MUST READ: despite open violence, #ProudBoys weren't treated as a serious threat by law enforcement.

Why?

Damming article details falsified police reports, personal & financial ties, tacit support & willful ignorance.

By @ddknyt & @alanfeuer
Story: nytimes.com/2021/03/14/us/… Description from the story of two incidents of PBs getting sMention of proud boys leader having biz ties with local poliburning of a BLM flagMore descriptions of ties
2/ “They committed violence in public, used videos of that violence to promote themselves for other rallies and then traveled across the country to engage in violence again...How that didn’t attract F.B.I. attention is hard for me to understand.”
- @RethinkIntel “They committed violence in public, used videos of that vi
3/ #ProudBoys' street violence IS their PR strategy.

It perpetuates the myth of constant danger from an adversary that they protect 'us' from.

Which is literally is a page out of the 1920s fascist playbook.

Text: Robert Paxton citing Eve Rosenhaft.
4/ Why the police & #ProudBoys affinity?

It's not about LAW, but about ORDER.

If you see society as a rightful order of "us" vs "them" ... easy to think that police & Proud Boys are doing the same thing: using violence to protect you..from them.

Nothing to do with rule of law.
5/ @jasonintrator's latest book convinced me that this "us" vs "them" is at the heart of so much of what happened in the last 4 years.

It's a quick read & most important thing I've read this year.

Please, please read it.

bookshop.org/books/how-fasc…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with John Scott-Railton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jsrailton

13 Mar
NEW: #ProudBoys member Christopher Worrell was just arrested for participating in the #Capitol siege... and unloading his pepper spray at the police.

He got 'agitated' when the @FBI first contacted him..

Let me share fact about Chris aka #SgtPepperSprayer...

h/t @ryanjreilly
2/ Worrell was in Forgiato Blow's cringeworthy "We Outside" music video, filmed during the siege (left)

Casting beautiful shade, the @FBI used a still from video in the charges..to ID the brand of pepper spray Worrell used (right).

pic from the hip hop videoPic from the FBI documents
3/ Interesting: the charges feature impressive OSINT work by @FBI agent(s) to demonstrate that Worrell's pepper spray was indeed aimed at police.

Charges: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2051… Images of him using pepper spray, alongside ppl around himImages of him using pepper spray, alongside ppl around himImages of him using pepper spray, alongside ppl around himMore pepper spraying pics, and the FBIs conclusion that he w
Read 6 tweets
11 Mar
It's happening...again. Tucker Carlson is outrage-farming YOU.

Fox News is struggling to stay relevant post-Trump. So, they bait YOU to engage with outrage.

Even when you post critically, you keep them in the news cycle.

Don't fall for it. Move on. Pic of Tucker Carlson
2/ Your excellent dragging of Tucker Carlson's latest outrage will get positive reinforcement from ppl that agree with you.

But to Fox News it's a positive datapoint in their analytics.

Their takeaway: 'it's working!... Tucker killed it with that segment... let's do more.'
3/ Outrage farming for networks losing viewers in 3 steps:

1 - Go wall-to-wall on the dangers of 'cancel culture.'

2 - Say outrageous things calculated to provoke calls for cancellation.

3 -Curate the drama for your viewers. You are fighting for THEM. They need to back you.
Read 5 tweets
10 Mar
BREAKING: 2nd Roger Stone #OathKeepers bodyguard arrested & charged. After guarding Stone Joshua James of Alabama... stormed the #Capitol.

Great to see: this is someone many of us spent *much* time tracking.

Story: @kyledcheney & @joshgerstein
politico.com/news/2021/03/0…
2/ Looks like James was findable in part by a lot of phone calls to other #Oathkeepers named and..as-yet unnamed.

His device was also placed in vicinity of #Capitol during attack time.
courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… Text showing him having communications with other oath keepeText showing him having communications with other oath keepeText showing him having communications with other oath keepeText showing him having communications with other oath keepe
3/ He was tricky for all groups doing sleuthing because he was disciplined about keeping his gaiter on when with Roger Stone & at #Capitol.

However, for a brief (& immensely gratifying to find) moment in siege footage his face was exposed.

Vid: Pic of Roger stone and the now arrested oath keeper
Read 6 tweets
9 Mar
🚨PRIVACY ALERT: Are you a @TMobile customer?

They are going to start selling your personal web browsing history & mobile-app data* next month.

Disable this before they start: t-mobile.com/privacy-center…

THREAD with key context 1/
Story: @DrewFitzGerald
wsj.com/articles/t-mob…
2. Just @TMobile claiming that its customers are clamoring for their personal browsing data to be sold.
3. Of course @TMobile weakly claims they will anonymize your data.

A not-very-credible fig leaf just begging for regulatory scrutiny.

The data wouldn't be valuable unless advertisers can...and I am sure they will...quickly find ways to connect it back to your identity. T-Mobile said it masks users’ identities to prevent advert
Read 5 tweets
8 Mar
BREAKING: Roger Stone-linked #OathKeepers member Roberto Minuta was just arrested by federal agents.

Minuta pulled security for Stone on the morning of January 6th...then participated in #Capitol siege. 1/

By: @jonathan4ny & @valiquettejoe
Link: nbcnewyork.com/news/local/rog…
2/ Roberto Minuta is one of SIX #OathKeepers that provided security for Roger Stone... and then joined the siege & entered the #Capitol👇

3/ Moreover, as @arawnsley showed: Roberto ("Rob") Minuta has also been linked to a range of other Trump-world figures, and has been seen escorting Michael Flynn & Alex Jones.👇👇

Read 7 tweets
7 Mar
Fact check: Yes! There were guns at the #Capitol siege.

Look for yourself: Sig P320/M17 on a man heading up the steps.

(@EpochTimes & @LawEnforceToday making misleading mileage out of the @FBI saying no guns recovered *during* siege.)

1/
2 / Moreover, the @FBI was explicitly NOT speaking for #Capitol Police or @DCPoliceDept when they gave that answer to @SenRonJohnson.

Multiple people got gun charges on the 6th, as @RickRouan @USATODAY reports.

Story:usatoday.com/story/news/fac…
3/ The source of this deeply misleading factoid is, of course, questioning last week by @SenRonJohnson who continues to float the falsehood hat the mob was unarmed.

Prior reporting: @MollyBeck @journalsentinel
jsonline.com/story/news/pol… quote from senator Ron Johnson saying "this didn't seemSenator Ron Johnson asking rhetorically "how many firea
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!