Balmer was charged w/attempted homicide, aggravated arson, burglary, reckless endangerment, terrorism, loitering & 2 counts of aggravated assault. The complaint…alleges that Balmer “entered the Governor’s residence while it was occupied” & “intentionally deployed several incendiary devices” that caused “significant fire damage” & placed all those inside, including the governor’s family, “in danger of death or serious bodily injury.”
Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been charged with attempted murder & terrorism among other offenses after attacking Gov #JoshShapiro’s residence while he & his family were asleep inside. Shapiro had held a seder dinner there hours earlier with his family to celebrate Passover.
#criminal #law #PoliticalViolence #HateCrime
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/04/14/cody-balmer-josh-shapiro-arson-fire-pennsylvania/
The Oklahoman gives several even more disturbing details about US Senator Markwayne Mullin's violent remarks.
Excerpt #1: Mullin recorded the video from the flight of stairs where he says the shooting occurred. He says stains from the former lawmaker’s blood can still be seen on the stone steps.
After Mullin makes his statement about reporters, the person recording him zooms in to show the blood-stained stairs, and then the video ends. By noon Sunday, the video had been viewed more than 26,000 times, attracting more than 2,100 “likes.”
Excerpt #2: Mullin has drawn attention in the past for invoking violence during his time as a senator. In 2023, he challenged Teamsters leader Sean O'Brien to a fight and stood from his chair during a Senate hearing. He later defended his actions during an interview on Fox News.
It is shameful that US Senator Markwayne Mullin represents #Oklahoma. He should be impeached and removed from office for even "joking" about the use of physical violence against reporters.
Excerpt: WASHINGTON — Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., suggested on X this weekend that journalists would write "less false stories" if violence were still used to handle disputes.
In the video, posted early Saturday, Mullin is in the Capitol and recounts how a reporter shot and killed Rep. William Taulbee there in 1890 a year after the Taulbee left office.
"There's a lot we can say about reporters of the stories they write, but I bet they would write a lot less false stories — as President Trump says, 'fake news' — if we could still handle our differences that way," Mullin says.
NEW
#Trump just pardoned another #Jan6 #insurgent — #ThomasCaldwell — despite earlier only commuting his sentence.
Caldwell was charged alongside #StewartRhodes & the #OathKeepers but was acquitted of #SeditiousConspiracy
"The more that people like #ElonMusk are putting on the wall the idea that it's appropriate to attack these judges for nothing more than ruling against the federal government, the more that we're normalizing what really are in the main very serious threats to #JudicialIndependence," Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University, said.
Efforts to undermine the #judiciary come at the same time the #Trump admin has moved to fire lawyers inside the #DOJ & the #Pentagon, penalize private law firms who represented clients Trump does not like, & to back away from participation in the activities of the #ABA.
Congressional #Republicans close to the president even have proposed #impeachment proceedings against a few of those judges, who serve for life.
#ElonMusk, who oversees #DOGE making cuts to federal agencies, himself has repeatedly posted on social media about impeaching #judges who delay or block parts of #Trump's agenda.
Federal #judges who have ruled against the #Trump admin this year are confronting a wave of threats, compromising their safety & the #independence of the #judiciary.
The sister of #SCOTUS Justice #AmyConeyBarrett received a bomb threat earlier this month, & lower court judges who paused some of Trump's efforts to dismantle #FederalAgencies & programs have been targeted.
#law #StochasticTerrorism #StateSponsoredTerrorism #DomesticTerrorism #PoliticalViolence #MAGA
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/13/nx-s1-5316340/threats-judges-trump
>6 weeks into the 2nd #Trump admin, there is a chill spreading over political debate [#speech] in Washington & beyond.
People on both sides of the aisle who would normally be part of the public dialogue about the big issues of the day say they are intimidated by the prospect of online attacks from #Trump & #ElonMusk, concerned about harm to their companies & frightened for the #safety of their #families.
I was asked
"Do you realise that you are losing friends because of your politics?"
NO!
I' m losing friends because of their values!
Thats a huge difference.
…Federal courts are hearing >100 lawsuits challenging the admin’s initiatives, many of them focused on efforts driven by #Musk & his team at #DOGE to purge hundreds of thousands of #FederalWorkers & dramatically scale back govt #aid & #regulatory programs.
#Trump & his WH press sec also have criticized judges they describe as activists who have issued orders that slowed or blocked some of those efforts.
Reuters interviews w/11 federal judges in multiple districts revealed mounting alarm over their physical #security &, in some cases, a rise in #violent #threats in recent weeks. Most spoke on condition of anonymity & said they did not want to further inflame the situation or make comments that could be interpreted as conflicting w/their duties of impartiality.…
#Musk, the world's richest person, has lambasted judges in more than 30 posts since the end of Jan on his social media site, calling them “corrupt,” “radical,” “evil” & deriding the "TYRANNY of the JUDICIARY" after judges blocked parts of the federal downsizing that he’s led. Musk has also reposted nearly two dozen tweets by others attacking judges.
In recent weeks, #Musk, congressional #Republicans & other top allies of Trump have called for the impeachment of some federal judges or attacked their integrity in response to court rulings that have slowed the #Trump admin's moves to dismantle entire government agencies & fire tens of thousands of workers.
Exclusive: Judges face rise in #threats as #Musk blasts them over rulings
#USMarshals have warned federal judges of unusually high threat levels as tech #billionaire #ElonMusk & other #Trump admin allies ramp up efforts to discredit judges who stand in the way of White House efforts to slash federal jobs & programs, said several judges with knowledge of the warnings.
#law #JudicialIndependence #judiciary #PoliticalViolence #DomesticTerrorism #StateSponsoredTerrorism
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/judges-face-rise-threats-musk-blasts-them-over-rulings-2025-03-05/
#DOJ tries to broaden its view of #Trump’s #Jan6 #pardons.
A Trump-appointed judge grilled a #Justice Dept prosecutor on DOJ’s change in position.
#criminal #law #insurrection #extremism #radicalization #DomesticTerrorism #StateSponsoredTerrorism #felon47 #PoliticalViolence #sturmabteilung #USpol
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/26/trump-january-6-pardon-judge-00206301
Here are screenshots of the letters. Remember, #EdMartin, Trump’s interim US Atty in DC, is a guy who advocated for the #Jan6 insurgents, who was himself AT THE CAPITOL during the #insurrection & #Trump incited more #PoliticalViolence than any US politician in recent history. What a joke.
Kelley was among the >1,500 defendants who received a #pardon from #Trump on Jan 20 for their actions during the #Jan6 #insurrection.….
Kelley’s attorney has argued that Trump’s mass pardon of Jan. 6 *rioters* should apply to Kelley’s #conviction in the #murder plot because it “directly relates to the events at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Prosecutors wrote that Kelley "devised a plan to murder federal, state, & local law enforcement in East Tennessee."
The #DOJ said evidence at trial showed Kelley developed a “kill list” of #FBI special agents & others who investigated his conduct. “Every hit has to hurt,” Kelley said to a co-conspirator…. “Every hit has to hurt.”
