Laura Edwards wrote in Democracy Betrayed (2000): “What happened in Wilmington became an affirmation of white supremacy not just in that one city, but in the South and in the nation as a whole”, as it affirmed that invoking “whiteness” eclipsed the legal citizenship, individual rights, and equal protection under the law that blacks were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment.[8][9][10]
The white press in Wilmington originally described the event as a race riot caused by blacks. However, over time, with more facts publicized, the event has come to be seen as a coup d’état , the violent overthrow of a duly elected government, by a group of white supremacists. Multiple causes brought it about.[1][11][12][13][14][15][16] It is claimed to be the only such incident in American history,[17][18] (other late Reconstruction Era violence did not result in a direct ‘coup’ or removal and replacement of elected officials by unelected individuals).
The coup occurred after the state’s white Southern Democrats conspired and led a mob of 2,000 white men to overthrow the legitimately elected local Fusionist government. They expelled opposition black and white political leaders from the city, destroyed the property and businesses of black citizens built up since the Civil War, including the only black newspaper in the city, and killed an estimated 60 to more than 300 people.[2][3][4][5]
I’m thinking that he’s so hopped up on steroids at the moment he probably couldn’t focus long enough to understand what someone was telling him. One exception might be if his favorite Fox personalities told him about this “outrage,” especially the part about they got spied on, he might explode and have an opinion, maybe even a call to action.
With regard to Republicans as a Party, I think all speculation is off. It’s been heavily infiltrated with extremists, who have no problem invoking Catholicism, fugality, patriotism… name whatever good quality a focus group can think of, and these anarchists claim to own it… to simply steal the public’s money in any way they can.
I think the Republican Party is that simple. Probably wrong (again : - )
I don’t think the demise of the Republican Party is due exclusively to Trump. It’s just so great that Trump – damn Donald Trump – turns out to be the guy who kicks the Republican Party when it’s down.
As to the future, Kamala, after she and Biden are elected, needs to spend a considerable amount of her time learning to dump her life’s biases, and master how to lead in the moment. I know that’s Zen, but it’s inevitable she’ll get a PhD-level education in Senate Management. She needs to keep her human focus. That’s her challenge.
Future crises are coming, regardless of the President. But the challenge on the President is to lead. For the past umpteen months, Donald Trump has squandered opportunity. Biden will fix a lot of that, but Biden won’t be our leader through the coming crisis (plural).
Take Hurricane Alley and Fire Tornadoland, for example.
From what I read, they were tripping out on their gear and their plans.
If they really had the balls to carry through, we’ll never know, but I sincerely doubt it. Essentially, they didn’t, since one of them got worried over the talk of killing cops and went to the authorities.
“…the FBI has maintained the ability to consensually monitor the chat communications.”
“Consensual” is a weird word to use when the person is undercover and by definition lying about their intentions, if not their identity.
I dunno, maybe this was a great win for law enforcement and public safety, but I can’t help but imagine that the FBI used multiple undercover operatives to help a bunch of losers turn idle talk into criminal intent.
People who break up these groups aren’t always “undercover.” Sometimes a member of the group who might have initially supported the group becomes disillusioned and becomes a “confidential informant” and records or reports back to the authorities. In that case, ‘consensual’ is an apt descriptor.
I thought that’s exactly what happened here. One of them got nervous over the talk about killing law enforcement and talked to authorities. Then got wired up. Plus there was another infiltrator who was straight FBI.
