They're there to undermine progressives by pretending to be them. It's a way of taking over and deflecting the movement.

An example would be when Shontel Brown beat Nina Turner in Ohio. Brown took money from Republican donors and corporations, yet she got endorsed by "progressive" groups to help her against Turner, who is an actual grass-roots funded progressive.

Same with Mondaire Jones backstabbing Jamaal Bowman (who had defended Jones in the past when he was under attack by the establishment).

This is how Democrats try to co-opt what they can't control, and why it's critically important that voters make it a habit to monitor their candidates funding. The money will always tell the true story.

(Opensecrets.org is a great resource for tracking what groups politicians get their money from)

This seems to be the right-wing's main angle of attack on this issue. Seeing how forcefully they're pushing this fact across social media I'm kind of resistant to going along with any narrative they are trying to build from it until more facts come out.

I saw the interview with the guy who said he saw the shooter and he came off as kind of a doofus, he more or less said the extent they went to alert anyone was just pointing. You've got to remember that this was a rally for some deeply stupid people, I'm sure it adds to the security difficulties to have to suss out what's just idiots being idiots and what is useful info.

I think the reality is more simple; people overestimate the abilities of the Secret Service. I am sure they're experts and highly trained, but they're still human, and the mythos around their abilities is likely overblown to an extent. History has shown that if someone is determined enough, they can get close to the president if they want.

The smarter option here is to just say nothing. The right has been brutalizing people for decades, so much so that we've all probably forgotten half the insane shit they've done. Politicians don't have to outright condone ithe assassination attempt, but the right is a party of violence and isn't entitled to "decorum", they just treat it as a weakness.

Condeming the assassination attempt will earn them no good will with right-wingers, and won't stop their inevitable "retaliation".

"Google will soon let everyone know ~~if~~ that their information is on the dark web."

I don't use reddit anymore, but I've had plenty of accounts banned there, mostly for arguing with sock puppets and tankies and stuff who will stalk your account and mass report anything that can be construed as even remotely violating the rules. Or one of the power mods just back channels the admins, who will ban based on that alone, no questions asked.

The key is, you need to create your new account on a separate computer (so the browser fingerprint they get is unrelated), use a VPN for the creation, build up enough karma to get past the automated systems (answering stuff on AskReddit was usually my go to, but don't spam, take your time and give thoughtful answers) then make sure you use strong anti-fingerprinting settings on your browser on whayever device you plan on using. Possibly use a different third-party app on your phone (though I dunno how well this works since the API changes). Boost worked well for me, and Bacon Reader. And obviously delete your browser/app cache if you eventually use your main device.

Also, when you create your new account, sub to a bunch of shit you normally wouldn't, if you're not a sports fan sub to a baseball subreddit, avoid subbing to any niche subreddits you had on your old account for a while. Try to be bland and unremarkable in your choices.

The key is to avoid as many connected data points to your old account as possible until you're pretty well established as "someone else". Avoid attracting too much attention, and have multiple accounts that live on separate devices (I had one that I used on my phone only, and usually only when not at home so it was a separate IP) and one I used at home. Then a couple created on a laptop that were just kind of aging, just in case.

That might seem like great lengths to circumvent a ban, but I have a thing about abuse of power where it just kind of sticks in my craw, plus getting one over on the reddit admins was fun and I was curious exactly how deep their profiling went. I left the site on my terms eventually, which puts a smile on my face.

I hate to upvote this.

They know the US is distracted, so they're taking the opportunity to kill more kids.

People on the left talk about "sending in Seal Team 6" as a way of pointing out the hypocrisy and short-sightedness of the right's power grab. Not because anyone actually thinks the president should assassinate people.

Meanwhile Trump has literally said he wants to execute his political opponents and the right-wing supreme court gave their blessing.

It's not a bothsides, get off the fence.

The fact that he claimed self-defense really goes to show how far the MAGA attitude of being "victimized" goes. Literally plows his car into a crowd of people and then claims self-defense when shooting someone.

I backpacked two years across the US, if there was an anthem during all that travel it was surely this song. Never gets old, brings back a lot of strong memories.

Maybe, but the problem for Republicans is their platform simply isn't popular, it's why they have to go to these extremes.

His base of ~25% of the electorate is maybe more motivated to turn up at the polls now and is more likely to be violent (especially if Trump loses), but no one is going to say "Oh, I was against fascism, but now that the fascist died I'm pro-fascism." anyone who thinks that way was already supporting Donald Trump anyway. The GOP is maxed on support, which is why they are constantly trying to purge voter registration rolls anywhere they can.

Sure, yet none of them are able to do what Trump does. That's why it's taken 40+ years for them to get to this point. The Mitch McConnells and such might be politically saavy, but they don't have the "charisma" of Donald Trump to actually pull off the end game. That's why they all protect him so much, he's a cult figure, which can be difficult to fabricate.