9mo ago

F.B.I. Says It Found Largest Cache of Homemade Explosives in Its History at Va. Farm

www.nytimes.com

nytimes.com

They found more pipe bombs in a bedroom inside Mr. Spafford’s house, loosely stuffed in a backpack that bore a patch shaped like a hand grenade and a logo reading “#NoLivesMatter,” prosecutors said.
No Lives Matter is a nihilistic, far-right ideology that largely exists on encrypted online messaging apps like Telegram

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silence7 @slrpnk.net

9mo ago

F.B.I. Says It Found Largest Cache of Homemade Explosives in Its History at Va. Farm

www.nytimes.com /2024/12/31/us/fbi-explosives-virginia-farm.html

64 comments

The guy is white, so let's try the good old Ctrl+F "terror" and yup, sure enough, zero results.
- Guess Italian isn't white enough after all since they have no problem throwing that terrorism charge on an actual working class hero, Luigi
  
  He killed one of the rich instead of a minority
  
  Reading about who were considered white 100-150 years ago is a wild ride. It basically meant brits, Germans, and french. I guess us scandis as well, but nobody really cared about us at that point (to the extent anyone do nowadays). Italians were basically the brown people of europe, and I guess that's how they managed to go with terrorism charges.
  
  To be fair. In the 1900-1960 eugenics movement in the US, italians, greeks etc. were considered inferior compared to the “purest” races of northern europeans.
  
  Luigi was actually the son of the owner of Mangione Enterprises, got a masters degree from an ivy league university, and worked a desk job in tech, so not really working class. Also, terrorism is a requirement of first degree murder charges in the state of New York, otherwise they wouldn't need to give him the label.
- They're explicitly using him to slander nihilists. Typical hegemonic narrative.
"Hmm..." thinks I, after reading the headline. "I wonder if this is going to be someone on the right or the left. I have my suspicions, but let's not jump to unfounded conclusions."
Turns out my conclusions were (once again) entirely founded.
The neighbor also told investigators that Mr. Spafford sometimes used photographs of President Biden for target practice at a local shooting range and believed that “political assassinations should be brought back.” After the attempt on President-elect Donald J. Trump’s life in Pennsylvania in July, the papers said, Mr. Spafford told his neighbor that he “hoped the shooter doesn’t miss Kamala,” an apparent reference to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Mr. Spafford moved to his farm this fall, and the neighbor went to visit him there in October wearing a secret recording device, the papers said. Mr. Spafford told the neighbor that he had various types of explosives at the property and discussed fortifying it with “a 360-degree turret” in which he planned to mount a 50-caliber rifle, according to the papers.
No Lives Matter is an offshoot of the broader “accelerationist” movement, which seeks to accelerate radical social change through sabotage and violence. Some scholars of far-right extremism believe it takes its name from a song entitled “No Lives Matter,” by the pro-Trump Canadian rapper Tom MacDonald.
- song entitled “No Lives Matter,” by the pro-Trump Canadian rapper Tom MacDonald.
  I understand the words in this sentence, but the order they are presented in is... Baffling.
  
  Thomas MacDonald (born September 21, 1988)[1] is a Canadian rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and former professional wrestler. He is known for his anti-establishment subject matter in his music, in which he frequently criticizes "woke" culture, herd behavior and groupthink.[2] In 2024, he emerged as a figurehead of "MAGA rap", a Trumpist subgenre of hip hop.[3][4][5]
  There's a lot to digest there.
- Relevant to your sentiment there.
- I’m assuming this was for when “the election was stolen”, but it wasn’t because musk won :)
Will we ever start seeing terrorism changes for these terrorists?
- Of course not; he's a white, right-wing nationalist. Nothing to see here.
- Not unless they're a minority or they kill or threaten someone rich and conservative. The rich part there is really important, they won't care if a poor conservative gets killed. They might care a little if a rich progressive gets killed, but only if they think there might be a chance it would lead to attacks on rich people in general.
- Terrorism Charges are only really required for the First Degree Murder Charge in the State of New York, afaik.
  This guy probably hasn't killed anybody yet, and he lives in Virginia.
- I think you would have to commit a crime first. This person only has possession of an ilegal gun afaict.
  
  And possession of illegal bombs.
...that largely exists on encrypted online messaging apps like...
If you're a journalist demonizing encrypted communication, I can't take you seriously.
- Get used to it, that's the next rhetoric. If the government can't read it and filter it, they're going to try to stamp it out over the next few years.
  
  That part's not new, that started in 2001. But journalists specifically have a vested interest in having secure and private communication. It's not in their interest to equate it with terrorism.
- it's ok! telegram is not encrypted!
Another GOP criminal, not shocked.
I wonder what the holdup was, taking over a year to move on information, and then only on the pretense of a sawed-off shotgun as a reason. It seems really, REALLY cautious.
I wonder if neighbor was being pressed to "infiltrate" the circle. Something's really off here.
- The way the guy talked, he seemed to imply he knew about a lot of other people involved in that movement. Perhaps the FBI was just really making sure all of their i's were dotted and t's were crossed so nothing goes wrong with bringing him in and getting him to divulge a lot of information. Or.. the guy has already blown off half of a hand making his explosives. Maybe the FBI was waiting in the hopes he'd blow the rest of himself to kingdom come and they wouldn't have to deal with him lol.
- He and nobody who lived with him had any outstanding warrants, otherwise they probably would have sent in the national guard and we'd be seeing Tankies defend him on the front page tomorrow.
Fascism =/= nihilism. The hegemonic narrative doesn't understand anarchism, nihilism, leftism, etc...
Do they just have group chats on telegram where they hype each other up and finally one yells “Leroy Jenkins” and runs off to do something stupid?
- If so where's my invite (NOT A COP)
"encrypted" + telegram?
- = online ?
  
  “Messaging”
Thank god people like this aren't in any positions of power. /s
Archive link
This is concerning. Did he commit any crimes other than the rifle?
- First paragraph of the article:
  A Virginia man was arrested this month with what federal prosecutors described in court papers on Monday as the largest cache of “finished explosive devices” ever found in the F.B.I.’s history.
  You don't let something like that get to the point of killing people; you stop it before they set them off.
  
  Thankfully for all of us, thought crime isn't a crime. The only crime the article mentioned is the short barrel rifle.
  Yes, the arrest describes the bombs he built, but it doesn't say he was charged with a crime related to them. Because that's not a crime afaict
I understand using bombs and making them in the context of being a violent nutter but... What'd he think he was going to do with all that? Run around like an Easter bunny bomber handing em out?

64 comments