Search Results for Shooting

Here Come the AnarchistsIn the menagerie of right-wing populist groups, the boogaloo bois stand out for their fashion, for their great love of memes, and, to put it plainly, for the incoherence of their ideology. Which is saying a lot, considering that the riot at the Capitol last Wednesday featured partisans of the long-gone country of South Vietnam, Falun Gong adherents, end-times Christians, neo-Nazis, QAnon believers, a handful of Orthodox Jews, and Daniel Boone impersonators.The boogaloos weren’t a huge presence in that mob. But according to federal officials, the attack on the Capitol has galvanized them and could inspire boogaloo violence in D.C. and around the country between now and Inauguration Day. The FBI warned earlier that boogaloos could launch attacks in state capitols this Sunday, January 17.The boogaloos don’t appear interested in fighting for Donald Trump—they tend to despise him, mostly because they think he panders to the police….

MAGA-land’s Favorite NewspaperPhoto-illustrations by Kibele Yarman*The rural hamlet of Cuddebackville, New York, is home to a guru named Li Hongzhi, who calls his 427-acre compound Dragon Springs. At the center of the compound—a kind of timber frame Shangri-la—stands a massive replica of a Tang Dynasty temple. On March 19, 2020, Li wrote a message to his disciples titled “Rationality.” The message was about COVID-19, which was by then crippling New York City, 80 miles to the southeast. “Plagues and pestilence, by their very nature, are arranged by the Gods,” Li began. “When humans become corrupt in their hearts, they will generate karma, fall sick, and suffer calamities.”Li gradually worked up to his point, referring to the Chinese Communist Party by its initials: The pandemic “has come with a purpose and with a target. It has come to eliminate the followers of the evil Party and those who go along with…

Trump’s Tweets Were Never Just TweetsThe internet is real life.This was the lesson of Pizzagate in 2016, which made clear that conspiracy theorizing on message boards can lead to a man carrying a rifle into a restaurant. This was the lesson of the deadly Charlottesville rally in 2017, which made clear that online hate is a precursor to offline violence.This was the lesson of the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, which were carried out by a terrorist who was radicalized on YouTube and live-streamed the attack on Facebook. And this was the lesson after Facebook ignored warnings of a planned militia event that led to a double shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this summer. And the lesson after armed supporters of QAnon, the conspiracy theory that views Donald Trump as a savior waging a holy war, were arrested outside a ballot-counting center in Pennsylvania this fall.Since losing his reelection bid, President…

WLS Promotes Nick Gale To News Director Cumulus Media Conservative Talk 890 WLS Chicago has announced the promotion of Nick Gale to News Director. Gale will continue to serve as Morning News Anchor at the station. He has been with the station full-time since 2013 after previous stints at WOKV Jacksonville and the Illinois Radio Network. Gale’s promotion follows the retirement of previous News Director and afternoon news anchor John Dempsey at the end of 2020. CUMULUS MEDIA announces that it has promoted award-winning broadcast journalist Nick Gale to News Director for 890 WLS-AM in Chicago, IL. Gale will continue to serve the station as News Anchor for Morning Drive, a position he has held since 2020. A native of suburban Glenview, IL, Gale has been behind a microphone since 1994, when he got his start in broadcasting at Glenbrook South High School radio station WGBK-FM. After graduating from Southern…

Hiding From a Mob With the Anti-maskersAs a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, security guards hustled representatives into a secure location. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware’s sole member of the House, tried to convince several of her Republican colleagues to put on masks. They refused, and laughed at her—behavior that was captured in a viral video. In the days since, House Democrats Pramila Jayapal, Brad Schneider, and Bonnie Watson Coleman have tested positive for COVID-19. They blame their GOP colleagues’ carelessness for their diagnoses. On Tuesday, I asked Blunt Rochester to reflect on what happened, and why. She agreed to let me share the story as she told it to me. —Edward-Isaac DovereIt started that morning with a notice from the Speaker’s office. If members wanted to witness the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, we had to send an email to a particular address. We…