Some unsavory characters chose to self-identify as the “alt-right.”
When people carry Nazi banners and chant Nazi slogans, I don’t think it’s “name-calling” to identify them as fascists. To avoid being “lumped in” with such people, one can start by not giving them a platform.
Katherine
Actually I was reading the NYT comment threads. (One thing I notice is that if someone makes a racist remark on Breitbart they are accused of being leftists trying to give the right wing a bad name. But if someone makes a racist remark on the NYT everyone agrees with them.)
I hope you are right. And, I plan to take a long break after the Kavanaugh vote.
But what about antifa riots in various locations and people killed and injured? What about the abysmal state of “Free Speech” in US universities where even left wing comics refuse to perform? What about left wing bureaucrats sabotaging government machinery? What about Democrat leaders urging their followers to seriously harass their opponents? (Cases like Ms Sanders and Mr Cruz being denied service and chased out of restaurants? What about the republican baseball team being attacked and one of them seriously injured? What about the very vocal call to “resist” and to resist BAMN - By Any Means Necessary?
I lived in the USA for more than 20 years and have never seen such division before. But I will definitely take your advice and stop reading the news for a while and give things time to happen. Now I have to find a new form of procrastination. 8)
I disagree.
You might want to read Glubb’s short essay Fate of Empires webcitation.org/6a8z7Lvfj?u … /glubb.pdf
to see where the USA is going, the same place every other empire went. It is only a matter of time. kālaḥ kalayatām aham – among subduers I am time-- Bhagavad-gita 10.30
Glubb in his essay estimated that an Empire lasted for about 10 generations 250 years. I would not hold that as etched in stone as there are variations. But, it is interesting to note that 2026 will be the USA’s 250th year. And all in is not well.
And of course it is only later historians who write the death certificates. While people who are going through it are not aware. The Romans in 250 AD thought their empire would last forever but didn’t realize it was already in serious decline and some would say was in such disarray that it had already fallen. Though the official date of the fall of Rome in the West is not for 150 years later with the end of the last Caesar.
Sources for these claims other than Breitbart?
The death and serious injuries in Charlottesville were attributable to white supremacists. People who were there credit antifa with saving lives. Similarly, a serious injury here in the Seattle area occurred when a right winger shot an unarmed protestor. (In both cases, criminal charges have been filed against individuals, which is how their affiliations are known.)
The “free speech crisis” in US universities is largely manufactured by right-wing provocateurs: they come to campuses, encourage large numbers of (sometimes armed) supporters to come with them, say outrageous things, and point to the entirely predictable (and legal) protests that result as proof that they are being “silenced.” And then right-wing commentators are paid by major media outlets to talk about how oppressed they are.
Protests directed at elected officials are rather a different matter than widespread harassment of one’s “opponents,” don’t you think?
The attack on the baseball team was universally condemned by people on both sides of the aisle. Sadly, attacks by right-leaning terrorists get much less attention, though they are far more common. (Source: qz.com/1355874/terrorism-is-sur … xtremists/)
Katherine
None of my sources are from Breitbart but rather all from left of center media. If you recall our whole little discussion started from my interest in finding neutral, unbiased sources of news. I wrote:
Antifa riots in Berkley widely reported in all the press including WAPO which is left of center
And here tinyurl.com/ya8yhq8l a wide variety of sources detail the violent activities of antifa. I obviously have not checked them all, just providing a reference. Some may be better than others.
Free Speech crisis in American universities is widely published and brought to national attention in The Atlantic a left of center publication with their article The Coddling of the American Mind theatlantic.com/magazine/ar … nd/399356/
It is not the creation of right wing provocateurs but of the university ecosystem as detailed in the article
The Atlantic writes:
Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher are not right wing provocateurs.
Attacking elected officials with their families in a restaurant is okay with you? And Ms Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not even an elected official but just a spokes person. Are you saying that it is okay to abuse and harass women if they are not democrats? Its not misogyny if they are Republicans?
And plenty of news coverage of attacks on ordinary people just because they wore a MAGA hat. Here is one from Yahoo which is also left of center tinyurl.com/ycr9oext
And here is a bunch more from a variety of sources tinyurl.com/yamadwt7 I obviously have not checked them all, just providing a reference. Some may be better than others.
As for the Quartz article it only adds proof that civil unrest is on the rise in the USA not decreasing. It was not my intention to imply that it is only coming from one direction. By definition civil war requires more than one party. “Civil war” may be too strong a term for the current level of violence but it is certainly a cultural war going on. To see how this is symptomatic of the decline of the society see Glubb’s Fate of Empires tinyurl.com/yc7jgja8
And I remind you that I am not an American, and I have no party affiliation and do not vote. I am observing what is going on from the perspective of cycles in world history. In modern times conservatives are the counter culture.
I found a source for vetting news outlets mediabiasfactcheck.com/
Now if we could be certain they had no bias. 8)
Show me a news outlet that claims to have no bias and I will show you a liar. There’s no such thing. Even if you were to depend for your news on your trusted nextdoor neighbour briefing you over the garden fence, the ordering of his or her news items and the prominence that he or she gives to each one would betray the way that they think about them - and therefore their biases. There will be biases that coincide with your biases and therefore seem bias-free, but there are no single news outlets that have no bias.
(I write as someone who spent a career in journalism, and who at one point took more than 20 national and international newspapers a day. When I first placed my order with the newsagent, he thought that all his Christmases had come at once. I took so many newspapers to try to ensure not only that I received the best available coverage of individual stories, but also that I absorbed the widest range of views. But I’m certain that I still showed bias. )
I should perhaps add that this is not a prescription for anybody to read 20-plus newspapers a day (other than those like me for whom it is or was a professional necessity). Just consume your news media intelligently; be conscious of potential biases; discount them. And educate your children in the risks the world contains.
I’m not going to argue about the situation in my own country with someone whose view of it is based on comment threads.
Katherine
You asked me to provide sources other that Breitbart. (I suppose you were implying something.)
I provided all pedigreed Left wing sources. Now you respond like this. 
I lived in the USA for 23 years.
I lived in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Manhattan, Boston, panhandle of West Virginia, Columbus OH, Dallas, Oklahoma, central Michigan, Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, San Diego, Gainesville, Miami, and Western North Carolina.
I took a 7 month, 17,000 mile road trip in a new car covering 35 states. During those 23 years I have seen more of the USA than most Americans. And, my clients are primarily Americans.
I still maintain a US address.
And I notice that plenty of people are willing to form opinions of other countries only from reading their own media and not the media of that country.
Exactly correct.
“It is not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes.” Stalin
I.e. you have to find ways to steal the fruits of the labour of WSJ:s writers, editors and publishers…
And you claim that NYT leans to the left?
First of all just to be clear I don’t read WSJ because it is behind a paywall, but just mentioned in passing that some people do that. And, second of all yours is a non sequitor having no relationship to the leanings of the NYT.
I don’t know if Steve loves cats but according to Ling’s biography of him the Prophet Mohamed definitely loved cats and was known to keep kittens in the pockets of his robes and play with them.
I don’t think of it as a new book technology. These can be called as E-comics.
Regards,
Lewis
It’s a new technology.
If not here and now, maybe a long time ago in a galaxy far far away? 
youtube.com/watch?v=MOXQo7nURs0 (“Introducing the book book”)
youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ (“Medieval helpdesk”)
Considering all that has happened in the intervening years including covid, BLM, George Floyd riots, Antifa wrecking the NW, “Jan 6”, defunding the police leading to massive crime surges leading to Walmarts and others to close shop because of thefts, over turning of Roe, people relocating to States that support their political stance (Blue/Red divide) and so on. Do you still feel the same way?
I live in the Northwest. We’re fine. The supposed “wrecking of the NW” is a great example of wildly misleading news coverage, often with a political agenda.
The police were not actually defunded anywhere, crime rates remain low by historical standards, and the near-term increase in crime rates has occurred in extremely conservative places as well as “blue” places. The “massive crime surges” are also a great example of wildly misleading, politically motivated news coverage.
So yes, I still feel that your opinion is largely based on inaccurate media reports and does not accurately reflect the situation in the US. I am significantly more optimistic than I was in 2018, largely due to the results of the last three elections.
Indeed, but a lot of people like to pretend that isn’t so, these days.
Instead, I would recommend DemocracyNow, Chris Hedges Report, and Al Jazeera from Qatar. Also, individual journalists such as Seymour Hersh and Glen Greenwald.