Category Archives: Proud Boys

1. Even Amid a Crackdown, the Proud Boys Are Still Agitating  The New York Times
2. A Proud Boys Leader Who Burned A Black Lives Matter Flag Gets 5 Months In Jail  NPR
3. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 5 months in prison on weapons and vandalism charges  CBS News
4. Proud Boys leader Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio sentenced to five months in jail  The Washington Post
5. Proud Boys Leader Now Says He's Not Proud of His Crimes Mother Jones  Mother Jones
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Even Amid a Crackdown, the Proud Boys Are Still Agitating - The New York Times

By Marshall Cohen and Sara Sidner | CNN

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Monday to more than five months in jail for burning a churchs Black Lives Matter banner in December and bringing high-capacity rifle magazines to Washington, DC, days before the US Capitol insurrection.

The decision was handed down Monday by Judge Harold L. Cushenberry Jr. of DC Superior Court. Even though Tarrio was not in Washington on the day of the January 6 insurrection, the judge said Tarrios preceding conduct in the nations capital undermined American democracy.

This court must respect the right of any citizen to peacefully assemble, protest, and make his or her views known on issues, Cushenberry said. But Mr. Tarrios conduct in these criminal cases vindicate none of these democratic values. Instead, Mr. Tarrios actions betrayed them.

Tarrio, who has led the far-right extremist organization since 2018, pleaded guilty in July to the two misdemeanors. Federal prosecutors had asked the judge to give Tarrio three months in jail.

The flag-burning incident occurred at the Asbury United Methodist Church, a historically Black church, on December 12, after Tarrio and other Proud Boys attended a pro-Trump rally in Washington that later led to violent clashes. He was arrested when he returned to DC on January 4, shortly before the Capitol insurrection, and was found with two high-capacity magazines that are banned under DCs strict gun control laws.

After his arrest, he was released but ordered to stay out of DC a move that senior Justice Department officials later said was intended to tamp down potential violence on January 6.

In a letter to the judge ahead of sentencing, the churchs senior pastor said the flag-burning incident traumatized many of her congregants and brought back visions of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan (and) cross burnings.

The pastor, the Rev. Dr. Ianther M. Mills, also spoke passionately during Mondays sentencing hearing about the long-term impact of Tarrios actions, condemning them as brazenly racist.

She said Tarrio led a marauding band of angry white men apparently looking for trouble through the streets of DC, adding, in our opinion, this was an act of intimidation and racism.

During the hearing, Tarrio apologized directly to the churchs pastor and said he made a grave mistake by burning the Black Lives Matter banner and later gloating about it on social media. His attorney asked the judge to sentence Tarrio to community service instead of incarceration.

Id like to profusely apologize for my actions what I did was wrong, Tarrio sad.

But the far-right figure also painted himself as a victim of the situation, telling the judge, I have suffered financially, socially, for what Ive done. My familys business has been hit pretty hard. So, what I did doesnt only affect the church. It affects a lot more people, including my family.

The judge later concluded that Tarrios apology wasnt credible and rejected Tarrios claim that he didnt know he was destroying church property, calling it a bald, self-serving assertion.

He could not have cared less about the laws of the District of Columbia, the judge said. He cared about himself and self-promotion His claim of innocent mistake is not credible at all.

The case against Tarrio played out in local DC court and is separate from the sprawling federal investigation into the January 6 insurrection during which dozens of Proud Boys stormed the building and have since been charged with conspiracy and other felonies.

As part of the plea agreement, the Justice Department explicitly said it can bring different (and) additional charges against Tarrio regarding the attack on the Capitol. Its clear from court filings that prosecutors are aggressively investigating the Proud Boys and their actions before, during and after the January 6 riot. But its unclear if Tarrio will ever be charged as part of that probe.

Tarrio criticizes the sentence

In an interview with CNN after the hearing, Tarrio said the punishment was fair but criticized the judge, who at first mistakenly gave Tarrio a longer jail term than is legally allowed on the weapons charge, and was forced to adjust the sentence twice before the proceedings ended.

Im not surprised with the sentence per se. I am surprised by the judge, Tarrio said. I feel like the judge already had his mind made up. At its most basic function, a judge is supposed to know what the person in front of him was charged with. And in my case, he did not.

If I would have known it would have happened like this, I would have gone to trial, he said, predicting that he would have beaten the property destruction charge, even though it was caught on video and he repeatedly and publicly claimed responsibility for the banner-burning.

I learned from this experience, Tarrio said. If anyone thinks putting me in chains silencing me, dehumanizing me will keep me quiet, they are wrong. In fact, I will use my voice even more. Even the people who disagree with me, like Black Lives Matter, see the injustice in the justice system and I hope they keep up the fight because I sure as hell will.

Tarrio told CNN he would turn himself in on September 6.

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Proud Boys leader sentenced to more than five months - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

With less than 72 hours before Proud Boys and other far-right groups are slated to converge in downtown Portland for an annual rally that has historically devolved into violent street brawls with local anti-fascists, city officials and the Portland Police Bureau have provided scant details of their planned response.

The Police Bureau is actively planning for the weekend and will have information to share tomorrow, bureau spokesman Lt. Greg Pashley said.

The mayors office, too, declined to immediately provide details about the planned law enforcement response, such as whether Portland police will be joined by other area law enforcement like Oregon State Police and Multnomah County sheriffs deputies.

Tomorrow, however, should hopefully bring clarity: Mayor Ted Wheeler and Police Chief Chuck Lovell are hosting a press conference Friday afternoon to address the upcoming rally. That press conference follows an 11 am event hosted by Wheeler called Choose Love: A Community Gathering to Denounce Hate and Violence in Portland.

Larger questions also loom about what, exactly, PPBs response will look like now that the Rapid Response Teamtasked with covering mass gatheringsdissolved in June. The team, Portlands riot squad, was often tasked with keeping dueling political groups separate. That said, it is unclear what impact the units dissolution might have: While the 50-or-so RRT officers resigned en masse from the unit, they still remain employed by the Police Bureau.

The upcoming rally cannot be a surprise to local officials. For weeks, far-right groups have been actively posting about it online. And the same event took place on the same day last yearAug. 22.

Portland has regularly been a targetsome say a training groundfor extremists wishing to prove their mettle in street combat. Since 2017, city officials have tried different responsessome effective, others woefully inadequate.

The 2020 event, billed as a No to Marxism in America rally, escalated into violent skirmishes as Portland police, for the most part, stood by. As WW reported last summer, the Police Bureau made no effort to apprehend known Proud Boy Tusitala Tiny Toese, who at the time had an active warrant out for his arrest.

And last September, about a month after last years gathering, law enforcement arrested Alan Swinneyanother Proud Boys memberdue to to his actions at the Aug. 22 protest and another gathering that month.

During the Aug. 22 gathering, Swinney allegedly pointed a loaded revolver at a counterprotester. The 51-year-old, who is still held in the Multnomah County Inverness Jail pending trial, faces charges for assault, unlawful use of tear gas, unlawful use of a weapon, and more.

Last summers clashes occurred in the build-up to the November election, as violent support for President Donald Trump mounted. It culminated in the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

In the aftermath of the failed insurrection, clashes between Proud Boys and anti-fascists have occurred sporadically this summermost recently on the weekend of Aug. 7, around an evangelical Christian worship service in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Excerpt from:

Three Days Ahead of Portland Proud Boys Gathering, Practical Details of Police Response Remain a Mystery - Willamette Week

A member of the far-right Proud Boys street gang is pleading with authorities to release him from jail on health grounds.

Christopher Worrell has been held since April on charges of pepper spraying a police officer during the 6 January riot at the US Capitol. But authorities have twice denied his petitions for pretrial release, arguing his claims that hes not getting cancer treatment for his are misleading.

"I have another court hearing coming up soon, and were hoping the courts are going to see, but, you know, theyre just, theyre mistreating me," the 49-year-old said in a jailhouse phone interview with Newsmax host Greg Kelly on Tuesday. "They promised me treatment way back in April, and yet here I am, still 166 days later with no treatment, so thats our plan and our hope that the courts have a little bit of compassion, let me go home to get some medical urgent medical treatment that I need."

Mr Worrell, who was arrested in March in his East Naples, Florida, home, has non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer, and claims he hasnt gotten proper treatment in jail. He also contracted Covid while in detention, and claims that the cancer leaves him immunocompromised and at higher risk of health problems.

"Given the pandemic and acute danger to Mr Worrell, his continued detention amounts to impermissible pretrial punishment," his attorney, Allen Orenberg, wrote earlier this year. "The Governments interest in securing his appearance at trial does not outweigh his liberty interest in remaining alive and free from harm."

Mr Worrell has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, telling Mr Kelly they were completely false and fabricated.

But courts have twice denied the Proud Boys requests to be released, citing the fact that he didnt wear a mask to the riot itself, as well as noting that he has received cancer treatment while behind bars.

"Contrary to defendants characterizations, the record reflects that he has received attentive medical care for his non-Hodgkins lymphoma, COVID-19, and other ailments while in custody," US District Court Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in June, denying one of the petitions for release.

Authorities have also noted that Unity Healthcare, the healthcare provider inside Washington, DC jails, hasnt noted that Mr Worrells condition is deteriorating, and prosecutors have previously argued that the Proud Boy isnt getting his meds because his doctor wasnt responding to messages from his prison health providers to authorise the treatment.

Prosecutors also argued for his continued detention ahead of trial because he allegedly threatened a witness in the case, posting a message on social media that read, SO WHOMEVER CALLED THE FEDS ON ME REST ASSURED I KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WE WILL BE DISCUSSING THIS SOON!!"

Nearly 600 people have been arrested in connection with the 6 January insurrection so far.

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Proud Boy arrested in 6 January riot wants medical release from prison: Let me go home - The Independent

Kavanaugh claimed to be "a neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy." Barrett claimed, "I'm just here to apply the law." Needless to say, progressives were not convinced. When Joe Biden was elected, there was even a brief flare-up of discourse about Democrats embracing court-packing to counter the far-right Court with Biden even appointing a commission to study the question.

But it is a truism in mainstream media that progressives are always "overreacting," a truism that persists despite events like the January 6 insurrection, which conclusively proved #resistance folks had a better read on Trump than the "it can't happen here" naysayers. So all it took was the Roberts court issuing a couple of early summer moderate decisions the biggest saving the Affordable Care Act and voila! The Beltway media went full bore scolding the left for supposedly overreacting to the Trumpist court.

"The Supreme Court's Newest Justices Produce Some Unexpected Results," declared the New York Times, with a subheadline gushing how "liberals are often on the winning side."

"The Supreme Court's Surprising Term," read a similar New Yorker headline, with a subheadline promising that "the Court has largely avoided partisanship."

"Supreme Court this session saw strong majorities that did not adhere to the Trump brand or even the agenda of the far right," declared U.S. News & World Report.

"Ideological lines turn out to be more fluid than partisans had imagined when Barrett was named," claimed a headline in the Wall Street Journal.

And so on and so forth and on and on. The media narrative was set: Liberals are hysterical, the Supreme Court is fair, and gosh, let's just stop all this talk about court-packing already!

Now, the heat is off, and it appears the Republican majority on the Supreme Court feels free to do exactly what they were appointed to do: Impose their far-right ideology on an unwilling public and trample all good-faith legal reasoning and precedent to do so.

On Tuesday night, in a shockingly incoherent decision, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling by a Trump-appointed far-right judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, forcing the Biden administration to keep Trump's hateful "remain in Mexico" policy towards refugees applying for political asylum. Biden may be the duly elected president, but it appears this Trump appointee-heavy Republican court still thinks Trump should be setting immigration policy.

It is hard to even measure how radical this decision is. It is a sign that having secured a media narrative of "moderation" the Court feels free to stomp all over legal norms and basic rationality in order to impose a right-wing agenda. As Ian Millhiser at Vox wrote, the decision implies the Biden administration "committed some legal violation when it rescinded a Trump-era immigration policy, but it does not identify what that violation is." So the Biden administration is now being forced into a policy it doesn't want, based on legal reasoning that is not even available to them.

Mark Joseph Stern of Slate tweeted some more points about how radical this is:

While noting the order "was only one paragraph," University of Wyoming law professor Stephen Feldman and author of "Pack the Court!: A Defense of Supreme Court Expansion" told Salon, "the six-to-three political split along conservative-progressive lines is worrisome."

He added: "If one is looking for evidence of political balance and moderation from the conservative Supreme Court justices, including Trump's three nominees, this decision does not provide it."

This decision is a disaster on its own, on two levels.

First is the basic human cost of forcing refugees most of whom have made the long trip from Central America to avoid persecution at the hands of gangs to remain in Mexico, where they are in immediate danger from predatory criminals exploiting their vulnerability. Then there's the bureaucratic disaster for the Biden administration, who is now stuck with being forced to try to talk the Mexican government into agreeing to a Trump policy only put into place in 2019, despite having promised that the policy was changing.

But the implications expand well beyond this immediate decision as well.

It suggests, as the progressive Court skeptics feared, that the Supreme Court's feints towards "moderation" this year were little more than political maneuvering meant to take the wind out of the sails of the pack-the-court crowd. Having accomplished that, the radicals on the Court now feel free to unleash their hardline right-wing views and they aren't going to be constrained by expectations of a good-faith reading of either law or precedent in that mission.

Even in the early summer, there were skeptics of the "moderate" Court narrative. Respected legal analysts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern at Slate pointed out in June that the Court "chose the very last day of the term to let us know that when the rubber hits the road, partisan politics is what matters," by further gutting the Voting Rights Act and ruling that even more dark money can flow into politics. Law professor Leah Litman at NBC News noted that "several high-profile decisions" were distracting journalists from the real story, which is "several lower-profile decisions featured more traditional partisan divisions and those decisions are likely to be extremely consequential."This radical "remain in Mexico" decision proves the skeptics right.

The most immediate future concern is over abortion rights. In October, the Court will hear arguments about a Mississippi law banning pre-viability abortions, which directly violates Roe v. Wade. The decision will likely be rendered in June 2022. Mississippi has directly asked the Court to overturn Roe. Despite some idiotic hot takes hoping the Roberts court will do the right thing, the odds have always been high that this Court would find some way to uphold the ban, even if they use some shell game legal reasoning that muddies the water enough to avoid the "Roe overturned" headlines that could really hurt Republicans in the 2022 midterms. Now it's even more certain that this Supreme Court feels no compunction about tearing up precedent in order to criminalize abortion.

It appears the Supreme Court is ready to dance with those that brung 'em, giving Trump and the religious right the radical policies they've always wanted. It will only mean tearing up the very idea of legal good faith and defying the will of the voters.

Having secured the misleading "moderate court" narrative, the conservative justices appear to feel free to now go hog wild. The very sloppiness of the "remain in Mexico" decision indicates a court that is done pretending at judicial restraint. They were appointed for one mission and one mission only, to impose a far-right ideology on an unwilling America. After a few head nods in the direction of moderation, it appears the far-right justices are feeling ready to let 'er rip.

See the rest here:

Trump allies distance themselves from rally for Capitol rioters that's drawing Proud Boys back to DC - Raw Story

KALAMAZOO, MI The city of Kalamazoo says a special meeting will be held for a public presentation about the findings of a third-party investigation of Kalamazoo police activities of the summer of 2020, including officers use of force, which was criticized.

The city of Kalamazoo expects to receive the final report in August that will be released to the public soon after receipt, Kalamazoo Public Information Officer Ryan Bridges told MLive on Friday, July 23.

The OIR Group is planning to publicly present its findings during a special public meeting in the days following, Bridges said. The city is following OIR Groups standard protocol for public dissemination, he said.

The City would be the entity releasing the report, Michael Gennaco of OIR Group said on July 23 when asked if the company planned to post the report on its website upon its release.

We are currently dialoguing with the city to work out the specifics of when/how the report is to be released, Gennaco said on July 23.

Bridges said previously, on July 12, that the report would be presented to city administration before it is presented to the public. He did not immediately answer a follow-up question on July 23 asking if that was still the case.

City staff planned to speak with members of the OIR Group last week to discuss the process for releasing the report, Bridges said.

The contract cost with OIR Group remained within the original amount approved by city manager Jim Ritsema, of $75,000, Bridges said. The money came from the citys general fund, he said.

OIR Group was hired to provide a third-party account of police actions during events of 2020.

The summer saw police coming out in large numbers during Black Lives Matter marches in May and June, and resulted in criticism of how the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety handled the response.

In August, police faced more criticism for tactics employed during a visit from the Proud Boys. Officers arrived only after violence had erupted twice, arresting citizens including a reporter and a legal observer, while allowing the Proud Boys to leave the area in their vehicles.

Kurt Lewis was beaten in an altercation with Proud Boys in Kalamazoo on Saturday, Aug. 15.

Citizens demanded answers after the events.

Gennaco previously described the report his team is creating as an unvarnished account of what happened during those summer 2020 incidents.

Related: Army veteran says Proud Boys broke his nose and hand in Kalamazoo

OIR Group held several virtual listening sessions, including some focused on interviewing youth, and asked for people to call in to share their thoughts about the events that occurred in May, June and August 2020. The company also interviewed people and compile and analyzed materials such as videos, emails and evidence from the events.

The Kalamazoo City Commission continues to meet virtually and has not taken action to return to in-person meetings, though city staff has presented recommendations to return to physical meetings.

Read more:

City of Kalamazoo should work to improve trust and transparency issues, community survey says

Independent review of Kalamazoo police actions will be presented to city administration first, then the public

Kalamazoo County residents can learn about erasing their criminal records during virtual town hall

B-29 Superfortress bomber lands in Kalamazoo for a weekend of aviation history

The rest is here:

Special meeting will be held to present investigation findings of Kalamazoo police responses in 2020 - MLive.com

Andrew Ryan Bennett faces up to 6 months in prison after pleading guilty to one misdemeanor count in connection with January 6.

Author: Jordan Fischer, Eric Flack, Stephanie Wilson

Published: 12:16 PM EDT July 22, 2021

Updated: 12:22 PM EDT July 22, 2021

A Maryland man who wore a Proud Boys hat while livestreaming himself storming the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty Thursday to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Andrew Ryan Bennett, of Columbia, Maryland, appeared in court virtually for a plea hearing before U.S District Judge James Boasberg. After answering Boasbergs questions about his competency, Bennett responded yes when asked if he wanted to plead guilty to one count in the case.

Bennett was arrested in January after federal investigators say they received multiple tips alerting them to four videos Bennett had livestreamed on his Facebook page. The videos appeared to show him wearing a baseball hat with a Proud Boys motto on it while joining in chants of break it down during the Capitol riot. Court documents indicate Bennett may have been streaming nearby when Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed during an attempt to breach the Speakers Lobby.

A search warrant was executed on Bennett's house on Jan. 11. The affidavit says that Bennett admitted to federal agents during an interview that he was inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and even called it "wrong."

"During the execution of the search warrant, agents interviewed Bennett and he stated that he had traveled alone to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, arriving around 6:00am and later entered into the U.S. Capitol building with a crowd," the affidavit said. "Bennett told agents that he knew it was wrong to do so."

Bennetts plea deal means the government will drop the remaining three charges against him. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for October 1. He faces up to six months in prison and a $500 fine.

We're tracking all of the arrests, charges and investigations into the January 6 assault on the Capitol. Sign up for ourCapitol Breach Newsletterhere so that you never miss an update.

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Maryland man who livestreamed himself at Capitol in Proud Boy hat pleads guilty - FOX43.com

The Proud Boys of Scotland, South Dakota, just wanted to dance. But their reputation as an insurrectionist street-fighting gang got in the way.

Amid unspecific safety concerns, the Proud Boys have withdrawn as sponsors of a street dance event slated for September in the small town of 841 people.

Earlier this month, the Scotland City Council voted unanimously in favor of the Proud Boys request for a permit to hold a 12-hour music festival in the town, which would require several thoroughfares to close.

When asked about the vote, Scotlands city attorney, Kent Lehr, told the Bismarck Tribune it was his understanding that while the Proud Boys have gained some negative national attention, there have not been any problems locally. He also added that several area residents were part of the group. Im not saying the city is condoning or agreeing with what the group says, Lehr told the paper.

While a small Proud Boys event in a tiny town may seem like no big deal, its a troubling indicator of the groups resilience and ability to organize on a hyper-local leveldespite being under intense scrutiny since many of its leaders were implicated in the January 6 riot.

So far this year, the group has eschewed large-scale meet-ups and rallies in favor of coalition-building with other far-right groups and hyper-local culture war dramas. For example, theyve protested a Los Angeles spas policy of accommodating transgender customers; defended an evangelical preacher outside a Planned Parenthood in Salem, Oregon; and rallied in support of a school nurse in Stafford Township, New Jersey, who lost her job after she refused to enforce the school mask mandate.

Theyve also tried to paint themselves as good Samaritans and patriots who have been smeared in the media, a message that may resonate in parts of the country that are still bitter over former President Donald Trumps electoral loss. Earlier this year, the Proud Boys hosted a community Easter egg hunt in a predominantly white suburb of Chicago. Proud Boys also participated in a July 3 parade in Buhl, Idaho, and even had their own float, decked out with a giant flag bearing the groups logo and balloons in their trademark black and gold.

When making his pitch to the Scotland City Council earlier this month, Proud Boy associate David Finnell described his group as a fraternity. As news of the event began to spread and prompt criticism from beyond Scotland, residents of the area took to Facebook to weigh in. Some were outraged by the towns tacit acceptance of the group; others argued So what? and insisted theyd rather have Proud Boys over antifa any day.

At one point, Finnell weighed in with an apparent effort to defend the Proud Boys. I am a business owner and thought it was time to put away the hate. The fighting. The protesting. And wanted to unite people with the power of music, he wrote. He claimed that the Proud Boys had been doing charity all over South Dakota and offered to help fund the music festival, which he said would bring eight nationally known bands that everyone would know and would normally pay a fortune to see to Scotland. No, the music isnt all white supremacist, Finnell said. I have had the pleasure of meeting the Proud Boys and definitely can say don't believe the media. At least in South Dakota. They are true patriots. Fathers. Sons. And trying to make our great state better.

Proud Boys, which are now designated a terrorist organization in Canada, have been linked to violent incidents across the U.S. and are known for casual bigotry, glorification of political violence, and misogyny.

Follow Tess Owen on Twitter.

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Proud Boys Say They Can't Safely Dance, Even Though They Wanted To - VICE

Democrats tried to create a bipartisan committee through official congressional legislation, but Republicans stopped them. Democrats then went at it by themselves, creating a select committee with the House leadership powers, yet still decided to invite Republicans onto the commission as an act of good faith. All Republicans needed to do was act like adults who believe fascist coups are bad business, instead of a bunch of clowns whose only goal is to disrupt the proceedings. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, however, could not pass this basic "adults or clowns?" test. He picked clowns, including Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who has a pair of the biggest shoes and some of the thickest greasepaint in the highly competitive field of authoritarian buffoons of the GOP. Picking the QAnon shaman would have been a more subtle effort at sabotage, but "subtle" isn't exactly a popular aesthetic in Republican circles today. And so Pelosi did what any sensible person who wants a real investigation instead of a conspiracy theory circus would have done: She said no thank you to Jordan and Jim Banks, R-Ind., who honks his nose less loudly than Jordan but is no less a far-right saboteur.

In turn, McCarthy, proving once more he is not adult enough to handle the responsibilities Pelosi entrusted to him, threw a tantrum and declared that he and the Republicans are going to have their own investigation, where they can unpack the clown car full of all the "antifa did it!" and "beating cops is peaceful protest" lies that they want.

"There are people who want to derail and thwart an investigation and there are people who want to conduct an investigation," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., made clear to the New York Times. "That's the fault line here."

Here's the thing: Everyone knows Raskin is telling the truth. Democrats know it. Republicans know it. The journalists covering this know it. And yet, because the slow decline of our democracy is like a horror movie where the scantily clad young woman is ignoring audience pleas not to go down that dark hallway, the mainstream media is framing this as a "both sides" problem or worse, as somehow the fault of Democrats for wanting adults to act like adults when investigating such a serious matter as an attempted coup.

"Pelosi Bars Trump Loyalists From Jan. 6 Inquiry, Prompting a G.O.P. Boycott," reads the New York Times headline. The text describes the dispute as a "partisan brawl" that illustrates "how poisonous relations have become between the two parties," sidestepping how this is singularly the fault of Republicans for choosing Trump over democracy itself.

"Bipartisan House probe of Jan. 6 insurrection falls apart after Pelosi blocks two GOP members," declared the Washington Post headline. "Both parties have attacked the other as insincere and uninterested in conducting a fair-minded examination of the attack," without noting that only one side, the Republicans, are lying about this.

The media's coverage of McCarthy's stunt so far has been an extreme example of what the bloggers at Lawyers, Guns, and Money deemed "Murc's law": "the widespread assumption that only Democrats have any agency or causal influence over American politics." In this case, the assumption is that it's somehow Pelosi's fault that McCarthy and his fellow Republicans are singularly focused on covering up for Trump and his crimes. These men are adults who think they're entitled to run the government, and yet they apparently can't be held responsible for their rejection of truth, the law, or the integrity of the electoral system they've sworn to uphold. Nah, it's somehow Pelosi's fault for not somehow massaging these fascist cover-up artists into better people.

A corollary assumption, though one that does not yet have a cute nickname, is that "bipartisanship" should be a goal above all others, one that all other values should be sacrificed to, including values like integrity, decency, and a belief that public servants should serve the public. Again, only Democrats are expected to sacrifice core values for "bipartisanship." Republicans can do what they want, burn any bridge, even continue to back the man who attempted a coup, but any failure of "bipartisanship" is laid at the feet of Democrats.

CNN's Chris Cillizza coughed up a particularly gross example:

The attitude, common in the Beltway press, is obnoxious enough when Democrats are being chastised for putting their campaign promises on infrastructure spending ahead of letting the GOP sabotage them in the name of "bipartisanship." But now the media fetish for bipartisanship is being weaponized by Republicans to justify, and this cannot be stated firmly enough, covering up for an attempted fascist overthrow of the U.S. government. And because they want the man who instigated it to have another bite at the apple, no less.

As Crooked Media editor-in-chief Brian Beutler pointed out on Twitter, the problem is that the media treats Republican "dirty dealing as a constant," as if it's the weather and not the actions of autonomous actors. They, therefore, end up acting like the only people whose actions deserve scrutiny are Democrats. The result is Democrats get blamed for things completely out of their control, such as McCarthy's choice to favor Trump over democracy.

The result, he added, is that the media is ignoring "one of the most incredible stories in U.S. history," which is that "an organized mob of the president's supporters attacked the Capitol and his party is trying to cover up the connections between the two." It's certainly a more interesting story than "Democratic leader fails to make Republicans act better," and yet, here we are.

Adam Serwer of the Atlantic diagnosed the problem by tweeting, "'The committee on the insurrection needs both pro and anti insurrection members, for balance is an expression of how uncomfortable mainstream objective journalists are in the current environment and how badly they want to get back to the pre-Trump equilibrium."

The irony of this is that the most effective thing the press could do to get that pre-Trump equilibrium back is to hold Republicans accountable for covering up for Trump. Pretending the fascists aren't fascist or that they would somehow be less fascist if the Democrats were nicer to them only helps the Trumpists get more power and helps keep Trump at the center of GOP politics. If there's any hope of the Republicans leaving Trump in the past, it goes through making it hard for them to keep hanging on. That starts with reporting the news honestly, instead of putting this Republican-coddling spin on events.

The reality is that Pelosi, by drawing the "no clowns" line in the sand for committee appointments, made the committee better. As Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman at the Washington Post wrote, "The less involved McCarthy is with this committee, the more likely it will be to undertake a genuine and comprehensive accounting."

Odds are that, for all the caterwauling about "bipartisanship," the press will end up giving more favorable coverage to the findings of the official Democratic-run committee than whatever joke of a committee the Republicans throw together. Not, of course, because mainstream journalists want to take Democrats more seriously. Clearly, they are so desperate to take Republicans seriously they're always throwing them a handicap. It's just that the Democrats will produce something that can be reported on seriously. McCarthy's nose-honkers, on the other hand, are likely to churn out some Breitbart newsletter-style conspiracy theories about "antifa" that the press will gently decline to cover widely, ironically to protect the illusion that Republicans are serious people.

Not that Republicans care. Whatever they produce is going straight into the Fox News propaganda machine. It was what Republicans intended to hijack the real committee to do: Produce selectively edited clips of Jordan raving at witnesses to distribute in their propaganda channels. Now they just won't waste Democrats' time in doing it.

By blocking the sabotage trolls, Pelosi gave the committee a fighting chance at producing something genuinely interesting, newsworthy, and focused on the real causes that led to the insurrection. She gets abused by the press for acting as the only adult in the room, but someone has to do it. And the same press that's bagging her for not doing more to accommodate insurrection cover-up artists will benefit from her choice. They're now going to get to cover committee findings that are both stronger and more interesting than the kneecapped version a more "bipartisan" committee would have produced. They may actually get people to click and read their stories, instead of ignoring the weak sauce headlines a report that caters to snowflake-sensitive pro-insurrectionists would have produced. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

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Proud Boys member running for school board in Kansas insists hes not a white supremacist but leaked chats show otherwise - Raw Story

TAMPA More than three months after long-time radio host Rob Lorei was booted from the airwaves, subscribers to WMNF-FM received an unexpected email Thursday afternoon explaining why.

Lorei, who helped found the radio station nearly four decades ago, had said earlier that WMNFs management gave him no reason when he was fired April 9. Around noon Thursday, Will Greaves, president of the stations board of directors, provided subscribers with one.

In November 2020, Mr. Lorei used an ethnic slur towards a listener from a station email account, the email reads. When confronted about it, Mr. Lorei confirmed the use of the slur and has since defended it.

Reached for comment Thursday afternoon, Lorei disputed the explanation and said the email in question was from a listener who had defended the actions of a far-right group.

People who know me and my long record at WMNF know I would never use an ethnic slur, Lorei said in a written statement to the Tampa Bay Times. I did use a political term in an email to a listener who wrote in to downplay the dangers of the Proud Boys on or about January 6th.

The term at issue, Lorei said, is kapo a German word used to describe prisoners who aided their captors in Nazi concentration camps. Lorei said he has always understood it to describe an ally of the far right.

The Proud Boys describe themselves as Western chauvinists and have been associated with white nationalist movements. Members of the Proud Boys have been charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 that delayed the certification by Congress of the 2020 presidential election.

Lorei said WMNFs general manager knew about the email exchange at the time and laughed about it, telling him not to contact the person again.

I didnt, Lorei said. Three months later, I was fired.

In a written statement to the Times, Greaves, the WMNF board president, said the board didnt learn until April that Lorei had used the word in his email. Lorei was fired immediately. Greaves noted that Loreis email was sent two months before the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The term Mr. Lorei used in November 2020 was not a political term, Greaves said. It was an anti-Semitic racial slur that is highly offensive to any Jewish person.

In its message to subscribers Thursday, the station said it was sending an explanation at this time to clarify the record after learning recently that Lorei has promoted false and misleading statements regarding his termination from WMNF.

Lorei was fired for gross misconduct, the email said. WMNF condemns intolerance based on race or ethnicity, and this reprehensible language violates the mission and style statements. The Board will not reverse its decision.

Lorei has continued to speak publicly about his ouster and the stations leadership. Video of a June 26 community conversation at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm stirred a heated debate on the Tampa farms Facebook page. And the headline on a July 13 story at local news website St. Pete Catalyst said Lorei breaks his silence in a tell-all interview about his firing and the stations future.

Whats more, some of Loreis fans have continued to criticize his firing, including one supporter who launched a change.org petition July 15 titled, Return Rob Lorei to WMNF. By Thursday afternoon, the petition had garnered 143 signatures.

Still, Lorei said he has moved on and has no interest in getting his job back.

That wasnt the case in February 2019, when Lorei was fired by former general manager Craig Kopp. At the time, Kopp said the station had ended its long-running relationship with Lorei to help move toward a new world of news media beyond radio broadcasting.

A public outcry followed and some supporters canceled donations to the nonprofit station as Lorei appealed his firing to the all-volunteer board of directors. He was reinstated weeks later and returned as WMNFs news and public affairs director, the position he held until April 9.

Lorei moved to Tampa in 1978 and joined a group of people who wanted to start a community radio station. They raised the money, even going door to door, and WMNF hit the airwaves in 1979.

Hes best known for hosting call-in and interview shows centered on news and public affairs, including Radioactivity with Rob Lorei at 11 a.m. weekdays. He also appears on TV, and continues to host the weekly panel discussion Florida This Week on PBS station WEDU, as well as regularly moderate debates and political forums.

Good morning WMNF,

After much deliberation, the Board has the following statement to our community:

The Nathan B Stubblefield Foundation Board of Directors is disappointed to have recently learned that Rob Lorei has promoted false and misleading statements regarding his termination from WMNF. The Board sends this email today to clarify the record.

In November 2020, Mr. Lorei used an ethnic slur towards a listener from a station email account. When confronted about it, Mr. Lorei confirmed the use of the slur and has since defended it. As soon as the Board discovered the email, it directed General Manager Rick Fernandes to terminate Mr. Lorei for gross misconduct.

WMNF condemns intolerance based on race or ethnicity, and this reprehensible language violates the mission and style statements. The Board will not reverse its decision.

The Board remains confident in managements leadership and is proud of the staffs commitment to providing mission-driven public affairs and music to the Tampa Bay community. The hard work of the stations employees and volunteers has continued to move the station towards a bright future in step with the stations long term plan, even in the face of the challenges the past few years have presented.

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WMNF says it fired host Rob Lorei over email containing ethnic slur - Tampa Bay Times