Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Bark louder, little dog.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / Programming Note: “Oklahoma City”

Programming Note: “Oklahoma City”

by | 41 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Must be something in the zeigtgeist! From AP/KOSU, “New Film Links McVeigh to Far-Right Ahead of OKC Bombing“:

It didn’t start out that way, but a new documentary tying various threads among far-right extremists and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh serves as a history lesson and, indirectly, as a warning that something so horrible could happen again.

“Oklahoma City,” directed by Barak Goodman, airs Tuesday night in PBS’ “American Experience” series (9 p.m. EST) after its premiere last month at the Sundance Film Festival. Producer Mark Samels developed it as a means to “excavate” the story behind the bombing, Goodman said.

“This was hatched a couple years ago,” Goodman said in an interview. “It was time to take a look at this worst case of domestic terrorism in American history … and find the roots of the story.”

The two-hour documentary unpacks separatist and white supremacy movements that dogged the country in the 1980s and early 1990s — detailing anti-government rhetoric that still echoes. McVeigh’s involvement grows from selling anti-government bumper stickers in Texas to packing a Ryder truck with racing fuel and fertilizer and blowing it up in Oklahoma….

The filmmakers concluded that McVeigh acted after hearing anti-government rhetoric for years.

“You cannot demonize a federal government and make these radical claims and put forth these radical conspiracy theories without there being some concrete real-world effects sometimes,” Goodman said…

The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates there about 500 anti-government groups in the country today.

“They never quite go away,” Goodman said. “I think the only thing that we can take some comfort in is that law enforcement is much more attuned to this than they used to be. They are listening and watching, but whether that can stop something like Oklahoma City — who knows?”…

If you remember, the nuttier members of the Republican Congress under Speaker Gingrich were gleeful about the Oklahoma City bombing, because they were certain it was the weapon that would allow them to eject Bill Clinton from the White House. I’m pretty sure “President” Bannon dreams of being handed an equivalent opportunity…

Reader Interactions

41Comments

  2. 2.

    ? Martin

    The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates there about 500 anti-government groups in the country today.

    The SPLC is courteous enough to not include every GOP chapter in that list, so that’s hardly an exhaustive count.

  6. 6.

    chris

    Guess it depends on the definition of “extremist.”

    Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump’s transportation secretary, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously called a “cult-like” terrorist group by the State Department. Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani also was paid an unknown sum to talk to the group, known as the MEK.

    Source.

  7. 7.

    wenchacha

    Right now, Michael Wolff of The Hollywood Reporter, is telling CNN’s Brian Stelter that the media is hysterical over Trump, and should just get in and meet the people in the Trump administration like he has.

  10. 10.

    Siubhan "love is all around, fuckers!" Duinne

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Would it be possible for Alain the Site Fixer to delete it permanently? It’s almost never necessary, and an inordinate number of people continue to leave it in.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? Martin: What will be interesting is to see what happens with this number. The pattern, since the Clinton Administration, has been an increase under Democratic presidencies, including an initial spike as it looks like the Democratic candidate will win election, and a decrease during Republican presidencies. It will be interesting to see if the pattern holds this time.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Would it be possible for Alain the Site Fixer to delete it permanently? It’s almost never necessary, and an inordinate number of people continue to leave it in.

    (Got rid of the “love is all around, fuckers!” nym insertion. I thought the new nym had been released from moderation last night, but the handcuffs and leg irons are back this morning.)

  15. 15.

    gene108

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I somehow do not think that pattern will hold. I think the white supremacists might try to see what they can get away with under this administration.

    They are looking at Trump as an ally, who believes in their cause.

  16. 16.

    scav

    @Adam L Silverman: Might be different because this round they have a shot at getting their hands on actual positions of official power or advising same, especially if local politicos are emboldened to openly embrace their inner Trump for fun and profit. The context has changed, so the dynamic and stakes have changed.

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Thanks. I think I figured out that the punctuation may have been causing the ongoing problem. I didn’t much like it anyhow — it was a one-off joke that’s already outlived any relevance it may have had. Sorry to bother you.

    I’m off to the classy movie theatre in a few minutes to watch Swan Lake as performed by the esteemed Bolshoi Ballet.

  27. 27.

    GregB

    Other than a few creeps like Jared Kushner and Omarossa Manigault and few other dopey celebrities, the folks telling everyone to suck up to the leader is someone not likely to have their 5 year old handcuffed at the airport due to some whim of an executive order.

    Anyone with an ounce of memory of history sees the deadly dangerous path we are being led down.

    So yeah, Michael Wolff can go directly to hell.

  28. 28.

    liberal

    If there is a terrorist attack from “foreigners,” can our side please not do this national comity shit and instead attack Trump and his fellow Republican fascists?

  29. 29.

    liberal

    @Villago Delenda Est: Someone needs to start making a list of collaborators. Would of course begin with all the Republican douchecanoes in Congress.

    You’re either with the fascists, or against them.

  30. 30.

    liberal

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Wolff needs to study up on how the French dealt with collaborators after WWII.

    I think a subtler issue that deserves study is the French Right before WWII. My vague impression is that they were much more committed to attacking perceived domestic enemies than they were committed to the French nation itself. Seems like that’s the way right-wingers are, everywhere. (In principle, it might be an extremist thing, not a right-wing thing, but most left-wingers labeled extremists aren’t all that extreme.)

  31. 31.

    liberal

    @Kathleen: NB: Howard Dean also took money from them.

    I liked Dean’s 50 state strategy, blah blah blah, but IMHO anyone who shills for the MEK should be written off.

  32. 32.

    D58826

    OT but still about das Fuhrer.

    A major part of his appeal, especially to the WWC, involved trade deals and loss of good paying manufacturing jobs. Both of these topics have been debated here repeated.

    The 800 lb gorilla on the subject is you can’t go back to the 1950’s. Those jobs, for a number of reasons, are as dead and gone as the doodoo bird.
    I don’t have the link but I saw an article the other day that there are 10’s of thousands of good paying manufacturing jobs going begging because the people applying for them do not have the math/reading skills to work on a 21st century factory floor. Some companies are staring their own apprentice programs or linking up with the local community colleges to close the gap.

    It’s the same with international trade. We can walk away from TPP, repeal NAFTA, and Britain can leave the EU but we live in a global market/supply chain world and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Just one example is Boeing’s global supply chain for the 787 dreamliner as described in this article:

    Boeing is one of the most iconic American brands.  It’s a symbol of American manufacturing.  And orders for Boeing’s aircraft frequently move the monthly U.S. economic data.
    But most people don’t realize that most of Boeing’s airplane parts come from external vendors from all over the world

    http://www.businessinsider.com/graphic-boeing-787-dreamliner-suppliers-2013-1

  33. 33.

    hovercraft

    @rikyrah:

    I’m afraid of Al CRACKA

    Al Cracka poses a much closer and imminent danger to me and mine. Even with San Bernadino and Orlando, between the crazy white guys who go on shooting sprees and the racist assholes who target people of color, Al Cracka scares me more. Al Qaeda and ISIS were both on the wane, they’ve been given a big boost by the actions of our new president already.

  34. 34.

    CarolDuhart2

    And Al Quada and ISIS have a hard time getting people to do anything inside the nation, as most of the Muslims here either fled them or are local converts. And operating outside the country means it takes more to get people in.

  36. 36.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kathleen: HAHAAHA He’s an internet troll, nothing more.

    Wee little Bannon has it wrong – you want fear and respect. Not fear and contempt. Contempt means they will just kill you during a moment of weakness.

  37. 37.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Contempt means they will just kill you during a moment of weakness.

    I’m sometimes reminded of a story from years ago about some guy in a small town in the midwest, maybe Missouri, not sure. He bullied and terrorized everyone in town for years and years, and people were mostly “well, what can you do.” Until one day he was shot dead in the middle of the day on Main St, getting out of his truck, or coming out of a luncheonette, something like that. Funny thing, absolutely nobody saw anything, nor had the slightest idea who could have shot him.

  38. 38.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @D58826: To be fair, Boeing is an example that outsourced way to much. They have a lot of problems making orders because of minor problems with the vendors. The real dirty secret was most outsourcing was done by lazy managers. There has been a big push to bring it back in because it turns out no one is going to do your job for you.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kathleen:

    I know I’m being lookist here, but every time I see a photo of Bannon he appears … I’m not sure of the word, the closest I can come is unclean. Somewhat unhealthy, and as though he needs a good soapy scrubby shower, and needs to eat plenty of green vegetables to help cleanse his system of toxins and impurities. If I found myself in the same room with him, I’d sidle carefully away so as not to have to shake hands or talk with him. Interesting that the famously germophobic SCROTUS doesn’t pick up on this.

Comments are closed.