#violent threats against members of Congress

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Police arrested a man who entered the district office of Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia, after he attacked two members of his staff with a baseball bat.

Mr. Connolly released a statement saying that the person who committed the attack is now in the custody of the City of Fairfax Police Department after causing non-life-threatening injuries to the staffers.

“Right now, our focus is on ensuring they are receiving the care they need,” Mr. Connolly said on Monday.

The suspect allegedly visited the politician’s district office and asked for the congressman while holding the baseball bat before attacking the two staffers.

“I have the best team in Congress,” Mr. Connolly said in a statement. “My district office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day. The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating.”

Lisa Gardner, a spokesperson for the police department in Fairfax, said the attacker wielded a metal bat and said he will be held in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

“It is very concerning and it’s quite frankly scary that someone can just walk up to an office, holding a baseball bat and just start swinging at innocent victims,” she said.

US Capitol Police and the Fairfax City Police Department said Xuan Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax entered the office around 10:49am on Monday with a metal baseball bat and assaulted the two staffers.

The attack is the latest in a spate of violent threats against members of Congress in recent months. In February, Democratic Representative Angie Craig of Minnesota was attacked outside her Washington DC apartment. Similarly, last year, a man attacked then-Republican Representative Lee Zeldin of New York, who was campaigning for Governor at the time.

In addition, another man broke into the San Francisco home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and assaulted her husband Paul Pelosi, which led to him suffering serious injuries. Violent threats against members of Congress have spiked in recent years.

The number of threats against members of Congress tripled from 2017 to 2021 when they reached 9,625. Senator Susan Collins of Maine warned The New York Times last year that “I wouldn’t be surprised if a Senator or House member were killed.” Ms. Gardner said Mr. Connolly’s office hadn’t made the department aware of any threats.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries denounced the attack.

“I have asked the House Sergeant at Arms and the U.S. Capitol Police to continue their focus on collaborating with our Members,” he said in a statement.

“We must collectively take every available precaution to protect Members and our staff, who serve the American people with patriotism and passion and deserve to do so without fear for their safety.”

[fairuzfan]

academia is often used as the forefront of much of the violence inflicted on palestinians — for example in the library of congress, there is a collection called "the american colony of jerusalem" with racist photography and items that help visually perpetuate the "people without a land, land without a people" part of herzel's ideology, which itself is the forefront of much of zionist ideology. pointing out the systematic harm in academia is often considered "irrelevant" by zionists.... denies the origins of zionism as a political and academic ideology with physical consequences.

much of palestinian history throughout the last century has to do with erasure and silencing — that is how we got to this point. when i say no one listened to palestinians i mean NO ONE listened. they were ignored. all their demands were unreasonable. instead they get blamed for much of the world's unwillingness to listen. even my family members — i have stories of their work in academic resistance since '48. and some of them are well known contributions throughout euro-american and swana society. yet they're still ignored because of their palestinian origin.

"if you were just more reasonable" or "if you took the time to listen with compassion" or "you have to appeal to people's sense of reason" ignores the fact of the matter — this ideology's founding principals were built on "a people without a land for a land without a people." you cannot and should not ignore that. in order to complete the zionist ideology, you must remove the native population. therefore any subscribers to the idea of zionism are violent, whether they intend it or not.

and if it were true, that academia were irrelevant.... then that doesn't explain the systematic torture and imprisonment of writers and scholars, the exile of my family members who were journalists and activists, the captivity of friends for no other reason than they were deemed a threat by some list or the other.

oftentimes zionists, or zionist sympathizers, ignore our (diaspora's) material ties to the occupation and dismiss us as being "disconnected" from the "situation" in Palestine and "misunderstanding" or "misconstruing" israeli society. what am i misunderstanding exactly? that the origins of this "country" relies on violent displacement and exile? that for the past 75 years, that violence has not stopped once? that no matter what we say about the violence of zionism as an intrinsic aspect, it takes a secondary seat to the imagined realities of zionism?

therefore, anti-zionism is the logical conclusion for valuing palestinian lives. but what are the arguments against anti-zionism? that arab governments expelled jews from SWANA? do you think that's a result of anti-zionism? then you must not understand that palestinians are often treated poorly by the same governments that claim to have done this in the name of "anti-zionism," living in poverty in refugee camps, tortured and arrested, even in some cases exiled by governments. this also neglects to mention zionist collaboration with said governments to exile the jews of their lands.

so then, what?

if anti-zionism is the rejection of the settler colonial state of israel, which you must admit to be truly anti-zionist, then it is an exclamation of palestinian sovereignty and identity. so when you say anti-zionism and antisemitism are linked.... do you realize what you are implying? do you realize that zionism, the root cause of palestinian suffering, is the reason for our expulsion and displacement? so then when you write academic thinkpieces about the "complexity" of zionism, do you realize the harm you're doing? do you realize that this, in fact, is not a new or useful argument? that i've seen iterations of it for years and years? that at the core, the zionist ideology relies on this muddying of the waters for you to not do anything?

to be frank, your constant reminding of the complexity of zionism when people in palestine are suffering from the material effects of it only scream, to me, utter contempt and selfishness. zionism is violence, to me and my family. it is violence for every palestinian in this world. you must admit that to be a sincere advocate for palestinians, otherwise your words ring hollow. the present reality outweighs any possibilities.

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth Mandel

Durbin’s seething resentment at being asked to talk about the threat of anti-Semitism was on display from one of his party’s two witnesses as well: Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute. She was made to look like a fool because she did exactly what Democrats asked her to do and said what they asked her to say. Her performance was atrocious from a moral standpoint but perfect from an “understood the assignment” perspective. Her main point was that focusing on any one group undermines the fight against all hate, a demonstrably false and frankly ridiculous belief.

But the key moment came during the witnesses’ questioning by Republican ranking member Lindsey Graham. Quoting the director of national intelligence regarding the pro-Hamas protests, Graham said: “We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protest, and even providing financial support to protesters.” He asked if any of the three witnesses doubted the veracity of that report, and no one did. Graham then asked each witness the following: “Is it Hamas’s goal to destroy the Jewish state? Is it Hezbollah’s goal to destroy the Jewish state? Is it Iran’s goal to destroy the Jewish state?”

Two of the three witnesses—Kenneth Stern and Rabbi Mark Goldfeder—answered in the affirmative. All three entities mentioned in Graham’s question, after all, have said they want to destroy the Jewish state without shame or ambiguity. Which is what made Berry’s response so odd. “I think these are complicated questions,” she said—immediately earning a shake of the head from Graham and conjuring memories of the catastrophic answer given by several college presidents when asked before Congress if genocidal anti-Semitism counts as harassment: It depends on the context.

“If you think it’s complicated to figure out that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran want to kill all the Jews,” Graham responded, “I should not listen to anything else you’ve got to say. And I won’t.” And with that, Graham moved on to the next witness.

Berry was rattled. Though Graham left the hearing soon after, Berry referenced that exchange at least twice more with other senators, signaling that she’d realized how poorly her comments made her look and desperately trying to claw back some credibility.

The bad news for Berry was that she could not undo the damage. The good news was that she would eventually provide another quote that might make people forget about the first quote, if only because it was potentially even worse. Asked by Sen. Josh Hawley about the inherently violent implications of the phrase “Long live the intifada,” Berry argued for the slogan’s ambiguity. “‘Long live the intifada’ can mean different” things, she said, catching herself before she got to the word “things” but far too late to avoid the rest of the ridiculous comment, which was tailor-made for the sound-bite politics of congressional hearings.

She also defended “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call for all Jews to be cleansed from the land.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

These MAGA “parents” have been terrorizing schools in Massachusetts for a few years now. A small handful of radicals go from community to community screaming threats and insults at school staff, school boards, and normal parents. Many teachers, administrators, librarians, and board members have had to resign or even move out of the community. In person and online threats of violence have escalated resulting in police involvement and lawsuits against MAGAts organized and funded by various MAGA groups. There a few if any after school events anymore due to violent threats and complaints of trespassing on school property and at the homes of staff are on the rise.

MAGA terrorists like Marjorie Taylor Greene have shared graphic imagery of the LGBT community that has redneck parents worked into a frenzy. It’s become an all out war against the LGBT at the local level. In the small towns and suburbs it’s become very difficult to operate public schools with any sense of calm or normalcy. In the few cities the MAGAts stay away for the most part due to their overpowering fear of urban environments.

A large number of these MAGAts have been proven to not even be parents or residents of the communities they terrorize. In one nearby town the mother and father leading the MAGAt charge are a prostitute and drug dealer being paid to crisis act. They bring in that stupid Tucker Carlson book about the penguins and rant and rave at LGBT students and staff and then go to their out of state home and perform really nasty cam shows. It’s total lunacy. If they’re pulling this crap in one of the bluest states try to imagine what a nightmare it is to be an educator in a Deep South state.

One man turned this entire country upside down. He created a radicalized cult that is now being manipulated by the Neo-Nazi oligarchs, the Christo-fascist evangelicals, and the RepubliKKKlan assholes. Dark money flowing from billionaire oligarchs has perverted this nation and has about a third of Americans planning to kill the rest of us in the name of Trump. What we’re witnessing is the beginning of the RepubliKKKlan endgame. They didn’t expect Trump to get into the presidency but once they realized his power over the masses they decided to go all in. The Republicans in Congress are not working for America and it’s citizens anymore and are plotting to rewrite the Constitution and created a fascist state. The oligarchs have already purchased the SCOTUS and a plurality of state legislatures. The militias are poised to strike and the street brawlers have been agitating at the local level. They’ve even been launching attacks on local power grids in the hopes of destabilizing the government and creating an environment suitable for a civil/race war. They’re not smart people and all this is out there in the public domain. It’s fairly easy to get into their social media groups and see the directives sent to them by oligarch backed political associations and follow their progress.

Whether they’ll be successful or fall flat on their faces remains to be seen but we’re going to see increasing political violence from the neighborhoods to the nations capital. They have funding, arms, a measure of organization, and some training. They’re biggest drawback is that they’re dumb as shit. Being stupid, poor, cowardly, and unhealthy isn’t a recipe for success in an armed political conflict. Oligarchs always hedge their bets and still have plausible deniability plans in place so they don’t have to flee the country afterwards. So if things go wrong for them on Jan 6th they’ll again sacrifice their pawns and hide behind lawyers and crooked Congressmen.

I’m not going to be ruled by Trump, Crow, Musk, Murdoch, DeVos, Prince, Mercer, Leo, and the rest of these fascist oligarchs. We must take their dark money and corporations out of politics. We must smash their political associations such as ALEC and the Federalist Society. Finally we need to jail the oligarch criminals, their Republikkkan insurrectionidts, and any MAGAt dumb enough to follow their direction.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

The Proud Boys are back: How the far-right domestic terrorist group is rebuilding to rally behind Trump

Aram Roston at Reuters:

A dark SUV cruised past former President Donald Trump’s supporters near his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey on a windy April afternoon. Billowing from the vehicle were three flags: one for the Trump campaign, two others with the initials “PB” – the insignia of the far-right Proud Boys movement. Through the open windows, three Proud Boys flashed the “OK” sign with their hands, a gesture often associated with white supremacy and the far right. Trump’s fans cheered. Four men dressed in the signature black-and-yellow shirts of the Proud Boys spilled out of the SUV and began glad-handing the crowd like homecoming heroes. The Proud Boys are back. Four years after the failed effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat, the violent all-male extremist group that led the storming of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, is rebuilding and regaining strength as Trump campaigns to return to the White House, according to interviews with eight Proud Boys, two U.S. law enforcement officials and four experts who track the group’s online activity.

Since the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, four former Proud Boys leaders have been convicted in federal court of seditious conspiracy, each sentenced to 15 or more years in prison. At least another 70 members were charged with participating in the violence. But that crackdown hasn’t stopped the Proud Boys. Some Proud Boys say they are preparing to emerge once again as a physical force for Trump, drawn to his hardline nationalism and convinced their leaders will be pardoned if he wins. Trump himself promises to pardon convicted Jan. 6 rioters if he’s elected. After last Thursday’s historic guilty verdict against Trump, an Ohio Proud Boys chapter vowed “war” and posted a video of Proud Boy street brawls that ended with the message, “Fighting solves everything.” A Miami chapter said, “Now, more than ever, we are recruiting!” Some posted images of the upside-down American flag symbolizing the “Stop the Steal” movement that falsely claims Trump won the 2020 election. One Proud Boy told Reuters that America is in a period of “calm before the storm.”

The group’s main Telegram channel, however, posted a message urging Proud Boys to stay calm and not get drawn into a trap and risk arrest. “Trump is, of course, getting railroaded but we will not be walking into any honey pots over this.” In recent weeks, the group has become more prominent at pro-Trump events, highlighting the risk of renewed violence in this year’s presidential election. Dozens of Proud Boys – some in body armor and helmets – marked the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection with a show of force at the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. On April 20, nearly a dozen gathered at a rally for Trump’s Republican campaign in Wilmington, North Carolina.  More recently, groups of Proud Boys from two chapters mixed with tens of thousands of Trump supporters at a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, in May.

On a boardwalk near the entrance of the Wildwood rally, several Proud Boys identified themselves as members of the “New Jersey State” chapter. One said they were there to provide security and stop agitators from “disrespecting or assaulting everybody.” Inscribed on his wraparound sunglasses were the initials “POYB” – short for “Proud of Your Boy.” He wore a ring with the initials “PB” and a black shirt with the yellow laurel wreath of the Proud Boys. Three men from another chapter greeted them, their faces hidden by gaiter masks. The re-emergence of the Proud Boys at Trump’s political rallies and events coincides with polls showing a majority of Americans fearing political violence will flare around November’s election. It also comes when Trump’s use of incendiary rhetoric is inspiring his supporters to target his opponents – including judges, prosecutors and political rivals – in a wave of threats that’s unprecedented in modern American politics.

Trump himself has not ruled out the possibility of political violence if he loses in November. “If we don’t win, you know, it depends,” he said when asked by Time magazine in April if he expected violence after the election. If he’s jailed or put under house arrest, “I’m not sure the public would stand for it,” he said in a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday. “At a certain point there’s a breaking point.” Before the last election, Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Three months later, federal prosecutors say, the group’s leaders plotted and led the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s baseless, rigged-election claims inspired the gathering, and Trump himself urged the assembled crowd to march on the Capitol as Congress certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to questions for this story about his rhetoric, Jan. 6 and the Proud Boys. As the Proud Boys regroup, they’ve made changes designed to make them less vulnerable to law enforcement scrutiny, including doing away with layers of top leadership, according to interviews with members. The Proud Boys now operate with self-governing chapters in more than 40 states, with little apparent central coordination, members said. While the group’s structure has changed, its Canadian founder remains an inspirational figure to today’s Proud Boys. Gavin McInnes, a British-born far-right commentator who lives in New York, announced his resignation from the Proud Boys in 2018. But he remains deeply involved with the group, according to interviews with Proud Boys.

[...]

After McInnes stepped down, his successor, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, raised the Proud Boys’ profile, pulling them from the fringe of the far-right toward the center of Trump-era Republican politics. Tarrio, a Floridian of Afro-Cuban descent, was sentenced last September to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, defined as an effort by two or more people to overthrow the government or use force to hinder its operations, and other charges related to the Capitol riot. He has appealed.

Two criminal defense attorneys for Tarrio did not respond to emailed questions and phone calls. In the past, McInnes, Tarrio and a group of leaders dubbed “Elders” spoke publicly on the group’s behalf, set the agenda and guided its confrontations with left-wing groups around the country. They sat atop a formal structure and could disband Proud Boy chapters or expel members. Now, members say, the chapters are largely independent of each other and ban communications with the media. Most members who spoke to Reuters for this report did so on condition of anonymity. The group’s resilience has surprised some extremism experts. “The amazing thing is that so many people from the Proud Boys can be in jail and yet you have these active chapters,” said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the nonprofit Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “Traditionally when the head of a neo-Nazi or white supremacist group goes to jail or dies, the organization will collapse, but that does not seem to be happening with the Proud Boys.”

[...]

During the Trump administration, the Proud Boys engaged in large-scale street brawls with antifa – antifascists – and other leftist groups across the country, typically by taunting demonstrators to instigate a fight. They adopted the slogan “Fuck Around And Find Out,” and emblazoned the letters “FAFO” on hats and t-shirts. Some historians compare the Proud Boys to fascist European militias of the 1920s and 1930s such as the Brownshirts, a Nazi paramilitary group that helped bring Hitler to power in Germany. Proud Boys say they’re nothing like the Brownshirts and bear no resemblance to fascists. But street violence and extreme nationalism are features of both groups. In the weeks before the Capitol riots, some wore a patch inscribed with “RWDS,” short for “Right Wing Death Squad,” a term used to describe Central and South American paramilitaries who supported right-wing governments and dictatorships. [...]

After Trump left the White House, the Proud Boys turned to America’s culture wars. They clashed with supporters of abortion rights and vaccine mandates, and harassed organizers of Drag Queen Story Hours, where female impersonators read at libraries or bookstores to children. Fights often ensued. Since the 2021 Capitol attack, Reuters identified 29 incidents of political violence involving the Proud Boys, almost all of them centered around social issues. All but one of the eight cases in 2023 involved clashes between Proud Boys and left-wing activists at demonstrations supporting LGBTQ+ rights. The tally was based largely on news reports and court records of fights, assaults and other physical confrontations. This year, the Proud Boys have returned to politics. In the first three months of 2024, there have been far fewer Proud Boys public events than in the same period last year. But half of them have been pro-Trump and the rest have been political in nature, related to guns or immigration, said Kieran Doyle of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit that monitors political violence.

On April 24, Proud Boys founder McInnes appeared at Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests. He told Reuters that the Proud Boys were not getting involved in the anti-Israel unrest, saying he was there to “ridicule” liberals by pretending to be a left-wing journalist. It didn’t work, he said, because people saw him and posted alerts on social media. “They recognized me and were scared.” There’s no authoritative count of Proud Boy members. McInnes claims there are about 5,000, down from 8,000 during Trump’s presidency but up from lows after the Capitol riot arrests. Official estimates of the Proud Boys’ strength vary widely, from 300 to 3,000 members, said a law enforcement source who has monitored the group. Reuters could not independently corroborate its numbers. Some former Proud Boys have abandoned the group for other, more overtly racist and violent groups, including the neo-Nazi Blood Tribe and the underground “Active Club” scene, a white supremacist male movement, one Proud Boy told Reuters.

Reuters has an informative article about far-right domestic terrorist group Proud Boys is rebuilding to rally behind convicted felon Donald Trump.

After the January 6th Insurrection, the group turned towards right-wing culture war items to launch protests, such as COVID mitigation measures (esp. vaccine mandates), drag story hours, and abortion access.

Read the full article at Reuters.

[readingsquotes]

"The violent crackdown on students protesting against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza reveals the stark hypocrisy of political and academic leaders at our colleges and universities, including my own. Instead of first turning to dialogue and debate – the very skills and values universities should promote – school administrators have turned to police, extreme discipline, and complying with a mainstream consensus that seems more interested in suppressing criticism of Israeli and American policy than protecting students.

From Columbia University to my own University of Southern California, peaceful student encampments in common university areas have been dismantled by city police, with hundreds of students arrested. Some have been suspended, evicted from dormitories, and threatened with expulsion and criminal conviction. At UT Austin, state troopers threw a Fox cameraman to the ground and arrested him. At Emory University, the chair of philosophy, Noelle McAfee, was arrested by a police officer wearing a balaclava, as if he were conducting an antiterrorism raid. Another Emory professor, Caroline Fohlin, who sought to protect students being arrested, was wrestled to the ground by two police officers, handcuffed, and charged with battery.

These student protests against a war that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, at least two-thirds of whom are women and children, are what professors and administrators love to call a “teachable moment.” Unfortunately, most universities and colleges are failing their academic principles, their students, and their faculty. I wish I could say I was surprised, but after three decades in academia, I am not.

...

On my own campus, the USC administration canceled the speech of its valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, after pro-Israel groups on and off campus labeled her antisemitic for including a link on her Instagram to a website that called for the abolition of Israel. Tabassum minored in resistance to genocide, offered through the Advanced Center for Genocide Research. The center’sfounding director, Wolf Gruner, called Tabassum one of the most empathetic students he had ever taught. Tabassum said she planned to speak to the commencement audience about hope and human rights. She might or might not have brought up Gaza and Palestine, war and genocide, but even if she did, should that have been a reason to cancel her?

The university administration offered unspecified threats to safety so severe that it felt it could not protect Tabassum or the commencement ceremony, even though former President Barack Obama had attended the commencement the year before and presumably required heightened safety measures. It is difficult not to believe that safety was a pretext for the university to avoid controversy that might antagonize pro-Israel students, family members, and outsiders. But the real consequences of such a controversy would not have been community protest; instead, it would have been political blowback from Congress, donors, and trustees. 

....

In universities, the lack of democracy and transparency is more of a norm than an exception. Faculty and students are routinely ignored by university administrations when it comes to the most serious issues, which is to say those that involve money. This is perhaps why students have felt that their only recourse when it comes to demanding divestment and the end of military aid to Israel was through protest, carried out in public spaces, rather than the futile road of privately appealing to administrators. 

The student protesters are on the right side of history, as they were in the 1960s and 1970s, demonstrating against the immoral and racist war the U.S. was waging in Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia. The students were right again in the 1980s, campaigning against apartheid and forcing universities to divest from South Africa. 

It is amazing how institutions teach idealism, including these cases of opposition to war and apartheid, and are then astonished that students are idealists. We are now witnessing a student rebellion against the hypocrisy of their elders and the powerful, who tell them they have to accept the lesser of two evils, and who weaponizeantisemitism to justify genocide."

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The New Yorker

* * * * *

“Trying to steal history.”

January 9, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

On Monday, President Biden delivered a stirring and spirited speech at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In June 2015, members of the congregation at the church invited a stranger to join them for services. The stranger killed nine members of the church in the worst church-related shooting (to that point)—a mass killing that was racially motivated. President Obama delivered a eulogy for Pastor Clementa Pinckney of Mother Emmanuel AME Church that included his rendition of Amazing Grace a cappella.

[The video is here, Joe Biden speaks at Charleston church (start at the 26:00 minute mark), and the full text of the speech is here: Remarks by President Biden at a Political Event | Charleston, SC.]

Against the backdrop of the 2015 racially motivated mass shooting, President Biden addressed Trump's use of the “lost cause” of white supremacy to bolster his hate-fueled campaign. Biden said, in part,

On June 17th, 2015, the [nine] beautiful souls and five survivors invited a stranger into this church to pray with them. The word of God was pierced by bullets in hate and rage, propelled by not just gunpowder but by a poison — a poison that’s for too long haunted this nation. What is that poison? White supremacy. Oh, it is; it’s a poison. Throughout our history, it’s ripped this nation apart. This has no place in America. Not today, tomorrow, or ever. Now — now we’re living in an era of a second lost cause. Once again, there are some in this country trying — trying to turn a loss into a lie — a lie, which if allowed to live, will once again bring terrible damage to this country. This time, the lie is about the 2020 election, the election which you made your voices heard and your power known.

Biden tied the lost cause of white supremacy to Trump's 2020 loss, identifying both of as existential threats to the nation. He then pivoted to Trump's insurrection on January 6 and Trump's threat to continue that assault on democracy if he is elected to a second term in 2024.

Biden said, Just two days ago, we marked the third anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history: January the 6th. The day in which insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol, trying for the first time in American history to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the country. We all saw with our own eyes the truth of what happened. That violent mob was whipped up by lies from a defeated former President . . . . We saw something on January 6th we’d never seen before, even during the Civil War. Insurrectionists waving Confederate flags inside the halls of Congress built by enslaved Americans. A mob attacked and called Black officers, Black veterans defending the nation those vile of racist names. And yet, an extreme movement of America, the MAGA Republicans, led by a defeated President, is trying to steal history now. They tried to steal an election. Now they’re trying to steal history, telling us that violent mob was, and I quote, “a peaceful protest.” The lies that led to January 6th are part of a broader attack on the truth America today that we all have seen before. The same movement that, throughout the mob at the United States Capitol, isn’t just trying to rewrite history of January 6th, they’re trying to determine to erase history and your future: banning books; denying your right to vote and have it counted; destroying diversity, equality, inclusion all across America; harboring hate and replacing hope with anger and resentment and a dangerous view of America.

Powerful words delivered with passion and dignity befitting the hallowed ground and the proximity to January 6. As Trump's speeches are becoming more unhinged and hateful, Biden’s are becoming more forceful and direct in challenging Trump. If you can spare twenty minutes, watch the video linked above, beginning at the 26:00-minute mark. Your confidence will be renewed.

But I can’t leave this story without commenting on the media coverage. Biden delivered a truly inspirational and important speech on race and democracy. For sixty seconds during Biden’s speech, a protestor stood up and demanded that Biden call for a cease-fire in Israel. Biden handled the protestor with skill and grace. As the protestor was escorted from the church, Biden said,

It's alright. I understand their passion. I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza.

That sixty-second incident of an otherwise historic speech dominated virtually every headline describing the speech. See, e.g., NYTimes, Protesters Calling for Gaza Cease-Fire Interrupt Biden Speech; The Hill, Biden address in Charleston church interrupted by protesters; and NPR, Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza interrupted Biden's campaign speech.

The bias against Biden is just unbelievable. I wonder if the headline writers or journalists who wrote the articles even bothered to read or listen to the substance of Biden’s speech. I doubt it. Shame on them!

Meanwhile, Trump hopes the economy crashes before he is re-elected.

As Biden continued to call for the preservation of democracy and mourned the tragedies of January 6 and the AME shootings, Trump was telling an interviewer he hoped the economy would crash during Biden’s remaining time in office. See The Hill, Trump says he hopes economy crashes in next 12 months: ‘I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover’.

Trump said,

We have an economy that’s so fragile, and the only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did. It’s just running off the fumes. And when there’s a crash — I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president I just don’t want to be, Herbert Hoover.

Ha! Trump remembered as Herbert Hoover? He should be so lucky! He will be remembered as Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis, and Aldrich Ames—combined!

And, in case you think I am resorting to hyperbole, Trump refused to sign a traditional pledge in Illinois in which presidential candidates pledge not to overthrow the US government. See The Guardian, Donald Trump did not sign Illinois pledge not to overthrow government. Trump signed the pledge in 2016 and 2020, but not in 2024. Hmm . . . it’s almost like he’s planning ahead to overthrow the US government!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[mariacallous]

The scale and sophistication of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks have led many counterterrorism analysts to revisit their assumptions about the group’s intent and capabilities. And one of the biggest questions many have is whether the group, which has never launched a successful attack abroad in its 36-year existence, could transform into a global threat, rather than simply remain a regional one.

On Thursday, seven individuals were arrested in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands on suspicion of preparing to carry out terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe. Three suspects detained in Berlin and another in Rotterdam are alleged Hamas members with links to the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. According to German authorities, the suspects were tasked with locating a preexisting weapons cache, which would facilitate future attacks. The orders allegedly came from Hamas leadership based in Lebanon.

In the United States, FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned since the Oct. 7 attacks about the elevated terrorism threat level, stating before the U.S. Congress: “We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven’t seen since [the Islamic State] launched its so-called caliphate years ago.” The Europeans are also worried. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson recently stated: “With the war between Israel and Hamas, and the polarization it causes in our society, with the upcoming holiday season, there is a huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union.”

From its inception, Hamas has always been something of a duality. The group is both a nationalist movement dedicated to establishing a Palestinian state and a violent Islamist resistance movement, with an ideology derived from the Muslim Brotherhood, originally dedicated to destroying the state of Israel, according to its founding organizational charter. (The charter was revised in 2017 to allow for the possibility of a two-state solution, but the group remains committed to “the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”) So while its ideology is infused with references to jihad, it was not the global jihad embraced by al Qaeda, the Islamic State, or their respective affiliates worldwide. Accordingly, the Islamic State has repeatedly denigrated Hamas as apostates, criticizing the group for its involvement with elections and for depending so heavily on Shiite Iran for support and patronage.

Though Hamas has never launched a successful attack abroad, there have been several disrupted plots tied to Hamas. In 1997, three individuals arrested in New York City for allegedly planning an attack on the subway were investigated for possible links to Hamas. In November 2003, a Gaza-born Canadian citizen named Jamal Akal was arrested by Israeli authorities as he attempted to leave Gaza and travel back to Canada, where he was allegedly plotting to carry out terrorist attacks against Jewish communities in the United States and Canada. Akal pleaded guilty and served four years in prison in Israel before being released back to Canada, though he maintained that he had been tortured into signing a confession, and his lawyer said Akal accepted a plea deal because he believed conviction was unavoidable. Israel denied that Akal was mistreated.

Hamas does not have a prohibition against killing Westerners—its indiscriminate suicide attacks have killed citizens of Western countries before—but it has mostly eschewed targeting Western interests in favor of focusing on attacking Israel at home. Hamas has maintained long-standing fundraising and propaganda dissemination networks in the West, though, including in the United States. The Holy Land Foundation was a Hamas-linked charity based in Texas that was convicted in 2008 of providing material support to Hamas, funneling more than $12 million to the group over the years.

As a member of Tehran’s “axis of resistance,” Hamas enjoys Iranian largesse in the form of financing, training, and logistical support, provided by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. Since the early 1980s, Iran helped build Lebanese Hezbollah into a comprehensive terrorist organization with global reach and top-tier capabilities that has launched terrorist attacks in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Tehran could now choose to do the same with Hamas, even assisting the group with developing an external operations attack network, as it did with Hezbollah.

There seems to be growing support in the Arab world for the Iranian regime on the heels of Oct. 7, with a recent Arab Barometer poll showing that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, enjoys approval ratings that matched or exceeded that of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed. Popular support in the Arab world matters, especially when it crosses sectarian lines, because it can provide cover for the Iranian regime if it decides to begin turning Hamas into the next Hezbollah.

For years leading up to the horrific attack on Oct. 7, the conventional wisdom was that Hamas was content with reaping the financial benefits of its arrangement in Gaza—where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and others encouraged and facilitated Qatari cash infusions for economic development—and thus that it had little interest in attacking Israel.

But Oct. 7 may have been a turning point for the group, and it could begin shifting its attention to targets outside of its immediate environs. Speaking in early December on Al-Aqsa television, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri called for attacks against Israel’s allies, specifically the United States and the United Kingdom. “We need violent acts against American and British interests everywhere, as well as the interests of all the countries that support the occupation,” Zuhri said.

As terrorism scholar Tore Hamming recently observed, there is a range of factors that are likely to contribute to the trajectory of the terrorism threat posed by Hamas in the West: the length of the conflict between Israel and Hamas; the scale and intensity of Israel’s offensive in Gaza; and the degree of support that Western nations provide to Israel. These factors will be considered alongside the daily images of suffering and destruction streaming out of Gaza each day as the civilian death toll continues to climb.

Hamas seems to be hoping that its ideology, its cause, and its brand will go global in much the same way the Islamic State’s did. Its propaganda is resonating with broad swaths of Western publics, especially younger generations and many university students who have turned out in large numbers at anti-Israel demonstrations and protests. Even if just a small fraction of these individuals become radicalized, it increases the likelihood of a lone-actor attack.

Hamas is a different organization after the Oct. 7 attacks, and intelligence officials and security services should adapt accordingly. As the holiday season enters full swing, a range of soft targets—from synagogues to Christmas markets—will remain vulnerable to potential attacks either inspired or directed by Hamas, which has openly declared its desire to ensure that the war does not remain contained to Gaza but also threatens Israel and its supporters worldwide.

[vote-democrat-president-congress]

NYTimes: "For example, are you aware how much the constant threat of violence, principally from MAGA sources, is now warping American politics? If you wonder why so few people in red America seem to stand up directly against the MAGA movement, are you aware of the price they might pay if they did?

Late last month, I listened to a fascinating NPR interview with the journalists Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman regarding their new book, “Find Me the Votes,” about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. They report that Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis had trouble finding lawyers willing to help prosecute her case against Trump. Even a former Georgia governor turned her down, saying, “Hypothetically speaking, do you want to have a bodyguard follow you around for the rest of your life?”

He wasn’t exaggerating. Willis received an assassination threat so specific that one evening she had to leave her office incognito while a body double wearing a bulletproof vest courageously pretended to be her and offered a target for any possible incoming fire.

Don’t think for a moment that this is unusual today. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s federal Jan. 6 trial, has been swatted, as has the special counsel Jack Smith. For those unfamiliar, swatting is a terrifying act of intimidation in which someone calls law enforcement and falsely claims a violent crime is in process at the target’s address. This sends heavily armed police to a person’s home with the expectation of a violent confrontation. A swatting incident claimed the life of a Kansas man in 2017.

The Colorado Supreme Court likewise endured terrible threats after it ruled that Trump was disqualified from the ballot. There is deep concern for the safety of the witnesses and jurors in Trump’s various trials.

Mitt Romney faces so many threats that he spends $5,000 per day on security to protect his family. After Jan. 6, the former Republican congressman Peter Meijer said that at least one colleague voted not to certify the election out of fear for the safety of their family. Threats against members of Congress are pervasive, and there has been a shocking surge since Trump took office. Last year, Capitol Police opened more than 8,000 threat assessments, an eightfold increase since 2016.

Nor is the challenge confined to national politics. In 2021, Reuters published a horrifying and comprehensive report detailing the persistent threats against local election workers. In 2022, it followed up with another report detailing threats against local school boards. In my own Tennessee community, doctors and nurses who advocated wearing masks in schools were targets of screaming, threatening right-wing activists, who told one man, “We know who you are” and “We will find you.”

[embraceyourdestiny]

Hey y’all wanted to share some news I got in an email about immigrants and immigration in America

Last week the American government passed a “bipartisan short-term spending bill — that contained NO new funding for ICE or CBP!”

For people concerned about immigrants and brown people in America this is very good news!

“But this fight isn’t over. Supplemental funding plans are in the works, and immigration policy and billions in funding for ICE and CBP are still being negotiated by the House and Senate.”

Despite this temporary hold on funds the government is still trying to find more ways to funnel money into harming immigrants, Dreamers, and anyone they deem a “threat” to America for coming to this country. It’s xenophobic and racist and disgusting and nationalistic and it needs to stop.

“The government should be investing in real immigration solutions, not the militarization of our border or the stripping away of human rights. That’s why UWDA is focusing our efforts on demanding Congress DEFUND these hateful and dangerous organizations in the supplemental funding package.”

United We Dream Action (UWDA) is an organization that aims to help Dreamers and immigrants in America have a better life and help protect them from our violent government that wishes to harm them.

Please consider helping the many immigrants in our country and protect them from the dangerous of the American government

You can become a member of UWD and receive emails and updates on news and progress like the information above

You can sign a petition demanding Biden and the democrats deliver the promises they made to the American people

[Biden campaigned on creating a humane immigration system. He campaigned on rebuking Trump-era policies, establishing our asylum system, protecting and expanding programs like DACA and TPS, and providing a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people.

As President Biden marks one year in office, he has deported and expelled over 1.8 million people going against his promises to protect immigrant communities and stop deportations.]

(We should be holding our president and political leaders responsible. They are here for us. They made promises for us. And when they don’t go through with the things we want they harm us.)

And you can donate to keep UDWA’s efforts going

In this time of turmoil and strife across the world, please don’t forget about immigrants and the millions of people in America just trying to make a better life for themselves in a country that actively opposes that and threatens their lives.

If you care about the expulsion and violence of Palestinians you should also care about the victims of anti-immigration. This is all about capitalism and power and displacing minorities and violence against innocent people.

Circulation of information is power. Awareness is power. Knowledge is power. If you are aware of the things going on in the world around you you are powerful. You don’t know who this information could reach and how they could help the cause so please at the very least share this. None of the people I follow talk about immigration issues and that should change because it effects all of us. Keep these thoughts in your head and do what you can to inflict change in the real world, even if that just means talking about it so someone else knows. That is powerful. Please.

[radicalreports]

Morning Briefing: Far Right Prepares for Trump's Appearance at Miami Courthouse

Morning Briefing: Supporters of former president Donald Trump are planning mass protests at the Wilkie D. Ferguson U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Florida, and researchers have reportedly “identified individual users who are threatening violence against Trump’s perceived enemies and at least one who has explicitly said they are planning on attending with guns.”

At least two GOP members of Congress “used alarmingly warlike rhetoric in response to the federal charges filed against Donald Trump,” including Rep. Clay Higgins and Rep. Andy Biggs.

The calls to action and threats have been “amplified on right-wing media sites and have been met by supportive responses from social media users and cheers from crowds, who have become conditioned over several years by Mr. Trump and his allies to see any efforts to hold him accountable as assaults against him.”

Data from social media platforms reveal that “references to ‘civil war’ more than doubled on alternative social media platforms frequented by the American far right the very day that Trump posted on Truth Social about the indictment,” according to an analysis by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE).

During the past few days, prominent and influential members of the far right and right-wing media have called for mass protests at the federal courthouse in Miami in support of the former president.

Wayne Allyn Root, the far right pundit and conspiracy theorist, wrote at World Net Daily that the “Democrats in power and the people who run our government are evil. Demonic. Satanic,” and add that “this is war. This is life or death. This is the end of America if we don't fight fire with fire.”

Ali Alexander, the far right activist, wrote on Telegram that “if we don't have LAW, we shouldn't give them ORDER.” Alexander also wrote that if “Republicans do not do something unprecedent, we’ll all hang,” and added that “everyone should see Members of Congress sweating in the heat with ordinary supporters.”

Laura Loomer, the far right conspiracy theories and failed Florida Congressional candidate, promoted the protest at the federal courthouse on the InfoWars program War Room with Owen Shroyer, and Kari Lake, the 2020 election denier and failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate, promoted her plans to attend the protest on Steve Bannon’s War Room.

While it has been reported that the Proud Boys, the far right violent extremist street gang, publicly displayed “apathy towards Trump’s legal woes sets them apart from the wider far-right extremism world,” the Miami chapter of the Proud Boys promoted the Loomer’s protest in their Telegram channel.

The violent rhetoric of the far right is “echoing among some Donald Trump sympathizers ahead of the former president’s appearance in a Miami court,” and both federal and local law enforcement “assigned to domestic terrorism squads are actively working to identify any possible threats.”

Advisors of the former president are reportedly “quietly expressing some concern that the pro-Trump protesters already assembling in front of the courthouse aren’t helping the former president’s case,” and one advisor predicted there is “going to be a disaster” and there will be people who “don’t want to be peaceful.”

Read more here.

[dankusner]

COUNTDOWN TO VALKYRIE

Biden, now granted absolute monarchic power, must act like a fucking man and a leader, make a hideous moral decision that is the only correct decision, and make the entirely un-democratic move of murdering or jailing his political opponent because of what he has guaranteed that he will do.

It’s the kill Hitler argument, writ large, for real.

If these jackboot cretins take power, they’ll never let it go, and the atrocities they commit will shatter the bones of our union.

— Cintra Wilson

OPINION

Deterrent to political violence falls

After Supreme Court ruling, extremists may no longer fear punishment for their acts

Monday’s bombshell Supreme Court decision about presidential immunity eclipsed another ruling with grave implications for the rule of law.

A week ago, the Supreme Court dismissed the idea that a Jan. 6 rioter could be charged with obstructing an official proceeding — a decision that may lead to the dismissal of more than 100 cases of those who obstructed the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

The decision is particularly ominous just hours after a debate in which former President Donald Trump refused, three times, to say that he would accept the results of this year’s election.

Political violence has skyrocketed in the U.S. in recent years.

Threats against Members of Congress rose tenfold between 2016 and 2021.

Serious threats against federal judges have more than doubled since 2021, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

About a fifth of local elected officials are receiving threats in any three month period — and it’s much worse in big cities.

In San Diego, 75% of local officials reported being threatened or harassed, and more than half of those have considered leaving public office because of it, according to a survey by the University of San Diego.

Hate crimes have surged to their highest point this century, according to the Justice Department.

This rising tide makes deterrence particularly important.

And the good news is, it works.

Studies from Israel and Germany show that when violent extremists think the government and law enforcement are against them, they are less likely to act.

They are emboldened when they believe they will get off with a wink and a nod.

We also know that deterrence works for reasons much closer to home.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue is an organization that monitors violent extremists on the web.

Since the Jan. 6 prosecutions began, violent chatter among right-wing extremists has muted, the institute reported.

Mentions of violence garner posts suggesting that there may be an FBI agent in their midst, or an attempt to lure them into a false-flag operation.

True, some talk is going on in private chats that can’t be monitored.

And a quick surge of anger followed the guilty verdict in the case involving Trump’s hush money payments.

But the sort of open planning of violence which can draw more people to the cause has greatly diminished thanks to the sense that violence gets punished.

The need for deterrence, sadly, continues.

While vast majorities of Americans reject all forms of political violence, some do not. Certain groups are particularly concerning.

For instance, most gun owners don’t justify political violence much more than the general population.

But those who bought guns during or after 2020 are more likely to do so, particularly if they carry all or nearly all the time.

A survey conducted by the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, found that regular gun carriers who purchased guns after 2020 were the population most likely to believe civil war will erupt.

All political violence is bad for democracy.

Ending our run of over 200 years of parties peacefully allowing the other side to take power is particularly serious.

It sure seems like the commonsense reading of the law the Supreme Court was asked to determine, which applies to anyone who “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so,” would help prevent another Jan. 6.

In the face of this refusal to hold insurrectionists accountable, the American people are doing all they can to shore up stability, peace and democracy.

The overwhelming majority of Americans on both sides of the political aisle reject political violence, according to research from the States United Democracy Center.

Businesspeople in Arizona and Wisconsin are speaking up in support of our election system.

More than 120,000 veterans have become poll workers to continue their service to the nation and reassure themselves and others that our elections are fair.

Law enforcement agencies are training now to ensure a safe election in the fall.

Many politicians are also doing their part to uphold peace, such as Utah’s Gov. Spencer Cox, who has spent the year leading the National Governors Association in a campaign to “Disagree Better.”

The fact is, very few people commit violence, and almost no one wants it.

Instead, Americans want more peace, hope and community.

And plenty of them have banded together to add just that to our civic life — from the Kiwanis Club pancake breakfasts that dotted the country on the Fourth of July, to the “Joy to the Polls” effort that brought DJs and dancing to Election Day 2020, and will be building on that work this fall.

This vast well of energy from Americans who love their country, care about their neighbors and want our country to return to its better angels deserves an echo from our senior political and judicial leaders.

In other countries, courts have been crucial to reasserting the guardrails of democracy.

If the Supreme Court will not do its part, we will simply have to stand together with our neighbors, with friends and family, with people with whom we disagree but can at least agree on peace — and do that much more.

Why are liberal justices overreacting in dissents?

The Supreme Court has sided with President Donald Trump in his presidential immunity case.

The July 1 decision itself was incredibly tame, typical for those authored by Chief Justice John Roberts.

However, the response from the liberal justices was anything but.

'The nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority,' Roberts wrote for the majority.

'And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.'

This means that Trump cannot be prosecuted for his discussions with Justice Department officials about investigating purported election fraud following the 2020 election.

Other examples highlighted during oral arguments in April were President Barack Obama potentially being 'charged with murder for killing U.S. citizens abroad by drone strike,'

as well as President George W. Bush 'for obstructing an official proceeding or allegedly lying to Congress to induce war in Iraq.'

Without such immunity, Roberts wrote, 'the President would be chilled from taking the ‘bold and unhesitating action’ required of an independent Executive.'

While Trump called the decision a 'big win' in a Truth Social post, the chief justice clarified that 'Trump asserts a far broader immunity than the limited one the Court recognizes.'

What the decision does not provide Trump immunity from is 'unofficial acts,' those not required in order to execute his role as president or not covered by the powers afforded to the chief executive.

According to certain legal experts, this would include Trump’s recent felony indictment concerning falsified business records in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

As is a now common theme with the court, the liberal justices have cast this decision as another doomsday event for our country.

'The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world,' Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent.

'When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution.

Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival?

Immune.

Organizes a military coup to hold onto power?

Immune.

Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon?

Immune. Immune, immune, immune.'

Even if Sotomayor’s reading were to be accurate, impeachment remains the vehicle through which we hold our leaders in check.

While Roberts specifies that impeachment and removal from office are not always required for criminal prosecution of a former president, it is how egregious actions can still be handled.

As a result of this decision, impeachment becomes the simplest, though not the only, way to hold the president accountable.

Our elected officials crave power, and the thought of losing that power is as motivating as the potential of prison time (or, in the case of Trump, seemingly more so).

To pretend as if our country has lost any means of holding our elected officials accountable is entirely disingenuous, and this is not the DEFCON 1 emergency that the left has made it out to be.

Believe me, in light of a president who is proven to be willing to break the law and frequently teetered on doing so, I understand the concerns.

But the dynamic of another Trump presidency does not change whatsoever.

If Trump makes it back to the White House, the process for him being removed from office was the same as it always was: impeachment.

With fear for our democracy, I beg the courts’ left-wing justices to stop feeding the fire of America’s Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, only 24% of whom have a favorable view of the Supreme Court.

The disingenuous musings from the court’s liberal minority aren’t helping to establish trust.

By writing these ludicrous and out-of-touch dissents, they are only further politicizing the very institution they remain a part of, accelerating our country’s decline from a position tasked with preserving stability.

While conservative justices often write hard-lined, combative opinions as well, rarely do they catastrophize the opposing outcome quite like the liberal wing does.

Part of that is a symptom of being in the majority more commonly, yet even when writing in dissent, the conservative justices make it a point to debate the law rather than overreacting for social media attention.

About presidential immunity

The U.S. Supreme Court ended its term Monday with a highly anticipated decision that provides American presidents with a modicum of immunity from criminal charges.

The case was ostensibly about Donald Trump, but in fact the ruling sets guidelines intended to ensure the nation — regardless of which man, woman or party holds the Oval Office — doesn’t become mired in a series of retaliatory and vindictive prosecutions.

Progressives, fixated on Trump, argue that the 6-3 decision “creates a law-free zone around the president,” as Justice Sonia Sotomayor described it in her dissent.

But it does nothing of the sort.

“The president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority,” and not everything the president does is official.

The president is not above the law.

But Congress may not criminalize the president’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the executive branch under the Constitution.”

Note that the court explicitly rejected Trump’s claim of absolute immunity.

“Trump asserts a far broader immunity,” the majority opinion holds, “than the limited one we have recognized.”

But the idea, put forth by special prosecutor Jack Smith and the government that a president has no special protection is equally pernicious.

Would it be good for the country to allow a former president to face politically motivated prosecutions involving a policy dispute?

In the current political climate, such concerns are not theoretical.

“Virtually every president is criticized for insufficiently enforcing some aspect of federal law (such as drug, gun, immigration or environmental laws),” Roberts wrote. …

The decision will require federal courts to hold evidentiary hearings to determine which actions charged by Smith amount to “official” and “unofficial” acts.

But it in no way stops the government from prosecuting Trump for actions he took that were unrelated to his duties as president. …

Despite the apocalyptic protestations of the dissenting liberal justices, the majority has carved out a middle ground that rejects the extreme arguments made by both the former president and the special prosecutor who pursues him.

GO DICTATOR, DICTATE:

President Joe Biden can order the assassination of the six conservative members of the Supreme Court and face no legal repercussions.

That is the logical conclusion of the dominant wing of the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday, granting Donald Trump immunity from criminal prosecution for his official acts while he was president.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a blistering dissent from the 6-3 decision: “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”

[wushigod]

Dozens of protesters were arrested on Wednesday while participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations across US college campuses. At least 34 protesters, including a member of the media from a local news station, were arrested during protests at University of Texas in Austin and at least 50 more were detained by police at University of Southern California (USC). The arrests come amid a wave of demonstrations at campuses across the US, which began last week after students at New York’s Columbia University set up encampments calling for the university to divest from weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel. The protests have led to mass suspensions and arrests of hundreds students in New York and other cities. House speaker, Mike Johnson, jumped into the fray on Wednesday with a visit to Columbia’s campus, where he faced jeers from the pro-Palestinian protesters and called for the resignation of the university’s president. Flanked by a number of Republican members of Congress, Johnson denounced the demonstrations as “mob rule” and condemned what he called a “virus of antisemitism” at colleges nationwide. “And it’s detestable, as Columbia has allowed these lawless agitators and radicals to take over,” he said. “If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the national guard.” Johnson’s speech drew boos from the crowd, as he also called for the resignation of Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s president, who he accused of failing to protect Jewish students and allowing protests that led to the arrest of dozens of people there last week. In California, protests swelled at UC Berkeley and USC. Further north at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, protesters barricaded themselves in a university building using furniture, tents, chains and zip-ties, prompting a campus shutdown. Students at Harvard University set up an encampment in Harvard Yard on Wednesday morning to protest against the suspension of the university’s undergraduate Palestine solidarity committee and demand the university divest from Israel over its war in Gaza. And in Texas, an anti-war protest at the University of Texas in Austin resulted in at least 34 arrests, including of a photojournalist, after state troopers stormed the campus. As temperatures rose, Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York, called Johnson’s trip “divisive”, while the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez assailed authorities for the “reckless and dangerous act” of calling police to non-violent demonstrations. Hochul accused Johnson of “politicizing” the issue, and “adding to the division”, according to the New York Post. “There’s a lot more responsibilities and crises to be dealt with in Washington,” she said. Protest movement grows Thousands of students have turned out this week to attend marches or set up encampments at universities from Massachusetts to California, demanding their schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its months-long conflict. At UC Berkeley, a protest camp entered its third day. Rows of tents have been added to a cluster set up on the steps of the university’s Sproul Hall at the center of campus. Starting with just a dozen, more students have joined the “Free Palestine Camp” over the last three days, a sit-in demanding their school sever its financial connections to BlackRock and other asset managers they see as complicit for financing genocide in Gaza. UC Berkeley holds a $427m investment in a BlackRock portfolio and school officials have commented that a change in their investment strategy is not on the table. There is minimal police or security presence on site, but the students say they are bracing for that to change. The group is determined to stay even if the university tries to have them forcibly removed. The protesters are also calling for an academic boycott, which would end collaborations with Israeli universities and the establishment of a new ...

[cyarskaren52]

Facts:

January 6th was not a regular tourist visit, it was not legitimate political discourse, it wasn’t peaceful or patriotic, it wasn’t perpetrated by the deep state, the FBI or antifa, and Ashli Babbitt is not a martyr.

It was a violent & deadly domestic terror attack fueled by lies and launched in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election, it was incited by Donald Trump, perpetrated by HIS rabid cult, and it claimed the life of Ashli Babbitt because she CHOSE to threaten the lives of members of Congress and she was stopped in that effort by an officer’s bullet.

No matter how many times MAGA tries to rewrite the events of that day, no matter how they water it down, downplay or diminish it, we still have the truth. We still have what we saw with our own eyes, what we heard with our own ears, we can still see the physical scars & feel the emotional scars the officers on the ground that day carry with them as we speak.

January 6th was a very dark day for this country. It’s not a matter of comparing it to any of the other dark days we’ve walked through or endured. There’s no list of the worst days we’ve ever known. There was a physical attack on the citadel of our democracy, and it was horrific, but it was the intentional & deliberate attack on the bedrock principles of our Democracy itself which has forever scarred this nation.

We prevailed that day. The attack was thwarted. The physical threats were put down, the rioters were jailed, but the more insidious side of the goal of that day has not yet succumbed to the efforts to squash it. They are still coming for our Democracy. They are still seeking to destroy what it is that makes this little experiment of ours so uniquely special.

They’re not wearing tactical gear & brandishing baseball bats & bear spray. They’re dressed in suits & skirts and speaking in hushed tones. They’re working from the Speaker’s podium, from their town halls and from behind the lectern at a MAGA rally.

They’re telling lies, weaving narratives, repainting reality, and spinning the truth into their own version of events. And it’s all designed to achieve the same end today as it was on that cold, January day three years ago.

They want to destroy American democracy. They know it no longer serves them, and that it will no longer reward them with power.

So they want to dismantle it.

But We the People will not stand for that. We will hold tight to the truth. We will trust our own eyes and ears. And we will never, ever forget what was done on that day, or lose sight of what they are trying to do today.

What happened in Washington DC on January 6th, 2021 is not a matter of opinion.

It’s not open to interpretation.

It was a strike against who we are as a nation.

Against who we want to be.

We know who is responsible for it, we know who participated in it, and we know who is standing in the way.

And we know that WE will never, ever let it happen again.

[arpov-blog-blog]

..."While deploying the military regularly within the country’s borders would be a departure from tradition, the former president already has signaled an aggressive agenda if he wins, from mass deportations to travel bans imposed on certain Muslim-majority countries.

A law first crafted in the nation’s infancy would give Trump as commander in chief almost unfettered power to do so, military and legal experts said in a series of interviews.

The Insurrection Act allows presidents to call on reserve or active-duty military units to respond to unrest in the states, an authority that is not reviewable by the courts. One of its few guardrails merely requires the president to request that the participants disperse.

“The principal constraint on the president’s use of the Insurrection Act is basically political, that presidents don’t want to be the guy who sent tanks rolling down Main Street,” said Joseph Nunn, a national security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice. “There’s not much really in the law to stay the president’s hand.”

A law first crafted in the nation’s infancy would give Trump as commander in chief almost unfettered power to do so, military and legal experts said in a series of interviews.

The Insurrection Act allows presidents to call on reserve or active-duty military units to respond to unrest in the states, an authority that is not reviewable by the courts. One of its few guardrails merely requires the president to request that the participants disperse.

“The principal constraint on the president’s use of the Insurrection Act is basically political, that presidents don’t want to be the guy who sent tanks rolling down Main Street,” said Joseph Nunn, a national security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice. “There’s not much really in the law to stay the president’s hand.”

A spokesman for Trump’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment about what authority Trump might use to pursue his plans.

Congress passed the act in 1792, just four years after the Constitution was ratified. Nunn said it’s an amalgamation of different statutes enacted between then and the 1870s, a time when there was little in the way of local law enforcement.

“It is a law that in many ways was created for a country that doesn’t exist anymore,” he said.

It also is one of the most substantial exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits using the military for law enforcement purposes.

Trump has spoken openly about his plans should he win the presidency, including using the military at the border and in cities struggling with violent crime. His plans also have included using the military against foreign drug cartels, a view echoed by other Republican primary candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor.

The threats have raised questions about the meaning of military oaths, presidential power and who Trump could appoint to support his approach.

Trump already has suggested he might bring back retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as Trump’s national security adviser and twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during its Russian influence probe before being pardoned by Trump. Flynn suggested in the aftermath of the 2020 election that Trump could seize voting machines and order the military in some states to help rerun the election.

Attempts to invoke the Insurrection Act and use the military for domestic policing would likely elicit pushback from the Pentagon, where the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is Gen. Charles Q. Brown. He was one of the eight members of the Joint Chiefs who signed a memo to military personnel in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The memo emphasized the oaths they took and called the events of that day, which were intended to stop certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, “sedition and insurrection.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

S.V. Dáte at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is taking his long history of accusing others of doing what he himself is guilty of to new heights, now charging Democrats of perpetrating a “coup” against President Joe Biden by persuading him to end his reelection effort. “It really is a threat to democracy. It was a coup by people that wanted him out,” Trump said Thursday during a lengthy monologue at the start of a news conference he staged at his country club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Three days earlier, he had told billionaire Elon Musk during a discussion they held on his “X” website: “This was a coup of a president of the United States… He didn’t want to leave, and they said, ‘We can do it the nice way or we can do it the hard way.’” Musk agreed and went even further, invoking violent imagery to describe what had happened. “They just took him out back behind the shed and basically shot him,” Musk said.

Trump’s campaign aides did not respond to HuffPost’s queries about Trump’s use of the word “coup” — a word top officials in his campaign have been echoing. “They’re trying to fight off a coup right now,” Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita said at a July 16 forum at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — five days before Biden actually announced that he was ending his campaign. In fact, public pressure by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democratic leaders in no way constitutes a “coup.” That word, though, does accurately describe what Trump himself tried to do leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021. Using the threat of violence followed by actual violence to coerce members of Congress and his own vice president into awarding him a second term, even though he had lost the 2020 election, is a textbook example of an autogolpe, or “self-coup,” in which a sitting political leader attempts to stay in power illegally.

[...] “Under no circumstances can one equate Trump’s attempted coup on January 6th to President Biden withdrawing from the race. I was there that day. I know what happened,” Dunn said. “It shows how out of touch with reality the former president and his buddy Elon Musk are. This is dangerous language.”

[...] For the past three years, Trump has claimed that the various federal and state-level prosecutions against him for his coup attempt and other actions were ordered by Biden from the White House. Trump, who is, as of May, a convicted felon, has no evidence for those claims — but there is extensive evidence that Trump tried to get the Department of Justice to prosecute both Clinton and Biden.

Attempted coup plotter Donald Trump complaining about a Democratic Party’s “coup” on President Joe Biden: That’s rich!

Grow up, DonOld! YOU were the one that attempted a coup by refusing to accept your loss in 2020. The Democratic Party backing Kamala Harris in near-unison to replace Biden is NOT a “coup” by any definition, as Biden voluntarily ended his bid for re-election.