BREAKING: I’m hearing an unconfirmed report that a raid on the Venezuelan Embassy is imminent. Not sure if true or how source knows, but my eta is 15 minutes.
I just live-streamed for four hours straight, which you can watch below.
Three folks left, one of which was @RealAlexRubi, who I spoke to.
After that, cops made a forced entry into front door, but failed to negotiate anyone out, and left empty handed.
I’m on my way home to look through my HD video, but here’s the statement that @answercoalition / @codepink / @PopResistance “The Embassy Protection Collective” put out about tonight from their perspective.
Multiple sources have said four occupants remain. This photo - published by @medeabenjamin - appears to show those four people as of tonight.
Going through my HD footage now. Firstly, here's what happened every few minutes: Police would use an ultra-loud, deafening siren before and after speaking over an amplifier, declaring the United States doesn't recognize "the former Maduro regime" and threatening arrest.
I saw @RealAlexRubi as he was leaving the embassy.
@aletweetsnews and I asked him a couple questions about what was going on inside, but here's him explaining the conditions and lead-up to three people departing.
@KBZeese, @DrMFlowers and two others are still inside.
One of the activists still inside, @PopResistance's @DrMFlowers, used signs to share a variety of messages, all directed at police.
"You are being given an illegal order."
"U.S. is violating Vienna Convention."
"No embassy is safe if you break in."
As the police activity was ongoing, one sign on the @askavenezuelan side said that "Orange is the new pink" implying that @codepink will find itself in prison.
The @askavenezuelan side was definitely excited when government officials with power tools showed up. It'd be more than an hour later before they'd be put to use, but this was the first hard proof of an anticipated forced entry.
Sure enough, just after sunset, police cut through the lock that the activists put on.
They then spent a lot of time pointing flashlights in, apparently hesitating to actually enter.
It wasn't until a while later that police - specifically State Department's Diplomatic Security Services - entered the building, slowly.
Embassy Protection Collective's legal counsel Mara Verheyden-Hilliard was at their side.
What happened next was strange. Police apparently felt comfortable enough to force their way into the building, but not to arrest.
Officers spoke to one of the activists inside - along with legal counsel Mara Verheyden-Hilliard - and then left and closed the doors empty handed.
After the police stood down, @KBZeese and @DrMFlowers celebrated the victory, opening the windows and holding signs that say "the coup failed" and "your love feeds us" directed at their @codepink & @answercoalition friends outside.
"Tick tock tick tock" chanted their opposition.
"They're gonna try to break in tomorrow but we'll still resist" a defiant @KBZeese yelled down to the crowd.
He urged @codepink and @answercoalition folks to keep holding space outside and keep the pressure on.
He then offered a "goodnight" and closed the window.
Here's my raw @N2Sreports vid highlights from tonight's failed police attempt to clear the embassy. As it stands now, it seems that the four remaining activists are totally resolved to not leave without being forced to.
All footage available for license.
I'd add that @aletweetsnews and I work tirelessly to bring you this content, and we often don't have anyone buy it, not to mention Youtube demonetizing it.
We'd love your support on Patreon! With that, I bid you all goodnight.
VIDEO THREAD: Armed gun rights activists rallied at the Virginia State Capitol on Monday to protest proposed gun measures under new Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger.
The Virginia Kekoas militia wore "Boogaloo" style attire for the first time publicly since 2023.
"All the rights, for all the people, all the time" explained the group's leader, who goes by ICE (which is not a reference to the agency of the same name). "We're just going back to our heritage, where we started."
"Things are a little bit more serious this year," explained the Kekoas member who goes by Sasquatch. "This is our unofficial battle cry!"
"I swear I'm not a swinger," he clarified, referencing the pineapples on his Hawaiian shirt.
2) "I'm generally a pretty liberal person, but when I saw videos of ICE jumping out of unmarked vehicles and nabbing people off the street, that's when I bought my first AR15," one attendee of the gun rally explained.
"We're facing tyranny right now, and I want to be prepared if that stuff comes to my neighborhood."
"Tyrannical government, whatever your take on it, that's the point of these bad boys right here," Virginia Kekoas militia member call-sign cross responded to that position, slapping the butt of his rifle.
3) The Virginia Capitol lawn was closed off to attendees carrying firearms, splitting the crowd into those carrying and not.
A man dressed as George Washington attempted to argue with police that his musket is "not a firearm" but was not allowed to pass.
VIDEO THREAD: Pardoned January 6er Jake Lang attempted to hold an anti-Muslim "Crusader March" in Minneapolis today where he was swarmed with hundreds of counter-protesters.
Scuffles broke out, and one of his members sprayed mace around the crowd.
2) Amidst "Feels like -7 F" degree temperatures, protesters sprayed Lang and his crew with water guns as well as silly string while drowning him out with music over a loudspeaker.
Lang apparently was prepared to leave, but couldn't find a path as protesters continued to physically challenge him and his group.
"Let them leave!" some protesters yelled.
3) Lang, who fought police with a baseball bat at the Capitol on January 6, was struck with a wooden stick by a counter-protester.
He grabbed it, briefly holding it up in triumph and keeping control of it until it was grabbed out of his hands.
VIDEO THREAD: Federal agents deployed tear gas, mace, and sting balls against a growing crowd at the scene Wednesday night in Minneapolis following a shooting by ICE.
Some protesters shot fireworks and threw snowballs at the agents, many of whom carried rifles.
2) Agents moved fast while trying to evade the crowd. In one case, the feds got into the bed of a truck, dropped pepper spray and had to get out to grab it before a firework was thrown at them, for which they threw tear gas in return.
3) The scale of the conflict was enormous, spanning a few blocks in each direction from the shooting, lasting a couple hours.
Protesters exchanged fireworks and tear gas on one side of the shooting scene as others engaged with police on the opposite side.
VIDEO THREAD: Pardoned January 6er Jake Lang held a "Crusader" rally outside AIPAC Sunday afternoon, throwing (chocolate) gold coins at attendees dressed as politicians and suggesting "their Jewish money" has caused a "brownification of America."
A couple counter-protesters including former elected official Patricia Eugenio demonstrated against Lang and his group.
FOOTAGE FOR DOCUMENTARY, NEWS PURPOSES ONLY.
2) Ivan Raiklin, an advocate for the January 6er's, confronted Lang at the podium.
While maintaining a cordial tone, he said Lang has "got it all wrong" by focusing on immutable attributes rather than "deep state traitors" "based on their actions, and actions alone."
3) Lang and Raiklin jokingly wrestled for the mic before Raiklin suggested that "You're about a block away from your employer, right? FBI Washington Field office?"
"Says the guy who never got indicted for January 6!" Lang replied.
DOCUMENT THREAD: Four members of the pro-Palestine, left-wing "Turtle Island Liberation Front" have been arrested in an alleged bomb plot after being exposed to at least one FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS) and one Undercover Employee (UCE).
2) The FBI begins their summary of probable cause by saying that their PAID informant (CHS) "has been a reliable source of information since in or around August 2021."
They say the informant was given a handwritten bomb plot titled "OPERATION MIDNIGHT SUN” in November by defendants, but do not detail any conservations that led up to this occurring.
They do not describe how long the group had been exposed to this CHS prior to their alleged escalation into bomb plotting.
3) The group allegedly planned on extensive steps to conceal their participation in the plan, including encasing their phones in bricks before submerging them into water, and using black bloc clothing, which they wrote down and handed to a federal informant in an 8-page document.
The criminal complaint against Brian Cole Jr has been released, detailing the government’s evidence that this Virginia man is the January 5, 2021 pipe bomber.
The evidence basically amounts to three categories:
-Cell phone pings allegedly placing him at the scene
-Purchases over the prior more than a year of materials consistent with the devices
-A vehicle allegedly matching his leaving the area on that night
Notably, while government sources have reportedly characterized Cole as “anarchist,” this criminal complaint does not characterize any evidence related to ideological background or motive.
I also find it notable that the FBI places some of the relevant purchases which they allege were components for the pipe bombs as early as 2019.
While some components were purchased in November 2020 (post election) this timeline would seem to imply he was working on such a device *prior* to the 2020 election being disputed.