My pal Pedro came pretty close to predicting this last Sunday (he said it would happen at the White House, though).
I’ve heard any number of people say they fear the left has recently become as deeply unhinged as the right has already been for years now.
Extremists (at either end of the political spectrum) can be dangerous.
“The left”? What a bunch of horseshit.
Why even repeat the mutterings of such lunatics?
Anyway, it’s obviously the far right that’s been basically invited lately to come out into the open and express its rage violently.
trump is announcing the shooter has died.
Because I’m not into either censorship or denial.
As @hecep correctly pointed out, extremists aren’t restricted to any one philosophy or viewpoint, and can be very dangerous. Feeding their psychoses and dehumanizing political opponents used to be the specialty of Ann Coulter and her ilk - remember “liberals hate America?”
I wonder what will be said here if it turns out this guy has a picture of Trump on his wall at home that has mouths for eyes…
Fantastic. Since the election season, the right leaning folks have seized on every opportunity to suggest that leftists are the ones who are violent and racist.
These and many other things the far right is regularly accused of.
Exactly. I know this sounds weird, but I actually hope the gunman was a disgruntled right-winger, and not someone who has a popular rant column on Huffington Post.
Sanders supporter. Already seeing right-wing people on FB talk about how the Left is starting the new Civil war. With (direct quote): “USReps, Congressmen & former Exec. Branch call for fighting & blood on the streets to take down this Admin.”
And the poor old Right is only sitting there, minding their own business, just daring to talk about making America great again!
bear in mind that there is no confirmation that this is the man who did the shooting.
further depth on the james hodgkinson who has that facebook page–
So many on the right do (ironically) love to play the Victim Card.
And it looks like there’s no way, if this guy is somehow deeply political and on the left, that his actions will be dismissed as those of a crazed “lone wolf,” the way those inspired by far-right ideology typically are.
I’d like confirmation that those Facebook pages were there yesterday. Unfortunately Facebook blocks Wayback, and the current Google cache is only a couple hours old.
I just generally distrust fluffy social media stuff until confirmation.
At least Bernie’s statement is on point here:
That is how you condemn violence, not “oh gosh that was terrible and you shouldn’t do it but I’ll totally pay your legal fees if you do it anyway.” Mister President.
I worry that this is going to get worse, not better though. Republicans are in complete control of the government and are aided in that control by a decades-long effort to gerrymander and disenfranchise their way into immunity from accountability at the ballot box. They’re undertaking the passage of a policy agenda that is less popular than genital warts with all the glee of the N64 kid. And they have spent the last 8 years spouting bullshit “water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants” and “second amendment remedies” nonsense like this:
https://twitter.com/kopshtik/status/875007756738088960
At the risk of sounding like I’m blaming the victims here (because while I disagree with them and absolutely want them out of office, shooting them is not the way to do it), this is not a recipe for calm, reasoned debate and polite disagreement.
good summary of the contradictions inherent within the republican position. thanks.
Thanks for posting that. It seems to me that Senator Sanders has been very consistent in his refusal to sink to the level of his opposition.
Yeah, somehow, magically, when Ann Coulter fans shoot up “liberal” churches it’s totally not related to the fact that she and other right wing pundits have repeatedly, knowingly spread false information and incited violence… but I predict that same reaction, inverted, from many liberals who will equally vehemently insist that left wing pundits who do the same thing had no part in fueling this guy’s insanity.
You know, wouldn’t it be great if we had a health care system that at least tried to help mentally damaged people before they went on a shooting spree?
My local news interrupted ongoing coverage of that mass shooting for a breaking story about a mass shooting in my city.
This country is broken.
A big part of the problem is the coverage of mass shooters in the first place.
It’s not like media in other countries refuses to cover mass shootings. We just get a lot more of them.
The difference is one of scale and reach. Rand Paul is a sitting US Senator. Fox News is one of the most watched news channels in the country, and has basically been the Republican propaganda arm for over a decade. Ann Coulter is a mainstream Republican media figure. Alex Jones (who thinks Sandy Hook was a false flag operation where nobody actually died) has the ear of the sitting President of the United States. The violent rhetoric and extremist positions on the right are part of their establishment culture.
There are certainly unhinged and violent people on the left as well, but they’re relegated to where they belong: the fringe. They don’t have regular bookings on MSNBC. They don’t run for federal office (or if they do, they’re not likely to get the backing of the Democratic party). They don’t have enormously popular AM radio shows. They don’t get put on the National Security Council. They don’t get sympathetic news coverage for taking over national wildlife refuges or getting into armed standoffs with Bureau of Land Management officers. While I won’t deny the possibility that he’s been listening to someone who incited him to violence, it’s far easier for the left as a whole to say “he’s not with us”, because by and large, it’s true.
