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Post by lowell on Mar 5, 2022 3:12:09 GMT -6
"Woman sentenced to prison for setting fire to police cars during Seattle protests"
Margaret Channon was arrested on June 11, 2020, following an investigation by the FBI, as the arsonist plead guilty in September.
A 26-year-old woman from Washington who pleaded guilty to arson in connection with the burning of five police cars during Seattle protests following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Margaret Aislinn Channon, 26, from Tacoma, was captured on video using fire and aerosol cans to light five Seattle Police Department vehicles on fire during a May 30 protest – following the death of George Floyd, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. Margaret Aislinn Channon's sentencing came after she was arrested in June 2020 for setting fire to the police vehicles. She was identified from a video that showed a person starting the blazes while wearing distinctive clothing with tattoos on their hands. Channon was also shown breaking into downtown businesses and taking clothing and other items, according to The Seattle Times.
Court documents indicated that Channon admitted to smashing the window at a Verizon store and destroying the electronic cash register in a sandwich shop, the Times reported.
During the sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour told Channon that she had done "tremendous damage to Black Lives Matter in Seattle," the Times added.
"The right to protest, gather, and call out injustices is one of the dearest and most important rights we enjoy in the United States," U.S. Attorney Nick Brown asserted, according to the newspaper.
"Indeed, our democracy depends on both exercising and protecting these rights. But Ms. Channon's conduct was itself an attack on democracy," Brown added.
Brown also argued that Channon "used the cover of lawful protests to carry out dangerous and destructive acts, risking the safety of everyone around her and undermining the important messages voiced by others."
In their sentencing memo, prosecutors noted that hundreds of people were standing in the vicinity where the police cars were burned, and some people were “only a few feet away.”
“All of them were in harm’s way if one of the vehicles had exploded,” the memo stated.
Margaret Channon used fire and aerosol cans to light five Seattle Police Department vehicles on fire during a May 30 protest, according to the Department of Justice. Facebook/ Preston Phillips, KOMO News Seattle
In a letter to the court, Channon apologized for her actions, according to the Tacoma News Tribune
“Black Lives Matter is an organization with leadership that does not condone illegal activity,” Channon wrote. “I apologize to the many workers and activists – who have given decades of their lives to building a countermeasure to police violence — that did not want to see fire in June of 2020.”
Channon is responsible for restitution and will be on three years of supervised release following her prison term, the release stated.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Mar 5, 2022 4:01:15 GMT -6
Well there is also the issue of destroying five police vehicles which technically are the property of all Seattle taxpayers, even those who weren't protesting anything. I suspect she wasn't the only person there doing property damage that night. Everyone, including the presiding judge, knows that not all people associated with BLM are peaceful. I suspect some of the people there with BLM were cheering her on. It sounds to me like the judge was reluctant to sentence this arsonist to prison and came up with a narrative that would not anger certain people. I too support the right to peacefully protest, but I have personally seen the results of what some call peaceful. Law breakers should be sentenced because they commit crimes. Not because they might make someone else look bad.
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Post by lowell on Mar 5, 2022 4:06:14 GMT -6
I don't expect the judge to thank her for making BLM look bad. It may be different in other States. In Washington State, anarchists show up for Antifa and BLM protests. Antifa and BLM in Seattle have learned to go home when the first rock is thrown. It leaves the anarchists open to filming and quick apprehension by police. I have no doubt that this woman thought of herself as an anarchist or even a Trump supporter who wanted to cause trouble for BLM.
"Channon is responsible for restitution " for the police cars as well as the damage to businesses.
I am reminded of the commenters on other sites who say in reference to Jan 6th "but whatabout BLM riots and Antifa riots?" "Why don't those people get arrested and put in prison for starting fires and breaking windows and looting and stealing? "
Here is the answer. They do, and they are typically not members of BLM or antifa.
More than 90% of BLM protests have been peaceful.
Rinaldo Nazzaro and his wife will be angry about this. It makes their dream of a race war in America less likely.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Mar 5, 2022 5:25:52 GMT -6
I think the title of the post is perfect for how I view the circumstances. "Prison for setting fire to police cars at Seattle protest" says what should be said. I don't know which "group" the arsonist identified with or if she was some lone wolf who just likes to burn things. There are extremists on the right and the left. Extremists who violate the law in the name of any cause, regardless of their ideology, deserve to be charged and convicted for what they did, not for why they did it or who else it may reflect on. Thoughts about whether the arsonist made a group, any group, look bad shouldn't enter the sentencing judge's mind. Stating such things only divides the country more than in already is. The judge simply needed to impartially sentence this arsonist for setting fire to police cars, which obviously endangered both protesters, police officers and any other citizen who may have had no involvement with the activities at all.
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Post by lowell on Mar 5, 2022 17:57:41 GMT -6
The FBI (who investigated this) attaches importance to political ideology. They have found that white supremacist militias are more dangerous than Black activists were, or are. The FBI began investigating Black activists when Martin Luther King became active and influential. The FBI has never found anything as crazily dangerous as the Michigan Wolverine Watchmen Militia. They planned to storm the Capitol building of Michigan, killing police and guards with rifles, and to kidnap the Governor and hold a mock trial of her. They also planned to do the same with the Governor of Virginia.
The article found the burning of the cars to be significant, but this person also broke a window and looted a store.
It may be embarrassing for conservatives who think that Blacks make all the trouble at BLM demonstrations, to learn that a woman who looks like her name should be Natasha, was more violent and dangerous than Blacks were at this demonstration in Seattle. It doesn't fit with their story-line. It has been common in Seattle, for anarchists to use otherwise peaceful demonstrations to foment division among Americans and hasten the race war they believe will tear American society apart. Anarchists are angered by happy peaceful people who work together overcoming their differences to make the American dream a reality. Anarchists aim for intense suffering for happy peaceful people and death and destruction for our country.
The FBI does not ignore them, nor do they ignore the white supremacist militias anymore. Most of the key players of "The Base" founded by Rinaldo Nazzaro have been put in prison for various crimes. Other similar militias have also been quietly taken out of action.
This judge gave notice to the other anarchists who will read about this woman, that their revolutionary tactics will not be tolerated, and they will be hunted down and put in prison where they belong.
The Judge was speaking to this woman, but his speech was mostly intended for those who may plan similar events. Law enforcement and the judicial system will add years onto a sentence for anarchist inspired violence intended to defame legitimate protests.
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Post by lowell on Mar 5, 2022 18:22:20 GMT -6
'Like the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, which has been linked to five murders and reportedly shared some members with the Base, Nazzaro’s group would be interested in “accelerationism” — a strain of white nationalism aimed at hastening “the boogaloo,” or societal collapse, through real-world action, including violence. “I’ll be the lightening rod [sic],” Norman Spear would tell one person over Twitter, “but you need to pay me back in blood (preferably not your own).” '
Norman Spear was a stage name for Rinaldo Nazzaro (the founder of The Base). This anarchistic agenda "the boogaloo", is something Putin wants for America. Rinaldo fled with his Russian wife to an apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia. Putin has him active on forums in the United States, still trying to achieve "The Boogaloo".
Rinaldo's plan involved fomenting a race war. This woman sentenced to 5 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release, afterwards, acted in perfect harmony with Rinaldo's plan.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Mar 5, 2022 19:11:03 GMT -6
I am a believer in equal and fair treatment, and punishment, under the law. I don't care what group, left, right or otherwise they belong to. If you wreak havoc, causing injury and/or property damage there is a price to pay.
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Post by lowell on Mar 5, 2022 20:13:49 GMT -6
Inciting a riot adds another dimension to a crime. Plotting the destruction of the United States and the death of all its citizens is an even more profound dimension. Evil has levels. Minor evils. Medium evils. Major evils. The same is true of good. Minor good, Medium good, and major good. Doing a minor good when a major good is required can lead to a major evil. For instance if you are standing on the shore of Lake Washington and you see someone not far away drowning and yelling for help. Let's pretend you are the only one close enough to help. A major good is to take off your shoes and jump in and rescue the person. A minor good would be to speak politely about what a nice day it is and say you are offering thoughts and prayers for them.
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