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Yesterday I wrote about ballot boxes that were set on fire in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. As suspected, police have since confirmed those attacks were related. The released an image of the suspect’s car.

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We’ve also learned that there have been three similar attacks, not just two.

The incidents are believed to be related to a third incident earlier this month in Vancouver.

The incidents come as a US Department of Homeland Security bulletin from September obtained by the watchdog group Property of the People warned, “Some social media users are discussing and encouraging various methods of sabotaging ballot drop boxes and avoiding detection, likely heightening the potential for targeting of this election infrastructure through the 2024 election cycle.

“Election infrastructure remains an attractive target for some domestic violent extremists and other threat actors with election-related grievances who seek to disrupt the democratic process and election operations,” the bulletin warned.

Domestic violent extremists doesn’t really narrow things down very much. The big question that remain unanswered is who did this and with what motivation. Today the NY Times repots on an update which may resolve that question.

Investigators responding to arson fires at two ballot boxes in the Pacific Northwest this week found devices at both scenes marked with the words “Free Gaza,” according to two law enforcement officials.

Investigators are trying to determine if the perpetrator was actually a pro-Palestinian activist or someone using that prominent cause to sow discord, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. But the message has added a heightened layer of political sensitivity to a closely watched investigation in the final days of a tense presidential election…

The “Free Gaza” message appeared not only on the two devices, which were discovered on Monday, but also on a device found at a third ballot box this month in Vancouver, according to the law enforcement officials. That device also had the words “Free Palestine” on it.

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Granted, until the suspect is in custody, we won’t know for certain what motivated them but given that this happened in the Portland area I’m not sure it’s much of a stretch to pin this on far-left extremists. After all, Portland is home to a large Antifa collective and was the scene of one of the most destructive campus occupations last spring. Activists took over the library at Portland State University and did a reported $750,000 in damage, all in the name of Gaza.

It’s also believable on an ideological level. Far left activists in Portland see both parties as equally bad or at least as so bad that choosing between them is a fool’s errand. Here’s a statement recently published about the election on It’s Going Down.

The dead heat of this race is, in part, due to this election cycle offering the choice between the party of genocide and the party of fascism. This is no choice at all. It is part of the formula that has led to our worsening social crisis. For decades we have faced exactly this same calculus at the ballot box: choose the lesser evil candidate to stave off much worse outcomes for working and oppressed peoples. And yet, conditions continue to worsen each cycle. This is a process that has been slowly moving all of us toward fascism, climate crisis, and genocide. Working within these options does not change that trajectory. Only by working outside and against them can we alter our course…

The US-supported genocide in Gaza and its spread to Lebanon has intensified this crisis of legitimacy and political impasse. As the death toll rises and public anger increases, Gaza will continue to put politicians in a bind. Republican politicians are opting for a quick and decisive military victory, with Trump calling for Israel to “get it over with” and promising to clamp down on protests. Many Democrats in office would prefer a return to low level conflict that would move off the front pages of the newspaper but allow Israel to continue its process of ethnic cleansing and occupation. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have clearly signaled that aside from a few wagged fingers over humanitarian aid, they are firmly with Israel’s ever-expanding war to the bitter end.

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So there you have it. They support neither party and they see the war in Gaza as an issue on which both parties are wrong. It’s not that hard to imagine someone who believed this taking action against “the system” by trying to burn ballots indiscriminately. Why would anyone be surprised by this? A group of activists who openly support Hamas terrorists and their murder of Israeli civilians isn’t going to draw the llne at this sort of vandalism/domestic terrorism.