<ul class="summary-list"><li>During Tuesday night's presidential debate, while refusing to condemn white supremacist groups, President <keyword id="6354484" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Donald-Trump">Donald Trump</keyword> told the <keyword id="7348949" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Proud-Boys">Proud Boys</keyword> to "stand back and stand by," speaking to the majority right-wing hate group.</li><li>The Proud Boys, founded in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, is an extremist "fraternity" classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and has been associated with violent incidents in recent years.</li><li>Kris McGuffie, the deputy director of the Center on Terrorism, <keyword id="139533" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="extremism">Extremism</keyword>, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told Insider that Trump's words were "exceedingly dangerous" and "may be used as a rallying cry to incite violence." </li><li>Here's what we know about the Proud Boys and their history. </li></ul>During Tuesday night's presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked President Donald Trump if he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups. The president asked for a name of a group causing right-wing violence, and former Vice President Joe Biden suggested the majority right-wing hate group the Proud Boys."Proud Boys, stand back and stand by," Trump said.Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a nongovernmental organization that tracks extremist and hate groups, said in a tweet that Trump "owes America an apology or an explanation" for his Proud Boys remarks. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1311129412457431041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2020</a></blockquote>The current leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/enrique_tarrio/status/1311177601487167489">tweet</a> that he did not interpret Trump's comment as "a direct endorsement," and said that the group is not associated with white supremacy. "Him telling the ProudBoys to stand back and standby is what we have ALWAYS done," Tarrio said, adding that he was "extremely proud" of Trump's performance in the debate. But Trump's comments did exactly what <a href="https://twitter.com/kathleen_belew/status/1311136518220795904">extremism experts immediately feared</a>. Within hours of the debate, people who identify with the Proud Boys on social media were incorporating the quote as a new slogan of sorts. On the messaging app Telegram, the Proud Boys account said, "Standing down and standing by sir,"<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/proud-boys-celebrate-after-trump-s-debate-call-out-n1241512"> NBC News reported</a>. Kris McGuffie, the deputy director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told Insider that Trump's words were "exceedingly dangerous" and "may be used as a rallying cry to incite violence." "Calls for overt violence and civil war have been building since President Trump began campaigning for the presidency, and we have seen the real-world results of increased calls for violence that are legitimized by politicians and other people in power," McGuffie said. Trump's refusal to condemn white supremacy coupled with his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-urges-supporters-to-go-into-the-polls-and-watch-very-closely-2020-9">advisement that people "watch very carefully"</a> appeared to be "a thinly disguised call for voter intimidation," McGuffie said. Here's who Trump was speaking to when he name-checked the Proud Boys.<h2>The Proud Boys is a majority right-wing extremist group that calls themselves a 'fraternity' of 'Western chauvinists'</h2><div type="image" title="gavin mcinnes proud boys" height="682" width="910" msid="78417102" hostid="261"></div>Proud Boys believe that western <keyword id="24504" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="culture">culture</keyword>, particularly that of straight men, is under attack by a culture of political correctness. The group often <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/10/proud-boys-facebook-mcinnes/">uses social-media platforms to recruit members</a>, though it was <a href="https://qz.com/1446284/facebook-shut-down-the-proud-boys-recruiting-tool-facebook/">banned by Facebook</a> in 2018.The all-male, pro-Trump group was founded in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, the co-founder of Vice Media. McInnes himself <a href="https://www.takimag.com/article/introducing_the_proud_boys_gavin_mcinnes/">described</a> the organization in a 2016 op-ed as "Western chauvinists" who are against a politically-correct culture and "long for the days when 'girls were girls and men were men.'" The organization is described by the ADL as a "drinking club" for men to celebrate "western culture." Details of the group's activities are kept quite secret, but Samantha Kutner, an independent consultant and expert on the Proud Boys, analyzed their bylaws in a May report published by the <a href="https://icct.nl/people/samantha-kutner/">International Centre for Counter-Terrorism</a>. In its Constitution and Bylaws, <a href="https://mk0officialproua044n.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Redacted-Bylaws2.pdf">published in 2018</a>, the Proud Boys organization identified itself as a "fraternity" dedicated to "the promotion of Western civilization including free speech and the right to bear arms," among other missions, including "true patriotism." Initiation rituals read at first like a fraternity hazing manual. To become a second-degree member, one must be "punched until he can name five breakfast cereals." Third-degree members need to get a Proud Boys tattoo, and fourth-degree members must "engage in violence on the group's behalf," Kutner wrote. Kutner estimated in her research that the group has 3,000 members worldwide. It's most popular in the US, but has a foothold throughout Europe.Members of the group tend to wear black and yellow <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fred-perry-pulled-polo-shirt-far-right-proud-boys-association-2020-9">Fred Perry polo shirts</a>, and the Proud Boys logo is an inverted version of Fred Perry's logo. In a statement on September 24, the British brand <a href="https://www.fredperry.com/us/fred-perry-black-yellow-yellow">said</a> it would no longer sell the shirts in the US or Canada "until we're satisfied that its association with the Proud Boys has ended." <h2>Proud Boys promote theories that align with white supremacy, according to an extremism expert</h2>While the group's leadership has claimed to be against racism, some members "espouse white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideologies" and are involved with white supremacist organizations, according to the <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/proud-boys-0">ADL</a>. In an <a href="https://propertyofthepeople.org/document-detail/?doc-id=5189588-Clark-County-Sheriff-s-Memo">internal document</a> obtained by government transparency non-profit Property of the People, a sheriff's office in Washington said that the FBI considered the Proud Boys an "extremist group with ties to white nationalism."McGuffie told Insider that the group "purports to be against white supremacy, while overtly promoting the precise theories and narratives that white supremacists are known for." The group also uses "misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic, and anti-immigration" rhetoric, the ADL said.Last year, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/4/18211275/gavin-mcinnes-southern-poverty-law-center-defamation-lawsuit">McInnes sued the Southern Poverty Law Center</a> (SPLC), a non-profit organization that tracks hate and extremism in the US, for classifying the Proud Boys as a hate group. But McInnes himself has a long history of misogyny and racism. Years ahead of the Proud Boys' founding, McInnes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/28/style/the-edge-of-hip-vice-the-brand.html">told The New York Times in a 2003 interview</a> that he was "very proud" to be white. ''I don't want our culture diluted. We need to close the borders now and let everyone assimilate to a Western, white, English-speaking way of life," he said. In 2002, <a href="http://www.nypress.com/news/vice-rising-corporate-media-woos-magazine-worlds-punks-DVNP1020021008310089998">McInnes repeatedly used racist and homophobic epithets</a> in an interview with the New York Press. In a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gavin-mcinnes-women-happier-at-home_n_7289048?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFNMrt5gvdOP-c-iShus4lWRmdiYJNsTezsfJUrVd5ZYCGBm-ZwouUFHGdWV9RS0SVQAUv6j5vv6iXBAGETy5kghjfkS7Xqird85mdYGtKQHyz6C3ryvdSzzjH9F4R5foBLZYscIXPtgAhBB_bxwtTqW-d8SCF5G-OyUu6A20k0Bu6A20k0B">2015 Fox News interview</a>, McInnes called housewives "heroes" and said that working women are "wasting their time." He has also made several transphobic comments, <a href="https://thoughtcatalog.com/gavin-mcinnes/2014/08/transphobia-is-perfectly-natural/">including</a>, "Buying woman parts from a hospital and calling yourself a broad trivializes what it is to be a woman." <h2>The group is known for holding rallies to protest left-wing groups and stoking violence</h2><div type="image" title="proud boys rally" height="679" width="1024" msid="78417104" hostid="261"></div>Proud Boys have become violent at <keyword id="74603" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Far-right">far-right</keyword> or alt-right rallies across the US, often counter-protesting against left-wing groups. The group is known for its "paramilitary arm and violent tactics," McGuffie said.In recent months, Proud Boys members have counter-protested at Black Lives Matter protests across the country. On Saturday, 200 people attended a Proud Boys rally in Portland, Oregon, according to <a href="https://www.koin.com/news/protests/proud-boys-anti-fascists-black-lives-matter-protests-portland-09262020/">local CBS affiliate KOIN,</a> one of several events they've hosted in the city. At the rally, Tarrio, the current "chairman" of the group, told KOIN that "Portland is the epicenter for all the issues we're having across the country."On Wednesday, Portland police arrested a Proud Boys member in connection with an August incident in which firearms were aimed at protesters, <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2020/09/30/police-arrest-far-right-protester-who-pointed-gun-at-portland-rally/">according to Oregon Public Broadcasting</a>. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1297259691160944640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2020</a></blockquote>Last fall, two Proud Boys were <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/proud-boys-maxwell-hare-john-kinsman-sentenced-to-four-years-for-upper-east-side-brawl">sentenced</a> to four years in prison for attacking left-wing protesters after McGinnes gave a speech in Manhattan. While the organization had said the two men, Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, were acting in self-defense, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/23/nyregion/gavin-mcinnes-proud-boys-nypd.html">footage obtained by The New York Times</a> revealed that Hare and Kinsman provoked what became a brawl. Tarrio <a href="https://www.local10.com/news/2017/08/18/white-nationalist-who-attended-rally-in-charlottesville-explains-his-beliefs/">attended</a> the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/charlottesville-one-year-anniversary-photos-protests-heather-heyer-memorial-2018-8#notably-absent-from-the-city-was-any-sign-of-the-white-supremacist-organizations-that-drew-thousands-of-counter-protestors-last-year-1">now-infamous "Unite the Right" rally</a> in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, though he later <a href="https://www.local10.com/news/2017/08/18/white-nationalist-who-attended-rally-in-charlottesville-explains-his-beliefs/">said</a> he was "against" certain aspects of the events. The white supremacist and neo-Nazi protest led to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/12/07/674672922/james-alex-fields-unite-the-right-protester-who-killed-heather-heyer-found-guilt">three deaths and dozens of injuries</a>, A former Proud Boys member helped to organize the rally, the SPLC said. McInnes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/white-supremacists-right-wing-extremists-richard-spencer.html">said</a> at the time that he did not want to be associated with neo-Nazis and did not attend the event, though several other Proud Boys had been in attendance, according to the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys">SPLC</a>. Like other right-wing extremist groups, including the <a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Boogaloo Bois</a>, Proud Boys members "emphasize civil violence and conflict as an acceptable mechanism for political and social change," McGuffie said. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stand-by-trump-hesitates-to-condemn-white-supremacists-in-debate-2020-9">Trump tells Proud Boys to 'stand by' after being asked to condemn white supremacists in presidential debate</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/proud-boys-respond-to-trumps-comment-in-presidential-debate-2020-9">'Standing by sir': Proud Boys praise Trump's comment telling them to 'stand by' during first presidential debate</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/proud-boys-are-use-trump-remark-to-rebrand-recruit-2020-9?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">The Proud Boys are using Trump's 'stand by' remark as a recruiting tool, rebranding to incorporate what they see as his call to action</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Far-right civil war accelerationists called the Boogaloo Bois are appearing at protests around the country with guns and Hawaiian shirts</a></li></ul>

What to know about the Proud Boys, the extremist group that Trump name-checked during the first presidential debate

<ul class="summary-list"><li>On Monday, <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword> announced the bans of many popular white supremacists, including <keyword id="3266457" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="David-Duke">David Duke</keyword>, <keyword id="2850865" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Richard-Spencer">Richard Spencer</keyword>, and Stefan Molyneux. </li><li>"We have strict policies prohibiting <keyword id="6406418" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="hate-speech">hate speech</keyword> on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.</li><li>YouTube has faced criticism for what the independent research organization <a href="https://datasociety.net/library/alternative-influence/">Data and Society</a> called its "broadcasting" of "propaganda to young viewers." </li><li>The <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> comes the same day as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitch-suspends-president-trump-channel-for-hateful-conduct-2020-6">Twitch suspended President Donald Trump's channel</a> for violating "hateful conduct" policies and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-bans-thedonald-cracks-down-on-hate-speech-2020-6">Reddit banned the group r/The_Donald, among others, for hate speech. </a></li></ul>YouTube banned Richard Spencer, David Duke, Stefan Molyneux, and other popular white supremacist channels from the platform on Monday, citing their violations of hate speech guidelines."We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement provided to Business Insider. Julia Alexander of <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/29/21307303/youtube-bans-molyneux-duke-richard-spencer-conduct-hate-speech">The Verge first reported</a> the news. Duke is a longtime Ku Klux Klan leader and neo-Nazi, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/david-duke">according to the Southern Poverty Law Center</a>; Spencer is <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/richard-bertrand-spencer-0">the head of the National Policy Institute</a>, a white supremacist lobbying organization and think tank, which was also removed from YouTube on Monday; and Molyneux is a far-right activist who advocates for "eugenics and white supremacism," according to the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/stefan-molyneux">SPLC</a>. The platform also banned the channel of the white nationalist group American Renaissance and its podcast channel.Molyneux, who calls himself a philosopher, <a href="https://twitter.com/StefanMolyneux/status/1277659814831820801">tweeted</a> that his ban was an "egregious error." Spencer said he planned to appeal his ban, which he <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardBSpencer/status/1277664312580927488">called</a> a "systemic, coordinated effort." For years, YouTube has faced criticism for allowing the channels of white supremacists to thrive. A <a href="https://datasociety.net/library/alternative-influence/">September 2018 report</a> from the independent research organization Data and Society called YouTube "the single most important hub by which an extensive network of far-right influencers profit from broadcasting propaganda to young viewers."In June 2019, YouTube, which is owned by Google, rolled out a <a href="https://youtube.googleblog.com/2019/06/our-ongoing-work-to-tackle-hate.html">hate speech policy overhaul</a>. A YouTube spokesperson said that more than 25,000 channels had been removed for "violating our hate speech policies" in the year since. The news comes the same day that Reddit banned over 2,000 subreddits for hate speech, including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-bans-thedonald-cracks-down-on-hate-speech-2020-6">r/the_donald</a>, a pro-Trump group that's long been criticized for racist and offensive language. Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao criticized the company in June for allowing the subreddit's "hate, racism, and violence" to continue on the platform."Reddit is a place for community and belonging, not for attacking people," the platform's current CEO Steve Huffman said on Monday, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/technology/reddit-hate-speech.html">according to The New York Times</a>. Also on Monday, livestreaming platform <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitch-suspends-president-trump-channel-for-hateful-conduct-2020-6">Twitch suspended President Trump's channel</a> for "hateful conduct," using the president's language in campaign rally speeches as examples. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-bans-thedonald-cracks-down-on-hate-speech-2020-6">Reddit just banned r/The_Donald, the largest pro-Trump subreddit, as it cracks down on hate speech and targeting</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/conspiracy-theory-wikispooks-huge-traffic-increase-coronavirus-data-2020-6">Conspiracy-theory encyclopedia Wikispooks is thriving during the coronavirus pandemic, seeing huge traffic gains from search engines</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Far-right civil war accelerationists called the Boogaloo Bois are appearing at protests around the country with guns and Hawaiian shirts</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitch-suspends-president-trump-channel-for-hateful-conduct-2020-6">Amazon's Twitch just suspended Trump's channel for violating 'hateful conduct' policies and cited his campaign speeches as the reason</a></li></ul>

YouTube bans white supremacist channels including those of Richard Spencer, David Duke, and Stefan Molyneux

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The leader of militants supportive of President Donald Trump said the group would "stand up and protect people on Election Day," baselessly claiming that left-wing groups have been responsible for anti-Trump voter intimidation tactics. </li><li>Steward Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, told <keyword id="1013508" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Alex-Jones">Alex Jones</keyword> of <keyword id="2731146" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="infowars">InfoWars</keyword> in a Tuesday interview that his far-right, antigovernment group has been "tasked with defending our rights."</li><li>Trump has instructed his supporters to "watch" polls on Election Day, sparking fears of voter intimidation from voting-rights groups.</li></ul>The leader of a far-right extremist group said in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that his organization would "stand up and protect people on Election Day" at polling locations, claiming that they planned on defending voters supporting President Donald Trump against left-wing groups.Steward Rhodes is the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government armed group founded in 2009, <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/oath-keepers">according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)</a>. He claimed that the left is responsible for the "mass gaslighting" of Trump's supporters.The comments were first reported by <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/infowars/militia-leader-stewart-rhodes-says-his-group-will-be-polling-locations-and-ready-kill">Media Matters for America</a>, the progressive media watchdog."They're accusing us of doing everything they're actually trying to do," Rhodes said on InfoWars' "The Alex Jones Show" on Tuesday, offering no evidence that left-wing groups have been responsible for voter intimidation at early polling sites. Rhodes repeated a baseless claim that Trump has also made, alleging that Democrats will be "stealing the election."Jones' <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-rogan-experience-alex-jones-spotify-podcast-backlash-conspiracy-theory-2020-10">incendiary InfoWars talk show</a> has been banned from YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, and other platforms for spreading false claims.Rhodes cited his allegation of left-wing voter intimidation as the reason why the Oath Keepers, which claims to have tens of thousands of members nationwide, according to the SPLC, would be keeping watch at the polls.A September <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/">investigation by The Atlantic</a> found that the Oath Keepers had recruited thousands of cops, soldiers, and veterans."When those of us are tasked with defending your rights announce that we're going to stand up and protect people on Election Day, they immediately spin that as though we're the ones that are going to be going out there," Rhodes told Jones.The Oath Keepers says it is focused on defending the Constitution and protecting citizens against the government, but the group "is based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans," according to the SPLC. The group has shown up "heavily armed" at anti-government protests nationwide, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/7/13489640/oath-keepers-donald-trump-voter-fraud-intimidation-rigged">Vox reported</a> in 2016, when the militants had similar plans to watch the polls on Election Day.The group is pro-gun, and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-10/what-happens-if-armed-right-wing-groups-polls">Rhodes told The Los Angeles Times</a> that his group would draw weapons this Election Day if necessary, and members were planning on monitoring polls undercover. "We'll be out on Election Day to protect people who are voting," he said.Voter intimidation is a federal offense, and every state also has laws banning the practice, according to a <a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/icap/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2020/10/Voter-Intimidation-Fact-Sheet.pdf">fact sheet from Georgetown Law</a>. Many states also have laws that ban <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/polling-places.aspx">bringing guns to or inside polling places</a>.Some members of the militia have been charged with violent crimes or threats, the SPLC reported.Trump himself has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/30/918766323/trumps-calls-for-poll-watchers-raises-fears-about-voter-intimidation">raised concerns over voter intimidation</a> by recommending that his supporters "watch" polling sites. In September's presidential debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump instructed his supporters to "go into the polls and watch very carefully."He made similar statements ahead of the 2016 election, too. At a Pennsylvania <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/19/us/politics/donald-trump-voting-election-rigging.html">rally</a> in October 2016, Trump said, "I hear these horror shows, and we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-foiled-right-wing-militia-plot-kidnap-michigan-gretchen-whitmer-2020-10">Armed right-wing militia hatched a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan and violently overthrow the state government, the FBI says</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Who are the Boogaloo Bois? A man who shot up a Minneapolis police precinct was associated with the extremist movement, according to unsealed documents</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-rogan-experience-alex-jones-spotify-podcast-backlash-conspiracy-theory-2020-10">Joe Rogan hosts far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his Spotify podcast 2 years after Jones was kicked off the platform</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/voter-advocates-hoping-to-stave-off-intimidation-at-polls-2020-10">Voter advocates hoping to stave off intimidation at polls</a></li></ul>

Far-right armed group leader says militants will 'stand up and protect people on Election Day' in an interview with Alex Jones

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="105921" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Maryland">Maryland</keyword>'s attorney general is asking the public for information about an unidentified man in a widely shared video who appeared to <keyword id="6359886" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="assault">assault</keyword> a young girl who was posting George Floyd flyers in Montgomery County.</li><li>"If anyone can identify this man, please let me know," Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a tweet on Thursday.</li><li>The chilling video, which shows the man grab a flyer encouraging people to seek justice for Floyd's death, had been viewed more than 20 million times on <keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> as of Friday morning.</li></ul>Maryland's attorney general is seeking information about an unidentified man in a widely shared video on social media who appeared to assault a young girl who was posting George Floyd flyers in Montgomery County on Monday."If anyone can identify this man, please let me know," Attorney General Brian Frosh <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianFrosh/status/1268672957339054082">tweeted on Thursday</a>, adding the phone number to call with tips and the name of the state's attorney in Montgomery County.A group of young people on Capital Crescent Trail, a path near Dalecarlia Tunnel in Bethesda, were posting flyers encouraging people to seek justice for Floyd's death, <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/man-wanted-for-assault-on-capital-crescent-trail-in-montgomery-county">ABC7 reported</a>. In the video, a man riding a bike storms toward a young girl as others yell at him to stay away from her. He grabs a flyer from the girl's hands and crumples it. Another person yells at him to "get off of her," to which he replies, "F--- you."He then appears to charge toward the person filming the encounter, knocking them over.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Victor Stoddard (@VicStoddard) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1268620623489560576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>Though text overlaid on the clip says "June 2, 2020," the Montgomery County Park Police said in a tweet that the incident occurred on Monday. The chilling video, posted on Twitter by Victor Stoddard on Thursday, had been viewed 20 million times as of Friday morning.Frosh asked that people with information about the man not post on social media <a href="https://www.insider.com/racist-tiktok-video-viral-georgia-carrollton-couple-expelled-from-school-2020-4">to expose or doxx him</a>, as has become common when bad behavior goes viral. "Hundreds of thousands of bikers, myself included, use this path," <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianFrosh/status/1268878889054543873">Frosh tweeted</a> in response to other men being misidentified as the biker online.In an email to Insider, a representative for Frosh said they could neither confirm nor deny whether the attorney general's office was involved in the investigation. They said the Park Police were spearheading the search for the man, adding, "This was a horrible attack that should be investigated to ensure the person is held accountable."The Department of Parks did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.The group posting the flyers told ABC7 that it said "KILLER COPS WILL NOT GO FREE" and, below that, "Text 'Floyd' to 55156." Texting "Floyd" to that number yields an autoreply directing the texter to a Color for Change petition demanding murder charges for the officers who killed Floyd.Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck as Floyd shouted that he couldn't breathe, has been charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers who stood by as Floyd lost consciousness have also been charged with aiding and abetting murder. Floyd's death on May 25 has sparked protests against police brutality and racism across the US and around the world.A previous version of this article said the incident took place on Tuesday. It took place on Monday, according to the Montgomery County Park Police. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Far-right civil war accelerationists called the Boogaloo Bois are appearing at protests around the country with guns and Hawaiian shirts</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/travis-mcmichael-racist-slur-preliminary-hearing-ahmaud-arbery-death-2020-6">Travis McMichael used a racist slur just after Ahmaud Arbery was shot, according to the person who filmed the encounter</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/man-attempted-to-run-over-protestors-in-queens-surrenders-police-2020-6">A man who threatened Queens protesters with a bladed claw weapon and tried to run them down with his SUV has been arrested and charged, report says</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/racist-tiktok-video-viral-georgia-carrollton-couple-expelled-from-school-2020-4">A high schooler who posted a racist TikTok is pleading with people to stop spreading it, claiming the video was sent to her top college choice</a></li></ul>

Maryland authorities are searching for a cyclist who appeared to assault a young girl posting George Floyd flyers in a viral video

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen was last seen on the Texas <keyword id="46297" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="army-base">Army base</keyword> on April 22. </li><li>The <keyword id="15350" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Army">Army</keyword> is offering a $25,000 reward for any credible information that helps officials find Private First Class Guillen, a 20-year-old from Houston, Texas. </li><li>Officials have launched a nationwide search in hopes of finding Guillen, and actor Salma Hayek, Latino advocacy organizations, and a Texas congresswoman have all voiced support for her family.</li></ul>The Army is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the location of Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen, who went missing nearly two months ago, <a href="https://www.cid.army.mil/assets/docs/press-releases/Reward-Fort%20Hood%20Missing%20Soldier.pdf">the US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) said on Monday</a>.In the nearly two months since 20-year-old Private First Class Guillen was last seen, officials have launched a nationwide search, and actor Salma Hayek, Latino advocacy organizations, and a Texas congresswoman have joined forces to help find her.<a href="https://www.cid.army.mil/assets/docs/press-releases/Reward-Fort%20Hood%20Missing%20Soldier.pdf">According to a press release from Army CID</a>, Guillen was last seen around noon on April 22 on the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas and she was last spotted in a black T-shirt and purple track pants. Guillen apparently left without her car keys, room key, wallet, and ID card, which were all later found in the armory room she'd been working in earlier that day. Guillen, from Houston, Texas, works in 91F, Small Arms/Artillery Repair as her Military Occupational Specialty.Investigators, the release said, had no "credible information" to assume that Guillen was sexually assaulted. They also ruled out Guillen's case being in any way connected to the disappearance of PV2 Gregory Wedel-Morales, who went missing in August 2019. The Army said last week that it's working with the Texas Rangers, Bell and Coryell County Sheriff Departments, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Game Wardens, the FBI, and local police departments in its search for Guillen.A $15,000 reward for credible information about Guillen's whereabouts was initially offered by the Army, and on Monday, the Army upped the reward to $25,000.Guillen's sister, Mayra Guillen, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/sister-refuses-give-hope-search-missing-fort-hood-soldier-vanessa-n1231128">told NBC News' Dateline</a> that her sister had told her that a sergeant had been sexually harassing her at Fort Hood. She said Guillen never identified the person or reported the incidents.Mayra said that she last spoke to her sister on April 21."We last spoke by text the day before she disappeared," Mayra told Dateline. "She was talking about a car she wanted for her birthday, which is in September. Everything was fine and normal. And now, everything is a nightmare."Mayra said that Guillen texted her boyfriend the day she disappeared, saying she was going into work."Something weird was going on there," Mayra said, referencing her sister's time at Fort Hood. "Vanessa was afraid. And now she's gone. But I do know that she wouldn't have just left on her own without telling anyone. She would have at least told me."Guillen is an avid runner who joined the Army right out of high school. Her sister said she had plans to study kinesiology after her stint in the military was done. Her family launched a Facebook page in hopes of spreading <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> about her disappearance, and have held demonstrations calling for the Army to release further information. <a href="https://fielhouston.org/aboutus/ourstory/">Immigrant rights organization FIEL</a> and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/findvanessaguillen/photos/a.100138038358068/134985788206626/?type=3&amp;theaterater">League of United Latin American Citizens</a>, the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the US, have joined demonstrations, and <a href="https://twitter.com/RepSylviaGarcia/status/1269807370047275011">Rep. Sylvia García, D-Texas, tweeted</a> that she is in direct contact with the Guillen family. Hayek posted <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CBWsNyqpaXi/">a message on Instagram</a> about Guillen, saying: "Bring back Vanessa… . We won't stop until you come back."Anyone with information about Guillen's whereabouts has been asked to contact Army CID Special Agents at (254)287-2722 or the Military Police Desk at (254)288-1170. People with information can also anonymously submit information at <a href="https://www.cid.army.mil/report-a-crime.html">https://www.cid.army.mil/report-a-crime.html</a>.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/transgender-womanin-dismembered-body-pulled-from-river-in-philadelphia-2020-6">'No peace until justice is had': A Black transgender woman's body was pulled from the river in Philadelphia</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-california-cop-killing-man-charged-santa-cruz-deputy-2020-6">Man charged in the killing of a California cop wrote phrases related to the 'Boogaloo Bois' extremist group in blood before his arrest, according to report</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/jj-vallows-remains-were-found-in-chad-daybells-yard-2020-6">The human remains found in doomsday author Chad Daybell's yard belong to his missing stepchildren, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, their family says</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/vegas-couple-accused-of-stealing-13-million-from-medicaid-2020-5">A Las Vegas couple is accused of stealing $13 million from Medicaid to fund a lavish lifestyle that they bragged about on social media</a></li></ul>

A 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier went missing nearly 2 months ago, after telling her sister she'd been sexually harassed by a fellow soldier

<ul class="summary-list"><li>After <keyword id="1191309" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Philadelphia-Inquirer">The Philadelphia Inquirer</keyword> published a column under the print headline "Buildings Matter, Too," 44 journalists of color at the daily newspaper signed an open letter to management condemning the decision and calling in sick. </li><li>One day after the controversial headline <a href="https://twitter.com/GenePark/status/1268211773305491457">caused criticism online</a>, the newspaper <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-inquirer-black-lives-matter-headline-apology-20200603.html">apologized</a> for its wording in an editorial. But many Black journalists at The Inquirer called on leadership "to do better."</li><li>The controversy comes amid a similar uproar among staffers at The New York Times, whose opinions section published an op-ed by a Republican senator calling for the US to deploy the military to quell police brutality protests throughout the country. </li></ul>44 journalists of color at The <keyword id="36219" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Philadelphia">Philadelphia</keyword> Inquirer <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vRSXh3ATPo_bjl5iUfrFnTuC-_Z-CQKt8DGtz0LgTzURnRwiPR-SEfNcaWlMMl9PNXXMhQ_nVFGvacK/pub">signed a letter to management</a> calling in "sick and tired" on Thursday after the daily newspaper printed the headline, "Buildings Matter, Too." The print headline accompanied <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/floyd-protest-center-city-philadelphia-lootings-52nd-street-walnut-chestnut-street-20200601.html">a column by architecture critic Inga Saffon</a>, which analyzed how the damage to cities during the police brutality protests sparked by George Floyd's death "will ultimately end up hurting the very people the protests are meant to uplift." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Gene Park (@GenePark) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1268211773305491457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2020</a></blockquote>On June 3, one day after the controversial headline <a href="https://twitter.com/GenePark/status/1268211773305491457">caused criticism online</a>, the newspaper <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-inquirer-black-lives-matter-headline-apology-20200603.html">apologized</a> for its wording in an editorial. "An Inquirer headline suggested an equivalence between the loss of buildings and the lives of black Americans. That is unacceptable," the article said. The Inquirer went on to explain its headline-writing process and shed light on how the decision was made. The note, co-signed by the newsroom's executive leadership, included an apology to journalists of color at The Inquirer. "Finally, we apologize to Inquirer journalists, particularly those of color, who expressed sadness, anger, and embarrassment in a two-hour newsroom-wide meeting Wednesday. An enormous amount of pressure sits on the shoulders of black and brown Inquirer journalists, and mistakes like this, made by the publication they work for, are profoundly demoralizing," the article said. Still, many Black journalists at The Inquirer called on leadership "to do better," as features reporter Brandon Bell said in a tweet. The open letter addressed the burden shouldered by Black and nonwhite journalists, especially during a time like this, as many newsroom leaders across the country <a href="https://ijnet.org/en/story/covering-us-protests-provide-unbiased-reporting">grapple with how to report on the protests</a>. "We're tired of shouldering the burden of dragging this 200-year-old institution kicking and screaming into a more equitable age. We're tired of being told of the progress the company has made and being served platitudes about 'diversity and inclusion' when we raise our concerns. We're tired of seeing our words and photos twisted to fit a narrative that does not reflect our reality. We're tired of being told to show both sides of issues there are no two sides of," the open letter said. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Brandon Bell (@brandontrevion) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1268522212119756801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>"On June 4, we're calling in sick and tired. Sick and tired of pretending things are OK. Sick and tired of not being heard. It is an act that pains us, knowing that now more than ever it is our duty and responsibility to uplift the marginalized voices of our community. But in this moment, it is more important for us to stand alongside those who have risen up against systemic racism and inequities and call on the Inquirer to do better. To be better." The letter comes amid a similar controversy at The New York Times, which published an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/opinion/tom-cotton-protests-military.html">op-ed by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas</a> that called for the US military to send troops to quell the "orgy of violence in the spirit of radical chic." Black and nonblack employees of The New York Times have <a href="https://twitter.com/katierosman/status/1268332044347682817">voiced their frustration over the article on Twitter</a>, leading to an explanation of the Times' decision to publish the piece from Editorial Page Editor James Bennet. At least three Times journalists told their editors that sources refused to participate in interviews in light of Cotton's article, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/business/tom-cotton-op-ed.html?smid=tw-share">the newspaper reported</a>. Nikole-Hannah Jones, a <a href="https://nikolehannahjones.com/about/">Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The New York Times Magazine</a> who led the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html">groundbreaking 1619 Project</a> last fall, said in a tweet that to stay silent on the Cotton article "would be immoral.""As a black woman, as a journalist, as an American, I am deeply ashamed that we ran this," she said. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1268334601166106624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote>"Times Opinion owes it to our readers to show them counter-arguments, particularly those made by people in a position to set policy," Bennet said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/JBennet/status/1268328282715492358">tweet</a>. The "buildings matter, too" rhetoric, which conflates buildings with Black lives, has grown in the last week, as <a href="https://www.insider.com/june-2-protests-atlanta-washington-ny-la-2020-6">peaceful protests across the US</a> have at times led to violence and looting. In many cases, police officers have been caught on camera inciting violence at peaceful protests, and many followers of fringe movements, including the <a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Boogaloo Bois</a>, have appeared at protests to stoke violence.Insider has reached out to The Philadelphia Inquirer for comment. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/june-2-protests-atlanta-washington-ny-la-2020-6">Protests over the death of George Floyd continued for an eighth night, remaining largely peaceful after previous days of violence</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-unfollows-nytimes-tom-cotton-op-ed-2020-6">Jack Dorsey appears to have unfollowed the New York Times on Twitter after it published a controversial op-ed calling for military action amid protests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gops-tom-cotton-calls-for-military-force-against-anarchist-protesters-2020-6">GOP Sen. Tom Cotton calls for the US Army's toughest soldiers to quell 'domestic terrorism' and suggests protesters should be shown no mercy</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/black-lives-matter-photos-protest-signs-2020-6">Powerful signs from Black Lives Matter protests across the US</a></li></ul>

The Philadelphia Inquirer published a column titled 'Buildings Matter, Too,' and journalists of color penned an open letter 'calling in sick and tired'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A video of an Austin, <keyword id="15710" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas">Texas</keyword>, homeless man's mattress being lit on fire went viral starting May 31.</li><li>The viral video incited anger over who was responsible for the fire, given that it was posted by conspiracy theory outlet <keyword id="2731146" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="infowars">InfoWars</keyword>.</li><li>InfoWars <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20161208/how-austins-east-side-pies-became-target-of-fake-pizzagate">traffics in conspiracy theories</a>, but a ProPublica reporter confirmed that she knew one of the homeless men in the video and that the events depicted took place. </li><li>The video was fast fodder for conservatives pundits on the internet, who quickly tried to use it to smear protesters at large without evidence.</li><li>But it also resulted in an outpouring of support for both homeless men who were gifted with a new shelter and belongings.</li></ul>More than 25 million people have viewed a 27-second clip of two men, who are currently experiencing homelessness, having their property set on fire by unknown agitators.The video was filmed in Austin, Texas, in the midst of protests over the killing of George Floyd. <keyword id="522707" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="viral-videos">Viral videos</keyword> are at the core of the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement. Not only was the police brutality of Floyd caught on camera, but recorded moments from protests — including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/style/police-protests-video.html">police brutalizing protesters</a> — have dominated the online conversation.But videos used by both the Black Lives Matter supporters as well as their detractors are often removed from context and used to substantiate posters' political leanings. This video was no exception. In this case, the video of the man's mattress burning was posted by an employee of InfoWars. InfoWars is a popular conspiracy theory website <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/02/28/infowars-is-a-den-of-racism-and-harassment-ex-staffers/">based in Austin</a> and is directed by Alex Jones, who is probably best known for supporting the false theory that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. In August, InfoWars was deplatformed from nearly every major form of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-removes-alex-jones-infowars-channels-from-platform-2018-8">social media</a>. Today, it promotes elements of QAnon, <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20161208/how-austins-east-side-pies-became-target-of-fake-pizzagate">including Pizzagate</a>. Numerous reports detail the dangerous and <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/alex-jones-doubles-completely-fake-sandy-hook-claims-article-1.2878305">harmful fake news</a> created and amplified by InfoWars — which led some initial viewers of the mattress burning video to doubt its veracity. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267266956983521281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>However, ProPublica reporter Jessica Huseman confirmed on Twitter that she knew one of the two men whose belongings were burnt featured in the video. She wrote that the man who steps onto the mattress in an attempt to stifle the flames is named Cale, and that he lives in front of her building in Austin. "The thing that's troubled me most about these protests is that they are happening on top of a homeless encampment. People's actual homes have been destroyed. I spoke to Cale this morning, and he was covered in vomit and ash," Huseman wrote on Twitter. "Is this infowars? Yes. Did this happen as depicted? Yes."Huseman <a href="https://twitter.com/JessicaHuseman/status/1267488478125789184">then clarified</a> that neither she nor Cale knew who filmed the video or who started the fire, or what their motivations were. But viewers quickly jumped to their own conclusions. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267488478125789184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>The InfoWars employee's <a href="https://twitter.com/gregreese/status/1267175695823880193">original tweet</a> contained a clear political motivation, calling the person who burned the mattress a "communist," seemingly without any evidence. The claim was quickly picked up by other conservative personalities, driving more rage toward the "alt-left" and "antifa" — rage that has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-conspiracy-facebook-twitter-antifa-bricks-violence-2020-6">been amplified</a> by the president but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-no-intelligence-antifa-weekend-violence-george-floyd-protests-2020-6">has yet to be substantiated</a> by any evidence of widespread "antifa" activity."Antifa" and "communists" are not organizations like Black Lives Matter. They <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-antifa-movement-charlottesville-va-trump-news-2017-8">don't have leadership</a> and they don't operate as a group outside of local chapters like New York City Antifa. Furthermore, it's unclear if the people burning the mattress in Austin have any political leanings or were even incited by political leanings to commit the act. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267427189617819649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>At the same time that conservatives blamed the "alt-left," "leftists," "protesters," etc., for the burning, liberals blamed InfoWars. The theory that InfoWars employees started the fire and recorded it to make protesters and the Black Lives Matter movement look bad <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/debug/infowars-homeless-burned-riots/">quickly spread</a>, and was amplified by a <a href="https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1267427189617819649">Twitter-verified surrogate</a> of the Joe Biden presidential campaign. Given the original post, it seems clear that InfoWars was attempting to disparage left-leaning protesters (or "communists"), but there's currently no concrete evidence that InfoWars actually started the fire or was responsible for filming the video.<h2>Regardless of bad actors amplifying the video, it resulted in an outpouring of support for the men in the video</h2>The clip's virality resulted in community action for the two men in the video, Cale and his friend, Joseph Wayne Nicholas, who was the man featured in most of the video and who was identified <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-homeless-man-in-austin-tx">in a GoFundMe</a> that raised more than $5,500. The California-based organizer of that GoFundMe was able to locate Nicholas and included a video response from him, which was filmed in a hotel room where Nicholas was staying. Huseman also tweeted that a new mattress was mailed to be delivered to Cale. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1267486255501250562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>A TikTok that is now gaining traction shows both men back under the bridge where the video was initially taken, but they now appear to have a new mattress, a tent, clothes, money, and additional new belongings. In the new TikTok, Nicholas thanks his supporters.<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorked/video/6833580679377292549" data-video-id="6833580679377292549" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@uncorked" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorked">@uncorked</a> Homeless man in Austin whose belongings were burned the other night, has it replaced by the community ❤️ <a title="uncorked" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/uncorked">##uncorked</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - uncorked" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6833580613266639622">♬ original sound - uncorked</a> </section> </blockquote> "They left me a tent, a new mattress, an air mattress, they brought me food, they brought me clothes, money, you can testify to that. Thank you Austin, I love you Austin, you're the best," Nicholas says in the video. "I got no hard feelings at all, it was a bad place at a bad time."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/were-bricks-planted-at-protests-by-police-video-debunk-2020-6">People are posting photos of bricks they believe were 'planted' near protests to escalate tensions. Many of the claims, however, appear to be false.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/karen-black-lives-matter-florida-shane-meyers-protest-police-2020-6">A Florida 'Karen' called the police on a solo Black Lives Matter protester standing completely alone on a street corner</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Far-right civil war accelerationists called the Boogaloo Bois are appearing at protests around the country with guns and Hawaiian shirts</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/anonymous-minneapolis-police-department-video-fancams-memes-epstein-twitter-2020-6">'Hacktivist' group Anonymous is experiencing renewed internet fame after a widely circulated video calling out the Minneapolis Police Department</a></li></ul>

The viral video of a homeless man's belongings being burned in a protest sparked an outpouring of support and highlights the embattled media environment of our current moment

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new edition of <keyword id="9095853" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="insider-today">Insider Today</keyword>. We hope you enjoy our new look. Please <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=http%3A%2F%2Finsider.com%2Finsidertoday">sign up here</a>.Please take a moment to complete the <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Finsidertoday.questionpro.com%2F">following three-minute survey</a> so that we can better deliver you Insider in your inbox.QUOTE OF THE DAY"True, honest, necessary and overdue." — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/murkowski-mattis-trump-essay-was-true-honest-and-overdue-2020-6">Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska,</a> on <keyword id="332170" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="James-Mattis">James Mattis</keyword>'s essay about President Trump. <h2>BLODGET &amp; PLOTZ</h2>General Mattis makes a choice many Americans may have to make: America...or Trump?President Trump's former secretary of defense, Marine Corps General James Mattis, finally broke his silence and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/james-mattis-denounces-trump-protests-militarization/612640/">torched Trump in a statement</a>. "In Union there is strength," Mattis began. He said Trump is the first president in his lifetime who actively tries to divide the country and suggested Trump's actions "make a mockery of our Constitution."In the wake of Trump's forcefully driving peaceful protesters out of a park and summoning military helicopters and mysterious security forces to DC to harass and "dominate," some American <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/former-military-leaders-slam-trumps-handling-of-protests-2020-6">military leaders have finally spoken out</a>.In doing so, they have made a choice that other Americans may soon have to make — namely, to declare their loyalty to either the United States of America... or Trump.For most of the past three years, the survival strategy used by many Republicans, administration officials, and military brass who are—or should be—appalled by Trump's words and behavior has been to remain silent, thus preserving their neutrality and keeping their options open.But as Trump increasingly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/we-are-anti-fascism-2020-6">acts like a fascist</a>, in addition to just talking like one, the "silence" strategy is becoming less tenable. And more US leaders are concluding that it's better to speak up and speak out before the country slides into a dictatorship.Principles and the Constitution aside, these Americans also have personal interests at stake.If Trump succeeds in seizing full control of the US government and military, as successful authoritarians have done, people who came out against him will be in a dangerous place.On the other hand, if America rights itself and saves itself, history may judge those who did NOT speak out as traitorous Trump accomplices. So Americans whose moral compasses don't make this decision for them can always default to their personal career and life interests. Specifically, they can choose the side they think will win.But! A historical caveat for those who think it's smarter to support Trump because of the power and privilege that he will bestow on them if he wins… Would-be authoritarians, including Trump, care most about preserving their own power. And they don't hesitate to purge those in whom they detect even a hint of disloyalty or threat.History is littered with the corpses of people who picked the winners of these power struggles and then later fell out of favor. So even those who don't care about the US Constitution and assume they'll be better off under Trump might want to reassess that.America might not only be the more admirable and inspiring choice. It might be the safer bet. — HBDC is being patrolled by officers with no uniforms, insignia, and nameplates. That's dangerous. What's your name and badge number? This question marks a key difference between a police state and a functioning democracy. In a police state, government authorities can secretly interrogate, detain, and punish citizens under a veil of secrecy, where those being punished never know who's doing the punishing, and can't even ask. In a democracy, law enforcement officers (with exceptions for undercover work) must show identification when asked, so that citizens can trust they're true agents of the state, and have recourse to complain if they're abused.But in the past couple of days, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/03/dangerous-new-factor-an-uneasy-moment-unidentified-law-enforcement-officers/">unidentified armed enforcement officers have fanned out</a> across Washington, DC. They're not wearing standard uniforms. Their clothes lack insignia. They don't have nameplates. When asked where they're from, they say only "Department of Justice." Digital sleuthing suggests they're Bureau of Prisons riot officers. But who can say for sure? Perhaps they're not with the government at all. Perhaps they're pro-Trump paramilitaries. How do citizens know they should obey orders from unmarked armed security forces? What will happen if they disobey? Will their rights be protected? And what's to stop some heavily armed civilians from dressing up the same way and ordering citizens around? — DP<h2>OTHER NEWS</h2><div type="image" title="Eric Garcetti" height="900" width="1800" msid="76203226" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hydroxychloroquine-fails-to-prevent-coronavirus-study-in-nejm-2020-6">Trump's "game-changer" coronavirus drug doesn't help protect you from getting COVID-19. </a>That's the conclusion of a preliminary study that looked specifically at the question of whether hydroxychloroquine can help prevent infection, which became relevant after President Trump claimed he was taking the drug. Insider's Andy Dunn has the details.<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/may/28/questions-raised-over-hydroxychloroquine-study-which-caused-who-to-halt-trials-for-covid-19">But… a study that previously concluded that the same drug, hydroxychloroquine, is dangerous has also now been called into question</a>. The World Health Organization, in fact, is now resuming HCQ trials it stopped after the study came out. So there was something for both sides in the ongoing battle over the effectiveness and risks of HCQ.<a href="https://twitter.com/betsy_klein/status/1268527334073696257?s=20">The Administration took a while to respond to the coronavirus, but, wow, is it moving fast to build fences around the White House</a>. Pictures of the fences are appearing on Twitter. They're fencing off areas that have long been public.<a href="https://www.insider.com/los-angeles-mayor-garcetti-calls-for-lapd-budget-cuts-2020-6">Los Angeles mayor proposes to cut $150 million from LAPD budget.</a> Just days ago Eric Garcetti had proposed adding $122 million to the police budget, but now he wants the LAPD to take the lion's share of a $250 million city budget cut. This aligns with demands of George Floyd protesters, who've made a top priority of reallocating government spending from cops to communities, schools, and health. <h2>BUSINESS &amp; <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="economy">ECONOMY</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="H&amp;M" height="650" width="867" msid="76203230" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/03/next-big-problem-businesses-cant-or-wont-pay-their-rent-its-setting-off-dangerous-chain-reaction/#comments-wrapper">Nearly half of commercial retail rents were unpaid in April and May</a>. Businesses as big as H&amp;M and the Gap paid zero rent in May; even Starbucks is demanding rent concessions, and entertainment venues like movie theaters and concert halls are at their wit's end. The short rents will careen through the economy, hitting commercial landlords and gutting local tax revenues, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/black-americans-unemployment-coronavirus-layoffs-disproportionately-high-april-bls-data-2020-6">Fewer than half of black Americans were employed in April. </a>The BLS employment numbers, horrible for all groups, are catastrophic for black Americans. Another study found that African Americans are 11.9% of the workforce, but represent 17% of frontline workers more likely to be exposed to COVID-19. <h2>LIFE</h2><div type="image" title="Cori &quot;Coco&quot; Gauff" height="683" width="911" msid="76203231" hostid="261"></div>So many celebrities and athletes are speaking out about George Floyd and police violence. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/video-coco-gauff-speech-local-peaceful-protest-calls-for-action-2020-6">Coco Gauff:</a> "If you're choosing silence, you're choosing the side of the oppressor." Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-rock-on-george-floyd-protests-where-is-donald-trump-2020-6">called out Trump</a> for his protest response. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said he would never agree with "anybody disrespecting the flag," prompting his teammate Malcolm Jenkins <a href="https://www.insider.com/malcolm-jenkins-drew-brees-shut-the-f-up-nfl-kneeling-2020-6">to tell him that "people who share your sentiments are the problem.</a>"<a href="https://www.insider.com/woman-re-created-trip-at-home-video-2020-6">You can't travel but...</a>You could recreate an entire trip, complete with TSA agent, ground crew, and inflatable plane, like this woman did. <h2>REVIEWS</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-standing-desk">The best standing desks for your home or office.</a><h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-standing-desk"></a>THE BIG 3*</h2><div type="image" title="banana bread" height="1500" width="2000" msid="76203234" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.insider.com/banana-bread-recipe-common-baking-mistakes-photos">How common baking mistakes will affect your banana bread.</a> Insider's Rachel Askinasi took the same banana bread recipe, and screwed it up 12 different ways — packed the flour, didn't melt the butter — etc. <a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Far-right "boogaloo bois" are showing up at George Floyd protests heavily armed and wearing Hawaiian shirts</a>. They're trying to accelerate a civil war and a race war. Three of them were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-boogaloo-men-terror-charges-george-floyd-protest-riot-conspiracy-2020-6">arrested</a> in Las Vegas for trying to incite violence. <a href="https://www.insider.com/surprising-things-about-moving-from-us-to-uk">8 things that surprised me about moving from the US to the UK. </a>Such as, the grocery store layouts make no sense.*The most popular stories on Insider today.

Mattis chooses America over Trump

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Jewish Americans have been politically divided over support for <keyword id="6354862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="trump">Trump</keyword>. </li><li>The pro-Trump Capitol riot on January 6 that featured at least one Holocaust reference showed the depth of that chasm.</li><li>While most American Jews voted for Biden, most Orthodox Jews approved of Trump's job as president.</li></ul>Among the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, was a white man with long graying hair and a thick white beard. Emblazoned on his hooded sweatshirt, pictured in several photographs from the insurrection, were the words, "Camp Auschwitz." Beneath the reference to the Holocaust concentration camp that killed 1.1 million people during World War II was an image of a skull with the phrase "Work brings freedom," a translation of the German words that were etched into the gates of the camp.The man in the sweatshirt, Robert Packer, was far from the only rioter driven by <keyword id="135025" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="anti-Semitism">anti-Semitism</keyword>. The insurrection drew a wide range of Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and QAnon conspiracy theorists whose <a href="https://www.insider.com/qanon-conspiracy-theory-anti-semitism-jewish-racist-believe-save-children-2020-10">falsities are built in part on anti-Semitic tropes.</a> "It was an ugly weave of kindred historic hatreds still alive in the United States," Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at the UJA-Federation of New York, told Insider.<div type="image" title="Camp auschwitz robert packer capitol" height="837" width="1116" msid="80637680" hostid="261"></div>But almost unnoticed during the day's events was another group of protesters - one who would seem to have little in common with men like Packer. Orthodox Jewish communities from New York and New Jersey chartered several buses to drive down to Washington that day to hear Donald Trump speak at <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-01-13/transcript-of-trumps-speech-at-rally-before-us-capitol-riot">the rally</a> that led to the riot,<a href="https://www.jta.org/2021/01/06/politics/orthodox-jewish-trump-supporters-decry-violence-but-not-the-movement-that-fueled-the-mob"> the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported</a>.Like the man in the Holocaust sweatshirt, Aaron Mostofsky, a 34-year-old Jewish man from Brooklyn whose father is a New York Supreme Court judge, was arrested on federal charges related to the riot.<div type="image" title="Aaron Mostofsky Capitol Siege" height="1676" width="2235" msid="80637683" hostid="261"></div>It seems incongruous that the son of a prominent Orthodox Jew would face some of the same criminal charges as a protester glorifying the Holocaust. But the dissonance highlights a chasm among American Jews who, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/woke-christians-are-eroding-donald-trumps-base-dividing-evangelical-church-1534720">like other religious groups</a>, are divided over Trumpism in the wake of Trump's presidency. And the participation of religious Jews at the January 6 rally, months after Joe Biden had defeated Trump, indicates that the tension won't disappear simply because a new president has taken office. The tension continued to play out in a Jewish community in New York in the days after the riot. The front page of the January 8 edition of the Five Towns Jewish Times, a local Jewish newspaper on Long Island, featured a picture of one of the paper's columnists smiling in front of the Capitol on January 6.The incident immediately caused an uproar in the community. <a href="https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/nyc-jewish-newspaper-stirs-outrage-with-photo-glorifying-capitol-riots-655246?fbclid=IwAR1KyoCIjE74aV-gwckSHswIubJuN7QINhDX0207zN57OxmkrNMRPa-1IlQ">The Jerusalem Post</a> reported that rabbis at two local synagogues "denounced" the image, calling it "an outrageous desecration of God's name." "The Trump era exacerbated the political divisions in the country, but those divisions are not about to disappear any time soon, and it is concerning," Aryeh Tuchman, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on <keyword id="139533" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="extremism">Extremism</keyword>, told Insider. <h2>Trump has been quite popular among religious Jews</h2><div type="image" title="Jared Kushner and Trump" height="1333" width="1778" msid="80637684" hostid="261"></div>Polling shows that the vast majority of American Jews do not support Trump. But in religious Jewish communities, where pro-Israel sentiment makes many people into single-issue voters and<a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5"> socially conservative views on homosexuality and reproductive rights are common</a>, Trump remains extremely popular. Republican politicians are "less threatening to the way of life of certain Orthodox groups, in the sense that it is easier for the values of those people to be reflected in policy that certain conservative politicians uphold," Rabbi Emily Cohen, a New York-based rabbi at a Reconstructionist synagogue, told Insider. An<a href="https://www.ajc.org/news/findings-of-the-2020-ajc-survey-of-american-jewish-opinion-presidential-politics"> October poll conducted by AJC</a>, a Jewish advocacy organization, found that 75% of American Jews planned to vote for Biden in the 2020 presidential election. But, like other religious groups, the over 7 million Jewish Americans are not monolithic in their beliefs, politically, religiously, or otherwise. Judaism throughout North America is mostly composed of three major denominations: Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. Followers of Orthodox Judaism, a movement that the <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/background-and-overview-of-orthodox-judaism">Jewish Virtual Library</a> calls "the continuation of the beliefs and practices of normative Judaism," tend to lean Republican. "The Orthodox presidential vote has been predominantly Republican for several decades," Herb Weisberg, a political science professor at Ohio State University and the author of "The <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="politics">Politics</keyword> of American Jews," told Insider in an email. That trend continued with Trump. A<a href="https://jstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/J-Street-2020-Election-Survey-Topline-Results-110320.pdf"> poll</a> of 800 Jewish voters in the US conducted in the fall of 2020 by J Street, a left-leaning advocacy group<a href="https://jstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/J-Street-2020-Election-Survey-Topline-Results-110320.pdf"> seeking a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict</a>, found that most Orthodox respondents approved of Trump's job as president. Trump's popularity among religious Jews is largely due to his policies on Israel. As Shalom Lipner <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/03/has-trump-been-good-for-israel/">wrote for Foreign Policy</a>, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "managed to stay high atop the president's short list of favorite allies over the past four years."<div type="image" title="Trump Netanyahu White House" height="1999" width="2668" msid="80637685" hostid="261"></div>Throughout his presidency, Trump also painted himself as a friend of the Jewish people, in part due to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is Jewish and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/who-is-jared-kushner">whose grandparents survived the Holocaust</a>. Ivanka Trump converted to Judaism before marrying Kushner, and both served as senior advisors in the Trump administration. In 2019, Kushner wrote in an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/opinion/jared-kushner-trump-anti-semitism.html">op-ed in The New York Times</a> that Trump was "taking meaningful action to crush" the "poison of anti-Semitism." The views and actions of Jewish right-wing activists often align with those of Trump and the far-right. Many espouse a perspective that Tuchman calls the "politicization of anti-Semitism," which frequently involves using anti-Semitism as a catchall defense against political enemies. Laura Loomer, the far-right activist whose incendiary language has gotten her kicked off most mainstream social-media platforms, told Insider in a November phone interview that she was glad to be welcomed on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/parler-moves-to-epik-domain-known-for-hosting-far-right-2021-1">Parler, the right-wing "free speech" social-media platform</a>, where she wasn't "targeted for being Jewish." Loomer was<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/laura-loomer-banned-twitter-after-criticizing-ilhan-omar-n939256"> banned from Twitter in 2018</a> for calling Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar "anti-Jewish" and tweeting that in Omar's religion, Islam, "women are abused."<div type="image" title="Laura Loomer" height="1335" width="1780" msid="80637686" hostid="261"></div>Loomer is one of several right-wing activists who are also Jewish, including Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator and columnist. Shapiro, who says he is Orthodox, <a href="https://www.cjnews.com/perspectives/opinions/ben-shapiros-hateful-attack-on-his-fellow-jews">once said</a> that Jews who voted for Obama were "Jews in name only." He has also <a href="https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190828/shapiro-medias-intersectional-embrace-of-anti-semitism">claimed</a> that "Jews simply aren't part of the intersectional narrative" of the mainstream media. Many Jewish Republicans identify with "traditional views of the family, traditional gender roles, and being much more comfortable with having religion in the public square," Tuchman said. "All of that leads some people in the Jewish community, many of whom happen to be in the Orthodox community, to have an affinity for Republicans, to the extent that they become activists."Despite this, Trump himself has made numerous offensive comments about Jews.Trump once said that Jewish people "are only in it for themselves," according to a September report from the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-race-record/2020/09/23/332b0b68-f10f-11ea-b796-2dd09962649c_story.html">Washington Post</a>. After the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, at which marchers donned swastikas and chanted that "Jews will not replace us," <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/4/26/18517980/trump-unite-the-right-racism-defense-charlottesville">Trump said</a> that there was violence "on many sides."<h2>The spread of <keyword id="9075271" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="far-right-extremism">far-right extremism</keyword> comes with the rise of anti-Semitism</h2><div type="image" title="Trump riot" height="1408" width="1877" msid="80637687" hostid="261"></div>Loomer and others like her may feel welcomed on platforms like Parler and Gab, but so, too, do neo-Nazis looking for a place to gather and discuss their hatred of Jews. A <a href="https://www.wiesenthal.com/assets/pdf/parler_report_final-2020.pdf">November 2020 report from the Simon Wiesenthal Center</a>, a human-rights advocacy organization that researches the Holocaust, found that anti-Semitic claims, as well as Holocaust denials, thrived on the platform. Gab, a similarly unmoderated platform that caters to the right, is also <a href="https://forward.com/news/462140/is-gabs-leadership-as-antisemitic-as-its-users/">full of anti-Semitism</a>. There are also adamant Trump supporters whom the president has flattered - including the Proud Boys, <a href="https://www.insider.com/proud-boys-trump-debate-who-what-comments-hate-group-2020-9">whom he told to "stand back and stand by"</a> when asked to condemn white supremacy during a presidential debate - who have helped spread anti-Jewish sentiment. Anti-semitism is "pervasive" in American extremist movements, including the far-right, according to<a href="https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Antisemitism%20as%20an%20Underlying%20Precursor%20to%20Violent%20Extremism%20in%20American%20Far-Right%20and%20Islamist%20Contexts%20Pdf.pdf"> research published by George Washington University's Program on Extremism</a>. Far-right American extremists "have used antisemitism to target Jewish people, Jewish houses of worship, Jewish community institutions, and Americans supporting the Jewish state of Israel," researchers wrote in the October 2020 paper."A lot of extremists - white supremacists - do support Trump, and they applauded his election, and they have been inspired by his rhetoric and his actions, and they have been emboldened, to be more open about their agenda," Tuchman, the ADL associate director, said. Tuchman emphasized that to consider all far-right extremists anti-Semitic is an "oversimplification." However, anti-Semitism, Tuchman said, is a central tenet of white supremacy. <div type="image" title="unite the right" height="653" width="871" msid="80637688" hostid="261"></div>In one Telegram chat with more than 7,500 members associated with the<a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5"> Boogaloo Bois, a militant accelerationist movement</a>, many messages reek of anti-Semitism. One message shared the week of the riot references the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews secretly run the world. The person wrote, "because justice is based on who has more to spend in this country when it applies to Jewish power, most capitulate." Another message from the channel said, "Good thing we're not intimidated by these disgusting semetic slobs anymore."A Telegram chat that's an offshoot of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group that calls itself "Western chauvinists," is named "Proud Goys." A "goy" is a Yiddish derogatory term for a non-Jewish person. The account, which has 1,626 subscribers and is run by a former Proud Boys member, said in a November post, "We will confront the Zionist criminals who wish to destroy our civilization. We recognize that the West was built by the White Race alone and we owe NOTHING to any other race." Violent anti-Semitic acts have been on the rise over the last decade, with the ADL reporting last spring that 2019 saw the most anti-Semitic acts since the group had been tracking such acts in 1979.<h2>Post-Trump, America is 'at an inflection point'</h2><div type="image" title="GettyImages 1197733022" height="683" width="910" msid="80637689" hostid="261"></div>Cohen, the Reconstructionist rabbi, told Insider that it "definitely hurts to see people who are making it clear that they care more about certain elements of their own abilities and society than they do than they do about the overall treatment of the Jewish people." Biden is now in office, much to the dismay of Trump, his allies, and supporters, who fought for months to overturn the results of the presidential election. "We're at an inflection point," Tuchman said, "where people can return to certain standards of civility." This inflection point is particularly poignant within the American Jewish community. In a <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/american-orthodoxys-political-suicide/">blog post for the Times of Israel</a> on the day after the Capitol riot, Elchanan Poupko, a rabbi and writer, criticized the "scenes of Orthodox Jews among those thugs," including "bonafide Nazis, KKK members, and anarchists."Cohen said she believes that many policies enacted by Republican politicians in the Trump era show "a complete disregard for the values most central to Judaism," including their handling of the COVID-19 crisis and family separation immigration policies. "I don't find that to be in line with the notion that every human being is ultimately made in the divine image," Cohen said.

The Capitol riot revealed a political chasm among American Jews, who are split over Trumpism and the far-right

Fact-checking the first Trump-Biden debate of the 2020 election

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Data compiled for Insider by the analytics firm SimilarWeb showed that an online conspiracy-theory encyclopedia called <keyword id="9470414" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="wikispooks">Wikispooks</keyword> saw a 90% traffic increase in the US from March to May, during the height of the US coronavirus pandemic.</li><li>The data indicates that many people are landing on Wikispooks' website through organic search from search engines like Google.</li><li>Misinformation and <keyword id="1379614" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="conspiracy-theories">conspiracy theories</keyword> have run rampant during the pandemic and recent protests.</li><li>Wikispooks, founded in 2010, is centered on the unfounded conspiracy theory that a "deep-state" cabal of elites has massive power over essentially every sector of the world.</li><li>It contains large amounts of misinformation. </li></ul>An online encyclopedia used by conspiracy theorists to expose a "deep state" within world governments has had a 93.1% traffic increase in the US during the coronavirus pandemic compared with its metrics from March to May 2019, according to research conducted for Insider by SimilarWeb, a popular digital analytics firm.When Wikispooks' traffic hit a recent peak in May, visits to the site from the US were up 132.9% compared with May 2019.That finding comes as conspiracy theories and misinformation have emerged as significant influences on the perception of <a href="https://www.insider.com/violent-counter-protesters-bethel-ohio-black-lives-matter-protest-antifa-2020-6">protests</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/shelley-lewis-gelsons-mask-video-flat-earth-supermarket-refusal-entry-2020-5">COVID-19</a>.The data also indicates that people are finding Wikispooks, a website that describes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a "US politician and suspected deep state operative," through organic search results on search engines like Google. According to SimilarWeb, 72.1% of visits to Wikispooks came from search traffic between March and May, meaning that nearly three-quarters of users on the site arrived there from search queries, rather than from other sources or direct traffic to the Wikispooks URL.This data "suggests a high level of discoverability, with Wikispooks.com earning its traffic through inclusion of content around popular search queries," Ilana Marks, a marketing analyst at SimilarWeb, said. All of this search traffic is organic, which means it's not paid for by Wikispooks to drive readers to the site, Marks said.<div type="image" title="Monthly Traffic 19 20" height="882" width="1930" msid="76647721" hostid="261"></div>Between March and May, the number of unique visitors to the website was up 113.9%, compared to 2019. This is in juxtaposition with the decline in unique viewership on Wikipedia in the same time frame. SimilarWeb estimates that the number of unique visitors to Wikipedia was down 2.4% from March to May, compared with its 2019 metrics. SimilarWeb's data insights are frequently cited by other publications, including <a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/covid-19-web-traffic-broadsheet-and-financial-news-sites-emerging-as-big-winners-of-the-crisis/">Press Gazette</a>, <a href="https://www.axios.com/business-finance-news-politics-coronavirus-3810b815-be69-4c66-bf44-ae9abe25b735.html">Axios</a><a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/covid-19-web-traffic-broadsheet-and-financial-news-sites-emerging-as-big-winners-of-the-crisis/"></a>, and <a href="https://www.adweek.com/retail/what-amazon-shoppers-buying-quarantine/">Adweek</a>.While SimilarWeb's search data covers all search engines, including Bing and Yahoo, Google is widely regarded the top search engine worldwide, with more than 90% of search-engine market share, according to <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share">StatCounter</a>, an online statistics tool.Exploring Google with Wikispooks' top search terms paints a picture similar to the data. The top search term for the site is "Lori Klausutis," who was a staffer of Joe Scarborough when he was a congressman before she died in 2001. President Donald Trump has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/opinion/twitter-trump-scarborough.html">repeatedly shared unproven conspiracy theories about her death</a>. Trump — a longtime foe of Scarborough, who is now an MSNBC host — has alleged that the former Florida congressman was somehow involved in Klausutis' death.An autopsy showed that she died of complications from an undiagnosed heart condition, but the Wikispooks entry on Klausutis explains in detail the conspiracy theories surrounding her death. During the writing of this piece, the top search result for Klausutis' name on Google was the Wikispooks entry. But as of Thursday afternoon, after reaching out to Google for comment, the Wikispooks page appeared as the second, third, or fourth result on most browsers.<div type="image" title="google lori klausutis" height="342" width="878" msid="76647724" hostid="261"></div>A Google search for Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey and one of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/maurene-comey-james-comey-daughter-leading-jeffrey-epstein-case-2019-7">lead prosecutors for the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case</a>, yields a Wikispooks article on the first page of results.Maurene Comey's Wikispooks entry cites a conversation from the internet forum Saidit.net, often considered a fringe Reddit alternative, which falsely says that the attorney was the person who lost footage from Epstein's prison cell. In a filing, Comey placed the blame for the lost footage on the jail where Epstein was held. The circumstances surrounding Epstein's death have led to some of the most mainstream conspiracy theories this year, with the phrase "Epstein didn't kill himself" spreading even to meme accounts on Instagram. On Bing, a search for "Lori Klausutis" also presents the Wikispooks article among its top results, and a search for "Maurene Comey" presents that Wikispooks entry on its second page of results. A representative for Microsoft, which owns Bing, declined to comment. A representative for Google said search results are dynamic and change over time and that the company does not intentionally rank specific sites above others for organic results. While the search engine's algorithm prioritizes reliable, authoritative sources, the representative said it is possible for misinformation to rise to the top of the heap of content, adding that the company works to improve its overall systems to prevent false information from gaining top Google real estate.<h2>Wikispooks deals in conspiracy theories and verifiable falsehoods </h2>Wikispooks was founded a decade ago in the United Kingdom by a former businessman named Peter Presland, who has denied facts about the Holocaust and is a prominent promoter of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that the Israeli government was behind the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to radio interviews featuring Presland.In May 2010, Presland wrote in <a href="https://cryptome.org/0001/wikispooks.htm">a note archived online</a> that his website would be a "collaborative project aimed at building a comprehensive reference source of deep political structures and events, together with the people and organisations connected to them."Presland doesn't produce the website's content alone, as other users are able to submit and edit pages, like on Wikipedia. But according to the editing history of the site, the only changes to its main page in the past five years were made by Presland and a user named Robin Upton, whose profile page on Wikispooks describes him as an "economic dissident" and says he was born in the UK in 1970.But changes throughout the rest of the site have been made by a handful of others, too. The entry on the George Floyd protests, for example, was made by a user called Urban, whose page says they're a German software engineer, and a person named Sunvalley, whose page says they're also German. The protest page says the demonstrations "have been called a color revolution attacking Trump."Wikispooks' existence is predicated on the notion that information shared by Wikipedia, a digital encyclopedia, is corrupt. The website says Wikipedia is "little more than just one more corporate media outlet for the official (i.e. establishment-controlled) narrative."In many articles, Wikispooks is anti-media, anti-government, and antiestablishment. While its focus is on worldwide "deep politics" — or the site's stated belief that there are "clandestine groups who seek to exercise control over publicly acknowledged governments of nation states" — it places extra attention on US politics and media. Specifically, Democrats and traditional publications the subjects of intense lore.In its entry for The New York Times, for example, Wikispooks calls the paper a "long established and respected newspaper with 'a venerable history of eliding references to any US role in overthrowing governments or murdering foreign leaders.'" <div type="image" title="wikispooks new york times" height="411" width="1398" msid="76647728" hostid="261"></div>While the website is not directly affiliated with Wikipedia, both websites run on MediaWiki, open-source software that is freely available for download online. The Wikimedia Foundation, which developed MediaWiki and hosts Wikipedia, is a nonprofit organization with no control over what people use the software to create, a spokesperson said. "Like any web browser, the Mediawiki software is available to everyone, which means that sometimes it can also be misused by bad actors to spread misinformation," the Wikimedia spokesperson told Insider via email. On Wikispooks, that misinformation includes the theory that a top-secret cabal of important political figures controls the US government and has a grip on the global weaponry trade, drug trafficking, and Silicon Valley <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech">tech</keyword> companies. The deep-state theory is very similar to the theories proposed within the <keyword id="9152811" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="qanon">QAnon</keyword> conspiracy-theory movement, which follows the anonymous (and likely nonexistent) figure who serves as a prophet for believers of these deep-state conspiracies.<h2>Conspiracy theories have thrived online during the coronavirus pandemic</h2>While there are many reasons that could explain Wikispooks estimated traffic increase, it's hard to ignore the prevalence of conspiracy theories around the coronavirus. Wikispooks' entry on the pandemic suggests that users of the site tend to disagree with the science on COVID-19.Wikispooks says the virus is "generally mild or even asymptomatic, but occasionally fatal for those with weakened immune system." While many cases of COVID-19 can present with mild symptoms, or no symptoms, the disease has killed more than 473,000 people worldwide, <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">according to the World Health Organization</a>. <a href="https://weillcornell.org/news/covid-19-why-is-it-mild-for-some-deadly-for-others">Weill Cornell Medicine reported</a> that the estimated chance of death from COVID-19 is "more than 13 percent for patients 80 and older, compared to about 0.15 percent for patients in their 30s, and virtually zero percent for patients under 20." The coronavirus entry doubles down on its minimization of the severity of this virus, saying WHO's categorization of the disease as a pandemic, and an "overstatement" of cases, led to "COVID Panic." There has been no evidence that death counts, in the US and worldwide, are in any way overstated. During the coronavirus pandemic, people of all stripes have propagated conspiracy theories about the origins of the virus, its best course of treatment, and its severity. Even <a href="https://www.insider.com/lifestyle-influencers-using-covid-19-to-spread-qanon-conspiracy-theory-2020-5">fashion and lifestyle influencers</a>, as well as celebrities and politicians, have adopted and spread some of these beliefs.These theories — including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-plandemic-movie-got-wrong-about-coronavirus-vaccines-2020-5">false explanations for why mask wearing is dangerous</a>, an idea popularized by the widely shared "Plandemic" video — are created "to go viral and to spread quickly," Gabby Deutch, the Washington correspondent for the internet-trust-analysis tool NewsGuard, said. Deutch added that COVID-19 misinformation, which offers people easy answers or solutions for the complicated virus, could be seen as more entertaining than the actual health information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO. <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation">Researchers from the Reuters Institute</a> at the University of Oxford wrote in April that the majority of engagement with coronavirus misinformation online came from posts by politicians, celebrities, and social-media influencers. "Members of the public appear to have many reasons for sharing pieces of misinformation, including a desire to 'troll,' the legitimate belief information is true, and political partisanship," the report said. "The reason why they catch on, especially during a situation like the pandemic or the protests, is because they claim to have all the answers, and they attract people who feel like they are alienated or are afraid, or just don't really understand what's happening in the world," said Alex Newhouse, the digital research lead at the <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec">Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism</a> at Middlebury College's Institute of <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Studies. "And so QAnon or Wikispooks, or what have you, professes to give them a reason why that is happening." The "comprehensive resource" Presland created can now lead people to believe things that are categorically untrue and foster a sense of credibility among deep-state believers. "People are absolutely emboldened by something like Wikispooks," Newhouse said. "They're able to go to that website; they're able to see a very clear-cut explanation that fits in with the suspicions and the paranoia that they already have, and it makes them feel better because they're able to connect the dots," he added. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/lifestyle-influencers-using-covid-19-to-spread-qanon-conspiracy-theory-2020-5">Lifestyle influencers are using COVID-19 to spread QAnon conspiracy theories: 'I truly believe I owe it to my audience to be more for them during this turning point in our culture'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/boogaloo-bois-protest-far-right-minneapolis-extremist-guns-hawaiian-shirts-2020-5">Far-right civil war accelerationists called the Boogaloo Bois are appearing at protests around the country with guns and Hawaiian shirts</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-push-back-when-your-family-talks-conspiracy-theories-2020-5">How to respond to your family's coronavirus conspiracy theories</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-no-intelligence-antifa-weekend-violence-george-floyd-protests-2020-6">FBI 'has no intelligence' indicating antifa was linked to weekend violence in the George Floyd protests, despite Trump and Republicans' claims</a></li></ul>

You Searched For "boogaloo bois" and got 12 results

What to know about the Proud Boys, the extremist group that Trump name-checked during the first presidential debate

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YouTube bans white supremacist channels including those of Richard Spencer, David Duke, and Stefan Molyneux

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Far-right armed group leader says militants will 'stand up and protect people on Election Day' in an interview with Alex Jones

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Maryland authorities are searching for a cyclist who appeared to assault a young girl posting George Floyd flyers in a viral video

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A 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier went missing nearly 2 months ago, after telling her sister she'd been sexually harassed by a fellow soldier

Kelly McLaughlin

The Philadelphia Inquirer published a column titled 'Buildings Matter, Too,' and journalists of color penned an open letter 'calling in sick and tired'

Rachel E. Greenspan

The viral video of a homeless man's belongings being burned in a protest sparked an outpouring of support and highlights the embattled media environment of our current moment

Kat Tenbarge

Mattis chooses America over Trump

David Plotz,Henry Blodget

The Capitol riot revealed a political chasm among American Jews, who are split over Trumpism and the far-right

Rachel E. Greenspan

Fact-checking the first Trump-Biden debate of the 2020 election

John Haltiwanger,Sonam Sheth

Conspiracy-theory encyclopedia Wikispooks is thriving during the coronavirus pandemic, seeing huge traffic gains from search engines

Rachel E. Greenspan

He was a 'sweet' teenager. Then he killed 2 men in Kenosha. Now he's a right-wing hero.

Michelle Mark