Morning Briefing: Neo-Nazis Target Massachusetts Governor's Residence
Morning Briefing: Neo-Nazis Target Massachusetts Governor's Residence
Members of the Nationalist Social Club (NSC-131), the White Supremacists neo-Nazi group, reportedly demonstrated outside the home of Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.
Morning Briefing: Members of the Nationalist Social Club (NSC-131), the White Supremacists neo-Nazi group, reportedly demonstrated outside the home of Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey.
Video of the staged protest was shared on the group’s Telegram channel, and the event’s purpose was described as to “raise awareness to the migrant invasion and to show the world that lawfare will not intimidate New England Nationalists.”
Andrew David Munsinger was arrested by the FBI, and described in court documents as an “armed member of a neo-Nazi extremist group who professed to make his own firearms and explosives.”
In Cheyenne, Wyoming, a resident reportedly received a “pamphlet in the mail from an anonymous source” produced by White Lives Matter, a White Nationalist group, and the documented consisted of “racist and discriminatory language toward people of any descent other than European.”
White Supremacist propaganda was also reportedly found in Stillwater, Minnesota.
The United States “continues to face a wide range of terrorist financing threats and actors, both foreign and domestic,” and “domestic violent extremist movements have proliferated in recent years, posing an elevated threat to the United States and continued challenges for law enforcement,” according to a report published by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Upcoming Project From Radical Reports: Mapping the U.S. Radical Right
Mapping the U.S. Radical Right will be a new interactive visualization tool that will allow users the ability to track the connections between the various sectors of the Radical Right, including tracking the connections, associations, and funding of right-wing advocacy organizations, far right extremists groups, and wealthy conservative donors. The tool launches on Friday, March 1st. Stay tuned for details and updates.
Must Reads
Avery Schmitz writes that “far-right responses to mass shootings create personal safety risks and advance harmful conspiracy theories. When extremists frame themselves as humanitarian or “neighborhood watch” groups, they sow distrust in government agencies and make it easier for sympathizers to mobilize. Previously, emboldened militias and neo-Nazis cosplaying as humanitarians have targeted public officials, threatened unarmed civilians at gunpoint, and even been convicted of murder. Extremist mobilization to mass casualty events appears to be an emerging pattern; in October 2023, armed neo-Nazis responded to shootings in Lewiston, Maine, and gained access to the gunman’s address after officials claimed a secure perimeter was established… This form of vigilantism is concerning, and it isn’t the only time far-right extremists have mobilized to the scene of a mass shooting.” [Rolling Stone]
Kathryn Joyce writes that “for much of the past two years, Pennridge School District, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania—one of Philadelphia’s suburban swing counties—has served as an experiment in how far conservatives can pull public schools right. Until this past November, its nine school board members had all been elected as Republicans, including a five-member majority reportedly affiliated with the activist group Moms for Liberty. Policies introduced by the board and district administrators in recent years have been sweeping: Two separate groups focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues were shut down; LGBTQ+ ‘Pride’ rainbows were banned alongside other ‘advocacy’ symbols; curriculum was repeatedly changed or culled to remove purportedly partisan topics; and more than a dozen library books—most related to race, gender, or sexuality—were reportedly ‘shadow-banned’ by officials unwilling to wait for a formal review. Anti-trans policies were passed, school staff were ordered not to use ‘terms related to LGBTQ,’ and a full year of social studies was cut from graduation requirements to make room for supposedly more patriotic instruction.” [Vanity Fair]
David Gilbert writes that “a Russian disinformation campaign is deploying everything from high-ranking lawmakers and government officials to lifestyle influencers, bloggers, and powerful state-run media outlets to stoke divisions in the United States around the Texas border crisis. WIRED has also obtained exclusive access to data from two separate disinformation research groups that demonstrate a coordinated Russian effort on Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) to sow discord by pushing the narrative that the US is heading for civil war. The disinformation campaign began in earnest in late January, and expanded after Russian politicians spoke out when the US Supreme Court lifted an order by a lower court and sided with President Joe Biden’s administration to rule that US Border Patrol officers were allowed to take down razor-wire fencing erected by the Texas National Guard. Days later, when Texas governor Greg Abbott refused to stand down, former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, claimed that the Texas border dispute is ‘another vivid example of the US hegemony getting weaker.’” [Wired]
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.
