<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">On Jun 2, 2020, at 7:44 AM, spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org> wrote:<div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1"><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Stathis Papaioannou via extropy-chat<br><br><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal">>…This is the way things are normally done, but the arms the citizens have are not needed if everything works as it’s meant to, only if they believe that the normal processes are unfair or corrupted. That is what the protestors seem to think at the moment. They haven’t gone as far as attempting an overthrow, but they might. In that case, there would be an armed clash between the government forces and the citizens’ militia, each claiming to be the true patriots.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal">-- <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class="MsoNormal">Stathis Papaioannou<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Hi Stathis, it isn’t the militia out there doing the rioting and looting. Rioters and looters are anarchists, and they besmirch legitimate anarchists. Legitimate anarchists don’t even like to share the name anarchists with the looters and rioters. The government and the militia are on the same side.</p></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>You introduced the term anarchist to describe the person in that video. I’ve asked time and again to tell how you know the person is an anarchist and what you mean by this. Rioters and looters are not anarchists; they’re, respectively rioters and looters. It’s you who besmirch all anarchists by using the term “anarchist” as a synonym for rioter, looter, or vandal.</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">>…normal processes are unfair or corrupted…<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It seems to be looking up. </p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As measured by corruption indices, the US has become slightly more corrupt over the last few years:</span><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/corruption-index">https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/corruption-index</a></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">and:</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2018/results/usa">https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2018/results/usa</a><br></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">So, if these indices are reliable, things are not looking up. It’s not like they’ve falling off a cliff either, but a slight uptick in corruption is no cause for celebration, IMO.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">In the USA, we have caught a lot of corruption way up at the top recently. We uncovered a huge conspiracy right up at the top of the FBI and Department of Justice. A judge accused the DoJ of questionable motives in dropping their case against the former National Security Advisor. The DoJ answered back that the FBI falsified or fabricated the only evidence they had against him. Now, we caught em. Sunlight disinfects.</p></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>This seems way more complicated than you make it to be. And, in fact, it seems more to lean in the direction of the DoJ being corrupted for political reasons. See:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/01/judge-questions-unusual-justice-department-filing-in-flynn-case-294330">https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/01/judge-questions-unusual-justice-department-filing-in-flynn-case-294330</a></div><div><br></div><div>Note the unusual nature of the dismissal of the charges at DoJ. Add to this, the earlier guilty plea. (Granted, plea bargaining was involved here.) And Barr appointing another Trump appointee to review the case. This doesn’t exacting look like sunlight disinfecting the process. Instead, it might be a case of the process being ever more subverted to politics.</div><div><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br></span></div><div><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Regards,</span></div></div><div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div dir="ltr"><div style="line-height: normal;"><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br></span></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">Dan</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px;"> Sample my Kindle books at:</span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">http://author.to/DanUst</span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style></body></html>