The NRA has been stumping for Greg Abbott pretty hard and heavy. I hear their radio spots at least a few times every day. Beto O’Rourke has an F rating according to the NRA. However, Greg Abbott has been governor for eight years. I’m still not sure why we should vote for him. The only thing he tells us is why we shouldn’t vote for Beto O’Rourke.

Terrorism is defined as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” I don’t know why that word popped into my head just now. It must be one of those random thoughts that have nothing to do with anything.

That same dictionary defines domestic terrorism as “the committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator’s own country against their fellow citizens.” The Patriot Act said that people are engaging in domestic terrorism is they perform an act “dangerous to human life.” So, if we follow this random tangent to it’s logical conclusion we would have to assume that people that participate in mass shooting events are domestic terrorists.

Mind you, I’m not calling the NRA a sponsor of domestic terrorism. I’m simply defining terms. The city of San Francisco has already done that. Many Americans already agree with San Francisco. However, lets walk this through. You have an organization that opposes waiting periods, background checks, and any sort of regulation of semi-automatic weapons, age limits, licensing, or carry restrictions. They support an 18 year old’s right to openly carry an AR-15 whether they have passed a background check or not.

So, there is a sizeable gap between supporting any right to own a firearm and where the NRA currently stands. According to Gallup, as of 2020 only 32 percent of Americans owned a firearm and only 44 percent lived in a household with at least one firearm. However, that is in stark contrast to the number of firearms actually in the United States. So, if there are 1.2 firearms per person, but only 32 percent of people own a firearm then that means that the average gun owner has three or more guns.

Whether the NRA are domestic terrorists, support domestic terrorism, or are indifferent to terrorism is for shock jocks to consider. One could credibly claim that the NRA serves a very small segment of society. After all, even most gun owners are in favor of waiting periods, background checks, and restricting access to certain weapons. Most support age restrictions as well. So, when one earns an F grade from the NRA what exactly does that mean? I’d say it means he is a decent and reasonable human being.

One of the things that has interested me lately is a deep dive on common traits of fascism. For the record, there are twelve of them, but it was two in particular that interest me today. These two things are obviously overwhelmingly in the news, but also have been used to change our perceptions of the world around us. I will list them all just for people to have a good list to go by, but I’ll bold the ones I’m thinking of today.

• Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
• Disdain for human rights
• Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
• Rampant sexism
• Control of mass media
• Obsession with national security
• Religion and government intertwined
• Corporate power protected
• Labor power suppressed
• Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
• Obsession with crime and punishment
• Rampant cronyism and corruption

Some lists also include fraudulent elections and supremacy of the military. I highlighted the two I did because they seem to be in the news a lot lately. Obviously, the issue of abortion and women’s rights are in the news right now and everyone is rightfully concerned. However, a thought had occurred to me as we going through the news of yet another mass shooting yesterday.

The war on drugs officially began a little over 50 years ago. That war on drugs obviously has had a tremendous impact on society at large. According to ACLU, incarceration rates have increased 500 percent since 1970. The U.S. population hasn’t even doubled since then. So, the incarceration rate has increased more than four times faster than the population. At this point, it would be fair to ask what this has to do with recent events.

The events of yesterday should make this clear. When we hear there is a mass shooting event, all of us have a picture in our head of what the shooter looks like. He’s a white male. He is usually between 18 and 25. He is also usually a right wing extremist. The numbers back this up. Yet, we should consider for a moment who enters our brain when we think of a common criminal. Obviously, that picture is very different. It is almost as if it was done by design.

Ultimately, we are left with a ton of cognitive dissonance. Who are we collectively afraid of and who should we be afraid of? Right wing extremists have become inherently dangerous. If you don’t believe me then just ask the FBI. They are the domestic terrorists and their numbers are growing. Yet, ask any typical American and they will list anything other than young white males as the danger. They will list immigrants. They will list people of color. They will list radical Muslims. They will list everyone except for the people actually committing these mass shootings and acts of terror. It’s almost as if it were by design.

The official definition of a terrorist is “that of a person that uses unlawful violence and intimidation against civilians in the pursuit of political aims.” You’ll immediately notice that at no time does it actually mention death or murder. That is what a lot of people mistake for terrorism. Death is but a side effect. The real goal is the political agenda.

Shortly after the Uvalde massacre, the following advertisement started making it circles around the internet. As you look at this picture, I want you to remember one thing. This isn’t the picture of some jackass taking a picture with his son. That would be bad enough. This is a picture from the maker of the gun designed to sell it. It’s a damn advertisement.

 

Now, let’s first dispense with a few misconceptions. This was intentional. You can’t imagine the number of people that had to sign off on this advertisement. This isn’t the work of some junior level temp that sent out an advertisement like some kind of rogue Bond villain. Dozens of people viewed it and at least half of dozen had to sign off before releasing it into the wild.

Tbere are a few things we know. The first thing is that even the rank and file in the NRA isn’t on board with what leadership is doing. Leadership doesn’t represent them anymore. We also know that the NRA has shifted over the intervening decades where they represent the interests of gun manufacturers more than the interests of individual gun owners.

For those keeping up, Daniel Defense was the producer of the weapon. They are the ones that released the picture above. So, in essence, the NRA and these gun manufacturers are willing to lie to their constituents about the availability of guns and the political motivations of Congressional Democrats and Joe Biden. They want to scare the flock into buying more guns.

So, they want to lie and intimidate the people into doing what they want. Just ask yourself how you feel when you see that picture above. What is the gut emotion in play here? Mind you, I don’t know that the NRA or Daniel Defense wants people to die. However, they are not above using their deaths in order to further their political agenda. They want more people to buy guns. They want more guns and bigger guns. We already have more guns than people. Why not two times? Three times? Four times?

So, when an interest group and a company uses fear and intimidation to further a political agenda what exactly do we call that? What do we call it when that interest group continues to hold it’s rallies and conventions days after these tragedies? It isn’t hard to picture members of the Taliban or Al Queda dancing up and down on 9/11. Heck, politicians used those images to stoke anger in us. Simply transpose the images of politicians and rednecks dancing on stage and cheering and it is the same exact thing.

I want you to take a good look at that picture above. Is that a picture from a company that is so tone deaf that they just don’t know they are being overwhelmingly offensive? Do you really believe that? Or, is that the photo designed to trigger people on one side or another. What do you call people that use fear and intimidation for their own political ends and profit? I wish there was a name for that. It’s right there on the tip of my tongue.

The funny thing about fear is that it is all a part of the same conversation. Women are afraid that their rights will be taken away after 48 years and that is the big news item of the day. Protesters from the summer and before were finally standing up to rogue law enforcement forcing people of color to live in fear of their lives when they encounter law enforcement. The fear I’m thinking of today is a lot closer to home.

It’s sad when you see that fear first hand. It’s heartbreaking when you see it in your own children. Our daughter’s school had a couple of days of bomb threats this week. Social media is doing what it does and managed to spread all kinds of rumors about what might happen. So, more than half the school decided to stay home yesterday. The principal said those absences would be excused. She obviously understood the impulse.

My wife and I sat there as our daughter cried when we discussed her coming to school today. We left it up to her. Forcing her to go seemed somehow cruel. Yet, she talked a long time about the guilt of avoiding a possible event. It didn’t make sense and yet it made perfect sense. She decided to go and yet the fear she is feeling is unavoidable. We can only hope it dissipates before it becomes a permanent thing.

The source of this fear is the same. The abortion ban, Rittenhouse, our hometown domestic terrorist, rogue law enforcement, and isolated gun nuts all look the same. They are all virtually the same. None of them look like the people they want you to fear. They all look like the people pointing the finger. Funny how that all works out. No one knows the identity of the kid making threats at the school, but the good money says it’s a white male. It almost always is.

Animal behavior can teach us a lot. We have a 100 pound Rottweiler, 16 pound ginger cat, and a ten pound tabby cat at home. The tabby cat has an overactive sense of fear. She somehow channels that fear and turns it into rage as she lashes out at the other two. The dog doesn’t want to be within ten feet of her. Here is this huge and physically imposing animal cowering in fear of something one-tenth his size. I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

Perhaps it’s personification instead. A relatively small group of people are so activated by fear that they induce real terror in the rest of us. We often expect them to look in the mirror and attack the reflection. The opportunists among them somehow manage to take a fear they created and turn around and offer protection from it. When you see it happening in general it makes you angry. When you see it happening to your own family it breaks your heart. When you see a little jackass using the exact same tactics as one of the two major political parties it makes you incredibly sad. The monsters are indeed hiding under the bed and they are pointing the fingers at everyone else. I guess it’s time to sleep with the light on.

Earlier, we were talking about retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Larry Rendell Brock, Jr. who was photographed taking part in the paramilitary operation that took over the Capitol on Wednesday.  Members of Oathkeepers and the Three Percenters, as well as othersThere were a lot of others like Brock at the Capitol who were working together as a unit to…wait for it…shut down the US Congress and kidnap or even kill elected officials of the US Government.  That is the very definition insurrection. AND, Ooo; Ooo; here’s the good part – on top of the jail time they get, under several federal laws, a military retiree convicted of certain crimes, INCLUDING INSURRECTION, can be court-martialed, convicted, STRIPPED OF ALL THEIR RETIREMENT and other benefits.  That’s right, folks, and it gets better.  Just last year, the Supreme Court declined to take an appeal of a court-martial of a military retiree for rape that stripped him of his retirement benefits.

I’m hearing that arrests are up to 100 and climbing, and the FBI is looking for a whole bushel basket full of other Trumpists-turned-felons.  Oh, and by the by – The Justice Department announced today that Larry Brock was arrested today in Texas.  Mr. Zip Tie, Eric Gavelek Munchel, was also arrested today in Tennessee.  All these cases are being prosecuted by the Justice Department Anti-Terrorism Division in Washington.  Boom.

Ya think we’ve had enough violence today?

Is it just my overflow of cynicism that suspects Russia had something to do with the death of their own ambassador in order to continue the destabilization of Turkey?  I mean, they’d like nothing better than to test NATO in Turkey.  Yeah, it’s probably just me.