This editorial is brought to you by a staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
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HICKMAN COUNTY, TN – If you’ve been surfing through the likes of Facebook, you might have stumbled across a post that is a screenshot of a picture on a phone that showcases a sort of Antifa flyer alleging that there’s going to be some kind of a ruckus on November 4th, possibly in Hickman County.
Alleged Antifa flyer claiming some type of November 4th gathering to infiltrate
While I personally loathe the likes of Antifa and their tactics, I can assure you that this is simply a hoax.
The flyer states the following:
“Antifa comrades! On Nov. 4, don’t forget to disguise yourselve4s as patriots/Trump supporters: wear MAGA hats, USA flags, 3%er insignias, a convincing police uniform is even better. This way police and patriots responding to us won’t know who their enemies are, and onlookers and the media will think there are Trump supporters rioting so it’s harder to turn popular opinion against us.”
The November 4th Antifa flyer obviously struck a chord with some online, considering that November 4th happens to fall after the day of the 2020 election.
However, that flyer stems from an elaborate hoax from 2017. In fact, far-left agitators went so far to promote the 2017 “November 4th” event (for lack of a better term), that images online not only showed that exact same flyer word-for-word, but some people hoisted signs on a roadway in 2017 saying “Nov 4 It Begins”.
Unidentified roadway showcasing signage promoting the Nov 4 protests in 2017
Except, it never really happened the way it was blow-up to be online.
While the likes of RefuseFascism.org were trying to genuinely promote protests against President Trump in 2017 for November 4th that they would hope would spread nationally – it really didn’t.
Also, while the group in 2017 was being awfully dramatic a year after the 2016 election, the planned protests were not aiming for violence.
Also, many Antifa members didn’t even know there was anything planned for November 4th in 2017.
Same, this is the first I’ve heard of this
— Conrad Trash Panda – Antifa CEO / Soup Division (@kittystryker) October 1, 2017
In fact, the only thing that actually happened on November 4th in 2017 was a relatively mild protest against the Trump White House in Times Square in New York.
There was maybe 300 people in attendance, which isn’t a small number by any means, but there wasn’t any violence at all and it certainly wasn’t something nationwide either.
Screenshot from 2017 Medium article discussing the Nov 4th hysteria
Furthermore, the latest circulation came from someone named Katy Krasnow on Facebook and landed on a now-defunct page called “Hickman County Antifa”. According to Krasnow, that meme was meant to be shared in jest:
“Hickman County Antifa was a satire page, either the creator or Facebook took it down, that post was just a bad joke. I deleted soon after it got shared because it made a lot of people freak out more than I expected, nobody in the group was really actually connected, we were just sharing dumb antifa memes.”
The only thing that has been a mystery since 2017 is where this flyer genuinely originated from. As in who made it and what was the intent behind it.
Some could argue that it was legitimately made by some Antifa fanatic who was privy to the protests being promoted by Refuse Fascism in the hopes that violence could break out and that attendees would adopt the message delivered in the flyer.
Others could argue that it came from the far-left as a general joke or hoax to see if conservative news outlets at the time would latch onto the flyer and get all up in arms.
While internet trolling hoaxes in said form to achieve maximum “lulz” is something often attributed to right-leaning 4chan users – most would be surprised to know that 4chan attracts far-left leaning pranksters as well.
Short of finding the very first upload anywhere online and gathering the metadata on the original picture, we’ll likely never know exactly where it came from.
However, it’s safe to say that the November 4th flyer making the rounds once again should be taken with a grain of salt.
Warning: More police confirm reports of groups in residential neighborhoods, taking photos of homes with police cars in driveways
June 1, 2020 –
WASHINGTON D.C. – Law enforcement officials from across the country have reached out to Law Enforcement Today asking us to warn police across America about a potential threat.
And since dropping the article on Monday morning, we’ve received word from numerous people letting us know they’ve seen similar suspicious activity in their communities.
We’ve spoken with countless officers in the past 12 hours from across the country – all of whom have reported that their departments have made internal changes over the past few days to ensure both the on-duty and off-duty safety of their officers.
Transparently – our team debated internally whether or not to cover this story. We are America’s largest law enforcement owned and operated media outlet, and we are unapologetically pro-police.
Although we don’t hesitate to call out and provide media coverage of bad apples, our priority is in giving the voice to law enforcement that they’re often denied in the mainstream media.
The last thing we want to do is put officers at risk by giving bad people ideas.
But soon after this threat started spreading like wildfire online, we had law enforcement from across the country reach out. They pointed out that the threat is already circulating.
Many have asked us to address it so that departments are aware of it and can take precautions to make changes, if they deem it necessary – especially given how quickly it’s circulating.
They made a valid point – it’s better to be aware of a potential danger and take precautions than to not know about it because of a national breakdown in communication.
It’s worth noting that we have NOT received any confirmation of this from the FBI. With that said, a number of agencies have confirmed for us off the record that they’re aware of it and are making internal changes. We’ve been asked for obvious reasons to not report which agencies they are.
Here’s what we’re told.
In a number of different communities in states ranging from California and Texas to Florida – reports have come in that small groups of individuals appear to be canvassing neighborhoods and taking pictures of homes that have police cruisers in the driveways.
“I can absolutely confirm this,” told us one police spokesman, who asked that his department be kept anonymous because of the threats. “We’ve received multiple reports throughout the weekend both in terms of phone calls and alerts that neighborhood residents are putting out on community watch apps.”
It comes as police are receiving direct, personal threats through social media, calls and emails.
“We and our children are receiving threats,” one police lieutenant told Law Enforcement Today.
The departments we spoke with said that they’re currently making policy changes so that take-home police cruisers are either garaged or – for now – left at the police departments.
“We expect danger when on the job,” said one sergeant. “But this is different. They are threatening to burn down our homes and kill our families.”
Officials have also told us that they’re instructing officers to make other changes, such as making sure uniforms aren’t hanging in personal vehicles while driving into work.
“Effective starting this past weekend, no police vehicles – including unmarked vehicles – will be brought up,” one Captain told Law Enforcement Today. “This isn’t to punish our guys – it’s to protect them and their families.”
We’ll keep you updated as this story develops – and you can send us information about what’s happening in your department or community at [email protected] Vetted information and sources will be kept confidential.
If you’re following us on Facebook, make sure to click “Following – See First” or you might miss the updates, as social media often doesn’t show pro-police content.
All of this comes as the Minnesota National Guard deals with what the FBI says is a ‘credible, lethal threat’. As a result, activated units are now armed.
Minnestota National Guard’s top general said his soldiers are armed after receiving FBI warning about “credible, lethal threat” against his forces
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) May 31, 2020
The National Guard’s top general requested military police units from out of state as a result of the threat. He has not requested active-duty forces yet.
Minnesota National Guard’s top general says he has requested military police units from other states, but has not requested active-duty forces yet
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) May 31, 2020
These threats reportedly came after officials worked to determine if extremist groups had infiltrated police brutality protests across the country.
Definitely hope this doesn’t happen to your humvee pic.twitter.com/S4gw8T5OZX
— SUBURB ABOLISHER (@upsetterofchuds) May 29, 2020
Law enforcement is looking into if they deliberately tipped largely peaceful demonstrations toward violence.
Just in: Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen says his soldiers are armed & “carrying ammunition” in their magazine pouches based on “a credible lethal threat” to Minn NG conveyed by the FBI on Thursday. Can be upgraded based on local conditions.
— Jack Detsch (@JackDetsch) May 31, 2020
To make matters worse, they’re investigating if foreign adversaries – such as Russia – were behind a growing disinformation campaign on social media.
Why is the daughter of Minnesota’s Governor (@GovTimWalz) sharing information about National Guard movements & capabilities to Minneapolis “protestors”? https://t.co/qYeLAG5l12
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) May 30, 2020
On Saturday, an Antifa activist group put out a message that encouraged people to consider Minnesota National Guard troops “easy targets,” according to two Defense Department officials.
Reddit allows terror group Antifa to organize on their site @realDonaldTrump @FBI @TheJusticeDept @MNNationalGuard @PortlandPolice @BaltimorePolice pic.twitter.com/amfm2yDV68
— John D (@thinkthinkthin6) May 31, 2020
The activists were encouraged to steal “kit”, or the weapons and body armor used by the soldiers.
The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, reports one outlet.
Now, soldiers with the Minnesota National Guard have been armed during all missions at protests across the state.
The soldiers are sometimes – but not always – armed. Yet for the past few days, they haven’t been armed as they’ve moved into parts of the state taken over by riots.
In the state, the troops do not currently have the authority to make arrests, and are there to act essentially as extra security for police.
There are currently more than 4,100 National Guard soldiers and airmen in Minneapolis.
Hours after President Trump declared that he’ll be designating Antifa as a terror organization, they reportedly made the ultimate threat – we’re bringing the war to the suburbs.
Now authorities are on high alert – regardless of who may be behind it.
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