Terrorism is like an iceberg. There's a part of it that is easy to see as it breaks through the surface of news media headlines. The proverbial "tip of the iceberg." Large scale riots, arson, looting and property damage, even to the point of wholesale destruction of neighborhoods and business districts. Violent lawlessness that has killed or inflicted serious injuries on police, and on other people and groups who become targets.
The nabbing of the "Whitmer 13" on charges arising from a plot to do harm to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is another reminder of the part of the Terror iceberg that more usually lurks beneath the surface of news headlines. Among the people who are the most schooled on this threat, Kathleen Belew, the author of "Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America" and an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago. The bespectacled Belew has a brief new "read" about it in the Washington Post.
FBI agents have disrupted and stopped what they say was a conspiracy by militia movement members to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). They discussed arson of her vacation home and other targets and kidnapping her for “trial.”
This isn’t just a one-off event or the work of a few mad actors — it’s part of a rising tide of white power activity, one that poses an imminent danger to American democracy. The Department of Homeland Security’s threat assessment report, released earlier this week after a long wait, made that clear: White power movement violence and affiliated extremism is, by far, the greatest terrorist threat to our nation.
Not only does this kind of extremist violence outstrip any violence carried out by what President Trump has referred to as “antifa and the left,” but white power violence now also exceeds the threat of radical Islamist terror. The DHS assessment makes clear that “2019 was the most lethal year for extremism in the United States since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.”
That bombing, the largest deliberate mass casualty on mainland American soil between Pearl Harbor and 9/11, is still not well understood by Americans. People still think of it as the work of lone wolves or a few bad apples. But the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people — including 19 young children — was the work of the white power movement, a coordinated social network that brought together Klansmen, neo-Nazis, skinheads, militiamen, radical tax resisters, separatists and others in outright war on the federal government. The evidence of the bombing as part of this movement is extensive and irrefutable.
The entire article barely dents the Read-o-Meter scale as less than a 5-minute "read."
The "Reading" Railroad... Feng Shui for all the media content that lives rent-free in your head.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 10-10-2020).]
One mans terrorist is another's freedom fighter. Where you see a terrorist, I see a defender of rights.
What I see with these groups is a bunch of guys (at the far end of the spectrum) who have beyond had enough of being pushed, stolen from, around and beaten down simply for being white male.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 10-12-2020).]
1. One mans terrorist is another's freedom fighter. Where you see a terrorist, I see a defender of rights.
2. What I see with these groups is a bunch of guys (at the far end of the spectrum) who have beyond had enough of being pushed, stolen from, around and beaten down simply for being white male.
1. There is some validity to that, in the sense that this country was acquired in that manner.
2. So....White Nationalists. Their fight for “freedom” starts and ends with the color of a persons skin.
They love the Constitution but think “All men are created equal” is missing the word “white”.
That’s not nationalist, that’s supremest. That’s not American.
America and is freedoms is about inclusion, not exclusion. These guys have no idea what America is about.
They were going to kidnap her (not how America does business), try her (would she have gotten her trial rights under the Constitution?), and execute her (only available “court” outcome?).
Yeah, they LOVE America and the founding rules that actually makes America the greatness that it is..
These guys are terrorists, not “Freedom Fighters”.
1. There is some validity to that, in the sense that this country was acquired in that manner.
2. So....White Nationalists. Their fight for “freedom” starts and ends with the color of a persons skin.
Their own. It's called self-defence.
They love the Constitution but think “All men are created equal” is missing the word “white”.
That’s not nationalist, that’s supremest. That’s not American.
Its individualism. MY rights do not end where your feelings start, and are NOT negated because you dont like them.
America and is freedoms is about inclusion, not exclusion. These guys have no idea what America is about.
No. Exclusion (freedom FROM assembly) is a RIGHT. If you are not wanted, somebody has every right NOT to put up with you for any reason they see fit.
They were going to kidnap her (not how America does business) you mean like arrests (kidnapping) off the street ?, try her (would she have gotten her trial rights under the Constitution?) Does anybody ? Not even close anymore., and execute her (only available “court” outcome?). So ? Execution IS the traditional penalty for treason.
How is that any different than the myriad of "administrative law" courts run by sham "governments" and lawyers legal schemes (if you fart on a Wednesday you are deemed to have waived your right to pizz on a Saturday and we will fine or jail you for doing it ).
Yeah, they LOVE America and the founding rules that actually makes America the greatness that it is..
They love a free REPUBLIC, not a democracy or a corpocracy.
These guys are terrorists, not “Freedom Fighters”.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 10-12-2020).]
Originally posted by Raydar: Wait a minute... so instead of answering a quite valid series of questions, you post that bullshit meme? What the hell is that about, anyway? Is that all you've got? That's crap! And I'm attempting to be polite.
There weren't any "valid questions" in that rant of a message from MidEngineManiac. Not one. All I got out of that (from MEM) was that he is constantly and endlessly trying to imagine a society with laws that limit the freedoms of other kinds of people--anyone that MEM's not "crazy about" [idiom]--but laws that do not limit the freedoms of MEM and his "ilk" in any way whatsoever.
It was an Anarchist rant.
I just came up with that "Tired of Winning" meme with the photo image of MSNBC's Doctor in the House (Vin Gupta) because--well, I just wanted to ridicule MEM's rant. A spontaneous reaction. The first thing that came to my mind, as I pondered how best to ridicule MEM's rant.
I like MEM, but the last few days--he's been "extra", as a now-banned forum member had a habit of saying about me.
He should go back to "regular strength."
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 10-13-2020).]
If you have been paying attention for the past 14 years you already KNOW I am am a libertarian/individualist at heart. Not anarchist. Anarchists don't want ANY laws or order at all.
If you have been paying attention for the past 14 years you already KNOW I am am a libertarian/individualist at heart. Not anarchist. Anarchists don't want ANY laws or order at all.
Even I know the difference and I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE the satanism of anarchy. I disagree with many aspects of liberaterianism, but don't hold those views or differences personally against those that believe in it. A healthy debate of ideas is a good thing, but a total blackout of others is unhealthy. Realistically, does anyone ever know everything? We exchange ideas, we grow. We closeout, we stunt and wilt.
That didn't "read" like Libertarianism. The message that I singled out, from MEM.
I need to bail out of this thread. "Punt formation." Maybe I will return if more emerges in the way of reporting about the "Whitmer 13." The 13 men who have been charged with crimes related to a conspiracy to do harm to the governor and the state of Michigan.
Not that I care, but I don't want you to think that you are making any kind of sense, because you're not.
Tony Kania. Before he was banned, he had a way of reacting to some of my messages, where he would say "Feeling extra today, rinselberg?"
I didn't have any problem with it.
1. I'm not "babbling" so once again do you somehow believe that Cliff Pennock's rules about personal character attacks don't apply to you?
2. "I don't want you to think that you are making any kind of sense, because you're not." that sure as hell looks like you think the rules against personal character attacks don't apply to you.
quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:
I didn't have any problem with it.
Then you shouldn't have had a problem with the fact that MeM WASN'T EVEN TALKING TO YOU!
This is some really rich, but not unsurprising, crap coming from someone that spent years constantly complaining about "The Posting Rules" and now we see the evidence here that you think that only applies TO OTHERS and not you.
quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:
I need to bail out of this thread.
.
Agreed
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 10-13-2020).]