cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
is that mag full of ball ammo? Hope he doesn’t go off half-cocked. I could go on.
is that mag full of ball ammo? Hope he doesn’t go off half-cocked. I could go on.
Smith, who lives in the Minneapolis suburb of Savage, had told the informant that the shooter who killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub last month was a “hero,” called Black people “agents of satan,” and said he was ready to engage the police “with armor and full autos,” according to an FBI affidavit.
Smith remained in custody Friday and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. Online court records show he is being represented by the Office of the Federal Defender. Phone and email messages seeking comment on his behalf were not immediately returned Friday.
The timely FBI investigation and arrest provided a sharp contrast to the warning signs that were ignored and earlier charges that were dismissed against Anderson Lee Aldrich, who was charged with hate crimes in the mass shooting at a Colorado gay nightclub, said George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley.
“The only way to protect the public is to move expeditiously and aggressively,” he said of potentially violent people like Smith. “That was a missing element in the earlier case. In many ways, it’s a cautionary tale for law enforcement: These early signals cannot be missed.”
In both cases, the suspects’ grandparents had been previously injured in run-ins with them but had later appeared to enable their alarming behavior.
In Smith’s case, authorities say his grandmother drove him to the shooting range where he was seen practicing shooting drills, firing off hundreds of rounds in just a few minutes. Relatives of Aldrich’s grandparents have said they gave Aldrich about $30,000 to buy a 3-D printer that they said he used to make gun parts.
A Colorado SWAT team in 2019 uncovered a stockpile of more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosive material, firearms and ammunition in Aldrich’s home. Aldrich was charged after the standoff, but the case unraveled. Authorities say that less than two years later, on Nov. 19, Aldrich fatally shot five people.
In Smith’s case, he was 17 when he fired an AK-47-style rifle in the house where he lived with his grandparents in 2019, according to court documents. His grandmother, who received a minor injury to her hand, told officers at the time that she had taken two pistols from Smith and hidden them in her closet. The grandparents told police they were concerned for their safety if Smith was released from custody.
The grandmother, Roberta McCue, told The Associated Press on Friday that she didn’t want to comment because she was “exhausted,” but added that her hand was injured in 2019 when she cut it on a doorknob.
According to court documents, she told police in 2019 that Smith acted “possessed” that night, and she described him as “big and scary and strong.” She also said Smith’s mother, who was living in Wisconsin, had purchased the firearm in her name and given it to Smith. His grandfather had also given him a shotgun to go skeet shooting, the documents show.
During follow-up searches, police found tactical equipment, 15 fully loaded magazines, full ammunition cans and a go-bag of water and canned goods that suggested to them he could have been preparing for a prolonged standoff. The FBI affidavit also says Smith’s electronic devices revealed Internet searches about Adolf Hitler and videos of gay people being killed. An external hard drive contained files about building bombs.
As part of a probation agreement, Smith was barred from using or possessing any firearms until he turned 19. Less than two years later, he was stockpiling firearms and enough ammunition to fire a fully automatic weapon, authorities said.
Minnesota does not have a red flag law, which allows judges to temporarily take weapons away from people determined to be a threat to themselves or others. State law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from purchasing a firearm or ammunition. However, it does allow for minors to possess ammunition and semiautomatic weapons or handguns when in the presence or supervision of a guardian.
State Rep. Dave Pinto, a Democrat who also works as a prosecutor, said, “There is a lot more we could be doing to keep guns out of the hands of people who have shown themselves to be dangerous.”
Democrats have pushed for a red flag law in the state in recent years, and are planning to again next year.
Smith came to the attention of the FBI this fall, after he frequented a firearm range and gun club wearing tactical gear, body armor and a “Punisher” mask, which the FBI said has been used by right-wing extremist groups to reference “the last thing a victim sees.”
A retired police officer who worked at the gun range contacted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center on Sept. 27 after he saw Smith shooting from behind a plywood barricade he had assembled and practicing rapid reloads of his handgun, according to the affidavit.
The operations of a different gun shop said Smith had been banned from buying weapons there after his 2019 arrest. Billy Luetkahans, operations manager of the Modern Sportsman gun shop and shooting range in Burnsville, said the store also banned others from buying guns for Smith. Still, he said, Smith had visited the store within the past year to look around.
If the store had known about Smith’s interest in neo-Nazism, “that would’ve been brought up and we’d have banned him completely from the property,” Luetkahans said. “Any sort of hate like that, we just don’t tolerate.”
According to the FBI affidavit, Smith told an informant that he was “pro mass shooting in general,” and that he wanted to add the hand grenades to his tactical vest. He said it was part of a personal arsenal that included a note cursing police officers stowed in his tactical gear.
“They can find that once they get me,” he allegedly told the informant in a recorded conversation. “When they’re scooping their boys up.”
Why he is a magat he-ro and a reason why you don't need gun regulations or need to lock up nut cases! FREEDUMB!
The leader of the gang to kidnap Michigan's Whitmer got 16 years, most accountability so far.Perhaps a good place to post FBI wanted posters of J6 insurrectionists. Collect your $30K today by dropping a dime on this asshole!
parents should just get together and demand his removal...no sane parent could want a magat coming into daily contact with their children, why not just send them to russian disinformation centers for their education? they can have Qanon class in the afternoon...How about a Swastika tattoo on his forehead? Same thing as far as I can see, same for a Swastika Nazi armband, it broadcasts a message of hate and an implied threat to minorities. The MAGA hate falls into the same category, those who wore it earned the distinction.
Lot's of things were seen in the fascist mob on J6, mostly red MAGA hats, Trump flags, confederate stars and bars, swastikas and plenty of other symbols of hate, all covered in American flags on steel poles used as weapons against police. They were defending the capitol and what remained of the elected American federal government in the building behind them. The entire congress was there and the vice president, if they all were dead, only Trump would remain with the insurrection act invoked. He watched it on TV in delight and excitement, blind to the horror those around him felt and deaf to their pleas to make it stop. Only when Pence and the congressional leadership called on state governors and reinforcements arrived did the situation change. Donald would have let them all die, even his allies in congress and was hoping for it IMHO.
Teacher hassled over MAGA hat can sue principal for allegedly threatening his job, court says
Court reinstates suit by grade-school teacher who was allegedly threatened with firing by...www.sfchronicle.com
the difference is that the baby might learn something about limits.View attachment 5258263
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questions witnesses during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill about the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2023.
“As an Alaskan, I am so angry,” said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “Alaska is the first line of defense for America... It’s like this administration doesn’t think that Alaska is any part of the rest of the country!” she shouted.
Angry senators grill Pentagon officials over Chinese spy balloon response
Senators were visibly angry as they pressed Pentagon officials on when they learned of the Chinese spy balloon, and why they waited so long to shoot it down.www.cnbc.com
There is a whole thread on the spy balloon debacle. Won't dive into that here other than to post a few tasty nuggets from today's hearings. I figured this image should be recorded along with the other examples GOP majesty.
Murkowski isn't one of the many examples of GOP crazies in Congress today, which may explain the stress she appears to be under. Imagine sitting in a caucus with Gaetz or Boebert. I've seen that kind of face on babies who were trying to communicate they were upset about something and the adults in the room were not doing that something, whatever something was. Not clear what she thought the military should have done but she was sure angry. Just like this baby:
View attachment 5258264
"I chewed them out".and it looks like part of a concerted push (feat. who else)
House briefing on China spy balloon turns tense with Greene comments: ‘I chewed them out’
A classified briefing for House lawmakers on the Chinese spy balloon turned tense on Thursday when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went after administration officials for waiting days before sh…thehill.com
They want authority...they think that their office grants them some. when they discover that it really doesn't, they look like that ^View attachment 5258263
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questions witnesses during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill about the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2023.
“As an Alaskan, I am so angry,” said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “Alaska is the first line of defense for America... It’s like this administration doesn’t think that Alaska is any part of the rest of the country!” she shouted.
Angry senators grill Pentagon officials over Chinese spy balloon response
Senators were visibly angry as they pressed Pentagon officials on when they learned of the Chinese spy balloon, and why they waited so long to shoot it down.www.cnbc.com
There is a whole thread on the spy balloon debacle. Won't dive into that here other than to post a few tasty nuggets from today's hearings. I figured this image should be recorded along with the other examples GOP majesty.
Murkowski isn't one of the many examples of GOP crazies in Congress today, which may explain the stress she appears to be under. Imagine sitting in a caucus with Gaetz or Boebert. I've seen that kind of face on babies who were trying to communicate they were upset about something and the adults in the room were not doing that something, whatever something was. Not clear what she thought the military should have done but she was sure angry. Just like this baby:
View attachment 5258264
Just effing crazy.and it looks like part of a concerted push (feat. who else)
House briefing on China spy balloon turns tense with Greene comments: ‘I chewed them out’
A classified briefing for House lawmakers on the Chinese spy balloon turned tense on Thursday when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went after administration officials for waiting days before sh…thehill.com
We had to get it in range of the sharks with fricken laser beams attached to their heads.Just effing crazy.
“I said the president may be a Democrat but he’s still the president of the United States and they made him look like a fool and made him look weak the week before the State of the Union — I’ve said that publicly, too — by not shooting it down,” Greene recalled. “And I said there was nothing I heard there today that gave me any confidence in what they did.”
“They tried to give me some more excuses and I said, ‘I don’t want to hear more of your excuses,’” Greene said when asked about how others in the room reacted to her time at the microphone. “He said, ‘well it’s a matter of opinion.’ I said ‘no, you’re nothing but excuses and it’s wrong and I’m just telling you, this is how the American people see it and it’s a serious problem.’”
“I’m [an] intel guy by trade. And I read all the paper articles about it. I would just say I didn’t learn a whole lot,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said. “I didn’t come away a whole lot wiser.”
lol. Probably true. Bacon didn't get any wiser. Lulz.
He got the same story that was told to the public. What did he expect? Did they think the people sent over to brief Congress would crack under the pressure and start telling them "the real truth"? So, now begins the investigation into the conspiracy to hide the truth. What's being told:
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said officials at Thursday’s briefing explained their decision-making process.
“They shared what happened and the decision process that they took in deciding what to do when they did it and believe that by taking it down over the water, they’ll have a chance to recover and learn lessons,” he said.
No aliens, no space lasers, no insidious guy stroking a cat, no Perry Mason moment on the witness stand. How could Biden possibly think anybody would believe the story told today by those Pentagon officials?
Yup, pretty sure longstanding pre-Trump reps. still in office must have serious additions to their medicine cabinet in light of the recent additions to their party.View attachment 5258263
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questions witnesses during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill about the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2023.
“As an Alaskan, I am so angry,” said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “Alaska is the first line of defense for America... It’s like this administration doesn’t think that Alaska is any part of the rest of the country!” she shouted.
Angry senators grill Pentagon officials over Chinese spy balloon response
Senators were visibly angry as they pressed Pentagon officials on when they learned of the Chinese spy balloon, and why they waited so long to shoot it down.www.cnbc.com
There is a whole thread on the spy balloon debacle. Won't dive into that here other than to post a few tasty nuggets from today's hearings. I figured this image should be recorded along with the other examples GOP majesty.
Murkowski isn't one of the many examples of GOP crazies in Congress today, which may explain the stress she appears to be under. Imagine sitting in a caucus with Gaetz or Boebert. I've seen that kind of face on babies who were trying to communicate they were upset about something and the adults in the room were not doing that something, whatever something was. Not clear what she thought the military should have done but she was sure angry. Just like this baby:
View attachment 5258264