Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

He was decidedly lefty—until he blew a gasket.

Let alone, there are Conservative Green parties.

What drove the man who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband?
Francine Prose

According to the US Capitol police, there were 9,621 threats against members of Congress in 2021. It’s surprising that there aren’t more

Surely I’m not the only person haunted by visions of 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, the husband of House speaker Nancy Pelosi, struggling with an intruder in the early hours this past Friday. It’s not hard to imagine the terror that Pelosi must have felt as he made his coded phone call to the police, telling them that someone had broken into his San Francisco home. And it’s all too easy to picture his assailant, David DePape, calling out, “Where’s Nancy?”, the same cry that went up from the insurrectionists roaming the halls of the US Capitol on 6 January.

In fact, the only thing that’s hard to comprehend is why, given the current political climate, incidents like this one don’t occur more often. According to the US Capitol police, there were 9,621 threats against members of Congress in 2021, and the frequency of those disturbing emails and phone calls appears to be increasing. Republican and Democrats alike have been warned that they and their families will be killed, and some have wisely taken advantage of the provision that allows them to use their campaign funds to pay for private security teams.

Tighter surveillance and more armed patrols may make our politicians more secure, but it’s precisely the sort of Band-aid that we have been pasting over the deep wounds from which our society suffers. The quick fix of hiring more guards is not unlike New York City’s plan for reducing subway crime by beefing up police presence. A mugger might be deterred by the sight of a uniformed officer, but the people pushing commuters onto the tracks are more likely to be heeding the directives of the voices inside their heads than checking for the location of the nearest CCTV camera.

One could argue that David DePape has more in common with these unhinged attackers than with protesters expressing their concerns outside the US supreme court. And that difference suggests that violent extremism and the descent into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theory be understood – and treated – as a form of disturbance rather than a sign of voter dissatisfaction and another symptom of our political divisions.

Of course, many presumably “sane” politicians are exploiting and exacerbating the widespread rage and paranoia – spreading lies about the evils of science and the government’s plot to stifle our freedoms – in order to attract attention and increase their voter base. But though it’s despicable to condone and encourage violence, it’s not the same as committing it. It wasn’t Marjorie Taylor Greene who fractured Paul Pelosi’s skull.

The Republican party’s obsession with gun ownership has made deadly weapons freely available to the mentally ill, but few school shooters have claimed to have slaughtered innocent students because Joe Biden stole the election. During the recent outcry over Kanye West’s odious antisemitic and anti-Black remarks, the fact that he has been diagnosed as bipolar dropped out of the public conversation. And while it’s true that mental instability is not necessarily the cause of – and certainly not an excuse for – prejudice and hatred, it’s hard to argue, as California psychologist Bedford Palmer II has done, that Ye’s instability had absolutely nothing to do with his destructive downward spiral.

Almost daily, it seems, we read another article about the mental health crisis afflicting our country – and much of the world – in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Anyone who has spent any time lately in an American city knows how dire the situation has become. During an eight-block walk in downtown Manhattan, I counted three people in severe mental distress – and those were just the obvious cases.

Yet no one, as far as I know, has introduced a workable, far-reaching, effective solution for fully addressing – let alone remedying – our problems. We’ve arrested and tried dozens of the January 6 rioters, but I’ve yet to read one essay that brought me significantly closer to understanding the psyche of someone who would grab a can of bear spray and call for Mike Pence’s blood. We know that racism and inequality fuel the anger that incites political violence, but I imagine that few of those who push subway riders off platforms are doing so because they fear being replaced by Jews and people of color. Many of the perpetrators of the anti-Asian attacks in New York City during the past year were found to have been recently released from homeless shelters and mental hospitals.

I’m not suggesting that we stigmatize mental illness more egregiously than we already do. Rather I’m proposing that we recognize the need for – and figure out –some way to remedy the sort of instability that sent David DePape into the Pelosis’ house in the middle of the night. Our cities and states – and the federal government – need to come up with better plans for intervention. Perhaps Kanye West’s former corporate sponsors might want to stop whining about how much money they’re losing by severing ties with him – and donate some of the profits they’re earning without him to fund outreach and treatment centers.

More cameras, more cops, longer jail terms – it’s not enough, and ultimately the surveillance and punishment model is not going to provide a lasting solution. Gun control would be a huge help in reducing the senseless bloodshed, but let’s remember: Paul Pelosi and David DePape were struggling over a hammer, not a long gun. We need to come up with a more innovative and comprehensive remedy for our mental health crisis. Because the fact is: we need help.

Francine Prose is a former president of Pen American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

...Trump, in a video statement before the election, endorsed Bolsonaro as “one of the great people in all of politics and in all of leadership of countries.”

“There is no possibility that the result of the electronic ballot boxes is correct,” former Trump strategist and Bolsonaro supporter Stephen K. Bannon told the outlet Folha de Sao Paulo. “We need a ballot-by-ballot audit, even if it takes six months. In the meantime, the president should not agree to leave.”...

Republicans amplify misinformation, falsehoods about attack on Paul Pelosi

Republicans and others on the right are amplifying misinformation and outright falsehoods about last week’s violent assault on Paul Pelosi by a hammer-wielding intruder searching for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

The innuendo about the attack that billionaire Elon Musk and right-wing personalities spread on social media this past weekend showed no signs of abating Monday as elected officials and other conservatives perpetuated wild theories.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) retweeted a thread from far-right activist Matt Walsh challenging the notion that the alleged assailant, David DePape, was a militant right winger despite his blog in which he appears to have been deeply drawn into election falsehoods and political conspiracy theories.

Cruz quoted the thread dismissing DePape as “a hippie nudist from Berkeley” with one word: “truth.” [Ted Cruz, Matt Walsh and Lash bond and isn't that sweet as all get out]

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) tweeted and deleted a post late Sunday that pushed a conspiracy theory about the violent attack and included a photo of Nancy Pelosi.

Terrence K. Williams, a conservative comedian who spoke at the White House during the Trump presidency, tweeted false information about Paul Pelosi and the suspect.

And Donald Trump Jr., son of the former president, tweeted images that highlighted the falsehood on Halloween.

Republicans blame ‘both sides’ for political violence after Paul Pelosi attack

As of Monday, Paul Pelosi, 82, was recovering in Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital following surgery for a fractured skull and other injuries from the attack early Friday. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Police identified 42-year-old DePape, who has written pro-Trump and anti-Democratic posts on his blog, as the suspect. San Francisco Police Chief William Scott would not speculate on a motive for the attack, but it appears that the assailant had been looking for the speaker, and he uttered “Where’s Nancy,” according to a person briefed on the case.

“This was not a random act. This was intentional,” Scott told reporters Friday.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was expected to announce charges against DePape on Monday, including attempted murder and assault.

The Washington Post confirmed that a voluminous blog written under DePape’s name was filled with deeply antisemitic writings and baseless claims as well as pro-Donald Trump and anti-Democratic posts. It was registered to a house in Richmond, Calif., where DePape lives, according to neighbors.

Nancy Pelosi made her first public comments about the matter on Saturday night in a “Dear Colleague” letter to members of Congress, referring to how “a violent man broke into our family home, demanded to confront me and brutally attacked my husband Paul.”

She thanked supporters, saying that “the outpouring of prayers and warm wishes from so many in the Congress is a comfort to our family and is helping Paul make progress with his recovery.” The letter didn’t make any political attacks but quoted a Bible verse from Isaiah 41:10 that begins “Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.”

U.S. Capitol Police said it was assisting the FBI and San Francisco police in investigating the break-in and attack.

The Capitol Police, the agency responsible for protecting members of Congress, has reported a sharp increase in threats against lawmakers in recent years, and threats have sharply escalated since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. It said the number of cases involving threats against members of Congress rose from about 4,000 in 2017 to more than 9,600 last year.

Paul Pelosi owns Financial Leasing Services, a San Francisco-based real estate and venture capital investment and consulting firm. He met his wife while studying at Georgetown University. She was a student at Trinity College at the time. The Pelosis have been married for 59 years and have five children.

Yes. And one reflects on claims the American right and the GOP make to possession of a superior level of moral conscience.