Hegar

that the uninformed would mistake for an AK

I'm guessing the report about the type of rifle came from secret service who saw it.

I don't think you can presume to know what he expected when he hasn't said what he expected, or to know the effect it's had within a handful of days.

Trying to take your own life out of depression and being willing to give your life to a cause differ in intent, goals, context and likely methods.

What benefits do you see from classifying them as the same thing? They seem very different to me.

I'm pretty sure that's still the case in the US as well. The Wire mentions it as a fact.

"Not a stat legally required to be recorded in many states" makes it sound like it would get mentioned in reports of gun firings, but they wouldn't then have to collate that information, come up with a total or publish or store the stat somewhere.

According to that NYP article someone was a few holes ahead of trump with an ak47, secret service shot at them and they fled, dropping the gun. The suspect was then arrested in a traffic stop a 50 minute drive away from the golf course. I'll believe it when I hear it from a credible source.

Starting ones self on fire is a suicide attempt, regardless of political motive.

Is being a soldier assigned to conduct an assault operation also a suicide attempt?

Knowingly doing something that might kill you is not the sole criteria for a suicide attempt. If they weren't suicidal it wasn't a suicide attempt.

They were suicidal

I've not heard any reporting say this. I've seen internet commenters presume this, but just because someone engaged in an action that could result in their death, doesn't mean they're suicidal.

I don't think it's realistic to assume you understand the mental state of someone who's already proved they are capable of setting themselves on fire to make a point.

This article is bullshit from a disinfo website:

Alaska has been part of a push by Outside dark money coming from groups like UniteUs.org and FairVote.org to get ranked-choice voting in place in every state.

Republican voters, many of whom are not inclined to rank candidates. Ranked-choice voting favors the more malleable Democrat voters

This makes absolutely no sense. Not inclined to rank candidates? What the fuck does that mean? Humans rank things. We have preferences. Malleable voters is also absolute nonsense.

Ranked choice favors the candidate that the majority of voters support. Republicans oppose it because they want to win seats where the majority of voters don't want their candidates or policies.

Why would you think that people who have the courage to act on their principles would regret it?

The amount of self determination it must take to smell the gasoline and still strike the match makes me think that the people who do this are capable of living with the consequences of their actions.

If it were only a handful of people this wouldn't be happening. It usually takes an appreciative audience for people to feel emboldened to leap from rhetoric to calling in a threat or actually committing racist violence.

Given trump's persistent support, it could be that 40% of the country see this and think, like Lucille Bluth, good on her. Or that's what I worry about anyway.