Today's Liberal News

David Neiwert

‘Are we at war?’ Bannon exhorts TPUSA’s ‘awakened army’ to ‘take this to its ultimate conclusion’

If you had any thought that the insurrection that we all saw unfold on Jan. 6 might have just been a one-day affair—rather than the ongoing attack on American democracy that it in fact has become—you just needed to see Steve Bannon wrapping up this week’s eliminationism-themed “America Fest 2022” put on by Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA outfit in Phoenix.

Far right’s armed thugs unable to intimidate LGBTQ community, thanks to large crowds of defenders

The antidemocratic far right has been building momentum for its campaign of intimidation against the LGBTQ community this year by organizing gangs of armed neofascist thugs to turn out at their events—ranging from Pride gatherings to drag-queen story hours—and has largely done so without resistance. That’s beginning to change—and it seems to be making a difference.

Gunfire attacks on power substations have been happening in other regions besides Moore County

The 40,000-plus North Carolinians who have been without power since Saturday because someone knocked out the power grid in Moore County have largely been restored to service now, thanks to workers at Duke Energy who scrambled to replace the equipment destroyed in what has all the earmarks of a domestic terrorist attack. The investigation into the attacks continues apace, with the FBI issuing search warrants both for individuals and for cell phone data.

The rise and fall of ‘July4Patriot’ Charles Dyer, the Oath Keepers’ original far-right celebrity

The first time I came across the Oath Keepers back in the summer of 2009, it was all because of a then-29-year-old ex-Marine wearing a skull mask and ranting about the need for “Patriot” militiamen to “rise up” in “a violent revolution.” It was a telling introduction.

The Marine’s name was Charles Dyer. He was an Iraq War combat veteran, and his videos began turning up in late 2008 and early 2009 on YouTube.

Boise officials scramble to repair damage caused by revelation of white nationalist police captain

We’ve known for some time now that the presence of far-right extremists within the ranks of our police forces is a serious problem, one that was amplified by the Jan. 6 insurrection, where a number of officers were participants. Despite that, there’s been little effort among either police authorities themselves or their civic and federal overseers to confront the issue and begin rooting white supremacists out of our policing system.

MAGA melts down over Kari Lake’s loss and ‘red tsunami’ failure, vows revenge in the aftermath

MAGA fanatics are nothing if not predictable. Almost from the moment that Democrat Katie Hobbs was declared the winner of the Arizona governor’s race, the army of election denialists lined up behind loser Kari Lake—their last possible hope for taking control of the voting apparatus in a battleground state—donned their well-worn tinfoil hats, and howled an all-too-familiar cry: It was stolen! Voter fraud! Democrats are cheating.

FBI busts ‘Boogaloo Bois’ in Ohio and Michigan on weapons charges amid flood of threats, violence

While other far-right paramilitary groups who played key roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection, such as the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, have remained highly active in its aftermath, the followers of the antigovernment Boogaloo civil-war movement have mostly kept a low profile. But it’s fairly clear, as two arrests made this week in separate states indicate, that its followers remain quietly active, lurking in the background.

Michigan jury finds three more militiamen involved in Whitmer kidnap plot guilty on state charges

When a jury earlier this year acquitted two of the 14 men charged in the bizarre plot by a group of far-right militiamen to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, there was immediate concern that we might be seeing a repeat of the disastrous failed prosecutions of other right-wing extremists. However, the subsequent convictions in August of the two ringleaders in the retrial of the same federal case alleviated some of those fears.

D.C. jail’s ‘hellacious conditions’ unbearable for J6 prisoners, who believe Gitmo is a better place

The 40 or so insurrectionists being held in the Washington, D.C., jail while awaiting trial—having proven their susceptibility to conspiracy theories and disinformation by engaging in criminal behavior at the Jan. 6 Capitol siege—not only have become convinced of their own martyrdom, which they’ve been using to raise funds for their cause. They’re also convinced that they’d have better conditions being held at Guantanamo Bay than in D.C.

FBI’s seizure of Mike Lindell’s cell phone inspires an apocalyptic meltdown in MAGA world

Donald Trump’s MAGA followers were in full meltdown mode this week after the news broke Tuesday that the FBI had seized the cell phone of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, one of the leading figures and financiers of the Trumpist election-denialism movement. Within hours, a number of leading Trump defenders—including Fox News’ Tucker Carlson—were denouncing what they all claimed was a sure sign of the Biden administration’s persecution of conservatives.

Federal court rulings finally give wild orcas a place at the table for salmon harvests

One of the reasons the Southern Resident killer whale population in the Pacific Northwest is endangered is that its primary dietary staple—Chinook salmon—happens to be prized food for humans, too. And humans are bad at sharing: While Northwest salmon harvests are carefully regulated, divvied up between commercial, tribal, and sport fishermen, the federal authorities in charge of those decisions leave no place at the table for the orcas whose survival depends on the salmon.

Behind a neofascist façade, Patriot Front is really just another ‘white nationalist pyramid scheme’

One of the constants of the world of right-wing extremists is that their leaders all find ways to turn their authoritarian activism into a moneymaking operation that wrings funds out of their gullible followers. Even if these leaders buy their own bullshit—and most of them do—they also are assiduous in creating revenue streams generated from the eager suckers who lap it up.

Watch/Listen: J and L pods come together for a sunny July visit to San Juan Island’s west side

FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington—So far, the summer of 2022 has been the most encouraging season in at least six years in terms of restoring the health of the Southern Resident killer whales’ native summer habitat in the Salish Sea. The last time the SRKWs visited as frequently as they have this year was 2016, a season that was shadowed by death and decline.  

In 2022, they’ve been frequent though not entirely regular visitors to the Salish Sea and the San Juan Islands.

California militia group exploits massive Oak fire to give its public image a veneer of legitimacy

From their very beginnings in the 1990s, “Patriot” militia groups have tried to portray themselves as civic-minded defenders of their communities who show up at natural disasters as well as for “communist” threats to their well-being. Over the years, they’ve posed as flood rescue workers, volunteer border watchers, and anti-pedophilic “groomer” watchdogs—but in reality, they always have been nothing but unaccountable thugs with gun.

Measure to examine spread of extremism in police, military ranks opposed by every House Republican

House Republicans added yet another brick in their growing wall of far-right extremism this week: They voted unanimously against a measure requiring federal military and law enforcement officials to analyze and report on the breadth and depth of the presence of right-wing extremists, particularly neo-Nazis and white supremacists, within the ranks of the nation’s military and law enforcement.