Vance Boelter in Gewahrsam bei Gesetzgebern in Minnesota in Gewahrsam genommen

Finally. I really hope a certain someone doesn’t pardon this murderer.

Edit: My bad. Commenters pointed out it was state charges; not federal, so Trump cannot pardon him.

Alive is probably good. Will put the “he was a democrat” bullshit to rest. No one is going to look at this guy, the evidence that comes with the investigation, and his trash personality and think he’s anything other than a MAGA loser.

Glad that he was captured alive, so that there will be trials.

Here’s the MN DPS live press conference: 

https://www.youtube.com/live/RxT-OeC-EWM?si=GVUWMrLFuiPYY0oT

The motive most likely turn out to be killing democrats because they are pro choice. My guess is this will be his legal argument protecting the unborn and he was doing gods work.

Excellent news glad they got him.

For people not from Minnesota, his motive was removing 2 democrats from the house and Senate so republicans could take over. They were tied before this. Not sure why he killed the spouses though

Is it normal for all the arresting officer’s faces to be blacked out and hidden like that?

FFS don’t let the feds try him. He’ll say something nice about Trump and be pardoned in a year.

A Vance.

Huh.

Conservatives are still hell bent on blaming this attack on Democrats. Instead of considering the implications of this tragedy, their immediate response has been to exploit it as best they can to maintain a false narrative.

So let’s push back against their alternative version of events.

First of all, the claim that Boelter is a democrat because he was appointed by a democrat to a workforce development board is spurious at best.

The board that Boelter was first appointed to back in 2016 is a ***non-partisan*** economic board that includes members from across the political spectrum and from a wide range of backgrounds.

Appointments to this board are *not* endorsements, nor are they made with regard to political affiliations.

What’s more, Boelter at the time was registered as a non affiliated voter, undermining the claim that he is/was a democrat.

There is no evidence that Boelter was ever politically active as a democrat, and even if he was, to draw any conclusion from it would be a classic example of a „guilt by association“ fallacy.

Now, regarding the claim from Trump supporters that the „No Kings“ flyers found in Boelter’s car are proof that he is some kind of „radical leftist:“

The MN state police instructed residents not to attend any of the „No Kings“ protests because there were concerns that he could be targeting those events. Officials even recommended that organizers cancel all planned events.

In other words, the presence of „No Kings“ flyers in Boelter’s car is not evidence that he is supportive of the anti-Trump protests. In reality, all evidence actually points to the contrary.

For instance, police executed a search warrant yesterday at an address where Boelter had been renting a room. A resident at that home, David Carlson, claimed to be „best friends since fourth grade“ with Boelter.

> Carlson said that the suspect worked at a funeral home, owned firearms and ***had voted for Donald Trump.*** He was a ***devout Christian*** who ***strongly opposed abortion…*** His friend had been experiencing financial and mental health challenges, Carlson said.

If you need further convincing on this matter, Boelter’s professional history as a minister shows that he has been clearly radicalized by far right ideologies.

> Mr. Boelter has delivered several sermons at a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a video of one that was posted online, he appeared to ***criticize gay and transgender people.***

> “There’s people, especially in America, they don’t know what sex they are,” he said. “They don’t know their sexual orientation, they’re confused. The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.”

Furthermore, included on Boelter’s „target list“ are the names of politicians who all appear to be Democrats:

> U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, said that the gunman had a target list that included her name and the names of other lawmakers, ***all of whom were Democrats.***

It’s been reported that at least three more of MN’s democratic congressmen were on the list as well, including Kelly Morrison, Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar.

Law enforcement have also commented on the list, noting that some of the targets were Planned Parenthoods:

> Chief Mark Bruley… said the gunman’s vehicle contained a manifesto and a target list… The list included about 70 potential targets, including politicians, doctors, community and business leaders, and ***locations for Planned Parenthood…***

Also, in 2018, Boelter urged his followers on LinkedIn to vote in that year’s election.

> “I think the election is going to have more of an impact on the direction of our country than probably any election we have been apart of, or will be apart of for years to come,”

One of the victims that was killed by Boelter—Ms. Hortman—ran successfully for re-election that year.

Both legislative houses in MN are also sharply divided and split near evenly between Rs and Ds. So tell me, why in the hell would a leftist gunman want to murder several democratic state lawmakers and disrupt the balance of power in Republican’s favor?

That said, Republicans are still convinced that Democrat(s) are responsible for the „violent rhetoric“ that gave rise to these attacks *and* the assassination attempts on multiple members of their party and those member’s families.

Nevermind that it’s the Republican party that is plagued by infighting, or the fact that Donald Trump is the most divisive public figure in recent memory and he is primarily responsible for a considerable rise in domestic extremism in this country.

This is thanks in no small part to his incendiary rhetoric; his penchant for inciting violence; his dictatorial impulses, his excessive use of insults, bullying and scare tactics; his use of executive orders and ambiguous criteria to arrest and detain political dissidents, or to federalize troops against Americans exercising their rights lawfully; his brazen use of escalation methods as a political strategy; and his persistent threats against his political opponents, his critics in the media, and anyone who has ever pushed back against his unlawful agenda or tried to hold him accountable.

And considering that Trump’s supporters tend to follow his example, it’s utterly hypocritical of them to even suggest that Democrats are more prone to political violence.

Keep in mind that this is all while Trump’s lame, expensive and tasteless North Korea style military parade juxtaposes the thousands of troops that were deployed to the other side of the country in order to subdue and intimidate protestors. The stark contrast between spectacle and suppression in Trump’s divided America couldn’t be any clearer.

It also speaks volumes that the immediate response from conservatives to this tragedy was to get out in front of the facts and start spreading baseless claims about who is to blame.

Republicans have shown us—time and time again—that they are not above politicizing a tragedy. Consider how often they take an isolated incident of violence or vandalism and milk it repeatedly to push a partisan narrative. These narratives and talking points are used to scapegoat marginalized groups, to validate the hatred, grievances, and victim complexes of conservatives, and to justify the use of excessive and authoritarian measures that target and crackdown on the opposition.

In almost every case of politically motivated violence, Trump and his followers jump to conclusions before most of the facts are reported. If they can get out in front of the truth—which they achieve through the use of a vast propaganda network of right wing mouthpieces and political agitators—they can create a counter-narrative before there is a clear description of the facts.

So when an official analysis of the events reveals that they are wrong, they can proceed to cry „fake news“ while clinging to their conspiracy theories and their alternative accounts of the „truth.“

This case, and many like it, are symptomatic of a broader problem and rising trend of domestic extremism in this country. A problem that Americans have had to grow more accustomed to ever since Trump stepped into the political arena. And what’s particularly distressing and equal parts illuminating about all of this, is how this tragedy came on the same day that tanks were rolling down the streets of our Capitol.

Charged with 2nd degree murder instead of 1st? Given option to make bail?

If he’d shot Republicans he would have been killed in a firefight by police.

All I would say is keep him in State court and keep the feds away.