The FBI announces the arrest of Catherine Leavy for making a bomb threat against Boston Children’s Hospital.
The threat came amid a wave of harassment toward the hospital after its gender-affirming care center became a focus in conservative media. pic.twitter.com/eiHbZBmrT3
— The Recount (@therecount) September 15, 2022
For the past month and more, Chaya Raichik and her far-right running buddies have been ginning up a campaign of terrorism against Boston Children’s Hospital. Today, the FBI arrested one of the bigots Raichik convinced that a world-renowned facility treating kids with cancer, heart problems, and other life-threatening illnesses deserved to be targeted ‘because they want to cut little girls’ breasts off’. (Which is, of course, a lie, but guaranteed to scare the transphobes.)
This is great news for Raichik — tons of earned media advertising her site for any confused haters who need a ‘safe space’ to plan attacks on the people and institutions they fear! It would be less great if there was any chance that the social media platforms which she uses to monetize her bigotry might shut her down, but CLICKS FREE SPEECH, everybody…
New from us: FBI arrested Catherine Leavy of Westfield, Mass, for making a bomb threat against Boston Children’s Hospital.
It's one of "well over a dozen" BCH has received since being targeted online by anti-trans influencers like @libsoftiktok. https://t.co/evCyp3piv3
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) September 15, 2022
In August, Boston’s Children’s Hospital was caught in a conservative media firestorm.
Led by figures like Chaya Raichik, manager of LibsofTikTok, the campaign targeted the hospital’s Gender Multispecialty Service.
https://t.co/z5AePcV04O— The Recount (@therecount) September 15, 2022
Yesterday, Libs of Tik Tok, Matt Walsh, and Jaimee Michelle jumped on Rufo's reporting to claim that the bomb threat to BCH had been fabricated. Today, none of them have amplified this confession that his reporting was false. Weird! https://t.co/vlFj3v4NH7 pic.twitter.com/AnANCjupc2
— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) September 15, 2022
Raichik has now acknowledged the arrest, but not the misinformation she promoted about it just yesterday pic.twitter.com/FxaGubuRFu
— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) September 15, 2022
Reminder, Chris Elston is coming to protest Boston Children's Hospital this Sunday, 9/18. He mocks the threats directed at the hospital by naming it his, "stochastic terror tour." This is absolutely despicable. pic.twitter.com/5i5lvqAlwZ
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) September 15, 2022
Massachusetts is a blue state, but not a solidly blue state. Apparently the woman who called in this particular threat has a record of donations to the Trump campaign…
For those who don't know the political geography of Massachusetts, here's a map of the 2016 election results with the location of Westfield and Boston Children's marked.
Leavy threatened the lives of doctors from the other side of the state. pic.twitter.com/JjJMclvZlH
— John Charpentier, Ph.D. 🇺🇦 (@snpsandsnRNPs) September 15, 2022
I’ve been working on a post about the threats against BCH for weeks… but where are the words to describe people who’d do something like this, knowing exactly what they were encouraging?
Again, LOTT doesn't fire the gun. She picks the target and lets her cult do the actual illegal stuff. https://t.co/Pvpd4qoxco
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) August 31, 2022
You need to understand Libs of TikTok's stochastic terrorism.
LoTT and orbiters have weaponized violent extremists against lgbtq+ people for months. She calls targets, and they answer.
Now, Boston Children's Hospital gets death threats.
Here's how she operates: ?? pic.twitter.com/POMnZbRssQ
— Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) August 17, 2022
Raichik is using @twitter to target children's hospitals for violence – I have trouble imagining anything more despicable. Will @paraga wait to #BanLibsofTikTok until a pediatrician is dead? How about a sick child? https://t.co/ROccVaO6Rm
— Matthew Cortland (@mattbc) September 2, 2022
C Stars
Buncha weirdos over there in the GOP, that’s for sure.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
II
Alison Rose 💙🌻💛
Fucking terrorists.
Gin & Tonic
Hey, if Wagner Group can have a Twitter account with no issues, why would they do anything about Raichik?
MisterForkbeard
@C Stars: “Weirdos” isn’t the language I’d use.
What’s a word that combines “perverted” “greedy” “corrupt” “hateful” “opportunistic” “racist” “murderous” and “traitor”?
Deplorable or Trumper seems to fit, but I think we need something better.
different-church-lady
I’m surprised northwest MA is that blue.
Anne Laurie
From what I can tell, a lot of the Trump supporters out there simply don’t get around to voting.
HumboldtBlue
JPL
@HumboldtBlue: yup she doesn’t agree on ownership.
Each day it just gets worse.
Anonymous At Work
What have the social networks said about the stochastic terrorism threat? Too afraid to take a position on their platform being involved in criminal conspiracies to threaten (one hopes that’s the most) to kill children?
feebog
As we move from the “fuck around” to the “find out” stage.
phdesmond
@Anne Laurie: @different-church-lady:
western Mass. is a low-population area, but it’s well-seeded with colleges and universities, a well-known cause of blueness.
MomSense
Fucking Matt Walsh (one of the talking heads from the Ben Shapiro stable) has been broadcasting outrageous and disgusting lies about BCH for months now. He needs to be prosecuted. What he is saying is such filth.
HumboldtBlue
@JPL:
Yup
MomSense
@MisterForkbeard:
Filthy MAGAt
Martin
I’ve been saying, they aren’t going to back down voluntarily on the culture war. They’re in it to the end.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@HumboldtBlue:
@JPL:
Raymond Dearie is the SM candidate that DOJ wanted, right?
Anonymous At Work
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He was the only one DOJ said they’d allow if pushed. Not the same thing. And every single other thing was a pure win for Trump aside from cost (paid for by his PAC and RNC, I imagine). Timeline’s longer than DoJ, limitations on use as a result of request pretty much forestall ONI review for damage to a national security (since FBI Counter-Terrorism bureau is the only entity under ONI to handle domestic documents of this nature), etc. etc. etc.
The Youthful Federalist again pushed her name onto short lists for promotions as a reward for protecting Her Leader.
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Dearie is one person both sides found acceptable. That is different to saying the DOJ wanted him.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@HumboldtBlue:
DOJ’s response:
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Anonymous At Work:
@Omnes Omnibus:
Point taken. Is Dearie a hack? He seems legitimate given his experience and history
Anonymous At Work
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Unclear but he did sign the original Carter Page warrant back in 2016. Whether he’s succumbed to the prion disease in the 6 years since is unclear.
Trump’s team strategy is unclear simply because Trump called some of the shots that made The Youthful Federalist a mockery even before her first opinion was written. If I had to guess, if people put thought into it, they might think that the misconduct on the Carter Page affidavit in 2016 might incline Dearie to believe that Trump is always being persecuted by The Deep State and show Trump favor as a result.
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The DOJ found him acceptable. I don’t know every federal judge ever appointed.
Captain C
@HumboldtBlue: I wonder what the chances are that a quiet counterintelligence file or investigation will be or already has been opened on Judge Cannon. This seems like a blatantly corrupt ruling, and flat out wrong on the (IANAL, YMMV) legal merits, as well.
Dorothy A. Winsor
It’s not surprising she ruled this way. It’s only surprising to us because for us the facts and the law are so obvious. But she doesn’t car
ETA: I can’t help hoping the law and the facts will convince the 11th circuit.
gene108
Saying the bomb threat was fake has become a standard rebuttal for conservatives. They declared the news reports of the pregnant 10 year old girl going from OH to IN for an abortion was fake.
They want to make sure their followers never get out of the disinformation bubble.
Anonymous At Work
@Dorothy A. Winsor: More about “plausible deniability” here. She needed to pick a better spot rather than give her hand away this early. From now until when she retires (since impeaching a judge is a joke if they are not caught with a dead hooker, live boy, or their nose in a mountain of coke), her every decision will be under tight scrutiny for “did she start at a pro-Trump/GOP conclusion and work backwards” analysis.
There were and still are better ways to have handled it, even for a hack.
Omnes Omnibus
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ve already said it will. And also put in my request for how I want my crow prepared if I am wrong.
Sister Golden Bear
Before trans Canadian Twitch streamer, Clara Sorrenti, better known as Keffals, successfully led an effort to take down Kiwifarms (after receiving numerous death threats from folks there), one of the haters threatened to bomb a poutine truck because she might be there. A poutine truck in Ireland.* Needless to say the Irish authorities were not amused and opened a terrorism investigation.
Unfortunately, Boston Children’s Hospital won’t be the last target of anti-trans stochastic terrorism — eventually people are going to be killed.
*Keffals had fled to Ireland for her safety.
HumboldtBlue
@Captain C:
One can only hope so, this is getting increasingly worrying. The fact that it appears the GOP thinks it can steal enough elections in states controlled by GOP governors, so they don’t have to worry about what actual voters think, is very real, I fear.
prostratedragon
My bold, her bold.
Mike in NC
The Fat Orange Clown recently did a radio interview with the loathsome Hugh Hewitt and threatened violence from his evil cult followers if he is ever indicted. Called himself “a great president” who “did nothing wrong” and “the people of the United States wouldn’t stand for it”.
Yeah, he’s working on another attempted coup. That abominable MAGAt cannot die soon enough.
prostratedragon
@Sister Golden Bear: They’ve already started threatening Lurie Children’s at Northwestern in Chicago.
gene108
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I’m just waiting for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to declare the FBI overstepped its authority and needs to pay Trump $1bn in restitution, issue a written apology, and issue a lien on Merrick Garland’s property to help Trump pay for his legal costs.
Republicans federal judges are the vanguard of the conservative revolution that started taking shape decades ago. They’re decisions are based solely on what furthers their revolutionary aims, and nothing else. The sooner people accept this, the sooner we can stop being surprised by what they do, and realize a Republican judge has already decided how they’ll rule before any arguments are made in court.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Omnes Omnibus: I am putting my faith in your judgement!
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Are you mad, woman???!!!
karen marie
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve reported the LoTT twitter account. It should have been suspended months ago, and certainly it should have been permanently suspended today. Any possible justification for allowing it to continue escapes me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: I need hope!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
odds are they’d find out she’s led a very boring life and happens to be a committed ideologue
Splitting Image
“Republican”.
Gin & Tonic
@Sister Golden Bear: Really don’t wish to minimize the terrorism here, but just one question: Poutine? In Ireland?
Omnes Omnibus
@gene108: How many election lawsuits did Trump win?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Inorite?
HumboldtBlue
@Omnes Omnibus:
From a quick search the first poutine restaurant opened in Galway in 2018.
I also learned that poutine originated in Quebec in the 1950s, I thought it was older than that.
Omnes Omnibus
@HumboldtBlue: I wasn’t questioning it. I believe there should be poutine trucks right next to the taco trucks on every corner.
HumboldtBlue
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, I agree, I looked totally out of curiosity, I was as surprised as you when I read “poutine.”
Sister Golden Bear
@prostratedragon: I suspect part of targeting children’s hospital is that they want to scare the hospital into moving trans kids’ healthcare offsite to clinics that are even more vulnerable to threats, in-person abortion clinic-style menacing, etc.
Sister Golden Bear
@Gin & Tonic: It was a surprise to me as well. Keffals was planning a victory trip to the poutine trip to see how the Irish version compares to her native Canadian version.
Ksmiami
@C Stars: murderous, stupid, vile, inhumane…. The GOP is sucking itself into a ragegasm of a black hole. I say we push them out of US politics
prostratedragon
@Sister Golden Bear: That could be both in general and in this case. Lurie is right downtown (dense, highrent neighborhood near the Water Towr) and in the kind of building that would be hard for a gang of troublemakers to penetrate. Occasional lone wolves have been handled with dispatch.
Citizen Alan
@Mike in NC:
The crookedest person who I ever saw appear in a bankruptcy courtroom was a slum lord from Greenville MS who represented himself and managed to say “I didn’t do nothin’ wrong” over twenty times over the course of three hearings lasting less than two hours in total. When I was in private practice, my rule of thumb was to always assume any client who reassures me of their honesty more than twice is lying about something. If it was more than three times, it was probably something serious if not criminal.
Matt McIrvin
@different-church-lady: The Berkshires are part of Greater Vermont.
LeftCoastYankee
Poitín is the Irish term for moonshine. It took me a bit to realize people are not talking about moonshine when they mention poutine.
Kropacetic
@different-church-lady: A lot of our rural towns put up huge percentages for the Ds. Our political geography is weird. Most of our Republicans are in poorer suburbs and even some of our cities will go red on occasion.
Jess
These people inciting violence do realize that it can go both ways, right? Just sayin…
aaall
We shouldn’t neglect the role of folks like Rod Dreher over at The American Conservative in spreading these lies and ginning up the rage.