Leaderboard

In the book How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt discuss their research that looked into the cause of authoritarian regimes that replaced more democratic societies. There are a lot of famous ones out there: Iraq under Hussein Hungary under Orban Kampuchea under Pol Pot Germany under Hitler The Soviet Union under Stalin Italy under Mussolini Libya under Gaddafi They set out to answer the question "how does this happen?" How do authoritarian strongmen take control of democracies and societies that are more democratic than authoritarian? Why do people cede their power to an autocrat? During their studies, they found some common themes that appeared in all transitions to autocracy. 1. Rejecting the principles of democracy. Fledgling autocrats start by attacking the principles of democratic society. They question elections, claiming they were rigged against them. They threaten judges and electors, hoping to cow them into supporting the autocrat, rather than do their jobs to ensure justice and fair elections. 2. Denying the legitimacy of opponents. Opponents are portrayed as criminals or threats to national security. They are often arrested or threatened with arrest, and the autocrat's supporters often carry out these threats with implicit backing from the autocrat. 3. Tolerating or encouraging violence. Autocrats encourage riots and civil unrest, and often later call their followers engaging in such riots heroes. They then use their power to protect those rioters, to create a more loyal base willing to do violence. At the same time they try to incite violence at a state level, by using state forces to create conflict where there was none - and then using that conflict as an excuse for more brutal controls. 4. Curtailing civil liberties. The first target of autocrats is the media - restricing their access, feeding them misinformation, threatening them with arrest, and using state power and influence to shut any dissenting opinions down. At the same time, state and state affiliated media sources are supported, promulgated and funded in order to get the autocrats message out. After that they start restricing individual rights, like banning certain types of speech or certain sorts of communication. As these go on, there are several other ancillary steps the autocrat takes. Expanding executive power. They will often govern through executive edicts, ignoring the legislative and judicial branches. They will claim that any limits to their power are false, or evil, or a result of an enemy trying to harm the country. Politicizing independent institutions. Ordinarily nonpartisan organizations, like the police, the national guard and the judiciary, are taken over by the autocrat to do their bidding. Disinformation. Falsehoods that help the autocrat are spread continuously, relentlessly and deliberately to confuse the issues surrounding the autocrat. Quashing dissent. Dissenters are criminalized, and the right to assemble and speak freely is limited by the autocrat. Scapegoating vulnerable communities. A scapegoat community is chosen, generally one with little to no power, and one that is visibly and notably different from the autocrat's community. They are vilified and turned into the evil that is holding the country back, and so must be stopped at all costs. This allows the autocrat to seize extraordinary powers to "deal with the emergency." Seen any of that going on recently?

Somehow you seem think that incoherence is a mark of excellence.

Wrong president?

There's something very wrong with people who are obsessed with what other consenting adults do with their genitalia.

Hi folks, Timothy Snyder discusses new book ‘On Freedom’ and what its lessons mean to Portland - oregonlive.com From the link: “So ordering the armed forces to Portland . . . it’s pushing us all towards a military dictatorship.” “There are few symbols that are more strongly representative of tyranny than the presence of the armed forces in the streets of a peaceful city.” On Freedom by Timothy Snyder | Goodreads IMO if you are not worried about Trump 2.0, you are not paying attention. Jerry Baumchen

Imagine those disgusting fat fucks walking around thinking of themselves as 'peak alpha males'. Interesting that they're whining and crying about 'coordinated character assassination' without considering what it means when your character can be assassinated simply by making public the things that you say and believe. Most sad though, is that within the next ten years most of these racist, misogynistic, hate-filled mouth breathers will be running for public office, or re-election, or being appointed by the administration, and when these exchanges are dredged up again they'll just brush it off as youthful indiscretions, silly hi-jinks. He didn't know any better, he was only thirty! Don't you believe in second chances? And these genuine neo-Nazi pricks will be part of the shaping of the laws and policy of the nation.

I think the weird part is having your son monitor you, not being against porn. I don’t think it’s the naked women that Mike is aroused by

It's been coming ever since breaching the Capitol and threatening to hang the VP was defined as peaceful demonstration. Now that wearing an inflatable frog costume is "insurrection" it has surely arrived

Given that New AmeriKKKa is jailing people without cause and completely ignoring the constitution, sure, just another completely innocent person in jail because Americans hate Americans. We're fucking done.

That post was of no use to me. Being smarter than a turtle and all.

Hi Bill, Trump could not plan a trip to the bathroom. That takes thinking. Jerry Baumchen

I question some of the examples you give under point two, as in the level of democracy as a starting point. But the general gist of what is happening is frighteningly as you say. It is not hard to imagine that the USA great experiment is in danger of ending.

LOL - Beginner's Skydiving Forum on FB is similar - lots of sage skydiving advice from 'XXX - I already have 45 skydives' and 'XXYY - I've just done my first tandum (sp) and am now hooked on skydiving' Given that some of these people may actually become useful skydivers it's for me, a read for amusement but make no discouraging comments, exercise. P.S. I haven't seen 'chode' used outside of Australia for ages.

The r/skydiving subreddit is active. But its also 98% whuffos and tandem passengers. Go on there and see for yourself the buttfuckery. Questions like “what is TI?” Or “what is a packjob” answered by peopke with 2 tandem skydives. the moderator is the subreddit is a total chode and doesnt even skydive.

Yep. The recently-late, always-great, Tom Lehrer said it best: When someone makes a move Of which we don't approve, Who is it that always intervenes? U.N. and O.A.S., They have their place, I guess, But first - send the Marines! We'll send them all we've got, John Wayne and Randolph Scott; Remember those exciting fighting scenes? To the shores of Tripoli, But not to Mississippoli, What do we do? We send the Marines! For might makes right, And till they've seen the light, They've got to be protected, All their rights respected, Till somebody we like can be elected. Members of the corps All hate the thought of war; They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means. Stop calling it aggression, Ooh, we hate that expression! We only want the world to know That we support the status quo. They love us everywhere we go, So when in doubt, Send the Marines!

That’s very well possible G. Speaking to the Ingrams as extensively as we have, I think we both understand the importance of their description of the money and how the rubber bands were stuck to the fibers those bills. The rubber bands need to be in a high temp environment to enter that gooey melt phase so they can get stuck on the money how the Ingrams described. Just like the money itself the rubber bands also tell a story. A window into the money’s history as you so eloquently put it. I can tell you that a group of us have put Cooper bands that TK sent us around pieces of plywood and put them outside in the PNW throughout the summer in different scenarios and not once did they enter that gooey melt phase. These are all the days the temp got above 100 in Portland 1972-1979.

Well stated G. I’m with ya 100%.

Tom’s 2023 analysis of the money shows that the rubber bands were on the ends and the center opened up and let the diatoms in and the very edges could also open up and let the diatoms in. If that bundle is rolling on a sandy river bottom there is no way silt (smaller then diatoms) and other debris aren’t getting lodged in the middle opening and outside crevices. The middle opening and outside edge crevices quickly close up when it gets out of the water. There not open for sand debris to enter in it’s water logged condition while in situ on the sand bar. I think your smart enough to get the no silt thing. You just choose to believe it doesn’t mean anything because it clashes with your theory . Cooperites no longer subscribe to the natural arrival via spring flood because of this finding. Tom Kaye - “So being this clean kinda says this money was never exposed to the water in the way you’d think.” Whether you choose to accept it or not it puts further constraints on how the money got to tbar.

I moderate a forum for fossil collectors (!!!) that is a lot more active than this one now.

Yeah, I found that long after I found dropzone.com. I wish we were back to that kind of community even. The woodworking board I'm on is relatively active, too. Wendy P.

Just saw a post where Olav was asking for money to defray medical costs; he lost his leg in Thailand. Anyone know how it happened? Was it skydiving related? Details here: https://olavzipser.com/wings-for-olav/

The Daily News published a story saying that one-half of Congress were crooks. The Government took great exception to that and demanded a retraction and an apology. The newspaper responded the next day with an apology and reported that one-half of Congress were not crooks. Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.