Husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked in his home.

[Coughdrop addict]

https://www.newsweek.com/nancy-pelos...o-home-1755404

Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked at his San Francisco home on Friday morning.
"Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi. The assailant is in custody and the motivation for the attack is under investigation," Nancy Pelosi's spokesman, Drew Hammill, said in a statement.
According to the statement, Paul Pelosi was taken to a nearby hospital, "where he is receiving excellent medical care and is expected to make a full recovery." Speaker Pelosi was not at the home when the attack occurred, the statement said.

Of course the right was standing by with their talking points cslling it a false flag or that the attacker, David DePape, was a liberal.

Last year, David DePape posted links on his Facebook page to multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen. Other posts included transphobic images and linked to websites claiming Covid vaccines were deadly. “The death rates being promoted are what ever ‘THEY’ want to be promoted as the death rate,” one post read. DePape also posted links to YouTube videos with titles like “Democrat FARCE Commission to Investigate January 6th Capitol Riot COLLAPSES in Congress!!!” and “Global Elites Plan To Take Control Of YOUR Money! (Revealed)”

Between this and their voter intimidation in Arizona, it's clear Republicans know they can only hold onto power through violence.

[Heathen Hammer]

Given the midterm proximity I wouldn't rule out a Jussie Smollett scenario.

[alhoon]

Political violence is increasing in the current years in USA (I am sure you can all find the sources pointing to it).

I don't think a "Smolett" scenario is even likely in this case. First, it doesn't help democrats at all. This is IMO a very clear attack from a radicalized young man to a political opponent. And while many on the Republican side can say "This was an isolated scenario", we have too many "isolated scenarios" these past years. Polarization is leading to radicalization. Many rightwing media and personalities are to blame.

And this is not just a symptom with the Republicans. The Democrats also have their venues that radicalize men and send them vandalizing and looting as is demonstrated in the ever-more-violent racial protests that turn to riots.

[Coughdrop addict]

Democrats don't embrace violence as a political strategy like Republicans have. They were always entitled brats, but they got worse under Trump. Now they are convinced that they can get whatever they want (which is always the ability to grind 'inferiors' under their heel) if they are violent, and that consequences don't exist.

[alhoon]

Most Republicans and most Democrats don't embrace violence as a political strategy. SOME democrats and some Republicans do. And the numbers are increasing.

Also, this is not a phenomenon that applies only in USA. Increased polarization is leading to increased political violence all around the West.

[Coughdrop addict]

Not so Alhoon. Republicans endorse the Jan 6 insurrection as "legitimate political discourse". They are also outside drop boxes pointing guns at voters and taking down license plates so Democratic voters can be targeted later. Democrats are doing neither of those things.

In the (vanishingly rare) event that a Democrat harms someone, we always apologize and say we do not support violence. Meanwhile Republican's lionize and idolize scum like Rittenhouse and Tarrant.

When is the difference between the two parties going to be so obvious that we can dispense with this "It's all the same" moral relativistic nonsense? When Republicans start coming into polling places and holding guns to voter's heads? When they pass laws allowing Trump to have anyone who displeases him shot?

[mishkin]

Political violence is increasing in the current years in USA (I am sure you can all find the sources pointing to it).

I don't think a "Smolett" scenario is even likely in this case. First, it doesn't help democrats at all. This is IMO a very clear attack from a radicalized young man to a political opponent. And while many on the Republican side can say "This was an isolated scenario", we have too many "isolated scenarios" these past years. Polarization is leading to radicalization. Many rightwing media and personalities are to blame.

And this is not just a symptom with the Republicans. The Democrats also have their venues that radicalize men and send them vandalizing and looting as is demonstrated in the ever-more-violent racial protests that turn to riots.

why did you have to end a post that was looking decent with a "both sides".

[fkizz]

Democrats don't embrace violence as a political strategy like Republicans have.

Don't even know where to start. The simple fact the discussion is on "who is less violent" or "who makes the less unpleasant violence" as a topic already speaks for itself. It's an issue larger than party or ideology.

Can we at least acknowledge that after 2016 the talking point for years on the Democratic side was "Stolen Elections" or even "Election Hacked by the Russians"? There was even this special years long investigation trying to prove claims to remove political legitimacy from the President.

Sure it was obviously a cope by the losing candidate, but 4 years of democratic elites repeating this mantra to the masses made it so much more believable to both democrats and republicans.
Given the Pandora box is open, and it becomes credible, of course the opposition and even both sides will do it, politics is a nasty game.

Playing the blame game only serves to deepen the problem. Pretending it's just a party/gender/sociological type issue won't help much, it's trying to settle this issue by making it the elephant in the room.

[Coughdrop addict]

No actually the Trump campaign sought out Russian help and promised favors in exchange. Read the Muller report, not the version Trumps pet Barr put out.

And no, the two parties are in no way equal. One wants to keep democracy, and the other wants to replicate Russia and will use violence to achieve that end.

[NorthernXY]

Democrats don't embrace violence as a political strategy like Republicans have. They were always entitled brats, but they got worse under Trump. Now they are convinced that they can get whatever they want (which is always the ability to grind 'inferiors' under their heel) if they are violent, and that consequences don't exist.

How many people died in the BLM riots? Have you not heard of Antifa?

This kid was a leftist. Highly doubt he was a MAGA living with a whole bunch of BLM and Antifa supporters.

[fkizz]

No actually the Trump campaign sought out Russian help and promised favors in exchange. Read the Muller report, not the version Trumps pet Barr put out.

I'd like to avoid division given we've come a long way getting united, but Clinton Foundation had plenty of deals with Russia, openly. At best she didn't get the help back she expect to get. Wikileaks also sided with Trump.

And no, the two parties are in no way equal. One wants to keep democracy, and the other wants to replicate Russia and will use violence to achieve that end.

Violence is Universal. Both parties want political power and influence.

Replicate Russia? Heh.

"Some investors reportedly donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.Former President Bill Clinton also received a $500,000 speaking fee in Russia andreportedly met with Vladimir Putin around the time of the deal, Republicans, who arelargely critical of the deal, have said."

https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting...0625-SD004.pdf

Now, in wartime, this is nitpicking on details to be fair. Ressentment over Trump win 2016 having more priority than the warfront is at least, very obsessive.

[Coughdrop addict]

How many people died in the BLM riots?

Zero beyond those killed by fascist infiltrators who were enraged at the idea of Blacks thinking they were the equals of Whites.

Have you not heard of Antifa?

Yes I have. They terrify the right by doing things like protesting against fascism and beating the Nazi's in WWII. Fascists always find it very unfair when their victims fight back instead of marching single-file into the death camps.

This kid was a leftist. Highly doubt he was a MAGA living with a whole bunch of BLM and Antifa supporters.

A Qanon leftist. Why not just say he was a bigfoot ghost summoned by Clinton's witchcraft from her Martian child-sex colony throne to make Republicans look violent and delusional?

This is how base Republicans think; it's never their fault, rules are for 'lesser races', and anything they do wrong is clearly Democrat's fault. Taking responsibility is a completely foreign concept to them.

I'd like to avoid division given we've come a long way getting united, but Clinton Foundation had plenty of deals with Russia, openly.

Clinton Foundation is still the boogeyman I see. These deals were simple trade, not Trump-style selling of national secrets.

Wikileaks also sided with Trump.

Wikileaks is a Russian psy-op.

Violence is Universal.

Perhaps, but it is in no way equal. That's like saying a serial killer being hit by an intended victim means they are both equally violent.

Both parties want political power and influence.

But only one of them cares about the United States, while the other is trying to destroy it to enrich themselves.

Replicate Russia? Heh.

Russia is a fascist dictatorship where the rich stomp on everyone else and are above the law so long as they give the tyrant his kickbacks. It murders and locks up dissidents, persecutes it's gays, has a state religion, and sees it's non-white population as second-class citizens (if that) good only for forced labor and as cannon fodder.

So yes, Russia is everything Republicans have ever wanted the United States to be. Should they win on Nov 8 expect aid to Ukraine to be cut off completely as they fall all over each other to get back into Putin's good graces.

[alhoon]

why did you have to end a post that was looking decent with a "both sides".

Because it is the truth, uncomfortable as it may be. Also, it's not just two sides. European countries have many sides. And all those sides see increasing polarization. Tree-huggers vandalized a museum the other day to ... protest about climate change. What Van Gogh had to with climate change eludes me. Bolsonaro's thugs are getting ready for the Brazilian version of Jan 6. In Greece the rightwing government was spying on the opposition and leftwing thugs are attacking people on our national day because they carry or wear the Greek flag.

Not so Alhoon. Republicans endorse the Jan 6 insurrection as "legitimate political discourse". They are also outside drop boxes pointing guns at voters and taking down license plates so Democratic voters can be targeted later. Democrats are doing neither of those things.

Yes, the Republicans are presently worse. But being better than the side that supports a lazy coup attempt is a low bar to clear!
Anyway, I mentioned the polarization and radicalization happening on racial issues and that is much tolerated by the democrats, especially the mid-ranks and practically encouraged by low-ranking elements on the fringe left of the party.

You mention some horror stories (that I honestly hope they are false but they sound eerily credible) of Republicans trying to intimidate voters. These are the low-ranking elements that are indeed shamefully tolerated by the mid- and high-ranks. Republican Governors and Senators are not there taking pics of license plates. Low-ranking members do that. (Well, low-ranking members and a couple of high-ranking wackos, like the two gun-nut representatives and a mid-rank idiot that every right-wing watches, Carson or how that parrot is called).
On the other side, I remind you that the Black Panthers were trying the same during Obama's elections. That low-ranking election organizers were spotted in various riots targeting white people for the crime of being white. BLM does include violent elements and yet even those elements are tolerated by democrats that don't have the political will to say "We believe Black Lives Matter, but what THAT faction of the movement did is wrong and should be in prison."

You mention other horror stories of Republicans taking pictures of cars to exact revenge later with representative what's her name Greene (the wacko blonde that we all know wanted the mob to kill AOC in Jan 6th) practically stating that here and there.
Sure, Democrats don't stoop THAT low. But they doxxx Republicans and demand them to be fired.
Even some people in this very game board share the sentiment and see nothing wrong with "spreading the word" to end support for businesses that fund DeSantis or Trump's campaign.


Sooo... yes, Democrats are not as bad as the Republicans. But that's very low bar to clear.

And this is not about just Democrats and Republicans. In my country, and many countries around the world, leftwing mobs are very violent and becoming more so. And so do the Rightwings.

Zero beyond those killed by fascist infiltrators who were enraged at the idea of Blacks thinking they were the equals of Whites.



Yes I have. They terrify the right by doing things like protesting against fascism and beating the Nazi's in WWII. Fascists always find it very unfair when their victims fight back instead of marching single-file into the death camps.


A Qanon leftist. Why not just say he was a bigfoot ghost summoned by Clinton's witchcraft from her Martian child-sex colony throne to make Republicans look violent and delusional?

This is how base Republicans think; it's never their fault, rules are for 'lesser races', and anything they do wrong is clearly Democrat's fault. Taking responsibility is a completely foreign concept to them.

Honestly, don't you see what you do here?
The difference of this post with a MAGA post is the order of a few words. That post reads like insane propaganda coming out of a Democrat-side Greene (or how she's called).

You even close with "That's how base XXX think, it's never their fault, taking responsibility is completely foreign concept."
Friend, read what you wrote there!

- that ANTIFA is full of nice people fighting evil fascists, that do nothing wrong. (equivalent to " it's never their fault, rules are for 'lesser races' " from your post)
- That the deaths that happened during the BLM riots were made by Republican infiltrators (equivalent to "anything they do wrong is clearly Democrat's fault" from your post)
- That clearly mentally disturbed people cannot be both QAnon and Leftwings because... it doesn't fit your narrative.

In short, to take words from your own post: "Taking responsibility is a completely foreign concept to them."

If that is how the base Republican base thinks, then your post indicates you think like the base Republican, just with a few words different. This post at least, shows equivalent amount of brainwashing and polarization.

If Republicans win in 2024, this post (the "it was Russia!" part) indicates you will also dispute the results and claim stolen elections, like the Republicans did in 2020 and the Democrats did in 2016.
(Yes, Russia tried to help, but by spreading misinformation. The Trump admin was too stupid and the elections too well protected for election hacking to work, so the Russians turned to propaganda and polarization. It is indeed a great crime but it was not effective; Trump won fair and square in 2016).

You rally against an insane accusation of election theft in 2020 and readily consume a similarly insane accusation of election tampering in 2016 (again, they tried - but they failed).
You can do better CA.

[mishkin]

alhoon, a very serious and very specific incident has taken place and you and other people here instead of talking about that want to talk about antifa and BLM. and "tree-hugers". There has been an attempted attack/assassination of the third most important person in the country and you speak in generalities. you fill this discussion with "both sides" and generalities not to talk about the seriousness of the action of an individual almost certainly ideologically influenced by the country's horrendous right-wing media, former president trump and his lackeys. You want to downplay what has happened and the perniciousness of the far right in America.

Yes they are horrible "but". come on...

[sumskilz]

So about this guy’s ideology…

David DePape, 42, grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, before leaving about 20 years ago to follow an older girlfriend to San Francisco…

David DePape was known in Berkeley as a pro-nudity activist who had picketed naked at protests against local ordinances requiring people to be clothed in public.

Gene DePape said the girlfriend whom his son followed to California was named Gypsy and they had two children together…

Photographs published by The San Francisco Chronicle on Friday identified DePape frolicking nude outside city hall with dozens of others at the 2013 wedding of pro-nudity activist Gypsy Taub, who was marrying another man…

A 2013 article in The Chronicle described David DePape as a “hemp jewelry maker” who lived in a Victorian flat in Berkeley with Taub, who hosted a talk show on local public-access TV called “Uncensored 9/11,” in which she appeared naked and pushed conspiracy theories that the 2001 terrorist attacks were “an inside job.”

Does that sound like the profile of a social conservative to anyone? Rather the opposite I’d say.

But then…

A pair of web blogs posted in recent months online under the name David DePape contained rants about technology, aliens, communists, religious minorities and global elites.

An Aug. 24 entry titled “Q,” displayed a scatological collection of memes that included photos of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and made reference to QAnon, the baseless pro-Trump conspiracy theory that espouses the belief that the country is run by a deep state cabal of child sex traffickers, satanic pedophiles and baby-eating cannibals…

On a different site, someone posting under DePape’s name repeated false claims about COVID vaccines and wearing masks, questioned whether climate change is real and displayed an illustration of a zombified Hillary Clinton dining on human flesh.

There appeared to be no direct posts about Pelosi, but there were entries defending former President Donald Trump and Ye, the rapper formally known as Kanye West who recently made antisemitic comments.

In other posts, the writer said Jews helped finance Hitler’s political rise in Germany and suggested an antisemitic plot was involved in Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine.

This guy seems to have spent most of his life as a rather innocuous leftwing nutjob before recently switching to being far-right nutjob. The only common thread seems to be his anti-establishment attitude and his propensity to believe any conspiracy theory.

[mishkin]

New York Post



Has anyone from the American left ever incited hatred against Nancy Pelosi? a madman without a doubt, like all those who stormed the white house, some of them shouting like him "Where is Nancy?".

[sumskilz]

a madman without a doubt

You're upset about that implication? Maybe not crazy enough to save him in a court of law, but still...

Journalists, en masse, agreed with their assessment. DePape “appears to have made racist and often rambling posts online,” noted AP, in a report this morning that encapsulated the media narrative, “including some that questioned the results of the 2020 election, defended former President Donald Trump and echoed QAnon conspiracy theories.”

But DePape’s politics have little rhyme or reason. In past years DePape shared a post about Stephen Colbert’s 2006 roast of President George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents dinner; linked to videos of Disney films altered to make it look like the characters were swearing; and claimed, “Jesus is the anti-Christ” — not exactly a litany of right-wing tropes.

And, as I discovered yesterday, DePape lived with a notorious local nudist in a Berkeley home, complete with a Black Lives Matter sign in the window and an LGBT rainbow flag, emblazoned with a marijuana symbol, hanging from a tree. A closer look reveals the characteristics of a homeless encampment, or what Europeans call “an open drug scene.” In the driveway, there is a broken-down camper van. On the street is a yellow school bus, which neighbors said DePape occasionally stayed in. Both are filled with garbage typical of such structures in homeless encampments. People come and go from the house and the vehicles, neighbors say, in part to partake in the use of a potent psychedelic drug, ibogaine.

Neighbors described DePape as a homeless addict with a politics that was, until recently, left-wing, but of secondary importance to his psychotic and paranoid behavior. “What I know about the family is that they’re very radical activists,” said one of DePape’s neighbors, a woman who only gave her first name, Trish. “They seem very left. They are all about the Black Lives Matter movement. Gay pride. But they’re very detached from reality. They have called the cops on several of the neighbors, including us, claiming that we are plotting against them. It’s really weird to see that they are willing to be so aggressive toward somebody else who is also a lefty.”

Pics from where he lived until recently with his girlfriend and children:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I mean, feel free to blame the extremist ideology he was exposed to, but trying to use this guy as representative of any mainstream political faction or demographic is ridiculous. A political shift like he made in such short order suggests extreme instability, at least.

[Heathen Hammer]

Political violence is increasing in the current years in USA (I am sure you can all find the sources pointing to it).

I don't think a "Smolett" scenario is even likely in this case. First, it doesn't help democrats at all.

Of course it does, making themselves look like victims shortly before elections they are projected to lose.
Especially given how fairy-tale-like is the "official" story with a geriatric man quickly recovering from a hammer (!) attack.

[alhoon]

alhoon, a very serious and very specific incident has taken place and you and other people here instead of talking about that want to talk about antifa and BLM. and "tree-hugers". There has been an attempted attack/assassination of the third most important person in the country and you speak in generalities. you fill this discussion with "both sides" and generalities not to talk about the seriousness of the action of an individual almost certainly ideologically influenced by the country's horrendous right-wing media, former president trump and his lackeys. You want to downplay what has happened and the perniciousness of the far right in America.

Yes they are horrible "but". come on...

I want to talk about the increasing polarization. This attack is the symptom, not the cause. A lunatic tried to attack a very important official. A few months ago a group stormed the capitol trying to overturn an election. These are symptoms of the polarization we see today, Mishkin.

@Sumskilz: He fits the profile of the mentally troubled person. His political affiliation is not easy to deduce because he doesn't think straight.

[mishkin]

A lunatic tried to attack a very important official. A few months ago a group stormed the capitol trying to overturn an election

both shouting "where is nancy?".

It is clear that the perpetrator of this latest attack was a madman lately influenced by right-wing conspiracy theories, and it is also clear that the greatest terrorist internal threat in the United States comes from the radical right. (that's what the fbi says if i remember correctly). Not BLM, not the tree huggers, not antifa.