Nazis Treat Trial in Charlottesville Like a Joke

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Why the Nazis Are Treating Their Trial in Charlottesville Like a Joke: It’s part of the strategy, perhaps even the ideology.
by Dahlia Lithwick
Slate
NOV 11, 20216:02 PM


The night before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. Shay Horse/NurPhoto via Getty Images

You would not be faulted if, tuning in this month to the Charlottesville, Virginia, alt-right trial, you found yourself confounded about whether you were watching a formal judicial proceeding or an elaborate performance piece. The federal civil trial of the 20 alleged organizers of Charlottesville’s 2017 Unite the Right rally features a grab bag of white supremacists, some of whom are representing themselves in court. This has meant that from the first day of opening arguments, we’ve heard white supremacist Chris Cantwell, the “Crying Nazi,” hold himself out as a purveyor of a podcast “product” (sign up now!), cite Mein Kampf, and use the N-word. He’s described himself as a “professional entertainer,” “talented,” and “good-looking.” As part of his opening statement Cantwell told the jury he’d dabbled in stand-up comedy, then read out the URL for his website, urging the jury that, “I hope you can all become diehard fans, and together we can save the country.”

Calling into a podcast (not his own) after his opening statement, Cantwell explained that he “considered it a spoken word performance, you know, and I take that kind of thing seriously, especially once I found out that people were going to be able to listen. … I saw this as a tremendous opportunity both because of the cause at hand and because I knew the world was listening.”

Cantwell, who is currently incarcerated for an unrelated extortion incident, would watch Tucker Carlson’s show with a group of fellow white supremacist prison inmates to prepare for trial, according to BuzzFeed News. Indeed, a central component of the white supremacist end game here lies not in prevailing at trial, but in using the trial to feel famous and to become more so. By that metric, some might say that the white supremacists are succeeding. An article in the Washington Post this week illuminated the problem, noting that “some of the defendants have been ousted from social media such as Facebook and the dating site OkCupid, but in this courtroom, they’ve found a new platform to amplify their racist views, put on performances they boast about on podcasts, radio shows and in live during-the-trial chats, and to attack their opponents.” As Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League put to the Post, “This is the Star Wars bar scene of extremism in that courtroom … and they know who’s watching.”

Spencer has already testified that the use of torchlight, the Nazi chants and Hitler symbology, and the comments about gassing people and “portable ovens” are all simply a “subcultural thing of being outlandish and stupid.”

The very nature of any such politicized hate speech trial is that listeners will hear hours of racist slurs and threats as white supremacist supporters attempt to dox anti-racist organizers named in the proceedings, all while—again, according to the Post—“Neo-Nazi fans celebrated in far-right chatrooms,” listening in on the court’s public phone line. They have unmuted themselves during the trial’s breaks to “troll the court—saying the n-word multiple times, declaring ‘Make America Great Again’ and promoting a white supremacist podcast on which Cantwell recently spoke.” Michael Hill, another defendant who testified last week, called himself “a white supremacist, a racist, an antisemite, a homophobe, a xenophobe, an Islamophobe” on the stand, then called into a far-right radio show to tell listeners he was “very pleased” to share his testimony, knowing the court was “a public forum” where “a lot of people were listening.”

One of the tricks for getting famous is to be entertaining. Another is to be funny. Defendant Matthew Heimbach, founder of the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party, certainly knows the drill—in one court exchange, he cheerfully described the alt-right leader Richard Spencer as “bougie,” saying, “I kind of always viewed you as a bit of a dandy,” to which Spencer retorted, “Did you ever see me wear boat shoes?” Good fun all around. Cantwell at one point asked Heimbach to tell his “favorite Holocaust joke.” He asked Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt, one of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses on the symbols of antisemitism, if it was ever OK to tell Holocaust jokes.

These joking little exchanges are all part of the “we were only kidding” defense, already deeply entrenched in the alt-right, as is the “we were just trying to trigger the liberal snowflakes” defense. Spencer has already testified that the use of torchlight, the Nazi chants and Hitler symbology, and the comments about gassing people and “portable ovens” are all simply a “subcultural thing of being outlandish and stupid.” The point here, testified Heimbach, is to tweet and say “the most outrageous things we could do to troll and create outrage in the media and get reaction.” The more the rest of us react, goes their calculus, the bigger their win. “They absolutely fell for it,” Heimbach said of the media, in his testimony.

The last expert witness called by the plaintiffs on Thursday, Day 14 of the trial, was Peter Simi, an associate professor of sociology at Chapman University. The defendants had sought to exclude him from the trial, but they failed. Simi and fellow sociologist Kathleen Blee have produced a 63-page report showing the defendants in this trial had engaged in coordinated efforts to obscure their real intentions by hiding behind these claims of humor, coded speech, and other rhetorical tricks. The researchers pored over thousands of Discord messages and defendants’ emails to conclude that, yes, white supremacism is a violent racist ideology rooted in antisemitism, hostility toward immigrants, minorities, and feminism; that yes, white supremacism also uses new technologies and coded double-speak, and that white supremacists engage in what they characterize as “front-stage” and “back-stage” behavior. What that means, Simi testified, is that “people present themselves differently when they are seeking to make an impression on others than they do in private.” Perhaps most importantly Simi reported and testified that white supremacy encourages and celebrates violence. Simi testified that white supremacists cultivate plausible deniability by deploying a variety of linguistic winks and tricks. So for instance, the white supremacist publication the Daily Stormer’s “Style Guide” has cautioned:

Most people are not comfortable with material that comes across as vitriolic, raging, nonironic hatred. The unindoctrinated should not be able to tell if we are joking or not. There should also be a conscious awareness of mocking stereotypes of hateful racists. I usually think of this as self-deprecating humor - I am a racist making fun of stereotype of racists, because I don’t take myself super-seriously. This is obviously a ploy and I actually do want to gas kikes. But that’s neither here nor there.

Elsewhere, defendant Andrew Anglin has written that “It’s illegal to promote violence on the Internet. At the same time, it’s totally important to normalize the acceptance of violence as an eventuality/inevitability.” Thus, Anglin advised that “whenever someone does something violent, it should be made light of, laughed at.” According to Simi and Blee, “In our opinion, readers would have understood that such use of humor was intended to ‘normalize,’ approve of, and encourage violence without explicitly promoting it.”

Simi’s testimony was devastating. No part of it was hilarious. He explained, in the most academic terms possible, the degree to which the performance artistry of the white supremacists is not accidental. It’s deliberate stagecraft, constructed to promote both violent spectacle and plausible deniability. The cross-examination of Simi was, as a result, neither spectacular, nor funny.

James Kolenich, who represents Jason Kessler, Nathan Damigo, and the hate group Identity Evropa, tried to get Simi to testify that all free speech is protected. Simi testified that he believed it was not. Kolenich tried to get him to testify that he could not be a good witness because he was not neutral as to white supremacy. Simi replied that he is a researcher, and that just as cancer researchers are interested not just in researching cancer but also helping prevent its spread, he can do research on violent white supremacy without feeling neutral about it. (Kolenich was upset that the witness was comparing white supremacy to cancer.) Defendant Richard Spencer asked a lot of questions about how famous he is: “Was I a public figure at the time—I hesitate to use the word celebrity?” Simi’s answer was some version of, “No, I don’t read everything you write.” Chris Cantwell asked Simi how dare he venture an opinion as to whether Cantwell was joking in his tweets. Simi replied that the issue on which he is an expert is not whether Cantwell was funny but the use of coded language. Cantwell seemed unable to comprehend the difference between Simi’s definition of “front stage” and “back stage,” perhaps because for the Cantwells of the universe, all the world’s a front stage.

There is a big impossible question looming over the Unite the Right trial, about what is to be done when white supremacists turn sober judicial proceedings into a forum to promote yet more virulent hate. Simi’s testimony felt like the cure. It turns out that when you turn the sweater inside out and examine all the knots, and broken threads, and missed stitches, it’s not all that interesting at all. It might not even be a sweater. The virulent performances of hate, unpacked by an expert, is neither funny, nor triggering, nor coded, nor clever, nor interesting. It’s just a tawdry little party trick, easily decoded, and depressingly formulaic.

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Part 1 of 5

Expert Report of Kathleen Blee (Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Bailey Dean of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh) and Peter Simi (Associate Professor of Sociology, Chapman University)
Sines v. Kessler, No. 17-cv-00072:
Submitted on July 20, 2020

HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL UNDER PROTECTIVE ORDER

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

ASSIGNMENT
SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
REPORT
A. Background . 3
1. Methodology of Our Analysis
2. The Concept of Culture Frames This Report
B. The White Supremacist Movement Exhibits a Set of Core Characteristics
1. The WSM is Characterized by a Racist Ideology Based on White Supremacism, Anti-Semitism
and Hostility Toward Immigrants, Social Minorities, and Feminism
2. The WSM is Characterized by a Radical Division Between Insiders and Outsiders
3. The WSM is Highly Decentralized, Yet Coordinated
4. The WSM is Characterized by a High Degree of Internal Conflict
5. The WSM Utilizes New Communication Technologies
6. The WSM Utilizes Double-Speak
7. The WSM Focuses on Optics and Utilizes Front-Stage and Back-Stage Behavior
8. The WSM is Characterized by the Use of Violence
a. The WSM Promotes Three Key Ideas That Trigger Racial Violence
i. The White Race is Threatened
ii. Jews, Nonwhites, “Commies,” and Other Enemies Threaten the White Race
iii. The Destruction of the White Race is Imminent
b. The WSM Glorifies Violence
c. The WSM Normalizes Violence
i. Constant and Pervasive Violent Messaging
ii. Repertoires of Violence
a) Coordinated Violence
b) WSM-Supported Violence by Individuals
iii. Ritualistic Displays of White Power
9. The WSM Socializes Its Recruits to Utilize Racially-Motivated Violence
10. The WSM Utilizes Strategies of Deniability
11. Summary of the WSM
C. Defendants’ Actions Evince an Involvement in, and Deep Familiarity with, the WSM
D. Defendants Participated in and Praised the Use of WSM Tactics at Pre-UTR Events
E. Defendants Exhibited the Characteristics of the WSM When Planning and Organizing UTR
1. Defendants Disseminated White Supremacist and Anti-Semitic Ideologies In Planning and Organizing UTR
2. Defendants Expressed A Radical Division Between Insiders and Outsider When Planning and Organizing UTR
3. Defendants Utilized New Communication Technologies to Plan UTR
4. Defendants Utilized Double-Speak When Planning and Organizing UTR
5. Defendants Engaged in Front-Stage and Back-Stage Behavior Typical of the WSM
6. Defendants’ Plans for UTR Mirrored WSM Tactics in Calling for Violence
a. The Defendants Promoted the Key Ideas That Trigger Racial Violence in the WSM
b. Defendants Glorified Violence While Planning and Organizing UTR
c. The Defendants Used Constant and Pervasive Messaging of Violence
d. Defendants Recruited UTR Participants That Were Willing to Utilize Violence
e. The Violence Planned on Discord Played Out on August 11-12, 2017, By Both Defendants and Other Discord Participants
f. The Defendants Ratified Their Use of WSM-Style Violence After the Rally
7. Defendants Utilized Strategies of Deniability Common to the WSM
8. Conclusion

ASSIGNMENT

Kathleen M. Blee is Distinguished Professor of sociology and Bettye J. and Ralph E. Bailey Dean of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the College of General Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She specializes in social movements, including racist/anti-Semitic and rightwing movements, racial violence, and microsociology. Her curriculum vitae is attached as Appendix A. Peter Simi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Chapman University. He has studied extremist groups and violence for more than 20 years, conducting interviews and observation with a range of violent gangs and political extremists. His curriculum vitae is attached as Appendix B. Professor Blee and Professor Simi each received $30,000 in compensation for their time rendering this report.

We have been retained as expert witnesses for Plaintiffs, to apply our expertise in the characteristics of the historical white supremacist movement to our examination of the materials in this case and analyze whether the Defendants utilized the tools and tactics of the white supremacist movement in planning and implementing the events on August 11-12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Our findings in this matter were reached after our review of the documents available, and from utilizing the knowledge and expertise we have obtained based on our years of experience studying and publishing on the white supremacist movement. We considered the following facts and data in coming to the opinions for this report: (i) the sources identified in footnotes to this report; (ii) the sources identified in Appendix C; (iii) communications on Discord produced in this litigation, reviewed using the search terms identified in Appendix C; and (iv) other material produced in this litigation.

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS

Based on our decades of research and publishing on white supremacism in the United States and our analysis of the organization and events associated with Unite the Right (UTR) in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, we conclude that:

● The white supremacist movement (WSM) in the United States has consistently utilized, supported, and glorified violence as a strategy to promote its message and secure white supremacy.
● Defendants were active in and knowledgeable about the culture and networks of the WSM prior to UTR.
● UTR was organized to promote the agenda of the WSM.
● To organize UTR, Defendants used the cultural symbols, rituals, slogans, language, and references to historical figures that are the hallmarks of the WSM.
● Defendants shaped and made use of WSM culture and networks to recruit participants and to plan and execute UTR.
● The coordinated race-based violence facilitated and committed by Defendants at UTR is emblematic of WSM tactics.

REPORT

A. Background

This report is based on our decades of research and publishing on white supremacism in the United States, our review of the relevant scholarship on this topic, and our analysis of information and evidence about the Defendants associated with the August 11-12, 2017, UTR events in Charlottesville, Virginia.

1. Methodology of Our Analysis

The methodological steps in our analysis follow the research protocols that are standard in rigorous qualitative analyses in the social sciences, as codified in a report by the National Science Foundation1 for which one of the authors of this report (Blee) was a principal author.

First, we drew on our decades of individual and collaborative research on white supremacism in the United States from the 1920s to the present. Our published research includes multiple studies of white supremacist violence, culture, recruitment, leadership, radicalization processes, criminal involvement, and the processes whereby white supremacist members leave the movement.

Second, we drew on our knowledge from decades of studying the research of social scientists, information analysts, computer scientists, and other scholars and analysts on domestic extremism, white supremacism, and ideologically-focused violence.

Third, we reviewed relevant information distributed by white supremacist and allied groups, government and security agencies, and nonprofit organizations, as well as media reports and publicly available social media.

Fourth, we analyzed postings on Discord,2 an Internet-based platform that enables real-time voice, video, and text connections between users, before, during and after the August 2017 UTR events. See Appendix D (Glossary of Terms and Symbols). At the outset, we read every post made by the individual Defendants, all posts within the Channels identified as those of the Defendant organizations, and posts within Channels associated with UTR. We also analyzed individual posts in the larger context of discussions on the Discord platform and by comparing Defendant posts with posts by other Discord users. For our review of Discord postings, we used a social scientific research strategy designed to ensure that conclusions are based on what the data revealed rather than the researcher’s preconceptions. This strategy employed the strength of both logics of research design in modern social sciences, deduction and induction, to guide our searches on the Discord platform and our analysis of the posts that were generated in these searches.

Deductive strategies begin with existing knowledge, and seek to test, refine, or extend this knowledge. For example, prior studies of WSM culture have uncovered certain ways of talking, such as disguising the meaning of certain phrases to outsiders by structuring them as jokes, and the use of insider terms such as “1488” that have specific meanings within WSM culture. Previous research also has found that activities in the WSM are likely to be referenced in a specific vocabulary, such as “shoot,” “gun,” and “power.” We use our knowledge of this research to guide the selection of terms and phrases that we used to search the Discord platform. We also used a deductive strategy to analyze the posts generated by these searches of the Discord platform. Based on our research and our knowledge of the research of other scholars, we analyzed the meaning of terms, phrases, and symbols that are commonly used in the WSM. Thus, we initially interpreted a post of “1488” to refer jointly to the “14 words” of the white supremacist terrorist David Lane and the double 88 to mean “Heil Hitler” because “H” is the 8th letter of the alphabet. As discussed below, we conducted additional levels of contextual analyses of Discord postings which, at times, resulted in a modification of our initial interpretations.

Used alone, a deductive strategy will fail to search for information that was not found in prior studies. To ensure that we did not exclude information, and to ensure that we could elicit and assess posts from the Discord platform in a fair and neutral manner, we supplemented a deductive strategic approach with an inductive strategic approach. An inductive approach begins with the data rather than with prior interpretations, so the researcher can weigh evidence without having a preconception of its meaning. We used inductive strategies by conducting searches of the Discord platform without specifying a search term. We were able to do so by using the capabilities of Everlaw, the software platform on which the Discord materials were hosted, to do random searches by sampling a selected percentage of total results. These searches generated batches of posts across the Discord platform from a random set of persons on a random set of topics, thus allowing us to locate information that had not been selected in our deductive searches. We conducted inductive analyses by reading through entire discussion “Channels” on Discord, including both those related and those unrelated to UTR events. This allowed us to understand the broad discussions on these Channels and avoid placing undue importance on idiosyncratic posts.

We conducted 1,461 searches of posts made between May 12, 2016 to December 12, 2018, to develop an accurate understanding of trends in post content and frequency over time.3 We used random searches as well as keyword searches across the entire Discord platform produced in the lawsuit to understand how Defendants and their affiliates operated on that platform and how they and others discussed the UTR events on that platform. These searches produced tens of thousands of posts in both text and image form. As noted above, we conducted searches both comprehensively (e.g., all posts to certain specific servers on the platform and all posts by Defendants) and selectively (e.g., targeted searches by keyword) to provide information that could challenge our pre-existing ideas as well as information that might confirm our opinions.

Many Defendants and their affiliates relied on a feature in Discord in which messages can be exchanged privately between two or more individuals without being visible to others on the Discord platform – direct messaging (DM), sometimes termed private messaging. We searched broadly in the direct messaging files of Discord and read every private message between Defendants for whom we had Discord handles.

In addition to written posts, Discord had over 280,000 images posted between May 12, 2016, and August 14, 2017. We conducted a 1% random sample of all images, which produced 2,829 unique images. We also examined 1,411 images posted by Defendants. Defendants posted images at more than three times the rate of the average user data to which we had access (Defendant average = 202 images; all user average = 62 images). The largest number of images (13,790) were posted between August 6, 2017 and August 12, 2017, the period leading up to and including the 2017 UTR.



In total, we gathered and analyzed approximately 575,000 posts and direct messages from Discord. We made note of, and incorporated into this report, messages that appeared supportive of and counter to our overall findings.

Fifth, we examined documents made available to us by the Plaintiffs’ attorneys, including depositions of Defendants and third-party witnesses, and materials produced by Defendants and third-party witnesses. We analyzed these to assess their meaning and significance in the context of other information we have reviewed and our knowledge of and expertise on the WSM.4

Sixth, we took several additional measures to address the qualitative research protocol that researchers need to consider evidence that is potentially disconfirming (i.e., that does not support one’s initial hypotheses or presuppositions). We did so in part by using the standard social science technique of excluding irrelevant evidence to avoid distorting our results. Thus, when we searched the Discord platform for posts that, for example, encouraged Discord participants to be “careful” in their posting (which might be an indication of hiding violent messages), we individually assessed the relevance of each post generated by the search and excluded those in which the term “careful” had a different or ambiguous meaning. In addition, as noted above, we deliberately sought to locate information that potentially disconfirmed our initial suppositions by employing both inductive and deductive approaches in our analysis. And we elicited and considered potentially disconfirming information by considering all information in context. This was done by comparing posts by Defendants and their co-conspirators with posts by other users of Discord and by reading through entire Channels of Discord. We also added context by using both first-level (prima facie, or surface) analysis and second-level (contextual) analysis.

First-level analysis was used when the message of a written post or image was clear, as for example, the World War II-era German Nazi image with the caption “Get In Loser We’re Invading Charlottesville!” that was posted by Robert “Azzmador” Ray. Second-level analysis was done when the meaning of a posted message or image was less clear. In these cases, we examined individual posts within the sequence of posts that preceded and followed it on Discord. This generated sequences in which we could discern whether a post was responding to an earlier post, making a statement, or initiating a new series of posts. Such sequences allowed us to more precisely ascertain the meaning of individual posts. By examining Discord data across a fifteen-month period, we were able to discern trends in the sequences of posts and to avoid any distortions in meaning that might arise if we had focused exclusively on the period immediately prior to the 2017 UTR events. Thus, we are confident that our conclusions are based on the information we reviewed rather than our preconceptions.

2. The Concept of Culture Frames This Report

Culture is a central concept in the social sciences, and the organizing principle of this report. Social scientists define culture as the shared beliefs, values, language, understandings, practices and norms of behavior that create a sense of collective meaning and identity. Culture is generally studied by examining communications and the dynamics of interactions among individuals and groups.5

Culture operates on two levels: interpretive and behavioral. On the interpretive level, cultures transmit beliefs, norms, identities, and understandings over time and across generations through songs, stories, language, and symbols. Those immersed in a common culture tend to develop shared interpretations that inform their beliefs, values, and understandings. On the behavioral level, cultures establish a collective sense of approval for certain types of behavior. This type of approval is referred to as prescriptive, expressed in norms or guidelines that encourage specific behaviors while proscriptive norms discourage other behaviors. Thus, those immersed in a common culture tend to develop shared practices and a common understanding of collective norms of behavior. For this report, we describe interpretive and behavioral outcomes of culture separately, although in actuality these operate in intersecting and mutually reinforcing ways. Adopting the interpretive values and beliefs of a culture shapes how people behave. At the same time, aligning one’s behavior to others in a group intensifies one’s commitment to collective interpretations.

By creating shared interpretations and behaviors, cultures integrate. On the interpretative level, cultural practices of food, music, religion, and stories such as those found in Greek food festivals, Italian feast day processions, and St. Patrick’s Day events not only celebrate the ethnic roots of Americans but also create shared meanings about what it means to be Greek-American, Italian-American, or Irish- American. On the behavioral level, cultural norms press toward behaviors that distinguish a group - for example, as respectable fans of a sports team, or practitioners of a particular religion - and that create a sense of solidarity and collective identity. Behaviors like wearing modest clothing, tailgating at a team’s game, and displaying religious items bind individuals together. Cultures also create a sense of belonging. Expected behaviors, values and norms are expressed in “cultural scripts” whose meaning is accessible only to insiders.6 For example, collective cultural rituals - group practices that evoke strong emotions and often a sense of transcending ordinary existence,7 such as conversion ceremonies - regulate or pattern the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of their participants in subsequent situations.8 Its integrative nature allows a culture to evolve over time as persons connected to a particular culture repeatedly influence other individuals’ ideas and decisions.

By creating shared interpretations and behaviors, cultures also divide. Cultures create boundaries between those in the group and those on the outside of the group. Such distinctions are often quite benign, as in the cultural identities that might emerge in groups of professional cooks or residents of Iowa who share a sense of themselves as a group different from, but not hostile to, those outside the group. However, some cultural distinctions are decidedly antagonistic, as when cultural identities denote insiders as superior or safe and outsiders as inferior or dangerous. Such antagonist distinctions can fuel violence and even genocide, as happened in Nazi Germany and, more recently, in the civil war in Rwanda. Cultural rituals, such as those of commemoration of historical victories or atrocities, can transmit intergroup hostility across generations and prolong or incite new conflicts, as witnessed in violent episodes of the late 20th century such as those in Northern Ireland, India, the former Yugoslavia, and Turkey.9

Although cultural norms of interpretation and behavior regulate voluntary action, they are not deterministic. People are not simply passively shaped by their culture, as evidenced by the fact that two people exposed to the exact same cultural norm may respond differently. At the same time, a strong collective consensus supportive of certain beliefs or action clearly increases the likelihood that these will occur. Culture thus produces tendencies for how individuals will think and act but does not guarantee that every individual will do so in an identical manner.

Two social science concepts explain the seeming-paradox that culture exerts a powerful force on individual interpretation and behavior at the same time that individuals within a culture respond differently. One is the concept of subculture. Although people in a nation have a general common culture as, for example, the American cultural value of individualism, there are multiple subcultures within the nation. Beliefs, norms, identities, practices, and understandings differ in the U.S. across its multiple subcultures, from very broad subcultures such as Southern, urban, evangelical, or Asian- American, to very specialized subcultures such as rugby fans, mothers of triplets, or country music singers.10 The second is the concept of the cultural tool kit.11 Although people are highly influenced by cultural and subcultural norms and expectations, how any single individual will respond is analogous to how a carpenter chooses a tool to use for a specific job. That is, people selectively draw on the cultural and subcultural tools that are available to them to make decisions about how they will think and act, as well as to justify their interpretations and behavior. Depending on their location in multiple subcultures, people carry different cultural tool kits, for example, language and traditions, that they can use in any particular situation.

B. The White Supremacist Movement Exhibits a Set of Core Characteristics

The modern WSM in the United States is often described in terms of its four historical branches: the Ku Klux Klans (KKK or the Klan), Christian Identity sects, neo-Nazis, and white power skinheads. These branches have somewhat differing ideological emphases that reflect their roots in the historical KKK and U.S. neo-Nazism, but all embrace and have defended violence as a tactic to achieve a society in which the white race is completely dominant. The KKK is the oldest, and historically the most influential, branch of the WSM with origins that date to the multiple terroristic gangs formed after the Civil War that inflicted violence on former slaves and their white allies in the post-Civil War South. The Klan is not a singular organization; in every era of its existence, multiple Klan groups vied for power and members. More recent Christian Identity (CI) sects trace their roots to nineteenth century British Israelism. CI radically reinterprets the Bible to assert that whites are the true “children of Israel” and thus God’s chosen people; that nonwhites are not fully human but were created outside the line of descent from Adam and are hence “mud people”; and that Jews are the literal descendants of Satan. A third branch, U.S. neo-Nazis, emerged from the American Nazi Party after World War II and emphasizes the racial purity ideology of Adolf Hitler. White power skinheads, the fourth branch, emerged in the U.S. during the 1980s as an outgrowth of British youth subcultures in the post-World War II era.12

There is considerable overlap and connections among the four branches of the WSM, so distinctions among them are often blurred and individuals may have simultaneous affiliations with different groups. Any single group may use symbols or rituals from across the different branches as, for instance, a KKK chapter or a neo-Nazi group that exploits both Christian symbols favored by the KKK and Nordic mythological symbols associated with Nazi beliefs. From the 1980s, there has been increasing overlap among the four branches of the WSM with the rise of umbrella groups, such as the Aryan Nations (AN) that sought to unify Klan members, white power skinheads, and others around Nazi ideologies, and intensely violent white supremacist paramilitary groups such as Atomwaffen.13 Periodic efforts to unify the WSM through umbrella groups have rarely been successful for long, so the WSM is coordinated primarily through a common culture that sustains a shared set of interpretations and norms of behavior.

1. The WSM is Characterized by a Racist Ideology Based on White Supremacism, Anti- Semitism and Hostility Toward Immigrants, Social Minorities, and Feminism

White supremacist14 culture shapes the ideological understandings of its members by circulating white supremacist ideas in the form of statements, memes, pictures, songs, humor, chants, documents, website links, historical references and other messaging modes through its communication venues and networks. Spreading across the WSM are its core racist beliefs - such as denying that the Holocaust of European Jews happened and asserting that individuals of African descent are culturally and/or genetically inferior to whites. WSM culture also provides a platform to spread and amplify racist commentaries on current issues such as crime or school integration and for discussion of strategies to achieve the WSM goal of a future in which nonwhites and others designated as enemies of the white race have been exterminated, expelled, separated from or fully subordinated to the white race.

WSM culture does not simply indoctrinate its participants with racist ideas and agendas. It builds on - and intensifies - the boundaries that all cultures create between insiders and outsiders. It shapes a sense of participants as cultural insiders who share a common knowledge and way of interpreting the world. Consistent with how group cultures work more broadly, WSM culture provides insiders with clues on how to interpret its messages and ways of speaking. Consistent with how group cultures work more broadly, these messages are only interpretable to insiders. The circulation and explanation of a multitude of a constantly evolving set of referents - words, themes, memes, images, symbols, and codes - signal and reinforce shared meanings among movement insiders.

Some referents that circulate through WSM culture are explicit, with a meaning that is clear to both movement insiders and the wider public. Swastikas, for example, are commonly used to refer to state-run genocide in Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Many referents are less explicit, to ensure that the shared meanings of WSM culture are available to insiders but not understood in the same way by outsiders. An example is the use of “14” to reference the “14 words” of David Lane, a member of a white supremacist terrorist group, The Order, that was responsible for the 1984 murder of Denver talk show host Alan Berg and a $3.6 million robbery of an armored car. Lane’s “14 Words” (“We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children”) have penetrated widely throughout the WSM culture, initially through the circulation of Lane’s writings and now by circulation through social media and other WSM communication venues.

2. The WSM is Characterized by a Radical Division Between Insiders and Outsiders

Lacking a central command structure, the WSM is organized through a deliberately created common culture that sustains a shared ideology of beliefs and goals grounded in an extreme differentiation between in-groups (whites/white supremacists) and out-groups (nonwhites/enemies) and an emphasis on violence. WSM culture is carried through multiple communication venues and networks that have varied over time and across locales. In the modern WSM, these include a vast array of white supremacist and related Internet websites and discussion forums, social media platforms, and podcasts, as well as in-person connections at white supremacist events, groups, and gatherings.

The culture of the WSM is fundamentally racist, a term used in social science to mean the general doctrine that one’s own race is superior and often accompanied by intergroup hatred and discrimination. The specific racism of WSM culture is a mix of ideologies based on white superiority, nonwhite inferiority, anti-black racism, hatred of Jews (anti-Semitism),15 animus toward immigrants and nonwhite foreigners, and hostility to sexual/gender minorities and feminism.16

WSM culture is both consistent and dynamic. Its fundamental ideologies of racism and central focus on violence have remained consistent over time. But particular aspects of WSM racist ideologies continually evolve as those connected to the culture repeatedly influence each other’s ideas through personal contacts and shared immersion in communication platforms. For example, anti-Semitism in the sectors of the WSM has evolved over time from more general stereotypes of Jews as greedy to, with the influence of Christian Identity, a sense of Jews as evil spawns of Satan.

3. The WSM is Highly Decentralized, Yet Coordinated

The WSM - now as in the past - is highly decentralized. The WSM is constituted by overlapping networks, groups, and associated individuals without an overarching organization, authority, board of directors or central command structure although some individual groups, such as KKKs or the National Socialist Movement, have leadership hierarchies. But its overall decentralization does not imply a lack of coordination. Even as the WSM is not a unified organization governed by a single centralized authority, certain individuals have particular influence within and across networks and groups. In this fashion, the WSM has intentionally adopted an organizational style in which much of its leadership emerges across individuals in different situations rather than, as in conventional organizations, being generally exercised in a top-down fashion across a hierarchy of formal positions. The deliberate creation of a WSM leadership structure that does not require official titles and in which different individuals emerge as leaders depending on circumstances makes it challenging for law enforcement to identify those who are directing violent actions by movement participants. But the movement’s lack of an overall centralized command structure does not mean that the WSM is disorganized or incapable of having influence. Decentralized movements that lack clear-cut command structures can have a powerful influence on individual-level interpretation and behavior by exerting pressure through a common cultural framework.17 Indeed, studies of social networks show that decentralized networks can shape collective action by nurturing a pool of believers oriented toward shared objectives and a common means of accomplishing these objectives.18 The organizational structure of the WSM is decentralized, but the movement’s culture is integrated with substantial agreement on core ideas and goals which allows the WSM to reinforce norms of violence and more general codes of conduct among its participants.

4. The WSM is Characterized by a High Degree of Internal Conflict

Despite broad agreement in the WSM about ideas and goals, the movement has historically been characterized by a high degree of internal friction and conflict. Internal conflicts within social movements are common, but they are especially prominent in the WSM. WSM leaders are typically self-proclaimed, often prompting internal struggles over who can rightfully claim the mantle of leadership. The decentralized organization of the WSM also provokes dissension among factions of the movement, even those with similar goals and ideologies, who may disavow each other or engage in intense struggle, and violence, against members of another group or network. Despite such cleavages, the common culture of the WSM binds leaders and members together in an understanding that all sectors will fight together in what white supremacists have long asserted is a coming race war, a vast near-apocalyptic clash between whites and nonwhites. These internal conflicts thus operate like the adage about family conflicts, that brothers may not see “eye to eye” but will still “fight side by side” when “push comes to shove.”19 In contrast, the WSM is highly suspicious of outsiders, fueled by its history of episodes of covert surveillance and infiltration by informants and undercover agents and of members who inform law enforcement about movement activities.20

5. The WSM Utilizes New Communication Technologies

The WSM was among the first social movements to take full advantage of the possibilities of the Internet as a communication and networking tool.21 New technologies of social media and Internet platforms allowed white supremacists a level of anonymity that facilitated their ability to recruit and communicate among members and interested individuals while evading detection.22 A new generation of some white supremacists and their groups have even used these communicative technologies to rebrand white supremacism as an acceptable form of politics by creating radically different strategic messaging to audiences of movement insiders, potential recruits, and the general public.

The use of computer technologies to create and sustain the WSM began as early as 1984 with the development of two electronic bulletin boards: the Liberty Bell, created by former Hitler Youth member George Dietz, and, shortly after, the Aryan Nations Liberty Net, led by decorated Vietnam War veteran Louis Beam who eventually became even more well known for his essay promoting a looser structure for the WSM and lone actor terrorism. The first message on the Aryan Nations Liberty Net underscores how Louis Beam and others in the WSM envisioned computer technology aiding their cause:

“Finally, we are all going to be linked together at one point in time… Imagine, if you will, all the great minds of the patriotic Christian movement linked together and joined into one computer. Imagine any patriot in the country being able to call up and access these minds… You are online with the Aryan Nations brain trust. It is here to serve the folk.”23

Liberty Bell and Liberty Net were followed less than a year later by white supremacist leader Tom Metzger’s White Aryan Resistance (WAR) announcement of the development of their “WAR Computer Terminal” which ran on a Commodore-64. A decade after that, in 1995, Don Black’s Stormfront became the first major white supremacist website and communication tool; by the late 1990’s, thousands of white supremacist websites could be found across the World Wide Web. While the types of technology available have certainly changed, the proclivity among white supremacists to use this technology to enhance their effectiveness is nothing new.24

6. The WSM Utilizes Double-Speak

In addition to coded words and symbols, the WSM circulates and relies upon an insider mode of communicating that we term “double-speak” - language intended to deceive and to convey multiple meanings. Double-speak is a method of conveying white supremacist beliefs and intentions to those within the WSM culture while sending an innocuous meaning to outsiders. It is a communication style that relies on deception and often the use of euphemistic words designed to sidestep a more candid mention of a harsh or distasteful reality. It relies on the audience’s ability to interpret the meaning of a message in multiple ways, drawing on both their cognitive abilities and the understandings that are specific to the culture and subcultures in which they are embedded.25

Double-speak is a strategy intended to simultaneously reveal and conceal meaning embedded in words and to create plausible deniability for ideas or actions that would attract legal or social sanctions. An example is the circulation of images that refer to pre-Christian Nordic religions, such as Thor’s hammer, that are intended to signal an innocuous reference to ancient spiritual traditions to outsiders. Cultural insiders, however, will recognize such images as associated with sectors of white supremacism that adopt traditions of ancient Aryan spirituality.26 Another example is Pepe, an anthropomorphic green frog meme. Within modern WSM culture, there is considerable evidence from messages exchanged on white supremacist communication forums that the image of Pepe is exploited repeatedly to signify the ideas of racism and anti-Semitism; outside of white supremacism, Pepe lacks those connotations.


https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/pepe-the-frog

It was in Answer to Job that the theology first articulated in Liber Novus -- the themes of the progressive incarnation of the God, the necessity for "Christification," and the replacement of the one-sided Christian God image with one that encompassed evil within it -- found its definitive expression and elaboration. In Jung's fantasies during World War I, a new God had been born in his soul, the God who is the son of the frogs, the son of the earth: Abraxas.

Abraxas is the God who is difficult to grasp. His power is greatest, because man does not see it. From the sun he draws the summum bonum; from the devil the infinum malum; but from Abraxas LIFE, altogether indefinite, the mother of good and evil.

Jung saw this figure as representing the uniting of the Christian God with Satan, and hence as depicting a transformation of the Western God-image:

I understood that the new God would be in the relative. If the God is absolute beauty and goodness, how should he encompass the fullness of life, which is beautiful and hateful, good and evil, laughable and serious, human and inhuman? How can man live in the womb of the God if the Godhead himself attends only to one-half of him?

Answer to Job is faithful to the force of Jung's theophany, now presented in the form of psychotheological and historical argument. On November 25, 1953, Jung wrote to Richard Hull that "the clouds of dust it has raised at times nearly suffocated me!" [8] To this day, the controversies around this work have not been stilled.

-- Answer to Job, by C.G. Jung

The “Love Your Race” campaign initiated in the early 2000’s by the neo-Nazi group, the National Alliance, is another example of double-speak. To its affiliates and members - as well as to potential recruits and enemies - “Love Your Race” was meant to be understood as a call for whites to stand up for their race against supposed threats by nonwhites. To outsiders, it was meant to signal simply love of one’s race, a common WSM defense against charges of racism.27



The image of the vulnerable white woman frequently appeared on “Love Your Race” campaign materials.28

The WSM strategy of double-speak goes beyond the use of expressions or symbols with multiple meanings. It operates on a broader level to create deception about the ideological and strategic direction of WSM groups and networks. An example is the recent WSM effort at rebranding that draws on its culture of double-speak in which thinly-veiled messages are meant to be read differently by separate audiences. Rebranding emerged in the current generation of white supremacists who built from the historical branches of the U.S. WSM to create their own organizations and networks that infused the ideologies of earlier white supremacism with new emphases. Although presenting themselves to outsiders as a new political movement, in our opinion, they are simply a contemporary version of a longstanding history of white supremacism in this country. Thus, we assess their organizational names, such as Identity Evropa (IE, now known as the American Identity Movement) and Patriot Front, as an organizational version of double-speak in which organizations are intentionally and strategically branded to appear to outsiders as fundamentally different from traditional white supremacist organizations to reduce stigma and appeal to mainstream populations. This strategy is evident in groups like IE that have sought to recruit college students with images of members in business suits and in the National Socialist Movement (NSM)’s decision to ban the public display of swastikas.29 Other white supremacist groups have also adopted this strategy by using relatively innocuous labels such as “patriot,” “ethno-nationalist,” and “alt-right” to blur the difference between white supremacism and mainstream conservative beliefs or ethnic pride to outsiders.30 To insiders, these groups display more traditional white supremacism.

In our opinion, the WSM strategy of rebranding has been a cosmetic overhaul - a double-speak - not an actual new approach to racial politics or a lessening in the extent of their racial extremism. Rebranding attempted to conceal from outsiders the WSM’s continuing promotion - largely in cultural arenas and events restricted to insiders - of the racial and religious hatred associated with earlier white supremacist groups. It tried to hide these groups’ continuing association with persons, symbols, and rituals of neo-Nazism and the KKK.31 And it helped to conceal the WSM’s advocacy of violence.

7. The WSM Focuses on Optics and Utilizes Front-Stage and Back-Stage Behavior

The WSM has historically emphasized the distinction between what behavior and messages should be displayed in public and what should be displayed in private. The social theorist Erving Goffman describes this as the distinction between “front-stage” and “back-stage” behavior: people present themselves differently when they are seeking to make an impression on others than they do in private.32

In our opinion, maintaining the separation between the front-stage and the back-stage is an essential feature of how the WSM works. White supremacist groups and platforms consistently operate to keep internal discussions and operations secret, restricted to back-stage places and to insiders and heavily guarded from outsiders. At the same time, they cultivate particular images to project to the public by monitoring the actions and messages that appear in front stage places that include outsiders. In recent years, discussions within the WSM have described its strategy of projecting a nonviolent and mainstream public image as “optics.” Robert Bowers, who contributed anti-Semitic posts on Gab, a social media platform frequented by white supremacists, added a final post before he allegedly entered a Pittsburgh synagogue to massacre 11 worshippers: “Screw your optics, I’m going in.”33

The WSM has implemented an optics strategy that pushes adherents to infiltrate mainstream society by selectively limiting overt displays of their allegiance to white supremacism. This strategy is parallel to the organizational rebranding strategy described above but, consistent with how group cultures work, is promoted and adopted by individuals. Starting in the 1990s, white supremacists were taught to live double lives: cover their racist tattoos, grow out their hair to avoid being identified as racist “skinheads,” hide extremist insignia, and outwardly project an image of non-extremism, especially to evade detection by law enforcement.34 WSM leaders promoted this approach as a means for white supremacists to secure positions of influence across a broad spectrum of society. In particular, the FBI has watched white supremacists quietly maintain an active presence in police departments and other law enforcement and military agencies. Infiltrating these institutions is strategic for the WSM because they provide tactical and weapons training that is useful in the violent furtherance of white supremacy. Other white supremacists nurture their hatred in seemingly benign, everyday settings such as family homes and Bible study groups where they create “free spaces” through music concerts, parties, outdoor events, and residential communities,35 and through the use of on-line and social media platforms in which they can share and develop their ideas among like-minded persons.36 For instance, in 2004, the neo-Nazi music label Panzerfaust (German Bazooka) attempted to distribute 100,000 CDs with hate-based music to teenagers, an effort they dubbed “Project Schoolyard USA.”37

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Part 2 of 5

8. The WSM is Characterized by the Use of Violence

Violence has been a core feature of the WSM across its history, targeted at Jews, people of color, LGBTQ persons, employees of the federal government, police officers, those suspected of being informants or white “race traitors,”38 and members of vulnerable groups such as homeless persons. Violence is also integral to the internal life of some sectors of the WSM in which group bonds are formed in violent initiation rites and violent infighting among members. White supremacist culture is distinct from many other cultures in the omnipresence of violence associated with its ideologies, rituals, and messages.

The scale of violence enacted by white supremacists in the U.S. over the past century and a half is enormous. The loose confederation of paramilitary organizations that constituted the first KKK executed a vast terroristic guerilla war across the southern states between 1866 and the 1870s and was responsible for thousands of targeted murders of political opponents.39 To note one example, in the months leading up to the 1868 presidential election, the white supremacist groups of the KKK assassinated nearly 2,000 potential Republican voters in Kansas and Georgia and murdered 1,000 individuals associated with Reconstruction efforts to enfranchise freed blacks in Louisiana.40 Later Klans of the 1950s and 1960s fought against civil rights laws through vicious campaigns of bombing and assassinations, including plotting the infamous murder of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi.41 The contemporary WSM has continued this legacy of violence. Individuals tied to white supremacist groups and networks have been responsible for acts of violence and terrorism that range from street assaults on African Americans to coordinated violent actions on Vietnamese fishermen, Jewish and Muslim places of worship, and acts of domestic terrorism including the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and mass shootings in Charleston, Pittsburgh, Poway, El Paso, and other locations. Each era of the WSM has looked different in terms of its groups, leaders, styles, and tactics, but each has utilized violence to fight for a white supremacist society.

The WSM has combined violence with efforts to mainstream as overlapping strategies since the early twentieth century. In the 1920s, for example, KKK groups adopted a mainstreaming strategy by running candidates for electoral office in multiple states and cities and asserting that they were no more than a club for white people; at the same time, they adopted violent strategies to terrorize and expel Jews, Catholics, and African Americans from their communities and jobs.42 In the 1950s and 1960s, Klans and White Citizen Councils in southern states sought to simultaneously project an image of themselves as stalwart white citizens even as they organized violence against those who challenged white dominance and racial segregation.43 A more recent example of this approach is the repeated efforts of David Duke, a major figure in the Klan and neo-Nazi circles and a former Louisiana State Representative, to present himself as a mainstream advocate of white rights despite his overt racist and anti-Semitic views. Duke was allegedly involved in the plot by white supremacist and webmaster of the racist and anti-Semitic Internet forum Stormfront Don Black to take over the Caribbean island of Dominica to establish a beachhead for white supremacists.44

Toronto Paper Traces Details of Plot Against Dominica
by Andrew H. Malcolm
Special To the New York Times
May 17, 1981

A Toronto newspaper, exploring the recent attempt by Americans to overthrow the Government of the Caribbean island of Dominica, has uncovered a tale of mercenary intrigue, alleged underworld financial backing and some unusual journalistic practices by a Toronto radio station.

According to copyrighted stories in The Globe and Mail this week, the planned invasion of the tiny nation by American and Canadian mercenaries and members of the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups was aided by $10,000 in donations from an unidentified underworld leader who wanted to use the island as a base for international fraud.

The invasion threat ended April 27 when United States Federal agents, operating on tips from a charter boat owner and the Ontario provincial police, arrested two Canadians and eight Americans near New Orleans as they prepared to set sail for the Caribbean.

According to The Globe's articles, which were written by Peter Moon, an investigative reporter, details of the operation had been known for months by the Toronto radio station CFTR, which had taped interviews with participants and planned to be on the island for the invasion.

Defends Not Alerting Police

The articles quoted Robert Halliday, CFTR's news director, as saying, ''If we'd gone to the police, we'd have had to work alongside them, and then we wouldn't have had the story.'' Mr. Halliday said the station had planned to alert Dominica officials after the mercenaries set sail.

Mr. Halliday and station officials, while not denying the articles' allegations, issued a statement citing unspecified ''serious inaccuracies and internal contradictions in the Globe story'' and promising a ''full and substantive statement'' after meeting with advisers.

In the House of Commons in Ottawa yesterday Communications Minister Francis Fox said his department was investigating the matter and would be discussing it with the Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates broadcasters, and the Association of Broadcasters, an industry group.

Ontario authorities were also investigating for possible charges of conspiracy to violate the laws of another country. The articles in The Globe, Canada's most respected daily, gave this outline of the plot: Code-named Operation Red Dog, the invasion was designed to oust Prime Minister Eugenia Charles and to install Patrick R. John, a former Prime Minister now jailed in Dominica. He would in turn have named mercenaries and their backers to important posts. There were plans for casinos, shady banking deals and other projects.

Boat Owner Alerts Agents

But unknown to the plotters, Gordon Sivell, the CFTR reporter, had discussed the matter with a friend in the Ontario police, who passed the word to superiors and American investigators. And the boat owner, Michael Howell, had alerted agents of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tax and Firearms that he had been retained by men who said they worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The authorities installed an agent on Mr. Howell's ship and recorded meetings by the plotters. Dominica was alerted through the State Department.

On the night of April 27 the mercenaries met at a Louisiana marina with undercover Federal agents, who convinced them to put their semiautomatic assault rifles, shotguns and explosives in one truck while they rode in another.

Instead of going to the boat, however, the mercenaries were driven to an open area where they emerged from the vehicle into the glare of floodlights and 100 Federal and local lawmen.

a. The WSM Promotes Three Key Ideas That Trigger Racial Violence

All branches of the modern WSM embrace and defend violence as a tactic to achieve various types of movement goals, from settling internal movement disputes to furthering the agenda of white supremacism. In WSM culture, violence is often framed as necessary self-defense to save white womanhood, the white race, or the white nation or, in the case of CI, to save their particular, racist form of Christianity. The WSM has a broad conception of who it regards as aggressors against whom they need to practice self-defense, from what adherents to CI term “mud people” (nonwhites) and satanic Jews, to a more general enemy category that includes all those poised to destroy the white race by failing to support the white supremacist agenda of racial hatred and violence.

Core to the WSM’s culture of violence are a set of key ideas about both the superiority of the white race and the inferiority of all those they deem as nonwhite, including Jews, who are considered more powerful but still racially inferior to white people. Within the WSM, there is some variation in whether white racial superiority is due to the dominance of white biological/genetic factors or the preeminence of white culture compared to those of other racial groups. But there is a deep emphasis on the rightful dominance of whites in society: whites are viewed as the appropriate rulers of societies because of the superior characteristics of their race.45 Moreover, the WSM declares white rule as imperative because rule by nonwhites will lead to social collapse, citing as evidence incidents from distant and recent history, such as the purported chaos of Reconstruction-era politics in the post-Civil War southern states when former slaves exerted political influence, or the supposed atrocities committed against white farmers in southern African states after the shift to black majority rule. In contrast, the WSM glorifies periods of strong white rule, such as Hitler’s command of Germany and its conquered territories.

Although the WSM holds that whites are inherently superior to nonwhites, it does not trust all whites to act on behalf of their race. In particular, those that the WSM terms white “race traitors” - whites who have fallen victim to anti-white “brainwashing” and support multicultural agendas that ultimately lead to “white genocide” - need to be liberated from their mistaken ideas by offering the WSM’s special insight into racial conditions. In some or even many cases, intellectual liberation is not possible and white “race traitors” are warned that they will also be dealt with through the use of violence. The WSM asserts that a “mass cleansing” may be necessary at some point, a scenario widely termed the “Day of the Rope” after a passage in The Turner Diaries, one of the most cited works in the WSM, in which a large number of white race traitors are murdered to establish a society in which the majority of whites adhere to the movement’s beliefs and goals.

In our opinion, three key ideas in WSM culture function as triggers and, in their minds, justifications, of violence: the white race is threatened; Jews, nonwhites, and others are the source of these threats; and the danger to the white race is imminent.

i. The White Race is Threatened

The WSM frames issues provocatively to command attention, describing the white population of the nation or even the entire world as facing catastrophe. The nature of the purported catastrophic crises varies, from economic or environmental collapse, spiking crime rates, control of the federal government by nonwhites, the rise of multiculturalism, immigrant “invasion,” and the prospect of a minority-majority population (“white race suicide”) to a collapse of conventional moral standards. But, in every case, whites are said to face the very real possibility of a future in which the security and favorable positions of their ancestors will be replaced by lives of desperation, fear, and powerlessness.

In the decentralized WSM culture of violence, publications, physical gatherings, private communications, speeches, internet sites, white power music and literature, and social media postings cumulatively build a pool of believers determined to act in accord with the ideology and tactics of white supremacism. Portrayals of the white race as endangered are intended to stimulate a shared objective: a sense of personal responsibility and efficacy to defend the white race from extinction.46

The Turner Diaries is an example of how threats to the white race are presented. The novel depicts a future United States in which the price of gasoline spikes and leads to a collapse in the standard of living and gangs of nonwhites invade the homes of white families to arrest the occupants and seize their firearms. Camp of the Saints, a novel by the French author Jean Raspail that was translated into English in 1975, is another popular work in the WSM with its apocalyptic description of a flood of starving nonwhite monsters who invade the West to violently steal the property and rights of whites; this novel also points to what it posits as the threat of higher birth rates among nonwhites, an early rendering of what modern white supremacists decry as the “replacement” of the white population by nonwhites.47 Such provocative messages use the technique of “moral shock,” a particularly effective strategy for presenting highly inflammatory information to evoke emotional reactions of outrage, anger, frustration, and indignation and encourage action in response.48 Crises are depicted in racial terms, with whites as innocent victims on the brink of destruction at the hands of hostile nonwhites who foster and will benefit from social chaos and destruction.

Gosar defends violent AOC anime video he says depicts ‘battle for soul of America’: Far-right congressman claims video is a ‘symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy’ and not a ‘targeted attack’
by Alex Woodward
Independent.co.uk
Wednesday 10 November 2021 00:21

US Rep Paul Gosar has defended posting a controversial video clip on his congressional Twitter account depicting the Republican congressman in an anime attacking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe Biden.

He claims the video “depicts the fight taking place next week” inside the House of Representatives over the “soul of America” as lawmakers prepare to vote on the president’s domestic agenda.

The video – flagged by Twitter for violating the platform’s rules about hateful conduct – “was not meant to depict any harm or violence against anyone portrayed in the anime,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “This video is truly a symbolic portrayal of a fight over immigration policy.”

Mr Gosar claims the bill will provide “amnesty for millions of illegal aliens already in our country.” The bill proposes work authorisation for millions of undocumented people who have lived in the US for more than a decade.



In the 90-second clip, the face of Ms Ocasio-Cortez is superimposed over a monster’s, while the anime versions of Mr Gosar and fellow far-right House lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert deliver a fatal blow to the monster’s head as blood pours out.

Mr Gosar has repeatedly borrowed from the aesthetic palette and memes from extremist far-right internet message boards where he is often portrayed as a nationalist hero promoting Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda.

“This dude is a just a collection of wet toothpicks anyway,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said in response to the clip, which has collected millions of views. “White supremacy is for extremely fragile people [and] sad men like him, whose self concept relies on the myth that he was born superior because deep down he knows he couldn’t open a pickle jar or read a whole book by himself.”

Earlier on Tuesday, he posted another meme defending the video clip.

The congressman, who incorrectly called his colleague “Congresswoman Cortez” three times in his statement, said her image in the edited clip from the anime Attack on Titan “represents the Democrats’ open border amnesty agenda included in the Build Back Better Plan.”

“Our country is suffering from the plague of illegal immigration,” he said. “The cartoon depicts the symbolic nature of a battle between lawful and unlawful policies and in no way intended to be a targeted attack ... It is a symbolic cartoon. It is not real life. Congressman Gosar cannot fly. The hero of the cartoon goes after the monster, the policy monster of open borders.”


"A flood of starving nonwhite monsters"

ii. Jews, Nonwhites, “Commies,” and Other Enemies Threaten the White Race

The WSM asserts that the current U.S. society is anti-white.49 As the WSM is highly conspiratorial, there is a strong element of fantastical thinking in its description of the forces that are said to be arrayed against the white race, which can include general references to an anti-white New World Order and Jewish conspiracies to bring immigrants to the U.S. in numbers sufficient to overwhelm the native-born white population. But the WSM also spends substantial effort in identifying what it regards as the concrete embodiments of anti-white forces. From the WSM’s perspective, these forces are identified in explicitly racial and hierarchical terms, drawing upon the underlying principle of the WSM that the white race is superior to nonwhite races and, therefore, has the right to govern societies.

Nonwhites - both those who are recent immigrants from the countries of Central and South America, Africa, and, to a lesser extent, Asia as well as long-time citizens - are identified as a major threat, as they are said to be ushering in “white genocide.” Nonwhite immigrants are depicted as destroying the communities of vulnerable white Americans through criminal actions (a claim often accompanied by inaccurate statistics) and having high birth rates and rates of intermarriage with whites that the WSM warns will ensure the demographic extinction of the white race.50

Jews are also commonly identified by the WSM as a major source of threat to the white race. The WSM considers Jews both nonwhite and fundamentally anti-white. According to the WSM movement, a small Jewish elite, supported by the Jewish population more broadly, is literally orchestrating plans for a genocide of the white race which they are able to accomplish because of their supposed dominance of the world’s leading economic, legal, cultural, and political positions as well the U.S. federal government. The WSM regards Jews as part of an international cabal that seeks the annihilation of whites to secure their power, and they view all Jews as likely to be part of this anti-white conspiracy. Thus, in its constant effort to identify specific Jewish people and groups who are threatening the white race, the WSM labels journalists and others who they regard as likely to be Jews as dangerous to the future of the white race. Segments of the WSM promote the idea that a small cabal of Jews is working in concert with international entities like the United Nations to usurp all forms of national sovereignty. In this scenario, the WSM believes that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s camps for the victims of natural disasters will eventually be turned into concentration camps where whites will be housed to ensure the eradication of the white race.51

So-called communists or “commies” - a very loose term in the WSM that generally includes multiculturalists, leftists, Jews, and their allies in government and society - are also identified by the WSM as a threat to the white race because of their efforts to increase social equality, including ending racial disparities. Antifa, a left-oriented anarchist network that has reportedly been involved in confrontational clashes with WSM participants, is used as an example of communist activism on behalf of anti-white agendas.52

As the House is returning to session to vote by state delegation, there is a massive and violent Antifa demonstration in D.C. In the confusion, a Republican member from an at-large delegation is attacked and sent to the hospital with life-threatening wounds. With only 25 state delegations in control, it looks like the Speaker might become temporary President on January 20 per the Succession Act pending the elevation of the Vice President or unless the House comes to agreement. The critically injured Member of Congress, however, understanding what is at stake, demands to be transported to the House for the state delegation vote and arrives in a heavily guarded convoy. With IVs and blood transfusions being administered, the Member from (AK, MT, ND, SD, or WY) casts the deciding vote, giving Trump 26 state delegations and the needed majority....

Law enforcement in major cities coordinate with the FBI and other federal agencies to identify leaders and agitators within the groups associated with BLM, Antifa, Boogaloo, and NFAC. Operation Spearfish commences with over one thousand arrest warrants issued using federal and state statutes from RICO to disorderly conduct with coordinated pre-dawn warrant executions nationwide. The decision to obtain arrest warrants even for the barest minimum of probable cause on the lowest of charges is meant to remove the players from the picture, at least temporarily. Social media sources and other intelligence sources were used to find any instances of incitement to violence, threats, or other criminal activity that met federal or local criminal statutes and act on them....

Several of the warrant services resulted in officer-involved shootings. Seattle, Chicago, and New York report shootings during at least some of their warrant services, with one officer injured in Seattle and at least three suspects dead in various locations. None of the agencies is releasing information on the circumstances or identities of the officers or suspects involved, citing the ongoing investigation. The majority of the warrants are executed in middle to upper class neighborhoods where the Antifa and BLM activists/leadership tend to reside, prompting concern with the volume of tactical police actions in areas unaccustomed to such activities....

The five largest police departments along with Homeland Security officials and FBI officials have entered into meetings with Google, Facebook, and Twitter to discuss tracking phones and electronic communication devices that have been traveling together to various cities belonging to know members of Antifa, BLM, and other known agitator groups on both the left and right. They are also discussing efforts to identify and remove foreign and domestic disinformation and bots from those platforms and methods of mining information not available through open source information....

Police along major corridors entering Michigan, Texas, and Florida, are notified to stop and detain any suspicious caravans or large transport vehicles and to identify passengers for verification in the state fusion centers as members of Antifa and BLM are expected to descend on the capitol buildings in those states. Notice is issued by Homeland Security and their assistance is offered in identifying suspects. Coordination with social media platforms commences and real-time tracking of several agitator groups results in multiple stops and arrests.

The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team deploys at multiple known Antifa hideouts to execute search warrants for weapons in and around Washington DC in anticipation of impending riots. Multiple locations are hit at the same time, with three reporting shots fired. Seven Antifa members are killed by gunfire, no injuries to the agents are reported....

After last night’s events, Antifa livestreams are being shut down.

-- 79 Days to Inauguration Taskforce Report: A Project of the Claremont Institute and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, by Claremont Institute and Texas Public Policy Foundation, November 4, 2020

iii. The Destruction of the White Race is Imminent

Not only does the WSM describe entire social groups - nonwhites, Jews, “commies,” others - as threats to the white race, but it describes the threat posed by these groups in fear-inducing terms, as imminent and urgent. In WSM messages such as “white genocide,” whites are described as being in immediate mortal danger from their racial enemies. Another example is the frequent WSM messaging about a “race war” - variously described as imminent or already underway in the United States - that pits whites against nonwhites in a battle to the death of one group. The prediction of a race war is based on a white supremacist belief that the “natural order” of society positions racial groups against each other in a competition over scarce resources and power. The ultimate culmination of this racial competition is a large-scale, full-blown war between whites and nonwhites, perhaps secretly directed by an elite cabal of Jews to destroy the white race.

The idea of a “race war” is widespread in WSM culture and propaganda in the form of ideological tracts, literature, and music. The Turner Diaries depicts an eventual race war and influenced countless acts of violence including the Oklahoma City bombing and the crime spree of the underground terror cell The Order. The idea of a race war was also popularized by Ben Klassen’s book RaHoWa: The Planet is Our Ours. Klassen, a millionaire inventor who founded the white supremacist pseudo-religion The Church of the Creator, advocated a specific version of the race war that he dubbed Racial Holy War (RaHoWa). The idea of a race war also figures prominently in white supremacist culture through white power music, with both band names and song lyrics referencing a future race war or suggesting that a low-level race war is already underway. In either case, the WSM suggests, there is such strong animosity and differing interests among unique racial groups that a full-scale race war is simply awaiting an appropriate catalyst. Holding public confrontational rallies is understood within the WSM as providing an opportunity to provoke (or “trigger”) their racial enemies in the hope of igniting a large-scale racial conflict and the societal chaos that will spread across the U.S. to the advantage of white supremacists who are positioned to seize control.53 This is a strategy that scholars now describe as “accelerating.”54

This isn’t a serious wargame or a policy study so much as a bowdlerized [(of a text or account) having had material considered improper or offensive removed. "A bowdlerized version of the story"] retelling of The Turner Diaries.

-- The Trump Coup: Notes on an Authoritarian Conspiracy: Inside the Claremont Institute’s “79 Days to Inauguration” Report. Claremont’s post-election war game provides a window into the group’s ambitions, by Christian Vanderbrouk

As the House is returning to session to vote by state delegation, there is a massive and violent Antifa demonstration in D.C. In the confusion, a Republican member from an at-large delegation is attacked and sent to the hospital with life-threatening wounds. With only 25 state delegations in control, it looks like the Speaker might become temporary President on January 20 per the Succession Act pending the elevation of the Vice President or unless the House comes to agreement. The critically injured Member of Congress, however, understanding what is at stake, demands to be transported to the House for the state delegation vote and arrives in a heavily guarded convoy. With IVs and blood transfusions being administered, the Member from (AK, MT, ND, SD, or WY) casts the deciding vote, giving Trump 26 state delegations and the needed majority....

State and local public safety authorities should be prepared for destructive urban unrest as well as communications difficulty due to interference with or overload of systems, such as the 9-1-1 system. Potential targets include ballot counting facilities, government buildings, especially state capitols and city halls, as well as television and radio studios. At the same time, prudent steps are likely to be spun as preparations for a military takeover or coup and may result in negative consequences either way....

Law enforcement begins riot control functions in all major cities. The shooting of 14 police officers results in the deployment of all available armored personnel carriers in cities that have them, including Department of Defense MRAP’s obtained through the 1033 program...Portland police request Mayor Wheeler lift the ban on chemical agents in dealing with the rioters.

Police in these cities recede to a defensive posture around their precincts, it is unsafe to maneuver police vehicles down the streets and responding to calls for service, even emergency calls, is suspended. Fire departments are unable to approach buildings on fire without police escorts, which are not happening....All police departments are notified by the FBI and ATF of the possible car bombing in Philadelphia and begin to deploy concrete barricades and establish perimeters around precincts....

Mayor Lightfoot in Chicago restricts access to the downtown area in a repeat of this summer’s looting response, prompting rioting to spread out into residential areas....

Federal law enforcement made up of Secret Service, Homeland Security, ICE, Capitol Police, and others mass around the White House in anticipation of an announced BLM protest. They are not wearing identifying patches or insignia and are arriving in armored personnel carriers. A “no-go” zone is established far from the White House gates, and all traffic along streets near the White House is diverted....

Law enforcement in major cities coordinate with the FBI and other federal agencies to identify leaders and agitators within the groups associated with BLM, Antifa, Boogaloo, and NFAC. Operation Spearfish commences with over one thousand arrest warrants issued using federal and state statutes from RICO to disorderly conduct with coordinated pre-dawn warrant executions nationwide. The decision to obtain arrest warrants even for the barest minimum of probable cause on the lowest of charges is meant to remove the players from the picture, at least temporarily. Social media sources and other intelligence sources were used to find any instances of incitement to violence, threats, or other criminal activity that met federal or local criminal statutes and act on them....

Several groups affiliated with the Three Percenters and Oath Keepers have openly offered to assist law enforcement in putting down the violence via social media, touting significant current and retired law enforcement and military membership.

Several of the warrant services resulted in officer-involved shootings. Seattle, Chicago, and New York report shootings during at least some of their warrant services, with one officer injured in Seattle and at least three suspects dead in various locations....

Operation Spearfish continues as new players or current players promise revenge or seek “justice” through social media platforms and agencies prepare for a second round of warrant executions....

Attempts to burn down a Portland Police Precinct occur when six Black Bloc members attempt to throw simultaneous Molotov Cocktails at the building after an unknown gunman shot the front windows out hours earlier. One of the incendiary devices hit an exterior wall and covered an officer in flames, she suffered third degree burns on her face and neck. A Portland Police SWAT sniper conducting overwatch shot and killed one of the arsonists as he drew his arm back to throw his device (captured on police surveillance video and released immediately: warning graphic). The Molotov Cocktail exploded when he dropped the bottle and covered several rioters in flames, three injured severely and one dead at the scene....

911 service remains unavailable...

There are rumors that several sheriffs in conservative counties throughout the country are hinting that they may deputize regular citizens into posses should the lawlessness come to their counties. Social media is ablaze with volunteers from Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and Oath Keepers and other Posse Comitatus groups to form posses....

A team of Chicago police officers assigned to protect Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s residential block went home sick, driving past the protestors waiting behind barricades who cheered and promptly knocked over the barricades to begin marching down the street, camping on her front lawn and blocking the roadway with signs demanding she defund the Chicago PD. The mayor was not home at the time, and Chief Brown explains in a heated phone call with her that he does not have any more officers to deploy to her block, that there has been a record number of injuries and sick callouts in the past two days....

[T]he Department of Justice releases a statement:

“Any state, county, or city official obstructing the police operations within their jurisdiction aimed at protecting the safety and rights of the citizens of their communities, should be prepared to feel the full weight of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division come down upon them. The police are here to enforce laws, protect rights, and preserve the police. Telling them to put down their guns or calling them murderers (denying the officers of due process) directly interferes with their ability to do that by destroying the relationship they have with their communities.”

Police officers in Portland call in sick in record numbers. There are reports that more than ten officers have walked off the job, quitting with no notice. A leaked audio recording claiming to be the voice of Chief Chuck Lovell at a staff meeting is heard saying “I am not going to work one day for that nut, Innanore. I’m out of here as soon as she swears in.”...

[T]the current mayor and mayor-elect are aiding what amounts to terrorist activity by allowing the city hall to be overtaken and prohibiting the police from enforcing laws in a “no-go zone”...

The federal officers, under no restrictions imposed by the mayor, will assist Portland Police in a massive push into area and deploy chemical munitions where needed. Nearly three hundred federal officers from various agencies arrive in Portland. The decision is made that the mayor and mayor-elect will not be consulted prior to the retaking, and that any overt action or orders inhibiting the enforcement of state or federal laws by the mayor or other politicians will be considered obstruction. The DOJ would be consulted on prosecution only after the arrests were made, all parties agreeing that there would be probable cause for such arrests. The plan is to begin a fast-moving retaking of the building and the downtown area moving from three sides, leaving one route for those complying with the order to disperse a route to do so. Hundreds of arrests are expected....

Chicago police have a massive sick callout, nearly one third of all officers call in sick for their shift, some districts experiencing up to 75% of their patrol shift calling in sick. Reports from CPD Intelligence Unit indicate that the gangs intend to use the lack of policing to settle scores and gain new area. The Gangster Disciples are rumored to be planning the complete annihilation of two smaller gangs, but it is unclear which gangs these would be or if it would simply be a consolidation of power rather than warfare. Confidential informants are providing conflicting information and CPD is suspicious that the gangs are supplying disinformation through compromised informants. Chief David Brown makes a second, public request that Mayor Lightfoot request the assistance of the National Guard. Mayor Lightfoot does not respond publicly but criticizes the CPD union president and Chief Brown in a social media post showing a broken front window on her house and spray paint on her front door saying “DEFUND.”...

Former Sheriff Clark of Milwaukee appears on Fox News to give an interview. When asked about what he sees happening and what he predicts will happen, his response goes viral:

“The police are here to protect people and preserve the peace. They will do that. Politicians might get in the way for a while like they’re doing right now, but at some point, cops will remember their oath and will take back their communities for the good, law abiding people in those communities. You won’t want to be on the other side of that once they have had enough of this nonsense.”...

The National Fraternal Order of Police issues a statement on former Vice President Joe Biden’s comments yesterday:

“While it is the role of this nation’s fine men and women of law enforcement to protect the rights of all citizens, including the First Amendment right to peacefully protest, what we have seen since last summer has anything but peaceful. While one party and one candidate has chosen to ignore the violence and flames, our membership has not had the luxury of such ignorance. Members of the media have promoted slanderous lies about our police officers, fanning the flames in our cities that they obediently ignore on behalf of the left.

Our members have been maligned, attacked, accused of being racists, and in some cases murdered for the mere fact that they wear a badge. The irresponsible call to arms that former Vice President Joe Biden made yesterday to ‘let their voices be heard’ is not at all tempered by his suggestion to ‘continue to peacefully protest.’ There hasn’t been a protest that was not accompanied by rioting since all of this began last spring, and now he is openly encouraging it. We call on President Trump to assist our men and women in blue in putting an end to the violence and anarchy and to restore law and order.”

The five largest police departments along with Homeland Security officials and FBI officials have entered into meetings with Google, Facebook, and Twitter to discuss tracking phones and electronic communication devices that have been traveling together to various cities belonging to know members of Antifa, BLM, and other known agitator groups on both the left and right. They are also discussing efforts to identify and remove foreign and domestic disinformation and bots from those platforms and methods of mining information not available through open source information.

DC Capitol Police secure the Capitol Building and place concrete barriers around the building in response to the attempted assassination of the Wyoming Congressman and his aide. Additional ADS systems are place near the Capitol Building in anticipation of chaos after the vote. A truckload of pepper spray canisters and CS gas are brought to the building and distributed to both perimeter and interior agents. Overwatch snipers are placed around the upper perimeter of the building to control the grounds and monitor the crowds. There is a massive gathering of federal law enforcement, and the arrival of military MRAP vehicles transporting federal agencies across multiple departments.

State Police in Texas and Florida issue warnings via Facebook and Twitter to BLM or any other groups intending to occupy the state capitol buildings in their respective states in response to intelligence that BLM is intending a coordinated effort at occupying Texas, Florida, and Michigan state houses as a result of their electoral situations. Michigan state police begin preparing to respond to any takeover attempt but issue no warning and will not comment on the BLM intelligence data as a result of their governor’s public views in support of the movement.

State police in Texas take the rare step of closing the capitol building to the public and placing barriers around the capitol grounds, erecting warning signs that the grounds and building are closed to the public, and that trespassers will be arrested. Troopers from various districts arrive at the capitol with riot gear. A sergeant is heard yelling to the front line of officers, “No one comes through, no one!”

Police along major corridors entering Michigan, Texas, and Florida, are notified to stop and detain any suspicious caravans or large transport vehicles and to identify passengers for verification in the state fusion centers as members of Antifa and BLM are expected to descend on the capitol buildings in those states. Notice is issued by Homeland Security and their assistance is offered in identifying suspects. Coordination with social media platforms commences and real-time tracking of several agitator groups results in multiple stops and arrests.

The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team deploys at multiple known Antifa hideouts to execute search warrants for weapons in and around Washington DC in anticipation of impending riots. Multiple locations are hit at the same time, with three reporting shots fired. Seven Antifa members are killed by gunfire, no injuries to the agents are reported.

-- 79 Days to Inauguration Taskforce Report: A Project of the Claremont Institute and the Texas Public Policy Foundation, by Claremont Institute and Texas Public Policy Foundation, November 4, 2020

Public rallies that evoke racial skirmishes, or chants that refer to the feared forcible “replacement” of the white race, foreshadow the larger and inevitable race war that the WSM movement has been predicting and provoking.55

These are only a few examples of the many imminent threats to whites that circulate in white supremacist culture. Each of the purported threats, in varying degrees, evokes a sense of mortality that can generate acts of violence in response to that feeling. The cumulative effect of describing urgent, extreme threats to the existence of the white race and identifying nonwhites, Jews, communists and others as culprits in the impending demise of the white race offers a rationale for how violent action on behalf of white supremacist goals can seem to those immersed in WSM culture as defensive, reasonable, and required. Messages of severe, imminent threat can erode the cognitive and emotional controls that generally inhibit people from acts of violence so that violence appears to be a rational, responsible, and effective strategic action of self-protection against an anonymous mass of immediately threatening and provocative racial antagonists.56 In the culture of the WSM, violence becomes an inevitable and even desirable tool to retain white racial dominance and defend one’s race against racial competitors.

Moreover, the vague nature of the ideas that circulate throughout WSM culture has an additional incendiary effect that provokes participants toward racial violence. Although there are clear messages that the white race is threatened, the nature of the threat is purposively imprecise. For example, the suggestion of a plot to replace whites, encapsulated in slogans such as “You Will Not Replace Us” (YWNRU), which appeared in early 2017, for example, in a banner unfurled at a rally in North Carolina in May 2017,57 builds anxieties that the position of whites is being eroded by migration, birth rates, employment policies, civil rights, or other undefined plots against the white race. In addition, the strikingly amorphous definition of the core antagonists of the white race - “Jews,” “communists,” “mud people,” “leftists,” “race traitors,” and “Antifa” - means that individuals from these groups are not easily identifiable. To be clear, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether a person is a Jew, a communist, a “mud” person, a leftist, a race traitor, or a member of Antifa simply by looking at them. Lumping people together in such figurative categories prevents knowing if any given person might be part of the plot to destroy the white race. Even the idea that the destruction of the white race is imminent is vaguely inexact. In our research, we have found adherents to white supremacism who believed that the race war is currently underway, those who believed that it is just around the corner, and those who believed that it is coming in some indefinite future time.

In our opinion, the messages communicated by WSM culture - that there is a threat to whites, that specific groups are working to eradicate the white race, and that whites face imminent destruction - has the effect of priming participants to commit racially-motivated violence as a means of what the participants deem to be self-defense. These messages suggest that threats to whites are everywhere. Anyone might be an enemy and anyone might be poised to attack immediately. In this respect, counterprotesters at white supremacist events - including those who are unarmed and nonviolent - can be easily misunderstood by those eager to defend the white race as violent antagonists. Although erroneous, in our view, it is not surprising that white supremacists can regard their attacks on any counter-protestor as a justifiable self-defense.
 

[admin]

Part 3 of 5

b. The WSM Glorifies Violence

WSM culture also sets norms of behavior through the glorification of violence, which is part of a general emphasis on the power of organized white supremacism to vanquish the enemies of the white race and ensure white dominion.58 One way this happens is by the valorization of those who commit violence. Individuals who have extensive histories of violence, especially racially-motivated violence, but also other acts of violence, are not only regarded as members and participants across the WSM, but often are seen as inspirational leaders. An example is David Lane, whose “14 Words” and his other racist propaganda positioned him as a leader in the WSM even while he was serving a 190-year prison sentence.

The valorization of violent individuals in WSM culture is evident also as those killed or imprisoned for perpetrating acts of violence on behalf of white supremacism are heralded as “martyrs” and “prisoners of war.”59 A recent example is Dylann Roof, who killed nine parishioners in an African American church in 2015 Charleston, North Carolina, and is celebrated broadly across WSM culture by use of the term “bowlcuts” and memes of his bowl-shaped haircut.

c. The WSM Normalizes Violence

The WSM explicitly and impliedly endorses and normalizes violence through 1) constant and pervasive messaging; 2) repertoires of violence; and 3) ritualistic displays of white power.

i. Constant and Pervasive Violent Messaging

The WSM culture makes frequent, and positive, references to episodes of the most vicious racist violence. Often such violent references are quite explicit, as in direct descriptions or images of lynchings of African Americans or particularly heinous racist hate crimes such as the 1998 murder of James Byrd, an African American man, by white supremacists who chained and dragged him to his death behind a pick-up truck. But they also include referents that are interpretable as signals of violence by those within WSM culture, such as phrases like “race war” and “white genocide” and images of ovens to signal the concentration camps of the WWII Holocaust of European Jews, nooses or burning crosses to refer to the lynching of Blacks and other racial minorities in the nineteenth and early twentieth century U.S., and flaming torches to reference white mob violence or European fascist marches.60

The WSM culture signals the acceptability of violence through the use of dehumanizing language and images, such as describing immigrants as “vermin” and depicting nonwhites as apes. Dehumanizing language is a consistent theme identified in white supremacist propaganda,61 as well as consistently present and prominent in the escalation of conflicts that eventually result in mass atrocities such as those in Rwanda and Central America and, earlier, in the European Holocaust.62 Desensitization to the possibility of committing violence takes place in a variety of forms, including music, books, propaganda, and paramilitary training. An example is “ZOG’s Nightmare,” a videogame created by the WSM production company “Resistance Records,” the title of which refers to an anti-Jewish slur “Zionist Occupation Government.” In this game, players assume a first-person shooter role with the objective of killing nonwhites.63



Violent talk in the WSM often takes the form of parallel messaging in front and back stages. Messages intended for an internal audience indicate support of violence. Messages intended for outsiders, however, may not signal support for violence in ways that are easily interpreted as such. Messages to outsiders tend to present a highly cultivated image of the WSM that insists it is advocating white rights, rather than racial supremacy, and supports only legal and nonviolent actions. The sharp division between what the WSM allows to be expressed in front-stage and back-stage arenas can cause members and affiliates to experience negative cognitive and emotional outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and anger about hiding their core beliefs and feelings64 and, in order to cope, some “leak” their beliefs and feelings partially or completely into the front stage.65

While the front-stage/back-stage separation allows different messages to be sent to insider and outsider audiences, the tactic of double-speak involves sending a message that will be understood differently by those well-versed in WSM culture and those who are not. Thus, members of the WSM embed in outsider-directed messages subtle codes meant to reassure hardcore supporters that the WSM has not actually renounced extremism and the use of violence. An example is the number “88,” a very common reference in the WSM that means “Heil Hitler.” Those unfamiliar with the cultural symbols of the WSM could conclude that this is a preferred number ostensibly connected to an athlete or some other reference. Those within WSM culture will recognize the number as a code related to the Nazi Germany slogan. Other examples include 18 for “Adolf Hitler” whose name begins with the 1st and 8th letter of the alphabet; ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government), a referent to supposed Jewish conspiratorial control of the U.S. federal government; and RAHOWA.

White power music provides a gateway into WSM culture, especially for younger people,66 and is a conveyer of white supremacist ideas, including the role of violence in the movement. White power music concerts are a venue for white supremacist recruiting and violence, while white power music encapsulates ideas of racial hatred and race-based violence in its lyrics. An example is “Victory Day,” sung by Prussian Blue, the name of a duo of two teenage Nazi singers who took their name from the blue residue left over by the use of the poison Zyklon B used to kill Jews and others in World War II-era concentration camps. The girls were popular in white supremacist circles, likely because they appeared to embody the perfect example of an innocent white womanhood that was threatened by the ascendancy of anti-white forces. Prussian Blue’s lyrics include a response to the threat, in the form of an ode to the coming race war:

Well sit down and listen, to what I have to say. There soon will come a great war, a bloody but holy day. And after that purging, our people will be free, and sing up in the bright skies, a sun for all to see.67

And thus I went out in that night (it was the second night of the year 1914), and anxious expectation filled me. I went out to embrace the future. The path was wide and what was to come was awful. It was the enormous dying, a sea of blood. From it the new sun arose, awful and a reversal of that which we call day. We have seized the darkness and its sun will shine above us, bloody and burning like a great downfall.

-- The Red Book: Liber Novus, by C.G. Jung

Twin sisters Lamb and Lynx Gaede of the now-defunct Prussian Blue music group.68

ii. Repertoires of Violence

A social movement’s culture is central to shaping what its participants regard as acceptable repertoires of action. A “repertoire of action” is a sociological term that describes a social movement’s pattern of behavior, including its strategies and tactics.69 Social movements that employ violence, including those labeled as “terrorist” movements, develop repertoires of action that include internal understandings about how and when to use violence, and what types of violence are favored or permissible. Acts of violence intended to further the agenda of white supremacy are a “repertoire of action” generated by the WSM culture. Maintaining violence as an option is also a form of terrorism, inflicting the fear of harm on target populations. In our opinion, the contemporary WSM culture generates two repertoires of violent action: coordinated violence and WSM-supported violence by individuals.

a) Coordinated Violence

The first repertoire is coordinated violence, such as attacks by KKK members on African Americans in the mid-twentieth century or the armed robberies, bombings, and murders attributed to The Order, a white supremacist underground terror cell active in the 1980s. Many acts of coordinated white supremacist violence are undertaken without direction from a central command structure. Instead, such violence emerges and is coordinated through a decentralized culture in which participants reward acts of racist violence with additional access to or respect within networks or groups of white supremacists. Cultural coordination of violence is often camouflaged, however, and mistakenly appears to be the spontaneous acts of unconnected individuals, such as the brutal attacks by white power skinheads in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

b) WSM-Supported Violence by Individuals

A second violent repertoire is violence by individuals who are supported by WSM culture but appear to have no connection to white supremacist groups and networks except through participation on Internet sites or social media platforms with white supremacist content. This repertoire has been promoted by the WSM over the past four decades to reduce the ability of law enforcement to infiltrate the movement, a strategy codified as “leaderless resistance” by Louis Beam, a Klan member associated with the Aryan Nations, who envisioned a model in which white supremacists operate as small or solo covert cells without reporting to a central group or leader.

It is largely a myth, however, that the WSM actually operates without vertical connections (i.e., that it actually practices “leaderless resistance”) or that solo operators commit acts of racial violence without provocation or direction from a larger white supremacist movement. Indeed, this idea is advanced by white supremacists themselves to divert law enforcement attention from their involvement in racial violence. But the reality is quite different. Timothy McVeigh, whose bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 left 168 Americans dead, was connected to networks of white supremacist groups and took inspiration for the bombing from the white supremacist book, The Turner Diaries.70 James von Brunn, who killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in 2009, acted alone but was inspired by reading Nazi ideology and produced his own anti-Semitic propaganda. Robert Bowers, arrested as the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, frequented Gab, a social network discussion platform popular among neo-Nazis and other white supremacists.

Despite its decentralized nature, the WSM is sufficiently organized and networked to influence individuals and small groups to act alone to advance the movement’s strategies and goals, including violence.71 The individuals who act violently on behalf of white supremacist agendas are supported and prompted by a WSM culture of violence - the propaganda, internet and social media sites and groups that teach racist ideologies and provide a platform for connections and discussions among committed and unaffiliated white supremacists regarding the need for action. They are guided by the knowledge, strategies, and even techniques of violence that they find in white supremacist messages and through exchanges among like-minded people. White supremacist messages spread the idea that those who act on behalf of the white race are not alone but are part of a larger racial project with a multitude of covert sympathizers. An example is the WSM exhortation of “5 Words,” signaling the only words its affiliates should ever say to the police: “I have nothing to say.” WSM culture provides a literal and figurative library that allows individuals to draw inspiration and influence from previous white supremacist campaigns, slogans, and terror attacks,72 as Timothy McVeigh modeled the Oklahoma City bombing after a nearly identical scene described in the previously mentioned book The Turner Diaries or as Atomwaffen modeled the organization of its terror cell after James Mason’s book Siege. Too, the manifestos that violent white supremacists generated preceding their terror attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, and El Paso, Texas, refer to inspiration from previous attacks.

iii. Ritualistic Displays of White Power

The WSM has historically engaged in ritualistic displays of white power that serve to normalize violence. These displays of power typically exhibit a set of characteristics that heighten collective anger and fear, such as multiple physical skirmishes and verbal confrontations with bystanders or counterprotestors; loud, angry collective chanting that reference perceived enemies, especially in a dehumanizing fashion; and displays of weapons. Such displays can exhibit complicated dynamics between white supremacists and counter-protestors, including a pattern identified by scholars of political confrontations: deliberately provoking counter-protestors in order to open the door for a major violent response that can later be argued to have been a defensive measure,73 as in the clash at the 2016 neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento, California. Such displays also are likely to involve emotionally-triggering images and actions, including participants marching in stylized formations that evoke images of German Nazi parades or use of burning crosses or fiery torches that reference both the Ku Klux Klan and European fascism.74

Fire is often central to these rituals. Fiery torches became emblematic of the first KKK groups after the Civil War, simultaneously intended to announce the Klan’s strength and strike terror in African Americans.75 This use of fire to signal power and to inflict fear has appeared in other white supremacist and ethno-fascist movements, including the Nazis in WWII-era Germany who carried burning torches at rallies and parades and the Klans throughout the twentieth century that used cross lightings to initiate recruits, create solidarity among members, and terrorize Jews, African Americans, and other minorities.76

Like many cultural symbols, fire has multiple meanings in the WSM and other extremist movements. It can represent purification and renewal, while also signaling intimidation and violence. It can also signal a warning or a call to arms. It is our opinion that the WSM has historically relied on these double meanings of fire, concealing its use of fire as a means of racial terror by claiming that its use is simply meant to celebrate white heritage or as some type of beautiful aesthetic. WSM groups present fire as a cultural ritual that hearkens back to ancient northern European practices, while privately fire is understood by those in WSM culture as a means of racial intimidation and violence, used to torture and char the bodies of the victims of lynchings in the nineteenth and early twentieth century U.S. and to burn churches and other places associated with African Americans or racial integration in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. U.S. white supremacism also evokes the Nazi use of fire in the mid-twentieth century to burn the Jewish Torah and synagogues and eventually to incinerate the bodies of many of their 12 million murdered civilian victims in the Holocaust. Indeed, the term “holocaust” means sacrifice or destruction by fire and also suggests purification of the Aryan race. Fire remains an important element of WSM culture today.

9. The WSM Socializes Its Recruits to Utilize Racially-Motivated Violence

The WSM recruits and socializes its members and affiliates through pathways that are broadly similar to how people become committed to other movements of violent extremism such as Islamic-inspired terrorism. Becoming a violent white supremacist requires both “behavioral radicalization” - becoming involved in a white supremacist group or network - and “cognitive radicalization” - adopting an ideology of extreme racial hatred.77 Behavioral and cognitive radicalization are mutually reinforcing pathways. And either can initiate the process of becoming a violent white supremacist. A person may first become interested in racially extremist ideas (cognitive radicalization), and then seek out others with those beliefs (behavioral radicalization). Or they may first start associating with persons who hold racially extremist beliefs (behavioral radicalization), and then adopt those ideologies (cognitive radicalization). Deepening involvement with extremists introduces recruits to new aspects of extremist beliefs, while deepening knowledge of extremist ideology can increase a person’s desire to associate with others who share those beliefs. This cycle shapes a recruit’s identity as an extremist as well as his or her commitment to extremist goals.

Our assessment is that WSM culture is key to the pathways of recruitment and radicalization in violent white supremacism. The beliefs of white supremacism are circulated through the cultural spaces, including on-line discussions, social media posts, music, parties, community events, sporting events such as MMA, and virtual gaming platforms that are orchestrated or have been penetrated by white supremacists.78 White supremacists also use these forums to approach and befriend potential recruits, introducing them to a community of people who may not initially seem to be racial extremists. WSM culture’s emphasis on the distinction between insiders and outsiders also nurtures the development of an individual’s identity as a white supremacist and commitment to the white supremacist cause as the person learns and increasingly adopts white supremacist ideas and ways of behaving that are not widely shared beyond the circle of committed insiders, such as participating in violence, marking one’s body with a swastika, and immersing oneself in white supremacist social media and Internet sites.79

WSM culture provides connections that link individuals at various levels of participation in a common purpose. It also provides ways for individuals to move from a movement outsider to a movement insider. Those simply affiliated with the WSM find opportunities in its communication platforms to learn insider white supremacist ideas and codes, which open the door to attending rallies or emotive collective rituals such as cross-burnings and participating in online white supremacist discussions without officially joining any group.80 Members can take an official act of commitment to a specific group, such as signing a membership card, attending initiations, or paying dues. Some individuals earn the distinction of being regarded as members of the WSM by committing acts of violence. For example, individuals can earn the right to display certain insignia of group belonging (such as shoelaces of certain colors, tattoos, or patches) by assaulting a nonwhite person.81 Both affiliates and members identify with the grievances and promote the agendas of the broader movement, but members assume an additional formal role that may allow them to hold specific leadership or spokesperson positions.

10. The WSM Utilizes Strategies of Deniability

Our opinion is that WSM culture is organized to allow individuals and the movement itself to deny culpability for the consequences of violence by sending different messages in front-stage and backstage areas. White supremacist messaging can switch quickly when there is a perception that outsiders have entered into insider space. This is evident in both face-to-face spaces such as house parties and virtual spaces such as Internet chat rooms and discussion forums in which the nature of communications can change abruptly from back-stage messaging to front-stage messaging when a user is suspected of infiltrating or surveilling the site.

Deniability also is created through double-speak, taking advantage of a general cultural practice in which people are understood to be giving contradictory messages, such as making a statement with a “wink and a nod” to signal that the message is not meant to be taken at face value. An example is the 1920s Ku Klux Klan’s use of 3-K names, such as Kwik Kustom Kleaners, to signal to insiders an establishment owned by a Klansman while allowing the storekeeper to claim that the name was an innocent alliteration rather than a reference to the Klan. More recently, lyrics in Nazi hate rock include intentionally vague references to “stand one stand all” which allows the musicians and/or fan base to express plausible deniability that the lyrics relate to white supremacism. In fact, those “in the know” are very aware that the actual meaning is a reference to lyrics in a song by the white power skinhead band Youngland in which Wade Michael Page, who perpetrated the 2012 shooting at an Oak Creek, Wisconsin Sikh temple that left six dead, performed.82

Social science research on language has identified how the tactic of joking can be used as a form of double-speak to deny culpability. This is a broad cultural practice, although more pronounced in particular subcultures such as white supremacism, in which the claim that “I was only joking” becomes a defense against possible challenge. Joking is employed with the intention of immunizing both the message and the messenger from negative consequences. Outsiders are told to regard the message as a joke. Insiders know that it is not. An example is a white supremacist image of violence against a nonwhite person that is accompanied by a disclaimer that the content is intended as a joke and the reader should avoid taking illegal or violent actions. For insiders to the WSM, the disclaimer is intended to be understood as a parody. Immersion in WSM culture prepares them to know that the claim “I was only joking” is not actually true but meant to provide a defense against any challenges. Thus, the disclaimer itself is part of the joke.83

A site entitled “Nigger Jokes KKK” on Whitesonly.net [site is now blocked] provides an example of how a joke promotes violence while simultaneously seeming to disclaim it. A cartoon depicts a black man running with a target superimposed on his body.84


Official RUNNIN' NIGGER Target SCORE

After instructions on how to print the figure at the correct size to be a “nice gun target,” the site provides two instructions: “This is the most realistic gun target for police use today, since most felons are niggers,” and “we are strong against violence, and do not support violent or illegal behavior. This page is for laughs only.”85 But even the message of nonviolence is then undercut by a declaration that Whitesonly.net is “the proud sponsors of America’s Favorite Sport” accompanied by a sketch of a black man dragged behind a pickup truck.86


The Proud Sponsors of America's Favorite Sport http://WWW.WHITESONLY.NET

The reference to the pickup dragging a black man is strategic in that there is a not-so-subtle underlying association to the actual murder of James Byrd Jr. by three white supremacists as described above.

The WSM also uses a different variant of the tactic of joking, in which a message is meant to be read as factual by outsiders but understood as a joke by insiders. Whitesonly.net provides another example. A “Lynching Tribute” page features of dead black men hanging87:


WWW.WHITESONLY.NET Lynching Tribute Page II


African American Holocaust. John Hartfield, Ellisville, Miss., June 26, 1919. The Show Starts!!!


African American Holocaust. Another Group Outting. Duluth, Minnesota.

The lengthy page of lynched bodies ends with this statement:


This page is meant as a joke! don't do anything illegal. What has occurred in these pictures, is terrible. And if you even think about doing such an act, you are a moron. Hopefully after looking at these pictures, you'll see how terrible such activity is. And this page will make you realize how terrible violence is. Now, let's work together to end the death penalty. It's no different from what has occurred in the pictures above.

Here, the joke is on the outsider who takes the declaration to avoid racist violence at face value. Insiders will understand that this declaration is meant as sarcasm since the message is wholly inconsistent with the celebration of racial violence on the rest of this site.

White supremacists intend these jokes to be obvious to those in the WSM and obscure to those outside the movement. They assume that insiders have the contextual knowledge to know when a message is meant to be ironic. The widespread understanding in WSM culture is that the movement includes groups and members that support violence against enemies, and that the movement enables insiders to recognize the varying levels of irony in messages about racial violence. The use of ironic and sarcastic humor provides a built-in defense should outsiders object to the substance of the joke or suggest the statement is an incitement to violence.

11. Summary of the WSM

In our opinion, the WSM in the United States exhibits a set of core characteristics:

● A racist ideology based on white supremacism, anti-Semitism, and hostility toward immigrants, sexual minorities, and feminism;
● Radical division between insiders and outsiders, accompanied by intense suspicion of outsiders;
● A decentralized structure that is coordinated through a white supremacist culture in which violence is central;
● A high degree of internal conflict;
● Technologies that enable a WSM culture;
● A language of double-speak;
● Strong separation of messages and actions that are allowed in the public “front-stage” from those restricted to the private “back-stage”;
● Use of multiple forms of violence;
● Support for racial violence as necessary to defend the white race;
● Insider language and codes, including frequent references to violence and genocide;
● Advanced preparation to defend against repercussions of violent acts through tactics of deniability and joking.

C. Defendants’ Actions Evince an Involvement in, and Deep Familiarity with, the WSM

In our opinion, Defendants’ actions before (and at) UTR were directly consistent with the tactics of the WSM. Defendants were immersed in white supremacist culture and goals, as founders, leaders, spokespersons, members, and affiliates of white supremacist groups and networks; participants in white supremacist events and actions; and advocates and practitioners of violence on behalf of white supremacism. It is our opinion that their professed beliefs and the groups and networks with which they were affiliated are precisely consistent with the broad and decentralized white supremacist movement culture active in the U.S. today, a culture that has historical roots in the racial animus and anti-Semitism of the nation’s earlier Ku Klux Klans and neo-Nazism. Each of the Defendants shares his/its own unique pathway into this culture:

Jason Kessler is from Charlottesville, Virginia. Prior to planning and attending UTR, he voiced anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, articulated his view that whites are under attack and subject to a threat of “white genocide,” and expressed his resentment at the United States taking in immigrants and refugees. Kessler founded Unity and Security for America, a white supremacist organization, which aims to drastically limit immigration to the U.S. from non-European countries so as to stave off the impending “white genocide” in America.88 In April 2017, Kessler pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge after punching a man in the face while he was attempting to gain signatures for a petition to remove Charlottesville’s African-American vice-mayor and councilman, Wes Bellamy.89 Kessler helped plan and attended the May 13, 2017, Charlottesville rally at which he gave a speech in which he praised fascist and racist organizations, thanked a prominent Holocaust denier, and declared the beginnings of a cultural “civil war.”90

Christopher Cantwell is a prolific creator of white supremacist content. Cantwell began publishing articles about his political views as early as 2013 on ChristopherCantwell.com. In 2015, Cantwell appeared on The Daily Shoah, and said, “It’s the right thing to be concerned about the immigration, because you see these fucking hordes of unwashed religious fanatics pouring across borders with no resources just thinking that they’re going to collect welfare and fuck our women and fucking breed us out of existence. That makes me want to bash people’s skulls open, I understand.”91 In January of 2016, Cantwell described himself as a “pro-white anarcho-capitalist” on Red Ice Radio, a channel on YouTube that has been repeatedly removed for promoting racist views.92 Cantwell hosts an Internet radio show, “Radical Agenda,” known for featuring racially extreme content. In an episode of “Radical Agenda” entitled “I Almost Committed a Hate Crime,” Cantwell stated: “I never wanted to jump over a counter and attack a fucking hotel clerk because he fucking didn’t speak proper English. But what it is now is that I see it as a fucking threat. You know? I feel like my country is being fucking invaded. That like I’m being outbred. That guy has probably fucking 12 kids at home.”93 On July 15, 2017, Cantwell posted on his Minds account “America will never be free until the last kike is strangled with the entrails of the last male democrat.”

Richard Spencer founded the white supremacist website “Alternative Right” and popularized the phrase “Alt-Right.”94 In 2011, he took over leadership of the National Policy Institute (NPI), a white supremacist “think tank” that, among other things, publishes pseudo-scientific “reports” touting the genetic inferiority of African Americans, such as a 2015 article co-authored by Spencer called “Race 101” which posited that Black people were genetically less intelligent and statistically more violent.95 For years prior to UTR, Spencer has been an outspoken advocate for the establishment of a “white ethno-state on the North American continent.”96 In a NPI column in 2014, Spencer wrote, “Immigration is a kind a proxy war—and maybe a last stand—for White Americans, who are undergoing a painful recognition that, unless dramatic action is taken, their grandchildren will live in a country that is alien and hostile.”97

Robert Warren “Azzmador” Ray first came to prominence on WSM social media in 2014 and 2015, including as a writer for the leading neo-Nazi website and blog, The Daily Stormer.98 In 2017, Ray launched a podcast called “The Krypto Report,” further expanding his influence in the WSM.99 Ray used his platform to organize and promote multiple in-person events prior to UTR, including protests, together with members of Vanguard America, at the Sam Houston statute in downtown Houston and at the Texas State Capitol in Austin in June 2017.100 Ray also coordinated and led in-person meetings of the “Stormer Book Clubs,” which are on-the-ground gatherings of white supremacists that Andrew Anglin, founder and editor of The Daily Stormer, has called an “IRL [In Real Life] Troll Army.”101

Nathan Damigo became fully radicalized after reading David Duke’s My Awakening while in prison102 after being convicted of armed robbery for brandishing a loaded gun on a cab driver for “looking Iraqi” and robbing him of $43.103 After Damigo was released from prison in 2014, he led the National Youth Front, the youth wing of the American Freedom Party, a white supremacist group.104 In May 2016, Damigo founded Identity Evropa, another white supremacist organization.105 Damigo attended several inperson events prior to UTR, including another Charlottesville event earlier in 2017 referred to as “Charlottesville 1.0” and a rally in Washington, D.C. on June 25, 2017.106 On April 15, 2017, at an event now known as “The Battle of Berkeley,” Damigo punched a 95-pound 19-year-old woman in the face.107

Elliot Kline AKA Eli Mosley changed his surname to Mosley to honor Oswald Mosley, a British fascist.108 Kline called himself the “Judenjager,” or Jew hunter and suggested the creation of a “Jewdetecting app.”109 Kline was a member of the Proud Boys until December 2016 and then joined Identity Evropa. Kline wrote articles for The Daily Stormer, the largest hate site on the Internet in the United States.110 Prior to UTR, Kline helped to organize and attended multiple in-person events, including a white supremacist rally in Philadelphia, PA (March 25, 2017); a rally in Washington D.C. on April 7, 2017, at which Kline tackled and punched a counter-protestor; a rally at Auburn on April 18, 2017; and Charlottesville 1.0 (May 13, 2017).

Identity Evropa (IE) promoted white European identity and the preservation of white culture based on the concept of “identitarian politics.”111 IE’s goal was to achieve a white ethnostate.IE’s slogan was “You will not replace us,” which was first used in February 2017 at an IE protest in New York City.112

James Alex Fields, Jr., who drove his car into a crowd of protestors at UTR, killing one of them, has been advocating for violence in the name of white supremacy since high school, including “violence in the streets” and “violence towards the groups” of non-white individuals that he reviled.113 In the months leading up to UTR, Fields continued to express anti-Semitic and racist comments and images. In May 2017, Fields posted, “rid the world of [J]ews.”114 In July 2017, Fields posted “Hitler was right” and “The Holocaust is a lie.”115 Over the five months prior to UTR, Fields tweeted or direct messaged thirty images depicting Adolf Hitler; six images depicting Zyklon-B, the nerve gas the Nazis used in gas chambers to commit mass murder; and numerous images of Nazi propaganda.116

Wavy Gravy holding "BZ" fish

-- A Clown For Our Time, by wavygravy.net

Fields also referred to African Americans as “nigger,” “gorilla,” and “retard.”117 In the months before UTR, Fields posted memes on social media that advocated using a car to run over protestors in the streets.118

Vanguard America (VA) was founded in 2016 with a mission to make the United States a whites-only country. Its slogan, “Blood and Soil,” had roots in Nazi Germany.119 In 2017, the group became a member of the Nationalist Front (NF) and participated in NF rallies.120

Matthew Heimbach founded the White Student Union at Towson University in 2012 where he declared, “No longer will the homosexual, Muslim, and black supremacist groups be allowed to hijack our campus. … Youth for Western Civilization is preparing to take our campus back, all we need is the help of people like you to make it happen.”121 He later co-founded (with Matthew Parrott) the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP),122 which seeks to “establish an independent White ethno-state in North America” by “fighting for the rights and self determination of Whites in America,” and “declar[ing] war on international Jewry.”123 He also co-founded the Nationalist Front, a coalition to bring together neo-Nazi, KKK, white power skinhead and other white supremacist groups, including TWP, NSM, League of the South, and Vanguard America. The Nationalist Front seeks to “bring unity and solidarity to the White Nationalist movement in North America” by destroying “diversity” and “leverag[ing] the power of solidarity and scale to raise our voices and our fists against the organized Left and the globalist Jewish oligarchs.”124

Matthew Parrott (AKA David Matthew Parrott) co-founded the Traditionalist Youth Network (TYN) with Matthew Heimbach in 2013 to bring young people into white supremacy. Two years later, the two co-founded TWP, described below, a political party influenced by the National Socialist Party in Germany. Parrott, like Heimbach, viewed Adolf Hitler as inspirational and credit Hitler’s manifesto, Mein Kampf, as influencing their political views.125 In addition to serving as the TWP’s Chief Information Officer, Parrott was a co-founder of Lighthouse Literature, an Internet white supremacist bookstore126, and founded the white supremacist Hoosier Nation group in Indiana.127 Parrott had written for racist websites, including Counter Currents Publishing.

The Traditionalist Worker Party was founded in 2015 with the purpose of bringing white working-class families into white supremacy.128 As described above, TWP was founded on principles of national socialism and sought to “establish an independent White ethno-state in North America.” In 2017 the group became a member of the Nationalist Front.

Michael Tubbs was one of the leaders of Defendant League of the South. Tubbs served as the Vice Chairman of the Northeast Florida chapter and as Chief of Staff to the League’s leader Michael Hill.129 In 1987, Tubbs, then a Green Beret, used automatic weapons to rob two African American soldiers at Fort Bragg. Tubbs and a partner yelled, “This is for the KKK.” The investigation revealed five stockpiles of weapons, tapes of Hitler’s speeches, and lists of targets including businesses owned by Jews and Black people.130 In 2016, he posted on Facebook, “The anniversary of the OKC bombing reminded me of an old newspaper article from 1996. ‘Before there was Timothy McVeigh there was Michael Tubbs.’”131

Michael Hill founded and led the League of the South. He has made his white supremacist views plain in a series of writings over the last two decades. In an essay in 2012, Hill wrote that white people are endowed with a “God-ordained superiority.”132 He further wrote on an internal LoS Facebook group that, “[T]he South has a ‘black’ problem. On December 8, 2015, he wrote on a LoS Facebook group, “Never underestimate the perfidy of the organized Jew. He is crafty enough to manipulate both sides in a conflict for his own advantage. From my experience and studies, I have come to the conclusion that his main enemy is European man…”133

The League of the South (LoS) was founded in 1994 by Michael Hill and has engaged in demonstrations, rallies, and paramilitary activity.134 According to the SPLC, “In recent years, it has increasingly embraced violence, criticized perceived Jewish power and warned black people that they would be defeated in a future race war.”135 As Jack Kershaw, a LoS board member stated in 1998, “Somebody needs to say a good word for slavery. Where in the world are the Negroes better off today than in America?”136 In 2017, LoS founded the Southern Defense Force to “hel[p] our State and local magistrates across Dixie combat this growing leftist menace to our historic Christian civilization.” Defendant Tubbs was identified as one of the group’s operation commanders.137

Jeff Schoep was the “Commander” of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) from 1994 to 2019.138 In 2016, Schoep oversaw the creation of the Aryan Nationalist Alliance (ANA), which later became the Nationalist Front and brought together several white supremacist outfits including TWP, VA and LoS.139 Under Schoep’s leadership, NSM members wore Nazi-era uniforms, including brown shirts and swastika armbands, as well as all-black military-style “battle dress uniforms.” As Commander of the NSM, Schoep organized and led various events (including swastika and rune burnings), and the NSM ascribed to an ideology and used symbols reminiscent of the Third Reich.

The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is a decades-old group with roots in the National Socialist American Workers Freedom Movement and its predecessor, the American Nazi Party.140 The NSM claims to have chapters throughout the United States.141 The NSM has held demonstrations, rallies, leaflet campaigns, and other gatherings and activities (including swastika and rune burnings) to promote its virulent anti-Semitic and racist ideology; to openly honor Adolf Hitler (including annual events to celebrate Hitler’s birthday); and to recruit new members, particularly youth. Members have a history of violence towards perceived enemies.142

The Nationalist Front (NF), formerly the Aryan Nationalist Alliance (ANA), is a now-defunct white supremacist coalition of existing organizations, including NSM, VA, LoS, and TWP, as well as groups associated with the Ku Klux Klan, which sought to create a white ethnostate that excludes Jews and other minorities.143 The NF held demonstrations and rallies to spread its ideology.144 The group was founded by Schoep and Heimbach in November 2016, as a rebranding of the ANA, to demonstrate unity among several groups within the white supremacist movement; LoS later joined the coalition in 2017.145 The NSM was the primary organization in the coalition, with Schoep at its helm.146

D. Defendants Participated in and Praised the Use of WSM Tactics at Pre-UTR Events

The Unite the Right rally was not the first instance in which the Defendants exhibited and/or praised the use of WSM tactics. Specifically, in the lead up to UTR, there were multiple events staged by WSM groups and leaders, including many of the Defendants, which attracted extensive publicity to the movement -- often due to the violence that occurred at the events. Significantly, these events attracted and brought together members of multiple WSM groups.

Several of the events leading up to UTR involved clashes and confrontations between the white supremacists (including certain of the Defendants) and counter-protestors or bystanders. Indeed, the WSM rhetoric about pre-UTR events included attention to violence at these events, some of which were recast after the fact as “battles.” For example, a 2016 clash in California where multiple counterprotestors were stabbed was described by TWP-affiliated Traditionalist Youth Network as the “Battle of Sacramento” and publicly celebrated after the fact by Parrott.147 And in the spring 2017, white supremacist violence that occurred at an event in Berkeley, California, became commonly known throughout the WSM, including by Defendants, as “the Battle of Berkeley,” noting that this was not only a pivotal event for white supremacists that indicated the need for violence against their “existential foes”; it had now become the “new normal.” As Richard Spencer described it on April 16, 2017:

I think it’s a day to remember because it reveals to us this new normal that we’re living in. This new world, a world of politicized violence and a world in which two vanguards representing two sides of the political spectrum in the United States no longer saw each other as debating partners or adversaries or so on but saw each other as two camps that fundamentally disagree two camps that see one another as existential foes and so a kind of war took place… politics is about the use of force … and when we see images like Berkeley I do think we get an idea of where we are socially and culturally and just how divided we are …”148

E. Defendants Exhibited the Characteristics of the WSM When Planning and Organizing UTR

In our opinion, Defendants, whose conduct evinced a familiarity with and immersion in the WSM culture, reflected the core characteristics of the WSM in planning and organizing UTR.

1. Defendants Disseminated White Supremacist and Anti-Semitic Ideologies In Planning and Organizing UTR

In planning and organizing UTR, Defendants uniformly portrayed an animus toward non-whites -- racial and religious minorities and immigrants -- which they disseminated to their supporters as a motivating principle for the event. Indeed, they openly promoted the event as an opportunity to fight nonwhites and their supporters. For example, Michael Hill tweeted “if you want to defend the South and Western Civilization from the Jew and his dark-skinned allies, be at Charlottesville on 12 August.”149 Similarly, Matthew Parrott wrote regarding attendance at UTR that “We need to scare these people, and the way to achieve that is with numbers, discipline; and determination. We must send a message to the Jewish oligarchs and their hordes of minions that we will not go silently into the night as they desire -- no, we will fight them; we will defeat them, and we will secure our people’s destiny.”150 Samantha Froelich, Kline’s ex-girlfriend and former IE member, testified that Kline specifically told her that “he couldn’t wait to crush Jews and couldn’t wait to stomp Jews at Unite the Right.”151 On August 11, 2017, the day of the torch march, Kline posted on Discord, “I hate Jews.”152

Ray’s posts on Discord similarly reflect a deeply-held anti-Semitic viewpoint and that this animus toward Jews was a motivating principle for UTR. For example, On July 28, 2017, Ray posted on Discord, “I just got done with an hours long chat with some of the event organizers and I feel better about the thing. The plan is the same, gas the kikes, pr war now, plenty of trolling and lulz.” On August 8, 2017, Ray distributed a poster on Discord and on The Daily Stormer stating, “CHARLOTTESVILLE AUGUST 12TH: UNITE THE RIGHT—JOIN AZZMADOR AND THE DAILY STORMER TO END JEWISH INFLUENCE IN AMERICA—DAILYSTORMER.COM.153

Similarly, less than a month before UTR, Fields commented on an Instagram post “@_the_southern_pr1de Heil Hitler. We must secure the existence of our people, & a future for White Children.”154

On August 10, 2017, the day before the Torch March and two days before UTR, Richard Spencer tweeted155 the following meme of Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy, an African American man:


Richard Spencer@RichardBSpencer
@ViceMayorWesB
It's afraid.
12:31 AM Aug 10, 2017.

2. Defendants Expressed A Radical Division Between Insiders and Outsider When Planning and Organizing UTR

Throughout the planning and organization process of UTR, Defendants consistently emphasized a violent disdain for the people they expected would be counter-protesting the event, whom the Defendants referred to as a monolithic group variously and interchangeably as “Antifa,” “commies,” “race traitors,” “enemies,” or “the Left.” One of the primary organizing documents for the event, produced by lead organizer Kline, discussed this “us versus them” approach:

This rally, like the Battle of Berkley, will be a chance to show the left in one of their central power hubs that they will no longer go unopposed like they are used to…. Both the Alt Right and ‘Alt Light/New Right’ will be setting aside our differences and focus on our areas of common ground against our mutual enemies who see no difference between us. We will send the message that we will not be divided, we will not allow them to erase history without a fight, and that they are on the out while the right wing continues to grow.156

Likewise, the day before the Rally, Fields sent his mother a text message in response to her warning to “Be careful” at the Rally saying “We’re not the one [sic] who need to be careful” and attaching a photo of Adolf Hitler.157

Similarly, an article Spencer published on altright.com on August 5, 2017, one week before the event, seemed to reaffirm his view that battle lines had been drawn between the white supremacists and counter-protestors: “We’re ready for a fight if it comes to it. In fact, we welcome Antifa to start it. We will defend ourselves and break that pathetic little trust fund anti-White faggot organization once and for all.”158 Along similar lines, in a Facebook post he read on his podcast a week before the event, Chris Cantwell said the following: “I think chemical and biological weapons can do a great deal of good for mankind releasing nerve gas or some kind of lethal virus into a leftwing protest could prepare the bodies for physical removal without making a big scene for the cameras and destroying anything of value.”159 Unlike what one might expect for an event that was ostensibly designed to showcase a set of beliefs, Defendants generated a sense that a confrontation with outsiders was the purpose of UTR. Indeed, the title of the event -- “Unite the Right” -- seems plainly intended to convey a sense of unity and cohesion amongst the white supremacists in opposition to those who planned to counter-protest the event.

3. Defendants Utilized New Communication Technologies to Plan UTR

As discussed, a major component of WSM culture in recent decades has involved utilizing technology to generate and distribute propaganda, recruit new members, and sustain existing ones. These goals are accomplished by exploiting technological features that facilitate virtual forms of social interaction and communication, while creating some measure of anonymity from outsiders that reflects the WSM emphasis on the separation of “front-stage” from “back-stage” messages and interactions. Consistent with the practices of contemporary WSM culture, we would anticipate that Defendants used multiple types of digital technology and communication platforms to plan and publicize UTR, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, 4chan, 8chan, twitch, Gab, Telegram, Discord, and cell phone texting. However, we understand that Defendants have acknowledged that much of the planning for UTR occurred on Discord.160 Consequently, our report focuses mainly on Defendants’ communications on Discord, but we also include examples from several other digital platforms.

Discord hosted multiple discussion groups on white supremacist and related themes prior to Defendants’ use of the platform in the planning of UTR, as its emphasis on privacy and anonymity was consistent with the WSM’s secrecy goals.161 Indeed, long before Kessler announced his intention to organize UTR in May 2017, multiple Defendants, including Damigo, Cantwell, Ray, Kline, Parrott, and Heimbach, posted on the Discord platform under their respective handles.

Defendants used the Discord platform to plan many aspects of UTR, but it also appears plain that they used the platform to propel a self-reinforcing white supremacist culture that later incited participants to engage in violence at the event. UTR planning predominantly took place on the “Charlottesville 2.0” server on which Kessler began to post in June 2017, although there were other Discord servers where planning for UTR was discussed that were associated with Cantwell, Damigo, Heimbach and Traditionalist Worker Party, Kline, Identity Evropa, Parrott, Ray, and Vanguard America, and a variety of other servers including the Alt-Right, Thunderdome, Aquilonia, and Radical Agenda servers.162 The 61 Channels of Charlottesville 2.0 were organized in topics that ranged from event planning logistics (e.g., “carpool available” and “gear_and_attire), to issues of violence and law (e.g., “medic_team” and “virginia_laws” and participating groups (e.g., “traditionalist_workers_party” and “league_of_the_south”). Kessler had administrative and moderator privileges on the Charlottesville 2.0 server, which allowed him to promote and demote moderators who, in turn, had the ability to edit and remove posts.163 We understand that Damigo, Heimbach, Kline, Parrott, and Ray also had roles as administrators or moderators on either the Charlottesville 2.0 server or their own servers.164 The Charlottesville 2.0 server was seemingly structured to reflect an ambition on the part of the organizers for a large gathering of WSM groups from a wide geographical area. Specifically, many of the server’s Channels were specifically devoted to various regions around the country, such as dc_va_md and california_pacific_nw. Further, that there were Channels devoted to planning for medical and legal assistance is also consistent with the idea that the organizers expected violence at UTR. Other WSM groups that were invited to UTR, such as the Stormer Book Clubs,165 had Discord servers.

Defendants appeared to have influenced participation at UTR by using certain features of Discord that allowed them to determine who could participate in the channels in which planning for UTR was taking place. Users of at least some UTR-related Discord Channels were interviewed or otherwise vetted, as indicated in direct messages and posts by Ray: “when one of the other mods bans someone, they’re banned”166 and “we’ve been doing a background check via several methods and then vetting in person.”167 Kline also posted about his power to remove users: “I banned him from the cville 2 server.”168 Defendant moderators also had the ability to influence what content was allowed to remain posted in any given channel and exercised that option at times, as Kessler did in the Charlottesville 2.0 server on August 8, 2017: “I want everyone to squash any beef with [name]… just leave her alone. The issue with her and [Defendant] TWP in particular has gone on too long. If you see this issue pop up in Discord or IRL delete the comments and tell people privately to knock it off, At this point it effects (sic) the internal security of our event and needs to be squashed.”169 Defendants and their cohort had the ability to exclude those who expressed highly violent and genocidal aspirations from participation on the UTR-related servers on Discord, and thereby make it difficult for them to participate in planning UTR. But, as we discuss later, they rarely did so.

Multiple Defendants presented themselves on Discord as leaders of planning UTR. In his Discord posts, Kessler refers to himself as “the organizer” and explains that he is “getting up every day and working on this like a 9-5.”170 When a user posted on the “mod-chat” Channel of Charlottesville 2.0 that “Jason is a public face to a lot of organization done by Eli [Kline] who is working full time for Nathan [Damigo] and Richard [Spencer],” Kessler quickly reposted it under his handle.171 Kessler also used Discord to announce who would be assigned to various UTR tasks. “PR Representatives (so far): Derrick –- TWP Elliott Kline –- Identity Evropa Francisco –- Vanguard America Phoenix –- GA#1420 –- ATL-Right Silas Reynolds –- Identity Dixie Crocket –- League of the South Augustus Invictus –- Revolutionary Conservative Mike Enoch –- TRS Network.”172

Posts on Discord further support the idea that Defendants utilized the platform to expand the reach of their planning, by, for example, appointing a hierarchy of subleaders to handle logistics for the event. As Heimbach described, “we try to keep folks in the official discord, I love the enthusiasm, and in the next week or so, we will have our regional commanders having a regional one for each section of the country to promote cooperation.”173 Erica Alduino, a member of IE, posted that “state coordinators are responsible for booking and setting up carpools. Lodging coordinator is generally responsible for finding the lodging and directing individuals to who they need to talk to within their state if they need a carpool,”174 and Ray posted on August 7, 2017, that “I’ve been in chats all evening getting everything coordinated to get our guys ssupplied [sic], updates and secured with a ride to the event, and then another logistics chat with the organizers.”175

In sum, much like earlier WSM leaders, Defendants appear to have fully embraced the new technology Discord offered to enhance the scope and coordination of their messaging related to planning UTR.

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Part 4 of 5

4. Defendants Utilized Double-Speak When Planning and Organizing UTR

It is unmistakable from Defendants communications that they were familiar with the concept of double-speak and were well-versed in its use. They frequently used cultural themes, graphics, symbols, and code words that are widely understood by those immersed in the white supremacist culture to convey a meaning to insiders that differs from its surface meaning. A private message from Parrott captures the essence of white supremacist double-speak: “I wish they would tone that down a tad. We still try to discourage over-the-top nazi gestures...while churning out over-the-top nazi graphics.”176 Similarly, a Discord Direct Message between Damigo and someone with the Discord handle “Karl North-TX” indicated that one of Damigo’s passwords was “StoptheHate1488,” itself an example of double-speak: it both signals genocide against Jews (“88” refers to “HH” or “Heil Hitler”) and supposed enemies of white people (the “14 Words” slogan written by white supremacist and terrorist David Lane) yet claims to advocate to others to “stop the hate.”177

When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!” it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening. But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the seemingly upbeat sentiment -- actually a stand-in for swearing at Joe Biden -- is everywhere.

South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” face mask at the Capitol last week. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posed with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign at the World Series. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia.

The line has become conservative code for something far more vulgar: “F—- Joe Biden.” It’s all the rage among Republicans wanting to prove their conservative credentials, a not-so-secret handshake that signals they’re in sync with the party’s base.

-- How ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ became code for insulting Joe Biden, by Colleen Long

Defendants also invoked the strategy of double-speak in ways that at the surface appear to discourage racially-motivated violence but that was likely viewed by supporters as demonstrating violent intentions (and purposefully so). For example, Damigo posted on Discord: “don’t go around using the specific 14W [words]. It was written by a terrorist, not exactly what we want to use.”178 In our opinion, Damigo’s message is an example of a common practice in white supremacism -– referencing an incendiary idea such as genocide or terrorism to signal approval of that idea or its importance while providing a cover story against accusations that the message is promoting violence. Damigo reminds the reader that David Lane penned the 14 words to signal the necessity of racially-motivated violence, underscoring their importance, but notes that care should be taken not to use its “specific” words. Within a white supremacist subculture, readers would typically have had experience with instructions such as avoiding “specific” words and taking care about “what we want to use” as references to the need to manage the optics –- rather than as the WSM’s actual agenda.

Defendant Andrew Anglin, the founder and editor of the leading white supremacist website and blog The Daily Stormer (at one point the largest white supremacist website on the Internet), for which Ray was also a writer, prepared a “Style Guide” to instruct Daily Stormer writers and editors on proper syntax, language, and tone for their articles and blog posts. This Style Guide provides explicit instruction in the use of double-speak:179

The tone of the site should be light.

Most people are not comfortable with material that comes across as vitriolic, raging, nonironic hatred.

The unindoctrinated should not be able to tell if we are joking or not. There should also be a conscious awareness of mocking stereotypes of hateful racists. I usually think of this as self-deprecating humor -- I am a racist making fun of stereotype of racists, because I don’t take myself super-seriously.

This is obviously a ploy and I actually do want to gas kikes. But that’s neither here nor there.

Serious articles are fine, and can be written and published with absolute seriousness. However, articles which take a serious tone should not include racial slurs or even rude language about other races.180

Like Parrott and Damigo, Anglin encouraged his followers and compatriots, such as Ray, to conceal their true intentions through a “light” tone and “self-deprecating humor,” rather than admit to his true intentions (“I actually do want to gas kikes”). Elsewhere, Anglin wrote:

While racial slurs are allowed/recommended, not every reference to non-white should [] be a slur and their use should be based on the tone of the article. Generally, when using racial slurs, it should come across as half-joking -- like a racist joke that everyone laughs at because it’s true. This follows the generally light tone of the site. It should not come across as genuine raging vitriol. That is a turnoff to the overwhelming majority of people.181

Anglin also explained, “It’s illegal to promote violence on the Internet. At the same time, it’s totally important to normalize the acceptance of violence as an eventuality/inevitability.” Thus, Anglin advised that “whenever someone does something violent, it should be made light of, laughed at.”182 In our opinion, readers would have understood that such use of humor was intended to “normalize,” approve of, and encourage violence without explicitly promoting it.

Ray likewise invoked the concept of double-speak in his communications. For example, on a May 1, 2017, episode of the podcast Salting the Earth, Ray explained that humor is “a great icebreaker for people who are amenable to our ideas” and “a lot more effective than just being super serious all the time.”183 As Ray explained, the use of humor and a light tone -- a form of double-speak -- conveyed a particular meaning to insiders in the WSM without revealing that meaning to outsiders: it “really keeps our opponents off balance, because they can’t tell, they can never be certain, what things we’re absolutely serious about, and what things we’re joking about.”184 In a Discord post, Ray similarly explained that his approach was “[t]elling the truth in shocking and/or humorous ways.”185

Another example that is consistent with the white supremacist tactic of double-speak, in our opinion, is Spencer’s proposed “peaceful ethnic cleansing.” At various times, Spencer has claimed that the creation of a white ethnostate was neither an example of white supremacy nor a proposal for genocide. Yet, his own words in other contexts betray an opposite reality. For example, Spencer offered the following during a podcast interview regarding modern day Turkey:

“That is our land. I would absolutely support a unified European effort to take back EuroAsia. And whatever happens to the Turks I don’t give a shit. I don’t care about them. They are ugly and appalling people with no culture...I despise those people...We should just take it from them...I don’t give a flying fuck about national determination...we should rip the entire EuroAsia from them. We should throw every Turk in the ocean...”186

In the above statement, Spencer clearly advocates both violence and the ideals of white supremacy. Within this context, his previous statements advocating a “peaceful ethnic cleansing” become hollow and clearly misleading. Without this broader context, however, it would be possible to regard Spencer’s proposal for “peaceful ethnic cleansing” as sincere, despite that the term “peaceful ethnic cleansing” is itself a fairly obvious example of internal inconsistency and can be viewed as oxymoronic. As ethnic cleansing clearly refers to a type of genocidal violence that was practiced in the Yugoslavian conflict in the mid-1990s, the idea that there is a peaceful type of genocide is hard to imagine.

In our opinion, the language Defendants used in their posts on Discord to plan UTR was precisely consistent with the double-speak that is emblematic of the WSM. As is typical with the WSM, using that language would have allowed them to motivate participants to engage in confrontation and violence at UTR while claiming that they were not doing so. As an example, Ray posted on June 28, 2017, that “I was thinking that for this event [UTR] we go for the Confederate theme but maybe have some good fashy [fascist] shit embedded in it.”187 Properly construed, this statement plainly appears to offer a way for Ray to claim that UTR was simply supporting Southern heritage while signaling to insiders its actual agenda. Similarly, a post by Kessler on June 14, 2017, that was accompanied by a photo of Kyle Chapman aka “Based Stickman,” who wielded a large stick and hit counter-protestors at Berkeley with it, reveals and simultaneously conceals the racialized hatred and violent ambitions of UTR with an attendee prepared to engage in battle with the incongruous label that “[it] really isn’t about hate”188:

[President Donald Trump] We’re going to have to fight much harder and Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. If he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our constitution. Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. After this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down any one you want, but I think right here. We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.

We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country....

The Republicans have to get tougher. You’re not going to have a Republican party if you don’t get tougher. They want to play so straight, they want to play so, “Sir, yes, the United States, the constitution doesn’t allow me to send them back to the States.” Well, I say, “Yes, it does because the constitution says you have to protect our country and you have to protect our constitution and you can’t vote on fraud,” and fraud breaks up everything, doesn’t it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different rules. So I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do...

And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore...

So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give… The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

-- Donald Trump Speech "Save America" Rally Transcript, by President Donald Trump

Pleased to announce a new attendee for Unite the Right. It really isn't about hate guys. Lives Matter.

Similarly, in June 19, 2017, with UTR planning well under way, Cantwell posted: “If you kill a Jew, the Jew in you dies with him I hear (This is a tasteless joke, relax kike).”189

These are just several examples of Defendants making wide use of the WSM strategy of doublespeak in their planning of UTR.

5. Defendants Engaged in Front-Stage and Back-Stage Behavior Typical of the WSM

In our opinion, the Defendants were adept at employing front-stage and back-stage behavior in a manner consistent with WSM culture. Defendants seemed acutely attuned to the importance of “optics” and seemed to attempt (with varying degrees of success) to communicate in such a manner that could present a more mainstream image to outsiders while still fueling the extremism of the white supremacist subculture on Discord.

The Defendants repeatedly emphasized the importance of appearing non-violent, including at UTR. Damigo stated in Discord on July 31, 2017, “@everyone Charlottsville [sic] is coming up soon and I will be laying out some ground rules as well as speaking to everyone priors to the event, but I would like to make one important announcement today. No shields, weapons or armor should be worn by IE members to the event. We must never appear publicly to be aggressors. The contrast between us and our opponents should always be a night and day difference….”190 In advance of a prior rally in 2017, Parrott made explicit his view of the importance of optics for legal purposes, informing TWP members on Discord, “Try to remind folks not to throw the first punch or be too aggressive. It’s important for lawfare and optics that we going about our business and they instigate.”191 TWP members were advised not to use a Nazi salute “in public” even though it was otherwise generally permissible within the party.192 It is almost certainly for that reason that many of the messages that Defendants posted on Discord, and, in other public or semi-public communications platforms during the planning of UTR, took the form of innocuous front-stage communications. Such messages generally promoted a unified presentation of ideology that concealed overt markers of neo-Nazism and white supremacism. In her deposition, Samantha Froelich noted that “I would say it was like being wolves in sheep’s clothing.”193

In the beginning stages of planning UTR, Kessler exchanged a series of text messages with Heimbach that demonstrated his awareness of the importance of “optics” at UTR. While it is plain that Kessler knew and approved of the intended presence of neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan at UTR, his text message show that he enlisted Heimbach’s help to ensure that neo-Nazis and Klansmen would not bring robes or symbols or do salutes that would make their allegiances visible at UTR.

Kessler: Supposedly the KKK are trying to do a Charlottesville event in July. I think that will hurt the overall pro-white message. can we convince them to come in plainclothes to the August thing instead?194

Kessler: Derrick told me NSM and some other groups are probably going to attend. Can you help me make sure everyone knows not to bring nazi or klan iconograpy to the rally? …. I don’t want any swastikas or [Nazi] salutes at the event.195

In our opinion, Kessler’s request is an example of optics, which is fully consistent with broader patterns of operation in the WSM. Moreover, Kessler’s request is consistent with the documented efforts of some WSM groups to rebrand themselves in recent years as closer to the political mainstream to attract new recruits while retaining their allegiance to the core beliefs and practices of white supremacism.

At the same time, consistent with the WSM’s front-stage/back-stage dynamic, we believe it likely that Defendants relied on private, back-stage communications for many of their explicit discussions of violence related to UTR since they had experience in the WSM and would have been aware of instances in which communications that users thought were private were used to expose and prosecute WSM activists.196 Even before Defendants began to plan UTR, they cautioned Discord users to keep their most extreme ideas and feelings off the platform. For example, Parrott posted the advice that “anybody need to convey any shady shit with me can message me on Telegram…”197 Several months later, he made the following post on Discord: “try to keep the hardliner stuff off of the public chat.”198 When planning for UTR was underway, Defendants appear to have encouraged various types of surreptitious communication strategies to keep their messages private. A text exchange on June 5, 2017, from Kessler to Tim “Treadstone” Gionet (aka “Baked Alaska”) instructed that “a lot of our planning is happening in a secret chat.”199 The Daily Stormer encouraged attendees to “bring burner phones” with security that erases messages, “don’t make racially charged statements on your event accounts,” “[d]on’t look like a paramilitary force,” and [ i]f you are mixed up in heavy stuff get scarce fast.”200 As Ray stated, “I have a little info that I’ve never discussed publicly for reasons that will be obvious.”201

The emphasis on separating front-stage and back-stage messages was also evident in Defendants’ stated concern that forums such as Discord were likely to attract law enforcement and anti-racist activist surveillance and undercover access. Indeed, midway through planning for UTR, posts on Discord suggested that the platform had been infiltrated: Vaughn#922 alerted users that “the jews have infiltrated this discord.”202 Kline also posted on August 1, 2017, that “as of the middle of last month we have 100% confirmation that that discord has been compromised by antifa.”203 And the day before UTR, Kline posted that “this discord is 10000% comprimised [sic]. Everyone start using your decentralized networks and things of that nature. Let your people know in their own discords. This is very important. We may be giving out false info in the discord.”204

The Discord culture’s extremism was heightened by Defendants’ apparent efforts to encourage that beliefs directly associated with terrorist violence and genocidal ideologies be confined to the relatively hidden domain of Discord and other “back-stage” venues, while the “front-stage” of UTR would display only less extreme and more polished expressions of belief. In this respect, Defendants -- like leaders in similar movements and organizations -- were able to “have their cake and eat it too,” with a strategy that allowed them to simultaneously try to avoid certain liabilities while generating an active culture of hatred and violence.

6. Defendants’ Plans for UTR Mirrored WSM Tactics in Calling for Violence

Shortly after the May 13, 2017, Charlottesville rally, dubbed Charlottesville 1.0, Kessler announced a plan for another white supremacist event: “Charlottesville could become the staging ground for the world’s largest White Rights demonstration.”205 Kessler declared that UTR would be an opportunity for a violent confrontation with the perceived enemies of the WSM:

“I think we need to have a Battle of Berkeley situation in Charlottesville. Bring in the alt-right, Proud Boys, Stickman, Damigo, Spencer and fight this shit out. The Antifa are totally disrespecting us and the media is playing the mayor’s fiddle....I think we need a PUBLICIZED event this time. They bring everything they’ve got and we do too.”206

A few days later, Kessler re-emphasized a plan for a violent confrontation at UTR: “this is going to be a showdown with antifa.”207 Echoing the “battle” rhetoric that circulated in WSM culture to describe earlier events in 2017, Kessler characterized UTR two months in advance as the “Battle of Charlottesville.”208 Viewed in context, it appears to us that Kessler’s comments between May 21, 2017, and June 6, 2017, framed UTR to help ensure that other organizers and attendees approached the event with an aggressive mindset.

a. The Defendants Promoted the Key Ideas That Trigger Racial Violence in the WSM

Defendants used the WSM strategy of disseminating messages that trigger violence by evoking a sense of imminent threat toward the white race and identifying those responsible for these threats as Jews, blacks, immigrants, other minorities, and their supporters.

Our review of posts on the Charlottesville 2.0 and related servers on Discord indicate that messages about the existence and survival of white people as being severely threatened by an array of forces were quite prominent, as was the circulation of grievances about specific issues such as immigration, feminism, and interracial romantic relationships. Such messages map onto the general WSM cultural belief that enemy forces are manipulating and undermining “western culture” by, among other things, initiating demographic changes that will ultimately mean the end of the white race. From these messages, as well as multiple posts that identify purported enemies of the white race and efforts to organize events to publicly target those enemies in order to combat racial threats, it is our opinion that the Discord servers established to facilitate the organization of UTR, especially the Charlottesville 2.0 server, also served as an arena for the extreme and violent messages of racism and anti-Semitism that we know to be characteristic of the WSM culture.

These messages began before the planning for UTR was underway and continued during the planning stage. For example, in March 2017, Damigo recruited participants for Charlottesville 1.0 by describing the effort to remove a Confederate statue as part of a larger “attack on whites... it is an ethnic cleansing.”209 Damigo’s message seemed to encapsulate the sense of an urgent catastrophic threat against the white race that, as we earlier noted, is a common trigger invoked by the WSM to justify racially-motivated violence. In the lead up to UTR, Heimbach likewise urged TWP members to “join us in Charlottesville” to “send a message to the Jewish oligarchs and their hordes of minions that we will not to silently into the night as they desire –- no, we will fight them, we will defeat them, and we will secure our people’s destiny.”210 On July 9, 2017, Hill wrote to LoS members about UTR, “Are you willing to fight for your flesh and blood, for your sublime civilization? Or will you meekly and supinely submit to what your enemies tell you is your inevitable –- and deserved –- descent into historical and biological oblivion? I choose life, and to fight in the tradition of my honorable and courageous forebears.”211 Heimbach also wrote: “Anything that represents White men and women resisting genocide must be destroyed in the eyes of the enemy, lest our generation and future generations be inspired by the sacrifices of these men and continue their cause to fight for our people.”212 Tyrone, someone who appears to have communicated with Defendants on Discord, posted that “This is a civilization of all conflict. It’s not American Genocide, its White Genocide.”213

Likewise, Discord servers associated with Defendants also contained posts that explicitly infused a sense of urgency into perceived threats to the dominance of the white race. These posts continued a long WSM cultural history of positioning the fight against perceived enemies as immediately necessary. The IE Server, in which only members of IE were permitted to post214, carried such messages, which we believe would have most likely been interpreted as threats to the white race in the WSM culture of Discord. As examples:

“We’re 100% in the end times”215

“@<Rsolobo/Rsolobo#9876> I thinks so too. Europe is almost lost”216

“pedophilia is rampant in upper echelons”217

“human sacrifices”218

“drinking child blood”219

Other Discord users and UTR attendees echoed Defendants’ sentiments. For example, a user who went by the Discord handle “Munich” posted: “Hi goys, first big pre-planed [sic] even I’m going to be part of, just wanted to say its going to be a pleasure fighting for the white race alongside all of you.”220 Another Discord user called “Johnny O’Malley” posted on August 11, 2017, “Everyone let’s get a good night sleep and remember why we are here. To save the white race.”221 Similarly a Discord user called “Gavius Corvus” declared that “We’re fighting for the very survival of our race. Everyone needs to ask themselves what they’re willing to suffer for their people, because if the answer isn’t ‘anything’ you need to reevaluate your conviction.”222

The meme below suggests that a true commitment to the WSM as expressed through physical fitness also involves learning about aspects of history related to Nazi Germany and thinking of this past history as a model for the future race war where the white race will “secure” its existence.223


Why people think I lift; Why I actually lift. Race War. "The White Race Will Prevail."

Within this Discord subculture, the familiar white supremacist claim that the white race is threatened with extinction was reiterated, with the clear implication that UTR was an opportunity to fight that threat, as exemplified in the meme below.


WHEN DA KIKES COOK UP ANTITHESIS IDEOLOGIES AND CHIMPS AND TRANNIES ARE ACTIN UP IN YO HOOD, TIL YOU AND YOUR SQUAD ROLL IN.

This meme suggests that the Defendants viewed themselves as similarly situated to the Nazi regime and Adolf Hitler in that, as they see it, their identity as whites was facing a broad threat. It appears that this empathetic view towards the Nazi regime permitted the Defendants to view the Nazis’ violent tactics as justified. Within the context of planning for UTR, the Defendants invoked this supposed shared understanding of the Nazis not just to promote a single rally, but rather as an effort to help instigate and fight a broader race war.224

b. Defendants Glorified Violence While Planning and Organizing UTR

The glorification and emulation of specific individuals who commit white supremacist-inspired violence represents a longstanding cultural practice for the WSM. As part of this tradition, white supremacists valorize these violent individuals as “martyrs for the cause” and “prisoners of war” (for those who are incarcerated following their crimes).225 Heimbach explicitly referenced this cultural practice in February of 2017, stating on Discord: “Amen, we must bring back the cult of the martyr for our struggle.”226 In our opinion, valorizing violent white supremacists in that way is consistent with what we have found more broadly in the WSM. Leaders of the WSM make it clear to adherents of the movement that people who commit acts of racially-motivated violence in support of the movement will be supported after the fact and celebrated as martyrs.

A number of Defendants expressly demonstrated their awareness of the cultural practice of supporting those who commit violence in the name of white people and the importance of maintaining the practice in relation to UTR. In a public plea to raise money for Cantwell after his arrest at UTR, entitled “Chris Cantwell did Nothing Wrong,” Parrott wrote, “we all have a solemn duty to send a clear message to future fighters that if the system comes after you, you will never be left behind your nationalist comrades.”227 Indeed, Parrott testified about a system whereby white supremacists who are arrested -– including alleged mass murderers Robert Bowers and Patrick Crusius, the alleged El Paso shooter –- are systematically provided financial and other support through what he calls the “Global Minority Initiative.”228

Kyle Rittenhouse was released on a $2 million bond paid for with the help of donations to a fund set up by his attorney. Two of the people that were thanked for putting the fund over the top were Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, and actor Ricky Schroder....

Rittenhouse is seen as a folk hero for exercising his right to bear arms while protecting property during the disturbances in Kenosha. Rittenhouse, a minor, was in illegal possession of a fire arm under both Wisconsin and Illinois state law. During the protests, several militia groups converged on Kenosha with the stated aim of protecting property....

The Fight Back Foundation was co-founded by Lin Wood, one of Rittenhouse’s attorneys. The foundation which says “We fight back to protect individual rights and stop those who would use political power to attack constitutional rights,” set up a fund for Rittenhouse’s legal defense. In a tweet Wood said that the fund was put “over the top” with help from actor Ricky Schroder and Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow.

-- Who has helped Kyle Rittenhouse to pay bail and get out of jail and why?: Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who is charged with killing two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was released on bond Friday with the help of celebrities, by Greg Heilman

• After being acquitted, Kyle Rittenhouse claimed he was exploited by his former legal team.
• Rittenhouse said Lin Wood and John Pierce raised money off his case "for their own benefit."
• Rittenhouse became a conservative star before and during his trial for shooting people at a protest.
Get a daily selection of our top stories based on your reading preferences.

Kyle Rittenhouse accused his one-time attorneys Lin Wood and John Pierce of using money in his legal defense fund for their own benefit.

The claim came in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson which aired Monday night, escalating a feud between Rittenhouse and his former legal team.

Rittenhouse was on Friday acquitted of multiple charges, including homicide. During his trial in Kenosha, Wisconsin, he dropped his first legal team and replaced him with the lawyers who executed his successful defense.

In his interview with Carlson, Rittenhouse addressed what he claims were failings by his first legal team, which was led by Wood and Pierce, prominent Donald Trump-supporting attorneys.

Greg Price
@greg_price11
Kyle Rittenhouse tells Tucker Carlson that Lin Wood and John Pierce could have bailed him out of jail in September but kept him in there until November to "raise money so they can take it for their own benefit. Not trying to set me free>"
6:27 PM Nov 22, 2021

Rittenhouse became a hero to many conservatives after shooting dead Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz on August 25, 2020.

Rittenhouse is currently in a legal dispute with Wood, an attorney with ties to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, over the $2 million fund raised for Rittenhouse after his detention.

The bail was set so high because Rittenhouse was believed to be a flight risk given the profile of his case, his powerful conservative backers, and the potential severity of the sentence should he be found guilty.

But Wood's organisation, Fight Back, is also laying claim to the fund, claiming that it raised much of the money. It said $700,000 was spent on Rittenhouse 's legal fees and that Wood personally guaranteed loans made to the fund.

"Somebody has fed Kyle misinformation, for whatever reason," Wood said to The Daily Beast of Rittenhouse's claims.

Insider has contacted Wood and Pierce for comment.

Rittenhouse also criticized Wood and Pierce for not doing more to have him released from a youth detention center.

"Lin Wood was raising money on my behalf, and he held me in jail for 87 days, disrespecting my wishes," he said.

Rittenhouse said he and Pierce encouraged him to speak to news outlets like The Washington Post, which he said was "not a good idea."

"They said I was safer in jail instead of at home with my family," said Rittenhouse.

"Your lawyer said that?" Carlson asked.

"My lawyers said that," Rittenhouse replied. "John Pierce and Lin Wood."

"Eighty-seven days is a long time to be in jail," said Carlson.

"It was very long," said Rittenhouse, who was 17 when he was placed in the detention facility. "I lost a lot of weight in there."

He added, "But 87 days of not being with my family for defending myself and being taken advantage of, being used for a cause by these — by John Pierce and Lin Wood… trying to raise money so they can take it for their own benefit, not trying to set me free."

He went on to claim that Pierce had falsely said he had been part of a "militia," a claim Rittenhouse said was not true.

"I'm not in a militia. I don't know what that is," he said.

Pierce in a statement to Insider disputed Rittenhouse's account.

"I am frustrated that this narrative continues. Originally, it was reported that I was battling for control over the bail money, when the fact is, I had already filed an interpleader action in federal court rejecting any entitlement to it for either me or my firm.

"Now the amount of time it took to raise the bail money is being questioned.

Kyle's bail was set at $2 million cash. His family had no money and no assets. Over the course of less than 3 months, I helped FightBack Foundation (which I was then no longer a part of) mount a national campaign to help raise the funds to pay for his bail.

OUR TEAM

L. Lin Wood, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AND CEO

Lin Wood has more than 43 years of experience as a trial lawyer focusing on civil litigation, representing individuals and corporations as plaintiffs or defendants in tort and business cases involving claims of significant damage. Mr. Wood has extensive experience in First Amendment/defamation litigation and management of the media in high profile cases.

Representations

Mr. Wood has been the lead attorney in many national, high profile cases, including serving as:

• lead civil attorney for the late Richard Jewell for 16 years in matters arising out of reporting about Mr. Jewell in connection with the 1996 bombing of Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, including defamation claims against NBC and Tom Brokaw, the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, CNN, New York Post, Time, and Piedmont College.
• lead civil attorney for the Nicholas Sandmann in matters arising out of false and defamatory reporting by the media in connection with the incident occurring January 2019 at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial outside the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This representation includes defamation claims against CNN, Washington Post, NBC, ABC, CBS, Rolling Stone, Gannett, the New York Times and Twitter.

On January 18, 2019, a widely reported confrontation between groups of political demonstrators took place near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The interaction between Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann and Native American activist Nathan Phillips was captured on photos and videos widely disseminated by major media outlets.... Reports of the incident triggered outrage in the United States, including calls to dox the students... The students received death threats and Covington Catholic High School temporarily closed due to fears for its students' safety.

-- January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation, by Wikipedia

• co-counsel for Dr. Carter Page in defamation claims against Huffington Post and Yahoo related to false accusations that Dr. Page was a traitor related to the Russian Collusion Hoax.

Carter William Page (born June 3, 1971) is an American petroleum industry consultant and a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential election campaign. Page is the founder and managing partner of Global Energy Capital, a one-man investment fund and consulting firm specializing in the Russian and Central Asian oil and gas business.

Page was a focus of the 2017 Special Counsel investigation into links between Trump associates and Russian officials and Russian interference on behalf of Trump during the 2016 presidential election. In April 2019, the Mueller Report concluded that the investigation did not establish that Page coordinated in Russia's interference efforts. In December 2019, the Inspector General for the Department of Justice, Michael E. Horowitz, issued a report on his inquiry into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign and its ties to Russia. Horowitz found fault with specific aspects of the FBI's conduct, including omissions of facts and false statements to the FISA court when applying for a warrant to conduct surveillance on Page.

In 2019, the Justice Department determined the last two of four FISA warrants to surveil Page were invalid. In 2020, Page sued the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and former FBI Director James Comey for $75 million for the unlawful surveillance. The lawsuit stated that the surveillance "violated federal statutes enacted to prevent unlawful spying on United States persons, as well as the Constitution".

-- Carter Page, by Wikipedia

• lead counsel for Dr. Simone Gold in defamation matters arising from her advocacy for the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of Covid-19.
• lead counsel for Mark and Patricia McCloskey in defamation matters arising out of the false publicity concerning acts of self-defense at their house in St. Louis, Missouri.

A St. Louis couple who gained prominence last year after they were filmed pointing guns at social justice demonstrators in front of their house were pardoned last week by Gov. Mike Parson....

Mr. Parson, a Republican, had promised to pardon the couple in an interview with KFTK last year.

Mark McCloskey, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat from Missouri, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and was fined $750. Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was fined $2,000.

As part of the plea deal, Ms. McCloskey gave up the Bryco handgun she brandished during the confrontation on June 28, 2020, when protesters, many of whom were Black, marched past the McCloskeys’ home on a private street on their way to the home of former Mayor Lyda Krewson, a Democrat, who lived nearby.

Ms. Krewson had angered local residents after she went on Facebook Live and read the names and addresses of people who had said the police should be defunded in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.

-- Missouri Governor Pardons St. Louis Couple Who Aimed Guns at Protestersz" Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who gained prominence for confronting demonstrators, had each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, by Eduardo Medina and Chris Cameron, New York Times, Aug. 3, 2021

• lead counsel for My Pillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell in defamation claims against CNN.
• lead counsel for Florida hospital administrator David Carbone in a now successfully resolved defamation action against CNN.
• lead civil attorney for Vernon Unsworth in defamation litigation arising from defamatory tweets made by Elon Musk against Mr. Unsworth, a highly respected caver whose involvement in the Thailand Cave Rescue has been described as instrumental in saving the lives of the young boys trapped in the Cave System
• lead attorney for John and the late Patsy Ramsey and their son for 22 years in matters relating to the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado, and for Burke Ramsey in now successfully resolved defamation claims against CBS and Dr. Werner Spitz.
• lead attorney for Beth Holloway in matters relating to the media coverage of the May 2005 disappearance of her daughter, Natalee Holloway, in Aruba and in now successfully resolved civil actions against the National Enquirer and American Media.
• lead counsel for the late Herman Cain in defense of false accusations related to his 2012 candidacy for the Republican Nomination for President of the United States.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has hired a high-profile defamation lawyer to keep an eye on the sexual harassment accusations made public by two women this week.

Atlanta attorney Lin Wood told Reuters on Thursday he was not hired to scare, intimidate or threaten anyone from making statements, but to monitor the accusations against Cain and respond accordingly.

-- Cain defamation lawyer hired to monitor accusations, by Tabassum Zakaria

• co-counsel for Sean Hannity in defamation and related matters arising from false accusations.
• lead counsel for Bill Walters in defamation claims against Golf.com and First Amendments matters
• lead counsel for Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican candidate for the House of Representatives for GA District 14 in defamation claims.

“I have not been remunerated as of today,” Wood said, noting he billed for last summer’s services in one $5,000 swoop, which he pegs at sometime in late September.

The cases, he confirmed, were two defamation disputes that, according to documents The Daily Beast reviewed, were specific to the Greene campaign.

One was a retraction demand Greene for Congress issued on July 8, 2020, to a GOP primary challenger over an ad Greene claimed was false. The second was a lawsuit filed against the campaign last August in Fulton County, Georgia, alleging the Greene campaign had conspired to defame an Atlanta-area mortgage company after it fired an employee under a politically charged cloud....

Paul Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at the campaign finance watchdog group Common Cause,... offered a more pointed analysis.

“Sounds as though Marjorie Taylor Greene has received and failed to report an illegal contribution,” Ryan said.

In the campaign finance world, a “contribution” is not just money—it’s anything of value for the purpose of influencing an election. Goods and services, such as legal work, are considered “in-kind contributions,” and campaigns must either report receiving them or pay for them outright.

In this case, Ryan observed, it appears neither of those things happened.

“This could have gone a different way: A lawyer provides services, invoices the candidate for those services, and then the candidate pays for them,” Ryan said. “But it didn’t go that way here, and what we see is unpaid legal services that amount to an illegal contribution.”

Ryan added that the bottom line was that, “if a candidate pays, it’s fine; if not, it’s an in-kind contribution.”

-- MAGA Shit Fight May Land Marjorie Taylor Greene in Legal Hot Water: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) appears never to have paid Lin Wood for his legal work. That’s a potential campaign finance violation, by Roger Sollenberger

• co-counsel for Melissa Rolfe, the stepmother of Atlanta Police Officer David Rolfe, in defamation claims against Equity Prime Mortgage and the Clare Locke law firm.
• lead trial counsel for The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. and Dexter King in connection with claims related to corporate governance.
• lead civil attorney for Jeff Greene in libel litigation against The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald related to Mr. Greene’s 2010 campaign for the Democratic Nomination for the U.S. Senate from Florida.
• lead civil attorney at trial court level for Sheldon Adelson in New York libel litigation against the National Jewish Democratic Council and co-counsel in matters related to Nevada and Florida litigation.
• Lead civil attorney for Dr. Phil McGraw in connection with false and defamatory articles published by Newsweek, the Daily Beast and the National Enquirer.
• lead civil attorney in Whistleblower cases alleging Medicare fraud against DaVita, Inc. in federal court in Atlanta and against Halifax Hospital Medical Center in federal court in Florida

Davita HealthCare Partners recently announced it will pay as much as $495 million in a whistleblower settlement accusing it of defrauding the federal Medicare program. The dialysis company stated the settlement does not admit any wrongdoing, despite this being its third whistleblower settlement since 2012. Payouts in all of the cases total nearly $1 billion.

-- Davita HealthCare Partners Announce $495 Million Whistleblower Settlement, by Whistleblower.com

• lead civil attorney for Howard K. Stern in the prosecution and defense of defamation claims arising out of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.
• lead trial counsel for the Estate of Anna Nicole Smith in federal action for misappropriation and theft of estate property.
• Co-counsel for for Sharon Rocha in matters relating to the media coverage of the December 2002 murder of her daughter, Laci Peterson.
• attorney for former U.S. Congressman Gary Condit in defamation matters relating to the May 2001 abduction and murder of Chandra Levy in Washington against Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne and American Media.
• co-counsel for the victim in the Colorado civil action against Kobe Bryant for damages for alleged rape.
• lead counsel for AirTran Airlines, Inc. in defamation litigation against the Cleveland, Ohio newspaper, The Plain Dealer.
• lead counsel for Esquire Deposition Services LLC in multi-state class actions dealing with billing practices.
• lead trial attorney for Sun Trust Bank in litigation arising out of claims by trust beneficiaries related to an inheritance of Coca-Cola stock.
• lead trial attorney for Phoebe Putney Health Care System and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in the defense of 42 U.S.C. 1983 claims by a former staff physician.
• lead trial attorney for NextGen Fuel, Inc. in the defense of claims alleging breach of contract and intellectual property infringement.

Lawson Pedigo, CO-FOUNDER AND VICE PRESIDENT

Lawson Pedigo, formerly with the United States Department of Justice's Tax Division and Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P., joined Miller Keffer Pedigo as a name partner in 2004. He concentrates on representing individuals and entities involved in complex commercial and financial litigation matters as well as governmental investigations of all types.

Representations

Mr. Pedigo, licensed in 1985, has over thirty years of experience in litigation, including prosecuting complex financial frauds and tax cases for the United States Department of Justice. Since entering private practice, he has represented individuals and corporations in a wide range of complex financial litigations matters. He also represents clients in government investigations and audits of all types, including securities, Health Care Fraud and Abuse (civil, criminal and administrative) matters, FDIC claims against fiduciaries, tax, and Qui Tam cases. He has represented numerous clients in high-profile investigations.

Mr. Pedigo, who began his service in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate, was a Senior Trial Attorney with the Tax Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. In February of 1996, he was appointed to be a Special Assistant United States Attorney to act as co-counsel in the successful prosecution (after a two-month trial) of a major bank and tax fraud conspiracy in Austin, Texas, that caused an estimated loss of over $1 billion to the federal government. In 1999, he was appointed as Associate Independent Counsel and worked for Judge Kenneth Starr. In 2001, after a several month trial he successfully obtained an acquittal for his client in the U.S. v. Jeffus, et al. prosecution which was the largest EPA laboratory fraud case ever prosecuted by the Justice Department and the verdict was on the Wall Street Journal’s front page. In 2002, he successfully defended a significant ERISA matter involving fiduciary liability questions. In 2008, he successfully assisted a large Mexican bank recover millions of dollars of losses caused by a fraud scheme involving misconduct in three continents and seizing a jet aircraft. From 2006 through 2015, he represented the Choctaw and Chickasaws against the United States.
• Filed a suit in 2006 on behalf of the Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nations prosecuting their historic accounting claims dating back to 1907 against the United States. In 2015, the United States settled for $186 million.
• Represented Directors and Officers of financial institutions in responding to FDIC notices of responsibility for potential fiduciary claims as well as defended such claims in federal courts.
• Represented individuals involved in securities litigation matters and has defended contentions involving hundreds of millions of dollars in losses claimed by investors as well as pursued claims in FINRA proceedings.
• Regularly works with entrepreneurs and companies in various capital market transactions.
• Retired from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He served as an Intelligence Officer in the Reserves (with a Top Secret security clearance). He received a number of military honors, including the Combat Action Ribbon for his service in Desert Shield and Desert Storm with the 8th Marines Infantry Regiment. His last billet was at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as an Instructor at the National Intelligence University.
• Mr. Pedigo is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in Texas. In addition he was awarded a Master of Laws (LLM) in Taxation from Georgetown University and has made numerous CLE presentations on ethics, financial fraud and forensic topics.
• Has made numerous presentations government investigations and internationally spoken on corruption issues and trial techniques in the American Legal System. In April 2004, he appeared at the United Nations (UNCITRAL) as a delegate to the United Nations Colloquium on International Commercial Fraud held in Vienna, Austria. In August 2004, he was co-presenter at a seminar titled "International Commercial Fraud: FCPA Prosecution and Defense Perspectives" sponsored by the Association of Corporate Counsel held in Houston, Texas. In 2007 he was a key presenter in Geneva, Switzerland on Strategies for International Tracing and Recovery of Fraud Proceeds.
• Mr. Pedigo's past ABA activities include membership in the Section of Taxation, the Health Care Fraud Subcommittee of the White Collar Crime Section of the ABA, and Co-Chair of the Accounting and Tax Fraud Sub-Committee of the Criminal Laws Committee of the Business Law Section. He is active in the Dallas Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Committee.
• Received a Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting in 1982, and a Juris Doctorate in 1985, both from Baylor University, and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in 1990.

-- Our Team, by Fightback.law

Americans dug deep to send $10 and $20 donations; celebrities loaned money to the Fightback Foundation to get us over the required threshold. The very morning that I received the $2 million wire from FightBack for the bail amount, I obtained a certified check and walked into the courthouse. I handed it across the counter to secure Kyle's release. I don't think anyone else could have done as much in so little time."

-- Kyle Rittenhouse said Lin Wood's and John Pierce's legal defense fund in his name was a scam, by Tom Porter, Business Insider, Nov 23, 2021

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Part 5 of 5

Two individuals in particular are well-known martyrs in the WSM that are often referred to as sources of inspiration in the movement: Dylann Roof and Adolf Hitler. In the lead-up to UTR, rally attendees invoked Dylann Roof, who killed nine African Americans in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, as a source of admiration and inspiration. The following Discord post, posted by someone with the Discord handle “Ignis Faatus” four days before the UTR, provides an example of how Roof is discussed within WSM culture:

“Alright guys I’m headed down to free Dylann roof and we are going to head to cville in a parade formation”229

Other posts on Discord referenced Roof’s bowl-shaped haircut in their statements bringing together his violent actions with their plans for UTR. Three weeks before UTR, Discord user “Fevs#2413” wrote:

“I had a bowlcut last time and I’m showing up with a bowlcut this time [white power symbol] gotta take the whole city to church” 230

Another user wrote on Discord of “The bowlcut of St. Dylann Roof.” 231 One Discord member even chose a handle to seemingly honor Roof: “Tactical BowlCut#441.” One of his Discord posts read, “Bowling for Charlottesville.”232 Heimbach helped foster the cult of the martyr by expressing both private and public support for Roof. Privately, he sent Roof a letter in prison, thanking him for his “service to our people.”233 He then encouraged his followers on Discord to similarly support “our POWs” like Dylan Roof by writing letters. Heimbach told others that Roof should get “a pardon.”234 These posts are important examples, in our opinion, of how WSM culture encourages the emulation of violent white supremacists, and, often does so in relatively innocuous ways such as references to a specific type of haircut. To an outside observer, references to “bowlcuts” may seem innocuous. In fact, such references signify support for mass murder and racially-motivated violence.

Consistent with the cultural practice of glorifying and supporting violence, Defendants made clear that there would be legal support for anyone who ran into legal trouble at the rally, a promise they delivered on after the event. After UTR, Heimbach and another TWP leader, Tony Hovater, visited the jails of white supremacists who had been arrested for violence at UTR, people Heimbach deemed “POWs” by virtue of the sole fact that they were white supremacists in jail.235 Indeed, Heimbach stated he “travel[ed] the country for what seem[ed] like nonstop recently to visit with [my comrades arrested in Charlottesville], attend court, meet the families, fundraise for the legal fund, et cetera.”236 Heimbach also sent individual letters to people arrested for violence at Charlottesville and thanked them for “their service to our people.”237

Admiration for Adolf Hitler was also prominent on Discord servers. Defendants explicitly referenced Hitler or Nazism in posts in positive tones, as Heimbach did on the eve of UTR: “Hail Victory comrade!”238 And servers linked directly to the Defendants included “Heil Hitler” and “Heil Hitler!” posts.239 The Tradworker Server associated with the Traditionalist Worker Party contained the following post of Hitler emulation, even worship that called for a monument to Hitler as a martyr and suggested sainthood for him:

I cannot wait until the day finally comes that we can have a towering monument to the world honoring Hitler as the martyr of our people he was. A new pagan-Christian fusion church needs to happen and we will have him as a saint, under Christ of course.240

Defendants also invoked Hitler by posting memes and images. As an example, Ray “created the dankest of memes” for UTR, titling his meme “hitlercharlottesville” and posting it in three Discord servers four days prior to UTR.241


GET IN LOSER. WE'RE INVADING CHARLOTTESVILLE! hitlercharlottesville.png

Within WSM culture, Hitler and Nazi Germany provide an important historical reference by offering a concrete example of what “Aryans” can achieve, especially in terms of military domination. Thus, it is common for Hitler and Nazi Germany to be associated with contemporary events such as UTR which, in turn, provides the event with the status that Nazi Germany symbolizes within the WSM.

c. The Defendants Used Constant and Pervasive Messaging of Violence

It appears to us that the Defendants posted messages on Discord and elsewhere that encouraged racially-motivated violence at UTR in two ways. Most directly, certain of Defendants’ messages explicitly called for and glorified white supremacist violence and signaled their aspirations for a violent confrontation at UTR. More indirectly, however, Defendants also seeded a violent white supremacist subculture on Discord that spiraled into an outpouring of brutal messages of violence and genocide through which anonymous users of the platform prompted each other to engage in violence at UTR.

Defendants circulated images and text that portray Jews and Blacks as enemies who needed to be stopped through violence. Kline posted: “goodbye Jews... they deserve their fate... they are scum … they deserve the rope.”242 During the planning for UTR, Ray declared that “I want to invest in race-specific bioweapons and nigger killing robots.”243 Ray also called for “GLOBAL NIGGERDEATH NOW!”244 In our opinion, such comments are consistent with a long history of WSM ideas regarding the importance of using violence to overcome “racial enemies.” For his part, Heimbach posted that it was necessary to “fight” Jews and inserted himself as a willing participant: “@<Kombat-Unit#484> I support any group that is fighting the kikes and their minions.”245 Members of Defendants VA proposed chants, including: “We don’t need no fucking song, to know that Hitler did nothing wrong!”246 TWP members called for UTR attendees to “*FIRE UP THE OVEN TO 1488 DEGREES*”247 Ray posted the image below entitled “Surrender Juden.”248


SURRENDER JUDEN! azzaxesurrender.png

Ray also posted:249


Nigger Tote. A FN Technologies. Whether you have an exuberant Buck or just a young niglet, you need the NIGGER TOTE nigger transportation system. A few extra turns of the stabilizer screw and your nigger will be safely secured and ready to transport anywhere. Only $59.95. Fully adjustable spine will accomodate a nigger of any size. 1-800-Nigger-Tote. Nothing on the market today provides a safer way to transport your nigger, and a more effective way to mold your nigger into the well-mannered creature God intended. Call now! All major credit cards accepted. Nigger-Tote.jpg.

And a May 2017 post by Kline presented as lyrics to be sung, was a vicious elaboration of neo-Nazi aspirations for another Jewish genocide. An excerpt from that post reads:

“Oh, yeah Jews in the dirt, babe
That ain’t no lie
You’ve seen them all gassed you know,
oh I remember you told me
That it made you believe in
The Jew, must die
Maybe that’s why
Every time I gas the jew
They always seem to turn so blue
We’ll preheat ovens again
But we’re not like them Baby, we’ll gas the heeb
It will be real this time
Guess what It’s gonna be reee
We’ve got no choice, babe
But to get zyklon, and you know
There ain’t no time to waste
So just, they’re too blind, to see
But in the end, ya know we’ll gas the heeb”250

In our opinion, that Kline chose to set these violent words to the tune of a song reflects a common white supremacist practice of using music to recruit members and desensitize individuals to the nature of the violence that is being advocated.

Further, these statements by Defendants to a group knowingly sympathetic to their white supremacist ambitions exemplify the precise type of messaging historically relied on by the WSM to stimulate excitement and align participants to a common set of ideas, tactics, and identities. Leaders of these groups are generally aware that once initiated, such subcultures tend to be self-reinforcing and intensify their members’ commitments to a specific way of thinking. For example, Klan leaders may produce the cross-burning ritual and initiate racist and violent chants under the fiery cross, but other participants reinforce the emotional energy and direction of the rally through their own actions and interactions with others.251

The large volume of specific statements on Discord and elsewhere that specifically encouraged violence at UTR points to consistent patterns that similarly cut across the WSM’s history. One active participant on the Charlottesville 2.0 Discover server, who posted under the handle “Tyrone,” illustrates this point by drafting the statements below that seemed designed to encourage attendees to consider a number of strategies to enact violence at the UTR:

Tyrone: “‘just carry a pocket full of rocks.’”252

Tyrone: “‘is it legal to run over protestors blocking roadways? I’m NOT just shitposting. I would like clarification.”253

Tyrone: “a wrench with a wrist lanyard gets the same job accomplished.”254

Tyrone: “I’m bringing Mosin-Nagants w/ bayonets attached… it will shoot clean through a crowd at least four deep. Not if they are the 145 lb variety.”255

Tyrone: “‘driving over protestors blocking roadways isn’t an offense. This is a crossover for this channel and VA law.”256

Tyrone: “Sure would be nice.”257


INTRODUCING JOHN DEERE'S NEW MULTI-LANE PROTESTER DIGESTOR. MEMFUL.COM. image.png

Of particular note are the last two posts and the image of the “protester digester” referencing the use of vehicles to attack protestors. Part of how violence is generated within WSM culture is by circulating ideas regarding the use of specific types of violence which, as we explained above, helps build violent repertoires. Tyrone himself posted multiple times about using vehicles to run over protestors: “Is it legal to run over protestors blocking roadways?”258 “I’m NOT just shitposting. I would like clarification. I know it’s legal in NC and a few other states. I’m legitimately curious for the answer.”259 Tyrone’s posts are consistent with other messages and memes within WSM culture and, even from other Defendants, regarding car attacks prior to UTR. For example, Fields posted a meme in the same vein depicting a car running into protestors just weeks before UTR.260 Likewise, an unknown Discord user with the handle Tee CA#1233 posted on July 8, 2017, “What is i[t] called when you run over a protester? #BlackLivesSplatter.”261 On July 17, 2017, Shane Duffy, a TWP member, posted the following picture and saying: “This will be us.”262



And on August 10, 2017, a Discord user with the handle “Mudkips#8107 posted: “you’re supposed to run over them with yoru [sic] car.”263

d. Defendants Recruited UTR Participants That Were Willing to Utilize Violence

Our review of Discord makes it clear that the Defendants planned violent confrontations at UTR by recruiting participants that were seemingly likely to be prepared and willing to engage in violence. Specifically, Defendants’ messages seem targeted to individuals and groups that had been previously involved in violent confrontations. Early in the planning process, Kessler posted on Discord that he had successfully enlisted major WSM figures representing the different factions, which each had members who had been involved in violent clashes: “so far I’ve spoken to Heimbach, Spencer, McInnes, Baked Alaska, Enoch and Stickman. All of them are onboard for a Unite The Right event in Charlottesville.”264

Kessler and Kline worked together to involve Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman, who we understand earned his nickname at the Battle of Berkeley, as referenced above. After successfully recruiting Chapman, Kessler and Kline reviewed and approved of a press release about UTR from Chapman that called for violence at UTR by telling his followers that they had “to fight back or submit.” It does not appear that either Kessler or Kline expressed any concern about Chapman’s explicit call for violence and instead expressed concern that the press release “backs himself in the corner by pretending some of our guys aren’t Nazis.”265

Heimbach also indicated his knowledge of the violent groups being invited to UTR. In a text exchange between Heimbach and Andrew Anglin (leader of the Daily Stormer), the two discussed Anglin’s potential promotion of Heimbach’s UTR materials. In that communication, Heimbach listed multiple groups with violent histories as being involved with UTR, including TWP, NSM, VA, and LoS. Heimbach has also testified that Ray had a reputation for violence.266

Another example of Defendants’ decision to invite violent individuals and groups to UTR was the inclusion of the violent white supremacist fight club Rise Above Movement (RAM). Although RAM had only formed in 2016, the group quickly developed a reputation for committing violence at several political rallies. This reputation was informed, in part, by the group’s own promotion of its violence particularly in choreographed propaganda training videos distributed via social media. Several RAM members, including leader and founder Rob Rundo, Mike Miselis, and Aaron Eason, were also members of IE. They attended the Battle of Berkeley with Damigo and participated in MMA fight clubs with IE member and now leader, Patrick Casey. Rundo, Ben Daley, and Miselis were all participants in the Charlottesville 2.0 Discord server. RAM members seemed to understand that their invitation to UTR was largely connected to their history of violence at public rallies. On Discord, Daley posted the following: “Need room for at least 3 Goys from CA. For Friday and Saturday night. Solid sober respectful experienced at these events all were in Berkeley riots. Plz let me know.”267 Daley’s post is both an admission and a reminder that the RAM members planned to attend UTR and were prepared to commit violence at the event. On Jun 30, 2017, Miselis posted to Discord that he was “Looking forward to the day,” and specifically noted that he “Will be bringing another Berkeley/Huntington vet” -– a reference to two previously violent WSM events.268

Four RAM members ultimately attended UTR: Daley, Miselis, Cole White, and Thomas Guillen, and each of them was involved in violent assaults at UTR. Video footage on Saturday, August 12, 2017, depicts Daley and Miselis assaulting counter-protesters alongside Kline. Daley’s sentencing memo indicates that he knew that, prior to the UTR, RAM members would be committing violence at the event and was fully aware that attendees, including RAM members, were expected to commit violence at the event.269

It is apparent that, early in the planning for UTR, Kessler recognized that the coalition he and his fellow defendants were assembling for UTR contained violent and volatile persons and groups: “the altright is a dangerous movement. It feeds on the chaos energy of our unchecked racism bantz but in IRL activism you have to be more like a civil rights movement for whites. Its difficult to say that you can contain that manic energy and maintain the enthusiasm.”270 It is difficult to view the decision of Kessler and the other defendants to include these violent individuals and groups in UTR as anything other than as an endorsement for violence and, in our opinion, as consistent with the WSM’s history of organizing events by including members with known violent histories.

e. The Violence Planned on Discord Played Out on August 11-12, 2017, By Both Defendants and Other Discord Participants

As we discussed above, ritualistic displays of white power serve to normalize violence. Those displays often follow a familiar progression: participants evolve from (1) expressing violent ideas and (2) using intimidating but nonviolent symbols and behaviors to (3) committing overt acts of violence.

In our opinion, the planning stages of UTR involved the dissemination of (1) and (2) -- violent ideas and the use of intimidating symbols, primarily on Discord. The weekend of August 11 and 12 involved all three components -- violent ideas, intimidating symbols and behaviors, and overt violence. As described below, some of the violence was committed by Defendants themselves in precisely the manner they indicated would happen. Some of the violence was committed by others connected to the Defendants in a manner that appears to have been influenced by the racially-violent subculture the Defendants imported into Discord. In any event, however, the violence at UTR closely followed the WSM playbook.

The torch march was the first example from the weekend of August 11 and 12 of violence that incorporated the symbolism of white supremacy. It also was the logical outgrowth of much of what was discussed over the summer of planning the event. The decision to have marchers hold fire torches during the Friday evening march is consistent with a long WSM history of ritualistic displays of fire for the purposes of intimidation and has various associations with the KKK, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust.271 In this event, members of the procession began chanting in unison, “You will not replace us,” and “Jews will not replace us” which refers to the idea of a genocidal plot by an international conspiracy of Jews to eradicate the white race, sometimes referred to as “replacement theory.” Marchers also chanted “blood and soil,” another phrase borrowed from Nazi Germany. Throughout the Friday night torch march (and continuing into the Saturday event), aggressive statements were expressed that were in keeping with prior WSM events and messaging, including the following by unnamed individuals who were yelling at bystanders and counter-protesters: “blood and soil”272; fuck’n marxist scum motherfucker”; “throw some hands”; “fuck’n leftist piece of shit”; “this is our town now”; and “Pinochet did nothing wrong.”273 Predictably, the racially symbolic and aggressive march, which was led by certain Defendants, culminated in violence by the white supremacists against the relatively few counter-protestors in attendance. Consistent with WSM culture, the counter-protestors were portrayed by the white supremacists as “outsiders” that posed some sort of threat, which “justified” the violence toward them, according to the white supremacists. In reality, the counter-protestors appeared to be simply peaceful protestors speaking out against white supremacy.

Another example of racially-motivated violence from UTR that was expressly foreshadowed by Defendants took place on Saturday. In a post to Discord a month before UTR, Ray claimed, “Myself & some of the other Daily Stormer guys are gonna be out front with a big bully squad hogging all the attention & gassing all the kikes.”274 This post, on its face, indicated plans to attend the UTR with a “bully squad” as well as his intentions regarding “gassing all the kikes.” As planned, Ray in fact maced counter-protestors at the torch march, a criminal act for which he was indicted. He is captured on video the following day bragging about his actions in similarly antisemitic terms: “I personally literally gassed half dozen kikes…” In the video, Ray then provides a physical demonstration by motioning with one of his hands in a spraying-like fashion. In short, Ray, a leader in the WSM, publicized his plans on Discord to commit anti-Semitic violence at UTR and then did just that.

In addition to planned violence committed by Defendants themselves, there were examples of violence directly ordered by Defendants on August 11 and 12. For example, multiple sources of video footage depict Heimbach marching alongside Tubbs and other Defendant groups, such as LoS, during the Saturday event as their phalanx approached a group of apparently unarmed counter-protesters gathered in the street. As Defendants came closer to the counter-protestors, Heimbach shouts “shields up” to the group. At his command, members of his group, TWP, and the other Defendant groups he’s marching with, raised their shields and violently smashed into the group of counter-protesters.275

In addition to planned violence committed and ordered by Defendants, there was violence committed by UTR attendees that, by its nature, appears to have stemmed from the encouragement of specific violent acts discussed by Defendants on Discord. As discussed, a subculture, once nurtured by leaders, can gain momentum that may require only minimal ongoing intervention from leaders to achieve their objectives. When Defendants extended the white supremacist culture into the Charlottesville 2.0 and associated servers on Discord, they likely knew that, with some encouragement, users would urge each other toward the vision for UTR in the specific ways that the Defendants desired, including the use of violence to achieve certain goals such as intimidation/terrorism, recruiting new members, sustaining current members, displaying strength, and causing chaos in the larger community/society to accelerate the conditions necessary to execute a full-blown race war (RaHoWa).

One example of violence that was encouraged on Discord by the Defendants and their compatriots and committed by UTR attendees on August 11 and 12, in addition to car attacks, was the use of flagpoles with which to beat counter-protesters, while doubling as supposed “free speech” implements. As Kessler stated on June 7, 2017 on Discord: “We should bring picket signs that can be used as sticks to bludgeon our enemies if they get violent.”276 Similarly, “Tyrone” commented, “I'm thinking of flying one of these [flag poles] at the rally, mostly so I can have an axe handle or 2 on hand.”277

Many UTR attendees followed suit. After Michael Tubbs and Heimbach led the charge with shields into counter-protesters, several UTR attendees began to use flag poles as weapons by gouging or stabbing various counter-protesters with the bottom end.278 One particularly brutal use of a flagpole as a weapon was committed by Vasillis Pisotolis, a friend of Heimbach’s and an affiliate of the white supremacist terror network known as Atomwaffen Division (AWD). Videographic evidence of the Saturday rally depicts Vasillis Pistolis, using a flag pole attached to a flag with Nazi symbolism to assault what appears to be a defenseless counter-protestor laying on the street. Pistolis appears to have posted 395 times on Discord and exchanged direct messages with Kessler, Parrott, and Ray and, as we understand it, would have had access to Kessler and Tyrone’s posts regarding using picket signs and flag poles as weapons.

In our opinion, the ideas regarding violence expressed on Discord were consistent with the expression of violent ideas over the course of the WSM’s history.

f. The Defendants Ratified Their Use of WSM-Style Violence After the Rally

In the wake of the violence that occurred on August 11-12, 2017, Defendants uniformly and vociferously celebrated and ratified that violence by declaring UTR to have been a victory for the WSM. After the Friday night torch march, Kessler declared that “what we accomplished on Friday night shook the rafters of the entire political establishment”279 and declared the torch march an “incredible moment for white people who’ve had it up to here & aren’t going to take it anymore…”280 In the days following UTR, Kessler declared on Twitter that “Heather Heyer was a fat, disgusting Communist. Communists have killed 94 million. Looks like it was payback time.”281 Fields appeared to show no remorse for his actions. His telephone calls from jail seem to confirm that he believed that his actions on August 12, 2017, were justified. Fields told his mother that Heather Heyer’s death “doesn’t fucking matter” because she was “the enemy.”282 After UTR, Kline spoke with his then-girlfriend telling her that UTR was a “success overall” and that he was “a fucking war hero.”283 Kline also sent a direct message on Discord to another IE member declaring UTR an “overall victory.”284 Other Defendants echoed these sentiments:

● Damigo: “This was a huge victory for us.”285

● Spencer: “It was a huge moral victory in terms of the show of force.”286

● Parrott: “Aside from having a couple men unfairly held behind the wire, Charlottesville was a tremendous victory.”287

● Hill: “it’s been an eventful, what 11 days or so here since the rally there in Charlottesville on the 12th of August. A lot has transpired and I couldn’t -- I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of this for the League.”288

● Ray: “This event was a huge victory for the Alt Right.”289

● Schoep: “It was an Honor to stand with U all in C’Ville this weekend. NSM, NF, TWP, LOS, VA, ECK, CHS, and the rest, true warriors!”290

Following the Defendants’ lead in their declarations of victory and success, other attendees of UTR and users on Discord servers associated with the Defendants also seemed to celebrate the violence in Charlottesville. For example:

“Today was a Beer Hall Putsch. Celebrate, for what comes next is glorious. @<WASPVA# 318>”291

“1 dead antifa supporter 2 dead cops 35 ppl injured International coverage. This is a failure how? Were you gathering folks in the park to register them to vote for your mass movement? Or are you building a radicalized political organization? Yesterday was a failure only by 1 standard of measure, the systems standard.”292

“1 dead enemy, 35 injured & 2 dead cops is a win to any true revolutionary fuck your optics & your pr & your autistic memorization of MK. I'm here to fight a fucking war, you are rapidly stacking up as opposition.”293

7. Defendants Utilized Strategies of Deniability Common to the WSM

In our opinion, Defendants used the common WSM strategy of attempting to shield themselves from the legal consequences of their planned violence at UTR by either framing their calls for violence as necessary “self-defense” or by referring to their racist and violent posts as mere jokes.

In the lead up to UTR, Defendants and other Discord users strategized about how to instigate and engage in violence while simultaneously claiming self-defense. For example, Kessler posted about the well-known WSM tactic of triggering, which is done to provoke targets to attack. Kessler explained the tactic as follows: “We triggered this Jew into attacking one of our guys and charged him with assault.”294 Kessler encouraged Charlottesville 1.0 attendees to “come back to Charlottesville and trigger these SURJ [Showing Up for Racial Justice] assholes.”295 He also noted that “If Bellamy shows up we talk shit and try to trigger a chimpout.”296

Kessler also advised UTR attendees on how to assault counter-protesters under the guise of self-defense: “if you want a chance to crack some antifa skulls in self-defense don’t open carry. You will scare the shit out of them and they’ll just stand off to the side...”297 Other Discord users also posted about using the guise of self-defense to hide their violent intentions. For example, Tyrone posted, “What if we are sociopathic and want them [Antifa] to show up, for….self defense purposes?”298 In our opinion, these posts reflect a broader strategy by Defendants and others on Discord to find a way that attendees could engage in violence while retaining plausible deniability about their intent.

Defendants also created posts and memes promoting racial violence that they then could claim were merely off-color jokes, meant to be considered as ironic rather than as serious proposals. In our opinion, joking is a form of double-speak.299 As we explained above, The Daily Stormer Style Guide specifically instructs members of the WSM to use “self-deprecating humor –- I am a racist making fun of stereotypes of racists, because I don’t take myself super-seriously. This is obviously a ploy and I actually do want to gas kike. But that’s neither here nor there.”300 Kline actively urged members of IE to adopt this strategy.301 In an exchange in her deposition, Ms. Froelich explained the IE strategy of cloaking ideologies in the form of jokes:

It was a way to make it palatable for the people who already have an edgier, gallows humor; but also it was a way that if someone were to call you out on it and say, ‘Hey, that’s –- that’s really disgusting ideology,’ you can say, ‘It’s just a joke. We don’t mean it,” even though you did. [Q.ꞏ ꞏAnd so was it actually just a joke or was it for the purpose of plausible deniability?] Plausible deniability. It’s a cover. It’s -- yeah, absolutely. [Q. Did you discuss this concept of using humor intentionally for plausible deniability with anybody within the Alt Right?] Yes.302

In our opinion, this strategy was deliberately weaponized to provoke violence or planted to create a defense in advance of a provoked violent incident. As a user posted on Discord’s Charlottesville 2.0 server two weeks before UTR: “‘Umm, your honor, all that shit about doing violence and joking about it being in ‘self-defense’ was also a joke.’”303 And at UTR, Ray explained, “it’s humor but we mean it” after describing how he had “personally literally gassed half dozen kikes…”

8. Conclusion

In our opinion, the events in Charlottesville orchestrated and implemented by Defendants on August 11 and 12, 2017, quite plainly followed the playbook of the WSM. Our exhaustive review of their planning materials makes it apparent that the Defendants utilized WSM tactics, principally the reliance on racial animus as a motivator, the intentional use of violence to achieve their goals, and a coordinated strategy to obfuscate their aims through the use of “double-speak,” “front-stage/back-stage” behavior, and a discrete and new-age communication platform.
_______________

Notes:

1 https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04219/nsf04219.pdf.  
 
2 Discord was released publicly in 2015 to connect video game users and had 250 million registered users by 2019  (Jargon 2019; Roose 2017; Needleman 2018). Multiple features of Discord made it an attractive venue for white  supremacist communications. Anyone over the age of 13 was permitted to join and start discussion groups. There  was little oversight of message content except via user complaints. Although many of its servers that host gaming  discussions were monitored, some contained content on topics such as school shootings and rape (Cox 2018; Jargon  2019; Weil 2018).
 
3 May 12, 2016, is the earliest date of a Discord post produced in this litigation.
 
4 It is our understanding that Defendants have not retained all of their communications and thus our access to those  communications appears to be limited.
 
5 See https://www.asanet.org/topics/culture. Newer work in the social sciences has shown that culture also is tied to  neuro-physiological processes (Wexler 2006).
 
6 Goddard and Wierzbicka 2004.
 
7 Durkheim 1912.
 
8 Lizardo et al. 2016; Goffman 1974; Swidler 1986; Blee 2012; Latif et al. 2018.
 
9 Collins 2009; Horowitz, 2001; Ferguson and McAuley 2020.
 
10 Fine 2012.
 
11 Swidler 1986.
 
12 Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
13 Barkun 1994; Aho 1990; Blee 2002; Simi and Futrell 2010; Dobratz and Shanks-Meile 2000; Ezekiel 1996.
 
14 We use the term “white supremacist” to describe a common core of racist beliefs; grievances expressed about  nonwhite, Jews, immigrants, and others; and efforts to secure the supremacy of the white race.
 
15 https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/vi ... -0162.xml;  http://sociology.iresearchnet.com/sociology-of-religion/anti-semitism/.
 
16 Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
17 Johnston 2013.
 
18 Wasserman 1994.

19 Blee, DeMichele, Simi, and Latif 2017; Blee 2002; Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
20 Cunningham 2004; Burkey, Ramsland and Hall 2008; Thompson 1982.
 
21 Foxman 2010.
 
22 Caren et al. 2012; see also Hoo, Goodman & Greenberg 1997.
 
23 Berlet 2001: p.4.
 
24 Berlet 2001.
 
25 Goffman 1974.
 
26 Gardell 2003.
 
27 Baker 2016; Vysotsky and Madfis 2016.
 
28 Cooter 2006.
 
29 Simi and Futrell 2020.
 
30 Berbrier 2000; Mudde 2017.
 
31 Futrell and Simi 2017.
 
32 Goffman 1959.
 
33 McIlroy-Young and Anderson 2019.
 
34 Cooter 2006; Vysotsky and Madfis 2016; Simi and Futrell 2009.
 
35 Blee 2002; Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
36 Futrell and Simi 2004.
 
37 http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/f ... nzerfaust/.
 
38 “Race traitor” is a term generally used for whites who oppose, betray, or fail to join the cause of white supremacy,  and who, in the perspective of white supremacists, have fallen victim to anti-white brainwashing.
 
39 Parsons 2015; Trelease 1971.
 
40 Trelease 1971.
 
41 Cunningham 2013.
 
42 Blee 1991.
 
43 Cunningham 2013.
 
44 Turque 1991.
 
45 Ferber 1997.
 
46 Blee 2016; Blee et al 2017; Simi et al. 2017; Windisch et al 2018.
 
47 Bracke 2020.
 
48 Jasper 2011.
 
49 Berbrier 2000.  
 
50 Berbrier 1998.
 
51 Blee 2002; Darby 2019; Jackson, S. “Conspiracy theories in the patriot/militia movement.” GW Program on  Extremism, May. https://cchs.gwu.edu/sites/cchs.gwu.edu ... ds/Jackson% 2C% 20Conspiracy%  20Theories% 20Final. pdf (2017); Bartlett, Jamie, and Carl Miller. The power of unreason: Conspiracy theories,  extremism and counter-terrorism. London: Demos, 2010.
 
52 Froelich deposition, p. 68.  
 
53 Byman 2020.
 
54 Byman 2020.
 
55 Department of Homeland Security 2019; Soufan Center 2019.
 
56 Correll, Urland, and Ito 2006; Windisch et al 2018.
 
57 https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/y ... raterally-  with-white-nationalist-regalia/.
 
58 Blee 2005; Parsons 2015.
 
59 Blee 2002; Blazak 2009.
 
60 Blee 1991; Cunningham 2013; Gordon 2017.
 
61 Angie et al. 2011.  
 
62 Moshman 2007.
 
63 Simi and Futrell 2020.
 
64 Simi and Futrell 2009.
 
65 Meloy and O’Toole 2011.
 
66 Futrell, Simi, and Gottschalk 2006.
 
67 https://www.metrolyrics.com/victory-day ... -blue.html.
 
68 https://www.gq.com/story/prussia-blue-hitler.
 
69 Tilly 1995.
 
70 Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
71 Adams and Roscigno 2005.
 
72 Snow, Owens, and Tan 2014.
 
73 Wahlström 2011.
 
74 Aho 1994; Collins 2009; Horowitz 2001.
 
75 Parsons 2015.
 
76 Blee 1991; Blee and McDowell 2013.
 
77 Blee 2002; 2011; Hafez and Mullins 2015; Bjorgo and Horgan 2008; Windisch et al 2018.
 
78 Miller-Idriss 2020; Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
79 Blee 2002; Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
80 Latif et. al 2018; McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly 2003; McAdam 1990.
 
81 Gregory 2011.
 
82 Patterson and Handelman 2012.
 
83 Billig 2001.
 
84 https://web.archive.org/web/20000510225 ... arget.html.
 
85 Billig 2001.
 
86 https://web.archive.org/web/20000510225 ... arget.html.
 
87 https://web.archive.org/web/20000511132 ... nging.html.
 
88 Morlin 2017.
 
89 RVA Magazin, Oct. 4, 2017, “White Supremacist Jason Kessler Charged with Felony Perjury,” available at  https://rvamag.com/news/white-supremacist-jason-kessler-charged-with-felony-perjury.html.
 
90 Thompson, A.C. (May 31, 2017). “A Few Things Got Left Out of The Daily Caller’s Report on Confederate  Monument Rally,” available at https://www.propublica.org/article/thin ... nfederate-  monument-rally.
 
91 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Christopher Cantwell,” available at https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/  extremist-files/individual/christopher-cantwell.
 
92 Id.
 
93 Id.
 
94 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Alt-Right,” available at https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremistfiles/  ideology/alt-right.  
 
95 F. Roger Devlin & Richard Spencer, Race 101, NAT’L. POLI’Y. INST. (May 10, 2016).  https://nationalpolicy.institute/2016/05/10/racestalking-the-wild-taboo/#ffn10.
 
96 Def. Richard Spencer Objections and Responses To Pl.’s Request for Production No.4, pg. 10 (Apr 18, 2018).
 
97 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Richard Spencer.”
 
98 Zitchak, Alexander (February 22, 2019). “The Brawler,” Southern Poverty Law Center, available at  https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2018/brawler.
 
99 Id.
 
100 Id.
 
101 Barrouquere 2020.
 
102 Nathan Damigo Deposition Transcript, June 10, 2020, 69:14-23.
 
103 Id. at 69:2-6; 71:13-18.
 
104 Id. at 94:19-97:14.
 
105 Branson-Potts 2016.
 
106 Nathan Damigo Deposition Transcript, June 10, 2020, 136:21-23; 138:12-19.
 
107 Id. at 126:19-21.  
 
108 Cott 2018.
 
109 AltRight, #general, Eli Mosley#5269, 2017-06-02 (4:51 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006626.
 
110 Kelley 2017.
 
111 Counter Extremism Project, available at https://www.counterextremism.com/suprem ... aamerican-  identity-movement.
 
112 Rachel Frazin, Feb. 21, 2018, Identity Evropa Elicits Concern on Campus available at  https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-02-21/identity-evropa-elicits-concern-on-campus.
 
113 Sentencing Memorandum of the United States, United States of America v. James Alex Fields, Jr., 18-cr-11, ECF  No. 50, at 14.  
 
114 Id. at 12.
 
115 Id.
 
116 Id.

117 Id.
 
118 Id. at 13; Adone and Dolan 2018; Augenstein 2018; Lavoie and NBC Washington 2019.
 
119 Southern Poverty Law Center, Alleged Charlottesville Driver Who Killed One Rallied With Alt-Right Vanguard  America Group, August 13, 2017, available at https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/201 ... rica-group.
 
120 Id.
 
121 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Matthew Heimbach,” available at https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/  extremist-files/individual/matthew-heimbach.
 
122 Id.

123 July 31, 2017, Traditionalist Worker Party, 25 Point Plan (MWH00036188).
 
124 July 10, 2017, The Nationalist Front, For Our Children, For Our Future, available at  https://web.archive.org/web/20170710001052/https://www.nfunity.org/.
 
125 Matthew Parrott Deposition Tr. at 36:11-14; 38:24-25; 39:1-5.
 
126 Southern Poverty Law Center, “White Student Unions: White Nationalist Minor League,” available at  https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2013/08/02/white-student-unions-white-nationalist-minor-league.
 
127 Tony Rehagen, “Matthew Heimbach Has A Dream—A Very Different Dream,” Indianapolis Monthly, available  at https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/lon ... hite-space (Mar. 21, 2017).
 
128 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Traditionalist Worker Party,” available at https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/  extremist-files/group/traditionalist-worker-party.
 
129 Potok 2004; Southern Poverty Law Center, “Michael Ralph Tubbs,” available at  https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/michael-ralph-tubbs.
 
130 Potok 2004.  
 
131 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Michael Ralph Tubbs,” available at https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/  extremist-files/individual/michael-ralph-tubbs.
 
132 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Michael Hill,” available at https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremistfiles/  individual/michael-hill.
 
133 Id.
 
134 Southern Poverty Law Center, “League of the South, available at https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/  extremist-files/group/league-south.
 
135 Id.
 
136 Id.
 
137 Id.
 
138 Mettler, Katie (March 1, 2019). “How a black man ‘outsmarted’ a neo-Nazi group — and became their new  leader.” The Washington Post, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... ew-leader/.
 
139 Southern Poverty Law Center, The Nationalist Front Limps into 2017, August 8, 2017, available at  https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/nationalist-front-limps-2017.
 
140 Southern Poverty Law Center, “National Socialist Movement,” available at https://www.splcenter.org/fightinghate/  extremist-files/group/national-socialist-movement.
 
141 Id.
 
142 Id.
 
143 Southern Poverty Law Center, The Nationalist Front Limps into 2017, August 8, 2017, available at  https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/nationalist-front-limps-2017.
 
144 Id.
 
145 Id.
 
146 Id.
 
147 February 21, 2019, The Foundry Podcast #3 at 1:11:00 – 1:11:40 (“The greatest battle victory we’ve had, greater  than Charlottesville,” “truly legendary”).
 
148 AltRight.com (2017, April 16). What Berkeley Means [Video File]. Retrieved from  http://altcensored.com/watch?v=VCvZZlroDQ4.
 
149 Hill, M. [@MichaelHill51], (2017, July 24)., If you want to defend the South and Western Civilization from the  Jew and his dark-skinned allies, be at Charlottesville [Tweet], Twitter.
 
150 MWH00040549.
 
151 Deposition of Samantha Froelich, March 9, 2020, 142:6-14.
 
152 Eli Mosley#5269, DMs with Kurt#8752, 2017-08-11 (2:07 am UTC), DISCORD-008929.
 
153 Azzmador & Anglin, A. (2017, August 8). Charlottesville: Why You Must Attend and What to Bring and Not to  Bring! Retrieved from https://dailystormer.su/charlottesville ... t-tobring-  and-not-to-bring.
 
154 18cr1100000409 - 318cr1100000411.
 
 155 Spencer, R. [@RichardBSpencer], (2017, Aug. 10) @ViceMayorWesB [Tweet], Twitter,  https://twitter.com/richardbspencer?lang=en.
 
156 June 11, 2017, Operation Unite the Right Charlottesville 2.0 (NOCUSTODIAN00013378).
 
157 City_00033058 - City_00033059.
 
158 Law, V. (2017, August 06). The 'Unite The Right' Rally Is Going To Be A Turning Point For White Identity In  America. Retrieved September 19, 2017, from https://altright.com/2017/08/05/the-uni ... oing-tobe-  a-turning-point-for-white-identity-in-america/.
 
159 Cantwell, C. (Producer). (2017, August 8). Agreeing With Liberals Blitzkrieg [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from  https://christophercantwell.com/2017/08/07/radical-agenda-ep340-agreeing-liberals-blitzkrieg/.
 
160 See, e.g., Jason Kessler Deposition Transcript, May 16, 2018, at 237-39.
 
161 Flynn 2018; Roose 2017.
 
162 E.g., Altright, #ama, Azzmador/Azzmador#6970, 2017-08-06 (19:20 UTC),DISCORD-0006647; Altright,  #general, Radical Agenda/Radical Agenda#7529, 2017-08-05 (8:26 am UTC), DISCORD-0006626; Altright,  #general, Vanguard#2353, 2017-07-29 (3:14 am UTC), DISCORD-0006626; Thunderdome, #events,  Azzmador/Azzmador#6970, 2017-08-06 (2:07 am UTC), DISCORD-0005500; Aquilonia, #general,  Azzmador/Azzmador#6970, 2017-05-14 (4:36 am UTC), DISCORD-005571; Radical Agenda, #general, Radical  Agenda/Radical Agenda#7529, 2017-08-01 (12:32 am UTC), DISCORD-004534.
 
163 Jason Kessler Deposition Transcript, May 15, 2018, at 294.
 
164 Matthew Heimbach Deposition Transcript, June 3, 2020, at 582:13-17; Nathan Damigo Deposition Transcript,  June 10, 2020, at 218:24 – 219:07; Elliot Kline Deposition Transcript, August 7, 2019, at 238:11-18; Matthew  Parrott Deposition Transcript, June 26, 2020, at 86:23-25; Thunderdome, #hydra, Zeiger#8932, 2016-10-01 (6:23  pm UTC), DISCORD-0005488.
 
165 Daily Stormer Book Clubs are small crews of young white men who follow and support Andrew Anglin and his  neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer. Launched in July 2013, the website is notorious for its hateful, racist content  and troll culture. Hayden, M. E. (2019, Sept. 18). Daily Stormer Website Goes Dark Amid Chaos, Southern Poverty  Law Center at https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/201 ... amid-chaos.
 
166 Azzmador#6970, DMs with TuneanPerspective#675, 2017-07-04 (8:59 pm UTC), DISCORD-0005402.
 
167 Vanguard South District, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-07-17 (1:35 am UTC), DISCORD-0005588.
 
168 Identity Evropa, #coordinators, Eli Kline#5269, 2017-07-10 (12:39 am UTC), DISCORD-0006145.
 
169 Charlottesville 2.0, #mod_chat, MadDimension#8652, 2017-08-08 (3:16 am UTC), DISCORD-0008280  (emphasis added).
 
170 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, MadDimension#8652, 2017-07-25 (3:17 am UTC), DISCORD-0008235.
 
171 Charlottesville 2.0, #mod_chat, MadDimension#8652, 2017-07-25 (3:26 am UTC), DISCORD-0008280.
 
172 Charlottesville 2.0, #mod_chat, MadDimension#8652, 2017-06-14 (12:15 am UTC), DISCORD-0008280.
 
173 Charlottesville 2.0, #traditionalist_workers_party, MatthewHeimbach#4345, 2017-06-07 (3:37 pm UTC),  DISCORD-0008262.
 
174 Charlottesville 2.0, #modchat, Erika#9709, 2017-06-14 (1:17 am UTC), DISCORD-0008280.
 
175 Latveria, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-08-07 (4:37 am UTC), DISCORD-0005576.
 
176 Parrott#6331, DMs with Bob oliver#2945, 2017-04-08 (12:07 am UTC), DICSORD-0004561.
 
177 Fashy Haircut#9734, DMs with Karl North-TX#1929, 2016-11-26 (8:23 pm UTC), DISCORD-0003315.
 
178 Identity Evropa, #null, Fashy Haircut#9734, 2016-09-16 (4:39 pm UTC), DISCORD0006144. 
 
179 NOCUSTODIAN00011573.
 
180 Andrew Anglin, Daily Stormer Style Guide at 11, #1796741.1.
 
181 Id. at 9.
 
182 Id. at 15.
 
183 July 10, 2017, Robert Azzmador Ray, Salting the Earth Podcast, S2E2.
 
184 Brathovd, B. (Host). (2017, May 1). Richard Spencer and the Nationalist House of Pancakes (No. 29) [Audio  podcast episode]. In Salting the Earth. Third Rail Productions. https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-putb7-  250dea0?utm_campaign=w_share_ep&utm_me  dium=dlink&utm_source=w_share.
 
185 Vanguard South District, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-07-13 (3:21 am UTC), DISCORD-0005588.
 
186 (2018, August 19). Richard Spencer calls for the genocide of all Turks [Video]. Youtube. Retrieved from  https://web.archive.org/watch?v=oSzDnrv5Tas.
 
187 Azzmador#6970, DMs with andrewanglin#3674, 2017-06-29 (1:56 am UTC),DISCORD-0005333.
 
188 Charlottesville2.0, #alex_jones_chat, MadDimension#8652, 2017-06-14 (10:50 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008279.
 
189 AltRight, #general, Radical Agenda#7529, 2017-06-19 (2:41 am UTC), DISCORD-0006626.
 
190 Identity Evropa, #announcements, Fashy Haircut#9734, 2017-07-31 (3:20 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006153  (emphasis added).
 
191 tradworker, #lobby, parrott#6331, 2017-04-16 (3:50 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
192 Matthew Parrott Deposition Transcript, June 26, 2020, at 103:23-104:2.
 
193 Samantha Froelich Deposition Transcript, March 9, 2020, at 36:11-12.
 
194 JK00103534.
 
195 June 2017, Texts between Jason Kessler and Matthew Heimbach (JAS_001_1_00000271).
 
196 Sexton 2019.
 
197 Tradworker, #lobby, Parrott#6331, 2017-01-29 (12:48 am UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
198 Tradworker, #lobby, Parrott#6331, 2017-04-24 (12:31 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
199 June 5, 2017, Text messages between Bakes Alaska and Jason Kessler (JAS_001_1_00000183).
 
200 weev, Operational Security for Right Wing Rallies, DAILY STORMER (July 31, 2017),  https://dailystormer.su/operational-security-for-right-wing-rallies/.
 
201 Latveria, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-07-18 (9:40 pm UTC), DISCORD-0005576.
 
202 Uncensored Politics, #main, Vaughn#922, 2017-06-26 (2:54 pm UTC), DISCORD-0004375.
 
203 Eli Mosely#5269, DMs with McCarthy#6928, 2017-08-01 (7:50 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008808.  
 
204 Charlottesville 2.0, #leadership_discussion, Eli Mosley#5269, 2017-08-11 (7:29 pm UTC),DISCORD-0008290.
 
205 IRL Networking Events (Alt-Right Events Project), #general, MadDimension#8652, 2017-05-21 (6:54 pm UTC),  DISCORD-0006553.
 
206 IRL Networking Events (Alt-Right Events Project), #general, MadDimension#8652, 2017-05-21 (5:30 pm UTC),  DISCORD-0006553.
 
207 IRL Networking Events (Alt-Right Events Project), #general, MadDimension#8652, 2017-05-27 (5:20 am UTC),  DISCORD-0006553.
 
208 Wade’s Grooming Plantation, #general_chat, MadDimension#8652, 2017-06-06 (3:44 am UTC), DISCORD-  0008161.

209 IRL Networking Events (Alt-Right Events Project), #general, Fashy Haircut#9734, 2017-03-18 (6:19 am UTC),  DISCORD-0006553.
 
210 MWH00040549.
 
211 League of the South. (2017, July 9). Fight or die, white man. I can remember a time back in the early days of  what has, praise God [Status update]. Facebook.
 
212 MWH00040550.
 
213 Charlottesville 2.0, #gear_and_attire, Tyrone#4532, 2017-06-08 (6:21 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008257.
 
214 Alduino Deposition Transcript, December 3, 2018, at 135:9-16.
 
215 Identity Evropa KY/TN, #general, Rsolobo#9876, 2017-06-06 (4:21 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006396.
 
216 Identity Evropa KY/TN, #general, RevStench#3208, 2017-06-06 (4:22 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006396.
 
217 Identity Evropa KY/TN, #general, Rsolobo#9876, 2017-06-06 (4:22 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006396.
 
218 Identity Evropa KY/TN, #general, Rsolobo#9876, 2017-06-06 (4:22 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006396.
 
219 Identity Evropa KY/TN, #general, Rsolobo#9876, 2017-06-06 (4:22 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006396.
 
220 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, Gavius Corvus#7031, 2017-08-07 (8:54 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008235.
 
221 Charlottesville 2.0/#leadership_discussion, 2017-08-02, DISCORD-0008290.
 
222 Charlottesville 2.0/#general_1, 8/7/2017, DISCORD-0008235.
 
223 Charlottesville 2.0 Server, #dc_va_md, AltRightVa#2513, 2017-06-05 (11:55 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008246.
 
224 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, AltCelt(IL)#497, 2017-06-23 (5:27 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008235.
 
225 Blee 2002.  
 
226 tradworker, #tradworker, MatthewHeimbach#4345, 2017-02-07 (11:58 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008206.
 
227 NOCUSTODIAN00018446.
 
228 Matthew Parrott Deposition Transcript, June 26, 2020, at 241:8-12.  
 
229 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, Ignis Faatus#5664, 2017-08-07 (7:02 pm UTC),DISCORD-0008235.
 
230 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, Fevs#2413, 2017-07-23 (11:33 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008235.
 
231 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, Pharaoh Bearclaw III - FL#9426, 2017-07-13 (2:21 pm UTC), DISCORD-  0008235.
 
232 Bowl Patrol, #bowlnut_gallery, Tactical BowlCut#441, 2017-08-01 (8:14 am UTC), DISCORD-0005578.
 
233 MWH00041131.
 
234 Matthew Heimbach Deposition Transcript, June 3, 2020, at 694:21-695:4.
 
235 Matthew Heimbach Deposition Transcript, June 3, 2020, at 676:14-677:2.
 
236 Matthew Heimbach Deposition Transcript, June 3, 2020, at 681:21-682:6.
 
237 MWH00041131.
 
238 tradworker, #lobby, MatthewHeimbach#4345, 2017-08-09, (10:07 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
239 Identity Evropa, #southwest, Fishbone #7339, 2016-07-22 (2:45 am UTC), DISCORD-0006152; tradworker,  #lobby, 1Robertelee#8245, 2017-08-13 (3:05 am UTC), DISCORD-0008205; Vanguard Texas, #generaldiscussion,  Adolf Dankler - TX#6283, 2017-07-05 (11:35 pm UTC), DISCORD-0005547.
 
240 tradworker, #lobby, coltonwilliams#2152, 2017-06-20 (4:22 am UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
241 Latveria, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-08-07 (3:30 pm UTC), DISCORD-005576;  Thunderdome, #events, Azzmador#6970, 08-07-2017 (8:14 am UTC), DISCORD-0005500;  Vanguard South District, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-08-07 (8:08 am UTC), DISCORD-0005588.
 
242 NiggKike Bar Mitzvah, #general, EliKline#5269, 2017-05-19, 2:35 am UTC, DISCORD-0006405.
 
243 Thunderdome, #events, Azzmador#6970, 2017-06-29 (8:57 am UTC), DISCORD-0005500.
 
244 Latveria, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-06-15 (3:54 pm UTC), DISCORD-0005576.
 
245 tradworker, #tradworker, MatthewHeimbach#4345, 2017-02-07 (11:53 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008206.
 
246 Charlottesville 2.0, #chants, Aaron - VA#7728, 2017-06-06 (5:15 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008236.
 
247 tradworker, #lobby, B1488#7323, 2017-06-10 (2:00 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
248 NiggKike Bar Mitzvah, #general, Azzmador#6970, 2017-02-19 (5:35 am UTC), DISCORD-0006405.
 
249 Bowl Patrol, #bowlnut_gallery, Azzmador#6970, 2017-07-23 (8:26 am UTC), DISCORD-0005578.
 
250 NiggKike Bar Mitzvah, #general, Eli Kline#5269, 2017-05-17 (4:33 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006405.
 
251 Simi and Futrell 2010.
 
252 Charlottesville 2.0, #virginia_laws, Tyrone#4532, 2017-08-06 (8:11 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008275.
 
253 Charlottesville 2.0, #virginia_laws, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-17 (4:22 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008275;  Charlottesville 2.0, #virginia_laws, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-17 (4:24 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008275.
 
254 Charlottesville 2.0, #virginia_laws, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-19 (10:17 am UTC), DISCORD-0008275.
 
255 Charlottesville 2.0, #questions_for_coordinators, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-24 (11:37 pm UTC), DISCORD-  0008278; Charlottesville 2.0, #questions_for_coordinators, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-24 (11:53 pm UTC), DISCORD-  0008278; Charlottesville 2.0, #questions_for_coordinators, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-24 (11:53 pm UTC), DISCORD-  0008287.
 
256 Charlottesville 2.0, #shuttle_service_information, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-17 (4:20 pm UTC), DISCORD-  0008287.
 
257 Charlottesville 2.0, #shuttle_service_information, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-17 (4:21 pm UTC), DISCORD-  0008287.1.
 
258 Charlottesville 2.0, #virginia_laws, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-17 (4:22 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008275.
 
259 Charlottesville 2.0, #virginia_laws, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-17 (4:24 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008275.
 
260 See City_00033057, City_00033056.
 
261 AltRight, #general, Tee CA#1233, 2017-07-08 (12:26 am), DISCORD-0006626.
 
262 Charlottesville 2.0, #shuttle_service_information, AltCelt(IL)#497, 2017-07-17 (4:05 pm UTC), DISCORD-  0008287.
 
263 AltRight, #general, Mudkips#8107, 2017-0810 (2:56 pm UTC), DISCORD-0006626.
 
264 IRL Networking Events (Alt-Right Events Project), #general, MadDimension#8652, 2017-05-30 (8:03 pm UTC),  DISCORD-006553.
 
265 JK00030207-JK00030210.
 
266 Matthew Heimbach Deposition Transcript, June 3, 2020, at 557:19-21.
 
267 Charlottesville 2.0, #lodging_wanted, Ben Daley#9962, 2017-07-24 (7:41 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008266.  
 
268 Charlottesville 2.0, #identity_evropa, Chuck Anhöven – CA#6028, 2017-06-30 (1:29 am UTC), DISCORD-  0008264.  
 
269 Sentencing Memorandum of the United States, United States of America v. Benjamin Daley, 18-cr-25, ECF No.  142, at 13.
 
270 IRL Networking Events (Alt-Right Events Project), #general, MadDimension#8652, 2017-05-20 (4:26 am UTC),  DISCORD-0006553.
 
271 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ht/537459/.
 
272 Richard Spencer Deposition Transcript, July 1, 2010, at 271:17-19.
 
273 Video, “Baked Alaska – Unite the right pre game torch march (August 11).
 
274 NiggKike Bar Mitzvah, #charlottesville-contact, Azzmador/Azzmador#6970, 2017-07-27 (7:33 pm UTC),  DISCORD-0006413.
 
275 Exhibit 103 to Matthew Heimbach Deposition, June 3, 2020.
 
276 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, MadDimension#8652, 2017-06-07 (2:44 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008235.
 
277 Charlottesville 2.0, #flags_banners_signs, Tyrone#4532, 2017-06-19 (2:05 am UTC), DISCORD-0008240.  
 
278 Exhibit 103 to Deposition of Matthew Heimbach, June 3, 2020; see also National Geographic video, “See the  Sparks That Set Off Violence in Charlottesville,” at 19:31.
 
279 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, MadDimension#8652, 2017-08-13 (10:59 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008235.
 
280 Kessler, J. [@TheMadDimension]. (2017, August 11). Incredible moment for white people who’ve had it up to  here & aren’t going to take it anymore. Tomorrow we #UnitetheRight #Charlottesville [Tweet]. Twitter. (Exhibit 29  to the Deposition of Jason Kessler, May 16, 2018.)
 
281 Kessler, J. [@TheMadDimension]. (2017, August 18). Heather Heyer was a fat, disgusting communist.  Communists have killed 94 million. Looks like it was payback time. [Tweet]. Twitter.
 
282 Sentencing Memorandum of the United States, United States of America v. James Alex Fields, Jr., 18-cr-11, ECF  No. 50, at 43.
 
283 Samantha Froelich Deposition Transcript, March 9, 2020, at 159:8-22.
 
284 Eli Mosley#5269, DMs with wyatt#1030, 2017-08-12 (6:50 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008632.
 
285 Exhibit 39 to Nathan Damigo Deposition, June 10, 2020.
 
286 Exhibit 47 to Spencer Deposition, July 1, 2020.
 
287 NOCUSTODIAN00044703.
 
288 James Michael Hill Deposition Transcript, June 18, 2020, at 243:24-244:5.
 
289 Azzmador, (2017, August 31), The Road to Charlottesville and the Shuttening. Retrieved from  https://dailystormer.su/the-road-to-charlottesville-and-the-shuttening/.
 
290 Jeff Schoep (@nsm88), Twitter (Aug. 13, 2017, 10:21 PM).
 
291 Identity Evropa, #cville2, Wilhelm#5377, 2017-08-13 (2:46 am UTC), DISCORD-0006191.
 
292 tradworker, #lobby, My Name Is Hate#8567, 2017-08-13 (1:14 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
293 tradworker, #lobby, My Name Is Hate#8567, 2017-08-13 (2:15 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008205.
 
294 The Discord Stuff, #general, MadDimension#8652, 2017-06-04 (6:08 am UTC), DISCORD-0006366.
 
295 IRL Networking Events (Alt-Right Events Project), #general, MadDimension#8652, 2017-05-30 (7:44 pm UTC),  DISCORD-0006553.
 
296 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, MadDimension#8652, 2017-7-11 (6:11:09), DISCORD-0008235.
 
297 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, MadDimension#8652, 2017-06-09 (12:55 am UTC), DISCORD-0008235.
 
298 Charlottesville 2.0, #antifa_watch, Tyrone#4532, 2017-07-23 (4:26 pm UTC), DISCORD-0008291.
 
299 Simi and Futrell 2010; Blee 2002.
 
300 NOCUSTODIAN000111573.
 
301 Samantha Froelich Deposition Transcript, March 9, 2020, at 80:20-81:2.
 
302 Samantha Froelich Deposition Transcript, March 9, 2020, at 79:23-80:14.

303 Charlottesville 2.0, #general_1, Herr Schmidt - MI#3502 2017-07-26 (2:33 am UTC), DISCORD-0008235.

[admin]

Unite the Right verdict sends an urgent message
by Frida Ghitis
CNN
Updated 6:20 PM ET, Wed November 24, 2021

Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

(CNN)For those of us who are growing increasingly worried about the prospect of even more deadly political violence in the United States, Tuesday's verdict by a Charlottesville jury -- which held extreme far-right leaders and groups that organized and participated in the violent 2017 rally liable for more than $26 million in damages -- came as very welcome news.

The defendants were found liable on state conspiracy and other claims, though the jury said it could not reach a verdict on two federal conspiracy claims. Still, it's a good day when some of the worst people in the country are held accountable and slapped with potentially crippling financial penalties.

The threat is far from over. But even if defendants don't come up with the millions the jury assessed against them, or the damages are reduced by the court, the trial and its outcome sent a signal that in America, there will be accountability after all for those awful summer days, a message that has been much too scarce since political violence started surging in the past few years.

The money may never come, and the ideology will not disappear. But this trial should accomplish at least two important goals. First, it should make others planning to make such a brazen public display of the horrifying views think twice.

Second, it establishes clearly and incontrovertibly that what occurred in Charlottesville in 2017, a landmark moment in US history, is an affront to the country's values, enlarging Americans' understanding of the violent threat posed by right-wing extremism, by making clear what the violence in Charlottesville was all about.

That event was not the first far-right attack in the US, but it opened the gates further and in a new way to displays of armed political radicalism, a threat that has been growing and accelerating, culminating in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a coup attempt, in my view.

The events in Charlottesville on August 11 and 12, 2017, are seared in the minds of many Americans. It was the first year of a presidency that had excited far-right extremists. The march through the grounds of the University of Virginia looked and sounded like something out of 1930s Nazi Germany, with tiki torches and shouts of "Jews will not replace us," "Blood and soil," and stiff-armed Nazi-style salutes.

The moment seemed to confirm our worst fears. The day after that spine-chilling march, violent clashes between racists and anti-racists turned deadly when one of the defendants rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring several of the people now turned plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

After the Unite the Right rally, Americans -- and the rest of the world -- heard the former president speak out of both sides of his mouth, struggling to criticize the extremists among his supporters to the delight of neo-Nazis. He finally managed to condemn them, but not without declaring that there were "some very fine people on both sides."

During the trial, jurors came face-to-face with the repugnant views of the defendants. These views are protected by the First Amendment, but the Constitution does not permit violence or conspiracy. "This is going to be a violent summer," texted the once-far-right icon Richard Spencer two months before the rally. (Spencer has said the trial has been "financially crippling.") On a far-right message board, a man calling himself "JUDENJAGER," Jew Hunter in German, wrote, "we are gonna see some serious brawls at cville and we'll see blood on some of these white polos lol."

In these proceedings, some of the defendants spoke admiringly of Hitler and repeatedly uttered the n-word. One of the attorneys deliberately used the word k--e, an antisemitic slur, in an effort to "desensitize the jury," he explained.

The evidence was overwhelming. The jury found that five far-right groups should pay $1 million each, and a dozen defendants should pay $500,000 apiece, in punitive damages for participating in a civil conspiracy.

America -- and the world -- need to hear the message of accountability this jury has sent. After Charlottesville, far-right extremists became even deadlier. The next year, a man shouting "All Jews must die!" burst into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire, killing 11 people. The year after that, a man who police say told them he was targeting Mexicans allegedly shot and killed 23 people in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Before long, armed militias were everywhere, protesting pandemic restrictions and demonstrating in support for former President Trump's bogus claims about the election. Militia members planned to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The FBI says racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVES) pose the greatest terrorist threat to the nation, and it found that January 6 "demonstrates a willingness by some to use violence," to achieve political goals.

America is also awash in weapons, and many of those weapons are in the hands of far-right militants ready to use them for political purposes. "When do we get to use the guns," asked an activist during a recent event by the right-wing youth group Turning Point USA. "I mean, literally, where's the line?" he asked again, "How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?"

If this is not frightening enough, consider what we have seen during this very unusual week.

In an odd coincidence, three separate trials all dealing with the tensions and the violence that have erupted in this country in recent years, reached a climax. In addition to Charlottesville, there's the conviction of three White men in Georgia for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man they chased down. And then there was the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who showed up at an anti-racism protest armed with an assault rifle, which he used to kill two protesters in what he said was self-defense, a claim the jury accepted in their acquittal of him on all charges.

There's no evidence that Rittenhouse was an extremist, but this is a young man who -- let's say this again -- shot and killed two people. And despite the tragic outcome of his actions, Rittenhouse has become a hero in the eyes of many. His apotheosis included a meeting with the idol of the right, former President Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago. In a normal, stable society, he would have gone home and kept quiet, counting himself lucky not to spend the rest of his life in prison. His backers surely would have breathed a sigh of relief and perhaps tried to change the subject.

His actions, using a firearm in the middle of a political protest, are being touted as inspiration. Members of Congress are competing to bring him onto their staffs. One of those members, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, told his followers after Rittenhouse's acquittal: "You have a right to defend yourselves. Be armed, be dangerous and be moral."

The threats posed by extremist rhetoric and violence have not vanished, but in an environment like the one we're living in, the Charlottesville victory was important. Coming just before Thanksgiving, it gives one more reason to celebrate, however cautiously, during these perilous times.

[admin]

School Official Gets DEATH THREATS For Investigating Neo-Nazi Students
by the Young Turks
Jan 3, 2022



A group of teenagers from a California high school were pictured with prominent swastikas drawn all over their bodies, prompting an investigation by their school’s superintendent. As it turns out, the superintendent, her family, and her colleagues have been receiving death threats almost daily. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET. http://youtube.com/theyoungturks/live

Read more HERE:
https://news.yahoo.com/california-sch...

"A school superintendent from California said she's been "subjected to death threats on a daily basis" after launching an investigation into a photo showing a group of students posing with swastikas drawn on their bodies.

"This has been one of the most traumatizing experiences in my life and in the lives of my colleagues," said Wheatland Union High School District Superintendent Nicole Newman on in a video shared to Facebook on Thursday.

She and her colleagues have also received "threats that are aimed against our families," Newman added in the video.

The photo, showing eight white students with thick, black swastikas painted onto their torsos, went viral on social media. The students, some of whom are holding alcoholic beverages, appear to be at a house party. The students attend Wheatland Union High School, Newman confirmed."

***************************

A California school superintendent said she's been 'subjected to death threats on a daily basis' since launching an investigation into a photo of students posing with swastikas drawn on their bodies
by Yelena Dzhanova
Jan 2, 2022, 7:07 AM

* A California school superintendent said she's facing death threats after announcing an investigation into students posing with swastikas.

* Nicole Newman said she saw a photo of Wheatland Union High School students with thick, black swastikas painted onto their torsos.

*"This has been one of the most traumatizing experiences in my life and in the lives of my colleagues," she said.

A school superintendent from California said she's been "subjected to death threats on a daily basis" after launching an investigation into a photo showing a group of students posing with swastikas drawn on their bodies.

"This has been one of the most traumatizing experiences in my life and in the lives of my colleagues," said Wheatland Union High School District Superintendent Nicole Newman on in a video shared to Facebook on Thursday.

She and her colleagues have also received "threats that are aimed against our families," Newman added in the video.

The photo, showing eight white students with thick, black swastikas painted onto their torsos, went viral on social media. The students, some of whom are holding alcoholic beverages, appear to be at a house party. The students attend Wheatland Union High School, Newman confirmed.

"When I first saw them, I was profoundly disturbed and heartbroken. I knew just how much pain these images were going to cause our community," Newman said.

The students have been disciplined, according to the Sacramento Bee. But details of the consequences they are expected to face were not publicly shared for legal reasons.

Newman said the video message posted on Thursday would be the last public update on the case "as we cannot legally go into detail regarding the discipline of these students."

"There is no denying that, the choices made by the students in the picture were hurtful and deeply troubling. Their actions do not represent who we are as a school district and community," Newman said in a separate statement on December 23.

Newman said she'd reach out to elected officials and "key community stakeholders" to "begin the process of having a broader community conversation about how we can work together to prevent this type of issue from ever happening again."

[admin]

Expert GOES UNDERCOVER and EXPOSES Recruitment Tactics of Dangerous Extremist Groups
Kristofer Goldsmith* [The Neo-Nazi Hunter: “A few years ago, a friend of mine that I served with called me up and said, ‘Hey, Goldie, I joined a neo-Nazi organization, and I want you to help me take them down.’” —Kristofer Goldsmith, Founder of Task Force Butler. Veteran Kristofer Goldsmith fought in Iraq. Now he brings his fight to the far right at home. Founder of the nonprofit Task Force Butler, Goldsmith works with other veterans to infiltrate neo-Nazi hate groups and compile evidence to stop them.]
MeidasTouch
Jul 27, 2023

Against All Enemies is a YouTube/podcast series and upcoming documentary film about threats to American democracy. In today’s episode, Thomas Rousseau, of the violent white nationalist street gang Patriot Front, is exposed as a failed leader of a dangerous cult. Learn more about how these white nationalist and fascist street gangs are shot through with pedophiles and murderers in our earlier episode:



Transcript

Goldsmith CEO of task force Butler at
both against all enemies and task force
bottom lawyer we're focused on making
sure you're informed about the
persistent threat of neo-nazi's fascist
street gangs and extremists militia
as we're going to show you today the
radicalization pipeline is taking angry
young white men and juicing them up on
grievances hyping them on militant
versions of masculinity and gun culture
and turning them back into our society
there's a generation of Timothy
mcveigh's and Dylan roofs being groomed
for violence and they're just one bad
day away from being our next Mass
shooters
today we're going to make sure you know
about Patriot front leader Thomas
Rousseau and the Nazis who follow him
break the law under his orders and go to
jail to impress him you might have seen
last week that five members of patriot
front were convicted for conspiracy to
Riot in Idaho Rousseau and 30 other
members of his Neo-Nazi gang were
arrested last summer as they were
preparing to attack a pride event in
Coeur d'Alene
they were convicted thanks to Rousseau
writing down that plan to attack people
and carrying that plan with him for the
police to find when they were arrested
Rousseau is 25 and grew up middle class
in Texas Thomas Rousseau is also a
committed white supremacist who hangs
out with pedophiles and murderers
to be clear those are not the opinions
of myself or of task force Butler those
are proven facts with documentary
evidence and multiple convictions to
back up the statements
I'll address those facts very soon but
first Thomas Rousseau
Rousseau began showing signs of white
nationalist beliefs as a young teenager
by High School the FBI had picked up on
his racist organizing across Texas
and as infamy grew as he emerged as a
leader of the white nationalist gang
Vanguard America
in 2017 Rousseau's role as a leader in
Vanguard America also meant he was a
leading organizer behind the deadly
Charlottesville unite the right Neo-Nazi
rally just a moment to define the terms
we're using here because extremists have
done a pretty good job of blurring the
lines
when we say white nationalist we're not
talking about people who are patriotic
and happen to be white
Senator tuberville this note is for you
to be a white nationalist means to be an
advocate for genocide the force removal
or mass murder of people of color this
is the definition of genocide and
genocide is the only way to achieve an
ethno State a white nationalist is a
genocidal Maniac Okay tuberville
and when we say Nazi we're not using
hyperbole we're talking about national
socialism the far-right totalitarian
political ideology and practices
associated with Adolf Hitler and the
Nazi party in Nazi Germany again we're
talking about people who want to see our
government commit genocide against our
own people Jews people of color the
lgbtq community and others this is what
we're talking about when we say Patriot
front is a white nationalist gang of
neo-nazis now that we have that cleared
up remember when I said Thomas Rousseau
Pals around with child sex predators and
murderers
here's where so in his Vanguard America
uniform leading Vanguard America as
their so-called ground Commander during
the unite the right rally with James
Fields
James Fields is the man who murdered
Heather heyer and injured over a dozen
when he rammed a car into a crowd during
the reunite the right protests
in the weeks following the attack
Rousseau claimed that Fields wasn't a
Vanguard America member which is a
pretty classic are you going to believe
me or Your Lying Eyes defense
there's ample documentary evidence of
fields in the Vanguard America uniform
getting invited to the Neo-Nazi rally to
march with Vanguard America
being in Vanguard America private chats
standing with other Vanguard America
members and carrying a shield with the
Vanguard America emblem right before he
murdered someone
unite the right had the exact opposite
effect for the assortment of deplorables
that gathered in Charlottesville then
the name of the Neo-Nazi rally sought to
achieve Vanguard America like other
far-right groups that showed up they're
splintered in effect that was
accelerated by Rousseau's paranoid
immature leadership style
rosette was actually been pretty
successful in projecting The Narrative
that Vanguard America dissolved into
chaos and ceased to exist end of story
but the true story is that rasoja seized
control of the organization its online
servers its members and then rebranded
it into a totally new organization
Patriot front
Vanguard America is Patriot front
Patriot front is Vanguard America
Patriot front has emerged as a National
Domestic threat with membership that
have been active across all of the lower
48. they've been showing up at
anti-abortion rallies Jewish synagogues
black lives matter protests and lgbtq
pride events
Patriot front members still to this day
communicate using Vanguard America's
server which is named blood and soil and
that's a direct undiluted callback to
Nazi Germany
Rousseau and Patriot front equate the
white European identity to the right to
inherit American soil
Rousseau is completely lacking in any
original thought and has nothing to
offer in his critiques of American
society
in his writings about the so-called
silent majority after the 2016 election
Rousseau sounds like he's openly
cribbing from 1980s Pat Buchanan just
very poorly
here's what he had to say in Fall 2016.
quote
the truth is white voters especially the
working class have had more than enough
of being called racist sexist xenophobic
islamophobic homophobic and the rest of
the trite usual buzzwords
now keep in mind Rousseau is saying this
in the context of Trump's candidacy
being built around being openly all of
those things
Russo continues whining and saying quote
The Forgotten majority of the American
electorate has shown that much to the
dismay of the globalist agenda that they
have not been replaced by the tens of
millions of blue voting immigrants from
abroad that they can still hold up some
semblance of resistance against the
decay of their Nation
from the globalist agenda to the
replacement Theory to the championing of
the underclass Rousseau is the epitome
of what a dumb person thinks a smart
person sounds like
now I know Rousseau's Cadence voice and
manner of speaking are extraordinarily
annoying
but I'm only exposing you to a few
minutes of this clown so bear with me as
we make a point here
here he is at a recent DC rally we're
called the greatest threat there is a
threat we pose but not to the people we
threaten only the Intolerable conditions
which allow our highest offices to be
filled with career criminals and
plutocritic scum
here in the city that does not deserve
Washington's Name
by political prisoners
many of whom were tried and found guilty
by the media long before the courts had
any say
so charged with obstructing democracy
left of a democracy to obstruct we ask
how can one betray a democracy which no
longer exists
how can one be a traitor against a
liberal fantasy to which he was never
loyal
let them call us their slurs
insurrectionists supremacist the list
gets longer by the day we seek not
Insurrection but Resurrection we seek
not Supremacy but sovereignty
Patriot front is Thomas Rousseau's
personal cult it's his Cult of aggrieved
marginal owners who buy into his shtick
because name-dropping Thomas Paine is
very impressive to people who've never
read a book before
I know because 15 years ago when I was
freshly out of the service and
struggling with PTSD it hadn't yet been
to school that was me
I know from being an ultra conservative
Ron Paul supporter back in 2008 when I
was in seriously rough shape after
coming home from Iraq how important and
intelligent people can sound when they
rattle off quotes from the founding
fathers my personal instability and my
desire to find purpose in a new
patriotism made me an easy mark back
then it made me easy to manipulate
back then was when Elmer Stewart Rhodes
was using the same exact rhetoric and
his connection to the Ron Paul campaign
to lure disaffected veterans Into The
Oath Keepers
I know what it's like to be ripe for
radicalization because I was there
but what's important to realize is that
aggrieved marginal loaners can and do
commit real harm when they adopt
ideologies promoted by groups like
Patriot front and join those Neo-Nazi
organizations
Dylan roof killed nine black people in a
church in Charleston South Carolina
here he is wearing a jacket of the flag
of apartheid era South Africa and
Rhodesia two aggressively racist states
that have become the rallying cries for
white supremacists who want to
accelerate the arrival of an American
race war
the average Patriot front member has
given up their families and friends as
they put themselves at legal risk
because of their association with
Rousseau and his violent cult
and like so many Cults they're being
used to provide Financial comfort for
their cult leader like I said before
many are just a single bad day away from
being a mass shooter in a country
swimming with guns we have these
isolated weirdos who are being brought
into what is essentially a cult that
they have to pay to be members of
Thomas Rousseau has taken from Joseph
Goebbels of Nazi Germany to build a
sophisticated media production system
with an Affiliated LLC called media to
rise
he has explicitly said that their
energetic use of video and social media
is so-called marketing for Patriot front
so we have this kid who's taking lessons
from Mussolini and Hitler on how to
build a fascist movement and then is
marrying it with Kim Kardashian's
influencer lessons to Rebrand white
supremacy by painting it red white and
blue
except Thomas Rousseau is a failed
leader most of the young men who become
members of patriot front don't stick
around for very long they might still be
neo-nazis and they might still be white
supremacists but dealing with Rousseau's
immaturity his paranoia his grifting
behavior as he funds his lifestyle buff
by leeching off of their effort it sucks
for the average Patriot front member and
they leave
how do we know this a task force Butler
because we've infiltrated Patriot front
numerous times we've been undercover as
full-blown members we've shown up to
their functions both invited and well
not so invited we regularly receive tips
from an interview former Patriot front
members who regret being a part of the
group and want to make things right and
of course we've analyzed hundreds of
gigs of data when groups like unicorn
ride gain access to and release their
confidential Communications
using our inside knowledge task force
Butler literally wrote the book on
taking down Patriot front using civil
suits and criminal prosecutions it's
called project blacklisted and you can
learn more about that on our website
within weeks of sharing the project
blacklisted Report with the lawyers
committee for civil rights under law
that group was able to use our analysis
to help them file a lawsuit against
Rousseau some of his top lieutenants and
members in Virginia and that's for their
conspiracy to engage in a campaign of
racial intimidation and to destroy
murals depicting black excellence
Patriot front is at its core a
multi-level marketing scheme for a
racist boy from Texas but that doesn't
mean that it's harmless
when someone spends time in Patriot
front they get the rush of being part of
Rousseau's spectacle when they go out in
their little silly parades but they're
also trained in street fighting tactics
Communications Recruitment and how to
avoid detection as they commit hate
crimes now just think about this for a
moment there are neo-nazis out there who
meet this guy Russo and find that he's
too toxic to be around
after a few months they leave
that's what happens with Thomas Rousseau
and Patriot front his behavior may drive
them out but they're not leaving the
white supremacist cause Patriot front is
a pipeline that feeds the rest of the
fascist street gangs and white
supremacist groups throughout the
country right now we're also watching a
lot of the fascist street gangs evolved
from the al-Qaeda model to the Isis
model
from Big top-down organizational
leadership structure to semi-independent
local cells
for as long as it's existed Patriot
front has been spinning off other
smaller local and Regional Neo-Nazi
organizations like nsc131 who've been
terrorizing New England
through Thomas Rousseau Patriot front
also functions as part of a broader
white supremacist Terror Network that
includes organizations such as white
lives matter National Justice party
nationalist Social Club active clubs the
rise above movement the Aryan Freedom
Network and Blood Tribe just to name a
few
in multiple task force Butler reports on
Patriot front we've documented where
these extraordinarily violent groups are
coordinating tax on communities of color
lgbtq folks and anyone who might wind up
in their path when they're out dressed
up in their Best Buy uniforms now
while they may look Goofy they're kind
of doing that on purpose while they're
distracting you with their Best Buy
cosplay they're also carrying deadly
metal weapons and they're wearing armor
because they're looking to physically
assault anyone who might bump into them
so here's what we want you to take away
from this today
when you see someone say well we can't
see their faces how many of them there
are or they look like they work at Best
Buy they're not that scary or you see
someone who you know who's fallen into
the maggot disinformation bubble say
something to the effect of oh they're
undercover feds there aren't real Nazi
organizations in the U.S
this is what you need to know
patriotfront is a violent terrorist
racketeering gang that primarily
functions to plan train and manufacture
weapons for the explicit purpose of
engaging in acts of violence and
harassment against minorities the lgbtq
plus community and others deemed enemies
by Patriot fronts leader Thomas Ryan
Russo their goal is to inspire
terrorists School shooters and other
Predators who want to destroy our
country using genocide
Russo likes to wrap himself up in
self-aggrandizing pseudo-intellectual
double speak and compare their wearing
of masks to that of the Boston Tea Party
and how they dressed up as Native
Americans
Rousseau claims that they're disguising
themselves to engage in so-called
activism that their criminality is
actually an expression of patriotism
that goes back to the founding fathers
this is garbage when a thief wears a
mask to rob a bank it's not an
expression of their patriotism or their
bravery standing up against a tyrannical
government
they're wearing masks because they're
criminals doing crimes and they don't
want to get caught
Ry front members wear masks to deceive
you and make you think that their
numbers are greater than they actually
are
we know from being inside the
organization that they bulk up local
actions by getting an assortment of
white supremacists from other
organizations to mask up with them and
wear those clownish uniforms just for
that one day
Patriot front members wear masks because
they're cowards they know that if
they're identified as part of a Neo-Nazi
organization that they're going to face
consequences at work at school with
their families and with their local
communities and finally Patriot front
members wear masks because they've been
diluted into thinking that Thomas
Rousseau's pathetic little cult is going
to give them a sense of purpose and
Brotherhood
it doesn't Rousseau is a grifter coward
who is playing on people's fears and
grievances for his own personal and
economic gain
that is what Patriot front members tell
us
he may love to play dress-up and wreck
other white supremacist lives by
convincing them to break laws to impress
him but that doesn't make him less
dangerous because when Patriot front
members are eventually identified and
they're completely isolated from their
friends and family all they have left is
Rousseau and his cult that's why he
wants them to get arrested so he can
control them and so that they feel like
they have no choice but to send Rousseau
money to subsidize his lifestyle
now remember when I said that Thomas
Rousseau hangs out with pedophiles and
murderers we introduced you to the
murderous James Fields now let me
introduce you to Patriot front member
Jared Michael Boyce he was one of those
guys picked up in Idaho a few months ago
and he pleaded guilty to nine felony
counts of sexual exploitation of a minor
and a misdemeanor count of dealing in
material that's harmful to minors
we've recently covered the amount of
pedophilia in the white supremacist and
fascist street gangs you can find the
link in today's show notes
the five members of patriot front who
were just convicted last week Forest
Rankin Devon Center Derek Smith James
Michael Johnson and Robert Whitted they
will for the rest of their lives be
unable to scrub off the stink of Thomas
Ryan Russo
never be confused Thomas Rousseau is a
thug leading a gang of thugs who want to
terrorize our society into submission
because they truly believe in their
fever dream of a white ethno state
a task force Butler we're regularly
infiltrating their networks and imposing
legal real world costs on them there are
about two dozen more members of patriot
front who will be facing trial on those
same charges as part of the same
conspiracy to Riot including their
leader Thomas Rousseau and our research
and Reporting is helping to make sure
that they get convicted
every day a task force Butler we're
making it harder for them to fundraise
train and organize
and in order to do that work we need
your support
against all enemies is produced by Ken
Harbaugh in partnership with task force
baller our team includes our producer
Michael L cessor and the task force
Butler volunteer researchers who provide
much of the Intel and Analysis that will
be bringing straight to you in this new
show come back tomorrow for another
against all enemies please like And
subscribe to this Channel and share this
video with three friends who you know
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and check us out at taskforce butler.org
see you soon

[admin]

Barr: Trump Brought Up ‘Things Like’ Executing Rivals a Lot
by William Vaillancourt
Fri, 26 April 2024 at 9:42 pm GMT
https://au.news.yahoo.com/barr-trump-br ... 57189.html

Bill Barr, Donald Trump’s former attorney general who once said that voting for the indicted ex-president would be “playing Russian roulette with the country,” stood by his decision to vote for Trump in November while also suggesting that Trump used to regularly float the idea of executing his political rivals while in office.

Barr made the nonchalant admission Friday during a CNN interview when anchor Kaitlan Collins mentioned former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin claiming that Barr was present in the summer of 2020 when Trump suggested that an unknown White House leaker should be executed.

“I remember him being very mad about that. I actually don’t remember him saying ‘executing,’ but I wouldn‘t dispute it, you know… The president would lose his temper and say things like that. I doubt he would’ve actually carried it out,” Barr said.

Collins then questioned whether Trump would say things like that “on other occasions.”

Barr responded that people would sometimes take Trump “too literally.”

“He would say things similar to that on occasions to blow off steam. But I wouldn’t take them literally every time he did it,” he acknowledged.

Rumination increased rather than decreased anger and aggression. Doing nothing at all was more effective than venting anger. These results directly contradict catharsis theory.

The belief in the value of venting anger has become widespread in our culture. In movies, magazine articles, and even on billboards, people are encouraged to vent their anger and “blow off steam.” For example, in the movie Analyze This, a psychiatrist (played by Billy Crystal) tells his New York gangster client (played by Robert De Niro), “You know what I do when I’m angry? I hit a pillow. Try that.” The client promptly pulls out his gun, points it at the couch, and fires several bullets into the pillow. “Feel better?” asks the psychiatrist....

The theory of catharsis is one popular and authoritative statement that venting one’s anger will produce a positive improvement in one’s psychological state. The word catharsis comes from the Greek word katharsis, which literally translated means a cleansing or purging. According to catharsis theory, acting aggressively or even viewing aggression is an effective way to purge angry and aggressive feelings.

Sigmund Freud believed that repressed negative emotions could build up inside an individual and cause psychological symptoms, such as hysteria (nervous outbursts). Breuer and Freud (1893-1895/1955) proposed that the treatment of hysteria required the discharge of the emotional state previously associated with trauma. They claimed that for interpersonal traumas, such as insults and threats to the ego, emotional expression could be obtained through direct aggression: “The reaction of an injured person to a trauma has really only . . . a ‘cathartic’ effect if it is expressed in an adequate reaction like revenge” (p. PAGE?). Breuer and Freud believed that expressing anger was much better than bottling it up inside.

Freud’s therapeutic ideas on emotional catharsis form the basis of the hydraulic model of anger. The hydraulic model suggests that frustrations lead to anger and that anger, in turn, builds up inside an individual, similar to hydraulic pressure inside a closed environment, until it is released in some way. If people do not let their anger out but try to keep it bottled up inside, it will eventually cause them to explode in an aggressive rage. The modern theories of catharsis are based on this model. Catharsis is seen as a way of relieving the pressure that the anger creates inside the psyche. The core idea is that it is better to let the anger out here and there in little bits as opposed to keeping it inside as it builds up to the point at which a more dangerous explosion results.

If venting really does get anger “out of your system,” then venting should decrease aggression because people are less angry. Almost as soon as psychology researchers began conducting scientific tests of catharsis theory, the theory ran into trouble....

pounding nails should reduce subsequent aggression. The results showed the opposite effect. The people who had hammered the nails were more (rather than less) hostile toward the confederate afterward than were the ones who did not get to pound any nails....

venting anger does not reduce aggression. If anything, they concluded, it makes people more aggressive afterward. More recent research has come to similar conclusions... venting anger can reduce physiological arousal but people must express their anger directly against the provocateur. People also must believe that the provocateur will not retaliate. Venting against substitute targets does not reduce arousal....

Cognitive neoassociation theory posits that aggressive thoughts are linked together in memory, thereby forming an associative network. Once an aggressive thought is processed or stimulated, activation spreads out along the network links and primes or activates associated thoughts as well. Not only are associated aggressive thoughts linked together in memory but thoughts are also linked along the same sort of associative lines to emotional reactions and action tendencies (Bower, 1981; Lang, 1979). Thus, the activation of aggressive thoughts can engender a complex of associations consisting of aggressive ideas, emotions related to violence, and the impetus for aggressive actions.

Cognitive neoassociation theory predicts that venting should increase rather than decrease angry feelings and aggressive behaviors. Venting involves behaving aggressively, often against “safe” inanimate objects....In essence, venting is practicing how to behave aggressively. Such aggressive activity should prime aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavioral tendencies, especially if the people think about the source of their anger while venting. Thus, venting should keep angry feelings active in memory and also should increase the likelihood of subsequent aggressive responses.

-- Does Venting Anger Feed or Extinguish the Flame? Catharsis, Rumination, Distraction, Anger, and Aggressive Responding, by Brad J. Bushman, Iowa State University, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

“Why not?” Collins pressed.

“Because at the end of the day, it wouldn’t be carried out and you could talk sense into him,” Barr argued, prompting Collins to counter that an unexecuted order doesn’t remove the threat.

Barr insisted that there was no threat.

“I don‘t think the threat is there. The thing that I worry about President Trump is not that he’s going to become an autocrat and do those kinds of things,” Barr said.

When Collins inquired as to why Barr believes that, and whether or not it’s a “hunch,” Barr responded that it was just his “feeling.”

“Having worked for him and seen him in action, I don’t think he would actually go and kill political rivals and things like that,” Barr claimed.

Later in the interview, Collins read aloud Trump’s mocking response to Barr following his endorsement. Barr replied by effectively kowtowing: “Classic Trump,” he said.

The “real threat to Democracy,” Barr claimed, came from the Biden administration, as opposed to the former president who has been indicted for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.