With peaceniks for jihad

Minnesota’s Anti-War Committee — “Organizing Against US Wars Since 1998” — has opened up a front at the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. They stage weekly protests in support of the defendants in the ongoing trial of the “Minnesota men” charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and other related offenses. Six of the defendants among the current group have pleaded guilty; one is believed to be in Syria with ISIS. That leaves the three on trial before Judge Davis.

This Anti-War Committee: they’re peaceniks for jihad. They’re funny that way.

They proclaim their bravery in response to imagined efforts to scare them away: “In an attempt to intimidate the Somali community and jurors, the government has called out bomb sniffing dogs at times in the lobby, has had both suited up and undercover Dept of Homeland Security police surrounding the building and on the light rail, and has had multiple Minneapolis police SUV’s parked outside. These are classic scare tactics. We will not be intimidated!”

But they will be stupid! It’s a permanent condition.

They attend the trial to express their support for the defendants and their opposition to law enforcement. They call it “the trial of local Muslim youth from the Somali community entrapped by the FBI…We will stand with these young men’s families and denounce the Dept. of Justice’s entrapment, surveillance, and terror baiting of the Somali community.” They hold that “[the] case is part of an ongoing organized attack against the East African community facing rising levels of Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism and government repression.” If only, if you know what I mean.

I snapped the photo below a few minutes ago as I left the courthouse at the end of the day’s proceedings. The volume of the insanely stupid chants blared by the leader through the sound system would be considered a violation of the Geneva Conventions if inflicted on the inmates at Gitmo.

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I asked a couple of the armed DHS agents in the atrium of the courthouse if they drew extra pay for Thursday afternoon duty. One responded, “It hurts my brain.” And I don’t think he was referring to the volume.

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