Just as news comes that Congressman Steve Scalise has (thankfully) been released from the hospital following last month’s shooting, authorities in Lincoln, Nebraska, are investigating an attack on Senator Ben Sasse’s local office.  Per the police report, fake blood was splashed on the door of Sasse’s office sometime between last night and this morning (and following Sasse’s “yes” vote on the Senate’s Motion to Proceed with the debate on Healthcare.)

Senator Deb Fischer’s office also was vandalized last week in similar fashion. In both instances, a sticker from the progressive activist group “Betsy Riot” was found on the office doors.  “What in the heck is ‘Betsy Riot?!'” you may wonder.  (I was unfamiliar, as well.) Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the group:

The Betsy Riot is a progressive protest group that describes itself as a “decentralized neo-suffragette, punk-patriot resistance movement.”^[1] They are pro-gun control. The group began in August 2016, primarily with an anti-gun industry focus,^[2][3] but since the 2016 presidential election, has broadened its focus to protest Trump administration policies and the broader concepts of social injustice and fascism.^[1] The group uses profanity, satire and a radical feminist posture in its messaging, with tactics that include graffiti,^[2] theatrical protests,^[4][5][6] pranks, and coordinated messaging actions, such as mailings, banners,^[1] and flyers.^[7]

Oh. Okay. Well, anyway, someone affiliated with the group (or wanting to be perceived as affiliated with the group) apparently is taking issue with Nebraska’s Senators and expressing their displeasure via the splattering of fake blood. We can be thankful, I suppose, that it’s fake.

These instances aren’t isolated, though.  Per the Lincoln Journal Star, Fischer’s office was also vandalized in May, with bloody handprints and a hanger being left on the door. Missouri Congresswoman Ann Wagner has reported multiple death threats and the driveway of her home in Ballwin, Missouri, was covered with chalk body outlines.

Violence and vandalism have apparently become our new verbal currency.