Search Results

BYRON YORK: An Outrage From The FBI.

On June 14, 2017, a team of Republican lawmakers went to an athletic field in Alexandria, Virginia to practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. As they worked out, a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and pistol approached and opened fire. Representative Steve Scalise, the House Republican whip, was gravely wounded. A lobbyist was also seriously hurt, and a congressional aide and Capitol Police officer were wounded, as well.

The shooter, James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, was an active Bernie Sanders supporter who hated Republicans and particularly hated then-President Donald Trump. “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.,” Hodgkinson posted on his Facebook page. He thought of himself as part of the Resistance. He joined Facebook groups like “Terminate The Republican Party” and “Join The Resistance Worldwide!!”

Hodgkinson came to the Washington area in 2017, living out of a van parked in Alexandria. He brought his guns and developed a plan to attack Republicans. He went to the baseball field with a list of several GOP members of Congress in his pocket, along with physical descriptions of some of them. Before the attack, he asked Republican Representative Jeff Duncan, who was leaving practice early, whether the players on the field were Republicans or Democrats. Duncan said it was the Republican team. A short time later, Hodgkinson opened fire. After a rampage of nearly ten minutes, he was killed by Capitol Police and Alexandria Police.

The attack was a clear act of violent, politically-motivated domestic terrorism. There was simply no doubt about that. And yet last week, Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup, who had been at the practice, revealed that the FBI concluded Hodgkinson was simply trying to commit “suicide by cop.”

The FBI is on the other side. They’re not even trying to hide it.

JOHN HINDERAKER: Enough with the outrage.

Like pretty much all conservatives, I have consistently criticized riots and other forms of political violence for many years. That includes yesterday’s Washington, D.C. riot. You can’t say the same about liberals, however. Until yesterday, one might have thought that liberals consider rioting and other forms of political violence to be as American as apple pie.

You could write a book in support of that proposition, but for now let’s cite just a few examples. Do you remember when President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017? Leftist Democrats rioted in Washington that day. That riot was arguably worse, more violent and more destructive, than what happened in D.C. yesterday. The liberal rioters destroyed stores, set vehicles on fire and battled with the police. Six police officers were wounded.

I don’t recall a single Democratic office-holder denouncing the Democrats’ Inauguration Day riot, and the Associated Press came perilously close to praising the rioters.

Over the ensuing four years, Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioted countless times, bringing devastation to cities like Portland, Seattle, Kenosha and Minneapolis. Did any Democrats denounce these riots? Not that I remember. Many Democrats endorsed them, or seemed to do so. . . .

And let’s not forget James Hodgkinson, even though every reporter in America apparently has. Hodgkinson was the Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer who tried to assassinate the entire House Republican baseball team and very nearly succeeded, inflicting grievous and permanent injuries on Congressman Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson was not the usual 20-something loner, he was a middle-aged union official who was not insane, but just full of hate. His Facebook page was festooned with over-the-top attacks on Republicans, taken directly from speeches by Bernie Sanders and every other prominent Democrat.

Yeah, I was accused of “whataboutism” for noting this earlier. But “whataboutism” is just a deflection-word for when Democrats’ dishonesty is pointed out. If you’re going to stand up for “decency” and “principles” then you need to have some of both.

UPDATE: A friend writes:

Flipside of whataboutism:

When you endorse one group’s mob violence, you’ve endorsed all mob violence. Which means the Dems pretty much own what happened on Capitol Hill.

Well, I saw a purported libertarian on Facebook trying to argue that Black Lives Matter’s violence was okay but invading the Capitol was not because reasons, but it wasn’t very persuasive.

WELL, OF COURSE:

In case you missed it, a would-be terrorist was arrested last week for allegedly plotting a massive, multi-faceted attack on the White House. The plotter, 21-year old Hasher Jallel Taheb, hails from Cumming, Ga. His motive appears to have been jihad.

Might this story have been a tad bigger if the alleged perpetrator hadn’t been a Muslim and “person of color?” Might it have been bigger yet if the sitting president had been a Democrat?

Of course it would have. It might even have gotten a fraction of the coverage that last October’s letter bomb scare received.

But wait, there’s more:

The reason I pose these questions is not to point out blatant media bias, which is so glaring at this point that no one who wasn’t trying could possibly miss it, but to ask how the current “climate of hate” in this country contributed to this Taheb’s blood lust, and what we as a society are doing about it.

Until fairly recently, I strenuously disagreed with this notion, and to some extent I still do. Climates, much like guns, do not kill people. People kill people. Blaming a climate lets the perpetrator off the hook because, when the killer’s agency is minimized, so too is his culpability. What else can a passive receptor of hate-filled messaging do except to kill the person whom he is told to despise?

The other reason I have resisted the idea of killer climates is that it seems to lead, like night into day, toward censorship. If climates kill, then our words, even our thoughts, must be policed. Preemptive measures must be taken. Children must be indoctrinated in government schools to prevent dangerous ideas from occurring in the first place. Adults must be shamed, doxxed, and fired from their jobs for fear of what other people completely unknown to the speaker might do upon hearing their words. I am on record saying that the blurring of distinctions between speech and violence is eroding our right to express ourselves, and I still believe that.

But in recent years, I have started to reevaluate my beliefs about killer climates. When a soak-the-rich socialist named James Hodgkinson attacked a group of Republican congressmen and staffers at a baseball practice in 2017, I couldn’t help but notice that he was feted by certain segments of the internet, most notably the Facebook groups we know he belonged to.

James Hodgkinson doesn’t strike me as a particularly bright individual, which tells me that he probably doesn’t do much of his own thinking. We know that he was a fan of Rachel Maddow, whose program appears on the network that pioneered the “24-hour hate” — a slightly elongated version of the “two minutes hate” that George Orwell spoke of — and it seems unlikely that his suggestible mind was not affected by it.

Read the whole thing. Exit question: Does the nonstop violent rhetoric against Trump and his supporters mean that leftists don’t actually believe that a “climate of hate” leads to violence — or that they do?

STEVE SCALISE: No forgiveness for shooter, Trump ‘motivated’ recovery.

Rep. Steve Scalise is a good Catholic who won the prayers of many church leaders as he recovered from a bullet fired by an angry liberal while he and his Republican baseball team practiced in June 2017.

“God was there on that ball field and he performed little miracles to save all of our lives,” said the Louisiana lawmaker, who fought death off several times with deep prayer and determination.

“The shooter was dead set on taking everybody out and would have been successful if not for the miracles of God and the acts of heroism on the ball field,” he added.

But while he is a faithful follower of Jesus, there is one Christian teaching that he is not ready to accept when it comes to the shooter, James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Ill.

“At some point I’ll have to deal with the issue of forgiveness,” he said in an interview, “but for now I’m focused on my recovery.”

Scalise has written in a new book, Back in the Game, about the difficulty of recovering and seeing three others shot.

He said in the interview that knowing that police shot and killed Hodgkinson helped him focus on getting better. “Because he ultimately didn’t make it, it made it easier to close that chapter and to focus on my recovery,” said Scalise, the GOP whip.

And eventually he might consider forgiveness. “It’s something to struggle with. I’m Catholic. I’m probably not there yet. That’s something I’m going to have to work with my priest on,” he said with a laugh.

For now he’s focused on thanking everybody who helped in his comeback, especially President Trump who, with first lady Melania Trump, visited Scalise on the night he was hit with the bullet that would shatter bones and rip through vital organs.

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History.

Plus:

● Hillary: ‘You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.’

● Former Attorney General Eric Holder: “Michelle [Obama] always says, ‘When they go low, we go high.’ No. No. When they go low, we kick them.”

Politico: After failing to stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Democrats wonder if it’s time to be more ruthless.

Democrat Doxxer Threatened To Reveal Senators’ Children’s Health Information.

DC restaurant: We’ve received death threats after Ted Cruz, wife forced out by protesters.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ): We Are Less Than 60 Days From Totally ‘Kicking the S–t Out of the Republicans.’

Networks Silent On Attempted Stabbing of GOP Candidate By Anti-Trump Attacker.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) Jokes About Threatening Trump Supporters ‘All The Time.’

ANDREW MCCARTHY: The Pipe-Bombs Story: Another Example of Why No One Trusts the Media. “There is plenty of media commentary at the moment about incivility, in the form of incendiary rhetoric and actions. This is entirely appropriate. But I’m at a loss to understand how the climate is improved by spicing up reports with thinly veiled suggestions that President Trump may have triggered a series of potentially murderous attacks on political opponents. When Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson opened fire on the Republicans he targeted and nearly killed Representative Steve Scalise, I don’t recall much Times speculation about whether he could have been set him off by Democrats urging their supporters to get aggressive — ‘get in their face’; ‘if they bring a knife, we bring a gun’ — when dealing with political adversaries.”

That’s different because shut up.

CULTURE OF CONTEMPT: Politico Reporter Apologizes for ‘Caustic Remarks’ After Mocking Trump Supporters at Florida Rally.

Politico reporter Marc Caputo faced backlash on Twitter after he mocked President Donald Trump’s supporters for heckling CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta, calling the president’s supporters “garbage” and saying they didn’t have any teeth.

Acosta checked in with CNN host Wolf Blitzer Tuesday night to report on the environment of the Trump supporters at the upcoming rally in Tampa Bay, Florida on Tuesday evening. He said they were chanting things like “CNN sucks” and “fake news.” He would later post videos on Twitter showing the crowd chanting, prompting reporters and Democratic figures to come to his defense and condemn the crowd for verbally attacking the media.

“Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy,” Acosta tweeted.

In a now-deleted tweet, Caputo commented on the video, saying, “If you put everyone’s mouths together in this video, you’d get a full set of teeth.”

In another deleted tweet, he responded to a tweet castigating his mockery of Trump supporters. “Oh no! I made fun of garbage people jeering at another person as they falsely accused him of lying and flipped him off. Someone fetch a fainting couch,” Caputo wrote.

Two points: (1) Yes, this is what the press thinks about Trump supporters, and this now-deleted tweet was an honest reflection of that. It’s totally hypocritical for people like Acosta to clutch their pearls about Trump’s “rhetoric” given how they treat, and talk about, his supporters. And as for their fear that Trump’s “rhetoric” might lead to violence, note how they skip right over the fact that Democrat James Hodgkinson shot GOP Congressman Steve Scalise as he tried to massacre the Republican House leadership.

(2) What’s worse is, Caputo’s actually one of the better political reporters, willing to report stuff that hurts Democrats and helps Republicans without sweeping it under the rug. That’s good, but if he thinks this way, what are the rest like?

And yes, he offered a solid apology. But that doesn’t change the attitude that his original statement revealed, or the fact that it seems to be widely shared among his press colleagues.

UPDATE: From the comments: “What Acosta and his ilk are missing is that Trump isn’t whipping up that hostility, he’s just tapping into it.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Oh, this helps: Amy Siskind reports Eric Trump for encouraging violence after he retweets video of Jim Acosta being heckled. Journalists and their hangers-on are doing more to encourage violence against journalists than Trump is.

Related:

ERICK ERICKSON: BROWN SHIRTS, BLACK SHIRTS, AND PROGRESSIVES’ DANGEROUS GAMES.

For those who thought James Hodgkinson, who attempted a mass assassination of Republican members of Congress, was an anomaly, it looks more and more like Hodgkinson was a starting point to something violent. “Democratic” socialists stormed a restaurant in Washington to disrupt dinner until the Secretary of Homeland Security fled. Hollywood celebrities have encouraged the kidnapping and raping of the President’s child and his press secretary’s child. Government employees who work for Homeland Security have seen their home addresses put on the internet and, in some cases, pictures of their family displayed by activists intent on harming them.

President Trump engaging in a zero tolerance policy and separating all parents from their children at the border was not normal and was yesterday reversed. But the left is more and more normalizing violence and harassment against their political opponents and justifying it with the language of morality. What should not be normal is becoming normal, and that is a dangerous game. This will not end well for anyone. Violent extremists on the left, including Hollywood celebrities, are only going to emboldened more James Hodgkinsons. It is going to happen. And the condemnation from the left will become more and more faint as it does. They have decided the President and his supporters get what they deserve.

This won’t end well.

Read the whole thing.

Related: James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History.

MY HOW MEDIA QUICKLY FORGET DEMOCRAT VIOLENCE AGAINST REPUBLICANS: I just scanned the two articles linked by Glenn and Stephen regarding the physical assault on Senator Rand Paul. It appears media need a reminder. Senator Rand Paul was on the baseball field the day Democrat terrorist James Hodgkinson launched his terror attack. That would be June 14, 2017. (bumped)

NBC News doesn’t mention the June 2017 attack and Senator Paul’s presence on the field. The Daily Caller article doesn’t mention it (Glenn’s post) nor does The Hill report (Stephen’s post).

Mentioning Hodgkinson strikes me as appropriate. Rand Paul was there and he survived the terror attack.

IT CONTINUES: The Washington Post mentions Steve Scalise but fails to mention that Paul was on the field when Scalise was wounded.

FINALLY: The UPI mentioned it.

Paul, Kentucky’s junior senator since 2011, was present at the congressional baseball practice shooting in June that seriously injured U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana.

He began practicing ophthalmology in 1993 in Bowling Green, Kentucky,

Paul, 54, was a presidential candidate in 2016.

THE TRULY BURIED HEADLINE: “Republican 2016 Presidential Candidate Who Survived Assassination Attempt By Bernie Sanders Supporter Is Physically Assaulted By Angry Kentucky Democrat.”

(Bumped, by Glenn).

THE HILL: Trump: Scalise ‘took a bullet for all of us.’ “The shooter was identified as 66-year-old James Hodgkinson, a former volunteer for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign and a frequent critic of Trump and Republicans. He was shot by law enforcement officials at the scene of the attack and later died of his injuries. The shooting rattled lawmakers on Capitol Hill and sparked widespread calls for unity amid a deepening political divide in the U.S.”

JONATHAN TURLEY: The liberals’ license: How the left finds release in an age of rage.

“We should replace our piece of crap Constitution.”

Those words from author Elie Mystal, a regular commentator on MSNBC, are hardly surprising from someone who previously called the Constitution “trash” and urged not just the abolition of the U.S. Senate but also of “all voter registration laws.”

But Mystal’s radical rhetoric is becoming mainstream on the left, as shown by his best-selling books and popular media appearances.

There is a counter-constitutional movement building in law schools and across the country. And although Mystal has not advocated violence, some on the left are turning to political violence and criminal acts. It is part of the “righteous rage” that many of them see as absolving them from the basic demands not only of civility but of legality.

They are part of a rising class of American Jacobins — bourgeois revolutionaries increasingly prepared to trash everything, from cars to the Constitution.

The Jacobins were a radical group in France that propelled that country into the worst excesses of the French Revolution. They were largely affluent citizens, including journalists, professors, lawyers, and others who shredded existing laws and destroyed property. It would ultimately lead not only to the blood-soaked “Reign of Terror” but also to the demise of the Jacobins themselves as more radical groups turned against them.

Of course, it is not revolution on the minds of most of these individuals. It is rage.

Rage is the ultimate drug. It offers a release from longstanding social norms — a license to do those things long repressed by individuals who viewed themselves as decent, law-abiding citizens.

Across the country, liberals are destroying Tesla cars, torching dealerships and charging stations, and even allegedly hitting political dissenters with their cars.

In August of 2019, Nancy Pelosi was quoted as saying, “You have to be ready to take a punch. And therefore you have to be ready to throw a punch—for the children.” And that was after Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson attempted to assassinate Steve Scalise, and Rand Paul was attacked in 2017.

The year after Pelosi’s quote followed a summer of “fiery, but mostly peaceful” arson and looting. How will the left amp up their attacks next beyond vandalizing Teslas?

(Or as America’s Newspaper of Record predicted in 2022: Authorities Warn Tonight’s Protests May Escalate From ‘Mostly Peaceful’ To ‘Somewhat Peaceful.’)

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Tesla Owners Not Connected to DOGE or Musk Are Acceptable Victims, According to 31% of Democrats.

A surprising number of Americans approve of the rash of violence against Teslas amid Elon Musk’s work helping President Donald Trump with the Department of Government Efficiency.

Self-identified atheists, Democrats, young people, and supporters of the policies of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt*., are the most likely to approve of the violence and the least likely to consider it “domestic terrorism.”

Arsonists have hurled Molotov cocktails into Teslas and Tesla dealerships—not just in the U.S. but also in European countries like France and Germany—as protesters hold banners reading, “Burn a Tesla: Save Democracy.” Activists have also published a map claiming to show the location of every Tesla owner across the U.S. The website with this map turns the user’s cursor into a Molotov cocktail icon.

“Earth Day” is April 22nd. The cognitive dissonance that will be on display from the same people who demand we “save the earth” while wanting to burn electric cars, and at a minimum make their ownership as toxic as possible, will be astonishing to watch.

Or as Charles Cooke writes: Burn the Planet to Spite Elon Musk. “From a purely chemical perspective, I have never been of the view that mankind can do literally anything to the earth and yield no consequences. But, equally, I have always considered the catastrophism to be uniformly silly, frequently pretextual, and, above all, unduly pessimistic about the prospect of human innovation. Watching the speed and fervor with which so many American progressives have subordinated their environmentalism to their dislike of Elon Musk has done nothing to change my mind. There is no such thing as an optional cataclysm.”

*Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

Meanwhile, at America’s Newspaper of Record:

REPORT: Shots fired near Donald Trump as he leaves his Florida golf club.

UPDATE: An account bearing the name of Ryan Routh was suspended early this evening by Twitter, but note this tweet from March 4th, 2020:

Routh’s Facebook page was scrubbed as well.

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History.

MORE: “The Hawaii man suspected in former President Donald Trump’s assassination attempt on Sunday is a long-time Democrat, donating exclusively to the party’s candidates 19 times since 2019, records show. Between September 2019 and March 2020, Ryan Routh contributed more than $140 on the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show.”

WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON OVER AT MORNING JOE?

Folks, it is off the air today, for the first time in its history, and this is neither an accident nor a minor event in the media world. The flagship broadcast of America’s political establishment, Joe Biden’s “favorite show” — the one he possibly watches more religiously than he attends Mass — is missing in action on this most important Monday in recent living political times. (I imagine Joe Biden now lost, without his magnetic lodestone to center him, lacking any idea of what to say even to his chef today, and for the first time I genuinely fear for the nation.)

* * * * * * * *

And apparently, we must now all Beware of the Blob, for it cannot be trusted to be let loose on this Monday morning to explain how America ought to properly regard the attempted assassination of the former president of the United States. Could that possibly be because the attempt came after years of Morning Joe’s various guests spending their waking hours depicting that same man as an incubatory proto-Hitler? Here’s the funny thing: Honestly, I doubt it.

Read that again carefully: I do not think that was the reason at all. Because I don’t think shame motivated MSNBC at all. I instead wonder whether it was well-placed fear. Surely there are private communications — texts, emails, perhaps deeply unfortunate drunken half-punctuated rants CC’d to far more people than a sober person would send — that made today impossible. Why else would MSNBC do the utterly unprecedented, and simply axe its flagship brand-name show on one of the most consequential news days of the last decade? And if it was impossible for Mika and Joe to be up to the challenge of discussing events without the sort of rhetoric that would shame an entire nation, to say nothing of a network, then how on earth would it be any less so tomorrow? To quote one of RedState’s sharpest observers: “Pulling Morning Joe off the air is an admission.” “An admission of what?” remains the only question.

Related: Just NBC the utter lack of empathy when a Republican is shot:

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

BIDEN ON MONDAY: “It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”

The Biden-Harris campaign is on a post-debate blitz, meanwhile, in an apparent effort to quell the distress.

A memo the campaign sent to Hill offices obtained by Scripps News highlights President Biden’s energetic campaign rallies, swing state polling and grassroots support.

The president joined a call with the Biden Victory Fund National Finance Committee, where the campaign says he told supporters, “It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye,” framing his strategy for the next debate as “Attack. Attack. Attack. Attack.”

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

UPDATE:

MORE:

UPDATE (10:05 pm): Yes, it’s okay to compare Trump to Hitler. Don’t let me stop you.

—Mike Godwin (yes, that Mike Godwin), the Washington Post, December 20, 2023.

UPDATE (10:08 pm):

UPDATE (10:41 pm): Joy Reid Whines: Media Not Calling Trump Nazi, Hitler Enough!

—Michael Wnek, NewsBusters, May 22nd.

UPDATE (11:11 pm): ‘Hitler Pig.’

As former President DONALD TRUMP’s trial opened Monday in New York City, NYT’s MAGGIE HABERMAN posted an update from the courtroom: “Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.”

The post, which immediately went viral on X and was almost instantly the talk of cable news panels, shot around Biden world in emails and text messages between White House, campaign aides and other Democrats close to the administration.

“Hitler Pig sleepy,” one individual said on one thread as a caption to Haberman’s post.

You read that right: “Hitler Pig.”

That moniker, four people in Biden’s orbit told West Wing Playbook, is one that aides to and allies of the president — generally younger, more digitally native individuals, not senior staffers, one person clarified — frequently use to describe Trump.

—The Politico, April 17th.

SO NOW THE HATERS TRY TO KILL PRESIDENT TRUMP: Remember June 2017? A Bernie Bro launched a terror attack, trying to kill congressional Republicans en masse. James T. Hodgkinson. Don’t hear much about him. We should. I wrote this for The Spectator: The Left-Wing Terrorist’s Capitol Hill Coup d’Etat

UPDATE: I just saw Glenn’s recollection. James T. Hodgkinson won’t be erased.

OLD AND BUSTED AT THE WAPO: All The President’s Men.

The New Hotness? WaPo Runs 5,000 Word Profile Of Man Imprisoned For Threatening Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“What had made March 3, 2022 a different kind of day?” reads the Post story. “Maybe it was the [electroconvulsive therapy]. Maybe it was timing, the mania and depression coming together in his brain. Maybe Greene was ‘the worst person at the worst time to cross my path,’ he says. Maybe he needed to ‘be heard,’ he says, and the threat had been an expression of his loneliness and regrets. If he still spoke to his children, if his mom were still alive, if he still worked full time, if he hadn’t been watching so much TV news, if the news wasn’t about a country where so many people were making so many threats, maybe that night would have been different.”

[Joe] Morelli said he was “manic” but “clear and focused” the day he called Greene’s office and issued threats in March 2022, the Post story reads. Morelli felt “untouchable, like he could jump from a building and land on his feet.”

Morelli had made the threats to Greene after seeing a campaign ad on TV depicting her firing a .50-caliber sniper at a Toyota Prius with the word “SOCIALISM” plastered on the side of the car, explaining she was “going to blow away the Democrats’ socialist agenda,” according to the Post. This angered Morelli, who was suffering from mania and depression.

“A few things Morelli hated about that ad: He had especially disliked Greene ever since he saw a video of her heckling a survivor of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, outside the Capitol in 2019,” the Post story reads. “He also hated guns, like the one she had pointed at the word “SOCIALISM.” Then there were times when Morelli hated himself, and his connection to that word, because he relied on disability benefits, which he considered to be a form of socialism, one he believed in, but one that had been a source of some shame, too.”

Yes, it’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, she of the Jewish space lasers and “Gazpacho Police.” But it’s still astonishing to read the WaPo’s fawning profile of a man who threatened a politician. But then for the Post, no enemies to the left, to coin a socialist-approved phrase.

Also from that same WaPo profile (this version should be outside the paywall if you’d like to read it in full):

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, to 99 percent of people, I’m an extremely polite, sweet guy,” Morelli told the Post. “In ordinary life, it takes a lot to get me upset.”

“He takes a sip of coffee. He gets up from the couch, opens the back door, and for now, at least, as he leaves the apartment, he feels no anger. He is a stone in a lake, gently and slowly floating,” the story ends.

I didn’t know stones could float. Say what you will about Ben Bradlee, but he would have had the good sense to draw a red pencil through at least that line, if he didn’t nix this story entirely. In contrast today, as Josh Barro asked in 2022: Are There Any Adults at the Washington Post? As Iowahawk noted around the same time, Barro was clearly asking the question rhetorically:

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

UPDATE: “We’re Going to Get the Society We Incentivize,” John Hawkins writes, asking, “What kind of society do you want to live in?” “This is another reason why it’s so dumb to cheerlead protesters going to people’s private residences or confronting politicians in public. One day, you’re AOC cheerleading on the dirtbags harassing Brett Kavanaugh in public…Next thing you know, you’re the one being harassed in public. The video starts with her saying, ‘I need you to understand that this is not okay.’ This is why it’s valuable to have rules of conduct that apply universally, as opposed to, ‘Anything my tribe does is okay and anything those other guys do is bad.’ It never ends up working that way long-term.”

WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH JON STEWART IS A VOICE OF SANITY: Watch: Jon Stewart Mocks MSNBC and CNN Into Next Week for Histrionic Coverage of Hogtied Biden Image.

Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler absurdly claimed in a statement that the video was yet another instance of Trump attempting to incite violence.

This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you’re calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by.’ Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol Police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6.

No word if the hypocritical Mr. Tyler was equally offended when pretend-comedian Kathy Griffin posted a photo in May 2017 of herself holding up a Donald Trump mask made to look like a bloodied severed head.

Then it was Jon Stewart Time.

Before showing the clip, the “Comedy Central” host deadpanned:

It’s got to be devastating. News channels show images from Ukraine, from Gaza, from natural disasters. They get through them dispassionately. I can’t imagine how devastating this footage must be.

He then stared at his audience dumbfounded as laughter filled the studio.

After the clip was aired, Stewart mercilessly went to work on the Trump-loathing networks.

That’s what was so disturbing and dehumanizing you wouldn’t show it on television? An airbrushed Biden decal on the back of a truck? Aren’t you the same networks that show reruns of 9/11 every year?

[I]t’s not like people really think that Biden was tied up in the back of the truck. If you think that’s really Joe Biden tied up in the back of a pickup truck, I don’t know if you have the mental acuity to be operating a motor vehicle.

As the laughter continued, a grand time was had by all.

Related: Watch: James Carville Calls for ‘Wet Work’ (Assassination Term) to Be Done Against Donald Trump.

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Former CIA Director’s Post Still Wonders About Sen. Tuberville Being Removed From ‘the Human Race.’

People have definitely been sharing their thoughts lately with regards to the holds that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is placing on military nominations and promotions in response to the Pentagon’s illegal abortion policy that is in violation of 10 U.S.C. 1093. Under the Biden administration, servicemembers and their dependents can receive paid time off for abortions, and travel expenses are covered if the abortion takes place out-of-state. People have really taken their anger up a notch, though. One such user asked “Should Tommy Tuberville be removed from his committee?” That prompted Gen. Michael Hayden, formerly of the CIA and NSA, to take it a step further.

“How about the human race?” his post wondered. As many have taken to X to point out, the former head of the CIA and NSA is calling for the death of a sitting U.S. Senator by wondering if he should be removed from “the human race.” Within hours, the post had over 1,000 replies and over 250 quoted reposts. There’s still over 1,300 likes, though.

Curiously, Hayden’s post is still up.

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Democrat Corrects Herself After Saying Trump Should Be Shot.

Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-USVI) had to correct herself on Sunday after she said during a live television interview that former President Donald Trump should be “shot.”

Plaskett made the comment during an appearance on MSNBC, during which she discussed the federal charges against Trump relating to his alleged mishandling of classified documents following his departure from the White House in January of 2021.

Screenshot

As Richard Fernandez once wrote: “It is impossible to understand the politics of the Left without grasping that it is all about deniable intimidation.”

Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

WHY IS THE LEFT SUCH A CESSPIT OF VIOLENCE? Josselyn Berry, Katie Hobbs’ press secretary, tweets gun-toting image ripping ‘transphobes.’

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ press secretary ignited an uproar with a tweet blasting “transphobes” with an image of an armed woman, an image posted the same day that six students and staff at a Christian school were killed by a transgender shooter.

Josselyn Berry, spokeswoman for the Democratic governor, posted a Monday evening tweet with the caption “Us when we see transphobes” and a gif of a woman brandishing two handguns — a post viewed as shockingly tone-deaf.

The unidentified woman in the image is actress Gena Rowlands and comes from her 1980 movie “Gloria.”

The Arizona Freedom Caucus responded by calling for Ms. Berry to be “fired immediately.”

“Less than 12 hours after the tragic shooting in Nashville by a deranged transgender activist @katiehobbs’ Press Secretary calls for shooting people Democrats disagree with,” the caucus tweeted.

“Calling for violence like this is un-American & never acceptable,” the group added.

Late Tuesday night, Berry locked down her Twitter account, but here’s a screenshot of the tweet in question:

Earlier: Are You Ready for the “Trans Day of Vengeance?” Update: Joe Biden Makes Ice Cream Jokes.

NYT and NBC contributor suggests Matt Walsh and Daily Wire to blame for Christian school shooting today.

Are Democratic leaders encouraging political violence?

MSM don’t think man confessing to ‘politically motivated’ vehicular homicide of Republican teen is worth covering for some reason.

‘Not fitting their narrative’: Waukesha feels abandoned after tragic parade attack.

Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.

UPDATE: Apologize and resign, says … Olby; Update: Resigned. “Credit where credit is due. [Olbermann] could have kept his mouth shut. So far, most of the Left is still doing just that. (To be clear, he’s talking about Berry, not Hobbs.)”

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Are Democratic leaders encouraging political violence?

It was reported this week that a canvasser for Senator Marco Rubio  was brutally attacked by Democrats because the victim was wearing clothing advertising Rubio and also Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Sen. Rubio tweeted Monday:

Whatever one’s partisan leanings, when this incident was reported a fair person could condemn this act of political violence without jumping to the conclusion that Republicans should be on the lookout for physical attacks from Democrats all over the country.

* * * * * * * *

But when you think about it further, particularly what Sen. Paul has experienced, I can’t say with certainty that more of this kind of violence won’t happen in the future and it could become more common than anyone might expect – with Democratic leaders either encouraging it or at least not condemning it.That’s what rage can potentially drive people to do and there’s a blaze of political rage out there right now, on all sides.

A civil society requires civility. This is ain’t it.

Read the whole thing, whose details are already been memory holed by the DNC-MSM.

Earlier: This leftist didn’t understand why he was just arrested for running over, killing an 18-year-old “Republican extremist.” Huh. “A judge ordered Brandt held on $50,000 bail, which he objected to, saying he’s not a flight risk…Brandt posted bail, and is back on the streets. He is now in the process of scrubbing his social media.”

More: MSM don’t think man confessing to ‘politically motivated’ vehicular homicide of Republican teen is worth covering for some reason.

Evergreen:

“SOME  FRIENDLY LIBERAL ADVICE TO  REPUBLICANS:”

Once upon a time, Republicans could think that the CIA and FBI, the Justice Department, and the military were balanced, even favorable to their interests. No longer. Once upon a time, the media and the Democratic Party were deeply suspicious of these institutions; now they are the cheerleaders and apologists for them, and regard their personnel as trusted experts whose patriotism is beyond reproach.

Maybe Al Gore did create the Internet. Before tech was Big Tech, it presented itself as a rival to all the Davos hierarchies; now it is their tool. Business rivals work in concert with one another against those they find deplorable, looking to erase them in a world that otherwise catalogues everything.

All these institutions—and their tectonic, aggregated influence—are in Democrat hands. They and their commanding partners understand their asymmetrical superiority, and they think it’s in their short- and long-term interest to demonstrate it now.

Why? The biggest threat that progressive politics faces are the consequences of progressive legislation. Progressivism comes on the scene as a luxury good. The immorality of “poverty in the midst of plenty” is their platform to re-imagine society. But in the end, they always drive out prosperity and make poverty more pathological. Look at New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco—this is the logic of progressive government made real. It doesn’t poll well or perform well at the ballot box.

Democrats should take a hit this November—so they are flexing their muscles across the commanding-heights marketplace to solicit an advantageous response. Their prospects improve with political violence. Preceding Biden’s speech was the legally sanctioned raid of former President Donald Trump, who is widely expected to pursue one more presidential campaign. After the speech, the FBI legally served and netted all the president’s men, with no blowback at all from the mainstream press. Poke, poke.

Don’t take the bait. If you do, you’ll be playing into the trap set for you.

It’s excellent advice, but perhaps the columnist who calls himself “Liberal Guy” should have aimed his cri de coeur in a more bipartisan direction: Man Admits To Killing Teen He Claimed Was ‘Republican Extremist:’

According to a local North Dakota report, early Sunday morning a man called 911 and admitted to the hit and run of an 18-year-old. His motive? A “political argument” with a Republican.

Forty-one-year-old Shannon Brandt said he was afraid 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson was “part of a Republican extremist group and that he was afraid they were ‘coming to get him.’”

So he allegedly killed Ellingson with his car.

Read the whole thing, which will be memory holed by the DNC-MSM in 3…2…1.

Related: This leftist didn’t understand why he was just arrested for running over, killing an 18-year-old “Republican extremist.” Huh. “A judge ordered Brandt held on $50,000 bail, which he objected to, saying he’s not a flight risk…Brandt posted bail, and is back on the streets. He is now in the process of scrubbing his social media.”

More: MSM don’t think man confessing to ‘politically motivated’ vehicular homicide of Republican teen is worth covering for some reason.

Earlier:

Evergreen:

UPDATE:

MAN ADMITS TO KILLING TEEN HE CLAIMED WAS ‘REPUBLICAN EXTREMIST:’

According to a local North Dakota report, early Sunday morning a man called 911 and admitted to the hit and run of an 18-year-old. His motive? A “political argument” with a Republican.

Forty-one-year-old Shannon Brandt said he was afraid 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson was “part of a Republican extremist group and that he was afraid they were ‘coming to get him.’”

So he allegedly killed Ellingson with his car.

Read the whole thing, which will be memory holed by the DNC-MSM in 3…2…1.

UPDATE: This leftist didn’t understand why he was just arrested for running over, killing an 18-year-old “Republican extremist.” Huh. “A judge ordered Brandt held on $50,000 bail, which he objected to, saying he’s not a flight risk…Brandt posted bail, and is back on the streets. He is now in the process of scrubbing his social media.”

More: MSM don’t think man confessing to ‘politically motivated’ vehicular homicide of Republican teen is worth covering for some reason.

Earlier:

Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History.

‘Not fitting their narrative’: Waukesha feels abandoned after tragic parade attack.

Evergreen:


UPDATE (9:22 PM EDT):

(Updated and bumped.)

 

A PRECAUTION AGAINST CHANGING THE COURT VIA ASSASSINATION: America Needs Vice-Justices. “While urging protestors to stay “peaceful”, President Biden and his spokeswoman repeatedly refused to condemn protests outside the justices’ private homes, declining to do so both before and after the would-be assassin showed up at Kavanaugh’s house. After the incident, Biden’s spokeswoman further declined to condemn protestors who had tracked Kavanaugh down at a restaurant and protested outside it while he was there, forcing him to leave early due to security concerns.”

The proposal: “Specifically: just like the president does, every justice should select his or her own ‘vice justice,’ who, just like vice presidents, will do absolutely nothing, unless a justice is murdered, in which case the vice justice will immediately take the bench and appoint his or her own vice justice. An important side-point: if a justice resigns, or dies of natural causes, the vice justice would not be called up. Otherwise, that would create a permanent hereditary seat. The goal is merely to prevent zealots from having an incentive to murder justices.”

I like this plan, though I prefer my plan to make the Court bigger. But yes, it’s absurd to make so much depend on the death or retirement of a single individual.

Related: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.