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Feds: California man echoed Trump in repeated threats to kill Boston Globe employees

An Encino, CA man was arrested today on charges he called the Boston Globe more than a dozen times threatening to kill its workers - including one call in which he allegedly threatened to shoot employees in the head at 4 p.m. on the day it published a pro-newspaper editorial.

Robert D. Chain, 68, referred to the Globe "the enemy of the people" - the same phrase the current president has used to describe the press, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

His last threat, on the day of the Globe editorial, led the Globe and police to beef up security at its State Street offices.

The US Attorney's reports Chain was charged with one count of making threatening communications in interstate commerce. Chain will appear in federal court in Los Angeles this afternoon and be sent to Boston at a later date to face court action here.

According to the US Attorney's office, Chain began calling the Globe after it announced on Aug. 10 plans to publish an editorial denouncing President Trump's repeated incitements against newspapers on Aug. 16 and urging other newspapers to follow suit.

[I]mmediately following the announcement, Chain began making threatening calls to the Boston Globe’s newsroom. In the calls, Chain referred to the Globe as “the enemy of the people” and threatened to kill newspaper employees. In total, it is alleged that Chain made approximately 14 threatening phone calls to the Globe between August 10 and 22, 2018.

It is further alleged that on Aug. 16, 2018, the day the coordinated editorial response was published in the Boston Globe, Chain called the Globe newsroom and threatened to shoot Globe employees in the head “later today, at 4 o’clock.” As a result of that call, local law enforcement responded to the Globe’s offices and maintained a presence outside the building to ensure the safety of the employees.

Chain now faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

FBI-provided transcript of one of his calls:

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

which foaming-at-the-mouth Globe comment section regular it was.

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You’re the enemy of the people, and we’re going to kill every [expletive] one of you. Hey, why don’t you call the F, why don’t you call Mueller, maybe he can help you out buddy. Still there [expletive]? Alright, why, you going to trace my call? What are you going to do [expletive]? You ain’t going to do [expletive]. I’m going to shoot you in the [expletive] head later today, at 4 o’clock. Goodbye.

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Universal Hub foaming regular.

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There's no way I could be there by four in the afternoon in that traffic.

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"Purely a publicity stunt by the Globe. Trump voters are very happy at this time so sounds like an another fake, inside job" - Fish, 8/16/18

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...hate to disappoint, but my belief is that the fish is quite correct. If it requires a show, you put on a show, but the most effective security measures are usually done quietly, without tipping one's hand.

-dmcboston, 8/16/2018 https://www.universalhub.com/comment/684833#comment-684833

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"... If it requires a show, you put on a show, but the most effective security measures are usually done quietly, without tipping one's hand."

It looks like the guy made a dozen calls, starting on August tenth. So, the FBI was all over it then. They had his location (Encino), they let him make the calls, basically 'gave him the rope' to hang himself. They probably observed to see if there was anyone else involved or if he was a lone nut.
If this guy headed east, he'd go by plane (no toys, busted at airport), train (ditto), or car. If he went by car they would have grabbed him on the road once he crossed over a state line.

The police presence at the Globe was not for him per se, but to cover any 'other' person that got crazy ideas or that they might have missed.

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Because that sounds categorically stupid.

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...try it sometime. I'll use exact quotes. Try to keep up.

"... If it requires a show, you put on a show, but the most effective security measures are usually done quietly, without tipping one's hand."

Then I go on to describe a possible scenario. So, no, I didn't 'agree it was a publicity stunt'.

Because that, like your comment, sounds a tad stupid.

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How can you agree with Fish if you think there are plausible scenarios for this actually or even hypothetically playing out?

If he thinks, and you agree, that this is a publicity stunt, then it's not legit. And if it isn't a publicity stunt, then......?

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"What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

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IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Nqr4OSi.jpg)

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I get several phone calls each day from various locations that are not anywhere near where the call is actually coming from.

You really believe for a moment that they were sure of his location? Or, if they were, that he was acting alone?

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I'm not sure they can tell the day of the week.

Your 'caller ID' works about as well as mine.

The FBI? One phone call.

"You really believe for a moment that they were sure of his location? Or, if they were, that he was acting alone?"

Yup.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encino_Man

Encino Man is like totally not on my list of top 3 movies of all time anymore. Something else will have to go with Breakfast at Tiffanys and Pretty Woman.

But, like seriously, these angry white men need to be locked up and shown repeatedly 'the color purple', 'to kill a mockingbird', '12 years a slave', and Richard Pryor. Get used to it, the world is changing, it is so not cool to be a wanna be pussy grabbing white male anymore. A mixed race immigrant is the most expensive artist from the USA: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-19/basquiat-portrait-soa...

not that the chowder head from Encino would know anything about art, but like the last dinosaur....he knew he was not long for this world.

#solongdinosaurs
#noPforyou

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This account is so weird and unfunny that it feels like it's being done as a high school assignment in satire by someone who slept through class.

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Are you talking about Encino Man or are you talking about TWLinda? I'll tell ya, TWLinda is hilarious.
First...I'd rather read 'To Kill A Mockingbird' than watch the movie, although the movie was pretty good.
Richard Pryor? Really? Dave Chappelle.

"A mixed race immigrant is the most expensive artist from the USA: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-19/basquiat-portrait-soa...
From the Bloomberg article, maybe you should have read it..."The result ended up smashing Andy Warhol’s $105.4 million auction record and making Brooklyn-born Basquiat the most expensive American artist at auction. Basquiat died in 1988."

Granted, Andy Warhol is pretty white, but neither one is an immigrant.

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...what?

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Whomever he is that is playing 'Trophy Wife Linda' is clever, but just not that bright.
Shall I quote?
" A mixed race immigrant is ..."

So, my clever retort was that the guy ain't a damn immigrant. TWL apparently didn't read his own link. Guy's from Brooklyn.

Warhol is, OTOH, pretty friggin white.

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Fish still thinks he is right, despite the evidence showing he is a moron. Just like Trump and this nut job who threatened the Globe. Republicans are not interested in facts.

If you voted for Trump then you enabled this behavior. These homophobic, homicidal losers and yourself are one and the same. Congrats on being despised around the world and putting peoples lives in danger.

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Then you wanted for the wealthy to continue getting their way and to become wealthier...at your expense. How strange.

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As are those who use them and talk about them, apparently.

The only reality that matters is SCARED WHITE MAN FEEEEELS!

In many areas, parents who believe in evidence and reality and who let their kids walk to school or play at the park on their own are attacked and prosecuted for their failure to be afraid and believe cops, administrators and other parents that the world is a much scarier place than it is. Amok facts, failure to be terrorized by feelings has become actionable.

What we are now seeing is an attempt to generalize that sort of "failure to believe" threat against the reality based community.

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"In many areas, parents who believe in evidence and reality and who let their kids walk to school or play at the park on their own are attacked and prosecuted for their failure to be afraid and believe cops, administrators and other parents that the world is a much scarier place than it is. Amok facts, failure to be terrorized by feelings has become actionable. "

It is a terrible thing that the local municipalities, encouraged by incessant 'do-gooder' calls about 'kids at playgrounds alone' are prosecuting ordinary people for child endangerment type crimes for letting their kids out to play.

It's like they've gone overboard. I'm not going to blame any president. This shit's been going on for years.

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Love that our President incites violence...it's so Presidential. Yesterday he did the same thing with the white boy evangelicals...fear mongering, racism, homophobia, misogyny and inciting violence. #winning

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Yes, that was snark.

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no comments from the usual Trump apologists. maybe they're waiting for Hannity to deliver their talking points.

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$ javac -g -nowarn the-FISH-bot.java
$ java the-FISH-bot

He was a Soros operative, running a false flag operation against our universally beloved leader.
Meanwhile, ultra-liberal senator Elizabeth "Fauxcahantas" Warren is using this distraction as an opportunity to make FEMA build internment camps for police officers.

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or it didn't happen.

Also, do I need to uninstall logic from my machine for that to link properly, or can I go on trusting that my CPU interprets 2 + 2 as 4?

Thirdly, will it change my default homepage to infowars.cn?

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Could be we're all toiling away at our dead-end no-education-required jobs, the ones that the Mex-er-kinz didn't steal yet, that is. Or we have normal jobs where posting to social media and the like during working hours isn't considered professional. Or we don't feel the need to comment on every random whackjob that Adam tries to pin on us. Like how that Bernie Bro and that Israeli kid calling in bomb threats to Brookline High School was supposed to be all our fault. Gets old after a while.

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I've been outside all week swinging a chainsaw. Actually had to use a leaf blower to cool it off every now and again. Destroyed one, still have two left.
Payoff was good, though. 24'' dia cherry logs are worth a bundle. Then there's the firewood.

Tomorrow (today) I sleep in.

Maybe Trump's ex-lawyer's lawyer will have that whole 'I lied about calling CNN about the Russian meeting' thing figured out. Maybe if Encino Man spent more time outdoors just having fun, he wouldn't give a shit about the lying bastards that comprise so much of the current media.

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When people cry foul about you voicing certain things, like, for instance,

the ones that the Mex-er-kinz didn't steal yet, that is.

They've got pretty solid grounds for it.

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No doubt, Robert D. Chain is mentally ill.
And there is one mention of 'Trump' in the article -- ONE
.
So, putting 'Trump' in the headline is justified -- barely.
But, it's questionable.

OTH, James T. Hodgkinson S-H-O-T Cong. Steve Scalise.
And SHOT AT other REPUBLICAN Members of Congress.
No Democrats.
Yup, Hodgkinson was mentally ill, as well.

How about just a tiny bit for equity?
Not full; just a bit?

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You've got the President of the United States screaming about "the enemy of the people."

So when our California pal starts screaming at the Globe that they're "the enemy of the people" (allegedly), he wasn't just responding to the voices in his head.

You might want to read up on the concept of "working towards the Fuhrer."

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Antifa.

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Antifa.

Haaaahahahahahaha.

Roman, you are hilarious. Deluded, but hilarious.

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Hilarious. Of course they're not planning a civil war.

They'd get rolled like a bocce ball.

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I'm verging on throwing down with these dudes https://www.redneckrevolt.org/

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Just started reading it...mentions Carl Bernstein. Funny, he's in up to his neck in the whole 'Cohen says Trump knew about the Russian Meeting no he Didn't Maybe I guess We Have Witnesses or We Don't' that CNN pulled this week.

Lawyer says he lied, or maybe didn't, not sure. But...Trump.

You must see why people get cynical about 'news' outlets like CNN.

'Fake but accurate' is getting old.

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You really don't know anything at all about journalism, do you?

As in, you report on what people say. Then they change their story. So, you report on that.

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"As in, you report on what people say. Then they change their story. So, you report on that."

I guess CNN doesn't have the excellent BU J-School education that you have. I report, you decide...

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ej8DbCr.jpg)

Looks like CNN and Bernstein are sticking by their (total bullshit) story concerning

Cohen's lawyer and his cheap shenanigans.

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Screenshot from American Pravda is good proof. Ve vill send you rubles.

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The story of the walk back of original comments was reported by news organizations that are considered reputable by some and fake news by certain leading politicians.

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Is perfectly good news, da.

https://www.businessinsider.com/lanny-davis-cnn-claim-hurt-michael-cohen...

Is not that Davis is covering for client prior perjury, nyet. Is all vitch hunt, rigged vitch hunt. Makink America Gret again, da!

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Therefore, "both sides" and "equity" and "fair and balanced" are all trendy ways of saying SMELL THIS BULLSHIT.

How many racist white males and homophobic white male shootings? Hmmm. Oh, but there was ONE NUTTY LIBERAL and that counts for 87,345 Dylan Roofs.

Uh huh.

You might want to start thinking a bit more critically and with greater equity in terms of ACTUAL things that happen, not singular incidents compared to multiple ongoing and unrelenting trends. In other words, use your brain, not your scared manfeels.

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Please, enlighten us. Your RANDOM CAPITALIZED WORDS don't really mean much when you back them up with...nothing.

Here, have a box of "...ACTUAL things that happen, ..."

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/JLCVjB5.jpg)

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All that trouble to put together a collage of non-white men to prove that's it not always white men - why didn't you include at least one woman? Because right now it looks like only men go out and kill a bunch of people when they don't get their way.

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You people ain't worth the effort.

Most women that kill just drown their kids so they can bang their boyfriend.

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Wow. You had to go back three decades to find that many non-white mass murderers?

Please note also that the definition of "mass shootings" has changed over times, and different groups that compile statistics also use different definitions, so this charming montage is especially meaningless. Note also that the "victims" above includes those injured, not just those killed, a number that is substantially lower in many cases (10 killed in the Beltway sniper attacks, 13 in the Fort Hood shootings, etc.).

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"... is especially meaningless."

Please, point to the picture that is untrue. Unlike CNN, it's a fact.

"...(10 killed in the Beltway sniper attacks, 13 in the Fort Hood shootings, etc.).
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Only ten. Only 13...you must have a heart of stone...

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You just proved the point that nonwhite mass murderers are so very rare that you had to go back decades to assemble as many as there are white mass shooters in a single year.

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A Really Smart Person would undoubtedly say, "Citation please."

I'll say, "Back that one up a bit."

Pick a year, any year. Clue...the year has to, by your own metric, have more than twenty mass shootings by whitey. (Bulgers don't count.)

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Your claim still seems rather unsubstantiated.

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Linking to Mother Jones here because it contains a link to an entire database: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/mass-shootings-mother-jones...
(FYI: the cute little 30 year "yearbook" of brown people shooters is of similar size to the past 1.5 years of white shooters)

https://www.newsweek.com/white-men-have-committed-more-mass-shootings-an... (the "NO IT INNNT!" comments are intact, of course)

Most are not mentally ill: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/most-mass-shooters-arent-mentally-i...

It's the entitlement and white manfeels! http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1097184X14523432

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Why did Chain threaten to blow up the Globe? It was because of the Globe's stance on Trump. Well, that and the mental illness. Therefore, it is worth mentioning Trump in the title of the article. Perhaps if Adam titled the article "Feds: crazy California man echoed Trump in repeated threats to kill Boston Globe employees," it would be more accurate, no?

Similarly, were someone to point out early on in the article on the shooting of Scalise that Republican Congressmen were being attacked, that would be a valid point, too.

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Always mental illness, yes.

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You can rewrite the headline yourself.

Mentally ill or not, the guy should be seeing jail time.

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Look at the photos of all the non-white people dmcboston put up above. Almost all of those guys had severe unchecked mental illnesses.

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The problem is the narrative always goes like this:

Black/brown = Terrorist, just like all the other black/brown people
White = Mentally ill lone wolf

And that narrative then gets used to justify crackdowns on entire groups of black/brown people, while we never see ponderous thought pieces on why it's time for white leaders to do something about the criminals in their community.

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I don't think anyone calls black shooters/murders terrorists. Where are the crackdowns on black terrorists? This is one of the reasons why I don't think the narrative is what you think it is (or what most people see).

I also think we use the word "terrorist" like we use the word "thug" and people get so upset about that for some reason. We call white gang members "mobsters" and black gang members "gangbangers". We call white people who are poor or beneath us "white trash". Why isn't there "black trash"?

We don't call Dylan Roof a terrorist the same way we didn't call Michael Xavier Johnson (the guy who killed 5 Dallas Police officers) a terrorist.

I think both sides of this argument make too much of it.

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Well, not on Mars anyway. Here on earth the rare shooter of color is almost always considered terroristic, while the Dylan Roofs and others with strong affiliations with right wing hate groups are just sad, troubled young men who "just snapped".

Of course, you could use Google to learn something you don't want to know.

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Most "shooters of color" are considered neither terrorists nor people who "just snapped." In all honesty, they are looked upon as criminals. Adam posts articles on, well, I guess the phrase to you is SOCs getting arrested all the time. Look at the comments, if any, on these stories. No terrorist references and no mental health discussion typically.

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Well Adam said Black or Brown, which is different first of all, and of the ones above in that chart, how many of them do we call "terrorists"? None of them.

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"Black/brown = Terrorist, just like all the other black/brown people
White = Mentally ill lone wolf"

Bullshit. Where is that the narrative? The Globe? The NYT? Post? CNN?

Bullshit.

Truth of the matter? Except for a few 'known/lone wolf' terrorists the overwhelming majority of them, of any race, are just psychopathic killers.

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Do we let this jerkoff troll post here?

No, really? This might merit a legitimate discussion, but that's not to be had with this poster. We've been over this gaslighting bullshit since, well, I don't know, close to 9/11/01.

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"We" let you post here.

Or specifically, Adam (who has the power in this matter, as opposed to you or me) has no problem with an open discussion, as long as people are being respectful. Disagree with him all you want, but he never crosses that line into being abusive.

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His goal is to obfuscate and misinform. Those are inherently abusive.

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He just has a different worldview than you have.

He keeps the discussion pretty political and tends to keep any personal animosity to a minimum.

Just admit that you don't want to read his viewpoints. Of course, then you will have to ask yourself why you really want him gone.

Honestly, I like seeing other voices, even when I disagree with them. Echo chambers might be warmer places, so long as one likes the echo. If you want to challenge his talking points, do so with salient counterpoints. Just asking for someone to be banned from posting things you disagree with might be seen by some as downright Presidential, but for my money, it is wrong.

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Everyone sing Koombayaaah!

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Would you feel comfortable if someone was saying that "we" shouldn't allow you to post?

To flip the saying you probably like, people are not entitled to their own facts, but they are entitled to their own opinions. Of course, being in the social sciences, I've seen how things can get conflated, but still.

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So I will politely tell you that I respectfully disagree with this assessment and find it wildly inaccurate, and that it assumes a lot of things about me, what I will tolerate, and so on.

There are conservatives I listen to quite frequently. Rick Wilson is one. More locally, Ed Lyons is another. There are also progressives and liberals I don't necessarily agree with. So I vehemently disagree with what you're getting at and think you're just trying to pat yourself on the back for some sort of "I'm more pro 'free speech' than you" sort of virtue signaling. So fuck off with this echo chamber notion like you think you have any idea what I read or listen to, quite frankly.

Roman, Fish, and dmcboston (and capecoddah while we're at it) more often than not engage in bad faith trolling. That doesn't make for some flaw on my part. Rather, it makes you extremely gullible.

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Well, for one, I tend not to use words like 'jerkoff'.
My point of view, although anathema to you, is quite valid to many folks out there.
When you have a valid point to make, rather than call me a troll, please make your point, rather than join the several (one an anon double) that just sputter and go all ad hominem 'cause they've got nothing of value.

Oh, it's AG's call. It's his site. In this, I hold him in higher regard than the goggles, faceplant or twatter, each of which, under the rubric of 'getting rid of fake news' actively blocks legitimate conservative entities.

F*#k your "...legitimate discussion...". The only 'legitimate discussion' to be had by a leftie such as yourself is a juvenile college level acquiescence to your point of view.

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*continues on and uses ad hominem.*

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I leave for a few hours ...

OK, enough.

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I've attached a copy to the original post. In it, we learn Chain owned several guns and bought a new rifle in May (the Globe reports today he had at least 20) and that he used his wife's phone for a couple of the calls (his wife, a lawyer, represented him in a case involving unpaid student loans a few years ago; records don't yet show who's representing him this time). Also: Just because you "block" your phone number from showing up on somebody's caller ID doesn't mean law enforcement can't discover that number.

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" Also: Just because you "block" your phone number from showing up on somebody's caller ID doesn't mean law enforcement can't discover that number.
up"

Maybe the legendary 'anon' can pick up on this...

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