Domestic political violence (USA)

[AdamG]

America has largely rejected these idiots over the last 50 years, so this is an attempt to paint all conservatives as supremacists to shape voter perceptions. It is dishonest and only further divides our people.

Exactly so.

For anyone unclear on the motives behind these shennanigans, they need only to read the writings of Saul Alinsky.

Anyone paying attention can see the following in play, each and every day across the media spectrum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals

The Rules
"Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have."
"Never go outside the expertise of your people."
"Whenever possible go outside the expertise of the enemy."
"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."
"A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
"A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."
"Keep the pressure on."
"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
"The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition."
"If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside"
"The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

[davidbfpo]

There is a relevant, closed thread 'DHS Report: Rightwing Extremism', which refers to a controversial 2009 report and the ensuing controversy. It has relevance here I think.
Link:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...wing-Extremism

[davidbfpo]

The actual, full title of a NYT article is 'U.S. Law Enforcement Failed to See the Threat of White Nationalism. Now They Don’t Know How to Stop It.' It is added here as this DHS report gets a lot of coverage.
Link:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/m...ar-right.html?

It is a 'long read' blending the historical and contemporary, in particular with one extremist being interviewed, alongside his personal history.

[Bill Moore]

This article follows the recent arrest of Lt Chris Hasson, a serving U.S. Coast Guard officer. He allegedly was planning a mass-casualty attack in the U.S. and threatening to kill several politicans in the Democratic Party and left leaning journalists in main stream media (which frankly is most of them). He's a Lt, so probably young, but still an officer with some education and hopefully ability to think about the consequences of his planned actions. So what did he and these other whackos think would happen after their actual or planned attacks? Do they really believe their hoped for civil war and destruction it will cause better than the current situation? Manifestos existed long before the internet and social media, but I can't help that the disinformation on Facebook and Twitter is resulting in those with perhaps lesser capacity to think rationally to simply feed upon each others' anger to the point it results in extremism. This radicalization process amplified by Russia using bots and trolls to spread disinformation. Once you understand the outcome, the term weaponized information has more meaning. It nothing less than a form of warfare, if not an undeclared act of war.

The Dangerous Spread of Extremist Manifestos

https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/201...seone_today_nl

It starts with,

Allegations against a Coast Guard lieutenant are a reminder that, by sharing the writings of terrorists, media outlets can amplify their impact.

Nearly eight years ago, the Norwegian extremist Anders Behring Breivik set the bar for what an individual terrorist could accomplish—detonating a truck bomb in Oslo that killed eight, then murdering 69 more, mostly teenagers, with semiautomatic weapons in another nearby location. All this was done in the name of a twisted ideology he had compiled largely from the internet, cobbled together into a sprawling, 1,518-page tract titled “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” in which he raged against multiculturalism, liberalism, and Muslims, while describing his attack preparations in considerable detail.

And ends with,

All the journalistic restraint in the world will not stop killers from memorializing their actions, and it will not stop extremists from fixating on those memoirs. But the success of terrorism is measured largely by its reach. The horrific act of Anders Breivik propelled his intended meaning to a global audience, where it has found purchase. Less deadly acts of violence by Dylann Roof and Elliot Rodger have been elevated in the same way. We have only begun to suffer the cost of these writings, crafted with an intent no less lethal than their authors’ violent crimes. We must do better when we confront the next, inevitable outbreak.

For more on the Anders Breivik in Norway see the closed thread, Norway Attacks What Happened

http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...w-title)/page3

[davidbfpo]

An article by Clint Watts, who was once active on the Forum and his bio has time in the FBI. Now he comments on CT and information warfare, so US readers may have heard of him.

So a couple of passages:

A decade of neglect and turning a blind eye to the rising current of white supremacist movements, combined with the rise of political divisiveness built on racial, religious, and ethnic divides, has brought an unprecedented modern wave of domestic terrorism.
(Later) If left unabated, the pattern of jihadists (Top-down, Directed-Networked-Inspired) will reverse itself for white nationalist terrorists as they grow in strength (Bottom-up, Inspired-Networked-Directed).

Link:https://www.fpri.org/article/2019/05...-should-we-do/

[davidbfpo]

Alerted by a "lurker" to this article, published by the Dutch ICCT and the summary:

In the past several years, the United States has witnessed a concerning rise in far-right extremism and terrorist violence. Attackers in Oak Creek, Charleston, and Pittsburgh emerged from an increasingly emboldened radical right, which has grown in size and ambition in recent years. The Atomwaffen Division—a small, neo-Nazi terrorist organisation—is part of this movement. This Policy Brief tracks the reasons behind the American far-right’s rise and increasing turn to terrorism, and warns that the threat is likely to imminently worsen. To illustrate this trend, Atomwaffen’s story is applied as a case study. This Policy Brief will conclude with a series of recommendations for policymakers looking to understand and address the threat posed by rising violence from the far-right.

The PDF has twenty pgs and has not been read.
Link:https://icct.nl/wp-content/uploads/2...e-July2019.pdf

[Kevin23]

Portland Oregon is supposed to be the scene of dueling protests this weekend between various elements of the white nationalist and anti-government hard right vs. ANTIFA/left-wing.

Conservative journalist Andy Ngo who was injured in an ANTIFA attack a couple of months ago in Portland is raising concerns about the city police force's abilities to handle this weekend's events should things get out of hand.

Journalist Andy Ngo, who survived a brutal attack by Antifa members in June, said Friday that Portland police are not prepared to control Saturday's planned standoff between the hate group and far-right demonstrators.

“I’m really concerned about the Antifa-versus-right-wing protest happening tomorrow. I think it has the potential to be a powder keg,” Ngo told “Fox & Friends.”

“In Portland, political violence is a banality now," he said. "However, the demonstrations are looming in the shadows of the recent mass shootings by the far-left and the far-right ideologues and their extremist elements who are broadcasting their desires for bloodshed. On top of that, police seem to be at a breaking point. They’re severely understaffed.”

https://www.foxnews.com/media/conser...st-in-portland