Betty is right, it sure is terrorism, and there will be more of it. This is just the beginning. Watch this and think:
@josephabrassey It’s important to understand the lay of the land. #josephbrasseyauthor #politics #history #currentevents #fyp #fypシ #fypage ♬ original sound – josephabrassey
There’s going to be more of this, and it doesn’t matter if they win or lose the midterms. The Republicans have been building up to this for a while, and they just needed the right man to cut the orcs loose. And that was Trump, and there are now obviously plenty of others willing to do what he has done and more.
Villago Delenda Est
The errors of the reconstruction of the states in rebellion in 1861 must not be repeated in regard the current domestic terrorism situation. No “charity towards all” crap. Our domestic terrorists must be dealt with as we dealt with Osama bin Laden. No quarter. Reconstruction was not nearly harsh enough. Every Confederate cabinet official and flag officer should have hanged. Massive confiscation of property should have happened.
bbleh
I’ve always felt that passive-aggressiveness was kind of … cowardly. And now the leadership of a national party has adopted it as a strategy.
Well, Kevin McCarthy is one of their senior leaders, and I gotta say, the shoe fits …
MomSense
And one of our own wife of a jackal is running for state legislature here in Maine – and for the desire to serve her community and make things better in her state she is getting threats and harassment. Enough of this bullshit. What the fuck do they have to do to be held accountable?!
piratedan
My concern is that the DOJ is not moving fast enough with all of these events. While foot soldiers are being put away, those pulling the strings are still out there yanking their threads. They have multitudes to draw from and the lack of repercussions for these actions is not helping. Perhaps I’m naive, but I always thought that the people who bait other folks to break the law are just as culpable….as those who did the deed. The local DA’s seem to have no issues with charging the getaway drivers for bank robbers, how is this any different?
Alison Rose
@MomSense:
At this point, I honestly don’t think there’s anything they could do that would bring actual consequences. I mean, I am sure the right wing media is already calling out any instance of someone saying “Hey, maybe some of the GOP rhetoric has led to this” even though it’s painfully obvious that it’s true. You get a psycho breaking into the home of the Speaker of the House, screaming her name and then attacking her husband with a hammer. You know he was trying to kill him. The fact that he didn’t was just luck.
Imagine if Nancy had been home. Imagine if the worst had happened. Even then, we’d be hearing the same mealy-mouthed bullshit from McCarthy, McConnell, et al, and Fox would find some way to blame it on Biden.
It really makes me wonder what this country will look like when I’m my mom’s age. But I don’t think I really want to know.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@piratedan: WaPo: “Top national security prosecutor joins Trump Mar-a-Lago investigation”
Shit’s going down after the midterms.
RaflW
This vile attack on the Speaker’s husband (and aimed at her) has shaken me. It will also feed into the Republican cowardice we already see reported in the press. There’s probably 20 to 25 remaining GOPs in the House who, in the distant past (like, 2010) weren’t such craven dolts. Yeah, we disagreed about virtually everything in domestic politics, but they occasionally voted favorably on urgent bills and such.
I have no sympathy for these guys. They made a deal with the devil and he’s gonna get paid.
But they’re going to see this attack, and they know that they and their families are getting threats to ‘stay in line’ with the MAGA horde. Seeing how close the violence is will further stifle even the vestigial shreds of decency these last couple dozen, might, maybe possess.
As Adam has said, stay frosty. And aware that it could all go rapidly south after Nov 8th.
Dangerman
Time to rush out a split screen commercial; one side, McCarthy jerking off by saying he wanted to hit NP with a gavel…
…other side, simulated Octagenian getting hit with a hammer.
i heard the attack was caught by police body cam. Hope that never leaks.
HumboldtBlue
Does “brewtalize” mean you get wicked drunk on beer?
Also, the Phillies have come back from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game up. It’s Friday night, raise a glass for some fun and for a minute, fuck the haters.
MomSense
@Alison Rose:
And we know damn well that it doesn’t even take this kind of brutal attack to intimidate people so that they are afraid to run for office, speak at town meetings, etc. The every day bullying and harassment is bad enough.
Will our press ever get their shit together or will they keep normalizing this fuckery?
Ksmiami
@Villago Delenda Est: Actually, the best thing we could have done during Reconstruction is to have rebuilt the South ala Marshall Plan- it could have been reformed then and there.
gene108
There are some very wealthy well paid people, who work for even wealthier people, who have huge media platforms egging people on in subtle enough ways that they aren’t legally liable for inciting violence, but still continue to demonize Democrats.
We really need to enact laws on what constitutes protected speech, because I think it’s going to be inevitable that all the shit Tucker Carlson, et. al. spew will get a government official killed, whether it’s a school board member, librarian, Speaker of the House, judge, etc. is the only real question.
Wapiti
We all live in a movie theater. And people keep yelling fire to get a mob moving.
Jackie
@MomSense: Was that a rhetorical question? Because we have a good idea of what the answer is.
frosty
I was just saying to Ms F tonight that win or lose it’s going to be a shitshow. Rs win, kiss voting rights goodbye. Rs lose, then it’s stolen election crap. The only thing that works is if we swamp and curb stomp them in the elections and I don’t see that happening. Ugh.
Ruckus
I think a lot of the problem is the scale of the issues.
Jan 6 is a huge black mark upon our country and it will take time to work it out, part of which is that this type of behavior is new here. Also it is not a small number of people it is a lot of over armed assholes, some of whom are likely to/do have friends on the inside of the groups that have to fix this. We are making progress, just this week a guy got 90 months for what he did on the 6th. But this is not a few bad apples, this is a large part of our nation, with people from all walks of life. We’ve taken a long time to get where we are, and we are massively better than we were 100 and 200 yrs ago. And a nation with our history and type of government will be a lot more difficult to fix. Add on faux news and the bullshit that they have been selling for the last 30+ yrs and we have a huge problem. It’s not just those that tried to overthrow the government, it’s the fact that it is a lot of misinformed, racist, morons. Look at the judge that SFB picked for his trial. I’m almost amazed that we are where we are less than 2 yrs out. We have the press bullshitting us, complete fucking morons running for political office, a few complete morons in office and some that are pretty damn high up in congress. I don’t thing the majority of those who think Jan 6 was a good idea have a damn clue about this country, what it is supposed to be, they want what they think will make it better for them and history shows that to be complete bullshit. History has always been slanted towards the wealthy, tell me it’s any different here today. Is racism gone? Is this country actually what it says in the founding documents? I’d say not and we have a lot of citizens who want it to not be anything like that document says. We have a country – Russia, which is so corrupt that the only way to get anywhere there is to leave or be more corrupt than the average. We have supposedly the world’s richest man, who seems to not understand humanity in the least, who idiots want to be president when he doesn’t meet the bare minimum qualifications.
I’m not trying to sound like a defeatist, I am trying to call attention to the problems, stumbling blocks that we have trying to fix this place and to point out the enormity of the problem.
We can’t give up because that won’t work, but we can’t go as fast as some/many want because of the enormity of the problem. This much damage/wreckage/destruction takes time, effort and direction that not a lot of people seem to understand to clean up, clear up and fix. I don’t think any of us have a real clear picture of what is going on, what it takes to fix – if we can, and the time and effort it will take.
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue:
Woo hoo!
Yes!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
One must note the contribution of the likes of Alex Jones of Infowars to this mess, but the word seems like this particular loon is a fan boi on Mr My Pillow’s Meth Fueled Paranoid fantasies.
gene108
@MomSense:
The media will normalize it. The only way to tamp down on right-wing terrorism is to admit so called peers, like Tucker Carlson, and ostensibly so-called media entities, like Fox News, OANN, etc. are pushing for stochastic terrorism, and that these people and entities are not legitimate in their coverage of events.
It would require a level of self-reflection by the media, which they are incapable of until the new right-wing brown shirts have them up against the wall when the revolution comes.
Dan B
Although the militias are concerning I hope the FBI is tracking anyone like Flynn who could organize a strategic operation with perhaps some National Guard and other military to hamstring security like what happened on January 6th. Bog down the chain of command, keep security service in the dark and underresourced. If there is a GOP takeover how many would risk openly supporting insurrectionists?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@gene108:
You don’t know that
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@frosty:
The polls could be wrong. Remember the effect Dobbs had in Kansas? Polling said it was a dead heat; the actual results weren’t even close
mrmoshpotato
I assume everyone is seeing Illinois political commercials on FOX.
What Joe Rogan bullshit was that?
Narya
@mrmoshpotato: I specifically recorded the game so I could fast forward through the ads.
Love Harper’s phanatic-colored shoes.
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato: Nope. I’m getting local politics. Which unfortunately slants Red. Which I’m fast-forwarding through.
Urban Suburbanite
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: This suspicion has a lot of traction among leftist types. It’s no secret that the Proud Boys were real friendly with police (especially, but not just in Portland), that the Oathkeepers had a bunch of police members, and so on. So yeah, people are a bit tense and might be reaching. But when you see a van full of sweaty Nazis in Idaho includes members of Matt Shea’s church (he’s the one Republicans had to admit is a domestic terrorist), I’m not sure how much this guy is reaching.
LeftCoastYankee
This shit has been going on in Portland for at while, even before the George Floyd protests.
Every time there was a demonstration or public event for a progressive cause, Patriot’s Prayer (and later their Proud Boy goons) would show up and cause shit. The cops watched and laughed, or harassed the non-goons.
Sure RWNJ look stupid and silly yelling at a folks dressed like bananas dancing on a float at the Pride Parade, but they are sooooo delusional about what cities are like they kept showing up. Rose City Antifa doxed them, so “Antifa bad” became a meme for their media fellow travelers.
When the George Floyd protests happened, the legitimate protests were overrun by this dynamic with the fuel of the “black bloc” (young dumb anarchists who are overly enthusiastic about breaking shit, doing nothing, and punching fascists — 1 out of 3 isn’t success).
The cops are the important part of the equation. If they are clear on their duty and dedicated to their job, like the Capitol Police on January 6, the brownshirts will not prevail. If they are not….
HumboldtBlue
@Narya:
I may be a spoiler, just a heads-up.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@RaflW:
But they have Capitol Police protection?
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: Please note spoilers. Though thanks for the update; I turned back on the game. Go Phillies!
Timill
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): She does. He doesn’t. And she wasn’t there.
gene108
@Ruckus:
This behavior is as old as the country itself. Violence directed at people that threatened a white Christian power structure started with the colonists taking Native American land, continued with slave catchers and the KKK.
One reason most people never paid much attention to it, until TFG came along, is since the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, Democrats and Republicans decided to give these violent would be fascists a wide berth and distance themselves from them publicly. David Duke, when he ran for governor of Louisiana 30 years ago, did not get any support from national Republican organizations.
Another reason is the FBI and other federal law enforcement worked to keep these groups under control. The Feds kept most of them from ever getting big enough to be a real problem.
Also, groups like the SPLC won civil suits against the KKK groups and other white supremacists that effectively bankrupted them.
What’s unraveled in the past seven years is Republicans are no longer voluntarily shunning white supremacists from helping advance their agenda. This goes from right-wing media to politicians.
The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was an attempt by these white supremacists to flex what they felt was their newly found acceptance. TFG guy said they were fine people on both sides. I don’t recall Republican politicians or media types rushing to condemn the TFG’s remarks.
Republicans have bet they can get primarily on with the majority of white voters and a scattering of non-white votes. TFG activated a lot of whites supremacist types to vote for him and therefore vote for Republicans. Republicans refuse to reform and just double down on negative partisanship.
I used to think this would end if Democrats kept beating them electorally, but I think January 6 was a test run of how to maintain power, when democracy fails the Republican Party.
Narya
@HumboldtBlue: thanks for the warning—I’m nearly caught up. I cannot believe how they’ve dragged this out. I hate the coverage, tbh; the nonstop chatter is awful and I am loathing the in-game interviews. And I don’t like the camera angles.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Timill:
Then perhaps this should change
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@gene108:
I’m willing to bet there’s more of us than there are of them
HumboldtBlue
@Narya:
John Smoltz provides some excellent pitching insight, it’s absolutely a lesson each time, but they want the booth to talk so much and on TV it’s not necessary. The in-game interviews are wholly unneeded and nearly universally despised.
The camera angles on the other hand, the shot of the JT double on replay was beautiful because of the panoramic view.
RaflW
@MomSense: Will our press ever get their shit together or will they keep normalizing this fuckery?
They got the message loud and clear with the harassment pens at Trump rallies. They’re just as much at risk of being harmed as the politicians. That’s gotta start to impact one’s urge to do a journalism or two, if it’s about the GOP or MAGA or Q or J6 what have you.
columbusqueen
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Which is why I’m wondering if a bunch of us need to start packing heat too, at least at home. Since voter registration is public record, I’m worried roving packs of wingnuts are going to start knocking on ordinary Democrats ‘ doors.
gene108
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Where was the pushback on Bill O’Reilly’s “Tiller the Killer” comments that got Dr. Tiller murderer at church services?
I don’t remember the chattering classes demanding O’Reilly be canceled or anything like that. The pushback came from pissed off liberals, who pointed out “Tiller the Killer”, though not meeting the legal definition of incitement, is the sort of language that can prompt people to act violently.
After the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, in August, right-wing media pushed messages that this was “unprecedented”, a violation of individual liberty, and not providing any context that it’s equally unprecedented for TFG to steal documents after leaving office.
One idiot decided to try and attack an FBI office, because of all the right-wing fury over the search. He got himself killed.
The MSM did not tell right-wing media figures that their context less screeching about “unprecedented” helped prompt the idiots attack on the FBI office.
People are free to deal in conspiracy theories on social media, which can prompt random acts of violence, like the guy shooting up a pizzeria in D.C. because of “PizzaGate”, but that doesn’t mean right-wing media amplifying the conspiracy theories doesn’t also have an effect in promoting violence.
EDIT: The MSM being largely silent on right-wing bullshit helps it gain legitimacy.
randy khan
There is no doubt at all this was domestic terrorism. The Fox News crowd is going to talk as much as they can about mental illness, but the root cause here is a party that has embraced the most extreme views possible and not only won’t condemn the crazy people but often actively encourages them. There’s going to have to be a reckoning soon because the Republicans are getting too insane to run a country.
RaflW
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The reports are that only the member of congress has protection, and I think generally just leadership level MoCs. So only if Nancy had been home.
In the past, rank and file MoCs didn’t qualify for protection outside of the Capitol grounds, IIRC. Maybe that changed after J6, but I don’t imagine that they are detailed to the residences in the home districts of all 435 members. That’s way beyond the budget, much less the jurisdiction, of the Capitol police, isn’t it?
Narya
@HumboldtBlue: what I mean by the angles is the constant closeups. I’ve seen old games when there were fewer angles and cameras, so watching was in some ways more like being there. I agree on the looks when something happens but the constant cuts … I am old.
Jackie
@Timill: The question I have is, was there no home security??? I can’t believe the Pelosi’s didn’t have state of the art home security! The moment the intruder busted out the window, alarms should have gone off and the police alerted. That’s the puzzle that’s puzzling me.
RaflW
@randy khan: The coordinated RW talking point is that this attack is a clear indication that crime is out of control in Democrat cities.
RaflW
@Jackie: We started using the alarm system at our townhouse during the uprisings. And have, since. The thing is, it’s a pain to leave it on during the day when you’re home. Wanna go out in the back garden for a minute? We forget, and “Whoop Whoop Whoop” and we hit the control pad, then wait for the call from the alarm co. and we give the secret word.
Do that a few times and you start turning the alarm off around breakfast time and turn it back on when driving away or retiring for the night. Maybe not smart for the spouse of a high profile pol these days, but understandable human nature if that’s what we later find out happened.
gene108
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
From the Bolshevik Revolution to the relatively recent military coup in Myanmar, a well armed focused minority can easily impose its will on the unfocused majority.
There are a lot more of them buying guns and seemingly willing to resort to violence.
Gin & Tonic
@RaflW: The dude broke around 0220, so you’d think the alarm should be on.
Jackie
@Gin & Tonic: Exactly. And with all the threats aimed at Nancy AND HER FAMILY 24/7, there’s NO excuse to not having the alarm system on 24/7. None.
2liberal
who are you, and what have you done with Goku?
Jackie
@2liberal: 😂🤣😂
TS
@bbleh:
Sure seems to – yet they all excuse each other. For my memory this started with Palin & the cross hairs which were said to be surveyors symbols – or some such thing.
The idiots down the bottom are paying the price for listening to their political masters.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jackie:
@2liberal:
I’m just trying to be more positive. Frankly, because I have to be for my own sanity
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@gene108:
Those places didn’t and don’t have the 2nd amendment. Plenty of leftists also own guns.
Plus, we’ve seen only a few engage in actual violence so far. Not that many people showed up to protest at Mar-a-lago after Trump’s residence was searched
Jackie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Good for you! The more you try, the easier it will get. The old adage: Glass half full or glass half empty. I always strive for half full.
RaflW
@Gin & Tonic: Oh, geez. I really haven’t watched or read much reporting, so I’m sorry I opined as I did. Part of not spiraling out too much for me these days is actually not reading much news.
Obvs. I knew about the attack, but not the timing.
mrmoshpotato
@Narya: You caught up yet?
James E Powell
@Narya:
I’m watching with the sound down & listening to Montrose’s first album at max volume through the airpods.
Narya
@mrmoshpotato: Yes
or should I say YES
mrmoshpotato
@Narya: 10! Go Phillies!
Narya
@mrmoshpotato: even though I have a Bobby Abreu jersey, I love me some catchers.
columbusqueen
@Gin & Tonic: I believe an alarm went off; the cops arrived as Paul Pelosi was still fighting the intruder.
HumboldtBlue
PHILS WIN! PHILS WIN! PHILS WIN!
Narya
@HumboldtBlue: YES!
dm
@Jackie: The glass is too big.
I am reading The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher. It is an in depth look at how social media aggravates and promotes polarization and radicalism.
There are some terrible stories about deadly ethnic riots in Myanmar and Germany that were defused by turning Facebook off (Myanmar) or when local internet service glitched (Germany).
Researchers have mapped the path of recommendation of CNN to Fox to two-more-steps-to-QAnon on Youtube, and tracked comments to the videos as individuals get radicalized.
Anyway
@HumboldtBlue:
Anazeballs!!!!!
Last few innings were tight…
mrmoshpotato
@HumboldtBlue: YES! Football and baseball tomorrow night!
James E Powell
@dm:
Similar points are made in Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier.
HumboldtBlue
@Narya: @Anyway: @mrmoshpotato:
This is so much fun!
ColoradoGuy
Surely the CIA and the NSA are aware of the people behind QAnon, and of potential links to KGB/FSB chaos agents. This very much parallels the Nazi chaos/disinformation campaign in 1940 that Rachel Maddow is describing in her ULTRA podcast, now up to Episode 4, describing a Republican Senator under direct Nazi control.
The situation with QAnon tracks the same evolution as 1940: domestic terrorism sponsored by professional chaos agents, cultivating terrorists operating in the USA over a period of months to years. By now, surely QAnon goes beyond “trolling”, it is deliberately creating and supporting terrorists, and the people behind it know what they are doing. Time for the Federal Government to discover the perpetrators and act.
Barry
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: About Dave Raskin, the oh-so-great antiterrorism guy:
Prosecuting a terrorist with entire resources of the US Government behind you is easy. When you have to fight high-ranking members of the US Government, it’s harder. And that is assuming honesty, character and moral courage, which is a huge assumption.
We’ve seen a long line alleged ‘good guys’ crash and burn, failing utterly.
Barry
@RaflW: “They got the message loud and clear with the harassment pens at Trump rallies. ”
Please look at the current coverage. The FTFNYT has all of its reporters desperately pulling Oz and Walker to victory.
LiminalOwl
Reading this thread over morning coffee, I commented to The Thin Black Duke “oh, now it’s all baseball.” (To be clear, I don’t hate baseball; I’m just not really into any sportsball. I’d watch baseball sooner than football; I can’t stand any sport for which hitting people is a valued play.)
He said, “It makes me sad that baseball is no longer the #1 American sport; football is.”
And, probably because I’m reading BJ, my thoughts went immediately to the Norman Spinrad story, “The National Pastime.” Maybe it’s over-reaching, but I’m thinking about that transition as concurrent with the increasing legitimation of public violence (as committed by white people of course), and wondering if there might be a connection…
VOR
@Barry: yes, because Oz and Walker will generate stories. People around Walker will leak about the crazy thing he did today. Stories practically write themselves and are much easier than writing about a policy issue.