• yesman@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    So this guy is charged with making a donation to an ISIS front, and buying rifles (from the FBI).

    I think the reason they do this is because to convict someone of a conspiracy, the State has to show you completed an “overt act” in furtherance to your plan, so you can’t just convict a person of terrorism because they like to talk out of their ass.

    It’s concerning how common it is that the FBI is directly involved in facilitating that overt act by being the arms dealer, hit-man, or bomb-maker themselves. If you examine many of these cases you’ll find that the most competent and dangerous person in the conspiracy was just play-acting for the Feds. And I’m not just talking entrapment, but also the opportunity costs of focusing on the low hanging fruit. And this goes for the militia people as well as the Jihadis.

    • CmdrShepard42
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      22 hours ago

      They used to do this all the time in the 2000s and 2010s. They’d find some Muslim guy spouting nonsense online and then basically coax him along all the way up to planning an attack and then arrest him for it even though they essentially created the whole plot for him.

      • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        I remember a homeless guy who attempted a terror attack by stabbing people in a convenience store, where the FBI came up with the attack, convinced him to do it, bought him a knife, and gave him a lift to the store.