Right-wing Domestic Terrorism

[LFC]

McCarthy names 5 nominees for the committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Republican Insurrection. Per TPM all five voted against impeaching Trump over Jan. 6. A quick search finds that 4 of the 5 voted against an independent investigation of Jan. 6. Sounds like an objective bunch i.e. basically a bunch of bomb throwers though, to be fair, what else does the GOP consist of anymore? Gym Jordan is one of them but so far the star hammerhead is already Jim Banks (R-INto Sniffing Glue).

By rule, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) can reject Kevin McCarthy’s picks for the Jan. 6 committee. Her dilemma, such as it is: Should GOP members who enabled and supported the subversion of the election sit on the committee investigating the subversion?

The picks:
- Jim Banks (IN), ranking member: voted to overturn the 2020 election
- Jim Jordan (OH), professional saboteur: voted to overturn the 2020 election
- Troy Nehls (TX), freshman: voted to overturn the 2020 election
- Rodney Davis (IL)
- Kelly Armstrong (ND)

All five members voted against impeaching Trump for Jan. 6.

How bad will it get? Banks is already torching the whole premise of the Jan. 6 committee and demanding that it investigate … the 2020 George Floyd protests:

Jim Banks
@repjimbanks

My statement on being appointed by @gopleader to serve as the Republican ranking member on the Select Committee to investigate Jan. 6:

Read that last paragraph. TPM notes that "the Biden administration" didn't exist on January 6. In fact it wouldn't exist for two more weeks.

[LFC]

More on Treason Caucus member Jim Banks. He wrote this on Jan. 5.

And just as a fun side note he hired one of Tuckums kids.

[LFC]

Another right-wing domestic terrorist goes to jail.

A Long Island man who threatened to assassinate the federal judge overseeing the prosecution of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison.

Frank J. Caporusso, a 53-year-old electronic components salesman, pleaded guilty April 28 to calling the chambers of U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington last year and leaving a voice message saying the judge would “not be safe.”

“We are trained military people. We will be on rooftops. You will not be safe. A hot piece of lead will cut through your skull,” the defendant said in the May 2020 recording played in court. The message continued: “We’ll start cutting down your staff. This is not a threat. This is a promise.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel A. Fletcher called the message “chilling” and “exactly the type of conduct Congress has sought to prohibit.”

The sentencing Monday in D.C. came one year to the day after a gunman killed the 20-year-old son of New Jersey federal judge Esther Salas and wounded her husband, Fletcher noted. Threats against U.S. judges have quadrupled from 1,000 to 4,000 annually over six years, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden granted prosecutors’ request for a sentence at the bottom of the 18-to-24-month range recommended under federal guidelines, saying Caporusso “intended to subvert the criminal justice system by intimidating [Sullivan] against continuing to preside over a high-profile case.”

“It was nothing less than an attack on our system of government,” McFadden said. “[Sullivan] is a patriot. He did not deserve this, and he certainly does not deserve to live in fear because of your actions.”

[LFC]

Another traitor terrorist who holds an armed position inside of government. We must root these people out, remove them from government service (which is odd since they hate the government), and land on them with maximum sentences if found guilty of a crime.

A special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration brought his service weapon and badge to the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, defiantly displaying them for multiple photos taken in restricted areas on the Capitol grounds after police barricades were overrun, a newly-unsealed court filing reveals.

Mark Sami Ibrahim, who worked out of a DEA office in the Los Angeles area, traveled from California to Washington, D.C., to take part in the pro-Trump insurrection that left five people dead, the filing states. A friend of Ibrahim’s told investigators that the probationary agent “had been thinking about his next move” because he was planning to leave the DEA and “wanted the protests to be his stage for launching a ‘Liberty Tavern’ political podcast and cigar brand,” it explains.

Ibrahim, who was suspended in March after DEA brass found out he had been on site when the Capitol was breached, told investigators he never entered the building. However, he is still facing three charges for entering restricted grounds while carrying a deadly weapon; climbing the Peace Monument outside the Capitol; and lying to federal agents.

[LFC]

RawStory produced a piece that lays out, step by step in chronological order, how the right-wing domestic terrorists attacked the Capitol during the Jan. 6 Republican Insurrection. It was vastly more coordinated and lead by ex-military and ex-law enforcement than I had realized. This wasn't a riot, it was a coordinated assault. Actually possibly two coordinated assaults, one by the Proud Boys and one by the Oath Keepers though they may have coordinated between the two groups to some degree.

The scene at the tunnel on Jan. 6 is described in boilerplate language used by prosecutors in court filings for multiple defendants: "Officers reporting to the scene rushed to the tunnel from within the building while rioters outside of the tunnel continued to summon more men to push their way through the tunnel with a variety of tools and weapons. The tunnel became the point of an intense and prolonged clash between rioters and law enforcement at the United States Capitol."

The rioters displayed remarkable coordination, with Morss taking a prominent role. As described in affidavit supporting charges, a YouTube video shows Morss and other rioters rip a riot shield away from a Metropolitan police officer. Morss or another rioter — it's not clear from the video — yelled, "Send the shield back, send the shield back!" Minutes later, Morss reportedly carried the shield away and passed it to the rioters behind him, who in in turn passed further back into the crowd.

Morrs then walked out of the tunnel and into the crowd near the arched entrance and yelled to the other rioters: "Shield wall!"

"Rioters inside the tunnel use police riot shields and police riot batons to combat uniformed law enforcement officers," an FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit supporting charges against Christopher Quaglin, the unemployed electrician who had been restrained by Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean earlier in the day. "Rioters can be overheard planning and implementing a rotation of rioters to have the 'fresh' rioters up front to combat law enforcement, with various unidentified individuals yelling 'we need fresh patriots in the front' and 'we need fresh people.' Rioters are heard instructing the front line of rioters to make a 'shield wall' to prevent law enforcement from controlling rioters with oleoresin capsicum spray. Multiple rioters then use the stolen shields to push against the line of officers as additional rioters add their weight and push, too."

One of the rioters heard yelling, "We need fresh people," was Federico Klein, then employed in the State Department as a political appointee under President Trump and a Marine Corps veteran.

Another YouTube video shows Quaglin using a stolen shield to push up against officers in the tunnel, according to the government, and then hitting a Metropolitan officer in the side of the neck and face with the shield. Quaglin had recently sprayed OC spray directly in the face of the same officer, who was not wearing a face shield or gas mask, according to the government.

[goldenvalley]

Why those fine folks were just tourists! No doubt there were a number of them...witness the WaPo article about Front Row Joe at the Capitol that day. I remain convinced that their presence was part of the plan...providing a lot of bodies to mask the planned parts being executed. Yeah we need more than simple investigation of what those folks did on 1/6. The planning part is key to understanding the assault on the US government.

[LFC]

More and more we're seeing right-wing domestic Trickle Down Terrorism(tm) as the terrorism spreads to the more casually violent. This woman would never see herself as a terrorist but that's exactly what she is, attacking somebody in the media to silence them and as a warning to others.

In the latest example of violence fueled by Donald Trump's words, a woman spewing the former president's anti-media rhetoric attacked a reporter at the Colorado Statehouse this week.

Pat Poblete, a legislative reporter for Colorado Politics, was in the press room at the Capitol on Tuesday when the incident occurred, Denver alt-weekly Westword reports: "While Poblete wasn't injured and ultimately declined to ask that the woman be charged with assault — or for stealing items belonging to one of his reporting colleagues, Marianne Goodland — he's troubled that she appears to have acted out because she believes the terrible things said about the media by ex-President Donald Trump, whose rhetoric she spouted during her violent outburst."

Poblete told Westword: "This wasn't the sort of hyper-online, hyper-partisan, QAnon, deep-dive type of person who's ingrained in this stuff. This was just a woman who'd heard what the former president said about journalists and took that to heart. Even at that level of information and intake, it's still penetrating the public psyche."

Media advocates have long warned that Trump's rhetoric could lead to violence. In 2019, New York Times CEO Mark Thompson told CNBC: "Describing journalists from the Times and elsewhere as 'enemies of the people' and using extreme rhetoric about journalism, I think, is dangerous. It could encourage people to do crazy things in relation to news organizations and individual reporters."

[LFC]

More racist terrorist threats to a member of Congress.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) on Thursday revealed some of the death threats she has received because she has been fighting for racial justice.

The threats on Bush's life escalated after the lawmaker said that the July 4th holiday celebrates "freedom for white people."

Bush shared some of the threats on Twitter.

"Tone it down, bitch," one person said. "You're going to get yourself murdered if you keep running off that big old gorilla mouth."

"Instead of police reform, how about N****r reform," the message added. "As they say in the country, 'The only good n****r is a dead n****r."

Another racist threat said that Bush would "burn slow and hang high."

[LFC]

The racist domestic terrorists continue to push into positions in local government.

The leader of a Proud Boys group in Kansas is running for school board despite pulling his own kids out of public schools and promoting white nationalism.

Josh Wells, the owner of Wells Home Repair and a candidate for school board in Haven, shared the manifesto of the white nationalist Patriot Front and identified himself as a former member of the anti-government Three Percenters militia in private messages with some teenage anti-fascists who later publicized the chats, along with his background and associations, reported the Kansas Reflector.

"We are advocates of white nationalism and or a pro-western Christian theocracy with a protected white majority status," Wells wrote. "Which ever one is more obtainable."

His social media pages are awash with racist tirade about Black Lives Matter, Antifa and critical race theory, and he frequently shares sexist and racist memes, Proud Boys images and threatening posts.

Wells declined to comment on the Reflector's report, but he responded at length to the Wichita Eagle with casually racist denial of holding white supremacist views.

"I'm not a racist," Wells told the Eagle's reporter during a nine-minute phone call. "I'm not a white supremacist."

But a follow-up written response, along with the information gathered by the teenage sleuths, undermined his denials.

"Nobody in the media business want to acknowledge the fact that for well over a year now groups of people have terrorized communities to the point where people are scared to leave their own property," Wells told the Eagle in a written statement. "Those same people have become reliant on violence as intimidation towards whomever doesn't agree with their agenda. No one wants to be accountable for their own actions anymore but by God if a white Christian man decides to stand up for what's right, well, then you portray him to be a white supremacist."

He defended the Proud Boys, who had numerous members arrested in connection with the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, and insisted he would not drop out of the school board race.

"Anyone who actually knows a Proud Boy would be the first to tell you that we're all good guys and stand up for ourselves, our brothers and family and the rest of the country," he said. "[Your reporter and I] never spoke about Proud Boys I informed her that I'm not a white supremacist. Nowhere on the form that I filled out then paid the fee for candidacy did it ask if I am a Proud Boy. It's irrelevant in the race."

[LFC]

With McCarthy throwing the expected tantrum because his he failed in his attempts at destroying the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Republican Insurrection he seems to have left Pelosi another opening.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Sunday said it’s her “plan” to tap Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, days after Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) withdrew all five of the Republicans he chose for the panel.

“That would be my plan,” Pelosi said, when asked whether she will be appointing more Republicans like Kinzinger to the committee.

Pressed on when she would make the announcement of Kinzinger’s appointment, Pelosi replied “perhaps after I speak” with Kinzinger.

“You could say that’s the direction I would be going on, he and other Republicans have expressed an interest to serve on the select committee and I wanted to point to three, three of the members that Leader McCarthy suggested, but he withdrew their names, the two that I would not appoint, people who would jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. There’s no way I would tolerate their antics as we seek the truth,” Pelosi said.

[LFC]

Mo Brooks, terrorist sympathizer who clearly aided and abetted the enemy with both his words and his silence.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) has continuously denounced the investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, even as he’s being sued by his colleagues over his role in inciting it. But while Brooks has said he didn’t believe the riot would turn violent, he told a Slate reporter Wednesday that he was actually tipped off about potential violence, prompting him to sleep in his office the day before the Ellipse speech and wear body armor to the rally. “When I gave my speech at the Ellipse, I was wearing body armor,” he said. Brooks wouldn’t say who tipped him off, what violence could occur, or whether he passed the tip on to relevant people. “That’s why I was wearing that nice little windbreaker,” he said. “To cover up the body armor.”

At the rally, Brooks marked Jan. 6 as “the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!” He claimed he was just using bold words, but Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has sued him for potential incitement. He tried to claim he could not be sued as a federal employee, but the Department of Justice invalidated that claim Wednesday.

[LFC]

Two more Republican Reps actually speak up against the concept that Ashli Babbit was murdered. She was a terrorist who directly assaulted our government in order to overturn the results of an election.

As the far right continues its bid to make a martyr out of Ashli Babbitt, two Republican members of Congress have said in recent days that her killing was justified.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told an angry caller this week that he was “grateful” for the actions of the officer who shot and killed her, while Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who witnessed the shooting, said on C-SPAN last week that Babbitt gave the officer “no choice.”

The remarks sparked rage from some on the right who have sought to spin Babbitt’s death as an example of an unjust government killing, recasting Jan. 6 as a case of violent misrule as opposed to an attempt to overthrow the government.

It’s also been a boon for people trying to stoke outrage over the theory — popular on the right — that the officer who shot Babbitt was a black man.

“‘Conservative’ Republican hugged Black killer of unarmed White veteran and patriot, Ashley Babbitt (sic), while Trump says her killer was a ‘Democrat,'” read one white supremacist post on Telegram, reposted by alt-right influencer Eric Striker. The post referred to comments from Mullin, who said he comforted the officer who killed Babbitt. “Republicans are too cowardly and treacherous to stand up for the White people who elect them,” it read.

Black and don't obey an officer's command screamed at you in an instant? Justified shooting. Trying to be first to assault U.S. Representatives so you can block the election results you didn't like? PATRIOT!

[andydp]

Jul 29, 2021 16:35:26 GMT LFC said:

Mo Brooks, terrorist sympathizer who clearly aided and abetted the enemy with both his words and his silence.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) has continuously denounced the investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, even as he’s being sued by his colleagues over his role in inciting it. But while Brooks has said he didn’t believe the riot would turn violent, he told a Slate reporter Wednesday that he was actually tipped off about potential violence, prompting him to sleep in his office the day before the Ellipse speech and wear body armor to the rally. “When I gave my speech at the Ellipse, I was wearing body armor,” he said. Brooks wouldn’t say who tipped him off, what violence could occur, or whether he passed the tip on to relevant people. “That’s why I was wearing that nice little windbreaker,” he said. “To cover up the body armor.”

At the rally, Brooks marked Jan. 6 as “the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!” He claimed he was just using bold words, but Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has sued him for potential incitement. He tried to claim he could not be sued as a federal employee, but the Department of Justice invalidated that claim Wednesday.

Mo baby: Who tipped you off ? Why didn't you report it ?  Lotta questions here and you're in the middle of the mess.  Need the Democratic scream machine to start screaming about this.  Even if he wanted to keep his informant anonymous, he could have easily told the appropriate people a "very credible sounrce" had told him about the violence.

[LFC]

Kevin McCarthy continues to burnish his fascist credentials by taking false equivalence to new highs lows. He will say anything to provide aid and comfort to the enemy.

While speaking Thursday about the mob of Trump supporters who sacked the Capitol, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) drew a comparison between the security failures on Jan. 6 and the Capitol Police response to people who protested Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote.

After saying that responsibility for Capitol security lapses lay with Democrats — rather than, you know, the guy that told his supporters to march on Congress — McCarthy unleashed a false equivalency for the ages.

“Yes, it does rest with them,” McCarthy said, referring to Democrats. “Jan. 6 should not have happened. Those Capitol Police officers should not have had to go through what they did. This line was broken in the Kavanaugh debates, but no change was taken since then.”

You may remember the Kavanaugh protesters: They defecated in the halls of Congress, used bear spray, crutches and tasers on police, called for the death of Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence, sought to catch up with members of Congress as they fled the building, and used radios to communicate with each other and coordinate their attack in an attempt to undermine American democracy and install the outgoing president for a second term.

Ah, wait, sorry: That was the Capitol attack. They’re just so similar!

[Deleted]

Hard drive and routers!
Hard drive and routers!
Hard drive and routers!

Q.E.D.

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

"the anti-American Left would love to drown traditional, classic Americans with as many people as they can who know nothing of American history, nothing of American tradition, nothing of the rule of law" - Newt Gingrich

Sounds to me Gingrich is ignoring (he knows better!) American history, tradition and law. How did the classic Americans become classic? Also, many of those whom Gingrich ascribe to be classic Americans know very little of American history, tradition or rule of law, often less than immigrants. So instead of euphemistic phrases like classic American, why doesn't he come clear? What is he coy about?

[jackd]

Can't come right out and yell that "Whites rule!"

[goldenvalley]

Aug 4, 2021 17:11:05 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

"the anti-American Left would love to drown traditional, classic Americans with as many people as they can who know nothing of American history, nothing of American tradition, nothing of the rule of law" - Newt Gingrich

Sounds to me Gingrich is ignoring (he knows better!) American history, tradition and law. How did the classic Americans become classic? Also, many of those whom Gingrich ascribe to be classic Americans know very little of American history, tradition or rule of law, often less than immigrants. So instead of euphemistic phrases like classic American, why don't he come clear? What is he coy about?

This is a little tangential but still related to your question...from a Vox article that wonders why anti Olympic athletics, anti Washington DC cops, rooting for insurrectionists are now patriotic conservative attitudes.

Conservative anti-Americanism still pays lip service to love of country: Its proponents declare themselves the true patriots, describing their enemies as the nation’s betrayers. But when the cadre of traitors includes everyone from election administrators to Olympians to the Capitol Police, it becomes clear that the only America they love is the one that exists in their heads. When they contemplate the actual United States — real America, if you will — they are filled with scorn.

“They see no role or place for themselves in America now,” says Paul Elliott Johnson, a communications professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies conservative rhetoric.

This strikes me as potentially true...more in line with what I see than analyses that blame this on economic insecurities.  Loss of dominance, even unrecognized dominance is hard to take.  

[pnwguy]

Aug 4, 2021 17:56:31 GMT jackd said:

Can't come right out and yell that "Whites rule!"

I wouldn't imagine you'd get thrown out of a Trump rally if you did yell that.  Half the audience would offer to buy you a beer afterwards....and give you an invitation to their militia group.

[Deleted]

Aug 4, 2021 17:56:31 GMT jackd said:

Can't come right out and yell that "Whites rule!"

Are you suggesting he fears getting cancelled? tsk tsk.

[LFC]

Online sleuths continue helping the FBI track down the treasonous scum from the Jan. 6 Republican Insurrection.

On Tuesday, the Huffington Post reported that Logan Barnhart, a pro-Trump Michigan bodybuilder, has been arrested after online "sedition hunters" used Instagram shots to identify him as a Capitol rioter wanted for dragging a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer down a set of stairs.

"Seven months after the man online sleuths dubbed #CatSweat was photographed dragging a police officer down a set of stairs during the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Michigan man has been arrested by the FBI," said the report. "Barnhart, whom the FBI referred to as Capitol suspect 128-AFO because he was wanted for assaulting federal officers, was a major target for the 'Sedition Hunters' community, which had given him the nickname 'CatSweat' because he was wearing a sweatshirt branded with the name of Caterpillar, the construction equipment manufacturer. (Barnhart worked as a machine operator for Barnhart & Son Inc., which is owned by his father.)"

According to the report, "CatSweat" has been a "white whale" of the Sedition Hunters for months — one of the original rioters captured in an image that inspired the community to try to identify the perpetrators.

[LFC]

F***. Fortunately nobody was hurt.

Police were investigating a report Thursday of a possible explosive device in a pickup truck outside the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill and have evacuated the area around the building, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

U.S. Capitol Police said officers were “responding to a suspicious vehicle near the Library of Congress.” The building is near the Capitol and the Supreme Court. Police have also evacuated the Cannon House Office Building. Congress is on break this week.

The law enforcement officials said investigators on the scene were working to determine whether the device was an operable explosive and whether the man in the truck was holding a detonator. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

[LFC]

Aug 17, 2021 20:45:56 GMT LFC said:

Online sleuths continue helping the FBI track down the treasonous scum from the Jan. 6 Republican Insurrection.

The Sedition Hunters just picked off another one. This guy was on the verge of being sentenced as a non-violent insurrectionist when they found video of him attacking police. Oops.

The sentencing for one of the January 6 US Capitol rioters was abruptly postponed Wednesday after new videos emerged of the man allegedly fighting with police, an unexpected twist in the case because prosecutors hadn't previously accused him of committing violence that day.

Robert Reeder of Maryland was charged in February with four misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty to unlawfully demonstrating inside the Capitol and was set to be sentenced on Wednesday afternoon, with prosecutors asking for two months in jail, partially due to his lack of remorse.

But on Wednesday morning, the online group known as the Sedition Hunters tweeted newly discovered clips and photos, apparently showing Reeder fighting with police on January 6. Sedition Hunters is one of several online collectives, many comprised of anti-Donald Trump activists, who have combed through footage from the Capitol attack to identify rioters. The Justice Department has cited their work in many cases.

Prosecutors said during the truncated hearing that they notified the judge, as well as Reeder's defense attorneys, about the new footage on Wednesday morning. Prosecutors planned to go forward with sentencing and request the maximum six-month jail term, but after reviewing more of the videos, they asked to delay the hearing. He is now scheduled to be sentenced on October 8.

US District Judge Thomas Hogan said he was "concerned" about the new videos because Reeder was previously portrayed as "more as an observer than a participant" in the violence. Reeder's attorney in court said that "on first blush, the clip is problematic" but said there might be other footage that could help his defense arguments. Reeder is seeking a sentence of probation.

There's a great link in the article about the successes of these patriots who are going through piles of data to track down the traitors and bring them to justice.

As rioters made their way through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, many of them livestreamed their actions and posted photos and videos on social media. That steady stream of content created an enormous record of evidence that law enforcement needed to sift through to build cases against the accused.

Now, more than 575 federal criminal complaints have been filed, and a striking pattern has emerged: Time and time again, the FBI is relying on crowdsourced tips from an ad hoc community of amateur investigators sifting through that pile of content for clues.

These informal communities go by a number of names: Some go by the moniker Sedition Hunters. Others call themselves Deep State Dogs. Together, they amount to hundreds of people who since Jan. 6 have dedicated themselves to helping law enforcement track down suspects.

Their cumulative work represents what is likely the largest spontaneous, open source information collection and analysis effort ever conducted by volunteers to assist law enforcement. Sedition Hunters are mentioned by name in at least 13 cases, other complaints reference specific social media handles of volunteers, and still more refer to evidence voluntarily submitted by tipsters — many of whom do not seem to know the accused — citing information on public platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Parler.

[LFC]

Aug 19, 2021 15:02:21 GMT LFC said:

F***. Fortunately nobody was hurt.

TPM is following the latest at this link.