TIME TO BRING THE RECEIPTS: Podcaster C.Jay Engel (@contramordor) appeared on a local YouTube show on Friday to dispute my reporting regarding the white Christian nationalists moving into Tennessee.🧵Thread on what he claimed vs. what he has really said. 🧵1/
First of all, if you missed my initial report that's being discussed, watch here. 🧵2/
Engel was asked about his desire to return America back to the way it was before the civil rights movement. He claims he just wants to find a different way to get there! 🧵3/
Here is Engel reacting to a photo of an all-White diner, with the quote: "The 1960s ruined everything." 🧵4/
Here is Engel saying that he wants "to return America to how it was before the civil rights movement" - with no qualification about finding a different want to get to racial harmony. 🧵5/
Here is Engel bemoaning a person of color dressed up for St. Patrick's Day as "the great replacement." 🧵6/
Engel's idea of what it means to be "an actual country with an actual culture" is usually expressed in Norman Rockwell pics of White people. 🧵7/
Here, Engel puts civil rights icon Martin Luther King on the enemy side of the "Friend-Enemy distinction." 🧵8/
Here, Engel argues that the expansion of suffrage - the right to vote - "correlated with the loss of our old liberties and ways of life." 🧵9/
Back to the call-in, Engel says he would return civil rights to the states and leave it up to them to decide the fates of people of color. 🧵10/
Also, remember Engel kicked off Black History Month this year by celebrating the accomplishments of a white supremacist who advocated forced birth control for people of color.🧵11/
Engel (@contramordor) was also asked if he and his Christian nationalist friends would discriminate (including against LGBTQ people) in hiring when they open businesses in Jackson County. “No, I don’t plan on discriminating, but….” 🧵12/
@contramordor This is @contramordor - who told Jackson County that he didn't "have any plans to discriminate at all - that not really my style." Here, he posts: "Gay people need to work on not being gay and then we can employ them. Pretty simple." 🧵13/
@contramordor Here is Engel discussing why he was yucking it up with Andrew Isker about the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Pay close attention to his explanation. 🧵14/
Engel claims, if you go back and listen to the original podcast, he and Isker made it clear that Till's lynching was an "outrage" and had "no role in a just society." My transcript has no such wording. I welcome @contramordor to provide a time code. 🧵15/ youtube.com/live/nclv2G6wV…
More importantly, this is the real context for their friend's comment, in which he seems to be saying the murder of young Emmett Till was unimportant to him. 🧵16/
And here is Engel's Christian Nationalist podcast buddy @BonifaceOption bemoaning the fact that he cannot question the story around Emmett Till's murder - not saying it was an "outrage." 🧵17/
Also, here is Engel making a similar "joke" about George Floyd. 🧵18/
Engel also denied my reporting that he has advocated deporting immigrants who are already citizens. Listen closely, then read what follows... 🧵18/
MORE RECEIPTS: In his explanation of his beliefs in America being for "Heritage Americans," Engle stated that "peoples such as Indians, or South East Asians or Ecuadorians or immigrated Africans are the least capable of fitting in and should be sent home immediately." 🧵19/
MORE RECEIPTS: Less than three months ago, Engel was citing the "Great Replacement" and calling for "retroactive application of new rules" by a "Heroic figure." 🧵20/
MORE RECEIPTS: And here is Engel calling for the U.S. to "retroactively reverse the citizenship status" of certain ethnic immigrants allowed into the U.S. since 1965. 🧵21
And then there are Engel’s thoughts about women! 🧵22/
Engel: "I detest the specific impact of college educated white women on the culture of the world around me." 🧵23/
This speaks for itself. 🧵24/
Check out his reply. 🧵25/
Then, there are his claims about what he believes about women voting! 🧵26/
Engel: "Women were happier and lived more fulfilling lives before they got the vote." 🧵27/
🧵28/
Like other Christian Nationalists, Engel favors giving households the right to vote and the husbands would decide how their households vote. 🧵29/
Finally, Engel falsely claims that I have dragged his “small family … through the mud” and labeled them as Nazis. I never even mentioned that he has a family. 🧵30/
The issue that I raised - and the issues that I posed to him - is that his and Isker’s rhetoric sounds much like the rhetoric we have heard from neo-Nazis: “They hate White men, deport every Mexican.” 🧵31/
In this message shared with me from a private Jackson County/Gainesboro FB group, developer Josh Abbotoy (@Byzness) claims he did not want to "criticize people who want to buy land from my company."
There's one little problem... 2/
@Byzness In a promotional video by Pastor Andrew Isker (@BonifaceOption), Isker announced he was moving to Tennessee and chosen to "partner with Newfounding and RidgeRunner" - Abbotoy's companies. 3/
Well, the conspiracy theorists are at it again -- SHOCK! - alleging that I must be in cahoots with @TBInvestigation because the Bureau granted my public records request, but did not grant their requests. Learn the law, people! A lesson: 1/
Documents related to administrative functions - such as communications with lawmakers - ARE subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act. Documents directly involving TBI investigations are NOT subject to the Act. 2/
Finally, there were no shenanigans with my making the request. When Shawn Taylor starts telling people that he has the support of some state lawmakers, I am going to go looking for evidence of that support! If he doesn't want me to find such, maybe he shouldn't talk so much. 3/
PLEASE stop listening to political figures who, for the sake of their own fortunes, are willing to lead Americans to their deaths with their denialism. Listen to pros like @JohnMoralesTV who care about their communities and know climate change is real!
And @JohnMoralesTV should NOT need to apologize for being emotional. I cried once on air, but it was because I was witnessing real trauma at the scene from where I was broadcasting. This trauma is also very real!
🧵 Here's how our Millersville #ConspiracyCop investigation has unfolded: 🧵
My curiosity about Shawn Taylor began with a quirky story about Gabrielle Hanson, the unsuccessful candidate for mayor in Franklin, Tennessee. 1/
🧵 (cont'd.)
The more that I went down the #ConspiracyCop rabbit hole, the stranger the story got. After all, this was a man who now had a gun and a badge. 2/
🧵 (cont'd.)
It turned out that #ConspiracyCop Shawn Taylor had some truly horrific ideas about the shooting at Nashville's Covenant School. 3/
🧵🧵🧵Millersville City Attorney Bryant Kroll puts out a statement that "clarifies" the intent of the TBI raids of City Hall, claiming the agency isn't really investigating who we think it is investigating. Here's a breakdown of why that "clarification" doesn't make sense. 1/
Kroll claims that MPD had previously asked for the TBI's help in investigating other officials. "These warrants suggest the TBI is investigating alleged 'official misconduct' involving individuals previously reported to the TBI by the Millersville Police Department." 2/
When the TBI comes in to assist another law enforcement agency, they do NOT raid the agency they are assisting. Kroll should know that! (Plus, there is not evidence that any of these other individuals were subjected to search warrants by TBI agents.) 3/