FBI arrests Georgia man suspected of planning to bomb White House

[FSogol]

"approach White House “from the back road”

Someone has never been to Washington, DC. It is slightly different than Burford, GA.

[corydodt]

I’m curious about the “rendered inert” part… did they take regular explosives and treat them somehow? Why not just give him, IDK, play-doh or whatever.

[MrV]

This is my concern too. I would prefer the FBI not string a person along until they have enough evidence to put them away for life, but instead intervene so the person can receive counseling, attend support groups, and be given correct medication in order to steer the person away from going down the path of their own dark fantasies. However, and tragically, it seems the FBI helps troubled people become even more lost in their dark fantasies; which the FBI motives for doing these things appear to be purely self serving for their organization.

[anon48584343]

@MrV

I would prefer the FBI not string a person along

Agreed.

CNN is reporting that the investigation “took more than a year”. I wonder in that time period if they had any opportunities to steer this person in a different direction.

[MaiqTheLiar]

This looks good but why Tom Skerritt?

[MrV]

The question I ask myself, whenever the FBI does this, “Could this person have been saved instead?” I personally think they could have. It’s very sad that there isn’t more public protest to the FBI using people in this way and not ensuring they get the correct help instead.

[RickMycroft]

If only there was some way that he could have done careful research and had accurate maps at his finger tips…

The White House

Huh. The White House floors are numbered British style.

[RickMycroft]

@FSogol

"approach White House “from the back road”

And then fire an anti-tank rocket to get inside. If he was planning to fire it from his vehicle, a tip: Keep all the other windows rolled up tight. You want to contain the rocket exhaust to hide your position. /s

[dommerdoodle]

That is the creepiest one I have ever seen from you… Have you gone off the deep end?

[Avyctes]

Note to potential terrorists: set achievable targets. How many people with guns guard the White House on any given day? Hint: more than you can distract by yourself.

[anon61221983]

I wonder who got in touch about his radicalization? Cumming is a rather conservative part of the Metro area, and in fact Forsyth used to be a sundown county. And I mean in the 1980s.

[Avyctes]

@anon61221983

I wonder who got in touch about his radicalization?

Doesn’t have to be anyone, it’s probably his search history or something like that.

[anon61221983]

No, it says in the article that someone tipped the FBI off that he was radicalized.

[Wanderfound]

@Faffenreffer

Why would anybody want to bomb the White House?

A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn

[Wanderfound]

@anon48584343

CNN is reporting that the investigation “took more than a year”. I wonder in that time period if they had any opportunities to steer this person in a different direction.

It is more likely that it took them a year to convince their patsy to make the attack.

Transcript at:

Episode 31: Fake ISIS Plots and the Selling of Forever War

Adam : The ability to prod along these, these plots is really where the rub is, right? Because there’s kind of a gradient on one end of the spectrum you have some people who maybe are maybe actively sort of pursuing violent acts and maybe it’s sort of sensible that the FBI give them a little nudge. Although that even that is debatable. And then on the other end of the spectrum, you have people who are basically just doing idle chatter, who are sometimes mentally unwell, oftentimes mentally unwell. In the beginning of the show we talked about the case of Emanuel Lutchman in Rochester, New York, who had twice been committed for mental instability, who was targeted by three different informants, who didn’t have the money to go to Walmart to buy the materials, so the FBI drove him there and then gave him the $20 in cash to buy some zip ties and some knives or something. And that’s sort of the more extreme end of the spectrum, but yet all this is flattened and when the media announces a headline its, ISIS plot, ISIS plot, but the FBI, I think even by and the really good documentary on the Newburgh Four, the FBI agent says, “Keep fear alive.” There’s a political component to this, which is the FBI needs to rationalize its existence and it does so by constantly having these headlines. That the headlines are the thing. This is one of the rare instances where absolutely 100 percent of the motive behind what the FBI is doing or what law enforcement does is entirely about the headlines where sometimes it’s like 60, 70 percent. I think in this case it’s 100. To what extent does that get completely flattened in any of these kind of gradients get flattened?

Pardiss Kebriaei : The vast majority of cases since 2014, uh, alleging material support for ISIS have been travel related cases. I mean, they’re not even, they’re not even these sting operations where we can question how much the FBI was involved and what the plot was and how predisposed the person was to actual carry out the act. The vast majority are, you know, uh, young men in their late teens and early twenties who are buying or thinking about buying a plane ticket to travel to Syria, allegedly or Turkey or even someplace in the Middle East. And that coupled with, uh, you know, social media content then becomes the case. Um, so yes, there are informants involved in even those cases, but I think we need to be clear that the majority of cases since 2014 against ISIS have been travel related, which means, you know, really just buying a ticket and getting to the airport and then arrest, um, nothing about, you know, does the person actually arrive there? What happens when they arrived there? Were they fighting? Did they have a true intention to actually go to Syria and join ISIS and stay and fight? I mean, none of that. It’s, it’s totally preemptive. I mean, it’s, it’s caught at the airport and again, even those, even those cases, which are the vast majority, involve undercover agents and um, you know, confidential informants who prod the person along and give them money to buy a plane ticket or drive them to the airport, um, you know, or put them in touch with, uh, with a supposed recruiter in Syria to sort of get them information about how to get there. So.

[iquitos46]

strong text[quote=“MrV, post:24, topic:136915, full:true”]
This is my concern too. I would prefer the FBI not string a person along until they have enough evidence to put them away for life, but instead intervene so the person can receive counseling, attend support groups, and be given correct medication in order to steer the person away from going down the path of their own dark fantasies. However, and tragically, it seems the FBI helps troubled people become even more lost in their dark fantasies; which the FBI motives for doing these things appear to be purely self serving for their organization.
[/quote]
I once asked an FBI Agent that very question. His reaction was scorn and disgust. His response was that if someone is planning a crime their job is to arrest him. I hung in long enough to say “what if you scare the living shit out of them by presenting your information and them telling them they will be under surveillance and are to undergo treatment”. You sure don’t know much about the world was his reply. His job was online entrapment chat rooms. A paid actor in essence luring in the low hanging fruit to justify his $150,000. salary. Fucking scum more interested in a bust than a changing a life in a healthy way.

[DukeTrout]

@corydodt

I’m curious about the “rendered inert” part… did they take regular explosives and treat them somehow? Why not just give him, IDK, play-doh or whatever.

Since we’re in the dumbest timeline, I’m now picturing something like this:

[two FBI agents back at the office]

“So what is in this inert explosive? Play-doh?”

“No, it’s C4 that has been cut with a large percentage of clay and sawdust just in case the suspect tests it chemical - WAIT! Why do you still have the inert explosive?!”

[Melizmatic]

SMFH

[SoylentPlaid]

Ah yes, “sneak in the back”, the Secret Service will never have thought of that! Genius!

[MrV]

It’s always nice to be dismissed because by not agreeing with them then we don’t know how the world really works. There’s just so much to unpack from such sentiments.

Also, if planning a crime is a crime, the solution is to create laws which structures how to rehabilitate people arrested for planning crimes.

I guess I’m just old fashion and believe a person’s life is valuable, and if they can be helped, they should be given the choice to receive it.