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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Fear-Mongering From the Left

One of the things I most despised about Donald Trump was his fear-mongering. Now his opponents are doing it, too. Unspecified fears of a supposed bloody revolution turned the nation's capital, democracy's front door, into a war zone for Joe Biden's inauguration as President yesterday. Though I'm unaware of any plans by the bugaloos to invade Northampton County Courthouse, the seat of county government is on full alert all week. In addition to conducting administrative searches of everyone who enters, barriers have been mounted along the Washington Street side, where the handicapped and old farts usually park. This strikes me as overkill, but I have no issue with temporary measures designed to assure everyone's safety. What I do have a problem with is dehumanizing people whose views might differ from mine, even if those views are repugnant. 

Bill Leiner is a former Lehigh County Comm'r who's also a far-left partisan Democrast. He apparently considers himself the King of Coplay. He sent out this "safety tip" to his subjects yesterday:

You have been seeing in the major and local news outlets the terms "Insurrection and Sedition."

Insurrection is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government."

Sedition is defined, by the same source, as "conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of the state."

An example of Insurrection are the events that occurred at our nation's capital 1/6/21. An example of sedition is the rally that occurred just prior to the Insurrection that immediately followed the rally.

This behavior is not confined to Washington DC.

If you are aware of anyone engaging in sedition toward insurrection please contact your police, mayor, and county district attorney's office.

It is important that we all support our democracy, and stamp out authoritarianism, and fascism.

First, the elements of federal crimes like those Leiner describes are contained in the United States Code, not Merriam-Webster. Second, he is fear-mongering. He is attempting to scare people into ratting out neighbors and friends who have no intention of doing anything. At a time when President Biden is calling for unity, he is sowing seeds of distrust and division. 

Fear-mongering comes from both sides, the right and the left. It needs to stop. 

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Electronic billboards on 33, 22 , 378 showed a government request for information regarding any coup plotters. This for yesterday's event.

Anonymous said...

Ummm...where were you Jan 6th? They literally stormed the Capital. Five people were KILLED.

Anonymous said...

Given the stunningly poor behavior of our PA congressmen in the early hours of Jan 7 in the Capitol - the undemocratic behavior across all states of the planned opposition to certifying the Electoral votes, and the similarly undemocratic behavior of all the PA Republicans in state or federal offices who participated in the lawsuits seeking to overturn our legally cast votes, I find it ironic that you are calling out "fear mongering" of the "left". Let's remember how we got where we are over the past 2-1/2 months. On Jan 6 plenty of people who participated in the assault on the Capitol were speaking in terms of blood.

Anonymous said...

This propaganda is very dangerous, peaceful law abiding people who oppose ones views are now being again labeled as a danger to society. The rally on 1/6/ was peaceful by near a million protesters, a few hundred wrongly entered the capital building and it is being used to frighten American citizens of their neighbors, all in an attempt to squash all political opposition. All in an attempt to gain political advantage at any cost.

This is the tried and perfected strategy of fascist and other totalitarian governments that we have witnessed in the 20th century. It is time that elected leaders stop this strategy. No one has spoken out about this and I am glad that you have at least addressed this.

Anonymous said...

Sounds very East German to me - the issues are not on the right they are on the left. Look at Portland. Every Night.

Anonymous said...

Our new country is going to be awesome. Leiner/ANTIFA/QAnon are all the same thing and none of them have the intellectual capacity to understand this about themselves. With Trump in the rear view mirror, conspiracy theorists left and right (the laziest thinkers known to humankind) need a new windmill at which to tilt. Leiner will look for monsters under his bed. ANTIFA quickly pivoted to Biden and is continuing to arson and loot, and Q nuts are waiting for Q to provide new instructions, having been left high and dry with Trump exiled to Florida. All should be kept an eye on. They are unstable and sometimes dangerous. Does Leiner own weapons?

Anonymous said...

And yet what price is to be paid for unity?
Does Snover's actions just become a fond memory?
Does Cruz pretend he is pure as the driven snow and everyone just lets that happen.
When the right wants something the armed thugs can just parade about or threaten to lynch people and everybody can just trust that they are pure of heart?
There are plenty of folks that are dangerous out there.
Healing can start with those supported or acted in storming the capital admitting they were wrong.
So far it seems calling out those who encouraged insurrection--well now you are hurting their precious feelings and that is just not acceptable.
Why would i trust there actions?

Anonymous said...

I don't blame the court houses for any safety measures/precautions being put in place and hope they are simply temporary with 1/6/21 obviously in mind.

There is probably some element of what occurred in Nashville on Christmas or going way back to Oklahoma City being kept in mind with these precaustions and while its inconvenient for some, the alternative could be tragic loss of life because of a handful of wingnuts.

Can't say I know who this Leiner guy is, but yeah encouraging people to rat out neighbors isn't a great look.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Ummm...where were you Jan 6th? They literally stormed the Capital. Five people were KILLED."

Prosecute those involved. Imp[each the person who incited them,. But do not use that as an excuse to turn this country into a police state with neighbors being encouraged to rat each other out for unpopular speech. It's very clear to me that the governmental reaction to its own ineptitude in allowing the storming of our capital can have very dangerous consequences to those who believe in things like the Bill of Rights.

Anonymous said...

Politicians in our government have no clue...

Anonymous said...

@5:26 - It wasn't remotely close to a million protestors, but beyond that they were "protesting" a false claim that itself was essentially propaganda fomented by one man and his cronies to squash and usurp his political opposition, which like you say is the tried and perfected strategy of fascist and other totalitarian governments that we have witnessed in the 20th century...

Loyal opposition is what we need.

Anonymous said...

The article in the Washington post said Trump did NOT cause the insurrection, That was planned before his speech. Who is right??

Anonymous said...

On January 6 we saw a major under reaction to a threat that should have been taken far more seriously with bad results that came close to being a catastrophe for our government. On January 20 we saw a massive reaction to a similar perceived threat that did not actually materialize with an end result that everyone remained safe. At this point none of us can say with certainty whether the post January 6 threats were overblown or the large highly visible reactions prevented real threats from being executed. In retrospect some may conclude that security on January 20 was excessive but it is far easier to say that in retrospect than it would have been to predict in the days leading up to January 20. In the same way we found out on 9/11 2001 that our nation was under new forms of effective attacks that had been previously hard to imagine, we saw the same on January 6, 2021. I would prefer that instead of just taking critical pot shots at what did or did not happen, we all encourage our best intelligence and law enforcement professionals to take these threats seriously, figure out exactly what was done both ineffectively and well, and come up with right sized responses. We did that fairly well after 9/11 although our lives have been altered and somewhat restricted ever since. I believe the new threats are very real and we somehow need to effectively secure our centers of government without becoming a total police state. It will be a difficult task to balance all that is involved, but we have to get it as right as possible.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the age of McCarthyism in the 21st Century. Instead of Communism the concern its now wokeism. If you're not woke or were a Trump supported you need deprogrammed. Yep, this is some real calls for unity.

This quote by John Brennan former CIA Directer says exactly what the left wants to do.
“I know, looking forward, that the members of the Biden team who have been nominated or have been appointed are now moving in laser-like fashion, to try to uncover as much as they can about what looks very similar to insurgency movements that we’ve seen overseas, where they germinate in different parts of the country and they gain strength, and it brings together an unholy alliance frequently of religious extremists — so authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists, and even libertarians,” Brennan said on MSNBC.

You heard it here folks, you're a Trump supporter or a Republican hell even a libertarian, if you're not on the Dems side you are an insurgent.

Anonymous said...

But if we don't have fear driven into every citizen how are we going to pass legislation? Through empirical evidence and proper debate?! Are you insane!?

Anonymous said...

@10:57am passing meaningful legislation is a thing of the past. Congress no longer passes anything worthy. It's now done by the President through Executive Orders. Where have you been for the past 12 years. Obama did it, Trump did it and Hell Biden day 1 signed 14 Executive orders. The best thing about this is there will be no legal challenges to these EOs. Why care about Congress when Biden can just sign whatever laws he wants himself.

Anonymous said...

12:35 am: Five people died, but only five were killed. Spreading incorrect facts only fans the flames.

Anonymous said...

@9:38 - If you are a Trump supporter, and I know many who are my friends (still!) and family, you are sharing a bed with "religious extremists, authoritarians, fascists, bigots, racists, nativists, and even libertarians". You may not be or think any of those terms apply to you, but they are the people you stand shoulder to shoulder with in support of Trump whether you like it or not. As the saying goes, you are the company you keep, so don't be offended if that is what others think you might be or associate you with.

Are there some whacko's in the Democrats bed? Of course there is. Nobody is free from sin.

Here's a good life tip I've heard...

You can tell you're on the correct side of an issue when your opinion is shared by scientists, doctors, people who have dedicated their lives to public service, or just in general, people who are smarter than you are.

Conversely, if your opinion is shared with racists, Nazis, people who change their opinions based on their own self gain with no care for impacts on others, despots, dimwits, friends on Facebook, cult leaders or just generally bad people, you may not actually be one of those people, but you may need to rethink your position on the issue.

Anonymous said...

Portland saw worse rioting and destruction last night, very little coverage, very little concern, I guess because it was left wingers who have been rioting and destroying for months and they did not scare the hell of politicians, just destroying the property and peace of the regular folks.

Anonymous said...

A priest was put on leave for attending the rally. Was not part of the violence. A nurse gets punched in the face and she lost her job. This was the night before. How about everyone being cancelled just associated with trump. Is everyone of with everyone being labeled as a part of insurectuon. Etc?

Anonymous said...

Guess with your thinking 75 million people are rascist and bad and need to be reprogrammed

Bernie O'Hare said...

My view is that most of us are at least implicitly racist, regardless how we voted. Myself too. Many people get very irritated by this assertion but the evidence is overwhelming.

Anonymous said...

So if in fact that is true which I disagree. Is the answer to cancel 75 million people to rid the world of us all? Is it to no longer respect differences of opinion. Is it then to no longer have free speech? Is this the answer that only one particular opinion matters all based on the fact 75 million or more as you say are racist? What's the answer?

Anonymous said...

Hypocrisy reigns in our Gov't. Both parties are Pitiful. We need a gov't for the people and not the special interest , party blind haters and hypocrites from both sides. They have killed America, one and all. It's only going to get worse the next 4 years. Bank on it. Socialism will finally undo our country from within.

Ovem Lupo Commitere said...

Not justifying any violence, property destruction, etc., left or right. That said, I know at work, as above, I heard some rather righteous concern about media bias between Jan 6 and Oregon. There is some what-aboutism and false equivalency though. In Oregon the far-left anarchists spray painted "F--k Biden" on the Democratic headquarters. The far left is AGAINST President Biden, while the far-right who stormed the seat of Republic, some chanting to hang VP Pence, were FOR President Trump.

Anonymous said...

7:49, you wouldn't know what "socialism" is if it bit you on the ass.

Anonymous said...

I'm a lot less worried about socialists than I am white supremacists.

Anonymous said...

Fear of both. But the larger number to fear and those with power are going to take away all of the freedoms you have now. Perspective.. long term our country will change drastically. There has always been crazy extremists and always will be. But to lose what this country was built on...freedom....is the thing we all shot be afraid of

Anonymous said...

If you are honestly afraid of the American brand of socialism, you are clearly just afraid of the word, not the actual policies. Contemporary American socialists would have been considered New Deal liberals 80 years ago. Government itself is necessarily somewhat socialist since basically everything it does can be considered publicly owned and managed industry, including the military. It's all a matter of degrees not kind.

There are some lefties that go way far off into crazytown, but almost everyone on the left wing is at least committed to democracy, which is more than can be said for about half the GOP at this point.

Anonymous said...

Afraid of the policies. Not what I believe in. Not just a "word"