Feds Concerned About Risk of Violence as Election Day Nears

[milestogo]

Source: NBC

Trump supporters held up Clinton "target practice" posters at a rally in Florida Monday, with a bulls-eye framing her face. Two days earlier in Virginia Beach, one Trump backer hoisted a plastic Hillary Clinton head on a stick, while others waved target signs. And several weeks ago, two armed Trump supporters protested outside the congressional campaign office of a rural Virginia Democrat, in what they said was a gesture of solidarity with closet supporters of Trump.

Federal and state law enforcement officials say such incidents have heightened their concerns about violence in the final two weeks of the long and bitter Presidential campaign, and well beyond that if Donald Trump loses and refuses to accept the vote as legitimate.

"There is a motivated army of 'fingers in their ears' supporters of his who believe he's giving them license to behave badly, and license not to except the findings of the 9,000 bipartisan polling jurisdictions around the country," one senior federal law enforcement official told NBC News. "It gives me concerns about violence," that official said, not just on Election Day but before and afterward. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he confirmed that local, state and federal authorities and even multi-agency Fusion Centers are on the lookout for signs of trouble.

The senior official said authorities have been concerned for months about violence, especially after one Trump surrogate talked in August of a post-Election "bloodbath" if supporters sensed any kind of voter fraud, and another said Clinton "should be put in the firing line and shot for treason." Trump himself ignited a controversy Aug. 9 when he hinted that pro-gun activists might take into their own hands the issue of Clinton appointing pro-gun control justices to the Supreme Court.

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/feds-concerned-about-risk-violence-election-day-nears-n672821

[MBS]

1. To understate the case, I share that official's concern.

Such a pivotal, and terrifying, moment in our history.
Please, please, may Hillary win by a landslide in two weeks and may we at least win back the Senate, preferably with a comfortable majority.

[PSPS]

2. This is the media's attempt to create drama/sell ads now that their "Trump Show" is losing currency

One clue to me is the smattering of grammatical and spelling errors in this piece. The media doesn't have another "debate" to pimp like a wrestling match, so they'll be pushing this "will there be violence? Stay tuned to find out!!!111!"

[elmac]

3. lets face it

The only ones supporting Trump now are racists. The kind of racists who want to bring back lynching, who want to blow up churches, who want to incite violence at polling places. The FBI needs to take this serious and start rounding them up like the terrorists they are.

[whatthehey]

4. Did NBC really report that someone might refuse to "except" findings?

I weep for the language.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Yup. If it passes spellcheck they don't proofread, it seems. Reporter AND editor. . . . nt

[luvmybluestate]

10. i weep even more when i listen to reporters, their grammar is awful n/t

[LonePirate]

6. We would not need to worry about this if RW kooks had been correct about Obama.

Those nut jobs claimed for years that Obama was going to confiscate all guns and send their owners/RWers to FEMA-run concentration camps. If Obama had actually done that, we would not fear possible election violence because there wouldn't be any.

Here's the obligatory, "Thanks, Obama!"

[Beartracks]

7. And yet, Trump surrogates blame a duck.

I've heard they're harping on a supposed connection between Hillary and people in Donald Duck-like costumes trolling Trump rallies. The claim is that these ducks are "inciting violence" by, well.... just being there, really. Sort of like: "If the duck hadn't shown up, I wouldn't have gotten pissed off -- so it's the duck's fault!"

Apparently, this is the best that the "party of personal responsibility" has left: indulge their violent tendencies, and then blame liberals.

======================

[Zorro]

8. Election Day violence is an attack on democracy

Law enforcement needs to come down hard on the perps.

[murielm99]

9. In the nineties,

there were targets available at gun shows that were posters of Bill and Hillary Clinton together. Nothing was done about it. There is nothing new with these people.