Gotta wonder, what part of our govn’t don’t they like? Where would they prefer to live?
No, we’re not a perfect society by any means with many social injustices, but have these guys ever known anyone from really repressive societies?
I’m old enough to have known people who escaped Iron Curtain countries, lived in occupied Europe, in Soviet Russia.
I’ve heard some of these people really rip into guys like this.
Ya pays yer penny and yer takes yer choice.
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The biggest problem are the republicans who just look the other way. The good news is that the FBI is really good at infiltrating these groups.
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These idiots never back up their words. They train and yap about freedom and starting a revolution and then 99% of them tuck and run or hide when it gets pushed at all. Not that I’m advocating for them to actually act, but what a bunch of cowards and blowhards. That dumb woman who got killed at the capital probably imagined there’d be a rush of people after her, but nope, they scattered and ran as soon as it got real.
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This is precisely what happened to relatives. The gateway to radicalization began with the religious right and then further indoctrination in the armed forces followed by listening to hate radio, Fox News and right wing internet sites. Each succeeding step made them more like the fool described in the article.
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Guns are the gateway drug to extremism, when a guy starts talking about how important the 2nd amendment is he is a goner.
I had a work mate that was always a bit of a racist (he was from South Carolina after all), he got interested in guns, and you could see the more obsessed he got with guns the more extreme his political positions became, by the time he left the company (thank FSM), he owned a dozen guns, handloaded his own ammunition, his idea of a date was inviting a a woman to the shooting range and openly said to whoever wanted to heard that welfare recipients ought to be shot.
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The bad news is that these groups are pretty good at infiltrating the military, the police and, yes, the FBI.
Every time I see the FBI held up as something good that is on my side I just shake my head - you will never convince this old hippie that my hope for a freer and more just society lies with federal law enforcement.
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At some point soon the GOP will only appeal to extremists.
They have no solutions to the problems we face and only offer up ginned-up resentment over culture war issues.
Our side has been successful in getting big business to take up the issue of the new Georgia voter law, which appears to be spreading to other republican-led states. After hemming and hawing, they now know they can face boycotts by going along to get along. Business doesn’t want controversy; they need peace and quiet to make their money.
The Republicans awakened a sleeping giant.
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I know in a rational sense this is very concerning. But I was raised to think these kinds of people were laughable, and some of it really is funny, like how they have a liability waiver. Do members of a criminal conspiracy sue each other much? I thought they settled disputes otherwise. And then the girlfriend. “When you vaguely say you’re off with your terrorist pals for the weekend, I fear the worst, you big cheater! Take me to meet these killers so I can trust you again!”
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In response to a few posters…this guy was of Mexican origin and split time living in Mexico and America. He probably doesn’t suffer from White Generational Grievance.
And I don’t believe he was espousing a Race War. He did say Civil War.
It also says he became a bit of a gun-nut…and started seeing govt. as infringing upon his favorite pacifier. So there, the ties to gun-nuttery seem to be legit, and one avenue for these people to get radicalized. They see guns as their safety-net, their get-out-of-all-jams McGuffin or talisman.
Also, like so many of us - these folks feel isolated, or that many forces are arrayed against them, or me-against-the-world. They see the unfairness and brutishness of life and choose A when folks of our mindset choose B to address it. And these Boogaloo and other groups give them, finally, acceptance and back-up. Somewhere to belong and vent their spleen, and to give cover and lend credence to their otherwise indefensible impulses.
Surely religion and RW radio/TV and Republicanism are a huge part of the equation too. But I see a lot of these people struggling with things we all struggle with. They choose the easier path…what eventually becomes “kill them all”. As liberals, we realize it is a long struggle, a lot of work, rarely with clear outcomes and victories, trying to bend the arc of justice. These folks, often, make one or two wrong choices and end up on their path…and many just never had the temperament or mindset which would lead them to peacefully putting their shoulder to the wheel and persevering. It often ends with “going out in a blaze of glory”.
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Big business and other organizations are picking up the torches for all kinds of causes with the NCAA considering boycotts of states that discriminate against transgender individuals. It’s a stunning reversal to see corporations and organizations that are not fundamentally progressive start defending progressive causes.
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Their safety net is a gun — brilliant.
Yes, and the conservative mindset reinforces that sense of isolation, with their denial of the viability of collective action and government policy to solve problems. And that extends to the radical individualism of sovereign citizens and anti-government militias.
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Yes, and it looks like a monumental miscalculation to alienate corporate America over something as indefensible as voter suppression, but to some wingnuts it might seem a logical progression of this bogus populism they have been peddling. What happened to their deference to the almighty “job creators”?
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It was laughable when these views were limited to a few crackpots and misfits, but now these views are close to achieving mainstream acceptance among self-described conservatives.
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Horrifying…and dangerous. And the lazy ‘journalists’ keep blaming BLM protesters and ‘Leftists’ for the destruction in this country and the sheep who follow Trump suck it right up.
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I stopped laughing at their project, shall we say, back in January. But I still think the things I noticed in this piece are funny.
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Once you are into ammosexuality, shooting becomes the solution for everything . You might remember this moron who shot his daughters laptop. You know just taking the laptop away worked just as well as disciplinary measure. But no he has to find some uses for his gun.
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As an Air Force vet , I want to ask how in the hell did this crazy, hate filled, violent psychopath remain in the service for so long and make Sargent?
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And also why the GOP funding cuts for mental support services is so dangerous.
Republicans: throwing Americans with mental illnesses to the wolves, and making sure they buy guns.
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If one has been around awhile, most of this is not anything new. What stands out to me in this account are 1) blackshirts and 2) in his convoluted way, perhaps in part because of his Mexican-American background, Carrillo hit upon truths about the role of the police in our society and their propensity to be the rioters.
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