‘The “Boogaloo Bois” expect, even hope, that the warmer weather will bring armed confrontations with law enforcement, and will build momentum towards a new civil war in the United States.

Mostly, they’re not even hiding it. And for the last several months, their platform of choice has been Facebook. …For now, Facebook chooses to allow the Boogaloo movement to flourish on their platform.

Open source materials suggest that, for now, the apocalyptic, anti-government politics of the “Boogaloo Bois” are not monolithically racist/neo-Nazi. As we have observed, some members rail against police shootings of African Americans, and praise black nationalist self defense groups.

But the materials also demonstrate that however irony-drenched it may appear to be, this is a movement actively preparing for armed confrontation with law enforcement, and anyone else who would restrict their expansive understanding of the right to bear arms. In a divided, destabilized post-coronavirus landscape, they could well contribute to widespread violence in the streets of American cities….’

— Investigative journalists Robert Evans and Jason Wilson via bellingcat

Giuliani Announces New Lawsuit

— Via PoliticalHumor

‘That’s it, folks. Trump admits loss… Donald Trump just tweeted “He won”, meaning Joe Biden, and the recent presidential election — followed by a bunch of garbage lies…’

— Via Boing Boing

I have to disagree with Xeni Jardin, writing on Boing Boing on the import of this. Trump’s admission of defeat is just a reflection of the narcissistic blow we knew he took whether he said so or not. (See my post below about his noticeable greying.) His clumsy and pathetic effort to avoid the mortification of admitting he is a loser may have foundered, but more significant is his persisting capacity to take down American democracy with his response to his humiliation. Nearly fifty million of his followers believe the abiding message of the remainder of his tweet that the election was rigged (regardless of his Ignorance about How to Use Capitalization). All indications are that the GOP will continue to act as if that was the case for the foreseeable future. And, to paraphrase Twain, the reports of the death of the GOP have been greatly exaggerated.

By the way, it doesn’t matter that Twitter “blocks” assertions like the above and labels his claims about election fraud “disputed.” Soon they’ll all be talking to themselves and reinforcing their rage on Parler instead, which I am optimistic will remain an echo chamber without any influence on the broader mentality. It is a good sign that the major media have — too little, too late — finally adopted the practice of cutting away from trump’s spokespeople as soon as they start to spout their blatant lies, after featuring trump’s deranged tweets for four years because of their entertainment value. With any luck they will not dignify with any attention what is said on a medium whose founding principle is that it encourages misinformation!

(If you noticed something different about Trump’s appearance you are not alone | Boing Boing)

‘Most presidents go through a rapid aging transformation through their years in office, most conspicuously with a graying of the hair–unless you’re a narcissist with time for golf, spray-tanning and Just For Men hair products. In Donald Trump’s most recent press garden address, his graying was hard to deny….’

— Via Boing Boing

Question is: will his hair be flaming orange again for his 2024 presidential bid? Or, for that matter, to match his orange prison jumpsuit?