Trumps: White Angry Middleclass

[Alan]

Ahhh, terrorists right?
Janet Napolitano famously listed veterans and "right wing extremists" as potential terrorists several years ago during her tenure as head of DHS, so I'm not surprised.

What worries me about issues such as this is that politicians and bureaucrats reserve for themselves the ability to define what a "right wing extremist" is, identify as many as possible and then place them on lists which they intend to use as means for action against citizens. As a veteran, am I already on one of these lists?

[LDAHL]

Ahhh, terrorists right?
Janet Napolitano famously listed veterans and "right wing extremists" as potential terrorists several years ago during her tenure as head of DHS, so I'm not surprised.

What worries me about issues such as this is that politicians and bureaucrats reserve for themselves the ability to define what a "right wing extremist" is, identify as many as possible and then place them on lists which they intend to use as means for action against citizens. As a veteran, am I already on one of these lists?

Wow. A new blacklist. Maybe they'll start putting fins on cars again too.

[Alan]

Wow. A new blacklist.

I don't know about a new blacklist. People keep talking about the No Fly list as a basis for denying rights, although that's not the list they'll actually use. The No Fly list has approximately 60,000 names on it. They'll use the Terror Watch List which has a million or so names on it.

[bae]

I think when secret lists drawn up by faceless governmental officials are used to restrict law-abiding American citizens, why then the social contract this nation was founded on is well on its way to being void.

Probably not a direction folks want to go.

I am pretty impressed with how many of my local progressive neighbors are perfectly happy with the idea of using The List to direct governmental action against folks they disagree with though.

This'll be fun. Anyone remember what the lovely city of Sarajevo looked like just a few years after the '84 Winter Olympics? Or recall the fun social groups that sprung up in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, ...?

[LDAHL]

I am pretty impressed with how many of my local progressive neighbors are perfectly happy with the idea of using The List to direct governmental action against folks they disagree with though.

"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

[ToomuchStuff]

At this very moment, Democrats in Congress are holding a sit-in on the House floor to protest their inability to take away citizens rights without due process.
We may be seeing the birth of a new movement 'Occupy Congress'.

In a case of Irony today, the nation decided lack of due process was ok, and the congressmen sitting in were taken into custody as terrorists.

My funny image of the day.

[bae]

This is the Mace of the House. It is carried by the House's Sergeant At Arms, the chief law enforcement officer of the House. You can see from its design a reference to history that is quite appropriate.

Paul Irving should take up the Mace, do his job, and scatter the mob from the Floor.

[Teacher Terry]

It doesn't seem like violence is an appropriate response to a non-violent sit in.

[Alan]

It doesn't seem like violence is an appropriate response to a non-violent sit in.

If you're referring to the mace, it doesn't signify violence, it signifies authority. In theory, the Sergeant At Arms would simply present the mace to the unruly person and order would be restored, although that would require a sense of honor and decorum in the unruly person(s). Probably a complete waste of effort in this case.

[Teacher Terry]

Thanks Alan for explaining.