It hasn't been even a month since the predicted antigageddon promoted by such media propagandists as Alex Jones and embraced by his credulous supporters in both the United States and Canada failed to occur. While this failure is primarily because the claim that "antifa" was planning a violent civil war to remove Donald Trump from office wasn't actually ever a thing in the first place other than a conspiracy cooked up in the fevered imagination of the far right, those on the right who were true believers refuse to accept that they were wrong. Instead they suggest that the rise of armed, patriotic, citizens cowed antifa resulting in the failure of their nefarious plans. Alternatively they claim that antifa members are simply bidding their time and that the civil war was simply postponed. Or they claim that events such as the tragic massacre at a Texas church are the acts of antifa thus proving the narrative despite any actual evidence other than the feels. Those who deny the "reality" of the antifa planned civil war canard are either in on the conspiracy and/or are partisan hacks who refuse to acknowledge their truth:
UPDATE: ARC received this in the early morning of November 28.
Sigh....
Yes, this was advertisement "Dick" is referring to:
Yes, they "literally" said their plan was to protest against the Trump administration. I can't see any call to riot anywhere here.
But again, as this once again illustrates, one will have difficulty reasoning with people who are unwilling to be reasonable.
In Canada, the same kind of hand wringing occurred among adherents of far right ideologies. The rhetoric ranged from fear to threats to target the left before the left could target them. When nothing happened on November 4, rather than accepting they had been duped many of the groups and individuals patted themselves on their backs for having prevented a violent overthrow of the government that, I stress once again, was never a thing in the first place. However it seems that this issue wasn't so much their fear of a civil war perpetrated by individuals on the political left as some MAJOR projecting on their part because these people seem to loves them their civil war fantasies:
Among those who seems to have embraced the insurrectionist rhetoric is Georges Hallak of the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens (he also seems to be pushing for a Christian theocratic state, but that's an issue for another time). In Hallak's case, he uses the tragedy at the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church and his further claim of mass anti-Christian persecution in Canada as a starting point to stoke the requisite fear:
From there it's an easy leap for Hallack and his supporters to suggest a jihadist/antifa conspiracy to destroy the country, thus justifying the removal of a democratically elected government:
In fact, Hallak is actually turns out to be relatively mild when compared to his fellow travelers.
The III% militia has become somewhat infamous for this kind of insurrectionist language. In public they claim to be law abiding gun enthusiasts who simply wish to be able to exercise their full range of freedoms. However in their closed forums, the real III% views become crystal clear. Probably the most extreme of the Canadian branches of the III% militia is found in Alberta. Their language is much more violent and given they amass weapons, probably much more of a concern in the long run:
The calls for a violent response to government decisions they don't like or legal issues they disapprove of has become increasingly common, including discussions concerning asking for the support of the current American government:
In another case, though he is currently going on about suing the Canadian government (as well as this blog) and accusing the Liberal government in general and Justin Trudeau in particular of treason, Steven Alexander Cassius Arnold Quisling Iscariot Gregory Myatt also engages in extreme hyperbolic political rhetoric. Here Myatt claims, disingenuously in my opinion based on past instances where he posted comments seemingly intended to incite his followers, that he has always been opposed to "revolution," however he further suggests that perhaps there may be no choice:
The subsequent responses are sort of hilarious in that people who claim to be patriotic Canadians plot to overthrow the democratically elected government, even going so far as to suggest asking the Trump administration to engage in regime change. Sure, it is unhinged and disconnected form of reality, the surreal nature of the exchange is oddly fascinating if also disturbing:
Now as bizarre as the discussion might be, and though it is cause for concern, my biggest worry is the "lone wolf." Most of the people in these threads are blowhards, but what happens when someone takes the anti-government and anti-immigrant rhetoric to heart?
Meet "Trev England":
England, a resident of Alberta who at the time this and later screen shots were taken, was living in Fort McMurray has been someone who has been of interest to ARC for some time. He seems relatively active in far right circles attending a number of anti-government protests in Edmonton and being especially active on social media. He will sometimes spend hours online posting the same comment accompanied by the different photos or memes. All of the posts are over the top even for this fringe movement and most openly call for the overthrow of the government:
His call for action has been much more overtly violent than some of the people I follow:
This post is especially of concern considering England has been filming immigrants at mosques and/or community centers in Edmonton:
The comments left by those who viewed the video are especially disturbing:
Perhaps even more disturbing, certainly extreme, and clearly criminal, incitement isn't uncommon when one takes a look at England's advocacy of political violence or, to dispense with euphemisms, terrorism.
On November 6, England produced a live video which this writer watched in it's entirety:
In this video England openly called for the assassination of Justin Trudeau. He suggested someone with a terminal illness could, "be a hero" and kill the Prime Minister. He also called for the burning of mosques and targeting of immigrants, a sentiment he also expressed in writing. The video appears to have been zapped by Facebook -- it actually occurred during the live feed -- so the video itself no longer exists as evidence.
However, England himself provides ample evidence of his call for the assassination of the prime minister in a series of posts:
Trev England posted this last comment dozens of times over several hours on November 6, including the following:
England is certainly not alone in calling for the politically-based assassination of the prime minister. There has been a rash of similar posts made by Canadian's on the far right calling for the murder of Trudeau as well as Wynne, Notley, and other left of center politicians in Canada, many of which have already been posted on ARC. Some of those individuals, such as Chris Hayes formerly of the WCAI and associate of the Soldiers of Odin, have been arrested and convicted because of these threats. Others, such as England, appear to have received very minor admonishment if the following, posted a few days after England's call to murder the prime minister:
Incidentally, England has not removed the posts calling for the death of Prime Minister Trudeau and has in fact posted other threats since.
In conclusion, it's hard for this writer to accept that the far right in Canada were ever genuinely concerned about a (I once again stress) false conspiracy involving "antifa" overthrowing the current occupant of the White House in a violent revolution. It seems that these concerns are disengenuous when they themselves ACTUALLY engage in the violent rhetoric and fantasize about murdering politicians.
The concern ARC has is what happens when one or more of these nutbars decided to take their irrational hatred and violent impulses from the realm of fantasy and perhaps act out in reality in an attempt to harm someone.
UPDATE: ARC received this in the early morning of November 28.
Sigh....
Yes, this was advertisement "Dick" is referring to:
Yes, they "literally" said their plan was to protest against the Trump administration. I can't see any call to riot anywhere here.
But again, as this once again illustrates, one will have difficulty reasoning with people who are unwilling to be reasonable.
In Canada, the same kind of hand wringing occurred among adherents of far right ideologies. The rhetoric ranged from fear to threats to target the left before the left could target them. When nothing happened on November 4, rather than accepting they had been duped many of the groups and individuals patted themselves on their backs for having prevented a violent overthrow of the government that, I stress once again, was never a thing in the first place. However it seems that this issue wasn't so much their fear of a civil war perpetrated by individuals on the political left as some MAJOR projecting on their part because these people seem to loves them their civil war fantasies:
Among those who seems to have embraced the insurrectionist rhetoric is Georges Hallak of the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens (he also seems to be pushing for a Christian theocratic state, but that's an issue for another time). In Hallak's case, he uses the tragedy at the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church and his further claim of mass anti-Christian persecution in Canada as a starting point to stoke the requisite fear:
From there it's an easy leap for Hallack and his supporters to suggest a jihadist/antifa conspiracy to destroy the country, thus justifying the removal of a democratically elected government:
In fact, Hallak is actually turns out to be relatively mild when compared to his fellow travelers.
The III% militia has become somewhat infamous for this kind of insurrectionist language. In public they claim to be law abiding gun enthusiasts who simply wish to be able to exercise their full range of freedoms. However in their closed forums, the real III% views become crystal clear. Probably the most extreme of the Canadian branches of the III% militia is found in Alberta. Their language is much more violent and given they amass weapons, probably much more of a concern in the long run:
The calls for a violent response to government decisions they don't like or legal issues they disapprove of has become increasingly common, including discussions concerning asking for the support of the current American government:
In another case, though he is currently going on about suing the Canadian government (as well as this blog) and accusing the Liberal government in general and Justin Trudeau in particular of treason, Steven Alexander Cassius Arnold Quisling Iscariot Gregory Myatt also engages in extreme hyperbolic political rhetoric. Here Myatt claims, disingenuously in my opinion based on past instances where he posted comments seemingly intended to incite his followers, that he has always been opposed to "revolution," however he further suggests that perhaps there may be no choice:
The subsequent responses are sort of hilarious in that people who claim to be patriotic Canadians plot to overthrow the democratically elected government, even going so far as to suggest asking the Trump administration to engage in regime change. Sure, it is unhinged and disconnected form of reality, the surreal nature of the exchange is oddly fascinating if also disturbing:
Now as bizarre as the discussion might be, and though it is cause for concern, my biggest worry is the "lone wolf." Most of the people in these threads are blowhards, but what happens when someone takes the anti-government and anti-immigrant rhetoric to heart?
Meet "Trev England":
England, a resident of Alberta who at the time this and later screen shots were taken, was living in Fort McMurray has been someone who has been of interest to ARC for some time. He seems relatively active in far right circles attending a number of anti-government protests in Edmonton and being especially active on social media. He will sometimes spend hours online posting the same comment accompanied by the different photos or memes. All of the posts are over the top even for this fringe movement and most openly call for the overthrow of the government:
His call for action has been much more overtly violent than some of the people I follow:
This post is especially of concern considering England has been filming immigrants at mosques and/or community centers in Edmonton:
The comments left by those who viewed the video are especially disturbing:
Perhaps even more disturbing, certainly extreme, and clearly criminal, incitement isn't uncommon when one takes a look at England's advocacy of political violence or, to dispense with euphemisms, terrorism.
In this video England openly called for the assassination of Justin Trudeau. He suggested someone with a terminal illness could, "be a hero" and kill the Prime Minister. He also called for the burning of mosques and targeting of immigrants, a sentiment he also expressed in writing. The video appears to have been zapped by Facebook -- it actually occurred during the live feed -- so the video itself no longer exists as evidence.
However, England himself provides ample evidence of his call for the assassination of the prime minister in a series of posts:
Trev England posted this last comment dozens of times over several hours on November 6, including the following:
England is certainly not alone in calling for the politically-based assassination of the prime minister. There has been a rash of similar posts made by Canadian's on the far right calling for the murder of Trudeau as well as Wynne, Notley, and other left of center politicians in Canada, many of which have already been posted on ARC. Some of those individuals, such as Chris Hayes formerly of the WCAI and associate of the Soldiers of Odin, have been arrested and convicted because of these threats. Others, such as England, appear to have received very minor admonishment if the following, posted a few days after England's call to murder the prime minister:
Incidentally, England has not removed the posts calling for the death of Prime Minister Trudeau and has in fact posted other threats since.
In conclusion, it's hard for this writer to accept that the far right in Canada were ever genuinely concerned about a (I once again stress) false conspiracy involving "antifa" overthrowing the current occupant of the White House in a violent revolution. It seems that these concerns are disengenuous when they themselves ACTUALLY engage in the violent rhetoric and fantasize about murdering politicians.
The concern ARC has is what happens when one or more of these nutbars decided to take their irrational hatred and violent impulses from the realm of fantasy and perhaps act out in reality in an attempt to harm someone.
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