Brandon Griesemer's "Mistake" & America's Two-Tier Justice System

19-year-old Brandon Griesemer - free on bail the same
day he was arrested for making terrorist threats

It's hard to tell exactly what was going on in the mind of 19-year-old Brandon Griesemer when he decided to place 22 different phone calls to CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta two weeks ago.

As has been widely reported, the bespectacled grocery store clerk from Novi, Michigan made multiple threats of violence against CNN employees and used racial slurs against Muslims, African-Americans and Jews.

Just like Trump has. Repeatedly.

Given the scores of mass shootings and other unprovoked violent attacks that have taken place across the U.S. in recent months since 45's election in 2016, Griesemer's comments were disturbing.

In his first call placed on the afternoon of Tuesday January 9th, he told a CNN operator:

"Fake news. I'm coming to gun you all down. Fuck you, fucking niggers." before hanging up.

In a subsequent call he said:

"You are going down. I have a gun and I coming to Georgia right now to go to the CNN headquarters to fucking gun down every single last one of you. I have a team of people. It's going to be great man. You gotta get prepared for this one."

Griesemer repeatedly ranted about CNN being "fake news" during some of the 22 calls he made to CNN between January 9th and 10th.

Inside the massive CNN Center in Atlanta

So it'd be easy to write this racist nut-job off as some kind of loose-cannon MAGA-Trump disciple who spent way too much time on Reddit with other alt-right trolls who get their news from a platform for white supremacy like Breitbart.

Trump retweeted a video GIF of him physically attacking a man with the CNN logo superimposed over his head.

Which he did on the morning of July 2, 2017, essentially endorsing violence against a news organization.

So it's possible Griesemer has (in a sick way) internalized Trump's repeated, childish vilification of CNN - as if the 1st Amendment of the Constitution is something he can turn on and off like a like switch as he pleases.

But there's clearly much more going on with Brandon Griesemer than internalizing and parroting Trump's disturbing narcissistic obsession with CNN reporting things he doesn't like.

It doesn't take a degree in psychology to know that the toxic rage Griesemer directed at CNN over the phone is likely indicative of something deeper.

I mean if you don't like CNN, why watch it right?

According to Tom Clearly's Heavy.com article on Griesemer, he lives with his parents and brother.

Brandon Griesemer graduated from Michigan's
Novi High School back in 2017

Anthony Luongo, a student who graduated from Novi High School with Griesemer last year, told the Washington Post that Griesemer was a Trump supporter who identified with Hitler and was openly reading a copy of "Mein Kampf "  before school.

As Cleary reported, Griesemer's father Mark Griesemer told WaPo that "this whole thing has been a mistake".

But both the FBI and a CNN investigator who traced the calls confirmed that the calls were linked to a cell tower near the Griesemer home.

The fact that he called CNN 22 times from the same number over a two-day period suggests this kid isn't the brightest pumpkin in the patch if he didn't realize that repeated threatening calls to a major global news media company could be quickly traced.

And if 22 calls over a two-day period was a "mistake" as his father suggested, how come the FBI was able to confirm that Griesemer also made threatening calls to the Islamic Center of Ann Arbor back in September? Calls that were confirmed by his mother in an interview with the FBI.

Was that "a mistake" too?

Once again, Trump, who immediately takes to Twitter after any terrorist attack committed by a radicalized Muslim anywhere on the planet (or, as in the case of Sweden, terrorist attacks that did not happen), predictably had nothing to say about Griesemer making a terrorist threat against his nemesis CNN.

But given that the terrorist was white, and was essentially espousing the same kind of racial hatred on which Trump's entire campaign and presidency is based, that's not surprising.

Timothy Caughman (left), killed with a sword by
James Harris Jackson (right) in New York in 2017

Remember when white Baltimore resident James Harris Jackson went to New York City and used a sword to fatally stab an innocent 66-year-old black man named Timothy Caughman last March?

He told NYPD detectives that the gruesome killing was "a practice run" for a planned killing spree against black men because he was personally repulsed by the idea of black men dating white women.

Millions reacted in horror, but Trump said nothing about the killing.

Just three months later in June, the horrific and unprovoked racially-motivated stabbing attack on a crowded light-rail train was committed by enraged white transient Jeremy Joseph Christian.

Remember that guy?

He's the homeless ex-felon who began shouting racial and xenophobic slurs at a 16-year-old African-American girl and her friend who was wearing a hijab - when horrified onlookers tried to intervene and stop him, he fatally stabbed two of them and seriously injured another.

Trump said nothing about that heinous racially-motivated killing either.

Judge Anthony Patti

As if violent terrorist attacks committed by people who share his views on race and immigration are somehow different than similar acts committed by people with dark skin who slander Islam by using it as a blanket excuse to slaughter and maim innocent people who don't worship or look like them.

Evidently Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti didn't find Brandon Griesemer's terroristic threats all that threatening either, on the same day the 19-year-old was arrested (last Friday) he was released from the federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

That means he didn't even have to put up bail.

The judge just let him walk after admonishing Griesemer not to make any threats against anyone.

(Remember, 16-year-old Kalief Browder was held in Rikers Island for three years, including two years in solitary confinement on charges he stole a backpack - he was never charged and later committed suicide.)

Am I suggesting that Brandon Griesemer being released without having to put up bail hours after being arrested on charges of threatening to kill employees of CNN was a miscarriage of justice?

Not at all.

Griesemer was charged with making terroristic threats and will have to appear back in court on February 9th - time will tell if they make a case against him.

But to me, his release on an unsecured bond reflects America's two-tier justice system in America - one that views the accused very differently depending on the color of their skin.

After all, had a black 19-year-old who worked part-time at a grocery store and lived with his parents called Breitbart News' headquarters 22 different times over two days and threatened to shoot employees - he'd still be in jail.

And you-know-who would be sitting in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum indignantly tweeting about it right now.

The Terror Here and There: Trump's Situational Silence

A traumatized woman after last night's terror
attack in London 

This morning as I lay in bed reading the latest updates on the terror attack that hit the city of London last night, it was hard to fathom the depths of depravity to which some individuals will sink to inflict suffering and death upon the innocent.

According to a recap of the incident and its aftermath published in the Telegraph earlier today, at least seven people lost their lives and 48 people were injured in the course of the nightmare that unfolded on a busy Saturday night in London.

As the Telegraph reported, witnesses heard at least one of the three men who exited the van that struck at least five people on London Bridge shout"This is for Allah!" (ISIS claimed responsibility) before they began racing into pubs and restaurants in the crowded Borough Market section of London slashing and stabbing innocent people with large hunting knives and machetes.

One can only wonder what's going on in the minds of the relatives and friends of the victims of these attacks, certainly for those who knew someone who died, but also for the dozens of people who remain in critical condition in three area hospitals.

As someone who lived in Manhattan on September 11, 2001, I can understand the feelings of trauma, fear, anxiety, helplessness, anger and sadness that the residents of London, and indeed the entire UK, are now experiencing - and people in other countries where some of the victims are from as well.

As an American I'm embarrassed, outraged and simply baffled at the dimwitted comments Donald Trump released about the terror attack via his Twitter account.

It's remarkable, with each day and each tweet, this delusional narcissist seems to further demonstrate just how totally unqualified he his to hold the office that some members of the Russian government and former FBI director James Comey helped him win.

It was just a couple weeks ago when a 22-year old British Muslim named Salman Ramadan Abedi detonated a shrapnel bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, taking the lives of twenty-three children and adults and leaving 119 people injured.

Sean Urbanski and victim Richard W. Collins

With the people of the United Kingdom still reeling from that heinous act of terrorism, at a time when people need leadership and strength, Trump offered his usual mix of divisiveness, uninformed drivel and outright buffoonery.

He drew widespread condemnation from political leaders both here and around the globe today for using the attacks to attack political correctness and disrespect the mayor of London Sadiq Khan by totally mischaracterizing the words of a statement he'd released.

What's interesting is that while Trump was quick to take to Twitter to make a moronic attempt to criticize advocates of gun control because UK police shot and killed all three attackers who used a van and knives to slaughter innocent people, he's been virtually silent on the death of African-American Bowie State University student Richard Collins, III.

It was about 3:05am just a few weeks ago back on Saturday May 20th that Collins was stabbed in the chest and killed by a white student named Sean Christopher Urbanski on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland while waiting for an Uber driver to come pick him and two friends up.

Urbanski is a resident of Severna Park, Maryland who was a University of Maryland student and a member of a Facebook group called 'Alt-Reich: Nation' (which has since been deleted) where members posted a mix of offensive racist, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim content.

He didn't know Collins, or the two friends who were with him when the attack occurred, a white male and a young woman of Asian descent.

Like 28-year-old James Harris Jackson who stabbed 68-year-old Timothy Caughman with a sword on a New York City street back in March, Urbanski targeted and attacked Collins because of his race and skin color.

Collins was a graduate of the Bowie State School of Business and the school's ROTC program and had been commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army two days before he was killed.

Graduation gown placed in memory of Richard Collins
at the University of Maryland commencement

Trump, who campaigned on divisiveness, intolerance and bigotry, and counts known white supremacists among his top White House advisors, said virtually nothing about the killing.

But the silence from the federal government, particularly the Department of Justice is particularly deafening.

As NPR reported Collins' killing is being investigated as a hate crime, but how much solace does that give to the family and friends of Richard Collins?

There is little doubt about what kind of crime it was.

The University of Maryland, which was rocked by the unprovoked attack, also placed a cap and gown in honor of Collins at it's commencement ceremony as well, where they observed a moment of silence in his honor.

As Colin Campbell reported in an article in the Baltimore Sun back on May 23rd, Collins' family received a lengthy and emotional standing ovation as they came to accept his degree which was awarded posthumously at Bowie State University's commencement ceremony.

Given the widespread increase in hate crimes and hate activity across the United States in the wake of Trump's election and a resurgence in white supremacist activity, the manner of Collins' death took on a larger meaning in a historical context as Bowie State was the first Historically Black College / University (HBCU) founded in the state of Maryland back in 1865 as a teachers college.

It's one of the ten oldest HBCU's in America.

During the ceremony Bowie State President Mickey Burnim noted that:

"one of our graduates - in the prime of his life - has fallen victim to an unprovoked assault, in yet one more manifestation of the senseless violence permeating our society."  

A violence fueled, in no small part, by the divisive rhetoric and cultural intolerance cultivated by the man who would be president and many of the advisers who surround him.

Jeremy Joseph Christian ranting at his arraignment
in a Portland courtroom last week 

For a man who assured the nation that he wanted to represent all Americans at his inauguration, Trump's inability to offer at least some kind of substantive or meaningful statement on Collins' killing is inexcusable.

And evidence of his administration's undivided loyalty to the radical alt-right base whose support helped propel him into the White House last fall.

Trump's silence was also evident in Portland last week.

As the entire globe expressed shock and outrage after known white supremacist Jeremy Joseph Christian boarded a crowded light rail train car in Portland and began loudly berating two young Muslim women before stabbing and killing two people (and seriously wounding another) who attempted to come to intervene and come to their aid - Trump said nothing.  

As Renee Graham observed in an article in the Boston Globe, Trump finally released a terse, generic cookie-cutter comment about the incident via Twitter a full three days after the attack.

And then only after being widely criticized by millions of people on social media, including former CBS anchorman and journalist Dan Rather.

Equally disturbing, as noted by Williamette Week reporter Corey Pein during a recent interview on NPR's On the Media, are efforts by right wing media to attempt to characterize Christian as some kind of leftist radical and deny the fact that not only was he a white supremacist with Neo Nazi beliefs - and that he specifically targeted two innocent women because of their faith and skin color.

A kind of bizarre knee-jerk, ostrich head-in-the-sand reaction from right wing media pundits attempting to shield Trump from the responsibility he faces in openly courting fringe extremists and mainstreaming bigotry and intolerance.

Mississippi State Rep. Karl Oliver

Did you hear about Mississippi State Representative Karl Oliver calling for people who supported the removal of Confederate statues to be "lynched" on his Facebook page?

He wrote that on the very same day that Richard Collins was killed in by Sean Urbanski in Maryland.

Trump's unwillingness to even acknowledge the numerous incidents of domestic terrorism against victims who are people of color or Muslim is also evidence that he views terrorism solely through the narrow prism of brown-skinned attackers who commit heinous acts in the name of a warped interpretation of Islam against mostly white victims.


It's also evidence that his outrage over terrorism is based solely on the skin color, ethnicity and religion of the victims.

Trump's views on terrorism, much like his ethics, are situational at best.

Like I said, it's difficult to try and fathom the depths of depravity to which some people in this world will sink to kill or harm innocent people in the name of their own ideology.

It's even harder to fathom a sitting president who chooses to ignore heinous terrorist acts simply because they don't fit into the narrative of the ideology that he and those around him adhere to.

Whether it be in London, Portland or Kabul, terror is terror - except, apparently, to Donald Trump.

The Sword and the Fury

Timothy Caughman about to vote on Nov 8, 2016

"Why are you doing this? What are you doing?"

As horrific as it sounds, according to an eyewitness quoted in a New York Times article by N.R. Kleinfield, those may well have been the last words of 66-year-old New Yorker Timothy Caughman as he was being stabbed to death last Monday night by a 28-year-old white man from Baltimore named James Harris Jackson.


It's been hard to get those words out of my head this past week as I tried to wrap my head around the startling depth of racial hatred Jackson must have harbored in his mind to conceive of something as demented as traveling from his home in Baltimore to New York City in order to murder black men he didn't even know with a sword.  

I mean who even thinks up something like that, let alone makes the choice to do it?

As Ian Reifowitz observed on DailyKos.com last Friday, those questions obviously didn't trouble Donald Trump. Despite the fact that he recently spent four days tweeting about a terrorist attack in Sweden that never happened, and tweeted about the American victim of the recent London terrorist attack Kurt Cochran - thus far 45 has made no comment about Timothy Caughman's death.

It's been hard to imagine the agony and indescribable horror of being stabbed in the back and chest with an 18-inch sword - a death so gruesome it defies belief given that it took place on a Manhattan street in the the 21st century.

Caughman managed to stumble into an NYPD station after the 11:30pm attack, but he later died at the hospital.

No manhunt for James Jackson was necessary as he turned himself into police on Wednesday after seeing street camera video footage of himself was broadcast on the local news.

Jackson being arraigned in court on Thursday

According to news reports Jackson told investigators that he'd planned to go to Times Square and use the sword to kill as many African-American men as he could.

Jackson claimed that Timothy Caughman, who was searching though a trashcan for bottles and cans to recycle when he was attacked, was supposed to be what he called "a practice run."

How do you even classify something like that?

Was Jackson a terrorist, a potential mass murderer, or was he a serial killer who was arrested before he could follow through with his plan to kill random African-American men?

According to an exclusive interview with reporters Ellen Moynihan and Stephen Rex Brown posted on the NY Daily News Website earlier today, Jackson further elaborated on his motivation for the killing.

He claimed that his intention had been to murder "a young thug" or a "successful older black man with blondes", corroborating statements he made to NYPD investigators about his anger over black men being in interracial relationships with white women.

Jackson, who attended a prestigious Quaker Friends school as a child and served in the Army as a military intelligence officer, was raised by parents who were liberal in their political beliefs, but he claims he began hating black men as early as 3 years-old.

He also told the Daily News that he felt that "The white race is being eroded" and that he wished that it was "1950's America".  

Thoughts that echo the kind of divisiveness cultivated by Donald Trump's campaign, views promoted by two of Trump's key domestic policy advisors, Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller.

Was Jackson somehow "inspired" to carry out his twisted act of hatred by Dylann Roof's heinous, cold-blooded murder of nine innocent African-Americans at a Bible study in South Carolina back on June 17, 2015?

Roof's friend Joey Meeks sentenced to 27 months

Back on January 12 federal jurors sentenced Roof to the death penalty for his actions.

And that horrific racist killing was back in the news again last week after 22-year-old Joey Meeks, a childhood friend of Roof's from Lexington, South Carolina was sentenced to 27 months in prison for telling others not to turn Roof in to authorities.



As Andrew Knapp reported in an article for the Post and Courier last Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel told the courtroom that Meeks "knew who (the gunman was)" and "affirmatively acted to stop someone else from reporting it" to authorities.

As Knapp reported, Meeks and Roof often spoke of their racist beliefs together while drinking, doing drugs and playing video games.

And Roof had specifically told Meeks of his intention to murder innocent African-Americans with a handgun.

After the killings happened, Meeks not only lied to FBI investigators about knowing about Roof's plans, he also told a younger friend not to say anything about knowing that it was Roof who carried out the attack.

US District Judge Richard Gergel

A decision that put the Charleston community in "serious" danger according to Judge Gergel.

As an African-American man, the attacks by both Roof and Jackson are extremely troubling.

With so many different incidents of racial and ethnic hatred having taken place since Trump's election back in November, I can't help but wonder how many other Dylan Roofs or James Harris Jacksons there are out there waiting to lash out at innocent people of color.


It was just last Sunday that I blogged about a man coming into my place of work and calling me a "fucking nigger" to my face because he was upset about the parking spaces in the apartment complex where I work not being cleared of snow.

I'm not saying someone calling me a racial slur in my place of work in any way compares to a man being stabbed repeatedly with an 18-inch sword or being shot multiple times.

But I'm not alone in feeling anxiety about the reality that some white people in this country now feel empowered to lash out at people of color.

Last week I listened to an interesting call-in segment on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC about the growing sense of anxiety many people of color are feeling these days; it offers an interesting snapshot if you have a few minutes to listen.

Brian asked callers to share how they're coping with that anxiety, some are praying, one African-American woman now makes sure to always check in with friends and family via social media so they know where she is at all times in the event something happens to her.

Me personally, I try to use writing to explore and process my feelings about what's happening in the country - but as the horrific death of Timothy Caughman demonstrates, that's not always easy,

And it doesn't always offer comfort or solace in the face of such racially motivated fury.