Morning Briefing: FBI Memo Warned of Attacks on Electrical Infrastructure by White Supremacists
A FBI memo warned that White Supremacists may attack electrical infrastructure in order to further their "ideological goal of causing societal collapse and a subsequent race war in the United States.'
Morning Briefing: A FBI memo warned of increasing “threats to electrical infrastructure” from White Supremacists neo-fascists, and “an attack on electrical infrastructure will contribute to their ideological goal of causing societal collapse and a subsequent race war in the United States.”
Albuquerque law enforcement announced that they are investigating the “possibility of criminal activity involving campaign contributions to disgraced state House candidate Solomon Pena as part of their investigation into a series of shootings he is accused of orchestrating at Democratic politicians’ homes.”
Christopher Hood and Leo Anthony Cullinan, members of White Supremacist neo-Nazi group National Social Club-131 (NSC-131), have been charged for “violating the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act and conspiring to violate the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act.”
Members of the NSC-131 also reportedly distrusted a Drag Queen Story Hour at the Taunton Public Library in Taunton, Massachusetts, as local law enforcement stated that “over two dozen members of NSC-131…gathered outside the library to protest the event.”
Congressional Republicans have reportedly “selected four of their most extreme members to serve on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the new session of Congress.”
Must Reads
Jessica Pishko reports that Sheriff Scott Williams of Coryell County, Texas “is part of the growing ‘constitutional sheriff’ movement, which claims that sheriffs have the power to override federal and state authority on matters from border enforcement to gun control to election security. Legal scholars say the movement has no grounding in law, yet it is gaining steam: A study last year by scholars at Texas Christian University and Tulane University on behalf of The Marshall Project found that as many as 1 in 10 of America’s 3,000-plus sheriffs believe they have the authority to stand between their constituents and higher government entities, a tactic they call ‘interposition.’ The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, the key organization fueling the movement, led around a dozen training sessions in Texas in 2020 and 2021. A February 2021 session in The Woodlands drew at least 27 sheriffs or deputies. At an October 2021 session in Mesquite, the keynote speaker was Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and attendees included state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, and former state Sen. Don Huffines, who unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Greg Abbott in the Republican primary for governor. Other attendees have included justices of the peace, police captains and members of the Texas Farm Bureau.” [Texas Tribune]
Brian Klaas writes that “unfortunately, conspiracy theories are some of the best stories out there. They’re thrillers. Many would make great blockbuster films. And to debunk a conspiracy theory is to tell someone that there is no story. It’s trying to convince a person who has made sense of patterns—by squinting at them through the fun-house mirror of conspiratorial thinking—that those patterns are meaningless. That’s not a message the storytelling animal wants to hear… Unfortunately, loosening the grip of conspiratorial thinking in politics is extremely difficult; it means trying to make the storytelling animal give up on one hell of a story. But here is one nugget of wisdom for how to start, drawn from H. L. Mencken: ‘The way to deal with superstition,’ he wrote, ‘is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous.’ QAnon is crazy. The notion that vaccines cause spoons to stick to you is moronic. Anyone who tells you that a best-selling historian is part of a secret plot to turn you into a cyborg is, with insincere apologies to Mike Flynn, a complete idiot. In the battle for reality, ridicule is a powerful weapon.” [The Atlantic]
Brendan Fischer and Ed Pilkington report that the “advocacy arm of the Heritage Foundation, the powerful conservative thinktank based in Washington, spent more than $5m on lobbying in 2021 as it worked to block federal voting rights legislation and advance an ambitious plan to spread its far-right agenda calling for aggressive voter suppression measures in battleground states. Previously unreported 2021 tax filings from Heritage Action for America, which operates as the foundation’s activist wing, shows that it spent $5.1m on contracting outside lobbying services. The outlay comes on top of $560,000 the group invested in its own in-house federal lobbying efforts that year, as well as registered lobbying by Heritage Action staffers in at least 24 states. The 990 tax filing was obtained by the watchdog group Documented and shared with the Guardian. It points to the pivotal role that Heritage Action is increasingly playing in shaping the rules that govern US democracy.” [The Guardian]
This Week in Extremism: Failed Republican Candidate’s Violent Plot
Join the discussion on Twitter Spaces on Friday, January 20th at 12:00pm EST (11:00am CST / 9:00am PST)
Radical Reports Book Club: Jesus and John Wayne
Discussion on Twitter Spaces: Jesus and John Wayne: Chapters 6 — 10 (Thursday, January 19th at 12:00pm EST)*
*This Twitter Space has been rescheduled.
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.