In his post earlier today about the exciting new (potential) developments in Rowan County, KY Zandar asked when we could start calling these types of events or statements of intent domestic terrorism. The US definition of terrorism can be found in the criminal code. Specifically, 18 U.S. Code § 2331. The section that defines domestic terrorism is Part 5 (A) through (C(. I think Part 5 (B) i and i are likely the answer to Zandar’s quite appropriate question.
18 USC § 2331 states:
(1) the term “international terrorism” means activities that—
(A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum;
(2) the term “national of the United States” has the meaning given such term in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
(3) the term “person” means any individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property;
(4) the term “act of war” means any act occurring in the course of—
(A) declared war;
(B) armed conflict, whether or not war has been declared, between two or more nations; or
(C) armed conflict between military forces of any origin; and
(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that—
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
While a couple of the commenters to Zandar’s post brought up the unique understanding of the Constitution that is being bandied about by The Oathkeepers, I think its important to make their reasoning here explicit. In 1969 a white supremacist and former member of the Silver Shirts named Mike Beach formed a new group called The Posse Comitatus. The name was intended to present the driving political views of its members: that the power (posse) of the county (comitatus) was the only legitimate power under the US Constitution.
Beach and his compatriots believe that the only legitimate Constitutional officer in the US is the county sheriff because he, or she, is elected by the citizenry of their respective county. While Aho, Berlet, Barkun, and others all connect Beach and the Posse Comitatus with the Christian Identity theology*, their major contribution to America’s extremist milieu was providing an consistent argument for denying all governmental authority – other than the county sheriff.
During the 1980s and 1990s the Posse Comitatus became a more loose organization with chapters in different states that was very popular with farmers. Largely because it denied the legitimacy of almost all the Federal government, the income tax, and, of course, anyone coming to foreclose on distressed family farms.
The most well known member was Gordon Kahl, who was also an early innovator in what would become the sovereign citizen movement. In 1983 Kahl murdered two US Marshalls in ND when they attempted to bring him into custody on a warrant for violating his parole. Kahl was killed by Lawrence County, AR Sheriff Gene Matthews during a standoff that ensued after an attempt was made to arrest Kahl. Matthews killed Kahl and, unfortunately, was killed by Kahl in turn. Sheriff Matthews was likely brought in an attempt to provide Kahl with an authority figure he would acknowledge because of his ideology.
While I don’t think this is in any manual, I do know from friends and colleagues who are in local, state, and Federal law enforcement that this is an informal standard operating procedure when dealing with white supremacists in many jurisdictions. Bringing in the sheriff or his/her deputies is often seen as the easiest way to diffuse what would otherwise become a potential stand off.
There are few, if any, Posse Comitatus groups around any more. Almost all of there members have moved into other white supremacist, white nationalist, patriot, separatist, or Christian Identity groups. And Beach’s ideas about sheriffs being the only legitimate authority, as well as Kahl’s sovereign citizen concepts, are now part of the warp and weft of the ideologies of almost all of these groups.
* Christian Identity, in a nutshell, is an extreme variant of Anglo-Israelitism fused with a racialized version of Charismatic (Pentecostal) Christianity. The Christian Identity theology asserts that the 12 lost tribes of Israel weren’t really lost. Rather they sailed out of the Holy Land, across the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic, up the coast of Europe and down the mouth of the Thames. They were the first civilized settlers of the ancient city that would become London and founded the white race. It was there that Jesus was born – not in Galilee. The Jews are not the actual Children of Israel, but rather imposters. Instead they are actually the descendants of Satan and Africans, Hispanics and Latinos, Asians, indigenous peoples, and people of mixed ethnicity are their minions and dupes. Also, people of mixed ethnicity are mud people.
The largest Christian Identity movement was the Aryan Nations, which spawned two domestic terrorist groups: The Order and The Order II, as well as several leaderless resistance lone wolves. Aryan Nations went into decline after the SPLC won a major judgement against them and their founder, Richard Girnt Butler passed away. Christian Identity churches can often be identified because they advertise themselves as being part of The Church of Jesus Christ Christian. The 1991 documentary Blood in the Face, based on the book of the same name, can be viewed at the link. And while a number of the groups come off as bumbling and somewhat hapless, the most recent iterations of these types of movements are much more potentially lethal. They should not be taken lightly and, unfortunately, eventually there will be another major, violent confrontation between some of them and law enforcement – local, state, and/or Federal. For them it will be a self fulfilled prophecy. For law enforcement and anyone caught in the middle it will be a very bad day…
Omnes Omnibus
Self fulfilling, yes?
scav
@Omnes Omnibus: I suppose the choice between the two depends on one’s personal idea about how likely (or inevitable) the event is.
sigaba
@Omnes Omnibus: Future tense perfective aspect.
That said, the track record for first-world western governments enforcing their own laws against right-wing militias is… bad. For some reason they tend to get a pass.
Arclite
As you highlighted, the Oathkeepers certainly fit the bill. But nothing will happen to them because they’re not black, or brown, or Muslim.
Eric U.
we’re stuck with a republican party where these people are just the action arm of the party. So they are going to have some protection.
Omnes Omnibus
Golly, Balloon Juice is again uninterested in a substantive issue. OTOH, the timing may have been iffy. But then again, I think most FPers and commenters here still follow the MSM defined issues.
John Revolta
I just figured out that these guys weren’t the Promise Keepers. Jeez, it’s getting so you can’t hardly see the asylum for the looneys.
mclaren
You mean “defuse.”
You mean “their.”
You mean “self-fulfilling.” Also, you need to be clear about the group to which “them” refers — the white supremists, or law enforcement?
As laudable as these kinds of efforts may prove, we need front pagers with more familiarity with the English language.
Amir Khalid
So, does what’s happening at the moment in Rowan County (with regard to the Oathkeepers, I guess) look like domestic terrorism?
Omnes Omnibus
@mclaren: Dude, you are already discredited. Walk away. You can’t support your claims. Stop embarrassing yourself.
RK
@mclaren:
Where do you see confusion? And isn’t your question mark here in error?
Steeplejack
@Adam L. Silverman:
I think you need an edit above.
Fixed.
John Revolta
@Amir Khalid: Well, it doesn’t look like they’ve violated clause (5)(A) yet. Do they need A,B, and C?
Yer Honor?
J R in WV
Sounds like if those guys show up in Rowan county they could be transferred straight to Gitmo, Unit 7. Or just Fort Leavenworth where the Marines are in charge of a military prison.
Hmmm… which would I rather spend the next 20 years – Federal Corrections Officers in charge, or Marines? Hmmmm… good question these Oafkeepers should answer before it’s too late.
Amir Khalid
@John Revolta:
If that’s how to look at it, then I think you need A; one of B(i), B(ii) or B(iii); and C. So, unless the Oathkeepers actually start shooting at people, there’s no A and therefore no domestic terrorism.
Morzer
@Omnes Omnibus:
mclaren’s really putting in some extra effort in the clueless trolling stakes tonight.
Amir Khalid
@mclaren:
We should demand that John Cole hire a copy editor!
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
Could one make an argument that their presence with weapons is intimidating enough without having to actually fire their weapons?
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
I was going to say the same thing.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
Thurston likes chewing things over. I nominate him to be the Official Balloon-Juice coffee-maker. I mean co-producer.. no.. well, maybe sort of. Thurston for co-coffee editmaker!
John Revolta
@Amir Khalid: That’s how I read it. OTOH, I don’t know how Dylann Roof doesn’t qualify. Cliven Bundy and his bunch also too.
RandomMonster
@Morzer:
Empty cart rattles the loudest.
Amir Khalid
@Morzer:
I second the nomination!
Hillary Rettig
Meanwhile:
“Two animal rights activists in Utah are facing six months in jail for holding peaceful protests against an amusement park’s treatment of animals without first paying $50 and completing a “Free Expression Permit Application.””
http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/utah-protest-prosecution/8521/
Will Potter’s book Green is the New Red documents how the government is using the “war on terror” to persecute animal and environment activists who threaten nothing but corporate profits. They don’t even bother to disguise their actions, calling one of their key laws the “Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.”
Another Holocene Human
Christian Identity has opened up to admit the “Celts”. Just thought I would toss that in there. I don’t know how it fits into their twelve tribes banter. I rather imagine they blather about their awesome pagan roots the way racist Scandinavians do.
Not recently, either. It became cool to be Celtic back in the 1990s.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Not all of us live in or next to the Land of the Midnight Sun (i.e., Green Bay), so we have to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour.
That being said: for something to be defined as “domestic terrorism,” do do the conditions of both sections 5(A)and 5(B) need to be met? Or is meeting the conditions of 5(B), without having the act(s) of violence committed – merely possible/likely – sufficient for it to be classified as terrorism?
Were I writing a statute, I would include an “and” or an “or” between sub-sections, because clarity is usually good. But what do I know?
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Nice idea, but can we get that position filled at TPM first, please? Josh’s headline writers (and some of his reporters) could use some remedial writing courses. (Disclaimer: I like Josh and TPM, but the writing from some of the kiddies he has working for him kind of detracts from the experience.)
Another Holocene Human
Anybody see this:
On
LGMedit: LGF last night. Maybe not terrorism, but it seems like the Oafkeepers may have broken this federal law instead.kindness
It’s an ego thing though. Oh sure, they mouth the words extolling a warped view of ‘Constitutionalism’ but really Oath Keepers seemed to come from the same place as the Militia Movement. Just with a military/police background requirement twist. It’s all a Cartman ‘I am tha authoritah’ (backed up by big weapons) self wanking of their own egos. And the rest of us and our constitutional freedoms be damned. In their minds they are the only ones who count.
Toddlerism with heavy weapons. Not an enticing picture.
MazeDancer
Such important info and history lesson. I’m ready to sign up for Professor Silverman’s online course in Things You Really Need to Know.
Can’t help but notice that if openly carrying assault weapons with a stated intent to use them is not a violation of any laws, then the NRA has effectively removed the teeth of Part A. For white people. Thinking that is probably a good part of their agenda. After their main goal of making money for gun manufacturers and the NRA.
The Oathkeepers, and all these idiots with severe masculinity deficits, want a fight. They want armed insurrection. They want to purge the land of the non-believers as much as any terrorist group of other alleged religions.
May the County Sheriffs not be their friend.
SFAW
@MazeDancer:
I’d say you’re depressing the shit out of me, but it’s really not you, it’s the state of affairs we now have in Wayne’s World. That terrorist-loving motherfucker can’t go to meet his maker soon enough.
satby
What is frightening to me is how much farther into the mainstream some of these extreme right wing views have permeated. I’m old enough to remember the Birchers and they were treated as the fringe loonies they were by media at the time. Now media has them on for “another perspective” and doesn’t counter the deranged bullshit they spew.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: Totally the timing. We’re interested.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I went with self fulfilled because at that point it would be over and done with. At about 045 hours EDT it seemed to make the most sense…
Adam L Silverman
@sigaba: Its a blind spot due to cultural affinity. Most right wind movements tend to mirror the majority in group that has traditionally had the most power, prestige, access, privilege, etc in these states and societies. And they tend to use common terms, but imbue them with new meaning. One part double entendre and one part code switching. As a result they often get a pass because they look, sound, and seem to believe just like the rest of their less extreme and more normative fellow citizens.
Adam L Silverman
@Arclite: True, up to the point that something really unfortunate happens. And then something, though it may still seem relatively minor, will be done.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not sure what this means, nor what substantive issue you think I’ve missed. Or is this just a comment on the relative lack of comments on a post I slapped together hastily between midnight and 1 AM? And I’m not sure what you mean by an MSM defined issue.
Adam L Silverman
@mclaren: Actually what you need is for this front pager to not try to compose a post and publish after midnight on a day spent doing significant technical writing for work that was broken up by a ninety minute, highly technical, conference call. If the four typos/stylistic errors that I forced you to endure are the worst thing that happened to you between yesterday and today, things aren’t too bad.
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack: that should be i and ii… And good catch on defuse. Again, posting after midnight bad, very, very bad… Also, do NOT get me wet and do NOT feed me after midnight either…
Adam L Silverman
@John Revolta:@John Revolta: Both qualify on the face of the Federal statute. They also, most likely, qualify on equivalent and/or related state statutes. Most states also have statutes about making terroristic threats, where the terroristic has less to do with terrorism (no real political intentions) and more to do with scaring the daylights out of people you are trying to intimidate.
I’ve written elsewhere that both should be considered domestic terrorists. This is based both on the Federal statute as well as what they are actually trying to accomplish.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: I honestly do not know, or if I knew, I just don’t remember right now.
Adam L Silverman
@Hillary Rettig: And that’s where the rub in all this is. At what point does protected speech and action under the 1st Amendment begin to shift from that to criminal action and from their to terrorism. Some of these statutes are written and/or interpreted broadly, some narrowly, but all of them are interpreted contextually. Who is doing what, where, and to whom.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Holocene Human: A lot of Celtic imagery was always there. Pastor Bob Miles, one of the other major Christian Identity leaders from the 80s and 90s, used to tramp around in full, formal highland regalia. If I’m recalling correctly he naked his actual congregation The Mountain Kirk. Others have brought in Norse and Teutonic concepts and so there’s come fusion with the Odinists. One of the most interesting variants is the deity-less version that was promoted by Dr. William Pierce the long time leader of the National Alliance/National Vanguard. He was the author, under the psuedonym of Ian MacDonald (hey more Celtic stuff…) of The Turner Diaries and Hunter. His compound was, if I’m remembering correctly, in West Virginia. The NA/NV folks used to have a very prominent billboard up on I75 in the Ocala area. BettyC might know if its still up.
Adam L Silverman
@MazeDancer: Thanks for the kind words. Please, its Adam. I’m not a professor – I left academia a long time ago and even my top line assignment/designator of duties at the US Army War College was Cultural Advisor, not professor (though that was a secondary designator…)
Adam L Silverman
@satby: I have often started briefings with “Ideas matter and words matter”. In this case there has been a very concerted and very open attempt to move public perception on these and other related matters. And even where the overall perception and/or acceptance of some of these ideas has not carried the day with the majority of Americans, they have successfully been assimilated by enough to have some signifiant impacts. Especially in low turnout elections.
Poopyman
@Adam L Silverman: Definitely what @satby: said. I suspect most readers/commenters don’t have the time to go back and read the overnight posts. Principally because they’ve historically been nearly substance-free and oversnarked.
Morzer
@Adam L Silverman:
Do you know David Neiwert’s books? I once spent a month reading through them and by the end of it I was thoroughly convinced that there were large areas of America that I would do my damnedest not to spend the night in.
Poopyman
@Adam L Silverman:
Brain bleach, please.
Chris
@Adam L Silverman:
Notably, this is exactly the same problem that we face in getting Saudi, Pakistani and other Sunni regimes to crack down hard on jihadist movements – the jihadists share their ideology and tribal identity and are, as far as they’re concerned, at least still part of the family (even if they’re a bit misguided), unlike Shi’ites or Hindus or, well, Westerners.
Adam L Silverman
@Poopyman: sorry… named. Though kilts are traditionally worn commando.
Adam L Silverman
@Morzer: yep, I really like and am impressed with Neiwert’s ability to make this stuff accessible.
themann1086
@Morzer: I was going to mention Neiwert if no one else did. He really does a great job of identifying extremist groups without overreaching in his definitions.
boatboy_srq
@satby: Ending the Fairness Doctrine in broadcasting and shredding mental health infrastructure in the same generational timeframe will do that. Suddenly what once merited a clinical diagnosis and treatment is being broadcast as serious commentary because Fair and Balanced.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: My late night crankiness about dearth of comments. Nothing you did or didn’t do.
Origuy
@Adam L Silverman:
The usual term when talking about kilts is “regimental”.
#kiltwearer
ETA This may have been Photoshopped. Congratulations, Your Majesty.
Procopius
Confound it, you don’t “diffuse” a potentially violent situation, you “defuse” it. The metaphor is defusing a bomb to prevent it from blowing up. I see this so often from people who should know better. Something is “diffused” when it is “spread out over a large area; not concentrated.”
The Other Bob
So as soon as an open-carry idiot shoots someone during a demonstration, they become a terrorist organization right?
Adam L Silverman
@The Other Bob: Not necessarily. Could just be plain, old homicide.
Cervantes
@SFAW:
There is an “and” before (C), which means an “and” is implied before (B) as well. In other words, all three sections must apply.
There is also an “or” before (B) (iii) but that “or” is not material to your question. It is a detail within (B) telling you that any one of (B)’s three conditions is sufficient.
A guy
The breadth of the federal code should also ensnare Hillary. Federal prosecutors can always find some law to claim you’re broken