‘He was understandably frustrated and distraught by the present and on-going erosions to our constitutionally protected freedoms and the rights of free citizens’
@sparseMatrix
Choosing whom to trust (& listen to) is a moral choice, much more so than a political or philosophical choice.
Fam saying “he would never” are lying or naïve. He pointed a gun @ FBI agents. He would never?! Oh yes he fucking would, because he fucking did.
Rule # 1: Never point a weapon @ anything you don’t intend to destroy.
Repeated regularly by 2A folks.
He chose amoral violence, tragically. A greater tragedy will be if his fam&friends consider him a martyr.
I do not question any of that. My point is, the republican party has been stirring this pot a long time, and as long as the money keeps pouring, they cant be arsed, as the brits say.
It’s got to be stopped at the source. We’re already at the point that guys are like this everywhere. One stands in the foyer of the Kroger just about every afternoon 3 blocks from my house.
Wearing a ball cap with a thin blue line flag, armed to the teeth, in a flag-wrapped t-shirt, glaring at anyone who walks by with a smile their face.
His body language, the sidearm he’s wearing, his clothes - it all screams that if you’re aren’t mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, you must be a fuckin’ democrat.
That is a feature of the republican party. If it isn’t addressed soon, some sort of war will be the only way it gets addressed.
@sparseMatrix
Bingo. That guy is a perfect example of the one big favor that #McTurtle & #IQ45 have done this nation. They made many of these amoral shits bold enough to stand up & be recognized.
Now we know who many of them are. Never trust them. Oppose them @ every opportunity. Tax their churches & their billionaire leaders.
There’s a great Jon Stewart quote that won’t fit here, because 500bytes, so it will be in my next reply…
@sparseMatrix
“You’ve heard it said ‘The arc of the moral universe is long and bends toward justice.’ But it doesn’t bend towards justice by gravity, you have to bend it. And there’s a bunch of people trying to bend it back.”
- - Jon Stewart
He pointed a gun @ FBI agents.
I support the action taken by the FBI here, and I certainly support their use of deadly force on someone who pointed a gun at them. But having lived through the past several years, I’d really like to see a bodycam video which shows this.
Not interested in seeing the man get shot, just want to see a video of him pointing a gun at them. I also acknowledge that I think the FBI seems to have a better record of not lying about their use of force than random police do.
But, I’m still going with (believably) alleged to have pointed a gun at them for now.
Indeed, it’s quite possible that both the guy and the police that shot him were in the wrong. We should never assume that because one group is bad the other group opposing them is good.
@sparseMatrix @FaceDeer @be_excellent_to_each_other
Also fair.
#ACAB …even if sometimes they do the right thing.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
@sparseMatrix @be_excellent_to_each_other
I think that’s fair.
I skimmed thru the linked article, and viewed the 2 photos of the decedent.
Given no further evidence, do I think it is most likely true that he pointed a gun at FBI agents who loudly and repeatedly identified themselves? Yes, I do.
Good enough to hold up in criminal court? No.
Good enough for me, an internet rando-crank to say “Tough shit.”? Yup.
I’ve been proven incorrect before. I’m OK with that.
Given no further evidence, do I think it is most likely true that he pointed a gun at FBI agents who loudly and repeatedly identified themselves? Yes, I do.
Good enough to hold up in criminal court? No.
Good enough for me, an internet rando-crank to say “Tough shit.”? Yup.
I’ve been proven incorrect before. I’m OK with that.
Yep also fair enough. Only being pedantic so as to give the same benefit of doubt I would for someone else, but I generally agree with your assessment.
@sparseMatrix
Other than that bit, I agree with you.
Not that I’m a believer anymore, but the disinformation bit reminds me of the millstone mentioned in Mark 9:42
It’s possible to draw parallels like that everywhere all over the bible; and it’s not because of ‘omg prophesy’
@sparseMatrix
I was @ Wendy’s abt 12y ago. Mostly empty. Dude 10’ away blustering to his daughter about those “Slow… Children At Play” signs/markers people put at the end of their driveway. “They’re illegal! They can’t put up signs the city didn’t put up. I’m gonna run ‘em over!”
His back was to me, so his daughter could see me flip him off. She briefly smirked, but he didn’t see it. I did her a great service that day.
One thing I think is going on is that a lot of people in the western world have been raised to expect Armageddon sometime during their lifetime, and because they feel like they are on the right side they are attempting to accelerate that Armageddon because they think that happiness and Paradise are just on the other side of it.
It’s like being told as soon as you finish this chore you’re going to get a tasty treat. If you really want the treat you’re going to work harder and faster to get the chore done sooner, right?
There’s only one line in the Bible and I don’t remember where it is that cautions people against attempting to accelerate the end of times because they don’t really know what it’s actually going to be like and they’re only leading themselves to their own destruction but just like everything else in the Bible, because every single word is supposed to be important, that warning has just slipped through the cultural cracks.