Blm2 BAK
ESYB 7 25 CAPT
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two BAK
6/20
see trump 11
SEE DEI AA (blame AA 737max door and SVB fails]
see fox (7)
SEE FOX HYPE FEAR CITY URBAN RIOT BURN
wm barr 3
covid 4
see violence vigilante
see antifa bogeyman rt conflated the 2
crisis (over laps w/ covid crisis, in fact in conflict w/ it); entirely fuelled and "organized" by soc med [leveraged by alt rt? they have plan/protocols in place? walkie talki comms?]
see kenosha kyle
bak 10 24 fail
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an 11 25
no lnx
Trump ally's claim about 'left-wing violence' just doesn't add up
Former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf testifies in the Senate. Picture: Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution.
Jordan GreenNovember 02, 2025 |
Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf’s appearance before a Senate hearing on political violence this week resurfaced inconvenient remarks for a witness called by Republicans intent on painting rising political violence as a left-wing problem.
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) read back Wolf’s Senate testimony from five years ago.
“White supremacist extremists, from a lethality standpoint over the last two years … are certainly the most persistent and lethal threat, when we talk about domestic violent extremists,” Wolf said at the time.
On Tuesday, before the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, chaired by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Wolff offered a strikingly different assessment.
“The increase in politically motivated violence over the last several years has been driven largely by radical, left-wing extremist groups and individuals that believe violence is a legitimate means to achieve political goals,” Wolf testified.
Wolf is now executive vice president of the America First Policy Institute. Founded in 2021 and closely aligned with Trump, former leaders include Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In a statement to Raw Story, Wolf did not disavow his 2020 assessment on white supremacist violence, but said: “America has experienced a historic rise in left-wing violence, especially following President Trump’s second election victory.”
At the time of Wolf’s September 2020 hearing, the U.S. had experienced a series of mass shootings by white supremacists, including Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people, mostly Latinos, at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in 2019, and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018.
Both killers echoed Donald Trump’s rhetoric depicting immigrants and refugees as an “invasion” or “invaders.”
U.S. counterterrorism officials also took note of the 2019 massacre carried out by Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Crusius cited Tarrant as an inspiration. So did Payton Gendron, who killed 10 African Americans at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. in 2022.
Tarrant’s attack catalyzed the emergence of the term “saints” among white supremacists to glorify terrorists. The U.S. Justice Department is currently prosecuting three Terrorgram leaders on terrorism-related charges.
“White supremacist violence is clearly not the primary threat facing our country today,” Wolf told Raw Story. “All you have to do is look at the data, which has changed significantly in the last five years.”
Wolf cited incidents often mentioned by the administration and allies to make the case that political violence now emanates from the left: the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, two attempts on Trump’s life, the attempted assassination of conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and attacks on centers that offer an alternative to abortion services.
He did not cite the murder of Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband by an abortion opponent; a recent death threat against Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) by a Jan. 6 rioter; or the bludgeoning of Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), by a QAnon follower.
Nor did Wolf mention some 1,500 individuals pardoned by President Trump over the Jan. 6 assault on Congress.
William Braniff, a former director of DHS’ Center for Prevention Programs under President Joe Biden testified alongside Wolf.
Braniff agreed that violent incidents are on the rise. But he told the subcommittee, “Violent events do not fit neatly into any one ideological category.”
Braniff noted that DHS contracted with the University of Maryland in 2005 to create a global terrorism database, by congressional mandate. In March, the Trump administration canceled funding.
Drawing on the database, Braniff said: “This year, compared to last year, terrorism events are up 67 percent. Fatalities are up nearly 150 percent. Americans are dying from ISIS-inspired, white supremacist, antisemitic, anti-government, anti-vax, anti-law enforcement and nihilistic attacks.”
‘Black Lives Matter and antifa riots’
In 2020, when Wolf flagged white supremacist violence, he was overseeing DHS as the first Trump administration deployed federal agents against protesters in Portland, Ore., a harbinger of the current standoff at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the city.
On Tuesday, Sen. Schmitt and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) cited rioting related to protests against the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, a familiar Republican talking point.
“There is an epidemic of politically motivated violence,” Cruz said. “And the politically motivated violence in this country is overwhelmingly emanating from the left. We saw that during the Black Lives Matter and antifa riots across the country, as cities across America burned.”
Schmitt complained that some studies of political violence “systematically ignore antifa and Black Lives Matter riots.”
Michael Knowles, a podcast host at the conservative outlet The Daily Wire, complained in testimony that “the Black Lives Matter riots, overtly leftist demonstrations that left dozens of people dead … fail to show up on registers of left-wing political violence.”
Cruz, Schmitt and Knowles did not delve into who was responsible for such violence. The data suggests they were presenting an incomplete picture.
Drawing on data provided by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), and multiple news reports, Raw Story counted 34 deaths plausibly linked to racial justice protests and unrest in 2020, not counting the police killings that sparked protests. Of those, three appear to involve perpetrators directly linked to Black Lives Matter, “antifa” or their supporters.
On May 28, 2020, the second night of rioting in Minneapolis, rioters set fire to a pawnshop. The charred remains of 30-year-old Oscar Lee Stewart Jr. were found in the ruins. Montez Terriel Lee was convicted of arson and sentenced to a decade in prison.
The following month, 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. was shot inside a stolen Jeep Cherokee that sped through an area of Seattle known as the CHAZ — Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone — and occupied by protesters. No charges have been brought, but bystander video appears to implicate an activist security team patrolling amid fears of a right-wing attack.
In late August 2020, Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, was fatally shot in Portland, Ore. Michael Reinoehl, the self-described “antifa” shooter, claimed self-defense. Before he could be apprehended, Reinoehl was killed by federal agents, an event President Trump described as “retribution.”
Danielson’s death is the only politically motivated homicide in the U.S. linked to an identified antifascist in the past quarter-century.
In contrast, one study found that white supremacists and other right-wing extremists killed at least 329 between 1994 and 2020.
The circumstances of Danielson’s shooting remain unclear. As noted by ACLED, Trump supporters were staging a car caravan through downtown Portland, and some right-wingers “sprayed pepper spray and shot paintball guns at counter-demonstrators rallying in support of the BLM movement and against police brutality, as well as journalists.”
The entry also notes video showing right-wing demonstrators driving vehicles through left-wing counter-demonstrators attempting to block the streets.
‘Might shoot looters’
Eight other deaths in 2020 could be linked to racial justice protests, if not directly.
In some, civilian bystanders were killed by criminals who appeared to be exploiting chaos. Victims include David Dorn, a retired police captain in St. Louis whose widow spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention; Chris Beaty, a former college football player murdered in Indianapolis while assisting a woman being mugged; and Marvin Francois, a photographer killed in a robbery while leaving a protest in Kansas City.
Among the most shocking deaths associated with the 2020 protests is that of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, shot by an alleged Bloods gang member manning a barricade in the area where Rayshard Brooks was killed by Atlanta police. Julian Conley was convicted of murder and other offenses, and sentenced to life in prison.
But in at least 23 cases — roughly two thirds — Raw Story found that perpetrators of unrest-related deaths were not linked to Black Lives Matter, antifa or their supporters. They include five people killed by police, one killed by the National Guard, others killed by motorists and shopkeepers, a man with severe mental illness, and a security guard for a news crew.
In one example, Steven Carillo, an airman active in the far-right Boogaloo movement, took advantage of unrest after Floyd’s death to murder David Patrick Underwood, a federal security officer guarding the federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif., and Damon Gutzwiler, a Santa Cruz County deputy sheriff attempting to serve a warrant.
Raw Story’s analysis tallied 11 Black Lives Matter protesters killed: roughly equal to the number of unaffiliated civilians.
Two — Summer Taylor and Robert Forbes — were struck by vehicles. Barry Perkins III was dragged by a tractor-trailer. Others, including James Scurlock and Italia Impinto, were shot.
Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran marching with BLM protesters in Austin, Texas on July 25, 2020, was fatally shot by Daniel Perry, a former soldier who reportedly searched for locations of protesters and told a friend he “might go to Dallas to shoot looters.” Perry was convicted of murder, then pardoned by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Perhaps most memorably, Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two BLM supporters during unrest in Kenosha, Wis. in 2020. He was acquitted on all charges.
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an 7 25
The Department of Justice’s (DoJ) civil rights chief is urging a federal judge to hand down just one day behind bars for the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officer convicted in Breonna Taylor’s 2020 death, the New York Times reported Thursday. (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/us/politics/justice-department-brett-hankison-sentence-breonna-taylor.html)
This is a surprising shift from the unit’s typical stance on combatting racial inequities in law enforcement.
Taylor was a 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician from Louisville, Kentucky. In March 2020, LMPD officers executed a “no-knock” warrant at her apartment, linked to a drug investigation targeting someone else. During the raid, police fired multiple shots into her home.
READ MORE:'Sad Sunday': Christian power couple smacks down evangelical conservatives in rare public statement (https://www.alternet.org/evangelical-franklin-graham-maga/)
In a Kentucky federal trial last year, Officer Brett Hankison was found guilty of violating Taylor’s civil rights. The jury determined he used excessive force by firing multiple shots through her window during a drug raid gone wrong.
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On Wednesday, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, urged Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings to impose “one day in prison” for Hankison — time he has essentially already served — and to sentence him to three years of supervised release.
Facing up to life in prison, Hankison’s fate hinges on a sentencing hearing scheduled for next week, during which the judge will weigh the government’s recommendation, per the report.
The DOJ's move generated backlash on social media.
READ MORE:'Didn’t you vote to pass this?' GOP rep stumps CNN host after blasting bill he voted for (https://www.alternet.org/news-politics/amodei-berman-senate/)
Wisconsin state senator Chris Larson (D) wrote on the social platform X (https://x.com/SenChrisLarson/status/1945952129673208030): "Just when you think this Administration can’t stoop any lower, they go and do something like this. I don’t ever want to hear anyone who supports this President talk about being 'tough on crime' ever again."
Author Devin Burghart wrote (https://x.com/dburghart/status/1945901411231015027): "Trump's DOJ declares emphatically that Black lives don't matter. Justice Dept. Asks for 1-Day Sentence for Ex-Officer Convicted in Breonna Taylor Raid."
History professor Hasan Kwame Jeffries, the brother of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote: (https://x.com/ProfJeffries/status/1945906323763118419) "Cop facing up to life in prison for his conviction for actions connected to the murder of #BreonnaTaylor (https://x.com/hashtag/BreonnaTaylor?src=hashtag_click), and this racist a-- regime's #JusticeDepartment (https://x.com/hashtag/JusticeDepartment?src=hashtag_click) asks the judge to sentence him to one. This is what white supremacy looks like."
Lawyer and civil rights activist Maya Wiley said (https://x.com/mayawiley/status/1945920839066726747): "#BreonnaTaylor should be alive & we can’t look away. Her life, Black lives, are worth more than a day. Trump (https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) Exec Order explicitly stated police should be 'unleashed.' Police must be accountable. This isn’t accountability!"
READ MORE: 'Who in the world would be stupid enough to believe that?' Morning Joe torches Trump (https://www.alternet.org/trump-epstein-maga-rebellion/)
Journalist Brian Fydenborg wrote: (https://x.com/bfry1981/status/1945897906352882062) "People can argue that MAGA isn't inherently racist. Those people would be f------ wrong. For how else can you explain that Breonna Taylor's life is worth 1 day? So blatant it's literally designed to spark riots, so Trump can send in troops. L.A. was warmup."
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PROJECTION DEFLECTION DEMONIZATION?
Laura Ingraham accuses Democrats of trying to start an "armed rebellion" | Media Matters for America (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/laura-ingraham-accuses-democrats-trying-start-armed-rebellion)
mma 7 25
July 7, 2025, edition of Fox News' *The Ingraham Angle
LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): Even otherwise, reasonable people, if they're led to believe by trusted news and political sources that Trump is truly evil and that he is truly a fascist, fascist country, then isn't armed rebellion the only answer? That deranged individual wearing full tactical gear who tried to ambush the border patrol today in McAllen, Texas, yeah, apparently thought so. Now, this is what Democrats knew would happen. They knew it. And, yet, they never tamped down the rhetoric, not after city blocks were burned during the Floyd riots, not after the Trump assassination attempts.
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an 4 25 pp
When news broke in January that the Trump (https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) Justice Department was freezing significant work on civil rights litigation, including police reform cases (https://apnews.com/article/civil-rights-division-justice-department-trump-2dcb45cca7c9c9cdaea78282d4279c35), attention immediately focused on two cities: Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky.
Both places were on the cusp of entering court-enforced agreements to overhaul their police forces after high-profile police killings there sparked a nationwide reckoning over race and policing.
But it’s now clear that the administration’s move will be felt well beyond those two cities. In fact, it throws into question police reform efforts in at least eight other communities across the country, according to a ProPublica review. The need for change in these places was documented in a flurry of investigations published by the Justice Department in the final year of Joe Biden’s presidency. All of the probes found a “pattern or practice” of unlawful behavior that was routine enough that the federal government recommended reforms.
From Phoenix to Trenton, New Jersey, federal officials investigating the eight agencies found unjustified killings, excessive force, debtors’ prisons, retaliation against police critics, racial discrimination, unlawful strip searches and officers having sexual contact with sex workers during undercover operations.
Such findings are typically the first step toward a department agreeing to federal oversight and court-ordered reform. Over the years, the DOJ has credited such agreements, known as consent decrees, for having helped departments reduce unnecessary use of force, cut crime rates and improve responses to people with behavioral health needs. President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, however, has ordered its civil rights attorneys (https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/22/politics/justice-department-trump-police-reform-agreements/index.html) to pause such work until further notice, effectively reinstating the limited approach it took during the president’s first term. Department officials did not respond to questions about the pause or how long it would remain in effect.
For now, that means any reform efforts will be up to local leadership — a dynamic that experts say could bode poorly for communities with long histories of police abuse.
Cliff Johnson, an attorney and director of the Mississippi office of the MacArthur Justice Center, a nonprofit legal organization, was not optimistic.
“While those DOJ reports sometimes can lead municipalities, police departments and other offenders to come to Jesus,” Johnson said, “what we’ve been seeing, from our perspective, is folks saying, ‘I don’t need Jesus. I got Trump.’”
Louisiana leaders, for example, have slammed the Justice Department’s report (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599567-findings-report-louisiana-state-police/), which found a pattern of problems in the way the state police used force against civilians. Gov. Jeff Landry said the report was an attempt by the Biden administration to “diminish the service and exceptionality” of the state police. And state Attorney General Liz Murrill said the Justice Department was being used to “advance a political agenda.”
The report was partly spurred by the 2019 death of Ronald Greene, who was killed while in the custody of Louisiana State Police. Officers repeatedly shocked him with a Taser, dragged him by his ankle shackles and then left him face down in the road. Some officers deactivated or muted their body cameras during the incident. Louisiana troopers had claimed Greene died when his car crashed after a high-speed chase. The department was forced to change its story when The Associated Press obtained and published (https://apnews.com/article/police-brutality-louisiana-ronald-greene-race-civil-rights-4446d9b069803545247c610882951763) body-camera footage of the incident.
Federal investigators found the episode was not an outlier. According to their report, officers in the department used Tasers without warning and against people who were restrained or who did not pose a threat, didn’t give people the chance to comply before using force, used force against people who weren’t a threat, and used excessive force against people running from officers.
A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police did not answer questions about the report’s findings but said the agency is working to improve its relationship with citizens and other stakeholders. Landry’s office did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about the report and the state’s response, and Murrill’s office declined to comment.
Across the state line in Lexington, Mississippi (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599570-findings-report-lexington-police-department/), the Justice Department’s shift away from police accountability could also be consequential. Department officials said residents there were so afraid of local police that they were hesitant to meet with investigators in public, fearful of retaliation.
They had good reason to be concerned. In 2023, officers arrested an attorney who was representing citizens in police abuse cases against the department. She had been filming a traffic stop at the time.
The police force — made up of about 10 officers, some of whom are part time — is the smallest the Justice Department has investigated in decades. Federal investigators ultimately found that its officers use excessive force, discriminate against Black people, conduct stops and searches without probable cause, and arrest people purely for not having the money to pay fines.
It’s unclear what steps, if any, the Lexington Police Department is taking in response to the report. Police Chief Charles Henderson declined to comment and directed questions to the city attorney, who did not return a call.
Reform advocates have put their hopes in upcoming elections in Lexington that could bring in new leadership that is more interested in making changes at the police department.
In Mount Vernon, New York (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599569-findings-report-investigation-of-the-mount-vernon-police-department/), advocates say they’ve seen little movement since the Justice Department found police there use excessive force, conduct unlawful strip and body cavity searches of arrestees, and fail to properly train officers and supervisors. It also found police discriminated against Black people. One group is considering legal action to bring the city to the table.
“It seems like Mount Vernon has put lip service on addressing the findings,” said Daniel Lambright, an attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union. “It remains unclear actually what they’re doing to address the findings.”
In their report, federal investigators expressed concern that the police department’s “overly aggressive tactics unnecessarily escalate encounters.” In one instance, they wrote, five Mount Vernon officers used force on a man they thought was selling drugs — without announcing their presence or attempting to arrest him peacefully. Instead, one of the officers approached the man from behind and attempted to put him in an “upper body hold,” which started an altercation, according to the report. Police then threw the man to the ground. One officer drove his Taser into the suspect five times while another repeatedly punched him in the head. The man suffered a broken nose.
“The reform efforts have to continue,” said the Rev. Stephen Pogue, a member of the United Black Clergy of Westchester, an organization that works on social justice matters in Mount Vernon and surrounding areas. “We’re not in one of those places where Trump is our god. In Mount Vernon, we still need Jesus.”
Pogue said he hopes the city will host a public meeting about the report before the summer.
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard and a police spokesperson did not reply to interview requests. But in December, the mayor said in a statement that the city would work with the Justice Department to address its findings. “We wholeheartedly support our good officers and at the same time will not tolerate and will punish unconstitutional policing,” she said.
In Phoenix (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599574-phoenix-findings-report-final-final-508/), city and police officials have sent conflicting signals about the federal investigation, which found the Police Department used excessive and deadly force, violated the rights of homeless people, and discriminated against Black, Latino, Native American people, as well as those who have behavioral disabilities. “Why the hell would anybody ever accept a consent decree?” said one City Council member months before the report was released. Afterward, the head of the police union said the investigation was a “farce” and part of an “unprofessional smear campaign.”
But Mayor Kate Gallego has said the city is taking the report seriously. In September, the City Council passed several police reform measures, including requiring all officers who deal with the public to use body-worn cameras, even the special units that have been at the center of controversial shootings.
“Regardless of the new federal administration, these reforms are moving forward, and the mayor’s commitment to improving the police department is unwavering,” a mayoral spokesperson told ProPublica.
Some of the other cities the Justice Department had targeted are taking small steps toward fixing problems the federal investigators identified, though it’s unclear whether the efforts will result in lasting change.
In Oklahoma City, where Justice found in January (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599575-findings-report-investigation-of-oklahoma-oklahoma-city-and-oklahoma-city-police-department/) that police officers discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities, the city recently began funding mobile mental health units that can respond to incidents instead of police, said Jessica Hawkins, chair of the city’s Crisis Intervention Advisory Group. She said the city is also working on a written response to the DOJ report but didn’t know when it would be completed.
Police Chief Ron Bacy declined ProPublica’s request for an interview and through a spokesperson said the department was “still reviewing the report.”
In Memphis, Tennessee, where federal investigators found (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599572-findings-report-memphis-police-department-and-the-city-of-memphis-0-0/) that police use excessive force, conduct unlawful stops and discriminate against Black people, the mayor put together a reform task force, led by a retired federal judge. “The DOJ report, in our case, kick-started a conversation that had sort of gone cold,” said Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, an organization that works on litigation and justice matters in Memphis.
And in Trenton, New Jersey (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599571-findings-report-investigation-of-the-city-of-trenton-and-trenton-police-department/), where the Justice Department found that local police have a pattern or practice of using excessive force and conducting unlawful pedestrian and vehicle stops, City Council member Jasi Edwards has been hosting community meetings to introduce the idea of a civilian complaint review board and build support for the measure. Edwards said she plans to formally put forth her proposal sometime in the fall.
It will likely run into resistance, though. Representatives of the Police Department and mayor told ProPublica that they didn’t believe a civilian review board was necessary because it would be costly and there are existing ways for citizens to complain about police conduct. The DOJ report, they said, highlighted some areas in need of improvement but mischaracterized a number of cases and gave an inaccurate depiction of the department’s culture.
In Worcester, Massachusetts, reforms are already moving forward in response to the Justice Department’s investigation (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25599568-finding-report-worcester-pd/).
Last month, the police chief released a 15-page report (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25893819-worcester-police-doj-response/) on proposed measures intended to remedy the problems identified by federal investigators. The changes, which are still awaiting legal review, include prohibiting police from releasing K-9 dogs into mass gatherings or riot scenes and requiring a supervisor to go to a scene if someone reports being injured by police.
The police chief, Paul Socier, has also proposed several changes to how officers approach prostitution. Investigators found the department engaged in “outrageous government conduct” with sex workers by having sexual contact during undercover operations.
“We are hopefully headed in the right direction,” said Audra Doody, co-executive director of Safe Exit Initiative, an organization in Worcester that provides services, housing and counseling to sex workers who want to leave the sex trade. “With a time of such uncertainty, I want to believe our people in the community are telling the truth and actually are going to do what they say they’re going to do, which they seem like they are, right now.”
ProPublica is reporting on how the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal government will impact the Department of Justice and its work on civil rights. If you’re a former or current Justice Department employee and you want to send us a tip, please contact us. We’re especially interested in the department’s Civil Rights Division. Topher Sanders can be reached by phone or on Signal at 904-254-0393 or by email at topher.sanders@propublica.org.
12/11/2024 rww
by
Kyle Mantyla (https://www.peoplefor.org/post_author/kyle-mantyla)
Laurie Cardoza-Moore is urging (https://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-leader-says-churches-must-cut-ties-with-candace-owens.html) churches to "close the doors" on Candace Owens following her descent into antisemitism: "She has no substance beyond her repugnant, unfounded, and obsessive hate for God's Chosen People. There is no place for her anywhere in the Conservative Christian world."
Tim Barton thinks (https://wallbuilders.show/2077254/episodes/16258418-trump-s-impact-and-justice-navigating-today-s-global-and-local-challenges) that the election of Donald Trump was key to the not guilty verdict (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daniel-penny-found-not-guilty-chokehold-death-jordan-neely-rcna180775) in the Daniel Penny trial.
William Wolfe proclaims (https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2024/12/the-age-of-blm-is-over/) that "Penny’s acquittal sends a clear message: America is tired of being held hostage by fear, division, and the manipulation of racial narratives for political gain. The age of BLM, with its tactics of intimidation and its Marxist underpinnings, is fading. It’s over."
Joe Waresak, president of the James Dobson Family Institute, declares (https://www.drjamesdobson.org/newsletters/december-2024-newsletter) that with Trump's election, "the Lord turned the page for America, and a new chapter is now before us."
Finally, Christian nationalist Jesse Leon Rogers claims (https://youtu.be/M8l7FvzLKDY?si=Eo13DP2SONRhCzpo&t=39) that Christians have a "cultural mandate" to "subdue and rule."
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trump campaign tries to tar harris and walz
an 9 24
Retired Minneapolis police officer Scott Creighton was among the witnesses for the defense when Derek Chauvin was on trial following the June 2020 murder of George Floyd.
Four years after Floyd's death, Creighton is being featured in an ad from Preserve America PAC (https://host2.adimpact.com/admo/viewer/264aee41-ae12-4336-b102-bf7aaaba71bd/) — a pro-Donald Trump (https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) group. Creighton vigorously attacks 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris (https://www.rawstory.com/tag/white-house) in the ad, which the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler fact-checks in his September 16 column (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/16/defense-witness-george-floyd-murderer-appears-pro-trump-ad/).
In the ad, Creighton says of Harris, "Four years ago, in this alley, rioters threw a brick at my face and knocked out my teeth. Why? Because I was a police officer. And what did Kamala Harris do? While America's cities were burning, Kamala was defending peaceful protests. She raised millions to help bail rioters out of jail. And supported defunding our police, making us all less safe. Kamala Harris is dangerous."
READ MORE:'Smallest man who ever lived': Trump slammed over 'dangerous' Taylor Swift post (https://www.alternet.org/trump-taylor-swift-post/)
But according to Kessler (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/16/defense-witness-george-floyd-murderer-appears-pro-trump-ad/), Creighton "ignores that Harris condemned the riots, even as she said people had a right to peacefully protest."
Creighton, Kessler emphasizes (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/16/defense-witness-george-floyd-murderer-appears-pro-trump-ad/), glosses over the fact that Harris was quite forceful in her condemnation of violent rioters in August 2020.
Former prosecutor Harris, then a U.S. senator, said, "It's no wonder people are taking to the streets, and I support them. We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protesters. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence."
When riots took place in Portland, Oregon, Kessler notes (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/16/defense-witness-george-floyd-murderer-appears-pro-trump-ad/), Harris tweeted, "I join @JoeBiden in condemning this violence. This cannot — and must not — be who we are. Americans deserve a president who will heal our country and bring people together — not fan the flames of hate and division."
READ MORE:Trump's hate is no joke (https://www.alternet.org/trump-hate/?utm_source=push_notifications)
Creighton's claim that Harris "raised millions to help bail rioters out of jail," according to Kessler (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/16/defense-witness-george-floyd-murderer-appears-pro-trump-ad/), "cannot be verified."
Harris, Kessler points out (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/16/defense-witness-george-floyd-murderer-appears-pro-trump-ad/), supported a group called the Minneapolis Freedom Fund, which raised bail money for nonviolent Floyd protesters.
READ MORE:'Hell isn't hot enough': Fury at Trump as more school evacuations follow lies (https://www.alternet.org/the-right-wing/trump-debate/?utm_source=push_notifications)
*Glenn Kessler's full Washington Post column is available at this link (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/16/defense-witness-george-floyd-murderer-appears-pro-trump-ad/) (subscription required).
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an 2 24
Middletown Township, Pennsylvania man was arrested after claiming to have beheaded his father, a longtime federal government employee, and posting gruesome video of what he said is the severed head to social media. The suspect, 32 or 33 year-old Justin Mohn, is facing first degree murder charges. He also decried “far left woke mobs,” BLM and LGBTQ people, President Joe Biden, the federal government, and spewed other right-wing conspiracy theories.
“Some of the talking points made by Mohn echoed those of prominent online conspiracy theorists and far-right political commentators,” local news outlet LevittownNow.com (https://levittownnow.com/2024/01/31/beheading-suspect-justin-mohn-held-without-bail-on-murder-charge/) reports.
“Mohn made inflammatory statements advocating for attacks on federal employees and properties. He expressed hostility towards illegal immigrants, President Joe Biden, senior federal officials, communists, ‘far-left woke mobs,’ Black Lives Matter supporters, and members of the LGBTQ community,” LevittownNow.com added. “In his rant, Mohn discussed Christian scriptures, called for debt cancellation, called for more adherence to Judeo-Christian values, spoke about human trafficking, and accused a major tech company of tax evasion. Additionally, he claimed that militias should protect him and mentioned previous FBI threats of arrest.”
READ MORE: ‘You Bend the Knee to the Orange Jesus’: Democrat Blasts House Republicans in Fiery Takedown (https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2024/01/you-bend-the-knee-to-the-orange-jesus-democrat-blasts-house-republicans-in-fiery-takedown/)
WPVI (https://6abc.com/justin-mohn-levitttown-middletown-township-pa-father-killed/14373700/), a local ABC affiliate, adds that “Mohn referred to himself as a militia leader and called his father a traitor to the country for being a federal employee for 20 years.
“In the video, which YouTube has since removed, the son called his father a ‘traitor’ and said he’s happy that he is dead,” The Philadelphia Inquirer (https://www.inquirer.com/crime/bucks-county-beheaded-father-son-levittown-arrest-20240131.html) adds. ”’He is now in hell for eternity,’ he said, according to the complaint.”
The New York Post (https://nypost.com/2024/01/30/news/pa-son-arrested-after-posting-video-of-fathers-severed-head-report/) notes that in the since-removed YouTube video, “the man, who identifies himself as Justin Mohn, says to the camera before going on an unhinged rant against the government in line with QAnon conspiracy theories, calling for ‘militias’ across the US to unite and kill federal officials ‘on site.'”
“Mohn faces charges of first-degree murder, abuse of corpse and possessing instruments of crime, according to a Middletown Township Police Department criminal docket viewed by The Post,” the paper adds
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qanon dad killed 2 kids? wife?
Tom Winter, Valeriya Antonshchuk, Patrick Smith and Caroline Radnofsky @ NBC News (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pa-man-arrested-decapitating-father-youtube-video-rcna136509): Pennsylvania man arrested after allegedly killing his father and displaying his decapitated head on YouTube.
In the video, which has since been removed, Justin Mohn says his father was a federal employee and refers to him as a traitor while voicing right-wing conspiracy theories.
Angry White Men (https://angrywhitemen.org/2024/01/30/stew-peters-somalis-are-filthy-cockroaches-thatve-infested-minneapolis/): Stew Peters: Somalis Are ‘Filthy Cockroaches That’ve Infested’ Minneapolis.
On the Jan. 30, 2024 episode of his Rumble show, white nationalist and Holocaust denier Stew Peters went on a vile, racist rant about Somali immigrants. While interviewing British Neo-Nazi Mark Collett, Peters called Somalis “gross,” “low IQ” “parasites” and “filthy cockroaches” who “infested the city of Minneapolis” and “hate white people.”
Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/stew-peters-antivax-antisemitism-covid-conspiracy/): Anti-Vax Influencer Stew Peters Has a New Fixation: “The Jews.”
He says he’s not sure whether Hitler was a bad guy, because of all the “propaganda.”
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Charlie Kirk fumes (https://www.youtube.com/live/Y4c2Eb_iuIg?si=zHTAzbJT3SWaPE5k&t=1573) that pastors who support Black Lives Matter are “introducing an unclean spirit from Satan into the church.”
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mult x ~
https://www.mediamatters.org/eric-metaxas/eric-metaxas-george-floyd-was-not-some-innocent-was-somebody-who-was-essentially (https://www.mediamatters.org/eric-metaxas/eric-metaxas-george-floyd-was-not-some-innocent-was-somebody-who-was-essentially)
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hmmn initially misplaced on antifa, i forgot thugs ref tho BLM and antifa often conflated by rt (justins tenn3 called antifa]
mma 3 23
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 “woke bank (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/what-absurd-woke-bank-svb-talking-point-says-about-gops-inability-talk-about-policy),” 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 reprimand and penalize (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/revealed-how-fox-prime-time-hosts-and-executives-attacked-fox-reporters-who-fact-checked) 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 not in any sense (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-staffers-agree-fox-not-news-organization) a real news organization.
Actual SVB donations to Black Lives Matter: $0.00
The charge itself that SVB contributed over $70 million to Black Lives Matter or closely aligned organizations is based on a supposed “BLM-funding database (https://dc.claremont.org/blm-funding-database/)” maintained by the Claremont Institute, a right-wing (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/magazine/claremont-institute-conservative.html) and openly anti-democracy (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/4/1/22356594/conservatives-right-wing-democracy-claremont-ellmers) organization that is also closely tied to disgraced former law professor John Eastman (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/24/claremont-john-eastman-trump/), who was closely involved in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The Associated Press (https://apnews.com/article/silicon-valley-bank-fdic-svb-california-d84764deb458371667ac7f850f430f22) 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.)
The database labels any donations that support Black people as “BLM”
Writing for the newsletter Popular Information (https://popular.info/p/silicon-valley-bank-donated-zero), 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 historically black colleges and universities (http://www.thehundred-seven.org/hbculist.html). (It’s unclear why Claremont lumped in funding for Arizona State and Tulane.)
Talking Points Memo (https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-quick-look-at-the-lying-trumpist-liars-behind-that-database-on-corprate-giving-to-blm) 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 by DuPont (https://www.famedelaware.org/mission/). (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.
Fox News drove the right-wing echo chamber’s amplification of false SVB claims
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.
Fox host Jesse Watters asserted that Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) “donated $74 million to Black Lives Matter." Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, [3/14/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002365)]
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, [3/14/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002367)]
Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt: SVB donated “more than $73 million to Black Lives Matter.” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [3/15/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002368)]
Fox Business: “Silicon Valley Bank donated millions to Black Lives Matter-related groups, social justice causes, records show.” FoxBusiness.com, [3/14/23 (https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/silicon-valley-bank-donated-millions-black-lives-matter-related-groups-social-justice-causes-records-show)
Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy also pushed this, which Fox anchor Dana Perino failed to contradict. Fox News, America’s Newsroom, [3/15/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002370)]
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, [3/15/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002371)]
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, [3/15/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002374)]
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, [3/15/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002375)]
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, [3/14/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002381)]
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, [3/15/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002380)]
Fox Business guest Mark Tepper: SVB “had pledged $74 million to left-leaning organizations and charities, including BLM.” Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, [3/16/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002379)]
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., [3/16/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002376)]
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, [3/16/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002377)]
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, [3/16/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002378)]
Fox was not alone in spreading this falsehood; many right-wing media outlets pushed the same lies. A New York Post (https://nypost.com/2023/03/15/svb-donated-73m-to-black-lives-matter-movement-social-justice-causes/) headline read: “SVB donated $73M to Black Lives Matter movement, social justice causes.” An article from The Federalist (https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/14/silicon-valley-bank-pledged-nearly-74-million-to-black-lives-matter-causes/) was headlined: “Silicon Valley Bank Pledged Nearly $74 Million To Black Lives Matter Causes.” The Washington Times (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/mar/15/silicon-valley-banks-woke-agenda-thrived-while-man/), citing The Federalist, wrote: “SVB donated more than $73 million to the Black Lives Matter movement and other social justice causes.” A Washington Examiner (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/svb-donates-more-than-70-million-social-justice) headline read: “SVB collapse: Bank donated over $70 million to Black Lives Matter groups before closure.” Gateway Pundit (https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/woke-silicon-valley-bank-gave-over-73-million-to-black-lives-matter-movement/) declared in its headline: “Woke Silicon Valley Bank Gave Over $73 Million to Black Lives Matter Movement.” A Daily Caller (https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/15/silicon-valley-bank-blm-social-justice-claremont-institute/) headline stated: “Silicon Valley Bank Committed Over $73 Million To BLM And Social Justice Causes Before It Collapsed.” And it went on (https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/03/14/woke-silicon-valley-bank-gave-73-45-million-to-blm-n1678342) and on (https://redstate.com/kiradavis/2023/03/14/silicon-valley-bank-spent-74-million-on-black-lives-matter-and-social-justice-causes-n716419) and on (https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/15/failed-silicon-valley-bank-gave-black-lives-matter-over-73-million/).
In an amazing turn of events, Breitbart actually issued a correction (https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/15/updated-failed-silicon-valley-bank-gave-left-wing-causes-over-70-million/), 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.
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intercept
:{:{fBI Hired Social Media Surveillance Firm That Labeled Black Lives Matter Organizers “Threat Actors”]}:
https://join.theintercept.com/go/67879?t=16&utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&akid=7814%2E185521%2EEiJYr1)}:
:{:{:{Ken Klippenstein}::{}:
A new Senate report calls out the FBI for lying to Congress about its social media monitoring, pointing out the FBI’s hiring of ZeroFox.
READ MORE → (https://join.theintercept.com/go/67879?t=17&utm_source=The+Intercept+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&akid=7814%2E185521%2EEiJYr1)
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6 23 CDC no report #
https://www.alternet.org/cdc-report-police-violence-data/
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mma 5 23 no vid
Right-wing media figures are celebrating both Florida’s expansion of the death penalty for people who have sexually assaulted children as well as the extrajudicial homicide of Jordan Neely, a Black homeless man killed by a white former Marine on the New York City subway on May 1. The two stories illustrate a growing trend in right-wing media to argue that the deaths of marginalized and criminalized populations are not only justified but actually desirable, whether those killings are carried out by the state or by vigilantes.
Bloodlust is nothing new in right-wing media. From the proto-fascist (https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/episode-2-brooklyn-boys-n1299377) Father Charles Coughlin (https://www.pbs.org/wnet/exploring-hate/2022/03/09/ep-7-sedition/) through Rush Limbaugh (https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/rush-limbaugh-well-where-are-all-people-guns-push-back-against-left-0) and Bill O’Reilly (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/bill-oreillys-dangerous-war-against-dr-tiller-107722/) to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/right-wing-media-are-pushing-vigilantism-against-trans-people-and-drag-queens), conservative pundits and writers frequently fantasize about violence aimed at their political opponents or marginalized people. In 1989, Donald Trump, who was a media personality for decades before entering politics, called for the execution (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/nyregion/central-park-five-trump.html) of the wrongly convicted Central Park Five, a group of Black and Latino teenagers railroaded into false confessions by the New York Police Department. The conservative ecosystem made a celebrity of Kyle Rittenhouse (https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ne9m/kyle-rittenhouse-is-now-the-hottest-gop-superstar-since-trump) — who killed two people and injured a third during an August 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin — and tried to justify the killings of Trayvon Martin (https://www.mediamatters.org/bill-oreilly/oreilly-trayvon-martin-died-because-he-looked-how-gangstas-look), Ahmaud Arbery (https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/far-right-figures-are-attempting-twist-facts-and-defend-shooting-ahmaud-arbery), and Eric Garner (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/fox-friends-guest-defends-officer-who-killed-eric-garner-chokehold-i-dont-see-it).
Building on this history of right-wing calls for state-sanctioned and extrajudicial violence, there now appears to be an increasing frequency of calls from conservative media for their enemies to be put to death. Much of this new intensity has been driven by the two leading hopefuls in the Republican presidential primary, Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Trump has called (https://www.npr.org/2023/05/10/1152847242/trump-campaign-execute-drug-dealers-smugglers-traffickers-death-row#::text=Press-,Trump's%202024%20campaign%20promise%20to%20execute%20drug%20offenders%20is%20a,for%20drug%20dealers%20and%20smugglers.) for expanding the death penalty to include people convicted of selling illicit drugs to someone who later overdoses, an idea he has bandied about for years. He also engaged in a “killing spree” in his final months in office, carrying out 13 federal executions in six months, according to recent reporting (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-capital-punishment-brandon-bernard-lisa-montgomery-1234664126/) from Rolling Stone — “more federal executions than in the previous 10 administrations combined.”
But DeSantis has recently captured the right-wing media’s attention with a bill he signed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/01/desantis-death-penalty-child-rapists/) earlier this month that would make convicted child rapists eligible for the death penalty. The new law violates Supreme Court precedent set in Kennedy v. Louisiana, a 5-4 decision in 2008 that found that the death penalty can’t be applied in the case of the rape of a child that didn’t result in murder. Legal challenges to the new Florida law are widely expected.
Conservative media figures cheered on DeSantis’ signing of the bill, often in language mirroring anti-LGBTQ rhetoric that is now ubiquitous on the right. Over the last year, right-wing media have revived a longstanding myth that LGBTQ people are dangers to children, frequently referring to them as “groomers (https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/anti-lgbtq-hate-has-increased-twitter-elon-musk-officially-acquired-company)” or pedophiles (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-host-jesse-watters-says-drag-queens-are-part-plot-normalize-pedophilia) and endorsing violence targeting (https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/targeting-pride-events-follow-months-escalating-anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-right-wing-media) their events and communities. Conservative commentators have adopted eliminationist (https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/cpac-endorses-eliminationist-rhetoric-speaker-michael-knowles-says-transgenderism-must) rhetoric toward trans people, openly calling for them to be expelled from public life entirely.
Matt Walsh: “Just execute them all”
It’s in this context that the right-wing media response to DeSantis’ bill needs to be understood, as typified by the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh[vid]
"On the merits of this legislation, it's clearly the right thing,” Walsh began on his May 2 show. “The idea that you can only have — we can only impose capital punishment on someone who kills another person, it's completely arbitrary. There's no, nowhere is that written in the heavens. Certainly the opposite. I mean, if we want to talk about biblical precedent, then that's not biblical precedent.”
Walsh then indulged in an extended thought experiment about having to choose between which types of convicted criminals should be executed, happily concluding that the state doesn’t in fact need to make that choice and should be killing many more people.
“If we have this weird rule that we've imposed on ourselves that we can only execute one, either murderers or child rapist, like if we had to choose between those two categories of people to execute, then I would say, well, if we don't do one, then I'd probably murder the — I'd probably execute, rather — execute legally the child rapist,” Walsh said. “But in fact, we don't have to choose. You know, that's the wonderful thing.”
“We don't have to make choices. We can execute all of them,” he continued. “We should be able to, anyway. Execute all the worst people, all of the worst criminals. Just execute them all. And this is the right first step. There's a lot more that needs to be done. I mean, this is actual criminal justice reform.”
Walsh further justified his desire to drastically ramp up executions on the grounds that the people he wants killed are drains on society, and he argued that their sentences should be carried out with no appeals process.
“Because the other thing about these worst, you know, the worst of the worst, the people that commit heinous, the most heinous sorts of crimes like child rape — well, they are so evil and so monstrous that even the other criminals in prison don't want to be around them,” Walsh argued. “Which means that we don't put them in the general population. So then they are in protective custody. So we're spending more money, society is spending more money just to keep these absolute lowest-of-the-low dirtbags alive.”
“I would say that along with everything else, it is an unjust and undue burden on society. You know, as a taxpayer, I should not be required to keep child rapists alive just because we're too squeamish to execute them as we should,” he continued. “And if we're really starting to understand that society — if we're really starting to reform the system, you know, then we're going to start talking about not only are we executing these people, but we're doing it quickly. We're not giving them 30 years to appeal, OK? The conviction is passed down, you're convicted, you're guilty, you've been found guilty, and then the execution is carried out the next day — how about, carried out at dawn following the conviction.”
Walsh recently argued (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005655) that the punishment for a false rape accusation should be life in prison, and also implied that he’d be in favor of the death penalty for convicted rapists and those he refers to as “false accusers.”
“I think that actually guilty and convicted rapists should go to prison for life,” Walsh said on his May 9 show. “I'd be in favor of life sentences, at a minimum, for actual rapists. And I would be in favor of life sentences for those who falsely accuse someone of rape because to falsely accuse someone of rape is just as bad as being a rapist. There is no moral distinction between the two.”
Michael Knowles: “I think it’s quite natural, biblical”
Also on May 2, Walsh’s Daily Wire colleague Michael Knowles addressed DeSantis’ bill, supporting it “in principle” but not “in practice."
[vid]
"Ron DeSantis says we’re challenging that now if you rape a child, pretty much the most heinous crime you can imagine, you get the death penalty. I totally agree with that in principle,” Knowles said. “I see no problem with that in principle. I see no problem with the death penalty in principle. In fact, I think it's quite natural, biblical.”
Knowles later clarified that the law could create unintended consequences, which gave him pause.
“I don't actually agree with this particular instantiation of the death penalty in practice,” he said. “In principle, I do. But in practice, the only reason I don't is that as a matter of prudence, if you don't kill child rapists, if you, if the punishment is not execution, then it creates some incentive for the rapist not to murder his victim. So if there's any way that through the law, we can incentivize a rapist not to murder his victim, I think that's probably wise and prudent. In principle, they deserve death, certainly.”
After attempting to thread that needle, Knowles made it clear that the way this policy cashed out would be beneficial for DeSantis in a potential 2024 presidential run.
“Broadly speaking, ‘execute pedos’ is a very popular campaign slogan,” he concluded.
Alex Jones to Steven Crowder: “Hang them in the public square” as a deterrent because “these damn predators are everywhere”
Walsh and Knowles are hardly alone in his violent impulses. On the same day the two Daily Wire personalities delivered their blood-soaked monologues, Steven Crowder hosted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his Rumble show and the two also discussed the new Florida law with nearly identical rhetoric [vid]
"I think this is good news to celebrate, right, some actual good news here,” Crowder said to introduce the segment. “Monday, Ron DeSantis — this is really good news — signed a bill that’s going to allow the death penalty for child rapists.”
Crowder played a clip of DeSantis celebrating the bill’s passage and then returned to continue his discussion with Jones.
“First off, you rape a child, you deserve to — you forfeit your right to live,” Crowder said. “You deserve to die actually, not forfeit your right to live. You play the knockout game, you forfeit your right to live because someone has the right to defend themselves. You rape a child, in my opinion, you deserve to die.”
Jones responded, making typically unhinged remarks about supposedly lax liberal state law.
“I think this is good also because it goes against laws in California that they're trying to pass — they passed one where you can have sex with a 12-year-old, you can give people HIV and it's not a felony,” Jones said. “I mean, they're trying to normalizethis, the U.N. is trying to normalize this. That's a very strong message we're not going to allow this.” (In 2017, California reduced (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/10/09/knowingly-infecting-others-with-hiv-is-no-longer-a-felony-in-california-advocates-say-it-targeted-sex-workers/) penalties related to the transmission of HIV, in accordance with public health best practices (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/policies/law/states/exposure.html); it is not legal in the state for an adult to have sex with a 12-year-old.)
“I think if you're caught with evidence that you did it and it's irrefutable, there should be a high burden of proof, but if it's proven I say we take those people out after they've been given their jury trial, we hang them in the public square and let all the other pedophiles know you do this, you're dead,” Jones added.
“Yep,” Crowder replied.
“These damn predators are everywhere,” Jones continued.
“No, you're absolutely right,” Crowder agreed. “I don't think there's any greater evil. And by the way, all societies have recognized that since the beginning of time.”
The two ended the segment by distilling their argument: “Just to be really clear though, to go back and end on the point — someone who rapes someone 12 years old or younger, hang them in the town square?” Crowder said.
“Yes,” Jones responded. “If an adult rapes a child and there’s proof, we kill them.”
Right-wing media agree that the ex-Marine who killed Jordan Neely is a “hero”
In calling for the public execution of people convicted of sexual battery of a child, Crowder’s initial phrasing was nearly identical to the way he characterized (https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/youtube-steven-crowder-claims-jordan-neely-forfeited-his-right-live) the killing of Jordan Neely, an unhoused Black man, by Daniel Penny, a white Marine veteran, on the New York City subway on May 1.
“You start going crazy in a subway car and attack people for the umpteenth time —we don't know if he was attacking there, but we know that people felt attacked, and we do know that he attacked people before in the sub — you do forfeit your right to live,” Crowder said. “The second that you are engaging in an activity where someone else is forced to make a decision to save their life or a life of their loved one — completely, by the way, not of their own volition; you've put them in that scenario — you forfeit your right to live.”
Right-wing commentators almost universally praised (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-try-justify-jordan-neelys-death-attack-protesters) Penny’s actions, and several went even further than Crowder, referring to him as a hero.
Racist-policing apologist (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-guest-says-police-are-forced-arrest-black-men-higher-rates-facts-crime) Heather Mac Donald of conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute was typically effusive in her praise of Penny, who she suggested was justified in carrying out the role of law enforcement.
Right-wing commentators almost universally praised Penny’s actions, and several went even further than Crowder, referring to him as a hero.
“For these activists now to be playing the race card here is preposterous, but if the government is unwilling to protect its citizens, you are going to have a certain degree of vigilante justice,” Mac Donald said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005506) on the podcast of Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. “And this guy, as far as I'm concerned, from what we know now, is an urban hero.”
“And if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brings some sort of criminal charge against him, there should be a public uprising, because the reason he was there is because Alvin Bragg refuses to enforce the law against turnstile jumping.”
Fox & Friends co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy made the same argument.
“I think it’s really important as a culture, we need to send very clear messages about how we, what we feel about heroes who step in and protect people in need,” she said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005141). “Now imagine being in that car. You know, we raise our boys to step in and protect those who are vulnerable. But when moms see this, see someone now facing prison time for trying to protect those who are weaker, it makes us wonder: Do we want our kids to be the guy that steps in and protects people or do we want our men in our culture to be the guys who just film crimes on their cell phones?”
Later on the show, Fox News contributor Leo Terrell echoed Campos-Duffy.
“Jordan was a erratic person who had a history of erratic behavior, but you also have other individuals restraining this individual,” Terrell said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005314). “There is no intent and that Marine is a hero. A hero.”
The list goes on. Both Walsh (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005324) and Charlie Kirk (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005320), the founder of Turning Point USA, called Penny a “hero.” So did rape apologist (https://www.mediamatters.org/mike-cernovich/rape-apologist-mike-cernovich-trying-whitewash-his-past-alt-right-troll-claiming) Mike Cernovich (https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/1655368069626335232?s=20) and Scott Adams (https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1655293768227229696), the openly racist creator of the comic strip Dilbert. Federalist contributor Peachy Keenan (a pseudonym) referred (https://twitter.com/KeenanPeachy/status/1653958683473367040?s=20) to Penny as an example of “the bravest and most selfless heroes.” PragerU founder Dennis Prager (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005329) read approvingly from a tweet by cryptofascist online personality Aimee Terese calling Penny a “hero” as well.
“That’s correct,” Prager said. “They don’t want that ethos to catch on. They want a nation of cowards.”
The accolades continued and even escalated after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged (https://www.npr.org/2023/05/12/1175776831/daniel-penny-criminal-charges-jordan-neely-death-chokehold) Penny with second-degree manslaughter, including from the faux high-brow organs of conservative commentary. Echoing a tweet (https://twitter.com/RonDeSantisFL/status/1657212176178855939) from Gov. DeSantis, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board referred (https://www.wsj.com/articles/jordan-neely-daniel-penny-charged-alvin-bragg-manhattan-new-york-crime-mental-illness-subway-a012a0e5) to Penny as one of the “good samaritans,” and worried that “the charges against him will surely deter other potential samaritans from intervening to subdue a seemingly dangerous person or even to stop a robbery or assault.”
At The New York Times, conservative Trump critic David French posed a related counterfactual designed to exonerate, or at least excuse, Penny. “What if Penny had done nothing? Would everyone — including Neely — have emerged from that subway car unscathed?” French wrote (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/14/opinion/jordan-neely-killing-subway.html). “We can’t know for certain, and that lack of certainty creates the conditions for violence.”
Fox News’ on-air talent uniformly praised Penny. Ingraham responded to the charges by calling Penny a “hero (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005634),” and saying he “deserves our thanks (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005635).” The Five’s Greg Gutfeld called Bragg’s decision “pro-criminal, anti-hero (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005633).” A day later on the same program, Fox News’ Will Cain said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005638) “this was not just reasonable behavior by Daniel Penny, but potentially heroic behavior by Daniel Penny. Our society, to be absolutely clear, needs more Daniel Pennys.” On America’s Newsroom, Fox’s Geraldo Rivera predicted (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005640) Neely’s death would be ruled a “justifiable homicide,” implicitly endorsing that conclusion.
Others in right-wing media joined in as well. YouTube streamer Tim Pool tweeted (https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1658097052083970050) that he donated $20,000 to a fundraiser supporting Penny, referring to him as the “Subway Good Samaritan.”
Walsh openly celebrated Neely’s death, calling the victim “a terrible person.”
“The community is better off without him — like, everyone is safer without him” Walsh said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005644). “This community, pretending to mourn — you are better off without this guy. You’re all safer because he’s gone.”
This list is illustrative of the conservative media response, and their collective, reflexive justification and celebration of a white person killing a person of color extends far beyond Neely’s death.
Conservatives defend, justify extrajudicial killings not officially sanctioned by the state
Recent examples abound. In April, Carlson and Rittenhouse urged (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-and-kyle-rittenhouse-campaign-pardon-texas-man-convicted-murdering) Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to pardon Daniel Perry, who was convicted that month and sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. Other Fox News stars soon got on board (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/fox-news-defends-texas-man-convicted-murdering-black-lives-matter-protester-and), and Abbott has now promised (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/army-sergeant-texas-gov-abbott-wanted-pardon-sentenced-25-years-rcna79474) to pardon him.
In Arizona, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/arizona-sheriff-mark-lamb-builds-his-right-wing-media-brand-he-considers-senate-run), currently running for Senate, has on at least two recent occasions defended a white person killing someone who isn’t white on the grounds that the shooter was simply exercising theirproperty rights.
On April 21, Lamb attempted to justify Andrew Lester’s shooting (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-largely-ignored-shooting-ralph-yarl) of Ralph Yarl, a Black 16-year-old, in an appearance (https://www.mediamatters.org/crime-and-criminal-justice/white-nationalist-program-mark-lamb-defends-man-who-shot-ralph-yarl-he) on a white nationalist show. Lester, who is white, “was trying to protect his property, stand his ground,” Lamb said. “You know, he felt that his life was in danger. He took some action and now he's being persecuted.”
Lamb made an almost identical argument to excuse Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly’s lethal shooting (https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/george-allen-kelly-sent-to-trial-facing-second-degree-murder-charges) of a migrant who he believed was trespassing. Speaking on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast in February, Lamb said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001191) the episode looked like “self-defense,” adding, “We have the ability to protect our properties.”
“What right do they have to protect their property?” Lamb continued. “If he feared for his life, and the life of his wife, or the life of somebody else, or feared serious physical injury, then that certainly falls within the justification of using deadly force, whether they’re armed or not.”
Lamb then claimed that “criminals are not being held accountable,” but “then a good citizen does something like this to protect his property and he’s held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” He then described Kelly as “this poor old guy” and someone who “seems like a very nice guy.”
From Mississippi burning to the police killing of Tyre Nichols
The above examples don’t even touch on right-wing media apologia for police violence, which is reflexive and ubiquitous. Conservative pundits responded to video of Memphis police beating to death Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, by pushing (https://www.mediamatters.org/crime-and-criminal-justice/right-wing-media-are-using-death-tyre-nichols-push-their-pro-policing) for more police power and autonomy and blaming (https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-best-way-avoid-bad-interaction-cop-not-number-one-commit-crime-and-number) Nichols for his death. Mac Donald, the Manhattan Institute police propagandist, argued without evidence (https://www.mediamatters.org/ann-coulter/appearing-ann-coulter-frequent-fox-news-guest-heather-mac-donald-goes-hour-long-tirade) that Nichols could’ve been on drugs, as though that would have justified his killing.
Taken together, all of these examples underscore a point The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer made (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/the-cruelty-is-the-point/572104/) in 2018: “The cruelty is the point.” The reactionary desire to enact vengeance winds throughout U.S. history, braiding state and extrajudicial violence together, linking the first and second formations of the Ku Klux Klan to white citizens councils to Jim Crow to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential announcement (https://theintercept.com/2015/09/16/seven-things-reagan-wont-mentioned-tonight-gops-debate/) at the site of the 1964 killing of three civil rights activists.
The viciousness that right-wing media are expressing now isn’t new, but their growing comfort with openly cheering for the deaths of their political opponents and marginalized people is an alarming trend. When conservative media figures proclaim their desire to “just execute them all,” we should take it very seriously.
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aha? antifa blm merge
https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/fox-news-and-right-wing-media-circulate-seemingly-inauthentic-antifa-poster
pix of poster bring rocks ...
mma 1 23
protests emerged around the country following (https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/tyre-nichols-protests-erupted-united-states-rcna67987) 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 called (https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1619143319023685632) 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 article (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11685421/Antifa-tells-protesters-BURN-braces-riots.html), which called it “a shocking poster,” and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1619205397436563456?s=20&t=SC8WbGfoXFuE2W_9c_9jKA) 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.”
Video
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 The Daily Caller (https://dailycaller.com/2023/01/27/tucker-carlson-memphis-antifa/) and The Gateway Pundit (https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/tucker-carlson-calls-antifa-protests-coordinated-political-propaganda-video/), and FoxNews.com (https://www.foxnews.com/media/tyre-nichols-protests-cities-feds-must-have-zero-tolerance-antifa-violence-former-detroit-chief-says?intcmp=tw_fnc) promoted his segment with Craig.
Video 1 27
With the poster on screen, Fox correspondent Christina Coleman said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3999862)on The Ingraham Anglethat “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 said (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3999868) “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 repeated (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3999863) 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 article (https://thepostmillennial.com/antifa-vows-to-burn-it-all-down-in-nyc-following-death-of-tyre-nichols?utm_campaign=64483) 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. Neo-Nazi collaborator (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/jack-posobiec) and Twitter personality Jack Posobiec shared (https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1619119052101922819) the article on Twitter.
Right-wing commentary siteTownhallshared O’Donnell’s tweet, including the image in a Friday night piece (https://townhall.com/tipsheet/juliorosas/2023/01/27/memphis-braces-for-potential-riots-when-police-footage-is-released-n2618860) warning about “potential riots” in Memphis.
Newsmax’s Justine Brooke Murray shared the poster on Twitter, writing (https://twitter.com/Justine_Brooke/status/1619085756248772608), “ANTIFA terrorists plan to burn down New York tonight. They’re blasting THIS out.”
Right-wing radio host David Webb on Twitter claimed (https://twitter.com/davidwebbshow/status/1619102096837726208) the image showed that “violence is not a solution but it is a possibility.”
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Newsmax guest reacts to Tyre Nichols videos: “It's Black on Black crime”
01/28/23 10:31 AM EST
Fox News guest blames Black single mothers for the killing of Tyre Nichols
01/27/23 9:11 PM EST
Tucker Carlson says white people are victims of “racial hatred” amid coverage of Tyre Nichols killing
01/27/23 8:53 PM EST
Fox News host Jesse Watters says Tyre Nichols was killed because “police tactics have been hamstrung”
01/27/23 8:00 PM EST
Fox News host demands representation of “the cops’ perspective” on the killing of Tyre Nichols
01/27/23 5:53 PM EST
Facebook caved to right-wing media demands to reinstate Trump. They keep attacking the platform anyway
01/27/23 5:29 PM EST
Fox host justified conspiracies about attack on Paul Pelosi because “Democrats have a tendency to ... not be transparent”
01/27/23 2:13 PM EST
Fox News guest suggests societal “treatment of police” contributed to Tyre Nichols' killing
01/27/23
mma
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https://www.mediamatters.org/five/fox-news-demands-representation-cops-perspective-killing-tyre-nichols
https://www.mediamatters.org/harris-faulkner/fox-news-guest-blames-treatment-police-tyre-nichols-killing
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apparently acknowledge racism = hates am:
mma 12 22
MATT WALSH (HOST): It is quite -- quite, quite sad that the guy, the international arms smuggler who we traded back to Russia appears, based on what he said, to love America more than the woman we traded for. OK, those are sentiments that you're never going to hear from Brittney Griner. She wouldn't even be able to express it. Both because she lacks the articulation required but also because she just doesn't see America -- she hates America. She really does.
When you refuse to -- when you say, I'm not going to go onto the court when the national anthem is played, that is -- I mean that can only be driven by pure scorn and resentment for your home country. You would never hear that from Brittney Griner. Instead we hear it from the Russian guy, the guy that we're trading back to Russia. So, we're sending away the person who loves America more and bringing in the person who hates America.
Now, now, look, what you're hearing there -- there's a reason why they did the interview in English, right? Is this, perhaps, a ploy on the part of Russia? Is that, you know, a part of this? That's probably the case. But even so, it's still quite sad that the woman we're bringing in would never say anything like that. And everything he said is true. Whether he really believes any of that, I have no idea. But what he said is true.
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sw 9 22
news and Controversies
Criticism of Former Black Lives Matter Fiscal Sponsor Thousand Currents's "Domestic Terrorist" Board Member
In June 2020, a Capital Research Center piece by President Scott Walter criticized charity Thousand Currents for having Susan Rosenberg on its board.[6] Walter shared this criticism on prominent conservative radio and television programs, characterizing Rosenberg as "a convicted domestic terrorist" and discussing the connection between Thousand Currents and Black Lives Matter.[7][8]
Thousand Currents served as the fiscal sponsor of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Project from 2016-2020,\9] when the [Tides Foundation (https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tides_Foundation) assumed the role.[10]
Rosenberg was a member of Thousand Current's board as early as 2014 according to tax filings[11] and was the board's Vice Chairman in 2020 according the charity website's Board of Directors page.[12] The Board of Directors page is no longer available on the charity's website.[13] CRC claims the page was deleted within hours of the publication of Walter's story.[6]
Rosenberg was a member of the May 19th Communist Organization, which was responsible for a "string of violent and spectacular operations from 1979 to 1985: armed robberies that led to the murder of police officers and security guards, audacious prison breakouts and a bombing campaign that in addition to the U.S. Capitol targeted government buildings in Washington and New York."[14] She was arrested in 1984 on several charges, including possession of unregistered explosives and firearms, and sentenced to 58 years in prison.[14][15] Her sentence was commuted by Bill Clinton in 2001.[14][15]
Fact-checker Snopes ruled that Rosenberg was an active member of a revolutionary left-wing organization which engaged in violent illegal activities but disputed her characterization as a "domestic terrorist", saying, "In the absence of a single, universally-agreed definition of 'terrorism', it is a matter of subjective determination as to whether the actions for which Rosenberg was convicted and imprisoned— possession of weapons and hundreds of pounds of explosives— should be described as acts of 'domestic terrorism'".[15]
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an 822
the founder of a neo-Nazi terror network comprised of former military service members who sought to create a base in Idaho appears to be talking to federal prosecutors about a potential plea deal.
Posting on Iron March — a now-defunct global online forum for accelerationist neo-Nazis — in 2017, Liam Montgomery Collins wrote, “I live in the Northeast, so I have a tightknit crew of ex-mil and security I train with. We do hikes, gym sessions, live firing exercises, and we eventually plan to buy a lot of land. Can’t really specify the name or details because it’s an inner-circle thing, but it will serve its purpose when the time comes.
“Think of it as a modern-day SS,” Collins added, referencing the elite corps of the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler.
It was through Iron March that Collins met Paul James Kryscuk, an actor who specialized in a subgenre of pornography that is degrading to women of color and helped him build theterror network that they called “BSN.”
Collins entered the Marine Corps in August 2017 and recruited fellow Marine Jordan Duncan and Justin Wade Hermanson while stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.
In 2020, Kyrscuk relocated from New York City to Boise, Idaho. Members of the network stalked Black Lives Matter members in Boise and held a live-fire training that attracted Joseph Maurino, an enlisted member of the New Jersey Army National Guard. Another member, Joseph Zacharek (https://www.rawstory.com/accelerationists/), joined the Lafayette, Ind. Police Department as a probationary recruit in the summer of 2020, and remained employed there for four months until he was doxed by an antifascist researcher and was fired.
In an Instagram chat on Oct. 1, 2020, Kryscuk and Duncan fantasized about shooting protesters in Boise, according to a federal indictment.
Duncan: “How the BSNs finna be pulling up to chipotle after hitting legs.”
Kryscuk: “Death squad…. Assassins creed hoodies and suppressed 22 pistols.”
Duncan: “People freaking tf out.”
Kryscuck: “About what?”
Duncan: “The end of democracy.”
Kryscuk: “One can hope.”
When the FBI raided Kryscuk’s home in Boise in October 2020, they found a list of assassination targets that included Black Lives Matter founders (https://www.rawstory.com/power-grid/) Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (https://www.rawstory.com/accelerationists/), and a list of intersections that were consistent with power stations. The investigation revealed a plot to attack the power grid to create a blackout before undertaking an assassination campaign. A fourth Marine who joined BSN after serving in the same unit as Collins and Hermanson began cooperating with the authorities in October 2020, along with Zacharek, the former police officer, according to testimony by Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Chris Little.
Kryscuk and Collins wereinitially charged with conspiracy to illegally manufacture and transport firearmsin October 2020. A superseding indictment the following month added Duncan and Hermanson as defendants. A second superseding indictment filed in June 2021 added Maurino as the fifth defendant. And in August 2021, a third superseding indictment expanded the charges to include conspiracy to destroy an energy facility.
Kryscuk and Hermanson accepted plea deals earlier this year that include agreements to cooperate with the government’s investigation and testify against their codefendants.In return for their cooperation, the two men could receive reductions from expected prison sentences of up to 15 years.
Collins was previously scheduled to be arraigned in the Eastern District of North Carolina on Sept. 6, but last week Chief District Judge Richard E. Myers agreed to push back the date to Nov. 1. The new date gives Collins and the government time to work out a deal.
In a motion filed on July 27, Collins' lawyer, Elliot S. Abrams, wrote, “Undersigned counsel has been in discussions with the government about a potential resolution of this matter. These discussions have been fruitful and undersigned counsel requests this additional time to continue discussions with the government regarding non-trial disposition.”
Duncan and Maurino, the two remaining defendants, are both currently scheduled to be arraigned in Wilmington on Sept. 20.
Kryscuk’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 20 in Wilmington, while Hermanson’s sentencing is set for the Sept. 22 term.
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booktv 3 22
NOVEMBER 6, 2021
LAST AIRED JANUARY 16, 2022
Race Crazy - BLM, 1619, and the Progressive Racism Movement
Seeking Educational Excellence (SEE) executive director Charles Love argued that Black Lives Matter and the 1619 Project are a danger to the future of American democracy. AM560 Radio’s “The…
680 VIEWS
FEBRUARY 15, 2022
LAST AIRED MARCH 5, 2022
BLM
Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez took a critical look at the Black Lives Matter movement and its leaders. He argued that they are Marxists who want to dismantle the…
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- ### Fox News host compares trial of Kenosha shooter to murder of George Floyd (https://www.mediamatters.org/lawrence-jones/fox-news-host-compares-trial-kyle-rittenhouse-murder-george-floyd)
11/11/21 7:35 PM EST
- ### Fox News' Gutfeld praises Kenosha shooter for killing protesters and doing “what the government should have done” (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-gutfeld-praises-kenosha-shooter-killing-protesters-and-doing-what-government)
11/11/21 5:52 PM EST
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1021 an
Black Lives Matter protester was billed $57,000 for the legal defense of cop who wrongfully arrested her (https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/black-lives-matter/)
Lauren Floyd (https://www.alternet.org/author/laurenfloyd) Daily Kos (https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos)
Disturbing video taken six years ago shows a Black woman walking to her car while St. Louis police officers, in a state of panic, attempt to disband the few protesters pictured in ...
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https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/trump-on-blm/
only regret no mil ~
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insurrection order
https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/insurrection-act/
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trump ordered mil force:
https://www.alternet.org/2021/06/trump-george-floyd/
"just shoot them"
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https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/black-lives-matter/
hamas
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521 raw an
Some members of a rural Wisconsin community wanted to demonstrate a commitment to inclusion during the racial protests last year, but the debate over how to express that has ripped the town apart.
Older white conservatives in Marathon County (https://wisconsinwatch.org/2020/10/wisconsin-covid-19-update-10-23-20/), whose 135,000 residents are 91 percent white and backed Donald Trump by more than 56 percent in each election, objected to naming the resolution "No Place for Hate," which they found too inflammatory, and the county board's executive committee shot down "A Community For All" last week with a 6-2 vote, reported the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/us/politics/race-inclusion-wasau-wisconsin.html).
"They're creating strife between people labeling us as racist and privileged because we're white," said supervisor Arnold Schlei, a 73-year-old retired veal farmer and longtime board member. "You can't come around and tell people that work their tails off from daylight to dark and tell them that they got white privilege and they're racist and they've got to treat the Hmongs and the coloreds and the gays better because they're racist. People are sick of it."
The proposed resolution grew out of the protests over George Floyd's police killing, with the county's people of color wanting an acknowledgement that they faced some disparities based on race -- but conservatives have been whipped into a froth by local GOP chairman Jack Hoogendyk, who claims it would "end" private property and lead to "race-based redistribution of wealth."
The resolution, of course, would not do those things, but even acknowledging the existence of racism in the community is too much for some residents.
"[Systemic racism] doesn't exist here," said dairy farmer James Juedes, a public opponent of the resolution who's also organized counter protests against Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
"I have yet to recall any type of racial instances that has been reported in this community that has caused any type of stress," Juedes said.
La'Tanya Campbell, a 39-year-old Black social worker who was at the meeting last week, related a different experience. Ms. Campbell works as an advocate for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking, and said she sometimes had to enlist white colleagues to help clients find apartments to rent in Wausau.
"Typically, the racism you experience is behind closed doors, but since I've started on this resolution I can't believe some of the things that I'm hearing," Campbell said. "You feel unsafe being a woman, I feel unsafe being a Black woman, and doing anti-oppression work, it adds up."
The experience has been crushing to non-white residents, who say they're disappointed in their conservative neighbors for seemingly turning their backs -- or worse.
"I don't have the same type of confidence or faith in the community like I used to," said supervisor Ka Lo, a 39-year-old of Hmong descent who fielded death threats during the debate. "I was born and raised here, and I don't recognize the community that I grew up in right now."
FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES
Here's what the resistance can learn from the anti-Vietnam War ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2018/12/heres-what-the-resistance-can-learn-from-the-anti-vietnam-war-movement/)
Here's how the midterms lay out the path for a New Reconstruction › (https://www.alternet.org/heres-how-midterms-lay-out-path-new-reconstruction)
Metallica's 'not-so-secret' charity gives community colleges $1 ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2018/12/metallicas-not-so-secret-charity-gives-community-colleges-1-million-for-heavy-metal-trades/)
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Wisconsin Community Action Program Association › (https://www.wiscap.org/)
Is Marathon County A 'Community For All'? Diversity Resolution ... › (https://www.wpr.org/marathon-county-community-all-diversity-resolution-becomes-debate-flashpoint)
A 'Community for All'? Not So Fast, This Wisconsin County Says ... › (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/us/politics/race-inclusion-wasau-wisconsin.html)
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Proud Boys and Black Lives Matter clashed in this Florida town — and only BLM faced charges: report (https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/black-lives-matter/)
Alex Henderson (https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson)
Some members of the far-right Proud Boys (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/federal-conspiracy-charges-for-2-proud-boys-in-capitol-riot) are facing criminal charges (https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-new-york-indictments-riots-arrests-d2d9c7709c124c6098d46741a734ae64) in connection with the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, but the Proud Boys were violent long before...
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cop training
https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/blm-terrorist/
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/marines/
Three Marine Corps veterans and their porn-star neo-Nazi guru, arrested last month (https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article246744791.html) on charges that they engaged in an interstate gun-running scheme, comprised a band of violent fascists who had recently moved to Idaho with the intent of making it a base of operations for their plans to engage in acts of domestic terrorism, federal prosecutors revealed (https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article247332404.html) this week.
According to the grand-jury indictment (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/press-release/file/1338501/download) filed this week by prosecutors in North Carolina, the men's schemes went well beyond those with which they have been charged—namely, buying semiautomatic rifles, altering them into automatics, then shipping them from Idaho to North Carolina. The foursome not only engaged in paramilitary training in the Idaho desert, they surveilled two separate Black Lives Matters marches in Boise this summer and discussed killing participants. They also plotted to assassinate BLM founder Alicia Garza.
Three of the four men—Justin Hermanson, 21, who used the code name "Sandman"; Liam Collins, 21, aka "Disciple"; and Jordan Duncan, 25, aka "Soldier"—had met while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. The fourth—Paul Kryscuk, 35, whose nom de plume was "Deacon"—was a porn star (under the stage name "Pauly Harker" (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3166146/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm)) who had lived most of his life on Long Island, New York. He met the other men online in the now-defunct neo-Nazi message board Iron March (https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/02/15/visions-chaos-weighing-violent-legacy-iron-march), and was the group's general leader, though all they identified as members of the terrorist organization Atomwaffen Division (https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/atomwaffen-division).
Back in 2017, when Iron March was still active, the men had discussed among themselves how to create "a modern day SS," as one of them put it, referencing the Nazi paramilitary organization Schutzstaffel, the indictment says (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/press-release/file/1338501/download). Kryscuk outlined the group's long-range plan then:
"First order of business is knocking down The System, mounting it and smashing it's face until it has been beaten past the point of death … eventually we will have to bring the rifles out and go to work."
"Second order of business ... is the seizing of territory and the Balkanization of North America. Buying property in remote areas that are already predominantly white and right leaning, networking with locals, training, farming, and stockpiling."
"Start buying property now in the types of regions mentioned above and get to work on building your own group. …As time goes on in this conflict, we will expand our territories and slowly take back the land that is rightfully ours. ... As we build our forces and our numbers, we will move into the urban areas and clear them out. This will be a ground war very reminiscent of Iraq as we will essentially be facing an insurgent force made up of criminals and gang members."
Kryscuk bought a home in the Boise area in February 2020 and moved there, and Duncan and Collins gradually followed suit. Hermanson—who was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and remains an active member of the Marine Corps—joined them in July for a training exercise in the Idaho desert. The participants in compiled a video of the live footage from that training, showing Kryscuk and another person firing a variety of rifles. At the end, the four men—all outfitted in Atomwaffen masks—are seen giving the Nazi salute beneath a Sonnenrad, an occult Nazi symbol. The final frame reads: "Come home white man."
Prosecutors say the purpose of the gun-running scheme was "to regularly and repetitively manufacture and transport firearms and firearm parts, to include suppressors, in a manner that the government would not know the recipients had them, for criminal purposes"—namely "in furtherance of a civil disorder."
The "civil disorder" included attacking the Black Lives Matter movement, including its leadership. Garza reported in a tweet (https://twitter.com/aliciagarza/status/1319730483471679489) last week that the FBI had informed her that her name had appeared on a list of targets found in one of the men's homes in Boise.
"This is why this President is so dangerous," she added (https://twitter.com/aliciagarza/status/1319730484390227969). "He is stoking fires he has no intention of controlling. I'm ok y'all, but this shit is not ok."
The neo-Nazi gang had twice conducted surveillance on BLM events in Boise: First, on July 21, at a rally on the campus of Boise State University, Kryscuk was observed within visual range of the event, first sitting in a parked vehicle and driving around the gathering slowly.
Then, on August 18, Kryscuk was observed lurking in the vicinity of a BLM rally/protest at a park in downtown Boise.
Kryscuk and Duncan just last month discussed in a text chat how things would go down after their group—which they called "the BSN" (a prosecutors office spokesman declined to explain the meaning of the acronym)—attacked BLM marchers as they envisioned:
"How the BSNs finna be pulling up to chipotle after hitting legs," Duncan asked.
"Death squad," Kryscuk answered, adding: "Assassins creed hoodies and suppressed 22 pistols."
"People freaking tf out," Duncan replied.
"About what," Kryscuk asked.
"'The end of democracy'," Duncan wrote.
"One can hope," Kryscuk answered.
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Confederate battle flag banned -- Marine Corps declares it a 'threat ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/confederate-battle-flag-banned-marine-corps-declares-it-a-threat-to-our-core-values/)
Marines declare war on Christmas - Alternet.org › (https://www.alternet.org/2006/11/marines_declare_war_on_christmas/)
Top US Marine Corps commander orders removal of all Confederate ... › (https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/top-us-marine-corps-commander-orders-removal-of-all-confederate-paraphernalia-from-installations-around-the-world/)
RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB
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conflation of organizing with RICO crim conspiracy?
rww 920
Perkins Suggests a ‘Criminal Conspiracy’ Is Behind Civil Unrest in America’s Cities (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/tony-perkins-suggests-a-criminal-conspiracy-is-behind-civil-unrest-in-americas-cities/)
READ MORE (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/tony-perkins-suggests-a-criminal-conspiracy-is-behind-civil-unrest-in-americas-cities/)
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/boogaloo-bois-member-charged-with-rioting-during-minneapolis-protests/
President Donald Trump and many of his allies in the right-wing media have been claiming that most or all of the political violence that has occurred in the United States following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 has come from the left — totally overlooking the history of violence associated with the Proud Boys, QAnon and a variety of white nationalist and militia groups (https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/here-are-5-far-right-extremist-groups-or-movements-that-pose-a-national-security-threat-in-the-us/).But federal prosecutors accused a Texas-based member of the far-right Boogaloo Bois (https://www.kare11.com/article/news/crime/member-of-boogaloo-boys-charged-with-riot-during-george-floyd-unrest/89-fc46fce5-9d06-4b21-892a-587279543dd8) on Friday of going to Minneapolis in late May with the intention of taking part in a riot.
Ivan Harrison Hunter is facing criminal charges for firing a semiautomatic weapon into a Minneapolis police precinct during the protests.
"Federal agents reviewed a video taken on the night of May 28 that shows an individual, later identified as Hunter, firing 13 rounds from an AK-47 style semiautomatic rifle into the Minneapolis Police Department's Third Precinct building," KARE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis, reports. "Law enforcement recovered discharged rifle casings from the scene that are consistent with an AK-47-style firearm."
According to KARE, "Investigators say they recovered social media posts Hunter made upon his return to Texas, describing his illegal activities in Minneapolis. They allege he was communicating with Michael Solomon (https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/george-floyd/two-men-charged-with-attempting-to-provide-material-support-to-terrorist-organization/89-1910cd00-a1bb-48bf-8525-069c00394203), a Minneapolis resident and member of theBoogaloo Boiswho is federally charged with providing support to a terrorist organization, along with an associate named Benjamin Teeter."
The Boogaloo Bois are an extremist far-right movement that call for a second civil war in the United States and favor violent confrontations with law enforcement and politicians. In Northern California, Boogaloo supporter Steven Carrillo (https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2020/06/23/steven-carrillo-boogaloo-associated-suspect-in-killing-of-two-ca-officers-has-first-court-appearance-in-federal-death-penalty-case/) is facing murder charges for his role in a late May shooting in Oakland that left a Federal Protective Service officer dead. And some of the 13 men arrested in connection with a plot to kidnap and possibly murder Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (https://www.nbcboston.com/news/national-international/whitmer-conspiracy-allegations-tied-to-boogaloo-movement/2209571/) are believed by law enforcement to be connected to the Boogaloo movement; others allegedly involved in that plot, according to the FBI (https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/10/10084210/wolverine-watchmen-michigan-militia-history-boogaloo), were part of the Wolverine Watchmen (https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/wolverine-watchmen-militia-linked-whitmer-kidnap-plot-has-boogaloo-ties), a far-right militia group.
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mma 920
fox News prime-time shows spent over 3 hours displaying violent imagery in August
Fox’s prime-time evening shows -- Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle -- spent more than 3 hours displaying violent imagery throughout August, often using images that were days or months old, as they discussed the ongoing protests against police brutality across America.
In Fox News’ 3 hours and 15 minutes barrage of violent imagery the network included images of looting, crime scenes, acts of violence, fires, and the aftermath of violence or destruction. Of the 252 instances of violent imagery, 81 instances included images of burning objects.
At least 50 times, Fox displayed images or videos that were over five days old. And on more than 20 occasions, the images or videos shown in August were from May or June.
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/republican-representative-tells-followers-to-burn-and-loot-houses-of-black-lives-matter-supporters/
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trump’s latest conspiracy theory seems to echo Facebook ‘antifa panic’ — and Rudy Giuliani’s BLM paranoia (https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trumps-latest-conspiracy-theory-seems-to-echo-facebook-antifa-panic-and-rudy-giulianis-blm-paranoia/)
Roger Sollenberger (https://www.alternet.org/author/rogersollenberger/) / Salon (https://www.alternet.org/author/salon/)September 2, 2020
President Trump pushed a baseless and bizarre conspiracy theory on Monday that a plane “almost completely loaded with thugs” was sent to disrupt the Republican National Convention, a claim that appears almost identical to a rumor…
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/republicans-are-running-on-a-big-lie-and-its-getting-people-ed/
Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a modest influx of New Yorkers to my town, which is located about 90 miles Northwest of the city. My new next-door neighbors just moved up from Brooklyn this month. As one of them told me the other day, they made the move because they are now able to work remotely, and it made sense to get out of the city because they could rent an entire three-bedroom house for less than they had been paying for a cramped two-bedroom apartment.
Speaking over the fence that separates our backyards, my new neighbor explained that because of the outbreak, she and her partner weren’t comfortable enjoying the city’s restaurants, nightlife and cultural attractions–those that remain open–and said, “there’s no point paying a fortune in rent to sit at home and watch Netflix.” They’re now considering getting a dog.
Crime didn’t enter the picture, and with good reason. According to NYPD data, there were 1,021 fewer major crimes in the city in June (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/pr0706/nypd-citywide-crime-statistics-june-2020) and July (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/p0803a/nypd-citywide-crime-statistics-july-2020) than there were during the same period in 2019. It’s true that there were 29 more murders, in a city of 8 million people, during those two months than there were last year–a figure promoted relentlessly by the conservative media–but there were also 39 fewer rapes, 107 fewer assaults and 284 fewer robberies.
Despite the uptick in homicides, likely a result of months of quarantine, the city is on pace to have 400 murders this year, which would be 270 fewer (https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/analysis_and_planning/historical-crime-data/seven-major-felony-offenses-2000-2019.pdf) than New York experienced in the final year of Rudy Giuliani’s term as Mayor. Yet during the Republican National Convention, Giuliani claimed (https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/rudy-giuliani-2020-rnc-speech-transcript) that “murders, shootings, and violent crime are increasing at percentages unheard of in the past."
having failed to contain a historic public health crisis and ensuing economic downturn, the Republican Party is running on a big lie, claiming against all evidence that “Democrat-led” cities are rife with crime and rioting and chaos, with fearful (white) residents fleeing in droves to safer locales in the suburbs. Every aspect of this storyline is completely divorced from reality.
America’s cities, like its suburbs and small towns, are struggling with the impact of the pandemic and are struggling with a severe loss of tax revenues resulting from lockdowns and from people not feeling safe going to bars and restaurants and shopping when their economies did reopen. Many residents of big cities, like those in suburbs and small towns, are struggling economically. These are real problems that are absent from the conservative discourse at present.
While the right mocks the very idea of peaceful protests, riots have in fact been scattered, localized and in many cases caused by overly aggressive policing, as you can see from videos collected by The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/14/nyregion/nypd-george-floyd-protests.html). People are angry about racially discriminatory policing, but in many communities, it’s pretty clear that the cops are even angrier about being held accountable. Almost all of the turmoil in Portland has occurred in a small area around the federal courthouse (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/31/us/portland-protests-map-photos.html) after dark. The city isn’t on fire, and most Portland residents are living their lives unaffected by the protests. The dynamic has been similar in Seattle and other big cities.
Let’s also point out that most big-city governments are controlled by Democrats. That’s true of the safest and the most dangerous cities, the ones with the best and the worst finances and those with the most and least tension between cops and the communities they police–they’re almost all “Democrat-run.” Big cities are diverse, and Republicans rarely win elections in localities with significant non-white populations.
Also keep in mind that violent crime in the United States has seen a long and steep decline over the past 25 or so years. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/), violent crime dropped by 71 percent between 1993 and 2018. Property crimes also fell by 69 percent over that same period. This is vital context for any short-term uptick in crime that some communities may be experiencing as we reopen our economies.
But this narrative that American cities are smoking ruins or are being destroyed by criminals and looters has become Trump’s–and the GOP’s–central argument for 2020, with Fox News playing clips of trash fires and windows being broken on a loop and the Republican National Convention lauding the heroism of a terrified white couple who waved guns at peaceful protesters.
We expect the parties to exaggerate and at times lie during campaigns,but at least in the modern era, no major party has run a campaign that is entirely divorced from any objective reality. In most cases, Republicans aren’t even bothering to offer any real arguments. During the convention, there was a throw-away line or two about Biden raising taxes, but that’s been pretty much been it.
And this relentless propaganda campaign is getting people killed. Hopped up on the belief that they’re saving the country from violent anarchists, the far-right has unleashed an enormous amount of violence and intimidation on Black Lives Matter protesters. The Huffington Postreports (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-vigilantes-kenosha_n_5f4822bcc5b6cf66b2b5103e) that “white vigilantes and far-right actors have shown up to oppose Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. at least 497 times this year, according to data collected by Alexander Reid Ross (https://twitter.com/areidross), a doctoral fellow at the Center for Analysis of the Radical Right.”
The dataset (https://web.pdx.edu/aross/incidents/incidents.html), which Ross shared with HuffPost, documents a staggering amount of violence directed at protesters by the far-right, including 64 cases of simple assault, 38 incidents of vigilantes driving cars into demonstrators, and nine times shots were fired at protesters.
All told, six protesters were hit by vigilante bullets in this summer’s violence. Three died from their wounds.
Ross’ dataset also includes 387 incidents of intimidation, such as people using racist slurs, making threats and brandishing firearms.
“There just isn’t really anything to compare it to,” Ross told HuffPost. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
Such incidents are so common that they often don’t make national news. Last week, a Pennsylvania man shot and wounded (https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2020/08/25/Protest-marcher-shot-bedford-county-pennsylvania-frank-nitty/stories/202008250075) a member of a group of people marching to Washington to protest without any preamble–there was no confrontation preceding the attack.And yet the incident didn’t make a ripple in the national news. And after the RNC celebrated the McCloskeys’ armed defense of private property, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse traveled to Kenosha multiple times (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/watch-kenosha-gunman-kyle-rittenhouse-punches-young-woman-weeks-before-protest-s/), ostensibly to protect a gas station, and committed violence against that city’s residents, culminating in the alleged murders of two of them.
And making matters worse is that Trump refuses to condemn the violence from the far-right because doing so would undermine his mendacious claim that leftists are responsible for a lion’s share of the mayhem. As Lilliana Mason, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, pointed out (https://twitter.com/LilyMasonPhD/status/1300133310853779464), research “exposing subjects to quotes from Trump or Biden explicitly rejecting violence” has found that “when leaders reject violence, partisans reject violence. When leaders say nothing, partisans endorse violence.”
Donald Trump doesn’t have much to run on. His desperate attempt to shift the national conversation from the Covid-19 crisis and resulting recession to widespread chaos in American cities is a Hail Mary pass that’s getting people killed.
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/tucker-carlson-claims-white-militia-guy-accused-of-ing-protesters-was-trying-to-maintain-order/
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https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/foxs-whitewash-trumps-qanon-endorsement-helps-explain-how-it-happened-first
Trump’s Wednesday endorsement of the deranged and dangerous QAnon movement as people who “love this country” thrilled its supporters (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-supporters-overjoyed-after-trump-endorses-unhinged-conspiracy-theory) while horrifying observers, who pointed out that his validation of an extremist ideology linked to violent acts would swell its ranks. But during his first interview following those remarks on Thursday night, the president faced no questions about his praise for unhinged pro-Trump conspiracy theorists who claim that he is on the verge of unraveling a global pedophile ring of Satan-worshipping Democrats and celebrities. As Fox News host Sean Hannity provided the president with his typical mix of sycophancy and softballs over the course of the half-hour phoner, Trump’s embrace of QAnon never came up.
Hannity’s decision to ignore the story put a capstone on Fox’s lackadaisical response to the president’s praise for advocates of a bizarre conspiracy theory that the FBI has termed a domestic terror threat. Fox News political analyst Karl Rove garnered (https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-panel-hammers-trump-for-praising-qanon) press (https://www.mediaite.com/tv/karl-rove-slams-trump-for-qanon-answer-this-is-a-group-of-nuts-and-kooks-he-should-disavow-them/) attention (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/just-ridiculous-karl-rove-says-trump-failing-to-condemn-qanon-was-a-big-mistake) on Wednesday for calling QAnon supporters “nuts and kooks” and saying the president “ought to disavow them” on Special Report, and that program ran a segment (https://video.foxnews.com/v/6183099876001) on the “conspiracy theory” the following day. But none of the network’s highly rated prime-time hosts have mentioned Trump’s remarks at all, and by Thursday morning, Fox & Friends was decontextualizing (https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1296391055789764608) part of the president’s comment as an anodyne reference to his administration “saving the world.”
Trump backing the QAnon movement seems like a natural fit -- the president is a notorious (https://www.mediamatters.org/one-america-news-network/trump-promotes-unhinged-oan-conspiracy-theory-about-battered-75-year-old) conspiracy (https://www.mediamatters.org/joe-scarborough/joe-scarborough-conspiracy-theory-donald-trump-sending-mob-boss-message) theorist (https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/flashback-how-fox-news-promoted-trumps-birtherism) who finds it nearly impossible to disavow even his most reprehensible supporters (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/01/donald-trump-and-david-duke-for-the-record/). But his praise for the group can’t be separated from Fox’s unwillingness to try to establish guard rails for the Republican Party by denouncing it. Trump relies on Fox for news and information, and its coverage constantly shapes his worldview. If Fox’s hosts had condemned the QAnon movement in the years since it first emerged, it’s hard to imagine that the president would be praising it today -- or that it would have metastasized through the GOP (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/us/politics/qanon-trump-republicans.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage) to the extent that it has.
But Fox has largely kept discussions of the QAnon movement and its violent and unhinged ideology off its airwaves, even as its spread within the Republican Party has ensured that the network has repeatedly ended up promoting its supporters (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/definitive-guide-fox-news-treatment-qanon-conspiracy-theory). I noted last week (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/fox-news-dangerous-dance-qanon), after one of its adherents received the GOP congressional nod for a blood-red district, that QAnon has been referenced on only eight broadcasts on the network’s weekday evening programming over the previous two years -- almost all passing references that failed to describe the conspiracy theory’s dangers. The network’s on-air talent have alternately denied knowing anything about the movement and played footsie with it, engaging with its followers on social media, downplaying its extremism, and even praising aspects of it on Fox shows. Meanwhile, the network’s executives hired (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-nation/fox-nation-host-isaiah-washington-qanon-supporter-and-conspiracy-theorist) a prominent QAnon-supporting influencer to host a cooking show on Fox’s streaming service.
We know what it looks like when Fox tries to destroy the credibility of a movement with its audience, and that isn’t it. Fox hosts and personalities highlighted the Black Lives Matter movement during 288 weekday evening broadcasts over the same two-year span, building (https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hate-group-nazis-fox-news-ramps-their-war-black-lives-matter) on racist and unhinged smears (https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/how-fox-news-primetime-lineup-demonized-black-lives-matter-2015) the network has deployed against its supporters since its founding.
In recent months, as the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor drove new attention to Black Lives Matter’s campaign against racial injustice and police brutality, Fox hosts (https://www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/fox-business-host-lou-dobbs-attacks-businesses-supporting-black-lives-matter) redoubled (https://www.mediamatters.org/black-lives-matter/fox-news-propped-black-lives-matter-leader-who-has-no-affiliation-official-group) their efforts (https://www.mediamatters.org/black-lives-matter/fox-news-keeps-spreading-debunked-conspiracy-theory-about-black-lives-matter) to delegitimize (https://www.mediamatters.org/black-lives-matter/right-wing-media-vilify-black-lives-matter-movement-grows) it. Network star Tucker Carlson, perhaps the Fox host with the most influence on Trump (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/how-tucker-carlson-became-fox-host-trump-listens-most) right now, turned his program (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-using-nativist-conspiracy-theories-attack-black-lives-matter) into a nightly assault (https://www.mediamatters.org/black-lives-matter/tucker-carlsons-racist-and-extreme-descriptions-black-lives-matter-movement) on the group. He called it a “totalitarian political movement” (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-black-lives-matter-totalitarian-political-movement-and-someone-needs) and denounced Republican leaders (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/will-gop-let-tucker-carlson-control-its-police-brutality-debate) who expressed support for it.
Trump got the message. He repeatedly (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/01/trump-black-lives-matter-347051) lashed out (https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-anthem-kneeling-black-lives-matter-marxist) at Black Lives Matter this summer, at times in direct response to segments he was watching (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-lashes-out-at-black-lives-matter-accuses-one-member-of-treason/2020/06/25/45667ec8-b70f-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html) about it on Fox. The president was particularly aggrieved (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/politics/fact-check-trump-pigs-blanket-black-lives-matter/index.html) by an anti-police chant that members of a Minnesota-based Black Lives Matter group used during a march in 2015 -- one that Fox has highlighted dozens of times (https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1278439433054937088) in the years since.
If Fox had devoted even a fraction of the venomous demonization it launched at Black Lives Matter activists to QAnon conspiracy theorists, the network could have warned off its millions of viewers -- including the president -- from the movement. But Fox has not chosen that path, which would require trying to curb the excesses of the radicalized Republicans whose anti-Democratic fervor (https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1296630377927389184) powers the network’s ratings.
Instead, Fox sold out its viewers to a cult. The longer the network held its fire, the more vulnerable its audience was to the movement’s entreaties, and the harder it became to pry Trump supporters away from its conspiracy theories. Now QAnon’s ranks have swelled, its supporters have effectively become (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/us/politics/qanon-trump-republicans.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage) a key GOP constituency, dozens are running for Congress (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/here-are-qanon-supporters-running-congress-2020), and at least one will likely be elected to the House in the fall. With the president himself signing on as a validator, it may be too late to keep QAnon away from the levers of power.
QAnon may garner criticism here and there from some at Fox who, like Rove, find the spectacle of the president cozying up to “kooks” too much to bear. But I doubt very much that the network as a whole will engage in the full-spectrum denunciation needed to curtail QAnon’s growth. Instead, the days to come will likely bring a range of responses from Fox personalities, from ignoring the movement, to downplaying its importance and extremism, to condemning its critics for attacking Trump supporters. The press will be hammered for covering the story. Some network figures will claim that the QAnon movement makes some good points, perhaps even outing themselves as full-fledged supporters. Others will rely on whataboutism, with the president’s defenders pushing back against reporting on QAnon by demanding to know why the media isn’t asking Democrats to condemn antifa or Black Lives Matter.
Fox is a Republican propaganda outlet that is deeply devoted to Trump. As long as that party and its leader are standing by the QAnon cult, the network won’t dare to stand up to it.
---
==
blm richmond blm757 dunn neo-nazi?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/was-richmond-rally-hijacked-by-white-supremacistsor-just-a-shitshow
---
db
Several recent violent plots associated with the anti-government Boogaloo movement have also allegedly been carried out by veterans or active service members (https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-disturbing-appeal-of-boogaloo-violence-to-military-men). In May, two veterans and a current Army Reserve soldier were arrested in an alleged plot to throw explosives at a Black Lives Matter rally. That same month, a current Air Force staff sergeant was arrested for allegedly killing a federal security officer and attempting to kill another, in an apparent plot to kick off a new civil war that Boogaloo adherents believe is imminent.
==
==
DHS Takes to the Streets
Four days after Floyd's murder, amid street protests in Oakland, California, an officer for the Federal Protective Service was gunned down and killed outside the federal building he was guarding. Cuccinelli called the killing of the DHS agency officer "an act of domestic terrorism," and pledged that the department would take an active role in response to the violence.
"We will stand behind our law-enforcement officers here in the department and all over America," he said.
Six weeks later, when two men were captured and charged in the Oakland assault, federal prosecutors detailed evidence (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-defendants-charged-murder-and-aiding-and-abetting-slaying-federal-protective-service)that the men were associated with a right-wing extremist group, the Boogaloo Boys, and that they had taken advantage of the chaos of the anti-racism protests to stage their assault. That fact was lost in the executive order Trump signed on June 26, expanding DHS authority to respond to "anarchists and left-wing extremists." Trump directed DHS to provide personnel to assist in the protection of "federal monuments, memorials, statues or property."
Within days, DHS officers were deployed to Portland, Oregon, where Black Lives Matter protests had continued into July, stoked by tensions that have raged for years between leftists and white extremists in the city. [pix]
The conflict escalated with the arrival of the federal officers, and while many protesters were peaceful, others in the crowd tossed fireworks at officers and pointed high-powered lasers at federal agents, temporarily blinding them. Agents clubbed protestors with batons, used tear gas to disperse the crowds, and forced protestors into unmarked vans (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/17/portland-protests-federal-arrests/) to detain them for questioning. An unarmed 26-year-old protester (https://www.opb.org/news/article/donavan-labella-portland-condition-shot-head-federal-officer/)who was holding a radio over his head suffered a fractured skull and brain injury when a DHS officer shot him in the forehead with a rubber bullet.
DHS compiled and distributed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/dhs-compiled-intelligence-reports-on-journalists-who-published-leaked-documents/2020/07/30/5be5ec9e-d25b-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html) to law enforcement "intelligence reports" on journalists who were covering the clash in Portland, a practice Wolf halted after The Washington Post reported on it. Politico later reported (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/02/cuccinelli-oversight-homeland-security-intel-390185) that the intelligence-gathering on journalists occurred after Cuccinelli relaxed the civil liberties oversight process at the agency.
==
ref
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-defendants-charged-murder-and-aiding-and-abetting-slaying-federal-protective-service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Two Defendants Charged with Murder and Aiding and Abetting in Slaying of Federal Protective Service Officer at Oakland Courthouse Building
Defendants Allegedly Opened Fire on Unsuspecting Officers Guarding Courthouse at Federal Building As Public Demonstrations Continued Only Blocks Away
At a press conference held this morning at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland, the Department of Justice announced that murder and attempted murder charges have been filed against Steven Carrillo, the alleged gunman in the May 29, 2020, drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of Protective Security Officer David Patrick Underwood and injuries to a second security officer. The Department of Justice also announced aiding and abetting charges against Robert Alvin Justus Jr., the driver of the vehicle from which Carrillo is alleged to have attacked the guards.
...
The charges against Carrillo and Justus were brought in two criminal complaints, one filed against each defendant. According to the complaints, at approximately 9:27 p.m., on May 29, 2020, a white Ford Econoline-style van parked directly across the street from the federal building in Oakland on Jefferson Street. The van was parked facing the guard post where Officer Underwood and his partner that evening stood guard to protect the building. The van was on the southeast corner in the spot closest to the intersection with an unobstructed view of the guard post. Shortly after the van parked, a man emerged from the driver’s seat and walked around the area conducting reconnaissance for approximately ten minutes. Then, at approximately 9:43 p.m., the exterior lights of the van turned on and the van moved north on Jefferson Street toward the guard post. The passenger-side sliding door opened, and Carrillo allegedly fired multiple rounds from a firearm toward the guard post, killing Officer Underwood and injuring his partner.
The incident set off an eight-day manhunt that came to a crescendo after a witness reported an abandoned white Ford van in Ben Lomond, Calif. The van reportedly contained what appeared to be ammunition, firearms, and bomb-making equipment and an effort apparently was made to alter the van’s appearance with spray paint and a wheel covering to disguise a missing hubcap. Nevertheless, evidence from the van, led deputies from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office to Carrillo’s residence inBen Lomond. There, Carrillo allegedly opened fire on the deputies when they arrived at his property, killing one deputy and injuring a second. During the attack there was also an explosion on the property.
The complaints describe a subsequent odyssey during which Carrillo was shot and fled the scene initially on foot, and then by carjacking a vehicle on a nearby highway. The chase came to an end when, still bleeding from his hip, Carrillo was taken into custody.
Additional evidence was recovered at Carrillo’s Ben Lomond residence included an AR-15-style short-barreled rifle fitted with a binary trigger that fired one round of 9mm ammunition at the pull of the trigger and another round at the release of the trigger. The rifle was fitted with a silencerthat suppressed the sound of gunfire from the rifle. In addition, Carrillo appears to have used his own blood to write various phrases on the hood of the car that he carjacked. The phrases relate to an extremist ideology that promotes inciting a violent uprising through use of militias.
Cell phone records from Carrillo’s phone identified Justus as a person with whom Carrillo may have been communicating in the days leading up to the drive-by shooting attack in Oakland. On June 11, while the FBI had Justus under surveillance, travelled to the Federal Building in San Francisco, met with the FBI, and was thereafter arrested for his involvement in the shooting, including hisrole as the driver of the vehicle.
The charges contained in the criminal complaints areallegations only. Carrillo and Justus are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt...
==
mma
Michael Savage likened (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=ed5afe79ac06b6264a292dba36ec6a8848bd930003922e31df1d18589461eb0fc9c5ac3a00967aefe9e99953fb2964098ab905124002b13c) Black Lives Matter to ISIS and Al Qaeda. Glenn Beck compared (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=ed5afe79ac06b6267b66c8b734150cff82f1bfc34eb1137a891ca3f8dcb11c4e68118ddc1f23791710168c173064d109ba50fba4a44cf43f) supporting Black Lives Matter to supporting Nazis in the 1930s.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) criticized (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=ed5afe79ac06b62657939df36ae11c88af4a40c23cf4db6a31e652ae24238bbcdf4bc3d8a659975345dffd3271b9c0803d6712e9463ab0d0) Black Lives Matter in an interview with OAN personality and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, who has documented white supremacist ties.
---
https://www.vox.com/2016/6/6/11839620/jasmine-richards-black-lives-matter-lynching
Black Lives Matter activist Jasmine "Abdullah" Richards was released from jail Saturday (http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/black-lives-matter-pasadena-founder-sentenced-june-7-to-90-days-in-jail-released-saturday/#.V2mJi5MrLUo), less than two weeks after she was sentenced to 90-days in jail minus times served for a controversial felony conviction.
Richards, a 28-year-old black woman and founder of Pasadena's Black Lives Matter chapter, gained national attention earlier this month when she was convicted of felony lynching, a technical term in California penal code (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=403-420.1) referring to "the taking by means of a riot of another person from the lawful custody of a peace officer."
Richards was sentenced on June 7 by Judge Elaine Lu to 90 days in jail, with 18 days served, three years on probation, and one year of anger management. After posting bail for a separate misdemeanor protesting charge, Richards is now free.
On August 29, 2015 (http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/black-lives-matter-pasadena-organizer-convicted-of-felony-lynching-charge/#.V1BAeZMrJ-V), police responded to a 911 call after an altercation at a local park. The owner of a restaurant near the park told police an unidentified young black woman allegedly did not pay for her meal. Black Lives Matter supporters, including Richards, were already at the park after a peaceful protest earlier that day for Kendrec McDade (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/17/black-student-kendrec-mcdade-shot-us-police-review-withheld), a 19-year-old unarmed black teenager who was killed by Pasadena police in 2012.
Video (https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvimeo.com%2F138159522&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2016%2F6%2F6%2F11839620%2Fjasmine-richards-black-lives-matter-lynching) of the incident shows Black Lives Matter supporters, including Richards, run to the woman's side as police attempt to arrest her. Richards was arrested two days later for trying to physically pull the woman away from police.
Richards was initially charged with (http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/black-lives-matter-pasadena-organizer-convicted-of-felony-lynching-charge/#.V1BE_5MrJTY) inciting a riot, child endangerment, delaying and obstructing peace officers, and felony lynching. When the court announced the June 1 trial date, only the lynching charge remained (http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/june-1-jury-trial-set-for-pasadena-black-lives-matter-organizer-jasmine-richards/#.V1BBt5MrJTY).
Richards is not the first modern protester to be charged with lynching. Maile Hampton (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/05/maile-hampton-woman-lynching-charge-california-law), a 20-year-old black woman, was arrested for "lynching" during a rally against police brutality in Sacramento in April 2015. Occupy Oakland activists Tiffany Tran and Alex Brown (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/opd-arrests-protesters-for-lynching/Content?oid=3096451) were charged in 2011, and Los Angeles Occupy activistSergio Ballesteros (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/16/sergio-ballesteros-occupy-la-arrest_n_1208985.html) was charged in 2012 for lynching while intervening in an arrest at the local Artwalk.
But in other cases, the charges were later dropped. Richards is the first African American convicted of "lynching" (http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/black-lives-matter-leader-found-guilty-of-lynching/#.V1Fl75MrKT9) in the United States, setting an unsettling precedent in the movement for black lives' fight against police brutality.
"Clearly this is a political prosecution," Richards's attorney, Nana Gyamfi, told Vox. "Its intention is to stop people from organizing, and from speaking out and challenging the system. There's a political message that's been sent by both the prosecutor and the police and, by conviction, the jury."
The history behind California's "lynching" law
Lynching (http://www.vox.com/2016/6/1/11827994/tulsa-race-massacre-black-wall-street) typically refers to a violent Jim Crow–era tactic used to terrorize black communities. However, the language of California's penal code does not speak to this history of racial violence specifically. It's one of the reasons Gov. Jerry Brown removed the term (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-lynching-law-governor-jerry-brown/) from the state's criminal code in July 2015 following Hampton's arrest.
California's anti-lynching law was enacted in 1933 (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vigilantes-in-california-lynch-two-suspected-murderers). That year, a vigilante mob of 10,000 people (http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Bay-Area-mob-lynched-kidnappers-75-years-ago-3183800.php#photo-2046319) stormed a San Jose jail to seize Thomas Thurmond and John Holmes, two white men, who confessed to kidnapping and murdering of 22-year-old Brooke Hart, the son of a local storeowner. Tear gas did not stop the mob, and police guards were attacked.
After plucking them from the jail, the mob hanged Thurmond and Holmes from trees in a nearby park. According to a 1933
(https://youtu.be/lUdUagb_sfk), Thurmond was "yanked to his doom in less time than it takes to tell it."
No one was charged for Thurmond and Holmes's deaths. Gov. James Rolph Jr. was nationally criticized (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/coming-california-gov-james-rolph-glad-mob-lynched-killers-article-1.443091) for condoning the vigilante violence. Still, Rolph signed an anti-lynching law, which was one of several passed by state lawmakers during that time.
The law was passed at a time when people were pressuring the federal government to intervene to stop vigilante lynchings of African Americans. In July 1922 (http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-anti-lynching-bill), the NAACP lobbied for a federal anti-lynching bill that was ultimately filibustered by the Senate. This would continue throughout the 1920s and '30s. The last thorough national anti-lynching bill was introduced in 1937, and was similarly squashed. In fact, the Senate record was so bad that it approved a resolution in 2005 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301720.html) apologizing for its willful failure to act.
In the 1930s, California's anti-lynching law was a sign of progress at a moment when the federal governmental failed to intervene.
Today, when activists like Richards are charged with "lynching," this progressive law appears to be exploited to quell, not encourage, social change as it was originally intended.
There is a growing legal push to intimidate Black Lives Matter activists
People involved with the Black Lives Matter movement have continually faced forms of intimidation that are eerily reminiscent of those used against civil rights activists from Martin Luther King Jr. (http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/11/12/7204453/martin-luther-king-fbi-letter) to author James Baldwin (https://theintercept.com/2015/08/15/fbi-spy-james-baldwin/).
Last summer, a cybersecurity firm identified (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/zerofox-report-baltimore-black-lives-matter) activists Deray McKesson and Johnetta Elzie as "threat actors" during the Baltimore protests. In August, Vice reported (https://news.vice.com/article/emails-show-feds-have-monitored-professional-protester-deray-mckesson?utm_source=vicenewstwitter) that the Department of Homeland Security was monitoring McKesson's activities on social media.
But Richards's conviction sets a troubling legal precedent.
In the 1971 case People v. Jones (https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11468246624877335695&hl=en&as_sdt=2,5), the definition of lynching was expanded to include a riot of two or more people that leads to their own escape, which has been exploited to intimidate activists who resist their (potentially unlawful) arrests.An Occupy Oakland activist was almost charged with lynching herself (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/opd-arrests-protesters-for-lynching/Content?oid=3096451) for yelling "help" during an encampment raid. But, again, unlike in Richards's case, the charges were later dropped.
Black Lives Matter organizer Melina Abdullah told Democracy Now (http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/2/black_lives_matter_activist_convicted_of), "It's really disgusting and ironic that she's charged and convicted with felony lynching, when the real lynching that's carried out is done in the same way it was carried out in the late 19th, early 20th century, where it's supposed to punish those who dare to rise up against a system."
Richards's lawyer said the conviction may have also been due to the jury's makeup: Despite Pasadena's population being 13.4 percent (http://cityofpasadena.net/Pasadena_Facts_and_Statistics/) black, none of the jurors were. Instead, Gyamfi noted (http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/2/black_lives_matter_activist_convicted_of), half of the jurors were white and the rest were either Latino or Asian/Pacific Islander.
Meanwhile, California law (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=142-181) states that interfering with police, as Deputy District Attorney Christine Kee described Richards's actions (http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/june-1-jury-trial-set-for-pasadena-black-lives-matter-organizer-jasmine-richards/#.V1BIhpMrJTY), is a misdemeanor. By charging and convicting Richards with the "lynching" felony, Gyamfi argues that the deputy district attorney and the local police department are setting a tone that tells activists and organizers that protesting is a criminal activity. If anything, Gyamfi said she thinks her client was used as an example to stop the movement locally, through intimidation.
Nonetheless, Gyamfi is not deterred.
"We're going to continue to fight for freedom," she said, "and continue to push to keep the voices of those who are shining light on what is going on in the dark by the Pasadena police department heard and amplified."
---
==
In 2020, the Intercept (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intercept) released a report that police departments used Dataminr services for surveillance during the George Floyd protests (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests), including accessing social media posts about protest locations and actions. As written in the article, "The monitoring seems at odds with claims from both Twitter and Dataminr that neither company would engage in or facilitate domestic surveillance following a string of 2016 controversies."\1] [Twitter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter) claimed that the company was just "news alerting."[2]
---
https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/tom-cotton-actually-called-slavery-a-necessary-evil-in-push-to-ban-schools-from-teaching-the-1619-project/
no lnx
Laura Clawson / Daily Kos July 27, 2020
The New York Times’ Nikole Hannah-Jones continues to live rent-free in Republican heads, with Sen. Tom Cotton pushing Senate legislation to penalize schools for using a curriculum based on the 1619 Project. Hannah-Jones spearheaded the project, which “seeks to place the enslavement of Africans at the center of America’s story, prompting public conversation about the nation’s founding and evolution,” as the project was described when she won the Pulitzer Prize for her essay.
”The 1619 Project is left-wing propaganda. It’s revisionist history at its worst,” Cotton toldthe Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Cotton’s view? “We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact on the development of our country because otherwise we can’t understand our country. As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built, but the union was built in a way, as Lincoln said, to put slavery on the course to its ultimate extinction.”
So … it’s left-wing propaganda for Hannah-Jones to put slavery and its legacy at the center of U.S. history, but the Founding Fathers saw slavery as “the necessary evil upon which the union was built.” If it was a necessary evil according to the people who defined the basis of the nation, then yeah, it’s necessary to put slavery at the center of our history.
Cotton said he rejects, “root and branch,” the idea “that America is at root, a systemically racist country to the core and irredeemable.” But again, he really took that “necessary evil” thing and ran with it.
Hannah-Jones challenged Cotton, asking “Were the Founders right or wrong, @TomCottonAR, when they called slavery a ‘necessary evil upon which the Union was built’? Because either you agree with their assessment of slavery as necessary or you admit they were lying and it was just an evil and dishonorable choice. Which?”
Cotton’s is an attempt to counter a status quo history curriculum that has its own politics.
“The way that history is taught in American schools is highly politicized and it really has a nationalistic agenda,” Hannah-Jones recently told WBUR. “What that has meant is that it has necessarily downplayed the role of slavery.”
School districts including Chicago, Washington, and Buffalo are adopting the 1619 Project curriculum, and Cotton sees this as his chance to elevate himself in the Trumpian culture wars, sending a strong message that he intends to continue sidelining Black people in U.S. history—and, onlookers can infer, in other ways.
==
==
https://theintercept.com/2020/07/09/twitter-dataminr-police-spy-surveillance-black-lives-matter-protests
==
https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/police-with-lots-of-military-gear-kill-civilians-more-often-than-less-militarized-officers/
---
mma 720
As is the case in most cities across the United States, protests against police brutality have taken place in St. Louis, Missouri, for the past several weeks. In a since deleted video, Lyda Krewson, the Democratic mayor of St. Louis announced the names and home addresses of some residents who had contacted the mayor’s office about defunding the police. In response, last weekend, protesters (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=f6e278dd6e2a6c7a166d69a2553b67a4fa4b164780971b89ee5bf3aadb97533a27c89480d6e4747749be7ae548e5350331820e6aeaab94cd) took to the streets to demand the resignation of the mayor and continue protests against police brutality. In the midst of the protest, two people emerged from a nearby mansion and pointed guns at the peaceful protesters. A man pointed an AR-15-style rifle directly at protesters, while a woman pointed a handgun with her finger directly on the trigger.
This week, many right-wing media figures took the opportunity to defend the couple. Some figures praised the couple for defending their homes, while others asserted that the couple’s actions were justified because of panic caused by the recent coverage of protests and left-wing demonstrators around the country.
Here are just a few examples (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=f6e278dd6e2a6c7a2a3bda4df1afa72915ea0a0edd5d62513813671fe9ade72b0bdcaf4db5f5ae7855575f1d2bb7425394e5a352e87b21bd) of right-wing media figures defending the couple::
Far-right commentator Cassandra Fairbanks tweeted: “I am absolutely in love with them. These people are the American dream.” In another tweet, Fairbanks attacked the peaceful protesters for entering the gated community, calling them a “black lives matter mob.”
The View’s Meghan McCain complained the media reaction revealed an “elitist disdain” for “gun culture in red states.”
Conservative radio host and former NRATV personality Dana Loesch tweeted in defense of the couple, writing, “Considering the broadcasts, violence, fire, and weeks of angry mobs, of course they’re scared.”
Right-wing commentator Jesse Kellytweeted that the couple was “trying to protect their property from the zoo animals.”
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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-federalist-publisher-calls-on-republicans-to-get-physically-involved-against-blm-protesters/
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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-federalist-publisher-calls-on-republicans-to-get-physically-involved-against-blm-protesters/
ben Domenech, publisher of the right-wing outlet The Federalist, called on Republican Party leaders to “physically take part” in defending the nation’s statues honoring Confederate leaders, slave-holding men, and brutal colonizers from protesters who are calling for the statues’ removal.
In a June 23 article (https://web.archive.org/web/20200623151820/https:/thefederalist.com/2020/06/23/where-are-conservative-leaders-in-this-moment/) titled “Where Are Conservative Leaders In This Moment?,” Domenech laments that Republican leadership has seemingly done little to defend the monuments from protesters across the nation, despite running campaigns with messages doused in American nostalgia. Domenech writes:
Wrapping themselves in the language of the Founding Fathers, filling their buildings with quotes, books, busts, statues, and artist’s renderings, conservatives have thrived by making themselves the defenders of American history against a verbally iconoclastic left. But in practice, they spent more time advocating for lower taxes, feel-good donor interests, and pro-business regulatory reforms than the cultural defense they used to make the money roll in.
For Domenech, Republicans’ lip service is not enough. Instead, he wants to see GOP leaders take to the front lines of opposition:
Now that the left has become not just verbally iconoclastic, not just changing the names of streets or buildings but physically assaulting the past, why have conservatives gone quiet? Why are they standing back instead of standing up to defend our history? Why is it that a bunch of South Philly Italian bros have more gumption about a statue of Columbus than the people who have spent decades invoking Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and more to raise money for their causes and win elections?
The “South Philly Italian bros” that Domenech contrasts with Republicans leaders were a roving assemblage of vigilante white men in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood who threatened and intimidated (https://billypenn.com/2020/06/17/theres-gonna-be-looting-police-warned-white-fishtowners-showing-a-close-knit-relationship-that-plays-out-across-philly/) Black Lives Matter protesters with bats and makeshift weapons early in June, all with the tacit approval of the local police officers. Members of the group ended up assaulting (https://twitter.com/jwehrens/status/1267621976379740170) a local news producer who was documenting the group’s ground presence, leaving him bloodied (https://twitter.com/jwehrens/status/1267621976379740170). Billy Penn reports (https://billypenn.com/2020/06/17/theres-gonna-be-looting-police-warned-white-fishtowners-showing-a-close-knit-relationship-that-plays-out-across-philly/) that the men were alerted by police officers that “looting” could happen in their area, which the men interpreted it as a call-to-arms.
Last week, a similar crowd of vigilante white men assembled in front of a statue of Christopher Columbus again in Philadelphia on June 14. They were reportedly greeted with handshakes by police officers, who later allowed the group to assault people (https://www.inquirer.com/news/columbus-statue-black-lives-matter-krasner-philadelphia-marconi-vigilantes-20200616.html) protesting at the statue.
Domenech called on Republican leaders to stand arm-in-arm with police officers and to fight protesters trying to remove statues.
What I want to see right now more than anything is elected officials and community leaders who are willing and ready to link arms with these cops and physically take part in cleaning up this mess and defying the mob.
Tags: Ben Domenech (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ben-domenech/)Black Lives Matter (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/black-lives-matter/)George Floyd (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/george-floyd/)violent rhetoric (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/violent-rhetoric/)The Federalist (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/the-federalist/)
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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/eric-metaxas-says-black-lives-matter-is-an-evil-enemy-run-by-mad-marxist-anarchists/
720
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==
https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/facebook-ramps-up-efforts-to-curb-hateful-content-in-ads/
Washington (AFP) – Facebook said Friday it would ban a “wider category of hateful content” in ads as the embattled social media giant moved to respond to growing protests over its handling of inflammatory posts.Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook also would add tags to posts that are “newsworthy” but violate platform rules — following the lead of Twitter, which has used such labels on tweets from President Donald Trump.The initiative comes with the leading social network facing a growing boycott by advertisers — with soft drink behemoth Coca-Cola and Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever join…
Read More (https://this.kiji.is/649357131533403233?c=592532205600719969)
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see fox collage photo
https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/the-story-that-conservatives-are-getting-about-seattles-autonomous-zone-is-complete-fiction/
kos
For days, Donald Trump has been tweeting about the “anarchist take over” of Seattle. According to Trump, the city is being “pillaged” by “terrorists” who are murder-burning their way across the city. These “armed lunatics” have “taken over a major American city,” and what frustrates Trump most is that the mayor and governor don’t even seem to know that their city is missing. In addition, the media is conducting a “total blackout on the insanity” in Seattle. Trump has ordered Mayor Jenny Durkan to “take back the city fast” and promised that if they don’t do something, he will!...
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cdv antifa
https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/trump-and-his-regime-have-again-turned-crisis-into-an-opportunity-to-advance-their-neofascist-authoritarian-agenda/
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some big co IBM? pulled out of facial recog b/c of blm geo f? 6/10/20
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wa mon tim scott, key note spkr
https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/what-republicans-really-mean-when-they-talk-about-law-and-order/
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/bye-bye-tucker-far-right-fox-news-host-loses-multiple-advertisers-following-unhinged-rants-against-black-lives-matter/
gaffs in BLM?
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an 620
Man accused of driving his truck into a Virginia protest is an ‘admitted KKK leader’: prosecutor (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/man-accused-of-driving-his-truck-into-a-virginoa-protest-is-an-admitted-kkk-leader-prosecutor/)Alex Henderson (https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/)
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mma 620
As demonstrations against police brutality continue across the country, right-leaning and ideologically nonaligned Facebook pages are promoting narratives that misrepresent the largely peaceful protests or even encourage police violence against them. And Media Matters found that posts from right-leaning pages earned more engagement than posts from nonaligned or left-leaning pages, with right-leaning Facebook pages receiving over 48 million interactions -- or nearly 40% of all interactions -- despite representing only a quarter of all posts about the protests.
Protests against (https://www.vox.com/2020/5/31/21276004/anger-police-killing-george-floyd-protests) racism and police brutality arose across the country (https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/869721514/hundreds-expected-at-memorial-for-george-floyd-after-days-of-nationwide-protests) after police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killed George Floyd, a Black man, on May 25. These protests have continued as local officials have instituted (https://www.npr.org/2020/06/02/868394212/protests-continue-despite-curfews-across-the-country) curfews, police have used excessive force (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/george-floyd-protests-police-violence.html), federal law enforcement officers have been deployed (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/humvees-helicopters-and-the-national-guard-dc-officials-push-back-on-show-of-federal-force-on-city-streets/2020/06/04/235f032c-a5c6-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html) to Washington, D.C., and President Donald Trump tear-gassed (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/after-he-tear-gassed-peaceful-protesters-fox-news-glorifies-trumps-photo-op) peaceful protesters for a photo-op.
Media Matters analyzed over 36,000 Facebook posts about the protests made by right-leaning, nonaligned, and left-leaning Facebook pages between 4:45 p.m. EDT on May 31 and 4:45 p.m. EDT on June 3 in order to understand narratives being spread within these ecosystems. Key findings include:
Right-leaning pages earned over 48 million interactions on nearly 9,400 posts, surpassing engagement on posts from both left-leaning and ideologically nonaligned pages.
Posts from right-leaning pages accounted for only 26% of posts about protests, but they earned nearly 40% of engagement.
Top posts from right-leaning pages amplified narratives that misrepresented the largely peaceful protests and praised Trump and his actions against peaceful protesters.
The Facebook post about protests with the most interactions is a live video from right-wing figure Candace Owens attacking George Floyd and criticizing Black Americans. At the time of publication, the post has earned over three million interactions and has 59 million views.
Nonaligned pages earned nearly 42 million interactions, which is less than right-leaning pages despite having more than double the number of posts -- over 19,000.
Top posts from nonaligned pages boosted narratives about looters and rioters, which misrepresent the largely peaceful protesters across the country.
Left-leaning pages earned nearly 33.5 million interactions on over 7,400 posts.
Top posts from left-leaning pages promoted a variety of narratives around the protests, as opposed to the more cohesive and one-sided narrative being pushed by right-leaning and nonaligned pages....
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mma 620
Hannity: Black Lives Matter is “planning to train armed militia for war on police” (https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-black-lives-matter-planning-train-armed-militia-war-police)
06/03/20 9:42 PM EDT
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mma 620
Propaganda is the only word (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=8a52754446280d615fd78a25a2977c7df2d06fddde8836eee1d1493efd96f616bcc79c7a8cb2540e16d59b5741848d1af1ca527298734bdd) to describe Fox's rallying behind Trump's attack on peaceful protesters.
On Monday evening at 6:30 p.m., well before the 7 p.m. curfew, the world watched as law enforcement officials violently cleared peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park with tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and rubber bullets. Numerous journalists were in the crowd and the abhorrent footage was immediately (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=8a52754446280d61bc71eea69497615ea530813e1fc22eabed47258ff3e90d101a2cb285a7cb082759e8aaae72012370e20ae0e0907d0d21) shown (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=8a52754446280d61c61353be6650573fdbd5b3b649698d6de38addfd15b6045854749796ff925fa25984128d65c4efa30bab069ac7efc785)on cable news and all over the world. The president then walked through the park and held up a Bible on the grounds of St. John’s Episcopal Church for a photo-op. The following days Fox News utilized several semantic arguments to defend the administration’s decision to forcefully clear the protesters. The network’s “news” and “opinion” side once again co-sponsored similar messages in service of the president.
Let's be crystal clear: The Trump administration admitted (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=8a52754446280d61caefed129d7cdb97565559272dcf081b062414e9d404d7c679886b88a24045d514703c7cd201dfd3cf2104b2fdb10e87) using a product on peaceful protesters that the CDC classifies as tear gas. Furthermore, news organizations have collected evidence (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=8a52754446280d6181beba7c0acc5eb2a4350e1c9dff306f8db91c6d411d2c1d1976be05e38a9d15f714cfe8b4200a27cbd0444615edc813) that additional products were used at the time.
The events have been condemned by Democratic leaders, a small handful of Republicans, the Episcopal bishop of D.C., and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, among others. However, Fox immediately downplayed the significance of the events that played out, and even praised Trump’s photo-op (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=8a52754446280d61153a7c574f68dcded818a52933b5655361dfcb2995fd64630afa1a67d01c0579a0e77c1bfb8e58285445cf1fceb00b09).
Fox personalities more directly addressed what happened to the protesters, blaming them for getting tear-gassed by police. The hundreds of peaceful protesters, these Fox figures suggested, had it coming because they were collectively guilty for vandalism at St. John’s the night before. On the supposed “news” side of Fox, Ed Henry hosted former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen who repeatedly alleged that the fact that federal authorities used tear gas meant that by definition, the protesters had not been peaceful. “If they were peaceful protesters, there would be no need to use tear gas,” he said. “It means they resisted.”
The same day Fox’s Jesse Watters offered a similar defense saying, “The media is sour now because they were forced to shoot a photo-op of the president of the United States demonstrating that he is not going to be intimidated by criminals.” He continued, “It was a very powerful moment for the country. And they are bitter that they had to film it, because it deals a big blow to their lawless side.”
Matt Gertz explained (http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=8a52754446280d61a8d010e40d0f92ab8663ff84df279138255135a6c64b26fc0bf816371c688fdd6710dab40c3781a26287b7e7e0518969), “There is no daylight at all between Fox’s ‘news side,’ its ‘opinion side,’ the Trump campaign, and the president. That’s because, as Trump himself has acknowledged, Fox is a propaganda outlet for the president. And now we know that they are willing to act in defense of violent attacks by his administration against peaceful Americans.”
==
predictable tom:
Carson belittles George Floyd protests: ‘I grew up at a time when there was real systemic racism’kos an 620 (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/ben-carson-belittles-george-floyd-protests-i-grew-up-at-a-time-when-there-was-real-systemic-racism/)Lauren Floyd (https://www.alternet.org/author/laurenfloyd/)
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/romney-joins-growing-protests-as-more-prominent-republicans-disavow-trump/
Protests are expected to continue Monday after a weekend in which the tide continued turning away from Donald Trump’s attempts to promote division and violence, while a viewing is being held in Houston ahead of the third memorial service for George Floyd (https://apnews.com/9aeae005bdb193b6d039bb36309ea053), to be held Tuesday. Also Monday, former officer Derek Chauvin will be appearing in court. Through the weekend (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/6/1951118/-Huge-number-of-protests-against-police-violence-encouraging-but-there-s-a-tough-fight-ahead), protests continued to grow (https://www.vox.com/2020/6/7/21283014/protests-george-floyd-cities-across-world-larger) in many places, (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/6/1951118/-Huge-number-of-protests-against-police-violence-encouraging-but-there-s-a-tough-fight-ahead) while the police response became less vicious, resulting in fewer conflicts and less violence.
One such protest included Republican Sen. Mitt Romney (https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/06/07/romney-protest-black-lives-matter/) marching with hundreds of evangelical Christians and saying he was seeking “a way to end violence and brutality, and to make sure that people understand that Black lives matter.” Trump, of course, couldn’t resist an angry tweet (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1269970024908894209). Several Democrats, including widely cited vice presidential prospects Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have joined protesters, but Romney is the first Senate Republican known to have done so.
Romney’s embrace of protest wasn’t the only sign this weekend of trouble for Trump among elite Republicans. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said he will vote for Joe Biden (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/7/1951220/-Former-President-George-W-Bush-and-Colin-Powell-join-growing-list-of-Republicans-dumping-Trump), while former President George W. Bush said he wouldn’t vote for Trump, though he didn’t go so far as to say he’d vote for Biden. If Trump gives a speech on race (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/7/1951321/-Trump-ponders-giving-a-speech-on-race-as-if-most-of-his-speeches-weren-t-already), as he is reportedly considering, how many more will join them?
It’s unlikely that anyone in Trump’s base will be moved by Bush or Powell—even though many of these same people had a fervent devotion for Bush 15 years ago—but their defections may continue to shift media coverage if nothing else.
in other news:
Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, changed his story again (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/7/1951244/-On-Face-the-Nation-William-Barr-lies-repeatedly-and-brazenly-about-St-John-s-Church-attack) about whether he ordered the attack on protesters outside the White House to enable Trump’s walk to St. John’s Church. Not a good look. Again.
The Minneapolis City Council announced it plans to dismantle the police department (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/7/1951270/-Minneapolis-City-Council-to-announce-plan-to-dismantle-police-department-after-George-Floyd-s-death) and instead have “community-led public safety.”
New York Times editorial page editor James Bennet resigned as a result of the horrifying op-ed (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/7/1951285/-New-York-Times-editorial-page-head-resigns-after-publishing-fascist-Tom-Cotton-op-ed) by Sen. Tom Cotton calling for military action against protesters.
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/dominate-the-streets-behind-trumps-failed-counterinsurgency-against-america
wa mon
Over the weekend, CBS News broke the story (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-demanded-10000-active-duty-troops-deploy-to-streets-in-heated-oval-office-meeting/) that during the height of the mass protests across the country in response to the police killing of George Floyd, President Trump had yet another meltdown. In a heated exchange with Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, he demanded 10,000 active-duty troops be deployed across the country to suppress protest activity. According to CBS, these officials rejected Trump’s demand, but tried to placate him by urging state Governors to request a military presence on the now infamous “dominate the streets” call with the President.
Now, before delving further, it’s worth pointing out that a cabinet official’s only proper response to a president demanding 10,000 active-duty servicemembers to crush protected speech should be to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the President from office. But that would be expecting too much from Esper and Barr. In this instance, they chose to refuse the order but placate their unstable, intemperate and incompetent Commander-in-Chief. It was Esper, after all, who referred to “dominating the battlespace” (https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/06/01/secdef-encourages-governors-to-dominate-the-battlespace-to-put-down-nationwide-protests/) when referencing crowd control measures at protests, and Barr who is still defending (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-barr-george-floyd-protests-blm-face-the-nation-transcript/) the assault on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square to clear a path to deliver Trump a photo op at a church.
It’s clear that President Trump views himself as a wartime president waging a counterinsurgency against his own citizens. He does not view protesters as Americans who are exercising their constitutional right to free speech and to petition their government for redress of grievances. Instead, he views protesters as violent insurgents little different from the opponents of America’s occupation forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere....
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cody f
https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/gop-senator-horrifies-readers-with-a-new-authoritarian-call-in-the-new-york-times/
it's a simple headline: “Send in the troops.” But its meaning is clear, and it’s deeply disturbing.
That’s the title the New York Times gave to a new op-ed written by Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/opinion/tom-cotton-protests-military.html), one of the most militaristic and hawkish members of Congress. He had previously caused a stir this week by calling (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/two-gop-lawmakers-advocate-extraordinarily-dangerous-military-escalation-in-response-to-george-floyd-protests/) for the military to be unleashed on protesters with a “no quarter” order — meaning that they would take no prisoners and simply kill at will. Cotton later said he had been speaking metaphorically.
But his new op-ed isn’t about symbolism. He painted a grim picture of the violence that has accompanied some of the peaceful protests calling for justice in the name of George Floyd, a man who was recently heinously killed by police.
“\N]ihilist criminals are simply out for loot and the thrill of destruction, with cadres of left-wing radicals like antifa (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-william-p-barrs-statement-riots-and-domestic-terrorism) infiltrating protest marches to exploit Floyd’s death for their own anarchic purposes,” he wrote. “These rioters, if not subdued, not only will destroy the livelihoods of law-abiding citizens but will also take more innocent lives. Many poor communities that [still bear scars (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/dc-riots-1968/) from past upheavals will be set back still further.”
AD REMOVED FOR SUBSCRIBED USER
Cotton didn’t mention the fact that a recent FBI report, as uncovered by The Nation (https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/antifa-trump-fbi/), warned of potential protest violence with links to the right-wing. And he completely ignored the ongoing violence from law enforcement itself, frequently directed at peaceful protesters and journalists with no justification (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/the-police-are-the-rioters-and-the-president-is-the-looter/). It’s exactly this violence that is fueling the ongoing unrest, but Cotton and his ilk ignore it completely or excuse it. There should be no excuse for unjustified and unprovoked violence by protesters or police, but the government bears special responsibility for making sure agents of the state are accountable and remaining strictly within the limits of the law and morality.
Instead — as always — Cotton wants to ratchet up the level of confrontation, echoing the president’s instincts, by bringing in the military:
One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers. But local law enforcement in some cities desperately needs backup, while delusional politicians in other cities refuse to do what’s necessary to uphold the rule of law.
The pace of looting and disorder may fluctuate from night to night, but it’s past time to support local law enforcement with federal authority. Some governors have mobilized the National Guard, yet others refuse, and in some cases the rioters still outnumber the police and Guard combined. In these circumstances, the Insurrection Act authorizes the president to employ the military “or any other means” in “cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws.”
He didn’t consider that escalating the stakes of the clashes, rather than moving for de-escalation, could make the situation worse, not better. And he dismissed the possibility that giving President Donald Trump this power would place us on a glide path to authoritarianism, something many Republicans claimed to fear with Barack Obama was in the White House.
But oppressive acts of force are always Cotton’s solution. He once said war with Iran (https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/gops-tom-cotton-blasted-as-delusional-for-claiming-that-war-with-iran-could-be-won-in-only-two-strikes/) would be over quickly, a crystal clear display of the hawk’s fallacy that violence is an easy answer. And conveniently, Cotton seems to like being seen to side with Trump; two of his other recent Times op-eds were defenses of killing Qassim Suleimani and of buying Greenland.
There’s no shred of an indication of nuance or thoughtfulness in his argument. There’s no fear of unintended consequences, or a warning about taking things too far. It’s pure authoritarian propaganda. And it’s a disturbing sign of what the GOP is becoming.
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robt e lee
monuments to America’s racist history are getting toppled amid mass protests (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/monuments-to-americas-racist-history-are-getting-toppled-amid-mass-protests/)
Democracy Now (https://www.alternet.org/author/democracy-now/)
Monuments celebrating the nation’s racist history are coming down in several states after being targeted by protesters over the past week. On Wednesday, the city of Philadelphia removed a statue…
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esper waffles/caves, sec of army better?
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Mattis writes a devastating rebuke to Trump’s handling of protests (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/james-mattis-writes-a-devastating-rebuke-to-trumps-handling-of-protests/)Cody Fenw (https://www.alternet.org/author/cody-fenwick/)
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some say work for doj?
https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/department-of-justice-deploys-rogue-force-of-unidentified-armed-militia-to-patrol-dc
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an
no lnx
Ivanka Trump ‘urged’ president’s church photo-op — which could become a ‘defining moment’ of his time in office: NYT
President Donald J. Trump and Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump arrive to attend event supporting our nation’s small businesses through the pay check protection program Tuesday, April 28, 2020, in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Written by Bob Brigham / Raw Story June 3, 2020
First daughter and senior White House advisor Ivanka Trump “urged” her father to take part in a controversial photo-op with a Bible according to a new report from The New York Times.
“After a weekend of protests that led all the way to his own front yard and forced him to briefly retreat to a bunker beneath the White House, President Trump arrived in the Oval Office on Monday agitated over the television images, annoyed that anyone would think he was hiding and eager for action,” the newspaper reported.
:{:{}:
}:
“He wanted to send the military into American cities, an idea that provoked a heated, voices-raised fight among his advisers. But by the end of the day, urged on by his daughter Ivanka Trump, he came up with a more personal way of demonstrating toughness — he would march across Lafayette Square to achurch damaged by fire the night before,” the newspaper reported.[9/11 rubble b43 redux?]
Hope Hicks was reportedly the brains behind the photo-op.
Paula Chertok??
@PaulaChertok
Ivanka Trump carried the Bible prop Trump posed with in her $1,540 Max Mara designer handbag in infamous photo-op 'masterminded by Hope Hicks'https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8381977/Ivanka-Trump-carried-Bible-Donald-Trump-posed-1-540-Max-Mara-handbag.html … #Maddow
Ivanka carried Bible Donald Trump posed with $1,540 Max Mara handbag
Ivanka Trump carried the bible President Donald Trump brandished in his controversial photo-op in her designer purse as she joined administration officials in the walk to St. John's Church.
dailymail.co.uk
“The only problem: A plan developed earlier in the day to expand the security perimeter around the White House had not been carried out. When Attorney General William P. Barr strode out of the White House gates for a personal inspection early Monday evening, he discovered that protesters were still on the northern edge of the square. For the president to make it to St. John’s Church, they would have to be cleared out. Mr. Barr gave the order to disperse them,” the newspaper reported.
“The scene of mayhem that preceded the walk — barely 1,000 feet from the symbol of American democracy — evoked images more commonly associated with authoritarian countries, but that did not bother the president, who has long flirted with overseas strongmen and has expressed envy of their ability to dominate,” The Times reported. “But critics, including some fellow Republicans, were aghast at the use of force against Americans who posed no visible threat at the time, all to facilitate what they deemed a ham-handed photo opportunity featuring all white faces. Some Democratic senators used words like ‘fascist’ and ‘dictator’ to describe the president’s words and actions.”
“And when the history of the Trump presidency is written, the clash at Lafayette Square may be remembered as one of its defining moments,” the newspaper noted.
Read the full report.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/01/george-floyd-protests-trump-puts-top-us-military-officer-in-charge.html
no lnx
waASHINGTON — In a contentious call with the nation’s governors Monday, President Donald Trump said he was putting America’s highest-ranking military officer “in charge” as protests over the death of George Floyd rock the United States for a seventh day.
“General Milley is here who’s head of Joint Chiefs of Staff, a fighter, a warrior, and a lot of victories and no losses. And he hates to see the way it’s being handled in the various states. And I’ve just put him in charge,” Trump told governors, according to audio obtained by NBC.
It was not immediately clear what Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley would be tasked with as it relates to the domestic unrest across the nation. The Pentagon added few details. “The chairman will continue to advise the secretary of Defense,” Pentagon spokesperson U.S. Army Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell said.
“As of this morning, 23 states and the District of Columbia had mobilized personnel in support of state and local authorities. Combined, they provided over 17,000 National Guard troops in support,” Mitchell added.
When asked to elaborate, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she would not “get ahead of any actions that will be announced” on the matter.
“There will be additional federal assets deployed across the nation and there will be a central command center in conjunction with the state and local governments that will include general Milley, [Defense Secretary Mark] Esper and [Attorney General William] Barr, but I won’t go any further in announcing any actions,” McEnany said during a White House press briefing.
NBC News reported that Trump has considered using the Insurrection Act, which was adopted in 1807. Under the move, he would deploy troops to respond to the demonstrations. The law was last invoked during the 1992 Rodney King riots in California, at the request of then-Gov. Pete Wilson, according to NBC.[afte 63 kia? up to 1 bill$ damage?]
The latest revelation comes as Trump called for governors on Monday to use force when confronting protesters, who have taken to the streets across the U.S. to protest Floyd’s death as well as police brutality. Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer was charged with third-degree murder. An independent autopsy found that asphyxiation was the cause of Floyd’s death.
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blm --> anti trump protest, loot--> shoot, "ominous force"
cohen plus macho BS, see retaliation
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/trump-tells-mayors-and-governors-most-of-you-are-weak-during-teleconference-rant-about-unrest-you-have-to-dominate/
https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/listen-heres-the-leaked-audio-of-trumps-unhinged-call-with-governors-and-says-they-need-to-crack-down-on-protesters/
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global protests erupt in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters in US (https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/global-protests-erupt-in-solidarity-with-black-lives-matter-protesters-in-us/)
Julia Conley (https://www.alternet.org/author/julia-conley/) / Common Dreams (https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/)
People in a number of international cities violated bans on large gatherings over the weekend to show solidarity with protests against police brutality.
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an 620
trump can’t bail himself out by stoking white people’s fear of rioting ‘thugs’ (https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trump-cant-bail-himself-out-by-stoking-white-peoples-fear-of-rioting-thugs/)
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/white-supremacy-groups-are-hoping-to-leverage-george-floyds-death-into-their-longed-for-race-war/
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white supremacy groups are hoping to leverage George Floyd’s death into their longed-for ‘race war’
Image via Screrengrab.
Written by Mark Sumner / Daily Kos May 31, 2020
The protests that have spread across the nation in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have attracted a diverse group of supporters that go beyond local Black communities and national organizations. At events in Washington, New York, Minneapolis, and elsewhere, community activists have been joined by allies, by groups supporting Latinos, Indian groups, and even groups of Mennonite farmers speaking out in support and showing up for protests.
But, with dozens of buildings burned and Donald Trump preparing to bring in the military, there’s a growing sense that the violence in many cases isn’t originating from within the local Black community. In multiple instances, there have been incidents that seemed to spring up on the periphery of peaceful protests, leading to violent confrontations and property destruction. And increasingly, there are reports that these events are not originating organically from the protests or from confrontations between protesters and the police. There is a very real feeling that white supremacists are using this moment to create incidents designed to justify still more violence and suppression.
peanut butter cup
@deshawnieboy
Raw footage of who started the looting in Oakland at Walgreens. Had just seen them three blocks down hitting some other businesses. All prepared with hammers. Don’t let them say different.
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With dozens of protests across the nation, not every event is the same. For example, it’s not hard to see what sparked this incident Atlanta, where a police officer slams a bicycle into a Black woman for having the audacity to wave a finger at him while saying “Don’t touch me.” It’s clear that the violence in this particular moment originated direct from the police.
Brittany Miller
@Brittm_tv
WATCH: I was recording when the first clash between police & protestors broke out in Atlanta. @cbs46 #cbs46 #news #GeorgeFloydprotest
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But in some of the most publicized incidents across the nation, there seem to be a singular nature to some of those involved, as in this recording in which what appears to be a young white man in camo pants and military boots paints graffiti on a federal building.
Fin Gomez
@finnygo
The protest then headed to in front of the White House. A protester was taken by the USSS in front of Pennsylvania Ave into an adjacent federal building. Unclear what he did.A couple men then splintered off from the group and spray painted “F*ck Trump” on the building. @cbsnews
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Or this group which is, reportedly, shown attempting to smash store windows in Minneapolis, with the group initiating this action appearing to be led by a number of white people.
Joy Reid
@JoyAnnReid
May 30, 2020
Replying to @lewoofl
Yes we are. Absolutely.
Barbara Stiles
@Dovewoman1
This from @Mikel_Jollett
It shows the instigators clearly. They are white. Organized with walkie talkies. pic.twitter.com/zPhBoSg3fE
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And those on the ground reported similar events at other protests in many locations.
Asia
@AsiaJannelll
I was at Downtown Oakland protests a little while ago. Let me say something; the people breaking glass, breaking into windows & starting fires were WHITE men wearing all black. They had hammers and walkie talkies. They were organized. BLM protestors did not start the violence!
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Repeatedly, from eye witnesses and from officials, have come claims that violence in the protests is originating not with those who live in the community, but with others who have appeared to take advantage of this moment.
Joy Reid
@JoyAnnReid
Remarkable info coming out of this presser: Gov. Tim Walls, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and now MN attorney general Keith Ellison ALL alleging outside forces, domestic and possibly foreign, have post-Tuesday infiltrated the state, and are
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And, as Vice reports, far right extremists are trying to use this situation in hopes of bringing about their much-desired “race war.”That effort involves both showing up at protests with guns, initiating violence, and taking to computers to urge everyone involved toward more tragic confrontations. Even the Hawaiian shirt-wearing “Boogaloo Bois” have appeared at some of the protests. The possibility of using these protests as a precipitating incident, and calls for white supremacist militias to confront protesters, are dominating discussion boards and social media for these groups.
This is also generating some genuinely bizarre events.
Fox Wound
@foxwoundband
Atlanta has deployed a child militia at Lenox Mall fitted with riot shields and batons. What the actual fuck is going on?
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The extent to which those trying to instigate more widespread violence are behind the incidents of property damage and physical clashes remains unclear. What is absolutely clear it that white supremacists are hoping to leverage yet another example of violence against an individual Black man as an excuse to carry out a campaign of expanded violence against the entire Black community.
Following closely on the heels of the police murder of Breonna Taylor and the recorded lynching of Ahmaud Arbery—as well as decades in which police violence has been repeatedly excused—there’s no doubt of the weight of grief in the Black community, or the justified anger. But there are definitely those who are seeking to turn this moment from one in which those suffering injustice are finally heard, to one in which that injustice is “justified” and made worse.
And with Donald Trump calling Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people” and protesters in Minneapolis “thugs,” there seems little doubt about which side he is ready to join.
Joy Reid
@JoyAnnReid
May 30, 2020
Replying to @JoyAnnReid
And the governor says he has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, and fully mobilized the MN National Guard for the first time in 164 years. This is a continuing story and presumably we will begin hearing it echoed in other cities.
Joy Reid
@JoyAnnReid
Mayor Carter said EVERY person arrested last night during the protests was from out of state. The governor said it is at least 80 percent, and that they will begin releasing the names. Dept of Safety Commissioner John Harrington says they are contract-tracing arrestees:
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ref
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/pkyb9b/far-right-extremists-are-hoping-to-turn-the-george-floyd-protests-into-a-new-civil-war (https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/pkyb9b/far-right-extremists-are-hoping-to-turn-the-george-floyd-protests-into-a-new-civil-war)
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Far-Right Extremists Are Hoping to Turn the George Floyd Protests Into a New Civil War
Armed extremists are showing up to protests and urging a "boogaloo" — code for civil war — online.
By Tess Owen
May 29 2020, 2:57pm
Far-right extremists are showing up, with guns, to the protests against police brutality that have exploded across the country.
Others are egging on the violence from behind their computers, urging followers to carry out acts of violence against black protesters with the goal of sparking a “race war.”
Their presence makes an uneasy addition to the escalating unrest, which was triggered by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was choked to death by a white Minneapolis police officer earlier this week.
But there’s a range of motivations that’s driving far-right interest toward the protests, which are being led by community members and Black Lives Matter, and bolstered by antifascists.
For example, the so-called Boogaloo Bois — a group of armed anti-government extremists made visible by their Hawaiian shirts — have reportedly shown up to some of the protests.
READ: The cop who kneeled on George Floyd's neck was just charged with murder]
The “boogaloo” is code for impending civil war or violent confrontation with law enforcement, and that’s what they’re hoping to get out of the protests. Their main reason for being there is their antipathy toward law enforcement, and so they’re trying to position themselves as allies of Black Lives Matter protesters. They’ve made police brutality one of their central issues, which was explored at length in a Bellingcat article this week.
Their approach to police brutality links the victims of the deadly standoff with federal agents at Ruby Ridge in 1992, to the victims of modern police brutality, including Floyd. But unlike the vast majority of protesters, they refuse to acknowledge the fact that police brutality is an issue that disproportionately impacts people of color.
There have been scattered reports of Boogaloo Bois’ presence at the protests, which were compiled by a Bellingcat investigative journalist in a thread. He includes an audio clip (stripped of video per activists’ requests) ofprotesters saying they’d wrestled a handgun from a “white nationalist” agitator — whom he describes as a Boogaloo Boi who became overly rowdy.
READ: New video shows three cops kneeling on George Floyd as he lay dying]
Another photo, shared across private Boogaloo Facebook pages, showed one of their own unfurling their trademark flag during the Minneapolis protests.
And one protester posted a picture of himself wearing a gas mask to Instagram, under the hashtag #Boogaloo.
While some Boogaloo Bois say they’re just libertarians, others will, on occasion, veer into racism — and make no secret of their desire for violence. In addition to their physical presence at the protests, the #boogaloo hashtag on social media has been flooded with memes in the last couple days egging on violence, and talking about how they hope this is the beginning of a civil war.
While more established militia types sometimes share those perspectives, they often view themselves as intermediaries between law enforcement and civilians. For example, two armed white men were interviewed by the Minnesota Reformer, a local independent news organization, outside a tobacco store in Minneapolis this week. They said they were protecting businesses from looters, but were also there to defend civilians should they need to.
“Cops are less likely totread on people’s rightswhen there’s other armed people around them,” one of the men told the interviewer.
Local activists identified another group in Minneapolis as members of the III% militia, one of the largest militia networks in the U.S.
But perhaps the most troubling of all are the hardcore “accelerationists” who are encouraging their neo-Nazi followers to go to the protests and carry out acts of violence against black people — all with the goal of “exacerbating the ethnic tensions” and sparking a “race war.”
Accelerationists promote violence to speed up the collapse of society. Aneco-fascist Telegram channel wrote to its nearly 2,500 subscribers on Thursday that “a riot would be the perfect place to commit a murder.” Accelerationists often seek to exploit moments of political or civil unrest, and the widespread protests that have unfolded across the country fit the bill. Similarly, 4chan is full of racists cheering the violence and saying that they hope it’s the beginning of a “race war.”
Cover: Protesters are trapped between police and other protesters who gathered in a call for justice for George Floyd following his death, outside the 3rd Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images)
This article originally appeared on VICE US.
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/ex-fbi-official-slams-bill-barr-for-ignoring-the-right-wing-boogaloo-bois-infiltrating-protests/
Ex-FBI official slams Bill Barr for ignoring the right-wing ‘Boogaloo Bois’ infiltrating protests
Written by Bob Brigham / Raw Story May 31, 2020
Attorney General Bill Barr was slammed by the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Saturday for misleading Americans about the source of violence at the protests over the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.
“There’s evidence developing, Brian, that the organization we’re seeing of the most violent protesters is coming from a couple of disturbing places,” both, by the way, there’s disparate in terms in being from the right or the left. here’s what those who monitor these groups and sites are seeing.
“We’re seeing a far-right group, one group for example known as the Boogaloo Bois, who on their private Facebook page and social media outlets are calling for violence, calling for people to show up,” Frank Figliuzzi told MSNBC’s Brian Williams.
“We’re seeing evidence in the protests that right-wing dangerous militia groups are there. We’ve seen flags and symbols that come from both Boogaloo Bois and dangerous militia groups,” he warned. “On the far-left, we’re seeing some evidence developing of global anarchists showing up.”
“So we’re seeing a strange alignment occurring by some groups who are anti-government on the right and therefore anti-police because they think the police are too oppressive to them, aligning themselves with people like Black Lives Matter and saying, ‘hey, we’re one because we both don’t like the police,’ but I’m here to tell you they are not one, their intention is to destroy government and the system of justice, as opposed to calling for justice within the system.”
“What do we do about it?” Williams asked.
“Well, ordinarily we’d rely on our system and mechanisms and rule of law, but here’s two things significant that happened today that caused me to be deeply troubled about the summer ahead. The attorney general, William Barr held a press conference where he chose selectively just the intelligence that indicates there’s far-left agitators within the protest groups,” Figliuzzi noted.
Acyn Torabi
@Acyn
AG Barr: it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups, far left extremist groups using Antifa like tactics... it is a federal crime to cross state lines or to use interstate facilities to incite or participate in violent rioting
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“He politicized intelligence. We shouldn’t be surprised by it, but we should be disturbed that the whole truth is not getting out about all the groups that pose a threat because that goes toward whether or not law enforcement will take effective action against all groups that are violent and be allowed to take such action,” he explained.
“And then the second thing that should disturb us today is within the last hour, the president of the United States has tweeted he wants to use the unlimited power of the military with regard to these protests. Well, let me remind our viewers that we have laws in the United States that prevent the military from turning into law enforcement on the streets of America,” he reminded.
“Yet we see a direction of where this is headed: politicizing the intelligence so that only the far-left becomes the bad folks here, and then a president who seems inclined to use the military on our streets,” Figliuzzi warned.
“It’s scary stuff,” Williams said.
Watch:
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