Tuesday, October 26, 2021

This Week In Fascism #121: Texas Cops Make Nice With Nazis; Facebook Feeds Off Qanon; GOP Promised DC Stormers Pardons

Welcome fellow antifascists!

We’ve been away for a bit, but we return this week with a new massive column! From Facebook knowingly profiting off of far-Right content being promoted on its platform, to pro-Trump Republicans suppospedly meeting with ‘Stop the Steal’ organizers to plan January 6th, to the start of the Unite the Right trial, we continue to watch the consolidation of far-Right and State forces. We also cover action news, new doxxes, and lots of news!

We also want to remind readers that anarchist and antifascist, Daniel Baker, has now been sentanced to 3.5 years and we encourage people to send him letters and other means of support. For more information, go here.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s dive in!

Action Report

Boyertown, Pennsylvania Rallies Against Patriot Front

Community members in Boyertown, Pennsylvania rallied in response to neo-Nazi group Patriot Front vandalizing an anti-racist mural in their town. According to The Mercury:

Within 24 hours of the news that a “No Place for Hate” mural in downtown Boyertown had been defaced, community members rallied to reaffirm their rejection of hate and plans were underway to restore the iconic image. About 50 people…gathered in the parking lot of the Rita’s Water Ice, where the mural is located to see the damage for themselves and to make a statement of support for its sentiments.

But as dispiriting as the vandalism has been, spirits have been lifted by community response “which was immediate and fierce,” said one community member. “As soon as people saw it had been disparaged, they started to come forward and say this can’t be allowed to happen in our community. We are responding in full force that this act does not speak for Boyertown as a whole,” she said.

News

Republicans Met with ‘Stop the Steal’ Activists and Promised them Pardons from Trump, Reports Rolling Stone

According to a bombshell report from Rolling Stone, far-Right ‘Stop the Steal’ activists, met in numerous meetings with Congressional Republicans, who in turn were working directly with Trump and also offered the would-be MAGA insurgents, “blanket pardons.”

According to Rolling Stone:

As the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack heats up, some of the planners of the pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington, D.C., have begun communicating with congressional investigators and sharing new information about what happened when the former president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Two of these people have spoken to Rolling Stone extensively in recent weeks and detailed explosive allegations that multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.

Rolling Stone separately confirmed a third person involved in the main Jan. 6 rally in D.C. has communicated with the committee. This is the first report that the committee is hearing major new allegations from potential cooperating witnesses. While there have been prior indications that members of Congress were involved, this is also the first account detailing their purported role and its scope. The two sources also claim they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who they describe as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence.

These two sources also helped plan a series of demonstrations that took place in multiple states around the country in the weeks between the election and the storming of the Capitol. According to these sources, multiple people associated with the March for Trump and Stop the Steal events that took place during this period communicated with members of Congress throughout this process.

Along with Greene, the conspiratorial pro-Trump Republican from Georgia who took office earlier this year, the pair both say the members who participated in these conversations or had top staffers join in included Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).

And Gosar, who has been one of the most prominent defenders of the Jan. 6 rioters, allegedly took things a step further. Both sources say he dangled the possibility of a “blanket pardon” in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests.

Facebook Knew It Was Spreading QAnon Content And Did Nothing About It

According to a Facebook whistleblower, Facebook knew that it’s algorithm was spreading QAnon content to new users. Vice reports:

In the study, entitled “Carol’s Journey to QAnon—A Test User Study of Misinfo & Polarization Risks Encountered through Recommendation Systems,” Facebook set up some brand-new accounts.

Each of these accounts followed a small number of high-quality or verified conservative-interest pages, such as Fox News, former President Donald Trump, and former first lady Melania Trump. The study found that “within just one day, Page recommendations had already devolved toward polarizing content.”

Within two days, recommendations began to include conspiracy content. “It took less than 1 week to get a QAnon recommendation,” the report found.

Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower who worked as a product manager for the civic misinformation team for the social media company, filed several complaints with the Securities and Exchange Committee regarding the wild mishandling of QAnon and other far-Right content. Haugen made waves in an interview with 60 Minutes after leaking internal documents to the Wall Street Journal. Vice reports:

According to Haugen’s complaint, Facebook knew its ability to connect people in huge numbers via its Groups was facilitating the rise of QAnon.

“The QAnon community relied on minimally connected bulk group invites. One member sent over 377,000 group invites in less than 5 months,” according to an internal Facebook report entitled “Harmful Non-Violating Narratives.”

The report’s author noted that Facebook’s own engineers had found ways to slow this growth. One way was by limiting the number of invites a user could send out in a single day to 100, a measure introduced ahead of the U.S. election in October 2020.

According to the report, Facebook has the tools to stop the spread of mis/disinformation and violent far-Right content but simply fails to act. A former Facebook employee described their frustration with the trillion-dollar social media monolith in a posting as they were leaving the company:

“I’ve seen promising interventions from integrity product teams, with strong research and data support, be prematurely stifled or severely constrained by key decision-makers—often based on fears of public and policy stakeholder responses. For example, we’ve known for over a year now that our recommendation systems can very quickly lead users down the path to conspiracy theories and groups,” the employee wrote, according to Haugen’s complaint.

Check out the Vice article for more information.

Unite the Right Trial Begins

This week, the Unite the Right trial began, with only some of the neo-Nazis and white nationalists facing charges for organizing the rally showing up in court. According to Raw Story:

But as the trial got underway on Monday, controversy surrounding prospective jurors’ negative views of “Antifa” sent an ominous signal about the prospect of defendants deflecting blame. Richard Spencer, the one-time figurehead of the alt-right, and neo-Nazi Christopher Cantwell, who is currently serving an active prison sentence on a separate matter, are representing themselves. Jason Kessler, the local organizer of the Unite the Right rally, and Nathan Damigo, founder of Identity Evropa were represented by two lawyers in court.

Other lawyers are representing James Alex Fields Jr., who is currently serving a life sentence for murder in the car attack that killed Heather Heyer; Matthew Heimbach and Matthew Parrott of Traditionalist Worker Party; Michael Hill and Michael Tubbs of League of the South; and Jeff Schoep, former commander of National Socialist Movement. Defendants Augustus Sol Invictus, Robert “Azzmador” Ray, Andrew Anglin, Elliott Kline, Vanguard America, Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and East Coast Knights of the Ku Klux Klan did not appear in the courtroom or have lawyers present to defend them.

“It’s actually my understanding that one plaintiff is an adherent or at least a sympathizer of Antifa,” Cantwell interjected, referring to Seth Wispelwey, a United Church of Christ pastor who organized an interfaith clergy group to protest the Unite the Right rally. Dunn jumped in, continuing to press her case: “Mr. Cantwell’s argument underscores why it would be wrong to have people with extreme views about Antifa on the jury.” Later, as Moon questioned another juror who said she believes Antifa is a “terrorist organization,” Dunn said she was concerned about the juror’s ability to be impartial considering that Cantwell plans to draw connections between the plaintiffs and Antifa.

For coverage from court, be sure to follow Unicorn Riot and Molly Conger.

Goyim Defense League Gets Love from Cops in Texas

Neo-Nazis in the Goyim Defense League are currently in Texas, dropping banners and carrying out acts of racist vandalism and harassment. On Saturday, members of the group harassed someone at a COVID-19 testing site, dropped a banner reading, “Vaxx the Jews” near the entrance to a local Jewish community, and later that night, a local high school was vandalized with anti-Semitic slogans and symbols. Police were on the scene during the banner drop and were filmed giving one of the neo-Nazis a fist-bumb while smiling.

Nick Fuentes Spoke at Anti-Vaxx Rally in Springfield, IL

On Saturday, October 2nd, dozens of anti-vaxx and anti-maskers rallied in Springfield, IL to protest vaccination mandates. The event, “Take A Stand Against COVID-19 Tyranny” drew an assortment of speakers, including Unite the Right attendee, white nationalist, and leader of the “Groypers,” Nick Fuentes, who shouted from the podium:

They are going to knock my door down, kill my dog and shoot me before I take a COVID-19 vaccine…

Fellow Unite the Right marcher and racist grifter Baked Alaska was also at the same rally, getting into screaming matches with other far-Right protesters. ABC20 notes that “Sangamon County and the state of Illinois both have a vaccination rate of 55%.” The far-Right and fascist groups continue to use this current as a space to organize within and pull recruits from.

Unite the Right Attendee and Anti-Semitic Troll David Reilly Running for Idaho School Board

According to a Daily Beast article, anti-Semitic troll David Reilly, known for tweeting “all jews are dangerous” has decided to run for Post Falls, Idaho school board, and he has the support from the local GOP. Daily Beast reports that Reilly has been ousted from one school district several years ago, stating:

David Reilly has already been disavowed by one school district. In August 2017, Pennsylvania’s Berwick School District cut ties with a radio station where Reilly worked after Reilly attended a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In the ensuing years, Reilly tweeted that women’s voting rights were “a mistake,” that women should not be allowed on social media, that more Americans should believe antisemitic stereotypes, that “Judaism is the religion of anti-Christ,” and that “all Jews are dangerous.”

Reilly recorded and uploaded footage from the torchlight march at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA. That morning, white nationalist James Alex Fields used his car to drive into a crowd of protesters, killing antifascist activist Heather Heyer and injuring dozens more. Reilly has gone back and fourth about whether he was attending the rally in a professional or personal capacity. His answers depend entirely on his audience, but folks on both the left and the right are convinced he was there for personal and supportive reasons.

Antifascist blog, Angry White Men, first reported on Reilly last month and they have been tracking his campaign since August, when a far-Right media outlet announced Reilly’s run for school board:

In an Aug. 27 tweet, Patrick Howley of the far-right junk news site National File announced “Breaking: @realDaveReilly planning a school board campaign.” In a reply to Howley’s tweet, Reilly confirmed the news that he was running for school board in Post Falls, ID — the Gem State’s tenth largest city — and posted a link to his Linktree page.

According to Daily Beast and Angry White Men, Reilly has a documented history of anti-Semitic, misogynist, and queerphobic views. He has also appeared as a guest on Red Ice, a white nationalist version of InfoWars, known for promoting neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and the Alt-Right. The Daily Beast writes:

Though Reilly’s school board race is off the radar for most of the country, he’s touted endorsements from fringe figures, including the hosts of “Red Ice,” far-right figure Michelle Malkin, and a social media personality whom ProPublica described as the “unofficial propagandist” for the violent white supremacist group Rise Above Movement.

Reilly also still appears to have the backing of the Kootenai County GOP. The group previously listed Reilly as their pick for an open Post Falls school board role. After Angry White Men’s report last week, the group quietly removed Reilly’s name and a hyperlink to his candidate page from their website, but left his profile picture on its candidate page.

The Kootenai County GOP still has tweets up endorsing Reilly and has not commented on his white supremacist views. They do however, seem really concerned about ‘Critical Race Theory.’

Nazi Flyers Hit Sacramento Suburb and Synagogue

Fox 40 news out of Sacramento reports that several houses in the Carmichael community, a suburb of Sacramento, California, have recently been targeted with anti-Semitic flyers by a neo-Nazi group. Small bags of what looked like white rice with flyers for the “Aryan Nation” featuring images of swastikas have been left on residents’ doorsteps throughout the community.

According to Jewish News of Northern California, the neo-Nazi group also targeted a local synagogue:

On Wednesday afternoon, a large, white menorah, a permanent fixture in front of the center, was plastered with flyers showing a picture of Hitler raising his fist and advertising the website of Aryan Nations, a white supremacist group similar to the KKK. Flyers were also taped to a fence near the building.

It was not the first time the center was targeted by antisemites, its rabbi said. Roughly two years ago, a sign in the synagogue’s parking lot  — visible to passing motorists and reading “Peace to Israel,” a translation of its name — was defaced by someone who crossed out “peace” and wrote “death.” The next day, a trailer in front of the building was mysteriously set on fire, Rabbi Boris Tsiprush said, sharing a photo of that blaze with J.

About six months ago, the synagogue found phallic graffiti on its grounds, around the same time the center was intentionally flooded, said Tsiprush, who showed photos of the synagogue’s carpeted floor covered in water.

Left Coast Right Watch Releases Deep Dive on Groyper Who Attended AFPAC and CPAC

Left Coast Right Watch released a deep-dive investigation into white nationalist, former Identity Evropa member, and Groyper, Kerry Cosgriff. According to LCRW, Cosgriff descent into far-Right ideology started young. According to a vlog he posted to YouTube titled “My Spiritual and Political Journey So Far,” Cosgriff spent his high school years addicted to various substances. His reflections are misogynistic, including his perceptions of women, including those he was once friends with. At one point he refers to his friend as a “slut” among other insults. He expresses his frustration toward having been “friend-zoned” by her. He also has a documented history of assault stemming from being punched after groping a 16 year old girl, another incident he discusses during his vlog.

After finding sobriety, he discovered conservative politics, created a Trump meme page on Instagram, and following a bad experience being interviewed by a local news source, he committed to looking into anyone the mainstream media labeled “extremist.” LCRW reports:

As described in his YouTube video “My Spiritual and Political Journey So Far”, Cosgriff then immersed himself into the recesses of the internet and engaged in an “extensive research” period lasting only four months. Once this “deep dive” concluded, Cosgriff embraced holocaust denial, race realism, and sympathy for creating a whites-only nation. He repudiated a “political solution” and believed in a race war wherein white nationalists like himself would violently revolt and take America “back” from Jewish control.

Earlier this year, Kerry Cosgriff attended Nick Fuentes America First Political Action Conference, where he poses for pictures with “Groyper Mommy” and Newsmax correspondent Michelle Malkin as well as Congressman Paul Gosar. Cosgriff was also able to sneak into the more mainstream Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and take photos with accused child-trafficker and pedophile, Matt Gaetz.

In archived pages, Cosgriff admitted on Twitter to being a member of the white nationalist organization Identity Evropa, one of the key groups which organized Unite the Right in Charlottesville and later rebranded as the American Identity Movement, before joining with the Groypers and folding as an organization. LCRW reports that these days, Cosgriff is a parent and has continued vlogging about his fascist beliefs as well as sharing misogynist content on various social media platforms. For the full story, head over to LCRW.

Andy Ngo Keeps Reporting Twitter Users Who Re-post A Photo Of Him Next To Far-Right Graffiti

On October 10th, far-Right propagandist Andy Ngo posted a picture of himself posing in Poland in front of a structure covered in anti-antifa graffiti and the name “Falanga” which refers to a neo-fascist group known as the Fascist National Radical Camp (ONR). The image was re-posted by antifascist activist Chad Loder who’s account was suspended after Ngo filed a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) take-down request with Twitter.

Loder, along with antifascist activist Emily Gorcenski and journalist Steven Monacelli argued that Ngo is abusing the DMCA process by filing frivolous requests to have content purged from Twitter that casts him in an unfavorable light. According to Daily Dot, who spoke with Loder, Gorcenski, and Monacelli:

Copyright law exempts reproducing copyrighted work “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching […], scholarship or research” from its provisions.

Twitter’s own Term’s of Service indicate that the filing of fraudulent DMCA requests can result in a Twitter permaban and should not be used as a tool to silence opponents. The consequences of such filings can also be considered grounds for lawsuits.

Also worth noting, Andy Ngo, in addition to pushing mass disinformation as well as peddling far-Right propaganda, is known for targeting antifascist activists and journalists in his deceptive coverage which has then been weaponized by neo-Nazi groups like Atomwaffen in the creation of “kill lists.” Ngo continues to be a threat to our community.

As of October 18th, Loder’s account had been restored.

AT&T Has Been Bankrolling Right-wing Conspiracy Network OAN

Reuters released a massive report on October 6th indicating that the world’s largest telecom company has been the single largest funder of one of the United States’ most notorious far-Right media networks. One America News, or OAN, has been one of the largest sources of disinformation surrounding everything from touting hydrachloraquine as a cure for COVID, to attacks on Black Lives Matter protesters during the 2020 uprising following the police murder of George Floyd, to claiming the 2020 election results were fraudulent, to immediately re-framing the reports and response to the January 6th attempted coup. Reuters writes:

OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring Sr has testified that the inspiration to launch OAN in 2013 came from AT&T executives.

“They told us they wanted a conservative network,” Herring said during a 2019 deposition seen by Reuters. “They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other [leftwing] side. When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.”

Since then, AT&T has been a crucial source of funds flowing into OAN, providing tens of millions of dollars in revenue, court records show. Ninety percent of OAN’s revenue came from a contract with AT&T-owned television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV, according to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant.

Herring has testified he was offered $250 million for OAN in 2019. Without the DirecTV deal, the accountant said under oath, the network’s value “would be zero.”

Dallas-based AT&T, a mobile-phone and Internet provider, also owns entertainment giant Warner Media, which includes CNN and HBO. AT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015 and in August spun off the satellite service, retaining a 70% share in the new, independently managed company. AT&T’s total U.S. television subscriber base, including satellite and streaming services, fell from 26 million in 2015 to 15.4 million as of August.

OAN’s viewership is complicated to measure, according to the report. It would seem like the most engagement they receive is through their website and app, rather than their actual channel. OAN has been kicked off of YouTube for repeatedly violating the sites terms of service. Reuters reports:

The OAN website averages 8 million visits a month from desktop and mobile users, having peaked at 15 million from November through January, data firm Similarweb found in an analysis for Reuters. Two in three people on desktop computers return to the website after an initial visit, about the same loyalty rate as Fox News and Newsmax, another rival conservative news channel.

One America’s television ratings are harder to measure, partly because it is available in only about a quarter of the estimated 121 million TV households in the United States. Ratings services Nielsen and Comscore, which both show that Fox News continues to be the leading cable network, do not release OAN figures. In an internal email, an OAN news director told staff that the week of the Capitol assault produced the network’s “best ever” ratings, but gave no statistics.

OAN says it is the fourth-rated news network, behind Fox, CNN and MSNBC, and ahead of CNBC, the BBC and Newsmax, but has not provided figures to back this up. (Each of these networks, including One America News, pays Reuters fees to publish the news service’s stories, videos and/or pictures.)

The revelations from the report are damning. Head to Reuters for all the details.

Doxxes

John Smaligo American Defense Skinhead from North Versailles, PA

One People’s Project has a new Rouge’s Gallery entry! John Smaligo is a neo-Nazi bonehead associated with American Defense Skinheads from Pennsylvania. He is the lead vocalist for the white power band Fascine. He associates with neo-Nazis like Christopher Polhaus and Mike Peinovich, and is working with the neo-Nazi National Justice Party, which includes Peinovich and several big-names associated with the Daily Stormer.

Arthur Valentino, Proud Boy from Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Miami Against Fascism has exposed Aurther Valentino as the “ButterfingerPB” from the January 6th attempted coup. Outside of his exploits at the Capitol, he has harassed BLM protesters and participated in anti-vaxx events

Brian Wistain and Cory Davis: Neo-Nazis from Bitterroot Valley MT

Redoubt AFA has identified Brian Wistain and Cory Davis as neo-Nazi boneheads involved in hosting Odinist gatherings in Montana. The pair are associated with Cory Davis and Mary Pughe, who recently relocated to Cave Junction, OR

Kyle Bonham, neo-Nazi from Corvallis, OR

CVAntifa has published the identity of Kyle Bonham, a fascist responsible for a significant amount of swastika and far-Right graffiti in Corvallis, Oregon. Bonham is a convicted domestic abuser and stalker. Action items are included in the thread above.

Jason Ryan Terry, Member of Neo-Nazi Prison Gang Southern Brotherhood from Haleyville/Jasper, Alabama

Haleyville ARA has exposed neo-Nazi prison gang Southern Brotherhood member Jason Ryan Terry. Terry uses his various social media accounts to show off his plethora of neo-Nazi tattoos including a swastika, the numbers 14/23 which reference David Lane’s infamous 14 words and Southern Brotherhood’s “23 precepts.” Terry is incredibly open about his beliefs and affiliations to white supremacist organizing. Follow the link for the full dox.

Donald Jackson, White Nationalist Comic Illustrator from West Seneca, New York

Anonymous Comrade Collective brought us another big dox with the exposure of West Seneca, NY resident and white nationalist comic illustrator, Donald Jackson. Jackson uses his various social media platforms to post amateur artwork and racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynist content. Head over to the blog post for all the details and more cringy neo-Nazi themed artwork.

Christopher Lee Anseeuw aka Fashwave Music Producer Teknein & 86Dresden of East Moline, IL

Chicago Antifascist Action in collaboration with Panic! in the Discord have exposed fashwave music producer and neo-Nazi Christopher Lee Anseeuw of Moline, IL. Anseeuw’s various social media accounts boast a steady stream of anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, pro-Holocaust and neo-Nazi imagery. His music and ideology are a danger to the community. Head over to the blog post for calls to action.

Support Our Prisoners

  • Support those arrested during the ongoing rebellion! Check the In Contempt column on It’s Going Down for a list of prisoners.
  • Support Gage Halupowski! Currently serving a six year sentence. There is currently an outbreak at his prison, so please step up and support! More info here.
  • Support Dan Baker! Currently facing federal charges for posts online in response to armed far-Right rally at the capitol building in Florida. More info here.
  • Support Eric King! Anarchist and antifascist prisoner who has been targeted by the State and neo-Nazi inmates for being ‘ANTIFA.’ More info here. Donate here.
  • Support J.W. and TC! Antifascists arrested in San Diego following rally against far-Right and white supremacists. Donate here and here.
  • Support Scottie! Facing charges steaming from altercation with far-Right Trump supporters in LA. More info here.

by This Week in Fascism via It's Going Down
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