Right Wing Extremist Violence Thread

[atomheartbevo 89812]

1 hour ago, Bama Chick said:

Do you wear Oakleys?
A ball cap?
A Columbia fishing shirt?
Do you have a goatee/half beard?
Do you have a close cut haircut?

Edited June 15, 2022 by atomheartbevo

[Scheiss Meister 8413]

The current Republican party are the tyrants for whom the Second Amendment was written.  Change my mind.

[elfenix 34336]

8 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Yes.  You should probably start carrying a weapon of some sort.  In the past couple of years, I've had more than a few friends who are members of such communities (gay, jewish, etc.) talk to me to get advice on handguns and the like.  Because that is the world we live in.  There's hunters, and the hunted.  The hunted need to realize and own that fact, and be prepared.

my freshman gov't prof at UT, responding to his housemate learning he had a gun: "of course i have a gun, i'm a Democrat in Texas"

[F250 28826]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Catholics or African-Americans.

whynotboth.gif

Speaking of Catholics. The whole Alt-Right Rad TradCath thing has gotten pretty fucking psycho.

Those fuckers are attempting to infiltrate the RCC and wage war against the Pope, Vatican II and the Jesuits. Then take out the Jews when the opportunity shows itself. It's really weird because a lot of them are new converts and clearly are lacking in knowledge of Catholicism while being adamant in their criticisms of the Catholic church.

 

[George Clooney 378]

1 hour ago, F250 said:

Speaking of Catholics. The whole Alt-Right Rad TradCath thing has gotten pretty fucking psycho.

Those fuckers are attempting to infiltrate the RCC and wage war against the Pope, Vatican II and the Jesuits. Then take out the Jews when the opportunity shows itself. It's really weird because a lot of them are new converts and clearly are lacking in knowledge of Catholicism while being adamant in their criticisms of the Catholic church.

 

Is this separate from Vermeule's integralist bloc? I wouldn't be surprised if Dasha from Red Scare is part of this because she seems to be doing it for mainly aesthetic value.

[Satchel 6949]

1 hour ago, F250 said:

Speaking of Catholics. The whole Alt-Right Rad TradCath thing has gotten pretty fucking psycho.

Those fuckers are attempting to infiltrate the RCC and wage war against the Pope, Vatican II and the Jesuits. Then take out the Jews when the opportunity shows itself. It's really weird because a lot of them are new converts and clearly are lacking in knowledge of Catholicism while being adamant in their criticisms of the Catholic church.

 

Yep. One of the former pastors at St. Ann in Coppell derisively called the new converts Calvinist Catholics 

[SydneyCarton 48201]

18 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

It upsets me that most people assume Im a MAGAt dipshit just because of my appearance. 

I stopped going to my local la hacienda market because I could tell I was making people uncomfortable.

Is it the crocs, the beer belly, or both?

 

13 hours ago, Bama Chick said:

Do you wear Oakleys?

A ball cap?

A Columbia fishing shirt?

Do you have a goatee/half beard?

Do you have a close cut haircut?

I mean, BC basically spells it out. Maybe you should call Queer Eye and have them give you a makeover, sir. That being said, you shouldn't stop shopping at a market because you think they're uncomfortable. I'd argue it's more important to go and be friendly, polite, courteous, and show them that not every white dude is a POS. 

 

15 hours ago, trauma babe said:

I'm hesitant to carry a weapon, but not wholly against it. Some years ago, a friend of a friend defended themselves with a knife against a violent but unarmed homophobe. Guess who got jail time and who didn't.

Queer people who don't seamlessly blend into the cis-straight world are not well-treated in our legal system, and tbh the legal system is a bigger, clearer, more present danger (if you will) than Texas Nazis. At least right now. There's always tomorrow.

Happy Pride!

 

Listen, you've made some pretty concerning posts recently, at least as far as I've read. Not that I think you're teetering on the edge, but man, it sounds like you could use some changes. You're a nurse, and I believe you're based in Austin, no? If I'm wrong, fuck me. But I mean, have you considered moving to a less hateful area of the country? You can probably get work anywhere. Maybe even Canada. 

I know there's a kneejerk fury and anger at having to uproot one's life because of shitheads around you. I have a good friend who's literally about to bail on San Diego because his wife is a teacher, and she doesn't feel safe working anymore. He's interviewing in Australia and if he gets the job, I think they're gone. But his wife is fucking PISSED about it, because she loves everything about her life in San Diego. It doesn't seem right. But...not much of what is happening to us as a society is "right" at the moment. 

 

[Captainant 27809]

15 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I know there's a kneejerk fury and anger at having to uproot one's life because of shitheads around you. I have a good friend who's literally about to bail on San Diego because his wife is a teacher, and she doesn't feel safe working anymore. He's interviewing in Australia and if he gets the job, I think they're gone. But his wife is fucking PISSED about it, because she loves everything about her life in San Diego. It doesn't seem right. But...not much of what is happening to us as a society is "right" at the moment. 

This is very much a conflict my wife and I are struggling with. My ancestors served under general Travis (not at the battle of the Alamo though). Hers fought at the battle of San Jacinto, and her family still has the original document signed by Anson Jones that granted them their land for their service.

Texas is our blood, our roots, our family, and our home. 

But we fucking hate it here right now. It's full of ignorant, hateful, and proud people that feel empowered to indulge their worst impulses. If we even have kids, I'm not sure I'd want them to grow up here. 

But I loved my childhood in Texas. My family rode bicycles between the missions in SA and smelled wildflowers the whole way, we dug up fossils in the hillcountry and my dad taught me things he learned with his geology degree at UT. When my wife was a kid she would go ride horses with her dad and share a Dr Pepper with him afterwards. 

And all that stuff is still there. It's just got some asshat with a "FJB/LGB" or "MAGA 2024" flag or t-shirt there too. It's ubiquitous and so disheartening. I don't know what I can do to change any of it, but I feel like it's my responsibility to not give up on my home

Edited June 15, 2022 by Captainant

[jimmyjazz 46206]

4 minutes ago, Captainant said:

But I loved my childhood in Texas. My family rode bicycles between the missions in SA and smelled wildflowers the whole way, we dug up fossils in the hillcountry and my dad taught me things he learned with his geology degree at UT. When my wife was a kid she would go ride horses with her dad and share a Dr Pepper with him afterwards. 

Sounds like my wife.  She was born and raised in Austin, and lived in Tarrytown (the poor part, which is now about 2 square blocks).  When MoPac was being built, she and her dad would ride bikes as far north as the asphalt would take them, turn around, stop for a Fresca at a nearby gas station, and head back home.

She's livid at what Texas has become.

[purplepride95 6890]

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33900]

47 minutes ago, purplepride95 said:

 

bro, you can't even spell Metallica when it's right there on your chest??? 🤣

[F250 28826]

12 hours ago, George Clooney said:

Is this separate from Vermeule's integralist bloc? I wouldn't be surprised if Dasha from Red Scare is part of this because she seems to be doing it for mainly aesthetic value.

Different than Vermeule who I think is a true believer but still a whack job. These others are cosplaying to have something to rally their racist/fascist agenda around. It's like they saw the Mel Gibson antisemitic rants and a light bulb went off.

About 10 years ago there were a number of millennials joining more orthodox Christian sects in search of a more meaningful form of Christianity. They were on a sincere spiritual journey but this latest group just wants to discuss the merits of Francoist Spain.

I am a little more concerned about the Catholics than the MAGA evangelicals. There are a lot of well educated Catholics with some concerning beliefs compared to the Liberty U and Bob Jones crowd.

[Foosters 17889]

7 minutes ago, F250 said:

Different than Vermeule who I think is a true believer but still a whack job. These others are cosplaying to have something to rally their racist/fascist agenda around. It's like they saw the Mel Gibson antisemitic rants and a light bulb went off.

About 10 years ago there were a number of millennials joining more orthodox Christian sects in search of a more meaningful form of Christianity. They were on a sincere spiritual journey but this latest group just wants to discuss the merits of Francoist Spain.

I am a little more concerned about the Catholics than the MAGA evangelicals. There are a lot of well educated Catholics with some concerning beliefs compared to the Liberty U and Bob Jones crowd.

Thought I'd use your comment to post an article from last week's LA Times regarding the growing disillusionment within young evangelicals at Biola University. Doubt it will portend much, but was interesting nonetheless.

Quote

On a breezy Sunday afternoon, Biola University is a postcard of serenity. A soft light filters through a small prayer chapel where a plain wooden cross stands in front. At its base someone has left a message on a scrap of paper.

 

Jesus, you are my guide, the joy of my heart, the author of my hope, the object of my love.

Ascetic and minimal, the room invites conversations with God. Wall niches contain similar handwritten notes.

I pray that you draw me back to you. Teach me what the weight of the cross means fully.

 

Biola is a private Christian university in La Mirada, whose mission is to equip its students “in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ.” They know the work will be difficult. So much around them is thought to be sinful.

Jesus … I’m afraid. Your people have hurt me. My brothers and sisters in the church, betraying Black brothers & sisters with racism and hate on their lips. And Biola is no better.

 

Biola has attempted to shelter its students and itself from the social and civil disturbances of recent years, but its efforts have been marginally successful. Like evangelical institutions across the country, the university is facing growing disillusionment among young Christians who believe their faith should be more progressive and socially minded.

They resent how politics has shadowed their relationship with God and believe that Christ’s lessons of humility, tolerance and love have been forgotten amid the Christian community’s embrace of the Big Lie, former President Trump and culture-war dog whistles such as LGBTQ restrictions and anti-mask and vaccination declarations.

“Evangelicals are losing their young in epidemic numbers,” said David Gushee, a nationally known pastor, ethicist and author of “After Evangelicalism: A Path to a New Christianity.” “Smart, young minds rarely color within the lines, and if they can’t ask questions and get decent answers, they will bail.”

One of Southern California’s oldest religious colleges, Biola has seen its enrollment drop, has trimmed next year’s budget and is trying to stay relevant for students while not alienating faculty and alumni.

The tension, said Richard Flory, executive director of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, “helps us read what the future of evangelicalism in America might look like.”

::

More than 100 years ago, Charles Darwin forced Christians to an uncomfortable reckoning over the Bible. Either creation took six days, God flooded the world, Jesus performed miracles and the prophecies are true, or none of that ever happened — or ever will happen.

When Texas preacher Thomas Horton took the stage before 4,200 congregants in downtown Los Angeles on Easter 1915, he made clear that the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, founded seven years earlier, stood for Scripture without error or misstatement.

“We believe in the old Bible and the whole Bible and have no confidence in anyone who seeks to unsettle this belief,” he said.

Horton’s charisma, together with the money and zeal of Lyman Stewart, co-founder of Union Oil Co., helped spread fundamentalism around the world.

Their success led to the construction of an Italian Renaissance high-rise with twin 13-story dormitories for fledging theologians. Its two rooftop, neon-red JESUS SAVES signs were landmarks in the city’s skyline for decades.

But as fundamentalism spread, it was challenged. In 1925 during the Scopes monkey trial, when a Tennessee jury convicted a high school teacher of introducing evolution to his classroom, its anti-science stance was ridiculed.

By the 1940s, Christians began turning toward evangelicalism, a less dogmatic version of the faith, and in that spirit, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles opened Biola College (later Biola University) in 1959. Evangelist Billy Graham helped with the $3-million fundraising drive.

Today students can take classes in criminology, physics, accounting, gender studies and cinema. They sign a statement of faith during the application process, and each year faculty sign Articles of Faith pledging allegiance to the truth of Scripture as it articulates “God’s vision for humanity” and prescribes a course for living in this broken world.

University President Barry Corey quotes Isaiah — to “rebuild the ancient ruins and … raise up the age-old foundations” — in arguing that Biola graduates are ready to make the necessary repairs.

“Our students — whether they are screenwriters or accountants, policy wonks or research nerds — are Gospel witnesses,” Corey said. “We want their vocations and lives to be a reflection of their Christian faith and a longing for others to know the redeeming love of Jesus.”

But some students and faculty wonder if that is enough.

::

It grieves me deeply when students don’t feel like they are welcome here.

— Biola University President Barry Corey

To argue that the Bible is without error means more than accepting its origin stories. It means accepting that the problems of the world derive from Adam’s sin and can be solved only by Christ. For some that means the Second Coming.

As dean of faculty for the theology school, Scott Rae, said last year about climate change: “Our best hope for the planet is that God’s coming back to reclaim it and to set things right and to heal what had been previously broken.”

Rae qualifies that statement (“I’m not suggesting we passively wait,” he said; “we have responsibility now”), but the role of Christ’s return has divided the evangelical community especially as it wrestles over its response to oppression and injustice in American society.

For some Christians, the path ahead is simple: Pray, proselytize and prepare your hearts. For others, fixing and reforming the world can’t wait.

“The party line,” said one Biola professor who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity out of concern of reprisal, “is that Jesus died for your sins and to have a personal relationship with Jesus is to have eternal life. Anything else is a distraction. But we think the Gospel is also about bringing healing, restoration, justice and love to a broken world.”

The debate has taken on red and blue hues.

“In some parts of the university, there is a flowering of a more progressive, justice-oriented Christianity,” said a colleague who also asked not to be identified. “In other parts, there is pushback, a fear of a liberal Christianity that strays from Biola’s conservative roots.”

Dissent is hard to find at a university known for its culture of niceness. Yet fractures are conspicuous.

Not long after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the opinion editor for Biola’s student-run news site called on millennials and Gen Z to help guide Christians away from their support of the Trump presidency.

That editor, Evana Upshaw, cited Scripture to argue that, just as Moses encouraged the Israelites entering the promised land not to repeat the sins of earlier generations, young Christians need to chart a new course toward “hope and healing.”

 

“Our faith, now synonymous with unwavering support for Donald Trump, is causing many to question how Christians could sell out women, immigrants, Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and the poor for the sake of political power,” she wrote, concluding that “Gen Z sees the hypocrisy of Christians today. ... It’s time to pass the torch.”

Reaction was quick. Readers, commenting online, branded the piece as “propaganda,” “racist and trash,” “riddled with unfounded assumption and presumption.”

When the faculty advisor asked Upshaw, who identifies as Black/biracial, to start publishing more conservative opinions, she felt sidelined.

“I didn’t want to fight it. I felt like I was the only one giving Black issues a voice, and I was exhausted,” said Upshaw, who eventually transferred to another university.

Race, as much as politics, cuts through campus life at Biola. In 2020, during Black History Month, posters of African American leaders were defaced with a racial slur, and the university held a “lament session” for students to talk about discrimination on campus.

Corey acknowledges that “polarization and the toxic nature of the culture” have found their way to Biola.

“It grieves me deeply when students don’t feel like they are welcome here,” he said. “We’re in the business of helping students think deeply and express themselves in a reasonable, civil and humble manner, but this is taking more work than it did 15 years ago.”

With a mixed student body (43% white, 20% Latino, 15% Asian and 3% Black, with the rest identifying as other races and ethnicities), some argue that if Biola wanted to create a more inclusive culture, it would remove the 30-foot-tall Jesus mural on the side of the art building.

Completed in 1990 by L.A.-based artist Kent Twitchell, the bearded figure in a red robe overlooking the student union has long been controversial. Eyes peering skyward, he holds a leather-bound Bible.

The image is “not only historically inaccurate, but it enables and reinforces dangerous racist ideas of white power, white supremacy and white saviorism,” alumna Brianna Eng wrote in a letter to the university last year. Since graduating in 2018, Eng has lobbied for its removal.

Corey is accustomed to defending the mural, arguing that it is a “source of important conversations on our campus about where we are and how to move forward.”

But Megumi Nakazawa wishes the conversations were more robust. Nakazawa, 20, who will be a senior this fall, grew up overseas and was not prepared for the contradiction she found in American life between Christian values and their application.

She cited the shootings of Asian women by a white Christian man last year in Georgia and the difficulty some people had acknowledging race as a factor in the killings.

“That was when I started to think of Christianity as causing more harm than good,” she said, and the argument from the pulpit — that the most Christians can do to improve the world is make sure their hearts are “in the right place” — sounded empty.

“We talk about theological principles of justice,” Nakazawa said, “but it is not applied to what’s happening outside of campus.”

::

When former Biola professor Lisa Swain considers the division on campus, she is reminded of the schism that emerged last year within the country’s largest evangelical denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

The debate focused in part on the question of racial diversity after Christian symbols and Scripture were appropriated by white nationalists.

“It begs the question of what it means to be evangelical,” Swain said, and who gets to decide.

A larger conversation, Swain said, is taking place within the Christian community over the role of authority. By claiming to know God’s intentions, institutions such as Biola signal a greater interest in “protecting power rather than grace.”

To relax its power, Biola would have to acknowledge different interpretations of Scripture, she said, and give students an opportunity to apply faith to their lives as they see fit.

Ethicist Gushee wonders if Biola can afford this stance. Christian universities, he said, are “being watched by heavy hitters in the evangelical world who will quickly call out any institution that they believe is straying.”

Straying has consequences at tuition-dependent institutions such as Biola, where undergraduate enrollment has fallen 18% from 2014 to 2021 and $5 million has been cut from next year’s budget. These declines are mostly related to the pandemic but give benefactors and donors additional leverage over the university’s future.

Corey, the university president, has made it clear that Biola will not veer from its original mission.

“For Biola, faithfulness into our strongest years to come will be possible if, and only if, we do not forsake what our founders gave us,” he wrote last September, signaling commitment to the university’s fundamentalist roots.

Some wonder if this stance might help explain the departure over the last two years of 46 faculty members, especially women and those of color.

Rae, the theology school dean, defends Corey’s commitment to Biola’s original mission and expresses no interest in Biola becoming the equivalent of a Cal State University school, but “with a veneer of Christianity.”

“What we have seen,” Rae said, “is that schools who have doubled down on their original identity and committed to biblical faithfulness are the ones whose enrollments are actually growing.”

The recent appointment of Matthew Hall as provost seems to confirm this intention.

Hall, formerly with the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, questions critical race theory, believes church is “far more consequential to eternity than any earthly political development” and argues that adherence to biblical truth will reward not just students and faculty but also donors.

Gushee is not surprised the university would follow this course.

“Conservative Christian universities play a kind of trick here,” he said. “They say they are returning to their founding principles, but their responses are remarkably similar to whatever conservative Republican politics looks like at a given moment.”

“Right now,” he added, “that is culture wars-oriented, white reactionary politics, and if this reactionary politics shuts down urgent educational discussions, it is the students who lose.”

 

Frustrated by the university’s doctrinal rigidity, some current and former Biola students are having their own theological discussions. They gather two miles off campus at a United Methodist Church every other Sunday with the belief that faith is more than an either/or proposition.

They call themselves the St. Thomas Collective for the apostle who questioned the resurrection until the crucified Jesus stood before him. Christian in spirit, nondenominational in practice, they want to provide what they haven’t found at Biola: a nonjudgmental space for open inquiry.

The group started in 2016, initially meeting in a garage “to voice their questions and doubts and wild ideas.” They currently have up to 50 members at large.

“This is the community that Biola should be trying to hold on to,” USC’s Flory said. “Most young people don’t care about religion, but if you have young people trying to grapple with their faith — so they can make sense of it, given the world they experience — you should listen to them.”

On a recent Sunday, nine members sat in a semicircle in front of the altar sipping tea and munching Oreos.

“From an early age, my family told me I was going to be a pastor,” said Jaloni Wilson Ford, 22, a senior majoring in Christian ministries. “All that I did was to lead me to God, but over the last five years, I’ve done a 180- or at least a 90-degree turn,” questioning traditional understandings of God.

Most grew up in their parents’ church. They said prayers before each meal, read the Bible at night and understood that they were being kept safe from the world. Now they were stepping out on their own.

“When I got to Biola, I saw a lack of consistency between the biblical values of loving your neighbor and the way many students treat and talk about others on campus,” said Brandon Hall, 22, a senior majoring in human biology.

They hold no ill will toward Biola and are not ready to leave the university. But Samantha Smith, who graduated in 2019 with a degree in psychology, remembers feeling alone and frustrated as a student.

Professors had their “cookie-cutter answers,” she said, and friends told her how wonderful God is. “Everybody was on the Jesus train,” where the choices were either “hop on or burn.”

When Sophie Byerly arrived at Biola three years ago, she wondered if she had made the right decision to attend the university. Each day felt like a test among those who could profess their faith as “the most on fire for God.” Her faith practice was more quiet, more questioning, which drew her to the St. Thomas Collective.

Her practice was more quiet. As a teenager, she aspired to be the “radically good person” that Jesus wanted his disciples to be. Now she is trying to decide whether or not to believe in Christianity.

After listening to a podcast about factional discord in Ireland and the search for common ground, the collective discussed developing friendships outside their Christian community.

A little past 9, the Oreos were nearly gone. After prayer and signs of peace, Smith cued a song on her computer. Piano chords drifted through the sanctuary, and the Brilliance began to sing:

Give me doubt, so I can lay all my weapons on the ground.

When the armor of God is too heavy for peace,

give me doubt, give me doubt.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-10/crt-trumpism-doubt-roil-biola-university

[Longhorn_Fan68 33900]

loooooooooool

 

[F250 28826]

20 minutes ago, Foosters said:

Thought I'd use your comment to post an article from last week's LA Times regarding the growing disillusionment within young evangelicals at Biola University. Doubt it will portend much, but was interesting nonetheless.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-06-10/crt-trumpism-doubt-roil-biola-university

That was an interesting article. Thanks.

 

[SydneyCarton 48201]

1 hour ago, F250 said:

That was an interesting article. Thanks.

 

Now that you've read it, why don't you cliff's notes that shit for there rest of us, because I clicked that spoiler open and Nope'd right out after like 4 scrolls down. 

[Satchel 6949]

1 hour ago, F250 said:

Different than Vermeule who I think is a true believer but still a whack job. These others are cosplaying to have something to rally their racist/fascist agenda around. It's like they saw the Mel Gibson antisemitic rants and a light bulb went off.

About 10 years ago there were a number of millennials joining more orthodox Christian sects in search of a more meaningful form of Christianity. They were on a sincere spiritual journey but this latest group just wants to discuss the merits of Francoist Spain.

I am a little more concerned about the Catholics than the MAGA evangelicals. There are a lot of well educated Catholics with some concerning beliefs compared to the Liberty U and Bob Jones crowd.

Many of the new converts are clearly a problem. They like the rule based nature of Catholicism that allows them to be overzealous in the pursuit of purity and truth while never understanding and/or embracing the church’s social and theological principles. Case in point: Laura Ingraham is included among a growing list of hardcore right wingers who have converted to the RCC. During last year’s Lenten observance, she appeared on her show with an outsized, big ass ashen cross on her forehead, beaming proudly over her outward display of holiness. While she may be given for acting on what has become all too common in American Christian praxis, her continued hateful , hyperbolic rhetoric during her show should be judged more harshly. It was an ocular demonstration of her utter ignorance about how one should comport themselves during Lent.

[F250 28826]

9 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Now that you've read it, why don't you cliff's notes that shit for there rest of us, because I clicked that spoiler open and Nope'd right out after like 4 scrolls down. 

TLDR

Evangelical leadership is married to the GOP. Current GOP talking points are centered around white grievances which is being pushed in Evangelical institutions and alienating minority evangelicals.

[Pancho 45044]

 

[WhatTheBuck 28804]

Hiya, Princess.

[Captainant 27809]

The Far-Right’s Assault On An Idaho Pride Event Was Meticulously Planned

Details that emerged after the arrest of 31 white supremacists in Coeur D'Alene show how GOP rhetoric is signaling extremists to attack LGBTQ people.

Quote

At a Republican fundraiser in Stateline, Idaho, a local GOP official named Dan Bell was excited to introduce the next speaker.

“He’s definitely not OK with trans or any of that gay shit,” Bell, youth chair of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, said into the microphone as the crowd laughed. “Please give it up for Dave Reilly!”

Reilly took the stage that day, April 16, to cheers. “A big round of applause for our Sheriff Norris, who keeps us safe!” Reilly said, pointing to Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris in the crowd, according to video footage obtained by HuffPost. Reilly is a white nationalist who recently moved to Idaho and aims to take over the state political system from the ground up.

In the crowd with the sheriff was a mix of fellow white nationalists, along with Proud Boys, militiamen and a far-right bike gang. Over the ensuing two months, what bound this group together was a deep ire toward LGBTQ people and a desire to stop a Pride event in nearby Coeur D’Alene on June 11.

With the blessing of local Republican officials and using the same rhetoric as many GOP politicians nationwide, this far-right coalition churned out propaganda falsely labeling Pride as a haven for “groomers” and “pedophiles.” Participants also issued warnings to would-be Pride attendees: We’ll be there to confront you, and we’ll be armed.

And they were. Bigots turned out in big numbers to harass and intimidate their queer neighbors. A U-Haul truck full of masked men from the white supremacist group Patriot Front turned up ready to storm the Pride event, but they were stopped by police and arrested on charges of conspiring to riot, sparking a wave of national headlines.

All 31 men have now been identified and charged with conspiracy to riot. Democratic state Rep. Chris Mathias has suggested prosecutors pursue harsher felony charges under a state terror statute. On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to consider federal charges under the Anti-Riot Act.

“It appears these people did not come here to engage in peaceful events,” Norris told a local reporter. The sheriff protected the Pride event from far-right antagonists and got to take some credit for the shocking bust that unmasked 31 white supremacists (a local hotel worker had tipped off his office after seeing them pile into the truck).

But there’s also little accounting for Norris’ connections to the very far-right coalition that made Coeur D’Alene Pride a target.

Patriot Front needs to be understood as a part of the militant wing of the Republican Party’s revanchist campaign to erase trans people from public life and push queer people back into the closet. When the right uses eliminationist rhetoric about LBGTQ people, it can’t then feign shock when straight-up fascists show up to support its cause.

This last year has seen Republican politicians and right-wing media influencers across the country stir up a moral panic about the LGBTQ community being “groomers” — a term for manipulating children to make them vulnerable to sexual abuse. A wave of anti-LGBTQ laws, like Florida’s “Don’t say gay” bill, has swept the nation. This type of rhetoric and legislation has inspired far-right groups to confront and harass queer people in America at an accelerating rate that experts fear could soon mean more violence.

And it’s no coincidence this particular group chose Idaho. It was one of the first states to pass anti-trans laws related to state documents and youth sports, and moreover, it has been ground zero for a far-right effort to take power by the ballot box.

Eric Ward, director of the Western States Center, a Portland, Oregon-based civil rights organization that monitors right-wing extremists, said in a statement this week that “Idaho is a bellwether state for where the rest of the country may be headed in terms of how anti-democracy groups try to build power.”

Anatomy Of A Moral Panic
Norris, the Kootenai County Sheriff, did not respond to a request for comment on why he lent the imprimatur of his office to the gathering of bigots and extremists at Cruisers Bar & Grill back in April.

Carl Bjerke, a retired firefighter from California who recently won the local GOP primary for Idaho state Senate — which, in a conservative place like North Idaho, means he’s all but guaranteed to win the general election — was photographed at the event. He also didn’t respond to a request for comment about his attendance.

Neither did Bell, the event’s organizer and youth chair of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee — an organization that’s part of the Christian nationalist insurgency across Idaho.

TLDR: the white supremacists fascists are joining forces with the gay bashers.

I mean, we already knew that but now there's a court record of it at least

[brakeman 28444]

Wow, this is fucked.

[brakeman 28444]

[Foosters 17889]

1 hour ago, brakeman said:

Wow, this is fucked.

@clapclapclap

[Pancho 45044]

 

[Dr. Teeth 5845]

I don’t think we are allowed to get upset at that because it would be going after political rivals or some stupid shit. 

[royiv 9373]

After the antics at the Texas GQP convention this weekend and ads like this, it seems they're beginning to eat their own. Interested to see how this plays out.

[wildcat09 29416]

If we're lucky, maybe they'll skip to the stage where they just all kill each other before really trying to genocide liberals and minorities.

[Dr. Teeth 5845]

3 minutes ago, royiv said:

After the antics at the Texas GQP convention this weekend and ads like this, it seems they're beginning to eat their own. Interested to see how this plays out.

I believe it plays out by them winning the House, Senate and 2024 Presidential election. 

[Jive Turkey 12646]

Just now, Dr. Teeth said:

I believe it plays out by them winning the House, Senate and 2024 Presidential election. 

they may not "win" the 2024 POTUS election, but they're sure as fuck making plans to steal it.

[Dr. Teeth 5845]

Will it matter?

[Beau Vine 54459]

1 hour ago, Pancho said:

 

@clapclapclap

[Brisketexan 105408]

Here's an interesting twist (although I guess it goes in the "every accusation is a confession" bucket, like damned near everything else these days): the GQP gun-nut crowd is all-in on "we all need ARs to protect ourselves from a violently oppressive gubmint!"

Which is insanity.....except for the fact that they are charging full-speed ahead to take over and implement.....a violently oppressive government.  It has about reached the point that if you are a member of any marginalized community -- gay, black, hispanic, jewish, etc. -- it's irrational NOT to fucking arm the shit out of yourself to defend yourself and your family against the fascists and their brown shirts.

Well-played, GQP, well-played.  They are going to succeed in convincing a huge chunk of the country to buy ARs to protect themselves from a dangerous government.  The irony is solid.

[B00M 6468]

1 hour ago, Pancho said:

 

Holy shit. That's so fucked up

[B00M 6468]

1 hour ago, royiv said:

After the antics at the Texas GQP convention this weekend and ads like this, it seems they're beginning to eat their own. Interested to see how this plays out.

They can't eat Cornyn until 2026 unless they murder him, which, apparently...

[Longhorn_Fan68 33900]

I'm out. Last one to leave turn out the lights. jfc we're fucked.

[atomheartbevo 89812]

2 hours ago, royiv said:

After the antics at the Texas GQP convention this weekend and ads like this, it seems they're beginning to eat their own. Interested to see how this plays out.

1 hour ago, B00M said:

Holy shit. That's so fucked up

No...what's fucked up is

[Jack Straw 2954]

5 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

If we're lucky, maybe they'll skip to the stage where they just all kill each other before really trying to genocide liberals and minorities.

however we get there, more Republicans’ lives ending and/or being completely ruined, please.  

[jimmyjazz 46206]

4 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

No...what's fucked up is

 

I have spent 99% of my life living in Missouri and Texas.

I never had a fucking chance.

[A-Tex Devil 2463]

7 hours ago, Pancho said:

 

Dude.... fuck this guy.  Read up on him.  He's the worst kind of scary creep.

[TexPx 2325]

Dude.... fuck this guy.  Read up on him.  He's the worst kind of scary creep.

His most recent ex- wife is an associate professor at UT.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dr. Teeth 5845]

May be in the public’s interest to remain accessible. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Dr. Teeth

[Chooky 13319]

8 hours ago, Pancho said:

 

You know what really inspires me?  Militarized police busting into a domestic residence to hunt down and kill the people who only agreed with them 96% of the time.

[Brisketexan 105408]

2 minutes ago, Chooky said:

You know what really inspires me?  Militarized police busting into a domestic residence to hunt down and kill the people who only agreed with them 96% of the time.

What you just described is what the entire MAGA nation furiously masturbates to at least once a week. That's their fucking wet dream.

That's right, the same people who say we all need ARs to protect us from an oppressive government that violently oppresses dissent.....get raging boners at the thought of.... an oppressive government that violently oppresses dissent.

I hate them all so, so, SO much.

[Blotto 23584]

Well the crazy seems to have definitely ratcheted up the last couple of weeks. The crap that the Texas GOP party put in writing as their official party platform is so far beyond the pale that I'm speechless.  I guess the Jan 6 hearings are driving the reaction from the far right. The timeline for this powder keg to go off appears to be really accelerating and the economy is certainly not helping matters. Tons of fucking people on edge. I legit fear there may be some crazy and/or scary shit go down between now and the Nov elections. Bleak times. 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13587]

When your party refuses to adopt a platform then technically everyone who calls themselves a Republican is a RINO. 

[TexArcher 38075]

8 hours ago, Pancho said:

 

What a sick, sick country this has become.

God damn.

 

[atomheartbevo 89812]

1 hour ago, A-Tex Devil said:

Dude.... fuck this guy.  Read up on him.  He's the worst kind of scary creep.

 

[atomheartbevo 89812]

35 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Well the crazy seems to have definitely ratcheted up the last couple of weeks. The crap that the Texas GOP party put in writing as their official party platform is so far beyond the pale that I'm speechless.  I guess the Jan 6 hearings are driving the reaction from the far right. The timeline for this powder keg to go off appears to be really accelerating and the economy is certainly not helping matters. Tons of fucking people on edge. I legit fear there may be some crazy and/or scary shit go down between now and the Nov elections. Bleak times. 

If I had George Soros money, there'd be a temptation to run a bunch of nutcases for office as Republicans, and push other Republicans to adopt a batshit party platform at the state level, in order to hurt the Republicans long-term with moderates/fence sitters.  The loonier Republicans you could get elected, the better.

Of course, I wouldn't expect so many Republicans to embrace dumbass shit, but it's 2022 and they elected Trump, so...

[Captainant 27809]

5 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

If I had George Soros money, there'd be a temptation to run a bunch of nutcases for office as Republicans, and push other Republicans to adopt a batshit party platform at the state level, in order to hurt the Republicans long-term with moderates/fence sitters.  The loonier Republicans you could get elected, the better.

Of course, I wouldn't expect so many Republicans to embrace dumbass shit, but it's 2022 and they elected Trump, so...

We're living the dumbasses embracing facism timeline. The boomer conservatives I know all write off the crazies as mere fringe and completely ignore that the state republican party has formalized and embraced some outright fascistic shit. They just refuse to believe it's actually happening and keep pulling the red lever