Morning Briefing: DOJ Considering Pardons for Oath Keepers and Proud Boys
Ed Martin, the U.S. Department of Justice pardon attorney, is reportedly 'reviewing full clemency' for members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, for their actions on January 6, 2021.
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Morning Briefing: Ed Martin, the embattled U.S. Department of Justice pardon attorney, is reportedly “reviewing full clemency for Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia group who was convicted of treason-related charges” in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Peter Ticktin, an associated of President Donald Trump, and Treniss Evans, a pardoned Capitol Rioters, reportedly “submit new pardon applications to Martin,” and Proud Boys members “Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola are also among those who submitted new applications.”
U-Haul International has reportedly “confirmed that action has been immediately taken to ban three men who misused its services.” The three men were members of members of Patriot Front, the neo-fascist White Nationalist group, that recently staged a rally at the World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. However, the identities of the three men “were not immediately released.”
Radical Reports is tracking the far right anti-LGBTIQ activists, Christian Nationalists, White Supremacists, and violent extremist groups targeting LGBTIQ events during Pride Month.
Kelly Neidert, the self-identified Christian fascist leader of the Texas Coalition for Kids, announced a protest of the "kid-friendly witch-themed LGBT Pride festival" hosted by Higher Purpose Emporium on June 21st at the Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth, Texas.
If you have any tips on LGBTIQ groups or events that have been targeted online, or any intel on far right anti-LGBTIQ groups actions during Pride Month, please reach out via email or Signal.
The Far Right Threats to Pride Month — Watch my conversation with on the far right threats to Pride Month, and how the right-wing media ecosystem amplifies dangerous anti-LGBTIQ narratives.
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Jason Wilson and Ali Winston write that “a vacation lodge known as the Wagon Box Inn in the tiny town of Story, Wyoming, has emerged as an unlikely hub of rightwing ambitions to reorient US politics and culture. Events held there since it opened, and others planned for this spring, have brought together figures from the so-called ‘dissident right’, political figures backed by reactionary currents in Silicon Valley, and proponents of the ‘network state’ movement. The dissident right is a term that describes rightwing intellectual currents that go beyond and even attack mainstream conservatives for their perceived concessions to liberals on issues like race, feminism and LGBTQ+ rights. Network state proponents envision a network of extra-national communities that exist beyond the control of nation-states. The Guardian contacted the Wagon Box founder and owner Paul McNiel for comment. He did not respond directly but instead posted a screenshot of the request to X appended with commentary. There, McNiel said he was driven by ‘good-faith curiosity’ that events there had been ‘largely focused on a suspicion of ‘the machine’’ and boasted of the ‘breadth of the politics represented’, citing appearances by the likes of Patrick Deneen and Seneca Scott.” [The Guardian]
Jordan Green writes that “U.S. officials who specialize in terrorism prevention are bracing for their office to be eliminated or broken up as the State Department readies to root out what Secretary Marco Rubio calls a ‘radical political ideology’ embedded in a ‘sprawling bureaucracy.’ The plan to eliminate the Office of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), along with offices that further human rights and prevent war crimes, was first reported by the Free Press. Rubio appeared to confirm the reporting, sharing a link and describing ‘the real exclusive on how we’re making the State Department Great Again.’ ‘I don’t know what the plans are, and I’m not sure that the department or Secretary Rubio knows,’ Ian Moss, a former counterterrorism official, told Raw Story. ‘But to dilute the concerted efforts by the office and push it out to other parts of the department will have real fundamental impact on our ability to engage in thoughtful preventive action. And it will ultimately make us less safe.’” [Raw Story]
Ian Ward writes that “for the past 50 years, [Doug] Wilson has been trying to convince America that it has made the wrong choice —that it should choose ‘Christ,’ as he put it, instead of chaos. But Wilson isn’t a conventional evangelist. He is, by his own description, an outspoken proponent of Christian theocracy — the idea that American society, including its government, should be governed by a conservative interpretation of Biblical law. Wilson’s body of work — made up of over 40 books, thousands of blog posts and hundreds of hours of sermons and podcast appearances — amounts to a comprehensive blueprint for a spiritual and political ‘reformation’ that would transform America into a kind of Christian republic. Since the 1970s, Wilson has built a sprawling evangelical empire around his theological principles. The capital of that empire is Moscow — pronounced ‘Mos-coe,’ not like the capital of Russia — a small town in northern Idaho, where Wilson oversees a network of allied institutions that includes Christ Church, a publishing house, a classic Christian grade school, a Christian liberal arts college and a ministerial training program. Beyond Moscow, the network of churches that Wilson founded in the late 1990s — called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC — has grown to include over 150 congregations across four continents; an association of classical Christian schools that Wilson co-founded in 1993 now counts over 500 member schools across the country.” [Politico Magazine]
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.
I thought they already did. Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio were both pardoned.
Unfortunately, we can no longer rely upon the justice system to punish individuals who commit crimes for Donald Trump. So we need to find ways to punish them, ourselves. Not through violent or illegal means, but through means such as public humiliation and social exclusion. Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and even the non-violent Trumpers need to be called out and ostracized, denied access to the social circles, career opportunities, and other levers of power in society.