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Michael Tracey Profile picture
@mtracey
Aug 9, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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There has been no claim made that this individual fired on FBI agents, or even that he was armed at the time of the fatal altercation today. Apparently a giant squad of militarized personnel was incapable of apprehending a 75 year old man without gunning him down on his doorstep https://t.co/QZqM6VXiCN

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A statement from the FBI's Salt Lake City field office also makes no mention of any agents being injured. "We have no further details to provide," the statement says. If this guy really did open fire on FBI agents, wouldn't that probably be the very first detail they'd "provide"?
This guy's offense was allegedly posting a bunch of demented memes on social media about political figures, which he apparently characterized merely as "dreams" of his. Either way, note the cheerful, credulous reaction to news of him being executed on sight in a surprise 6am raid Image
So, federal agents shot and killed an old man described as being "frail of health," who used a wooden cane... and the thing that's supposed to appall us about this incident is that he posted overwrought criticism of politicians on social media...? Image
This is who the FBI is claiming had the "ability to conduct sniper tactics" and was an imminent threat to kill Biden, after they barged into the elderly man's house at 6:00 in the morning, pumped him with bullets, and then left his dead body bleeding out on the sidewalk for hours Image
Every last person local Utah newspapers have interviewed about this man is mystified that the FBI could have possibly perceived him as a genuine threat


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More from @mtracey

Michael Tracey Profile picture
Jun 23
Trump's former and likely future National Security Advisor, Robert O'Brien, wrote an essay intellectualizing Trump's foreign policy. He says Trump defies "globalist orthodoxies" by strengthening NATO and increasing US military entanglements with Japan, Israel, and the Gulf states Image
O'Brien pines for Trump to correct the mistakes of Biden, who he says has not militarized Taiwan quickly enough. The next Administration must push Taiwan to expand conscription, and also start treating Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam like client states on par with Israel Image
O'Brien can't wait for Trump to resume his "Maximum Pressure" campaign against Iran, which Biden has largely continued but not aggressively enough for O'Brien. These means ramping up sanctions with the aim of "containing" Iran (and ultimately overthrowing its government) Image
Read 8 tweets
Michael Tracey Profile picture
Jun 17
Just read the memoir of Spiro "Ted" Agnew, who resigned as Vice President in 1973. Lots of background intrigue I hadn't been familiar with. In particular he alleges that Gen. Al Haig, Nixon's chief of staff, threatened to get "nasty and dirty" with him if he didn't resign, which Nixon (erroneously) believed would take the pressure off *him* for Watergate. Agnew inferred Haig's statement to be a potential threat of assassination. He felt he was betrayed by Nixon, and even in their retirements would not accept Nixon's phone calls. Agnew was an unexpectedly talented writer, and also wrote a best-selling novelImage
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Agnew makes a pretty persuasive case that he was politically targeted by vindictive DOJ prosecutors with various interlocking political agendas who wanted to "get him" for petty graft related to his tenure as Governor of Maryland. The story is rather convoluted, but essentially Agnew was accused of taking "kickbacks" through engineering projects he doled out to state contractors. But he fairly convincingly establishes (through documentary evidence he obtained years after the fact) that there was never any solid corroboration for the allegations, which were pried out of desperate witnesses who had been subjected to wildly strong-arm tactics by the US Attorney's Office in Maryland and Washington DOJ

Agnew eventually agreed to resign "in the national interest" and plead "nolo contendere" to a downgraded income tax charge. He was on the verge of an indictment, and arguments that the Vice President could not be indicted in office had failed to gain traction

He felt especially betrayed because Nixon would tepidly defend him in public, while working behind the scenes to sandbag him through aides and surrogates. Agnew says his wife was even threatened with prosecution

One thing I didn't realize was that Agnew arranged a meeting with the Speaker of the House, Carl Albert, whom Agnew respected despite Albert being a Democrat, and appealed to him to hold House hearings on the allegations because he insisted any judicial proceedings in Maryland had been tainted by media leaks. Agnew cited the precedent of Vice President John Calhoun in 1826. Nixon underhandedly signaled his disapproval of this tactic, so it never happened and Agnew resigned

Agnew complains that he was essentially disappeared afterwards. Frank Sinatra gave him a $200,000 loan after he left office to handle his legal and living expenses -- Agnew claims he would've been destitute otherwise
Agnew also claimed that the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war on October 6, 1973 accelerated the urgency with which he was being forced out of the Vice Presidency. This was communicated to him by Attorney General Elliot Richardson, he said. With the idea being that Nixon's potential successor, in the event that he's forced to resign himself, must be just as ardently supportive of Israel as Nixon had been, and there were questions about Agnew's devotion on that score. Agnew resigned on October 10Image
Read 5 tweets
Michael Tracey Profile picture
Jun 17
WTF? The Arizona man accused of plotting a mass shooting at a rap concert to incite "race war" ahead of the 2024 election claimed to have "fought as a mercenary in Ukraine and killed Russian soldiers," according to the FBI affidavit. (He spoke to an FBI informant at gun shows) Image
The man allegedly tried to recruit his FBI informant friend, as well as an undercover FBI agent he had just met at the gun show, to drive cross country to Atlanta to commit the mass shooting. His goal was to ensure that "every whitey will be the enemy across the whole country" Image
The man allegedly said that he wanted to make it clear that the concert shooting was not gang-related, so his three-man shooter squad should make sure to shout things like "whites out here killing," "KKK all the way," and "black lives don't matter, white lives matter" Image
Read 5 tweets
Michael Tracey Profile picture
Jun 4
The new TIME interview with Biden is an utter disaster. Here is a thread with the soul-crushing lowlights Image
First, Biden repeats the common Democratic folklore that Trump wants to "abandon" US alliances, and in particular wants to "eviscerate" NATO. At this point, this is just pure mind-melting myth. Trump brags to this VERY DAY about how he secured additional spending commitments from NATO member states.

It makes zero sense for Trump to "eviscerate" NATO, a key tool of American hegemonic power, which Trump bombastically pledges to maintain and expand.

Absolutely nothing from the actual record of the Trump Administration reflects doing anything to substantively undermine NATO. Rather, the opposite: He literally signed off on two rounds of NATO expansion, and he elevated Ukraine into a NATO subsidiary status. He increased the funding of the Pentagon funding vehicle for US troops in Europe. He set up new military garrisons in Poland.

Trump even recently posted an endorsement of his pro-NATO stance from the NATO secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg.

This is so disastrous because it perpetuates the political dynamic whereby Trump is given incentive to further demonstrate how steadfastly supportive he is of NATO, to refute this never-ending myth.Image
Biden also sets up the contrast with Trump where Biden's foreign policy vision is supposedly "values-based," whereas Trump is based on... something else. "Values" are code for "messianic liberal interventionist ideals that never hold up to basic tests of constituency or efficacy" Image
Read 15 tweets
Michael Tracey Profile picture
May 17
Please Watch! In July 2023, Trump hosted an "Israel Heritage Foundation" gala at his Bedminster estate. Rabbi David Katz proclaimed the Third Holy Temple will be re-built in Jerusalem "very soon," thanks to the heroic efforts of Trump. Trump then recited a Blessing from "Hashem"
One of the main missions of the "Israel Heritage Foundation" group is to advocate for Israeli "sovereignty" in what they refer to as "Judea and Samaria," which translates to full US-backed Israeli annexation and absorption of the West Bank
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The "Israel Heritage Foundation" just can't stop showering Trump with all its most prestigious honors and awards. In July 2023, it was the Keter Yerushalayim (Crown of Jerusalem.) Then in February 2024, it was the Silver Menorah proclaiming Trump to be Israel's "Prince of Peace"
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Read 4 tweets
Michael Tracey Profile picture
Apr 29
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) organized a letter to Columbia today demanding the "anti-Jewish" protest be disbanded immediately due to "hate speech"

"The time for negotiation is over," they warn. These people are absolute menaces to the First Amendment


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Note, the 21 House Dems who signed the letter are not narrowly objecting to the encampment. They are explicitly denouncing the political speech being expressed there, which they claim is intolerably "anti-Semitic" and therefore creating an "unsafe environment" for Jewish students
Rarely will you see such a blatant and unapologetic intrusion by top government officials to crush political speech openly on the basis of their objection to the content of that speech, but this little Congressional crew have clearly discarded any remaining sense of shame
Read 5 tweets

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