This is Terrorism and Racketeering

In a concerted effort to intimidate and terrorize people reporting coronavirus violations, the far right is doxxing and threatening the life of people who report incidents to authorities.

Why anti-gang statutes are not being invoked against these motherf%$#ers is beyond me:

Aram Westergreen, a construction worker idled last month in the COVID-19 pandemic, filled out an online Washington state form recently to report a pawn shop open despite a ban on nonessential businesses.

Westergreen lives in Tacoma, Wash., less than an hour from the nursing home where the first COVID-19 death in the United States was reported in late February. With more than 900 deaths statewide since, and a stay-at-home order in place since March 23, Westergreen, like many of his neighbors, has suffered from lost income, but regards social distancing as critical to slow the spread of the pathogen.

To his alarm on Thursday, he opened his email to find a message entitled “Lowlife scumbag whistle-blower snitches.” It was sent from a stranger to about 100 people, informing them that their names, reports and identifying information had been released by the government and shared on social media.

………

The emailer was correct in one respect. The Washington Military Department, which is coordinating state response to the pandemic, had responded to public records requests by releasing spreadsheets containing more than 7,600 reports of suspected stay-home violations, including email addresses and phone numbers of those lodging complaints.

The use of terrorism and threats are a very deliberate act by right wing organizations, and local and state authorities should be pursuing them under anti-gang statutes, and federal law enforcement agencies should pursue them under anti-terrorism statutes.

It's time to pry their guns from their cold, dead hands.