Morning Briefing: Neo-Nazi Homeschool Network Under Investigation
Morning Briefing: Neo-Nazi Homeschool Network Under Investigation
After outrage from state lawmakers and community members, a neo-Nazi online homeschooling network is under investigation by the Ohio Department of Education.
Morning Briefing: After outrage expressed by state lawmakers and community members, the Ohio Department of Education is investigating an online homeschooling network “after reports of parents sharing messages of White supremacy as educational resource.”
Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and “recent security upgrades, including a shatterproof barrier over glass, may have saved the house of worship from a worse fate.”
Nicholas Malindretos was arrested and charged after being identified in “surveillance video footage wearing a ski mask and throwing the incendiary device toward the synagogue.”
Carlton Huffman, a policy adviser at the North Carolina General Assembly, has resigned “after an anonymous tipster sent records to reporters of the staffer’s appearances on a ‘pro-white’ radio show.”
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Christopher Mathias writes that “over the past year, the Dissident Homeschool channel has become a community for like-minded fascists who see home schooling as integral to whites wresting control of America. The Saxons created this community while hiding behind a fake last name, but HuffPost has reviewed evidence indicating they are Logan and Katja Lawrence of Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Logan, until earlier this week, worked for his family’s insurance company while Katja taught the kids at home. The Anonymous Comrades Collective, a group of anti-fascist researchers, first uncovered evidence suggesting the Lawrences are behind Dissident Homeschool. HuffPost has verified the collective’s research. The Lawrences did not respond to repeated requests for comment made via phone calls, text messages and emails.” [Huffington Post]
Sarah Posner writes that “The Jan. 6 report refers to the Jericho March as one of two “critically important” rallies that “helped pave the way for the events of January 6th.” But its organizers were not outside-the-Beltway activists displaying flag and cross on the National Mall. They were on the payroll of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which during Trump’s administration had been a hotbed of activity for political appointees who sought to restrict reproductive and LGBTQ rights and promote expanded religious freedoms for conservative Christians. One of the organizers, Arina Grossu, was a contractor in the HHS Office of Civil Rights. Another, Robert Weaver, was an adviser in the department’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.” [MSNBC]
Paul Renfro writes that “Today’s right-wing conspiracists and militias, Cook asserts, almost universally view Waco as a radicalizing event. ‘With Waco,’ one FBI official noted, ‘you can go to YouTube and see women and children incinerated, the government using military tools and training against Americans.’ The global ‘war on terror,’ the Great Recession, the election of Barack Obama, and the solidification of the neoliberal order have intensified this radicalization, paving the way for the Tea Party, Trumpism, the so-called alt-right, QAnon, the insurrection of January 6, 2021, and increasingly naked expressions of racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexism. Ultimately, as one Department of Homeland Security official put it, ‘The modern-day militia movement owes its existence to Waco,’ and that movement is evolving in troubling ways.” [The New Republic]
This Week in Extremism: Tucker Carlson’s Right-Wing Media Machine
Discussion with Katherine Abughazaleh, rapid response researcher at Media Matters for America, about Tucker Carlson, the right-wing media industrial-complex, and being the target of right-wing trolls on Twitter. Join the discussion on Twitter Spaces Friday, February 3rd at 12:00pm EST (11:00am CST / 9:00am PST)
Webinar: Church Cover-Ups of Child Abuse
Teddy Wilson, a journalist and researcher, joins us to discuss his investigations into the (many) church cover-ups of child abuse. Wilson is a journalist and researcher with a decade of experience covering the U.S. Christian Right, and is the publisher of the Radical Reports: a newsletter that provides research, analysis, and intelligence on the Radical Right
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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.
