The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring with his girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs.
I too am against a surveillance state and thoughtcrime punishment but I am conflicted in this instance. Here’s why they were watching him: "Russell apparently wasn’t on law enforcement’s radar until police responded to a 2017 double homicide at a Tampa apartment building and found him outside crying, dressed in military fatigues. One of his roommates had killed the other two, officials said.
Police concluded Russell had nothing to do with the deadly shootings. But while detectives investigated, they discovered a stash of highly explosive materials and a cache of neo-Nazi signs, posters, books and flags. Russell was in the Florida National Guard at the time and had attended the University of South Florida.
Investigators said Russell co-founded the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which is German for “atomic weapon.” They found flyers in his possession that said, “Don’t prepare for exams, prepare for a race war.” Russell also kept a framed photo of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in his room and read books like “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries,” both reading staples of white supremacist extremists.
Devon Arthurs, who later pleaded guilty to killing his roommates, told detectives he shot them for teasing him about his recent conversion to Islam. He also said it was to thwart a terrorist attack by Atomwaffen and claimed Russell had materials in the house “to kill civilians and target locations like power lines, nuclear reactors, and synagogues,” prosecutors said." Article Link
Lol futurecrime
I too am against a surveillance state and thoughtcrime punishment but I am conflicted in this instance. Here’s why they were watching him: "Russell apparently wasn’t on law enforcement’s radar until police responded to a 2017 double homicide at a Tampa apartment building and found him outside crying, dressed in military fatigues. One of his roommates had killed the other two, officials said.
Police concluded Russell had nothing to do with the deadly shootings. But while detectives investigated, they discovered a stash of highly explosive materials and a cache of neo-Nazi signs, posters, books and flags. Russell was in the Florida National Guard at the time and had attended the University of South Florida.
Investigators said Russell co-founded the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which is German for “atomic weapon.” They found flyers in his possession that said, “Don’t prepare for exams, prepare for a race war.” Russell also kept a framed photo of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in his room and read books like “Mein Kampf” and “The Turner Diaries,” both reading staples of white supremacist extremists.
Devon Arthurs, who later pleaded guilty to killing his roommates, told detectives he shot them for teasing him about his recent conversion to Islam. He also said it was to thwart a terrorist attack by Atomwaffen and claimed Russell had materials in the house “to kill civilians and target locations like power lines, nuclear reactors, and synagogues,” prosecutors said." Article Link