Is Maximum Mayhem Inevitable?

First, a breath of fresh air from SNL (even if the sound’s out of sync)

Both Red and Blue volunteer poll watchers have been recruited for election day to monitor ‘election integrity’.

WATCH: Convoy of Trump supporters’ trucks surrounds Biden-Harris campaign bus to ‘escort it out of Texas’, 1 Nov, 2020;   Trump Tweets ‘I love Texas!’

‘Peaceful march to the polls in North Carolina is met with police pepper spray and arrests, causing outcry on eve of election’, WaPo.com, Oct. 31, 2020

“GRAHAM, N.C.— The voters came in black sweatshirts emblazoned with the mantra of the late Georgia congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, who celebrated “good trouble.”  […]

“The participants in Saturday’s “I Am Change” march had intended to conclude at an early-voting site to emphasize turnout in the final days of the presidential campaign. Those plans were thrown into disarray when law-enforcement officers in riot gear and gas masks insisted demonstrators move off the street and clear county property, despite a permit authorizing their presence.

As tensions escalated, officers deployed pepper spray and began making arrests. Among those caught in clouds of the irritant were children as young as 3 years old, as well as elderly residents and a disabled woman, said participants in the march.

The episode, which was live-streamed on Facebook by the march’s organizer, the Rev. Greg Drumwright of nearby Greensboro, unfolded three days before an election that feels to many Americans like the edge of an abyss. It capped nearly a half-year of protests after the killing of Floyd. And it reflected efforts to channel indignation on the street into power at the ballot box in North Carolina, a critical battleground state, and other places deciding the country’s direction.”

‘Trump and Democratic governors, mayors ready National Guard and police for election night protests’, Jacob Crosse, 30 October 2020, wsws.org

“With four days until the November 3 election, state governors, local mayors and President Donald Trump are preparing for massive demonstrations by activating emergency operations centers, readying police forces at polling sites, and mobilizing National Guard soldiers and federal paramilitaries.

Trump’s mobilization of thousands of soldiers and federal agents, including an unspecified number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Washington DC, is without precedent.

It is widely accepted that the official presidential victor will not be declared the night of the election, given that millions are voting by mail. However, Trump has repeatedly declared he believes the election should be decided on election night. This is to prevent the counting of mail-in ballots, which favor Democrats, and which Trump has baselessly attacked as fraudulent. To support this strategy, he may well invoke the Insurrection Act, deploy federal troops and mobilize fascistic militias.

But Democratic leaders are also mobilizing forces for election night, not to challenge Trump, but to suppress demonstrations called in opposition to any attempted coup by Trump. This only strengthens Trump’s hand.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf called up hundreds of National Guard soldiers, ostensibly to quell protests against the police murder of 27-year-old Walter Wallace, Jr. on Monday. However, with the protests mostly subsided for now, the troops are not leaving. On Friday, the soldiers arrived and began to deploy in the city of Philadelphia as Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney imposed another 15-hour curfew, beginning at 9 p.m. Friday and lasting until 6 a.m. Saturday. As of this writing, Humvees, M-35 series 2.5-ton troop carriers and uniformed soldiers carrying M-4 assault rifles are posted outside of City Hall and throughout downtown Philadelphia.

In an interview with CBS, Kenney stated that he hoped the presence of hundreds of soldiers would “provide calm and allow the police to go out and fight crime and arrest these people who are looting and destroying property.” Neither the mayor nor Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Theil could say for certain how long the troops would be stationed in the city.”

He adds Guards,, ICE, DHS on standby in Chicago, Iowa, Delaware, Washington D.C. following the continuing following the death of Karon Hylton-Brown as a result of a police chase, and ends:

“Meanwhile, the ultra-wealthy in New York are preparing for election day by hiring off-duty police equipped with “submachine guns” to guard their multi-million-dollar penthouses and condos. According to a source speaking with the New York Post, building managers, working in conjunction with the New York Police Department and DHS, are providing “officers with submachine guns.” The source added, We’ve always had immense security, but there will be more. We’ll have extra patrols.”

‘Trump holds closed-door meeting with Special Forces troops’, Patrick Martin, 30 October 2020, wsws.org

“The meeting, given the bland label “Troop Engagement” on the official White House schedule, was a private session with the assassination squad that carried out the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019.

The purported agenda of the visit to Ft. Bragg was for Trump and his wife Melania to present a Unit Citation to the group and visit a Special Forces memorial on the grounds of the huge base. But it is highly unlikely that Trump would devote precious time, five days before an election in which he is trailing in the polls, to a purely ceremonial event.” […]

“Any effort by Trump to defy the results of the election would certainly generate mass protests throughout the United States. Trump could well have used the Ft. Bragg visit to discuss potential armed responses to such a political explosion, and to assess the level of his support within the military units stationed there, and among their commanders.

When Trump made his initial attempt at a presidential coup d’etat June 1, when he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act against the mass protests provoked by the police murder of George Floyd, he summoned troops from two locations—Ft. Bragg and Ft. Drum, New York—to the Washington D.C. area. While these forces never actually entered the capital, they were stationed nearby for nearly a week.”

‘Antifa-affiliated Twitter account shares riot strategy guides in preparation for US election fallout – no matter who wins’, RT.com 2 Nov, 2020,

“As US citizens batten down the hatches in preparation for protests, riots and general mayhem on the streets after Tuesday’s presidential election, one Antifa-affiliated group is publishing riot strategy guides on Twitter.

The self-proclaimed “decentralized anarchist collective” CrimethInc has shared a slew of instructionals covering everything from rioter fashion advice, to first aid for protesters, including how to manage common injuries from police weapons and even how best to treat gunshot wounds.

Within the thread are specific posts relating to helmets, gas masks, goggles, how best to deploy leaf blowers and laser pointers, as well as best practices for brandishing shields and umbrellas in the face of tear gas and on-lethal police munitions.” […]

Of course, the CrimethInc account was quick to add a caveat for the audience, hoping for an anarchist utopia to spring up overnight and preclude the need for any post-election street violence in the extremely unlikely event that both the Democrats and Republicans suddenly decide to scrap the whole thing.

“We hope none of this will be necessary—we hope Trump will concede the election, Biden and all the other politicians will resign, and we’ll suddenly find ourselves in a world without capitalism, white supremacy, or the state,” the post reads, before alluding to the “long fight ahead.”

It’s often said that ‘all politics is local’.  While I can’t speak to the truth of that, here’s recent news from the town 20 miles to the west of us (population about 9,000) where Mr. shops on Saturdays.

‘Over 100 vehicles join Freedom Ride after armed march is postponed;  Cortez police monitor safety on Main Street, Oct. 31, 2020

“Over 100 vehicles and about 20 motorcycles participated in the Montezuma County Patriots’ Freedom Ride on Saturday, calling out “Trump 2020” and “four more years.”

Organizers of the Freedom Ride also planned a march to support Second Amendment rights for Saturday morning, but decided to postpone it Friday afternoon.

The Second Amendment March was planned for 8:30 a.m. on Main Street, the same time and location as the Walk for Justice and Peace.

Cortez Police Chief Vern Knuckles spoke with Ghere on Friday to express the police department’s concerns about a Second Amendment March in which Patriots carried arms on Main Street.

The event would “put a strain on police resources,” Knuckles said, so the Patriots postponed the event out of respect and support for local law enforcement.

Ghere posted a notice about the march on Facebook earlier in the week. The police department was “getting a lot of calls from both sides expressing concerns – even people who support the Patriots felt that it was too much,” Knuckles said.”

Mr. wd had ended up in the convoy  (trying to get from Point A to Point B and obeying traffic signals) and reported hearing ‘Trump 2020!  NO more bullshit!’

(cross-posted athttps://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://www.rt.com/usa/505169-texas-trump-convoy-biden-bus/”> caucus99percent.com)