some progress I guess... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/ethan-crumbley-michigan-high-school-shooting.html Suspect in Michigan School Shooting Faces Murder and Terrorism Charges A 15-year-old accused of killing four of his classmates and wounding seven other people had described wanting to attack the school in cellphone videos and a journal, the authorities said. The Oakland County prosecutor, Karen D. McDonald, acknowledged that her decision to charge the suspect with terrorism was not typical for a mass shooting prosecution, but she said it reflected the wider trauma suffered by the hundreds of students who fled gunshots, hid under their desks and will be haunted for years. “Those are victims too, and so are their families and so is the community,” she said. “The charge of terrorism reflects that.”
White privilege extending to terrorists: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/12/07/black-lives-matter-protest-bombs-pittsburgh/ A man planted bombs hours after a Black Lives Matter protest in Pittsburgh. He was sentenced to probation. No one could see the homemade bombs Matthew Michanowicz was carrying as he rode his bike in downtown Pittsburgh on May 31, 2020. The city was a tinder box that afternoon. Six days earlier, a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, sparking protests around the country. The day before, one in Pittsburgh devolved into a riot. Dozens were arrested. City leaders imposed a curfew. The next day, Michanowicz rode his bike to check out the aftermath. He wheeled himself to a plaza below a skyscraper in the heart of downtown, planted the backpack with the three bombs he’d made and left. They never exploded, but prosecutors said they could have hurt or killed someone. Police found the bombs the next morning, quickly homed in on Michanowicz as a suspect and arrested him, federal prosecutors said in court documents. He was indicted on charges of illegally possessing three destructive devices, to which he pleaded guilty in August. On Monday, facing a 10-year prison sentence, Michanowicz, 53, avoided more time behind bars, instead getting time served and three years’ probation. He has to serve the first six months under house arrest. Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose for a prison sentence between 2½ years and just over three years. Ambrose’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post on Monday’s sentencing. Michanowicz’s lawyer, Ken Haber, told The Post in a phone interview that the judge might have considered his client’s recent mental health issues and personal struggles. Within a year of placing the bombs, Michanowicz lost his job as a successful medical salesman who worked with neurosurgeons. His father and a good friend died. He got divorced. “I think the judge was somewhat convinced that he had a breakdown,” Haber said, adding that his client has stressed that he never meant for the devices to go off. The next day, Michanowicz, a Pittsburgh resident, rode his bike downtown to survey the damage and leave the bombs. Inside the bag, police found three used pepper-spray canisters, which Michanowicz had repurposed and filled with gasoline. He’d stuck wicks inside and fixed them in place with foam insulation. Police described the bombs as “homemade Molotov cocktails.” Private security for Two PNC Plaza, the skyscraper, told investigators there was security footage of someone carrying the bag. The video showed a man ride his bike to the bike rack, dismount, take a backpack off the handle bars and then stash it under the nearby trees. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided Michanowicz’s home, where they found fuses and foam insulation spray similar to what had been used to make the bombs. They also discovered 10 camouflage backpacks like the one carrying the bombs. Although prosecutor Jessica Smolar did not explain why Michanowicz planted the bombs, she outlined years of substance abuse that peaked in 2020. Michanowicz reported he started using heroin in 2018, according to court records. Although he claimed he hadn’t done so since February 2019, his ex-wife told authorities she’d found heroin bags and alcohol in his home before his arrest. Right after Michanowicz was charged, then-U.S. Attorney Scott Brady denounced him as an agitator. “Michanowicz brought a backpack full of homemade Molotov cocktails to downtown Pittsburgh,” Brady said. “He wasn’t there to protest; he was there to engage in violent attacks.” Haber pushed back on Brady’s assertion. “This is the product of someone who was a highly successful person who had a bit of a breakdown,” he said.
the pentagon taking steps to screen MAGA terrorists: https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-military-extremism-02c18e646805ede69802644e44aeb37a WASHINGTON (AP) — Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials are issuing detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a broad department review. Senior defense officials tell The Associated Press that fewer than 100 military members are known to have been involved in substantiated cases of extremist activity in the past year, but they warn that the number may grow given recent spikes in domestic violent extremism, particularly among veterans. Officials said the new policy doesn’t largely change what is prohibited, but is more of an effort to make sure troops are clear on what they can and can’t do, while still protecting their First Amendment free speech rights. And for the first time, it is far more specific about social media. The new policy lays out in detail the banned activities, which range from advocating terrorism or supporting the overthrow of the government to fundraising or rallying on behalf of an extremist group or “liking” or reposting extremist views on social media. The rules also specify that commanders must determine two things in order for someone to be held accountable: that the action was an extremist activity, as defined in the rules, and that the service member “actively participated” in that prohibited activity. Previous policies banned extremist activities but didn’t go into such great detail, and also did not specify the two step process to determine someone accountable. What was wrong yesterday is still wrong today, said one senior defense official. But several officials said that as a study group spoke with service members this year they found that many wanted clearer definitions of what was not allowed. The officials spoke about the new rules on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been made public. The military has long been aware of small numbers of white supremacists and other extremists among the troops. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other leaders launched a broader campaign to root out extremism in the force after it became clear that military veterans and some current service members were present at the Jan. 6 insurrection. The risk of extremism in the military can be more dangerous because many service members have access to classified information about sensitive military operations or other national security information that could help adversaries. And extremist groups routinely recruit former and current service members because of their familiarity with weapons and combat tactics. Officials said that while the substantiated cases may be small, compared to the size of the military, which includes more than 2 million active duty and reserve troops. The number appears to be an increase over previous years where the totals were in the low two-digits. But they also noted that data has not been consistent so it is difficult to identify trends. The new rules do not provide a list of extremist organizations. Instead, it is up to commanders to determine if a service member is actively conducting extremist activities based on the definitions, rather than on a list of groups that may be constantly changing, officials said. The regulations lay out six broad groups of extremist activities, and then provide 14 different definitions that constitute active participation. Soon after taking office, Austin ordered military leaders to schedule a so-called “stand-down” day and spend time talking to their troops about extremism in the ranks. The new rules apply to all of the military services, including the Coast Guard, which in peacetime is part of the Department of Homeland Security. They were developed through recommendations from the Countering Extremist Activities Working Group. And they make the distinction, for example, that troops may possess extremist materials, but they can’t attempt to distribute them, and while they can observe an extremist rally, they can’t participate, fund or support one. The rules, said the officials, focus on behavior not ideology. So service members have whatever political, religious or other beliefs that they want, but their actions and behavior are governed. In addition to the new rules, the Pentagon is expanding its screening for recruits to include a deeper look at potential extremist activities. Some activities may not totally prevent someone from joining the military, but require a closer look at the applicant. The department also is expanding education and training for current military members, and more specifically for those leaving the service who may be suddenly subject to recruitment by extremist organizations. More than 650 people have been charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, including dozens of veterans and about a half dozen active duty service members. Among them — an Army reservist who wore a Hitler mustache to his job at a Navy base. Some of the rioters facing the most serious charges, including members of far-right extremist groups, have military backgrounds. In several of the prosecution cases already, the Justice Department has cited a rioter’s military service as a factor weighing in favor of a jail sentence or house arrest. Prosecutors have repeatedly maintained that veterans’ service, while commendable, made their actions on Jan. 6 more egregious.
More than 1,000 US public figures aided Trump’s effort to overturn election https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...attack-democracy-election-insurrection-index?
Would have never happened during Grandpa's generation. Had to wait for a dumber generation to come along.
shit, I could've told you that six years ago Andrew: https://gazette.com/news/mccabe-wan...cle_2493a8a0-7f6c-5c14-ab6e-c2ef2c2584ea.html McCabe wants FBI to monitor 'mass radicalization on the Right' after Capitol riot Ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe agreed there is a "mass radicalization on the Right" and that law enforcement should scrutinize "mainstream" conservatives in the wake of last year's Capitol riot. McCabe, who served as the FBI's second-in-command from 2016 to 2018, also compared "right-wing extremists" to U.S. citizens who joined ISIS, calling for a federal domestic terrorism law during a virtual discussion about Jan. 6 last week. "I'm fairly confident from what little we've heard from the FBI that they have reallocated resources and repositioned some of their counterterrorism focus to increase their focus on right-wing extremism and domestic violent extremists," McCabe said during a panel by the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics. "And I think that's obviously a good idea." McCabe said the FBI may be looking at the Ku Klux Klan and the Proud Boys when the real threat is more mainstream. "It's entirely possible … they didn't assume that that group of people — business owners, white people from the suburbs, educated, employed — presented a threat of violence, and now we know very clearly that they do," McCabe said. The Justice Department said at least 725 defendants have been arrested in connection with the Capitol riot and that more than 225 defendants had been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers. However, despite initial hype from a former top DOJ prosecutor, no one has been charged with insurrection or sedition. During the discussion, McCabe compared conservatives to U.S. citizens who traveled to Syria to join ISIS, claiming a "mass radicalization on the Right" is underway. McCabe has been slow to recognize acts of terror perpetrated by the Left. He was acting director of the FBI when it refused to label the GOP congressional baseball shooting in 2017 as a domestic terrorist attack. The FBI finally admitted in May that the Virginia baseball field shooting by the leftist James Hodgkinson, which nearly killed Rep. Steve Scalise, had been classified as "domestic terrorism" targeting congressional Republicans. The bureau initially classified it as "suicide by cop." McCabe played a key role in the FBI's flawed Trump-Russia investigation, including signing FISA surveillance that relied upon British ex-spy Christopher Steele's discredited dossier. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in October that the Justice Department stands by the findings of the DOJ watchdog that McCabe repeatedly lied to investigators during a leak investigation, despite the Biden DOJ reversing McCabe's Trump-era firing.