Popehat: What if I told you “investigating it as domestic terrorism” doesn’t mean anything at all, but is a null-phrase calculated to mean “we take this seriously” without being specific, kind of like “person of interest”

What if I told you “investigating it as domestic terrorism” doesn’t mean anything at all, but is a null-phrase calculated to mean “we take this seriously” without being specific, kind of like “person of interest”

Breaking News: The FBI is investigating the shooting at Donald Trump's rally as possible domestic terrorism, but said they believe the gunman acted alone. Follow live updates.

Live Updates: F.B.I. Investigating Attack on Trump as Possible Domestic Terrorismwww.nytimes.com The authorities were scouring the gunman’s social media and other property as they sought to determine a motive for the attack, which injured former President Donald J. Trump, killed a spectator and w...

I thought it meant "there's a chance it wasn't a white guy."

Yup!!! We don’t have any domestic terrorism law.

Forming a circular firing squad while crying “Civil war,” shooting past each other and hitting bystanders is a very Modern GOP kind of domestic terrorism.

Question: Is “investigating a crime as domestic terrorism” a trump card for the FBI to assert their primary jurisdiction over state and local agencies?

No.

I love living in a country where there are so many shooting massacres that we don't immediately know that one targeting a presidential candidate is terrorism or just a run of the mill slaughter.

isn't it the case that "domestic terrorism" can't have a legal meaning in the states without like, new laws passed or something

Can’t target domestic groups based on their political views, per the first amendment.

ah, right

Pretty much. Partial exception, there are terrorism sentencing enhancements that have been applied to J6ers for example. But the dead shooter won't be sentenced anyway

“Look man, we had to make sure it wasn’t a white guy, okay?!”

Then I’d say you may have more insight into the law than I a random follower with no non tv based law education have. Then may insult your mother and imply that you have poor hygiene habits.

I was thinking earlier about how that phrase reminds me of how "gang related" used to be (and probably still is) bandied about.

I thought Donny wanted to break up the FBI?

At least "person of interest" was a good show, too bad about Jim Caviezel.

The T word seems to not mean anything any more. He clearly didn't mean to cause terror to the general population, he tried to assassinate one person. Did we downgrade attempted murder to a misdemeanor or something?

Only if you wear a pro gun T-shirt while doing it.

“Terrorism” more generally means the attempt to influence political outcomes via violence or threats of violence. It’s not exclusively about invoking feelings of terror, though of course that’s a common aspect.

They’re not even willing to call Proud Boys and 3Percent domestic terrorists. Any bets on them trying to blame “antifa”? 🙄

Do you have a primer on the pros/cons of having a proper domestic terrorism law (as opposed to our current law)?

Our current laws allow for terrorism enhancements in sentencing. There's not really a need to expand it any further unless you just want to start classifying certain groups as terrorists and that's not going to be applied even handedly across the political spectrum, I assure you.

Do those enhancements come into play workout a foreign or WMD connection?

NAL, but i think foreign (international) terrorism is handled differently altogether. As for WMD, I believe you can look at the Boston Marathon bombing and at least one of the charges were for using a WMD, which was part of the eligibility for death sentence. (It's already a lawl)

Will they say anything if they find proof he staged it?

I assumed that invoking that phrase would unlock some additional resources, like the world's lamest cheat code.

Like the LAPD preparing for some march "possibly involving some First Amendment activity" this weekend?

😀

Person of place

So unlike rico its just an exclamation point.

I've always figured that "investigating as domestic terrorism" just means there were no foreign governments/entities involved, so as to quell those rumors.

Does it possibly have a meaning related to resources or procedures within the FBI?

Or alternatively: is “domestic terrorism” potentially their way of saying “when we say militia/‘patriot’/rightwing extremism everyone yells at us, so let’s say something generic and hope they don’t notice right away”

oig.justice.gov/sites/defaul...

oig.justice.gov

Even that chart reflects a “we can’t actually say terrorism”

The document (which is from the DOJ) earlier on states that “domestic terrorism” and “domestic violent extremism” are used interchangeably. “Domestic terrorism” is a little more colloquial and “DVE” is used in more rigorous contexts.

Pretty sure it's just "this might have been ideologically motivated but if so maybe not in the sense of al-Qaeda/ISIS/IRA/UDA/etc., like the call, if there even was one, would have come from inside the house." Political but not international.

Just another mass shooting here in America, why is this so different from other mass shootings?

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