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As of today, the president is designating antifascist protestors as a terrorist organization.

groby_b 6y ago
The "president" has his thumb up his ass, because that's actually not a thing he's legally able to do. Neither is there a domestic terrorism statute, nor is there any legal authority to designate a domestic organization as a terrorist group. So, even though the "president" is pro-fascist, he's really still got his hands tied there.
- bardworx 6y ago
  According to Wikipedia (maybe not optimal source), via the PATRIOT Act, groups can be designated as domestic terrorists. I don’t know anything about this topic. Can you expand why you said that there is no “...legal authority to designate a domestic organization as a terrorist group”. I’m no asking about Antifa specifically but generally. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_Un...
  - groby_b 6y ago
    The very first sentence of the Wikipedia article you linked to has your answer: "Domestic terrorism in the United States consists of incidents confirmed as terrorist acts." incidents confirmed as terrorist acts. The PATRIOT act defines acts of terrorism. It's on a case-by-case basis. It is not possible to take a domestic organization and designate it wholesale as terrorists. The page also explains that there is no federal criminal offense that is "domestic terrorism".
    - groby_b 6y ago
      I see the fascist downvote brigade has arrived.
- japhyr 6y ago
  > because that's actually not a thing he's legally able to do This has not helped a whole lot over the last 3.5 years. When something is illegal, but no one is willing to enforce it, the legality doesn't have much impact. This president, and the current administration, has demonstrated little regard for legality, and a clear intention to grab as much power as they can.
  - groby_b 6y ago
    Yes. It's up to us to stand up to it, and letting arguments rooted in illegality stand as if they are true is not "standing up". Force can always create realities that differ from law, but let's not accept the outcome as a foregone conclusion.
westmeal 6y ago
Not following the news for my sanity. Was he referring to antifa or actual anti fascists?
- yayadarsh 6y ago
  Antifa is an umbrella term. From Wikipedia: > Antifa is not an interconnected or unified organization, but rather a movement without a hierarchical leadership structure, comprising multiple autonomous groups and individuals
  - fyrabanks 6y ago
    In his tweet, I do believe POTUS was referring to Antifa in the same way as the question--as a fictional, hierarchical organization.
- geofft 6y ago
  He said "antifa," but that's a term that's about as meaningful as "Christianity" or "the free software community." There's no single, overarching organization, there's no membership rolls (individual groups that share affinity with the movement might have some idea of membership, but there's nothing beyond that), and there's even a fair bit of internal disagreement on who really counts. The practical effect is that if you're accused of being a member of "antifa" there's no coherent way to demonstrate you aren't, and certainly people opposed to fascism, whether or not they themselves identify with the label, are going to get accused of being "antifa." (Also, to be clear on the news, he simply said that he intends to do this in a tweet - even if it were a coherent thing to do, there is no procedure for designating domestic groups as terrorist organizations.)
pwned1 6y ago
“Antifascist” “protestors”
dang 6y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23371330 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23371330.

The "president" has his thumb up his ass, because that's actually not a thing he's legally able to do. Neither is there a domestic terrorism statute, nor is there any legal authority to designate a domestic organization as a terrorist group. So, even though the "president" is pro-fascist, he's really still got his hands tied there.

bardworx 6y ago
According to Wikipedia (maybe not optimal source), via the PATRIOT Act, groups can be designated as domestic terrorists. I don’t know anything about this topic. Can you expand why you said that there is no “...legal authority to designate a domestic organization as a terrorist group”. I’m no asking about Antifa specifically but generally. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_terrorism_in_the_Un...
- groby_b 6y ago
  The very first sentence of the Wikipedia article you linked to has your answer: "Domestic terrorism in the United States consists of incidents confirmed as terrorist acts." incidents confirmed as terrorist acts. The PATRIOT act defines acts of terrorism. It's on a case-by-case basis. It is not possible to take a domestic organization and designate it wholesale as terrorists. The page also explains that there is no federal criminal offense that is "domestic terrorism".
  - groby_b 6y ago
    I see the fascist downvote brigade has arrived.
japhyr 6y ago
> because that's actually not a thing he's legally able to do This has not helped a whole lot over the last 3.5 years. When something is illegal, but no one is willing to enforce it, the legality doesn't have much impact. This president, and the current administration, has demonstrated little regard for legality, and a clear intention to grab as much power as they can.
- groby_b 6y ago
  Yes. It's up to us to stand up to it, and letting arguments rooted in illegality stand as if they are true is not "standing up". Force can always create realities that differ from law, but let's not accept the outcome as a foregone conclusion.

westmeal 6y ago

Not following the news for my sanity. Was he referring to antifa or actual anti fascists?

yayadarsh 6y ago
Antifa is an umbrella term. From Wikipedia: > Antifa is not an interconnected or unified organization, but rather a movement without a hierarchical leadership structure, comprising multiple autonomous groups and individuals
- fyrabanks 6y ago
  In his tweet, I do believe POTUS was referring to Antifa in the same way as the question--as a fictional, hierarchical organization.
geofft 6y ago
He said "antifa," but that's a term that's about as meaningful as "Christianity" or "the free software community." There's no single, overarching organization, there's no membership rolls (individual groups that share affinity with the movement might have some idea of membership, but there's nothing beyond that), and there's even a fair bit of internal disagreement on who really counts. The practical effect is that if you're accused of being a member of "antifa" there's no coherent way to demonstrate you aren't, and certainly people opposed to fascism, whether or not they themselves identify with the label, are going to get accused of being "antifa." (Also, to be clear on the news, he simply said that he intends to do this in a tweet - even if it were a coherent thing to do, there is no procedure for designating domestic groups as terrorist organizations.)

pwned1 6y ago

“Antifascist” “protestors”

dang 6y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23371330 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23371330.