| No Images? Click here   This is HUFFPOST FRINGE, your weekly postcard from the political wilderness, with reporters Luke O'Brien and Christopher Mathias.Vic Berger is a comedy video editor who does really important work making fun of racists and fascists online. One of his frequent targets is Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, that lame far-right fraternity of racist men’s rightsers. One of Berger’s recent videos shows McInnes throwing up a Nazi salute, saying “nigger” a lot, and playing with his butt. McInnes has often tried to distance the Proud Boys from white nationalism, describing it as a group of “western chauvinists.” That’s bull shit of course, and Berger’s video showed that. Berger’s videos, along with other clips made by his colleague Nathan Bernard, appeared to have gotten under McInnes’ skin. Two weeks ago, a tipster forwarded Berger a message that McInnes allegedly sent to some Proud Boys. “Let’s get the social media profiles, phone numbers and addresses for their bosses, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, boyfriends, friends and get to work,” the message said, referring to “these videographer stalkers.” “LET’S SHOW THEM THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES!!!” it said.  And then this week, someone rang Berger’s doorbell at his home in Pennsylvania. Friend of the Fringe (FoF) Andy Campbell talked to Berger about what happened:“When I answered the door, he seemed nervous, like he wasn’t expecting me. It was the middle of the day, and my wife was home,” Berger told HuffPost. “He said, ‘Are you Vic? Your videos are hurting a lot of people. You’re really hurting the Proud Boys. You need to stop making these videos.’”Berger, now terrified, turned back and screamed for his wife to call 911. He chased the man to his car and snapped a photo of the license plate.Andy chased down the identity of this Proud Boy and discovered it appeared to be Kenneth Lizardo. The 54-year-old from Massachusetts has a Facebook page featuring a photo of him in the Proud Boy uniform (a black Fred Perry polo) posing with a man who appears to be Milo Yiannopoulos.McInnes has called for violence many times. (As documented in this video Berger made.) What’s concerning is that now he’s sending his goons to the houses of people who are critical of him. It feels like a real escalation.“This is a classic intimidation tactic online,” Andy wrote. “In this case, it’s intended to get Bernard and Berger to stop doing their jobs and to not call out racism and fascism when they see it.”Anyway, go read Andy’s whole article. McInnes hated it so much he called Andy a cuck, so you know it must be good: Arguing over the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871... in 2018  The alt-right’s crack legal defense squadron gathered in a Charlottesville, Virginia, courthouse on Thursday, hoping to persuade a federal judge to toss a lawsuit brought against their clients by 10 victims of the violence from last summer’s deadly white supremacist rally. The judge is now mulling over a motion to dismiss.The plaintiffs allege that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to commit acts of violence, intimidation and harassment against the residents of Charlottesville. Most of their evidence comes from a series of leaked chats from the Discord online messaging system, which the horde of fascists and racists who descended on Charlottesville used to plan the event. They discussed the best weapons to bring and laughed about how many skulls they were going to stave in. After they engaged in violence, they gathered to celebrate their deeds.“It would have to be a heck of a coincidence for an act of violence to be discussed beforehand and then to have this exact act happen for it not to be coordinated,” said Karen Dunn, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.Dunn likened the case to her work prosecuting drug conspiracies, in which different members play different roles. The bosses, for example, might never touch the contraband. Same goes for leaders of extremist groups. If violence was part of the plan, they don’t need to have punched someone to be liable for it.There are 25 defendants in all, five of which — including Fringe favorite Andrew “El Chapito” Anglin — have not responded to the suit and have already had default judgments issued against them. But 19 of the defendants, including Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Mike Peinovich and Matt Heimbach — are hoping to get the case thrown out on First Amendment grounds. They’re going with the defense that, hey, all that online chatter beforehand about smashing skulls and running them down with cars was just a joke. Just lulz.But the plaintiffs have already won one major concession from the defense squadron. An attorney for 13 of the defendants agreed that his clients acted with “invidiously discriminatory animus.” Basically, they acted out of racist hate. Much of this litigation deals with groundbreaking civil rights laws passed by Congress after the Civil War, and it is telling, and a little terrifying, that they are so relevant 150 years on.“It’s hard to believe that in 2018, we are litigating a case based on the [Ku Klux] Klan Act of 1871,” Dunn said. This is a report from another good FoF, Nick Robins-Early.Canadian extremism sounds like an oxymoron, but the officially multicultural and tolerant country is dealing with a growing far-right problem. Hate crimes in several major cities are on the rise, two mass killings shocked the nation and extremist groups are becoming increasingly brazen.This week a group of Canadian far-right extremists from the ultra-nationalist group Atalante paraded into Vice offices in Montreal and began harassing journalists. Wearing matching T-shirts and Quebec flag masks, Atalante’s crew stomped around for a few minutes while throwing leaflets and red clown noses then left before police arrived.Atalante’s stunt may have been more embarrassing than intimidating, but the growth of such Canadian far-right groups has coincided with an increase in bigotry and episodes of deadly violence. In Atalante’s hometown of Quebec City, anti-Muslim hate crimes doubled last year. And also in Quebec City, a man who obsessed over the alt-right and Donald Trump killed six Muslim men at a mosque last January in one of the country’s worst mass shootings.Researchers say Trump is a big reason why Canadian extremists feel emboldened. When they’re not debating whether a halal-certified maple syrup bottle is “virtue signaling,” Canada’s alt-right copy Trump’s rhetoric and American far-right narratives. American groups including the III% have also founded new chapters north of the border.But Canadians are starting to get wise to the racist and Islamophobic groups that have festered in recent years. An anti-hate network of activists and experts launched this month, while Canadian journalists are steadily turning over the rocks that extremists hide under. The Montreal Gazette recently published the real identity of Montreal-based neo-Nazi and Daily Stormer writer Zeiger, while a Vice investigation caused Canada’s largest white nationalist podcaster to take down all his episodes in a panic.To understand the dangers posed by today’s far-right extremists we need to listen to them. Each week, the Angry White Men blog highlights a snippet of conversation from an “alt-right” podcast to show you how fascists and racists really think. Don't say we didn't warn you, America…. Earlier this month, Dr. Patrick Slattery sat down for a discussion with Senate hopeful Patrick Little on an episode of National Bugle Radio. Slattery, who sometimes fills in for fellow racist wingnut David Duke, is a colorful character. He runs the crackpot website Zio-Watch, and his podcast mascot is a crested black macaque for some (probably racist) reason. Patrick Little, on the other hand, is now the third known neo-Nazi running on the Republican ticket this year, making the midterm elections slightly more racist than the 2016 presidential race. Little was recently outed as a white supremacist but was polling at second place in California’s primary. If he ultimately keeps that position, he’ll face off against Sen. Dianne Feinstein in November. Little wasted no time in disparaging Feinstein’s Jewish background, referring to her as a “dual citizen,” which at first sounded as if Little were implying that the San Francisco-born senator had dual loyalties to the U.S. and Israel. Slattery pushed back on this remark and asked Little if this was factually accurate. He replied that it was. Lmfgtfy, Nazi: you’re wrong. As far as rhetoric is concerned, Little is as detached from reality as they come. He idolizes Adolf Hitler an on the social network Gab he called for the creation of a country “free from jews” and a database to track them all. He was recently kicked out of the state’s GOP convention and stomped on an Israeli flag. But as is the case for many fringe politicians, electoral victory is not really the goal. Slattery and Little were ecstatic about the chance to give their ideas a larger platform. A statewide campaign against a well-known senator is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. “As a political scientist, I think it’s very valuable to see what the response is to candidates, on the one hand, who hold back and dog whistle and dance around issues, and on the other, who come out completely honestly [on racial issues],” Slattery said. He then said that “if ever there was a race where you might as well go full-out and name the Jew,” this campaign would be it. In other words, Little probably won’t win but he will have a decent megaphone to convey his racist beliefs to the masses, and that can serve as a test case for future neo-Nazi candidates. If it were a Rust Belt race where the constituents were disaffected white voters, Slattery opined, it would be fine to dog whistle. But if you’re in a race you’re sure to lose, then it’s simply to “have a platform.” By failing to stop a candidate like Little, the California GOP has given him one.   HuffPost is now a part of Oath and a part of Verizon. On May 25, 2018 we introduced a new Oath Privacy Policy which explains how your data is used and shared. Learn More.White supremacy won't fall with just a few statues.Did a friend send you this? Subscribe to HuffPost Fringe. Want more? Check out The Morning Email.©2018 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 |
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