domestic terrorism

Appeals Court upholds conviction of Cleveland #Occupy domestic terrorists.

A federal appellate court Friday upheld the sentences of four men who plotted to blow up the Ohio 82 bridge that spans the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. District Judge David Dowd Jr. acted correctly in doling out prison terms for Douglas Wright, Anthony Hayne, Brandon Baxter and Connor Stevens. The men had pleaded guilty in federal court in Akron to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and other weapons charges.

Continue reading Appeals Court upholds conviction of Cleveland #Occupy domestic terrorists.

Was the West, Texas fertilizer explosion… arson? Domestic terrorism? Don’t know the right term, sorry.

Via Rare comes a report that police have arrested one of the first responders to last month’s fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.

More details here, but I want to offer a serious caution: there is even less information than usual right now about the arrest, whether it is justified, or even whether it’s germane to the original explosion. What we know is that a guy was arrested, and that the charge is “possession of a destructive device” (reportedly a pipe bomb). Obviously, IF this story checks out then it changes pretty much everything that we knew about the incident… and, bluntly: a bunch of people who wanted to use this to score partisan points are going to have to apologize to both the State of Texas and Governor Rick Perry. Personally. I note this not to be a jerk, but… actually, no, I note this pretty much just to be a jerk. Continue reading Was the West, Texas fertilizer explosion… arson? Domestic terrorism? Don’t know the right term, sorry.

#rsrh Patterico talks about the attempt on his life.

It is, indeed, ‘bone-chilling’ reading.

It’s a phone call that could have gotten me killed.

In this post you will hear that audio clip. You will also read about a months-long campaign of harassment carried out by at least three individuals: Ron Brynaert, Neal Rauhauser, and Brett Kimberlin — much of it directed at critics of Brett Kimberlin. This harassment includes repeated references to critics’ family members, workplace complaints, publication of personal information such as home addresses and pictures of residences, bogus allegations of criminal activity, whisper campaigns, frivolous legal actions, and frivolous State Bar complaints.

And finally, you will hear a comparison of one of those men’s voices to that of the man who made the call that sent police to my home. And you’ll read a declaration from a forensic audio expert comparing those two voices.

Charming people we have out there, huh? – Also: if you want more details about this story, just do the rounds of your favorite right-blogs today. Trust me; you’ll get an eyeful.

Daily Caller looks at Brandon Darby.

Interesting article here from the Daily Caller on Brandon Darby, who people might remember as being the former fringe-left activist who helped the FBI shut down a domestic terrorist cell planning to murder people at the Republican national convention. For this act of elementary patriotism and decency he has, of course, been vilified (the woman mentioned in passing as being arrested for making death threats was later acquitted). A few thoughts:

Speaking as somebody who was actually at the 2008 convention, I appreciate not having been burned to death.
I don’t actually expect the fringe Left to be sorry that they put themselves in a place where my being burned to death seemed like a good idea, but it would be nice if they didn’t feel safe to be so flipping wistful about the missed opportunity.
‘The Texas Two.” Ye gods: this entire City Integer way of looking at organizers of violent political protests is subtly corrosive to the Left’s soul in general, and the Democratic party’s in particular. In other words, I’d like people to stop treating the Chicago Seven as being somehow worthy of emulation*.

What a world that any of this has to be written out, no?

Moe Lane

*What? Yes, yes, I’d always like a pony, too. Unfortunately, there’s no space for one on my Amazon.com wish list.

Crossposted to RedState.

The Gorelick Wall’s back!

Via Instapundit, here’s something to start the week off right: we’re right back to Gorelick-era standards of inter-agency communication on terrorism!

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

Excuse me while I go pound my head into the wall for a while.

Crossposted to RedState.

Domestic terrorism in Washington State.

(Via AoSHQ Headlines) ELF eco-freaks. Doing what Bruce Sterling called ‘infrastructure hits,’ which is code for ‘deniable ways to increase the human death rate via denial of services in an emergency.’

Two radio station towers north of Seattle were toppled early Friday, a banner left nearby bore the initials of the Earth Liberation Front and an FBI spokesman said authorities haven’t found any evidence that other individuals or groups besides the ELF were involved.

[snip]

“We have to weigh our priorities, and the local ecosystem in Everett, along with the local residents, do not need additional sports news radio station towers that come at the expense of reduced property values and harmful radio waves,” ELF press office spokesman Jason Crawford said in the e-mail.

Funny: I’ve weighed my priorities, and I’ve decided that the general political ecosystem does not need the Earth Liberation Front. Could we maybe do something about that?

Moe Lane

PS: I have some comments on the likelihood of this actually happening in this administration, but they’re both cynical, and unseemly. Besides, with our luck the current head White House gardener is probably a former executive vice president for ELF, or whatever the equivalent would be.

Crossposted to RedState.

Upcoming trial in Austin domestic terrorism case?

(Via Instapundit) Apparently at least one member of the Austin left-activist community was upset to at the way that one of their ‘own’ betrayed them. And by ‘betrayed them’ I mean ‘revealed details of a terrorist plot to the FBI:’

A Texas woman faces trial this month in Austin on charges she threatened to kill a government informant who infiltrated an Austin-based group that planned to bomb the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., last fall.

Katyanne Marie Kibby, 25, was indicted in June by a federal grand jury in Austin. She is accused of retaliating against Brandon Darby, the community activist-turned-informant who helped federal prosecutors win convictions against Bradley Neal Crowder, 24, and David Guy McKay, 23.

Prosecutors say the e-mail threat was made Jan. 10. That was two days after Crowder reached a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in Minneapolis for his role in the plot to build Molotov cocktails and attack the GOP convention in September 2008.

See also Say Anything – and, speaking as somebody who was actually at the RNC, you’ll understand that I’m not all that sympathetic to the plight of people who, you know, wanted to kill me. And yes: that’s a fair attitude for me to take. When you build an incendiary device and plan to throw it in my general direction, I get to assume that you’d be happy if I got it in the face.

Don’t like it? Don’t make bombs. Or stand next to the people who do.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.