All it takes for evil men to triumph…
This is part of a statement put out by Chris LaCivita, a Trump campaign spokestroll:
For a despicable individual to physically prevent President Trump’s team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. Whoever this individual is spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces, and they are disrespecting everyone who paid the price for defending our country.
I don’t know what makes me angrier, his assault on the English language (it’s “hallowed,” you utter dipshit), or his pathetic attempt at DARVO.
Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender for anyone else who didn’t know.
Hollowed, like, they hollow out the place to put in the bodies, ya know?
We have to stand up to fascists even when they threaten us with violence otherwise the fascists win. There is no sign up sheet to stop fascism. There is no safe way to stand against fascists. There is no future worth living in under fascist rule. Fascists do not go away if the society that spawned them stays the same.
If threats to someone’s safety is where we decide our resistance to fascism ends that is where our freedoms end. We do not have to shame this woman, but we do have to disagree with her decision. If we allow her decision to be incorrectly labeled as a reasonable strategy for self-preservation then we will all be living in a christo-fascist dictatorship.
It’s liberty or death. That idea is one of the last remaining cornerstones of our democracy. If living is more valuable to use than freedom then we will be incapable of stopping the fascists.
Fascism proceeds one step at a time. One day you wake up and everything is different. Today is that day. The people saying to stand up to fascists got it right. The people calling them armchair warriors and telling people to choose life over liberty lost the plot. The fascists plan is to take power by any means necessary and then kill the people they hate indiscriminately. To stop them we must stand against them even if that means risking death.
Sorry, but some guy threatened another driver with a pipe in front of 10 cars in front of my house, and I was the only one to step in and I’m the only reason the situation didn’t escalate. And the only reason I can think of why I did so, is that I don’t have much to lose in practice.
It’s scary to intervene and despite your pandering, I suspect you’ve never been in a situation where you have to choose to put your life in danger (I’ve also done mountaineering/glacier travel and got a pilot licence which really opened my eyes up too).
It’s easy for you to disrespect her gracefully and talk crap when you’ve never been in a dangerous situation where you can choose to make a difference that might screw you permanently.
There are a million things that will run through your mind when you yourself are (ie, you will likely be advised by people that you could be in danger, etc). When the situation is outside of your control, you think differently.
You might disagree with her, but she has every right to protect herself. And she has every right to make that decision.
If I was in the same situation and my family was in danger, I’d make the same decision too.
It’s not because she wouldn’t want to do it, but, the decision may have been made to protect her family.
Snowden and Assange did that and look how that worked out.
Trump and the MAGA movement are the fascists. Snowden and Assange didn’t stand against them. In fact, what happened to them is very likely to happen to lots of people if the fascists take power.
I think the point is, based on how well it went for those two, most people aren’t as inclined to act.
Ethics are all well and good, but it’s your loved ones that often pay the price In some way.
And right wing sites everywhere are framing this as Trump clearly doing nothing wrong because nobody charged him. Disgusting.
Isn’t having knowledge of a felony enough for a public prosecutor to indict someone independent of the victim?
That’s how it works in Germany at least - if the authorities get information about a criminal offense, they are obliged to start a criminal investigation. A victim not pressing charges only matters in terms of a civil lawsuit.
In the UK, you can’t decide whether to ‘press charges’ or not, the decision is the CPS’s.
But in practice, saying you aren’t interested in pursuing a conviction often ends it, because:
1 - the prosecution must be ‘in the public good’ which is undermined if the victim isn’t interested
2 - a lot of the time the testimony and cooperation of the victim is key to the prosecution case
3 - the system is horribly underfunded so if they can justify dropping it they will
CPS is? City Prosecutor … ??
as to 1) - that’s judged differently in Germany - in part to protect victims of domestic violence who will often “change their mind and not want to” press charges after filing an initial report.
-
in that case, yes - but again, if it’s a criminal offense, the victim has an obligation to testify, even if they have no interest
-
I have no idea how the funding of our judicial branch looks like atm
ah right - forgot UK still has one foot in the medieval ;) thanks for the clarification!
One foot? More like five feet ten inches!
I was thinking figuratively of the UK as a person, and of persons as bipeds…
Ah, I was referring to the current owner of the crown.
-
The silent fear of Trump and his cultists strikes again. It is one of things he does a lot where people know how deranged his base is and don’t want to hold him accountable.
Stop treating these fucks with kid gloves for fucks sake. Press the goddamn charges! Quit being fearful of retaliation because that is exactly what the rapist and his cult want. This is frustrating.
The problem is that as a random cemetery worker who can’t afford bodyguards 24/7, pressing charges stands a significant chance of getting you killed.
And doing nothing only emboldens them.
For sure. But as an individual, it makes a lot of sense to hide instead of fight.
When fascism wins and starts rounding up people to be executed… Will you have the same attitude?
When your family is facing literal death by a fascist party, was it worth saving just your own family to begin with before they took power?
Because backing down emboldened them, then they took power, now they have control of all legal mechanisms, and now you and your family will die horrifically anyway.
Was it worth it?
You’re not the one facing the possibility that somebody will kidnap and torture and murder you, your kids, your spouse, etc. right now, with serious doubt as to whether law enforcement, neighbors, judges, and others will help them or take the side of the absuser.
It’s on the cemetery worker to make that call for themselves, and I don’t blame people who choose to run or hide instead of fight.
I do, because the people who can run or hide are not the most vulnerable in society, who get left behind to deal with the fascists.
Hurrican Katrina all over again. Fuck what happens to the poors, we gotta save ourselves!
with serious doubt as to whether law enforcement, neighbors, judges, and others will help them or take the side of the absuser.
And when Trump takes power, that’s going to get better?
That’s nice to say from the comfort of your own chair, when you’re not the one taking the risk.
I mean, it doesn’t help when you know the vast majority of police officers, prosecutors, and judges lean to the right. I get what you’re saying though.