This is Not Good. It started with the attempted assassination of Trump (I still have a lot of questions about that) and has escalated. Reports in the news are there one day and gone the next. This is not something to be ignored. This is something major to be worried about. From AlterNet:
Once shocking near-assassinations are now becoming grimly accepted chapters in political campaigns. Experts warn this signals a dangerous shift in societal norms — and the consequences are already unfolding, The Hill reported Sunday. The report notes that in the year following the first assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, public threats toward officials have not only persisted — they have escalated. From the tragic killing of a Minnesota state legislator to last week’s firefight at a U.S. Border Patrol station in Texas, high-profile incidents are mounting.
So, what the holy hell! People now apparently have the freedom to do anything they want to politicians, and more. How about the incident where a guy deliberately set a fire and shot at firefighters, of all things! Y’know, they’re the good guys! They have nothing to do with politics, but two of them are dead. That’s a good example of here one day, gone the next. Those firefighters have started having law enforcement accompany them on every call. They shouldn’t have to do that!
Then there’s the case of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband being killed. Dude tried to kill a second one. There was a list that he was working his way through. That was in the news for a couple of days, and then it vanished. We don’t need to become numb to these. We don’t need to think “oh, another one” and go on with our day. People have been KILLED, folks.
Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told The Hill: “We continue to see a normalizing of political violence, a very casual acceptance that some elected officials may be legitimate targets for violence—based on conspiracies, based on disinformation—and unfortunately and tragically, we’ve seen that that has real-world consequences.” He added: “When there is so much rhetoric…it’s only a matter of time before someone with a grievance and a gun finds that justification.”
There we go. It’s becoming normal. What has happened to our country? tRump has been using his attempted assassination as a point of pride. He survived shrapnel hitting his ear, and suddenly, he’s been chosen by god. What a bunch of crap. He survived where others did NOT. Who cares? He should be happy he’s alive, but no, he’s making a big deal out of the anniversary. Feh.
Last month, Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, told the Guardian: “We are in a historically high period of American political violence.” He added: “I call it our ‘era of violent populism’. It’s been about 50 years since we’ve seen something like this. And the situation is getting worse.”
Indeed, it is. I include those firefighters and anyone else who isn’t political because they were killed over some crap. Think about how widespread this has become, where the “good guys” are the ones getting killed. Sure, I don’t give a damn about the “bad guys”, but the good ones? Yea, I care about them, whoever they are.
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