Cotton On to redesign kids tee over Nazi symbol resemblance – Geelong Advertiser

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Cotton On to redesign kids tee over Nazi symbol resemblance - Geelong Advertiser

Over 1000 killed on British soil in UK-based Nazi concentration camps – The Jerusalem Post

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Despite previous tallies claiming that 389 of the 4000 enslaved mixed prisoners had been killed at the Alderney concentration camps in the Channel Islands, a new inquiry has revealed that the actual number stands at over 1000 killed, British media reported on Sunday.

Nazi occupiers set up at least four camps in Alderney, part of the UKs territory, in 1941. Two of the camps were turned into concentration camps.

While most of those enslaved on the island were from Russia, prisoners originated from some 20 countries.

The discovery came as party of investigatory efforts launched last year and led by UK Holocaust envoy Lord Pickles.

Pickles had begun the efforts in 2023, explaining to a panel of experts that, Numbers matter because the truth matters.

Based on current evidence, the number of victims killed is more than double what had previously been thought.

The previous belief that 389 victims had been killed was based on a study from the 1960s, the Jewish Chronicle reported, which had been based on marked graves. However, Pickles led a panel of experts to discover a figure closer to the truth.

One document from the British war crimes branch described how lethal injections were used against prisoners.

The experts had also discovered why the Nazis who operated these camps had never stood trial, the JC reported.

In 1981, it was discovered that Nazis involved in running the UK-based camps were living freely in Germany, the Guardian reported. Now, an additional line of inquiry sought to answer if there was a government cover-up.

One Nazi who had helped in commanding the camps, Major Carl Hoffman, had been in British custody. However, in July 1945 the UK made the decision to not prosecute; for reasons not publicly known.

Margaret Thatchers advisor Professor Glees, cited by the Guardian, said What is truly shocking and needs to be emphasised is that, beyond the numbers, it is absolutely true that the Nazis brought their exterminatory mindset to Alderney and were involved in the most unspeakable and unimaginable brutality and sadism on the island that led to many deaths. Lord Pickles asked me to find out why those responsible were not brought to justice.

The inquiry described the conditions of the camps, and the treatment by the Nazis running the camps, as systematic terrorism, involving murder and massacre and torture.

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Over 1000 killed on British soil in UK-based Nazi concentration camps - The Jerusalem Post

Woman who plotted to destroy power grid with neo-Nazi leader pleads guilty – The Washington Post

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A woman who was federally charged with conspiring to destroy an energy facility as part of a plot with a neo-Nazi leader to attack the power grid in the Baltimore area pleaded guilty Tuesday, according to the Maryland U.S. attorneys office and court documents.

Sarah Beth Clendaniels plot to destroy the power grid, alongside a Florida man she met while they were incarcerated, was rooted in a white supremacist ideology called accelerationism, which is the belief that violent action is necessary to precipitate societal and government collapse because the current system is irreparable, according to her plea agreement.

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Woman who plotted to destroy power grid with neo-Nazi leader pleads guilty - The Washington Post

Israeli minister addresses convention hosted by Vox, Spanish far-right party criticized for neo-Nazi ties – JTA News – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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MADRID (JTA) A convention hosted by Vox, Spains far-right party that has been criticized for welcoming neo-Nazis, counts Israels Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli among its featured speakers this weekend.

Chikli is appearing at Europa Viva 24, a conference joining Europes rightwing leaders and more than 10,000 attendees on Saturday and Sunday in Madrid. For Chikli, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus right-wing Likud party, its the latest stop in a tour of engagements with European politicians who advocate pro-Israel positions from parties with antisemitic and neo-Nazi roots.

Both Chikli and Javier Milei, Argentinas new right-wing, pro-Israel president, were invited to address the conference. In his speech, Chikli lambasted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has sharply criticized Israels war against Hamas, which Chikli called an existential battle for the future of humanity.

In Spain, Vox is controversial both for its platform which includes restricting abortion access, repealing domestic violence laws and shuttering the ministry of equality and for a history of neo-Nazis in its ranks. Five years ago, the party nominated Holocaust revisionist Fernando Paz as a congressional candidate. Paz has said the facts of the Holocaust are far from being established with accuracy and called the Nuremberg trials a farce.

Vox is also home to Jordi de la Fuente, a member of the Barcelona government who previously led the neo-fascist Republican Social Movement, which dissolved in 2018. Other Vox members have included Jos Mara Ruiz Puerta, who led the neo-Nazi group CEDADE, and Jos Ignacio Vega Peinado, who was part of the neo-Nazi group Radical Action in the 1990s and received prison time for attacking and permanently disabling a professor at the University of Valencia.

Pedro Valera, a leader of Spanish neo-Nazism who has served jail time for disseminating hate speech, also recently appeared at Voxs closing campaign ceremony in Barcelona.

Until recently, officials in the Likud party were discouraged from promoting alliances with Vox. In 2019, Netanyahus then-foreign affairs director Eli Hazan tweeted his support for the party and faced enough backlash to delete and apologize for the post.

But those boundaries have disappeared under Israels current right-wing government. In December, Chikli met with Vox president Santiago Abascal, whom he called a man of truth who, in the twilight of Western civilization, where moral relativism threatens to collapse it, stands as a beacon of moral clarity.

Last month, Chikli attended CPAC Hungary and praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a longtime ideological ally of Netanyahus, as a supporter of Israel. (The authoritarian leader has been condemned by US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt for rhetoric that clearly evokes Nazi racial ideology, as well as by Hungarian rabbis.) Chikli spoke alongside Tom Van Grieken, president of Belgiums Vlaams Belang party, which promotes the Great Replacement conspiracy theory and uses the Nazi term omvolking (repopulation), mainly referring to European immigration from Muslim countries.

Chikli also met earlier this year with Swedens far-right party, the Swedish Democrats. The second-largest party in the Swedish parliament, it has a history of Nazi founders and its members have been criticized for connections with neo-Nazi movements even in recent years. Israel has so far avoided establishing official ties with the party, but the Swedish Democrats have declared it the most pro-Israel party in Sweden.

Chiklis ministry is charged with engaging and supporting the half of Jews who do not live in Israel; he added fighting antisemitism to its mandate when he assumed the position last year. But while Chikli is strengthening his bond with far-right European parties, he has said that he is not interested in building a relationship with some Jews around the world.

In January, at a conference hosted by the European Jewish Association in Krakow, Chikli said his official capacity would not induce him to build alliances with Diaspora Jews who participate in international protests against Israels military campaign in Gaza.

A Jew who feels at home surrounded by a mob that is shouting, From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, I dont consider him a Jew, Chikli told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. I dont want to build a bridge with him.

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Israeli minister addresses convention hosted by Vox, Spanish far-right party criticized for neo-Nazi ties - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Why are the German authorities so reluctant to believe in neo-Nazi attacks? – The Spectator

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Enver Simseks life story was one familiar to many migrants. He moved from Turkey to a small town in Germany, then worked hard in a factory during the week and as a cleaner at weekends before starting his own business as a florist. By the turn of this century, he employed almost a dozen people selling his blooms from stalls and stands across Bavaria. So in the summer of 2000, he took his wife and two teenage children back to his native land for a break. Soon after returning, the 38-year-old was shot eight times in the head and shoulder, left dying in a pool of blood amid the bouquets of babys breath, daisies and roses in his van parked in Nuremberg.

As Simseks life ebbed away in hospital, his distraught family faced a barrage of questions from police. They asked his wife about any marriage problems, his teenage children whether he carried a gun or had enemies. Officers ransacked their home for evidence and searched his stalls with sniffer dogs, suspicions aroused by his weekly trips to Amsterdams famous flower auctions. Soon the media began running stories that the murdered man had been trading drugs and was killed by the Turkish mafia. As the months dragged on, the police doubled down on their theories, despite the lack of evidence. They bugged vehicles, asked about religious practices, and even lied to Simseks bereaved wife about a mythical blonde mistress.

The detectives had jumped to false conclusions based on the familys race. So they brushed aside the witness who told them he had seen two men on bicycles near the van. But these were the murderers a pair of neo-Nazi skinheads who had become friends in their East German home town before fleeing underground with a girlfriend after a bungled bombing. Styling themselves the National Socialist Underground, they then embarked on a series of attacks targeting Germanys immigrant population, funded by bank robberies. The American journalist Jacob Kushner believes this tawdry saga serves as a warning about the dangers of far-right extremists amid whipped-up fears over immigration.

He details how German police pursued the same tactics, and made the same mistakes and assumptions, when the same distinctive model of Czech-made gun was used to kill another Turkish migrant in Nuremberg the following year. Two weeks later it was used again in a similar killing; then two months later to murder a Turkish shopkeeper just 100 metres from a police station. Bystanders told officers they had noticed a pair of short-haired men in their twenties fleeing the scene on bicycles but the mysterious cyclists were seen not as suspects but as potential witnesses. Lets not pretend there isnt a Turkish mafia, said one investigator later.

Another family was destroyed. Yet even the latest victims widow who moved to Bavaria as a child and worked in a shop selling traditional clothing such as dirndls and seppelhosen had no suspicion that her husband might have been killed by white Germans. She ended up worrying about the possibility of hidden family links to crooks when colleagues showed her newspaper clippings reflecting the police belief that drugs or gangs lay behind the death. So the bombings, the shootings and bank robberies continued until the two fascists, cornered in 2011 after their 15th heist, set their getaway camper van on fire and killed themselves.

Uwe Bhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos had killed ten other people, including a woman police officer, in their attacks and had stolen almost $1 million in bank raids. One of their explosive devices burned the daughter of a shopkeeper, while a nail bombing in a Turkish area of Cologne injured 22 people. A few days after their deaths, DVDs arrived at news outlets and Muslim community centres with clips of the Pink Panther cartoon cut into an image of a corpse, a map of their killings and claims they were protecting the fatherland. It was sent by Bhnhardts girlfriend Beate Zschpe before she handed herself in to police and finally the authorities joined the dots between the attacks, the trio and their own blinkered attitudes.

Kushner skilfully recounts how three German teenagers slid into the sordid world of the far right in a nation that had sought to atone for the horrors of the Nazis, starting with the hanging of a mannequin wearing a yellow Star of David over a bridge in their home town of Jena and culminating in their killing spree. He dissects the disturbing investigatory failures with fabricated police claims of crime syndicates, financial support handed by intelligence agencies to dubious neo-Nazi informants, and fears of official cover-up. Blinded by their own prejudice, they couldnt bring themselves to believe that 60 years after the Holocaust, some white Germans could still be radicalised to the point of carrying out racist mass murder, he writes.

When the FBI was asked by the Munich police to assess the evidence in 2007, they concluded that the offender had a deep-rooted animosity towards people of Turkish origin and cast doubt on claims the killings might revolve around drug money by pointing out nothing had been stolen from the crime scenes. The US, of course, has its own history of white supremacist terrorism, although the authors attempt to use this story as a warning for his own nation feels slightly spurious. But Kushner is right to point out the dangers of hard-right populism inflaming fury against migrants and sparking violence not least in Germany, when one key figure in the Alternative fr Deutschland party has called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a monument of shame and is on trial over charges of using a Nazi slogan.

Angela Merkel publicly apologised to the bereaved families during her long stint as chancellor. Few in this country thought it was possible that right-wing extremist terrorists could be behind the murders, she said in 2012, requesting forgiveness from families themselves under suspicion for years. Afterwards, Semiya Simsek spoke movingly about that last summer holiday in Turkey as a 14-year-old girl with her father and how it felt to see her grieving mother treated as a suspect. Let us not close our eyes, she concluded. We must prevent this from happening again.

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Why are the German authorities so reluctant to believe in neo-Nazi attacks? - The Spectator

Donald Trump can’t quit his Nazi Germany obsession, as he posts an ad with the words "Unified Reich" – Daily Kos

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Today on Truth Social (and Instagram, but that has since been deleted there), Nazi Germany fetishist Donald Trump postedanad featuring a clarion call to create a North American version of the Third Reich with the words Unified Reich if he is elected again.

Natalie Allison at Politico:

Donald Trumps social media account on Monday shared a video referencing a unified reich in a post about how the country will change if he becomes president again.

His campaign said a staffer did not see the word reich before it was posted an explanation President Joe Bidens team blasted on Monday night.

In the video shared on Trumps Truth Social account, while a narrator described What happens after Donald Trump wins, the screen twice flashed to a headline showing the words Industrial strength significantly increased driven by the creation of a unified reich.

The German phrase reich refers to an empire, but also carries the connotation of Adolph Hitlers Third Reich, another name for his Nazi regime.

Soo Rin Kim, Lalee Ibssa, and Kelsey Walsh at ABC News:

Former President Donald Trump on Monday posted a video on hissocial media platformthat uses a language that appears to mirror that of Nazi Germany, suggesting there will be a "Unified Reich" if he wins the 2024 election.

The phrase "Unified Reich" appears as a part of hypothetical news headlines that announce Trump's hypothetical victory in the 2024 election, with the narrator asking, "What happens after Donald Trump wins?"

Under a big headline that says, "WHAT'S NEXT FOR AMERICA?" there is a smaller headline underneath that appears to read: "INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED DRIVEN BY THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED REICH."

The video then predicts an economic boom, tax cuts, border security and deportation of undocumented immigrants if Trump wins the 2024 election.

Biden-Harris HQ on X:

MeidasTouch on X:

He just cannot quit his obsession with Nazi Germany themes. Let this ad be a reminder that electing Joe Biden is paramount to stop the Trumpian fascist takeover come the fall.

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Donald Trump can't quit his Nazi Germany obsession, as he posts an ad with the words "Unified Reich" - Daily Kos

Active Club Finland Welcomes Australian Neo-Nazi Visitor, Mentions Cooperation And Collaboration – Middle East Media Research Institute

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Finnish white supremacists and neo-Nazis have developed international neo-Nazi "Active Clubs" in several Finnish cities. In May, Active Club Finland shared a post about a visit from Australian neo-Nazis, mentioning the need for active cooperation and collaboration and vowing to meet again. The full report provides details.

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Active Club Finland Welcomes Australian Neo-Nazi Visitor, Mentions Cooperation And Collaboration - Middle East Media Research Institute

Matt Gaetz Hints at Another Insurrection at Trump Trial – The New Republic

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Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, since October 7, by way of mass bombings, forced displacement, famine, and the obstruction of humanitarian aidnone of which would be possible without American weapons, and none of which have been condemned by President Biden, Call wrote.

The United States has long enabled Israeli war crimes and the status quo of apartheid and occupation. That status quo does not keep Israelis safe, nor Jews around the world. It certainly does not protect Palestinians, who have the right to freedom, safety, self-determination, and dignity, just as much as Jewish people do, and every person does, Call continued. Making Jews the face of the American war machine makes us less safe.

Call is at least the fifth mid-to-senior-level staffer to make a public declaration against the politically disastrous war by resigning. A longtime political activist and campaign worker, Call had helped Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden in their respective presidential campaigns and was a longtime advocate for Israel in Washington prior to joining the Interior Department.

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Matt Gaetz Hints at Another Insurrection at Trump Trial - The New Republic

Roker Rewind: Malcolm Crosby and the boys do Sunderland proud – Roker Report

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Anybody that knows me well should be fully aware that I love a bit of SAFC nostalgia, so when my best mate sent me the following link Wembley to Wearside 1992 (youtube.com) a couple of weeks ago he knew it would be right up my street.

It was a well-timed reminder of the mood around the new city of Sunderland back in 1992, a period that has recently been brought back into focus by the clubs limited edition release of Wembley inspired walk-out jackets. Selling out almost immediately, the tops are now a regular sight around the area and are often being sported by lads and lasses that are too young to have seen them first time out yet for me, I am only too happy to relive some of the memories I experienced as a school kid during that magnificent cup run.

That newly awarded city status, plus an unexpected resurgence on the pitch, were putting Sunderland back in the national consciousness for arguably the first time since 1973. The story of Stokoes Stars 19 years earlier and how they triumphed against the odds is one of the greatest ever told, but for Rokerites of my age the latest unfolding tale was almost as special. There were some obvious similarities between the two chapters too; on both occasions poor form in the second tier had prompted a change of manager, with the new men prompting some more carefree football, and by the time of the semi-final under Malcolm Crosby the parallels were becoming more obvious.

1992 was the first time since lifting the trophy that Sunderland had reached the final four, and Hillsborough was the venue for that stage once again. Two decades earlier Bob Wilson had played in goal for opponents Arsenal, and now he was fronting the live coverage against Norwich City for the BBC, for whom Bob Stokoe provided match analysis. In the end, the new vintage of Lads wasnt quite able to emulate the Messiahs achievements and the final against Liverpool proved to be a game too far, but they did themselves proud all the same and gave a generation some moments they would never forget.

Switching over to Tyne Tees and re watching their coverage of the second home coming, intermingled with footage showing how the area had once again pulled together in support of their underdog heroes, it is striking how something from my own lifetime, such as the fashions and the indoor smoking, can seem so dated whilst other aspects feel as if they could have been yesterday; the football club and city have changed spectacularly in the last 32 years, but they remain at the heart of so much and continue to be deeply linked.

The programme begins with a view of a jam packed sea front and the Seaburn Centre back then the end point for the open top bus parade 24 hours after playing Liverpool but now the site of STACK Seaburn (just in case those retro hummel wearing younguns hadnt made the connection). Fronted by Roger Tames and Duncan Wood, familiar names to those of my age, and some of their eminent other colleagues from the era, the show then looked at preparations for the subsequent civic reception being held at the Seaburn the venue itself being another brilliant blast from the past for myself.

Following some fantastic behind the scenes clips from the capital a range of proper Mackem lilts can then be heard as local representatives and supporters are shown during the build up to kick-off, with the obligatory cup final day wedding providing the perfect opportunity for a Match of the Day pun. An old school street party takes place and then it is off to the Hastings Hill red and white on show throughout of course, whether it be through clothing, face point or hair dye even.

You can recognise the emotions and behaviours now, and that sense of familiarity continues throughout; some well-known parts of the city are still immediately identifiable in the background and we are then introduced to one of the best known faces from the 1973 legends. The cup raising captain then, Bobby Kerr, has now become mine host at the Hastings, and although it is something of a shame that he was unable to return to the Twin Towers it is comforting to think that he remained at the heart of the community instead.

The Royal Garden Hotel hosted the players following the hotel, and as they headed for another banquet at Seaburn they were met with superb scenes as tens of thousands of supporters lined the route towards the coast. Players and staff are interviewed but go beyond the standard platitudes with some touching emotion, and despite the wet weather a party mood prevails as the squad is chanted at both on the bus and then on the balcony.

The only shame is that there wasnt a cup to show off, but despite defeat the pride and spirit of the fans is clear to all. These were traits that were relied upon heavily as the region was ripped apart in the years before as a raft of industrial closures took hold, and they have remained ever since. Victory wasnt to be on this occasion, and Wembley to Wearside could never have had the same resonance as Tyne Tees previous effort Meanwhile a town gripped by their 1973 Sunderland heroes - Roker Report (sbnation.com) for a great many reasons, but it is still a lovely piece to look back on and a reminder of how local culture and coverage was back in the heady days of the early 1990s.

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Roker Rewind: Malcolm Crosby and the boys do Sunderland proud - Roker Report

Fresh off visit to Trump trial, Matt Gaetz takes to Twitter to echo Proud Boys shoutout – USA TODAY

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Fresh off visit to Trump trial, Matt Gaetz takes to Twitter to echo Proud Boys shoutout - USA TODAY

Matt Gaetz invokes Trump’s infamous call to Proud Boys at trial: ‘Stand back and stand by’ – Yahoo Singapore News

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MAGA Republican Matt Gaetz invoked Donald Trumps notorious and widely condemned call to the far-right group the Proud Boys as he showed up in court in Manhattan to support the former president at his hush-money trial.

Standing back and standing by, Mr. President, Mr Gaetz wrote on X, along with an image of himself at the courthouse.

The phrase echoed Mr Trumps infamous comments on stage at one of the 2020 presidential debates against now-President Joe Biden.

During the debate, Mr Trump had been pressed by moderator Chris Wallace whether he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and they need to stand down.

Im willing to do that, Mr Trump responded. Almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right-wing I want to see peace.

When pushed by Mr Wallace to condemn white nationalism, but Mr Trump asked for a name of a specific group, prompting Mr Wallace to mention the Proud Boys.

Mr Trump replied: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But Ill tell you what ... somebodys gotta do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem.

The former president was widely condemned for his comments, which were seen as a call for violence and unrest.

His comments were even brought up during the federal criminal trial against several Proud Boys leaders.

The Proud Boys, who describe themselves as a Western chauvinist group, are defined as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre. The group was founded by Gavin McInnes, a VICE Media co-founder, in 2016.

On Thursday morning, Mr Gaetz was joined by Colorado Republican Rep Lauren Boebert at Mr Trumps trial making them just two of the latest members of the former presidents entourage to show up in a sign of support.

Several Trump surrogates have shown up in court in recent days in what appears to be a bid to side-step the gag order placed on Mr Trump.

Previously, House Speaker Mike Johnson travelled to New York to back Mr Trump, as did North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ohio Senator JD Vance.

I wonder if Ill run into Judge Merchans daughter here in court today, Ms Boebert wrote on X on Thursday morning referring to the judges daughter who was subjected to attacks from Mr Trump prior to the gag orders expansion.

Shes probably too busy being paid millions and millions of dollars by Democrat campaigns all across the country and wont be able to make it. Shes likely busy working for Shifty Schiff again today, she added in reference to Adam Schiff, the California House Democrat running for the Senate seat vacated by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Judge Merchan placed Mr Trump under a gag order, barring him from making or directing public statements about the witnesses, jurors, attorneys, court staff and their families.

The former president has violated that gag order 10 times, racking up $10,000 in fines, and could face jail time if he continues to violate it.

But surrogates are free to make the comments on his behalf for now.

Mr Trump is on trial charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Mr Trump in 2006.

Mr Trump has denied the affair took place and pleaded not guilty.

Alex Woodward and Ariana Baio contributed to this report

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Matt Gaetz invokes Trump's infamous call to Proud Boys at trial: 'Stand back and stand by' - Yahoo Singapore News

Media Miss by the Right: Matt Gaetz evokes ‘standing by’ language adopted by Proud Boys as he attends court with … – Straight Arrow News

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U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., evoked language adopted by the far-right Proud Boys extremist group as he appeared at court Thursday, May 16, to support Donald Trump at his hush money trial. This reflected the undercurrent of activist elements present among the presumptive GOP nominees supporters as he seeks a return to the White House.

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Media Miss by the Right: Matt Gaetz evokes 'standing by' language adopted by Proud Boys as he attends court with ... - Straight Arrow News

‘Stand Back And Stand By’: Matt Gaetz Parrots Trump’s Call To Violent Extremists At His Trial – Yahoo News Canada

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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Thursday ominously invoked Donald Trumps call to far-right violent extremists while joining the former president at his criminal trial in New York.

Standing back and standing by, Mr. President, Gaetz wrote on social media, along with a photo of himself positioned behind Trump at his trial.

The phrase is a reference to Trump infamously refusing to condemn heavily armed white supremacists, namely the neo-fascist Proud Boys, during a September 2020 presidential debate. The Proud Boys had been tied to violence that summer in cities including Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon.

Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, was all Trump finally said in the debate, before trying to blame others for violence.

Ill tell you what, somebodys got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem, he said.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) called out Gaetz for his Thursday message.

Standing back and standing by You know exactly what you are doing blowing the Proud Boys dog whistle, Crow wrote on social media. Trying to be subtle in your call for violence; well we wont let you. This is unacceptable.

As HuffPost editor Andy Campbell reported in his book on the Proud Boys, the group put Trumps statement on T-shirts and saw a surge of new recruits and revenue from merchandise. They also took that phrase as marching orders and actively declared civil war when Trump said it.

Several Proud Boys were later convicted of seditious conspiracy for helping lead the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Gaetz is one of several GOP lawmakers who have flocked to Trumps trial in recent days to show their allegiance to him and carry out his attacks on the rule of law, which Trump himself can no longer do since hes under a gag order.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a far-right congressman who spoke at a February rally sponsored by the Proud Boys, appeared alongside Gaetz on Thursday. So did Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who was heckled as she spoke outside the courthouse.

Beetlejuice! someone shouted at Boebert, a reference to her being kicked out of a Denver theater last year for vaping during a musical production of the movie.

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'Stand Back And Stand By': Matt Gaetz Parrots Trump's Call To Violent Extremists At His Trial - Yahoo News Canada

Matt Gaetz invokes Trump’s infamous call to Proud Boys at trial: ‘Stand back and stand by’ – Yahoo New Zealand News

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MAGA Republican Matt Gaetz invoked Donald Trumps notorious and widely condemned call to the far-right group the Proud Boys as he showed up in court in Manhattan to support the former president at his hush-money trial.

Standing back and standing by, Mr. President, Mr Gaetz wrote on X, along with an image of himself at the courthouse.

The phrase echoed Mr Trumps infamous comments on stage at one of the 2020 presidential debates against now-President Joe Biden.

During the debate, Mr Trump had been pressed by moderator Chris Wallace whether he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and they need to stand down.

Im willing to do that, Mr Trump responded. Almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right-wing I want to see peace.

When pushed by Mr Wallace to condemn white nationalism, but Mr Trump asked for a name of a specific group, prompting Mr Wallace to mention the Proud Boys.

Mr Trump replied: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But Ill tell you what ... somebodys gotta do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem.

The former president was widely condemned for his comments, which were seen as a call for violence and unrest.

His comments were even brought up during the federal criminal trial against the Proud Boys leaders for their parts in the January 6 Capitol riot.

Several members of the far-right group were convicted in 2023 of seditious conspiracy over their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Mr Trumps favour.

The leader of the group, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced to 22 years the longest sentence to date over the Capitol riot.

Another former leader of the group, Zachary Rehl, was sentenced to 15 years after he was seen on video spraying a chemical irritant on officers. Proud Boys organizer Joseph Biggs was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Proud Boys played a central role in setting the attack on the capital into motion.

The Proud Boys, who describe themselves as a Western chauvinist group, are defined as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre. The group was founded by Gavin McInnes, a VICE Media co-founder, in 2016.

On Thursday morning, Mr Gaetz was joined by Colorado Republican Rep Lauren Boebert at Mr Trumps trial making them just two of the latest members of the former presidents entourage to show up in a sign of support.

Several Trump surrogates have shown up in court in recent days in what appears to be a bid to side-step the gag order placed on Mr Trump.

Previously, House Speaker Mike Johnson travelled to New York to back Mr Trump, as did North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ohio Senator JD Vance.

I wonder if Ill run into Judge Merchans daughter here in court today, Ms Boebert wrote on X on Thursday morning referring to the judges daughter who was subjected to attacks from Mr Trump prior to the gag orders expansion.

Shes probably too busy being paid millions and millions of dollars by Democrat campaigns all across the country and wont be able to make it. Shes likely busy working for Shifty Schiff again today, she added in reference to Adam Schiff, the California House Democrat running for the Senate seat vacated by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Judge Merchan placed Mr Trump under a gag order, barring him from making or directing public statements about the witnesses, jurors, attorneys, court staff and their families.

The former president has violated that gag order 10 times, racking up $10,000 in fines, and could face jail time if he continues to violate it.

But surrogates are free to make the comments on his behalf for now.

Mr Trump is on trial charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Mr Trump in 2006.

Mr Trump has denied the affair took place and pleaded not guilty.

Alex Woodward and Ariana Baio contributed to this report

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Matt Gaetz invokes Trump's infamous call to Proud Boys at trial: 'Stand back and stand by' - Yahoo New Zealand News

Rep. Matt Gaetz Ignites Controversy with Support for Trump, Echoing Infamous Proud Boys Phrase – thepress.net

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Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, has sparked controversy with a post on X in which he declared his support for former President Donald Trump, stating, "standing back and standing by, Mr. President." The post included a photo of Gaetz standing behind Trump inside the Manhattan criminal courthouse. Gaetz's comment was a direct reference to Trump's own statement to the far-right group the Proud Boys in 2020, when he told them to "Stand back and stand by." Many of the group's members participated in the January 6 Capitol breach, and their leader, Enrique Tarrio, along with several top allies, are currently serving prison sentences for seditious conspiracy related to the attack.

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Rep. Matt Gaetz Ignites Controversy with Support for Trump, Echoing Infamous Proud Boys Phrase - thepress.net

Tesla Factory Accused of Spewing Illegal Amounts of Air Pollution

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An environmental group has slapped Tesla with a lawsuit this week for spewing pollution and violating the Clean Air Act.

Smogging Gun

In an awkward turn, an environmental group has slapped Tesla with a lawsuit this week, CNBC reports, for spewing pollution from its factory in Fremont, California and violating the Clean Air Act.

Despite Tesla touting that its factories are conscious about limiting waste, the California nonprofit group Environmental Democracy Project alleges in its lawsuit that the electric vehicle company has disregarded the Clean Air Act "hundreds of times since January 2021, emitting harmful pollution into the neighborhoods surrounding the Factory," as reported by CNBC.

The litigants say the pollution has continued to this day, with the factory spewing "excess amounts of air pollution, including nitrogen oxides, arsenic, cadmium, and other harmful chemicals."

This comes on the heels of the local air pollution control agency, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, announcing that it's seeking to stop Tesla from releasing more pollutants into the community — and dinging it for some 112 notices of violation since 2019.

"Each of these violations can emit as much as 750 pounds of illegal air pollution, according to some estimates," the agency wrote in a statement earlier this month. "The violations are frequent, recurring, and can negatively affect public health and the environment."

Factory Hazard

The Tesla factory in California isn't the only one facing criticism. In Germany, hardline environmental activists recently breached the barriers around a factory just outside Berlin and tried to storm the plant, upset that Tesla felled more than 200 acres of trees.

"Companies like Tesla are there to save the car industry, they’re not there to save the climate," one anti-Tesla activist in Germany told a Wired reporter.

This is a persistent criticism against Tesla and other electric vehicles that aim to save the environment and make a profit selling a product: are they really that green?

After all, the manufacture of an electric battery takes up an enormous amount of fossil fuels and requires the mining of lithium, cobalt and other minerals.

However, life cycle analysis of electric vehicles versus one that runs on fossil fuels shows that EVs win the race on lifetime emission output.

But that doesn't excuse the pollution allegations at Tesla factories, which have also earned scorn in California for hazardous waste violations.

More on Tesla: Investor Predicts Tesla Could "Go Bust"

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Tesla Factory Accused of Spewing Illegal Amounts of Air Pollution

Doctors Administer Oxytocin Nasal Spray to Lonely People

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Doctors administered the

We might like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, but the fact is that the whole experience of being human is basically the result of a bunch of swirling chemicals in the brain.

Case in point? A team of European and Israeli doctors just released an intriguing study, published in the journal Psychother Psychosom, in which they administered oxytocin — that's the much hyped feel-good hormone that's released by physical intimacy, among other activities — to lonely people as a nasal spray.

Take a beat to get over the premise of giving people in social distress direct doses of what's known to many researchers as the "love hormone," because the results were pretty interesting.

While the subjects didn't report a reduction in perceived loneliness, perceived stress, or quality of life, they did report a reduction in acute feelings of loneliness — a narrow distinction, but one that was clearly tantalizing to the researchers, especially because the effect seemed to linger for months after treatment.

"The psychological intervention was associated with a reduced perception of stress and an improvement in general loneliness in all treatment groups, which was still visible at the follow-up examination after three months," said the paper's senior author Jana Lieberz, a faculty member at Germany's University of Bonn, in a press release about the research.

Perhaps more intuitively — oxytocin is strongly associated with bonding — the researchers also found that subjects dosed with the hormone had an easier time connecting with others during group therapy sessions in which they were enrolled.

"This is a very important observation that we made — oxytocin was able to strengthen the positive relationship with the other group members and reduce acute feelings of loneliness right from the start," Leiberz said. "It could therefore be helpful to support patients with this at the start of psychotherapy. This is because we know that patients can initially feel worse than before starting therapy as soon as problems are named. The observed effects of administering oxytocin can in turn help those affected to stay on the ball and continue."

Further research is clearly needed; the trial size was limited, at just 78 participants, and it's difficult to parse the exact difference between "perceived" and "acute" loneliness they reported.

But the doctors behind the study are clearly intrigued, writing in the press release that the work "could help to alleviate loneliness," which is "associated with many mental and physical illnesses."

While Lieberz "emphasizes that oxytocin should not be seen as a panacea," the release continues, the "results of the study suggest that oxytocin can be used to achieve positive effects during interventions."

With the rush of academic and commercial interest we've seen in the potential pharmaceutical benefits of everything from ketamine to MDMA, don't be surprised if we see a rush of interest in oxytocin over the next few years.

More on oxytocin: Scientists Discover That Dogs Cry Tears of Joy When Reuinted With Owners

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OpenAI Researcher Quits, Flames Company for Axing Team Working to Prevent Superintelligent AI From Turning Against Humankind

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It might sound like a joke, but OpenAI has dissolved the team responsible for making sure advanced AI doesn't turn against humankind.

OpenAI Shut

It might sound like a joke, but OpenAI has dissolved the team responsible for making sure advanced AI doesn't turn against humankind.

Yes, you read that right. The objective of the team, formed just last summer, was to "steer and control AI systems much smarter than us."

"To solve this problem within four years, we’re starting a new team, co-led by Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, and dedicating 20 percent of the compute we’ve secured to date to this effort," the company wrote at the time. "We’re looking for excellent ML researchers and engineers to join us."

If those two names sound familiar, it's because Sutskever departed the company under a dark cloud this week, prompting Leike to quit in disgust.

And now the other shoe has dropped: as first reported by Wired, the entire team has now been dissolved.

Terminator Prequel

Sutskever, who was intimately involved with last year's plot to out OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has remained largely mum this week. But Leike has been publicly sounding off.

"I joined because I thought OpenAI would be the best place in the world to do this research," he wrote on X-formerly-Twitter. "However, I have been disagreeing with OpenAI leadership about the company's core priorities for quite some time, until we finally reached a breaking point."

Among his gripes: that the company wasn't living up to its promises to dedicate technical resources to the effort.

"Over the past few months my team has been sailing against the wind," he continued. "Sometimes we were struggling for compute and it was getting harder and harder to get this crucial research done."

But his objections also sound more existential than just company politics.

"Building smarter-than-human machines is an inherently dangerous endeavor," Leike wrote. "OpenAI is shouldering an enormous responsibility on behalf of all of humanity."

"But over the past years, safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products," he alleged.

OpenAI, for its part, has been busy doing exactly that: this week, it showed off a new version of ChatGPT that can respond to live video through a user's smartphone camera in an emotionally inflected voice that Altman compared to the 2013 romantic tragedy "Her."

"It’s a process of trust collapsing bit by bit, like dominoes falling one by one," one OpenAI employee told Vox.

More on OpenAI: The Person Who Was in Charge of OpenAI's $175 Million Fund Appears to Be Fake

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OpenAI Researcher Quits, Flames Company for Axing Team Working to Prevent Superintelligent AI From Turning Against Humankind

OpenAI Employees Forced to Sign NDA Preventing Them From Ever Criticizing Company

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OpenAI employees are forced to sign a restrictive nondisclosure agreement (NDA) forbidding them from ever criticizing the company.

Cone of Silence

ChatGPT creator OpenAI might have "open" in the name, but its business practices seem diametrically opposed to the idea of open dialogue.

Take this fascinating scoop from Vox, which pulls back the curtain on the restrictive nondisclosure agreement (NDA) that employees at the Sam Altman-helmed company are forced to sign to retain equity. Here's what Vox's Kelsey Piper wrote of the legal documents:

It turns out there’s a very clear reason for that. I have seen the extremely restrictive off-boarding agreement that contains nondisclosure and non-disparagement provisions former OpenAI employees are subject to. It forbids them, for the rest of their lives, from criticizing their former employer. Even acknowledging that the NDA exists is a violation of it.

If a departing employee declines to sign the document, or if they violate it, they can lose all vested equity they earned during their time at the company, which is likely worth millions of dollars. One former employee, Daniel Kokotajlo, who posted that he quit OpenAI "due to losing confidence that it would behave responsibly around the time of AGI," has confirmed publicly that he had to surrender what would have likely turned out to be a huge sum of money in order to quit without signing the document.

Signature Flourish

How egregious the NDA is depends on your industry and view of employees' rights. But what's certain is that it flies directly in the face of the "open" in OpenAI's name, as well as much of its rhetoric around what it frames as the responsible and transparent development of advanced AI.

For its part, OpenAI issued a cryptic denial after Vox published its story that seems to contradict what Kokotajlo has said about having to give up equity when he left.

"We have never canceled any current or former employee’s vested equity nor will we if people do not sign a release or nondisparagement agreement when they exit," it said. When Vox asked if that was a policy change, OpenAI replied only that the statement "reflects reality."

It's possible to imagine a world in which the development of AI was guided by universities and publicly funded instead of being pushed forward by impulsive and profit-seeking corporations. But that's not the timeline we've ended up in — and how that reality influences the outcome of AI research is anyone's guess.

More on OpenAI: OpenAI Researcher Quits, Flames Company for Axing Team Working to Prevent Superintelligent AI From Turning Against Humankind

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Tesla’s Firing Even More Employees as Crisis Deepens

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Tesla is slashing another 600 jobs at its facilities in California, running the gamut from factory workers to highly qualified engineers.

Head Count

Electric vehicle maker Tesla has been hit by round after round after round of layoffs over the past month or so, to the degree that it's somewhat hazy exactly how many employees have been affected.

And the cuts keep piling up, with CNBC now obtaining government paperwork through a public records request that shows the company is slashing another 600 jobs at its facilities in California, running the gamut from factory workers to highly qualified engineers.

The implication of CNBC's reporting is that the full extent of Tesla's cuts may end up being drastically higher than the 10 percent headcount reduction CEO Elon Musk warned about at the outset of the cullings back in April. As the network points out, Musk claimed in an April earnings call that "inefficiency" at the company was running between 20 and 30 percent, suggesting that the seemingly ongoing sackings could come to total nearly a third of the company's previous workforce of more than 140,000 at the end of last year.

Masterful Gambit

It's striking to watch Tesla writhe and contract, because just a few years ago it was on top of the world, having seemingly demonstrated not only that it could make electric vehicles a red-hot status symbol but that it could produce them at scale.

Things have soured since then, though. Maintenance and reliability for the vehicles have proven to be more painful than initially expected, sapping consumer interest, at the same time that cheaper alternatives are emerging overseas.

And hovering over the entire mess is Musk himself, whose antics since buying X-formerly-Twitter have raised questions about his business acumen at the same time that he's aggressively pushed Tesla's incomplete self-driving and robotics efforts while hyper-publically embracing a menagerie of conspiratorial and rightwing positions that seem to have alienated the company's core buyers.

"It got to the point where we felt like we were driving around in a QAnon-MAGA hat, as if Tesla had become a symbol of white supremacy," one former Tesla owner explained last year.

More on Tesla: 98 Percent of Drivers Who Try Tesla's Full Self-Driving Demo Ditch It After the Trail Period Is Over

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Tesla's Firing Even More Employees as Crisis Deepens