Guns, race, religion, terror, wingnut thread

[Vrede too]

Proud Boys leader arrested in Washington DC ahead of election protests



We're fortunate that right-wingers are morons.

Proud Boys leader sentenced to more than 5 months for burning Black Lives Matter banner

[Vrede too]

Good guys with bricks kill bad guy with gun in Texas.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-shoote ... 38046.html

Guns and being stoned are not a good mix.

More details, it must have been a wild scene.

Fort Worth gunman hit with bricks by crowd died from blows to his head, report says

The shooter killed one and hit 3 others without killing them. The stoners ( ) won't be charged.

[Vrede too]

Lawsuit over Charlottesville 'Unite the Right' rally has crippled white supremacist groups, leaders

A federal lawsuit against the organizers of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which has rattled hate groups and white supremacist leaders, goes to trial this month.

The suit already has helped to dismantle some of America's most well-known white supremacist groups, and it has financially crippled one leader of the so-called "alt-right," the white supremacist and nationalist movement that came to prominence under President Donald Trump.

"It's very stressful, and very costly," said Richard Spencer, one of the defendants in the lawsuit and the former de facto leader of the "alt-right," in an interview. "This level of pressure is definitely scary."

... The defendants are a "who's who" of the extremist right: Jason Kessler, a key organizer of the event; neo-Nazi podcaster Christopher Cantwell; Nathan Damigo, a white supremacist who founded the group Identity Evropa; Spencer; and a host of other extremist leaders and groups....

The plaintiffs – a minister, students and other Charlottesville residents – have won default judgments against seven of the 24 defendants, with the penalties to be decided by the jury. The court has issued five-figure fines against three other defendants for failing to produce evidence or show up for court hearings or depositions, court files show.

Meanwhile, several of the groups named in the suit have fallen apart.

Vanguard America, the neo-Nazi group that Fields marched with, fragmented after the rally. So did the Traditionalist Workers Party, a white supremacist group. Cantwell is in prison after being convicted of extortion. Identity Evropa rebranded, and in May 2020 defendants Matthew Heimbach and Elliott Kline each were ordered to pay fines of more than $12,000.

At least two defendants are in hiding: Andrew Anglin, who founded the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer and has another multi-million dollar judgment against him from another lawsuit, and his webmaster Robert Ray, who goes by "Azzmador" and disappeared from view last year after the suit was filed....

A compound razed and movements flattened

An extraordinary series of photographs from 2001 shows the demolition of the Aryan Nations compound outside Boise, Idaho. In one, a yellow digger chews into a massive swastika painted on a roof. In another, a guard tower is flattened by the same machine.

The compound was razed after the Aryan Nations was bankrupted in 2000 by a lawsuit brought by an Idaho attorney and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

That case was one of almost a dozen such lawsuits filed by the SPLC against various groups over the last 20 years....

I had nothing to do with the SPLC lawsuit, but I was part of the anti-Aryan Nations activism.

Ku Klux Klan Act invoked in lawsuit over insurrection

The suit against the Unite the Right organizers appears to have opened new legal fronts in the fight against extremism.

In late August, seven officers from the U.S. Capitol Police sued Trump, his longtime adviser Roger Stone and members of far-right extremist groups, alleging they conspired to use violence on Jan. 6 to attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.

That lawsuit relies on the same statute used in the Charlottesville case – the federal Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, a Reconstruction-era statute that allows individuals to sue when they are injured by conspiracies.

"Unfortunately, the KKK Act is experiencing something of a renaissance," said Karen Dunn, co-lead counsel on the Charlottesville lawsuitwith Roberta Kaplan. "But we are glad it exists because this is exactly the kind of conduct it is meant to address."

Bleed them dry.

[billy.pilgrim]

I haven't done anything for them but I've been giving them money for 30+ years.

[neoplacebo]

Check out this wingnut running for governor of Nevada.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ad-repu ... 00261.html

[Vrede too]

Check out this wingnut running for governor of Nevada.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ad-repu ... 00261.html

Lots to giggle at there, but I particularly like how she "was the first female majority leader in the Nevada Assembly" AND how "we need outsiders".

[neoplacebo]

TN city installs statue of black US civil war soldier as a counter to an existing Confederate statue. Pretty cool.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/remove-confe ... 55054.html

[GoCubsGo]

Lipstick on a pig.

Get rid of the pig.

[O Really]

There are so many things wrong with the Alec Baldwin incident and related hoopla it's hard to know where to start. But it's not a complex issue, just an issue with many tentacles. Simple: a cinematographer was accidentally shot by an actor holding a gun that had not been properly cleared before use.
It wasn't a "prop gun" - prop guns can't fire real bullets. It was a real gun. The armourer had one job - provide safe weaponry to the actors. She clearly did not check that gun before putting it into use. I don't care if she put in in the cabinet last night after checking it; she's supposed to check it again when she takes it out today. She did not do her job properly. Period. But there are other questions - why were there real bullets on the set anyway? Why did anybody other than the armourer have access to any of the weapons outside their use in the filming? Why did they hire a lightly experienced armourer with no apparent supervision? There are three "storm parts" that came together to get this person killed. (1) real gun (2) real bullets around (3) negligent armourer performance. Take away any one of those and nobody is dead. Add those together and you've got a dead person and lawsuits to feed a hundred lawyers for years.

[Vrede too]

I have not been reading or watching everything on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, but I have formed a few impressions.

The White prosecutor is doing a poor enough job that I wonder if he's intentionally punting.

There are a couple of thing that I'm not hearing discussed:
Where's the accountability for the cops that encouraged an armed, out of state, 17 year old wannabe Rambo?
Rittenhouse's very presence was a provocation. Regardless of what was done to him, he bears responsibility for the original sin.

I was initially expecting a hung jury. Now, I think the prosecutor may have lurched into an acquittal. But, we may not even make it to deliberations. The defense has moved for a mistrial with prejudice (no retrial, ever) thanks to the prosecutor's flub today. We'll see what the White judge does.

Also today:

Kyle Rittenhouse deserves an award for his melodramatic performance on the witness stand.



Oh well, whatever else happens we'll have that image of him blubbering forever.

[Ulysses]

There are so many things wrong with the Alec Baldwin incident and related hoopla it's hard to know where to start. But it's not a complex issue, just an issue with many tentacles. Simple: a cinematographer was accidentally shot by an actor holding a gun that had not been properly cleared before use.
It wasn't a "prop gun" - prop guns can't fire real bullets. It was a real gun. The armourer had one job - provide safe weaponry to the actors. She clearly did not check that gun before putting it into use. I don't care if she put in in the cabinet last night after checking it; she's supposed to check it again when she takes it out today. She did not do her job properly. Period. But there are other questions - why were there real bullets on the set anyway? Why did anybody other than the armourer have access to any of the weapons outside their use in the filming? Why did they hire a lightly experienced armourer with no apparent supervision? There are three "storm parts" that came together to get this person killed. (1) real gun (2) real bullets around (3) negligent armourer performance. Take away any one of those and nobody is dead. Add those together and you've got a dead person and lawsuits to feed a hundred lawyers for years.

Good points.

Also heard recently that Baldwin wasn't supposed to fire a gun in that movie anyway. But I don't think that makes him the primary culprit in this tragedy. It's possible he just squeezed the trigger out of ignorance, or playfulness. Or just non-gun lover stupidity.

It also sounds like that movie production had many other management problems. Since Baldwin was part of the management, he cannot be held blameless.

[Vrede too]

... Also heard recently that Baldwin wasn't supposed to fire a gun in that movie anyway....

What I heard is that Baldwin wasn't supposed to fire a gun in that rehearsal. Not sure the distinction makes a difference.

[billy.pilgrim]

But I've read that several big names are saying no more real guns. There's no reason, the fakes are as good.

[Vrede too]

I have not been reading or watching everything on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, but I have formed a few impressions.

The White prosecutor is doing a poor enough job that I wonder if he's intentionally punting.

There are a couple of thing that I'm not hearing discussed:
Where's the accountability for the cops that encouraged an armed, out of state, 17 year old wannabe Rambo?
Rittenhouse's very presence was a provocation. Regardless of what was done to him, he bears responsibility for the original sin.

I was initially expecting a hung jury. Now, I think the prosecutor may have lurched into an acquittal. But, we may not even make it to deliberations. The defense has moved for a mistrial with prejudice (no retrial, ever) thanks to the prosecutor's flub today. We'll see what the White judge does....

Probably good for the bumbling prosecution and possibly good for the family and friends of the victims:

Jury can weigh some lesser charges in Kyle Rittenhouse case

[Vrede too]

Kenosha, Wisconsin is 77.1% White.
The Kyle Rittenhouse jury is 91.7% White.

Another White supremacist gets a jury of his peers.

[O Really]

Kenosha, Wisconsin is 77.1% White.
The Kyle Rittenhouse jury is 91.7% White.

Another White supremacist gets a jury of his peers.

Review the article I posted in Race...2013. "peers" does not include race.

[Vrede too]

Review the article I posted in Race...2013. "peers" does not include race.

I did and I know, technically, but it's funny how it works out irl, don't you think?

[Ulysses]

But I've read that several big names are saying no more real guns. There's no reason, the fakes are as good.

It would seem to make sense.

[GoCubsGo]

Rittenhouse verdict about to come in.

Defense looks worried.

Scared for Kenosha.

[O Really]

If Rittenhouse gets all arrogant over his acquittal, somebody will take him down. Personally, I'd like to see him OJ'd for the rest of his miserable life.