President Donald Trump signaled a desire on Monday to have his administration designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization. The liberal media appears keen to use a misleading narrative to shield anarcho-communist militants from a possible crackdown.
Various outlets and publications have suggested that Antifa cannot be designated as a single terrorist group because "Antifa" is supposedly a catch-all term for a motley patchwork of radical leftist groups that just happen to dress the same, use the same slogans, target the same kinds of people, engage in the same kinds of violence, share the same base ideology, and share the same origin.
CNN, for instance, rushed this week to assert, "It wasn't clear who or what exactly Trump would designate; Antifa is a loosely organized movement without a distinct leader, membership lists, or structure."
Asad Hashim, a D.C.-based Agence France-Presse news editor, noted in a Monday piece that has been circulated by various liberal papers, "Antifa — short for 'anti-fascist' — is an umbrella term for diffuse far-left groups, and is often mentioned in right-wing talking points around violence at protests."
The liberal media and their friends in the field adopted this same framing when Trump labeled Antifa a terrorist organization in 2020, only to find himself undermined by then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, who told Congress that "it's not a group or an organization. It's a movement or an ideology."
Politico, for instance, suggested in June 2020:
Antifa doesn’t appear to have any organizing structure and is connected only by an amorphous political ideology. There’s not much more than anecdotal evidence and blurry Twitter assertions that organized antifa groups showed up at the recent protests, executing any sort of “well-trained” tactics.
The current framing of Antifa is also reminiscent of the descriptions used by so-called experts and media types in reference to another outfit easily recognizable to most Americans as a terrorist organization: al-Qaeda.
The Justice Department's abstract for terrorism expert Yonah Alexander's book "Usama bin Laden's al-Qaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network," — published just months ahead of the September 11, 2001, attacks — describes al-Qaeda as a "loosely knit network" "comprised of various terrorist organizations, such as the Egyptian al-Jihad and dozens of others" that was heavily funded by Osama bin Laden and served "as an informal organizational structure for extremist Arab-Afghans, along with thousands of new recruits and supporters in some 55 countries."
'It is polymorphous, deliberately shifting its shape and style to suit changing circumstances, including the addition of new, semi-autonomous affiliates to the broader network.'
In the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks, PBS' "Frontline" amplified the suggestion by Saudi dissident Saad Al-Fagih that contrary to the description given by American law enforcement of a well-organized cell organization, al-Qaeda was less an organization and more a "phenomena" [sic].
When reporting on the manufacture and use of the deadly substance ricin in 2004, NBC News noted that following America's invasion of Afghanistan, "al Qaeda has become more diffuse, transforming itself into a loose-knit collection of underground cells."
While some in the media appear to have used such descriptions to question action or continued action against the terrorist group, others proved willing to admit that these characteristics were strategic on the part of the terrorists.
A 2005 article published in the First Monday journal noted that "according to the latest thinking, Al Qaeda is now more important as an ideology than an organization, a network than a hierarchy, and a movement than a group. It is increasingly amorphous, though initially it seemed tightly formed."
The author, researcher David Ronfeldt, noted further that "while Al Qaeda may look amorphous (i.e., shapeless), the deeper reality may be that it is polymorphous, deliberately shifting its shape and style to suit changing circumstances, including the addition of new, semi-autonomous affiliates to the broader network."
'Some Antifa leaders have been active for more than 40 years and may hold high-ranking positions in unions or nonprofits.'
"Today, now that Al Qaeda has more affiliates, the network and franchise concepts remain in play, but the emphasis is on Al Qaeda’s evolution into a decentralized, amorphous ideological movement for global jihad," added Ronfeldt.
Kyle Shideler, a senior analyst at the Center for Security Policy, told Blaze News, "The categorization you see in much of the mainstream media is deliberately misleading. It is true that Antifa is organized along decentralized, non-hierarchical lines, in keeping with their ideology as anarchists and autonomous Marxists. But it is also true that they think and write extensively, almost obsessively, about that organization and structure."
Years ago, "a 'Forming an Antifa Group' manual was published which described specific steps to create your own Antifa group and then how it is networked into larger groups. So in this sense it [is] absolutely false to say they don’t have structure," continued Shideler. "They have precisely the structure they want, which is designed to make them challenging for law enforcement to confront, and which is based on over 100 years of anarchist and Marxist organizing theory."
It's also not true to say that Antifa is devoid of leaders.
Shideler noted that in the leftist group, "leaders are determined not by titles but by force of personality, capability, training, or experience. Some Antifa leaders have been active for more than 40 years and may hold high-ranking positions in unions or nonprofits."
Shideler indicated that when briefing law enforcement officials, he often likens Antifa to an outlaw motorcycle club or to street gangs.
"Gangs are made up of smaller clubs or cliques which are networked together by a shared brand, imagery, or iconography," he said. "As the Antifa manual says, adopting the name Antifa comes with 'certain obligations.'"
'The Trump administration will get to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities.'
Contrary to the suggestion by some liberal media personalities, Antifa's characteristics, real or imagined, don't preclude officials from applying the terrorist label.
Shideler noted that the actual statute that controls the definition of terrorist and terrorist activity for the purposes of foreign terror designation — under the Immigration and Naturalization Act — "is fairly loose."
A group "of two or more people ... can be designated if it, or any subgroup connected to it, engages in terrorist activities. Those connections do not have to be financial, although they are often the easiest to prove," said Shideler.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Blaze News, "Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more."
"The Trump administration will get to the bottom of this vast network inciting violence in American communities," continued Jackson. "This effort will target those committing criminal acts and hold them accountable."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
FBI Director Kash Patel and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated amid a rise in swatting attacks on conservatives that the perpetrators will be hunted down and brought to justice.
Parallel to this effort to smoke out those behind the attacks, Republicans are championing legislation that would increase penalties for these attacks that some, including Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, have suggested should be prosecuted as attempted murder and domestic terrorism.
Swatting is the practice of calling in false reports to law enforcement — often alleging that self-harm, domestic abuse, or some form of other violent criminality is taking place or is imminent — with the goal of having an armed emergency response team dispatched to a victim's location. Since the victims of these attacks are rarely if ever expecting a sudden incursion of well-intentioned law enforcement agents into their homes, and are in some in cases law-abiding gun owners, there is a good chance of things going sideways.
In 2017, 28-year-old Andrew Finch of Wichita, Kansas, was killed in a swatting incident. Law enforcement, responding to a fake hostage threat, killed Finch when he answered the door. The agitator responsible for getting Finch killed, Tyler Rai Barriss, was also held responsible for several other swattings.
Mark Herring, a man harassed because he would not sell his Twitter handle, was another such swatting victim. When Tennessee police were dispatched to his house in April 20, Herring suffered a fatal heart attack.
Conservatives and other critics of the liberal establishment have long been strategically targeted with swatting calls.
'That's the tactic of those who don't like my politics?'
For instance, the number of times that Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been targeted is apparently now well into the double digits, including the December attack that proved fatal for a woman who crashed into a bomb squad member responding to the call.
In recent days and weeks, numerous conservative media figures and social media influencers have been swatted.
Shawn Farash, a comedian who specializes in impressions of President Donald Trump, indicated that he and his wife were swatted in Tennessee on March 13. Police apparently received a report that "somebody murdered somebody in the house and was planning a suicide by cop."
Right-wing influencer Phillip Buchanan, who goes by "Catturd" online, revealed that he was swatted on March 14.
"I was just swatted again for the 4th time," tweeted Buchanan. "As I tweeted earlier, I live in the middle of nowhere and know all the cops here. (because of the past swattings) they knew what it was immediately and just called me and sent one officer who I just had a great conversation with."
Talk radio host Joe Pagliarulo indicated that he too was swatted earlier this month, noting on his show that he momentarily suppressed the desire to grab one of his many firearms upon seeing an individual with a rifle lurking outside his home and called 911. After the dispatcher confirmed that law enforcement was on the premises, the talk radio host informed police over the phone that he suspected a swatting attack might be under way and was able to arrange a peaceful resolution.
"If I would have grabbed my AR-15 and walked out the front door, or my pistol and walked out the front door, I would have been dead in my doorway," said Pagliarulo. "Dead. I mean, think about that. That's a tactic of the left? That's the tactic of those who don't like my politics?"
Infowars host Chase Geiser shared a video of his latest swatting ordeal on March 12, noting, "Swatted for a second time in 12 hours."
The video shows police ordering his surrender over a megaphone and Geiser complying, exiting his residence with his hands over his head. Geiser's coworker Owen Shroyer indicated that he was swatted on Wednesday.
Last week, FBI Director Patel stated that the bureau "is aware of this dangerous trend, and my team and I are already taking action to investigate and hold those responsible accountable."
"This isn't about politics — weaponizing law enforcement against ANY American is not only morally reprehensible but also endangers lives, including those of our officers. That will not be tolerated," continued Patel. "We are fully committed to working with local law enforcement to crack down on these crimes."
Newly minted FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino provided a brief update Wednesday, noting, "Our teams are actively working on the Tesla incidents and the swatting incidents."
Noem indicated that the DHS is also now taking the swatting attacks seriously.
''People need to be in prison for this.'
"Under President Trump's leadership, we will not sit idly by as conservative new media and their families are being targeted by false swatting," Noem wrote on X. "@DHSgov has the ability to trace phone numbers and track location information. We will use it to hunt these cowards down."
"This is an attack on our law enforcement and innocent families, and we will prosecute it as such," added Noem.
Lawmakers appear to be taking the matter seriously as well.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement, announced an investigation into the recent increase of swatting incidents and requested a staff-level briefing from the Department of Justice and FBI by April 9 to better understand the phenomenon and what is being done about it.
There is now renewed interest in advancing Tennessee Republican Rep. David Kustoff's Preserving Safe Communities by Ending Swatting Act. The proposed law, endorsed by the National Association of Police Organizations and the National Sheriffs' Association, would impose strict penalties for swatting, including 20 years in prison if someone is seriously hurt as a result of an attack.
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), a co-sponsor of the bill, called swatting "an extremely dangerous form of political terrorism," stressing, "People need to be in prison for this."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Border czar Thomas Homan discussed recent cartel threats against U.S. Border Patrol agents and U.S. military personnel with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck last week, noting that he anticipates that "there will be violence on the border."
Homan further indicated that President Donald Trump is prepared to both "rain hell down" on the cartels and "wipe them off the face of the earth."
The State Department is now taking steps to streamline the annihilation process.
According to the New York Times, the State Department is planning to designate over six cartels and criminal groups with links to Latin America as foreign terrorist organizations.
'The Cartels' activities threaten the safety of the American people.'
Six unnamed sources familiar with the imminent decision told the Times that in addition to Tren de Aragua and MS-13, the Trump administration plans to designate six Mexican cartels as FTOs: the Cartel del Golfo, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Michoacán family, the Northeast Cartel, and the Sinaloa Cartel.
The planned designations are in accordance with an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office.
"The Cartels' activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere," wrote Trump. "Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States."
Trump underscored that it is now the "policy of the United States to ensure the total elimination of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States through their extraterritorial command-and-control structures."
When a secretary of state ultimately makes an FTO designation, Congress must be notified of his intent and given seven days to review the designation. Apparently, Secretary Marco Rubio has already done so.
Unless there is a successful effort in Congress to block the FTO designation of these groups responsible for mass murder, kidnappings, assassinations, and trafficking deadly substances into the homeland, notice of the designation will be published in the Federal Register.
Once in effect, it will be unlawful for any person in the U.S. or subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. to knowingly provide "material support or resources" to the terrorist organizations. That includes financial services, lodging, identification, and transportation.
The Mexican government, the New York Times, and Soros-backed liberal think tank Brennan Center are among the radical outfits that have taken issue with the Trump administration's plan.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened to expand her lawsuit against American gun manufacturers and vendors if the State Department went through with the designations, reported CBS News.
Sheinbaum noted specifically Mexo would introduce another allegation accusing gunmakers of "complicity" with terrorist organizations.
Blaze News previously reported that the New York Times complained that terrorist designations for the cartels culpable for the deaths of over 200 Americans a day might lead to American companies having to wean off Mexican labor; a loss to the Mexican economy in the form of reduced remittances; and unilateral American military strikes on terrorists and terrorist facilities.
Rachel Levinson-Waldman, the managing director of the Brennan Center's liberty and national security program, alternatively suggested that the designations were "counterproductive" because they might negatively impact asylum seekers who give money to the cartels, NGOs that service illegal alien communities, and American drug addicts and pushers.
To the likely chagrin of Levinson-Waldman and the Times, the Trump administration is unlikely to give mass-killers a pass in order to protect the Mexican economy and keep fentanyl dealers out of prison.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Citizens' Movement, Pax Europa (BPE), is a German-based activist group that raises awareness about "the human rights violations caused by political Islam and about the existential threats that the increasing spread and influence of political Islam poses to free, democratic societies."
BPE was preparing for an anti-jihad demonstration in the southwestern German town of Mannheim on Friday. Before the rally could begin in the supposed knife-free zone, an Afghan migrant armed with a hunting knife affirmed the activists' worst fears.
Sulaiman Ataee, 25, left Afghanistan for Europe as a teen and has been living in Heppenheim, Hesse, with his wife and two children.
"He was inconspicuous, we greeted each other normally," one neighbor told Bild. "But recently, about the last year, I noticed that he had changed. Before, he was helpful, then he suddenly became colder. He was suddenly more withdrawn. And also more aggressive."
Ataee's guise of assimilation fully slipped Friday when he savagely attacked BPE activist and German politician Michael Stürzenberger, 54, along with four other demonstrators — ages 25, 36, and 42 — with a knife just before noon.
A German police officer, identified by German media as Rouven L., rushed to intervene, reflexively tackling one of the anti-jihad activists. According to German authorities, after intervening, Rouven was "attacked by the suspect and stabbed several times in the head from behind."
Graphic footage of the incident shows the bearded radical — whom Bild deemed a "fanatical Islamist" — sneak up on the officer who had tackled the BPE activist, then slit the officer's throat. Another cop responded just a moment too late, laying out the radical with a well-placed bullet.
All of the victims were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Rouven underwent emergency surgery and was placed in an artificial coma. He ultimately succumbed to his injuries Sunday afternoon. The GoFundMe campaign for Rouven's family has raised over $409,737, despite initially only asking for around $22,000.
BPE noted on Facebook that Stürzenberger survived a stab to the thigh, a stab to the leg right above the knee, an injury to the upper arm, and a "gaping open wound" in the side of his face, underscoring this was "what a single Afghan 'refugee' can do with a knife."
The Islamic terrorist alternatively survived his shooting by police. State police raided Ataee's apartment Saturday and confiscated computers and storage devices.
The Daily Mail reported that some neighbors indicated that the killer's wife disappeared before the raid and may have known what Ataee planned on doing.
'In major German cities we have a problem with certain young men with a migrant background who despise our state.'
Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann told SWR News, "All our thoughts are with the family, relatives and colleagues. The pain of such a cruel loss out of nowhere is hard to measure."
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called for unity "against Islamist terror and for our free society."
Faeser also stated, "If the investigations reveal an Islamist motive, this would be a further confirmation of the great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence."
Blaze News previously reported that German and Dutch officials captured four Hamas terrorists in December believed to have been plotting an attack against "Jewish in Europe."
Following Germany's annual migrant riot, Faeser said in January 2023, "Good politics must clearly state what is happening: In major German cities we have a problem with certain young men with a migrant background who despise our state, commit acts of violence and are hardly reached by education and integration programs."
'His death shows what hatred and incitement can do.'
Mannheim Mayor Christian Specht said in a statement, "Political extremism has no place in our urban society."
While the BPE activists were attacked along with the officer, Specht appeared to implicate them in Rouven's demise, stating, "His death shows what hatred and incitement can do."
Despite his jab at the citizen victims, Specht reminded local radicals that "violence has no place in our city and must never play a role in political debate — no matter how opposing the positions may be."
Specht also implored everyone to unite once again behind the mantra of "diversity" and to "avoid any division."
"I am deeply saddened that the brave police officer succumbed to his serious injuries after the terrible attack in Mannheim," tweeted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Scholz said in a subsequent message, "The police officer killed in Mannheim defended the right of all of us to express our own opinions. If extremists want to restrict these rights by force, they must know that we are their toughest opponents. We will use all the means at our disposal under the rule of law."
Scholz and other German politicians were barraged with criticism online for having created the environment and set the policies that would permit radicals to pour into the country from abroad.
While establishmentarians were hounded for resuming their "diversity" mantra in the aftermath of another potentially avoidable terrorist attack, Islamic radicals celebrated the stabbings on social media.
SWR News indicated Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Thomas Strobl had to condemn a popular video on TikTok wherein radicals called for the murder of "all ex-Muslims and every critic of Islam."
According to SWR News, one of the victims is a German-Kazakh citizen; another is an Iraqi citizen; and three others are Germans.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
It’s been a year since Trump took back the White House -- how is it possible we know so little about these cells, and when will we see mass arrests of these paid agitators and the politicians who are determined to use whatever power they have to help them?
The fraudulent conduct of Somalis and others only gets worse because tribal behavior dominates in these non-assimilated immigrant groups.
freebeacon.com
www.theblaze.com