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Post by aj2hall on Nov 2, 2022 12:58:41 GMT
There's more to this, this is just a short segment. www.npr.org/2022/11/02/1132822805/election-violence-concerns-voting-threatsAs Election Day nears, the recent attack on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in their San Francisco home is increasing concerns over political violence around the midterms.
Those concerns were further emphasized by the release of an internal bulletin within federal agencies — on the same day as the Pelosi attack — warning of a heightened threat from domestic violent extremists in the coming weeks.
While troubling indicators — such as growing support for political violence, a rise in threats against elected officials and election workers, and the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol — have clearly signaled the path of the country's political environment over the past two years, many see the current election cycle as a crucial test of how much those factors will affect the practice of democracy in the United States.
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Post by aj2hall on Nov 2, 2022 14:49:42 GMT
I don't know how many people they have monitoring the cameras but 1,800 is a lot of cameras to try to monitor www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/01/capitol-police-cameras-caught-break-in-pelosi-home-no-one-was-watching/Inside the command center for the U.S. Capitol Police, a handful of officers were going through their routines early Friday morning, cycling through live feeds from the department’s 1,800 cameras used to monitor the nearby Capitol complex as well as some points beyond, when an officer stopped. On a screen showing a darkened street nearly 3,000 miles away, police lights were flashing outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), officials say.
The officer in D.C. quickly pulled up additional camera angles from around Pelosi’s home and began to backtrack, watching recordings from the minutes before San Francisco police arrived. There, on camera, was a man with a hammer, breaking a glass panel and entering the speaker’s home, according to three people familiar with how Capitol Police learned of the break-in and who have been briefed on or viewed the video themselves.
The Capitol Police first installed cameras around Pelosi’s home more than eight years ago; she has an around-the-clock security detail; and for many months after the attacks of Jan. 6, 2021, a San Francisco police cruiser sat outside her home day and night. But hours after Pelosi left San Francisco last week and returned to D.C., much of the security left with her, and officers in Washington stopped continuously monitoring video feeds outside her house.
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Post by papersilly on Nov 2, 2022 17:41:03 GMT
I don't know how many people they have monitoring the cameras but 1,800 is a lot of cameras to try to monitor I'm sure in these highly tense political times, they are particularly focused on certain areas where high profile figures live or work. if not constantly monitored, at least immediately accessible. ETA: i don't know why they stopped posting a guard at pelosi's house after Jan 6th. i don't think the danger or threat to her or her family diminished much, if at all after, that. i can't see how they may have not been immediately focused on her house at the time of the break in but i don't understand about removing security.
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Post by aj2hall on Nov 2, 2022 20:04:21 GMT
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Post by aj2hall on Nov 2, 2022 20:09:20 GMT
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/02/paul-pelosi-attack-david-depape-gop-authoritarian/The “big lie” is morphing into something even more virulent and ugly. Call it the “big flex.”
In 2020, Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud provided a fake pretext to overturn his presidential election loss. Now that has metastasized: Many Republicans in the MAGA vein are employing “big lies” on numerous fronts, but their purpose has taken a dark new turn: It’s as if all the lying is becoming an assertion of power in its own right, a kind of end in itself.
The embrace of political lying as a declaration of power — of the power to say what reality is — has long been studied by academics. Some see it as a harbinger of autocratic political tendencies.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University professor who studies authoritarian systems, sees this as the latest example of “autocratic political culture” taking over parts of the GOP and the right.
“The ability to assert a false reality in the face of empirical evidence is itself an act of power,” Ben-Ghiat tells me. Those on the right pushing this line, she says, are placing themselves “above the truth” and “above democratic custom.” At the core of this politics, says Ben-Ghiat, is the flaunting of the ability to “get away with it,” whether the “it” is serial lying, the abandonment of basic norms, or even deliberate cruelty to a longtime colleague and member of the political opposition.
We talk a lot about whether political rhetoric inspires political violence such as that directed at Pelosi, and what that might portend. But the mass denial of the violence — and its functioning as a proud marker of political identity — might be just as ominous.
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Post by MissBianca on Nov 2, 2022 20:29:23 GMT
We are so headed toward being like Afghanistan, North Korea or Russia. I hope people are truly prepared for how bad this is going to get. Every Democrat will have a bounty on their heads after Election Day, win or lose.
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Post by Gem Girl on Nov 2, 2022 20:37:33 GMT
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/02/paul-pelosi-attack-david-depape-gop-authoritarian/The “big lie” is morphing into something even more virulent and ugly. Call it the “big flex.”
In 2020, Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud provided a fake pretext to overturn his presidential election loss. Now that has metastasized: Many Republicans in the MAGA vein are employing “big lies” on numerous fronts, but their purpose has taken a dark new turn: It’s as if all the lying is becoming an assertion of power in its own right, a kind of end in itself.
The embrace of political lying as a declaration of power — of the power to say what reality is — has long been studied by academics. Some see it as a harbinger of autocratic political tendencies.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University professor who studies authoritarian systems, sees this as the latest example of “autocratic political culture” taking over parts of the GOP and the right.
“The ability to assert a false reality in the face of empirical evidence is itself an act of power,” Ben-Ghiat tells me. Those on the right pushing this line, she says, are placing themselves “above the truth” and “above democratic custom.” At the core of this politics, says Ben-Ghiat, is the flaunting of the ability to “get away with it,” whether the “it” is serial lying, the abandonment of basic norms, or even deliberate cruelty to a longtime colleague and member of the political opposition.
We talk a lot about whether political rhetoric inspires political violence such as that directed at Pelosi, and what that might portend. But the mass denial of the violence — and its functioning as a proud marker of political identity — might be just as ominous.
This is all horrifying and bears many similarities to what happened when the Nazis were establishing a foothold in Germany. I am genuinely praying that a blue surge knocks these folks back into the woodwork (or more) on election day. I can barely express how concerned I am for our democracy right now.
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Post by femalebusiness on Nov 2, 2022 21:00:06 GMT
We are so headed toward being like Afghanistan, North Korea or Russia. I hope people are truly prepared for how bad this is going to get. Every Democrat will have a bounty on their heads after Election Day, win or lose. It won't take long until someone/Democrat politician is killed. The extreme right wing is low IQ and out of control. Remember Dr.Tiller? He was threatened, harassed, attacked and shot, then another attempt killed him. That is what we will be seeing from here on out. There will be more attempts and more death from these deluded “right to life” nut jobs. All of these threats are intended to eliminate any politician who leans left and eventually it will succeed.
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Post by MissBianca on Nov 2, 2022 21:03:58 GMT
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/02/paul-pelosi-attack-david-depape-gop-authoritarian/The “big lie” is morphing into something even more virulent and ugly. Call it the “big flex.”
In 2020, Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud provided a fake pretext to overturn his presidential election loss. Now that has metastasized: Many Republicans in the MAGA vein are employing “big lies” on numerous fronts, but their purpose has taken a dark new turn: It’s as if all the lying is becoming an assertion of power in its own right, a kind of end in itself.
The embrace of political lying as a declaration of power — of the power to say what reality is — has long been studied by academics. Some see it as a harbinger of autocratic political tendencies.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University professor who studies authoritarian systems, sees this as the latest example of “autocratic political culture” taking over parts of the GOP and the right.
“The ability to assert a false reality in the face of empirical evidence is itself an act of power,” Ben-Ghiat tells me. Those on the right pushing this line, she says, are placing themselves “above the truth” and “above democratic custom.” At the core of this politics, says Ben-Ghiat, is the flaunting of the ability to “get away with it,” whether the “it” is serial lying, the abandonment of basic norms, or even deliberate cruelty to a longtime colleague and member of the political opposition.
We talk a lot about whether political rhetoric inspires political violence such as that directed at Pelosi, and what that might portend. But the mass denial of the violence — and its functioning as a proud marker of political identity — might be just as ominous.
This is all horrifying and bears many similarities to what happened when the Nazis were establishing a foothold in Germany. I am genuinely praying that a blue surge knocks these folks back into the woodwork (or more) on election day. I can barely express how concerned I am for our democracy right now. Sadly no one in the US learns enough about pre- WWII to see the writing on the wall. People need to pay attention to the fact that everyone’s rights are being chipped away. Not just those they deem as other. Get an authoritarian in office and their precious guns will be gone, their money, their ability to travel freely, their heath care. They best way to keep people in line is to keep them poor, (bye bye social security) weak (bye bye healthcare) and blind (bye bye free press).
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Post by MissBianca on Nov 2, 2022 21:06:30 GMT
We are so headed toward being like Afghanistan, North Korea or Russia. I hope people are truly prepared for how bad this is going to get. Every Democrat will have a bounty on their heads after Election Day, win or lose. It won't take long until someone/Democrat politician is killed. The extreme right wing is low IQ and out of control. Remember Dr.Tiller? He was threatened, harassed, attacked and shot, then another attempt killed him. That is what we will be seeing from here on out. There will be more attempts and more death from these deluded “right to life” nut jobs. All of these threats are intended to eliminate any politician who leans left and eventually it will succeed. Not just to politicians but their families. This guy didn’t succeed with Nancy Pelosi’s husband but the next one will correct Depape’s mistakes. Intimidation 101, don’t go after the official you go after their wife, kids, parents etc.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 2, 2022 21:10:49 GMT
I think we also have to be aware of the millions of dollars that are spent on ads that are meant to make Pelosi and others out to look like monsters or villains, year after year.
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nursema
Full Member
Posts: 352
Mar 1, 2022 10:14:32 GMT
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Post by nursema on Nov 3, 2022 1:06:40 GMT
This is all horrifying and bears many similarities to what happened when the Nazis were establishing a foothold in Germany. I am genuinely praying that a blue surge knocks these folks back into the woodwork (or more) on election day. I can barely express how concerned I am for our democracy right now. Sadly no one in the US learns enough about pre- WWII to see the writing on the wall. People need to pay attention to the fact that everyone’s rights are being chipped away. Not just those they deem as other. Get an authoritarian in office and their precious guns will be gone, their money, their ability to travel freely, their heath care. They best way to keep people in line is to keep them poor, (bye bye social security) weak (bye bye healthcare) and blind (bye bye free press). BINGO!
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Post by aj2hall on Nov 3, 2022 22:13:34 GMT
Not a both sides issue www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/opinion/political-violence-extremism.htmlOf the more than 440 extremism-related murders committed in the past decade, more than 75 percent were committed by right-wing extremists, white supremacists or anti-government extremists. The remaining quarter stemmed from a range of other motivations, according to a study by the Anti-Defamation League. There were 29 extremist-related homicides last year: 26 committed by right-wing extremists, two by Black nationalists and one by an Islamic extremist. The Department of Homeland Security has warned again and again that domestic extremism motivated by white supremacist and other right-wing ideologies is the country’s top terrorism threat.
There have been attacks on conservatives, too: a man was arrested outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home after he said he wanted to kill a justice and in 2017, the shooting of Representative Steve Scalise at a baseball field. But the number and nature of the episodes aren’t comparable, and no leading figures in the Democratic Party condone, mock or encourage violence in ways that politicians on the right and their supporters in the conservative media have done.
Today, levels of political violence are high and climbing. In 2020 the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that violence from all political ideologies reached its highest level since the group began collecting data in 1994. And extremist paramilitary groups have again become a common presence in American life, on college campuses, at public protests and at political rallies.
But it is unacceptable in a democracy for organized groups of men armed with military-style firearms and dressed in body armor to appear regularly at political rallies or to act as security for public officials and office seekers. Indeed, in nearly every state the subordination of the military to civil authorities is written explicitly into their constitutions.
The power of the law to disrupt even the most prominent purveyors of extremism is on display in the trial of Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the Oath Keepers. In relation to their participation in the Jan. 6 attack, they are facing federal charges of seditious conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Mr. Rhodes’s defense is that the group is an educational group or a veterans’ assistance group, and he offers a variety of other excuses designed to show that they do not meet the legal standard of an unsanctioned paramilitary group. This standard and the laws against paramilitaries draw a clear line between repugnant ideology, which our democracy has always allowed, and politically motivated violence, which no democracy can survive.
The American public is gradually and alarmingly becoming inured to the presence of this violence, but it is the duty of our lawmakers to take this threat seriously and to use the tools they have to stop it.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Nov 3, 2022 22:21:03 GMT
Paul Pelosi has been released from the hospital.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Nov 3, 2022 22:23:40 GMT
Not a both sides issue www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/opinion/political-violence-extremism.htmlOf the more than 440 extremism-related murders committed in the past decade, more than 75 percent were committed by right-wing extremists, white supremacists or anti-government extremists. The remaining quarter stemmed from a range of other motivations, according to a study by the Anti-Defamation League. There were 29 extremist-related homicides last year: 26 committed by right-wing extremists, two by Black nationalists and one by an Islamic extremist. The Department of Homeland Security has warned again and again that domestic extremism motivated by white supremacist and other right-wing ideologies is the country’s top terrorism threat.
There have been attacks on conservatives, too: a man was arrested outside Brett Kavanaugh’s home after he said he wanted to kill a justice and in 2017, the shooting of Representative Steve Scalise at a baseball field. But the number and nature of the episodes aren’t comparable, and no leading figures in the Democratic Party condone, mock or encourage violence in ways that politicians on the right and their supporters in the conservative media have done.
Today, levels of political violence are high and climbing. In 2020 the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that violence from all political ideologies reached its highest level since the group began collecting data in 1994. And extremist paramilitary groups have again become a common presence in American life, on college campuses, at public protests and at political rallies.
But it is unacceptable in a democracy for organized groups of men armed with military-style firearms and dressed in body armor to appear regularly at political rallies or to act as security for public officials and office seekers. Indeed, in nearly every state the subordination of the military to civil authorities is written explicitly into their constitutions.
The power of the law to disrupt even the most prominent purveyors of extremism is on display in the trial of Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the Oath Keepers. In relation to their participation in the Jan. 6 attack, they are facing federal charges of seditious conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Mr. Rhodes’s defense is that the group is an educational group or a veterans’ assistance group, and he offers a variety of other excuses designed to show that they do not meet the legal standard of an unsanctioned paramilitary group. This standard and the laws against paramilitaries draw a clear line between repugnant ideology, which our democracy has always allowed, and politically motivated violence, which no democracy can survive.
The American public is gradually and alarmingly becoming inured to the presence of this violence, but it is the duty of our lawmakers to take this threat seriously and to use the tools they have to stop it.
The prosecution closed their case today against Rhodes by playing the tape with him saying he needed a rifle to blow Nancy Pelosi head... Etc..
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Post by aj2hall on Nov 6, 2022 1:59:49 GMT
The extent and depth of falsehoods spread by Republicans in a feedback loop with conservative media is just depressing. No wonder why people believe nonsense like litter boxes in schools. More here - this is just a segment. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/05/us/politics/pelosi-attack-misinfo-republican-politicians.htmlWASHINGTON — Within hours of the brutal attack last month on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, activists and media outlets on the right began circulating groundless claims — nearly all of them sinister, and many homophobic — casting doubt on what had happened.
Some Republican officials quickly joined in, rushing to suggest that the bludgeoning of an octogenarian by a suspect obsessed with right-wing conspiracy theories was something else altogether, dismissing it as an inside job, a lover’s quarrel or worse.
The misinformation came from all levels of Republican politics. A U.S. senator circulated the view that “none of us will ever know” what really happened at the Pelosis’ San Francisco home. A senior Republican congressman referred to the attacker as a “nudist hippie male prostitute,” baselessly asserting that the suspect had a personal relationship with Mr. Pelosi. Former President Donald J. Trump questioned whether the attack might have been staged.
The world’s richest man helped amplify the stories. But none of it was true.
The flood of falsehoods showed how ingrained misinformation has become inside the G.O.P., where the reflexive response of the rank and file — and even a few prominent figures — to anything that might cast a negative light on the right is to deflect with more fictional claims, creating a vicious cycle that muddies facts, shifts blame and minimizes violence.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Feb 3, 2023 3:09:33 GMT
OANN has backtracked on the Paul Pelosi attack... Hosts at right-wing network One America News last year helped lead the push to peddle conspiracy theories about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who was beaten by a hammer-wielding assailant in his own home. However, after police released video of their response to the incident, OAN has now conceded that Pelosi was indeed assaulted by conspiracy theorist David DePape, who was most certainly not Pelosi's secret lover.In a statement provided to CNN fact checker Daniel Dale, OAN wrote that "it's clear that an unwanted intruder with evil intent broke into the Pelosi home." The network further praised Pelosi for his calmness under pressure in which he walked a fine line between "asking for immediate help without further aggravating a mentally disturbed intruder."www.rawstory.com/paul-pelosi-oan/
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Post by aj2hall on Sept 9, 2023 1:29:41 GMT
In case there were any remaining questions of his political allegiance or the political motivation in the brutal attack, www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133041073/david-depape-who-attacked-nancy-pelosis-husband-is-charged-with-attempted-murderNew charging documents told us a lot more about what happened that night. Monday, we got confirmation from the Department of Justice that DePape's true intention was to kidnap Speaker Nancy Pelosi, torture her and see her rolled in a wheelchair in front of Congress.
DePape isn't from San Francisco. He lives in a nearby city called Richmond. He attended pro-nudism rallies in 2012 in San Francisco with noted local nudist activists. And while that may make him sound like a bit of a San Francisco hippie, blogs he published online show he took a rightward turn in recent years, embracing QAnon conspiracy theories. That connects with what he told police after the attack. He said he was punishing Speaker Pelosi for what he called Democratic Party lies.
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Post by aj2hall on Sept 9, 2023 1:33:14 GMT
And the latest news in his trial apnews.com/article/nancy-pelosi-husband-attacked-trial-venue-8bdeefb544b3dec5379be39af6fab328SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion to move the trial of a man charged in last year’s attack against former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband out of San Francisco, saying she wasn’t convinced the court wouldn’t be able to find impartial and fair jurors in the San Francisco Bay Area.
David DePape’s defense attorneys argued that the intense publicity the case has received means he won’t get a fair trial in the city. They had asked Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley to move the trial to Eureka, a city near the border with Oregon. The federal trial is set to start Nov. 13.
Federal public defender Angela Chuang said local media attention has tainted the pool of jurors. In its motion asking for the change of venue, the defense said a survey it commissioned shows many potential jurors already believe DePape is guilty of the crimes and would be unable to change their minds.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley pointed out that the case received national attention and that the defense survey also showed many people in Eureka are also familiar with the details of the case.
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Post by Lurkingpea on Sept 9, 2023 2:26:07 GMT
In case there were any remaining questions of his political allegiance or the political motivation in the brutal attack, www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133041073/david-depape-who-attacked-nancy-pelosis-husband-is-charged-with-attempted-murderNew charging documents told us a lot more about what happened that night. Monday, we got confirmation from the Department of Justice that DePape's true intention was to kidnap Speaker Nancy Pelosi, torture her and see her rolled in a wheelchair in front of Congress.
DePape isn't from San Francisco. He lives in a nearby city called Richmond. He attended pro-nudism rallies in 2012 in San Francisco with noted local nudist activists. And while that may make him sound like a bit of a San Francisco hippie, blogs he published online show he took a rightward turn in recent years, embracing QAnon conspiracy theories. That connects with what he told police after the attack. He said he was punishing Speaker Pelosi for what he called Democratic Party lies.This is what Trump has wrought.
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