NPR just reported that one of two staffers involved in the altercation at Arlington National Cemetery is a deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump’s reelection bid. The two staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team.

I thought it was Chris LaCivita or Cory Lewandowski. One of the misogynistic a-holes on Donald Trump’s campaign staff pushed a female employee at Arlington National Cemetery. It’s probably Chris “I’m the a-hole who created Swift Boating” LaCivita, but it might be Cory “I don’t have to be honest with the media” Lewandowski. As of Sept 5th 2024, the DoD and the DOJ aren’t going after them for what happened at Arlington. Why?

The FEC isn’t going after the Trump campaign for their use of campaign footage from Arlington in an ad. Why?

The outlet that broke the story, NPR, KNOWS exactly who did what, but they aren’t revealing that information. Why?

None of them are pursuing the Trump campaign for their blatant disrespect and law breaking for 3 reasons,

1. Fear of retaliation
2. Fear of losing favor in the future
3. They LIKE what Trump & his staff did

You probably read that the woman declined to press charges for fear of retaliation. But that’s also part of the reason behind why the Army, DOD and DOJ aren’t pushing to charge the Trump campaign.

I had a great conversation with a former military lawyer about what happened at Arlington National Commentary. I wanted to know why no one in the Trump campaign staff got in trouble for clear violations of rules, regulations and federal laws.

He walked me through the process of when a civilian commits a crime at Arlington National Cemetery. He explained which MPs are called and why. Because the Trump campaign staff pusher was a civilian, if charges were going to be pursued the Virginia Department of Justice folks in the Eastern District of Virginia and Alexandria would need to get involved.

What was fascinating to me was his explanation that someone in command at the military made a decision to let “the pusher” go home and then NOT press charges. The reporting is that the woman who was pushed decided not to press charges because of “fear of retaliation” and the Army considers the matters closed.

It’s 2024 and we all nod in agreement that “of course she will get death threats” for simply telling Trump’s campaign staff to respect the dead & follow the law. WTF? We have come to expect that because our system refuses to punish those who make the threats.

Second, as it was explained to me, the Army could have brought a case on her behalf, but made a decision NOT to, because they didn’t want to upset Trump. I know that there are Trump supporters in the military. But I would THINK that they would so upset by what happened that they would do something, like at least throw his STAFF under the bus. Trump has already used the Sargent Shultz defense

You know how in police procedurals when cops are talking to a witness they say, “We can protect you.” The person, who knows how the bad guys have infiltrated the police, will often say, “No you can’t. They can get to me anywhere.” The good guy cop knows the victim is right so he takes her to a private place, that supposedly nobody knows about & tells them “Don’t use your phone!” But of course some paid off cop leaks it, or the victim has to call her mother to tell her she is okay and then BOOM. Bad guy comes after them. (Then we have the exciting scene at the house where good guy show up just in time to stop the bad guy from killing the woman. The bad guy is either shot and killed, in American TV series, or arrested and charged, in British TV series.)

I’ve listened to Glenn Kirschner talk about how hard it is for witnesses and victims to go up against mobsters. The prosecution might have a good case, but they need the help of the witness and victims, and practically, sometimes trying the case puts the victim in danger. For prosecutors, we now see that Trump and his MAGA people are worst than mobsters, because the prosecutors are afraid to charge them. Imagine yourself in the same situation as the woman at Arlington.

Now imagine that 1/2 of the police force & millions of people on the internet want to find you and 100’s of them threaten to KILL you because you did the RIGHT thing to hold accountable someone worse than a mobster and his people that broke the law.

Even though you didn’t press charges, the millions on the internet STILL FIND you and 100s will start sending you death threats. This is what I imagine the call to the cops would be like. (BTW, this is based on actual cases of death threats to election officials and workers I’ve followed in the US.)

Good Guy Cop: We heard you aren’t pressing charges. We’re sorry people are threatening you. There’s nothing we can do, especially when they do it Musk’s platform that doesn’t ban people for making threats.

You: Can you at least arrest the people who are threatening to KILL me?

Cops: Well, that’s complicated because they threatened you in a general way, and we don’t know who they are, plus they did it publicly on social media and the platform doesn’t have a problem with how they threatened you.

You: But what about the ones that showed up OUTSIDE MY HOUSE with GUNS?

Cops: Well, it’s legal to protest with guns in your state.

You: PROTEST WITH GUNS? ARE YOU Fking kidding me? There was an armed mob outside my home!

Cops: Look lady, I don’t make the laws. I agree with you it sucks, but a bunch of guys I work with think YOU are the problem AND the top brass play golf with the guy you pissed off. His staff said you were having a “mental event” It’s their word against yours and they’re very powerful. If we had video you could sue them for defamation, but that will take years.

You: So I can sue them for defamation, but not the death threats or armed mob?

Cops: Yep, that’s about the size of it. Look into the Shaye Moss & Ruby Freeman defamation cases they’ve won a bunch of them. Good luck!

My brilliant friend Sara Robinson pointed out the military’s fear of losing favor in the future issue.

The Army command is no doubt terrified that Trump will take power again, and doing anything about this now will only aggravate him more than he’s already aggravated at them.

I can see their point, but my response remains the same: this is tantamount to coddling terrorists, which only means that the future will hold more of the same.

Will they also hold still when President for Life Trump physically shoves aside the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, claiming that he was having a mental episode?

What’s the deal with the media? Most of the MSM is afraid of retaliation and losing access. Yes, Esquire’s Charlie Pierce wrote a great piece, “How The Hell Was Trump Allowed To Use Arlington National Cemetery As A Campaign Prop?”

My friend Will Bunch of the Philly Inquirer, who I met at Eschacon 2008 in Philadelphia, wrote about the “blatantly sexist bullying of the Arlington employee.” It has worked so many times for Trump himself during his decades-long trail of sexual abuse and harassment allegations. He’s right, violence and gross mistreatment of women hasn’t thwarted the careers of Trump’s male-dominated inner circle.

Even the reporters who broke the story at NPR are afraid to put out the identities of the pusher and sexist bullies. The reporters have run bs statements from Trump campaign’s spokesman, Steven Cheung,

“The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony,” In a statement to NPR, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s spokesman, strongly rejected the notion of a physical altercation, adding: “We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.”
[snip]

“The Trump campaign declined to make that footage immediately available. On Wednesday the campaign released a video on TikTok that includes Trump’s Section 60 visit.”

So Cheung says they’ll sue for defamation and says the campaign has footage to prove their case, but then, when asked to see it, backs down. (Come on Oddjob, show us the unedited footage! )

Cheung called the employee despicable and wrote “Whoever this individual is, spreading these lies are dishonoring the men and women of our armed forces.”
Wow. Nice projection Cheung! As they say with Trumpers, every accusation is a confession.

On social media, the Trump campaign staff went on the attack first, to set the narrative.
They set up the families to tell only part of the story, “We invited Trump. I didn’t see anything.” That interview leaves out it was the campaign staff who were briefed on ALL the rules & regulations ahead of time and didn’t follow them when at the grave site.

Two things to note:
1) The chief of staff of Congressman Brian Mast of Florida, who was at Arlington with Trump, WAS briefed.
James Langerderfer said he told the Trump campaign staff and they agreed to the rules. When asked to verify it, Mast’s office said, “President Trump conducted no politics at Arlington National Cemetery.” (That’s just your opinion man, plus it still doesn’t excuse the shoving.)

2) Governor Cox apologized for making political and campaign use of a visit to Arlington

Governor Cox has since apologized for making political and campaign use of a visit to Arlington National Cemetery—but neither Mr. Trump nor his campaign have joined Governor Cox in apologizing for these blatant violations. AP, Hannah Schoenbaum, September 1, 2024

What is being done? Raskin & Connelly demand investigation

The activist side of me wants to figure out what can be done to stop them? What stops them so they don’t keep doing it? How do we beat these people? 
Who’s on the side of justice? The good news is that Reps. Raskin and Connelly have demanded an investigation.

When I see something like this happen, as we have seen for the last 8 years, I always want to know, “How are they getting away with this? Who is helping them? Why? Who is defending Trump and his staff? Why? What can we do to change that?”

I’ve learned the basic techniques they use. They attack with name calling, lying, gaslighting, hiding the evidence, going over people’s heads to their bosses. The play dumb, argue in bad faith, file frivolous lawsuits, harass people on social media, make threats of violence on social media, threats of violence on the phone and threats via email. The use financial threats and legal threats. When they are in person, they use physical intimidation and make threats of physical violence.

I’ve also learned over the last 8 years is that the people who do NOT go after Trump (or his people) have a number of valid reasons. They know Trump has a history of how he responds when someone tries to hold him or his people accountable. 
He’ll tie them up in court. He’ll go on the attack publicly on social media, he’ll lie and defame people at rallies and press conferences. He’ll get others to attack on his behalf. 
He will use threats. He’ll have others use threats on his behalf. 
He will get others to shut down stories or actions against him (Like Pecker of the National Enquirer ).  

Remember, Michael Cohen’s JOB was to threaten people with legal problems on Trump’s behalf. Trump’s body guards and “security” physically threatened people on Trump’s behalf.

But WE HAVE to keep going after these people. They are wrong. Lots of people know they are wrong, but there are enough people who are afraid of them or who want something from them that they get away with it, again and again.

There is an appropriate response to the violations of the Arlington National Cemetery rules and laws. Make an apology and remove the ads, like Gov. Cox.
For the battery? Possible criminal charges, a trial so all the facts can come out by people, under oath, I’m looking at you Cory Lewandowski.
For the defamation? If the person who was shoved is identified, bring a civil case for enough money to pay for lifetime security from MAGA nutballs and to make up for possibly not being able to work at Arlington anymore, because of the unwanted attention from MAGAts.

Who are the people who could make these things happen? ” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin

When the DoD decides to act, and to protect the witness, the DOJ needs to tell U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber in the Virginia Department of Justice in the Eastern District of Virginia they should prosecute.

The FEC should act. I suppose I should write a letter and ask them to do something, because even though the FEC is divided, a crime WAS committed and they ARE supposed to do something. The campaign should be busted on an FEC complaint. The ads should be forcefully pulled, like Gov. Cox voluntarily pulled his. And the Trump campaign should have to pay a fine.

The press needs to keep asking. “Who is the Arlington Shover?” Maybe I’ll ask if the good people at Task & Purpose who wrote the article about Defense Secretary Austin at Arlington to follow up on the violations of the rules and regulations at Arlington National Cemetery Maybe someone at will start a social media campaign demanding the Arlington Shover apologize.

We know that Trump NEVER apologizes. If he doesn’t throw someone under the bus, and no one apologizes, that is our cue to use it to drive a bigger wedge between Trump and the military, the vets and the families of the honored dead at Arlington.

I was on the The Nicole Sandler Show show as RFK Jr.’s brain worm. I was going to add photos of the people and articles that I was referring too, because as bizarre at all these stories sound, I WAS NOT MAKING THEM UP!

I decided to just list the articles below in case anyone wants to know more details.

These are Real Headlines Written by Actual Humans about RFK Jr. in a new segment I’m calling RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm News.
(The graphic is from an actual article on brain worms from ABC News, Australia that said, “headlines about brain worms can be alarming.” but adds, “..here are ways you can minimize your risks of being infected with one.” )

• R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain The New York Times
  
• RFK Jr says he was behind mystery of dead bear dumped in Central Park with bicycle The Guardian
  
• RFK Jr. Once Decapitated A Dead Whale With A Chainsaw BBC
  
• Mary Richardson Kennedy’s grave was exhumed & moved 700 feet away by her ex-husband RFK Jr., because he wanted her to be buried on a hilltop People Magazine
  
• RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard named to Trump transition team CBS News

When I talked about how Dave, RFK Jr’s brain worm, would be advising Trump on loyalty and cabinet positions I was talking about John McEntee, Trump’s body man during the 2016 campaign is currently working on HR for the Trump campaign.

“As the Director of PPO, McEntee took it upon himself to ensure that all presidential appointees were sufficiently loyal to Trump, conducting loyalty interviews with employees throughout the federal government and monitoring their social media presence.”

Who would help Trump carry out his promised “purge” of the “deep state”? Citizens For Ethics in Washington July 9, 2024

Nicole had hoped to have Digby on the show but she was ill. Luckily not with BRAIN WORMS!

I modeled the segment on A Closer Look on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Those are written by my favorite writer, Sal Gentile, who does an amazing job of getting in jokes along with the facts.

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

In 2011 Obama humiliated Trump. In 2023 Trump posted Obama’s address & a Jan6er, Taylor Taranto, went there to kill him. What will Trump do now that Obama mocked his manhood?

On Friday Marcy Wheeler, @emptywheel, & Nicole Sandler talked how the Obama’s humiliated Trump & how he is responding following their speeches at the DNC.

Based on his calls into Fox & Newsmax after the end of Harris’ speech, it’s really getting under his skin. I’m loving it, but then again I’m a huge fan of the late night comedy hosts doing bits on Trump.

I also know that thatTrump really, really hates to be laughed at. When it happens to him his response is to say, “People are laughing at America!” (Hmm, I wonder what he said before he was President & associated himself with the country?)

Trump got back at people who laughed at him in 2011 with the classic, “I’ll show them!” and became President. But that wasn’t enough for him. He also did the rich person bully thing and sued people who challenged him.

What do bullies do to stop people from laughing at them?.They threaten to kill them. OR they have their henchmen threaten to kill them. There’s a reason he brings up Al Capone.

Trump will want to get retribution against the people who laughed at him. It’s what he does.

Marcy reminds people of Taylor Taranto, a Jan 6er who went to Obama’s DC neighborhood in July 2023 after Trump posted Obama’s address on Truth Social. (NBC reporter Ryan Reilly said that he still can’t believe the whole Taylor Taranto story (link to his Twitter thread. )

Prosecutors say man went to Obama’s DC neighborhood after Trump posted what he claimed was the Obamas’ address CNN July 7, 2023

He really wants people to fear and respect him. Like they do Kim Jung Un.

To make it personal, he tells his followers, they are laughing at you, not me!

As Marcy says later in the show, Trump will be pushing for political violence, but the media doesn’t feel it is their job to tell people how to respond to the threats. They just report it. The problem with that is that coverage only happens when the people getting threats tell the media. The media need to hear of the scale and scope of the threats so it registers. Like when the New York Court system Judicial Public Safety team briefed the media about all the threats Judge Engoron’s clerk got. Here is Lisa Rubin talking about the threats to Chris Hayes who FINALLY GOT IT.

Right now the owner of one of the big social media sites encourages threats of violence. That’s a problem. If Musk isn’t going to enforce his own TOS, we need to start reporting the people violating them to the entities that can take action. Like the FBI.

Here is the link to report people making threats.

Now this is the part of the post where I get mentally tired. I hear, “What’s the point? They won’t do anything about Trump. True. BUT, they ARE investigating threats from MAGA people to our elected representatives, election officials & workers. But they need to know about them.

Taylor Taranto’s threats came on Truth Social. The management at Truth Social cooperated with Law Enforcement to provide his information. This is a part of ALL social media Terms of Service. They SHOULD be removing the threats, but if they don’t, they STILL have to respond to a warrant from Law Enforcement. When we report violations to the social media sites, we also need to alert law enforcement.

I’ll do a post later about the men serving YEARS in prison for threatening election officials in Arizona. The DOJ sucks at PR so we need to tell people how to report & show them that not everyone gets away with the crimes, like Trump. NOTE: Taranto is currently in prison for threatening Obama and is awaiting trial.

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

Disgraced and demoted Dr. Ronny “Pill Mill” Jackson wants drug testing before the debates. Rep. Ronny Johnson Jackson can demand that testing as part of the pre-debate messaging push. But he KNOWS that it won’t happen, especially for this debate. But the testing and doctor we should be talking about is Dr. Sean Conley, who was Trump’s doctor before the 2020 Trump/ Biden debate. If you recall everyone was supposed to be tested for COVID AT THE VENUE, THE DAY OF THE DEBATE.

Mark Meadows’ 2021 book revealed Trump had tested positive for COVID Saturday, September 26, 2020.

Trump spent much of Saturday with the woman he nominated to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court: Amy Coney Barrett. She and her family — including her husband and seven children — were all on hand at the White House, and met with Trump, the first lady and the Pences in the Oval Office.

Later, Trump attended a rally in Pennsylvania.

According to Meadows, Trump tested positive before traveling to the rally in Pennsylvania and then subsequently tested negative.

A timeline of Trump’s activities around the time of his positive Covid-19 test CNN

Now, you will note that this is “according to Meadows” and that Trump subsequently tested negative.” This is from Meadow’s book, but remember, he didn’t write this under oath. We don’t know the exact details of when Trump was tested or the type of test. What we do know is that Meadows and Dr. Conley hid that information from everyone, including Chris Christie, who got COVID from Trump during debate prep. Think of all the people Trump met with, like Goldstar families and soon to be Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Did Conley have an obligation to reveal Trump’s testing history to others on Trump’s debate prep team? Chris Christie thinks so, and said it during his Firing Line interview with Margaret Hoover which aired December 10, 2021.

I had been researching executive orders, state and federal laws around COVID reporting since Trump’s June 20, 2020 rally in Tulsa. The rally was a documented super spreader event.
I determined that Trump and his campaign staff hid reporting on the number of people infected at the rally by ordering people NOT to take tests at the rally but to travel by car to other states days later. Trump’s campaign staff used privacy laws, and uncoordinated public health laws, to avoid being caught violating Oklahoma’s Executive Orders and Federal COVID reporting laws.

When Meadow’s book came out in 2021 I went back to the research I did before during and after the Tulsa Rally. I suggested to the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis @COVIDOversight, that they look at Meadow’s book and cross reference with his messages on his phone to see if he was the one who told the traveling nurses hired by the campaign to stop the testing when they saw how many were infected.

I don’t know if they ever did, or if they got the hard evidence they would need to PROVE that Mark Meadows, Tony Ornato and/or Brad Parscale broke local, state and federal laws about COVID test reporting in Tulsa. (Like Halting & delaying testing the day of the rally prevented discovery of others who may be infected. This appears to be a violation of Oklahoma state law, Title 63. Public Health and Safety statutes. Specifically, under §63-6103, The Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act,)

BOTTOM LINE: I STILL want someone to be held responsible for the infections and deaths the violations of public health laws caused. It wasn’t just Herman Cain, THOUSANDS DIED in and around Tulsa. It’s documented.

Meadows Hid The Truth and Lied, People Got Sick Of COVID And Died

Why bother writing this? Because the MSM needs to be reminded that treating Trump AND HIS ENABLERS like normal people is a mistake of deadly proportions.

The only way we hear new info in the MSM is when a new book on this time period comes out, otherwise it’s old news.

Trump violated the agreed upon rules for the debate. Mark Meadows and Dr. Conley made this violation possible. It is possible that Dr. Conley broke the Federal COVID testing reporting laws. Also, Meadows might have broken laws about reporting sick workers. I think he did. There needs to be an investigation, like the DoD IG’s March 2021 report about Ronny Jackson’s behavior which led to him being demoted to CAPTAIN from Rear Admiral in JULY 2022.

The press can’t learn the truth about medical issues within the White House. Unless the DoD IG’s office does it, no one will ever know or be held responsible for Trump’s willful infections of others.

I always hear, “You can’t reach his base.” Yes, I don’t think Hope Hicks, Bill Stepien, Stephen Miller or Kellyanne Conway will step forward and tell people Trump knew he had COVID and infected them. But maybe we can reach the MSM, since they like to have Chris Christie on. Trump infected Christie during his debate prep, he almost died.

I checked, but I didn’t see that there were any protocols for COVID testing at today’s debate venue. But bringing up COVID testing would give the MSM an excuse to remind the public that Trump is willing to kill his closest advisors to hid his secrets.

I predict Trump will be found guilty. Someone from the NY AGs office will make a statement on the steps of the courthouse.

Then, instead of talking about the win for the rule of law, the focus of ALL the coverage in the mainstream media will be on the appeal.

The legal experts will explain all the ways the ruling can be overturned and how an appeal can take years.
The political experts will wonder if this will hurt Trump’s chances of being elected President.

A New York Times poll will ask “Do you believe the conviction is legitimate?” 57% of the Republican will say no.

Trump’s GOP sycophant’s will question the integrity of the “95% Democrat jury” and wonder “who was on that jury?” setting up their followers to dox them, threaten them and attack them physically.

New attacks on Judge Merchan and his daughter will happen, then right before sentencing, there will be ANOTHER SWATTING attempt at someone’s home, but that won’t lead to any arrests until after the election.

It’s easy to predict this, because we’ve seen this before. It is all part of Trump & the RW’s long term plan to make the left feel demoralized, even following a success.

Even a successful guilty verdict won’t feel satisfying to us because of this plan. What is fascinating is that the other part of the plan is to make the right feel enraged by the left’s success. They aren’t told to “vote harder.” They are told to go and DO SOMETHING. Preferably with violence.

You know that feeling you get with Trump that even when we WIN, it’s not a win? That’s intentional. It’s part of their story about Trump. Teflon Don. What is OUR story about him? Who promotes it? Who repeats if over and over? Does anyone go into the fever swamps of RW social media and question their view of him? And if they do, does it even matter?

Who challenges RW spokespeople in their bubble? Who challenges them outside of their bubble? Would it make a difference?

Who exposes the RW politicians’ fear of being killed by the MAGA base? For example, has anyone been arrested for threating Republican Don Bacon’s wife?
GOP Rep. Says Wife Slept With Loaded Gun After Threats Over His Jim Jordan Vote

Who is helping OUR side tell our story? Are they using the same psyops techniques against the right that are used on the left? Do they use social media tools? Bots?

I’m looking forward to Annalee’s Newitz new book “Stories Are Weapons. Psychological Warfare and the American Mind about how psyops works on the American public. I have a lot of questions for HER, some about how to fight the right, but also about what can be done to help the left.

The Rule of Law Needs a Hype Man

Someone needs to help the DOJ with their PR. They are terrible at PR. Even when they win, they don’t promote their successes. And it’s not just the DOJ, the AGs who are defeating Trump in court need to talk about their wins.
The rule of law needs hype men and women to promote its successes.

Did you know a Florida man who made death threats to a congress member and his kids last year was finally arrested and tried in May, but sentencing won’t be until August.
Michael Shapiro plead guilty to making threats against Rep. Eric Swalwell, and his family.

Did you know that a Texas man, Frederick Francis Goltz, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years for threatening to kill Katie Hobbs, who was then the Secretary of State of Arizona?

Did you see the story about Joshua Russell of Ohio, who was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for threatening Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs?

No? That’s because the DOJ is terrible at PR. They don’t see it as their job to make a big deal of their victories. They put out a press release, have a boring press conference with no great visuals and NOT EVEN A PHOTO OF THE PERSON CONVICTED! Someone needs to do it for them.

The Biden admiration won’t, they are afraid to talk about the success of the DOJ because they know the RW will scream, “SEE! SEE? We TOLD YOU! Biden is behind the DOJ’s prosecutions of his political opponents!”

The Dems are afraid to do more than acknowledge the justice system works when if holds someone on the right accountable for violating the law. They should be going on TV and talking up why it’s good that the law is holding law breakers, who happen to be Republican politicians, accountable. But they MUST! As Michael Tomasky wrote in the New Republic.

If Trump Is Convicted, It’s Democrats’ Job to Make Sure America Cares

Say it again and again: “convicted felon Donald Trump.”

All this puts the onus on team Biden and the Democrats generally to message a guilty verdict relentlessly. At least until the GOP convention and probably beyond, no Democrat elected to federal office should ever say the words “Donald Trump” without saying the words “convicted felon” in front of them. Convicted felon Donald Trump. Over and over and over and over.

Michael Tomasky, The New Republic

To compare, the GOP attacks the justice system, the process, AND the people n the process.

How could this look different? One model for victory is how E. Jean Carroll AND HER LAWYERS talked about her 1st success. But that wasn’t enough, since Trump instantly defamed her again.

They prepared for the attack and won again. The story of her 2nd success was good, they got to talk about the win again. But they still AREN’T done because, the right says “Yeah, but he’s appealing, good luck getting him to pay…”

The MSM legal experts explained the issues about the appeal, the payment of the money, escrow vs bankruptcy and why she will likely collect in 2 years. But there still needs to be more proactive messaging from the winners about the case, because the RW’s PR plan is to minimize our wins at every turn.

For example you will see them say, “Trump wasn’t found guilty of RAPE, stop saying that!” Trolls on X will focus on incomplete success,  “Carroll did not prevail was whether she had proved that Mr. Trump had “raped” her within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law – New York law Or they will suggest the probability the judgement will be reduced, or that because the case is being appealed, it’s not over.

The winners in the E. Jean Carroll case CAN go out and talk about it, they can push back on more attacks, and they have. They sued again. And won again. Trump attacked E. Jean Carrol AGAIN this weekend. Carroll lawyer Roberta Kaplan said, “We have said several times since the last jury verdict in January that all options were on the table. And that remains true today — all options are on the table.”

But it’s different when the STATE is the winner. I had a discussion about this with some Team Justice friends recently, and they talked about how it’s just not appropriate for the state, that has the power to take away people’s freedom, to make a big deal outside the courtroom.

Okay, but if THEY shouldn’t do it, because of various rules, norms or they are legally not allowed to do it, then who SHOULD? US! We need to hype the wins! And do it EVERYWHERE! As Tomasky wrote May 27, 2024

[the Democrats] need to do more than that. Democrats don’t just need to fight; they need to fight on the right battlefield. They need to get it through their heads that while cable news matters, and The New York Times and The Washington Post matter, they don’t matter as much as TikTok and Instagram and other social media platforms. There was a Pew study late last year asking people how they got their news. “Digital devices” was number one by a country mile, and print publications dead last.

Michael Tomasky, The New Republic 

We should be promoting the win OUTSIDE THE Courtroom. The case against Trump needs to be fought and won in multiple venues. Media and social media are critical arenas today, and we can’t count on just wins in the courts to save us.

As of April 26, 2024 Donald Trump hasn’t stopped violating his Judge Merchan gag order. Until the punishments are strong enough to make him stop, we need to take steps to stop and punish his followers, who make threats on his behalf.

Marcy Wheeler was on the Nicole Sandler show last week talking about Donald Trump’s systematic threatening of his critics and how normalized political violence is for anybody who comes up against Donald Trump. I’ve written about, and asked a lot of questions about, how threats online and on social media have an impact and what can be done about them. It was great to hear from Marcy about the scope of the problem, how it involves the legal system, the media, social media and learn some names of major players who make threats on social media and get away with it.

“There is nobody who is on the wrong side of Donald Trump who is not stalked, who does not face mob violence, and it is systematic.

There’s a group of these people, Jesse Watters, we talked about. Jack Posobiec is always involved. Mike Cernovich is always involved. These are people in Roger Stone’s world. They have the ability to go find these people, they have the ability to stoke violence, they have the ability to terrify people. And it has been going on for years.

Marcy Wheeler, on the Nicole Sandler show 4-19-2024

She points out how for the right it’s okay if it’s just Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. If it’s Michael Cohen, it’s okay. If it’s Marie Yovanovitch, it’s okay. If it’s the whistleblower, it’s okay. She had thought that when Don Bacon’s wife was threatened and had to sleep with a gun under her pillow, the Republicans might have done something. But they haven’t. They are quiet or they do what Republican Mike Gallagher just did, quit.

Marcy said that right now it’s the moment where we have to figure out how to get Trump through the trial.

My question is “What can be done to deter his followers from making more threats to jurors?” I don’t expect to stop them entirely. But there ARE ways. Law enforcement and the courts in NYC knew this was coming. They should be prepared to protect the jurors, AND arrest the people who are threatening them.

I’m betting there have already been threats, but people haven’t been arrested yet. One thing that we have learned is that law enforcement doesn’t want to talk about the scale and scope of the threats. Why? They give multiple reasons, but some are excuses for their failures:
1) The need to confirm who made the threats
2) Confirm that the threats were violations of specific laws, and for True Threats, the intention of the people making the threat.
3) They need evidence for indictments for the laws that were broken

We have seen them go after the most blatant and obvious threats first, hoping that will act as a deterrent for others. They don’t charge people making vague mob type threats, because they are hard to pin down. But based on the history of the scale and scope of the PREVIOUS threats to judges, prosecutors, witnesses and their families, there will be LOTS to solid, clearly illegal threats to choose from.

Arrests aren’t deterrents if nobody knows they happened

If I was in charge of promoting a “Protect the Jurors” campaign, starting this week I’d be pushing stories about the people who have been arrested for threatening the jurors. If they don’t have current cases, I’d look at historical cases where the person was arrested and convicted. I would include threats to people in person, on the phone, via email and on social media.

I talked to Glenn Kirschner about the steps the legal system takes for protecting jurors (and witnesses). He said when jurors are contacted with threats or bribes, they are supposed to tell the court immediately. Then three law enforcement agencies are involved: local, state & Feds. Because of this there needs to be a coordinated response. The Feds do the interstate threats, like social media. The locals do the in-person threats. Here is what I want to know now, but we probably won’t be told by law enforcement:

Are the Feds already monitoring the juror’s social media accounts?
If not, when do they start? After they get their first threat?
The COURTS already know the names of all the jurors and their social media accounts. Are they being monitored by law enforcement looking for threats? If they spot threats, what do they do? Do they contact the social media companies with subpoenas to get the information of who is making the threat?
BTW, social media companies must comply with law enforcement subpoenas to provide information, it’s part of all of their TOS, that includes Truth Social and X.

Who is monitoring & counting the juror’s phone calls and emails?
We know from the threats to Judge Engoron’s clerk that she was getting constant calls. The court Judiciary protection service counted 275 pages of transcribed voicemail threats. But the only reason we know how huge it was is because the New York State Court public safety people took that information to the media because LAW ENFORCEMENT WASN’T DOING ENOUGH TO PROTECT Engoron’s clerk and staff.

People need to know that it is not the standard practice of law enforcement agencies to tell the media about the scale and scope of threats to people, nor the status of investigations.

Here’s the thing I’ve found out after years of investigating: law enforcement agencies don’t want to charge people for their online threats, but they CAN. When they do charge people for the threats, the arrests need to be publicized. But right now they aren’t. They aren’t even releasing the mugshots of the people arrested.

Did you know that Tyler Vogel, 26, from Lancaster New York was arrested for threatening AG Letitia James and State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron? Did you see his mug shot in any media stories? I haven’t, and I looked. I did find ONE photo in a story about the threat. But it was on TikTok! I’m not using it here because I couldn’t confirm it was from an official source. I don’t know the reason for not providing the mugshot to the media, but I’m sure they have an answer. Maybe I’ll call and find out.

If law enforcement doesn’t want to put up the photos of people arrested for making threats, The media can put up the mugshots of the people who have been convicted for making threats on social media. Like Fredrick Francis Goltz, convicted for threatening Arizona election officials. Like Alan McCarty Jr., convicted for threatening to kill a judge.

Remember Taylor Taranto? He’s a Jan6er who went to Obama’s home with a van full of explosives after Trump posted the address on Truth Social.

Marcy talked about how hard it is to arrest people, even someone like Taylor Taranto a Jan6er defendant who was arrested near Obama’s home with a van full of explosives after Donald Trump posted Barack Obama’s Kalorama address on Truth Social.

“[Taranto] started engaging in whole martyrdom complex outside the DC jail and it got so bad he was such an disturbed person that even those nut jobs outside the DC jail said, “Please don’t come back.” And one day Donald Trump posted Barack Obama’s Kalorama address on Truth Social and that dude started stalking Barack Obama in Kalorama. And he was arrested for that stalking. He was arrested because he had a van with explosives in it. And he was he was hunting down a Secret Service protected former President, and it feels like you should be able to hold Trump accountable for that.”

Marcy Wheeler @Emptywheel on the Nicole Sandler show

“We really have to find a way to shame people for this kind of witness intimidation, because it’s going on everywhere. And it is one of the most toxic things in our politics right now. And we just haven’t had that conversation as a society.”

We are not going to “have a conversation as a society” unless we push for it. To do that

We need to demand for multiple people to be investigated, arrested and tried for their threats to jurors. If convicted and sent to prison we need to publicize their crimes big enough that they make it to Fox News audience, to act as a deterrent.

The DOJ and the New York Courts MUST make a big deal about the threats to jurors. There needs to be PR about it beyond putting out a press release. But it can’t just be about Trump, because as Marcy said, “Trump is very, very, very, very skilled at like toeing the line. He’s like a little child, a toddler who knows exactly how much he can get away with, and how to be most effective when he is doing that. And so in this case, in the  Taylor Taranto case, all he did was post, somewhat public information. He didn’t say go, “Go stalk Barack Obama.” It is just the fact, and he knows this, that his followers are going to respond to that. And then people like Jack Posobiec, they’re going to ratchet it up, they’re going to say, “We need to defend our guy, we need to hunt out the dissident.”

What people need to know is that Taranto used his own Truth Social account to re-post the address. On Telegram, Taranto then stated, ‘We got these losers surrounded! See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s ‘”
Taranto also told followers on his YouTube live stream that he was looking to get a “good angle on a shot,” prosecutors said.

Truth Social, GAB and Patriot(dot)Win have ALL provided detailed info in the past to law enforcement when a subpoena is provided. People on Social Media are NOT “anonymous” to the companies that post their information. Law enforcement can get their identities, can determine if they have likely broken laws, get a warrant and arrest them. The people will have a chance to challenge the arrest in the court system, this is good, some might be found to have NOT violated the law. BUT if there are NO PUBLIC arrests, then there will be NO deterrents for threats.

Marcy ended this week’s Nicole Sandler show with this New York Times story about a stalker of Lisa Page.
Ex-F.B.I. Lawyer Who Criticized Trump Says Bureau Failed to Warn Her About Stalker (Gift Link)
John C. Perez was barred from  Camp Lejeune in North Carolina because of his obsession with Ms. Page, mass shootings and a fixation on child sex abuse, (Qanon stuff) The Marines told the the FBI about him, yet they didn’t take action or notify Ms. Page about him. Also, I looked for a mugshot of John C. Perez, I couldn’t find one.

The lesson of Donald Trump is everyone gets threats, everyone gets death threats, everyone gets stalked, and that never goes away. Whether or not he regains the presidency he is about using political violence, using threats of violence against everyone. And eventually you will be part of that, everyone.”

Marcy Wheeler, on the Nicole Sandler show.

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

Jena Griswold, the Colorado Secretary of State was on Chris Hayes talking about the threats she got and revealed that there was a 600% increase in threats to her and staff. 600% WTF?

That day, she received an email declaring: “We are coming for you bitch.” Another person emailed, “If you have kids, I hope they get murdered by illegal aliens,” adding, “Seriously, just die.”

In a voicemail, someone said, “I can’t wait to find you and follow you to your house and expose your address.” Another person left a voicemail saying, “I’d love for you to die.” Some time this month, a person told Griswold on social media, “Take my advice and wear Kevlar … a lot of Kevlar!!!”

‘Just Die’: Colorado Elections Chief Who Took on Trump Sees 600% Spike in Threats, By Andrew Perez, Adam Rawnsley, Ryan Bort, Asawin Suebsaeng March 28, 2024 

On these cable news segments we often hear some specific threats, but unless someone counts all the threats, and then tells the media about them, we never know just how huge the problem is. And if we don’t know how huge the problem is, we also don’t know how terrible the response to the problem is.

At the end of the segment Griswold talked about how the DOJ Election Threat Response Task Force has failed. It’s been going since 2021 and has only 20 convictions.

Have you heard about any of those 20 convictions? Did you see any mugshots of the perps who are now serving 3 1/2 years in prison for threatening election officials? No. Because the DOJ didn’t use any photos of the convicted felons in their press release or press conference!

This is a huge failure by the DOJ. They MUST promote their successes to send a message to the general public that if you threaten election officials, their staff and poll workers you will be found, arrested, tried and punished. And I’m not the only one who thinks this. This is from AZ’s new secretary of state,

Even when federal prosecutors secure a victory after charging people making these violent threats, Arizona’s secretary of state argues that barely anyone hears about it — and that’s a major problem.

“In almost every other area criminality is deterred through public campaigns,” he adds. The Justice Department’s election task force issues typically press releases after convictions, but Fontes says press releases aren’t enough to deter people or adequate given the extent of the problem.

Top Arizona Dem: Biden’s DOJ Is Failing to Protect Election Workers From ‘Domestic Terrorism’

As my friend Bill said, that’s like if the feds did a massive drug and weapons bust but didn’t have a photo of the guy they busted or a photo of the 600 pounds of cocaine stacked up next to 275 rocket propelled grenades.

I couldn’t find a photo anywhere online of Joshua Russell of Bucyrus, Ohio who got 2.5 years in prison for death threats made in 2022 to Arizona’s top election official. The only mug shot I found was of Frederick Goltz of Lubbock Texas. He threaten Arizona elected officials and their kids on RW social media. I read all court documents for the entire Goltz case and the media coverage. His lawyers used all the usual explanations, ‘He was joking. He was in another state, he didn’t intend to take action, his comment was taken out of context, he is a good father who cares for his kids.” The prosecution countered all of those and proved he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Goltz was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

This would have been an excellent case for the DOJ to promote nationally as a deterrent, because he threatened to kill kids too. But they didn’t. It was one of the victims who posted on social media that I found the mugshot. The VICTIMS should NOT have to promote the successful prosecution.

In the case of threats to Jena Griswold, the Colorado Secretary of State’s office went to the journalists at Rolling Stone and told them what was happening. THIS IS NOT what law enforcement tells people to do. But when law enforcement isn’t doing their job, they have to. Law enforcement knew of all the threats to Judge Engoron’s clerk during Trump’s trial, but they don’t talk about “ongoing investigations” so the New York state court system’s Department of Public Safety kept count of the threats and told the media.

Here’s Lisa Rubin telling Chris Hayes about the 275 Pages of transcribed voicemail threats. When he saw that the scale and scope of the threats it finally made an impact on Hayes.

The Secretary Of State office had to go the press because law enforcement isn’t doing their job. But even media pressure isn’t enough. There needs to be an look into WHY law enforcement is failing and fix the problem.

Thanks to great reporting from Linda So and Jason Szep at Reuters, we’ve learned that law enforcement often won’t investigate and they dismiss threats as not rising to the level of criminal threat prosecution. Or they declare them “protected political speech”  But based on the experts who reviewed the threats, that’s a bullshit excuse. This is a must read piece on the failure of law enforcement to manage threats to U.S. election workers. It’s from 2021 and is damning.
U.S. election workers get little help from law enforcement as terror threats mount Reuters Campaign of Fear Sept. 8, 2021,

What’s really behind law enforcement not wanting to do this?
1) It’s not a priority
2) They don’t have a budget
3) They don’t see it as a big deal, it’s “online” or on social media, so it’s not local or “real world.”
4) It’s a lot of work for a low conviction rate, especially if they have to prove intent.
5) The people getting threatened aren’t important (POC, low-level election workers, women like Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss)
6) The people who are doing the threatening are not seen as domestic terrorists.
7) Lots of cops are MAGA Trumpers

I’ve dug into the reasons and excuses for law enforcement’s failure to act.
1) Show the problem is huge and real.
The Secretary of States offices should talk to more people in the media about scale and scope.
They should describe the actions that need to be taken, and by whom.
There should be talk about who is blocking those actions and what pressures they are using.
(Is this about Trump lovers in law enforcement? Budget? Fear of speaking out?)
4) Determine what pressures can apply to get action. What if the stories about 1,000s of actionable threats isn’t enough?
Do we need to expose the INTENTIONAL internal failures and how they will lead to deaths?

And finally, since I LOVE to talk about successes, not just failures, when a law gets passed or a person is convicted for threats or a victim wins a civil law suit and is compensated for their pain and suffering, promote those stories! Make it a big deal!

(BTW, I’ve been doing this by educating groups on the power of civil legal actions and teaching them how to do follow up stories with the media. What I don’t know how to do, and needs to be done, is a social media plan that addresses the coordinated disinformation and gaslighting and fights back.)

One thing I learned from Glenn Kirschner is that the DOJ wants people to believe they are above pressure, but he said when they get new information, either from the original reporting or from reports from sources like the Secretary of State’s offices, the DOJ is forced to look at it and respond.

Based on this information everyone being threatened needs to USE that information. Get your story out there. Demand of law enforcement, “Where are the arrests?” If law enforcement does HAVE a success, SHOW IT!

Get the media to stop with their OWN excuses. I still see a reflexive move of the media to give the benefit of the doubt to people making threats. I get it, they don’t want to be seen as censors. They want to be able to criticize elected officials, Chris Hayes was still pushing the “You should expect some incoming” as a DA, as a normal experience, until he heard of the 275 transcribed pages of voicemail threats. That finally got through to him. But the media, and the public, need to hear it OVER AND OVER again. As Barb McQuade points out in her book, the right is exploiting our old views of in-person free speech in an actual public square, via an era of anonymous bots pushing lies and threats on social media.

The DOJ Election Threats Task Force should be doing big national stories about the people who are in jail for threats. SO big that FOX news can’t avoid covering them. And when RW social media and FOX try to turn the perpetrators into “misunderstood martyrs” whose “free speech is being censored!”
There needs to be a social media rapid response team that flips that lie around. “This guy IS NOT A “FREE SPEECH” HERO.” THIS GUY THREATENED TO KILL KIDS, HE IS BEING PUNISHED AS THE LAW PROVIDES.”

The social media owners should know this is against their Terms Of Service AND the LAW! Any gaslighting about it being free speech needs to be called out as the BS it is.

I’d repeat what John Keller, head of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, had to say in this press conference,

“Death threats are not debate.
Death threats do not contribute to the marketplace of ideas.
Death threats are not a protected constitutional right.”

John Keller, head of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force

When there are no big stories about convictions for threats, no photos of the people who are going to prison for years following a trial by a jury of their peers, there will be no deterrence. Yes, justice was done, but the public doesn’t know about. Humans need to SEE justice being done.

I asked people for an example of seeing justice getting done. They recommended the ending scene of The Untouchables. I thought that was appropriate, especially since Trump has taken to comparing himself to Al Capone lately.

Two of Trump’s worst nightmares are happening right now, he’s broke and people are laughing at him. It’s glorious!
I told people I enjoyed 24 hours of knowing Donald’s squirming. In this clip you can see how Eric Trump is personally experiencing his Dad’s humiliation at the hands of bankers and bond companies.
Eric Trump Sunday interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo 

“When I came to them saying, ‘Hey, can I get a 1/2 billion dollar bond?’ Maria they were laughing!”

-Eric Trump to Maria Bartiromo on Fox 3-24-2024

It’s interesting that Eric was doing the calling, and they laughed in his face. Why not Daddy? Because they know Donald always get revenge against people who laugh at him and don’t do what he wants.

On Monday we learned Trump got the bond amount reduced to $175 million and a Double Secret Special Extension that kicks the can down the road 10 days. Maybe he’ll get the money from “outside the US” (I noted that Eric used that phrase intentionally twice, he’s setting it up for a “We had to go outside the US because no one would do it in the US!” We’ll probably learn is TOTALLY legal-for people who aren’t running for President. If it is a FEC violation, good luck with enforcement!

Intelligence communities know that money troubles make people vulnerable to blackmail. The experts will look at the laws for a bond, and it might be technically legal if it comes from Jared via the Saudis to Trump. Or it will come from Jeffrey Yass, the billionaire GOP megadonor who has a $33 billion stake in TikTok, and supported the Truth Social IPO.

After he gets the bond Trump will lash out at the people who laughed at him and didn’t give him money. But first he attacked AG Letitia James. There were be new death threats, harassment and attacks on her via social media. Judge Engoron and his clerk will likely get new threats, especially since nothing happened to Trump, OR THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THE THREATS, last time.

When Trump says “They are laughing at our country” He means they are laughing at him. Laughing at him is almost as dangerous as criticizing him. Remember how he made Governors beg for supplies during the pandemic? Trump threatens people’s lives and withholds lifesaving food and supplies–unless they grovel before him.

I was thinking about the next scene after Carrie gets laughed at — she kills everyone.
Then she goes home and tells her mom they all laughed at her and asked for her mother to hold her. Instead, the mother said, ‘I should have killed you when you were born. But I was weak and back sliding.”

I made a mashup of Eric Trump and Carrie. What I remembered was the “They are all going to laugh at you!” part but it was the attack from Carrie on the people that stood out this time. And I added the violence from January 6th and Trump promises a “Bloodbath.”

Trump is a damaged man. I want to ENJOY watching Trump squirm. I also know that Trump is like a cornered animal and he will extract vengeance on people who aren’t supporting him and who laugh at him. This time around he is promising a blood bath. That’s not funny.

Did you know that Judge Scott McAfee delayed his written order on Willis and Wade for a week because he had been receiving threats? He needed time for proper security to be in place for him and his family. The ONLY source that I found who mentioned this was Kyle Griffin at MSNBC.

This really PISSES ME OFF. I try to be all logical about the reasons the threats keep working and point to solutions, but I’m really sick and tired of the BS excuses by law enforcement when it comes to dealing with threats from the MAGA base to the judges, prosecutors, witnesses, jurors AND THEIR FAMILIES, in Donald Trump’s legal cases.

I’m a fast talker but slow writer so I dictated my thoughts to Otter.AI (a service I use to transcribe videos). It has a feature to summarize what you said and provide action items. It worked surprisingly well!

Spocko is frustrated with the lack of action taken by law enforcement to address threats made against judges and their families. He argues that local law enforcement should have anticipated and prepared for these threats, but their failure to do so is driving him ‘nuts.’
Spocko highlights specific instances where media attention and public pressure led to action being taken, but notes that more often than not, there is a lack of response or prosecution.
He questions why law enforcement is failing to take these threats seriously and why they are not doing more to address them.

It even came up with Action Items for the Georgia law enforcement based on what I said:

• Anticipate and prepare for threats ahead of time to allow for quick response
  (Georgia law enforcement FAILED!)
• Intercept, trace, find, arrest, and prosecute people making threats
  (Georgia law enforcement FAILED!)
  
  I had action items for Georgia government:
• Investigate reasons for failure to anticipate and respond to threats
• Analyze past examples of effective law enforcement response to threats
  
  I had action items for the people in comms in Georgia government:
• Serious question: Do you want threats to stop? Because when there are no arrests for threats, the message being sent to the people making them is that they are fine.

The Failure To Protect The People from MAGA Domestic Terrorists

Every week i talk with Glenn Kirschner about what can be done about threats. He got REALLY PISSED that Trump’s BLOODBATH comments aren’t going to land him in pretrial detention. He asks,

“Will the criminal justice system writ large receive this latest deadly threat with a yawn? Or will they apply the law as it is intended to be applied? ”

Glenn Kirschner on Trump’s promise of a “bloodbath” if he loses the election?

I’m always looking for solutions, but I’m also looking at people to blame when they have refused to act over and over again when it comes to threats. Did you know Georgia law enforcement never arrested ANYONE for the threats to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss?!

Check out this great Reuters report

Trump campaign demonized two Georgia election workers – and death threats followed

Cobb County Police said no one was arrested in response to the reported threats and declined further comment. …

On Jan. 25, Barron emailed Fulton County police chief Wade Yates and other officials. The family needed protection, he said. “Can we do anything to help her and her family with security?” he asked, referring to Moss, in the email, reviewed by Reuters. Yates suggested hiring an armed guard at a cost of $22.50 per hour, according to an email. “We can work out funding details next week,” he said.

Asked why Freeman and Moss didn’t receive a security detail, Fulton County Police said in a statement that it can’t approve budgeting in such a case and referred questions to the county government.

The county government said it did not provide security for the women because the messages they received did not rise to the level of criminal threats that could be prosecuted. The decision was not financial in nature, it added.

[The Reuters reporters talked to multiple experts who said the threats DID rise to the level of criminal threats.]

 Reuter’s Special Report: Campaign of Fear by Jason Szep and Linda So Dec. 1, 2021

You would THINK that considering it was a Judge who is white and a Republican, Georgia law enforcement would have prepared for threats ahead of time to allow for a quick response. Georgia cops should have announced arrests IMMEDIATELY after the threats, to show they were prepared.

It’s almost as if law enforcement WANTS anyone involved in Trump cases to be AFRAID of political violence. As I said, I’ve investigated failure and successes when it comes to threats online. I could point to good communications about threats (like from New York’s Judicial Threats Assessment Unit that informed the media about the scale and scope of the threats to Judge Engoron and his clerk.)

That report got through to people in the media like Chris Hayes, who I’ve seen conflating criticism of elected officials with threats over and over again. Watch this clip of Lisa Rubin talking about the 275 pages of transcribed threats from voice mail, that finally got to him.

I know that the media have a big role to play in making sure the people understand what is happening and who is benefiting from a failure to act on threats. So I wrote to Kyle Griffin at MSNBC.

Kyle:
Could you please dig into threats made to Judge McAfee? Your March 15 tweet was the ONLY place I saw anyone saying McAfee delayed the Willis/Wade order because of the threats to his family. 

This sounds like a massive failure of Georgia Law enforcement.

Could you do a Weekend segment on this failure of law enforcement? I know there ARE laws that can deal with these threats, but they aren’t a priority. I don’t want to hear the lame excuses. Please get someone to expose the reasons behind the failures, and what must be done to fix it.

LLAP, Spocko
@spocko@mastodon.online

Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

I just read Barb McQuade’s new book. Attack from Within. How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. I had planned to go see her in person at the Commonwealth Club and ask her some questions, but it was sold out, plus I knew what would happen, the first person at the mic would say, “I don’t have a question so much as a 3 part comment ” and talk for 5 minutes.” (I’m guilty of that myself, I even used that phrasing as a joke line with my friend Cory Doctorow and Annalee Newitz at his book reading for Red Team Blues. )

My goal when asking book authors questions is to help them amplify the parts I see as important in a memorable way. Especially for an audience that needs to hear it, but will likely never read the book.

So when I heard Barb was going to be on the Nicole Sandler show I wrote Nicole and said, “I think the most important point Barb makes in the book is that with social media our old metaphors of speech & debate are out of date and they are being used against us. Please get Barb to repeat this, with examples! Go right to Chapter 5, Why America is Particularly Vulnerable to Disinformation”

Well, as it turned out there was a scheduling issue with Barb on Tuesday, so I called in and got to repeat some of her important insights and talk about what Barb identified as failures in law enforcement, legislation and business and her proposed solutions.

I’m a slow writer but fast talker, here’s a link to me calling into the show talking about all this, in my piece below I just cover a couple of key points.

This quote from Chapter 5 is the set up I still hear from people on the left. I call it the 1st Amendment, “Free Speech” platitude line.

First, our constitutional commitment to free speech is enshrined in the First Amendment and regarded by the left and the right with a near religious reverence. As a result, many of us embrace the view that we would defend the right of our neighbors to express even the most offensive ideas, because their right to express them is essential to democracy. And so with few exceptions people are free to say anything, even if their statements are factually incorrect or, worse, intentionally deceptive.

Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America, by Barb McQuade. Chapter 5

It’s the old, “I don’t like what they have to say, but I’ll fight to the death their right to say it!” line.
Very noble! But does that mean you’ll defend to the death the “right” of 5,000 bots out of Russia to amplify intentional lies about our election? What if your “neighbor” is in Lubbock Texas and calls for the killing of election officials AND THEIR KIDS, who live in Arizona? (True story. Texas man sentenced to 3½ years for threatening Arizona election workers, officials)

In the book Barb talks about how disinformation can lead to political violence. She also gets into WHY actions aren’t taken by law enforcement in the section, titled, “Our Reluctance To Investigate”
This was something that I knew about, from the great work by Reuters’ reporters Linda So and Jason Szep.
U.S. election workers get little help from law enforcement as terror threats mount

McQuade points out how the history of the FBI abuses, as revealed by the Church Committee, led to the Domestic Investigation Operations Guide (DIOG) and how that led to FBI’s failure to investigate Jan 6th insurrectionists, EVEN THOUGHT THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN monitoring them on social media.

“The FBI’s shameful history of infringing on civil liberties, with its counterintelligence operation of the 1960s and ’70s that targeted civil rights leaders in Vietnam War protesters, makes the agency reluctant to investigate crimes that touch on Free Speech or assembly. “

Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America, by Barb McQuade. Chapter 5

If I was interviewing her I’d ask her to explain why serious criminal threats to judges, prosecutors, witnesses and jurors, as well as public health and election officials, aren’t prosecuted. I’ve read the excuses used by state & local law enforcement, as well as prosecutors. I’ve been writing about this for a long time. I wouldn’t just accept the standard answer I hear from the FBI or former prosecutors.

In the book she gives the excuse used by the FBI to NOT identify the January 6th threat online, despite social media posts openly indicating it was coming. Then she quotes the head of the FBI INCORRECTLY saying to the January 6th Committee that the FBI was “not allowed… to just sit and monitor social media and look at one person’s posts to see if maybe something would happen just in case That we’re not allowed to do.”
Barb CORRECTLY says BUT THEY ARE! And she links to AG guidelines on assessments for protective purposes, for special events.

(BTW, the other group that failed here was the Secret Service. THEY were in charge of evaluating the groups at the January 6th event and they did NOT list The Proud Boys as a threat, despite a history of violence. )

As an activist and blogger I’ve learned over the years to follow up on the author’s suggested solutions, so I’d ask Barb:
1) Who is fighting against any positive change?
2) Who is spending big bucks and lobbying against change?
3) Do the people who WANT change have any political power? Leverage?
4) Who is fighting to BLOCK change from WITHIN?
5) What can the public do?

Barb’s book answered one of my questions: Who is fighting positive change from WITHIN? The FBI.
And she explains some reasons why.
1) They are clinging to their old metaphors of who are the domestic terrorists. They don’t want to investigate cases of threats from the right wing, so they lump them all into “1st Amendment issues” and “protected political speech.”

2) They are under RW political pressure. When school boards were getting death threats, and school boards asked the FBI to investigate, the right wing LIED and said “The FBI is going after us for a difference of opinion!” Jim Jordan spread that disinformation by holding a bogus government weaponization committee. He subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray about the FBI’s “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources” to target parents at school board meetings.

3) They are overwhelmed by the scale and scope of the disinformation and threats. If it’s not a priority and they don’t have the budget, they ignore the cases.

I get tired of “documenting the atrocities” as Atrios likes to say, so if I was interviewing Barb I’d get her to give some examples of her proposed solutions working.

BTW, when I coach book authors to prepare them for the media, I have them tell a story that illustrates a problem and a solution. Since Barb wasn’t on my call with Nicole I gave an example I knew of her solutions working.

Since I’m an election worker, I looked into what was being done about threats to election workers. Did you know that in 2021 the Justice Department set up an Election Threats Task Force? They help local and state election officials investigate and prosecute people who made threats to election officials on social media. Here’s a list of successful prosecution from August 2023. Just this week the DOJ announced a Massachusetts man was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for sending a communication containing a bomb threat to an election official in the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. 

The task force having the resources and the priority of prosecuting the case is great, and it helps with a change in attitude from law enforcement about what they CAN and SHOULD be doing. But of course the huge orange elephant in the room is the lack of action taken about the threats and harassments of elected officials made by Donald Trump.

I know that Barb has been asked many times, “Why can’t we do anything about the biggest spreader of disinformation and threats, Donald Trump?” It’s the same question I ask weekly to Glenn Kirschner. So instead I’d ask her about Chapter 9, how do we “Mitigate The Harms to Public Safety and National Security.”

She tells the story of the prosecution of the men who plotted to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer. On the Sister’s In Law podcast she talked about working in national security at the US attorney’s office in Detroit. There she learned that the FBI refers to the time before an attack as, “left of boom.” The phrase connotes a visual image of a timeline, on which “boom” is the attack itself’ any point left of boom is a time before the attack.

What surprised me about that story was how there is no domestic terrorism statute that would allow “the FBI to act left of boom by using the same tactics they use in international terrorism cases.” This sounds like a good idea, help the FBI to investigate threats. But when I read that my mind jumped to “The FBI will use this power to go after LEFT wing groups! They will keep ignoring RIGHT wing groups!”

And this is where people on the left are blocking change, and the reasons are related to old metaphors and current history. Oregon passed a law that targeted the far right, but civil rights groups pointed out it is open to misuse against climate and racial justice activists. As, Natasha Lennard wrote in the Intercept.

THERE ARE ALREADY ample laws on the books and tools available to police should they wish to take on extremist violence overwhelmingly perpetrated by the far right. But it is not for lack of capacity or resources that police in the state have regularly ignored these groups; there is a well-established pattern of police support for, and indeed membership of, civilian far-right organizations, including the Oath Keepers militia.

Oregon Domestic Terrorism Law Targets the Far Right. Here’s How It’ll Backfire., Natasha Lennard. April 24, 2023 The Intercept

So it’s more than just having laws on the books, it’s about how we define terms, categorize people and groups and then who is actually prioritized for investigation and prosecution.

Think about how the right wing media and politicians are calling convicted insurrectionists hostages. The FBI has prosecuted people in right wing groups that clearly are domestic terrorists. There are hundreds of convicted insurrectionists with ties to known domestic terrorism groups. The FBI needs to keep an eye on these people with a history of threats and actual violence. It’s a threat to public safety if they don’t.

But if everyone is REPOSTING that phrase hostage, under the guise of reporting on Donald Trump, we are spreading that disinformation about who those people are and what those groups they belong to are doing.

So, since I always like to end on what we in the public do. I made a graphic to illustrate the point I learned from Marcy Wheeler about spreading disinformation, “Don’t be a Data Mule for Disinformation!“