Texas Walmart shooting: El Paso attack 'domestic terrorism'

[Go Braves]

Texas Walmart shooting: El Paso attack 'domestic terrorism'

A 21-year-old white man was arrested where the attack took place in the city of El Paso, near the US-Mexico border.

He is believed to have posted an online document calling the attack a response to "the Hispanic invasion of Texas".

The man could face federal hate crime and firearms charges which carry a death penalty.

The suspect opened fire on a crowded Walmart with an assault-style rifle and surrendered after being confronted by officers outside the store. Saturday's attack also left 26 injured.

"We're treating this as a domestic terrorist case," US Attorney for the Western District of Texas John Bash told a news conference, saying the attack appeared "to be designed to intimidate a civilian population, to say the least".

The man is believed to be the author of a text posted on 8chan, an online message board frequently used by the far right, which describes a "cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion", alluding to Hispanic people in the US.

The four-page document, reportedly posted some 20 minutes before police received the first emergency call, also expresses support for the gunman who killed 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March.

About a week back or so Wray of the FBI warned of white supremacist terrorism in the US, how nearly all arrests this year for domestic terrorism have been that ugly strain of it.
Well, unfortunately he was proven right.

 

[dzheremi]

"The Hispanic invasion of Texas."

Someone get this lunatic a history book.

Lord have mercy.

 

[Sketcher]

I've read what is allegedly his manifesto. He seemed to not have faith in Trump. He's also an idiot if he thought his actions would achieve what he wanted.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Matthew 24:12
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

 

[wing2000]

The Anti-Defamation League recently reported that right-wing extremists were linked to more murders in the United States (at least 50) in 2018 than in any other year since 1995, when Timothy McVeigh bombed an Oklahoma City federal building. The organization also found that in the past decade, roughly 73 percent of extremist-related fatalities have been associated with domestic right-wing extremists, relative to about 23 percent attributed to Islamist extremists.

How Many Attacks Will It Take Until the White-Supremacist Threat Is Taken Seriously?

 

[wing2000]

I've read what is allegedly his manifesto. He seemed to not have faith in Trump. He's also an idiot if he thought his actions would achieve what he wanted.

Yes, apparently the Trump didn't provide the right level of incentive.

The manifesto notes that many migrants return to their home countries to reunite with family, arguing that “the Hispanic population is willing to return to their home countries if given the right incentive. An incentive that myself and many other patriotic Americans will provide.” The author writes that such terrorist attacks will “remove the threat of the Hispanic voting bloc.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...inked-el-paso-shooter/?utm_term=.9873af616bda

 

[dzheremi]

The Anti-Defamation League recently reported that right-wing extremists were linked to more murders in the United States (at least 50) in 2018 than in any other year since 1995, when Timothy McVeigh bombed an Oklahoma City federal building. The organization also found that in the past decade, roughly 73 percent of extremist-related fatalities have been associated with domestic right-wing extremists, relative to about 23 percent attributed to Islamist extremists.

How Many Attacks Will It Take Until the White-Supremacist Threat Is Taken Seriously?

I agree that ideologically-driven racial/political radicalization should be taken as seriously as religious radicalization. The difference is plainly that religious radicalization both in and coming from the Islamic world is financed and propagated by billions of dollars of government and government-connected money (e.g., businessmen with ties to clerics and royal families) from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other mostly Gulf countries in a way that white supremacy just isn't. I mean it's not like Sweden or some other stereotypically 'white' country is spending millions of dollars a year to construct houses of white supremacist ideology in the same way that Saudi Arabia and elsewhere fund the construction of Wahhabi-Salafi mosques around the world.

I don't know if that makes it 'better' or 'worse' (I don't think such labels matter in this context, to be honest), but it is a difference we should be able to recognize. Of course, with the recent failure of the blocking of the arms deal to KSA (which is far less than the 2017 deal of $110 billion that nobody remembers), now is apparently not the time to be talking about that...

 

[Ana the Ist]

The Anti-Defamation League recently reported that right-wing extremists were linked to more murders in the United States (at least 50) in 2018 than in any other year since 1995, when Timothy McVeigh bombed an Oklahoma City federal building. The organization also found that in the past decade, roughly 73 percent of extremist-related fatalities have been associated with domestic right-wing extremists, relative to about 23 percent attributed to Islamist extremists.

How Many Attacks Will It Take Until the White-Supremacist Threat Is Taken Seriously?

Linked to?

Meaning they committed violence because of white supremacy? Or they're just a white supremacist who engaged in violence?

 

[wing2000]

Linked to?

Meaning they committed violence because of white supremacy? Or they're just a white supremacist who engaged in violence?

The ADL refers to them as extremists who killed.

In its annual report on extremist-related killings in the U.S., the ADL’s Center on Extremism reported that at least 50 people were killed by extremists in 2018, including the 11 individuals killed in the fatal anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Right-Wing Extremism Linked to Every 2018 Extremist Murder in the U.S., ADL Finds

 

[wing2000]

The Texas shooter referred to the Christchurch shooter in his manifesto. Each mass killing inspires another. This is a global terrorism. We need to start treating it as such.

In a manifesto posted online before his attack, the gunman who killed 50 last month in a rampage at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, said he drew inspiration from white extremist terrorism attacks in Norway, the United States, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

His references to those attacks placed him in an informal global network of white extremists whose violent attacks are occurring with greater frequency in the West.

An analysis by The New York Times of recent terrorism attacks found that at least a third of white extremist killers since 2011 were inspired by others who perpetrated similar attacks, professed a reverence for them or showed an interest in their tactics.

Attacks by White Extremists Are Growing. So Are Their Connections.

 

[Ana the Ist]

The ADL refers to them as extremists who killed.

In its annual report on extremist-related killings in the U.S., the ADL’s Center on Extremism reported that at least 50 people were killed by extremists in 2018, including the 11 individuals killed in the fatal anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Right-Wing Extremism Linked to Every 2018 Extremist Murder in the U.S., ADL Finds

Right....which doesn't say much.

 

[Ana the Ist]

The Texas shooter referred to the Christchurch shooter in his manifesto. Each mass killing inspires another. This is a global terrorism. We need to start treating it as such.

As fun as I'm sure it is to pretend these incidents are connected....what would you suggest we do to combat it? This isn't some internationally funded global terrorist organization like ISIS. There's simply no way to know for certain when someone will do something like this.

 

[wing2000]

As fun as I'm sure it is to pretend these incidents are connected....what would you suggest we do to combat it? This isn't some internationally funded global terrorist organization like ISIS. There's simply no way to know for certain when someone will do something like this.

Do you find it amusing to examine their motives?

 

[Ana the Ist]

Do you find it amusing to examine their motives?

No. I don't see anyone examining motives though....just a lot of finger pointing, and little to zero understanding.

 

[wing2000]

No. I don't see anyone examining motives though....just a lot of finger pointing, and little to zero understanding.

I would think reviewing what the shooter wrote would be a good starting place for understanding motive.

 

[cow451]

Texas Walmart shooting: El Paso attack 'domestic terrorism'
About a week back or so Wray of the FBI warned of white supremacist terrorism in the US, how nearly all arrests this year for domestic terrorism have been that ugly strain of it.
Well, unfortunately he was proven right.

Duh.

 

[SimplyMe]

As fun as I'm sure it is to pretend these incidents are connected....what would you suggest we do to combat it? This isn't some internationally funded global terrorist organization like ISIS. There's simply no way to know for certain when someone will do something like this.

Actually, to pretend they are not connected is to ignore the evidence. Sure, they aren't funded by "wealthy individuals and governments." OTOH, they don't need the same types of funding, since money isn't the issue for people in the US as it is for many in the Middle East. People like the El Paso shooter aren't worried about their parents or siblings going hungry if the shooter were to die during the attack. They typically don't have an issue obtaining, or affording, the weapons and ammunition needed to carry out the attack.

I think this person said it better than I would, "White supremacy, in other words, is a violent, interconnected transnational ideology. Its adherents are gathering in anonymous, online forums to spread their ideas, plotting attacks and cheering on acts of terrorism.

"The result is an evolving brand of social media-fueled bloodshed. Online communities like 4chan and 8chan have become hotbeds of white nationalist activity. Anonymous users flood the site’s “politics” board with racist, sexist and homophobic content designed to spread across the web. Users share old fascist fiction, Nazi propaganda and pseudoscientific texts about race and I.Q. and replacement theory, geared to radicalize their peers."

To ignore that these right wing attacks are connected is to invite more to occur.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I would think reviewing what the shooter wrote would be a good starting place for understanding motive.

And once we understand it...what's the next step?

 

[Ana the Ist]

Actually, to pretend they are not connected is to ignore the evidence. Sure, they aren't funded by "wealthy individuals and governments." OTOH, they don't need the same types of funding, since money isn't the issue for people in the US as it is for many in the Middle East. People like the El Paso shooter aren't worried about their parents or siblings going hungry if the shooter were to die during the attack. They typically don't have an issue obtaining, or affording, the weapons and ammunition needed to carry out the attack.

A semi-automatic pistol and sufficient ammo to kill hundreds can be had for less than 1000$ in the US. This argument doesn't hold up.

I think this person said it better than I would, "White supremacy, in other words, is a violent, interconnected transnational ideology. Its adherents are gathering in anonymous, online forums to spread their ideas, plotting attacks and cheering on acts of terrorism.

If you want to say that they believe in and do similar things....that's fine....I'd agree. The problem is that doesn't amount to an organization. There's no leadership to attack, no associates to hold responsible. This guy never met with anyone he spoke with.

As far as I know, the FBI and other law enforcement look at these guys as much as they can....but most are committing these shootings as a first crime. They either have no records or their previous run ins with the law leave nothing to do about their current situation.

"The result is an evolving brand of social media-fueled bloodshed. Online communities like 4chan and 8chan have become hotbeds of white nationalist activity. Anonymous users flood the site’s “politics” board with racist, sexist and homophobic content designed to spread across the web. Users share old fascist fiction, Nazi propaganda and pseudoscientific texts about race and I.Q. and replacement theory, geared to radicalize their peers."

To ignore that these right wing attacks are connected is to invite more to occur.

They're connected by ideology....but since I cannot remove an ideology from people's minds.....there's nothing to do about it.

 

[wing2000]

And once we understand it...what's the next step?

Good question.

After 9/11, the US government was given broad authority to track down Al Qaeda terrorists websites and investigate and even prosecute based on that authority. To do do the same for domestic terrorists groups would raise civil liberty concerns. Maybe there is a balance to be found?