Above, former FBI Special Agent Michael German tells Stephanie Ruhle the dangers of labelling the Coast Guard suspect as a mere "hate crime" rather than terrorism. Transcript via Media Matters:
GERMAN: Part of the problem that we identified in a report we published last year is that far-right terrorism is deprioritized within the counterterrorism world. It's behind what the government calls international terrorism, even though white supremacy didn't start in the United States, right? It's actually an international phenomenon. So there's this inappropriate degrading of white supremacist violence as a national security concern. And in fact, a lot of times it's downgraded to what they call hate crimes, which the language we use is important, but more important is that terrorism is the FBI's number one priority, counterterrorism. Civil rights violations like hate crimes are number five. So categorizing something that could be just as dangerous as an act of terrorism and meet the definition of an act of terrorism as a hate crime does have an impact as far as how many resources that are devoted to investigating and prosecuting that crime.
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Christopher Paul Hasson, who is A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and self-identified white nationalist was arrested after federal investigators uncovered a cache of weapons and ammunition in his Maryland home. Authorities say he was planning to launch a massive domestic terrorist attack targeting Democratic politicians and journalists, you know, The Enemy of the People.
And our failed media still cannot say Right Wing Domestic Terrorist.
AP:
“A Coast Guard lieutenant who was arrested last week is a ‘domestic terrorist’ who drafted an email discussing biological attacks and had what appeared to be a hit list that included prominent Democrats and media figures, prosecutors said in court papers. …
“[Christopher Paul] Hasson’s list of prominent Democrats included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris. The list … also included mentions of John Podesta … along with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxine Waters, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Van Jones.”
I mean, for Blog’s sake, how hard is it to say Right Wing Domestic Terrorist when all the evidence leads you to a conclusion? That gun-filled cache of weapons in the hands of Right Wing Terrorists and White Supremacists is our National Emergency.
Also, too:
100% chance Trump was briefed on the US Coast Guard domestic terrorist plotting to kill Democrats and reporters BEFORE he tweeted that the NYT is the enemy of the people. His rhetoric is inciting violence. He’s going to get someone hurt. He doesn’t care.
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) February 20, 2019
crossposted from Mock Paper Scissors
