Headline probably meant to say, "Federal Agents Say They Thwarted a Miltia Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer", or something like that. You can leave off the last two words, but if you leave off the last three, you've definitely lost something.
Alaska could already be hiding a Michigan or two and nobody would bat an eye. There’s two Michigans now, but how do you know there didn’t use to be more?
Federal agents seem to be really good at foiling insane comic-book-villain schemes (with a glaring exception about 10 years ago) but really bad at stopping millions in damages caused by arsons coordinates on Twitter and Facebook over several months.
I didn’t think several months of riots in Portland, Kenosha, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and other cities had been debunked by such esteemed fact-checkers as snopes.
I think it would be premature to conclusively say what the motive of every case of the wanton destruction of our forests may be. However, I’m very impressed that the oracles at snopes were able to divine the motives of these actors prior to arrests, trials or even public statements. I bet they clean up at the lottery!
Riots and vandalism in Portland weren’t organized? That’s a strange conclusion for a story (one of several) about men arrested for setting fire to forests. Given there has been no trials for the people arrested in the story, I don’t know where this proof is you’re talking about which refutes whatever point you’re saying I have.
I'm not going to try do the impossible and prove a negative when you're the one that made the initial allegation I'm still looking for substantiation for.
But you just stated confidently that there were no instances of premeditated vandalism in the United States over several months and hundreds of incidents, many of which have pending investigations. Did you prove that negative or is it impossible?
Crazy how far into the plot they got before they were stopped. They tracked down her private homes, did surveillance and recon, acquired explosives and other equipment, and it all planned out. I don't know whether it would have actually worked (my guess is not), but it's amazing they got that far considering how early the FBI knew about them. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/1...
> Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote.
That doesn't sound like an actual plot to take actual specific criminal actions against a specific person. It sounds like something one guy would say to another in a heated conversation. I suspect this entire case will fall apart by the time it goes to trial like all these other fake "domestic terrorism" entrapment cases the FBI likes to trot out for political purposes. The only charge that sticks will be some process crime involving firearm permits.
We will. In the mean time people reading these articles will have an increasingly twisted view of the world. I wish I had a way to teach people to think more deeply and critically about what they read in the news.
I wonder how a couple of red necks even knew where her vacation home was, and which one of them suggested going there and looking at it from a distance. I suspect the guy whose job it was to get convictions under his belt told them where it was and that they should go there. Another thing we will hopefully find out at trial.
> I wish I had a way to teach people to think more deeply and critically about what they read in the news.
Thinking deeply and critically about what we read in the news is a very good skill to have, but reflexively dismissing it because you don’t want it to be true ain’t it, chief.
> Jerry Drake Varnell, who allegedly followed far-right anti-government groups and told the FBI he “wanted to start the next revolution,” is “a paranoid schizophrenic
> He has no job, no money, no vehicle, and no driver’s license, due to the fact that he is schizophrenic and we; his parents do everything we can possible to keep him safe and functional. The mental health system has consistently failed us
> He has attended college and just enrolled in welding school. His medications allow him to be somewhat functional but he will never be completely functional in life
The FBI is a despicable political actor. They set up muslims during the war on terror in the same way. Never once did they catch a real terrorist plot. It was all political theater.
You're right, its not so much about critical thinking as it is pattern recognition.
>> “But it does send a very vivid reminder that while we may be in a period of discourse, possibly even divisiveness and fighting across the nation, law enforcement stands united,” Gasper said.
United on which side though? I mean, can he say without a doubt, there are no cops in Proud Boys or these militias?
Well, perhaps they tend not to be in non-state-run organized militias; they tend to be part of the universal militia as defined in law, and perhaps somewhat more frequently than the population in general are part of the state-organized portion of the militia (National Guard or formal state militia [e.g., the California State Guard]).
But, actually, there's quite a lot of recent information about right-wing non-government militia groups infiltrating law enforcement significantly, so its quite possibly the case that they are also more likely than the general population to be involved in that kind of militia.
My point was more that the people who join the military cosplay organizations tend to be the type to fantasize about being allowed to do violence against their fellow human. The police have no need to fantasize about that privilege.
> My point was more that the people who join the military cosplay organizations tend to be the type to fantasize about being allowed to do violence against their fellow human. The police have no need to fantasize about that privilege.
On the other hand, people that fantasize about the privilege do tend to try to join the police, and may not leave the other organizations they joined previously when they succeed.
We live in a scary time where lies from Qanon and similar groups are rampant and exploiting vulnerable gullible people who commit crimes based on those lies.
Headline probably meant to say, "Federal Agents Say They Thwarted a Miltia Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer", or something like that. You can leave off the last two words, but if you leave off the last three, you've definitely lost something.