Just thought I’d get this out there into the universe.
You wanna show that you aren’t down with nazis? Wanna defy expectations, win over hella moderates? Take white terrorism seriously, empower the FBI to make serious moves against neo-nazis and the KKK. From where a lot of us stand – including elected officials in your own party – it kinda looks like you use those hate groups as a threatening mob to quell dissent.
Kinda? It very much looks like you’re a straight-up racist, cozying up to anti-semites who would have members of your family dead in their ideal world. Just, please prove us wrong, please do something to defang the homicidal hordes that are feeling so empowered right now. I care more about people dying or having to live in fear than I care about whether you can play Nero for four years or eight. Not a racist bone in your body? Lock up some race terrorists, save some lives. We will thank you.
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“Empower the FBI?” After Emailghazi showed they’re led and wholesale subverted by a cabal of far-right criminals?
The FBI should be reformed top to bottom, if not dismantled altogether and replaced by a fresh, uncompromised organization. (Not that we’ll ever see that happen under Pres. Nixon-Reagan.)
If Trump alienates his homicical horde, one of them will shoot him.
or the homicidal horde
apple @1 – I didn’t mean give them expanded powers, just give them a mandate. As it stands, the feds spend a lot of effort trying to stoke radicalism in leftist groups with no proven history of violence while accomplishing practically nothing against groups that are actively stockpiling weapons and saying they want to kill people. Totally fair to hit me on that phrasing tho, they sure as hell don’t need more legal authority than they have now, damn. 0_O
chigau @2/3 – They couldn’t shoot him, he’s bulletproof. Everyone who knows him says he is. It’s tremendous.
Under Bush 43, the Justice Dept. wrote a study warning against right wing domestic terror groups, listing possible targets and populations susceptible to recruitment. The GOP base had a conniption at the idea that the political right could be in any way associated with terror. I remember one person at a town meeting referring to themselves as a “proud, right wing terrorist”. The Obama administration shelved the plan post-haste and I can’t imagine Trump doing anything to revive it.
True. Surely pointless to even mention it. I will say this: If by some miracle cheeto hitler did betray his core supporters like that, I would genuinely and unreservedly commend him for acting principled and doing the right thing, thank him for it – in that one situation at least. That situation that will surely never come to pass.
empower the FBI to make serious moves
Send one part of the swamp on a crusade against another? It probably wouldn’t work.
Did you see Trump’s “disavowal” of Spencer’s Nazi pow-wow?
I wouldn’t take that to mean he’s changed or will stop garnering support from white supremacists, but it’s quite possible he’ll disavow more groups and individuals in the future, simply for political credit, expediency or because he doesn’t have any principles or give a shit about anyone but himself, including his supporters.
marcus- no way. i have total confidence. >.>
=8)- that sounds mighty convincing, by golly.
More wolf-crying. Reminder: the entire membership of the KKK could get a room each at the MGM Grand in Vegas, and it wouldn’t be full (which is not to say you’d want one of the spares…). Not that that’s going to happen – David Duke called a meeting of “European Americans” in May 2005, and invited white supracists from around the world to attend and address the crowd. I say “crowd” – 300 people. They’d have all fitted in my local Premier Inn, and I’d bet folding money the Asian chap on the front desk would have been lovely and polite to them.
And that is the biggest, most famous, most influential white-supremacist group in the world (unless you know different). Trump really doesn’t need their support, especially if getting it means he loses the support of many times that number of people. It’s baffling to me why anyone thinks he gives a shit what those people think.
As for taking white terrorism seriously: the day any good ol’ boy puts a bomb or fires a bullet anywhere that impacts DJT’s bottom line, or the bottom line of any of his friends, is the day that good ol’ boy and everyone he’s ever met are crucified, possibly literally.
They don’t have to literally be the KKK. The attitudes they hold are pervasive among conservative USians. Have you ever heard these people talk? Waited at a suburban US bus stop? Had a lonely seat in the wrong US bar or diner? Been anywhere white US conservatives are when they think there’s no one of another race or religion around? They’re bulletheads, fascist dickweeds from hell.
They don’t need an organizational structure to go on a killing spree, just enough beers and a bad week at the workplace. Besides, where are your numbers from? I LITERALLY HAD TO SELL BULLETS TO SOMEONE WHO PROMISED TO “GO TO WAR” IF HILLARY WAS ELECTED AND I LIVE IN A BLUE STATE. One of my bosses was standing next to me. Good times.
Seriously, you don’t even live here. You don’t know what it’s like. Fuck you for even thinking you have anything to say about it. Crying wolf? This is my blog and I’ll ban you for insulting me like that in here, regardless of whether your positions are valid and reasonable. I’ve let your condescending comments stand so far because they are reasonable positions to hold, but that will only buy you so much leeway to be a dick.
Anti-defamation League estimates put KKK numbers at 3,000. Southern Poverty Law Centre say 6,000. I went with the more hysterically large number to be super-generous, but the fact is the lot of them would still fit in a single hotel with room to spare.
You’re right, I don’t live there and don’t know what it’s like, and believe me, you have my sympathy. I’m really glad I don’t live there. If I did live there, I’d want to live somewhere else.
The political situation in the US reverberates around the world. Trump’s presidency is obviously going to be worst for people unfortunate enough to live in the US (the ones who aren’t billionaires). But don’t think for a minute that it’s not going to have negative effects on most of the rest of the world, and none of us got a vote. On that basis, forgive me for thinking I have something to say about it.
I’m sorry if what I’m saying comes across as being a dick, in particular the use of the phrase “crying wolf”. Please read this by way of explanation, if not mitigation (and please don’t be put off by the url):
http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/16/you-are-still-crying-wolf/
This was caught in my spam filter & I just noticed it. You’re not banned, I just didn’t notice I had this to approve manually. However, I don’t have the juice to engage with anything like this today, so I have nothing to say to it. See you around.