The San Diego suburb of Santee turned the most recent flashpoint in a nationwide debate over transgender rights, a problem that’s now the central rallying cry for far-right extremists throughout the nation. Meanwhile, the FBI warns white supremacists are more and more concentrating on the nation’s power grid, and an lawyer for the Proud Boys says former President Donald Trump ought to be blamed for the Jan. 6 riot.
It’s the week in extremism.
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Anti-trans protest in Santee
Last week, a 17-year-old made a speech to the metropolis council of the San Diego suburb of Santee, claiming she had seen a transgender girl within the locker room of the native YMCA and had hidden in a bathe in fright. Footage of that speech quickly went viral, far right-wing media protection (a lot of it inaccurate) erupted, and Tucker Carlson weighed in. A ensuing rally on the YMCA on Wednesday noticed native politicians denouncing trans rights whereas native white supremacist thugs clashed with anti-fascists close by.
Of observe: I used to be at Wednesday’s protest. While it was largely peaceable, it was additionally attended by a who’s-who of San Diego white supremacists, Proud Boys and different assorted far-right extremists. That contingent spent about an hour partaking in screaming matches with a small and vocal group of anti-fascists. There have been just a few scuffles, and a few pepper spray was sprayed, however largely it was simply shouting.
- San Diego has a historical past of violent confrontations between far-right extremists and anti-fascists. In 2021, just a few days after the Jan. 6 riot, the teams clashed on the streets of the Pacific Beach neighborhood. Only anti-fascists have been ever charged within the ensuing prosecution, and that case has develop into an essential benchmark in defining how “Antifa” is outlined by the legislation, as I outlined on this story final yr.
More on antifa:How one legal case might redefine the murky left-wing motion
Special report:How the battle over one problem is tearing at America
- All-ages drag reveals specifically have been a magnet for anti-trans activism and far-right extremist exercise, however controversies just like the one in Santee have additionally attracted extremists.
- More context: A deadly taking pictures at an LGBTQ-friendly Colorado nightclub in November was charged as a hate crime. This is a sample consultants say is way older than the present controversy. “Any community that is considered a threat to the way of life of the population is then targeted as a group to be stopped,” Marilyn Mayo, a senior analysis fellow on the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism informed me in November. “That, in turn, leads people to marginalize that group and then act.”
Proud Boys lawyer: Blame Trump for J6
In a shock second late final week, Sabino Jauregui, an lawyer for Enrique Tarrio, the previous nationwide chairman of the extremist group the Proud Boys, claimed former President Trump, not his shopper, ought to be held chargeable for the Jan. 6 riot. The assertion got here within the opening statements of the trial of Tarrio and 4 different Proud Boys for seditious conspiracy.
Proud Boys on trial:Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio’s lawyer says Trump to blame for Jan. 6: trial updates
- “Too hard to blame Trump, too hard to bring him to the witness stand with his army of lawyers … Instead they go for the easy target. They go for Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys,” Jauregui told the court.
- Tarrio and four others are facing the most serious charges brought against Jan. 6 rioters. A similar seditious conspiracy case against members of the extremist group the Oath Keepers resulted in guilty verdicts.
- Tarrio wasn’t in Washington, D.C. on Jan 6. But prosecutors argue that his actions leading up the insurrection are tantamount to sedition.
- “To these men…(the election) was a fraud,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough stated within the prosecution’s opening remarks. “And they were there to stop it.”
- My colleague, Ella Lee, is overlaying the trial. Follow her on Twitter here.
FBI: Neo-Nazis targeting nation’s power grid
White supremacists and neo-Nazis are increasingly targeting the nation’s power grid, warns an FBI memo obtained by Oregon Public Broadcasting and outlined in this story Thursday. The story comes after a string of attacks on power substations in Oregon, Washington State and elsewhere last year that resulted in widespread power outages.
- “The individuals of concern believe that an attack on electrical infrastructure will contribute to their ideological goal of causing societal collapse and a subsequent race war in the United States,” the memo states.
- Extremism experts call this philosophy “accelerationism.” It’s based on the concept that attacks like these will “speed up” the approach of dystopia and speed up the coming race war.
- The OPB investigation confirmed 15 attacks on power substations in the Northwest alone.
Other outages: An extensive power outage in North Carolina raised alarms in December. Two electrical substations were disabled by gunfire. The FBI continues to seek information in that case.
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