We have crossed the rubicon... folks

[nadinbrzezinski]

I was hoping that they'd tone it down... realizing that yes... they too could be in the gun sights.

Instead we have seen an escalation to the point that no, I don't think it can be dialed down. We are at that point some of us have predicted. Things will now slowly escalate... but they will.

Hope to whoever that I am wrong... but this morning was not a small thing, nor an idiot putting foot in mouth... but a hell of an escalation.

That is all.

Politics is about to take a very nasty turn...

[hlthe2b]

1. If Obama is extremely eloquent tonight... (and apolitical)

it could make it at least temporarily more difficult to let loose with the worst invective.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. You wanna bet Rush will not lose one step

and will accuse Obama of the worst tomorrow?

They are committed to war... and at this pont, in some quarters, it is not a war of ideas either. But the real thing.

[DainBramaged]

8. And that's how they play, war, for keeps.

Doesn't look like Kansas anymore......

[hlthe2b]

28. That's a given...

[jeff47]

48. They would attack Obama's speech as political and inappropriate...

...if all he said was "Hello".

[somone]

2. Yep, they're ratcheting it up big time

[defendandprotect]

4. If you're talking about "Blood Libel" ... I agree it was intentional ....

but I've been concerned about the T-BAGGERS being used to create an escalation of

political violence in America -- the right wing need it to continue their rise.

[xchrom]

5. America tolerates an awful lot of this insanity.

Think Oklahoma city.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Yep, that is exactly what is coming

again... among many other things.

[Mike 03]

7. I agree, I have this same feeling.

But I am really losing it, because I am crying and laughing at the same time. I cannot get over Palin's use of "Blood Libel," then I think of that beautiful little brown eyed girl who was killed, and that lovely representative fighting for her life in the AZ district just south of mine.

What do we do?

Hunker down? Hoard food and water?

What is next?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Pay attention to local conditions

and do what you need to do to protect yourself.

What you do next depends on your LOCALITY.

[Mike 03]

11. Do you believe we should arm ourselves?

This is a big deal in my family. Half of us think it's intelligent, half of us don't agree. I want to be intelligent about this.

What do you think?

Your advice means a lot to me, as I respect you very much.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. This is a personal question

do you think you can bring a weapon to bear and take another life?

If you don't... then don't go down that route.

[Mike 03]

14. Thank you.

My gut feeling is that buying a gun is not for me, at least yet.

If it comes to that, I am not sure I want to live anyway.

[tom_paine]

33. Hi Mike. Long time no see. Perhaps buy a Taser or some nice Pepper Spray

Ultimately, it's very unlikely that any kind of shit is going to happen any time soon. Even as theyratchet up, the RW Lie Machineis dog-whistling to their Teabagger Minions "Cool it. Let us do our job of rewriting reality, obfuscating the situation, recapturing the neuro-linguistic battlefield, and pissing off the Libs to take them off their game, Deacon Jones style ("slap him in his ear-hole!" - that's an NFL reference, though you probably don't care)

If you're not going to buy a gun, and based on what you are saying I don't think you should get a gun, then buy some pepper spray for some close-in defense. You can use it and be sure you won't kill anyone, but you WILL get an attacker off you if you hit him square in the eyes.

In this ratcheting up sociopolitical climate, which so many "conspiracy theorists" like me have literally been warning for a decade would come (and here it is, sadly, right on schedule), it is probably prudent to make such a purchase as a member of at least one Outgroup, the Liberals.

99.99% chance you'll never need it. But if your personal roulette wheel should somehow fall on the 0.01% bad luck, be it from a RW lunatic or just a garden-variety criminal, you will wish you had it.

NOTE: I am not a paid representative of Sabre nor will I receive any renumeration of any kind for referring you there. Buy anywhere and anything you like or buy not at all.

Based on your recent posts, though, I thought this might make a good compromise.

http://www.sabrered.com/servlet/the-84/KEYCHAIN-PEPPERSPRAY-PRACTICE-COMBO/Detail

[Mike 03]

37. Wow, much appreciated.

Thank you. Where I live, it is probably (hopefully) unlikely I would ever need to use lethal force. Water and food would be much more intelligent concerns.

But I deeply appreciate your advice and post. Thank you very much.

Mike

[Missy Vixen]

45. I'm with the poster who said above "no more political rallies".

We don't put political signs in our yard anymore. We don't discuss politics with anyone we don't already know is a Democrat.

I'm with Nadin. I've also read The Fourth Turning. I think things are going to rapidly devolve over the next few months. Stay safe, everyone.

[Odin2005]

59. Another 4th Turning reader!

:hi:

[lonestarnot]

60. Isn't that the goal? Shut you up?

Not me!

[guruoo]

38. Good advice

[guruoo]

36. It would be wise to at least know how to use one

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. It goes without saying

but the first step is not to learn how to safely use one... but to understand what they do... and decide if you will be able to pull the trigger.

If not... don't even buy one. If you can.. then the mandatory gun safety course is in order.

[guruoo]

43. yes.

[Angry Dragon]

15. If it starts it will spread quickly

People are on edge and it will only take a spark

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Modern civil wars

look more like police actions most of the time...

So we will mostly see FBI and police. If we need to bring down army units... (guard or not is beyond this)... it will enter into the kind of violence that is interesting.

But this is, most likely, given modern patterns... not going to see regular uniformed forces on two sides. But we all need to be aware of local conditions... because we could get trapped in it very easily... and some people will kill others for their views.

[freshwest]

21. Would those include views expressed on the internet?

:hide:

I hope not. I'm leaving some sites as it is.

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. Yes, it very much could

[guruoo]

34. "a different kind of war" nt

[WiffenPoof]

10. Jeeze, I hope you are wrong..... n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

13. I agree, unfortunately. n/t

[The Magistrate]

17. There Will Be More Killing, Ma'am

These people have nowhere else to go; the demographics move inexorably against them, and if their dupes are ever allowed a calm moment to clear their minds they cannot sustain even a semblance of mass support. The economic distress puts a mean edge to everything that is quite conducive to bitter broodings....

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Yes, I suspect more bodies piling up

[Mike 03]

22. Wow, Magistrate, you are someone I have respected for years

and when you sound a warning, I listen.

Thank you for posting on this thread.

[tom_paine]

46. Ditto, Magistrate - you are usually the voice of calm conventional wisdom

Welcome to the bandwagon of Crazy Conspiracy Theorists, you drama queen nutball!

:evilgrin:

I have to say, I never thought I'd see the day, mostly because of the sad truth which would signal my worst-case scenarios, which I have been warning of from almost Day 1 in March 2001 when I arrived here at DU, are coming.

In 2000, I projected we'd have 30 years, maybe 50 in the most wildly optimistic scenarios, maybe 20 in the worst-case scenarios.

Now it's down to 10-20 years with an outside shot at 40 left until we get to Wherever the hell these RW Crazies and their Aristocratic Masters are taking us. And everything is unfolding right on target as I have been warning (and so many others have been warning unheeded to Charles the Sensible Woodchuck).

Now...even the sober level-headed Magistrate is talking doomer conspiracy theories, except they aren't conspiracy theories because late Weimar is unfolding before our eyes.

Bad news. Dark RW Authoritarian clouds on the horizon.

[freshwest]

25. I agree. Just like JFK's death wasn't the end of assassinations.

[tom_paine]

47. Message #46 is to you, Magistrate. I posted it to the wrong reply.

n/t

[kestrel91316]

18. I am very glad about one thing right now: the teabaggers are vastly outnumbered

in my very liberal community. My big concern is places where they are a significant influence.

[nc4bo]

29. One of the reasons why I told hubby to ditch his Obama knit hat......

We are in tea bag central - we have Renee Elmers here.

Lots and lots and lots of guns, hot heads, taxes and bills need payin', thin Christmas and not many jobs even in being close to Fort Bragg, it's dog eat dog. Road rage is crazy here, people have been leaving groceries at the check out for lack of funds to pay for them and the local grocery store pushes shopping buggies outside the 2nd entry door near dark to control theft.

Many hate the black guy in the WH.

[guruoo]

20. 1/6/11, Townhall Magazine's list of 50

Target list?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x185889

[wiggs]

23. They doubled down after 2008. The RW could have heard the message and returned

to a more moderate stance but instead they went to the crazy right and embraced that. That was the decision point....continue and expand the hate/fear side of american politics or get to the middle and govern. It's obvious what they chose. This concerted response to criticism by Palin et al is a direct extension of that, but certainly there have been signs of 'unprecedented' new vitriol before now. No need to list here.

But as I posted elsewhere, I think that decision is more plainly exposed now than ever before. They've felt threatened enough to pull out all the crazy and push it hard...I hope more folks can see that and see that these dangerous, undemocratic, low political tactics are constructed deliberately to fool the RW's own base...to make sure their decisions are based on misinformation and base emotion. Some (always 25-30%) will not see it...hopefully more in the middle will.

Palin did not make that speech for anyone here on DU. She made it for the 25-30% of the nation who don't care about facts, honesty, logic, history, or right/wrong...she's giving something to them to hang onto, again: hate, fear, exceptionalism.

Serious business, indeed.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Yes it was a dog whistle from hell

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x182743

[WillyT]

27. Yep... K & R !!!

:evilfrown:

:kick:

[spanone]

30. expose them for what they are

america rarely pays attention, but death gets their attention..and the death of children and old folks really gets their attention.

i believe in general america doesn't like mean. america saw the look on palin's face this am. they heard no sadness no remorse. they heard mean.

[JoePhilly]

31. We on the left need to get focused, stop our infighting, and

recognize that the right wing has gone insane.

Before we can do many of the things we want to do, we have to unite against the endless hate from the far right.

[JNelson6563]

32. Still hoping for anarchy, eh?

Oy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Nah I am not hoping for anything

it is called trends... good bye

[JNelson6563]

52. ah yes....I had forgotten

the "trends!!1!!"

:rofl:

[Kahuna]

57. Somebody still thinks it's the 60s.

:eyes:

[Hannah Bell]

50. +100.

[Imajika]

35. I seriously doubt it...

The tone of the debate is certainly not going to change, but the crime rate in this country is going down and there is no evidence of some major violent escalation.

Politics will be nasty - it has always been and will always will be. Every generation thinks things are more nasty then ever, yet history doesn't indicate such a thing. How soon people forget the Clinton years where a literal industry of Clinton hate merchandise sprung up. The hated for Bush by the time his terms were up was literally everywhere - and not just hate, seething bitter hatred.

My guess, the economy slowly improves, one or both Houses of Congress change hands now and again as they've always done, President Obama is likely easily reelected in 2012, and life goes on.

This is not the end of the world.

So far I think we are, however, missing an opportunity to tackle mental health issues. If something good can come of this it would be getting help to people who need it instead of allowing them to fester with illness and sometimes commit extreme violence when it could have been avoided.

edited for date correction

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. So it is normal speech to use blood libel

and of course don't retreat, reload.

Ok, then...

I expect more violence, no less... of the POLITICAL kind.

[Forkboy]

40. I've been living under the impression that the rubicon was passed long ago.

Humans are a fucked up and deranged species, we should just admit it and work from there. It would save us a lot of time.

[Whisp]

56. maybe she meant rubic's cube?

[hootinholler]

44. Nadin, really, you say that like there's only one rubicon

Think back the right has been crossing rubicons as fast as they are drawn. Unfortunately I fear teh mass violence one will be coming up soon.

-Hoot

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

49. Bah. Indies will gain their senses and the economy will improve.

[fishwax]

51. nah, not yet

Certainly our current moment is troubling in a number of ways, and there are several ways that this could all get worse. But we're not near the rubicon just yet.

[Ikonoklast]

53. Did the nuclear war with North Korea just start?

I must have misssed it.

Is it over already?


I need to start paying more attention to your predictions.

I keep losing track of just when the end of the world is supposed to start.

[The Second Stone]

54. Why would they stop? They got Tiller and

Giffords and if one of their own gets shot they will use it to ramp up even more violence. This is what they said they wanted and it will continue. This is as bad as the 60s for political assassinations.

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Odin2005]

58. I am, frankly, terrified.

[vim876]

61. Seriously.

This would be a really great time for the DU Admins to put up that preparedness forum.

[Initech]

62. Make no mistake - the tea party is the beginning of the end, folks.