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Ongoing discussion of the political news of the day. This thread is for 'smaller' stories that don't call for their own thread. If a story blows up, please start a new thread for it.

Or their parent's voting record.

The Guardian: Republican discussed violent attacks and surveillance with rightwingers

A Washington state Republican politician took part in private discussions with rightwing figures about carrying out surveillance, “psyops” and even violent attacks on perceived political enemies, according to chat records obtained by the Guardian.

State representative Matt Shea, who represents Spokane Valley in the Washington state house, participated in the chats with three other men. All of the men used screen aliases – Shea’s was “Verum Bellator”, Latin for true warrior. The Guardian confirmed the identity of those in the chat by cross-checking phone numbers attached to the Signal accounts.

The group included Jack Robertson, who broadcasts a far-right radio show, Radio Free Redoubt, under the alias “John Jacob Schmidt”. The chat also included Anthony Bosworth, whose history includes a public altercation with his own daughter and bringing guns to a court house. Bosworth participated in the 2016 occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge, reportedly at Shea’s request.

The chats on the messaging app Signal took place in the days leading up to a supposed “Antifa revolt” on 4 November 2017. Throughout late October, far-right media outlets had been stoking fears of political conflict on the basis of planned peaceful protests by a small leftist group.

The men proposed to confront leftists – whom they repeatedly refer to as “communists” and “Antifa” – with a suite of tactics, including violence.

The text chat dialogue is shown in the article.

If Matt Shea's name sounds familiar, it's because back in November admitted circulating a document titled "The Biblical Basis for War" in which he detailed why anyone who didn't agree to stop all abortions, gay marriage, and communism and who didn't agree to follow "Biblical law" should be killed (because there's totes not a proscription to killing mentioned in the Bible).

Kudos to the residents of Washington's 4th legislative district for putting this guy in office six times.

Forget it, Jake... it's Spokane Yakima town.

Gremlin wrote:

NYT: Militia in New Mexico Detains Asylum Seekers at Gunpoint

ALBUQUERQUE — A right-wing militia group operating in southern New Mexico has begun stopping groups of migrant families and detaining them at gunpoint before handing them over to Border Patrol agents, raising tension over the tactics of armed vigilantes along the border between the United States and Mexico.

Members of the group, which calls itself the United Constitutional Patriots, filmed several of their actions in recent days, including the detention this week of a group of about 200 migrants who had recently crossed the border near Sunland Park, N.M., with the intention of seeking asylum. They uploaded videos to social media of exhausted looking migrant families, blinking in the darkness in the glare of what appeared to be the militia’s spotlights.

Professed militias have long operated along the border with attempts to curb the flow of undocumented migrants into the United States. But targeting the recent influx of families, who are legally allowed to request asylum and often quickly surrender to Border Patrol agents, is raising tension with human rights activists in this part of the West.

PayPal and GoFundMe cut off their online fundraising. Now they just need to be arrested for brandishing firearms, kidnapping, impersonating a federal official, and whatever the f*ck else a good prosecutor can make stick.

Buzzfeed wrote:

The group has used the thousands of dollars donated online to supply food, gasoline, propane, and a portable toilet at a camp in Sunland, New Mexico, but by Friday members of the militia learned they would no longer be able to use PayPal or GoFundMe to raise money.

"They killed us," Mark Cheney, who described himself as commander of United Constitutional Patriots, told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview. "I have to find some other way for people to donate."

On Friday, the militia was notified that both their PayPal and GoFundMe campaigns had been shut down for violating the crowdfunding sites' policy on the promotion of hate or violence, and in at least one instance allegedly using the funds to buy firearms. Cheney denied that the group used donations to purchase weapons.

"The account associated with United Constitutional Patriots has been closed due to a violation of our Acceptable Use Policy," a PayPal spokesperson told BuzzFeed News in a statement. "We do not allow PayPal services to be used to promote hate, violence, or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory."

That decision, Cheney said, dealt a significant blow to the group's operations in a remote area near the southern border, where costs can quickly add up.

EDIT: The NYT's is now reporting that the leader of the United Constitutional Patriots, Larry Mitchell Hopkins, was arrested earlier today on charges of firearm possession by a felon (because of course he's a felon).

Matt Shea fails the John 13:34 test.

Rep. Duncan Hunter Faked a Border Wall Crossing on Facebook

Duncan's name should ring a bell, as he "is currently out on bail because he has been indicted for allegedly misusing campaign funds for personal family expenses to pay for luxury family vacations, dentistry and other bills, and even his children’s school lunches. "

And good thing for him he faked it the border crossing, because "According to the terms of his bail, Hunter is not allowed to leave the country, so if he had actually crossed over to Mexico, it would have been a violation of his bail."

bekkilyn wrote:

Matt Shea fails the John 13:34 test.

Probably passes the John anti-semite test, though.

strangederby wrote:

The above story made me wonder if any American families are staying over in Mexico without the proper paperwork. This lead me to wonder what would happen if they were arrested and their children put into a cage.

I don’t know about families, but there are about a million US citizens living in Mexico, many retirees and perhaps most there illegally.

Mixolyde wrote:
bekkilyn wrote:

Matt Shea fails the John 13:34 test.

Probably passes the John anti-semite test, though.

Shea took to Facebook on Monday to try to discredit Jason Wilson, the journalist who wrote The Guardian article. He linked to an article that tied Wilson to "violent Marxist revolutionaries." The article was published on xyz.net, a white nationalist website that's chock full of anti-Semitic articles, such as "Let's (finally) have an honest conversation about the Holocaust."

Wilson's trying to connect with Shea to ask the important follow-up questions, like did someone forward him the article and he never actually read it; did he read the article, but not notice the other stuff on the website; or, does he know the website and like it?

A Search for Answers | A Search for Blame

In grieving Parkland, there’s a fight ripping the community apart. And it has nothing to do with gun control.

Long, but worth it.

Turns out that it's a short step from militant border gangs kidnapping refugees to attempting assassinations...

CBS: Militia leader allegedly told FBI they were training to assassinate Obama, Hillary Clinton

The leader of a militia group who's been detaining migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border allegedly told the FBI his militia was training to assassinate former President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Democratic donor George Soros. Larry Hopkins, head of the United Constitutional Patriots, is charged with possession a firearm as a felon and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Hopkins appeared before a federal judge Monday.

According to prosecutors, he has three felony convictions in Michigan and Oregon, including for impersonating a police officer, and nine guns were seized from his home back in 2017, reports CBS News' Mireya Villarreal.

They should go for kidnapping. This guy has a history of impersonating law enforcement. He is a menace to society for taking the law into his own hands and needs to be put away for longer than 10 years max.
It is as much an attack on the rule of law as anything Trump's cronies have done.

NYT: Navy SEALs Were Warned Against Reporting Their Chief for War Crimes

Stabbing a defenseless teenage captive to death. Picking off a school-age girl and an old man from a sniper’s roost. Indiscriminately spraying neighborhoods with rockets and machine-gun fire.

Navy SEAL commandos from Team 7’s Alpha Platoon said they had seen their highly decorated platoon chief commit shocking acts in Iraq. And they had spoken up, repeatedly. But their frustration grew as months passed and they saw no sign of official action.

Tired of being brushed off, seven members of the platoon called a private meeting with their troop commander in March 2018 at Naval Base Coronado near San Diego. According to a confidential Navy criminal investigation report obtained by The New York Times, they gave him the bloody details and asked for a formal investigation.

But instead of launching an investigation that day, the troop commander and his senior enlisted aide — both longtime comrades of the accused platoon leader, Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher — warned the seven platoon members that speaking out could cost them and others their careers, according to the report.

The clear message, one of the seven told investigators, was “Stop talking about it.”

The platoon members eventually forced the referral of their concerns to authorities outside the SEALs, and Chief Gallagher now faces a court-martial, with his trial set to begin May 28.

But the account of the March 2018 meeting and myriad other details in the 439-page report paint a disturbing picture of a subculture within the SEALs that prized aggression, even when it crossed the line, and that protected wrongdoers.

Good for them to be determined to have justice and keep pushing it at potential cost to themselves.

Welcome to Nashville! Come for the hot chicken, stay for the systematic erosion of civil rights and decency.

But yeah, the chicken's tasty.

trichy wrote:

Welcome to Nashville! Come for the hot chicken, stay for the systematic erosion of civil rights and decency.

Reminds me of the a buddy I got who lives in Little Rock, AR. His tagline for his hometown is:

"Little Rock - come for the meth, stay because you sold your car for meth!"

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre Says He Is Being Extorted, Pressured to Resign

The headline really buries the lede, but all I gotta say is

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/12aW6JtfvUdcdO/giphy.gif)

By Ollie North, no less. He not only knows guns, he also knows rebellions.

Ollie's just trying to protect his double dipping: he gets paid about a mill by the NRA to be their president and he also gets paid a mil a year by their marketing firm, Ackerman McQueen, to help with NRATV.

The NRA filed a lawsuit against Ackerman earlier this month for overbilling and general sh*ttery, so there's basically a full-on civil war happening within the NRA now because a lot of NRA senior staff used to work at Ackerman.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre Says He Is Being Extorted, Pressured to Resign

The headline really buries the lede, but all I gotta say is

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/12aW6JtfvUdcdO/giphy.gif)

The solution is simple... Pistols at dawn between the two of them.

JC wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre Says He Is Being Extorted, Pressured to Resign

The headline really buries the lede, but all I gotta say is

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/12aW6JtfvUdcdO/giphy.gif)

The solution is simple... Pistols at dawn between the two of them.

This is the NRA. It’ll be AR-15s.

Bump stocks at dawn!

fangblackbone wrote:

Bump stocks at dawn!

I’d imagine that duel is going to be long and brutal. Beating someone to death with a bump stock can’t be easy.

Nomad wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

Bump stocks at dawn!

I’d imagine that duel is going to be long and brutal. Beating someone to death with a bump stock can’t be easy.

I think we owe it to them to let them try.

Or maybe they can run around, make machine gun noises and just pretend they are annihilating 100's of innocent civilians while holding their bump stocks?

oilypenguin wrote:
Nomad wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

Bump stocks at dawn!

I’d imagine that duel is going to be long and brutal. Beating someone to death with a bump stock can’t be easy.

I think we owe it to them to let them try.

I fear that if we do, they will claim that this proves that bump stocks aren’t dangerous.

JC wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre Says He Is Being Extorted, Pressured to Resign

The headline really buries the lede, but all I gotta say is

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/12aW6JtfvUdcdO/giphy.gif)

The solution is simple... Pistols at dawn between the two of them.

An armed breakup is a polite breakup.

That was a quick rebellion.

Ollie North was "informed" by the NRA last night that they wouldn't be accepting his name as a candidate for president. His term ends on Monday.