My question is which one? We probably had over 200 people murdered with a gun in the past week.
In an average year almost 12,000 Americans are killed each year in gun homicides. For every one person killed with a rifle, approximately 15-20 are killed with a handgun (depending on source). Yet, apparently, for some unexplained reason the media only seems to care about the one off killings that involve rifles. They apparently couldn't care less about all the people who died from handguns?
Why is that exactly?
If your answer has something to do with "racism" then you are probably on track. Because a vast majority of gun violence takes place within the Black and Hispanic communities, and by and large these gun crimes are committed with handguns. But anytime you might point out that the concept of gun control being defined as a means to "prevent the random white guy with a rifle from shooting people" misses the larger point, you are deemed a racist.
To attack gun control as a means to prevent the largest amount of killings in America, you would need to address handguns, not rifles. That is just a logical fact. But doing so, would take the purely political emphasis on the narrative that the truly dangerous people in this country are white men with rifles. Make no mistake, the idea of concentrating your gun control solely on preventing people from buying rifles is little more than a means to push that exact narrative.
It quite literally does next to nothing in the grand scheme of thing to reduce gun crime. How does the reduction of a few hundred rifle deaths (300-500/year) really put a dent in that larger number (12,000/year).
On the flip side, if we actually admitted the truth and worked to actually save the most lives, that would flip the narrative and put handguns (and those who use them) directly into the limelight. We cannot have that under any circumstances. Because then we are looking at a crime where only about 10-15 percent involve white people. That means (gasp) that we would be concentrating on gun crime committed disproportionately by Blacks and Hispanics. We all know that is racism, or at least it would be defined as such.
Bottom line: when it comes to a choice between saving the most amounts of lives vs perpetuating a politically correct lie that white men with rifles are what we all should be afraid of - the left will always reject saving lives for the sake of the big lie.
Change my mind!
68 comments:
The United States has the 11th highest rate of gun violence in the world and by far the highest of any large or highly developed nation. The United States has a gun homicide rate which is 25 times higher, an unintentional gun death rate which is 6 times higher, a firearm suicide rate which is 8 times higher, and an overall firearm death rate which is 10 times higher than the average respective rates of other high income nations.[7][8] The United States has a total rate of firearms death which is 50–100 times greater than that of many similarly wealthy nations with strict gun control laws, such as Japan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.[8] According to nearly all studies, the high rate of gun violence in the United States, which has the highest rate of gun-related deaths per capita among developed countries[9]:29 despite having the highest per capita rate of police officers, is attributable to its extreme rate of gun ownership, and it is in fact the only nation with more guns than people.[10] Nearly all studies have found a positive correlation between gun ownership and gun-related homicide and suicide rates.[11]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence
One point that might change your mind.
Handguns are the most dangerous weapon, because they are available and concealable weapons. The percentage is terrible. I will get it soon.
Perhaps one solution is if anyone is caught with an unregistered handgun, is sentenced to a 10 year sentence, without parole trials.
Law abiding citizens should have to provide the same information you need to vote to register your pistols. Semiautomatic weapons are another topic.
The second amendment mentions a well regulated militia. I don't think a the law would violate the second amendment rights. Even with an original intent philosophy.
Handguns are by far the most common murder weapon used in the United States, accounting for 6,368 homicides in 2019.
In 2019, there were 16,425 reported cases of murder or non-negligent manslaughter.
25.1% by handguns.
What do you think?
Leave race out of it.
Ot but
Conservative House of Representatives Republicans plan to form an "America First" caucus to promote the policies of ex-President Donald Trump and said on Friday the group would soon release a policy platform.
The platform promotes "a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" and advocates for infrastructure with esthetic value that "befits the progeny of European architecture," Punchbowl News reported on Friday.
Republican lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar are involved in the caucus, Rep. Louie Gohmert, who is considering joining, confirmed to reporters. Rep. Matt Gaetz is also reportedly aligning with the group.
Read Newsmax: Newsmax - Breaking News | News Videos | Politics, Health, Finance
Kevin McCarthy has tweeted that this is unacceptable news because they are racists and white supremacists.
The problem with my idea is, if you had a handgun for years before the law passed, millions of people would be afraid that the Democratic party is coming to take away your pistols or semi automatic guns.
The politics are difficult.
Hmmmm a “conservative” denialist about racism does in order to curry the favor of racist white people on his blog.
Hmmmm a “conservative” denialist about racism does in order to curry the favor of racist white people on his blog.
Nope... I don't attempt to curry your favor or other racists (like the Reverend or Denny).
Like a true Democrat
The racist origin of gun control laws
btw....
If you think you are arguing with me by suggesting we should be focused on handguns instead of rifles, then you didn't read my post.
That would actually be agreeing with me.
Leave race out of it.
Why?
Can't handle the truth?
Find me a city of a state with harsher gun laws than Chicago IL. Between sundown Friday and sun up Monday the number of shootings in Chicago will number in the double digits. Minorities ALL.
That Toledo kid that got shot? That was at the very least a taxpayer relief shot. At best that kid was headed for prison, and at worst a rival gang member kills him. What in the actual fuck is a 13 year old kid doing out at 2:30 AM with a 21 year old gang member? Where was the parent?
You see alky, what we're witnessing is your beloved "Great Society" after 50+ years.
Guns aren't the problem. A gun is an inanimate object. I have four hanging on the the wall 5 feet from where I'm sitting. They've never hurt a soul.
Liberalism is the fucking problem. Liberalism is ALWAYS the fucking problem.
Roger Amick said...
One point that might change your mind.
Handguns are the most dangerous weapon, because they are available and concealable weapons. The percentage is terrible. I will get it soon.
Perhaps one solution is if anyone is caught with an unregistered handgun, is sentenced to a 10 year sentence, without parole trials.
Law abiding citizens should have to provide the same information you need to vote to register your pistols.
So Hunter Biden lied on his gun registration form in order to be able to get a hand gun.
That carries a substantial fine and a lengthy prison term.
Why should he not be charged and if convicted face the consequences ?
Do we need more laws and ignore those who violate them ?
The politics are difficult.
The politics are surprisingly easy if you're honest about it. And that's your problem. you simply cannot be honest about it. Take the fictitious "gun show loophole". There is none. That's a fucking LIE. You do not purchase a gun at a gun show without doing the paperwork. Yet your team lies about it like it's their job.
It is fucking pointless to have a "gun control" discussion with anyone unwilling to acknowledge the fundamental truths of the matter.
Indefinite Incarceration for Protesters With ‘Wrong’ Politics
As a Minneapolis suburb devolves into chaos, Americans are once again reminded of the different set of rules that applies to protestors on the Left.
Joe Biden’s Justice Department wants to keep Richard Barnett in jail—indefinitely.
The Arkansas man, photographed showboating inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on January 6, has been behind bars for more than three months. Barnett occupied Pelosi’s office for six whole minutes; he absconded with a piece of mail and left her a note that read “Nancy, Bigo was here, you Bitch.”
The desk belonged to a Pelosi aide, not the speaker herself. Several reporters and photographers who also happened to be in Pelosi’s office at the very same time prompted Barnett to sit at the desk and “act natural” as they took a series of photos.
Death threats against Barnett’s family immediately started when a press photograph of Barnett went viral that afternoon; Pelosi’s daughter tweeted the picture right after it was taken. Upon his return home, Barnett met with FBI investigators without an attorney present, allowed for a search of his home, and turned himself in.
He was taken into custody on January 8 and charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct, and possession of a “deadly or dangerous weapon,” to wit, a walking stick that also can be used as a stun gun. He never used it.
A local judge authorized Barnett’s conditional release a week later but federal prosecutors, as they’ve done in many cases, immediately appealed to the chief judge of the D.C. district court, which is handling every Capitol breach case, to deny Barnett’s release.
Judge Beryl Howell sided with the Justice Department and ordered Barnett, a retired firefighter with no criminal record, transported to Washington, D.C. where he remains incarcerated awaiting trial next month. (He is one of more than three dozen Capitol protesters denied bail and currently held in solitary confinement conditions at the D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility. Barnett reportedly has been attacked by prison guards; one allegedly told the inmate that he “hate[s] all white people.”)
A grand jury subsequently returned an eight-count indictment against Barnett including one charge of “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building.” The U.S. landmark is once known as the “People’s House” now is considered “Pelosi’s House.” Lowly Americans are not welcome.
But it isn’t just the felony weapons charge that convinced prosecutors Barnett poses a threat to society. He can’t go home, according to the Justice Department, because Barnett is too controlling of his common-law wife, Tammy Newburn.
Under intense interrogation by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Harris in January, Newburn admitted sometimes Barnett “interrupts me.” Harris was alarmed Barnett stopped his wife from allowing FBI agents to look at her phone without a warrant when investigators first arrived at their home for questioning.
D.C. District Court Judge Chris Cooper, an Obama appointee married to a top aide of former Attorney General Eric Holder, soon will decide Barnett’s short-term fate.
full story:
https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/12/indefinite-incarceration-for-protesters-with-wrong-politics/
No real justice is now available in Washington DC for normal Americans and facing a 96 % partisan population.
Jack Posobiec
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1383238846490419204
FBI Director Wray finally admits to House Intel Committee that Antifa is 'a movement with local and regional nodes who commit violent attacks'
Somehow these people all get released and cases dropped
They don't face 4 months of solitary confinement like those protesting in Washington DC on Jan 6th, many not even in the capitol building itself, actually doing a peaceful protest.
And then face "justice" by a hyper-partisan "judge"
Banana Republic
Breaking911
https://mobile.twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1383172545592053761
Man with unloaded rifle arrested by NYPD inside Times Square subway station. Saadiq Teague, 18, told cops he is from Ohio & thought it was legal for him to have the weapon separated from ammo. Teague had a loaded magazine and a gas mask in his backpack. Charges are pending.
Thank God these cops weren't defunded yet.
Have a feeling there's going to be a lot more to this story.
for those not aware antifa often wears gas masks to hide identity when "peacefully protesting".
also just for emphasis as it is quite a bit longer read the article I posted in it's entirety.
https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/12/indefinite-incarceration-for-protesters-with-wrong-politics/
We still have a few good true reporters in America.
Though very few are left at the mainstream outlets and those that are are keeping their heads lowered.
Roger , unaware this targets minorities to long prison terms.
"Perhaps one solution is if anyone is caught with an unregistered handgun, is sentenced to a 10 year sentence, without parole trials."
Really.
"Law abiding citizens should have to provide the same information you need to vote to register your pistols. Semiautomatic weapons are another topic."
Roger is now for voter ID.
Idiot, "semi-automatics" include handguns.
✔Another topic alky dies know shit about.
Pistols are not semiautomatic weapons asshole kputz.
Some of them are automatic weapons but not semiautomatic rifles.
I know more about guns than you can imagine
Semi-automatically are in fact handguns.
Learn more about this subject Roger, you might look less like the emotional idiot you are.
😆Some of them are automatic weapons🤣
Really, name a few "automatic" handguns by make and model.
amgreatness.com
BWAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! Theif again shows why I think he is a fucking idiot!!!!!!!!
my dogs are smarter then Spouse Abusing Alky.
Fetch Alky.
"The M1911, also known as the Colt 1911, or the Colt Government, is a single-action, semi-automatic..."
One of the most iconic handguns in the world.
My Dad gave me two, consecutively numbered, price less, flawless, never been fired, (*exception, factory tested).
Pistols are not semiautomatic weapons asshole kputz.
Jeezus that’s pitiful.
There are two main types of handguns:
Semi-Automatic Pistols
A semi-automatic pistol is a type of handgun that uses a single chamber and barrel. The pistol fires a chambered round, extracts and ejects the empty casing and then loads a new round into the chamber (if additional rounds are in the magazine) with each trigger pull.
Revolver
A revolver is a handgun that contains a cylinder with multiple chambers. When the trigger is pulled, the cylinder rotates around a central pin to align the next chamber with the firing pin. A single barrel will fire one round per trigger pull.
less, flawless, never been fired,
You should test on yourself goat fucker!!!!!! BWAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!!!!!!
Cali, every single day we have to educate Roger on His Topics.
Every day you and the mouth of the south get dumber and dumber....hard to believe you can breath and walk at the same time......N|BWAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! Go test fire your 1911 on yourself if you actually have one !!!!!!!
A revolver has a cylinder that usually holds six cartridges.
A semiautomatic pistol has a cylinder that can hold up to 15 cartridges. The automatic ejects the cartridge and loads the chamber again and again and again and until it runs out of cartridges
Breanna Morello
https://twitter.com/breannamorello/status/1383399388014206987
At least 8,600 black lives were lost to homicide in 2020.
Who showed up to those 8,600 homicides?
NOT Black Lives Matter.
NOT Ben Crump.
NOT Al Sharpton.
NOT Lebron James.
Law enforcement did and they will continue showing up every time.
I understand that roger but they are both pistols, therefore there are semiautomatic pistols. Unlike your all knowing totally erroneous claim
Pistols are not semiautomatic weapons asshole kputz.
TheLastRefuge
https://twitter.com/TheLastRefuge2/status/1383110113460899843
Corporations made multi-million dollar donations to Black Lives Matter. Those donations were captured and then laundered by ActBlue and spent on Democrat election efforts in 2020.
https://thenationalpulse.com/politics/biden-black-lives-matter-defund-the-police/
Marina Medvin 🇺🇸
FACEBOOK POST: https://twitter.com/MarinaMedvin/status/1383129186336960517
🚨 Breonna Taylor’s mom calls BLM a fraud, rages against them for claiming they’re helping the family when BLM has done NOTHING for Breonna’s family.
just another democrat grift
Barstool Sports
VIDEO: https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1383514591183867905
Fuck it, somebody will catch it @BarstoolNova
you'll need to watch it twice to see it
I should join her campaign team.
The Anglo-Saxons were the members of Germanic-speaking groups who migrated to the southern half of the island of Great Britain from nearby northwestern Europe.
I'm have Anglo-Saxons genes
A popular new mask has a message for people who see you while you're walking around or driving about town: "I'm Not a Democrat because I'm from Kansas, I Just Forgot To Take Off My Mask When I Left the Store."
This mask is handy for conservatives who live in blue states where they still have to wear masks at Walmart, Target, and the few other stores that are still open after lockdowns.
"We found that many people just accidentally left their masks on, and everyone who saw them assumed they were Democrats, which is obviously devastating," said one of the inventors of the mask, Bill F. Parton. "Now, people who glare at you for thinking you're a Democrat will take a second look, read your mask, and chuckle at you for forgetting to take off your mask. They might even give you a hug for being such a cool guy."
"Thanks for this awesome mask, guys!" said one man in Southern California. "I kept leaving Stater Bros. and forgetting to pull off my mask, and everyone thought I was one of those liberals who live up in L.A. I realized with horror as I got home that I had been wearing my mask for the full five-minute drive home. Absolutely horrible! They thought I was a Democrat!"
The manufacturers are working on a mask that automatically destroys itself in a blaze of fire the moment you step out of Target, but there are still a few bugs to work out.
My first amendment rights to make you sick and die are under control of Sleepy Joe and cum a lot Hairless pussy.
Kyle Becker
CHART: https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1383032541091889152
Good morning, mask fanatics. Take a good look at this chart. Blue are mask mandate states, red are *free states.* This is called *NO CORRELATION.* That means your mask mandates have no statistically significant effect fighting COVID. Just thought you should know.
no correlation is something blue states can't comprehend.
kind of like pissing in a pool while wearing swimming trunks is still not cool.
The Hill
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1383061421064384514
Cruz no longer wearing mask in Capitol http://hill.cm/qrzxLTc
Ben Shapiro
Good. It's totally crazy to mask-police people who are fully vaccinated. Once you're vaccinated and two weeks out, go live your life and be free.
Even those who don't understand "no correlation" should be able to understand this.
Tim Young
https://twitter.com/TimRunsHisMouth/status/1383183283794563073
From the political party who claims to want to stop racism against asian americans comes their President referring to the Master's winner as "a japanese boy."
Joe is racist to the bone
I'm sure Tiger would never play golf with Biden.
Daily Mail US
https://twitter.com/DailyMail/status/1383190081557704706
Biden calls 29-year-old Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama a 'Japanese boy' during Rose Garden press conference with PM Suga
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9480621/Biden-calls-Masters-winner-Hideki-Matsuyama-Japanese-boy-press-conference-PM-Suga.html
Imagine if President Trump had done this, especially right now.
FAKE NEWS
enemy of the people,
quiet everyone, Biden is playing golf
no questions
"A semiautomatic pistol has a cylinder that can hold up to 15 cartridges"
Omg, this is spectacularly wrong stupid and all Alky.
""A semiautomatic pistol has a cylinder that can hold up to 15 cartridges"
Tell us the Makes and Models that are semiautomatic Handguns that take a "Cylinder " ?
https://coldheartedtruthlegacy.blogspot.com/2021/04/sunday-reality-funnies.html
Roger, I will give you credit.
You can't admit when you are spectacularly wrong you just keep digging .
""A semiautomatic pistol has a magazine that can hold up to 15 cartridges"
Or maybe more depending on the model and manufacturer.
Revolvers have cylinders and semiautomatic pistols have magazine.
I never owned a pistol but I had several rifles. When I got married Lydia made me sell my .308 rifle and a I think a 46 12 gauge double barreled shotgun. I wish I had put them in storage. The Shotgun was a brand I'm trying to remember. My father Ivan gave it to me in his will.
I had put a custom stock on the .308 Winchester and an adjustable scope.
Having to constantly correct you is something I do , because Roger, you need so much help.
"I never owned a pistol" Roger
So that's your excuse for being so completely and spectacularly wrong on firearms, again.
It was a Remington with two triggers. It was in good condition. When I first fired it the recoil scared me! It's worth a few hundred dollars. Depending upon condition
I fired pistols but I never owned one.
I was a very good shot. It's been decades since.
AN EARLY EDITION OF SUNDAY FUNNIES
THIS IS HILARIOUS.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-america-first-caucus/index.html
Marjorie Taylor Greene Distances Herself From 'America First' Caucus Plan Knocked by Key Republicans
The Democratic-led US House voted on February 4, 2021 to discipline a congresswoman who embraced QAnon conspiracy theories and endorsed violence, capping weeks of mounting turmoil over holding to account a lawmaker whose extremist rhetoric caused a rupture in Republican ranks.
Georgia Republican Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene distanced herself from a reported proposal by the newly formed 'America First' caucus, after top GOP lawmakers accused the group of promoting white supremacy and nativism.
Greene, alongside Arizona Republican Representative Paul Gosar, confirmed the co-creation of the America First Caucus on Friday. Later that day, the newly formed group came under severe criticism from top Republicans after a leaked report by Punchbowl News appeared to detail its highly controversial platform.
On Saturday, Greene denied reports that the group's platform was "racist," and said the proposal released by Punchbowl News was "a staff level draft proposal from an outside group that I hadn't read."
"On Friday, sick and evil POS [pieces of s****] in the media attacked me with phrases I never said or wrote," Greene said in a statement to Newsweek. "The scum and liars in the media are calling me a racist by taking something out of context," she added.
According to a seven-page document that reportedly outlined the group's policy plan, the America First caucus said it was calling for a "common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" and a return to an architectural style that "befits the progeny or European architecture."
Anglo-Saxon is a term for white people related to Germanic inhabitants of fifth-century England, prompting several Republican lawmakers to accuse the group of being "white supremacist" and hateful.
_______
The article hilariously continues. Matt Gaetz is the only Republican still standing by her...
I've shared this before I was with a friend who had a. 357 revolver.
He tossed a beer can about 10 feet away and he fired the pistol about 7 times, but the gun didn't have 7th rounds. He flinched his hand like it recoiled.
I loaded the gun and hit the beer can all six rounds.
He couldn't believe it. Jim Schuck is his name. We knew each other though junior and senior high school in Rapid City South.
Plans for a conservative "America First Caucus" have been scrapped following blowback from leadership within the Republican Party, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney.
Nick Dyer, spokesperson for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who was reportedly setting up the caucus, along with Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., told CNN in an email Saturday afternoon that the congresswoman is not "launching anything."
"The Congresswoman wants to make clear that she is not launching anything. This was an early planning proposal and nothing was agreed to or approved," Dyer said, adding that "she didn't approve that language and has no plans to launch anything."
Greene, in a follow-up statement, distanced herself even further from the platform after considerable backlash, calling it a “staff-level draft proposal from an outside group that I hadn’t read,” adding that she “plans to drive President Trump’s America First agenda with my Congressional colleagues.”
Friday night's news about the caucus, reported by the congressional newsletter Punchbowl News, featured a seven-page document that appeared to be the platform for an America First Caucus.
Key House Republicans, including McCarthy and Cheney, strongly condemned the plans, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., called on Republicans to kick out any conference member joining the group and to strip away their committee assignments.
"America is built on the idea that we are all created equal and success is earned through honest, hard work. It isn’t built on identity, race, or religion," McCarthy, R-Calif., tweeted in response to the news. "The Republican Party is the party of Lincoln & the party of more opportunity for all Americans—not nativist dog whistles."
Cheney, R-Wyo., posted on Twitter that "Republicans believe in equal opportunity, freedom, and justice for all. We teach our children the values of tolerance, decency and moral courage. Racism, nativism, and anti-Semitism are evil. History teaches we all have an obligation to confront & reject such malicious hate."
Kinzinger, R-Ill., tweeted that the GOP should denounce anyone joining the caucus.
"I believe anyone that joins this caucus should have their committees stripped, and the Republican conference should expel them from conference participation," he said. "While we can’t prevent someone from calling themselves Republican, we can loudly say they don’t belong to us.
James, I am 99% Anglo-Saxon. Ancestry.com several years ago. I'm 65% Great Britain and 34% northern European. 1% unknown
Kinzinger, R-Ill., tweeted that the GOP should denounce anyone joining the caucus.
"I believe anyone that joins this caucus should have their committees stripped, and the Republican conference should expel them from conference participation," he said. "While we can’t prevent someone from calling themselves Republican, we can loudly say they don’t belong to us.
It was quickly slammed by several key members of the House Freedom Caucus, to which Kosar and Green also belong, reports Forbes, quoting a source with knowledge of the group's discussions who said other members of the strongly conservative existing caucus met the news with "fury."
"The hatefulness of this statement is only surpassed by its ignorance of American history and values," Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said, posting a copy of the Punchbowl News report that said the new group would promote "Anglo-Saxon political traditions" and that it would return to a style that would "benefit the progeny of European architecture.
Buck's spokesperson, Lindsey Curnutte told Forbes the lawmaker had no plans to join the now-scrapped new caucus.
Several other Freedom Caucus members that Punchbowl had initially reported had agreed to join the new caucus, including Reps. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and Barry Moore, R-Ala., told Forbes they hadn't yet decided to join the group.
Democrats also widely panned the America First Caucus announcement, with Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif, commenting that the supporters should "take your nativist crap and shove it" and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., tweeting that the plans were "blatantly racist."
"As an immigrant, I served on active duty in the US military to defend your right to say stupid stuff," Lieu said. "What makes America great is that we don’t judge you based on bloodline, we look at your character."
Read Newsmax: Newsmax - Breaking News | News Videos | Politics, Health, Finance
Urgent: Do you approve of Pres. Trump’s job performance? Vote Here Now!
Mr. Broke-It Biden admitted there is a crisis at the Southern Border.
Three months after an insurrection at the US Capitol, an estimated 50 million Republicans still believe the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, according to a recent national survey. But it’s far from clear how many Americans might still be willing to take violent action in support of that belief.
Early research on the continued risk of violence related to Trump’s “big lie” has produced a wide variety of findings. One political scientist at the University of Chicago estimated, based on a single national survey in March, that the current size of an ongoing “insurrectionist movement” in the US might be as large as 4% of American adults, or about 10 million people.
Other experts on political violence cautioned that survey results about what Americans believe provide virtually no insight on how many of them will ever act on those beliefs. Researchers who have interviewed some of Trump’s most loyal supporters over the past months say that many of them appear to be cooling down – still believing the election was stolen, but not eager to do much about it. The handful of attempts by far-right extremist groups to mobilize nationwide protests after 6 January have mostly fizzled.
Related: Why aren't we calling the Capitol attack an act of treason?
“Lots of people talk the talk, but very few walk the walk,” Michael Jensen, a senior researcher who specializes in radicalization at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (Start), told the Guardian. “Only a tiny fraction of the people who adhere to radical views will act on them.”
More than 800 people from a crowd of more than 10,000 are estimated to have breached the Capitol building, the acting Capitol police chief said in February. Nearly 400 of them are now facing charges.
Extremism experts have called the 6 January attack an example of “mass radicalization”, with a majority of people charged in the incident having no affiliation with existing extremist groups, according to early analyses. More than half of the people charged in the insurrection appeared to have planned their participation alone, not even coordinating with family members or close friends, according to one analysis. Nearly half were business owners or had white-collar jobs, and very few were unemployed, a sharp contrast with the profiles of some previous violent rightwing extremists.
Today Trump’s relative silence and the gradual return to more normal life as more Americans have been vaccinated, have created very different conditions than in the days and weeks before 6 January.
“The charismatic leader has been silenced for the most part. He might find his way back into the public spotlight, but as of right now, he’s been effectively muted,” Jensen said.
“We were in a really unique situation with the pandemic, and the lockdowns, and people being isolated and fearful. You had a vulnerable population,” he added. Today, “people are getting back to their lives.”
The ‘cooling out’
In the aftermath of the Capitol attack, a large majority of Americans condemned the rioters and said they should be prosecuted.
But research in the past months has also shown that many Republican voters are still loyal to Trump and receptive to lies from him and other Republican politicians about the 2020 election and the insurrection that followed.
A March survey from Reuters/Ipsos found that more than half of Republicans endorsed a false claim that the attack was “led by violent leftwing protesters trying to make Trump look bad”, and also said they believed that the people who gathered at the Capitol “were mostly peaceful, law-abiding Americans”.
Six in 10 Republicans in that survey also said they believed “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.” That percentage of the sample would correspond with roughly 50 to 55 million Americans, Chris Jackson, the Ipsos senior vice-president for public affairs, told the Guardian.
In mid-March, researchers at the University of Chicago attempted to home in on the percentage of Americans who still believed in Trump’s “big lie,” and who also may be willing to act violently as a result, using a nationally representative sample of a thousand American adults.
Low IQ truthers!
Alex Jones joins Owen Shroyer and the Infowars crew on the southern border in McAllen, Texas to reveal more pieces of the illegal immigration pipeline from South and Central America through Mexico into the United States, including secret flights out of a private airport, hidden holding centers for illegal immigrants, and much more.
He was right from day one.
That Russia placed "bounties” on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was one of the most-discussed and consequential news stories of 2020. It was also, as it turns out, one of the most baseless — as the intelligence agencies who spread it through their media spokespeople now admit, largely because the tale has fulfilled and outlived its purpose.
The saga began on June 26, 2020, when The New York Times announced that unnamed “American intelligence officials” have concluded that “a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops.” The paper called it “a significant and provocative escalation” by Russia. Though no evidence was ever presented to support the CIA's claims — neither in that original story nor in any reporting since — most U.S. media outlets blindly believed it and spent weeks if not longer treating it as proven, highly significant truth. Leading politicians from both parties similarly used this emotional storyline to advance multiple agendas.
The story appeared — coincidentally or otherwise — just weeks after President Trump announced his plan to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2020. Pro-war members of Congress from both parties and liberal hawks in corporate media spent weeks weaponizing this story to accuse Trump of appeasing Putin by leaving Afghanistan and being too scared to punish the Kremlin. Cable outlets and the op-ed pages of The New York Times and Washington Post endlessly discussed the grave implications of this Russian treachery and debated which severe retaliation was needed. “This is as bad as it gets,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Then-candidate Joe Biden said Trump's refusal to punish Russia and his casting doubt on the truth of the story was more proof that Trump's “entire presidency has been a gift to Putin,” while Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) demanded that, in response, the U.S. put Russians and Afghans “in body bags.”
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What was missing from this media orgy of indignation and militaristic demands for retaliation was an iota of questioning of whether the story was, in fact, true. All they had was an anonymous leak from “intelligence officials” — which The New York Times on Thursday admitted came from the CIA — but that was all they needed. That is because the vast majority of the corporate sector of the press lives under one overarching rule:
When the CIA or related security state agencies tell American journalists to believe something, we obey unquestioningly, and as a result, whatever assertions are spread by these agencies, no matter how bereft of evidence or shielded by accountability-free anonymity, they instantly transform, in our government-worshipping worldview, into a proven fact — gospel — never to be questioned but only affirmed and then repeated and spread as far and wide as possible.
That has been the dynamic driving the relationship between the corporate press and the CIA for decades, throughout the Cold War and then into the post-9/11 War on Terror and invasion of Iraq. But it has become so much more extreme in the Trump era. As the CIA became one of the leading anti-Trump #Resistance factions — a key player in domestic politics to subvert the presidency of the 45th President regarded by media figures as a Hitler-type menace — the bond between the corporate press and the intelligence community deepened more than ever. It is not an exaggeration to call it a merger: so much so that a parade of former security state officials from the CIA, NSA, FBI, DHS and others was hired by these news outlets to deliver the news. The partnership was no longer clandestine but official, out in the open, and proud.
Immigration is the defining asset of the United States.
Effective border management starts well beyond the border, so we must work with our neighbors to help them build freedom and opportunity so their citizens can thrive at home. We cannot rely on enforcement alone to prevent the untenable and so often heartbreaking scenes that come with large-scale migration.
We also need a modernized asylum system that provides humanitarian support and appropriate legal channels for refugees to pursue their cases in a timely manner. The rules for asylum should be reformed by Congress to guard against unmerited entry and reserve that vital status for its intended recipients.
Increased legal immigration, focused on employment and skills, is also a choice that both parties should be able to get behind. The United States is better off when talented people bring their ideas and aspirations here. We could also improve our temporary entry program, so that seasonal and other short-term jobs can more readily be filled by guest workers who help our economy, support their families and then return home.
As for the millions of undocumented men and women currently living in the United States, a grant of amnesty would be fundamentally unfair to those who came legally or are still waiting their turn to become citizens. But undocumented immigrants should be brought out of the shadows through a gradual process in which legal residency and citizenship must be earned, as for anyone else applying for the privilege. Requirements should include proof of work history, payment of a fine and back taxes, English proficiency and knowledge of U.S. history and civics, and a clean background check. We should never forget that the desire to live in the United States — a worldwide and as powerful an aspiration as ever — is an affirmation of our country and what we stand for. Over the years, our instincts have always tended toward fairness and generosity. The reward has been generations of grateful, hard-working, self-reliant, patriotic Americans who came here by choice.
If we trust those instincts in the current debate, then bipartisan reform is possible. And we will again see immigration for what it is: not a problem and source of discord, but a great and defining asset of the United States.
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