MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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Biden vowed to defeat domestic terrorism. The how is the hard part.
By artappraiser on Fri, 01/22/2021 - 8:47am |by Laura Barron-Lopez & Natasha Bertrand
URL:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/20/biden-domestic-terrorism-460832
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Comments
reminders of one big problem--rapid evolution--what we once saw is probably not what we are going to see anymore:
ONLINE FAR-RIGHT MOVEMENTS FRACTURE IN WAKE OF CAPITOL RIOT
By artappraiser on Fri, 01/15/2021 - 10:59pm |
According to researchers who study the real-life effects of the QAnon movement, the false belief in a secret plan for Jan. 20 is irking militant pro-Trump and anti-government groups.
‘A TOTAL FAILURE’: THE PROUD BOYS NOW MOCK TRUMP
By artappraiser on Thu, 01/21/2021 - 2:56am |
far-right groups such a Proud Boys the Oath Keepers, America First and the Three Percenters have started to criticize Trump
by artappraiser on Fri, 01/22/2021 - 9:39am
Colin P. Clarke's thinking on that evolution thing (Mr. Clarke is a director at an intelligence and security consultancy and the author of “After the Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future of the Terrorist Diaspora.”):
by artappraiser on Fri, 01/22/2021 - 7:53pm
I am concerned about framing the resistance to assholes with guns, bombs, and baseball bats as a matter of domestic terrorism.
The use of terror to change an environment has already been demonstrated many times by how gang warfare can displace the rule of law. The power of the FBI grew as a response to criminals doing as they pleased until they were met with an organized level of force. Some of the most brutal conflicts of the labor wars created the reaction of laws and the capacity to enforce them. The terrible freedom of neighbors to hang other neighbors led to civil rights laws and the means to enforce them. All of these examples are not a celebration of a series of victories. They are all problems being answered with violence of many kinds right now despite those advances.
If all politics is local, terror is more so. If it is used as a part of some ideal, it can only have meaning in the context of a war. If that war involves people outside of the group one can terrorize locally, it becomes a part of a larger war. Before you know it, you have people talking about clashes of civilizations and global agendas. The suffering of people being lorded over by assholes recedes against the background of conflicting ideologies. But those ideas are not doing the killing.
As a teenager, I grew up in an environment where fighting was celebrated as a virtue that did not require any narrative in order to participate. It was difficult to not take part. It was more like the ultra-violence of Clockwork Orange than the psychos uncovered in the Banality of Evil.
/rant
by moat on Fri, 01/22/2021 - 8:56pm
moat, I am intrigued by what you are talking about here, just as when way back during our invasion of Iraq I was intrigued by reading a long article on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (wikipedia for reminder) which pushed the point that he was more successful and feared of a leader than Al Qaeda leaders precisely because he organized and lead along the lines of things he learned while dealing with prison gangs while in prison.
And then comes to mind: nowadays looking back, and comparing usage of the term "terrorist", it really wasn't very accurate to define him that way,? Rather he fits the label "insurgent leader" much better? Yeah, he may have used terror techniques, but so do many authorized forces? And they do use them on surrounding civilian populations sometimes.
All that said I don't know much about the current laws concerning prosecution of "terrorism".
Whatever those are, it is indeed interesting that they aren't using those in this new case--at least not yet! Just CONSPIRACY.
But what if they had managed to capture and interrogate and terrorize the lawmakers? Yes, in a scene just like when the Droogs in "Clockwork Orange" torture that suburban couple. The gang is certainly "terrorizing" in that scene.
I guess for legal purposes, the laws as written define that usage whether we like it in the vernacular or not, anyhow? It's like a different language anyhow?
by artappraiser on Sat, 01/23/2021 - 12:08am
I don't believe there are any laws based on that language because the word is a half way house between identifying an enemy while not explaining who they are in relation to oneself. Tacking on the "ism" gives it the ideological dimension of "communism" without having to specify exactly what that is in any particular case and how it opposes "our" ideology. The obscurity allows the Dick Cheneys to speak of waging war "on the dark side." It is the justification for prisons like Guantanamo that are extra-legal in relation to our system while also outside the language developed for prisoners of war.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is an excellent figure to consider for he was mostly concerned with fighting the West as a "far" enemy in the context of the support given to the "near" enemies that his group was in a life or death struggle with. The man did want to "destroy our freedoms" as the expression goes but only after he destroyed those in his community. Calling it terrorism makes it sound more about "us" than it is.
To bring this torture of a term into the discussion of organized violence in our nation is not an advance. The broad gesture of it is appealing as a way to refer to ideas and beliefs without focusing upon them. The freedom to establish religions suggests that believers in this or that idea cannot become public enemies on the basis of their convictions but only for the crimes they commit. The development of laws against "hate crimes" is a way to permit this freedom but not stand helpless in the face of its most toxic and intimidating effects. Using "domestic terrorism" is better than declaring war on particular ideas but it still allows the opponents to self identify as warriors of a cause. If we are going to become more proactive in regards to them, I would prefer something like the RICO law used against other organized criminals.
StarKist isn't looking for tuna with good taste.
by moat on Sat, 01/23/2021 - 11:13am
Charlie's back, and he brought his mob friends with him.
by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 01/23/2021 - 2:13pm
Here's one thing that just popped into my head after reading your comment and a couple of others
There is a danger of Joe McCarthy Red Scare allover again. as the whole shebang-Trump challenging the election to the storming of the Capitol has very much been framed symbolically as a coordinated attack on our nation, our democracy, all democracies.
I do trust Joe and Merrick Garland not to end up doing that. I dunno if I trust the FBI as much, though, as my opinion is that within the entire force there are lots of "not the brightest on the block", and if they are aroused into a zealous state as they are now, many bad things can happen. (Not to mention our U.S. prosecutors might be nearing the burnout stage of our health care workers now. And I also wonder sometimes how well justice is being served in our courts and by public defenders doing Zoom meetings.)
by artappraiser on Sat, 01/23/2021 - 4:53pm
DoJ stonewalled Trump pretty well post-Barr
by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 01/23/2021 - 5:03pm
"I do the RICO" Ken White with a short opine precisely on topic (be sure to see the image of the tweets he's commenting on to get the full impact):
by artappraiser on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 1:45am
a few of the replies to Ken are also thought-provoking:
by artappraiser on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 1:55am
I approve of Ken objecting to making new laws just to hurt a particular group of offenders more. The comment about the wording of " violent insurrectionists" is on point as a legal matter but it is also an over simplification as a general description. John Brown can be fairly described as a violent insurrectionist. Comparing the raid on Harpers Ferry to the Incident on 1/6 yields the following differences.
The Incident was not caused by determined Abolitionists with shared objectives. There were two distinct groups whose interest overlapped in some cases but largely did not. Let's call them the Fucking Morons and the Playwrights of Opportunity.
The biggest FM is Trump, of course. He thought that the results could actually be overturned on that day. All of the previous attempts to game the system through intimidating the DOJ and State governments could have been just another Roger Stone investment in the future until Pence's disobedience revealed that Trump had lost his membership in the PO club.
The PO group includes all of the Congressional members who knew damn well Biden was going to be President. They were just writing scripts that would advance their fortunes and weaken Biden's. There are perhaps some FMs in that group. Whatever their number, they are not smart enough to become actual POs. They can only repeat what others write.
The bulk of the rioters are FMs. They believed the lies, and to that extent, saw themselves as defending an institution rather than tearing it down. The eyebrows of John Brown furrow deeply with confusion in his grave. I hear him say:
"Let me get this straight, you went to a legislative body to coerce them to vote on something whose validity would be voided by such an act? You must be a bunch of fucking morons."
by moat on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 11:34am
One big difference being Trump & some others conspired over weeks/months in ways that are slowly or quickly coming out, while the majority of the morons were recent impulsive converts.
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 1:07pm
Yes. In my Venn diagram, Trump was a PO who eventually had to be expelled because he was dipping into his own product too much. The other POs thought he would be useful to the very end. Trump thought the others were also FMs, working shoulder to shoulder to achieve the goal. He didn't read the prenuptial agreement carefully enough.
In retrospect, none of them appear to be geniuses. McConnell and Barr jumped off the merry go round before the contraption burst into flames. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the result they were hoping for.
by moat on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 1:45pm
Dipping into his own product - like Breaking Bad without the hint of ethical limits.he occupies the crazed center of that Venn diagram.
Barr is quite smart somehow, and seems to know where his lies will take him, and which exit to take, not that he doesn't have support teams in each iteration. McConnell is single minded, and with this amoral/immoral crew it works.
I got side-tracked and started thinking of FMs as "feral monkeys" - is that an acceptable pseudonym?
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 2:16pm
That is a suitable mnemonic device but doesn't capture the lack of situational awareness I was focusing upon. It deserves its own Venn diagram.
Breaking Bad does have many helpful parallels. The bathtub crashing through all the floors is one. The different dynamics between street dealers and cartel owners is another.
by moat on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 2:36pm
This is gonna require diagrams and absinthe, won't it? (pls say yes)
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 4:10pm
Use the latter with moderation.
by moat on Sun, 01/24/2021 - 5:13pm
by artappraiser on Sat, 01/23/2021 - 1:04am
by artappraiser on Mon, 01/25/2021 - 1:28am
I imagine more support for the Feds this time, though we may lose Idaho in the process (which would free up a star for Puerto Rico).
Thinking about 2 Senators from each, that'd kill Republican support for statehood. I'd favor maybe a 1-, 2- or 3-Senator setup .
by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 01/25/2021 - 1:58am
I Want to Call the Capitol Rioters ‘Terrorists.’ Here’s Why We Shouldn’t.
New antiterrorism laws could end up targeting people of color.
VIDEO of Adama Bah @ NYTimes.com, Jan. 25. Ms. Bah is an immigration activist; entire accompanying text:
by artappraiser on Mon, 01/25/2021 - 6:13pm
DHS uses federal alert system for 1st time in a year to warn of domestic terrorist threat
The warning comes in the days after Biden's inauguration.
By Mike Levine @ ABCNews.com, January 27, 2021, 1:28 PM
by artappraiser on Wed, 01/27/2021 - 11:43pm