Tag Archives: Paul Pelosi

Enough Already!!!

Posted on by under History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Yesterday, a man entered the district office of U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia.  The man was carrying a baseball bat and said he wanted to see Representative Connolly, who was not in the office at the time.  So, the man used the baseball bat on two staffers, both of whom are now in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.  The man is in police custody.

I do not know what his beef is with Representative Connolly, nor do I really care, but what I do know is that violence is NOT the solution to problems!  Period.  Apparently, the man has spent so much time in the dark world of conspiracy theories that he no longer thinks like a human being.  The man, 49-year-old Xuan Kha Tran Pham, filed a lawsuit against the CIA last year in which he claimed the agency had been “wrongfully imprisoning [him] in a lower perspective based on physics,” and alleging that he is being “brutally tortured… from the fourth dimension.” The complaint, which seeks $29 million in damages, aligns with the beliefs of conspiracy theorists who claim they are being “gangstalked,” or secretly watched and psychologically tortured using nonexistent technology.

Think back to last October … remember when Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was viciously attacked in their California home?  And these, while the worst of the incidents so far, are not the only ones.  According to PBS Newshour …

Since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, threats to lawmakers and their families have increased sharply. The U.S. Capitol Police investigated around 7,500 cases of potential threats against members of Congress in 2022. The year before, they investigated around 10,000 threats to members, more than twice the number from four years earlier.

Why???  Why does it increasingly seem that people are turning to violent methods as a way of solving their problems?  Note that I am not a sociologist nor a psychologist, so my answer is based only on common sense and what I see happening in this country, but it seems to me that most of the blame lies with politicians who condone violence.  When thousands of rioters, many with guns, break into the United States Capitol, breaking windows, crapping on the floors, destroying offices and other property, brutally beating police officers, calling for the Vice President and Speaker of the House, saying they are going to lynch them, and then the politicians refer to the violence as “legitimate political discourse”, it opens a door to further violence.  When the rioters are referred to as “peaceful tourists”, it opens another door.  And when a presidential candidate says he will pardon all of their sentences on “day #1” if he is elected, it speaks volumes that this is somehow ‘okay’.

The majority of us have enough intelligence to understand that no, this is definitely NOT okay, but all it takes is a handful of people without much intelligence or common sense, with a bone to pick, a grievance, real or imagined, against one of more members of Congress, and … you’ve got a problem.  Well, folks, we’ve got a problem and a serious one at that.  Remember Pizzagate?    All it takes is a germ of an idea in the head of someone like Edgar Maddison Welch or Xuan Kha Tran Pham or David DePape, and a gun or a baseball bat or a hammer in their hand, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

In addition to the politicians who have encouraged and incited violence by downplaying such events as the January 6th attempted coup and other violent events, I blame the right-wing conspiratorial media like Fox ‘News’, OANN, NewsMax, and more, for telling lies, for riling the masses.  As I’ve said a few thousand times before, every right comes with an associated responsibility, and much of the media these days claim their right to freedom of the press, without accepting the responsibility to report accurately while engaging in conspiracies and lies.

I have serious disagreements with my own representative, Warren Davidson, but in no way would I consider using violence to make my point, or to harm him.  They say the pen is mightier than the sword, so I confine my protestations of his policies to emails and letters, but sadly some people do not know how to use the pen, only the sword.  Where are we headed, people?  How do we fix this?  And how do we hold accountable those who have helped create this culture of violence?

No, Folks, It Isn’t ‘Both’ Sides

Posted on by under Election 2020, Election 2022, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

The current environment of political violence is untenable.  It is destroying us, destroying the democratic foundations of our republic, turning even the most mild-mannered among us into something we don’t want to be.  If it continues … well, let’s just say it cannot continue.  I turn to Max Boot, writing for The Washington Post, to assess and analyze where this incitement is coming from, and to destroy those false equivalences that are being so glibly put forth.

Don’t blame ‘both sides.’ The right is driving political violence.

By Max Boot

30 October 2022

It should not be controversial to say that America has a major problem with right-wing political violence. The evidence continues to accumulate — yet the GOP continues to deny responsibility for this horrifying trend.

On Friday, a man enflamed by right-wing conspiracy theories (including QAnon) entered the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and attacked her 82-year-old husband with a hammer, fracturing Paul Pelosi’s skull. “Where is Nancy?” he reportedly shouted, echoing the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, at President Donald Trump’s instigation. This comes after years of Republican demonization of the House speaker, a figure of hatred for the right rivaled only by Hillary Clinton.

The same day as the Pelosi attack, a man pleaded guilty to making death threats against Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). Two days earlier, three men who were motivated by right-wing, anti-lockdown hysteria after covid-19 hit were convicted of aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). In August, another man died after attacking an FBI office because he was so upset about the bureau’s search of Mar-a-Lago. “We must respond with force,” he wrote on Trump’s Truth Social website.

Then there are all the terrible hate crimes, in cities including Pittsburgh, El Paso and Buffalo, where gunmen were motivated by the kind of racist rhetoric — especially the “great replacement theory” — now openly espoused on Fox “News.”

This is where any fair-minded journalist has to offer an obligatory “to be sure” paragraph: To be sure, political violence is not confined to the right. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot in 2017 by a gunman with leftist beliefs, and in June, a man was arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh after becoming incensed about court rulings on abortion and guns.

Republican leaders cite those attacks to exonerate themselves of any responsibility for political violence. “Violence is up across the board,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on Sunday, arguing that it’s “unfair” to blame anti-Pelosi rhetoric for the assault on Pelosi’s husband.

Violence is unacceptable whether from the left or right, period. But we can’t allow GOP leaders to get away with this false moral equivalency. They are evading their responsibility for their extremist rhetoric that all too often motivates extremist actions.

The New America think tank found last year that, since Sept. 11, 2001, far-right terrorists had killed 122 people in the United States, compared with only one killed by far-leftists. A study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies last year found that, since 2015, right-wing extremists had been involved in 267 plots or attacks, compared with 66 for left-wing extremists. A Washington Post-University of Maryland survey released in January found that 40 percent of Republicans said violence against the government can be justified, compared with only 23 percent of Democrats.

There is little doubt about what is driving political violence: the ascendance of Trump. The former president and his followers use violent rhetoric of extremes: Trump calls President Biden an “enemy of the state,” attacks the FBI as “monsters,” refers to the “now Communist USA” and even wrote that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has a “DEATH WISH” for disagreeing with him. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has expressed support for executing Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.) has tweeted that “the America Last Marxists … are radically and systematically DESTROYING our country.”

That type of extremist rhetoric used to be confined to fringe organizations such as the John Birch Society. Now it’s the GOP mainstream, with predictable consequences. The U.S. Capitol Police report that threats against members of Congress have risen more than tenfold since Trump’s election in 2016, up to 9,625 last year.

The sickness on the right was on display after news broke about the attack on Paul Pelosi. While leading Republicans condemned the horrific assault, the MAGA base seethed with sick jokes making light of the violence and insane conspiracy theories. (Filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza suggested that the attack was “a romantic tryst that went awry.”)

There was, alas, no sign of the GOP taking responsibility for fomenting hatred. Kari Lake, the GOP nominee for governor of Arizona, blamed “leftist elected officials who have not enforced the laws.” Naturally, Republicans accuse Democrats of being “divisive” for citing Republican rhetoric as a contributing factor to political violence.

It’s true that, by calling out GOP extremism, Democrats do risk exacerbating the polarization of politics. But they can’t simply ignore this dangerous trend. And it’s not Democrats who are pushing our country to the brink: A New York Times study found that MAGA members of Congress who refused to accept the results of the 2020 election used polarizing language at nearly triple the rate of Democrats.

So please don’t accept the GOP framing of the assault on Paul Pelosi as evidence of a problem plaguing “both sides of the aisle.” Political violence in America is being driven primarily by the far right, not the far left, and the far right is much closer to the mainstream of the Republican Party than the far left is to the Democratic Party.

Note to Readers:  Typically, I include links that are a part of any post I reblog or copy, but the number of links in this piece would have required an extra hour that I didn’t have to format, so if you’re interested in seeing some of Mr. Boots’ links, you can do so on his original OpEd. 

From The Troubled Mind Of Filosofa

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2022, Law and justice, Social commentary, voting rights

I thought I’d share with you just a few of the things that are bouncing around in my troubled mind tonight …

Yesterday a federal judge, one appointed by Donald Trump, authorized voter intimidation.  That’s right … he said it’s okay for people to hang out around ballot drop boxes, armed with guns, harass those trying to drop off their ballots, even take pictures of their license plates for who-knows-what-reason.

The judge is Judge Michael T. Liburdi, appointed by Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in August 2019.

In recent weeks, local and federal law enforcement have been alarmed by reports of people, including some who were masked and armed, watching 24-hour ballot boxes in Maricopa County — Arizona’s most populous county — and rural Yavapai County as midterm elections draw close. Some voters have complained alleging voter intimidation after people watching the boxes took photos and videos, and followed voters.

But Judge Liburdi says they are merely exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech and that he cannot (will not) bar groups or individuals from ‘monitoring’ ballot drop boxes, even when armed to the teeth, taking photos, invading the privacy, and acting in a threatening manner.  You all know as well as I do what the next Act in this drama is going to be.  And when it happens, part of the blood shed will be on the hands of Judge Liburdi. I suppose some in the Republican Party would refer to the voter intimidation as “legitimate political discourse”, just as they said about the insurrection and attempted coup on January 6th, 2021.

Yesterday evening I wrote about the vicious attack on Paul Pelosi, 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Just a couple of additional notes on that.

  • I was pleased to see a number of Republicans speak out against the horrific violence, including Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and Ronna McDaniel. I hope they were sincere and not just muttering platitudes.  I imagine they were realizing how easily it could happen to them, or their loved ones. Violence, once unleashed, is hard to get back in the box.
  • I was beyond disgusted upon reading that a Fox ‘News’ host called for the attacker, who faces numerous charges including attempted homicide, to be set free. His reason?  He said that it was no big deal, that “a lot of people get hit with hammers.”
  • My disgust deepened even more when I read that someone at Newsmax (I thought they were defunct?) claimed he was “Just wondering if Nancy Pelosi tried to STAGE her own mini January 6th. Complete with leaving the doors and windows OPEN for “insurrectionists” and this Depepe fellow. THAT or she can’t secure her home or office!” And now we know just how low people can sink.

And in other news …

Here in Cincinnati, Ohio, the headline reads …

16-year-old indicted on 20 charges from 3 separate murders and a kidnapping

“A 16-year-old was indicted Friday for a total of 20 charges, including six counts of murder, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said.

[The boy] was 15 at the time of the murders, which all took place in September and October 2021.

[The boy] is being tried as an adult. The rest of his charges include five counts of felonious assault, three counts of kidnapping, two counts of abduction, one count of burglary, one count of tampering with evidence, one count of carrying concealed weapons and one count of obstruction of official business.

The six counts of murder stem from three separate homicides.

‘This type of violent criminal is not fixable,’ Deters said. ‘And this office will do everything in our power to ensure this guy never gets out.’”

I have to wonder … he was 15 years old at the time … where the Sam Hell were his parents and what were they doing?  Obviously, they were not monitoring their son’s whereabouts or behaviour!  And quite obviously, they failed to instill a sense of values in the boy, and now it’s too late.

Apparently it’s a done deal and Elon Musk is now the proud owner of Twitter.  He immediately fired four top executives and has said he plans to fire 75% of the staff.  Off with their heads, said the Queen!  I considered closing my account, but I’m holding off for just a bit.  If, however, he follows through with his threat to reinstate Donald Trump, I will immediately close my account.  Meanwhile, I thought I’d hang out for a few days and see what, if anything, changes, and see if I can get in a few last bits of mischief to get under the skin of certain politicos, now that I have absolutely nothing to lose!  Stay tuned …

STOP IT!!! JUST STOP IT!!! 🛑

Posted on by under Election 2020, Election 2022, guns, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants, Social commentary

Early this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home was broken into and her 82-year-old husband was brutally beaten. Speaker Pelosi was in Washington at the time. This past summer, Senator Susan Collins of Maine had windows broken out in her home.  Many members of Congress have received hate mail and death threats recently.  As I read aloud the story about the attack on Paul Pelosi with my voice cracking and tears threatening to make a trail down my cheeks, I turned to my daughter and said, “This is NOT who we are!!!”  And then, after a pause, I thought, but maybe it is now.  Maybe the racism and greed and bigotry that have become such a part of this nation since its inception is turning us into monsters.

Senator Collins recently stated that “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed. What started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.”  Consider these instances …

  • In Seattle, a man who had sent an angry email to Representative Pramila Jayapal repeatedly showed up outside the lawmaker’s house, armed with a semiautomatic handgun and shouting threats and profanities.
  • In Queens, a man who had traveled across the country waited in a cafe across the street from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office to confront her, part of a near-constant stream of threats and harassment that has prompted the congresswoman to switch her sleeping location at times and seek protection from a 24-hour security detail.
  • In the months since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which brought lawmakers and the vice president within feet of rioters threatening their lives, Republicans and Democrats have faced stalking, armed visits to their homes, vandalism and assaults.

The man who attacked Paul Pelosi had an online presence that should have thrown up red flags if anybody had been paying attention.  He had posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

And now, just hours after the attack, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin apparently thought he was being funny when he said at a rally, “Listen, I want to stop for a minute and — listen, Speaker Pelosi’s husband — they had a break in last night in their house and he was assaulted. There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re gonna send her back to be with him in California. That’s what we’re gonna go do. That’s what we’re gonna go do.”

It is said that the attacker entered the home screaming, “Where’s Nancy?”, and yet one Fox host claims that perhaps it was a random break-in, not necessarily intended for Speaker Pelosi.

The attacker, who I shall not name, is being charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and “several other additional felonies,” according to Police Chief William Scott.

A number of lawmakers have said they are ‘horrified’ by the attack on Mr. Pelosi, and outgoing Senator Ben Sasse said, “every single American needs to be lowering the temperature. This is increasingly obvious: Disturbed individuals easily succumb to conspiracy theories and rage — the consequences are bloody and un-American.”  While I fully agree with Senator Sasse, I also hold certain members of Congress, as well as a former president and his followers, for inciting the violence that is tearing this nation apart and threatening lives of innocent people.

JUST STOP IT – EVERYONE!!!  JUST STOP IT!!!  BE BETTER THAN THIS!

Note to Readers: “Paul Pelosi underwent surgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital after sustaining a skull fracture and serious injuries to his hands and right arm. The surgery was successful, and he is expected to make a full recovery, said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”