@WeThePeople They were standing in front of our statehouses.

@MisterE @WeThePeople ACLU says 2/3 of Americans live inside the 100-mile zone. Almost every major city is near a border or the ocean.

https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone

@mcfate What evidence do you have that there's nothing more to this story that we just found out about mere hours ago?

I think you greatly overestimate my commitment to this. My heart isn't going to be broken if it turns out to be what it appears on the surface. I just have a gut feeling there's more to it. That's all.

@mcfate I'm familiar, yes. It's lazy, and it's more of a guideline than a law. But thanks for assuming I'm an idiot.

@mcfate I think we can rule out the absurd without also ruling out the plausible. It's not binary. There's still a lot of time for more information to come out before I'm going to settle on any particular conclusion on this story.

@mcfate You've got me wrong. I'll be glad if it's somehow proven that it is only what it appears to be. But I won't be surprised if we manage to learn that it's related to everything else. My guess is neither will happen and we'll be left to wonder.

@mcfate I dunno man. Still not convinced that this isn't exactly the kind of guy who could be persuaded to do something stupid and then made to "commit suicide" to cover the tracks. But my guess is we'll never know for sure. 🤷‍♂️

@stark @mushrj My greatest fears at this point, in order, are:

1) Trump's term not ending, or his second term starting.

2) Biden winning, but pulling a Ford and pardoning everyone involved "to preserve the nation's unity" but in fact letting them all walk away free. Sending the message that this is all right and normal and should happen again in the next few years.

@stark @mushrj My thoughts exactly. I've always expected they'll find (or make) some excuse to postpone the election forever, if we let them. If they can't make the pandemic last that long they'll escalate protests nation-wide until they can use that excuse. If they can't postpone the election itself they'll contest it, and postpone the inauguration indefinitely instead.

@InvaderGzim I've been doomscrolling a lot the past few days due to living in Portland. There's a LOT of news and it all seems extremely important since it's all happening a few miles away. I had managed to break the habit and was a lot happier for awhile... 😞

@stark @mushrj Exactly. This is important: feds arrived in Portland and the number of protesters DOUBLED. Then Trump gets on TV and says the response to federal action in Portland was "fantastic".

That's because making the protests *bigger* and getting the media talking about them to the exclusion of other things (e.g. Deutche Bank) is what he wanted to happen.