Brianna Lyman writes for the Federalist about another case of major media malfeasance.
Last July, a group of armed Antifa militants ambushed an ICE detention facility in Texas, bringing rifles, body armor, and military-style medical kits. During the attack, one officer was shot through the neck. On Tuesday, several Antifa militants who participated in the attack were sentenced — including one individual who was convicted of attempted murder.
But you might not necessarily glean that if you read the Washington Post’s headline of the story.
“Federal judges in Texas on Tuesday gave eight members of an alleged ‘antifa cell’ prison sentences as long as 100 years for their roles last summer in a protest that turned violent outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility,” Molly Hennessy-Fiske wrote. (The SEO headline for the piece states: “Alleged antifa members in Texas are sentenced for ICE protest”).
This wasn’t a “protest that turned violent.”
According to the Department of Justice, the defendants didn’t merely show up with signs and get caught up in a crowd that lost control. The defendants got a lay of the land beforehand, discussed bringing firearms, arrived wearing dark clothing and face coverings, carried body armor, and brought firearms to the scene.
They also brought what the DOJ described as “military-grade first aid kits with tourniquets and other items for gunshot wounds” (as if anticipating needing such medical care as if authorities would randomly fire into a peaceful crowd of protesters).
The plan, as prosecutors laid out, was to use fireworks to lure agents in the ICE facility outside. After disabling CCTV footage, the militants set off fireworks. One agent inside the facility called 911 and Alvaredo Police Lt. Thomas Gross responded to the scene. While issuing commands, Antifa militant Benjamin Song yelled “get to the rifles” before opening fire, body cam footage showed.
