WASHINGTON – It’s been 11 years now – to the day – since most Americans learned how easily a person could use an AR-15 assault rifle to kill20 six- and seven-year-olds, along with six adults, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Hundreds more mass shootings have followed — at churches, concerts, shopping centers, supermarkets and, of course, many other schools. A commonality: sociopathic killers often choose AR-15s over less efficient killing machines.
While the sorrow remains real and raw, the politics of guns have only grown more heated, divisive and partisan in recent years. They’re also now used as political props.
“They have blood on their hands,” speaker emerita, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Raw Story of her GOP colleagues today.
There are also now more mass shootings than days of the year, at least for 2023, which has witnessed 635 mass shootings so far, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
You wouldn’t know that from the mood on Capitol Hill these days. Before Republicans formally even regained control of the House of Representatives in January, someone in GOP leadership ordered the removal of post-Jan. 6 metal detectors, which had stopped Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) from bringing a pistol to the chamber’s floor.
The House Natural Resources dropped its ban on firearms in the committee.
Then AR-15 pins started popping up on Republican lapels – gifts from second-term Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), a gun store owner.
Remember when Congressman Andrew Clyde gave out AR-15 pins, and his colleagues wore them? pic.twitter.com/9he8Nmcx0U — @MysterySolvent2.0 (@DarkMSolvent) October 26, 2023
To many conservatives, those pins – which scream from the chests of the GOP’s ranks of giddy gun lovers – are symbols of their steadfast commitment to the Constitution’s 2nd Amendment and the right for law-abiding Americans to own a gun.
But the pins are vulgar affronts to the victims of gun violence in the opinion of most elected Democrats and even some Republicans, although the latter are loath to say so publicly.
Pelosi says the mood change at the Capitol is palpable. It’s also disturbing.
“I think it's a disgrace, yet again, another disgrace on the part of the Republicans,” Pelosi told Raw Story at the Capitol. “Not only are they not appreciating what happened in our country when those children were killed, but they're rubbing our noses in it. They are responsible. They have blood on their hands.”
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, families of nine of the victims won a historic settlement with Remington – the maker of AR-15-style rifles – for$73 million.
But the money is no consolation for the holes the weapon tore through their families.
The money’s also been little consolation to the survivors who are regularly reminded of the AR-15’s popularity, especially with mass shooters.
A mere 10 days later, a similar weapon slaughtered another19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
An AR-15-style rifle was also the weapon of choice used to kill17 people at Florida’s Stoneman Douglass High School in 2018.
In October of 2017, 60 people were gunned down in Las Vegas at the other end of a smoking AR-style barrel.
The next month,26 churchgoers were mowed down by a similar weapon in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
In 2016, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.49 lives were snuffed out by an AR-15 style rifle.
That’s not including the thousands of survivors who made it out with their lives, but whose worlds are permanently altered. In the 2017 Vegas concert shooting alone, a staggering 869 were injured in the mayhem – 413 of whom were treated for gunshot or shrapnel wounds.
The list goes on. And on. And on.
That’s why Republicans’ embrace of AR-15s is so offensive to so many.
“It's hard to imagine they put AR-15 pins on,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) – a U.S. Senate candidate – told Raw Story. “They demonstrate that they care about AR-15’s more than they care about the lives of children.”
Other things have also changed since 20 children were slaughtered in Connecticut 11 years ago, namely, there’s now a powerful gun violence prevention movement both outside and inside of Congress.
Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) is now on her third term in Congress representing Newtown. The former teacher and school administrator remembers being spurred to run for office in the wake of the massacre.
“My commitment to keep children alive is why I am here. On that day, my students asked me, ‘Miss, why aren’t the adults doing anything to make them stop?’” Rep Jahana Hayes (D-CT) said at a remembrance ceremony on the Capitol steps this morning.
Democrats have made some incremental gains, like when they passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act last year, but they accuse the GOP of doing the bidding of the gun lobby, even as gun homicides spike.
Passage of theBipartisan Safer Communities Act – the first major gun-control measure to pass Congress in three decades – was heralded by some Democrats as a major victory in the last Congress. It’s aimed at shoring up America’s background check system, including enhanced background checks for purchasers under age 21. It also attempts to stymie gun traffickers, close the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by removing weapons from violent partners and it includes billions of dollars for mental health programs, especially in the nation’s schools.
But even with the historic win, Democrats say more is needed, including the reinstatement of an assault weapons ban and instituting near-universal background checks for firearms purchases.
Democrats are in the minority, so they’ve been forced to turn to discharge petitions – which force the House to take up the measures even over the protest of the speaker of the House if they garner majority support in the chamber – to try and advance those measures in this 118th Congress.
They also plan to turn up the heat on the GOP in next year’s general election.
“Children are still dying,” Hayes said. “Enough has not been done.”
Federal prosecutors have filed new charges against Hunter Biden, according to CNN on Thursday.
The court documents have not yet been released, making the nature of the charges unknown. However, reported Evan Perez, "Special counsel David Weiss, in recent weeks, has been using a federal grand jury in Los Angeles to gather testimony and evidence on possible criminal tax charges against President Joe Biden’s son."
This comes as Hunter Biden already faces charges related to improperly purchasing a gun when he was suffering from drug addiction.
Previously, a plea deal had reportedly been worked out between Hunter Biden and Weiss, but that fell through near the end stages over a misunderstanding about protection from future charges.
Republicans have made Hunter Biden the center of their impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden, whom they are trying to prove laundered international bribes through his son's overseas business ventures.
However, no evidence to support this has yet emerged.
MSNBC broke into the daily political discussions to report an active shooter in Las Vegas with "multiple victims" Wednesday afternoon.
At 11:59 a.m. PST, the University of Nevada Las Vegas posted on social media calling for a shelter in place with the note "RUN-HIDE-FIGHT."
"Multiple people have been shot," MSNBC's Katy Tur said, repeating police reports.
The LasVegas Metro Police Department posted on social media: "The campus of UNLV near BEAM Hall. There appears to be multiple victims at this time. Please avoid the area and we will have more information soon."
Local KSNV news said that they were hearing word from the police scanners that the shooter was down as of about 12:33 p.m. PST. MSNBC confirmed the local report that police say the shooter is "contained."
British commentator Piers Morgan interviewed right-wing self defense celebrity Kyle Rittenhouse on his Uncensored show — and cornered him about what he has done.
Rittenhouse crossed state lines from Illinois to Wisconsin with a firearm in order to defend stores from looting during protests against the Kenosha Police for the shooting of Jacob Blake, and ultimately ended up in a confrontation that led to him shooting three people, killing two. A jury acquitted him of all charges in the matter, finding that he acted in lawful self-defense and propelling him to stardom on the far right.
"You killed two people and wounded a third," said Morgan. "How do you feel about that?"
"Well, Piers, they attacked me," said Rittenhouse. "They left me with no choice. I have nightmares every night of being attacked and being ambushed and them trying to steal my gun and pointing guns in my face. It's not an easy thing to do. But I did what I had to do to stay alive and if I didn't, I would be dead."
"Yeah, listen," said Morgan. "You were acquitted, and many in America believe that you had the absolute right to defend yourself. I'm just curious on a human level, you know, you're very young even now. What are you, 20 years old now? And you've killed two human beings and wounded a third, I just wonder how that feels?"
"I don't think that's an appropriate question to ask how it feels," said Rittenhouse. "It's not an easy thing to do, it's something I live with every single day, it's nightmares I have. It's something I have to deal with, I have to deal with the PTSD and the trauma from having to do that."
"Right," said Morgan. "But it seems to me your emotions are more about you, and your trauma because your life was being threatened and that side of it, rather than the question I'm asking, which is simply, on a human level, how do you feel about being so young, and yet having on the record, for the rest of your life now, that you took the lives of two people, regardless of the circumstances?"
"And like I just said, it's something that I deal with every day," said Rittenhouse. "I deal with the PTSD and the trauma and the nightmares. It's not easy to deal with it."
"On a human level... you've killed two human beings and wounded a third, I just wondered how that feels?"\n\nPiers Morgan interviews Kyle Rittenhouse a year after he was acquitted of homicide charges.\n\n@ThisIsKyleR | @piersmorgan | @TalkTV | #PMU
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) veered off topic at a gun violence hearing on Tuesday to ask why the Senate committee was not investigating liberal billionaire George Soros.
At a Judiciary Committee hearing, Cruz used the majority of his time to grandstand and attack Democrats.
"Every single Democrat in the United States Senate voted to confirm all three of the Biden nominees, including Rachel Rollins, nominated by the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts, one of the leading advocates of abolishing the police as a local prosecutor," Cruz complained. "She put out a list of violent crimes that she wouldn't prosecute."
Cruz then called for hearings into Soros and Black Lives Matter.
"You know what?" he asked. "We're not having a hearing on the impact of Soros prosecutors releasing violent criminals from jail. We're not having a hearing on carjacking in Washington, D.C., because the Democrat city council lowered the penalty for carjacking, lowered the penalty for murder."
"We're also not having a hearing on the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots across the country, because to Democrats, when stores are being looted, when police cars are being firebombed when police officers are being murdered, that's not a crisis if they agree with the ideology of the criminals," he added.
Cruz accused Democrats of wanting "to take away the firearm from the single mom who's taking the subway home at night, who that is the only prevention she has against the violent criminals that the Democrats are unleashing."
A Black C-SPAN caller explained Monday that she owned a gun because she fears "racist" supporters of Donald Trump in Georgia.
The woman named Doris told C-SPAN host John McArdle that she got the gun even though she didn't believe in violence.
"I don't think anyone needs an AR-15, though," she explained. "And I believe that those people who do tend to want these AR-15s, and it's my own prejudice, I think a number of them are sort of conspiracy nuts."
"One thing is if these people insist on having the AR-15s," she continued, "I would like to see that they purchase insurance and declare that they have the AR-15 so we know who has, who's in ownership of these dangerous guns that can kill more than one person."
Doris said AR-15s were "not for protection."
"They are to kill a number of people or, like, some people feel, they are to protect them from the vermin in the country," she opined.
The caller said she was also realistic about gun safety programs.
"I don't know if training and classes will keep a crazy person from killing other human beings," she lamented.
McArdle wondered why the woman owned a gun if she was so against using it.
"You know what, I joined the gun club, and I guess I joined it because some of the crazy people during the Trump administration were talking about, I live in Georgia, and they killed that young boy, you know, and it scared me," she replied. "And I said, some of these people here in Georgia, they're crazy. They're out to kill people."
"Maybe I need to be around a group of people who understand guns and understand what you need to do to protect yourself from these crazy militia people," she added. "The membership was just to be around other people who felt that it's necessary to protect yourself from, I'm a black woman, from some of these racists who are around here."
While there are few details available, groups are already saying that the shooting in Burlington, Vermont, had to do with racism.
The three students were on their way to dinner together while they were home for the Thanksgiving break. They were all wearing Palestinian scarves, symbols of the Keffiyeh. The students all attend American schools, Trinity University, Haverford College and Brown University.
Despite all three being shot, only one is in critical condition at the University of Vermont Medical Center, said NBC News reporter Emma Barnett.
While police haven't revealed any details, a statement from the Arab American Discrimination Committee president, Abed Ayoub, said, "It's clear that the hate was a motivating factor in this shooting." He went on to call for law enforcement to investigate it as a hate crime.
Meanwhile, the Council of American Islamic Relations is offering a $10,000 reward for information on the shooting.
In a statement, Brown University said one victim is junior Hisham Awartani. He is still hospitalized but is expected to survive the attack, CNN's Jake Tapper posted on social media. The family permitted the school to share “that Hisham is Palestinian Irish American, and that he and his two friends may have been targeted because of their Arab ancestry and identity.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday suggested U.S. troops could be deployed into Gaza during Israel's war with Hamas.
During an interview on Fox News, host Shannon Bream asked Cotton about the possibility of using U.S. special forces to extract hostages.
"Well, we should certainly be open to that," Cotton insisted. "I mean, we have elite special operations forces who are specifically trained in hostage rescue. I do think we have to be deferential to Israelis to the Israeli government and Israeli defense forces about the tactical situation on the ground."
"But if American military forces are called upon and provide a viable solution to get out American citizens and the citizens of Israel or other nations, and we have to be open to that," he said. "But again, it's not just those small special operations units that we have trained. We also have aircraft carriers in the region."
Donald Trump could have just broken the law with the sale of a firearm purportedly from Mar-a-Lago, according to a news report.
Trump, who was previously flagged for a similar incident in September when he said on camera he would buy a golden Glock with his face on it, is now under fire in connection with a separate gun auction.
In this case, it involves a "priceless" gun purportedly from his collection, according to Newsweek.
"Donald Trump may have violated his federal indictment by auctioning off a priceless gun from his collection at Mar-a-Lago," the outlet reported Saturday. "Last weekend, an auction held at his Florida home saw the item, described as 'a one of a kind Trump Glock from the 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump,' go up for bidding during a charity event. Pictures circulating on social media show the gun being presented at the auction, with news website Meidas Touch saying that bidding for the item began at $10,000."
This, according to Newsweek, could get Trump in trouble considering his existing legal troubles.
"However, the transaction could land the former U.S. president in considerable trouble, given that federal law prohibits those under indictment from transacting firearms. Trump is embroiled in active legal proceedings, having testified at a civil trial over the New York investigation into financial fraud at the Trump Organization," the report states.
There is also evidence that Trump was a knowing participant in the sale, according to the news report.
"Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, told Meidas Touch that Trump could land himself in even more legal jeopardy if the gun can be proved to belong to the former president," Newsweek wrote. "Aronberg said: Trump will be in legal jeopardy if the gun actually was his and he knew it would be auctioned off. The fact that Trump attended the event is evidence that he knew of the sale."
"Trump will probably say, however, that the gun wasn't really his, and that the event organizers just used his name and mugshot to raise money for the charity," Aronberg added, according to Newsweek.
SANFORD, N.C. — A former U.S. soldier-turned-neo-Nazi, who recently served a federal prison sentence for distributing bomb-making instructions for killing former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, protested outside a children’s story hour led by drag performers last month, Raw Story has confirmed.
Jarrett William Smith, 28, wore a skull mask and a shirt inscribed with the chilling words, “Support your local Einsatz-Kommando” to protest a drag show at a yoga studio in Sanford, N.C.
“Einsatz” refers to a Third Reich-era Nazi mobile death squad that assassinated political enemies, Jews and communists. The shirt also includes the Totenkopf “death’s head” skull that was utilized by Adolf Hitler’s Schutzstaffel paramilitary squad.
Smith, a resident of South Carolina, traveled to Sanford, N.C., where he met five other men and a child wearing masks and sunglasses. Together, they marched single-file down Main Street and joined a small group that included a local pastor on a public sidewalk behind the Sanford Yoga & Community Center, which was hosting a Halloween-themed drag story hour for about 15 children.
Raw Story identified Smith by matching the vehicle that he used to travel to the rally to a 2012 Honda registered in his name in Horry County, S.C., where he currently lives. Ryan Patrick, one of the men wearing skull masks, confirmed in an interview with Raw Story that Smith was also one of the skull-mask wearers and present beside him.
Smith’s presence at the protest does not appear to violate a law. But it indicates he’s back in the business of intimidation following his release from prison.
In 2019, prosecutors accused Smith of encouraging a federal informant to assassinate O’Rourke — a former congressman who’s run for president, U.S. Senate and Texas governor — with a car bomb.
Court documents also indicate that Smith, who law enforcement arrested at Fort Riley in Kansas in September 2019, encouraged users on an encrypted social media app to commit arson against an anti-fascist podcaster.
In February 2020, Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing information related to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction. A judge ultimately sentenced Smith to 30 months in prison.
Smith was released from prison in November 2021 after serving slightly more than 14 months, and earlier this year, he successfully petitioned for early termination of supervised release.
“Early termination of Mr. Smith’s supervised release poses no danger to public safety and is in the best interest of justice,” Smith’s federal public defender argued in a court filing. A federal judge in Kansas signed off on the order in July, noting that the government did not oppose the move, effectively cutting Smith’s probation in half — from three years to 18 months.
As part of the special conditions of Smith’s supervised release that U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Crabtree imposed, Smith was ordered to “not participate in any anti-government or tax protesting activities which endorse or encourage violence or associate with individuals who are known members of these groups, or possess any literature advocating or supporting these groups” during his probation.
Crabtree freed Smith from these conditions on July 14, when the same judge granted him early release from probation.
Smith, who lives in the Myrtle Beach area — a two-and-a-half hour drive from Sanford — could not be reached for comment, despite multiple efforts to contact him by phone and email, and through family members and his employer.
Rebecca Bongiorno, Smith’s mother, told Raw Story by email that his family would “speak to no one unless they can reverse this lie about him, both in the court and the media.” Asked to elaborate, Bongiorno cited unspecified accusations by then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Mattivi that she said “were thrown out of court.”
Mattivi declined to comment on Smith’s release from probation.
But Mattivi, who now directs the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, told Raw Story he left the U.S. Justice Department while Smith was serving his prison sentence. Mattivi has an extensive prosecutorial history on matters related to terrorism and explosives, having served as the lead prosecutor against the al Qaeda operative who masterminded the bombing of the USS Cole and led the team of prosecutors that convicted three militia members for plotting to bomb an apartment building where Somali Muslim immigrants lived and worshiped.
According to Smith’s motion, the government was represented by First U.S. Attorney Duston Slinkard, who did not oppose Smith’s request for early termination of supervised release. In his order, Crabtree took note that the government did not oppose the request.
“Anyone who is sentenced to probation following conviction has a right to request early release,” Danielle Thomas, a spokesperson for the government, told Raw Story. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas respects the decision of the court in these matters, and we have nothing further to add.”
‘We want you gone’
Smith’s presence Oct. 15 in Sanford, a city of about 30,000 residents, was neither coincidental nor accidental.
And he had help in ensuring the atmosphere around the children’s story hour would be filled with tension.
Jarrett William Smith protests a drag story hour with a bullhorn outside a yoga center in Sanford, N.C. on Oct. 15, 2023.
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As observed by a Raw Story reporter, Smith led the group of masked men to a corner of the public sidewalk at the edge of a gravel parking lot behind the yoga studio in Sanford where two drag performers were reading to children.
They fell in behind Thomas Booher, a local pastor. Holding a Bible to his chest, Booher chastised a small group of pro-LGBTQ supporters stationed throughout the parking lot to protect the venue. Among them: yoga studio co-owner Mike Knapp.
In addition to Ryan Patrick, the crew with Smith included Nicholas Garner Fisher, a 32-year-old self-identified “Nazi” skateboarder from Raleigh.
Fisher, like Smith, has a criminal record, with his record including convictions for illegally carrying a concealed gun.
In Telegram chats reviewed by Raw Story, Fisher has expressed hostility toward Black people. Of Black people using a skate park that he frequents, Fisher wrote, “If someone’s in my way, they get snaked by Fuhrer daddy and the skateparks are a no n----er zone.” Less than 10 days before the Sanford protest, he had posted on Telegram that he had been prevented from boarding a flight in Florida for using a racial slur.
In a written statement provided to Raw Story, Fisher did not confirm or deny that he was present at the protest in Sanford.
“Everyone was wearing a mask, and I reckon they were just concerned citizens as I was,” he said. “I can’t tell you who was there because of the masks.”
While Booher was speaking, some members of Smith’s group introduced themselves to Jere Brower, a local man who served about 30 days in the D.C. Jail for violating the curfew instituted by Mayor Muriel Bowser after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Brower attracted notoriety when coverage of his arrest noted his past association with Aryan Nations, a white power group that brought together racist skinheads and Klansmen in the 1980s and ’90s.
The 48-year-old Brower acknowledged to Raw Story in an interview last week that he has previous ties to the white power group Aryan Nations, but said that today he accepts that whiteness is not a precondition of American citizenship.
Brower told Raw Story that he did not know Smith at the time of the Oct. 15 protest in Sanford, but that members of the crew introduced themselves to him using their nicknames.
Brower had warned — in a comment on the yoga center’s Facebook page prior to the drag event — that he would be tracking who went into the building. He would be ready, he said, to call Child Protective Services, even though performing in drag in the presence of children is not illegal in North Carolina.
Brower tagged friends on a thread under a post on the yoga studio’s page announcing the event.
Some of the responders openly suggested violence. One of them replied by posting a drawing of a person dressed in the colors of the transgender flag colors hanging from a noose. Brower himself replied to a comment by one of the drag performers with a meme promoting the idea that trans people are prone to self-harm.
Smith’s crew coordinated their travel to the protest on Telegram, Patrick told Raw Story. Information about the protest came up in an online chat, he said. One member asked if anyone was going, and another responded affirmatively. Knowing Smith’s affinity for skull masks, Patrick said it was his idea that everyone should wear one so that they could “all look the same, more or less.”
During the protest, Brower ominously predicted, “This will be the last time.”
Smith raised a bullhorn. He slowly launched into a staccato harangue that gradually increased in intensity and volume.
“If you sit around wearing sexual-fetish gear to give yourself sexual pleasure, and you require the presence of children in order to attain that sexual pleasure, you are a pedophile!” he shouted, parroting a false accusation that drag show organizers and attendees are pedophiles.
Smith shook his head in disgust, and his foot slowly edged into the gravel parking lot.
One of the LGBTQ supporters approached and warned, “Hey, back up, man. Back up on the sidewalk.”
One of the members of Smith’s crew then stepped between the two men, and called the LGBTQ supporter a “f---ot.”
Smith resumed his tirade, seething with rage and frustration
“You do not represent us!” he yelled. “We do not want you here! We want you gone! Out of our town! Out of our state! And out of our country!”
LGBTQ supporters stand guard during a drag story hour at a yoga center while facing protesters led by Jarrett William Smith (holding bullhorn). Jordan Green/Raw Story
‘Kindness and support’
Inside the yoga center, drag performer Stormie Dae wielded a light saber and wore a headdress, heavy gray shawl, pants and knee-high boots while portraying the Star Wars character Ahsoka Tano.
Mx. Princexx Peritwinkle, the other performer, embodied the Muppet character Cookie Monster, wearing a floor-length, blue velvet dress with googly eyes. The two performers read books such as Gustavo the Shy Ghost, Calvin, and Creepy Carrots. They made candy bracelets with the children in attendance.
As a trans person, Mx. Princexx Peritwinkle told Raw Story that this performance name puts a “gender queer” spin on “the idea of princess.” Peritwinkle, whose real name Raw Story agreed to withhold for safety reasons, generally uses the ze/zim/zir pronouns.
“When I would go to drag shows, I would see Black and brown and queer and trans people being free and being their authentic selves,” Peritwinkle told Raw Story. “I was like, ‘How do I sign up?’ I learned a new way to sew a zipper and hem a skirt. It’s a space where I’m able to be free and be me and explore how I move my body and how I interact with the audience. There’s so much kindness and support. It feels good being onstage and seeing the audience live for the performance.”
Lindsey Knapp, a lawyer who has represented military veterans facing retaliation for reporting sexual assault, opened the Sanford Yoga & Community Center with her husband in 2020.
Located 30 miles from Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg) — one of the largest military installations in the world — the yoga studio initially focused on providing trauma-informed services to veterans.
During the pandemic, the Knapps’ son came out as trans. Initially, they started an “LGBTQ kids hangout,” Lindsey said, adding that LGBTQ adults started asking for programming as well. Thus, the yoga center expanded into an LGBTQ resource center, incorporating drag shows as one among many queer-friendly activities, including a monthly game night and “sip and paint” sessions.
“My kiddo, when he came out as trans, I wanted to expose him to a lot of different trans humans so he could know he has options,” Lindsey said. “Not everybody who performs in drag events is trans and not every trans person performs in drag events. There are plenty of cisgender people who do drag. Drag in itself is just an art form. I enjoy it because it’s a lot of fun. It’s letting people be creative and use their attire in an effort to express themselves.”
Drag performers Stormie Dae (foreground) and Mx. Princexx Peritwinkle make bracelets with children during a drag story hour. Courtesy Sanford Yoga & Community Center
During the brief altercation between Smith’s crew and the LGBTQ supporters outside, one of the LGBTQ supporters called the Sanford police. Two officers showed up and informed the protesters that, because they didn’t have a permit, they could not use amplified devices and would need to stay on the sidewalk.
The police left. The energy at the protest began to flag. LGBTQ supporters maintained a line and stared down Smith’s crew. About 30 minutes before the conclusion of the drag story session, Smith and his cohort filed out. Most of the drag show protesters joined them in a nearby Dollar Store parking lot where they continued to talk before returning to their cars and driving away without further incident.
A track record of encouraging violence
The federal criminal complaint against Smith alleged that after enlisting in the Army in 2018, he led a group chat on Facebook with other extremists in which he bragged about his expertise in bomb-making.
“Oh yeah, I got knowledge of IEDs for days,” Smith wrote, referring to improvised explosive devices. “We can make cell phone IEDs in the style of the Afghans. I can teach you that.”
Additionally, an FBI confidential source who was communicating with Smith asked him to recommend a political figure in Texas who would be a good candidate for assassination.
“Outside of Beto?” Smith responded. “I don’t know enough people that would be relevant enough to cause a change if they died.”
Meanwhile, according to an affidavit filed by the government, “Smith talked with the [confidential source] about killing members of the far-left group, Antifa, as well as destroying nearby cell tower or [a] local news station.”
In August 2019, the affidavit alleges that Smith told the confidential source “that the headquarters of a major American news network would be a suggested target, utilizing a vehicle bomb.”
During Smith’s sentencing in 2020, he sought to undercut the government’s case by hiring a retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives enforcement officer as an expert witness. The retired officer submitted a report that concluded that Smith’s advice was largely “incorrect or without sufficient detail to have anyone assemble a functioning explosive or incendiary device or weapon of mass destruction.”
According to the government, Smith’s advocacy for violence was motivated by an obscure Satanic belief system known as Quayinism.
Based on an interview following his arrest, an FBI agent wrote about Smith: “He gives information out freely to people who may use it for harm, for the glory of Quayinism, and his religion of anti-kosmik Satanism. He wants to cause chaos, as it brings back the realm of his religious beliefs, through the destruction of the universe.
“Smith said the idea of chaos in the world is a disruption and he can be an agent of chaos by enabling people with his knowledge,” the report continues. “Smith said that if the death of people isn’t affecting him, then he doesn’t see an issue.”
Although Smith was ultimately convicted only of distributing bomb-making instructions, the government also charged him with threatening interstate communication. While stationed at Fort Riley, Smith allegedly communicated a plan to burn down the home of a Michigan man identified in court documents only as “D.H.”
Matching the username “Anti-Kosmik 2182,” which was cited in Smith’s charging documents, anti-fascist researchers noted the user’s contributions to an energetic discussion on the encrypted social media app Telegram about how to respond to a podcast by Daniel Harper that discussed Atomwaffen and how the group drew inspiration from a text by an obscure neo-Nazi author.
“Ditch the car somewhere a few blocks away, take back alley trails in the woods, etc., and then come up to the house wearing a mask,” Anti-Kosmik 2182 wrote, according to a report by the Daily Beast. “I’m not saying do anything illegal, but I am saying it would be a real shame if all he has went up in literal flames.”
In another chat, according to screenshots from a neo-Nazi channel infiltrated by anti-fascist researchers, Smith provided instructions for assembling and setting off an improvised chlorine bomb.
“Good for clearing out a room or breaking up a meeting,” he wrote, while posting as Anti-Kosmik 2182.
Arson appears to be a consistent theme in Smith’s online communications, as well as in his music interests.
The 2019 chats show Smith advocating that someone burn down the trailer of a white supremacist Satanist whom Smith faulted for betraying the cause by supporting North Korea.
Arson is also a theme in the story of “Burzum,” the Norwegian black metal music project whose shirt Smith was wearing in Sanford on Oct. 15.
Burzum was a solo project of Norwegian musician Kristian Vikernes, who served a prison sentence from 1994 to 2009 for murder and arson related to a church-burning spree.
Vikernes was convicted for the murder of former bandmate Øysten Aarseth. Vikernes and his erstwhile musical collaborator “burned churches and desecrated cemeteries,” according to a report by Southern Poverty Law Center. In the early 1990s, Vikernes and Aarseth helped establish National Socialist black metal, a musical subgenre that is explicitly racist.
Smith’s arrest in late 2019 came at a time when the FBI carried out a significant crackdown against white supremacists and their alleged terror plots. Smith found himself at the epicenter and served prison time for his crime.
But since Smith’s release from prison in November 2021, the white power movement has rebounded with a proliferation of so-called “active clubs,” and other, more obscure neo-Nazi and fascist groups.
Smith’s documented history of calling for car-bombings and arson is striking in the current climate of intimidation against the LGBTQ community in which neo-Nazis and other far-right actors have threatened to shut down drag shows.
‘Greater risk’
For some observers, Smith’s presence at the drag show story hour indicates he hasn’t reformed himself.
“If Smith has remained involved in white supremacist activity, that would be concerning,” Jake Hyman, a spokesperson for ADL Center on Extremism, told Raw Story. “His sentence was relatively short, which makes him at greater risk to hold on to extreme views and perhaps even reoffend.”
As an example, Hyman cited Brandon Russell, an Atomwaffen leader who served prison time for possession of explosives, and then was arrested again roughly a year after his release for allegedly plotting an attack on the power grid.
Mx. Princexx Peritwinkle, one of the drag performers at the Sanford Yoga & Community Center on Oct. 15, is no stranger to threats from far-right protesters.
Last December, Peritwinkle participated in an ensemble drag performance at a downtown theater in Southern Pines, N.C. Peritwinkle stood alongside lead performer Naomi Dix as Dix addressed a throng of protesters outside the show. Peritwinkle was onstage that night right before a power outage disrupted the show.
The outage was caused by someone shooting out a substation in surrounding Moore County, resulting in a blackout that was celebrated by accelerationist neo-Nazis who embrace chaos and societal collapse as a precondition for establishing white ethno-states.
Peritwinkle’s mind would go back to that show in Southern Pines for several months when applying drag makeup. But over time the preoccupation with fear diminished and the joy of being in the moment while performing onstage returned.
“After the violence at the Moore County show, knowing that drag can be protested and can be met by so much animosity, I like to remind people that this gets me free,” Peritwinkle said. “It has a way of reaching queer, trans folks, young and old folks. For me, it’s so personal.”
Capitol Police said that a man was arrested on Tuesday after he brought one or more weapons to the U.S. Capitol.
"USCP Officers just arrested a man with a gun in the park across from Union Station. At this time we have no reason to believe there is an ongoing threat," Capitol Police said in a statement. "We are working to gather more information and will put out more details when they are confirmed."
NBC's Frank Thorp V reported that one source said the gun was an "AR-15" assault-style rifle.
Capitol Police later confirmed to Fox News that the weapon was an AR-15.
Sarah Palin wants a court mulligan with the Gray Lady.
The former vice presidential candidate's attorneys are trying to revive the libel case she brought and lost against The New York Times, contending an editorial misinformed readers by linking her political action committee to the 2011 shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Politico reported.
The former Alaskan governor, who once ran on the ticket with the now late Arizona Sen. John McCain as just "an average hockey mom," made a case before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan. It is a 60-year-old Supreme Court ruling that set a threshold for public figures to prove "actual malice" to secure libel case victories.
“We think the times have changed so significantly since that rule was created by an unelected branch of our government 60 years ago, that it has no place in the modern speech landscape,” said Palin's attorney Shane Vogt in the lawsuit filed against the Times.
“It was devastating to read a false accusation that I had anything to do with murder,” Palin said at the time. “I felt powerless — that I was up against Goliath … I was David.”
The paper also published a correction that read: "An editorial on Thursday about the shooting of Representative Steve Scalise incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords. In fact, no such link was established."
But after a two-week jury trial culminated in Manhattan last year with U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff ruling against Palin, adding the case lacked supporting evidence to back up the claim the Times' editorial staff intentionally ran false claims against her.
The attempt to revitalize the suit was received with a ho-hum response by one of the judges. Politico reported that Judge John Walker, who is the cousin of President George H.W. Bush and appointed by him, told Vogt: “I think you’re wasting time for oral argument by spending a lot of time on this question."
Still, the panel did seem to be convinced of Vogt’s claim that the original judge in the case failed to consider some evidence at the trial, noting that Times’ page editor James Bennet may have hurt the outlet's case when he stated earlier versions of the story didn't verify a link to the 2011 shooting to Palin's political action committee.
He testified that the error was hard to forget.
“I’ve regretted it pretty much every day since,” he said.
MIAMI — Officers arrested a man after they say a child grabbed an unsecured firearm and shot his or her 4-year-old sister in the head inside a Miami-Dade County home, police announced Monday morning.
Quavanta Demettris Ennels, 25, is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $7,500 bond as of Monday afternoon, county jail records show.
“The investigation revealed that Quavanta Ennels, the owner of the firearm used by the minor, is a convicted felon who was in possession of the firearm,” Miami-Dade police said.
LGBTQ supporters stand guard during a drag story hour at a yoga center while facing protesters led by Jarrett William Smith (holding bullhorn). Jordan Green/Raw Story
Drag performers Stormie Dae (foreground) and Mx. Princexx Peritwinkle make bracelets with children during a drag story hour. Courtesy Sanford Yoga & Community Center