be timid, polite, and cower in a never ending defensive mode.
They would never, no way in hell, accept the results of an election that included voter suppression, cross-check fraud, digital voting machine fraud, and collusion with a hostile foreign power to influence the outcome of that election.
They would be outraged and their resistance would have had no limits.
Let Crooked Donny and his Fascists make all the silly protest laws they want....their fraudulent election wasn't playing by the rules, so why in hell should the resistance movement play by rules imposed by an arbitrary power.
Once again, Trump's cabinet picks betray his intent...thus there is zero room for compromise. Resist at all cost.
#7
You still didn't get this right, Kend.
Let's say a friend texts you about joining a peaceful protest on such and such day, and you agree. When it's time to go, you are sick with the flu and stay home.
During the protest, random hoodlums or anarchists or agent provocateurs with black face masks infiltrate the group, break a few windows, and get away before the cops can nab them. Under this proposed Arizona law, the cops can now arrest the thousand protesters who did nothing wrong, according to our Constitution anyway, and confiscate their property, including the cell phone of your friend.
They find the text where you originally agreed to join the protest. The cops knock on your door, arrest you for conspiracy, confiscate your home, your car, your bank account, and throw you into jail.
Of course, since you are a right-winger and think Americans are too sue-happy, you don't bother getting a lawyer, and your life is ruined for merely attempting to exercise your right to peacefully protest and redress the government for grievance.
Now, do you think you'll ever do such a stupid thing again? Absolutely not; it ain't worth it! And you probably won't have anything to do with your friend either.
See, Kend, that's how fascism works.
#8
Having been to anti Vietnam Protests in the 60's, I became aware of this. If you have virtually any type of Government security clearance you are required to report any arrest. If you do not report the arrest you are fired when they find out. If you report the arrest you automatically lose the clearance and will most likely be fired because of that. Only when you are cleared of all charges can you be reinstated and that is unlikely.
#9
Authoritarians love those "Catch 22" gotchas.
Also, in many states, if you end up in jail for protesting, convicted of a bullshit "crime," when you get out, you're an ex-con and lose your right to vote for life.
Statistically, there's a greater percentage of ex-cons who would vote Democratic, so it's just one more way to disenfranchise citizens to swing elections toward the "law and order" fascist party.
#10
What spawned some of these proposed laws were incidents like what happened in Minnesota where BLM protesters decided it was wise to run out onto a interstate highway and throw chunks of concrete down on cars below. These actions were repeated a few days later during a rush hour morning.
Peaceful protesting is one thing, rioting, destroying property, or blocking interstate freeeways and endangering commuters lives is totally another.
#11
It isn't the federal government alone that is on-board with quashing any and all dissent. Because of my political posts on YouTube, I have had my posting privileges suspended. It's okay for the Righties to say anything they want against anything remotely liberal, but if a liberal returns the volley, they get shot down. I can watch the videos, but I can't comment because the "post" button greys out. I guess fact-based truth hurts too much and YouTube is having none of it. Democracy is but a dream the founding fathers once had. Franklin said, "We've given them a republic, now lets see if they can hold onto it," (paraphrase). Well, democracy died on January 20, 2017, when the Republicans took over. (I always knew they were lying when they said they welcomed "competition"; their love of monopolization is too self-evident.) Sessions said they were going to fill up the prisons. I wonder when they are going to suspend our electoral processes, too.
#12
#Dianereynolds: Are you sure these BLM protesters aren't Republicans? Are you sure the CIA isn't behind them? The CIA was behind distributing drugs to all the Flower Power children back in the 1960's to derail the Peace Movement. And the government sold hard drugs down into East LA (Oliver North) to derail any dissent there over our appartheid practices. How about the Right MSM branding Bernie voters as "violent" because some guy at the DNC Nevada Convention picked up a chair and then put it down again? These people are the commerce class; they will say or do anything to get their way: "The ends justifies the means" crowd. Don't be too quick to believe them; demand proof first.
#13
@Erinrose
I highly doubt your theory because most republicans were at work.
#14
In our little redneck town, back when the tea-baggers were hot, one of my buddies, an Iraq war vet, had the boots put to him by four Koch brother-sponsored protesters simply because he was wearing a pro-Obama pin. He had to go to hospital. Others were charged with blocking traffic without a permit, while some even fired their weapons into the air inside city limits. Across rural Meerkkka, such violence was not uncommon.
By the same twisted logic, which right-wing trolls sputter and spew to lie about the peaceful, albeit loud, grassroots protests springing up after Trump's so-called "election," the fraction must represent the whole; ergo, by extension, all those Tea-publican Astroturf protests back in the day were violent and all the brain-dead participant/conspirators were criminals.
The fact is that with millions and millions of people opposing this so-called "president" -- the enemy of the people (his words describing the free press) -- only a miniscule percent have resorted to violence, which is not condoned or tolerated by anyone else serious about effecting change. Whenever there is widespread political resistance and wherever large crowds gather, small fringe groups and individuals (with a good sprinkling of agent provocateurs) will always use legitimate protest as cover to act out their own agendas.
Of course, swamp-wing propagandists already know that. The truth is never their point; false portrayal is. If you want to witness real crowd violence, look no further than the many, many videos of Trump the Demagogue firing up his fever-eyed minions at rowdy, over-the-top campaign rallies. "...I'd like to punch 'em in the face, believe me! Take 'em out on a stretcher! I'll pay for the lawyers..."
#15
Ah! Another day another bitter shot of venom from a frustrated loser. Do you think your side looked a little pathetic last night? I thought Wasserman Schultz and Ellison were particularly classy. Even Van Jones commented on how President Trump looked and acted presidential. OOPS!
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/politics/van-jones-trump-congress-speech-b...
BTW, Thanks, yet another Christmas morning. How's healing that irritable bowel syndrome working out for you?
#16
Ha! "Irritable bowel syndrome" is what old fools suffer when they swallow pathetic Republican lies their whole lives and then are forced to face hard truths at the end, e.g., washed-up trump trolls who project their own psychological problems onto others -- a subconscious plea for help.
Democrats won the larger, moral victory with a clear conscience. Republicans lied and cheated, kicked and scratched their way to a sad, hollow victory, which will forever haunt them. That's what future generations (if they survive climate change) will read in the history books. In the meantime, the real losers must live out their miserable lives constantly trying to justify the unjustifiable. Good luck with that.
Wow. A fake, so-called "president" stumbled through a painstakingly rehearsed prepared speech by reciting from a teleprompter. Very impressive ...for an orange buffoon with low intelligence and fake hair who can barely string two four-word thoughts together on his own without drifting off into Lie Lie Land on some incoherent tangent.
If your irritable bowels can stomach an honest person with high intelligence and genuine hair who can state obvious truths in a concise and straightforward manner without cheat sheets and an arrogant attitude, watch Bernie's response:
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What definition of democracy says if you are pissed off
with the election results, then you go to the streets and smash stuff?
Where in the law is the concept of accepting "just a little violence"?
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