Can anyone explain why these are federal charges?
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/vance-boelter-indicted-murders-melissa-and-mark-hortman-shootings-john-and-yvette-0

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, ATF, Brooklyn Park Police Department, Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Champlin Police Department, and New Hope Police Department, together with several other state and local partners. The National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section also assisted in the investigation. This investigation has proceeded with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in strong partnership with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office

Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in July that that a decision on whether to seek capital punishment is months away and will ultimately be made by Attorney General Pam Bondi with input from Minnesota federal prosecutors and the victims’ families.

In addition to Atwal, a federal public defender based in Minneapolis, Boelter’s defense team includes Las Vegas-based federal defenders Kimberly Sharkey and Ryan Norwood. Sharkey is chief of the death penalty unit in the federal public defender’s office.

When they announced the indictment, federal prosecutors released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel. In it, Boelter allegedly confessed to the June 14 shootings of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, but it does not make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who survived.

. . . the federal government charged him with stalking the poor victims using email and GPS, instrumentalities involving interstate commerce, which creates federal jurisdiction. The remaining charges—including the murder charges–relate to the stalking crime and can therefore be brought in federal court as well.

Incidentally, Boelter has also been indicted on state charges. In such scenarios, the federal charges are usually handled first. But even if the federal case was to disappear—I'm not saying you implied it would, nor am I; I'm just clarifying a point—the state charges would move forward immediately.

I agree that the incident has been out of the news at the national level, to say the least, which is very sad.

will just try to get to the truth of the matter, with no political influence and theatrics whatsoever.

😂
Stating that it wasn’t going to move at the usual pace may have been received by the media as ‘postpone discussion until after the midterms’ or ‘someone will leak some absurd conspiracy stories on Truth Social and X days before the midterm’.

The 24-hour news cycle, plus the sheer size and complexity of the country—including its massive partisan divide—tend to make stories disappear very quickly. If the media lets them.

Is someone “rightwing washing” AI google answers? That would be a depressing thing to know.

Grok kept pushing out "woke" stuff and then MechaHitler which at least the first is not what Musk would want.

The AI answers are generally a combination of various articles and in this case where 1 pair died and 1 pair didn't the ingestion of the articles might have confused who died and who didn't because the AI isn't actually capable of thinking, just spewing out the next predicted word.

much quit using google. I use it for simple information like how to spell a word or ask someone’s age, unimportant information. I use duck duck go for the most part.

We smart people here at DU have brain filters that the nincompoop repukes do not possess. They do have an infinite amount of hate and jealousy wrapped up in their rotting brains though.

" I know AI has large deficiencies, and Google sucks"

Yes, really.

When I googled "Boelter shooting", the Google AI response was all about a 2016 event at UCLA, nothing at all regarding the recent MN assassination.

Sorry, i should have been more specific in my OP. I wasn’t looking for an AI answer. I need to change settings so that Google doesn’t give me the AI answer by default at top of search results. Or better yet, i should remember to use Duck Duck Go.

But your Google response is even worse. Indicative of how little media attention this major event has been given in the last 2 months, in my opinion.

I was curious as to whether the bad answer was more the result of Google's relying on bad sources, or Google's poor interpretation of those sources. In this case, it seems that it's the latter.

Extensive article (registration required or behind paywall) about the murderer described him as a Trump-supporting Infowars-listener with dozens of guns, who led a prepper/homeschooler household, who burned his belongings when he was 17 and became a born-again evangelical, who had recently made multiple trips to the Congo to preach against US abortion, homosexuality and gender confusion.

Seems like a classic to me.

But it also quotes someone saying ‘he doesn’t fit the profile’ and finally wraps the article up with a reference to the fact that he served on a workforce commission under Tim Walz for 2 terms.
Is there some confusion about the meaning of ‘extremist groups’ or ‘cults’? Maybe the confusion is that ‘madrassas’ aren’t Christian; and that Jim Jones was an in-person cult whereas today’s cults can just grow online.

If he ran out of money, which seems likely, might have been promised money for his family. More than likely it was his own hare-brained scheme. But the right-wing radicalization which is still ongoing makes it easier for political assassinations to become common in the US the same way they are common in Mexico (etc.)

never bother with the AI bs, which always annoys me by being the first response.

It's very frequently wrong. Useful only as a quick summary to scan before verifying details independently.

I just skip it and go directly to the sources, since there's no telling what the AI algorithm is "polluted" with.

It has great promise once we figure out how to make the damn algorithms work properly. So far, tech bros have failed miserably on that.

A few years ago, while driving I heard an NPR segment on how an AI tool could aid the medical community. As its knowledge base it would have legitimate medical information. From what I remember, the intent was to help doctors and other medical practitioners.

It was recent reported that doctors became less skilled at recognizing cancerous polyps after a few months of relying on AI.

Seems to be a trend of trying to do away with doctors altogether though… so I guess i hope ‘the robots’ just get really good.

Frustrating to have seen the very useful better trained AI LLMs available for investors / analysts / lawyers — those who can afford access — and know that the public is simply going to be fed more pig-slop.

The information divide is as critical as the wealth divide.

The algorithms are feeding on the data filling the interwebs. Most of it is garbage. Human ramblings, misunderstandings and complete lies, i.e. social media. Given its sources of information, AI tools really have no choice but to regurgitate garbage.

And why it's misnamed. There's nothing intelligent about it. It's just complex programming coupled with the ability to process vast amounts of data quickly. That's like calling your new and improved cordless drill intelligent. It's not. It's still reliant on input from the user.

What should we expect from that? Garbage of course.

It's not the tools that are the problem. It's what they're feeding on. No grand conspiracy required.

Did he also have a hitlist?

Him and his incel, Broke-Back Mountain minions.

for more than one reason. It's intrusive, it can't be trusted, it's being pushed on us without recourse in our apps, it's a huge, disastrously huge, waste of fossil fuel energy (especially under krasnov).

A friend is in a deep funk, lost job, lawsuit, bad times. This person began a dialogue with ChatGPT and is having serious, really serious mental health issues. AI crosses the line between human interaction and non human interaction and can lead to psychosis, which I fear is what is happening to my friend.

basically I hate it. It wastes my time. I'll write my own letters thank you very much.

it happens every shooting. They don't want to admit it's terrorism.

Don't believe your lyin' AI.

Mostly Perplexity and Google. and probably some ChatGPT. You have to check every source and fact before believing it. Just because they provide a source doesn't mean the transcription is accurate.

without consideration of the quality and specificity of prompts. IMO, DU should require anyone posting rage-bait AI answers to include the exact wording of their prompts.

In that spirit, here is mine:

PROMPT: What is the legal consensus on the motives behind the Vance Boelter assassinations of lawmakers

RESPONSE

Legal consensus identifies the Vance Boelter assassination of Minnesota lawmakers as a
politically motivated campaign of terror targeting Democratic officials, although Boelter's specific and precise motives remain under investigation. Federal and state authorities have built a case based on extensive evidence, including Boelter's own writings, which demonstrates premeditation and intent to harm.

Key evidence and investigative findings

Political targets: Authorities determined that Boelter, disguised as a police officer, targeted four Democratic state politicians and their families. This includes the fatal shooting of State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as the non-fatal shooting of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Both lawmakers were Democrats.

Writings and planning: Following Boelter's arrest, investigators discovered writings in his home and car that named dozens of other state and federal lawmakers. These documents also revealed a months-long campaign of stalking and preparation, including gathering personal information on his targets.

Stalking and intimidation: The federal complaint against Boelter states he "embarked on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure, and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families".

Accused but silent on specifics: While Boelter is the alleged assassin, he has so far denied any links to "Trump stuff or pro life" as his motivation, according to messages he sent from jail. However, he has not specified his actual motivations. Law enforcement has called for political leaders and the public to tone down divisive rhetoric.

Legal and political context


Charges: Boelter has been charged with multiple federal and state crimes, including stalking, murder, and attempted murder. The case is being tried at the federal level first.

Rhetoric and atmosphere: Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz was one of the first to call the event a "politically motivated assassination". The tragedy has sparked widespread discussions among politicians about the rise of political violence and the need to address threatening rhetoric. Leaders from both sides of the aisle have condemned the violence and reaffirmed the importance of being able to "disagree without being disagreeable".

Democracy and safety: The legal consensus views the assassinations as an attack on democratic institutions. Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords emphasized this point, stating, "An attack against lawmakers is an attack on American democracy itself". The event has also led to heightened security concerns for elected officials across the country.

1) When Google is used in the way that we’ve used Google for many years, it now spits out an AI-based response at the top of the search results. When this propagates misleading or absurd information to an already uninformed public, it’s adding to the dystopian atmosphere of our era.
2) The particular absurdities found in this response make me wonder A) whether there is a large cesspool of misinformation on this topic and B) why there ISN’T a larger pool of actual facts and progress happening on the case itself. Well, obviously Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are in no hurry to promulgate right wing terrorist stories any time soon.