Stone Mountain so white

— AN EVENT TO WATCH… White supremacists, neo-Nazis, and militia members are expected to converge in Georgia on Saturday to show their support for what has been described as “the largest shrine to white supremacy in the history of the world.” Stone Mountain is the site of a huge relief sculpture (pictured above) that depicts three leaders of the short-lived and failed Confederate States of America. The mountain has played a key role in modern white supremacy, including as the birthplace of the second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan. The monument opened to the public in 1965, exactly 100 years to the day after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement.

WHY NOW… The rally on Saturday, which is being called “Defend Stone Mountain,” comes amid calls for the monument to be sandblasted away as an embarrassment to the state. A Facebook page for the event, which shows more than 300 people plan to attend, describes it this way: “Please stand with us against the Left Wing traitors and the racist Black Lives Matter movement who wish to erase our Ancestors Heritage and destroy our Monuments! The time to fight back is now! Please come and stand with us!!”

THE OPPOSITION… The rally is expected to be met with counter-protests from an array of anti-racist groups. A coalition called the FrontLine Organization Working to End Racism (FLOWER) has been organizing a response. Meanwhile, anonymous researchers with Atlanta Antifascists have been exposing the racist views and associations of many leaders and organizers of the rally.

POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENCE… Some participants in the rally are expected to be armed. That’s led one likely participant to speculate on the potential for violence. Chester Doles, a longtime white supremacist and leader of the hate group American Patriots USA, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper that the likelihood for violence is high: “I mean, it just takes somebody undisciplined or some loose cannon to open fire, either side, and it’s just going to be a bloodbath.”

BIG QUESTION… One key question is whether the rally will also be countered by the Not Fucking Around Coalition, a heavily armed all-Black militia. The NFAC marched at Stone Mountain on the Fourth of July and has countered predominately white militias at other events in the South.

Also on my radar…

— THREE YEARS SINCE… This week was the third anniversary of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The occasion brought about some reflection about what has — or hasn’t — changed since that violent white power rally. Here are a few pieces that touched on the subject this week.

• “Three years later, Charlottesville's legacy of neo-Nazi hate still festers,” by attorney Roberta Kaplan and Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt
• “Remember, Reckon & Recommit: Charlottesville, Three Years Later,” by Eric K. Ward, executive director of the Western States Center and senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center
• “Charlottesville keeps happening, all over America,” by former Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer
• “Charlottesville Three Years Later: The First Amendment Confronts Hate and Violence,” by former ACLU leaders Stephen Rohde and Nadine Strossen
• “Why Charlottesville?” by journalist Shane Burley

— CHEESESTEAK UPDATE… Border vigilante Jim Benvie was arrested on Monday by federal authorities in New Mexico for allegedly violating the terms of his release from jail. Benvie was the main focus of last week’s intelligence briefing because The Informant learned he’d been fired from his job at an Albuquerque, New Mexico, cheesesteak shop and was being investigated by the staff at the halfway house where he’d been residing on court orders.

Benvie was a one-time member of the United Constitutional Patriots, a vigilante group which spent part of 2018 and 2019 conducting armed patrols along the U.S.-Mexico border and detaining migrants who they suspected of coming into the country illegally. More recently, he’s been tied to the New Mexico Civil Guard militia, which has tangled with Black Lives Matter protestors in Albuquerque and which is being sued by the local district attorney.

Benvie was convicted earlier this year on two federal counts of impersonating a Border Patrol agent in connection to the time he spent with United Constitutional Patriots. He was ordered to live in a halfway house while awaiting sentencing, which has been delayed because of COVID-19. At a brief hearing Tuesday in Albuquerque, a judge ordered Benvie held until a detention hearing could be arranged for next week.

— NEW CHARGE FOR ATOMWAFFEN… Four members of the neo-Nazi terror group Atomwaffen Division have been hit with a fresh criminal charge in a federal case in which they are accused of cyberstalking and mailing threats to journalists and activists. Cameron Shea, Kaleb Cole, Taylor Parker-Dipeppe, and Johnny Roman Garza were arrested in February as part of a nationwide sweep of Atomwaffen members.

Last week, a federal grand jury in Seattle handed up a five-count indictment against the four men that included a new charge on top of four counts they had already been facing. The fifth count was interference with a federally protected activity, which is tied to allegations that they conspired to threaten a Jewish woman who worked for the Anti-Defamation League. The four are set to be arraigned on the new indictment today at 9 a.m. PT in Seattle.

BONUS… One of the Atomwaffen members, Garza, asked the judge on Tuesday to set a change of plea hearing — an indication that he will likely plead guilty.

— GUILTY PLEA… Yousef Omar Barasneh, a member of the neo-Nazi group The Base, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee to conspiring to threaten or intimidate members of a synagogue in Wisconsin. Barasneh admited to vandalizing the synagogue and working with other members of The Base to target Jews and Blacks as part of a multi-state campaign called “Operation Kristallnacht.” His sentencing is scheduled for November 23, and he faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

— TOOK LONG ENOUGH… “White Nationalist VDARE ​Suspended From YouTube. This Time It’s Permanent” (Right Wing Watch)

— A NOTE FOR JOURNALISTS… “Stop calling racist rhetoric a ‘dog whistle’” (Columbia Journalism Review)

— IN-DEPTH… “The Making of a Boogaloo Boi” (VICE)

— ANALYSIS FROM THE BELTWAY… “How a new administration might better fight white supremacist violence” (The Brookings Institution)

— BUT CLEARED OF HATE CRIMES… “‘KKK President’ who drove truck into protest found guilty of six misdemeanors” (WTVR-TV)

— ANOTHER VEHICLE ATTACK… “Virginia Man Who Drove Truck Into Protest Says He’s A White Supremacist: Prosecutor” (HuffPost)

— FBI ON THE CASE… “Harrisburg synagogue marred by hate vandalism; rabbi grateful no one was hurt” (PennLive)

— THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE… “Beating of gay man doesn't fall under Oklahoma's hate crime prohibitions” (The Oklahoman)

— AN ARREST… “Man charged with hate crime in attack of transgender man” (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

— SICK… “Idaho Man Charged With Hiding Remains Had Links to Apocalyptic Church” (Hatewatch)

— MASK OFF… “Alt Skull Revealed: Owner Of White Nationalist Telegram Channel Is An English Instructor Living Abroad” (Angry White Men)

— A MASSIVE PROBLEM… “QAnon groups have millions of members on Facebook, documents show” (NBC News)

— STEPPING IT UP… “Facebook Removed Nearly 40% More Terrorist Content in Second Quarter” (The Wall Street Journal)

— NEW RULES… “Facebook's new policy bans blackface and some Jewish stereotypes” (Mashable)

— Q IN CONGRESS? … “Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon Supporter, Wins House Primary in Georgia” (The New York Times)

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