Retired generals warn of possible coup attempt in 2024

[lpetrich]

Three Generals Say Military Should Prepare for a Coup Inside the US! - YouTube - when I watched this, I was very skeptical. So I did more research, and I found

Opinion | Retired generals: The military must prepare now for a 2024 insurrection - The Washington Post
referred to in
Generals Warn Of Divided Military And Possible Civil War In Next U.S. Coup Attempt
and
3 Ex-Generals Warn of ‘Trumpian’ Coup if 2024 is Chaotic

The WaPo:

In short: We are chilled to our bones at the thought of a coup succeeding next time.

...
The signs of potential turmoil in our armed forces are there. On Jan. 6, a disturbing number of veterans and active-duty members of the military took part in the attack on the Capitol. More than 1 in 10 of those charged in the attacks had a service record. A group of 124 retired military officials, under the name “Flag Officers 4 America,” released a letter echoing Donald Trump’s false attacks on the legitimacy of our elections.

Recently, and perhaps more worrying, Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, the commanding general of the Oklahoma National Guard, refused an order from President Biden mandating that all National Guard members be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Mancino claimed that while the Oklahoma Guard is not federally mobilized, his commander in chief is the Republican governor of the state, not the president.

The potential for a total breakdown of the chain of command along partisan lines — from the top of the chain to squad level — is significant should another insurrection occur. The idea of rogue units organizing among themselves to support the “rightful” commander in chief cannot be dismissed.

Imagine competing commanders in chief — a newly reelected Biden giving orders, versus Trump (or another Trumpian figure) issuing orders as the head of a shadow government. Worse, imagine politicians at the state and federal levels illegally installing a losing candidate as president.

With the US military split, some enemy could then try to see what it could get away with.

The lack of military preparedness for the aftermath of the 2020 election was striking and worrying. Trump’s acting defense secretary, Christopher C. Miller, testified that he deliberately withheld military protection of the Capitol before Jan. 6. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly scrambled to ensure the nation’s nuclear defense chains were secure from illegal orders. It is evident the whole of our military was caught off-guard.

 

[barbos]

With the US military split, some enemy could then try to see what it could get away with

Yeah, start studying russian, could become useful

 

[SLD]

Yeah, the military reflects society, and there is as much division there as throughout the country. Sad.

 

[SLD]

With the US military split, some enemy could then try to see what it could get away with

Yeah, start studying russian, could become useful

Or Chinese. Maybe both.

 

[ZiprHead]

I really doubt much more than a few military members would take part in such a thing. They would need unfettered access to the armory and motor pool if they want armored vehicles. And facing a thirty year stint in a military prison is quite the dick softener.

 

[Keith&Co.]

The lack of military preparedness for the aftermath of the 2020 election was striking and worrying.

But, we're not SUPPOSED to wade in on election issues. Is it really a surprise they were caught out?

Mancino claimed that while the Oklahoma Guard is not federally mobilized, his commander in chief is the Republican governor of the state, not the president.

So, lawyering. Loophole. Not quite a junta.
How many will risk their retirement to actually defy orders thry cannot duck?

 

[barbos]

With the US military split, some enemy could then try to see what it could get away with

Yeah, start studying russian, could become useful

Or Chinese. Maybe both.

Chinese is way too hard. Russian is doable.

 

[Swammerdami]

I really doubt much more than a few military members would take part in such a thing. They would need unfettered access to the armory and motor pool if they want armored vehicles. And facing a thirty year stint in a military prison is quite the dick softener.

Isn't the problem that Trumpist colonels and generals would declare Trump the Commander-in-Chief and issue orders based on that? Soldiers might fear a stint in prison if they followed Biden the Usurper. With majors and captains taking sides, a military unit might reorganize into red battalions and blue battalions. Chaos.

Is such a scenario likely? Maybe not. But as American society continues its plunge into insanity, chaos is coming; the only question is the details.

 

[lpetrich]

As to language difficulty, Foreign Language Training - United States Department of State has a measure: how long it takes to reach some level of proficiency: “Professional Working Proficiency” or “Speaking-3/Reading-3” (Interagency Language Roundtable). The more difficult the language, the longer it takes.

Here are the numbers:

• 24 weeks: Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish
• 30 weeks: French
• 36 weeks: German, Haitian Creole, Indonesian, Malay, Swahili
• 44 weeks: (all the others listed)
• 88 weeks: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

 

[barbos]

yeah, only 44 weeks for language of your russian overlords.
and almost 2 years for chinese overlords.
choice is clear - russian.

 

[Gospel]

yeah, only 44 weeks for language of your russian overlords.
and almost 2 years for chinese overlords.
choice is clear - russian.

Pfft, I got a Pixel 6 Pro, it does all the translating I need.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Will this just be like police and vaccinations? Prior to the deadline it was being reported that up to half of police in some cities would walk out on the job rather than be vaccinated or report their vaccination status. But then when free deadline came the number who didn’t adhere to policy was minuscule.

 

[Thomas II]

With the US military split, some enemy could then try to see what it could get away with

Yeah, start studying russian, could become useful

Or Chinese. Maybe both.

Chinese is way too hard. Russian is doable.

 

[Gospel]

I'm going to the hospital to have my backside stitched back on for laughing it off.

 

[Harry Bosch]

With the US military split, some enemy could then try to see what it could get away with

Yeah, start studying russian, could become useful

Or Chinese. Maybe both.

Chinese is way too hard. Russian is doable.

Pretty damn funny!

 

[Loren Pechtel]

With the US military split, some enemy could then try to see what it could get away with

Yeah, start studying russian, could become useful

Or Chinese. Maybe both.

Blasphemy!

I have tried learning Chinese--it's the damn tones, she will say what the word should be and what I'm saying and I can't hear any difference. Maybe a sufficiently skilled language teacher could help, but simply a native speaker without language teaching training isn't enough for me. What little I speak I speak atrociously--I'll say something, nobody understands. She repeats it, to my ears saying exactly the same thing, everyone understands.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

yeah, only 44 weeks for language of your russian overlords.
and almost 2 years for chinese overlords.
choice is clear - russian.

Pfft, I got a Pixel 6 Pro, it does all the translating I need.

Machine translation leaves a lot to be desired. It's not exactly unusual for us to try to translate something with our phones and not be able to figure out what the other is trying to say. Most of the time we have no idea what went wrong, just that it's obviously wrong. However, one case we figured out: "Cowed". It translated as animal that goes moo. Obviously, it took it apart, the past tense of cow, then it translated the cow. Never mind that cow doesn't have tenses in the first place. Then there's the day my SIL sent a page with a bunch of cat pictures (she knows I like cats.) I responded "purr"--I knew nobody in her household would understand, but figured they would be able to translate it. Nope--seems Chinese lacks a word for it, translate it and translate it back and you get "mouth noise". She had to ask my wife what I meant.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'm going to the hospital to have my backside stitched back on for laughing it off.

Why? You don't want to be an ass, do you?

 

[Gospel]

yeah, only 44 weeks for language of your russian overlords.
and almost 2 years for chinese overlords.
choice is clear - russian.

Pfft, I got a Pixel 6 Pro, it does all the translating I need.

Machine translation leaves a lot to be desired. It's not exactly unusual for us to try to translate something with our phones and not be able to figure out what the other is trying to say. Most of the time we have no idea what went wrong, just that it's obviously wrong. However, one case we figured out: "Cowed". It translated as animal that goes moo. Obviously, it took it apart, the past tense of cow, then it translated the cow. Never mind that cow doesn't have tenses in the first place. Then there's the day my SIL sent a page with a bunch of cat pictures (she knows I like cats.) I responded "purr"--I knew nobody in her household would understand, but figured they would be able to translate it. Nope--seems Chinese lacks a word for it, translate it and translate it back and you get "mouth noise". She had to ask my wife what I meant.

To be honest. I have no idea what really happens on the other side of google's live translations, however, I've received nothing but praise for how well it does (correction) from the Spanish-only speakers on my wife's side.

 

[lpetrich]

Computerized natural-language translation has been done by both broad artificial-intelligence approaches: top-down and bottom-up.

In the top-down approach, the AI's designers try to find explicit inference rules. For natural languages, this may seem easy, but it quickly becomes very difficult. A big part of it is understanding context. In English, does "have" mean possession? "I have a book". Or does it mean a perfective-aspect tense? "I have written a book".

Let's look at Russian.

I have a book. - У меня книга - U menja kniga -"At me (is) book"
I had a book - У меня была книга - U menja byla kniga - "At me was book"
I will have a book - У меня будет книга - U menja budet kniga - "At me will-be book"
I write a book / I am writing a book - Я пишу книгу - Ja pishu knigu - "I write-IMPF book"
I was writing a book - Я писал книгу - Ja pisal knigu - "I wrote-IMPF book"
I will be writing a book - Я буду писать книгу - Ja budu pisat' knigu - "I will-be write-IMPF book"
I wrote a book / I have written a book - Я написал книгу - "I wrote-PF book"
I will write a book / I will have written a book - Я напишу книгу - "I write-PF book"

I'm using "j" for a "y" sound, and "y" for an i-like vowel with the tongue a bit back, like for "u".

Present and future tenses have person and number agreement, but past tenses have gender and number agreement, like adjectives. Present: -u, -esh', -et, -em, -ete, -ut (or -at), Past: -, -a, -o, -i

IMPF = imperfective aspect, PF = perfective aspect
There isn't any simple relation between the aspects. Perfectives are usually formed from imperfectives with prefixes that are usually also prepositions, like na- here. Sometimes it's the imperfective that is formed from the perfective, like dat' "to give" and davat' "to (continually or repeatedly) give", and sometimes different word roots.

One usually omits the present tense of "to be", and possession is expressed with that roundabout construction. The language also lacks indefinite and definite articles -- kniga means "book", "a book", and "the book".

Chinese verbs are MUCH easier. No subject agreement, and tenses and aspects are all done with adverbs.