The federal government is out here playing dirty, trying to sweep up folks protesting that "Cop City" police training center near Atlanta. The Department of Justice (DOJ) just hit two young activists, Katie Marie Kloth and Tyler John Norman, with heavy federal indictments. What’s wild is they did this the exact same week a local judge threw the state's case in the garbage for the second time. It’s clear the feds don't care about local law; they just want to label these kids as "antifa" terrorists and lock them up forever.

This whole mess started back on May 12, 2022, when about 50 people pulled up to the suburban Cobb County offices of Brassfield & Gorrie—the big-money construction company building the police training center. The crowd was chanting and holding up banners, but during the protest, some people set off fireworks and broke some property. Now, instead of treating this like a regular protest dispute, the government is trying to act like it was an act of war.

The state tried to lock them up first. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr threw Kloth, Norman, and Dr. Hannah Kass into a massive RICO conspiracy indictment back in August 2023. But a Fulton County judge saw right through it and dismissed the charges in December. The state tried to slick-talk their way around it by filing the same charges in Cobb County this April, but Superior Court Judge Robert E. Flournoy threw that out too on Monday. He ruled the state took way too long to bring charges, violating the defendants' basic constitutional rights.

But the feds don't play by the rules. Instead of letting these kids go after the state lost twice, the DOJ jumped in and indicted Kloth and Norman on federal charges. They are calling the fireworks "explosives" and "fire," and charging them with "riot and civil disorder." They are using the federal system to override the local judges, showing everyone that if the government wants you, they will find a way to circumvent their own courts.

This federal heat is coming straight from the top. The DOJ is running this under "National Security Presidential Memorandum 7," a directive Trump signed in September to target "violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described 'anti-fascism'." Trump also signed an executive order on September 22 officially calling "antifa" a domestic terrorist group. This gives the feds the green light to treat young people protesting police violence like they are international terrorists.

This isn't the first time the feds have pulled this stunt. Look at what happened in Texas with the Prairieland trial. Activists protesting an ICE detention center got dragged into federal court, and back in March, a jury found them guilty of material support for terrorism. Those folks got hit with decades-long sentences. The feds are using that exact same blueprint here, trying to scare anybody who stands up against the system.