National Media Ignore Would-be Cleveland Terrorists' Occupy Connections
The leaders of the plot to bomb an Ohio highway bridge are members of the "Occupy" movement, but you won't find that information in much of the mainstream media coverage of the story.
The FBI arrested five people in a federal sting operation in which FBI agents provided inoperable explosives to suspects allegedly intending to bomb a bridge about 15 miles south of Cleveland. The suspects, Douglas Wright, 26, Brandon Baxter, 20, and Anthony Hayne, 35, are described as self-proclaimed anarchists in a Justice Department statement. All three are connected to the Occupy Cleveland group.
The men were arrested Monday on charges of conspiracy and attempted use of explosive materials. Charges are pending against Connor Stevens, 20, and Joshua Stafford, 23, who were also arrested, the department said. The men are scheduled to appear today in federal court in Cleveland.
Baxter, Hayne and Wright all appear to have connections to Occupy Cleveland and the overall Occupy movement --a movement marked by extensive violence and criminality, yet embraced by Democrats and liberal leaders such as Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama. That may explain why the liberal media is downplaying or ignoring the Occupy connection - it might embarrass Obama.
USA Today? No mention at all.
Bloomberg? No mention at all.
CBS News? No mention at all.
Voice of America? No mention at all.
The New York Times? No mention at all.
CNN? The cable network notes that the language used by one of the suspects in reference to "the 1 percent" sounds like Occupy terminology, but CNN fails to mention that some of the suspects were actually involved with Occupy Cleveland.
The Associated Press? It mentions the Occupy connection but downplays it, letting an Occupy Cleveland spokesman's claim the men "weren't affiliated with or representing the group" go unchallenged.
The local media, on the other hand -- specifically the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, is reporting the Occupy connection to the terrorist plot.
Breitbart.com's Dan Riehl has more on the connection between the Occupy movement and the Ohio bridge-bombing plot.
Given the national press's obsessive attempts to track down even imaginary racism or extremism allegations within the Tea Party movement, it's pretty clear that had Tea Partiers decided to blow up a bridge, you can be sure that even the apolitical would know about it.
- Matthew Sheffield's blog
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Comments
I actually a little surprised
Submitted by forest on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:05am.
I actually a little surprised they aren't going for the full reality inversion here.
There's gotta be some way to associate these guys with the Tea party or Sarah Palin.
How about this: Anarchists are anti-government and the Tea Party is against big government, therefore, these terrorists have more in common with the Tea Party than they do with the mostly peaceful left-leaning Occupy movement they organized for.
Where do I sign up for my MSM job?
on cbsnews.com
Submitted by right of way on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:28am.
they mentioned occupy cleveland in a three line paragraph, qouting a leader of occupy cleveland who said that some of the men attended some meetings, but were not members of the group. yeah right.
The 99%
Submitted by Big_John on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 12:44pm.
A lie told often enough becomes truth. - Lenin, Marxist revolutionary (1870-1924)
Shouldn't The Washington Post be on the List?
Submitted by Conservator on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:31am.
Like the AP, The Post also downplayed the link to the Occupy connection:
FBI: 5 anarchists put fake bombs beneath Ohio bridge, tried to trigger them using cellphones
"...The suspects had been associated with the anti-corporate Occupy Cleveland movement but don’t share its non-violent views and don’t represent Occupy Cleveland, organizer Debbie Kline said..."
they need
Submitted by misterbee241 on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 1:39pm.
To send these guys to Pock-ees-stahn so they can learn how to detonate bombs correctly.
Only kidding.
Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Submitted by rhondacoleridge on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:34am.
I am surprised that the Plain Dealer has noted the connection. It is a well-known propaganda pamphlet with the likes of the hack Connie Schultz (Mrs. Sherrod Brown) as one of their writers.
It Is A Welcome Surprise
Submitted by stratman on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 4:53pm.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer does good reporting at times. Credit is due reporter Rachel Dissell. She has given some details and depth to the story, such as the gang's participation with the Cleveland Occupy group as well as backgrounds on the alleged domestic terrorists. My favorite detail is alleged "architect" of the group Brandon Baxter's street name is "Scabby". Don't care to know how he got that nickname but it good detail by the reporter.
While writing this post I see that credit is also due reporter John Caniglia on the alleged domestic terrorists. Mr. Caniglia connects the alleged to the Cleveland Occupy group in the first paragraph of the two stories I've read of his. It seems that reporters Caniglia and Dissell split the 5 gang members up for reporting duties, each writing background pieces on their selected suspects. Pictures and links to the articles can be found here.
Even an unnamed byline report from the Plain Dealer continues making the connection of the would-be domestic terrorists to the Cleveland Occupy group. The Plain Dealer has reported crimes occurring at the Occupy camp in the past, so this may not represent any ideological shift concerning OCCUPY Cleveland.
What is interesting, if nothing more than the timing, is that the Mayor has decided that the Occupy Cleveland group no longer has a permit to occupy a portion of Downtown's Public Square. Occupy Cleveland has until 5 PM today to leave. The city claims they made the decision before the news of the domestic terrorists became public. I had not heard about the city's permit non-renewal before. I also would think the city knew about the bomb plot before it was made public. Therefore, despite the city claiming the bomb plot had nothing to do with the permit issue, I believe it did, at least it gives the Democrats some political cover to remove Occupy Cleveland from that area.
Good early reporting by Dissell and Caniglia! Thanks to the Plain Dealer for not editing out facts of the case.
I've read
Submitted by fivestring_assassin on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:37am.
on some left wing lunatic websites that these weren't "anarchists" at all but actually operatives sent in by ""right wing organizations" in order to make the Occupy Movement look bad...
Wow.Just.Wow
They fit the narrative that "some terrorists are White Americans
Submitted by ctyankee on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:54am.
I think it was an FBI spokesman, who stated that terrorism comes in "all complexions and nationalities". In other words, White Americans can be terrorists; not all terrorists are brown-skinned foreign-born Muslims. They only deny that this is connected with Al Qaeda. CBS News reported that the suspects were Anarchists and "Anti-Capitalist" (not that there is anything wrong with that). Scott Pelley's only question was how this would advance the Anti-Capitalist cause.
They dont understand
Submitted by misterbee241 on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 1:42pm.
we don't have to do that. The left is very good at making themselves look bad. With no help from us. All we have to do us stay out of their way.
But if these terrorists had
Submitted by Free Stinker on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 10:50am.
But if these terrorists had been drinking Iced Tea, the Make Believe Media would be making all sorts of "Tea Partiers Are Terrorists" comments.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Imagine if they were connected to the TEA Party?
Submitted by povertypimpin on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 11:05am.
OMG it would be a front page story.
Once again
Submitted by c5then on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 11:14am.
The bias is shown in the omision of information to the public.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
Oh, Matthew, I'm sure you're
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 11:24am.
Oh, Matthew, I'm sure you're mistaken.
They were probably just "fringe wackos" who "attached" themselves to the "edge of the movement."
Of course they will, did you
Submitted by John21 on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 12:26pm.
Of course they will, did you really expect the propaganda media to provide honest news coverage that would be detrimental to their primary concern: Mr. Obama?
The media will continue to provide cover and distraction for the most incompetent administration in our history. They got him elected in 2008 by not providing honest coverage and totally ignoring the need to vet this man. They have reported only those thing that they can twist into something positive for Mr. Obama.
They ignore all the scandals of this administration and of course claim "There have been no scandals duing the Obama administration" because they have not reported them.
Any close associates like "Occupy" will be portrayed as innocent and honest no matter how much criminal activity they are in volved in.
“Truth is always stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense” Mark Twain
For a while, Fox News on
Submitted by bretzysdude on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 12:33pm.
For a while, Fox News on their web site, "It is unclear whether they are linked to Occupy." This was still there hours after there was confirmation.
Wonder if it was Shepherd Smith who had a hand with that...
New Low
Submitted by benihana1121 on Wed, 05/02/2012 - 7:27pm.
Occupy has reached a new low by attempting an act of domestic terrorism. Please see my blog on this issue:
http://benokeefesamericansociety.blogspot.com/2012/05/occupy-terrorism.html