The rise of menace as a mainstream political tool

[essentialsaltes]

Long Island Trump ally sparks outcry after announcing plan to train 75-member 'militia'​

Back in March on Long Island, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a far-right MAGA Republican and Donald Trump supporter — announced his plan to recruit a force of 75 armed "special deputies." Blakeman urged residents with gun permits to apply, saying they would be "provisional emergency special deputy sheriffs" and could be activated when he desired.

"Critics have accused (Blakeman) of creating, with little notice or explanation, an unsanctioned militia answering only to him," Kilgannon reports in an article published on July 11. "They called the move especially dangerous amid heightened fears of political violence, and as Mr. Trump promulgates plans for mass deportations and quashing dissent."

Jay Jacobs — who chairs the New York State Democratic Party as well as the Nassau County Democratic Party — told the Times, "There is no problem he is looking to solve. Does he think we're going to be invaded by Suffolk County?"

 

[BPPLEE]

Long Island Trump ally sparks outcry after announcing plan to train 75-member 'militia'​

Back in March on Long Island, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a far-right MAGA Republican and Donald Trump supporter — announced his plan to recruit a force of 75 armed "special deputies." Blakeman urged residents with gun permits to apply, saying they would be "provisional emergency special deputy sheriffs" and could be activated when he desired.

"Critics have accused (Blakeman) of creating, with little notice or explanation, an unsanctioned militia answering only to him," Kilgannon reports in an article published on July 11. "They called the move especially dangerous amid heightened fears of political violence, and as Mr. Trump promulgates plans for mass deportations and quashing dissent."

Jay Jacobs — who chairs the New York State Democratic Party as well as the Nassau County Democratic Party — told the Times, "There is no problem he is looking to solve. Does he think we're going to be invaded by Suffolk County?"

This guy is a Trump supporter. So what? Is there any indication that Trump even knows about this guy?

 

[essentialsaltes]

This guy is a Trump supporter. So what? Is there any indication that Trump even knows about this guy?

Thread has a topic. Post matches topic.

 

[BPPLEE]

Thread has a topic. Post matches topic.

I guess that’s a “No”

 

[essentialsaltes]

I guess that’s a “No”

(As it happens, it's a yes. Trump introduced Blakeman on stage at a Bronx rally with glowing praise.)

 

[BPPLEE]

(As it happens, it's a yes. Trump introduced Blakeman on stage at a Bronx rally with glowing praise.)

I stand corrected.

 

[wing2000]

Violence agaisnt your political foes is justified if he or she "is the devil"....apparently:

Speaking in a small-town church last month, Mark Robinson, the Trump-endorsed GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, told the audience that “some folks need killing.”

“It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!” Robinson, the lieutenant governor, said, according to a video of the speech surfaced by the New Republic.

The recording shows Robinson shouting about “wicked people,” including liberals, socialists and communists. He was introduced at the event by a local pastor, the Rev. Cameron McGill, who told the audience: “Who’s behind President Biden, and that administration? Is it Obama. Is it Clinton? Read your Bible. It is the Devil.”

In Arizona, Jeff Durbin, a far-right “abortion abolitionist” and influential Christian nationalist, has said that women deserve to be executed if they have an abortion — a stance he recently reiterated is “the historical position of the Christian church.”


“You forfeit your right to live,” Durbin said last month in a New York Times podcast.
After receiving backlash for the remarks, Durbin doubled down in a post on X: “We make no apologies for God’s Word and affirm that capital punishment is a just response from the state for the crime of murder.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/13/trump-christian-nationalist-violent-rhetoric/

 

[timothyu]

“It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!” Robinson, the lieutenant governor, said, according to a video of the speech surfaced by the New Republic.

Guess someone took that to heart in Pennsylvania. Sick world, regardless of sides

 

[iluvatar5150]

Catching up on this thread has been fun.

 

[BPPLEE]

Long Island Trump ally sparks outcry after announcing plan to train 75-member 'militia'​

Back in March on Long Island, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a far-right MAGA Republican and Donald Trump supporter — announced his plan to recruit a force of 75 armed "special deputies." Blakeman urged residents with gun permits to apply, saying they would be "provisional emergency special deputy sheriffs" and could be activated when he desired.

"Critics have accused (Blakeman) of creating, with little notice or explanation, an unsanctioned militia answering only to him," Kilgannon reports in an article published on July 11. "They called the move especially dangerous amid heightened fears of political violence, and as Mr. Trump promulgates plans for mass deportations and quashing dissent."

Jay Jacobs — who chairs the New York State Democratic Party as well as the Nassau County Democratic Party — told the Times, "There is no problem he is looking to solve. Does he think we're going to be invaded by Suffolk County?"

AlterNet - Bias and Credibility

LEFT BIAS These media sources are moderate to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may

mediabiasfactcheck.com

 

[essentialsaltes]

AlterNet - Bias and Credibility

LEFT BIAS These media sources are moderate to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may

mediabiasfactcheck.com

https://pix11.com/news/local-news/long-island/nassau-county-plans-to-deputize-armed-civilians-moving-ahead-despite-protest/

WPIX 11 – Bias and Credibility​

 

[essentialsaltes]

‘You’re next’: Some Trump supporters blame the media for assassination attempt​

Moments after Donald Trump was rushed to safety following a failed assassination attempt at a Saturday night rally, some of his supporters turned toward the press pen with obscenities as they fingered reporters for blame.

Axios reporter Sophia Cai, who quoted some in the crowd warning the press, “you’re next” and that their “time is coming,” even reported that a few rally goers tried to breach the barriers establishing the press pen, but that they were stopped by security personnel.

Immediately after the attack, top figures across the news media condemned the shooting, underscoring that violence against a political candidate is an attack on democracy itself. Top liberal commentators also expressed their disgust in strong terms. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, the country’s most recognized liberal personality, said she did not “have adequate words to describe how disgusted and horrified” she was.

Nevertheless, the anti-press attitude in MAGA circles has unquestionably increased. Despite the accuracy of the news media’s reporting on Trump, supporters of the former president have moved to vilify and scapegoat journalists for the heinous attack, sending anti-media attitudes to alarming heights.

 

[FireDragon76]

This is why I felt a sickening feeling in my gut when I heard about the shooting. Because I know it opens a pandora's box that threatens democracy in our country, due to the amount of polarization in the general population. I've even encountered videos that appear to be AI generated, meant to manipulate the public perceptions of this event (and I flagged them for review on Youtube).

We don't even yet know the shooters motives. This could simply be another Hinckley or Sirhan Sirhan- a mentally unstable lone wolf with no overarching political agenda.

 

[essentialsaltes]

The would-be assassin’s gunfire that wounded former President Trump and sent panic through a Pennsylvania campaign rally on Saturday was unleashed at a time of increasing hostilities in American politics that have roused extremes on the left and the right and further inflamed divisions ahead of the November election.

In the decade immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the nation’s focus was on networks of international Islamic militants. That danger has largely been eclipsed by a troubling spectrum of homegrown extremists of all persuasions looking to strike out against a country they see as failing and corrupt.

In an age of the lone gunman, amid deepening rancor in a society inured to gun violence and militant political rhetoric, the shooting was another potent sign of what counterterrorism agencies are facing. The radicalization of potential militants “is different today with the internet and AI-generated materials,” Clarke added. “You have people imbibing propaganda all day, so moving over that [violent] line is a lot easier” than it was in the past.

What is notably unnerving, according to terrorism experts, is how politicians have embraced and fueled divisive discourse to heighten animosities. Shortly after Saturday’s assassination attempt, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who is on Trump’s short list of vice presidential candidates, posted on social media: “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

Such sentiments are folded into an endless stream of provocation in a polarized nation: “It underscores the lack of trust many people have in our system,” said Amy Cooter, a terrorism expert with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey. “It underscores the fragility of our democracy.”

Trump’s incendiary language, which is at the center of his campaign against President Biden, has created a tenor of outrage that has been taken up by right-wing extremists, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, █████ followers and Jan. 6 rioters, whom Trump referred to as warriors. “Trump himself is one of the key variables” in how the country has become accustomed to inflammatory politics, Cooter said.

 

[essentialsaltes]

For a second weekend, white supremacists gather in downtown Nashville​

[This weekend's] group, called the Goyim Defense League, is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a loose network of antisemites and white supremacists who are best known for their “antisemitic stunts and schemes to troll or otherwise harass Jewish people.”

Standing at the corner of Lower Broadway and 3rd Avenue, the group of about 20 men wore shirts that said “Whites Against Replacement” [i.e. WAR] ... chanted “Sieg Heil” and did the Nazi salute.

Two men were arrested after a related altercation Sunday night. One was Ryan Scott McCann, of Ontario, Canada, who was charged with felony aggravated assault for beating a local bartender with a nazi flag. According to MNPD, McCann is part of the Neo-Nazi group and was seen hitting bartender Deago Buck in the face and ribs with the flagpole. Buck was also arrested on misdemeanor charges.

Last weekend, members of white supremacist group Patriot Front marched downtown carrying Confederate flags and also chanting.

 

[essentialsaltes]

For a second weekend, white supremacists gather in downtown Nashville​

[This weekend's] group, called the Goyim Defense League, is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a loose network of antisemites and white supremacists who are best known for their “antisemitic stunts and schemes to troll or otherwise harass Jewish people.”

Reporter goes out and tries to out-troll the Nazi trolls.

Confronting the hate, Phil Williams tells neo-Nazis: 'When I look at you guys, I do not think master race.'​

"You really dislike pedophiles, don't you?" I told Minadeo. "Well," I continued, "I have a photo of you with a pedophile right here."

That's Minadeo on the left. And on the right, a member of his group, Jesse Shenk, who was busted three years ago when he tried to meet up with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex.

"So one of your own group was a pedophile."

"No, he wasn't," Minadeo shot back. "He got set up by police — and he got kicked out of the group."

He began to lead his group in a chant, "Pedophile protector, pedophile protector, pedophile protector."

I held up the photo to remind him, "There's you with a pedophile."

The chants continued. "Pedophile protector, pedophile protector."

This tactic, resorting to yelling as a diversion, would play out again and again as I attempted to confront the group — with facts — about the lies they tell their followers.

--

It was time for me to speak my truth.

"Can I be honest with you guys?"

"You're a loser, scumbag," Minadeo responded.

"When I look at you guys, I do not think 'master race.'"

At that point, Boysheim interjected, "You're old and about to die. Your time is coming to its end."

In fact, what I saw was a group of wounded, angry men who've never accomplished much in their own lives, looking for someone else to blame.

 

[FenderTL5]

For a second weekend, white supremacists gather in downtown Nashville​

[This weekend's] group, called the Goyim Defense League, is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a loose network of antisemites and white supremacists who are best known for their “antisemitic stunts and schemes to troll or otherwise harass Jewish people.”

Standing at the corner of Lower Broadway and 3rd Avenue, the group of about 20 men wore shirts that said “Whites Against Replacement” [i.e. WAR] ... chanted “Sieg Heil” and did the Nazi salute.

Two men were arrested after a related altercation Sunday night. One was Ryan Scott McCann, of Ontario, Canada, who was charged with felony aggravated assault for beating a local bartender with a nazi flag. According to MNPD, McCann is part of the Neo-Nazi group and was seen hitting bartender Deago Buck in the face and ribs with the flagpole. Buck was also arrested on misdemeanor charges.

Last weekend, members of white supremacist group Patriot Front marched downtown carrying Confederate flags and also chanting.

yeah this kinda' rot is encouraged by the State government (with its capitol in Nashville) and it's leaders much to the chagrin of locals and local leaders.

 

[essentialsaltes]

For a second weekend, white supremacists gather in downtown Nashville​

Nashville struggles to respond as neo-Nazi groups turn focus on to city​

Upsurge in activity from white supremacists and swastika-toting extremists follows rash of anti-LGBTQ+ state laws

Residents of Nashville, Tennessee, are struggling to find ways to respond to a sudden upsurge in neo-Nazi and white supremacist activity in the city as small groups of extremists have descended on the community carrying swastika flags, chanting “Sieg Heil” and handing out flyers saying “Diversity means fewer white people”.

Over the past two weeks, neo-Nazi groups and affiliated organizations, including the Patriot Front and a network calling itself the Goyim Defense League, have staged antisemitic stunts in the city center – including stopping passersby and asking them if they are Jewish. They have also disrupted a city council meeting.

The city’s police chief, John Drake, said he had intelligence that the Goyim Defense League had taken up temporary residence in Scottsville, Kentucky, about 65 miles (105km) away. The group is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a loose network of white supremacists and antisemites who specialize in harassing Jewish people.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Saginaw Twp. man arrested for threat to use a gun after his political signs were moved​

Roy's landscaping firm maintains the old Sears property at the corner of Bay and Tittabawassee Roads in Saginaw Township.

The Republican knows the six political signs, including one for Donald Trump, were not allowed in that area.

"Its private property, and its in the right of way, anything between a sidewalk and the road is a right-of-way, and no political signs in Saginaw Township are allowed," says Roy.

Roy went to the Sears property the next day for more landscaping work and the signs were back up, in the right-of-way, and there was also this note on the nearby light post.

"States a threat that they are in the far distance with a camera with a 9mm gun, so I got a little worried because it was very specific," says Roy.

The note goes on to claim it was a lame Democrat's attempt to remove the signs.

Roy called police, the signs were taken away, and some time later, a 50 year old Saginaw Township man complained to police his signs were stolen. <-- we can also discuss the rise of stable geniuses in politics.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump Vows to ‘UNLEASH [HECK]’ Against Harris at Upcoming Rally​