Former American neo-Nazi and Life After Hate co-founder Christian Picciolini was deeply disturbed by President Trump’s decision to stop a U.S. government program that fought violent extremism in all forms from targeting white supremacists.
“I think that’s a mistake,” Picciolini said, acknowledging that prior administrations have “recognized the threat within our own borders.” In Trump’s America, “we have a domestic terrorism issue that we hardly talk about because we’re so focused on the threat coming from overseas.”
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Neo-Nazi leader Clark Martell recruited Picciolini to the Chicago Area Skinheads in 1987 when he was just 14 years old. At 18, Picciolini was leading the group, with Martell in prison. By the mid-’90s he was through, but his memories haunt him to this day.
Picciolini co-founded Life After Hate in 2009, a non-profit geared toward helping people leave hate groups.
“The imagery of white supremacy has changed over the last three decades,” he explained. “We knew that we were turning more people away than we could eventually have on our side.”
Picciolini understands why these hate groups are so hard to abandon.
“White nationalists, just like any other extremist group, promise paradise,” Picciolini told Vox. “They promise that the problems of crime and the problems of ‘white genocide’ are going to go away.”
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“The problem,” he explained “is that nobody is trying to take [anything] away from you.”
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Rep. Matt Gaetz seemed to confuse cable news networks during a Thursday appearance
Gaetz was interviewed by CNN's Chris Cuomo, who aggressively challenged Gaetz on the facts as the Florida Republican attempted to defend President Donald Trump.
Despite the fact Cuomo's interview was nothing like the puff segments Gaetz is used to on Fox, the congressman seemed confused by the end.
"Congressman, you are always welcome, wherever I am, at nine or eleven, whenever," Cuomo said.
"Thanks Sean," Gaetz replied.
"Did you just call me Sean?" Cuomo asked. "Did you just call me Sean?"
On Thursday, the Sacramento Beereported that California Assemblyman Chad Mayes, the former Assembly Minority Leader, is leaving the Republican Party and registering as No Party Preference.
"Instead of focusing on solutions for the big problems that we've got, we focused on winning elections," said Mayes in his announcement. "For me, I'm at the point in my life where I'm done with gamesmanship."
Mayes, a controversial figure who was implicated in an affair with a fellow public official, represents Yucca Valley. He is the second Republican Assemblyman this year to leave the party, after Brian Maienschein of San Diego, who Maienschein of San Diego.
Authorities in Columbus, Ohio evacuated dozens of homes after a man called 911 to report being burned by a
"Firefighters say nothing threatening was found in a northwest Columbus garage," WCMH-TV reported. "According to firefighters, a man called and reported that he received ‘RF burns’ while building some sort of ‘quantum physics generator’ in a garage. The man used words like ‘particle accelerator,’ ‘alpha rays,’ and ‘radiation’ while describing how he was burned."