Morning Briefing: Member of 'Boogaloo Movement' Sentenced to Life in Prison

A member of the far right violent extremists 'boogaloo movement' was sentenced to life in prison by 'for his role in the shooting death of a federal security guard.'

(Image: Jeff Kowalsky / Getty Images)

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Morning Briefing: Robert Allen Justus, a member of the far right violent extremists “boogaloo movement,” was sentenced to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers “for his role in the shooting death of a federal security guard and wounding of another.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the sentence will “ensured that both of the defendants responsible for brutally murdering a law enforcement officer and seriously wounding another are held accountable for their heinous crimes.”

Steven Carrillo, a former Air Force Sergeant and fellow member of the “boogaloo movement,” previously plead guilty for shooting multiple rounds at a guard post “with a homemade AR-15 rifle,” killing the security guard and seriously injuring another; Carrillo was sentenced to “41 years in prison for murder and attempted murder.”

In Lakewood, New Jersey, Benjamin Gibber was “charged with third-degree creating a false public alarm,” after law enforcement found a fake explosive device strapped to a utility pole which was reportedly “meant to deter someone from removing a poster related to the Israel-Hamas war.”

John Emanuel Banuelos, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, participated in the Capitol Riot and “appeared to fire two gunshots at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested by federal authorities.”

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Must Reads

• Steven Monacelli writes that the “the Texas Observer and Bellingcat have identified the leader of a white nationalist group that distributed antisemitic and racist flyers in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, and Eagle Pass over the last year. In an online conversation with the Observer, Rhett Murry Loftis, a 23-year-old resident of Weatherford, admits he leads the Parker County Active Club. ‘I’m a fascist, there’s no denying that,’ Loftis said in a series of direct messages. Loftis, a former musician, said he first got active in the white nationalist movement in 2021 after spending several years lurking on online forums. In April 2023, Loftis formed the Parker County Active Club, which he described as a ‘white nationalist fight club.’ Loftis also admitted that he organizes white nationalist activism under the name of the Texas Nationalist Network. The Parker County Active Club is part of a decentralized network of ‘Active Clubs’ that has spread across the United States and the globe since 2020. Described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as among the nation’s most active white nationalist groups, Active Clubs use a combination of online propaganda, martial arts training, in-person gatherings, and small-scale demonstrations to drive recruitment and create new clubs.” [Texas Observer]

• David Gilbert writes that “over the past week, airplanes made by Boeing have been involved in numerous incidents, including midair emergencies, leaking hydraulic fluid, a wheel falling off a plane as it took off, pilots losing control of the plane mid-journey, and a plane plummeting suddenly and injuring 50 people. As a result, right-wing influencers and far-right extremists are once again spreading the conspiracy that Boeing’s problems are all due to the airplane manufacturer's supposed embrace of diversity. But this time around, they are going even further: Some are even claiming that the accidents are happening intentionally, and that Boeing is failing on purpose as part of a global conspiracy to bring down Western civilization and promote communism and countries like China. These claims began earlier this year after a part of a Boeing-built Alaska Airlines plane blew off during a flight. Far-right figures claimed that airlines were now more dangerous, not because of faults with the production process, but because they forced diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) policies which, conspiracists claimed without any proof, resulted in putting unqualified flight crews in the cockpit.” [Wired]

• Chauncey DeVega writes that “Trumpism, like fascism more broadly, is first and foremost a type of corrupt power. Fascism is not an ideology per se. It is an imagination based upon rage, anger, hatred, and where violence and destruction are viewed as legitimate if not preferred means of getting and keeping revolutionary power. Sadopolitics, necropolitics, the cult of personality and the will to power cohere the fascist imagination. In total, fascism is a force that gives its followers a sense of personal and collective meaning as they engage in violence and other forms of harm and suffering against ‘the enemy.’ In many ways, fascism and other such political projects are ‘identity’ politics in some of its worst forms. Donald Trump and his MAGA merchandise and assorted regalia are a way of creating meaning and a sense of belonging – and of identifying one’s place in the hierarchy of that fascist movement and subculture relative to the Dear Leader and his or her own inner circle. In that way, the MAGA merchandise functions as a type of fascist uniform.” [Salon]

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.

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