DHS has targeted activists since its inception.
The first time my organizing ended up in DHS “terrorism research” dossiers, Obama was president.
What's new here is the connection between this DHS Big Brotherism & presidential threats to invade Dem cities right before elections.
The first time my organizing ended up in DHS “terrorism research” dossiers, Obama was president.
What's new here is the connection between this DHS Big Brotherism & presidential threats to invade Dem cities right before elections.
As I have been shouting pretty much daily from the rooftops, Barr and Trump are actively seeking a pretext to launch Portland-style invasion of opposition stronghold cities.
They know classifying antifascist protesters as terrorists is their best bet.
They know classifying antifascist protesters as terrorists is their best bet.
As I have said repeatedly, the big thing getting in their way is the fact that to legally classify antifascists and BLM as terrorists, Trump and Barr and the GOP would have to make it legally possible to classify domestic groups as terrorist organizations.
The problem for Trump and Barr is that many far right groups, especially militias, actually *are* literal terrorist organizations that do things like bomb buildings and shoot up churches and plot the murders of electeds.
The GOP has fought long and hard to keep domestic groups exempted from the Patriot Act and other laws that effectively strip anyone labelled a "terrorist" of their Constitutional rights and protections, because they don't want to piss off their militia-friendly base.
MAGA would absolutely revolt if Barr opened the door to Democrats taking that domestic terror classification and using it to push the feds to run with it against militias.
The FBI in particular has been begging to crack down on militias for years, believe it or not.
The FBI in particular has been begging to crack down on militias for years, believe it or not.
So Trump and Barr can't just go "okay we're going to use legal means to strip Antifa of their rights as terrorists."
Not as long as Antifa is considered domestic.
Not as long as Antifa is considered domestic.
That's why so much of Barr's rhetoric around U.S. Antifa even before this story broke has involved attempts to link it materially to other antifascist movements abroad.
If Barr can make the legal case that U.S. Antifa is actually a subchapter of a foreign terrorist organization, he can get his legal Antifa terror designation without having to worry about opening the window for militias getting classified legally as terrorists.
This gambit couldn't be more obvious.
Just look at the most prominent individual named in the dossier so far: Brace Belden.
Just look at the most prominent individual named in the dossier so far: Brace Belden.
Brace is very much *not* Antifa.
He's actually closely tied to red-brown alliance "what if we could be Nazis and Communists at the same time!" third positionists like the Red Scare podcast hosts.
He's done SS flag photoshoots with one of them, ffs.
He's actually closely tied to red-brown alliance "what if we could be Nazis and Communists at the same time!" third positionists like the Red Scare podcast hosts.
He's done SS flag photoshoots with one of them, ffs.
As I said before, DHS monitoring activists is nothing new.
If this was just a report on Brace from after he came home from Syria, it would be reasonable to say, "well, that's DHS, that's their deal."
If this was just a report on Brace from after he came home from Syria, it would be reasonable to say, "well, that's DHS, that's their deal."
Listen, Brace is an actually terrible person who does SS flag photoshoots, advocates for the murder of Jews, accuses his critics of being pedophile Epstein plants, and literally bragged about committing war crimes in Syria to Rolling Stone.
He is not a hero for the left.
He is not a hero for the left.
None of this is news, though.
Like, at all.
That Rolling Stone article where Brace poses with guns, brags about urinating on piles of corpses and skulls, and is like "oopsie, did a war crime, my b"?
It's from February 2017.
Like, at all.
That Rolling Stone article where Brace poses with guns, brags about urinating on piles of corpses and skulls, and is like "oopsie, did a war crime, my b"?
It's from February 2017.
If DHS or any branch of the feds actually gave a shit about any of this or saw this asshole's war tourism cosplay for their allies as an some sort of problem, they literally had him in print confessing to war crimes.
They didn't act because they didn't see it as a problem.
They didn't act because they didn't see it as a problem.
They had zero interest in any of that shit because they understood that it had literally no impact on US security, and literally nothing to do with Antifa or terrorism.
There are many reasons it was immoral and ugly behavior, but "terrorism" it wasn't.
There are many reasons it was immoral and ugly behavior, but "terrorism" it wasn't.
It wasn't until after Trump realized he could use BLM protest and Antifa as an excuse to illegally invade Portland and announce plans to do the same in other Democratic-majority cities that they decided Brace of all people was an Antifa terrorist.
It wasn't until three months straight of plunging approval ratings that Trump's administration suddenly decided that Brace's war tourism was a problem and also Antifa.
When Barr declared Antifa a terrorist group, legal realities be damned, I pointed out that folks who opposed antifascism needed to be identifying as Antifa, for this exact reason.
"Antifa" is their planned pretext for election violence.
"Antifa" is their planned pretext for election violence.
Last month, we sounded the alarm again that there was no proof that the protesters they were disappearing were "Antifa," that the terror designation was a way of sweeping up any and all anti-Trump protesters under the pretense of an Antifa connection.
Over the weekend, and again as this story was breaking, I tried to warn that it doesn't actually matter who is "Antifa" and who isn't.
Trump and Barr already tried to do this a year ago with the Dayton shooter.
Trump and Barr already tried to do this a year ago with the Dayton shooter.
I cannot say loudly enough that Trump and Barr couldn't care less about who is "Antifa" and who isn't.
They are desperate to find a violent terrorist linked to the left who they can call "Antifa" and use as an excuse to launch brutal police campaigns of violence in our cities.
They are desperate to find a violent terrorist linked to the left who they can call "Antifa" and use as an excuse to launch brutal police campaigns of violence in our cities.
This is why I keep saying, the left has to watch its ass like never before.
We can't be keeping company with incels still steeped in misogynist terror culture who are liable to pick up a gun and shoot a girl for refusing to go on a date with them.
We can't be keeping company with incels still steeped in misogynist terror culture who are liable to pick up a gun and shoot a girl for refusing to go on a date with them.
I'm not talking about civility-policing protest or uprising here.
That is not the kind of "violence" debate I am talking about.
That is not the kind of "violence" debate I am talking about.
I'm talking about this "oh we should cater to and try and recruit from the alt-right and let those poor little alienated racist white boys into our spaces, they're victims of capitalism, too" dirtbag bullshit.
Belden isn't antifa.
He's a bad person and a war criminal, but he's not a terrorist.
Look how eager they are to make him a poster boy for their campaign against "Antifa terror" anyway.
He's a bad person and a war criminal, but he's not a terrorist.
Look how eager they are to make him a poster boy for their campaign against "Antifa terror" anyway.
Matt Christman from Chapo Trap House has an audience of 128,000 followers, his whole schtick is "I'm going to turn the alt-right left by tweeting Nazi memes," and he's been actively catering to incels for for months, now.
This is one of the guys most prominently associated with the online "left" right now, and he has a documented history of doing shit like getting drunk on a livestream and telling his fans to "kill everyone you know" when political events displease him.
If one of his unstable incel stans takes his next temper tantrum at face value and makes good on this suggestion, no one is going to care when he says "oh I meant that ironically."
The headline is going to be, "far left terrorist commits mass murder on far left leader's orders"
The headline is going to be, "far left terrorist commits mass murder on far left leader's orders"
It's not going to matter that it's "just a podcast" or "just a joke."
It won't matter that Matt is extremely not Antifa.
Trump and Barr will hold a press conference THAT AFTERNOON explaining that this was an execution orchestrated by "far left Antifa terrorists."
It won't matter that Matt is extremely not Antifa.
Trump and Barr will hold a press conference THAT AFTERNOON explaining that this was an execution orchestrated by "far left Antifa terrorists."
People are in my mentions being like, "who cares, they'll do it anyway."
And yeah, they absolutely will.
The question is whether the public lets them get away with it.
And yeah, they absolutely will.
The question is whether the public lets them get away with it.
The dirtbags are effectively being like, "Hitler's going to set the Reichstag on fire eventually anyway, why don't we just livestream ourselves torching the place now."
The goal is to try and make sure the public realizes that Hitler is the one setting the fire, you nimrods.
The goal is to try and make sure the public realizes that Hitler is the one setting the fire, you nimrods.
I'm so sick of having to say I told you so on this shit.
Belden isn't a terrorist.
Dirtbags like Belden and Christman aren't Antifa.
I doubt Christman is actually eager to have an incel go out and murder women in his name; it would absolutely wreck his Patreon.
Belden isn't a terrorist.
Dirtbags like Belden and Christman aren't Antifa.
I doubt Christman is actually eager to have an incel go out and murder women in his name; it would absolutely wreck his Patreon.
That doesn't change the fact that their "look at us doing spicy edgy racist shit in the name of leftism" serves no purpose except to boost their clout and line their pockets, and puts those of us who actually do leftist organizing in immediate and real danger.
We're standing next to a powderkeg at the base of a stairwell, and they're throwing matches down from above for shits and giggles.
When that shit explodes, they'll be fine.
We are the ones who will get blown to pieces.
When that shit explodes, they'll be fine.
We are the ones who will get blown to pieces.
Actual leftists organizing on the ground will get hurt or arrested or killed, Trump will use our supposed "terrorism" as an excuse to violently suppress turnout in Democratic strongholds, and he will accelerate his fascism faster and more brutally than most people could imagine.
Who will end up dead?
Not these wealthy, dilettante podcast grifter white dudes.
They'll keep rounding up organizers, and they'll keep escalating their systematic murder of BIPOC and other oppressed people.
These guys think this is a joke, but these are the stakes.
Not these wealthy, dilettante podcast grifter white dudes.
They'll keep rounding up organizers, and they'll keep escalating their systematic murder of BIPOC and other oppressed people.
These guys think this is a joke, but these are the stakes.
I'm so tired of saying I told you so.
I'm so sick of white leftists pretending the writing on the wall isn't there.
The lettering couldn't be clearer.
I'm so sick of white leftists pretending the writing on the wall isn't there.
The lettering couldn't be clearer.
We are so royally fucked, and they are just digging us in deeper because people find it entertaining and pay to watch.
These aren't leftists.
These are the guys setting the table for the fascists preparing to eat us for dinner.
These aren't leftists.
These are the guys setting the table for the fascists preparing to eat us for dinner.
I keep trying to shake people awake but there's just no showing things to people who refuse to open their eyes.
I am beyond sad.
I don't know what else we can do.
I am beyond sad.
I don't know what else we can do.
Get ready for the inevitable, I guess.
Because inevitable is what it is starting to feel like.
How incredibly, unspeakably sad that is.
Because inevitable is what it is starting to feel like.
How incredibly, unspeakably sad that is.
(the end)
