Canadian Politics Today
Beyond Canada => American Politics => Topic started by: Queefer Sutherland on October 24, 2018, 10:27:07 am
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Breaking news....discuss.
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The atmosphere created down south is one of hatred and antipathy towards each other, where conspiracy theories are stoked by the President and his lickspittle lackeys, and where the two sides are coming to view each other as the enemy of the nation. That appears to be a view the Republican leadership is content to embrace. If you look at some of the Republican supporters on the internet as an example, these people believe everything they're fed, still believe Clinton is a criminal that somehow the largely Republican FBI refused to properly investigate, that Obama was a foreigner, a Muslim and probably a communist, and that George Soros, who also had a bomb sent to him, is a nefarious Jewish Communist conspirator trying to destroy America and all that is good and right.
I don't really know what can be done to combat this since the amount of money flowing into various bullshit propaganda outlets is so great, so secretive, and so unaccountable. Without that money there wouldn't be the number of crazy people in political office (all of them Republican) that there are now and this **** would have less weight behind it.
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I'm sure that, despite the president (you know, the one who supposedly wields executive authority) constantly labeling the media as 'enemies of the state' and 'fake news', that trump supporters will find some minor political figure with little political influence who said something mean (especially if you take their words out of context) and claim some sort of false equivalence.
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And we hear now that the return address on the packages was Debbie Wasseman Schultz. I guess they hoped they could blow up a DNC member at one end or the other.
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There's more:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/24/1806854/-More-explosive-devices-targeting-prominent-Democrats-found-and-this-may-not-be-the-end?detail=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2Se023qruV0eNvLtIGSFiNHffwYtQT1vQdGPmJ3st20_XWT6XOu_RLPrg
A suspicious package was sent to former Attorney General Eric Holder but it had the wrong address and was returned to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office in Florida because that was the return label on the package, according to two law enforcement sources.
According to New York and law enforcement officials, the explosive device mailed to former CIA director and frequent Trump critic John Brennan at CNN’s New York offices—a picture of which shows the corner of a return address with the name “Schultz” visible—was a pipe bomb that “appeared to be live” and was packaged with white powder.
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Maxine Waters now apparently has had one sent her way, luckily intercepted. I guess they will be checking very closely any mail sent to a Democrat for the next while.
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Well just heard Trump reacting to all this goings on today and he hardly touched on it. Then he went off on some other tack about opioid crisis. I guess he doesn't give a **** really since the bombs were all sent to Dems.
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Well just heard Trump reacting to all this goings on today and he hardly touched on it. Then he went off on some other tack about opioid crisis. I guess he doesn't give a **** really since the bombs were all sent to Dems.
I agree with you, it was quite dumb. But hey, Trump, what do you expect?
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I'm kinda sitting back keeping an eye on the news and hoping I don't see the "BREAKING NEWS" headline were one of these packages has gone off somewhere.I'm sure Trump is happy though as it takes the focus away from the Saudi issue.
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https://twitter.com/XHNorthAmerica/status/1055175886431895553
It'll be the best investigation, done by the best, most beautiful people.
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https://twitter.com/XHNorthAmerica/status/1055175886431895553
It'll be the best investigation, done by the best, most beautiful people.
Oh of course. It will be bigly and hopefully all wrapped up by the time I get back from my golf game. Can you put explosives inside a golf ball?
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They're saying the bombs had timers on them. How practical is it to send bombs with timer detonators on them through the mail? :-\
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How practical is it to send bombs with timer detonators on them through the mail? :-\
Depends on what service they used, the USPS has priority mail express that provides overnight delivery.
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We will look back on this fondly as the time the political violence didn't cause open and viable threats of retaliation from the other side.
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We will look back on this fondly as the time the political violence didn't cause open and viable threats of retaliation from the other side.
Maybe this IS retaliation for the ricen attacks on top Republicans a couple of weeks ago...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/10/03/ricin-explained-deadly-what/1507948002/
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There's an idea called "stochastic terrorism". Stochastic, I gather, is a term relating to probability. And the idea is, basically, that if you keep inciting anger at a specific target, chances are that sooner or later something is going to happen.
If your conspiritard radio show has a million listeners and you keep saying that Comet Pizza has a basement with a dungeon full of captive children, chances are that at least one of your million listeners is nuts enough to decide to take his gun and go "free the children".
If the far right internet sphere keeps saying that Soros, Obama, and the Clintons have an agenda to destroy America, chances are that somebody in that sphere is going to decide to "save America".
Jones or Trump or Hannity or whoever may not have ever told anybody to mail bombs to prominent Democrats, but listening to these people talk you can certainly imagine why somebody got the idea that they have to do something to "save America" from those people. It only takes one in a million.
-k
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While I certainly think that by far the most likely suspect is some far-right Trumptard who wanted to "save America" from Soros and the Clintons, another possibility that occurred to me is that Russian spooks would certainly love to cause chaos like this. They wouldn't want these bombs to actually kill these targets, but they'd love the division that a failed assassination attempt would create.
Meanwhile the US alt-right are convinced this is a false flag operation designed to make them look bad and fire up Democrat voters for the mid-term elections. That's not surprising-- these guys think everything is a false flag operation. Still, that's out there as a remote possibility.
Obviously I think that most likely this is the work of some Trumptard, but there's a faint possibility that something else is going on here.
-k
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While I certainly think that by far the most likely suspect is some far-right Trumptard who wanted to "save America" from Soros and the Clintons, another possibility that occurred to me is that Russian spooks would certainly love to cause chaos like this. They wouldn't want these bombs to actually kill these targets, but they'd love the division that a failed assassination attempt would create.
Meanwhile the US alt-right are convinced this is a false flag operation designed to make them look bad and fire up Democrat voters for the mid-term elections. That's not surprising-- these guys think everything is a false flag operation. Still, that's out there as a remote possibility.
Obviously I think that most likely this is the work of some Trumptard, but there's a faint possibility that something else is going on here.
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Yes, this is the 1-2 punch. On Facebook the kooky kooks are out in full force...
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A conspiracy theory I have heard proposes that the Trump administration *will* find evidence that the midterm elections have been "hacked" by Russians, and that the beneficiaries of the hacking are ... the Democrats. Orange president uses this reason to declare the results of the midterm elections null and void. Could that happen? I really don't know. But if they presented information claiming that Russian hackers tried to help the Democrats win, it would undermine any gains the Democrats make in the upcoming elections.
That sounds incredibly fantastical, but with this current crew in the White House, almost nothing seems impossible.
A similar conspiracy theory involving these bombs might go that the administration will pin these attacks on some Democrat-connected patsy. "The Democrats sent the bombs around, knowing full well that they'd be intercepted without going off, with the intention of discrediting Republicans. It just proves that they're evil, insane people who will do anything in their quest for power."
-k
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Meanwhile Sarah Suckabee Sanders is blaming this on CNN for "dividing the country".
What a bag of **** she is.
-k
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https://globalnews.ca/news/4594005/suspicious-package-robert-de-niro-new-york/?utm_source=GlobalNews&utm_medium=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1Fz9q044x_IgLS0pnOR3F8OPG9Iz6T7v4iCE4ma0RA3KGTb4sThfME3_Y
Robert De Niro?? Really??
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De Niro was critical of Trump. I guess that's all it takes to get on the hit list. Joe Biden got his I see. Here's my paranoid side showing up: I wonder if the reason none of these have gone off is because the REAL ones will show up later.
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Meanwhile Sarah Suckabee Sanders is blaming this on CNN for "dividing the country".
What a bag of **** she is.
Trump didn't do this, and CNN etc didn't do this. The person who built the bombs and sent them did this, period.
Trump is trying to pin this on CNN etc and CNN is trying to pin this on Trump. It's all BS.
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Trump didn't do this, and CNN etc didn't do this. The person who built the bombs and sent them did this, period.
Trump is trying to pin this on CNN etc and CNN is trying to pin this on Trump. It's all BS.
Can you show us where you think CNN is blaming this on Trump? Because I am just listening to them and they specifically said they are not doing that. Although I might do that. I'm sure it's not beneath him.
And what are you referring to as BS? Do you believe there were no bombs?
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That bomb disposal truck was pretty cool...
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Trump is trying to pin this on CNN etc and CNN is trying to pin this on Trump. It's all BS.
Inasmuch as rhetoric begets action, Trump is culpable:
Crazy person reasoning: my President said tje Clintons and Soros are crooks, that Obama gave
us ISIS, and illegal Mexicans, that CNN is the enemy of the people. I will show them, and remove the threat to America."
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Trump continues to try to bash the MSM in the wake of the mail bombs and stays silent as to the fact that at least two of them were sent to former presidents. It seems he hasn't got the brains or much less the character to speak appropriately and the STFU rather than firing up his base even more, member(s) of which who I suspect will turn out to be the perpetrators.
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Did anyone watch, or hear about his rally last night. How did he address this?
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Did anyone watch, or hear about his rally last night. How did he address this?
Take a wild ass guess at what he did. If you settle on once again attacking the media, you'd be right. I was thinking about bombing my TV.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4593457/trump-blasts-media-after-cnn-bomb-scare/
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And what are you referring to as BS? Do you believe there were no bombs?
The BS is blaming whomever for this besides the person who made and sent the bombs.
Can you show us where you think CNN is blaming this on Trump? Because I am just listening to them and they specifically said they are not doing that. Although I might do that. I'm sure it's not beneath him.
There's some CNN guests and Don Lemon i watched yesterday who were going on about Trump's insulting rhetoric and the bombs, CNN showing past clips of Trump insulting Maxine Waters during a rally. etc. Someone on CNN, I don't remember who, was criticizing Trump for not taking responsibility for his divisive rhetoric. I don't have links I watched it on TV,
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The BS is blaming whomever for this besides the person who made and sent the bombs.
There's a reason we have hate speech laws. Because of the ability of some people to influence larger groups of people and possibly cause some of them to use violence against identifiable groups.
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The BS is blaming whomever for this besides the person who made and sent the bombs.
There's some CNN guests and Don Lemon i watched yesterday who were going on about Trump's insulting rhetoric and the bombs, CNN showing past clips of Trump insulting Maxine Waters during a rally. etc. Someone on CNN, I don't remember who, was criticizing Trump for not taking responsibility for his divisive rhetoric. I don't have links I watched it on TV,
What Lemon and others have pointed out is simply the truth. Trump has made numerous comments which could certainly influence his knuckle dragger type supporters to resort to violence, including his comments at a speech saying words to the effect of "go ahead and punch him out, I'll pay your legal fees" and other stupid **** in the same vein. That doesn't mean he's responsible for the current pipe bombs directly, but you can't ignore his repetitive calls to violence toward people who challenge him. And just reflect back on who all these bombs were sent to.
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What Lemon and others have pointed out is simply the truth. Trump has made numerous comments which could certainly influence his knuckle dragger type supporters to resort to violence, including his comments at a speech saying words to the effect of "go ahead and punch him out, I'll pay your legal fees" and other stupid **** in the same vein. That doesn't mean he's responsible for the current pipe bombs directly, but you can't ignore his repetitive calls to violence toward people who challenge him. And just reflect back on who all these bombs were sent to.
If he's inciting violence he should be charged. I haven't seen that myself, but then again I ignore his dumb speeches & rallies most of the time. Big difference in calls to violence and just bashing people.
He should be criticized for his divisive unprofessional rhetoric generally but i haven't seen anything that could inspire someone to send pipe bombs. Show me if i'm wrong.
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Shouting "enemy of the people", "lock her up", and all the other scum rhetoric from the President of the United States will inspire the brain dead idiots that think they are "patriots" or "nationalists" to take matters into their own hands.
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If he's inciting violence he should be charged. I haven't seen that myself, but then again I ignore his dumb speeches & rallies most of the time. Big difference in calls to violence and just bashing people.
He should be criticized for his divisive unprofessional rhetoric generally but i haven't seen anything that could inspire someone to send pipe bombs. Show me if i'm wrong.
Judge rules that Trump may have incited violence:
“It is plausible that Trump’s direction to ‘get ’em out of here’ advocated the use of force,” Hale wrote. “It was an order, an instruction, a command.”
https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/opinion/state-national-columnists/judge-rules-trump-may-have-incited-violence/
Examples of Trump calling for or condoning violence:
President Donald Trump on Thursday praised a congressman’s past assault on a reporter, making it the latest example where he appears to encourage or support violence.
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, for instance, he told audience members he would pay their legal fees if they engaged in violence against protesters.
he said security guards were too gentle with a protester. "He's walking out with big high-fives, smiling, laughing," Trump said. "I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you."
On July 2, 2017, Trump shared the doctored video, from a 2007 WWE skit in which he is seen taking down WWE owner Vince McMahon. In the version Trump shared, McMahon's face is blocked by the CNN logo.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/back-trump-comments-perceived-encouraging-violence/story?id=48415766
[attachimg=1]
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If he's inciting violence he should be charged. I haven't seen that myself, but then again I ignore his dumb speeches & rallies most of the time. Big difference in calls to violence and just bashing people.
He should be criticized for his divisive unprofessional rhetoric generally but i haven't seen anything that could inspire someone to send pipe bombs. Show me if i'm wrong.
If you call someone an enemy of the state, an enemy of the people, someone trying to destroy your way of life, someone deliberately pumping out fake news, why would it surprise you the odd screwball would decide to act on it?
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If he's inciting violence he should be charged. I haven't seen that myself, but then again I ignore his dumb speeches & rallies most of the time. Big difference in calls to violence and just bashing people.
He should be criticized for his divisive unprofessional rhetoric generally but i haven't seen anything that could inspire someone to send pipe bombs. Show me if i'm wrong.
Well quite simply if you hadn't ignored his dumb speeches you would have heard him inciting violence. It's hard to comment on what you ignore.
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The BS is blaming whomever for this besides the person who made and sent the bombs.
I don't know so much. I definitely think it's okay to blame a toxic ideology when even only a few adherents act in a violent, barbaric and disgusting manner, if they are acting based on their belief in that ideology.
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Trump is lucky he is a Republican. Democrats seem less likely to send pipe bombs to opponents.
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Shouting "enemy of the people", "lock her up", and all the other scum rhetoric from the President of the United States will inspire the brain dead idiots that think they are "patriots" or "nationalists" to take matters into their own hands.
Via violence? Not unless they're crazy. Big difference between "lock her up" and "blow her up".
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If you call someone an enemy of the state, an enemy of the people, someone trying to destroy your way of life, someone deliberately pumping out fake news, why would it surprise you the odd screwball would decide to act on it?
It doesn't, but that's a lot to do with the USA being full of violent screwballs.
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Examples of Trump calling for or condoning violence: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/back-trump-comments-perceived-encouraging-violence/story?id=48415766
Well the "punch him in the face" comment is especially really horrible. Thank you.
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It doesn't, but that's a lot to do with the USA being full of violent screwballs.
And it seems many of them like kissing Trump's arse.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIs2L2nUL-0
If you call someone an enemy of the state, an enemy of the people, someone trying to destroy your way of life, someone deliberately pumping out fake news, why would it surprise you the odd screwball would decide to act on it?
This is really it.
-k
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If he's inciting violence he should be charged. I haven't seen that myself, but then again I ignore his dumb speeches & rallies most of the time. Big difference in calls to violence and just bashing people.
He should be criticized for his divisive unprofessional rhetoric generally but i haven't seen anything that could inspire someone to send pipe bombs. Show me if i'm wrong.
He straight-out calls Democrat politicians criminals, says that actions against him are an illegal conspiracy, calls his opposition a mob and incites people to assault those who oppose him.
You can't arrest him for that unless the mealy Republican party is on board, which they aren't. There should be a political price for such actions but there is no 'public' anymore, just a mass of angry people whose information and sphere of action is doctrinaire Republican.
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Kimmy's video captures it. I had to turn it off.
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The BS is blaming whomever for this besides the person who made and sent the bombs.
Wow.
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If he's inciting violence he should be charged.
Wooooow.
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MG, tell me you're just "playing" devil's advocate here and aren't seriously this naïve.
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It doesn't, but that's a lot to do with the USA being full of violent screwballs.
The WORLD is full of people who react quickly and violently to stupidity. How often have we heard of a rumor about someone doing something bad to a Muslim or to a mosque or a koran causing havoc and riots and murder in Muslim countries? What do you think Russians would do if el presidente there started to say nasty things about a particular news organization (which wouldn't happen since he controls them all or can shut down any he doesn't like). If you're in a position where you have 'followers' who worship you and you tell them so and so is an enemy then odds are someone is going to go after so and so.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIs2L2nUL-0
Ok so looking at all this, i didn't know about the past violent speech. Luckily most of it seems to be on the early campaign trail. His rhetoric has always been very unprofessional and uncivil and yes can be fuel to wackos and he should clean it up for many reasons. I still don't see him in any way near legally responsible for the bombs but he does have influence and should take that seriously. He's very divisive and inflammatory and should be criticized.
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Well I see we are now up to a dozen pipe bombs sent and that they have arrested a suspect in case just a little while ago. Now to see if the flow of packages stop being sent.
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I wonder if Trump will take a look at the stickers all over the truck owned by the alleged bomb mailer, and perhaps take the hint that maybe he should tone down his attacks on the media so as not to inspire another whacko supporter of his who maybe can build better bombs. My guess is probably not. That would take the ability to associate cause with effect and that's a bit of "a bridge too far" for a person of his intellect.
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I wonder if Trump will take a look at the stickers all over the truck owned by the alleged bomb mailer, and perhaps take the hint that maybe he should tone down his attacks on the media so as not to inspire another whacko supporter of his who maybe can build better bombs. My guess is probably not. That would take the ability to associate cause with effect and that's a bit of "a bridge too far" for a person of his intellect.
Fake news
False flag
Crooked Hillary
Lock her up
I think that about covers it.
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Fake news
False flag
Crooked Hillary
Lock her up
I think that about covers it.
I wonder if he'll come good on one of his previous promise and pay this guys legal bills?
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(https://www.newstarget.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2018/10/Bomb-Suspect-Van.jpg)
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(https://www.naturalnews.com/images/Bomb-Suspect-Van-Window-Stickers-600.jpg)
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Apparently he's a native american of some kind.
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Apparently he's a native american of some kind.
Apparently the kind who support Donald Trump.
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Apparently the kind who support Donald Trump.
Apparently works in the swamp drainage industry.
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I found this interesting: apparently the alleged bomber while being questioned by police has said that "there could be more devices in the mail". To me that is by itself already an admission of guilt, so why not go ahead and say how many, and maybe who they are addressed to. I guess maybe in his mind he is enjoying the mystique. Perhaps because he is facing a potentil sentence of 58 years he doesn't give damn.
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Apparently he's a native american of some kind.
I'm not sure if his true heritage has been revealed.
He CLAIMED that he was a member of the Seminole tribe (even starting a business suggesting he was a native American), but the Seminoles have said that he was not a member. It could be that either he had been told (falsely) that he was native, or he adopted the heritage due to the history/heritage.
He may actually be of Filipino heritage. (Some have traced a potential father to a naturalized immigrant.)
https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article220680590.html
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If he had been a:
1-Muslim
2-Jew
3-Trump supporter
4-neo Nazi
5-gay
6-transexual
7-Megan Merkle's brother
I am sure we would have had the usual stories by now. Sounds like he's got no immediate stereotype to explain his behaviour.
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If he had been a:
1-Muslim
2-Jew
3-Trump supporter
...
I am sure we would have had the usual stories by now. Sounds like he's got no immediate stereotype to explain his behaviour.
Ummm... not sure what you're talking about. He was most definitely a Trump supporter.
His van was covered in pro-Trump/Anti-left wing decals.
He posted pictures of himself on Facebook that were taken at a Trump rally, holding a pro-Trump sign
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Ummm... not sure what you're talking about. He was most definitely a Trump supporter.
His van was covered in pro-Trump/Anti-left wing decals.
He posted pictures of himself on Facebook that were taken at a Trump rally, holding a pro-Trump sign
Also a CNN SUCKS sign. Sounds a bit Trumpish to me.
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Apparently works in the swamp drainage industry.
He does claim to be a Seminole.
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I wonder if he'll come good on one of his previous promise and pay this guys legal bills?
oh WOW you're right ...
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As sure as god made little green apples Rush Limbaugh, Fox and a number of other right wing cretins are weighing in trying to suggest the bombing was a false flag deal set up by the Dems. leading up to the mid terms. And I'm sure there will be a good number of the types who watch/listen to that crap will buy it hook line and sinker.
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I think they were before the dude got arrested.
Are they still ?
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I think they were before the dude got arrested.
Are they still ?
Some people are "because he's just too perfect".
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I think they were before the dude got arrested.
Are they still ?
Limbaugh still is. He is showing the pics of the van and saying the stickers are too squarely mounted to be real, and that the bombs were fakes. The man in charge of the FBI (appointed by Trump) says bullshit to that.
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Saw an interview with this guy's lawyer and something he said struck me as symbolic of much of the 'alt right' movement. He said this guy, who has been described as a white supremacist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay, who claimed to be a Seminole among other things, was lacking an identity. His father was Filipino, but abandoned the family as a baby. He was, the lawyer thought looking for something to belong to, some kind of identity, and he latched onto Trump.
With religion largely gone, with idea of 'clans' and tribes gone, with smaller and smaller families, a lot of people seem to be lost and seeking something to be a part of.
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An ex-girlfriend, a Brit who moved to the states, spoke often of the disconnectedness of the American people. Separated from family, and things of meaning. They consider people 'friends' but don't give a **** about them. And materialism.
That's anecdotal, though, and unfortunately there's no way to measure these things.
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With religion largely gone, with idea of 'clans' and tribes gone, with smaller and smaller families, a lot of people seem to be lost and seeking something to be a part of.
This doesn't explain whackjob pipe bombs though. He could have just volunteered for Trump/GOP campaign like a normal person.
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This doesn't explain whackjob pipe bombs though. He could have just volunteered for Trump/GOP campaign like a normal person.
True, but he had, according to the reports, a history of mental illness. This was not his first act of stupid violent dumbness.
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Saw an interview with this guy's lawyer and something he said struck me as symbolic of much of the 'alt right' movement. He said this guy, who has been described as a white supremacist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay, who claimed to be a Seminole among other things, was lacking an identity. His father was Filipino, but abandoned the family as a baby. He was, the lawyer thought looking for something to belong to, some kind of identity, and he latched onto Trump.
With religion largely gone, with idea of 'clans' and tribes gone, with smaller and smaller families, a lot of people seem to be lost and seeking something to be a part of.
I don't think religion is "largely gone" in the US when surveys show something like 73% of the population claim to be Christian, while 18% claim to be atheist. Sounds to me like this guy simply had a poor family situation, became hateful, acquired a lengthy criminal record, drifted a little too far to the right, which is likely what led him to Trump. Being kicked out of the family home in your 50's is a rather bizarre concept.
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Saw an interview with this guy's lawyer and something he said struck me as symbolic of much of the 'alt right' movement. He said this guy, who has been described as a white supremacist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay, who claimed to be a Seminole among other things, was lacking an identity. His father was Filipino, but abandoned the family as a baby. He was, the lawyer thought looking for something to belong to, some kind of identity, and he latched onto Trump.
With religion largely gone, with idea of 'clans' and tribes gone, with smaller and smaller families, a lot of people seem to be lost and seeking something to be a part of.
I've written about this in the past too. I believe we're hardwired to seek community and belonging, to form tribes. Our survival as a species depended on it. Now our families are spread out across the country or across the world, we live shoulder to shoulder with people we have no connection to, and the community institutions of days gone by don't really exist in the way they used to. And people have latched on to all kinds of other things to fill that void. People make synthetic tribes around other things. Sports teams being a prime example. And apparently the cult of Trump is another synthetic tribe that people have joined.
True, but he had, according to the reports, a history of mental illness. This was not his first act of stupid violent dumbness.
We've seen cases where mentally ill people with no connection to Islam or the Middle East decide to convert to Islam and fight in a Holy War. Amanda Korody and John Nuttall for example. I think several of our home-grown Canadian Jihadis are just people who wanted something to fight for. I'm not discounting that that most Islamist terrorists are born and raised in the faith, I'm just pointing out that we've seen multiple instances of these people who had nothing to do with the faith, often people with drug problems, becoming radicalized and go to war within a short span of time.
I think this MAGAbomber is similar. He got radicalized and decided he wanted to fight a different kind of holy war-- the US culture wars.
I think the kind of life-or-death language that is used by Islamists or by culture-war fanatics appeals to certain kinds of people. There seem to be some people who are just ripe to be radicalized and just need to find a cause. And I think that the Internet's MAGAsphere-- places like Reddit's "the_Donald" message board, 4chan, and various Twitter and Facebook communities, are just as filled with radicalizing propaganda as anything the Islamists have ever come up with.
-k
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I don't think religion is "largely gone" in the US when surveys show something like 73% of the population claim to be Christian, while 18% claim to be atheist.
Maybe so, but the church of today isn't the same as it was in years gone by. Once upon a time a church was an extended family where everyone knew your name and asked how you were and worried about you if you weren't there on Sunday. Now there are big halls, some the size of sports arenas, where people drive a half hour to get there and sit in a room full of strangers and drive away and don't see each other again until next week. It's not a community in the same sense.
It's like you can be much more alone in a city of a million people than in a small town or a rural area.
-k
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I've written about this in the past too. I believe we're hardwired to seek community and belonging, to form tribes. Our survival as a species depended on it. Now our families are spread out across the country or across the world, we live shoulder to shoulder with people we have no connection to, and the community institutions of days gone by don't really exist in the way they used to. And people have latched on to all kinds of other things to fill that void.
I would add that this has happened just as families became smaller and smaller. Was a time your average person had half a dozen or more siblings, a dozen or more aunts and uncles, and dozens of first cousins, most of whom you were reasonably close to in both geography and affection. I know a woman like that now. She has few friends because her family is where her life is at. Whenever she goes out, or out with her immediate family, to a play, shopping, to a cottage or cabin or whatever, it's with a cousin, aunt or uncle, sister, sister in law (she has 7) or mother and father. This is the way it used to be for most people through most of history. You had a huge, extended family that were part of your life. it was a tight-knit social circle. And now it's largely gone. People have one kid. Or maybe two. Or maybe none. Families are way smaller, and much more spread out. You might not even have any in your city or province - or country. That's a big void to fill.
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Maybe so, but the church of today isn't the same as it was in years gone by. Once upon a time a church was an extended family where everyone knew your name and asked how you were and worried about you if you weren't there on Sunday. Now there are big halls, some the size of sports arenas, where people drive a half hour to get there and sit in a room full of strangers and drive away and don't see each other again until next week. It's not a community in the same sense.
It's like you can be much more alone in a city of a million people than in a small town or a rural area.
-k
Yes I guess that's true. I haven't gone to church in years but when I did it was a small country place where the old farmers, including my grandfather, would gather outside after the service to smoke their pipes and have a chat about how things were going in the fields and the barns. Then I grew up and moved to Toronto. Not quite the same. Luckily it didn't make me become hateful and mail bombs to people. If I was going to mail one though I have no doubt about the address.
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https://twitter.com/bruceanderson/status/1056237654675603456
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https://twitter.com/bruceanderson/status/1056237654675603456
Yep, that's a good summation. Now cut that damn wire.