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</div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">the right-wing media echo chamber pushed a completely fictional talking point that Silicon Valley Bank had supposedly donated $73 million to Black Lives Matter, based on distortions from a far-right think tank. And in Fox News’ rush to amplify the falsehoods, which fit the network’s preposterous political narrative that SVB was a “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/what-absurd-woke-bank-svb-talking-point-says-about-gops-inability-talk-about-policy" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">woke bank</a>,” purported “news” personnel behaved no differently from the network’s opinion hosts.As a prime example of Fox’s “news” personalities pushing blatantly partisan falsehoods, on the morning of March 15, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy claimed: “Roughly $73 million went to Black Lives Matter-related causes” from the bank. [vid]and later that night, Fox host Sean Hannity said that Silicon Valley Bank “diverted a massive amount of money to left-wing causes. Now, get this, this is what we have discovered, that includes a whopping $73 million to BLM-related groups."[vid]this is the same network that, as recently unearthed text messages and emails have shown, will actively <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/revealed-how-fox-prime-time-hosts-and-executives-attacked-fox-reporters-who-fact-checked" style="background: transparent; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">reprimand and penalize</a> its alleged “straight news” reporters for debunking misinformation pushed by its opinion hosts and their guests. As such, nobody in the network would have any incentive to even try to unearth the facts, because Fox News is <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-staffers-agree-fox-not-news-organization" style="background: transparent; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition="transition" box-shadow="box-shadow" s="s" ease-in-out="ease-in-out" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" rgba="rgba" px="px" inset="inset">not in any sense</a> a real news organization.</div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Actual SVB donations to Black Lives Matter: $0.00</h2>The charge itself that SVB contributed over $70 million to Black Lives Matter or closely aligned organizations is based on a supposed “<a href="https://dc.claremont.org/blm-funding-database/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">BLM-funding database</a>” maintained by the Claremont Institute, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/magazine/claremont-institute-conservative.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">right-wing</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/4/1/22356594/conservatives-right-wing-democracy-claremont-ellmers" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">openly anti-democracy</a> organization that is also closely tied to disgraced former law professor <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/24/claremont-john-eastman-trump/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">John Eastman</a>, who was closely involved in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/silicon-valley-bank-fdic-svb-california-d84764deb458371667ac7f850f430f22" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Associated Press</a> confirmed that the database does not show any spending to Black Lives Matter, and obtained a comment in which Claremont explained it was including “reparative initiatives,” which it called “race-based, discriminatory hiring programs; race-based, sub-prime lending; partisan voter initiatives; and DEI efforts.” The AP also obtained a comment from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which confirmed it did not receive $70 million from the bank, and added: “Even if we did, the idea that this type of contribution would be controversial is rooted in a pathology that Black organizations don’t deserve to be funded.”In addition, professor Rodney Ramcharan at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business explained to the AP what actual evidence of bank failure due to “woke” business practices might look like, if such a thing existed. “The bank would have suffered loan losses—writing down bad loans made to ‘woke’ firms,” he explained. “So this is not a matter of opinion, but actual data. Instead, there are no unusual loan losses or loan loss provisioning.” (Claremont had cited “sub-prime lending” as a component of such alleged “woke” practices.)</div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The database labels any donations that support Black people as “BLM”</h2>Writing for the newsletter <a href="https://popular.info/p/silicon-valley-bank-donated-zero" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Popular Information</a>, Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Tesnim Zekeria reported that the Claremont Institute’s own database shows a total of $0 in donations to any officially branded Black Lives Matter organization. Instead, the organization’s database also includes spending that it describes as being for “organizations and initiatives that advance one or more aspects of BLM’s agenda.”Under this amorphous criteria, Popular Information found that Claremont had included a pledge that SVB made in 2021 to spend $50 million over the course of five years for the company’s internal initiative to connect women, Black people and Latinos with startup funding and leadership connections in venture capital. Nearly all the rest came from a $20 million pledge to “support additional COVID-19 relief” and establish a “full-ride, needs-based University Scholarship program to students at Arizona State University, Florida A&M University, Tulane University, and Xavier University.” Both Florida A&M and Xavier University of Louisiana are prominent <a href="http://www.thehundred-seven.org/hbculist.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">historically black colleges and universities</a>. (It’s unclear why Claremont lumped in funding for Arizona State and Tulane.)<a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-quick-look-at-the-lying-trumpist-liars-behind-that-database-on-corprate-giving-to-blm" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Talking Points Memo</a> editor-in-chief Josh Marshall also examined the rest of the database on supposed BLM-related corporate spending, and found that Claremont’s appraisal of corporate spending throughout the business world essentially boiled down to “it seems adjacent to Black people, so that’s ‘BLM.’” These included any corporate donations to such longstanding organizations as the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP, or minority-focused business groups such as the Executive Leadership Council or the Forum to Advance Minorities in Engineering, the latter of which was founded in 1976 <a href="https://www.famedelaware.org/mission/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">by DuPont</a>. (Also tagged as “BLM” spending in the Claremont’s database were corporate grants to the American Heart Association and U.S. Vaccine Adoption Grants.)Keep in mind, Popular Information had also pointed out that the database defines the BLM agenda as allegedly being to “undermine capitalism, the nation state, and Western civilization.” By extension, Claremont is essentially accusing any corporate spending on Black education, health outcomes, or business development to be part of a plot to destroy Western civilization. This is the fabulist message that Fox’s reporters and the rest of the right-wing media ecosystem were so eager to spread.</div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Fox News drove the right-wing echo chamber’s amplification of false SVB claims</h2>Fox’s alarmist coverage of the supposed link between SVB’s corporate giving and the BLM movement clearly spanned both its purported “straight news” side and opinion hosts, with the two camps voicing the exact same line over and over on Fox News, Fox Business, and the network’s digital properties.<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox host Jesse Watters asserted that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) “donated $74 million to Black Lives Matter." [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002365" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/14/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox host Tucker Carlson: “Silicon Valley Bank, brace yourself, spent more than $73 million on donations to BLM and related organizations.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002367" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/14/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt: SVB donated “more than $73 million to Black Lives Matter.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002368" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/15/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business: “Silicon Valley Bank donated millions to Black Lives Matter-related groups, social justice causes, records show.” [FoxBusiness.com, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/silicon-valley-bank-donated-millions-black-lives-matter-related-groups-social-justice-causes-records-show" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/14/23]</a></li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy also pushed this, which Fox anchor Dana Perino failed to contradict. [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002370" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/15/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox host Sean Hannity: “Now, SVB was California's woke trendy bank. So, naturally, instead of safeguarding every penny deposited, SVB diverted a massive amount of money to left-wing causes. Now, get this, this is what we have discovered: That includes a whopping $73 million to BLM-related groups, five billion dollars in commitments to climate change.” [Fox News, Hannity, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002371" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/15/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo: “Silicon Valley Bank donated more than $73 million to groups tied to Black Lives Matter.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002374" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/15/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: “Apparently some more bad, there is such a slew of crazy left-wing stuff surrounding this Silicon Valley Bank. I mean this is some weird bank. First of all, they gave $73 million to the Marxist BLM, Black Lives Matter movement at the height of COVID and the race riots in 2020.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002375" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/15/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business guest Vivek Ramaswamy: “We’re now seeing reports about the amount of money they committed to BLM and related movements.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002381" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/14/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business guest Stephen L. Miller: “We had to bail this bank out. They’ve given millions of dollars in BLM initiatives and DEI initiatives.” [Fox Business, Kennedy, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002380" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/15/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business guest Mark Tepper: SVB “had pledged $74 million to left-leaning organizations and charities, including BLM.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002379" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/16/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business host Stuart Varney expressed shock at the number, while correspondent Lauren Simonetti said “the question is were they distracted. Were executives too concerned about diversity, gender, climate that they missed the financial problem.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002376" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/16/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: “This bank in Silicon Valley was a rogue bank. They did insane things. The board was full of Hillary Clinton donors, they had one person there with banking experience, they gave $75 million to Black Lives Matter two years ago, $5 billion apparently to climate causes and diversity causes, that’s just nonsense. … This is a rogue bank.” [Fox News, America Reports, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002377" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/16/23</a>]</li><li aria-level="1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: “It’s a rogue bank, there is no question about that. The mistakes they made were fundamental mistakes also, you know. The duration was wrong. The asset-liability matchbook was all wrong. But you don't give $75 million to Black Lives Matter at the height of racial tensions in the middle of the pandemic. You don't commit $5 billion to all kinds of climate change, diversity, equity, and things of that sort, you don't do that.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002378" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/16/23</a>]</li></ul>Fox was not alone in spreading this falsehood; many right-wing media outlets pushed the same lies. A <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/03/15/svb-donated-73m-to-black-lives-matter-movement-social-justice-causes/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">New York Post</a> headline read: “SVB donated $73M to Black Lives Matter movement, social justice causes.” An article from <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/14/silicon-valley-bank-pledged-nearly-74-million-to-black-lives-matter-causes/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Federalist</a> was headlined: “Silicon Valley Bank Pledged Nearly $74 Million To Black Lives Matter Causes.” <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/mar/15/silicon-valley-banks-woke-agenda-thrived-while-man/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Washington Times</a>, citing The Federalist, wrote: “SVB donated more than $73 million to the Black Lives Matter movement and other social justice causes.” A <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/svb-donates-more-than-70-million-social-justice" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Washington Examiner</a> headline read: “SVB collapse: Bank donated over $70 million to Black Lives Matter groups before closure.” <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/woke-silicon-valley-bank-gave-over-73-million-to-black-lives-matter-movement/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Gateway Pundit</a> declared in its headline: “Woke Silicon Valley Bank Gave Over $73 Million to Black Lives Matter Movement.” A <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/15/silicon-valley-bank-blm-social-justice-claremont-institute/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Daily Caller</a> headline stated: “Silicon Valley Bank Committed Over $73 Million To BLM And Social Justice Causes Before It Collapsed.” And it went <a href="https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/03/14/woke-silicon-valley-bank-gave-73-45-million-to-blm-n1678342" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">on</a> and <a href="https://redstate.com/kiradavis/2023/03/14/silicon-valley-bank-spent-74-million-on-black-lives-matter-and-social-justice-causes-n716419" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">on</a> and <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/15/failed-silicon-valley-bank-gave-black-lives-matter-over-73-million/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">on</a>.In an amazing turn of events, Breitbart actually <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/15/updated-failed-silicon-valley-bank-gave-left-wing-causes-over-70-million/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">issued a correction</a>, noting that “the Claremont Institute’s definition of ‘Black Lives Matter’ included a far wider range of organizations,” and giving credit that “left-wing writer Judd Legum appropriately flagged these issues.”So as of now, Breitbart has exhibited more journalistic responsibility than the entire roster of Fox News, including one of the network’s White House correspondents.</div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div>=hate designation has been powerful, thus retaliation, flak get hvy over target xian homophobes really pissed? also dom terror ~ nazi, j6? mass shooter?  so rubber glue<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-figures-attack-fox-news-over-dominion-lawsuit-revelations" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-figures-attack-fox-news-over-dominion-lawsuit-revelations</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">mma 3 23</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> March 5, 23 people, including a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild, were charged with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/us/atlanta-cop-city-protests/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">domestic terrorism</a> after an intense demonstration against a planned police training facility in Atlanta. Tom Jurgens, an employee of the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-statement-release-legal-observer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Southern Poverty Law Center</a> who was there as a legal observer with the National Lawyers Guild, has been the target of a right-wing media smear campaign claiming that the SPLC condones violence and has colluded with antifa.Far-right activist Andy Ngo posted about the SPLC connection to one of those arrested on <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1632781347394551815?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Twitter</a> on March 6, and prominent right-wing media figures including Tucker Carlson and <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1632833090560065536" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Jack Posobiec</a> picked it up. The confrontation with police occurred during a <a href="https://twitter.com/ThatSeanKeenan/status/1632453678438260736?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">music festival</a> held as part of a <a href="https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/2023/03/02/week-of-action-begins-this-saturday/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">week of action</a> in opposition to “Cop City,” a $90 million facility that many say was approved <a href="https://www.atlantamagazine.com/great-reads/the-birds-stopped-singing-inside-the-battle-for-atlantas-south-river-forest/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">largely absent</a> community input. Atlanta is already a <a href="https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/atlantas-surveillance-network-keeps-growing-and-growing-and/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">highly policed area</a>, and the facility will uproot parts of a culturally significant forest that is one of Atlanta’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/the-new-fight-over-an-old-forest-in-atlanta" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">largest remaining</a> green spaces in a predominantly low-income, Black area. According to police, hundreds of activists broke away from the concert and breached the site of the project. <a href="https://www.kktv.com/2023/03/06/police-dozens-arrested-after-violent-protest-atlanta-public-training-centers-future-site/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Footage</a> from the construction site appears to show construction equipment on fire while protesters threw rocks and fireworks at police. Music festival attendees and community organizers <a href="https://www.essence.com/news/black-protestors-against-cop-city/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">alleged</a> that arrests were made “indiscriminately” at the festival, which was about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/05/us/atlanta-cop-city-protests.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a mile away</a> from the training facility and occurred <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/08/atlanta-cop-city-protesters/?utm_campaign=theintercept&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">an hour after</a> the action took place. According to an attorney for some of the defendants, there has yet to be a charge for arson or interference with government property and arrest warrants cited evidence such as activists simply having mud on their shoes.Police initially arrested 35 people. In response to Jurgens' arrest, SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang said <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-statement-release-legal-observer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">in a statement</a>: <blockquote style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem; padding: 1.5rem;">“Tom was performing a public service, documenting potential violations of protesters’ rights. We are outraged that police officers present at the protest refused to acknowledge Tom’s role as a legal observer and instead chose to arrest him.” </blockquote></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Right-wing media are trying to delegitimize SPLC by suggesting it condones hate and violence and falsely claiming the group helped coordinate the event:</h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Center, told Newsmax host Chris Salcedo that the SPLC is “in bed with antifa”: “What's so bad about this is that you have the Southern Poverty Law Center that is anti-law enforcement, anti-government, they’re in bed with antifa, but yet they hold themselves out as being the definer of groups that are anti-government. … This isn't the fox guarding the henhouse; this is the fox living in the henhouse, dining on chicken.” [Newsmax, The Chris Salcedo Show, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001889" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/7/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Fox host Sean Hannity that antifa members are “the ground troops of the Democrat party”: “You wouldn't be surprised to find out that the Southern Poverty Law Center, their own attorney, was one of them. This is who the Democrat party is. They are domestic terrorists, and antifa needs to be held accountable. And the Department of Justice better start doing their job.” [Fox News, Hannity, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001895" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/7/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Dinesh D’Souza called the SPLC a hate group: “The SPLC is itself a hate group, but a hate group on the side of the left. And so they promote violence. … Very often when you’ve got these rioters on the streets, you’ve got lawyers with the SPLC and other groups running around with the rioters and their idea is to quote ‘collect evidence’ that can be used to defend these people if and when they are arrested.”  [Salem Podcast Network, The Dinesh D’Souza Podcast, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001947" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/7/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Former Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston falsely alleged that SPLC coordinated the attack: “The Southern Poverty Law Center was the group that apparently coordinated that. That's who the lawyer worked for. I do think he should be disbarred, but it was actually an orchestrated attack.” [Newsmax, Wake Up America, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001902" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/7/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">New York Post reporter Jon Levine implied that the Biden administration and SPLC turn a blind eye to domestic terrorism: “Let’s just put the shoe on the other foot here, Maria. Can you imagine if 23 Proud Boys were arrested for attacking a gender reassignment clinic in Atlanta? I mean, we’d already have — President Biden would probably already be down there giving a speech.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001952" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/7/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Former Georgia Rep. Vernon Jones said the FBI should investigate the SPLC: “I would like to see the FBI investigate the Southern Poverty Law Center, because he [Jurgens] cannot be the lone wolf, the lone actor. … And if they were to delve into that organization, who's supposed to be about anti-hate, which this really, they reflect on, this individual reflecting so much hate, I think they'll find where not only has it been funded, but you’ll see others that have been involved in this prior to this incident and other incidents.” [Newsmax, John Bachman Now, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001953" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/7/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">The New York Post wrote that the SPLC “lost its moral standing” by refusing to call antifa a hate group. [New York Post, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/03/06/antifa-should-be-labeled-what-it-is-a-hate-group/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton: “So is SPLC officially a domestic terrorist group?” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/TomFitton/status/1632817151860961280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1632817151860961280%7Ctwgr%5E56543f628f0087ea49a6f4388b660f804a614631%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Flawyers-arrest-atlanta-protest-sparks-criticism-splc-1785889" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Libs of TikTok: “The Southern Poverty Law Center called me a terrorist for posting a flyer of a publicly available drag show. Turns out one of their attorneys is an Antifa member and was arrested for domestic terrorism. It’s always projection with them.” [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1632835766920380417?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Fox News host Tucker Carlson and anchor Trace Gallagher said SPLC propogates hate and attacks its political opponents: Carlson said SPLC “exists solely to destroy the lives of anyone who stands in the way of the Democratic Party.” Gallagher claimed the center has “long been accused of monitoring hate while propagating hate” and that it defines hate as “anything SPLC disagrees with.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001864" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Newsmax host Rob Schmitt said people like Jurgens want to “kill you and destroy your country.”: “These are all a bunch of angry white kids that still live at home at the age of 28 and hate capitalism. … One is allegedly an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, the same organization which the FBI’s Richmond division recently used as a source for equating traditionalist Catholics to violent extremists.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001940" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Human Events editor, neo-Nazi affiliate, and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec called the legal observers an “antifa degenerate.”: “Here is a photo of the 23 Antifa degenerates arrested for Domestic Terrorism in GA last night after torching gov’t equipment and throwing rocks at cops. 1 of them is a lawyer for the SPLC. Sponsor? Almost all are from out of state. Proof that Antifa is a nationwide terrorist organization.” [Truth Social, <a href="https://truthsocial.com/users/JackPosobiec/statuses/109978211575092535" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Lauren Witzke, a far-right political activist and president of the Stew Peter Network, posted to Gab an image of Jurgen’s LinkedIn profile: “An SPLC staff attorney was arrested and charged with domestic terrorism at last night’s #Antifa ‘Stop Cop City’ riot in Atlanta. Now It’s time to shut down the ENTIRE SPLC terrorist operation.” [Gab, <a href="https://gab.com/LaurenWitzkeDE/posts/109977720185110959" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 2.4rem; position: relative;">Far-right troll Eoin Lenihan: “Highly significant! An SPLC attorney arrested in Atlanta last night for terrorism. The SPLC is currently the biggest ally of Antifa relying on their hacked materials & doxes of individuals for their “hate watch” list. The SPLC actively hires Antifa “researchers” & “journalists”…  [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/EoinLenihan/status/1632801652192190466?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">3/6/23</a>]</li></ul>Andy Ngo, who has <a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-splc-lawyer-charged-with-domestic-terrorism-during-antifa-attack-on-police-facility-in-atlanta" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">covered</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1633301736717709312?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the protest</a> extensively on social media and <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1633624749812207616?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accused</a> legal observers of “helping antifa in the violent conspiracies,” has also <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1633200859818369025?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">acknowledged</a> his disdain for SPLC based on the center’s criticism of him. The center has <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/08/23/white-nationalist-group-exploits-amazon-fund-their-cause" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called out</a> Ngo for trafficking “in politically charged disinformation,” <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/06/06/poland-paid-andy-ngo-pittance-anti-antifa-speech" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accepting money</a> from a Polish cultural center for giving an anti-antifa speech in Warsaw, and <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/12/16/hungary-ambassador-affirms-role-far-right-leader-republican-gala" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">being friendly</a> with the far-right Hungarian government.Ngo’s fixation on antifa and SPLC has helped spur responses from lawmakers. In 2021, his <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/andy-ngo-right-wing-troll-antifa-877914/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coverage of clashes</a> between the Proud Boys and left-wing activists in Portland, where he was allegedly attacked by demonstrators, was an impetus for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) bill to designate antifa as a terrorist organization. On March 8, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greenes-antifa-plan-trashed-counter-terrorism-experts-1786689" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">introduced</a> similar legislation to declare antifa a terrorist organization, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said he wanted to open an <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/matt-gaetz-calls-for-investigation-into-fbis-reliance-on-southern-poverty-law-center" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">investigation</a> into the FBI’s reliance on SPLC to identify extremist threats.</div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">This is not the first time right-wing media have come after SPLC</h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">SPLC</a> is a legal advocacy organization that focuses on civil rights and is widely considered to be an authoritative voice on extremism. The center identifies and tracks hate groups and has helped <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/resources/law-enforcement-resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">law enforcement</a> and the FBI respond to them. The center has drawn the ire of right-wing media for calling out hate speech from conservative groups in the past. In 2017, FoxNews.com <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/fox-news-helped-conservative-spread-lie-she-was-added-lgbtq-hate-list" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">promoted</a> the false accusation that SPLC added a conservative writer to a “hate list,” when it simply noted that she has been a guest on a radio show produced by the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council. FRC and other <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/hate-groups-across-extremist-ideologies-are-joining-forces-discredit-their-hate" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">hate groups</a> have united to smear SPLC for accurately labeling them as such. FRC’s official position is that “homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large” and “is by definition unnatural.” In 2012, FRC tried to blame SPLC for a shooting that took place at its office because the shooter was allegedly motivated by FRC’s anti-LGBTQ hate group label. At the time, FRC President Tony Perkins <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/06/justice/dc-family-research-council-shooting/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">doubled down</a> on hateful rhetoric saying SPLC needs “to be held accountable, and they need to be stopped before people are killed because of their reckless labeling and advocacy for homosexuality and their anti-Christian stance.” Perkins also used the Atlanta incident to <a href="https://twitter.com/tperkins/status/1632863915691343874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1632863915691343874%7Ctwgr%5E56543f628f0087ea49a6f4388b660f804a614631%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsweek.com%2Flawyers-arrest-atlanta-protest-sparks-criticism-splc-1785889" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">denounce</a> SPLC for Jurgens’ presence at the protest. [twt fitton]there’s a good reason why legal observers are necessary at protests</div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Opposition to Cop City has already proved fatal. In January, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-medias-reactions-forest-defenders-death-reveal-increasing-hostility" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Manuel Terán</a>, a young activist who opposed the project, was killed by Atlanta police under <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/02/09/cop-city-body-camera-footage/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">suspicious circumstances</a>. Police maintain that Teran was to blame for the confrontation and shot an officer first. It’s not uncommon to have legal observers at protests, particularly when tensions between law enforcement and demonstrators are high. According to the <a href="https://www.nycbar.org/media-listing/media/detail/statement-on-detention-of-legal-observers" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">New York City Bar Association</a>, the “work includes documenting arrests, use of force, intimidating display of force, denial of access to public spaces like parks and sidewalks, and any other behavior on the part of law enforcement that appears to restrict demonstrators’ ability to express their political views.” Legal observers have helped protect the rights of protesters in the past. For example, according to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/09/08/nypd-legal-observers-bronx-protest/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Intercept</a>:</div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;">Collecting the names of people arrested at protests is the first step toward ensuring that they have legal representation. During the mass arrests at the 2004 Republican National Convention, those names allowed lawyers to secure a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/17/nyregion/city-arrest-tactics-used-on-protesters-face-test-in-court.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">habeas corpus writ</a> for hundreds of protesters who were unlawfully detained by the NYPD, sometimes for days, without access to lawyers.</div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Legal observers have also been punished for their work in the past. In 2021, 12 legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild sued the New York Police Department, alleging the department violated their constitutional rights at a 2020 protest in the Bronx. Even though the NYPD patrol guide says legal observers are entitled to be present, the observers allege they were prohibited from carrying out their function and even met with violence. In fact, New York City just <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/protesters-trapped-by-nypd-during-2020-black-lives-matter-protest-will-get-215k-each-according-to-new-settlement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">agreed to pay</a> more than $20,000 each to hundreds of individuals who were trapped by police and attacked with batons and pepper spray during that same protest.</div></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>aha? antifa blm merge</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/fox-news-and-right-wing-media-circulate-seemingly-inauthentic-antifa-poster">https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/fox-news-and-right-wing-media-circulate-seemingly-inauthentic-antifa-poster</a></div><div>
</div><div>pix of poster bring rocks ...
</div><div>
</div><div>mma 1 23</div><div>
</div><div>protests emerged around the country <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/tyre-nichols-protests-erupted-united-states-rcna67987">following</a> the release of police body camera footage of officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols, Fox News and other right-wing media sources promoted an “antifa poster” whose authenticity has not been proved. The poster supposedly <a href="https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1619143319023685632">called</a> for protesters to “burn it all down” and bring rocks and heavy objects to riots in New York City. The image was initially shared in a Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11685421/Antifa-tells-protesters-BURN-braces-riots.html">article</a>, which called it “a shocking poster,” and on <a href="https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1619205397436563456?s=20&t=SC8WbGfoXFuE2W_9c_9jKA">Twitter</a> by user Rob O’Donnell, per disinformation researcher Caroline Orr.On January 27, Fox News’ Jesse Watters hosted O’Donnell, who said he knows the poster was “put out by antifa” and it’s “calling for protests and riots at all police precincts across the city, to bring rocks, to bring pipes, to bring box cutters,” saying it’s “circulating in the underground of New York City.” <div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-web-video paragraph--view-mode--editorial"><div class="erd-list--editorial-embed field field--name-field-stories-web-video field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem"><figure class="media-player media-player--video" role="group"><div class="field field--name-field-media-video-file field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden"><div class="fieldlabel visually-hidden">Video </div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem">In the next hour, Fox host Tucker Carlson showed the poster, using it to suggest there is “an organized militia encouraging organized violence across the United States of America.” Carlson’s guest during the segment, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, told Carlson the police should have “zero tolerance” for antifa protesters and chastised “Biden’s DOJ” for doing “absolutely nothing” about antifa, who he said are “threatening cities across this country.” Carlson also suggested the poster was evidence of a “criminal conspiracy” by antifa. Carlson’s commentary was circulated by right-wing blogs <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/01/27/tucker-carlson-memphis-antifa/">The Daily Caller</a> and <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/tucker-carlson-calls-antifa-protests-coordinated-political-propaganda-video/">The Gateway Pundit</a>, and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/tyre-nichols-protests-cities-feds-must-have-zero-tolerance-antifa-violence-former-detroit-chief-says?intcmp=tw_fnc">FoxNews.com</a> promoted his segment with Craig.</div></div><div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-web-video paragraph--view-mode--editorial"><div class="erd-list--editorial-embed field field--name-field-stories-web-video field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem"><figure class="media-player media-player--video" role="group"><div class="field field--name-field-media-video-file field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden"><div class="fieldlabel visually-hidden">Video  1 27</div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem">With the poster on screen, Fox correspondent Christina Coleman <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3999862">said </a>on The Ingraham Angle that “antifa put out this bulletin, calling for violence, even though Tyre's own family has called for peace.” The poster was also picked up by other right-wing outlets.On Newsmax, host Lidia Curanaj <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3999868">said</a> “a police source” sent her “a flyer that showed that antifa was organizing throughout the country” but did not show it on screen. She speculated that “a lot of times these horrible incidents, like what happened to Tyre Nichols, are amplified and used by other organizations in order to achieve their political agenda.” Later on the network, Curanaj <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3999863">repeated</a> that the protests must have been planned ahead of time,  accused the protests of having “professional agitators,” and called on the media to “do their due diligence and actually investigate” the situation. The poster also appeared on far-right website The Post Millennial, in an <a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/antifa-vows-to-burn-it-all-down-in-nyc-following-death-of-tyre-nichols?utm_campaign=64483">article</a> titled “Antifa vows to 'burn it all down' in NYC following death of Tyre Nichols,” which cites the Daily Mail as having obtained the poster. <a data-remove-tab-index="true" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/jack-posobiec" href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/jack-posobiec" rel="noopener noreferrer" tabindex="-1" target="blank">Neo-Nazi collaborator</a> and Twitter personality Jack Posobiec <a data-remove-tab-index="true" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1619119052101922819" href="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1619119052101922819" rel="noopener noreferrer" tabindex="-1" target="blank">shared</a> the article on Twitter.Right-wing commentary site Townhall shared O’Donnell’s tweet, including the image in a Friday night <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/01/27/memphis-braces-for-potential-riots-when-police-footage-is-released-n2618860">piece</a> warning about “potential riots” in Memphis. Newsmax’s Justine Brooke Murray shared the poster on Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/Justine_Brooke/status/1619085756248772608">writing</a>, “ANTIFA terrorists plan to burn down New York tonight. They’re blasting THIS out.” Right-wing radio host David Webb on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/davidwebbshow/status/1619102096837726208">claimed</a> the image showed that “violence is not a solution but it is a possibility.”</div></div>=
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A Minnesota man who previously insisted that his camper was torched by members of Antifa has admitted that the entire <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/12/us/trump-supporter-false-flag-fire-minnesota-camper/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_content=2022-10-13T06%3A01%3A05&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twCNN" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">plot was staged</a>, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has confirmed.According to CNN, court records indicate that 30-year-old Denis Molla, of Brooklyn Center, Minn., has been "indicted by a federal grand jury in July and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud after being accused of defrauding and attempting to defraud an insurance agency and GoFundMe donors of more than $300,000 following the alleged incident."In September 2020, Molla had “falsely reported to law enforcement that someone had lit his camper on fire and that three unknown males were near his home when he heard an explosion,” per a news release from the Justice Department.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/every-time-opens-his-mouth/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Legal experts: 'Every time' that Donald Trump 'opens his mouth' he 'incriminates himself'</a>Around the same time, Molla also spoke publicly about the fire to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/twin-cities-family-says-antifa-painted-biden-2020-on-their-garage-before-burning-it-down/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">WCCO</a>. He claimed that he believed the fire had been set as a form of retaliation for the Trump flags in his yard. "These kind of stuff should not happen, especially over beliefs of some sort,” he told WCCO.On Tuesday, October 11, Molla's attorney Ryan Garry released an emailed statement to CNN sharing his client's regrets for the incident.“Mr. Molla was obviously remorseful during his federal plea hearing today,” Garry told the news outlet via email. “It’s easy for the general public to look down on him, without knowing what was going on in his life, and cast immediate judgment.""Mr. Molla is a wonderful husband and father who made a mistake that he sincerely regrets. Unlike many others, he has accepted full responsibility for his actions and is sorry for what happened," Garry said.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/indistinguishable-from-trumps-defense-attorney/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'Indistinguishable from Trump’s defense attorney': Marco Rubio blasted for attacking DOJ and FBI</a>Based on the charges listed in Molla's indictment, he faces the possibility of up to 51 months, in addition to a fine and restitution. He will be sentenced at a later date.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/merrick-garland-2655516678/" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Merrick Garland under fire for dragging his feet on Steve Bannon indictment: CNN</a><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/libs-tiktok/right-wing-media-spread-doctored-footage-drag-queen-concoct-fear-pride-events" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.mediamatters.org/libs-tiktok/right-wing-media-spread-doctored-footage-drag-queen-concoct-fear-pride-events</a></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">A drag queen who performed at the Idaho Pride event targeted by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/11/1104405804/patriot-front-white-supremacist-arrested-near-idaho-pride" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">white nationalists</a> in June is <a href="https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/northwest/idaho/article266442876.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">suing</a> a right-wing blogger who doctored footage of his performance to falsely claim he had exposed himself to children. Even though the video was swiftly <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NorthIdahoNews/videos/974472399897836/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">debunked</a> by local news, right-wing media — including Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik and others who initially helped drive harassment against the Pride event — pushed the edited footage, leading to abuse against the performer. On June 11, police in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/dozens-masked-men-arrested-idaho-pride-event-85336424" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">arrested</a> 31 members of the Patriot Front near Pride in the Park, a planned Pride event. Authorities said evidence showed the white nationalists, who had gathered at the park from across the country, were planning to riot at the event and in multiple areas around the town. Patriot Front has a history of <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/patriot-front" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">anti-LGBTQ actions</a>, including burning trans pride flags and vandalizing a <a href="https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/pulse-memorial-mural-at-the-lgbt-center-orlando-vandalized-with-white-supremacist-stickers-27294973" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">memorial</a> for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated it as <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/patriot-front" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">a hate group</a>.The event was also <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/12/2097670/-Far-right-Idaho-Patriots-change-name-of-anti-Pride-event-but-not-their-threatening-rhetoric" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">targeted</a> by a far-right biker group that announced it was holding an event nearby at the same time as Pride in the Park, with organizers saying there were “going to be going after the groomers” while alluding to possible violence. One of the <a href="https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/9/27/drag-performer-sues-right-wing-blogger-over-indecent-exposure-claims" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">performers</a> at the event was Eric Posey, whose drag name is Mona Liza Million. Following Pride in the Park, right-wing blogger Summer Bushnell <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3994347" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">posted footage</a> from Posey’s performance that blurred his crotch. In her posts, Bushnell erroneously claimed Posey had exposed himself to minors and called for her audience to report the video to police. The video, which was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NorthIdahoNews/videos/974472399897836/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">debunked</a> by local news two days after the event was held, led to harassment against Posey after it went viral on social media. Now Posey is suing Bushnell, claiming she defamed him in an effort to gain popularity as part of the nationwide effort to malign LGBTQ people and Pride Month events.A key instigator in manufacturing outrage over the event was Chaya Raichik, who runs the social media account “Libs of TikTok.” Raichik not only <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/targeting-pride-events-follow-months-escalating-anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-right-wing-media" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">targeted</a> Pride in the Park after Idaho-based white nationalist Dave Reilly <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2022/06/14/far-right-influencers-hyped-coeur-dalene-pride-patriot-front-showed" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">called for</a> her to do so, but she also helped spread Bushnell’s video weeks after it had been debunked by both the media and <a href="https://cdapress.com/news/2022/jul/01/no-crime-drag-show-prosecutors-say/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">authorities</a>. On July 31, Raichik retweeted a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220731050250/https://twitter.com/BaldPaulis/status/1553367036989825025" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweet</a> with Bushnell’s video and calling Posey a “pedophile,” with Raichik <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220731045703/https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1553605235171422208" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">adding</a>, “This is what a ‘family-friendly’ drag show looks like.” Commenters reacting to Raichik’s post falsely <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3994432" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accused</a> Posey of being a “groomer” and “pedophile,” while others <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3994433" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">threatened</a> extreme acts of violence against him, including multiple threats to castrate him.Although the tweet she quoted was later removed for <a href="https://twitter.com/ROOT_ErA/status/1554121986401570817?s=20&t=9ZuADy6UahuCfQZ652VkoA" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">violating</a> Twitter’s rule on hateful conduct, Raichik’s tweet was never deleted.   </div></div><div data-align="center" class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;" /></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[twt vid libs]raichik was joined in sharing the doctored video by anti-LGBTQ trolls including right-wing podcaster <a href="https://twitter.com/Liz_Wheeler/status/1553927092634619905" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Liz Wheeler</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220731133345/https://twitter.com/againstgrmrs/status/1553585435154210816" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Gays Against Groomers</a>, with the latter writing, “If gay rights do get rolled back, it will only be because of things like this.”The renewed social media pickup of the doctored video led to an article published by right-wing blog <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220731221901/https://thepostmillennial.com/drag-queen-exposes-self-to-children-at-family-friendly-pride-event" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Post Millennial</a> headlined “Drag queen accused of exposing self to children at 'family friendly' Pride event.” The article promoted <a href="https://www.insider.com/false-antifa-conspiracies-pushed-patriot-front-members-arrested-idaho-pride-2022-6" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy theories</a> that antifa was involved in targeting the Idaho Pride event, and the header for the article included a still from Bushnell’s video, with the edited video embedded.  The <a href="https://idahofamily.org/dragpetition/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Idaho Family Policy Center</a>, a right-wing Christian nonprofit that <a href="https://idahofamily.org/about-ifpc/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">partners</a> with extreme anti-LGBTQ group <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/alliance-defending-freedom/extremism-anti-lgbtq-powerhouse-alliance-defending-freedom" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Alliance Defending Freedom</a> and multiple other anti-LGBTQ organizations, posted a petition on September 8 denying law enforcement’s debunking of the video and claiming it had “reviewed the unedited footage and can confirm it portrays public exposure of the performer’s genitalia.” Included with the petition, which called for drag performances to be banned from taking place around children, was a still from Bushnell’s video. The petition remains active as of publication date. </div></div><div data-align="center" class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><img loading="lazy" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/styles/scale_w1024/s3/static/D8Image/2022/09/28/screenshot-2022-09-28-141101.jpg?VersionId=hKWQb.Hxzu1.bLIcA2IYA8088K_CCY8R&itok=mdMV1fMQ" alt="screenshot of petition" typeof="foaf:Image" width="994" height="833" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; width: 731.463px;" /><figcaption class="media-playercaption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);" /></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Far-right conspiracy theory outlet <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/idaho-police-investigating-drag-queen-who-may-have-exposed-genitals-to-children-at-local-lgbt-event/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Infowars</a> posted an article also featuring a still from the doctored video. The article suggested the targeting of the event by Patriot Front was “a federal false flag operation” and criticized the “mainstream media” for “ignoring a potential child sex crime occurring at the very same event.”The article cited a <a href="https://cdapress.com/news/2022/jun/13/police-investigating-drag-performance/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">press release</a> from the local sheriff’s department saying police were investigating the video. The announcement came after a local outlet had already debunked the claims and released the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NorthIdahoNews/videos/974472399897836/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">unedited</a> video, and despite law enforcement officials <a href="https://www.kxly.com/coeur-dalene-police-investigating-report-of-someone-exposing-themselves-during-pride-in-the-park/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">acknowledging</a> that their investigation stemmed entirely from reports by individuals who had seen Bushnell’s doctored footage and none of whom had seen the performance in person. The stunt culminated on July 1 with the city prosecutor <a href="https://www.kxly.com/no-prosecution-for-alleged-genital-exposure-at-coeur-dalene-pride-event" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">stating</a> what had been demonstrated weeks earlier — Posey had not exposed himself. Disregarding available evidence, right-wing media widely used the release to push the false narrative and disseminate the doctored footage. Stephanie Hamill, a contributing writer for Media Research Center and ambassador for Turning Point USA, tweeted Bushnell’s video while adding that the “dancer's genitals were reportedly exposed on the main stage with children viewing the ‘dance.’”[twt vid]</div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="social-media social-media--twitter_tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; justify-content: center;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-twitter field--type-string field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 500px; display: flex; max-width: 550px; margin-right: auto !important; margin-left: auto !important;" /></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;">right-wing author Janie Johnson <a href="https://twitter.com/jjauthor/status/1537584475776815104?s=20&t=aqIOhGC3uCuDkb2zylYt3w" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a> a link to the video to her nearly 200,000 followers, attempting to excuse the white nationalists who targeted the event and writing, “Wonder what ticked the Idaho dads? This drag demon exposed himself to children.” The incident is nearly identical to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-drag-queen-story-hour-photo-965766299271" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">another</a> manufactured controversy pushed by right-wing media in which an edited photo of a drag performer reading to children at a library in 2019 was blurred and paired with the claim that they were exposing themselves to children. That smear, too, was quickly <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191031151435/http://www.citypages.com/news/no-a-drag-queen-did-not-flash-a-bunch-of-kids-at-a-hennepin-county-library/564131541" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">debunked</a>, which did not prevent the ensuing harassment and an <a href="https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/lawmakers-aim-to-defund-libraries-that-host-drag-queens/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">attempt</a> from lawmakers to strip libraries of their funding.   The targeting of Posey and the broader attacks on Pride in the Park followed an <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/right-wing-media-are-pushing-vigilantism-against-trans-people-and-drag-queens" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">escalating</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/targeting-pride-events-follow-months-escalating-anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-right-wing-media" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">campaign</a> of harassment against drag and Pride Month events that <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/save-children-again-absurd-intensifying-right-wing-panic-lgbtq-people-are-grooming-minors" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">falsely accused</a> participants of abusing children. This harassment, and the escalating rhetoric of maligning LGBTQ people as groomers, has largely been enabled by the failure of social media platforms like <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/twitter-letting-anti-trans-account-libs-tiktok-target-pride-events-including-those-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-allowed-dangerous-anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-spread-across-platform-during-pride-month" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Facebook</a> to adequately handle the targeted harassment. </div></div></div><div>---</div><div>ref no lnx</div><div>
</div><div><div>upon realizing that threatening a community gay pride event with a bunch of guns might not be the best look, officials with the far-right Idaho bikers club Panhandle Patriots are backing off somewhat, claiming that the two spokesmen who told an evangelical organizing event that they intended to “go head to head” with the annual Pride in the Park gathering in Coeur d’Alene on June 11 gave out “incorrect information.” Complaining that the media have misrepresented them, they’ve announced they’re changing the name of their event the same day from “Gun d’Alene” to “North Idaho Day of Prayer.”</div><div>
</div><div>But their hateful rhetoric identifying the LGBTQ community as pedophilic “groomers” is still going full roar. "We're going to be going after the groomers," the group’s founder recently told his comrades. Their vice president, Justin Allen, recently told another gathering that presenting LGBTQ-friendly material to children in a park setting was “unacceptable”: "I am not a violent man. But I am not a peaceful man, either."</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Two weeks ago, two leaders of the Panhandle Patriots—Allen, their vice president, and Jeff White, their “sergeant at arms”—got up before a “gameplan” organizing session to oppose “inappropriate materials in our schools and libraries” at a northern Idaho evangelical church and told the gathering their group was planning to confront the Pride in the Park event. White told them:</div><div>
</div><div>We are having an event the very same day. That very same day we actually intend to go head to head with these people. A line has to be drawn in the sand. Good people need to stand up. And she was talking about the repercussions. We say, Damn the repercussions. Stand up, take it to the head. Go to the fight.</div><div>
</div><div>However, a spokesperson for the Patriots who only identified herself as “Bear” told the Coeur d’Alene Press that those men had misspoken, claiming White was only a club member and not a spokesman: “We are wanting this to be an extremely peaceful event,” she said.</div><div>
</div><div>Earlier this week, the group issued a statement blaming the media for misrepresenting its intentions: “It is the media’s goal to instigate a conflict, take photos of that conflict, and then produce media stories labeling our group and everyone associated with us as violent, racist, and hateful while ignoring the antics of Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and LGBT extremists,” it said.</div><div>
</div><div>As a result, it was changing the name of the event to the “North Idaho Day of Prayer,” adding: “The event popularly known as Gun d’Alene will be moved to a later date that is yet to be determined.”</div><div>
</div><div>“Gun d’Alene,” in fact was billed as an anniversary of the day in 2020 that armed “Patriots” flooded the streets of Coeur d’Alene in response to hoax rumors of the impending arrival of buses full of evil black-clad “antifa” vandals who mysteriously never showed up anywhere they were rumored to be going. Dozens of people showed up on armed patrol, toting AR-15s and wearing body armor, at a downtown shopping strip mall.</div><div>
</div><div>Panhandle Patriots claimed that “our event has been hijacked by extremist groups. On the Left, we have seen evidence to suggest that Antifa radicals are planning on coming to disrupt our event to provoke violence. It has also come to our attention that a White Nationalist group called White Lives Matter is also planning to attend. While these two groups are planning on causing violence, the media plans on using them to condemn and tarnish our peaceful group.”</div><div>
</div><div>In spite of the surface shift in tone, the statement continues in typical far right fashion, urging Idahoans to turn out in numbers “to take a stand against the progressive left-wing, which is moving into Idaho, and into our schools and libraries, with intent on grooming our children and turning them into LGBT activists.” It concludes by identifying the Pride organizers as “groomers”:</div><div>
</div><div>As always, the Panhandle Patriots are a Christian group that stands against violence in all its forms, and will not allow our event to be hijacked by extremists on either side of the political spectrum. We implore the Christian community to come together and show these LGBT groomers that North Idaho stands firmly against their sick agenda and that God still rules in the Panhandle.</div><div>
</div><div>An online media site called the Idaho Tribune helped stir the extremist pot further with an article—widely distributed on far-right social media—headlined “Antifa Coming to Coeur d’Alene for June 11 LGBT Event in CDA Park to ‘Protect Gay & Trans People.’” It claimed that “Antifa members from across the country are planning on coming to Coeur d’Alene Idaho” for the event, based on a single Twitter account urging community defense.</div><div>
</div><div>“Antifa and LGBT groups have taken a particular interest in North Idaho as the predominantly conservative area is viewed as a challenge to the progressive liberal groups,” it claims. It also risibly claims that “antifa” is helping to campaign for conservative Republican Gov. Brad Little.</div><div>
</div><div>Journalist Daniel Walters of The Inlander was unable to find any person living in the region with the name of the article’s ostensible author, "Samantha Collins." The likely person behind the website is white nationalist David Reilly, who lost a 2021 campaign for the Post Falls school board and has been involved in attempts to secretly take over the Democratic Party apparatus in Kootenai County.</div><div>
</div><div>Among the Panhandle Patriots themselves and their supporters, the rhetoric has been similarly incendiary and eliminationist. Walters attended one of their gatherings, where one audience member claimed he’d seen "groomers—that's the only word for it" distributing condoms to little kids surreptitiously at Coeur d’Alene’s Fourth of July parade.</div><div>
</div><div>"We're going to be going after the groomers," the group’s founder, Michael "Viper" Birdsong—who took an active role in the Jan. 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol—told his cohorts. "Violence is the last thing we'd ever want to bring. But it doesn't mean we're not incredibly good at it," he added. "Mess around with a kid and find out."</div><div>
</div><div>Another northern Idaho white nationalist and notorious antisemite with a huge social media following, Vincent James Foxx, has posted modified copies of the flier for Pride in the Park, with its lines drawn to resemble a warped Star of David. He also has posted the names of every sponsor on a spreadsheet with addresses and contact information.</div><div>
</div><div>Panhandle Patriots say they intend to start their day on June 11 at around noon in downtown Coeur d’Alene, from where they say they plan to march through the downtown area to finish up at the waterfront park where their event is scheduled on Lake Coeur d’Alene.</div><div>
</div><div>However, the Coeur d’Alene city clerk told the Press that while Panhandle Patriots had a permit for their event, there has been none issued for a downtown parade or march.</div><div>
</div><div>"I only have the parks reservations," Clerk Renata McLeod said. "I have not received any special event/street closure, nor parade request for that day yet."</div><div>
</div><div>The waterfront space where Panhandle Patriots intend to hold their gathering, McEuen Park, is less than three-quarters of a mile from Coeur d’Alene City Park, where Pride in the Park is planned. However, the latter event is scheduled to begin at 10 AM and at end at 3 PM, while the “North Idaho Day of Prayer” is now scheduled to kick off at 3 PM after the downtown marchers arrive.</div><div>
</div><div>Local residents are voicing their concern. One woman whose son is involved with North Idaho Pride Alliance, the organizers of Pride in the Park, told the Press that she contacted the city parks department to voice concern about allowing two such opposing groups to hold events on the same day.</div><div>
</div><div>“I said, 'This could be a big problem, and I don't think anyone realizes,'" she said. "There’s going to be a lot of vulnerable people in the park, parents with kids who want to have a fun day. People are concerned, 'Should I bring my kids? What if something happens?'"</div><div>
</div><div>The North Idaho Pride Alliance issued a statement urging everyone to remain peaceful in the face of the threats and provocations:</div><div>
</div><div>Law enforcement is aware of statements made about this summer's events. We are working to make north Idaho a more inclusive and happy place to live. We will continue to take steps to support public safety. North Idaho Pride Alliance will not be intimidated or deterred from organizing community events.</div><div>
</div><div>Our leadership strongly encourages the public NOT to engage with protestors they may encounter outside events or online. We ask that supportive community members and partners focus on promoting events with positivity for a successful Pride Month celebration.</div><div>
</div><div>Noncriminal hostile online content can be sent privately to nipridealliance@gmail.com or be reported on the Love Lives Here CDA reporting tool at https://lovelivesherecda.com/report-an-incident/. Criminal threats should be directed immediately to law enforcement.</div><div>
</div><div>Our highest priority is to have a fun and safe event. We have confidence that strong early interventions and keeping law enforcement aware will ensure a successful Pride month and safety for all who choose to participate.</div><div>
</div><div>"The threats haven't been this bad in quite some time," Joey Pugmire, vice president of the North Idaho Pride Alliance, told Walters. "I do think this could be like one of the more aggressive years for the far right."</div><div>
</div><div>He says the planners of Pride in the Park are well aware of the threats and are working to ensure the safety of everyone at the event.</div><div>
</div><div>"If people are going to try to threaten us, that's their prerogative," Pugmire says. "That's on their conscience, but we're going to try to ignore the fear-mongering as best we can."</div></div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">newsweek col/op ed?!</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-02-08/andy-ngo-new-book-still-pretends-antifa-real-enemy">https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2021-02-08/andy-ngo-new-book-still-pretends-antifa-real-enemy</a></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">there is an alternate universe out there in which we never have to ponder, let alone read, “Unmasked,” provocateur Andy Ngo’s supremely dishonest new book on the left-wing anti-fascist movement known as antifa. In that other world far, far away, <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-03/marjorie-taylor-greene-liz-cheney-republicans-congress" target="blank">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a> remains a nutty CrossFit enthusiast from Georgia, not a member of Congress, and we know nothing of her musings on <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-30/a-space-laser-did-it-gop-congressman-had-out-there-theory-on-deadly-california-wildfire" target="blank">Jewish space lasers</a>, the execution of Democrats or “<a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-02/marjorie-taylor-greene-qanon-republicans-congress" target="blank">false flag</a>” school shootings.If you find that universe, please send directions.Coming as it does in this weary universe of ours, a month after pro-Trump insurrectionists <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-01-21/capitol-siege-californians-arrested" target="blank">stormed the U.S. Capitol</a> in search of elected officials to kidnap or kill, “<a class="link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Unmasked-Antifas-Radical-Destroy-Democracy/dp/154605958X" target="blank">Unmasked</a>” has to be taken seriously. Not because it is a serious book — it is nothing of the sort — but because Ngo’s prominence is evidence that false flags will continue to be planted, sometimes on the very same soil where violent reactionaries have spilled American blood.A mainstay of conservative media, Ngo is a disciple of Project Veritas founder <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-mar-07-la-me-0308-acorn-20130308-story.html" target="blank">James O’Keefe</a>, who rose to fame with videos in which <a class="link" href="https://www.newsweek.com/2018/02/02/james-okeefe-project-veritas-american-pravda-fake-news-781964.html" target="blank">members of liberal organizations</a> were duped into making outrageous statements that were then deceptively edited. But whereas O’Keefe, whom Ngo thanks in his acknowledgments, goes after a diverse range of subjects, Ngo is singularly focused on inflating antifa’s importance. It is his black-clad white whale, his Marx-spouting Moby Dick.Ngo’s fame, such as it is, stems from a <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-13/portland-far-right-rally" target="blank">June 2019</a> donnybrook in Portland, in the course of which antifa activists assailed him with a thrown milkshake. Ngo claimed the milkshake <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-portland-protests-suspects-20190702-story.html" target="blank">contained concrete</a>; far more likely, it was a vegan blend heavy on cashew butter.<div class="enhancement" data-click="enhancement" data-align-center=""><ps-promo class="promo promo-position-small promo-small" data-module-id="00000177-6ee2-def3-a7ff-7ef702530012" data-content-type="article" data-show-img="" data-click="promoSmall"><div class="promo-wrapper"><div class="promo-content">ngo was punched and kicked as well; he claims to have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. The violence was obviously criminal. What goes unmentioned is that Ngo had a history of “embedding” with right-wing groups — including, according to <a class="link" href="https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/08/26/27039560/undercover-in-patriot-prayer-insights-from-a-vancouver-democrat-whos-been-working-against-the-far-right-group-from-the-inside" target="blank">persuasive allegations</a> he has denied, the white supremacist outfit Patriot Prayer — that provoke antifa into the very fights Ngo then films. In “Unmasked,” he eagerly dons the martyr’s vestments, describing the attack with such self-serving detail, you’d think he’d been liberating Rome.</div></div></ps-promo></div>“Unmasked” is a culmination of Ngo’s single-minded quest to depict an assortment of leftists as a unified vanguard whose mission is to “destroy the nation-state, America in particular.” Only in its final pages does he explain the roots of that fixation, his parents’ immigration from wartorn Vietnam. He calls this book “a letter of gratitude to the nation that welcomed” them. As an immigrant from a communist country, I understand the sentiment. As a journalist, however, I must point out that he is churning out the very kind propaganda that keeps authoritarians in power.Distortions and untruths hover like flies around every shred of confirmable fact. The same section of “Unmasked” that ends with Ngo’s paean to the United States portrays a mid-November “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington as a “peaceful and celebratory” affair, with no mention of the Proud Boys amassed there. The counter-protesters, meanwhile, are a “marauding gang.”<div class="enhancement" data-click="enhancement" data-align-center=""><ps-nativo-module data-fetch-offset="1.0" data-integration-script="https://s.ntv.io/serve/load.js" data-hide-mobile="true"><div id="nativo_1">The truth about antifa has been chronicled elsewhere, and it is a lot more quotidian than Ngo and his abettors at Fox News would like you to believe. The nation’s top mainstream antifa scholar, Mark Bray, <a class="link" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-antifa/2020/09/11/527071ac-f37b-11ea-bc45-e5d48ab44b9f_story.html" target="blank">wrote in The Washington Post</a> that antifa is “not an organization. Rather, it is a politics of revolutionary opposition to the far right.”Ngo’s false-equivalence manifesto comes while fencing remains in place on Capitol Hill, all because the Proud Boys of the aforementioned November lovefest decided to return on January 6. Coming in the wake of that ugly insurrection, “Unmasked” has the ridiculous feel of a warning about the dangers of German communism issued in 1939.Incredibly, Ngo makes that very comparison himself, arguing that antifa’s predecessors in Weimar Germany deserve as much scrutiny as their Nazi counterparts.“While the Brownshirts are well remembered in contemporary Western society, the history of far-left paramilitaries in the German interwar years has faded to memory,” Ngo writes, in the tendentious, pedantic tone of a Wikipedia enthusiast. I guess he didn’t get around to clicking on the entry for Auschwitz-Birkenau.<div class="enhancement" data-click="enhancement" data-align-center="">Ngo crosses the line into truly despicable when he downplays the murders of Heather Heyer by white nationalists in Charlottesville and Black teenager Trayvon Martin by vigilante George Zimmerman. Every act of violence by antifa, meanwhile, is described so meticulously and ominously that Herr Goebbels would have been proud.In no way do I <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-19-la-oe-0619-rutten-20100619-story.html" target="blank">make that allusion flippantly</a>. Maligning the opposition was central to the Nazi strategy, and it is critical to today’s far-right extremists. Ngo’s intention here seems not just to discredit antifa, but to run a diversionary tactic for <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-09-05/portland-protests-patriot-prayer" target="blank">Patriot Prayer</a> and other groups that are far more dangerous than their leftist counterparts. He calls the Proud Boys a “pro-Trump fraternity,” as if they were just J. Crew-clad beer pong aficionados instead of racist thugs.<div class="enhancement" data-click="enhancement" data-align-center=""><figure class="figure">[scary pix cover // isis?
<div class="figure-content"><div class="figure-credit">(Center Street Press)</div></div></figure></div>The right is always reminding us that <a class="link" href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/695638866993115136" target="blank">”facts don’t care about your feelings,”</a> so let us set out some facts. Ngo writes that the “numbers and influence” of right-wing extremists “are grossly exaggerated by biased media,” while antifa poses “just as much, if not more, of a threat to the future of American liberal democracy.” He frequently references last summer’s anti-racism protests, conveniently eliding the point that 93% were peaceful, <a class="link" href="https://acleddata.com/2020/09/03/demonstrations-political-violence-in-america-new-data-for-summer-2020/" target="blank">according to a study from Princeton</a>. A brief published by the <a class="link" href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/who-are-antifa-and-are-they-threat" target="blank">Center for Strategic and International Studies</a>, hardly a lefty outfit, found that antifa had a “minor” role in what violence did occur, most of which was driven by local, autonomous actors, and that the organization’s threat was “relatively small.”January 6th administered the coup de grâce to Ngo’s already teetering thesis. It should not have taken this long, however. Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security <a class="link" href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2020_10_06_homeland-threat-assessment.pdf" target="blank">warned last October</a> that “white supremacist extremists” would remain the “<a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-01-16/nations-greatest-terror-threat" target="blank">most persistent and lethal threat</a>” to the American homeland.<a class="link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/us/politics/trump-right-wing-domestic-terrorism.html" target="blank">A recent report in the New York Times</a> noted that Trump was so obsessed with the imaginary threat of antifa, he effectively prevented his own administration from countering the looming threat from the right. Before he was banned from Twitter, Trump retweeted Ngo’s scurrilous dispatches 11 times between August and October 2020 to his nearly 90 million followers.If trolling, not reportage, is Ngo’s purpose, then “Unmasked” is a tour de force. The left helped his cause (as it tends to), protesting in front of the famed Powell’s bookstore in Portland, Ore., for agreeing to carry the book. Powell’s <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-01-14/powells-books-says-andy-ngos-book-will-not-be-in-store#:_{:text=The%20store%20said%20it%20will,%E2%80%9CUnmasked%E2%80%9D%20on%20its%20shelves.&text=Powell's%20Books%20has%20announced%20that,its%20shelves%20following%20a%20backlash.}" target="blank">backed down</a>, giving Ngo the kind of publicity not even a Trump tweet would have brought. The book became an Amazon bestseller.Yet no amount of commercial success can obscure Ngo’s fundamentally flimsy argument. Most of his reporting is focused on Portland and Seattle, where radicalism is not exactly new. His efforts to depict a national network are unconvincing, as are attendant efforts to show the Democratic establishment’s support for antifa (for example, an Instagram post from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supporting <a class="link" href="https://unicornriot.ninja/" target="blank">Unicorn Riot</a>, an alternative news outlet that backs peaceful protests).Seeking proof of antifa’s military cohesion, he quotes from a training manual he managed to obtain: “Childcare will be provided. Please just let us know the number and ages of the children ahead of time.” The road to Stalinism, I have long maintained, will be paved with BPA-free playmats.<div class="enhancement" data-click="enhancement" data-align-center="">Before the fine folks at Gateway Pundit rush to screencap any of the above as evidence of my left-wing affinities, let me just say that I have as much fondness for antifa as I do for orthodontic surgery. I watched them destroy a Starbucks in Berkeley during a protest over a scheduled appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos. This, shortly after the company’s chief executive, Howard Schultz, committed to <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/ct-starbucks-refugees-trump-executive-order-20170129-story.html?amp=true" target="blank">hiring thousands of Syrian refugees</a>. The destruction was not just pointless, but also detrimental to the cause. The same can and should be said about the violence that sometimes followed the summer’s protests.Excuses for left-wing violence — I am thinking of Vicky Osterweil’s <a class="link" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/there-no-defense-looting/615925/" target="blank">offensively clueless</a> “In Defense of Looting” — deserve the same level of condemnation now directed at Ngo. The only difference, and it is a yuge one, is that Trump openly courted the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups, which essentially turned their violent acts into state-sanctioned terror. Say what you will about President Biden, he is unlikely to invite antifa for tea and crumpets on the South Lawn.Less honest segments of the right will nevertheless argue the opposite, using Ngo’s book to pad their case. Greg Kelly, the Hannity wannabe anchor on <a class="link" href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2021-01-20/president-biden-inauguration-newsmax-right-wing-coverage" target="blank">Newsmax TV</a>, gave the game away on Jan. 15, when he complained that he was “sick of hearing” about the Capitol riot. He then quickly pivoted to antifa, deploying exactly the same argument Ngo makes in this collection of words that I am legally required to call a book.“Unmasked” will do no more to help Americans understand antifa than Borat helped us understand Kazakhstan. It is simply a cudgel for Trumpists to swing whenever they need to obscure their own complicity in events like the Capitol riot, which even Ngo was <a class="link" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/expert-andy-ngo-it-wasnt-antifa-at-the-capitol-riots" target="blank">forced to admit</a> had not been conducted by antifa.On Jan. 4, some protesters showed up in front of the Virginia residence of Sen. Josh Hawley. The protesters were loud and plainly unwelcome. Hawley treated them as terrorists, denouncing “antifa scumbags” whom he <a class="link" href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-josh-hawley-antifa-house-20210107-jhub5q6qtjeqtc62apy7sfq4gy-story.html" target="blank">falsely depicted</a> as vandalizing his property. It made for some good Fox News segments, which seems to be both the origin and endopoint of so much conservative thought these days.Not 48 hours later, there was Hawley in front of the Capitol, fist raised in support of what few would call anything but treason. Followers of Trump fervently searched footage of the riot, desperately trying to find evidence of antifa agitators. But those rioters did not wear masks, so it was clear who they were — and were not.<div class="enhancement" data-click="enhancement" data-align-center="">Nazaryan is a White House correspondent for Yahoo News and the author of “The Best People: Trump’s Cabinet and the Siege on Washington.”</div></div></div></div></ps-nativo-module></div><div>
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/maga-or-antifa-the-right-wing-war-for-control-of-the-insurrection-narrative/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/maga-or-antifa-the-right-wing-war-for-control-of-the-insurrection-narrative/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">no lnx many vids</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>MAGA or Antifa? The Right-Wing War for Control of the Insurrection Narrative</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kyle MantylaBy Kyle Mantyla | January 4, 2022 </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a battle broke out for control of the narrative regarding the events of that day. The battle was not between the left and the right, but rather between varying factions of the right-wing movement, as a variety of MAGA activists sought to shape the narrative about what had unfolded at the Capitol. Would they take pride in the Trump loyalists storming the Capitol, or would they baselessly blame the insurrection on left-wing insurgents?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To objective outside observers, it was clear that supporters of former President Donald Trump had violently stormed the Capitol in an effort to intimidate members of Congress into refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Threats of violence had filled social media and calls for war and revolution were ubiquitous at right-wing rallies in the days and weeks leading up to Jan. 6. As such, it was no surprise when MAGA activists immediately began praising the “patriots” who stormed the Capitol in the days after Jan. 6.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For example, just two days after the insurrection, radical right-wing anti-Islam activist John Guandolo praised the insurrectionists for showing remarkable “restraint” by not summarily executing the “traitors” in Congress.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A few days later, Guandolo asserted that those who condemned the insurrection were “enemies of the republic” and should be “swinging from a rope because these are traitors to the country.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">QAnon conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine was equally proud of the “patriots” who ransacked the Capitol. Lorraine, who had been covering the Jan. 6 events for radical conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars network, filed a report on her way back to Texas in which she gushed that she had “never felt more pride in my heart and soul than yesterday.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Lorraine lashed out at those in the MAGA movement who were already trying to distance themselves from the insurrection by falsely blaming the attack on the Capitol on left-wing activists. “No one should be blaming antifa for what happened,” Lorraine said. “American patriots did this. And it’s a good thing. It’s not a bad thing.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Likewise, Brandon Straka, a speaker at the Jan. 5 so-called Stop the Steal rally who has since pleaded guilty to joining the mob storming the Capitol, took to Twitter on Jan. 6 to shame conservatives who weren’t supporting “freedom loving Patriots” storming the Capitol.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>“Be embarrassed & hide if you need to- but I was there. It was not Antifa at the Capitol. It was freedom loving Patriots who were DESPERATE to fight for the final hope of our Republic because literally nobody cares about them. Everyone else can denounce them. I will not,” Straka wrote on Twitter, according to a criminal complaint.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Not everyone agreed with Lorraine and Straka’s assessment. Even as Trump loyalists fought Capitol police, right-wing conspiracy theorists like Lin Wood and Mark Burns took to various social media platforms to claim that “antifa”—conservatives’ shorthand for anti-fascist activists—was behind the attack. Fox News personality Laura Ingraham—whom the House select committee revealed to have pleaded with Trump’s chief of staff to get Trump to tell his supporters to go home on Jan. 6—went on her show in the hours following the attack to claim “antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd.” Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson echoed similar messages.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Perhaps nobody better illustrates the “blame antifa” camp than former Rep. Michele Bachmann. Just hours after the insurrection, Bachmann was baselessly declaring those who breached security and ran loose through the Capitol were actually left-wing “rabble-rousers paid to put together a coup.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the following weeks, Bachmann repeatedly insisted that the attack on the Capitol was actually carried out by “the progressive left.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“It is my opinion that this was a theatrical event that the progressive left put on,” Bachmann said. “The individuals who were the instigators, who brought this about, these were agitators brought in to create this problem. I believe it was specifically done to rebrand Donald Trump as being an insurrectionist and a leader of a terrorist movement. I also believe that this was done to rebrand the Make America Great agenda—because remember, that was considered extremely popular by about 80 million Americans—so they wanted to rebrand Make America Great as an evil thing and those of us who supported Donald Trump and that agenda as evil and terrorists.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By July, Bachmann was claiming that MAGA activists had nothing to do with the events of Jan. 6 and that left-wing activists dressed in black clothing had been bused in to attack the Capitol.</div><div>
</div><div>“There were some bad actors who had climbed up … and they actually were pounding on the glass,” Bachmann claimed. “Now, a normal person doesn’t do that. A normal person would never think to pound on the glass. I’ve seen the videotape of the first 14 people who went into the building. They were all dressed in black. They look like they’d been trained as warriors, the people who went in. This was clearly a planned event; that was not the Trump supporters who were around the building. What my conclusion was on-site is that this was nothing short of a coup.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>Despite the initial elation experienced by many MAGA activists in the wake of the insurrection and the endless praise for the “patriots” who had carried it out, the right-wing narrative about the events of Jan. 6 eventually solidified once the reality of the situation began to set in. As hundreds of Trump-loving activists began to face arrest and conviction stemming from their actions on that day and the disgrace the insurrection began to stain the MAGA movement, parts of Trump’s base and the former president himself collectively embraced the baseless belief that the entire thing had been a “false flag” orchestrated by left-wing groups.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>So complete has the collective brainwashing been that even those who had initially celebrated the attack on the Capitol reversed course.</div><div>
</div><div>John Guandolo, who initially praised the insurrectionists for showing remarkable “restraint” by not summarily executing the “traitors” in Congress, now claims that he was outside the Capitol during the events on Jan. 6 and saw “several busloads” of “antifa people and non-patriot hostiles” mixing with the crowd and entering the Capitol.</div><div>
</div><div>“It makes you wonder what is actually going on,” Guandolo said. “We know what’s going on. What happened on Jan. 6 was the surrender of the republic and the takeover of the republic.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">John Guandolo | ReAwaken America Tour Dallas</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Likewise, DeAnna Lorraine, who was on the ground at the Capitol during the insurrection and initially declared that she could not have been prouder about what happened, completely changed her tune and began insisting that the insurrection was a “false flag” operation set up to “trap” Trump supporters and provide justification for their persecution.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Lorraine eventually so thoroughly repudiated her initial support for the “patriots” who carried out insurrection that she ultimately began spreading a conspiracy theory that police officers who had been in the Capitol that day—several of whom have since died from suicide—were being murdered by the “deep state” to cover up the truth about the events of Jan. 6.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A new NPR/Ipsos poll released Monday shows how deeply this narrative has burrowed its way into the public’s beliefs.. According to the poll, nearly one-third of Republicans falsely say the attack on the Capitol was carried out by “opponents of Donald Trump, including antifa and government agents.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Of course, this entire narrative shift regarding the events of Jan. 6 raises the question of why MAGA and the GOP have been intractably opposed to the efforts by the House select committee to investigate the attack. After all, if Jan. 6 was nothing but a “false flag” operation carried out by left-wing operatives for the purpose of discrediting Trump and his supporters, wouldn’t Trump and his supporters want that truth to be exposed?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tags: Brandon StrakaDeAnna LorraineJohn GuandoloMichele BachmannCapitol Insurrection</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div>=omfg<div>=</div><div>300 pp bk mention koch network</div><div>
</div><div>“Since We Are Greatly Outnumbered”: Why and How the Koch Network Uses Disinformation to Thwart Democracy Nancy MacLean</div><div>
</div><div>...The program offers a case study in corporate propaganda. In its bid to convince listeners that the American way of life depends on the free market – and that any move toward social democracy presents a threat – the show dramatizes argumentative and rhetorical procedures that continue to shape American political culture. </div><div>
</div><div>Chapter 5 by Nancy MacLean examines an important source of the strategic disinformation now rife in American public life: the Koch network of extreme right donors, allied organizations, and academic grantees. She argues that these architects of the radical transformation of our institutions and legal system have adopted the tactic of disinformation in the knowledge that the hard-core libertarian agenda was extremely unpopular, and therefore required stealth to succeed. </div><div>
</div><div>The chapter tells the story of how Charles Koch and his inner circle, having determined in the 1970s that changes significant enough to enable a “constitutional revolution” (in the words of the political economist James McGill Buchanan) would be needed to protect capitalism from democracy, then went about experimenting to make this a reality. In the 1980s, they first incubated ideas for misleading the public to move their agenda forward, as shown by the strategy for Social Security privatization that Buchanan recommended to Koch’s Cato Institute, and by the operations of Citizens for a Sound Economy, the network’s first astroturf – or fake grassroots – organizing effort. </div><div>
</div><div>Subsequent practices of active disinformation by this network, for a project that could not succeed by persuasion and organizing alone, become more comprehensible when understood as driven by a mix of messianic dogma and self-interest. Later cases include tobacco “scholarship” for hire by Buchanan’s colleagues at George Mason University to deter the public health campaign against smoking; climate science denial to stop action on global warming; promotion of the myth of mass voter fraud to leverage racism to restrict the electorate; assurances of the benefits of an Article V Constitutional Convention, restricted to a few pre-announced changes; and the use of concocted memes of violent mobs requiring restraint, in order to win passage of new legislation to criminalize protest, particularly against the fossil fuel industry. </div><div>
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</div><div><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/1F4751119C7C4693E514C249E0F0F997/9781108843058AR.pdf/The_Disinformation_Age.pdf?event-type=FTLA">https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/1F4751119C7C4693E514C249E0F0F997/9781108843058AR.pdf/The_Disinformation_Age.pdf?event-type=FTLA</a></div><div>=</div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/marjorie-taylor-greene-aoc/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/marjorie-taylor-greene-aoc/</a>
 David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement October 25, 2021   U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the most prominent lawmaker named in the bombshell Rolling Stone article, unleashed a wild a conspiracy theory-fueled attack against Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday.
Her tweetstorm, 12 posts long (although she did label one #6 twice) included the demand, usually made by right wing Twitter trolls, to "debate me," along with false claims AOC is "tear[ing] our country apart because you are a communist," and "participated in [a] civil war."
Greene started by retweeting Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's tweet calling for any "member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation's capitol" to be "expelled."Rep. Greene complains "ALL of the thousands of Antifa/BLM foot soldiers of the Democrat Communist Party that attacked innocent Americans, looted & burned private businesses, & more crimes have not been properly charged yet & many were let off."
She claims AOC and other Democratic lawmakers engaged in a "civil war that was waged in the streets of America during the communist revolution of 2020," which is a flat-out lie.
Greene also falsely calls U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) a "terrorist sympathizer," and claims the BLM protests caused over $1 trillion in damage, which is wildly false.
In her provably false screed Greene uses variations of the word "communist" five times, "Socialist" and "Fascist" once each, "civil war" and "vaccine" three times, "Democrat" seven times, "America" or "American" nine times.

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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">a night of canvasing begins with a group of angry, white men.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;">Dressed in matching T-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with the phrase “Active Club,” the masked white nationalists wield a starter pack of extremist paraphernalia: stickers that read “FCK ANTIFA” and “Defend the White Race,” posters promoting a “nationalist lifestyle,” stencils etched with racist slogans, and black spray paint. They disperse, plastering stickers on lamp posts, billboards, and the occasional statue. They replace Black Lives Matter slogans with smatterings of hate messages and promises to “reclaim America.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Among the scattered propaganda is a blue poster imploring readers to start their own active clubs—spaces for white men to train in combat while openly embracing white nationalism through street activism and publicity stunts.  “Now is all we have,” read the poster. “Join the fight.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Various videos and photos posted online by the group show this scene play out over and over again. You might even have seen these posters across small-town USA: Seymour, Indiana; Coeur d’Alene Idaho; Cheyenne, Wyoming—or even across cities like Denver and Philadelphia. These calls to actions are not the work of misguided teenagers but the persistent effort of infamous white nationalists like Robert Rundo, who spent years sowing the seeds of hate while building a global following for his neo-Nazi fight-club initiatives.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By using combat sports as a medium to recruit, radicalize, and discipline white nationalists disenfranchised by mainstream conservative politics, Rundo is able to create physical and digital spaces where extreme right political ideologies can flourish. He also joined forces with like-minded white nationalist groups such as Patriot Front and Revolt Against Tradition, which has allowed Rundo to rapidly expand his network and spread his active club ideology across North America.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 400; hyphens: none; line-height: 1.1; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">The Rise of Active Clubs</h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The chaos that took place in Berkeley on April 15, 2017, was among the worst the city had seen in years. For approximately three hours, protesters for and against then President Donald Trump brawled at a “Patriot Rally” on the streets surrounding Civic Center Park, <a href="https://www.berkeleyside.org/2017/04/15/live-coverage-berkeley-protests" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">armed</a> with pepper spray, smoke bombs, sticks, and wooden dowels. Seven attendees were hospitalized with injuries while 20 people were arrested, according to Berkeley police.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Among those arrested was Rundo, who arrived in Berkeley with members of his Rise Above Movement white nationalist group, and was later taken into custody on suspicion of battery on a police officer and for resisting a police officer. The <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/white-hate-group-campaign-of-menace-rise-above-movement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">charges were dropped</a> after an Alameda County deputy district attorney determined that there was not “enough evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.” It took more than a year for the Department of Justice to bring <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/four-local-members-white-supremacy-group-face-federal-charges-attacks-political-rallies" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">federal charges</a> against Rundo and three other RAM members for their alleged involvement in political rallies across California, claiming that they “violently attacked counter-protesters, journalists and a police officer.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to the complaint filed by federal officials in October 2018, Rundo and three other RAM members were allegedly involved in “violent attacks” at the Berkeley rally, which included Rundo punching a defenseless person and a police officer. The complaint also noted that RAM members celebrated the assaults in Berkeley, which prosecutors say included one member posting photos of himself attacking people and of other RAM members assaulting counterprotesters with their combat sports training.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;">The 2018 federal complaint followed the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/federal-grand-jury-indicts-four-california-conspiracy-violate-riots-statute" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">filing of an indictment</a> in federal court that led to the arrest of four other RAM members on rioting charges related to their participation at the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 at which a counterprotester was murdered. The four men, including RAM co-founder Ben Daley and UCLA doctoral student Michael Miselis, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/all-four-white-supremacists-charged-in-charlottesville-violence-plead-guilty" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">pleaded guilty</a> and were sentenced for their crimes. The RAM defendants in California were luckier. While many expected Rundo and the three other defendants to face jail time—one RAM member even pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge—a district judge <a href="https://ocweekly.com/judge-dismisses-case-against-neo-nazi-rise-above-movement-members/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">dismissed the charges against them</a> in 2019, claiming that the federal statute used to prosecute the members infringed upon their First Amendment rights to free speech.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Prior to the string of arrests, the California-based RAM boasted more than 50 members who trained in various combat sports such as mixed martial arts and boxing, which they later <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/rise-above-movement-ram" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">applied during street fights and protests</a>. The group rose to prominence in 2017, when they began attending political rallies and targeting anti-fascist activists. They infiltrated protests and disrupted proceedings by fighting with those opposing their ultra-nationalist ideology. They concealed their identities using skull face masks and goggles, and went into rallies with their hands wrapped in tape in preparation for physical altercations. They then glorified their antics in <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/8mFGwOFc1G1J/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">propaganda videos posted on social media</a>.<figure id="attachment_531858" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-531858" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px auto 1em; clear: both; max-width: 100%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 730px;">rapeugees"
<figcaption id="caption-attachment-531858" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.2;">RAM members at an “anti-Sharia law” protest in San Bernardino, California.</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;">RAM’s penchant for MMA and underground fight clubs is one of the main things that distinguishes it from various other white supremacist groups in the United States. It has also helped RAM expand beyond the borders of the U.S., recruit new members, and network with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/11/far-right-fight-clubs-mma-white-nationalists" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">other neo-Nazi groups dabbling in MMA</a> around the world.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;">While four of RAM’s most prominent members remain in jail since being indicted on Charlottesville rioting charges, Rundo left the United States after having his case dismissed in California and has spent the last few years trying to further his white nationalist agenda and rebuild the fighting community that had been diminished by federal prosecution. After moving to Eastern Europe, Rundo founded a far-right propaganda outfit known as the International Conservative Community, which boasts a network of neo-Nazis around the world, with groups in Greece, Poland, Sweden, Hungary, Russia and Canada. The ICC is behind the <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/kyle-rittenhouse-kenosha-and-the-new-far-right-battleground/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">propaganda campaign for Kyle Rittenhouse</a>, the 17-year-old <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/22/kyle-rittenhouse-case-trial-date-approaches-kenosha-shootings/8197989002/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">charged with the fatal shooting of two protesters</a> during an anti-racism demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;">Rundo’s campaign included spreading artwork depicting Rittenhouse with the caption, “Kyle was Right.” The ICC has planted stickers, large-scale graffiti work, and banners emblazoned with Rittenhouse’s image across Europe and North America. In Serbia, where Rundo was living in 2020, the group painted a picture of an armed Rittenhouse standing proud with a Schwarze Sonne (German for Black Sun) as his backdrop; the symbol, also known as a sonnerad, is used by a number of with far-right groups that traffic in neo-Nazi ideologies. The painting in Serbia was featured alongside a Confederate flag and a picture of a deranged-looking Homer Simpson cartoon character aiming a gun, with the caption “KILL YOUR LOCAL ANTIFA SCUM.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It was around this time that Rundo began encouraging his followers to form their own “Active Clubs,” which he defined as a “small group of comrades who share our values of identity.” The aim of such groups is to “focus on physical fitness” and “create displays of defiance that show your community that our culture will not be erased.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The active club is not so much a structural organization as it is a lifestyle for those willing to work, risk and sweat to embody our ideals for themselves and to promote them to others,” Rundo wrote on his Active Club Telegram channel. “The active lifestyle is the counter to the left’s culture of apathy, addiction, and vice. Get active today in your area and be the change you want to see.”<figure id="attachment_531859" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-531859" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px auto 1em; clear: both; max-width: 100%; font-weight: 700; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 1280px;">
<figcaption id="caption-attachment-531859" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.2;">Members of Colorado’s “Front Range Active Club” training in combat sports. Credit: Front Range Telegram</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rundo later started the “Active Club Podcast” with Denis Nikitin, a Russian neo-Nazi considered to be the godfather of the extreme-right MMA scene, where they teach fellow nationalists how to form their own hate groups. Nikitin, who rose to infamy after launching the neo-Nazi MMA organization and clothing brand known as White Rex, has also been banned from entering any Schengen-area European countries. However, while Rundo boasted on the podcast about the “perks” of living in Eastern Europe, the extremist was expelled from Serbia after <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/11/18/an-american-white-supremacists-new-home-in-serbia/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">Bellingcat outed his location in Serbia</a>. The Serbian daily Blic reported that on Feb. 11, 2021, Serbian police escorted Rundo to the Trbušnica-Šepak border pass, which connects Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;">Rundo’s luck in avoiding prosecution, however, may soon come to an end. On 4 March, 2021, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-05/riot-charges-reinstated-against-california-white-supremacist" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">LA Times </a>reported that a US Federal Appeals Court had reinstated rioting charges against Rundo and three accomplices from RAM, ruling that they could be tried for their roles in riots in California in 2017. Despite facing potential arrest, Rundo remains active on Telegram, the social media platform popular among the extreme right, where continues to espouse his vision for the evolution of white supremacy.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 400; hyphens: none; line-height: 1.1; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">“White Nationalism 3.0”</h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In a December 2020 essay entitled “The Idea Behind ‘Active Club,’” Robert Rundo laid out his argument for why his fellow angry white men should start their own neighborhood fight clubs.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“As most institutions give little or no regard for white youth today, Active Clubs’ role will fill that gap,” Rundo wrote, adding that active clubs promote camaraderie, identity formation, and “awaken racial bonds between kin” as they engage in fitness activities, combat sports training, and the “thrill and excitement” of spreading right-wing propaganda in the form of flyers, stickers, and graffiti. Rundo theorized that by spreading their message through propaganda posters and stickers, it will serve as a “critical revelation,” letting “our own know the fight is not over.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rundo also dictated that the clubs must remain small and local, explaining that it will make it more difficult for the media and law enforcement officials to shut down the entire operation. “Even if the system and their dogs manage to put out one fire, it will lead to minimal results,” he wrote.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rundo’s guidelines suggest he has learned from his mistakes with RAM. Initially, the white nationalist group, the first prominent example of an active club in North America, had 50 members and was active on mainstream social media, which made it easy for researchers to identify its members. The modern iteration of the active club, which Rundo sometimes refers to as “white nationalism 3.0,” is different. The groups are local, self-contained, and are careful about the images they publish online. They take part in fitness activities together and focus on local activism—spreading stickers, posters, and banner drops—instead of taking part in rallies and demonstrations where they may be identified.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rundo also launched a media outlet called Media2Rise, which he claimed would “counter” liberal narratives. Over the past few months, the former MMA fighter has used this platform to publish “Sons of the Founders,” described as a “documentary” about Patriot Front—an offshoot of the white supremacist Vanguard group that trains in “hand-to-hand combat.” The propaganda film, which follows Patriot Front members during their demonstrations held this year on the Fourth of July in Pennsylvania, underscores the growing (and highly concerning) ties between like-minded extremists such as Rundo and Patriot Front.<figure id="attachment_531856" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-531856" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px auto 1em; clear: both; max-width: 100%; font-weight: 700; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 1280px;">
<figcaption id="caption-attachment-531856" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.2;">Patriot Front members holding up an ‘Active Club’ banner</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To date, Rundo’s active clubs have formed across the United States, including in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. An active club has even launched in Quebec and Ontario, the latter of which was recently renamed to “Action 14,” a reference to the 14-word neo-Nazi slogan “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The rebranding leaves no doubt that the group is more than a fitness club for like-minded individuals but rather a white nationalist propaganda outfit that indoctrinates white men into the nationalist cause.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When prospective members questioned Action 14’s decision to rebrand in the public chat, arguing that it was “setting up the group to be targeted,” the club’s leadership shrugged off the concerns. “The name gives us a new look, and a clear signal to those on our side as to what we are about. It allows us to go national without splintering into 13 different groups, one for each province. We are a National Active Club now. Action 14 is the banner we all organize under,” the administrator said. However, the group eventually rebranded to “Active Club Canada” after what the administrator said was a “detailed discussion” among the founders.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Tell your friends, wherever they are in Canada, that we are organizing workouts near them! If we don’t have one set up already in your area, you can rest assured that we will soon! This is the place to reach out to us. If you are a White man, looking to meet other Pro-White Brothers in a fitness setting, Active Club Canada is the place for you!” the group’s administrator posted on Telegram.<figure id="attachment_531857" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-531857" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px auto 1em; clear: both; max-width: 100%; font-weight: 700; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 1280px;">
<figcaption id="caption-attachment-531857" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.2;">‘Active Club Canada’ aka ‘Action 14’ members posing during a workout session in Ontario.</figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While Rundo would likely disagree with the Ontario active club’s decision to go national, he is no doubt delighted to know that his propaganda outfit masquerading as a fitness and martial arts counter culture group is spreading. The extremist organizer had previously written about the importance of combat sports as a “weapon” for white supremacists, as well as a way of building a community of like-minded individuals. “The nationalist movement was never built on idle talk but on those with iron will who didn’t back down,” he wrote in a 2020 essay. “In a time of weak men it only takes some effort to rise above all. Combat sports is that way up.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Indeed, MMA and combat sports’ idolization of hypermasculinity, its penchant for violence, and its emphasis on wellness based lifestyles is well suited to far-right groups whose members object to progressive society’s supposed decadence and degeneration. Many white nationalist and far-right groups espouse “straight-edge” lifestyles focused on clean eating, a disciplined physical fitness regimen, and abstention from drugs and alcohol. Many such groups lionize white, muscular, male bodies, using them as models for future generations. MMA’s training regimen is also appealing to members of far-right groups because it offers them structured tutelage that they believe is necessary to defend their homeland.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;">Writing in her acclaimed book “Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right,” Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss stated that “MMA becomes a powerful incubator for the far right when these ideas of masculinity—the notion that being a man is achieved through violent confrontation, domination, and physical intimidation of opponents—are layered onto far-right ideology about immigrant invasions and defense of the nation.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This is exactly what Rundo hopes to achieve with his active club initiative. And as his fascist fight clubs continue to spread across the United States, so does his message of hate.2/6/21 psaki<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/reporter-roasted-for-trying-to-equate-jan-6-insurrection-terrorists-with-antifa/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/reporter-roasted-for-trying-to-equate-jan-6-insurrection-terrorists-with-antifa/</a>insurection <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/maria-bartiromo/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/maria-bartiromo/</a><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-2649960031">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-2649960031</a></div><div>
</div><div>ME</div><div>It's no secret that President Donald Trump's angry supporters were seen storming the U.S. Capitol but the president's Kremlin-controlled Russian state broadcasts are still circulating lies the series of events that erupted on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6. According to Russian media, members of Antifa were seen storming the Capitol—not Trump supporters.</div>According to The Daily Beast, Russian media outlets<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-media-pushes-the-lie-that-capitol-rioters-were-antifa?ref=scroll" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"> claimed "the pro-Trump insurrectionists were merely "peaceful demonstrators" and blamed "Antifa" for the violence that took place in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021."</a>Although the (FBI) has announced a series of developments regarding the Capitol riots, including the arrests of more than 100 Trump supporters, Russian media has focused on featuring clips from conservative news networks like Fox News in addition to remarks from widely known conservative public figures including Tucker Carlson, a number of Republican lawmakers, and other Trump allies and apologists.But the truth never stopped the Kremlin's propaganda networks from continuing to disseminate a convenient fable. Russian-speaking eyewitnesses were shown intermittently—or some might argue interchangeably—with clips from Fox News, featuring Tucker Carlson, Marco Rubio, and other Trump apologists. Appearing on state TV channel Rossiya-24, two Russian-speakers living in the United States were identified as "those who participated in the events" on Capitol Hill and later took part in numerous shows on Russian state television.Despite Russian-controlled media propagandists' attempts to control the narrative regarding what happened amid the Electoral College certification, the publication notes that even Republican lawmakers are now distancing from that false narrative.In fact, Rep. Kevin McCarthy even addressed the rumors when he spoke on the House floor during the hearing for Trump's second impeachment. "Some say the riots were caused by Antifa," McCarthy said, adding, "There is absolutely no evidence of that."More disturbing is that despite the Electoral College certification, and Trump finally admitting that a new administration will be taking the White House on Jan. 20, he has still convinced many of his supporters that the presidential election was stolen from them. Yet, he still has no proof to back his claims.<div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/capitol-riot-2649923460/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">'reconnaissance' tours of US Capitol one day before pro-Trump riot ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/trump-supporters-2649915766/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Trump supporter found dead in Georgia after being charged in ... ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/qanon-the-sham/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Lawyer for 'QAnon Shaman' defends client's involvement in Capitol ... ›</a></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 10px;">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/13/politics/capitol-riot-investigation/index.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Investigators pursuing signs US Capitol riot was planned - CNNPolitics ›</a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/15/956880601/response-to-capitol-riot-could-hurt-minorities-civil-libertarians-say" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Response To Capitol Riot Could Hurt Minorities, Civil Libertarians Say ›</a></li></ul></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">instant deflection BS?  kirk went for seattle autonomous zone whataboutism a couple days later</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">an 121</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"We're in! Let's go, keep it moving, baby!" shouted Derrick Evans, a newly elected Republican member of West Virginia's House of Delegates, as he is seen pushing his way through the rotunda at the U.S. Capitol with a throng of violent Trump supporters in a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/derrick-evans-west-virginia-us-capitol-video/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">video</a> live-streamed on Facebook."Trump, Trump, Trump!" he chanted as attackers rushed the doors.The video, deleted by Evans after circulating Twitter, shows him donning a helmet and military gear, shouting, "Derrick Evans is in the Capitol [...] Patriots inside, baby!"Evans, 34, won his first term as a state lawmaker in November and was charged by the Department of Justice on Friday for illegally entering the Capitol. He is one of several elected Republican lawmakers across the country who have been identified as either participating in or aiding violent pro-Trump attacks on legislative bodies this week.Virginia state Sen. Amanda Chase, who describes herself as "Trump in heels," spoke at the rally that preceded the riot on Wednesday. She later praised the rioters and blamed the violence on "antifa or BLM agents of destruction," for which her <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/amanda-chase-facebook-suspension/2021/01/08/8a392410-51d8-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Facebook account was suspended</a> on Friday. After Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem posted photos of himself at Trump's rally, <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkFinchem/status/1347693964699201537" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">he continued to push a baseless conspiracy theory </a>— that anti-fascist activists, not Trump supporters, broke into the Capitol — which had already been debunked by the Department of Justice.Missouri state lawmaker <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/missouri-lawmaker-skips-his-own-swearing-in-to-attend-trump-rally-in-washington/article_94e9038e-a2a2-5491-8911-dcad1e9dbd5a.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Rep. Justin Hill skipped his own swearing-in ceremony</a> to travel to Trump's coup, where he admits he sat back and watched as an angry mob descended on the U.S. Capitol. Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a retired military colonel who <a href="https://www.abc27.com/news/us-world/politics/pa-lawmakers-call-for-sen-mastrianos-resignation-after-he-admits-to-being-in-d-c-wednesday/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">said he helped organize</a> a bus ride to the demonstrations, posed for photos with former Republican state representative Rick Saccone, who served for 18 years in the U.S. Air Force....</div>=an 121<h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/antifa/" aria-label="Facial recognition company refutes viral conservative site's story used by GOP congressman to bolster bogus 'antifa' claim" data-type="text" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" outline="outline" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Facial recognition company refutes viral conservative site's story used by GOP congressman to bolster bogus 'antifa' claim</a></h1><div>---</div><div><a href="https://www.thewrap.com/washington-times-false-antifa-story-capitol-matt-gaetz/">https://www.thewrap.com/washington-times-false-antifa-story-capitol-matt-gaetz/</a>Washington Times corrected a story Thursday that falsely claimed Antifa members were identified among the right-wing mob that infiltrated the Capitol on Wednesday. The outlet also apologized [IE AVOIDED LAWSUIT // SMARTMATIC KRAKEN] to the facial recognition software company at the center of the piece, which was initially deleted Thursday afternoon before being reinstated with the correction.The story — which was referenced by Rep. Matt Gaetz when he suggested there was left-wing infiltration of the insurrectionists — is no longer on the Times’ site. The link to the piece redirects back to the Times’ home page. <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/daveyalba/status/1347236876684582915" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none;">According</a> to New York Times reporter Davey Alba, the now-deleted article was the 11th most visited webpage in the U.S. over the last 24 hours.“Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that XRVision facial recognition software identified Antifa members among rioters who stormed the Capitol Wednesday. XRVision did not identify any Antifa members. The Washington Times apologizes to XRVision for the error,” <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/6/xrvision-firm-claims-antifa-infiltrated-protesters/?update" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none;">says</a> the correction.<p class="ctx-link" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 16px 0px; padding: 16px; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-top-color: grey; border-bottom-color: grey; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Also Read:<a class="also-read-counter" href="https://www.thewrap.com/sean-hannity-brit-hume-other-conservatives-suggest-antifa-instigated-capitol-mob/" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none;">Rep. Gaetz, Sean Hannity and More Baselessly Suggest 'Antifa' Instigated Capitol Mob</a>On Thursday, Buzzfeed News <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facial-recognition-antifa-washington-times-false" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> that the facial recognition software at the heart of the Times’ story, XRVision, objected to the piece on the grounds that it was false. A lawyer for the company told Buzzfeed News that XRVision asked the Washington Times for a retraction and an apology.According to a <a href="https://apelbaum.wordpress.com/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a> from XRVision CTO Yaacov Apelbaum, the original article claimed, “A retired military officer told The Washington Times that the firm XRVision used its software to do facial recognition of protesters and matched two Philadelphia antifa members to two men inside the Senate.”Apelbaum wrote, “XRVision didn’t generate any composites or detections for the Washington Times or for any ‘retired military officer,’ nor did it authorize them to make any such claims or representations. Additionally, The Washington Times never attempted to contact XRVision to verify their false claim prior publication.”He pointed out that XRVision did perform an analysis, which returned two matches linking participants in Wednesday’s riot to “Nazi organizations,” not Antifa.=</div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/trump-antifa/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/trump-antifa/</a>no lnx twtelusional GOP lawmakers, Trump supporters now blaming 'antifa' for Capitol Hill chaosMeaghan Ellis January 07, 2021   Most Americans clearly heard President Donald Trump encourage his supporters to march to Capitol Hill and demand the 2020 presidential election results be overturned in his favor. Shortly after Trump's directive, his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building.
But despite all evidence to the contrary, several delusional Republican lawmakers and a disturbing number of Trump loyalists insist antifa is to blame for their own behavior. Hours after law enforcement managed to gain control of the chaotic situation, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) expressed outrage over what ensued. However, he did not hold the Trump supporters accountable, reports the Washington Post.
According to the Republican lawmaker, some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters. They were masquerading as Trump supporters and in fact, were members of the "violent terrorist group" antifa. Antifa, a left-wing anti-fascist movement, has been described by some on the right at a "terrorist" organization, but the Southern Poverty Law Center cautions that designation is "dangerous" and "threatens civil liberties."Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) also took to Twitter with a flurry of tweets that claimed there's "evidence" to suggest antifa was behind the riot — all of which, appears to be hearsay. On Thursday, Jan. 7, Brooks tweeted, "Please, don't be like #FakeNewsMedia, don't rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics. Evidence follows:"He also broke down his claims saying:1. A Congressman warned me on MONDAY of a growing ANTIFA threat & advised that I sleep in my office rather than leaving Capitol complex & sleeping in my condo. I heeded that advice & have slept on office floor for 4 straight nights.2. Congressman told me he was warned on TUESDAY by Capitol Police officer that intelligence suggested fascist ANTIFA was going to try to infiltrate the Trump rally by dressing like Trump supporters.[vs proud boy say dress like anifa?]3. Capitol Police advised TUESDAY that it best not to leave Capitol complex.4. Evidence, much public, surfacing that many Capitol assaulters were fascist ANTIFAs, not Trump supporters. Again, time will reveal truth. Don't rush to judgment. Don't be fooled by #FakeNewsMedia whose political judgment drives their reporting.
My view: fully prosecute all!
Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) also tweeted an excuse for what occurred. Just hours after the breach, Gosar tweeted, "This has all the hallmarks of Antifa provocation."[ie FALSE FLAG?]Conservative media figures and Trump supporters took to social media with bizarre claims in an effort to take the blame off the pro-Trump mob....However, many Twitter users have pushed back with obvious clues that Trump supporters were, indeed, responsible for the Capitol building breach, noting masks were non-existent and there was no social distancing. Media outlets are also revealing the identities of some of the rioters photographed at the Capitol building.Despite conservative attempts to divert from what happened, many of the rioters are, indeed, right-wing extremists.newsmax: uS Army combat veteran @CoryMills_PACEM says "I'm pissed off at what I am seeing on American soil, I'm pissed off that I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting this terroristic behavior only to see it on our soil." http://nws.mx/tvMany lawmakers are calling for those identified to face charges for their actions and involvement in the Capitol breach.FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLESHere are 5 key facts about antifa that Trump and right-wing media ... ›The Trump campaign's Nazi symbol scandal just got a whole lot worse ›Bill Barr and Trump desperately want to blame Antifa for violence ... ›RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEBFBI director says antifa is an ideology, not an organization ›Fact check US: Is there an 'antifa threat' in the United States, as ... ›What Is Antifa, the Movement Trump Wants to Declare a Terror Group? ›=oops<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/trump-antifa/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/trump-antifa/</a>Critics of President Donald Trump has long feared that violence would occur in Washington, D.C. on January 6, and an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/among-insurrectionists/617580/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">article by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg</a> describes some of the comments he heard from Trump supporters before a mob invaded the Capitol Building to delay Congress' certification of President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.In his article, published by The Atlantic, Goldberg recalls, "Insurrection Day, 12:40 p.m. A group of about 80 lumpen Trumpists were gathered outside the Commerce Department, near the White House. They organized themselves in a large circle, and stared at a boombox rigged to a megaphone. Their leader and, for some, savior — a number of them would profess to me their belief that the 45th president is an agent of God and his son, Jesus Christ — was rehearsing his pitiful list of grievances."Trump told the crowd, "A year from now, we're gonna start working on Congress. We gotta get rid of the weak congresspeople, the ones that aren't any good — the Liz Cheneys of the world. We gotta get rid of them."In response, Trump supporters standing near Goldberg shouted, "Fuck Liz Cheney." And one of them, a woman in a cat costume, was holding a sign that showed the letter "Q" — as in the QAnon conspiracy cult. She told Goldberg, "We're going to stop the steal. If (Vice President Mike) Pence isn't going to stop it, we have to."<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9a8cdbc6e425de88b0dccf6fd4298f55" id="23583" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 550px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><blockquote class="twitter-custom-tweet twitter-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-lazy-tweet-id="1347028309956317190" data-twitter-tweet-id="1347028309956317190" data-twitter-extracted-i1610041125710539246="true" style="margin: 1em 40px 1em -5px; border-left: 4px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); line-height: 32px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; width: 602.543px; background: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><div style="margin: 1em 0px;">From ⁦@JeffreyGoldberg⁩: “Mass Delusion in America; What I heard from insurrectionists on their march to the Capito… https://t.co/f1iGvEuBy2</div>— Jake Tapper (@Jake Tapper)1609991550.0</blockquote></div>Goldberg remembered that the woman in the cat costume and other far-right Trumpistas asked him to remove his protective face mask, but he refused. And when he mentioned that the U.S. was in the middle of a pandemic, he responded, "Yeah, right."
"We will find out shortly if today's insurrection was also a superspreader event," Goldberg explains. "What I do know, after spending hours sponging up Trumpist paranoia, conspiracism and cultishness, is that this gathering was not merely an attempted coup, but also, a mass-delusion event — not something that can be explained adequately through the prism of politics. Its chaos was rooted in psychological and theological phenomena."Another far-right Trump supporter told Goldberg, "It's all in the Bible. Everything is predicted. Donald Trump is in the Bible. Get yourself ready."Goldberg recalls, "It did not strike me, even then, that this mob would actually storm the Capitol. I assumed, in a non-insurrectionary failure of imagination, that they would gather on the Capitol's sloping lawn, sing Lee Greenwood anthems, and curse Mitt Romney. There were Proud Boys — or at least Proud Boy-adjacent boys — in this group; they would not speak to me but were also not overtly hostile."<div class="around-the-web"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/trump-inciting-violence-2649444751/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">'I don't know how this ends without violence and death': Trump's ... ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-and-the-threat-of-an-unrestrained-mob/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Trump and the threat of an unrestrained mob - Alternet.org ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/traitorous-criminal-outrage-after-mob-boss-trump-implicates-bill-barr-in-roger-stone-scheme/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">'Traitorous criminal': Outrage after 'mob boss' Trump implicates Bill ... ›</a></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; margin-top: 10px;">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/congress-electoral-college-tally-live-updates/2021/01/06/954028436/u-s-capitol-locked-down-amid-escalating-far-right-protests" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Congress Reconvenes After Pro-Trump Mob Brings Chaos To The ... ›</a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/electoral-college-certification-updates-n1252864" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Live updates: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms ... ›</a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2021/jan/06/trump-mob-storm-us-capitol-in-pictures" class="around-the-web__link" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Pro-Trump mob storms US Capitol – in pictures | US news | The ... ›</a></li></ul></div><div></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/some-pro-gun-facebook-pages-are-fearmongering-about-mass-violence-left-after-election">https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/some-pro-gun-facebook-pages-are-fearmongering-about-mass-violence-left-after-election</a></div><div>
</div><div>With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, three major pro-gun Facebook pages are fearmongering about Civil War-type violence from the left after the elections -- despite widespread evidence and reporting from experts that any violence which arises is likely to come from right-wing militias and white nationalist groups.The Facebook pages The Truth About Guns, Guns Save Lives, and 2nd Amendment all shared articles to fearmonger about a <a href="https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2020/10/21/inevitable-post-election-violence/?fbclid=IwAR1tkDCjvGcwmh4Prt2REZeNKhPvudbq7ii1G0ge8tbhmJfqbjOcD3hQeH8" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">looming threat</a> of post-election violence <a href="https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/72-of-americans-expect-political-violence-take-steps-to-protect-yourself-from-rioters-now/?utm_campaign=ttagfeed&utm_medium=buffer&utm_source=facebook&utm_term=ttagfeed&fbclid=IwAR3Ld44i8jOsJ9xGjWTkgFxFkMrLUTX9a1b1V1vIQ3F8GOhsmAhs1tZJb64" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coming</a> from the left and <a href="https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/10/nh-trump-supporters-get-letters-targeting-them-for-civil-war-attacks/?utm_campaign=alt&utm_source=amn3new&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1Da9103p6W_NGcO805DFTY7_nPJPzIBDEABln4PxmtNjyA7zzIbrJqti4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">aimed</a> at supporters of President Donald Trump. The pages collectively <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3908556" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">have</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3908561" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">almost</a> 2.5 million <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3908566" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">followers</a>.Despite attempts by right-wing and pro-gun media to tie this fear of post-election violence to the Black Lives Matter protests following the police killing of George Floyd, a study of 7,750 of those protests nationwide <a href="https://time.com/5886348/report-peaceful-protests/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">found</a> that 93% were peaceful.Another study by the same group, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, and the research group Militia Watch found that five states <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/926339006/heres-where-the-threat-of-militia-activity-around-the-elections-is-the-highest" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">do</a> face a threat of increased election-related violence, but that it’s from right-wing militia groups.On October 6, acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf released a report saying the threat of violent white supremacy is the “most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland,” and wrote that he’s “particularly concerned about white supremacist violent extremists who have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years.” This echoes a statement FBI Director Christopher Wray <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/19/white-supremacist-domestic-terror-threat-looms-large-in-us" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">made to</a> Congress in February that “racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists” are now the “primary source of ideologically motivated lethal incidents” in the U.S.  <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The Truth About Guns </h2>On October 22, the Facebook page of pro-gun blog The Truth About Guns <a href="https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/72-of-americans-expect-political-violence-take-steps-to-protect-yourself-from-rioters-now/?utm_campaign=ttagfeed&utm_medium=buffer&utm_source=facebook&utm_term=ttagfeed&fbclid=IwAR3Ld44i8jOsJ9xGjWTkgFxFkMrLUTX9a1b1V1vIQ3F8GOhsmAhs1tZJb64" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shared its own article</a> alleging that the majority of Americans are expecting post-election violence and suggesting steps people can take to protect themselves. Written by John Boch, the article <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-biden-polls-2020-debate-violence-election-b1160520.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">cites</a> a poll from The Independent and JL Partners which found that 73% of Biden supporters and 77% of Trump supporters are worried about election violence.Boch wrote that he’s not surprised by these numbers given the nationwide “political violence” following the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">police killing</a> of George Floyd, and he said part of the answer is to know “Antifa” is deploying “guerilla warfare tactics” and using smoke bombs to create a “fog of war.” Boch told his readers that “Antifa mobs can do pretty much anything they want to you and you can’t stop them,” and that if you get taken down in a fight, “They will kick you in the head with their steel toe boots until you’re unconscious or dead.” The Truth About Guns <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thetruthaboutguns/posts/3458643870869682" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shared</a> this article on Facebook with the comment “Almost three-quarters of Americans expect violence during or after the election. Are you ready?” Many the commenters on the post either agreed antifa is a problem or stated that they’re prepared for violence.   <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Guns Save Lives</h2>On October 23, the Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rm41123456789/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">page</a> Guns Save Lives shared an American Military News <a href="https://americanmilitarynews.com/2020/10/nh-trump-supporters-get-letters-targeting-them-for-civil-war-attacks/?utm_campaign=alt&utm_source=amn3new&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1Da9103p6W_NGcO805DFTY7_nPJPzIBDEABln4PxmtNjyA7zzIbrJqti4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">article</a> about four “Trump-supporting households” in Milford and Brookline, New Hampshire, that supposedly received anonymous letters threatening to attack their homes if Trump loses reelection but refuses to concede. The reported text of the letter is the same as that of an <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-schlapp/matt-schlapp-spread-dubious-unverified-claim-about-threats-made-toward-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">unverified viral image</a>.In sharing the article, Guns Save Lives <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rm41123456789/posts/3577079729011164" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">questioned</a> whether all “Trump supporters need to worry about being attacked.” The post received 507 reactions and 308 comments, many of which threatened that Trump supporters own guns and are ready to respond to any violence.     <h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">2nd Amendment </h2>On October 21, the Facebook page 2nd Amendment — which is the Facebook page for the Salem Media-owned, pro-gun blog Bearing Arms — shared its <a href="https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2020/10/21/inevitable-post-election-violence/?fbclid=IwAR1tkDCjvGcwmh4Prt2REZeNKhPvudbq7ii1G0ge8tbhmJfqbjOcD3hQeH8" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">own article claiming</a> that Americans are bracing “for inevitable post-election violence.” Relying on no specific evidence or reporting, but rather a poll of Americans’ concerns, author Tom Knighton wrote that there is “ample reason to believe” that the aftermath of the election “won’t be particularly” peaceful. The Bearing Arms article is based on a <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nation-braces-for-election-violence-e2-80-98guns-batons-molotov-cocktails-e2-80-99/ar-BB1addDY" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">poll</a> conducted by ROKK Solutions, Engagious, and the Sports and Leisure Research Group which found that 61% of respondents said they were concerned about a second Civil War. Knighton took the poll results to mean that if Trump wins, there will be riots in protest and if former Vice President Joe Biden wins, his supporters “will be so smug and self-righteous that they’ll take things too far and then you end up with a riot.”Bearing Arms <a href="https://www.facebook.com/2ndAmendmentSupporters/posts/3376772479099606" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">shared</a> the article on its Facebook page with the comment “We’re less than two weeks out.” It received over 1,200 reactions and 682 comments, many of which agreed that the left will burn down cities and noted that Trump supporters are “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3908541" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">locked</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3908546" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">and</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3908551" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">loaded</a>.”    </div><div>
</div><div>=</div>=no lnx vid twt<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/10/12/far-right-twitter-trolls-wont-admit-wrong-killing-patriot-denver/">https://theintercept.com/2020/10/12/far-right-twitter-trolls-wont-admit-wrong-killing-patriot-denver/</a>Police in Denver arrested a journalist's bodyguard on Saturday, moments after he shot and killed a right-wing demonstrator who struck him. Photo: Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty ImagesFar-Right Twitter Trolls Won’t Admit They Were Wrong About Killing of a “Patriot” in DenverIt was a reporter’s bodyguard, not an anti-fascist activist, who shot and killed a right-wing demonstrator who had assaulted him.Robert MackeyOctober 12 2020, 5:27 a.m.HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED in Denver on Saturday: Lee Keltner, a right-wing demonstrator, was shot and killed after he assaulted Matthew Dolloff, a reporter’s bodyguard, who retaliated for a blow to the head and a squirt of pepper spray by firing a single gunshot from point-blank range.Those details, and more evidence about the deadly encounter, gradually emerged in the hours and days after the shooting, but initial reports and reaction to the killing were shrouded in misinformation, much of it introduced by political partisans who jumped to conclusions about the gunman’s motives before all the facts were known.The skirmish, which escalated to deadly violence in less than 10 seconds, unfolded in broad daylight, directly in front of witnesses outside the Denver Art Museum. One was a conservative demonstrator who caught the sound of the gunshot and the sight of the victim collapsing to the ground in distressing video. A second was a livestreamer who rushed to the scene with the police, capturing the gunman’s arrest. A third was a staff photographer for The Denver Post, whose startling, close-up images of the whole incident were online by the end of the day.[DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 10: A man punches another man after a rall in Denver, Colorado, on October 10, 2020. The man on the left side of the photo was supporting the "Patriot Rally". He engaged with the man on the right, hit him in the face and sprayed him with mace. The man at right, then shot and killed the protester at left. At the time two rallies, one right-wing and another left-wing, were taking place near one another. Denver Channel 9News has confirmed that the man who did the shooting was a private security guard contracted by them and is in custody after the shooting. It has been confirmed the guard was contracted through Pinkerton for the station. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)]
[On Saturday in Denver, Lee Keltner, a right-wing demonstrator, approached Matthew Dolloff, a bodyguard for a local news station, and struck him in the face. Moments later, Keltner squirted pepper spray at Dolloff, who responded with deadly gunfire. Photo: Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty ImagesThe moments before the shooting were also recorded on video by the journalist the guard was protecting, but that footage was not released until more than 72 hours had passed.But far-right Twitter personalities, who thrive by providing their followers with fresh reasons to be outraged around the clock, do not wait all day to leap to conclusions about unfolding events. Within minutes of the shocking act of violence — which took place after a sparsely attended rally described as a “patriot muster” against “BLM, Antifa, and related Marxist associations” by the organizer, a former military contractor who survived the Benghazi attack — influential conservatives with hundreds of thousands of followers began to speculate that the gunman must have been an antifascist activist.Just over an hour later, those same trolls flooded social networks with misinformation, amplifying a mistaken report from the Denver Post that the gunman was “a left-wing demonstrator.” That report, which was corrected later in the day, was apparently based on the account of one of the witnesses: Helen Richardson, the newspaper photographer who watched the shooting unfold through her viewfinder and had no way of knowing, based on what she saw, that Dolloff, who was not wearing a uniform or any form of visible identification, was in the middle of this charged situation for a very unusual reason — as an armed bodyguard for the man standing behind him, a journalist for a local news station who was also not wearing anything that made his role clear.Before The Post corrected its report, popular far-right Twitter commentators with a combined audience in the millions shared it with their readers as if it was definitive proof that the killing of Keltner was both politically motivated and the work of an antifascist activist.The viral spread of those false claims apparently alarmed the Denver Police Department, which had taken Dolloff into custody along with the journalist he was guarding and quickly determined that they were not left-wing protesters. Less than four hours after the shooting, the department tried to stem the tide of misinformation by tweeting an update on its investigation, in which it reported that, “the suspect is a private security guard with no affiliation with Antifa.”The police also released the journalist Dolloff had been guarding, a reporter for Denver’s NBC affiliate, 9 News, who had been recording right-wing rallygoers and left-wing counter-protesters all afternoon.The local news channel confirmed that it had made the unusual and ethically questionable decision to hire an armed guard to accompany one of its staff members, a producer for its investigative unit, to film demonstrations by both the right-wing “patriots” and the left-wing counter-protesters who had gathered nearby. “Dolloff was contracted through Pinkerton by 9NEWS,” the station reported as part of its coverage of the fatal shooting. “It has been the practice of 9NEWS for a number of months to contract private security to accompany staff at protests.”Pinkerton, a private security company with a long, checkered history — including a period as, effectively, Andrew Carnegie’s personal militia used to break up strikes — said in a statement on Monday that Dolloff was not directly employed by the firm but was dispatched by a subcontractor.Even after the Denver police statement, several of the trolls, including Ian Miles Cheong, a Malaysian blogger with a big following among American conservatives, continued to pretend that anti-fascists were behind the shooting of Keltner. On Sunday, Cheong sarcastically invoked former Vice President Joe Biden’s description of antifa as an idea rather than a group in a caption for a video that showed the dead man at work making hats in 2012.On Sunday, a leader of the pro-Trump youth movement Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, also made the false claim. “A conservative was just gunned down in the streets by ANTIFA and not a single ‘mainstream’ news outlet has asked Joe Biden to condemn the organization he called ‘just an idea,'” Kirk tweeted to his 1.8 million followers. “We don’t have a media in this country anymore,” Kirk added. “We have activists posing as journalists.”Kirk’s comment on the difference between journalism and activism is unintentionally ironic, given that many prominent right-wing activists posing as journalists on Twitter refused to retract their false claims that Dolloff was an antifascist gunman even after The Denver Post had corrected and explained the error in its report.On Sunday afternoon, the police tried again to quash the rumors that continued to spread online. “Further investigation has revealed that, at the time of the shooting, the suspect was acting in a professional capacity as an armed security guard for a local media outlet, not a protest participant,” the Denver Police Department wrote on Twitter.Rather than correcting their own false reports, however, several of the most influential Twitter conservatives, joined by 4chan trolls, began scouring the web for evidence that Dolloff was somehow secretly an antifa assassin.Failing to find any such thing, they then moved the goalposts quite some distance, by treating scraps of evidence, gleaned from Twitter and Facebook accounts that appeared to be Dolloff’s, of his past support for Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Occupy Denver movement, and then acting as if that somehow proved that the killing was politically motivated.Complicating evidence about Dolloff’s views available on those social-media accounts, like words of praise for the conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer, were ignored in the effort to make the case that he was a left-wing radical.Like President Donald Trump, many of his online supporters have sought to delegitimize protests for racial justice and against fascism by amplifying acts of violence by anyone on the left and pretending that there is no difference between fringe extremists and the mainstream of the movements against police brutality and white supremacy. The frenzied search for evidence of Dolloff’s politics was part of that effort.Lauren Boebert, a far-right Republican candidate for Congress who has embraced the deranged QAnon conspiracy theory popular in parts of Colorado, also ignored the police statement that Dolloff was a security guard, not a protester, when she tweeted on Sunday that the fatal shooting in Denver was an example of “the violence perpetrated in the streets by ANTIFA, BLM & other radical leftist groups.”In fact, the visual evidence of what happened on Saturday in Denver appears to show something different and more complex than an attack by a man with left-wing politics on a man with the opposite views. The images seem to show that Keltner, who was wearing a T-shirt with a slogan that mocked the Black Lives Matter movement, initiated the skirmish with Dolloff, who responded by wildly escalating the violence, replying to a slap in the head by taking out his gun and firing a single, deadly shot.As the speculation over the gunman’s unknown motives spiraled out of control online, The Denver Post released all 71 of the photographs Helen Richardson shot before, during and after the killing, along with metadata from her camera that provides the exact second each frame was created.Taken together, Richardson’s photographs and video recorded during the incident by another witness show that Keltner first got into a heated confrontation with a counter-demonstrator in a “Black Guns Matter” shirt as he left the “patriot muster” in nearby Civic Center Park. That man was seen aggressively harassing several of the right-wing demonstrators near the exit to the rally.After another conservative stepped in to separate the two men, Keltner, a 49-year-old Navy veteran who made cowboy hats, appeared to take exception to two other men who were observing the argument at close range: the reporter for Denver’s NBC affiliate, 9 News, and Dolloff, his bodyguard.One of Richardson’s images shows Keltner moving away from the initial argument and pointing in the direction of Dolloff and the journalist he was guarding. In another frame, captured six seconds later, Keltner and Dolloff appear together for the first time, as the guard appears to use his hands to block the demonstrator from approaching the journalist.[DENVER, COLORADO - OCTOBER 10: Two men clash after dueling rallies in Downtown Denver on October 10, 2020 in Denver, Colorado.  The confrontation led to the man on the right fatally shooting the man on the left of the photo. The shooting happened as opposing rallies by far-right and far-left activists were ending. The shooter has been identified as Matthew Dolloff. He is being held for investigation of First Degree Murder in connection with this shooting. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)The first image of Lee Keltner, a right-wing demonstrator with an American flag mask, encountering Matthew Dolloff, the bodyguard who killed him on Saturday in Denver, appears to show the guard holding him back from approaching the journalist he was hired to protect, in the blue shirt. Photo: Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images]One second later, according to the metadata, after Keltner had hit Dolloff, the guard reached for the gun in his waistband. He then raised it and fired at Keltner, who raised his arm and released a burst of pepper spray in the same second.What led Keltner to strike Dolloff in the head, hard enough to knock off his cap and sunglasses, remains unknown, but Richardson, the photojournalist, wrote on Instagram early Sunday morning that Dolloff escalated the encounter to shocking, deadly violence incredibly quickly. Richardson wrote: “the two exchanged heated words, the patriot hit the man in the face, then backed up to spray what looked like pepper spray at him. Literally in that split second the man who had gotten hit by the patriot pulled out a gun from his waistband and shot the patriot.”“It isn’t clear who fired first,” Richardson added.In the final seconds of video that showed the initial argument that preceded the shooting, recorded by a conservative who had just left the rally, the sound of the spray being released can be heard just before the gunshot rings out, and Keltner is seen collapsing to the pavement.It was not until Tuesday evening that the video recorded by the News 9 journalist who was the closest witness to the incident was finally posted online by the station. That video, which starts with Keltner arguing with the man in the “Black Guns Matter” shirt, shows that he suddenly noticed that the confrontation was being filmed by the journalist on his phone. The video then shows that Keltner ordered the reporter to put his camera away, and when he did not comply, moved toward him. “Get the cameras out of here or I’m going to fuck you up,” Keltner can be heard saying.Apparently responding to being blocked by Dolloff, Keltner then said, “Don’t fucking touch me, motherfucker,” and struck the bodyguard.The 9 News video stops just before the shot is fired, but resumes during the arrest as the journalist tells the police that he has a press badge and Dolloff was protecting him.Elijah Schaffer, a freelance producer for Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV who has distorted acts of violence at left-wing protests in the past, also ignored the Denver police statement to portray the entire incident as a politically motivated killing.Just after the police statement was released, Schaffer drew attention to an excerpt from a video livestream from the scene which showed that, in the immediate aftermath of the killing, the man in the “Black Guns Matter” shirt, whose provocative behavior had initiated the conflict with Keltner, was loudly celebrating his death. Schaffer tried to fit the man’s appalling reaction into a simple political frame by falsely describing him as “an Antifa protester.”Video shot by another reporter for 9 News, Marc Sallinger, appeared to show that man, who had provoked the initial argument with Keltner but was not involved in the shooting, being arrested by the police a short time later.When it was reported on Sunday that Dolloff might have been operating as a security contractor without a license, conservative trolls moved on from accusing him of being an antifa hit man to attacking the news station. Some of the trolls accused the NBC affiliate of being part of a left-wing plot; other blamed the station for irresponsibly hiring an armed guard who was not properly screened.While Dolloff was contracted by the station from Pinkerton, the news organization’s decision to dispatch an armed man to accompany its reporters as they cover protests raises serious ethical questions that have yet to be answered.Dolloff, who is being held without bond on suspicion of murder, made a virtual court appearance on Sunday, during which he reportedly strained to hear the judge.A statement from the management of 9 News on Monday blamed Pinkerton for not ensuring that Dolloff was properly licensed. The firm said that the situation was under review and it is cooperating with the law enforcement investigation.A lawyer for Dolloff’s family argued in an interview with The Denver Post on Monday that the security guard had acted in self-defense, claiming his client feared for his safety when he saw Keltner raise what turned out to be not a gun but a can of pepper spray. “I think it’s important to recognize that this is somebody who is at the protest working to protect First Amendment rights,” the lawyer, Doug Richards told the newspaper. “He was not there on behalf of any organization or to advance any political agenda,” he added.Richards maintained that Dolloff was properly trained and had even worked, the night before the shooting, as an armed guard during a televised debate between Colorado’s Republican and Democratic U.S. Senate candidates, Sen. Cory Gardner and John Hickenlooper, at the studio of another local broadcaster, the ABC affiliate Denver 7.That news channel confirmed that it also contracted with Pinkerton to provide security, but disputed that Dolloff had been armed, saying that it had asked that the guards for the debate be unarmed.Prosecutors had not yet charged Dolloff for the fatal shooting as of Tuesday morning. In an affidavit made public on Tuesday, the police revealed that Dolloff was arrested on a charge of first degree murder and that the incident was also captured on the network of security cameras operated by the police force as part of its High Activity Location Observation program, also known as HALO. That video has not yet been made public.The police account of the killing also states that Keltner struck Dolloff, who then took out a semiautomatic handgun and fired the fatal shot, as the victim sprayed the gunman with pepper spray. Keltner was pronounced dead at Denver Health Medical Center at 4:05 p.m. less than 30 minutes after the altercation began.<div></div><div>bizarro: trump empathetic and transparent</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/laura-ingraham-says-militia-planned-kidnap-gov-gretchen-whitmer-look-theyre-anarchists-and">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/laura-ingraham-says-militia-planned-kidnap-gov-gretchen-whitmer-look-theyre-anarchists-and</a></div><div>=</div>===<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/10/03/trump-immigration-antifa-fascism/">https://theintercept.com/2020/10/03/trump-immigration-antifa-fascism/</a>ryan dliSTENING TO Donald Trump describe the U.S. in 2016 was to hear a story of a nation in peril of losing its identity to waves of brown-skinned invaders. Immigration and the border, particularly the urgent need to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, dominated Trump’s campaign rhetoric. Once in office, the president’s top immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, rammed through one punishing initiative after another, banning travelers from Muslim-majority countries, separating immigrant children from their parents to deter others from making the journey north, forcing tens of thousands of asylum-seekers to wait out their cases in the border’s most dangerous cities, and plowing through protected lands to stand up towering new sections of border wall. Today, asylum at the border is effectively dead, and Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is using the coronavirus as a pretext to boot immigrants out of the country — including families, children, and babies — as swiftly as possible.so it may have come as a surprise to some that immigration hardly came up at all in the first presidential debate of 2020. This is at least partially due to the fact that the Trump administration’s framing of its priorities has evolved over the past several months, as waves of protests challenging the power and brutality of American policing have swept the country. Without question, the anti-immigrant machinery marches on. In July, the Migration Policy Institute catalogued <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/mpi-report-catalogs-immigration-executive-actions-trump-presidency" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">more than 400 executive actions</a> the administration has taken on immigration since Trump’s inauguration. Those policies continue to impact countless individuals and families across the country and around the world every day, and if the claims of a former top DHS official are true, Miller has an immigration campaign of “<a href="https://twitter.com/Haleaziz/status/1310983880187412480" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">shock and awe</a>” drawn up and ready to go should Trump remain in office. But with those efforts simultaneously in motion, the Trump administration has increasingly and prominently centered purported threats posed by leftists, anarchists, and anti-fascists in its bid to hold onto power. This widening of the threat aperture is straight out of the authoritarian playbook, said Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale University and author of “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/586030/how-fascism-works-by-jason-stanley/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them</a>.”<div data-reactid="228" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“You begin with something that separates citizens from noncitizens,” Stanley told The Intercept, explaining how fascistic power grabs often take place. “You have your colonial war, your war on terror, your imperialist war that focuses on distinguishing between citizens and noncitizens, and then you direct that force inwards against your political opponents.”</div><blockquote class="Pullquote Pullquote--right" data-reactid="229" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; margin: 2em -170px 2em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2em; box-shadow: none; line-height: 1.125; float: right; max-width: 75%;">The Trump administration has increasingly and prominently centered purported threats posed by leftists, anarchists, and anti-fascists in its bid to hold onto power.</blockquote><div data-reactid="232" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the case of Trump, the first three years of the administration featured talk of threats from MS-13 gang members, migrant caravans marching north through Mexico, Islamic State killers hidden among refugee populations and more — all were couched in terms of threats to the homeland, an “invasion” that posed a danger to national security and warranted decisive law enforcement and military responses. In some cases, such as the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/10/31/operation-faithful-patriot-border-troops-bad-intel/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">October 2018 migrant caravans</a> that led to military deployments to the border during the midterm elections, the supposedly increased severity of the threat coincided with important electoral moments. From the outset, the White House has argued that certain jurisdictions, so-called sanctuary cities typically run by members of the president’s opposing political party, provide cover for dangerous outsiders. In response, DHS has launched high-profile blitzes into these cities, at times deploying militarized <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/us/ICE-BORTAC-sanctuary-cities.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Border Patrol tactical units</a> to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations deep in urban settings and often producing media-ready photo and video packages to illustrate the president’s resolve.The administration’s framing of its adversaries entered a new phase with the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed, as the country witnessed a challenge to the legitimacy of policing unlike anything in recent memory. While the vast majority of those protests followed the traditional nonviolent civil rights model, the uprising began with a police precinct being set ablaze, and to this day, a considerable number of protesters remain unapologetic when it comes to the militancy of their demands and actions. Against the backdrop of this upheaval, the Trump administration has embraced what Stanley would describe as the second phase of a fascistic power grab: the turn inward.</div><div class="img-wrap align-bleed large-bleed width-auto" data-reactid="233" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; line-height: 1; position: relative; transition: opacity 300ms linear 200ms; opacity: 1; width: auto;"><div data-reactid="234" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[Anti-racist and anti-fascist protesters fight over a Confederate flag with members of far-right militias in a white pride organization rally near Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Ga., on Aug. 15, 2020.

Photo: Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images</div></div><div data-reactid="235" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The president has described the leaderless anti-fascist movement known as antifa as a terrorist organization and the conservative media ecosystem has fallen in line behind him. As The Intercept <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/07/15/george-floyd-protests-police-far-right-antifa/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=theintercept&utm_source=twitter" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> in July and as a senior DHS whistleblower <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/12/homeland-security-whistleblower-corruption/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">attested</a> to last month, the nation’s top Homeland Security officials have downplayed the lethal threat from right-wing extremists and white supremacists amid the unrest, while boosting the president’s talk of threats from the left. A number of the Democrat-led communities that were sanctuary cities at the beginning of the year have now been declared “<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/22/anarchist-jurisdictions-portland-new-york-seattle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">anarchist jurisdictions</a>,” and Border Patrol tactical teams, among other specialized federal units, have deployed to those cities with a revised mission.Stanley’s argument is not that the U.S. currently has a fascist government — at least not yet. Instead, he draws attention to the concerning features of Trumpism. “It’s a cult of the leader, all about Trump,” he said. “It’s a fascist social and political movement.” The identification of enemies is central to such movements, he argued, and quite often involves creating linkages between criminalized immigrant populations and the political left. “It’s the KKK ideology,” Stanley said, explaining the roots of Trump’s line of argumentation. “The Ku Klux Klan says Marxist Jews are trying to provoke a race war with Black Americans and they’re trying to bring immigrants and destroy the white race.” Variations on this argument have become known as the “<a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/03/18/new-zealand-mosque-shooter-manifesto/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">great replacement theory</a>,” and it has made its way into the manifestos and online rants of murderous racist terrorists from El Paso and Pittsburgh to Norway and New Zealand. “The idea is that leftists are bringing immigrants in to destroy the white race,” Stanley said. “Immigration is a communist plot to destroy the racial character of the nation so that the communists can take over.”</div><div data-reactid="239" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the United States, the DHS, the nation’s largest law enforcement agency by far, would present an attractive tool to any would-be authoritarian looking to stem this takeover. Customs and Border Protection alone, one of the department’s nearly two-dozen component agencies, has an aircraft fleet <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/border-patrol-the-green-monster-112220" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">roughly the size of the Brazilian air force</a>. DHS operates a nationwide network of law enforcement “fusion centers” designed to inform state and local partners about the threats officers might face in the field. As The Intercept <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/07/25/portland-federal-agents-antifa-border/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> in July, the DHS intelligence shop distributing much of that information — the same office that top DHS officials are accused of manipulating in Trump’s favor — has repeatedly disseminated reports describing opponents of the president’s border and immigration policies as domestic terrorists.“We have this massive quasi-military organization devoted to targeting noncitizens and vilifying them as terrorists,” Stanley said. “All you’ve got to do is move that over one little notch to focus on political opponents.”</div><div class="img-wrap align-bleed large-bleed width-auto" data-reactid="240" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; line-height: 1; position: relative; transition: opacity 300ms linear 200ms; opacity: 1; width: auto;"><div data-reactid="241" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[burning bldg, mob]Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution about “anarchist violence” in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 4, 2020.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</div></div><div data-reactid="242" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 kern="kern" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 1em 0px; font-kerning: normal;">Targeting the Left</h3>In the face of the recent protests, the politicization of DHS operations that defined Trump’s first three and a half years in office, primarily through immigration enforcement, has soared to new heights. Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, the two men leading the department — both <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/708830.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">illegally occupying their posts</a>, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office — have repeatedly leaned into Trump’s argument that antifa poses a profound danger to national security, despite evidence produced by their own office and other federal law enforcement agencies that groups on the far right present the most persistent and ongoing domestic terror threat in the country. Under their leadership, DHS immigration enforcement personnel, including Border Patrol and ICE agents, were deployed to Portland, Oregon, a site of ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, against the wishes of local elected leaders. 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</a></div><div class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-text" data-reactid="247" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h6 class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-eyebrow" data-reactid="248" kern="kern" padding-bottom="padding-bottom" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; font-kerning: normal;">Related</h6><h4 class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-title" data-reactid="249" kern="kern" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; font-kerning: normal;">Federal Agents at Protests Renew Calls to Dismantle Homeland Security</h4></div></div><div data-reactid="250" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The ascent of Wolf and Cuccinelli is part of a broader <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/02/how-stephen-miller-manipulates-donald-trump-to-further-his-immigration-obsession?irclickid=y4ZWPxVRvxyOTPhwUx0Mo38MUkiScN2l1y3E100&irgwc=1&source=affiliate_impactpmx_12f6tote_desktop_Viglink%20Primary&utm_source=impact-affiliate&utm_medium=27795&utm_campaign=impact&utm_content=Subscribe%20to%20The%20New%20Yorker%20Now%20and%20Get%2012%20issues%20for%20%246%20Plus%20a%20Free%20Tote&utm_brand=tny" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">hollowing out of leadership at DHS</a>, which has effectively left in place only those who are loyal to the lone survivor of Trump’s original 2016 brain trust: Stephen Miller.“The Democratic Party for a long time historically has been the party of secession — what you’re seeing today is the Democratic Party returning to its roots,” Miller <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/stephen-miller-says-trump-administration-wont-stand-for-lawless-assault-urged-on-by-portlands-mayor" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">told</a> Fox News talk-show host Tucker Carlson in July, when asked about the protests in Portland. “The mayors of these cities that have engaged in these kinds of lawless rebellions against federal law, against immigration enforcement, have engaged in unprecedented activity, and this administration, for the first time in history, has taken action to restore immigration enforcement after five decades of bipartisan betrayal of the American worker.” He added: “This is about the survival of this country and we will not back down.”Though best known for his war on immigrants, Miller’s political awakening is in fact rooted in bone-deep anti-leftism. “One of Stephen Miller’s main strengths and his original philosophy was about attacking the left,” Jean Guerrero, an investigative journalist and author of “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/hatemonger-jean-guerrero?variant=32129863974946" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda</a>,” told The Intercept. “The focus on the left is the logical conclusion of Miller’s ideology.”</div><div data-reactid="254" style="box-sizing: border-box;">In her account of Miller’s upbringing in southern California, Guerrero <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/01/stephen-miller-david-horowitz-mentor-389933" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">details</a> how a teenage Miller came up under David Horowitz, a man who renounced his ties to groups like the Black Panthers in the 1960s and 1970s and devoted the rest of his life to a war on the political left. In college, Guerrero explains, Miller’s anti-leftism became bound up in great replacement theorizing, which in turn laid the foundation for his views on immigration and border security. “It boils down to the idea that the United States faces an existential threat in the form of the Democratic Party partnering with Muslims and other people of color,” Guerrero said. “He saw the immigration system as a way of realizing this white nationalist agenda.” In 2015, as an aide to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/11/12/miller-pushed-racist-camp-saints-beloved-far-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Miller encouraged</a> reporters at Breitbart’s right-wing news site to write about “<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2001/racist-book-camp-saints-gains-popularity" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">The Camp of the Saints,”</a> a racist French novel rooted in great replacement theory.In addition to describing immigrants in grotesquely dehumanizing terms, the book argues that the downfall of Western civilization can be traced to the political left, particularly the “anti-racists,” “agitators” and “anarchists,” who stand in solidarity with refugees. For Guerrero, it is these passages that sound increasingly relevant today. “A lot of people talk about how it demonizes people of color, which it does,” she said. “But one of the most striking things to me is the echoes in the rhetoric about anti-racists in the book and what we now see in Trump’s reelection rhetoric, describing anti-racist protesters as agitators and anarchists and trying to paint the entire left as a mob that wants to destroy this country, which is essentially the white genocide theory.”</div><div class="PhotoGrid PhotoGrid--2-column PhotoGrid--xtra-large" data-reactid="255" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2.25em -350px; width: 1380px;"><div class="PhotoGrid-rows" data-reactid="256" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px -10px;"><div class="PhotoGrid-row PhotoGrid-row--2-of-2" data-reactid="257" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 1400px; margin-bottom: 0px;">
<div class="PhotoGrid-cell PhotoGrid-cell--2" data-reactid="260" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px; width: 700px;"><img class="PhotoGrid-photo" alt="" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-uploads/sites/1/2020/10/GettyImages-1228752165-1000x667.jpg" data-reactid="261" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: block; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px;" /></div></div></div>The Proud Boys, a far-right pro-Trump group, gather with their allies in a rally called “End Domestic Terrorism Against Antifa” in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 26, 2020. Photo: John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.</div><div data-reactid="265" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 kern="kern" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 1em 0px; font-kerning: normal;">Stand Back and Stand By</h3>Among the most troubling of the president’s actions is his courting of armed, right-wing paramilitary groups and his confidence that the nation’s security forces are not apolitical institutions, but rather eager and engaged supporters of his “law and order” agenda.“Stand back and stand by,” Trump told the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist street-fighting gang, during Tuesday night’s debate. The comment was widely seen as an order from the commander-in-chief to an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as a hate group, including among the group’s own <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/30/neo-fascist-proud-boys-exult-trump-telling-stand-not-stand/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">leaders and members</a>. Trump also weighed in on the killing of Michael Reinoehl, a self-described anti-fascist, by law enforcement in Oregon last month. In an interview published by Vice News shortly before his death, Reinoehl said he shot and killed Aaron J. Danielson, a supporter of far-right group Patriot Prayer, days earlier in an effort to defend a friend. An eyewitness has claimed that Reinoehl was gunned down without warning. Referencing the killing in Tuesday night’s debate, Trump said law enforcement “took care of business.” He previously called the killing an act of “retribution.”</div><div class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo" data-reactid="266" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-top: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 20px 0px 10px; margin: 7px 40px 20px 0px; float: left; width: 400px;"><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><div class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-thumbnail" data-reactid="268" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; 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display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;">
</a></div><div class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-text" data-reactid="270" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h6 class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-eyebrow" data-reactid="271" kern="kern" padding-bottom="padding-bottom" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; font-kerning: normal;">Related</h6><h4 class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-title" data-reactid="272" kern="kern" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; font-kerning: normal;">Proud Boys Rally Fizzled but Portland’s Cops Went on the Attack</h4></div></div><div data-reactid="273" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Trump has similarly defended Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old fan of the president and the police accused of murdering two Black Lives Matter protesters and wounding a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Echoing the president’s line, documents obtained by NBC News this week <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/internal-document-shows-trump-officials-were-told-make-comments-sympathetic-n1241581?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">revealed</a> that DHS personnel were directed to make sympathetic comments about the accused shooter and told that the media was falsely painting Patriot Prayer as a racist organization. Both Danielson and Rittenhouse have achieved martyr status on the far right. Their names were invoked again and again at a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/28/portland-proud-boys-rally-journalists/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Proud Boys rally in Portland</a> last weekend. Though small in numbers, the rally was drenched in the rhetoric of civil conflict and allegiance to the president and the nation’s security forces. “<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/06/police-brutality-protests-blue-lives-matter/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Thin Blue Line</a>” flags were ubiquitous at the event, as were the letters “RWDS,” short for the words “right-wing death squads.”The <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/08/28/kyle-rittenhouse-violent-pro-trump-militias-police/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">blurring of lines</a> between his support in right-wing paramilitary groups and law enforcement agencies has been a consistent feature of Trump’s presidency. In July, Vice President Mike Pence’s visit with Philadelphia’s police union also <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/proud-boys-philly-police-fop-mike-pence-mcnesby-trump-alt-right-20200710.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">featured</a> members of the local Proud Boys chapter. Meanwhile, violent “Back the Blue” protests in Arizona have featured participants <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/gilbert-breaking/2020/08/26/gilbert-pro-police-rallies-escalate-clashes-counterprotesters/5624676002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">fantasizing about the murder of their leftist political opponents</a>. In an exchange Tuesday night, Trump pressed Biden to name one law enforcement agency that’s come out in support of his campaign. Biden did not. Trump, meanwhile, has enjoyed extensive support from law enforcement unions across the country, from those representing Border Patrol agents and ICE deportation officers, to the Fraternal Order of Police.“He’s been wooing the security forces his entire term,” Stanley said. As Tuesday night’s debate wrapped up, Trump explicitly encouraged his supporters to head to election polls and be on the lookout for suspicious activity in what he predicted would be “a fraud like you’ve never seen.” Courting paramilitary groups and loyal security services, calling the integrity of the election into question, and urging his supporters to take it upon themselves to respond are “classic fascist tactics,” Stanley argued.“He’s been using fascist tactics, unquestionably, and he’s already transformed many of these things into policy, particularly around immigration,” he said. “Now he’s turning to his political opponents, so now we’re really facing the concern about transformation into a fascist regime.”</div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-september-30-2020/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-september-30-2020/</a></div><div>
</div><div>CCJ DCR narco guy // djt, emials says 2nd civ war already started, get guns</div><div>
</div><div>this email for patriot only your donor t</div><div>profile says exclus trump army, ID w/ pres 1st line of defense when comes to fighting off the liberal mob camo hat</div><div>
</div><div>snopes <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-army-fundraising-email/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"> https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-army-fundraising-email/</a></div><div>
</div><div>In June 2020, an image supposedly showing a fundraising email for U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign in which people were urged to join the “Trump Army” in order to fight the “liberal MOB” started to circulate on social media:</div><div>pix scary]</div><div>
</div><div>This is a genuine fundraising email for the Trump campaign. The above-displayed image was originally <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1268570177484001287" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">shared on Twitter</a> by Aaron Blake, a senior political reporter with The Washington Post. Blake forwarded a copy of this email to us so that we could verify that this message was truly sent by an email address (contact@action.gop.com) connected to <a href="https://themarkup.org/google-the-giant/2020/02/26/show-your-work-wheres-my-email" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Trump’s re-election bid</a>. The email featured a link to a WinRed URL, a <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/winred-the-republican-partys-big-new-online-donor-portal-is-off-to-a-bumpy-start" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">fundraising platform</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/17/gop-online-donor-platform-launches-191735" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">endorsed</a> by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, which contained a similar <a href="http://archive.vn/4xsin" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">message </a>informing people that they could receive a “Camo Keep America Great” hat by joining the Trump Army. The WinRed site stated that all donations will benefit the “Trump Make America Great Again Committee,” one of the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/minneapolis-burns-trump-fans-flames-n1217731" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">campaign’s fundraising committees</a>:...pix]twt... Southern Poverty Law Center released a <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-action-fund-trump-campaign-email-incites-division-and-violence" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">statement</a> calling this fundraising email “appalling”:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.75rem -2.75rem 0px; position: relative; border-width: 0px; padding: 2.75rem; background: rgba(251, 212, 64, 0.2);">“It’s appalling to see President Trump’s reelection campaign trying to exploit our nation’s crisis during these trying times and incite division. The campaign is not only taking advantage of people’s current fears and insecurities, but, by using language that pins Americans against each other, they are inciting violence against the same people Trump swore to serve.”</blockquote>While many people encountered the “Trump Army” for the first time due to Blake’s tweet on June 4, 2020, this is not the first time that this language has accompanied a fundraising email for the Trump campaign. The Twitter account @TrumpEmail, a social media account that archives Trump fundraising emails, shared a similar message that was sent out circa May 5, 2020.That message <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpEmail/status/1257708680457457664" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">read</a>, in part:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.75rem -2.75rem 0px; position: relative; border-width: 0px; padding: 2.75rem; background: rgba(251, 212, 64, 0.2);">“The Trump Army is made up of the President’s fiercest defenders who are willing to go to battle with the Left-wing MOB whenever they come after us. Just take a look at everything they’ve fought for so far:”</blockquote>After Blake’s tweet went viral, @TrumpEmail <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpEmail/status/1268664222575181826" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">reported</a> that they had received at least four emails containing the words “Trump Army” since March 2020:...On March 2, 2020, the Trump Campaign put out a press release announcing the launch of <a href="https://www.armyfortrump.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 600; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; box-shadow: rgb(251, 212, 64) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Army for Trump</a>, “a website dedicated to recruiting and mobilizing Americans across the country who are committed to fighting to re-elect President Trump.” While the Army for Trump website does use some military terms (they ask supporters to “enlist” for campaign updates, instead of “join” or “register”), the website’s main objective is to “provide a one-stop online destination to get involved with President Trump’s re-election campaign, allowing people to become a volunteer or activist in communities throughout the country.”</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>GUK</div><div>
</div><div>https://yyy.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/23/oregon-portland-pro-trump-protests-violence-texts</div><div>
</div><div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div>Revealed: pro-Trump activists plotted violence ahead of Portland rallies</div><div>Patriots Coalition members suggested political assassinations and said ‘laws will be broken, people will get hurt’, leaked chats show</div><div>
</div><div>[pix Far-right organizers clashed with counter-protesters at the Justice Center in Portland, Oregon, 22 August.</div><div>
</div><div>Jason Wilson and Robert Evans</div><div>@jason_a_w</div><div>
</div><div>Wed 23 Sep 2020 </div><div>
</div><div>Leaked chat logs show Portland-area pro-Trump activists planning and training for violence, sourcing arms and ammunition and even suggesting political assassinations ahead of a series of contentious rallies in the Oregon city, including one scheduled for this weekend.</div><div>
</div><div>The chats on the GroupMe app, shared with the Guardian by the antifascist group Eugene Antifa, show conversations between Oregon members of the Patriots Coalition growing more extreme as they discuss armed confrontations with leftwing Portland activists, and consume a steady diet of online disinformation about protests and wildfires.</div><div>
</div><div>[Facebook removes Patriot Prayer pages in bid to halt 'violent social militias'</div><div>Read more]</div><div>
</div><div>At times, rightwing activists discuss acts of violence at recent, contentious protests, which in some cases they were recorded carrying out. At one point, David Willis, a felon currently being sued for his alleged role in an earlier episode of political violence, joins a discussion about the use of paintballs.</div><div>
</div><div>Where other members had previously suggested freezing the paintballs for maximum damage, Willis wrote: “They make glass breaker balls that are rubber coated metal. They also have pepper balls but they are about 3 dollars a ball. Don’t freeze paintballs it makes them wildly inaccurate” [sic.]</div><div>
</div><div>Willis did not immediately respond to voice and text messages sent to his listed cellphone number.</div><div>
</div><div>Another prolific poster is Mark Melchi, a 41-year-old Dallas, Oregon-based car restorer who claims to have served as a captain in the US army.</div><div>
</div><div>Melchi has been recorded leading an armed pro-Trump militia, “1776 2.0” into downtown confrontations in Portland, including on 22 August. At several points in the chat he proposes violence in advance of those confrontations, and appears to confess to prior acts committed in the company of his paramilitary group.</div><div>
</div><div>[Rightwing demonstrators chase a Black Lives Matter protester after a pro-Trump caravan rally at the Oregon state capitol on 7 September 2020 in Salem.]</div><div>
</div><div>In advance of the 22 August protest, Melchi wrote: “It’s going to be bloody and most likely shooting, they’re definitely armed… so let’s make sure we have an organized direction of movement and direction of clearing or other Patriots will be caught in the possible cross fire. When shit hits the fan.”</div><div>
</div><div>He advised other members to ignore weapons statutes, writing, “I saw someone say bats, mace, and stun guns are illegal downtown. If you’re going to play by the books tomorrow night, we already lost. We are here to make a change, laws will be broken, people will get hurt… It’s lawlessness downtown, and people need to be prepared for bad things.”</div><div>
</div><div>Following these comments, several rightwing demonstrators were recorded using gas and bats on 22 August, where Melchi and his militia were also present.</div><div>
</div><div>In other remarks ahead of the day, Melchi draws on what he claims is his group’s history of traveling to multiple states to engage in violence at protests.</div><div>
</div><div>“My Group 1776 2.0. Has been fighting Antifa in Seattle, Portland, for months”, Melchi writes, adding “this won’t be a simple fist fight. People will get shot, stabbed and beat.”</div><div>
</div><div>He also claims police cooperation in interstate violence, writing “Yes, going after them at night is the solution… Like we do in other states, tactical ambushes at night while backing up the police are key. You get the leaders and the violent ones and the police are happy to shut their mouths and cameras.”</div><div>
</div><div>Melchi nevertheless recommends that members disguise themselves to avoid the consequences of homicide.</div><div>
</div><div>“We must be ready to defend with lethal response… Suggest wearing mask and nothing to identify you on Camera…to prevent any future prosecution.”</div><div>
</div><div>[We are here to make a change, laws will be broken, people will get hurt</div><div>Mark Melchi]</div><div>
</div><div>In response to detailed questions about these contributions, Melchi responded with an email that falsely suggested his comments might have been photoshopped, and concluded with direct threats.</div><div>
</div><div>Melchi wrote: “I suggest you don’t threaten combat veterans sweetheart, might get a little uncomfortable for ya big guy!”</div><div>
</div><div>Melchi’s sentiments in the chat logs were in keeping with fantasies of, and plans for, violence, which are constantly discussed by group members.</div><div>
</div><div>Although some members are connected with extremist groups or militias, on the whole they describe themselves as “patriots”, and they express no clear ideology beyond a hatred of the left, and a preparedness to use violence. The shared allegiances expressed in the group are mostly to the police, the United States and Donald Trump, a person whom some say they are prepared to kill for.</div><div>
</div><div>Ahead of 22 August, a user “Paige” says “I’m waiting for the presidential go to start open firing”.</div><div>
</div><div>Melchi, the militia leader, responds, “Well Saturday may be that go lol”.</div><div>
</div><div>Alex Newhouse, the digital research lead at the Center for Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute, said of the group that “the main mechanism that makes these communities so dangerous is the incessant desensitization to the idea of political violence”.</div><div>
</div><div>Newhouse said that the ideas expressed in the group were entrenched in “extreme nationalism – that a few strong men with guns can together take out an evil that is at once imagined as an existential threat, and pathetically weak”. Newhouse added that the group’s discussions “fit within a broader trend of rightwing extremists becoming more accelerationist over time”.</div><div>
</div><div>[Rightwing and leftwing protesters battle with mace, paint balls and rocks near Justice Center in downtown Portland Saturday, 22 August 2020.]</div><div>
</div><div>The chatlogs became fractious at the peak of Oregon’s recent wildfire emergency. While some members said they had gone to rural areas to “hunt” imagined antifa arsonists, others became concerned about the dangers.</div><div>
</div><div>As early as 9 September, the baseless idea that the fires were a coordinated arson attack was treated as settled fact, with Melchi writing: “People have officially died from these Antifa Fires. I’d shoot them on site” [sic], and another user, Dub, responding: “Yes sir if I see them they are getting dropped where they stand.”</div><div>
</div><div>When adverse consequences of vigilantism became evident, leadership attempted to bring the group back under control. After a member of the group reported that an associate had been arrested in Lane county for “holding [someone] at gunpoint”, the group’s administrator, who used the user name Patriot Coalition, wrote “STOP HOLDING PEOPLE AT GUN POINT- STOP PULLING YOUR WEAPONS… VIDEO- TAKE PICTURES AND CALL 911.”</div><div>
</div><div>Mary McCord is the legal director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law School, which on Wednesday released a series of fact sheets on anti-paramilitary laws in all 50 states.</div><div>
</div><div>Given details of the content of the chats, McCord said that “this is the kind of thing that might allow authorities to take action”, and that members of the group may “already be in violation of Oregon’s anti-paramilitary laws”.</div><div>
</div><div>The group also talked about coordinating at the rally with the Proud Boys, an extreme rightwing group. One user, identified as Bravo91 and a part of the group’s leadership, spoke of phone calls with the Proud Boys.</div><div>
</div><div>Along with antifascist demonstrators, Democratic politicians are also the target of violent fantasies in the chats. In particular, Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, is demonized and nominated as a possible target for assassination by the group.</div><div>
</div><div>On 24 August, a user identified as “Trent-Medford” writes, “Fuck wheeler… guess what soon as we are done with these punks. He’s next freakin coward !!!!!!”</div><div>
</div><div>User T Durden went further. In response to news that an alleged arsonist had been released on bail, and without encountering disagreement, they wrote: “Maybe we need to start taking care of the justice ourselves!”, adding, “Start with justice on our DA and then move on to the governor. Maybe by the time we get to the first judge, they will have changed their tunes.”</div></div><div>=</div>=
<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-antifa-and-black-lives-matter-thugs-are-going-be-clubbing-people-suburbs">https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-antifa-and-black-lives-matter-thugs-are-going-be-clubbing-people-suburbs</a>
Roger Stone: Antifa and Black Lives Matter “thugs” are going to be “clubbing” people in the suburbs to suppress voting09/18/20 4:25 PM EDT
roger Stone continues to lay the groundwork for Trump to declare martial law09/18/20 1:26 PM EDT
<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-continues-lay-groundwork-trump-declare-martial-law">https://www.mediamatters.org/roger-stone/roger-stone-continues-lay-groundwork-trump-declare-martial-law</a>---
<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/warning-left-wing-coup-trumpist-media-prep-their-audience-election-unrest">https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/warning-left-wing-coup-trumpist-media-prep-their-audience-election-unrest</a>
no lnx manyWarning of a left-wing coup, Trumpist media prep their audience for election unrestWRITTEN BY MATT GERTZPUBLISHED 09/18/20 10:25 AM EDTTrumpMolly Butler / Media MattersNearly 5 million people were watching on Tuesday night as a Fox News host who claims that white supremacy is a hoax and a former speechwriter for President Donald Trump who was fired for speaking at a white nationalist conference spun out a wild-eyed conspiracy theory portraying mail-in voting as a sinister Democratic cabal’s coup attempt. Tucker Carlson opened the segment by telling his viewers that Democrats were promoting mail-in voting not as a way to boost safe turnout during a pandemic, but because “they want the uncertainty over the outcome of the election, so they can manipulate the results.” His guest, Revolver News’ Darren Beattie, then explained that “a very specific type of coup called the color revolution” is “unfolding before our eyes.” A color revolution, Beattie explained, is “a regime change model favored by many in our national security apparatus, particularly against Eastern European countries to overthrow target regimes that they don't like.” (They were actually peaceful protests that toppled despots in places previously dominated by the Soviet Union.) And now, he claimed, that model is being applied to the United States, with “color revolution professionals” deliberately generating election fraud in order “to use lawfare in order to overturn the 2020 election.”Right-wing media figures generally push a baseline level of apocalyptic rhetoric about the purported predations of progressives. But Trumpist media have reached a dangerous fever pitch over the last week or so, even by that standard. With polls showing Trump trailing former Vice President Joe Biden following the party conventions and the election only weeks away, commentators like Carlson are preparing their audiences to treat a Trump defeat as a left-wing coup -- and encouraging the president toward an authoritarian response.Their deranged statements are fed by -- and fuel -- the president’s own unhinged remarks. Trump has portrayed himself as “saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country.” He describes his political opposition as supporters of “angry mobs,” “far-left fascism,” and “left-wing cultural revolution” so dangerous that he has even endorsed extrajudicial executions. And all the while, he’s been openly claiming that he could not possibly lose a fairly held election, and that any defeat would be the result of a Democratic election fraud conspiracy.Carlson’s show is the most prominent vehicle fearmongering about a Democratic coup, but it is not the only one. A new special from The Blaze TV’s Glenn Beck is titled “CIVIL WAR: The Way America Could End in 2020,” and it details how “the Left is grooming us for an Eastern European-style color revolution this election.” His complex plot sprawls over three chalkboards and features mail-in voting as a vector for “something dangerous happening in November if we don’t act now.” (Beck praised Carlson during the program for the way he has been “putting the puzzle pieces together.”) The Trumpist publication The Federalist has offered up a similar “coup” theory. The right-wing “coup” talk is the natural result of their demagoguery and dehumanization of the political opposition. Months ago, Trumpist media figures began warning that civilization itself was on the ballot in the fall, with Trump standing as the only thing preventing the left from making America “unrecognizable.” That type of rhetoric has only escalated, producing ever-more-inflammatory claims about what Trump’s defeat might mean to the safety and security of his supporters.Over the last week or so alone:Carlson described Black Lives Matter as “poison” that “we have to fight” because “if we’re going to survive as a country, we must defeat this.”Wall Street Journal columnist Bill McGurn explained that he bought a gun in case “100 or 200 people bent on violence” show up in his suburb. Fox’s Laura Ingraham and the pro-Trump podcaster Joe Rogan baselessly attributed the massive western wildfires to left-wing arsonists, blasting false rumors circulating on social media to millions of viewers and listeners. Fox contributor Dan Bongino claimed that “we're watching the greatest nation in the history of sentient beings collapse in front of our face.”Fox host Sean Hannity said that U.S. cities have become “war zones” and that there is a “war on police now.”And Charlie Kirk, a frequent Fox guest and head of the Trumpist youth group Turning Point USA, warned on his podcast that if Trump loses, leftists seeking “bloodthirsty revenge” will “come for us all. They will come for your children.”Some are taking their hatred of the left to lawless, authoritarian conclusions. Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of the president, said during an appearance earlier this month on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars network that if Trump were to lose (illegitimately as a result of voter fraud, of course), he should try to retain power by having federal agents seize purportedly tainted ballots, using martial law or the Insurrection Act to carry out widespread arrests, and nationalizing state police forces.Fox’s Mark Levin, meanwhile, has also urged Trump to consider invoking the Insurrection Act -- but he argued that it would be needed if he wins. “He will have to use it to put down the enemy,” Levin explained on his radio show last week. “The enemy is antifa, the enemy is Black Lives Matter, and the enemy is anybody that is going to use rioting, arson, looting, violence against our country to try to overthrow our country,” he added. “Those are traitors. That's treasonous.”Extremist violent rhetoric is nothing new for right-wing media. Glenn Beck made it a staple of Fox News during President Barack Obama’s first term. Before the midterm elections, Fox warned its audience members that they needed to vote for Republicans to protect themselves from being killed by Democratic mobs. But this sort of demagoguery can come with a heavy price. Beck’s rhetoric inspired an attempted domestic terror attack against one of his regular targets that ended with a firefight with law enforcement. And in the days before the 2018 midterm elections, a Trump superfan sent bombs to leftist leaders whom Fox commentators had attacked.There’s still six weeks to go before the election. How will this spate of violent rhetoric end?
IN THIS ARTICLEVoter Fraud and SuppressionVoter SuppressionRelatedFox News fuels Trump’s dangerous Portland “law and order” strategy07/21/20 3:52 PM EDTDesperate Trumpists say civilization is on the ballot as Biden lead grows06/24/20 11:06 AM EDTHow Tucker Carlson became the Fox host Trump listens to the most07/08/20 ------</div><div>=
<div>920</div><div>
</div><div>real Americans do not live in (inner cities) but in burbs [or in rural small toen midwest america?]</div><div>
</div><div>...When I published my book two years ago, people accused me of hysteria, of exaggeration, and they listed reasons why we shouldn’t be afraid of fascism in America, despite its deep roots in this country. And the reasons they’ve given, I’m afraid, have fallen to the wayside. They’ve given reasons like, you know, the institutions remain independent, the Justice Department remains independent. They’ve given reasons like there are no right-wing militias tacitly endorsed by the administration. So, Arendt calls our attention to the fact that the Nazi government refused to condemn the violence of right-wing — right-wing, far-right violent people on the streets attacking Jews. They refused to condemn them. They didn’t endorse them; they just refused to condemn them. And Arendt said that was giving them permission.So, you know, we’ve seen four years of chaos here, and yet we’re being told that this is law and order. So, we’re seeing militias on the street endorsed by the president. We’re seeing the administration echo a conspiracy theory that looks, really, a great deal like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which is the early 20th century conspiracy that Judeo-Bolsheviks were behind liberalism and controlled the media, controlled the cultural institutions, where bankers were in cahoots with media and the art world to bring about world communism. We saw that at the RNC. Senator Tim Scott talked about Manhattan elites and Hollywood moguls supposedly trying to bring socialism to the United States. This mixture of a wealthy elite and communists is reminiscent of some of the worst conspiracy theories of the 20th century. So I’m very concerned here.We’re seeing — people said, “It’s not fascism, because they’re not attacking democracy.” Well, what are the attacks on the elections about, if not attacks on democracy? So, while I don’t think Trump himself has a vision, has some kind of grand vision, as the fascists of yore has, as Timothy Snyder has called it, this is “not-even fascism.” I think we’re seeing a structure emerge, with figures like Stephen Miller, with all the sort of white supremacist ideologues in this administration, that could bring about, definitely, a turn to authoritarianism. It’s definitely an attack on democracy that the RNC represented.AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to — back to the Republican convention, to President Trump formally accepting the nomination before a crowd of about 1,500 people crowded onto the South Lawn of the White House. During his acceptance speech, Trump made no reference to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or the killing of the two protesters that had just happened in Kenosha by a 17-year-old white Trump-supporting vigilante.<blockquote style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; border: none !important;">PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable. And it will. But when we can never have a situation where things are going on, as they are today, we must never allow mob rule. We can never allow mob rule. In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities all, like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York and many others. Democrat-run. There is violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America.</blockquote>AMY GOODMAN: So, Professor Stanley, as you have a white officer shooting at point-blank range seven times in the back Jacob Blake just days before, and then two Black Lives Matter activists shot dead in the streets of Kenosha by a Trump-supporting gunman, no mention of them, but talking about mob rule in the streets somewhere of cities that are run by Democrats.JASON STANLEY: OK. So, there’s two chapters in my book — my book is a 10-part characterization of fascist tactics. There’s two parts in my — two chapters in my book that are deeply relevant for what is happening now: obviously, chapter seven, “Law and Order,” and chapter nine, “Sodom and Gomorrah.”What is meant by “Sodom and Gomorrah”? Chapter two of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf is called “My Study and Struggles in Vienna,” and he talks about his time in Vienna, a city, the capital of Austria, filled with foreigners, dirty, diseased, all sorts of different languages, filled with immigrants, and then the hated minority group, which for him were Jews. So, what we see is a repetition of this tactic: an attack on cities. Hypocritical, of course — Trump is from Queens. But what Trump is doing is trying to represent cities as filled with foreigners, minorities and disease. Earlier, he described New York City as filled with — as disease-ridden. And I think yesterday or, I think, in the last 24 hours, he said he blamed the COVID deaths on New York City. So, the idea is an attack on — you know, cities are dens of iniquity and foreignness. Real Americans live in rural areas outside the cities. And the cities are where you have mobs out of control, immigrants. There’s sanctuary cities. This is a classic tactic of this kind of far-right fascist politics.And then law and order. What’s meant by “law and order” here? Not when — you know, Kyle Rittenhouse is not a violation of law and order. Kyle Rittenhouse, who murdered two people, who killed two people, is — he’s a radicalized 17-year-old. He’s not a violation of law and order, because white Trump supporters are law-abiding by their nature. The Trump rally we saw in Portland, shooting paintballs, aggressive against the counterprotesters, that was law-abiding. They were peaceful protesters, because on this notion of law and order, young Black men are, in and of themselves, violators of law and order. Leftist protesters against Trump can be doing nothing but rioting and looting.Now, any protest — almost any protest is going to have elements with bad apples that become violent. Look at the Hong Kong protests. The Hong Kong became much more violent than anything we’ve seen here. Nevertheless, the Republicans did not denounce the Hong Kong protests as riots. Do you know who denounced the Hong Kong protests as riots? The Chinese government. What we’re seeing here is our government behave like the Chinese government, representing largely peaceful protests, with some bad elements that grow violent and should be condemned, as riots. And that’s a counterinsurgency, authoritarian tactic.“Law and order” here does not mean law and order. Does this feel like law and order? Do the last four years feel like law and order? That very speech that we witnessed at the RNC was a violation of law and order, because it was given from White House grounds in violation of the Hatch Act, so, you know — and proudly so, because this administration revels in its violation of law and order, because, in fascism, “law and order” means whatever the leader says, and “law-abiding” means whoever the leader is, and “lawless” means the men of the minority group and leftists and radicals, supposed leftist radicals.AMY GOODMAN: President Trump has said New Jersey’s first African American U.S. senator, Cory Booker, will help Joe Biden destroy peaceful suburbs by bringing low-income housing and crime. This is Trump speaking to Fox News Monday night.<blockquote style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; border: none !important;">PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You have this beautiful community in the suburbs, including women, right? Women. They want security. I ended where they build low-income housing project right in the middle of your neighborhood. I ended it. If Biden gets in, he already said it’s going to go at a much higher rate than ever before. And you know who’s going to be in charge of it? Cory Booker. That’s going to be nice. OK?</blockquote>AMY GOODMAN: Cory Booker, the president says. Professor Stanley?JASON STANLEY: So, there’s no evidence at all that Cory Booker, a senator, an African American senator from New Jersey, is going to be running any such program. He throws his name in.He mentions women. Why does he mention women? Well, this harkens back to what Langston Hughes called “our native fascisms.” This harkens back to the worst moments in American history, the history of lynching. Ida B. Wells, in Southern Horrors, the great Ida B. Wells, the great anti-lynching activist and intellectual and journalist, said, “Look, racism and sexism go together.” They’re treating white women as victims who need to be protected from marauding Black men by a strong leader, by — you know, by white militias, the KKK.Trump is directly harkening back to that horrific time in American history, which is this sort of lynching in the late 19th, early 20th century to mid-20th century. This is something that Du Bois, in Black Reconstruction, calls fascism, so American fascism. This is the aspect of America that influences Hitler, that influences the Jim Crow laws, the racial subordination.Here, so I have a chapter in my book called “Sexual Anxiety.” You know, in Germany, the idea behind both Nazi Germany — Nazi German ideology and the Ku Klux Klan, often called the first fascist organization, was that Jews, Marxist Jews, were trying to promote a race war to get Black Americans to — to get Blacks and immigrants to overthrow the white Christianity. And the idea, you know, Hitler fomented this, as I document in my book. It’s also the case that you had this propaganda, that overlaps between here and QAnon, that we need to protect our women and children from these predators, pedophile rings.But this echoes the classic American, supposed and completely fictional Black male rapist fiction, fictional narrative, that underlay lynching. And the random evocation of Cory Booker is a case in point. Ida B. Wells is, sadly, more relevant than ever.AMY GOODMAN: During the Republican convention, speakers used apocalyptic language to describe the dangers of a Biden presidency. This is Charlie Kirk, the founder of the right-wing student group Turning Point.<blockquote style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; border: none !important;">CHARLIE KIRK: We may not have realized it at the time, but Trump is the bodyguard of Western civilization. Trump was elected to protect our families from the vengeful mob that seeks to destroy our way of life, our neighborhoods, schools, churches and values. President Trump was elected to defend the American way of life.</blockquote>AMY GOODMAN: Charlie Kirk, the founder of the right-wing student group Turning Point. Professor Stanley, respond to this and also people raising their eyebrows and saying, “Oh, come on, Nazi Germany, you’re comparing this to?”JASON STANLEY: That speech is highly evocative of a speech that Goebbels, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, gave in 1935 called “Communism with Its Mask Off.” In Goebbels’ speeches, including that speech, which I encourage people to look up, he regularly represents the threat as being a threat to Western civilization. He says the Nazi Party is going to protect social conservatives, Christians from the Armageddon of communism, which seeks to destroy civilization as such. Goebbels says the communists are in cahoots with the international underworld. So, that’s that link between communism and crime and supposed lawless crime.So you have the same idea here. There’s Trump, on the one hand, protecting Christianity, protecting Western civilization, and anyone opposed to Trump is a lawless mob in cahoots with communists seeking to destroy civilization itself. And this is the friend-enemy distinction that is so antithetical to democracy.<div>
</div><div>=</div><div>wa mon an 920</div><div>
</div><div>...According to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, the Justice Department is now <a title="investigating" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chad-wolf-doj-investigating-far-left-rioters" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">investigating</a> protesters on the theory that they are secretly funded by shadowy figures. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky <a title="asks" href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mob-attack-rand-paul" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">asks</a>, “Who are these people? Who paid for their hotel rooms? Who flew them in?”</div>Ever since 2017, when a voting integrity commission was <a title="launched" href="https://voting%20integrity%20commission%20launched/" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">launched</a> to “explain” how Trump had lost the popular vote, the government has been bent and twisted to accommodate the president’s insanity. What it won’t do is actually <a title="protect" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/trump-people-vote-twice.html" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">protect</a> the integrity of our elections:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;">House Democratic leaders on Wednesday criticized the Department of Homeland Security for withholding the release of a <a title="draft intelligence bulletin" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/china-working-trumps-reelection-russia-spreads-disinformation-biden/story?id=72241806" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">draft intelligence bulletin</a> warning law enforcement agencies of a <a title="Russian effort to spread disinformation" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dhs-withheld-july-intelligence-bulletin-calling-russian-attack/story?id=72747130" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Russian effort to spread disinformation</a> about Joe Biden’s mental health.The July notice from the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis, which warned of a <a title="Russia" href="https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/russia-nation" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Russia</a>n plan to promote “allegations about the poor mental health” of Biden, was never released to federal, state and local law enforcement, after a senior DHS official raised concerns about the bulletin over email, as ABC News first reported.</blockquote>Instead of acting on the warning of Russian interference in the 2020 election, the report was buried for “poor context.”<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;">In an appearance on Fox News, acting Homeland Security <a title="Secretary Chad Wolf" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-nominate-chad-wolf-permanent-head-dhs/story?id=72598234" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Secretary Chad Wolf</a> confirmed that the bulletin was withheld, calling it “a very poorly written report.”“I had questions about it when I talked to career officials … in the office that produced the report. They also had questions about it,” he said. “They’re hard at work on rewriting that report, putting it in better context. I hope to see that record out soon.”</blockquote>Republicans and their media allies have been promoting “allegations about the poor mental health” of Joe Biden, so it was a little embarrassing to realize that this was the Russians’ idea.Over 180,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. In fact, Trump is now <a title="hoping" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/09/herd-immunity-is-not-a-strategy/615967/" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">hoping</a> that more people get infected so that we can reach herd immunity. For this reason, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been instructed to <a title="change its guidelines" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/us/politics/coronavirus-testing-trump-cdc.html" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">change its guidelines</a> and not test asymptomatic people.This is the clearest example of how crackpot ideas get people killed. At the moment, Trump is in the process of killing the country, too. Any ten year old should be able to understand this.<div>=</div><div>ref</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/devin-nunes-may-be-trumps-person-who-witnessed-the-antifa-plane-firsthand">https://www.thedailybeast.com/devin-nunes-may-be-trumps-person-who-witnessed-the-antifa-plane-firsthand</a></div><div>
</div><div>Trump’s latest <a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-plane-of-uniformed-thugs-conspiracy-theory-is-eerily-similar-to-debunked-viral-facebook-post" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">outlandish conspiracy</a> about a “person” he refuses to name having “firsthand” witnessed a commercial flight full of “thugs” and “looters” clad in “black uniforms with gear” may seem ripped directly from an unhinged relative’s Facebook page. But before this bizarre theory was being pushed by the president, another GOP lawmaker was spouting a nearly identical story.Speaking to pro-Trump outlet Breitbart News <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/31/exclusive-devin-nunes-adam-schiff-using-intel-committee-investigation-rioters-target-trump/" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">over the weekend</a>, House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) brought up the protests outside the president’s RNC speech at the White House last week, which featured demonstrators heckling Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and other attendees as they exited onto the D.C. streets.["knew them by name"?]
"We’re lucky, the other night—I was there at the White House the other night,” Nunes fumed. “We are damn lucky that no one was killed. That was really, really close to somebody being killed.”The congressman then went on to relay a story that matches closely the tale the president spun to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday.“So, these people that descended on Washington, D.C., most of them were not local,” Nunes declared. “In fact, I flew in with a bunch of them where I got on a plane in Salt Lake City where I had to commute through and I saw maybe two dozen BLM people.”Nunes continued: “The irony is they were all white people, they weren’t even Black, but somebody was paying for those people to go there—they were coordinated, paying for that, and then what they did was they were not protesting. This is not protesting when you block the exits of the White House.”Neither Nunes’ office nor the White House returned a request for comment. But the congressman’s interview with Breitbart represents a type of missing puzzle piece to the mystery of just where Trump got the idea of an antifa plane packed with geared-up looters. In his <a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-says-people-in-the-dark-shadows-are-controlling-biden?ref=scroll" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">interview with Ingraham</a>, the president seemed to add his own details to the story he may have heard bubble up in Trumpworld, suggesting the activists wore matching uniforms and were ready for battle.=endit1=</div></div></div></div></div>