Brilliantly, sadly observed

[Mark Kohut]

Is ISIS an existential global threat, in your mind. And what is to be
done if it is?

On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 10:57 AM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
> Calling people knuckle draggers may have some accuracy and offer some comic release, but are our problems really coming from the semi-literate? Is  the US Military and our campaigns of mass obliteration and drone warfare in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Isis controlled regions the product of semi-literacy or even the Republicans? The votes and financing came from both parties, many lawyers, many newspeople. My feeling is that Trump is just like Netanyahu, a shrewd public power broker who knows fear and war are the ultimate political drug, and voices openly the xenopobic hate mongering that produced the blowback.
>   Many educated people are as addicted to denial and military violence and the racism of neglect as the more obviously ignorant followers of Trump and Cruz.. The Paris attacks have produced an ugly willingness to keep bombing regardless of how man regional civilians die, and that willingness goes across the political spectrum.
>
>> On Nov 24, 2015, at 8:09 PM, David Kilroy <thesaintgodard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> "It's clear now that the Paris attacks enormously energized the Trumpist movement. He's now speculating openly about invading Syria. Trump's proposals have gone from overt prejudice to things literally taken out of late Weimar history — closure of mosques and a national Muslim database. The rank-and-file have both fed off and stoked this behavior. When a lone protester started chanting "black lives matter" at a Trump rally, Trumpists jumped him (he was luckily not badly injured). Trump later said, "Maybe he should have been roughed up." Hours later he lied about witnessing Muslim crowds celebrating 9/11, and retweeted nonsense racist garbage from a literal neo-Nazi."
>>
>> http://theweek.com/articles/590497/donald-trumps-alarming-skid-toward-outright-fascism
>>
>> After decades of being allowed to stockpile arms with increasingly little federal interference, a general escalation in the violent rhetoric of the right, and shrill sponsorship from the NRA, semiliterate knuckle-draggers are only too eager to start a race / "religious" war in the U.S., and the candidates, allowed to start their noisome campaigns two years in advance of an actual election, are only egging them on.
>>
>> I live in a state where black churches were burned, in a city with clear color lines.  I'm not afraid of black people.  I'm afraid of shitheads teething for glory.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 7:37 PM, David Kilroy <thesaintgodard at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Apologies for harping on this point.  Know that I do.  But it frankly terrifies me.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 7:17 PM, David Kilroy <thesaintgodard at gmail.com> wrote:
>> (shades of Lot 49, too: recall the swastika armbands)
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 7:16 PM, David Kilroy <thesaintgodard at gmail.com> wrote:
>> The tech sector's too "What, me worry?" about the problem.
>>
>> Anonymity in comments threads, Craigslist, 4chan, Reddit et al permit open promulgation of hate speech.  Most sites, when confronted about the problem, cite free speech as a concern when the fact is they don't want to face the added hassle of verifying accounts and making people responsible for their words.
>>
>> There's a massive network of these shitheads armed for a race riot and no-one seems to want to stop them.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 5:05 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks a lot for this, Mark. Reading it now, and I agree with you. Very smart and sadder for it.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 2:45 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Charlie Pierce on the Powder Keg that is the United States of America
>> right now http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a39987/america-race-powderkeg/
>> …
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