Right-wing Domestic Terrorism

[goldenvalley]

Cruz is one of those smart guys who acts inexplicably stupidly at times.  Surely he knew his statement would get him into hot water with the folks he needs money and support from if he is to run for president again.  He spent all that time kissing up to the guy that insulted his wife and then he blows it???  Maybe he should have headed off to Cancun again...it's snowing and cold in DC now.  

[jackd]

Maybe his Princeton education kicked in unexpectedly and he blurted out the truth.

[LFC]

Jan 6, 2022 18:09:37 GMT LFC said:

Raphael just got in trouble for accidentally blurting out the truth. I remember when I thought he's was smart, grasping, and evil. Now I realize he's not smart.

BWAHAHAHAHA! Spineless, Ugly Wife, Assassin Dad Ted Cruz crawls before Tuckums and Tuckums simply makes him crawl more. OMG, he's the ultimate prison bitch.

A day after Tucker Carlson publicly scolded him for the unforgivable sin of calling the Jan. 6 insurrection a “violent terrorist attack,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) hightailed it to the Fox News star’s show on Thursday night to grovel for forgiveness.

[snip]

Carlson, who has downplayed the violence of Jan. 6 and suggested the insurrection was a “false flag” orchestrated by federal agents, wondered “what the hell’s going on,” while accusing Cruz of “repeating the talking points that Merrick Garland has written.”

[snip]

In a moment that evoked Cruz siding with Donald Trump in 2016 after Trump personally disparaged his wife and father, the Republican lawmaker appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to kiss the ring and beg the Fox News audience to forgive him.

“There are a lot of dumb people in Congress. You are not one of them. Smarter than I am. And you never use words carelessly,” Carlson kicked off the interview. “And yet you call this a terror attack when by no definition was it a terror attack. That was a lie. You told that lie on purpose and I’m wondering why you did.”

After saying he contacted Carlson the night before to ask to come on and tell his side, Cruz then claimed the way he phrased his words “was sloppy and frankly dumb.” Carlson, however, was having none of it.

“I don’t buy that,” the Fox star interjected. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! I’ve known you a long time since before you went to the Senate. You were a Supreme Court contender. You take words as seriously as any man who’s served in the Senate. And every word—you repeated that phrase, I do not believe that you used that accidentally. I just don’t!”

“Tucker, as a result of my sloppy phrasing it’s caused a lot of people to misunderstand what I meant. Let me tell you what I meant to say,” Cruz implored. “What I was referring to are the limited number of people who engaged in violent attacks against police officers. I think you and I both agree that if you assault a police officer, you should go to jail. That is who I was talking about.”

Again saying his “phrasing was sloppy,” Cruz insisted he “wasn’t saying the thousands of peaceful protesters supporting Donald Trump are somehow terrorists.” Carlson, though, remained unconvinced.

“Hold on, what you just said doesn’t even make sense,” the primetime host replied. “If someone assaults a cop, he should go to jail, I couldn’t agree more. We’ve said that for years. But that person is still not a terrorist. How many people of been charged with terrorism on January 6? Like, why did you use that word? You’re playing into the other side’s characterization!”

Cruz maintained that for over a decade, he had used the word “terrorist” to describe people who had violently assaulted police officers. At the same time, he attempted to appeal to Carlson’s ego.

“That being said, Tucker, I agree with you, it was a mistake to say that yesterday and the reason is what you just said,” the former presidential candidate said. “We have now had a year of Democrats and the media twisting words and trying to say that all of us are terrorists. Trying to say you are a terrorist, I am a terrorist.”

[pnwguy]

The Lincoln Project is already making hay with it.

[LFC]

Ted isn't the only one to backpedal into a full embrace of right-wing terrorism and fascism. Who would have guessed Little Lindsey would flip-flop? And I'm shocked that DeSatanist ever mouthed words in favor of democracy.

Choosing Words Carefully
Jan. 6 sparked an outpouring of reflections, from first-hand accounts of the violence to essays about the dangerous precipice we are teetering on as a democracy. For some, it has inspired strong language.

• President Joe Biden delivered a speech Thursday needling the former President and condemning his anti-democracy crusade in equal measure. “I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of Democracy,” he intoned.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tacked in the opposite direction from Cruz’s since-retracted statements.
    • Graham this time last year: “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”
    • Graham Thursday: “What brazen politicization of January 6 by President Biden. I wonder if the Taliban who now rule Afghanistan with al-Qaeda elements present, contrary to President Biden’s beliefs, are allowing this speech to be carried?”

• Gov. Ron Desantis (R-FL) has accompanied Graham on his journey.
    • Last year: “I actually am glad to see some of these people being arrested from the DC thing, because I think the prosecutions will really make a difference.”
    • This year: “The D.C.-NY media, this is their Christmas — January 6th,” he said.

• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), striking a different tone, from a very lonely wing of her party: “Today marks one year since the U.S. Capitol was stormed by a mob incited by our former president,” she said. “Those of us who were there to fulfill our constitutional responsibilities can never erase what we saw and heard.”

[goldenvalley]

Jan 7, 2022 17:57:59 GMT LFC said:

• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), striking a different tone, from a very lonely wing of her party: “Today marks one year since the U.S. Capitol was stormed by a mob incited by our former president,” she said. “Those of us who were there to fulfill our constitutional responsibilities can never erase what we saw and heard.”

I was listening to some Congress Members talking about their memories of 1/6...all Democrats because the Republicans found reasons to be elsewhere yesterday.  (except for Liz Cheney and her father, maybe Kinzinger too) The things they described...hearing the sounds of the mob, hearing gun shots, the hiss of the protective gear, the hustle out of the Chamber...must have been experienced by Republicans as well.  Yet Republicans seem more unnerved by the thought that the base will turn on them if they say anything like Murkowski did. 

[Art Vandelay]

So to paraphrase Ted Cruz: "for over a decade I have said that people who attack the police are terrorists, but I was wrong to do that here, even though that is what I have always done before"

[goldenvalley]

Jan 7, 2022 20:55:09 GMT Art Vandelay said:

So to paraphrase Ted Cruz: "for over a decade I have said that people who attack the police are terrorists, but I was wrong to do that here, even though that is what I have always done before"

Add in "Did I get it right Mr Carlson? Did I?" while tugging his forelock.

[LFC]

Jan 7, 2022 21:21:15 GMT goldenvalley said:

Add in "Did I get it right Mr Carlson? Did I?" while tugging his forelock.

"Cuz' I can go on publicly servicing you if that's what's required."

[LFC]

So many acted in advance to an obvious potential threat on Jan. 6 with the exception of every department that Trump had control over.

At least two congressional staffers from House and Senate committees reached out to the FBI and the Justice Department concerned about security at the Capitol ahead of the Jan. 6 riots, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The inquiries support accusations that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were not prepared for the pro-Trump mob that stormed the US Capitol despite direct warnings and calls for help.

BuzzFeed News is publishing another cache of documents turned over by the Justice Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the agency and the FBI related to events around Jan. 6. Emails released last November revealed that top Justice Department officials were told there were “no credible threats” hours before the riot.

The House Intelligence Committee on Jan. 5, 2021, requested a threat assessment and clarification on coordination between the FBI and the Defense Department related to the joint session, citing a “heightened public concern” about the role of law enforcement during the presidential transition.

“In response, the Committee received a brief and non-substantive reply from the FBI that did not provide any information about potential threats on January 6,” a House Intel committee official told BuzzFeed News in a statement.

[LFC]

I can't believe this moron was a prosecutor. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-ALl Mouth, No Brain) has backed himself into a legal corner by blurting out whatever pops into his empty little mind.

Someone may need to tell Rep. Mo Brooks to stop talking.

The Republican congressman from Alabama keeps defending himself in court against accusations that he helped incite the Jan. 6, 2021 riot—and it’s not helping the former prosecutor in the slightest.

The particular defense Brooks has chosen seems aimed at having Justice Department lawyers mount a legal defense for him. He is arguing that his incendiary speech on Jan. 6 was part of his official duties as a congressman, a crusade he continued in federal court on Monday.

If that is the case, Brooks may have opened himself up to potential removal from office. And if it’s not the case—as prosecutors are trying to prove—then Brooks has handed prosecutors all the ammunition they’d need to charge him with misusing congressional resources.

In his shaky attempt to prove that his Jan. 6 speech was part of his official duties, Brooks has introduced evidence that his staff spent taxpayer time preparing and helping him with his Jan. 6 speech. So now, if Brooks falls back and admits his speech was a form of campaigning—as prosecutors are arguing—then he may have a whole new set of legal problems.

Brooks has created a classic ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ legal conundrum.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a visiting professor at American University Washington College of Law, told The Daily Beast that part of the problem was Brooks’ decision to be his own lawyer. “There’s an old phrase that ‘a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.’ That seems apt,” Torres-Spelliscy said.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 12, 2022 17:30:21 GMT LFC said:

I can't believe this moron was a prosecutor. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-ALl Mouth, No Brain) has backed himself into a legal corner by blurting out whatever pops into his empty little mind.

Someone may need to tell Rep. Mo Brooks to stop talking.

The Republican congressman from Alabama keeps defending himself in court against accusations that he helped incite the Jan. 6, 2021 riot—and it’s not helping the former prosecutor in the slightest.

The particular defense Brooks has chosen seems aimed at having Justice Department lawyers mount a legal defense for him. He is arguing that his incendiary speech on Jan. 6 was part of his official duties as a congressman, a crusade he continued in federal court on Monday.

If that is the case, Brooks may have opened himself up to potential removal from office. And if it’s not the case—as prosecutors are trying to prove—then Brooks has handed prosecutors all the ammunition they’d need to charge him with misusing congressional resources.

In his shaky attempt to prove that his Jan. 6 speech was part of his official duties, Brooks has introduced evidence that his staff spent taxpayer time preparing and helping him with his Jan. 6 speech. So now, if Brooks falls back and admits his speech was a form of campaigning—as prosecutors are arguing—then he may have a whole new set of legal problems.

Brooks has created a classic ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ legal conundrum.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a visiting professor at American University Washington College of Law, told The Daily Beast that part of the problem was Brooks’ decision to be his own lawyer. “There’s an old phrase that ‘a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.’ That seems apt,” Torres-Spelliscy said.

Do these people really think that anything they say while holding office cannot be held against them in a legal setting? 

[pnwguy]

Good article today on guns and RW intimidation.

www.thebulwark.com/this-aint-about-freedom/

[LFC]

Another Republican with "nothing to hide" announces he'll be hiding.

Kevin McCarthy has now refused to appear voluntarily before the select committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. What’s important about this is that McCarthy is likely one of the few people with direct knowledge of Trump’s efforts to assist the insurrectionists as they were ransacking the Capitol building. According to numerous published reports, the ultimate source of which is almost certainly McCarthy himself, Trump told McCarthy in real time that he was barring the US military from stopping the insurrection in order to give his violent supporters time to ransack the Capitol and bring the official vote tabulation to a halt.

We know that Trump went critical hours without authorizing federal law enforcement or the US military to intervene. It’s harder to get direct evidence about why that happened, what Trump’s intentions were, what he was trying to accomplish. But McCarthy knows. He apparently told McCarthy as it was happening. McCarthy called Trump and demanded he relieve the Capitol as the insurrectionists were flooding the Capitol complex. Trump told him why he wasn’t. In other words, Trump confessed to McCarthy in real time. And at the time McCarthy wasn’t happy about it at all. But things change. And now McCarthy’s refusing to provide testimony about Trump’s confession.

Gym Jordan is another sniveling, traitorous coward. Compare these spineless, guilty wimps to Hillary Clinton who sat in front of an onslaught of their bullshit for 11 hours. These pansies are afraid to even step inside.

[goldenvalley]

Oath Keeper founder is indicted.  Looks like DOJ went up the chain of command on this one.

Stewart Rhodes — founder and leader of the extremist group Oath Keepers, whose members are accused of being key players in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress — has been indicted and arrested, people familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The 56-year-old, who was at the Capitol that day but has said he did not enter the building, is the most high-profile person charged in the investigation so far. He is charged with seditious conspiracy, along with 10 other Oath Keepers members or associates, said the people familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing probe.

Rhodes was arrested Thursday, after a federal grand jury leveled new charges focusing on what prosecutors say is a core group of Oath Keepers adherents who allegedly planned for and participated in obstructing Congress on the day lawmakers certified President Biden’s 2020 election victory.

The bold is mine because the phrase struck me as analogous to Clinton's "I did not inhale" marijuana statement.  

Somewhere in the last year Rhodes has become upset with Trump.

Rhodes also said he has grown disillusioned with Trump, accusing the former president of not supporting members of the Oath Keepers charged in the Jan. 6 investigion.

“All of the people that are being unlawfully detained or denied bail, they’re being abandoned by Trump. He’s done nothing for them. You know, he could donate money, he hasn’t even done that. He didn’t pardon anybody while he was still in office, and then when he left, he hasn’t raised money,” Rhodes said. “... I think he has abandoned his base, because he has abandoned the people who were there to protect his other supporters. So yes, I do feel abandoned by him.”

Apparently he paid no attention to news stories about Trump stiffing subcontractors on his projects.

[LFC]

Another right-wing domestic terrorist.

Woman Arrested Outside Capitol, Allegedly With Three Firearms, Cops Say

The U.S. Capitol Police said on Thursday that officers had arrested a woman from Michigan who had parked her vehicle near the Capitol building.

• Officers found two rifles and a shotgun in the vehicle, the USCP said.

• The woman allegedly told the officers that she wanted to talk about “information” that she claimed to have “about Jan. 6, 2021.” It’s unclear whether she was specifically referring to the Capitol insurrection.

[pnwguy]

Jan 14, 2022 16:37:18 GMT LFC said:

Another right-wing domestic terrorist.

Woman Arrested Outside Capitol, Allegedly With Three Firearms, Cops Say

The U.S. Capitol Police said on Thursday that officers had arrested a woman from Michigan who had parked her vehicle near the Capitol building.

• Officers found two rifles and a shotgun in the vehicle, the USCP said.

• The woman allegedly told the officers that she wanted to talk about “information” that she claimed to have “about Jan. 6, 2021.” It’s unclear whether she was specifically referring to the Capitol insurrection.

Sure sounds like just a visiting tourist to me, but a proud 2nd Amendment citizen to boot.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 14, 2022 19:10:40 GMT pnwguy said:

Jan 14, 2022 16:37:18 GMT LFC said:

Another right-wing domestic terrorist.

Sure sounds like just a visiting tourist to me, but a proud 2nd Amendment citizen to boot.

I see people with their support dogs everywhere these days.  Surely a woman can take her 2nd Amendment stuff with her everywhere too.  

[LFC]

One of Trump's plaid shirts admits that the truth doesn't matter to him.

Donald Trump and the QAnon conspiracy theory allegedly motivated a Tennessee man charged with four federal counts for his alleged role on Jan. 6.

James Wayne Brooks, 50, asked to share "his side of the story" with local news outlet WJHL-TV after the Department of Justice unsealed a criminal case against him.

“What we were being told was that the FBI and the soldiers were standing behind Trump because it was a fraudulent election and arrests were going to be made,” Brooks said, referring to false claims that were spread by far-right media.

“President Trump asked that we march to the Capitol and so we did,” he said. “That could have got some extremists wound very tight. I can’t speak for them. I can only speak for myself.”

But even if he had known that Trump had decisively lost and that the world isn't run by a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles, Brooks said he still would have traveled to DC for Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally.

“If had known then, what I know now, that all the QAnon, underground news stuff I was reading was false, I would’ve still went, but I would not have entered the Capitol building,” Brooks said.

WHY would he have gone? Clearly democracy doesn't matter to him, only raw power.

[LFC]

One expert believes the Oath Keepers may have taken a big hit with 11 of them being prosecuted for being traitors.

Appearing on CNN on Friday morning, national security expert Juliette Kayyem claimed the arrest and indictment of 11 members of the far-right anti-government militia Oath Keepers on Thursday could deal a death blow to the group as funding dries up and recruitment collapses.

Speaking to hosts Jim Sciutto and Bianna Golodryga, the international security expert who teaches at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, explained the group might not be in existence in 2024 when the next presidential election rolls around.

Asked, "What does this say about preventing any future domestic terrorism attacks? What message does this send?: Kayyem immediately replied, "It sends a very good message. it is something we have been waiting for, those of us who look at sort of radicalization or counterterrorism efforts."

"Domestic terrorist organizations like the Oath Keepers survive because they have leadership, they have money and they have bodies; people who will be willing to be violent and those were all undercut by the indictment yesterday," she elaborated. "They got their leadership now indicted, but they also have leadership turning on each other. It is clear many of the Oath Keepers have now begun to provide information."

Adding, "It is hard to recruit or get people to pay dues," she continued, " Remember, the Oath Keepers survive on dues. There might be outside money, we don't know. when you're a losing team. If you treat it like a terrorist organization, terrorist organizations recruit because they have an aura of victory. I think that's just an appropriate analogy for what's going on and helpful not to bridge the divide of this country. There is a lot of division, but at least to make violence and violent terrorism, to stop it from growing, I think that's really significant."

[goldenvalley]

Jan 14, 2022 20:31:29 GMT LFC said:

One of Trump's plaid shirts admits that the truth doesn't matter to him.

Donald Trump and the QAnon conspiracy theory allegedly motivated a Tennessee man charged with four federal counts for his alleged role on Jan. 6.

James Wayne Brooks, 50, asked to share "his side of the story" with local news outlet WJHL-TV after the Department of Justice unsealed a criminal case against him.

“What we were being told was that the FBI and the soldiers were standing behind Trump because it was a fraudulent election and arrests were going to be made,” Brooks said, referring to false claims that were spread by far-right media.

“President Trump asked that we march to the Capitol and so we did,” he said. “That could have got some extremists wound very tight. I can’t speak for them. I can only speak for myself.”

But even if he had known that Trump had decisively lost and that the world isn't run by a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles, Brooks said he still would have traveled to DC for Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally.

“If had known then, what I know now, that all the QAnon, underground news stuff I was reading was false, I would’ve still went, but I would not have entered the Capitol building,” Brooks said.

WHY would he have gone? Clearly democracy doesn't matter to him, only raw power.

He still thinks the election was stolen and he still supports Trump.  He just won't inhale the smoke all the way into the lungs.

[LFC]

The right-wing domestic terror group known as the Oath Keepers imported their plan to steal the election. Globalization of fascism goose steps on.

Days after the November 2020 election, the Oath Keepers were preparing.

The group’s leader Stewart Rhodes had been warning of conflicts around the election — including a potential “civil war” — for months. But by Nov. 7, the day major news networks called the election for Biden, prosecutors allege, Rhodes had a plan.

The target was to be the U.S. Capitol. According to a federal grand jury indictment last week, Rhodes shared his plan to march on the Capitol after coming across a video titled “STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE, HOW WE WON WHEN MILOSEVIC STOLE OUR ELECTIONS.” It was a guide to overturning Joe Biden’s election, citing the model of the popular revolt which ended the rule of Slobodan Milosevic twenty years earlier.

Rhodes sent that video to a group of Oath Keepers, prosecutors say, and claimed to be in contact with the video’s creator who was advising his group with a plan of action.

An archived Nov. 11, 2020 version of the Oath Keepers’ website shows a letter from Rhodes embedded with the same video, thanking its creator, a “patriot from Serbia,” for “show[ing] us the way.”

TPM spoke on Monday with that “patriot from Serbia.” Now a Texas resident, the Serbian-born Aleksandar Savic discussed the video, his interactions with Rhodes, and his background. The news website MintPress first identified Savic as the creator of the video in January 2021.

Savic denied that his words incited violence.

“There are some very angry people citing other books, there are some people committing crimes from listening to rap songs,” Savic told TPM. “So, in lying that the one who is sending the words/message/whatever is solely responsible, is something that is not true.”

"Texas resident?" We need to throw his ass out of our country ASAP.

[andydp]

Just a good 'ol boy being a patriot and winding up a "political prisoner".

Oath Keeper Returned to Capitol Morning After Riot to ‘Probe Defense Line,’ Prosecutors Say

James Tate Grant was arrested for drunk driving in a Wake County, North Carolina in December. He told the police who flagged him down that he had been at the Capitol on Jan. 6, charging documents state. Grant attempted to get away during the arrest, according to police, but then dropped to the ground and said, “Just kill me now. It’s over.” In his car, the cops found an AR-15, 60 rounds of ammunition, and combat fatigues.
Conditions of his bail as he awaits trial for allegedly assaulting a police officer on Jan. 6 prohibited firearm possession, excessive drinking, and drug use, leading the Justice Department to request he be remanded into custody. He had previously tested positive for amphetamines twice, noted Judge Timothy Kelly, who ordered Grant’s incarceration, saying “There seems to be a toxic combination of substance abuse problems, alleged mental health issues and repeated access to firearms that poses a really serious threat to the community.


www.thedailybeast.com/oath-keeper-edward-vallejo-returned-to-capitol-after-riot-to-probe-defense-line-prosecutors-say?fbclid=IwAR2AMOrwtmcJJ5dMeqHu8s-JvzfBTJP2JKGrJNaVUAMdT3cLqL7X8pSrBGc

[LFC]

Jan 19, 2022 19:03:35 GMT andydp said:

“There seems to be a toxic combination of substance abuse problems, alleged mental health issues and repeated access to firearms that poses a really serious threat to the community.

Or as real 'Muricans call them, "muh rights!"

[LFC]

At least one of the Oath Keepers terrorists was ready for a sustained battle or perhaps arming insurrectionists who brought lies to a gun fight.

One of the Oath Keepers charged in a seditious conspiracy for allegedly planning to disrupt the transfer of power on Jan. 6 had a cache of supplies and weapons with him in a hotel in Virginia, prosecutors said Tuesday.

In a court filing arguing that Edward Vallejo should stay behind bars pending his trial, prosecutors also noted that Vallejo had allegedly been prepared to bring in firearms and other equipment to the Capitol on the day of the attack, and that he continued to look for a way “to support the co-conspirators’ mission” even after Jan. 6.

While most of the alleged sedition plot took place at the Capitol itself — in the form of militaristic “stacks” of Oath Keepers who allegedly moved in formation to breach the Capitol — prosecutors say Vallejo was part of the group’s “quick reaction force,” staged at a hotel across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia. There were allegedly three teams on the force, one each from Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, the latter of which included Vallejo.

Surveillance video stills from the hotel included in the government’s filing Tuesday purported to show Vallejo (left) in the process of wheeling in “bags and large bins of weapons, ammunition, and essential supplies to last 30 days.”

Prosecutors said Vallejo was “awaiting deployment,” even though orders never came for him to join the fight. Nonetheless, they said, he was a “central player” in the plot to oppose the transfer of power.

“He volunteered to travel across the country to support this plot; stationed himself in a hotel room full of firearms, ammunition, and equipment; affirmed his commitment to the mission during the Capitol attack; and expressed support for the plot in the immediate aftermath of the attack,” prosecutors wrote.

Vallejo, they added, “was prepared to use force against the government of the United States of America and there is nothing to suggest that he has changed his views.”