The Wire - November 8, 2024

//The Wire// 2300Z November 8, 2024//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: FEMA WHISTLEBLOWERS LEAK ORDERS TO ABANDON TRUMP SUPPORTERS IN FLORIDA. ATTACKS/UNREST OCCURS IN AMSTERDAM FOLLOWING SOCCER MATCH. NORTH CAROLINA FREEWAY SHOOTING SUSPECT ARRESTED. RESEARCH MONKEYS STILL ON THE LOOSE IN SOUTH CAROLINA.//
-----BEGIN TEARLINE-----
-International Events-
Netherlands: Authorities are investigating following what appears to be a series of attacks involving Islamic soccer fans in Amsterdam. Local media outlets are claiming that Islamic “residents” of Amsterdam were deliberately targeting Israeli soccer fans after a local tournament match, which resulted in the arrest of 62x assailants so far. 5x victims were hospitalized as a result of the attacks, with all five being discharged from the hospital this morning with non-life-threatening injuries.
-HomeFront-
Washington D.C. – This morning the Department of Justice unsealed the indictments of a three-person cell of Iran-affiliated individuals who allegedly planned to assassinate Donald Trump. Farhad Shakeri, the alleged leader of the group, was allegedly communicating with Iranian officials to conspire to assassinate Trump at some point after the election because Iran had assessed that Trump would lose and therefore be an easier target due to his reduced Secret Service protection detail. AC: Two of the three alleged conspirators have been arrested as part of this larger investigation, however Shakeri himself remains at large.
South Carolina: As of this morning, the escaped monkeys from the Alpha Genesis facility have not yet been recaptured, though local authorities have reported that their general location is known and traps have been set to recapture them.
North Carolina: A man has been arrested following a series of random shootings over the past few days in Raleigh. Andrew Thomas Graney was arrested after he shot at random cars along I-40 and residences in west Raleigh. AC: Initial reporting indicates the Raleigh shootings may have been more of a mental health incident rather than a deliberate terrorism attempt. However, the assailant did manage to shoot eight separate vehicles over the past few days, all scattered throughout different ambush sites along the freeway. As such, this attacker did exhibit a higher level of planning and deliberation than is commonly seen with mental health incidents. As of his arrest, no motive has yet been released by authorities, and only one injury has been reported as a result of these shootings.
Florida: This afternoon, whistleblower testimony leaked to the media indicates that FEMA officials issued deliberate and specific guidance for aid workers responding to the Hurricane Milton disaster zone to avoid conducting visits to homes that displayed signage in support of Trump. Specifically, FEMA agents and volunteers from other Department of Homeland Security divisions were told to avoid approaching homes where Trump signs were displayed, with several leaked messages confirming this policy does exist, and that the residences of Trump supporters were skipped over by FEMA workers, and that aid was not offered to these people as required by law. This afternoon, a FEMA spokesperson confirmed in an email with the originating media agency that the reporting is accurate, and that “extreme actions” are being taken to rectify this situation.
-----END TEARLINE-----
Analyst Comments: As one might expect, the actions of FEMA employees to not render aid to people based on political ideology is exceptionally illegal in many ways if it is indeed true. At the moment, only one media outlet is running this story (so it’s single-source reporting), but photos and screenshots of the policy were provided in the original news story. FEMA has not yet made a statement directly to the public regarding this incident, as this story broke only a few hours ago.
Nevertheless, even taking into account the rather palpable (and largely accurate) pessimism regarding federal employees being held to any sort of accountability for anything at all, heads will very likely roll due to this exceptionally serious policy coming to light. In the short term, FEMA will undoubtedly try to say that this event was an “isolated incident” originating from a single employee, which is expressly what their alleged statement this afternoon suggested. FEMA stated that an individual with “no authority” to issue these orders was “removed from their roll”…which is carefully worded to insinuate that the individual who FEMA is blaming this on has not been fired or criminally prosecuted.
However, FEMA can lay blame on one person as they wish, but they cannot hide the overall message. One must note that these revelations came to light after the election was decided in Trump’s favor, and after all federal agencies attempted to gaslight the American people into thinking that FEMA was not intentionally targeting Trump voters with regards to their response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. This incident in Florida swings the spotlight back to the earlier complaints regarding FEMA’s inaction in North Carolina, which may finally receive more scrutiny and investigation. It is not clear as to if similar policies have been put in writing by FEMA employees still working in North Carolina, but in light of this exceptionally serious implication, an agency-wide investigation would not be uncalled for.
Furthermore, not ONE single federal employee objected to these blatantly illegal orders at the time they were issued, and EVERY single employee who knew about this policy worked to actively conceal it until well over a month after the crisis first occurred…and after the election was over, casting doubt as to whether or not anyone would have come forward if Trump had not won the election. Consequently, election interference concerns will also likely persist, as the deliberate withholding of emergency aid to people based on who they politically support is generally considered to be election tampering in the most deliberate terms possible.
However, in the long term, the truth will come out. Gaslighting is only effective if the subject doesn’t pick up on what manipulation being undertaken…outright and obvious lies no longer have the effect that they did in the past.
Regarding the incident in Amsterdam, these attacks took place in coordination with a soccer game, so it’s not really clear as to if this was general hooliganism, geopolitically-influenced violence, or a combination of both. The events leading up to the attacks are also not clear; it is unknown if these attacks were planned in advance or were more crimes of opportunity. As Amsterdam has a large population of Islamic migrants, this could be more akin to the result of hostile populations being in close proximity to one another, rather than being a deliberately planned terror attack. This is most sharply evidenced by 60+ people being arrested…but no deaths or serious injuries being the result of the attacks. If Islamic militants wanted to cause absolute mayhem and destruction during this incident, they certainly could have done so without question. Some of the attacks (as they were filmed on social media) were brutal, but the events of that night don’t exactly add up to being categorized as a large-scale terror attack as is currently being portrayed in the media. Nevertheless, the attacks have been shocking for a nation that, up until recently, has largely not seen street violence on this scale before.
Analyst: S2A1
//END REPORT//