Republicans and Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Mace, are canceling events and taking other security precautions.
The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is sending shock waves through Capitol Hill, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressing fears for their own safety and taking greater security precautions following a summer of political violence.
Members are beefing up their security, moving public events indoors or canceling them altogether. One is even vowing to carry firearms.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the progressive star who has faced numerous death threats over the years, said Thursday she had postponed two public events planned for this weekend in North Carolina, including a rally in Raleigh set for Sunday.
Oh did a bunch of “gods among men” get reminded they’re just voted in mortals? How tragic.
… if there would have been a policy where elected officials would get regularly executed by an established design (eg if a referendum would show that, or like an impeachment mechanic, or end of term public review of their work, etc) I bet policies would have been run/voted on/executed differently.
Such executions would be low stake for the country, but direct accountability for elected public servants.
(I’m not advocating for such a system, just a random discussion ide,a or a writing prompt.)
Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives.
Both sides
Both sides
So sad you have to say that because most people are so dumb they think billionaires are plebs like us picking sides instead of playing both.
AOC is fearing retaliation, justifiably so given her colleagues. Just about anyone else? good. honestly a bit of fear of the masses might do good
Only in America do they consider shooting their elected representatives before electing different ones /s
America is a weird dichotomy, where congressional approval ratings as a whole are in the toilet… But approval ratings among individual representatives with their constituents is fairly high. Generally speaking, people like their own representatives, even though they dislike congress as a whole. Basically, every single person is going “it’s all the other voters’ fault that congress is so broken.”
If AOC was getting a death threat, it statistically wasn’t from someone in her own district, because her constituents like her.
It’s just strange to me that the basis of all of it is that Kirk didn’t believe people should be treated equally, nor have equal rights, and that people should be persecuted for being different.
And A LOT of people think that him going on school campuses and trying to convince as many young people as he could of that was proper.
Members of Congress fear for their safety after Charlie Kirk assassination
Good.
The people shouldn’t be afraid of their government.
The government should be afraid of the people.
They should be afraid of the people, but not of individuals with guns or money to hire contract killers.
Kirk’s death was a public assassination. There are many easier for ways someone can kill an unsuspecting target. The way the killer escaped makes it likely they where professional or otherwise trained, not just crazy. The killer choose a difficult and public way to kill him, meaning it is more then just about killing Krik. It is clearly a message, question is what message and to whom.
They should be afraid of the people, but not of individuals with guns or money to hire contract killers.
No, they should be afraid of that too, just like every other citizen in this country.
Maybe you are scarcastic, but I think nobody should be afraid of their life by getting killed by random people.
I agree! Nobody should be afraid for their life by getting killed by randos. However, 99% of the US population DOES have to fear it, and ~75% of the global population is in fear of being attacked by “some rando” called “The United States of America”.
“Prepare for the world you live in, not the way you think it should be”
If i can guess at their point is:
25% people need fear to stay in line
75% congress needs to feel the same risks as everyday people
“fuck this guy in particular” - to everyone
If AOC is cancelling events it’s because of fear of retaliatory action on the right, but NBC won’t title it in such an honest way.
Also, “one is even vowing to carry firearms” lmao. I’m all for people’s right to bear arms, but it doesn’t protect you individually from an assassin. What, if only Kirk had a pistol on him, he could have whipped it out and shot the other bullet in half before it hit him, like the fucking Matrix?
Had someone tell me they had a problem cuz he wasn’t even able to defend himself. The gymnastics to not blame gun violence when he was literally shot while talking about shootings.
Shot immediately after finishing a sentence in which he spouted racist dog whistle bullshit about the predominant demographics of mass shooters, as he was sitting under an easy-up emblazoned with PROVE ME WRONG.
The marksman:
okay, well, since you asked so nicely…
Genuinely, the comedic timing was jaw-droppingly impeccable.
Not sure if this is official onion or not, but this one hit bullseye.
Ngl the memes about Artery Charlie are just absolute 🔥🔥🔥
It’s always depressing yet eye-opening to hear the opinions of people at the grassroots. The average citizen of America truly is so unfathomably dumb. Even the lower class of the 1700s probably had better critical thinking skills. We might even be setting all time records here.
They were burning witches a couple decades before that.
We probably shouldn’t underestimate the level of dumb that is and always has been a big part of the human race.
Unfortunately the human brain, which consumes a huge portion of body energy, is literally designed to reduce power use when it can.
Most humans will always choose to forgo cognitively demanding tasks.
Not only that. The more someone chooses to rely on heuristics and biases (mental shortcuts that require little to no mental effort) they become accustomed to this and actually lose the ability to think about things with effort.
Now there are personality traits that predispose people to engage or disengage with cognitively demanding tasks. (Curiosity and “need for cognition” being two big ones)
And there are environmental factors (for instance, a family that encourages or discourages discussion on topics).
But ultimately, most humans will not think about something very deeply if they don’t feel the need to (motivation).
Those who do, typically are motivated to side step the energy saver mode that the brain typically reverts to.
Critical thinking is in part, not just the ability to follow cause and effect paths and predict likelihoods of events based on information available, but it is the MOTIVATION to do so.
They are a bit like chicken and the egg. Motivation increases ability. Increase in ability means less effort is required to do critical thinking cause you are skilled at it. (Higher skill equates to less effort needed).
Meaning less motivation is needed to override the energy saving mode default. So the person is more likely to engage in CT even on tasks/decisions most people wouldn’t. Essentially they start to question and investigate everything around them.
Also I am finishing up my PhD in cognitive neuroscience.
This isn’t my area of study (I study perception), but I still have some knowledge of this topic so if anyone has any questions or would like to learn more about this topic, I can send you some wiki links and even some research papers if you want.
It’s something I was interested in as I wondered why I find learning enjoyable but so many others literally hate learning new things. Which to me seems crazy.
But it comes down to mental effort and motivation. Motivation must be strong enough to over ride the body’s need to conserve energy.
There are some arguments, like the “not able to defend himself” one, that are so mindbogglingly stupid that I don’t even know what to say in response.
Which might be their rhetorical purpose.
People have always been this dumb as a whole. We’re apes who decided talking shit to each other is better than throwing shit at each other. If a few dozen of us hadn’t gotten lucky enough to figure out some amazing things over the centuries we’d all still be praying to the god of the hunt to bring back the buffalo herd next season so we don’t starve to death.
There’s a good book called “Not for Profit” came out around 2010 and describes how the systematic erosion of arts/literature, the Humanties, from school systems, is being replaced by bare minimum to train workers. Creating a dumb population that can’t think for themselves, makes it easy for government control with no resistance
School has always been about training us to sit still and not make problems for the boss.
There have been some exceptions through the years, but as a whole US non- college education has been pretty bleak for the whole time.
If throwing shit was socially acceptable I’d definitely choose that over talking.
Not just for assassins. Carrying a gun is negative for your physical safety in general.
I believe you, but can we see the stats behind that statement?
Carrying firearms in public also increases the risk for violence by escalating minor arguments and increasing the chances that a confrontation will become lethal. Research has found that even the mere presence of a firearm increases aggressive thoughts and actions.20
Some believe that carrying a firearm will act as a deterrent and help prevent conflicts or minimize harm. While there are specific examples where this was true, there are many more cases where firearm carrying escalates conflict and leads to firearm injury or death. In aggregate, research shows firearm carrying increases levels of violent crime.21
Thanks
In sociology studies. I learned that the presence of guns increases the chance of protests turning violent. The gun is a threat. Putting people in aggressive states.
This is why when Trump sends his goons to harass protestors, he is literally trying to start riots so his guards can shoot people.
The commenter may provide a link but if you at an overview take a look at Canada vs USA. In Canada you can get your gun license at 12 for using a firearm, and need to be maybe 16 or 18(I forget) to purchase one. But we don’t have a gun culture of carrying in public. Then look at the USA. Not only is everyone gun happy, they actually live in fear. Gun deaths are often from their own gun used on them.
It also gives every gun toter a false sense of security, and Imma be a hero mentality, leading to deaths.That does sound fascinating. I’d imagine stress would play a roll.
And to take up the gun-nuts usual spiel: this time, the people had the good guy with the gun to defend them against Kirk.
Just tell chuck schumer to take over for all her events.
We don’t need that many letters 🤣
I see what you did there 🤣
AOC has had a target on her for years.
They shouldn’t be allowed to feel safe going to work until kids feel safe going to school.
I’d argue they shouldn’t feel safe until they start to defend the constitution
That’s a good line.
Amen!
Should be more concerned with trump throwing dems in a gulag than getting shot.
Trump will use the gun violence to justify such gulag. Democrats are enduring abuse and they are helpless. Something’s gotta crack
They still won’t get what it’s like for LGBT+ people under their terrorist reigime.
Yeah i don’t just fear for myself and my family, I fear for my people. That friends I haven’t seen in years will be struck down and I won’t know until day of remembrance
Duh, empathy isnt real.
Good.
I am not going to shed a single tear for American politicians being scared for their lives.
Exactly, they haven’t worked for “the people” for decades now.
We must spy on everyone at all times, but we know the answers to nothing.
Palantir
*They arent giving away the answers for nothing.
Lol a rally in Raleigh
a ralleigh!
People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments governments should be afraid of their people - V For Vendetta
They are afraid. That’s why all the nonsense, and calling out the National Guard and whatnot.
Ah, suddenly 2A looses it’s appeal?
