The Maelstrom of Violence

[David Horn]

(02-03-2021, 12:16 PM)Einzige Wrote:

(02-03-2021, 12:13 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(02-03-2021, 12:05 PM)Einzige Wrote:

(02-03-2021, 11:56 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(02-03-2021, 08:56 AM)Einzige Wrote: Boy, it's fascinating that a bunch of soon-to-be retirees want to keep the capitalist gerontocracy whole doing away with retirement! But your solution would probably be some kind of work-retirement, which is grotesque.

You miss the point.  The need for productive human effort is and has been declining and will continue to decline until it disappears.  John Maynard Keynes predicted 15 hour work weeks by now, but, if anything, we work more than we ever have.  Worse, we've been conditioned to value ourselves almost entirely by our productive efforts, not on the contents of our characters.  Saying 'nevermind' will change nothing -- at least not quickly.  If we are going to be a leisure society with enrichment opportunities at our fingertips, then we need to begin a process of revaluation away from work-centric toward self-centric living.  Assume that Boomers, Xers and most Millies are already lost causes.  That's OK, because the work-free life is still decades away.  Nonetheless, moving that way will be a saecular effort, so beginning now on slowly resetting our value structure makes sense.  The real question: how?

It has to begin with getting rid of that class which promotes and requires for it's very existence as a class the work-centric society.

Mandating the impossible as the first step guarantees failure.  Let that happen organically.  Just understand that you may not live to see it to the end.

John Maynard James Keynes, by the way, was a staunch supporter of capitalists and capitalism. His thoughts on deficit financing were mostly designed to perpetuate it - stimulate demand, stimulate employment, perpetuate capitalist activity. He was not a friend of the worker; in fact, he called the worker "boorish" and literally called capitalists "exalted".

Keynes was brilliant but far from perfect.  Like many of his age, he favored eugenics. I can't agree with that or many other things he favored. but his insights in the field of economics have proven exceedingly robust.  Hate the man, if you wish.  Finding fault with his economics is a lot harder.

Note: I corrected his name -- see above

[Eric the Green]

Agreed with Brower and David

[pbrower2a]

Well. well, well. The Proud Boys may be breaking up.

The far-right Proud Boys group appears to be in chaos after evidence surfaced that its main leader, Enrique Tarrio, previously served as an FBI informant.
Tarrio's history with the FBI was reported by Reuters on January 28, several weeks after the riot at the US Capitol where members of the "male chauvinist" street gang played a prominent role.
Tarrio had been arrested shortly ahead of the insurrection on destruction-of-property charges.
Reuters obtained a transcript of a 2014 court proceeding in which Tarrio's lawyer acknowledged his role as an informant in multiple cases unrelated to the Proud Boys, a group that was founded in 2016.

Since the January 6 riot, the group has been thrown into disarray, with Tarrio's history as an informant — which he denied to Reuters — spreading paranoia.
The group is split into various regional groups, or chapters. The Daily Beast reported on Sunday that the revelation about Tarrio prompted chapters in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Indiana to distance themselves from the central leadership.
On Telegram, the encrypted app favored by the group after it was barred by other platforms, its main channel was recently renamed. This, say experts, indicates that many adherents no longer want to be associated with the Proud Boys name.
"The Telegram channel dropping the name, different chapters breaking off from the national leadership, it all speaks to a rift that's occurring in the Proud Boys," said Jared Holt, a fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab to USA Today.

[pbrower2a]

5 Dead, More Than 40 Injured After SUV Drives Through Wisconsin Christmas Parade
Video shows a red SUV speeding through the annual holiday event in Waukesha. Adults and children were among the victims.

By 
[/url]Nick Visser 
and 
Sanjana Karanth
[url=https://www.huffpost.com/author/sanjana-karanth]

A car drove through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday afternoon, leaving at least five people dead and more than 40 injured, including children, authorities said.
Dozens of emergency officials responded after the incident around 4:40 p.m. local time. A livestream video of the event appears to show a red SUV speeding through the parade route, troubling those gathered on the street. A police vehicle is seen rushing through the crowd soon afterward before the attendees begin to disperse.

The city’s police chief, Dan Thompson, said authorities have identified one person of interest who is in custody, although he added that officers were still probing a “very fluid investigation.” The chief added that the scene was safe and there were no further threats to the public.
At least 11 adults and 12 children were transported to six area hospitals after the incident. Many more people took themselves to the hospital, authorities said. Officials did not provide any further details about the ages of those who died.
“Tonight was a traumatic situation for the city of Waukesha,” the city’s mayor, Shawn Reilly, said. “We don’t have all the details. We can’t provide details at this point.”



Police canvass the streets in downtown Waukesha, Wis., after a vehicle plowed into a Christmas parade on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Those on the scene described a festive atmosphere that quickly turned tragic after the car careened through safety barricades set up along the city’s Main Street. More than 60 groups had gathered for this year’s event after the 2020 celebration was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As we were walking back ... we saw an SUV cross over, just put the pedal to the metal and just zooming full speed along the parade route,” Angelito Tenorio, an alderman for West Allis, Wisconsin, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “And then we heard a loud bang, and just deafening cries and screams from people who are struck by the vehicle.”
He said he saw people running from the scene crying, and people on the ground who appeared to have been hit by the car.
Local reporters said it appeared that multiple people were on the ground shortly after the incident. Thompson said an officer discharged his weapon at the suspect’s vehicle, but there was no more evidence so far of any other gunfire.
Many families were at the event with young children, as were groups affiliated with local schools including a high school marching band. The Milwaukee Archdiocese said one of its priests was injured, as were “multiple parishioners and Waukesha Catholic school children.

Corey Montiho, a member of the Waukesha School Board, told the Journal Sentinel his daughter’s dance team was marching in the parade and many members were hit by the SUV.
“There were pom-poms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere. I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter,” he told the paper’s Molly Beck. “My wife and two daughters were almost hit.”
The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a self-described “group of grannies” that marches in about 25 parades a year, said members of their group were participating in Sunday’s event and impacted by the vehicle, but didn’t have any more information.
Gov. Tony Evers (D) called the incident a “senseless act” and said his office was awaiting more information.

Kaylee Staral, an intern at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was at the parade on Sunday. She told CNN the SUV came “running down the middle of the street” and hit “a lot of people.”
“After the SUV left, there were multiple people on the ground, and the police came through a little later saying at least 30 on the ground,” Staral said. She added that the car was going “very fast.”

The Waukesha Christmas Parade, held about 17 miles west of downtown Milwaukee, is an annual event that has been held for more than 50 years. The city describes it as a holiday tradition that brings together “local civic groups, business, schools, public services and entertainers each year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.”
Photos posted on the city’s Instagram account showed many people sitting on the curb just off the parade route.
The theme this year was “comfort and joy.”

Wisconsin has been on edge for days following the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who on Friday was found not guilty after killing two people during a Black Lives Matter demonstration last summer. Protests following the verdict have been largely peaceful in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the trial was held.

[pbrower2a]

I have seen reports of this monstrous events as far away as Australia and India.

[pbrower2a]

It turns out that the alleged perpetrator had recently been involved in a nasty case of domestic violence. He has a long rap sheet for criminal acts, so he is not the sort of person that the usual sort of terrorist clique would recruit. Even terrorists need some internal discipline!

[pbrower2a]

CONGRESS

Jan. 6 investigators subpoena Proud Boys, Oath Keepers as probe turns to domestic extremism
The House select committee’s latest round of summonses target leaders of the groups, as well as a third far-right entity.



By BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN, KYLE CHENEY and NICHOLAS WU

11/23/2021 03:04 PM EST

Updated: 11/23/2021 04:23 PM EST

The Jan. 6 select committee on Tuesday subpoenaed the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, extremist groups that responded to former President Donald Trump’s call to descend on Washington and played central roles in the attack on the Capitol.

The House committee issued subpoenas Tuesday to Proud Boys Chair Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, as well as both of the organizations they lead. It also subpoenaed a lower-profile far-right group, 1st Amendment Praetorian, along with its leader, Robert Patrick Lewis.


Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement the panel sought information from those “reportedly involved with planning the attack, with the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6th, or with efforts to overturn the results of the election,” and believed that the subpoenaed individuals and organizations had relevant information.


The subpoenas demand documents by Dec. 7 and depositions the following week.

Attorneys for the subpoenaed groups and individuals did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tarrio is currently incarcerated in a D.C. jail for burning a Black Lives Matter flag stolen from a nearby church during a pro-Trump rally in December 2020, a property-destruction crime that netted him a six month sentence. Rhodes, who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 but did not appear to enter the building, has reportedly been questioned by the FBI.

The Justice Department has already indicted dozens of members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for participating in the Capitol siege and charged leaders of those groups with conspiring to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election. Those conspiracy cases are the most complex and significant that federal prosecutors have brought against the 700-plus defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.

The latest batch of subpoenas signals that the House select panel is homing in on groups — Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — whose members spent weeks actively organizing to descend on Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and helped drive attendance for pro-Trump rallies that later morphed into the riot. Many extremist group members charged for their actions solicited requests for funding and gear that they carried with them on Jan. 6.



The committee’s growing interest in the role of domestic extremists on Jan. 6 aligns it with the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation into the Capitol assault. Before Tuesday’s subpoenas, the select panel had predominantly indicated interest in witnesses who might be able to shed more light on Trump’s role in attempting to overturn the election and calling supporters to Washington on Jan. 6.

Proud Boys
The Proud Boys is a far-right nationalist group that describes itself as a “pro-Western” organization.

Tarrio’s arrest on Jan. 5 for the banner destruction appeared to inflame group members. As POLITICO has reported, a private intelligence group that shares threat information with federal law enforcement warned on Jan. 5 that a Proud Boys Telegram channel threatened to “remove” government officials in response to Tarrio’s arrest.

More than 100 members of the Proud Boys descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and dozens breached the building, according to court records. Four of the group’s leaders — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Charles Donohoe — have been charged with leading a conspiracy to halt the certification of the election. Their associate, Dominic Pezzola, was one of the first to enter the Capitol, using a stolen police riot shield to shatter a window.

Prosecutors have described extensive conversations on the Signal messaging app among Proud Boys leaders, who scrambled to reorganize themselves after Tarrio’s arrest. Donohoe allegedly orchestrated the deletion of many of those messages after Jan. 6, when members worried they could face criminal exposure.

Nordean was among the first Jan. 6 rioters to reach the Capitol, marching there even before Trump’s speech to supporters, and was among the first wave of people to break through police lines.

Oath Keepers
The Oath Keepers is also a far-right group that opposes what it sees as the federal government’s tyranny. Like the Proud Boys, dozens of Oath Keepers participated in the assault, with about a dozen famously entering the Capitol in a military-style “stack” formation. Twenty of the group’s leaders are charged in the most sprawling case to emerge from the Jan. 6 riot. And prosecutors have presented evidence that the group stashed firearms at a hotel in Arlington, Va. — a site its members referred to as a “quick reaction force” they could tap into if the violence escalated even further, according to communications obtained by investigators.


Rhodes joined many of the 20 Oath Keepers currently facing Jan. 6-related charges at a rally point outside the Capitol, with photos and videos showing the leader convening the group amid the chaos. Text messages and radio communications obtained by prosecutors have detailed Rhodes’ extensive communication with many of his allies throughout the riot.

The federal judge presiding over the Oath Keepers case, Amit Mehta, recently said he believes Trump and his allies have been escaping accountability for stoking the attack with lies about the election while “pawns” who carried it out have been investigated and punished.

But the judge has also expressed grave concern about pre-Jan. 6 planning by Oath Keepers members. Several have claimed in court filings and arguments that they attended the Trump rally to do security for VIPs, including Stone, and that they carried gear to prepare for potential counterprotests. But one Oath Keeper leader, Kelly Meggs, told allies “this isn’t a rally,” which Mehta has described as key evidence of the group’s intent.

The select committee may find it a challenge to serve a subpoena on the Oath Keepers organization. The group’s own attorney recently asked to withdraw after claiming he couldn’t reach anyone at the organization. That motion was filed in a lawsuit lodged by members of Congress against Trump and his allies after the Jan. 6 attack. Thompson initially took the lead on the suit, though he’s since withdrawn from it to lead the select committee.

1st Amendment Praetorian
The organization bills itself as providing security for conservative marches and protests. Its founder, Robert Patrick Lewis, is a former U.S. Army staff sergeant and recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, according to a June profile by The Daily Beast. He has dabbled in conspiracy theories, such as a claim to Fox News on Nov. 2, 2020, that Antifa would soon unleash violence.

“Our intelligence shows that no matter who wins the election, they [Antifa] are planning a massive ‘Antifa Tet Offensive,’ bent on destroying the global order,” he said.



Lewis boasted about protecting Ali Alexander — a key leader of the “Stop the Steal” alliance formed to boost Trump’s baseless election challenges — and touted his connections to Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell. An archived page from his group’s website says its members provided security for multiple Stop the Steal events and for the Women for America First Million MAGA March in November 2020.

He was also listed as a speaker in the permit application for the Jan. 5 Freedom Plaza event where Roger Stone and Alex Jones appeared. The permit also said his group would provide unarmed security for that event. At 2:18 p.m. on Jan. 6, Lewis tweeted that it was “the day the true battles begin.”

Lewis later told The Daily Beast that he was far from the violence that day and that he tweeted that afternoon from the Willard Hotel. That location operated as a command center of sorts for outside Trump allies boosting his efforts to overturn the election, making it a key focus for Jan. 6 committee investigators.

Tuesday’s subpoenas aren’t the first hint of the committee’s interest in 1st Amendment Praetorian. In its Aug. 25 request for documents from the National Archives, the committee sought any White House communications from April 1, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021, related to the election as well as those with a host of conservative activists and agitators. Robert Patrick Lewis was on the list.

Two batches in two days
On Monday evening the panel subpoenaed a group that included some longtime Trump World denizens, including InfoWars head Alex Jones and longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, who had been pardoned by the former president in his final days in office. Stones’ summons cited an ABC News story reporting that Oath Keepers members provided Stone with security in the run-up to Jan. 6. Several people pictured near him were later charged for participating in the attack on the Capitol.

FILED UNDER: LEGAL, JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT, INSURRECTION FALLOUT, PROUD BOYS

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/23...ers-523255

[pbrower2a]

[pbrower2a]

Guy Reffitt, First Capitol Rioter To Stand Trial, Found Guilty By Jury


The Texas man was charged with five felony counts.
[/url]

By 
Sara Boboltz
03/08/2022 01:57pm EST | Updated 11 hours ago



[url=https://twitter.com/share?text=After%20just%20a%20few%20hours%20of%20deliberation%2C%20a%20jury%20decided%20against%20Capitol%20rioter%20Guy%20Reffitt.&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fguy-reffitt-capitol-riot-guilty_n_62278b29e4b07e948aeb5195%3Futm_campaign%3Dshare_twitter%26ncid%3Dengmodushpmg00000004&hashtags=&via=HuffPostCrime]

 

00:27 01:45        



A jury found Guy Wesley Reffitt, the first Capitol riot participant to stand trial, guilty on all five counts after just a few hours of deliberation on Tuesday in a clean victory for prosecutors going after the rioters.
Reffitt had driven from Texas up to Washington, D.C., for then-President Donald Trump’s rally protesting the formal certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win. According to prosecutors, he acted as “the tip of the mob’s spear” for the first group to storm the building where the certification was taking place, leading others past police barricades set up outside but stopping short of going in himself.
Advertisement

Photos, videos and a recording of Reffitt bragging about his participation ― taken surreptitiously by his son ― backed up their arguments.
Reffitt was charged with five felonies for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Capitol Hill, including arming himself with a gun in a restricted area, attempting to interfere with an official government proceeding and intimidating his teenage children to discourage them from cooperating with investigators.
His son, 19-year-old Jackson Reffitt, testified against his father last week during an emotional stretch of the trial.
The younger Reffitt had flagged his father to the FBI in late December 2020 after noticing a change in his father’s rhetoric after the election that he found alarming. Guy Reffitt boasted about being a part of the mob in the audio recording played in court, viewing the deadly attack as a historical achievement before seemingly realizing he could get in some deep legal trouble.


Prosecutors said Reffitt threatened to shoot his kids if they told anybody what he’d done.

“He said, ‘If you turn me in, you’re a traitor. And traitors get shot,’” Jackson Reffitt told the jury, outlets reported.

This artist sketch depicts Guy Wesley Reffitt, joined by his lawyer William Welch, right, in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28.
via Associated Press

The teen also affirmed that his father was a member of the Texas Three Percenters, a far-right anti-government militia group, and held meetings in the family home.
Although federal authorities have arrested some 750 people in connection with the attack, many of them have avoided trial by accepting plea agreements. Guy Reffitt’s case is viewed as a test of the government’s charges, which have been challenged by defendants as unconstitutional but upheld by judges.


The defense called no witnesses and Reffitt, a former oil rig worker, did not testify. His attorney largely dismissed the government’s claims by arguing that Reffitt was prone to exaggeration and blustery statements, and by pointing out that he was not charged with assaulting law enforcement like some other Jan. 6 defendants.
Reffitt was photographed at the riot wearing a helmet with a camera strapped to it along with a bulletproof vest, which prosecutors used as evidence that he was expecting violence. An object prosecutors say is a pistol could also be seen strapped to his waistband, although Reffitt said the weapon was not assembled at the time.
In his opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Nestler told jurors some of what Reffitt threatened to do that day, quoting him as saying the mob was going to drag out lawmakers “kicking and fucking screaming.”
“I just want to see [Nancy] Pelosi’s head hitting every fucking stair on the way out, and Mitch McConnell, too,” Nestler quoted Reffitt as saying, according to CBS News.
Outside the Capitol, Reffitt was pelted by chemical irritants from law enforcement officers who testified in court.
Defense attorney William Welch, suggested in his closing arguments that the government’s photographic evidence was possibly fake, BuzzFeed News reported Monday. Clearly, the jurors didn’t buy it.
Welch had previously argued that the trial should be moved out of Washington given potential jurors’ proximity to the violence and inevitable exposure to media coverage of the event, but it was allowed to proceed in the capital.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/guy-reffi...948aeb5195

[Eric the Green]

I'm still waiting for evidence that Trump conspired directly with folks like Jackson Reffit.

[Classic-Xer]

(03-10-2022, 01:26 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: I'm still waiting for evidence that Trump conspired directly with folks like Jackson Reffit.

I wonder how many undercover FBI agents were involved at the time.

[pbrower2a]

(03-10-2022, 09:53 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:

(03-10-2022, 01:26 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: I'm still waiting for evidence that Trump conspired directly with folks like Jackson Reffit.

I wonder how many undercover  FBI agents were involved at the time.

There weren't enough FBI agents to entrap so many suckers. 

Right-wing media riled people up, and Donald Trump invited people sharing his dream of continuing his dreadful Presidency contrary to the valid electoral results. 

... and the results are valid, lawful, and definitive, and nobody had a right to thwart their results, to wit the election of Joseph Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice-President. 

By now we are getting a good read on what happened. 

President Trump egged on the rioters at the Capitol. He acted irresponsibly, failing to call the National Guard to quell the riot. He expected Vice-President Mike Pence to alter the result on his behalf, which was not the prerogative of the Vice-President. The certified results were in, and Trump lost. But in the meantime, rioters that Trump egged on put Members of Congress and their staffs, and even the Vice-President  at risk of kidnapping, serious injury, and even death. 

I need not be a conservative or a devotee of former VP Mike Pence to have been appalled at the shout "Hang Mike Pence" with a noose made available as a visual aid. In one of the hearings I find that one of the rioters said to the effect: 

Quote:Pelosi. Schumer. Nadler. Schiff. AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)... we're coming for you. 

If you are still posting, Classic X'er, then I ask you whether democracy thrives when our elected officials are not safe from kidnapping, hostage-taking, assault, or murder. 
There were lame pretexts for contesting the election... and some Republicans said NO to actions that at the least could have gotten them prison terms. Finally there were several slates of 'alternative electors' who would have cast electoral votes contrary to how their states voted.  
Is any electoral result worth killing the system that democracy allows? Once democracy dies, all sorts of horrors  -- torture chambers, summary executions, genocide. and apocalyptic war -- are possible. 
Donald Trump disgraced his Presidency even before then with corruption and despotic tendencies. Full-blown fascism was in the wings. I might be dead by now. I can think of fates far worse than death, including the protracted agony that someone can inflict upon a political prisoner. We have plenty of sadists and perverts to do such things, thank you, including to me.  I'd rather take Valium and vodka should such horror be imminent.

[pbrower2a]

from WWMT-TV, CBS-3  in Kalamazoo: 


LANSING, Mich - The Michigan GOP has canceled its election night watch party due to a threat.
RELATED LINK: Primary Election: The candidates battling to face Governor Whitmer in November
According to Mid-Michigan NOW political reporter Rachel Louise Just someone outside the GOP headquarters in Lansing verbally assaulted a MIGOP-affiliated woman this morning, threatened to "burn the building and said he wanted to enslave women."


The GOP says they have received threats in the past but nothing to this level.
RELATED LINK: Lapeer County Clerk says votes will be counted despite ballot issue
GOP Spokesperson Gus Portela released the following statement:

Quote:“This week, the Michigan GOP experienced several death threats which escalated earlier today when our building received several threats from a by stander who not only verbally assaulted a longtime female staffer but also indicated he was planning on shooting up the building and burning it down. It’s unfortunate that members of the opposite party would seize on this and joke about the situation, but this is the type of politics they plan now a days. Our party won’t be deterred and we will continue to work tirelessly for Republican policies despite on-going threats. No type of violence against women should ever be tolerated.”

A spokesperson for the GOP tells Mid-Michigan NOW out of precaution for the staff they have decided to cancel tonight's event.

https://wwmt.com/news/local/michigan-gop-cancels-election-nigh-watch-party-due-to-threat

No comment and no excuses solicited or offered. 

[pbrower2a]

Also from WWMT-TV (CBS-3, Kalamazoo) 

Cash reward offered in Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood arson investigation

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A reward of up to $5000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in a fire that police say was intentionally set at Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo.

The reward is to be offered jointly by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety.

Investigators say the fire was started outside the Planned Parenthood health clinic on West Michigan Avenue at approximately 4:10 p.m. Sunday July 31st.


Previous coverage: Fire erupts outside of Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood
Security camera videos of a suspect wearing camouflage and purchasing items at a local retail store were released by police.

Investigators are asking for the public’s help to identify him and for information relating to the events leading up and after the fire.

The fire caused only minor damage to the outside of the building and was put out within minutes, according to the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety.

At the time of the fire the clinic was closed for operations, and there were no reported injuries.

Suspect: Police search for suspect in Kalamazoo Planned Parenthood arson
Anyone with information about the arson is asked to contact KDPS at 269-337-8120 or Silent Observer at 269-343-2100.

https://wwmt.com/news/local/planned-pare...roe-v-wade

Yes, arson is a violent crime and if motivated by politics it could constitute terrorism.

[pbrower2a]

I don't know if this post quite belongs here, but the legal process isn't going as some people with the delusion on January 6, 2021 thought that it would go.  




[color=var(--article-body--byline--color)]By Daniel Barnes, Liz Brown-Kaiser, Dareh Gregorian and Julia Jester[/color]
circa

A jury on Monday convicted four members of the Oath Keepers of seditious conspiracy in the second batch of guilty verdicts related to the extremist group's efforts to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

In addition to the seldom-used charge of seditious conspiracy, the four — Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel and Edward Vallejo — were convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and of conspiring to obstruct.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ordered the four to be placed under 24-hour house arrest with limited exceptions and limitations on internet usage until their sentencing, “notwithstanding the nature of these charges, which are undoubtedly serious.” 

The jury started deliberations Thursday morning after a five-week trial

Prosecutors said the four used a “perverted version of American history” to justify their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Attacking the Capitol was a means to an end,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Manzo told jurors during closing arguments Wednesday. He said the group took advantage of the riot and seized the opportunity to fulfill their goal of preventing Congress from counting the electoral votes and confirming Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

“January 6 was just a battle. The full conspiracy was to stop the transfer of power,” Manzo said.
Prosecutors said Vallejo was staged at a Virginia hotel with a stockpile of rifles — which they have called a "Quick Reaction Force" — while Hackett, Moerschel and Minuta led groups to breach the Capitol.

The trial, which started Dec. 12, included testimony from Brian Ulrich, a member of the Oath Keepers’ Georgia chapter who had pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. Ulrich testified that he took part in the storming of the Capitol because he wanted to stop the counting of the Electoral College votes.

“There’s no other reason to go in that building at that point,” Ulrich said.
Manzo also pointed jurors to clips from a selfie-style video of Minuta, filmed in what appears to be his car. In the video, a furious Minuta yells about fake ballots, complains that Congress hasn’t done enough about the problem and said children would become "slaves" if people don't act.

“Millions will die,” Minuta said in another clip from the same video. “So what. So what. ... I’m not afraid and I’m ready to f---ing go.” 
The four defendants were charged as part of the same seditious conspiracy case involving Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes that went to trial in October. The case was split into two trials due to the number of defendants.

Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, the leader of the group’s Florida chapter, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in November. Three additional defendants from the first trial — Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell — were acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted on other felony charges, including obstruction of a federal proceeding. All five are awaiting sentencing.

A third seditious conspiracy trial involving members of the Proud Boys, another extremist group charged with trying disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, is ongoing.
The maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy — a rarely used Civil War era statute — is 20 years in federal prison.

Lawyers for the defendants in the second trial said their clients had been overcharged and did not conspire to overthrow the government.
Defense attorney Angela Halim argued that Hackett, whom she said had no military or law enforcement experience, was lumped into a “narrative” crafted by prosecutors about the Oath Keepers.
“There was no plan to attack the Capitol, there was no plan to disrupt the Electoral College proceeding,” she said of Hackett, who was seen on closed-circuit television footage inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Scott Weinberg, an attorney for Moerschel, took a similar tack. “This is not some highly organized group,” he said.
“These gentlemen had Twitter fingers, not trigger fingers,” Weinberg said, riffing on hip hop artist Drake’s lyrics.
Vallejo, an Arizona resident, veteran and former Oath Keeper, came to Washington for Jan. 6 with “nothing but a servant’s heart,” his lawyer told jurors.
“Ed brought 30 days of food with him, not just for himself but for a group, and he believed he was going to a campground where he would set up a food kitchen and cook for protesters,” defense attorney Matthew Peed said in opening statements. “And it would be kind of a, kind of like a festival.”
He also stressed that Vallejo hadn’t met his co-defendants until the day of jury selection in the trial.
“There was literally zero coordination between these people,” Peed said.

[pbrower2a]

Inside a US Neo-Nazi Homeschool Network With Thousands of Members


A Ohio couple has been unmasked as leaders of the neo-Nazi “Dissident Homeschool” Telegram channel that distributes lesson plans to 2,400 members.

By David Gilbert
January 29, 2023, 11:15am



Earlier this month, while the rest of the country was celebrating the achievements of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., parents and children in the “Dissident Homeschool” network opened a lesson plan and were greeted with the words: “As Adolf Hitler wrote…”
The contents of the MLK lesson plan would be shocking for almost anyone, but for members of the 2,400-member “Dissident Homeschool” Telegram channel, this was a regular Monday at school. 

“It is up to us to ensure our children know him for the deceitful, dishonest, riot-inciting negro he actually was,” the administrator of the network’s Telegram channel wrote, alongside a downloadable lesson plan for elementary school children. ”He is the face of a movement which ethnically cleansed whites out of urban areas and precipitated the anti-white regime that we are now fighting to free ourselves from.”
Since the group began in October 2021 it has openly embraced Nazi ideology and promoted white supremacy, while proudly discouraging parents from letting their white children play with or have any contact with people of any other race. Admins and members use racist, homophobic, and antisemitic slurs without shame, and quote Hitler and other Nazi leaders daily in a channel open to the public. 
VICE News joined the group simply by clicking on a link, though the list of members was not publicly visible.
What’s even more disturbing, however, is that the couple who run the channel are not only teaching parents how to indoctrinate their children into this fascist ideology, they’re also encouraging them to meet up in real life and join even more radical groups, which could further reinforce their beliefs and potentially push them toward violent action.

‘Mr. and Mrs. Saxon’

The “Dissident Homeschool” network is run by a husband and wife team who use the aliases “Mr. and Mrs. Saxon.” This week the antifascist research group Anonymous Comrades Collective published a detailed report that unmasked the Saxons as Logan and Katja Lawrence, who live in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, with their four young children.
The researchers were able to identify the Lawrences through biographical details they shared in the Telegram channel’s group chat and on podcast appearances. One of the key clues to identifying them came when they revealed that they owned a German Shepherd called Blondi—the same name as Hitler’s dog. 


The researchers found photos that Katja posted on Facebook with her German Shepherd, and were also able to confirm Katja Lawrence’s ownership of this dog through the Wyandot County dog licensing website dog search feature.
Please send tips about the Lawrences or the neo-Nazi homeschool network to David Gilbert at david.gilbert@vice.com. For Signal, DM @Daithaigilbert on Twitter.
The Lawrences did not respond to multiple emails, text messages, social media messages, and phone calls from VICE News to discuss the contents of the report and their neo-Nazi homeschooling group.
Katja Lawrence, who is in her mid-30s, launched the channel in October 2021, because she “was having a rough time finding Nazi-approved school material for [her] homeschool children,” as she told the neo-Nazi podcast “Achtung! Amerikaner” last year.

Quote:“We are so deeply invested into making sure that that child becomes a wonderful Nazi.”

Later in the same podcast episode, Lawrence expanded on her view on why she wanted to educate her children at home. “We have our children’s best interest at heart and nobody can do a better job than we can because it’s our child. We are so deeply invested into making sure that that child becomes a wonderful Nazi,” she said.
When VICE News asked for comment on the Lawrences and their channel, the host of the podcast, Gordon Kahl, replied: “I think you should kill yourself instead.”

Katja Lawrence, born Katja van den Berg, is originally from the Netherlands and moved to the U.S. after meeting her husband at the Oktoberfest festival in Berlin, according to an old LiveJournal blog uncovered by the researchers. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2017.
Logan Lawrence works as an agent for a local, family-run insurance agency. When reached by phone, an employee at the company told VICE News that they would not be commenting on the story.
Logan is also a member of a local Masonic lodge and features in a number of pictures on its website, where he is listed as an officer of the lodge. The secretary of the lodge did not respond to VICE News’ request for comment. 
Both Katja and Logan have a limited presence on mainstream social media platforms, and the one Facebook account that was operated by Katja was deleted this week after the Anonymous Comrades Collective report was published.
Katja Lawrence is the main poster on the “Dissident Homeschool” channel, posting classroom schedules, book lists, lesson plans, and other educational resources for like-minded parents.

Racist lesson plans

Lawrence uses every lesson plan as an opportunity to push racist ideology. In one “math assignment,” children were asked to interpret “crime statistics,” the goal of which was to “realize the demographics to be cautious around.” Another lesson called “IQ Unit Study” discusses IQ scores. “The blacks—on average—have a much lower IQ than whites,” Lawrence wrote.
Last week the group chat channel belonging to the “Dissident Homeschool” network was shut down, but VICE News has reviewed an archive of the chats dating back to October 2021, showing that initially the channel was populated by a small number of core members who contributed most of the comments and content.

However, by the time the chat archive ended on Jan. 4, there were hundreds more people contributing to the conversations, and discussions had expanded from children’s education to the dangers of diversity and how “Indiana Jones” movies are nothing more than “Jewish revenge porn.”
One parent posting in the group last year thanked the Lawrences for their work and explained why they agreed that public school education was not for them.

Quote:“I don’t even want my kids exposed to the gay loving, anti-family, Jew factory that is public school, I can’t stand it.”

“This is why I want to make the switch. I don’t even want my kids exposed to the gay loving, anti-family, Jew factory that is public school, I can’t stand it.”
Other parents offered their own educational resources, with one member writing: “Here is an overview of 10 Reason why Hitler was one of the Good Guys:”
When one parent named Nancy recommended three preachers that the group might find interesting, another member responded: “A ni**er, a race mixer, and a guy who literally says that Israel should rule the world. You're 0 for 3.”

Katja Lawrence then added: “Nancy, did you know you are in a chat of dissidents who fully support white nationalism? We do not support Israel and do not listen to black preachers.”

The members of the channel have also expanded beyond the U.S. to include members from other countries, though only those from European countries with acceptable ethnicity, such as Norway, Germany, and the U.K., are welcomed. 

At one point in the chat, Katja Lawrence told a UK-based member of the group that she would help put him in touch with the head of one of the biggest white nationalist groups in the U.K., suggesting the Lawrences have made connections with antisemites and white supremacists outside of their own homeschooling community.

Baking a ‘Führer cake’

When the Telegram channel reached its 1,000th subscriber, just months after it launched, Katja Lawrence posted a picture of German schoolchildren performing a Nazi salute in a classroom, writing: “It fills my heart with joy to know there is such a strong base of homeschoolers and homeschool-interested national socialists. Hail Victory.”

The Lawrences also described how their family celebrated Hitler’s birthday by baking a “Führer cake.” 
“We had a lovely dinner followed by Führerkuchen,” Katja Lawrence wrote. “Our children celebrated Adolf’s birthday today by learning about Germany and eating favorite German foods.” She later added that she had baked “quite a few swastika items, my latest a swastika apple pie.”
In one chilling, now-deleted post on Telegram, Katla Lawrence posted an audio message of her children shouting “sieg heil.”
While Katja and Logan Lawrence claim in Telegram comments that they warn their children not to discuss their Nazi views with those outside the family, they also don’t limit their activities to the online world and help others to connect with fellow white nationalists in the real world.

Secret ‘pool parties’

“There is a huge network of people like us,” Katja wrote on the Telegram channel. “If you are asking what you can do: get vetted and join a local pool party. I would say that’s the best decision Mr. Saxon and I made last year. We joined a pool party and our children now play with other white children where they can speak and play freely. ”

A “pool party” is the name for a secretive meetup organized by white supremacist group The Right Stuff and its political wing the National Justice Party. Katja Lawrence even goes so far as to share the direct email for a contact at The Right Stuff who deals with vetting, while an account named the “National Justice Party” posts updates that include calls for “Dissident Homeschool” members to join its supporter group and updates on its Christmas charity drive.

Quote:“Our children now play with other white children where they can speak and play freely.”

“It has been huge for us to get into that real life network. Contribute by joining. It makes all the difference,” Katja Lawrence wrote.
It is hard to gauge the influence of the “Dissident Homeschool Network,” but in leaked emails from people attempting to join the white nationalist group Patriot Front, applicants list the “Dissident Homeschool” as being “Influential figures, media outlets or platforms.”
The Right Stuff and the National Justice League were described by the Anti-Defamation League  as “virulently antisemitic”, while 31 members of Patriot Front were arrested last year inside a U-haul truck on their way to an LGBTQ Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, carrying shields and smoke grenades. 
Yet Katja attempts to describe these group’s activities as entirely wholesome.
“To dispel some misconceptions: these groups do not encourage or solicit people to commit illegal activities,” Katja wrote. "It is a nice group of wholesome white people getting together for cookouts and such.”
Follow David Gilbert on Twitter.


https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34ane/n...chool-ohio

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Illustrative of some of the "educational" material offered by this cult is this (yes, it is hateful expression, so read it at risk of offense):



George Lincoln Rockwell was the founder of the American Nazi Party (now self-designated as the National Socialist White People's Party), and one of the initiators of Holocaust denial.  

By the way  -- for those involved in home-schooling there is material far more appropriate for the kids if they are to get along with the multi-traditional reality of America:

https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/homesch...holocaust/

especially for recognition of what can happen to people who on the whole deserved far better .

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Lawmakers call for reform following reports of Ohio couple’s nazi-friendly home schooling curriculum

UPPER SANDUSKY, Ohio (WTVG[ABC-13, Toledo, Ohio]) - The leader of Ohio House Democrats is calling for policy reform on home schooling after a report from the Huffington Post unveiled an Ohio couple runs a social media channel dedicated to helping parents radicalize their children with “nazi-approved material.”

According to the report, a couple from Upper Sandusky runs a channel on Telegram with lesson plans and assignments for home-schooled children that spews anti-Semitic content in such a way as to make sure it’s still in compliance with the law so Ohio officials can’t interfere.

“We are so deeply invested into making sure that that child becomes a wonderful Nazi,” the alleged Upper Sandusky resident told a podcast host, Huffpost reports. “And by home-schooling, we’re going to get that done.”
Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo called Ohio’s current law “hugely problematic” when it allows what she calls bad actors like the Upper Sandusky couple to shape Ohio’s youth.

“This is what the indoctrination of children looks like, and it’s terrifying,” Russo said in a tweet. “Yet, I doubt we’ll see mobile billboards parked in front of the Ohio Statehouse demanding accountability for the absurdly weak homeschooling laws that allow a pro-Nazi curriculum. And, to be clear, there are many home-school families who I’ve known over the years (esp. many military families) who provide a great and enriching education for their kids. But, Ohio’s current law is hugely problematic when it allows bad actors like this to continue.”


In response to the story, Ohio Board of Education Member and former Ohio House Representative from Toledo Teresa Fedor called on Gov. DeWine to denounce the efforts on nazi-friendly home-school curriculum during his State of the State address Tuesday.

“Silence regarding hate, is complicity for hate,” Fedor said in a statement. " The recent report that a group of home school Ohio parents who told a recent Nazi podcast that they were creating a curriculum for ‘Nazi-approved home school material’ should alarm all Ohioans. At a time when extreme politics in Ohio are pushing for ideological interference in the education curriculum we face a moral crossroads. As elected officials, the Governor and all Ohio Elected Officials, must all stand up and do everything we can to make sure that never again we will stand silent in the face of hate. January 27 was International Holocaust Rememberance Day - but everyday we must make sure we stand up to hate and make sure no public dollars go toward such horrific Nazi curriculum.”
A statement from the Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction, Stephanie Siddens, said that she is outraged and saddened by the report and that the department is “actively reviewing compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.”

“There is absolutely no place for hate-filled, divisive and hurtful instruction in Ohio’s schools, including our state’s home-schooling community,” Siddens said in a statement. “I emphatically and categorically denounce the racist, antisemitic and fascist ideology and materials being circulated as reported in recent media stories. Each day, educators, school leaders and family members work to make Ohio’s school communities, including our home-school settings, places where students are encouraged, motivated and inspired through positive, inclusive and caring behavior.”

The department said the Ohio Department of Education does not review or approve home school curriculum per Ohio law. Parents who home school agree to give students 900 hours of instruction per year, notify the superintendent every year, and give an assessment of the student’s work.

The Upper Sandusky Exempted Village Schools Superintendent, Eric Landversicht, released a statement Monday calling the allegations of the couple’s work creating the extremist social media channel “egregious” and condemned the resources. Read the statement in full below.
Upper Sandusky Statement on Nazi Curriculum by 13abc on Scribd



The people trying to raise their children as "good little Nazis" do them a grave disservice. This ideology is infamous for contributions to terrorism.

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What? Since when is the likely response of rioters a cause to nullify an election?

Quote:WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump, whose coup attempt on Jan. 6, 2021, put his vice president’s life at risk as a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol, on Monday blamed Mike Pence for the violence that day because he didn’t go along with the scheme.
“Had he sent the votes back to the legislators, they wouldn’t have had a problem with Jan. 6,” the former president told reporters on a flight to an Iowa campaign stop. “So in many ways, you can blame him for Jan. 6.”


Pence, who presided over the ceremonial counting of Electoral College ballots that day, had no authority to send “votes back” to state legislatures. In any event, Trump actually had tried to pressure Pence to simply reject the votes from certain key states and declare Trump the winner of the 2020 election that he had lost to Democrat Joe Biden, according to Trump White House officials.
Trump’s new comments, reported by CBS Political Director Fin Gomez, who was among the reporters on Trump’s plane, came in response to Pence’s remarks on Saturday, when he said Trump’s words and deeds had nearly gotten his family killed.
“President Trump was wrong,” Pence said in remarks at the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club in Washington, D.C. “I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day. And I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”

Trump set the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol in motion days after the Electoral College had voted on Dec. 14, 2020, formally giving Biden the presidency, when he told his followers to converge on Washington the day of the congressional certification.


He had spent the weeks following his election loss lying that his reelection had been “stolen,” and he continued those lies through December and the first week of January. At a rally blocks from the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, he told his followers he would march with them to the Capitol and that they had to “fight like hell” if they wanted to save their country.
Four of his supporters died that afternoon, with five police officers dying in the aftermath. An additional 140 officers were injured.
Trump is now under criminal investigation in Georgia and by the U.S. Department of Justice for his actions. He nevertheless is running for the Republican presidential nomination and is currently the front-runner.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-bla...a5cd89f284