The Boogaloo Bois Are All Over Facebook

Facebook out of control and as such endangers our Republic.

The anti-government Boogaloo movement is thriving on Facebook under an array of code names, where followers are circulating links to Google Drives containing manuals on bomb making, how to be a getaway driver, and how to murder people with your bare hands, an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project found.

The group, which tracks extremist movements on social media, identified 110 Boogaloo groups that were created since Facebook designated it a “dangerous organization” and banned it from the platform on June 30. At least 18 of them were created on a single day.

Some of those groups have already amassed thousands of members, and are distributing documents including “Al Qaeda kidnapping manual” and the “Army Sniper Manual,” as well as reports on bombings such as the 2005 attack on London’s transport system, which left 56 dead.

One such drive is labeled “For Duncan Lemp,” a reference to the 21-year-old anti-government extremist who became a martyr in Boogaloo circles when he was killed by Maryland police in March. Since then, Lemp’s face and name have become a mainstay of Boogaloo networks. So-called Boogaloo Bois have even appeared at Black Lives Matter rallies with signs demanding “Justice for Duncan Lemp.”

In some cases, the presence of the Boogaloo movement may be even more troubling than it was before. The distribution of entire folders containing instructions for violent acts is an escalation even compared to just a few months ago, when members were just pasting recipes for Molotov cocktails directly into Facebook groups.

“The biggest concern is the ability to reach such a large number of people,” said Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project. “That increases the number of people who may be unstable. One person could take these manuals, find them useful, and carry out a lone-wolf attack.”

Boogaloo started picking up steam last year on 4chan and other fringe sites as memespeak for a civil war or violent uprising. In the last six months, it’s grown into a sprawling movement that’s pulled in hard-line libertarians, shitposters, anti-government extremists, and some white supremacists.

Facebook was initially home base for the movement, as detailed in a report by the Tech Transparency Project in April — around the same time so-called Boogaloo Bois began showing up to anti-lockdown protests heavily armed, wearing Hawaiian shirts.

It wasn’t until the Boogaloo movement was linked to several acts of real-world violence that Facebook and other tech companies began scrambling to kick adherents off their platforms. For example, in late May, three men in Nevada were arrested for allegedly conspiring to throw explosives into a Black Lives Matter protest in Las Vegas. Prosecutors said the men were aiming to provoke a violent standoff with police. All three arrestees had met on a centralized Boogaloo hub on Facebook, and then moved their discussion to smaller groups dedicated to action in Nevada. They’re now facing state terrorism charges.

Also in late May, two men who’d met on a Boogaloo Facebook group — including an Air Force staff sergeant— allegedly conducted an ambush attack on federal security officers in Oakland, killing one.

One key characteristic of the Boogaloo movement is its adaptability in the face of social media crackdowns. Back in January, well before the movement was on many extremism experts’ radars, Boogaloo groups had already adopted codes like “Big Luau” and “Blue Igloo” to make them harder to track.

Once moderators caught on to those codes, the groups adopted newer slang, such as “Alphabet Bois” (a reference to federal agencies like DHS, ATF, FBI, CIA), or just “[redacted]”. After Facebook’s action against the Boogaloos in June (it banned hundreds of Boogaloo groups and users), adherents reconvened on MeWe, an obscure app. There, they devised a plan to create new Facebook groups with new language — including references to CNN and VICE News.

“It’s a whole new theme for their movement,” said Paul. “They use words like ‘cameras and film’ instead of ‘guns and ammo’.” Some Facebook group administrators even police discussions to ensure nobody actually uses the word “boogaloo.”

Screenshot of Boogaloo Facebook group provided by Tech Transparency Project

Screenshot of Boogaloo Facebook group provided by Tech Transparency Project

On a press call in June, representatives from Facebook’s counterterrorism department acknowledged the challenges posed by the Boogaloo movement and its ever-evolving lingo. They said that while they’d try to stay on top of it, they’d also likely continue to lean on researchers and journalists to help them decipher terminology and determine what’s dangerous rhetoric versus sarcastic shitposting.

“Since we banned a violent network tied to boogaloo, we have seen continued changes in language and tactics to try to evade our detection.”

“Since we banned a violent network tied to boogaloo, we have seen continued changes in language and tactics to try to evade our detection,” a spokesperson for Facebook told VICE News. “Our team of experts has been expecting this behavior and we are updating the language and symbols we use to identify this network weekly to continue to enforce our policies.”

But Paul is skeptical, given the persistent presence of the Boogaloo movement on Facebook.

“Facebook has a counterterrorism team of 350 people,” she said. “These groups are not hard to find if you’ve been following the movement and understand what language they’re using. All you’d need is at least one dedicated person to make sure this movement stays deplatformed.”

Facebook says that there are specific specialists within that 350-person team who are focused on tracking trends in language and tactics from what they consider to be a violent core of the Boogaloo network. The company would not say specifically how many employees, if any, are focused exclusively on tracking the Boogaloo movement.

And yet companies like the popular gaming app Discord have managed to draw a hard line on boogaloo activity and have prevented the movement from reorganizing on the platform. “If journalists, researchers and Discord can track the movement without the same resources that a multibillion-dollar company like Facebook has, then Facebook is also capable of doing it,: Paul said.

Moreover, Boogaloo groups are easy to find because Facebook’s own algorithm recommends them, Paul said.

While the Boogaloo movement has established an infrastructure outside of Facebook, it clearly still relies heavily on mainstream social media platforms to recruit. “We’re on this disgusting medium to influence the normies,” one person wrote.

Screenshot of Boogaloo Facebook group provided by Tech Transparency Project

Screenshot of Boogaloo Facebook group provided by Tech Transparency Project

Some groups are relying on Facebook to fundraise for the movement. For example, in July, one group was selling Boogaloo stickers to raise money for Lemp, Breonna Taylor, and Mike Dunn, who has been coordinating Boogaloo and militia activity in Virginia but recently lost his job. On another page, a user suggested that all 500 members donate $20 apiece, which could help outfit small, active cells with tactical gear and weapons.

A month prior to Facebook’s decision to ban Boogaloo they adjusted the algorithms so that the company wouldn’t recommend Boogaloo pages or groups to users. But this hasn’t been effective either; Paul noted that many of the new Boogaloo groups included in the Tech Transparency Report were found thanks to Facebook’s suggestions.

A spokesperson for Facebook said they hadn’t seen the Tech Transparency Project report yet, so was unable to comment on specific findings, or able to say whether the groups included in the report these groups would fall under the “dangerous organization designation” applied to what the social media company describes as a core, violent Boogaloo network.

Cover: A gun-rights rally drew about a hundred Boogaloo Bois to downtown Richmond, Virginia on July 4, 2020. (Tess Owen/VICE News)

A Black Lives Matter Organizer Was Ordered Out of Her Home by Heavily Armed Cops

Calling the resident never occurred to police? – There was a spate of swatting incidents targeting celebrities in 2013. More recently, neo-Nazis have used swatting as a way to harass and intimidate activists, journalists, politicians, and people of color.

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A college professor and leader in the Black Lives Matter movement was apparently “swatted” Wednesday morning at her home in Los Angeles, causing a potentially dangerous encounter with heavily armed police.

Melina Abdullah, who co-founded Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, live-streamed the scene that unfolded outside her home: heavily armed and armored cops poised with their guns drawn, while a chopper circled overhead.

“The police are outside my house. They have guns pointed at my house,” Abdullah said, filming through the window. The stream has since been taken down.

Police later told her they’d received a call saying that a man had taken Abdullah and her children hostage and was threatening to kill them unless they handed over $1 million. The Los Angeles Police Department has not yet confirmed that the incident is being investigated as a swatting, which is considered an act of criminal harassment and can result in jail time.

“Swatting” is a dangerous prank where someone calls the police to report an incident at a private home — like a robbery or hostage situation — prompting the sending of heavily armed police to the address. A man in Kansas was killed by police in 2017 when they came to his house in response to a hoax 911 call placed by a “serial swatter.”

There was a spate of swatting incidents targeting celebrities in 2013. More recently, neo-Nazis have used swatting as a way to harass and intimidate activists, journalists, politicians, and people of color.

But it was clear from Abdullah’s voice on the live stream that she didn’t know what to make of the police surrounding her home and barking orders over a loudspeaker. And perhaps that’s not surprising, given the events of recent months: ongoing protests against policing; allegations of federal agents in unmarked vans detaining protesters in Portland, Oregon; and widespread suspicion that law enforcement are spying on Black Lives Matter activists.

Just last week, a Black Lives Matter organizer in New York City found himself surrounded by riot cops and about two dozen police vehicles, which had blocked off two streets around his apartment building while a chopper buzzed above.

“What did I do,” he said on an Instagram live stream. “I was born Black, that’s what I did.” They were there to question him about allegations that he’d assaulted a police officer by yelling in their ear with a megaphone.

Abdullah instructed her children to call neighbors and friends to let them know what was happening. She appeared so fearful and confused that at one point, she even gave out her home address to her approximately 60,000 followers on Instagram and asked for people to come there (the video has since been deleted). She also gave out the names of her lawyers, and asked someone to call them, explaining that she didn’t want to stop filming.

Abdullah eventually went outside and yelled toward the police that she was holding her phone, then told them that her kids were inside. From inside, her daughter could be heard begging her to put it down.

Some neighbors gathered outside on the street. The police yelled at Abdullah to come over.

“You guys watch the kids, OK? The kids are in the house,” Abdullah told her neighbors. “Everybody see this: I don’t want them barging in my house when the kids are there. I don’t know what will happen to my kids.”

When she approached, the police asked if she was in danger and explained that they’d received a call about a possible hostage situation.

“I’m fine,” she said. “My kids are petrified.”

Abdullah, a professor of pan-African studies at Cal State, was due to give a press conference later Wednesday morning about a petition circulating among faculty at the LA campus demanding that the university appoint her as the dean of ethnic studies.

Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to VICE News request for comment, and have not said whether the incident is being investigated as potential swatting.

Herb J. Wesson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, demanded “an immediate investigation” into the incident. “This appears to be an illegal act of swatting,” Wesson wrote on Twitter. “We need to hold whoever did this accountable.”

Cover: Melina Abdullah and attendees gather for a group photo at a Black Lives Matter event at Norman O. Hudson Park on Saturday, June 6, 2020, in Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Trump Ramps Up the Racism and Sexism After Harris Makes History

The “suburban housewife” will be voting for me. They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge! @foxandfriends @MariaBartiromo

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2020
Cory Booker’s name misspelled

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One day after Joe Biden announced his decision to name Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, a history-making choice that saw the first Black woman and the first South Asian American woman to be nominated on a major party’s presidential ticket, President Trump is sticking to familiar terrain:

The “suburban housewife” will be voting for me. They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge! @foxandfriends @MariaBartiromo

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2020

Let’s unpack this one. Right off the bat, Trump ramped up his use of outdated, sexist labels in order to make a blatant appeal to white suburban women—who by the way, overwhelmingly disapprove of the president these days. Continuing to stoke false and racist fears that America’s suburbs will be destroyed by a Biden presidency, he then suggested that Cory (note the spelling) Booker, the Black senator from New Jersey, would lead an effort to restore an Obama-era fair-housing policy that the Trump administration ended last month. (As my colleague Aaron Wiener explained when Trump first brought the issue to the forefront last month, Biden has embraced much of Booker’s housing plan for his own platform.) All this, Trump claimed, laid the groundwork for a suburban “invasion.”

The tweet is a generous serving of the racism and sexism we’ve long seen from this president. On the heels of the groundbreaking Harris news, it’s all the more glaring.

China relaxes entry restrictions for Europeans

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BEIJING • China has eased entry restrictions for nationals from 36 European countries, months after thousands were left stranded when the country closed its borders and slashed flights to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Almost all foreign nationals were forbidden from entering the country when Beijing imposed the measures in March, even those with Chinese work or residence permits or who have family living in the country.

But this week, China said it would relax some of the bureaucratic requirements for Europeans hoping to re-enter.

The new rules will allow European passport holders from 36 countries – including France, Germany and the UK – with a valid residence permit to apply for a Chinese visa without an invitation letter, according to a notice by the Chinese embassy in Berlin published yesterday.

Everyone returning to China has to reapply for a visa, since travel documents issued before the pandemic have been nullified.

Previously, China had allowed only a small number of skilled foreign workers to return, with special official invitation letters – a process which proved slow.

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on Monday that European passport holders who qualify will now be allowed to “apply for a Chinese visa free of charge”.

Visitors are still subject to Covid-19 tests and a 14-day quarantine, and will still have to find a plane ticket, after Beijing ordered a drastic reduction in international air links at the end of March and ticket prices soared.

Some of these strict flight quotas are also being lifted, with Air France allowed to operate three weekly flights between China and France from the end of this month.

China has largely brought the spread of Covid-19 under control after the disease was first detected there late last year, but there has been a series of local clusters in recent months.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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The Nation Wanted to Eat Out Again. Everyone Has Paid the Price. – The New York Times – (The old normal is not an option – we need to rethink to get to the new normal.)

Data from states and cities show that many community outbreaks of the coronavirus this summer have centered on restaurants and bars, often the largest settings to infect Americans.

In Louisiana, roughly a quarter of the state’s 2,360 cases since March that were outside of places like nursing homes and prisons have stemmed from bars and restaurants, according to state data. In Maryland, 12 percent of new cases last month were traced to restaurants, contact tracers there found, and in Colorado, 9 percent of outbreaks overall have been traced to bars and restaurants.

It is unclear what percentage of workers transmitted the virus among themselves, or to patrons or whether customers brought in the virus. But the clusters are worrisome to health officials because many restaurant and bar employees across the country are in their 20s and can carry the virus home and possibly seed household transmissions, which have soared in recent weeks through the Sun Belt and the West.

Georgia School District Quarantines Over 900 Students and Teachers – The New York Times

The first letter went out on Aug. 4, one day after students in the Cherokee County School District returned to their classrooms for the first time since the eruption of the coronavirus pandemic. “Dear Parents,” wrote Dr. Ashley Kennerly, the principal of Sixes Elementary School. “I am writing this letter in order to communicate that a student in 2nd grade has tested positive for Covid-19.” By the time the last bell rang on Friday afternoon, principals at 10 other schools had sent similar letters to families in Cherokee County, a bucolic and politically conservative stretch of suburbs north of Atlanta. This week, more letters went out. Altogether, nearly 1,200 students and staff members in the district have already been ordered to quarantine. On Tuesday, one high school closed its doors until at least Aug. 31. A second high school followed on Wednesday.

‘Archbishop’ of Florida church selling bleach ‘miracle cure’ arrested with son

Mark Grenon and his son, Joseph Grenon, arrested in Colombia and expected to be extradited to the US for selling solution Trump mentioned at briefing

The self-styled “archbishop” of a purported church in Florida that sells industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for Covid-19 has been arrested with his son in Colombia and faces extradition to the US.

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Mark Grenon and his son, Joseph Grenon, arrested in Colombia and expected to be extradited to the US for selling solution Trump mentioned at briefing

The self-styled “archbishop” of a purported church in Florida that sells industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for Covid-19 has been arrested with his son in Colombia and faces extradition to the US.

Related: Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus ‘cure’ wrote to Trump this week

Continue reading…

Jared Kushner met privately with Kanye West, reports say | The Independent

Meanwhile, reports from across the country revealed groups were working to fill petitions for West, with some organisers stating their end-game was to “help Trump”.

In Montana, the Billings Gazette reported on how one group was outside of the Yellowstone County Courthouse telling passersby: “You want to help Trump? We’re trying to take votes away from creepy Uncle Joe.”

 

Source: Jared Kushner met privately with Kanye West, reports say | The Independent