Morning Briefing: Founder of Atomwaffen Division Convicted for Terrorist Plot to Attack Power Grid
The founder of the Atomwaffen Division was convicted of 'conspiring with his former girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs.'
Morning Briefing: Brandon Russell, the former leader and founder of the neo-Nazi violent extremists accelerationist group Atomwaffen Division, was convicted of “conspiring with his former girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs.”
Erek Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a statement after the verdict that “hate-fueled violence has no place in a civilized society,” and that The verdict “reinforces that we will not tolerate those who target our communities with violence and their hate-filled beliefs.”
The Proud Boys, the far right violent extremists group, no longer has control over the rights of the group’s name, after a judge stripped the group of any legal rights to the name and were “barred from selling any merchandise with either its name or its symbols without the consent of a Black church in Washington that its members vandalized.”
The U.S. State Department is reportedly considering hiring Darren Beattie as undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, despite that Beattie was “previously fired for ties to white nationalists” and “promoted conspiracy theories related to the Jan. 6 riots on the Capitol.”
In Genesee County, Michigan, local law enforcement is reportedly “investigating after a Flushing neighborhood recently was blanketed by antisemitic flyers,” and the flyers, which were apparently produced by the antisemitic White Supremacists group Goyim Defense League (GDL), “contain racist caricatures and push a conspiracy theory that the White race is being covertly and systemically eliminated in the U.S. by a covert Jewish ruling class.”
In Iowa, Alisa Rilla Nicols Staats has been arrested and “faces several hate crimes and a slew of other charges for allegedly vandalizing Latin restaurants with swastikas and calling in a bomb threat to a community college,” and “Staats alleged spree did not stop at the restaurants.”
People who support right-wing authoritarianism “are more likely to view minority groups as a threat,” according to new research published in the British Journal of Social Psychology. The research also found support for right-wing authoritarianism is apparent “across various countries and cultures, but it was more pronounced in countries that were less religious or had lower levels of social marginalization.”
Must Reads
David Ingram writes that “in the shorthand of the tech industry, Elon Musk has hacked into the government. The billionaire tech magnate has never been elected to office or been confirmed by the Senate for a high-level government job, but in the span of a few days, Musk has still gained access to sensitive federal data through his position as head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency project, or DOGE, to push a far-reaching agenda and potentially spark a constitutional crisis. Musk has embraced Silicon Valley’s most notorious instincts to ‘move fast and break things’ in a lightning battle to muscle into the computer systems and power structures of federal agencies. As he did with his corporate takeover of Twitter in 2022, he has brought in a team to assess details such as office building leases, budget line items, vendor contracts and the performance of individual employees — with the stated intention of radically downsizing the organization. With a cadre of engineers as young as 19 years old, and with the encouragement of Trump, Musk has demanded and been given access to sensitive government databases and the Treasury Department’s payment system with an unprecedented series of bureaucratic maneuvers.” [NBC News]
Jeet Heer writes that “what’s scandalous is Musk’s nebulous status as both a private citizen and presidential crony, which has allowed him access to data that that can easily be abused. Coming from Silicon Valley, Musk knows that data is power. Now, he has access to the full data set of the federal government, which he is both hoarding to himself and preventing the public from seeing (many government websites have already been shuttered, allegedly as a temporary measure during the Trump/Musk riorganizzazione, including those with public health information and Census data). Most disturbingly, Musk and his DOGE team have no proper congressional authorization. The end goal of the coup is to give Trump and Musk control over the spigot of Treasury spending: in other words, control over the heart of the federal government that ensures the flow of money.” [The Nation]
Phoebe Petrovic writes that “on the day of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the violent, far-right street gang known as the Proud Boys marched down the streets of Washington, D.C. Hours later, the new president pardoned or commuted the sentences of their leaders and some 1,500 others for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, struck salutes on stage that neo-Nazis online celebrated (and Musk later downplayed). And in a nod to the Christian nationalists who boosted his campaign, Trump declared the United States would only recognize two sexes, despite science finding it’s not so simple. It’s clear, today, that extremism reporting matters more than ever. But even just a couple of years ago, I struggled to get pitches accepted on the influence of extremist figures. Once accepted, though, one story turned into a series, each unraveling the thread of increased Christian nationalist influences on politics and, particularly, elections.” [Poynter]
What to expect from Radical Reports: Morning Briefing provides a daily round-up of reporting on the Radical Right; Extremist Links offers a weekly round-up of extremists activities including the white supremacist and militia movements; Narratives of the Right delivers weekly analysis of the current narratives in far right online spaces and promoted by right-wing media; and Research Desk provides monthly highlights research and analysis from academia on the Radical Right.
Worry not. Rest assured, Trump will move Heaven and Earth to pardon him, even if it’s a state matter. Receive him later at the White House. Maybe even give him a medal.
I'm sure the orange stain will pardon them.