Morning Briefing: White Supremacists Campaign of 'Radicalization, Recruitment and Offline Mobilization of the Public'
U.S. White Supremacist groups are 'manipulating events and societal developments' for the purpose of 'radicalization, recruitment and offline mobilization of the public,' according to a new report.
Morning Briefing: A new report finds that “White supremacist and anti‐government groups in the US are adept at manipulating events and societal developments, usually for the purposes of radicalisation, recruitment and offline mobilisation of the public, as part of their core ideological narrative.”
Some of these groups allow women members, however, every group “promotes neo‐traditionalism which subjugates women,” and the “activities of these groups continue to pose a threat to society given the ideological narratives that underpin them,” according to the report published by the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET).
The Secret Service is reportedly “set to face the release of a report on another bruising episode: its response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol,” and the report “could cast light on a series of embarrassing security lapses for the agency, could be released as soon as this week.”
Andrezj Boryga, who left a series of threating voicemails at several offices of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), pleaded guilty and was sentenced to “24 months in prison and two years of supervised release for willfully transmitting in interstate commerce threats to injure other people and for choosing his victims because of their religion,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Lynnwood Nester was sentenced to “10 months in federal prison for helping to storm the Capitol Building,” as Nester was convicted of driving himself and “eight other people — five of whom have been convicted of offenses related to Jan. 6 — to Washington D.C. that day.”
Gregory Yetman, a former Army National Guard police officer, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison “after admitting that he pepper-sprayed law enforcement officers, while a mob of former President Donald J. Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol,” and his sentencing comes “after he set off a manhunt in the central New Jersey suburbs by fleeing into the woods when law enforcement authorities sought to arrest him.”
Chicago-based activists demanded “an outside investigation into Chicago police officers with ties to the Oath Keepers extremist group two months after CPD officials chose not to discipline them after what the groups called an ‘inadequate’ investigation.”
Catherine Leavy of Westfield was “sentenced to probation for calling in a hoax bomb threat against Boston Children's Hospital in 2022,” and the threat targeted the hospital because it is “home to the Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS) program – a healthcare program focused on gender-diverse and transgender adolescents.”
Must Reads
Rebecca McCray writes that “the Rutan-Rams sued the Tennessee department of children’s services, arguing that a state law permitting private agencies to refuse to work with prospective parents on religious grounds violates the Tennessee constitution’s equal protection and religious freedom guarantees. The case will soon go to trial. The predicament facing the Rutan-Rams could become more common under a second Trump administration. Project 2025, a 900-plus page blueprint for the next Republican administration and the policy brainchild of the conservative Heritage Foundation, contains an explicitly sympathetic view toward ‘faith-based adoption agencies’ like the one that rejected the Rutan-Rams, who are ‘under threat from lawsuits’ because of the agencies’ religious beliefs. Project 2025’s Adoption Reform section calls for the passage of legislation to ensure providers ‘cannot be subjected to discrimination for providing adoption and foster care services based on their beliefs about marriage.’ It also calls for the repeal of an Obama-era regulation that prohibits discrimination against prospective parents and subsequent amendments made by the Biden administration.” [The Guardian]
Brandy Zadrozny writes that “the assassination attempt on Donald Trump this month unleashed a flood of unfounded conspiracy theories from the right and the left: that the shooting was part of a deep state coup, or that it was staged by the former president himself to win sympathy and the election. One conspiracy theory has undergirded both, however: that there was a second shooter, positioned on a nearby water tower. A modern version of the discredited grassy knoll conspiracy theory — which posited that Lee Harvey Oswald was aided in assassinating President John F. Kennedy by another shooter atop a nearby hill — the water tower theory similarly comes with its own witnesses and, this time, hundreds of photos and videos, taken by news cameras and rallygoers, that are being dissected by vloggers and TikTokers to build a conspiracy theory in real time. The conclusion drawn from the theory depends on the believer, and even then, it’s not always clear. Some suggest it reveals that the shooter, Thomas Crooks, who federal investigators have said was a lone gunman with no apparent political motive, was a patsy, set up to take the fall, and that a second shooter was on the water tower to silence him afterward. Others posit that the second shooter was the one who actually fired at Trump, and was an expert marksman who could convincingly graze Trump’s ear and provide a bloody show for a false flag operation.” ]NBC News]
Hannah Allam and Devlin Barrett write that “So far, investigators say, they have found little evidence of an ideology driving the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old nursing home aide who was killed at the scene. The information gleaned from his phone, family and friends doesn’t offer a motive, national security analysts say, and the absence of a quick explanation has left room for the rapid-fire spread of partisan and conspiratorial theories shaping how millions of Americans view the attack. Barring a breakthrough in the investigation, Crooks appears poised to join a string of high-profile attackers with no discernible ideological driver, or with influences from a mixed bag of beliefs. That outcome is frustrating for a nation struggling to make sense of the event, analysts say, but it fits into a pattern of bloody episodes that defy categorization along a traditional left-right spectrum… Investigators haven’t produced evidence showing an ideological motive that meets official definitions of terrorism, Byman and other analysts say. Authorities typically explore other theories, too, including mental illness or a quest for notoriety. The lack of conclusive findings has been difficult to accept for many Trump supporters, who have embraced the idea that he was targeted by an enemy of the MAGA movement — a claim repeated this week by speakers at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.” [The Washington Post]
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.
House Oversight raked Director Cheatle over the coals on the Monday after the Saturday “shooting” and I never heard a question about a bullet wound. Both sides asked for her resignation, which she did the next day!
Director Wray testified yesterday that we still don’t know if it actually was a bullet. A full 11 days after! Nobody asked him to resign. All FBI directors have been white, male and Republican, quite the historical fact.
What was HER political affiliation?