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home of the deplorables, despicables, & disgusting americans
a shithole's FINEST trash
april 25, 2019
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
James A. Baldwin
David Cross: “At least 25% of America has always been ignorant, racist, xenophobic and backwards, people prone to demagoguery. That’s not a surprise,” he says. “The surprise is that there’s this loud, brash, arrogant narcissist giving these people a voice and making them feel proud.”
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Mark Twain: “How much longer are we going to think it necessary to be ‘American’ before (or in contradistinction to) being cultivated, being enlightened, being humane, & having the same intellectual discipline as other civilized countries? It is really too easy a disguise for our shortcomings to dress them up as a form of patriotism!”
-------------------------------
Courage is the goal of cowards.
Alan Watts
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President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was a son of the South, said: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
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white trash's america
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
...white Americans have lived in a country where the celerity with which they mask their racism matters as much as the color of their skin. One might look forward, unhappily, to white conservatives disassociating themselves from this massacre by claiming, in effect, that they're not "white trash"—meaning, in effect, that they've profited enough from their racism that they can afford to dress it up better; or look forward to white liberals disassociating themselves by claiming, in effect, that they're not "white conservative" hypocrites—meaning, in effect, that they've profited enough from their racism that they can afford to dress it up better still; or to white leftists disassociating themselves by claiming, in effect, that they're not "white liberal" hypocrites.
Why Are White Racists Always Called “White Trash"?
By Frank Guan
------------------------------------------------------
Headlines: ignorance, racism, and stupidity america's trinity
of the bottom 70%
the people who make-up the shithole
(sources: raw story, politicus usa, daily kos)
*WATCH: Raging Texas man abuses and threatens Arab store employee — then gets his comeuppance
*Florida GOP lawmaker calls Jewish man a ‘Judenrat’ over his criticism of Israeli government
“We’re extremely disappointed by the use of hate speech that has so poisoned the discourse in our country. And it’s exceedingly disappointing coming from an elected representative."
*South Carolina Man Sentenced to Decade in Prison for Trying to Hire ‘KKK Hit Man’ to Kill Black Neighbor
A South Carolina man is facing 10 years in federal prison in what the judge […]
*Tucker Carlson: Criticizing white nationalists ‘is exactly how you destroy a country’
*Diamond & Silk tell Fox & Friends that climate change is caused by the earth’s constant rotation
*Historic Pennsylvania venue bans same-sex weddings, because Jesus
*City official raged at Spanish speakers in unhinged Facebook rant — so Illinois voters just gave her the boot
A trustee in South Jackson, Illinois has been kicked out of office by voters weeks after she apologized for an angry Facebook rant against people who speak Spanish.
*White Alabama man yelled racial slur before fatally shooting black man in Cracker Barrel parking lot: witnesses
winner of the "stupid bitch of the day" award!!!
‘Family of morons’: Lara Trump relentlessly mocked for saying one of the worst things Germany has done is accept refugees
Eric W. Dolan - raw story
25 APR 2019 AT 10:27 ET
Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law is facing a backlash for comments she recently made about German history.
Lara Trump told Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Thursday that allowing refugees into the country was “the downfall of Germany.” She added, “It was one of the worst things that ever happened to Germany.”
“This president knows that. He’s trying to prevent it from happening,” Trump continued.
Her comments quickly ignited a wave of responses on Twitter. Many users insulted her intelligence for suggesting that helping refugees was in the same category as Nazi atrocities.
Amy Laperruque
@amylaperruque
Replying to @atrupar
How lucky this dummy married into family of morons🙄😂
6:57 AM - Apr 25, 2019
RubyPhire
@vass78
Replying to @atrupar
Do any of these family members have any actual brain cells? I know she’s a Trump by marriage, but Jesus Christ read a fucking history book.
7:04 AM - Apr 25, 2019[...]
Lara Trump told Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Thursday that allowing refugees into the country was “the downfall of Germany.” She added, “It was one of the worst things that ever happened to Germany.”
“This president knows that. He’s trying to prevent it from happening,” Trump continued.
Her comments quickly ignited a wave of responses on Twitter. Many users insulted her intelligence for suggesting that helping refugees was in the same category as Nazi atrocities.
Amy Laperruque
@amylaperruque
Replying to @atrupar
How lucky this dummy married into family of morons🙄😂
6:57 AM - Apr 25, 2019
RubyPhire
@vass78
Replying to @atrupar
Do any of these family members have any actual brain cells? I know she’s a Trump by marriage, but Jesus Christ read a fucking history book.
7:04 AM - Apr 25, 2019[...]
White woman seriously injured after angry racist runs her down with his truck for dating a black man
TANA GANEVA - RAW STORY
22 APR 2019 AT 12:49 ET
A New Orleans man has been charged with a hate crime after allegedly trying to mow down an interracial couple with his truck, reports The New Orleans Times-Picayune.
50-year-old James Descant sped up his truck when he saw the couple, according to police. He struck the woman, who authorities say was seriously injured.
According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the black male victim said Descant threatened to kill him a week earlier because his girlfriend is white, according to the sheriff’s office. Descant used a racial slur to describe their relationship.
The white woman, 31, survived the incident with injuries to her right hip, right wrist and left foot, the sheriff’s office told the Times Picayune.
50-year-old James Descant sped up his truck when he saw the couple, according to police. He struck the woman, who authorities say was seriously injured.
According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the black male victim said Descant threatened to kill him a week earlier because his girlfriend is white, according to the sheriff’s office. Descant used a racial slur to describe their relationship.
The white woman, 31, survived the incident with injuries to her right hip, right wrist and left foot, the sheriff’s office told the Times Picayune.
Republican discussed violent attacks and surveillance with rightwingers
Washington state representative Matt Shea exchanged messages with far-right figures, chat records obtained by the Guardian reveal
Jason Wilson
the guardian
Sat 20 Apr 2019 02.00 EDT
A Washington state Republican politician took part in private discussions with rightwing figures about carrying out surveillance, “psyops” and even violent attacks on perceived political enemies, according to chat records obtained by the Guardian.
State representative Matt Shea, who represents Spokane Valley in the Washington state house, participated in the chats with three other men. All of the men used screen aliases – Shea’s was “Verum Bellator”, Latin for true warrior. The Guardian confirmed the identity of those in the chat by cross-checking phone numbers attached to the Signal accounts.
The group included Jack Robertson, who broadcasts a far-right radio show, Radio Free Redoubt, under the alias “John Jacob Schmidt”. The chat also included Anthony Bosworth, whose history includes a public altercation with his own daughter and bringing guns to a court house. Bosworth participated in the 2016 occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge, reportedly at Shea’s request.
The name of another participant, who provided the chat records to the Guardian, has been withheld due to concerns about personal safety.
The chats on the messaging app Signal took place in the days leading up to a supposed “Antifa revolt” on 4 November 2017. Throughout late October, far-right media outlets had been stoking fears of political conflict on the basis of planned peaceful protests by a small leftist group.
The men proposed to confront leftists – whom they repeatedly refer to as “communists” and “Antifa” – with a suite of tactics, including violence.
---
Other acts of extreme violence were also suggested. When a specific female Spokane resident was nominated for surveillance in the chat group, Robertson suggested:
---
Apart from violence, the men extensively discussed tactics of surveillance and intimidation.
---
Shea, the elected Republican legislator, did not demur from any of these suggestions. He also appeared willing to participate directly in surveillance of activists.
---
In response to a request in the chat for background checks on Spokane residents, Shea volunteered to help, going on to name three individuals – including an organizer for the liberal group Indivisible, and a college professor.
The men talked about the broad outlines of what they appeared to consider to be a looming civil war. They also discussed using symbols from what they understood to be Russian anti-communist groups as a way of spreading paranoia among their adversaries.
The group talked about making stickers and cards using skull and crossbones images from post-revolutionary Russian nationalist groups. After posting an image of a white army soldier holding such a banner, Bosworth remarked:
When we locate their homes we can tag the sidewalks and their mailboxes with the symbol
Oct 29, 2017 5:20PM
Leave the symbol as a calling card
Oct 29, 2017 5:20PM
We can waste their resources and make them Target something that doesn't exist
Oct 29, 2017 5:21PM
When the leftist revolt failed to materialize, Shea did not rethink his conspiratorial views and instead blamed the weather.
---
Shea, a six-term legislator and military veteran, came to international attention in 2018 after a document he authored surfaced laying out a “biblical basis for war”, which appeared to be a plan for an apocalyptic battle with people who practiced “same sex marriage” and “abortion”, and instructed: “If they do not yield, kill all males.”
Shea denied that the document meant what it appeared to say.
At that time, Shea lost donors, and he was stripped of his role as chair of the Republican caucus – though he was serving in this position at the time of the leaked chat.
But Shea has since regrouped, introducing bills to criminalize abortion and roll back gun laws, which other Republicans in Washington have supported. He has also continued pushing a plan for eastern Washington to secede and reconstitute as Liberty State. Robertson has also been a key architect of this campaign, and he and Shea have been regular guests on each other’s broadcasts.
Shea has long promoted conspiratorial views about the cooperation of leftists and Muslims in creating “counter-states” in the US. He has associated with conspiracy-minded far-right groups, and later this month will emcee a dinner for the anti-communist John Birch society in Couer D’Alene, Idaho.
In a telephone conversation with the Guardian, Robertson said: “I remember a discussion in response to Indivisible and Antifa groups that were planning to take to the streets,” but “I don’t recall the details”.
He denied surveilling his political opponents, but added: “If someone is in my community and they are threatening violence, I want to know more about them. That just makes sense.”
He also claimed that the apparent threats of violence were not authentic.
“A lot of people in private conversations say things tongue in cheek about what they would like to see happen to these people, but that is not setting a policy or establishing a protocol for people to carry things out.”
Some of Shea’s most prominent critics have been political conservatives. Spokane county’s Republican sheriff, Ozzie Knezovich, has repeatedly criticized Shea’s far-right ties.
“It’s part and parcel of what this group has been saying for years. I think if a state representative is condoning violence against his constituents then that person needs to be removed from office, and I hope the voters will do that at the next election.
“Matt Shea is a poor representative for the Republican party. Extremism on both sides is tearing this country apart,” Knezovich added.
Asked if the people around Shea were dangerous, Knezovich said: “Yes.”
The Western States Center, a progressive organization, has also previously criticized Shea. Its executive director, Eric Ward, said via email: “The violent extremism that Representative Matt Shea espouses is a clear threat to our democratic institutions and has no place in mainstream political discourse.
“We call on Washington State Republican Party leaders to censure Representative Shea if these allegations are true.”
Shea did not respond to a request for comment.
After the Guardian contacted Robertson and Shea for comment Robertson spoke on Thursday night on the Spokane Christian radio station on which he and Shea broadcast weekly programs.
In a rambling broadcast, Robertson confirmed the existence of the chats, called the Guardian a “propagandist”, read biblical accounts of war and followed with: “If it comes time for war and it’s forced upon you, do you not want a leader who is going to surround himself with warriors? I do.
“There was talk about doing surveillance on some of these Antifa people. Not surveillance but just start copying and pasting their comments, keeping track of who’s who, keep track of where they live, where they work, but that never came to fruition,” he added.
State representative Matt Shea, who represents Spokane Valley in the Washington state house, participated in the chats with three other men. All of the men used screen aliases – Shea’s was “Verum Bellator”, Latin for true warrior. The Guardian confirmed the identity of those in the chat by cross-checking phone numbers attached to the Signal accounts.
The group included Jack Robertson, who broadcasts a far-right radio show, Radio Free Redoubt, under the alias “John Jacob Schmidt”. The chat also included Anthony Bosworth, whose history includes a public altercation with his own daughter and bringing guns to a court house. Bosworth participated in the 2016 occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge, reportedly at Shea’s request.
The name of another participant, who provided the chat records to the Guardian, has been withheld due to concerns about personal safety.
The chats on the messaging app Signal took place in the days leading up to a supposed “Antifa revolt” on 4 November 2017. Throughout late October, far-right media outlets had been stoking fears of political conflict on the basis of planned peaceful protests by a small leftist group.
The men proposed to confront leftists – whom they repeatedly refer to as “communists” and “Antifa” – with a suite of tactics, including violence.
---
Other acts of extreme violence were also suggested. When a specific female Spokane resident was nominated for surveillance in the chat group, Robertson suggested:
---
Apart from violence, the men extensively discussed tactics of surveillance and intimidation.
---
Shea, the elected Republican legislator, did not demur from any of these suggestions. He also appeared willing to participate directly in surveillance of activists.
---
In response to a request in the chat for background checks on Spokane residents, Shea volunteered to help, going on to name three individuals – including an organizer for the liberal group Indivisible, and a college professor.
The men talked about the broad outlines of what they appeared to consider to be a looming civil war. They also discussed using symbols from what they understood to be Russian anti-communist groups as a way of spreading paranoia among their adversaries.
The group talked about making stickers and cards using skull and crossbones images from post-revolutionary Russian nationalist groups. After posting an image of a white army soldier holding such a banner, Bosworth remarked:
When we locate their homes we can tag the sidewalks and their mailboxes with the symbol
Oct 29, 2017 5:20PM
Leave the symbol as a calling card
Oct 29, 2017 5:20PM
We can waste their resources and make them Target something that doesn't exist
Oct 29, 2017 5:21PM
When the leftist revolt failed to materialize, Shea did not rethink his conspiratorial views and instead blamed the weather.
---
Shea, a six-term legislator and military veteran, came to international attention in 2018 after a document he authored surfaced laying out a “biblical basis for war”, which appeared to be a plan for an apocalyptic battle with people who practiced “same sex marriage” and “abortion”, and instructed: “If they do not yield, kill all males.”
Shea denied that the document meant what it appeared to say.
At that time, Shea lost donors, and he was stripped of his role as chair of the Republican caucus – though he was serving in this position at the time of the leaked chat.
But Shea has since regrouped, introducing bills to criminalize abortion and roll back gun laws, which other Republicans in Washington have supported. He has also continued pushing a plan for eastern Washington to secede and reconstitute as Liberty State. Robertson has also been a key architect of this campaign, and he and Shea have been regular guests on each other’s broadcasts.
Shea has long promoted conspiratorial views about the cooperation of leftists and Muslims in creating “counter-states” in the US. He has associated with conspiracy-minded far-right groups, and later this month will emcee a dinner for the anti-communist John Birch society in Couer D’Alene, Idaho.
In a telephone conversation with the Guardian, Robertson said: “I remember a discussion in response to Indivisible and Antifa groups that were planning to take to the streets,” but “I don’t recall the details”.
He denied surveilling his political opponents, but added: “If someone is in my community and they are threatening violence, I want to know more about them. That just makes sense.”
He also claimed that the apparent threats of violence were not authentic.
“A lot of people in private conversations say things tongue in cheek about what they would like to see happen to these people, but that is not setting a policy or establishing a protocol for people to carry things out.”
Some of Shea’s most prominent critics have been political conservatives. Spokane county’s Republican sheriff, Ozzie Knezovich, has repeatedly criticized Shea’s far-right ties.
“It’s part and parcel of what this group has been saying for years. I think if a state representative is condoning violence against his constituents then that person needs to be removed from office, and I hope the voters will do that at the next election.
“Matt Shea is a poor representative for the Republican party. Extremism on both sides is tearing this country apart,” Knezovich added.
Asked if the people around Shea were dangerous, Knezovich said: “Yes.”
The Western States Center, a progressive organization, has also previously criticized Shea. Its executive director, Eric Ward, said via email: “The violent extremism that Representative Matt Shea espouses is a clear threat to our democratic institutions and has no place in mainstream political discourse.
“We call on Washington State Republican Party leaders to censure Representative Shea if these allegations are true.”
Shea did not respond to a request for comment.
After the Guardian contacted Robertson and Shea for comment Robertson spoke on Thursday night on the Spokane Christian radio station on which he and Shea broadcast weekly programs.
In a rambling broadcast, Robertson confirmed the existence of the chats, called the Guardian a “propagandist”, read biblical accounts of war and followed with: “If it comes time for war and it’s forced upon you, do you not want a leader who is going to surround himself with warriors? I do.
“There was talk about doing surveillance on some of these Antifa people. Not surveillance but just start copying and pasting their comments, keeping track of who’s who, keep track of where they live, where they work, but that never came to fruition,” he added.
opinion: The misogynist trolls attacking Katie Bouman are the tip of the trashpile
Trolls latched on to Bouman’s achievement of the first black hole image with a vitriol that, in a saner world, would be shocking – but is par for the course for women
Jill Filipovic
the guardian
on Wed 17 Apr 2019 09.28 EDT
The researcher Katie Bouman played a leading role in taking the first photograph of a black hole. A photo of the 29-year-old Bouman taken the moment the photo was processed shows her with her hands clasped in front of her mouth, looking at the camera with a mix of shock and excitement. It went viral – both a testament to the groundbreaking work itself and a moment of victory for women in the sciences, whose contributions have long been ignored, downplayed and erased.
The giddiness didn’t last long.
Anti-feminist trolls latched on to the story and attacked Bouman with a vitriol that, in a saner world, would be shocking, but in this one looked a lot like the reaction to a Ghostbusters movie remake with a female cast – that is, sad, angry men yelling at women on the internet. Trolls created fake social media accounts impersonating Bouman. They questioned her contribution to the project. When she said that she was part of a team who all worked hard to make the photo happen, they dug in deeper, suggesting she was only getting public attention because she was a woman, when men did all the real work.
Unfortunately, this is par for the course for women on the internet. Or women in politics. Or women on television. Or women who become prominent in any way, even if they are, like Katie Bouman, private citizens who did something truly amazing.
It’s easy to point to misogynist trolls as a problem; it’s also easy to write them off as just pathetic losers tweeting from their mothers’ basements. But in reality, they are the tip of the trashpile. Trolls say out loud what others think; trolls also embody the ugliest and most blatant versions of the more subtle sexisms that animate everyday life. While hundreds of petulant man-children rail against a female scientist on Twitter, there are undoubtedly a great many more men in the real world who wouldn’t call a woman the C-word (at least not in public, or at least not with their own names attached), but do think maybe there is something to the theory that men are just more mathematically and scientifically adept than women.
For each of the hundreds of whiners who proclaimed their childhoods ruined by female Ghostbusters, there are a hundred more men who may not care about the Ghostbusters saga, but would also have to be dragged to see a movie with an all-female cast and simply don’t consume many cultural products – books, movies, television shows, music – in which women dominate and men are either marginal or absent. For every guy still, in 2019, yelling expletives about Hillary Clinton, there are thousands and thousands more who would say they would love to support a woman for president … just not any of the actual women who are running or have ever run.
Highlighting these attacks is crucial, if only to show the depth and degree of virulent misogyny. Too many women who have come into the public eye for any reason – or even women who are not in the public eye but spend time in online social spaces – know the feeling of being harassed, belittled, threatened and demeaned. Too many women have, as a result, piped down, shut up or bowed out. Untold numbers more never jump into the ring in the first place, keeping their voices down, their work quiet and their successes private.
I am sometimes invited to speak to journalism classes or to groups of college or high school students, and over and over again, I hear the same question: “How do you deal with the harassment?” I only hear this question from girls and women. Women see how other women are treated when we shine or succeed – how quickly we are cut down, how insults snowball into threats – and are intimidated. I never have a good answer, except to say that the internet can be a rough place for women, and to the extent you can ignore it or even work to change misogynist online culture, the better. But “ignore the bullies” is deeply unsatisfying and profoundly unhelpful advice.
Katie Bouman probably knows that. I don’t know how much time she spent online before this incident (she’s a computer scientist, so maybe quite a bit), but no doubt it has been jarring. But it goes beyond Bouman herself. Just as Bouman’s success was an inspiration to young women and girls in the sciences, the very public attacks on her work as a corollary warning. And that’s how we should understand this: not just as one of the ugliest forms of misogyny rearing its head, but as a pervasive, systematic part of a broader system that undermines women’s success and recognition at every level.
Attacks from sexist trolls are overwhelming and destabilizing. But far worse is the slow drip of sexism that keeps women from achieving their full potential for power, success and achievement every single day.
The giddiness didn’t last long.
Anti-feminist trolls latched on to the story and attacked Bouman with a vitriol that, in a saner world, would be shocking, but in this one looked a lot like the reaction to a Ghostbusters movie remake with a female cast – that is, sad, angry men yelling at women on the internet. Trolls created fake social media accounts impersonating Bouman. They questioned her contribution to the project. When she said that she was part of a team who all worked hard to make the photo happen, they dug in deeper, suggesting she was only getting public attention because she was a woman, when men did all the real work.
Unfortunately, this is par for the course for women on the internet. Or women in politics. Or women on television. Or women who become prominent in any way, even if they are, like Katie Bouman, private citizens who did something truly amazing.
It’s easy to point to misogynist trolls as a problem; it’s also easy to write them off as just pathetic losers tweeting from their mothers’ basements. But in reality, they are the tip of the trashpile. Trolls say out loud what others think; trolls also embody the ugliest and most blatant versions of the more subtle sexisms that animate everyday life. While hundreds of petulant man-children rail against a female scientist on Twitter, there are undoubtedly a great many more men in the real world who wouldn’t call a woman the C-word (at least not in public, or at least not with their own names attached), but do think maybe there is something to the theory that men are just more mathematically and scientifically adept than women.
For each of the hundreds of whiners who proclaimed their childhoods ruined by female Ghostbusters, there are a hundred more men who may not care about the Ghostbusters saga, but would also have to be dragged to see a movie with an all-female cast and simply don’t consume many cultural products – books, movies, television shows, music – in which women dominate and men are either marginal or absent. For every guy still, in 2019, yelling expletives about Hillary Clinton, there are thousands and thousands more who would say they would love to support a woman for president … just not any of the actual women who are running or have ever run.
Highlighting these attacks is crucial, if only to show the depth and degree of virulent misogyny. Too many women who have come into the public eye for any reason – or even women who are not in the public eye but spend time in online social spaces – know the feeling of being harassed, belittled, threatened and demeaned. Too many women have, as a result, piped down, shut up or bowed out. Untold numbers more never jump into the ring in the first place, keeping their voices down, their work quiet and their successes private.
I am sometimes invited to speak to journalism classes or to groups of college or high school students, and over and over again, I hear the same question: “How do you deal with the harassment?” I only hear this question from girls and women. Women see how other women are treated when we shine or succeed – how quickly we are cut down, how insults snowball into threats – and are intimidated. I never have a good answer, except to say that the internet can be a rough place for women, and to the extent you can ignore it or even work to change misogynist online culture, the better. But “ignore the bullies” is deeply unsatisfying and profoundly unhelpful advice.
Katie Bouman probably knows that. I don’t know how much time she spent online before this incident (she’s a computer scientist, so maybe quite a bit), but no doubt it has been jarring. But it goes beyond Bouman herself. Just as Bouman’s success was an inspiration to young women and girls in the sciences, the very public attacks on her work as a corollary warning. And that’s how we should understand this: not just as one of the ugliest forms of misogyny rearing its head, but as a pervasive, systematic part of a broader system that undermines women’s success and recognition at every level.
Attacks from sexist trolls are overwhelming and destabilizing. But far worse is the slow drip of sexism that keeps women from achieving their full potential for power, success and achievement every single day.
racist togetherness!!!
Woman in 'gardening while black' case hires self-proclaimed alt-right lawyer
Deborah Nash is being represented by Kyle Bristow, who previously represented white supremacist Richard Spencer
Tom Perkinsin Detroit
the guardian
Tue 16 Apr 2019 02.00 EDT
Marc Peeples, an urban framer in Detroit, is suing Deborah Nash after she falsely accused him of being a convicted pedophile, among other things. Photograph: Courtesy Marc Peeples
A white Detroit woman being sued by a black man in a high-profile case for repeatedly fabricating charges against him to police has hired an attorney who previously represented white supremacist leaders like Richard Spencer.
The case, whose victim said he was merely guilty of “gardening while black”, generated headlines around the country as another example of black Americans encountering racism, and the attention of law enforcement, for simply carrying out everyday activities.
Deborah Nash is now being represented by Kyle Bristow, a self-proclaimed alt-right attorney who in 2018 brought legal challenges against universities that denied Spencer permission to speak on campus.
Nash is a defendant in the lawsuit because she and two other white women accused Marc Peeples, a black urban farmer, of brandishing a gun, participating in a drive-by shooting targeting one of their homes, and being a convicted pedophile. The final accusation led to Peeple’s arrest, though none of the accusations were true.
A judge tossed that criminal case in October, calling it “ridiculous” and “disgusting” while admonishing police and prosecution for moving forward with it.
Peeples is asking the court to award $300,000 in damages. He and his attorney, Robert Burton-Harris, allege that the three women “knowingly fabricated all of [their] allegations” and “acted intentionally and concertedly to cause Marc economic harm and emotional distress”. Their behavior was “extreme, malicious, wanton, and outrageous”, the complaint says.
“I’m not surprised that Ms Nash hired Kyle to represent her in this matter,” Burton-Harris told the Guardian.
Bristow has a recent high-profile record in race-tinged cases in the US. After successfully pressuring Michigan State University to allow Spencer to speak there in March 2018, Bristow’s now-disbanded alt-right group, the Foundation for Marketplace of Ideas (FMI), organized a weekend-long conference that hosted Spencer and other white nationalist leaders ahead of the MSU event.
Non-profit forms filed by FMI describe Bristow as “one of the Alt-Right’s most vicious attack dogs”, and he characterized the group as an American Civil Liberties Union for the right.
When Bristow’s conference was disrupted by local media revealing its secret locations, Bristow announced that he planned to dissociate from the alt-right as the conference fell apart.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Bristow page highlights his record as an MSU student in the mid-2000s. During that time, he organized a “catch an illegal immigrant day” that was eventually canceled and led a “straight power” rally in front of the Lansing city hall.
The case, whose victim said he was merely guilty of “gardening while black”, generated headlines around the country as another example of black Americans encountering racism, and the attention of law enforcement, for simply carrying out everyday activities.
Deborah Nash is now being represented by Kyle Bristow, a self-proclaimed alt-right attorney who in 2018 brought legal challenges against universities that denied Spencer permission to speak on campus.
Nash is a defendant in the lawsuit because she and two other white women accused Marc Peeples, a black urban farmer, of brandishing a gun, participating in a drive-by shooting targeting one of their homes, and being a convicted pedophile. The final accusation led to Peeple’s arrest, though none of the accusations were true.
A judge tossed that criminal case in October, calling it “ridiculous” and “disgusting” while admonishing police and prosecution for moving forward with it.
Peeples is asking the court to award $300,000 in damages. He and his attorney, Robert Burton-Harris, allege that the three women “knowingly fabricated all of [their] allegations” and “acted intentionally and concertedly to cause Marc economic harm and emotional distress”. Their behavior was “extreme, malicious, wanton, and outrageous”, the complaint says.
“I’m not surprised that Ms Nash hired Kyle to represent her in this matter,” Burton-Harris told the Guardian.
Bristow has a recent high-profile record in race-tinged cases in the US. After successfully pressuring Michigan State University to allow Spencer to speak there in March 2018, Bristow’s now-disbanded alt-right group, the Foundation for Marketplace of Ideas (FMI), organized a weekend-long conference that hosted Spencer and other white nationalist leaders ahead of the MSU event.
Non-profit forms filed by FMI describe Bristow as “one of the Alt-Right’s most vicious attack dogs”, and he characterized the group as an American Civil Liberties Union for the right.
When Bristow’s conference was disrupted by local media revealing its secret locations, Bristow announced that he planned to dissociate from the alt-right as the conference fell apart.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Bristow page highlights his record as an MSU student in the mid-2000s. During that time, he organized a “catch an illegal immigrant day” that was eventually canceled and led a “straight power” rally in front of the Lansing city hall.
Stephen Miller is mad that immigrants aren’t being denied benefits fast enough by the administration
“You ought to be working on this regulation all day every day."
REBEKAH ENTRALGO - thinkprogress
APR 15, 2019, 1:19 PM
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller is openly berating top members of the Trump administration for failing to implement “public charge,” a proposed rule change that would deny residency status to immigrants who rely on public benefits.
“You ought to be working on this regulation all day every day,” Miller reportedly shouted during a meeting last month in the White House situation room, according to The New York Times. “It should be the first thought you have when you wake up. And it should be the last thought you have before you go to bed. And sometimes you shouldn’t go to bed.”
In the weeks that followed the meeting, Miller has led a purge of top employees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) including former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady, and Secret Service Director Randolph D. Alles. Other agency officials, including Francis Cissna, head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and John Mitnick, the department’s general counsel, have been warned by the White House they may be next.
Under the proposal, announced last fall, DHS requires immigration caseworkers to take into account immigrants’ reliance on public benefits, like Section 8 housing or food assistance, when considering applications for immigration visas (like work visas or family-based visas) or green cards (permanent residency).
Miller and President Donald Trump have both made it clear that any administration official who does not follow through with the administration’s plans to implement immigration policies that are legally questionable and ethically reprehensible has no place in the White House. Last week, Trump also reportedly told border agents to deny entry to asylum seekers, an act that would violate U.S. law, and offered to pardon acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan if he were sent to jail for breaking the law.
There is already a public charge rule on the books and it has its roots in a dark period of American history, having first surfaced the same year Congress adopted the Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1882, Congress also adopted another law that banned “any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.” The test was initially aimed preventing the immigration of Irish Catholics to the United States and was later used by immigration officials to keep out Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, along with LQBTQ immigrants, individuals with disabilities, and even unmarried women.
The Trump administration has proposed expanding that criteria to include anyone who receives or is likely to receive “any government assistance in the form of cash, checks or other forms of money transfers, or instruments and non-cash government assistance in the form of aid, services, or other relief, that is means-tested or intended to help the individual meet basic living requirements.”
As ThinkProgress previously reported, if U.S. citizens were forced to play by the same rules, only one-third of Americans would qualify.
The Trump administration has already begun implementing public charge; it’s just not at the rate Miller would prefer. According to Reuters, roughly 13,500 immigrant visas were denied by the State Department last year on the basis that the applicants might become “public charges” because they used government public assistance programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). Other government programs that could deem someone to be a public charge include Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Supplemental Nutritional Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicare subsidies, or rental housing assistance.
Reuters profiled Arturo Balbino, a Mexican construction worker living in Texas. Balbino believed he had a strong case for a visa, with a U.S. citizen wife and child, and a letter from his employer guaranteeing him an $18-per-hour job. In spite of this, during his visa interview, officials brought up his family’s past use of Medicaid and SNAP and his application was denied.
According to Reuters, some immigration attorneys believe consular officers are denying visas even when applicants fulfill legal requirements to prove they will be financially independent. Balbino’s father-in-law, for example, provided a legal affidavit of support providing financial evidence that he would not become a “government burden.”
The public charge regulation received over 200,000 comments from the public since it was first introduced. It will likely be months before the change is fully evaluated and implemented. The State Department, however, is able to deny visa applications on the basis of a back-door manual change in January 2018 that awarded diplomats more discretion to deny visas on the basis of public charge.
“You ought to be working on this regulation all day every day,” Miller reportedly shouted during a meeting last month in the White House situation room, according to The New York Times. “It should be the first thought you have when you wake up. And it should be the last thought you have before you go to bed. And sometimes you shouldn’t go to bed.”
In the weeks that followed the meeting, Miller has led a purge of top employees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) including former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Acting Deputy Secretary Claire Grady, and Secret Service Director Randolph D. Alles. Other agency officials, including Francis Cissna, head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and John Mitnick, the department’s general counsel, have been warned by the White House they may be next.
Under the proposal, announced last fall, DHS requires immigration caseworkers to take into account immigrants’ reliance on public benefits, like Section 8 housing or food assistance, when considering applications for immigration visas (like work visas or family-based visas) or green cards (permanent residency).
Miller and President Donald Trump have both made it clear that any administration official who does not follow through with the administration’s plans to implement immigration policies that are legally questionable and ethically reprehensible has no place in the White House. Last week, Trump also reportedly told border agents to deny entry to asylum seekers, an act that would violate U.S. law, and offered to pardon acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan if he were sent to jail for breaking the law.
There is already a public charge rule on the books and it has its roots in a dark period of American history, having first surfaced the same year Congress adopted the Chinese Exclusion Act. In 1882, Congress also adopted another law that banned “any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.” The test was initially aimed preventing the immigration of Irish Catholics to the United States and was later used by immigration officials to keep out Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, along with LQBTQ immigrants, individuals with disabilities, and even unmarried women.
The Trump administration has proposed expanding that criteria to include anyone who receives or is likely to receive “any government assistance in the form of cash, checks or other forms of money transfers, or instruments and non-cash government assistance in the form of aid, services, or other relief, that is means-tested or intended to help the individual meet basic living requirements.”
As ThinkProgress previously reported, if U.S. citizens were forced to play by the same rules, only one-third of Americans would qualify.
The Trump administration has already begun implementing public charge; it’s just not at the rate Miller would prefer. According to Reuters, roughly 13,500 immigrant visas were denied by the State Department last year on the basis that the applicants might become “public charges” because they used government public assistance programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). Other government programs that could deem someone to be a public charge include Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Supplemental Nutritional Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicare subsidies, or rental housing assistance.
Reuters profiled Arturo Balbino, a Mexican construction worker living in Texas. Balbino believed he had a strong case for a visa, with a U.S. citizen wife and child, and a letter from his employer guaranteeing him an $18-per-hour job. In spite of this, during his visa interview, officials brought up his family’s past use of Medicaid and SNAP and his application was denied.
According to Reuters, some immigration attorneys believe consular officers are denying visas even when applicants fulfill legal requirements to prove they will be financially independent. Balbino’s father-in-law, for example, provided a legal affidavit of support providing financial evidence that he would not become a “government burden.”
The public charge regulation received over 200,000 comments from the public since it was first introduced. It will likely be months before the change is fully evaluated and implemented. The State Department, however, is able to deny visa applications on the basis of a back-door manual change in January 2018 that awarded diplomats more discretion to deny visas on the basis of public charge.
GOP lawmaker gets death threats for not advancing permitless carry bill in state house
Matthew Chapman - raw story
09 APR 2019 AT 09:16 ET
Sometimes NRA lobbying is not the only reason Republicans have to fear defying gun rights orthodoxy.
According to the Post and Courier, South Carolina state Rep. Peter McCoy, a Republican who chairs the state House Judiciary Committee, is now under police protection after receiving a death threat on Facebook. The threat, replying to a post of Freedom Action Network of South Carolina calling McCoy the “#1 enemy of restoring our gun rights,” said “Totally sucks that one guy has that much control. Maybe we should shoot him?”
McCoy’s offense? He declined to advance a bill in the Judiciary Committee to implement “permitless carry,” which would completely eliminate the need to obtain certification to carry a handgun in the state.
Freedom Action Network’s president condemned the threat, saying “Under no circumstance do we advocate even the hint of a threat of violence,” but it wasn’t an isolated incident. Other comments on that same post include, “McCoy needs a ‘come to Jesus talking to’ and a serious one,” “Get the bill passed or look at your future,” and “He needs a behind the barn talking to!”
Permitless carry bills are being advanced in several GOP-controlled states, and were recently signed into law in Kentucky and South Dakota. But the death threats against McCoy seem to have blunted its momentum in South Carolina even further — the state Senate has now canceled hearings on a similar bill.
This isn’t the first time pro-gun activists have metaphorically shot themselves in the foot by escalating their tactics. A similar permitless carry bill in Texas was recently scrapped after the leader an extreme gun rights group went door to door intimidating people in state House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s neighborhood.
According to the Post and Courier, South Carolina state Rep. Peter McCoy, a Republican who chairs the state House Judiciary Committee, is now under police protection after receiving a death threat on Facebook. The threat, replying to a post of Freedom Action Network of South Carolina calling McCoy the “#1 enemy of restoring our gun rights,” said “Totally sucks that one guy has that much control. Maybe we should shoot him?”
McCoy’s offense? He declined to advance a bill in the Judiciary Committee to implement “permitless carry,” which would completely eliminate the need to obtain certification to carry a handgun in the state.
Freedom Action Network’s president condemned the threat, saying “Under no circumstance do we advocate even the hint of a threat of violence,” but it wasn’t an isolated incident. Other comments on that same post include, “McCoy needs a ‘come to Jesus talking to’ and a serious one,” “Get the bill passed or look at your future,” and “He needs a behind the barn talking to!”
Permitless carry bills are being advanced in several GOP-controlled states, and were recently signed into law in Kentucky and South Dakota. But the death threats against McCoy seem to have blunted its momentum in South Carolina even further — the state Senate has now canceled hearings on a similar bill.
This isn’t the first time pro-gun activists have metaphorically shot themselves in the foot by escalating their tactics. A similar permitless carry bill in Texas was recently scrapped after the leader an extreme gun rights group went door to door intimidating people in state House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s neighborhood.
Texas teacher exposed as a white supremacist: ‘It’s not fun’ teaching kids of color
Tana Ganeva - raw story
05 APR 2019 AT 12:30 ET
A Texas teacher is on leave after his ties to white nationalists were exposed, the Huffington Post reported.
Dallas teacher Stephen Arnquist, who teaches Japanese, allegedly posted online comments that signal an allegiance to white nationalists.
An antifa activist in Oregon revealed that Arnquist has ties to Identity Evropa, a fascist group originating in California.
The evidence does appear to link Arnquist to the group. He allegedly used the messaging app Discord, griping about being “a high school Japanese teacher in the ghetto.”
“The school is 40% Black, 60% Hispanic school,” wrote someone using the handle Stephen-TX. “The school was was 90% white back in the 70s. Walking down the hall by the auditorium looking at the band, choir, etc, photos year by year, it’s… it’s not fun.”
He further stigmatized the students of color he is supposed to be teaching, describing them as “somewhat higher tier blacks and Hispanics,” but “they’re still unimpressive compared to mostly white classes I observed in neighboring districts.”
He’s also frequently commented on The Right Stuff, a white supremacist site, the Huffington Post reports.
A spokeswoman for the district told the Huffington Pot that they are “committed to providing high-quality instruction in every class.”
“We proudly embrace the diversity of our students and value the families we serve,” she said. “Together, we believe every student can grow, succeed and achieve.”
Dallas teacher Stephen Arnquist, who teaches Japanese, allegedly posted online comments that signal an allegiance to white nationalists.
An antifa activist in Oregon revealed that Arnquist has ties to Identity Evropa, a fascist group originating in California.
The evidence does appear to link Arnquist to the group. He allegedly used the messaging app Discord, griping about being “a high school Japanese teacher in the ghetto.”
“The school is 40% Black, 60% Hispanic school,” wrote someone using the handle Stephen-TX. “The school was was 90% white back in the 70s. Walking down the hall by the auditorium looking at the band, choir, etc, photos year by year, it’s… it’s not fun.”
He further stigmatized the students of color he is supposed to be teaching, describing them as “somewhat higher tier blacks and Hispanics,” but “they’re still unimpressive compared to mostly white classes I observed in neighboring districts.”
He’s also frequently commented on The Right Stuff, a white supremacist site, the Huffington Post reports.
A spokeswoman for the district told the Huffington Pot that they are “committed to providing high-quality instruction in every class.”
“We proudly embrace the diversity of our students and value the families we serve,” she said. “Together, we believe every student can grow, succeed and achieve.”
Racist woman berates gas station customer for speaking Spanish: ‘Trump needs to hurry up and build the wall!’
Brad Reed - raw story
02 APR 2019 AT 09:58 ET
A California woman was berated by an employee at a Shell gas station this week for speaking Spanish to another woman who happened to be working there.
Local news station ABC 7 reports that San Jose resident Grecya Moran went into a local Shell station last week and was greeted in Spanish by an employee working there.
Moran responded in Spanish, and the two women had a brief conversation before they were interrupted by a white employee who was furious at them for not speaking English.
“I even went up to her and I apologized,” Moran told ABC 7. “I said, ‘Excuse me, I’m sorry. All she was saying is– she was greeting me in Spanish. How my day’s going.’ And she said, ‘I don’t care, you talk in English because this is America.'”
Moran then says that the woman told her that “Trump needs to hurry up and build the wall.”
At this point, she took out her phone and started recording the employee’s behavior. The employee walked over to her and flashed her the middle finger before once again ranting about speaking Spanish.
Local news station ABC 7 reports that San Jose resident Grecya Moran went into a local Shell station last week and was greeted in Spanish by an employee working there.
Moran responded in Spanish, and the two women had a brief conversation before they were interrupted by a white employee who was furious at them for not speaking English.
“I even went up to her and I apologized,” Moran told ABC 7. “I said, ‘Excuse me, I’m sorry. All she was saying is– she was greeting me in Spanish. How my day’s going.’ And she said, ‘I don’t care, you talk in English because this is America.'”
Moran then says that the woman told her that “Trump needs to hurry up and build the wall.”
At this point, she took out her phone and started recording the employee’s behavior. The employee walked over to her and flashed her the middle finger before once again ranting about speaking Spanish.
Dear Terrified White Dudes: Your Strategy Needs an Update
TygrBright - demo underground
Dear Terrified White Dudes: Your Strategy Needs an Update
I know it's hard to climb out of that barge on the ol' Egyptian river, but seriously, denial ain't gonna help. Start with this: The demographic Point of No Return was passed many, many years ago.
No matter how hard you try to keep any NEW brown people from entering the country, at some point within the next couple of generations, there will be more brown people than white people here.
One more important thing to note: Trying to hang onto all the power, all the wealth, and all the control when you're a diminishing minority in the greater population hasn't worked out awfully well over the last few centuries. Starting with France in the 18th Century, and most recently in South Africa, one way or another the majority will tip the balance back, and you'll have to cope.
If you're lucky, the model will be much more like South Africa and much less like 18th-Century France.
So here's a suggestion for a new strategy:
When you're about to become a minority, maybe... just maybe... ensuring that the rights of minorities are vigorously protected in law and economic practice would be a hella smart strategy!
Think about it, white dudes.
Instead of trying to deny minorities the right to vote, you might want to ensure strong protections for everyone's access to the ballot, because one day, it might be YOUR neighborhoods that get left off the "where we put polling places" map.
Instead of trying to restrict access to the best educational opportunities, you might want to guarantee that the admissions process can't be gamed by privilege.
Instead of making it easy for economic predators to practice usury, extortion, and confiscation in minority communities, you might want to codify economic justice for all, now while you still can.
Instead of allowing industrial polluters a free pass to make places where minorities live as toxic and unlivable as possible, you might want to give the notion of environmental justice a little support.
You want to ensure a better future for your children and grandchildren when they are a minority in America? Then make America a place where minorities have the fullest possible equity.
I can think of no better, more effective, more powerful strategy to secure the existence of white people and a future for white children, than by securing the existence of ALL minorities and the future of ALL children.
Just sayin'...
futilely,
Bright
Dear Terrified White Dudes: Your Strategy Needs an Update
I know it's hard to climb out of that barge on the ol' Egyptian river, but seriously, denial ain't gonna help. Start with this: The demographic Point of No Return was passed many, many years ago.
No matter how hard you try to keep any NEW brown people from entering the country, at some point within the next couple of generations, there will be more brown people than white people here.
One more important thing to note: Trying to hang onto all the power, all the wealth, and all the control when you're a diminishing minority in the greater population hasn't worked out awfully well over the last few centuries. Starting with France in the 18th Century, and most recently in South Africa, one way or another the majority will tip the balance back, and you'll have to cope.
If you're lucky, the model will be much more like South Africa and much less like 18th-Century France.
So here's a suggestion for a new strategy:
When you're about to become a minority, maybe... just maybe... ensuring that the rights of minorities are vigorously protected in law and economic practice would be a hella smart strategy!
Think about it, white dudes.
Instead of trying to deny minorities the right to vote, you might want to ensure strong protections for everyone's access to the ballot, because one day, it might be YOUR neighborhoods that get left off the "where we put polling places" map.
Instead of trying to restrict access to the best educational opportunities, you might want to guarantee that the admissions process can't be gamed by privilege.
Instead of making it easy for economic predators to practice usury, extortion, and confiscation in minority communities, you might want to codify economic justice for all, now while you still can.
Instead of allowing industrial polluters a free pass to make places where minorities live as toxic and unlivable as possible, you might want to give the notion of environmental justice a little support.
You want to ensure a better future for your children and grandchildren when they are a minority in America? Then make America a place where minorities have the fullest possible equity.
I can think of no better, more effective, more powerful strategy to secure the existence of white people and a future for white children, than by securing the existence of ALL minorities and the future of ALL children.
Just sayin'...
futilely,
Bright
The neo-Nazi plot against America is much bigger than we realize
Lt Christopher Hasson is the product of traditions in white supremacist circles, and experts say there are ‘thousands like him’
Vegas Tenold
the guardian
Sun 3 Mar 2019 00.00 EST
A far-right protester takes part in a Patriot Prayer rally in Portland, Oregon on 4 August 2018. Photograph: Kainoa Little/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock
In the early summer of 2017, US coast guard lieutenant Christopher Hasson had an idea. He had been trying to figure out an effective way of killing billions of people – “almost every last person on Earth” – but found himself coming up against the daunting logistics of such a task.
He suspected “a plague would be most successful”, but didn’t know how to get his hands on enough Spanish flu, botulism or anthrax. His idea, he wrote in a draft email from 2 June of that year, would be to “start with biological attacks followed by attack on food supply”. He acknowledged the plan needed more research.
While horrifying in their ambition, Hasson’s plans, gleaned from email drafts, are scatterbrained and bear the hallmarks of a person still trying to figure things out. His tentative plans, outlined mostly in emails to himself, were thwarted when he was arrested last month on firearms and drugs charges and investigators discovered his inner life as a neo-Nazi and his plans for mass murder – along with a huge cache of weapons and a hit list of prominent Democrats and media figures.
What is clear, however, is that Hasson was inspired by others who came before him, and that he is likely very far from alone.
Hasson is the product of both established traditions within white supremacist circles as well as new developments. He was at once inspired by old ideas and determined to go beyond them to create more havoc than any who had come before him.
The year and a half since the Unite the Right far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, ended in mayhem, the death of a protester and political turmoil, has been a rough time for the public facing and ostensibly political arm of the white supremacist movement in America.
Those who marched in Charlottesville have to a large degree retreated, fleeing lawsuits, doxxing and personal scandal. Still, while public marches appear to be fewer and fewer, the period since Charlottesville has also been marred by individual episodes of extreme violence, suggesting that the wave of white supremacy that seemed to crest in Charlottesville is not so much receding as just changing in nature.
“I think what we’re starting to see now is people becoming more disheartened and disconnected from mainstream politics,” said Keegan Hankes.
Hankes is a researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center monitoring group, and he says they have been following a spike in far-right violence. “We believe we can expect more violence as people become increasingly frustrated and unmoored,” he said.
Increased violence from far-right activists at a time when the administration is friendlier toward their goals is not without historical precedent, said the University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew, the author of Bring the War Home: the White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Belew explained that the far right’s affinity for Donald Trump might mean more violence during his time in the White House, not less.
“The last time the movement underwent a major revolutionary turn was under the Reagan administration, during a moment of supposedly friendly state power,” she said.
“That means that whatever people think about the Trump administration’s reluctance to disavow certain types of white power organizing, this is not a moment when we’d expect to see happiness in the fringe. We’re talking about a movement in which many activists want the overthrow of the federal government, the reinstatement of slavery, the genocide of all people of color and a white homeland. These aren’t things that can be pursued politically, even with a sympathetic administration.”
A report published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in January supports Belew and Hankes’ assertions. According to the study, every single extremist murder in the US in 2018 had links to far-right ideology, making it one of the deadliest years in recent history. While some of these links were tenuous – the shooter behind the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglashigh school had no direct contact with extremist groups but had been known to make racist, white supremacist statements – the numbers paint a picture of a movement that is finding new, violent outlets for its extremism. Some of the incidents – such as a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue – sent shockwaves through the whole country.
“It’s clearly gathering steam,” said JM Berger, an expert on extremism and research scholar at Vox-Pol. “Success breeds success, and we’re seeing people operationalize the self-education process. People are beginning to understand that they can emulate the actions of someone who went before them to work out whatever they want to work out.”
According to documents filed in the investigation of Hasson, he was not only inspired by terrorists who came before him – he is deeply influenced by Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik – but also driven by a loathing for what he perceives as Trump’s enemies as well as a paranoid fear that Trump will be removed from power.
This certainty that evil forces are working against Trump has become prevalent within the far right, breeding conspiracies such as QAnon, which posits Trump is fighting a “deep state” conspiracy that seeks to thwart his patriotic agenda. As such, Trump plays a dual role within the world of rightwing violence: while a “sympathetic” administration can spur a rise in violence, the perceived persecution of Trump – in large part an image created by the president himself – can fuel the paranoid and violent fantasies of people like Hasson.
Both ideas can breed violence, especially if Trump is defeated in the 2020 elections.
“What we’ve seen in the Trump-era is that a lot of the people on the fringes see opportunities for political engagement where they didn’t see it before,” said Berger. “The question is: what happens when that window closes?”
Coupled with increased frustration by the limitations of political engagement comes the rise of more terroristic groups such as Atomwaffen Division, a militant neo-Nazi group linked to several murders. They and others have brought a less hierarchical and more disorderly structure to white supremacist activism, which makes them both harder to track and to control. Known as “leaderless resistance”, it has been a tactic of white supremacists for decades and lead to events such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, but has been made exponentially easier by the internet.
“Leaderless resistance totally changes recruitment strategy,” said Belew.
“No longer is the movement trying to generate a mass protest of uniformed members. This movement isn’t interested in a crowd but in a dedicated cell of 12 people that are going to devote their lives to guerrilla warfare.”
Historically the strategy of leaderless resistance was once confined to the extreme fringes of the white power movement, attracting terrorists such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Breivik, Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof and others, but recently parts of the movement who have been considered moderate have also embraced the idea.
“Leaderless resistance is becoming ubiquitous on the far right,” says Hankes. “Normally these things come from the extreme parts of the movement and the fact that it is showing up elsewhere shows how deep set these ideas are and how disillusioned the movement is with the White House.”
It is uncertain if Hasson would have acted out his plans of mass murder. “Fantasies of violence occur far more often than violent plots,” said Mark Pitcavage, an analyst of rightwing groups for the ADL. “Which of these categories does Hasson fall into?”
Michael German, a former FBI agent who went undercover with white supremacist groups in the 1990s and who now works as a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, agreed. “We really don’t know much about [Hasson], since there is very little in the public record. The key will be if he had co-conspirators or associations with people outside and if they were aware of his intentions,” he said.
Still, German was not surprised by Hasson’s plot or that he had been concocting it while on active duty. “We know that there’s significant illegal activity happening that the government needs to be aware of, the problem is that the government isn’t collecting information about it in a way that lets us assess how widespread the problem is. The FBI has had concerns about white supremacist activity within the military and law enforcement for a long time, but there’s little evidence of investigations into it.”
What remains an almost certainty is that Hasson is not alone in his desire to commit atrocities for white supremacist objectives. Others are still out there: armed, dangerous and plotting. Some will likely turn their thoughts into actions.
“My guess is that there are thousands like him,” said Belew. “These people are ideologically connected and preparing similar acts of violence.”
He suspected “a plague would be most successful”, but didn’t know how to get his hands on enough Spanish flu, botulism or anthrax. His idea, he wrote in a draft email from 2 June of that year, would be to “start with biological attacks followed by attack on food supply”. He acknowledged the plan needed more research.
While horrifying in their ambition, Hasson’s plans, gleaned from email drafts, are scatterbrained and bear the hallmarks of a person still trying to figure things out. His tentative plans, outlined mostly in emails to himself, were thwarted when he was arrested last month on firearms and drugs charges and investigators discovered his inner life as a neo-Nazi and his plans for mass murder – along with a huge cache of weapons and a hit list of prominent Democrats and media figures.
What is clear, however, is that Hasson was inspired by others who came before him, and that he is likely very far from alone.
Hasson is the product of both established traditions within white supremacist circles as well as new developments. He was at once inspired by old ideas and determined to go beyond them to create more havoc than any who had come before him.
The year and a half since the Unite the Right far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, ended in mayhem, the death of a protester and political turmoil, has been a rough time for the public facing and ostensibly political arm of the white supremacist movement in America.
Those who marched in Charlottesville have to a large degree retreated, fleeing lawsuits, doxxing and personal scandal. Still, while public marches appear to be fewer and fewer, the period since Charlottesville has also been marred by individual episodes of extreme violence, suggesting that the wave of white supremacy that seemed to crest in Charlottesville is not so much receding as just changing in nature.
“I think what we’re starting to see now is people becoming more disheartened and disconnected from mainstream politics,” said Keegan Hankes.
Hankes is a researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center monitoring group, and he says they have been following a spike in far-right violence. “We believe we can expect more violence as people become increasingly frustrated and unmoored,” he said.
Increased violence from far-right activists at a time when the administration is friendlier toward their goals is not without historical precedent, said the University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew, the author of Bring the War Home: the White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Belew explained that the far right’s affinity for Donald Trump might mean more violence during his time in the White House, not less.
“The last time the movement underwent a major revolutionary turn was under the Reagan administration, during a moment of supposedly friendly state power,” she said.
“That means that whatever people think about the Trump administration’s reluctance to disavow certain types of white power organizing, this is not a moment when we’d expect to see happiness in the fringe. We’re talking about a movement in which many activists want the overthrow of the federal government, the reinstatement of slavery, the genocide of all people of color and a white homeland. These aren’t things that can be pursued politically, even with a sympathetic administration.”
A report published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in January supports Belew and Hankes’ assertions. According to the study, every single extremist murder in the US in 2018 had links to far-right ideology, making it one of the deadliest years in recent history. While some of these links were tenuous – the shooter behind the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglashigh school had no direct contact with extremist groups but had been known to make racist, white supremacist statements – the numbers paint a picture of a movement that is finding new, violent outlets for its extremism. Some of the incidents – such as a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue – sent shockwaves through the whole country.
“It’s clearly gathering steam,” said JM Berger, an expert on extremism and research scholar at Vox-Pol. “Success breeds success, and we’re seeing people operationalize the self-education process. People are beginning to understand that they can emulate the actions of someone who went before them to work out whatever they want to work out.”
According to documents filed in the investigation of Hasson, he was not only inspired by terrorists who came before him – he is deeply influenced by Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik – but also driven by a loathing for what he perceives as Trump’s enemies as well as a paranoid fear that Trump will be removed from power.
This certainty that evil forces are working against Trump has become prevalent within the far right, breeding conspiracies such as QAnon, which posits Trump is fighting a “deep state” conspiracy that seeks to thwart his patriotic agenda. As such, Trump plays a dual role within the world of rightwing violence: while a “sympathetic” administration can spur a rise in violence, the perceived persecution of Trump – in large part an image created by the president himself – can fuel the paranoid and violent fantasies of people like Hasson.
Both ideas can breed violence, especially if Trump is defeated in the 2020 elections.
“What we’ve seen in the Trump-era is that a lot of the people on the fringes see opportunities for political engagement where they didn’t see it before,” said Berger. “The question is: what happens when that window closes?”
Coupled with increased frustration by the limitations of political engagement comes the rise of more terroristic groups such as Atomwaffen Division, a militant neo-Nazi group linked to several murders. They and others have brought a less hierarchical and more disorderly structure to white supremacist activism, which makes them both harder to track and to control. Known as “leaderless resistance”, it has been a tactic of white supremacists for decades and lead to events such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, but has been made exponentially easier by the internet.
“Leaderless resistance totally changes recruitment strategy,” said Belew.
“No longer is the movement trying to generate a mass protest of uniformed members. This movement isn’t interested in a crowd but in a dedicated cell of 12 people that are going to devote their lives to guerrilla warfare.”
Historically the strategy of leaderless resistance was once confined to the extreme fringes of the white power movement, attracting terrorists such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, Breivik, Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof and others, but recently parts of the movement who have been considered moderate have also embraced the idea.
“Leaderless resistance is becoming ubiquitous on the far right,” says Hankes. “Normally these things come from the extreme parts of the movement and the fact that it is showing up elsewhere shows how deep set these ideas are and how disillusioned the movement is with the White House.”
It is uncertain if Hasson would have acted out his plans of mass murder. “Fantasies of violence occur far more often than violent plots,” said Mark Pitcavage, an analyst of rightwing groups for the ADL. “Which of these categories does Hasson fall into?”
Michael German, a former FBI agent who went undercover with white supremacist groups in the 1990s and who now works as a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, agreed. “We really don’t know much about [Hasson], since there is very little in the public record. The key will be if he had co-conspirators or associations with people outside and if they were aware of his intentions,” he said.
Still, German was not surprised by Hasson’s plot or that he had been concocting it while on active duty. “We know that there’s significant illegal activity happening that the government needs to be aware of, the problem is that the government isn’t collecting information about it in a way that lets us assess how widespread the problem is. The FBI has had concerns about white supremacist activity within the military and law enforcement for a long time, but there’s little evidence of investigations into it.”
What remains an almost certainty is that Hasson is not alone in his desire to commit atrocities for white supremacist objectives. Others are still out there: armed, dangerous and plotting. Some will likely turn their thoughts into actions.
“My guess is that there are thousands like him,” said Belew. “These people are ideologically connected and preparing similar acts of violence.”
amerikkkans funnies
THOMAS JEFFERSON CALLED THEM "RUBBISH" PEOPLE
BEN FRANKLIN CALLED THEM "WASTE" PEOPLE
TRUMP CALLS THEM his "base"
These idiots are the people who lack the intelligence and morality to understand they are just FOOLS.
White Supremacists show their stupidity once again.....
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DJT - lie-brary
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