This Story Makes Me Feel Completely Hopeless About the Future of This Country(by Charles Pierce)

[BradAllison]

The folks at Reuters have poured quite a lot of time and effort into the task of making me feel completely hopeless about the future of the country, and I hope they’re happy about it, damn them.

In Arizona, a stay-at-home dad and part-time Lyft driver told the state’s chief election officer she would hang for treason. In Utah, a youth treatment center staffer warned Colorado’s election chief that he knew where she lived and watched her as she slept. In Vermont, a man who says he works in construction told workers at the state election office and at Dominion Voting Systems that they were about to die. “This might be a good time to put a f‑‑‑‑‑‑ pistol in your f‑‑‑‑‑‑ mouth and pull the trigger,” the man shouted at Vermont officials in a thick New England accent last December. “Your days are f‑‑‑‑‑‑ numbered.”

The three had much in common. All described themselves as patriots fighting a conspiracy that robbed Donald Trump of the 2020 election. They are regular consumers of far-right websites that embrace Trump’s stolen-election falsehoods. And none have been charged with a crime by the law enforcement agencies alerted to their threats.


https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a38199472/threats-against-election-officials-2020-fraud-lies/

[Wingus Dingus]

1. Mass psychosis, violent rhetoric, endless propaganda, and a breakdown of social norms.

We're pretty well fucked.

[Escurumbele]

3. No, we are not fucked, what we need is the authorities to do their work, for voters to get repubs

out of office, and Garland to do his job.

Those people should be investigated and in jail if the find they have guns and prove they committed the threats. The FBI should be investigating them.

It really is not that easy...ahh, almost forgot, and for Democrat leaders to start acting with more authority and less weakness.

[Elessar Zappa]

5. Exactly.

If it became widely known that these nutcases were receiving prison time, it would likely deter many would-be crazies from acting out their fantasies.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. That is exactly what is needed RFN.

[LymphocyteLover]

19. Is there any chance that local authorities can be pressured to go after these people?

Or I suppose they are sympathetic to the cause?

[cstanleytech]

17. Happened before with pre WWII Germany being a prime example and then as now

have the same type of people.

[geretogo]

20. yes we are

[colsohlibgal]

2. Crazy On Parade

These folks are criminally insane. 30 plus years of incessant right wing media has brought us here.

They believe fiction and fantasy, they tend to be gun fanatics.

I’ve heard Paul Gosar’s brother lament how nuts he is, saw his sister on MSNBC last night she got emotional describing how insane he is and how she and the rest of his family fear what he might do.

It’s like a plague and, only to be used as a last resort I am glad I’m only about 3 hours from Canada if things really fall apart.

[BlueJac]

4. Don't worry things are still getting more unbelievable everyday!

Hang in there with the rest of us.

[mn9driver]

6. Law Enforcement is not doing their job with these crazies.

I ask myself why that could be, and I don’t like any of the answers I’ve come up with so far.

[skypilot]

8. I don't have any numbers but...

...I am pretty sure that a significant number of law enforcement across the country sympathize with these people and will side with them if push comes to shove. Ditto for members of the armed services.

[KPN]

14. Ditto here. There are no good answers. None

that fuel optimism on my part at least.

[hibbing]

7. Have they been booked for Hannity yet? n/t

[Stuart G]

9. Yes, there are lots of them, and then there are lots of us...

What can one say?....I guess it was Clint Eastwood who said, "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly"....

The U.S.A. has them all, and all in between...You name em, and We've got em..All kinds, all shapes, all sizes, from everywhere...
Yes, we got em... The variety is endless...we got the geography too...endless....Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona, Wyoming....etc....?

You name em, we got em.....Everything....& Everybody....from Everywhere...and Anywhere...

[multireeds]

11. Yup n/t

[dlk]

10. Without a doubt, there's a double standard of justice in this country

When there are no consequences for dangerous behavior, it is taken as tacit approval, and only becomes worse.

[Martin Eden]

12. TFG and the poisonous RW media are guilty of stochastic terrorism

... for every drop of blood inflicted by the crazed MAGATs who swallow and believe the poison.

[KPN]

15. Not to mention the mainstream media at large.

When are we going to start referring to our media as conservative media — rather than just the media. The GOP has done that for decades to their advantage … and we’ve never countered it believing naively all along that people see through that rise. Well some do, but not enough by a far shot.

[Martin Eden]

18. TFG got $billions of free advertising by the MSM in 2016

It's all about attracting viewers, not responsible journalism.

The GOP will label it the "liberal media" but that doesn't hold water when the MSM pushes the storyline of Dems in disarray and Biden in trouble at every opportunity, while often ignoring the utter recklessness of the GQP when it comes to actual governing.

But stochastic terrorism is another matter. My wife is a longtime subscriber to the Chicago Tribune, which had always been the Republican newspaper in town. However, they endorsed TFG's opponent (Clinton & Biden) in the last two presidential elections, and they always call out the claims of a stolen election as false and without merit.

As much as we dislike the storylines sometimes pushed in the MSM, there's a big difference between that and Fox News and Infowars.

[Joinfortmill]

16. I hear you. It's seriously dangerous out there.

[Dustlawyer]

21. Well let's all focus on legislation to end propaganda.

[calimary]

23. Yep. Congress needs to hear us ROAR.

[Skittles]

22. they describe themselves as patriots

un-fucking-believable