Pro-Terror Neo-Nazi Attending Toronto Anti-Lockdown Protests

Toronto has been a focal point for protests against mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as against government lock downs. It's also been a hot spot for new COVID cases which I'm sure is just a coincidence, but I digress. 

We have covered the Toronto COVID protests on the blog before, which focused on some of the far-right patriots and neo-Nazis that were attending, as well as some of the racist/Islamphobic social media history of prominent anti-masker Chris Saccoccia.

Some of the far-right attendees of Toronto anti-mask protests include neo-Nazis Tomas Liko and Paul Fromm,  hate rag Your Ward News editor James Sears, Toronto agitator Lily, Chris Vanderweide and Leigh Stuart, and anti-muslim vlogger Kevin Johnston. 

Fringe extreme right involvement is not limited to Toronto. Some of the Vancouver rallies were partially organized by neo-Nazi Brian Ruhe. Antisemitic Holocaust denier David Icke spoke at a Vancouver rally on October 17 and 18. 

Recently we discovered that someone who subscribes to a far more alarming neo-Nazi belief system has been attending COVID rallies in Toronto and is tied to at least one organizer. The unfortunately named Michael Bolton has used multiple social media platforms to express his support for neo-Nazism, including the accelerationist network Atomwaffen Division.

Background photo is the logo of the Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists

Facebook description mentions the Boogaloo movement

Bolton regularly expresses support for Atomwaffen, a violent neo-Nazi accelerationist organization which originated on the Iron March forum. Northern Order is a Canadian-based cell of Atomwaffen. 1488 is of course a reference to the white supremacist 14 words and 88 is code for Heil Hitler.

It isn't clear whether Bolton is or was a member of Northern Order, though he has posted about the group favourably: 

Mike Bolton interviewed by David Menzies of The Rebel at an anti-mask rally. Mother Joanne MacFarlane on the left and one of his brothers on the right.  

Mike comes from what one could easily described as a right-wing family. Members of his family post far-right content on Facebook including support for QAnon and The Proud Boys, but not going so far as showing support for neo-Nazism, though the majority don't seem bothered by Bolton's views. Their trips to anti-mask rallies are clearly a family outing. 

His mother, Joanne MacFarland, and his father, Dave Bolton, as well as siblings Andrew and Colin all attend the rallies with Bolton. 

Bolton's family members en route to a rally from Newmarket, ON 

Maxime Bernier posing with three members of the Bolton family; Andrew and Colin in the back

Bolton's father Dave Bolton

Dave Bolton regularly reposts fringe right content, including posts supportive of the Proud Boys, an extremist, violent group which, after the election, descended on Washington, DC and attacked people at the so-called Million MAGA March. 

Bolton has also shared QAnon propaganda: 

Bolton's mother Joanne has posted anti-LGBTQ+ and antisemitic content, as well as support for the violent Proud Boys:  

And posts supporting violence against their political opposition: 

Including memes referencing Pinochet -- the Chilean dictator who became infamous for his men throwing communists from helicopters. 

Mike's brother Andrew Bolton also being interviewed by David Menzies of The Rebel

Mike's brother Colin Bolton , pictured on his Facebook with Chris Saccoccia

In such a far-right wing family it's not surprising that at least one of them has turned to overt neo-Nazi beliefs. That said Mike's social media use is much more concerning than what can easily be found from the others. 

"Day of the Rake," a play on "Day of the Rope," referencing when the US will invade Canada 

Holocaust denial posted by Mike Bolton

Bolton's Gab account, showing violent antisemitic content 

Bolton's Gab, referencing support for both the Yellow Vests and Killdozer, who has become a far-right meme

Bolton's Minds account

What is interesting about Mike Bolton's Facebook account, is that he's friends with a few other anti-maskers, one of whom is an administrator and organizer for MAD (Mother's Against Distancing) the group started by Chris Saccoccia. 

Omari Taylor is very involved in Toronto's anti-mask events. Strangely enough Mike Bolton is not his only neo-Nazi friend on Facebook.

Gus Stefanis was a candidate for the neo-Nazi Canadian Nationalist Party and Lily Musa (AKA Peter Smith) is a supporter.

Even when Omari was shown evidence for past racist comments made by Chris Saccoccia he chose to downplay and ignore them.

These comments were made on an anti-mask spoof page

I'm not one to judge who someone calls a friend, but would it be out of line to suggest that maybe it's not in Omari's best interest to be surrounding himself with so many neo-Nazis?

His call I suppose.

October 2020 Bits and Bites: Halloween Edition

We haven't really done a bits and bites article in some time but we thought we would do so now. Please forgive our omissions in this purposely irreverent look back at the month of bigots behaving badly, often towards each other.

In the last article we discussed the antics of Brian Kidder who, since it was published, has continued on in his campaign to arrest a politician. He is not surprisingly being egged on by some of the bad actors who have profiled consistently on this blog:

Brian Kidder Arrested (Again). Also Chris Vanderweide Gets Involved Because Of Course He Does

By this point readers of this blog and other activists who monitor the far-right, or even people who regularly follow the regular news, will be familiar with the antics of Brian Kidder even is the name isn't immediately familiar. He is a figure associated with the Canadian Revolution protesters who were only just this month removed from the grounds near the War Memorial in Ottawa having been camping since July 1 and demanding the resignation, arrest, or both of Justin Trudeau and Liberal MPs. Kidder, a QAnon supporter, may have first come to readers' attention when he attempted to "citizen arrest" an journalist who he erroneously believed was a Bloc Quebecois MP. He later made the news when he and his enablers were harassing NDP leader Jagmeet Singh stating next time he saw Mr. Singh that "we're going to dance":

• Man Trying To Arrest MPs Part Of Months-Long "Revolution" Encampment
• Parliamentary district protest camp leads to tighter security — and a criminal complaint

Given Mr. Sigh's background in martial arts, I'm not sure the encounter would go the way Kidder thinks it will.

In fact this isn't a new phenomenon as Kidder has been attempting to place politicians under citizen's arrest for years going back to at least 2014:

Man angry re: #WSIB claim threatens to put @Kathleen_Wynne under citizen's arrest and is escorted out of QP. #onpoli pic.twitter.com/NAYAw4SK42

— Rob Ferguson (@robferguson1) November 18, 2014

The difference now is that Kidder has a fan base of far-right extremists who are encouraging him.

Kidder's most recent target is Doug Ford (yes, THAT Doug Ford). Once praised by far-right extremists, Ford is now reviled by many of these same people because he has been taking the COVID-19 pandemic much more seriously than they would like given that they believe the pandemic is a Luciferian conspiracy planned by George Soros and Bill Gates and implemented by Justin Trudeau to impose communism, take away their freedom (do die gasping for breath alone in a hospital I guess?), and thwart their Messiah Donald Trump from saving the world from the cabal of demonically-processed pedophiles who they think rule the world.

They also really take umbrage at being referred to as "yahoos" which we personally feel might be underselling it a bit.

In any case earlier this week Kidder attempted to enter the Ontario Legislature to, you guess it, arrest Doug Ford. It went about as you might expect:

And the response of his enablers who called the police "pedophile protectors" and referred to the "beast system" in which the police would join with their side in the end was equally predictable:

Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights Held a March That Was Attended by Fascists

On Saturday September 12 the Canadian Coalition for Firearms rights organized a march in Ottawa. It was attended by probably between 2000-3000 people.

Also credit to the CCFR for promoting the use of masks and social distancing for the event.

The rally was a decent size but it's important to point out that it was attended by some members of the Canadian far-right. Neo-nazis Paul Fromm and Thomas Liko were both in attendance.

Fresh off of his court case where he plead guilty to assault with a weapon, the unlikeable Chris Vanderweide attended in full boogaloo gear and wearing his weapon of choice on his head. Chris was bleating on his megaphone, but I think the CCFR people told him to give it a rest. He was accompanied by Leigh Stewart. Rick Boswick and Wayne Peters were also there.

Chris Vanderweide speaking with Rick Boswick

Canadian Far-Right Responds to the Murder of Two Protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin

Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot and paralyzed by police last week, which set off major protests in the city. It was during one of these protests that Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17 year old boy from Antioch, Illinois, who is a member of a right-wing militia, shot 3 protesters, killing 2 and injuring one. He was later arrested by police, after he had fled the state. Numerous videos on social media show the attack, with Rittenhouse shooting a protester in the head, and shooting into the crowd. Initially, protesters had attempted to disarm him of his assault-style rifle. 

We won't go too in depth on what happened in Kenosha, as it's already been reported on at length. 

However, predictably, the Canadian far-right has reacted with their usual callousness and hatred. 

Jeremy MacKenzie (AKA Raging Humanist/Rick Handy), and John Southern (who claims to have been involved in some capacity with Wolfgang Droege of the Heritage Front) were gleeful that protesters were murdered in the street:

Fascists “John Southern” (from Vancouver) and Jeremy Mackenzie (SK by way of NS) gleeful over the #KenoshaShooter.

17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse killed 2 and injured 1. pic.twitter.com/S8Bs2YXzmi

— YVCE 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️ (@VestsCanada) August 26, 2020

On Facebook, members and associates of Yellow Vests Canada were quick to defend the killer: 

Other Canadian far-right groups have also been supportive of the killer, such as Canadian Combat Coalition and the Threepers, both far-right anti-Muslim militia groups: 

A reference to Anthony Huber, who attempted to disarm Rittenhouse using his skateboard 

 

Chris Vanderweide, who is awaiting trial for assault due to his involvement with the attack on Hamilton Pride, is also supportive, as is his girlfriend Leigh Stuart:

Ron Banerjee of the patriot movement and Rise Canada is wondering why he can't carry a gun in Canada and shoot people that confront him:

Sam Bell, who runs the Alberta Separatist Youth League, an Alberta thinly disguised white nationalist group, and is also associated with Wexit, posted supportive memes to both his Facebook page (Make Alberta Great Again) and his Instagram. 

Rittenhouse isn't from that city 

Mark Friesen is a nationalist from the yellow vests and a failed PPC candidate. He is also showing support for the shooter.

 

Kazz Nowlin, formerly of the Threepers and currently of the Canadian Sheepdogs, has been especially vocally supportive of the killer: 

Over on Telegram, the virulently racist and antisemitic Canada First (Public) channel has expressed support: 

And the Proud Boys as well: 

As unsurprising as the reactions are, it is very disturbing that an untrained 17 year old boy in the U.S. can walk around with an assault rifle, and attempt to quell a protest against racialized police violence. He killed 2 people, said so to the police, and the officers on the scene did not arrest him. If that isn't an example of white privilege, I don't know what is.