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Sep 14, 20

This Week in Fascism #75: The Details in the Devil

Welcome, fellow antifascists! This week, a look at how Trump is pushing for far-Right violence and authoritarian rule; how people at a migrant concentration camp in Georgia are being forcibly sterilized according to a whistle-blower; a report on a Clackamas County Sheriff’s Deputy spreading rumors that antifa started the fires in the Pacific Northwest and advising a militia on how to get away with murder; a new witness in the police killing of activist Michael Reinoehl, who says that the cops didn’t try to arrest him before opening fire. Plus, doxxes of Proud Boys, the American Identity Movement, Identity Dixie, and the League of the South. Also, how you can help counter a Proud Boys rally in Philadelphia this Saturday!

Without further ado, let’s begin!

News

Trump Claims the Election is Rigged & Embraces Political Assassination, Right Pushes for Authoritarian Rule as Trump Calls for Extended Presidency

In the last few weeks, while continuing to trail Biden in the polls, Trump has escalated his far-Right rhetoric and push towards growing authoritarianism. This has included:

“And 52 days from now we’re going to win Nevada, and we’re going to win four more years in the White House,” Trump told the mostly maskless, non-socially-distant crowd of his supporters on Saturday. “And then after that, we’ll negotiate, right? Because we’re probably — based on the way we were treated — we are probably entitled to another four after that.”

Michael Caputo, 58, the assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, said without evidence that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was harboring a “resistance unit” determined to undermine President Trump.

The top communications official at the powerful cabinet department in charge of combating the coronavirus made [these] outlandish and false claims on Sunday [stating] that career government scientists were engaging in “sedition” in their handling of the pandemic and that left-wing hit squads were preparing for armed insurrection after the election.

  • Trump has also embraced the murders in Kenosha carried out by Trump supporter and militia member, Kyle Rittenhouse, calling it an act of self-defense. Meanwhile, Trump has also praised the State murder of left-wing Portland protester, Michael Reinoehl, who several weeks ago, shot and killed a member of the far-Right group, Patriot Prayer, in an act that Reinoehl called self-defense, after hundreds of far-Right Trump supporters flooded into downtown Portland to attack and beat people on the street. As Patrick Martin wrote:

Trump also defended the police assassination of Michael Reinoehl, the anti-fascist protester from Portland gunned down Sept. 3 by police belonging to the federally-led Pacific Northwest Violent Offenders Task Force. He emphasized his personal role in ordering the killing of Reinoehl, saying, “Two-and-a-half days went by and I put out when are you going to go get him? The US Marshals went in to get him.”

He continued, “The US Marshals killed him and I will tell you something, that’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this. There can’t be guys standing up that want to fight…”

As Trump trails in the polls, he continues to double-down on conspiracy theories, marshaling his forces within law enforcement and the DHS, and also calling for those on the far-Right to be deputized as an auxiliary force to the State.

Whistle-blower Claims Georgia ICE Concentration Camp Performing Systematic forced Sterilizations

According to Raw Story:

The whistleblower complaint, filed on behalf of a nurse at Irwin County, Georgia, ICE Detention Center (ICDC), also charges “jarring medical neglect,” Law & Crime reports, “including a refusal to test detainees for the novel coronavirus.”

One detainee said: “When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like they’re experimenting with our bodies.”

The whistleblower said there is one gynecologist in particular who is performing the hysterectomies at an alarming rate.

“Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy—just about everybody,” said Dawn Wooten, “everybody’s uterus cannot be that bad.”

Sheriff’s Deputy Claims ‘Antifa’ Started Forest Fires, Tells Militia How to Get Away With Murder

Mark Nikolai, a Clackamas County Sheriff’s Deputy has been placed on leave, pending an investigation, after he was caught on camera claiming that antifascists were responsible for the wildfires ravaging the Pacific Northwest. He was speaking to a group of militia members who had set up a checkpoint, forcing motorists to present IDs before passing through.

“Antifa motherfuckers are out causing hell. And there are a lot of lives at stake, and a lot of people’s property at stake because these guys have got some vendetta,” Nikolai was recorded saying.

However, the Sheriff’s Office has refused to comment on a separate video, where what appears to be the same deputy also instructs a militia on how to get away with murder.

“Be careful, there are some laws that revolve around what you’re going to do. Don’t get yourself jammed up. Because you might be thinking you’re doing the right thing, but next thing you know, you’ve got criminal charges,” the deputy said. “You guys all mean to do good. Your heart’s in the right place, but the fucking courts nowadays don’t care where your heart is. The courts don’t give a shit what you’re trying to do.”

“What is the law?” asks one militia member.

“You have to fear for your life. Imminent, serious physical threats. Trust me, I am on your side, people. I wouldn’t have this shit happen in my neighborhood, either, but be smart about it…. I’m telling you to help you out.”

The far-Right law enforcement outlet, Law Enforcement today has been instrumental in pushing these conspiracies, as were other far-Right conspiracy outlets such as The Gateway Pundit and far-Right groups like the Proud Boys.

Far-Right outlets and commentators spread an unfounded rumor that the wildfires had been spread by antifascist activists. Mother Jones reported that the rumors were boosted by Russia Today just 24 hours after they began on social media.

NBC News reported that the rumors were so prevalent that callers were jamming police phone lines, attempting to encourage the police to arrest antifascist activists. In an effort to maintain their communications infrastructure, at least six separate police agencies issued social media pleas, asking residents not to call them with rumors about antifascists starting fires.

Days after the rumors spread, Facebook announced that it would be taking down articles and posts spreading the disinformation campaign.

“We are removing false claims that the wildfires in Oregon were started by certain groups,” tweeted Andy Stone, Facebook spokesperson. “This is consistent with our past efforts to remove content that could lead to imminent harm given the possible risk to human life as the fires rage on.”

Michael Reinoehl Shot Without Warning, Says Minister Who Witnessed the Killing

A new witness has come forward in the police shooting death of Michael Reinoehl, a leftist activist who killed Patriot Prayer associate Aaron “Jay” Danielson in an apparent act of self-defense.

A 39-year-old minister who lives in the apartment complex where Reinoehl was killed by police, told Oregon Live that officers did not attempt to arrest Reinoehl or even issue any commands before opening fire.

As the Washington Post wrote:

[The witness, an] ordained minister, said he fears reprisals from far-right groups and police for describing what he saw unfolding outside his apartment.

In fact, according to [the witness, Reinoehl] was clutching a cellphone and eating a gummy worm as he walked to his car outside an apartment complex in Lacey, Wash. That’s when officers opened fire without first announcing themselves or trying to arrest him…

“We sent in the US Marshals for the killer, the young man who killed the young man in the streets. He shot him, cold-blooded killed him. He didn’t like his hat, or he didn’t like something, and it wasn’t a Trump hat. It was a religious hat. And he shot him cold blood. Two-and-a-half days went by, and I put out, when are you going to go get him? And the US Marshals went in to get him…. This guy was a violent criminal, and the US Marshals killed him. And I will tell you something – that’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this,” President Trump told Fox News.

Deplatforms

CV Vitolo-Haddad Outed as Racefaker, Platformed Neo-Nazis

On September 4th, on the heels of the Jessica Krug race faking debacle, an anonymous Medium post went up about Countering Violent Extremism researcher and problematic leftist activist CV Vitolo-Haddad, outing them as having lied about their race and ethnicity since 2014. Vitolo-Haddad, who’s last name is a hyphenation of their family name and the name they have from a previous marriage, began first identifying as a person of color as early as 2014 while coaching at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The author of the Medium post states that they long-suspected CV of lying about their identity but hesitated to out CV for a number of reasons including “…CV’s public performance of an anti-fascist politic and their abundant critiques of racism in leftist organizing.” This is a concern that many leftist and antifascist organizers shared.

In response to the anonymous post, CV responded by shutting down all their social media. On September 6th, CV posted their own response to being outed as a white person in a Medium post titled “A First Step.” In this post, they offer a half-hearted apology but never admit to their whiteness. On September 8th, CV published another Medium post titled “A Second Step,” this time admitting to being “Southern Italian/Sicilian.” Worth noting that in the post, CV never actually admits to being white.

Since then, many organizers and peers of CV have come forward with their concerns about CV, including Colorado Spring Anti-Fascists, who wrote a thread about CV’s problematic behavior over the years. In it, they share that while pretending to be Black, CV frequently “whitewashed comrades of color and accused them of perpetuating white supremacy.” To add to their hostile interactions with other activists, CV’s twitter header was a fashwave image with the same fascist symbol used by Operation Werewolf. CV’s interaction with fascist and white supremacist figures have long concerned antifascist activists but CV would never allow themselves to hear criticism or concerns, no matter how valid. CV had far-right grifting “journalist” Andy Ngo on their podcast while pretending to be Black. In October of 2016, CV published Part 1 of the Proud Boys Series, a series which shows they had direct contact with white nationalists, and much of it was done in a friendly, lighthearted manner. In September 2019, CV extended a public invitation to white supremacist Steffan Molyneux to debate them.

While CV was platforming neo-Nazis and white supremacists, all while pretending to be Black, they were also picking fights with antifascists and publishing Medium articles complaining about Nazis getting deplatformed. As Colorado Springs Anti-Fascist reports, “CV was also involved in an “anti-terror” group called Light Upon Light that launders the reputation of neo-Nazis to falsely claim they are reformed. They also work with an anti-Muslim hate group called The Clarion Project.”

In response to the first and second steps published by CV, a collective of individuals who had direct interaction with and were harmed by CV published a master document that tracks CV’s actions including their racial fraud, their academic dishonesty, and their interaction with fascists called “A Third Step.” As the story continues to unfold, academic institutions that were associated with CV have published statements distancing themselves from CV, removing CV from positions of power, and opening up investigations into CV’s background.

Proud Boys Get Kicked Off of MailChimp, Lose Their Online Store Four Hours Later

 

This week, the Proud Boys were kicked off of mass-mailing service MailChimp, and just hours later, lost both the payment processor for their online store as well as the site itself, formerly hosted at 1776.shop – infamous for selling shirts advocating the killing of antifascists and left-wing activists.

Sleeping Giants co-founder Nandini Jammi tweeted at MailChimp, alerting them that the violent hate group was using their services. In less than two hours, the account had been terminated.

“Thank you for reporting this. We immediately investigated and have terminated this account,” the company tweeted.

Not content with one deplatforming per day, Jammi also sent an email to donations platform Philanthro, alerting that the service was being used to process payments to the Proud Boys.

“The ID belongs to an organization named ‘Enrique Tarrio for Congress.’ When we looked up the name, various articles appeared listing Enrique Tarrio as the Chairman of the Proud Boys. Their ability to raise funds have been terminated effective immediately,” the company wrote to Jammi in an email.

Going for the deplatforming hat-trick, antifascist researcher RuthlessWe immediately alerted web host GoDaddy that the Proud Boys were using their service to run the online store. Hours later, the site had been removed from the internet.

Doxxes

CJ Francisco, Proud Boy of Scottsbluff Nebraska

Originally identified in 2018 by Nebraska Antifascists, RuthlessWe has caught up with the whereabouts of CJ Fransciso of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Francisco is a member of SPLC-designated hate group, the Proud Boys. He was originally outed for his participation in a Proud Boy recruitment drive. Since then, Francisco has continued his efforts to promote racist and violent views among his fellow members and in his community. His social media hosts content blaming former President Obama for racism, memes of Hitler, and celebrations of Kenosha killer Kyle Rittenhouse, who crossed state lines into Kenosha, Wisconsin to shoot and kill two anti-police protesters and injured one other.

Francisco works for Farmers Irrigation District. Ruthless We are asking concerned members of the community to reach out to his workplace and let them know that they employ a violent member of the hate group, Proud Boys.

Phone: (308) 632-4921

Andrew White, Proud Boy and III% Militia Member from Las Vegas

Corvalis Antifascist in collaboration with RuthlessWe have identified Proud Boy and III% militia member Andrew White from Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to those affiliations, White is part of the National Reformation Party (formerly the American Blackshirt Party). The group are self-described fascists who base their ideology on that of Benito Mussolini. White celebrates fascist icons like Mussolini and Oswald Mosley, as well as the spread of fascism throughout Europe.

White has spent the weekend in Las Vegas partying with other Proud Boys like Enrique Tarrio and Gavin McGinnes at their annual event, West Fest. White’s views are violent and dangerous. Las Vegas, stay vigilant.

Todd M. Clark, New Hampshire Proud Boy President and neo-Nazi of Cheshire County, New Hampshire

Antifash Gordon dropped the dox on New Hampshire Proud Boy President Todd Clark of Cheshire Country, New Hampshire. In addition to his elder status within the Proud Boys, Clark, who goes by the pseudonym “Redleg,” also runs Proud Boys Uncensored, the largest PB channel on Telegram. As is the case for most Proud Boys, Clark is a neo-Nazi.

The Proud Boys Uncensored channel shares a variety of racist content, introducing PB members to further-right content, like Eric Striker (real name Joseph Jordan), neo-Nazi podcast host at The Right Stuff, and Striker’s “National Justice” website. Every day, Clark shares a variety of antisemitic conspiracy theories to his audience, which is 7157 subscribers as of this writing. The Proud Boys Uncensored channel also celebrates the death of George Floyd and describes anti-police protests as “African levels of violence.”

Clark supports his racist activism by asking Telegram subscribers to shop on @AmazonHelp via an affiliate link. Read the full thread to learn about how antifascist activists were able to track Clark down.

James Michael Simpson, League of the South Affiliate, Greensboro, North Carolina

Identify Dixie released the identity of League of the South affiliate James Michael Simpson of Greensboro, North Carolina. Simpson, who uses the pseudonyms ‘Jim Dei’ and ‘Jim Baptizer,’ regularly references RaHoWa on his social media, an abbreviated version of Racial Holy War and is often used as a white supremacist dog-whistle. Simpson is an anti-Semite and routinely uses anti-Semitic slurs and content on his pseudonymous social media profiles. His anti-Semitic views go hand in hand with his racist views toward Black people and though he doesn’t have a lot of activity on his Twitter account, most of it is overtly racist.

His Facebook profile’s aren’t much different, hosting images of the sonnenrad, or black sun (a symbol frequently used in neo-Nazi imagery) and League of the South insignia. He apparently has two or more VK profiles where he posted the El Paso shooter’s manifesto in its entirety. It’s possible that Simpson is teaching English at Durham Tech. Greensboro residents please be aware of James Michael Simpson. He is an absolute danger to the community.

Jason Finney of Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement of Chicago 43rd Ward GOP Committeeperson

Antifascist activists with Panic! In the Discord recently discovered Jason David Finney, Chicago’s 43rd Ward GOP Committeeperson, is a member of American Identity Movement (AmIM), formerly Identity Evropa. Finney’s communication with the group was previously published via Unicorn Riot and it’s through these leaked chats that antifascists were able to connect Finney to his username, David Yates. American Identity Movement members are encouraged to run for public office and though he tried to hide his affiliations with a white nationalist group, there were a handful of slip-ups that lead to his identity being exposed. Finney was captured in CBS camera footage from 2018 with fellow members of American Identity Movement as they were putting up, and then subsequently taking down an anti-immigration banner at the Oak Park overpass in Chicago. He has also participated in hanging flyers for AmIM.

Before filing his paperwork for 43rd Ward Committeeperson, Jason posted vitriolic racist, anti-feminism, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration rhetoric to a Facebook group that he admined called Chicago Conservatives. Currently and in addition to his political office, Jason works as a credit analyst at RJ O’Brien.

For the full picture of Finney’s ties to white nationalist organizing, check out the full story here. Concerned members of the community are encouraged to let Jason’s bosses at RJ O’Brien know that their employee is a dues-paying white nationalist group member:

Jake Shea, Member of Rise Above Movement, Costa Mesa, California

Berkeley Antifa exposed local mover and member of the Rise Above Movement, Jake Shea of Costa Mesa, California. Rise Above Movement, as stated by the SPLC, “is an overtly racist, violent right-wing fight club that attends rallies around the country to do open combat with counter-protesters.” Shea makes his racism and affiliations well known because of a handful of large tattoos on his arms, including a RAM tattoo. Shea regularly posts photos of him training and working out with other RAM members and gave RAM leader, Robert Rundo, a job at his moving company, Clean Cut Movers SC, who’s branding and marketing contains all kinds of racist dog whistles. Unsurprisingly, other Clean Cut Movers employees also have racist tattoos.

Recently, it appears that Jake Shea has taken a trip to Serbia, where Robert Rundo currently lives. Costa Mesa residents please be aware of Rise Above Movement member and Clean Cut Movers SC owner Jake Shea.

John “Braden” Nicholas Plyler, Identity Dixie, North Carolina

Identify Dixie uncovered another member of neo-Confederate hate group Identity Dixie, John “Braden” Nicholas Plyer. Plyer was previously the NC Students for Trump Social Media Director and eventually became a Russian Orthodox theology student in the span of 4 years. Once Plyer took over as social media director for NC Students for Trump, the posts were filled with racist and anti-Semitic dog whistles.

Before Trump took office, Plyer created the “Counter Revolution”; an organization designed to promote the idea of monarchy in the United States. It didn’t take off as well as he hoped, however, two months after the creation of Identity Dixie, the Counter Revolution caught the attention of the hosts of the Identity Dixie podcast Rebel Yell. Plyer was subsequently invited on as a guest. Shortly thereafter, Identity Dixie added Plyer to their main chat room for members, specifically by Will Galloway, a “Knight of the Golden Circle,” their top leadership.

Check out the thread for more details and to learn more about Identity Dixie.

Call to Action

ALERTA! Proud Boys to Rally in Clark Park, West Philly same day as a Pro-Columbus Rally in Marconi Park, South Philly!

When: Saturday, September 19th, 2020 @ 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Where: Clark Park, 4300-4398 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

When a hate rally is pending, people like to tell folks to stay home and ignore it. But what if a violent hate group whose rallies are pretty much geared to be violent comes directly to you?

That’s what it looks like the Proud Boys are planning for the 19th. Originally they announced that they were going to hold a rally on the 26th in South Philadelphia in conjunction with the one Proud Boys are holding in Portland, Oregon, but now comes word that because of conflicts with the Portland rally (they want to be there) they are doing a rally the Saturday before in Clark Park in West Philadelphia. The timing and location of this rally is telling as hell – not to mention that they are calling it “Belly of the Beast 2020” and they “and other patriots” are going there “to demand an end to antifa terrorism.”

Normally this is the date and location of the Uhuru Flea Market, a regular thing that has been taking place for 20+ years in the park every third Saturday from April to October. The pandemic shutdown has caused such events to be canceled until at least Feb. 2021, but this is where a lot of West Philly locals who made it clear that they do not care for Proud Boys, in particular recently by causing a neighborhood bar and venue a lot of grief for supporting them, like to come regardless and take in the day, so Proud Boys want to have a go at them. The group is basically trying to pick fights all over the country, and the police chief that was giving them leeway in Portland for three years is now the Philadelphia Police Commissioner. That doesn’t mean that people will not be able to keep them from using their neighborhood as a playground for far-Right, pro-Trump violence. They are working to oppose them now.

 

Photo from the originally Uhuru Flea Market SOURCE: Twitter

And here’s where it gets interesting: Philadelphia Proud Boys have a rough go of it, pretty much being regulated to trash talk online, sneaking around IRL and latching onto other people’s events so they can do something worth a damn. But they think they have a little juice via the knuckleheads that were trying – in vain – to save the Columbus statue by physically attacking anyone that comes near it – which is actually the catalyst which has resulted in plans to take it down. So we expect them to show up two hours before this rally at another one in Marconi Park in South Philly. That’s a rally organized by an outfit calling itself “Italian American Patriots” that is still trying to save the now-boarded up Columbus statue. The 26th rally was touted as protecting Italian Heritage, but now that this event was announced, they might have decided to use this as cover – which means Philly has a full day.

This is just one of a few rallies the Proud Boys have planned over the next few months. In addition to the one in Portland, there will be one in Columbus, Ohio as well.

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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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