Think about this. A serving officer in the US military was plotting mass murder of political figures

[First Speaker]

...as well as God knows who else. Not a goddam peep from our "President", or the GOP establishment. I know that we've descended into one new low after another these past few years...but doesn't this development seem, well, peculiarly ominous? Given how rigorously the military reviews its personnel...nobody saw this coming? And are there others like him, a sort of unofficial cadre of sleeper cells in the military and/or law enforcement, just waiting to make their move? Suppose this lunatic had murdered a significant proportion of his targets--a political massacre, by a fucking military officer. The impact on our democracy would have made 9/11 look like a bump in the road. Is anybody actually trying to, you know, stop this? Or does Trump, at the very least, think that planning to kill "lib'rul" political and military figures a cool idea? The fact is, we cannot trust this "administration" to protect its adversaries. In its way, I think this is as dangerous a step towards the abyss as anything that's happened in the Trump Era...

[jberryhill]

1. "nobody saw this coming?" - Huh?

How can you say that? Quite obviously, someone DID see it coming, since "it" didn't happen, and he was caught before he had an opportunity to strike.

Why do you suppose they started looking at this guy, and then obtained the relevant warrants needed to collect all of that information about him?

What makes you believe it was not others in the military who first suggested there was something not right about this guy?

[PJMcK]

2. Spot on (n/t)

[First Speaker]

4. You're right, of course...

...someone indeed saw it coming, and indeed stopped him. I was engaging in hyperbole, and for that I apologize. I still think this is an ominous sign, and wonder to what extent Trump's all-but-open fascism is influencing others like this guy...

[jberryhill]

6. You can't help but wonder how many are out there

And whether they learn from the mistakes of the ones who get caught.

I think that’s part of the reason that prosecutors don’t make these “media friendly” events.

[lunatica]

12. They watched this guy until they could legally apprehend him

It’ll be very interesting to see what motivated him. Very interesting indeed!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. News reports state he was flagged by a program at CG for his searches on working time fall 2018. .nt

[DashOneBravo]

3. The USCG is Homeland Security

Not the Department of Defense.

That said, if he’d been an officer in the US Army. If he’s convicted they can hang him.


Also your post reminds me of the 2009 Ft Hood shooting. Which wasn’t labeled as a terrorist attack. Despite him yelling “allahu akbar”

[rwsanders]

8. USCG is still the "military" and the same UCMJ applies

[GulfCoast66]

5. I read the Coast Guard got the ball rolling on the investigation.

So that seems to be still working.

[rwsanders]

10. They will hammer him, as well they should. They came down hard when there were allegations of rape

and sexual harassment at the academy.
That said, there is a prevailing culture of right wing nuttery in the USCG. For some reason the rank and file seem to believe that the republicans are more "military friendly"; when in actuality they are more friendly to military contractors, who hire retired technical folks and brass.
But it is tragically comical to hear the rank and file scream about the evils of socialism, when ever dollar and benefit they have is from socialism and they live in the most socialist segment of american society: while not complete they are to some extent guaranteed employment which comes with socialized medicine, housing allowance (based on local cost of living) or free housing, food allowance, uniform allowance (for enlisted), subsidized education, subsidized childcare (when available), moving expenses, etc., etc.

[lunatica]

13. They just see it as employment benefits

Most people don’t understand that government benefits are paid by taxpayer money and therefore miss the Socialist connection of our taxes paying for everything. Not too many get the connection that government money is money that we all pay taxes on. That virtually every cent spent by government is money that comes from us paying taxes.

This is a sad fact.

[radius777]

7. this nut is probably a hero to Trump's base

so there's no reason Trump would criticize him... "very fine people" indeed.

[BobTheSubgenius]

11. They probably prefer maniacs that don't get caught.

[ffr]

9. Maybe with all of gunsites on Fox News placed along with pictures of democrats, maybe it's time

we had a discussion about what is acceptable for entertainment networks to blast all over the airwaves 24/7.