Magical Realist
Mar 16, 2026 11:05 PM
Total bullshit. This most certainly will be overturned by the courts.
"In a massive blow to the first amendment, Trump administration wins its first “antifa case”. Pam Bondi made the stakes clear: "Today's verdict will not be the last."
Eight people were convicted Friday on material support for terrorism charges for attending a July 4th noise demo outside the Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas, the government's first use of the material support charge against alleged antifa members accused of domestic terrorism.
The conviction didn't require proof anyone committed violence. It required wearing dark clothes.
Federal prosecutors told jurors that wearing "black bloc" clothing was itself a terrorist act, that "providing your body as camouflage" constituted material support for terrorism. That's the new legal standard. Show up in black. Go to prison for 15 years.
The convictions were made possible by NSPM-7, Trump's executive order weaponizing federal law enforcement against left-wing activism. One defense attorney said it plainly: "This wouldn't be a terrorism case if it weren't for that memo."
There is no domestic equivalent to the State Department's list of foreign terror organizations, in part because organizations operating within the United States are protected by broad First Amendment rights.
Trump bulldozed that protection with an executive order designating "antifa", a decentralized umbrella term, not an organization, as a domestic terrorist group.
There is no "antifa." There is no membership card. There is no headquarters. The government invented the enemy and then convicted people of joining it.
Defense attorney Xavier de Janon put it plainly: "The federal government has signaled, successfully, that very regular protest activities could get you federally charged and federally convicted."
The National Lawyers Guild's Suzanne Adely warned the case is designed to "increase the fear, hoping that folks in other cities will think twice over protesting."
That's the point. Not justice. Deterrence. The government doesn't need to arrest everyone. They just need you scared enough to stay home.
"In a massive blow to the first amendment, Trump administration wins its first “antifa case”. Pam Bondi made the stakes clear: "Today's verdict will not be the last."
Eight people were convicted Friday on material support for terrorism charges for attending a July 4th noise demo outside the Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas, the government's first use of the material support charge against alleged antifa members accused of domestic terrorism.
The conviction didn't require proof anyone committed violence. It required wearing dark clothes.
Federal prosecutors told jurors that wearing "black bloc" clothing was itself a terrorist act, that "providing your body as camouflage" constituted material support for terrorism. That's the new legal standard. Show up in black. Go to prison for 15 years.
The convictions were made possible by NSPM-7, Trump's executive order weaponizing federal law enforcement against left-wing activism. One defense attorney said it plainly: "This wouldn't be a terrorism case if it weren't for that memo."
There is no domestic equivalent to the State Department's list of foreign terror organizations, in part because organizations operating within the United States are protected by broad First Amendment rights.
Trump bulldozed that protection with an executive order designating "antifa", a decentralized umbrella term, not an organization, as a domestic terrorist group.
There is no "antifa." There is no membership card. There is no headquarters. The government invented the enemy and then convicted people of joining it.
Defense attorney Xavier de Janon put it plainly: "The federal government has signaled, successfully, that very regular protest activities could get you federally charged and federally convicted."
The National Lawyers Guild's Suzanne Adely warned the case is designed to "increase the fear, hoping that folks in other cities will think twice over protesting."
That's the point. Not justice. Deterrence. The government doesn't need to arrest everyone. They just need you scared enough to stay home.
