This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way

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Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, is facing widespread backlash following posts about the targeted shooting of two Democratic lawmakers and their spouses in Minnesota.

The suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was arrested late Sunday following a nearly two-day statewide search. The Saturday morning shootings left State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, dead, and wounded State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

"This is what happens...When Marxists don't get their way," Lee posted on X (formerly Twitter), sharing a photo of Boelter wearing what appears to be a latex face mask.

https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lee-assas ... ta-2085891

And I note Elon Musk also claims the alleged killer of Minnesota Democrat politicians is a Democrat, though he doesn't bother with the "allegedly" bit. But then, Mr Musk often gets his facts appallingly wrong in matters outside his expertise.

What's interesting is that the chap - Vance - is detained. Alive. That's practically unamerican. Not like other terrorists. Not like Osama bin Laden. This one was arrested.

This one's white.

This one's a practising Christian preacher, ordained since 2002. With a PhD, presumably in evangelism but I don't know the topic of his thesis. How to kill godless gay-affirming lefties, presumably.

At the moment - though not for much longer, I suspect - his sermons are on YouTube, given by "Fr. VANCE BOELTER (Docteur)" or alternatively Dr VANCE BOELTER depending on where they were delivered. On Congo Nashville TV or Culte Dominical, whatever they are.

The friend claimed Vance Boelter was a Trump voter and hated abortion.

https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1934068313434558596

He's a properly Trump-voting evangelical Christian preacherman, extremely anti-gay, allegedly pro-life but carrying a hit list of 70 Minnesota politicians and public servants. If I had to guess I'd say he's on the armed provisional wing of Catholicism.

At the moment I'm wondering what the chance is that he'll be found not guilty. Higher than most terrorists, I expect. Or he could force a quick trial, get a Presidential Pardon and be out by Christmas.

As for Senator Mike Lee, "a Utah Republican" - what a prat, eh?

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Glendale, AZ (November 14, 2024) —New post-election research shows that Christian support was crucial in Donald Trump’s 2024 landslide victory, showing that Christians made up 72% of the electorate and gave Trump 56% of their vote.

https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2024/1 ... rch-shows/

Give the devil his due, he knows all the right trigger words.

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But this chap in Minnesota. Doctor Vance. The Christian evangelist Republican preacherman, ordained for decades, allegedly crusading against a long list of Democrats two of whom he allegedly shot dead and two more of whom he allegedly put in hospital with seventeen rounds between them. Preaching on YouTube against all God's phobias - the devil, gays, people who despise the forgiveness of the Lord and refuse salvation - and my word he rants like there's no tomorrow. And having - what, three allegedly AK74s and two allegedly machine pistols in his car?

If you had to state all the negative attributes of America without which the place would be a joy unto the ages, that would be it. Well, that and the size of the wealth gap.

Eleven years from now he'll be running for President, mark my words. Assuming he can get Trump to wipe his record clean with that pardon I mentioned, so he doesn't have a felony against him. The archetypal poster boy. He could be the first President to run the NRA and his own Church of the Saved at the same time.

Guns don't kill people, God kills people. There, see what societal polarization went and did.

[LarsMac]

But this chap in Minnesota. Doctor Vance. The Christian evangelist Republican preacherman, ordained for decades, allegedly crusading against a long list of Democrats two of whom he allegedly shot dead and two more of whom he allegedly put in hospital with seventeen rounds between them. Preaching on YouTube against all God's phobias - the devil, gays, people who despise the forgiveness of the Lord and refuse salvation - and my word he rants like there's no tomorrow. And having - what, three allegedly AK74s and two allegedly machine pistols in his car?

If you had to state all the negative attributes of America without which the place would be a joy unto the ages, that would be it. Well, that and the size of the wealth gap.

Eleven years from now he'll be running for President, mark my words. Assuming he can get Trump to wipe his record clean with that pardon I mentioned, so he doesn't have a felony against him. The archetypal poster boy. He could be the first President to run the NRA and his own Church of the Saved at the same time.

Guns don't kill people, God kills people. There, see what societal polarization went and did.

So far, the prosecution has made a point of only filing State charges. The Orange one cannot pardon State Charges. only Federal.

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So far, the prosecution has made a point of only filing State charges. The Orange one cannot pardon State Charges. only Federal.

The idea they might possibly believe a pardon could need defending against is astonishing in its own right.

How have you been getting on with all this driving?

[LarsMac]

So far, the prosecution has made a point of only filing State charges. The Orange one cannot pardon State Charges. only Federal.

The idea they might possibly believe a pardon could need defending against is astonishing in its own right.

How have you been getting on with all this driving?

I've been mostly wandering, going to state an local park areas and obscure historic sites within a 200 mile radius of whatever location I start the day from. Seeing local Monuments and historical sites on the Plains. (all those historical sites that I always passed by because we had somewhere we needed to be by the end of the day.) The real driving starts end of the month, as I plan to head East to Georgia for an uncle's 90th Birthday. After that, I will meander in the general direction of the Olympia Peninsula.
I was born to meander.

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Ah. That paint your wagon thing. I'm not sure whether you can sing as well as Lee Marvin but it's a low bar.

Tip: They might sell phrasebooks for Georgia in the local shops.

To request refreshment in a public establishment the polite approach is "Pass the hooch barman. Leave the bottle".

To depart in timely fashion is to "get to getting".

And to commend someone as worth getting to know, he or she "slaps". Quite what that entails in practice I'd not hazard a guess.

[Bryn Mawr]

So far, the prosecution has made a point of only filing State charges. The Orange one cannot pardon State Charges. only Federal.

The idea they might possibly believe a pardon could need defending against is astonishing in its own right.

How have you been getting on with all this driving?

I've been mostly wandering, going to state an local park areas and obscure historic sites within a 200 mile radius of whatever location I start the day from. Seeing local Monuments and historical sites on the Plains. (all those historical sites that I always passed by because we had somewhere we needed to be by the end of the day.) The real driving starts end of the month, as I plan to head East to Georgia for an uncle's 90th Birthday. After that, I will meander in the general direction of the Olympia Peninsula.
I was born to meander.

The proper way to get to know a place - especially if it also involves navigating by intuition and frequently getting lost.

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The proper way to get to know a place - especially if it also involves navigating by intuition and frequently getting lost.

That's not getting lost! That's orienteering by car. I teach the advanced course.

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A strange chap all round, this Senator Mike Lee chap.

There’s a looseness about Lee’s social media persona that seems unrelated to his status as senator. “I’m 53 and I love dank memes,” he boasted in one post. “Dank” usually means “moist and damp,” but as a slang word it can refer to memes that are extremely weird.

His personal X account @basedmikelee is digital slang for a person unwired from decorum, good manners, a person who “tells it like it is.” Lee’s nocturnal tweets are “feeding time” for the “red meat” carnivores of MAGA.

“Over the 90-day span, Lee averaged more than 103 posts a day.”

The sheer volume of Lee’s tweets makes one wonder if he is a full-time, professional influencer. During the first three months of 2025, he created 9,310 posts on X, formerly Twitter, on pace to crush his eye-popping mark of 13,142 posts created in all of 2024. Over the 90-day span, Lee averaged more than 103 posts a day, working out to once every 15 minutes without stopping.

https://baptistnews.com/article/mike-le ... ial-media/

[LarsMac]

I've reached a stage in my life where people like that are simply part of the universal background chatter.

I often reminisce on the days when public media broadcasters went offline in the wee hours, leaving one with only simple static as a background to one's reflections of the day.

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I've reached a stage in my life where people like that are simply part of the universal background chatter.

I often reminisce on the days when public media broadcasters went offline in the wee hours, leaving one with only simple static as a background to one's reflections of the day.

We had test cards, though the static was a feature as well. End of the evening's programmed content they played the National Anthem, very slowly, and then cut power to the transmitters.

Test Cards C and D followed me from birth to adulthood. The BBC had no programs between (my estimate) 2pm and 5pm on the main channel Monday to Friday. BBC2 didn't start broadcasts until 7pm. The test cards were there instead.

Here's the pictures: http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/testcard/bbc_test.html

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The Reverend has pled Not Guilty, apparently. Roll on next month.




And elsewhere, the latest award of the Senator Mike Lee Prat of the Year award goes to "A Senior US Diplomat" - I'm not even going to look up who - and "... the UK would be speaking German!". What a gimboid. No Sir, such a thing has never happened. Name me your precedent. It is not a historical thing. The Romans failed, the Vikings failed, the Normans failed, the Scots failed, the Dutch failed, even the ghastly Americans failed despite being the Occupying Force in the UK since World War Two ended.

If Mr Starmer had been "PM during the Nazis", whatever that means, we'd not be speaking German. With any luck we'd have had the sense to sit out the war entirely.

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Action will be taken against foreigners in the United States who are considered to be “praising, rationalizing, or making light of” Charlie Kirk’s death, a top state department official has said.

The statement comes in a wider context of an aggressive crackdown on free speech and dissenting views in the US under the second Trump administration, especially when it comes to campus protests sparked by Israel’s war on Gaza.

In a post on X on Thursday morning, the deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, wrote that “foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country” and said he had directed consular officials to “undertake appropriate action” against those deemed to be “praising, rationalizing, or making light of” Kirk’s death on social media.
Trump blamed ‘radical left’ for Charlie Kirk’s death – even as shooter’s identity remains unknown
Read more

Landau invited X users to bring such cases to his attention in the comments of his post, which he said would be monitored by consular officials.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... foreigners

It all leaves an impression, this sort of thing. Does nobody realise how lethal "undertake appropriate action" sounds?

As far as I know Charlie Kirk was a friend of President Trump's, which put him in a small category of people.

The somewhat polarised Senator Mike Lee hit the headlines again today:

The official X account of Mike Lee, a Republican US senator, drew backlash after quickly condemning Wednesday’s killing of the influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah – less than three months from when the politician initially responded to the shootings of two Minnesota Democratic lawmakers by boosting misinformation about that case.

A post from Lee, who joined the Senate in 2011, denounced Kirk’s murder as “a cowardly act of violence” while hailing the Turning Point USA executive director as an “American patriot” and “inspiration to countless young people”. His post also solicited prayers for the 31-year-old Kirk’s widow, Erika, and their children.

“The terrorists will not win,” Lee said shortly after Kirk’s death while speaking at an outdoor gathering on the campus of Utah Valley University had been confirmed. “Charlie will.”

While some of the platform’s users replied positively to the post, many others immediately alluded to how Lee focused on advancing conspiracy theories in the aftermath of the 14 June shootings that killed Minnesota’s former house speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, while wounding state senator John Hoffman – her fellow Democrat – and his wife, Yvette.

“This is what happens,” Lee wrote in an X post, “when Marxists don’t get their way.” Attached to the post was a picture of the suspect charged in the shooting, Vance Boelter, evidently wearing a latex face mask.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... sa-hortman

If the US population found a means to reduce their political polarisation they would be healthier. It needs to start with people like Senator Lee, social media, the appalling television programming they consume, and the way their powerless underclass is policed. As for Charlie Kirk, today's Guardian posted a fact-check on him: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... es-beliefs

We'll have to wait patiently to see whether his killer reaches a courthouse alive. An unlikely outcome in America.

[Bryn Mawr]

We'll have to wait patiently to see whether his killer reaches a courthouse alive. An unlikely outcome in America.

Unless the person they've killed is a Democrat senator

[Bryn Mawr]

OK, it appears that he is alive and in custody after his father turned him in.

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OK, it appears that he is alive and in custody after his father turned him in.

We now watch the media have a tussle over what he would have voted if he'd grown up, presumably. Where did he get his marksman skills?


eta:

In a phone interview on Friday, one of Tyler Robinson’s high school friends, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the suspect was “pretty left on everything” and was “the only member of his family that was really leftist”.

“The rest of his family was very hard Republican,” the friend said.

Around sophomore year, the friend said, Robinson became more extreme in his political views and would “always just be ranting and arguing about them”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... trump-utah

There we are then. Credible rebel leftist assassination coupled with an infantile sense of humour.

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And - a minor point perhaps, but '"We got him," said Utah's Gov. Spencer Cox' is overly self-congratulation. No, Governor. You-all were given him. You-all had no idea up to that point, and then he was in custody. "We got him" is not what happened. Or it's just bad English, that's always possible.

Cox told NBC that the 22-year-old Robinson "does come from a conservative family, but his ideology was very different than his family... There clearly was a leftist ideology with this assassin in recent years." He said that conclusion was reached based on investigators' interviews with family members, but did not provide any further details. He also said that Robinson had a fascination with "Reddit culture and other dark places of the internet," something that was evident in the engraving left on bullet casings found at the scene.

https://time.com/7317079/tyler-robinson ... ng-latest/

That all sounds fair comment worth adding to the thread. I'm not convinced Reddit and culture belong in the same phrase.