Right-wing Domestic Terrorism

[LFC]

Photos of Pence being holed up during the terrorist attack are being blocked from being published since they don't support the Republican narrative. Sounds like strong support of right-wing domestic terrorism to me.

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl said Monday that there are photos of then-vice president Mike Pence taking refuge during the deadly Capitol riot, and though the journalist has seen them, he has so far not been allowed to publish them.

While promoting his new book, “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show” on “The Late Show,” Karl told Stephen Colbert that there was “an official White House photographer” with Pence on Jan. 6, when supporters of then-president Donald Trump breached the Capitol in an effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral win. Trump had called on Pence to refuse to certify the win himself and Pence had refused.

“I got ahold of the photographer. I actually saw all of the photographs. This is the Vice President of the United States and he’s, like, holed up in a basement,” Karl said, adding that Pence’s team “refused” to let him publish the shots. One picture, he noted, appeared to show Pence reading the tweet Trump sent about him that day: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”

[LFC]

Anybody want to give odds on this NOT being an act of racist right-wing domestic terrorism?

The Iowa teacher whose body was found underneath a tarp at a local park after police say she was murdered by two students gave an interview to a paper just a day before she died and talked about mortality.

Nohema Graber, 66, who was considered a leader in the Fairfield, Iowa, community, visited the town’s library to admire a display commemorating the Day of the Dead, which is celebrated by people of Mexican heritage.

"We all know we are going to die," she told the paper, according to KCCI. "It’s our way of laughing at death."

Graber taught at Fairfield High School, which is in the southeastern part of the state. Preliminary evidence indicates that she suffered from "trauma to the head," according to court filings. Her body was located at Chautauqua Park.

Willard Noble Chaiden Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale, both 16, were charged as adults in the killing.

Police received a tip that Goodale posted details about planning the killing and a possible motive on social media, according to court documents. Authorities have not yet released the motive. The court documents indicated police investigators found clothing that appeared to contain blood at the homes of the teens.

Graber was born in Xalapa, Mexico, the capital of the state of Veracruz, about 180 miles (289 kilometers) east of Mexico City. She moved to Fairfield, the hometown of her husband Paul Graber, in the 1990s. They divorced five years ago but remained close, he told The Des Moines Register.

[pnwguy]

Nov 9, 2021 19:00:26 GMT LFC said:

One of the Jan 6 right-wing domestic terrorists is seeking asylum in Belarus. Why Belarus? No extradition treaty and it just had a stolen election much like the terrorists wanted in America.

When Lukashenko is done toying with him for political points, he can just push him to the Polish border with the other migrants used as pawns.

[LFC]

Looks like a terrorist snowflake may have just made a pretty expensive blunder.

Far-Right Extremist Runs To Court In Fear Of Antifascist’s Tweets

Adam Kiefer, a California man documented marching with Proud Boys, wearing Proud Boys regalia and throwing punches at far-right protests, got a temporary restraining order against an antifascist who tweeted visual evidence that appeared to show him at the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

• Kiefer denies being at the insurrection and being a Proud Boy, and he claims the antifascist is harassing him by tweeting about him.

• But Kiefer’s gambit looks like it could backfire spectacularly: The antifascist is fighting back with a motion accusing him of abusing the courts as a censorship tool, and if the antifascist is successfully, Kiefer could get saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

[LFC]

They bagged a terrorist who threatened a Republican representative for voting for the infrastructure bill.

A Long Island man was arrested for threatening the life of a Republican congressman who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure spending bill, just the latest in an emerging pattern of threats aimed at Republicans who’ve worked with Democrats.

Kenneth Gasper allegedly called in a death threat directed at Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) “for a recent congressional vote that Defendant Gasper did not agree with,” Nassau police said, according to Newsday.

Gasper faces a second-degree charge of aggravated harassment and was arraigned Thursday, according to court records. He was released on recognizance with a temporary restraining order. He’s due back in court on Nov. 24. He had no attorney information on file Friday.

Police didn’t get more specific about the nature of the threat, but Garbarino was one of 13 House Republicans to break ranks and vote for the bipartisan infrastructure spending bill, a package of physical infrastructure spending money that has been passed by both houses of Congress and is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden on Monday.

A spokesperson for the congressman told News 12 that there have been numerous recent instances of harassment, both over the phone and in person at the congressman’s offices.

Garbarino is just the latest Republican targeted for their vote. Soon after the infrastructure package passed the House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called the Republicans who voted for it “traitors” and posted their phone numbers on social media.

[Bact PhD]

Nov 12, 2021 18:09:58 GMT LFC said:

They bagged a terrorist who threatened a Republican representative for voting for the infrastructure bill.

A Long Island man was arrested for threatening the life of a Republican congressman who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure spending bill, just the latest in an emerging pattern of threats aimed at Republicans who’ve worked with Democrats.

Kenneth Gasper allegedly called in a death threat directed at Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) “for a recent congressional vote that Defendant Gasper did not agree with,” Nassau police said, according to Newsday.

Gasper faces a second-degree charge of aggravated harassment and was arraigned Thursday, according to court records. He was released on recognizance with a temporary restraining order. He’s due back in court on Nov. 24. He had no attorney information on file Friday.

Police didn’t get more specific about the nature of the threat, but Garbarino was one of 13 House Republicans to break ranks and vote for the bipartisan infrastructure spending bill, a package of physical infrastructure spending money that has been passed by both houses of Congress and is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden on Monday.

A spokesperson for the congressman told News 12 that there have been numerous recent instances of harassment, both over the phone and in person at the congressman’s offices.

Garbarino is just the latest Republican targeted for their vote. Soon after the infrastructure package passed the House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called the Republicans who voted for it “traitors” and posted their phone numbers on social media.

LOCK THEM UP!
LOCK THEM UP!
LOCK THEM UP!

[goldenvalley]

Now the shoe is on the other foot...instead of elections officials, school board members, and Democrats like AOC getting death threats and harassment it is Republican Congress members.  Mob mentality is being turned on them.  Will that change some attitudes?

[pnwguy]

Nov 12, 2021 18:26:40 GMT goldenvalley said:

Now the shoe is on the other foot...instead of elections officials, school board members, and Democrats like AOC getting death threats and harassment it is Republican Congress members.  Mob mentality is being turned on them.  Will that change some attitudes?

Hell, no.  It just means they have to walk more narrowly in the goose-steps of the Dear Leader.  The ones with bigger shoes than Trump's will consider Chynese foot binding.

[LFC]

Cases like George Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse will only embolden the heavily armed fascist plaid shirts. I think Josh Marshall has it nailed down with the term "right-wing murder safaris." (paywalled) This is the abuse of the right to self defense by people who heavily arm themselves, throw themselves into situations where they do not belong, get "scared", and start shooting. It's self-fulfilling prophecy that they dream about as they touch themselves.

Court observers appear divided on whether the Kyle Rittenhouse trial is headed to a hung jury or an outright acquittal. Very few seem to think the case is headed toward a conviction. That’s very jarring because many of us see it as obvious that Rittenhouse is unquestionably the guilty party, even if precisely what he is guilty of may be open to interpretation and despite the fact that the nature of self-defense laws in many states give the defense plenty of room to work with even in a case like this. Setting aside the technical components of first degree murder charges where this trial seems deeply unjust. Rittenhouse traveled to Wisconsin loaded for bear looking for trouble, found it and the law says that’s okay. That is compounded by the way the right in the US has made Rittenhouse into a folk hero.

But I’ve tried to distill down just what gets to me about this case. And here’s what I’ve come up with.

Over the years at TPM we’ve done a lot of coverage not only of the ‘gun rights’ movement but so-called ‘open carry’ activism specifically. These are those cases where men engage in a kind of wingnut performance art by going into restaurants or other public areas carrying various kinds of long guns, most often AR-15s, like the one Rittenhouse used. Many states have made this legal in recent years and these guys want to show they can do it. Open carry types have a whole story about why they do this. But it seems obviously part and parcel of what we now call Trumpism, a form of performative aggression and provocation. People who show up at a local Denny’s or a Walmart with an AR-15 strapped over their back are trying to menace and terrorize people. Because they can. Because it feels powerful.

But the ins and outs of open carry nonsense aren’t what I want to discuss here. It’s rather the trajectory from that to Rittenhouse’s double murder to his expected acquittal. To most of us it is pretty obvious that it’s not good for society to have lots of people walking around in public settings carrying loaded firearms. Open carry activists and ‘gun rights’ supporters generally say that’s all wrong. The problem isn’t guns. The issue is when someone decides to commit a crime with one. If someone shoots someone that’s a crime and it should be punished.

This flies in the face of human nature, common sense and the fact that laws are intended not only to punish crimes but make them less likely to happen in the first place. But let’s take this argument at face value. No one is physically injured by these yahoos strutting around with their AR-15s. The moment that changes we have laws that cover that. Those laws carry severe penalties. So far so good.

But the Rittenhouse case shows how that is not really true. Permissive self-defense laws allow a Rittenhouse to have his aggression double as self-defense. You intentionally go into a chaotic situation. You travel across state lines, highly and visibly armed, allegedly to ‘protect’ people who haven’t asked for your protection. Then you feel threatened, which seems likely to happen in a chaotic place when you show up, chest puffed out with a military style weapon. Your perception of danger entitles you to murderous violence, which you arrived locked and loaded to pursue in the first place. In Rittenhouse’s case part of his perception of threat came when people freaked out after he’d shot and killed the first person. And of course only other people get hurt or killed because you’ve got the over-the-top firepower and they don’t.

If you operate within the chain of reasoning here you see the perverse connections. Self-defense laws exist because we as a society believe you are entitled to defend yourself with what would ordinarily be criminal violence if you face imminent, grave bodily harm to death. If someone breaks into your home and is threatening to kill you you have the right to kill them first. But if you created the dangerous or deadly situation the calculus changes. Or at least it should. Rittenhouse likely broke some laws being there with the gun in the first place. He was under 18 for instance. But the basic argument here is that Rittenhouse wasn’t doing anything wrong by just carrying around an AR-15. Wisconsin’s an open carry state. The inherent aggression and menace of carrying around high caliber weapons, which we’re told is only a problem for squeamish libs, becomes a path for the person carrying the fire arm to themselves feel threatened and decide they need to use the gun.

The aggression carries the seeds of justification within it. You show up looking for trouble on yet another of these right wing murder safaris like Rittenhouse, with his mother chaperoning, was taking part in. You’re looking for trouble and when you find it that’s your justification for taking the next step. That’s not how self-defense is supposed to work. But we can see in this case how the interplay of open carry and permissive self-defense statutes do just that.

[LFC]

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) does his best to protect America's right-wing domestic terrorists through his silence. Senator Judas denied American democracy 4 times.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) on Sunday declined the chance to criticize former President Trump for defending his supporters’ chants of “hang Mike Pence” on the day of the Capitol insurrection.

Appearing on ABC News, Barrasso was asked to respond to Trump telling reporter Jon Karl that he wasn’t concerned about Pence’s safety on Jan. 6, despite his supporters chanting “hang Mike Pence” as the then-VP refused to give into the then-President’s election fraud falsehoods on the day of the joint session of Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Trump told Karl that it’s “common sense” for his supporters to be “very angry” as he continued pushing baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Pressed on whether the GOP can tolerate a leader who defends murderous chants against his own VP, Barrasso sidestepped the question by insisting that the Republican Party is “incredibly united” before taking a swipe at the policies of the Biden administration.

After singing Trump’s praises by saying that the former president “brings lots of energy to the party” and is an “enduring force,” Barrasso was pressed again on whether he has a problem with Trump saying that hanging Pence is “common sense.”

Barrasso dodged the question again, repeating Trump’s assertion that he believed that Pence’s safety wasn’t endangered on Jan. 6 even as Trump supporters breached the Capitol. Barrasso claimed that he did not hear the chants of “hang Mike Pence.”

“I was with Mike Pence in the Senate chamber during January 6th. And what happened was they quickly got Vice President Pence out of there, certainly a lot faster than they removed the senators. I believed he was safe the whole time,” Barrasso said. “I didn’t hear any of those chants. I don’t believe that he did either. And Vice President Pence came back into the chamber that night and certified the election.”

Asked a third time whether he can tolerate Trump’s defense of his supporters’ chants encouraging violence against Pence, Barrasso replied that “it’s not common sense,” but still wouldn’t condemn the former president’s remarks.

After pointing out that he voted to certify the election, Barrasso declined yet another chance to criticize Trump. Despite saying that he doesn’t agree with Trump on everything, Barrasso went on to stress that he’ll continue supporting Trump’s economic policies.

[goldenvalley]

Nov 15, 2021 16:30:37 GMT LFC said:

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) does his best to protect America's right-wing domestic terrorists through his silence. Senator Judas denied American democracy 4 times.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) on Sunday declined the chance to criticize former President Trump for defending his supporters’ chants of “hang Mike Pence” on the day of the Capitol insurrection.

Appearing on ABC News, Barrasso was asked to respond to Trump telling reporter Jon Karl that he wasn’t concerned about Pence’s safety on Jan. 6, despite his supporters chanting “hang Mike Pence” as the then-VP refused to give into the then-President’s election fraud falsehoods on the day of the joint session of Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Trump told Karl that it’s “common sense” for his supporters to be “very angry” as he continued pushing baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Pressed on whether the GOP can tolerate a leader who defends murderous chants against his own VP, Barrasso sidestepped the question by insisting that the Republican Party is “incredibly united” before taking a swipe at the policies of the Biden administration.

After singing Trump’s praises by saying that the former president “brings lots of energy to the party” and is an “enduring force,” Barrasso was pressed again on whether he has a problem with Trump saying that hanging Pence is “common sense.”

Barrasso dodged the question again, repeating Trump’s assertion that he believed that Pence’s safety wasn’t endangered on Jan. 6 even as Trump supporters breached the Capitol. Barrasso claimed that he did not hear the chants of “hang Mike Pence.”

“I was with Mike Pence in the Senate chamber during January 6th. And what happened was they quickly got Vice President Pence out of there, certainly a lot faster than they removed the senators. I believed he was safe the whole time,” Barrasso said. “I didn’t hear any of those chants. I don’t believe that he did either. And Vice President Pence came back into the chamber that night and certified the election.”

Asked a third time whether he can tolerate Trump’s defense of his supporters’ chants encouraging violence against Pence, Barrasso replied that “it’s not common sense,” but still wouldn’t condemn the former president’s remarks.

After pointing out that he voted to certify the election, Barrasso declined yet another chance to criticize Trump. Despite saying that he doesn’t agree with Trump on everything, Barrasso went on to stress that he’ll continue supporting Trump’s economic policies.

Why does the media bother asking about this?  We know what the answers will be because we saw how they voted on the election certification and the impeachment.  This just gives folks like Barrasso an opportunity to play to the Trump folks in their districts.  

[LFC]

The Jews always end up as a target.

A notorious U.S. Capitol riot suspect and white supremacist livestreamer who goes by the alias “Baked Alaska” faces new charges in Arizona after allegedly defacing a Hanukkah display at the state capitol.

On Nov. 3, prosecutors in Maricopa County charged the right-wing social media personality, whose legal name is Anthime Gionet, with two misdemeanor charges for criminal damage and attempted criminal damage. In the complaint, obtained by The Daily Beast, prosecutors allege that on Dec. 19, 2020, Gionet “did deface” a Hanukkah exhibit. The complaint lists a rabbi and a local Jewish organization as Gionet’s victims.

The charges concern a visit Gionet made to the state capitol last year, which he captured himself on the Baked Alaska livestream. In a video viewed by the Phoenix New Times before it was deleted, Gionet showed himself tearing down a “Happy Hanukkah” sign on a menorah in front of the state capitol.

“No more ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ only ‘Merry Christmas,’” Gionet said in the footage, according to the Phoenix New Times report.

Here's some background on the long history of anti-Semitism in America.

Scholar of Jewish history Deborah Lipstadt, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, argued in an expert report presented to the court concerning the history, ideology, symbolism and rhetoric of antisemitism – subsequently summarized in her personal testimony – that the Charlottesville chant carried several meanings.

“In its simplest and most straightforward interpretation,” she explained, “that chant can be understood to say Jews will not replace ‘us,’ i.e., white Christians in our job or our dominant place in society. We as whites will remain the dominant and supreme force in society.”

She also pointed to a “subtler but deeply ideological meaning to this chant,” rooted in the fear referred to by white nationalists as the “great replacement” or “white genocide.” The Charlottesville chant is expressing centuries-old fears that Jews, in league with peoples of color, are engaged in a nefarious plot to destroy the white Christian civilization.

David Lane, a white supremacist convicted, among other crimes, of conspiring in the 1984 machine-gun assassination of the Jewish talk-radio host Alan Berg in Denver, did much to publicize this idea. “The Western nations,” he wrote, “were ruled by a Zionist conspiracy … [that] above all things wants to exterminate the White Aryan race.” His 14-word goal, today a central plank of white nationalist ideology, declares that “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

Alex Linder, a neo-Nazi who operates the racist website the Vanguard News Network, has written that Jews merely pretend to be white “in order to shame, discredit, blame, mock, harass and otherwise discomfit and discredit white people and the white race.”

The chant “Jews will not replace us,” Lipstadt explained to the court, serves as the white nationalist response to these fears. To avoid “catastrophic takeover,” it calls upon white people to “band together, arm themselves and go on the offensive,” she noted.

[LFC]

The first rule when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.

Capitol rioter John Lolos on Friday blew off advice from his own attorney and went on a lengthy rant about purported "voter fraud" in the 2020 presidential election.

According to Huffington Post's Ryan J. Reilly, Lolos tried to justify his actions at the Capitol on January 6th by saying he believed the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Additionally, he claimed to have been "invited" into the Capitol by someone whom he described as "the smallest police officer I've ever seen in my whole life."

He also said that he felt it was fine to walk into the Capitol because others were already doing it.

"I see a window, it's broken, people are going inside, yeah, I went inside, your honor," he said, according to Reilly.

BuzzFeed News reporter Zoe Tillman reports that Lolos's attorney at this point tried to get his client to stop but he refused.

"Lolos says no, he doesn't want to talk to his lawyer, he takes responsibility because he chose to go into the Capitol, but wants to continue to address the judge to put it 'in context,'" writes Tillman.

[LFC]

Good question.

During a Friday sentencing hearing of MAGA rioter John Lolos, United States District Judge Amit Mehta reflected on the fact that former President Donald Trump has not yet been held accountable for telling the lies that incited the January 6th mob at the United States Capitol.

Just before sentencing Lolos to 14 days in prison, reports Buzzfeed News' Zoe Tillman, Mehta said it seemed unjust that Capitol rioters were bearing the brunt of consequences for their actions while those who riled them up with false claims of a stolen election are still free.

Specifically, Mehta argued that the Capitol rioters "were called to Washington, DC, by an elected official, prompted to walk to the Capitol by an elected official," who then stood by for hours while they started rioting on his behalf.

"People like Mr. Lolos were told lies and falsehoods and told that an election was stolen when it clearly was not," Mehta said. "Regrettably, people like Mr. Lolos for whatever reason are impressionable and will believe such falsehoods and such lies... And they are the ones who are suffering the consequences."

In fact, Mehta said, Trump and those behind the "Stop the Steal" rally "in no meaningful sense of the word have been held to account."

Mehta then turned to Lolo and said, "You are a pawn in a game that's played and directed by people who should know better."

[LFC]

Letting wannabe murderer Kyle Rittenhouse has only emboldened they American terrorists and their lust for violence and fascist subjugation from this guy...

A man who screamed obscenities about Black Lives Matter and carried an AR-15 rifle outside the Kenosha County Courthouse while the Kyle Rittenhouse jury deliberated is a former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, he confirmed Thursday.

Records show the man — who initially identified himself as “Maserati Mike” — is Jesse Kline, who had been a member of the Ferguson Police Department for three years. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kline was fired from the Ferguson Police Department in 2018 after being charged with stalking a woman and threatening her male companion by poking his chest with a handgun.

The criminal charges were later dropped because the couple refused to testify, the newspaper reported.

...to this guy...

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) on Friday celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse's not guilty verdict by encouraging his followers to arm themselves.

The right-wing congressman posted a video shortly after the Rittenhouse verdict in which he called the jury's decision a victory for freedom.

"Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty, my friends!" he said. "You have a right to defend yourself! Be armed, be dangerous, and be moral!"

[goldenvalley]

Nov 19, 2021 20:53:10 GMT LFC said:

The Jews always end up as a target.

A notorious U.S. Capitol riot suspect and white supremacist livestreamer who goes by the alias “Baked Alaska” faces new charges in Arizona after allegedly defacing a Hanukkah display at the state capitol.

On Nov. 3, prosecutors in Maricopa County charged the right-wing social media personality, whose legal name is Anthime Gionet, with two misdemeanor charges for criminal damage and attempted criminal damage. In the complaint, obtained by The Daily Beast, prosecutors allege that on Dec. 19, 2020, Gionet “did deface” a Hanukkah exhibit. The complaint lists a rabbi and a local Jewish organization as Gionet’s victims.

The charges concern a visit Gionet made to the state capitol last year, which he captured himself on the Baked Alaska livestream. In a video viewed by the Phoenix New Times before it was deleted, Gionet showed himself tearing down a “Happy Hanukkah” sign on a menorah in front of the state capitol.

“No more ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ only ‘Merry Christmas,’” Gionet said in the footage, according to the Phoenix New Times report.

Here's some background on the long history of anti-Semitism in America.

Scholar of Jewish history Deborah Lipstadt, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, argued in an expert report presented to the court concerning the history, ideology, symbolism and rhetoric of antisemitism – subsequently summarized in her personal testimony – that the Charlottesville chant carried several meanings.

“In its simplest and most straightforward interpretation,” she explained, “that chant can be understood to say Jews will not replace ‘us,’ i.e., white Christians in our job or our dominant place in society. We as whites will remain the dominant and supreme force in society.”

She also pointed to a “subtler but deeply ideological meaning to this chant,” rooted in the fear referred to by white nationalists as the “great replacement” or “white genocide.” The Charlottesville chant is expressing centuries-old fears that Jews, in league with peoples of color, are engaged in a nefarious plot to destroy the white Christian civilization.

David Lane, a white supremacist convicted, among other crimes, of conspiring in the 1984 machine-gun assassination of the Jewish talk-radio host Alan Berg in Denver, did much to publicize this idea. “The Western nations,” he wrote, “were ruled by a Zionist conspiracy … [that] above all things wants to exterminate the White Aryan race.” His 14-word goal, today a central plank of white nationalist ideology, declares that “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

Alex Linder, a neo-Nazi who operates the racist website the Vanguard News Network, has written that Jews merely pretend to be white “in order to shame, discredit, blame, mock, harass and otherwise discomfit and discredit white people and the white race.”

The chant “Jews will not replace us,” Lipstadt explained to the court, serves as the white nationalist response to these fears. To avoid “catastrophic takeover,” it calls upon white people to “band together, arm themselves and go on the offensive,” she noted.

Anti semitism and racism are a toxic mix...something about Jews brought in the Blacks to destroy white Christian society...

[LFC]

Nov 9, 2021 19:00:26 GMT LFC said:

One of the Jan 6 right-wing domestic terrorists is seeking asylum in Belarus. Why Belarus? No extradition treaty and it just had a stolen election much like the terrorists wanted in America.

Turns out he really wanted to go to Russia. It's pretty telling that one of Trump's terrorists decided to flee into the loving embrace of Vladimir Putin.

Evan Neumann of Mill Valley, California, who fled to Belarus in order to escape criminal charges for his part in the attempted insurrection on Jan 6, 2021, has given an exclusive interview to Russia’s state media outlet RT. In his previous appearance, which was on Belarusian state TV, Neuman inferred that Russia was his preferred destination, and Belarus simply happened to be closer. Now this man—on the run from the American justice system—seems to be courting refuge from President Putin.

Neumann is wanted in the United States on six criminal charges related to the Capitol riot, including two felonies for assaulting an officer and participating in civil disorder. The U.S. fugitive’s comments to the notorious state media outlet seem like an attempt to ingratiate himself to the Kremlin and perhaps to land in Moscow at some point in the future. He provided RT with a tasty sound bite that is sure to play well in Russian propaganda circuits: “I don’t understand why Russia is our enemy today.” During his earlier interview with Belarusian TV, Neumann condemned the U.S. sanctions against Russia and Belarus and described them as “a form of terrorism.”

[goldenvalley]

Nov 22, 2021 19:00:36 GMT LFC said:

Nov 9, 2021 19:00:26 GMT LFC said:

One of the Jan 6 right-wing domestic terrorists is seeking asylum in Belarus. Why Belarus? No extradition treaty and it just had a stolen election much like the terrorists wanted in America.

Turns out he really wanted to go to Russia. It's pretty telling that one of Trump's terrorists decided to flee into the loving embrace of Vladimir Putin.

Evan Neumann of Mill Valley, California, who fled to Belarus in order to escape criminal charges for his part in the attempted insurrection on Jan 6, 2021, has given an exclusive interview to Russia’s state media outlet RT. In his previous appearance, which was on Belarusian state TV, Neuman inferred that Russia was his preferred destination, and Belarus simply happened to be closer. Now this man—on the run from the American justice system—seems to be courting refuge from President Putin.

Neumann is wanted in the United States on six criminal charges related to the Capitol riot, including two felonies for assaulting an officer and participating in civil disorder. The U.S. fugitive’s comments to the notorious state media outlet seem like an attempt to ingratiate himself to the Kremlin and perhaps to land in Moscow at some point in the future. He provided RT with a tasty sound bite that is sure to play well in Russian propaganda circuits: “I don’t understand why Russia is our enemy today.” During his earlier interview with Belarusian TV, Neumann condemned the U.S. sanctions against Russia and Belarus and described them as “a form of terrorism.”

As far as I'm concerned Belarus or Russia is welcome to keep the guy.  Let the 1/6 Select Committee explore and make public what he did.   That's good enough for me.

[LFC]

Nov 22, 2021 20:44:33 GMT goldenvalley said:

As far as I'm concerned Belarus or Russia is welcome to keep the guy.  Let the 1/6 Select Committee explore and make public what he did.   That's good enough for me.

Ditto. Once his propaganda values runs out (which will be in about 3, 2, ...) he's going to get to live in the Republican paradise of Russia except that HE will be the foreigner who doesn't belong. Have fun, asshole.

[pnwguy]

Nov 22, 2021 20:46:29 GMT LFC said:

Nov 22, 2021 20:44:33 GMT goldenvalley said:

As far as I'm concerned Belarus or Russia is welcome to keep the guy.  Let the 1/6 Select Committee explore and make public what he did.   That's good enough for me.

Ditto. Once his propaganda values runs out (which will be in about 3, 2, ...) he's going to get to live in the Republican paradise of Russia except that HE will be the foreigner who doesn't belong. Have fun, asshole.

Putin is having a special on Polonium smoothies.  Neumann may be eligible for one, at a substantial discount.

[LFC]

QAnon Shaman might want to dump his lawyer.

It’s all Matt Shuham’s fault.

Back in May, Matt interviewed the lawyer for the most high-profile Jan. 6 defendant of them all: Jacob Chansley, the QAnon shaman. The quotes from the lawyer were enough to peel your hair back.

Now they may*** be the basis for an ineffective assistance of counsel appeal from Chansley, who has already pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

Here’s what attorney Al Watkins of St. Louis told Matt (emphasis mine):

A lot of these defendants — and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully — but they’re all fucking short-bus people … These are people with brain damage, they’re fucking retarded, they’re on the goddamn spectrum.

But they’re our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors, our coworkers — they’re part of our country. These aren’t bad people, they don’t have prior criminal history. Fuck, they were subjected to four-plus years of goddamn propaganda the likes of which the world has not seen since fucking Hitler.

Now Watkins is on his way out, to be replaced by John Pierce, who at one point represented Kyle Rittenhouse.

[***Late update: Soon after publishing this post, everything was thrown into further tumult with a new statement from Watkins: “Watkins personally spoke with Mr. Chansley who confirmed he did not personally authorize Mr. Pierce to represent him and confirmed Watkins’ continuing representation…”]

Apparently his lawyer has a tough time with the truth: he said it out loud, and there's no place in the GOP for that. But if you follow that first link it sounds like the "too stupid / damaged to understand the gravity" is about the best defense any of these traitorous clowns might be able to muster.

[LFC]

More on the right-wing domestist fascist terrorists normal tourists, at least per Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GAwd What a Shitbag).

Several now-charged Trump supporters who allegedly stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 previously used a Telegram group chat to conspire to commit violence on that day, prosecutors alleged in an indictment made public on Monday.

In a group chat titled “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang,” 38-year-old Daniel Rodriguez, 26-year-old Edward Badalian and a third defendant whose name is redacted from the indictment allegedly discussed traveling to D.C. to disrupt Congress’ scheduled certification of the 2020 election results on Jan. 6. Rodriguez was allegedly the insurrectionist who assaulted Capitol Police officer Michael Fanone with an electroshock weapon.

On December 21, Badalian allegedly texted the group, “We need to violently remove traitors and if they are in key positions rapidly replace them with able bodied Patriots.” Several days later, he allegedly posted a map of the Eastern half of the U.S. marked with “rally points” to connect “patriot caravans” that were set to arrive in D.C. by 6:00 p.m. on Jan. 5, according to the filing.

On December 23, Rodriguez allegedly texted that “we gotta go handle this shit in D.C.,” and asserted six days later in the chat, “Congress can hang. I’ll do it.”

Several days after booking travel plans for D.C., Badalian confirmed to members of the group chat he had respirators, masks, snow goggles, knee pads and baseball helmets ready for them, prosecutors said. He told the group that ”we don’t want to fight antifa lol we want to arrest traitors.”

The day before the insurrection, Rodriguez allegedly texted the group “There will be blood. Welcome to the revolution.”

[goldenvalley]

Nov 30, 2021 17:23:59 GMT LFC said:

More on the right-wing domestist fascist terrorists normal tourists, at least per Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GAwd What a Shitbag).

The day before the insurrection, Rodriguez allegedly texted the group “There will be blood. Welcome to the revolution.”

There was a time when this sort of language was just BS from a bunch of blustery guys sitting in the comfort of their homes trying to impress each other with their manliness. They all want to Mel Gibson in Braveheart, only with firearms. Now it's clear that some of these folks will take/make the opportunity to act on it.  The FBI has to take this seriously. 

[jackd]

They all want to be drawn and quartered?

[goldenvalley]

Nov 30, 2021 18:06:14 GMT jackd said:

They all want to be drawn and quartered?

They don't actually watch that part...Selective viewing...  But I'm sure if pushed they'd say they're patriots willing to die but they are so good and so righteous that it won't happen.