john friend
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font><div style="font-size: small;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Washington Post</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Democracy Dies in Darkness</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Post Partisan Opinion</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The Diamond and Silk affair is much more than a distraction</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By Molly Roberts April 12 Email the author</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mark Zuckerberg appears for a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday in Washington. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The extended inquisition of Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Capitol Hill this week has revealed that many confused members of Congress had one overarching question: What exactly is this Internet thing, anyway? Viewers may have had another: Who the heck are Diamond and Silk?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">These “two truly fantastic women!” (President Trump’s words) may have little to do with data privacy. But they have a lot to do with another conundrum for Facebook — one that we shouldn’t lose sight of as we start to talk regulation.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Diamond and Silk, according to sisters Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, are not only “Vloggers, Public Figures & Speakers” as well as “Internet, Radio & TV Personality,” but also “President Donald J Trump’s Most Outspoken & Loyal Supporters.” In other words, Diamond and Silk post videos proclaiming Trump’s virtues in bombastic style — sometimes in rap form. They went viral in 2016 as black women in support of the then-candidate, and they went viral again last week when they <b>accused Zuckerberg and his company of censoring them</b>.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To the 87 million Facebook users affected by the Cambridge Analytica breach (and the millions more who’ve had their data scraped by some other less-than-savory actor), the Diamond and Silk affair may seem beside the point. But one senator and a surprising number of representatives seemed to disagree.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Facebook routinely suppressed conservative stories from the trending news … initially shut down the ‘Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day’ page … and most recently blocked Trump supporters Diamond and Silk’s page, with 1.2 million Facebook followers,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said to Zuckerberg on Tuesday. To “a great many Americans,” Cruz said, that appears to be “a pervasive pattern of political bias.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> 2:02</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opinion | The techlash is real, but will Congress actually do anything to Facebook?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I’d like to show you right now a little picture here,” said<b> Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.),</b> as he displayed a very big picture of the duo at the House hearing Wednesday. “What is ‘unsafe’ about two black women supporting Donald J. Trump?”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Let me tell you something right now,<b>” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said later. “Diamond and Silk is not terrorism.”</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">These attempts to paint Facebook as a liberal juggernaut did appear out of place in hearings about data privacy. But they’re worth paying attention to anyway. That’s because they strike at the center of the problem that captured everyone’s attention before the breach to end all breaches diverted it: how Facebook’s fight to cut down on false information as well as hate speech will run up against its commitment to protect freedom of expression.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Facebook hasn’t explained how Diamond and Silk’s videos violated their terms of service, and the company said that it approached the pair to sort out what went wrong. Blackburn is right, after all. Diamond and Silk aren’t terrorism, and the sisters don’t advocate violence. But if the comediennes got caught up in a content-constricting algorithm, they got caught up in it for a reason: They’ve pushed conspiracy theories from Uranium One to Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) supposed secret “gay lifestyle,” and during the campaign they stumped for Trump in an interview with a neo-Nazi Holocaust denier who insists that “Jews Did 9/11.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Perhaps this messy history doesn’t mean Diamond and Silk deserve for Facebook to restrict their posts’ reach or prevent them from alerting their followers to new videos. Or perhaps it does. It’s a test case for a quandary that Facebook has been muddling through since last summer, when the world and Web exploded with revelations that Russia had harnessed the platform’s reach to sow discord with destructive propaganda — and when, about the same time, Charlottesville also exploded with white-nationalist vitriol. Before we were asking the company to keep our data safe from advertisers, we were asking it to keep our democracy safe from foreign interference, and our online communities safe from abuse. At the same time, we were asking it to stay neutral — an almost impossible task.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Now, the focus has shifted to security, and discussion of any regulation to come has centered on users’ ability to control the information they allow Facebook to access in exchange for its free services. But that means inviting government to involve itself more actively in Internet affairs, and the involvement could stretch beyond rules that protect consumers from privacy violations: While Republicans are usually wary of interfering in an industry’s affairs, many appear willing to break the rule to thwart what they see as an anti-right cabal in Silicon Valley. So although privacy may stay the word for now, speech could soon follow.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Facebook has struggled with the contradictory onus of remaining a “platform for all ideas” while filtering out ideas it deems too dangerous. But there’s little reason to think government would do better. And there’s a lot of reason to wonder whether it even ought to try.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> 3:01</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opinion | Hey Zuckerberg, 'well shucks' isn't enough from a billionaire</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Molly Roberts is an editor, writer and producer for The Post's Opinions section. Follow @mollylroberts</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2016/03/24/trump-surrogates-promote-campaign-in-interview/209523</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div class="item-summary" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 30px 15px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(204, 204, 204); clear: both;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><b style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Diamond and Silk, two YouTube personalities who serve as surrogates for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, promoted his candidacy in an interview with</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> neo-Nazi and Trump supporter John Friend. Friend believes the Holocaust is "one of the most egregious and outrageous falsehoods ever perpetrated," "Jews Did 9/11," and Adolf Hitler was "the greatest thing that's happened to Western civilization."</span></font></b></p></div><div class="item-body" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; clear: both; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 153, 255);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diamond And Silk Are Trump Surrogates Who Frequently Appear At His Rallies</font></b></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-margin-before: 1em; -webkit-margin-after: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Diamond And Silk Are YouTube Personalities</b>. According to their website, Lynette "Diamond" Hardaway and Rochelle "Silk" Richardson "are biological sisters from North Carolina standing with the silent majority. As African American women they are voicing their opinions about media bias, political babble, and repetitive political tactics that they feel the average American is tired of being subjected to." They have labeled their act "Stump for the Trump."</span> [DiamondAndSilkInc.com, accessed <a href="http://www.diamondandsilkinc.com/about-us/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">3/24/16</a>]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-margin-before: 1em; -webkit-margin-after: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="box-sizing: border-box;">Diamond And Silk Are Trump Surrogates</b>. <i style="box-sizing: border-box;">Time</i><i style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </i>noted that "Trump's rallies often feature appearances by a pair of women who go by the names Diamond and Silk, whose spirited endorsement of Trump on YouTube has been watched by nearly 100,000 people -- as many as tune in to some cable news shows." During a January event, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump said that Diamond and Silk are "two of my friends" who have "become very famous and very rich.</span>" He added that "these two are unbelievable." The following are several images of them at various Trump ralli</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diamond And Silk Have Appeared In The Media Promoting Trump. Diamond and Silk have appeared in media outlets like CNN, Fox News, and Fox Business to promote Trump's candidacy. [CNN.com, 8/11/15, 8/21/15, 2/23/16; FoxNews.com, 3/20/16; YouTube.com, 1/8/16]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diamond And Silk Promoted Trump In Interview With Trump Supporter John Friend For American Free Press</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diamond And Silk Did Approximately 18-Minute Interview With John Friend For American Free Press. Diamond and Silk participated in a March 23 American Free Press (AFP) audio interview in which they promoted Trump's candidacy. They were described as "two of the more outspoken and enthusiastic supporters of Donald J. Trump." [American Free Press, 3/23/16, 3/23/16]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diamond And Silk And Friend Repeatedly Praised Trump Campaign. Diamond and Silk used the AFP interview to tout Trump's candidacy. Friend wrote in his recap of the interview:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump "resonates with me, with us, 100%," Ms. Richardson told AFP. "The things that he talks about that need to happen to help get this country out of this economic crisis is something that I do not hear from the rest. He's talking common sense instead of politics, and he resonates with me 100%."</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ms. Hardaway echoed Ms. Richardson's thoughts.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I'm supporting Donald Trump because he wants to secure the border, he wants to bring back our jobs so we can thrive again, and he wants to bring back spirit by uniting this country," she explained.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ms. Richardson continued: "People are tired of being under- or unemployed. We need to bring back good jobs, opportunities for people to be gainfully employed. People are tired of his divide in our country. It's time to bring back spirit, it's time to unite. Remember, this is the United States, not the Divided States, so it's time for us to come together."</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diamond and Silk also promoted their website DitchandSwitchNow.com, which tells people how to "SWITCH to Republican Party to vote for Mr. Donald J. Trump in the primaries." [American Free Press, 3/23/16; DiamondAndSilkInc.com, accessed 3/24/16]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Diamond And Silk Used Interview To Bash Undocumented Immigrants. During the interview, Diamond and Silk repeatedly bashed undocumented immigrants, with Friend agreeing with their remarks: </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DIAMOND: These people been in office for years and haven't done anything. They are OK with illegal people running in our country, and we don't even know these people.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SILK: Exactly.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DIAMOND: If you're going to come into this country, come in this country legally.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[...]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SILK: But you have people coming across that border illegally and they're able to get housing, food, clothes, medical, you know, how fair is that to the American people that's here working day and night?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[...]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>JOHN FRIEND:</b> We not only have millions of illegal immigrants in our country, you know, draining our resources, they're also organizing and marching in the streets of Washington, D.C., demanding citizenship, demanding --</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">DIAMOND: You know what? Why don't they march in their own country for those rights? Don't come over here and march for those rights, because you don't even belong in this country. You're in here illegally. March for those rights in your own country, that's what they should be doing.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">SILK: That's right.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">DIAMOND: Don't march for them over here because it's time for the American people to be taken care of. It's time for somebody to look out for the American people and that's what we love about Donald Trump.</span> [American Free Press, 3/23/16]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Friend Praised Diamond And Silk For Getting "The Truth Out About What's Going On In America Today." [American Free Press, 3/23/16]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Friend Regularly Expresses Support For Trump, Attended Trump Rally. Friend's Twitter account biography features the hashtags #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, #Trump2016, #AlwaysTrump. He recently attended a Trump rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, and "had to purchase a Make America Great Again hat." He wrote of Trump: "Trump has truly touched the hearts of millions of Americans across this nation. His public policy positions are rock solid, particularly when it comes to immigration, which is, in my opinion, the only issue that really matters in this upcoming election." [Twitter.com, accessed 3/24/16; The Realist Report, 12/17/15] </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>John Friend Believes Hitler Was "The Greatest Thing That's Happened To Western Civilization"</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Friend Works For The American Free Press, An Anti-Semitic Publication. John Friend produces content for The American Free Press. The Southern Poverty Law Center has written that the American Free Press is an "anti-Semitic weekly" that "was founded by Holocaust denier Willis Carto." The Anti-Defamation League wrote that the publication is "an anti-Semitic conspiracy-oriented newspaper" that attracts "the most vitriolic anti-Semites." [Southern Poverty Law Center, 7/15/11, Anti-Defamation League, 6/1/15, 10/30/15]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ADL: John Friend Is A "Virulent Anti-Semite And Holocaust Denier." The Anti-Defamation League wrote of Friend:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is not clear if North knew about Friend's anti-Semitism but even a cursory look at Friend's work would have revealed his extreme views. Friend has written numerous anti-Semitic articles for AFP and on his personal website. His homepage contains quotes from Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. In a May 2013 article on his website, Friend wrote, "The arrogance, deceit, and treachery of the organized Jewish community knows no bounds. Adolf Hitler was quite correct when he described the Jews as having an 'unqualified capacity for falsehood.'" In a March 2013, article, Friend called the Holocaust a "fake narrative."</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In March 2013, Friend also announced the creation of the American Nationalist Association (ANA), a group which "aims to develop and advance the interests of traditional White America." ANA's statement of principles also reveals Friend's anti-Semitism. The statement urges peoples of European ancestry to "Expose and reject all forms of Communism, Cultural Marxism, International Zionism, Globalism, Multi-Culturalism, and all Un-American rackets, frauds and organizations, including Usury and International Finance Capitalism." [Anti-Defamation League, 12/24/13]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Friend Was Forced Out Of Government Job After Officials "Learned He Operates An Anti-Semitic Website." The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote that Friend "was forced out of his job this week after city officials learned he operates an anti-Semitic website and is active in a movement that blames Jews for the 9/11 terror attacks":</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A 29-year-old clerical employee in the <b>Escondido </b>City Manager's Office was forced out of his job this week after city officials learned he operates an anti-Semitic website and is active in a movement that blames Jews for the 9/11 terror attacks.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Poway resident John Friend was hired by Escondido about three months ago as a division coordinator, which is responsible for a variety of administrative duties in the City Manager's Office including supervising support staff and helping develop office policies and procedures, according to the city's website.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">City officials said they were unaware at the time that Friend is an outspoken blogger and contributor to several white supremacist publications. [The San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/10/15]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Headline On Friend's Website: "Jews Did 9/11 - John Friend Booed For Telling The Truth." The post embeds a YouTube video of him holding a sign claiming Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks. [The Realist Report, 10/28/15] </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Friend Has Praised "'White Christian Patriots' Such As Adolf Hitler And Joseph Goebbels.</b>" The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "Friend told a reporter he finds 'inspiration and guidance from America's Founding Fathers' as well as 'white Christian patriots' such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels":</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Friend told a reporter he finds "inspiration and guidance from America's Founding Fathers" as well as "white Christian patriots" such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[...]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On his website, therealistreport.com, Friend posts stories that assert, among other things, that the Holocaust is a false and inaccurate interpretation of history made up by the Jewish-dominated media, and that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by the Israel government to create the international war on terrorism.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a blog post five months ago, he said "The huge numbers of 'holocaust survivors' -- well into the hundreds of thousands still today -- are undeniable proof that the extermination claims are a hoax... The Nazis kept them alive as best they could under nearly impossible circumstances. The real mass murderers were the western Allies."</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In his email to the Union-Tribune, Friend said he considers himself a white Christian American patriot who finds philosophical and intellectual inspiration from America's Founding Fathers.</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"I have also researched and studied a number of important, yet completely marginalized and in many cases demonized, White Christian patriots including Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, George Lincoln Rockwell (the founder of the American Nazi Party... and many others." [The San Diego Union-Tribune, 9/10/15]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Friend: Hitler Was "The Greatest Thing That's Happened To Western Civilization." Friend made his views clear about Hitler during a December 2015 interview, claiming that "an objective look" at Hitler's deeds proved that "this man and his movement were the greatest thing that's happened to western civilization":</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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