January 15, 2020
THE TRUMP BRAND:
Virginia Declares State of Emergency After Armed Militias Threaten to Storm the Capitol (Tess Owen, Jan 15 2020, Vice News)
In response to what he described as "credible intelligence" of threats of violence at an upcoming gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam has declared a state of emergency and will temporarily ban individuals from carrying firearms on Capitol grounds.The governor said at a press conference on Wednesday that authorities believe "armed militia groups plan to storm the Capitol" during the January 20 rally.He also said that law enforcement had intercepted threats and "extremist rhetoric" similar to what was observed prior to the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. "We will not allow that mayhem and violence to happen here," he said.
As Virginia gun rally approaches, Alex Jones and his Infowars outlet hype prospect of violence (TIMOTHY JOHNSON, 01/15/20, Media Matters)
Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars outlet have been hyping the prospect of violence in Virginia, particularly at an upcoming pro-gun rally, as the commonwealth considers passing stronger gun laws.Jones and his associates are also preemptively claiming that any violence that does occur at the rally, planned for January 20 outside the Virginia Capitol, will be a "false flag," a similar claim to what he's said about violence that occurred at the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.Jones said that he and "dozens of our people" will be at the January 20 rally, and he has invited white nationalist Richard Spencer to join him. One of Jones' other rally invitees, conspiracy theorist Matt Bracken, has made frequent appearances on Jones' outlet Infowars to espouse violent rhetoric while discussing Virginia's gun laws and has even showed people how to best equip their assault weapons for battle.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 15, 2020 3:59 PM