The Turtle Island Liberation Front’s Spectacularly Absurd Downfall
Four alleged members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front were arrested in December 2025 for plotting New Year’s Eve bombings in Southern California—and the details read like a satirical screenplay about revolutionary cosplay gone wrong. The anti-capitalist group allegedly bought their bomb-making supplies on Amazon, kept a “terrorist diary lmaooooo” of failed plots, and communicated through an encrypted chat named like a fantasy video game guild.
A revolution with 939 Instagram followers
The Turtle Island Liberation Front declares its mission is nothing less than the “liberation of occupied Turtle Island from the illegal American empire” and the freeing of “all colonized peoples across the world.” Their actual infrastructure to accomplish this sweeping goal: an Instagram account with 939 followers and a Facebook page with 32. CBS News dryly noted the group “does not appear to be particularly well-known.”
The grandiosity gap between TILF’s revolutionary rhetoric and their actual reach is staggering. They collaborated with “Tunnel EDU, an underground school of Marxist revolutionaries” to produce… flash fiction about Indigenous-Palestinian solidarity. Their slogans include “Defect from America, become citizens of Turtle Island” and “Free Palestine or scorch the earth”—messaging that apparently resonated with fewer people than follow most local pizza shops.
The anti-capitalists who shopped on Amazon
Perhaps the most delicious irony in the case: the anti-capitalist revolutionaries allegedly targeting “Amazon-type logistics centers” purchased their bomb-making supplies from Amazon. According to court documents, the suspects “recently had acquired precursor chemicals and other items, including purchases from Amazon.”
Planning to bomb the infrastructure of late capitalism while using Prime shipping to get your potassium nitrate and PVC pipes delivered represents a special kind of ideological incoherence. The revolution will be same-day delivered, apparently.
“My terrorist diary lmaooooo”
The case’s most darkly comedic moment comes from alleged ringleader Audrey Carroll (alias “Asiginaak”), who reportedly messaged an FBI source: “I kind of had this notebook where I wrote down multiple plans that never happened or got delayed… so it’s like my terrorist diary lmaooooo I have to get rid of that.”
The casual “lmaooooo” attached to confessing about a written record of failed terrorist plots captures something essential about the gap between TILF’s self-image as dangerous revolutionaries and their operational reality as people who document their crimes in notebooks and share them with FBI informants.
Carroll allegedly provided an eight-page handwritten document titled “Operation Midnight Sun” detailing their bombing plan—directly to a confidential human source working for the FBI. The same meticulous note-taker who kept a “terrorist diary” of “plans that never happened” wrote out detailed bomb instructions and handed them to federal agents.
The Order of the Black Lotus strikes… never
The group’s encrypted Signal chat was named “Order of the Black Lotus”—which sounds less like a revolutionary terror cell and more like a guild from World of Warcraft or a faction in a tabletop RPG. Carroll herself described it as “radical,” apparently without irony.
The defendants adopted dramatic aliases befitting their fantasy-adjacent branding: Carroll was “Asiginaak,” Zachary Page was “AK,” Dante Gaffield was “Nomad,” and Tina Lai was “Kickwhere.” One imagines them rolling for initiative before discussing bomb timers.
Their operational security measures revealed in court documents are equally theatrical. The plan allegedly included “de-clothing locations” for changing outfits post-attack and—most absurdly—setting up long movies to stream at home to create alibis. The revolution’s alibi strategy: “I was home watching Netflix.”
Violent revolutionaries who would warn the security guards
TILF’s messaging included posters reading “Peaceful Protest Will Never Be Enough,” “Death to America,” and “Stop marching in parades, fight back.” Their official position rejected nonviolent resistance as insufficient for liberation.
Yet court documents reveal Carroll “noted that if they saw any people, such as a security guard at any of the locations, they would warn them” before detonating the bombs. The cognitive dissonance is remarkable: revolutionaries too hardcore for peaceful protest but not so hardcore they’d skip warning the security guards.
The group’s bomb plot rationale itself contained accidental comedy. They chose New Year’s Eve timing because “fireworks will be going off at this time so explosions will be less likely to be noticed”—as if multiple explosions at logistics centers would blend seamlessly into celebratory bottle rockets.
Arrested before they could build a working bomb
On December 12, 2025, the group gathered in the Mojave Desert—near Twentynine Palms, home to a Marine Corps base, adding geographic irony—with PVC pipes, potassium nitrate, charcoal powder, sulfur, and fuse materials. They came to rehearse their attack and test their explosives.
The FBI arrested them before they successfully assembled a functional bomb. They traveled to the desert for bomb rehearsal and failed their dress rehearsal. Per the FBI, “They had everything they needed to make an operational bomb at that location” but couldn’t get it done before federal agents intervened.
The Order of the Black Lotus, with their terrorist diary, Amazon supply chain, Netflix alibis, and warnings-for-security-guards policy, was stopped mid-rehearsal in a desert, unable to complete even a practice bomb. They will now face up to 15 years in federal prison.
Conclusion
The Turtle Island Liberation Front case offers a study in revolutionary delusion meeting operational incompetence. A group with fewer followers than most influencer pets declared war on empire while shopping at Amazon, documenting their failures in notebooks, using video game names for their chat groups, and planning alibis involving streaming movies. Their attempt to “scorch the earth” ended with four arrests in a desert before they could build a working device.
The satirical potential wasn’t lost on observers—some mocked the group’s name, others questioned how a 939-follower Instagram account constituted a major terror threat. But the absurdity shouldn’t obscure the serious charges: these individuals allegedly intended real violence. The comedy lies not in the potential harm but in the extraordinary gap between TILF’s apocalyptic self-conception and their fumbling, FBI-infiltrated, Amazon-shopping reality.
SOURCES
Al Jazeera – Turtle Island Liberation Front quartet charged for California NYE bomb plot
Desert Sun – FBI releases photos from Turtle Island Liberation Front investigation
ABC News – FBI disrupted alleged terrorist bombing plot in Los Angeles
BBC – Turtle Island Liberation Front terror plot coverage
PBS NewsHour – Federal authorities arrest 4 suspected extremists in New Year’s Eve bombing plot
Washington Post – Justice Department announces alleged terrorism plot in California
Jewish Insider – Turtle Island Liberation Front coverage