Is insanity the new normal? We hope not, but we're starting to have serious concerns. No sooner do authorities collect a Trump-obsessed bomb maker than the story is blasted out of the spotlight by another hate-filled maniac who went on a killing spree in a quiet Jewish synagogue, leaving 11 dead and more wounded. This is tragic and unacceptable craziness.
Following hard on their heels, legions of "news" people and social media gadflies are weighing in on whether Trump's "rhetoric of violence" (which mostly seems to be an unfortunate appreciation of rough-housing and fist fights) caused one or both of the incidents cited above. Spoiler alert: no, it didn't - except to the extent that the mentally unstable can get inspiration from almost anyone or anything before acting out. Do we know for a fact that neither of the crazed individuals was inspired to action by Hillary Clinton's impassioned call to treat your political enemies with "incivility" when they "want to destroy everything you stand for?"
We'll happily concede a scintilla of nuttiness in Trump, but considering the fact that the Obama administration wrapped a thick fog of insanity around every aspect of government (thus normalizing it), and Hillary "Guilty of Literally Everything" Clinton was set to continue our straightjacketed march into Hades, conservatives' only "rational" choice in 2016 was to choose Clinton's irrational opponent. The fact that he's still been spectacularly successful only underscores that we're not in Kansas anymore.
News people and politicians regularly demonize their opponents now in more-or-less Biblical terms, and preach that if you're not against the "evil" and actively fighting it ("Get in their faces! Let them know they're not welcome anywhere!"), then you're evil yourself and damned to political perdition. Unless you do penance by repeating (or acting upon) slogans like "Punch the Nazis" and"Kill White People."
Is anyone sane on college campuses these days? Conservative speakers are physically attacked, fires are started, and windows smashed. Minority students falsify racist attacks by scrawling graffiti and hanging nooses. "Safe spaces" are needed for students to recover after experiencing "micro aggressions" like, presumably, gnat farts. And a recent study suggested that as many as 26% of all college students may now be experiencing PTSD symptoms left over from their candidate losing in 2016. Snowflakes, indeed.
And while we hate to say it, we've recently seen a disturbing amount of craziness offered up by people who are good friends, as they cite wild conspiracy theories denying the obvious realities surrounding both the pipe bombs and the steroid-fueled whacko living in a van which looked like a Trump parade float. "He's too stereotypical to be real," "His window stickers don't look faded enough," "Anonymous Internet sources say he was a Democrat right up until the day this happened," "How did he drive all those bombs to the mailboxes in one day," and on and on.
With love in our hearts, we encourage anyone with this mindset to take a deep cleansing breath, think of the mantra "Sh*t Happens" on your exhale, then rejoin the less dramatic world of the marginally sane.
Yes, there are real conspiracies (the whole Mueller Russian investigation is a fine example), but it's a bad idea to develop an entire cosmology based on the idea that nothing that we see is real, and nefarious puppet-masters like the Bilderbergs, Zionist Jews, Globalists, or the Illuminati are constantly pulling the invisible strings running from the 9/11 attacks to Sandy Hook to the crowded secret cemetery in Arkansas that holds the bodies of Clinton murder victims.
More than any time in living memory, we are being bombarded by nuttiness, conspiracies, and calls to violence. We are pressured around the clock to replace reasoned discourse with emotional actions. It is a contagious fever - and an exceedingly dangerous one.
For all of this, we have no answers. But we can at least point out that somehow all of this madness must end - and soon - if the American experiment is to outlive us all. Until then, "be sane" and encourage sanity in others.
31 comments:
Standing O!
You can cower in fear, or you can point and laugh. Personally, I prefer pointing and laughing... ;-)
“I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it."
Also, evil exists and it is up to each of us to be on guard against it. Armor of God and all that.
Cospiracy theories abound because the MSM is so left biased that no stories they cover can be believed verbatim.
Utah man sends suspected Ricin to Whitehouse and Pentagon...nothing to see hear, move along. Don't even care what his name is.
Trump supporter sends fake pvc pipe bombs to top Democrats...oh my God! It is the end of the world! We must run this story 24/7 and know everything there is to know about this evil man Cesar Sayoc!!!
Trump hating self proclaimed Nazi murders 11 people in cold blood...Don't care about this guy or his motive either. Let's just call it Trump's fault for his hate filled rhetoric and quickly move on to some other story.
Democrats in Congress and on America's coasts are experiencing an existential crisis. Hysteria runs rampant. We're two years in and counting. Desperation has set in. Maxine Waters encourages violence. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker imagine themselves as frontrunners in 2020. Hillary Clinton claims that civility is not merited, and Elizabeth Warren checked her DNA.
These folks assumed since 2008 that their side had won, permanently. They assumed that the Republican Party is dead. They assumed that no one except "crazies" would oppose the progressive agenda. The bitter clingers and deplorables were supposed to lose. Everyone to the right of progressives was assumed to be radical, Alt-Insane, pure scum, and worthy of public scorn. Hence their mania.
Then a miracle happened. Against the alleged inevitable tide of history, America got "woke." It wasn't that America was there for Trump. It was that Trump was there for America.
Elections have consequences. 2010. 2012. 2014. Landslide victories for Republicans at both the state and congressional levels. Then came Trump. Accidental? No. It was a red wave of monumental significance...except to Democrats in Congress and on the coasts. They weren't worried by any of it. After all, they had Hillary warming up in the bullpen. And open borders...with illegal aliens being bused to many key voting districts around the U.S. Motor voter laws in effect, or coming into effect. Don't think this strategy was a last-minute ploy. Plans were made in advance. Plus verbal agreements were in place for a climate accord in Paris, a nuclear deal with Iran, and a trade deal in the Pacific.
MAGA
The Democrats Must Be Defeated
The Democratic Party has turned into a crazed, howling mob. It is degrading our public life to a degree that has not been seen since they seceded in 1861.
The Democrats are trying to bully their way back into power through mob actions of various kinds. What you think of the Republicans is pretty much irrelevant. The Democrats’ bullying tactics must not be allowed to succeed. The republic depends on it.
How about we all just pick a date and time, stop what we're doing, and pray for a full minute? If we all do it at the same time the power of prayer will increase to the tenth power. That's my suggestion but I'm still going to stay locked and loaded.
What I pray is that the Mobocrats do NOT take the house or senate.
AMEN...
One of the best descriptions of our political times I have read in some time
Just vote, baby, and then let go and let God.
The President has said he will go to Pittsburgh to pay his respects and sadly, I suspect his visit will bring out the neo-fascists (aka anitfa) and 'resistance' loonies, who will do their best to disrupt and mar the occasion.
I have found it refreshing for this President to pull no punches when he speaks but there's a quote from today's WSJ that I believe is where all need to move forward
"We are all responsible for our rhetoric, and that includes Mr. Trump, as well as Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder."
The voice of reason! I wish I could memorize this and just recite it when confronted with political idiocy. Thanks once again.
I don't think there were too many "insane" people in Le Kwan Yew's Singapore. Step out of line a few millimeters, and you got the crap kicked out of you.
America tends to shrug look the other way.
O/T - Stilt, you had talked the other day about a 'micro-wave' emitter to repel / disperse crowds... this might be what you were thinking of? Appears to have been successfully tested in prototype some time ago, not sure where it's at currently - but several of them might come in VERY handy!
https://youtu.be/IHdNLclmkpc
It boggles the mind that let people be what they want will be willfully destroyed by these same people. These nitwits do not realize or maybe they do that if the United States is destroyed, the whole world will be worse than in the dark ages. First they destroy the structure, then the history, then the books and knowledge. That is the legacy they want to leave for their own children and grandchildren to cope with. If those AHs had read about what the Russian revolution did to that country, maybe they would have a second thought. But one must have a brain to have a thought.
There is only one party that encourages violence against all of a different political persuasion. The day will come when the other party will say, "No More." When that day arrives, they would welcome the Wrath of God rather than suffer the wrath of the persecuted.
@Section147- Thanks, although the appropriate response might be a head shaking "Oh, my..."
@M. Mitchell Marmel- I agree; the abject fear thing isn't really an option.
@Matthew White- I'm not religious, but we're definitely on the same page here.
@Geoff King- You make an excellent point. To some extent, conspiracy theories are the natural byproduct of "news" organizations which can no longer be trusted. We all want to make sense of the world, and it's getting harder to do. And as I mentioned, some conspiracies are real - though I'm skeptical of any which would rely on a large group of people all keeping quiet.
@Anonymous- I don't find fault with anything you're suggesting here. Well said.
@James Daily- I don't disagree with your assessment of the potential consequences, but I think that the Left is primarily making noises about violent action to rev up their voters, rather than intending actual violence in the streets. That being said, words have consequences and nuts don't need much motivation to go off the rails. And the Left has a lot of nuts.
@Anonymous- I fully agree, although I think there are ways to respond that don't involve violence (note: I don't consider antifa activists being actively apprehended (including if they're tasered or pepper-sprayed if necessary) by legal authorities as violence).
@Fred Ciampi- As I mentioned above, I'm not religious. But if such a "minute of prayer" is declared, I'll add my voice.
@TrickyRicky- I'm really afraid of what the midterms may bring around. For one thing, if the Dems take the House I think the stock market will take a dive...and my retirement account has already been taking it up the Hershey Highway over the last couple of weeks.
@Gaylasm7- Thanks
@Peter Kreutzfeldt- Very kind of you to say. I felt like today's entry was more of a "ramble" than a focused editorial, but it seems I got my message across.
@zregime- That's a better plan than most.
@Fish Out of Water- A great quote from the ever-great WSJ. The politicians, just like everyone else, ARE responsible for their rhetoric. Both sides offend, but the Dems offend more.
@Susan Fineman- Thank you. It would be my hope that anyone who read and thought about my little editorial would decide to calm down and try to find some common ground, somehow, with the other side. We are not enemies, though we're being told so often that we are that a lot of people have come to believe it.
@Alej- I'm not really in favor of kicking the crap out of people, but I can't deny that it has an appealing efficacy.
@Pete (Detroit)- Yep, that's the device I was thinking of. I saw it demonstrated on a reporter (voluntarily) who confirmed that people are NOT going to be able to resist the effects of such a device. Granted, people might try wrapping themselves head to toe in aluminum foil, but it's hard to picture that working out well for them in a confrontation.
I think insanity has been the "new normal" for quite some time now. The notion by many that either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders was viable Presidential material was proof enough of that.
Of course, the beauty of being on the side of insanity is that your arguments don't need to make any logical sense whatsoever. Today, the President who has Jews in his family and actually moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is considered an anti-Semite. Meanwhile, I see that Keith Ellison is still #2 at the DNC regardless of his #MeToo issues and connections to Louis Farrakhan, and that Louis Farrakhan himself still has his Twitter account.
This morning, I noted the media's "have you stopped beating your wife" arguments against Trump. Or more specifically, calls for Trump to abandon "white nationalism". Because, as we know, thanks to "intersectionality", absolutely anything that is contrary to any aspect of the Progressive agenda can be considered "white nationalism", or "racism", or "sexism", or "homophobia", "anti-environment", "anti-puppies", etc, etc.
Interesting aside: As I've long argued, we only get coordinated cries for "gun control" when both a perpetrator and their victims are properly aligned with the Progressive narrative; which typically means "nominally conservative white male" versus any members of a Progressively-favored identity group.
So you'd think that a white Nazi taking out a synagogue would be perfect for the narrative. And yet, so far, even though the shooter used the public enemy #1 weapon, the expected Progressive response towards guns has been relatively muted. The anger has been almost totally directed towards Trump.
Why? It's true that Jews today aren't even on the Progressive Values Totem Pole, but Progressives do still like to use them when it suits the agenda.
I think it's because Democrats know that "gun control" is a total loser going into next week's elections. (In fact, in many states, you still can't get elected even as a Democrat without professing that you're for gun rights, even though nobody believes it)
So it's my prediction that we won't be seeing the usual "ban assault weapons" crusade until well after next Tuesday when it becomes safe to do so again. Until then, they'll just focus on their white supremacist Trump straw man.
Using the logic of the left, Jodie Foster is responsible for the attack on Pres. Reagan!
Cool! Finally had a post of mine banned on FaceBook for not being "up to community standards".
I actually had the audacity to state "besides the rare hermaphrodite, there really are only two genders".
I feel so relevant and controversial now!
Armed Father Stops Shooter at Birmingham McDonalds
https://www.yahoo.com/news/armed-father-stops-shooter-birmingham-125837708.html
We must show up in large numbers on the day and vote our convictions. No excuses.
Is it true that 3 LEOs were killed during the rampage at the synagogue? Is it also true that the perp was taken into custody? In my world, 3 of mine dead means one of theirs becomes shot dead at least 3 times. WTF?
At one point, Wasi Mohamed, executive director of the Islamic Institute of Pittsburgh, took the stage. With tears in his eyes, he announced that the local Muslim community had raised over $70,000 for the victims and their families. The crowd responded with a standing ovation.
11 killed, worshippers 51-96 yo...4 LEO wounded, 2 civilians.
Trump hating shooter wounded and in custody, Prez wants death penalty.
Me too!
Conversation in the back room at MSNBC:
.What you got for me?
.White Neo Nazi murders 11 jews.
.I like it, I like it!
.With an AR-15.
.Good, good. We can throw in the gun control angle.
.Says he hates Trump and wouldn't even touch a MAGA hat.
.Damn. let's lead with the old Beverly Hillbillies mansion for sale at $245 million.
@Geoff King
Yep. That sounds about right.
"Be sane and encourage sanity in others" would seem to be a trivial task, but now is an exceedingly insane time. It has become exhausting, and it's all I can do to keep the insanitizing rage at bay. As a form of therapy, I obsessively clean my arsenal of military-style assault Nerf rifles and stockpile water balloon hand grenades for the day when I may finally don my big red ball nose, red wig and storm-trooper floppy footwear... and when my clown car comes crashing through the progressive circus barriers with foam darts blazing will they finally know they've gone too far 'this time'.
The best approach, of course, is to go out in the street. The vast majority of the nation is at peace, with the citizenry going about its business, sparing the occasional chuckle or frown at the antics of the few...
@M.Mitchell. Ditto. Last night we took the convertible out with the top down. July and August were unusually wet for our part of Oklahoma and the trees are showing it. Our friends and neighbors were out in the parks and rec areas. It was a relaxing counterpoint to all the nuttiness we see and hear about.
A Canadian perspective:
https://canadafreepress.com/article/no-such-thing-as-a-maga-bomber-or-his-trusty-trumpmobile#.W9hGb8rEC3A.facebook
Geoff King, straight from the article:
"Truth is that there is no such thing as a MAGA bomber, only a would-be bomber, who in spite of all the media hype that surrounds him, never managed to hurt even a single fly."
Stilt may disagree but I'm not buying any of it either. Read plenty of stories of suckers (would be terrorists) that might have wanted to cause such a scene yet didn't have the proper tools at their disposal, who were "aided" by some "shady characters" that were actually working for the US gov't.
Basically lured to entrapment.
I think he's just a used dummy load.
No one calls Bower by his political pseudonym... the "Never-Trumper" mass murderer.
How cum?
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