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They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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White supremacy is terrorism.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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You are here: Home / Archives for Domestic Terrorism

Domestic Terrorism

Domestic Terrorism Open Thread: Aryans Assemble!

by Anne Laurie|  May 23, 202310:54 pm| 74 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Open Threads

UPDATE: Investigators have seized a Nazi flag from the scene where a driver was detained after a truck crashed into security barriers near the White House, officials say. https://t.co/7E2X9ABE6B

— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 23, 2023

I try not to overrate the ‘damaged individual attempts damage’ trope, but this particular story adds a twist to the old ‘Timothy McVeigh with a U-Haul’ pattern:

… The white U-Haul box truck crashed into the barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square, a few hundred feet from the White House, just before 10 p.m. ET.

A bystander appeared to capture on his cellphone the moment when a 26-foot U-Haul truck jumped a curb but couldn’t fit through barriers set on the sidewalk.

“There were no injuries to any Secret Service or White House personnel and the cause and manner of the crash remain under investigation,” Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service chief of communications, said in a statement Monday night…

The Reuters news agency published an image showing a Nazi-style red flag emblazoned with a swastika laid on the ground beside the van. Reuters, citing its own photographer on the scene and a witness, reported that the items apparently taken from the truck had been placed on the sidewalk and were seized by officers.

Video footage later showed a robot opening the back of the truck, which appeared to be empty.

A Marquette High School spokesperson tells us 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula is a Jan 2022 graduate. He is accused of crashing a U-Haul into a White House barrier, threatening to harm the president. Here’s his yearbook photo.

More details: https://t.co/5oIIjgy5qO@ksdknews pic.twitter.com/LmiOGBYPWo

— Paula Vasan (she/her) (@PaulaVasan) May 23, 2023


His poor family…

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Driver who crashed near White House told officials he was prepared to kill Biden and 'seize power' https://t.co/9GeRnJLWEk

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) May 24, 2023

From what I understand, kid’s the right age for a first schizophrenic break, and I only wish it were harder to get ‘radicalized’ by online bigots:

… Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, Missouri, rented the U-Haul truck Monday night immediately after flying from St. Louis to Dulles International Airport on a one-way ticket, a Secret Service agent said in a statement of facts filed in federal district court in Washington D.C.

The statement was included with a criminal complaint charging Kandula with depredation of property of the United States in excess of $1,000.

Around 9:35 p.m., he drove the vehicle onto a sidewalk outside the White House and into a metal barrier just north of the White House, according to the document…

Kandula allegedly told authorities he had been planning the attack for six months and detailed the plans in a “green book,” the document states.

He “stated his goal was to ‘get into the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,'” the document states. “When agents asked how KANDULA would seize power, he stated he would ‘Kill the President if that’s what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.'”

In the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, where Kandula lives, FBI agents were seen entering and leaving his home Tuesday and acquaintances struggled to link the alleged attack with the “chill” teen they know…

Errion Barfield, who was on the Marquette High School track team with Kandula, remembered him as quiet and unassuming.

“He was nice and chill,” Barfield said in a Facebook message to NBC News. “Ain’t ever expected him to do something like that.”

Kandula was a member of the sizable South Asian population of Chesterfield, a middle-class suburb about 20 miles west of St. Louis…

Kandula appeared in Washington D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday and is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Kandula has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Sai Varshith Kandula thought nazis “have a great history,” likes their "authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one world order,” and likes “Hitler, because he was a strong leader,” per Secret Service. pic.twitter.com/PqGWtXs6t1

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) May 23, 2023

Domestic Terrorism Open Thread: <em>Aryans Assemble!</em>Post + Comments (74)

Late Night Open Thread: Former NYC Field Office F.B.I. Agent Charged in Jan. 6 Riot

by Anne Laurie|  May 3, 202310:53 pm| 71 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Jan 6: Insurrection, Republican Venality

i tire of ‘hillary was right’ framing but in the case of the NY FBI field office she was absolutely fucking right https://t.co/sfSA42Vfpk

— the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) 🥬 (@merovingians) May 3, 2023

Federal prosecutors have charged a former F.B.I. agent with illegally entering the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot and said he had called police officers Nazis as he encouraged a mob of Trump loyalists to kill them.

The former agent, Jared L. Wise, was arrested on Monday and faces four misdemeanor counts, including disrupting the orderly conduct of government and trespassing, after agents received a tip in January last year that he had been inside the Capitol, according to a criminal complaint…

Over the past two years, scores of rioters with military experience have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack. But Mr. Wise is the rare former federal agent to have been charged. The F.B.I. said agents first found Mr. Wise living in New Braunfels, Texas, before he moved to Bend, Ore., in June…

From 2004 to 2017, Mr. Wise worked on public corruption and counterterrorism matters at the F.B.I. field offices in Washington, D.C., and New York. He was briefly detailed to Libya to help agents investigate the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, that killed four Americans. Mr. Wise left the bureau after his supervisors in New York became unhappy with his work, and his career had stalled, a former senior F.B.I. official said.

Mr. Wise later joined the conservative group Project Veritas under the supervision of a former British spy, Richard Seddon, who had been recruited by the security contractor Erik Prince to train operatives to infiltrate trade unions, Democratic congressional campaigns and other targets…

I swear, one of the big reasons the MAGAts worship TFG is that he did his best to live out their Walter Mitty fantasies.

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Everyone needs to be The Star of an imaginary blockbuster movie now. Regular ol’ life is just too bOrInG.
(h/t @RadioFreeTom cuz this is his thesis topic.) https://t.co/un5c9ntSt3

— JMoLawre ☮️🗯🔳🔲 (@JMoLawre) May 3, 2023

NBC, via Yahoo:

… Wise was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct with an intent to impede an orderly session of Congress; and unlawfully parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

“I’m former—I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it. … Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!” federal authorities say he told officers after he entered the Capitol. “Yeah, f— them! Yeah, kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!”

The FBI said that security video showed Wise entered the Capitol through the Senate wing door and that cellphone data confirmed his presence. He later exited out a window, it said.

The incident when Wise yelled at police took place on the upper west terrace at around 4:21 p.m., when violence against police officers was happening in front of him, “including officers being knocked to the ground directly in front of him,” the FBI affidavit said. That’s when Wise “turned in the direction of the violence” and called for the mob to kill officers, the FBI affidavit said…

The person central to Project Veritas’ “secret surveillance operations against F.B.I. employees, aimed at exposing anti-Trump sentiment in the bureau’s ranks” hired the former FBI supervisory special agent, per this NYT piece from 2021: https://t.co/wHsi6yrsTP

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) May 3, 2023

bragging about it, even

— the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) 🥬 (@merovingians) May 3, 2023

Late Night Open Thread: Former NYC Field Office F.B.I. Agent Charged in Jan. 6 RiotPost + Comments (71)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: ‘Speaker’ McCarthy Already In Over His Head

by Anne Laurie|  January 10, 202310:08 am| 120 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread:  'Speaker' McCarthy Already In Over His Head

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

Three days ago, in his first remarks as Speaker, McCarthy vowed to "stop the rising national debt." Today, Republicans tried to rescind IRS funding, which would increase the deficit by $114 billion.

It took 3 days before they dropped all pretenses to yet again coddle the rich.

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) January 10, 2023

"If the President were presented with H.R. 23 — or any other bill that enables the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations to cheat on their taxes, while honest and hard-working Americans are left to pay the tab — he would veto it."https://t.co/Geuf9kde6P

— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) January 10, 2023

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Ooooh, Kev can call spirits — well, poo-flinging monkeys — from the vasty deeps…

The White House made its first veto threat of the new Congress Monday, targeting a House Republican bill that would rescind funding allotted to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law last summer. 

“This reckless bill would increase the deficit by nearly $115 billion over 10 years per an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office by enabling wealthy tax cheats to engage in additional tax fraud and avoidance,” the administration said in a statement, citing the score released Monday.

“If the President were presented with H.R. 23 — or any other bill that enables the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations to cheat on their taxes, while honest and hard-working Americans are left to pay the tab — he would veto it,” it added. 

Such a bill, should it pass the House, would almost certainly never survive the Democratic-controlled Senate to reach Biden’s desk…

“Are they going to have a strike force that goes in with AK-15s already loaded, ready to shoot some small-business person in Iowa?” mused Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Fox and Friends last summer.

It’s a talking point fully untethered from the reality of the Inflation Reduction Act. The 87,000 figure comes from an old Treasury Department report, issued before the Act became law, estimating the number of full-time employees the IRS would be able to hire by 2031 with an $80 billion infusion. Much less than funneling new funds to a supposedly rabid group of IRS agents who habitually terrorize gentle Iowans, that money would be used to hire employees spread across the agency, many in functions like customer service…

But the Republican animosity towards the IRS is nothing new. Through hearings and ginned-up scandals, the party has been aiming at the agency for decades with tangible results. The cumulative effect is an agency understaffed, using hopelessly outdated technology, that completely lacks the resources and firepower to go after top earners, many of whom hide their money and assets behind accounting trickery and batteries of lawyers. 

As the White House points out in its statement — and as other, independent analyses have also noted — that means billions of dollars in uncollected taxes owed to the government…

I’ve been pushing to give the IRS the resources it needs to serve taxpayers and crack down on ultra-wealthy tax cheats. With 50,000+ workers—including many customer service representatives—set to retire soon, time has been of the essence. (2/3)https://t.co/sZBp3NFnCE

— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) January 10, 2023

Of course, when your majority is fragile enough that a few overdue indictments could kill it, you do what you can.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 9, 2023

Tuesday Morning Open Thread:  'Speaker' McCarthy Already In Over His Head 1

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

The historic chaos in the House of Representatives this past week embarrassed not only a party, but an entire nation. A small minority blocked the House from electing a leader, or even swearing in its own members. https://t.co/KxQbGackiq pic.twitter.com/l7bSW4bthr

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 9, 2023

Sad trombone noises:

Thousands of protesters in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo demanded “No amnesty!" on Monday, a demand for retribution against those who stormed the Brazil's capital Sunday in an effort to reinstall former President Jair Bolsonaro. https://t.co/DQJ0Bgtcbl

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 10, 2023

Bolsonaro tells CNN Brasil he plans to return from the U.S. earlier than planned to see his doctors for the intestinal obstruction derived from the 2018 stabbing. He posted a photo from his Orlando hospital bed. pic.twitter.com/PNpJuvXSnt

— Anthony Boadle (@AnthonyBoadle) January 10, 2023

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: ‘Speaker’ McCarthy Already In Over His HeadPost + Comments (120)

Foreign Affairs Open Thread: The Bolsonaro From Brazil

by Anne Laurie|  January 9, 20237:33 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been admitted to a US hospital with severe abdominal pain a day after his supporters stormed Brasilia https://t.co/ao506ALRkS via @bpolitics @danielcarvalho_ @brandimarte

— Robert Jameson (@rhjameson) January 9, 2023


Bolsonaro might quite plausibly need medical care — he’s had repeated hospitalizations for bowel obstructions since surviving an assassination attempt some years ago, not to mention suffering the aftereffects of multiple coronavirus infections. And no doubt it’s very stressful when your supporters’ attempts to overthrow your legitimately elected successor fail miserably and publicly.

NPR has more details:

Bolsonaro goes to hospital in Florida as Brazil cracks down on riots by his supporters https://t.co/6sF40LftPF

— NPR World (@nprworld) January 9, 2023

Google Translate: White House: Biden invited Lula to visit Washington in early February. Lula accepted the invitation.

Casa Branca: Biden convidou Lula para visitar Washington no início de fevereiro. Lula aceitou o convite.

— Raquel Krähenbühl (@Rkrahenbuhl) January 9, 2023

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BOLSONARO SUPPORTERS: 150 of us have been arrested but we will never stop. These are the new Crusades

BOLSONARO: [currently experiencing The Seas with Nemo & Friends at Walt Disney World's EPCOT park]

— Populism Updates (@PopulismUpdates) January 8, 2023

Brazil riot police deploy at Bolsonaro backers' camp after capital stormed https://t.co/BEBy8KmOZ9

— Nandita Bose (@nanditab1) January 9, 2023

1500 people have been arrested.

Minister of Justiça, @FlavioDino: Yesterday we had the Brazilian Capitol. With two differences: first, there were no deaths, and second, there are more people arrested here than there.”

— Raquel Krähenbühl (@Rkrahenbuhl) January 9, 2023

Google Translate: SEE: Bolsonaro family dolls dressed as inmates on Avenida Paulista.

🚨VEJA: Bonecos da família Bolsonaro com roupas de presidiários na Avenida Paulista. pic.twitter.com/LlFPLyKajP

— CHOQUEI (@choquei) January 9, 2023

In 2019, Eduardo Bolsonaro (one of the sons) joined Steve Bannon’s far-right nationalist group called The Movement. He was also in DC during the January 6th siege on the Capitol. Just something to keep in mind. https://t.co/aJMFcNs5bn

— New York City Antifa (@NYCAntifa) January 8, 2023

State spox Ned Price says: If someone entered US on an "A" visa, essentially a diplomatic visa, & an A visa holder is no longer engaged in official business, it is incumbent on that visa holder to depart the US or request a change to another immigration status, within 30 days.

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) January 9, 2023

And that request would be made to the Department of Homeland Security.
It is incumbent on visa holder to make that request to change their status or leave the country.

Asked if individual does not do either or those things, (leave or change their visa status), what happens, Price says:
If an individual has no basis to be in US, the individual is subject to removal by [the Department of] Homeland Security.

Asked about prospect an A visa holder might have entered US on a different visa, Price said: I would be hard-pressed to think of scenario when sitting head of state would travel on something other than A visa if that person was here on something for official business.

Answering @Reuters question @StateDeptSpox says: "If an A visa holder is no longer engaged in official business on behalf of their government, it is incumbent on that visa holder to depart US or to request a change to another immigration status within 30 days." #Brazil #Bolsonaro https://t.co/11Etx9nuKv

— Hümeyra Pamuk (@humeyra_pamuk) January 9, 2023

BREAKING 🇧🇷: Federal deputy Erika Hilton has officially submitted a request to the Foreign Ministry to initiate the extradition of Jair Bolsonaro from the United States. pic.twitter.com/QWY43FLEMS

— David Adler (@davidrkadler) January 9, 2023

Just last week:

One minute you're president/aspiring dictator of Brazil. The next, you're eating KFC in Florida. https://t.co/HV93uIGMia

— TVMoJoe (@TVMoJoe) January 2, 2023

Foreign Affairs Open Thread: The Bolsonaro From BrazilPost + Comments (40)

Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: “Post-Election Unrest” in Brazil

by Anne Laurie|  January 9, 20233:54 am| 35 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads

Supporters of Brazil's Bolsonaro engage in post-election unrest https://t.co/7XtsLD9VTY pic.twitter.com/Yn6jV3TkCB

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2023

Dramatic scenes unfolded in Brazil's capital, Brasilia, where supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential palace https://t.co/q2QLEjxG4Y pic.twitter.com/owsi2s0aE9

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2023

A three-hour tour, on a Sunday afternoon… There will be much more information coming out, I’m sure, but here’s a post of immediate reactions, to mark the event.

Brazil’s Supreme Court late on Sunday removed the governor of Brasilia from office for 90 days due to flaws in security in the capital, after thousands of backers of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro ransacked government buildings.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes also ordered social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to block coup-mongering propaganda.

Brazilian authorities have begun investigating the worst attack on the country’s institutions since democracy was restored four decades ago, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vowing to bring those responsible for the riot to justice.

Tens of thousands of anti-democratic demonstrators on Sunday invaded the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential palace and smashed windows, overturned furniture, destroyed art works and stole the country’s original 1988 Constitution. Guns were also seized from a presidential security office…

Lula blamed Bolsonaro for inflaming his supporters after a campaign of baseless allegations about election fraud after the end of his rule marked by divisive nationalist populism.

From Florida, where he flew 48 hours before his term ended, Bolsonaro rejected the accusation, tweeting that peaceful demonstrations were democratic but the invasion of government buildings “crossed the line.”…

Police retook the damaged public buildings in the iconic futuristic capital after three hours and dispersed the crowd with tear gas.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino said 200 demonstrators had been arrested, but governor Rocha put the number at 400.

Dino said investigations will aim to uncover who financed the several hundred buses that brought Bolsonaro’s supporters to Brasilia and also probe Rocha for not preparing security…

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Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who refuse to accept his election defeat have stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace in the capital. By early evening, police had reestablished control of the buildings. https://t.co/hK5IDjDFpb

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 8, 2023

… The incident recalled the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Political analysts have warned for months that a similar storming was a possibility in Brazil, given that Bolsonaro has sown doubt about the reliability of the nation’s electronic voting system — without any evidence. The results were recognized as legitimate by politicians from across the spectrum, including some Bolsonaro allies, as well as dozens of foreign governments.

Unlike the 2021 attack in the U.S., few officials were likely to have been working in the Brazilian Congress and Supreme Court on a Sunday.

U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters that the riots in Brazil were “outrageous.” His national security adviser Jake Sullivan went a step further on Twitter and said the U.S. “condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil.”

Biden later tweeted that he looked forward to continuing to work with Lula, calling the riots an “assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil.”

From a long thread:

Ends by recalling reason for visit to city of Araraquara today (natural disasters). Climate change a major threat, he says, noting that many vandals in Brasilia today almost certainly linked to illegal logging, mining, and cattle ranching interests responsible for deforestation pic.twitter.com/o8GZu20tcA

— Andre Pagliarini (@apagliar) January 8, 2023

Another thread:

Gotta catch them all!
“Three more buses full of detained bolsonaristas arrive at the police station.” https://t.co/450tPS8lQe

— Sanho Tree (@SanhoTree) January 8, 2023

The Biden administration has condemned the attacks by supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on the country’s government buildings congress, supreme court and presidential palace. https://t.co/ahUQIhn7tZ

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) January 8, 2023

As fanatical fascist far-right supporters of Brazil's ex president Bolsonaro storm the congress and presidential palace in Brazil – reminder that Bannon and others like Prince, Gorka and most notably Trump have been close supporters and strategists supporting Bolsonaro https://t.co/gQPAQwFNqD

— Wendy Siegelman (@WendySiegelman) January 8, 2023

Thread:

Jason Miller, who had just founded the social media platform GETTR (expanding a project by Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui), appeared on Bannon's War Room even as the 2021 Brazilian 'riot' unfolded and talked of the mob's "enthusiasm for free speech". 4/https://t.co/u3HYEJTtxh

— capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) January 8, 2023

*All* the usual suspects…

13/ "It’s the start of a relationship which I’m sure will soon end in marriage" – #Bolsonaro on Musk.

It will be very interesting to see what comes next from the platform's CEO. pic.twitter.com/Pfn7y1BGa5

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) January 8, 2023

Counter-argument:

I dunno, I’ve suspected he’s there to escape arrest in Brazil. And if he was going to retake power I think it would be hard from Florida, & I also think the US—if they’re legally able—might not let him leave FL if they think it’s to go overthrow Lula https://t.co/I0UcowhcvA

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 9, 2023

Not everything fits in to a good analogy w the US. Today was not much like 1-6, even though Bannon was involved w both. Today mostly shows that Bannon is fucking stupid, & that Roger Stone & the Proud Boys/Oath Keepers were the brains of 1-6.

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 9, 2023

Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Open Thread: “Post-Election Unrest” in BrazilPost + Comments (35)

Stochastic Terrorism Comes To Boston

by Tom Levenson|  December 22, 20225:04 pm| 70 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Open Threads, Post-racial America

Talking Points Memo reported yesterday on a series of bomb threats delivered to Tufts University.  Tufts–which occupies the border region between Somerville and Medford, west and north of Cambridge and Boston, had, it seemed committed the sin of teaching about race and the concept and history of whiteness in the US.

The first threat came last Wednesday, following the Tuft’s Diversity and Inclusion department hosting “Unpacking Whiteness” — part of a series of programs focused on addressing “the experience of those who have racial privilege and who would like to find support in understanding how to practice anti-racism in their daily lives.”

The bomb threat, emailed to the Diversity and Inclusion department, said it was a response to the event.

“Tufts university continues to fuel anti white racism in this country by having bullshit courses like ‘unpack whiteness’ which is anti white propaganda,” the email read. “We are a multiracial group who doesn’t want white people to be treated like shit… We placed several bombs in Tufts university, we don’t want anyone to die, we are just here to send a message.”

This was followed by renewed threats on Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday and yesterday.  They seem all to have been hoaxes, though the group escalated this week by adding the Boston office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to their target list.  That will, I think, prove to be a notable mistake. Whatever the feds may feel about university DEIJ efforts, they do not take kindly to threats against themselves.

Tufts has moved its finals online, which seems to me to be prudent.

Stochastic Terrorism Comes To Boston

But that’s already a minor win for the terrorists behind these threats.  As Adam has written many, many times, the American radical right wants to destroy civic space, the places where we encounter each other, experience things together, talk and learn. That space at Tufts has been narrowed this week.

The only other comment I have is that the GOP is to the people behind this as pre-1933 Nazi members of the Reichstag were to the Brown Shirts: the “polite” wing of a movement explicitly aiming to seize power by any means available to them.

But we knew that.

Happy holidays, I guess…and open thread.

Image: Albert Anker, The School Examination, 1862.

Stochastic Terrorism Comes To BostonPost + Comments (70)

Attack on Speaker’s husband sounds like domestic terrorism

by Betty Cracker|  October 28, 20222:03 pm| 306 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Domestic Terrorism, Open Threads, Politics

Here’s an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal coverage:

The intruder shouted, “Where is Nancy?” before attacking her husband, one of the officials said.

The intruder broke in through a sliding-glass door and beat Mr. Pelosi with a hammer, one of the officials said, leaving him badly injured with wounds to the head and body. The alleged assailant was arrested.

The suspected attacker has espoused extreme right-wing views on social media, including conspiracy theories about Covid-19, according to one of the law-enforcement officials.

Here’s further information on the suspect, 42-year-old David DePape, from CNN:

Last year, David DePape posted links on his Facebook page to multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen. Other posts included transphobic images and linked to websites claiming Covid-19 vaccines were deadly. “The death rates being promoted are what ever ‘THEY’ want to be promoted as the death rate,” one post read.

DePape also posted links to YouTube videos with titles like “Democrat FARCE Commission to Investigate January 6th Capitol Riot COLLAPSES in Congress!!!” and “Global Elites Plan To Take Control Of YOUR Money! (Revealed)”

Two days after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of killing George Floyd, DePape wrote that the trial was “a modern lynching,” falsely indicating that Floyd died of a drug overdose.

So, yeah — a violent rightwing nutcase, which means the attack was almost certainly domestic terrorism. According to the SF police briefing, DePape attempted to tie Mr. Pelosi up and wait for the Speaker to return home, presumably so he could assault her too.

Kevin McCarthy, who recently said it would be “hard not to hit her with it” if Nancy Pelosi relinquishes the Speaker’s gavel to him after the midterms, sent thoughts and prayers, I assume.

Open thread.

Attack on Speaker’s husband sounds like domestic terrorismPost + Comments (306)

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