As hundreds of protesters stormed the Texas state Capitol and political tensions soaring over a recently approved anti-immigration law, scuffles and threats of deadly violence between lawmakers broke out Monday as their legislative session ended in dramatic fashion.
Welcome to Trump's Amerika. Bush Jr no doubt has a raging hardon right now. And Wiener is sexting every chance he gets. Cheney is laughing his fat ass off. And all know that anyone not a politician would be facing charges which is why no-one cares about one politician threatening another because nothing can be done. They can kill each other all day until the civil war comes about, while citizens face each other and fight for someone they've never met. This has all happened before, and it shall all happen again. It is irrelevant who reads history, it will not be enough to stop what is about to happen.
Unfortunately, the violence at the top is destined to filter to the bottom. Witness the ugly calls and tweets after the fact: there are so many really creepy, hateful people out there, just waiting for the chance to unleash their hatred on someone--anyone.
I probably would have told Representative Rinaldi that it's not so long ago that laws were passed against Italians, and that several hundred were lynched by white racists.
John Feffers short, deeply depressing dystopian novel "Splinterlands", written in mid 2016, is beginning to look uncannily prophetic...
for what it's worth, this kind of thing has been in the thoughts of the radical right for years. they're only now feeling confident in saying it out loud.
the roaches are up from the floorboards in full flower. Probably time to reach for the bug spray.
Another fine example of how gerrymandering misrepresents the electorate and disrupts general civility.
Throw the bum out. Matt Rinaldi. Words have consequences.
Just ask the travel banned again, Mango Mussolini.
Mni Wiconi 
Or, "Trump's AmeriKKKa". He and his fellow scum are an unfolding disaster for this country and others.
Just one of many, many reasons why I'm glad I don't live in Texas. Some of the worst politicians in the country from the governor on down. Unfortunately, they are hardly unique. This creeping right-wing bullshit is a cancer and it could very well envelop the country. Sinclair Lewis's book "It Can't Happen Here" IS happening here and in a way that we would not have believed just 30 years ago.
"Democratic lawmakers condemned Rinaldi's behavior during a press conference following the altercation"
A pregnant negative: Republican lawmakers did NOT condemn Rinaldi's behavior.
I wouldn't call it Trumpland. This is EXACTLY what characterized the party (since they were the Democratic Party and the Democratic-Republicans before that). They have ALWAYS been founded on violent racism, in order to keep white wealthy anglos in power--over blacks, over poor whites, over Catholics, over Hispanics (especially in Texas). As TellTheTruth notes, the only difference here is that Rinaldi has an Italian name, and in the mid-nineteenth century, they were among the victims.
As Southern violence became more extreme leading up to the Civil War, maybe the silver lining in this cloud is that the GOPs violence wouldn't be so pronounced if they weren't seeing resistance to their Klan (i.e. white terrorism)-based ideology.
Typical Republican idea of conflict resolution: don't like what someone says, or his/her race, nationality, religion, political preference......Just shoot them!
No! Democrats, for all their faults, are NOT the same as Republicans!
And what is about to happen appears to be full-blown class warfare, accompanied by a reign of terror and repression. The public needs to quit obsessing about ISIS! The real threat to our "Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness" is right here, home-grown and now in control of the Federal Government and a majority of State Governments.
It would seem to me that Republican Texas State Rep. Matt Rinaldi, publicly communicated a threat to do bodily harm to someone, he should have been arrested on the spot by police!
In addition to killing civilians they are now starting to kill each other. In the end we can only hope that out of the ashes a new a civilized species will emerge.
Don't worry, the D-Party has announced a comprehensive plan to win back all those seats they've been losing:
A) punch hippies
B) Stay the Course!
Shut down Enbridge Line 5!
