CNN Says 'White Men' are the Biggest Terror Threat in US

[jhu72]

National republicans are running for the hills. Offering sops like red flag laws. They have now become part of the republican do nothing kit.

[DMac]

Welcome back, 72, many have been concerned about you...was even some talk you were in jail.

[jhu72]

Welcome back, 72, many have been concerned about you...was even some talk you were in jail.

Nope, just away on vacation giving the laptop a rest, left it at home. Have not caught up yet, although its pretty easy to imagine what has gone on in my absence. Same old, same old.

[old salt]

National republicans are running for the hills. Offering sops like red flag laws. They have now become part of the republican do nothing kit.

.. ...why don't we welcome Snowden home from exile in Russia & put him in charge of bringing back NSA's Stellar Wind to find these lone wolves in their mom's basement, before they act out.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/reengineeri ... -oversight

https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/wa ... -nsa_x.htm

...or put Mueller & Comey in charge again.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/confessio ... py-program

...or Barr & Mueller could team up again.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-secu ... rveillance

[MDlaxfan76]

Andy McCarthy on the challenges in detecting potential white supremacist terrorists, how those challenges can be overcome, & the conundrum it represents for the left.

...even MDLF76 might find something in it to agree with, if he stoops to read a FNC contributor in a far right blog like NRO.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/08/ ... amendment/

Thanks for posting.
I don't have a problem with the National Review per se, just recommend that one read it just like one might read the Huffington Post, as a forum for views that are, by and large, 'biased' conservative or progressive.

As the articles are more commentary than they are journalistic, one needs to look deeper to the actual author to see what they have previously written to ascertain how one might weight their views.

As we've previously discussed, McCarthy has some strong bona fides, but he's skewed right so far at times as to have lost balance, all the way to propounding some conspiracy memes and concepts that are just not credible. So, I read his views with a large grain of salt, pun intended.

Decent article, and I certainly do agree with much that he writes about the dangers of white supremacy (though I think he underestimates the pervasiveness of the underlying ideology - but correct in the difficulty of identifying where that ideology moves beyond simply deep seated bigotry to action based on anger/hate amongst the very large 'white' population).

Where he loses me is when he resorts to equating 'white supremacy' to 'sharia supremacy' as if the same sort of concept, implying an actual hate of others on the basis of race or religion. Folks can think that following the Bible or Jesus should be paramount in one's life, above one's following the laws of society, without us thinking they necessarily hate others, indeed quite often it's quite the opposite (at least in my church!). Nor do we assume that following the Bible necessarily puts one in conflict with society's laws.

Likewise one can want to follow sharia in their personal life without being in conflict with the rest of society. Same for keeping halal or kosher, etc. Being orthodox is not the issue.

By contrast white supremacist/white nationalist ideology is inherently hateful of others, dehumanizing of others. Not so, necessarily with following the Bible, Torah or Koran as preeminent in one's life.

Of course, there's indeed an ideology of hate that twists fundamentalist Islam into a motivating force of hate and resentment of others. Same has been true of all religions, and sometimes these get merged into other more ethnic or racial hate ideologies, ala the KKK.

McCarthy says its like finding a needle in a haystack to find the white supremacists but not so with Islamic extremists in America...because there are fewer Muslims to surveil. ARGGHH. That's baloney.

Most American Muslims, including those who keep halal and are otherwise regularly observant, are not in any way associated with the sort of hate of others that we see in the extremists. Their imams don't preach such hate, their communities reject such hate. (Of course, there can be a few exceptions and these indeed should be identified and surveilled...as they are...just as we should identify preachers or community leaders projecting hate and watch what they are doing...which we haven't been doing much at all).

But the internet has provided access to the Islamic extremist ideology from afar, providing disaffected youth throughout the world, including the US, with access to something 'powerful' they can 'join' and feel part of. There's significant concentrations of this ideology in parts of the world, thankfully not the US.

The internet issue is also true for the white supremacist/nationalist ideology, which is very much a global network of hate as well. The difference is that the US has long been a nexus for this ideology, not an outlier. Much larger proportion of white bigotry in our country than would be reasonable to say is a proportion of US Muslims who think actually think ill of other religions.

McCarthy has such a hard on for Islam that he's always looking to conflate the religion with the extremism. He's wrong.

But where he's right is that it's going to take real will to identify the risks and do what is necessary to identify who those risks are actualizing within.

No, we shouldn't surveil Muslims because they are Muslims. But we darn well should pay attention when a young person is visiting extremist hate sites. And especially pay attention (and take action) when they have a pattern of responding positively to violence and extreme hate rhetoric.

Likewise, we shouldn't surveil white men simply because they are white men! But if they visit extremist hate sites and forums, and especially if they respond positively to violence, yup, we need to be all over it.

But we're not, as that as been de-funded over the past decade (I hate to blame my party, but the GOP hasn't wanted to face this threat because it overlaps with much of their constituency, which is bigoted but not violent).

As we've discussed, we have the technological tools to identify where the risks are most acute, the networks of people fomenting violence, etc, and we have the legal tools to disrupt and interdict them. But we need the will to train those tools on 'white supremacy', mostly meaning funding to the effort.

And, for Lord's sake, we need our political leaders to stop with the racist rhetoric that gives comfort to the most twisted among us.
Including not conflating Islam and 'sharia' with the extremism, much as the extremists would like us to do so.

Apologies for the long response. Interesting topic.

[old salt]

You may be overstating McCarthy's views on Islam. He clearly distinguishes between moderate Islam & Sharia Supremacy.
He distinguishes personal Sharia observance from Sharia Supremacy, ...it's inherent in the wording.
He also distinguishes it from White Supremacy more than he equates them.

His " needle in the haystack " analogy is entirely apt. There is no established global organization which all White Supremacists have in common. There are no White Supremacist churches. That makes the potential lone wolf harder to locate, identify & monitor.
Nor are there White Supremacist terrorist training camps, safe havens, conflict zones or caliphate destinations.

Given the scope of the potential lone wolf population, it makes automated internet surveillance a necessity, even more so than countering the threat of Islamic terrorism. The good news is -- we have the ability to do it, both inside & outside the govt. The challenge is in passing the laws to do it constitutionally, then implementing it in good faith, with credible oversight.

[Trinity]

Trump made a campaign ad in Dayton, insulted local officials and flew away. The press pool was told the hospital visit was private to respect the wounded victims. Not a photo op. Then they rolled in their own cameras and cut an ad. You can see it online already. Violins and everything. Brave Trumpy. Saving America. Totally normal. Watch it. Trump tweeted it. You’ve never seen a happier president. At a massacre. The WH is tweeting that Trump was treated like a “rock star.” This trip is to soothe Trump, not the other way around. Now he’s whining about Shep on Fox. Isn’t there something Bill Barr can do? Everyone is so mean.

[foreverlax]

You may be overstating McCarthy's views on Islam. He clearly distinguishes between moderate Islam & Sharia Supremacy.
He distinguishes personal Sharia observance from Sharia Supremacy, ...it's inherent in the wording.
He also distinguishes it from White Supremacy more than he equates them.

His " needle in the haystack " analogy is entirely apt. There is no established global organization which all White Supremacists have in common. There are no White Supremacist churches.Social media has change the dynamic...they don't need a club house. That makes the potential lone wolf harder to locate, identify & monitor.
Nor are there White Supremacist terrorist training camps, safe havens, conflict zones or caliphate destinations. There most certainly are.

Given the scope of the potential lone wolf population, it makes automated internet surveillance a necessity, even more so than countering the threat of Islamic terrorism. The good news is -- we have the ability to do it, both inside & outside the govt. The challenge is in passing the laws to do it constitutionally, then implementing it in good faith, with credible oversight.And there is the final can of worms

[Trinity]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/07/politics ... index.html

WH rebuffed efforts to take on domestic terror.

[seacoaster]

Trump made a campaign ad in Dayton, insulted local officials and flew away. The press pool was told the hospital visit was private to respect the wounded victims. Not a photo op. Then they rolled in their own cameras and cut an ad. You can see it online already. Violins and everything. Brave Trumpy. Saving America. Totally normal. Watch it. Trump tweeted it. You’ve never seen a happier president. At a massacre. The WH is tweeting that Trump was treated like a “rock star.” This trip is to soothe Trump, not the other way around. Now he’s whining about Shep on Fox. Isn’t there something Bill Barr can do? Everyone is so mean.

But it's OK to have a President with such profound character flaws as long as the economy is doing OK (or at least being kept afloat long enough to secure reelection), right? We are at a Rubicon, and I'm not optimistic.

[Trinity]

Mike Pence is licking his chops.

[seacoaster]

Mike Pence is licking his chops.

I don't know about his chops. But he is licking alright.

[youthathletics]

SARCASM [ON}

I wish the economy was really horrible, and more people were out of work, and more soldiers were in the ME, and more minorities were unemployed, and America really sucked and everything was free, and the earth was really on fire from high co2 and temps, and the planet was browner, and more states and countries were under water from ice melting, and we never fought back & we'd just hug it out and hoped it'd all go away, and if we do do nothing about other countries effing us they will be nicer back and not screw us anymore, and oh yea...there were more free stuff, and then even more free stuff, and the one media outlet Fox would just step in line with us everything would be perfect. #VoteDemocrat2020

SARCASM [OFF}

[old salt]

You may be overstating McCarthy's views on Islam. He clearly distinguishes between moderate Islam & Sharia Supremacy.
He distinguishes personal Sharia observance from Sharia Supremacy, ...it's inherent in the wording.
He also distinguishes it from White Supremacy more than he equates them.

His " needle in the haystack " analogy is entirely apt. There is no established global organization which all White Supremacists have in common. There are no White Supremacist churches.Social media has change the dynamic...they don't need a club house. You're making my point. That makes the potential lone wolf harder to locate, identify & monitor.
Nor are there White Supremacist terrorist training camps, safe havens, conflict zones or caliphate destinations. There most certainly are.Where ? ...how many of their alums are mass shooters ?

Given the scope of the potential lone wolf population, it makes automated internet surveillance a necessity, even more so than countering the threat of Islamic terrorism. The good news is -- we have the ability to do it, both inside & outside the govt. The challenge is in passing the laws to do it constitutionally, then implementing it in good faith, with credible oversight.And there is the final can of worms

[CU77]

Mike Pence is licking his chops.

I don't know about his chops. But he is licking alright.

[Typical Lax Dad]

You may be overstating McCarthy's views on Islam. He clearly distinguishes between moderate Islam & Sharia Supremacy.
He distinguishes personal Sharia observance from Sharia Supremacy, ...it's inherent in the wording.
He also distinguishes it from White Supremacy more than he equates them.

His " needle in the haystack " analogy is entirely apt. There is no established global organization which all White Supremacists have in common. There are no White Supremacist churches.Social media has change the dynamic...they don't need a club house. You're making my point. That makes the potential lone wolf harder to locate, identify & monitor.
Nor are there White Supremacist terrorist training camps, safe havens, conflict zones or caliphate destinations. There most certainly are.Where ? ...how many of their alums are mass shooters ?

Given the scope of the potential lone wolf population, it makes automated internet surveillance a necessity, even more so than countering the threat of Islamic terrorism. The good news is -- we have the ability to do it, both inside & outside the govt. The challenge is in passing the laws to do it constitutionally, then implementing it in good faith, with credible oversight.And there is the final can of worms

He shot some explosives

[DocBarrister]

Donald Trump is a bigot, racist, and white supremacist. There can be no serious dispute about that.

Those who continue to support Donald Trump are supporting a bigot, racist, and white supremacist. That is indisputable.

Not sure how his MAGA supporters live with themselves, but it has become clear that many support Trump BECAUSE of his bigotry, racism, and white supremacist views and policies, not despite them.

And this doesn’t even cover Trump’s other obvious flaws ... his corruption, dishonesty, history of sexual assault of women, misogyny, incompetence, ignorance, narcissism, and complete lack of empathy.

Trump is arguably the worst president in the last century (and if not for scumbags like Andrew Johnson, the worst ever). The Republican Party inflicted great damage to our nation by putting him in the White House, and it will likely take a full generation to undo the harm.

DocBarrister

[old salt]

It's a relief to learn this is all Trump's fault.
When he leaves office, the problem will go away.

You may be overstating McCarthy's views on Islam. He clearly distinguishes between moderate Islam & Sharia Supremacy.
He distinguishes personal Sharia observance from Sharia Supremacy, ...it's inherent in the wording.
He also distinguishes it from White Supremacy more than he equates them.

His " needle in the haystack " analogy is entirely apt. There is no established global organization which all White Supremacists have in common. There are no White Supremacist churches.Social media has change the dynamic...they don't need a club house. You're making my point. That makes the potential lone wolf harder to locate, identify & monitor.
Nor are there White Supremacist terrorist training camps, safe havens, conflict zones or caliphate destinations. There most certainly are.Where ? ...how many of their alums are mass shooters ?

Given the scope of the potential lone wolf population, it makes automated internet surveillance a necessity, even more so than countering the threat of Islamic terrorism. The good news is -- we have the ability to do it, both inside & outside the govt. The challenge is in passing the laws to do it constitutionally, then implementing it in good faith, with credible oversight.And there is the final can of worms

He shot some explosives

McVeigh & Nichols worked out of McVeigh's farm.
Hardly an organized militia or terrorist training camp.
PTSD, before anyone acknowledged it.

[Typical Lax Dad]

It's a relief to learn this is all Trump's fault.
When he leaves office, the problem will go away.

You may be overstating McCarthy's views on Islam. He clearly distinguishes between moderate Islam & Sharia Supremacy.
He distinguishes personal Sharia observance from Sharia Supremacy, ...it's inherent in the wording.
He also distinguishes it from White Supremacy more than he equates them.

His " needle in the haystack " analogy is entirely apt. There is no established global organization which all White Supremacists have in common. There are no White Supremacist churches.Social media has change the dynamic...they don't need a club house. You're making my point. That makes the potential lone wolf harder to locate, identify & monitor.
Nor are there White Supremacist terrorist training camps, safe havens, conflict zones or caliphate destinations. There most certainly are.Where ? ...how many of their alums are mass shooters ?

Given the scope of the potential lone wolf population, it makes automated internet surveillance a necessity, even more so than countering the threat of Islamic terrorism. The good news is -- we have the ability to do it, both inside & outside the govt. The challenge is in passing the laws to do it constitutionally, then implementing it in good faith, with credible oversight.And there is the final can of worms

He shot some explosives

McVeigh & Nichols worked out of McVeigh's farm.
Hardly an organized militia or terrorist training camp.
PTSD, before anyone acknowledged it.

You making an excuse for them too? Never realized you were such an apologist....huh. Friends of ours kind of guy?

https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/am ... hy-McVeigh

[cradleandshoot]

Welcome back, 72, many have been concerned about you...was even some talk you were in jail.

Nope, just away on vacation giving the laptop a rest, left it at home. Have not caught up yet, although its pretty easy to imagine what has gone on in my absence. Same old, same old.

Hope you had a great vacation. How are things in Communist China?