FBI warns of neo-Nazi plots as attacks on Northwest power grid spike

[swag]

Source: Oregon Public Broadcasting

By Conrad Wilson (OPB) and John Ryan (KUOW)
Jan. 19, 2023 5 a.m.

A white pickup truck with a rack of roof lights blazing pulled up to an electrical substation in the small town of Morton, Washington, about 70 miles south of Seattle on June 16. In the predawn dark next to the city cemetery, a man in a dark hoodie and baseball cap hopped out of the truck. He broke a steel gate apart, likely with a crowbar later found at the scene, and walked inside the fenced facility on his way to sabotaging its high-voltage transformers.

Electrical substations transform high-voltage electricity to the lower voltages that keep America’s lights on, its food cold, its medical devices operating and its phones charged. Far-flung substations can be difficult to secure. Damaging even a single one can shut off critical services to thousands of people.

Attacks like the one in Morton are on the rise in the Northwest – there have been 15 since June, more than in the previous six years combined. The recent attacks make this region a hotspot for such activity, according to a joint investigation by Oregon Public Broadcasting and KUOW. In most cases, the motives aren’t known. But as the FBI and extremism researchers have noted, neo-Nazis have been calling for just such attacks.

“The individuals of concern believe that an attack on electrical infrastructure will contribute to their ideological goal of causing societal collapse and a subsequent race war in the United States,” according to an FBI memo obtained by OPB and KUOW.

Read more: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/19/surge-in-oregon-washington-substation-attacks-as-fbi-warns-neo-nazi-plots/

[cilla4progress]

1. Till one of these losers is themselves

electrocuted in the act!

[Lonestarblue]

2. Domestic terrorism has been on the rise since 2016. No need to wonder about the cause!

[JohnSJ]

3. Is anyone surprised by this, and frankly the hesitancy to deal with those insurrectionists in an

expedited manner is only contributing to this problem.

[onecaliberal]

4. This is what happens when you don't lock up the coup plotters.

[calimary]

13. THIS!!!!

[calimary]

14. THIS!!!!!

[calimary]

15. THIS, Dammit!!!!!!!!!!

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Time for these companies to install some monitoring devices

Not like it's not available, nor takes a lot of time.

[Hekate]

24. They had cameras running. Big whoop -- cameras.

[atreides1]

6. This is a perilous course for the FBI

The FBI is going after the Republican base...which will make Jordan, Perry, Greene, Gosar, Bobert, and Gaetz unhappy!!!

[IronLionZion]

7. Make the penalty for violent crimes while mentally ill the same as terrorism

then there's no need to make excuses for white terrorists or pretend they don't have any political agenda.

Americans like me would feel safer if violent "mentally ill nonpolitical" white criminals were locked up for damaging America's infrastructure.

[republianmushroom]

8. Call it what it is "Terrorist attack" and when they are caught

punish them as terrorist.

[wnylib]

12. It is very clearly domestic terrorism.

I think that it is intended as intimidation as DOJ pursues investigations and likely indictments for some higher level MAGAs.

A threat of what to expect if TFG and some Congress critters are indicted.

[republianmushroom]

16. Yep and it may work considering our present

[wnylib]

26. No, I don't think it will work.

But I do think that it would be wise to get a generator. I live in an apartment building so I am looking into solar generators.

[Traildogbob]

9. It's time to

Go after these terrorists with the same level of effort as we do when they are brown and across the ocean, and we are told are a threat to us and our democracy as a reason to invade and spend trillions. These are right her, right now, with unlimited, unchecked access to weapon's more advanced and dangerous than any Taliban, ISIS or any other cult from third world counties, crammed into the bed of Toyotas. These muther fuckers have huge extended bed, massive diesel MurKKKan made trucks. And in plain sight, with their own ISIS style flags proudly flying. Time to Hell Fire Missile there asses. Like the ones that were recently used to take out a terrorist leader with scalpel like precision and limited collateral harm.

[Initech]

11. Agreed!

It's time to start going scorched earth on these terrorist scumbags. Go after their enablers on social media and Fox News, and their financiers. It's time to start taking out the trash now, or it's gonna get worse. The right wing is the problem and they're enabling these violent lunatics. We need to lock these assholes up.

[Traildogbob]

18. The Cleric leaders

Sending out the minions to kill and die are right out in the open. At Mardi-Lardo and on air in the “War Room” (high priest Bannon) and every prime time evening at the Fox Mosque Terrorist headquarters.

[Initech]

19. How is Steve Bannon not in jail yet?

That guy is a terrorist and should be thrown in Supermax.

[moniss]

29. Garland

is waiting until after the overthrow so he can claim conclusive proof. At that time he will offer a plea deal of reduced charges as long as Bannon agrees to go to his room for a whole day and not to get dessert. For two whole suppers.

[Initech]

10. Time to start treating these terrorists as terorrists.

There's only one acceptable thing to be done with these neo nazi and white supremacist shitheads:

[Lucky Luciano]

17. Terrorism. Florence Colorado for life sounds good to me.

[Baitball Blogger]

21. I wonder if what DeSantis is doing is what would happen once they thought they won?

What he's doing is putting the cart in front of the house.

The dregs are staring a race war, and the ultimate purpose is precisely what De Santis is forcing in Florida?

[old guy]

22. I repeat: This is the civil war they said was coming.

[orangecrush]

27. If they are caught in the act

I hope they join their fuhrer

[Initech]

30. A civil war in modern times will look nothing like the 1865 civil war.

There won't be a clear battlefield. There won't be formal generals. There will be online social media trolling, coming from the darkest corners of the internet, resulting in real life terror attacks and death threats. And there probably won't be a lot people can do to stop the madness.

[old guy]

32. Exactly my point.

[moniss]

34. Agreed

and you can see they are fighting it as guerilla type activity. Years ago these terrorist types made the calculated decision to cloak themselves with a religious aspect in order to use "freedom of religion" and "Christianity under attack" as weapons to defend themselves against criticism/legal proceedings. They knew if they started spouting this stuff they could get the more radical evangelical ministers etc. to help give them cover from being held accountable.

Well over 40 years ago there were investigative journalists writing in-depth articles about the infiltration of these people using religious cover to work their way into the military, their recruitment of service members and their strategy to have members enlist in the military in order to recruit and also to receive training in weapons and tactics. I remember specifically in the mid '80's people raising alarm about this activity in the Air Force and at the service academies. The screaming from Falwell and his ilk was enough to get the government to back off.

Remember how the GQP shot down having the FBI get deep into these wackos. They howled about "persecution of conservatives" the same way they do now. That was part of the plan. Buying time as they got stronger and more entrenched in local law enforcement, elected/appointed offices and deeper into developing funding ties with hostile foreign intelligence services.

They have cowed much of the media that used to expose them. Reporters live in fear as do elected/appointed officials who speak out and oppose them. A good read about this from long ago is from a Playboy article titled "The Button-Down Terror of David Duke". That was well over 40 years ago and Duke spelled out the strategy to mainstream hate by putting on a suit instead of a white robe, running for office, cozying up to religious leaders etc. All as a way to make the Nazi/White Supremacist movement more palatable and give them allies and defenses against "those who oppose them". A more recent scholarly article is from 2000 written by Barbara Perry, then of Northern Arizona University, titled "Button-Down Terror: The Metamorphosis of the Hate Movement". This was published in the quarterly journal "Sociological Focus" a peer reviewed publication which is produced by the North Central Sociological Association and has published since 1968. I'm including a link here that has a preview page of the paper and various ways to get the full paper. I believe logging in at a school or library gets you the article free. Maybe.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20832071

[Hekate]

23. I predicted this form of sabotage 20 years ago, because our infrastructure is wide open...

We were having a DU discussion and the general premise was that the US could not be destabilized the way other countries had been.

I disagreed and referred to an article that showed the back way into a chemical plant. Big heavy-duty locked front gate. Back fence and lighter weight gate all overgrown with weeds. Airports locked down all over the place by TSA — trains, not so much, I said.

Then I said that thing about infrastructure. All it takes is for a small number of malicious people networked across the country to cause incredible damage to critical services and infrastructure, and harm to people.

Who guards the power plants? Apparently they rely on gates that can be broken with a crowbar, and cameras that record the damage being done so managers and law enforcement can watch it the next day. Apparently they rely on — trust — trust that society will hold up.

Who would do this? Look no further than the insurgents who sacked the capitol in DC.

I am extremely unhappy at having been right.

[orangecrush]

28. Make the power stations like Area 51

The sign is your warning.

If they enter the restricted area, shoot the fuckers on sight

[Initech]

31. Agreed, this is real terrorism.

It's time to treat the MAGA Nazis like we treat overseas terrorists. Fox News and Steve Bannon can't save them this time.

[The Jungle 1]

25. We are under attack by Un-American people living in our country.

Congress finds the following:

(1) White supremacists and other far-right-wing extremists are the most significant domestic terrorism threat facing the United States.
https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s894/BILLS-116s894is.xml

[Chainfire]

33. When one is caught, RICO the whole gang.

The FBI knows who the people are.