...in the name of jihad, here and abroad.

[MDlaxfan76]

The problem with the plea deal was the timing. That would have been tricky for a tough on crime former prosecutor to justify. Lloyd Austin made a smart move by nipping the deal at the bud. Come mid November the plea deal will likely be put back into place.

You being serious?
you think this has anything to do with current political campaigns?

I don't. Not remotely. Harris could easily not defend it, indeed disagree with it...not her call though...as VP.

I do think the 'politics' of combating terrorism mattered to Austin and this answer, as pragmatic as it may seem (or be) legally, has potential costs in that fight.

Judgment call.
And Austin says it was his call to make and he hadn't agreed.

But Harris could have certainly attacked the initial call, had Austin let it stand, and burnished the 'tough on crime' rep.

Austin's move did avoid any conflict between Harris and Biden (had Biden also let it stand).

The question is, will KSM ever actually have a trial?

I'm quite serious. Do you think the Republicans wouldn't have pounced on it as Biden/ Harris being weak on alleged terrorists? I think team trump would have been all over it. What I don't know is why such a plea deal was never advanced up the chain of command before it was ever announced? Sec Def put the kibosh on that real quick.

You both can be right...this would have been a kick in the crotch to every military person invested in the 20 year GWOT, not to mention the ripple impact. And most certainly playing a part during the campaign and voters.

You guys are both ignoring that this would have provided a perfect opportunity for Harris to burnish her 'tough on crime' rep by disagreeing with the settlement. She has no power to overturn it, so free to disagree with it. Sister Souljah moment playbook. My hunch is she'll back Austin's call, just not as dramatic as if going against Admin on this.

Joe needn't care politically at this point if he was accused of being 'soft'...but I suspect that he too disagreed with the call, so isn't going to now step on Austin.

That said, you guys think KSM will ever get a trial? Any issues with that?

BTW, "soft on alleged terrorists"??? Look at the record, right?...surely you're not actually agreeing that Biden's been "soft on alleged terrorists" you're just saying that The Trump Campaign would have lied about it, right?

Austin helped her, maybe he knew she would have done nothing. Not sure Biden knows who KSM is at this point.

I'd like to know how this pleas deal got done without SECDEF in the first place??????

That appears to be what Austin is saying too...feels like he was never aboard with this answer but wasn't explicit, no way Jose...negotiator clearly felt empowered to make the call, Austin is saying, no...

[youthathletics]

The problem with the plea deal was the timing. That would have been tricky for a tough on crime former prosecutor to justify. Lloyd Austin made a smart move by nipping the deal at the bud. Come mid November the plea deal will likely be put back into place.

You being serious?
you think this has anything to do with current political campaigns?

I don't. Not remotely. Harris could easily not defend it, indeed disagree with it...not her call though...as VP.

I do think the 'politics' of combating terrorism mattered to Austin and this answer, as pragmatic as it may seem (or be) legally, has potential costs in that fight.

Judgment call.
And Austin says it was his call to make and he hadn't agreed.

But Harris could have certainly attacked the initial call, had Austin let it stand, and burnished the 'tough on crime' rep.

Austin's move did avoid any conflict between Harris and Biden (had Biden also let it stand).

The question is, will KSM ever actually have a trial?

I'm quite serious. Do you think the Republicans wouldn't have pounced on it as Biden/ Harris being weak on alleged terrorists? I think team trump would have been all over it. What I don't know is why such a plea deal was never advanced up the chain of command before it was ever announced? Sec Def put the kibosh on that real quick.

You both can be right...this would have been a kick in the crotch to every military person invested in the 20 year GWOT, not to mention the ripple impact. And most certainly playing a part during the campaign and voters.

You guys are both ignoring that this would have provided a perfect opportunity for Harris to burnish her 'tough on crime' rep by disagreeing with the settlement. She has no power to overturn it, so free to disagree with it. Sister Souljah moment playbook. My hunch is she'll back Austin's call, just not as dramatic as if going against Admin on this.

Joe needn't care politically at this point if he was accused of being 'soft'...but I suspect that he too disagreed with the call, so isn't going to now step on Austin.

That said, you guys think KSM will ever get a trial? Any issues with that?

BTW, "soft on alleged terrorists"??? Look at the record, right?...surely you're not actually agreeing that Biden's been "soft on alleged terrorists" you're just saying that The Trump Campaign would have lied about it, right?

Austin helped her, maybe he knew she would have done nothing. Not sure Biden knows who KSM is at this point.

Why make a dumb statement?
You think he didn't know the family of hostages just released?
Didn't know who they gave up to Putin in exchange, didn't work with other countries' leaders to accomplish it?

You didn't answer my questions.

And what do you mean by "done nothing"?
She has zero power to do something other than offer an opinion.
Do you mean she's "soft" and wouldn't have used it as a Sister Souljah moment?

Done nothing, as in not take a stance.

[MDlaxfan76]

The problem with the plea deal was the timing. That would have been tricky for a tough on crime former prosecutor to justify. Lloyd Austin made a smart move by nipping the deal at the bud. Come mid November the plea deal will likely be put back into place.

You being serious?
you think this has anything to do with current political campaigns?

I don't. Not remotely. Harris could easily not defend it, indeed disagree with it...not her call though...as VP.

I do think the 'politics' of combating terrorism mattered to Austin and this answer, as pragmatic as it may seem (or be) legally, has potential costs in that fight.

Judgment call.
And Austin says it was his call to make and he hadn't agreed.

But Harris could have certainly attacked the initial call, had Austin let it stand, and burnished the 'tough on crime' rep.

Austin's move did avoid any conflict between Harris and Biden (had Biden also let it stand).

The question is, will KSM ever actually have a trial?

I'm quite serious. Do you think the Republicans wouldn't have pounced on it as Biden/ Harris being weak on alleged terrorists? I think team trump would have been all over it. What I don't know is why such a plea deal was never advanced up the chain of command before it was ever announced? Sec Def put the kibosh on that real quick.

You both can be right...this would have been a kick in the crotch to every military person invested in the 20 year GWOT, not to mention the ripple impact. And most certainly playing a part during the campaign and voters.

You guys are both ignoring that this would have provided a perfect opportunity for Harris to burnish her 'tough on crime' rep by disagreeing with the settlement. She has no power to overturn it, so free to disagree with it. Sister Souljah moment playbook. My hunch is she'll back Austin's call, just not as dramatic as if going against Admin on this.

Joe needn't care politically at this point if he was accused of being 'soft'...but I suspect that he too disagreed with the call, so isn't going to now step on Austin.

That said, you guys think KSM will ever get a trial? Any issues with that?

BTW, "soft on alleged terrorists"??? Look at the record, right?...surely you're not actually agreeing that Biden's been "soft on alleged terrorists" you're just saying that The Trump Campaign would have lied about it, right?

Austin helped her, maybe he knew she would have done nothing. Not sure Biden knows who KSM is at this point.

Why make a dumb statement?
You think he didn't know the family of hostages just released?
Didn't know who they gave up to Putin in exchange, didn't work with other countries' leaders to accomplish it?

You didn't answer my questions.

And what do you mean by "done nothing"?
She has zero power to do something other than offer an opinion.
Do you mean she's "soft" and wouldn't have used it as a Sister Souljah moment?

Done nothing, as in not take a stance.

ok, but it would have been a layup for a Sister Souljah moment opportunity for her. Not sure what benefit 'no stance' would have been.

But ok, let's go with your notion that she wouldn't have taken 'a stance' and Austin somehow 'knew' she would not...it ain't her decision so how did it "help her" for him to reverse the call? He could have entirely owned it if he thought it was the right call (and Biden too agreed). That's the gig. Not her problem.

But it's a really good political opportunity for her to go the other direction. Now, not so much.

I think he simply disagreed with the call, for all the sorts of reasons you probably do.

[cradleandshoot]

UNRWA fires 9 workers who aided Hamas in the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians. They adamantly denied such involvement for 9 months...ooopsie

[youthathletics]

UNRWA fires 9 workers who aided Hamas in the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians. They adamantly denied such involvement for 9 months...ooopsie

That didn't help their cause.....or did it? https://www.unrwausa.org/unrwa-usa-pres ... g-to-unrwa

[old salt]

The squadron of USAF fighters just deployed to the ME are F-22's. It's not the first time that stealth F-22's have deployed to the ME, but recently those deployments were done with F-15E Strike Eagles. This may be why they're F-22's this time.

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/artic ... uster-bomb

...F-22 Raptor fighter jets, a higher end and more expensive analogue to the F-35A Israel already fields, which benefits from a stealthier airframe, twice the internal missile payload, and an overwhelmingly superior flight performance with a much longer range, higher altitude ceiling and speed and greater manoeuvrability. ...the F-22 has the range needed to operate over all of Iran from airbases in Israel without the need for aerial refuelling, which is particularly critical given Iran’s deployment of advanced long ranged anti aircraft weapons which threaten to leave aerial refuelling tankers highly vulnerable.

[CU88a]

Where is the r outrage on these Terrorists?

Why White Supremacists Are Trying to Attack Energy Grids

An ideology with roots in white supremacist writings in the 20th century found renewed attention in neo-Nazi online groups in the 2010s and has inspired recent plots, say researchers.

By Sara Ruberg
Aug. 8, 2024

Three men with ties to white supremacist groups were sentenced to prison last month for planning to attack a power grid in the northwestern United States.

Last year, federal law enforcement officials charged two people with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility and accused them of creating a racist plot to cut power in Baltimore, a predominantly Black city.

And in February 2022, three men also connected to white supremacist groups pleaded guilty over a scheme to target substations around the country in an attempt to cause “economic distress and civil unrest,” according to the F.B.I.

These plots, though unsuccessful, are part of a larger trend by far-right extremist groups in recent years to try to create chaos by bringing down the energy infrastructure that keeps society functioning, according to experts in extremism.

Plots from white supremacists became more common.

There is a long history of extremist attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States. Of attacks on the energy sector made in the last half-century, most were carried out by unidentified actors. Where assailants were identified, a third of attacks were carried out in the 1970s by people associated with the New World Liberation Front, a left-wing extremist group, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

But more recent plotted attacks on the energy sector have emerged from the opposite political extreme.

A 2022 study by researchers at George Washington University that analyzed planned attacks on infrastructure from 2016 to 2022 found that such plans among white supremacist groups “dramatically increased in frequency” in that time. Over the course of those years, 13 individuals associated with white supremacist groups were charged with planning attacks on the energy sector; 11 of those 13 people were charged after 2020.

While there has been an increase in threats by individuals with ties to white supremacist groups, the few attacks on power grids in the United States that have successfully caused outages in recent years have not been tied to such groups.

The authorities believe that the two men who were arrested in connection with a power station attack in Washington State in 2022 were trying to provide cover for a burglary. No one has been arrested in connection with two attacks on power stations in North Carolina in 2022 and 2023, and no motive was disclosed in court documents for why a suspect damaged a power substation in Oregon in 2022.

Their ideas originated in the 1960s.

The ideas to attack energy infrastructure shared online among today’s neo-Nazi and right-wing groups are mostly rooted in writings and ideology dating back to the 1960s, according to Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

The new wave of violent, far-right plots often stem from the writings of James Mason, a neo-Nazi leader who produced a newsletter called “SIEGE” in the 1980s. Mr. Mason, who joined the American Nazi Party as a teenager, pushed for more underground and lethal approaches to achieve white supremacist goals in the United States.

Rather than using the existing political process to implement racist policy, which white supremacist groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, worked to do in the 20th century, Mr. Mason wrote about wanting a “total war” against the system, a tenet of an ideology called “accelerationism.” Mr. Mason and his followers believed that a full collapse of American society was necessary to rebuild it with their extremist platform and “make way for the creation of a white ethnostate,” Mr. Lewis said.

Extremist experts found that today’s interpretation of these writings have manifested in a determination to destroy the energy sector.

“Siege culture” foments belief that to create a new ideological state, the existing order must be taken down.

Mr. Mason’s ideas, known as “siege culture,” began to circulate again in 2015 on an online forum called Iron March, which started in the early 2010s and was a hub for neo-Nazi groups and like-minded people to communicate and share ideas.

“It’s not the Klan who wants to have a headquarters and do some marches,” Mr. Lewis said, adding “The core of their ideology is that the system itself is inherently broken, that there is no political solution.”

Two of the three men who were sentenced last month for their plot to attack a power grid met in 2017 on Iron March.

The forum was shuttered in 2017, and today, these groups have mostly moved to communicating on Telegram, an encrypted messaging application that allows users to broadcast videos and messages to people with similar interests.

This online, fractured ecosystem of right-wing plotters has become known as “Terrorgram.” The community often passes around documents and digital magazines that include doctrines, propaganda and instructions for terroristic strikes.

“I’m not surprised that we are seeing an uptick in these arrests at the same time that we’re seeing an uptick in the pro-sabotage propaganda,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

Threats have been foiled, but are hard to tackle.

As far as experts know, the planned power grid attacks from far-right extremist groups have been intercepted by federal enforcement agencies before they could take place, but Mr. Segal, who researches and tracks right-wing extremist rhetoric online, said that does not mean they won’t be successful in the future.

“Often things start and stop and fail, and they learn from it,” he said. “And this propaganda is continuing.”

Mr. Lewis, from George Washington University, said the decentralized nature of the online forums makes it difficult for law enforcement and tech companies to respond to far-right extremism. Today’s far-right domestic terror groups don’t all have a leader and a logo that are identifiable.

This has forced police to catch these plots through undercover agents or informants. Mr. Lewis said it’s a bit like “Whac-a-Mole” trying to find and arrest individuals and small groups plotting infrastructure attacks.

“The barrier to entry here is not very high," he said. “You just need one neo-Nazi who is online, on his computer, reading manifestoes of far right extremists, and who gets inspired to pick up his gun that he legally owns and drive out to some substation somewhere and start shooting.”

[Typical Lax Dad]

Where is the r outrage on these Terrorists?

Why White Supremacists Are Trying to Attack Energy Grids

An ideology with roots in white supremacist writings in the 20th century found renewed attention in neo-Nazi online groups in the 2010s and has inspired recent plots, say researchers.

By Sara Ruberg
Aug. 8, 2024

Three men with ties to white supremacist groups were sentenced to prison last month for planning to attack a power grid in the northwestern United States.

Last year, federal law enforcement officials charged two people with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility and accused them of creating a racist plot to cut power in Baltimore, a predominantly Black city.

And in February 2022, three men also connected to white supremacist groups pleaded guilty over a scheme to target substations around the country in an attempt to cause “economic distress and civil unrest,” according to the F.B.I.

These plots, though unsuccessful, are part of a larger trend by far-right extremist groups in recent years to try to create chaos by bringing down the energy infrastructure that keeps society functioning, according to experts in extremism.

Plots from white supremacists became more common.

There is a long history of extremist attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States. Of attacks on the energy sector made in the last half-century, most were carried out by unidentified actors. Where assailants were identified, a third of attacks were carried out in the 1970s by people associated with the New World Liberation Front, a left-wing extremist group, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

But more recent plotted attacks on the energy sector have emerged from the opposite political extreme.

A 2022 study by researchers at George Washington University that analyzed planned attacks on infrastructure from 2016 to 2022 found that such plans among white supremacist groups “dramatically increased in frequency” in that time. Over the course of those years, 13 individuals associated with white supremacist groups were charged with planning attacks on the energy sector; 11 of those 13 people were charged after 2020.

While there has been an increase in threats by individuals with ties to white supremacist groups, the few attacks on power grids in the United States that have successfully caused outages in recent years have not been tied to such groups.

The authorities believe that the two men who were arrested in connection with a power station attack in Washington State in 2022 were trying to provide cover for a burglary. No one has been arrested in connection with two attacks on power stations in North Carolina in 2022 and 2023, and no motive was disclosed in court documents for why a suspect damaged a power substation in Oregon in 2022.

Their ideas originated in the 1960s.

The ideas to attack energy infrastructure shared online among today’s neo-Nazi and right-wing groups are mostly rooted in writings and ideology dating back to the 1960s, according to Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

The new wave of violent, far-right plots often stem from the writings of James Mason, a neo-Nazi leader who produced a newsletter called “SIEGE” in the 1980s. Mr. Mason, who joined the American Nazi Party as a teenager, pushed for more underground and lethal approaches to achieve white supremacist goals in the United States.

Rather than using the existing political process to implement racist policy, which white supremacist groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, worked to do in the 20th century, Mr. Mason wrote about wanting a “total war” against the system, a tenet of an ideology called “accelerationism.” Mr. Mason and his followers believed that a full collapse of American society was necessary to rebuild it with their extremist platform and “make way for the creation of a white ethnostate,” Mr. Lewis said.

Extremist experts found that today’s interpretation of these writings have manifested in a determination to destroy the energy sector.

“Siege culture” foments belief that to create a new ideological state, the existing order must be taken down.

Mr. Mason’s ideas, known as “siege culture,” began to circulate again in 2015 on an online forum called Iron March, which started in the early 2010s and was a hub for neo-Nazi groups and like-minded people to communicate and share ideas.

“It’s not the Klan who wants to have a headquarters and do some marches,” Mr. Lewis said, adding “The core of their ideology is that the system itself is inherently broken, that there is no political solution.”

Two of the three men who were sentenced last month for their plot to attack a power grid met in 2017 on Iron March.

The forum was shuttered in 2017, and today, these groups have mostly moved to communicating on Telegram, an encrypted messaging application that allows users to broadcast videos and messages to people with similar interests.

This online, fractured ecosystem of right-wing plotters has become known as “Terrorgram.” The community often passes around documents and digital magazines that include doctrines, propaganda and instructions for terroristic strikes.

“I’m not surprised that we are seeing an uptick in these arrests at the same time that we’re seeing an uptick in the pro-sabotage propaganda,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

Threats have been foiled, but are hard to tackle.

As far as experts know, the planned power grid attacks from far-right extremist groups have been intercepted by federal enforcement agencies before they could take place, but Mr. Segal, who researches and tracks right-wing extremist rhetoric online, said that does not mean they won’t be successful in the future.

“Often things start and stop and fail, and they learn from it,” he said. “And this propaganda is continuing.”

Mr. Lewis, from George Washington University, said the decentralized nature of the online forums makes it difficult for law enforcement and tech companies to respond to far-right extremism. Today’s far-right domestic terror groups don’t all have a leader and a logo that are identifiable.

This has forced police to catch these plots through undercover agents or informants. Mr. Lewis said it’s a bit like “Whac-a-Mole” trying to find and arrest individuals and small groups plotting infrastructure attacks.

“The barrier to entry here is not very high," he said. “You just need one neo-Nazi who is online, on his computer, reading manifestoes of far right extremists, and who gets inspired to pick up his gun that he legally owns and drive out to some substation somewhere and start shooting.”

We like our terrorists red blooded American.... just like we like our rapists and our murderers red blooded Americans.... we don't have a "date" for The Oklahoma City Bombing.

[cradleandshoot]

Where is the r outrage on these Terrorists?

Why White Supremacists Are Trying to Attack Energy Grids

An ideology with roots in white supremacist writings in the 20th century found renewed attention in neo-Nazi online groups in the 2010s and has inspired recent plots, say researchers.

By Sara Ruberg
Aug. 8, 2024

Three men with ties to white supremacist groups were sentenced to prison last month for planning to attack a power grid in the northwestern United States.

Last year, federal law enforcement officials charged two people with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility and accused them of creating a racist plot to cut power in Baltimore, a predominantly Black city.

And in February 2022, three men also connected to white supremacist groups pleaded guilty over a scheme to target substations around the country in an attempt to cause “economic distress and civil unrest,” according to the F.B.I.

These plots, though unsuccessful, are part of a larger trend by far-right extremist groups in recent years to try to create chaos by bringing down the energy infrastructure that keeps society functioning, according to experts in extremism.

Plots from white supremacists became more common.

There is a long history of extremist attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States. Of attacks on the energy sector made in the last half-century, most were carried out by unidentified actors. Where assailants were identified, a third of attacks were carried out in the 1970s by people associated with the New World Liberation Front, a left-wing extremist group, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

But more recent plotted attacks on the energy sector have emerged from the opposite political extreme.

A 2022 study by researchers at George Washington University that analyzed planned attacks on infrastructure from 2016 to 2022 found that such plans among white supremacist groups “dramatically increased in frequency” in that time. Over the course of those years, 13 individuals associated with white supremacist groups were charged with planning attacks on the energy sector; 11 of those 13 people were charged after 2020.

While there has been an increase in threats by individuals with ties to white supremacist groups, the few attacks on power grids in the United States that have successfully caused outages in recent years have not been tied to such groups.

The authorities believe that the two men who were arrested in connection with a power station attack in Washington State in 2022 were trying to provide cover for a burglary. No one has been arrested in connection with two attacks on power stations in North Carolina in 2022 and 2023, and no motive was disclosed in court documents for why a suspect damaged a power substation in Oregon in 2022.

Their ideas originated in the 1960s.

The ideas to attack energy infrastructure shared online among today’s neo-Nazi and right-wing groups are mostly rooted in writings and ideology dating back to the 1960s, according to Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

The new wave of violent, far-right plots often stem from the writings of James Mason, a neo-Nazi leader who produced a newsletter called “SIEGE” in the 1980s. Mr. Mason, who joined the American Nazi Party as a teenager, pushed for more underground and lethal approaches to achieve white supremacist goals in the United States.

Rather than using the existing political process to implement racist policy, which white supremacist groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, worked to do in the 20th century, Mr. Mason wrote about wanting a “total war” against the system, a tenet of an ideology called “accelerationism.” Mr. Mason and his followers believed that a full collapse of American society was necessary to rebuild it with their extremist platform and “make way for the creation of a white ethnostate,” Mr. Lewis said.

Extremist experts found that today’s interpretation of these writings have manifested in a determination to destroy the energy sector.

“Siege culture” foments belief that to create a new ideological state, the existing order must be taken down.

Mr. Mason’s ideas, known as “siege culture,” began to circulate again in 2015 on an online forum called Iron March, which started in the early 2010s and was a hub for neo-Nazi groups and like-minded people to communicate and share ideas.

“It’s not the Klan who wants to have a headquarters and do some marches,” Mr. Lewis said, adding “The core of their ideology is that the system itself is inherently broken, that there is no political solution.”

Two of the three men who were sentenced last month for their plot to attack a power grid met in 2017 on Iron March.

The forum was shuttered in 2017, and today, these groups have mostly moved to communicating on Telegram, an encrypted messaging application that allows users to broadcast videos and messages to people with similar interests.

This online, fractured ecosystem of right-wing plotters has become known as “Terrorgram.” The community often passes around documents and digital magazines that include doctrines, propaganda and instructions for terroristic strikes.

“I’m not surprised that we are seeing an uptick in these arrests at the same time that we’re seeing an uptick in the pro-sabotage propaganda,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

Threats have been foiled, but are hard to tackle.

As far as experts know, the planned power grid attacks from far-right extremist groups have been intercepted by federal enforcement agencies before they could take place, but Mr. Segal, who researches and tracks right-wing extremist rhetoric online, said that does not mean they won’t be successful in the future.

“Often things start and stop and fail, and they learn from it,” he said. “And this propaganda is continuing.”

Mr. Lewis, from George Washington University, said the decentralized nature of the online forums makes it difficult for law enforcement and tech companies to respond to far-right extremism. Today’s far-right domestic terror groups don’t all have a leader and a logo that are identifiable.

This has forced police to catch these plots through undercover agents or informants. Mr. Lewis said it’s a bit like “Whac-a-Mole” trying to find and arrest individuals and small groups plotting infrastructure attacks.

“The barrier to entry here is not very high," he said. “You just need one neo-Nazi who is online, on his computer, reading manifestoes of far right extremists, and who gets inspired to pick up his gun that he legally owns and drive out to some substation somewhere and start shooting.”

We like our terrorists red blooded American.... just like we like our rapists and our murderers red blooded Americans.... we don't have a "date" for The Oklahoma City Bombing.

Who knows, apparently our government is letting in a plethora of imported brandy new terrorists and murders and rapists via our southern border. Variety really is the spice of life you know. Kammy gonna fick that dontcha know... the border is for all intense and purpose shut down.

[PizzaSnake]

Where is the r outrage on these Terrorists?

Why White Supremacists Are Trying to Attack Energy Grids

An ideology with roots in white supremacist writings in the 20th century found renewed attention in neo-Nazi online groups in the 2010s and has inspired recent plots, say researchers.

By Sara Ruberg
Aug. 8, 2024

Three men with ties to white supremacist groups were sentenced to prison last month for planning to attack a power grid in the northwestern United States.

Last year, federal law enforcement officials charged two people with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility and accused them of creating a racist plot to cut power in Baltimore, a predominantly Black city.

And in February 2022, three men also connected to white supremacist groups pleaded guilty over a scheme to target substations around the country in an attempt to cause “economic distress and civil unrest,” according to the F.B.I.

These plots, though unsuccessful, are part of a larger trend by far-right extremist groups in recent years to try to create chaos by bringing down the energy infrastructure that keeps society functioning, according to experts in extremism.

Plots from white supremacists became more common.

There is a long history of extremist attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States. Of attacks on the energy sector made in the last half-century, most were carried out by unidentified actors. Where assailants were identified, a third of attacks were carried out in the 1970s by people associated with the New World Liberation Front, a left-wing extremist group, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

But more recent plotted attacks on the energy sector have emerged from the opposite political extreme.

A 2022 study by researchers at George Washington University that analyzed planned attacks on infrastructure from 2016 to 2022 found that such plans among white supremacist groups “dramatically increased in frequency” in that time. Over the course of those years, 13 individuals associated with white supremacist groups were charged with planning attacks on the energy sector; 11 of those 13 people were charged after 2020.

While there has been an increase in threats by individuals with ties to white supremacist groups, the few attacks on power grids in the United States that have successfully caused outages in recent years have not been tied to such groups.

The authorities believe that the two men who were arrested in connection with a power station attack in Washington State in 2022 were trying to provide cover for a burglary. No one has been arrested in connection with two attacks on power stations in North Carolina in 2022 and 2023, and no motive was disclosed in court documents for why a suspect damaged a power substation in Oregon in 2022.

Their ideas originated in the 1960s.

The ideas to attack energy infrastructure shared online among today’s neo-Nazi and right-wing groups are mostly rooted in writings and ideology dating back to the 1960s, according to Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

The new wave of violent, far-right plots often stem from the writings of James Mason, a neo-Nazi leader who produced a newsletter called “SIEGE” in the 1980s. Mr. Mason, who joined the American Nazi Party as a teenager, pushed for more underground and lethal approaches to achieve white supremacist goals in the United States.

Rather than using the existing political process to implement racist policy, which white supremacist groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, worked to do in the 20th century, Mr. Mason wrote about wanting a “total war” against the system, a tenet of an ideology called “accelerationism.” Mr. Mason and his followers believed that a full collapse of American society was necessary to rebuild it with their extremist platform and “make way for the creation of a white ethnostate,” Mr. Lewis said.

Extremist experts found that today’s interpretation of these writings have manifested in a determination to destroy the energy sector.

“Siege culture” foments belief that to create a new ideological state, the existing order must be taken down.

Mr. Mason’s ideas, known as “siege culture,” began to circulate again in 2015 on an online forum called Iron March, which started in the early 2010s and was a hub for neo-Nazi groups and like-minded people to communicate and share ideas.

“It’s not the Klan who wants to have a headquarters and do some marches,” Mr. Lewis said, adding “The core of their ideology is that the system itself is inherently broken, that there is no political solution.”

Two of the three men who were sentenced last month for their plot to attack a power grid met in 2017 on Iron March.

The forum was shuttered in 2017, and today, these groups have mostly moved to communicating on Telegram, an encrypted messaging application that allows users to broadcast videos and messages to people with similar interests.

This online, fractured ecosystem of right-wing plotters has become known as “Terrorgram.” The community often passes around documents and digital magazines that include doctrines, propaganda and instructions for terroristic strikes.

“I’m not surprised that we are seeing an uptick in these arrests at the same time that we’re seeing an uptick in the pro-sabotage propaganda,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

Threats have been foiled, but are hard to tackle.

As far as experts know, the planned power grid attacks from far-right extremist groups have been intercepted by federal enforcement agencies before they could take place, but Mr. Segal, who researches and tracks right-wing extremist rhetoric online, said that does not mean they won’t be successful in the future.

“Often things start and stop and fail, and they learn from it,” he said. “And this propaganda is continuing.”

Mr. Lewis, from George Washington University, said the decentralized nature of the online forums makes it difficult for law enforcement and tech companies to respond to far-right extremism. Today’s far-right domestic terror groups don’t all have a leader and a logo that are identifiable.

This has forced police to catch these plots through undercover agents or informants. Mr. Lewis said it’s a bit like “Whac-a-Mole” trying to find and arrest individuals and small groups plotting infrastructure attacks.

“The barrier to entry here is not very high," he said. “You just need one neo-Nazi who is online, on his computer, reading manifestoes of far right extremists, and who gets inspired to pick up his gun that he legally owns and drive out to some substation somewhere and start shooting.”

We like our terrorists red blooded American.... just like we like our rapists and our murderers red blooded Americans.... we don't have a "date" for The Oklahoma City Bombing.

Who knows, apparently our government is letting in a plethora of imported brandy new terrorists and murders and rapists via our southern border. Variety really is the spice of life you know. Kammy gonna fick that dontcha know... the border is for all intense and purpose shut down.

What? The border with our largest trading partner is shut down? Please be more precise.

[cradleandshoot]

Where is the r outrage on these Terrorists?

Why White Supremacists Are Trying to Attack Energy Grids

An ideology with roots in white supremacist writings in the 20th century found renewed attention in neo-Nazi online groups in the 2010s and has inspired recent plots, say researchers.

By Sara Ruberg
Aug. 8, 2024

Three men with ties to white supremacist groups were sentenced to prison last month for planning to attack a power grid in the northwestern United States.

Last year, federal law enforcement officials charged two people with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility and accused them of creating a racist plot to cut power in Baltimore, a predominantly Black city.

And in February 2022, three men also connected to white supremacist groups pleaded guilty over a scheme to target substations around the country in an attempt to cause “economic distress and civil unrest,” according to the F.B.I.

These plots, though unsuccessful, are part of a larger trend by far-right extremist groups in recent years to try to create chaos by bringing down the energy infrastructure that keeps society functioning, according to experts in extremism.

Plots from white supremacists became more common.

There is a long history of extremist attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States. Of attacks on the energy sector made in the last half-century, most were carried out by unidentified actors. Where assailants were identified, a third of attacks were carried out in the 1970s by people associated with the New World Liberation Front, a left-wing extremist group, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

But more recent plotted attacks on the energy sector have emerged from the opposite political extreme.

A 2022 study by researchers at George Washington University that analyzed planned attacks on infrastructure from 2016 to 2022 found that such plans among white supremacist groups “dramatically increased in frequency” in that time. Over the course of those years, 13 individuals associated with white supremacist groups were charged with planning attacks on the energy sector; 11 of those 13 people were charged after 2020.

While there has been an increase in threats by individuals with ties to white supremacist groups, the few attacks on power grids in the United States that have successfully caused outages in recent years have not been tied to such groups.

The authorities believe that the two men who were arrested in connection with a power station attack in Washington State in 2022 were trying to provide cover for a burglary. No one has been arrested in connection with two attacks on power stations in North Carolina in 2022 and 2023, and no motive was disclosed in court documents for why a suspect damaged a power substation in Oregon in 2022.

Their ideas originated in the 1960s.

The ideas to attack energy infrastructure shared online among today’s neo-Nazi and right-wing groups are mostly rooted in writings and ideology dating back to the 1960s, according to Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

The new wave of violent, far-right plots often stem from the writings of James Mason, a neo-Nazi leader who produced a newsletter called “SIEGE” in the 1980s. Mr. Mason, who joined the American Nazi Party as a teenager, pushed for more underground and lethal approaches to achieve white supremacist goals in the United States.

Rather than using the existing political process to implement racist policy, which white supremacist groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, worked to do in the 20th century, Mr. Mason wrote about wanting a “total war” against the system, a tenet of an ideology called “accelerationism.” Mr. Mason and his followers believed that a full collapse of American society was necessary to rebuild it with their extremist platform and “make way for the creation of a white ethnostate,” Mr. Lewis said.

Extremist experts found that today’s interpretation of these writings have manifested in a determination to destroy the energy sector.

“Siege culture” foments belief that to create a new ideological state, the existing order must be taken down.

Mr. Mason’s ideas, known as “siege culture,” began to circulate again in 2015 on an online forum called Iron March, which started in the early 2010s and was a hub for neo-Nazi groups and like-minded people to communicate and share ideas.

“It’s not the Klan who wants to have a headquarters and do some marches,” Mr. Lewis said, adding “The core of their ideology is that the system itself is inherently broken, that there is no political solution.”

Two of the three men who were sentenced last month for their plot to attack a power grid met in 2017 on Iron March.

The forum was shuttered in 2017, and today, these groups have mostly moved to communicating on Telegram, an encrypted messaging application that allows users to broadcast videos and messages to people with similar interests.

This online, fractured ecosystem of right-wing plotters has become known as “Terrorgram.” The community often passes around documents and digital magazines that include doctrines, propaganda and instructions for terroristic strikes.

“I’m not surprised that we are seeing an uptick in these arrests at the same time that we’re seeing an uptick in the pro-sabotage propaganda,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.

Threats have been foiled, but are hard to tackle.

As far as experts know, the planned power grid attacks from far-right extremist groups have been intercepted by federal enforcement agencies before they could take place, but Mr. Segal, who researches and tracks right-wing extremist rhetoric online, said that does not mean they won’t be successful in the future.

“Often things start and stop and fail, and they learn from it,” he said. “And this propaganda is continuing.”

Mr. Lewis, from George Washington University, said the decentralized nature of the online forums makes it difficult for law enforcement and tech companies to respond to far-right extremism. Today’s far-right domestic terror groups don’t all have a leader and a logo that are identifiable.

This has forced police to catch these plots through undercover agents or informants. Mr. Lewis said it’s a bit like “Whac-a-Mole” trying to find and arrest individuals and small groups plotting infrastructure attacks.

“The barrier to entry here is not very high," he said. “You just need one neo-Nazi who is online, on his computer, reading manifestoes of far right extremists, and who gets inspired to pick up his gun that he legally owns and drive out to some substation somewhere and start shooting.”

We like our terrorists red blooded American.... just like we like our rapists and our murderers red blooded Americans.... we don't have a "date" for The Oklahoma City Bombing.

Who knows, apparently our government is letting in a plethora of imported brandy new terrorists and murders and rapists via our southern border. Variety really is the spice of life you know. Kammy gonna fick that dontcha know... the border is for all intense and purpose shut down.

What? The border with our largest trading partner is shut down? Please be more precise.

In the minds of Democrats it is shut down to their satisfaction.

[youthathletics]

Nice youth group in Turkey: https://abcnews.go.com/International/2- ... =113330142

[youthathletics]

Hamas digging in, looking for any sign of weakness: https://x.com/davidamilstein/status/1830695142543790406

[youthathletics]

Thank God, the FBI found this guy: https://x.com/mattwallace888/status/183 ... a82I2GssRg

[youthathletics]

Last of Americans and Euro's pull out of Niger.....but wait, there is more, Russian's fill that vacuum: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-mil ... rom-niger/

I guess, we'll be back in about in a few years?

[youthathletics]

US, Iraqi forces kill top Islamic State commander in joint operation


https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-mil ... operation/

[old salt]

US, Iraqi forces kill top Islamic State commander in joint operation

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-mil ... operation/

ssshhh, don't tell afan. He'll be upset by the slip & falls.

[Kismet]

Last of Americans and Euro's pull out of Niger.....but wait, there is more, Russian's fill that vacuum: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-mil ... rom-niger/

I guess, we'll be back in about in a few years?

Military coup in Niger sealed this deal as we did not back the coupsters but, rather, the democratically elected government they overthrew. Identical situation with French troops who have also left the country under same conditions.

[cradleandshoot]

Last of Americans and Euro's pull out of Niger.....but wait, there is more, Russian's fill that vacuum: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-mil ... rom-niger/

I guess, we'll be back in about in a few years?

Military coup in Niger sealed this deal as we did not back the coupsters but, rather, the democratically elected government they overthrew. Identical situation with French troops who have also left the country under same conditions.

Let the UN handle it. I thought peace keeping missions were what they were all about?

[Kismet]

Last of Americans and Euro's pull out of Niger.....but wait, there is more, Russian's fill that vacuum: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-mil ... rom-niger/

I guess, we'll be back in about in a few years?

Military coup in Niger sealed this deal as we did not back the coupsters but, rather, the democratically elected government they overthrew. Identical situation with French troops who have also left the country under same conditions.

Let the UN handle it. I thought peace keeping missions were what they were all about?

Military junta in charge would rather pitch in with the Rooskies who mirror their repressive/autocratic governance. Birds of a feather flock together, you know.

Rooskies are happy to be there so they can begin sucking natural resources including gold and other minerals.

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/russia ... int-africa