I’d like to make a joke about how maybe the Russians did it, but I can’t quite find the words. The situation we’ve come to is simply too awful for joking, and I’m afraid any comment, however wryly intended, would be subject to misinterpretation.
Trump’s response to this bombing was unprecedented, and went straight to dehumanising and blaming Clinton and the Democrats, by name. He avoided the usual ‘let’s wait and see, and not inflame an already serious situation’, in favour of leaping to ‘let’s inflame this as much as possible’.
But then, this is the same candidate who skipped any ‘thoughts and prayers’, or even any consideration for the victims at all, after the Orlando tragedy, to take the chance to pause and admire his own brilliance :smack:
And nobody even says anything about the militant wing of fanatic libertarians. With a bombastic, charismatic, larger-than-lifelike leader like Johnson…
I dunno if the perpetrator(s) were thinking about this, but North Carolina is actually pretty important this election, not because of the presidential race, but for the Senate seat. According to 538 (North Carolina | 2016 Senate Forecast | FiveThirtyEight), current polling has the Democrat behind by only 0.7% of the vote, and the overall trend is in her favor - one way or the other, it’s going to be very close, and control of the Senate could plausible hang in the balance.
It will be interesting to see if this act of terrorism has a visible effect on that race.
The candidates (unlike certain orange fascists) have each managed to tweet their condemnation of the attack without blaming it on their opponent, so that’s nice:
[QUOTE=Deborah Ross (D)]
We must all condemn the attack on the Republican HQ in Orange County. Violence has no place in our discourse.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Richard Burr (R)]
There’s no place for this type of targeted violence. Grateful no one was injured.
[/QUOTE]
If the flammable accelerant turns out to be organic canola oil, it was the Greens.
At least one Trump supporter tweeted in response to Hillary’s attack on the bombing, “Then why did you order it?”
What are you talking about?
Same here. When they catch who did it, that’s when I’ll know one side, the other, or neither, did it. Until then, I’m drawing no conclusions.
I started a Pit thread for this … it just seemed like a pittable offense, although on review I mostly avoided pittable language.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=807617
As I mentioned over in that thread - there’s a gofundme page for donating to the rebuilding effort. I won’t link it but a search for “gofundme firebomb” will point you to it.
I honestly think America might never recover from Donald Trump.
Agreed but I fear this may not be the last such incident. This election cycle has polarized the general public and no matter how it all turns out we could be in for years of ugliness from extremists on both sides.
Also, because I’m too tired to read the whole thread - I want to say that the violence didn’t start with this appalling act, as the thread title claims.
I’m not sure this incident warrants a Pit thread - it can be discussed in a civil manner with appropriate condemnation.
Yeah, you’re probably right. Still, it’s there, I guess, if anyone wants to relieve themself.
I think you mean “Black bloc” anarchists. Speaking as a “black flag” anarchist myself…
Wow, you people are tense.
Care to tell us what you mean by this? Sorry if our failure to enjoy a relaxed, meditative calm over this perturbed you somehow.
McVeigh & Nichols were liberals? Who knew…
Possibly if you just tot up number of incidents, the Left might outstrip the Right. But outright total violence, sorry, nope, not buying it. Hunt down your thread and prove it.
Oh that’s right. To the ultra-statist being staunchly anti-violence is as “repellant” as enouraging violence.
In the real world, things are not as compartmentalized as you seem to suggest. The distinction between foreign policy and domestic policy is a semantic one. When an organization like the state supports and funds chaos around the world and claims moral superiority for doing so, many confused individuals begin to see violence as a justifiable means to accomplish their goals. Of course the state thrives on this and often gains more power as a result of the chaos it manifests.
Oh but nevermind the Queen of Chaos and her killings, this is Trump’s fault because he says mean words.
This is excellent.
With Mr. Dibble’s correction (sorry, Dibble, that was totally a brain fart on my part), there’s an important distinction here. Most anarchists I’ve known are as you describe them. Black bloc (not flag) anarchists are different: they tend to like to stir shit up through low-level crime like vandalism. Couple of years ago some black bloc anarchists came to my town, threw some bricks through store windows, vandalized some newspaper machines, made a general awfulness of downtown, all to celebrate May Day. The local anarchists, many of whom I consider friends, were irate.
Oh for fuck’s sake.