My BIL likes to reply to that little quote with “Lawnmowers don’t cut grass; people do. But if you want to cut as much grass as quickly as possible with the minimum level of skill: you’re going to need a lawnmower.”
I guess Summer is here?
They’re now reporting 4 people have been shot, the two lawmakers and both of their spouses.
Yep. These are political assassinations.
What’s crazy is that a lot of people on the right are claiming he’s a Democrat. I think they’re getting that from the fact that Walz appointed him to a statewide business development board a few years ago, as did Walz’s Democratic predecessor. But the guy is rabidly anti-abortion and voted for Trump, so . . . not a Democrat. But it’s not stopping MAGA from claiming he’s “another deranged Democrat”.
They always claim shooters are “far left wackos” and such. Which gets lots of press and exposure. When it turns out that they are MAGAt fascists, no one cares or takes note. I saw this coming before anyone made that claim this time. It’s utterly predictable.
It’s (in part) (yet another) complete empathy failure on the Right.
Most people can comprehend concepts like “what if I’m wrong”, or “that person is worthy even if I disagree with them”, or “some of his points are valid”, or “they have a part to play in building a better world”, and people on the far Right seem not to be able to comprehend such things.
A progressive, or even an actual centrist or center rightist, can understand the idea that someone can do a job regardless of their politics. That merit and opinion don’t always coincide.
But on the Far Right, there is no difference. Your political purity is the marker of your fitness. Thus, a Democratic governor might appoint someone to a role because they were the best suited for that role, and whether they have (R) or (D) on their ID is not relevant. But for the fascists, it can mean only one of two things: either the person appointed by the Democrat is actually and really a Far Left Activist and only has (R) on their ID as a false flag, or else they’re a cunning infiltrator of the Deep State and they’ve managed to fool the foolish Democrat fools into trusting them so they can do God’s work and bring down Socialism from the inside.
Which one they are can only be determined ex post facto based on what’s politically convenient. (And can vary depending on context. I have no doubt some MAGAts are quietly high-fiving each other in the back rooms.)
The concept of “good faith” is so utterly alien to them that they can’t parse it at all.
Makes me so damned mad. Like he shot four people and their pets and tried to shoot at least one of their kids. He has a list of over forty targets of political assassination. He cases the homes of his potential victims. He has a manifesto. He is connected to a network of religious extremists. This man absolutely is a terrorist!
This was foiled, fortunately, with only one person being injured other than the shooter…
This detail stuck out:
No one else was hurt in part because a church member ran the attacker over with a truck, said the CrossPointe Community church pastor Bobby Kelly Jr.
The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a truck.