It's no secret to people I've been friends with since, or before, my time in Iraq that after coming home I went down a really dark path. Feeling abandoned by the government, having been lied to about the war I served in... 1/4 (via @cnn@afantz) cnn.com/2021/01/12/us/…
and left vulnerable with severe PTSD and little support -- I started adopting conspiracy theories, became a hardcore "libertarian," and was incredibly self-destructive.
How did I pull out of it? A whole lot of therapy at the VA -- and perhaps more importantly... 2/4
...being able to go to school, finding purpose, with the VA's Vocational Rehabilitation program.
It was my experiences as a soldier, and as a veteran, that started me down that dark path. It was the VA that pulled me out, which is exactly what it's designed for. 3/4
A lot of the vets involved in the siege on the Capitol probably went down similar paths for similar reasons. After they pay their debt to society -- they did cause harm that day -- they should be given the rehabilitative support that's required to bring them back into society 4/4
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Took leave from work to take care of myself (as much as I could, all considered) this week for the first time in as long as I can remember. To see everything I’ve worked on for years — fighting disinfo and the radicalization of veterans — with death of vets in the Capitol... 1/x
It’s been crippling. It’s all that I can think about. And I’m angry. Angry at those who didn’t listen — particularly those on the Hill who I’ve been warning for years. Angry at those who avoided responsibility, could have been proactive, and refused to seek solutions. 2/x
After a two-year investigation on behalf of @VVAmerica, I wrote and published a report on the way veterans were being targeted online. My mandate at the time was to focus on foreign entities seeking to take advantage of, defraud, and radicalize troops, vets, and our families. 3/x
I’ve spent years researching and warning about veterans being radicalized by foreign and domestic actors spreading viral, bogus, and hateful content. @VetAffairsDems investigated and recently a report. @HouseVetAffairs objected. One of those vets just died in the Capitol.
When I finally got to testify about the 191-page report that I wrote about @VVAmerica’s troll investigation before House Vet Affairs, all the Republicans wasted their time and mine complaining about how Facebook and Twitter were mean to conservatives. This death is on their hands
To be more specific: this death is on the hands of the former committee Ranking Member, @DrPhilRoe, and that of his staff. It was under their direction and leadership that Republicans blocked any and all efforts by Dems to combat the targeting of vets for radicalization online.
One of the two QAnon wannabe terrorists who traveled to Philly to get arrested last night was Joshua Macias, founder of #VetsForTrump. I discovered last year he tried working with North Macedonians to promote the Vets for Trump... and then they stole his Facebook page.
Josh is an interesting guy. And while Facebook appears to have taken his personal account down, you can see his Twitter account that's still live here: twitter.com/joshuamacias
Now to be clear, these aren’t hacked materials. The fascists frequently organize via Telegram to mass report stories that they don’t like. These guys gave me the keys, I’m not a hacker.
And furthermore, I'm not doxxing anyone or giving out private information. I'm only discussing a public figure, Thomas Rousseau, who is the only one in the group who is allowed to operate under his real name and without a mask. (Weirdly, these guys call other people "cucks")
So, not being a hacker, I don't know how useful this kind of thing is... but a tipster just sent me Patriot Front's RocketChat subdomain info. Maybe someone out there (like @RocketChat) can do something with this publicly-available info. subdomainfinder.c99.nl/scans/2020-10-…
I've spent years tracking + fighting against foreign disinformation campaigns. But after discovering self-described fascist groups like this, I feel the need to re-prioritize a bit. Gen-Z isn't going to save us. Trump losing won't make nazis disappear.
Patriot Front, a gang of masked kids that credits its success in red-pilling and recruiting Gen-Z white boys on platforms like @tiktok_us, is an @instagram-filter-era nightmare led by a 22-year-old Thomas Rousseau of Grapevine, TX.
It wasn't until @BuzzFeed reached out to @Twitter within the last 24 hours or so that this platform finally booted @pfthomas1488, who was tweeting stuff like veiled threats against the police who arrested him in August.
After over 12 years of advocacy, filing appeals, raising awareness for #badpaper... + hundreds of hours on the part of the attorney @UrbanJustice connected me to a decade ago... My discharge has finally been upgraded to Honorable.
A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who supported me!
@UrbanJustice As wonderful as it is to have this one box on my DD-214 fixed... the @USArmy couldn't let me go without leaving something on my enlisted service record to make it look like I'm a criminal. They've given me an arrest record... which, I do not have.
The new separation authority that they inserted in Box 23 says: "AR 635-200, PARA 5-14."
That translates to "Concealment of Arrest Record (para. 5-14) – If false statements regarding a juvenile or adult offense were made in enlistment documents."