Eight Antifa activists were convicted under federal terrorism laws for a 2021 raid on a Texas ICE facility, the Trump administration's first such convictions.
One defendant, B Song, was found guilty of attempted murder for shooting a police officer in the neck with an AR-15 during the incident.
The group characterized the event as a noise demonstration, but the DOJ prosecuted it as a coordinated terrorist strike.
Critical evidence came from the group's Signal messages, which were preserved in Apple's internal memory despite the app being deleted.
Garrison Davis notes outgoing Signal messages weren't saved, as there's no notification system for messages you send yourself.
Federal Judge Mark Pittman barred the defendants from claiming self-defense, ruling an officer drawing a gun is not excessive force if they don't shoot first.
Robert Evans argues that in a civilian encounter, drawing a gun would be enough to justify a self-defense claim, but police authority changes the legal standard.
Cooperating witnesses revealed internal friction, with Song advocating using suppressive fire to free detainees while others saw rifles only as a deterrent.
The convictions set a precedent for prosecuting political unrest, formally establishing a legal path from protest to terrorism in federal court.
Post-WWI Persia was a chaotic proxy war zone between Britain and the Soviet Union, not a unified nation-state.
The British Empire used southern Persia as a strategic base to fund the anti-Bolshevik White Russian forces.
Britain’s core interest in Persia was maintaining cheap oil for the Royal Navy, not preserving Persian sovereignty.
The central Qajar government under a teenage Shah was powerless, with a national army that evaporated when called to fight.
The Persian Cossack Brigade, a hybrid force of Persian soldiers led by White Russian officers, became the country's only viable military.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company operated as a state within a state, bypassing Tehran to negotiate directly with local tribal sheikhs.
APOC decentralized Persia by stripping the monarchy of revenue, making deals with local powers who could protect its infrastructure.
By 1921, Britain sought a cheap local strongman to secure oil and block Soviets, as maintaining a permanent garrison was too costly.
This British need for cost-effective control set the stage for a coup to replace the Qajar dynasty with a compliant military dictatorship.