Jim Stachowiak specializes in provoking strong reactions.
In the past, he’s called for the U.S. military to bomb Mecca. He made a point of standing outside a military recruiting office in Georgia with a rifle in his hands to provide the center with protection, he said, but was also accused of harassment.
Almost a year later, the former police officer and ardent Donald Trump supporter has put out a “clarion call” for “lone wolf patriots” to join him at the GOP convention in Cleveland this summer to confront Black Lives Matter demonstrators.
“I am encouraging patriots and Trump supporters and those that support liberty and freedom to come lawfully armed with lethal and non-lethal weaponry,” Stachowiak said in a video posted on his YouTube over the weekend.
Stachowiak has a lengthy criminal history, according to ABC affiliate WJBF. In 2008, while working as a public safety officer at Augusta State University, his certification was revoked after three years following a misconduct investigation, the station reported. Two years later, WJBF noted, Stachowiak was arrested and charged with criminal defamation for stealing a man’s picture from a social networking site, posting it elsewhere and labeling the individual a terrorist.
By his own admission, he’s been banned from Facebook at least four times.
In his latest video, Stachowiak accused activists with Black Lives Matter – which he refers to as “Black Lies Matter” – of threatening to kill Trump and planning to disrupt the gathering of Republican leadership.
“They have threatened to cause riots in Cleveland and nationwide,” Stachowiak said. “It is our sworn duty and obligation for all those like me and many of you who have taken the oath to defend this country against all enemies foreign and domestic.”
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Peter Holley
