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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYou know... I'm starting to think the government isn't actually a good judge on whether something is "terrorism" or not
Here's this from 2015:
FBI director: Charleston shooting not an act of terrorism
BALTIMORE, Md. (WBFF) FBI director James Comey said Friday that while his agency is investigating the murder of nine people in Charleston, S.C. as a hate crime, it is not an act of terrorism.
He said due to the lack of political motivation for his actions, alleged shooter Dylann Roof is not a domestic terrorist.
"Terrorism is act of violence done or threatens to in order to try to influence a public body or citizenry so it's more of a political act and again based on what I know so more I don't see it as a political act. Doesn't make it any less horrific the label but terrorism has a definition under federal law," he said during a visit to Baltimore.
Affidavits from the Charleston police department claim Roof "with malice and aforethought" shot nine African American parishioners at Emmanuel AME Church with a .45 caliber handgun.
https://wjla.com/news/local/fbi-director-charleston-shooting-not-an-act-of-terrorism-114901
BALTIMORE, Md. (WBFF) FBI director James Comey said Friday that while his agency is investigating the murder of nine people in Charleston, S.C. as a hate crime, it is not an act of terrorism.
He said due to the lack of political motivation for his actions, alleged shooter Dylann Roof is not a domestic terrorist.
"Terrorism is act of violence done or threatens to in order to try to influence a public body or citizenry so it's more of a political act and again based on what I know so more I don't see it as a political act. Doesn't make it any less horrific the label but terrorism has a definition under federal law," he said during a visit to Baltimore.
Affidavits from the Charleston police department claim Roof "with malice and aforethought" shot nine African American parishioners at Emmanuel AME Church with a .45 caliber handgun.
https://wjla.com/news/local/fbi-director-charleston-shooting-not-an-act-of-terrorism-114901
He ran around with the Confederate flag, the Rhodesian flag, and wanted to kick start a race war... YOU CAN NOT GET MORE POLITICAL THAN THAT!
Now let's see this compared to...
Trump officials stick "terrorist" label on Americans killed by DHS
For the second time in less than a month, President Trump's top officials rushed to declare that a U.S. citizen killed by U.S. immigration agents was a "domestic terrorist."
Why it matters: The Trump administration isn't waiting for an investigation before sharing conclusions about the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Nicole Good and the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller both accused Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at a VA hospital, of being a domestic terrorist.
"Violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and to perpetuate violence. That is the definition of domestic terrorism," Noem said at a Saturday press conference at FEMA's National Response Coordination Center.
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/25/trump-officials-stick-terrorist-label-on-americans-killed-by-dhs
For the second time in less than a month, President Trump's top officials rushed to declare that a U.S. citizen killed by U.S. immigration agents was a "domestic terrorist."
Why it matters: The Trump administration isn't waiting for an investigation before sharing conclusions about the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Nicole Good and the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller both accused Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at a VA hospital, of being a domestic terrorist.
"Violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and to perpetuate violence. That is the definition of domestic terrorism," Noem said at a Saturday press conference at FEMA's National Response Coordination Center.
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/25/trump-officials-stick-terrorist-label-on-americans-killed-by-dhs
I don't care... I don't care if the President is a Democrat. I don't care if the President is a Republican. I don't care if the government is controlled by Democrats or controlled by Republicans. And I don't care if the person on the receiving end is a Muslim, a white guy, a person protesting against ICE, someone really against taxes, antifa, whatever.
From here on out, if the government says someone is a "domestic terrorist", then I will assume they came around to calling that person based on a game of spinning a bottle and it pointing to a grid of alternating "terrorist"/"not a terrorist" spaces.
The government doesn't know what terrorism is.
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You know... I'm starting to think the government isn't actually a good judge on whether something is "terrorism" or not (Original Post)
ck4829
Yesterday
OP
In the old days there was no real definition or legit use of "domestic terrorism". It wasn't part of the lexicon.
Klarkashton
Yesterday
#2
The current government (if you can call it that) is not a good judge of anything.
live love laugh
Yesterday
#3
UpInArms
(54,264 posts)1. The are terrified of the left
Ergo
anything on the right is not terrorism
Anything on the left is terrorism
Klarkashton
(4,977 posts)2. In the old days there was no real definition or legit use of "domestic terrorism". It wasn't part of the lexicon.
Trump has normalized it as the go-to along with his favorite "Radial left bla bla bla"
live love laugh
(16,228 posts)3. The current government (if you can call it that) is not a good judge of anything.
It bears little resemblance to real government as we know it.