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May 20, 21

This Week in Fascism #109: Police Push Anti-Protest Laws, Project Veritas Deep Ties to Proud Boys, Neo-Nazi Leader Outed

Welcome fellow antifascists!

As always, we’ve got a lot to cover today! From reports on pro-Trump rioters turning into COVID-19 conspiracy peddlers, Project Veritas being exposed for having deep ties to the Proud Boys and police pushing anti-protest laws, to a neo-Nazi leader in Texas being outed to his community thanks to an antifascist flyering campaign – there’s a lot going on! Plus, a call to action against neo-Confederates in Graham, NC, a new antifascist prisoner in need of solidarity, plus doxxes and so much more!

Let’s dive right in!

News

Antifascist Flyering Campaign Hits Home of Neo-Nazi Patriot Front Leader

Antifascists in Texas reported online that a flyering campaign was carried out in Grapevine, Texas, in the neighborhood surrounding the current leader of the neo-Nazi group Patriot Front, Thomas Rousseau. Rousseau, who took over leadership of Vanguard America following the deadly fallout of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and rebranded the group into “Patriot Front,” currently lives with his father and several other members of Patriot Front.

According to the Texas Against Fascism site:

Just like Patriot Front’s fascist, neo-Nazi agenda is hiding in plain sight so is their headquarters located in Grapevine, Texas. Situated in a quaint neighborhood within walking distance to an elementary school and a lakefront family park sits a three bedroom, two bath brown brick home built in 1985. The property has a single detached garage, an ample-sized backyard where Patriot Front members occasionally burn trash, a shabby front yard with two large, overgrown trees, and a lawn in dire need of one of the current inhabitants’ landscaping skills.

The back wall is decorated with a full-size Patriot Front flag as a reminder that members are actually training for a future wharf to hand combat. Much to the dismay of nearby neighbors, Patriot Front members often blare loudly hate sounds that the white supremacists would describe as music while they exercise.

Neighbors know this residential property that sticks out all too well, and it’s easy to see why they do. After all, the occupants on Highview Lane in Grapevine, Texas try to hide their identities by removing their vehicle license plates when they are parked at the run-down property that doubles as Patriot Front’s hate headquarters. Patriot Front also recently requested to have the property blurred on Google street view which we took the liberty of remedying above. They also installed a new security system and flood light mechanism which is a further testament to leader Thomas Rousseau’s increasing paranoia and inability to control his most intimate environment.

Check out and support the work of Texas Against Fascism, and see their list of all of the Patriot Front members who have been exposed here.

Pentagon Names Anti-Muslim Groups as Extremist Experts

The Pentagon’s “Countering Extremism Working Group,” established following the January 6th siege on the Capitol, composed a list of experts that included an anti-Muslim organization and a far-right Christian group, according to The Intercept. Appearing on the list as potential partners for the working group and the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), an Islamophobic organization founded by a “counter-terrorism” adviser in the Israeli government, and an affiliate of the First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal group that has litigated several highly politicized court cases.

MEMRI was established by a former Israeli intelligence officer and military adviser for the Israeli government. The group grew in popularity following 9/11, publishing English translations of Islamist rhetoric from Arab media. Critics say the organization cherry-picked information in order to exaggerate the threat of Islamism. MEMRI was also cited multiple times in the manifesto of fascist mass shooter Anders Breivik. The research of MEMRI staffer Anat Agron was the source for the New York Times podcast “Caliphate,” which the publication later retracted when the central character’s claims were discovered to be false. Steven Emerson, a former member of MEMRI’s board of directors, falsely blamed the Oklahoma City bombing on “Middle Eastern” attackers. Years later after the Boston Marathon bombing, he accused a Saudi man of the attack.

The list also includes Michael Berry of the First Liberty Institute. Multiple employees at the First Liberty Institute also had ties to the Trump administration, and they are known for litigating the case of the homophobic Colorado cake store owner who refused to bake for a gay couple’s wedding. It is not known whether the Pentagon will partner with these individuals and groups. Nevertheless, their inclusion on the list is alarming. For more information, read Ken Klippenstein’s full article here.

​​​​​Law Enforcement Groups Driving Anti-Protest Legislation

According to The Intercept, independent researcher Connor Gibson, working for the Proteus Fund, has found that police unions and law enforcement organizations are the main force driving anti-protest legislation in various states.

From the report:

[In] example after example…law enforcement officers, including representatives of police unions, show[ed] up to advocate for legislation. “That is the only trend I could find,” he said, noting that police influence varied significantly from state to state and bill to bill.

Law enforcement organizations — mostly police unions — also collectively contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of state lawmakers who went on to sponsor dozens of anti-protest bills this year, data included in a separate, report by Greenpeace shows.

The Greenpeace report shows that police unions and other corrections organizations, including the Southern States Police Benevolent Association and the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, contributed $342,602 to politicians who sponsored these bills between 2019 and 2020. In 19 states, anti-protest bills were sponsored by politicians who formerly worked in law enforcement. Since March, over 80 anti-protest bills have been introduced in 34 states, alongside an even greater number of voter suppression bills. The Greenpeace report shows that a group of large corporations are sponsoring voter suppression and anti-protest bills alike. This list includes AT&T Inc., Comcast, Altria Group, Reynolds American Inc., and United Health Group.

Pro-Trump Rioter Simone Gold Spreads COVID Denial in Albuquerque

A discredited physician and J6 rioter named Simone Gold spoke at an Albuquerque megachurch earlier this week, where she preached COVID denial and anti-vaccine rhetoric. Gold gained notoriety at the beginning of the pandemic for promoting Hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus. A video of the doctor speaking at a press conference was retweeted by Donald Trump last summer, before the video was banned from major social media platforms for promoting disinformation. She was arrested on January 18th for storming the “United States” Capitol, and is currently out on bond.  Legacy Church, the Albuquerque megachurch where the even was held, was fined $10,000 in 2020 for hosting a maskless Christmas Eve service at the height of the pandemic.

Journalist Andrew Gunn attended and documented the event. During the speech, the doctor referred to COVID as “medical apartheid” and a “civil rights battle,” and compared the experience of COVID deniers to the oppression and extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany. Dunn’s full report can be read here.

Neo-Nazi Ditches Car Filled with Dead Bodies in Parking Lot

According to Yahoo News:

A suspected white supremacist is facing charges after allegedly ditching a bullet-riddled car containing three dead men in the parking lot of an Albuquerque hospital this week.

Richard Kuykendall, a 41-year-old with an “apparent association” with the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, was charged Friday with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition for his role in the Wednesday triple homicide, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for New Mexico.

Prosecutors allege that after a deadly shootout in a nearby alley, Kuykendall drove to Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital with the victims, removed his shirt and told a security officer “that there were three dead guys in the Chevy” before he walked away.

Charges Dropped Against Goyim Defense League Member

Joseph Bounds of Denver, Colorado was arrested in Miami after refusing to comply with police during a traffic stop. Bounds has been an active member of the white supremacist group, the Goyim Defense League since at least 2019, and had gathered in Florida alongside his neo-Nazi associates in order to spread anti-Semitic hate, and harass queer people and people of color. The group spent the weekend driving around the state in a rental van scrawled with Nazi propaganda (including “Hitler was right”), dropping banners covered in racist slogans, and handing out Holocaust denial flyers. They “protested” at a pro-Israel rally and outside of the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida, and harassed queer people outside of Pulse nighclub.

While some of these incidents resulted in calls to the police, no members of the GDL faced any legal consequences for their harassment. Rather, Bounds was arrested for resisting an officer after an unrelated traffic stop. However, Judge Robin Faber dropped the charges and criticized the police for the arrest. The Miami Herald writes, “It did not appear Faber knew about Bounds’ background.”

This absurd turn of events highlights the fact that cops and courts will not bring justice or stop the spread of fascism. As the Goyim Defense League grows more dangerous, antifascists should remain vigilant and commit to disrupting this group’s organizing, both in our communities and in online spaces.

Linked QAnon Spam Accounts Use New Coordinated Tactic to Evade Bans

CNET reports that channels on Youtube posting QAnon content have been utilizing a new tactic to evade Youtube’s Terms of Service and avoid having their channels permanently banned. According to CNET, the channels are likely run by users outside of the country but posing as American users and continue to push QAnon conpiracy theories, mis – and disinformation. The tactic involves posting a video, leaving it up for around a week and then taking it offline. CNET reports that there is:

…a spam network of almost 40 QAnon and far-right YouTube channels examined by CNET that post conspiracy content as part of a coordinated effort, which appear to be operating from regions around the world but are falsely posing as American.

CNET hones the face that managing content, tracking and deleting mis- and disinformation is a game of “whack-a-mole.” The users behind these accounts seem to be staying one step ahead of the tools and metrics used to weed out problematic and harmful content. The tactics are constantly evolving to make sure their content is flagged or detected. From the report:

Jared Holt, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, a nonpartisan organization that combats and explains disinformation, says he’s never seen channels pull down their own videos after letting them sit for a period. But there’s some precedence for the behavior, he said. Some extremists on YouTube used to delete their live streams immediately after broadcast, in order to avoid punishment from the platform. Then they would archive their streams elsewhere.

Between Youtube’s intentional resistance to transparency (they won’t release how many video’s it’s platform currently hosts) and the complication of their new metric for measuring how often users are encountering content that violates their Terms of Service, it’s nearly impossible to know the true impact of the disinformation that is hosted on it’s platform. Check out the full article for details.

Brian Thibodeau, 20-Year-Old Neo-Nazi, Charged with Possession of Unregistered Gun Silencer

The Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Brian Thibodeau has been charged with possession of an unregistered gun silencer, according to court documents in addition to being under investigation for domestic terrorism related to neo-Nazi organizing. Thibodeau, an Imperial, California resident, had his home searched after authorities discovered the silencer in the mail with Thibodeau’s address as the intended recipient. The court documents indicate the FBI notified Department of Homeland Security agents of the ongoing investigation when they discovered the silencer:

Agents executing a search warrant at Thibodeau’s home in Imperial, California, in March discovered the silencer, two firearms, a kit for making an AR-type rifle and metal pipes that authorities believe might be used to make pipe bombs. They also found six cellphones, three desktop computers, a laptop and an iPad.

In addition, officials uncovered two notebooks filled with racist and Nazi phrases and drawings, as well as various racist and antisemitic documents and propaganda items, a novelty grenade and a copy of “The Turner Diaries,” an antisemitic novel that is popular with extremists. The search warrant also turned up a T-shirt featuring a neo-Nazi symbol, a German helmet and a black Nazi-style jacket with skull and crossbones on the collar.

Because no actual laws exist specific to domestic terrorism, the FBI will have to rely on hate-crimes and weapons related charges, but the investigation remains specific to domestic terrorism. Thibodeau is currently out on bond and is set to be in court on May 27th.

The New Republic Investigates Ties Between Project Veritas and Proud Boys

The New Republic published an article that looks into the connections between far-Right media grifters Project Veritas and pro-Trump street gang, the Proud Boys. According to TNR, Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe, hired four individuals to go undercover at the 2020 Democratic primaries. The sting operation, named “Gold Mine,” was meant to capture problematic undercover and behind-the-scenes footage of a handful of Democratic presidential candidates including Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and others. A source reveals that one of the individuals, code-named Sundance, is actually Jackson Voynick, a 21-year-old, self-proclaimed third degree Proud Boy from New Jersey. Voynick has written briefly for Proud Boy magazine in 2017 and contributed to Milo Yiannopoulos site, Milo.net.

Another one of the Gold Mine four is Cassandra Spencer. Spencer calls herself “Proud Boys’ Girl” and according to TNR has retweeted Michell Malkin’s support for the Proud Boys. The ties to the Proud Boys are much deeper than two operatives from a failed Project Veritas undercover operation. O’Keefe has a lengthy history of connection to and friendship (if you can call it that) with Proud Boys founder Gavin McGinnes. TNR reports:

Gavin McInnes also appears in the video, part of a long-standing professional—and apparently personal—relationship between the Proud Boys founder and O’Keefe. The two have been on camera together as far back as 2013, predating the official founding of the Proud Boys in 2016. O’Keefe was honored as a “Proud Boy of the Month” in 2017 in the group’s official magazine; the two tried to crash the Tribeca Film Festival in the same year. McInnes showed up to O’Keefe’s American Pravda book parties in 2018. O’Keefe has appeared on McInnes’s show, as well as that of white supremacist Stefan Molyneux. In June 2020, both McInnes and O’Keefe appeared on The Alex Jones Show—thereby completing some sort of unholy right-wing conspiracy-mongering trifecta.

It’s almost laughable that anyone at this point would continue to take Project Veritas seriously. Their direct ties to the far-Right, racist and problematic content, and shady funders are all giant red-flags for a grift and they certainly aren’t considered a credible news source. It’s not at all surprising that given their slant, that they would have direct connections to white-supremacists and hate groups. For more details and the full investigation, check out the New Republic article linked above.

Doxxes

Justin Thayer, Jake Bassett, and Jerry Pless of the Georgia III% Martyrs

The Georgia III% Martyrs first gained national attention when they provided security for Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kelly Loeffler at a Ringgold campaign event. They work alongside a fellow III% militia called the American Brotherhood of Patriots and American Patriots USA, which is lead by Chester Doles, an open neo-Nazi skinhead organizer and former KKK leader.

Justin Bowen Thayer is the head of the group, and resides in Bremen, GA. He is employed by Star Services Pest Control and has a history of domestic violence. Jake Michael Bassett is a Carrollton resident. Jerry Ray Pless lives in Dalton, GA and works at Tandus Centiva according to his LinkedIn profile. The full information on these three fascists, including links to their social media profiles and detail on their locations, is available in Atlanta Antifa’s full article.

William Marean, Proud Boy of Aurora, CO

William Marean is a Nazi Proud Boy living in Aurora, Colorado. He works as a quality assurance technician for Safeway at Albertson’s. He began his far-right activist 15 years ago, participating in pro-Iraq War demonstrations. More recently, he joined his fellow Proud Boys at an anti-LGBT protest outside of Mile High Comics in Denver, which was also attended by other several neo-Nazis. His Youtube channel shows that he has attended and filmed several left-wing demonstrations in Colorado.

Although he has since scrubbed the most incriminating content from his page, Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists archived several antisemitic, white supremacist, and anti-LGBT posts from Marean’s Facebook profile. He has used social media to promote race science and spread conspiracy theories about the civil rights movement being part of a communist agenda.

For more information on Marean, check out the Twitter thead below and read the full article by Colorado Springs Antifascists here.

Roberto Pedone, Riot Squad Right-Wing Streamer of Wales, WI

Karma One Six One has identified and released the open source social media posts of Roberto Pedone, a far-Right streamer in Wisconsin. These posts include antisemitic, white nationalist content. He was also the owner Zero Sum Trading, which dissolved in 2017.

Read Karma One Six One’s twitter thread below, and view the archive of his social media posts here.

Joshua Logan Barham of Searcy, AR

Garfield But Anti-Fascist has identified Joshua Logan Barham, a former deputy jailer in White County who is an active member of the neo-Nazi Telegram chat networks called The Hammer, run by Chris Polhaus. His posts promoting violence, praising mass shooters, and sharing pictures of James Mason’s text Siege, make it obvious that he is an open neo-Nazi. Not only that, but Barham has very poor operational security, and Garfield But Anti-Fascist was able to locate his personal social media counts through information shared on his anonymous Telegram.

According to Barham’s LinkedIn page, he worked as a cop at the White County Sherrif’s Department during the time that he was also networking with other neo-Nazis on Telegram. Since then, he has quit his law enfocement job and enrolled at Arkansas Elite Welding Academy in Quitman.

Following the release of Garfield But Anti-Fascist’s doxx, Left Coast Right Watch has published an even more in-depth article on Barham, which can be read here.

Werner Rocker, White Supremacist of Kalispell, Montana

Werner Rocker is a 65-year-old Kalispell resident, originally from Germany. Rocker uses the pseudonym “Ocko” online, and frequents various white supremacist forums, where he shares his homophobic, antisemitic, racist, and genocidal ideology. Some of his posts suggests that he still has German citizenship, making it illegal for him to deny the Holocaust. However, a Montana antifascist called Larix has screenshots of Rocker claiming that the genocide was a hoax. Rocker is also involved in the Sovereign Citizen movement, and claims that licenses are a scam although he works as a trucker. He is months behind on his real estate taxes, which he refuses to pay.

For more information, view Larix’s full thread here.

Tyler Nicholas Liedeke behind “Black Sun Media,” of St. Johns, MI

Zig Zag AFA has identified the Nazi behind Black Sun Media, Tyler Liedeke of St. Johns, Michigan. First spotted in the “siegepilled” corners of Telegram, Liedeke’s content promotes the ideas of Adolf Hiter, James Mason, and George Lincoln Rockwell. He runs a blog, also titled “Black Sun Media,” under the pseudonym Alex Noyes.

Please spread the word about Tyler Liedeke and read Zig Zag’s full Twitter thread.

Call to Action

May 20th, Graham, NC: Rally Against Neo-Confederates

Neo-Confederates are rallying in Graham, NC, on May 20th, 2021. We are a coalition of groups and individuals who say no thanks to that nonsense.

New Antifascist Prisoner

Last week, San Diego Police arrested J.W., a well-known Black activist from Los Angeles, falsely charging them with multiple felony counts stemming from a counter-protest against white supremacists in Pacific Beach on January 9th.

Our beloved activist friend is innocent, but they’re sitting in jail with a $1M bail, which is ridiculous and excessive for protest-related activities. We are raising money for a private defense attorney who has agreed to take the case, and once we get J.W.’s bail reduced we will need remaining funds for the bail.

These are very serious charges, with the potential for extensive jail time. San Diego’s police, mayor and DA don’t care if they charge the wrong people, as long as they can put on a show for their racist constituents. There is already a Federal lawsuit against SDPD for their biased policing at this event.

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Support Our Prisoners

  • Support those arrested during the ongoing rebellion! Check out list of bail funds here.
  • Support Gage Halupowski! Currently serving a six year sentence. There is currently an outbreak at his prison, so please step up and support! More info here.
  • Support Dan Baker! Currently facing federal charges for creating an event on Facebook to counter an armed far-Right rally at the capitol building in Florida. More info here.
  • Support Eric King! Anarchist and antifascist prisoner who has been targeted by the State and neo-Nazi inmates for being ‘ANTIFA.’ More info here. Donate here.
  • Support J.W.! Antifascist arrested in San Diego following rally against far-Right and white supremacists. Donate here.

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A weekly roundup of the latest and greatest happenings in the anti-fascist world. Each column features a roundup of news, actions, doxxes and current calls to action.

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